YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

SCBWE attlieGATE of POlLIo 'WlIKIf OWIM©

THREE MONTHS

PASSED IN THE

MOUNTAINS EAST OF ROME,
DURING THE YEAR 1819.

MARIA GRAHAM,
AUTHOR OF JOURNAL OF A RESI]|EN^ ^ INDXA.

The spacious neighbourhood of 5.Qme ^
To Anio's roar ; and Tibur's olive shade
To where Praeneste lifts her airy btow.'.
Thomson's Liherif/,

W^t gijconD ffinttion*
LONDON :
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
FATBBNOSTES-JtOW ;
AND A. CONSTABLE AND CO., EDINBURGH.
1821.,

Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode,
Printei-s- Street, London.

PREFACE.

When there are so many travellers in
Italy, and when so many travellers have
published tours, picturesque and classical,
and have exhibited that " fair and fervid"
land in all her various aspects : as " native
to famous wits ;" as the cradle, if not also
the grave, of the fine arts ; as the temple of
freedom, and as a den of tyrants and slaves ;
it may appear presumptuous in one not
capable of adding any thing to what is
already known on any of these points, to
write at all upon that country.
Yet there is one subject on which mo
dern travellers have been silent : the state
of the present inhabitants of the near
neighbourhood of Rome. With the excep
tion of M. de Chateauvieux, the visitors of
the " eternal city" seem to have forgotten
A 2

IV PREFACE.
that there are still living men to till the
ground, and to dress the vineyards that
surround it. And it is natural that it
should be so. The apparent deadness
of the Campagna, during the season
when most travellers cross it, the scanty
population, whose habits and manners
savour of an older world, the wall of ruin
that surrounds every thing that is new and
fresh in Rome, force the thoughts back
upon the past, and veil the present, as the
future, from our eyes.
The object of the following little book is
to describe the present state of the near
neighbours of Rome : to show the pea
sants of the hills as they are, and as they
probably have been, with little change, since
« Rome was at her height ;" to give such an
account of their actual manners as may
enable others to form a judgment of their
moral and political condition, and to account
for some of those irregularities which we do
not easily imagine to be consistent with

PREFACE. V
the civilized state of Europe, but which for
centuries have existed in the patrimony of
the church.
The notices of the banditti might have
been more full and more romantic, but the
writer scrupulously rejected all accounts of
them, upon the truth of which she could
not rely, thinking it better to give one
authentic fact, than twenty doubtful, though
more interesting, tales. The banditti or
fuorusciti of Italy are what the forest out
laws of England were in the days of Robin
Hood. They are not of the poorest or
vilest of the inhabitants. They generally
possess a little field and a house, whither
they retire at certain seasons, and only take
the field when the hopes of plunder allure
them, or the fear of a stronger arm drives
them to the woods and rocks. They live
under various chiefs, who, while their reign
lasts, are absolute ; but as they are freely
chosen, they are freely deposed, or some
times murdered, if they offend their subjects.

VI PREFACE.
To be admitted into the ranks of the re
gular banditti, a severe apprenticeship to all
kinds of hardship is required. The address
and energy displayed by these men, under
a better government, might conduce to the
happiest effects. But here the fire burns
not to warm, but to destroy.
The description of the portion of the
country which is the subject of the book
is perhaps too minute. The apology for
this fault is simply that the writer was
anxious to show what facilities the very
nature of the land affords to the banditti,
as well as the obstacles it presents to their
pursuers ; and perhaps there is a charm in
the scenes, which were once the summer
retreats of the wise and the glorious, though
long since ruined, that has induced her to
dwell upon them longer, and, with more
fondness than may be consistent with the
taste or the patience of her readers.
The sketches from which the engravino's
are done, were made by Mr. Charles East-

PREFACE. Vll

lake, who accompanied the writer and her
husband in their expedition to the hills.
Mr. C. Eastlake is too well known as an
artist to need the praise of the writer, who
certainly could not give it without partiality;
but she cannot resist the opportunity af
forded by the publication of these pages, of
testifying the sincere regard of both his
fellow-travellers, and their gratitude for the
additional enjoyment his taste and his
knowledge enabled them to derive from
their residence in Italy.

THREE MONTHS NEAR ROME.

CHAPTER I.

Once tlie delight of Heav*D and earth, '
Where Art and Nature, ever smiling, joined
On the gay land to lavish all their stores .
How changed ! Thomson's Liberly.

SUBJECT OF THE WORK.  JOUENEY FROM ROME TO
POLL  INTERESTING OBJECTS ON THE ROAD. 
TOWNS OF COLLATIA AND GABII.  SAN VETTURINO
POSSIBLY THE ANCIENT ^SULA. — CORN LANDS AN
CIENTLY THE PR^NESTINE FIELDS.  HORACE'S IMA
GINARY PR^NESTINE VILLA.  HIS REPUTATION AS A
WIZARD.  PALACES OF CATENA.  VALE OF POLL 
TOWN OF POLL — NUMBER AND CHARACTER OF THE
INHABITANTS.  CLIMATE OF POLI, AND THAT OF THE
CAMPAGNA DI ROMA.
lo avoid the great heat of Rome during
the summer of 1819, the writer of the fol
lowing pages, and two other persons, de
termined to go to some of the neighbouring
villages to spend a few weeks. Accident
B '

2 SUBJECT
determined in favour of Poli *, between
Tivoli andPalestrina: and as circumstances
occurred whilst we were there which we
believed might give some insight into the
manners of a class of inhabitants not often
brought into contact with foreigners, and
therefore little known in England, — namely,
the farmers and peasants, — a sort of journal
was kept of every thing material that oc
curred. During the last few days of our
stay at Poli, however, the interest we had
taken in the people about us was superseded
by one to which a considerable degree of
danger was joined. The banditti who had
long infested the road between Rome and
Naples having been driven fi-om their towns
of Sonninof, Frosinone J, and Ferentino §,

* Poli, by some antiquaries believed to be the ancient
Empulium, by others the ancient Bola. It was cer
tainly a town of the iEqui. ^schinardi says it was the
ancient Polustia; and an old inscription on a stone at
the gateway calls it Palustia ; though by some said to be
the Longula of Marcus Coriolanus.
-j- Sonnino, ancient Sumnino, a town of the Volsci.
I Frosinone, ancient Frusino, a town of the Volsci.
§ Ferentino, ancient Ferentinum, a town of the
Volsci. Here are some of the finest specimens of the
walls called Cyclopian by some writers.

OF THE WORK. 3
partly by the Pope's edict*, and partly by
the march of a body of 2000 of his Holi-
ness's troops against them, had fled up the
country, and had taken refuge in the wilds
which border that great valley of the Apen
nines, formed by the course of the Anio,
and separating the Marsian hills from those
on whose edge Tivoli and Palestrina are si
tuated. The highest point of this last ridge
is the rock of Guadagnola, two hours' walk
from Poli. There one company of the
banditti stationed itself, and thence made
excursions to our very gates.
Some previous knowledge of the country
and inhabitants is, however, necessary to
account for the degree of alarm spread
through a whole province by a handful of
robbers. We shall therefore proceed to
describe our journey to Poli, our residence
there, and the different excursions we made
in its neighbourhood to the mountain passes,
which afterwards became the chief haunts
of the banditti.
Poli is twenty-six miles from Rome. The
road to it from the Porta Maggiore f fol-
* See Appendix, No. I.
f Porta Maggiore. On the enlarging of the walls of
B 2

4 JOURNEY FROM
lows the ancient Gabine or Praenestine way
across the Campagna, till it becomes impas
sable. The modern road to Praeneste or
Palestrina, is more to the right, and is in
great part the ancient Labican way. * The
Porta Maggiore received its present name ^
in the lower ages of the empire, from the
Great Claudian aqueduct, one of whose
arches serves for the gate. The works of
Claudius and of Nero were repaired by Six-
tus V. who used the same aqueduct Lo convey
the Acqua Felice to Rome : and the inscrip
tions of all ages are to be read on these
magnificent arcades. Just without the gate
there is a pilaster, where the channels of the
Acqua Marcia, the Acqua Tepula, and the
Acqua Giulia, one above the other, are still
visible. There is perhaps nothing, not
even the Coliseum, that impresses the mind
more with the grandeur and populous-
Rome by Aurelian, two new gates, the Gabine or Prse-
nestine, and the Labican, were substituted for the an
cient Esquiline gate. V^hen these gates were rebuilt
by Honorius, two of the arches of the Claudian aque
duct were used for them, but soon afterwards the La
bican gate was walled up, being useless so near the
other. * Labicum, now the village of Colonna.

ROME TO POLL

ness of old Rome than the ruins of the
aqueducts, which brought the water forty,
fifty, and even -seventy miles, across the
Campagna, and through its bordering moun
tains, for the daily use of the people.
We began our journey early enough on
a fine day, in the middle of June, to see
the first rays of the sun light up the tops of
the mountains, and gradually descend to
the towers of the Campagna, which is so
far from being a plain that we were every
moment presented with new points of view,
as the distant objects now sunk behind and
now re-appeared above the little hills, or
rather undulations, which diversify the face
of the whole province. The dells which
are between these hills are neither deep nor
very precipitous, but gradually levelled by
cultivation, or the crumbling of the hills,
the tops of which are destitute of trees,
and sometimes even of earth. Many of
them are crowned with the ruins of towers,
of temples, and of tombs, whose painted
ceilings and Mosaic flooring now and then
attract the eye of the passing traveller.
As we drove along, the polygonal pavement
of the antique road frequently appeared, and
B 3

6 JOURNEY FROM
on either hand the plough-share annually
makes discoveries which, unless they timely
attract the notice of an antiquary, or the
avarice of a marble- worker, it buries again
the next season.
A large round building, not unlike the
temple of Minerva Medica, stands so near
the road, that its foundation is worn by the
passing wheels. In the third century it
was used as a Christian church, and the
learned say that it was an ancient temple
to Fortune, belonging to the villa of the
Gordiani, which stood on the road to
Praeneste. In one tomb which we passed,
the sarcophagus, with the sheet of asbestos
wrapped round the skull and bones, now
preserved in the library of the Vatican,
was found ; in another, a sarcophagus where
the has reliefs were painted ; a third was
erected in honour of a mule who had long
served his master faithfully, and who knelt
down to allow him to mount when he be
came infirm. Farther on, at the Tower
called Pignatara, the magnificent porphyry
sarcophagus of Saint Helena, the mother of
Constantine, was found, and placed in the
Vatican, where it is only equalled by that

ROME TO POLI. 7
of Saint Constantia, the daughter of the
same prince. Beyond this we came to the
supposed temple of Female Fortune, and
then to the tower called Torre di tre Teste.
This name it owes either to three ugly
marble heads sculptured in bas relief upon
it, or to its being the point where the lands of
three great proprietors* in the last century
met, and where three of the chief folds for
red cattle were placed. At present, the
tower and buildings about it are uninhabited
in summer, excepting in the few weeks of
harvest, when a little chapel is opened there
every morning at day-break for the reapers,
besides a small wine-house, which often
disappoints the traveller, by not having a
drop of either wine or water to allay his
thirst. The reapers are of course not
natives of the Campagna, where the air is
too bad to maintain human life in the
summer. They come down from the
neighbouring hills in companies of from
twenty to an hundred, and erect little straw
huts, where they sleep during harvest, and
* The three great proprietors were Borghese, MafFei,
and Casali, and the three great folds were Cernara^
Cernaretta, and Bocca Leone. — .^Eschinardi.
b4

8 JOURNEY FROM
almost universally return home with the
intermittent fever. Various chapels are
erected, where a priest says mass once a
day for the reapers ; and there are a few
houses where occasional supplies of bread
and wine may be procured ; but we regretted
that no ovens have been erected where
fresh bread might be baked, and the coarse
food of the labourers thus improved.
Beyond the Torre di tre Teste the antique
buildings are more rare. At the last, Torre
di Salone, the sarcophagus representing the
battle of the Amazons, and the beautiful
crouching Venus, were found ; and close to
the same tower are the sources of the Acqua
Vergine, which supplies the fountain of
Trevi, in Rome. Not far from thence Furius
Camillus fought the Gauls, as they retreated
from Rome, in the year 365 of the city ;
and two hundred years earlier, Tarquin de
feated the Sabines on the same spot. Be
yond this interesting field, the Ponte di
Nona*, a handsome and very ancient Ro
man fabric, crosses a little dell, in a line with
* So called from its being at the ninth mile from
Rome. It has been ascribed to the times of the Re
public.

ROME TO POLI. 9
the broken aqueduct of the Acqua Alexan-
drina ; and two miles beyond that we found
ourselves on the banks of the river Veresis,
at a little inn, where mules were waiting
to take us to Poli, the road becoming im
passable for a carriage at this spot.
The inn is that of Pantana, commonly
called the Osteria dell'Osa, from the modern
name of the Veresis, on which it stands.
The ancient Collatia lies within a mile of
the inn, and we regretted that we had not
time to walk thither. A little hill, covered
with ruins of the middle ages ; a found
ation of a wall of large stones, and of an
tique masonry, is all that remains of the
town of Lucretia, the birth-place of Roman
freedom. It is now called Castellaccio, and
in the middle ages had the name of Castrum
Osae, or Losse.
We had scarcely proceeded a quarter of
a mile on our mules, when we saw the lake
of Pantana, or Castiglione, the ancient lake
of Gabii. It is little more than a mile in
circumference ; its banks are composed of
volcanic substances, and its shape and
depth indicate that it is the crater of an
extinguished volcano. The quarries of the

10 JOURNEY FROM
Gabine stone, or Peperino *, furnish a tufo
not unlike the Alban stone in appearance,
though rather redder, and much harder.
The ancients made use of it not only for
building, but for mill-stones. The banks
of the lake are woody, and afford cover for
wild boars, roe-deer, and every kind of
game, the lake being favourable also to the
wild water-fowl. The meadows between
it and the Alban hills are peculiarly fertile
in natural grass, and a number of horses are
annually bred there, which bring in a con
siderable revenue to the proprietor, whose
extensive stables in long low lines among
the woods, add greatly to the beauty of a
landscape, where the scarcity of dwellings
of any kind makes a building doubly va
luable. On the margin of this lake stood
the ancient town of Gabii. Here Romulus
and Remus were brought up. f Here
Sextus Tarquinius, after executing the bar
barous intention of his father, implied in
the cutting off the aspiring poppy-heads in
* The mottled greenish-grey colour of this kind of
tufo has procured it the vulgar name of peperino, from
its resemblance to ground pepper.
f Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

ROME TO POLI. 11
his garden, was sacrificed to the just ven
geance of the men whose fathers had pe
rished by his tyranny. And this was among
the first allies of the infant republic.
By the time of Augustus, however, it had
fallen into such complete decay, that it is
scarcely ever mentioned without the ad
dition of some epithet implying deserted * ;
but towards the end of his reign, it began
to revive, on account of the salubrity of its
waters, which some physicians had praised
after the death of Marcellus, in opposition
to the baths of Campania. Extensive baths
were then erected, and it became a fashion
able resort for the idle and dissipated of
Rome. At length Hadrian, who prided
himself on being " the restorer of cities,"
raised Gabii to at least its former beauty,
if he could not restore the dignity of its in
dependence ; and early in the Christian his
tory of Italy, it is mentioned as an episcopal
see. But of its first honours, of its re-estab
lishment under Hadrian, or of its bishop-
* Do you know what Lebidus is ? A village more
deserted than Gabii. — Horace, Epis. b. i. Epis. 11.
W^e do not quote Francis here, because he omits the
name of Gabii.

12 JOURNEY FROM
ric in the decline of the empire, so few
vestiges remained, that historians and anti
quaries had fixed Gabii at almost every
village within twenty miles of the real scite,
until 1792. In that year the Scotch painter
Gavine Hamilton, guided by the size and
situation of the lake, and the vicinity of the
ruined temple of Juno, the tutelar goddess
of Gabii *, undertook to superintend such
excavations as the Prince Borghese, on
whose estate these ruins are situated, might
be inclined to make. The result was highly
gratifying. Forty-seven'marbles, including
inscriptions, were discovered, and the ancient
forum was cleared. The marbles were con
veyed to the Villa Borghese, near the Porta
del Popolo, close to the walls of Rome,
where a plain Casino was built to receive
them, and there they remained till they
were removed to Paris with the rest of the
treasures of Rome, but they have not re
turned. Among them were a fine statue
of Germanicus, and busts of the Julian and
* Virgil mentions Gabii as under the protection of
Juno. Among the friends of Turnus, were " those who
plough Saturnia's Gabine land."
Dryden's Virgil, JEn. b. vii. v. 94.4.

ROME TO POLI. 13

Antoninian reigns. There were also se
veral statues of Gabine magistrates, but
Forsyth remarks, that their toga is not dis
posed in that solemn knot, called the cinctus
Gabinus, for the Gabines had that privilege
only in war. *
The forum has been filled up f, and the
traveller is once more reduced to the plain
square walls of the temple of Juno, for the
gratification of his curiosity at Gabii. The
lake and its surrounding thickets, with the
* The cinctus Gabinus was nothing else but when
the lappet of the toga, which used to be brought up to
the left shoulder, being drawn thence, was cast off in such
a manner upon the back, as to coine round short to the
breast, and there fastened in a knot, which knot or cinc
ture tucked up the gown, and made it shorter. Ferrarius.
f Visconti had given an account and a plate of the
forum of Gabii, in his interesting " Monumenti Gabini :"
and also some curious details of the history of Gabii,
confirmed by the inscriptions found there. The trea
sures of Gabii now adorn the gallery of the Louvre.
The Germanicus with the sheathed sword, is that once
belonging to the Borghese collection ; the other with his
hand raised, as if in the attitude of playing at Mora, was
carried from Rome to Paris in the reign of Louis XIV.
One of the most remarkable of the Gabine marbles in
the Louvre, is the circular altar to the twelve superior
deities. 5

14 JOURNEY FROM
castle which gives it its modern name, are
however sufficiently interesting ; and the
fine fig-trees which grow down to the water,
show that one part of its ancient fame at
least was just, for its figs are still the boast
of the Campagna.
Leaving the Gabine lake on our right, we
proceeded by the ancient Via Collatina as
far at Corcolla, having passed the last public
granary on the borders of the Campagna.
Corcolla is a high rocky point, at the junc
tion of two mountain streams, on the top
of which there is a handsome and ancient
mansion of the Barberini, now only used as a
farm-house. A little beyond it, on the same
hill, is Passerano, the ancient Scaptia. The
meadows on either side of the water below
Corcolla, are flat and green, and more like
English fields than any thing we had seen
in Italy ; they are decorated with a few
willows, and a white mill stands among is
them on the stream. Just- opposite, there
is a small wine-house, behind which the
Via Collatina runs on towards Tivoli. We
took another direction, and entered a thicket
that clothes the steep banks of the stream.
As we ascended, we passed the foundation

ROME TO POLL 15
of some large antique building, formed of
great square blocks of Peperino, and ob
served a fluted marble column lying across
the path. As these remains are near the
little unhealthy town of San Vetturino,
where some antiquaries place the ancient
^sula, though others think it was at San
Gregorio, about four miles from it, they
may have belonged to that town. After
climbing by wretched rocky paths for some
time, through a picturesque wood of oak
and elm, with an under-growth of various
kinds of thorn and other flowering shrubs,
we found ourselves on a high narrow ridge,
between two streams, which, though now
quiet enough, show by the large masses of
rock that lie in these channels, how terrible
their winter course has been. This ridge
brought us out to an open plain, very much
raised above any part of the Campagna, and
perfectly flat where the torrents had not
worn channels. The plain is from half a
mile to two miles wide, and stretches along
the foot of the mountains from Tivoli to Pa
lestrina. It is very fertile, and we saw them
reaping a most luxuriant crop of wheat.
All the wheat grown hereabouts is bearded ;

16 JOURNEY FROM
they call it gratio di Campagna, and say it
yields the best crops. The flour it pro
duces is remarkably white ; the straw rather
coarse, and the ear in the husk has a reddish
cast. This plain once belonged almost en
tirely to Prgeneste, or Palestrina, but Sylla
deprived that city of part of the territory,
which was never entirely restored, and it is
now^ divided among the neighbouring town
ships. There are no villages nor hamlets,
nor even farm-houses, in this part of Italy.
All the inhabitants live in towns, and this
gives the country, especially about Rome,
a melancholy air. The want of those com
fortable homesteads that animate the land
scape in England, is sensibly felt in these
widely extended fields, where the only
buildings are the casales, or small houses
where the agricultural implements are kept,
the daily food of the labourers is deposited,
and where, at most, a farm servant some
times sleeps to guard the grain or other
stores. But not one family lives in the
country ; the home is always in the town,
and it is possible that this unpeopling of
the country may be a cause, as well as a
consequence, of the unhealthiness of the

Horace's imaginary villa. 17
au\ That part of the plain to which we
ascended belongs to Poli ; to our right
lay the tenement belonging to Palestrina,
called San Giovanni in Camp-orazio, where,
besides the ancient aqueduct across the
deep ravine that divides it from the lands
of Poli, there are many ancient substruc
tures ; and funeral vases, and other antique
fragments, have been found. The name of
this tenement has led to some serious en
quiries, as to whether Horace ever possessed
a villa or a vineyard near Praeneste. But
besides the possibility that some of his ad
mirers may have named a field after him,
or that some other Horace may have had
his farm here, we may believe the poet's
own assertion, that his only villa was in
the Sabine, not the Praenestine territory.
However, to account for the name of
Camp-orazio, we must observe, that Ho
race is looked upon by the people in this
neighbourhood, as at least as great a ne
cromancer as Virgil was by half Europe
in the tenth century ; and when they
have no other name at hand to give to
an ancient ruin, it is always, " Perhaps it
may have been built by the poet Horace."

18 PALACES OF CATENA.
Nero, indeed, under the name of the Re
Negrone, partakes in these honours ; and
greatly indeed would both the poet and
emperor be astonished at some of the works
attributed to them. Beyond the Camp-
orazio lies the camp occupied by Pyrrhus,
on his nearest approach to Rome ; and the
Hernician plain extends between the Alban
hills and the Appenine.
We were, however, not able very much
to enjoy the beauty or novelty of the land
scape, on account of the excessive heat ;
for it was about noon when we traversed
the corn land before mentioned ; and the
midsummer sun of Italy, reflected from
a harvest-field, is enough to damp the
strongest curiosity. But two miles of this
hot road brought us to the woody vale of
Poli. At its entrance we were struck with
the beautiful situation of the palaces of the
Catena, belonging to the family of Cesarini,
but now deserted. Three villas, with every
luxury of garden and fountain, wood and
meadow, stabling for eighty horses, garners
for corn, and storehouses for wine and oil,
are all abandoned ; and the fallen fortunes
of that house, which traces its ancestry to
the Roman Csesars, are too visibly pictured

VALE OF POLI. 19
here. The very roads by which the palaces
could be approached are broken up, and
it must be years since even a waggon
could have forced its way along the rocky
paths that now supply their place. Of the
modern road, indeed, scarcely a vestige re
mains ; but the antique paved way from
Tivoli to Palestrina, which runs in a line
with the Catena, shows itself in more than
one spot in the corn land we passed through.
The valley, of Poli is very narrow, and
runs up about three miles into the moun
tains. It is formed by two principal
streams and several smaller, which pour
down the sides of the hills, and, after wan
dering through the valleys below, find their
way to the Anio, not far from the Ponte
Lucano. The town stands on a narrow
ridge of dark rock, between its two rivulets.
The stone it is built of is so like the rock,
that it looks as if it had grown out of it ;
and, embosomed in thick woods, and over
topped by mountains, it shows like a moun
tain-eagle's nest as one approaches it. And
such, indeed, it was, when the Conti dukes
of Poli had under their dominion upwards
of forty townships, and boasted of the car-
c 2

20 TOWN OF POLI.
dinals, the princes, and the popes of their
hoi^se. They were originally of the fol
lowers of the Emperor Otho into Italy, and
the family long retained the half-barbarous
name of Lotharius, among their descend
ants. Their importance in the civil wars
of Italy has given them a place in each of
the three divisions of the Divina Comedia
of Dante : but the title of the dukes of
Poli is extinct, and their large possessions
have devolved, through the female branches,
upon the Sforza Cesarini, and the Piombini,
the last of whom possess the Palazzo Poli
in Rome, and the first the palace and
town of Poli itself *
The entrance to the town is through a
handsome gateway, built in the sixteenth
century, by Lotharius, Duke of Poli. The
duke's palace, a building of the same date,
raised on the remains of a much older
fabric, is immediately over the gate, and
commands the whole town, which only
consists of one street and two small
squares ; for the little lanes leading out of
* The town and palace are now on sale ; and it is said
chat Madame Letitia Buonaparte is in treaty for it at the
price of 90,000 crowns. — Since the first edition of this
work was pubhshed, Torlonia the banker, now duke of
Bracrifl'io, has purchased Poli.

TOWN OF POLL 21
the street to the low houses, partly built
and partly excavated in the rock, hardly
deserve even that humble name. The
gate, the ducal chapel, and the fi-ont of the
palace, form three sides of the Piazza
della Corte ; the fourth opening to the
street. The palace is a plain, though ir
regular building, with handsome apart
ments. The ground-floor is now converted
into a granary and storehouse ; and the
coved ceilings, painted, it should seem,
by the school of the Zuccheri, accord but
ill with the filth and neglect every where
visible. The fountains that adorned the
court, the staircase, and the balcony, are
all dry. The theatre, which even till
of late years afforded some little intel
lectual amusement for the Polese, is fallen
to decay ; and the gardens are let out to
the market-men. A few rooms only are
kept in repair, in case the duke should
choose to visit it. The library is clean, but
almost empty; for nothing is left but a
few volumes on religion and the canon
law ; and the gallery is now hung with
wretched daubings that would disgrace
the walls of an English ale-house. The
principal church of Poli is dedicated to

22 TOWN OF POLI.
Saint Peter, the patron of the town.
It is built on the only antique masonry
now^ existing at Poli, which consists of
immense square blocks of tufo, laid like
the oldest buildings in Rome. It was
once painted entirely within ; but the love
of neatness in some of the ajrchpriests has
covered all the pictures but three, by the
great altar, one of which represents the
crucifixion of Peter, with white-wash.
These are said to be the works of the pupils
of Michael Angelo. The admiration, or
rather idolatry of the people in this neigh
bourhood for that great man, has produced
some little confusion in their ideas of
chronology. For instance; the chapel to
the Virgin, at Capranica, two miles from
Poli, built by Cardinal Antonio Capranica,
is said to have been designed by him ;
but, as the death of the Cardinal and the
birth of Michael Angelo were within two
or three years of each other, the chapel
must have had another founder or another
architect. The tradition that these wild
scenes were a favourite summer resort of
his, is more easily to be believed. The
only piece of marble in the neighbourhood
of Poli is a copy of his Pieta, placed in a

CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS. 23
very pretty little church, just without the
gates, called the Madonna della Pieta. The
church of Saint John is large and plain,
and belongs to one of the two parishes of
Poli. Part of it is formed of the living
rock; and, being partially over the lower
gate of the town, might serve, on occasion,
as a defence. Just without that gate there
is a small chapel to Saint Anthony, scarcely
ever opened but on his festival, when he
exercises his peculiar privilege of blessing
the cattle ; and cakes and roasted beans are
distributed to the owners, after their beasts
have been duly sprinkled with the holy
water. The number of the inhabitants of
Poli exceeds 1300 : they universally apply
themselves to agriculture, and are a quite
simple people ; hospitable as far as their
means go, and even generous. In 1656,
when the plague raged in Palestrina, and all
the neighbouring towns refused commu
nication, or even a passage to the mills
through their lands, the people of Poli
opened a pass through their fields for their
unfortunate neighbours, and, animated by
the example of their duke. Carlo Conti,
went daily to the gate of the afflicted city,
c 4

24 CLIMATE OF POLI,
and carried such provisions as they could
spare. In consequence of this conduct,
on the day when the Prasnestines went in
solemn procession to return thanks to God
and to Saint Agapet for their delivery
from the sickness, the whole people of
Poli were enrolled as citizens of Pales
trina. There are three or four public ovens
in the town, but no shops but those for
the most ordinary necessaries. A carpen
ter, a blacksmith, a shoe-maker, and a
worker in leather, for agricultural uses, are
all the handicraftsmen in Poli. The coarse
clothing is chiefly made by the women,
who, with the distaff and spindle, spin their
wool and flax in the winter, weave it in the
spring at looms let out at a cheap rate, and
dye or bleach it before midsummer, when
first the harvest, and then the vintage, call
them to harder labour.
The climate of Poli is exceedingly
healthy, and there is no instance of the fever
of the country attacking those who live
entirely there ; but the poorer sort, who go
to perform harvest-work in the Campagna,
almost universally return ill, and the neigh
bouring town of San Vetturino, and even the

AND OF THE CAMPAGNA DE ROMA. 25
villas of the Catena suffer annually from it.
The want of shelter in the Campagna has
been considered as the great cause of the
fevers. The excessive heat of the day, when
the thermometer rises to nearly a hundred,
causes an extraordinary degree of evapora
tion from the lakes and marshes ; the air is
of course full of moisture, which, being con
densed after night-fall, descends suddenly
on bodies still heated by the sun, and by a
hard day's work, and would, by the sudden
change they cause, produce an intermitting
fever even without the help of the miasma,
or the sulphureous exhalations to which
various writers * have attributed the un
healthiness of the neighbourhood of Rome.
If this be the true cause, or even one of the
causes, the cutting down the woods must
increase the evil, by taking the shelter
from the water or damp grounds, and thus
exposing them to the direct rays of the sun,
and also by removing the natural remedy
for bad air furnished by the leaves of trees,
which derive nourishment from what de
stroys animal life, and give out in return a
purer element. Some advantage might be
* See particularly Chateauvieux' s sensible letters from
Italy to M. Pictet.

26 TEVER OF ROME.
derived from digging reservoirs like the
ancient Piscinae, where the water might be
covered ; and much from draining. But
the climate around Rome has always been
unhealthy. Our own elder poets noticed
it, particularly Shakspeare, who makes Co
riolanus say to the retreating Romans, " All
the contagion of the south light on you."
And again, in Cymbeline, Cloten says, speak
ing of Posthumus who was just gone to
Rome, " The south fog rot him." But the
fever of Rome existed long before the un
peopling of its neighbourhood in the mid
dle ages. The elegant paper of Dr. Mat-
thaeis, on the worship paid by the ancient
Romans to the Goddess Fever, proves that
her altars existed from the very earliest
times of the monarchy. The most ancient
of her temples was on Mount Palatine ;
others were erected in different parts of the
city ; and it appears most probable, that such
remedies as had proved efficacious were
registered in these temples for the benefit
of future supplicants. Horace in his sa
tires, ridicules some of the vows made for
the recovery of the sick*, and in his epistle
* Francis's Horace, Satires, b. ii. Sat. ii. c. 401.
17

FEVER OP ROME. 27
to Maecenas, excusing himself for staying in
the country, instead of visiting his friend in
Rome, thus mentions his fears of fever.
The purpled fig now paints the sickly year.
And undertakers in black pomp appear ;
The father, and, with softer passions warm'd.
The tender mother, for her son 's alarm'd ;
The crowded levee with a fever kills.
And the long lawyer's plea unseals our wills. *
But it would be endless to quote, or even'
to name all the poets or historians who
mention the periodical fever of Rome,
among the ancients. In their time, as now,
the number of fevers and of deathsi varied
considerably in different years, they were,
however, alwas more numerous during the
months of June, July, August. The num
ber of fever patients in the hospital of Santo
Spirito in Rome, is usually from 1800 to
2000. This year, 1819, it was little more
than 1000, yet foreigners complain of it as
an unhealthy season, while the labourers
in the Campagna have found it milder than
usual.
* Francis's Horace, Epistles, b. i. Ep. 7.

28

CHAP. 11.

Ye fauns, propitious to tlie rural swains !
Ye nymphs that haunt the mountains and the plains !
¦loin in my worlj, and to my numbers bring
Your needful succour ; for your gifts I sing. Dryden's Virgil.

COSTUME AT POLI.  AMUSEMENTS.  EDUCATION. 
RELIGION AND ITS EFFECTS.  POPULAR LITERATURE.
 COUNTRY HOUSES, FARMS, &C.  SOIL.  CULTIVA
TIONS.  PRODUCTIONS.  OFFERINGS TO THE MADONNA.
 VINEYARDS. — OLIVES.  FOREST AND OTHER TREES.
 FRUITS.  PASTURE, CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, PIGS.
 GAME AND HUNTING.  FISH.
A FEW days after our arrival at -t^O", ,^g
were present at a little dance given chiefly
to honour us as strangers. The very pic
turesque costume of the peasants appeared
to great advantage on the occasion ; and
the dance, the Roman Saltarello so well
given in Pinelli's spirited etchings, exhibited
all the varieties of the bashful, the graceful,
and the grotesque- The tambourine was
the only instrument used to regulate the
steps of the dancers, some of whom danced

1=1©

©

AMUSEMENTS AT POLL 29
without shoes ; others, with their high heels
and enormous buckles, exhibited, perfiaps,
more skill but less grace.
On holidays, these dances, a little drink
ing among the men who also play a great deal
at bowls, and a great deal of gossip among the
wonlen, are the chief amusements of the
Polese. The young men go out to shoot and
hunt, but the price of a licence to shoot
(about six shillings) deters many from that
profitable pastime. A few of the better sort
of women, and there are eight or ten who
have left off their country costume and
adopted the French style of dress, make
parties into the country, and walk together
in the evening, and sometimes play at cards.
These, instead of spinning, or knitting, em
broider flounces and frills ; but books never
enter into their amusements or occupations ;
and even music is only cultivated by the
priests. Of these there are only five in Poli,
including the village schoolmaster; and a
friar or a monk is almost as much stared at
by the children here, as he would be in a
country town in England. Their parents,
indeed, remember two well-peopled monas
teries belonging to Poli, but these were
among the first to sink at the Revolution.

30 EDUCATION.
A very fine house, now belonging to the
chief proprietor here, was about the year
1790 flourishing as a convent of Breton
monks, but Brittany being involved in the
general fate of France, the funds for the
support of the convent failed, and the com
munity sold their house and land, and dis
persed. San Stefano, close to the great gate
at Poli, is little better. A single monk, who
is the schoolmaster, and a lay-brother who
cooks for him, are all the remaining inha
bitants of the once richly endowed Spanish
monastery of San Stefano. The school was
founded some centuries ago by the lady
Giacinta, of the Conti family, and is free
to all the young Polese. They are taught
reading, writing, and Latin and Italian
grammar, but no arithmetic. Their Latin
studies consist of sentences from Cicero, part
of Cornelius Nepos, the Testament, and
certain religious tracts. Formerly this was
a kind of preparation for the priesthood,
but the profession is out of fashion at Poli
since the reduction of the monasteries. The
Italian authors the}^ read are entirely reli
gious. A short catechism, the Christian
doctrine of Belarmine, a history of the
Bible, but not a chapter unprepared, and

EDUCATION. 31
the lives of the saints, complete the studies
of the school of Poli, and probably those of
most of the free schools in Italy.
The charity of the foundress of the boys'
school also supports a school-mistress to
teach the girls to read, to sew, to spin, and
to knit.
Education, imperfect as it is here, displays
its advantages in the conduct and sentiments
of some of the peasants. We met with one
remarkable instance of its influence in a
young man who was usually our guide in our
little expeditions. His powers of reasoning
were acute, and his observations, wherever
his religious faith did not interfere, far above
any thing we had expected in this rude
and remote place. If by chance he got
near the doubtful grounds of faith, he al
ways checked himself, saying, " These sub-
" jects are better not touched upon. I do
" not think the worse of you for differing
" in your belief from me ; but I believe it
" would be mortal sin in me, unenlightened
" as I am, to attempt to examine the grounds
" of my own, and thereby expose myself to
" the perils of heresy or discontent." On all
other subjects he was very frank and intel-

32 RELIGION.
ligent, and exceedingly curious about the
productions of our country, and the customs
of our country people. We had the curi
osity to borrow the common school-books
from Agapeto, for so our friend was called,
and could not help being struck with the
extreme care with which the church of
Rome has watched to effect its own pur
poses, in the instruction of even the young
est child. The Italian Santa Croce, or
Christ's-cross-row *, contains, besides the
letters and syllables, some prayers in Italian,
others in Latin, which the little children
are instructed to repeat, without, however,
understanding them, the creed, a short
catechism, and a manufactured copy of the
decalogue. In th is last, the second command
ment is completely omitted, to accommo
date the pictures and images of the Romish
worship, and the 10th is split, to make up
* This name, pronounced criss-a-oss-t-ow, was given to
the alphabet when the sign of the holy cross preceded
the letter A, and was learned by the little Christian be
fore any thing else. Its original title is npw almost for
gotten, as well as that of the horn-book, which it derived
from being covered with transparent horn to keep it
clean. Modern primers and spelling-books have super
seded our old friend, but we still remember it with gra
titude.

SUPKUSTITIOK. 33
the number. * Indeed, we do not see how
the commandment against idolatry could be
retained where the practice is so prevalent.
The women wear a Madonna and child in
their rings, the men sew a crucifix into
their jackets ; these are caressed and in
voked in every peril, and we had more than
one occasion to observe that these imases
were considered as something more than
mere symbols.
Several of the principal persons here,
never having seen heretics before, except
struggling in flames in a picture, questioned
us very minutely as to our faith ; and when
we acknowledged our want of belief in the
Virgin and saints, and our disregard of
images and pictures, they shrunk involun
tarily, and earnestly entreated us to be of
their church ; if for nothing else, that we
might enjoy the mediation of the saints,
and more especially of the blessed Virgin,
whose intercession was all-powerful with
her Son, and with his Father. How mis
chievous this multiplicity of mediators, in
addition to the privileges attached to con
fession, may be in encouraging the repe-
¦ See Appendix, II.
D

34 SUPERSTITION AND ITS EFFECTS.
tition of crimes is, however, but too ap
parent. He who can murder his brother
to-day, and appease the church, and lull
his own conscience, to-morrow by penance,
and a bribe to the Virgin, or some other
saint, will have less scruple to kill his father
the day after. At Tivoli a man was
pointed out to us who had stabbed his
brother, who died in agonies within an
hour. The murderer went to Rome, pur
chased his pardon from the church, and
received a written protection from a car
dinal, in consequence of which, he was
walking about unconcernedly: a second
Cain, whose life was sacred. If then
crimes are so easily got over, how much
more may a monthly or yearly confession
and absolution cover habitual vice ?
Religious booksj however, are not the
only reading in which the peasantry delight.
Some of them aspire even to the works of
Metastasio ; but the greater number are
better acquainted with the sort of half-
classical ballads, which jumble the heathen
mythology and Christian legends together.
The story of Orpheus and Euridice, called
Orfeo e la bella Eudrice, is a great favourite.
17

POPULAR LITERATURE. 35
The death of Clorinda, from Tasso, de
formed by a barbarous jargon, but still
pathetic, is another. But perhaps the most
read, are those founded on the miracles
and martyrdoms of the saints, in which the
wickedness of Nero, and the necromancy of
Simon Magus, furnish what one may call
the machinery of the poem ; and virtue
and religion, in the persons of the holy
martyrs, always conquer at last ; for the
poets never scruple to accompany them to
the land of souls, and to exhibit them in a
state of glory. Contrasted with these, but
almost equally prized, are the lives of
famous robbers and outlaws, the Robin
Hoods of Italy. Satirical poems are not
very uncommon among the lower class of
people, who have a strong perception of
humour. Their songs of course are chiefly
of devotion and of love. And their prose
tales have all the necromancy and the
gigantic that might be expected in the
country of Ariosto and Pulci.*
Many of the richer people in Poli have
pretty country-houses, which have every
* See Appendix for Specimens, III.
d2

36 COUNTRY HOUSES, FARMS, &C.
appearance of having been really little
villas, with the vineyard, orchard, and
garden around them. They are now de
serted, and are used like the common
casales, for the farming implements, or as
storehouses, and the occasional shelter of
a farm-servant to watch the crops. The
presses for wine and oil are also generally
at the casales; and the wool is washed and
prepared, and the flax and hemp steeped
and heckled there. We frequently walked
to one of these little farms, to meet the
goats coming in at night from the moun
tain. As the flock crowded down the
broken road leading to the fold, followed
by their grotesque-looking shepherd and
his rough dogs, the pet-kids crowding
round their master and answering to his
call, we could not help thinking of the an
tique manners described by the poets, and
represented in the pictures of Herculaneum
and Pompeii. The casale is built on a
rock, looking over th.e rugged glen, that
leads from Poli to Palestrina. A Madonna,
painted on a coloured tile, is placed over
the gateway ; and we observed such at the
entrance of almost every vineyard, to bless

SOIL. 37
them from evil, and to guard them from
thieves. They seem in this classic land to
be substituted for the rural deities and ter
mini, which occupied the same places and
filled the same offices in antique Italy, and
which were of at least as rude workmanship.
lo lavorata da rustico artefice
lo pioppio arida, e stante, o passeggiere.
Qui alia sinistra, io custodisco il piccolo
Campo, che or puoi con sigurta vedere ;
E da me questa villetta defendesi,
E I'orticino al povero padrone,
Le rie mani de Ladri allontanandone.
Ho percio nell' Aprile pinte Corone
Ho rosseggianti spiche in caldo fervido
Ho tra i pampini verdi uva dolciata
E glauche olive quando il verno e rigido.*
The hills on the south side of the vale of
Poli are composed of tufo, and crowned
with chesnut-wood. In quarrying the tufo
for building, wood, canes, and leaves, are
found in it, besides great quantities of char
coal, which, though somewhat heavier than
common charcoal, owing to a small portion
of calcareous matter, which partially fills up
the pores, is still so little changed as to
" Subleyras' CatulJub.
D .S

38 CULTIVATION.
burn exceedingly well. We saw some of
the pieces so large as three inches in di
ameter ; and we could distinguish the knots
and branches of various kinds of trees en
closed in the same bed. The soil formed
by the decomposition of this tufo is of the
richest quality; and the proprietors assured
us, that it neither required to lie fallow, nor
to be manured.
The father of the young peasant we have
already mentioned, obtained a piece of
waste land about ten years ago, and, with no
other assistance than his son's labour, he
has converted it into a most productive little
farm.* We frequently went thither to enjoy
the sight of such successful industry, and
that we might become acquainted with
the rural economy of the neighbourhood.
Most of the territory of Poli belongs in fief
to the Duke of Sforza, and, like the lands
of the church, are not entirely alienable, but
are sold subject to a quit-rent, sometimes
* In this manner a number of small proprietors are
growing up out of the wrecks of some of the great feofs
of the states of the church ; besides, the land-stewards
and overseers are also, like John o' the scales, rising on
the ruin of their employers.

CULTIVATION. 39
paid in kind, sometimes in money ; and
upon all sales and transfers of lands, there is
a government tax of 4 per cent. Our friend's
little farm pays a fifth of all the corn, and a
fourth of all the pulse, wine, oil, &c. raised
upon it. In bad years this is hard upon the
cultivator; who, after paying his fourth or
fifth into the Duke's storehouses, and feed
ing his family, has been known to have
scarcely enough seed for the next year,
much less any thing to sell, so as to add
to his stock, or to provide for exigencies.
Close about the casale is what may properly
be called the garden, containing fruit-trees,
vines, and olives ; between which are the
ordinairy vegetables, such as cabbage, po
tatoes, tomatas, and the various kinds of
gourds. Peas, beans, and kidney-beans,
are sown in greater quantities, and form an
essential part of the farmer's wealth; the
rest of the ground is given up to wheat
and maize. But no man here thinks of
cultivating the most he can of what his soil
is fittest for, till he has planted enough of
every thing else for the yearly supply of his
family. Wheat is sown two or three years toge-
c 4

40 CULTIVATION.
ther without manure on the same land: it is
then succeeded by maize, generally for two
years; and with the maize, kidney-beans,
which find support on the strong, straight
stems of the maize. Sometimes flax or
hemp is sown once in five years ; but they
generally expect three crops of wheat in that
period, though the order of the rotation
may be different, and a winter crop of beans
or green meat for cattle substituted for one
of maize. The kidney-bean is an article
of much importance here. The quantity
eaten green bears no proportion to that
raised for the sake of the ripe seed, which,
under the name of Haricot, Fagioli, and
Caravansas, form a great part of the lent
food of the people of France, Italy, and
Spain. They are reaped a» peas are in
England, and either threshed with a flail or
trodden out by cattle. Very little barley or
rye, and still less oats, are raised in the lands
of Poli ; as much flax, as nearly to supply
the inhabitants, and some hemp, in the wet
test grounds, are annually cultivated; but
the great crops, those, in short, which leave
any surplus for the market, are wheat,
kidney-beans, maize, and wine.

CULTIVATION. 41
The wheat is reaped towards the end of
June and throughout July, ten days later
than the harvest of the Campagna. As
soon as a large field, or two or three
adjoining fields, are reaped, a threshing-
floor is prepared, and the grain is trodden
out by horses ; so that it is threshed before
it is stored, or even removed from the field ;
a practice that could not obtain in our un
certain climate. The clayey nature of the
soil renders Virgil's precept, to
" Delve of convenient depth your threshing-floor.
With tempered clay then fill and face it o'er," *
unnecessary. Here a piece of ground in
the highest and driest part of the field,
is first smoothed with a hoe, and then
swept very clean. If the crop be small, it
is threshed with a flail ; if otherwise, horses
are used to tread it out. We have seen
from ten to fourteen on one floor. The
corn is winnowed on the spot, by means of
a sieve supported on poles, and the chaff"
* Dryden's Virgil, Georg. i. 1. 258. We saw thresh
ing-floors, such as Virgil describes, in the neighbourhood
of Naples.

42 OFFERINGS.
burned forthwith. Formerly, it was often
left to be dispersed by the wind ; but
since the locusts destroyed the crops of the
Campagna in 1811, and the two following
years, the burning the chaff has been uni
versally practised as a means of destroying
the larvEe of those formidable insects. The
gleaners rub out their little pittance on
a rasp, or beat it with a stone. This lat
ter custom, as well as the use of thresh
ing-floors, is oriental. The wages of a
man in harvest is two pauls, or nearly a
shilling, besides four pagnotte, or little
loaves, each weighing eight ounces troy
weight, and wine, mixed with one-fourth
of water, at discretion. A woman's wages
is one paul and three pagnotte, with wine.
They heighten the relish of their bread
with goat or ewe-milk, cheese, onions,
and garlic. The money-wages at Tivoli is
one half more ; the allowance of bread the
same. In the neighbourhood of Albano and
Frascati, the wages in money are much
higher, but no food is allowed. Harvest-
home, as with us, is a time of universal
merriment. It is generally celebrated with

OFFERINGS TO THE MADONNA. 43
a dance, when cakes, called ciambelle, made
of fine flour, oil, and honey, and others,
called pizzi, made of barley, well salted,
are distributed, with a good allowance of
wine. If the harvest has been plentiful,
a large sheaf is generally reserved for some
favourite saint, as the offering of first-fruits
among the Hebrews was corn beaten out
of full ears.* The reapers carry it along;
the priest meets them, a prayer of de
dication is said, and the sheaf is placed
before the altar. We had the pleasure of
seeing the little church of Santa Maria
delle Grazie so adorned ; and whether it
be the remains of pagan rites, or the
natural expression of pious gratitude, act
ing alike under different laws and in dif^
ferent ages, we were too well pleased to
enquire. We. have seen the poor Hindoo
place his cocoa-nut and his handful of rice
before his households gods. We read of
the elegant offerings of odorous flowers and
fruits made by Catullus, to the rural guar
dian of his vineyard f; but none of these
* Levit. ii. 14.
f Catullus, xix. and xx. See the quotation, page 37-

44 VINEYARDS.
please us so much as the plentiful sheaf
given by the Christian Polese to the Ma
donna delle Grazie.
The maize here is drilled and thinned.
Some attempts were made at Tivoli to sow
it broad-cast, and leave it unthinned ; but
they failed. The plants scarcely grew to
the height of four feet, and seldom pro
duced more than one head ; while that
which is drilled grows to twice that height,
and each plant produced at least six heads.
Besides, the green provender aflforded by
its leaves for the cattle is more abundant
and more juicy, and consequently the dried
leaves for winter mattresses larger and
softer. After the maize is cut, it is left to
dry a few days in the sun, and then threshed
like other corn. While very young, the
heads boiled or. toasted are both palatable
and nutritious, and are much eaten by the
common people. The meal of the maize,
called Polenta, is made into a sort of pud
ding, not unlike oatmeal porridge ; it is
sometimes eaten in the same manner, but
oftener sliced, when cold, and broiled. The
bread made from maize is neither agreeable
nor nutritious.

VIENYARDS. 45
A vineyard lasts twenty years without
renewing, if well pruned, hoed, and care
taken to put in a fresh slip where rot or
accidents destroy an old one. Almost all
the manure of the farm is expended here
upon the vineyard, which is carefully
dressed twice a-year ; first, when the spring
is well set in, and again in autumn, before
the cold is severe. The vines here are
not allowed to grow so high as about
Naples, where, as in Virgil's time,
" They brave the winds, and, clinging to their guide,
On tops of elms at length triumphant ride." *
Nor are they kept so low as about Rome,
where trellice-work of wood or reeds,
scarcely more than six feet high, is used
to train them on. Here they plant the
maple for that purpose in rows in the vine
yard, and prune it at nine or ten feet from
the ground, allowing a few elms to grow
* Dryden's Virgil. Georg. ii. 1. 496. In the same
Georgic, line 550., there is a precept to plough the vine
yard thrice a-year : this is not practised here. Every
state has its peculiar way of dressing the vineyard : we
have described exactly what we saw. It is probably a
very ancient practice, though not the most productive.

46 VINEYARDS.
high in the hedge-rows, to shelter the plants
from the strong winds. Where the spaces
between the roy^s of vines are sufficiently
wide, corn is sold there; and, in level
fields, ploughing is preferred to any other
mode of dressing the ground. But here the
hoe is used for every kind of culture, and
round the roots of the plants the earth is
opened with a two-pronged instrument,
called a bidente. Where there is not
space for corn, beans, peas, tares, or
lupines * are very commonly sown between
the vines. A light soil is best for a vine
yard ; and the most favourable time for
planting is the spring, because the earth
having been prepared in autumn, has time
to ripen in the winter frost. It is not,
however, unusual to plant early in Novem
ber, and put manure round the young
plants. The ground being ready, the cut
tings of the vine are placed between the
teeth of an iron instrument, like a rod, with
* Lupines here are chieflysown for the sake of manuring
the land. When they are full grown, they are ploughed
into the earth and there left to rot. On some occasions
they are boiled and laid to the roots of orange and lemon
trees, and even to those of olives and vines.

OLIVES. 47
a short fork at the end. This is driven
into the ground, like a dibble, deposits the
young plant without farther trouble, and
the vines begin to bear the second year.
The wine of Poli is white, small, and plea
sant, though rather hard. The vintage is
later than that of Tivoli or the Campagna,
owing to the height of the valley. The
farmers boasted much to us of the gaiety
of the wine season, and pressed us not to
leave them till we should have seen it,
assuring us we should have dancing and
feasting for a whole month. But the labour
of the vineyard is not over with the vint
age; the autumn ploughing must be at
tended to, and the bare vine must be pruned
and lopped.*
On the north side of the vale of Poli the
hills are less luxuriantly fertile than those
on the south. Large masses of white cal
careous stone begin to appear, piercing

* It is apparent from the above statement how difFei'-
ent the management of the vineyard is in Italy and
France, where the vines are kept low, and the soil differ
ently treated. Where the French culture has been tried,
the Italian wines have always improved. But there is
a prejudice against change.

to

48 OLIVES.
through the tufo very early in the ascent,
and shortly after the tufo disappears, and
the limestone is sparingly covered with
earth. Even there, however, the pas
turage is good, and the oak and chesnut
grow to an immense size. The nearest
and least rocky of these hills were stripped
of their native woods about six years ago,
and olives planted in their stead. This
tree, which appears to delight in the soil
and climate of Italy, was not naturalized
here till two centuries after the foundation
of Rome*; but its usefulness, the little
culture it requires, and the otherwise bar
ren situations which it renders productive,
quickly spread it over the western face of
the Appenine. The suckers are removed
* See Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap, ii., where he
quotes Pliny for this fact : " The olive in the western
" world followed the progress of peace, of which it was
" considered as the symbol. Two centuries after the
" foundation of Rome, both Italy and Africa were
" strangers to that usefiil plant : it was naturalized in
" those countries, and, at length, carried into the heart
" of Spain and Gaul. The timid errors of the an-
" cients, that it required a certain degree of heat, and
" could only flourish in the neighbourhood of the
" sea, were insensibly exploded by industry and ex-
" perience.''

FOREST AND OTHER TREES. 49
from the parent tree at all seasons ; but
best in spring and autumn, when the
grounds are ploughed, and sometimes, if the
trees be thinly scattered, sown with corn
or lupines. Otherwise, the earth is merely
loosened round the roots, and, in some
cases, manure is then laid round* them.
The young olive-plant bears at two years
old ; in six years it begins to repay the
expence of cultivation, even if the ground
is not otherwise cropped. After that period,
in good years, the produce is the surest
source of wealth to the farmer, and the
tree rivals the oak in longevity ; so that
the common proverb here is, " If you
" want to leave a lasting inheritance to
" your children's children, plant an olive."
There Is an old olive-tree near Gericomio,
which last year yielded 240 English quarts
of oil : yet its trunk is quite hollow, and its
empty shell seems to have barely enough
hold in the ground to secure it against the
mountain-storms. Of the more ordinary trees which prove
* This does not quite agree with \'irgil, who says,
Georg. ii. 1. 587.,
" No dressing they require, and dread no wound."
E

50 FOREST AND OTHER TREES.
a source of wealth to the Polese, the chief
are their chesnuts and walnuts. The
former produce smaller, yet sweeter ches
nuts than those of Naples, where the trees
are always kept' like coppice-wood, to make
them bear larger and more abundant fruit.
The walnut-trees grow to a prodigious size,
and the fruit may be reckoned of the se
cond quality. The wood is very valuable,
not being apt to splinter. When sold for
gun-stocks, or furniture, a moderate-sized
tree is worth about five crowns : a good
beam, fit for the copper-mills at Tivoli *, is
alone worth a crown ; and, if there were
water-carriage near, the value would be
jdoubled. For these uses the wild service-
tree, which here yields a very respectable
fruit, is preferred especially for the mill
wright's purposes. The aspen is used for
yokes, the elm and maple for ploughs,
oak and maple for other agricultural instru
ments. Trays, bowls, and tubs are made of
* Virgil speaks of Tibur ( Tivoli) as one of the five
cities famous for forging arms. At this day it is the
place where the pope's arms are manufactured, the villa
of Maecenas being filled with the iron-works. The
French cast cannon there.

FOREST AND OTHER TREES. 51
ilex or maple : cornel is toughest for
handles of hoes, and for clubs. Chairs are
sometimes made of hazle, and the spindle-
tree furnishes shoemakers with their tools.
Spetiser's enumeration might be applied
almost literally hera
Much 'gan they praise the trees so straight and hie,
The sayKng Pine, the Cedar proud and tall.
The vine-prop Elme, the Poplar never dry.
The builder Oake, sole king of forrests all,
The Aspine good for staves, the Cypress funerall ;
The Laurell, meede of mighty conquerors
And poets sage, the Firre that weepeth still ;
The Willow, worne of forlorne paramours,
The Eugh, obedient to the bender's will,
The Birch for shafts, the Sallow for the mill ;
The Myrrhe sweet, bleeding in the bitter wound,
The warlike Beech, the Ashe for nothing ill.
The fruitfiil Olive, and the Platane round.
The carver Holme, the Maple seldom inward sound.
Spenser's Faery Queene, Canto I.
Nor can we forget what Virgil has written,
in this very climate, on the same subject,
in the second Georgic.
Heav'n their various plants for use designs :
For houses Cedars, and for shipping Pines ;
Cypress provides for spokes and wheels of wains.
And all for keels of ships that scour the wat'ry plains ;
Willows in twigs are fruitful, Elms in leaves,
The war from stubborn myrtle shafts receives ;
E 2

52 FRUITS.
From Cornels jav'lins ; and the tougher Yew
Receives the bending figure of the bow.
Nor Box nor Liraes without their use are made.
Smooth-grained, and proper for the turner's trade,
Which curious hands may carve, and steel with ease invade.
Light Alder stems the Po's impetuous tide,
And bees in hollow Oaks their honey hide.
Dryden's J'irgil, Georg. ii. 1. 621.
The apple, the best native fruit of
Italy, grows in perfection about the hills of
Poli ; the best are very ruddy and flat ;
the Ribeston, and the American New
town pippins, are the only kinds we have
ever seen comparable to them. Pears,
though equal pains be taken with the
planting and grafting, do not succeed so
well. Cherries, especially the Morella, are
in great abundance. The figs rival those
of the Campagna. Plums in great variety,
from the sloe to the great purple prune,
grow in the hedge-rows of every vineyard ;
and, beneath their shade, the strawberry
and bramble, with their white flowers and
red and purple fruit, put one in mind of
more northern climates. Peaches and apri
cots require more care than the Polese are
willing to bestow on them ; but we have
seen both of good size and flavour. Al-

SILK-WOIUIS. 5.3
monds thrive very well, and all the kinds of
small nuts. Medlars and services are wild.
The white mulberry, on whose culti
vation some pains are bestowed, is not
cherished for the fruit, but the leaves. The
trees are planted by the sides of the little
rivulets, and kept always as pollards, the
twigs being allowed to grow for three
years, that method producing the greatest
quantity of leaves for the silk- worms, to
which insects the women of Poli assign
more than one-half of their house-room,
from the time the grub leaves the egg in
April till July, when the cocoons are
fully spun. The greatest cleanliness is, of
course, necessary in the feeding and attend
ing to the silk- worms*; but still the smell
they emit, and the heat which it is necessary
to maintain for them, must make them un
wholesome inmates. The Polese do not
manufacture the silk, but carry the cocoons
* See the elegant modern Georgic, entitled Baco di
Seta, by Zaccaria Betti, where the cultivation of the mul
berry, the feeding of the worm, and the preparation of
the silk are treated of at length; a little too mytholc-
gically, indeed: but most modern poems of the kind
want the dignity, chiefly because they want the simplicity
of Virgil.
E 3

54 ' PASTURE.— -CATTLE.
to Palestrina or Tivoli to market. This
year the mountain-silk was bad, in conse
quence of a week of unfavourable weather,
just as the worms began to spin ; and it only
fetched thirty-seven pauk the decina, i. e.
something under eighteen shiUings for ten
pounds troy weight. This sad news was
told us, almost with tears, by a young girl,
as' she returned from Palestrina, whither she
had been to sell her silk ; for her mother
had promised her a new skirt, and a silk
boddice, from the profits of ^her worms.
But, alas ! this year, the cocoons will hardly
buy an apron.
There is not much pasture-ground in
the immediate territory of Poli, the land
being too valuable ; but the neighbouring
hills feed immense flocks of goats and sheep,
and herds of cattle. The horned cattle are
of the fine grey kind, which the traveller
in the south of Italy soon learns to con
sider as the most beautiful of their spe
cies. They are sttong, and not so slow
of foot as our northern oxen ; but they
give little milk. Hence the cows are only
considered as nurses to the young draft
cattle, and, during the summer, live with

CATTLE. 35
them entirely in the mountains. The
winter drives tiiem down towards the Cam
pagna, where they are fattened for the Ro
man market. One cow-herd takes charge
of the cattle of several masters for the sea
son, and receives about two crowns a month
for a score of cattle ; so that he often gains
a considerable sum. For this he stays out
day and night with them, and attends them
in their wanderings. If a single master
hires a cow-herd for night and day, he pays
six crowns, whether the herd be large or
small. The sheep here are handsome, and many
of them of that kind, whose fleece only
grows on the back and half the sides, which
defect is made up by the superior quality
of the wool. Black sheep are rather en
couraged here for the wool: the clothing for
the galley slaves, which is of a dark brown
and white stripe, is partly wore without
dyeing. The clothing, too, of the fViars is
of this undyed wool. A kind of hard, sour
ish cheese is made, from their milk, and they
are profitable for the market, as they fatten
easily. The goafs, however, are the most
useful domestic animals. Here no other
E 4

56 CATTLE.
cheese or milk is tasted; besides, the ricotta^
a kind of curd, and junkets, are made of
goats' milk, and, with bread, serve many
of the country people entirely for food.
The kids, too, are killed at six or eight weeks
old ; and very little other animal food, be
sides the flesh of goat and pork, is used by
the common Polese. A shepherd, or goat
herd, is paid differently, according to the
distance from his native village. Here the
shepherds come from Capranica, and each
receives daily about an English halfpenny,
four pagnotti, and as much milk and curd as
he pleases. But if the shepherd goes eight
or nine miles from home for work, he expects
a crown a month, besides food, which would
be good wages in the Highlands of Scot
land. In the mountains behind Poli, a hardy
race of horses is bred : they are mostly
black, and very strong and light. We were
amused at the way in which they are shod,
when brought in from the hill. After the
animals were thrown on their backs, which
is done more clumsily here than elsewhere,
by means of cords with strong nooses, which
were dexterously slipped over their heads.

PIGS IN FAVOUR WITH THE ROMANS. 57
* and round their legs, their feet were made
fast to poles, and shod with such shoes and
such tools as the blacksmith of the poorest
country village in Britain would be ashamed
to own.
All this mountain district is famous for
the goodness of the hams and bacon it
produces. The pigs, generally called ani-
male neri, are like the wild hog of the
country ; black, long faced, and narrow
shouldered.* They are scarcely ever put
up to feed, but fatten naturally in the woods
upon the nuts, mast, and roots they find. .
The hoff is a much more dio-nified animal
C? CD
in Italy than with us in the north ; and, in
deed, it appears from the Odyssey, that the
swine-herd was no mean personage in an
ancient Greek family : here he is on the
same footing as a shepherd. We recol
lect a pastoral poem, by Michael Angelo,
where the bringing in, and folding the herd
of swine is the subject. The pig is certainly
an intelligent animal, and easily becomes
attached to his master : we have seen them
* It is indelicate to name a pig a porco ; therefore he
is called animale nero. But it is impious to name a thun-
dpi--bolt, therefore it is called a porclieria !

58 PIGS IN FAVOUR WITH THE ROMANS.
running along the high road at night, to
meet the labourers returning from work,
and caressing them as a dog would do.
They are useful in a variety of ways, par
ticularly in hunting for, and destroying the
larvae of locusts, when turned into an in
fected field early in the morning. The
sow, even when she has her young, is not
confined to the sty, but is tethered in some
shady place, where she can get at water,
and graze at pleasure ; and her food is as
sisted twice a day with milk, bran, and
vegetables. This mode of treating the pig
produces less fat pork and bacon, indeed,
than a Hampshire farmer would approve,
but it gains greatly in flavour from its par
tially wild state. The favour it is in with
the low Romans may be best gathered from
the whimsical " Praise of the Pig," (Lode
del Porchetto,) by the abbate Veccei, who
calls upon Apollo, and all the Aonian choir,
to assist him to praise the noble animal.
Such, with>some difference of manage-
ment, according to the varieties of the soil,
are the natural riches and productions, as
far as they are affected by cultivation of
these hills, of the ancient .^qui. The pe-

THE PEASANTRY. 59
culiar advantages of Poli seem to be owing
to the nature of the soil, formed by the
decomposition of the tufo rocks.
The lands of Tivoli require more dressing,
constant manure, and a rotation of crops
less productive to the farmer. In some of
the grounds there, artificial grasses, be
sides lucerne, are sown. The meadows
immediately on the banks of the Anio are
not dressed, but are broken up at long in
tervals to clear the ground of some of the
hurtful weeds and rushes which injure the
grass. The corn and wine of San Gregorio,
near Tivoli, are highly prized: the territory
of Casapa*, adjoining to it, is nearly barren.
The town lands of Palestrina, being of great
er extent than any of these, contain all the
varieties of fruitful and barren, some parts
being so sandy, as to produce little or no
thing, others so clayey, that they are dressed
with sand.
Upon the whole, the peasantry of these
mountains may be considered rich, although
they have seldom much property in money.
Their riches consist in the yearly pro-
* Ancient Casa Corbuln.

60 THE CHASE.
duce of their labour, on which their happy
climate permits them to depend with more
certainty than in the northern parts of
Europe. They have not the habit of lay
ing up a store for the future, but the
price of what is over and above of the
produce of their ground, after the pro
portion to the superior proprietor is paid,
is laid out in silver buckles and head orna
ments, and coral beads, which are easily
converted into money in times of pressure.
This sort of easy poverty, above want, but
below the state of luxury in which ambition
begins to push men on to distinguish them
selves, or to better their condition, pro
duces great indifference as to public in
terest, and renders them acquiescent under
any government, so long as they remain in
peace, and can sit every man under his own
vine and his own fig-tree. We saw them
roused from this state of moral lethargy for
a few days, when banditti hovered about
their towns, threatening destruction to their
property ; and government refused them
the protection to which they conceived the
share they bear in the general taxes entitled
them. They were then louder and more

HUNTING THE WILD BOAR. 61
free in their language concerning their
governors, than most popular assemblies in
Britain ever ventured to be. But the
pressing danger passed, they relapsed into
indifference ; for their usual state is just
good enough not to encourage a wish to
change. The profits derived from the chase in the
hills are considerable. The thickets that ex
tend from San Vetturino towards Poli and
Palestrina, afford cover for great numbers of
wild-boars, roe-deer, badgers, and porcu
pines. The hunting the wild-boar, which
begins about the > fall of the leaf, is a fa
vourite diversion of the middle and lower
classes; and if a boar is taken, it is a kind of
rural triumph. When a hunt is to take
place, from ten to thirty hunters assemble,
and appoint a chief, experienced in the
chase, and whose local knowledge enables
him to guess at the probable track of the
game. As many dogs as can be procured
are collected, and three keepers are chosen
to take care of them, and set them on the
scent. There are, besides, generally a num
ber of peasants armed with sticks, who go
out to beat the thickets, and assist the dogs

62 HUNTING THE WILD BOAR.
to find the game. As soon as a boar is
discovered, notice is given to the huntsman,
who immediately places the hunters in
stations convenient for shooting the animal
as it passes, after it is roused, as is practised
in our northern deer-shooting. The ex
perience of the huntsman should enable
him to place five or six of the best marks
men at the principal passes by which the
boar is likely to escape. The others are
placed at convenient distances between.
The keepers then divide the dogs, and ad
vance from three different points towards the
boar, encouraging the dogs with their voices ;
and if the cover is so thick and rough, that
they hesitate, they fire a few shots, which
seldom fails to inspire them with courage
enough to go through, and rouse the game.
Once raised from his lair, the boar becomes
furious, frequently kifls the dogs, and sel
dom fails to wound them. Overpowered
by numbers, he is at length obliged to fly,
and is generally shot in one of the passes
where the marksmen are stationed. Should
he pass the line unwounded, there is but
little hope of taking him again. The prac
tice of surrounding the lair of the boar with

HUNTING THE WILD BOAK. 63
nets, which appears, from the first ode of
Horace*, to have been occasionally used by
the ancients is never adopted by the modern
hunters. Some figures engraved on the
lid of a funeral vase found near Palestrina -f,
and whose date is at least two centuries
before Christ, are engaged in a boar-hunt
with dogs, and are armed with spears : there
are also others hunting the stag, with a
cloak over the left arm, which they appear
to be throwing oyer the animal's head to
blind him, while another hunter is preparing
to give him a mortal wound. The head of
the boar is now, as in ancient times, the
prize of the successful hunter, who gives
him his death-blow.:}; As soon as he is
killed, he is laid on a beast of burden, pro
vided for the purpose, and carried home in
triumph. As soon as the party come in
sight of their town, they fire a volley, to let
the inhabitants know of their success; young
and old come out to meet them, and ac-
* Whether the boar, fierce foaming, foils
The chase, and breaks the circling toils.
f See the plate in the Museum Kirkerianum.
% See the statue of Meleager in the Vatican, and the
well known story of Atalanta,

64 THE roe-di:eu. — the badger.
company them to the market-place, where
another volley is fired, and the game is
carried to the huntsman's house, where the
feet being cut off, as the perquisite of the
master of the beast, which has brought it
in, the rest is portioned out into as many
shares as there were hunters ; and, to pre
vent jealousies, they draw lots for them.
The chase of the roe-deer, called here
the wild goat, is conducted in the same
manner, but without so many hunters, three
or four being sufficient ; and the only prize
of the victor is the skin, with which he
covers saddles, and makes holsters. Even
the hare and the fox are way-laid in the
same manner when started by the dogs.
The latter animal is eaten by the shepherds,
after being steeped four-and-twenty hours
in water, and stewed in wine, with herbs.
The badger is hunted here, not only for
his flesh, and for the hams, which are con
sidered very delicate, but for his fur, which
is looked upon as a powerful charm against
the bad eff'ects of an evil eye. Young men
often wear a bit of the skin in their hats
as an ornament; women, especially when
married, wear a piece under their boddice,
13

the WOLF, 65
to preserve themselves and their offspring
from witchcraft, to which it is still believed
that the people of the Marsian hills, that is
the district near the lake of Fucino, are
addicted.* No horse would be considered
safe if the badger-fur did not ornament his
bridle ; and the very mules and asses are
generally provided with the same powerful
charm ; which, however, does not supersede
the necessity of receiving the annual bless
ing of Saint Anthony. — No dog in this
country will attack the wolves which infest
the mountains here, and which are as large
as mastiffs. They make great havoc in the
hill sheepfolds during the summer, and
after these are moved to the plain, they
attack the calves, and even the young oxen
and horses, which are left out in the high
pastures much longer, and if the weather
be mild, the whole winter. But there is
only one instance within the memory of
the oldest person here, of a man being
* But soon the wretch my wrath shall prove
By spells unwonted taught to love ;
Nor shall e'en Marsian charms have pow'r
Thy peace, O Varus, to restore.
Francis's Horace, Epode v.
Virgil also mentions the enchantments of the Marsii.

66 game and hunting. — fish.
killed by them ; and that was a pedlar in
crossing Monte Genaro, whose death, though
ascribed to a wolf, was suspected to have
been wrought by a fellow thief, the words
thief and pedlar being almost synonymous
here. The poet therefore has not so much
reason to pride himself on his not being
attacked by the wolf he met while walk
ing unarmed and alone near his Sabine
villa, as a proof of his virtue. *
There are no pheasants here, though they
abound near Naples ; nor is the caper
cailzie found so near the plain, but it is
plentiful in the heart of the Appenines.
The shooting of partridges, both red and
grey, begins in September. Quails come
into season in August, and even July.
Plovers become plentiful about October;
and in the same month larks begin to flock
to the antique aqueducts, and other ruined
buildings in the neighbourhood, when they
are taken with nets, in millions, by the
country people. They were anciently con
sidered sacred, as they destroy the eggs of
locusts and other hurtful insects. Every
* See Hiarace's beautiful Ode, book i. ode xxii.

FISH. 67
bird is used for the table here. The night-
ingale, blackbird, and thrush, are eaten with
out remorse, and even the hawk and the ,
owl are not despised. There are no wild
water-fowl nearer than the Gabine lake,
but there they are in great abundance.
The mountain-streams furnish but few
fish. But the neighbouring Anio abounds
with a variety, especially below the cascade
of Tivoli. Besides the trout and barbel,
which aj*e also caught above the fall, there
are gudgeons, pike, eels, lamprey, and a
small fish like the smelt. A few sportsmen
fish with a rod, but a hand-net is generally
used ; and there is a contrivance for taking
and keeping some of the kinds, not unlike
the eel-baskets of the Thames.

F 2

68

CHAP. IIL

Poetic scenes encompass me around.
And still I seem to tread on classic ground;
For iiere so oft the muse Iier liarp has strung.
That not a mountain rears its head unsung;
Kenown'd in. verse eacii sliady thicket grows.
And ev*ry stream in beav'nly murmurs flows. AnrlTSov.

visit to ST. angelo. — ancient A'QUEduct, and tra
dition concerning it. — VISIT to guadagnola. 
BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AND MORNING VIEW OF ROME.
 WELLS OF GUADAGNOLA.  COSTUME OF THE
WOMEN.  SINGULAR LITTLE TOWN. — VIEW FROM
THENCE.  COUNTRY OF THE BANDITTI.  VALE OF
THE ANIO.  SUBIACO. — COSIMATO.  LICENZA, OR
DJGENTIA.  TIVOLI.  SORACTE.  ALBUNEA, OR THE
SOLFATARA OF TIVOLI.  VOLCANOES OF THE CAM
PAGNA. — STORY OF BANDITTI.  MENTORELLA AND
ITS LEGEND.  RETURN TO POLI.'
As we purposed to see every thing that
appeared remarkable in our neighbourhood
while at Poli, we determined to take every
opportunity afforded by the weather of
climbing the surrounding mountains. The
first that attracted our attention was that
of Saint Angelo, crowned with pretty ex-

ST. AXGELO. 69
tensive ruins, and accordingly we visited it
one cool evening. It is full three miles of
steep and difficult ascent from Poli. The
first half mile brought us to the brink of
what might be taken for the crater of an
extinguished volcano, especially if we could
admit the justness of Humboldt's observ
ation, that wherever the chesnut-tree
flourishes, and arrives at a large size, it is a
sure indication that the soil is chiefly, if not
entirely, formed of volcanic matter, for the
chesnut trees here are remarkably large-.
But the limestone rocks that every where
pierce through the tufo, would rather lead
us to imagine that this little natural amphi
theatre had been the bed of an exhausted
lake. Its form is oval, and every where
surrounded by rocks, excepting where a
little rivulet, which springs from the road
side, steals its way out to join the other
streams below Poli, which, being united
under the name of Acqua Nera, join the
Anio beyond the villa of Hadrian.
After we had left the olive and chesnut
groves, the earth appeared only partially to
cover the rocks ; but there was corn in
every crevice, till the hill became toostefep
f'3

70 ANCIENT aqueduct.
for cultivation : there the pasturage was
luxuriant ; and we found a herd of the large
grey cattle enjoying themselves under the
walls of the ruined town. As we were
going along, one of our mules had nearly
put his leg into a hole, which our guide
told us was once part of one of the aque
ducts of the Re Negrone. In fact, we saw
that it belonged to a line of subterraneous
masonry, and probably communicated with
the aqueducts of the Acqua Claudia, which
are in this neighbourhood ; the guide far
ther assured us, that the breaking up and
desU'uction of these great works, which
might otherwise have lasted for ever, was a
just punishment for jthe impiety of Nero, in
saying, Piaccia o non piaccia a Iddio
Acqua voglio per I'anfiteatro mio ;
and having accordingly conducted the water
to Rome for his Naumachia.
We found, on reaching Saint Angelo, that
the ruins owe all the picturesque beauty we
had admired from below to their distance
and situation. The walls of the fortress
that once crowned the hill, "part of the dome
'19

VIEW FROM ST. ANGELO, 71
of its little church, a covered gallery of the
castle, and part of the chapel of a small
convent, where fragments of fresco painting-
retain their vivid colours in despite of the
weather, are all the remains of a town that
in the last century contained 800 inha
bitants. It was battered down by cannon
placed on a neighbouring hill,- as a punish
ment for disobedience to the Holy See, and
for having opened its gates to certain ban
ditti and robbers. The well-disposed inha
bitants were permitted to remove to the
neighbouring towns, but many of them
perished under the ruins of their houses.
The only human being we found there was
the boy employed to herd the*cattle of the
hill. The view from Saint Angelo is magni-
ficent. The Campagna, the eternal city,
and the. sea, lay before us, and the Ap
penines with their woods and rocks be
hind. Yet fine as the scene is, there is
a loneness, an air of abandonment about it
that spreads a melancholy over even the
finest objects in nature, with which the
ruins oh which we stood agreed but too
well. Alas ! for the people whose go-
F 4

72 VISIT TO GUADAGNOLA.
vernment must have recourse to the extir
pation of the inhabitants of a whole town,
in order to get the better of a band of
robbers. Our next excursion was to the mountain
of Guadagnola, which on many accounts is
the most remarkable of those that extend
from the Anio at Tivoli, to the Liris, or
Garigliano. It is not only the highest, but
is singular, from containing, within a kind
of rocky basin on its summit, a little town,
whose inhabitants are passionately attached
to it, notwithstanding almost every kind of
inconvenience, particularly that of having
no water within two miles. Anxious to see
this curious* little place, we set off one
morning in the middle of July, a little before
day-break, to climb the mountain. When
we had ascended about a mile, the sun, gra
dually rising from behind the mount3,ins,
began to gild the distant part of the Cam
pagna, and the sea, on which a few white
sails just discernible marked still more the
glittering freshness of an Italian morning,
reminding us of its happy effect in Guido's
Aurora ; and while the rest of the plain re
mained in cold shadow, deepened by the

REAUTIFUL SCENERY. 73
mists from the Gabine lake, and the Anio,
the city and its long lines of buildings
were lit up into peculiar brilliancy by the
morning sun. At that distance, its ruins
disappear : nothing is distinctly seen but the
fayade of Saint John's Latran, which at that
early hour is even more conspicuous than
Saint Peter's. A less magnificent city
would have acquired beauty from the
breadth of the effect ; as it was, the fabulous
extent of old Rome seemed spread before
us, and we could not avoid the natural re
ference to Milton's description :
The city which thou see'st no other deem
Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth,
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd
Of nations.*
A thicket, through which the mountain-
path winds, soon concealed this splendid
prospect from our view. Just at its
entrance, there is a little -chapel to the
Virgin ; and as our guide pulled off his hat,
in sign of reverence as he passed, we little
thought it was soon to become the rendez
vous of a band of robbers. When we had
* Paradise Regained, b. iv.

74 WELLS OF GUADAGNOLA.
emerged from the wood, instead of the
stubble-fields we had left behind, we found
the corn quite green, and in some fields
scarcely in ear. The hay was getting in ; and
the manner of stacking it put us in mind of
Scotland. On a height before us, we saw
two pretty large barns, which we were told
were the stables for the cattle of Guadag
nola, two miles from the town, to which
they cannot climb, on account of the steep
ness of the rock. Just under these stables
there are three arches, partly built in the
side of the hill, to protect the sources of a
little stream, the only one so near the town,
and on which the inhabitants depend en
tirely for their supply of water. It was the
time of day when the women come down
to fill their vessels at the spring. Some
had asses, which each carried two little
barrels, containing together ten or twelve
gallons; others carried their provision on
their heads. The costume differs from that
of Poli, inasmuch as a long thick cloth is so
placed, on the head as to defend the neck
and shoulders completely from the wind.
The women seemed very poor, and we
thought them the ugliest we had seen in
Italy.

SINGULAR LITTLE TOWN. 75
After winding up a very steep ascent, we
found ourselves under the rock which Jorms
the summit of the mountain. No signs of
houses appeared, although the inhabitants
came from it, and we heard voices within ;
and it was not until we reached the
only entrance to this natural fortress, that
we perceived, that the rock itself is like a
nest, within which the houses are built so
close to each other, as barely to allow an
ass or a mule to pass along even the prin
cipal street. There are about fifty houses,
and a small church, built of such materials
as the mountain affords, chiefly covered
with shingle, on the top of which great
stones are laid, to prevent the winds from
carrying away the roofs. There are about
two hundred and fifty inhabitants, whose
chief riches consist in their pigs and
poultry, and most of whom seek their
summer-employment in the unwholesome
fields of the Campagna. Their territory
is very poor ; and being exposed to every
storm, their wheat often fails, nor does
other grain make up for its loss. The vine
is a stranger to their territory ; but of wild
apples from the woods of Mentorella a sour

76 VIEW FROM THENCE.
cider is made, which they mingle with real
wine, and call it apple-wine.
When we arrived at Guadagnola, though
at this season the heat of the country below
is almost insufferable, we were very glad to
find an excellent fire in the curate's house,
whose hospitable reception we cannot easily
forget. We had expected an extensive view from
the top of this rock, but were by no means
prepared for the immense prospect that
surrounded us, extending north and south
from Radicofani, to Monte Circeo, (Circe's
island,) and the mountains beyond the
Liris ; and east and west from the high
peak of the Appenines called the Scoglio
d'ltalia, seen from the Adriatic, and sup
posed to be the highest point in Italy, to
Ostia, and over a portion of the Mediter
ranean. Though we were pretty well ac
quainted with the topography of the sur
rounding country, we were glad to listen to
the local information of the curate, who,
after naming several of the many towns in
the valley of the Anio, each governed by its
Roman magistrates, pointed with rather a
fearful expression towards the hills behind

COUNTRY OF THE BANDITTI. 77
Anticola, and to the plain through which
the Sacco runs to join the Garigliano
below Frosinone, as the country of the
Brigands. It did indeed seem a fit haunt
for banditti ; high mountains and deep
valleys covered with thick woods to render
concealment easy, and pursuit difficult, if
not impossible. These retreats have from
the earliest times sheltered lawless men ;
Spartacus for a time occupied them. The
warrior-thieves of the middle ages inhabited
them; and thence it was that the famous
robber Marco Sciarra descended to plunder
some rich travellers assembled at Mola di
Gaeta, when the respect of the robber for
Torquato Tasso, who was accidentally
within the walls, induced him to retire and
suffer the whole company to proceed un^
molested, the poet having refused his per
sonal safety, which the brigand had offered
to secure, unless his companions were also
allowed to go free. The mountain on which
we stood affords the same facilities to the
robbers, and accordingly they pay it an
annual visit, about harvest-time, and make
descents from these heights upon Tivoli,
Palestrina, Poli, and the smaller towns.

78 COUNTRY OF THE BANDITTL
From this commanding situation they
easily discover and elude their pursuers ;
and while the citizens of Rome are in a
manner imprisoned by their fears, and dare
hardly visit the Campagna, least they should
encounter a foe in every hollow, so mar
vellously does the daring activity of the
marauders seem to multiply them, a band
of twelve or thirteen^may be sitting on the
hill looking down in silent security on the
city, which is issuing edicts, and sending
forth soldiers against them.
If the government of Rome, with the
assistance of its dependant towns, ^nd a
body of nine thousand trained and disci
plined soldiers, find it so difficult to put
down a band of robbers, how must we
admire the courage and conduct of the
kings of ^Rorne, who with a village for a
kingdom, and a handful of adventurers for
ap. army, waged successful war against the
whole of the inhabitants of these very
mountains !
It is perhaps worthy of remark, that the
nations of the hills, so difficult of access,
the Sabines, the JEqui, and the Albans,
were among the first conquests of infant

COUNTRY OF THE BANDITTL 79
Rome, while the cities of the plain long
maintained their independence. The con
queror of Corioli bore its name afterwards,
as a trophy of the extraordinary service he
had rendered the republic ; and at a late
period the arms and treasures of Rome,
and the conduct of Camillus, were em-
, ployed for ten years before the walls of Veii,
whose fall was, after all, attributed to the
intercession of the gods. The facts con
nected with the taking of Veii will perhaps
assist in explaining what may appear mar
vellous in this part of the Roman history.
The Roman kings were most of them
from distant cities, where arts were practised
and sciences studied, which, while they
gave them a great superiority over the bar
barous mountaineers, only brought them
near the level of the cities of the plain.
Veii in particular belonged to the polished
Etruscans, and was fortified with skill.
The turbulent times of the infant republic
were not favourable to the advancement of
science. And the crafty soothsayers, who
told the Romans that Veii could not be
taken till the superfluous waters of the
Alban lake should be drained off, only

80 VALE OF THE ANIO.
taught them thereby the art of mining,
which was no sooner known than applied
to their warlike purposes ; and Veii was
entered by a mine, whose issue was in the
public market-place.
One of the nearest and most interesting
objects in the view from Guadagnola, is the
course of the Anio, which rises a few miles
beyond Anticola. Naturalists have ima
gined that the secret sources both of this
river and of the Garigliano (Liris) are in
the lake of Fucino (Celanus), and conse
quently look upon them as the natural
emissaries which should drain it Df its su
perfluous waters.
The lake is observed to rise and fall
periodically. Of late years it has gained
upon the surrounding land, and a scheme
is in contemplation for repairing and im
proving the vast Claudian emissary *,
to remedy this inconvenience, and throw
* The accounts given by Tacitus and Suetonius of
the magnificent shows at the opening of the Claudian
emissary are curious ; describing machinery and hy
draulic tricks of every kind. Something defective in
the level of the emissary, however, rendered it useless
after a few years, while the more modest channels of the
lakes of Albano and Nerai have suffered but little.

SUBIACO. 81
the superfluous water into the channel of
the Liris, and thus to redeem the rich land
on which it has been encroaching.
The first town on the Anio is Subiaco
(Sublaqueum), whose smoke we saw rising
from its thick woods below us. It derived
its ancient name from a lake in the hill
above, which adorned the gardens of
Nero's superb villa. The fountains which
supplied the four principal aqueducts of
ancient Rome, are within a very few miles
of Subiaco, near the banks of the river. The
exact spot where the waters of the aqueduct,
called that of the Anio Vecchio, were taken
from the river, is not ascertained. The
aqueduct of the Anio Nuovo began just
above the town, and was at first supplied
from the river, but the water continuing
impure, even after the digging large reser
voirs, where it was supposed it would de
posit the earthy particles it contained, and
adding to it the fountain of the temple of
Hercules, the Emperor Trajan led the
aqueduct to the lake, which, being of great
depth, furnished the water pure. Besides
this lake, there is little remaining of the
villa, and that little is no way remarkable.
G

82 COSIMATO.
Following the course of the river, the
little village of Austa (Agusta) stands on
an eminence, whence the supplementary
springs of the Acquae Claudia and Martia
burst out, and, forming a little rill, run into
the river a very short distance above two
larger ones, flowing from the real sources
which supplied those two aqueducts.
From the high station we were on, we
could trace the woody dells, formed by
these and other rivulets ; but the little
towns, such as La Prugna, Rio Freddo, &c.
which people them, were only marked by
some convent cross, or a column of white
smoke. A rising ground concealed the
celebrated monastery of San Cosimato from
our view, and also prevented our seeing the
ruined arches of the aqueducts which cross
the river close by the bridge at that place,
and formerly led the waters to the subter
raneous channel under the monastery,
which is still visited with admiration for its
beauty by the curious traveller, and by the
architect for the skill of its construction,
and the beauty and durability of the stucco
with which it is lined.
Beyond Cosimato we were shown the
village of Licenza (Digentia), the scite of

LICENZA. 83
Horace's villa, and where the rivulet Di
gentia rises from its two sources, one of
which is supposed to be the fountain Ban-
dusia, at the foot of Mount Lucretilis. This
hill, with Monte Genaro, lay in a straight
line between us and Cures, which, although
it was one of the allies of Turnus, against
JEneas, had in after times a double claim
to the respect of the Romans, as the birth
place of Numa, and the native town of the
Claudian race.* A little lower than the
summit of Lucretilis, the Rocca Giovine
attracted our attention. There the ancient
Sabines had their fane to the goddess
Vacunae, the deity of silence, and also of
unity, whose worship Numa introduced
into Rome, adopting the name of Vesta ;
indeed, the Sabine goddess was in attributes
and powers the same as the latter divinity,
whose rites, imported probably from Greece>
had been long established among the Albans,
the progenitors of Rome. Monfaucon and
others have considered Vacuna as synony
mous with the Roman victory ; and in fact
Trajan, repairing one of her fanes, dedicated
it anew to Victory, Some critics accounted
* Dryden's Virgil, ^n. b. vii. 1. 975.
G 2

84 TIVOLI.
Vacuna the deity of idleness, or rather
leisure, and as such Dacier, in his critique
on the 11th Epistle of Horace, considers
her.* Pie, however, seems to have over
looked this fane, for he speaks only of one
near the source of the Nar, which he thinks
Horace might have seen from the back of
his villa, though at 60 miles' distance ; but,
as the poet dates that beautiful epistle from
behind the ruined temple of Vacuna, it
appears more natural that it should be this,
near as it is to his villa.
The course of the Anio, along whose
banks the ancient Valerian way was con
ducted, is only visible here and there as it
winds among the woods. The hills on
either side shut out the view of the town
of Tivoli, and its cascades ; but the towers
and spires of the middle ages are seen be
tween Monte Catillo and Monte Affliano,
on one side, and the heights of San Gregorio
on the other. At the cascade of Tivoli, the
Anio loses its name, and takes that of
Teverone, which it keeps until it falls into
* Francis follows Dacier in his translation ; for he
says in the concluding couplet,
This near the shrine of idleness I penn'd,
Sincerely blest, but that I want mv friend.

SORACTE. 85
the Tiber below the Ponte Salara. The
near towns of Siciliano, Castel Madama,
San Gregorio, &c. lie so close to the foot of
the mountain, that we could only see the
tops of the highest buildings, and the cy
presses of their gardens. From these the
eye wanders over the wide extent of the
Campagna, and at first hardly recognizes, in
the diminished obje.cts, the hills and moun
tains that give interest and dignity to the
distance when seen from a lower point.
The hills of Radicofani and Viterbo form a
back-ground to the plain, where Soracte,
with the remnant of the wood that once
belonged to the temple of the goddess
Ferronia, stands quite insulated, and dis
appoints the eye, which expects a higher
mountain in the snow-clad Soracte. In
truth, it can but seldom be covered with
snow ; and the poet has only marked the
severity of a particular winter, not the
general aspect of the hill, when he says,
Behold Soracte's airy height,
See how it stands a heap of snow ! *
Nearer to us, the Tiber was here and
there visible, separating Etruria from
^ Francis's Horace, b. i. ode 9.
G 3

86 ALBUNEA.
Latium ; and beyond it, the cone of So
racte, the circular lake of Bracciano, and
the hill of Baccano, reminded us of the Cu-
man Phlegrsean fields ; and the streams and
pools of sulphureous taste and smell which
abound on each side of the river are still
less questionable indications of the volcanic
substructure (if one may so speak) of the
Campagna from Radicofani to Veletri.
Of these streams the Albunea or Albula*,
which runs into the Teverone, is most re
markable. Its sulphury appearance, its
disgusting taste and smell, and the singular
deposit it leaves in its bed, and on its banks,
where it forms the travertine marble, have
suggested to Dante his description of
Phlegethon in the 14th canto of the Inferno:
Lo fondo suo ed ambo le pendici
Fatt' eran pietra ed i margini dallato.
But the red colour of the infernal stream is
here a blueish white. The lakes whence
the Albunea flows, are of extraordinary
depth but small circumference, and in sum
mer are mostly overgrown with weeds.
* The Tiber itself was anciently called Albula, but
chainged its name to Tiber after the tyrant Tibris or
Tiburnus was drowned in it. See both Livy and Virgil.

VOLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA. 87
A fattish scuiH, which rises to the top
and hardens near the edges, becomes thick
enough to bear the seeds of various plants
to shoot and grow there : these often in
crease by the decay of the first vegetables,
and the growth of new, to a considerable
thickness, and remain attached to the mar
gin of the lake, till a violent wind, or other
accidental cause, breaks them off, when they
appear like floating islands, and are among
the wonders travellers go to see at the Sol-
fatara of Tivoli".
Notwithstanding all the indications of
ancient volcanoes that are every where to
be traced in the Campagna, and the prodi
gies related by ancient writers, even Gib
bon, enumerating the causes of the destruc
tion of the city of Rome, says, that " The
" seven hills of Rome do not appear to be
" placed on the great cavities of the globe,"
and hence concludes that little mischief could
have been done by earthquakes. But these
convulsions of nature are still frequent
enough in Rome and its neighbourhood, to
excite little or no attention among the peo
ple. We were awoke by one in the month
of March, which would have been talked of
in England, yet did not even make a para-
G 4

88 VOLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA.
graph in the Diario Romano. The temple of
Minerva Medica, and the Coliseum, besides
many other edifices, suffered very much a
few years since from the same cause ; and the
letter of Pope Gregory the Great, mention
ing the wretchedness of Rome, and particu
larly bewailing the earthquake, which lasted
for seventeen days, and destroyed a number
of the strongest buildings, shows that in an
cient times these were more frequent and
more terrible. * In the 8th uEneis, when
Evander conducts his guests to the Tar-
peian rock, he assures him that an awful
terror possessed the place, and that- some
unknown god inhabited there. The shep
herds thought it Jove, and had often seen
him lighten, and shoot his thunderbolts
from thence. The king then points to the
* This Pontiff is accused of barbarism and bigotry,
because he ordered the works of Livy to be burned. Per
haps, when we consider the state of Europe in his reign,
ignorant, credulous-, and superstitious, we may be inclined
to accept his own apology, and to believe that it was not
the paganism of the author he attacked, but the marvels
he related. Now, however, when the progress of science
may explain most of the prodigies, the showers of stones,
and other marvels, are admitted into the circle of natu
ral phenomena; and Livy among the ancients, like Bruce
among the moderns, will be- more and more believed and
respected, as the ground he travels become better known.

A'^OLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA. 89
ruined cities of Saturnia and Janiculum, as if
their fall were connected with the terrors of
the place. * An attentive examination of
the situation of the seven hills, and the
historical traditions concerning them, would
lead us to believe that the capitol and Pala
tine formed the crater of a volcano, which
emitted flames once, at least, even after
the foundation of the city, when Curtius
leaped into the gulf; and the circular dis
position of the other hills round these two,
give additional probability to the idea. The
cave of Cacus under Mount Aventine is
looked upon as volcanic, f Real black lava
* Th' Arcadians thought him Jove ; and said they saw
The mighty thund'rer with majestic awe,
Who shook his shield and dealt his bolts around,
And scatter'd tempests on the teeming ground.
Then saw two heaps of ruins (once they stood).
Two stately towns on either side the flood,
Saturnia's and Janiculum's remains. ^neis, viii.
-j- The monster, Cacus, more than half a beast.
This hold impervious to the sun possessed :
Vulcan this plague begot, and, like his sire.
Black clouds he belch'd, and flakes of liquid fire.
Virgil's whole description of the cave, of its being
opened by Hercules, and the scene presented, are all
applicable to a volcano ; and the parentage of Cdcus
himself is a farther proof of the tradition from which
the poet composed his fiction.

90 VOLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA.
has always been quarried for the pavement
of the roads near the monument of Cecilia
Metella ; and the rocks round Rome abound
in all the volcanic substances. It is true,
there is reason to believe that the sea has
covered the Campagna up to the foot of the
mountains : but at what period it retired,
whether long before the extinction of the
greater number of the volcanoes, whose situ
ations are still to be traced, or at the same
time, must for ever remain matter of con
jecture. The craters of the high Alban hill,
however, have less doubtful evidence of their
existence after the building of the adjacent
cities. Livy relates the remarkable shower
of stones that fell among the Alban hills,
accompanied by a loud noise, which the
soothsayers taking upon themselves to ex
plain, established the nine days' festival, an
nually celebrated by all the people of La
tium : other showers of stones occurred at
different periods. The funeral vases found
buried under a bed of volcanic tufo, be
tween Marino and Castel Gandolfo, are an
incontestable proof, that such showers of
stones and sand must have fallen, and that
too when the country was peopled and ci
vilized ; for among other things contained

VOLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA. 91
in the urns were the implements of writ
ing. *
A noise like that above mentioned was
heard in the hills of Aricia at the close of
the battle, where Aruns, the son of Porsenna,
was killed. But the sudden rise of the wa
ters of the Alban lake, on two memorable
occasions, is the least doubtful fact con
nected with the antique volcano, whose
crater it is. The inundation which occurred
during the siege of Veii had long been
preceded by one which swallowed up the
royal palace of Alba, and which was so
sudden, that neither the king nor his family
had time to escape.
The lake of Gabii, as we had occasion
to remark, in our journey from Rome to
Poli, is also the extinguished crater of a vol
cano. So is that of Anagni concealed from
us by the conical hill of Palestrina, which is
directly between it and Guadagnola. The
lava from Anagni has flowed in a direction
towards Marino, and is visible on the road
side. Among the leaders of the forces of
Turnus was the founder of Palestrina, found
in the fire, and reported the son of Vulcan.
* See Visconti's letter on the subject, published 1817.

92 VOLCANOES OF THE CAMPAGNA.
When he first assembled the neighbouring
shepherds, and persuaded them to make
him their king, ancient writers say, that
some were bold enough to laugh at his pre
tended divine origin; upon which he called
on his father, who appeared behind him in
flames and terrors, and frightened the shep
herds into obedience. Was he an artful
adventurer, who took advantage of the phe
nomena of a volcano, or was he only the
son of a foreign smith, whose art in those
rude times, and among those simple people,
must have appeared marvellous ? To have
looked down on the Campagna from the
summit of Mount Albano, while its * ten
volcanoes were in action, probably most of
them surrounded by the sea, must have
been even a more magnificent spectacle
than the Eolean islands from ^tna. Yet,
probably, they were not in action at once,
but like Lipari or Strombolo, were the oc
casional funnels of the great furnace, which
burned most fiercely under the mother moun-
* Ten is the number of burning mountains the inge
nious Sickler has pointed out in the country round Rome;
a country as surely of igneous origin as the phlegrgean
fields of Naples. See p. 1 3. of the description of the Map
of the Campagna.

VOI.CANOES .OF THE CA.MPAGNA. 93
tain. It is pretty certain that the bald
limestone rock, whence we were surveying
this singular country, has never been a vol
cano, nor externally effected by fire, though
lavas are visible at its foot, and volcanic
tufos rest against its sides.
But, however tremendous the Alban
mountains may have been, when clothed
with lavas and scorias, and throwing forth
smoke and flames, nothing can exceed their
present beauty, shrowded in woods and
adorned by the white towns and villas which
rise upon their rocky projections. We plain
ly distinguished the elevated plain, called
Hannibal's camp, between Frascati (Tus-
culum) and Mount Algidus, where Diana,
the favourite deity of the country, had her
temple. Between Algidus and the hill of
Palestrina (Praeneste), the long narrow plain
of the Hernici opened to us the view of
Monte Circeo and the sea, only interrupted
by Monte Fortino, one of the strong places
of the banditti, and the northern point of
the Volscian hills ; and behind the heights
of Praeneste, those of Capranica and Olevano
brought us round to Anticoli and the
sources of the Anio.

94 STORY OP BANDITTL
The curate, in showing us Olevano, gave
us some further particulars than we had yet
learned concerning a visit paid by the bri
gands to a casale, near that town, just before
we came to Poli. The proprietor of the ca
sale, who, unlike most of the masters of farms
here, had fitted it up and used it as a sum
mer residence, had imprisoned his shepherd
for six months, as the man thought, upon
wrong grounds. Revenge, as Lord Bacon
observes, is a species of wild justice; and the
shepherd, not knowing how to obtain jus
tice in a civilized form, sought her wild
sister, by applying to the brigands of Son
nino, who willingly undertook the punish
ment of the master. Guided by the shep
herd, who did not show himself, they reach
ed the casale in the evening, and, knocking
at the door, asked for the master by name.
It happened that he himself went to the
door, and guessing at the intentions of the
banditti, partly by their appearance, he said
the master would be with 'them directly,
and went as if to call him, but instead of
returning he made his escape by a back
window. At length, tired of waiting, the
brigands entered the house, where, not

STORY' OF banditt;'!. 95
finding the person they sought, they seized
his friend, an unfortunate German painter,
who was then on a visit to him, with two
others, who made their escape, and carried
him off with them to some of their haunts
in the neighbouring mountains. There
they detained him several days, and would
only believe his account of himself on con
dition of his painting or drawing a likeness
of some of them. This, under a very ra
tional fear for his life, he contrived to do to
their satisfaction. However, they did not re
lease him instantly, but led him out several
times as if for execution, asking him, whe
ther he thought a stab upwards or down
wards to the heart, would cause death most
instantaneously, and pretending to be about
to give him his death-blow ; then, sending
him back to his cave, saying, they had not
time for his execution that day, so would put
it off to the next. At length they dismissed
him unhurt, and without ransom, having at
first robbed him of fifty scudi : the scudo is
equivalent to the Spanish dollar.
This wanton trifling with the feelings
seemed to us much more atrocious than
sudden murder, and, to a timid person,

96 MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND.
might have been equally fatal. Happily,
the stout-hearted German escaped without
farther injury than the loss of his crowns,
and a few days' time.
Having satisfied ourselves with the mar
vels of the view around us, and breakfasted
upon the only provisions Guadagnola af
forded, eggs and bacon, assisted by the
meagre wine of the curate's cellar, and
bread and chocolate which we had brought
with us, we left the little town, and pro
ceeded, by what seemed at first a perilous
path, towards Santa Maria della Mentorella,
formerly a well-inhabited monastery, though
now a hermitage, situated on a bold rock,
which projects from the side of Gua
dagnola, and overhangs the vale of the
Anio. The steep and rocky path is marked,
at five or six points, by little chapels to the
Virgin, which are now mostly ruined. Near
the Mentorella we saw large trees rooted in
the crevices of the rock, and the corn-fields
seemed to promise a tolerable harvest ; but
still neither rill nor stream appeared, and
the hermitage itself is supplied from reser
voirs, said to be as ancient as the reign of
Constantine, when the church was founded

MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND. 97
The original hermitage, which sanctified the
place, occupied the summit of the rock, and
was afterwards converted into a chapel to
Saint Eustachius, who first inhabited it.
The monastery and church were built on a
little flat lower down ; but the monks are
now dispersed, and two hermits are all that
remain of the pious fraternity, to open the
gates, and show the antiquities of the place
to the devout peasants who go thither in
pilgrimage, or to curious travellers, should.
any ever visit the place. We were the first
English that had ever been seen in these
mountains, but were treated as kindly as
old friends could have been.
Nothing can be finer than the situation
of Mentorella. The broad church and mo
nastery occupying the only flat spot, the
bright green woods clothing the steep
white rock, and the chapel of Saint Eu
stachius, with the deers' antlers, surmounted
by the cross as his ensign, shooting boldly
up into the sky ; while the many-peaked
Appenines, stretched, as it seemed, im
measurably on each side, make altogether a
picture singular in its kind, and full of in
terest. The first things to which our at-
H

98 MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND.
tention was called were the tombs and in
scriptions belonging to the Conti family.
Then we were shown the square slab which
marks where the ashes of the Jesuit Kircher
are deposited ; and, lastly, a very ancient
wooden bas relief, in which, by a strange
confusion of dates, Constantine, Saint Sil
vester, and Saint Eustachius with his stag,
are all brought together. The little chapel
above is painted within with the miracles
and actions of the Saint whose legend was
devoutly related to us.
Under the name of Placidius, Eustachius
was a noble soldier in the armies of Ves
pasian and Titus, with whom he was present
at the siege of Jerusalem. After the war
Placidius retired to Rome, where, with his
wife and two sons, he lived in great splen
dour. One day, as he was hunting in the
Campagna, the stag having led him as far
as Mentorella, suddenly stopped and looked
round upon him, when he perceived a cru
cifix between its horns, and heard a voice
exhorting him to become a Christian, and
to return to that spot so soon as he should
be baptized. On going home he found
that his wife had had a dream to the same
effect, and they were accordingly baptized,

MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND. 99
together with their children, Placidius
taking the name of Eustachius, his wife
that of Theophista, and their sons those of
Agapetus and Theophistus. Eustachius
did not fail to return to Mentorella, where
the Saviour appeared to him, and pre
dicted the loss of all his worldly goods,
nay, even that "of his wife and children.
The saintly family rejoiced in the sufferings
they were to encounter for their new faith ;
and it was not long before their constancy
was put to the proof Their property was
all lost, and, in a state of penury, they re
solved to abandon Rome, and embarked at
Ostia for the coast of Africa. The captain
of the vessel set Eustachius and his sons
a-shore, and carried off Theophista as a
slave. After his death she entered into
the service of a worthy family, where she
never ceased to regret her lost husband and
children. Meantime, Eustachius and his
children having reached the bank of a river
which they had to cross, in search of food
and shelter, the father swam over with one
first, and, as he was returning to fetch the
other, a lion on one bank, and a wolf on
the other, carried them both off, and Eu-
H 2

100 MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND.
stachius, in despair, hired himself as farm-
servant to a man at Badissa, a little village
in Africa, where he hardly earned a sub
sistence. Fourteen years passed in this
miserable way, when the Emperor Trajan
mounted the throne ; and, having in his
youth admired the conduct of Eustachius,
or rather Placidius, in war, offered a re
ward to whoever should discover him.
This mode of finding out the ancient
soldier was quickly successful ; and Eu
stachius was raised to the command of
the Imperial forces. Among the soldiers
more immediately attached to him, he
early distinguished two unknown youths
for their virtue and bravery. It is needless
to say they proved to be his own sons, and
that, soon after, Theophista joined her once
more flourishing family. But their re
union was only a prelude to fresh perse
cutions. The death of Trajan and the
accession of Hadrian blotted out the re
membrance of the military services of the
father ; and the whole family having re
fused to do homage to the false gods of the
Emperor, they were enclosed in a brazen
bull, like that of Phalaris, and suffered

MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND. 101
martyrdom together on the 20th of Sep
tember, 120.
This legend the hermits have confounded
with that of Eustathius, an eastern bishop,
whose persecution of the Arians gained
the favour of Constantine. But both to
gether have hardly been able to stand
against the doubts of certain critics and
historians, who put the priest of Saint Eu
stachius, one of the largest parishes in
Paris, in hourly fear of losing his stipend,
together with the reputation of his patron.
However, the inconveniences of alterations
in the names and ofHces of well-endowed
saints were found so great, that the ques
tion of the right of the family of Placidius
to a high place in the hierarchy was ad
journed indefinitely, and they remain, as
before, under Saint Denis, guardians of
Paris, possessors of a handsome church and
some lands in Rome, and patrons of the
rock of Mentorella.
Having walked all over the convent and
church, we were shown one of the miracu
lous wooden statues, which, in the third and
fourth ages of Christianity, were supposed to
have fallen from Heaven, that the faithful
h3

102 MENTORELLA AND ITS LEGEND.
might not be deceived in thelikenesses of the
sacred objects of their worship. The cave
in which this was found is a natural cleft in
the rock, close by one which has always
served as the charnel-house of the monas
tery. There is a little altar-table in the
middle, and such rude benches and shelves
scooped out in the sides as might have
served a primitive hermit. The present
hermits, however, live in some handsome
apartments that belonged to the monastery.
We laid out our dinner in the ancient
kitchen, where we saw abundance of plates,
dishes, and cooking utensils, and a pile of
good matrasses, in a corner, kept there to
accommodate the missionaries in their jour-
neyings through these wild districts. A
party of German painters had left their
names and caricature likenesses on the
walls, as a memorial of their visit to
La Mentorella,
We left the monastery early in the day,
and, instead of returning by Guadagnola,
we wound round its walls of rock by a
large heap of stones, not unlike a Scottish
cairn. This, we were told, covered the
body of one who had committed sacrilege.
17

RETURN TO POLI. 103
He had been detected in stealing the plate
of the church, and fled. The people pur
sued him out of the town with sticks and
stones, and murdered him on the spot,
wjiere they instantly buried him under this
cairn. We found the descent from Guadagnola
less pleasant than our journey up to it.
The sun beat strongly upon us, and the
rugged road where the mules had climbed in
the morning, induced them to leap down
the steep places now and then, which made
it difficult to keep our seats. Neverthe
less, the beauty of the scenery made up
for the roughness of the way ; and when we
again came to the spot whence Rome had
been seen in all her morning glory, the
evening splendour recalled to our minds,
impressed with the scenes we had beheld
and the stories we had heard, the robber
Moor's beautiful description of the distant
city, and the parting sun. *
* See Schiller's Robbers.

H 4

104

CHAP. IV.

See distant mountains leave their valleys dry,
And o'er the proud arcade their tribute pour,
To lave Imperial Rome. Thomson's Liberfy.

VISIT TO THE AQUEDUCTS.  ABCHES ACROSS THE RA
VINE OF SAN GIOVANNI INCAMPORAZIO.  DESCRIPTION
OF THE RAVINE.  PONTE LUPO.  ARCHES OF THE
MILLS, OR ARCHI DI NERONE.  ANCIENT SASSULA. 
PONTE SANT ANTONIO,  CONNECTION OF THESE
ARCHES, HEIGHT, AND USE.
Having rested a few days after our fatiguing
expedition to the mountain, we determined
on going to the most remarkable of the
ravines, or fosses, as they are called here,
formed by the mountain torrents, and
across which the remains of the antique
aqueducts still stand nearly entire, and form
the bridges of communication between the
different parishes on the heights. The
wildest of these is in the tenement belong-
ing to Palestrina, called San Giovanni, in
Camporazio, and lies about five miles from
Poli, on the road to Rome. We were ac-

VISIT TO THE AQUEDUCTS. 105
companied on our ride thither by the par
ties of men, women, and children going out
to harvest- work, or to gather figs or plums
from the neighbouring vineyards. The
harvest people had generally an ass to each
company, to carry the day's provision of
food and wine, and sometimes the infants
too young to be left at home. All were
cheerful and gay : they talked freely to
us of their interests, seemed to think
that, individually, they were neither poorer
nor less happy than when the palace was in
its splendour, and the princes resided there,
but regretted their loss, because the public
roads had gone to decay, and the aqueducts
and fountains were much neglected. The
chief memorials they have of their princes
are works of utility and beneficence, — the
roads, the fountains, and the school.
About five miles from Poli we reached
an antique building, arched and vaulted,
and surrounded by large blocks of stone,
and other traces of an extensive edifice:
there we turned south, and rode towards
the dell. As we approached it, we saw on
the opposite side a ruin, corresponding
with the former, on which a small sloping-

106 VISIT TO THE AQUEDUCTb.
roofed house has been erected, with some
picturesque chimneys. It stands on the
brink of a precipice, partially shaded with
fine wood, and the Alban hills are seen be
yond it. The composition of the whole
put us in mind of the pictures of Gaspar
Poussin. Leaving our mules on the edge
of the chasm, we began to descend into it
by a very rough path, if path it could be
called ; and, after twenty minutes walk
ing, or rather scrambling, arrived in a
pretty large basin, worn by the stream,
which falls down a perpendicular rock, at
the east end. Though in summer the rill
scarcely foams as it trickles down the pre
cipice, the winter flood has encumbered the
channel below with masses of rock of many
tons' weight, and enormous forest trees. The
native rock is sandstone, of a reddish brown.
The masses lying in the channel are partly
of that, partly of the common limestone,
called by the stone-masons here palom-
bino. Some travertine is also among them,
and large pieces of basalt, probably washed
from some antique paved way ; for we could
not find that there were any rocks of that

ARCHES ACROSS THE RAVINE 107
kind nearer than Anagni, though we have
traced the rill almost up to its source.
In some places the stream has under
mined the rocks, which have sunk into its
bed, crowned with their flowers and shrubs,
and trees, whose trunks are thrown in
picturesque variety across the ravine.
Following the course of the rivulet, the
pass becomes narrower and the rocks
harder, the sandstone giving way to lime
stone. Every where the vegetation is lux
uriant. The ilex, the oak, the elm, the
cornel, sorb, dwarf thorn, and hazel, are
rooted in every crevice ; but neither walnut
nor chesnut was to be seen. About a mile
below the fall the chasm widens into a val
ley, one side of which slopes sufficiently to
allow the wood-cutters and charcoal-makers
of the Barberini estate to coppice the oak
once in eleven years. The other side is
quite precipitous below; but, above, it is
covered with some rich corn-fields. At
this part of the vale a noble range of arches,
half-covered with ivy, crosses it; and
near it are several caves and large reser
voirs, which probably were some of the pis
cinae belonging to the Anio Nuovo, where

108 OF SAN GIOVANNI.
the water, it was hoped, would clear itself,
before it flowed on to Rome. The top of
this arcade is used as a bridge ; but it is so
narrow that few persons pass along other
wise than on foot, and it has the reputation
of being a great haunt for banditti, who
find shelter in the caves above mentioned.
Corresponding with this arcade, there is
another across a glen, about half a mile
from it, called simply San Giovanni, where
there are a number of mills. There the
aqueduct is called the Ponte Lupo, and the
little stream below is the principal branch
of the Acqua Nera, which collects in its bed
all the rivulets from Palestrina to San Gre
gorio, and becomes a respectable river by
the time it flows through the grounds of
the villa Hadriana, to join the Teverone.
The Ponte Lupo is rather a tremendous
bridge to cross : two mules cannot pass
each other, and there is no parapet ; the
whole breadth of the road being the chan
nel of the ancient water-course, and a very
narrow foot-path by it. We descended
from the plain above to this bridge by a
steep rocky path, where even the mules
scarcely found footing ; and, just at a sharp

ARCHI DI NERONE. 109
angle which leads to the bridge, we had to
stoop under the body of a large oak, which
a recent thunder-storm had precipitated
from the bank, along with its supporting
rock. The ivy and other shrubs which
cover the stone- work of the aqueduct have
made a kind of natural railing, which
lessens the sense of danger in crossing it.
One high and wide arch spans the stream,
on each side of which there is a triple
row of arches ; and on the deepest side
there are even four, one above the other,
besides large buttresses to support the lofty
fabric. Below this spot the valley widens,
the bottom is covered with rich corn
fields, and the coppice on the bank is gra
dually making way for vineyards, and
plantations of Indian corn. Yet it is as un
healthy as the Campagna, from want of
draining. Every winter-flood, every sum
mer thunder-storm, causes the river to over
flow ; and the valley is almost always
swampy. Nearly at the widest part another
aqueduct crosses it, of weaker construction
and a lower level, called by the people the
Archi di Nerone. The arches are wide, and
have only a double range, all equal. A
single one has given way near one of the

110 ANCIENT SASSULA.
banks, so that it no longer serves as a
bridge ; and we were obliged to climb the
rocks, to cross another plain, to see the
fourth portion of the aqueducts which still
remain in this neighbourhood. After walk
ing in a northerly direction about half a
mile, we arrived at some very extensive
ruins. One large tower might have been
built, or at least added to, and used as a
strong place, in the middle ages, from its
appearance; But the arches and vaults of
reticulated masonry, and the blocks of
pep'erino, which are scattered about, above
all, the name of Sassula, which the peasants
give it, furnish, at leasjt, plausible reasons
for supposing it the ancient Sassula, which,
together with Empulium, was taken in the
year 400 of Rome, by Valerius, after a suc
cessful battle with the Tiburtines. About
a mile beyond Sassula, we came to the Ponte
di Sant Antonio, which appears to have
been constructed at once for a bridge and
an aqueduct. The road is wide and level,
and the water-course, though broken in, suf
ficiently marked by the deposit of tartar
which it has left at the bottom. Like the
Ponte Lupo, one large arch of the whole
height crosses the stream, and the sides rest

PONTE SANT ANTONIO. Ill
upon two, three, and four ranges, according
to the depth of the ravine, with strong but
tresses between. The trees by the side of
the rivulet below grow to a great height:
in some places they meet across, and the
ivy and clematis, clinging from side to
side, form natural bowers over the little
torrent, whose falls, mixed with the song of
the summer birds, were the only sounds we
heard in this remote place.
At the north end of the Ponte di Sant An
tonio the subterraneous channel, which
conveyed the water from the Piscina' at
Gericomio, is still distinctly visible. To
that place the Anio Nuovo was brought
across the hills of San Gregorio, instead of
following the circuitous road from the valley
Degli Archi, beyond Tivoli, by the foot of
Monte Repoli, J^onte Spaccato*, and the
rest of the Via Caroiana. The construction
and great height of the Ponte Sant An
tonio, Ponte Lupo, and that of San Gio
vanni in Camporazio, correspond with the
* Monte Spaccato, so called from a deep crevice ima
gined by the country people to be unfathomable ; it is
scarcely three feet across, and descends shelvingly to the
depth of 47 fathoms. Kircher gravely says, it split at
the passion of our Saviour.

112 AQUEDUCTS.
description given by Frontinus of the Anio
Nuovo ; who says that, near Gericomio, the
arches were 144 palms high, or 109 feet.
The Archi di Nerone, being lower, and run
ning parallel with these, belong to the
Acqua Claudia, brought to Rome by Clau
dius Drusus, according to the inscription
on the Porta Maggiore at Rome, from the
three springs, Cerulio, Curzio, and Albu-
dino, thirty-eight miles from Rome, on the
road to Subiaco.*
* Two miles above Tivoli there is a valley, called
Gli Archi, because it is traversed by the arches of four of
the principal ancient Roman aqueducts ; Anio Vecchio,
Anio Nuovo, Acqua Claudia, and Acqua Marcia, The
arch nearest to Tivoli is that of the Acqua Marcia, built
of blocks of tufo, with a more modern buttress. This
water was brought to Rome by order of the senate, by
Quintus Marcius, A.U. C. 608, from three sources on
the left of the road to Subiaco, where the Via Valeria
branches off between Arsoli and Austa. The aqueduct
was sixty-one miles long, seven upon arches, and thirty-
four under ground. The water sometimes failing, Au
gustus added to it the springs which rise in the rock of
Austa. Altogether, it conveyed to Rome 4690 f quinaria.
f The quinarii, or fistula, used at Rome in the time of Frontinus,
(superintendant of aqueducts under Trajan, A. U. C. 853,) was a cube of a
finger (digit) and a quarter thick, i. e. live quarters quincuna. It was the
smallest measure of fistula. Some contained five digits, or twenty
quarters, and they took their names from the number of quarters in the
diameter senaria, septenaria, octonaria, &c. The ancient Roman foot had
ISdig its (12 inches). 109 feet correspond with 144 modern Roman palms
in architecture. The quinaria was therefore a tube of 15 lines in dia
meter, of the Roman palm, or 10 lines of the French foot; and 4690 qui..

AQUEDUCTS. 113
We had left our mules at the mills of
San Giovanni, by the Archi di Nerone, and
This was the third aqueduct brought to Rome, the two
first being Acqua Appia and Anio Vecchio, It is
visible on the Via Carciana, traverses the Campagna,
and appears again at the Porto Maggiore. The Acqua
Claudia is the next in the vaUey Degli Archi. A modern
tower has been erected on that part under which the road
]>asses. It is forty-six miles in length, thirty-six of
which are under ground, and carried to Rome 4607 qui
naria of water. The construction is of brick, and the
foundation tufo and travertine. It is likewise seen on
the Via Carciana, and at Porto Maggiore. The Anio
Nuovo, of which we have spoken more fully in the text,
extends fifty-eight miles, only nine of which v/ere under
ground, and convej'ed 4738 quinaria. The Anio Vec
chio passes under the arch of Acqua Marcia: it runs along
tlie road-side, always under groimd- This was the se
cond aqueduct built by the decemvir Fulvius Flaccus,
A. R. 481, forty years after that of Acqua Appia. It be
gan twenty miles above Tivoli, and travelled forty-three
miles, of which only one quarter of a mile was above
ground. It conveyed to Rome, by the Esquiline gate,
4398 quinaria of water. It is to be observed on the
Via Carciana, chiefly at the villa of Cassius, where the
deposit of tartar, two palms in thicknessy incrusts it in
some places, which deposit probably induced the Ro
mans to abandon it. See Frontinus ; also Fabretti de
Aquis et Aquaed.

o

naria of water was e-jui 1 to a stream 5 pahns deep and 7 wide. The quan
tity of water brought ! y these four aqueducts equalled that of a stream
5 palms deep, 'AT-hwU-u; and all the water brought to Rome by t)ie niiii.-
principal aqueducts, which existed in tlie time of Frontinus, equalled a river
5 palms 'U'cp and 42 Avide, \^ithout mcntiouint^ rIx other smnller conduits.
I

114 SAN HREGORIO.
had walked on in our eagerness to see the
aqueducts, without paying much attention to
any other objects ; but, our curiosity satisfied,
we had leisure to observe that the soil is
not very fertile, and that, in some places,
it barely covers the red rock near Ponte
Sant Antonio. The parish of San Gre
gorio, however, has some excellent vine
yards on the sloping banks ; and the rocks
that confine the streams are generally par
tially shaded by very fine trees, chiefly oak.
The caverns and thickets afford cover for
the wild hog and roe-deer ; and there is, al
together, a mixture of wild and cultivated
nature, peculiarly agreeable. The aque
ducts do not appear to be so ruined, as to
force the recollection of the ages that have
passed since they could be of use ; and the
busy mills, the labours of harvest, and the
number of people, witli their beasts of
burden, passing and repassing, with corn
and flour, form a more lively picture than is
often presented in this country, so far from
a walled town.
We returned from our expedition through
the pleasure-grounds belonging to the Ca
tena, the villa, with three palaces, belonging

PLEASURE-GROUNDS OE CATENA. 115
to the Cesarini, which we had passed on our
way to Poli. We saw some droves of pretty
black horses, feeding in the lower part of
the gardens, which are probably rendered
more productive of grass, but certainly less
healthy, by the ruin of the fountains ; so
that the water is spread over the meadows,
and keeps them constantly wet, instead of
being carried off by proper channels. The
trees have profited by the same ruin, par
ticularly the cypress, oak, and ilex. The
arbutus, too, grows to an uncommon height
and size : the laurel, bay, in short, all of
" firm and fragrant leaf," are in the great
est beauty.
" No tree that is of count in greene wood growes,
From lowest juniper to cedar tall ;
No floure in fielde, that dainty odour throwes.
And decks his branch with blossomes over all.
But there was planted or grew naturall." Spenser.
But' mo.st of the marble seats that had been
placed under their shade are overturned.
The dove and the martlet build in the
apartments of the palaces ; and the snake
and lizard glide about harmless by the
useless door-ways. I 'i

116

CHAP. V.

With nodding arches, broken temples spread !
The very tombs now vanish'd like their dead I
Fanes, which admiring Gods witli pride survey ;
Statues of men scarce less alive than they !
Some felt the silent stroke of mould'ring age,
Some hostile fury, some religious rage.
Barbarian blindness, Christian zeal conspire.
And papal piety, and Gothic fire. Popi.

DINNER AT A PEASANT S HOUSE.  VISIT TO PALESTRINA.
 BELIEF OF THE PEOPLE IN WITCHCRAFT.  GIORGI,
A WIZARD.  DESCRIPTION OF PALESTRINA.  TEMPLE
OF FORTUNE.  CELEBRATED MOSAIC.  SCENE FROM
THE SOUTHERN GATE OF PALESTRINA.  ANAGNI. 
MONTE-FORTINO.  ANTIQUITIES.  ST. AGAPET. 
REJOICINGS ON HIS DAY. ^ — COUNTRY FAMOUS FOR
NUTS.  RETURN BY THE MOUNTAIN ROAD OF POLI.
About the first week in August we went
at the entreaty of one of our Poli friends, to
spend the day at the casale of his vineyard.
He was the same, the sight of whose success
ful industry had gratified us so much, and
whose son was generally our guide. It was
his harvest-home, and he insisted on our din
ing there. The treat consisted of fao;ioli, both

DINNER AT A PEASANt's HOUSE. 117
green and dry, dressed in various ways. The
table was a tray, placed on a corn measure ;
the seats, the different agricultural instru
ments with trusses of straw ; the forks, split
canes ; wooden spoons to each person, and
one large dish in the centre, from which we
all ate. Our welcome was so hearty, and the
vegetables, bread, and wine, so good, that we
enjoyed our dinner more than we had often
done in more sumptuous houses. When
our host and his family had taken their turn
after us, as we had visited the vineyard,
olive-ground, and threshing-floor, and as
sisted the good woman in winnowing and
measuring her wheat before dinner, they
proposed to us to go to Palestrina, which
we had not seen.
The road from our host's casale led
through a wild and woodland country,
sometimes going along with, and often
deviating from, the antique road between
Tivoli, Tibur, and Palestrina, Frceneste.
When we arrived at two miles from Pales
trina, we came up with a venerable, but sin
gular looking man. Our host saluted him,
and then coming up to us, very mysteriously
said, " That man has preternatural powers ;

1 18 VISIT TO PALESTRINA.
observe him well, and don't talk of him till
he is out of hearing." His countenance was
marked ; his long grey locks hung round
his face in clusters, and his small sparkling
eyes and shrewd look showed, that he pos
sessed cunning enough to avail himself of
the opinion his simple neighbours enter
tained of his superiority. We could not
help smiling at the instances given of his
witching powers, as soon as he left us to
pursue his road to Zagarola, a town in the
plain below. Once, when surrounded by
ten or fifteen sbirri, who were ordered by
government to apprehend him, he mut
tered some words, and when the sbirri
would have stretched out their arms to take
him, they found them withered. Another
time the soldiers of the state surrounded
him and his son, and fired at them.
" Keep on my right hand," said he to the
young man ; and as long as he did so the
balls fell powerless before him ; but having
by accident gone to his left side, he was in
stantly shot : the father, of course, remained
untouched. A third anecdote, equally mar
vellous, but of a more worldly character, was
related. Giorgi, for that is the wizard'.s

BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT. 119
name, having to take an ox into Rome to
sell him to the butcher, but not liking to
pay the usual duty, mounted on its back, and
enchanted the guards at the gate, so that
they saw him ride in on a goodly horse,
while the country people, his companions,
perceived well enough that it was his own
fat ox that he bestrode.
This kind of discourse, by which we found
that the belief in witchcraft is pretty ge
neral among these mountaineers, brought
us round the angle of a rock, whence
we had our first near view of Pales
trina, and nothing can be imagined finer.
A ruined tower and fortress of the middle
ages crowns the conical hill of Palestrina.
A large convent near one of the gates, and
the terraced streets of the town, probably
present an outline not unlike that of the
temple of Fortune, with its baths, light
house, and citadel, whose scite they now oc
cupy. A few cypresses and pines mixed
with the building, and partly concealing the
Cyclopian wall that extends from the cita
del to the plain below, serve, with their dark
foliage, to detach the hill from the surround
ing woody mountains, and the narrow plain
I 4

120 DESCRIPTION OF PALESTRINA.
between the Volscian and Alban hills, leads
the eye on to Monte Circeo and the sea.
As we walked along the street before the
baronial palace of Palestrina, traces of its
varied history presented themselves on
either hand. The palace itself belongs to
the Barberini family, who still possess at
least the nominal jurisdiction of the town.
Carlo Barberini, brother of Pope Urban the
Eighth, was the first of that house who pos
sessed this important feof The quarrels
of the house of Colonna with that pon
tiff, were the real cause of this forced sale
of Palestrina to their enemy ; and we may
believe that Francis Colonna was indeed
sincere in his expressions of regret, in giving
up the citizens to the dominion of their new
masters. Palestrina had been at once the
scene of the noble achievements of the Co
lonna, from the days of Crescentius, through
all the stormy times of the early history of
modern Bome, and the proudest possession
of that house whose feofs of Zagarola*,
* Now belonging to the Rospigliosi. Clement the
Seventh bunit it, during his wars with the Cclonna. It
was ancientlv Pedum.

DESCRIPTION OF PALESTRINA. 121
Colonna*, and the half of Tusculum,
Frascati, were all inferior to the fortress
and territory of Palestrina.
In walking through the town, fragments
of marble columns, and statues and foun
tains, set up as ornaments to the streets,
or as seats at the mean doors of the present
inhabitants, continually attract the eye.
The modern streets of the Corso, where the
Carnival amusements of the Corso of Bome
are carried on with equal spirit, runs along
the foot of the hill in the direction of the
ancient forum. A little higher some co
lumns with rich capitals adorn the side of a
church, 'and broken parts of similar columns
are built into the walls of the neighbouring
houses. These, according to every restoration,
from Suaresius downwards, belonged to the
Basilicae, and porticoes erected by Sylla to
adorn the approach to the temple of his
favourite goddess, when he rebuilt the town,
and bestowed its territory upon his success
ful soldiers, after he had massacred its in-
* Also belonging to the Rospigliosi ; hence the Co
lonna family had its surname. It ' was the ancient
Labicum.

122 TEMPLE OF FORTUNE.
habitants in revenge for their adherence to
the family and fortunes of Marius. Near
these was raised the Pharos, which could be
no where more properly placed than in the
temple of Fortune, the peculiar deity of
Ocean.* Here were also the upper and
lower Delubraf, the most sacred and most
splendid parts of that magnificent fane,
which was enriched by the offerings of the
sovereigns of the east, and the gifts of the
wealthiest cities ; which the arts were called
from Greece to adorn, and for which the
quarries of Egypt and Asia were explored.
Above these rose the secret temples of
Fortune, Jupiter, and Juno, and the citadel
crowned the rock. The splendour of this
temple kept up the credit of the Prasnestine
fates with the vulgar, long after the en
lightened part of the Roman world had
* According to Pausanias, Homer calls Fortune the
daughter of Ocean, in his hymn to Ceres ; and Fortune,
especially the Praenestine, was generally represented hold
ing a rudder.
f The precise meaning of delvbrum, though the word
is sometimes used both for temple and for fane, does not
suit either. Yet the difference is not any where accu
rately defined. .Slschinardi refers to others, none of
whom agree.

TEMPLE OF FORTUNE. 123
ceased to believe in oracles. These fates
were among the most ancient of Italy, and
were consulted by all nations. A tradition
that an olive-tree near the upper delubrum
had flowed with honey, and that of the
wood of that tree the box containing the
rude oracle was formed, served to sanctify
the simple appearance of the sortes, which
consisted of either letters or words rudely
carved on slips of wood. * These were
shaken together, and a child was employed
to draw out the tablets at hazard. This
was done three timesf , the box being raised
as often above the priest's head, and the re
sponse was written down and suspended
round the votary's neck. When Alex
ander Severus consulted the Praenestine fates.

* This tradition does not agree with Pliny's observ
ation, quoted by Gibbon, that, for two centuries after the
foundation of Rome, Italy was a stranger to the olive.
Virgil, too, more than once speaks of the opposite parties
bearing branches of olive, as a symbol of peace, when
an alliance or a truce was to be concluded; and, as he is
considered generally correct in costume, he must have
thought the olive was known before the building of the
city. f " The sacred lots were taken up three times by the
boy."— Tibulhis, b. i. 3. 11.

124 TEMPLE OF FORTUNE.
lie received his answer in the words of
Virgil, " Couldst thou break through fate's severe decree,
A new Marcellus shall arise in thee !"*
A proof, if such were wanting, that the
priests could adapt their answers to the
wishes of those who consulted them. Nu
merous inscriptions attest, that the Praenes
tine fortune received gifts on almost every
occasion, public and private. The victors,
in the public games, dedicated their prizes
to the propitious goddess. A fortunate
navigator consecrated to her a marble ship,
exquisitely wrought. The monuments of
the dead were often dedicated to her jointly
with the manes of the individual.
We learn from an inscription, that a free
man of Augustus dedicated to her a statue of
equity; and that one of Cupid was given her
by Lucius Anocinus Sororicus, the pro
tector of the town of Lutetia [Patis). The
number and value of the gifts dedicated to
the Praenestine fortune, induced Carneades,
when ambassador from Athens to the
Roman senate, to exclaim, that he had no
* Dryden's translation of .flilneis, b. vi. 1. 1220.
IS

TEMPLE OF FORTUNE. 125
where seen Fortune so fortunate as at Prae
neste. Some of the votaries of Fortune paid
annual tribute to her, such as coronets of
marble or of gold. The poorer sort offered
crowns of clay or common stone, and about
a century ago a magazine of such articles
was discovered near Palestrina. All ranks
hung votive gifts round her shrines, in
commemoration of relief from sickness. A
number of little clay legs, arms, &c. not un
like those in wax now dedicated to the
saints on similar occasions, were found in
the above-mentioned magazine. Images of
fortune were suspended from the neck, and
worn attached to the clothes, like the Ma
donnas and crucifixes of the Boman Catho
lics. Nor was she the only divinity so
honoured ; there were multitudes of these
travelling or pocket gods, as Winkelman
calls them ; and Sylla, besides his bronze
Fortune, had a little gold figure of Apollo
Pythius, which he constantly wore and often
kissed. It was in the lower delubrum of the
temple, near where the episcopal palace
now stands, that the celebrated Mosaic was
discovered, which attracts the principal at-

126 CELEBRATED MOSAIC.
tention of the curious at Palestrina. It is
said by Pliny, to have been placed there by
Sylla, who introduced the art of working in
Mosaic to the Romans. It is mentioned in
a description of Palestrina, written about the
ninth or tenth century, but had been forgot
ten and covered with filth, and encrusted with
the deposit from the water which dripped
from a reservoir above. Being accidentally
re-discovered, at the end of the sixteenth
or beginning of the seventeenth century.
Cardinal Antonio Barberini removed it to
his palace, where it still remains. The first
drawing's from it were made while it re-
mained in the stable where it was discover
ed, by torchlight, and fourteen sheets of
these drawings were in the possession of the
Cavaliere del Pozzo, who gave some of
them to Bishop Snares, to be engraved in
his antiquities of Praeneste. Since that time
various literary men, and antiquaries, have
described, engraved, and commented on it,
but none of them agree on the subject.
Barthelemi thinks it later than Sylla, and
that it belonged to a temple of Serapis,
erected when that deity became fashionable
among the Bomans, because there are all

CELEBRATED MOSAIC. 127
the animals of Egypt and Africa pourtrayed
on it, and the figures in the boats are
African. But it corresponds with the de
scription given by Pliny of Sylla's Mosaic,
and that general brought the art of inlaying
stones from the East ; and probably the
artists also, who would naturally continue to
work in the same manner as in their own
country, and would attract the more wonder
by representing foreign scenes and foreign
animals. However this may be, the pave
ment is curious, from the number of ani
mals represented, with their names in
Greek characters. The temples, towers,
and villages that appear to be surrounded by
water, seem to represent the Nile, when
overflowed ; and, as to the figures, which
some think represent the fable of Helen
and Menelaus, they are equally applicable
to the allegory of Isis sending the limbs of
Osiris to the different cities of Egypt.
Other Mosaics have been at various times
discovered at Palestrina ; especially a fine
one, representing Europa crossing the sea
on the back of the bufl, while her com
panions on the shore are bewailing her.
As it was late in the day before we reached

128 SCENE FROM PALESTIilNA.
Palestrina, we were not able to give so much
time to seeking for its antiquities as we
could have wished. Therefore, leaving the
town by a gate opposite to that by which
we had entered, we stood to rest for some
time on a terrace that overlooks the plain
towards the sea. Before, and veiy near us,
lay Anagni, where, in the middle ages, Bo
niface VIII. was born, whose hatred to the
Colonnas almost renewed the scenes of
Sylla's cruelty in Palestrina, driving out the
inhabitants, and passing the ploughshare
over its walls.* It was in this persecution
that the upper part of the temple of
Fortune, which, till then, stood entire,
was demolished. Anagni, also, was the
scene of the imprisonment, and the se-
vere justice inflicted on Boniface, by the
sons and nephews of the virtuous men he
had persecuted.
Behind Anagni, Monte Fortino shelters
within its walls, which shone before us in
the evening sun, hordes of brigands, in
friendship only with the towns of Feren
tino, Sonnino, Frusinone, and Faiola, con-
* See Danlc, Puro-atorio, canto 'iT.

SCENE FROM PALESTRINA. 129
cealed from us by the intervening hills.
Algidus, sacred to Apollo and Diana, lay
on our right. Every where we could trace
a rock, a hill, or at least a name, which
Virgil has immortalized. The picturesque
description of those who followed the
founder of Palestrina to the assistance of
Turnus, was naturally repeated.

Nor was Praeneste's founder wanting there.
Whom fame reports the son of Mulciber,
Found in the fire, and foster'd in the plains, ")
A shepherd and a king at once he reigns, ^
And leads to Turnus' aid his country swains. j
His own Prasneste sends a chosen band.
With those who plough Saturnia's Gabine land ;
Besides the succour which cold Anien yields.
The rocks of Hernicus and dewy fields,
Anagnia fat, and father Amasene,
A numerous rout, but all of naked men :
ISIor arms they wear, nor swords and bucklers wield.
Nor drive the chariot through the dusty field.
But whirl from leathern slings huge balls of lead ;
And spoils of yellow wolves adorn their head :
The left foot naked, when they march to fight ;
But in a bull's raw hide they sheath the right.
B. vii. 1. 938.

Every gate, every avenue to Palestrina,
either bears an antique name, or contains
K

130 ANTIQUITIES.
objects of historic or antiquarian * interest.
Here an ancient tomb, there the vestiges of
a theatre. In one spot, the Braschi Anti-
nOus was dug up ; in another, the Danaide
of the Vatican. One field is named after
the Ulpian family, probably natives, cer
tainly denizens in Praeneste, whose noblest
ornament, Trajan, often retired thither to
* Of these last the votive vase, consecrated by Dindia
to her father, is one of the most curious. It is cylindri
cal, and of bronze, two palms high, and supported by
three lions' claws, which rest on toads. It is crowned
by three little bronze figures. A plate of the whole is
given in the Museum Kirkerianxim, which shows the
figures on the lid engaged in hunting, and those round
the sides representing the dispute of Pollux and Amy-
cus, which is also engraved in Winkelman. These
figures are only engraved on the bronze. Petrini, in his
Annals of Palestrina, gives a plate of another, differing a
little from that of Dindia, and a third, of the same kind,
was carried by a Mv. Bay to England. It had belonged
to Visconti. The letters engraved on the first are simi
lar to those on the column of Duilius. Petrini considers
them as mystic cysts of the Bacchanals, and, therefore,
not of latter date than 186 before Christ; for in that year
a law of the senate put an end to the orgies of Bacchus.
The vase of Dindia was found in a tomb near Saint Anto-
n'o's church, with a patera and a small vase for perfumes.
No vases of this kind and shape have been found, ex
cepting within the Praenestine territories. The maker of
that of Dindia was Novius Plautius.

SAINT AGAPET. 131
enjoy the pleasures of the chase. The names
of JElian, the friend of the younger Pliny,
and of Aldus Gellius, both of whom he
often received here, are preserved in the
titles of some vineyards. The Antonines
loved Prasneste, and their names are fre
quent in the inscriptions of the city.
Nor is it wanting in saints and martyrs,
the heroes of the early Christians. Of these,
the chief is Saint Agapet, whose worship
has superseded that of the Preenestine For
tune, and whose festival, the 18th of Au
gust, collects the inhabitants of the country
for miles round, to prayer and to amuse
ments, that last the greater part of two
days. Nothing but the pi'ogramma, printed
and stuck up in every little town in the
neighbourhood, can give an idea of the
mixture of prayers and pleasures promised
to the people on that auspicious day.
We shall, therefore, give it at length,
that our readers may have one more occa
sion to remark how closely the Roman
church has followed the Pagan ceremonies
in her festivals.

K 2

132 REJOICINGS ON ST. AGAPEt's DAY,

" Progbamma.
" On the recurrence of the 18th of August, the feast
of the glorious and invincible martyr, Saint Agapet,
citizen and principal pi-otector of the most ancient and
illustrious city of Palestrina, and of its diocese, the
public authorities have determined to celebrate it
with pomp, in the following manner :
" On the vigil, about twenty-two o'clock, after the
most reverend chapter, with pious veneration, shall,
according to the established custom and rite, have
conveyed the miraculous head of the Saint from the
episcopal college to the cathedral church, dedicated to
the same Saint, ornamented with beautiful and sym
metrical hangings, there shall be sung solemn vespers,
with music.
" The band from Rome, placed in the square of the
city, will perform, during the evening, various airs,
among which will be the best pieces of modern music,
adapted to wind instruments. The music wiU be
mingled with artificial fire-works.
" On the next morning, about the hour of twelve,
with the usual orderly and devout procession, the
sacred head will be carried through the principal
streets of the city, the regular and secular clergy, the
confiraternities, and the magistrates, attending, and
followed by the band.
" The solemn mass will be performed with music, as
well as the second vespers.
" A race of horses, with a purse to the winner of
fifteen crowns, will take place at twenty-two and a
half o'clock, and at twenty-four the band will play as
on the preceding night.
" Finally, about one hour of the night, grand and

COUNTRY FAMOUS FOR NUTS. 133
** superb fire-works will be set on fire, and then the
" rising of an aereostatic globe will terminate this gay
" and auspicious day.
" The firing of mortars, and the sound of musical
" instruments at each ecclesiastical fiinction, will re-echo
" the common joy, and the city will be illuminated on
" both nights.
" The public will concur, both in doing honour to so
" great a Saint, and in enjoying the above-mentioned
" entertainments. " Given at the Government Palace of Palestrina,
" August 7th, 1819.
" Felice Rosicarelli, first Ancient."
Besides these amusements, a good deal
of traffic is carried on at the festa : all that
can be spared from the produce of the gar
dens and farms is carried thither to barter
for the foreign goods brought by the ped
lars to St. Agapet's fair. No one will re
turn from it without a bag of nuts, for which
Prgeneste has been at all times so famous,
that the Prsenestines are nick-named nut-
eaters, by more than one ancient author.
Cecconi, however, in his History of Pales
trina, gives a more honourable account of
the name than the mere derivation from the
goodness or plenty of them in their terri
tory. The Prasnestine soldiers, besieged by
Hannibal, in Cassilino, being reduced to
K 3

134 COUNTRY FAMOUS FOR NUTS.
great extremities by famine, Gracchus had
caused some butts to be filled with wheat,
and let them float down the river to the
town ; but the enemy soon discovering the
practice, stopped the supplies, and after
wards a quantity of nuts were thrown into
the stream, which the famishing soldiers
caught in an iron net, and on which they
subsisted for some time. Hence their name
of nut-eaters. The Roman senate, grateful
for the service of the Prasnestine soldiers,
exempted those engaged in the defence of
Cassilino from military service for five years,
and doubled their pay. They also offered
to make them citizens of Rome, but as that
would have been incompatible with their
continuing citizens of Prasneste, they pre
ferred their native city, and rejected the
honours of the capital.
But, however the Prasnestines obtained
the name, it is certain that their territory
still produces excellent nuts, of various
kinds ; and we were sorry that day-light
closed in so fast, that, as we had four miles to
walk before we reached home, we could not
see the gathering of filberts for St. Agapet's
day, which we, however, intended to cele-

RETURN TO POLI. 135
brate at Palestrina. We, therefore, left our
station at the gate of the Capuchins, and
took our way home by a shorter but more
rocky road, at the back of Saint Martin's
towers, to Poli.
Every beauty that a wild country, adorned
by the light of a fine setting sun and an
Italian sky, can present, we enjoyed in our
walk homewards. The mountain rivulets,
wild woods, and steep rocks, here and there
interrupted by a corn-field or a threshing-
floor, and enlivened by flocks of goats, or
herds of oxen going to their nightly shelter,
were finely contrasted with the long, low
line of the Campagna, which now and then
appeared through an opening between the
hills ; and, as we were ignorant that at that
very moment a troop of banditti, which the
government has not power to suppress, was
within a short distance of our road, our
little journey was one of uninterrupted en
joyment.

K 4

136

CHAP. VI.

The manners speak the idiom of tlieir soil.
An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain,
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain.
And while their rocky ramparts round they see.
The rough ahode of want and liberty,
Insult the plenty of the vales below. Gray's Fragm^ni.

ROCK LEADING TO CAPRANICA.  SCENE OF THE FEUDS
between the colonna and URSINI,  BANDITTI.
 REPRESSED BY RIENZI  BY SIXTUS V.  AND
BY THE FRENCH.  REPORT OF THE DESTRUCTION
OF SONNINO. — PASTORAL LIFE AKIN TO THAT OF
OUTLAWS  UNCERTAINTY OF JUSTICE, OR LAW. 
MURDER COMMITTED AT POLI.  FATE OF THE MUR
DERERS.  GYPSIES ARRIVE AT POLI.
A DAY or two after our visit to Palestrina,
we walked to the top of a little hill, which
had struck us on our way from that place,
as a fine point whence we might command
the view of the surrounding country. We
found it was the direct road to Capraniea,
which supplies all the neighbouring district
with shepherds. From this height, nearly
the same objects were seen as from the sur
rounding hills, and to attempt to describe
them, would be to repeat the same words.

SCENE OF FEUDS. 137
But, in the natural combinations of objects,
the slightest change may often give a life
and variety to the picture, which language
cannot reach, and to be equalled only by the
passing clouds which vary its lights and
shadows. Here, while resting on the grass, and look
ing dov/n upon Rome, which was partially
obscured by the clouds of smoke rising in
different parts of the Campagna, from the
chaff burned near the work-people's huts,
partly to diminish the effects of the bad air,
and partly to destroy the locusts, we natu
rally thought of the history of the eternal
city, and of its heroes. The spot we were
on fixed our attention on the middle ages.
Here, perhaps on this very rock, was the
mule with the jar of oil seized by robbers,
which gave Rienzi occasion to exercise his
wholesome severity on a nobleman of Rome:
the Ursini Lord of Capranica was " con-
" demned to restore the damage, and to
" discharge a fine of four hundred florins
" for his negligence in guarding the high
" ways."* The short government of the
* Gibbon, chap. Ixx. See also the curious life of Cola
di Rienzi, by a contemporary, wi-itten in the low Roman
dialect of the time, which is a curious contrast to the
language of Petrarch, the friend of the Tiibune. When

138 COLONNA AND URSINI.
Tribune freed the country from robbers :
travelling became secure ; and plenty flowed
from all quarters towards Rome, the mer
chant incurring no risk of the loss of his
goods by the way. Unhappily Rienzi grew
giddy with power and success. He owed
his fall to himself, and one of its first con
sequences was, the re-assembling of the
banditti, and the consequent insecurity of
the country. * This rock was nearly the
boundary of the rival houses of the Ursini
and Colonna, and witnessed many of their
feudal strifes, f The Conti, also, whose
adopted arms, the bear chained to the co
lumn |, refers to the victory they gained in
behalf of the Colonna over their rivals, bore
no inconsiderable part in these irregular
but sanguinary quarrels ; and the castle of
Poli, in those times, was the chief fastness
of their vassals. The hills all around are
Petrach went fi'om Avignon, to visit Robert, king of
Naples, he stopped at Capranica, where he spent some
weeks, and in one of his letters speaks of the beauty of
the surrounding country.
* There is a curious burlesque poem, the Maggio
Romanesco, that throws some light on the state and
character of the Roman populace, in the time of Rienzi.
t Cecconi's History of Palestrina.
t See Flaminio Vacca, § 105, for the Arms of Conti
Cesarini.

BANDITTI. 139
scooped into caves now used for the cattle,
but the songs and traditions of the inhabi
tants, as well as those of the low Romans,
assign them to the robbers, from time im
memorial. One of these tales is told of Sixtus V.,
who went in disguise, like an old man, with
an ass laden with wine, into the woods.
The robbers, of course, seized him, and
caused him to turn the spit in the cave
while they examined the wine. Sixtus
muttered to himself that he saw them do
that with pleasure. " What say you ?" said
they. " Only that I shall eat with pleasure
" when the roast is done." " So you may,
" but we shall drink all the wine ourselves."
" Alas, gentlemen, wine is not made for a
" poor man like me, who only carry it
" about for others, and who will, perhaps,
" be put in prison for my misfortune in los-
" ing this, which is precious." So saying,
he returned to his office at the fire. At
length the meat was done, the supper eaten,
and the wine drank, to the great delight of
Sixtus, who had mixed opium in it ; and,
as soon as he saw the band fairly asleep, he
whistled, his soldiers came up, and they
were every one taken.

140 REPORT RESPECTING SONNINO.
From the time of Rienzi, the vigorous
government of Sixtus V- is the only
one during which the banditti were kept
under. After him, all laws and regula
tions and threats have proved ineffectual,
and their depredations have continued, ex
cepting during the short period that the
French military government kept them in
awe. We had heard from some peasants bring
ing their corn to be ground at the mills
near Poli, that the robberies lately com
mitted on the road between Rome and
Naples, had determined government to rase
the town of Sonnino, which had opened its
gates to the banditti, and had, in fact, long
been their head-quarters, to the ground.
Indeed, the first report was, that the town
had actually been battered down, and all
the inhabitants put to death in the night.
The peasants, who gave this evidently ex
aggerated account, were of opinion that the
men must certainly have been absent from
the town, or they would never have suffered
it to be so surprised ; and, in that case, they
foretold the most dreadful consequences to
whoever should fall into their hands, by
way of reprisal for the murder of theii

PASTORAL LIFE. 141
wives and children. At any rate, whether
Sonnino were destroyed or not, where the
brigands, who would certainly leave the
towns as soon as they heard of the severe
proclamation issued against them, would
go to, was a matter of serious and anxious
conjecture. Two years ago, on a similar occasion, the
noted De Cesaris, who was shot last spring
near Terracina, led his followers up to these
hills, and for nearly two months they sub
sisted on the spoil of the neighbouring
townships. On such expeditions the ban
ditti are always aided by the shepherds and
goat-herds, a race of men apt for their pur
poses, as their half-savage life, while it gives
them enough intercourse with the towns
to procure food and intelligence, detaches
them so much from all social bonds as to
render them indifferent to the crimes of
others. The observation, that the pastoral man
ners which have been " adorned with the
" fairest attributes of peace and innocence,
" are much better adapted to the fierce and
" cruel habits of a military life *," is con-
' Gibbon, chap. xxvi. of the Decline and Fall.

142 PASTORAL LIFE.
firmed by the manners of the shepherds of
these mountains. Where the townships have
land enough to employ the inhabitants in
agriculture and gardening, as at Poli, the
inhabitants are kind and gentle ; and when an
outrage is committed, the first exclamation
always is, he who has done the evil must
be an idle fellow, who had not patience to
wait while his bread was growing. But
Capranica, and some other mountain towns,
which have little or no arable land annexed
to them, while they supply their neigh
bours with shepherds, also furnish their
annual quota to the ranks of the banditti.
The observation of Gibbon, quoted above,
though it concerns the wandering Tartars, is
equally applicable to the shepherds of the
Appenines, between whom and the wander
ing tribes of northern Asia there are some
points of resemblance.
The unhealthiness of that great portion of
Italy extending between the mountains and
the sea, from the banks of the Arno to
Terracina, renders it scarcely habitable dur
ing the summer months, and has forced the
proprietors to adopt a system of manage
ment by which the lands in uenoral only

BAD EFFECTS OF MIGRATION. 143
come into tillage every sixth or seventh
year in rotation.* Therefore nearly five-
sixths appear barren during the sum
mer, but in winter they are covered with
flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of
oxen and horses, which come down from
the mountains, as soon as the influence of
the bad air abates, to fatten on the luxuriant
winter herbage of the low lands, particularly
the Campagna of Rome. The mountain
shepherds of course accompany f them.
Thus, by a regular annual migration from the
mountain to the plain, the ties to home,
which form the most powerful securities for
the virtue of the peasant, are loosened, and
he becomes fitted for the wandering life
and desultory habits of the outlaw. The
same causes have worked the same effects
in all countries, except, perhaps, in Swit-
* See Chateauvieux's Letters.
-f- The following four lines, which are the first stanza
of a popular ballad, refer to the departure from the
mountain for the plain, by the sea-side, called Ma-
remma, from Leghorn to Terracina.
Quando Francesco Antonio fece partenza,
Diss' alia Moglie sua abbi pazienza
£ quando ti viene occasione
Mandammi in Maremma sto pellicionc.

144 UNCERTAINTY OF JUSTICE.
zerland, where natural and political circum
stances have counterbalanced them. But
the Spanish mountaineers, in the Guerilla
war, dis])layed a spirit too like the banditti
of the Appenines, and it is scarcely " sixty
years since," the Caterans of the Highlands
of Scotland might have emulated the bri
gands of Sonnino.
The open trial for crimes, the rigid exe
cution of the laws, and the politic measure
of opening roads and erecting bridges
throughout the Highlands, have freed Great
Britain from the disgrace of harbouring
such ruffians. But here, the trial is secret,
the judgment uncertain, and the roads ge
nerally in such a state of decay, that the
culprit may almost defy the pursuit of
justice. We were led to make these reflections
by a shocking scene which took place at
Poli, on one of the last days of July. We
were going out to walk about an hour after
day-break, when we heard a voice rather
louder and more lamentable than the usual
slow morning song of the labourers ; we
looked towards the quarter whence it came,
and perceived some women sitting on the
13

MURDER AT POLI. 145
ground, occupied about something that we
took for a heap of linen for bleaching, but,
on approaching, we distinctly heard the
words, " Oh my good brother," and dis
covered a young man just murdered. A
single stroke of the dagger had penetrated
his heart ; he had fallen on the spot, and
his relations were weeping round the corpse.
The father sat silent, the image of despair :
the sisters lamented aloud ; aud the bro
thers were in pursuit of the murderers,
whom they had seized once, but who were
liberated by the women, who were going
out to harvest-work, and passed at the mo
ment ; and, as there is no legal authority in
Poli competent to seize a criminal, without
first having recourse to Palestrina, it was
feared that, if they escaped from the bro
thers of their victim, they would be safe
from all further pursuit. The poor lad who
was killed bore an excellent character. He,
with one of his brothers, was keeping watch
the night before in their master's casale,
when the murderers, two very young men,
came to steal peas, as they said, to feed
their pigeons. The deceased looked from
the window, and told them not to touch

146 MURDER AT POLL
what did not belong to them, or they might
set a " box on the ear.'' " A box on the ear
to us," replied the enraged thieves ; " you
" shall pay for this," and departed. The
next morning, knowing that the young men
must go from the casale to the town, about
five hundred yards off, for bread, before
they could set about their day's work, the
villains way-laid them just under the con
vent wall of San Stefano, and there, seizing
the principal object of their revenge, one
held him, while the other murdered him in
cold blood.
Poli, since the time of the French govern
ment, when it formed a regular municipality,
with a mayor, &c. has had no efficient
magistrates, though the population exceeds
twelve hundred souls. There was no one
to secure the murderers, and the body must
remain where it was, till permission was
obtained from Palestrina to send to Tivoli
for the proper officer to inquire into the
fact, and to pronounce what is equivalent to
our coroner's verdict. It was one of the
hottest days in summer, the thermometer
being at 96 : the murder took place at four
in the morning. About noon, a violent

MURDER AT POLI. 147
thunder-storm, with rain and hail, came on :
still the body lay across the only road into
the town, until about five o'clock in the
afternoon, when it was found that the per
sons who had escaped, had committed wil
ful fnurder on the body of the deceased,
which was then taken up for interment.
On many following days, when we walked
out, we saw the brothers or the friends of
the young man, hurrying with bludgeons
towards this valley, or that rock, on certain
intelligence that the murderers were still
lingering about, and that their relations
supplied them with food every night. This
we afterwards found to be true. They
were stout, active young men ; one of them
could read and write, and his mother applied
to us to take him as our servant a few days
after the murder, hoping thereby to screen
him from punishment. We very unguard
edly told her, that so far from assisting in
any such plan, we should rather give him
up to the magistrate, to receive his due
reward. Upon which, she bade us look to
ourselves : but her' threats were pronounced
in anger, and we disregarded them. Her
son and his companion wandered about the
L 2

148 GYPSIES
woods for many weeks. One was recognised
in Rome some time afterwards, and im
prisoned. He had already contracted a
low fever, by sleeping in unhealthy places,
and died in gaol. The other was after
wards taken up, and remains in prison,
where he will probably stay till some public
example is required. He will then be exe
cuted in the Piazza del Popolo, in Rome,
or be dismissed unpunished, with such ad
ditional bad dispositions as long imprison
ment among others, still more wicked,
never fails to produce.
As the reports of the approach of the
brigands from the southward grew every day
stronger, we could not help thinking that
a gang of gypsies, which made its appear
ance rather suddenly one afternoon from
Siciliano, was connected with them. The
men belonging to the gang seemed to be
pedlars ; they carried baskets of such wares
as Shakspeare's Autolichus has made poe
tical, and which suit the costume of the
young women here. " Ribbons of all the
« colours i' th' rainbow, points more than
" all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly
" handle, though they come to him by the

ARRIVE AT POLL 149
" gross ; inkles, caddices, cambricks, lawn,"
and ballads too in plenty; nor was the song
of recommendation wanting. The women,
as usual, were fortune-tellers. We had the
curiosity to listen to them ; and there were
the usual promises of good fortunes, great
husbands, beautiful wives, and indulgent
confessors. One of them said, her mother
was born at Alexandria, in Egypt, and was
the head of the tribe in Italy. We talked
with them some time, and found that their
own dialect was the same with that of the
gypsies of England and Spain, and the
Bohemians of France and Germany, which
Richardson and Schlegel have long since
recognised to be that of the Nats of Hindos-
tan. Their character is not at all more
respectable here than in other countries ;
and though there was no evidence of their
connection with the brigands, they were
looked upon as their fore-rimners. They
professed to be travelling towards Palestrina,
to be ready for the feast of Saint Agapet,
when they hoped to sell their wares, and
exercise their trade of tinkers. Their little
camp by the road-side, their asses grazing
round, the pigs tethered to the doors of the
L 3

150 GYPSIES AT POLI.
huts, the little ragged children begging
amidst their play, and all having the true
gypsey face and expression, looked so like
a scene at Hampstead, or Blackheath, that
we felt almost good- will towards what
reminded us so much of home.

151

CHAP. VII.

Comtnincio a riscattar per Ii viaggi
Eobba, e dinari senza remissione,
Cavalli, bovi, e molti carriaggi
E fece al bosco una gran provizione,
Si pigliava Fanciulli per ostaggi,
Piccoli, grandi, e d'ogni condizione
Al bosco tutti quanti le menava
Porrandogli il denar Ii rimandava. Storia di Niccola Parcia.

BANDITTI ARRIVE IN THE NEICJHBOURHOOD, AND SEIZE
TWO LADS.  THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE OUTLAWS. 
THEIR DRESS AND AMUSEMENTS.  SHEPHERDS' AC
COUNT OF THE BANDITTI.  THEIR SUPERSTITION. 
DE CESARIS, A NOTED BANDIT.  THE ROBBERS
DEMAND CLOTHING FROM POLI, AND ARE SUPPLIED.
 CIVIC FORCES ASSEMBLED, THEY GO OUT AGAINST
THE BANDITTI.  DISCONTENT OF THE POLESE. 
ANOTHER PARTY OF THE CIVIC FORCE PURSUES THE
ROBBERS.  ALARMING REPORTS CONCERNING THEM^
 ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLE IN POLI.
The morning after, at day-break, the gypsies
had all disappeared, and we learned with
certainty that the banditti were at Gua
dagnola. Early the day before, which
was the twelfth of August, they had
seized two lads, assistants to a surveyor,
L 4

152 BANDITTI SEIZE TWO LADS.
who was measuring the lands for the pur
pose of adjusting the taxes. They were
employed in the wood leading to Guada
gnola, when two men, armed, came sudden
ly up to them near the little chapel to the
Madonna, and seized the youngest boy, who
was going along the road ; the other was
within the wood a few paces. The robbers
called to him by the opprobrious name
razza di cane, and, presenting their muskets,
forced him to come to them ; when, giving
him a blow, they drove him and his com
panion before them to an open space in the
wood, where they found eleven of their
companions sitting on the grass, engaged in
different occupations ; the two who had
taken the lads being centinels, posted to
give notice of approaching danger. Their
chief object in seizing the boys appeared
to be that of obtaining information as to
the principal inhabitants of Poli, and their
places of daily resort, in order to capture
some of them, if possible, and thereby
obtain a good sum as ransom. But they
had another reason for taking them, and
for detaining them the whole day ; and this
was to prevent their giving such information,
15

ACCOUNT OF THE OUTLAWS. 153
concerning them and their situation, in the
neighbouring towns, as might enable the
townspeople, or the military, to surround
them. They therefore kept them prisoners
till night; treated them very well, and
gave them bread and cheese, with some
water, which was all they had for themselves,
though the lads understood that they ex
pected a provision of meat and some wine
at night.
During the time of their captivity, the
young men had full leisure to observe the
dresses and the employments of the
banditti; the latter were chiefly gaming.
As soon as two centinels were placed, which
were frequently changed, the party divided
into different sets, one of which played at
cards ; another at morra *, for a louis-
d'or per chance ; a third party danced, while
a fourth listened to a story, or ballad,
in all the careless profligacy of an outlaw's
life. * Morra, a game not unlike one which children play
in England : " Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold
up ?" In both, the hand is held clenched at first, and
the guesser at the right number of fingers, held up at the
moment the guess is made, is the winner.

154 THEIR DRESS.
Their dress was picturesque, yet military ;
that of some was a good deal tattered, but
all had blue velveteen short jackets and
breeches, linen shirts, drawers and stock
ings; the latter bound round with leathern
thongs, which fastened on a kind of sandal :
their shirts open at the neck with the
collar turned back. The waistcoat was fast
ened with bunches of the little silver filagre
buttons common at Naples: two rows of
the same buttons adorned the jacket, which
was cut in the military style, and had seve
ral pockets on each side. Many of them
had two coloured silk handkerchiefs * fast
ened to their button-holes by one corner,
the rest being tucked into the pockets.
Round the waist they wore an ammunition-
belt, called here a padroncina, made of
stout leather, having slips for cartridges,
and fastened in front with a silver or plated
clasp. Across the left shoulder another
leathern belt was slung, in which there
* A coloured handkerchief, especially an Indian one,
is highly prized ; and as the robbers had made free with
the bundles of several pedlars, on their way from Terra
cina to Rome, they decorated themselves with their
spoils.

3RI©A:53']D)i:^.

ACCOUTREMENTS. 155
was a case for a knife, a fork, and a spoon,
some of which the boys said were of silver.
There was, besides, a hanger, or couteau de
chasse, the weapon with which most mur
ders in this part of the country are com
mitted, with a brass handle, ornamented
with silver, or plated.
Every robber had a silver heart, contain
ing a picture of the Madonna and Child,
suspended by a red ribbon to his neck, and
fastened with another of the same colour to
his left side. Their hats had high pointed
crowns, like those of Sal vator Rosa's banditti,
surrounded with bands of alternate red and
white near the top, and a black band and
buckle near the brim. He whom the boys
took for the chief, though we learned after
wards that he was not so, was distinguished
by a quantity of gold lace on his jacket and
pantaloons: this we concluded to be the
spoil of some Neapolitan officer. They all
wore large gold ear-rings with drops; and
two of the youngest had each two long
ringlets on each side of the face, the rest of
the hair being short. Many of them had
gold watches, seals, chains, rings, and other

156 DESCRIPTION OF THE ROBBERS.
trinkets, which they boasted of having taken
from English travellers.
The boys described the robbers as being
stout, active young men, excepting one,
who was very short and corpulent, with
a bald head ; he appeared to be the butt of
the rest, and, like Falstaff, to be not only
witty himself, but the cause of wit in others :
they called him the gourd merchant, allud
ing to the gourd-like smoothness of his
bald head. * After asking about the dif-
ferent inhabitant& of Poli by name, the
brigands began to question their prisoners
about the English who were there, whether
they did not go out into the woods to paint,
and other questions of the kind. The boys
being really ignorant, could give them , no
information about us, and very little about
any one else ; and therefore they were dis-.
* This is not a local witticism of the robbers. Cocuz-
zolo is a common expression for the head among the
low Romans, as in the following lines of the Meo
Patacca, a burlesque poem, written in the dialect of the
Trasteverine Romans, now become rare. The repetition
in the first line is true Roman :
Mostrava un genio nobile, mostrava,
E gran machine have in tel cocuzzolo.

CIVIC GUARD. 157
missed at night-fall, and made the best of
their way home; where they were the first
to give information of the vicinity of the
brigands, although several shepherds had
seen them, and had even made purchases of
bread and other provisions for them. The
gonfaloniere, for there is still the name of
that magistrate at Poli, then sent to Pales
trina for the marshal of the district, who
alone can order out the civic guard ; that
is, about twenty of the young peasants, into
whose hands muskets are put for the occa
sion ; and while employed they receive 25
bajocchi a day * : their duty is to watch
their own town by day and night, and to
join the civica of other towns, or the re
gular military, in pursuit of outlaws and
robbers. As it was now publicly known, that the
banditti were in the territory of Poli, the
shepherds felt themselves, as they said,
released from the promise of secrecy
they had made to them ; and confessed
that they had come to the sheep-cote on
the hill leading to Capranica, on the eve of
* There are 100 bajocchi in one Spanish dollar.

158 shepherds' ACCOUNT OF
St. John's, (that is on the 9th of August,)
and had staid there two nights. This was
the day after we had been on the same rock
to see the sun set from it; and, as we listened
to the distant sound of a bagpipe among
the hills, a young lad who was with us said,
" That is most likely a shepherd from
" Abruzzo, or some of those wild Neapoli-
" tan places that harbour the outlaws."*
Whether the pipe had any connection or
not with the arrival of the robbers, it was
one of those little incidents which, being
recollected afterwards, seemed to form part
of the whole train of circumstances belone-
ing to their sudden appearance so close to us.
* The bagpipe is the common instrument of the
shepherds here. Some of the greatest painters have
represented it in pictures of the adoration of the shep
herds. At Christmas-time, the pipers come down from
the mountains to Naples and Rome, where they play
about the streets, and especially before all, pictures and
images of the Madonna. They have one air, wUd, and
not without grandeur, which they believe to be that
played at the birth of Christ by the angels, and which
they perform on Christmas-eve m the great churches,
especially that of Santa Maria Maggiore, where they ex
hibit the presepia: i.e. a representation as large as hfe
of an ox, an ass, Joseph, Mary, and the Divine Infant, in
wax, under a bower, dressed with branches, ribbons, &c.

the BANDITTI. 159
To gratify our curiosity, the master of the
shepherds sent his head man to us, to give
us an account of the arrival of the robbers
at the fold, which he did nearly as follows :
About half an hour after sun-set, eight
shepherds being together in the cote, three
armed men came to them, and asked what
they had to eat ; they answered, fifteen or
twenty pagnotte, with milk and ricotta,
besides cheese. The strangers said, that
would not suit them, they must have animal
food. The shepherds said, they had none, as
they very well knew, for that such luxuries
did not belong to poor men. Their visitors
then ordered them to kill a sheep from the
fold ; but to this the shepherds objected, on
account of the displeasure of their masters, to
whom they were answerable for the flocks ;
and said, that if a sheep were missed they
would infallibly be beaten, or perhaps dis
missed. Upon this the armed men whistled,
and were instantly joined by ten others,
whose presence reconciled the shepherds
to the loss of their sheep ; and one chosen
by the gang was immediately killed, skinned,
and dressed. While the brigands, for such
the unwelcome visitors were, were eating
the first sheep, with the bread they found

160 their SUPERSTITION.
ready at the sheep-cote, they caused
another- to be killed; and two centinels, who
also acted the part of task-masters, being
appointed, the some-time masters of the
fold were forced to cut wood, and fetch
water, and were narrowly watched to pre
vent their escape.
Having caroused all night, they sent one
of the shepherds early in the morning to
Poli for bread, keeping his companions as
hostages, and threatening them all with
death, if they should mention their having
seen them within eight days.
They talked pretty freely with their
prisoners about themselves and their habits
of life, which they maintained arose from
necessity rather than choice. They showed
them the heart and picture of the Madonna,
which each had suspended from his neck,
saying, "We know that we are likely to die
" a violent death, but in our hour of need
" we have these," touching their muskets,
" to struggle for our lives with, and this,"
kissing the image of the Virgin, " to make
~" our death easy." This mixture of ferocity
and superstition is one of the most terrific
features in the character of the banditti of
Italy. Nor is it confined to them only :

DE OESAKLS. IGl
when a man who has led a bad life begins
to feel remorse of conscience, and to despair
of pardon hereafter, the vulgar belief, that a
death on the scaffold, where the priest at
tends to whisper absolution into the ear of
the culprit, as the axe descends, is a sure
road to Heaven, has been known to induce
the poor wretch to commit some heinous
crime, that he may gain that happiness, by
a violent and disgraceful death, which he
fears he has forfeited by a sinful life. If it
were possible, might it not be politic to de
prive murderers, at least, of absolution at
the point of death ?
The shepherd who gave us the account
of the appearance of the banditti on the hill,
recosnised amono; them several of the com-
panions of the noted De Cesaris, who was
shot by a soldier, near Terracina, some
months before. In 1817, he paid a pre
datory visit to these mountains, robbed the
poor people of Guadagnola of great part of
their stock of winter provisions, and for
some time posted himself on the hill behind
San Gregorio. The shepherd had his flock
there at the time, and the brigands came to
the fold, entered the hut, as they did near
M

162 DE CESARIS*
Poli, and made free with the sheep and
provisions in the same manner. Their
dress was in rather better condition, but of
the same kind. De Cesaris himself carried
paper, pens, and ink, in a case in his shoul
der-belt ; and, besides the Madonna, he had
a crystal hung to his neck, with which " he
took the light out of men's eyes," and thus
easily overcame them. It was curious to
find this humble copy of Rogero's enchant
ed mirror among the mountain shepherds ;
but, like all uncivilized people, they believe
in enchantments, and most of them regard
ed De Cesaris as no mean wizard. In fact,
he and many of his companions were men
of some education and natural understand
ing. While their grosser fellows were
gambling and dancing, they amused them
selves with books ; on this occasion, one of
them read aloud from some old romance in
rhyme, the others sitting round and laugh
ing, or attending seriously, as the nature of
the subject was grave or gay ; thus the
night passed. In the morning De Cesaris
took out his writing-materials, and, having
asked the herd his master's name, wrote to
him. On pain of having all his flock on the

THE BRIGANDS. 163
hill destroyed, to send him two hundred
pagnotte, fifty pints of wine, two sides of
bacon, artd a quantity of cheese ; signing his
order with his own name, and inserting that
of the shepherd and his place of abode, as
if it were an official paper. However, wheii
he considered that these provisions cotiM
not be conveyed from Poli, without attract
ing the attention of the soldiers posted at
San Gregorio, he tore up his order ; and
" I," said the shepherd, " was well pleased
that my master's property and my own
very particular trouble should b6 spared."
To return, however, to the troop that more
immediately interested us : there was among
it one man from the neighbom-hood, a
shepherd, whose master had treated him
rather cruelly, and who said that he thought
it high time to call upon him and thank
him for his courtesy ; this observation being
repeated to him, he was, of course, careful
not to go out of the town-gates alone,
unarmed, or on foot. However, the
brigands made him pay for his safety, and
that of his flocks, for they sent him
an order to provide a number of velvet
suits, linen shirts and drawers, and stout
M 2

164 THE brigands;.
great coats, and to deposit them at a certain
spot by a given time, on pain of losing his
cattle on the hills. He sent a message to
Rome, to inquire of the government if his
property would be protected or guaranteed
to him if he refused to supply the robbers,
or if he should supply the robbers with the
clothing required ; the answer was such as
to induce him to provide the articles de
manded by the appointed day.
The mareschal having arrived from Pales
trina, in consequence of the message of the
Gonfaloniere of Poli, the civic guard was
called out, and a singular scene presented
itself, as we looked from our windows. The
mareschal, with a single horse-pistol stuck
in his ammunition-belt, was walking up
and down in consultation with the principal
inhabitants of the placd ; for there was a
pretty general expectation that the brigands
would collect in greater numbers, and at
tempt to enter Poli that night. By-and-
bye twelve or fourteen young men joined
them, armed with n^uskets and fowling-
pieces, of many a various construction :
these formed the civic guard. Some of the
guns were their own, others belonged to

THE BRIGANDS 165
government, and were lent for the occasion.
About ten o'clock the party went to a little
platform just without the principal gate,
which usually serves as a play-ground for
the children, to fire at a mark, and try
their powder, regardless of the spot being
exactly within sight of the enemy's camp.
At length they set out in pursuit of the
brigands ; but, as we afterwards learned,
with little hope or intention of doing more
than driving them from their immediate
haunt in the neighbourhood, and perhaps
alarming them ; for many had gone out
without powder and shot, and few with
more than a second charge. Shortly after
their departure, a party of about two hun
dred men, who had been out to collect and
drive in the cattle from the hill, entered the
town, with such shouts of joy and triumph,
that we thought our guard had met with and
routed some detachment of the brigands ;
but we soon discovered the very unusual
sight of a herd of fat oxen, with cows and
fine calves, or rather heifers, running down
the street followed by their drivers, and
accompanied by all the women and children
of the town. Towards night a lieutenant,
M 3

166 THE BRIGANDS.
with a very small party of His Holiness's
soldiers, entered the towi], in consequence
of a messagp sent to Tivoli the night before :
tliey wpve intended to assist the town-guard,
and created an unusual degree of bustle.
The lodging and victualling them did not
seem to be a matter very easily adjusted,
nor indeed very agreeable. Their gay
dresses and trained step formed no small
contrast with the rustic, air and coarse
clothing of our old friends ; and the supe
riority they assumed seemed by no means
pleasing to the Polese. At length, the
lanterns, which had been moving up and
down the street, at least two hours later
than they had ever done before, dropped off
one by one, the expected attack on the
town was forgotten, and the night passed
quietly as usual.
Early next morning, another party of the
townsmen, accompanied by most of the
soldiers, set out in search of the brigands,
and, in the afternoon, the party of the day
before returned. They had found the kip
of the robbers yet warm : the grass was
trodden down : fragments of bread and
other food, mingled with remnants of cloth-

N

6H 8

mi HIa'

DON PEDRO. 167
ing, torn and cut packs of cards, and broken
ornaments lay strewed about the ground.
The skin of a sheep was hanging on a tree,
and every thing bore the marks of a
very hasty removal. The guard found a
shepherd v/ith some dressed meat, and
employed in making sandals of a kid's
skin; this, as the shepherds are not allowed
animal food, they taxed him with having
killed for the brigands ; but he asserted that
he had taken it from the mouth of a wolf,
who had been at the flock the night before.
They were obliged to believe the man, and
to leave him where they found him, however
they might be inclined to put that part of a
recent order in execution, which condemns
persons aiding the robbers to imprisonment.
They slept at Guadagnola, and came home
by Capranica, not having seen any thing of
the enemy.
At night we went to pay a visit to Don
Pedro, the priest of the Madonna della
Pieta. His sister is called here a saint: she
has some taste of literature, but more of
superstition ; and had there been a nunnery
in the neighbourhood, where she could
occasionally have seen her father and
M 4

168 DON PEDRO.
brothers, she would long ago have taken the
veil. The premature death of a maiden
lady of the family of the dukes of Poli,
who was much attached to this good
woman, prevented the foundation of a small
religious house, where they were both to
have ended their days. The death of her
patroness has cast a kind of gentle twilight
gloom on the spirits of the saint, who
alread}^ considers her vow as passed to
heaven, and lives only to do good, and
keep herself unspotted from the world.
Don Pedro cultivates music ; and we
found in his little library many excellent
books on subjects by no means belonging
to the narrow-minded part of his brethren.
Many of the principal men of Poli were at
his house, and the discourse naturally turned
upon the occurrences of the day. Every
body was of opinion that one of the best
measures would be to punish severely who
ever should convey provisions to the hills.
They imagined, also, that, since the regular
forces have been found hitherto insufficient
to dislodge the banditti, if each township
were permitted to defend itself, and the
people allowed arms, that they would soon

THE BANDITTI. 169
be dispersed. Although we could not agree
with them that these means would be quite
sufficient to clear Italy of these marauders,
we could not help acknowledging, that, as
far as the security of the inhabitants of the
mountain districts is concerned, they might
be most useful. We were astonished at the
general freedom of the remarks of these
good people upon the Papal government,
not only with regard to the compositions
entered into with the robbers, which only
quiet them one year, to make them more
audacious the next, but as to the general
police of the country ; and could easily per
ceive, that, however agreeable the return of
His Holiness and the purple princes * may
be to the capital, the country by no means
shares the sentiment.
The direction taken by the banditti, on
the two following days, was by no means
certain, and we began to hope they had left
the neighbourhood. But, on the morning
after, some women having reported that
they heard a whistling in a deep glen, with-
* Porporati is the proper title of the cardinals. The
people here call them the herette rosse, red night-caps.

170 THE BANDITTL
in a mile of the town on the road towards
Palestrina, the civic guard was ordered
out in pursuit, and one of our party de
termined to accompany it. A soldier and
a spy headed the little troop. As soon as
they got out of the town, and reached the
wood, the soldier directed them to march in
Indian file. Though the result of this third
expedition was as unsuccessful as that of the
others, the danger, or at least the appre
hension of it, was sufficient to show the tem
per of the people. As they approached the
suspected spot, strict silence was kept.
A woman who acted as guide at length
stopped, and the party began to descend
into a deep defile, with the utmost caution,
and great difficulty. It was a romantic spot :
the bed of a river, at this season almost
dry ; and one of the men, as he looked
fearfully round, whispered, " This is indeed
a place for banditti !" In the absence
of the robbers themselves, the peasants
climbing among the loose stones at the
bottom, made a picturesque addition to the
natural wildness of the scene. Here some
of the people were observed to lag, to the
great distress of the foremost, who exclaim-

THE BANDITTI. 171
ed, " Per Dio quelli ci lasciano." * The
sides of the ravine, where not rocky, are
clothed with large chesnuts trees and brush
wood, so that the danger of the situation,
supposing the brigands to be concealed
among the trees, reduced the soldiers to
look for a convenient place to ascend.
There was a steep, narrow, sloping field,
planted with maize, with chesnut trees on
each side : the troops climbed up to it in
silence, and the soldier directed the men to
lower their muskets, that they might not be
seen over the top of the brushwood. The
spy, who was foremost, advanced to
wards the trees, half raised his musket, and
then stepped back to the soldier and whis
pered, wliich made the people believe they
had found the robbers ; and one o£ them
said " Per Cristo eccoli qua ! " f and hesi
tated. The wood was entered, but nothing
found there: and the rest of the march was
only a j^etition of the same cautious walk.
The spy who had left the company to ex
amine a narraw path, was nearly shot by one
of the men, who l^eard a rustling among the
* By heaven, these fellonsj? are leaving us.
\ By heaven, here they are !

172 THE BANDITTI.
leaves. A smoke at a distance, which at
first ffave some alarm, turned out to be
nothing but some chaff which a peasant was
burning. At length they arrived at the
top of the hill, between Poli and Capranica ;
a station where they resolved to wait for
another division of the townsmen, which
had gone round by a different road. At
length they appeared, but neither party
liked to approach the other till a certain red
jacket was recognized, when they joined,
and returned the shortest way home. While
the first party had waited under the trees
for the other, centinels had been posted all
round, at a hundred yards' distance. The
rest amused themselves by climbing for
squirrels' nests, and telling stories of one
another, from which it appeared that more
than one of them had escaped from prison
for attempts at assassination. One in par
ticular, who seemed a kind of harlequin
among them, had had more than one hair
breadth 'scape when the sbirrf were in pur
suit of him. On one occasion he had es
caped by leaping from a high window ; and,
to prove that he had lost none of his agility,
he diverted himself with climbing to the

THE BANDITTI. 173
extremities of the high chesnut boughs, and
dropping off them to the ground.
Shortly after the return of the guard, we
found that the banditti had really been in
an opposite direction, on the heights of San
Gregorio, whence they had taken a quantity
of bread and wine. We, therefore, went out
and took a short walk without the gates.
The near fields were more than usually
peopled ; for several small flocks and a few
head of cattle had been driven in from the
hills, that they might go intothetown at night
for protection. We observed, that the boy
who went daily to cut wood for the baker had
muffled the bell that hung round his ass's
neck, to keep him from wandering too far,
in order to prevent the noise from betraying
his master. The farmers who had occasion
to go to the threshing-floors, all went well
mounted, and with an attendant or two.
On going home, we learned that a surgeon,
and two or three other persons, had been
seized by the brigands, and carried to the
mountains, in order to obtain a ransom.
They were inhabitants of Castel Madama,
a small town near Tivoli, and so named
from JMargaret of Austria, daughter of

174 THE BANDITTI.
Charles V. * The surgeon was on his way
from Castel Madama to Tivoli, to visit a
patient : the others were taken to prevent
their giving information too early of the
road taken by the banditti.
This news necessarily increased the con
sternation of the householders of Poli, who
now resolved to make every effort to as
semble and arm the young men of the town.
Nevertheless, in passing through the little
square in our way home, we found the go
vernment proclamation against Sonnino
torn down, and the programma for the
amusements of Saint Agapet's day at Pales
trina put up in its place. At night a small
detachment of Polese, which had been sent
to join the people of Casapa, in an attempt
to drive the banditti from San Gregorio,
where the tocsin had been sounded on the
capture of the people from Castel Madama,
* Castel Madama, formerly Saint Angelo, was named
after Madame Margaret of Austria, daughter of
Charles V., married first to Alexander de Medici, and
then to Octavio Farnese, by whom she had Alexander
Farnese, Buke of Parma. The beautiful villa, under
Monte Mario, beyond the villa Millini, near Rome,
called Villa Madama, is also named after the same
lady.

THE BANDITTI. 175
returned. They were sent back without
attempting to do any thing, as it was feared
that any open measures taken against the
robbers, before the ransom was paid, would
endanger the lives of the prisoners.
Early on the morning of the 18th of
August, Saint Agapet's day, such of the
people of Poli as resolved to brave the
danger of meeting the brigands, for the sake
of selfing their goods at Palestrina, or even
for the sake of amusement, assembled in two
bodies, amounting together to about two hun
dred and fifty persons. One party preceded
the other about half an hour, 'and both set
off before day break. As the sun arose, the
last company were so alarmed that they
began to think of returning home, seeing
a number of persons through the trees,
whom they at first took for robbers, but the
sisht of the women's white head-clothes
satisfied them that they were townsfolk ; and
the two parties joined, and met with nothing
further to startle them on the road.
Shortly after they left Poli, it was known
that all the poor prisoners had been dis
missed by the banditti ; but those from
whom they could hope to extort a ransom

176 THE BANDITTI,
were detained. About noon a report
reached us that one of the captives had
been barbarously murdered ; and towards
night, as it had been ascertained at Tivoli
that the surgeon, the only remaining pri
soner, was safe, an order came to Poli for
all the force it was possible to assemble, to
keep the pass of Guadagnola, towards Poli,
as every other avenue, by which the brigands
could escape from the station they had now
taken up behind Mentorella, was supposed
to be sufficiently guarded.
This order arrived about sun-set. Most
of the men were absent at Palestrina, so that
the boys and old people were collected in
the street to choose out of Their wives,
mothers, and grandmothers came out, each
with her lantern, to beg that her husband
or child might be left to guard her house,
in case the robbers, taking advantage of the
absence of the strong men, should attack
the town. The families who possessed
arms refused to lend them to the guard, and,
as it appeared that the night was likely to
be wasted in altercations, the magistrates
and the officer, who still remained in the
town, resolved to enter the houses forcibly,
13

ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLE IN POLL 177
and take what arms they could find. Two
or three houses were accordingly entered,
but it consumed the time equally, and the
guns were so well concealed, that there was
little chance of obtaining enough to arm
the few men they could provide ; therefore
they resolved to wait till the morning, when
the men would be returned from Palestrina.
The scene in the street where all public
business is transacted, was not only quite
new to us, but curious in itself The
armed and the unarmed, the willing and
the unwilling, were all vociferating at once -.
the women were going about with their
infants in one hand and a lantern in the
other; now aggravating, now quieting the
disputants. The people from the feast came
dropping in, laden with their nuts or other
fairings, and mostly half intoxicated, all
mingling together, and talking of danger
from banditti, to be apprehended that night,
or to be provided against next day, without
ever considering, that while they were dis
puting, the ruffians would escape in any
direction they chose. Such was the evening
of the eighteenth. The morning of the
nineteenth was not much more orderly.
N

178 ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLE IN POLI.
The men, indeed, sober, and in earnest, for
this time, had armed themselves well, were
leaving the town in greater numbers than
we had yet seen assembled. Their wives
and children, believing there was now some
real danger, were sitting lamenting in groups
about the street ; but they might have
spared themselves the pain. The great
pass had been left unguarded for more than
twelve hours. Half that time would have
sufficed the brigands, with their active
habits, to have escaped to a distance, far
out of the reach of pursuit.

179

CHAP. VIII.

My mates that make their will their law
Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
T%vn Gentlemen of Verona.

ESCAPE FROM POLI TO TIVOLI.  STATE OF TIVOLI. 
VARIOUS REPORTS OF THE BANDITTI. — LETTER OF
THE SURGEON OF CASTEL MADAMA.
xlowEVEB curious or interesting it might be,
for a short time, to see a town with twelve
hundred inhabitants kept in continual alarm
by a handful of robbers, the number of those
who occupied our immediate neighbourhood
never exceeding thirteen, though the main
body was one hundred and thirty strong, we
began to be weary of imprisonment within
its narrow walls, where there were neither
magistrates to protect us, nor society to
make up for the loss of the enjoyment we
had experienced in wandering, unrestrained,
through the beautiful country around. We
therefore resolved to try whether we could
not reach Tivoli in safety, and occupy at
least a larger prison. We accordingly hired
N 2

180 ESCAPE FROM POLI
twelve armed peasants to accompany us ;
and one of the principal inhabitants of Poli
volunteered to go with us. The peasants
were hired for a little more pay than they
would have received as a government
guard ; and they were not told to which of
the neighbouring towns we were going, lest
any information might reach the brigands,
who might have way-laid us in conse
quence. We were three, — the writer, her
husband, and a friend, besides our servant,
a Caffre, from the Mozambique channel,
who insisted on marching first with a long
gun, and whose appearance, the peasants
observed, would most probably frighten any
robbers we might meet; a black man being
so rare here that something almost super
natural is attached to his appearance.*
About day-break, therefore, on the 21st
we left Poli and its kind-hearted inhabit
ants, who, during our stay amongst them,
had done all their rustic means afforded
to gratify and accommodate us. Our guard
was on foot. We were mounted on coun-
* Both at Tivoli and at Poli the poor fellow was
scarcely able to walk out in the street in peace, the
mothers bringing tribes of children to him to be kissed,
as a charm against certain infantile diseases.

TO TIVOLI. 181
try horses, accommodated with a kind of
pack-saddle, and we had a mule laden with
our baggage. Instead of going to Tivoli by
the short mountain-road, we were advised
by our guide, the Guardia Campestre, to
go towards Rome as far as Corcolla, where
we could strike into the road from Frascati
to Tivoli, and thus avoid the most danger
ous of the mountain-passes by San Gre-'
gorio, and also the difficulties, and even
perils of the middle road by the aqueducts ;
as the neighbourhood both of the Ponte
Lupo and the Ponte Sant Antonio are
favourite stations of the brigands. Accord
ingly, we set out across the plain below
Poli ; and, as it is wide and clear, there was
no danger of a surprrise, and we marched as
we pleased, and many a story of the bri
gands was told. The father of the young
man who volunteered to go with us had
been mayor of Poli under the French
government, and he talked a great deal
of the methods employed against the ban
ditti by the French. Among others, he
said that, whenever a party of the civic
guard was sent to the hills to pursue them^
an equal number of French soldiers ac-
N 3

182 ESCAPE FROM POLI
companied them, with orders to shoot
any peasant who should fall back, or show
the slightest disposition to favour the rob
bers. The shepherds who supplied them
with any kind of provisions were severely
punished ; and methods were taken to pre
vent any person from carrying a greater
quantity of provisions into the fields, than
was absolutely necessary for his own con
sumption while at work. The banditti are
dreaded by their neighbours, on account of
their implacability, and the certainty with
which they take revenge. One of the
mayors of Faiola, during the French
government, had published the order for
levying conscripts within his district. He
received a kind of round robin, desiring
him, as he valued his life, to desist from all
attempts to take any of the inhabitants of a
particular village. The magistrate disre
garded the threat, and proceeded, at the
head of a party of soldiers, to enforce the
orders of government ; but scarcely had he
entered a little thicket, which lay in his way,
when a rifle-ball entered his forehead, and
he fell dead to the earth. The soldiers in
stantly surrounded the thicket, but the as
sassin had escaped, nor could the offer of

TO TIVOLI. 183
the highest reward procure any intelligence
concerning him. In such talk as this, now
and then interrupted by the alarm taken by
some of our people at the reports of the
guns of some persons who were shooting
quails along the road, we reached the little
wood that clothes the descent from the
high plain we had crossed, to the level of
the Campagna. Here the guide first told
the men where they were going, and then
marshalled us in order. Our fire-arms
consisted of fifteen guns, some muskets,
some fowling-pieces, two of them double-
barrelled, and two pair of pistols. The
Guardia Campestre and spy wore long
knives openly ; the rest of the people pro
fessed to have none, as they are forbidden
by law ; but many of them were known to
wear them concealed. Half the guard,
marching one by one, was sent on before ;
ourselves and the baggage occupied the
centre ; and the rest of the peasants fol
lowed. However, we met with nothing to
alarm us ; and, as the morning was fine,
and the wood in great beauty, our ride was
very agreeable. At Corcolla we entered
that part of the Via Collatina which leads
N 4

184 ESCAPE FROM POLI
towards Tivoli. The little river Acqua Nera
runs nearly parallel with it. The banks are
flat, but the hills and brushwood, on each
side of its little valley, are sufficiently
picturesque as a fore-ground, where the
distance is formed by the Campagna of
Rome, and the neighbouring Appenine.
There was no want of cultivation on the
banks of the little rivulet ; but the ground
did not appear to be nearly so fertile as the
territory of Poli. The maize, the only re
maining crop standing, was poor and dwarf
ish. The hedges were very beautiful :
they consisted of maple, willow, spindle-
tree, reeds, broom, and the common
bramble, the undergrowth was of smilax,
ivy, a variety of geraneums, two or three
kinds of cestus, especially the white shrubby
potentillas, both shrubby and creeping,
an innumerable variety of vetches, con-
volvoluses of every hue, the butcher's
broom, with its berries just formed ; and
the service, wild medlar, and wild apple,
overtopping the whole. At length we
reached a little glade, sheltered by a hill,
called San Stefano, near the boundary of
Hadrian's Villa, and where there are some

TO TIVOLI. 185
masses of antique masonry that have
not yet found a name. There, a little
wooden cross, erected among the grass,
attracted our attention. The guide said it
marked the spot where, two years ago,
when De Cesaris and his party were en
camped in this glade, they had murdered a
man. The cross is fixed in such places in
this country, to claim a prayer from the
traveller for the soul of one who, it is sup
posed, had not time allowed him to perform
the last Christian duties, and to receive the
last Christian consolations.
Half an hour after we had passed the
cross, we reached the gate of Tivoli, where
we found one of the townsmen mounting
guard. When it was known in the town
that we had come from Poli by the lower
road, we were eagerly congratulated on our
safety ; for the brigands had spent the
night in Hadrian's Villa, and must have
seen us pass; but, as our muskets outnum
bered theirs, they did not think it worth
while to risk a struggle for so insignificant
a prey. Indeed, they seldom take foreign
ers, or any persons from whom they cannot
expect a speedy ransom.

186 STATE OF TIVOLI.
We had scarcely been half an hour in
Tivoli when the people who had accom
panied us from Poli were required to join
the Tiburtines in pursuit of the outlaws,
who were seen crossing the hills behind
the town; and we soon discovered that
Tivoli was in a state of still greater con
sternation than the little town we had
left. We found no difficulty in gratifying
the curiosity we naturally felt concerning
the capture and release of the surgeon of
Castel Madama; and we contrived to see
several of the persons who had been taken at
the same time, on the day after our arrival.
The man who had carried up his ransom
was the most interesting. He was an old
grey-headed peasant, and was taken early
on the same day with the surgeon. His
spirit and good humour pleased the rob
bers, and, as it afterwards appeared, was
of service to the poor son of Esculapius.
They chose this old man to convey his let
ter, begging ransom might be sent; and, as
he left them, he said, " Figli miei, (my sons^)
" be good to this man, for he is a good
" man, and deserves it." They promised
they would, and said, " Since you call us

ANECDOTE OF A BRIGAND. 187
sons, you shall be tata," (daddy ;) and after
wards when he returned from his first mes
sage, and found them eating some fresh
mutton, which, on account of his want of
teeth, he could not chew, they said, " Wait
" a little, and we will have something for
"tata also;" upon which the chief sliced
some liver and kidney, and, spitting it on a
ramrod, roasted it for him.
A goatherd, who had once been kept
forcibly with a party of banditti, told us,
that one of their chiefs had formerly been
an acquaintance of his. This man had ac
cidentally committed homicide, and, afraid
of the consequences, had fled to Conca, in
the kingdom of Naples, from the states of
the church. There, being without a pass
port, he was taken up and imprisoned ;
but, by the grace of the Virgin, and of
Saint John Baptist, he had escaped to the
woods: there, after wandering a month,
and being almost starved, he met the ban
ditti, who invited him to join them. To
this he, nothing loth, consented, when, to
try his manhood, they gave him a piece of
flesh roasted to eat, telling him it was part
of a Christian's heart. " It might haye

188 REPORTS OF THE BANDITTL
" been two hearts," said the ruffian ; " but
" I would have eaten it." He had to per
form a noviciate of twolyears, hewing wood,
drawing water, and performing other me
nial offices; but, a year ago, he figured
as the chief of a party among them.
The last is a pretty fair specimen of the
stories told and believed of the origin of most
of the principal outlaws. Every day, while
we remained at Tivoli, brought some new
particulars concerning their marches. It
was ascertained, that the whole number
amounted to about one hundred and forty,
divided into companies, not exceeding
twenty in each, for the sake of more easy
subsistence. The head-quarters appeared
to be at Rio Freddo, and in the woods of
Subiaco. Their spies, and those who bought
provisions for them, were lavishly paid, and
the instances of any information being
given against them were very rare. On
one occasion, however, they had seized a
ploughman belonging to Rio Freddo, and,
after beating him, they had sent him to his
house to fetch a few dollars, as the price of
his future security while at work. On his way,
he met the hunters belonging to Subiaco,

STATE OF TIVOLL 189
and gave them notice of the situation of the
robbers. They desired him to fetch his
money, and go to the appointed place with
it, and, if he found them still there, to leave
a mark at a particular tree. Meantime
they took measures for surrounding the
lair, and having done so, waited patiently
till the poor man had paid his money and
made the mark agreed on ; and this they
were more careful to do, as, had the bri
gands suspected he had given information,
they would certainly have put him to
death. As soon as he was safe, the hunters
drew close round the enemy, who were
seven in number, and fired : two were killed
on the spot, and the five others, of whom
one was found dead of his wounds near the
place next day, left their fire-arms, and
concealed themselves in the thicket of Ar-
cinuzzo, between Rio Freddo and Subiaco.
Every evening the episcopal church-bell
rang at Tivoli, to set the guards at the dif
ferent bridges leading to the town, as the
people were in nightly expectation that the
brigands would enter it in search of pro
visions, with which the shepherds had be
come rather shy of supplying them, since

190 STATE OF TIVOLL
two or three had been taken up, and im
prisoned for so doing. On the night of the
21st or 22d, seven robbers had gone to
San Vetturino, armed chiefly with blud
geons, and had taken nearly all the bread
in the town, but had not touched any of
the inhabitants, who, in fact, are scarcely
rich enough to afford much ransom. But
the most enterprising gang lingered about
Tivoli, where there are a number of rich
proprietors, who might have furnished a
considerably booty. *
A few days after we arrived at Tivoli, we
were fortunate enough to meet the Signer
* After we returned to Rome, we learned, that the
same gang had seized the arch-priest of Vicovaro, whose
nephew, having offered some resistance, was killed on the
spot. The ransom demanded for the priest and a friend
was so exorbitant, that it could not be raised, on which
the ruffians sent their ears to their families, and after
wards some of their fingers. At length, tired of waiting,
and, perhaps, irritated by the complaints of the two pri
soners, they murdered them. There is a sort of feroci
ous jollity among these brigands, more shocking, per
haps, than their actual cruelty. They had stripped the
priest of his robes and clerical hat, two or three days
before they killed him : one of their number put on the
sacerdotal clothing, and substituted for it his own, with
his high-crowned hat, which they forced the poor man to
wear.

SIGNOR CHERUBINL 19l
Cherubini, the surgeon of Caistel Madama,
of whose adventures we had heard so much.
He kindly related to us every particular of
his capture and liberation, and allowed us
to write it down. We afterwards procured
an account, written by himself to a friend,
which we transcribe, with such little addi
tions from his own verbal communication,
as appear to give a greater interest to the
narrative, because they are little traits of
character, which escaped from the good
doctor, in speaking, but which he probably
did not think of sufficient consequence to
write. Letter of the Surgeon of Castel Madama.
" Castel Madama, August SO. 1819.
" I send you the detailed account you
requested of the misfortune which befel me
on the 17th current. Early in the morning
of that day, the factor of the Cavaliere
Settimio Bischi, named Bartolomeo Ma-
rasca, a person well known to me, came to
my house, with a letter from his master,
desiring me to come to Tivoli, my assist
ance as a surgeon being necessary, both to

192 LETTER OP THE SURGEON
Signor Gregorio Celestine, and to the nun
sister, Chiara Eletta Morelli. On this ac
count, I hurried over my visits to my
patients at Castel Madama, and set off on
horseback, accompanied by the factor, who
was armed with a gun, towards Tivoli. I
passed through the whole parish of San Gre
gorio, and that of Tivoli, as far as the se
cond arch of the antique aqueducts, which
cross the road two miles from that town, to
a spot commonly called the Narrows of
Tivoli, without accident. And here I must
observe, that it is impossible for the road,
by its natural position, to be better adapted
for banditti, or more terrible to travellers.
After passing the bridge degli Archi, on the
way to Tivoli, it is bounded on the left by
a steep hill, covered with thick underwood,
which reaches to the very edge of the
road ; the other side is a continued pre
cipice of great height, and quite perpen
dicular to the plain, through which the
Anio runs below. The breadth of this road
is very little more than sufficient for a car
riage, so that it is not possible to perceive
the danger, which may easily be concealed
in the thicket above, nor to fly from it on
18

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 193
either side when it bursts out upon one,
and, therefore, one must inevitably become
the victim of lawless violence.
" I had scarcely passed the second arch
of the antique aqueducts, when two armed
men suddenly rushed out from the thicket,
near a little lane to the left, and stopped
the way ; and pointing their guns at the
factor, who was riding a little before me,
ordered him to dismount. Meantime two
others came out of the wood behind me, so
as to have us between them and the former.
We had both dismounted on the first inti
mation. The two men behind me ordered
me to turn back instantly, and to walk be
fore them, not by the road to Castel Ma
dama, but that to San Gregorio.
" The first question they asked me, was,
whether I was the Prince of Castel Ma
dama, meaning, I fancy, the Vice-Prince,
who had passed a little before. To this, I
answered that I was not the prince, but a
poor surgeon of Castel Madama ; and, to
convince them that I spoke truth, I showed
them my case of lancets, and my bag of
surgical instruments; but it was of no use.
During our walk towards San Gregorio, I
o

194 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
perceived that the number of brigands in
creased to thirteen. One took my watch,
another my case of lancets. At the begin
ning of our march, we met, at short distances,
four youths belonging to San Gregorio, and
one elderly man, all of whom were obliged
to share my fate ; shortly after, we met
another man, and an old woman, whose
ear-rings were taken, and they were then
permitted to continue their journey.
" In the meadows by the last aqueduct,
the horses which Bartolomeo and I had
ridden, were turned loose, and after passing
the ravine, called del Valcatore, we began
to climb the steepest part of the mountain
with such speed, that, together with the
alarm I felt, it made me pant so violently,
that I trembled every moment lest I
should burst a blood-vessel. At length,
however, we reached the top of the hill,
where we were allowed to rest, and we sat
down on the grass. The factor Marasca
then talked a good deal to the brigands ;
showed himself well acquainted with their
numbers, and said other things, which my
wretched state of mind prevented me from
attending to very distinctly ; but seeing him

OF CASTEL MADAAIA. 195
apparently so intimate with the robbers, a
suspicion crossed me, that I was betrayed
by him.
" The chief brigand then turned to me,
and throwing down my lancet-case by me,
said that he had reflected on my condition,
and that he would think about my ransom.
Then I with tears explained to him ni}'^
poverty, and my narrow means, and told
him how, to gain a little money, I was on
my road to Tivoli to attend a sick stranger.
Then he ordered me to write to that same
stranger, and desire him to send two thou
sand dollars, or I should be a dead man, and
to warn him against sending out an armed
force. He brought pen, ink, and paper ;
and I was obliged to write what he bade
me, with all the earnestness that the pre
sence of thirteen assassins, and the fear of
death, could inspire. While I was writing,
he sent two of his men to take a man, who
was ploughing, a little lower down : he be
longed to San Gregorio ; but one of the
messengers having seen one of Castel Ma
dama in the flat below, he went down for
him, and they were both brought np to us.
As soon as they came, I begged the man of
o 2

196 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
Castel Madama to carry my letter to Tivoli
for Signor Celestini ; and, in order to enforce
it, I sent my case of surgical instruments,
with which he was well acquainted, as a
token. This countryman, who was as civil
as he was wary, prudent, and fit for the
business, accepted the commission which I
gave him, and after having given me some
encouragement, without however offending
the brigands, he gave me some bread which
he had with him, and set off for Tivoli,
the chief desiring him to take one of the
horses we had left below, that he might
make more speed. The ploughman from
San Gregorio was sent with him, but not
quite to Tivoli, and only to wait at a given
spot the return of the peasant of Castel
Madama. " We were remaining in the same place,
in expectation of the return of the mes
senger, when, in about three hours' time,
we saw at a distance a man on horseback,
coming straight to us, which we believed to
be the man returning. A little after, how
ever, several people were seen together,
which the chief took to be the armed force
of Tivoli. He abused one of his com-

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 197
panions who had broken his spy-glass the
day before, because he could not obtain a
more satisfactory view of them. At length,
having made the best observations he could,
he concluded that there was really an armed
force advancing, and gave orders to his
men to retire to the highest and most
woody part of the mountain, obliging me
and the other prisoners to keep pace with
them. After a long and painful march,
finding himself in a safe place, he halted,
and there awaited the return of the mes-
senser ; but as he still delaved, the chief
came to me, and said, that perhaps it might
happen to me as it did to a certain inhabit
ant of Veletri, who had been taken by this
very party, who entered his house in dis
guise, and carried him off to the woods,
and because his ransom was long in coming,
they killed him, and when the money came,
the messenger found him dead. I was
alarmed beyond measure at this story, and
regarded it as a forerunner of my own
speedy death.
« However, I entreated them with tears to
have a little patience, and the messenger
would surely return with the money. Mean-
o 3

198 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
time, to satisfy the chief as well as his com
panions, I told them I might have written
another letter to Castel Madama, with or
ders to sell whatever I possessed, and to
send up the money immediately. Thank
God, this pleased them, and instantly they
caused me to write another letter to Castel
Madama, and one of the prisoners from
San Gregorio was sent with it. After he
was gone, I saw the factor Marasca walking
about carelessly among the bripands, look
ing at their arms, and making angry ges
tures ; but he did not speak. Shortly after,
he came and sat down by me ; it was then
that the chief, having a large stick in his
hand, came up to him, and, without saying
a single word, gave him a blow on the
back of the head just where it joins the
neck. It did not kill him, so he rose and
cried, ' I have a wife and children ; for
God's sake spare my life,' and thus saying,
he defended himself as well as he could with
his hands. Other brigands closed round
him; a struggle ensued, and they rolled
together down a steep precipice. I closed
my eyes, my head dropped on my breast,
1 heard a cry or two, but! seemed to have
17

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 199
lost all sensation. In a very short time the
brigands returned, and I saw the chief
thrust his dagger, still stained with blood,
into its sheath ; then turning to me, he an
nounced the death of the factor in these
very words : ' Do not fear : we have killed
the factor because he was a sbirro * ; such
as you are not sbirri ; then, he was of no use
among us. He looked at our arms, and
seemed disposed to murmur ; and if the
force had come up, he might have been
dangerous.' And thus they got rid of
Marasca, The chief seeing that the money
did not come from Tivoli, and being afraid
lest troops should be sent, seemed uncer
tain what to do, and said to his companions,
' How shall we dispose of our prisoners ?
We must either kill them, or send them
home ;' but they could not decide on
either, and he came and sat down by me.
I, remembering that I had a little money
about me, which might amount altogether
* Sbirro, government spy, and, at the same time,
soldier and constable. Before the Revolution, they
were the only police-officers, and were terrible in pro
portion as they were secret; and no man knew whether
his own brother might not be one. The French dis
banded them. They have been lately re-estabUshed.
o 4

200 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
to thirty pauls, (3 crowns,) gave them frankly
to him, to gain his good-will. He took it in
good part, and said he would keep it to pay
the spy.
"After this it came on to rain very heavily :
it was already twenty-one o'clock, (about
four in the afternoon, English time,) and I
was wet to the skin. Before the rain was
quite over, we heard some voices from the
top of the hill above us on the left hand.
Then a strict silence was kept, that we
might discover if they were the voices of
the messengers from Tivoli, or some party
of the troops, of whom they seemed much
afraid. I endeavoured to convince them
that it was probably the messenger. They
then called out, ' Come down,' but no one
came ; nor did we ever find out who it was,
so we remained where we were.
" After another short interval, we heard
another voice also from above, on the left ;
and then we said. Surely this must be the
messenger. But the brigands would not
trust to it, and forced us to go on to a place
a good deal higher, and even with that
whence the voice proceeded. When we
reached it, they all presented their muskets,
keeping the prisoners behind them ; and,

Ol-' CASTEL MADAMA. 201
thus prepared to stand on the defensive,
they cried out, ' Come forward.' In a
few moments the men appeared among the
trees ; one of them, the peasant of Castel
Madama, who had been sent in the morning
to Signor Celestini at Tivoli ; the other, the
ploughman of San Gregorio, his companion.
As soon as they were recognised, they were
ordered to lie down with their faces to the
ground, and asked if they came alone. But
the man of Castel Madama answered, ' It
would be a fine thing, indeed, if I, who
am almost dead with fatigue, after climb
ing these mountains, with the weight of
five hundred scudi about me, should be
obliged to prostrate myself with my face
to the earth ! Here's your money : it
was all that could be got together in the
town.' Then the chief took the money, and
ordered us to change our station. Having
arrived at a convenient place, we stopped,
and he asked if there were any letters ; being
answered that there were two, he gave them
to me to read ; and learning from them
that the sum sent was five hundred crowns,
he counted them, and finding the number
exact, said all was well, praised the
punctuality of the peasant, and gave him

202 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
some silver as a reward for his trouble :
his companion also received a small
present. " The robbers, who no longer cared to
keep the prisoners belonging to San Grego
rio, from whom they could not hope to get
any thing, released them all at this spot. I,
therefore, with the peasant of Castel Mada
ma, remained the only prisoner; and we be
gan to march across the mountains, perhaps
only for the sake of changing place. I
asked, why they did not set me at liberty
as well as the others, as they had already
received so considerable a sum on ray
account. The chief answered, that he
meant to await the return of the messenger
sent to Castel Madama. I continued to
press him to let me go before night, which
was now drawitig on apace, saying, that
perhaps it had not been possible to procure
any more money at Castel Madama; and
that if I remained out all night on the hill
in the cold air, it would have been better to
have killed me at once. Then the chief
stopped me, and bade me take good care
how I said such things, for that to them
killing a man was a matter of perfect
indifference. The same thino- was also

OF CASTEL MADAMA, 203
said to me by another outlaw, who gave me
his arm during our rocky journey. At length
we reached the top of a mountain, where
there were some pools of water, formed by
the rain that had fallen a little before ; and
then they gave me some very hard and black
bread that I might eat, and drink some of
that water. I drank three times ; but I
found it impossible to eat the bread.
" The journey continued over the tops of
those mountains which succeed one another,
till we arrived at a place known by the
name of S. Sierla, about midnight. There
we saw an ass feeding, and heard some one
call to us, to ask if we had seen the ass.
The chief, in a feigned voice, answered. Yes ;
and then made the man from Castel Mada
ma desire him to come down to the ass. It
appeared that the man was afraid to come
down ; for which-reason the chief said, that
if he were near enough, he would have
stuck his knife into him. Piqued that the
shepherd was afraid of them, he said,
' Did one ever hear of a shepherd being-
afraid of the brigands ?' When the
man at length came down, they reproached
him with his fear ; but he, taking courage,

204 LETTER OP THE SURGEON
said he was not afraid, and invited them to
his hut. The ass was then taken, and a
great coat put upon his back, with a shep
herd's coat of sheep-skin, upon which I was
mounted, and we went on to the hut, where
there was a threshing-floor. When we
arrived, we found a large fire, where the
chief told me to undress mj'self, and dry
my clothes. He himself helped me in this
operation ; and as soon as I was dry, they
laid a great coat on the ground, and placed
a bag for a pillow, that I might lie down
near the fire,
" They then asked if there were any sheep-
fold near, and finding there was, they sent
to fetch some sheep. One was brought,
which was soon killed ; and, while they
were skinning it, overcome by fatigue, I fell
asleep, and when I awoke the sheep was
already eaten, and all the robbers, except
the chief and the centinels, asleep. But
the chief had reserved some slices of
meat, which he had spitted on his ramrod,
and roasted himself to give me, telling me
at the same time that there was no salt.
I could scarcely force myself to swallow a
few morsels, and gave the rest to the Castel

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 205
Madama peasant, who was near me ; but I
drank a little wine, which they found in a
small barrel at the threshing-floor.
" This was the only time I saw them
drink any thing but water. The chief told
me they were always afraid when fresh wine
came, lest it should be drugged ; and that
they always made whoever brought it
drink a good deal of it ; and if in two hours
no bad symptoms appeared, they used the
wine. " After this, we went to the sheep-fold,
which we reached about the fifth hour ; and
where we found a quantity of boiled meat
which the brigands tied up in various hand
kerchiefs, and a great coat, together with
some cheeses. Before we left the fold, the
chief, reflecting that the messenger was not
come back from Castel Madama, began to
think he might have made his escape
entirely, because he was one of the prisoners
from San Gregorio, determined to make
me write another letter, and accordingly
brought me all that was requisite for writ
ing ; and ordered me to tell my friends at
Castel Madama, that, if they did not send
eight hundred crowns on the following

206 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
day, they would put me to death ; or carry
me to the woods of Fajola, if there was
a farthing; less than the above-named sum.
I consequently wrote a second letter, and
gave it to the countryman to carry, telling
him also by word of mouth, that, if they
found no purchasers at Castel Madama for
my effects, to desire they might be sent to
Tivoli, and sold for whatever they would
fetch. The chief of the brigands also
beffffed to have a few shirts sent. One of
the brigands proposed, I don't know why,
to cut off one of my ears, and send it with
the letter to Castel Madama, It was well
for me that the chief did not approve of
the civil proposal, so it was not done. He,
however, wanted the countryman to set out
that moment ; but he, with his usual cool
ness, said, that it was not possible to go down
that steep mountain during the night, on
which the chief told him he might remain
in the sheep-cot all night, and set out at
day-light: — « But, take notice,' said he,
' if you do not return at the twentieth
hour to-morrow to the sheep-cot, with
the eight hundred crowns, you may go
about your business, but we shall throw

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 207
Cherubini into some pit.' The peasant
tried to persuade them that, perhaps, it
might not be possible to collect so much
money in a small town, at so short a notice,
and begged to have a little more time ; but
the chief answered, that they had no time
to waste, and that, if he had not returned
next day, by the twentieth hour, they would
kill Cherubini.
" After they had given their orders, they
left the countryman at the sheep-fold, to
wait for day-light, before he set out for
Castel Madama, which was above three
miles from it. The brigands then set off,
carrying me with them, and obliging a
shepherd to carry the great coat, in which
they had wrapped up the cold meat and
cheese. And now, instead of the low
thicket, which it was so difficult to walk
through, we came to fine, tall timber-trees,
where the road was comparatively smooth,
except where a fallen tree, here and there,
lay across it. At this moment I was over
come by fear, in consequence of the new
threats I had heard, to kill me the next
day, if the whole sum of eight hundred
crowns Was not brought by the twentieth

208 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
hour ; for I thought it quite impossible
that so much money could be collected in
Castel Madama. I therefore recommended
myself to God, and begged him to have
compassion on my wretched state, when
one of the brigands, a man of great stature,
who figured among them as a kind of se
cond chief, came up to me, and, taking me
by the arm, he assisted me to walk, and
said, ' Now, Cherubini, that you cannot
tell the man from Castel Madama, I as
sure you that to-morrow, as soon as he
returns, you shall go home fi'ee, however
small the sum that he brings may be.
Be of good cheer, therefore, and do not
distress yourself At that moment I
felt such comfort from the assurances of
the outlaw, that he appeared to me to
be an angel, from Heaven ; and, without
thinking why I should not, I kissed his
hand, and thanked him fervently for his un
expected kindness,
" When we again reached the thicket, and
found a fit place, we all lay down to sleep.
I had the skins to rest on as before, and
the chief wrapped my legs in his own great
coat, and he and the second chief lay on

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 209
each side of me. Two sentinels were
placed to keep watch, and to prevent the
shepherd with the provisions from making
his escape. I know not how long we
rested before one of the sentinels came,
and gave notice of day-break. ' Come
again, when it is lighter,' said the chief;
and all was again quiet. I turned my face
so as not to see the brigands, and dozed a
little, till I was rouzed by the cry of some
wild bird. I am not superstitious ; but I
had often heard that the shriek of the owl
foreboded evil ; and, in the state of spirits
in which I was, every thing had more than
its usual effect on me. I started, and said,
' What bird was that?' They answered,
' A hawk.' ' Thank God,' I replied, and
lay down again. Among my other suffer
ings, I cannot forget the stinging and hum
ming of the gnats, which fastened on my
face and throat; but, after the death of
poor Marasca, I dared not even raise my
hand to drive them away, lest it should be
taken for a sign of impatience. A little
after this we all arose, and walked on for
about an hour, when we came to a little
open space, in the midst of the thicket.

210 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
where the brigands began to eat their cold
meat, inviting me to join them ; but I only
took a little new cheese, without bread.
After they had breakfasted, they lay down
to sleep, the second chief giving me his
great-coat to wrap myself in, as the ground
was damp. While the others slept, one of
them began to read in a little book, which
I understood to be the romance of the
Cavalier Meschino, After about an hour
they all arose, and filed off one by one, to a
higher station, leaving a single sentinel to
guard me and the shepherd. In another
hour the youngest of the robbers came to
relieve the guard, who then went and
joined the others. When I saw this, and
perceived that they were engaged in a kind
of council of war, I feared that they had
taken some new resolution about my life,
and that the new sentinel was come to put
their cruel designs in execution : but he
very soon said to me, 'Be cheerful, for
to-night you will be at home;' which
gave me some comfort ; but, as I could not
entirely trust them, I had still an internal
fear, which, however, I endeavoured to
hide. Shortly afterwards, we were called to

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 211
join the rest, our station being now on the
mountain, commonly called Colle Picione,
not very far from the ancient sanctuary of
Mentorella. There we remained the rest
of the day, only going out of the way once,
on the approach of a flock of goats, that we
might not be seen ; but we soon returned.
" Then the second chief, who said he was
of Sonnino, and one of the five who went
to treat with the president of Frosinone,
began to talk of the political nature of their
situation. He said that government would
never succeed in putting them down by
force ; that they are not a fortress to bat
ter down with cannon, but rather birds,
which fly round the tops of the sharpest
rocks, without having any fixed home; that
if, by any misfortune, seven perished, they
were sure of ten recruits to replace their
loss ; for criminals, who would be glad to
take refuge among them, were never want
ing ; that the number of their present com
pany amounted to a hundred and thirty
individuals ; and that they had an idea of
undertaking some daring exploit, perhaps
of threatening Rome itself He ended by
saying, that the only way to put an end to
p 2

212 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
their depredations would be to give them
a general pardon, without reservation or
limitation, that they might all return to their
houses, without fear of treachery ; but,
otherwise, they would not trust to nor treat
with any one ; and added, that this was the
reason for which they had not concluded
any thing with the prelate sent to Frosi
none to treat with them. As it was, their
company was determined to trust nothing
but a pardon from the Pope's own lips ;
and he repeated this same sentiment to me
several times during the second day I was
obliged to pass with him and his fellows.
" One of the brigands begged me to en
deavour to obtain from government the
freedom of his wife, Mariuccia Carcapola di
Pisterso, now in the prison of Saint Michael,
in Rome. Another said to me, 'Have
patience, Signor Cherubini ; we made a
blunder when we took you ; we intended
to have had the Prince, who, according to
our information, should have passed by
at that very time.' In fact, he was to
have travelled that road ; and, just before I
passed, not the Prince, but the person com
monly called so, the Vice-Prince, or agent,

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 213
Signer Filippo Gazoni, had gone by, but,
fortunately for him, they did not know him,
because, as I understood, he was walking
leisurely, only accompanied by an un
armed boy, who was leading his horse.
The banditti bit their fingers with rage
when they found they had let him slip, for
they said they would not have released him
under three thousand crowns. The brigand
who said all this had the collar of the Ma
donna delle Carmine round his neck, and
said to me, ' Suffer patiently, for the love
of God.' Then the chief came to me,
and told me he was not very well, and de
sired me to prescribe for him, which I did,
in writing. Another, the same who had
taken my watch from me, told me that the
watch did not go, and showed it me. I
found that he had broken the glass and the
minute-hand. He said if I had any money
he would sell it me; but I gave it him
back, saying nothing, but shrugging up my
shoulders. Meantime the day was drawing
to a close, and the chief, taking out his
watch, said it was now twenty o'clock. He
called the shepherd to him, and ordered him
to go back to the sheepfold, which we had
p 3

214 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
left during the night, and see if the coun
tryman was come back with the answer to
the second letter to Castel Madama. In
that case he ordered him to accompany
him back to the place we were now in ; and
if he were not come, he ordered him to
wait three hours, and if he did not come
then, to return alone. The shepherd obeyed,
and, after about an hour and a half, he came
back with the countryman and another
shepherd who had been sent with him.
They brought with them two sealed packets
of money, which they said contained six
hundred crowns. They also brought a few
shirts, of home-spun linen, which the chief
had begged of me, and some little matter
for me to eat, and a little wine to recruit
me. But I could take nothing but a pear
and a little wine ; the rest Was eaten by the
robbers. They took the money without
counting, and gave the messengers some
silver for their pains ; after which they
gave me leave to depart. And thus I
found myself free from them, after having
thanked them for their civility, and for
my life, which they had had the goodness
to spare.

OF CASTEL MADAMA, 215
" On the way homewards the two men of
Castel Madama informed me, that the pri
soner from San Gregorio, who was sent,
the day before, with the first letter to
Castel Madama for money, and who had
not been seen since, had really been there,
and had gone back the same day, at the
hour and to the place appointed, with the
sum of one hundred and thirty-seven
crowns, sent from Castel Madama ; but the
robbers having forgotten to send any one to
meet him at the place agreed on, because
we were a great way from it, the messenger
returned to town with the money, after
having waited till night, carrying back the
intelligence that the factor had been killed,
which alarmed all my townsmen, who be
gan to fear for my life, I found that the
last six hundred dollars had been furnished,
half by Castel Madama, and half by Tivoli.
" I went on towards Castel Madama,
where all the people anxiously expected
me. In fact, a mile before I reached the
town, I found a number of people, of all
ranks, who had come out to meet me, and
I arrived at home a little before night, in
the midst of such public congratulations
p 4

216 LETTER OF THE SURGEON
and acclamations as were never before
heard, which presented a most affecting
spectacle. I had hardly arrived when the
arch-priest Giustini ordered the bells to be
rung, to call the people to the parish-
church. On the first sound, all the people
flocked thither with me, to render public
and devout thanks to the most merciful
God, and to our protector, Saint Michael
the arch-angel, for my deliverance. The
priest had done the same when he first
heard of my capture, and soon after, when
he sent the six hundred crowns. Both
times he had assembled his congregation in
that very church, to offer up public sup
plications to the Lord, to grant me that
mercy which he deigned afterwards to
show. " I cannot conclude without saying, that
the epoch of this my misfortune will be ever
remembered by me. I shall always recol
lect that the Lord God visited me as a
father: for, at the moment when his hand
seemed to be heavy upon me, he moved
the city of Tivoli, and the whole people of
Castel Madama, even the very poorest, to
subscribe their money, and sell their goods.

OF CASTEL MADAMA. 217
in SO short a time, and with such profusion,
for my sake. The same epocha will also
always remind me what gratitude I owe to
those, particularly the Signers Cartoni and
Celestini, both Romans, who, with such
openness of heart, exerted themselves in
my favour. I now pray God that he will
preserve me from all the bad consequences
which commonly arise out of similar mis
fortunes ; and I am always
" Your affectionate friend,
" EusTACHio Cherubinl"

218

CHAP. IX,

The country rings aloud with dire alarms,
And raw in fields the rude militia swarms. Cymon and Iphigetiia .
Blush as thou may'st, my little book, with shame,
Nor hope with \iorati\y prose to purchase fame.
The Flower and the Leaf.

REASONS FOR RETURNING TO ROME.  BENEDICTION
OF THE CASCADE.  ROAD TO ROME.  TRAVERTINE
gUARRIES.  BRIDGES ACROSS THE ANIO.  CONCLU
SION.
This account of Signor Cherubini's cap
tivity among the brigands, besides its own
strong internal evidence, was confirmed by
several of the persons who had been his
fellow-prisoners. Indeed his own character
stands high in the country, not only as an
able surgeon, but a good man ; and his re
appearance among his patients was hailed
with the greatest sincerity. The body of
poor Bartolomeo Marasca was found at the
gate of San Gregorio, with twenty wounds
13

RETURN TO ROME. 219
inflicted with knives. The brigands, em
boldened by success, seemed determined
to press closer round the hill-towns. None
of the principal inhabitants ventured with
out the walls, and even the work-people
were robbed of their ornaments, and their
little savings. Such being the state of this
part of the country, we were obliged,
though with much regret, to give up some
little expeditions we had planned to Cosi
mato, Subiaco, and other interesting places
in that direction, and, accordingly, we de
termined to return to Rome early in Sep
tember. It was not without regret that we left the
lovely scenery of Tivoli so early. Nature
here is as fine as when the beauties and the
luxuries of Tibur formed the theme of the
Latin muses. The splendid villas and
graceful temples are perhaps now even
more attractive from the charm which time
has flung around them, and the partial
wilderness which has grown up to over
shadow them ; and the names which,\^hether
rightly or not, have long been affixed to
the rocks and woods, have enriched the
neighbourhood of Tivoli with assooiatione

220 BENEDICTION OF
which will never fail to excite a glow in
every heart which is not dead to the noblest
sentiments of our nature, and in the ima
gination that is not cold to beauty and to
song. A few days before we returned to Rome,
a procession and ceremony took place in
unison with the scene, and more perhaps in
the spirit of Pagan and poetic times than of
these. The oxen and goats, which always
come about noon to cool themselves, and
drink in the river, had just retired from the
long sandy point that runs out just above
the great cascade. The bells of all the
neighbouring churches and convents were
ringing ; the windows were hung with silk
and tapestry ; when the priests, dressed in
their robes of ceremony, gold, and purple,
and scarlet, followed by the religious con
fraternities, bearing banners, and images,
and crucifixes, appeared in procession,
winding along both banks of the river, and
crossing the bridge. Having reached the
little shrines to the Virgin, which stand one
on each side of the top of the cascade, they
stopped, and a solemn blessing was pro
nounced by the chief priest on the water.

TPIE CASCADE. 221
that, for the ensuing year, no evil accident
might pollute its stream, and no life be lost
in its cataracts. As we saw the scene from
the windows of the Sybil Inn, the waterfall
was between us and the procession; behind
were the woody banks of the Anio, on
each side the hills of Catillus and Ripoli ;
and the distance was closed by the Monte
Spaccato, and a hill on which some antique
masses of building are said to mark the
scite of the ancient temple of Cybele.
Our road to Rome left the antique way,
which is still occasionally used, and which
leads through the great arch in the villa of
Msecenas far to the right. On the right,
also, as we left the gate, lay the Villa d'Este,
where tradition says, that, in company with
his friend Cardinal Ippolito, of that house,
Ariosto long lived, and wrote great part of
his Orlando. Though one knows this to be
a fiction, it is one so pleasing, and so suited
to the scene, that, while walking under the
shade of the pines and cypresses of the
garden, one willingly encourages the plea
sant association of ideas it excites. A little
without the gate of Tivoli, a road to the

222 ROAD TO ROME.
left leads to Gericomio*: this road is called
the Via Carciana, a corruption from the
name of the Villa of Cassius, which once
adorned the brow of the hill, round which
the road winds. There some of the most
remarkable statues were found, such as the
Apollo Musagetes, and the Muses of the
Vatican. Farther on, tradition places the
villa of Brutus ; but every step is over
antique ruins, which only prove the fond
ness of the ancients for the natural beauties
of this favoured spot.
Proceeding down the hill, we passed on
the right the sepulchre of the Tosse family,
long called the temple of the Cough ( Tem-
pio della Tosse). On the left lie the fields,
and vineyards, and gardens, which contain
the ruins of the villa of Hadrian, more like
those of a city than of a villa, where he had
collected the deities, and imitated the tem
ples of every nation in the Roman world.
The ruins of this pleasure-house of the
Caesars have proved a fertile mine, whence
many successive centuries have dug marbles,
and statues, and mosaics, and vases, some of
* Anciently Hiericomio, the dwelling of the priests. —
See j^schinardi.

ROAD TO ROME. 223
which adorn the cabinets of England, Stock
holm, and St. Petersburgh; but most have
served for the construction or the embellish
ment of the palaces of Rome.
Beyond the villa, the road crosses the
Anio, at the Ponte Lucano, near which
stands the tomb of the family of Plautius.
Its form and materials are like those of
Cecilia Metella, Like that, too, it served
as a fortress during the middle ages ; and it
must have been important, from its situation,
as a defence to the bridge. Farther on,
the pale sulphureous stream of Albula flows
from the lakes of the Solfatara under the
road. Offensive from its smell, and melan
choly in its aspect, its banks are poor and
barren, being crusted with the constant de
posit of travertine, which here literally
grows. The present channel was cut by
the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, commonly
called the Cardinal of Ferrara, who was
made governor of Tivoli, in 1549. The
ancient subterraneous channel of the Sol
fatara was choked up, and the waters had
overflowed a considerable tract of the plain
around the lakes, where they stagnated and
formed a crust, a great deal of which still

224 TRAVERTINE QUARRIES.
remains. The quarries of travertine mar
ble are near this channel: from them the
ancients and moderns have equally taken
their materials. The Coliseum is crusted
with it; and St. Peter's is built of it. On
the right, lie the baths of Agrippa, half
buried in the accumulating stone. They
were erected close to the Solfatara, for the
benefit of those who used the sulphureous
waters medicinally. But the whole road to
Rome is bordered with antique ruins. At
a considerable distance, and high above all
the rest, that to which tradition has given
the name of Zenobia's palace, rises like a
hill. It lies within that triangle formed by
the base of the mountains, and the courses
of the Tiber and Anio [Teverone), which
contained Cenina, Nomentum, Crustume-
rium, Fidense, and their dependent villages,
and where fifteen of the earliest victories of
the Romans were obtained. We left this
tract, and recrossed the Anio at the Ponte
Mammolo, commonly said to be so named
after Mammea, the mother of Alexander
Severus ; but iEschinardi thinks more pro
bably after Cornelius Mammulus, in the
early times of the republic. Like the

CONCLUSION. 225
Ponte Lucano, it was destroyed by Totila,
and rebuilt by Narses, together with the
bridges Nomentana, and Salara, beyond
which the Anio, after passing by the
Mens Sacer, falls into the Tiber.
At the Roman end of the Ponte Mam
molo is the camp of Hannibal ; and, a little
nearer the city, the field of battle whence,
after his defeat by Sylla, the younger Ma
rius fled to Praeneste, where he perished.
At length we reached the gate of San Lo
renzo, rebuilt or repaired by the emperor
Honorius, as we learn from an inscription
over it. Within, it joins the aqueducts
of the Acqua Marcia, Acqua Tepula, and
Acqua Giulia, The gate of San Lo
renzo supplied the place of the more an
cient Porta inter Aggeres, where the cir
cumference of the city was enlarged by Au
relian, Its present name is derived from
the church of San Lorenzo, without the
walls, one of the most ancient churches of
Rome, founded in the reign of Constantine,
and repaired, enlarged, and embellished, by
various popes, in the succeeding ages.
Like most of the churches, it was built of
the spoils of antique edifices ; and there is
Q.

226 CONCLUSION.
some reason to believe that part, at least, of
its materials were taken from the portico
of Octavia. The frieze, on which some
naval subjects, perhaps the battle of Actium,
were represented in bas-relief, has long
since been removed to the museum of the
Capitol. Some curious ancient painting in
the church represents the coronation of
Peter of Courtenay, son of Louis the Fat,
as emperor of the East, A. D. 1216, by
Pope Honorius III., who caused the picture
to be painted, and has thus left a curious
monument of the state of painting in the
beginning of the thirteenth century.
The modern road from Rome to Tivoli
is the same with the antique way, as far as
the Ponte Mammolo, where it deviates
considerably from it. Again, at a spot
called the Forno, it falls into it, and con
tinues to run along with it, as plainly ap
pears from the antique polygonal pave
ment, which shows itself here and there, as
far as the half-way house, where there is
a small inn. There it leaves the antique
way entirely. The ancient road passed to
the north of the Solfatara and the quarries
of Travertine, and did not cross the Anio

CONCLUSION. 227
till it reached Tivoli, at the Ponte dell Ac-
quaria, formerly the Coelian bridge. Thence
it wound up the steep bank of the river,
and passed under the great arch of the villa
of MecEenas.
That part of the Campagna through
which the road to Tivoli passes, is less fer
tile than that nearer to the Alban hills.
Indeed, the Solfatara and the Travertine
quarries would alone give it an air of deso
lation. It is entirely without trees, and
the bushes of dwarf-thorn and wild olive,
which grow on the dazzling white soil near
the Solfatara, are so stunted, and so dusky,
that they only serve to make this dry naked
ness of the land more apparent. This barren
appearance, however, is confined chiefly to
the tract between the two bridges, Lucano
and Mammolo ; for, from Tivoli to the
first, the cultivation is uninterrupted and
luxuriant ; and, from the Ponte Mammolo
to Rome, the herbage freshens, and the
landscape becomes more smiling at every
step. As we drew near the city, we saw
the vineyards in full beauty. The country
people, who had crowded into the town
from the adjacent country, were preparing
Q 2

228 CONCLUSION.
for the vintage, and seemed eager to anti
cipate the gaieties of October, and the
festivities of Monte Testaccio. Not a fo
reigner was to be seen in the streets ; the
nobles were mostly at their distant villas ;
and there were none among the ruins of
Rome but the natural population of the
town, — sufficient to show, not to redeem,
the desolation of the Queen of Cities.

APPENDIX.

Q 3

APPENDIX.

No. I.
Edict.

Hercules, Deacon of Santa Maria, ad Martyres,
Cardinal Gonsalvi, Secretary of State to his
Hohness Our Lord Pope Pius Nil.
It is not without the deepest grief that Our
Lord His Holiness has learned the increase of
robbery and violence in the provinces of Mari-
tima and the Campagna, at a time when he had
hoped it was at a stop, in consequence of his
exertions, and the heavy expenses incurred by
the pubhc for that end. The rigour of justice,
denounced in all its terrors, has produced no
effect on the depraved minds of several bad
met! in those countries, nor have the hopes of
indulgence held out by the feeUngs of his pater
nal bosom been able to move them to repent
ance. For a short time they appeared to slacken
the course of their usual crimes, showing some
disposition to amendment ; but they soon gave
themselves up again to their own evil courses,
and showed themselves more perverse than ever,
committing murders and robberies, and making
prisoners for the sake of ransom. Become brutal
Q 4

232 APPENDIX.
in their crimes, they have once more rendered
the high-roads unsafe for the traveller, and the
fields for the labourer ; and have filled the
bosoms of those with fear, even in the midst of
their own families, who inhabit lone or defence
less dwellings. His Holiness, considering that
the necessity for putting an end to these evils is
most urgent, and that, from the nature of the
country, and the concurrence of various circum
stances, this cannot be done without adopting
the most rigorous measures, has determined to
declare the following :
1. His Holiness being convinced by the
most undoubted evidence, that, for a long series
of years, even for centuries past, the greater
number of the banditti who have infested the
provinces have been natives of Sonnino ; that
the banditti of the neighbouring kingdom of
Naples have been excited by the people of that
town to make inroads into the State of the
Church, and that the bands of Fondi and Lenola
are actually commanded by a native bandit of
Sonnino ; that the amnesty formerly granted to
a great number of the banditti of Sonnino was
inefficacious, for as many others immediately
made their appearance, who now actually com
pose the greater part of these gangs ; that these
find in the town of Sonnino their prirtcipai
strong-hold, where they obtain subsistence, and
where they meet to consult upon their proceed-

APPENDIX. 233
ings : considering, at the same time, that the
experience of the past, united to that of the
present time, proves with certainty that as long
as that nest and nursery of robbers shall subsist,
it will be impossible to put an end to their ra
vages, and which, if their supplies of food are
not cut off, and their rendezvous destroyed, it is
impossible, from the local circumstances of the
country, to prevent by public force : reflecting
moreover, that the interests of society, by which
public rights are regulated, do not allow the
sovereign to permit such pernicious municipal
associations, which foment such fatal disorders, to
exist, and that even the mildest governments
have in such cases adopted the measure of de
priving the banditti of these perpetual asylums
and places of refuge, when they have found
other measures taken to extirpate them fail, — is
come to the determination of ordering, that all
the inhabitants of J;he township of Sonnino shall
be removed and placed in other situations, and
that the said town shall be destroyed, and its
territory divided between the nearest places not
suspected of favouring the banditti ; granting
for the relief of the proprietors who must emi
grate, and who cannot fix in places near their
own estates, the privilege of giving up the
arable estate to the apostolical chamber, which
will pay them for their property so lodged a per
petual annuity, according to the real net value of

234 APPENDIX.
such land upon a valuation made by competent
persons. 2, Every township shall be obliged to defend
its own territory from the incursions of the ban
ditti * : it shall be responsible for the ransoms
and the robberies committed by them, and shall
be obliged to indemnify the person ransomed or
robbed, conformably to the edict of Cardinal
Spada, dated 18th July, 1696,
On the other hand, every community that
shall destroy a band of robbers, or even a part
of one, shall enjoy an abatement of the duties
upon salt, and upon grinding corn, for twoyears ;
that one quatrine upon the salt, and two bajoc
chi upon grinding, for every three banditti
arrested or killed, besides the reward specified
in the following article for each bandit killed or
taken up : if single bandits shall be stopped or
killed, the reward shall be doubled,
3. The reward for every private bandit shall
be five hundred crowns, and for every chief, one
thousand crowns, to be paid by the public trea
sury. 4. The system for the hunters published on
the 4th of May, 1818, shall be followed up, and
all those who make part of that auxiliary body
» This does not agree with the disarming law still in force;
in fact, that law effectually prevents the people from defend
ing themselves.

APPENDIX. 235
shall be furnished by the police with a licence
to carry fire-arms gratis.
5. Every town shall be obliged to toll its
parish bell to give notice to the people to arm
themselves, to warn the neighbouring troops, to
call their neighbours to their assistance, and to
proceed to the apprehension or killing the rob
bers, and delivering them dead or alive to the
armed force,
6, Such towns as neglect to fulfil these orders
shall be condemned to make good all the damage
done by the banditti thenceforward throughout
the province.
7. Whosoever shall not attend to the sound
of the bell ; whosoever shall not take arms ;
whosoever shall not pursue the banditti to take
or slay them, the same being in his power, shall
be regarded as an accomplice and abettor of the
same ; and besides a fine of five hundred crowns,
he shall be subject to corporal punishment.
8. Whosoever shall oppose the troops, or place
the shghtest impediment in the way of their
seeking for them, even in sanctuary, shall be
considered guilty of rebellion and treason, con
formably to the denunciation in the well-known
constitution of Sixtus V. beginning — Hoc nostri
PontificatUrS initio.
9. Military punishment with the usual pains
shall be inflicted upon whosoever does not give
notice of the place of refuge, the secret corre-

236 APPENDIX.
spondence, the aiders and abettors of the ban*
ditti, so soon as he shall know them,
10. The relations of these ruffians, even to the
first degrees of consanguinity, and every other
individual of whatsoever quality or estate, shall
be declared guilty, of treason, and undergo mi
litary punishment, even to death, as soon as it
shall be proved that they have henceforth given
their aid, counsel, victuals, or money, or in any
way whatsoever administered to their existence or
their liberty, and their goods shall be forfeited.
11. The same punishment shall be inflicted
on those who shall harbour the banditti, or per
mit them to conceal themselves in their houses,
casales, or other out-houses.
If any one shall be constrained by force to
receive, in spite of his will, one robber or more,
or to furnish them with food, must prove it
legally, and no excuse will be taken if he does
not, without delay, give notice of their road and
their situation.
12. The executive force in the above-men
tioned provinces shall, by the eflfect of these
presents, be indefinitely augmented, and sent
from place to place as may be required. The
command of the same will be entrusted to a
single superior officer, in whom will be united
all necessary powers, both for the direction of
the military and the destruction of the banditti,-
13, The officers, of whatever regiment they

APPENDIX. 327
may be, as they will have an immediate advance
in rank on the success of any effectual under
taking against the banditti, so they shall be de
graded, or even broke, in any case they are found
deficient in that courage, or that honour, which
ought to inspire them in the service of the state.
14. No further amnesty will be granted to
the brigands, but within one month they may
be permitted to give themselves up at discretion,
and rely on the clemency of their sovereign.
But a free and absolute pardon shall be ex
tended to all such among the malefactors as shall
destroy or deliver up, alive or dead, others, mak
ing part of any united body, into the hands of
justice ; and they also shall receive the reward
promised in the former part of this edict,
15. All former dispositions and orders in the
edicts and notices, heretofore published, relative
to public robbery, shall be continued in full
force, save and except those articles which shall
be found in opposition to the present.
16. The present edict, being published and
affixed in the usual places throughout the pro
vinces of Maritima, and the Campagna, shall
have its fiill force, and shall be binding upon all
persons in the same manner, as if they had in
dividually received notice thereof.
Given at the Quirinal Palace, this 18th day
of July, 1819.
(Signed) H. CARDINAL GONSALVI.

238 APPENDIX. No, II.
Contents of the Santa Croce.
After the letters, numerals, and syllables, the
first thing is the Lord's Prayer in Latin ; 2, Ave
Maria ; 3. the Apostle's Creed, in Italian ;
4, Salve Regina, in Latin ; 5. Prayer to the
Guardian Angel ; 6. the following edition of
the Decalogue, in Italian :
1, I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt have
no other Gods before me,
2. Thou shalt not take the name of God in
vain. 3, Remember to keep holy the days of Fes
tivals, 4. Honour thy father and mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill,
6. Thou shalt not commit fornication,
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8, Thou shalt not bear false witness.
9. Thou shalt not covet the wife of another.
10. Thou shalt not covet the goods of an
other.

Then follow, in the seventh place, the pre
cepts of the Church, which are six :
Hear mass every Sunday, and on the other
prescribed feasts.
Fast in Lent, on vigils, and at the four sea
sons : eat no flesh on Friday or Saturday,

APPENDIX. 239
Confess at least once a year.
Communicate at least at Easter.
Pay tithes.
Do not marry in the prohibited season ; i. e.
from the first Sunday in Advent to the Epiphany,
and from the first day of Lent till eight days
after Easter.

8. The names of the seven Sacraments.
9. Different forms for the Ave Maria,
10. The manner how to go through mass, in
Latin. And, lastly, some excellent prayers, in Italian.
This is the usual lesson-book. There may be
some little variety ; and some are enriched with
some prayers and passages from Saint Thomas
Aquinas, The Decalogue is the same in all.
After this, the Christian doctrine of Bellar-
mine is taught ; and well would it be if all
Christians, Protestants as well as Romanists,
learned and abided by it. But it is followed in
the course of study by the legend with all its
poetical machinery ; for what else can we call
the temptations of St. Anthony and St. Bar
tholomew? The miracles of the Saints soon
supersede the miracles of their Divine Master.
His were beneficent, and wrought upon occa
sions of importance. But those of the legend
are only calculated to excite wonder, * And,
* For instance: St. Alo, when applied to, to shoe a horse,
for the saint was a blacksmith, used to take off the beast's

240 APPENDIX.
therefore, among the populace who are en
couraged to read them, while the Scriptures
are withheld, it is not surprising that they should
make a deeper impression, and that the rever
ence which should be reserved for the Author
of our religion, should be divided at least by
the holy men, who, as they are taught, pos
sessed almost unlimited power over his works.
Man, a weak creature, must have a Superior
Being to rely on ; and, if the truth be hidden
from him, he necessarily makes to himself a
substitute, or eagerly receives what is offered to
him as such.
The Italians have so long been accustomed to
visible representations of the Deity, and to see
the human form substituted for the Divine Spirit,
that it is no wonder they should have forgotten
the God who " dwelleth not in temples made
with hands," and in whom " we live, and move,
and have our being." His name is scarcely
heard in the temples ; and that of Jesus rarely,
but in conjunction with those of Joseph and
Mary. Mary is indeed the goddess of Italy,
She grants all favours, and averts all evils ; and,
while we were in Rome, her images wrought
more than one pretended miracle. The Pan-

foot, and carry it into the smithy, where he shod it neatly,
and then carrying it to its owner, joined it to the leg by
the sign of the cross and a prayer.

APPENDIX. 241
theon is dedicated to St. Mary, and all saints
and martyrs ; and her pictures and effigies are
numerous in it. The market-place for game,
fruit, poultry, and vegetables, is in the square
before it, and therefore the situation is favour
able for miraculous cases, as they soon become
spread by means of the market-people. It was
about thirteen or fourteen months since, that a
poor woman, praying earnestly, and complaining
of poverty, was relieved by two strangers as
soon as she rose from her prayers. She in
stantly imagined that the Virgin had inspired
her benefactors, and cried out, " A miracle !'*
The shrine at which she prayed was beset in
consequence, day and night, till, finding that no
more relief was granted, the crowds gradually
decreased ; when another Madonna, in the same
church, restored a deaf and dumb boy to the use
of speech and hearing. Unfortunately, how
ever, though she had taught him to speak good
Tuscan, and to name most objects in nature,^
she omitted to teach him his own name ; or,
rather, the priests had forgotten to tutor him
properly. But however clumsy this imposture,
and though several foreigners openly laughed at
it, and exposed it in the church, the people re
mained convinced of the truth of the miracle ;
the little books giving an account of it were
eagerly bought, and the shrine became rich
with offerings.

242

No, IIL

The popular poetry of the modern Romans
may be divided into various classes. The first
and largest is that of heroic ballads, which
are .of three kinds ; namely, those founded on
the legends ; those containing the adventures of
famous outlaws ; and those on classical or ro
mantic subjects.
2d Class. Humorous and burlesque poems,
3d  Lyrical ballads, sacred and profane.
4th  Songs and ritornelli.
Fletcher of Saltoun said, " Let who will
make the laws of a country, let me make the
ballads, and I will form the people." And none
better than that strenuous asserter of the liber
ties of Scotland, knew the effect of popular
poetry. The Italians are perhaps a more po
etical people than the Scotch, and the effect of
their every-day poetry on their character may
be expected to be proportion ably greater. We
therefore endeavoured to collect, perhaps not
the best, but the most popular of their vulgar
poetry ; and we lay specimens of it before our
readers, as furnishing materials neither useless

APPENDIX, 243
nor incurious, towards forming- a judgment of
the character of the modern Romans.
We begin by the sacred ballads, forming the
first division of the first class.
Spiritual Rhymes upon the Nativity of our
Lord Jesus Christ, mth the coming of the
three Magian Kings. — Of the Star. — With the
Pastoral Songs.
This little poem begins with praises to the
Virgin, and an account of Augustus, and his
resolution to number the people in his empire
during the peace that was on earth. Mary and
Joseph go to Bethlehem, and there the child is
born in a stall between the ox and the ass.
II Bue, e I'Asinel fu inginocchiato
Per riverenza del Figliuol di Dio,
Ciascun lo riscaldava col suo fiato
Quel puro Agnello Mansueto e pio.*
Meantime the Romans wished to offer di
vine worship to Octavius Augustus ; but he
called the sybil, and desired her to declare if
there were iipon earth a greater than he. The
prophetess desired him to look unto the sun
and say,
Ottaviano disse : io veggio un cerchio d'oro
Parmi una bella Donna dentro sia
* The ox and the ass knelt in reverence to the Son of
God, and with their breaths they warmed that pure, sweet,
and holy Lamb.
R 2

244 APPENDIX.
Ha un figlio in braccio, e chi son costoro ?
Rispose la sibilla, ella e Maria
Col suo figliuol, che d'ogni territorio
Lui e signore ed il vero Messia
Lui e maggior di te, se vuoi onorarlo
Credete in lui e con fide adorarlo. *
Octavius of course refuses divine honours.
Meantime the star had appeared to the wise
men of the east, and the histqry follows the
sacred writers till the entrance of the wise men
into the presence of the holy Virgin, when the
amplifications of the early legends are added,
and the names of the Magian kings given.
Gaspar fti il primo che si approssimava
E il prinio dono a Gesii donava.
Decendo buon Gesii il mio tesoro
Ti vuo donar qual Incenso odoroso
Per dimostrar che nel celeste Coro
Sei sommo sacerdote glorioso.
E sei salute di tutti colore
Che nel tuo santo Regno han reposo.
Gesii benigno ITncenso pigliava
E Gaspare di parte si tirava.
In questo magnanimo e giocondo
Si fece inanzi col suo vaso in mano
E Baldassar, che fu Magio secondo
Inginnocchiossi in terra umile e piano
* Octavius said, " I see a circle of gold ; and it seems to
me that a beautiful woman is within it, holding a child in her
arms. And who are these ?" The sybil answered, " She is
Mary with her Son, who of all nations is the Lord and true
Messiah, He is greater than thou, and if thou wouldst
honour him, believe in him, and worship him in faith."

APPENDIX. 245
E disse ; o Re che reggi tutto il mondo
Vero Figluol di Dio, e uomo umano
Di questa Araara Mirra in te espone ;
Significando la tua gran Passione.
E detto questi si tiro da parte
E si fece inanzi il piii Giovinetto
Marchionne ultimo Magio, che ogn' arte
Ed oro avea messo nel vaso netto
Disse die piu profeta nelle carte
Io trovo che tu sei Gesii perfetto
E per vero Figliuol di Dio t'adoro
Donando questu vaso che pien d'oro. *
After this the wise men return by a different
way, and the poem concludes with a prayer to
be directed in the right path ; and a hymn to

* Gaspar was the first to approach, and presented the
first gift to Jesus, saying, " O, Jesus ! I present thee with
my treasure, this odorous incense, in sign that in the celestial
choir thou art the high priest, and the salvation of all
such as shall enjoy the peace of thy holy kingdom." Jesus
benignly received the incense, and Gaspar drew aside. At
this Baldassar, the second Magus, magnanimously and joy
fully came forward, bearing his vase in his hand, and kneeling
gently and humbly, said, " O, King, who governest the whole
world, true Son of God, yet human man, by this bitter
myrrh presented to thee I. signify thy bitter passion." And
thus saying, he withdrew. Then Marchione, the last and
youngest Magus, came forward, and having put gold into a
pure vase, he said, " I find in the writings of many prophets
that thou art perfect Jesus, and I adore thee as Son of God,
presenting this vase full of gold."
The early painters always represent one of the three
kings as a Negro.
R 3

246 APPENDIX.
the infant Jesus, very much above the usual style
of popular poetry, but too peculiarly Romish in
its expressions to be quoted here.
Breve compendia della vita morte e miracoli degli
gloriosi APOSTOLI san pietro e SAN PAULO.
This begins by calling upon all Christians to
give ear to the cruel death of St. Peter and St.
Paul, who suffered under Nero. Nero, it seems,
willing to confute the doctrines of the apos
tles before he put them to death, called Simon
Magus to his aid, who built, in presence of the
Emperor, a strong tower of wood, on which he
placed himself, and then commanded the devils
over whom he had power, to raise it into the
air, which they did. The apostles were at first
confounded, but quickly recovering, they, by
their prayers, caused the devils to flee, and Simon
fell headlong down at the wicked tyrant's feet.
This incident forms the subject of one of the
great mosaics in St, Peter's. The two apostles
were then imprisoned under the Capitol. St.
Peter escaped, and was going to leave Rome,
when he saw Christ bearing the cross, and said
to him, " Lord, where goest thou ?" "To
Rome, to be crucified a second time," replied
the celestial vision, and immediately disappeared.
St. Peter considered this as a call to the crown
of martyrdom, and returned to prison. The

APPENDIX. 247
spot where he saw the vision was afterwards
consecrated, and the little church of Domine
quo vadis was built on it. St. Peter was cruci
fied, and St, Paul beheaded, when
Venue una sua discepola piangente
Dicendo il mio maestro ov'e guidato
Gli rispose uno alor di quelle gente,
In breve lui sara martirizato.
San Paolo a lei dice con voce onesta
Donna prestame il vel che tieni in testa.*
This veil the guardian angel dipped in the
martyr's blood, and returned it to the disciple
endowed with the power of working miracles.
The head of St. Peter then made the three mi
raculous leaps, which caused the three mountains
near St. Anastasius to spring up. A country
man who had seen the two saints martyred, fell
asleep in a neighbouring vineyard, and slept five
hundred years. When he awoke, the same
accidents that happened to the seven sleepers
happened to him : he was carried before the
Roman senator on account of the ancient coin
he proffered to a shopkeeper; and this discovered
that he had beheld the death of the two saints,
whose relics were at that time much desired by
* One of his disciples came weeping, and saying, "Where
are they taking my master ?" Then one of those people
answered, " In a short time he will be martyred." St. Paul
said to her kindly, " Lady ! lend me the veil that you wear
on your head."
R 4

248 appendix.
the Christian world. His declaring the place
where these were to be found, ends the poem.
We have given the more detailed account of
these two little poems, as they are among the
better class of sacred ballads ; but these are
exceedingly unequal, and almost as numerous as
other ballads. Of a few others we will only add
the titles, such as
Ea:amples of two Companions, Constantine
and Good Faith, who went to St. James of
Gallicia. Wherein you may hear the many mis
fortunes which happened to them, and how they
never abandoned each otlier.
The History of St. John of the Golden
Mouth, whereby you may understand how
pie fell into mortal sin, and how, by severe
penance, he obtained the pardon OP God.
History of the Life and Death of Nero the
Emperor, with the Death of St. Peter and
St. Paul,
This perhaps should belong to the second
division of the class, but the death of the mar
tyrs induced us to place it here. The history
is chiefly taken from Suetonius, but there are a
few embellishments of the ludicrous kind, which
it owes to popular tradition. -4''

appendix. 249
Besides these sacred ballads, which may be
compared to the mysteries of the stage at the
revival of literature, there are some which we
may call moralities, such as
The History o/'Senso, who wished never to die.
This introduces, after a long preamble and
prayer, the Cavalier Senso, a man who was
proud, ricco, giovine, e gagliardo, and leaves his
native city, mounted on a horse called Reason,
in search of a master who could defend him
against his great enemy Death. In his travels
he meets with the World, with Pleasure, and
Philosophy, who are none of them able to defend
him from Death. At length he finds Religion,
who tells him, that as long as he does not get off
his horse Reason, he will never die ; and he ac
cordingly travels for eight hundred years, when
he is tempted by Curiosity to quit Reason, and
Death seizes him, and reproaches him with his
disobedience. Tlie History of the Cavalier Torchino is of
the same class, and in the same spirit. In these
the confusion of Scripture names with those of
the ancients, and the heroes of romance, is often
curious ; for instance, the following :
Coi Saul, cosi Turno e Teseo
Cosj Jason, Ettor, e'l forte Achille

250 appendix,
E Diomede, e Giuda Maccabeo
Che fu neir arme folgare e faville
Ei due Scipione, e'l gran Pompeo,
Magna descritto giii in tante postille
Cesar, Camillo, Romolo, e Trajano
Enea, Lancilotto, e'l buon Tristano, * (&c, &c.
Istoria di Senso)

SECOND division OP THE FIRST CLASS ; ADVEN
TURES OF celebrated outlaws,
1, History of Stefano Spadolini and his fellow
Thieves, composed by Nicodemus Lermil,
Begins with a regular invocation of the muse,
in ottava rhyme :
Musa gentil, deh vola in un istante,
O dal Parnaso, o dal Castalio fonte
Corri verso di me, die quasi errante
Ora mi trovo, e senza rime pronte,
Viene pero con tragico sembiante
Tiiita neU' onde amare d'Acheronte

* Thus Saul, thus Turnus, and Theseus; thus Jason,
Hector, and the strong Achilles, and Diomede, and Judas
Maccabeus, who was thunder and lightning in arms, and
the two Scipios, and great Porapey. Alexander the Great
described in so many paragraphs, Caesar, Camillus, Romulus,
and Trajan, Eneas, Lancelot, and good Sir Tristram.

APPENDIX. 251
A'ieni a posar sulla mia propria mente ;
Onde possa cantar storia dolente. *
The opening of the subject follows with a de
scription of the place ; which we shall copy :
A'erso Baccano in taeiturna parte
Di folta selva per le vie coperte
Varie formate da natura od arte
Si veggono caverne e chiuse ed aperte,
Ivi la via battuta, ivi in disparte
yi osserva ognun, che passa in prove certe
Ivi non visto si puo dar la morte
Senza temer di vigilante corte.

a

Un stuol di Ladri temerari, e crudi
Barbari disperati, ed omicidi
Ladri Lordi, in qualche parte nudi
Erano Abitator di questi nidi.
Misero Passagier ! e roba e scudi
Ti costera; se fier destin te guidi
E forse ancor se alia defesa badi
Ti converra, che tu trafitto cadi.
II piii vecchio nell' arte, il piii perfetto
E quel campion che regola di tutto

* Great muse, who on Parnassus' top dost lie,
Or by Castalia's fount, straight hither fly !
Run to my aid, and lose no precious time ;
For I must write, and have no ready rhyme.
Come on, however, with thy tragic lyre,
In Acheron be sure thou dip thy wire ;
Come, and inspire me with thy woeful face,
To sing of pillage, plunder, and disgrace.

252 APPENDIX.
Ei Stefano si noma in fiero aspetto
Di pallido colore orrendo, e brutto. *
After this follows a story not unlike that of the
melo-drama of the Miller and his Men, v;ith the
taking and punishment of the whole troop,
2. A new History, in which is related the Life
led by Giuseppe Mastrilli, of Terracina, who,
being in Love, committed many Murders, and was
banished from the States of Rome and Naples, on

* Near where Baccano, in appalling mood,
Is hid by covert of impervious wood.
Nature and art have both conspired to make
A thousand darksome caverns in the break ;
Some open to the road, some far aside;
And every Christian who must that way ride,
May see how easily a villain band
May rob and kill, nor fear dame Justice' hand.
A troop of daring thieves, cruel and fierce,
Desperate rogues, whom mercy could not pierce ;
Filthy and lazy, who went almost bare,
Had fix'd their dens of desolation there.
Unhappy traveller ! thy gear and goods
Will suffer, if thou travel on these roads :
And more besides ; for if thou try'st to fight,
'Tis probable thou wilt be slain outright.
The oldest of the craft, the setter on,
The prime director of whate'er was done,
Was Stefano, of aspect fierce and wild,
Whose haggard looks alarm'd both man and child, &c.

APPENDIX, 253
pain of being drawn and quartered ; and who^
having escaped during his Life from the Hands
of Justice, died quietly in his Bed, repenting of
his evil Deeds.
This is, perhaps, the greatest favourite of its
kind among the people. It opens thus :
Nella bella citta di Terracina
Nacque quest' uomo di sottil ingegno
Ricco di beni, e pieno di dottrina
Stupore in Roma, e pregiudigio a un regno
Meno la vita sua da paladino
Sempre contro la corte ebbe I'impegno
Li misfatti che fece, e il suo furore
Causa gia fu per contentare amore.
Passa un giorno Mastrilli da una strada
Vede ad una fenestra una zitella
Parve agli occhi suoi si bella e grata
Candida piii che matutina Stella ;
L'ha con un bacio mano salutata
E poi amorosamente gli favella
Vide suo padre et per saziar sue voglie
Li fece dir, che la volea per moglie. *

* Within fair Terracina's beauteous bound.
Was born a man, whose like is seldom found :
In substance rich, and full of learned lore.
Terror of Rome, and Naples' troubling sore;
He led a life as free as those of old
Hight Palladins ; but all his actions bold
Were levell'd against justice : these, howe'er,
With all his crimes, were for a lady fair.
One morn it chanced that Mastrilli must pass
Near where an open window showed a lass,

254 APPENDIX.
However, Satan, who, to use Sancho Panza's
expression, never sits idle in a corner, but loves
to meddle in every matter, inspired the young
lady with an affection for another, which Mas
trilli discovering, kills his rival, whose father
goes to Frosinone, and complains to the bishop.
On this twelve sbirri are sent to apprehend
Mastrilli, with the promise of three hundred
crowns reward.
Ecco chi si partirono di Frosinone
Dodici sbirri armati, ed un tenente
Con brave spie per aver cognizione
Dove Peppe Mastrilli era presente. *
They find him near Cisterna, coming out of a
wood belonging to the Prince of Caserta ; but the
homicide, after invoking the Madonna, kills
four of the twelve, and the rest, with the tenente
at their head, run away. After a short deliber
ation with himself, he resolves to quit the states
of the church, and take refuge in the kingdom

That to his charmed eye seem'd fairer far.
And brighter, than the early morning-star.
By signs he made his admiration known,
And spoke of love, and hoped to make his own
The lovely maid ; then to her father went.
And for the wedding sought his due consent.
* From Frosinone speedily were sent
Twelve sbirri, arm'd with desperate intent :
A brave lieutenant and a skilful spy,
To show where Peppe Mastrilli did lie.

APPENDIX. 255
of Naples ; but not being provided with a pass
port to pass Portella, he kills the two guards,
and goes on towards Gaeta. In the neighbour
hood of that town he enters a fisherman's hut,
whose wife has just been brought to bed of
a son, to whom, willing to secure the assistance
of the fisherman, he stands godfather, after
telling his story. The fisherman desires him
to eat and drink, while he goes out to attend
his boat ; but, instead of assisting Mastrilli,
he betrays him, and he is imprisoned, and then
sent to the gallies. Three days afterwards he
takes occasion to tell his story artfully to the
general of the galley slaves, who causes his
irons to be struck off, and advances him to
the command of twelve hundred of his fellows.
After seven years, however, the court of Rome
sends to claim him : he is bound, and sent by
sea towards Rome, It happens, that a princess,
belonging to the court, is going at the same time
in another galley, and being alarmed during a
violent storm, she insists on landing ; and
seeing the state of Mastrilli, commands him
to be liberated at the same time. This happens
opportunely near Terracina. The poor outlaw
knocks at his own door, and is received with
transport by his sons, to whom he relates his
adventures ; and they all three set off" towards
Gaeta, where they resolve to punish the perfi
dious fisherman, who had sinned against Saint

256 APPENDIX.
John Baptist, by betraying the godfather of his
son. Of course, they murder him barbarously.
Their next feat is to way-lay the general of the
Neapolitan galleys, and to ransom him for three
thousand crowns of gold. Possessed of this
money, Mastrilli serves as a faithful guide to
Prince Corsini in a perilous journey ; as a reward
for which he obtains letters of protection from
the Prince. Shortly afterwards, meeting some
merchants, he divides their property with them,
for which certain rivals in the trade denounce
him to the court. He and his sons are pursued
by the sbirri : they give battle, and
Per quattr'ore di tempo in quel giorno,
Tremava ogni Cristian in quel luogo,
Altro non si vedeva in quel contorno
Che aria di piombo, e la terra fuoco,
Nove persone morte si trovorno. *
Mastrilli and his sons go to Rome, where they
obtain new letters of protection, and go to Leg
horn, where they find a ship, and embark in her
for Terracina. There an illness, which had at
tacked Mastrihi while at sea, increases so much,
that he sends for a priest, who confesses him ; but
lest the priest should reveal his crimes, his sons
* For four full hours on that eventful day,
Each Christian trembled that around them lav ;
A sky of lead, an earth of fire was seen,
And nine bold men lay dead upon the scene.

APPENDIX. 257
keep the holy man imprisoned till their father
dies. As soon as the officer of the sbirri hears
of his death, he goes to the house in which he
had died, fires at the corpse, and then cuts off"
the head, to get the promised reward. On this
his sons are so grieved, that they prevail on the
priest to write to Rome, to certify that Mastrilli
had confessed, and received absolution before
his death ; upon which the fraudulent officer is
.condemned to the galleys, and the memory of
Mastrilli cleared from the stain of an impenitent
death. 3. A New History of Bartholomew, a Roman;
wherein is related his spirited Actions and his
Death. Not near so characteristic as that of Mastrilli,
but in the same taste.
4. The most beautifid History of the Life and
Death of Pietro Mancino, Chief of Banditti ;
wherein are set forth the Captures for Ransom,
and the Murders that he committed in the King
dom of Naples,
Begins thus :
Io canto 11 recatti, e il fiero ardire
Del Gran Pietro Mancmo fuoruscito
Quanti nemici suoi fecea morire
In tutto il tempo, ch' e stato bandito ;

258' APPENDIX.
Perdonatemi Muse, in questo dire
Se non vi chiamo dall' Eliconio sito
Che parlando di guerra, mie carte
Di Bellona la Musa Apollo e Marte. *
And, indeed, Pietro Mancino deserves a more
lofty song than most banditti. He was the
son of a sage physician, and, as well as his
two sisters, was eminently beautiful. In de
fence of his sisters, his first murders were com
mitted on the persons of two princes ; and as
he could hope for no mercy, he joined a band of
outlaws. He seized on a doctor first, then on a
factor, from each of whom he received three
thousand crowns of ransom, with part of which
he relieved the distresses of the poor, especially
of women. After this, the Prince San Severo
offered a reward of twelve thousand crowns for
his head, which Mancino determined to obtain
for himself. He therefore disguised himself,
and taking a raw sheep's head with him, he went
to the prince, and having only partially shown
the head, received the money. As soon as he
got it, he laughed at the prince, and told him of
* Peter Mancino, that great outlaw'd man,
I sing, and all his rage — and how he ran
Throughout the land, seeking his foes to slay,
Or take, and on them ransom hard to lay.
Forgive, O Muse, if in my dire account,
I call thee not from th' Heliconian fount !
So fierce my tale, Mars must Appollo be,
And harsh Bellona is the muse for me.

APPENDIX. 259
the cheat. Then going to his companions, they
embarked altogether for Sclavonia, where they
lived generously and hospitably. When their
means were spent, they returned into Apulia to
raise more money. Their first exploit on re
entering Italy, was to disguise themselves as
monks, and to visit the head of a rich monas
tery, from whom they extorted three thousand
crowns. Mancino then, by his dexterity, forced
one of his companions, who had intended to be
tray him, not only to give up his design, but
to pay him six thousand crowns. After which he
seized half a million of gold belonging to the
viceroy of Naples, with which he crossed the
country to Barletta, and embarked for Dalma-
tia, where he had a castle. There he lived
like a beneficent prince, and was employed in
the defence of Corfu against the Turks. At
length he was taken ill, and
A Pietro intanto il male si aggravava
E da se stesso lo conosceva
Che giorno, e notte chiamava, e pregava
Per avvocata Maria, che teneva,
Perche semper il sabbato guardava
E mai peccato non vi commeteva
Maria chiamava, e bagnava le gote
Rese I'anima a Dio col sacerdote. *

• Peter meanwhile perceived the time draw nigh
When he must make his soul prepare to die,
S §

260 APPENDIX.
5. The unfortunate Life arid miserable Death
of Harry Gobertinco, highwayman, who killed
964 Persons, with six Children, in the territory
of Trent.
The most remarkable thing in this atrocious
history, is the regret of the ruffian that he had
not lived long enough to kill one thousand of
his fellow creatures according to an oath be had
made. He entered every murder, with its date
and circumstances, in a journal book.
6. The true History of the Life, Prowess,
Feats, and Death of the famous Bandit, Angelo
del Duca, Native of Sa?i Gregorio.
Scarcely worth naming, and not much a fa
vourite, even with the people.
7. The Death of Oronzo Albegna of Brescia,
who was executed for killing his Father and
Mother, strangling two Brothers, and cutting off
his infant Sister's head.
This the author very properly begins with, 
And night and day he called on Heaven's queen,
His advocate, to whom he'd faithful been.
And still had kept her day from sin most clear,
And Saturdays • alone throughout the year
He wrought no ill. On Mary then he cried,
And weeping with his priest, in penance died.
* Saturday Is sacred to the Blessed Virgin.
7

APPENDIX. 261
Canto non gia d'amor ; non gia di morte,
Canto non gia di gioja, o di contento ;
Canto solo d'oror.*
8. Spettacolo Atroce, ^c. S^c.
Another history of a parricide.
9. Cruelty punished, or the true Account of the
Barbarities practised in Venice by Veneranda
Porta and Stefano Fantini, with their Death.
A history written in pure Tuscan,
10, New Story of a Womaji of Alicant, who
killed her own Son, and gave part to her Dog to
eat, and part to lier Husband ; whereby you may
perceive how she was carried alive to Hell by the
Devils. 11, A new Book, wherein is set forth the wicked
Life of a Mifiister of State, who was saved by
Charity, and founding an Hospital.
These specimens will probably satisfy the
reader as to the nature of the second division of
this class of poems. The list might be swelled
to a volume ; but the very titles of most of them
are disgusting repetitions of murders, which
must, by the frequency of their recurrence, de
grade those whose constant amusement is de
rived from their perusal,
* 'Tis not of love I sing, nor yet of war ;
'Tis not of joy I sing, nor yet of pleasure ;
I sing of horror only.
S 5

262 APPENDIX.

third DIVISION OF THE FIRST CLASS,
At the head of these we will place the Or
pheus and Eurydice, disguised under the name
of Orfeo ed Eudrice, or Orfeo della dolce lyra,
in which the antique fable is exactly followed ;
but in a language and a versification which defies
all criticism, and in some instances all interpre
tation, 2. The episode of Tancred and Clorinda, or
Crolinda, is another favourite of the people,
3, Istoria degli Orazie et Curiazi. The his
tory of the Horatii and Curiatii.
After the last of the Horatii has killed his sister
according to the real history, the romance pro
perly begins. Horatius is banished and goes into
Greece and Asia, delivers oppressed damsels, and
punishes wicked knights. At length Tullus, king
of Rome, writes to beg he will return, which he
immediately prepares to do, and the wind being
favourable, he sails in wonderfully short time
from Corinth to Ostia, and finds his friends well,
and the king favourable to his interests in all
ways, and so rejoiced to see him, that he sends
messengers to announce his return, to more
countries than any Roman of that age had ever
heard of; France, Congo, Galicia, Poland, China,
Alsace, Assyria, Naples, Venice ; and a feast of
three days was held in Rome.

APPENDIX. 263
Da fuochi, ed archi e di cucagua un monte.
Con suoni, e canti, e di buon vino un fonte. *
After all this, " Orazio fior de' Campioni," not
satisfied with Rome, leaves it to conquer the
kingdom of Macedon ; which he chose to go
vern in right of his new wife, Clarissa, who had
been unjustly deprived of her crown.
4. The History of Attila, commonly called the
Scourge of God .- in which truth and fable, with
some little mixture of Teutonic romance, are
jumbled together.
5. A faithful Account of the Deliverance of
Vienna, and of the taking of the City of Strigonia,
with the death of the Grand Vizier, who lost his
head. This is a favourite subject, and has been
treated gravely and gaily, in formal history, and
in the Rozzi rime of the people. It has been
honoured by the muse of Filicaia, and is sung
throughout the capital of Christendom, as the
triumph of the cross over the crescent,
6, The unfortunate Queen of Cyprus, with the
consequent Misfortunes of Ruggiero, Son of the
King of Crete, a moral and delightjid Tale.
Gundobald, King of Cyprus, had a fair queen.

* There were fine bonfires and triumphal arches,
A hill Uke Lubberland of ready-roasted food ;
Songs, dancing, instrumental jigs and marches.
And fountains running wine, pure, cool, and good.
s 4

264 APPENDIX.
called Arimene. They were both good and mer
ciful, but the king's two wicked brothers, Osman
and Aspramonte, conspired against them, and
killed Gundobald. Arimene fled, and, embarking
in a small vessel, was shipwrecked on the coast of
Crete, where she soon after was delivered of a
son more beautiful than Adonis, or Cupid,
Meantime the king of Crete had discovered that
his son Ruggiero was a Christian, and banished
him ; he arrived at the spot where the unfortu
nate queen had taken refuge, and, falling in love
with her, offered to protect her. They resolved
to go to Rome and take refuge in that Christian
city, when they were captured by a pirate, and
sold as slaves to the king of Egypt. After
many misfortunes and adventures, which all
prove the virtue of Arimene, and the valour of
Ruggiero, they were again made prisoners, and
conducted to the court of his father, who con
demned them to instant death. But, just as
they were tied to the stake, a thunderbolt struck
the tyrant. Ruggiero and Arimene became
king and queen of Crete, and placed the beauti
ful child upon the throne of Cyprus.
Mortale apprendi : e Dio paziente, e buono,
Ma la guistizia al fin gli e cara amante,
La spada del signor non taglia in fretta,
Quanto piu tarda, fa maggior vendetta, *
¦• Learn, mortals ! Heav'n is patient, and is kind.
But justice never quits th' eternal mind ;
The sword that smites not on an early day,
Will late with heavier vengeance fall to slay.

APPENDIX. 265
7- T'he rout of Roncisvalles, where Orlando
died, with all the Paladiiis ; divided into two cantos.
The well known rout of Roncisvalles is told
in this, at melancholy length. The feats of
Orlando and Oliver, and the sayings of Turpin
are minutely detailed. And the sad resolution of
blowing the horn of the Paladin, too late to save
the day, is one of the principal features of the
poem. Dante has taken one of the finest similes
in the Inferno from this incident, where, speak
ing of the horn sounded by Nimrod, he says,
Dopo la dolorosa rotta, quando
Carlo magno perde la santa gesta,
Non sono si terribilmente Orlando.* Canto xxxi.
We will give a few specimens of this popular
poem below. It is not indeed equal to Chevy
Chase, but is at least as good as Sir Bevis. The
description of the approach of the Pagan army
appears to us one of the best parts of the poem :
E si udivan sonare i gnaccheroni,
E tante busne, e corni alia moresca,
Che rimbombava per tutti i valloni,
E par che sotto terra quel suon esca,
Tante pennacchi, e tante stran pennoni

So terrible a blast

Orlando blew not when that dismal rout
O'erthrew the host of Charlemain, and quenched
His saintly warfare. Cary's Dante.

266 APPENDIX.
Tante divise, la piii nuovo tresca
Era cosa a vedere al cert' oscura
Da Orlando in poi, a ognun facea paura.
L'anitrir de cavalli, e il mormorare
De Pagan, che venivan minacciando,
Che ognun volea i Cristiani tranguggiare
E Falsiron bravava con Orlando ;
Parea quando piu forse freme il mare
Scilla e Cariddi co' mostri abbajando
E tan to 1' aria di polvere e piena
Come si dice nel mare della rena.
Quivi eran Zingare, Arabi, e Soriani
Dell Egitto, deir India, e di Etiopia,
E sopra tutti di molti Marani,
Che non avea nessuno insegna propria,
Di Barberia, e di luoghi lontani
E di alcuni altri in questi v" era copia.
E ancora gente di Guascogna v'era
Pensa che anima e questa prima schiera.
Ed avean poi le sue strane armature
E piii strane cappeUacci quelle genti
Certe pellacce sopra il dorso dure
Di pesci cocodriUi e di serpenti
E mazzafursti, e grave accetto, e secure
E molti colpi commettono ai venti
Con dardi, archi, spuntoni, e stambecchi
E spade assai che lucean come specchi. *
* Then did of uncouth castanets the sound,
And Moorish horns, through all the vales rebound.
So deep, so hollow, that they seem'd to flow,
Not from the earth, but from the depths below ;
Such were the plumes, such the devices rare,
Such the strange pennons floating on the air,
That dimly seen, yet glitt'ring as they past,
Orlando paused : all others Stood agast.

APPENDIX. 267
The battle goes on with the death of chief after
chief: the wretched valley is knee-deep in blood,
the Saracens fall like over-ripe pears.
E Roncisvalle pareva un tegame
Dove fosse di sangue un gran boUito
Di capi di pieducci & d'altr' ossame. *
The warlike neigh of steeds, the murmur'd song,
Of threat'ning Pagans as they march'd along,
Each sought to dye his hands in Christian blood.
While Falsiron 'gan mock Orlando good.
The clangour rose more loud than ocean's ire,
Where rage fell Scylla, and Charybdis dire.
And the dense dust so loads the dark'ned air,
Scarce such the sands the shores of Ocean bear.
Here were the wild Hungarians' wand'ring hordes,
There Syrians, with whom th' Arab lands affords,
Egyptians, Ethiopians, Indians, too,
And of the swarthy Moors a motley crew,
Who ovnied no separate standard but from far,
Mix'd with the Berbereens, rush to the war ;
E'en Gascons shewed their semi-gallic face.
With crowds on crowds of ev'ry diff 'ring race ;
Strange was the armour of the mingled herd.
And stranger still their cloaks. The spotted pard,
The scaly crocodile and speckled snake.
The cuirass and the clothing equal make.
There clubs, and heavy hatchets, axes keen.
Cutting with useless strokes the air, were seen
With savage bow, and dart, and sling, and spear,
And swords whose brightness dimmed the mirror clear.
* We really cannot tell how to rhyme the following trans
lation : Roncisvalle appeared to be a skillet.
Where there was a great boiling of blood,
Of heads and heels, and other bones.

268 APPENDIX.
Orlando at length, wearied, comes with Ins
horse, Vegliantin, to a small fountain to drink ;
but Orlando has hardly dismounted, when his
poor steed falls dead at his feet, and Orlando
begins to speak,
O Vegliantin, tu m'hai servito tanto,
O Vegliantin, dov' e la tua prodezza,
O Vegliantin, nessun si dia piii vanto,
O Vegliantin, venuta e I'ora sezza,
O Vegliantin, tu m'hai cresciuto il pianto,
O Vegliantin, tu non vuoi piii capezza,
O Vegliantin, se ti fece mai torto,
Perdonami, ti prego, cosi morto.
The horse opens his eyes, and nods his head in
sign of pardon ; and the sight of Vegliantin and
the count at the fountain, is, according to the
ballad, as affecting as the tale of Pyramus and
Thisbe, Orlando confesses himself, and receives
absolution from an angel, and with his death the
poem ends. The whole of this ballad is obviously
taken from Pulci, possibly for the use of the
itinerant story-tellers.
Neither will we interrupt by rhyme the solemn adieus of
Orlando to his horse : " O Vegliantin, thou hast, done me
such service ! O Vegliantin, where is thy prowess ! O Vegli
antin, let no one boast himself! O VegUantin, the fatal hour
is come ! O Vegliantin, thou hast encreased my moan ; O
Vegliantin, thou art no longer obedient to the rein ! O Ve
gliantin, if ever I did unkindly to thee, pardon me, I pray
thee, thus dying.''

APPENDIX. 269
History of the Lfe o/'Guerrino, smmamed II-
Meschino {the wretch), in which are set forth the
numerous Battles he fought against the Ttirks and
Saracens, and how he found his Father and
Mother imprisoned in Durazzo.
This romance is a great favourite. It will be
recollected, that Signor Cherubini mentions that
one of the brigands, among whom he w'as a pri
soner, amused himself with this history while
the others slept. In it history of all times and
fables of every nation are mixed together, and
enchantments abound. Hence, probably, the
preference it has obtained over even the tale of
Roncisvalles, with the people. After an invoca
tion to the
Musa gentil, che sopra eccelsi allori,
D'Elicon godete aure tranquille. *
The story goes on to relate the misfortunes of
the Paladin Milo, prince of Apulia and Albania ;
who, being conquered by the Ottoman, was
thrown into prison in Durazzo, Meantime, the
nurse, to whose care Milo had confided his only
son, Guerrino, having taken ship to convey her
charge to a place of safety, is captured by pirates.

* Noble Muse, who upon high laurels,
Dost enjoy the tranquil air of HeUcon.
The sound of this nonsense, in its native language makes
up in sweetness for what it wants in meaning ; and, like the
symphony to a piece of music, prepares the hearers to be
pleased, they cannot tell why.

270 APPENDIX,
and sold as a slave, the child being disposed of
in the same manner to a different master : this
master was a benevolent man, and having taken
the poor infant home, and related his finding it
exposed for sale, and almost starved, to his wife,
she exclaimed, "Oh, miserable wretch!" (Mes
chino) ; which name, as it seemed appropriate,
the master adopted. He became fond of the
child, who even at five years old, began to show
proofs of noble birth and surprising talents,
which, reaching the ears of the emperor, he
begged the boy of his master, and educated him
with his own sons. When Meschino was scarcely
more than sixteen years old, a tournament being
proclaimed, he secretly armed himself, and car
ried off" all the victories — not the prizes, for
they were refused to one who was not a knight,
but a slave. Meschino, therefore, sent for all the
Egyptians to tell who were his parents ; but
none of them could give him the least inform
ation, till an old satrap told him he must go to
the tree of the Sun, where he would learn what
concerned him, and that this was the tree to
which II Magno (Alexander the Great) had
gone to inquire about the time and manner of
his death. Meschino accordingly sets out, and
meets with giants, enchanters, and beasts, and
all the wonders Marco Parro (Marco Paulo) re
lates, till he reaches the place where the sun
touches the roots of the earth ; in short, the last

APPENDIX, 271
mountain in the world, where he leaves his
horse and armour of glass, and finds the tree.
He is of course impatient to consult it at once,
but an old man tells him he must wait till sun
rise for the oracle ; from which, at the appointed
time, he obtains the following very unsatisfactory
information, Ser Meschino
Guerrier del genitor fosti
La tua Stirpe e di sangue Paladino.
Zeffira fu la balia, e per destine
La madre, e il padre sta incatenato :
Detto che gliabbe queste parole
In silenzio resto 1' albero, e'l sole. *
The old man of the sun advises him to seek
an explanation of this oracle from the sybil in
the centre of Italy, He accordingly sets out,
and, one does not see why, takes Marseilles and
Leghorn in his way. He meets with the fairy
Alcina, who tempts him to stay with her by all
manner of enchantments ; but he has courage to
resist them, and sees her on the day when all
necromancy loses its power in her own ugly
* Meschino ! thou hadst for thy sire
A warrior, and may'st well aspire,
For of the Paladins thy blood.
Thy nurse was Zefira the good.
Thy sire and mother now remain, [
By fate's decree, in thraldom's chain!
Scarce did the voice these words pronounce,
When tree and sun were mute at once.

272 APPENDIX.
form ; this assists in preserving the knight from
all the fairy's temptations. At length he leaves
her, not much better informed concerning his
parents, and goes to Rome. There he receives
the benediction of the holy father, and makes
a pilgrimage to San Giacomo di Compostella,
clearing the way of the thieves and monsters
that infested it ; and on his return, joins the
Christian forces against the Turks. In this war
Durazzo is taken, and of course Meschino, or
the knight Guerrino, as he now becomes, finds
his father and mother, marries a great queen,
and hves happily,
Ecco quanto proposi, O mio lettore
L' istoria onesta, che venni a narrare
Del Guerrino, che forte nel valore
Per il padre vendetta voile fare
Acquisto ancor la sposa che nel fiore
L' eta gentile allor solea passare ;
Cosi tra di loro ebbero a giojre
E chi sia piii contento io non so dire. *

* Thus have I led thee, reader ! through
My story, modest as 'tis true,
Of Guerrino, whose valiant arm
Seeking t' avenge his parents' harm,
Won his right noble wife, with whom
A life of love he passed. The tomb
Closed on his path, thick set with flowers.
Which of the whole passed happiest hours
I cannot tell.

APPENDIX. 273
The modern ballad of Meschino is abridged
from a long prose story, in which the author
has led his hero over Europe, Asia, and Africa,
even to "Far Taprobane;" — he has introduced
him not only to the tree of the sun, but into
the Caaba — he has made him captain of the
forces of Prester John's country — he has made
him kill lions like Antar, and Saracens like
Orlando : yet he scruples not to lead the Sol-
dan's armies, and excuses himself by saying,
that Moses himself was in the service of the
Egyptians. To obtain the oracle from the trees
of the sun, he makes regular prayers and invo
cations to Apollo and Diana, with as much faith
as to St, Jacomo of Composteha, In short,
there is no kind of history, fable, or romance,
no manner of warfare, civil or savage ; no sort
of enemy, man, giant, dragon, or enchanter,
which is not to be found in Guerrino Meschino ;
and its wild and desultory adventures possess,
doubtless, a powerful charm for such persons as
those in whose hands we first heard of it, — the
banditti of Sonnino,
9, The pleasant History of Liombruno.
Another history of enchantments, which be-
o-ins like the tale in the Danish book of heroes,
of the man who took his son to an island in the
middle of a river, to sell him to the devil ; goes
on like the story in the German tales, of the

274 APPENDIX.
people who marry eagles and bears ; and ends
with the mutual happiness of a Christian fairy
and the knight, brought about by the good
offices of Sirocco, the south-east wind, which
showed Liombruno the way to the palace of the
fairy Aquilina.
10. The Adventm-es of two faithful Lovers,
ClARINA AND TaBIANTE.
This is a very modern Gorsican tale. Tam-
ante was a young Genovese, and Clarina a
Corsican. The French seized upon Tamante,
and would have put him to death, when Clarina,
with thirty faithful Corsicans, rescued her lover,
married him, and they fled together to Genoa.
The date of this tale is about that of the govern
ment of General Paoli.
11. History o/'Ottinello and Julia.
A common love-story ; the young man falls
in love by description, he seeks the lady, their
affection becomes mutual. Ottinello by some
accident falls into the hands of pirates, is sold
as a slave, finds a pot of gold, purchases his
freedom, returns to Italy, discovers himself to
Julia, when they marry and live happily.
Besides this kind of romantic ballad, every
episode in Tasso or Ariosto, every tale of
Boccaccio, furnishes a subject for the singers
and story-tellers, whose talents are chiefly called

APPENDIX. 275
forth in October, at the festivities of Monte
Testaccio, During that month, on Sundays
and Thursdays, the whole populace of Rome
and the neighbourhood assemble in the after
noon at Monte Testaccio, where they eat and
drink at tables spread under the mulberry-trees,
that grow between that and the pyramid of
Caius Cestius, the spaoe being the common
right of the Roman people, and dance, sing,
and tell stories, till night. On the last day of
the month, the gaieties end with a dance, in
which the men hold lighted torches in their
hands. All this is done in honour of the vin
tage. Every day in October, the lower class of
women of Rome, dressed in their gayest ap
parel, drive through the streets in open carriages,
and end the day at the Monte : the inhabitants
of the region of the Tre Monti particularly dis
tinguish themselves in these gaieties. Before
the year 1465, the races now run during the
carnival in the Corso, were held at the Monte
Testaccio.

SECOND CLASS. — HUMOROUS AND BURLESQUE
POEMS,
At the head of this class we must place the
Maggio Romanesco, or Roman maypole, a poem
in ottavo rime of 12 cantos. The incidents
t 2

276 APPENDIX,
are true, and belong to the life of Nicholas
Lorenzi, commonly called Cola di Rienzi, The
poet Peresio has permitted himself to introduce
a little machinery adapted to the popular taste ;
destiny, chance, a wizard, a witch *, a fairy,
and Madam Fortune. We shall give the plan
from the author's preface. Cola di Rienzi,
being tribune of the Roman people in 1347,
and willing to give the populace some amuse
ment, set up a maypole, with the reward of a
scarf to whoever should be able to climb the
pole and fetch it, besides triumphal honours to
the winner. For the preservation of peace, a
proclamation was published, forbidding any one
* We are not quite sure whether to class the Beffana of
Twelfth Night with the witches or fairies. The evening
and early part of the night of the Epiphany in Bome is a
feast particularly dear to children. Not that they draw king
and queen as we do, but there are cakes and sweetmeats and
fruit, and, in short, all good things, sold and given away
upon the occasion. The Piazza della Eotonda is particu
larly distinguished by the gay appearance of the fruit and
cake-stalls, dressed with flowers and lighted with paper lan
terns. Persons dressed up to resemble the pictures of
Mother Bunch or Mother Goose, and called Beffana, are led
about the streets, and a great deal of popular wit is display
ed. But these visible BefFanas are nothing in importance to
the invisible. When the children go to bed, each hangs up
a stocking near the pillow. If the child has been good, the
stocking is filled with sweetmeats and cakes before morning ;
but if naughty, the Beffana puts nothing but stones and dirt
into it, and we have seen many a smile and many a tear oc
casioned by the impartial gifts of the Beffana.

APPENDIX. ¦ 277
to wear anus on the scene of action, Rome
was at that time divided into twelve regions
{now fourteen). The chief of the youth in each
region appeared to dispute the prize, Jaccaccio
of the region of the Monti, and Titta of Traste-
vere, both reach the top of the maypole, and
fight for the prize. Rienzi's judgment between
them, which was like that of the judge in the
fable, for he burnt the maypole, and took the
scarf to make a cloak for himself, does not sa
tisfy the people, who, dividing into two parties,
arm themselves, and a battle ensues, which the
presence of the tribune cannot coatroul. At
length, however, at the tolling of the bell of
the capitol, and the publication of a second
edict, forbidding the people to wear arms at all,.
quiet is restored ; but the various devices for
deciding the question of the prize all fail, and
blows and quarrels succeed for months ; when
Rienzi proposes a wrestling-match, and Jac
caccio, being conqueror, carries off" the long con
tested prize. The people of the Monti make a
triumphal entry into Rome with their champion
at their head, and accompanied by their friends,
with which the poem ends. The language is
that of the Roman people — cockney Italian,
in short. The poem was printed early in 1688,
and opens thus :
II palio conquestato, e le sgherrate
Bizzarre io canto, e h tremendi aff'ronti
t 3

5278 APPENDIX.
Amori e sdegni, e risse ingarbugliate
Che fece un Bravo del Rion de' i Monti
Li sfarzi * de le Belle innamorate,
L'austuzie de i Zerbini argute e pronti
Bisbigli, e impicci, e tiritosti f a soma
Success! drento :j: al Gran Castel di Roma. §
Then follow the regular compliments to the
author's patron, Francesco dei Medici, an in
vocation to the muse, and an introduction,
naming the twelve regions, or wards, thus :
Campitelli con Ponte era in piii ordita
Con Trevi e Pigna, e Regola, e Parione :
Trastevere e Santagnelo in piii sforzo
Monti, e Ripa, e Colonpa, e Campo Marzo. ||f
* Sfarzi, Jollies.
f Tiritosti, tumbles.
% Drento Jbr dentro, within.
§ The conquer'd prize I sing, and strifes so various.
And loud disputes and jealousies and loves.
And mingled battles, skirmishes precarious.
Sprung from the champion of the mount and groves ;
And all the female fierceness of the doves,
Or women, which you please — and all the cunning
With which each youth his wit and prowess proves.
Which make old Rome think her new reign is coming.
11 The angriest were those of bridge and capitol,
With Pigna, Parion, Regola, Trevi's swamp,
T'other side Tiber, and St. Angel had it all
In numbers, with mount, shore, the column, and Mars'
camp.
^ The twelve regions are now increased to fourteen.
The inhabitants of Rome are divided into four very distinct
classes: the Monteggiani, Romani, Popolanti, and Traste

APPENDIX. 279
After this there is a satirical account of
Rienzi, when the business of the poem begins.
The prize-scarf is first described as displayed
aloft upon the maypole : it was blue-flowered
damask. * The pole was erected in the Campo-
Vaccino, just opposite to the temple of peace,
where the Campo widens. Towards the Palatine
hill benches were erected for the spectators, so
far and wide, that the Coliseum was small com
pared to Rienzi's theatre, and the architectural
ornaments, pillars, and pilasters, were of laurel
and myrtle.
In the third canto there is a description of
the goods displayed at an Italian fair, which we
shall extract at length.
For del Teatro a passeggiar vicino
C'erano a Centonara Venderoli,
Chi gridava Acquavita d'Anesino,
Chi strenghe e spille, e Esca, e Solfarole
Chi Ciammellette fresche, e'l Confortino
Chi Pettini, scopette, e I'usaroli,

verini. Of these the first inhabit the seven hills; the second
the Corso ; and the rest of the site of the Campo Marzo ;
the third, the neighbourhood of the Porta del popolo, both
within and without the walls ; and the last, the city beyond
the Tiber.
* The prizes for the winner of the Carnival races in the
Corso are still pieces of cloth of gold, of velvet, or of silk.
These prizes, which are costly, are furnished by the Jews,.
who were formerly obliged to run themselves. See An
thony MuNDAv''* Englishman's Life in Rome.
T 4

280 APPENDIX.
Ma assai strillar sentivanse piu spesse,
Fusaglia dolce, e Mosccarelle allesse.
Meglio che posso ve racconto, e tesso
La stadona, ch'in campo i Bottegari
Haveano fatta una doppo I'altro appresso,
Con Merciarie da sbegottir I'avari
Sparse a montoni havean pe terra messo.
Prima pile e tegami i Pignattari,
E sotto a tende c'eran da piii bande
Pratte e boccali della Ripa grande.
Spesso fermar vedevase la gente
Dintorno a le cestole, e canestroni
Piii d'un provava ancora da valente
E cetere e chetarre e colascioni
Mostravanse le donne fisse attente
A contemplar bambocci, e pupazzoni,
Chi la scuffia, a lo specchio s'aggiustava,
E chi pe bella se pavoneggiava.
Gridava un bottigar scarpe, e pianelle,
L'altro caraiFe ampolline, e bicchiere
Palette I'altro, trepiedi e padelle,
Pendeva el gipponar vestiti intieri
El valegiar spandea stivali e selle
Buglie, e bauUi, bisacci e braghieri
L'argentieri havean cento belle cose
E I'orefici piii de la curiose.
Stava a un baccone un gran bel mucchio adorno
De capelli, scuffioti, e berrettini
El camisciaro havea a la mostra intorno
Tele, mutande, camisci e scarpini
L'uccellator, la pavoncella e '1 storno
Cardellucci e cenari ^ verzellini
7

APPENDIX. 281
E piagnea co 'la mamma ogni figliolo
Ch'in mane volevo il sorce moscarolo.
Cera un gran sforgio in una bella stesa
De pannispalli, ventagli e fettucce
Un altro n'era in una stanga appesa
De camisciole, e calze, e de bragucce
Strillava el caldarar da bona spesa,
Padelle, e concoline e trelucce,
E mostrava el pizzicarolo a tutti,
De mortatelle i tagli e de prescuitti.
Tenea '1 mercanti, e drappo, e telettone
E un gnomerator naspe e conocchie
E'l telarol cambraie e zenzilone,
E chi le cosce in filze de rannocchie
Havea '1 Villan ripien piii d'un cestone
De pigne, e noci melasecche e noechie
Chi al cocchiarar voleva i fusi buoni
Chi '1 cocchiarone pe le maccaroni.
Damaschino il sapon squisito raro,
Pomate, oglio odorosi, e saponetti
Polver de cipro, e guanti havea '1 guantaro
Da servir bene ognuno, e larghi, e stretti.
Candelieri, e lucerne I'ottonaro,
El collarar collari, e manechetto
Chi vendea forbicette in fra le genti,
Chi nettorecchie e chi stuzzicadente.
Havean merangolari molte spase,
De merangoli a monti, e lemonelli,
Fruttaroli de scafi, e de cerase
Insallatari d'agli e ravanelh.
Portate^havean le donne da le case,
Crie fresche, piccione e pollastrelli

282 APPENDIX.
Ed altre ce affolavano abbondenza.
D'erbe odorose, e fiori e mesticanza. '

* Hard by, without the place, a wand'ring crew
Rambled in hundreds, venders of all matters ;
Some crying anised-brandy old and new.
Some tapes and pins, some matches, and some platters
For flint and steel. One cakes, one comfits scatters ;
Some combs, some brooms were calling; others a spindle;
And one the passengers with juice bespatters
Of coddled pippins as they seethe and dwindle.
Well as I can I'll tell how booths were set up
All round the theatre, and how the fellows
Had set them side by side as they could get up
Their merchandise. As if they had a pair of bellows,
They puffed e'en misers so, that their umbrellas
They eyed, then bought ; and there were piles of crockery.
And pans, and ewers, and plates, that looked as well as
The best of China, though 'twas but a mockery.
Here might be seen a crowd round some odd basket ;
There one with nicest ear, at least pretending.
To try a new guitar. That buys a casket.
This a new lyre ; the old long wanted mending.
There you might see a female group attending
A booth where blocks held hats and caps enough ;
While some before the glass quaint colours blending.
Chose their new gowns of silk or cotton stuff.
One salesman bawled out, " Shoes and slippers, ladies !"
Another, " Tumblers, bottles, cups, and glasses !"
Some beds ; some gridirons, frying-pans, and caddies ;
Whole suits of clothes the slopmen show the lasses.
Saddles and boots, the saddler as he passes.
Shows to the crowd, with trunk, and bag, and wallet ;
The silversmith in various works surpasses ;
The goldsmith tempts with ring, aud brooch, and collet.

APPENDIX. 283
This description may serve for a specimen of
the versification of the Maggio, as well as an

High on a pole were placed a splendid row
Of hats, and caps, and nightcaps, all made ready.
The linen-draper had a goodly show
Of shirts and shifts, for gentleman or lady;
The birdman showed his bird-decoy so steady,
Canary-bird and bull-finch for the house.
Each little one that passed cried, " Do, pray, daddy,
Buy me the pretty little dappled mouse."
In a wide booth there was a well-clothed board,
Where fans and ribands vied with 'kerchiefs comely ;
Another near bore a more useful hoard
Of jackets, socks, and trowsers, very homely.
The tinker tempted, prizing very humbly
His saucepans, gridiron, toasting-fork, and skillet ;
The tripeman boasted of his tripe, and, some lay
Hold from his bench of sausage and of fillet.
Here was the draper, with shalloon and cloth :
Spindle and distaff there the turner lays out.
A packman by cries, " Lace and cambrick both !"
Then one, " Frogs' legs to sell !" in discords brays out ;
Next comes a countryman singing the praise out
Of pine-fruit, walnuts, hazles, and ripe medlars.
The cook calls loud for sticks to make a blaze out :
" Cook ! bring us maccaroni !" call the pedlars.
This way is one with powder and white soap,
Pomatum, perfumed oils, and wash-balls scented.
And powder blue. Next stands the glover's hope
To sell his gloves, so cunningly invented
To fit all hands, (unless the size prevent it.)
Lanterns and candlesticks a tinman calls ;
Then one cries scissars, who is circumvented
By one with ear and tooth picks, as he bawls.

284 APPENDIX.
account of the wares displayed at a Roman
fair. The poem, though generally occcupied with
the descriptions of the popular pastimes, con
tains a number of satirical remarks upon Rienzi,
as might be expected from the date of its com
position and the spirit of the family, to one
member of which it is dedicated, and who hated
or despised the plebeian author of a free con
stitution. In the " Cola de Renzo, ch'el Prin
cipe faceva" of the Maggio, there is not a trace
of Petrarch's " Spirto Gentil ;" and even the
poet's praise of him is ridiculed, and Petrarch
himself called the Campion d'un Notaruzzo.
The prose life of Cola di Rienzi, written in the
common Roman of his own times, and published
by Fortifiocca, in 1624, is more just to the Tri
bune. It is very interesting, and now very
scarce. '2. The Meo Patacca, or Rome in its Glory, on
account of the Deliverance of Vienna ,• a heroi-

The fruitman sold full many a one that day
Of goodly oranges and lemons fairest.
And figs, and prunes, and cherries, kept their sway ;
The gard'ner sold his leeks and radish rarest.
Then " If for eggs, fowls, pigeons, much thou carest.
Come buy !" that day cried many a country dame ;
" Thou'lt find them good, if truly thou declaresl."
Then tliose with herbs and sweetest flowers came, &c. &c

APPENDIX. 285
co7nic Poem, in the Language of the Low Romans,
by Josep/t Berneri. Dedicated to the Illuslrious
D. Clement, Lord of the Rospigliosi. I6y5.
This poem is even a greater favourite with
the people than the former, perhaps from its
being written entirely in their dialect, of which
we shall copy the account given in the preface
by the author.
The first peculiarity of the language of the
low Romans is the repetition of certain words in
the same sentence, to give it more force ; and
this repetition is preceded by a short pause, as.
La vbfini, la vo, equivalent to the vulgar Eng
lish, / will make an end of it, that I will.
The next peculiarity is the cutting off the
final syllable of the infinitives, a?,fni for fnire, to
finish ; fa for fare, to do ; sape for sapere, to
know. Sometimes the last syllables of other
words are omitted ; and sometimes also the first,
as sta tu bravura for questa tua bravura.
A third distinction of the low Roman is the
substitution of ne, for the syllables cut off" in
some words, and the addition of ^the same word
or syllable to others : thus,^we for fare ; sapene
for sapere ; quine for qui, here ; chine for chi,
who ; piune for piu, more, &c.
The fourth and most common peculiarity is
the constant misplacing and interchange of the
letters / and r, as Grolia for gloria, glory ; crape
for capre, a goat. The letter d is also frequently

286 APPENDIX,
leli; out, as quamio for quando, when ; anna for
andare, to go.
Besides these unusual forms and applications
of ordinary words and phrases, there are a num
ber stiU current among the people, which are
not to be found in the mouths of elegant speak
ers, or of good modern writers. Of these some
are obsolete, and some equivalent to English
cant terms. To the first class belong, mo for
adesso, now ; and stracco for stanco, weary. To
the second, such words as parapiglia, confusion,
perhaps better translated hurly-burly ; fongo, a
hat, literally a mushroom ; schiamazzo, huzza,
and innumerable others.
The Meo Patacca opens with the arrival of
the news of the siege of Vienna in Rome ; upon
which the hero Meo Patacca, a bravo or cham
pion of the lower class of Romans, calls together
a body of his companions, and persuades them
to accompany him in a march to relieve the city.
The second canto represents the private objec
tions made by the families, wives, and loves of
the heroes to their departure. The third, the
disputes and quarrels of the leader upon the
occasion. Tlie fourth, further delays and quar
rels. The fifth, the same subject, but much to
the honour of Meo. The sixth, the review of
the troop. Seventh, preparation for the march ;
meantime the news arrives of the relief of
Vienna. Eighth, Meo turns his mind to making

APPENDIX. 287
rejoicings for the deliverance of the city, and
persuades his former troop to assist. Ninth,
loves and jealousies of Meo, and farther prepar
ations for the rejoicings. Tenth, the festival.
Eleventh, the festival continues, with the prowess
of Meo Patacca, who chastises all who are inso
lent to him. Twelfth, the news of the taking of
Buda by the Christians arrives ; and as the report
also mentions that the place was defended by
Turks and Jews, Meo, at the head of his troop,
attacks Ghetto, the quarter of the Jews, and
takes it ; and with his triumph the poem ends.
The description of mid-day in Rome, with
which the second canto begins, puts us a little
in mind of the spirit of the opening of Burns's
Tarn o'Shanter :
Era quell' hora, ch' i Pizzicaroli
Con le Perticha agguistano le tenne, [tenne, tende.^
Innanzi alle lor Mostre, e i Fruttaroli
E Ognun, che robba magnaticcia venne, [venne, vende.]
Perche pe fa servizio a i Nevaroli
El caldo insopportabbile se renne [renne, rende.']
E allora il Sol, se non ci son ripari
Scalla le robbe, e scottai Bottegari, [scalki, scalda.']
Questo ero il mezzodi, &c.
'Twas now the hour when oilmen smooth,
"With well-fixed poles distend each booth.
Below to form a friendly shade.
Before their dainty fair display'd ;
And grocers do the same, and all
Who vend good eatables at call.

288 APPENDIX.
For now to please the ice-house band.
The sun had ta'en the upper hand,
And where no shade did come between.
Melted or burn'd the goods I ween.
Nor did the shopkeepers escape
A portion of the like mishap.
In short 'twas noon, &c.
Whoever wishes to form an idea of the dress,
manners, and morals of the low Romans, ortoseek
into their pastimes or their superstitions, cannot
do better than to read the Meo Patacca. In the
second canto, of which we have already quoted
the beginning, there is a fortune-teller with all
her own cunning, and all the credulity of her
customers, given with real humour ; and her
costume, and that of a young woman of the
decent kind of common people, painted to the
life, and not in the slightest degree different
from the dress of the Roman women of the same
quarter now. * The manner of single combat
described in the Meo is no longer just, for the
prohibition of swords and even knives has pro-
* The dress of the women in the four divisions mentioned
in a former note is very different. The Monteggiane gene
rally wear a black hat, like a man's : the scarf, which also
forms a hood over the head, belongs to the Romane. This
is disappearing fast. The Popolante dress in all ways, but
are scarcely ever seen without the shift puckered round
the neck, so as to form a kind of tucker. The women of
Trastevere boast of dressing more like the antique Romans
than any other of their descendants; but the stiff bodice is
surely an innovation on the antique dress.

APPENDIX. 289
duced a change in the duel ; and instead of the
sling and the long sword, a stone concealed in
the hand, with which a deadly blow on the
temples is often given, or a sure stab with a clasp-
knife or short dirk, so worn as to elude public
observation, is the modern practice of the low
Romans, particularly those of Trastevere, But
our mention of the Meo Patacca is on account of
its popularity as a poem. There is a great deal
of humour displayed in it, and no small portion of
the buffoonery peculiar to Italy, The buffoonery
of Pasquin and Harlequin and his family, a sort
of dexterous clumsiness which, without being
wit or even humour, produces hearty laughter
and, like wine or spirituous liquors, excites with
out nourishing,
3. The will of the Abbate Veccei, which,
strange to say, is a prohibited poem, but passes
from mouth to mouth by way of tradition, and a
few copies are still clandestinely sold. It is a
merry, rhyming, mock testament, in which the
Abbate leaves different supposititious articles to
his various friends and relations, such as
Item lascio il pugnale al mio Tutore
Che lo defendera nell' ore fosche,
E con questo ammazzar solea le mosche
Cesare Doraiziano Imperatore,-
Gli lascio un Ferajol di panno nero
Che mandato mi fu d' Inghilterra
E se la mente mia forse non erra
Credo ; che fosse di Martin Lutero.
u

290 APPENDIX.
Due bragiole di piii cotte, e salate
Gli do con libre sette di lombetto
E gli so dir che son di quel porchetto,
Che andava appresso a Sant' Antonio Abbate
Gli lascio di pregiutti pieno un' area
Che dentro il Grego vin fur cotti allessi
E gli giuro, che son' de' Porci istessi
Che guardo Sisto quinto nella Marca. *
And so the abbate goes on, bequeathing a
pair of stays, stiffened with the bone of Jonah's
whale ; the tail of Balaam's ass ; the nail with
which Jael killed Sisera ; a measure of cinders,
half from Rome in Nero's burning, half from
Troy ; and a multitude of other sacred and
profane articles. The papal curiosities he enu
merates, however, are the true causes of the

* To you I leave a club of might,
'Twill serve to guard your head at night ;
'Tis that with which Domitian kill'd
His flies, 'tis therefore fully skill'd.
A cloak of black I also leave,
'Tis English, — for I won't deceive.
And that same, too, which Luther wore.
And 't served him well in days of yore.
Two rashers broiled, and salted too,
And of the loin, pounds not a few.
Of that same pig that always ran
Behind St. Anthony, — good man 1
Besides of precious hams a chest ;
In Greekish wine they're ready drest.
They once belong'd to those same hogs
Pope Sijctus kept in Marca's bogs.

APPENDIX. 291
prohibition of his little book of poems. Besides
the testamento, there are some petitions to the
pope, and to the king of Portugal ; some son
nets, and the song in praise of the pig, all full
of humour and abuse of spies, and Sbirri, and
allusions to the popular stories and tales ; so that
they are in every mouth, and lines of Veccei's
are used proverbially, every day.
4. The Margrande, or Great Sea of the Abbate
Sperandio, is a collection of humorous tales
and stories, and songs, long since out of print.
5. The Cucagna or Lubberland of Rossi, in
which he celebrates the discovery of that happy
fabulous country, where, as the English nursery
story says, the little pigs grow ready roasted on
the trees, and cry, " Come eat me," has been
inscribed on the list of poems worthy of the
Italian Parnassus.
Cucagna respondear gli scioglie e il mare ;
Cucagna il cielo, e i venti imbalsamati
Di mille odor soavi, e senza pare
Che spirando veniar di tutti i lati,
Non d' incenso, di mirra, ovver di costo
Ma di Salami, e di braggiole arosto. *

* Lubberland ! sounded o'er the rocks and flood,
Lubberland ! through the air, the sky, the wood,
And, oh ! what balmy gales were breathing thence,
And floating on the air with quickening sense,
Not myrrh, nor incense, nor those things of cost.
But broil'd, and fried, and stew'd, and hash'd, and
roast.
u 2

292 APPENDIX.
The insects, in which the fy, the flea, and the
musquito are celebrated, is also placed among
the classical poems ; but both of these having
become popular, we have mentioned them here.
Besides these, there are innumerable little
poems, with such titles as the following :
The mirtJful and pleasant History of the death
and will of Mr. Barbariccia ; setting forth how he
left the marvellous furniture of his capacious brain
to divers persons.
Pleasant Quarrel between a Step-mother and
her Step-daughter.
A Dialogue, wherein appear the advantages
and disadvantages of taking a Wife.
A pleasant Argument, wherein may be learned
which is the worst torment. Love or Hunger.
These are all more remarkable for humour
than wit, and resemble a little the prose histories
of Bertoldo and his descendants, which are as
famous all over Italy as Red Riding Hood or
Jack the Giant-killer in England, The title of
Bertoldo runs thus : " The Shrewd Conceits of
Bertoldo, wherein you may see how a civil and
sagacious countryman, after various and strange
accidents, comes, by his acute and rare under
standing, to be a courtier and a king's counsellor ;
together with his will, and several of his senten-

APPENDIX, 293
tious sayings," The next of the family is,
" The pleasant and laughable simplicity of Ber-
toldino, son of the wise and shrewd Bertoldo,"
&c. These histories, in themselves little more
than nursery tales, contain proverbs and sen
tences much used among the people, and furnish
laughter of the kind that a pantomime or a
puppet-show might excite. It is like Grimaldi
at home and undressed, and suits the genius of
the Italians, which, grave and thoughtful in
general, delights in occasional bursts of even
childish mirth. The stories of Bertoldo, his son
Bertoldino, and grandson Cacasenno, were long
ago versified, and the poetical edition of course
superseded, at least in polite circles, the ancient,
homely, prose originals.

THIRD CLASS OF POPULAR POEMS.  LYRICAL
BALLADS, SACRED AND COMMON,
We abstain from giving any specimens of the
various popular songs addressed to the Virgin
or to Jesus. Some of them, thojjgh sung in de
vout sincerity by the lower orders of Rome,
contain things so nearly bordering on the ludi
crous, as to appear any thing but pious to Pro
testant eyes. Others resemble so closely, in the
familiarity of their address, the evangehcal songs
and hymns of late years printed in England, that
u 3

294 APPENDIX.
we should be sorry to place the point where
Methodism touches superstition, in a stronger
light than that in which the sectaries themselves
have chosen to put it.
The following stanza, which is the beginning
of a canzonette in honour of Saint Louis of
Gonzaga, belongs to a kind of sacred poetry
which now has no parallel in England. Saint
Louis Gonzaga, Saint Philippo'Neri ¦*, and Saint
Charles Boromeo, are the peculiar saints of the
young women of Rome, and their pictures are
all very beautiful. The characters of these three
saints are peculiarly fitted to attract the ador
ation of the young and pure. Indulgent, mag
nanimous, and pious, they pitied the weaknesses

* In the garden of the convent of Saint Onofrio, on the
Janiculan Hill, there is a large oak, called Tasso's Oak. Tra
dition says, that the poet, during the few last days of his life,
which were spent in the convent, was often brought out to
sit under that tree ; and on the cypresses behind it we love
to believe that the garland was hung, which, on the 16th of
April, was to have crowned him, but that his death on the
15th prevented it. Under that oak there is a little stone
theatre built by San Philippe Neri. Finding that, however
eloquent the preacher, or however sublime the truths he
preached, the Romans preferred a country walk to hearing
a sermon in a church, he built this little theatre, which
commands the finest view of Rome and the country ; and
placing a pulpit with its back to the view, preached there,
that the people might benefit by his doctrine, at the same
time that they gratified their taste by a country walk, and
their eyes with the beauty of the prospect.

APPENDIX. 295
they did not feel, and cherished the sinner while
they taught repentance for the sin.
Luigi Angelico
Dal vostro viso
Di Paradiso
Spira belta.
A voi la terra
Fiori vermigli
O rose, o gigli
Pari non ha.
Macchiato, o guasto
II bel candore
Del vostro core
Mai si rendi, &c.
We have given this merely as a specimen of
the spirit in which the songs to the saints are
composed. They are always either the produc
tions of enthusiasm, or calculated to excite it ;
and where individual reason is rather discouraged
as an assistance to religious faith, such enthu
siasm assists to fix it in every feehng, and
unite it with every Sensation.
The common ballads embrace every subject
in which that kind of composition delights, be
sides the October and Carnival songs. Among
these last may sometimes be detected stanzas
from the collection of Trionfi, &c. from the
days of Lorenzo the Magnificent to 1559 ; and
the verses of that eminent man, as well as those
u 4

296 appendix.

of Machiavelh *, may not unfrequently be found
in the disguise of a low Roman ballad. The
following three stanzas from one of the common
est carnival ballads afford a tolerable specimen of
the ordinary run.

Si vede il suo principio
II Sabato primiero
Che guidaci al sentiero
Di bella societa.
Un da piacere al'altro
Noi tutti in allegria
Di ballo, e melodia
Godiam felicita.
Oh quante belle maschere
Vedonsi u scire a un tratto
Da giardinier, da matto
Da marinaro ancor.
E girano pel corso
Vestiti piii perfetti,
Tirandode' confetti
Per burla, or per amor.
Ma poi finisce il tutto
Con stare in allegria
Andandoall osteria
A here ed a mangiar.

* See the collection entitled " Tutti i trionfi, Carri, Mas-
cherate, o canti Carnascealesche Andati per Firenze dal
tempo del Magnifico Lorenzo de' Medici, fin al anno 1559;
repubhshed in 1780.

APPENDIX. 297
Con polli, e con capretto
Con pesce e con presciutto
Con vino dolce e asciutto
Finite de scialar, &c. &c.
Next to the Carnival, the greatest festival of
the Romans is the month of October, and accord
ingly it is the subject of plenty of ballads ; one,
which is in the form of a dialogue, begins thus :
Uomo. Or che Ottobre e retornata
Sposa mia deletta e bella
Vuo, che andiamo in carretella
Fuori, e dentro la citta ?
A testaccio, o Tor di valle.
La faremmo i maccaroni.
Con buonissimi bocconi
Lieti noi sarem cola.
Donna. Se non ho I'abbito nuovo
Con un altro cappeUetto
Sposo mio come ci metto
La campagna a passeggiar
Che diran 1' altre paine ? &c, &c.
Another ballad, the burden of which is " Viva
Ottobre che spasso ci da," describes the female
amusements of October, and is full of lively and
picturesque, though somewhat satirical descrip
tion. ,
The prettiest Roman ballads are those of
the women who sell flowers or fruit, either in
the market or at the gardens. The assigning
different flowers to different persons and ages,
in some of them, puts us in mind of Shak-

298 APPENDIX.
speare's Perditta and her pretty conceits. These,
and a few of the amatory ballads, remind us of
the simphcity and sweetness of Metastasio, and
are quite a relief from the longer ballads of the
robbers and outlaws.
Some of the modern songs, such as the La
ment of Napoleon for his Fall, the Return of the
Conscript, have a great deal of feeling.
The last kind of poem we shah name here, is
the short popular song called a ritorneha. This
consists of either two or three lines sung in a
particular way, and is used much as the lan
guage of flowers is in the east ; namely, to con
vey intelligence from a lover to his mistress
when her careful mother may have concealed
her from him. The ritornella sometimes begins
by naming a flower, and then singing a couplet
or "two, in which the flower is fancifully com
pared to the lady, addressed as in the following:
Fiore di Zucca
Avete nel parlare il miele in bocca
E i vostri sdegni son' oglio di Lucca,
Fiore di Aneto
Quando moro se vado in Paradiso
Se non ti trovo me retorno indieto, * &c. &c.

* These have not been printed, but are handed down by
tradition. We are obliged to the kindness of Madame
Mariana Dionigi, of the academy of San Luca, for those we
have quoted.

APPENDIX. 299
Others consist simply of three lines, without
naming the flower ; such as,
Sino a Cupido inamora fareste
Di angeliche bellezze pure e caste
Siete piu bella del splendore celeste.
Dove camini nasce un giensulmino
Quando mirone lui il tuo volto ameno
Gli parvi da mirar un vago giardino, &c.
Were it not for the sacredness of the subject,
we should be tempted to call the short invoca
tions to the Virgin, written under her images in
the streets, or sung before them at sunset, ritor
nella. For instance.
Oh Maria della bionda testa
I capelli son fila d'oro
Rimirando quel bel tesoro,
Tutti gli Angeli fanno festa.
Like most other nations, the Italians have a
great number of rhyming proverbs :
Le buone parole ungano
E le male pungano.
Fair words butter no parsnips.
Ne freddo ne gelo
Rimare in cielo.
'Tis neither hot nor cold in heaven.
Dall' acque chete me ne guarda Iddio
Che dalle corrente me ne guardaro Io.
God keep me from those I trust ;
I'll keep myself from those I distrust.

300 APPENDIX.
Chi due lepri caccia
L'una perde e I'altra lascia.
Whoever shoots at two hares at once,
Misses one and lets the other go.
Chi lascia il poco per haver I'assai
Ne I'uno ne I'altro havra mai.
He who despises a little to grasp at much will lose both.
Many proverbs are common, we believe, to aU
nations, and all nations have put them into short
homely phrases easily remembered ; such as,
A caval donato non si guarda in bocca.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Tra la bocca e il boccone mille cose accadono.
Many a slip between the cup and the lip.
Non sveglia, il can che dorme
Let sleeping dogs lie, &c.
Other proverbs, again, are taken from local cus
toms and manners, and are scarcely to be under-
stood out of their native country : for instance,
the proverb, Tu sei poco utile come la mula di
Balestraccio, " Thou art as useless as Bales-
traccio's mule," would require a Sancho Panza
to explain it to an Englishman ; but every Italian
child knows the history of Balestraccio, the poor
miller, who, having bought a cheap mule, found
she would only carry the sacks of flour half-way

APPENDIX. SOL
home, and then back to the mill, so that she
might as well not have carried them at all.
Tu sei piu rabbioso del cane di ser Bergolo,
" Thou art more snappish than Master Bergolo's
dog," is another of these local proverbs. Master
Bergolo having been a schoolmaster at Porta
Capuana, his dog turned the spit, went to mar
ket, waked the scholars betimes to study,
danced, and fetched and carried, but was withal
so surly and snappish, that none but his master
durst approach him. These may suffice for the
slight specimen of Italian proverbs we wished
to give here, as a subject akin to their popular
poetry.

302

APPENDIX

No. IV.
Petrini, in his Annals of Palestrina, gives a
curious account of the destruction of Monte
Fortino, during the Pontificate of Paul IV.,
and the grant of its territory to his nephew
Cardinal Cariffa, dated 27th April, 1557. The
edict of outlawry is as follows:
Desiderius Guidone of Ascole, Doctor of Civil
and Municipal Law, Commissioner for our
Lord the Pope.
It is manifest and notorious to all persons,
that for many years past, the men of Monte
Fortino have led a wicked and irregular life
both in public and private, and have always
been rebels and enemies to His Highness the
Pope, and to the Holy Church ; and, in par
ticular, in this war, they have abandoned his
Holiness and the Holy See, adhering to the
enemy, making prisoners of the faithful sub
jects in the neighbourhood, committing robbery
and assassination, and fortifying their castle ;
taking the enemy's soldiers to their assistance,
and, by fraud and deceit, under colour of obe
dience, making prisoners of and killing the

APPENDIX. 30S
soldiers of His Holiness, and assaulting the
camp, the artillery, and the batteries ; for which
causes there is no punishment, public or pri
vate, which they have not merited. And, in
order that their chastisement may serve as an
example to all, our Lord Paul IV. by Divine
grace Pope, wishing to secure the tranquillity of
these provinces and the service of the Holy See,
and, in order that this castle of Monte Fortino
may no longer be a nest and receptacle for these
wicked thieves and rebels, has determined that
it shall be totally demolished and ruined, and
that the whole territory, and all private pro
perty, on account of their open rebellion, shall
be taken possession of in behalf of the Apos
tolical Chamber : and that all the men of the
said fortress of Monte Fortino shall be banished
for life, &c. &c. And, in order to accomplish
this, he has given us full authority to order
and command all barons, feodatories, soldiers,
both horse and foot, corporate bodies, and
private persons : and we, willing to meet the
intentions of His Holiness by the present act
of outlawry, do declare, that all the men of
the above-mentioned Monte Fortino, as noto
rious rebels, have incurred the penalties of the
last rigour of the law, and the confiscation of
all their property ; and that it shall be lawful
for every one to assault them. And all barons,
feodatories, officers, ministers, communities, and

304 APPENDIX.
private persons, being subjects, either rnediate
or immediate, of His Holiness or the Sacred
See, are expressly commanded not to dare nor
presume to tolerate, receive, or favour the re
bels against the Holy See. Moreover, each
and all of them, with all their oflScers, are
commanded to use all possible diligence to
take them and execute judgment upon them,
under pain of the displeasure of His Holiness ;
warning every one, that diligent enquiry will
be made, and that the disobedient will ^be pu
nished severely, without respect of persons.
Given in the said castle of Monte Fortino,
7th of May, 1557.
You, the underwritten, are ordered to re
gister this present act of outlawry, and that
you will cause it to be published as usual ;
and, having published it, you will return it to
the promulgator, who will pay the expences.
Desiderius Guidone, Commissioner.
¦ Rocca de' Massieni ; Cori ; Cisterna ; Ser-
moneta ; Piperno ; Sezze ; Sequi ; Velletri ;
Civita Lavinia ; Gensano ; Nemi ; Riccia ; Al
bano ; Marino ; Rocca di Papa ; Rocca Priora ;
Monte Compatri ; Frascati ; Pellestrina ; Cavo ;
Rocca di Cavo ; Genezzano ; Pahiano ; Capra
nica ; Valmontone ; Castel Gandolfo.
GiROLAMO Feragallo, Chancellor of the
Missives (Mandates). 2

APPENDIX. 305
After this edict, there follows the order for
the absolute destruction of the town, and the
sowing of salt on the land ; in consequence of
which a plough, drawn by oxen, was reaUy
driven over the site of the houses of Monte
Fortino by Pietro Zalaretto, of Valmontone ;
and Menico Franasci, of Valmontone, followed,
and sowed salt in the furrows, in sign of deso
lation.

THE END.

Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode,
Printei^E -Sweet, London.

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