NAPLES BAT AND MSH-MARKET. 107 



sum to buy provisions; and here and there a figure 

 dressed all in white^ blinldng through two holes, rattles 

 a box by your ear, to coUect coin for the benefit of souls 

 in purgatory. 



Now vehicles come in of various kinds, from the high- 

 perched gig and lean horse, to the low, rumbling car 

 drawn by an Umbrian ox, with a goodly freight of pas- 

 sengers ia and about it, who all dismount at the entrance 

 of the market. Here many a dispute takes place con- 

 cerning the fare. Eight or ten soldiers will descend from 

 some clumsy heaAnjr machine, dragged on by a lean Hu- 

 dibrastic horse, and after much haggling, ultimately de- 

 termine not to pay anything : the poor vetturino may 

 humbly appeal to the condition of the miserable beast 

 to move compassion towards himself, but all to no pur- 

 pose ; till, exasperated by their laughter at his gesticu- 

 lations and contortions, he is left tearing his hair, roar- 

 ing, and imprecating the curse of St. Januarius's blood 

 upon them in words blasphemous enough to make it 

 curdle with horror. These military despots are the 

 king's own pets, and do very much as they like ; the 

 only further notice taken of the victim is playfully to 

 look at him through their fingers, in well-known allusion 

 to prison-bars, and these sons of Mars have disappeared 

 through the market-arch to purchase provisions for the 

 messes of their respective regiments. Some carts are 

 entirely filled with representatives of the Church, but 

 these are jolly, portly fellows, who pay loyally, and has- 

 ten to secure the most delicate fare for the table of their 

 different coenobiums. 



Following the crowd, we proceed into the fish-market, 

 which is sufficiently characteristic and picturesque to de- 

 serve a brief notice. No part of Naples is more densely 

 thronged ; it is the very heart of the city ; here the first 

 movements of morning life begin, and here, too, the 

 last stir in the evening remains palpitating, after ther 



