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In my ignorance of the etiquette of small German Courts I happened to applaud a solo, which had been exquisitely sung by a castrato whose name I have forgotten, and directly afterwards an individual came into my box and addressed me in a rude manner. However, I knew no German, and could only answer by 'nich verstand' "I don't understand."
His movements, the expression of his looks, his gait, his walk, his countenance, his voice, and, above all, my own instinct, which told me that I could not possibly feel for a castrato what I felt for Bellino, confirmed me in my hopes; yet it was necessary that my eyes should ascertain the truth.
As they were Romans, they ought to have known what a castrato was, nevertheless, Armelline took the wretched individual who sang the prima donna's part for a woman, and pointed to his breast, which was really a fine one. "Would you dare to sleep in the same bed with him?" I asked. "No; an honest girl ought always to sleep by herself." Such was the severity of the education they had received.
The invitation was curious, and I accepted it with a smile. The castrato was named Nicolas Peritti; he pretended to be the grandson of a natural child of Sixtus V.; it might have been so I shall have to mention him again in fifteen years. When I made my appearance at Narici's house I saw Count Alfani, who certainly did not expect me, and must have taken me for his evil genius.
The Chamberlain called the Castrato and charged him to do accordingly; so he replied, "I hear and I obey;" and he took his pages with him and went out in search of the Stoker till he found him in the rear of the caravan, girthing his ass and preparing for flight.
Spina had for her master a castrato who succeeded in making of her only a very ordinary singer, and in the absence of talent she was compelled, in order to get a living, to make the most of the beauty she had received from nature. I shall have occasion to speak again of Ancilla before her death.
To break a man's spirit so, take that from him which he will never recover while he lives, send him slinking away animo castrato for that is what it comes to is a sinister outrage of the world. It is as bad as the rape of a woman, and ranks with the sin against the Holy Ghost derives from it, indeed. Yet it was this outrage that Gourlay meant to work upon his son.
Another read a satire of his own composition, in which he tore to pieces the honour of a family. In the middle of all that confusion, I saw a priest with a very attractive countenance come in. The size of his hips made me take him for a woman dressed in men's clothes, and I said so to Gama, who told me that he was the celebrated castrato, Bepino delta Mamana.
He would stand up on his tiptoes, then bob himself quite low down; then hop up, with both legs at once, sigh, groan, close his eyes so tightly that the tears streamed from them, and then open them as wide as they would go; gaze incessantly at the beautiful Magdalene, sigh afresh, and lisp out in his mournful, castrato voice, "Ah, Carissima! Benedetissima! Ah, Marianna! Marianna! Belissima!" &c.
"'Twas as I feared the coming ills discerning: * But unto Allah we are all returning." Then the Eunuch cried upon the pages, saying, "Take him off the ass." So they carried him along with the caravan, surrounded by the pages, as the white contains the black of the eye; and the Castrato said to them, "If a hair of him be lost, you will be lost with it."
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