Diary of Mary Berry, 21 November 1816

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text excerpt

We went to a fonction in the Church of the Madonna della Vigna. It was the presentation day of the Virgin. The church, decorated and lighted up precisely the same as for a ball-room, all in drapery of red taffetas, and blue mixed with white, strewed with roses and embroidered with gold; the great doors of the church open; mass performed at all the altars; soldiers at the doors and at the altars; a prodigious number of people, and a very eloquent discourse by the professor of logic in the University. I observed that he preached morality as well as doctrine. The music very fine, in full orchestra, but not the least like what we are accustomed to call church music. All the priests richly dressed. In fact, a real fête, which the people enjoy here with the satisfaction of thinking that they are benefiting their souls at the same time that they gratify their senses.

excerpt from 'Diary of Mary Berry, 21 November 1816' pp. 112 (157 words)

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