"The Englishman had been twelve hours at Naples, and had done the three things that are most expressly forbidden to be done there. He had abused the king, copied frescoes, and stolen a statue, and all owing, not to his money, but to the ingenuity of a lazzarone."
The lazzarone is a godsend for M. Dumas, an admirable peg upon which to hang his quaint conceit and sly satire; and he is accordingly frequently introduced in the course of the three volumes. We must make room for one more extract, in which he figures in conjunction with his friend the sbirro or gendarme, who before being invested with a uniform, and armed with carbine, pistols, and sabre, has frequently been a lazzarone himself, and usually preserves the instincts and tastes of his former station. The result of this is a coalition between the lazzarone and the sbirro—law-breaker and law-preserver uniting in a systematic attack upon the pockets of the public.
"I was one day passing down the Toledo, when I saw a sbirro arrested. Like La Fontaine's huntsman, he had been insatiable, and his greediness brought its own punishment. This is what had happened.
"A sbirro had caught a lazzarone in the fact.
"'What did you steal from that gentleman in black, who just went by?' he demanded he.
"'Nothing, your excellency,' replied the lazzarone. A lazzarone always addresses a sbirro as eccellenza.
"'I saw your hand in his pocket.'
"'His pocket was empty.'
"'What! Not a purse, a snuff-box, a handkerchief?'
"'Nothing, please your excellency. It was an author.'