verdict that nothing could be omitted without breaking the warp on
which the plot was woven. Accordingly, I wrote to Sacchi, saying that
the _Droghe d'Amore_ would really not do, and promising some other piece
instead. I had, indeed, already planned my _Metafisico_ and _Bianca
Contessa di Melfi_, but had not had the time to dramatise them.

Meanwhile Sacchi came to Venice in a prodigious bustle. Meeting me upon
the piazza, he said that Mme. Ricci was about to break her engagement
and to go to Paris. I persuaded him to remit the fine of 500 ducats,
provided she continued to serve the company until the end of the next
Carnival. This arrangement was finally concluded by the intervention of
a Venetian gentlewoman of the Valmarana family. So Sacchi had to look
out for another _prima donna_. His choice had already fallen on a
certain Regina, the daughter of an actor, whom he begged me to go and
see. I found the girl decidedly ill-favoured. Still I begged her to
recite a piece from my _Principessa Filosofa_. She spoke with an
asthmatic voice and the lowest of plebeian accents, made frequent
mistakes which spoiled the sense, and was insufferably monotonous in her
delivery. I told Sacchi that this young woman would not do for him. But
alas! Cupid had played one of his pranks with the octogenarian Don Juan,
and Regina was engaged at a salary of 400 ducats, beside special
allowances for her outfit. The effects of this girl's introduction into
the troupe were disastrous. She proved its evil genius by her bad
character and by her ascendancy over the _capocomico_, playing no small
part in that final dissolution of the company which I shall have to
relate.

LVI.

_Ricci returns to Venice.--Her metamorphosis and my reflections on
it.--Sacchi entreats to have the "Droghe d'Amore," and I abandon it to
him, in order to save myself from persecution.--The play is read by me
before the actors._

Autumn brought the actors back again as usual; and I composed a prologue
for the opening of their theatre, which was recited by Mme. Ricci. I
used to meet that actress in the rooms behind the scenes, and was much
struck by the singular change which had come over her. She continued to
do everything she could to annoy me; and I kept wondering how it was
that she had managed to conceal her true nature so cleverly during the
five years of our friendship. Now she openly bragged about the presents
she received; the wax-candles which gave light