ing Cars. One carriage towers above the rest; it is an English two-decked ship manned by jolly tars, having Punch's masks, half white, half black, and something like a pewter platter for a shield. The grandees sport their four in hand, their blazoned harness, and carriages rich with flowing draperies; they have common comfits for the multitude, but reserve their ornamental baskets, with finer confectionary for the ladies; they are attired in silken dominos, velvet hats and plumes, yet conceal their faces with grotesque masks-their postillions are Columbines and Harlequins, their coachmen and footmen are Devils with horns, with or without cloven feet, or they are Old Maids of the sixteenth, or any other century; while in the rear of this show comes, for greater contrast, a funeral car, filled with ghosts and phantoms of the dead. Thus go the carriages; pedestrians choke up every corner, every balcony and window is crammed, and every one is pelting his neighbour without distinction. A stoppage of five minutes, or more; now comes the tug of war, the surer aim above, the surer aim below; now comes the heavy hail of plums and comfits rattling upon the pewter shield, and clouds of sugar dust and flour mounting to the skies. If you smile at the salutation you chance to get upon your pate, the folks smile too; but if you look glum, why then they laugh the more. The people shout, the frightened horses rear; while the little boys scramble at the risk of their limbs for all they can pick up. Royalty approaches, whose carriages alone on these days may pierce the street-the shower ceases for the moment; Majesty smiles, and passes on;—and then again for the fun. Such is the Toledo towards the end of the Carnival; the coup d'ail up and down this immense throng is one of the most striking of the kind that can be seen; a mask for the face becomes almost indispensable, as well as a shield, though there are many without a disguise, who sit quietly in their carriages, and brave it out. The confetture are often, and very unfairly, much too large, and generally aimed not singly, but by ladles and horns full. At dusk the crowd begins to thin: we dined, and thence to the Theatre del Fondo, where the King appeared with his family, his Court, and the other grandees. From hence His Majesty went to San Carlo, with all the world besides, and where the masquerade of the night concludes the fun of the day. The whole theatre is superbly illuminated, and all the masqueraders of the morning in their dresses are here promenading; a band is performing, and while some dance or waltz, others burlesque it. The grandees sit in their boxes, and sup, or play cards, when any mask is privileged to enter; he may know them, but it is his fault if he suffer himself to be found out. To conclude-Some there are who cynically say that all this is very nonsensical. I do not pretend to be very wise, but I think that when in a foreign country we may enjoy a foreign diversion; and that if we cannot improve the world by our sense we may as well laugh with it in its amusements. Thursday.--A most beautiful day, and grand review of all the Austrian troops here; cavalry and infantry. In the morning they assembled, and formed one long line in treble file along the whole extent of the Chiaja-thence they marched, in divisions, into the Royal Gardens opposite, where Mass was administered, to the sweet strains of solemn music, in a chapel erected for the occasion. From hence, after firing various vollies, and further military manoeuvres, they all paraded to the palace, where the King, in the balcony, standing uncovered, inspected them as they passed. Finer bodies of men, or more splendid equipments, I have not seen. In looking at such martial troops, I was astonished that the French, under Napoleon, could for so long a time, so completely, and almost uniformly beat them. Their commander-in-chief here is General Frimont: and the present fête is on occasion of the monarch's birth-day. I am now arranging for my departure from Naples, and with much regret it is that I shall quit it. Many circumstances have combined to render my stay here particularly pleasurable: among others, the society I have had, private and public, the glitter of large parties; the more grateful, social, Departure from Naples. 191 intercourse of friend with friend: nor can I omit to mention the hospitality, and kindly feeling of Mr. T. and the agreeable society of his family; moreover let me add that I have enjoyed the best health, and have been favoured with the most genial weather. But, to cease speaking of myself, and to speak a long farewell to Naples. To skies ever serene; to nature ever luxuriant, and verdant; to the wide expansive ocean, and bay so graceful; to the sublimities of volcanic wonders; to antiquities above, and below ground; to scenery all around unrivalled in itself; every place consecrated by historic recollections; some, unhappily only known as the favoured spot for Roman Imperial licentiousness, and debauchery; others again ennobled as the retreats of Roman virtue, poetry, and patriotism; to prospects so varying and beautiful, whether they be tinged with the incipient rays of Aurora, whether they glow from pole to pole with meridian heat; or whether they be so exquisitely tinted, and shadowed with the last hues of a setting sun; to a city where pleasure ever holds her frolic court, and ceaseless gaieties ever woo us;-finally, to such charms of nature, so beautiful in themselves, so endeared by classic recollections; to the scenes of the brightest fictions of the poets; to Elysium, to Acheron; to Eneas, to Ulysses; to Homer, to Virgil; Adieu! F 192 Return to Rome. CHAPTER XXXIII. RETURN TO ROME CARNIVAL-HORSE RACE-CANDLES- CLASSIC NEIGHBOURHOOD. AND RETURNED to Rome at day-break on Sunday last, by dint of travelling incessantly from the preceding Friday night. Our conveyance this time was by the Government Courier, which if it be not the pleasantest, is perhaps the safest, as well as the dearest, it having cost me above 300 Carlini, or nearly six pounds English, to make a journey of not much more than 100 miles. The general terror of the brigands now infesting the road increases, and three several attacks have been made during my short stay at Naples; in which, it is said, that robbery has been aggravated by outrage, and violence, both to men, and women. Our escort consisted of two, occasionally three armed dragoons. Our route being the same as on our |