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struck by the ideal beauty of the face Englishman-at least as many Englishand the wondrous depth of those large men appeared some ten years ago, before lustrous eyes. There are not a few ex- the practice of wearing the full beard ministers at the table, and among them became so generally adopted among the late Premier Minghetti, a well-in- them. In fact, as a Frenchman was one tentioned man of some cleverness, but day heard to remark of this gentleman, by no means of the stuff of which prime- "Il a l'air plus Anglais que les Anglais," ministers are generally made, and whose and might be put in the same category sanguine temperament and administra- with a well-known Anglomaniac Austive incapacity have done a great deal to trian diplomatist, who, having been viplunge Italy into her present difficulties. tuperated as an Englishman by a street Some of the groups at the side-tables boy he had accidentally run against, gave are not without interest. Every day a the lad a dollar for the compliment. solitary old man, with long white hair Persons who have seen them will proband feeble gait, comes noiselessly into ably recognize in the above pen-and-ink the room, and places himself at the same portraits the most rising general and the small table, commanding a view of all most distinguished admiral Italy posthe guests; but though he wears specta- sesses, and will write under the sketch cles to assist his dim sight, he does not the names of Cialdini and Persano. The seem to heed the animated groups inces- former lately won parliamentary fame santly passing before him. The pale by a speech which took the country by high forehead and the delicate oval face, surprise, few having suspected the orawith its pointed white beard, recall a por- torical powers of the dashing and suctrait by Vandyke, and in this venerable cessful soldier. The speech, which had gentleman, the type of an Italian cour- manifestly been studied, was a clever tier, we see an aged likeness of Charles and effective production, and it won the I. Family misfortunes have left him more applause because it proclaimed impoverished and alone, and he may be truths which others had feared to utter, seen every evening at the theatre, a and because it was spoken in a parliatouching picture of dignified, refined, ment where long-winded talkers abound, and lonely old age. but where eloquence is exceedingly rare. Pass we to the next table. There two Not far from the two officers, the late men seated opposite to each other are Minister for Foreign Affairs, Visconti dining heartily and cheerfully, chatting Venosta, dines opposite to Jacini, the and smiling like persons who are at no present Minister of Public Works, who loss for topics interesting alike to both. is about to leave for Florence on busiOne is dark and soldierly-looking, with ness connected with the coming change shining black hair cut rather short, and of capital. Venosta is a tall fair nan beginning to wear away at the crown, from the Valteline, who looks more like➡ with shaven cheeks and black mustache a German than an Italian. He is reand beard. His nose is prominent, his markably quiet in manner and sober in style of physiognomy handsome but rather gestures for one born south of the Alps. coarse, his expression energetic and de- His character stands high for disinterestcided rather than amiable and good-tem-edness and patriotism; and although not pered, his complexion, habitually florid and sunburnt, has now a dull red flush, due probably to dinner and the heat of the room. His companion is a slender man with rather small features, tanned by weather, quiet and gentlemanlike in manner. He wears a long coat buttoned high, with a gold chain meandering outside it; he has no mustaches, and the general style of his dress, taken in conjunction with the collar of thick greyish whisker that completely surrounds his face, gives him much the look of an

responsible for the errors of his former colleagues, he has chivalrously taken upon himself a share of the odium cast upon them, and manfully defended them in the Chamber of Deputies. His abilities are good, and he made one of the best speeches delivered in the Lower House on the subject of the change of capital. There are persons in Turin who think it not unlikely that at no distant date he will again hold the seals of office, possibly in a government of which Cialdini will also be a member.

The

The sole beauty of Turin is its glorious the town, and was named the Porta PaAlpine range, which is sometimes cov- latina; while from a tradition which can ered with snow as early as October. not be traced, the common people call Later in the year, when the heavy fogs it the Prison of Ovid. Turin was a roll away from the city, the stranger is marquisate during the middle ages, but startled to see a towering bulwark of was so often sacked and ravaged that snow rising between him and northern only one specimen of medieval architectEurope. Marvelous and entrancing are ure remains, the Palazzo Madama, in the the effects of sunlight upon these undu- center of the Piazza Castello. Much of lating masses when seen on the rare oc- the old simplicity of this building was casion of a clear brilliant day; and it is destroyed a hundred and fifty years ago difficult to believe that only four hours by the mother of Vittorio Amedeo, in the railway will bear one away from whose residence it was. With the vithese frozen peaks to Genoa on the radi- cious taste of the period, she decorated ant Mediterranean and to the palm- the severe old pile with what the Italians trees of the Riviera. Turin seems Italian call a "majestic façade" of marble colonly to those who have just crossed the umns and Corinthian pilasters, and enmountain barrier; to the traveler from tirely built up two of the towers. The the south, Piedmont appears beyond the eastern side escaped renovation, and the boundaries of Italy. Few linger in her eye, wearied with the eternal uniformity capital longer than to repose after the of the streets and squares of Turin, repopassage of the Mont Cenis, or to pre- ses gratefully upon the discolored mosspare to encounter it. Yet Turin can grown wall and the two picturesque boast of a few collections which would medieval towers which remain. be deemed well worth inspection any- whole building narrowly escaped destrucwhere but on the borders of the promised tion early in the present century. A land of the sight-seer. The Egyptian gallery which connected it with the RoyMuseum is a treasure to the learned; al Palace was pulled down, and it was there is an interesting and extremely proposed to level the Palazzo Madama well-arranged armory, and the gallery of and fill up the venerable moat, in order paintings contains some choice speci- to lay the square completely open. Formens of Rembrandt, Paul Veronese, tunately Napoleon had the good taste and Albani, and even claims the posses- to oppose such an act of barbarism, sion of a genuine Raphael, the Madonna and the Senate of the kingdom now meets della Tenda; but comparatively few visit in the great hall, while the receptionthem. The eager tourist, bound for rooms have been turned into a tempoFlorence and Rome, reserves his enthu- rary picture-gallery for the collection siasm for their renowned galleries, while already alluded to. Although Turin, as those who are going home are satiated we have said, has little pretensions in with art, and are thankful to spare the the way of art or antiquity, it is close to aching eyes and overloaded brain. The the loveliest valleys and mountains in style of Turin is essentially prosaic and the world, where the blue skies of the uninteresting; and, although its arcades south combine with the grand scenery are a purely Italian feature, it does not of Switzerland. If the near neighborlook like the threshold of that pictur- hood of the mountains freezes the city in esque and beautiful country, whose pre- winter, and brings fog, rain, and drizzle eminent loveliness has ever been her in autumn, it facilitates the most delightdistinction and misfortune. Still one ful excursions in spring and summer must mount into remote antiquity to find among the scarcely known valleys which the origin of Turin, which derives its lie at the foot of the Piedmontese Alps; name from the Taurini, a Ligurian tribe. and the lover of nature will always assoThe vicissitudes of ages have swept ciate Turin, in spite of its own unattracaway all traces of the occupation by the tiveness, with his pleasantest recollecRomans, except a wall which is flanked tions of Italy. by two towers, and forms part of a building now known as Il Palazzo dei due Torre; formerly it served as a gate of

The time is past, however, for the exclusive contemplation of scenery or study of art. It must be a narrow mind which

can bound its sympathies at this time within such restricted limits. Other and greater interests have sprung up in the land so long looked upon as a mere museum for the studious. A whole nation has arisen from the sleep of centuries, a slumber mistaken for death, eager to give the lie to the detractors who pronounced it utterly defunct, and fit only to supply Europe with singers and scene-painters. Even the capabilities of the race have been doubted. So low had the modern Italians sunk in the scale of nations, that the possibility of their regeneration has been questioned, and much has been written to prove that they are utterly effete, that having reached their highest development they have fulfilled their appointed destiny, and, worn out, will gradally fade away before the advances of younger and more vigorous members of the human family. This view, however, is chiefly taken by mere votaries of art, who hold all other progress cheaply, who estimate the greatness of nations according to their artistic development, and who grow eloquent when they descant upon the famous times of the Medici, forgetful or regardless that Italy's most glorious period of painting and sculpture was also that of the grossest superstition and most degraded moral and social condition. Her patrons were often profligate tyrants, and the narrowest bigotry was sometimes the source of her artist's purest inspirations. In fact, since faith in her Church has declined, no source of inspiration seems to have remained to her. Her religion and her rulers reduced her to a lethargy in which she quietly dozed on for centuries, while the foreigner made her a battlefield, and fought about and dismembered her at his pleasure. Meanwhile other and less gifted nations have outstripped her in her own arts. Her people are not less endowed by nature than formerly, but there is no culture, no elevated standard of excellence, no spur to perfection. Taste abounds; everybody has it; it is the birthright of the whole people and an inalienable part of their nature, but they turn it to no account, and one comes to the land of myrtles and roses to find no gardens, and to the birthplace of song to find no music. In proportion as nature has been bountiful, man has been heedless. How far representative insti

tutions will tend to develop the peculiar capabilities of the race, remains to be seen; but we may reasonably expect a degree of moral excellence and material prosperity that have never existed before, and that seem unfortunately opposed to the conditions most favorable to art. Italians, however, must not be judged by the severe English standard. Their temperament is essentially artistic and sensuous; it repudiates toil, and demands time for pure sensation. They are vehement, impulsive, and morbidly sensitive, shrinking from a single word of censure, and greedy of praise. He who would be accounted their friend must never find a fault, but approve without qualification. This weakness is particularly visible in their political life. They are not content with the acknowledgment of all Europe that they have done a great deal; they like to be told that they have attained perfection. Their craving for flattery and dread of blame have destroyed all criticism. The Italians deal only in eulogy, and their language has shared in the general decline; it has lost its vigor, become wordy, illogical, and inexact-the natural result of the purposeless lives and tame insincerity of those who have used and moulded it since the days of Dante. The amalgamation of the various Italian states, however, has already produced a change, which may be detected in the discussions in the Chambers. A new and more vigorous dialect is being created by the general adoption of words hitherto confined to this or that province. Doubtless the very character of the language will undergo a transformation to meet the exigencies of new thoughts and principles. With respect for truth will come exactitude of expression; promptitude and businesslike habits will beget terseness and vigor, to the exclusion of voluminous and inflated phrases of little or no signification.

A great deal has been done to promote the education of the lower classes of Italians, and in the southern provinces, where, in 1860, only one hundred and thirteen in a thousand could read, the proportion is rapidly rising. Unfortunately there is not as yet an equal improvement among the upper classes. Intercourse with other nations will of ne

cessity enlighten them in time, but the whole system of education must be changed, and a different estimate set upon the value of mental cultivation, ere Italian noblemen, as a class, can take their place among men of enlightened minds and noble aspirations in other countries; while nothing can be more inane and frivolous than the lives of the women, who, themselves subject to priestly authority, too often exercise a baneful influence over the men of their families. The early youth of a girl of the upper class is passed in a convent or under harassing and unnecessary restrictions. Scarcely any intercourse is permitted with young people of the opposite sex; in fact, to secure a good marriage, a young lady ought to be kept almost in complete seclusion. Meanwhile, it often happens that a high-spirited girl employs her whole intelligence in deceiving her mother and evading her vigilance. Matches are sometimes made by signs in the streets, to the amazement of the parents, to whom it has never occurred to substitute principles for espionage. As may be expected, once freed by marriage from the thraldom of girlhood, a career of folly, and often of vice, is run by women naturally gifted with every capability of making good wives, good mothers, and exemplary members of society, had they but had a rational training and a fair share of enjoyment before they were married to a man chosen by their family, and utterly indifferent to themselves. The strong love of Italians for children often exercises a beneficial influence, and many a young and beautiful woman is absolutely and entirely devoted to her children with an abnegation of self seldom equalled, and never surpassed, in the homes of domestic England. If there be no children, the theatre is the only resource; the husband prefers his café, or devotes himself to a reigning belle in another box; so the wife is escorted by his friend—hence the origin of the now somewhat unfashionable appendage of the cavaliere servente. One is startled to hear well-known scandalous stories of the leaders of society, who, scarcely repentant of the sins of their youth, spend their mornings in devotion and their evenings in receptions or the never-palling theatre. The tone in which immorality is

spoken of indicates only too truly the low standard of the whole country: yet it cannot be doubted that even in this particular there has been some improvement in the last fifty years. However, there is little or no mental culture; formerly, at Naples, the women of the middle class were kept ignorant upon principle; they were not taught to write, lest they should communicate with their lovers. In Northern Italy they have always been more advanced, and it is a curious fact that, in Turin, where the language is chiefly compounded of Italian and Provençal, two old romances of chivalry are reprinted every year, and are the favorite literature of the people. Among the higher classes these romances are unknown; no book ever cumbers the tables except a "Journal des Modes," or an occasional French novel. Art and literature are never spoken of in society, and a reference to a Tauchnitz novel would give a lady the dreaded reputation of a bas bleu.

A strong line of demarcation exists among the men. The man of science or letters does not, as with us, mingle in general society, but keeps to his class, and shrinks from the unlearned and ungenial aristocrat. It is not pride and exclusiveness that here sunder classes as in Germany, for the Italian nobleman is affable to everybody, and the high-born lady chats with her coachman, and calls her maid "figlia mia." Uncongeniality is the real barrier that divides society.

One of the worst symptoms in Italy at the present moment is the violent admiration of everything French. In a nation aspiring to be free and constitutional, her representatives constantly quote French history and French precedents even in the Chambers, but rarely allude to those of England, whose institutions they prof ss to imitate. It might have been well for Italy if, before attempting constitutional government, she had passed through the ordeal of enlightened despotism under a ruler who would have governed her resolutely for her good, until she was trained into governing herself. Even the hated Austrians have left beneficial effects behind them in Lombardy, in the cleanliness of the streets and the superior decency of public habits. In truth, one is hourly amazed and disgusted by the coarse and filthy practices of a people cer

NOTES AND NOTIONS FROM ITALY.

tainly not deficient in refinement of nature, and singularly endued with courtesy and consideration for the feelings of others; but strange inconsistencies meet one at every turn. Most of the books about Italy give only one side of the picture; her fatal beauty bewilders the judgment; the deceit and falsehood of her children are pardoned for the sake of their grace and attractiveness; their rags and dirt add to the picturesqueness of a country where so many come only to seek pictorial effects. People travel less in quest of truth than of enjoyment, and when distance lends her usual enchantment, even the drawbacks which could not be ignored when absolutely present, fade from the memory altogether. The result has been deplorable for Italy. She has become accustomed to extravagant eulogium, and spoiled by indiscriminate praise; and she refuses to believe that her prestige is entirely due to the glory of the past, and to that marvelous natural beauty which owes nothing to man, and which man, with all his vices and corruptions, is still powerless to impair.

The Italians have been considered the moral antipodes of the Anglo-Saxons; yet there are strong points of resemblance between the races, and as strong dissimilarities between the former and their Gallic neighbors. Simple, natural, and absolutely free from all attempts at theatrical effect in their language and manners, they are singularly sympathetic, and one feels for their failings much the same indulgence extended to those of children. Indeed it ought never to be forgotten that the tyranny and corruption of the old governments either kept the people in tutelage like children, or degraded them almost below the dignity of manhood. It is much to be desired that a strong English influence, political and social, should counteract the insidious French tendencies which daily grow more evident, and are much deplored by right-minded Italians themselves. An English education engrafted upon the Italian character produces an admirable combination. A few young men affect the English style, speak the language fluently, and have even acquired the true insular tranquility of utterance. But when the most successful imitator rises in his place in the Senate or Cham

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ber, there is a startling transformation. The words pour forth with wonderful volubility, in clear, distinct, and vibrating tones, and the rapid and graceful gestures, especially of the animated Neapolitans, almost distract the attention of the foreigner from the subject of the speech. It must be the vehement utterance and constant gesticulation of the Italian orator that so soon fatigue him, and render him than it is found to be by more phlega long discourse a far greater effort to matic speakers. Every three-quarters of an hour he requires a "riposo," a pause of a few minutes, and plentiful recourse is had to sugar-and-water at intervals during the whole speech. A loud, distinct utterance is the habit of the whole people; in the south it often rises into a squall, and even among the higher classes harsh and hoarse voices grate painfully upon the fastidious ear. an English gentleman, unacquainted with Not many years ago, this peculiarity, remarked at a large party, composed of the elite of the Neapolitan capital, "If I did not know I was think myself in Bedlam." in the best society in Naples, I should

peculiarities which probably no longer In those days there were other little exist. Young men of fashion had vague ideas of geography, and one asked an English lady, "which was the largest place, England or London?" King Ferdinand would probably have preferred that the youth had never heard of either. A man of wealth and high position at Court, who, after some trouble, had obtained permission to travel, shipped himtold that she was three hundred horse self on board a French steamer, and when power, innocently asked where the horses were? Ten years have wrought vast changes even in that darkest corner of the peninsula. An older man, and a compatriot of the courtier cited above, observed but a few weeks ago, in his place in the Senate, "Railways, steamboats, the electric telegraph, and a free press, have made the civilized world like one family. No new discovery, no truth, can long be the privilege of one people only." King Ferdinand knew this so well that, although he could not prevent foreigners from entering his country, he took care to keep his own subjects at home. People who lived in the provinces had often to

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