s boasted of having restored my brother to life
when he was taken from the river, by using the methods prescribed by the
Magistrates of Public Health for the resuscitation of drowned persons. I
went to offer this man an honorarium, and found him surrounded by his
witnesses, engaged in drawing up a memorial to the Magistrates of
Health. It set forth the prodigious energy with which he, the doctor,
had successfully employed their methods on the person of Count Gasparo
Gozzi, and wound up with an energetic petition for the golden medal
awarded in such circumstances to the operator. He was anxious to relate
the whole event, to enlarge upon his merits, and to read aloud his
eloquent memorial. I begged him to spare me what could only torture an
afflicted fancy with fresh images of sorrow. Then I placed some sequins
in his hand, and left him to the elaboration of his petition.
Afterwards, I heard that he had received the medal, and I bore no grudge
against the needy expeditious son of science.

My brother passed some days and nights between life and death, in his
deep lethargy and ardent fever, without taking nourishment. Mme. Cenet
used to force open his jaws and insinuate little balls of butter
between his teeth in a coffee-spoon. This was all the food he had,
licking the spoon and swallowing the butter without consciousness. The
four doctors came to see him twice a day very kindly, for they had all
been urgently besought to do so by Mme. Dolfin Tron. They looked at the
water, examined the expectoration, felt the pulse, affirmed that it was
a mortal fever, shrugged their shoulders, and went away again.

The anxious thoughts which weighed upon my mind, fatiguing cares for the
sick man, errands I had to run, and the great heat of the season,
contributed to tax my strength. But, in addition, I had to carry on a
voluminous correspondence daily with Venice, writing long letters to
Mme. Dolfin Tron, to the secretary of the Riformatori di Padova,[81] and
to other persons. My brother held an office under the Riformatori, which
brought him in seven or eight hundred ducats a year. One day I received
a pressing letter from the noble lady above mentioned, informing me that
many applicants were already intriguing and canvassing for this post, in
the expectation of my brother's death. Her husband, who presided at the
board, and herself were both of opinion that I ought to apply in writing
for the office. She guaranteed my unopposed electi