SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TRavirm, A Winter in Italy. In a Series of Letters to a Friend. By Mrs. Ashton Yates. In

two volumes Wham. STATISTICS.

St. Lucia : Historical, Statistical. and Descriptive. By Henry II. Breen. Esq. (Thirteen Years a Resident in the Island.) Longman cad Co. Pianos%

John Manesty, the Liverpool Merchant. By the late William Magian, LL.D.

With Illustrations by George Cruikshank. In two volumes Mortimer. TIITOLoaT,

Christian Faith and Practice. Parochial Sermons, by the Reverend J. Garbett, Pre- beudery of Chichester, and Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford.

Volume II Hatchard and Son. Old Windsor Sermons. By the Reverend Wiliam Gifford Cookesley. M.A., Assist- ant Master of Eton College Hatchard and Son. Five Club Sermons. By the Rev. A. Gibson. M.A., Vicar of Chedworth, Glouces- tershire, and late Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford.

MRS. ASHTON YATES'S WINTER IN ITALY.

Tars is a very agreeable book, and not devoid of occasional novelty ; which, looking at the manner in which Italy has been overrun by literary as well as military invaders, is no slight merit. Mrs. YATES is not indeed a learned or critical traveller, though she has a taste for art, and a competent knowledge of ancient and modern Italian history. Her new information is accidental or individual ; arising from being the last visiter who has told her story, or from some peculiar means of acquiring knowledge, or from a habit of noting appearances that struck her, without regard to their being trivial in the estimate of many. These qualities are set off by a style easy, simple, and unaffected, and by a manner which we can only characterize as being, like the book itself, agreeable.

There are some shadows to these lights : Mrs. YATES rather allows her antiquarian and historical lore to run away with her pen ; and in giving the cream of her reading made easy, she assumes too little knowledge in her correspondent, or at least in the public. She has also a taste for reverie that almost sinks into "fine" writ- ing; the sentiments being sometimes taken from poets who have treated her subjects—as, for instance, the reflections on the field of Thrasymene, where Childe Harold and Hohenlinden may both be recognized. Even these would be pleasant enough if rarer ; but their frequent occurrence flattens the interest. This is more especially the case in the second volume. Mrs. YATES'S field of observation commences with Rome and its vicinity ; where she spent her Christmas, and remained till the Carnival; in whose witless buffooneries the English appear to take a much more leading part than the respectable natives. The sa- turnalia over, she departed for Naples, and saw all the usual sights, and something more, for she penetrated into several out-of-the-way towns—that were during the prosperous days of Southern Italy : but Vesuvius she only partially ascended, for "her courage failed" as she approached the mountain, and she let her friends proceed without her. From Naples she returned to Rome, and thence proceeded to Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, and Venice ; at which last she lingered, delighted. Rome and Naples, however, are the places of her longest sojourn and most elaborate descrip- tion; next to them, Venice and Florence take the pas; Padua, Ferrara, and Bologna, being little more than flying visits.

Mrs. YATES bad not the extensive means Mrs. SHELLEY pos- sessed of judging of the Italian character ; but she entertains a favourable view of it, and from what she was able to see and learn, considers the people advancing. This is her opinion on the

MORALS OF THE HIGHER CLASSES IN ROME.

I have not opportunities of judging of Italian society from my own observa- tion, and I should perhaps give you erroneous impressions if I were to communi- cate my crude ideas on the subject ; but I cannot refrain from mentioning my conviction, from all I hear, that some objectionable peculiarities of manners most notorious formerly, and confined to the higher classes, have altogetherdisappeared. I have no doubt that, as with us, young Italian ladies of the present day are brought into company at a marriageable age, and form lasting attachments and connexions, and also that married women now never have established cavalieri serventi. The temporary domination of the French had doubtless a salutary influence on manners in this particular ; for, to his honour let it be remembered, that Napoleon always discouraged persons who did not hold sacred the matri- monial bond; of which fact there are some striking instances to be found in the entertaining Memoirs of the Dutchess D'Abrantes ; although his own ex- ample does not attest the same right way of thinking—the ambition of forming a dynasty overcame his better judgment on the subject.

Adopting the maxim of "speak as you find," she also gives a good character of some who have hitherto borne a very indifferent one.

HONESTY OF THE NEAPOLITANS.

Of the better class of Neapolitans we have received the most favourable im- pressions; never in our intercourse with them having experienced any but the most satisfactory conduct, and in some instances unusual politeness and honesty. We were lately at a shop where the persons keeping it neither knew our names nor address, and we had only occasionally purchased a few small matters ; in making a payment some change was to be given ; the shopkeeper had none, and he insisted on our taking back the piastre we had offered, saying he would rather we remained in his debt, for then he should be sure of our re- turning to his shop,—a refined sort of compliment this, in its way. But a more substantial favour was done by a tradesman who returned three piastres that we had overpaid ; and another took the trouble of bringing a gold chain and some ornaments that my daughters had very carelessly left on his counter. Ile was a dealer in the same things, but these purchases had been made else- where: he fortunately knew our address, and lost no time in replacing the stray articles, even before they were missed.

The picturesque Lazzaroni are, I am happy to say, daily diminishing in number, owing to the improvement of their condition. They are not by any means so large a class, nor so distinct from the ordinary poor, as I believe they were formerly, and as I expected, from different accounts, to find them.

The person in whose house we have the good fortune, pro tempore, to be do- miciled, on the Chiaja, is an Englishwoman, who has resided here for twenty- five years ; and she assured me that she never found the least indisposition to work on the part of the poor, and that they are always thankful for employ- ment, with which the present Government most creditably endeavours to supply them. But such was not always the case, and when thirty thousand destitute able-bodied men denominated Lazzaroni were loose upon society half-famished, (as the dogs are described to be in Constantinople,) surrounded by luxury and civilization, of none of the advantages of which they partook, it is, I think, a proof of their extreme mildness of character, that they never assumed the formidable aspect of the Janissaries in the City of the Sultan." In my opinion, it is wonderful that there have not been many Massniellos. Nothing but actual starvation here causes even an emeute among the suffering class.

GROWTH OF LANDED GENTRY IN TUSCANY.

Our road lay among the Apennines, which formed an endless variety of com- binations of beautiful scenery, all clothed in the gayest apparel. Luxuriant wild flowers, and banks of purple thyme, were spread far and near ; the latter, like Scotland's heather, enriching the foreground, and occasionally contrasting it with the sterile rocks that rose above, grouped in fantastic shapes, or which, boldly massive, seemed to preclude access even to the bounding goat, that adventurous lover of craggy steeps. We remarked some excellent, handsome, and quite modern houses, in the midst of these Italian highlands, many miles distant from Florence ; from which it would appear that at least temporary residence on their estates is becoming more frequent than it was formerly among the great landed proprietors of Tuscany. We were told by an English gentle- man of large landed property, who has been settled in the neighbourhood of Florence for twenty years, that the most happy intercourse invariably subsists between the landlord and tenant, when a Fattore is not employed to oppress and pillage the one and cheat and deceive the other. The arrangement between them is that they divide the fruits of the soil. He said that many of his acquaint- ances who used to employ Fattori or agents, now manage and superintend their own estates, and have thereby benefited themselves and their tenants so ob- viously that the laudable practice is becoming more general than formerly : audit would make a most important change for the better in society in Italy, if the healthful, manly pursuits of a country life, were generally adopted by persons of fortune, instead of the idle amusements of cities for those who can take no part in the government, and whose leading occupation is to kill time.

If the upper classes of Italy really desire to regenerate their country, they cannot do better than follow these Tuscan models : it may be a slow, but it will be a sure preparation. In a country of any extent, the base of an enduring aristocracy must be terri- torial. A monied, a titular, or a priestly aristocracy, may last long in quiet times, and upheld by power; but, based upon habit as much as upon opinion, they can neither resist a convulsion nor effect a change. A territorial aristocracy, however, must be some- thing more than mere receivers of the profits of land. If they are nothing beyond this, they are only a monied aristocracy of another kind, whose property is equally liable to confiscation as that of the fundholder or the clergy, though it must be done in another way. Family attachment, and that sort of public feeling which is best expressed by the word loyalty, are requisite to give political power to a territorial aristocracy ; and these can only be pro- duced by time and the interchange of kindness, or maintained by the latter. Without a ballast of this nature to trim the state vessel, and the leaders which such a body might supply, even a successful outbreak in Italy, under any conceivable circumstances, would be most disastrous. The country would be worse off than Spain ; for its provinces would want the custom of unity which time has given to those of Spain, and it would be without the dead weight or drag that arises from the existence of a hereditary sovereign.

Returning from this digression to Mrs. YATES'S Winter in Italy, we close with a few extracts, that will serve to convey an idea of her general matter.

INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE.

Our acquaintance with a young clergyman, who had some interest among the Cardinals, obtained for us the honour of an interview with the Pope. We were a party of about twelve; and on being told that we were all English, he dispensed with our bending the knee, or showing him any mark of homage to which our stiff-necked, stiff-limbed people are unaccustomed. Horace Wal- pole, it is said, on being presented, drew back, loth to pay the tribute of re- spect good Catholics were doing to the slipper ; which the Pope perceiving, kindly addressed him—. My son, don't be afraid of showing respect to an old man. We, not being called on to pay any such implied homage, placed our- selves at once in a circle around his Holiness. He was plainly babited in a loose white cloth robe, made like a dressing-gown ; his slippers only were or- namented, being composed of crimson and gold. He is an animated, benevolent- looking old gentleman, of about seventy years of age. One of his Bishops, an Englishman, stood near, (the Pope was himself standing, leaning his back against a table,) and told him who some of us were ; mentioning that one of the party was a Member of Parliament, another a naval captain dec.; and to each person he spoke in Italian on subjects appropriate to their callings. From us ladies he inquired how long we had been in Rome ? had we travelled much ? and ordinary questions of the sort; which, though very interesting to us coming from his lips, were probably, as well as our answers, very tire- some to him. In about half an hour, he called for his hat and cloak, and bow- ing, left us, to take a walk in the adjoining garden.

A JUDICIOUS EXPLANATION OF' ROMISH UNITY.

The Church here presents now, as formerly, so vast a variety in its professors as puzzles one to imagine how—its members being so different in externals—it can be uniform in its purposes. Truly it is of capacious as well as of elastic construction. There is the Pope, that "servant of servants," with his triple crown ; Cardinals are seen everywhere drawn in their state carriages, accom- panied by fine liveried attendants, or walking in processions, the weight of their scarlet and ermine robes supported by trainbearers. From Cardinals downwards are met at every turn different grades of the clerical body; some richly dressed— purple and scarlet mingling in their habiliments, others more plain; until the coarsely-garbed Friars bring up the rear, their bare feet and uncovered heads i aiding n appearance their equal pretensions with the meanest beggars to the extreme of poverty. What a diversity of tastes are thus accommodated within the bosom of the i

Church, for which n ours there is no provision I And therefore, probably, arise our different sects; and this it is that gives to us, who belong to the Reformed religion, the character of being divided, whilst the Roman Catholics lay claim to unity from having arrangements made within their own body to suit many men of many minds. Some among us, who abjure pomp, turn Quakers; others, who love it even in holy orders, are candidates for rank and seats among our Peers ; again, those who are stubborn, and will not recognize Episcopal au- thority, are Presbyterians, Independents, &c. &c. : whereas, among the Roman Catholics, diversity of opinion as to church-government and many other mat- ters, I believe, is really as great, (always allowing for agreement as to there being one infallible temporal [earthly ?] head of the church); and yet Dominicans, Franciscans, and other denominations, though differing as widely perhaps from their parent-stock as do many of our sectaries from the °sty-

Wished religion, are not considered separatists, because more of human skill is to be found in the construction of the Roman Catholic than in that of the Reformed Church. In subordinate points, toe, we are surpassed in policy ; that is to say, if we shrink from the taunts cast upon us for our apparent divisions. Our churches are kept inviolably for the use of our established clergy ; none who has not subscribed to the Thirty-nine Articles can enter the pulpit of any parish- church : whereas in Rome the churches are thrown open to all zealous preachers, and it is not uncommon to see a poorly-clad Friar holding forth under the splendid dome of the Jesuits, as well as in many others of the most magnificent churches.

ROMAN PRIDE.

The pride of birth as Romans has never departed since the period when St. Paul declared he was free-born ; and an observer will often perceive indications of their reminiscence of past greatness in other ways, as well as in the names frequently given by the lower classes to their children. I have several times heard half-clothed ragazzi called Julius Cwsar, Augustus Claudius, &c., (Brutus seems to be a name quite forgotten ;) and it is not wonderful that the Ctesars and Augustuses should shrink from the anvil and the plough, and hand them over to the lighthearted Neapolitans, who seem to love cheerfulness and pleasure unencumbered with any sense of native dignity or longings after what they are not. There are no manufactures but of priests unconnected with lee beaux arts; so that one can see good reason why a large portion of men are willing to put their sons into well-provided religious establuhments, who are "too proud to dig and to beg are ashamed." Although the lower order a Romans are not unwilling to be engaged as Servants, It is for the most part persons from a distance, designated Forestieri, who do all the drudgery necessarily falling on that class; and the mode in which the Italians employ their domestics hardly infringes on their dignity. * * •

A Roman woman will not be hired to scour a floor, nor do any such menial offices ; and accordingly, in the best hotels, which are kept by clever men who have travelled, and are either not Romans or have lived a good deal from home, females are procured from remote parts of the country, to afford their customers, the English particularly, the neat accommodation required.