f work, or who, either in the
way of trade or otherwise, have seen and handled many of the gems, are
able to perceive."

A friend in Rome came to me one day with a request that I would go with
him to see a Scarabaeus which he had taken a fancy to, and had engaged to
buy if it were counted genuine by good judges. It was a superb stone, a
deep carnelian, nearly opaque, exquisitely elaborated, and with an
intaglio which I doubt not was Greek. It was the most beautiful one I
had ever seen, and I gave my opinion, such as it was, in favor of its
antiquity. It was purchased, and afterwards shown to a well-known
dealer, by whom it was pronounced a cheat; and on inquiry it was
discovered that the seller had had a copy made of the original, and,
while he offered the latter for sale, delivered the former, which was so
carefully and perfectly copied as to puzzle the eye even of the
best-instructed amateur.

A merchant of antiquities with whom I have occasional dealings--we will
call him A. because that is not his initial--brought me one day a large
intaglio, which had the appearance of an archaic Etruscan work. A. is
known as one of the _piu cognoscenti_ of Rome; and his dictum is worth
any other two. He declared it an original antique of the rarest quality;
and Odelli, the best gem-cutter in Rome, coincided in the opinion. He
held it at two thousand francs, but would have sold it to me for
eighteen hundred, I suppose. I didn't bite, and after a few weeks lured
the collector of whom he had bought it--one of those who make it a
business to haunt the markets, and visit distant cities and excavations,
to purchase and sell again to the Roman antiquaries--to boast his
prowess as compared with that of A., who had bitten him severely
several times in their dealings; and, in the full tide of his
self-glorification, I turned the conversation on the black agate, now
become famous among the dealers. He could not resist the temptation, and
told me all about it. "A. believes it to be antique, don't he?" "O, he
is certain of it," said I. "Well, I'll tell you how it is: I bought the
thing of the man who made it, and paid him three scudi for it. I took it
to A. and offered it to him for six; but he refused it, thinking it to
be a paste. I took it away again, and, having had it tested as a stone,
offered it to him for twenty. After examining it and keeping it a few
days, he offered me twelve. I said no,--eighteen. _He_ said no. I said
sixteen, an