tious of my cravings.
That, alas! could never be,--Donna Maria was the wife of another; and
thus should I learn that complete happiness is never to be the lot of
any mere mortal!

The fete on board the "Tariffa" was very splendid; but it had another
charm still more rarely met with,--I mean that hearty cordiality which
graces every entertainment where British sailors are the hosts, their
courtesy being blended with an actual warmth of hospitality that wins
even upon the coldest guest, and gives a tone of friendliness to the
most promiscuous gathering.

Every one appeared to experience the influence of this peculiar magic,
and all gave way to the impulse that suggested the fullest enjoyment of
the hour.

To waltzes had succeeded the manolo and the bolero; dances of the wild
regions of Calabria and Sicily were performed by men of noble birth,
the petty princes of those countries; and all were vying who should
introduce something new and unknown to the rest, when, suddenly, the
distant sound of the church bells of the city was borne along the water,
announcing the "Vinti quatro," as it is called,--the hour of evening
prayer. In a moment a sudden air o-' devotional seriousness spread
itself over the company, and most bent their heads in pious reverence
while they recited to themselves the words of the "Angelus." If there
seemed, to the sense of English Protestantism, something strange and
unnatural in this great revulsion, there was a degree of earnestness and
sincerity in the features of the worshippers that showed their piety
to be unfeigned; and here I might leave the theme, were it not for an
incident which, taking place at the same moment, will remain forever
associated in my mind with that brief interval of prayer.

The hour of sunset, or, as the Neapolitans term it, the "Vinti quatro,"
is that in which the galley-slaves, employed from dawn of day at convict
labor, return to their prisons; and while the streets at that period
exhibit long lines of men whose terrible appearance needs not the
heightening accessories of a shocking dress and a heavy lumbering chain
to pronounce them criminals, over the bay are seen boats moving in sad
procession, the clanking of the fetters creaking mournfully upon the
ear, and sounding like the wail of hopeless captivity.

No scene of pleasurable enjoyment can stand the contrast of such a
sight; the revulsion is too sudden and too painful from the light
frivolity of mirth to the te