How the journey from Marseilles to Genoa has changed since Mme. de
Genlis took that road with the Duchesse de Chartres a few years before
the outbreak of the Revolution, may be judged by some further instances.
When the party left Antibes for Nice, they went by sea, because of the
badness of the road; and were obliged to be accompanied by a felucca
with a whole regiment on board, to protect them against corsairs.
At Ospidaletta
“we were forced to halt and spend the night, one of the most frightful
places that hospitality ever provided. We slept three in one room, and
we made up a sort of bed for Mme. the Duchess of Chartres with mule
cloths and leaves. In one room were two great heaps of corn, and the
master of the house assured us that we should sleep well if we buried
ourselves in the grain. The gentlemen gave us their cloaks to cover
the corn. One had to go to bed in the most extraordinary attitude—in
fact, almost upright. We passed the night in continual interruptions,
caused by slidings down and by the upset of masses of corn. With joy
we saw the day dawn; and as we had slept in our clothes, our toilettes
did not occupy us long.”
The whole of the Riviera from Nice to Genoa—indeed, the whole of
Provence—is studded with ruined castles and palaces: of these, only
the most mean, that house of cards, Monaco, remains intact. They tell
us of a time when the great families lived in lordly state, under
the absolutism of the French crown or the despotism of the Genoese
Republic. In Genoa itself the families inscribed on the Golden Book,
and alone having the right to sit in council and direct the affairs of
state, and mismanage and oppress the Ligurian coast and Corsica, did
not exceed one hundred and seventy. But in Liguria there were at least
four hundred and fifty noble families decorated with titles, possessing
vast estates, commanderies, and hereditary wealth, who were excluded
from all share in the government.
All have gone under, not in the wars for the Milanese, but in the
Revolution; and these ruined castles and palaces are their tombstones.
Who can doubt that it is well that so it should have been. In the words
of Macaulay:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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