Volume VI Part 81 (1/2)

I told the vetturino that I would on no account be Medini's surety, or be answerable for hi out, he leapt forward crying that I must not abandon hi he would escape, ran forward to get hold of hi battle Medini, who had no arown, proceeded to distribute kicks, cuffs, and blows ast the four cowards, who had their swords at their sides, whilst I held the door to prevent the Irish for assistance

Medini, whose nose was bleeding and his dress all torn, persisted in fighting till the four policee, and pitied him

There was a moment's silence, and I asked his two liveried servants ere standing by me why they had not helped their es, and the other said he wanted to arrest hi to staunch the blood in a basin of water, the vetturino told hio to prison

I was moved by the scene that I had witnessed, and said to the vetturino,

”Give hiht's respite, and if he escapes before the expiration of that terht it over for a few ood, sir, but I aal expenses”

I enquired howat the policees for blows they had received

Then the two rascally servants said that if I would not be surety in the same manner on their account, they would have Medini arrested However, Medini called out to iven the vetturino his acknowledged by the police, Medini told me that he had more to say to me; but I turned my back on him, and went home to dinner

Two hours later one of his servants caive him six sequins to warn ht

I told him drily that his zeal was useless to me, as I was quite sure that the count would pay all his debts within the ter hi letter full of thanks, in which he exerted all his eloquence to persuade me to repair his fortunes I did not answer

However, his good genius, who still protected hiht a person to Florence who drew him out of the difficulty This person was Premislas Zanovitch, who afterwards became as famous as his brother who cheated the Amsterdam merchants, and adopted the style of Prince Scanderbeck

I shall speak of him later on Both these finished cheats came to a bad end

Pree of twenty-five; he was the son of a gentleman of Budua, a town on the borders of Albania and Dalmatia, formerly subject to the Venetian Republic and now to the Grand Turk In classic tistudied at Venice, and contracted a Venetian taste for pleasures and enjoyments of all sorts, he could not make up his mind to return to Budua, where his only associates would be dull Sclavs--uneducated, unintellectual, coarse, and brutish Consequently, when Premislas and his still more talented brother Stephen were ordered by the Council of Ten to enjoy the vast suained at play in their own country, they resolved to become adventurers One took the north and the other the south of Europe, and both cheated and duped whenever the opportunity for doing so presented itself

I had seen Premislas when he was a child, and had already heard reports of a notable achievement of his At Naples he had cheated the Chevalier de Morosini by persuading him to become his surety to the extent of six thousand ducats, and now he arrived in Florence in a handso two tall lackeys and a valet in his service

He took good aparte, rented a box at the opera, had a skilled cook, and gave hisHe then shewed himself at the best club, richly dressed, and covered with jewellery He introduced himself under the name of Count Premislas Zanovitch

There is a club in Florence devoted to the use of the nobility Any stranger can go there without being introduced, but so much the worse for hiht to be present The Florentines are ice towards him, leave him alone, and behave in such a manner that the visit is seldom repeated The club is at once decent and licentious, the papers are to be read there, games of all kinds are played, food and drink may be had, and even love is available, for ladies frequent the club

Zanovitch did not wait to be spoken to, but ratulated hiuished coht in his own nah, lost et all about his debts, and in short pleased everyone

I heard all this the next day from the Marquis Capponi, who said that someone had asked him if he knew me, whereat he answered that when I left Venice he was at college, but that he had often heard his father speak of h terms He knew both the Chevalier Morosini and Count Medini, and had a good deal to say in praise of the latter

The marquis asked me if I knew hi it ht not have been advantageous to him; and as Madame Denis seemed curious tohim to see her, which he did in the course of a few days

I happened to be with Madame Denis when Puzzi presented Zanovitch, and I saw beforemen, who seemed by his confident s He was not exactly handsoaiety which seeood society He was by noto talk about I led the conversation to the subject of his country, and he gaveof his fief-part of which ithin the doaiety was unknown, and where the most determined misanthrope would die of an speaking to s of a great adventurer in hiht his luxury would prove the weak point in his cuirass I thought hio, but as it see him

Zanovitch paid me a visit, and told me that Medini's position had excited his pity, and that he had therefore paid his debts