with painters, carpenters, actors, musicians, and ballet dancers. When they had been spoken, and the Cupid was gone, there was heard the invisible music of four viols, accompanying as many voices, who sang, to a beautiful air, a stanza of invocation to Love; and so the entertainment ended, to the immense delight of all present. Had I not so bepraised it in describing its progress, I might now tell you the part I had in it, but I should not wish your Lordship to fancy me an egotist. It were too good fortune to be able to attend to such matters, to the exclusion of more annoying ones: may God vouchsafe it me." Though much of this detail regards the accompanying entertainment more than the comedy, it cannot be deemed out of place, as illustrative of the way in which these were managed in a court where we have frequent occasion to allude to such pastimes: the preceding description fully explains the often-mentioned _moresca_, and almost entitles us to translate that word by the better known French _ballet_. The _Calandra_ continued to be played on select occasions in Italy, and we hear of its being produced at Lyons in 1548, before Catherine de' Medici and her husband, whose largess to the actors exceeded 2500 crowns. This piece, though improved in incidents, is avowedly indebted for its plot to the _Menecmo_ of Plautus, a comedy already popular through a translation performed at Ferrara, in 1486-7, by the children and courtiers of Ercole I., in a theatre built on purpose within the palace-yard, and costing with its decorations 1000 ducats. In regard to its proper merits, no one can deny the amusing complexity of the plot, the constant succession of absurd mistakes among the personages, the ingenious contrivances by which these are alternately occasioned and extricated, the bustle of the entertainment, and the racy humour of the dialogue. In order to let these be appreciated, an analysis larger than our space can permit would be necessary, and neither the character nor the wit of the piece could be preserved without introducing intrigues and language repugnant to modern decency. Ginguené has conveyed a tolerable idea of the comedy without greatly shocking the reader, but has consequently suppressed much of its fun, and to his pages we must refer for detail.[98] The story turns upon the adventures of twins, a brother and sister, who, perfectly resembling in person, but unknown to each other, are simultaneously parties to love intrigues, carried on through the agency of a clever valet, and at the cost of a drivelling husband (Calandro) in the course of which they frequently interchange the dress and character of their respective sexes, a magician being ever at hand to bear the blame of what appear physical transmutations, and a double marriage of course happily solving all embarrassments. Although unquestionably rich in the materials of