Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . windows of the Vatican, theexclusive mansions of sullen pride, and the dwellings of the cit. They croak, andscreech, and pipe, and chirp, and flute, in the morning sky. Many a one stops his ears,but the sound penetrates even through his dreams. In these days the black robe ofthe priest is seldom seen amid the crowd; the carriage of a cardinal rarely rolls alongthe Corso (never with pomp and state), and a promenade on the Pincian Hill is no longeragreeable to high dignitaries. They used to take such pleasure in listening to the Frenchmilitary bands there,—and
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . windows of the Vatican, theexclusive mansions of sullen pride, and the dwellings of the cit. They croak, andscreech, and pipe, and chirp, and flute, in the morning sky. Many a one stops his ears,but the sound penetrates even through his dreams. In these days the black robe ofthe priest is seldom seen amid the crowd; the carriage of a cardinal rarely rolls alongthe Corso (never with pomp and state), and a promenade on the Pincian Hill is no longeragreeable to high dignitaries. They used to take such pleasure in listening to the Frenchmilitary bands there,—and it is a year or two since the French have made music amongthe laurel trees of the Pincian ! Another circumstance has given a new and not unbecoming colour to the aspect ofRome : the increase, namely, of trade and commerce and civil industry. The Roman isnot slothful by nature, but his all too huge calendar of festivals placed itself like a barrieras wide as a church door between him and his work, and accustomed him to spend his. THE ETERNAL CITY IN A MODERN TOGA. 245 time with folded hands, or in some trivial game. The Piedmontese invaders have cut andcurtailed the aforesaid calendar in all directions, and no one seems to long for its restora-tion to its former completeness. Labour has already put forth a hopeful blossom, and
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcavagnasangiulianidig, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870
