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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



4^)7 



opinion, have become almost inse- 

 parably blended ; and much of that 

 bloody colouring, which darkens 

 the complexion of their general na- 

 tioDdl character, may, properly, be- 

 long only to the NeapoUtan. Still, 

 however, the circumstances of the 

 Sicilian government, from an early 

 eera, serve to show, that the pohti- 

 cal attachments of the people have 

 never been lasting, nor have they, 

 in any e|>och of their story, evinced 

 that they possessed that resolute 

 courage which has often enabled 

 small communities to acquire im- 

 mortal renown, in their opposition 

 to superior powers. 



The Sicilians are rather a sly 

 than a cunning race ; perhaps no 

 nation in Europe possesses so much 

 naivete. Loquacious and ingeni- 

 ous, they make more use of per- 

 suasion in their dealings than any 

 other people. It is not enough 

 that a Sicilian objects the high 

 price of what he desires to pur- 

 chase; he expatiates on the infe- 

 riority of the quality ; recalls to re- 

 collection how long he has been a 

 customer ; enumerates, one by one, 

 counting them on his fingers, the 

 circumstance of unlucky bargains 

 that he has had; flatteringly con- 

 trasts the opulence of the English 

 with the poverty of the Sicilians; 

 animadverts on the politics of the 

 government; magnifies the value 

 of his ready-money ; insinuates that 

 he may change his merchant ; and 

 often retires, and returns several 

 times, before he offers his ultima- 

 tum. Nor in selling does he prac- 

 tise less address. There is not a 

 single point of his wares that does 

 not possess something extraordin- 

 ary, or beautiful : no other shop in 

 the town has any thing like them ; 

 80 cheap, or so excellent. If the 



price be high, What will you 

 give ? and it is seldom that a Si- 

 cilian refuses the offer of an Eng- 

 lishman, 



The inhabitants of this island 

 are, in the proper sense of the 

 term, highly superstitious, but the 

 dicta of ignorance are so interwo- 

 ven with the creeds of popery, that 

 many notions of vulgar supersti- 

 tion are regarded as essentials of 

 religion. The only exception is a 

 belief in the eiiects of the influ- 

 ence of evil eyes; and even over 

 this, the priesthood have acquired 

 jurisdiction. For they persuade 

 the people to buy bits of blessed 

 rags and paper, which, when worn 

 suspended round the neck, have 

 the effect, as they pretend, of neu- 

 tralizing the malignancy. The in- 

 fluence of an evil look is instan- 

 taneous ; and the person who hap- 

 pens to glance it, may be uncon- 

 scious of what he does : it smites 

 the subject with sudden malady, or 

 impresses his mind with lugubrious 

 images, and unfits him for the pro- 

 secution of premeditated intentions. 

 It is useless to speculate on the 

 fantasies of the human mind ; but, 

 in this case, the constant flicker- 

 ing of electricity in this climate, 

 and the occasional breathing of 

 pestiferous exhalations, from the 

 vegetable corruption in the bottoms 

 of the valleys, afford a plausible 

 reason for the sudden distempers 

 and dejections which are ascribed 

 to the aspect of ungracious eyes. 

 The same superstition is well 

 known in Scotland ; but it is more 

 generally prevalent among the Si- 

 cilians than the Scotch. Whether 

 it is, among us, an imported or in- 

 digenous belief, cannot now be as- 

 certained. Over all the ancient 

 extent of the papal empire, there 

 2 H 2 is 



