beyond distrust, as to the plague, and all happening at that moment to give clean bills of health. But the name of the craft herself had been given in a way to puzzle all the proficients in Saxon English that Porto Ferrajo could produce. It had been distinctly enough pronounced by some one on board, and at the request of the quarantine department had been three times slowly repeated, very much after the following form: viz.

"Come chiamate il vostro bastimento?"

"The Wing-and-Wing." "Come?"

"The Wing-and-Wing."

A long pause, during which the officials put their heads together, first to compare the sounds of each with those of his companions' ears, and then to inquire of one who professed to understand English, but whose knowledge was such as is generally met with in a linguist of a little-frequented port, the meaning of the

term.

"Ving-y-ving!" growled this functionary, not a little puzzled, "what ze devil sort of name is zat! Ask zem again."

"Come si chiama la vostra barca, Signori Inglesi?" repeated he who hailed.

"Diable!" growled one back, in French, "she is called ze Wing-and-Wing, 'Ala e Ala," giving a very literal translation of the name, in Italian.

"Ala e Ala!" repeated they of the quarantine, first looking at each other in surprise, and then laughing, though in a perplexed and doubtful manner; "Ving-y-Ving!"

This passed just as the lugger anchored, and the crowd had begun to disperse. It caused some merriment, and it was soon spread in the little town that a craft had just arrived from Inghilterra, whose name, in the dialect of that island, was "Ving-yVing;" which meant "Ala e ala," in Italian; a cognomen that struck the listeners as sufficiently absurd. In confirmation of the fact, however, the lugger hoisted a small square flag, at the end of her main-yard, on which were painted, or wrought, two large wings, as they are sometimes delineated in heraldry, with the beak of a galley between them; giving the whole conceit something very like the appearance which the human imagination has assigned to those heavenly beings, cherubs. This emblem seemed to satisfy the minds of the observers, who were too much accustomed to the images of art not to obtain some tolerably distinct notions, in the end, of what "Ala e ala" meant.

But 'Maso, as has been said, remained after the rest had departed to their homes and their suppers, as did Ghita. The pilot, for such was Tonti's usual appellation, in consequence of his familiarity with the coast, and his being principally employed to direct the navigation of the different craft in which he served, kept his station on board a felucca to which he belonged, watching the movements of the lugger, while the girl had taken her stand on the quay, in a position which better became her sex, since it removed her from immediate contact with the rough spirits of the port, while it enabled her to see what occurred about the Wing-andWing. More than half an hour elapsed, however, before there were any signs of an intention to land; but by the time it was dark a boat was ready, and it was seen making its way to the common stairs, where one or two of the regular officials were ready to receive it.

It is unnecessary to dwell on the forms of the pratique officers. These troublesome persons had their lanterns, and were vigilant in examining papers, as is customary; but it would seem the mariner in the boat had everything en règle, for he was soon suffered ⚫ to land. At this instant Ghita passed near the group, and took a close and keen survey of the stranger's form and face, her own person being so enveloped in a mantle, as to render a recognition of it difficult, if not impossible. The girl seemed satisfied with this scrutiny, for she immediately disappeared. Not so with 'Maso, who by this time had hurried round from the felucca, and was at the stairs in season to say a word to the stranger.

"Signore," said the pilot, "his eccellenza, the podestà, has bidden me say to you that he expects the honour of your company at his house, which stands so near us, hard by here, in the principal street, as will make it only a pleasure to go there; I know he would be disappointed if he failed of the happiness of seeing you." "His eccellenza is a man not to be disappointed," returned the stranger, in very good Italian, "and five minutes shall prove to him how eager I am to salute him;" then turning to the crew of his boat, he ordered them to return on board the lugger, and not to fail to look out for the signal by which he might call them ashore.

'Maso, as he led the way to the dwelling of Vito Viti, would fain ask a few questions, in the hope of appeasing certain doubts that beset him.

"Since when, Signor Capitano," he inquired, "have you English taken to sailing luggers? It is a novel rig for one of your craft."

"Corpo di Bacco!" answered the other, laughing, "friend of mine, if you can tell the precise day when brandy and laces were first smuggled from France into my country, I will answer your question. I think you have never navigated as far north as the Bay of Biscay and our English Channel, or you would know that a Guernsey-man is better acquainted with the rig of a lugger than with that of a ship."

"Guernsey is a country I never heard of," answered 'Maso, simply; "is it like Holland or more like Lisbon?"

"Very little of either. Guernsey is a country that was once French, and where many of the people still speak the French language, but of which the English have been masters this many an age. It is an island subject to King George, but which is still half Gallic in names and usages. This is the reason why we like the lugger better than the cutter, which is a more English rig."

'Maso was silent, for, if true, the answer at once removed many misgivings. He had seen so much about the strange craft which struck him as French, that doubts of her character had obtruded; but, if her captain's account could only be substantiated, there was an end of distrust. What could be more natural than the circumstance that a vessel fitted out in an island of French origin, should betray some of the peculiarities of the people who built her?

The podestà was at home, in expectation of this visit, and 'Maso was first admitted to a private conference, leaving the stranger in an outer room. During this brief conference, the pilot communicated all he had to say - both his suspicions and the seeming solution of the difficulties; and then he took his leave, after receiving the boon of a paul. Vito Viti now joined his guest, but it was so dark, lights not having yet been introduced, that neither could distinguish the other's countenance.

"Signor Capitano," observed the magistrate, "the deputygovernor is at his residence on the hill, and he will expect me to do him the favour to bring you thither, that he may do you the honours of the port."

This was said so civilly, and was, in itself, both so reasonable and so much in conformity with usage, that the other had not a word to say against it. Together, then, they left the house, and proceeded towards the government-dwelling a building which has since become celebrated as having been the residence of a soldier who so nearly succeeded in subjugating Europe. Vito Viti was a short, pursy man, and he took his time to ascend the stairsresembling street; but his companion stepped from terrace to terrace with an ease and activity which, of themselves, would have declared him to be young, had not this been made apparent by his general bearing and his mien, as seen through the obscurity.

Andrea Barrofaldi, the vice-governor, was a very different sort of person from his friend the podestà. Although little more acquainted with the world by practice, the vice-governor was deeply read in books, owing his situation, in short, to the circumstance of his having written several clever works, of no great reputation certainly for genius, but which were useful in their way, and manifested scholarship. It is very seldom that a man of mere letters is qualified for public life; and yet there is an affectation in all governments, most especially in those which care so little for literature in general as to render some professions of respect for it necessary to their own characters, of protecting it; and thus it is that in the United States, where the laws are so indifferent to the rights and interests of men of this class as to subject them to costs and penalties in the prosecution of their ordinary labours, that no other Christian nation dreams of exacting, we hear high-sounding pretensions to this species of liberality, although the system of rewards and punishments* that prevails usually requires that its beneficiary should first rat, in order to prove his adaptation to the duty. Andrea Barrofaldi, however, had thrown no political summerset, and had consequently been inducted into his present office without even the sentimental profession of never having asked for it. The situation had been given to him by the Fossombrone of his day without a word having been said in the journals of Tuscany of his doubts about accepting it, and everything passed, as things are apt to pass when there are true simplicity and good faith at the bottom, without pretension or comment. He had now been ten years in office, and had become exceedingly expert in discharging all the ordinary functions of his post, which he certainly did with zeal and fidelity. Still he did not desert his beloved books; and, quite à propos of the matter about to come before him, the Signor Barrofaldi had just finished a severe, profound, and extensive course of study in geography.

The stranger was left in the ante-chamber, while Vito Viti entered an inner room, and had a short communication with his friend, the vice-governor. As soon as this was ended, the former returned, and ushered his companion into the presence of the substitute for a grand-duke, if not for a king. As this was the sailor's first appearance within the influence of a light sufficiently strong to enable the podestà to examine his person, both he and Andrea Barrofaldi turned their eyes on him with lively curiosity the instant the rays of a strong lamp enabled them to scrutinize his ap

* So much is said in the American journals concerning the patronage the public bestows on letters, - a patronage which is very much confined to buying such works as the reader wants, and not purchasing those for which he feels no occasion, that it forcibly reminds one of the story of the Creole woman, who was descanting on the subject of ruling negroes among some friends. "If you will gouverne négres," she said, "you moost have système. I have système. Mon système à moi, is système of reward and poonishment." Then she turns to her negroes, and addresses them, desiring her friends to note the effect. "Mes amis," she begins, "zo-morrow ze cane will be roipe, and you moost moosh vork. You know me you know mon système - it is système of reward and poonishment. If you shall not vork, you shall be flog; zat is poonishment; mais if you shall very moosh very moosh vork, you shall no bẹ flog - zat is ze reward!"