The Count of Monte Cristo

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the little church of Santa Maria del Popolo, had passed the night, each
accompanied by two priests, in a chapel closed by a grating, before
which were two sentinels, who were relieved at intervals. A double line
of carbineers, placed on each side of the door of the church, reached
to the scaffold, and formed a circle around it, leaving a path about ten
feet wide, and around the guillotine a space of nearly a hundred feet.
All the rest of the square was paved with heads. Many women held their
infants on their shoulders, and thus the children had the best view.
The Monte Pincio seemed a vast amphitheatre filled with spectators; the
balconies of the two churches at the corner of the Via del Babuino and
the Via di Ripetta were crammed; the steps even seemed a parti-colored
sea, that was impelled towards the portico; every niche in the wall
held its living statue. What the count said was true--the most curious
spectacle in life is that of death. And yet, instead of the silence and
the solemnity demanded by the occasion, laughter and jests arose from
the crowd. It was evident that the execution was, in the eyes of the
people, only the commencement of the Carnival. Suddenly the tumult