156 PEOSE HALIETTTICS, 



clear tenor to the domej and telling the honeyed lie of 

 his unmeasured devotion in sweetly measured, and oh 

 how seductive strains ! 



We actually saw and heard nothing of the sort : if 

 there at all, both were on their guard, suppressed aU 

 outward expression of their feelings, whispered not, drew 

 in their breath, and sate mute, as we passed near. 



Conticuere . . . intentique ora tenebamt. 



The first two figures that met our recovered powers of 

 sight were those of the old Marquis and of his fidus fish- 

 Achates, Giuseppe, who stood with the provision-basket 

 yet unopened, and a long perch, resting for the nonce 

 against the rocky walls. An occasional keen, shrill cry, 

 and a fitftd rustling of feathers above, soon invited our 

 eye to the scabrous sites whence they issued ; and there 

 we beheld, mirabile visu, a lofty dome, arching high 

 overhead, bristUng with innumerable rows of pendent 

 and pointed stalactites, looking as might have looked 

 the gaping palate of some vast antediluvian squalus, and 

 seeming to threaten instant and easy destruction to the 

 three pigmy intruders who had thus improvidently trusted 

 themselves on the wrong side of its portentous rictus. 

 On delivering Professor C.'s note, we were made not 

 'padroni' (masters) only, but ' padronissimi' of the fish, 

 birds, and cave ; and after having tendered not less than 

 three unpremeditated sneezes in return for these courte- 

 sies, and received for each its particular and well-known 

 vow, viz. that of long life [viva !) for the first, health 

 (salute) for the second, and happiness [felicita) for the 

 third, Giuseppe was ordered to proceed to business, 

 which he did with gratifying speed. 



AU the world has seen wild beasts fed in menageries 

 and zoological gardens, and aU the world can tell how 

 the lion opens his majestic jaws and roars as if he were 

 calling his friends from the antipodes to dine with him 



