herefore too remarkable a man for us, ourself an
incipient collector, not to visit; and so, as soon as we got to Naples,
we dispatched a note, and the next day followed it in person; rang at
the bell, and were ushered into his sanctum; where we beheld the old
_necromancer_ standing at his table, looking out for us. He put down his
eyeglass and his old coin; and said in answer to our question, which was
in English, "Ya! ya! mein name is A----." Forgetting at this moment what
R---- had said of him, and only recollecting that they were acquainted,
we began, by way of introducing ourselves to his best things, to say,
that we had lately seen his friend R---- at Rome--"Dat is not mein
friend, dat is mein enemy," said he, displeased at our mentioning the
name; and looking at us half suspiciously, half spitefully. "I hav notin
to say wit him more," and he took a huge pinch of snuff, and wasted a
deal on his snuffy waistcoat and shirt frill. We at once saw our
mistake, which indeed, but for our anxiety to get to business, we should
not, assuredly, have been guilty of. We had now to make the best of it.
"A mistake, Mr. A----, we assure you. Mr. R---- might say that, on _one_
occasion, you _had_ been _brusque_ with him; but advised us,
notwithstanding, to pay you a visit, regretting that, from some little
difference between you, _he_ could not give us the introduction, which,
under more favourable circumstances, he would have pressed upon us;" an
announcement which completely mollified the old rogue, who, in his heart
of hearts, was thinking that a new victim had turned up to him, and one
of Rusca's recommending. "It is pleasant to make peace between two
honest men," said we; "Rusca and you should not have quarrelled.
Ill-natured people take advantage of these disputes, and begin to
profess open distrust as to the age and genuineness of whatever you
sell." "For dis reason I hate not Mr Rusca; but he has too much
_strepitusness_ of voice--_il s'emporte trop facilement_." "Ah,"
interpose we in the mediatorial capacity we had assumed, "'tis the
character of the Italian to do so." "Ya, dat is true," assented he; and
then we went to look at his coins. "We are not blind friends of
Rusca's," said we, sitting down to the first tray which he gave us to
look at, and seeing, from the character of the coins therein exhibited,
that A---- had presumed we _might_ be. "We only buy from R---- when he
is discreet, and does not overcharge; which, _ent