between two other boatmen, suddenly took part against one of them, and
saluted him with,--"Ah! baptized son of a dog! And if I had been present
at thy baptism, I would have dashed thy brains out against the baptismal
font!"

All the theatrical forms of passion were visible in a scene I witnessed in
a little street near San Samuele, where I found the neighborhood assembled
at doors and windows in honor of a wordy battle between two poor women.
One of these had been forced in-doors by her prudent husband, and the
other upbraided her across the marital barrier. The assailant was washing,
and twenty times she left her tub to revile the besieged, who thrust her
long arms out over those of her husband, and turned each reproach back
upon her who uttered it, thus:--

_Assailant_. Beast!

_Besieged_. Thou!

_A_. Fool!

_B_. Thou!

_A_. Liar!

_B_. Thou!

_E via in seguito!_ At last the assailant, beating her breast with
both hands, and tempestuously swaying her person back and forth, wreaked
her scorn in one wild outburst of vituperation, and returned finally to
her tub, wisely saying, on the purple verge of asphyxiation, "_O, non