e Gratarol the
protagonist of my satire. That became a fixed idea, which it only wanted
his own imprudence to turn into a fact.

Knowing pretty well where the real point of the mischief lay, I
determined to act, if possible, upon the better feelings of Mme. Dolfin
Tron.[61] I had enjoyed the privilege of her acquaintance for many
years. But my unsociable and unfashionable habits made me negligent of
those attentions which are expected from a man of quality. I did not pay
her the customary visits; and when we met, she was in the habit of
playfully saluting me with the title of _Bear_. My brother Gasparo, on
the contrary, saw her every day, and she bestowed on him the tender
epithet of _Father_. Such being our respective relations, I thought it
best to apply to him.

I asked my brother, then, to do all he could to induce this powerful
lady to oppose the production of my comedy for at least the present
season. Through the machinations of Signora Ricci, against my will, and
much to my discredit, the piece was going to create a public scandal,
with serious injury to a gentleman whom I had not meant to satirise. My
brother, muttering a curse on meddlesome women in general and actresses
in particular, undertook the office. He did not succeed. Mme. Tron
replied that I was making far too much fuss about nothing, and that my
comedy had passed beyond my control. It had become the property of a
_capocomico_, and was at the present moment under the inspection of the
State.

Not many days elapsed before I was summoned to the presence of Francesco
Agazi, the censor, as I have before observed, for the Signori sopra la
Bestemmia.[62] I found him clothed in his magisterial robes, and he
began as follows: "You gave a comedy, entitled _Le Droghe d'Amore_, to
the company of Sacchi. I perused it and licensed it for the theatre at
S. Salvatore. The comedy has been passed, and must appear. You have no
control over it. Pray take no steps to obstruct its exhibition. The
magistracy which I serve does not err in judgment." I could not refrain
from commenting upon Signor Gratarol's action in this matter, and
protesting that I had never meant to satirise the man. He bade me take
no heed of persons like Gratarol, whose heads were turned by outlandish
fashions. "I made some retrenchments," he added, "in the twelfth scene
of the last act of your comedy. They amount, I think, to about ten or
twelve verses. These lines expressed sentiments such as are