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grac&oftGfcd ; prosperediweH , he bad . been able , out ofi his savings , to purchase a country-house , wbere -be and his- family- came to enjoy the fine season . lite travellers congratulated him on his happiness ? and : one of them having'made some jexebtt » ation about the beautyof the site , he immediately launched into a-tirade against * he tfyranny of . the Turks : —" Barbarians , that they were ! soatteringon all sides-ruin'and'desolation , and that too over' a- country so bountifully treated by Nature ! " And yet what they saw-was nothing . His . visitors , he said , should be on the spot some six * weeks , later , when the fruits of all kinds would be mature , and the now tranquil landscape would swarm with multitudes of country-people gathering in tfce harvests Thence , gliding imperceptibly from the elegy to the idyl , be commeneed iamanimated description of . the details of the ; scene . Nothing was wanting : die songs of the . -reapers—the golden ears falling beneath , their sickle—the rich gum of ; the mastic shrub dropping into . osier baskets—the joyful . ' shouting of the children —tbtearch'frolics of- the iy © wng-girls- ^ -tbe cirdingdances that' concluded -the day . It waa a . oomplete picturoof- the golden age .
Having'concluded , ' - he arose , . and : courteously invited Iris " illustrious visitors to refreate 4 ibemselvea'at . his * house , which was but : a few hundred yards distant ; Their path lecktaorossmn extensive fieW of i wheat , and through orchards of luxuriant fruit'treesy bordered . by hedges-of myrtle . Everything , as the merchant informed them , ^ msAhds property . TJ » & hoHse itself , surrounded and half-concealed by orange-trees , was-constructed ofi wood , according to the custom of the country , but very spacious ¦ > and convenient . The customaryglyeo ( sweetmeats ) , coffee , and pipes , having been handed round , the merchant resumed his favourite theme , and recommenced his complaints against the tyranny off the Turks , Mind to the astonishment of his guests , who marvelled at an oppression which ^ raised its victims to such an enviable prosperity .
TMsi and a multitude of sketches introduced by M . Ubicim to illustrate ttie happy condition of the Ottoman Empire under Mbhainmedan domination , . would prove , not that the Christians in general , or the Greeks specially , have idle , hands , but that they are energetic , enterprising , and disposed to peaceable pursuits . There is a remarkable disparity , however , between M . Ubicini ' s account of the flourishing : state of . Turkey and the reports of numerous . French and English writers ; . As he quotes Eton as the sole panegyrist of : the modern Greek people ,. we must suppose him ignorant of many authentic works published' in thtis * country since the date of the Hellenic revolution j We do not make these remarks with the object of disparaging -M ' . Ubicini's work ; The Betters , probably , will have an extensive ciretrlatio ' rr , which . they deserve , from the abundance of minute and interesting information they present . It' is necessary to point out , therefore , that M ; Ubicihi writes in the spirit of an advocate ; , that his knowledge and his ingenuity are , displayed exclusively on one side of a ( Question which must continue , '; for , years , to interest : the nations and governments of Western Europe .
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MARGARET FULLER'S LETTERS FROM ITAEY . At Home , and Abroad ; , or , Things and Thoughts in America and Europe . By Margaret . Fuller , Ossoli . Sampson JLow and Co . Eykbt reader- of Margaret Euller's Life must have felt the superiority of the letters she -wrote from Italy over her earlier journals and correspond--eaee . A straining after some unattained . effect had given way to calm vigour , and magniloquence to noble simplicity . It was clear that the blossoming time of her nature hati come . Her affections had been drawn into tHeir-proper channel ; her intellect had found its proper soil in the deep rich lbam ~ of _ European civilization , . and her wide sympathies had found a grand definite ; obiect in the struggles of the Italian people .
In the present volume of selections from her writings , edited by her brother , it is again the letters written from Italy which chiefly arrest us . They have indeed a double value , a- value not only biographical , but historical . A-description , however fragmentary , and imperfect , of ; the events in . Rome & » ml 847 ; to . 1849 , written on the spot , by a foreign resident who could both feel and thinkibrcibly , must . have an interest quite apart from any special interest inthe writer . It will bring-those events nearer to the imagination of the ordinary reader , and hel p him to make a picture of what has hitherto perhaps been a rough diagram in Ms mind ; and to the historian in search of materials it is likely to contribute some valuable touches . These letters from Italy were written , apparently with haste and with many interruptions , for the New York Tribune .. Tjiey have no great merit considered as literatnroi and . we ; could . probably have afforded . to : neglect them , if Margaret EuUer ' &imanuacript : JKafory the Italian Revolution had , been rescued from the waves ; but beinff , as they are , the only result left to us of her experience
and obseirv « i * ion in Rome , they are precious ; Though- believing 'thoroughly in the excellent intentions of Plus IX ., she had'from the first'no faith in the permanence of such p aradoxes as a liberal Pope and a reforming Romanism . Hear her describe an occasion on which those paradoxes : were very strikingly symbolized—the . festival . of the Bavi-£ 100 . ia . the church of Ara < £ celi : — The , noble stair , which / descends , from , the great door . of . this church to the foot of the C ^ pjtol , a , stair made from fragments of the old imperial time , —waa flooded with people : the street below was a xapid river also , whose waves were men . The cerefrem the poaling sweetllong and repeated
momes . < b 0 gr » n > with splandid music organ , y iftvooaiiana . i Aa if answering to this call , the world came—in , many . dignitaries , the Conaervmtori ( I think conservatives arc the same everywhere , official or no ) , and did tftraagftA * tha imag » ; then mon iu white and gold , with the candles they arc so fond hW ( o £ bujminff by , daylight , aa if the poorest artificial were hotter than the greatest natural light ,, uplifted high above : themselves , thot baJUy , with its gilded roj ) os and < W > imHLrttad . madaotwico thei tourof the churchy passing twice the column _ labelled O 'ftm thtoiHonA o £ 'Augustus , " while the bond playedr-what ?—the Hymn ; to tAvatiDC . and ) " Sons of Kome , nwake ! " Never was a crueller comment upon the iirecoaflihO ) leiwB 8 of these two things . Rome seeks to reconcilo reform and pnostccafc . Th ^ EngHsh irv Rone were , anything but admirable in Margaret Fuller ' s < 3 yee i she- often ' bursts , into indignant description of their coldness and delfifehneQs . Fidr -example ¦ : — B . i 4 jdxoU't 4 VTeniombor our reading , ln tho class-book , " Ay , down to tho dust with them , slaves as they aro ;"to think how bitter thte English wxire on tho Italians who succumbed , and boo how * W htm ttnMowka . ffmiat . And : their , cowardice hero in Italy ia ludicroua . It is
they who run away , at'the * least--intimation of danger , ' —it is-they who invent all the " fe » , fo , fimrV stories . about Italy , — it : is- they who write to the 7 ¥ me *; and : elsewhere that they dare not for their , lives-stay in : Rome , where I , a woman , walk , everywhere alone ,, and all the little children do the same , with their . nurses . Onanpther occasion-she-gives-an-amusing specimen of the false stories to which she refers . A- foreign journal stated that'there were red fla ^ s in all the Houses in Rome , meaning to imply that the Romans were ath ' irst for blood ; The simple fact was , that these flags were put up at the entrance of those streets where there was no barricade ,, as a signal to coachmen , and horsemen that they might pass freely ! But she is not less caustic on the weaknesses of her own countrymen , than on the weaknesses of the English . Here is a touch very characteristic of a traveller from the land of " stump orators : "After this was . oven the Pope went to the . Gesii , a very rich church belonging to the Jesuits , to officiate at Vespers , and we followed . The music was beautiful ,. and the effect of the church , with its richly-painted dome and : altar-piece , in a blaze of light , while the assembly were in a sort of brown darkness , was very fine .
A number of Americans there , new arrivals , kept requesting in the midst of the music to know when it would begin : "Why , this is it , " someone at last' Had the patience to answer ; " you are hearing Vespers < now . " " What , " they replied , "ia there no oration , no speech ! " So . deeply rooted in the American mind is the idea that a'sermon . is the only real worship ! In her remonstrances with her countrymen for their want'of ; sympathy for the struggling Italians , she mentions an appeal which ought to go home to the English conscience as well as the American . " Some of the lowest of the people , " she says , " have asked me , ' Is it not true that your country had a war to become free ? ' Yes . ' 'Then why do they not feel for us ? ' " She observed what went forward in the Roman streets with the feeling of an artist , as well as of one who " loved the people well , " and her descriptions have often a fine mixture of the pathetic and the picturesque . This , of the departure of Garibaldi and his soldiers . , after the French had taken possession of Rome , is perhaps-tbe finest of all : —
Toward the evening of Monday , the 2 nd of July , it was known that the French were preparing- to « ross the river and take possession of all the city . I went into the Corso with some friends ; it was filled with citizens and military . The carriage was stopped by the crowd near the Doria palace ; the lancers of Garibaldi galloped along in full career . I longed for Sir Walter . Scott to be *> n earth . againy and . see them ; all are light , athletic , resolute figures , many of the forms of the finest manly beauty of the South , all sparkling with its genius and ennobled by the resolute spirit ,. ready to dare , to do , to die . We followed them to the piazza of St . John Lateran . Never have . I seen a sight so beautiful , ' so romantic , and so sad . Whoever knows Borne knows the peculiar solemn grandeur of " that piazza , scene of the first triumph of Rienzi , and whence may be seen the magnificence of the " mother of all churches , " the bapistry with its porphyry columns , the Santa Scala with its glittering mosaics of the early ages , the obelisk standing fairest of any of those most imposing Tmonuments of Romethe view through the gates -of the Campagna , on that side so richly strewn
* with ruins . The sun was setting , the crescent moon rising , the flower-of the Italian youth were marshalling hr that solemn p 1 ace . They had been driven from every other spot where they had offered their hearts as bulwarks of Italian independence ? in this last stronghold they had sacrificed hecatombs of . their beat and . bravest in that cause ; they must now go , or remain prisoners and slaves . Where go , they knew not ; for except distant Hungary there is not now a spot which would receive them , or where they can act as honour commands . They had all put on the beautiful dress of the Garibaldi legion , the tunic of bright red cloth , the Greek cap , or else round hat with P-uritan plume . Their long hair was blown back from resolute faces ; all looked full of courage . They had counted the cost before they entered on- this perilous struggle ; they had weighed life and all its material advantages against liberty , and l at this bitter crisis
made their election ; they turned not back , nor finched , . I saw the wounded , all that could g <\ laden upon their , baggage cars 5 some were already pale and fainting , still Ithey wished to go . I saw many youths , born to rich inheritance , carrying in a handkerchief all their worldly goods . The women were ready /; then ? eyea too were resolved , if sad . The wife of Garibaldi followed him on horsebacks He himself waa distinguished by / the white tunic ; his loot was entirely that , of a . . hero of the Middle Ages , —his face [ still young , for the excitement * of his life , though so many , have all been youthful , and there is no fatigue upon his brow or cheek . Fall or stand , one sees in him a man engaged in the career for which he is adapted by nature . He went upon the parapet , and looked : upon the road with a spy-glass , and , no obstruction being in sight , he turned his face for a moment back upon Rome , then .
led 'the way through the gate . Margaret Fuller is not often humorous , but here is a picture of a wet day in Rome , which is humorous by force of simple facts : — To-return to Rome : what a Home ! . tho fortieth day of rain , and damp , and abomi-r nabla reeking , odours , such aa blessed cities swept by the sea-breeze—bitter sometimes , yet indeed a friend—never know . It has been dark all day , though the lamp has only been lit half an hour . The music of the day . has been , first the atrocious arioi , which last in the Corso till near noon , though certainly less in virulence on rainy days . Then came tho wicked organ-grinder , who , apart from the horror of the noise , grinds exactly the same obsolete abominations as at homo or in England ,. —tha . Copenw Wen Waltz , " Homo , sweet t homo , " and all that ! Tlie cruel chance that both- on English my-lady and a . councillor from one of tho provinces livo opposite , keopp him constantly before my window , hoping baiocchi . Within , tho three ppt . doga of my landlady ,. bereft of their walk , unablo to employ their miserable lega and eyes , exercise themselves by a continual barking , wliioh is answered by all tho dogs in . tho neighbourhood . An urchin returning from tho laundress , delighted with the symphony lays down his white bundle in the gutter , seats himself on tho curb-stone , and attempts an imitation of the music of cats as a tribute to tho concert ; Th * door-bell rinca Chi AT " Who is it V" cr ies the handmaid , with unweariable senselessness , as if any one would answer , Rogue , or Enemy , instead of the traditionary Amico { Frtendd Can it bo , perchance , a letter , newa of home , or some of the many friends who have neglected so long to write , or some ray of hope to break the clouds of the difficult Future ? Far from it . Enter a man poisoning me at once with the smell of the worst possible cigars , not to be driven out , insisting I shall look upon frightful ill-cut cameos , and worse-designed mosaics , made by some friend of his , who works , n a chamber , - and will sell so cheap . Man of ill-odoura and meanest , anile ! Ham na countess to bo fooled by you . The earlier part of . the volume is occupied by . her " bummer on tho Lakes "—sketches of an excursion in America—which were publishedlong before the writer came to Europe . But , as we have said , the chief , intoreet of tho volume Hea in tho letters from Italy .
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] £ &m Vh ; ISSai ^ 'ELHJ B ! LEA B > E Bl 475
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 17, 1856, page 475, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2141/page/19/
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