After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 Part 14

The _Corso_ or grand evening promenade for carriages and equestrians is on a place called the Cascino, p.r.o.nounced by the Florentines _Hascino_. The Cascino consists of pleasure grounds on the banks of the Arno outside the town, laid out in roads, alleys and walks for carriages, equestrians and pedestrians. There is a very brilliant display of carriages every evening.

There are _restaurants_ on the Cascino and supper parties are often formed here. This place is often the scene of curious adventures. Cicisbeism is universal at Florence, tho' far from being always criminal, as is generally supposed by foreigners. I find the Florentine women very graceful and many very handsome; but in point of beauty the female peasantry far exceed the _n.o.blesse_ and burghers. All of them however dress with taste. The handsomest woman in Florence is the wife of an apothecary who lives in the _Piazza del Duomo_ and she has a host of admirers.

On the promenade _lungo l'Arno_ near the Cascino is a fountain with a statue of Pegasus, with an inscription in Italian verse purporting that Pegasus having stopped there one day to refresh himself at this fountain, found the place so pleasant that he remained there ever since. This is a poetic nation _par excellence_. _Affiches_ are announced in sonnets and other metres; and tho' in other countries the votaries of the Muses are but too apt to neglect the ordinary and vulgar concerns of life, yet here it by no means diminishes industry, and the nine Ladies are on the best possible terms with Mr Mercury.

I shall not attempt a description of the various _palazzi_ and churches of Florence, tho' I have visited, thanks to the zeal and importunity of my _cicerone_, nearly all, except to remark that no one church in Florence, the Cathedral and Baptistery on the _Piazza del Duomo_ excepted, has its facade finished, and they will remain probably for ever unfinished, as the completion of them would cost very large sums of money, and the restored Government, however anxious to resuscitate the _ancient faith_, are not inclined to make large disburs.e.m.e.nts from their own resources for that purpose. I wish however they would finish the facade of two of these churches, viz., that of _Santa Maria Novella_ and that of _Santa Croce_.

_Santa Maria Novella_ stands in the Piazza of that name which is very large. It is a beautiful edifice, and can boast in the interior of it several columns and pilasters of _jaune antique_ and of white marble. But they have a most barbarous custom in Florence of covering these columns with red cloth on _jours de Fete_, which spoils the elegant simplicity of the columns and makes the church itself resemble a _theatre des Marionnettes_. But the Italians are dreadfully fond of gaudy colours. In the church of _Santa Croce_ what most engaged my attention was the monument erected to Vittorio Alfieri, sculptured by Canova. It is a most beautiful piece of sculpture. A figure of Italy crowned with turrets seems fully sensible of the great loss she has sustained in one who was so ardent a patriot, as well as an excellent tragic poet. This monument was erected at the expence of the Countess of Albany (Queen of England, had _legitimacy_ always prevailed, or been as much in fas.h.i.+on as it now is) as a mark of esteem and affection towards one who was so tenderly attached to her, and of whom in his writings Alfieri speaks with the endearing and affectionate appellation of _mia Donna_. The beautiful sonnet to her, which accompanies the dedication of his tragedy of _Mirra_, well deserves the monument; there is so much feeling in it that I cannot retrain from transcribing it:

Vergognando talor, che ancor si taccia, Donna, per me l'almo tuo nome in fronte Di queste omai gla troppe a te ben conte Tragedie, ond'io di folle avrommi taccia;

Or vo' qual d'esse meno a te dispiaccia Di te fregiar; benche di tutte il fonte Tu sola fosti, e'l viver mio non conte Se non dal Di, ch'al viver tuo si allaccia.

Della figlia di Ciniro infelice L'orrendo a un tempo ed innocente amore Sempre da' tuoi begli occhi il planto elice;

Prova emmi questo, ch'al mio dubbio core Tacitamente imperiosa dice, Ch'io di Mirra consacri a te il dolore.

In this sanctuary (church of the _Santa Croce_) are likewise the tombs and monuments of other great men which Italy has produced. There is the monument erected to Galileo which represents the earth turning round the sun with the emphatic words: _Eppur si muove._ Here too repose the ashes of Machiavelli and Michel Angelo. This church is in fact the Westminster Abbey of Florence.

To go from the _Piazza del gran Duca_ to the _Piazza del Duomo_, where stands the Cathedral, you have only to pa.s.s thro' a long narrow street or rather alley (for it is impervious to carriages) with shops on each side and always filled with people going to or returning from the Duomo. This Cathedral is of immense size. The architecture is singular from its being a mixture of the Gothic and Greek. It appears the most ponderous load that ever was laid on the shoulders of poor mother earth. There is nothing light in its structure to relieve the ma.s.siveness of the building, and in this respect it forms a striking contrast to the Cathedral of Milan which appears the work of Sylphs. The outside of this Duomo of Florence is decorated and incrusted with black and white marble, which increases the ma.s.siveness of its appearance. The steeple or Campanile stands by itself, altogether separate from the Cathedral, and this is the case with most of the Churches in Italy that are not of pure Gothic architecture. This _Campanile_ is curiously inlaid and incrusted on its outside with red, white and black marble. The Baptistery is another building on the same _Piazza_. It is in the same stile of building as the Duomo, but incloses much less s.p.a.ce, and was formerly a separate church, called the church of St John the Baptist. The immense bronze doors or rather gates, both of the Duomo and Battisterio, attracted my peculiar notice. On them are figured bas-reliefs of exquisite and admirable workmans.h.i.+p, representing Scripture histories. It was the symmetry and perfection of these gates that induced Michel Angelo to call them in a fit of enthusiasm _The Gates of Paradise_.

At the door of the Battisterio are the columns in red granite, which once adorned the gates of the city at Pisa, and were carried off by the Florentines in one of their wars. Chains are fastened round these columns, as a memorial of the conquest. The cupolas both of the Duomo and Battisterio are octangular. There is a stone seat on the _Piazza del Duomo_ where they pretend that Dante used occasionally to sit; hence it is called to this day _Il Sa.s.so di Dante_.

You will now no doubt expect me to give some account of the theatres. At the _Pergola_, which is a large and splendid theatre, I have seen two operas; the one, _L'Italiana in Algieri_, which I saw before at Milan last year; the other, the _Barbieri di Seviglia_ by Rossini, which afforded to my ears the most delightful musical feast they ever enjoyed. The cavatina _Una voce poco fa_ gave me inconceivable delight. The _Ballo_ was of a very splendid description and from a subject taken from the Oriental history ent.i.tled _Macbet Sultan of Delhi_. How the Mogul Sultan came to have the name of Macbet I know not. On the _plafond_ of the _Pergola_ is an allegorical painting representing the restored Kings of Europe replaced on their thrones by Valor and Justice. The decorations at this theatre are not quite so splendid as those of the _Scala_ at Milan, but living horses and military evolutions seem to be annexed to every historical _Ballo_. Horses indeed appear to be an indispensable ingredient in the _Balli_ in the large cities of Italy.

In the _Teatro Cocomera_, comedies are performed, and very generally those of the inexhaustible Goldoni. I saw the _Bugiardo_ very fairly performed at this theatre. The story is nearly the same as that of our piece, _The Liar_, which is I believe imitated from _Le Menteur_ of Corneille. The actor who did the Liar was a very good one. The actresses screamed too much and were rather coa.r.s.e. Another night at the theatre I saw a piece call'd _II furioso_, a _comedie larmoyante_ which was interesting and well given; but the voice of the prompter was occasionally too loud. Tragedies are very seldom played; the language of Alfieri could never, I will not say be given with effect, but even conceived by the modern actors. It would be like a tragedy of Sophocles performed by boys at school. There is another reason too why these tragedies are not given; they abound too much in republican and patriotic sentiments to be grateful to the ears of the Princes who reign in Italy, all of whom being of foreign extraction and unshackled by const.i.tutions, come under the denomination of those beings called by Greeks [Greek: Turannoi], I use this word in its Greek sense. Of the Tuscan Government it is but justice to say that from the days of Leopold to the present day it was and is a mild, just and paternal government, more so perhaps than any in Europe; and the only one that can any way reconcile one altogether to those lines of Pope:

For forms of Government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd is best.[83]

In the time of Leopold the factious n.o.bility were kept in check, and the industrious cla.s.ses, mercantile and agricultural, encouraged. The peasantry were, and are, the most affluent in Europe; and this is no small incitement to the industry that prevails. On the elevation of Leopold to the throne of the Caesars, the present Grand Duke succeeded in Tuscany; and he followed the same system that Leopold did, and was equally beloved by his subjects.

Tuscany was the only country in Italy that did not desire a change at the period of the French conquest, and the only state wherein the French were not hailed as deliverers. The Tuscans exhibited a very honorable spirit on the occasion of Buonaparte's visit to the Grand Duke in 1797. They went together to the Theatre della Pergola, and on their entering into the Grand Ducal box, the Grand Duke was hailed with cries of _Viva il Nostro Sovrano_: now this proof of attachment at a period when Buonaparte was all-mighty in Italy, when the Grand Duke was but an inferior personage, at a time too when it was doubtful whether or not he would be dethroned, and in the very presence of the mighty conqueror, reflects great honor and credit on the Tuscan character. Buonaparte was much struck at this proof of disinterested attachment on the part of the Florentines towards their Sovereign, and told the Grand Duke very ingenuously that he had received orders to revolutionize the country, from the French Directory; but that as he perceived the people were so happy, and the Prince so beloved, he could not and would not attempt to make any change.

The applause given to the Grand Duke at this critical period is so much the more creditable to the Florentines as they in general receive their Prince, on his presenting himself at the theatre, with no other ceremonial than rising once and bowing. There is no fulsome _G.o.d save the King_ repeated even to nausea, as at the English theatres. In fact none of the Italians pay that servile adulation to their Sovereigns that the French and English do.

The changes projected in Italy at the treaty of Luneville by Napoleon then first Consul, and his further views on Italy, induced him at length to eject an Austrian Prince from the sovereignty of a country which he intended to annex to the French Empire. The Grand Duke was indemnified with a princ.i.p.ality in Germany, where he remained until the downfall of Napoleon in 1814; subsequent arrangements again restored him to the sway of the land he loved so well, and he returned to Florence as if he had only been absent on a tour, finding scarcely any change in the laws and customs and habits of the country; for tho' Tuscany was first erected into a Kingdom by the t.i.tle of Etruria, and afterwards annexed to the French Empire, the inst.i.tutions and laws laid down by Leopold and followed strictly by his successor were preserved; very little innovation took place, and the few innovations that were effected were decided ameliorations; for the Emperor Napoleon had too much tact not to preserve and protect the good he found, tho' he abolished all old abuses. The improvements introduced by the French have been preserved and confirmed by the Grand Duke on his return, for he is a man of too much good sense, and has too much love of justice, to think of abolis.h.i.+ng the good that has been done, merely because it was done by the French. Tuscany has now a respectable military force of 8,000 men well armed, clothed and equipped in the French manner.

Tuscany is the only part of Italy where the downfall of Napoleon was not regretted; the inhabitants of Leghorn indeed rejoiced at it, for the commerce of Tuscany being chiefly maritime, Leghorn suffered a good deal from the continental system. Leghorn in fact decayed in the same proportion that Milan and other inland cities rose into opulence.

The character of the Tuscan people is so amiable and pacific that crime is very rare indeed. Murder is almost unknown and the punishment of death is banished from the penal code. Where the government is good, the people are or soon become good. I know of no country in the world more agreeable for a foreigner to settle in than Tuscany.

I omitted to remark that in the street called _Borgo d'Ognissanti_ is a large house or _palazzo_ which belonged to Americo Vespucci. His bust is to be seen in the Florentine Gallery. It is curious to remark the different appellations given to the word _street_ in the different cities of Italy.

In Milan a street is called _vico_ and in Turin, _contrada_; in Florence _strada_ and in Rome, I understand, _via_.

FLORENCE, 1st Sept.

I shall start in a day or two for Rome, being very impatient to behold the Eternal City, a plan which I have had in view from my earliest days and which I have not been able hitherto to effect; for like the Abbe Delille I had sworn to visit the sacred spot where so many ill.u.s.trious men had spoke and acted, and to do hommage in person to their Manes. I was always a great admirer of the "_Popolo Re_."

In Florence there are a great many literary societies such as the _Infuocati, Immobili_, and the far renowned _La Crusca_.

Frequent _Academies_, for so a sitting of a litterary society in Italy is termed, are held in Florence. There are likewise two Casinos, one for the n.o.bility and the other for the merchants and burghers; the wives and daughters of the members attend occasionally; and cards, music and dancing are the amus.e.m.e.nts. Florence abounds in artists in alabaster whose workmans.h.i.+p is beautiful. They make models in alabaster of the most celebrated pieces of sculpture and architecture, on any scale you chuse: they fabricate busts too and vases in alabaster. The vases made in imitation of the ancient Greek vases are magnificent, and some of them are of immense size. Foreigners generally chuse to have their busts taken; for almost all foreigners who arrive here are or pretend to be smitten with an ardent love for the fine arts, and every one wishes to take with him models of the fine things he has seen in Italy, on his return to his native country. Here are English travellers who at home would scarcely be able to distinguish the finest piece of ancient sculpture--the Mercury, for instance, in the Florentine Gallery, from a Mercury in a citizen's garden at Highgate--who here affect to be in extacies at the sight of the Venus, Apollino, &c., and they are fond of retailing on all occasions the terms of art and connoisseurs.h.i.+p they have learned by rote, in the use of which they make sometimes ridiculous mistakes. For instance I heard an Englishman one day holding forth on the merits of the Vierge _quisouse_, as he called it.

I could not for some time divine what he meant by the word _quisouse_, but after some explanation I found that he meant the celebrated painting of the _Vierge qui coud_, or _Vierge couseuse_, as it is sometimes called, which latter word he had transformed into _quisouse_. This affectation, however, of pa.s.sion for the _belle arti_, tho' sometimes open to ridicule, is very useful. It generates taste, encourages artists, and is surely a more innocent as well as more rational mode of spending money and pa.s.sing time than in encouraging pugilism or in racing, coach driving and c.o.c.k fighting.

[83] Pope, _Essay on Man_, ep. III, 303-4.--ED.

CHAPTER X

Journey from Florence to Rome--Sienna--Radicofani--Bolsena--Montefiascone wine--Viterbo--Baccano--The Roman Campagna--The papal _douane_--Monuments and Museums in Rome--Intolerance of the Catholic Christians--The Tiber and the bridges--Character of the Romans--The _Pala.s.si_ and _Ville_--Canova's atelier--Theatricals--An execution in Rome.

September----, 1816.

I made an agreement with a _vetturino_ to take me to Rome for three _louis d'or_ and to be _spesato_. In the carriage were two other pa.s.sengers, viz., a Neapolitan lady, the wife of a Colonel in the Neapolitan service, and a young Roman, the son of the _Barigello_ or _Capo degli Sbirri_ at Rome. We issued from the _Porta Romana_ at 6 o'clock a.m. the 3d September.

The road winds thro' a valley, and has a gentle ascent nearly the whole way to Poggibonsi, where we brought to the first night. The soil hereabouts is far from fertile, but every inch of it is put to profit. The olive tree is very frequent and several farms and villages are to be met with. The next day we arrived at 12 o'clock at Sienna. The approach to Sienna is announced by a quant.i.ty of olive trees. The situation of this city being on an elevation, makes it cold and bleak. We remained here three hours, so that I had time to visit some of the places worthy of remark in this venerable city, which is handsome and very solidly built, but has rather a sombre appearance. The _Piazza Grande_ lies in a bottom to which you descend from the environing streets. It is in the shape of a mussel sh.e.l.l and of very large size. The Cathedral is Gothic and is a very majestic and venerable building. Inside it is of black and yellow marble. The pavement of this church contains Scripture histories in mosaic. A library is annexed to the church. The librarian pointed out to me 80 folio volumes of church music with illuminated plates; likewise an ancient piece of sculpture much mutilated, viz., a group of the three Graces. In one of the chapels of this Cathedral are eight columns of _verd-antique_. I observed a monument of the Piccolomini family who belong to this city; one of which family figured a good deal in the Thirty Years' War in Germany. I saw several women in the Cathedral and at the windows of the houses. The greater part of them were handsome. The Italian language is spoken here in its greatest purity; it is the pure Tuscan dialect without the Tuscan aspiration. The Siennese language is in fact the identical _lingua Toscana in bocca Romana_.

We arrived the same evening at Buon Convento, an old dismal dirty-looking town formerly fortified; but the country in the environs is pleasing enough. The inn here is very bad. On the road between Sienna and this place I observed a number of mulberry trees.

The next morning, the 5th Sept., we arrived at Radicofani or rather at an inn or post house facing Radicofani. This is a very ancient city, and from its being on an eminence it has an imposing appearance. Above it towers an immense conical shaped mountain, evidently a volcano in former times. In fact, the whole country hereabouts is volcanic, which is plainly seen from the immense ma.s.ses of calcined stones, the exhalations of sulphur and the dreary wild appearance of the country, where scarce a tree is to be seen. I never in my life saw so many calcined rocks and stones of great magnitude heaped together as at Radicofani. It gave the idea as if it were the identical field of battle between Jupiter and the t.i.tans, and as if the ma.s.ses of rock that everywhere meet the eye had been hurled at the Empyreum by the t.i.tans and had fallen back on the spot from whence they were torn up. It is indeed very probable that this volcano which vomited forth rocks and stones in a very remote age, gave rise to the Fable of the war between Jupiter and the Giants; just as the volcanos in Sicily and Stromboli gave rise to the story of the Cyclops with one eye (the crater) in their forehead. But the mountain of Radicofani must have been a volcano anterior even to Aetna; it presents the image of an ancient world destroyed by fire.

At Ponte Centino the next morning we took our leave of

_La patria bella Di vaghe Donne e di dolce favella;_

in plain prose, we left the Tuscan territory, and re-entered the dominions of His Holiness. After being detained half an hour at the _Douane_, we proceeded to Acquapendente to breakfast. The country between Radicofani and Acquapendente is dreary, thinly populated, little cultivated, and volcanic steams of sulphur a.s.sail the nostrils. Before we arrived at Acquapendente we had a troublesome river to cross, which at times is nearly dry, and at other times the water comes down in torrents from the surrounding mountains and precipices, so as to render its pa.s.sage extremely dangerous. It is always necessary previous to the pa.s.sage of a carriage, to send on a man to ford and sound it, from its meandering and forming different beds crossed seven times, twice less than Styx _novies interfusa_, and it is a very slow operation from the number of rocks and quicksands; so that, should the torrent come down while you are in the act of crossing, you and your whole equipage would be swept away by the stream and drowned or dashed to pieces.

Travellers going to and returning from Rome are frequently detained for a day or two at Ponte Centino or Acquapendente during the rainy season; for immediately after heavy rains, there is always a great risk and it is better to halt for several hours to allow the waters to pa.s.s off. The extent of ground that this river covers by its meandering and forming so many beds nearly parallel to each other renders it impossible to construct a bridge long enough; and it would be always liable to be swept away by the torrent. n.o.body ever thinks of crossing the river in the dark. There having no rain fallen for several days we pa.s.sed it without difficulty.

Within a mile of Acquapendente the landscape varies and the approach to this town is exceedingly picturesque. Acquapendente is situated on a lofty eminence from which several magnificent cascades descend into the ravine below and which give the name to the town. There are a great number of trees about this town and they afford a great relief to the eye of the traveller after so many hours' journey thro' volcanic wastes. The town of Acquapendente is very ancient; it is very large, but ill-paved and dirty; the best buildings in it are, however, modern. The inhabitants appear lazy and dirty. On entering into conversation with some soldiers belonging to the Papal army, who were stationed at this place, I found that most of them had served under Napoleon. They spoke of him with tears of affection in their eyes, and I pleased them much by reciprocating their opinions of that great man. To speak well of Napoleon is the surest pa.s.sport to civility and good treatment on the part of the soldiers and _douaniers_.

In the evening we arrived at Bolsena, the ancient Volsinium, a city of the Volscians. It is an ancient looking town, not very clean, and inhabited by indolent people. It is situated on the banks of a large lake, on which there are three small islands. It is very aguish and unhealthy, and the inhabitants appear sickly, with marvellous sallow complexions. The inn where we put up was a pretty good one, and as this lake abounds in fish, we had some excellent trout and pike for supper; among other dishes there was one that was very gratifying to me, an old East and West Indian; and that was the _Peveroni_ or large red and green peppers or capsic.u.ms fried in oil. Some excellent Orvieto wine crowned our repast, and helped to restore us from our fatigues.

On leaving Bolsena the next morning, the 7th, and within a very short distance from that town we entered a thick and venerable forest, thro'

which the road runs for several miles. Fine old trees of immense height covered with foliage and thickly studded together give to this forest an aweful and romantic appearance. It is quite a _lucus opaca ingens_. This forest has been held sacred since the earliest times and is even now held in such superst.i.tious veneration by the people that they do not allow it to be cut. The Dryads and Hamadryads have no doubt long ago taken their flight, but the wood, from its length and opaqueness, inspired me with some apprehension lest it might be the abode of some modern votaries of Mercury, people having confused ideas of _meum_ and _tuum_, and the _appropriative faculty_ too strongly developed in their organization, and I expected every moment to hear a shot and the terrible cry of _ferma_; but we met with no accident nor did we fall in with a living soul. On issuing from this forest we perceived on an eminence before us, at a short distance, the town of Montefiascone. We stopped there as almost all travellers do to taste the famous Montefiascone wine or _Est_ wine, as it is frequently called. This wine is fine flavored, _petillant_ and wonderfully exhilarating. It is renowned for having occasioned the death of a German prelate in the sixteenth century, who was travelling in Italy and who was remarkably fond of good wine. The story is as follows. He was accustomed to send on his servant to the different towns thro' which he was to pa.s.s with directions, to taste and report on the quality of the different wines to be found there, and if they were good to mark the word _Est_ on the casks from which he tasted them. The servant, on arrival at Montefiascone, was highly pleased with the flavour of the wine, of which there were three casks at the inn where they put up. He accordingly wrote the word _Est_ on each of the casks. The Bishop arrived soon after and took such a liking to this wine that he died in a few days of a fever brought on by continual intoxication. He was buried in one of the churches at Montefiascone and the monks of the Convent there, themselves _bons-vivans_, determined to give him a suitable epitaph. They accordingly caused to be engraved on his tomb the following Latin inscription commemorative of the event: _Est, Est, Est, propter nimium Est, Dominus Episcopus mortuus_ EST. From the above circ.u.mstance this wine is called _Vino d'Est_, and it affords no small revenue to the proprietor of the _cabaret_ on the road side who sells it.

We arrived at Viterbo to breakfast and at Ronciglione in the evening.

Viterbo is a large and handsome city and contains several striking buildings. It is paved with lava and contains a great variety of fountains.

There is some appearance of commerce and industry in this town and there are several _maisons de plaisance_ in the neighbourhood. From Viterbo, thro' Monterosi, to Ronciglione the road lies over a mountain of steep ascent; here and there are patches of forest. There is not a house to be seen on this route and from there being a good deal of wood, and no appearance of cultivation, one fancies oneself rather in the wilds of a new country like America, than in so old a one as Italy.

Ronciglione is an old rubbis.h.i.+ng town half in ruins and contains no one thing remarkable.

The next morning at four o'clock we started from Ronciglione and reached Baccano to breakfast.

Baccano contains only two buildings; but they are both very large and roomy; the one is the inn, and the other serves as a barrack for the Military. There is always a strong military detachment here for the security of the road against robbers, who occasionally infest this neighbourhood. The inn is of immense size. Travellers, who arrive here late, would do well to halt here the whole night, as not only the road is dangerous on account of robbers, but because if they arrive at Rome after five o'clock p.m., they cannot release their baggage and carriage from the Custom house till next day. Every carriage public or private that arrives in Rome is bound, unless a special permission to the contrary be obtained from the Government, to drive direct to the Custom house (_Dogana_). In the like manner, on travelling from Rome to Florence, people generally prefer to start from Rome at twelve o'clock and bring to the night at Baccano, so as to avoid the bad inn at Ronciglione and sleep in preference at Viterbo.

I here speak only of those who travel by short stages as the _vetturini_ do.

Ariosto has given a celebrity to this wretched place Baccano in his poem of the _Orlando Furioso_, in the story of Giocondo in the 28th Canto, as being the identical place where Fausto, the brother of Giocondo, remained to await the return of his brother from Rome, to which place he had gone back, when half way between Baccano and Rome, to fetch the _monile_ which he had left behind him, and found his wife not _alone_ and _dying with grief_ as he apprehended, but _sotto la coltre_ with a servant of the family.

The country between Baccano and Rome is as unpleasing and even worse than that between the former place and Ronciglione. It is hilly, but not a tree, nor a house, nor a sign of cultivation to be seen except the two or three wretched hovels at La Storta. There is nothing at all that announces the approach to a capital city; and in addition to the dismal landscape there is a sight still more dismal that salutes the eye of the traveller at intervals of two or three miles and which does not tend to inspire pleasing ideas; and this is the sight of arms and legs of malefactors and murderers suspended on large poles on the road side; for it is the custom here to cut off the arms and legs of murderers after decapitation, and to suspend them _in terrorem_ on poles, erected on the very spot where they committed the murder. The sight of these limbs dangling in the wind is not a very comfortable one towards the close of the evening.