od or for evil. Between a profligate and
servile nobility, and a degraded and enslaved populace, a middle class
has lately sprung up; the men of letters, the artists, the professors
in the sciences, who have obtained property, or distinction at least,
in the commotions which have agitated their country, and those who
have served at home or abroad in the revolutionary wars. These all
seem impelled by one and the same spirit; and make up for their want
of numbers by their activity, talents, enthusiasm, and the secret but
increasing influence which they exert over the other classes of
society. But on subjects like these, however interesting, I have no
means of obtaining information at once general and accurate: and I
would rather not think, nor speak, nor write, upon "matters which are
too high for me." Let the modern Italians be what they may,--what I
hear them styled six times a day at least--a dirty, demoralized,
degraded, unprincipled race,--centuries behind our thrice-blessed,
prosperous, and comfort-loving nation in civilization and morals; if I
were come among them as a resident, this picture might alarm me;
situated as I am, a nameless sort of person, a mere bird of passage,
it concerns me not. I am not come to spy out the nakedness of the
land, but to implore from her healing airs and lucid skies the health
and peace I have lost, and to worship as a pilgrim at the tomb of her
departed glories.--I have not many opportunities of studying the
national character; I have no dealings with the lower classes, little
intercourse with the higher. No tradesmen cheat me, no hired menials
irritate me, no innkeepers fleece me, no postmasters abuse me. I love
these rich delicious skies; I love this genial sunshine, which, even
in December, sends the spirits dancing through the veins; this pure
elastic atmosphere, which not only brings the distant landscape, but
almost heaven itself nearer to the eye; and all the treasures of art
and nature which are poured forth around me; and over which my own
mind, teeming with images, recollections, and associations, can fling
a beauty even beyond their own. I willingly turn from all that excites
the spleen and disgust of others; from all that may so easily be
despised, derided--reviled, and abandon my heart to that state of calm
benevolence towards all around me, which leaves me undisturbed, to
enjoy, admire, observe, reflect, remember, with pleasure, if not with
profit, and enables me to loo