Little Poems in Prose

XXVII AN HEROIC DEATH FANCIULLO was an admirable buffoon, and, what was more, on terms of something like friendship with the Prince. But for people who are devoted by profession to comedy serious affairs have a fatal attraction, and strange as it may seem that ideas of patriotism and free- dom should possess themselves masterfully of the brain of an actor, one day Fanciullo joined a conspiracy which had been got up by some discontented noblemen. There are everywhere good people ready to denounce those atrabilious individuals who want to depose princes and reconstitute soci- ety without consulting it. The nobles in ques- tion were arrested, and with them Fanciullo; there was no doubt that one and all would be condemned to death. I would gladly believe that the Prince was annoyed at finding his favourite comedian amongst the rebels. The Prince was neither better nor worse than another man, but his ex- cessive sensitiveness made him in many cases