CHAP. VIII.

FEAST OF St. Rosaline.- Singular customs at Palermo.Naples. Ascent of Mount Vesuvius.-Eruption.Return to Rome.-Italian names.-Loretto.-Mantua.-Venice and its carnival.-Parma, Placentia, and Turin.-The Alps.-The Female Valet and her exploits.

"And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents."

HENRY IV.

By this time my readers will be ready to allow that I have, in one way or other, seen a little of the world; but of all the showy exhibitions which ever met my senses, the scenes which I witnessed at the feast of St. Rosaline exceeded them all.

In the city of Palermo there are two main streets, said to be each a mile long. These streets cross each other in the middle, and at right angles. Being of a great width, and the houses having all balconies in front, the town is peculiarly adapted for illuminations, processions, &c. The festival lasted eight successive days. The first day was occupied by the processional exhibition of a most splendid representation of the" Mountain of the Muses," which was a huge artificial mound, covered with rural and picturesque scenery, inhabited by a number of

shepherds and others, to the amount of forty, all playing music, or engaged in some other rural amusement. The mountain was very large: its sides reached to the level of the ground, so that no wheels, or any thing belonging to a car, could be seen. Its progress through the streets occupied a whole day. This, however, was not the only object of attention during the day. Provisions were distributed to the poor in various parts of the town, and here and there a large hogshead of wine, which had been fixed overhead for the purpose, was set a flowing, and any person who chose might hold their vessels and partake of the generous beverage. In the evening the whole town was beautifully illuminated; not in the way practised in England, but by arches adorned with variegated lamps, and projecting from the houses in front of the balconies.

On the following day there was a different procession, wherein long trains of gaily dressed inhabitants passed between constantly flowing fountains of streaming and brilliant fireworks. On a succeeding day there were horse races in the streets; the jockeys riding without either saddle or bridle. When the animal was at full speed, with the rider lengthwise on its back, the latter seemed literally to fly. Again, on another day, the representation of a splendid palace, and opposite to it a fort, occupied the chief attention of the spectators. These were fixed towards the upper end of one of the streets already mentioned, the lower end of which looked towards the sea. When the populace were assembled, and the time for the exhibitions arrived,

fire seemed to rise out of the ocean and gradually to gather upon the town. By degrees it proceeded up the street, manifesting various sights and sounds as it moved slowly along. At length bomb-shells, flying through the air, alighted in the fort already named, giving sudden alarm to its inmates, who were busily engaged in various festivities. As the fort was consuming, a pigeon flew from the fortification to the neighbouring palace, having fire in its beak, and ignited a certain part of the combustibles of which the fabric was composed. Innumerable fire-works then successively exploded, the going off of which occupied a considerable space of time. In the front of the palace was a kind of magnificent arch, composed entirely of rockets to the number of 800; these towards the latter end of the exhibition, taking fire at each base of the arch, and exploding rapidly on both sides till they met in the centre, had an effect which must be inconceivable to those who have never witnessed such a spectacle. I really shuddered, and thought of the last tremendous day. On the eighth day, the car containing the "Mountain of the Muses" returned through the streets in the same processional manner, and the final burning of it was the finishing of the festival.

I am particularly desirous that my readers should understand, that I do not profess to give any thing more than a very faint idea of these exhibitions and ceremonies. To have an adequate conception of them a person should be upon the spot. I recollect some years after I had returned to England, in conversing with a gentleman on the subject,

on being asked to describe these ceremonies, I told him I could do no such thing, for they were utterly indescribable. His answer was“ Now you have fully convinced me that you have been there indeed, and are no impostor; I have seen them myself, and had you said you could describe the festival of St. Rosaline, I should have doubted your veracity."

Several of the customs of the inhabitants of Palermo deserve notice had I room. I cannot, however, refrain from alluding to those in reference to marriage. I am not aware whether the fifty years which have passed since I was there have wrought any material change, but at that period the women mixed very little with the men. The opportunities which the latter had of choosing associates for life, were not of every day occurrence. Supposing a young gentleman should have sometimes seen the daughter of a respectable citizen walking on the balcony of her father's house, and should have taken a fancy to her, he has no opportunity of consulting her on the subject. The preliminary step is to seek out a female Pandarus, in the form of some old woman, of which there are plenty in the place. To this important personage he must make known his love, and its object. She, for a reasonable consideration, undertakes to convey a notification of his flame (under cover, of course,) to the father of the damsel. The old woman must be provided with the gentleman's name, quality, and references as to how his character may be inquired into. The father receives the go-between as he would any other messenger on a matter of business,

and if he happen to have a favourable impression of the aspiring youth, stipulations are entered into for a visit. It is not, however, till the second or third call that the young couple are admitted into each other's company; the young lady's mother, even then, always taking care to seat herself betwixt them, and it is very rare indeed that they are allowed to converse together till the day of marriage. The above account may be fully relied on, as I not only had it from general conversation, but also particularly from a fellow-countryman of my own, whom I accidentally met at Palermo, and who had himself gone through the ceremony.

Although Palermo was full of carriages and vehicles of various sorts, there was not one to be seen of any kind two miles distant from the town, on account of there being no roads. Every where in Sicily, when we met with a few inhabitants, they gazed at us as though we had dropped from the heavens, or at least, as if they had never seen a stranger in their lives. On our leaving Palermo, we sailed direct for Naples.

Whilst at Naples, our gentlemen were introduced to the King. We happened also to be there on his Majesty's birth day, on which occasion we attended the magnificent theatre of St. Carlo, said to be the largest in the world. The actors were all, or most of them, Eunuchs. To give an idea of the vast size of the place, I may mention, that though I sat about the middle of the pit, I could not hear a word from the feminine voices of the actors.

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