Extracts from a Journal - Softcover

Reseña del editor

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1820. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... Time has carried away much of the formality that Brydone describes : ladies of rank walk frequently on the Marino and in the streets, simply attended, as in England, by a servant. An in* dolent state still forbids this in Italy, where, with the exception of a few promenades, they venture nowhere but in a carriage. Yet English influence can hardly have produced this change in Sicily; for English influence, we well know, has been seldom exerted to promote the adoption of its own customs. Enthusiastically fond of all that relates to his own country, an Englishman is indifferent to see them become general with others. As far as concerns himself, he is too apt to follow his own inclinations, disregardful of the country he is in, or the dis^ positions he meets; but his foible goes no further, and he is as jealous of interfering as he was of giving way.* The government even have been actuated by similar feelings ; and .hence, while French innovation was spreading over the continent, Sicily remained the same, * This may seem inconsistent, after what I stated early in the chapter; but the truth is, that where English customs have been adopted, it has been a voluntary act, and not unfrequently, I must own, as a flattering allurement to our travellers. even in her errors. Superstition was Spared; and, at the present day, I was assured that half of the population of Palermo consisted of the clergy. In the towns and villages it is the same; the streets are thronged with the priesthood; the finest buildings are monasteries and convents ; while, through Italy, " sad and sunken Italy," this nuisance, at least, is swept away. The only reform we undertook we have failed to secure; and, while we overturned one constitution to prepare for a better, the Sicilian nobility an...