With some difficulty I gave him to
understand my errand, when he overwhelmed me with thanks,
and joyfully followed me back. He took his seat with us at the
supper-table; and, when we were all gathered around the hearth
that cold autumnal evening, he told us, partly by words and
partly by gestures, the story of his life and misfortunes, amused
us with descriptions of the grape-gatherings and festivals of his
sunny clime, edified my mother with a recipe for making bread
of chestnuts; and in the morning, when, after breakfast, his
dark sullen face lighted up and his fierce eye moistened with
grateful emotion as in his own silvery Tuscan accent he poured
out his thanks, we marvelled at the fears which had so nearly
closed our door against him; and, as he departed, we all felt
that he had left with us the blessing of the poor.
(1) Provinces into which the old Kingdom of Naples was
divided.
(2) Salvator Rosa was a Neapolitan by birth, and was said to
have been himself a bandit in his youth; his landscapes often
contain figures drawn from the wild life of the region.
It was not often that, as in the above instance, my mother's
prudence got the better of her charity. The regular "old
stragglers" regarded her as an unfailing friend; and the sight of
her plain cap was to them an assurance of forthcoming
creature-comforts.
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