The Wing-and-Wing

p is her

e; Michae

the warlike

e on s

he

to the other four, and that the last were common Mediterranean mariners. The position which Benedetta occupied in the household

d one or two more being the only words of the language he ventured to use directly,

onable whether she were amused by anything but his appearance; "your eccellenza shall be served; but whether at a paul or a half-paul the flask, depends on you

y; "you know what we want, and just tell her to hand it over, and I will fork out her St. Paul without more words. What a desperate liking your folks have for saints, Philip-o

after he had explained his wishes to Benedetta, in Italia

notions of order, and then leaning back on his chair until the two ends of the uprights dug into the plaster behind him, while the legs on which the fabric was poised cracked with his weight; "honor the saints! we should be much mor

nd me no great saint. Italian hono

occupy as much space as an unusual length of leg would permit, and his arms extended on the t

a man of the stranger's class, or, indeed, of any class; the Italian mariners present occupying their chairs in simple and respectful attitudes, as if each man had the wish to be as little obtrusive as possi

man, mankind may consait you do it on that very account, and so fall into the notion you worship him, which would be idolatry, the awfullest of all sins, and the

of drinking out of jugs and bottles, the Genoese made no answer; keeping his eyes on the flask, which, by the length of time it remained

h; "there isn't as much true granite in a gallon on't as in a pint of our cider. I

hat it had been the channel of a most agreeable communication to the stomach. Sooth to say, Benedetta had brought up a flask at a paul, or at about four cents a bottle; a flask of the very quality which she had put before

r which the lugger sailed, Like most Italians of that day, he regarded all the families of the northern hordes as a species of barbarians--an opinion that the air and deportment of Ithuel had no direct agency in changing; for, while this singular being was not br

Filippo, speaking with the authority

nza's orders, though in foreign

in authority, here in Elba, a

tion, and one, too, that was without any of the awkwardness of the same act in a more northern

under the searching scrutiny they endured. The answer of the vice

wn country has again fallen into the hands of the French. Every Italian heart must ye

ublic to-day, and ever

your companion speaks no

, and yet no Inglese, after all. He loves Englan

announced her nation, the authorities of the Sublime Porte were ignorant that such a country existed. It is true, Leghorn was beginning to be much frequented by American ships, in the year 1799; but even with these evidences before their eyes, the people of the very ports into which these traders entered were accustomed to consider their crews a species of Englishmen, who managed to sail the vessels for the negroes at home[3]. In a word, two centuries and a half of national exist

rance to a native of the place, who supposed the writer to be an Englishman, the latter observed: "Of course, her people were all

elf--"Si, oon Americano--I'm not ashamed of my country; and if you're any way partic'lar in such matters, I come fro

ch succeeded, the instrumentality of this interpreter was necessary that the parties might understand each other. The reader will, therefore, give

xpression of his countenance--"it must be a painful existence which these poor people endure, to toil

e a file, and burn like a chip of Vesuvius. I wish, now, we had a drink of New England rum here, in order to show him the difference. I des

n of his country--or are the Americani pagans? I do not remember, Vit

e! Look here, Signore; we don't call your ceremonies, and images, and robes, and ringing of bells,

his dissent; as experience had taught him the necessity of reserve on such subjects, in most Catholic communities. But of all this the

obably not understood by him," he said; "since a country as little civilized as hi

d to produce such a civilization as our very youngest children ar

a good deal mystified by the word "stump," was now disposed to abandon the idea of a dissertation on

his country and that of the Inglesi, in which the French assisted the Americani to obtain a sort of national independence. What that independence is

bitterness darkened his countenance. Then he smiled in a

, we may be serving our masters; and all we say and think at home about independence is just a flash in the pan! Notwithstanding, some on us contrive, by hook or by crook, to take our reve

English should entertain such feelings toward them. As for Ithuel himself, he had not observed his usual caution; but, unknown to himself, the oily wine

ng of Inghilterra," said Andrea, "and why he stays in it, if it is

eir accursed battles, and otherwise sarving their eends. I was over here, last year, at the mouth of the Nile, and in that pretty bit of work--and off Cape St. Vincent, too--and in a doze

think proper to relate will

on or not; but taking a fresh pull at the flask

a man, but when it comes to insulting him into the bargain, ther

ed the philosophical vice-governatore. "This is only too

ut my language and ways, which they were all the time laughing at as Yankee conversation and usages, while they pretended that the body out of which all on it come was an English body, and so they set it up to be shot at, by any of their inimies that might happen to be jogging along our

ose that the English speak their own tongue better than any other

-b-e-r, cowcumber; and a-n-g-e-l, aingel; and no reasoning can convince me that's right. I've got a string of words of this sort, that they pronounce out o

etting the better of his habitual good breeding; "you must mean, Signor A

scholars made such a blunder as to say 'clark,' or 'aingel,' or 'harth,' or 'cowcumber,' he wouldn't have heard the last of it, f

of the country; and, in his last speech, he had made a provincial use of the word "despise," that is getting to be so common as almost to supplant the true signification. By "despising," Ithuel meant that he "hated

to take the stranger literally, since he knew nothing of his provincial use of terms; "for a

e. By this time, Ithuel had swallowed so much of the wine, a liquor which had far more body than he supposed, that he was ripe for mischief, and it was only his extreme violence that prevented him from betraying more than, just at the moment, would have been prudent. The vice-governatore listened with attention, in the hope of catching so

s the servant of their ally, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, it is quite as extraordinary as it is uncalled for; and we will talk of o

. But then it is no fault of hers, and what can't be cured must be endured. A Guerns

seems ridiculous; but the seamen, in their imaginations, bestow all sorts of objects on them. It is curious to hear them converse, good Vito; and now I am dwelling here on our island, I have ofte

f his notions. Accordingly, he saw no particular beauty in the idea of a vessel's wearing boots; and, though much accustomed to defer to the vice-governatore'

ance of what I mean. Long as I have lived in Porto Ferrajo, and that is now quite fifty years, seeing that I was born here, and have been off th

rite warriors; while Ariosto makes rats and asses hold discourse together, as if they were members of an academy. All this is merely the effect

knew as much about craft in general as we who live here in Porto Ferrajo. Harkee, friend Filippo, just ask this American

on the object of the inquiry; all that had just passed being seal

y the foot-part, and the soles, for they ought, in reason, to be under water; but every vessel t

the American time to rally his recollection, and remember the precise circumstances in which not only he himself, but all his shipmates, were placed. No one could be more wily and ingenious than this man, when on his guard, though the inextinguishable hatred with which he regarded England and Englishmen had come so near causing him to betray a secret which it was extremely important, at that moment, to conceal. At length a general silence prevailed, the different groups of speake

her, there is little need of many words. This is a language which is comprehended all ove

this part of the world you call zecchini--or sequins, as we name 'em, in English. What have I done, Signor Squire, or

being French; and by putting the proof in our hands

ave been apt to bring matters to a crisis at once by throwing the gold into the vice-governatore's face; although, knowing where it was to be found, he might have set about devising some means of cheating the owner out of it at the very next instant. Boon or bribe, directly or unequivocally offered in the shape of money, as coming from the superior to the inferior, or from the corrupter to the corrupted, had he never taken, and it would have appeared in his eyes a species of degradation to receive the first, and of treason to his nationality to accept the last; though he would lie, invent, manage, and contrive, from morning till night, in order to transfer even copper from the pocket of his neighbor to his own, under the forms of opinion and usage. In a word, Ithuel, as relates to such things, is what is commonly called law-honest, with certain

ilt, and carries a good King George's commission. In my part of the world we never take gold unless we sell something of equal valie. Gifts and begging we look upon as mean and unbecoming, and the next th

ugh in a very reluctant manner, leaving Andrea, who comprehended his actions

ive, in Italy, it is not our practice to take the gift back again. In the morni

English aristocrat. Hand out the dollars in the way of trade, in as large amounts as you will, and I will find the man, and that, too, in the lugger, who will see you out in't to your heart's content. Harkee, Philip-o; tell the gentleman, in an undertone, like, about the t

now anything of them kegs--one being the deputy-governor and the other a magistrate. The lugg

the truth, Philip-o! I see no other means of getting at

to your very hand? All you do is put him in your poc

xt is a street-beggar; after him comes your chaps who takes sixpences and shillin's, in the way of small gifts; and last of all an Englishman. All these I

ation of the revenue laws. In the meanwhile the sequins remained in the hands of Andrea Barrofaldi, who seemed greatly at a loss to understand the charac

ht; "if you hate the English so much, why do you serve in their ships? why not quit them

here ought to be, seeing that an acre of good productive land is worth five or six of oceans; and then you have little knowledge of my character and prospects to ask such a question. I sarve

estions and answers, took a civil leave of the strangers, intimating to Bened

that brief interval sufficing to enable the man to make his bargain, and to deliver the articles, which was his real object on shore. This little smuggling transaction was carried on altogether without the knowledge of Raoul Yvard, who was to all intents and purposes the captain of his own lugger, and in whose character there were m