FLORENCE. 53 



antiquarian there was wailing and gnashing of teeth when it 

 was eclipsed. And it was my especial good fortune to hear 

 from the original source how it was rescued. Being up at the 

 Trollope villa, outside the Porta San Niccolo, one evening to 

 make a visit, I fell in with Mr. Kirkup, an old English resi- 

 dent and a profound antiquarian. I had the honor of giving 

 him my then j^outhful arm as a kind of steadier on the walk 

 homewards, and you may be sure that I said no more than 

 was calculated to keep him well going in talk about his favor- 

 ite pursuit. He knew, as matter of course, about the portrait 

 of Dante. He had, by consulting the books and by inquiries 

 prosecuted with great caution, so as not to excite the suspi- 

 cions of the jealous Austrian, located the portrait very 

 exactly ; and by vehement instance, not unaccompanied by 

 money, had induced some one having the necessary authority 

 to lock him up for the night in the cell which contained it. 

 He had with him food, candle and some necessary appliances. 

 Cautiously, very cautiously, he soaked off the whitewash, and 

 there, sure enough, the portrait came out. A profile view in 

 real fresco. He took a careful tracing of the head and face, 

 which was all that could be done, and for reasons obvious to 

 any one who will think a moment was ver\' secret indeed 

 about the treasure he had obtained. When it was no longer 

 of an}^ consequence who knew of the matter, he had his trac- 

 ing engraved, and in my time, so to speak, it was to be seen in 

 the better class of picture shop windows. In these later times 

 not so much so. But those who saw it then would wonder 

 why there was a queer, irregular patch or blotch, or what- 

 ever one may choose to call it, under the eye. Mr. Kirkup 

 told me. Tt seems a nail had been driven into the plaster at 

 that spot. When the time came to extricate the picture, Mr. 

 Kirkup implored those in charge to let him deal with the diffi- 

 culty. But no. They knocked the nail out and, as he said 

 with bitterness, had not the sense to preserve the little pieces 

 (5f plaster that fell to the floor. So the defect had to be borne 

 with and, so to speak, recorded. The little hole has been 



