17 JANUARY 1835, Page 16

EVANS'S ITALY AND SICILY.

THESE volumes are intended as a guide, especially in regard to the fine arts and to the former conditions and presentl appear-

ance of external nature, in the countries to which they rela te They will also serve as a useful picture of Italy and Sicily, for those who remain at home. The author has modestly styled his

work a compilation : if it be one, it has been done with skill, taste, and industry ; but, though drawing his materials from many sources, a compilation in the ordinary sense of the term it is not. Mr. EvAres has travelled over the countries he professes to de- scribe; he has seen the buildings, the statues, and the paintings, on which an opinion is passed; he has formed a judgment as to the probable accuracy of the information contained in his work, by inquiry, (Jr at least inspection. The Classic and Connoisseur, in reality, is an account of the writer's own tour ; his attention being generally, but not wholly, directed to the remains of ancient and the productions of modern art. His narrative, and what practical information he conveys, are mostly given in his own words. In criticism and description, he uses indifferently his own language or that of others, laying the most eminent writers under contribution, from AnDisoN's Tour down to MATTHEWS'S Diary of an Inralid and BELL'S Observations.

This mode of dovetailing is accomplished in a manner so neat and workmanlike, that it is rarely abrupt or jarring. Where the matter at issue is one of opinion, we have by this means an autho- rity; when it is a question of judgment, we perhaps get better reasons for the decision than Mr. EvANs could always have alleged; in descriptions, however, we are not sure but that his own would have bad greater freshness and buoyancy than some of those be has transcribed.

Starting in the diligence from Lyons, Mr. EVANi, with three companions, and, we imagine, a goodly package of books, crossed

Mount Cenis to Turin, and travelled thence to Genoa the Proud. From the city of magnificent palaces and narrow streets, he pro- ceeded through Pisa and Lucca, to Florence ; which

may well be called " the Fair." Its churches, notwithstanding the unfi-

nished state of many of their facades, are magnificent ; its palaces, though they have more of solidity than elegance, are noble structures; the private dwellings are in general hauilsome ; the streets, though narrow, are clean, and paved with thick flag-stunt's, chiselled into grooves to prevent the horses from slipping. The Arno divides the city into two unequal parts ; and, being dammed up, has here the appearance of a large river, though it is in fact an inconsiderable stream. On each side, between the housesand the river, is the Lung' Arno—a broad quay, serving for carriages and fuot passengers. Thus the Arno may be considered as forming the principal street, the two sides of which are connected by four bridges at short intervals front each other. Of these, the Ponte della Trinita, consisting of three elliptic arches, and built of white marble, is de- servedly the most admired.

The views up and down the river are delightfully varied, presenting water, and wood, and mountain; the Arno, the Cascine, and the Apennines ; while in the im- mediate vicinity are villas without number, which, from the absence of smoke and the purity of the air, are distinctly seen front all parts of the town. Ariosto long ago remarked, that if the villas in the environs of Florence, which seem to shoot up like so many off-sets and suckers front the ground, were all collected within one wall, they would form a city twice the size of Rome. The prospect from the neighbouring hills is yet more beautiful. Here you have Florence extended at your feet, "her groves and gardens, pinnacles and towers," and the river winding through the famed Valtlarno—a golden plain, abounding in corn and wine and oil—till the scene is closed by the bold range of the Apen- nines. Such is the situation of Florence; and within her walls are palaces and museums rich in all the wonders of ancient and modern art, abounding with every thing that can delight the fancy or gratify the taste.

In these palaces and museums the author wanders, and describes their principal contents—not certainly with the profound and pene- trating criticism and the elaboration of BELL, yet sufficiently for the object in view. The vicinity of Florence is next reviewed ; and as Mr. Evans travels through Tuscany on his route to Rome, he devotes a valuable chapter to the general aspect and agriculture of that district. In the Eternal City he lingers long, about one third of the work being devoted to Rome and its environs. The spot where by the influence of the climate men are said to lose their courage and women their virtue—Naples—is his next head-quar- ters; whence lie makes excursions to Vesuvius, Pompeii, Prestum, &c. He then crosses to Sicily ; makes a tour round the island; describes and ponders over the relies of her long-vanished pros- perity and greatness; is enraptured with the loveliness of her cli- mate, the fertility of her soil, and the beauty and variety of its pro- ductions, but disgusted with the ignorance, apathy, superstition, and squalid wretchedness of her inhabitants. After an ascent of Mount &the and a view of the agriculture and produce of Sicily, he retraces his steps to Rome. On his return homeward, he visits Bologna, Ferrara, and Venice; the facts connected with whose corrupt Government he certainly does not soften, and the politic necessity of whose constitution he evidently does not comprehend. Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, and Milan, are his last chief resting-cities in Italy; and he finally leaves it by the Simplon. To render the work complete for the purposes of the connoisseur,

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Mr. Ermes has added an appendix containingan abridged transla-- lion of LArtzes elaborate History of Painting. The information it conveys is ample; and whilst the redundancies of the original have

been lopped, the character of style and manner has been preserved. In those parts which have some resemblance to a catalogue raisonne, the work was perhaps intended more for reference than for consecutive reading ; though we have found no difficulty upon this score. That it is now and then heavy, and that the sameness of the subjects gives an occasional flatness, was to be expected. It would require no slight power to impart continuous interest to three bulky octavos, without the assistance to be derived from per- sonal adventures, and sketches of character and society; especially when the subjects were chiefly critical, and the ground well trodden. On these accounts, we shall not confine ourselves to the art and antiquities of the author, but take our specimens from the parts of a more popular nature.

SAVOY AND SAVOYARD,.

Savoy for the most part consists of mountain ; and we had not long bid adieu; to France before the face of nature began to wear the character of interest pe- culiar to a mountainous country. The villages, snore perhaps front chance than design, are placed in the most pieturelue situations ; same surrounded by stately walnut-trees, or seated by the side of babbling brooks, others on the verge of precipices, or half-concealed among the mountains. For several miles, indeed, the road follows the course of the rapid Guiers, Through a vale.

Such as in Arcady, where many a thatch Gleams through the trees, ha Irseen and half.embowered.

But though Savoy confessedly abounds in every element of the picturesque, presenting all the charms and every-varying features of a wild and romantic country, yet can it boast but little else to make the traveller envy its inhabitants. " Romance and poetry may assign joy and gayety to what they call the happy sallies of Savoy, and speak of it as another Arcadia, where gladsome shepherds and lovely shepherdesses make the hills reecho with their music : hut, in sober reality, rarely, either in susnmer or winter, will rmtic dance or song here be found to enliven morning or evening ; rarely will the sound of pipe or tabor be found to greet the traveller's ear, or the voice of merriment be heard to issue from cabin or cottage to invite his stay." During the winter months, the condition of this peasantry roust he pitiable indeed. In the windows of their humble dwellings oiled paper usually supplies the place of glass, and the smoke, instead of being coded off by a chimney, is stiffened to make its escape through a hole in the roof or wall; while the inmates must of course be exposed to all the inclemency of the weather. Their clothing, too, is upon a par with their shelter ; and their squalid and sickly looks, the loathsome appendage of the goitre, the number of idiots, and the swarms of beggars, that meet the eye at every turn, are calculated to leave no very pleasing impression upon the mind.

310UNTAIN SCENt:.

The mountains become gradually more and more sterile, anti the water.falls increase in frequency and volinne, between St. Jean de :Haurienne and St. ; while those rude substitutes for bridges, so ofnen found among the Alps, consisting of fir-trees heedlessly thrown across the ditr..rent water-courses, more frequently meet the eye, and add not a little to the variety arid effect of the landscape. Even here, however, cultivation is not neglected ; no patch of land that can possibly be reclaimed is suffered to lie dormant ; the vine itself is occa- sionally seen shooting up amidst the naked crags ; while here and there, perched on the summit of almost inaccessible rocks, are seen little cabins, inhabited for two or three months in the year by those who gather in the scanty harvest or scantier vintage of the Alaurienne. We set out from St. Michel about three o'clock on the morning of the 19th of February. The sky was perfectly clear ; and when the sun arose we were gratified with one of tile grandest and inost sublime spectacles in nature. No words, indeed, can do to the splendour and variety of such a scene—the pale, spectral appearance of the snowy peaks at the first peep of dawn—and the rosy tints with which they were suffused, when the glorious orb of day at length appeared above the horizon, " rejoicing like a giant to tun his course."

AGRICULTURE OF THE 31ILANESE.

The country between Cremona and Lodi comprises the richest part of the Milanese. The irrigation, too, is brought to the highest state of perfection. The grass is cut four times a year as fodder for the cows, front whose milk is made the well known cheese called Partnesan. The cows, which ale kept in the stall nearly all the year long, are fed during summer on two of these crops of grass or clover, which are cut green, and in the winter on the other two, which are bayed.

The milk of at least fifty cows is required for the manufacture of Parmesan cheese. Hence, as one farm rarely affards pasture for such a number, it is usual for the farmers or metaycrs of a district to club together. The milk of fifty, sixty, or even of a hundred Cows, is brought twice to the farm, where the dairy is fixed : the person on whom devolves the task of making the cheese keeps an an account of the milk received, and the cheese is afterwards apportioned ac- cordingly. In this fertile plain, a farm of sixty English acres is considered as a large one. These farms are subdivided into fields ca. two or three acres, for the convenience of irrigation ; a practice which, in the course of a few years, impairs the quality of the grass to such a degree, that it becomes necessary to discontinue it. In this case the sluices of the Cora are shut, the ground is ploughed in autumn, and, in the following spring, sown with hemp, which shoots up a great height ; when this is pulled, the ground is sown with legumi- nous plants. In the next spring it is sown with oats, which grow to the height of six or seven feet. The richness of the soil being thus sufficiently subdued, it is next cropped with wheat. Maize is then sown in the following spring; a second crop of wheat succeeds and finishes the course of cropping. The gretral is then left to itself, and is immediately covered with herbage. During winter it is manured, and the new meadow is then subjected again to the process of irrigation, which is usually continued for fifteen years. Thins the rotation in the Milanese extends to twenty years; five years for the growth of hemp, pulse, and grain ; and fifteen for the growth of grass. Rice is also grown in some parts of the Milanese; but as it partakes of the nature of an aquatic plant—for the rice-grounds are kept under water during nearly the whole period of its growth—its cultivation has been placed under considerable restriction by the government, owing to the malaria which it engenders.

FISHING, FOR SWORD-FISH AT MESSINA.

A more attractive sport, however, is the fishing for the pesce-spada, which begins about the middle of April, and continues to the middle of September. From the commencement of this fishery till the end of June, it is carried on upon the shore of Calabria ; and from this latter period till the middle of Sep- tember, on that of Sicily. The reason is, that, from Aptil till June, the sword- fish—either for the sake of food, or from some other unascertained cause—en- tering by the Faro, keeps along the shore of Calabria without approaching that of Sicily ; while, from the end of June to the middle of September, it takes the opposite side. The sword-fish weighs generally from one to two hundred • Grny's Vaster..

pounds. The formidable weapon to which it owes its name varies from three to four feet in length, projecting from the end of the upper jaw and terminating in a point. The peace-spada is taken either with the palimadara, a kind of net with very close meshes, or with the harpoon. In the latter case the fishermen make use of a boat called luntre, from the Latin word linter, a vessel about eighteen feet in length by seven or eight in width—the prow being wider than the stern, in order to give the harpooner more room. The boat is furnished with a mast, called yariere or fariere, about eighteen feet in length, on the round top of which is placed one of the crew, whose business it is to descry the fish and watch its motions. The mast, near the bottom, is crossed at right angles by a yard called la croce, to the extremities of which the oars are attached by means of loops, to enable the rowers to turn the boat with the greater ease and celerity. The harpoon, which is about twelve feet long, is made fast to a rope something more than half an inch in diameter and two hundred yards in length.

While the fish coast along the Calabrian shore, two men are placed on the rocks or cliffs to give notice of their approach. A similar practice is adopted on the Sicilian side ; but there, as the shore is less precipitous, two vessels are moored near it, at the distance of a stout's throw from each other, and on the masts of these the men are stationed.

On the approach of a fish, which is said to be indicated by a change of colour in the water, the signal is given by the men stationed at the mast-head, or on the cliffs, as the case may be, and the foremost luntre then hears down upon it in the direction pointed out, till the spy on the round top of the luntre itself has also descried it. The vessel is then steered to one side or the other according to his direction, while the harpooner stands ready at the prow, anxiously watching an opportunity to hurl his weapon, which he does with almost unerring aim ; taking care at the same time to let the fish have rope enough to run. The men now row with all their might, fidlowing the track of the wounded fish, till at length, exhausted with the loss of hlood, he rises to the surface of the water, nod is easily dragged into the boat. It must not be supposed, however, that this sport is altogether without danger ; for sometimes the pesce-spada, when of large size, has been known to turn upon his pursuers, to pierce the side of the boat with his weapon, and even to upset it.