LETTER IX.
TO CAPTAIN SMITH.
Naples, September 27th.
MY DEAR SIR,
Engagements in Naples, which we could not decline, and the shortness of our stay, allowed us to make but one more excursion to the country. This was to the new palace at Casertta. The outside has nothing to boast of but the grandeur of its size; but for convenience, the plan is, perhaps, the best which has ever been laid out. It is a square of six hundred feet each side; and that no room may be lost, the interior court is divided into four, by a range of buildings in the shape of a cross, the head of which forms a most magnificent church, lined with the marble from the Temple of Serapis at Puzzoli. It hath not many paintings, but that of the Presentation is reckoned inestimable. I do not mean to criticise this admirable work, but it is natural to imagine that the painter intended the Virgin Mary to be his principal character, and yet, in spite of myself, my attention was constantly drawn from her to the surrounding figures.
The great staircase forms one of the finest coup d'oeils of the kind I ever beheld. It is in the center of the whole edifice, opposite the church gates. The dome is painted with Apollo and the Muses, in a circle, and the four seasons in the corners. The steps and balustrade are all of marble of different colours, on a very grand scale, crowned with two capital lions. If any fault can be found with this elegant piece of architecture, it is that the area below is too small in proportion to the grandeur of this part of the building.
It is intended that this Palace shall contain apartments for all the Officers of State, &c. who by the skill of the architect, will be most conveniently lodged; as yet, however, none but those of the King are completed. These are finished in the richest style, and with a neatness and elegance that prevents our being dazzled by their magnificence. The walls are washed with light colours (for the Italians use no paper), with elegant mouldings of gold and silver, and the ceilings are adorned with a variety of most beautiful paintings. That of the Three Graces in the Queen's bath, is a most masterly piece; they have just been bathing, the beauty of their faces and symmetry of their persons, are beyond description.
Several of the lower rooms are filled with statues, not yet put up. The best is Agrippina sitting on a chair, with her feet out, so very natural, that I was on the point of bowing to her. The Theatre is nothing extraordinary. The aqueduct we had not time to see.
St. Januarius is the tutelar saint of the Neapolitans. His feast is now celebrating. The people out of doors affect to laugh at the idea of his blood liquifying, but when the pretended miracle was performed, all of them kissed the phial with great fervour. The Nobile have given an oratorio in honor of him; Sir William Hamilton sent us tickets for it.