The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ITALY; WITH S T ITE SOY SPAIN AND
PORTUGAL.
BY THE ['THOR OF 6, VATTIEX."
Two Vols., Bvo. Richard Bentley. London, 1834.
A new work, from Mr. Beckford (whose high
intellectual endowments and taste in art are uni-
versally acknowledged), is very naturally hailed
by the literary world with delight. The author
of " Vathek " will gain new honour by his
present production. He approached the classical
land of Italy in a right spirit. He did not
rush from one end of the Peninsula to the other
with breathless rapidity, like most of his country-
men, but took up his residence at all the places
consecrated by art and antiquity—at Rome, Florence,
Padua, Naples, Venice, &c. In all of these,
he associated with the very Hite of society, and
was therefore able to give pictures of mannersf
in those circles from which the great majority o
strangers would be necessarily excluded. To say
nothing of other attractions, in this respect alone
his " Letters" may be considered unique. He was
much at the Court of Naples, and has accordingly
detailed, in the best style of Horace Walpole, a
series of capital anecdotes of the King and his cour-
tiers. During his stay in Florence he had frequent
opportunities of visiting the Grand Duke and
Duchess of Tuscany ; and in like manner the doors
of the great flew open at his approach, whether in
Italy, or on his way thither throyigh the Low Conn-
' tries and part of Germany, or during his subsequent
residence in Portugal and Spain, where, when he
was not indulging his enthusiasm in excursions to
view the romantic scenery of those countries, or in
examinations of the noble-works of art they contain,
he was the fitOd guest of the most recherché festi-
vals. The rare privileges of this kind which he
possessed impart to his book a certain piquancy and
anecdotical character which, though it may be
equalled in the letters of Horace Walpole, is cer-
tainly not surpassed.
But this characteristic, highly entertaining as it
is, is only one of the many charms of these en-
chanting volumes. Mr. Beckford's account of his
own adventures, and of the moods of his mind, are
highly attractive and curious ; while in wit, and
brilliance of style, he appears to us not to be ex-
ceeded by any writer in our language. He pos-
sesses, too, that graceful and pregnant faculty of
expression, which the Latins termed the curiosa
felicitas. It hOs been our lot to read many nar-
ratives of travels in Italy ; but no one of these
has been able to impart to us any adequate
idea of the grandeur and luxury of that splen-
did land. The vivid descriptions of Mr. Beckford
supply the deficiency. His eloquence and deep feel-
ing, and poetical imagination, enhance the truth of
his sketches, and the truth warrants the enthu-
siasm. Here is an extract, descriptive of the
author's approach to Venice, dated August 2 :

" Our route to Venice lay winding about the variegated
plains I had surveyed from Mosolente ; and after dining at
Treviso we came in two hours and a half to Mestre,
tween grand villas and gardens peopled with statues. Em-
barking our baggage at the last mentioned place, we stepped
into a gondola, whose even motion was very agreeable
After the jolts of a chaise. We were soon out of the canal
of Mestre, terminated by an isle which contains a cell de-
dicated to the Holy Virgin, peeping out of a thicket,
whence spire up two tall cypresses. Its bells tingled as
we passed along and dropped some paolis into a net tied at
the end of a pole stretched out to us for that purpose.
"-Ai soon as we had doubled the cape of this diminutive
island, an expanse of sea opened to our view, the domes
and towers of Venice r►sing from its bosom. Now we
began to distingUish Murano, St. Michele, St. Georgio in
Alga, and several other islands, detached from the grand
cluster, which I hailed as old acquaintances ; innumerable'
pr►nts and drawings having long since made their shapes
familiar. Still gliding forward we every moment distin-
guished some new church or palace in the city, suffused
with the rays of the setting. sun, and reflected with all
their glow of colouring from the surface of the waters.
" The air waicalm ; the sky cloudless ; a faint wind
just breathing upon the deep, lightly bore its surface
against the steps of a chapel in the island of San Secondo,
and waved the veil before its portal, as we rowed by and
coasted the walls of its garden overhung with fig-trees and
surmounted by spreading pines. The convent discovers'
itself through their branches, built in a style somewhat
morisco, and level with the sea, except where the garden
intervenes.

" We were now drawing very near the city., and a con-
fused hum began to interrupt the evening stillness.; gon-
dolas were continually passing and repassing, and the en-
trance of the Canal Reggio, with all its stir and bustle;
lay before us. Our gondoliers turned with much address
through a crowd of boats and barges that blocked up the
way, and rowed smoothly by the side of a broad pave-
ment, covered with people in all dresses and of all nations.
" Leaving the Palazzo Pesaro, a noble structure with
two rows of arcades and a superb rustic, behind, we
were soon landed before the Leon Bianco, which being
situated in one of the broadest parts of the grand canal,
commands a most striking assemblage of buildings. I
have no terms to describe the variety of pillars, of pe-
diments., of mouldings, and cornices, some Grecian, others
Saracenic, that adorn these edifices, of which the pencil
of Canaletti conveys so perfect an idea as to render all
verbal description superfluous. At one end of this grand
scene of perspective appears the Rialto ; the sweep of the
canal conceals the other.

" The rooms of our hotel are spacious and cheerful ;
a lofty hall, or rather gallery, painted with grotesque
in a very good style, perfectly clean, floored with a marbled
stucco, divides the house, and admits a refreshing current
of air. Several windows near the ceiling look into this
vast apartment, which serves in lieu of a court, and is ren-
dered perfectly luminous by a glazed arcade, thrown open
to catch the breezes. ' Through it I passed to a balcony
which impends over the canal, and is twined round with
plants forming a green festoon springing from two large
vases of orange trees placed at each end. Here I esta-
blished myself to enjoy the cool, and observe, as well as the
dusk would permit, the variety of figures shooting by in
their gondolas.

" As night approached, innumerable tapers glimmered
through the awnings before the windows. Every boat
had its lantern, and the gondolas moving rapidly along
were followed by tracks of light, which gleamed and played
upon the waters. I was gazing at these dancing tires
when the sounds of music were wafted along the canals,
and as they grew louder and louder, an illuminated barge,
filled with musicians, issued from the Rialto, and stopping
under one of the palaces, began a serenade, which stilled
every clamour and suspended all conversation in the galle-
ries and porticos ; till, rowing slowly away, it was heard
no more. The gondoliers catching the air, imitated its
cadences, and were answered by others at a distance,
whose voices, echoed by the arch of the bridge, acquired a
plaintive and interesting tone. I retired to rest., full of
the sound ; and long after I was asleep, the melody seemed
to vibrate in my ear."

The following is an account of Venetian man-
ners :

" Many of the noble Venetians have a little suite o
apartments in some out-of-the-way corner, near the grand
piazza, of which their families are totally ignorant. To
these they skulk in the dusk, and revel undisturbed with
the companions of their pleasures. Jealousy itself cannot
discover the alleys, the winding passages, the unsuspected
d,vii,riithhrasps,pobmyyelwuf,ho.reictrh u,
n wlahhteeusserei mistress
retreats are accessible. Many an
aishtraesssseadricsied
aippeaforrs
heron haausnutas in
vain. The gondoliers themselves, though the prime ma-
nagers of intrigue, are often unacquainted with these in-
terior cabinets. When a gallant has a mind to pursue his
adventures with mystery, he.rows to the piazza, orders his
bark to wait, meets his goddess in the crowd, and vanishes
from all beholders. Surely, Venice is the city in the
universe best calculated, for giving scope to the observa-
tions of a devil upon two sticks. What a variety of lurking_
places would one stroke of his crutch uncover!
" Whilst the higher ranks were solacing themselves in
their casinos, the rabble were gathered in knots round
the strollers and mountebanks, singing and scaramouching
in the middle Of the square. I observed a great number of
orientals amongst the crowd, andHreheeardthTeusrkeliasNl,loanniadnAdriaa:
Ara-
bic muttering in every corner.
encttesirgeidhol
e. Had
m i n at ed ; theret. s
some
Church Grecian
been the
eal ost un-
iwondrous
tower, and -its piazza the chief square, ofthecttyof
of
Baby-
lon, there could scarcely have been a greater confusion
language:.
" The novelty of the scene afforded me no small share
of amusement, and I wandered about from group to group,
and from one strange exotic to another, asking and being
asked innumerable ridiculous questions, and settling the
politics of London and Constantinople, almost in the same
breath. , This instant I found myself in a circle of grave
Armenian priests and jewellers ; the next amongst Greeks
and Dalmatians, who accosted me with the smoothest corn-

pliments, and gave proof that their reputation for pliability
and address was not ill-founded.

" I was entering into a grand harum-scarum discourse
with some Russian Counts or Princes-,' or whatever you
please, just landed with dwarfs, and footmen, and gover-
nors, and staring, like me, about them, when Madame de
Rosenberg arrived, to whom I had the happinesi of being
recommended. She presented me to some of the most
distinguished of the Venetian families at their great casino
which looks into the piazza, and consists of five or six rooms,
fitted up in a gay flimsy taste, neither rich nor elegant,
where were a great many lights, and a great many ladies,
negligently . dressed, their hair falling very freely about
them, and innumerable adventures written in their eyes.
The gentlemen were lolling upon the sofas, or lounging
about the apartments.
" The whole assembly seemed upon the verge of gaping,
till coffee was carried round. This magic beverage dif-
fused a temporary animation ; and, for a moment or two,
conversation moved on with a degree of pleasing extra-
vagance ; but the flash was soon dissipated, and nothing
remained save cards and stupidity.
" In the intervals of shut ling arid dealing, some talked over
the affairs of the grand council with less reserve than I ex-
pected ; and two or three of them asked some feeble ques-
tions about the late tumults. in. London. It was one o'clock
before all the company vere assembled, and I left them at
three, still dreaming over their coffee and card-tables,.
Trieze is their favnvrite . game : tine,- tre, quarto,
cinque, fante, cavallo re, are eternally repeated ; the
apartments echoed no other Sound:
" I wonder a lively people can endure such monotony,
for I have been told the Venetians are remarkably spirited ;
and so eager in the pursuit of amusement as hardly to al-
low themselves any sleep. Some, for instance, . after, de-
claiming in the Senate, walking an hour in the square,
and fidgeting about from one casino to another till ,morn-
ing dawns, will get into a gondola, row across the Lagoons,
take the post to Mestre or Fusina, and jumble over craggy
pavements to Treviso, breakfast in haste, and rattle back
again as if the'devil were elorriOteer : by eleven the-party
is restored to Venice, resumes robe and perriwig, and goes
to council. _ _

" This may be very true, and vet I will never cite the
Venetians as examples of vivacity. Their nerves unstrung
by early debaucheries, allow no natural flow of lively spirits,
and at best but a few moments of a false and feverish ac-
tivity. The approaches ,of sleep, forced back by an immo-
derate use of coffee, render them weak and listless, and the
facility of being wafted from place to place in a gondola,
adds not a little to their indolence. In short, I can scarcely
regard their Eastern neighbours in a more lazy light ;
who, thanks to their opium and their harems, pass their
lives in one perpetual doze."

Where every page contains some exquisite pas-
sage, the task of selection is not a little puzzling.
We will, therefore, take an extract at random from
the second volume, the whole of which is occupied
by a narrative of the author's residence in Portugal
and Spain, if, indeed, we may not rather say, in the
courts of those countries. It is a description of.a
visit to the Marialva Palace
" As soon as I returned from my walk, Horne took me
to dine with him, and afterwards to the Marialva Palace to
pay the Grand Prior a visit.. The court-yard, filled with
shabby two-wheeled chaises, put me in mind of the en-
trance of a French-post-house ; a recollection not weakened
by the sight of several ample heaps of manure, between
which we made the best of our way up the great staircase,
and had near tumbled over a swingeing sow and her nu-
merous progeny, which escaped from under our legs with
bitter squeakings.
" This hubbub announced our arrival, so out came the
Grand Prior, his nephew, the old Abide, and a troop of
domestici. All great Portuguese farnilies are infested
with herds of. these, in general, ill-favoured dependants ;
and none more than the Marialvas, who dole out every day
three hundred portions, at least, of rice -and other eatables
to as many.greedy devourers.
" The Grand Prior had shed his pontifical garments and
did the honours of the house, and conducted us with much
agility all over the apartments, and through the iiianege;
where the old Marquis, his brother, though at a very ad-
vanced age, displays feats of the most consummate horse-
manship. He seems to have a decided taste for clocks,
compasses, and time-keepers. I counted no less than ten
in his bed chamber; four or five in full swing, making a
loud hissing : they were chiming and striking away (for it
was exactly six) when I followed my conductor up and
down half-a-dozen staircases into a saloon hung with rusty
damask. _

" A table in the centre of this antiquated apartment
was covered with rarities brought forth for our inspection ;
curious shell-work, ivory crucifixes, models of ships,
housings embroidered with feathers, and the Lord knows
what Vesicles, stinking of camphor enough to knock one
down.
" Whilst we were staring with all our eyes and holding
our handkerchiefs to our noses, the Count of V , Vice-
roy of Algarve,- made his appearance, in grand pea-green'
and pink and silver gala, straddling and makinr, wry faces
as if some disagreeable accident had befallen him. lle
was, howeVer, in a most gramous mood, and received our
eukigiums upon his relation, the new bishop, with
Much complacency. - Our conversation was limpingly
carried on in a great variety of broken langttages. Spa-
nish, 'ltalian, Portuguese, French, and English. had each
their turn in rapid succession The subject of all this po-
lyglottery was the glories and piety of John the Fifth,
regret for the extinction of the Jesuits, and the reverse for
the death of Pombal, whose memory he holds in some-
thing not distantly removed from execration. This flow
of eloquence was accompanied by the strangest, most buf-
foonical grimaces and slobberings I ever beheld, for the
Viceroy having a perennial moistness of mouthrdrivels at
every syllable.
"'One must not, however, decide too hastily upon out.;
ward appearances. This slobbering, canting personage, is
a distinguished statesman and good officer, pre-eminent
amongst the few who have seen service and given proofs of
prowess and capacity.
" To escape the long-winded narrations which were
pouring warm into my ear, I took refuge near a harpsi-
chord, where Policarpio, one of the first tenors in the
Queen's chapel, was singing and accompanying himself.
The curtains of the door of an adjoining dark apartment
being half drawn, gave me a transient glimpse of Donna
Henriquetta de L , Don Pedro's sister, advancing
'one moment and retiring the next, eager to approach and
examine us exotic beings, but not venturing to enter the
saloon during her mother's absence. She appeared to me
a most interesting girl, with eyes full of bewitching lan-
guor;—but of what do I talk? I only saw her pale and
evanescent, as one fancies one sees objects in a dream. A
group of lovely children (her sisters, I believe) sat at her
feet upon the ground, resembling genii partially concealed
by folds of drapery in some grand allegorical picture by
linbens or Paul Veronese. .

" Night approaching, lights glimmered on the turrets,
terraces, and every part of the strange huddle of buildings
of which this morisco-looking palace is composed; half the
family were engaged in reciting the litanies of saints, the
other in freaks and frolics, perhaps of no very edifying na-
ture : the monotonous staccato of the guitar, accompanied
by the kw soothing murmur of female voices singing mo-
dinhas, formed altogether a strange though not unpleasant
combination of sounds.

" I was listening to them with avidity, when a glare of
flambeaus, and the noise of a splashing and dashing of
water, called us out upon the verandas, in time to witness
a procession scarcely equalled since the days of Noah. I
doubt whether his ark contained a more heterogeneous
collection of animals than issued from a scalera with fifty
oars, which had just landed the old Marquis of M. and his
son Don Jose, attended by a swarm of musicians, . poets,.
bull-fighters, grooms, monks, dwarfs, and children of both
sexes, fantastically dressed.
" The whole party, it seems, were returned from a pit-
grimage to some saint's nest or other on the opposite shore
of the Tagus. First jumped out a hump-backed dwarf,
blowing a little squeaking. trumpet three or four incises
long ; then a pair of led captains, apparently commanded
by a strange, old, swaggering fellow in a showy uniform,
who, I was told, had acted the part of a sort of brigadier-
general in some sort of an island. Had it been Barataria,
Sancho would soon have sent him about his business, for,.
if we believe the scandalous chronicle of Lisbon, a mote
impudent buffoon, parasite, and pilferer seldom
" Close at his heels stalked a savage-looking monk, as
tall as Sampson, and two Capuchin friars, heavily laden,
but with what sort of provision I am ignorant ; next came
a very slim and sallow-faced apothecary, in deep sables,
completely answering in gait and costume the figure one
fancies to one's self of Senhor Apuntador, in Gil Bias,
followed by a half-crazed improvisatore, spouting verses at
us as he passed under the balustrades against which we
were leaning.
." He was hardly out of hearing before a confused rabble
of watermen and servants with bird-cages, lanterns, bas-
kets .of fruit, and chaplets of flowers, came gamboling
along to the great delight of a bevy of children ; who, to
look more like the inhabitants of leaven than even nature
designed, had light fluttering wings attached to their rose-
coloured shoulders. Some of these little theatrical Angels
were extremely beautiful, and had their hair most coquet-
tishly arranged in ringlets.
" The old Marquis is doatingly fond of them ' • night and
day they remain with him, imparting all the advantages
that can possibly be derived from fresh and innocent
breath to a declining constitution. The patriarch of the
Marialvas has followed this regimen many years, and also
some others which are scarcely credible. flaying a more
than Roman facility of swallowing an immense profusion of
dainties, and making room continually for a fresh supply,
he dines alone every day between two silver canteens of
extraordinary magnitude. Nobody in England would be-
Fere me if I detailed the enormous repast I saw spread out
for him; but let your imagination loose upon all that was
ever conceived in the way of gormandizing, and it will not
in this case exceed the reality.
" As soon as the contents, animal and vegetable, of the
principal scalera, and three or four other barges in its
train, had been deposited in their respective holes, corners,
and roosting-places, I received an invitation from the old
Marquis to partake of a collation in his apartment. Not
less, I am certain, than fifty
,servants were in waiting, and

exclusive cf half a dozen wax torches, which were borne in
state before above a hundred tapers of different sizes
were lighted up in the range of rooms, intermingled with
silver braziers and cassolet tes diffusing a very pleasant per,
fume.

" I found the master of all this magnificence most cour-
teous; affable, and engaging. There is an urbanity and
good-humour in his looks, gestures, and tone of voice, that
prepossesses instantaneously in his favour, and justifies the
universal popularity he enjoys, and the affectionate name
of father, by which the Queen and royal family often ad-
dress him. All the favours of the crown have been heaped
upon him by the present and preceding sovereigns, a tide
of prosperity uninterrupted even during the grand vizariat
of Pombal. Act as you judge wisest with the rest of
my nobility,' used to say the King Don Joseph to this re-
doubted minister ; ' but beware how you interfere with
the Marqtfs of Marialva.'
" In consequence of this decided predilection 'the 'Mari-
alva Palace became in many cases a sort of rallying_point,
an asylum for the oppressed; and its master, in more than
one instance, a shield against the thunderbolts of a too
powerful minister. The recollections of these times seem
still to be keptalive ; for the heartfelt respect, the filial ado-
ration, I saw paid the old Marquis, was indeed most remark-
able; his slightest glances were obeyed, and the person
on whom they fell seemed gratified and animated ; his sons,
the Marquis of Tancos and Don Jose de Meneses,never ap-
proached to offer him anything without bending the knee ;
a-id the Conde de Villaverde, the heir of the great house of
Anjeja, as well as the Viceroy of Algarve, stood in the
circle which was formed around him, receiving a. kind or
gracious word with the same thankful earnestness as cour-
tiers who hang upon the smiles and favour of their sove-
reign: I shall long remember the grateful sensations with
which this scene of reciprocal kindness filled me. It ap-
peared an interchange of amiable sentiments ; beneficence
diffused'without guile or affectation, and protection received
without sullen or abject servility.
" How preferable is patriarchal government of this na-
ture to the cold theories pedantic sophists'would establish,
and which, should success attend their selfish atheistical
ravings, bid fair to undermine the best and surest props of
society. When parents cease to be honoured by their
children, and the feelings of grateful subordination in those
of helpless age or condition are unknown, kings will soon
cease to reign, and republics to be governed by the coun-
cils of experience ; anarchy, rapine, and massacre will
walk the earth, and the abode of dcemons be transferred
from hell to our unfortunate planet."
We regret that our room will not permit us to
indulge our readers with a taste of the author's
Spanish sketches, such as the account of his recep-
tion at Court, his visit to the Escurial, his anecdotes
of the Duchess of Berwick and of the. TurkiSh
Am-
bassador,
.his interview with Don Gabriel and the
Infanta, his description of the valley of Aranjuez,
and other charming passages. For these, however
we must refer our friends •to the book itself, a'
work of which our literature has reason to be proud.