Society seems to be on an easy and agreeable footing in this city. Besides the conversazionis which they have here, as in other towns of Italy, a number of the nobility meet every day at a house called the Casino. This society is pretty much on the same footing with the clubs in London. The members are elected by ballot1. They meet at no particular hour, but go at any time that is convenient. They play at billiards2, cards, and other games, or continue conversing3 the whole evening, as they think proper. They are served with tea, coffee, lemonade, ices, or what other refreshments4 they choose; and each person pays for what he calls for. There is one material difference between this and the English clubs, that women as well as men are members.
[390]
The company of both sexes behave with more frankness and familiarity to strangers, as well as to each other, than is customary in public assemblies in other parts of Italy.
The Opera at Florence is a place where the people of quality pay and receive visits, and converse5 as freely as at the Casino above mentioned. This occasions a continual passing and repassing to and from the boxes, except in those where there is a party of cards formed; it is then looked on as a piece of ill manners to disturb the players. I never was more surprised, than when it was proposed to me to make one of a whist party, in a box which seemed to have been made for the purpose, with a little table in the middle. I hinted that it would be full as convenient to have the party somewhere else; but I was told, good music added greatly to the pleasure of a whist party; that it increased the joy of good fortune, and soothed6 the affliction of bad. As I thought the people of this[391] country better acquainted than myself with the power of music, I contested the point no longer; but have generally played two or three rubbers at whist in the stage-box every opera night.
From this you may guess, that, in this city, as in some other towns in Italy, little attention is paid to the music by the company in the boxes, except at a new opera, or during some favourite air. But the dancers command a general attention: as soon as they begin, conversation ceases; even the card-players lay down their cards, and fix their eyes on the Ballette. Yet the excellence7 of Italian dancing seems to consist in feats8 of strength, and a kind of jerking agility9, more than in graceful10 movement. There is a continual contest among the performers, who shall spring highest. You see here none of the sprightly11, alluring12 gaiety of the French comic dancers, nor of the graceful attitudes, and smooth flowing motions of the performers in the serious[392] opera at Paris. It is surprising, that a people of such taste and sensibility as the Italians, should prefer a parcel of athletic13 jumpers to elegant dancers.
On the evenings on which there is no opera, it is usual for the genteel company to drive to a public walk immediately without the city, where they remain till it begins to grow duskish. Soon after our arrival at Florence, in one of the avenues of this walk we observed two men and two ladies, followed by four servants in livery. One of the men wore the insignia of the garter. We were told this was the Count Albany, and that the Lady next to him was the Countess. We yielded the walk, and pulled off our hats. The gentleman along with them was the Envoy14 from the King of Prussia to the Court of Turin. He whispered the Count, who, returning the salutation, looked very earnestly at the D—— of H——. We have seen them almost every evening since, either at the opera or on the[393] public walk. His G—does not affect to shun15 the avenue in which they happen to be; and as often as we pass near them, the Count fixes his eyes in a most expressive16 manner upon the D——, as if he meant to say—our ancestors were better acquainted.
You know, I suppose, that the Count Albany is the unfortunate Charles Stuart, who left Rome some time since on the death of his father, because the Pope did not think proper to acknowledge him by the title which he claimed on that event. He now lives at Florence, on a small revenue allowed him by his brother. The Countess is a beautiful woman, much beloved by those who know her, who universally describe her as lively, intelligent, and agreeable. Educated as I was in Revolution principles, and in a part of Scotland where the religion of the Stuart family, and the maxims17 by which they governed, are more reprobated than perhaps in any part of Great Britain, I could not behold18 this unfortunate[394] person without the warmest emotion and sympathy. What must a man’s feelings be, who finds himself excluded from the most brilliant situation, and noblest inheritance that this world affords, and reduced to an humiliating dependance on those, who, in the natural course of events, should have looked up to him for protection and support? What must his feelings be, when on a retrospective view he beholds19 a series of calamities20 attending his family, that is without example in the annals of the unfortunate; calamities, of which those they experienced after their accession to the throne of England, were only a continuation? Their misfortunes began with their royalty21, adhered to them through ages, increased with the increase of their dominions22, did not forsake24 them when dominion23 was no more; and, as he has reason to dread25, from his own experience, are not yet terminated. It will afford no alleviation26 or comfort, to recollect27 that part of this black list of calamities arose[395] from the imprudence of his ancestors; and that many gallant28 men, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, have at different periods been involved in their ruin.
Our sympathy for this unfortunate person is not checked by any blame which can be thrown on himself. He surely had no share in the errors of the first Charles, the profligacy29 of the second, or the impolitic and bigotted attempts of James against the laws and established religion of Great Britain and Ireland; therefore, whilst I contemplate30 with approbation31 and gratitude32 the conduct of those patriots33 who resisted and expelled that infatuated monarch34, ascertained35 the rights of the subject, and settled the constitution of Great Britain on the firm basis of freedom on which it has stood ever since the Revolution, and on which I hope it will ever stand, yet I freely acknowledge, that I never could see the unfortunate Count Albany without sentiments[396] of compassion36, and the most lively sympathy.
I write with the more warmth, as I have heard of some of our countrymen, who, during their tours through Italy, made the humble37 state to which he is reduced a frequent theme of ridicule38, and who, as often as they met him in public, affected39 to pass by with an air of sneering40 insult. The motive41 to this is as base and abject42 as the behaviour is unmanly; those who endeavour to make misfortune an object of ridicule, are themselves the objects of detestation. A British nobleman or gentleman has certainly no occasion to form an intimacy43 with the Count Albany; but while he appears under that name, and claims no other title, it is ungenerous, on every accidental meeting, not to behave to him with the respect due to a man of high rank, and the delicacy44 due to a man highly unfortunate.
One thing is certain; that the same disposition45 which makes men insolent46 to the weak, renders them slaves to the powerful; and those who are most apt to treat this unfortunate person with an ostentatious contempt at Florence, would have been his most abject flatterers at St. James’s.
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1
ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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2
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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3
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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4
refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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5
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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6
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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7
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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8
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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9
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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10
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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11
sprightly
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| adj.愉快的，活泼的 | |
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12
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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13
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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14
envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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15
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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16
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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17
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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18
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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19
beholds
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| v.看，注视( behold的第三人称单数 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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20
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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21
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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22
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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23
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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24
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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25
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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26
alleviation
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| n. 减轻，缓和，解痛物 | |
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27
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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28
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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29
profligacy
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| n.放荡，不检点，肆意挥霍 | |
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30
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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31
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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32
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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33
patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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34
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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35
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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37
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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38
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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39
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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40
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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41
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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42
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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43
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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44
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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45
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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46
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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