144 BROWN : 



I lived with my mother and sisters in Capri a whole long 

 summer, and enjoyed that whole long summer wholly. It 

 was like being at sea in a huge ship that did not roll or pitch. 

 For the island is only about four miles and a half long and 

 two miles or so wide. 



The Emperor Tiberius was no better than a brute beast, 

 but he knew where to go to pass his leisure, and his whole 

 time was devoted to the neglect of his duties. 



I wish very much that I could claim that twist as my own. 

 It belongs of right to the Great Porson. 



The island is covered with the remains of palaces built by 

 Tiberius, and I have heard of, but never seen, records of won- 

 derful structures down under the sea, built perhaps for cool- 

 ness, perhaps merely to amuse the wretch's jaded soul. 



Everj^one has heard of the Blue Grotto. It was my good 

 fortune to go into it for the first time on a day when the skj' 

 had no cloud and the sea no ripple. While we were enjoying 

 the color and the sight and the air and the quiet, a boatman 

 coolly undressed and hopped overboard. No one was taken 

 by surprise, for it was an- understood thing. Some extraordi- 

 nary refraction, which I do not in the least care about under- 

 standing, made the fellow's body look more ridiculous than 

 words can picture. He was wider than he was long — as if, 

 as the expression is, he would have been taller lying down 

 than standing up. And to see him tread water ! 



The next time I tried it I was alone with the boatman. 

 The swell kept covering the opening which is at the water's 

 edge, and only four feet or so wide and high. We missed our 

 tip and got a ducking. The boatman said it was a " combi- 

 nazione," which was of course a great consolation. 



There is a green grotto which I clambered into without 

 discovering anything but cold, gray stone. There is a natural 

 arch which I was reviled for successfully attempting to reach 

 the top of. There are Farralones — pointed rocks rising right 

 out of the water and wholly unclimable — and on the eastern 

 end of the island is a little, abandoned watch tower, where 



