Page:The Kaleidoscope; Or, Literary and Scientific Mirror (1824-04-20; Vol 4 Iss 199).djvu/2

Rh I took care to assure them that I had paid enough to deserve a better equipage.

“I was hospitably received by the arch-priest, who came to the front door to meet me; his brother, the canon, having gone on before to announce my arrival.

“Upon entering the house, my nose was regaled by a strong odour, which, although not altogether disagreeable would have overpowered a person of delicate nerves. It was the smell of white truffes, which are so rare in France, but which are very plentiful in the countries bordering on Montferrat. The inhabitants send them to the people of Genoa, where they are considered as dainties. We eat some in our salad at supper.

“Before supper I received a visit from some public functionaries and priests of Bobbio, who happened to be at the fair of Varzi. A lawyer, who was a brother of the arch-priest, came also to pay his respects to me. He was a handsome, tall man; but, like most of the Piedmontese, of a sallow complexion, and very reserved in his manners. As he spoke French a little, and I Italian, we understood each other perfectly well. He intended to return the next day to Bobbio.

“The repast was more cheerful than I expected, considering that it was in a country so nearly bordering upon Piedmont. The place of honour was given to me, which is, in Italy, the upper extremity of an oblong table opposite the entrance-door. I sat between the arch-priest and one of the canons, who was a vicar of the Bishop of the diocese of Conti.

“The jester of the company was a village curate, who, after he had eaten and drunk well, became very entertaining. He sung, at the dessert, psalms, kiries, and magnificats, imitating the tones and gestures of his schoolmaster so happily that he convulsed with laughter all the guests at table. He mimicked, also, the singing of his parishioners so well that he appeared to me fit to play a part any where rather than in the pulpit or at the altar. Whilst he was ridiculing the peculiarities of his flock, he did not suspect that he had any himself.

“After supper I was conducted to my chamber, where I slept soundly till the next day.

“The next morning I received a visit from the Justice of Peace, a young man of about thirty years of age, with the Piedmontese countenance; that is to say, his complexion was dark, his features marked, and expressive at once of gravity and dissimulation. However, he endeavoured to assume a frankness of manner towards me, telling me that he was very sorry he had not received me at his house: that as Justice of Peace he had a right to expect that I should have alighted at his door; and that he had delayed his visit to me till the day after my arrival, only because he had no acquaintance with the arch-priest. The same reason might have served as an excuse to him for not visiting me at all; but without telling him so, I assured him that I felt obliged by his politeness, and that I regretted not having been able to anticipate him in it. You must know that in Italy, custom requires strangers to pay their respects to the inhabitants of distinction immediately after their arrival in a town.

“The Justice of Peace pressed me to pass the day with him, observing that he had had a room prepared for me, and that I ought at least to divide my time between him and the arch-priest. I excused myself as well as I could, alleging that I had sent away my guide and horse, and that I now depended upon my two friends the canons to be conducted to Bobbio, who were going to set out immediately, and who had kindly procured two horses for me. But the honest Justice still persisted in his entreaties, ‘I have,’ said he, ‘invited some friends to meet you at dinner. We all promise ourselves great pleasure from your company.’—‘Indeed you must excuse me; I have told you my reasons.’—‘The horses shall wait for you; we will take it upon ourselves to make the proprietor agree to this arrangement.’ During this altercation, the horses had been saddled, and one of them loaded with my luggage. The young lawyer insisted upon holding the bridle whilst I mounted my horse (a mark of deference which is not unusual in Italy) while one of his friends held the stirrup for me. I was embarrassed by so much attention. When the two canons had made their appearance, and placed my horse between theirs, five or six gentlemen, priests and laymen, rode up from the different streets of the town to join our party, and ranging themselves in a file with us, formed a very respectable retinue. The bustle of our departure drew together a crowd of loungers, each of whom, no doubt, made his remark, according to the opinion he had formed of the French, and of those who paid their court to them.

“We took leave of more than a dozen people, standing near the arch-priest’s door. There was no end of compliments, salutations, and shakings of hands. Our cavalcade was shortly afterwards in the midst of vallies and mountains. As we were leaving the town, my companions pointed out to me several shops and tents, formed of the twisted foliage and branches of trees, some of which contained the merchandize of the fair; whilst in others were assembled convivial parties. These numerous cabins, which are renewed every year, and frequented during a space of five or six days, gave to the valley a very picturesque and novel appearance.

“The journey from Varzito Bobbio occupies four hours; and the road extends over a continued succession of hills. Bobbio is separated from the town we had just left by the Penice, a very high mountain of the chain of the Appenines, which would bear a comparison with some of the Alps. The road cut along its side ascends only to half its height.

“From this elevation I first discovered the place of my destination. My companions exclaimed, almost simultaneously, ‘''Signore! signore! eccolo! eccolo!''’ ‘What is the matter?’ replied I. ‘Bobbio! sì Bobbio!’ said they, pointing with their fingers. They showed it to me, not as a remarkable place, but as that where I was destined to reside for an indefinite length of time. ‘There is your dwelling,’ they seemed to say to me, and I replied tacitly, after having looked at it, ‘There is my prison.’

“The appearance of the town was most gloomy and unpromising. It consisted of a group of houses built of grey lava, and roofed with yellow slates, situated at the bottom of a valley, at the foot of Mount Penice. We frequently lost sight of it during the two hours that we descended the mountain by the winding road cut across the trenches by which it is surrounded on the north. This town, described by Tacitus, when he speaks of the battle fought in the year of Rome 536, does not seem to have changed since then, the vine which St. Colombeau caused to grow here being the only ornament which time has added to this wild spot.

“We entered Bobbio with éclat. It is the capital of the towns and villages scattered in this part of the Appennines, and was built by St. Colombeau, founder of a house of Benedictines in this country.

“I alighted at the house of the two canons, who lived together. The town, consisting of narrow, dirty, ill-paved streets, is called by the inhabitants of the neighbouring plains l’orinale dell’ Italia, and this expression gives an excellent idea of it. It stands on the borders of the Trebia, a torrent rendered famous by the victory gained on its shores, near this town, by Hannibal over Sempronius the Roman Consul.

“The appearance of the interior of the town did not destroy the impression I had received from a distant view of it. There were in the streets numbers of priests in robes of rusty black, and of laymen in long, ragged great coats, with hanging sleeves, having their arms concealed in the folds of their coats. Nothing was to be heard on all sides but the cackling of geese and the grunting of pigs. Our horses stumbled against these animals, which would not make room for them till they were in danger of being trampled upon, and then resumed their places immediately afterwards. The ill-built houses, surrounded by ruinous walls, offered no temptation to enter their doors. Their small windows were patched with pieces of oiled paper, full of holes.

“This town contains about twelve hundred inhabitants, and I did not observe more than fifteen well-built houses.

“Our arrival put the inhabitants in motion, as it is very unusual to see strangers here; from the visit of the Carthagenians, to the battles fought upon the Trebia in 1799, between the French under Macdonald and the Russians, it would be easy to count the strangers who have had the courage to encounter the gloom of this dismal abode. The inhabitants, covered with their cassocks, stood at the doors of their houses staring at us as we passed. As my companions were known, all eyes were fixed upon me. The curious enquired who I was, and it was soon known among the political paraders of the humble piazzas of their only square, that of the Dome, that a Frenchman had arrived in their town to complete their new tribunal.

“Mountaineers are generally censorious, and, I have no doubt, that it was whispered among them that I did not belie my nation, and that I had need of great courage in coming to reside amongst them. What other European would have ventured to inhabit Bobbio? During the last century, only two strangers had come to reside in this dismal place; one was a German commander, and the other a Piedmontese, their last bishop.”

Liverpool. 



Chapter 12''th. Fancies.''—I found the street quite altered when I returned to it; instead of the former bustle and pressure, there was now hardly a person to be met with; because the crowd had followed the monarch to the interior of the town. At my arrival at the inn, the waiter asked whether he should now bring up the breakfast? “What!” cried I, “you have not served it up yet?” “It was merely on account of your absence,” replied the man. “Well, let us have it then as quickly as you can; but where are my guests?” The garret was as empty as the street, and I had to breakfast alone. For this, however, I felt no inclination, and I asked for wine instead of it: with every fresh glass the image of the fair Emma presented itself in a more lively manner before me; and I began to be convinced, for the first time, that my friends had been perfectly correct in blaming my single state, and that I now wanted a wife, as much as I had before wanted a living; “but my dear Comptroller,” said I to myself, “would it not be rather a youthful trick to marry all at once, post haste; and whom? an embroiderer, forsooth! consider well about it, and remember all the unfortunate marriages which have been contracted in a hurry, and repented of at leisure.

Chapter 13''th. The Note.''—Whilst I was thus musing, a pretty white pigeon came flying through the open window: a happy sign, I thought; perhaps sent on purpose by the goddess of love! The pigeon was, moreover, so tame, that it walked about on the table, to pick up some bread-crumbs: I saw, also, that it had a piece of fine paper fastened to its neck with a red tape; and, as it made no resistance, I laid hold of it, and found the following billet: “Dear Emma, I am almost out of my senses: I have neither seen you nor heard of you all yesterday; and if it is to be so again this day, I shall surely die. Hasten, oh! hasten into the arms of him who cannot live without you.” I squeezed the note, convulsively, in my hand, and put it into my pocket; the pigeon stood, for some time, quietly before me, as if waiting for the accustomed answer, but I pushed the winged messenger so rudely from me, that I was soon left alone. The lines were writ-