Thanks to God, the Carnival is ended; I say, Thanks to God, because it was to me very tiresom, tho’ it lasted here, according to an establish’d Custom, but a Week. During all that Time, from Two o’Clock in the Afternoon till Sun-set, all the Streets were full of Masquers, some on Foot, and some in open Chaises: The former say a thousand silly Things, and the latter throw Meslin in one another’s Eyes by Handfuls; but the best on’t is, that either by their Cloaths, or their Equipage, every body is known. Besides, the Pageantry of the _Romans_ is always the same, even in Masquerades; they dress up their Domestics like Harlequins, and make them follow them with their Faces bare. They thus rake the Air gravely in open Chariots made like Gondolas. Their Horses are adorn’d with Plumes of Feathers, and loaded with little Bells like ours in the Sled Races. In the Evening the Coaches range themselves in two Rows in the Street _del Corso_, which is besides pretty narrow, and there they see the Race of Barbs, which are five or six Horses, that are suffer’d to run loose without a Rider, from the Gate _del Popoli_ to a Place beyond the _Venetian_ Palace. The poor Beasts gallop thro’ the Shouts and Cries of the Populace, and are often crippled by striking themselves against the Coaches. The first of these Horses that reaches the Goal wins a Prize for his Master, which generally consists of a Piece of Cloth of Gold, and at Sun-set every body retires. Mean time a _Roman_ will tell you, that the Carnival of ROME is the finest in the World. But the thing of which they brag most, and which they believe is no-where to be parallell’d for Magnificence, is their Balls, of which you shall now be Judge: Several Gentlemen having clubb’d this Winter for the Hire of the Palace _Barberini_, near the _Mount of Piety_, and caus’d it to be furnish’d by the _Jew_ Brokers; when the Day was fix’d for the Ball, they invited all the Ladies; and as to the Gentlemen, they had the Liberty of appearing there mask’d, provided they made themselves known at the Door: All the Rooms were small, and but poorly lighted; there were several Pieces of Dancing to the Music of five or six Violins: The Room design’d for the principal Nobility was encompass’d with Forms, and the Place for the Dancers was an oval Nook rail’d in. A Gentleman of the Company that gave the Ball stood at the Entrance of the Oval; they gave him the Title of Master of the Hall, and ’twas he that call’d out the Dancers. All the Ladies were mask’d at this Ball, which was call’d a Feast, but I know not why; for there were Glasses indeed, but there was nothing to eat or drink. The Ladies were all very gay, and some of them in Court-Dresses. I have been twice at these pretended Entertainments, but was so tir’d, and in such Danger of being press’d to Death, that I don’t care to go again; for which reason the _Romans_ say, I have not an elegant Taste.