As the social life of Italy, and especially of Venice, was in great part
to be once enjoyed at the theatres, at the caffe, and at the other places
of public resort, so is its absence now to be chiefly noted in those
places. No lady of perfect standing among her people goes to the opera,
and the men never go in the boxes, but if they frequent the theatre at
all, they take places in the pit, in order that the house may wear as
empty and dispirited a look as possible. Occasionally a bomb is exploded
in the theatre, as a note of reminder, and as means of keeping away such
of the nobles as are not enemies of the government. As it is less easy for
the Austrians to participate in the diversion of comedy, it is a less
offence to attend the comedy, though even this is not good
Italianissimism. In regard to the caffe there is a perfectly understood
system by which the Austrians go to one, and the Italians to another; and
Florian's, in the Piazza, seems to be the only common ground in the city
on which the hostile forces consent to meet. This is because it is
thronged with foreigners of all nations, and to go there is not thought a
demonstration of any kind. But the other caffe in the Piazza do not enjoy
Florian's cosmopolitan immunity, and nothing would create more wonder in
Venice than to see an Austrian officer at the Specchi, unless, indeed, it
were the presence of a good Italian at the Quadri.

It is in the Piazza that the tacit demonstration of hatred and discontent
chiefly takes place. Here, thrice a week, in winter and summer, the
military band plays that exquisite music for which the Austrians are
famous. The selections are usually from Italian operas, and the attraction
is the hardest of all others for the music-loving Italian to resist. But
he does resist it. There are some noble ladies who have not entered the
Piazza while the band was playing there, since the fall of the Republic of
1849; and none of good standing for patriotism has attended the concerts
since the treaty of Villafranca in '59. Until very lately, the promenaders