THE CARNIVAL AT ROME. 



space of time it is filled with its usual throng ; but every person, 

 whether in carriages, at the windows, in balconies, or on the foot 

 pavement, holds in his hands two or three lighted tapers. The trial 

 of skill is who can best put out the tapers of his neighbour, and keep 

 his own lighted. Every method of extinguishing is considered fair. 

 The common implement is a handkerchief tied to the end of a stick, 

 or the bough of a tree ; but the most amusing is a fan at the end of a 

 very long cane like a fishing-rod, which is used by some one at a 

 window, and which sweeps half across the street with fearful execu- 

 tion. The more candles people can put out, the greater is their sa- 

 tisfaction, and they taunt their victims with the continued cry of 

 " Senza moccoli ! Senza moccoli ! Your candles are out '. Your 

 candles are out!" Of course when men are attacked they will de- 

 fend themselves, and, therefore, some are provided with long reeds 

 to ward off the offending handkerchiefs ; others protect their lights 

 by enclosing them in little paper lanterns at the end of a high stick ; 

 and others suspend little strings of candles from house to house, high 

 up in the air, and far above the reach of any enemies. 



Childish as this may seem, every thing is done and taken good- 

 humouredly. The pelting ceases, and masks are laid aside, or turned 

 to the back of the head, but every one appears in the fancy costume 

 he had worn during the day. Here comes a waggon full of the hea- 

 then gods and goddesses, each with their respective emblems illu- 

 minated. Mercury has a taper at the end of his wand, Diana on her 

 bow ; Apollo's lyre is blazing with candles, and Jupiter's lightning 

 really flashes fire. There stalks a man with a weathercock on the 

 top of his hat, holding a flambeau at the end of a very long stick. A 

 devil is making himself at home with his natural element, and the 

 crowds of Swiss, Greek, and Italian peasant girls suffer from no 

 scarcity of sparks. 



As the sun is but just set when the illumination commences, its ef- 

 fect is at first scarcely visible. But softly and gradually the sky be- 

 comes of a deeper and a clearer blue, the stars peep out one by one 

 from their azure hiding place, and the Corso shines and sparkles with 

 the brilliancy of a fairy festival. The tapers that are used being 

 very small, they do not give much light, though countless in number, 

 but glitter and shine as if a shower of golden spangles had fallen from 

 the sky. Nor is their brightness fixed and monotonous ; the lights 

 dance about like motes in the sunshine, and, as the carriages move up 

 and down through the crowds of an eddying multitude, it would re- 

 quire but a slight stretch of fancy to imagine one saw the track of 

 some magical ship over the waves of a luminous sea, or the passage 

 of a cloud of fire-flies on their way to some happier abode. 



D. 



