lly made way for us, and we were nearly a quarter
of an hour mounting the steps, so dense was the multitude ascending
and descending, some on their hands and knees out of extra-devotion.
At last we reached the door of the church, where we understood, from
the exclamations and gesticulations of those of whom we inquired,
something extraordinary was to be seen. On one side of the entrance
was a puppet show, on the other a band of musicians, playing "Di tanti
palpati." The interior of the church was crowded to suffocation; and
all in darkness, except the upper end, where upon a stage brilliantly
and very artificially lighted by unseen lamps, there was an exhibition
in wax-work, as large as life, of the Adoration of the Shepherds. The
Virgin was habited in the court dress of the last century, as rich as
silk and satin, gold lace, and paste diamonds could make it, with a
flaxen wig, and high-heeled shoes. The infant Saviour lay in her lap,
his head encircled with rays of gilt wire, at least two yards long.
The shepherds were very well done, but the sheep and dogs best of all;
I believe they were the real animals stuffed. There was a distant
landscape, seen between the pasteboard trees, which was well painted,
and from the artful disposition of the light and perspective, was
almost a deception--but by a blunder very consistent with the rest of
the show, it represented a part of the Campagna of Rome. Above all was
a profane representation of that Being, whom I dare scarcely allude
to, in conjunction with such preposterous vanities, encircled with
saints, angels, and clouds; the whole got up very like a scene in a
pantomime, and accompanied by music from a concealed orchestra, which
was intended, I believe, to be sacred music, but sounded to me like
some of Rossini's airs. In front of the stage there was a narrow
passage divided off, admitting one person at a time, through which a
continued file of persons moved along, who threw down their
contributions as they passed, bowing and crossing themselves with
great devotion. It would be impossible to describe the ecstasies of
the multitude, the lifting up of hands and eyes, the string of
superlatives--the bellissimos, santissimos, gloriosissimos, and
maravigliosissimos, with which they expressed their applause and
delight. I stood in the back-ground of this strange scene, supported
on one of the long-legged chairs which V---- placed for me against a
pillar, at once amazed, diverted,