New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-02-16
Letter From Florence,
Gorrsspunnsntt at tbs Grsststt.

palaces its terraces, its balconies of white mar
bic planted With orange trees and the ramparts
that crown its vast amphitheatre is truly SUI
perb, and well merits the name Of the ssrea1e
noba citta,'' go POLITICALLY sung by Tasso, and
said, by Madame de Stael to have been built
for Congress Of Kings. Genoa is most impress
+ slye in its general exterior, and is best seen
from the sea. The figure which it forms ap-
proaches nearly to that Of crescent It's
| backed by. a mountain which is fringed here and
| there with low oak woods and olives the whole
looking down upon the loyeisst bay of the Med.
iterranean. Imagine to yourself city with
something of a theatrical form, at the base Of a
mountain, the sloping sides of which are gay
with suburban palaces and gardens full of col
onades OF trellis work, covered with the red ole
ander. Add an atmosphere and a SUN such as
you see represented in the vivid paintings of the
Venetian school, and you have Genoa such as
l saw it in the month Of October last. The CITY
ls very up and down and many of the streets
| rise at an angle of at least thirty degrees; add
| to this their extreme narrowness, and you NAV
easily imagine that they are not very accessible
| to carriages Indeed, have often caught my
| self wondering whether portly gentleman, say
of the size of the late Dixon Fl. Lewis, could
make his way through them at all. But trains
| of mules, with now and then a great law rascal
mounted on them, (the rider oftentim.s larger
than the ridden, and possessing par .fois, not
| half the intellect and common sense) pass
through these little ricoia easily enough, and
with their jingling bells and gay trappings add
beauty and liveGness to the scene. In the old
er parts of the town the houses have nearly all
an appearance Of antique solidity, while in the
newer streets they are distinguished for their
magnitude, and especially in the strada Nueva
/ new street,) for their unparalleled splendor
Indeed, Genoa may justly be proud of her pal
aces; and if you walk along the three continuous
/ streets Of Balbi Nuovissima and Nueya looking
into the courts and stair-cases on other hand
| as you proceed, you might, in fact, readily i'm
agine yourself in city of kings Theusual
disposition Of these palaces exhibits in the first
place, large hall supported partly on columns,
leading to court surrounded by arcades, the
| arches Of which likewise rest upon columns
sometimes on one side of the street, these courts
are on a level with the external pavement;
while on the other the rapid rise of the ground
is compensated by fight of marble steps Be
yond this court is the great staircase rising on
each hand, that is, there are two flights of stairs
one to the right, the other to the left, which.
without meeting each other, pursue their wind
| ing way to the top Of the structure As YOU
are about to ascend either of them, you fre-
quently see Immediately in front of you a small
garden shaded with orange trees and parterres
OF gaily varisgated flowers. The palaces are
invariably open to the public. moy eyl,taat of
course, a gratuity to the Snowman, who takes
you through them and does the description
Let me here say few words upon this subject
OF gratultles. 1t is, without any sort of cayil
one of the most abominable bores of travelling
The system prevails all over the continent Of
Europe (and even in England, where they
ought to know BETTER with more or less of yex-
atlousness about it, according to the diversities
of national character, 1t is worse in Italy than
| anywhere else, but the traveller gets foretaste
! OF what is coming, in Paris Walters in cafSs
walters in hotels, even cab drivers must receive
something by way of potv boire. With regard
to these latter functionaries. after you have
paid your cabman his legal tariff and he polite.
~ requests you for something to drink your
health in, you must not imagine that the few
extra sous you give him, have any such philan-
throplc destination. Nor are the cabmen worse
in this respect than the other patent evils OF
society whom have just mentioned. No, if all
the pour d0iye given in Paris wore CONVEX
ted to its ayowed object, one-half of the
whole population would be drunk at least four
times day, and the other half would run great
risk Of getting their necks broken This pour
6otre should properly by called the pour man
ger, for it is about all that the recipients of it,
poor devils, have to depend upon for their own
support and that of their families But the
great nuisance of the whole thing is that there
is SO much uncertainty about it. You are al
ways fearing that yeu have given too little or
worrying yourself with the idea that you have
given too much. In Paris you generally give two
sous to the waiter who brings you q cup of cof-
fee for which you pay six. This is rather a
heavy per ceutage on the prime cost of the ar
ticle, but it is still mere bagatelle to what
awaits you in the hotels. The London Times
has lately been engaged in most righteous
crusade Il think the only one it ever undertook)
against the extortions of the English and con-
tinental Bonifaces, and the consequence is that
there has been great hue and cry in the camp
of the said Bonitaces, and a Hotel Guide is
about being published (monthly) in London,
which will contain not only the names of all the
hotels in the United Kingdom, but also the
names of their proprietors, and what is more, q
tariff of their charges. Would that the con-
tinental press would engage in the same holy
warfare, and by 50 doing merit the eternal graf
itude of all those whom fate condemns to taste
the amenities of life in g furrn parts" The
pay of the Italian walters is generally about
four or five dollars per month speak now Of
tho cafes, but then every one who enters these
establishments is expected, in addition to the
amount of his bill, to contribute q sou or two
I" for. service" and this money, which is called
technically marno or marble, is dropped into an
earthen vessel and distributed when the safe is
full among the garcoas. But I am wandering
from my subject.
l believe that in no country in the world is
female beauty so general az in the United States,
and will venture to affirm that more pretty
faces may be seen of an afternoon on Broadway
or ST. Charles street, than in twenty four con
secutive hours on the bouleyards of Paris or on
the stade of any Of the Italian towns which ]
have yet visited. 1t is well known fact that
while in England the nobility unites in itseli
all the highest types Of physical beauty il
Italy, on the contrary, and indeed on the con.
tinent generally, it is the peasantry who bean
off the palm of manly yigor and womanly grac
from the degenerate scions Of the aristocracy
With regard to the women this is very NATURALLY
accounted for, for much of the labor performe,
in America by men is accomplished in Europ
by female hands, and the consequence is tba
among the lower orders the female form is uni
versally fine. The Genoese women are in gen
sral elegant in their figure and walk with tn.
most coquettish grace, to which the odd beauty
OF their dress contributes not little This
consists Of long robe of calico or muslin, gen
orally the latter, which goes over their heads
like veil and falls over their shoulders ard
arms something like that of capuehin monk
They suffer it to descend over the forehead as
low as the eye brow and twist it under the chin
. they generally have one hand almost up to the
chin holding the veil, with their fingers beauti-
fully disposed amongst the folds, while the Other
arm is passed across the breast. Their Ions
trains produce the most beautiful flowing lines
imaginable, so that with the elegant folds of tn,
veil or cloak they are, -Yhen they move, tn,
finest figure that can be conceived, When tn
: veil is off no horrid bonnet shades their lovely
tresses, and the fittest emblem of Cupid's arrow
IL