"spadella," or stiletto which binds the elaborately braided mass of their ebon hair; the circular gold earrings with inner circles of pearls; the gold chain or lacétta, worn fold upon fold round the neck; the bunch of gold talismans suspended on the breast; the profusion of heavy silver rings which load every finger. The Sunday after her betrothal when she appears at High Mass in all her finery is the proudest day of a Capri girl's life; but love has few of the tenderer incidents which make its poetry in the North. There is no "lover's lane" in Capri, for a maiden may not walk with her betrothed save in presence of witnesses; and a kiss before marriage is, as "Auld Robin Gray" calls it, "a sin" to which no modest girl stoops. The future husband is in fact busy with less romantic matters; it is his business to provide bed and bedding, table and chairs, drawers and looking-glass, and above all a dozen gaudy prints from Naples of the Madonna and the favourite saints of the day. The bride provides the rest, and on the eve of the marriage the families meet once more to take an inventory of her contributions which remain her own property till her death. The morning's sun streams in upon the lovers as they kneel at the close of mass before the priest in San Stefano; all the boyhood of Capri is waiting outside to pelt the bridal train with "confetti" as it hurries amidst blushes and laughter across the Piazza; a dinner of macaroni and the island wine ends in a universal "tarantella," there is a final walk round the village at the close of the dance, and the coral-fisher reaps the prize of his toil as he leads his bride to her home. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. THIRTY-FOURTH THOUSAND. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. BY JOHN RICHARD GREEN _With Coloured Maps, Genealogical Tables, and Chronological Annals. Crown 8vo., price 8s. 6d._ MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. "I thank you very much for sending me Mr. Green's book. I have read it with genuine admiration. It bears marks of great ability in many ways. There is a vast amount of research, great skill in handling and arranging the facts, a very pleasant and taking style, but chief of all a remarkable grasp of the subject--many-sided as it is in its unity and integrity--which makes it a work of real historical genius. I am sure I wish it all the success it deserves; and you are quite at liberty to give my opinion about it to any one who asks it."--_Extract from Letter of W. Stubbs, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford._