Bolonia, Modena, Parma, Turin, &c.

_AFTER a very tedious Jour|ney over the Appennines, we at last came to the River that runs at the Foot of them, and was formerly call'd the little Rhine. Following the Course of this River we arrived in a short time at Bolonia.

We here quickly felt the Difference of the Northern from the Southern Side of the Mountains, as well in the Coldness of the Air, as in the Badness of the Wine. This Town is Famous for the Richness of the Soil that lyes about it, and the Magnificence of its Convents. It is likewise esteemed the Third in Italy for Pictures, as having Page  333 been the School of the Lombard Pain|ters. I saw in it Three Rarities of dif|ferent kinds, which pleased me more than any other Shows of the Place. The first was an Authentick Silver Medal of the younger Brutus, in the Hands of an Eminent Antiquary. One may see the Character of the Person in the Features of the Face, which is exquisitely well cut. On the Reverse is the Cap of Li|berty, with a Dagger on each side of it, subscribed Id. Mar. for the Ides of March, the famous Date of Caesar's Murder. The Second was a Picture of Raphel's in St. Giouanni in Monte. It is extreme|ly well preserved, and represents St. Ce|cilia with an Instrument of Musick in her Hands. On one side of her are the Figures of St. Paul, and St. John; and on the other, of Mary Magdalene and St. Austin. There is something won|derfully Divine in the Airs of this Pi|cture. I cannot forbear mentioning, for my Third Curiosity, a new Stair-Case that Strangers are generally carryed to see, where the Easiness of the Ascent with|in so small a Compass, the Disposition of the Lights, and the convenient Land|ing are admirably well contrived. The Wars of Italy, and the Season of the Year, made me pass thro' the Dutchies Page  334 of Modena, Parma, and Savoy with more haste than I would have done at another time. The Soil of Modena and Parma is very rich and well cultivated. The Palaces of the Princes are magni|ficent, but neither of them is yet fini|shed. We procured a Licence of the Duke of Parma to enter the Theater and Gallery, which deserve to be seen as well as any thing of that Nature in Italy. The Theater is, I think, the most spacious of any I ever saw, and at the same time so admirably well contri|ved, that from the very depth of the Stage the lowest Sound may be heard distinctly to the farthest part of the Au|dience, as in a Whispering Place; and yet if you raise your Voice as high as you please, there is nothing like an E|cho to cause in it the least Confusion. The Gallery is hung with a numerous Collection of Pictures, all done by ce|lebrated Hands. On one Side of the Gallery is a large Room adorned with Inlaid Tables, Cabinets, Works in Am|ber, and other Pieces of great Art and Value. Out of this we were led into another great Room, furnished with old Inscriptions, Idols, Busts, Medals, and the like Antiquities. I could have spent a Day with great Satisfaction in Page  335 this Apartment, but had only time to pass my Eye over the Medals, which are in great Number, and many of them very rare. The scarcest of all is a Pe|scennius Niger on a Medalion well pre|served. It was coined at Antioch, where this Emperor trifled away his Time 'till he lost his Life and Empire. The Re|verse is a Dea Salus. There are Two of Otho, the Reverse a Serapis; and Two of Messalina and Poppaea in mid|dle Brass, the Reverses of the Emperor Claudius. I saw Two Medalions of Plo|tina and Matidia, the Reverse to each a Pietas; with Two Medals of Perti|nax, the Reverse of one Vota Decenna|lia, and of the other Diis Custodibus; and another of Gordianus Africanus, the Reverse I have forgot.

The Principalities of Modena and Par|ma are much about the same Extent, and have each of them Two large Towns, besides a great Number of lit|tle Villages. The Duke of Parma how|ever is much richer than the Duke of Modena. Their Subjects would live in great Plenty amidst so rich and well cul|tivated a Soil, were not the Taxes and Impositions so very Exorbitant; for the Courts are much too splendid and mag|nificent for the Territories that lye a|bout Page  336 them, and one cannot but be ama|zed to see such a Profusion of Wealth laid out in Coaches, Trappings, Tables, Cabinets, and the like precious Toys, in which there are few Princes of Europe who equal them, when at the same time they have not had the Generosity to make Bridges over the Rivers of their Countries for the Convenience of their Subjects, as well as Strangers, who are forced to pay an unreasonable Exaction at every Ferry upon the least Rising of the Waters. A Man might well expect in these small Governments a much great|er Regulation of Affairs, for the Ease and Benefit of the People, than in large over-grown States, where the Rules of Justice, Beneficence, and Mercy may be easily put out of their Course, in passing thro' the Hands of Deputies, and a long Subordination of Officers. And it would certainly be for the Good of Mankind to have all the mighty Empires and Monarchies of the World cantoned out into petty States and Principalities, that, like so many large Families, might lye under the Eye and Observation of their proper Governors; so that the Care of the Prince might extend it self to every individual Person under his Protection. But since such a general Scheme can Page  337 never be brought about, and if it were, it would quickly be destroyed by the Ambition of some particular State as|piring above the rest, it happens very ill at present to be born under one of these petty Soveraigns, that will be still endeavouring, at his Subjects Cost, to equal the Pomp and Grandeur of great|er Princes, as well as to out-vie those of his own Rank.

For this Reason there are no People in the World who live with more Ease and Prosperity than the Subjects of lit|tle Common-wealths, as on the contrary there are none who suffer more under the Grievances of a hard Government, than the Subjects of little Principalities. I left the Road of Milan on my Right Hand, having before seen that City, and after having passed through Asti, the Frontier Town of Savoy, I at last came within Sight of the Po, which is a fine River even at Turin, though within Six Miles of its Source. This River has been made the Scene of Two or Three Poetical Stories. Ovid has chosen it out to throw his Phaeton into it, after all the smaller Rivers had been dryed up in the Conflagration.

I have read some Botanical Criticks, who tell us the Poets have not rightly Page  338 followed the Traditions of Antiquity in Metamorphosing the Sisters of Phae|ton into Poplars, who ought to have been turned into Larch-trees; for that it is this kind of Tree which sheds a Gum, and is commonly found on the Banks of the Po. The Change of Cyc|nus into a Swan, which closes up the Disasters of Phaeton's Family, was wrought on the same Place where the Sisters were turned into Trees. The Descriptions that Virgil and Ovid have made of it cannot be sufficiently admi|red.

Claudian has set off his Description of the Eridanus, with all the Poetical Stories that have been made of it.

The River Po gives a Name to the chief Street of Turin, which fronts the Duke's Palace, and, when finish'd, will be one of the noblest in Italy for its Length. There is one Convenience in this City that I never observed in any Page  341 other, and which makes some amends for the Badness of the Pavement. By the help of a River, that runs on the upper Side of the Town, they can con|vey a little Stream of Water through all the most considerable Streets, which serves to cleanse the Gutters, and carries away all the Filth that is swept into it. The Manager opens his Sluce every Night, and distributes the Water into what Quarters of the Town he pleases. Besides the ordinary Convenience that arises from it, it is of great use when a Fire chances to break out, for at a few Minutes warning they have a little Ri|ver running by the very Walls of the House that is Burning. The Court of Turin is reckoned the most splendid and Polite of any in Italy; but by reason of its being in Mourning, I could not see it in its Magnificence. The com|mon People of this State are more ex|asperated against the French than even the rest of the Italians. For the great Mischiefs they have suffered from them are still fresh upon their Memories, and notwithstanding this Interval of Peace, one may easily trace out the several Mar|ches which the French Armies have made through their Country, by the Ruin and Desolation they have left behind Page  342 them. I passed through Piemont and Savoy, at a time when the Duke was forced, by the Necessity of his Affairs, to be in Alliance with the French.

I came directly from Turin to Gene|va, and had a very easie Journey over Mount Cennis, though about the Begin|ning of December, the Snows having not yet fallen. On the Top of this high Mountain is a large Plain, and in the midst of the Plain a beautiful Lake, which would be very extraordinary were there not several Mountains in the Neighbour|hood rising over it. The Inhabitants there|about pretend that it is unfathomable, and I question not but the Waters of it fill up a deep Valley, before they come to a Level with the Surface of the Plain. It is well stocked with Trouts, though they say it is covered with Ice Three Quarters of the Year.

There is nothing in the natural Face of Italy that is more delightful to a Tra|veller, than the several Lakes which are dispersed up and down among the ma|ny Breaks and Hollows of the Alps and Appennines. For as these vast Heaps of Mountains are thrown together with so much Irregularity and Confusion, they form a great Variety of hollow Bot|toms, that often lye in the Figure of Page  343 so many artificial Basins; where, if any Fountains chance to rise, they naturally spread themselves into Lakes before they can find any Issue for their Waters. The ancient Romans took a great deal of Pains to hew out a Passage for these Lakes to discharge themselves into some neighbouring River, for the bettering of the Air, or the recovering of the Soil that lay underneath them. The Draining of the Fucinus by the Empe|ror Claudius, with the prodigious Mul|titude of Spectators who attended it, and the Famous Naumachia and splendid Entertainment which were made upon it before the Sluces were opened, is a known Piece of History. In all our Journey through the Alps, as well when we climbed as when we descended them, we had still a River running along with the Road, that probably at first occasi|oned the Discovery of this Passage. I shall end this Chapter with a Descripti|on of the Alps, as I did the last with those of the Appennines. The Poet per|haps would not have taken notice, that there is no Spring nor Summer on these Mountains, but because in this Respect the Alps are quite different from the Appennines, which have as delightful Green Spots among them as any in Italy.