Just behind the cathedral is the famous Leaning Tower. It is a cylinder, surrounded on the ground with a wall, and half columns and arches; above by six stories of columns supporting arches, leaving an open gallery in each story, between the columns and the wall. Three of these stories follow the same line of inclination as that on the ground; the fourth is a very little rectified; the fifth and sixth are themselves in one line, but form a very sensible angle with the work below. Above this is another story of smaller extent, which is very nearly erect. It would have small pretensions to beauty were it altogether upright; but at present it is quite as displeasing as it is wonderful.
Several other churches in Pisa might deserve attention from their architecture, and the numerous columns and other remains which embellish them; but there is nothing which strikes me as new in their disposition and effect. The little Church of Santa Maria della Spina, close to the river, is of somewhat later date. It was begun in 1230, but most of what is now seen must be attributed to about 1300: it is a very rich little morsel of Gothic architecture; and if rather heavy, when compared with our best works, is nevertheless an elegant little building. Pisa altogether is a magnificent city, especially in the celebrated Via lung’ Arno, yet there is little that I could particularize in its domestic architecture. There are some curious old façades, and a richly ornamented Gothic front of brickwork in the Lung’ Arno, part of which, now occupied by the Caffè dell’ Ussaro, is worth notice.
On Tuesday, I went with the younger Dr. Savi, son to the professor of botany in the university, to the baths of Pisa. The rock in the neighbourhood seems a dark gray limestone. The water as it rises has a temperature of from 95° to 104° in the different springs; it is clear and tasteless; several other springs rise in the neighbourhood, just sensibly warm to the hand. The mountain behind, called the Fageta, which we ascended in order to botanize, is pretty high, but without any bold rocks; the soil consists of mica-slate, and clay-slate, with great masses of a quartz breccia, perhaps belonging to the old red sandstone. The lower slopes are covered with olives, higher up are chesnut-trees and pines: the latter are all small, being cut periodically for small timber, or for fuel. We failed in finding some orchidiæ which I had been taught to expect, but in other respects were pretty successful in our search. The water of a clear and copious spring in these hills is conducted to Pisa. The next morning from five to ten was spent in an excursion to the wood of Pisa; a flat tract, covered with trees and bushes, which extends a great way along the coast, between the cultivated land and the sea. It offers little variety or beauty, nor was the botany much better than the scenery, but considerable tracts were almost covered with the Serapias cordigera. We passed through the farm of the grand duke, and saw some of his camels at work on the road.
LETTER LX.
SCHOOLS.
1826.
Before leaving Italy, I must give you a little account of what I have seen here with respect to education. In Florence and Naples there are district schools, where all poor children inhabiting within certain limits, receive instruction gratis. From what I hear of them, I imagine they are not very well conducted in either place, but though I have made two or three attempts, I have not seen any of them in action, excepting one of those at Naples, which is conducted on the system of mutual instruction. In other cases the children had not arrived when I called, or they were just gone, or they were gone, or going to mass, or it was holy-day. At Rome I could hear of no gratuitous instruction in the commencement of reading and writing, but after these first steps have been attained, there is considerable facility there, and I believe all over Italy, for a poor lad to improve himself further, especially in learning Latin.
There are three Lancasterian schools at Florence. Two of them are supported by a society; the other is at the expense of the Conte Bardi. Of the two under the management of the society, the principal is that at Santa Chiara. The master (Signor abate Bracciolini) is zealous and intelligent, but he is afraid of teaching too much, or rather some of the committee are afraid lest too much should be taught; on the plea, that by exciting in too high a degree, the ambition of the children, or of their parents, it may be an occasion of rendering the former unhappy. The parents are frequently very desirous of having a son in one of the learned professions; and the youth thus pushed forward, without the funds which would enable him to wait patiently for the slow returns obtained from these employments, and without that respect for his own character, and for that of the class to which he belongs, which he might have acquired by being brought up in a more respectable station in society; is tempted to a line of conduct, which tends to lower both himself and his profession in the public estimation. The argument is specious, but I suspect it is a mere bugbear, since there are schools in Florence of a higher sort, where any such parent may send his child gratis. The salary of the master is only one hundred and fifty scudi per annum. I regret that he has not seen other schools, as he is not sufficiently aware of what boys are capable. The writing is perhaps the best conducted part. The monitors have half an hour’s instruction after the close of the morning school; it consists on Monday in a sort of lecture on grammar, and as the Signor abate tells me, in morals; he writes on a black board false sentiments and false grammar, and requires the pupils to correct them; but on the morning in which I attended this exercise, he only gave false spelling; and on other occasions, the additional instruction had rather the character of a lecture, than a lesson; giving the children nothing to do but to hear; a defect which prevails in degree throughout the establishment. He professes to require that the scholars should answer from reflection, and not from memory. Yet he would be much discontented if the result of that reflection were any thing but the echo of his own lesson, and even if it differed much in words. No change of place is admitted at any time; the exertions were rather languid, and a good deal of scolding was required. The master never having seen a good school, is too easily contented, and too ready to prompt the answers; yet he is on the whole a good master, and desirous, from disposition as well as from principle, of the improvement of his pupils. On Tuesday he teaches them linear drawing, i. e. forming by hand geometrical figures, but with no attempt at exactness; and only one boy is to be employed at a time, while the others look on, lest they should get on too fast. The numbers on the registers at Santa Chiara, are about one hundred and fifty. The average number in attendance is about one hundred and twenty. They try offences by jury, apportioning certain punishments to certain misdemeanors; and the master assures me that he has often admired their caution and sound judgment, and has been surprised to see so much philosophy among a set of ragged little boys. He amused me one day by the expression he employed to one of the children, who was disputing some matter with the monitor, assuring him that the monitor was a “persona sacro-santa,” and that his dicta were to be implicitly obeyed. As a reward for the best boys, a society of merit is instituted; they have the name, and a medal, which they take away with them. The second school is in the Strada Sangallo, and it partakes of the same merits, and the same defects. The masters in both are too closely tied down under the superintendence of the committee, or of the inspector appointed by it, and cannot have the pleasure in the school, they otherwise might have. Requiring a strict adherence to the letter of instructions is not the way to produce excellence; nor ought we ever to forget, what is true in a great many things besides religion, that “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” There were two very good general monitors in the school at Sangallo; and the master acknowledged it. One of them was about to be sent to the Scuole pie, “E così,” said I to this lad, “tu hai imparato tutto ciò che si può imparare in questa scuola.” “Sì signore,” was the reply. It is a curious fancy that you render a poor boy insensible of the elevation which he has attained, by fixing his attention downwards, and never suffering him to look upwards, and see how much there is above him. The Conte Bardi has made some alterations in the mode of instruction, and has printed two or three little school books which are probably useful; yet I always consider, that with us, one great advantage of employing the Bible is, that it keeps out children’s books. The school seemed to me hardly equal to the one at Santa Chiara, except in point of obedience to general orders, and there it certainly has the advantage. The master told me he was there to maintain order, and did not consider the instruction as his province. This is a great mistake. If the master is not looked up to for his superior knowledge, either he or the desire of improvement must suffer. It is also a mistake, though springing from a generous motive on the part of the count, that the boys most advanced, are sent to other places for further improvement; both the example, and their services in instructing others, are thus lost to the school. All these schools have fallen off considerably in their numbers since their first establishment: I am not satisfied why.
The preceding observations were principally made at the latter end of the summer of 1825. After an absence of nearly a year, I revisited the schools, and the master at Santa Chiara assured me that no jury had been held, and no corporal punishment inflicted in the interval. I am always rather suspicious of these disclaimers of all corporal punishment; but I will confess that I never saw a school where there was less appearance of anything of the sort being employed. There are similar institutions at Siena, at Poggi Bonzi, at Leghorn, and at Pistoja. That at Siena had obtained some reputation for teaching arithmetic, but this seemed to be owing to the superintendence of the Cavaliere Spanocchi, rather than to the ability of the master. The Cavaliere complained that his exertions in favour of the school had excited jealousy. I could not but feel how impossible it would be, that a Wilberforce or an Allen should arise under a despotic government. It is not that the grand duke or his leading ministers, would oppose their schemes; on the contrary, they would probably encourage and promote them, after they had become of sufficient importance to attract their notice; but when any philanthropic individual first began to obtain by his exertions for the public benefit, the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, the jealousy of the inferior authorities would mark him as an object for all sorts of misrepresentation, and petty persecution.
I did not find the arithmetic very good anywhere; at Santa Chiara, there was no boy who could with facility go through a sum of simple multiplication by seven. At Siena, it is hardly possible that the progress should be considerable, since the pupils only attend the school one hour in the day. At Pistoja the master boasted much of his contrivances for teaching numeration perfectly. I arrived rather late, and a large proportion of the boys had departed before he gave me a class, in order that I might try their proficiency in this respect. I began—9909. Not one could write it. Only two wrote 900 correctly, and these did not know where to place it, under the first number, to form a sum in addition. They use at that school a curious method in teaching Italian grammar. The pupils of the lowest class are to read, distinguishing the first four parts of speech, and neglecting the rest; the next class distinguishes two more, and the third three more. I do not perceive the advantage of it.
Before the counter-revolution of 1821, there were several district schools of mutual instruction at Naples. At that time they were all shut up for ten months, and one alone has been re-opened on that system in the city; but there is also one at the Albergo de’ poveri. At the district school, the children were but about forty, and the master seemed much disheartened, being thwarted in all his efforts for its improvement. The pupils may not read even an authorised history of the Old Testament, and are forbidden to go beyond the four first, simple rules of arithmetic, so that to add up a sum of money would be a trangression. Under such circumstances we cannot wonder that the school should be languid and inefficient. Where the limits of instruction are very much narrowed, the little within those limits is always badly taught. The hours are from eight to half-past ten in the morning, and when I was in Naples, there was no afternoon school.