e declines it with modest confusion of face. "_Come?
ma che?_" he has no pretension or business to place himself between
"_due illustrissimi signori_," whose poor interpreter he is. We overcome
his scruples, and all sit down, closely packed round a small table;
while the noble dealer was unshrouding what seemed, from the length of
time and material employed upon it, to be a _mummy_, and, from its size,
perhaps a _rat_. We were all eagerness and expectancy, forming, as we
sat, a _capo d'opera_ for Valentine or Caravaggio, well grouped, and
ripe and ready for the canvass. At length the "unwinding bout" draws to
its close; the last wrapping is unwrapped; and a small bronze Venus,
without a shift, falls on her haunches on the table. "What a beautiful
_pezzo_ have we here!" says the umpire, assuming the air of a man well
versed in such matters, and turning her round to admire her proportions;
"and where," asks he, in a manner that showed he had guessed the answer
before receiving it; "where might this have been _dug up_?" "_Nei
contorni di Lentine_," was the ready answer, and so _he_ "had expected
to hear it was; all the best _opere Greche_ now come from that
neighbourhood." We made no remark; there was a pause; we watched the
countenance of the _mezzano_; he seemed to be getting more and more
absorbed in the contemplation of the little Venus, till, after taking
his time, while he appeared oblivious of time, his pent-up enthusiasm at
the sight of charms which rivet his attention, but are beyond his powers
of expression, finds vent in the very convenient formula of "_Pare
impossibile!_" which, in the language of _English_ dilletanteism has no
equivalent; then suddenly recollecting himself, and fearing lest, if he
kept her too long, we might be jealous, he confided her gently to our
hands, and having done so, said a second time, "_Pare impossibile!_" We,
too, turned her round, and (one good turn tending to another) in the
absence of any better occupation at the moment, we turned her round a
second time; and having done so, put her down upon the table, without a
word of comment. It was a tolerably well-shaped little figure, in a very
_green modern gown_, and when _we_ were very green, three years ago, we
had purchased a twin-born sister of hers at Capua, which we now rose to
produce, and placed her side by side the other. Our visitors exchanged
glances; the Cavaliere would have said that _ours_ is a copy--_his_ the
original; but