Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

one voice; or whether one or the other has not opened or closed a finger or so after the numbers were called. These trifling differences of opinion are referred to the by-standers, who sometimes decide according to their partialities, sometimes according to justice, but not infrequently fall by the ears among themselves upon the point in dispute; so that it is very common to see the game end in a general squabble, in which case, faces and arms are clawed and bit, shins kicked, large stones caught up, and spittle and bad words distributed con brio. When the fracas is at its height, some little dirty police officer interposes his authority, the disturbance ends, and in ten minutes after,the fierce combatants may be seen kissing one another, or walking along with the arm of one thrown over the other's neck, in all imaginable amity.

[ocr errors]

On each side of the street are large tables, covered with aquavitæ, terragli (a sort of biscuit,) coarse sweetmeats, rosolio, &c. On each of these tables are placed one or two enormous horns, painted and gilt, as ornaments. The Neapolitans are vastly fond of the horns;" besides being exhibited on these plebeian tables, they are very often stuck up in the halls, or even in the gallerie di compagnia of the nobility; they always grace the apothecaries' and barbers' shops; and, in short, there are few houses in Naples destitute of these elegant ornaments.

puts a tin soap-basin, something like Mambrino's helmet, in his hands; then pouring a little water into it, makes a lather with his fingers, which he daubs over the chin, mouth, nose, and ears of the wight who wants to lose his beard; then grasping his razor, proceeds to the serious part of the work. The operation is enlivened by a variety of complaints and retorts. "Ah, managgio me fui male!" "Ma per San Gennaro hai' n'a barba di ferro!" "Ne, chiano, chiano!" "Non At dubitate, non dubitate niente."* length the operation is completed, the patient gets up, slides his hand across his chin, and, delighted with its unusual smoothness, goes away chuckling, and resigns his seat to another.

These are the main groupes, but there are many others of less importance, as fellows roasting and boiling chesnuts over charcoal fires, vociferating as they toss the pan or stir the fruit, "O che galanteria! O! che castagne, caudè, caudè ;"t-and Acquajoli, some fixed and some ambulatory. These are persons whose trade it is to sell water made cold with snow; the vagrant tradesman goes running about from place to place, carrying on his back a barrel of cold water, and in: one hand having a bottle of sambuco, in the other a couple of glasses; when he meets a customer, he very actively throws his barrel on one of his knees and fills a glass. The more dignified members of this class have fixed situations; they are furnished with a high counter, whereon are displayed oranges and lemons, bottles, glasses, &c. of various sizes, large coarse lemon squeezers made of iron, and a few other instruments; four columns rise from the corners of the counter, which support a sort of roof, which is made very gay with flags and figures, and the whole of the apparatus is painted, and roughly and gaudily carved and gilded from Between the columns top to bottom. at each end, a barrel is hung upon swivels between columns; these ves

At short distances there are droll old barbers with a couple of chairs, and the apparatus which they employ in the exercise of their mystery, scraping rough black beards that would turn an edge of adamant: one sees, every now and then, a Lazzarone grinning fiercely through his suds; but as there is something piquant in this operation we must describe it. The patient pays a grain before-hand, takes off a coat or jacket, that is to say if he has one (those gentlemen not being always embarrassed with that encumbrance,) which he hangs at the back of the chair, and then sits down; the operator ties a large rough cloth of a variety of tints, black, red, and yellow, not doubt any thing." round the neck of the sufferer, and 46 ATHENEUM VOL. 11.

"Ah, d-n it you hurt me." you have an iron beard."

"By St. Januarins Do not doubt-do

+ Caude, caude, or calde, calde. In the Neapolitan dialect the letter is generally changed into u or v.

sels are ever and anon put in motion, in order to dissolve the snow which is in them, or to draw off the water for the thirsty applicants. The Acquajolo stands behind, raised on a little stool; his shirt sleeves are tucked up to his shoulders, and he has a white cotton night-cap on his head. The price of this water, which is always cold and clear, is half a grain for a large glassfull with a little sambuco or lemon juice in it; but the cunning rogues always ask foreigners the insinuating question, "La volete per un grano?" by which means a double price is generally obtained. The Acquagelata is in Naples almost a necessary of life; the Sorbetti and Gelati may be considered as luxuries; great quantities are consumed in the coffee-houses by the middling and upper classes, and as the low Neapolitans like luxuries as well as their su periors, there is a considerable number of Sorbettari in the streets; they sell a coarse sort of Sorbetto, which is served out in little cups resembling gally-pots, at a grain each; they furnish no spoons, but as the Sorbetto is almost liquid, the purchasers easily gulp it down; the cups are then returned to the vender. Here also "Punch and Judy" exhibit their tricks; their theatre and personages are just the same as those which used to amuse us in London, nearly the only difference being in the language, which is true Neapolitan.

All this goes on every day, if the weather permits, with little variation, from eight in the morning till five, in the winter, and eight in summer; the grotesque crowd never fails, the broad humour scarcely ever flags; every show, every professor, every individual we have mentioned is encircled by an admiring group. The Molo is, perhaps, still more excellent in its kind; but the Molo is only frequented in the evening, and is never brilliant except on holidays; whereas the Strada Molo is always busy, and always the same. The middle of the street is generally occupied by carriages and carts, and by the Corriboli and Calessi, which are whirled along with great rapidity by tough little horses, while the drivers, standing behind, crack their whips, joke

as they pass their fellows,* or show, by signs of their hands, how much they are cheating their customers of.

After making our way through this street we reach the Largo del Castello, a large piazza with a few young trees, and with a great deal of rubbish and filth in the midst: here the chief trade is the sale of old clothes, which are thrown over the wooden rails or spread out upon the ground: at this time there is a large booth on one side, where various scenes are represented by figures in wax, as large as life; the favourite performance at present is the miraculous adventure of San Gennaro in the amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, which is a burlesque imitation of the adventure of the prophet Daniel in the lion's den. In this square also are the two famous minor theatres, San Carlino and La Fenice, of which we shall speak at a future time. From the Largo several streets lead into the celebrated Strada Toledo, which is esteemed and boasted of by the Neapolitans as being the busiest and finest street in the world; and busy it certainly is, but much might be said against its being the finest. It is three quarters of a mile long; and though it would not be considered wide in England, it certainly is wide for a continental street; it is paved with large flags of lava from Vesuvius, and after a day of heavy rain is tolerably clean. The first view is striking; the houses or palazzi, for here every house of more than two stories is called a palazzo, are very high,-four, five, six, or even seven stories, each of which is lofty; nearly balconies, all the windows open upon Not one of the buildings is fine in an and nearly all the roofs are terraced. architectural point of view; and the ground floor of every palace, whoever may be its inmates, is turned into shops and coffee-houses, very few of which are at all respectable. The street is filled at all hours with a most motley and incongruous crowd, and is ever

The Corriboli are the Neapolitan hack gigs, which always ply in the streets. The Calessi are country gigs without springs; their shafts generally make an aspiring angle up in the air; sometimes a nearly always sadly loaded. We have frequently second horse is put-to outside of the shafts; they are seen them with three on the seat, two on the shafts, body of the vehicle, two behind, and one poor devil in a net under the

echoing with a thousand discordant huge oxen, and filled with similar mavoices. You do not see here mounte- terials; and Signori and Lazzaroni banks, or Punch, or Polcinello; but hustle and elbow one another on foot. Acquajoli are stationed at the corner The crowd, which is always much of every street, and stalls of fruit, the same, is spread over the whole bread, fish, flowers, and perfumery, street from side to side, and from end and the counters of money-changers, to end; coaches and corriboli dash on, disfigure both sides of the way and al- their drivers shouting out 66 avante ;" most the whole length of the boasted the crowd gives way for a moment and Toledo. In the evening the number of then closes immediately. Strangers, stalls is greatly increased, and at that unused to this street, in endeavouring season the street, seen from a little to escape from horses and carriages, above the Largo della Carita, presents usually run to the sides, and get in a very singular vista; there is a long among maccaroni and fish-stalls, eggsuccession of stall-lights, more frequent baskets, and money-changers, and find and brighter than the lamps of the themselves unawares at a dinner party street; some are placed on the ground, of dirty rogues, amidst all the odours of some a little higher, and some above- fish-broth, garlic, grease, and God head suspended to the Acquajoli; a knows what besides. thick dark line of carriages is continually rushing up and down, and on either side there is a waving crowd also in quick motion.

Toledo is certainly a very singular street, perhaps the most remarkable one in Europe; the superior part of the crowds that frequent it are generally better dressed and more all' inglese than the same class in any other city in Italy; the Signori take great pleasure in exhibiting themselves regularly in carriages, on horse-back, and on foot in Toledo but the poor rogues are also very fond of Toledo, and generally contrive to come in for a very good share of it; the vulgar pursue their various avocations in this resort of the fashionable and the gay; cavalieri on horseback are jostled by jackasses loaded with great panniers of dung: carriages grate against carri drawn by

We are told, and we believe it, that Naples was very much improved in appearance during the residence of the French; those who knew Naples before the venerable epoch of ninety-nine, say it can hardly be recognised, it is so much more civilized; but Lazzaroni are still found in every corner, and particularly in every place which, from its locality, its grandeur, or its size, is likely to be the resort of the better classes. In the Largo before the royal palace there is a large supply of every species of vagabond, from the porter with his basket and red sash, to the beggar, half naked, and filthy, and diseased; in fact, several of the trades hold, as it were, a general house of call; and not only the mendicants, but the understrappers in the cause of nearly every vice, volunteer their services at the same spot.

Stephensiana, No. VXX.

ORIGINAL ANECDOTES, &c.
(Monthly Magazine, June.)

BONAPARTE, OSWALD, AND OSSIAN.

KNEW the American Colonel Oswald. He resided in London between 1787 and 1790, and published an eloquent tract, called "the Cry of Nature," the object of which was to expose the cruelty of killing and eating animals. He was such an enthusiast in favour of liberty, that he went to Paris soon after the taking of the Bastile, and raised a corps of pikemen,

in which his two sons were officers.

In 1794, when the ignorant country people of La Vendee were seduced by the arms and money of England, and led on by the arts of their priests and nobles, to raise a civil war of extermination, the zeal of Oswald carried him and his regiment among these barbarous fanatics; and in one of those bloody affairs, in which no quarter was given, this philosophical soldier and his

two sons were slaughtered, fighting at the head of their regiment.

This catastrophe was not confirmed in England for three or four years, and, in the mean time, Bonaparte began his career in Italy. The first portraits of him resembled Oswald, and several anecdotes accorded with Oswald's character. He was, in particular, represented as devoted, like Oswald, to the study of Ossian,-an edition of which he was said to carry in his pocket. These circumstances led many persons to believe that Bonaparte was no other than Oswald, under an assumed name; a pamphlet was published in proof of it, and the coincidence was believed, till Paoli and some Corsican relatives of Bonaparte came to England, and gave accounts of his family. To Ossian this great man continued attached through life: Ossian and Homer were his constant companions; and when his carriage was intercepted by the Prussians after the victory of Blucher, Bulow, and Wellington at Planchenoit and Mont St. Jean, a much-worn copy of Ossian was found in it.

THE TWO MARATS.

Other actors in the French revolution were also mistaken for other men. Thus a hundred books stated that Marat had travelled as an empiric in England; but it afterwards turned out that the Marat who so travelled continued to reside in Dublin, as a professor of the French language, for many years after his name-sake had been assassinated. A literary gentleman, who had been very active in propagating English stories of Marat, met this very person by accident at Dublin, seven years after the death of the apostle of liberty.

COSSACKS.

The name of Cossack is taken from the Sclavonic word Koss (scythe). Formerly the Russian peasants used to go to war, for want of arms, with their scythes, from which they were named Cossacks, scythemen.

MOORISH CONCEIT.

The Moors consider Spain as a country to which they still have a right to aspire; and many families in Morocco and Tetuan, as was affirmed to

me by a gentleman who had resided in the country for many years, to this day preserve the key of the houses of their ancestors in Castille, Arragon, Leon, &c. and hope to be able one day to use them again.

THE GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS. A friend of mine, a man of the strictest honour, had a cause tried in a court of law, of which he had scarcely heard of his success, before a Mr. C. was announced. "I am a writer for the papers, (said he,) and have to report on your trial to-day, and conceiving you would wish it to be properly reported, have called to offer my services." "Of course, (said my friend,) I wish the cause, if reported, to be honestly described; but, as you so obligingly offer your services, perhaps you expect some compensation." "Oh yes! (rejoined the gentleman,) we always expect a compliment on these occasions." "We! (said the other,) what, are there several to be paid." "Oh, no! (replied the other,) I was the only reporter present, but we assist one another, and the compliments of this kind which we receive go to a common purse: whatever you think proper to give will be divided among seven or eight of us. Some parties give five, some ten pounds; and we sometimes get, on particular occasions, as high a compliment as fifty pounds." "Indeed! (exclaimed my friend,) and what if the parties refuse to give any thing?" "Oh, then, sir, (rejoined the gentleman,) the thing takes its course; there are, you know two ways of telling a story, and at least the speeches of the counsel always afford materials." My friend now lost his patience. "Pest and nuisance, (he exclaimed,) how many are hanged and transported for demanding money on the highway under circumstances of less turpitude; leave my house, or I will charge a constable with you.” The gentleman quickly retreated, muttering as he departed. My friend, whose cause had to him been an affair of self-defence to defeat a nefarious combination, and who never before had been either plaintiff or defendant, mentioned the application of the gentleman of the press in the course of the

day, as an instance of attempted extortion. He was even offended when some of his friends shook their heads and portended mischief. He slept easy; but, on the following morning, his neighbours came running one after another with different papers, exclaiming, "Good God, sir, you are ruined! Behold the nefarious part which you are represented as having been playing. You cannot show your face in society again." On examination he found five or six different reports, varying in language, but all coloured and distorted alike; and, instead of having been the victim of a conspiracy, he was made to appear as the chief, if not the only conspirator. No assertions were made, but every thing was insinuated, and the arguments of the adverse counsel were artfully introduced as facts in the case. His attorney went to the newspaper offices, and an explanation was admitted; but all the world had read and enjoyed the original libel, while few felt any interest in reading the explanation. He suffered accordingly, and for years the libel continued to be adduced against him, to his personal annoyance and commercial injury.

One paper alone had omitted the report, and, finding that he had paid so dearly for his independence, he now sought its editor, and though he scorned to become his own reporter, yet he had the promise of this person that the perverted report should not appear. In the meantime the disappointed party in the cause (who it afterwards appeared had been applied to by the same chevalier d'industrie, and had paid him his retaining fee,) made application to one of the proprietors of the paper in question; and, on paying 251. was permitted to insert his own report, which blackened my friend from head to foot. He now brought his action for defamation, but withdrew it on the proprietor giving up the names of the author, when they pro

ved to be the very parties with whom he had had the suit. Against these scoundrels, who were bankers of fair reputation, he now re-commenced his action; but, owing to various circumstances and technicalities of lengthened detail, the question was never brought to trial, and finally he had his own expences to pay.

On another occasion, a noted courtezan pleaded her coverture as a defence against some debts of her own, by which several unsuspecting tradesmen suffered then and afterwards; and on my expressing my surprise that the circumstance never transpired in the papers, she replied, "I contrived better, I insured my character." "Aye, (said I,) where is the office, and what is the premium ?” "Why, (said she,) the office was in the box of a coffeehouse near Westminster-Hall, and the premium 251. to be distributed among several gentlemen of the press for the benefit of their wives and children, and you know I love to be charitable." "Gracious Heaven, (said I) and is this the use and abuse of the press, and are these the persons who inveigh with such eloquence against corruption."

On subsequently mentioning this nefarious system in different circles, I was told, in parliamentary phraseology, that it is as notorious as the sun at noon-day, and that the Courts of law are beset by needy scribblers, some of whom are not even connected with any newspaper, but represent themselves as reporters, or as having interest with these protectors of character, of wholesale dealers in defamation. Hence, however, it is that few men have the hardihood to defend their property in a court of law, at the double hazard of losing, not only their property, by the manoeuvres of the profession, but their character also, by the manœuvres of the press. I have been told that even members of parliament, and all public men, pay tribute.

(English Magazines, &c. for June.)

ACROSTICS.-ANAGRAMS.

We have ever considered the compoition of Acrostics, Double Acrostics, Anagrams, and so on, as so much

labour in vain. But, as there are some who delight in these pieces of ingenuity, it is well to present a few.

Acrostic making is most naturally

« AnteriorContinuar »