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PRESS OF
Rockwell and Churchill
BOSTON
CONTENTS. | |
| CHAPTER | |
| I.-- | [Sestri-Ponente]. |
| II.-- | [Judaism and Poland]. |
| III.-- | [Education of Jacob]. |
| IV.-- | [Aqua Sola]. |
| V.-- | [A Simple History of Love]. |
| VI.-- | [From Genoa to Pisa]. |
| VII.-- | [Voyage on Foot]. |
| VIII.-- | [The Sabbath]. |
| IX.-- | [The Eve of an Insurrection]. |
| X.-- | [The Pursuit of a Husband]. |
| XI.-- | [A Political Meeting]. |
| XII.-- | [A Siren]. |
| XIII.-- | [Akiba]. |
| XIV.-- | [Alea Jacta Est]. |
| XV.-- | [A Perilous Interview]. |
| XVI.-- | [The Jews in Council]. |
| XVII.-- | [Reunion of the Nobles]. |
| XVIII.-- | [The Country Wills It]. |
| XIX.-- | [A Father's Grief]. |
| XX.-- | [Muse Cultivates the Russians]. |
| XXI.-- | [Lia]. |
| XXII.-- | [The Old Mother]. |
| XXIII.-- | [Russian Politics]. |
| XXIV.-- | [The Seducer]. |
| XXV.-- | [Between Two Fires]. |
| XXVI.-- | [The Reconciliation]. |
| XXVII.-- | [Jacob in Flight]. |
| XXVIII.-- | [Love of Country]. |
| XXIX.-- | [The Gordian Knot]. |
| XXX.-- | [The Insurgents]. |
| [Epilogue.] | |
CHAPTER I.
[SESTRI-PONENTE.]
On a warm afternoon in the autumn of 1860 the best, or rather the only, inn of Sestri-Ponente was full of people. Firpo, the host of the Albergo e Trattoria della Grotta, was little accustomed to such a crowd, except on Sundays and fête-days. As this was only a simple Thursday, his sunburnt cheeks reflected a smile of satisfaction.
Sestri-Ponente is situated an hour's distance from Genoa, on the sea-shore "in vincinanza del mare" and on the grand route from Savona to Nice. Sestri, beside dock-yards for the construction of small merchant-vessels, which is its chief source of wealth, possesses also a fine beach where it is possible to bathe in safety. It has this one superiority over Genoa "la superba" which lacks sea-bathing. Genoa has all else; even her trees seem dwarfed near her stately edifices; she has a magnificent harbour, and if one is determined to bathe in the sea he can hire a boat to take him some distance from the quay, where the water is not full of all sorts of débris. Once in clear water a rope is tied around his waist, and he can seat himself on the steps fixed to the back of the boat. If he slip, the honest boatman draws him out of the sea, by the rope, at the end of which he looks like a new species of fish suspended on a hook. Those who dislike this method are at liberty to bathe in the saltwater of the port or in the marble bath-houses of the Piazza Sarzana; but to bathe where the beach is more or less rocky one must abandon Genoa for the fashionable Livourne, the charming Spezia, or the modest Sestri. The wealthier classes congregate at the former resorts. Sestri is patronized more by quiet people who wish to economize, who prefer a peaceful life to the distractions of the gay world, and the fresh sea-breeze to the feverish gayety and gossip of a crowded watering-place. The scenery is somewhat sombre, but not altogether deprived of the picturesque; in grave and classic lines, like that of Poussin, are delineated vineyards, groves, gardens, and luxurious villas, to-day used chiefly as country-seats for the Italians. Here and there the spires of little churches and of convents rise to heaven and complete the panorama. The steep banks extend on one side as far as Genoa, on the other to Savona, and are then lost in the immensity of the sea, a mighty space of blue and green.
From a distance the Albergo della Grotta makes a good appearance. This pretty little palace was formerly the villa of a rich noble, and was never intended to be an inn. Its approaches are lined with laurels, pomegranates, and orange-trees, and it is reached by a steep path with steps cut in the solid rock. Everywhere traces appear of the fastidious taste of some former owner, and in the midst of all this beauty, without regard for the neighbouring nobility, is a prosaic inn. This shows that the conditions of life are changing everywhere. It is not only in Italy that one meets edifices which do not respond to the exactions and the needs of actual society. How many palaces are changed into breweries, how many villas transformed into inns, how many beautiful private gardens have become plantations! The opulent parvenus, only, have preserved some remains of the noble dwellings of the extinct or ruined nobility. The great lords have built for the bankers. The shell still remains, but the mollusk has departed.
The principal ornament of our villa was that which its name indicates, a grotto constructed with great skill, recalling the time when the Roman Cæsars established oyster-parks on their roofs and forced nature into every extravagance. This grotto formed a vast salon occupying an entire wing of the house, and, thanks to the bizarre ornamentation of stalactites, had every appearance of a natural cavern. The walls were of gypsum of all colours. A labyrinth lighted from above led to a fish-pond and a fountain, from which the water flowed slowly, its musical plashing being a genuine refreshment on a hot summer's day.