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CARNIOLA CARNIVAL he went to Madrid, and became in 1830 pro- fessor at the conservatory of music. Between 1827 and 1845 he composed many operas, the most successful of which were Adela de Lusi- gnano and Colombo. He also excelled in church music and in popular ballads. CARNIOLA (Ger. Krairi), a duchy in the Cis- leithan half of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, bounded N. by Carinthia, N. E. by Styria, E. by Croatia, S. by Croatia and the Coastland, and "W. by the Coastland; area, 3,857 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 466,334, of whom 93 per cent, were Slovens, the remainder mostly Germans. Nearly the entire population belongs to the Catholic church, all others numbering less than 1,500. It is a mountainous region, trav- ersed by branches of the Julian Alps, abound- ing in grottoes, caverns, and underground pas- sages, and presenting many snow-capped sum- mits, several of which are about 10,000 ft. high. It is neither so well watered nor so fertile as the neighboring districts of the em- pire, the only rivers of note being the Save and the Kulpa, and the lakes being mostly very small. The southern part produces fruits and a fine variety of flax ; bees and silkworms are extensively reared, and in some districts wheat, barley, and the grape are largely culti- vated. With minerals Carniola is richly gifted. Its famous quicksilver mines at Idria, next to Alrnaden hi Spain the richest of Europe, once produced upward of 16,000 cwt. per annnm, and still yield about 6,400 cwt. Iron, lead, coal, marble, clays, and precious stones are also found. There are manufactures of iron, steel, fine linen, woollen, flannel, worsted stockings, lace, leather, wooden ware, &c. The exports comprise several of the above articles, together with hats, glass, wax, wine, and flour ; and the imports, salt, oil, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cloths, cattle, and fruit. Carniola was subdued by the Romans at an early period, and was occupied by Slavs in the 6th century. It was Christian- ized in the 8th century, became a margraviate in the 10th, was afterward partly under the sway of the dukes of Austria and Carin- thia, and in the 12th century was erected into a duchy. It was then held by the powerful dukes of Tyrol, until the extinction of that family in 1335, when it passed into the hands of the counts of Gorz, who were succeeded by the house of Austria in 1364. By the treaty of Vienna in 1809 it was ceded to France and incorporated in the kingdom of Illyria, but restored to Austria in 1814. The Carniolan diet is composed of the Landeshaupt- mann, the prince-bishop of Laybach, and 30 delegates. Capital, Laybach. CARNIVAL, a festival observed in most Ro- man Catholic countries immediately before the commencement of Lent, but celebrated with more parade in Rome and Venice than any other cities. Its name is derived from the Latin carni vale, farewell to meat, as from Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a strict fast is observed for 40 days. Much dispute exists as to the origin of this festival, but it has prob- ably come down from the Saturnalia of pagan Rome, modified by the early Christians into a feast during the several days preceding the great fast of 40 days, generally supposed to have been instituted by Telesphorus, bishop of Rome, before the middle of the 2d century. The carnival appears to be most suited to the genius of the Italian people, being kept up by them with undying spirit, while in other' lands it has frequently languished or fallen into neg- lect. The only relic of it remaining in Eng- land, or ever introduced into the English por- tions of North America, consists in the obser- vance of Shrove Tuesday. In Paris the carni- val takes place during the five or six weeks preceding Ash Wednesday, and is marked by the frequency of masked and fancy balls in private society, and at the various places of public amusement ; such balls, to which the public is indiscriminately admitted, having been first permitted by the regent duke of Orleans. During the festivities, masks appear in the streets only on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preceding Lent, and at Mi-Car6me or Mid-Lent Thursday. On these days persons in disguise, many of them masked, and exhib- iting all sorts of folly, parade the streets, and immense crowds in carriages, on horseback, or on foot, assemble to witness the gayeties of the scene. The carnival was prohibited in 1790, and no more celebrated until the appoint- ment of Bonaparte as first consul. Its restora- tion was a cause of great joy to the Parisians, and for some years nothing could exceed the beauty and richness of the costumes displayed upon this annual festival ; but it has now lost many of its charms, and the masks are com- paratively few. After parading the streets, the masks repair for the night to the various masked balls of every description, which then abound in the capital. The public masked balls take place on fixed days throughout the carnival, being given at almost all the theatres. The procession of the ~b<&uf gras (the fat ox) has for ages been celebrated at Paris on the Sunday and Tuesday before Lent, when the government prize ox, preceded by music, and accompanied by a numerous train of butchers "fantastically dressed, is led through the streets. The ox is covered with tapestry, and his head adorned with laurel. Formerly the- ox bore on his back a child, called roi des Vouchers (king of the butchers), decorated with a blue scarf, and holding a sceptre in one hand and a sword in the other. He now follows the ox in a triumphal car, but without his sword and sceptre. The carnival in Italy is much the same in the different cities where it is cele- brated ; that of Venice is by no means as bril- liant as in former days, and it will be therefore sufficient to describe that of Rome. It extends over the eleven days which immediately pre- cede Ash Wednesday, though only eight days are actually given up to its festivities, the two Sundays and Friday not being included, from