e whole town is in the streets: it is truly
a popular festival. The pleasure of the people consists neither in the
shows nor the feasts that are given them, nor the magnificence they
witness. They commit no excess either in drinking or eating: their
recreation is to be set at liberty, and to find themselves among the
nobility, who on their side are pleased at being among the people. It is
especially the refinement and delicacy of amusements as well as the
perfection of education, that places a barrier between different classes
of people. But in Italy this distinction of rank is not very sensible;
the country is more characterised by the natural talent and imagination
of all, than by the extraordinary cultivation of the upper classes.
There is therefore, pending carnival, a complete confusion of ranks, of
manners, and of sentiments: the crowd, the cries, the wit, and the
comfits with which they inundate without distinction the carriages as
they pass along, confound every mortal together and set the nation
pell-mell, as if social order no longer existed.

Corinne and Lord Nelville, both buried in thought, arrived in the midst
of this tumult. They were at first almost stunned; for nothing appears
more singular than this activity of noisy pleasures, when the soul is
entirely absorbed in itself. They stopped at the Piazza del Popolo to
ascend the amphitheatre near the obelisk, whence is seen the race
course. At the moment they got out of their calash, the Count d'Erfeuil
perceived them and took Oswald aside to speak to him.

"It is not right," said he, "to show yourself in this public manner,
arriving from the country alone with Corinne; you will compromise her
character, then what will you do?" "I do not think," answered Nelville,
"that I compromise the character of Corinne by showing the attachment
she inspires me with. But even were that true, I should be too happy if
the devotion of my life--" "As to your being happy," interrupted the
Count, "I do not believe it;" people can only be happy in acting
becomingly. Society, think as you may, has much influence "upon our
happiness, and we should never do what it disapproves."--"We should then
never be guided by our own thoughts and our own feelings, but live
entirely for society," replied Oswald. "If it be so, if we are
constantly to imitate one another, to what purpose was a soul and an
understanding given to each? Providence might have spared this
superfluity."--"That is ve