d service to our see,
that is, in his way; when the neophytes of the propaganda are to be
examined in the several tongues in which they are destined to preach, he
is appointed to question them, the questions being first written down for
him, or else, he! he! he! Of course you know Napoleon's estimate of
Mezzofante; he sent for the linguist from motives of curiosity, and after
some discourse with him, told him that he might depart; then turning to
some of his generals, he observed, 'Nous avons eu ici un exemple qu'un
homme peut avoir beaucoup de paroles avec bien peu d'esprit.'"

"You are ungrateful to him," said I; "well, perhaps, when he is dead and
gone you will do him justice."

"True," said the man in black; "when he is dead and gone, we intend to
erect him a statue of wood, on the left-hand side of the door of the
Vatican library."

"Of wood?" said I.

"He was the son of a carpenter, you know," said the man in black; "the
figure will be of wood for no other reason, I assure you; he! he!"

"You should place another statue on the right."

"Perhaps we shall," said the man in black; "but we know of no one amongst
the philologists of Italy, nor, indeed, of the other countries, inhabited
by the faithful worthy, to sit parallel in effigy with our illustrissimo;
when, indeed, we have conquered those regions of the perfidious by
bringing the inhabitants thereof to the true faith, I have no doubt that
we shall be able to select one worthy to bear him company, one whose
statue shall be placed on the right hand of the library, in testimony of
our joy at his conversion; for, as you know, 'There is more joy,' etc."

"Wood?" said I.

"I hope not," said the man in black; "no, if I be consulted as to the
material for the statue, I should strongly recommend bronze."

And when the man in black had said this, he emptied his second tumbler of
its contents, and prepared himself another.

CHAPTER XIII.--THE MAN IN BLACK DISCUSSES THE FOIBLES OF THE ENGLISH--HIS
SCHEMES FOR WINNING OVER THE ARISTOCRACY, THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND THE
RABBLE--HORSEFLESH AND BITTER ALE.

"So you hope to bring these regions again beneath the banner of the Roman
see?" said I; after the man in black had prepared the beverage, and
tasted it.

"Hope," said the man in black; "how can we fail? Is not the Church of
these regions going to lose its prerogative?"

"Its prerogative?"

"Yes; those who should be the guardians of the religion of Engl