DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0422
376
soon render him a most popular author with us ; for his
periods, by being skilfully propped with harmonious, un-
meaning, yet harmless expletives, possess that elegant melli-
fluent roundness of the present day, which charms the mu-
sical ear of good taste, without injuring the thinking facul-
ties ; and which, like a sauce picquante to unsavory viands,
makes ample amends for the dearth or insipidity of the
ideas thus dished up with a relishing seasoning. The
thought came into my head of treating you with a specimen
of his abilities, and I was just going to step down to give him
the substance of a poetical epistle I meant to send you, when
a little girl brought him a small dish of stewed Windsor
beans, a large raw cucumber and a crust of bread. This
frugal fare, and a glass of iced water from the neighbour-
ing stall, well calculated to preserve his intellectual powers
unclogged, Don Matteo informed me, was the whole of his
dinner; which, together with a segar by way of dessert, in-
terrupted his official duties for about half an hour; after
which, if matters of pressing service remained to be dispatch-
ed, he would resume the quill, and suspend his siesta, or af-
ternoon’s nap, to a late hour of the day.
I now observed a whispering consultation between Don
Matteo and Don Michele, which terminated by the latter
communicating to me, in a low voice, an invitation to take
pot-luck with the former. Don Matteo could not have
chosen a less trustworthy negotiator ; for my friend, who is
a little of the bon-vivant, after delivering faithfully his mes-
sage, added, in wretched French, that I had better decline
the honour, for he was sure I should not be able to drink
the composer’s wine ; and the peas, to judge from the shells
he had observed on the floor, were much fitter to be preserved
as seed-corn against next season, than to be brought upon
the table. I relieved his uneasiness instantly, by request-
ing him to tell Don Matteo, that we were both expected at
the
soon render him a most popular author with us ; for his
periods, by being skilfully propped with harmonious, un-
meaning, yet harmless expletives, possess that elegant melli-
fluent roundness of the present day, which charms the mu-
sical ear of good taste, without injuring the thinking facul-
ties ; and which, like a sauce picquante to unsavory viands,
makes ample amends for the dearth or insipidity of the
ideas thus dished up with a relishing seasoning. The
thought came into my head of treating you with a specimen
of his abilities, and I was just going to step down to give him
the substance of a poetical epistle I meant to send you, when
a little girl brought him a small dish of stewed Windsor
beans, a large raw cucumber and a crust of bread. This
frugal fare, and a glass of iced water from the neighbour-
ing stall, well calculated to preserve his intellectual powers
unclogged, Don Matteo informed me, was the whole of his
dinner; which, together with a segar by way of dessert, in-
terrupted his official duties for about half an hour; after
which, if matters of pressing service remained to be dispatch-
ed, he would resume the quill, and suspend his siesta, or af-
ternoon’s nap, to a late hour of the day.
I now observed a whispering consultation between Don
Matteo and Don Michele, which terminated by the latter
communicating to me, in a low voice, an invitation to take
pot-luck with the former. Don Matteo could not have
chosen a less trustworthy negotiator ; for my friend, who is
a little of the bon-vivant, after delivering faithfully his mes-
sage, added, in wretched French, that I had better decline
the honour, for he was sure I should not be able to drink
the composer’s wine ; and the peas, to judge from the shells
he had observed on the floor, were much fitter to be preserved
as seed-corn against next season, than to be brought upon
the table. I relieved his uneasiness instantly, by request-
ing him to tell Don Matteo, that we were both expected at
the