If, in order to testify political
dissatisfaction, the whole of London were to leave off beer-drinking by
private agreement, the expression of feeling would be hardly a more
remarkable one.
CHAPTER XIII. THE EMEUTE OF ST JOSEPH'S DAY.
The feast of San Giuseppe is the only _festa_ day in Lent, when the
Romans eat fried fish in honour of the occasion,--St Joseph alone knows
why. Henceforth the day will have other and less pleasing associations.
The garland-wreathed stalls, with the open ovens and the frizzling
fritters, were reared as usual at every corner; the shops were closed;
the _osterias_ were full; the streets were crowded with holiday-people in
holiday-attire, and the day was warm and bright like an early summer-day
in England, though it was only the 19th of March. The news of the
Romagna elections, with their overwhelming majority in favour of
annexation to Sardinia, had been just received in Rome with general
exultation. No doubt the festive appearance which marked the city
throughout the day was not altogether accidental, but was meant for, and
regarded as, an expression of public sympathy with the revolted
provinces. St Joseph happens to be the patron saint of the two great
Italian popular heroes, Garibaldi and Mazzini, and a demonstration on
this day was therefore considered to be in honour of the Three Josephs,
the Saint and his two proteges.
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