Volume IV Part 24 (2/2)
”I really can't say; but you will be able to recognize the man, doubtless”
”It must have been you or one of your people”
I was speaking loud, and all the men came about me
”These are all the men in my employ,” said the master, and he asked if any of them had received the money from me
They all denied the fact with an air of sincerity which left no room for suspicion I cursed and swore, but they let me curse and swear as much as I liked At last I discovered that there was no help for it, and I paid a second ti at the clever rascal who had taken hly Such are the lessons of life; always full of new experiences, and yet one never knows enough Fro except to the proper persons
In no country are knaves so cunning as in Italy, Greece ancient and horn they told o and see the play I was recognized by an actor who accosted me, and introduced reat enemy of the Abbe Chiari, whoainstmyself on him I asked them to coiven to refusing The pretended poet was a Genoese, and called himself Giacomo Passano He inforainst the abbe, ould burst with rage if they were ever printed As I could not restrain a sood opinion the poet had of his works, he offered to read me a few sonnets He had the manuscript about him, and I could not escape the penance He read a dozen or so, which I thought mediocre, and a mediocre sonnet is necessarily a bad sonnet, as this forst the ives birth very few can be called good
If I had given myself time to examine the ue; but I was blinded by passion, and the idea of three hundred sonnets against the Abbe Chiari fascinated me
I cast my eyes over the title of the oram of my Christian name and my surname; is it not a happy coain Each of the sonnets was a dull diatribe ending with ”l'abbate Chiari e un coglione” He did not prove that he was one, but he said so over and over again, erate and lie What he wanted to do was to annoy the abbe, as by no means what Passano called him, but on the contrary, a wit and a poet; and if he had been acquainted with the requiree he would have written better plays than Goldoni, as he had a greater coe
I told Passano, for civility's sake, that he ought to get his Chiareide printed
”I would do so,” said he, ”if I could find a publisher, for I ah to pay the expenses, and the publishers are a pack of ignorant beggars Besides, the press is not free, and the censor would not let the epithet I give to o to Switzerland I aed; but I ot theot to Switzerland, where there are no theatres, ould you do for a living?”
”I would paint in aveobscene subjects, badly drawn and badly painted
”I will give you an introduction to a gentleave him a letter and six sequins He wanted to force some of his productions on ive him a letter to pretty Sara's father, and I told him to write to me at Rome, under cover of the banker Belloni
I set out frohorn the next day and went to Pisa, where I stopped two days There I ht a travelling carriage He took me to see Corilla, the celebrated poetess She received h to iested I was enchanted, not so race and beauty, as by her wit and perfect elocution Hoeet a language sounds when it is spoken well and the expressions are well chosen A language badly spoken is intolerable even from a pretty mouth, and I have always admired the wisdom of the Greeks who made their nurses teach the children from the cradle to speak correctly and pleasantly We are far froood example; witness the fearful accents one hears in what is called, often incorrectly, good society
Corilla was 'straba', like Venus as painted by the ancients--why, I cannot think, for however fair a squint-eyed woman may be otherwise, I always look upon her face as distorted I am sure that if Venus had been in truth a Goddess, she would have made the eccentric Greek, who first dared to paint her cross-eyed, feel the weight of her anger I was told that when Corilla sang, she had only to fix her squinting eyes on a man and the conquest was complete; but, praised be God! she did not fix theed at the ”Hotel Carrajo,” kept by Dr Vannini, who delighted to confess himself an unworthy member of the Academy Della Crusca I took a suite of rooms which looked out on the bank of the Arno I also took a carriage and a footman, whom, as well as a coachadin's livery, and I thought Ianyone, butafter reat coat to escape observation, and proceeded to walk about Florence In the evening I went to the theatre to see the fareater than he deserved I passed the sament on the boasted Florentine elocution; I did not care for it at all I enjoyed seeing Pertici; having beco any e to say, acted well; for, as a rule, all singers,for acting, so that an ordinary cold entirely disables the
Next day I called on the banker, Sasso Sassi, on whoood letter of credit, and after an excellent dinner I dressed and went to the opera an via della Pergola, taking a stage box, not so much for the music, of which I was never much of an admirer, as because I wanted to look at the actress
The reader nised in the prima donna Therese, the false Bellino, who Therese whoes had not put me under arrest I had not seen her for seventeen years, but she looked as beautiful and ravishi+ng as ever as she cae It see the rese an air, she fixed her eyes on er doubt that it was she; she plainly recognized s and n to me with her fan to co heart, though I could not explain uilty in any way towards Therese, save in that I had not answered the last letter she had written o I went round the theatre, feeling a greater curiosity as to the results of our interview than to knohat had befallen her during the seventeen years which seee-door, and I saw Therese standing at the top of the stair She told the door-keeper to let me pass; I went up and we stood face to face Duainstheart,” said I, ”all that I feel”