I FALL IN WITH THE PLAYERS
My present situation was of that shocking description which defies
thought and paralyses the will. I was utterly alone, deprived of the
means of joining the only person in Italy who loved me, utterly
destitute of means, placed in a country from which I had been banished
as a criminal. I shall be understood, then, when I say that for a week
or more I wandered over the face of the land, not regarding whither I
went (so only that I avoided my kind), nor what became of me. How I
subsisted I am at a loss to tell; I have no clear recollections--nothing
but a confused sense of abiding despair, hunger, haste and desolation. I
know not through what regions I passed, the names of what villages I
avoided, the names of what farm-houses I pillaged of eggs and milk in
order that I might keep a soul in my body. It is true that I became a
common thief; it is very true that during this most dreadful period I
spoke not to one living person--for whenever I saw man, woman or child I
crouched in whatsoever shelter I could find, and lay there trembling
like a beast of chase until the enemy (as I deemed him) had passed and I
could venture out again to seek for food. Providentially for me, my
banishment from Lucca had taken place in the summer; I suffered nothing
from exposure, and had no real lack of sustenance. I used to rummage the
streets of villages at night to get broken meat; as I have said, I did
not scruple to rob henroosts, or to suck the teats of cows and goats in
the byres. During this time I neither prayed to God nor thought of
Virginia in her horrid peril. All my efforts of mind and sense were
directed to hiding and finding food. I was very near losing my wits.
Gradually, however, I recovered my self-possession, and with that, one
by one, my proper faculties returned. I was surprised at myself when one
day, seeing a man hoeing in a field, I felt the desire to speak to him
and ask my whereabouts. I was in a dreadful fright when it came to the
point that I had gone too far towards him to recede; but I mastered
myself by an effort and brought myself to accost him. Without any
surprise at my appearance, which was, indeed, no worse than his own, he
told me that I was in the Vale of Chianti, between Certaldo and
Poggibonsi, and that if I persevered upon the road I saw before me I
should reach the latter place by nightfall. "But, brother," said he,
"you look to have seen better days, and I advise you to push on to
Siena. May be you'll find employment there--for that is a rich city.
Here I tell you there is nothing. It is little use my offering you a
crust, for I have not got one." I thanked him, and having broken cover,
stoutly took the road and limped along as best I could.
Perhaps I had gone a league and a half when I came to a village full of
people. Half a dozen miserable houses placed streetwise, one of them a
disreputable inn, formed a background to a motley assembly of tattered
vagrants, of which peasants of the countryside of both sexes, children,
pigs and turkeys formed a small part. The others were men and women of
the most extravagant attire and behaviour it is possible to imagine. I
saw a punchinello on stilts wading among the rest; there were women
flaunting feathers on their tousled heads, and moustachioed bullies who
might have come from the ruck of some army on the march; pages, minions,
magicians, astrologers, women's ruffians, castrati--it was as if one of
the wildest hours of the Piazzetta of Venice had been transported by
witchcraft to this quiet place. As I approached, wondering at what I
saw, a creature, I knew not then whether man or woman, came and stood in
my path, and with a great gesture of the arm greeted me in this
remarkable apostrophe: "Hail, all hail, Bombaces, King of the
Halicarnassians!" He, or she, repeated this shrilly three or four times,
but nobody took any notice.
This hermaphrodite had a face of the most vivid and regular beauty I
ever saw--a face of perfect oval, freshly and rarely coloured, a pair of
dark and lustrous eyes, a straight, fine nose and a mouth exquisitely
shaped, provokingly red. Its hair, which was dark brown, fell in a tide
of wealth far over its shoulders. It wore a woman's bodice cut square in
the neck, after the fashion of unmarried women in Venice, and short in
the sleeves; but at the waist that sex stopped and the male began, for
it had on a pair of man's breeches, worsted stockings and Venice
slippers, and its shape as revealed by these garments was not that of a
woman. The creature, as a fact, declared itself to be a male; and when
he began to declaim against me again, I addressed him for what he was.
"My good young man," I said, "I am too weary, too desperate and too
hungry to be entertained by your antics, and too poor to reward you for
them--being, as you see me, an exile and a stranger. If you can find me
something to eat, I shall be grateful; if you cannot, go in peace, and
leave me to do the same."
The droll beauty changed his tone in an instant. "Follow me, sir," said
he, "and you shall have everything you want. I entreat your pardon for
inflicting my impertinences upon you at such an ill-judged moment." He
took me by the hand and addressed himself to the crowd about the inn
doors; by pushing, punching, jostling, cursing, praying and coaxing in
turns, he made a way into the house. But that was full to suffocation of
the actors and their belongings, and of the peasantry who had come to
gape at them. Everybody was engaged in getting drunk who was not drunk
already. Some were fighting, some lovemaking, some filching. I saw a
curious sight. A man dressed like a harlequin was picking a countryman's
pocket, and having his own picked, while he was in the act, by some
sharp-featured imp of a castrato. In fine, the whole house from floor to
rafters was full; the bedchambers, to call them so which had no beds in
them, were worse than the kitchen. I could not see that I had gained
anything by following my questionable guide; but he, who had more
resources than I knew of, having snatched a half-loaf and bottle of wine
from the lower quarters, trampled and fought his way upstairs with them,
showed me a ladder which gave on to the roof, and went up it like a
bird, without using his hands. I followed him, and saw a proud light in
his eyes as he invited me to survey my private room. We were in the
valley formed by the two pitches of the roof, nothing between our heads
and the evening sky. The revellings and blasphemies of the house were
not to be heard; pigeons clustered on the chimney-pots or strutted the
ridges of the house; a cat, huddled up, watched them from a corner.
Stars showed faintly here and there; we were sheltered from the wind; I
heard far off the angelus bell ringing.
"Here, at any rate, you won't be disturbed," said my protector. "Eat,
sir, drink, and repose yourself. When you feel inclined you shall tell
me how I can serve you further."
The evening bell, and this kindness of the lad's, had reminded me of
what I was. I said, "My friend, I shall first thank God for having made
your nation the boldest, the most ingenious, the gentlest, the most
modest, most open-hearted in the world. You see before you a man of all
men most unfortunate; but yet I say to you in the presence of God and of
his household, whose lights are kindling even now, that, but for the
like of you, many and many a time I should have died unannealed."
He was confused and, boylike, tried to laugh off my praises. "You give
me too high a character, sir," said he. "I am a graceless devil of the
Veneto, without prospect or retrospect to be proud of, a poor creature
who has to go to market with what wares he has. If I can look forward it
is because I dare not look back. What I am doing for you now, for which
you are so kind as to praise me, is not virtue. I wish to Heaven virtue
were so easy got. Eat, however, drink and rest. If I am no better than I
should be, I suppose I am not worse than I could be. And I cannot allow
you to praise me for that."
"You are of the race of the Samaritans," said I, "whether you hail from
Venice or Tuscany. I am an Englishman, my name is Francis. How are you
called?"
He said, "I believe my name is Daniele; but they call me here, in the
company, Belviso."
"And they do well," I returned, "for that you certainly are, and, as far
as I am concerned, you prove as good as you are good-looking."
He shrugged his shoulders. "No one is better than he can help, I fancy,
sir," he said. "There is every inducement to be wicked in this world.
But I will say this of myself--and I dare say everybody else can say the
same--that when I am good I am as good as gold, for I realise perfectly
well my unusual estate and become a very usurer of virtue. But this is
of rare occurrence, seeing that I am an actor. By ordinary, for the
fifteen years that I have been in the world, I am remarkably vicious."
"I cannot hear you say that, Belviso," I told him, "without giving you
warning that, so long as I am in your company, and to the utmost of my
powers, I shall restrain you from being anything of the sort."
He started, looked at me for a moment, then kissed my hand. "I believe
our Saviour sent you here to be his vicar in my regard," he said. "I
don't know how long you may be in my company, for it depends mostly upon
yourself. But I promise you in my turn that I shall never take ill
whatsoever your honour may please to say to me; and I say that if I have
the misfortune to lose sight of you this very night, I shall be the
better for having known you, and shall go to sleep with more prospect of
a decent to-morrow than I have ever done in the whole of my life."
I judged that the best thing for this youth was to think more about my
misfortunes than his own. I therefore told him how it was that I came
before him in this plight, barefoot, bareheaded, bleeding and in rags. I
told him of my concern for Virginia, of the deadly perils that beset
her, and concluded by assuring him that the one service of any moment
which he could do me was to devise me some means of communicating with
Gioiachino, the vendor of cat's-meat in Lucca. Belviso had put his head
between his knees, and so remained for some time after I had done
speaking, in earnest meditation.
After a while he lifted up his face, and said, "I shall go to Lucca for
you, Don Francis. It is certain that you must not cross the frontier,
and equally certain that there is no other person here who could strive
more heartily to help you. But I dare not myself go alone. I shall get
Il Nanno to go with me--a very good old fellow and as shrewd as a winter
wind. We shall disguise ourselves, of course, and be off before dawn to-
morrow. He shall go as my wife."
"Your wife, my dear!" I exclaimed. "I should like to know what old
fellow could play the woman beside you." "Seeing that I get my living by
so doing, I don't mind owning that there is no one," he agreed. "The
trouble is that I should do it too well. When you see Il Nanno you will
admit that my proposals are as prudent as they seem the reverse. I'll go
and fetch him, and you shall judge. Remember always that his name is
Aristarcho; it would be a mortal affront to use that nickname of ours,
for he is sensitive to a degree, like all these hunchbacks, and as
fierce as a wild cat. Stay here--I will bring him up to you." He
disappeared into the house, and presently returned, followed by his
proposed wife.
Signor Aristarcho was a dwarf of the most repulsive and uncompromising
type. He cannot have been much more than four feet in height; he had a
head nearly as large as his body, the strong-jawed, big-nosed, slit-
mouthed head of some Condottiere of old, some Fortebraccio or Colleone
of history and equestrian statuary. His eyes were small, staring, but
extremely intelligent, his flesh spare and strained under the skin; he
was beardless and as warty as a toad's back; he never smiled, spoke
little and seemed to be afraid lest the air should get within him and
never get out again, for he only opened the corner of his mouth to emit
a word or two, and screwed it down immediately he had done. His poor
deformed body was like that of Punchinello, a part for which he was
famous in the theatres--protuberant before, hunched up between his
shoulders behind, and set upon little writhen fleshless legs like wooden
spigots. In manner he was excessively punctilious, grave, collected,
oracularly sententious. I know that he was exquisitely sensitive to
ridicule and remorseless in punishing it. It was not hard to understand--
the moment I set eyes upon this poor monster--that, with the young and
beautiful Belviso masquerading as a woman by his side, trouble must
succeed trouble without end. On the other hand, I could not for the life
of me see how the parts were to be reversed with any reasonable
assurance. But the good youth himself had no misgivings.
After an exchange of careful courtesies I addressed myself to the dwarf.
"Signor Aristarcho," I said, "this charitable young man has assured me
of your active sympathy with my anxieties. You see before you a victim
of fortune's extremest spite, who can sue for your favours with nothing
but his tears----"
"Don't shed them," says he at the side of his mouth, "they are
precious."
"--and offer you nothing in return but his thanks. But I am speaking to
a gentleman----"
"You are not," he said gruffly. "You are speaking to a man."
"--of honour," I pursued, "and sensibility. In a word, I am speaking to
a Christian. If then you, a Christian, can save the soul of my young and
newly wedded wife--ah, Jesu! my darling from the lions----"
He put up his hand. "No more," he said; "I will do what I can."
I said, "Sir, my boundless gratitude----"
"No more," he stayed me; "I am paid already."
"Alas, sir----" I felt that I must go on; but he would not have it.
"You have called me a Christian," he said. "No one has ever called me
that before. I thank you. I would die for you."
"Live for me!" I cried. "Sir, sir, sir, I do find that the lower my
bodily fortunes descend, the nearer I get to the kingdom of Heaven."
Aristarcho bowed gravely and said, "I thank you. Count upon me."
He bowed again profoundly, and I returned the salute. When he had
retired I told Belviso that I saw nothing in his state to deserve our
pity, but that, on the contrary, I envied him the possession of a
constant and discerning mind.
My friend replied, "Yes, yes, he is a good fellow and will serve you
well. You have earned his gratitude; but let me warn you again never to
hurt his feelings. You will be sorry for it for many a day."
When we went down, long after dark, to the inn kitchen, I found the
actors seated at supper and was kindly received. Belviso presented me to
the principals--to a pleasant, plump old gentleman, who looked like the
canon of a cathedral foundation, and was, in fact, the famous Arlecchino
'Gritti; to the prima donna, a black-browed lady, who, because she came
from Sicily, was called La Panormita, her own name being Brigida, and
her husband's Minghelli; to the cheerfulest drunkard I ever met, who
played the lovers' parts, and was that same Minghelli; to the sustainers
of Pantaleone, Scaramuccia, Matamorte, Don Basilio, Brighella and the
rest of them--a crew all told of some twenty hands, all males with the
exception of La Panormita. The reason of that was that the company was
very poor, and that fine women did not get sufficiently lucrative side-
issues, as I may term them, to be tempted to join it. And again there
were several restrictions placed by some States--such as those of the
Church--upon female performers, only to be overcome by heavy fees to the
officials. If it was inconvenient to them to drop Signora Minghelli in
one place and pick her up at another, to have had more women in the same
case might well have ruined them. They therefore had with them half a
dozen boys and lads, of whom Belviso was by far their best--Pamfilo,
Narcisso, Adone, Deifobo and the like, wicked, graceless little wretches
as they were. Belviso took the leading woman's part in La Panormita's
absence, and when she was present he came second. Notably he was
Columbine in the comedy, and, as they said, one of the most excellent. I
found all these people, as I have never failed to find Italians of their
sort, simple, good-hearted and careless, sometimes happy, sometimes
acutely miserable; but always patient and reasonable, and always
expressing themselves unaffectedly, in very strong language. Of their
kindness I cannot say too much; of their moral behaviour I must not.
Their profession, no doubt, which forced them to exhibit themselves in
indelicate or monstrous situations for the pleasure of people who were
mainly both, had made them callous to much which is offensive to a man
of breeding. Il Nanno was a great exception to their rule. I never knew
him, but once, behave otherwise than as a gentleman. I never heard him
hold unseemly conversation. Belviso, too, was, as far as I was
concerned, honest, decent and self-respecting. I am inclined to hope,
and have some grounds for believing, that he had given himself a worse
character than he deserved. All I shall say about him here is that, had
he been my son, I could not have been troubled by anything which he said
or did so long as I was in his company.
Sufficient of my story had been made common property by Il Nanno to save
me the trouble of trying to enlist their sympathies. They were mine from
the moment of my appearance in their midst. They were entirely willing
to let my two champions go to Lucca on my account, and I was glad to
hear that the company would not stand to lose much by so generous an
act. They were on their way to Siena, and except for an open-air
performance or two in mean villages would not need either Belviso or the
dwarf until they reached that city, where the pair would rejoin them.
They offered me their protection and hospitality in the frankest manner--
in such terms, indeed, that I could not but have accepted them had my
necessities been lighter than they were. I took them thankfully, and
asked leave further to propose that, as I had a good memory and a person
not otherwise unsuitable, I might place myself and my abilities at their
whole disposal. "Use me, gentlemen," said I, "if I suit you; make me of
service elsewhere than on your scene if I do not. By so doing you will
lighten my load of debt, and make me feel less of a stranger and a
burden. I have won two friends already by the recital of my sorrows"--
here I placed a hand on Belviso's shoulder and gave the other to Il
Nanno--"let me hope that I can gain yet more by some exhibition of my
talents."
This was loudly applauded. "Stand up, Don Francis," said Belviso to me,
"and spout us out whatever bombast you can remember."
I gave them, first, the opening speech of the Orfeo of Politian, where
the sad shepherd accounts his plight, his pursuit of the nymph Euridice,
her abhorrence of him, and the like. All eyes were fixed upon me; I saw
those of La Panormita glisten. The smooth-flowing verses moved her. They
were silent when I had done, which a little disconcerted me; but
presently the dwarf snapped out, "More." Emboldened, I began upon the
Aminta of Tasso, reciting the opening speech of Daphne in the fourth
act. To my delight the part of Silvia, which Virginia in our old days at
Pistoja had been wont to take, was caught up and continued by Belviso.
We fired each other, capped each other, and ended the great scene. The
last six lines of it, to be spoken by the Choragus, were croaked by Il
Nanno in his bull-frog's voice. We stopped amid a storm of bravas, and
La Panormita, with a great gesture, crowned us with flowers. I was made
free of the company by acclamation.
Belviso set off early in the morning with his monstrous old wife of the
occasion. He embraced me warmly before he left me. "Keep a good heart,
Don Francis," he said, "and trust in your friends. All that is possible
shall be done, you may be sure. I shan't dare to look you in the face if
I come back without your Virginia."