BELLEZZA, TRAGEDIA, FORZA

Some, though not all, readers will be aware of a choice piece of British folklore — an eternally entertaining dinner party gem — concerning a monkey that during the Napoleonic wars was tried and hanged in the town of Hartlepool in north-east England. The simian in question was the only survivor of a shipwreck, and, having been dressed in a French military uniform for the crew’s amusement, was presumed — by folk who’d never set eyes on either a monkey or a Gallic person — to be a spy from across la Manche.

I mention this because it’s the only equivalent I can think of — in terms of a person setting eyes upon another