Mes: mayo 1803

  • Vista de la ciudad, los encantos de la catedral, italianos en el teatro

    As we proceeded to the stairs in the harbour, the first view of the city particularly struck us by its neatness, and the novelty of the houses contiguous to the port, the greater part of which are new. A large building, the Tribunal of Commerce, stands in front; and the whole scene is exceedingly pleasing, though it exhibits little or nothing of magnificence. The great quay, however, is a noble work, by far the grandest I have seen any where: it was crowded with people, whose cleanliness, bustle, and costume surprised and delighted us. The appearance here is really more striking than I can describe; every body is in motion, and industry busy in every street.

    Having secured apartments at los coatro nationes [Las cuatro naciones], a new inn, we began our walk through the town. The cathedral is a small but venerable, Gothic building. The cloister planted with orange trees, and surrounded by chapels, many of which have old armour, swords, and shields, suspended over their altars, is a fit introduction to such an edifice. But the church itself with its spiral stalls, «chaunted mass,» gloomy aisles, and «dim religious light» struggling through a few rich windows, and resting at last upon the gilt traces of a high-wrought Gothic altar, carried me more forcibly than any thing I can remember into the darkest ages of monkish devotion. The Catholic ceremonies are fine only in their edifices; the effect of this altar to me, who had just landed from the tawdry «crimped Grecian» spectacles of Italy, the idea of its having remained in the same state for ages, and that it has never been profaned by French violence, struck me with a mingled sensation of reverence and satisfaction.

    Hence we proceeded into the world again; and at the custom-house, a solid, handsome, though not architecturally beautiful building, were present at the examination of our trunks, which was performed with great civility by an officer who was well acquainted with the English, French, and Italian languages. He inspected all my books, one of which was the common prayer; he read the title page aloud and returned it to me. The bustle of business in the custom-house is very great; and the strictness with which the baggage of travellers is generally examined, has been much complained of.

    In the evening we visited the theatre: as it begins as early as five o’clock, the Spanish comedy was over when we arrived; but we were in time for the ballet. The theatre is not very large: it is tolerably well constructed; but though neat in the extreme, is miserably deficient in decorations. It has three tiers of boxes and a gallery; a plain white curtain, festooned on a yellow ground; the stage boxes have pilasters adorned with brown arabesks; in the centre of the house is suspended a mean lamp; but the general effect, from its extreme neatness and cleanliness is not unpleasing. The exterior bears the date of 1776. We were best entertained with the ballet Matilda di Orsino, a bustling Spanish story. The scenery was new, well managed, and appropriate; the palace-view was better executed than any scene I have witnessed since I left Paris; the landscapes but indifferently. The dancers are all Italians; but the whole was conducted without extravagance or absurdity, after the French taste. We had only the gusto Italiano for five minutes at the end, when three twirling buffoons with white breeches made their appearance. The good taste which prevails in this department is owing to the first female dancer, La Perron, who received her education at Paris; she has considerable merit, and the actors are respectable. The orchestra is rather scanty. The house was by no means full; the company in the boxes were neatly dressed, and the audience in general quiet and well behaved: the whole performance was finished at eight o’clock.

  • Un pueblo religioso, el espantoso palacio de la Virreina, la Escuela Llotja

    We were surprised to find the bishop’s palace not more considerable than most of the better sort of houses in the town. The present prelate is much esteemed, and we heard from the English residents here a very favourable character of the Spanish hierarchy. We observed among the middle and lower orders of people that attention to religion which we expected. The booksellers’ shops have an enormous proportion of theological literature: hardly any door is without a print of the Virgin or some saint; and it is a common custom here to bow to a church in passing, when the bell is tolling.

    About half-past one we walked to the maison de plaisance of Mr. ___, who had invited us to dinner: it was about two miles from the city. The whole surrounding country was sprinkled, over with little boxes, generally consisting of a kitchen below, and above stairs a dining room, a bed room or two, and an open arcade; principally places for retirement and relaxation, but hardly any of them large enough for receiving a family. In our way to Mr. ___’s, we passed an ugly painted house, with four towers ending in short spires, built by a viceroy of Peru, who sent the plan over from that country; and it is said to be a specimen of the Peruvian style of architecture: nothing can be more frightful, and it appears very small for an officer holding so high and lucrative a post. It stands close to the road, and is merely surrounded by a little garden.

    After dinner we returned to Barcelona, which from the country has a pretty appearance, by a road bounded on each side by a hedge of lofty aloes. We were in time for the ballet, and the second act of the opera; which is performed twice a week by a company of Italians, at the theatre already described, which is indeed the only one in the city: it was executed in a very creditable style, and the first female has considerable vocal powers. The house was extremely crowded. We visited the academy of arts, instituted in the palace of commerce, and supported in the most magnificent manner by the merchants of Barcelona. We were conducted through a long suite of apartments, in which seven hundred boys were employed in copying and designing: some of them, who display superior talents, are sent to Rome, and to the academy of St. Fernando at Madrid; the others are employed in different ways by the merchants and manufacturers. The rooms are large and commodious; and are furnished with casts of celebrated statues, and every proper apparatus. We observed a few drawings of considerable merit, produced by the scholars: but the grand picture before us of liberality and industry, amply rewarded our visit; and was the more striking to us, from having of late been continually accustomed to lament the traces of neglect and decay, so visibly impressed on every similar institution in the impoverished cities of Italy.

  • Montjuic, con vistas de Barcelona y el Llobregat, la fundición de cañones, el tribunal de comercio

    The fortress of Monjoich, which lies to the south of the city, is remarkably strong, particularly on the side towards Valentia; but it is believed that the principal object of the government in building it, was to keep the free spirit of the Catalans in subjection, by commanding the chief town of the principality: it would require three thousand men to defend it against an enemy. The view of the city from the walls of the fortress is very complete. I cannot by any means allow that it contains a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants; two-thirds of that number accords better with its general appearance, and even then perhaps the amount would be over-rated. There is nothing of magnificence in this prospect; any one who can imagine a pretty white town with a few ugly steeples rising out of it, backed by a range of hills which are sprinkled over with little pleasure-houses, will have an accurate idea of the general view of Barcelona. The prospect from Monjoich towards the south, is a fine plain, rich beyond description, through which the Llobregat flows into the sea, which it discolours to a great distance.

    This plain is terminated by hills; and through an opening of these Montserrat is plainly discovered. The west side of the fortress is bounded by the sea, which washes the foot of the precipice on which it stands. In descending Monjoich, while we were meditating on its name, we observed a stone by the road-side, which had the remains of an Hebrew inscription; but I could neither learn its history, nor that of the mountain. At the inn we found the master of the mules; with whom we agreed for two good beasts and an attendant, to carry us to Montserrat on the following day. We are to pay four dollars for going, and the same for returning, for two mules; and three dollars a day for the time we choose to remain there.

    The cannon-foundry at Barcelona is a magnificent establishment; and as the workmen are kept constantly in employ, the store of artillery must be immense. An officer of the engineers shewed us the furnace with the brass prepared which is to be melted tomorrow: and afterwards carried us into the workshop, where the operations of boring, scraping, polishing, and ornamenting the cannon, were going on with great alacrity. Another officer conducted us to the magazine of fire arms, sufficient for a 150,000 men; all are well kept, and shutters are making to preserve them still more carefully. We were next shewn the department where gun-carriages, artillery-carts, &c. are manufactured: a considerable number of persons were preparing wood and iron for these purposes. This superb cannon-foundry is inferior only to that of Seville. When the king was here, several cannon were cast in his presence. We observed in the principal workshop an image of the Virgin, placed in a conspicuous station, with candles before her; and the common prints of St. Francis and St. Anthony pasted upon almost every part of the walls of the manufactory.

    The palace of the Tribunal of Commerce has precisely the appearance of an English town-hall, or sessions-house of the last century: the architecture, consisting of a front of four half-columns, and a pediment with the royal arms, is regular and neat, but perfectly insipid; it is the chief building in Barcelona. In its court are placed statues of Neptune, and the four quarters of the world, which are greatly admired in this city: the first is awkward in the design, and indifferently executed; the others are a most ludicrous confirmation of what we heard yesterday, that no women are suffered to be studied as models in the academy of Barcelona.

  • Las villas de Barcelona, menos bonitas que las de Italia, sus carruajes anticuados

    After riding through the lively village of St. Andreol, we found ourselves in the fertile and populous vicinity of Barcelona. The city, backed by Monjoich, has a pretty look on this side; and though it was impossible for us, whose eyes had been so lately feasted with the charms of Naples and Genoa, to be struck with the villas of Barcelona, yet returning from monastic solitude [they had been to Montserrat], they delighted us extremely. We hastened lest we should be too late for the gates, which are always shut at eight o’clock.
    […]
    We found the Rambla (the parade of Barcelona) crowded by all the middle orders of the citizens ; men, women, priests, and monks. It was the double holiday of Whit-Monday and Saint Renpands. After the opera, about thirty carriages moved in procession: they were generally shabby, both as to the vehicle and the equipage; and many were of the ancient square form. The general’s (which was preceded by two dragoons) and that of the governor, were in the Parisian fashion: the harness of both was handsome, and decorated with silver; the latter had plumes on the horses’ heads.