on if I did so.

Instead of relieving my mind, this letter only added to my sadness. I
answered that I was grateful for the counsels she had given, and for her
generous promises; but she ought to know my temper, and to remember that
I had refused to compete for the far more important and lucrative office
of Master of the Posts to Vienna, which she had recommended, and for
which she had engaged the influence of her powerful consort. I had
undertaken heavy charges for the sake of my family, but I did not care
to burden my shoulders with affairs which involved public
responsibility. I had neither wife nor children, was averse to taking
place among the great, disliked the ceremonies and observances which
office necessitates, did not want to become rich, and was satisfied with
my moderate estate. To see my brother in health again, I would willingly
strip myself to my shirt of all that I possessed: but I civilly declined
the offer which she generously made.

This called forth an answer, in which the lady treated me as a Quixotic
hero of romance. She insisted that I should send in a petition for the
office, and repeated that various applicants were moving heaven and
earth to secure the reversion of it. In conclusion, she told me that I
was in duty bound to accept a post of emolument which would enable me to
assist my brother's family.

Here I detected the real motive which urged her to make me assume the
part of candidate against my inclination. I was embittered when I
remembered how much I had already done for more than thirty years to
protect the interests of my kindred, prosecuting their lawsuits, paying
off their debts, and fighting their battles with a host of litigious
claimants. Now, forsooth, I was to be goaded into dragging the chain of
an onerous and troublesome office, for which I felt myself entirely
unfit.

I replied that no pricks of conscience with regard to my brother's
family impelled me to seek what I neither desired nor deserved. If an
application were made in my name (for I well knew that my sister-in-law
was capable of taking such a step), I should feel myself obliged to
utter a protest. Here I was at Padua, ready to spend my blood for my
brother. If he survived, by the favour of God, I hoped that the
Riformatori would not deprive him of his post. If he died, to my
infinite sorrow, the tribunal would be able to award it to some fitting
person, who deserved it more than I did.

I hoped to be delivered