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HERE lived in Naples a man of mean fortune, who had two sons, both remarkable for their prominency of character, considering the manner after which they had been brought up. Being a bustling man, of low trade, he felt (as most such people do, from the necessity of custom) more for their worldly interests, and respectable doing in life, than for their state of mind, and natural dispositions.

Philippo, the eldest, was placed to the business of a clothier; but, as the common saying went, he did not take to it. Indeed, the general opinion of him was, that he was of a confirmed idle disposition, of deep passions, though behaving in every respect well, never giving offence to any one, except in his inattention to business.