him. Just as I arrived at that quarter he was coming out of the shop,
and his bravoes, having made an opening, formed a circle round him. I
thereupon clapped my hand to a sharp dagger, and having forced my way
through the file of ruffians, laid hold of him by the throat, so
quickly and with such presence of mind, that there was not one of his
friends could defend him. I pulled him towards me to give him a blow
in front, but he turned his face about through excess of terror, so
that I wounded him exactly under the ear; and upon repeating my blow,
he fell down dead. It had never been my intention to kill him, but
blows are not always under command.'

We must all feel that it would never have done to have begun with
these passages, but long before the 191st page has been reached
Cellini has retreated into his own atmosphere, and the scales of
justice have been hopelessly tampered with.

That such a man as this encountered suffering in the course of his
life, should be matter for satisfaction to every well-regulated mind;
but, somehow or another, you find yourself pitying the fellow as he
narrates the hardships he endured in the Castle of S. Angelo. He is so
symmetrical a rascal! Just hear him! listen to what he says well on in
the second volume, after the little incidents already quoted:

'Having at length recovered my strength and vigour, after I had
composed myself and resumed my cheerfulness of mind, I continued to
read my Bible, and so accustomed my eyes to that darkness, that though
I was at first able to read only an hour and a half, I could at length
read three hours. I then reflected on the wonderful power of the
Almighty upon the hearts of simple men, who had carried their
enthusiasm so far as to believe firmly that God would indulge them in