GHL Journal, Naples, 4-5 May 1860
Title
GHL Journal, Naples, 4-5 May 1860
Title
GHL Journal, Naples, 4-5 May 1860
Sender
Ghl Journal
Recipient
U
Date(s)
- 1860-05-04–<br /> 1860-05-05
Place
Naples
Letter Content
GHL Journal, Naples, 4-5 May 1860
MS: Yale. Extract published: Kitchel, p. 200.
Friday 4 May.
Yesterday at dinner a Russian and his wife to whom I have occasionally chatted proposed that we should join them in an expedition to Pompeii, and as that would lessen the expense, we agreed, in spite of our disinclination to join parties. The day began most brilliantly and though it clouded over at one time, was on the whole splendid. The drive to Pompeii, through P'f3rtici, Torre del Greco, and Torre dell' Annunziata is very interesting; but the first thrill on entering the silent streets of Pompeii surpasses everything in the way of thrilling emotions at ruins. It was wholly different from what I had pictured it, and far more solemnly affecting. The long streets with the marks of the chariot wheels worn on the stones, the signs of shops, the constant view of the distant mountains, the similarity, amid so much dissimilarity to our modern life in the various indications still preserved, produced strange sensations. I longed to be rambling among the streets by the light of evening, unaccompanied by guides, undisturbed by the occasional glimpse of a visitor with "Murray." We were fortunate in having chosen a day and an hour when but a very few persons had arrived, and those few only crossed our paths now and then, so that on the whole we had the streets much to ourselves. The chief mosaics, pictures, all the utensils, and with a few exceptions all the statues have been removed from the houses and temples and collected in the Museum. This robs Pompeii of one great attraction. The Forum is grand, the Basilica very impressive, and the Amphitheatre and Theatre are so well preserved that a perfect idea of their construction is formed without any architectural knowledge.
It was curious to see the schoolboy like tendency in these Pompeians, to ornament their bedrooms with pictures of hideous obscenity. The phallus outside the lupanar is very well, and innocent enough; but hideous suggestions of amorous donkeys and satyrs with naked women seem anything but fit ornaments for bedrooms -- or indeed any other rooms. Noticeable amid the profusion of ornaments of all kinds everywhere -- mosaics, arabesques, pictures, statues, columns etc. is the great elegance of taste displayed. I imagine the predominance of the color red (chocolate red) would have been monotonous; and indeed the similarity of one house to another must have very much destroyed the effect of any one; but remembering one was in a provincial city, and that not important, it gave a vivid idea of the luxury and elegance of the lives led by these people. After 4 hours and a half we were thoroughly exhausted and went to the Hotel Diomede (a miserable restaurant) and had a lunch of bread, butter, Swiss cheese and Capri wine. Back to Naples by 'bd past 5.
Saturday 5th May.
Went to the Museo Borbonico to see the ornaments and utensils found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was an extremely interesting sight. Besides the cameos and ornaments (a few of the cameos of exquisite workmanship, and the one large Medusa nearly a foot broad unique among cameos -- for size, not for beauty) there were objects quite touching -- the linen of a wash wrung as if just wrinced, the loaf of bread with the baker's name printed on it, the silk, thread, ropes, keys, walnuts, oil (some still liquid) bottles, lens, mirrors, urns very similar indeed to our tea urns, the children's playthings, the letters for the shopfronts, surgical instruments, cooking utensils, in fact all the familiar objects of familiar life. These interested us so much that we bought a large volume of engravings of the chief objects.
Wrote to Agnes. Received a letter from Blackwood containing checquered news about the "Mill on the Floss." The sale is about 5,600 -- immense, but I gather that the general talk about the book is less favorable than it was about Adam. The disclosure of the authorship would have much influence in that direction, which would be increased by the fact of the book being a '91second book.'92 Moreover I doubt whether it is intrinsically so interesting as '91Adam.'92 Neither the story nor the characters take so profound a hold of the sympathies. Mais nous verrons. It is early days yet.
We then drove to the fortress of St. Elmo which commands the town from a great height. After waiting there an hour, till the commandant had dined, we were allowed to ascend the platform of the castle, and had a superb view of the bay, the city, and all the country round. The weather was delicious, and we gazed out upon the calm deep blue sea and at Vesuvius and the chain of mountains all round with a sort of yearning to be for ever living among them, without any of the intellectual strife and vicissitude of English life.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Kitchel, p. 200.
Friday 4 May.
Yesterday at dinner a Russian and his wife to whom I have occasionally chatted proposed that we should join them in an expedition to Pompeii, and as that would lessen the expense, we agreed, in spite of our disinclination to join parties. The day began most brilliantly and though it clouded over at one time, was on the whole splendid. The drive to Pompeii, through P'f3rtici, Torre del Greco, and Torre dell' Annunziata is very interesting; but the first thrill on entering the silent streets of Pompeii surpasses everything in the way of thrilling emotions at ruins. It was wholly different from what I had pictured it, and far more solemnly affecting. The long streets with the marks of the chariot wheels worn on the stones, the signs of shops, the constant view of the distant mountains, the similarity, amid so much dissimilarity to our modern life in the various indications still preserved, produced strange sensations. I longed to be rambling among the streets by the light of evening, unaccompanied by guides, undisturbed by the occasional glimpse of a visitor with "Murray." We were fortunate in having chosen a day and an hour when but a very few persons had arrived, and those few only crossed our paths now and then, so that on the whole we had the streets much to ourselves. The chief mosaics, pictures, all the utensils, and with a few exceptions all the statues have been removed from the houses and temples and collected in the Museum. This robs Pompeii of one great attraction. The Forum is grand, the Basilica very impressive, and the Amphitheatre and Theatre are so well preserved that a perfect idea of their construction is formed without any architectural knowledge.
It was curious to see the schoolboy like tendency in these Pompeians, to ornament their bedrooms with pictures of hideous obscenity. The phallus outside the lupanar is very well, and innocent enough; but hideous suggestions of amorous donkeys and satyrs with naked women seem anything but fit ornaments for bedrooms -- or indeed any other rooms. Noticeable amid the profusion of ornaments of all kinds everywhere -- mosaics, arabesques, pictures, statues, columns etc. is the great elegance of taste displayed. I imagine the predominance of the color red (chocolate red) would have been monotonous; and indeed the similarity of one house to another must have very much destroyed the effect of any one; but remembering one was in a provincial city, and that not important, it gave a vivid idea of the luxury and elegance of the lives led by these people. After 4 hours and a half we were thoroughly exhausted and went to the Hotel Diomede (a miserable restaurant) and had a lunch of bread, butter, Swiss cheese and Capri wine. Back to Naples by 'bd past 5.
Saturday 5th May.
Went to the Museo Borbonico to see the ornaments and utensils found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was an extremely interesting sight. Besides the cameos and ornaments (a few of the cameos of exquisite workmanship, and the one large Medusa nearly a foot broad unique among cameos -- for size, not for beauty) there were objects quite touching -- the linen of a wash wrung as if just wrinced, the loaf of bread with the baker's name printed on it, the silk, thread, ropes, keys, walnuts, oil (some still liquid) bottles, lens, mirrors, urns very similar indeed to our tea urns, the children's playthings, the letters for the shopfronts, surgical instruments, cooking utensils, in fact all the familiar objects of familiar life. These interested us so much that we bought a large volume of engravings of the chief objects.
Wrote to Agnes. Received a letter from Blackwood containing checquered news about the "Mill on the Floss." The sale is about 5,600 -- immense, but I gather that the general talk about the book is less favorable than it was about Adam. The disclosure of the authorship would have much influence in that direction, which would be increased by the fact of the book being a '91second book.'92 Moreover I doubt whether it is intrinsically so interesting as '91Adam.'92 Neither the story nor the characters take so profound a hold of the sympathies. Mais nous verrons. It is early days yet.
We then drove to the fortress of St. Elmo which commands the town from a great height. After waiting there an hour, till the commandant had dined, we were allowed to ascend the platform of the castle, and had a superb view of the bay, the city, and all the country round. The weather was delicious, and we gazed out upon the calm deep blue sea and at Vesuvius and the chain of mountains all round with a sort of yearning to be for ever living among them, without any of the intellectual strife and vicissitude of English life.
Citation
Ghl Journal, GHL Journal, Naples, 4-5 May 1860, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/94331