The Wing-and-Wing

face of heaven,

on the waters

sunset to th

cal variet

hange: a paler

r the mountain

dolphin, whom

color as it

iest, till--'tis gon

de H

nd physical formation, will be readily enough conceded by the traveller. The countries that border on this midland water, with their promontories buttressing a mimic ocean--their mountain-sides teeming with the picturesque of human life--their heights crowned with watch-towers--their rocky shelves consec

rated by destinies than even by origin, habits, and religion, occupying its northern and southern shores, the outwork, as it might be, of Christianity and Mohammedanism, and of an antiquity that defies history, the bosom of this blue expanse has mirrored more violence, has witnessed more scenes of slaughter, and heard more shouts of victory, between the days of Agamemnon and Nelson, than all the rest of the dominions of Neptune together. Nature and

the elements of strife that then agitated the world appear now to have subsided as completely as if they owed their existence to a remote age; and living men recall the events of their youth as they regard the recorded incidents of other centuries. Then,

eriod; and to that stirring and teeming season we must carry the mind of the re

he waters of Italy than in the Bay of Biscay and the British Channel, was the construction of the vessel in question; a circumstance that the mariners who eyed her from the shores of Elba deemed indicative of mischief. A three-masted lugger, that spread a wide breadth of canvas, with a low, dark hull, relieved by a single and almost imperceptible line of red beneath her channels, and a waist so deep that nothing was visible above it but the hat of some mariner taller than common, was consi

of the mimic dominion of Napoleon. Indeed, the very dwelling which was subsequently used by the fallen emperor as a palace stood within a hundred yards of the speakers, looking out toward the entrance of the canal, and the mountains of Tuscany; or rather of the little principality of Piombino, the system of merging the smaller in the larger states of Europe not having yet been brought into extensive operation. This house, a building of the size of a better sort of country residence of our own, was then, as now, occupied by the Florentine governor of the Tuscan portion of the island. It stands on the extremity of a low rocky promontory that forms the western ramparts of the deep, extensive bay, on the side of which, ensconced behind a very convenient curvature of th

ect on the mariners of this unsophisticated and little frequented port, as that of the hawk is known to excite among the timid tenants of the barn-yard. The rig of the stranger had been noted two hours before by one or two old coasters, who habitually passed their idle moments on the heights, examining the signs of the weather, and indulging in gossip; and their conjectures had drawn to the Porto Ferrajo mall some twenty men, who fancied themselves, or who actually were, cognoscenti in matters of the sea. W

ful gather about a favorite expounder of the law, in moments of religious excitement. It was worthy of remark, too, with how much consideration this little crowd of gentle Italians treated their aged seaman, on this occasion; none bawling out their questions, and all using the greatest care not to get in front of his person, lest they might intercept his means of observation. Five or six old sailors, like himself, were close at his side; these, it is true, did not hesitate to speak as became their experience. But Tonti had obtained no small part of his reputa

e laborers; although there were, perhaps, a dozen exceptions in the persons of a few humble functionaries of the government, an avvocato, a medico, and a few priests. The governor of the island was a Tuscan of rank, but he seldom honored the place with his presence; and his deputy was a professional man, a native of the town, whose original position was too well known to allow him to give himself airs on the spot where he was born. Ghita's companions, then, were daughters of shopkeepers, and persons of that class who, having been taught to read, and occasionally going to Leghorn, besides being admitted by the deputy to the presence of his housekeeper, had got to regard themselves as a little elevated above the more vulgar curiosity of the less cultivated girls of the port. Ghita herself, however, owed her ascendency to her qualities, rather than to the adventitious advantage of being a grocer's or an innkeeper's daughter, her

dozen girls of her own age, and apparently of her own class. The latter, however, felt no necessity for the reserve maintained by the curious who pressed near 'Maso; for, while they respected their guest and friend, and would rather listen to her surmises than to those of any other person, they had such a prompting desire to hear their own voices that not a minute escaped without a question, or a conjecture, both volubly and quite audibly expressed. The interjections, too, were somewhat numerous, as the guesses were crude and absurd. One said it was a vessel with despatches from Livorno,

and why should we have a miracle, now that Lent and most

ort of fascination. Had there been one there sufficiently unoccupied to observe this interesting girl, he might have been struck with the varying expression of a countenance that was teeming with sensibility, and which too often reflected the passing emotions of its mistress's mind. Now an expression of anxiety, and even of alarm, would have been detected by such an observer, if acute enough to separate these emotions, in the liveliness of sentiment, from the more vulgar feelings of her companions; and now, something like gleamings of delight and happ

that occupied by 'Maso; so that, when the latter spoke, an attentive listener among the former might hear his words. This was an office that Tonti did not choose to undertak

fter he had examined the stranger himself some time in silence, feel

" was the brief, and cert

of a lugger? There are felucca-luggers, and polacre-luggers, and bom

l a felucca, a felucca; a bombarda, a bombarda; a polacre, a

erstood all these matters than a magistrate. On the other hand, the podestà was nettled, and disappointed into the bargain, for he really imagined he w

this is not an affair that is likely to go to the higher courts at Florence, your explanat

st what we say in the po

ou maintain, and at need are

us in such matters, whenever the custom-house officers did not hold the book, was a little star

his mind once more, through his eyes, "I wil

at nation? The nation is of as much mome

e Canal of Elba. There are many different signs about him, that sometimes make me think he belongs to one people, and the

erving Ghita, who had visited his niece, and of whose intelligence he entertained a favora

if in pity for the pilot's embarrassment; "he wishes to persuade us that the strang

girl, drawing a long breath, as if relie

d in vessels as to distinguish these pa

fast, though the wind is so light. As for knowing a lugger from a felucca, it is as easy as

been inclined to hear me. The distance is just about what you say; and noth

y told, Signore, unless t

ght to approach so near the port of his Imperial and Royal Highness, that does not show its flag, there

nd preparations were made for levelling an eighteen-pounder in the direction of the stranger. Most of the females turned aside, and stopped their ears, the battery being within a hundred yards of the spot where they stood; but Ghita, with a face that

hat cannot be necessary, Signor Podestà, to make the strang

, with a bland smile, and an exulting gesture. "It is well for Europe that the grand d

e earth in terror, Ghita, the most delicate of any in appearance, and with more real sensibility than all united expressed in her face, stood firm and erect. The flash and the explosion evidently had no effect on her; not an artillerist among them was less unmoved in frame, at the report, than this slight girl. She even imitated the manner of the soldiers, by turning

sure, half irony, lighting her face, as unconsciously to herse

ly well aimed! Another such shot as far ahead, with a third fairly between the two, and the stranger will learn to respect the r

sign; and yet I see no signs of

ged at the salutation they had just received. After a few minutes, however, the lugger jibed her mainsail, and then hauled up a little, so as to look more toward the headland, as if disposed to steer for the bay, by doubling the promontory. This movement caused the artillerists to suspend their own, and the lugger

agistrate, "they are about to hoist their ensign, for now the

artillerists are aware of what you say, and are putting aside their tools. Cospetto! 'tis a thousand pities, too, they

intended no further mischief; "we have all heard of your Elba gunners, and what I have seen convinces me

th their long pointed yards aloft, confining the width below by the necessary limits of the sheet, making up for the difference in elevation by the greater breadth of their canvas. The idea of the felucca's sails, in particular, would seem to have been literally taken from the wing of the large sea-fowl, the shape so nearly corresponding that, with the canvas spread in the manner just mentioned, one of those light craft has a very close resemblance to the gull or the hawk, as it poises itself in the air or

a respiration of the sea air could scarcely have disturbed them. But the lugger had her lightest duck spread--reserving the heavier canvas for the storms--and it opened like the folds of a balloon, even before these gentle impulses; occasionally collapsing, it is true, as the ground-swell swung the yards to and fro, but, on the whole, standing out and receiving the air as if guided more by volition than any mechanical power. The effect on the hull was almost magical; for, notwithstanding the nearly imperceptible force of the propelling power, owing to the lightness and exquisite mould of the craft, it served to urge her through the water at the rate of some three or four knots in the hour; or quite as fast as an ordinarily active man is

was evidently clearing the ensign-halyards for that purpose. In half a minute, however, he disappeared; then a flag rose steadily, and by a continued pull, to its station. At first the bunting hung suspended in a line, so as to evade all examination; b

s ensign--"Si, Signore; it is an Englishman; I thought so, from the first, but as the lugger

should ever have found out the stranger's country. An Inglese! Corpo di Bacco! Who would have thought that a nation so maritime, and which lies so far of

our own sea. This is the flag of the country, however; for that have I of

the emperor, too; and deadly enemies of the French, who have done so much harm in upper Italy. That is somet

ently that the respiration was audible only to herself. "Perhaps he is in search

tes of the Pope, for the last two years, sailed, they sent us word, with two or three hundred ships, the saints at first knew whither. Some said, it was to destroy the holy sepulchre; some to overturn the Grand Turk; and s

, and my uncle probably could tell you

n the main, I hear?" this was said inquiringly, and it was intended to be said carelessly

t him. See, Eccellenza," a title that never failed to mollify the magistrate, and turn his attention from other

o quit the heights, hastening to descend the terraced streets, in order to reach the haven. 'Maso and the podestà led the van, in this descent; and the girls, with Ghita in their midst, followed with equal curiosity, but with eager steps. By the time the throng was assembled on the quays, in the streets, on the decks of feluccas, or at other points that commanded the view, the stranger was seen gliding past, in the centre of the wide and deep bay, with his jigger hauled out, and his sheets aft, looking up nearly into the