400 A Night at Cuvigliajo. [MAY, 



post-house, having been there disappointed of any accommodation. This 

 was encouraging ! Every one .of the travellers burst into a torrent of 

 exclamations. High German, French, and different shades of Italian 

 blended in one mass of noisy chagrin. The landlord and Papia were 

 alternately the objects of abuse ; the one for having so small a house 

 the other for driving over so hilly a road. But reproaches were vain ; 

 and when, in a spirit of conciliation, mine host proposed a trial of what 

 could be done, the jarring but exhausted spirits were subdued into a 

 temper of comparative moderation. So the trial was made. Passing 

 through the sala, they observed sundry little coteries engaged in the dis- 

 cussion of their evening meal : -one or two bucks from the Tuscan 

 capital (for even Italy has her Bond-street) jolly priests thin French- 

 men, with red ribbons and serving-men, with caps on their heads. 

 This was an evil augury ; but the winds had gathered on the mountain- 

 tops ; and the creaking of panes, through which nothing of the dark 

 scene without could be discerned, warned them not to desert their 

 uncertain cheer for a more uncertain welcome elsewhere. There were 

 two apartments that might be cleared for the use of the new guests : one 

 lately erected, and damp, having a door without a fastening, and, what 

 was worse, a bed without a mosquito-net, was dedicated by common 

 gallantry to the Englishwoman : the other underwent tripartition ; one 

 half was arranged as a supper-room, and two dormitories were established 

 in the residue. With these, the Englishman and the Bolognese pseudo- 

 gentleman were furnished ; the German was content with a chair by the 

 fire ; and the three seamen had no objection to a share in the stable-loft 

 to so low an ambition had necessity turned their desires ! 



Shall I describe the progress of their anomalous supper ? The pro- 

 cession of strange dishes soup and rice, bouilli, pigeons, roast liver, 

 vegetables, cheese, and fruit ! Can I forget the Englishman's amaze, 

 when interrogated whether he ate magro or grasso ; and, by happy 

 chance, pleaded to the latter ? And the insatiate man of manners, 

 who had been to Florence for refinement, how he did exhibit his nobi- 

 lity of soul, by the theft of a hot pigeon, which, in a due envelop of 

 dirty paper, he pocketed for his next matin-meal ! All this passed by, 

 the lady retired ; but the close of the evening was not quite at hand. 

 The German threw in a taste of Justinian's law the Bolognese disputed 

 the flavour of the Parmesan but the vin du pays, which prompted so 

 many rude jokes from two of the marinari, remained untouched by the 

 third, whose reserve was too marked to be long without comment. He 

 sate with a fixed eye, and an expression of deep thought, often broken by 

 a subdued sigh, or other less avowed testimony of inward affliction. His 

 countenance lost the almost childish character which it wore when he 

 engaged in trifling discourse ; and he seemed like one experienced in 

 misfortune, even though unlearned in the usual cunning of years. By 

 degrees, the attention of the whole party was turned to him ; and one 

 had the curiosity to ask whether any recent sorrow was in his mind, that 

 he denied himself the food and the festivity of their common repast ? He 

 replied, in a low voice, that " he had been in some things an unhappy 

 man ; but that the time for remedy was past ; and, as he could not but 

 be a burden to men assembled for a social purpose, he would bid them 

 good morrow, and retire." This was instantly opposed, even by the 

 rough sons of Neptune, now softened by the quiet and unobtrusive 



