The existence of these people consists, in short, of a round of
eating, drinking, sleeping, and reproducing their kind, until death
arrive.
But beyond the Apennines matters are far otherwise. There, instead of
the citizen descending to the level of the peasant, it is the peasant
who rises to that of the citizen. Unremitting labour is continually
improving both the soil and man. A smuggling of ideas which daily
becomes more active, sets custom-houses and customs officers at
defiance. Patriotism is stimulated and kept alive by the presence of
the Austrians. Common sense is outraged by the weight of taxation. The
different fractions of the middle class--advocates, physicians,
merchants, farmers, artists--freely express among one another their
discontent and their hatred, their ideas and their hopes. The
Apennines, which form a barrier between them and the Pope, bring them
nearer to Europe and liberty. I have never failed, after conversing
with one of the middle class in the Legations, to inscribe in my
tablets, _There is an Italian Nation_!
I travelled from Bologna to Florence with a young man whom I at first
took, from the simple elegance of his dress, for an Englishman. But we
fell so naturally into conversation, and my companion expressed
himself so fluently in French, that I supposed him to be a
fellow-countryman. When, however, I discovered how thoroughly he was
versed in the state of the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, laws,
the administration, and the politics of Italy, I could no longer doubt
that he was an Italian and a Bolognese.
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