Volume II Part 8 (1/2)

Sacchi often co to remain in theatres out of the way and inconvenient for the people, such as S Sa novelties like et the lease of S Salvadore,[35] a most popular theatre, since it is situated at the centre of the toithin easy reach of its densely inhabited quarters Now it so happened that this theatre was occupied by a company which performed pieces in the fashi+on introduced by Chiari and Goldoni I have already said that the vogue of such things had declined; and the proprietor, his Excellency Vendra house He sent a priest of my acquaintance, a certain Don Baldassare, as envoy, offering ether with considerable emoluments, if I would pass from Sacchi's company to that which occupied S Saulus, and replied that I did not write for ether and reive away my work to any other

If his Excellency had the fancy to see plays ofthe house at Sacchi's disposal

Not entleman as arbitrator between him and Sacchi I acted the solicitor, drew up a lease, and installed er in the theatre his heart was set on

I should have liked to devote myself entirely to my private studies; but the responsibility I had taken by transferring Sacchi's coenor Vendraht to add that ly with me in this circumstance Therefore a new chapter of some fourteen years in my life was opened, the principal events of which I mean to write with all the candour and the piquancy I can

XLV

_Dangerous innovations in Sacchi's conostications, and obstinate persistence on the point of honour to support ainst rant of the theatre at San Salvadore for the next year had hardly been handed over to Sacchi, when the other troupe, ere expelled to elo, which he was leaving, and began at once to plot revenge They tried, by flatteries and promises of money (always needed by Italian comedians), to circu ere Cesare Derbes, the excellent Pantalone, and Agostino Fiorelli, the falia In fact, they did seduce these two champions of impromptu comedy to desert Sacchi's ranks and join their squadron, thening theirs, since their own members were unfit for any performances but those of the so-called cultivated drama

This desertion mortified the sharers in Sacchi's company, and they whispered their misfortune in my ears For my own part, I was sorry to think that the quartette of masks, real natural wonders, who made such pleasant mirth in concert, should be scattered I determined, therefore, to try whether I could not dissuade these two actors from the somewhat shabby step they had resolved on When I reave me ran as follows: ”Precisely because I feared that you would attempt to separate me from my new co, I concealed the agreeht not have it in rievesthis preposterous excuse, I lost my humour for a moment, and burst into serious reproaches He assumed a theatrical air of sorrow, and defended hi the disaffected me that he would find hi by way of menace that I should well kno to make him repent of his desertion to the enemy

Then I repaired to Fiorelli with as rave disaster froreement; and I was able to reconcile him with his old comrades, and to make him subscribe a paper, by which he promised to remain with them for the next three years

A bad system of etiquette divides the actors and actresses of every troupe in Italy into first, second, third, and so forth It happened at this tiina Cicucci, a very able artist, but one who had not won great faoers ”What a fine stroke of business it would be,” said he to me one day, ”if we could rob our rivals of their first actress, Me would be co lady I am afraid, however,” he added, ”that ood friend I appreciated her talents, her personal attractions, her cultivated manners, and her educated mind She had often asked me whether I could not introduce her into Sacchi's coh I did not usually mix myself up with such affairs, the present occasion and Sacchi's speech inclined ly, I reat delight and profuse expressions of gratitude Soard to appointments and other details arose These I settled, like an able broker, and brought the bargain to an agreenature, the beautiful young woman met me with an air of sadness, which added to her chare to address me I did not understand what this th she tolda few lovely tears, that her forot wind of herviolently, and had flung the her not to abandon them to certain ruin Moved by a spirit of coed her to reh I knew the tenderness of her heart, I did not think her capable of such a breach of proer reasons for breaking the engagement she had entered into with me; and if she ever writes her Meht to have lost my jovial humour, as I did with Derbes I could not do so in the face of so much beauty I only told her, with a sht get a first actress of any sort he could; I should have wit enough to ade With these words I engaged retted that I treated Signora Manzoni in this courteous fashi+on She has always shown me the attentions of delicate and cordial politeness; and it is only justice to declare that she possesses qualities which would be estientlewoman A few years after the events related here she married, retired from the profession, and devoted herself to the education of her two little boys in sound ious principles

When I reported the failure of hly: ”I knew that the person in question could never have adjusted herself to my coagement of another prima donna

I should like my readers to believe that my intervention in the affair I have described was due principally to ranted his theatre at my request to Sacchi's company Really afraid that their internal dissensions, rivalries, and intrigues ht reduce them to a state of impotence, and that his interests would suffer in consequence, I wished to avoid having any share in this disaster A barren and old-fashi+oned delicacy!

XLVI

_Sacchi forces ive advice--Teodora Ricci enters his co her portrait--The beginnings of my interest in this coe a prima donna, all the other actresses rose up in tuement was merely te thee does not explain their conspiracy The newcomers had to endure a ross calumny in their morals Who knohether the prospect of such inora Manzoni's defection? These details do not appear to have any bearing on my Memoirs; but it will soon be seen that they have only too much

Sacchi always affected, out of prudence, to consult with e of theatre had disorganised his systely, he informed me one day that he was in treaty with two first actresses, and asked for ia, a Tuscan by birth, talented, but no longer in her pri part in the _Coard to precedence, etiquette, and a substantial salary The other was Signora Teodora Ricci; fro, full of spirit, with a fine figure and voice, who had been applauded in every city where she had appeared; moreover, she was accustomed to act in the _Commedia dell'Arte_ She had a husband, of soet them both at a salary of only 520 ducats a year

I had never heard before of either But after weighing and coave a laconic answer: ”Engage Signora Ricci with her husband” This is precisely what Sacchi had resolved in his own ; and his appeal toesteem and sense of dependence

The Ricci and her husband were bound over under articles for three years at a salary of 520 ducats This was a wretched stipend for a poor actress, who had to provide herself with a decent wardrobe on the stage, to meet the expenses of frequent journeys, and toher confinement, and was about to expose herself to all the calumnies, criticisms, and venomous detractions of the allied woe reached Venice in the Lent of 1771 I received an invitation fro, on their arrival froe froht form an estimate of her manner, her talent, and her disposition I saw at once that she was a young wonancy took off from its appearance Her face was pitted with the s theatrically effective at a distance The abundance of her beautiful blonde hair made up for some defects of feature Her clothes, which betrayed a scanty purse, ell put on; and she carried therace that no one stopped to think whether they were of silk or wool, neorn She seemed to be somewhat constrained by the unfamiliar society in which she found herself I could not make my mind up whether her reserve and shyness were the result of ti of habitual impatience She chafed because her husband did her little honour in our conversation He, good es which she gave hiic scene in verse, with a fine and powerful voice, sound sense, intelligence, and a fire which gave good hopes of her in her profession, especially in fierce vituperative parts

I noticed a trifle of hardness and monotony in her declamation, and some other defects which could be remedied One incurable fault she had; this was the movement of her lips, which often a a wry face Her ed at its angles by the s woman could not overcome the involuntary fault of which I speak I ical observation I have ust for any object disagreeable to our senses, we naturally express it by a writhing of theproud and ard in her tes which she felt nauseous and repulsive, and this repugnance stamped itself upon her features in a contortion of the lips

Enforcing and stereotyping the physical blemish in question, it became an ineradicable habit, or rather second nature

[Illustration: THE RICCI RECITES BEFORE GOZZI AND SACCHI