" In the midst of all the idleness, (of Naples,) fewer riots or outrages of any kind happen than might be expected in a town where the police is far from being strict, and where such multitudes of poor unemployed people meet together every day. This partly proceeds from the national charac ter of the Italians, which, in my opinion, is quiet, submis sive, and averse to riot and sedition ; and partly to the com mon people being universally sober, and never inflamed with strong liquors, as they are in the northern countries. If these poor fellows are idle, it is not their fault ; they are continually running about the streets, as we are told of the artificers in China, offering their service and begging for employment ; and are considered by many as of more real utility than any of the classes above mentioned.
"The Italians are the greatest loungers in the world; and, while walking in the fields, or stretched in the shade, seem to enjoy the serenity and warmth of their climate with a degree of luxurious indulgence peculiar to themselves. Without ever running into the daring excesses of the English, displaying the frisky vivacity of the French, or the invincible phlegm of the Germans, the Italian populace discover a species of sedate sensibility to every source of enjoyment, from which, perhaps, they derive a greater degree of happiness than any of the other. The frequent processions and religious ceremonies, besides amusing and comforting them, serve to fill up their time, and prevent that ennui and those immoral practices which are apt to ac company poverty and idleness.
" The stories which circulate in Protestant countries con cerning the scandalous debauchery of monks, and the lux urious manner in which they live in their convents, whatever truth there may have been in them formerly, are certainly now in a great measure w ithout foundation."—" From the inquiries 1 have made in France, Germany, and Italy, I am cons bleed that this is usually the case with those peasants who belong to convent lands (holding them on easy terms); and very often, I have been informed, besides having easy rents, they also find affectionate friends and protectors in their masters, who visit them in sickness, comfort them in all their distresses, and are of service to their families in various shapes." " Though my acquaintance with the Roman Catholic clergy is very limited, yet the few I do know could not be mentioned as exceptions to what I have just said of the Protestant (as men of learning and ingenuity, of quiet, spe culative, and benevolent dispositions). It is a common error prevailing in Protestant countries, to imagine that the Roman Catholic clergy laugh at the religion they inculcate, and regard their flocks as the dupes of an artful plan of imposition. By far the greater part of Roman Catholic priests and monks are themselves most sincere believers, and teach the doctrines of Christianity, and all the miracles of the legend, with a perfect conviction of their divinity and truth."—" The accounts we receive of their gluttony arc often as ill-founded as those of their infidelity. The real character of the majority of monks and inferior eccle siastics, both in France and Italy, is that of a simple, super stitious, well-meaning race of men, who for the most part live in a very abstemious and mortified manner, notwith standing all that we have heard of their gluttony, their luxury, and voluptuousness." " The nobility, especially of Naples,. are seldom called to the management of public affairs ; have little temptation for their ambition, either in the civil or military establish ments; are generally regardless of literature, and devote their lives to gaming, gallantry, music, the parade of equi page, the refinements of dress, and other nameless refine ments.
" In attendance on public worship," says Mr. Eustace,* " the Italians are universally regular ; and, though such constant attendance may not be considered as a certain evi dence of sincere faith, yet every reader of reflection will admit, that it is incompatible with either infidelity or indif ference. These latter vices are indeed very rare in this country, and entirely confined to a few individuals of the higher class, and to some officers in the army."—" Nor is the devotion of the Italians confined to public service. The churches are almost always open ; persons of regular life and independent circumstances generally visit some one or other of them every day ; and individuals of all conditions may be seen at all hours on their knees, humbly offering up their prayers at the throne of mercy."—" No country exhibits more splendid examples of public benevolence, or furnish es more affecting instances of private charity than Italy ; and whoever has visited and examined in detail the hos pitals of Rome, Naples, Genoa, Venice, and Milan, will readily admit that Italy has the honourable advantage of surpassing all the kingdoms of Europe in the number and magnificence of her charitable foundations."—" In many of them the sick are attended, and the ignorant instructed, by persons who devote themselves voluntarily to that disgust ing and laborious task, and perform it with a tenderness and a delicacy, which personal attachment, or the still more ac tive and disinterested principle of Christian charity, is alone incapable of inspiring." There are also benevolent insti
tutions, confraternities or sodalities, " formed by the volun tary agreement of a certain number of charitable persons, who unite together, in order to relieve more effectually some particular species of distress ; so that every want, and every misfortune, are certain of meeting with corres ponding assistance from some band or other of generous brethren." " In the vast tract of country included be tween the Alps and the Appenines, and subject to the visi tation of the At chiepiscopai See of Milan, in every paro chial church the bell tolls at two o'clock on every Sunday in the year, and all the youth of the parish assemble in the church ; the girls are placed on one side, the boys on the other. They are then divided into classes, according to their ages and their progress, and instructed either by the clergy attached to the church, or by pious persons who vo luntarily devote their time to this most uselul employment. In other parts of Italy, the children are catechised regular ly, and almost invariably in the parish church by their pas tor." " The Italian common people arc, to say the least, full as well acquainted with the truths, the duties, and the mo tives of religion, as the same class in England ; and in stances of very gross ignorance seldom occur, unless in the superabundant population of great towns, and of overgrown capitals." Translations of the Bible, " wnen considered as tolerably accurate, are allowed, and encouraged ; and an Italian translation exists, penned with great elegance, and recommended to public perusal by no less than Papal au thority." " The peasantry of the north of Italy were, pre vious to the French invasion. universally taught to read and write ; and equal in point of information to the peasantry of the most flourishing countries in Europe." " The mid dling classes are generally very well acquainted with every thing that regards their duty, the object of their profes sion, and their respective interests." " But even where the ordinary share of information is wanting, the deficien cy is not so perceptible as in more northern countries. The Italian is acute and observing. These two qualities united, supply in some degree the place of reading; and give his conversation more life, more sense, and more in terest, than are to be found in the discourse of t•ansalpines of much better education." "The Italian nobility have always distinguished themselves by cultivating and en couraging the arts and sciences. Many, or rather most of the Italian academies were founded by gentlemen, and are still composed principally of members of that class. The Italian nobility has produced more authors, even in our own days, than the same class has ever yet done in any country. Moreover, a taste for the fine arts, sculpture, painting, architecture, music, is almost innate in the Ita lian gentry—a taste scarcely separable from an acquaint ance with the two great sources of information, antiquities and history." " To accuse the Italians of cowardice, is to belie their whole history. Even in the late invasion, the peasantry themselves, in some parts of the Neapolitan, and particularly of the Roman state, made a bold and generous, though ineffectual resistance. Not courage, therefore, but the motives which call it forth, and the means which give it effect, that is, discipline, hope, interest, Sec. are wanting to the Italians." " In many of the great towns, due respect is not paid to the matrimonial contract, especially in Ve nice and Naples, where cicesbeism exists in all its profli gacy among the higher classes; but the middling classes and the peasantry are in Italy as chaste as persons of the same description in any, and more chaste than they are in many countries." "The industry also of the Italian pea santry may be traced over every plain, and discovered on almost every mountain, from the Alps to the straits of Mes sing." " They obey the call of nature in reposing during the sultry hours, when labour is dangerous and the heat is intolerable ;" but " to compensate for this suspension, they begin their labours with the dawn, and prolong them till the close of evening ; so that the Italian sleeps less and la bours more in the twenty-four hours than the English pea sant." " The Italian is neither vindictive nor cruel ; he is hasty and passionate." " An unexpected insult, a hasty word, occasion a quarrel ; both parties lose their temper : daggers are drawn, and a mortal blow is given : the whole transaction is over so soon, that the bystanders have scarce time to notice it, much less to prevent it. The deed is considered, not as the effect of deliberate malice, hut of an involuntary and irresistible.impulse ; and the perpetrator, generally repentant and horror-struck at his own madness, is pitied, and allowed to fly to some forest or fastness. Yet the remedy is easy and obvious ; a prohibition under the severest penalty to carry arms of any description. This remedy has been applied with full success by the French, while masters of the south ; and by the Austrians, while in possession of the north of Italy." " But actual murder and deliberate assassination arc very uncommon among them ;" and " even robberies are rarely met with at pre sent." Governments.