ning. In spite
of all his excellent capabilities for growth, Doctor Splendiano
Accoramboni had not been able to advance beyond the respectable stature
of four feet Moreover, in the days of his youth, he had been
distinguished for his elegant figure, so that, before his head, always
indeed somewhat ill-shaped, and his big cheeks, and his stately double
chin had put on too much fat, before his nose had grown bulky and
spread owing to overmuch indulgence in Spanish snuff, and before his
little belly had assumed the shape of a wine-tub from too much
fattening on macaroni, the priestly cut of garments, which he at that
time had affected, had suited him down to the ground. He was then in
truth a pretty little man, and accordingly the Roman ladies had styled
him their _caro puppazetto_ (sweet little pet).

That however was now a thing of the past. A German painter, seeing
Doctor Splendiano walking across the Spanish Square, said--and he was
perhaps not far wrong--that it looked as if some strapping fellow of
six feet or so had walked away from his own head, which had fallen
on the shoulders of a little marionette clown, who now had to
carry it about as his own. This curious little figure walked about in
patchwork--an immense quantity of pieces of Venetian damask of a large
flower pattern that had been cut up in making a dressing-gown; high up
round his waist he had buckled a broad leather belt, from which an
excessively long rapier hung; whilst his snow-white wig was surmounted
by a high conical cap, not unlike the obelisk in St. Peter's Square.
Since the said wig, like a piece of texture all tumbled and tangled,
spread out thick and wide all over his back, it might very well be
taken for the cocoon out of which the fine silkworm had crept.

The worthy Splendiano Accoramboni stared through his big, bright
spectacles, with his eyes wide open, first at his patient, then at Dame
Caterina. Calling her aside, he croaked with bated breath, "There lies
our talented painter Salvator Rosa, and he's lost if my skill doesn't
save him, Dame Caterina. Pray tell me when he came to lodge with you?
Did he bring many beautiful large pictures with him?"

"Ah! my dear Doctor," replied Dame Caterina, "the poor fellow only came
last night. And as for pictures--why, I don't know nothing about them;
but there's a big box below, and Salvator begged me to take very good
care of it, before he became senseless like what he now is. I daresay
there's a