This is a
Corso.) On the Sunday evening, the grand representation of the
Sonnambula, with the theatre lighted (according to advertisement)
"with wax-candles, till it was as light as day!"
Secondly, on the Monday, another Corso, with throwing of flowers and
"coriandoli" (i. e. what was supposed to be comfits, but in reality
little pills of flour made and sold by the hundredweight for the
purpose) from the carriages to each other, and from the windows and
the balconies of the houses. Then in the evening, a grand gala
reception at the Palazzo Castelmare, at which it was understood
masks would be gladly welcomed by the host.
On the night of the Tuesday, thirdly, the last great day of all,
there was to be a grand masked ball at the Circolo dei Nobili; that
ball of which and of its consequences on the Ash Wednesday morning,
the reader already wots. And this was to be the wind-up of the
Carnival.
The Corso on the Sunday was a most successful one. The weather was
all that was most desirable; bright, not too cold, and free from
wind and dust. The Marchese Lamberto turned out with two handsomely
appointed equipages. He and his sister-in-law occupied one carriage,
and the Marchese Ludovico and the Conte Leandro Lombardone, who was
not a rich man, and had no carriage of his own, sat in the second.
It could not be said that the Marchese Lamberto "looked like the
time!" And, in truth, he would have given much to escape the ordeal
he was called upon to go through.
Pages:
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336