A ROMANCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. "Nor would I have you believe nor yet altogether discredit those tales PREFACE. THE superstition, so often alluded to in the following pages, is one which, however childish it may appear to the English reader, prevails universally in the country where the scene of the present romance is laid. It is received from the palace to the cottage; by the prince not less than by the lazzarone. The sage, whose better judgment should discard it, will not openly deride it; and the sceptic who believes in little else, will not deny a lingering dread of the Jettatura, or power of the Evil Eye. In confirmation of this assertion, the travelled reader will doubtless recollect the many shops 1 |