advancement. Except where fighting is
concerned, the Piedmontese noble systematically opposes whatever Cavour
proposes, and thinks it due to his caste to throw as many impediments
in the way of reform as he can devise. The innovations of the day are
mourned over by fully three-fourths of the old families of Turin, as if
the precursors of the downfall of order and religion; the subjects upon
which the country at large feels most enthusiasm, being precisely those
regarded by these ultra-conservatives with the greatest indifference or
aversion.




CHAPTER XXXIV.

   Turin in 1858—Partisans of the old régime—The native
     Protestants—The conservative party—Their hostility
     to Cavour—Clerical intolerance—The fashionable
     promenade—Turinese characteristics—The Piedmontese dialect—A
     marriage in high life.


The lover of strong contrasts would have enjoyed the transition from
a morning spent at the Valentino to an evening at the Palazzo ——, the
circles of which include the most determined _codini_ in the kingdom.
The palace itself would have been counted handsome even in a city more
rich in handsome palaces, and all the accessories were in keeping;
no slovenliness, no undemolished cobwebs, no traditional crevices. In
all this its owners were unconsciously doing homage to the spirit of
the age. A wide, well-kept marble staircase, spacious vestibule and
ante-rooms, servants in liveries on which time had laid no hallowing
touch, and a suite of drawing-rooms, sparingly lighted on account of
the intense heat, but profusely furnished with all the modern variety
of couches, _causeuses_, arm-chairs, rocking-chairs and divans,
looking-glasses, nick-nacks, cushions, flowers, everything you could
wish for, except books; of these I could not discover a trace.

In the last saloon were the guests, not formally invited, but the usual
frequenters of the marquise's weekly reunions; a dozen or so of ladies,
dressed in the height of Parisian fashion, either talking French
or Piedmontese (the old _rég