DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0101
S3
an utter stranger. Yet the short answer which I sent back
at the moment my heart was overflowing, proved perhaps
more to the purpose, and, at all events, more sincere than a
studied epistle, written with more leisure. I promised, more-
over, to thank this good man personally in a few days.
The custom of obliging your friends by trifling presents,
which is general in Turkey and the East, and which, even in
this part of the world, is more frequently observed than in our
northern hemisphere, where our actions are too much guided
by cold calculation, is certainly very commendable. A gift,
if of ever so little value, serves to commence or cement friend-
ships : even a flower, or an orange, presented with a good
grace, and a friendly intent, is more expressive of the donor’s
esteem and good-will, than all the protestations in the world,
conveyed by mere words.
The sight of the lovely Juliana’s name, I will be sincere to
own, added not a little to the elevation of my spirits. A second
jaunt to Pozzuoli, upon a more enlarged scale than the for-
mer, was immediately planned in all its details ; and not to
arrive on my part, with empty hands, my telescope, with my
only two good razors, were destined for Don Giacomo, and a
gown of sprigged muslin, of British manufacture, was forth-
with purchased in the city for my heroine.
Thus equipped, I set out, in a single horse-chaise, at an
early hour. A copious dew sparkled on every leaf in the fer-
pianura, the fresh morning air was perfumed with a com-
pound of fragrant odours, and the nightingales seemed to vie
in skill with the minor ditties of the male and female peasantry
I met flocking towards the town. Before I was aware of it, I
passed through the stately gate of Pozzuoli, halted at the
house of my friend, with a few strides hurried up the massy
staircasb,
w 2
an utter stranger. Yet the short answer which I sent back
at the moment my heart was overflowing, proved perhaps
more to the purpose, and, at all events, more sincere than a
studied epistle, written with more leisure. I promised, more-
over, to thank this good man personally in a few days.
The custom of obliging your friends by trifling presents,
which is general in Turkey and the East, and which, even in
this part of the world, is more frequently observed than in our
northern hemisphere, where our actions are too much guided
by cold calculation, is certainly very commendable. A gift,
if of ever so little value, serves to commence or cement friend-
ships : even a flower, or an orange, presented with a good
grace, and a friendly intent, is more expressive of the donor’s
esteem and good-will, than all the protestations in the world,
conveyed by mere words.
The sight of the lovely Juliana’s name, I will be sincere to
own, added not a little to the elevation of my spirits. A second
jaunt to Pozzuoli, upon a more enlarged scale than the for-
mer, was immediately planned in all its details ; and not to
arrive on my part, with empty hands, my telescope, with my
only two good razors, were destined for Don Giacomo, and a
gown of sprigged muslin, of British manufacture, was forth-
with purchased in the city for my heroine.
Thus equipped, I set out, in a single horse-chaise, at an
early hour. A copious dew sparkled on every leaf in the fer-
pianura, the fresh morning air was perfumed with a com-
pound of fragrant odours, and the nightingales seemed to vie
in skill with the minor ditties of the male and female peasantry
I met flocking towards the town. Before I was aware of it, I
passed through the stately gate of Pozzuoli, halted at the
house of my friend, with a few strides hurried up the massy
staircasb,
w 2