L. S. D.

“ I have been in Scotland Road Market on Saturday night, I have been on London Bridge, the greatest thoroughfare in the world, but in the Toledo, the Strada del Mola, and the Strada del Piliera, you will hear noises far greater in volume and variety than in London. ”

“ There are only two streets in this little town, and they are very narrow. There is not room to build another house, but they have built on the table land adjoining, and this is what is called Monte Carlo, one of the most beautiful spots in the world. I can never forget the two days we were here, because they were faultless days, the sky was blue and so was the Mediterranean, as blue as ever I had seen it painted. ”

“ We engaged him for two hours, at two francs per hour, to take us over the Picture Galleries. He badly wanted to shew us the sights of Paris by night, but this we declined. We sauntered through the well-known gay thoroughfares, the Avenue de L’Opera, Boulevard des Capucines, Boulevard de Italians, the Palais Royal, with tasteful and tempting shops of gloves, fancy nic-nacs, flowers, lace, and millinery, and tempting confectionery establishments. The prices they ask, and get, are fabulous, still they seem to find buyers; every one appears to be doing well; you scarcely ever see a shop to let. ”

“ There is perhaps no city in the world with such an abundant water supply, so beautifully dispersed by magnificent fountains. We saw King Humbert, on his birthday, driving out in the Park of the Villa Borghese; we saw the Via Nationale of New Rome, illuminated in Parisian style. We strolled down the Corsa, with its well-stocked shops. In the Café de Roma you will get a mid-day meal equal to any in Europe if you like Italian cooking. The Corsa is a sort of Piccadilly and Regent Street mixed, and it contains the best shops and mansions. ”

“ The Italians are true lovers of art, and sometimes carry it to a ridiculous degree. It bespeaks a man’s taste if he has the goddess of dancing or music painted on his house, but to see the same figures on a stone cart, or bouquets of flowers on a manure cart, we certainly think too, too æsthetic. ”

“ The Carlo Felice Theatre is one of the finest in Italy, with a stage running back 145 feet from the footlights.
The drive from Nice to San Remo is considered the finest in Europe. Originally it was a mule path, known as the Cornice road, but Napoleon I. converted it into a fine road. The railway has taken a straighter line, and you are continually passing through short tunnels, with glimpses of the sea. Along the whole distance from Genoa to Mentone, known as the Riviera, are villages surrounded by orange and lemon groves and olive trees–they seem to grow almost without cultivation. ”

“ The walls and plaster for the most part are perfect, the fountains and statues are there, the Mosaic floors are bright and clean, and the fresco painting as bright as when it was done. It seems strange that none of the present habitations of the Italians resemble those of the ancients, so vastly different to the tall stuccoed houses of Naples–one storey houses with an entrance hall, and an open courtyard with large and small chambers entering from a piazza that skirted the buildings. ”

“ The old town of Mentone which, up to a few years ago, belonged to Italy, consists of tall houses and narrow streets. Some of these streets are looped together with stonework to give them firmness should an earthquake take place, which gives them a peculiar appearance. Since it came into the hands of the French, and became a sanatorium for lung diseases, a new town of large hotels and pretty villas around the bay and up the hill side has sprung up.
The French seem to possess an exquisite taste in building their villas that you never see in England. ”

“ By a drive of three or four miles to the west, along the bay, you get a fairly good view of Naples, embracing Pompeii and Herculaneum nestling insecurely at the foot of Vesuvius, but not equal to the one as you enter the bay.
We were told the churches were not so gorgeous and rich as those of Genoa, Pisa, or Rome, so we did not visit them. The only public building of great interest is the Museum of Ancient Sculpture and Paintings; it is large and well appointed, and contains more than any other public building in Italy. ”

“ We had some difficulties at the railway junctions, as we found our pure English language was not much appreciated; however, we reached Geneva in the evening, a city built at the foot of the lake of Geneva (Lac Leman) , its gardens, villas, and grand hotels nestling on the shores of the placid waters; its dainty shops of jewellery and watches of exquisite design and taste; its wide streets of varied styles of architectural beauty, with lines of shady trees and fountains; its institutions of learning; its conservatoires of music and art, with a very fine modern theatre ”

“ In some respects fashions have not altered much, in a baker’s oven were found black charred loaves with the baker’s name stamped on them, the same squat shape as you see carried about the streets of Naples to-day, and known in England as cottage loaves; from the same oven they shew you a young sucking pig, petrified to stone, that was there cooking for some one’s supper, in their hurry and confusion they left this dainty morsel behind. When a workman was one day using a pick he struck something hollow, it was found when examined to be in shape like a human body. ”

“ Shop after shop with works of art, pictures, Mosaics, sculpture, photographs; here it is you see the Roman living models flitting about–the good-looking woman with her troop of roguish-looking children; the old man; the old woman; the dark eyes of the young girl of Roman type of beauty, dressed in the picturesque and highly-coloured garb of the surrounding country districts, are all to be seen in this centre. ”

“ Mentone is not a place to attract fashionable and gay visitors, they have no public gardens, no places of amusement, most visitors are supposed to be invalids. They have a promenade by the sea and a pavilion, but you never see many people about. I think they must all go to Monte Carlo or Nice when they want to see a little life. Mentone is hemmed in and sheltered from the north and east by the French Alps (Alps Maratimes) ; they form a bold back ground with bristling spurs, and valleys, and ravines down to the shores of the Mediterranean. ”

“ The climate never seems to discolour or destroy their freshness.
We made Mentone a centre, and stayed here. Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo, and San Remo are only a few miles distant. Nice has long been famous for its annual fetes, and even more so of late. Our Royal Prince was present at the last Carnival. In going through Covent Garden Market we wonder where the Spring flowers come from–the violets, the roses, &c. It is Nice and the neighbourhood that sends them. There are large shops with heaps of flowers where they pack them very carefully and send them to London and Paris. ”

“ On a bright day the streets look dark because no sun can penetrate them, and the sky is hidden by the various projecting obstructions. If you look into a shop window, some miserable-looking fellow will ask you to go in and purchase. ”

“ There was the body of a dog found with a collar round its neck in the vestibule of a house; the poor dog must have died hard, it has rolled over in its agony, and lies on its back with its mouth open, its limbs violently contorted, and the whole frame twisted and wrenched in a manner to denote severe pain. ”

“ The sense of smell will have a feast, with a few new specimens which permeate the air on every side; outdoor cooking arrangements, vegetables, and other mystic messes simmering and spluttering in fat or oil. Their sanitary arrangements are worse than in Paris, and their sense of decency is less shameless.
Naples like Genoa, in the old portion of the town, is so closely huddled together, and the streets are so steep and narrow, that no vehicles can pass up. They are generally so littered up with baskets and hampers that foot passengers have a difficulty in threading their way. ”

“ An early breakfast on Monday morning, and we left Paris by Lyons and Marseilles railway, traversing the valley of the Seine through the forest of Fontainebleau. Although it was very picturesque we failed to see the giant oak or elm, as in old England. Proceeding south we were soon in the great wine growing district of France. Miles, even hundreds of miles, of broad valleys of vines, with the wine growers’ pretty chateaus and dome shape wine presses and stores. Every station bears the name of some well-known brand. ”

“ Several of these hollow shells were afterwards exhumed, for safety and preservation they were filled with liquid plaster of paris. The fine ashes and the moisture of the body together formed this human shell a man in the act of running, with a key in one hand and some money in another. There is a beautifully formed girl of seventeen, her face turned a little on one side, with sweet innocent features clearly defined, with her hair dressed with girlish coquetry; a boy of twelve has fallen on his face, and there he lay. ”

“ Sunday in Paris is not a day of rest, or even recreation. The butchers and bakers, grocers and drapers open their shops and push their trade. They are all particular in the way they do their business; the barber and the butcher are provided with a neat office, desk, stove, and a large account book.
We took the banks of the river as far as the Hotel de Ville, now re-built in a grand style after being burnt down by the Communists. The interior of Notre Dame is lost for want of light; we went in and were disappointed. This is also the fault with many of the fine Cathedrals in Italy. ”

“ The players are standing or seated round the table; everybody is quiet, all the noise you hear is the declaring of the winning number and the clinking of the money as it is raked in or shovelled out. The players consist of all classes, young and old of all nations, from gay and licentious to the blue stocking of the dorcas meeting–a large proportion are women–staking from 5 francs to 1000 francs and more. ”

“ We left the steamer here to take another when we wished to proceed further South. Here, as in all the Mediterranean ports, we were anchored in the bay; hundreds of boats were clustered around our steamer, and a ragged, noisy lot they were. We landed, were searched and counter searched before we were clear, and able to drive to our hotel. Naples is a place we have heard much of, writers have painted it in words and artists in oil–they say, “see Naples and then die.” If you happened to be a nervous man or troubled with heart disease, you would soon die. ”

“ There is not a great deal of Ancient Rome left––the old buildings appear to have been knocked down, levelled up, and new and mean streets built over the top. In the dark ages they seem to have had no regard to the grandeur of Ancient Rome, they buried up the massive columns and statuary, and built up the present New Rome over them, so that many of the places laid bare are ten or twelve feet below the present street level, especially in the neighbourhood of the Forum of Trajan and the Pantheon, and whenever they are re-building in this part of the city they come across some old relic or other. ”

“ All the visitor has to do is to enter his or her name in a book, and state the hotel where he or she is staying. Everywhere is free, no fees are expected. There is a fine reading-room, plentifully supplied with newspapers and periodicals from all nations. There is a large crush room or promenade, where you may enjoy the weed. Leading from this is a very gorgeous concert room–a constant orchestra of over 100 musicians are always kept; performances of high-class music are given twice a day. The other–a greater portion of the buildings–is where the tables are, eight in number. ”

“ THE base of Mount Vesuvius is about four miles from Naples. In going to Pompeii you skirt the coast, having the burning mountain on the left. Pompeii lies four miles further on the margin of the bay, so that if another great eruption was to take place, with an east wind, Naples might stand in the same danger as Pompeii; still they build houses and villages and grow grapes up the mountain side. One village has been destroyed no less than eight times. ”

“ One of the many things that struck me in the streets of Naples were the vehicles, and more especially the harness. The horses draw from the breast, and therefore wear no collar; the harness, which is very ornamental in shape, is covered with brass, tassels, &c. They don’t groom their horses and mules, but clean their brass very carefully. They yoke a horse and donkey together, a donkey and an ox, a donkey and mule, or three donkeys and a mule. One day I observed a horse, an ox, and a donkey drawing a cart of stones, all with bells clanging. ”

“ The shoemaker brings his bench outside, and plys his trade in the open street; the tailor with his clumsy-looking sewing machine, and his dirty-looking apprentice, are likewise busy on the parapet. The houses are eight or nine stories high with balconies, and washing on each storey. ”

“ The principal city in Switzerland–a city that any Englishman would be happy and contented to live in. They have a good government–the best appointed republic in the world,–light taxation. The people are clean, sober, industrious, and well-educated. The shops look thriving, and the inhabitants prosperous.
We took a trip up the lake by steamer to Nyon, one of those very interesting little towns of Swiss type. ”

“ I think it must be the language that helps them on, every word appears to end with a ee, oo, ii; they whistle, they shout, rush and jostle you about, and as the streets are narrow you have to look after yourself or be run over. ”