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THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For JANUARY, 1812.

ART. I. A View of the present State of Sicily: its rural Economy, Population, and Produce, particularly in the County of Modica. with an Appendix, containing Observations on its general Character, Climate, Commerce, Resources, &c. From a late Survey of the Abbate Balsamo, Professor of Agriculture and Public Economy at the Royal Academy, Palermo. To which are added, with Notes throughout the Work, an Examination of the Sicilian Volunteer System, and Extracts from Letters written in Sicily in 1809 and 1810. By Thomas Wright Vaughan, Esq. pp. 360. 11. 11s. 6d. Boards. Gale and Curtis. 1811.

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4to.

EARLY six years have now passed since the connection between this kingdom and Sicily has become intimate, and since the preservation of the independence of the Sicilian government has been owing to the assistance of British forces. The residence of a number of our countrymen on the spot, and the importance of the island in the scale of political discussion between France and England, have gradually augmented the interest of the public with respect to it, and have extended an intercourse which, in former years, was limited to transactions of commerce. This increased share of public attention could scarcely fail to catch the observation of those ingenious gentlemen, who find means to extract a living from ministering to the general appetite for novelty, whether their talents are employed in the sprightly vehicles of daily intelligence issuing from the Strand, or in the more patient labours of book-making for the occupants of Pater-noster Row. Mr. Vaughan has obliged us to class him, in the impartial award of literary justice, among authors of the latter description; not so much from deficiency of vigour in those parts of his book which require originality, as from permitting his name to stand inatitle-page which may impose on the public a translation and compilation as an original work. The main part of the quarto volume, which is here announced as a View of the present state of Sicily,' is merely atranslation of the journal of a month's tour, performed some years ago by the Abbate Balsamo, Professor of Agriculture at Palermo Mr. Vaughan's share of the book does not exceed a fourth part, VOL. LXVII. B

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and consists of an introduction, of observations on the state of the Sicilian volunteers, and of a few letters on the manners of the natives. These, we must confess, are meagre contributions from the pen of one who informs us that he has had a long residence in the island, a constant intercourse with the inhabitants, and a personal observation of most parts of the country.' Another singularity in this volume is the caution which Mr. Vaughan considers it as necessary to give us against the very work which he has so laboriously but so indifferently translated. The Abbate, publishing under the eye of the King, cannot, Mr. V. says, be supposed to represent the country in an unfavourableview; so that, to be safe in our conclusions, we shall do well, he adds, to qualify them by consulting the work of Mr. Leckie; a publication which has a tendency the most opposite (as our readers cannot fail to remember) to any thing in the shape of court-flattery. We shall begin the exercise of our critical functions by some remarks on the Abbate's tour, which was performed, it appears, in company with a personage of conse-quence, the Knight of Jerusalem, Signor Donato Tommasi.

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This companion of the Abbate, being a public officer of vernment, made it a rule to decline all offers of accommodation from individuals in regard to lodging; a determination which often led to a vehement contest of argument, and subjected the travellers to the necessity of remaining satisfied with very indifferent quarters. Of the uncultivated state of the island, some idea may be formed by the acknowlegement (p. 32.) of tracts of country to the extent of ten miles, containing neither farm, inn, nor inhabitant.' The state of agriculture is found to vary considerably in different places, but throughout the island a remarkable contrast exists between the fertility of the soil and the aukwardness of the cultivator. In the neighbourhood of Syracuse, where the growth of hemp is a favourite object of attention, the land is prepared for it by five or six ploughings, when half the number would suffice if the husbandman adopted the simple improvement of a single coulter to his plough. In the vicinity of Catania, one of the least backward districts of Sicily, ten or twelve shillings per acre is accounted a high rent 3 and the capitals of the farmers are so limited that many are obliged to hire their oxen. They appear to be ignorant that, in the immediate neighbourhood of a great city, pasturage is more lucrative than the growth of corn, and they consequently sow wheat at the very gates of Catania and Palermo. From such agriculturists as these, we cannot expect a judicious course of husbandry; and we find them accordingly engaged (p. 205.)

* See Rev. Vol. x. N. S. p. 283..

in an unmerciful routine of cropping. Their land is measured by salms, each of which contains about five English acres and a half; money-accounts are kept in ounces, taris, and grains, thirty taris making an ounce, and twenty grains a tari :

1 ounce is equal to 12s. 6d. sterling.

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The reader of Abbate Balsamo's work will often have occasion to remind himself that it is a mere journal, and must reckon on finding in it little more than local description and detail. On arriving at the part (p. 146.) which treats of the county of Modica, we expected, from the particular reference to it in the title-page, to be gratified with more comprehensive views, but in vain; for it may be truly said of the Abbate, as of the Celtic bard, that "one note is struck at the beginning and continued to the end." The utility of such minute descriptions we by no means question in the case of those who possess landed property in the island, or who have an interest in improving its interior administration: but we must repeat that we have strong objections to the attempt to palm this book on the British public as a general view of the state of Sicily. The Abbate's Appendix is the only part that possesses a title to such a character, and it is too short and imperfect to constitute more than a mere sketch.

In connection with agricultural researches, the wages of labour and price of provisions attracted a considerable share of the Abbate's attention. The rates of these by no means approach so nearly to equalization in a rude country like Sicily, as in a state in which long habits of intercourse have diffused a rapidity of communication and facility of conveyance. In one quarter, the Mazzarino, which is situated south-east of the centre of the island, the Abbate found the price of common labour about sixpence a day, exclusive of victuals, which consist of bread and wine; and by the year, about seven pounds sterling, with victuals. Procceding farther to the south-east, he.communicates the prices of commodities at Caltagirone, a city with 20,000 inhabitants; and on comparing the present rates with those of 1792, we find abundant reasons for being satisfied that the enhancement of provisions is not confined to our own country. Veal has risen at Caltagirone in that period from 7d. to 11d. the pound; beef from 5d. to 9d.; mutton from 5d. to 8d.; and cheese from 7d. to 1od.-So materially do prices in Sicily vary according to situation, that, at the small town of Monterosso, a distance of less than thirty miles, the expence of provisions appears to be not much more than a B 2 third

third of the rates at Caltagirone., Moderate, however, as they continue, the ratio of enhancement since former years appears to be the same as in the larger towns.

Next to agricultural and economical details, the progress of population appears to have formed the object of chief interest with the Abbate and his fellow-traveller. The documents quoted, imperfect as they are, seem to imply a regular and considerable increase; (p. 249. and Appendix 21.) liable, however, of late years, to unfortunate interruptions (p. 86.). from the frequent occurrence of bad harvests. On the subject of taxation, we have occasionally animadversions (p. 77. and Appendix 15.) from the Abbate: but his knowlege of the question seems to have led him no farther than to the plain and sound conclusion that all taxation should fall on the consumer.

An Appendix generally conveys the idea of additional papers: but, in this case, it might have been more properly intitled a "Summary of the preceding details of the journal." It contains a warm encomium on the climate of Sicily, as one of the most healthy and pleasant in the world. Winter,' says the author, is a continued spring; the heats of summer are tempered by the fresh breezes of the sea; and even in July and August, the air is pure and salubrious on the heights and mountains.' The chief drawbacks on this favoured atmosphere consist in the want of rain from May to September, and in the well-known visitations of the Sirocco wind. In addition to the languor which the latter produces on the body, its effects are, in other respects, remarkably baneful. Wine bottled during its prevalence never clears; paint put on is said never to dry; and meat salted at that time infallibly spoils. The Abbate contends, however, most spiritedly against the charge of indolence as an effect of the climate; and he quotes, with no small exultation, the testimony of Cicero to the industry of his countrymen in former days. The topic on which he is most at home, in the Appendix as well as in the Journal, is the state of agriculture, on which he communicates several very proper admonitions. He regrets the miserable system of policy hitherto pursued in this respect, and acknowleges that pasturage, easily as it might be improved, remains in a very backward state. Of few estates in Sicily can he say, as of that of the Prince of Belmonte, that they remind him of the meadows of Lodi in Lombardy, of Leicestershire in England, or of the Pays d'Auge in Normandy. On the subject of manufactures he is sufficiently enlightened to perceive that monopoly and favour, of whatever kind, are injurious; and that all should be left to the operation of private exertion. In regard to commerce, though his researches are far from profound, he is in some degree

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aware of the superior amount, in all countries, of foreign over inland trade.

The description of the cities of Syracuse and Catania pos sessing a claim to more general interest than other parts of the Abbate's journal, we select and lay them before our readers.

In approaching a city that was formerly a competitor in power and grandeur to Athens, and mistress of the arts and urbanity of Rome itself, the sight of the Obelisk without the town, and the two only remaining mutilated columns of the famous temple of Olympian Jove, present to the mind a thousand ideas and reflections on the history and fate of cities and nations. Upon the wings, it may be said, of imagination, we pass rapidly back through the immense space of more than twenty-five ages, and we already think and speak of Archias, of Thrasybulus, of Dionysius, of Dion, of Timoleon, of Agathocles, of Marcellus. The entrance into Syracuse by four bridges and wet ditches partakes of the grand, and is rendered more noble by the gates on each side, and the four orders of fortification which bring to the recollection the works of Coni, of Alexandria, of Lisle, of Valenciennes, and other celebrated fortifications of Europe, To our mortification, however, we discover that the interior of the town does not correspond with so promising an exterior. The popu lation is scanty, and few signs of opulence, or good houses, or streets; so that it should seem the best sort of eulogium to write this inscription: "this was the ancient Ortigia." The town of Syracuse is con sidered among the fourth in rank of the cities of Sicily, for excepting Palermo, Messina, and Catania, there are none others that can pretend to class above it.'' Its circuit, including its vast fortifications, is said to be three miles, and its population is supposed to amount to fourteen thousand inhabitants. They seem to believe there that only an age ago it amounted to forty thousand, and is lessened at least two. thirds of its number. For my own part I should like to enquire into the foundation of such a belief, because neither the situation of the in habited parts, nor the history of its political state, nor the contemplation of its principal buildings, can induce us to believe such an inconceivable change in so limited period as one hundred years. There are several churches, and houses of gentlemen sufficiently neat; but as to the streets, with the exception of the two principal, they are generally narrow and dirty, and unpleasant; there is nothing that deserves the name of a square, and the market itself would be mean, even among the inconsiderable towns of the island. The great harbour, as every one knows, is capacious, secure, and magnificent, and viewed from the citadel, displays itself to the eye with great beauty and advantage, in the figure of a majestic and noble ellipsis: it wants altogether the best ornament and most significant charm which it ought, and might have, a quantity of vessels, and a considerable trade and it is disgusting and painful to behold this wonderful bay, which has received from the hand of nature such singular advantages, and might be - so prosperous, empty and deserted, without navigation or commerce.'I have heard and read of a thousand projects for giving life and recovery to the forlorn and fallen Syracuse; but the major

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