His success emboldened others, and, ere long,
the buffoon had an admiring audience around him, that was well-disposed to
laugh at his witticisms, and to applaud all his practical jokes. Gaining
courage as he proceeded, the buffoon gradually went from liberty to
liberty, until he was at length triumphantly established on what might be
termed an advanced spur of the mountain formed by the tubs of Nicklaus
Wagner, in the regular exercise of his art; while a crowd of amused and
gaping spectators clustered about him, peopling every eminence of the
height, and even invading the more privileged deck in their eagerness to
see and to admire.
Though frequently reduced by adverse fortune to the lowest shifts of his
calling, such as the horse-play of Policinello, and the imitation of
uncouth sounds, that resembled nothing either in heaven or earth, Pippo
was a clever knave in his way, and was quite equal to a display of the
higher branches of his art, whenever chance gave him an audience capable
of estimating his qualities. On the present occasion he was obliged to
address himself both to the polished and to the unpolished; for the
proximity of their position, as well as a good-natured readiness to lend
themselves to fooleries that were so agreeable to most around them, had
brought the more gentle portion of the passengers within the influence of
his wit.
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