New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-04
MRS. PIOZZFS SKETCHES.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TRAVELS.

piozzi. With Introduction by ,y,t- oe 'oi iamo'
Evelyn MartinengO CcSarc>cO. lllSuaVcu 1-''
PIP. 81. CHARLES ScIibner's sons
II was q happy thought 10 make volume OIL
selections from Mrs. Piozzi'S observations III "
journey through Italy, and perhaps no pe''er
editor for such hook could have pcch rum
than the Countess Ccsar1Sco, whose lhuo""o'io"
is not only perfect in Its way, but iull Vi cuiio"
knowledge of Italian manners anu ways VI
thought. Mrs Tiozzi was woman OF lar nioie
than average intelligence, and, as boswell. SUI
ficienty demonstrates, of far more ,hdh Ordinary
sweetness of temper, or she never "o"iH nav
submitted * she did 20 the snubs administered TO
her by grabbed Dr. Johnson-who, indeed quarIciiru
with her so furiously over her marriage WIN
Piozzi that his latest hiosrdpher thinks lie llusV
really have been N love with the lady. Alter
that marriage. which so bitterly offended her
English connections, who regarded all Italians as
an inferior order Of humanity-and held flozzl
music teaching to be about as hghlhed anu
respectable as though he had earned ls llVlhS ny
barpl-organ and mOnkey-the happy PAIR "e,'
TO Italy, where they were most warmly r'ooi'o''
though, as the lady did not forget 10 lhiorm HUI
English friends when she returned, IL was scarcclS
possible 10 male TIE Italian mobiles understand
how the late Mr.. Ihralc, having been brewer
could have also been a gentleman ms was
neat riposte" for the vulgar and stupid prejudice
with which Piozzi had been asSallcd, and IL had
certainly been earned.
1t might Ike thought that book OF travels mucn
more than hundred years old woud be I'M
interesting; but Mrs. Piozzi was Keen observer
know how 10 write so as TO attract, and it Is
not too much to say that her narrative Is really
much better worth reading than nineteen out of
twenty books of the kind written to-day The
interest of it, however, is not wholly due TO the
talent of the author. No little of it arises from
an important change in the general conditions
which has taken place since she was in Italy. In
the eighteenth century travel was restricted. As
o rule those who went abroad were "someDodlcS'
The rich, the distinguished, or the sons OF such
people travelled. Most of them either had foreign
connections or could obtain introductlons 10 the
most cultivated circles abroad Thus il was
possible for them TO sec a great deal more OF
The true social life of foreigners than it is now
in the course Of time, a. the means oil
transportation expanded, everybody came 10
travel; and the first and inevitable effect
Of the change was to compel the foreigners
best worth knowing to protect themselves by cur
failing their hospitalites They could not re-
cevc everybody, and so many of them came to re-
ccive nobody. Now Mrs Piozzi was admitted al
most everywhere, partly for her husbands sake
md partly for her own. No doubt her winsomc
face and gracious manners commended her TO the
Italians, and if they could not quite understand
Mr. Thrales social position, they could be under
no doubt as to that of his widow. 80 they
took her TO their hearts and treated her Zen
Prince and she repaid their hospitality by
writing a charming account of them, not as was to
be expected free from errors, but perfectly honest
and sincere and intelligent
She was a woman who had entertained much,
and naturally she compared social habitudes.
One of her first favorable estimates was Of Italian
cookery, and she did not hesitate to say that she
had tasted better soups in the homes of the
Italian peasantry than could be had sometimes at
the tables of rich Englshmen. She found a great
deal of democracy in the manners of the Italians
though what she took for democracy was really
the result of feudalism. At the period of her
Journey there was less misgovcrnment in the
Italian States than they suffered from afterward,
but still il made her impatient TO hear so much
about liberty and oppression. She was not much
of a politician, though her intercourse with DR..
johnson might have given her relish for politics
of the hot and strong variety favored by that
fine old Tory and she evidently had not received
an introduction to those French doctrines which
were preparing the way for the coming cataclysm
She thought it would be much better if everybody
would possess their souls in peace, and give due
honor to dgnitares, and remain contcntcdly in the
old grooves The time had not Yet come when
1t was impossible for either men or women of in
telligence 70 rest and be thankful The Piozzls
did not travel all the time. They leased house
in the country for time and Mrs. Pozzi began
her rural life by an experience which might we'll
have discouraged her Before she could enter the
kitchen of her new villa it necessary 10 send
a boy in to clear away the scorpions that were
running about the floor. lie removed seventeen
of the most prominent. but did not pretend TO
empty the room OF them.
She visited, during her stay in Italy, Turin and
Genoa, Milan, Mantua, Verona and Padua, Ven
ice, Ferrara, and Bologna, Florence. Lucca. Leg
horn the Baths of Pisa. Sierra. Rome Naples and
1ago Maggiop. In all these places she remained
long enough To absorb something OF the local color
and spirit, and her comments are singuarly fresh
shrewd and to the point. Her editor feels called
upon TO correct or two misapprehcnsions, as,
for instance, that concerning the functions of the
cavalier servente." Not Mrs. PiOzz alone but
almost every foreign traveller to the Italy Of for
mer days. has fallen into the same error. and
Countess Ccsaresco admits that il favored by
the peculiar extravaganza of the pseudo-chivalry
with which the cavaliers" performed their du-
ties. The gentlcness of the lowerclass Italians in
their public festivities inevitably drew the travel
Iers' attention. for The English lower-classes in tn,
eighteenth century remarkably coarse noisy
and even brutal in their amuscmcnts. and even
to-day they lack much of being refined. as Bank
Holidays and Derby Days testify. Another thing
which she noticed though not with pleasure, wa.
the general aversion OF the Italians. even the
hest educated, 70 any other fuel than wood Coal
fires they had heard Of, bat the idea Of burning
"a mineral" positively shocked and repealed them.
Surey the most dclctcrious gases must he liberated
by the combustion of such species of fuel? So
they would have nom Of it, and continued TO
shiver with their scadno" by their side a pan
OF hot wood ashes under The table.
SO long as the weather was hot. Mrs. fiozzi
was comfortable enough. save for the mosquitoes
and gnats. bdt in winter she. accustomed to the