with vessels riding at anchor, and enlivened by the busy din of commerce-the town itself, in all its architectural grandeur, lifting its domes and battlements in the form of an amphitheatre round the harbour-the lofty semi-circular ridges of the Apennines, overhanging the city, with their green acclivities sprinkled with white buildings-presented a magnificent panorama, gilded at the moment of our entrance with the beams of the setting sun. A more advantageous and prepossessing picture of Genoa, splendid as its outlines are, could not have been presented from any quarter, as our subsequent rambles evinced; nor was our ride along the terrace skirting the harbour, and thence beneath the ancient barrier, through Strada Balbi, the finest street in the city, calculated to weaken our first impressions. Half a dozen Genoese gentlemen in the coach, who had said little during the afternoon, appeared to feel a just degree of local pride in pointing out for the admiration of strangers the magnificence of their city; and after entering the faubourg San Pierre d'Arena, scarcely an object of interest was permitted to escape our attention, till our arrival at the Hotel de Yorck, nearly in the centre of the town. At one moment we glided rapidly under the arched ramparts, and at another by the palace of Andrew Doria; now in front of the pillared courts of the University, or along the magnificent façade of the Durazzo. In a word, the whole street is lined with palaces, and in architectural grandeur and beauty can scarcely be surpassed.

Every circumstance conspired on the day of our arrival to give us an exaggerated idea of Genoese splendour. On entering the Hotel, we found that even that had been a palace, columns, saloons, and some of the paintings of which still remained. From the windows of our chambers, the eye surveys other ranges of handsome buildings, bordering upon the Piazza Annunziata, and forming a continuation of the Strada Balbi. But the Hotel de Yorck possesses attractions of more importance to the traveller, than its fine situation, or its claim to the honour of having once been the residence of Genoese nobility. A Swiss emigrant has fitted it up in the neatest style with carpets and other fire-side comforts; and it is without exception the best, as well as one of the cheapest hotels we have found upon the contiBy an odd coincidence, the waiter appointed to attend us had passed two or three years of his life in Pearlstreet, New-York, in making macaroni.

nent.

LETTER XLVIII.

SKETCH OF GENOA-PRINCIPAL STREETS—ASPECT OF THE TOWN -HARBOUR-MOLES AND DEFENCES-ROYAL NAVY-ARRIVAL OF THE KING-PALACES-PAINTINGS.

March, 1826.-On the morning after our arrival, a valetde-place was procured to take us the ordinary rounds, and show us the wonders of the town with all convenient despatch. The first hour's walk satisfied us, that the finest part of Genoa had already been seen. Strada Nuova and Strada Nuovissima are in the same style of magnificence as the Strada Balbi, with which they are connected, opening a wide and superb passage through nearly the whole extent of the city, bordered on both sides by long façades of palaces, three or four stories high, and enriched with the several orders of Grecian architecture. If a stranger should merely ride through these three streets, and make his exit without farther examination, he would suppose Genoa to be one of the most splendid places in the world. But the moment you depart either to the right or left of this broad and beautiful avenue, you are lost in an inextricable labyrinth of crooked, dark, dirty lanes, lined with gloomy buildings, four, five, or six stories high, often nearly meeting at top, utterly excluding the rays of the sun, and almost the light of day. A mere belt of the blue heavens is discernible from the depth of these fissures in fair weather; but when the skies are overcast, the gloom is intolerable.

The width of these streets, if such they may be called, does not generally exceed six or eight feet, a considerable part of which is occupied by incumbrances before the shops and boutiques. They are of course too narrow for carriages, if the steepness of the hills on which Genoa is built did not preclude such a mode of conveyance. At any rate, from one or the other of the two causes, there is scarcely a street in the city, with the exception of the three above named, through which a coach or cart can pass. The consequence is, that the labour generally performed by dumb beasts here devolves in a great measure upon human beings,

Donkies are sometimes put in requisition; but in most cases, men and women themselves stoop to the burden, carrying enormous loads, and presenting the most abject and revolting pictures of servitude. At one time you see gangs of galley-slaves, chained together, with their irons clanking upon the pavements, attended by drivers, and staggering under loads, which humane masters would not impose upon brutes at another time, two men, (often infirm, grey-headed, old men, their limbs trembling with age,) are seen bearing a sedan chair, in which is seated perhaps some bloated nobleman, some lazy ecclesiastic, or wealthy dandy, who is afraid of soiling his pumps and silk stockings. I have seen, not without feelings of indignation and disgust, the King himself, together with his royal spouse and court panders, borne about the streets of Genoa, in processions, by the degenerate, degraded descendants of Andrew Doria, and his highspirited republicans !

With the view of obtaining a more accurate knowledge of the outlines of the city, we made the entire circuit of the Harbour, which is one of the finest imaginable, except that its entrance is too much exposed to the south-westerly winds. It was embosomed naturally by ranges of the Apennines, sweeping round it, and terminating in two high capes, inclining towards each other, as they project into the Gulf. To these natural defences against the winds and waves, have been added gigantic works of art, worthy of the enterprising spirit, which characterised the Republic at the period of their construction. From the two bluffs forming the chops of the channel, immense moles composed of consolidated masses of rock, and impregnable to the sea which at times beats against them with violence, have been extended towards each other, so as to leave an entrance of moderate breadth, though still deemed too wide for the stormy character of this part of the Mediterranean.

Besides these colossal barriers, another rampart of solid masonry, thirty or forty feet in height, pierced at the bottom with numerous large arches communicating with the town, and wide enough at the top for two or three persons to walk abreast, sweeps more than half way round the port. In winter it forms the principal promenade of the citizens, being guarded by walls on the summit, open to the sun, sheltered by the long ranges of buildings on one side, and bordered on the other by the shipping in the harbour. At the time of our

visit, the vernal sun was by no means ungrateful in the fickle and rather inhospitable climate of Genoa, exposed as it is to bleak winds from the Alps and Apennines; and this walk, although it presented nothing rural save the nursling plants and flowers sunning themselves in the windows of the houses, was often selected for exercise, instead of the confined, gloomy alleys of the town. The thoroughfare at the base of the wall on the left, or the shifting panorama of the port on the right, always presented something new for observation. Midway stands a long range of buildings appropriated to what is called the Franc Port. They are all numbered, kept under lock and key, and rigidly guarded by public officers. By a singular regulation, females, ecclesiastics, and the military, are allowed in no case to enter, and all other persons are prohibited, except on special business. Here merchandise may be deposited for any length of time, and reshipped free of duty, the proprietor merely paying for the storage. Many of the warehouses are owned by foreigners, and others rented by the government. This establishment is said to have conduced greatly to the commercial prosperity of Genoa. In the same neighbourhood are the barracks, spacious enough to accommodate two thousand troops.

At the junction of this terrace with the ancient mole, we embarked in a boat, and completed the circuit of the harbour, gliding among the large quantities of shipping riding at anchor in the basin. Out of several hundred vessels, great and small, not a single American deck was to be seen, and the boatman thought there was not then one in port, although our commerce with this place is at times considerable. Most of the shipping in the harbour appeared to be coasters, though some fifty foreign vessels were lying at Quarantine, near the Light-House. There has been a sad decline in commercial prosperity since the proud days of the Republic. One of the finest views of Genoa is obtained from the water, midway between the two moles, at the entrance of the port; and to this point the boatman was requested to conduct us, where our little bark rode delightfully upon the smooth azure swells rolling in from the Gulf. The position is in the centre of the amphitheatre of hills, at the base and on the acclivities of which the city is built. Nothing can be more picturesque and magnificent, than the crescent of white edifices, crowned with domes and turrets, encircling the port with a graceful curve, and climbing stage above

VOL. II.

5

stage up the verdant sides of the Apennines, often so steep as to require flights of steps in ascending from one street to another. Overtopping the whole, are seen the ramparts of the city, flanked with towers and fortresses, extending for the distance of eight or ten miles over the summits of the mountains. Several chateaux, churches, and convents are perched upon the heights; but a considerable part of the area enclosed by the outer walls is a waste of rocks and uncultivated fields. The town itself is not more than four or five miles in circuit, containing about 80,000 inhabitants. Such a charming picture presented itself to view from this point, the distance concealing all meaner features in the streets and houses, that some reluctance was felt to dissolve the enchantment by again approaching the shore.

On debarking from this excursion, an effort was made to visit the Royal Navy-Yard, which was open to the passage of groups of galley slaves; but a brace of sentinels stationed at the gate thrust us back in a rude manner, informing us that a special permit emanating from his majesty was indispensable. Our principal object was to see the beak of a Roman ship, said to be here deposited; but the trouble and delay of suing for a royal passport induced us to abandon a second trial for admission. The naval force of this potent monarch, who by the grace of the Holy Alliance, is lord of a portion of the Alps and of the Isles of the Mediterranean, consists of some ten or fifteen ships of war, the largest of which is a frigate. Its magnitude, however, far transcends its uses to the state. The only powder it burns is wasted in birth-day salutes, on the festivals of the Virgin, or in honour of the arrival or departure of the royal family.

I was not a little amused with the uproar which this formidable armament, snugly moored under the lee of the moles, created on the great occasion of the arrival of the king and his court from his good city of Turin, which divides his affections and favours with Genoa, each in turn being blest with his royal presence. On the glorious day of his return to the embraces of his second love, the navy of his Majesty was for four hours in a blaze, and the roar of cannon echoed through the deepest recesses of the Alps and the Apennines. To the din of broadsides, were added the merry peals of bells, with the accompaniments of drums and bugles, the rattling of carriages and the trampling of steeds. All the marmots of the hills and the anchovies upon the coast must have