It is not a large place however; one very long straight street, and one
very large wide square, not less than Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, but I think
bigger, form the whole of Leghorn; which I can compare to nothing but a
_camera obscura,_ or magic lanthron, exhibiting prodigious variety of
different, and not uninteresting figures, that pass and re-pass to my
incessant delight, and give that sort of empty amusement which is _a la
portee de chacun_[Footnote: Within every one's reach.] so completely,
that for the present it really serves to drive every thing else from my
head, and makes me little desirous to quit for any other diversion the
windows or balcony, whence I look down now upon a Levantine Jew,
dressed in long robes, a sort of odd turban, and immense beard: now upon
a Tuscan contadinella, with the little straw hat, nosegay and jewels, I
have been so often struck with. Here an Armenian Christian, with long
hair, long gown, long beard, all black as a raven; who calls upon an old
grey Franciscan friar for a walk; while a Greek woman, obliged to cross
the street on some occasion, throws a vast white veil all over her
person, lest she should undergo the disgrace of being seen at all.
Sometimes a group goes by, composed of a broad Dutch sailor, a
dry-starched puritan, and an old French officer; whose knowledge of the
world and habitual politeness contrive to conceal the contempt he has of
his companions.
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