ot be entertained without a serious loss to the
proprietor, (who had not such articles every day to dispose of,) and
would soon find means of disposing of them, still, as the _donne_ say,
though they cannot _always_ accept, they consider _every offer_ a
compliment." These _mezzani_ get a per centage of eighteen per cent upon
every purchase from the _seller_; and, if you are not aware of this,
they will make a pretty per centage upon you besides. It is amusing to
get access through them into many interiors that you would not else have
heard of, and to have presented to you a new variety of wares, requiring
new vigilance on your part every day. Thus, one man's room (he has been
a soldier under Napoleon, hence his particular line of dealing) might
well be styled a hero's slop-shop, out of whose stores Sir Walter Scott
might have found fitting armour for every one of his heroes, from
Waverley to Quentin Durward. The owner visits _Thrasymene_ every summer,
and pretends that these iron harvests of the field, which he gleans each
year from near the banks of the "Stream of Blood," were sown there in
the time of Hannibal, with whose name he is perfectly familiar; and
should you, on questioning him, make out that he was not quite _au
courant_ as to dates, and not quite certain that every spear-head was as
old as the Punic war; his rule for sale is simple, (viz.) whenever there
appears to be a doubt, to give it not in your favour, but in favour of
his armour. Another man, who only deals in pictures, tries your skill
and knowledge in the _Madonna and Saint line_. This man is a collector
of coins; and woe betide you if you purchase there, and can't make out
the difference between a real Emperor S. C. and a pretender to the
laurel! Do you know any thing of "storied urns and animated busts?"
Then, and not till then, when you are _sure_ you do, visit A----'s
interior, where

--"Curias jam dimidias, humeroque minorem
Corvinum, et Galbam auriculis naroque carentem,"

you may easily find! Lastly, let no cinque-cento object of _virtu_ tempt
you to show your purse till you have taken advice from a learned friend,
to whom such exhibitions are familiar. Considering the vast preliminary
knowledge, both of men and things, necessary to the judicious completion
of each particular purchase, you will, unless you opine, with Hudibras,
that

"The pleasure is as great,
Of being cheated, as to cheat,"

be very slow in making a