blishments, may mark the proportion which what is called commercial greatness on the Continent bears to that of England. The fabric of glass, too, was so much encouraged by the rulers of Venice, that the noble who married the daughter of a glass-manufacturer, was able to confer nobility on his wife and children,-which he could not do in the case of any other plebeian match. The Venetians admit, that the demand for their industry, and their traffic generally, fell greatly, when the French took possession of their territory; but they unanimously add, that the Austrians have done them infinitely more harm. In fact, these latter do nothing favourable to them whatever, and add very heavily to their burthens-now surely, this is reversing the relationship that ought to exist between rulers and ruled. If there is no intentional cruelty in the system of administration adopted towards Venice, there is at least much negligence, or rather indifference to suffering; and the spectacle which this celebrated city now offers, is an awful proof, that the "deliverance of Europe," has been but a partial deliverance; that the work which we thought consummated so happily, and which we regarded with so much exultation, has been but imperfectly and unsatisfactorily accomplished-and finally, that to place a people, against their consent, under a foreign yoke, is to inflict upon them an enduring species of torture, a living death, an injury, which must either terminate in extinction or terrible revenge.-England is blamed at Venice, as elsewhere, for having betrayed the hopes which she had encouraged this charge, perhaps, cannot be as easily substantiated as it is vehemently preferred :-it is, perhaps, to be traced, in a great measure, to the high idea that was entertained of her might and influence, leading the Italians to consider that the arrangement of their country, and almost every other arrangement, was in her sole hands. Much inordinate expectation was, doubtless, thus turned towards her; and she is probably now condemned for what she could not well have hindered: but her high language, and unqualified promises towards the conclusion of the conflict, are naturally now turned against her by the parties who were cajoled with the hope of gain, and who find themselves deep losers; and surely, it is much to be regretted, that we do not find it more palpably on record, that England's exertions, at the conclave of sovereigns, were more completely in unison, not only with her own pledged word, but with that spirit of free and noble policy, the only one becoming a country, whose proud prerogative it is, or was, as one of the greatest of her sons has declared,-to teach the nations how to live!* From Venice to Ferrara, by land, is a tortuous course: I preferred the mail-boat, which passes from the Adriatic into a canal, and from thence drops into the Po. The advantage of such common modes of conveyance is, that they vary usefully, and amusingly, the sphere of your communications with the natives; and often afford you opportunities of becoming acquainted with their real character, habits, and opinions, which, letters of introduction to the higher classes are by no means the best calculated to procure. These latter may gain you a hospitable reception, as a stranger; but, to know the people amongst whom you travel, it is necessary to see them when they are under no obligation of restraining themselves towards you, when their show of civility is not likely to surpass the measure of the actual feeling, and the freedom of casual intercourse warrants a frank disclosure of their genuine notions, in regard to the various topics in which you chiefly take interest. The passengers by the boat I have mentioned, are placed under the protection and command of the postoffice courier, who provides their table, and regulates all the internal arrangements. We formed a strange motley company, that were drawn off, on a dark rainy evening in February, from the quay, under the orders of Francisco Manzani, a humourist, rogue, and good fellow. He had been (he said) thirty-five years in his present situation; and the familiarity of Italian manners, coupled - Milton. with this long experience in his vocation, had given him a sort of licentious brazen carriage towards his passengers, which was checked, so as to fall short of offensiveness, by a sharp regard to the buon' mano` in prospect, but dependent on the degree of satisfaction entertained by each traveller at the termination of the voyage. This man knew, excellently, how to balance the consequence and airs of the padrone, by a ready attention and huffing deference to the wants and wishes of the individuals under his charge: he was both master and servant: gave orders, and received them, with equal grace: seemed to feel himself despotic, and acted as if his authority multiplied his duties. In his manner was richly exemplified, that compensating tendency, implanted by Providence in the human breast, to extract food, for the nourishment of self-consequence, from those circumstances, whatever they are, which are peculiar to the individual. It is owing to this natural instinct, that every body seems to imagine that the name of his trade, calling, profession, place of abode, birth, or family, constitutes, of itself, a title of honour, to be appealed to on eminent occasions as a stimulant to himself to act up to his obligations, and a claim on the favorable notice of others. This he does, while the term on which he sets so much store is used, as one of scorn, and sometimes of infamy, by those who have no interest in it. "It would be unworthy of a cobbler to act so;" or "what better could be expected of a cobbler;"-are two different turns of expression, one of which a man chooses according as he may, or may not, have Crispin for a patron. What a different estimation is made of the value and meaning of the word Frenchman, in France and in England!-and when Lord Amherst was at Pekin, how much less reason had he to "glory in the name of Briton," than George the Third had, when he was addressing, for the first time, a British parliament ! Francisco Manzani displayed, in every gesture and action, down to the minutest movement, a visible indication of an ever-present sense of his office. He opened his store chest, and appealed, by a significant look, to the surrounding company, for their suffrages, though of its contents we were long left in ignorance. His imperfect expedients to remedy gross inconvenience, were accompanied with a wink of his eye, as if they were privileges of place, honorable in themselves, and casting glory on all within their sphere. When he sat in the immoveable arm chair at the head of the table, he bore himself high, like the king of a twelfth cake ;-he joined loudly in the chorus of all the songs that were sung, French and German, as well as Italian. Many were his jokes,-but all of the same quality, and his consistency, in this respect, seemed to raise him in the opinion of the ladies of our party (all Italians). As the hour of eating approached, it was ushered by smirking hints of munificence and disinterestedness. We were told, that we should see what we should see! We were put in good humour by anticipation of dainties,-and were thus bound over, as it were, to be pleased when substantial, though common dishes were put before us. Nothing could be more admirable than the skill with which he reconciled absolute parsimony in facts, with the declamation and manner of a profuse hospitality. He amply supplied all deficiency in the dishes, by the noise and gesticulation of the founder of a feast: he seemed to have cast all idea of profit on comestibles overboard, to be prone to riot at his own expense, to surfeit us to his loss, when in truth scrupulous calculation had presided at the very slicing of the sausages. "Eat for once in your lives," he cried,-" never mind Francisco!"-yet long before his guests were inclined to leave off, they were compelled to turn to their own stores. Two ill-looking, dirtily-dressed men, received a large share of his pressing attentions at meal-time: they stubbornly, however, refused to aliment with us, and Francisco, who knew well the reason, knew that his importunities were not likely to injure him. They were Jews, who durst not share our bread,-nor our viands, which were chiefly fitted for Bolognese tastes; the padrone being from Bologna, a city where the fa The gratuity given over and above the fare. mous Mr. Hogsflesh would have had no temptation to shrink into an initial. The secret soon transpired publicly; and then the Israelites, appearing to be relieved from a load, took out their separate provision, which chiefly consisted of sausage, made of goose, as coming nearest to the prohibited flesh! All this part of the country is famous for the manufacture of these delicacies; and the poor Jews, every where beset by their stimulating flavour, cannot help making bad imitations of the savoury sins. Not the least talkative, nor the least agreeable member of our society, which had eight-and-forty hours' existence, was a corpulent and itinerant prima donna, whose hus band held a poor place in the police at Bologna, while she travelled Italy over, making much money at its theatres, attended by a hump-backed maid servant, whose Bolognese jar gon drew almost constant peals of laughter from the other Italians. The years of the mistress only numbered twenty-seven; but she had flesh for forty, and experience enough for any age. The two ought to have fallen into the hands of the author of Guzman d' Alfarache, that their portraits might have been,-as they merit to be,-immortalized. I never saw such examples of full animal spirits, overpowering health, enjoy ment of the air of life,-which they respired, with a zest, as if it tickled their nerves, and circulated cordially round their hearts. Nothing did, or could, come amiss to them)-for they meant no evil, and saw none. Were these women to fall into the hands of a gang of robbers, and be carried off to a cave, in the woods, it may safely be affirmed of them, that neither the loss of their numerous rings, nor any other loss, or infliction, incidental to such an accident, would disquiet them: they would know, like Jaques, how to extract good from every thing. It is not to be supposed, however, that this imperturbable serenity, which I am here attempting to celebrate, was akin to indifference or insensibility. No: if there was one thing more remarkable than another, in the singer, it was the warmth and volubility of her domestic affections. She talked, vehement ly, of the approaching meeting with her poor husband, as she called him, while tears of joy and eagerness stood in her eyes, and her face was suf fused with the genuine glow of her spirit. No secret was made, either by her, or her servant, of the latitude, as to fidelity, which she deemed warranted to travellers like herself; but she always had been, and always would be, she said, scrupulously punctual to visit her povero, at least once a year! She was now bearing to him the spoils of her last campaigns; and the stock was exhibited to us with much exultation: there was a gold watch, and a set of buttons for a waistcoat; a small shred of gauze from Loretto, with a certificate, signed by a priest, that it had been passed over the image of the Virgin, in the Santa Casa; there was also an antient earthen lamp, dug up in a field near Rome; and a piece of native sulphur, brought from the Solfaterra near Naples. The servant expatiated loudly on the merits, peculiarities, and history of each of these valuable articles; and, as she raised her voice, in her zeal, the wonders of her story, and the uncouthness of her dialect, seemed alike forcibly to strike my Italian companions; they gazed on the relics with admiration and curiosity, while they were unable to restrain the bursts of merriment which her jargon tempted. The scene, as we all bent over the table, where this treasure was exhibited by candle-light, -with the animated attendant descanting, and the happy mistress triumphing,-and the numerous company applauding to the skies, and generally, with sincerity, was one of extraordinary vivacity, and novelty. We were just then falling from the last lock into the Po-a name which suggested associations very dissimilar from any by which I was then surrounded; yet by this dissimilarity, encreasing their effect. We had also on board one who had been an army purveyor at Milan, under the government of the French Viceroy. He had then made his fortune, and kept it under the Austrians-being, in this respect, luckier than many of his countrymen. An Italian officer, who had served under Napoleon, had too much reason to contrast his fate with the fortunes of the purveyor. With this latter individual, I had more conversation than with any of the others, during our short voyage. He had fought in all the battles in Germany, in 1813, -Bautzen, Lutzen, Dresden, and lastly, Leipsic. His pay then was five hundred francs a month-about twenty pounds. Since the termination of that campaign, up to about the time of my meeting him, he had been left destitute of regular means of subsistence,—and, as he himself expressed it, had no choice but to starve, or to prey on society. It was to be presumed, that he had adopted the latter alternative, for he did not seem to have suffered starvation, and he had abilities which, at Paris and Turin, where he had resided, could easily be made to supply the daily wants of an adventurer. To a woman, whom he had known at Vienna, and who had become the mistress of a cardinal, the governor of one of the Pope's towns, in Romania, he was now indebted for a very recent appointment to a subaltern commission in one of the regiments of the church, stationed at Bologna; and he was on his way to join. His pay was to be one hundred and fifty-six francs a month, about six guineas, without hope of promotion. Any allusion to the past order of things, brought into his keen black eye the lustre of a fallen angel's; his aspect then kindled, as with a volcanic flash. He might have said to me, with as good a reason for his antipathy as Shylock's, "I hate you because you are a Briton;" but he neither said so, nor seemed to feel so. It was clear, however, that he deemed the policy of England a mass of perfidy and injustice,--and a pause, a look, and a shrug, often spoke "in silence louder than divines can preach." He had all the notions, so common at this time upon the Continent, that Bonaparte was not at St. Helena; that his capture was mere pretence; and that he was sure to re-appear on the stage. But, notwithstanding his inveterate prejudices on such subjects, which he cherished with an obstinacy proportioned to the ignorance in which they were nursed, I found him impressed with a high notion of the English character, as he had seen it exem plified in particular individuals. His admiration, however, had but little of cordial feeling attending it; for he seemed to think, we were a peculiar race, insulated in our dispositions, and interests, as well as our situation,-between whom, and the people of the Continent of Europe, there could be no hearty sympathy, or community of feeling. This man's talents, as I have already hinted, were far above the common order ; and in carrying them to the army, under Napoleon, he had taken them to an excellent and ready market. In six months from his entrance into the ranks, he was promoted from a private soldier to sublieutenant,—and his other steps followed, regularly, each opportunity he had to distinguish himself. It was in this way that our arch enemy won hearts, and employed hands. He built on the feeling of self-interest, as on a foundation, and certain it is, that power may have a much more exceptionable basis. Justice and morality, are excellent pleas in words; but their shapes are vague and disputeable in actions. It is not easy to convince the Venetians, or the Genoese, that these fine heavenly qualities are embodied in the political measures, of which they are the victims; and, in the absence of this conviction, it can searcely excite our surprise, if they take their own interests, as furnishing a test of the merits of the respective governments, and give the preference to the one by which these were chiefly promoted. Morality and justice, must take the precedence of every other consideration, when they can be distinctly recognized; but "pretenders are abroad "—false prophets, who come in a name which they have no right to use, and which is rather their condemnation, than their title. With these impositions, commonly practised, the mass of a nation may be excused for distrusting the professions of state-papers, and manifestoes, and looking closely to their winnings and losings.-The plunder of the military, and the gains of men, who derived their profits from the calamities attending military devastation, ought to be put altogether out of the question; but, in Italy, we find everybody complaining of the change, because every body has lost by it; and the universality of the present suffering gives a high notion of the dexterity with which the political system of Buonaparte, unprincipled as it was, had been contrived, for the purpose of giving a general movement and impetus to the circulation of interests in the states to which it was applied. The sound foundations of public strength he does not appear in any instance to have sunk; but, he substituted for these, with consummate skill, an organization of mutual support, linked dependance, and superficial establishment. Doing nothing to invigorate the heart, he quickened the pulse, and filled the veins. Bearing in view his great crimes and errors; such as his studied corruption of character, in order to bring it to the state best fitted for his instruments; his debasement of literature and education, to be the mere engines of his crooked and greedy politics; his hostility to liberty, of which he has been one of the bitterest, and most fatal enemies, these very faults constitute, in one sense, grounds to admire his ability. Standing so opposed, in so many important points, to the spirit of his age, it surely is wonderful, that he should have exercised such an influence on its affairs. Had he taken advantage of that spirit,followed its direction, and profited by its strength, his success would not have been extraordinary; but Napoleon had little or no aid from it, for no man ever less merited its assistance. In one or two respects only, could he be considered as acting in unison with the spirit of his time;-religious toleration, and the abolition of the galling feodal distinctions, furnish, perhaps, the only instances of this harmony, while, in many, he was directly opposed to its hopes and tendency. His complicated system, therefore, included no principle of natural gravity, by which it might have supported itself; he was the Atlas, who sustained the whole on his shoulders, and we must acknowledge the strength that upheld it so long. It is owing to this circumstance, however, that Buonaparte has left so few impressions of himself on the face of society; he seems to have passed clean away. The French Revolution has at once got above him; we can every where mark what it has done and fixed; but no institution, emanating peculiarly from the character and views of Napoleon, seems likely to continue to exercise an influence on society. Louis XIV impressed his character on his kingdom, and the impression remained; but even the Buonapartists, in France and elsewhere, are compelled to use a language, altogether at variance with the measures of their ruined chief, in order to have a chance of being attended to. It appears to me, that this tells against the genius of the individual in question, while, in another way, it bears-as I have shown-testimony to his activity, industry, and ability. Genius always connects itself, by some point of communication or other, with the great mass of contemporaneous feeling;-but this sympathy does not seem to have existed, or existed but very faintly, in the breast of the late Emperor of France. to This, however, we must allow: he built a great house on the sand,which, though it did not remain, and could not remain, employed many hands, and gave shelter, for a time, to many inhabitants. Though much mischief was wrought up with the prosperity he seemed to diffuse, the harm was perhaps less, and the benefit greater, in Italy than elsewhere. Here, we may see something like evidence of the truth of that assertion in his favour, commonly made by his friends, but which appears palpably false, with reference France-namely, that his power was laying the seeds of a better order of things, than that which he had himself established, or any that could be expected from those who wished to displace him. The present constitutional government in France, is a blessing, which the influence of the institutions of Napoleon, must have deprived her of, for a series of many years, had they been permitted to settle in that country;-but his power in Italy was clearly tending to produce her union, though unintentionally on his part. It was not his wish that it should do this; but, on the contrary, it entered within his policy to keep Italy divided,for he could not hope to have her, in one entire body, under his own |