At the sound of the bell, which was carried by one of the procession, all the neighbors ran to the windows and balconies with lamps and candles, and fell upon their knees; for this is the custom on such occasions. In an instant the whole street was in a blaze of light, and the prospect of this illumination, with the long procession of persons dressed in white, chanting a mournful dirge, and the crowds in the balconies in solemn and devout attitudes, struck me very forcibly. As the procession passed by each house, the spectators crossed themselves and uttered a prayer for the soul of the dying man. So sudden are the transitions of these people from the gayety and merriment of their daily occupations to the solemnity of their religious observances. Everybody who has been at Naples, has something to say about the _Lazzaroni_, which is the name given to the idle fellows and ragamuffins of this city. Many people imagine them to be a distinct race of men, like the gipseys in other parts of Europe; but this is an error. Every city in Europe has its proportion of lazy and ragged fellows: but in Naples their number is so great that they have obtained this peculiar name. By some, their numbers are stated at twenty thousand. I will not vouch for the full number, but they exist in swarms. Nowhere else did I ever see such comical raggedness as among these people. The scarecrows, which Yankee farmers set in their cornfields to frighten away the birds, are genteel figures compared to these fellows. One has half a pair of trowsers; another half a jacket, and no trowsers at all; another wears the leg of an old stocking for a cap; another has a ragged pair of breeches the wrong side upwards for a shirt. As to the patches and tatters, they surpass all power of language to describe. How they get their living, one is puzzled to guess, for they seem to spend all the day basking in the sun; and in spite of their rags and dirt, they appear to be as happy as lords. They are constantly in good humor, singing, chattering, grimacing, and cutting capers from morning to night. In fact, notwithstanding their want of almost all those things which we call necessaries of life, they appear to be troubled with very little suffering. Their rags and nakedness give them little concern, for the climate is so mild that they hardly feel the want of a covering. Their food is chiefly macaroni, which is very cheap here: two or three cents worth will suffice a man for a day. Their manner of eating it makes a stranger laugh; they hold it up in long strings, at arm’s length, and swallow it by the yard at a time. As for their homes, the most of them have none: they sleep in the open air, on the steps of the churches, and wherever they can find a convenient spot to lie.