LIFE IN AX ISLAND. 87 



gleam of triumph lighted up Feliciello's fine eyes, as 

 he found out another and yet another point of view. 

 He paused to look at it himself with a certain fond- 

 ness, grateful, no doubt, to the loveliness of nature 

 which got him his living ; and the landscape was morto 

 bella even to the least susceptible of the train. 



It cannot be denied, however, that they speak very 

 bad Italian in our island, if we may pause to say so, 

 and change the I into r with ruthless roughness, not 

 to speak of other barbarities. It would be vain to 

 attempt to shake the popular conviction that Italian 

 is the most musical and soft of languages, though 

 practically our own opinion and experience go against 

 this amiable fallacy; but the profoundest believer 

 in its heau.y would be startled to have a villanous 

 " Bash ! " thrown at him like a stone, instead of the 

 gentle " Basta," which looks so well in print ; and 

 would find it hard to identify " Ashpett " Avith the 

 liquid " Aspetta," which conveys its meaning in its 

 very sound. Such eccentricities of popular diction 

 are, however, common to all languages ; but there 

 is something especially characteristic in the Capriote 

 affirmative, " JSTiursi," which combines respect and de- 

 cision in one of the contractions dear to all Italians. 

 " Si, Signore," sounds soft and yielding ; but a woman 

 who says "Niursi," is likely to know her mind and 

 keep by her determination. The same abrupt affirma- 

 tive is to be met with along the Sorrentine coast, but 

 the Capriotes pique themselves a little on it as their 



