Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/401

Rh Easter. The brethren of some order or other led him to the foot of a gallows which had been erected for sake of the ceremony; then the criminal at the foot of the ladder offers up a prayer or two, and having kissed the scaffold, is led away again. He was a good-looking fellow of the middle age, in a white coat, white hat, and all else white. He carried his hat in his hand: at different points they attached variegated ribbons to him, so that at last he was quite in tune to go to any masquerade in the character of a shepherd.

So, then, before my departure, I was to meet with a strange adventure, of which I must forthwith give you a circumstantial account.

The whole time of my residence here, I have heard scarcely any topic of conversation at the ordinary, but Cagliostro, his origin and adventures. The people of Palermo are all unanimous in asserting that a certain Joseph Balsamo was born in their city, and, having rendered himself infamous by many disgraceful acts, was banished. But whether this person is identical with Count Cagliostro, was a point on which opinions were divided. Some who knew Balsamo personally asserted they recognised his features in the engraving, which is well known in Germany, and which has also travelled as far as Palermo.

In one of these conversations, one of the guests referred to the trouble which a Palermitan lawyer had taken in examining this matter. He seems to have been commissioned by the French Ministry to trace the origin of an individual, who in the face of France, and, indeed, of the whole world, had had the temerity to utter the silliest of idle tales in the midst of a legal process which involved the most important interests and the reputation of the highest personages.