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As he
understood no language but his own, he told them, by the canal of
one of their conductors, that he did not make a practice of showing
his curiosities; but understanding that they were Englishmen, and
recommended to his friends, he was content to submit them to their
perusal. So saying, he led them up a dark stair, into a small room,
decorated with a few paltry figures in plaster of Paris, two or
three miserable landscapes, the skins of an otter, seal, and some
fishes stuffed; and in one corner stood a glass case, furnished
with newts, frogs, lizards, and serpents, preserved in spirits;
a human foetus, a calf with two heads, and about two dozen of
butterflies pinned upon paper.
The virtuoso having exhibited these particulars, eyed the strangers
with a look soliciting admiration and applause; and as he could not
perceive any symptom of either in their gestures or countenances,
withdrew a curtain, and displayed a wainscot chest of drawers, in
which, he gave them to understand, was something that would agreeably
amuse the imagination.


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