 | CARNIVAL. The Italian sketch book |  |
CARNIVAL.
The last week of Carnival, although unmarked by
the extravagant festivities which attract the stranger
multitude at the seat of Catholicism, is yet sufficiently
prolific of amusement. The Lung' Arno,
as the street bordering the river is called, is thronged,
and the occasional appearance of a party of
maskers, and especially that of a gilded and painted
vehicle, filled with a band of choristers dressed in
the Chinese fashion, evidences a gala time. The
Grand Duke's equipage, consisting of several carriages
drawn by four horses richly caparisoned, with
gaudy outriders, adds to the passing show. A Festa
di Ballo is the favourite evening diversion. The
extensive floor of one of the large theatres is covered
with people of various orders, the number of
maskers being generally small in proportion to the
whole assembly. Most of the females wear large
black silk dominos and half masks. A few gay and
comical disguises appear amid the throng; and
most of the time three or four sets of waltzers are
footing it away in various parts of the building.
There is far less of genuine humour than I had
Most of the maskers, in their silent glidings
to and fro, seemed convened rather for intrigue than
mere pastime. Indeed the practice, when not evidently
made use of as a source of mirth, or successful
in producing that effect, is too intrinsically sinister
to please those unaccustomed to it. I can readily
imagine a masquerade in France as a very gay,
amusing, and perhaps pleasing spectacle; but if this
be a specimen of this form of diversion in Italy, I
can only say that it possesses, in my view, little
comparative attraction. The Chiesa di St. Giovanni
is splendidly arrayed in tapestry and brilliantly illuminated.
The inspiring solos and choruses, with
the deep responses of the assembled multitude, and
the grand instrumental harmony, formed a scene
more impressive and interesting than the combined
pleasures of the Carnival.
Among the by-way mirth observable at this mirthful
season, one instance struck me as quite unique. A
man wearing a military chapeau, stood upon an inverted
basket, at a corner, with an outstretched arm and
a fixed eye, immovable as a statue. The joke consisted
in his perfect immobility amid the jeers and
questionings of an eager group. In the midst of a
warm debate, whether the figure was artificial or
human, the support was removed from beneath his
feet, and the hero of the scene joined in the merriment,
the source of which was so essentially the
product of Florentine wit. A few days after I saw
characteristic spectacle. In front of the singular old
prison of Florence, three criminals were exposed,
having upon their breasts large placards indicating
their names, age and crimes. They had been condemned
to the galleys for three years, and the bell
had assembled a curious crowd to gaze upon their
wretchedness, and witness their transportation.
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