I rejoined my fellow-travellers at Florence, where I remained ten days. This is a most delightful city, containing a variety of interesting objects. The Palazzo Pitti—the then Archducal residence—contains some of the most valuable paintings and sculptures to be found anywhere—the latter including the Venus de Medicis and Apollo Belvedere. Costly works in Mosaics and Cameos are produced at Florence, where artists in such works are very skilful. The Duomo, or Cathedral, is a fine building, and the fountains are ornamental.
Passing through Arezzo, Trasimene (the scene of a great battle), Perugia, Spoleto, Terni, you enter Rome—the Eternal City. The travellers here remained a fortnight working hard to examine the objects of highest interest. The first attraction was the Cathedral of St. Peter, which took 150 years to build, at a cost of forty-five millions of crowns; and here you are lost in wonder at the magnitude of its proportions, 569 feet long and 487 feet high. On the right hand, as you enter, you see a baptismal font, supported by two angels of a miniature size to appearance, compared with other objects around; but when you approach them they are colossal. In the nave there are twelve elevated recesses, in each of which stands a statue of one of the Apostles. A ladder stood against one of them, to enable a workman to do some repairs. As he stood in the recess his head reached to the knee of the statue. The size of each object is so admirably adjusted that nothing seems disproportioned. There are twelve side-chapels—six on each side of the nave; and over each altar is placed a copy, in Mosaic, of some celebrated painting. They measured fifteen feet by twelve feet high. The first examined by our travellers was a copy of the transfiguration, by Raphael. One of them, who had long promised himself a feast in viewing that picture, was in raptures, and it was some time before he discovered that it was a Mosaic copy—the original being in the Vatican. The High Altar, an elevation, I think, of 104 feet, is grand. In the Piazza in front, 1,000 feet long, stands an ancient obelisk brought from Egypt, being a single piece of granite, eighty-three feet high, and two handsome fountains; the piazza being enclosed on two sides by stately semi-circular colonnades of four columns abreast, sixty feet high, and 372 in number.
The next object of attraction was the Colosseum. The place which once echoed the shouts of 100,000 persons was now silent. It should be viewed by moonlight. It is a very ancient and wonderful structure. The Vatican is an extensive pile of buildings, situated close to St. Peter’s Church. When our travellers reached the principal entrance, the hall was crowded, and they saw Pope Pius VII. descending the staircase, leaning on Cardinal Gonsalvi. The crowd all knelt except the three strangers, who stood uncovered, to whom the Pope made a distinct bow.
The treasures of art contained in the Vatican are so numerous as to baffle description. The studios of Canova and Thorvaldsen were visited, as also those of the most skilful artists in Mosaics and Cameos. Many of the antiquities deserve close inspection—the Columns of Antonine and Trajan; the Triumphal Arches of Septimus Severus, Titus, and Constantine; the Capitol and Tarpeian Rock; the Temples of Concord, Jupiter Stater, Anthony and Faustina, and of Peace, the prison in which St. Peter was confined.
From Rome to Naples you pass through Frascati, Velletri, Frosinone, Pontecorvo, and Capua, once the winter quarters of Hannibal and his army. Shortly after leaving Rome you cross the Pontine Marshes, extending south about thirty or forty miles, which infect the air to such a degree in summer as to resemble a plague. Although apparently fertile, it is almost depopulated, and with few habitations. The malaria arises from stagnant swamps, and their few inhabitants are wretched objects, emaciated and pot-bellied, generally dying prematurely from dropsy. Few efforts in modern times had been made to drain them, the resources of the Pontifical Government being absorbed in unnecessary churches and processions.
A large body of banditti, generally prisoners, escaped from the galleys, and then, supposed to number about 400, infested the neighbouring mountains; and several gibbets were seen at intervals on the road, at places where murders had been committed by them. A few days previously they entered the town of Tivoli and carried off two of the principal inhabitants, for whose ransom they demanded 3,000 crowns, and the Government seemed quite unable to suppress those disorders.
The situation of Naples, with its magnificent Bay, is much to be admired. The Royal “Museum Borbonico” contains objects of the highest interest—a vast number of articles of ancient glass, mostly Egyptian, Sicilian Vases, &c.; and the collections from Herculaneum and Pompeii, consisting of ancient instruments, utensils, female ornaments, and household articles found in those cities, and recently removed here from the museum at Portici, are quite unique. The Grottos of Posillipo and del Cane are close to Naples. In the latter, a noxious gas is so powerful that nothing living can exist within it. Dogs held by cords entering into it four or five feet become insensible, and are dragged out. The tomb of Virgil is near this place. The ancient manuscripts brought from Herculaneum are like pieces of charcoal about a foot long. I saw a person trying to unroll one of them. He used an apparatus like a miniature windlass, with a number of fine threads hanging from the barrel, under which the manuscript was placed. When the end of the roll was found, those threads were attached to it by means of scraps like goldbeaters’ leaf, and then most carefully wound up until more scraps were required. Many gaps were left, and in most cases the task was hopeless. I was informed that the matter hitherto deciphered from those papyri was not of much interest.
An early visit was made to Herculaneum and Pompeii, on Mount Vesuvius. After being buried in lava or ashes for 1,600 years their discovery was remarkable. A nobleman residing near Portici, a spot of high elevation, thought that if he could penetrate the various beds of lava by sinking a shaft he might find water. After sinking about seventy feet, the workmen came upon a flight of marble steps, which, being followed, led into a theatre in Herculaneum. There had been a statue near this place, which had been thrown down, and in the lava which had flown over it was found a fine cast of the statue. The theatre was excavated, and some other buildings, but the city having been destroyed by lava, it was too costly to make very extensive excavations, and everything perishable was destroyed by the burning lava.
Pompeii had been buried in ashes, and was situated on a plain, at the foot of Vesuvius. A vineyard had been planted over its site. On ploughing the land nearly a century back, the workmen were obstructed by a stone wall; and on excavations being made, houses were discovered which proved to be part of the ancient city of Pompeii. When visited by me a large portion had been cleared. Its overthrow had evidently taken the inhabitants by surprise, for many skeletons were found in the houses. One of them had been laid prostrate on his face, with a bunch of keys in one hand and some coins in the other. Many signs and names over shops remained, and in the streets paved with lava the ruts of cart wheels were visible. Fresco paintings on the walls still remained; and also the inscriptions on tombs in the burial-ground. There were some temples, but of no great magnitude, and the houses generally had but one story.
The next visit was made to Vesuvius, and I having taken leave with regret of my fellow-travellers and school-fellows, whose journey terminated at Naples, proceeded to the Mount, accompanied by three foreign gentlemen—a Russian, a Pole, and a Dane. At this time (1819) the eruption of the volcano was very active, and an English naval officer had his arm broken on the previous day by a falling stone, owing to an unexpected change of wind; it being necessary during eruptions to approach the crater on the windward side. The party slept for a few hours at a hermitage half way up the ascent, in order to obtain a view of the rising sun over the Bay of Naples, which is certainly a most glorious sight. From this place the ascent is very rough—over sharp-pointed, heated lava; a stream of which, about six feet wide and four miles long, was then flowing, falling over a cliff and filling a valley beyond. Seen in the dark it was a bright red colour, but by daylight it was of a dull dark colour. A piece of it was scraped out, and the impression of a coin was made on it. The crater was nearly half a mile in diameter, and threw up large stones and ashes to a great height, accompanied by a fearfully roaring noise. The travellers were enabled to look down towards the bottom of the crater, but from the confusion of flames, gases, and smoke, no correct idea could be formed of its depth. The stream of lava was flowing from a hole at the side of the cone. The stones thrown up generally fell nearly perpendicularly, but the ashes are blown to leeward, generally towards the east, where the descent is extremely steep, and attended with some little danger. The ascent of the mount occupies several hours, but the descent on this side is effected with great rapidity. The travellers agreed to attempt it. You step with one foot on deep fine ashes, which slide down with you twenty or thirty feet; you then put down the other foot, sliding down in like manner, and so on alternately until you reach the bottom. The danger consists in over-balancing yourself, when you must roll down to the bottom—some 5,000 or 8,000 feet, I think—but by holding your head and shoulders well back you avoid this.