Volume II Part 16 (2/2)

Discord ruled in every hall and cha swords and knives; and bloodshed was only obviated by the bodily intervention of bystanders

I felt that the moment had come to take my leave With this in view, I packed up a bundle of Spanish books lent to one too far to be remedied by hints and intimations Petronio Zanerini, the best actor of Italy; Doi Benedetti and his wife, both of theostino Fiorelli, stupendous in the role of Tartaglia; each and every one of these retired in disgust and took engagements with rival companies Sacchi's eccentricities had reduced his troupe to a mere skeleton Finally, the patrician ned S Salvatore, scenting disaster in the air, gave the lease of his theatre to another set of players

I took certain steps at this juncture to keep what reether and to heal its breaches Through io Zannoni, a splendid actor, an excellent fellow, and Sacchi's brother-in-law, consented to hold on upon the understanding that Sacchi should execute a deed according his partners their just share in the ned Sacchi cursed and shile signing; and Zannoni told me that it would prove waste paper, as indeed it did

Patched up in this way, the coelo, which had been their old quarters before I succeeded in transferring them to S Salvatore They were scarce of money, scarce of actors, and the few actors they had were people of no talent Two pieces I colia dell'Aria_, could not be put upon the stage for want of funds and proper players to sustain the parts I had eventually to give these dramas to two different cos ossip, Teodora Ricci, once more upon the scene; but I do not think that I should interestit[83]

Suffice it to say, that everything went daily from bad to worse with Sacchi's troupe He did not improve in temper Receipts dwindled The paid actors had to recover their salaries by suits at law, and left the co was heard but outcries, lamentations, mutual reproaches, threats, complaints, demands for money, talks about executions, writs, and stamped papers from the courts At last, after two years of this infernal squabbling, a troupe which had been the terror of its rivals and the delight of our theatres broke up in pitiable confusion

Sacchi, on the point of setting out for Genoa, ca tears thereby I remember his precise words: ”You are the only friend on whom I mean to call before I leave Venice secretly and with sorrow for ever I shall never forget the benefits you have heaped upon me You alone have told me the truth with candour Do not deny , the favour of your pardon, and of your coave hi; and I--I a of this long and once so happy chapter in my life[84]

After that ain resumed it for drao on laughing--Deaths of friends--Dissolution of the old Republic of S Mark--I lay my pen down on the 18th of March 1798_

As years advanced, it cao on always laughing One Sunday I was hearing mass in the Church of S Moise, when a friend came up and asked me in a whisper whether I had heard of the fatal accident to the patrician Paolo Balbi

”What accident?” I said with consternation ”Last night he died,” was the reply ”What!” exclaimed I, still more terrified: ”why, I ith hi; he was in perfect health and spirits” ”Nevertheless,” said entleman is dead Excuse me if I have been the bearer of disastrous news” When the , was over, I ran to the patrician's house I cherished warainst hope that the news ht be false Alas! the house resounded with funeral lamentations; theand children had already left it for the palace of their relatives, the Malipieri

Not many days afterwards I received the sad announcement that my brother Francesco was seriously ill of a kind of cachexy on his estate in Friuli A few days later I learned that he had breathed his last The poor fellow left his wife and three sons well provided for; but when the salutary restraint of his authority was removed by death, they showed every inclination to dissipate what he had brought together for their co my friend Raffaelle Todeschini was announced His countenance wore an expression of alar you painful news Last evening, in the coffee-house at the Ponte dell'Angelo, that honourable gentleman, Carlo Maffei, died suddenly”

The blow fell heavy on my heart; for I have enjoyed few friendshi+ps equal to that of this entlehest and old snuff-box by way of reacy which fell to my share in the course of my whole life

In a short period of time I lost successively several other relatives and friends My brother Gasparo expired at Padua, reco his second wife, the M illness, to my care A sudden stroke of apoplexy robbed me of the first and faithfullest friend I ever had, Innocenzio Massimo My sister Laura, as married and lived at Adria, passed ahile yet in the prime of woue, if I were not unwilling to detain raveyard

Meanwhile, a terrible attack of fever laid io Cornaro, a ilant affection for his patients, ca the following night, and the excessive fierceness hich the fever renewed its assaults, made me feel that I was about to follow h those so, I sent him for a confessor The man refused at first, and had to be dispatched upon his errand by a voice more worthy of a cut-throat than a penitent While I was confessing, Dr Cornaro entered He inquired what I had been about, and I replied that I did not think it amiss to be prepared beforehand ”I felt sufficiently ill to fulfil the duties of a Catholic upon his death-bed, and have saved you the trouble of breaking the news to”We must cut short this fever with quinine, before it reaches the third assault It is a violent attack of the sort we call pernicious” HowI sed is unknown to lassful every two hours The fever abated; but I had to drag through three months of a slow and painful convalescence

But now it is time to close these Memoirs The publisher, Palese, inforh I lay my pen aside just at the moment when I should have had to describe that vast undulation called the French Revolution, which swept over Europe, upsetting kingdo the landht Venice in its gyration, affording a splendidly hideous field for philosophical reflection ”Splendidly hideous” is a contradiction in ter paradoxes have become classical

The sweet delusive dreaanised and based on irremovable foundations--the expectation of a h and dance and weep together The ululations of the drea out _Liberty_, _Equality_, _Fraternity_, deafened our ears; and those of us who still ren themselves dreamers, in order to protect their honour, their property, their lives People who are not accustoated through the centuries see only ies in convulsions of this kind The whole tenor of s, on the other hand, and particularly my poem _Marfisa bizzarra_, which conceals philosophy beneath the mantle of burlesque humour, prove that I was keenly alive to the disastrous results which had to be expected froe I always dreaded and predicted a cataclysm as the natural consequence of those pernicious doctrines Yet s were doomed to remain as useless as these Memoirs will certainly be--as ineffectual as a doctor's prescriptions for a s are rotten The sweet delusive dream of our physically impossible democracy will end in the evolution of

But Palese calls on me to staunch this flow of ink upon the paper Let us leave to serious and candid historians the task of relating e are sure, if we live, to see

To-day is the 18th of March in the year 1798; and here I lay ood publisher Farewell, patient and benign readers of my useless Memoirs!

LXV

SEQUEL TO GOZZI'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY