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A35672
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Miscellanies in verse and prose a quote / by Mr. Dennis.
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Dennis, John, 1657-1734.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing D1034; ESTC R20371
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46,572
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182
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way thro whole Groves of Walnut and Chestnut Trees to Pont Beanvoisin being the Bridge that separates France and Savoy Octob. 21. We entred into Savoy in the Morning and past over Mount Aiguebellette The ascent was the more easie because it wound about the Mountain But as soon as we had conquer'd one half of it the unusual heighth in which we found our selves the impending Rock that hung over us the dreadful Depth of the Precipice and the Torrent that roar'd at the bottom gave us such a view as was altogether new and amazing On the other side of that Torrent was a Mountain that equall'd ours about the distance of thirty Yards from us It s craggy Clifts which we half discern'd thro the misty gloom of the Clouds that surrounded them sometimes gave us a horrid Prospect And sometimes its face appear'd Smooth and Beautiful as the most even and fruitful Vallies So different from themselves were the different parts of it In the very same place Nature was seen Severe and Wanton In the mean time we walk'd upon the very brink in a litteral sense of Destruction one Stumble and both Life and Carcass had been at once destroy'd The sense of all this produc'd different motions in me viz. a delightful Horrour a terrible Joy and at the same time that I was infinitely pleas'd I trembled From thence we went thro a pleasant Valley bounded with Mountains whose high but yet verdant Tops seem'd at once to â—â—â—bid and invite Men. After we had ma◠〈◊〉 for a League thro the Plain we arriv'd 〈◊〉 the place which they call La Cave wheâ— the late Duke of Savoy in the Year Sevenâ—â— struck out a Passage thro a rocky Mountain that had always before been impassible Performing that by the force 〈◊〉 Gun-powder which Thunder-bolts 〈◊〉 Earthquakes could scarce have effected This Passage is a quarter of an English Mile made with incredible labour and the expence of four Millions of Livers At the Entrance into it is the following pompous Inscription Carolus Emanuel Secundus Subandâ—ae Dux Pedemontani princeps Cypri Rex publicâ felicitate partâ singulorum commodis intentus breviorem securioremque hanc viam regiam a naturâ occlusam Romanis intentatam caeteris desperatam eversis Scopulorum repagulis aequalâ Montium iniquitate quae cervicibus impendebant praecipitia pedibus substernens eternis populorum Commerciis patefecit At Chambery we din'd the Capital Town of Savoy In our way from thence to Montmelian Nature seem'd quite to have changd her Face There craggy Rocks look'd horrid to the Eye and Hills appear'd on every side of so stupendous an heighth that the Company was divided at a distance whether they should believe them to be sunny â—â—ouds or the Snowy tops of Mountains Here appear'd a Hill with its top quite hid in black Clouds and beyond that Hill above those Clouds some higher Mountain show'd its hoary Head With this strange entertainment by the way we came that Night to Montmelian On the 22. we set forward in the morning The Mountains appear'd to grow still more Lofty We din'd that day at Aiguebelle In the Afternoon we proceeded on our way sometimes thro the Plain and sometimes on the side of the Alps with which we were hemm'd in on all sides We then began thâ—t day to have the additional diversion of a Torrent that ran sometimes with fury beneath us and of the noise of the Cascades or the down fall of Waters which sometimes came tumbling a main from the Precipices We lay that night at La Chambre On the 23. The morning was very cold which made us have dismal apprehensions of Mount Cenis since we felt its influence so severely at so great a distance We arriv'd by Noon at St. Michel In the Afternoon we continued our Journey mostly upon the sides of the Mountains which were sometimes all cover'd with Pines and sometimes cultivated ev'n in places where one would swear the thing were impossible for they were only not perpendicular We lay that â—ight at Modane Oct. 24. Modane is within a dozen Miles of Mount Cenis and therefore the next morning we felt the Cold more severely We went to Dinner at Laneburgh situate at the foot of Mount Cenis As soon as we had din'd we sent our Horses about and getting up upon Mules began to ascend the Mountain I could not forbear looking back now and then to contemplate the Town and the Vale beneath me When I was arriv'd within a hundred Yards of the Top I could still discern Laneburgh at the Bottom distant Three tedious Miles from me What an amazing distance Think what an impression a place must make upon you which you should see as far under you as 't is from your House to Hampstead And here I wish I had force to do â—ight to this renown'd Passage of the Alpes 'T is an easie thing to describe Rome or Naples to you because you have seen something your self that holds at least some resemblance with them but impossible to set a Mountain before your eyes that is inaccessible almost to the fight and wearies the very Eye to Climb it For when I tell you that we were arriv'd within a hundred yards of the Top I mean only the Plain thro which we afterwards pass'd but there is another vast Mountain still upon that If these Hills were first made with the World as has been a long time thought and Nature design'd them only as a Mound to inclose her Garden Italy Then we may well say of her what some affirm of great Wits that her careless irregular and boldest Strokes are most admirable For the Alpes are works which she seems to have design'd and executed too in Fury Yet she moves us less where she studies to please us more I am delighted 't is true at the prospect of Hills and Valleys of flowry Meads and murmuring Streams yet it is a delight that is consistent with Reason a delight that creates or improves Meditation But transporting Pleasures follow'd the sight of the Alpes and what unusual transports think you were those that were mingled with horrours and sometimes almost with despair But if these Mountains were not a Creation but form'd by universal Destruction when the Arch with a mighty flaw dissolv'd and fell into the vast Abyss which surely is the best opinion then are these Ruines of the old World the greatest wonders of the New For they are not only vast but horrid hideous ghastly Ruins After we had gallop'd a League over the Plain and came at last to descend to descend thro the very Bowels as it were of the Mountain for we seem'd to be enclos'd on all sides What an astonishing Prospect was there Ruins upon Ruins in monstrous Heaps and Heaven and Earth confounded The uncouth Rocks that were above us Rocks that were void of all form but what they had receiv'd from Ruine the frightful view of the Precipices and the foaming Waters that threw themselves headlong
down them made all such a Consort up for the Eye as that sort of Musick does for the Ear in which Horrour can be joyn'd with Harmony I am afraid you will think that I have said too much Yet if you had but seen what I have done you would surely think that I have said too little However Hyperboles might easily here be forgiven The Alpes appear to be Nature's extravagancies and who should blush to be guilty of Extravagancies in words that make mention of her's But 't is time to proceed We descended in Chairs the descent was four English Miles We past thro Novalese situate at the Foot of Mount Cenis on the side of Italy and lay that Night at Suse We din'd the next day at Villane and thro a pleasant Valley came that Night to this place I am c. Rome Decemb. 1. 1688. TO perform the promise which I made you in my last I venture to say something of the Ancient and Modern Italians tho you do not consider that when you made that request to me you put me upon a necessity of disobliging my Friend by a refusal or exposing my self by treating of a Subject for which I am wholly unqualified It is true when I was at Lyons in compliance with your desire I ventur'd to say something of the French But besides that I had been longer in France than I have in Italy the French lye so open that a Man who will observe them may as well venture to give their Character in a Months time as he may in several years For they who are excessivly vain take as much pains to show themselves as a Stroler at a Fair does a Monster 'T is the constant business of their Lives to paint out their Virtues to you nay and their Defects which their Vanity mistakes for their Virtues But the Italians are as reserv'd to Strangers as the French are open and one would wonder how they who show much Flegm before they are very well acquainted should be able afterwards in so strange a manner to animate Conversation But to come to my business 't is wonderful you say that the Modern Italians should appear so different from the Ancient since they breath the same Air and are nourish'd by the same Soil For since the affinity is so near betwixt the Soul and the Body and they work so strongly upon each other you say it is but reasonable to believe that the Climate which helps to give the Body its Complexion should help to give the Mind its Temper Now since you have reason you say to suppose that the Climate of Italy is very near the same at this day that it was two Thousand Years agoe you cannot but wonder that the Modern Italians should appear so different from the Ancient The French are the very same now that Caesar described them formerly excepting that they are grown a more polish'd sort of Barbarians The Carthaginians were fam'd for their Cruelty their Perfidiousness and those two Vices are at present inseparable from the Inhabitants of the Coasts of Barbary But the Italians you say are at present renown'd for several extraordinary Vices which wâ—re utterly unknown to the Ancient Romans to whose Virtues the Modern are utterly Strangers In answer to this give me leave to tell you that you are mistaken in part of your Assertion For the Vices which are to be found at this day in Italy were the Vices of the Ancient Romans Their Empire ow'd its Rise to the same Crimes which dissolv'd it and there were proportionably as many Villains in the Rome of Romulus as there are in that of Innocent the Eleventh Consider the Factions of Marius and Sylla and the two Triumvirats following and you will find infinitely more examples of black Revenge than you can amongst Modern Italians What can be more bloody than those times Or more treacheâ—ous and base than those of Tiberius 'T is true from the time of the first Consuls to the end of the Punick War there flourish'd a continual Race of Heroes with whom if you compare the Modern Italians they seem to be Men of quite different frames and Inhabitants of a different part of the World A capacity to practise those glittering Virtues which the World so much admires depends very much upon force of mind which depends in some sort on the Complexion as that does in some sort on the Climate But then is it certain that there is the very same force of mind requir'd to be prodigiously wicked that is required to be heroically Virtuous Weak people are but wicked by halves but whenever we hear of high and enormous Crimes we may conclude that they proceed from a power of Soul and a reach of Thought which are altogether extraordinary So that the Modern Italians who by your own confession are skill'd in all the ways of exquisite wickedness come into the World with as much natural capacity to exerâ— heroick Virtue as ever the Ancient Romans did Force of Mind makes a Man capable of great Virtues or of great Vices but it determines him to neither Education Discipline and Accidents of Life constitute him either a great Philosopher or an illustrious Libertine As strongest bodies cannot be secure from Infection in pestilential Seasons so Minds that have most force are apt to be tainted by the Contagion of Epidemick Vices The two most glittering Virtues that shin'd amongst the ancient Romans were greatness of Mind and heroick Fortitude 'T was that greatness of Mind that made one of their Generals reject with disdain the offer that was made him to poyson the most formidable Enemy to their State whereas the modern Italians have at every turn recourse to Stilletto and Poyson which are almost their only offensive Weapons Do but compare the happy and flourishing state of the old Commonwealth with the wretched condition of the modern Italians and you will soon find the reason why the Romans were Brave and Honourable Enemies and why the Italians at present are base ones For this is most certain That no Man can basely offer violence to another without doing some to himself From whence it follows that no Man will do it unless in some measure he believes it necessary No Man then will take a base revenge of another who believes that he can take an honourable one No Man will ever have recourse to Treachery who is confident of prevailing by open force Now great success most commonly infuses great Thoughts and inspires a noble Presumption which renders Men Brave and Magnanimous whereas we frequently see that Men with their Fortunes and Liberties lose their very Spirits and Souls according to the observation of the Comick Poet. Vt res nostrae sint ita nos magni â—tque humiles sumns FINIS * Boileau when he writ this was about Six and Forty Years Old but Pâ—etry admits of no edd Numbers above Nine * Monsieur de 〈◊〉