It has been long since extinguished,
but you meet with vast beds of sulphur and calcined stones, and the smell
is at times almost insupportable. We returned to Naples by half-past seven
o'clock, not a little tired but highly gratified by our excursion.
NAPLES, 14th Oct.
At the Teatro Nuovo I have seen another Italian tragedy performed. The
piece was Tito Manlio Torquato, taken from the well known anecdote in the
Roman history. The scenery, decorations and costume were good and
appropriate, not so the acting; for the actors as usual were imperfect in
their parts. I fully agree with Alfieri that Italy must be united and enjoy
a free popular government before one can expect to see tragedies well
performed. It is very diverting to see the puppet shows at Naples and to
hear the witticisms and various artifices of the showman of Pulcinello to
secure payment in advance from his audience, who would otherwise go away
without paying as soon as the performance was over.
This performance is much attended by the lazzaroni and faineans of the
lower orders of Naples and the puppet showman is obliged to have recourse
to various stratagems and ingenious sallies to induce a handsome
contribution to be made. Sometimes he will say with a very grave face (the
curtain being drawn up and no Pulcinello appearing) that he is very sorry
there can be no performance this day; for that poor Signor Pulcinello is
sick and has no money to pay the Doctor: but that if a quete be made for
him, he will get himself cured and make his appearance as usual. All the
while that one of the showmen goes about collecting the grani, the other
holds a dialogue with Pulcinello (still invisible). Pulcinello groans and
is very miserable. At length the collection is made. Pulcinello takes
medicine, says he is well again, makes his appearance and begins. At
another time the audience is informed that there can be no performance as
Pulcinello is arrested for debt and put in prison, where he must remain
unless a subscription of money be made for him to pay his debts and take
him out of gaol. Then follows an absurd dialogue between Pulcinello
(supposed to answer from the prison) and the showman. The showman scolds
him for being a spendthrift and leading a profligate life, calls him a
briccone, a birbante, and Pulcinello only groans out in reply, Povero
me, Povero Pulcinello, che disgrazia! sventurato di me! di non aver
denari! These strokes of wit never fail to bring in many a grano.
At another time the curtain is drawn up and discovers a gibbet and
Pulcinello standing on a ladder affixed to it with a rope round his neck.
The showman with the utmost gravity and assumed melancholy informs the
audience that a most serious calamity is about to happen to Naples: that
Signor Pulcinello is condemned to be hanged for a robbery, and that unless
he can procure molti denari to bribe the officers of justice to let him
escape, he will inevitably be hanged and the people will never more behold
their unhappy friend Pulcinello. The showman now implores the commiseration
of the audience, and now reproaches Pulcinello with his profligacy and
nefarious pranks which have brought him to an untimely end. Pulcinello
sobs, cries, promises to reform and to attend mass regularly in future.
What Neapolitan heart can resist such an appeal? The grani are collected.
Pulcinello gives money to the puppet representing the executioner; down
goes the gibbet, and Pulcinello is himself again.
I shall return in a day or two to Rome, having seen nearly all that Naples
affords. I have now full liberty to die when I chuse according to the
proverb: Veder Napoli e poi morire.
Naples certainly is, taking it all in all, the most interesting city in
Europe, for it unites every thing that is conducive to the agremens of
life. A beautiful city, a noble bay, a vast commerce, provisions of the
best sort, abundant and cheap, a pleasant society, a delicious climate,
music, Operas, Balli, Libraries, Museums of Painting and Sculpture; in
its neighbourhood two subterraneous cities, a volcano in full play, and
every spot of ground conveying the most interesting souvenirs and
immortalized in prose and verse. Add thereto the vapour baths of sulphur
for stringing anew the nerves of those debilitated by a too ardent pursuit
of pleasure, and the Fountain of St Lucia for those suffering from a
redundancy of bile. Now tell me of any other residence which can equal
this? Adieu.
ROME, 22nd Octr.
Nothing material occurred on my return from Naples to Rome; but on the 2d
day after my arrival I made an excursion to Tivoli, which is about eighteen
miles distant from Rome. I passed the night at the only inn at Tivoli. The
next morning I walked to the Villa d'Este in this neighbourhood, which is
a vast edifice with extensive grounds. Here on a terrace in front of the
villa are models in marble of all the principal edifices and monuments,
ancient and modern, of Rome, very ingeniously executed. From the Villa
d'Este is a noble view of the whole plain of Latium and of the "Eternal
City."
From hence I walked about two miles further to visit the greatest antiquity
and curiosity of the place, which is the Villa or rather the ruins of the
celebrated Villa built by Adrian, which must have been of immense size from
the vast space of ground it occupies. It was intended to unite everything
that the magnificent ideas of a Prince could devise who wished to combine
every sort of recreation, sensual as well as intellectual, within the
precincts of his Palace; columns, friezes, capitals, entablatures and
various other spoils of rich architecture cover the ground in profusion:
many of the walls and archways are entire and almost an entire cupola
remains standing.
