ph, he was plunged into the midst of trouble and of
all the frantic despondency which amorous old fools feel when they are
deceived.

VI.

_Salvator Rosa leaves Rome and goes to Florence. Conclusion of the
history._

Everything here below beneath the sun is subject to continual change;
and perhaps there is nothing which can be called more inconstant than
human opinion, which turns round in an everlasting circle like the
wheel of fortune. He who reaps great praise to-day is overwhelmed with
biting censure to-morrow; to-day we trample under foot the man who
to-morrow will be raised far above us.

Of all those who in Rome had ridiculed and mocked at old Pasquale
Capuzzi, with his sordid avarice, his foolish amorousness, his insane
jealousy, who did not wish poor tormented Marianna her liberty? But now
that Antonio had successfully carried off his mistress, all their
ridicule and mockery was suddenly changed into pity for the old fool,
whom they saw wandering about the streets of Rome with his head hanging
on his breast, utterly disconsolate. Misfortunes seldom come singly;
and so it happened that Signor Pasquale, soon after Marianna had been
taken from him, lost his best bosom-friends also. Little Pitichinaccio
choked himself in foolishly trying to swallow an almond-kernel in the
middle of a cadenza; but a sudden stop was put to the life of the
illustrious Pyramid Doctor Signor Splendiano Accoramboni by a slip of
the pen, for which he had only himself to blame. Michele's drubbing
made such work with him that he fell into a fever. He determined to
make use of a remedy which he claimed to have discovered, so, calling
for pen and ink, he wrote down a prescription in which, by employing a
wrong sign, he increased the quantity of a powerful substance to a
dangerous extent. But scarcely had he swallowed the medicine than he
sank back on the pillows and died, establishing, however, by his own
death in the most splendid and satisfactory manner the efficacy of the
last tincture which he ever prescribed.

As already remarked, all those whose laughter had been the loudest, and
who had repeatedly wished Antonio success in his schemes, had now
nothing but pity for the old gentleman; and the bitterest blame was
heaped, not so much upon Antonio, as upon Salvator Rosa, whom, to be
sure, they regarded as the instigator of the whole plan.

Salvator's enemies, of whom he had a goodly number, exert