My  friend  rephed,  "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  MingheUi;  to  the  cheer-
fulest  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
MingheUi  in  one  place  and  pick  her  up  at  another,  to  have  had
more  women  in  the  same  case  might  well  have  ruined  them.
