rity confines him to the house. In the neighbourhood of Naples, your carriage is sure to be followed by a covey of brats, who, well aware that you probably do not understand their slang, trust much more to the graphic language of gesture to excite your pity. For this purpose, they dispose their fore-finger and thumb in the form of a horse-shoe, and apply their points first vertically above and below the mouth, and then horizontally to its corners, alternating the movement with great rapidity. Unfortunately, the ludicrous woe-begone expression of face which accompanies the action, usually destroys its intended pathos, and prevents even an acute observer from penetrating its poetry. It signifies that the mouth has been cross-barred or sealed up; in other words, that the sufferer has had nothing to eat for a long time.

We remember observing a remarkable instance of quickness in the application of a symbol to a complicated idea, in a ragged little boy at Genoa, whose perseverance in mendicant supplication was rewarded by an Englishman with a crazia, a miserable copperfoil coin, half as thin and half as large as a wafer. An English beggar would have, perhaps, at once given vent to his indignation by throwing it on the ground; not so the little Italian. He placed the coin deliberately on the palm of his hand, brought it to the level of his mouth, and, with a roguish look at the giver, blew it away by a sharp puff upon the ground. To blow towards a person or thing is a strong expression of contempt; so that additional emphasis was given to the less refined mode of rejecting with disdain. But, at the same time, the action substantiated its own motive: the urchin most scientifically proved the cause of his discontent,-the lightness of the present. We believe it had a still better quality; it drew a larger coin out of the amused gentleman's pocket.

To illustrate the extent to which this method of expressing ideas may be carried, we may imagine a question, and see how many ways it may be answered. Suppose, for instance, that we wish to ask after the health of one who lies sick in the next room. The attendant's finger pressed upon the lips indicates the necessity of preserving silence. Well, a toss back of the head, with enquiring eyes, and turning towards the door of the room, sufficiently asks the question, "How is he?" The servant stretches out his hand, with the palm downwards, and the fingers slightly apart, and shakes it from side to side. This means cosè, cosè," " so, so." If he moved it more, so as to describe a curve in the air, by turning it at the wrist, the signifi

66

* De Jorio, p. 129.

cation would be "alti e bassi," "ups and downs," that the patient's state varies considerably from time to time. A shake of the head with a smack of the lips, or with a certain indescribable guttural groan, would indicate that he is very ill : both the hands raised, and, as well as the head, agitated from side to side, would denote that there was no hope. If the movement of both were upwards, it would signify a great improvement. In these gestures, however, the expression of countenance, and especially the eyes, would play an important part. Suppose the assistant to place his cheek reclining upon his right hand, with his left under the right elbow, he thereby tells you that the patient sleeps. If he raises his little finger, pointing upwards, and says, "He is thus," you understand that he is reduced to a skeleton. When at length he answers your enquiry by cutting the air with his hand in the form of a cross, you know at once that further enquiries are useless; their object is no more. And this sign metaphorically expresses the end of a project, the failure of a "concern," the loss of a lawsuit, or any other termination of sublunary affairs.

Ask, now, for example, the character of a man with whom you have to deal, and suppose your adviser to prefer answering by signs-if he place his finger on his forehead, he tells you that he is a man of sense; if he press his thumb against his temple, leaving the open hand to stretch forward from the side of his face, he indicates his affinity to the long-eared race. If, with his forefinger, he draw down the outer corner of his eye, he intimates that he is a cunning rogue, with whom you must be upon your guard; literally, that he squints, and you can never be sure which way he looks. To denote that he is an honest and upright man, he will stretch out his hand steadily, joining the tips of his thumb and forefinger, as if holding by them scales nicely balanced. If, on the other hand, he hook together the little fingers of both hands, and move these forward, swerving from side to side, and shaking the other fingers, he means to inform you that he is like the crab, which his hands mimic, tortuous in his ways. The thumb pressing on the first joint of the forefinger, as if cutting it off, means that he is "only. so large," a man of narrow ideas and little mind. The expressions for good or bad are more difficult to characterise, as they depend much upon the countenance. The negative shake of the finger, with a face expressive of aversion, will mean the latter; the hand thrown upwards, and the head back, with a prolonged "Ah!" the former. If you ask what is become of one whom you have not seen for some time, you may be answered without a word, should the truth be disagreeable. The

head placed forward, with the little finger towards the earth, and so moved up and down, signifies that he is gone away; and the frequency and deliberation of repetition denotes proportionably greater distance. But if the hand, instead of being before the breast, be brought round to the left side, and so make the motion edgeways, directed behind the speaker, it means that he has run away stealthily and escaped. If, placed before, it descend smartly and obliquely, as if cutting something, towards the left side, the meaning is, that he has been punished in some way if the fists be clenched, and the two wrists crossed over one another, you understand that he is in prison.

:

We will only put one more case, which concerns the most engrossing of all conversational topics,-money. You will ask if a man be rich or not by an enquiring glance and nod towards him, at the same time that you strike your pocket, or rub the points of finger and thumb, as though counting out money. Your silent friend, by the proper nods, looks, and motions of the hands, tells you "no," or "so, so," or "exceedingly," which last is expressed by a toss of the hand and head, and a half sort of whistle, or something between that and a hiss. Well, suppose the latter; you ask, by word or by look, how he has become so. Your informant, with his thumb, rubs his forehead from side to side, to signify that it was by the sweat of his brow, his industry and application. But perhaps he does not raise his hand so high, but takes hold of his cheek between his thumb and closed fingers, shaking the hand. That informs you, that he has made his fortune by bribery and peculation. He may come lower still, and, doubling up his hand, put his thumb, bent like a hook, under his chin; and you shall understand that he has taken advantage of others' necessities for his profit, having placed a hook in their jaws. Or, the two clenched fists are pressed strongly upon the chest, which means that he has been avaricious, or, analogously to the action, "close-fisted." In fine, the fingers are drawn in and closed, beginning with the first, and so to the last, making a species of curve, and the signification is, by theft and robbery. Should the answer have been unfavourable to the person's pecuniary condition, and you enquire the reason, as he was known once to have been rich, the reply may be no less varied. For instance, your informant, joining all the fingers of one or both hands together, as he wishes to be more or less emphatic, brings their tips near his mouth, and then, blowing on them a long deliberate puff, with swelled cheeks, withdraws and throws them open, as though they were blown asunder and scattered by the breath. This naturally indicates that the fortune of which you asked has been dissipated

one hardly knows how, but by general inattention. Should he close up his fist, and, throwing back his head, point repeatedly with his extended thumb towards his mouth, he will assign drink as the sad cause. Should the same gesture be made with the united points of all the fingers and thumb, more solid extravagance, by eating, will be denoted. In fine, if, closing his left hand before his breast, as if holding something tight between its thumb and forefinger, he, with the same finger of the right equally shut, appear to draw that imaginary thing out with difficulty, the meaning is, that gambling has been the ruinous practice; for the action represents a trick which gamesters have in drawing out a card from their hand.

These examples are sufficient to prove how extensive, accurate, and useful this system of signs must be. It will be easily understood that every passion and its consequences,-love and hatred, pleasure and grief, menace and imitation, hope and despair, has its graphic symbol, as have all the ordinary relations of things, time, space, and circumstance. There are, too, a thousand mimic signs, which are more purely imitative, which the occasion suggests and analogy assists to interpret; for the metaphorical gestures cannot be varied. In Naples, too, there is one class of them which we have omitted, because they would have led us aside into a curious and not unamusing, but certainly irrelevant subject, that of the belief in Jettaturà, or the evil eye, of which these gestures are the counteracters. * It is evident that a people possessing a language literally at their fingers' ends, must express themselves with wonderful vivacity on all occasions, and possess a resource for communicating their ideas under many circumstances where speech is impossible, and where Englishmen must be silent, or spell words on their fingers by the alphabet of the deaf and dumb. A curious example occurred of this utility of gestures some years ago, When old Ferdinand, the darling of the Neapolitans, returned to his capital after the last foolish revolution, in 1822, he presented himself at a balcony to the assembled multitude of repentant and delighted lazzaroni. Neapolitans never speak, they always shout; and, in newspaper phrase, to obtain a hearing was, on this occasion, out of the question. The king, however, was a thorough Neapolitan, and understood the language of the fingers, if he did not that of flowers; so he made his address, for we cannot call it a speech, in it. He reproved them for their past naughtiness, he threatened them with greater severity if they again misbehaved, and, after exhorting them to good conduct,

See De Jorio, p. 89, 120, 155-159.

ordered them to disperse and go home quietly. Every gesture was understood, without a word, amidst the most deafening sounds. Now, how useful would such an art be upon the hustings sometimes. We fancy we could easily compose a manual address to a boisterous constituency, in which, spite of all clamour from the rival party, we could express the usual routine and commonplace effusions of patriotism and zeal: could satisfactorily prove on our fingers that our competitor was unworthy of all confidence; and, with some aid from the nose and cheek, establish an undoubted claim to preference. A little sleight of hand would thus place the most asthmatic candidate on a level with the most stentorian demagogue.

But in Italy this dramatic system need not be taught, it is learnt spontaneously with the language. We have seen little girls of seven or eight repress the forwardness of a younger companion, with a dignity of attitude and correctness of action which would have become an Electra or a Lady Macbeth. Nay, we have been still more puzzled by seeing a blind man, the appearance of whose eyes convinced us that he had never enjoyed sight, make the very gestures which we have described, as correctly as if he had learnt them by imitation, and not by intuition. Often the gesture is not perfectly made but only indicated by approximating to the attitude it requires. It is thus better concealed from those who are not meant to perceive it, and forms a sort of demotic to the hieroglyphical expression in which the symbol is rather hinted than actually represented. But the part which the eye plays in this noiseless loquacity is most important, yet most indescribable. In Sicily, indeed, it is so powerful as to supersede all other means of communication; for long and complicated interviews may be carried on without any other aid. It is believed that the Sicilian Vespers were concerted, throughout the island, without the exchange of a syllable, and the day and hour for the indiscriminate massacre of the French fixed by interchanges of looks and perhaps a few signs. Thus we may say, that if the Italian communication by gesture is a species of telegraph, that of the Sicilians resembles more a system of signals by lights, equally complete, though more difficult to describe.

In discussing this subject we have drawn more upon our observation than upon the Canon's book, which, however, has ever been at our side, to form a corrective, when necessary, to our recollections. There is another part of his task in which we would gladly follow him more closely, did room permit in the application of modern gesture to the illustration of ancient art. But we know not how we well could do this without copying his plates, which are almost necessary for fully understanding this