Chains Are Fastened Round These Columns,
As A Memorial Of The Conquest.
The cupolas both of the Duomo and
Battisterio are octangular.
There is a stone seat on the Piazza del Duomo
where they pretend that Dante used occasionally to sit; hence it is called
to this day Il Sasso di Dante.
You will now no doubt expect me to give some account of the theatres. At
the Pergola, which is a large and splendid theatre, I have seen two
operas; the one, L'Italiana in Algieri, which I saw before at Milan last
year; the other, the Barbieri di Seviglia by Rossini, which afforded to
my ears the most delightful musical feast they ever enjoyed. The cavatina
Una voce poco fa gave me inconceivable delight. The Ballo was of a very
splendid description and from a subject taken from the Oriental history
entitled Macbet Sultan of Delhi. How the Mogul Sultan came to have the
name of Macbet I know not. On the plafond of the Pergola is an
allegorical painting representing the restored Kings of Europe replaced on
their thrones by Valor and Justice. The decorations at this theatre are not
quite so splendid as those of the Scala at Milan, but living horses and
military evolutions seem to be annexed to every historical Ballo. Horses
indeed appear to be an indispensable ingredient in the Balli in the large
cities of Italy.
In the Teatro Cocomera, comedies are performed, and very generally those
of the inexhaustible Goldoni. I saw the Bugiardo very fairly performed at
this theatre. The story is nearly the same as that of our piece, The
Liar, which is I believe imitated from Le Menteur of Corneille. The
actor who did the Liar was a very good one. The actresses screamed too much
and were rather coarse. Another night at the theatre I saw a piece call'd
II furioso, a comedie larmoyante which was interesting and well given;
but the voice of the prompter was occasionally too loud. Tragedies are very
seldom played; the language of Alfieri could never, I will not say be given
with effect, but even conceived by the modern actors. It would be like a
tragedy of Sophocles performed by boys at school. There is another reason
too why these tragedies are not given; they abound too much in republican
and patriotic sentiments to be grateful to the ears of the Princes who
reign in Italy, all of whom being of foreign extraction and unshackled by
constitutions, come under the denomination of those beings called by Greeks
[Greek: Turannoi], I use this word in its Greek sense. Of the Tuscan
Government it is but justice to say that from the days of Leopold to the
present day it was and is a mild, just and paternal government, more so
perhaps than any in Europe; and the only one that can any way reconcile one
altogether to those lines of Pope:
For forms of Government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administer'd is best.[83]
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