1827. SUNDAY-NIGHT MASQUE. 13 be content to take things just in the desultory way they come into it. I think I deserve some credit for writing so connected an account of my northern excursion. I am sure you will be grieved to read the statement in the first part of this letter. I would not be forward to accuse any one. I know from experience how many situations of difficulty we are constantly placed in, but I do think the English at foreign courts ought to be exposed and shamed into a little more courage to assert and do what their consciences tell them is the right course. The persons engaged as performers in this theatrical Sunday-night masque were Sir Rbishop's niece), Miss consul), Mr. L(daughter of Sir G A L , Miss T Miss B (the (daughter of the British Captain A, Miss T , These were not merely mixed up in the motley group as masked or unmasked spectators, but were paraded in procession all round the theatre, and formed with other distinguished foreigners-the king and queen at their head-the principal part of the evening's amusement, their names and characters appearing in a printed bill. I ought, perhaps, to withdraw the name of A—, because though one is an English baronet and the other a British soldier, still, as they are Catholics, there was no impropriety in their conduct. "The open and entire profanation of the Sabbath is a distinguished feature of the Church of Rome. That an English, or rather Irish bishop should lend his coun tenance to such proceedings is worst of all. There is a great weakness and inconsistency about this said Doctor F. He put himself forward in the church at the consul's as the advocate of the claims of the Sabbath, and solemnly urged the English not to allow themselves to be drawn into the vortex of foreign customs; and two hours after he was seen in his carriage with his family in the Toledo, not pelting, to be sure, but being pelted with sugar-plums. I saw him myself as I went to my dinner, returning from this scene of riot, confusion, and folly: his words and his injunctions were so fresh in my ears, that I could scarcely believe my eyes, and though I could not conceive any other reason for his carriage being in that line, I was willing to persuade myself he had only crossed the street on some necessary business; but I heard afterwards he was actually in the Corso. "I recollect I told you last year that the king and royal family did not pelt sugar-plums. It was merely the holy year that prevented them. This season, I am told, they all appeared in masks, and pelted the courtiers and others to their hearts' delight. Happy were they, most happy, who had their dresses spoiled or their faces disfigured by the sugary shower! Here's dignity of human nature for you! Here is the nobility of humanity in all its glory!" "Dear David, "Naples, March 8, 1827. "I follow up my letter to Zechariah of the sixth merely 1827. CONDUCT OF ENGLISH DURING THE CARNIVAL. 15 to prevent anything I said in it being put in the public papers. Had I any share in the public press, or were in any shape the guardian of public morals, I should feel it my duty to make an open attack on the English here, for their conduct during the carnival; but as it is, should anything be transcribed from my letter, I must feel that I stand in the light of a concealed accuser- a character I never did nor ever shall support in life. This is not intended to prevent the circumstances being read or told. I have a right to state them as matters of observation and history, though I have no right to bring them before the public, as they must then come in the shape of accusation, and I will not be the accuser of any one. This is the whole and sole business of my letter, and now, how shall I fill up the sheet? I have often threatened you with a chapter on the habits and moral character of the Italians, but though I have lived now nearly two years amongst them, I do not feel prepared to begin. "The confidence and presumption of those travellers who discuss society and manners after a residence of a few weeks in a place does most mightily surprise me. When I was amongst the hills on my first coming to this neighbourhood with my friend Morgan, I used to wear a Greek cap, and as we liked nothing in the shape of food that they gave us but eggs and artichokes, we almost lived on them. Now, if a mountain historian, in describing Englishmen, were to say they all wore red caps and ate nothing but eggs and artichokes, he would be about as near the mark as many of the Lady Morgans and other flippant travellers who undertake to describe Italian manners, Italian morals, and Italian character. All I have attempted to do in any of my letters, and all that I shall still venture to do is, to set down as faithfully as possible what passes before me. The facts I tell may have but a trifling and partial relation to the whole system, but they will be interesting as far as they go, and I wish no more. "One thing I must say in praise of Italy, there is much less open vice in any town I have visited than in either Paris or London. Prostitution, which "elbows you aside" in the streets of London, is here, even in Naples, hardly visible. The libertine and the debauchee must go in search of his prey and his search will be fruitless unless he submit himself to the conduct of men who are a disgrace to the human shape, and who are so afraid or ashamed of the trade they exercise, that a word or a look will drive them from your sight for ever. In the theatres, even in the lowest, it is rare to find a woman of abandoned character; and if such ever do go, they go accompanied by some person who gives to them the air at least of respectability, and their conduct is always decent and respectable. How different is this from the theatres of London, recollection of which fills me with horror. "On the subject of honesty there are some curious distinctions and refinements, which I suspect arise out of the discipline of the Church. You may trust a servant in the very 1827. MORAL SENSIBILITY. 17 Naples with any sum of money, and he will keep it untouched; you may leave your drawers open to him, and he will not rob you; but if you employ him to buy anything, even the smallest article, he will be sure to cheat you, and make a considerable interest of your confidence. I shall never forget the honest indignation I aroused in a man by telling him he meant to rob me; he was asking me at least ten times the value of the thing bargained for. The colour came into his face, his voice faltered, and he stammered out that men who robbed were found on the highway:' this he said was a mere treaty between two galant uomini (honest men), and he could only excuse the insult by supposing that I was not fully acquainted with the import of the word.' I told him if he did not like the verb rubare, he might have ingannare, which would suit me quite as well, and which, as it only meant to cheat, did not seem to shock his moral sensibility. "The lower classes get their notions of morals from the questions of the priests; and as in the hurry of confessing them by the gross, he probably asks them only if they steal, without any of the minor distinctions of fraud, they come away with the belief that cheating to any extent is admissible. This is the only way I can account for the entire want of sensibility on the subject amongst a class of people who consider themselves, and are considered by their neighbours, as most religious and moral persons. In case of theft, the goods stolen are very often returned to the owners by the priest under the VOL. II. |