was built: commanding a fine wide view
with the bold crags and precipices of Il
Scorzo* in the distance.

* II Scorzo, the husk— pronounced oo shkoorts by the
natives— is the great mountain behind the plains ot
Pæstum, trending inland about opposite the middle of
the Gulf of Salerno.

We entered beneath a massive and somewhat
dilapidated archway, where I left my
mule. After passing through courts and
corridors, or what not, for I don't recoiled
much of the building except that it was large,
—and only the chamber or two used by the
judge seemed to be inhabited— we were
ushered into the presence.

In the kingdom of Naples, the judges of
small places are selected from the class of
advocates, who must have some little education;
and have seen a few years of something
like civilisation in the metropolis. I therefore
calculated on being able to reach the
understanding of this functionary a little
more effectually than I had been able to do
in the case of the mountain burghers of Oliveto.
Nor was I disappointed. He was a
crop-headed, smug-shaven, oily-complexioned
man of about thirty, with the dark and shapeless
features which belong to his race. I
knew that he would decide in my case much
more from his impressions of my bearing and
outward man than from any inherent principles
of law or equity; so I took care to enter
his apartment as if I had been a distinguished
visitor, and the corporal and capurbano a
pair of Italian noblemen who were doing him
and themselves the honour of introducing
me. He received me with a profusion of
politeness, and a look of some surprise. No
doubt, in my silk attire and jewellery, I was
a different culprit from what the procès-
verbal had led him to expect. He set me a
chair, and I was seated. The corporal and
capurbano stood looking on in silent
astonishment at the manner of my reception.
The corporal, recovering himself a little,
pulled out the clasp-knife, pistol and powder-
flask, and laid them on the table with a
circumstantial clank. As the judge seemed
rather at a loss what to say, I began to state
my case as an aggrieved person.

"You will have perceived, Signor Giudice,"
I said, " that my papers are in complete
regularity."

"Anzi signor perfettamente " (quite so), he
answered,

"You will also be aware that the authorities
of Oliveto have used an indiscretion in
arresting me, which is only to be accounted
for by a deplorable ignorance and incapacity.
They have even had the temerity to subject
me, an English gentleman, to personal scrutiny,
performed in the presence of the vice-
judge by this impolite military man, in no
gentle fashion. This inconsiderate proceeding
is, I need not inform one so well versed in
the precepts of Vattel and Pufiendorf, a
paramount infraction of international relations, for
which, if represented through my ambassador
to his Sicilian majesty, the vice-judge would
probably be destituted, and the corporal
degraded."

Here the grim Corporal Salzalo began an
indignant outburst, instantly cut short by the
judge, who at this stage of the proceedings
motioned both himself and the capurbano to
withdraw, which they accordingly did, looking
considerably chapfallen. "Were their
meritorious efforts in apprehending dangerous
foreigners to be rewarded with contumelious
usage like this? " However, a judge is a
judge; and, as there was no appeal, out they
bundled, to grumble at leisure in the ante-
room.

"It has been a most unfortunate mistake,
which I regret exceedingly," said the judge;
"and I should have great pleasure in at once
expediting you on your journey; my only
difficulty is that these prohibited weapons
(pointing to the pistol, &c.) have been found,
for which you appear to have no permit."

"I have a permit somewhere among my
luggage, which is left at Molfetta. I should
not like to relinquish these weapons, nor
indeed feel safe on my solitary journey without
them. I therefore trust that they may be
restored to me."

"I would willingly do so, but indeed it is
not in my power. The decision of cases in
which firearms are concerned belongs to the
jurisdiction of the military prefect of the
district. He lives about ten miles off. I
could send and lay the case before him; that
is, if you could wait."

I saw only a little pressure was wanted,
and I had a value for the pistol which I once
on a time recaptured victoriously, on the banks
of Guadiana, from a goatherd clad in sheepskin,
and armed with a musket, who had
stolen it from me; and should I give it up
now, when it was but in the possession of an
amicably-disposed judge, armed only with a
scruple of legal conscience? Have at you,
thought I, with a legal quibble; am I not a
barrister of the interior temple? Have I
worn a wig and bands in the courts of
Westminster for nothing? So I drew up the
battalia of a baddish argument in the best
array I might, and charged him thus:

"If I waited, the military prefect might
also refer me back to some other authority,
ill at last I got to Naples, and should have
to begin my journey afresh. I have already
been detained unduly and inconveniently. I
was arrested by persons incompetent to decide
whether my papers were in order. I have
been referred to you three miles out of the
great road by which travellers pass. Oliveto
is also a larger place than this, and the superior
judge ought to reside there. If I represented
the inconvenience I have suffered, this
might very likely be remedied. Perhaps it
is not greatly to your advantage that I should
do so, because in the creation of a judiciate
in Oliveto, and the annulment of that of