An order
was published, that any person appearing out of the Corso with lighted
tapers would be arrested, and therefore the idea of an evening
demonstration outside the gates was dropped. Not all the efforts,
however, of the police could light the Moccoletti in the Corso. House
after house, window after window, were left unlighted. The crowd in the
streets carried no candles, and there were only sixteen carriages or so,
all filled with strangers. Of all the dreary sights I have ever
witnessed that Moccoletti illumination was the dreariest. At rare
intervals, and in English accents, you heard the cry of "Senza Moccolo,"
which used to burst from every mouth as the tiny flames flickered, and
glared, and fell. Before the sight was half over the spectators began to
leave, and while I pushed my way through the dispersing crowds, I could
still hear the faint cry of "Senza Moccolo." As the sound still died
away, the cry still haunted me; and in my recollection, the Carnival of
1860 will ever remain as the dullest and dismalest of Carnivals--the
Carnival without mirth, or sun, or gaiety--the Carnival Senza Moccolo.
CHAPTER XII. ROMAN DEMONSTRATIONS. THE PIAZZA COLONNA CROWDS. THE
PORTA PIA MEETINGS. THE ANTI-SMOKE MOVEMENT.
Straws show which way the wind blows, and so, though the straws
themselves are valueless, yet as indications of what is coming, their
motions are worth noting.
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