Ithica: the whole illustrated with panoramic scenery,
accompanied by music, and expressed by appropriate dialogue and dancing.
The declamation to be delivered by a youth of consummate genius--the
action to be enunciated by a Signorina of esteemed merit. 'I do not
draw attention to myself, nor to the gifts of that excellent lady who
presides over the drum,' continued he. 'Enough that Naples has seen,
Venice praised, Rome applauded us.

We have gathered laurels at Milan; wreathed flowers have fallen on us
at Mantua; our pleasant jests have awoke laughter in the wild valleys
of Calabria; our pathos has dimmed many an eye in the gorgeous halls of
Genoa; princes and contadini alike have shared in the enjoyment of
our talents; and so, with your favour, may each of you, _Gentilissimi
Signori_.'

Whether, however, the 'intelligent public' was not as affluent as it was
gifted, or that, to apply the ancient adage, 'Le jeu ne valait pas la
chandelle,' but so was it, that the old man had twice made the tour of
the circle without obtaining a single quatrino.

'At Bologna, _O Signori_, they deemed this representation worthy of
wax-light. We gave it in the Piazza before two thousand spectators, who,
if less great or beautiful than those we see here, were yet bountiful in
their generosity! Sound the drum, _comare mia_ said he, addressing the
old woman, 'and let the spirit-rousing roll inspire heroic longings.
A blast of the tromb, _figlio mio_ will set these noble hearts
high-beating for a tale of chivalry.' The deafening clamour of drum and
trumpet resounded through the air, and came back in many an echo from
across the Arno; but, alas! they awoke no responsive sympathies in the
audience, who probably having deemed that the spectacle might be partly
gratuitous, showed already signs of thinning away. 'Are you going,
_Illustrissimi Signori_, cried he, more energetically, 'going without
one view, one passing glance at the castle on the Guadalquivir, with
its court of fountains, all playing and splashing like real water; going
without a look at the high-pooped galleon, as she sailed forth at morn,
with the banner of the house of Callemacho waving from the mast, while
the signal guns are firing a salute, the high cliffs of Carthagena
reverberating with the sound? 'A loud 'bom' from the drum gave testimony
to the life-like reality of the description. 'Going,' screamed he, more
eagerly still, 'without witnessing the palace of the Moorish k