THE CARNIVAL AT ROME. 229 



to receive their friends, who may pay their respects masked or un- 

 masked, as it best pleases them. The area, or pit, is filled by a more 

 lively set, who dance, promenade, or tease each other in a shrill, 

 feigned, masquerading- voice. You are not suffocated with bon- 

 bons, and the people are of a more respectable class ; otherwise the 

 whole scene is little more than a repetition of what has been de- 

 scribed as taking place in the Corso. 



There is not so much humour to be seen on the first day of the 

 carnival as afterwards. Carriages and walkers throng in great num- 

 bers, but very few masks make their appearance. Foreigners of all 

 nations then come merely as spectators, to take a lesson in the part 

 they are to play on the succeeding days, and learn how to do car?iivaL 

 On all other occasions it goes on increasing in liveliness, and the two 

 great displays of fun are, Giovedi Grasso, Thursday in the middle of 

 the festival, and Shrove Tuesday, which is at the end of it. 



About the middle of the carnival the pope publishes a notice or re- 

 gulation, which is stuck about the streets like a play-bill, declaring the 

 manner in which Lent is to be observed, when they are to eat meat, 

 when to fast, and what religious observances will ensure a certain de- 

 gree of indulgence. The sight of this unwelcome edict seems to 

 have the same effect upon the Romans as the display of a skeleton 

 in the midst of a feast had upon the ancient Egyptians, admonishing 

 them to make the most of life while pleasure was still in their power. 

 No contrivance is spared to make gaiety succeed to gaiety during 

 the last two days of the carnival. After the religious duties of Sun- 

 day are over, there are the theatres and the opera, and, as these are 

 concluded by about midnight, at one in the morning a masked ball 

 begins, which lasts till dawn. On Tuesday, at ten o'clock, there is a 

 morning performance at the opera, daylight being shut out, and the 

 lamps lighted. One feels that it is almost like an impure debauch to 

 leave the beautiful Italian sunshine, and shut oneself up in a close 

 dingy theatre. But the Romans do it with great delight, and show 

 still greater delight in leaving it. " Ah che bello lume ! What 

 beautiful sunshine !" they exclaim on coming out, saluting each 

 other as if the day had suddenly dawned in the night time. " Buon 

 giorno, ben levato, ben alzato: good morning, how d'ye do? good 

 morrow," pass about from mouth to mouth. After the theatre, there 

 is the Corso and the horse-race ; after the race comes the illumina- 

 tion, which I will describe by and by, and the whole ends with a 

 masked ball, from which the company are turned out at eleven at 

 night, to prepare for Ash Wednesday. And on Ash Wednesday you 

 may walk through the streets of this strange inconsistent Rome and 

 find every thing so quiet, grave, orderly, and sober, that you ask 

 yourself whether the carnival is not a dream and an imagination, ra- 

 ther than the recollection of a thing which actually has been. 



The carnival of Rome is a fete whose character is national rather 

 than popular. It comprises all ranks, and softens all distinctions. It 

 is true that the majority of masks are persons of the middle and 

 lower classes, but the nobility, and even the ecclesiastics, are there 

 also, to grace by their presence, and to assist the observance of good 

 order. And from the circumstance of its being a national rejoicing, 



