PISA.

Drawn by J. D. Harding.

AFTER the political events of 1821 had obliged the family of Count Gamba to quit Ravenna, Lord Byron went and resided at Pisa. Mr. Shelley was then living there; and this circumstance probably determined Byron's choice of that city. When about to leave Ravenna, he thus wrote to Moore: "I am in all the sweat, dust, and blasphemy of an universal packing of all my things, furniture, &c. for Pisa, whither I go for the winter. The cause has been the exile of all my fellow Carbonics, and amongst them the whole family of Madame G." In December he writes (Letter 470): "I have got here, into a famous old feudal palazzo, on the Arno, large enough for a garrison, with dungeons below, and cells in the walls; and so full of ghosts, that the learned Fletcher (my valet) has begged leave to change his room; and then refused to occupy his new room, because there were more ghosts there than in the other. It is quite true that there are most extraordinary noises (as in all old buildings), which have terrified the servants, so as to incommode one extremely. There is one place where people were evidently walled up; for there is but one possible passage

broken through the wall, and then meant to be closed again upon the inmate. The house belonged to the Lanfranchi family (the same mentioned by Ugolino in his dream as his persecutor with Sismondi), and has had a fierce owner or two in its time. The staircase is said to have been built by Michael Angelo." "I am, however, bothered about these spectres, as they say the last occupants were too, of whom I have as yet seen nothing, nor indeed heard (myself); but all the other ears have been regaled by all kinds of supernatural sounds. The first night I thought I heard an odd noise, but it has not been repeated. I have now been here more than a month."

The view of Pisa, in these "Illustrations," is taken from the road to Leghorn, below the city; it was selected because the Lanfranchi Palace, Lord Byron's residence, appears in the scene; it is a light house in the distance. A mountain branching from the chain of the Appennines is seen above the hills, in which are situated the Baths of Lucca; a cool retreat chosen by many of the visitors to Italy during the hot months of summer.

Lord Byron remained about nine months at Pisa. When the Count Gamba and his son were ordered to quit the states of Tuscany, Byron determined to accompany them; and, after some hesitation about the place of residence he should fix upon, decided upon Genoa, where he hired the Villa Saluzzo at Albaro, one of the suburbs of the city.

Pisa," says Simond, "like Florence, is paved with large flag-stones of irregular sizes, but over which it is a pleasure to walk or drive. The Arno, which is of course larger here, is traversed by several very fine bridges. The quays also, and buildings on them, are in a superior style. Knowing, as we did, that the population, once 120,000 souls, some say 180,000, was now reduced to 20,000, we expected to see the greater part of the town empty and in ruins; yet no such appearance was observable, and some few houses even were building: the inhabitants, therefore, are well and spaciously lodged. We found the friend who had kindly invited us to her residence, although a person of very moderate fortune, settled in a palace. The first floor, principally occupied by the family, consisted of an immense hall 48 feet by 27 with a richly carved and painted ceiling, a large dining-room, two drawing-rooms, and five bed-chambers, besides kitchen and servants' rooms. Most of the windows looked over the Arno and its magnificent quays and bridges. The ground-floor, secured with grated windows and strong doors, was not inhabited ;* but a house in London with accommodations similar only to those of the first floor, and in a situation equally advantageous, would let for 700l. or 800l. a-year. Alighting at the door of this very fine abode (Palazzo Lanfranchi), we found it beset, and the outside flight of steps literally covered, with frightful-looking objects, —men, women, and children, basking in the sun to

gether, eaten up with sores and vermin, and clamorous for alms-such a sight, denoting a charitable house, is here deemed creditable. Scarcely any one in Italy thinks of preventing distress by giving timely and judicious encouragement to honest industry; it must actually have taken place, and be visible in rags and filth, to be entitled to commiseration and relief; and that relief, paltry and degrading, leaves its object wholly dependent for daily bread, yet perfectly careless about the future, and confident that the more idle, dirty, and ragged he appears, the more deserving of alms he will be deemed. Not that the fault is wholly that of individuals; the greater share in it is imputable to public institutions. When private property is at the mercy of a partial and corrupt administration of justice; when personal safety waits on the will of the powerful, and is less frequently violated only because it is sheltered by its insignificance; when exclusive privileges, prohibitions, restrictions, exclusions, shackle and impede every private undertaking; when custom-houses on the frontiers of every petty state or sovereignty, and at the gates of every town, obstruct the circulation of its products, -industry ceases to be operative, and there is no medium left between princes and beggars. If this applies to Tuscany, that political oasis of Italy, how much more is it applicable to the less favoured districts!"