84 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



effect upon public opinion and female ambition in our 

 island. The girls of Capri, in distinction to those of 

 Anacapri, the other village, which is a few thousand 

 feet nearer heaven, and less liable to the incursions of 

 the Franks and Goths, are maliciosa, Feliciello says, 

 and doubtless he has means of knowing. Maliciosa 

 apt to conduct themselves with a mischievous un- 

 warrantable haughtiness, remembering the triumphs 

 of their predecessors over the Forestieri, and not un- 

 hopeful of such chances in their own persons. The 

 maidens of Anacapri are of less ambitious thoughts ; 

 and there is to be seen a certain Chiara, Chiarina, 

 little Clara, clearly notable among her peers, with hair 

 of Titian's colour and a head like an antique Venus, 

 who might in a year or two, granting what is within 

 to resemble what is outside, be worth such a sacrifice, 

 if any young beauty ever was which is a proposition 

 one may be permitted to doubt. 



The Capri men are not all like Feliciello ; but out 

 of our affection for our trusty guide we will let him 

 stand as their representative, though he comes from 

 the Sorrento side. Feliciello's capital and stock-in- 

 trade consists of three ponies and a wife. With the 

 first he conducts the Forestieri all over the island ; 

 and by means of the latter, a shrill and nimble animal 

 of burden, conveys the baggage of the Signori, and 

 many another trifle, up and down the steep and stony 

 ways. If she had not been singularly ill-favoured, it 

 might have been possible to feel a certain pity for Mrs 



