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Chapter XXXIIIPart I.
Part I.
As to the way of entering the city, Renzo had heard, in general terms,
that there were very strict orders not to admit persons without a certificate
of health; but that, in fact, it was easy enough for any one to effect an
entrance who at all knew how to help himself, and to seize opportunities. So
it was; and, letting alone the general causes why every order, in those days,
was so imperfectly executed; letting alone the particular ones, which rendered
the rigorous execution of this so impracticable, Milan was now reduced to such
a pass that no one could see of what use it was to defend it, or against what
it was to be defended; and whoever came thither might be considered rather to
risk his own health than to endanger that of the inhabitants.
Upon this information, Renzo`s intention was to attempt a passage at the
first gate upon which he might happen to light; and if any obstacle presented
itself, to go round outside, until he found another more easy of access. And
Heaven knows how many gates he thought Milan must have!
Arrived, then, before the walls, he stood still to look about him, as one
does who, not knowing which way will be the best way to bend his steps, seems
as if he awaited and asked direction from anything. But he could discover
nothing either way but two reaches of a winding road, and before him a part of
the wall: in no quarter was there a symptom of a human being, except than in
one spot, on the platform, might be seen a dense column of black and murky
smoke, which expanded itself as it mounted, and curled into ample circles, and
afterwards dispersed itself through the gray and motionless atmosphere. They
were clothes, beds, and other articles of infected furniture which were being
committed to the flames: and such melancholy conflagrations were constantly to
be seen, not only here, but on every side of the wall.
The weather was close, the air thick and heavy, the whole sky veiled by a
uniform sluggish cloud of mist, which seemed to forbid the sun, without giving
promise of rain; the country round was partly uncultivated, and the whole
looked parched; vegetation was stunted, and not a drop of dew moistened the
drooping and withered leaves. This solitude, this deep silence, so near a
large mass of habitations, added new consternation to Renzo`s disquietude, and
rendered his thoughts still more gloomy.
Having stood thus for a moment, he took the right hand, at a venture,
directing his steps, without being aware of it, towards the Porta Nuova,
which, though close at hand, he had not been able to perceive, on account of a
bastion behind which it was concealed. After taking a few steps, a tinkling of
little bells fell upon his ear, which ceased and was renewed at intervals, and
then the voices of men. He went forward; and having turned the corner of the
bastion, the first thing that met his eye on the esplanade before the gate was
a small wooden house, or sentry - box, at the doorway of which stood a guard,
leaning on his musket with a languid and negligent air; behind was a fence,
composed of stakes, and beyond that the gate, that is to say, two wings of the
wall connected by a roof above, which served to shelter the door, both leaves
of which were wide open, as was also the wicket of the palisade. Exactly
before the opening, however, stood a melancholy impediment - a handbarrow,
placed upon the ground, on which two monatti were laying out a poor creature
to bear him away: it was the head of the customhouse officers, in whom the
plague had been discovered just before. Renzo stood still where he was,
awaiting the issue. The party being gone, and no one appearing to shut the
gate again, now seemed to be his time, he hastened forward; but the ill -
looking sentinel called out to him: `Holla!` He instantly stopped, and winking
at the man drew out a half - ducat, and showed it to him. The fellow, either
having already had the pestilence, or fearing it less than he loved half -
ducats, beckoned to Renzo to throw it to him; and soon seeing it roll at his
feet, muttered, `Go forward, quickly.` Renzo gave him no occasion to repeat
the order; he passed the palisade, entered the gate, and went forward without
any one observing or taking any notice of him; except that when he had gone
perhaps forty paces, he heard another `holla` from a toll - gatherer who was
calling after him. This he pretended not to hear, and instead of turning round
only quickened his pace. `Holla!` cried the collector again, in a tone,
however, which rather indicated vexation than a determination to be obeyed;
and finding he was not obeyed, he shrugged his shoulders and returned into the
house, like one who was more concerned about not approaching too near to
passengers, than inquiring into their affairs.
The street inside this gate, at that time, as now, ran straight forward
as far as the canal called the Naviglio: at the sides were hedges or walls of
gardens, churches, convents, and a few private dwellings; and at the end of
this street, in the middle of that which ran along the brink of the canal, was
erected a cross, called the Cross of Sant` Eusebio. And, let Renzo look before
him as he would, nothing but this cross ever met his view. Arrived at the
cross road, which divided the street about half way, and looking to the right
and left, he perceived in the right hand one, which bore the name of Santa
Teresa, a citizen who was coming exactly towards him. - A Christian, at last!
- said he to himself, and he immediately turned into the street, with the
intention of making some inquiries of him. The man stared at and eyed the
stranger who was advancing towards him, with a suspicious kind of look, even
at a distance; and still more, when he perceived, that, instead of going about
his own business, he was making up to him. Renzo, when he was within a little
distance, took off his hat, like a respectful mountaineer, such as he was; and
holding it in his left hand, put the whole fist of his right into the empty
crown, and advanced more directly towards the unknown passenger. But he,
wildly rolling his eyes, gave back a step, uplifted a knotty stick he carried,
with a sharp spike at the end like a rapier, and pointing it at Renzo`s
breast, cried, `Stand off! stand off!`
`Oho!` cried the youth in his turn, putting on his hat again; and willing
to do anything, as he afterwards said in relating the matter, rather than pick
a quarrel at that moment, he turned his back upon the uncourteous citizen, and
pursued his way, or to speak more correctly, that in which he happened to have
set off.
The citizen also continued his route, trembling from head to foot, and
every now and then looking behind him. And having reached home, he related how
a poisoner had come up to him, with a meek and humble air, but with the look
of an infamous impostor, and with a box of ointment or a paper of powder (he
was not exactly certain which) in his hand in the crown of his hat, with the
intention of playing a trick upon him, if he hadn`t known how to keep him at a
distance. `If he had come one step nearer,` added he, `I`d have run him
through before he`d had time to touch me, the scoundrel! The misfortune was
that we were in so unfrequented a place; had it been in the heart of Milan,
I`d have called people, and bid them seize him. I`m sure we should have found
that infamous poison in his hat. But there, all alone, I was obliged to be
content with saving myself, without running the risk of getting the infection;
for a little powder is soon thrown, and these people are remarkably dexterous:
besides, they have the devil on their side. He`ll be about Milan now: who
knows what murders he is committing!` And as long as he lived, which was many
years, every time that poisoners were talked of, he repeated his own instance,
and added: `They who still maintain that it wasn`t true, don`t let them talk
to me: for absolute facts one couldn`t help seeing.`
Renzo, far from imagining what a stab he had escaped, and more moved with
anger than fear, reflected, in walking, on this reception, and pretty nearly
guessed the opinion which the citizen had formed of his actions; yet the thing
seemed to him so beyond all reason, that he came to the conclusion that the
man must have been half a fool. - It`s a bad beginning, - thought he, however,
- it seems as if there were an evil star for me at this Milan. Everything
seconds me readily enough in entering; but afterwards, when I am in, I find
disagreeabilities all prepared for me. Well . . . with God`s help . . . if I
find . . . if I succeed in finding . . . Oh! all will have been nothing! -
Having reached the foot of the bridge, he turned without hesitation to
the left, along a road called San Marco`s Street, as it seemed to him this
must lead into the heart of the city. As he went along, he kept constantly on
the look - out, in hopes of discovering some human creature; but he could see
none, except a disfigured corpse in the little ditch which runs between the
few houses (which were then still fewer) and the street, for a part of the
way. Having passed this part, he heard some cries which seemed to be addressed
to him; and turning his eyes upwards in the direction whence the sound came,
he perceived, at a little distance, on the balcony of an isolated dwelling, a
poor woman, with a group of children around her, who, calling to him, was
beckoning also with her hand to entreat him to approach. He ran towards her;
and when he came near, `O young man,` said the woman, `in the name of the
friends you`ve lost, have the charity to go and tell the commissary that we
are here forgotten! They`ve shut us up in the house as suspected persons,
because my poor husband is dead; they`ve nailed up the door, as you see; and
since yesterday morning nobody has brought us anything to eat: for the many
hours I`ve stood here, I haven`t been able to find a single Christian who
would do me this kindness: and these poor little innocents are dying of
hunger!`
`Of hunger!` exclaimed Renzo; and putting his hands into his pocket, `See
here!` said he, drawing out the two loaves: `send something down to take
them.`
`God reward you for it! wait a moment,` said the woman; and she went to
fetch a little basket, and a cord by which to lower it for the bread. Renzo at
this moment recollected the two loaves he had found near the Cross on his
first instance into Milan, and thought to himself: - See! it`s a restitution,
and perhaps better than if I`d found the real owner; for this surely is a deed
of charity! -
`As to the commissary you mention, my good woman,` said he putting the
bread into the basket, `I`m afraid I can`t serve you at all; for, to tell you
the truth, I`m a stranger, and have no acquaintance with any one in this
country. However, if I meet any one at all civil and human to speak to, I`ll
tell him.`
The woman begged he would do so, and told him the name of the street, by
which he might describe the situation.
`You, too, I think,` resumed Renzo, `can do me a service, a real
kindness, without any trouble. A family of high rank, very great signors here
in Milan, the family of ***; can you tell me where they live?`
`I know very well there is such a family,` replied the woman: `but where
it is I haven`t the least idea. If you go forward into the city, in this
direction, you`ll find somebody who will show you the way. And don`t forget to
tell him about us!`
`Don`t fear it,` said Renzo; and he pursued his way.
At every step he heard increasing, and drawing nearer, a noise which he
had already begun to distinguish as he stood talking with the woman: a noise
of whee s and horses, with a tinkling of little bells, and every now and then
a cracking of whips, and loud vociferations. He looked before him, but saw
nothing. Having reached the end of this winding street, and got a view of the
square of San Marco, the objects which first met his eye were two erect beams,
with a rope and sundry pulleys, which he failed not immediately to recognize
(for it was a familiar spectacle in those days) as the abominable instrument
of torture. It was erected in that place, (and not only there, but in all the
squares and most spacious streets,) in order that the deputies of every
quarter, furnished with this most arbitrary of all means, might be able to
apply it immediately to any one whom they should deem deserving of punishment,
whether it were sequestrated persons who left their houses, or officers
rebelling against orders, and whatever else it might be: it was one of those
extravagant and inefficacious remedies, of which, in those days, and at that
particular period especially, they were so extremely prodigal.
While Renzo was contemplating this machine, wondering why it was erected
in that place, and listening to the closely approaching sound, behold, he saw
appearing from behind the corner of the church a man ringing a little bell: it
was an apparitore; and behind him two horses, which, stretching their necks
and pawing with their hoofs, could with difficulty make their way; and drawn
by these a cart full of dead bodies, and after that another, and then another,
and another; and on each hand monatti walking by the side of the horses,
hastening them on with whips, blows, and curses. These corpses were for the
most part naked, while some were miserably enveloped in tattered sheets, and
were heaped up and twined together, almost like a nest of snakes slowly
unfolding themselves to the warmth of a mild spring day; so that at every
trifling obstacle, at every jolt, these fatal groups were seen quivering and
falling into horrible confusion, heads dangling down, women`s long tresses
dishevelled, arms torn off and striking against the wheels, exhibiting to the
already horror - stricken view how such a spectacle may become still more
wretched and disgraceful.
The youth had paused at the corner of the square, by the side of the
railing of the canal, and was praying, meanwhile, for these unknown dead. A
horrible thought flashed across his mind: - Perhaps there, amongst these,
beneath them! . . . Oh Lord! let it not be true! help me not to think of it! -
The funeral procession having disappeared, he moved on, crossing the
square, and taking the street along the left - hand side of the canal, without
other reason for his choice than because the procession had taken the opposite
direction. After going a few steps between the side of the church and the
canal, he saw to the right the bridge Marcellino; he crossed it, and by that
unique passage arrived in the street of the Borgo Nuovo. Casting his eyes
forward, on the constant look - out for some of whom he might ask direction,
he saw at the other end of the street a priest clothed in a doublet, with a
small stick in his hand, standing near a half - open door, with his head bent,
and his ear at the aperture; and very soon afterwards he saw him raise his
hand to pronounce a blessing. He guessed, - what in fact was the case, - that
he had just finished confessing some one; and said to himself: - This is my
man. If a priest, in the exercise of his functions, hasn`t a little charity, a
little good - nature and kindness, I can only say there is none left in the
world. -
In the mean while, the priest, leaving the door - way, advanced towards
Renzo, walking with much caution in the middle of the road. When he was within
four or five paces of him, Renzo took off his hat and signified that he wanted
to speak to him, stopping, at the same time, so as to let him understand that
he would not approach too indiscreetly. The priest also paused, with the air
of one prepared to listen, planting his wtick, however, on the ground before
him, to serve, as it were, for a kind of bulwark. Renzo proposed his
inquiries, which the good priest readily satisfied, not only telling him the
name of the street where the house was situated, but giving him also, as he
saw the poor fellow had need of it, a little direction as to his way; pointing
out to him, i.e. by the help of right and left hands, crosses and churches,
those other six or eight streets he had yet to traverse before reaching the
one he was inquiring after.
`God keep you in good health, both in these days and always!` said Renzo:
and as the priest prepared to go away, `Another favour,` added he; and he told
him of the poor forgotten woman. The worthy priest thanked him for having
given him this opportunity of conveying assistance where it was so much
needed; and saying that he would go and inform the proper authorities, took
his departure.
Renzo, making a bow, also pursued his way, and tried, as he went along,
to recapitulate the instructions he had received, that he might be obliged as
seldom as possible to ask further directions. But it cannot be imagined how
difficult he found the task; not so much on account of the perplexity of the
thing, as from a fresh uneasiness which had arisen in his mind. That name of
the street, that tracing of the road, had almost upset him. It was the
information he had desired and requested, without which he could do nothing;
nor had anything been said to him, together with it, which could sungest a
presage, not to say a suspicion, of misfortune. Yet how was it? The rather
more distinct idea of an approaching termination to his doubts, when he might
hear either, `She is living;` or, on the other hand, `She is dead` - that idea
had come before him with so much force, that at that moment he would rather
have been in ignorance about everything, and have been at the beginning of
that journey of which he now found himself so near the end. He gathered up his
courage, however: - Ah! - said he to himself, - if we begin now to play the
child, how will things go on? - Thus re - emboldened as best might be, he
pursued his way, advancing further into the city.
What a city? and who found time in those days to recollect what it had
been the year before, by reason of the famine!
Renzo happened to have to pass through one of its most unsightly and
desolated quarters; that junction of streets known by the name of the Carrobio
of the Porta Nuova. (Here, at that time, was a cross at the head of the
street, and opposite to it, by the side of the present site of San Francesco
di Paola, an ancient church, bearing the name of San Anastasia.) Such had been
the virulence of the contagion, and the infection of the scattered corpses in
this neighbourhood, that the few survivors had been obliged to remove; so that
while the passer - by was stunned with such a spectacle of solitude and
desertion, more than one sense was only too grievously incommoded and offended
by the tokens and relics of recent habitation. Renzo quickened his steps,
consoling himself with the thought that the end of his search could not yet be
at hand, and hoping that before he arrived at it, he would find the scene, at
least in part, changed; and, in fact, a little further on, he came out into a
part which might still be called the city of the living - but what a city, and
what living! All the doorways into the streets kept shut from either suspicion
or alarm, except those which were left open because deserted or invaded;
others nailed up and sealed outside, on account of the sick, or dead, who lay
within; others marked with a cross drawn with coal, as an intimation to the
monatti that there were dead to be carried away: all more a matter of chance
than otherwise, according as there happened to be here, rather than there, a
commissary of health, or other officer, who was inclined either to execute the
regulations, or to exercise violence and oppression. Everywhere were rags and
corrupted bandages, infected straw, or clothes, or sheets, thrown from the
windows; sometimes bodies, which had suddenly fallen dead in the streets, and
were left there till a cart happened to pass by and pick them up, or shaken
from off the carts themselves, or even thrown from the windows. To such a
degree had the obstinacy and virulence of the contagion brutalized men`s minds
and divested them of all compassionate care, of every feeling of social
respect! The stir of business, the clatter of carriages, the cries of sellers,
the talking of passengers, all were everywhere hushed; and seldom was the
death - like stillness broken but by the rumbling of funeral cars, the
lamentations of beggars, the groans of the sick, the shouts of the frantic, or
the vociferations of the monatti. At daybreak, midday, and evening, one of the
bells of the cathedral gave the signal for reciting certain prayers proposed
by the Archbishop; its tones were responded to by the bells of the other
churches; and then persons might be seen repairing to the windows to pray in
common; and a murmur of sighs and voices might be heard which inspired
sadness, mingled at the same time with some feeling of comfort.
Two - thirds, perhaps, of the inhabitants being by this time carried off,
a great part of the remainder having departed, or lying languishing at home,
and the concourse from without being reduced almost to nothing, perhaps not
one individual among the few who still went about, would be met with in a long
circuit, in whom something strange, and sufficient in itself to infer a fatal
change in circumstances, was not apparent. Men of the highest rank might be
seen without cape or cloak, at that time a most essential part of any
gentleman`s dress; priests without cassocks, friars without cowls; in short,
all kinds of dress were dispensed with which could contract anything in
fluttering about, or give (which was more feared than all the rest) facilities
to the poisoners. And besides this carefulness to go about as trussed up and
confined as possible, their persons were neglected and disorderly; the beards
of such as were accustomed to wear them grown much longer, and suffered to
grow by those who had formerly kept them shaven; their hair, too, long and
undressed, not only from the neglect which usually attends prolonged
depression, but because suspicion had been attached to barbers ever since one
of them, Giangiacomo Mora, had been taken and condemned as a famous poisoner;
a name which, for a long while afterwards, preserved throughout the duchy a
pre - eminent celebrity in infamy, and deserved a far more extensive and
lasting one in commiseration. The greater number carried in one hand a stick,
some even a pistol, as a threatening warning to any one who should attempt to
approach them stealthily; and in the other, perfumed pastils, or little balls
of metal or wood, perforated and filled with sponges steeped in aromatic
vinegar, which they applied from time to time, as they went along, to their
noses, or held there continually. Some carried a small vial hung round their
neck, containing a little quick - silver, persuaded that this possessed the
virtue of absorbing and arresting every pestilential effluvia; this they were
very careful to renew from time to time. Gentlemen not only traversed the
streets without their usual attendants, but even went about with a basket on
their arms, providing the common necessaries of life. Even friends, when they
met in the streets alive, saluted each other at a distance, with silent and
hasty signs. Every one, as he walked along, had enough to do to avoid the
filthy and deadly stumbling - blocks with which the ground was strewn, and in
some places even encumbered. Every one tried to keep the middle of the road,
for fear of some other obstacle, some other more fatal weight, which might
fall from the windows; for fear of venomous powders, which it was affirmed
were often thrown down thence upon the passengers; for fear, too, of the
walls, which might, perchance, be anointed. Thus ignorance, unseasonably
secure, or preposterously circumspect, now added trouble to trouble, and
incited false terrors in compensation for the reasonable and salutary ones
which it had withstood at the beginning.
Such were the less disfigured and pitiable spectacles which were
everywhere present; the sight of the whole, the wealthy: for after so many
pictures of misery, and remembering that still more painful one which it
remains for us to describe, we will not now stop to tell what was the
condition of the sick who dragged themselves along, or lay in the streets -
beggars, women, children. It was such that the spectator could find a
desperate consolation, as it were, in what appears at first sight, to those
who are far removed in place and time, the climax of misery; the thought, I
mean, - the constant observation, that the survivors were reduced to so small
a number.
Renzo had already gone some distance on his way through the midst of this
desolation, when he heard, proceeding from a street a few yards off, into
which he had been directed to turn, a confused noise, in which he readily
distinguished the usual horrible tinkling.
At the entrance of the street, which was one of the most spacious, he
perceived four carts standing in the middle; and as in a cornmarket there is a
constant hurrying to and fro of people, and an emptying and filling of sacks,
such was the bustle here; monatti intruding into houses, monatti coming out,
bearing a burden upon their shoulders, which they placed upon one or other of
the carts; some in red livery, others without that distinction: many with
another still more odious, plumes and cloaks of various colours, which these
miserable wretches wore in the midst of the general mourning, as if in honour
of a festival. From time to time the mournful cry resounded from one of the
windows: `Here, monatti!` And, with a still more wretched sound, a harsh voice
rose from this horrible source in reply: `Coming directly!` Or else there were
lamentations nearer at hand, or entreaties to make haste; to which the monatti
responded with oaths.
Having entered the street, Renzo quickened his steps, trying not to look
at these obstacles further than was necessary to avoid them; his attention,
however, was arrested by a remarkable object of pity, such pity as inclines to
the contemplation of its object; so that he came to a pause almost without
determining to do so.
Coming down the steps at one of the door - ways, and advancing towards
the convoy, he beheld a woman, whose appearance announced still - remaining,
though somewhat advanced youthfulness; a veiled and dimmed, but not destroyed
beauty, was still apparent, in spite of much suffering, and a fatal languor -
that delicate, and, at the same time, majestic, beauty, which is conspicuous
in the Lombard blood. Her gait was weary, but not tottering; no tears fell
from her eyes, though they bore tokens of having shed many; there was
something peaceful and profound in her sorrow, which indicated a mind fully
conscious and sensitive enough to feel it. But it was not only her own
appearance which, in the midst of so much misery, marked her out so especially
as an object of commiseration, and revived in her behalf a feeling now
exhausted - extinguished, in men`s hearts. She carried in her arms a little
child, about nine years old, now a lifeless body; but laid out and arranged,
with her hair parted on her forehead, and in a white and remarkably clean
dress, as if those hands had decked her out for a long - promised feast,
granted as a reward. Nor was she lying there, but upheld and adjusted on one
arm, with her breast reclining against her mother`s like a living creature;
save that a delicate little hand, as white as wax, hung from one side with a
kind of inanimate weight, and the head rested upon her mother`s shoulder with
an abandonment deeper than that of sleep; her mother, for even if their
likeness to each other had not given assurance of the fact, the countenance
which still depicted any feeling would have clearly revealed it.
A horrible - looking monatto approached the woman, and attempted to take
the burden from her arms, with a kind of unusual respect, however, and with
involuntary hesitation. But she, slightly drawing back, yet with the air of
one who shows neither scorn nor displeasure, said, `No! don`t take her from me
yet; I must place her myself on this cart: here.` So saying, she opened her
hand, displayed a purse which she held in it, and dropped it into that which
the monatto extended towards her. She then continued: `Promise me not to take
a thread from around her, nor to let any one else attempt to do so, and to lay
her in the ground thus.`
The monatto laid his right hand on his heart; and then zealously, and
almost obsequiously, rather from the new feeling by which he was, as it were,
subdued, than on account of the unlooked for reward, hastened to make a little
room on the car for the infant dead. The lady, giving it a kiss on the
forehead, laid it on the spot prepared for it, as upon a bed, arranged it
there, covering it with a pure white linen cloth, and pronounced the parting
words: `Farewell, Cecilia! rest in peace! This evening we, too, will join you,
to rest together for ever. In the meanwhile, pray for us; for I will pray for
you and the others.` Then, turning to the monatto, `You,` said she, `when you
pass this way in the evening, may come to fetch me too, and not me only.`
So saying, she re - entered the house, and, after an instant, appeared at
the window, holding in her arms another more dearly - loved one, still living,
but with the marks of death on its countenance. She remained to contemplate
these so unworthy obsequies of the first child, from the time the car started
until it was out of sight, and then disappeared. And what remained for her to
do, but to lay upon the bed the only one that was left to her, and to stretch
herself beside it, that they might die together? as the flower already full
blown upon the stem, falls together with the bud still enfolded in its calyx,
under the scythe which levels alike all the herbage of the field.
`Oh Lord!` exclaimed Renzo, `hear her! take her to Thyself, her and that
little infant one: they have suffered enough! surely, they have suffered
enough!`
Recovered from these singular emotions, and while trying to recall to
memory the directions he had received, to ascertain whether he was to turn at
the first street, and whether to the right or left, he heard another and a
different sound proceeding from the latter, a confused sound of imperious
cries, feeble lamentations, prolonged groans, sobs of women, and children`s
moans.
He went forward, oppressed at heart by that one sad and gloomy
foreboding. Having reached the spot where the two streets crossed, he beheld a
confused multitude advancing from one side, and stood still to wait till it
had passed. It was a party of sick on their way to the Lazzaretto; some driven
thither by force, vainly offering resistance, vainly crying that they would
rather die upon their beds, and replying with impotent imprecations to the
oaths and commands of the monatti who were conducting them; others who walked
on in silence, without any apparent grief and without hope, like insensible
beings; women with infants clinging to their bosoms; children terrified by the
cries, the mandates, and the crowd, more than by the confused idea of death,
with loud cries demanding their mother and her trusted embrace, and imploring
that they might remain at their well - known homes. Alas! perhaps their
mother, whom they supposed they had left asleep upon her bed, had there thrown
herself down senseless, subdued in a moment by the disease, to be carried away
on a cart to the Lazzaretto, - or the grave, if perchance the cart should
arrive a little later. Perhaps - oh misfortune deserving of still more bitter
tears - the mother, entirely taken up by her own sufferings, had forgotten
everything, even her own children, and had no longer any wish but to die in
quiet.
In such a scene of confusion, however, some examples of constancy and
piety might still be seen: parents, brothers, sons, husbands, supporting their
loved ones, and accompanying them with words of comfort; and not adults only,
but even boys and little girls escorting their younger brothers and sisters,
and, with manly sense and compassion, exhorting them to obedience, and
assuring them that they were going to a place where others would take care of
them and try to restore them to health.
In the midst of the sadness and emotions of tenderness excited by these
spectacles, a far different solicitude pressed more closely upon our
traveller, and held him in a painful suspense. The house must be near at hand,
and who knew whether among these people . . . But the crowd having all passed
by, and this doubt being removed, he turned to a monatto who was walking
behind, and asked him for the street and dwelling of Don Ferrante. `It`s gone
to smash, clown,` was the reply he received. Renzo cared not to answer again;
but perceiving a few yards distant, a commissary who brought up the convoy,
and had a little more Christian - like countenance, he re - repeated to him
the same inquiry. The commissary, with a stick in the direction whence he had
come, said, `The first street to the right, the last gentleman` house on the
left.`
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