THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For OCTOBER, 1783. ART. I. Travels in the Tavo Sicilies, by Henry Swinburne, Efq; in the Years 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780. Vol. I. 4to. 11. 19. Boards. Elmfley. 1,83. N O fpecies of compofition is better adapted to amuse the indolent curiofity of modern times than the traveller's journal; from which, without the fatigue of mental exertion, the Reader may collect, unless he traverse a barren field indeed, ideas that are new, and information which may be ufeful. To the innocent gratification we allude to, Mr. Swinburne has already been an ample contributor. His travels through Spain *, befide exhibiting many scenes which had been before either imperfectly defcribed, or totally unnoticed, are replete with learned and curious information. In his prefent tour he has endea voured, as far as was practicable in a country fo well known and fo frequently defcribed as Italy, to keep out of the beaten track, and to direct his courfe through fuch places as, though they had feldom been frequented, were not uninterefting to an inquifitive mind. Indeed, even where he has been under the irkfome neceffity of treading in the footsteps of preceding authors,' either by directing his obfervation to objects that had been unnoticed before, or by contemplating in a different view fuch as had already been noticed, he has feldom failed of pointing out fomething worthy of his Reader's attention. But it is not merely on these confiderations that his narrative may be supposed to vary from thofe of his predeceffors: there are other caufes of diverfity, for, as he judicioufly obferves, • When allowances are made for difference of feafons, diversity of ftudies, occafional information, and many other accidental helps, we fhall find an ample field ftill remain for our curiofity to range in, to fay nothing of the revolutions, moral, phyfical, and political, effecSee Review, Vol. LXI. p. 138, July 1779. U VOL. LXIX. tuated tuated by the hand of Time, which, however flowly and impercep tibly it may perform its operations, acts with irrefiftible force upon the flate both of nature and of man. In the fouthern parts of Italy, where the elements ferment with more than ordinary violence, where changes in government have fucceeded each other with uncommon rapidity, the variations are more precipitate, the effects more ftriking.' Mr. Swinburne's Tour commences with his voyage from Marseilles to Naples; in the courfe of which he vifits Elba, an ifland known to the Roman's by the name of Iloa, and to the Greeks by that of Aithalia, renowned for its mines, from a period beyond the reach of hiftory. He next vifits the island Pianofa and the Ponza Ifles. Naples and its environs occupy thirty pages. It had been obferved on a former occafion, that Mr. Swinburne's talents feemed beft adapted to the defcription of ftill life. That his Readers, however, may fee that the obfervation (which he speaks of in his Preface with a degree of foreness which the occafion furely does not juftify) was fomewhat precipitate, he has, in his prefent publication, more than once tried his fkill at delineating characters and manners. His fuccefs may be judged of by the following sketch of what paffed before him at Naples: In Christmas time, all quarters of Naples refound with Paftorali or Siciliane, a kind of fimple rural mufic, executed by Abruzzese or Calabrian fhepherds, upon a fpecies of bag-pipes, called in Abruzzo Zampogna, and Ciaramelli in Calabria. The tunes vary according to the provinces: in the fouth, they have three different airs; the northern fhepherds know only two, to which they add what variations the boldness of their own genius infpires. The boys learn of their fathers to play upon this inftrument as the means of fubfiftence *. At other feasons, it is rare to hear any agreeable founds in the streets of Naples, though it is the nurfery of mufical profeffors; a fchool, where the greatest masters have imbibed their principles, and acquired that knowledge of compofition, which has enchanted the ears of all Europe. There is no fuch thing as a national mufic, unless we give that name to a monotonous drawling feguidilla, that ferves the nurfes + as a lullaby to put their children to reft, and feems borrowed from the Spaniards, who, I believe, learnt it of the Moors. I never refided in any Italian town where there was a lefs mufical turn in the populace: few fongs, guittars, vielles, or organs, enliven the even *The waits ftill kept in the pay of fome corporations in England, are counterparts of these shepherds. To fecond its narcotic influence, they adminifter to them copious dofes of Venice treacle, of which fuch quantities are used, as render it a material article of importation. The Neapolitans have tears at command, and are very eafily moved to fhed them. Neither blows nor careffes can ftop their children when once they begin to ary: they mult roar till they are tired. ings, as in the northern states of Italy, unless they be fent for to entertain the parties that in fummer fup on the fhore of Pofilipo *. They do not even dance to mufic, but perform the Tarantella to the beating of a kind of tambourine, which was in ufe among their ancestors, as appears by the pictures of Herculaneum. The Tarantella is a low dance, confifting of turns on the heel, much footing and fnapping of the fingers +. It feems the delight of their foul, and a conftant holiday diverfion of the young women, who are, in ral, far from handfome, although they have fine eyes and ftriking features. Their hands and feet are clumfy, their fhapes neglected, their necks flabby, and their skins difcoloured by living fo much in the fun without bonnets. Amongst them we may find almost every mode of hair-dreffing feen on the Greek and Roman coins 1. gene The women are always fighting and fcolding, but never refift their husband's authority, when he comes to feparate the combatants, and carry home his dishevelled fpoufe, who seems to stand as much in awe of her confort, as the Russian wives do of theirs, and fuffers herSelf to be beaten by him with as little murmuring. I was shewn a woman here, who, during the life of her first husband, was a pattern of modesty and evennefs of temper to the whole parish; but upon contracting a fecond marriage, furprifed and fcandalized the neighbourhood with her perpetual riots and obftreperoufnefs. On being reprimanded for her behaviour by the curate, fhe very frankly acknowledged that her former husband understood the management of a wife, and ufed to check her intemperate burfts of paffion by timely correction; but that her prefent helpmate was too mild, to apply the proper chastisement which every wife requires more or lefs. Men feldom interfere in feminine brawls; and if they do, generally content themselves with abufing, threatening, or fhaking a cudgel or pitchfork at their antagonist, till the crowd comes in to part them. Sometimes a man is ftabbed, but this is a rare event among the fishermen, the clafs of inhabitants I have had molt conftantly under my eye. Manners vary with the diftricts; in fome they engage with bludgeons, and those are the true lazaroni of Maffaniello; in others the attack is made with knives and other deadly weapons; but the Neapolitans are by no means fo bloody and revengeful a people as they are repre fented by many travellers. It requires more than a flight provocation to lead them to extremities. During the prodigious hurry and * I have been told, that before the famine and calamícies of 1764, the populace of Naples was more cheerful and mufically inclined than at present. + Perfons of all ranks here dance very low, but mark the time as perfectly with their feps, as other nations do by fpringing from the ground. The coiffure of the younger Faulina, with the coil of plaited hair upon the crown of the head, occurs frequently in the old town: that with the coil lower down, which may more properly be styled Lucilla's head-drefs, is common among the younger part of the fex in the suburbs of Chiaia, and Plotina's among the women more advanced in years. I do not recollect to have feen any with the roll of treffes fo high up as it appears on the head of Faulina the elder. U 2 confufion confufion of the races in carnival, not the least tumult or quarrel was heard of; and even in the cruel famine of 1764, the only act of violence committed by a hungry populace, increased to double its number by the concourfe of peafants from the provinces, where all crops had failed, was to break open and pillage a fingle baker's fhop. Can as much be faid for the temper of the mobs at London and Edinburgh? Drunkennefs is not a common vice at Naples, and therefore quarrels, its ufual confequences, are rare; befides, the Neapolitan rabble allow each other a great latitude of abufe and fcclding before they are wound up to a fighting pitch. It is alfo uncommon to fee any thing in public like gallantry among the people; no foldiers are met leading their doxies, or girls going about in queft of lovers; all which are, in other countries, fources of riot and bloodfhed.' The fishermen of Santa Lucia are the handfomeft men in Naples; they have the true old Grecian features, and fuch well-proportioned limbs, that they might ferve for models in any academy of defign: they are the most fubftantial and beft lodged portion of the Neapolitan populace. It is true, as moft writers affert, that the houferoom' of this metropolis is very inadequate to the population, which, according to authentic accounts, amounted, at the clofe of the year' 1776, to three hundred and fifty thousand fixty-one fouls; and that numbers of thefe are deflitute of houfe and property. But it is not equally a fact, as they affert, that winter and fummer thefe houseless' inhabitants pafs their lives in the open air, and fleep in all weathers in the streets. In fummer it is very pleafant fo to do, but in winter not even a dog could bear the inclemency of the weather, not fo much on account of cold, as of wet. When the rainy feafon fets in, it commonly lafts feveral fucceffive weeks, falling, not in fuch showers as we are acquainted with in England, where we have rain more or lefs every month in the year, but by pailfuls, an abfolute water-fpout, that carries all before it, and almost drowns the unfortunate paffenger who is caught out of doors by the form. The quantity of rain at Naples is much more confiderable than that which falls on the fame pace of ground in England. Whole months of drought are compenfated by the deluge of a day: and befides, the south winds are frequently fo boilerous in winter, as to burft open the bolts of both doors and windows. At that rainy time of the year, few are fo wretched and helpless as to lie in the ftreet, but most of the vagrants refort to the caves under Capodi Monte, where they fleep in crowds like theep in a pinfold. As they are thus provided with a dwelling, for which no rent is exacted, they alfo procure food without the trouble of cooking or keeping houfe: the markets and principal flreets are lined with fellers of macaroni, fried and boiled fish, puddings, cakes, and vegetables of all forts; where, for a very fmall fum, which he may earn by a little labour, running of errands, or picking of pockets, the lazaro finds a ready meal at all hours: the flaggon, hanging out at every corner invites him to quench his thirst with wine; or if he prefers water, as most of them do, there are ftalls in all the thoroughfares, where lemonade and iced water are fold. The paffion for iced water is fo great and fo general at Naples, that none but mere beggars will drink it in its natural ftate; and, I believe, a fcarcity of bread would not be more feverely felt than að failure 8 failure of fnow. It is brought in boats every morning from the mountains behind Caftlelamare, and is farmed out at a great rent; the Jefuits, who poffeffed a large capital, as well as the true fpirit of enterprize, had purchased the exclufive privilege of supplying the city with it.' From Naples our traveller proceeds to Taranto, which he reaches in about three weeks, vifiting, in the courfe of his circumambulatory route, among other objects of curiofity, the memorable plains of Cannæ. To the claffical reader an accurate description, by an eye-witness, of scenes fo celebrated in ancient ftory, cannot but be interefting. April 22d, we fet out early to examine the fields of Cannæ, famous for the victory obtained over the Romans by Hannibal in the 536th year of Rome. The refult of our obfervations fhall be given in as few words as the defire of being intelligible will admit of. From Cerignola to the bridge of Canofa are reckoned fix miles of open country, arable and patture. The Ofanto (antiently the Aufidus) flows under this bridge; its courfe is ferpentine, and varies in its direction, fometimes running due Eaft, at others rather to the South, but in general inclining to the North-east. There was but little water in it, and that whitith and muddy; but from the widenefs of its bed, the fand banks, and the buttreffes erected to break the force of the ftream, it is plain that it ftill anfwers Horace's epithets of fierce, roaring, and violent *. It flows from two fources that embrace the conical Mount Voltore, and join at the foot, being the only river t, as Polybius obferves, that rifing on the western fide of the Apennines, empties itself into the Adriatic. This double origin is expreffed by the appellation Tauriformis t, having two branches or horns at the head §. Except a few fcattered poplars, I faw no wood near its banks; the Roman road from Benevento, through Ascoli, appears here raised above the level of the fields, and paffes South in a line to Canofa. We breakfasted at an inn near the bridge, and regretted our not having followed Horace's example, in bringing a supply of bread from fome other place ||, for what we got here was as brown as mahogany, * Aufidus acer-longè fonantem-violens obftrepit. HOR. This expreflion of Polybius is not eafy to be understood; for there are certainly many high mountains farther Weft than the head of the Ofanto; it is probable, he meant that it rofe Weft of the middle ridge the Sele (Silarus) rifes very near it, and difcharges itself into the Tirrhene fea. Sic Tauriformis volvitur Aufidus. HOR. S. Perhaps Horace intended no more by this title, than an allufion to the bulls, genii with horns, minotaurs, or animals with human face and horns, by which it was ufual to reprefent rivers on coins; for, in reality, the Ofanto may be faid to flow from fifty fprings as well as two, if we take in all the brooks that fall into it. Panis longè pulcherimus, ultra Callidus ut foleat humeris portare viator, U 3 and |