“Chi visiterà questa Ven. Basilica de’Ss Cosimo e Damiano nelle Giorni qui notate, confessato e communicato, acquisterà Indulgenza plenaria, come per rescritto di Nostro Signore Papa Pio settimo li 23 Decembre, 1808.”
Then follows a list of twenty-eight days.
“Indulgenza plenaria alla Capella di S. Antonio in uno de’ Martedì di ciascuna mese del anno da eleggersi ad arbitrio di chiunque confessato e communicato.
“E più.
“Sette Anni ed altre tante quarantine d’indulgenza in tutti gli altri Martedì dell’ anno.”
The Italians, especially those of the Roman states, do not seem very well contented with their present political situation. They are discontented with the pope because they have had bad crops since his return. This year the wheat harvest has been excellent, the grapes are abundant and good, the olives show the fairest promise; these things will no doubt have their effect on the political feelings of the commonalty, but the maize is likely to be deficient, and the poor pope will have the blame. You will think it perhaps too much of a sneer, if I were to say, that as the pope does pretend to have some influence in the government of the world, discontent on such accounts is more reasonable under him, than it would be under a secular prince. But there can be no doubt that the superstition, so carefully preserved among the Italians, renders an association of that sort more easy. Accustomed to consider every thing that happens as a judgment or a miracle, taught to believe that weather favourable to their wishes, and good harvests, are the result of ceremonies and processions, how can they fail to attribute the bad to similar causes, and to imagine a defective year, to be a consequence of the displeasure of the Almighty against their rulers. The cessation of the conscription also produced a bad effect rather than a good one, in occasioning discontent. It was less oppressive in Italy than in France, and though productive of great misery to individuals and families, and probably of great demoralization, it nevertheless would have taken off a great many mouths which now eat and rail at home. Then, though the French government taxed heavily, yet it spent liberally. Now, the taxes are still heavier, and the expenses greatly reduced; the produce, according to common report, going to Austria, but I do not understand why.
The bad air of Rome and of the Campagna have I suspect been greatly exaggerated. In the latter, there seems to be a want of wholesome water: Rome is abundantly supplied, and this is perhaps partly the reason why the city is more wholesome than the country. Another source of disease is to be sought in the nature of the food eaten by the poor. When a man breakfasts on cucumbers, dines on melons, and sups on love-apples, what has he to support him? In the spring, they have, instead of these, purslain, artichokes, and lettuces. Fruit is dearer at Rome than at Bologna, but vegetables are good and plentiful. A lady, last night, was complaining that she could only get fifteen pauls for a cart load of lettuces, forty-five pauls being equal to a pound sterling. A mass of artichokes, consisting of twenty-six, cost this spring two bajocs. They are small, and being boiled till they are soft, are eaten whole. Love-apples have sometimes been sold as low as twelve pounds for a bajoc. Wheaten bread at the same time bears about two thirds of the price it does in England. Polenta is cheaper, but the temptation is great to fill the belly with a food, which if less wholesome, is more savoury, as well as at a lower price.
LETTER XLIII.
NAPLES.
Rome, 28th September, 1817.
I do not know if you are tired of Rome, but I know that I am not. Rome is the paradise of artists; it is full of their objects and their recollections; but what most contributes to make the residence in Italy in general, and of Rome in particular, so interesting to us, is the universal sympathy which is accorded to the objects of our pursuit. From the prince to the peasant, the most educated to the most ignorant, all seem to find pleasure in the productions of the fine arts; and it is this sympathy which more than any one thing makes life pass agreeably; the want of it is always distressing. Why have heretics been burnt, but because they wanted sympathy with the people? Or at least the people believing that to be the case, has had no sympathy with them. What is it but the supposed want of sympathy which makes the populace so hostile to bakers and corndealers? It imagines them to rejoice in that dearness of provisions which is a cause of suffering to the poor, and it therefore considers them with aversion. But I have got to moralizing, when I should be giving an account of my journey here. The first steps are to get a passport, and a certificate of health; no questions are asked on demanding the latter, and all you have to do is to pay a few bajocs. It seems that there has been some suspicion of a contagious disease at Naples, and the Roman government has consequently required a certificate of health from all persons coming from Naples. By way of reprisal, the Neapolitan government now requires a similar certificate with all those coming from Rome. The vetturino as usual disappointed me as to the time of departure, but on the 26th of August we left Rome. I cannot boast much of the pleasantness of the party, with a wrongheaded driver, a foolish papa and mamma, and a spoilt child. Some of the scenes between the father and child were so disgusting, that I shall not venture to put them on paper. The former told me that he had educated the boy according to the system of an English author named Baloxello, who taught that a child should never be contradicted. Besides these there was a Frenchman, who was very pleasant and good-humoured; but he had loaded the carriage with a quantity of merchandize, and this was the source of considerable trouble and delay at the customhouses. In the cabriolet were two Englishmen, of whom I saw little.