The Argosy — page 252: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

In Sunny Climes. 235 sepulchral in aspect, damp and mouldy in atmosphere; all as orthodox as possible; but it is only a pretence when all is said and done. On landing, we found we could be taken in at the hotel on the : quay. Yet it was so full that we had to wait an hour for our room. Here, after due debate with the landlord, we finally settled our plans. ‘This was to give up Otranto ; to abandon the Adriatic and Venice; to take the evening train for Naples, and spend the re- mainder of our time in visiting the more famous towns and cities which lay in our direct route homewards. _ For we had none too much time before us. Mauleverer was due at _his shooting-box in Scotland at the beginning of October, where he had l arranged a tolerably large gathering ; but he decided to give himself lan extra fortnight, provided his brother would consent to play host | during the fortnight’s additional absence. This was satisfactorily . arranged by telegraph: an advantage we possess over our ancestors | who were born in the early days of the nineteenth century. What }advantages our ‘‘heirs, successors and assigns ” will possess over us ja hundred years hence, probably neither the Witch of Endor, nor the | witches in Macbeth, nor the greatest witch of the present day, would ) venture to disclose. | We went back to the steamer, settled up our accounts, made our adieux, which, though without tears, were not without regrets, and jleft the Batavia—probably for ever. About ninety additional | passengers were expected by the mail train; every berth on board jwas taken; every seat at every table large and small would be jfilled ; the vessel would be crowded ; the Babel appalling. And on fthis account, if on no other, our regret at leaving was certainly not jan unmixed sorrow. | Our first visit was to the post-office, a very unofficial-looking building, to which we were conducted by an hotel porter. Here we jfound letters from friends in England, which were given to us ina }manner as unofficial as the building. We were handed a batch of jletters of at least three hundred in number, and were begged to jmake our selection. | | It was all very right to repose this confidence in us; but the )post-office clerk could scarcely be a Lavater; and even the great physiognomist was not infallible; and the practice is not to be recom- ‘mended for imitation. We found about a dozen letters awaiting us, and when we had put them apart the clerk did not even trouble to tlook at them and ascertain that in deed and in truth they were ours. Brindisi owes its present prosperity to the fact that it is the point of departure for the Indian mails. It ought, therefore, to be grateful ‘to this little island of ours. I don’t much think it is so, for we found the hotel abominably dear and the cab fares extortionate. The only mark of supreme deference we received as Englishmen was from the above-mentioned postal clerk, whose conduct in handing us the | ee mett-taeaemanliin — _— ~~ - —s te. << COMIC OOO SS (CO) me