After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819

by William Edward Frye

Vergognando talor, che ancor si taccia,
Donna, per me l'almo tuo nome in fronte
Di queste omai glà troppe a te ben conte
Tragedie, ond'io di folle avrommi taccia;

Or vo' qual d'esse meno a te dispiaccia
Di te fregiar; benchè di tutte il fonte
Tu sola fosti, e'l viver mio non conte
Se non dal Di, ch'al viver tuo si allaccia.

Della figlia di Ciniro infelice
L'orrendo a un tempo ed innocente amore
Sempre da' tuoi begli occhi il planto elice;

Prova emmi questo, ch'al mio dubbio core
Tacitamente imperiosa dice,
Ch'io di Mirra consacri a te il dolore.

In this sanctuary (church of the Santa Croce) are likewise the tombs and monuments of other great men which Italy has produced. There is the monument erected to Galileo which represents the earth turning round the sun with the emphatic words: Eppur si muove. Here too repose the ashes of Machiavelli and Michel Angelo. This church is in fact the Westminster Abbey of Florence.

To go from the Piazza del gran Duca to the Piazza del Duomo, where stands the Cathedral, you have only to pass thro' a long narrow street or rather alley (for it is impervious to carriages) with shops on each side and always filled with people going to or returning from the Duomo. This Cathedral is of immense size. The architecture is singular from its being a mixture of the Gothic and Greek. It appears the most ponderous load that ever was laid on the shoulders of poor mother earth. There is nothing light in its structure to relieve the massiveness of the building, and in this respect it forms a striking contrast to the Cathedral of Milan which appears the work of Sylphs. The outside of this Duomo of Florence is decorated and incrusted with black and white marble, which increases the massiveness of its appearance. The steeple or Campanile stands by itself, altogether separate from the Cathedral, and this is the case with most of the Churches in Italy that are not of pure Gothic architecture. This Campanile is curiously inlaid and incrusted on its outside with red, white and black marble. The Baptistery is another building on the same Piazza. It is in the same stile of building as the Duomo, but incloses much less space, and was formerly a separate church, called the church of St John the Baptist. The immense bronze doors or rather gates, both of the Duomo and Battisterio, attracted my peculiar notice. On them are figured bas-reliefs of exquisite and admirable workmanship, representing Scripture histories. It was the symmetry and perfection of these gates that induced Michel Angelo to call them in a fit of enthusiasm The Gates of Paradise. At the door of the Battisterio are the columns in red granite, which once adorned the gates of the city at Pisa, and were carried off by the Florentines in one of their wars. Chains are fastened round these columns, as a memorial of the conquest. The cupolas both of the Duomo and Battisterio are octangular. There is a stone seat on the Piazza del Duomo where they pretend that Dante used occasionally to sit; hence it is called to this day Il Sasso di Dante.

You will now no doubt expect me to give some account of the theatres. At the Pergola, which is a large and splendid theatre, I have seen two operas; the one, L'Italiana in Algieri, which I saw before at Milan last year; the other, the Barbieri di Seviglia by Rossini, which afforded to my ears the most delightful musical feast they ever enjoyed. The cavatina Una voce poco fa gave me inconceivable delight. The Ballo was of a very splendid description and from a subject taken from the Oriental history entitled Macbet Sultan of Delhi. How the Mogul Sultan came to have the name of Macbet I know not. On the plafond of the Pergola is an allegorical painting representing the restored Kings of Europe replaced on their thrones by Valor and Justice. The decorations at this theatre are not quite so splendid as those of the Scala at Milan, but living horses and military evolutions seem to be annexed to every historical Ballo. Horses indeed appear to be an indispensable ingredient in the Balli in the large cities of Italy.

In the Teatro Cocomera, comedies are performed, and very generally those of the inexhaustible Goldoni. I saw the Bugiardo very fairly performed at this theatre. The story is nearly the same as that of our piece, The Liar, which is I believe imitated from Le Menteur of Corneille. The actor who did the Liar was a very good one. The actresses screamed too much and were rather coarse. Another night at the theatre I saw a piece call'd II furioso, a comédie larmoyante which was interesting and well given; but the voice of the prompter was occasionally too loud. Tragedies are very seldom played; the language of Alfieri could never, I will not say be given with effect, but even conceived by the modern actors. It would be like a tragedy of Sophocles performed by boys at school. There is another reason too why these tragedies are not given; they abound too much in republican and patriotic sentiments to be grateful to the ears of the Princes who reign in Italy, all of whom being of foreign extraction and unshackled by constitutions, come under the denomination of those beings called by Greeks [Greek: Turannoi], I use this word in its Greek sense. Of the Tuscan Government it is but justice to say that from the days of Leopold to the present day it was and is a mild, just and paternal government, more so perhaps than any in Europe; and the only one that can any way reconcile one altogether to those lines of Pope:

For forms of Government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administer'd is best.[83]

In the time of Leopold the factious nobility were kept in check, and the industrious classes, mercantile and agricultural, encouraged. The peasantry were, and are, the most affluent in Europe; and this is no small incitement to the industry that prevails. On the elevation of Leopold to the throne of the Caesars, the present Grand Duke succeeded in Tuscany; and he followed the same system that Leopold did, and was equally beloved by his subjects. Tuscany was the only country in Italy that did not desire a change at the period of the French conquest, and the only state wherein the French were not hailed as deliverers. The Tuscans exhibited a very honorable spirit on the occasion of Buonaparte's visit to the Grand Duke in 1797. They went together to the Theatre della Pergola, and on their entering into the Grand Ducal box, the Grand Duke was hailed with cries of Viva il Nostro Sovrano: now this proof of attachment at a period when Buonaparte was all-mighty in Italy, when the Grand Duke was but an inferior personage, at a time too when it was doubtful whether or not he would be dethroned, and in the very presence of the mighty conqueror, reflects great honor and credit on the Tuscan character. Buonaparte was much struck at this proof of disinterested attachment on the part of the Florentines towards their Sovereign, and told the Grand Duke very ingenuously that he had received orders to revolutionize the country, from the French Directory; but that as he perceived the people were so happy, and the Prince so beloved, he could not and would not attempt to make any change.