Such an argument is in my opinion convincing for all the world except for
an English Tory, a French Ultra or a Bern Oligarch.
The Arsenal here is well worth seeing; here is a superb collection of
ancient armour, much of which were the spoils of the Austrian and
Burgundian chivalry, who fell in their attempts to crush Helvetic liberty.
By way of shewing how fond the Bernois are of old institutions and customs,
they have been at the trouble to catch three or four bears and keep them in
a walled pit in the city, where they are well fed and taken care of. The
popular superstition is that the bears entertained in this manner
contribute to the safety of the commonwealth; and this establishment
continued ever in full force, until the dissolution of the old Confederacy
took place and the establishment in its place of the Helvetic Republic
under the influence of the French directorial government. The custom, then,
appearing absurd and useless, was abolished, and the bears were sold. But
since the peace of 1814 other bears have been caught and are nourishd, as
the former ones were, at the expence of the state.
Bern derives its name from Bueren, the German word for Bears (plural
number). Only the French spell Berne, with an e at the end of it.
There are no theatrical amusements going forward here. Cards and now and
then a little music form the evening recreations.
In the inn at Bern I became acquainted with a most delightful Milanese lady
and her son. Her name is L - - - ; she is the widow of an opulent banker at
Milan and has a large family of children. She was about thirty-eight years
of age and is still a remarkably handsome woman. Time has made very little
impression on her and she unites very pleasing manners with a great taste
for litterature. She is greatly proficient in the English language and
litterature, which she understands thoroughly, tho' she speaks it with
difficulty. She is an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, Milton and
Byron. She had been to Zurich for her son, who was employed in a commercial
house there, in order to take him back with her into Italy. She spoke
French as well as Italian, and her son had a very good knowledge of German.
She offered me a seat in her carriage, on the understanding that I was
going to Lausanne, where she intended to stop a day or two. An offer of the
kind made by so elegant and fascinating a woman you may be assured I did
not scruple to accept, and I was in hopes of improving on this acquaintance
and renewing it at Milan. Indeed, did not business oblige me to remain some
weeks at Lausanne, I should certainly offer my services to escort her all
the way to Milan. She had letters of introduction for Lausanne, and during
her stay there I acted as her cicerone, to point out the most interesting
objects and points of view, which the place affords.
[104] Louis Charles Joseph Gravier, vicomte de Vergennes d'Alonne, was the
son of the Comte de Vergennes, who was minister under the reign of
Louisi XVI. Born at Constantinople in 1766, he took service at the
early age of thirteen, was promoted captain in 1782 and colonel in
1788. Having emigrated in 1791, he served in Conde's army, then took
service in England from 1795 to 1797. On the 3rd March, 1815, he
re-entered the army as "marechal de camp," and, on the 2nd November of
that same year, was promoted general commander of the department of
Puy de Dome. He retired on the 8th March, 1817, and seems to have been
much regretted at Clermont. Died 1821. - ED.
[105] Jean Francois Wlnkens, born at Aix-la-Chapelle In 1790, is mentioned
in the records of the French War Office as having served in the 25th
Regiment at Waterloo. His family may have belonged to Strassburg. - ED.
[106] Pierre Jacques Jomini, Protestant minister at Avenches from 1808 to
1819. - ED.
[107] The Treytorrens family, of old nobility and fame, now extinct,
possessed a large estate at Guevaux, on the borders of the lake of
Morat. - ED.
CHAPTER XIV
SEPTEMBER 1817-APRIL 1818
Journey from Lausanne to Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples - Residence at
Naples - The theatre of San Carlo - Rossini's operas - Gaming in Naples - The
Lazzaroni - Public writers - Carbonarism - Return to Rome - Christmas eve at
Santa Maria Maggiore - Mme Dionigi - Theatricals - Society in Rome - The papal
government - Lucien Bonaparte, prince of Canino - Louis Napoleon, ex-King of
Holland - Pope Pius VII - Thorwaldsen - Granet - The Holy Week in Rome - The
Duchess of Devonshire - From Rome to Florence by the Perugia road.
I started from Lausanne with a party of two ladies in a Milanese vettura
on the morning of the 20th September. We arrived at Milan on the 25th late
in the evening. On passing the Simplon we met with three or four men who
had the appearance of soldiers, and asked for alms something in the style
of the old Spanish soldier who accosted Gil Blas on his first journey. Our
ladies were a little alarmed. On travelling over the plains of Lombardy,
one of these ladies, who had never before been out of her country
(Switzerland) and was consequently accustomed to see the horizon bounded at
a very short distance by immense mountains on all sides, was much alarmed,
on arrival at the plain, at seeing no bounds to the horizon; she was
apprehensive of falling down and rolling over. Her remark reminded me
of one of the objections made to the project of Columbus's voyage in
discovery of a western passage to India; it was said that in consequence of
the rotundity of the earth they would roll down and never be able to get up
again. The sensation experienced by my fellow traveller, however, may be
well accounted for and explained by any one who from a plain surface
situated on a great height looks down without a railing or balcony.
