advantages won by me for Mme. Ricci.--All thrown away as
nought._

I feel that this long story of my liaison with an actress cannot fail to
be tedious. Yet I am obliged to continue it in detail, inasmuch as
events to which the public attached considerable importance, and which
exposed me to criticism, can only be understood in their right light by
reference to this piece of private history.[49]

It may be demurred that I ought to have withdrawn from Sacchi's troupe
when I detected the evil spirits which were making mischief there. To
this I reply that I had found recreation and amusement in their society
for many years, that I enjoyed the opportunity of seeing my plays acted
by such clever artists, and also that my temper inclines me to endure
many inconveniences rather than break old habits. For example, I have
always borne with vicious inattentive servants, tailors who cheated me
and spoiled my clothes, shoemakers who tortured my feet with their
ill-fitting handiwork, barbers who flayed my chin with their razors,
hairdressers who snipped my ears with their scissors, and other tiresome
folk of the same sort, to whom I never administered a sharp rebuke, but
only such jesting expostulations as made them laugh.

When October brought the actors back to Venice, Sacchi was disagreeably
surprised by a piece of news which threatened him with ruin. Before the
theatres open for the season, they are examined by official architects,
who report upon their substantiality and safety. The theatre of S.
Salvatore was condemned this year by the experts, and an order from the
Government prohibited its being used. Signor Vendramini and the players
were in despair. Thirty and more persons, who gained their bread by
acting, saw themselves thrown out of work. Steps were immediately taken
to put the house in repair, and render it fit for the reception of the
public. During two-and-twenty days, while this work was going on, the
company took not a penny. Yet Sacchi continued to pay his hired actors
at their stipulated rates. This seemed to me generous on his part, and I
tried to persuade Teodora Ricci that she ought to be grateful. She took
no notice of my arguments, but kept on repeating her old complaints
about her salary. Her husband, who had come back, but no longer occupied
the same room as his wife, saw the matter in its proper light.

Meanwhile the rival theatres triumphed over our discomfiture. At S. Gio.
Grisostomo a new Truffaldi