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The void that mortality created each day in the miserable

multitude was each day more than replenished; there was a

perpetual concourse, at first from the neighbouring villages,

then from the more distant territories, and, finally, from the

Milanese cities.

The ordinary spectacle of ordinary times, the contrast of

magnificent apparel with rags, and of luxury with poverty, had

entirely disappeared. The nobility even wore coarse clothing;

some, because the general misery had affected their fortune;

others, because they would not insult the wretchedness of the

people, or because they feared to provoke the general despair by

the display of luxury at such a time.