ent Ricci's
unfortunate husband away with the assurance that I was not angry with
him, that Signor Gratarol's visits were of no consequence to me, and
that I was firmly resolved not to renew an intimacy with his wife which
she had forfeited by her folly.

Two days before Sacchi set out for Mantua, he came to me, and very
civilly expressed his disappointment at my having done so little for the
troupe with my pen during the past year. I told him that bad health and
pressure of business had prevented me from attending to dramatic
composition. Then he inquired whether I had not adapted Tirso da
Molina's comedy for the Italian theatre. He had heard my _Droghe
d'Amore_ highly praised, especially by Mme. Ricci. I replied that it was
true; I had nearly finished the piece, but finding it dull and prolix, I
had laid it aside among my waste papers. On his insisting, and saying he
should like to hear my play, I consented to read it aloud, and promised
to see whether I could not bring myself to complete the last act in the
course of the summer.

My health remaining weak, I passed the greater part of this summer at a
little country-house I had near Stra upon the Brenta. Here I rapidly
recovered strength, more by open-air exercise and rational diet than by
drinking the Cila waters recommended by my doctor. In the long idle days
of this _villeggiatura_, I set hand once more to the _Droghe d'Amore_,
and finished it with indescribable aversion. Leaving Stra for Padua, I
took the play with me, and read it aloud to my friend Massimo, under
whose roof I was staying. He listened patiently all through the tedious
declamation, praised certain passages of the comedy, and said he thought
the chief objection to it was its prodigious length. When I returned to
Venice, I made up my mind to put this abortion of my talent on the
shelf; but Sacchi would not let it rest. He wrote so urgently upon the
subject, that I begged my brother Gasparo to undergo the mortal tedium
of hearing and pronouncing judgment on the play. His opinion was that,
though it contained some excellent scenes, it too closely resembled my
_Principessa Filosofa_ in parts, and that its length would render it
ineffective. The comedy was one of character and sentiments, and had no
spectacular novelties to enliven it. However, he promised to read it
through, and see whether judicious retrenchments could be made. After
ten days or so, I received the manuscript again, with my brother's