BOOKS.

MAC PARLANE'S GLANCE AT REVOLUTIONIZED

ITALY.* MR. Mac FARLA,2413.8 account of the state of the Revolutionary mind and matters in Sicily and Italy, with a passing picture of the propagandist Franks in Constantinople, appeared several weeks too soon. It required the confirmation of events to give credibility to the author's views, and the conclusions his facts contained, before a real interest could be felt in his narrative and his sketches. It is not meant by this remark to imply that the rash violence of the Revolutionary faction in Turin, their mili- tary mismanagement everywhere, and their general cowardice in the field, have changed our opinion of Mr. Mac Farlane's nature. He is un- questionably a vehement partisan of Legitimacy, who sees everything in the colours of his own spectacles, makes a fairer allowance for the faults of the Legitimists than of the Liberals, has listened only to one side of the story, and breathes into the whole case the spirit of his political feel- ings. Still, read by the too glaring light of late facts, A Glance at Revolutionized Italy can be received as a veritable though probably pre- judiced representation of the Italian propagandists ; whereas without this illustration the book looked like the fluent lucubrations of a newspaper correspondent, pouring out those representations of opponents in which vulgar partisans delight to paint their enemies. Sojourning, we know not how many times, at Constantinople, for up- wards of a twelvemonth (May 1847—July 1848,) Mr. Mac Farlane was a witness to the conduct of the Italian refugees during a period which was exciting to them from the hopes entertained of the new Pope's re- forms, the unprecedented arrival of a Nuncio from Pius to the Grand Sig- nior, and the news of the various revolutions that shook Europe during the spring of 1848: and of this conduct and their character be gives a description, which, bad as the Europeans may be who are driven to the East as a refuge, displays so much of animus that it is difficult to re- receive it as the whole truth, qualify it as we may. From Constantinople Mr. Mac Farlane steamed to Messina; going through the town, and giving a version of affairs which substantially coincides with the Neapolitan ac- count, and is in direct opposition to the Palmerstonian, as to fact, right policy, and British fair dealing. From Sicily he went to Naples, where he remained some time ; thence travelled through the Abruzzi to Ancona; and returned from the Adriatic to Rome. Here, as well as in Tuscany, he witnessed "Young Italy" in the ascendant, as he had witnessed it beaten down at Naples : at Genoa, Turin, and several other places in Pied- mont, he saw it "half and half" ; in reality somewhat cowed by the Austrian victories, yet boastful, braggart, and calumniating their King to explain Italian ill success.

As Mr. Mac Farlane formerly resided in Italy, from 1816 to 1827, he was well qualified to travel there with advantage. He knew the lan- guage, the people and their manners ; he had numerous connexions in the country; and, familiar with its former state, he could draw compa- rative views as to its stationary or advancing condition. In Naples, in Rome, in Genoa, indeed nearly everywhere, the country had been de- cidedly advancing under these oppressive governments. The improve- ments he speaks of are mostly material,—greater cleanliness, broader streets, the removal of unsightly objects, with a greater air of congruity and finish ; there are more hotels, with greater comforts and accom- modations in the English style, caused by the resort of English tra- vellers. Even the Roman States are better cultivated than formerly, and signs of greater activity are visible. At Naples the Lazzaroni have vanished ; the education, conduct, and morals of the higher classes, are much improved. But all advancement is at a stop now, in consequence of the revolutionizing; and Italy, in Mr. Mac Farlane's opinion, will fall back half a century at least. All public works, from the excavation of Pompeii to objects of more immediate util- ity, are stopped ; in Naples and Turin the expenses of war are absorbing more than the resources of the state, and a large growth of debt must be the consequence. Where Young Italy is uppermost the finances are in a still worse state ; and Mr. Mae Farlane hazarded a prediction, which ac- cording to the Times is in the act of being accomplished at Rome, that the Republicans would pawn or sell the chefs d'cerivre of ancient art in order to raise the wind. The vulgarity, folly, cowardice, insolence, and all other bad qualities of the demagogues and their followers, are described in the hardest terms : Mr. Mac Farlane will not even allow them the merit which he accords to Robespierre and other revolutionary leaders of the last century, of originality, ability, and a sort of vigour. Some of his de- scriptions, where he seems only to aim at narrating what occurred, rather support his more direct representations. The worst points of the foreign adventurer—his virulence, his pretentious spirit, his calumnious animus, his dirty and rather threadbare style of wardrobe, his singular mixture of the gentleman of the melodrama and the old clothesman—are more or less combined in several of Mr. Mac Farlane's pictures : but he does not appear to have seen any of the more respectable Republicans, except the deputation that came from Sicily to offer the crown to the second son of Charles Albert; and some of them were not above par in point of be- haviour, for one or two furiously fell upon him, connecting all English- men with Lord Palmerston and his emissaries.

Meanwhile, the state of Italy seems as bad as well can be ; worse than France during its worst state under the Provisional Government, without the power of extrication which the French possessed in their higher cou- rage, their better sense, their greater experience of public affairs, and the consequent effect of universal suffrage which gave power to the majority to oppose anarchy. Foreign and domestic trade, except for absolute ne- cessities, is at a stand; the public works, as we have seen, are stopped ;

* A Glance at Revolutionized Italy ; a Visit to Messina, and a Tour through the Ring- dam of Naples, the Abruzzi. the Marches of Ancona, Rome, the States of the Church, Tuscany, Genoa, Piedmont. &c. &c., in the Summer of 1848. By Charles Mae Far- lane, Author of "Constantinople in 1828," Ecc. Sm. &c. In two volumes. Published by smith and Elder. the theatres wholly or partly closed ; even the sale of relics at Loretto is suspended ; the hotels, the curiosity-dealers, the ciceroni, and all the other purveyors to Milor Anglais, are dull and desperate ; sometime, railing against the Constitutionalists, sometimes neglecting their business, either in patriotism or despair. What with drums of the National Guar]s, patriotic songs, dull landlords, and insolent or bemoaning waiters, there seems at present little in Italy to tempt the tourist who loves his ease, even if the risks of public disturbances were disregarded. The following are samples of the troubles that beset the tourist and indicate the condi- tion of affairs.

" Naples had used to be a very distinguished place for good eating and drink- ing—one of the choicest places on the whole Continent for the gourmand and the gourmet. As everybody was out of town, as all hospitality was suspended, we had but slight opportunity of judging of the present state of private dinners and entertainments. The hotels and ristoratori had sadly declined. Those who kept them, or attended in them, said that this declension was owing to the Revo- lution and the barricading of May, which had driven away the English and all other money-spending travellers. It seemed to me that a good part of the falling off was to be traced directly to the noisy, stunning politics of the day, and to the obligation under which so many of these people still found themselves of turning out at all hours, and, at times, at the shortest summonses, to do duty as National Guardsmen. The cook would be heating his own head with an inflammatory news- paper, instead of minding his casseroles and turning the calf's head he was cook- ing. The maitre d'hatel would leave unsolved your interesting query about the vintage of Caprma, in order to run away and huddle on his uniform and gird on his sword; for there was a row in Toledo, and the generale was beating, or ex- pected to beat. The sum total of all this was, that I never got a decent or com- fortable meal in the place where I had eaten so many. I trust I bore this with becoming patience. Not so, one day, did an old Tuscan gentleman. After being disappointed in other things, he wanted some mustard. He was told there was none. Good God!' exclaimed he, 'you have got a constitution, and you have

got no mustard !' • "The very first night after our arrival, we witnessed a scene curious to though not at all rare nowadays in Naples. Having had an early dinner and a good deal of exercise after it—and having nothing else to amuse or occupy us— we went to sapper. The trattoria I selected was the Como di Ferro, well known to all English travellers between the years 1816 and 1827. It was then one of the best houses in the city. I was told it had sadly fallen off; but I went to it for the sake of old recollections.

"We were sitting quietly at table; there was nobody in the room except our- selves ; it was about ten o'clock—when, all of a sudden, there was a terrible clat- tering and screaming and shouting in the street. Before we could begin to wonder what it meant, the landlady rushed into the room, clutched up the silver forks and spoons' and shrieked to the waiter to close and bar the doors. When this was done she said, 'Patriots or Royalists, they are all thieves ! whenever there is a fracasso (row) somebody is plundered! What a life for honest 'ample! and this is the life we have been leading ever since last January, when the King promised the Constitution!' She and the waiter advised us not to stir until the not should be over. There was no getting out of the house, for all the doors were barred, and there was no seeing what was going on in the street. We heard a marching of troops, a clattering of arms, and tremendous vociferations; but there was no

firing, and the baruffa was soon over. * " The splendid public library in the Neapolitan Museum, in which I formerly spent so many long mornings, and which was then accessible to every one, well- dressed or ill-dressed, with recommendation or without, was now shut up; there being no readers, no students left in the capital. I would fain have seen once more some of the old books and manuscripts, the autographs of Tasso, and that ancient MS. copy of Sir Bevis of Southampton, which gave so much delight to Sir Walter Scott when he was here in his last days: but the keeper had locked the door and taken away the key in his pocket. They very politely offered to send in search of him; but I did not like to give this trouble, and I never found time to return to the library."

According to Mr. Mac Farlane, art is suffering as well as eating. The Liberals are often hostile to art; arguing, with some degree of truth, that in Italy it has always been a slave to civil or ecclesiastical tyrants. But the leaders, we imagine, only slight it ; their followers deface or in- jure in a truly British style.

"The day which followed our visit to Pompeii we devoted to the Museum of Naples. We had the range of the place almost entirely to ourselves; there being nobody there except the keepers and servants. The place was abandoned, the people were low-spirited. In corners, and sotto voce, they complained to us that their salaries were not so regularly paid as they used to be; that there was a stop to promotion and to the sale of synopses, catalogues, guide-books, and other ob- jects which travellers and foreign visiters purchased of them; that they lost other advantages which they had been accustomed to derive from foreigners; and that, not long ago, the visas of their own countrymen from the provinces had turned the Museum into a bear-garden, and had scared them out of their wits, as they remained answerable for any injury done to the valuable objects of art intrusted to their care. It appears that these provincials came up to the capital in the guise of National Guardsmen, and that between the 29th of January and the 15th of May their insolence and arrogance knew no limits. Because the agitators and demagogues who led them and indoctrinated them had proclaimed that the adjec- tive royal' was a word not to be used by freemen, and must give place to the adjective'national —because they told them that all palaces, parks, galleries, museums, and the like, did belong, and always had of right appertained, un- to the sovereign people—each tasteless clown took it into his head that every article in the Museum belonged separately to himself, or at least that in these days of liberty and restored rights he was free to maul and spoil it, or do what lie thought proper with it. They were for touching and pulling at everything. They took in their rough awkward paws those unrivalled Etruscan vases whose loss could never be replaced. They forced open the wire-grated doors of the cabinets, to handle and stupidly examine the ancient trinkets, exquisite little bronzes, and other treasures dug out from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia' and which ma- terially help to make up by far the most interesting collection in the world. They were impatient and altogether intolerant of remonstrance. They called the keep- ers and attendants slaves of the tyrant, and told them that times were chair Their song was, ' Questa e robba mia; cio e robba nostra, robba nazionale, c I robba del Popolo ; giacche ii Popolo significa nazione, e la nazione e it Popolo, eti il Popolo siamo noi. The words of the song are soon learned, and the tune is as easy as that of ' Ca ira.'"

Something similar had taken place at Rome.

"The signs of their Vandalism met our eyes everywhere: they had desecrate Saint Peter's!

"The first morning we went into that Basilica the last mass was over ; there was no one there except an old man in a ragged coat and a very dirty lad in a round jacket; and these two asleep in the transept The Northern door was wide open, as it is from morning till night. Anybody might have entered, unobserved as we did, and might have enjoyed a full hour of barbarous mischief, if he had been that way inclined. Of the attentive, vigilant custodi, or the keepers and vergers of former days, I saw no trace. There were two Swiss in the broad pas- sage by the side of the church which leads up to the Vatican; but they had only to mount a sham guard in that passage, and could see nothing of what passed in Saint Peter's. The church was comparatively dirty; compared with the state in which I used to see it, it was positively dirty. The first objects of art you meet are the two beautiful vases containing the holy water, each of which is supported by two angels or cherubs. They have been portrayed so often, and engraved and copied in casts, and in all manner of materials and styles, that they are known all over the world. The figures are of gigantic proportions, like nearly every object in Saint Peter's; they are spirited, wonderfully finished, and altogether the finest specimens of the genius of the sculptor.

"On the left arm of one of these cherubim a barbarian had inscribed "RAFFAELE TUFARI, di Napoli, 1848,

in large, well-formed, deeply-cut or deeply-bitten letters. From the depth and the sharpness I should judge that some acid corrosive of marble had been em- ployed: the wretch's inscription was indelible; you could not efface it without de- stroying the arm."

Mr. Mac Farlane bears testimony to the extensive spread of scepti- cism among the educated ; and unless he exaggerates facts, the present release from all control shows that this scepticism had spread more ex- tensively than was supposed. The people, especially the country people, have still the religious feeling strong in them ; but they are assailed by Communist doctrines. This is an account of a conversation our traveller bad with a Romisli priest, whom he met at an inn.

"About noon, we made a halt for two or three hours at the very spacious and not uncomfortable ion of the small village called il Borghetto, under the ancient hill town of Magliano di Sabina. An old priest, who was on his way to Forli, had arrived a few minutes before us, and was ordering his midday ruinestra. We joined him in the sala. He was very ugly, and very yellow, and very caustic—he was all legs and arms and head. He was a keen, worldly, Roman priest, of the higher or more prosperous class; partaking in none of the popular superstitions, and having no heavier burden of belief than he could carry without breaking his curved and very short back. The complexion of the times had made him atra- hilarious. He had a very neat and strong English carpet bag, which he had de- posited in one of half a dozen bedchambers which opened upon the sala. The waiter, a little boy, not knowing which chamber had been taken by the priest, or which by us asked him if that were his sacco. 'Hem, hem,' quoth the priest, 'if there is still the law of mem et Omni, I should certainly say that the bag is mine. If, nowadays, a gentleman and a sacerdote can claim a right of property, I should say that is my property.' The boy grinned, with difficulty understand- ing that the carpet bag was his' not ours. The ancient Arciprete struck the haft of his knife on the table, looked at me with his bright eyes, and went off at score. 'La proprieta e un furto—property is a theft, so say these French Communists, and some of our people are beginning to say it after them. Can there be any- thing so wicked, so insane, so monstrous? Why, the ,little wren and her mate, the smallest of birds, claim a property in the nest they have made, and will fight for its preservation. It is a doctrine against nature. Take away the right of property, and men will become worse than wild beasts in a forest.' 'I hope,' said it is not come to that in Italy.' "'But it is coming fast to it,' said the priest; the doctrine is spreading fast and far ; and if it be not checked, the Lord have mercy upon us who possess something- Dio abbia misericordia di noi che abbiamo qualche cuss.' " 'But this doctrine will become dangerous only by spreading among the =Ss of the people; it can scarcely have reached your peasantry yet: the influence of the clergy and the resident country priests over your rural population used to be so great.

" It was great—it is great, except where the evil spirit of Communism gets possession; but that devil is stronger than their superstition. We are losing our influence even over the ignorant; I, who live much in the country, see we are gradually losing it; but only and solely through the Communists, who are telling every poor man that he ought to be and easily might be rich. As for all this ranting about country, and political liberty and equality, and unity and independ- ence of Italy, it may do among the citizens of Rome, but our peasants neither understand nor care anything about it. It is not by such appeals that our rural populations are to be excited. Our revolutionists know this, and therefore have they brought in this Communism to their aid.'

"He went on a good while longer, but it was only to illustrate and enforce what he had said before. His argument, his tone, were entirely worldly. He did not once appeal to any religious principle. With an Englishman, with a heretic, why wear any mask? "

The opinions of the priest were more than confirmed in the practice. Mr. Mac Farlane had previously found Communist doctrines entertained at Rome, and, according to the statement of a fellow traveller, reduced to practice in some of the Neapolitan districts.

"We had a new comrade, a very calm, well-informed, sensible person, the judge or gindice di pace of a neighbouring district. He talked freely of the state of the country, and represented its condition as becoming an alarming one. Although a Constitutionalist himself, and recently appointed to his post by the Constitutional Government, the Ultra-Liberals had declared war against him, and the Com- munists had given him great trouble and vexation. These poor deluded men,' said he, • who were formerly so submissive to law and authority, and so easy to manage, have been taught to believe that " constitution" means a suspension or cessation of all law. Not only will they not pay taxes to Government, but they will pay no rents to their landlords; nay, they hold themselves exempted by the new order of things from paying their private debts.' "I said that I had seen some melancholy consequences of all this; that a num- ber of my friends living at Naples had received hardly any rents from their estates. "'And none will they get,' said the judge, unless a check can be given to these doctrines. The King's government is too mild. The King believes in the efficacy of gentle admonitions and proclamations. They will do nothing. In my district there are men who are breaking up the very foundations of society. They will not pay their private personal debts; and they fly in the face of the law. The other day this happened. A man owed another the sum of a hundred ducats: the money had long been owing; and the debtor was well able to pay it. At last the creditor had legal process. I sent an usciere (bailiff) to the house to exact payment. The debtor told my officer that we had gotten the Constitution; that these were times of liberty and equality; that no roan was such a fool as to think of Paying debts now; and that if he did not instantly quit the house, he would beat him soundly, if he did not kill him. I was bound to procure assistance for the civil officer. Having no other force from which to choose, I sent one of our Civic Guard with the usciere, who returned to the house. Instead of submitting, the debtor fell upon the National Guardsman, and wounded him very severely. In all probability the poor man will die.'

''And have you not been able to seize the assassin?' ''Not yet,' said the judge; the clubs are so powerful, the Communists are becoming so numerous, and our respectable people are so afraid of any collision.'

"A great troop of peasants driving asses heavily laden from the seaside to the high road attracted our attention.

"' That is one of the signs of the times,' said the judge. Down there by the beach are some of the royal saline (salt pans). The people have driven away the King's collectors and labourers, and are now helping themselves, without any duty or payment whatsoever. They have now been at this work for weeks. Half the country has turned out to the saline. Though so close to a fortified town with a

considerable garrison, they have met with no opposition. Salt was a Government monopoly—an ancient recognised source of revenue; but the price put upon it was light. If these men would stay at home and work, they might gain in any day double the value of the salt they are stealing. Then one breach of the law leads on to another. They are smuggling all along this coast; and the offences will not end in smuggling and robbing the salt-pans.'"

Extracts of a similar character could easily be multiplied ; with others descriptive of the clubbists, the clubs, and demagogue doings from Messina to Genoa, which really look like a caricature of the first French Revolution. There are also many strong remarks upon Lord Palmerston's policy and the estimate of England in Italy. What we have taken, however, is a sufficient sample of the volumes. The partisan nature of the writer's mind is obvious ; and though we do not suspect him of any wish to distort facts, he is evidently too preju- diced to see the truth as it really is, though he probably errs more in his praise of the old Governments than in his estimate of the Republicans. The style is fluent, with a kind of animal spirit, but not in the best taste, and rather overladen with epithets. The book owes its attraction to its subject, and to its sketches of parties and society as they now exist.