There is little or
no taste for litterature among any part of the native society. The upper
classes are sensualists; the middling ignorant and superstitious. With
regard to the _Lazzaroni_, I do not think that they at all deserve the ill
name that has been given to them. They always seem good humoured and
willing to work, when employment is given to them; and they do not appear
at all disposed to disturb the public peace, which, from their being so
numerous and formidable a body, they could easily do. The Neapolitan
dialect has a far greater affinity to the Spanish than to the Tuscan, and
there are likewise, a great many Greek words in it. When one takes into
consideration the extreme ignorance that prevails among the Neapolitans in
general, one is astonished that such a prodigy of genius as Filangieri
could have sprung up among them. What talent, application, deep research
and judgment were united in that illustrious man! And yet there are many
Neapolitans of rank who have never heard of him. Would you believe that on
my asking one of the principal booksellers in Naples for Filangieri's work
on legislation (an immortal work which has called forth the admiration and
eulogy of the greatest geniuses of the age, of which Benjamin Franklin and
Sir Wm Jones spoke in the most unqualified terms of approbation; a work
which has been translated into all the languages of Europe), I was told by
the bookseller that he had never heard either of the author or of his work.
Pages:
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509