Novara

“ As I shall have long ceased to be numbered with the living, when the Novara returns to Trieste, richly freighted with scientific treasures of all kinds, with fresh information relating to organic and inorganic nature, to the races of man, their habits and languages, I now pray to Almighty God that His blessing may rest upon this great and noble enterprise,l to the honour of our common German Fatherland! ”

“ Feasts and entertainments were every where displayed to welcome his arrival, and for his short-lived victories when he gained Novara.
'Observe now, O Milanese! how strongly the justice of God, the Creator, has been made manifest, and the great power that it has pleased Him to invest the king our lord with: for when you thought that you had done every thing by gaining Novara, at that moment you lost the whole, and your idol, the lord Ludovico, carried away a prisoner,—so that what was said of the Persians may be applied to him, 'Servit alteri cui nuper mediolanum serviebat.'
'O Milanese! ”

“ He himself remained at his headquarters, so as to be ready to ride either way. The roar of artillery from Novara, on the morning of March 23, told him where the battle was to be fought. There General D'Aspre, Battle of Novara commanding the second Austrian army corps, undertook to win some laurels on his own account by a bold attack on the superior position of the Italians. As Charles Albert rode out of the gate of Novara he received the last cheers of his devoted Bersaglieri. After a three hours' fight the scale turned against the Austrians. ”

“ To the members of this society the naturalists of the Novara Expedition are specially beholden for their great attention during their stay in Madras, as also for their hearty participation in the objects of the Imperial Expedition as evidenced by their sending copies of their own various and useful publications. ”

“ The city also contains handsome market-buildings erected in 1817–1842, a large hospital dating from the 9th century and a courthouse constructed in 1346. The town has also a museum of Roman antiquities. The principal industry is the carding and spinning of silk; there are also iron-works and foundries, cotton mills, rice-husking mills, organ factories, dye-works and printing works.
Novara, the ancient Novaria, according to Pliny a place of Celtic origin, according to Cato (but wrongly) of Ligurian origin, was a municipal city, and lay on the road between Vercellae and Mediolanum. ”

“ They are extremely obliging, kind, and attentive towards strangers, and evidently endeavour to impress the visitor with favourable ideas of themselves and the island. To the hospitality of the Austrian Consul, as well as to Major P. A. de Azevedo and Don Juan Muniz, so deservedly celebrated for his knowledge of the flora of Madeira, the members of the Novara expedition are indebted for many a happy and delightful hour.
The population is perceptibly on the decrease. The causes are emigration to the British West Indies, and devastation by the cholera. ”

“ When the french captains approached, a burgundian leader, called the captain of the Yotiers, came out of Novara and surrendered himself and men to them. The bailiff of Dijon went into Novara to practise with the Swiss in the pay of the duke of Milan [Pg 48] (about four thousand in all) , who only asked for payment of what was due to them. In regard to the Lansquenets, they knew not how to act; for the Swiss in the king's service would not show them any mercy, although their captains did all they could that matters might be settled without effusion of blood. ”

“ The victory at Fornovo proved only so far beneficial to the King of France as to enable him to negotiate with his adversaries from a higher ground. Slowly he advanced toward Milan, in order to deliver the Duke of Orleans, who, in bringing reinforcements to the monarch's aid, had been drawn into Novara and besieged by the superior forces of Ludovic the Moor. The position of both armies was dangerous. That of the king was lamentably reduced in numbers, and little was to be hoped from the French garrison in Novara, which was enfeebled by famine and sickness. ”

“ The cathedral of Novara, originally of the ordinary basilica type of the 10th century with timber roofs, was reconstructed in the 11th century, compound piers being built to carry the transverse and diagonal ribs and walls built across the outer aisles to resist the thrust, on the other hand SS. Pietro and Paolo at Bologna is a 12th century church which was designed from the first to be vaulted. ”

“ On the third of June the French army lay before Novara, which was held by the Swiss. After a fruitless attack on the town, the French withdrew to Trecate, a place in the neighbourhood. Meanwhile Swiss reinforcements had reached Novara, and on the 6th of June the whole force swarmed out to attack the French. Advancing under cover of a wood they surprised the French outposts. When serious business began, the Swiss foot, unsupported by horse and artillery, carried the day by sheer force and fury. ”

“ In Upper Piemont there are Fossano, on a heap of shingle at the junction of the roads of Mondovi and Cuneo; Savigliano, lower down, where the roads of the Po and Maira valleys join; and Carmagnola, which commands one of the principal roads over the Apennines. Novara, the commercial outlet of the Lago Maggiore, and in the midst of one of the most productive agricultural districts, is the most populous town of Eastern Piemont. Vercelli, on the Sesia, and below the confluence of the rivulets descending from Monte Rosa, enjoys natural advantages similar to those of Novara. ”

“ It was a consolation for me to believe that I owed my liberty to all those who had never ceased to love and to pray for me, and more especially to a beloved sister who had died with every expression of the most edifying devotion. May the Almighty reward her for the many sufferings she underwent, and in particular for all the anxiety she experienced on my account.
Days passed on; yet no permission for me to quit Novara! On the morning of the 16th of September, the desired order at length arrived, and all superintendence over me by the carabineers ceased. ”

“ This institution, which occupies in Brazil about the same position as the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, directs its special attention to the publication of old documents and manuscripts relating to the history of Brazil and the aboriginal population; but investigations relating to natural history are also included in its domain of enquiry. The sittings are held every alternate Friday. The naturalists of the Novara attended one of these meetings, which took place in one of the wings of the palace. ”

“ Nowhere was the armistice, signed by Victor Emmanuel after the battle of Novara, more unpopular than at Genoa. A deputation from the city waited on the King immediately after Novara, urging the continuation of the war. On March 27 a rumour that the Austrians were in the neighbourhood and intended to enter the city lit the fires of revolt which, fanned by the municipality and the clergy, broke out into open insurrection on the 29th. Arms were distributed and a Committee of Defence was formed composed of Constantino Rata, David Morchio, and Avezzana. ”

“ The society grew rapidly, branch organizations were established in many cities, and there is no doubt that the movement was productive of much good. Another woman philanthropist of this time was the Countess Tarnielli Bellini, who left quite a large sum of money at Novara for the establishment of several charitable institutions, among them an industrial school.
Rome now became the real centre of Italian life ”

“ There were in Novara twenty thousand combatants; eight thousand Lansquenets, four thousand Swiss, eight hundred Burgundians, and the rest Lombards. In addition to these, a reinforcement of fifteen hundred men were on their march to join them, and within a mile of Vercelli, not including those in Vigeue. ”

“ What a pity that such lovely cherubim faces and silken locks should not have been kept free from dirt and——worse than dirt! but it is always the case here, the poorer classes are invariably filthy.
The same tiresome and tame style of country continued until we reached Novara; where we dined and slept at l'Albergo d'Italia. The latter was a horrible-looking [178] place; my heart sank within me, as we drove into the court, for if I was so bitten by the bugs, &c. at the superb albergo of Turin, I naturally conceived I should have been quite devoured here! ”

“ Both he and Commines directed all their efforts to bring matters to a favourable conclusion, but the other commissioners made difficulties, and the Venetian, Spanish, and German ambassadors would decide nothing without consulting their separate governments. The evacuation of Novara, however, was unanimously agreed upon, and on the 26th of September, Orleans and his garrison marched out with the honours of war, and were escorted by Messer Galeaz and the Marquis of Mantua to the French outposts. More than two thousand men had already died of sickness and starvation. ”

“ I do not think there exists anywhere a more powerfully and fantastically individual town than Verona; it is to Italy what Nuremburg is to Germany; but it is a transfiguration of Nuremburg; in point of wildly picturesque variety it defies description and surpasses expectation; it is saturated with art; wherever one turns, the eye is struck by some beautiful remnant of the taste—that was; of that glowing, sterling feeling for art, which spread itself over everything, and ennobled whatever it touched. ”

“ Novalesa is the town we stopped at, upon entering Piedmont; where the hollow sound of a heavy dashing torrent that has accompanied us hitherto, first grows faint, and the ideas of common life catch hold of one again; as the noise of it is heard from a greater distance, its stream grows wider, and its course more tranquil. ”

“ We see also the grey mounds of the Nuraghe scattered over the plain, some mouldering down to its level, a few still rearing their truncated cones, like solitary watch-towers, for which they have been mistaken. They, too, remind us of times long past, of a primitive age. But they are to be found in all parts of the island, and we shall fall in with them again, more at leisure to examine their structure and hazard a conjecture as to their origin. Now we gallop on over the level plain. ”

“ The last part of the ass-track has become so like a lane anywhere else that we are amazed when we reach the other side of the immediate height of Norba, and find how far below lies the plain from which the almost perpendicular cliffs spring to bear up the forsaken city. For at Norba the curiosity will be almost wholly on the side of the stranger; in cannot be returned in kind, as at 139 Cori; a lone shepherd or two may come to look at him; he cannot bring together the least approach to a triumphal procession. ”

“ One can hardly fancy a greater contrast than that which strikes us between the stern primæval 147 wall of Norba, fencing in the thick-standing corn, and the wall of Ninfa, with its towers, its varied and picturesque outline, fencing in a crowd of houses, churches, and buildings of every kind, the oldest of which could not have arisen till a thousand years after Norba became desolate. All are now forsaken, roofless, shattered, forming one of the most singular gatherings of ruins to be seen anywhere, the mummy, as it has been well called, of a dead town. ”

“ Sweeter 'tis to gaze upon
My Nora's lid that seldom rises;
Few its looks, but every one,
Like unexpected light, surprises!
Oh, My Nora Creina, dear,
My gentle, bashful Nora Creina,
Beauty lies
In many eyes,
But love in yours, My Nora Creina.
Lesbia wears a robe of gold,
But all so close the nymph hath laced it,
Not a charm of beauty's mould
Presumes to stay where nature placed it.
Oh! my Nora's gown for me,
That floats as wild as mountain breezes,
Leaving every beauty free
To sink or swell as Heaven pleases.
Yes, my Nora Creina, dear. ”

“ It has real arches and masonry, like that which at Cori is attributed to Sulla's time. But it may as well come before the overthrow of Norba in his day as after it.
From primæval and forsaken Norba we go down the hill-side, learning as we go how high Norba stands, to hardly less forsaken, though only mediæval, Ninfa. Ninfa, unlike Norba, has a few inhabitants; there is a house and a mill, if not within the fortified enclosure, at least just outside it, and, if the enclosure itself contains no actual dwelling-places of man, it contains abundance of buildings which have once been so. ”

“ It then became a question with us whether we should return with them, or pursue the mountain tracks to Nuoro, whence it was only two days' journey to the foot of Monte Genargentu, on the higher regions of which it had been our intention to hunt the moufflon, proceeding then, along byroads, through a chain of mountain villages to Cagliari. Nuoro, a poor place, though dignified with the title of “città,” and a large ecclesiastical establishment, stands high on a great table-land in the heart of the central chain, answering, in many respects, to the Corte of the sister island. ”

“ No other of its ancient neighbours looks down so immediately on the great Pomptine flat as Norba does, as none looks down from so great a height. Cori rather occupies a hill thrown out in front of the mountain; Norba sits on the edge of the mountain itself, though of course at a much lower elevation than the huge masses further inland. The towers and temples of the city must have had a wonderful effect from the lands below; as it is, there is nothing to mark the place but the line of wall itself, which does not always stand out in a very marked way from the cliff. ”