GENERAL REFLECTIONS ON ITALY.

TALY presents a totally different aspect to the man who descends from the Alps from that which strikes the eye on reaching the delicious shores of Naples, or the lone rude coasts of Ostia or Civita Vecchia. Although the natural disposition of the Italian people is the same, whether on the plains of Lombardy, on the shoulders of the Appennines, in Tuscany, or the Sabina and the kingdom of Naples, yet some differences may be recognised in the moral lineaments of these different populations, more or less considerable according to the different aspects of their respective territories. Let us cast a glance over the whole peninsula and the difference is manifest. From the sides of the Alps, Italy, as far as the Appennines, stretches in a great measure like one vast plain, fertile, luxuriant; full of life yet regular as the course of the rivers that water it. The Po, the Adige, the Oglio, the Dora, slowly and majestically traverse its fields, which are cultivated with so much minute attention as to have the appearance of

delicious gardens.

Wherever the eye reposes one sees towering in the distance those considerable cities, Turin, Milan, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Parma, Placentia, Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, Cremona, Pavia, Lucca, Modena, with numerous villages interspersed, glowing with the bustle of an industrious people. Magnificent to one who contemplates it for the first time, is the view of such beautifully disposed fields, vineyards so well kept, such vigorous olive groves and orchards, succeeding each other on all sides; wide highways bordered with trees that run off in straight lines and lose themselves in the horizon; but the eye at last becomes used to the monotony of the landscape, to beauties that are repeated at every step. To vary the prospect, the traveller must look up towards the distant horizon, to the white cloudwrapt summits of the Alps, and to the gloomy ridges of the Appennines. If then we proceed towards the south, hardly shall we pass over the first mountains when Italy assumes new forms, and becomes invested with charms that multiply as we contemplate them. Every twenty miles the traveller finds himself with a new perspective before him. Here are torrents that thunder over the rocks with the impetuosity of a tempest, trees moaning in accord with the roaring sound, torrents which yet a little after may be crossed dryshod. Rapid and gurgling rivers precipitate themselves from rock to rock, forming magnificent and picturesque cascades. Here are silent valleys hemmed in with precipices; there vast

uncultivated plains, having the appearance of deserts, the range of the wild buffalo. Here, on the one hand lie fertile plains covered with yellow harvests; there, on the other, rises a hill-side, clothed with shrubs that gradually thicken into a wood. Turn your eye to the shoulders of the mountains, and you will see majestic forests of oak and chestnut, and amid these, cresting the cliffs, the ruins of towers and castles that look like eagles' nests. And then, like the sun-beam after a storm, the smile of nature shows more beautifully by contrast as seen on the flowery banks of the Garigliano, where the extraordinary fecundity and suavity of the climate have well entitled the country to be called felice (happy). Farther on, the bay of Naples discloses the rich profusion of its charms, surrounded with a rugged garniture of mountains, like a glittering gem enchased in an iron ring. On advancing beyond this, the Appennines becoming more savage and alpine, stretch their arms across the entire breadth of the peninsula from sea to sea as far as Cape Spartivento.

From this description it will be seen that Italy may be considered as forming two grand divisions, northern and southern, having the Appennine range for their natural boundary. The principal chain of these mountains stretches in an irregular line from west to east. It starts from Cuneo and Tende, branching off from the maritime Alps, and skirting along the coast of Genoa, it traverses the duchies of Parma and Modena, which it separates from Tuscany. Then inclining towards the south, it enters the Papal states, skirting Umbria, Sabina, and the Mark of Ancona, as far as the frontiers of the Abruzzo on the coast of the gulf of Venice. From the Abruzzo it proceeds across the whole kingdom of Naples. Northern Italy, accordingly, comprehends all that part of the peninsula lying to the north of the Appennines, that is to say, between these and the Alps and the gulf of Venice. Hence this division contains Piedmont, the Lombardo-Venetian state, Parma, Placentia, Modena, and the four legations of the Papal states, that is to say, Ferrara, Bologna, Forli, and Ravenna. Southern Italy is comprehended between the Appennines, the Mediterranean, a part of the gulf of Venice and the Ionian sea. The duchy of Genoa, that of Lucca, Tuscany, the Papal states, and the kingdom of Naples belong to this division. Nor is the difference between these two divisions confined to appearance only. The nature of the soil and climate is not the same in both, and hence the character of the inhabitants presents the variety necessarily resulting from diversity of climate, although at the same time the same elements are found in both. The character of the Italians may be said to be made up of all the different qualities that distinguish other nations. The fire and energy of the south is tempered there with the reflective disposition of the north; while, on the one hand, the exuberant imagination of the eastern nations produces a disposition to indolence, and to indulge the flowery dreams of poesy and love, on the other hand the activity characteristic of the western tribes, incites them to engage in trade, and to cultivate the arts and sciences. Hence it is not difficult to discover in the Italian character a combination of the gravity of the English, the sprightliness of the French, the ardour and perseverance of the Spaniards, the reflectiveness of the Germans, and the fiery passions of the Arab and the Syrian. Diversity of circumstances will bring out the versatility of a nature comprising various elements and will develope the germs

of new virtues, or new vices, which though at first sight they may appear contradictory, must be fundamentally referred to the temperature of the climate. The geographical position of Italy will justify this opinion though it may seem to have been dictated by predilection for my native land.

On the north, Italy marches with Switzerland and Germany, on the west it adjoins France. Hence it may justly claim a portion of the advantages which a rigorous climate gives to nations, by cooling down in them the ardour of the passions, and thereby rendering them better fitted for intellectual and moral development. The everlasting snows of the Alps temper the heat of the African sun which scorches Italy. The Appennines which emulate the Alps in height and in savage scenery, by traversing the entire peninsula lengthwise, secure a continuation of the advantages resulting from a temperate climate. In other respects, in proportion as Italy extends towards Africa, the action of the solar rays predominates, and the character of the inhabitants gradually becomes more lively and ardent. In fine, as we proceed farther towards Calabria and Sicily, opposite to which lie the immense scorching deserts of Africa, the Appennines which as far as the confines of Puglia, retain their primitive form of a chain of mountains leaving extensive plains on the right and left along the Mediterranean and the gulf of Venice, all at once divide into branches and occupy the whole extent of the provinces at the extremity of the kingdom of Naples, these from sea to sea being bristled and notched with mountains. While the provident hand of God has in the southern confines of Italy multiplied the highest mountains on which the north wind's breath copiously deposits the snows that tend to moderate the exces sive heat of the sun, on the other hand, on the northern confines of that country, it has placed the vast plains of Piedmont and Lombardy, by which the kindly heat of the sun is kept from being overpowered by the frosts from the north. Hence it is that in Italy as a whole, the climate may justly be pronounced temperate, notwithstanding that some variety of temperature is observable on comparing one division with another; hence it is that the character of the Italians may be considered the same, notwithstanding that in the inhabitants of the north reflection controls energy of sentiment, and in those of the south, energy of sentiment is increased by reflection. The Calabrian and the Lombard may at a first glance present few traces of resemblance, but on a closer examination it will be found that fundamentally they possess the same natural peculiarities, the same independence, energy and perseverance; the apparent dissimilarity is the result of the oppression under which Italy has been groaning for ages, not at all of nature which is not in them a thing that varies. The brigandage of Calabria in 1799, was the expression of the very same sentiments that originated the Lombard League. Italy therefore cannot be considered to be a country exclusively oriental or meridional, but as one that participates in the advantages which nature has liberally bestowed on all the four quarters. To one who has passed a whole year in Italy the truth of these observations will seem very clear, if he but recall the impressions made on him by the variation of the seasons. An inhabitant of Lebanon arrives in Italy at the beginning of April, at the time when the vernal zephyr caresses with voluptuous wing the flowers that enamel the meadows, and when the air is loaded with sweet odours, from that of the violet that lies hid in the hedges

to that of the rose which vaunts its charms in the gardens; at the time when amid the verdure of the fields, the fruit trees raise their blossomed heads and the orange trees seem to wait with impatience for the warming rays that revive them; at the time when beneath a limpid and azure sky the copious dews glisten to the silver radiance of the moon, at the time when the dawn empurples the mountain tops and gradually brings out the colours of a landscape where all is harmony and smiles, until the sun, emerging from the Adriatic, pours over Italy a baptism of light, and he might fancy himself still in Palestine. Spring gives to Italy quite the physiognomy of an Eastern country. It is then the land of pleasure, poesy and love. But let an Arab behold it in the heat of July, when the sun darts his fiery rays with all his force, when the scorched earth is cleft and gapes like the thirsty and panting hind in the track of a fountain; when the fields are whitening with corn and the meadows look like the sands of the desert; when of a sudden the atmosphere, whitened at first with mists, grows thick with clouds; when the whirlwind harbingers the tempest with volumes of dust, and the lightning flashes and the thunder roars incessantly like the lion's voice repeated by the echoes, when rain and hail and thunderbolts all come down together, and when, shortly after, the purified and re-invigorated earth presents itself like a charmed oasis, he might believe that he was still on the sides of his native hills, looking out on one of those grand commotions of nature which announce themselves so terribly and magnificently within the tropics. Italy in summer presents quite the physiognomy of the regions of the south. It is then the land of strong and violent passions. Seen at the commencement of Autumn when the pulse and corn are collected in the modest dwellings of the peasantry, or in the vast storehouses of the rich, in sufficient abundance for the support of ten such countries, when hill and vale resound with the joyous songs of the villagers while employed in the bustle of the vintage, or of the rustics collecting the fruits or crushing the grapes in the wine-presses, when the fields are preparing for the seed, and when it is sown for the following year, when the shepherds and neatherds hasten to the plains with their flocks and herds from the mountain sides where winter is beginning to show itself; when showers are frequent, and the sun looks pale, and the clouds rise from the streams and valleys, it then looks like a part of western Europe, and Frenchmen and Englishmen will think they find in Italy some resemblance to the lands they have left. It is then a land of plenty and of laborious habits, and would be a land of industry and commerce, were commerce and industry to find instead of obstacles and threatened calamities, protection and encouragement. But what if winter in Italy is roughened with frost and whitened with snow! It is certainly not such a winter as is seen among the rocks of Siberia or beneath the cliffs of Mont Blanc, but the German or English tourist, provided he does not remain at the bay of Naples, will find the breath of the north wind very cold, and will be amazed at seeing snow and ice so common in a country which he may have pictured to himself as always covered with flowers. Snow falls frequently, particularly in the lands adjacent to the Appennines, and, towards the Adriatic, besides what is discharged by the northern blast, there is added from time to time the snows accumulated and driven over by the wind from the Levant, from the coasts of Dalmatia and from Greece. whoever shall travel during winter in Italy, would never suppose it to be one of the regions of the

Alas,

South. Italy during the cold season is the country of reflection, of serious studies and of unimpassioned politics. In no other country of Europe are the limits of the seasons so distinctly marked as in that peninsula. Hence we find united in the people the four principal qualities that distinguish nations placed under the influence of particular climates, such as the sensibility of the East and the energy of the South, the activity of the West and the reflective habits of the North. To these, if we add frankness, sobriety, perseverance and hospitality, you will have the main features of the Italian character. The defects with which it is chargeable, are to be traced to the good original peculiarities of heart and mind with which the Italians are naturally endowed. Effeminacy of manners proceeds in Italy from excessive sensibility, fostered by the empire of a religion which speaks softly to the senses while it clouds and obscures the reason. The readiness with which the people shed one another's blood, must be ascribed to the violence of their passions, and the energy of their characters, provoked and exasperated by the injustice of the law courts in which an arbitrary spirit greatly prevails, and by the partiality with which the laws are administered under despotic governments. The religious and civil systems tend with one accord to turn to what is bad the best qualities of the Italian character. Rome, on the one hand, with the pompous apparatus of its ceremonies, lays hold of the imaginations and susceptibility of a people full of the poetical temperament, not in order to guide them to the morality of the gospel, to the love of God and of mankind, but to superstitious practices and to intolerance. The governments, on the other hand, dread the energy and activity of a people who find in the past a mighty stimulus to come out from that state of degradation in which the vicissitudes of time and the policy of the powerful have reduced them, and a most sufficient warranty of success. Hence science is openly, or at least covertly, persecuted by them, and education thwarted or controlled. Hence restraints are laid on commerce in order that the civilization of other nations may not be communicated by contact. Hence idleness and indolence are fostered. In the unnatural constraint under which Italy is groaning, not only are many good qualities of the Italian character kept down, but many defects altogether foreign to the disposition of a passionate and energetic people, have ninated, and have then been attributed to the Italians as vices essentially rooted in their very nature. The Italians are reproached with being reserved and insincere, without its being remembered that, compelled to conceal their sentiments in the presence of the lynx-eyed Inquisition and police, and that crushed beneath the oppression of a brute force which chains up the use of words and the free expression of thoughts however holy and becoming, they have been taught to dissemble and to lie by the advice of other nations which have charged Italy with imprudence every time it has dared to manifest its true sentiments of independence and liberty. While the common charge of imprudence is raised by all the nations against the sincere expressions of a people oppressed by tyranny, the accusation of insincerity thrown upon the Italian character ought to appear unjust to every reasonable mind. The history of free and independent Italy does credit to the sincerity of the national character of the Italians. Attilius Regulus presents an eternal monument of the good faith of ancient Italy. A glorious monument of the good faith and sincerity of the Italian character in recent history, is seen in the vote passed by the

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