Preface

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks

and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

THE FOOL ERRANT

BEING THE MEMOIRS OF

FRANCIS-ANTONY STRELLEY, ESQ.

CITIZEN OF LUCCA

EDITED BY MAURICE HEWLETT

AUTHOR OF"THE QUEEN'S QUAIR,""NEW CANTERBURY TALES,""RICHARD YEA-AND-NAY,""LITTLE NOVELS OF ITALY,"ETC., ETC.

Published July, 1905.

To

J. M. BARRIE

AFFECTIONATELY

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. MY EXORDIUM: A JUSTIFICATORY PIECE II. AURELIA AND THE DOCTOR III. MY DANGEROUS PROGRESS IV. FATAL AVOWAL V. DISASTER VI. I COMMENCE PILGRIM VII. I AM MISCONCEIVED AT THE HOSPITAL VIII. THE PEDLAR OF CRUCIFIXES IX. I AM HUMILIATED, LIFTED UP, AND LEFT CURIOUS X. I FALL IN AGAIN WITH FRA PALAMONE XI. I EXERCISE COMMON SENSE, IMAGINATION AND CHARITY XII. I SEEK—AND FIND XIII. HAVING EMPTIED MY POCKET, I OFFER MY HAND, BUT RESERVE MY HEART XIV. MY HAPPY DAYS; THEIR UNHAPPY END XV. I AM IN BONDAGE XVI. VIRGINIA AND I FALL OUT, BUT ARE RECONCILED XVII. ERCOLE AT THE FAIR XVIII. FRA PALAMONE BREAKS THE LAW, AND I MY CHAIN XIX. I AM AGAIN MISCONCEIVED XX. SURPRISING CHANGE IN MY FORTUNES XXI. MY DIVERSIONS: COUNT GIRALDI XXII. I WORK FOR AURELIA, AND HEAR OF HER XXIII. AURELIA FORGIVES XXIV. VIRGINIA VEXES XXV. I PREPARE FOR BLISS XXVI. I DISAPPOINT MY FRIENDS XXVII. I SLAY A MAN XXVIII. VIRGINIA ON HER METTLE XXIX. I TAKE SANCTUARY XXX. I MARRY AND GO TO LUCCA XXXI. MY ADVENTURES AT THE INN XXXII. WE LIVE HAPPILY IN LUCCA XXXIII. TREACHERY WORKS AGAINST US XXXIV. I FALL IN WITH THE PLAYERS XXXV. TEMPTED IN SIENA, BELVISO SAVES ME XXXVI. MY UNREHEARSED EFFECT AND ITS MIDNIGHT SEQUEL XXXVII. I COMMIT A DOUBLE MURDER XXXVIII. AN UNEXPECTED MESSENGER LIFTS ME UP XXXIX. VIRGINIA DECLINES THE HEIGHTS XL. I GET RID OF MY ENEMY AND PART FROM MY FRIEND XLI. I RETURN TO FLORENCE AND THE WORLD OF FASHION XLII. I STAND AT A CROSS-ROAD XLIII. AGITATIONS AT THE VILLA SAN GIORGIO XLIV. I CONFRONT MY ENEMIES XLV. THE MEETING XLVI. THE DISCOVERY XLVII. THE FINAL PROOF XLVIII. THE LAST

INTRODUCTION

The top-heavy, four-horsed, yellow old coach from Vicenza, which arrived at Padua every night of the year, brought with it in particular on the night of October 13, 1721, a tall, personable young man, an Englishman, in a dark blue cloak, who swang briskly down from the coupe and asked in stilted It alian for"La sapienza del Signer Dottor'Lanfranchi."From out of a cloud of steam—for the weather was wet and the speaker violently hot—a husky voice replied,"Eccomi—eccomi, a servirla."The young man took off his hat and bowed.

"Have I the honour to salute so much learning?"he asked courteously.

"Let me present myself to my preceptor as Mr. Francis Strelley of

Upcote."

"His servant,"said the voice from the cloud,"and servant of his illustrious father. Don Francis, be accommodated; let your mind be at ease. Your baggage? The se fellows are here for it. Your valise? I carry it. Your hand? I take it. Follow me."

The se words were accompanied by action of the most swift and singular kind. Mr. Strelley saw two porters scramble after his portmanteaux, had his valise reft from his hand, and that hand firmly grasped before he could frame his reply. The vehemence of this large perspiring sage caused the struggle between pride and civility to be short; such faint protests as he had at command passed unheeded in the bustle and could not be seen in the dark.

Vehement, indeed, in all that he did was Dr. Porfirio Lanfranchi, Professor of Civil Law: it was astonishing that a bulk so large and loosely packed could be propelled by the human will at so headlong a speed. Yet, spurred by that impetus alone, he pounded and splashed through the puddled, half-lit street of Padua at such a rate that Mr. Strelley, though longer in the leg, fully of his height, and one quarter his weight, found himself trotting beside his conductor like any schoolboy. The position was humiliating, but it did not seem possible to escape it. The doctor took everything for granted; and besides, he so groaned and grunted at his labours, his goaded flesh protested so loudly, the pitfalls were so many, and the pace so severe, that nothing in the world seemed of moment beyond preserving foothold. Along the winding way—between the half-discerned arcades, palace gateways, black entries, church portals—down the very middle of the street flew master and pupil without word spoken. They reached the Pra, skirted its righthand boundary for some hundreds of yards, and came to the door of a tall, narrow, white house. Upon this door the doctor kicked furiously until it was opened; then, with a malediction upon the oaf who snored behind it, up he blundered, three stairs at a time, Strelley after him whether or no; and stayed not in his rush towards the stars until he had reached the fourth-floor landing, where again he kicked at a door; and then, releasing his victim's hand, took off hat and wig together and mopped his dripping pate, as he murmured,"Chaste Madonna, what a ramble! What a stroll for the evening, powerful Mother of us all!"Such a stroll had never yet been taken by Mr. Francis Strelley of Upcote in his one-and-twenty years'experience of legs; nor did he ever forget this manner of being haled into It aly, nor lose his feeling of extremely helpless youth in the presence of the doctor, his tutor and guardian. But to suppose the business done by calculation of that remarkable man is to misapprehend him altogether. Dr. Lanfranchi's head worked, as his body did, by flashes. He calculated nothing, but hit at everything; hit or miss, it might be—but"Let's to it and have done"was his battlecry.

The lamp over the door of his apartment revealed him for the disorderly genius he was—a huge, blotch-faced, tumble-bellied man, bullet-headed, bull-necked, and with flashing eyes. Inordinate alike in appetite, mind and action, he was always suffering for his furies, and always making a fine recovery. Just now he was at the last gasp for a breath, or so you would have said to look at him. But not so; his exertions were really his stimulant. Presently he would eat and drink consumedly, drench himself with snuff, and then spend half the night with his books, preparing for to-morrow's lecture. Of this sort was Dr. Porfirio Lanfranchi, who had more authority over the wild students of Padua than the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Senate put together.

The same lamp played upon the comely and ingenuous face, upon the striking presence of Mr. Strelley, and showed him a good-looking, goodtempered, sanguine young man of an Appearance something less than his age. He was tall and supple, wore his own fair hair tied with a ribbon, was blue-eyed and bright-lipped, and had a notable chin—firm, square at the jaw, and coming sharply to a point. He looked you straight in the face—such was his habit—but by no means arrogantly or with defiance; seriously rather, gravely and courteously, as if to ask,"Do I take your precise meaning to be—?"Such a look was too earnest for mere good manners; he was serious; there was no laughter in him, though he was not of a melancholy sort. He pondered the world and its vagaries and examined them, as they presented themselves in each case, UPON THE MERITS. This, which was, I think, his strongest characteristic, should show that he lacked the humorous sense; and he did. He had no time to laugh; wondering engaged him. The life of the world on its round showed him miracles daily; he looked for them very often, but more frequently they thrust themselves upon him. Sunrise now—what an extraordinary thing! He never ceased to be amazed at that. The economy of the moon, too, so exquisitely adapted to the needs of mankind! Nations, tongues (hardly to be explained by the sublime folly of a Babel), the reverence paid to elders, to women; the sense of law and justice in our kind: in the leafy shades of Upcote in Oxfordshire, he had pondered these things during his lonely years of youth and adolescence—had pondered, and in some cases already decided them UPON THE MERITS. This was remarkably so in the matter of Betty Coy, as he will tell you for himself before long. Meantime, lest I keep Dr. Lanfranchi too long upon the threshold of his own house, all I shall add to my picture of his pupil now is that he was the eldest son and third child of Squire Antony Strelley of Upcote, a Catholic, non-juring, recusant, stout old gentleman of Oxfordshire, and of Dame Mary, born Arundell, his wife; and that he was come to study the moral and civil law at this famous University of Padua, like many an Englishman of his condition before him. He was twenty-one years of age, had as much money as was good for him and much more poetry than enough in his valise—to say nothing of the germ of those notes from which he afterwards (long afterwards) compiled the ensuing memoirs.

Dr. Lanfranchi had not said"Accidente!"more than twice, nor kicked his door more than half a dozen times, before it was opened by a young and pretty lady, who held a lamp above her head. She was, apparently, a very young and very pretty, rather little, lady, and was dressed with some care—but not more than her person deserved—in black and white. Her dark hair, which was high upon her head, was crowned with a large tortoiseshell comb. She held the lamp, as I say, above her as she curtseyed, smiling, in the way."Be very welcome, sir,"she said,"and be pleased to enter our house."It was charming to see how deftly she dipped without spilling the lamp-oil, charming to see her little white teeth as she smiled, her lustrous eyes shining in the light like large stars. It was charming to see her there at all, for she was charming altogether—in figure, in face and poise, in expression, which was that of a graceful child playing housewife; lastly, in the benevolence, curiosity and discretion which sat enthroned upon her smooth brow, like a bench of Lords Justices, or of Bishops, if you prefer it. This was none other than Dr. Porfirio's wife, as he then and there declared by grunts."Mia moglie—a servirla,"he was understood to say; and pushed his way into his house without ceremony, while Mr. Strelley, with much, kissed the hand of his hostess. The salute, received with composure, was rendered with a blush; for this, to be truthful, was the very first hand ever saluted by the young gentleman. The fact says much for his inexperience and right instinct at once.

Quite at her ease, as if she were the mistress of a well-kissed hand, was Signora Aurelia Lanfranchi, for that was her name, and had been so for rather more than two years—quite at her ease and most anxious to put Strelley there. Relieving him of his cloak and hat, of his sword, pistols and other travelling gear, in spite of all protestations on his part, she talked freely and on end about anything and nothing in a soft voice which rose and died down like a summer wind, and betrayed in its muffled tones—as if it came to him through silk—that she was not of the north, but of some mellower, more sun-ripened land. She was in fact of Siena, a Gualandi by birth, and extremely proud of it. Strelley was so informed before he had been four-and-twenty hours in her company. But now, having spoiled him of his defences, she invited him into the salone, wooed him thither, indeed, with that sidelong head and sort of sleek smile with which you coax a cat to come to your knee. Mr. Francis would have followed her singing to the bonfire on such terms.

At the table, which was liberal, was the learned doctor seated already, napkin to chin. Mr. Strelley was shown his place, and expected to take it while the fair housewife waited upon the two; and when he seemed timid, she raised a wail of pretty protest and dragged him by the arm towards the chair. It was absurd, it was preposterous, he was robbing her of her pride. She had eaten long ago—besides, it was the woman's place, and Nonna was in the kitchen, ashamed to appear in the state she was in. Signor Francesco must please her in this—she would be vexed— and surely he would not vex his hostess. To this wilful chant the doctor contributed his burden of"Che! che! S'accommodi!"and rapped with his knife-handle upon the table. Old Nonna, toothless, bearded and scared, popped her head beyond the kitchen door; to be short, insistence went to a point where good manners could not follow. Mr. Francis sat himself down, and Donna Aurelia, clapping her little hands, cried aloud that victory was hers."Quick, quick, Nonna, these signori are at table!"She stormed into the kitchen, and speedily returned with a steaming and savoury dish. She dispensed the messes, she poured the wine, she hovered here and there—salt? pepper? cheese? yet a little bread? Madonna purissima, she had forgotten the mustard! No! it was here—it was here! The re must have been more rejoicings over the recovery of the mustard than were made for the victory of Lepanto. Betweenwhiles she talked gaily or pathetically or intimately of things of which the guest had known nothing, but immediately felt that he now knew all; the moral lapses of this professor or that, the unparalleled slight offered to Signora Pappagallo by Donna Susanna Tron, the storm of rain and thunder on Tuesday week—no, it must have been Monday week; a scandal in the Senate, a duel in the Pra, how the Avvocato Minghini was picked up dead in Pedrocchi's—a meat-fly in his chocolate! Sparkling eyes, a delicate flush, quick breath, a shape at once pliant and audacious, flashing hands with which half her spells were woven—all these, and that wailing, dragging, comico-tragic voice, that fatal appeal of the child, trained by the wisdom of the wife, completed the rout of our youth. Before supper was over he was her loyal slave.

She insisted upon showing him his quarters. They were not, it seemed, upon this floor, nor the next below—no, but on the next below that. Signor Francesco must follow her as, lamp in hand, she went downstairs, her high heels clattering like Spanish castanets. She opened his door with a key which she then handed over to him: she showed him his bedroom, his saloon."Your citadel, Don Francis,"she said,"your refuge from my heedless tongue. Your chocolate shall be brought to you here, but we hope you will give yourself the trouble to dine with us. Generally my husband sups too late for your convenience. He is always at the cafe till nine o'clock. He sits there with his friends and hears the news, which he knows beforehand as well as they do. And when they have done, he tells it all over again to them. This is the way with men; and I sit at home and make my clothes. This also is the way with women, it seems. The re is no other."She stayed a few more minutes, chattering, laughing and blushing; then with a sudden access of shyness wished him"felicissima notte,"and held him out her hand. Mr. Francis stooped over it, and saluted it once more with profound respect.

He was long in going to bed. He wrote furiously in his diary after a space of restless contemplation, when he roamed across and across the room. But now I must leave his raptures and himself to his own pen, having got him inmate of a household where by ordinary he might have lived a blameless three years. If, however, he had done that, I don't suppose the singular memoirs which follow would ever have been written.