toward Rome. More
than one _spadina_ flashed in the hands of the slightly-tight maidens
who were on foot. Those of the men who had carriages, foreseeing the
inflammable spirit aroused, packed the women in by themselves, gave them
lighted torches, and cut them adrift, to float down the Corso; they
following in separate carriages.

* * * * *

'Ah! really, and pray, Mrs. Jobson, don't you think that it's--ah! a
beautiful sight; they tell me--ah! it's the peasants returning from
visiting the shrine of the--ah! Madonna--ah?'

'And I think it is _most_ charming, Mister Lushington; and I remember me
now that Lady Fanny Errol, poor thing, said it would be a _charming_
sight. And the poor creatures seem _much_ happier than our own lower
orders; they do, to be sure.'

* * * * *

'O Lord!' groaned Caper, as he overheard the above dialogue, 'allow me
to retire.'

CAPER 'STARTS' A MENAGERIE.

As an animal-painter, Mr. Caper was continually hunting up materials for
sketches. He made excursions into the Campagna, to see the long-horned
gray oxen and the hideous buffaloes; watching the latter along the
yellow Tiber, when, in the spring-time, they coquetted in the mud and
water. He sketched goats and sheep, tended by the picturesquely-dressed
shepherds and guarded by the fierce dogs that continually encircled
them. In four words, he studied animal-ated nature.

On his first arrival in Rome, he had purchased one of those sprightly
little _vetturo_ dogs, all wool and tail, that the traveler remarks
mounted on top of the traveling carriages that enter and leave Rome.
With a firm foothold, they stand on the very top of all the baggage that
may be piled on the roof of the coach; and there, standing guard and
barking fiercely, seem to thoroughly enjoy the confusion attendant on
starting the horses or unloading the baggage. They are seen around the
carriage-stands where public hacks are hired, and as soon as one moves
off, up jumps the _vetturo_ dog alongside the driver, and never leaves
the vehicle until it stops; then, if he sees another hack returning to
the city, he will jump into that, and be carried back triumphant. This
sounds like fiction; but its truth will be confirmed by any one who has
ever noticed the peculiarities of this breed of dogs, which love to
ride.

Caper kept this dog in his studio, and had already made several very
life-like studies of him. One