gh, one of the clerks at the Post office had been in the habit of
receiving money for the franking of letters, appropriated it to his own
use, and never forwarded the letters. This created great inconvenience; a
number of families having never received answers to their letters and being
without the expected remittances, began to be uneasy and to complain. An
enquiry was instituted, and it was discovered that the clerk above
mentioned had been carrying on this game to a great extent. He used to tear
the letters and throw the fragments into a closet. Several scraps of
letters were thus discovered and, on being examined, he made an ample
confession of his practises. He was merely discharged, and no other
punishment was indicted on him. I am no advocate for the punishment of
death for any other crime but wilful murder; but surely this fellow was
worse than a robber, and deserved a greater severity of punishment.

ROME, 10th February, 1818.

The Carnaval has long since begun, and this is the heaven of the Roman
ladies. On my remarking to a lady that I was soon tired of it and after a
day or two found it very childish, she replied: "_Bisogna esser donna e
donna Italiana per ben godere de' piaceri del Carnevale_."

When I speak of the Carnaval, I speak of the last ten days of it which
precede Lent. The following is the detail of the day's amusement during the
season.

After dinner, which is always early, the masks sally out and repair to the
_Corso_. The windows and balconies of the houses are filled with
spectators, in and out of masks. A scaffolding containing an immense number
of seats is constructed in the shape of a rectangle, beginning at the
_Piazza del Popolo_, running parallel to the _Corso_ on each side, and
terminating near the _Piazza di Venezia_; close to which is the goal of the
horse race that takes place in this enclosure. Carriages, with persons in
them, generally masked, parade up and down this space in two currents, the
one ascending, the other descending the _Corso_. They are saluted as they
pass with showers of white comfits from the spectators on the seats of the
scaffolding, or from the balconies and windows on each side of the street.
These comfits break into a white powder and bespatter the clothes of the
person on whom they fall as if hair-powder had been thrown on them. This
seems to be the grand joke of this part of the Carnival. After the
carriages have paraded about an hour, a signal is given