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the policy of Tiberius 1, has set a Cornelius Tacitus before you; who, to represent to you a true dream of infamy, has made you come out through the gate of horn 2;-he, we say, will escape through the broken meshes of the net. Let us wait, then, till it comes to light, and we learn what was the root of this disgrace, and then we will think over it, and resolve with a grain of salt what were best to be done." This counsel pleased the king; for he saw that they spoke like sensible prudent men: so he held his hand, and said, "Let us wait and see the end of this business."

But, as Heaven would have it, the hour of the birth came; and with two or three slight twitches of pain, that she hardly felt, she brought into the world two little boys, like two golden apples. The king, who was also full of pains, summoned his councillors to advise with him; and he said, "Well, now my daughter is brought to bed, it is time for us now to follow up the business by knocking out her brains." "No," said those wise old men, (and it was all to give Time time,) let us wait till the little ones grow big enough to enable us to discover the features of the father." The king, as he never wrote without having the ruled-lines of his council, to keep him from writing crooked, shrugged up his shoulders, but had pa

1 That is, 'to teach you cruelty.' Observe the allusion to horns in Cornelius.

2 Alluding to the conclusion of the sixth book of the Æneis. 3 That is, with judgement.

tience, and waited till the children were seven years old. He then urged his councillors anew to make an end of the business; and one of them said, "Since you have not been able to sift your daughter, and find out who the false coiner is that has altered the crown on your image, we will now hunt out the stain. Order, then, a great banquet to be prepared, and let every titled man and every gentleman in this city come to it, and let us be on the watch, and, with our eyes on the pantry, see whom the little children shall turn most willingly, moved thereto by nature; for beyond doubt that will be the father, and we will instantly lay hold on him and secure him."

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The king was pleased with this counsel, and he ordered the banquet to be got ready; and he invited all the people of rank, and of note, and of consideration in the place. He made them all be placed in a row, and pass before the children; but they took no more notice of them than Alexander's bull-dog did of the rabbits; so that the king was outrageous, and bit his lips, and though he did not want for shoes, yet this pump of grief was so tight for him, that he stamped with his feet on the ground. But his councillors said to him, "Softly, softly, Your Majesty! correct this mistake. us make another banquet tomorrow, but not for people of condition, but an inferior sort; maybe,

Let

1 All' erta e coll' uocchie sopra lo tagliero. The tagliero is the chopping-block; to keep one's eyes upon it, is to watch the cats, that they run away with nothing.

as a woman always attaches herself to the worst, we shall find among the cutlers, and bead-makers, and comb-sellers, the seed of your anger, which we have not discovered among the cavaliers."

This reasoning jumped with the humour of the king, and he ordered a second banquet to be prepared; to which, on proclamation being made, came all the riffraff and tag-rag-and-bobtail of the city, such as scavengers, tinkers, pedlars, penny-boys, sweeps, beggars, and such-like rabble, who were all in high glee; and taking their seats, like noblemen, at a great long table, they began to gobble away. Now when Ceccarella heard this proclamation, she began to urge Peruonto to go there too, and she at last got him to set out for the feedingplace; and scarcely had he arrived there, when those pretty little children got round him, and began to caress him, and to fawn upon him beyond the beyonds. The king, who saw this, tore hist beard, seeing that the bean of this cake', the prize in this lottery, had fallen to an ugly beast, the very sight of whom was enough to turn one's stomach; who, besides having a velvet head, owls' eyes, a parrot's nose, a deer's mouth, was bandy- and bare-legged; so that, without reading Fioravantis, you might see at once what he was. So giving a

1 It is the custom in Italy to make a cake on the Epiphany, in which a bean is put; the cake is broken and divided, and the person who gets the bean is king for the evening. This is something like our custom of putting the ring in pancakes. 2 Like a blackamoor.

3 A writer on physiognomy.

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DRAWN BY W. H. BROOKE, F. S. A., ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY G. BAXTER,

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