Apothecaries.

Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Apothecaries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    steps farther, and we encounter the tent of the inspector of the police flaunting with pink drapery; and then we enter the principal street. What a display of finery in the shops ! Barbers’ brass basins, as they hang upon his door, are as bright as mirrors ; and festoons of teeth declare the skill of the great practitioner of Nola. But brighter still are the eyes, and far whiter the teeth, of the pretty damsels who crowd the windows above. I scarcely know why it is, but a crowd is always in motion, without any definite object; it pushes on because it can go farther, and so I moved on, thinking that 1 must be right as long as the crowd kept moving. At length I exclaimed, “How that steeple shines like burnished gold ! and it is covered, too, with flowers, and flags, and evergreens ! Mercy ! it moves ! ” “ Steeple ? ” said my friend. “ Why, that is one of the Giglios.” At length, I had attained the object of my visit; I had seen a Giglio. But what is this Giglio ? asks the reader. I shall describe it first architecturally. The frame-work is made of wood interlaced wit canes, and consists of a series of towers upon the other, tapering gradually In this one there are forty-one all tastefully decorated with arc! ornaments, with flowers and e with drapery, paintings, and even whilst at each corner of each to floats a flag. Anything more orj zling, or pretty, cannot well be c The summit of this fabric is surmou) the statue of a saint of the brotherho constructed it; and, as its height is upwi^ds of a hundred feet, his saintship commaiwt4 a very fine view. Of these Giglios there are nine, and this is the history of their con- struction :—The different trades associate to- gether to defray the expenses. Thus, this year amongst others, there were the gardeners, the shoemakers, the butchers, the bakers, the confectioners, the tailors, and others; and each trade vies with the other who shall make the most beautiful Giglio. I am com- pelled to confess that the gardeners bear the bell, as might have been expected in a country strictly agricultural. That there may be no mistake either, as to the proprietorship of the Giglio, each trade hangs its emblems on some conspicuous part of the structure. Thus, the shoemakers display shoes ; the tailors, some waistcoats; the butchers, some joints of mutton; the bakers, biscuits; and the gar deners, festoons of flowers and gardening implements. Around the basement of the lowest tower is seated a full brass band ; and, on the upper towers stand, at rather a perilous height, both men and boys. The Giglio derives its title, I believe, from some fancied resemblance to the flower of that name, the lily. Its height, and its swaying backward and forward when in motion, give it some resemblance to a Brobdignag lily. Of course the Giglios are the centre of attraction; and, pressing forward, we find our- selves in the piazza before the Sottintendente’s house. This is evidently the west end of Nola ; and, before starting in procession, the Giglios assemble there to dance before his excellency. Nine mighty steeples, one hun- dred feet high, dancing ! How could it be ? Each Giglio is borne on the shoulders of fifty men, with relays, and the exertion appears to be tremendous, even to raise the struc- ture from the ground. Yet a species of devotion as ardent as that which inspires the followers of Juggernaut, tempts the best men from Naples to bear these Christian idols. Erom four hundred to five hundred l or more of the strongest porters of the capital throng Nola, tilled with religious fervour—which is not in the slightest degree! diminished by the fact of their receiving a piastre each, and as much as they can eat and drink. The procession is at length in movement; hundreds of priests and singing boys are at the head of it; the windows, and the tented house in the city, are crowded s and the devout. Look at 1 I never saw muscle so i s as if they must sink. ous weight of the car.. his shoulder, and with on his neighbour, they n for a few steps, and 1 reposing, :djahf resume their labour. In 1 this wa/,-for three mortal hours, they parade y1~e«§ry^ street in th.6 town; returning at last to the ^vest-fcd in front of the great man’s lib'trse: It had been my good fortune to > make. the,acquaintance of the great man;; so T’fincf myself in his canopied drawing-room on the roof, with all the notables of the neighbourhood. There are princes and dukes enough to send an American traveller into fits of ecstacy; and as to marquises and. counts, their number is positively astonishing. “ From what time does this curious custom date 1 ” I ask of one of the dignitaries. “ From the time,” he replies, “ when Saint Faolino wrought the miracle on our bell. O !' it was a great miracle: the saint ran his• finger through the bell, and the hole still remains ; but whether the bell was in a state of fusion or not I cannot say.” “ Whether cold or fused,” 1 observe, with a grave face, “ the miracle would be equally remarkable.” The subject, however, is too delicate to pursue. “The festa began,” continues the same person, “ last night. Some thousands must have entered town during the evening, and it is little sleep we have had, I can assure you. You know, signor, the custom which persons or parties have of sending one another defiances, challenges to sing ? They place themselves at considerable interval^ from one another, and the challenger begins? to improvise some words in a singular ehaunt. The others take it up; then the challenger