"You must
know that a new order has come in this very forenoon from the
duke; he wishes a dish and a jar of the very finest and firmest
majolica to be painted with the story of Esther, and made ready in
three months from this date, to then go as his gifts to his
cousins of Gonzaga. He has ordered that no cost be spared in the
work, but that the painting thereof be of the best that can be
produced, and the prize he will give is fifty scudi. Now, Maestro
Benedetto, having known some time, it seems, of this order, has
had made in readiness several large oval dishes and beautiful big-
bellied jars: he gives one of each to each of his pupils,--to
myself, to Berengario, to Tito, and Zenone. The master is sorely
distraught that his eyesight permits him not himself to execute
the duke's commands; but it is no secret that should one of us be
so fortunate as to win the duke's approbation, the painter who
does so shall become his partner here and shall have the hand of
Pacifica. Some say that he has only put forth this promise as a
stimulus to get the best work done of which his bottega is
capable; but I know Maestro Benedetto too well to deem him guilty
of any such evasion. What he has said, he will carry out; if the
vase and the dish win the duke's praise, they will also win
Pacifica. Now you see, 'Faello mine, why I am so bitterly sad of
heart, for I am a good craftsman enough at the wheel and the
furnace, and I like not ill the handling and the moulding of the
clay, but at the painting of the clay I am but a tyro, and
Berengario or even the little Zenone will beat me; of that I am
sure.
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