Travels Through France And Italy, Tobias Smollett [love novels in english .TXT] 📗
- Author: Tobias Smollett
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Which Effectually Prevents The Eye From Taking In The Scope Of
The Building, Either Without Side Or Within; Consequently Robs
The Edifice Of Its Proper Effect. The Palace Of The Escurial In
Spain Is Laid Out In The Shape Of A Gridiron, Because The Convent
Was Built In Consequence Of A Vow To St. Laurence, Who Was
Broiled Like A Barbecued Pig. What Pity It Is, That The Labours
Of Painting Should Have Been So Much Employed On The Shocking
Subjects Of The Martyrology. Besides Numberless Pictures Of The
Flagellation, Crucifixion, And Descent From The Cross, We Have
Judith With The Head Of Holofernes, Herodias With The Head Of
John The Baptist, Jael Assassinating Sisera In His Sleep, Peter
Writhing On The Cross, Stephen Battered With Stones, Sebastian
Stuck Full Of Arrows, Laurence Frying Upon The Coals, Bartholomew
Flaed Alive, And A Hundred Other Pictures Equally Frightful,
Which Can Only Serve To Fill The Mind With Gloomy Ideas, And
Encourage A Spirit Of Religious Fanaticism, Which Has Always Been
Attended With Mischievous Consequences To The Community Where It
Reigned.
The Tribune Of The Great Altar, Consisting Of Four Wreathed Brass
Pillars, Gilt, Supporting A Canopy, Is Doubtless Very
Magnificent, If Not Over-Charged With Sculpture, Fluting,
Foliage, Festoons, And Figures Of Boys And Angels, Which, With
The Hundred And Twenty-Two Lamps Of Silver, Continually Burning
Below, Serve Rather To Dazzle The Eyes, And Kindle The Devotion
Of The Ignorant Vulgar, Than To Excite The Admiration Of A
Judicious Observer.
There Is Nothing, I Believe, In This Famous Structure, So Worthy
Of Applause, As The Admirable Symmetry And Proportion Of Its
Parts. Notwithstanding All The Carving, Gilding, Basso Relievos,
Medallions, Urns, Statues, Columns, And Pictures With Which It
Abounds, It Does Not, On The Whole, Appear Over-Crouded With
Ornaments. When You First Enter, Your Eye Is Filled So Equally
And Regularly, That Nothing Appears Stupendous; And The Church
Seems Considerably Smaller Than It Really Is. The Statues Of
Children, That Support The Founts Of Holy Water When Observed
From The Door, Seem To Be Of The Natural Size; But As You Draw
Near, You Perceive They Are Gigantic. In The Same Manner, The
Figures Of The Doves, With Olive Branches In Their Beaks, Which
Are Represented On The Wall, Appear To Be Within Your Reach; But
As You Approach Them, They Recede To A Considerable Height, As If
They Had Flown Upwards To Avoid Being Taken.
I Was Much Disappointed At Sight Of The Pantheon, Which, After
All That Has Been Said Of It, Looks Like A Huge Cockpit, Open At
Top. The Portico Which Agrippa Added To The Building, Is
Undoubtedly Very Noble, Though, In My Opinion, It Corresponds But
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 256Ill With The Simplicity Of The Edifice. With All My Veneration
For The Antients, I Cannot See In What The Beauty Of Tile Rotunda
Consists. It Is No More Than A Plain Unpierced Cylinder, Or
Circular Wall, With Two Fillets And A Cornice, Having A Vaulted
Roof Or Cupola, Open In The Centre. I Mean The Original Building,
Without Considering The Vestibule Of Agrippa. Within Side It Has
Much The Air Of A Mausoleum. It Was This Appearance Which, In All
Probability, Suggested The Thought To Boniface Iv. To Transport
Hither Eight And Twenty Cart-Loads Of Old Rotten Bones, Dug From
Different Burying-Places, And Then Dedicate It As A Church To The
Blessed Virgin And All The Holy Martyrs. I Am Not One Of Those
Who Think It Is Well Lighted By The Hole At The Top, Which Is
About Nine And Twenty Feet In Diameter, Although The Author Of
The Grand Tour Calls It But Nine. The Same Author Says, There Is
A Descent Of Eleven Steps To Go Into It; That It Is A Hundred And
Forty-Four Feet In Heighth, And As Many In Breadth; That It Was
Covered With Copper, Which, With The Brass Nails Of The Portico,
Pope Urban Viii. Took Away, And Converted Into The Four Wreathed
Pillars That Support The Canopy Of The High Altar In The Church
Of St. Peter, &C. The Truth Is, Before The Time Of Pope Alexander
Vii. The Earth Was So Raised As To Cover Part Of The Temple, And
There Was A Descent Of Some Steps Into The Porch: But That
Pontiff Ordered The Ground To Be Pared Away To The Very Pedestal
Or Base Of The Portico, Which Is Now Even With The Street, So
That There Is No Descent Whatsoever. The Height Is Two Hundred
Palmi, And The Breadth Two Hundred And Eighteen; Which, Reckoning
Fife Palmi At Nine Inches, Will Bring The Height To One Hundred
And Fifty, And The Breadth To One Hundred And Sixty-Three Feet
Six Inches. It Was Not Any Covering Of Copper Which Pope Urban
Viii. Removed, But Large Brass Beams, Which Supported The Roof Of
The Portico. They Weighed 186,392 Pounds; And Afforded Metal
Enough Not Only For The Pillars In St. Peter's Church, But Also
For Several Pieces Of Artillery That Are Now In The Castle Of St.
Angelo. What Is More Extraordinary, The Gilding Of Those Columns
Is Said To Have Cost Forty Thousand Golden Crowns: Sure Money Was
Never Worse Laid Out. Urban Viii. Likewise Added Two Bellfrey
Towers To The Rotunda; And I Wonder He Did Not Cover The Central
Hole With Glass, As It Must Be Very Inconvenient And Disagreeable
To Those Who Go To Church Below, To Be Exposed To The Rain In Wet
Weather, Which Must Also Render It Very Damp And Unwholesome. I
Visited It Several Times, And Each Time It Looked More And More
Gloomy And Sepulchral.
The Magnificence Of The Romans Was Not So Conspicuous In Their
Temples, As In Their Theatres, Amphitheatres, Circusses,
Naumachia, Aqueducts, Triumphal Arches, Porticoes, Basilicae, But
Especially Their Thermae, Or Bathing-Places. A Great Number Of
Their Temples Were Small And Inconsiderable; Not One Of Them Was
Comparable Either For Size Or Magnificence, To The Modern Church
Of St. Peter Of The Vatican. The Famous Temple Of Jupiter
Capitolinus Was Neither Half So Long, Nor Half So Broad: It Was
But Two Hundred Feet In Length, And One Hundred And Eighty-Five
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 257In Breadth; Whereas The Length Of St. Peter's Extends To Six
Hundred And Thirty-Eight Feet, And The Breadth To Above Five
Hundred. It Is Very Near Twice As Large As The Temple Of Jupiter
Olympius In Greece, Which Was Counted One Of The Seven Wonders Of
The World. But I Shall Take Another Opportunity To Explain Myself
Further On The Antiquities Of This City; A Subject, Upon Which I
Am Disposed To Be (Perhaps Impertinently) Circumstantial. When I
Begin To Run Riot, You Should Cheek Me With The Freedom Of A
Friend. The Most Distant Hint Will Be Sufficient To,--Dear Sir,
Yours Assuredly.
Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 258
Dear Sir,--The Colossaeum Or Amphitheatre Built By Flavius
Vespasian, Is The Most Stupendous Work Of The Kind Which
Antiquity Can Produce. Near One Half Of The External Circuit
Still Remains, Consisting Of Four Tire Of Arcades, Adorned With
Columns Of Four Orders, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, And Composite.
The Height And Extent Of It May Be Guessed From The Number Of
Spectators It Contained, Amounting To One Hundred Thousand; And
Yet, According To Fontana's Mensuration, It Could Not Contain
Above Thirty-Four Thousand Persons Sitting, Allowing A Foot And
An Half For Each Person: For The Circuit Of The Whole Building
Did Not Exceed One Thousand Five Hundred And Sixty Feet. The
Amphitheatre At Verona Is One Thousand Two Hundred And Ninety
Feet In Circumference; And That Of Nismes, One Thousand And
Eighty. The Colossaeum Was Built By Vespasian, Who Employed
Thirty Thousand Jewish Slaves In The Work; But Finished And
Dedicated By His Son Titus, Who, On The First Day Of Its Being
Opened, Produced Fifty Thousand Wild Beasts, Which Were All
Killed In The Arena. The Romans Were Undoubtedly A Barbarous
People, Who Delighted In Horrible Spectacles. They Viewed With
Pleasure The Dead Bodies Of Criminals Dragged Through The
Streets, Or Thrown Down The Scalae Gemoniae And Tarpeian Rock,
For Their Contemplation. Their Rostra Were Generally Adorned With
The Heads Of Some Remarkable Citizens, Like Temple-Bar, At
London. They Even Bore The Sight Of Tully's Head Fixed Upon That
Very Rostrum Where He Had So Often Ravished Their Ears With All
The Charms Of Eloquence, In Pleading The Cause Of Innocence And
Public Virtue. They Took Delight In Seeing Their Fellow-Creatures
Torn In Pieces By Wild Beasts, In The Amphitheatre.
They Shouted With Applause When They Saw A Poor Dwarf Or Slave
Killed By His Adversary; But Their Transports Were Altogether
Extravagant, When The Devoted Captives Were Obliged To Fight In
Troops, Till One Side Was Entirely Butchered By The Other. Nero
Produced Four Hundred Senators, And Six Hundred Of The Equestrian
Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 259Order, As Gladiators In The Public Arena: Even The Women Fought
With Wild Beasts, As Well As With Each Other, And Drenched The
Amphitheatres With Their Blood. Tacitus Says, "Sed Faeminarum
Illustrium, Senatorumque Filiorum Plures Per Arenam Faedati
Sunt," "But Many Sons Of Senators, And Even Matrons Of The First
Rank, Exposed Themselves In This Vile Exercise." The Execrable
Custom Of Sacrificing Captives Or Slaves At The Tombs Of Their
Masters And Great Men, Which Is Still Preserved Among The Negroes
Of Africa, Obtained Also Among The Antients, Greeks As Well As
Romans. I Could Never, Without Horror And Indignation, Read That
Passage In The Twenty-Third Book Of The Iliad, Which Describes
Twelve Valiant Trojan Captives Sacrificed By The Inhuman Achilles
At The Tomb Of His Friend Patroclus.
Dodeka Men Troon Megathumon Uias Eathlous
Tous Ama Pantas Pur Eathiei.
Twelve
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