Corsini

“ Alessandro Corsini continues in his evil courses; a rebel he is, and a rebel he may remain; and that he should serve as an example to all, it is ordered, as he has no house which can be destroyed, that he be painted as a traitor on the palace of the Podestà, so that others may learn from him. ”

“ Close to the ducal villas of Castello lies a country-seat possessing much of the intimate charm which they lack. This is Prince Corsini’s villa, the finest example of a baroque country house near Florence. The old villa, of which the typical Tuscan elevation may still be seen at the back, was remodelled during the latter half of the seventeenth century, probably by Antonio Ferri, who built the state saloon and staircase of the Palazzo Corsini on the Lungarno. The Villa Corsini lies in the plain, like Castello, and has before it the usual walled semicircle. ”

“ The emperor Charles IV. created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and Civitella in 1629, of Lajatico and Orciatico in 1644, of Giovagallo and Tresana in 1652; in 1730 Lorenzo Corsini was elected pope as Clement XII., and conferred the rank of Roman princes and the duchy of Casigliano on his family, and in 1732 they were created grandees of Spain. ”

“ Messer Luca Corsini himself, for example, who on a memorable occasion yet to come was to raise his learned arms in street stone-throwing for the cause of religion, freedom, and the Frate. And among the dignities who carried their black lucco or furred mantle with an air of habitual authority, there was an abundant sprinkling of men with more contemplative and sensitive faces: scholars inheriting such high names as Strozzi and Acciajoli, who were already minded to take the cowl and join the community of San Marco ”

“ The founder of the chapel, Clement XII., Lorenzo Corsini (1730—40) , is buried in a splendid porphyry sarcophagus which he plundered from the Pantheon. Above it is a bronze statue of the pope. [282] Opposite is the tomb of Cardinal Neri Corsini, with a number of statues of the Bernini school.
Beneath the chapel is a vault lined with sarcophagi of the Corsini. Its altar is surmounted by a magnificent Pietà—in whose beautiful and impressive figures it is difficult to recognise a work of the usually coarse and theatrical artist Bernini. ”

“ And Giovanni Corsini, Senator of the duchy of Arezzo, impelled by a like curiosity, consulted a learned clerk of Milan, one Cosmo Raimondi of Cremona. The following is the gist of the learned Ciceronian's reply:
"Most noble lord, they say that God's choice of a shepherdess for the restoration of a kingdom to a prince, is a new thing. And yet we know that the shepherd David was anointed king. It is told how the Maid, at the head of a small company, defied a great army. The victory may be explained by an advantageous position and an unexpected attack. ”

“ The Assemblies that are most frequented by Foreigners, are those of Mesdames Corsini, the Pope’s Nieces, the Duke of Santo Bueno, and the Countess of Bolognetti. These are the three Houses at Rome where there is most Company, and where Foreigners are most civilly entertain’d. The Duke has a Concert at his House every Friday, at which are present all the People of Distinction at Rome. ”

“ His historical pieces are rare; but not so a number of others, containing one or two half-length figures, and still less his Madonnas. One of the most beautiful is in the Albani palace, painted for Clement XI., with the Holy Child; and another, representing her grief, belongs to the Princes Corsini, extremely graceful, as is also the Angel seen consoling her. It would be difficult to decide whether he excelled most in oils or in fresco, which last is the kind of painting in which great artists have ever distinguished themselves. ”

“ To the Corsini Villa, the gardens of which are some of the shadiest and most agreeable in Rome, but nobody inhabits the palace. The Corsinis live at Florence, and when they come here they lodge elsewhere, for the malaria, they say, occupies their domain. Thus it is that between poverty and malaria Rome is deserted by its great men. But the population ought to be increasing, for almost every woman one meets is with child. Gell denies the malaria, says he [387] SAN LORENZO IN LUCINA should not mind living where they say it is dangerous to live ”

“ Crushed but not quelled, ruined but not disheartened, decimated but never terrified, the Corsican nature, strong and simple, remained true to its universal instinct, the principle which was their very life and being, and which they imbibed with their mother's milk—love of country and love of liberty. ”

“ The Corsican is decidedly an Italian; his language is acknowledged to be one of the purest dialects of Italian, his nature, his soil, his history, still link the lost son to his old mother-country. The French feel themselves strange in the island, and both soldiers and officials consider their period of service there as a "dreary exile in the isle of goats." The Corsican does not even understand such a temperament as the French—for he is grave, taciturn, chaste, consistent, thoroughly a man, and steadfast as the granite of his country. ”

“ And while the brain that was to rule France as a tribune-king, was thus evolving its idle progeny, the womb of a Corsican woman near him was travailing with him who was to be Napoleon! At the instant France, by the sword of her future liberator, was mowing down the new-born liberties of Corsica—Corsica was breathing the breath of life into a child, whose sword was to cleave down the fresh-won freedom of France! As a Cæsar and a Marius sprung from the blood of the Gracchi, there would have been no Corsican exterminator for France, had there been no French exterminators for Corsica. ”

“ The French Government, utterly powerless against the defiant Corsican spirit, most justly deserves reproach for allowing an island which possesses the finest climate; districts of great fertility; a position commanding the entire Mediterranean between Spain, France, Italy, and Africa; and the most magnificent gulfs and harbours; which is rich in forests, in minerals, in healing springs, and in fruits, and is inhabited by a brave, spirited, highly capable people—for allowing Corsica to become a Montenegro or Italian Ireland. ”

“ The feeling of nationality still lingers in Corsica, though without an object, without a hope. Men such as Antoine, the mountaineers, the shepherds,—all true-hearted Corsicans treasure up the traditions of former times, and, with the scene before his eyes, Antoine traced the action of Ponte Nuovo with as lively an enthusiasm, as deep an interest, as if it had been an affair of yesterday, in which he had borne a part. ”

“ The Corsican historian says, in the eleventh book of his history, "If patriotism has ever been known at any time, and in any country of the world, to exercise power over men, truly we may say that in the island of Corsica it has been mightier than anywhere else; for I am altogether amazed and astounded that the love of the inhabitants of this island for their country has been so great, as at all times to prevent them from coming to a firm and voluntary determination to emigrate. ”

“ People talk of the beauties of rock and mountain scenery in Corsica, and the wild grandeur of its wide forests; but, to my mind, the distinguishing beauty of Corsica lies in its flowers.
Switzerland and Italy boast their rocks and mountains, and colder lands their forests; but neither Switzerland nor Italy, nor, I believe, any other country in Europe, can attempt to rival the flowers of Corsica in richness of colouring and luxuriance of growth. ”

“ Francis II. had named Jourdan Orsini his viceroy, and the latter, at a general diet, had, in the name of his king, pronounced Corsica incorporated with France, declaring that it was now for all time impossible to separate the island from the French crown—that the one could be abandoned only with the other. The fate of Corsica seemed, therefore, already linked to the French monarchy, and the island to be detached from the general body of the Italian states, to which it naturally belongs. ”

“ In the north of Europe we know little more of Corsica than that Napoleon was born there, that Pasquale Paoli struggled heroically there for freedom, and that the Corsicans practise hospitality and the Vendetta, and are the most daring bandits. ”

“ Here indeed, there is full scope for all parties; since those periods are so obscure, that every writer may fill them up according to the turn of his imagination; just as people who are abroad in a dark night, may with equal keenness, and equal appearance of reason affirm, that they see objects totally different.
Let Corsica have been the property of the Phenicians, the Etruscans, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Goths, the Saracens: let it have been a conquest of France; a gift from that kingdom to the pope; a gift again from the pope to the Pisans, and at length a conquest of Genoa ”

“ Since the expulsion of the English, the French have remained in undisturbed possession of Corsica. The English occupation lasted from 1794 to 1796.
Character.
The Corsicans look to the Government for the improvement of their island far more than to their own efforts, for they themselves are neither industrious nor enterprising. The roads, railways, bridges and other public works are constructed chiefly by Italian labourers. The women do the drudgery both in their homes and on the fields, carrying great loads on their heads, as the mules do on their backs ”

“ I have heard it said again and again, and in all parts of the country—"We Corsicans would gladly be Italian—for we are in reality Italians, if Italy were only united and strong; as she is at present, we must be French, for we need the support of a great power; by ourselves we are too poor."
The Government does all it can to dislodge the Italian language, and replace it with the French. All educated Corsicans speak French, and, it is said, well; fashion, necessity, the prospect of office, force it upon many. ”

“ For five-and-twenty years now, with unimportant interruptions, have the French been in possession of the island of Corsica; and they have neither succeeded in healing the ever open wound of the Corsican people, nor have they, with all the means that advanced culture places at their disposal, done anything for the country, beyond introducing a few very trifling improvements. The island that has twice given France her Emperor, and twice dictated her laws, has gained nothing by it but the satisfaction of her revenge. ”

“ Brave fellow-citizens! liberty is our aim—and the eyes of all noble souls in Europe are upon us; they [119] sympathize with us, they breathe prayers for the triumph of our cause. May our resolute firmness exceed their expectations! and may our enemies, by whatever name called, learn from experience that the conquest of Corsica is not so easy as it may seem! We who live in this land are freemen, and freemen can die!"
CHAPTER XI.
CORSICA UNDER PAOLI—TRAFFIC IN NATIONS—VICTORIES OVER THE FRENCH.
All the thoughts and wishes of the Corsican people were thus directed towards a common aim. ”

“ More than a thousand years of almost uninterrupted conflict between Corsica and her oppressors preceded the birth of the great conqueror Napoleon, in whose nature this rock-bound island, and this insular people, steeled in conflict, and forcibly thrown back upon itself by the narrow space to which it was confined, created for themselves an organ whose law was—illimitedness. The ascending series was this: the Corsican bandit, the Corsican soldier, Renuccio della Rocca, Sampiero, Gaffori, Pasquale Paoli, Napoleon. ”

“ I frequently heard the word "Lucchese" used as an opprobrious epithet; and particularly among the mountains of the interior is all field-work held in detestation as unworthy of a freeman; the Corsican is a herdsman, as his forefathers have been from time immemorial; he contents himself with his goats, his repast of chestnuts, a fresh draught from the spring, and what his gun can bring down.
I learned at the same time that there were at present in Corsica great numbers of Italian democrats, who had fled to the island on the failure of the revolution. ”

“ It was on the Bridge of Golo, some miles from Bastia, that Massena was made corporal. Yes, Corsica is a wonderful island. Many a one has wandered among the lonely hills here, who never dreamed that he was yet to wear a crown. Pope Formosus made a beginning in the ninth century—he was a native of the Corsican village of Vivario; then a Corsican of Bastia followed him in the sixteenth century, Lazaro, the renegade, and Dey of Algiers; in the time of Napoleon, a Corsican woman was first Sultaness of Morocco; and Napoleon himself was first Emperor of Europe. ”

“ For, the Corsicans, the most savage race of the Italian blood, and accustomed to the use of weapons from their childhood, fought with the boldness of all men fighting for their property, and routed the troops of France in many a successive and desperate encounter. Still, the combat was too unequal; the whole force of a great monarchy was obviously too strong for the hope of successful resistance, and Corsica, after many a severe struggle, became a French territory. ”

“ A bargain was made between two corrupt and despotic15 powers by which the one sold to the other an island it did not own, a people it could not conquer,—an island and a people whose government was at that moment a model of wisdom, justice, and enlightened progress. Alone of all the people of Europe, Corsica enjoyed self-government, political and civil freedom, righteous laws, and honest administration. Commerce, agriculture, manufactures, had sprung into new life under Paoli’s guidance, schools had been founded, religious toleration decreed, liberty of speech and conscience proclaimed. ”