Volume I Part 23 (1/2)
As we came out of the palace of the duchess, I left iotti's to claih to have the barrel divided into two smaller casks of equal capacity, and I sent one to Don Antonio, and the other to Don Gennaro As I was leaving the shop I lad to see ood man I had at first deceived? No, for in his opinion I had acted very nobly towards hied to thank , and the next day Don Antonio, to old-headed cane, worth at least fifteen ounces, and his tailor brought reat coat, with the buttonholes in gold lace I therefore found myself splendidly equipped
At the duchess de Bovino's dinner I made the acquaintance of the wisest and most learned man in Naples, the illustrious Don Lelio Caraffa, who belonged to the ducal fa Carlos honoured with the title of friend
I spent two delightful hours in the convent parlour, coping successfully with the curiosity of all the nuns ere pressing against the grating Had destiny allowed me to reh I had no fixed plan, the voice of fate summoned me to Rome, and therefore I resisted all the entreaties of my cousin Antonio to accept the honourable position of tutor in several houses of the highest order
Don Antonio gave a splendid dinner in ry because he saw that his wife looked daggers at her new cousin I thought that, lance at uest next to her Very likely she knehat had taken place There are some positions in life to which I could never be reconciled If, in the most brilliant circle, there is one person who affects to stare at ed, my wit dies away, and I play the part of a dolt It is a weakness on my part, but a weakness I cannot overcome
Don Lelio Caraffa offered me a very liberal salary if I would undertake the education of his nephew, the Duke de Matalona, then ten years of age I expressed ed hiiving ood letters of introduction for Roave i
I found out that the interest felt towards me by my friends had induced the the hand of Her Majesty the Queen, and I hastened my preparations to leave Naples, for the queen would certainly have askedher that I had just left Martorano and the poor bishop whom she had sent there The queen likewise knew my mother; she would very likely have alluded to my mother's profession in Dresden; it would have ree would have been covered with ridicule I knew the force of prejudice! I should have been ruined, and I felt I should do well to withdraw in good time As I took leave of hiave me a letter for Don Gaspar Vidaldi, whom he called his best friend Don Gennaro paideternal friendshi+p, asked me to write to hi their tears with s
Fro in Chiozza up toon an to shew itself less adverse, and on my return to that city it entirely smiled upon me
Naples has always been a fortunate place for me, as the reader of et that in Portici I was on the point of disgracing radation of thecan restore it to its for atony for which there is no possible cure
I was not ungrateful to the good Bishop of Martorano, for, if he had unwittingly injuredme to his diocese, I felt that to his letter for M Gennaro I was indebted for all the good fortune which had just befallen ed in drying h the beautiful street of Toledo, and it was only after we had left Naples that I could find ti companions Next toface and a lively air, but, opposite to ed to two ladies, young and pretty, very well dressed, with a look of candour and reeable, but I felt sad and I wanted cal exchanged, and as the vetturino stopped there only to water his et out of the coach From Avessa to Capua my companions conversed almost without interruption, and, wonderful to relate! I did not open entleman, and by the pretty accent of the ladies, ere evidently Romans It was a most wonderful feat forwo them one coht, we put up at an inn, and were shown into a roo in Italy The Neapolitan, addressing hi with the reverend gentleman?”
I answered in a very serious tone that it was for hie it otherwise, if he liked The answer made the two ladies smile, particularly the one whoood omen
We were five at supper, for it is usual for the vetturino to supply his travellers with their reement is made otherwise, and to sit down at table with the the supper, I found incompanions decoruood society I beca doith the driver after supper, I asked hientleman,” he told me, ”is an advocate, and one of the ladies is his wife, but I do not knohich of the two”
I went back to our rooo to bed first, in order to make it easier for the ladies to undress the, left the room, and only returned when I was called for breakfast The coffee was delicious I praised it highly, and the lady, the one as my favourite, pro our journey The barber came in after breakfast; the advocate was shaved, and the barber offered ue declared that it was slovenly to wear one's beard
When we had resumed our seats in the coach, the advocate eneral
”But we ought to decide first,” said the lady, ”whether or not it is slovenly to go bearded”
”Of course it is,” said the advocate ”Beard is nothing but a dirty excrescence”
”You may think so,” I answered, ”but everybody does not share your opinion Do we consider as a dirty excrescence the hair of which we take so much care, and which is of the sath and the beauty of the hair”
”Then,” remarked the lady, ”the barber is a fool”
”But after all,” I asked, ”have I any beard?”