Part 9
I found him better informed than usual on the subject of our history; though, of course, many of his notions had the usual European vagueness. He seemed aware, for instance, of the great difficulty with which we had to contend in the revolution, for the want of the commonest munitions of war, such as arms and powder. He related an anecdote of Washington connected with this subject, with a feeling and spirit that showed his sympathies were on the right side of that great question, on whichever side his policy might have been.
We had some conversation on the subject of the discovery of America, and I took the occasion to compliment him on there having been a Florentine concerned in that great enterprise;[6] but he did not seem disposed to rob Columbus of any glory on account of his own countryman, though he admitted that the circumstance in a degree connected his own town with the event.
At length he rose, and I took my leave of him, after thanking him for the facilities that had been afforded me in Tuscany. When we separated, he went quietly to his maps; and as I turned at the door to make a parting salute, I found his eyes on the paper, as if he expected no such ceremony.
Two or three days from this interview, we got into our carriages, after dinner, and went down the valley of the Arno at night, to avoid the intense heat of the days, which, Americans, as we were, completely overcame us all. We reached the gates of Pisa just as the sun rose, and stopped a few hours to see the curiosities.
By twelve we were completely melted with the heat, and were glad to get into our comfortable seats in the carriages again: I say, carriages, for I had hired an extra conveyance at Florence, our little flock having increased too much in size, though not in numbers, to be conveniently put into one, as formerly.
We were all in our corners, half sleeping, half waking, when, about five miles from Leghorn, the whole party revived as suddenly as people awake from a doze. We had passed into the current of the sea air, and it acted on our spirits like a bath. I have known these veins of invigorating humidity drawn along the coast almost as accurately as the sands, so that one did not feel them two hundred feet from the water; but on this occasion we met the salt air at least a mile from the sea, though I never knew the effect greater or more sudden. Even the horses appeared to feel it, for they began to trot merrily, and soon brought us to the door of the Locanda San Marco.
The honest Scotchman who keeps this inn gave us a large airy apartment, whose windows overlook both the sea and the mountains; two objects at which I never tire of gazing. As for the rest of the party, to whom the Mediterranean was entirely new, they had eyes for nothing else; and really, for those who had now passed years excluded from any sea finer than the North Sea, the bright glittering blue expanse was an object to be gazed at. To this was to be added the luxury of Italian rooms at the commencement of August; and, taking all together, I do not remember a happier party than we were for the two or three days we remained in this inn.
I have frequently spoken of the difference between commercial towns and capitals; a distinction that you, who never saw any other than towns of the former class, will not readily comprehend, but which it is essential to know in order to understand Europe. I had the same embarrassment on first coming to this hemisphere, for it is quite common here to speak of our towns as being _purely commercial_. A short experience, however, has shown me so much, that there is nothing I now perceive sooner, or which strikes me with greater force, than the peculiarities of these places that are entirely devoted to trade. If you ask me what these peculiarities are beyond the outward signs of commerce, I shall answer, a certain absence of taste, a want of leisure and of tone; a substitution of bustle for elegance, care for enjoyment, and show for refinement. Leghorn and Marseilles have betrayed these visible signs of their pursuits more particularly after a long residence in Florence; though neither of these towns is so obnoxious to the charge as any one of our own large maritime towns. I think, however, that all our own great towns, while they are unquestionably provincial, as any one will allow who has lived in a real capital, have also many of the distinctive marks of the better towns of Europe that these have not. When a European speaks of New York as a provincial town, notwithstanding, defer to his greater experience (unless he happen to be cockney;) for, rely on it, such is peculiarly the character and appearance of your Gotham.
Walking through the streets of Leghorn, a shop filled with statuary, Venuses, Apollos, and Bacchantes, caught my eye, and I had the curiosity to enter. If I was struck with admiration on first visiting the tribune of the gallery of Florence, I was still more so here. On inquiry, I found that this was a warehouse that sent its goods principally to the English and American markets: I dare say Russia, too, may come in for a share. Where the things were made I do not know, though probably at Carrara; for I question if any man would have the impudence to display such objects in the immediate vicinity of the collections that contain the originals. Grosser caricatures were never fabricated: attenuated Nymphs and Venuses, clumsy Herculeses, hobbledehoy Apollos, and grinning Fauns, composed the treasures. The quantity of the stuff had evidently been consulted, and, I dare say, the Medicean beauty has lost many a charm for the want of more marble. The day after our arrival, we were refreshed with a delightful sea-breeze; a luxury, after being heated in Florence from April to August, that must be enjoyed to be appreciated. I can only liken Philadelphia to the latter town in this respect. On visiting the port, I found only one American, though three lay in the roads. Time was, when thirty would have been a trifle. There were ten Englishmen behind the mole, and a good many Sardinians lay scattered about the harbour. Of Tuscans there were but few, and these all small. Three Russians were laid up on account of the war with Turkey! They were fine-looking ships, however. Rowing under the bows of the Yankee, I found one of his people seated on the windlass, playing on the flute; as cool an act of impudence as can well be imagined for a Massachusetts-man to practise in Italy.
I inquired for a conveyance to Naples, and the result was my engaging a Genoese felucca, for one hundred francesconi, for my own exclusive use. This vessel was about thirty tons burthen, and of beautiful mould. She was decked, and had a hold, but no cabin. In lieu of the latter, the quarter-deck, with the exception of a small space aft for the play of the tiller, &c. and a narrow gangway on each side, was covered with a painted tarpaulin, having a rounded roof like the tilt of a waggon, stretched on large hoops: the space beneath was sufficiently large, and as the covering was ample, and high enough to walk under, it gave us a room far preferable to one below. She was latine-rigged, carrying two sails of that description, and a jib. This little craft had a complement of ten men! I have myself been one of eleven hands, officers included, to navigate a ship of near three hundred tons across the Atlantic Ocean; and, what is more, we often reefed topsails with the watch.[7]
Having engaged the felucca, we passed another day in gazing at the hazy Apennines, whose lights and shadows, particularly the noble piles that buttress the coast to the northward, rendered them pictures to study; and in driving along the low land that lies between the sea and Monte Nero, where we fairly rioted in the pleasures of the cool breezes. But the entire northern shore of this luxurious sea, in summer, is one scene of magnificent nature, relieved by a bewitching softness, such as perhaps no other portion of the globe can equal. I can best liken it to an extremely fine woman, whose stateliness and beauty are relieved by the eloquent and speaking expression of feminine sentiment.
The next day, at noon, we embarked, and took possession of our new lodgings. The wheels had been taken from the carriage, and the body of the vehicle was placed athwart the deck, so as to form a forward bulk-head. W---- had the interior for a state-room. Roberto was put into the hold. There were tarpaulin curtains at both extremities of the tilt, and by the aid of a few counterpanes we subdivided the interior as much as was necessary. Each person had a mattress at night, which pretty well covered the deck; while, piled on each other, they made comfortable sofas during the day. A table, eight or ten chairs, with a few trunks and stools, completed the furniture. Of course, we had the necessary articles of nourishment and refreshment, which our own servants prepared. I never dared to look at the kitchen, but I dare say it was quite as clean as that we had left at Florence.
With this outfit, then, the little _Bella Genovese_[8] got her anchor, with a light wind at north-west, about five in the afternoon, and began to turn out of the harbour. In half an hour we had made three or four stretches, which enabled us to weather the head of the mole, when we stood to the southward, with flowing sheets.
By examining the map, you will perceive that our course lay between a succession of islands and the main, in a south-easterly direction. Of these islands Gorgona and Capraja were in sight on quitting the port, and our first object was to run through, what here is called, the _canal_ of Elba; a streight between that island and the headland, or cape of Piombino. The wind was so light that our progress was slow; and when we took to our mattresses, Leghorn was but two or three leagues behind us.
On turning out next morning, early, I found the felucca close hauled, beating up for the channel, with a fresh breeze at the southward. The brown mountains of Elba formed the background to windward; Porto Ferrajo lying about two leagues from us, directly on our weather-beam. The prospect of beating through the pass, against the lively little sea, which would be certain to get up, was not pleasent to the ladies; and I ordered the padrone to tack, and stretch in under the land.
We fetched in just beneath the cliff, or promontory, that forms the north-eastern extremity of the town of Porto Ferrajo, a rocky eminence of some elevation. It was crowned by the government house, which had been the palace of Napoleon during his insular reign. My object had been to get into smooth water, by making a lee; but this near view of a place so celebrated was too tempting to be resisted, and I determined to beat up into the bay, even if we should run out again without anchoring. This bay is several miles deep, and at its mouth near a league wide; the land being chiefly mountain and _côtes_. The promontory, on which stands the town, makes a bend on its inner side, like the curve of a hook; and this, aided a little by some artificial works, forms a beautiful and secure little harbour, of which the entrance is towards the head of the bay, the water being everywhere deep, with bold shores.
By ten o’clock we had weathered the mouth of the little haven, and the wind still continuing foul, I determined to run in and anchor. This was accordingly done, and I had called to a boat to come and put us on shore, when the padrone announced the appalling news of there being a quarantine of fifteen days between Elba and Naples! We immediately hauled out of the harbour, and only waited to breakfast before we went to sea again. While discussing this meal on deck, the padrone was discussing matters with a brother of the craft, on board another felucca; and he came to me to say, that, though there _was_ a quarantine of fifteen days between Elba and Naples, there was none at all between the Roman states and Tuscany, or the Roman states and Naples; and that, by running into Cività Vecchia, we might get clean bills of health, and all would be plain sailing.--So much for a Mediterranean quarantine! I accepted the terms, and we landed.
Porto Ferrajo is a small crowded town, populous for its size, containing five thousand souls, lying on the acclivity on the inner side of the promontory. It is pretty well fortified, though the works are old, it being walled, and having two little citadels, or forts, on the heights. It was garrisoned by five hundred men, they told me; and there were two hundred galley-slaves kept in the place. The town was clean enough, the streets having steps, or narrow terraces, by which we ascended the hills.
The arrival of a party of strangers created a sensation; for, with the exception of the brief interruption of the presence of Napoleon, there are few more retired spots in Europe than this. We went to the best inn, which bears the imposing title of the _Quattro Nazioni_. It was far from bad, and it gave us a reasonably good dinner farthermore, it promised us four beds and a sofa, should we pass the night there. The art of colouring the bricks of the floors has not reached this inn; for the room in which we dined had a sofa and seven mirrors, while the floor was of coarse, dirt-coloured bricks full of holes. Ireland and America are not the only countries in which discrepancies in style occur. In short, England is the only country where they do not; and even in England there is something inappropriate, in seeing three or four powdered lackeys, and a well-appointed equipage, before the door of a mean, dingy town-house of bricks, with three or four windows in front and quite destitute of all architectural taste.
I had some conversation with the people of the house concerning their late sovereign. Napoleon arrived in the evening, and remained in the frigate until next day. One of his first acts was to send for the oldest known flag used by Elba, and this he caused to be hoisted on the forts; a sign of independency. He was not much seen in the town, though he often rode out on horseback, and a carriage-road around the head of the bay was pointed out as his work.
We found it so agreeable to be on a spot to which travellers do not resort, that, I think, the felucca would have been discharged, and we should have remained on this island two or three months, had good accommodations offered. There were also some hints of malaria that did not encourage this notion.
While at the inn, I saw what the Italians call a _tarantula_: not a spider, but the lizard which bears this name. Perhaps nine-tenths of the Italians fancy the bite of this animal mortal; though it cannot bite at all, I believe. It is a perfectly inoffensive lizard, living on insects, and is found in America, where no one ever hears of its poison. It is, however, a most disgusting-looking object; which is probably the reason it bears so bad a name. The scorpion of Italy, also, is not in favour. We found several at St. Illario, but they are not dangerous in this latitude; the sting being about as bad as the bite of a spider. Both these animals are held in great respect by ordinary travellers; Mr. Carter, among others, dwelling on their horrors. This amiable and well-intentioned man saw more important things through quite as mistaken a medium.
After dinner we walked up to the head of the promontory to see the house of Napoleon. It stands conspicuously, is low and small, being composed of a main body and two wings, showing a front, in all, of ten windows. The entire length may have been ninety feet, or a little less; but the other dimensions were not on a proportionate scale. It was now inhabited by the governor of the island, and we could not obtain admission, as he was at dinner. Near this building is another, that stands on the street, against the acclivity, and which has a better air, as to comfort. It has but one principal story, but it showed fifteen windows in a row. This was the house occupied by _Madame Mère_, we were told.
We might have lingered longer on this height, which overlooks the sea, but I found the wind blowing fresh from the north-west, which was as fair as could be desired. Hurrying down to the port, I directed the felucca to be got under way. This order was a commencement of the difficulties of Mediterranean navigation. I was covered with protestations of the impossibility of putting to sea in such weather, blowing as it did. At this I laughed, telling my padrone that I was an old sailor myself, and was not to be imposed on in this manner. The wind was fair, and we could make a lee behind Elba in an hour if we found too much sea; but to this he would not listen. I then pointed to the females, and asked him if he were not ashamed to pretend fear, when they wished to go to sea. This touched his pride a little, and, after a good deal of wrangling, I got him out of the port, just as the sun was setting.
We found the wind fresh outside, but as fair as could be wished. Our course was to double the eastern end of the island, where there was a narrow passage between it and a small rocky islet, the place of which Napoleon is said to have taken possession with a corporal’s guard, as soon as he was established. It was a dependency of the new empire. This act of his has been laughed at, and is cited as a proof of his passion for conquest; but it strikes me as more probable that he did it to prevent an unpleasant neighbourhood. The insignificance of the spot had caused it to be overlooked in the treaty by which his sovereignty over Elba had been retained, and it belonged to him only _by construction_. Political constructions are useful to the managing; and as it is probable he already meditated the events of 1815 in 1814, it was a measure of forethought to occupy a spot that might otherwise have proved embarrassing in the possession of spies.
When I pointed to this passage to leeward, the padrone pointed to the sky to windward. There was a lively sea on, but the little felucca skimmed it beautifully. The people, however, began to murmur, and A---- begging that we might have no difficulty, they were permitted to take their own course, which was to run across the streight, under the lee of Piombino, where we anchored, at nine.
At day-light next day, the wind being still fair, but very light, we got under way, and stood to the southward, having lost at least forty miles of our run, by stopping in at Piombino. About eight, the wind came ahead, and we made several stretches, until ten, when it fell calm. There was a small rocky islet, about a mile from us, and we swept the felucca up to it, and anchored in a little sandy bay. The padrone said this island was called Troas. It contained about thirty acres being a high rock with a little shrubbery, and it was surmounted by an ancient and ruined watch-tower.
We landed and explored the country. Our arrival gave the alarm to some thousands of gulls, and other marine birds, who probably had not been disturbed before for years.
W---- undertook to ascend to the tower,--an exploit that was more easily achieved than the descent was effected. He found it the remains of a watch-tower, of which this coast has hundreds, erected as a protection against the invasions of the Barbary corsairs. The sight of such objects brought the former condition of these seas vividly to the mind. With one coast peopled by those who were at the head of civilization, and the other by those that were just civilized enough to be formidable, constant warfare, the habits of slavery, and the harem, one can understand the uses of all these towers. Difficulties existing between France and Algiers just at this moment, several of our French acquaintances had tried to persuade us there was danger in even making this little voyage; and when at Marseilles, lately, I witnessed the departure of a brig, which was accompanied by the prayers of hundreds, her sailing having been actually delayed some time on the same account! The impression of the risks must have been strong, to prove so lasting. As to the tower on the little island, it could only have been used as a look-out to give notice of the approach of corsairs, and as a protection to the coasters, for there were no people to take refuge in it.
The north wind made at noon, and we embarked. We had a good run for the rest of the day, at the distance of a league or two from a coast lower than common, off which there were many islets and some banks of sand visible. The channel lay near one of the latter, which might have offered some danger, had we stood on the previous night. The padrone pointed to it with exultation, asking me how I should have liked to be laid on it in the dark. I pointed into the offing, and inquired, in turn, if there were not water enough for the Bella Genovese between the sands and Monte Christo, a small island that was dimly visible to the westward, and which lies about half way between Corsica and the main. My Genoese shrugged his shoulders as he muttered, “As if one would like to be out there, in a little felucca, in a mistrail!” It was quite obvious this fellow was no Columbus.
Just before sunset we came up with a high headland that looked like an island, but which in fact was Monte Argentaro; a peninsula connected with the continent by a low spit of sand. Behind it lies one of the best harbours for small craft in Italy, and the town of Orbitello. Directly abreast of it, and at no great distance, are several small islands, and we took the course between them.--This was delightful navigation, at the close of a fine day in August, with a cool north wind, and in such a sea. We ran so near the mountain as to discern the smallest objects, and were constantly changing the scene. On this headland I counted seven watch-towers, all in sight at the same moment, and all within the space of a league or two. Including Elba, we must have seen and passed this day, in a run of about twenty miles, some twenty islands.