or fire-flies, hung in bright festoons from the brake, or the cliff by the road side, or flitted across my path in lambent, playful troops, and when the dark red flame of the volcanic Vesuvius peered over the ridges of the vineclad hills of Posilippo, or between the stems of the picturesque Italian pine trees on the height of Capo di Monte, or Capo di Chino.

Few things in this mutable world of ours are less subject to change, than popular amusements and national dances: the Greeks of to-day still bound in the Pyrrhic as did their remote ancestors; the games and familiar amusements of the ancient Romans may still be traced throughout Italy; and the Tarantella of the Neapolitans seems to be the same dance that we see depicted on vases and relievi, dug from the recesses of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Without descending so far into the depths of ages, it may be assumed as a certainty, that the national dance existed at the period of our tale, or in the sixteenth century; and we have the ample testimony of poetry and history, to prove that the Neapolitans were the same thoughtless, joyous race then, that they are now.

It was on a fine afternoon early in summer, the day of the annual festival of Santa Maria degli Angioli, that a troop of peasants, coming in the direction of Salerno, took the steep mountain path leading to the far-famed sanctuary of the Madonna, which stands on the loftiest peak of the grand chain of Apennine that extends

between Avellino and the Salernitan gulf. They passed on with hurried steps, though they were far too late to witness the miracle performed every year by the uncouth wooden statue of the virgin, or to have any part in the devotions of the day and sport, which were always finished long before noon. Perhaps they were only anxious to lose as little as possible of the feasting and dancing, that always closely follow the offices of religion in the gay south, on days like these; but the way-farers did not look so gay and careless as men usually do when repairing on such pleasant business. Their dark rough brows were knit, their large coal-black eyes were darting and restless, as though habitually so, from fear or vigilance; and though they failed not most devoutly to cross themselves at every one of the innumerable crucifixes, and little white chapels, that formed from the mountain's root an avenue to its summit, the words on their tongues were unholy and ungentle.

One among them, indeed, seemed more light-hearted and unconcerned; he went on caroling some simple ditty, but the theme of the song was a robber's exploit, and the boldness depicted on his bronzed countenance, partook of ferocity, and was bordered by an expression of wiliness or cunning. To judge from his figure, which was much exposed, as he wore only a loose shirt open at the neck, and drawers that descended no lower than the knee, he must have been a young man; but the lines of his face had the depth and rigidity that

older years, or that hard life and violent passions, which can anticipate the work of age, impress on the human countenance. His form was cast in a fine manly mould, and his face, sun-burnt as it was, would have been handsome, but for those deep passion-furrows, and that rigidity; indeed, it was handsome at moments when some soothing feeling occupied him; as it would now and then on his way, when emerging from a thick wood of ilex, or turning some obstructing rock, the view of the rich and smiling plain at his feet would burst upon him, or a glimpse of the white façade of the Sanctuary of the Madonna, high above his head, with the crowding, festive groups before it.

When they drew nearer to the sanctuary, the merry sounds of the tabor and the zampogna (a sort of bagpipe, which primitive instrument highly modified, is found in the higher regions of the Neapolitan kingdom, as well as in nearly every mountainous district of Europe), somewhat cleared up the countenances, and tranquillized the uneasy eyes of the other peasants, who walked towards the attractive scene with quickened steps.

"We shall get a tune and a dance, and a draught of good wine under the shadow of the Virgin, if we get nothing better," said one of the way-farers.

"Ay, ay, a cup of Lacrima Christi, and a slice of presciutto, and a terraglio or so," said another.

"And a squeeze of the hand, and a smile from a pretty girl or two!" joyfully cried the least ill-looking one of the party. z 3

"Those pretty girls will be thy ruin sooner or later!" said one of the sourest-visaged of the peasantry, "take my word for it, will they, unless thou changest thy fantasies, and ceasest to be caught by the rustle of female garments after this guise."

Some

"Peace to thee-bird of evil augury!" replied the other, and he added after a short reflective pause:"But even if it should be so, what matters it? take their way to the devil's mansion by cards and dice, some with the wine-cup, some go one way, some another and if woman be as sure a way as any, it is certainly as pleasant a one! But we are near the sanctuary!-a prayer to the Madonna, my comrades!"

And in the next moment, these men who seemed occupied by anything rather than sentiments of religion and peace, devoutly crossed themselves, and pronounced an "Ave Maria," with much fervour. They were now in a thick grove of hardy mountain ash, and finishing their prayer to the Virgin, they advanced to its extremity, at which they paused to observe the scene. It was picturesque and animated. Before the snow-white sanctuary which stood on a peak of bare rock, that was ascended by a winding stair-case, cut in the rock's face, there was an esplanade, partly natural, and in part artificial, of considerable extent. On this elevated flat, the devotees from all the neighbouring country, and many from distant parts of the kingdom, and on the slopes of the mountain, immediately beneath it, were

assembled in gay confusion, which was increased and rendered the pleasanter to the eye, by the variety of costume; for then, as now, nearly every district had its peculiar mode of dress, and that of the females was frequently graceful and striking to an extreme degree. There were the women from the islands of Ischia and Procita, with their truly Greek and beautiful countenances, shaded by linen, curiously arranged, folded flat on their heads, and descending mid-way down their long necks; the folds of the linen, white as the driven snow, contrasting most admirably with the rich southern glow of their complexions: there were other fair ones, from certain casali in the Terra di Lavoro, with their luxuriant hair, confined in a net of golden thread, their only head dress; others, with a long pin of gold, fashioned like an arrow, put gracefully through their knotted hair, and extending on either side beyond the line of the head; some with a wreath of flowers round their brows, and their rich black hair floating down their backs; others, with silken handkerchiefs, striped with gold or with silver, confining their gathered locks; others, with drapery fastened with ribbons on the crown of the head, and descending backwards to the waist, like an inverted veil; and some there were, of a bolder bearing than the rest, from Bojano, Venafro, and other regions of the mountainous Samnium, who wore broad plates of burnished copper on their foreheads, and in their attire, their persons and demeanour,