mountain of female apparel was piled up
before the group of the fair villagers, whose
bright Italian eyes were feasting upon all the
finery, and whose tongues were publishing
reviews of stuffs and ribbons, all pronounced
to be of the most admirable quality; and an
honour to the village in which they had been
produced.

I was next favoured with an introduction
to the bridegroom at his house, and there, of
course, was able to walk boldly in and talk at
leisure. That happiest of men had once been
a labourer upon the soil, but had become in
his neighbour's eyes a millionaire by inheriting
the well-lined pocket of a sly priest, who
was his uncle. "Look here, sir," said the
bridegroom, who affected no regret at the
departure of his sainted relative; "This was
the niche at which he used to say his prayers.
Under it we found his doubloons—such a
quantity. He was a close-fisted old boy. One
day I bought something of him and omitted
to pay a few odd farthings—a sum so small
that it escaped my attention. However, at
my next confession, he refused to absolve me
until the uttermost farthing had been got
into his clutch." The old priest's house had,
according to the taste of his heir, been
gorgeously adorned. The bedroom walls had
been painted in fresco; the bed in the centre
looked intensely dignified with a pile of six
pairs of pillows at its head. The number of
pillows displayed on such occasions is
regarded as a measure of the bridegroom's
wealth. They show certainly how high he
can carry his head, if he pleases.

We were next requested to look round the
room and admire the pictures and images of
madonnas and saints, together with some
pieces of ebony work that would really have
been purchased at a high price by collectors
in this country. Such work is often to be
met with even in the poorest and filthiest of
Italian dwellings. We were then led up to
the great subject of clothes. The dress of
the bride and her flowers (which, it is
customary for the gentleman to furnish) were
displayed before us: we were instructed on
the subject of their price and quality, and
then a pause was made, to be filled up by
epithets of admiration. From the dress of
the bride, we were taken by the simple-minded
bridegroom to the contemplation of the coat
and pantaloons that he proposed to wear
himself upon the morrow. Falling into
his humour we spread out his garments on
the table, felt their texture, held them up
against the light, and scented them with the
incense of praise until our friend was evidently
gratified. Coffee and rosolio were then
produced and pressed upon us very urgently.
The departed priest had left behind him a
cellar whose stock was in itself a good
inheritance; he had evidently loved the bottle
not less than the bag.

When I came out of the bridegroom's house,
I found the villagers tying themselves up in
knots about the road, discussing the great
things that would be done to-morrow; and I
travelled homeward down the six hundred
steps a little vexed that I was not to take
part in the festival, since I was not familiar
with the family about to be beatified.
Nevertheless, when the next morning arrived, I had
found means to make a friend of a friend of
the bride, and was sending up to Anacapri,
as my wedding offering, several pounds of
fish, which I proposed to follow. So I went
up the steps again, and found that all the
mountain had turned out and come into the
village. The bridegroom, in his wedding
pantaloons and coat of glory, was surrounded
by his male friends, and on the point of
setting out towards the dwelling of the bride.
I attached myself to his procession, and away
we went. At the bride's house we found the
ladies: as for the bride herself, when I beheld
a damsel in the dress I had examined yesterday,
wearing the silver flowers I had fingered,
bound up now with fresh carnations, I knew
of course at once that it was she who was the
happiest of girls. To the equipment furnished
by her lover she had added an equipment of
her own—such as Italian village-maidens
love—of rings, and chains, and pins, and
brooches, without limit as to number or size.
One brooch was the representation of a ship
in full sail. By the side of the bride there
also dangled two great watches, quite as
bright as gold. Whether there were any works
inside them I do not know, but I do know
that they shone like pocket suns, and what
more could be wanted in a watch that was to
be worn upon a gala day? I was rude enough
to count the rings with which the fingers of
the bride were crusted; there were eighteen,
most of them monsters as to width. When
they were too large in the hoop, they had
been made to fit by the easy process of twisting
a piece of string about the narrow part.
The bejewelled beauty, overloaded with this
village finery, really did not look over-
dressed. The decorations were in keeping
with the place and the occasion; I could
think of odd lines in Catullus when I saw her
glittering under her white veil and her chaplet
of gay flowers.

She was seated in her home. The bridegroom
having informed her that it was now
time to go to church, she arose, and, in
affectionate performance of the usual ceremony,
knelt before each of her parents, entreating
pardon for her past offences, and a blessing
on her future life. With tears from the old
people, and not without emotion on the part
of all bystanders—for villagers, in Italy,
keep their emotions where they can be
got at very readily—the home blessing was
given, and the bride then, between a brother
and a sister, was led out from the paternal
roof. Then the wedding procession formed,
I fell into my place, and we marched off in
very great state to the church. A mass and a
benediction there, and then the marrow of the