Chapter ii.
They arrived at Naples by day, in the midst of that immense population,at once so animated and so indolent. They first traversed the ViaToledo, and saw the Lazzaroni lying on the pavement, or in osier basketswhich serve them for lodging, day and night. There is somethingextremely original in this state of savage existence, mingled withcivilization. There are some among these men who do not even know theirown name, and who go to confess anonymous sins; not being able to tellwho it is that has committed them. There is a subterranean grotto atNaples where thousands of Lazzaroni pass their lives, only going out atnoon to see the sun, and sleeping the rest of the day, whilst theirwives spin. In climates where food and raiment are so easy of attainmentit requires a very independent and active government to give sufficientemulation to a nation; for it is so easy for the people merely tosubsist at Naples, that they can dispense with that industry which isnecessary to procure a livelihood elsewhere. Laziness and ignorancecombined with the volcanic air which is breathed in this spot, ought toproduce ferocity when the passions are excited; but this people is notworse than any other. They possess imagination, which might become theprinciple of disinterested actions and give them a bias for virtue, iftheir religious and political institutions were good.
Calabrians are seen marching in a body to cultivate the earth with afiddler at their head, and dancing from time to time, to rest themselvesfrom walking. There is every year, near Naples, a festival consecratedto the _madonna of the grotto_, at which the girls dance to the sound ofthe tambourine and the castanets, and it is not uncommon for a conditionto be inserted in the marriage contract, that the husband shall take hiswife every year to this festival. There is on the stage at Naples, aperformer eighty years old, who for sixty years has entertained theNeapolitans in their comic, national character of Polichinello. Can weimagine what the immortality of the soul may be to a man who thusemploys his long life? The people of Naples have no other idea ofhappiness than pleasure; but the love of pleasure is still better thana barren egotism.
It is true that no people in the world are more fond of money than theNeapolitans: if you ask a man of the people in the street to show youyour way, he stretches out his hand after having made you a sign, forthey are more indolent in speech than in action; but their avidity formoney is not methodical nor studied; they spend it as soon as they getit. They use money as savages would if it were introduced among them.But what this nation is most wanting in, is the sentiment of dignity.They perform generous and benevolent actions from a good heart ratherthan from principle; for their theory in every respect is good fornothing, and public opinion in this country has no force. But when menor women escape this moral anarchy their conduct is more remarkable initself and more worthy of admiration than any where else, since there isnothing in external circumstances favourable to virtue. It is bornentirely in the soul. Laws and manners neither reward nor punish it. Hewho is virtuous is so much the more heroic for not being on that accounteither more considered or more sought after.
With some honourable exceptions the higher classes pretty nearlyresemble the lower: the mind of the one is seldom more cultivated thanthat of the other, and the practice of society is the only externaldifference between them. But in the midst of this ignorance there issuch a natural intelligence in all ranks that it is impossible toforesee what a nation like this might become if all the energies ofgovernment were directed to the advancement of knowledge and morality.As there is little education at Naples, we find there, at present, moreoriginality of character than of mind. But the remarkable men of thiscountry, it is said, such as the Abbe Galiani, Caraccioli, &c.,possessed the highest sense of humour, joined to the most profoundreflection,--rare powers of the mind!--an union without which eitherpedantry or frivolity would hinder us from knowing the true value ofthings.
The Neapolitan people, in some respects, are not civilized at all; buttheir vulgarity does not at all resemble that of other nations. Theirvery rudeness interests the imagination. The African coast which bordersthe sea on the other side is almost perceptible; there is somethingNumidian in the savage cries which are heard in every part of the city.Those swarthy faces, those vestments formed of a few pieces of red orviolet stuff whose deep colours attract the eye, even those very rags inwhich this artistic people drape themselves with grace, give to thepopulace a picturesque appearance, whilst in other countries theyexhibit nothing but the miseries of civilization. A certain taste forfinery and decoration is often found in Naples accompanied with anabsolute lack of necessaries and conveniences. The shops are agreeablyornamented with flowers and fruit. Some have a festive appearance thathas no relation to plenty nor to public felicity, but only to a livelyimagination; they seek before every thing to please the eye. Themildness of the climate permits mechanics of every class to work in thestreets. The tailors are seen making clothes, and the victuallersproviding their repasts, and these domestic occupations going on out ofdoors, multiply action in a thousand ways. Singing, dancing, and noisysports, are very suitable to this spectacle; and there is no countrywhere we feel more clearly the difference between amusement andhappiness. At length we quit the interior of the city, and arrive at thequays, whence we have a view of the sea and of Mount Vesuvius, andforget then all that we know of man.
Oswald and Corinne arrived at Naples, whilst the eruption of MountVesuvius yet lasted. By day nothing was seen but the black smoke whichmixed with the clouds; but viewing it in the evening from the balcony oftheir abode it excited an entirely unexpected emotion. A river of firedescends towards the sea, and its burning waves, like the billows of thesea, express the rapid succession of continual and untiring motion. Onewould say that when nature transforms herself into various elements shenevertheless preserves some traces of a single and primal thought. Thephenomenon of Vesuvius deeply impresses us. We are commonly sofamiliarised with external objects that we hardly perceive theirexistence; we scarcely ever feel a new emotion in the midst of ourprosaic countries, but that astonishment which the universe ought tocause, is suddenly evoked at the aspect of an unknown wonder ofcreation: our whole being is shaken by this power of nature, in whosesocial combinations we have been so long absorbed; we feel that thegreatest mysteries in this world do not all consist in man, and that heis threatened or protected by a force independent of himself, inobedience to laws which he cannot penetrate. Oswald and Corinne proposedto ascend Mount Vesuvius, and the peril of this enterprise gave anadditional charm to a project which they were to execute together.