The humour of Italy; . other who has attained a certain age . . Ver. (aside). A certain age !! TRUTH. 265 Pao. Such a mother, I say, should have no other thoughtthan that of settling her daughter comfortably before shedies. . Ver. {aside). Before she dies ! ! ! Pao. Particularly a good mother like yourself. What doyou say—eh ? Will you be on his side ? Ver. I will ... I will be . . whatever my consciencedictates! . . (Aside.) Traitor!—In love with . Was that the reason of his attentions to me ? Pao. And shall I be able to give my friend some hope ? Ver. Why, yes . . yes . . give him
The humour of Italy; . other who has attained a certain age . . Ver. (aside). A certain age !! TRUTH. 265 Pao. Such a mother, I say, should have no other thoughtthan that of settling her daughter comfortably before shedies. . Ver. {aside). Before she dies ! ! ! Pao. Particularly a good mother like yourself. What doyou say—eh ? Will you be on his side ? Ver. I will ... I will be . . whatever my consciencedictates! . . (Aside.) Traitor!—In love with . Was that the reason of his attentions to me ? Pao. And shall I be able to give my friend some hope ? Ver. Why, yes . . yes . . give him . . whateveryou think. . (Aside.) At a certain age! . . Beforeshe dies! . . (Aloud!) Excuse me. . (Aside.) Onlylet me get at you ! . . (Aloud.) I shall hope to see youlater. (Exit.) Pao. Upon my word! if Adolfo is a real friend, I amanother;—if he has been beating the big drum for me, Ihave certainly been blowing his trumpet with all my might. Achille Toi-elli. 266 ITALIAN PASQUIN. NE speciesof wit andhumour in which Ital-ians have always excelledis the impromptu epigram—the stinging comment in versepassing events. The languageibounds in rhymes, and easily lendsIf to metre; and it is rare to meetwith an Italian, however uneducated, whocannot string together a few lines of at least passable family event—a marriage, a baptism, or a death—is sureto call forth a shower of sonnets from friends and acquaint-ances ; and on special occasions these contributions arepublished in volume form. Most of these, indeed, are dullenough reading; but the satirical verses suggested bypublic events are often amusing enough, though sometimesso local in their application as to have little meaning orinterest to outsiders. Many of those translated in thefollowing pages are in Latin, but the knowledge of thislanguage was common enough in Rome to make themalmost as popular as verses in the vulgar tongue ; and itmust be remembered that any Italian with the smalle
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