Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/144

134 than to get rid as soon as possible of that which they have taken as often as possible. If a person cannot bear this, he must not play the great gentleman; that is to say, he must act as if a part of his dwelling belonged to the public. He may shut his door, and all will be right. But in open buildings the people are not to be debarred of their privileges; and this, throughout Italy, is a nuisance to the foreigner.

To-day I remarked in several streets of the town the customs and manners of the middle classes especially, who appear very numerous and busy. They swing their arms as they walk. Persons of a high rank, who on certain occasions wear a sword, swing only one arm, being accustomed to hold the left arm still.

Although the people are careless enough with respect to their own wants and occupations, they have a keen eye for everything foreign. Thus in the very first days I observed that every one took notice of my boots: because here they are too expensive an article of dress to wear, even in winter. Now that I wear shoes and stockings, nobody looks at me. Particularly I noticed this morning, when all were running about with flowers, vegetables, garlic, and other market-stuff, that a twig of cypress which I carried in my hand did not escape their attention. Some green cones hung upon it, and I held in the same hand some blooming caper-twigs. Everybody, large and small, watched me closely, and seemed to entertain some whimsical thought.

I brought these twigs from the Giusti Garden, which is finely situated, and in which there are monstrous cypresses, all pointed up like spikes into the air. The taxus, which in northern gardening we find cut to a sharp point, is probably an imitation of this splendid natural product. A tree the branches of which, the oldest as well as the youngest, are striving to reach heaven; a tree which will last its three