24 



Pagan, just as according to Falstaff Hotspur came to re- 

 bellion — 



" Kebellion came in his way and he found it." 

 Why, this was the very man for the place ! How strange ! 

 So pleased were they that this time they excused all exami- 

 nation, except in Italian by Signor Lacaita, a Civil Service 

 Examiner who, quite by accident, is an old friend of Signor 

 • Panizzi, and is indebted to him for a lucrative post in this 

 country. This severe ordeal past Mr. Fagan was duly 

 installed. But within a very few months of the making of 

 this very necessary appointment, the gentleman, whose 

 knowledge of Italian was to prove so valuable that all other 

 qualifications were dispensed with, was promoted to the 

 Department of Prints and Drawings, where knowledge of 

 Italian is useless. 



It is curious to observe that, in order to place Mr. Fagan 

 in this position, Mr. Jones passed him to it over the head 

 of an able young man, Mr. Donoghue, who was formerly 

 protege of Mr. Jones himself, and who was, it is believed, 

 recommended to Mr. Reid by Mr. Jones, some eight years 

 ago, in a very characteristic way, which indeed gave Mr. 

 Reid hardly any choice but to accept him. Poor Mr. 

 Donoghue is now supplanted by Mr. Fagan, who came 

 into the Department as senior assistant after only three 

 months previous service at the Museum ! Established in 

 this position, and fully understanding, both from knowledge 

 and experience, that in the present state of things incom- 

 petence was no bar to advancement, Mr. Fagan already 

 sees himself, in imagination, chief of the Department, and, 

 it may be, even successor to the exalted position of his 

 adopted father, in which latter position perchance he might 

 eadiet a handbook with translation of " Che sara, sara," 

 and all other Italian mottos adopted by the English 



