Page:Manzoni - The Betrothed, 1834.djvu/218

 the house of the superintendant of provision, as if the atrocities they committed yesterday were not enough, to a gentleman of his character. Oh! the rascals! And the abuse they bestowed on him! All invention and falsehood; he is a worthy punctual man; I can say it, for I know; and I furnish him cloth for his liveries. They hurried then towards his house—such a mob! such faces! They passed before my shop. Such faces—the Jews of the Via Crucis are nothing to them. And the blasphemies they uttered! enough to make one stop one's ears, had it not been for fear of observation. Their intention was to plunder, but"

"But?" said they all.

"But they found the street barricadoed, and accompany of musketeers on guard. When they saw this ceremony—what would you have done?"

"Turn back."

"Certainly; and that is precisely what they did. But see if the devil did not carry them there. When they came on the Cordusio, they saw the baker that they had wanted to plunder the day before; and what do you think they were doing at this baker's? They were distributing bread to purchasers; the first gentlemen of the land were there, watching over its distribution. The mob, instigated by the devil, rushed upon them furiously, and, in the twinkling of an eye, gentlemen, bakers, purchasers, bread, counters, benches, loaves, bags, flour, all topsy-turvy."

"And the musketeers?"

"The musketeers had the vicar's house to guard. One can't sing and carry the cross too. It was done in the twinkling of an eye, I say. Plunder, plunder; every thing was carried off. And then they proposed the amusement of yesterday, to burn what remained, in the square, and make a bonfire. And immediately they began, the rascals! to drag every thing out of the house, when one among them Guess what fine proposal he made!"

"What?"

"What! to gather every thing in the shop in a heap, and set fire to it and the shop at the same time. No sooner said than done"