d know your master,
you must compel him to laugh till he cries, when he would fain wail for
grief, like a little girl. You know princes too, sir, but I know them
better. They are gods on earth, and won't submit to the universal lot of
mortals, to endure pain and anguish. When people are ill, the physician
is summoned, and in trouble we are at hand. Things are as we take
them--the gravest face may have a wart, upon which a jest can be made.
When you have once laughed at a misfortune, its sting loses its point.
We deaden it--we light up the darkness--even though it be with a will
'o the wisp--and if we understand our business, manage to hack the lumpy
dough of heavy sorrow into little pieces, which even a princely stomach
can digest."

"A coughing fool can do that too, so long as there is nothing wanting in
his upper story."

"You are mistaken, indeed you are. Great lords only wish to see the
velvet side of life--of death's doings, nothing at all. A man like
me--do you hear--a cougher, whose marrow is being consumed--incarnate
misery on two tottering legs--a piteous figure, whom one can no more
imagine outside the grave, than a sportsman without a terrier, or
hound--such a person calls into the ears of the ostrich, that shuts its
eyes: 'Death is pointing at you! Affliction is coming!' It is my duty
to draw a curtain between my lord and sorrow; instead of that, my own
person brings incarnate suffering before his eyes. The elector was as
wise as if he were his own fool, when he turned me out of the house."

"He graciously gave you leave of absence."

"And Gugelkopf is already installed in the palace as my successor! My
gracious master knows that he won't have to pay the pension long. He
would willingly have supported me up yonder till I died; but my wish to
go to Genoa suited him exactly. The more distance there is between his
healthy highness and the miserable invalid, the better."

"Why didn't you wait till spring, before taking your departure?"

"Because Genoa is a hot-house, that the poor consumptive does not need
in summer. It is pleasant to be there in winter. I learned that three
years ago, when we visited the duke. Even in January the sun in Liguria
warms your back, and makes it easier to breathe. I'm going by way of
Marseilles. Will you give me the corner in your carriage as far as
Avignon?"

"With pleasure! Your health, Pellicanus! A good wish on Christmas day is
apt to be fulfilled."

The artist's deep