ch as 150 francs (6 pounds), the elaborate
ones, with tricks, and the dancers probably more; ordinary Turks and
pages unarmed will cost less, say perhaps 50 francs (2 pounds) each.
Some of them have glass eyes which catch the light and brighten them up
wonderfully. Many have eyes that move like Acabbo. There are two
paladins who can be cut in half, one horizontally and other
perpendicularly.

There was nothing the buffo and his brother could not explain, and what
this implies a glance through the notes to the _Orlando Furioso_, which
is only a fragment of the complete story, will show. Orlando squints,
both his eyeballs are close to his nose. They told me that this is
because when his uncle, Carlo Magno, met him as a child, not knowing who
he was and taking a fancy to the boy, he told him to look at him, and
Orlando came close and looked at him so fixedly that his eyes never
returned to their normal position. He also has two little holes, one on
each side of the bridge of his nose. This is because at Roncisvalle he
called for help by winding his magic horn; Oliviero told him to blow
louder and he blew so forcibly that he broke a blood-vessel and the blood
poured out of the little holes so that he died. He could not die by
being mortally wounded in the usual way, because his flesh was made of
diamonds, which was a gift of God to help him to propagate the faith and
to conquer the heathen.

They showed me the three separate Christs which they use at Easter, the
first as he walks among the people, the second as he is on the cross and
the third as he rises from the tomb, and all, especially the last, were
beautiful and impressive figures.

They give two performances every day, from six to eight and from nine to
eleven, all the year round, Sundays and festas included, unless some
irremovable obstacle, such as an illness or a wedding in the family, or
the death of the king or an earthquake, necessitates the closing of the
theatre. Nearly all the rest of every day they are cleaning up and
preparing for the next performance.

On the evening when Constantine was converted to Christianity I went to
both performances, being behind the scenes for the first so as to see how
everything was done. Before we began, I was let into the secret of how
the emperor had his leprosy lightly stitched on him in such a way that
the thread could be drawn, and it would fall off at the right moment.
The first performance was to a certain