proclamation of peace.—the english do not understand pageantry.—illumination.—m. otto’s house.—illuminations better managed at rome.
friday, april 30.
the definitive treaty has arrived at last; peace was proclaimed yesterday, with the usual ceremonies, and the customary rejoicings have taken place. my expectations were raised to the highest pitch. i looked for a pomp and pageantry far surpassing whatever i had seen in my own country. indeed every body expected a superb spectacle. the newspaper writers had filled their columns with magnificent descriptions of what was to be, and rooms or single windows in the streets through 86which the procession was to pass, were advertised to be let for the sight, and hired at prices so extravagant, that i should be suspected of exaggeration were i to say how preposterous.
the theory of the ceremony, for this ceremony, like an english suit at law, is founded upon a fiction, is, that the lord mayor of london, and the people of london, good people! being wholly ignorant of what has been going on, the king sends officially to acquaint them that he has made peace: accordingly the gates at temple bar, which divide london and westminster, and which stand open day and night, are on this occasion closed; and garter king at arms, with all his heraldic peers, rides up to them and knocks loudly for admittance. the lord mayor, mounted on a charger, is ready on the other side to demand who is there. king garter then announces himself and his errand, and requires permission to pass and proclaim the good news; upon which the 87gates are thrown open. this, which is the main part of the ceremony, could be seen only by those persons who were contiguous to the spot, and we were not among the number. the apartment in which we were was on the westminster side, and we saw only the heraldic part of the procession. the heralds and the trumpeters were certainly in splendid costume; but they were not above twenty in number, nor was there any thing to precede or follow them. the poorest brotherhood in spain makes a better procession on its festival. in fact, these functions are not understood in england.
the crowd was prodigious. the windows, the leads, or unrailed balconies which project over many of the shops, the house tops, were full, and the streets below thronged. a very remarkable accident took place in our sight. a man on the top of a church was leaning against one of the stone urns which ornament the balustrade; it fell, and crushed 88a person below. on examination it appeared that the workmen, instead of cramping it with iron to the stone, or securing it with masonry, had fitted it on a wooden peg, which having become rotten through, yielded to the slightest touch. a turk might relate this story in proof of predestination.
if, however, the ceremony of the morning disappointed me, i was amply rewarded by the illuminations at night. this token of national joy is not, as with us, regulated by law; the people, or the mob, as they are called, take the law into their own hands on these occasions, and when they choose to have an illumination, the citizens must illuminate to please them, or be content to have their windows broken; a violence which is winked at by the police, as it falls only upon persons whose politics are obnoxious. during many days, preparations had been making for this festivity, so that it was already known what houses and what public buildings 89would exhibit the most splendid appearance. m. otto’s, the french ambassador, surpassed all others, and the great object of desire was to see this. between eight and nine the lighting-up began, and about ten we sallied out on our way to portman square, where m. otto resided.
in the private streets there was nothing to be remarked, except the singular effect of walking at night in as broad a light as that of noon-day, every window being filled with candles, arranged either in straight lines, or in arches, at the fancy of the owner, which nobody stopped to admire. none indeed were walking in these streets except persons whose way lay through them; yet had there been a single house unlighted, a mob would have been collected in five minutes, at the first outcry. when we drew near pall mall, the crowd, both of carriages and of people, thickened; still there was no inconvenience, and no difficulty in walking, or in crossing the carriage road. greater expense had been bestowed 90here. the gaming-houses in st james’s street were magnificent, as they always are on such occasions; in one place you saw the crown and the g. r. in coloured lamps; in another the word peace in letters of light; in another some transparent picture, emblematical of peace and plenty. some score years ago, a woman in the country asked a higher price than she had used to do for a basket of mushrooms, and when she was asked the reason, said, it was because of the american war. as war thus advances the price of every thing, peace and plenty are supposed to be inseparably connected; and well may the poor think them so. there was a transparency exhibited this night at a pot-house in the city, which represented a loaf of bread saying to a pot of porter, i am coming down; to which the porter-pot made answer, so am i.
the nearer we drew the greater was the throng. it was a sight truly surprising to behold all the inhabitants of this immense 91city walking abroad at midnight, and distinctly seen by the light of ten thousand candles. this was particularly striking in oxford-street, which is nearly half a league in length;—as far as the eye could reach either way the parallel lines of light were seen narrowing towards each other. here, however, we could still advance without difficulty, and the carriages rattled along unobstructed. but in the immediate vicinity of portman square it was very different. never before had i beheld such multitudes assembled. the middle of the street was completely filled with coaches, so immoveably locked together, that many persons who wished to cross passed under the horses’ bellies without fear, and without danger. the unfortunate persons within had no such means of escape; they had no possible way of extricating themselves, unless they could crawl out of the window of one coach into the window of another; there was no room to open a door. there they were, and there they must remain, 92patiently or impatiently; and there, in fact, they did remain the greater part of the night, till the lights were burnt out, and the crowd clearing away left them at liberty.
we who were on foot had better fortune, but we laboured hard for it. there were two ranks of people, one returning from the square, the other pressing on to it. exertion was quite needless; man was wedged to man, he who was behind you pressed you against him who was before; i had nothing to do but to work out elbow room that i might not be squeezed to death, and to float on with the tide. but this tide was frequently at a stop; some obstacle at the further end of the street checked it, and still the crowd behind was increasing in depth. we tried the first entrance to the square in vain; it was utterly impossible to get in, and finding this we crossed into the counter current, and were carried out by the stream. a second and a third entrance 93we tried with no better fortune; at the fourth, the only remaining avenue, we were more successful. to this, which is at the outskirts of the town, there was one way inaccessible by carriages, and it was not crowded by walkers, because the road was bad, there were no lamps, and the way was not known. by this route, however, we entered the avenue immediately opposite to m. otto’s, and raising ourselves by the help of a garden wall, overlooked the crowd, and thus obtained a full and uninterrupted sight, of what thousands and tens of thousands were vainly struggling to see. to describe it, splendid as it was, is impossible; the whole building presented a front of light. the inscription was peace and amity; it had been peace and concord, but a party of sailors in the morning, whose honest patriotism did not regard trifling differences of orthography, insisted upon it that they were not conquered, and that no frenchman should say so; and so the word amity, which can hardly 94be regarded as english, was substituted in its stead.
having effected our object, meaner sights had no temptation for us, and we returned. it was three in the morning before we reached home; we extinguished our lights and were retiring to bed, believing ourselves at liberty so to do. but it did not please the mob to be of the same opinion; they insisted that the house should be lit up again, and john bull was not to be disobeyed. except a few such instances of unreasonableness, it is surprising how peaceably the whole passed off. the pickpockets have probably made a good harvest; but we saw no quarrelling, no drunkenness, and, what is more extraordinary, prodigious as the crowd was, have heard of no accident.
so famous is this illumination of m. otto, that one of the minor theatres has given notice to all such persons as were not fortunate enough to obtain sight of it, that it will be exactly represented upon the 95stage for their accommodation, and that the same number of lamps will be arranged precisely in the same manner, the same person being employed to suspend them. hundreds will go to see this, not recollecting that it is as impossible to do it upon a stage of that size, as it is to put a quart of water into a pint cup.
illuminations are better managed at rome. imagine the vast dome of st peter’s covered with large lamps so arranged as to display its fine form; those lamps all kindled at the same minute, and the whole dome emerging, as it were, from total darkness, in one blaze of light. after this exhibition has lasted an hour, the dome as rapidly assumes the shape of a huge tiara, a change produced by pots of fire so much more powerful than the former light as at once to annihilate it. this, and the fireworks from st angelo, which, from the grandeur, admit of no adequate description, as you may well conceive, effectually prevent those persons who have 96beheld them from enjoying the twinkling light of half-penny-candles scattered in the windows of london, or the crowns and regal cyphers which here and there manifest the zeal, the interest, or emulation of individuals.
