At the little
theatre of San Carlino I witnessed the representation of Rossini's
Cenerentola, a most delightful piece. The young actress who did the part
of Cenerentola acted it to perfection and sung so sweetly and correctly,
that it would seem as if the role were composed on purpose for her. The
part of Don Magnifico was extremely well played, and those of the sisters
very fairly and appropriately. The three actresses who did the part of
Cenerentola and her sisters, were all handsome, but she who did Cenerentola
surpassed them all; she was a perfect beauty and a grace. I think the music
of this opera would please the public taste in England. Rossini seems to
have banished every other musical composer from the stage.
I have seen, at the Theatre of San Carlo, the Don Giovanni of Mozart; but
certainly, after being accustomed to the extreme vivacity of Rossini's
style, the music, even of the divine Mozart, appears to go off heavily.
There is too much of what the French call musique de fanfares in the
opera of Don Giovanni and I believe most of the Italians are of my way of
thinking.
We have just heard of the death of the poor Princess Charlotte. I am no
great admirer of Kings and Queens; and yet I must own, I could not help
feeling regret for the death of this princess. I had formed a very high
opinion of her, from many traits in her character; and I fancied and hoped
that she was destined to redeem England from the degradation and bad odour
into which she had been plunged by the borough-mongers and bureaucrats,
engendered by the Pitt system. She had liberal ideas and an independent
spirit. I really almost caught myself shedding tears at this event, and had
she been buried here, I should have gone to scatter flowers upon her tomb:
His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani
Munere.[108]
Has no royalist or ministerial poet been found to do hommage to her
manes? Had she lived to be Queen of England she would have found a
thousand venal pens to give her every virtue under heaven.
There is a professor of natural philosophy now at Naples, of the name of
Amici, from Modena, who has invented a microscope of immense power. The
circulation of the blood in the thigh of a frog (the coldest animal in
nature), when viewed thro' this microscope, appears to take place with the
rapidity of a Swiss torrent.
Since I have been here, I have once more ascended Vesuvius; there was no
eruption at all this time, but I witnessed the sight of a stream of red-hot
liquid lava flowing slowly down the flank of the mountain. It was about two
and a half feet broad.
In my letters from Naples, the last time I was there, I gave you some idea
of the state of society. Among the upper classes gaming is reduced to a
science and is almost exclusively the order of the day. There is little or
no taste for litterature among any part of the native society. The upper
classes are sensualists; the middling ignorant and superstitious. With
regard to the Lazzaroni, I do not think that they at all deserve the ill
name that has been given to them. They always seem good humoured and
willing to work, when employment is given to them; and they do not appear
at all disposed to disturb the public peace, which, from their being so
numerous and formidable a body, they could easily do. The Neapolitan
dialect has a far greater affinity to the Spanish than to the Tuscan, and
there are likewise, a great many Greek words in it. When one takes into
consideration the extreme ignorance that prevails among the Neapolitans in
general, one is astonished that such a prodigy of genius as Filangieri
could have sprung up among them. What talent, application, deep research
and judgment were united in that illustrious man! And yet there are many
Neapolitans of rank who have never heard of him. Would you believe that on
my asking one of the principal booksellers in Naples for Filangieri's work
on legislation (an immortal work which has called forth the admiration and
eulogy of the greatest geniuses of the age, of which Benjamin Franklin and
Sir Wm Jones spoke in the most unqualified terms of approbation; a work
which has been translated into all the languages of Europe), I was told by
the bookseller that he had never heard either of the author or of his work.
A very curious thing at Naples is the number of public writers; who compose
letters and memorials in booths, fitted up in the streets. As the great
majority of the people are so ignorant as to be unable to read or write, it
follows that when they receive letters, they must find somebody to read
them for them and to write the answers required. They accordingly, on the
receipt of a letter, bring it to one of these public scribes, ask him to
read it for them and to write an answer, for which trouble he receives a
fixed pay. These writers are thus let into the secrets of family affairs of
more than half of the city; and as some-of them are in the pay of the
Government for communicating intelligence, you may guess how formidable
they may become to liberty and how dangerous an engine in the hands of a
despotic Government.
It appears that the theatre of San Carlo is principally kept up by gaming;
that is to say, the managers and proprietors would not undertake the
direction of it without the Gaming Bank being annexed to it; for otherwise
they would lose money, the expence of the Opera on account of the
magnificent decorations of the Ballets being very great, which the receipts
of the theatre are insufficient to meet; but the profits of the Casino
cover all and amply reimburse the proprietors.
