44 
feenes that made all other views of 
nature infipid to his tafte. 
This charming town is the /aloz 
of Italy; but it is a finely propor- 
tioned and well-ornamented /alon, 
happily conftructed to call in the 
frefh air at the end of every ftreet, 
through which a rapid ftream is 
direéted, that ought to carry off all 
nuifances, which here have no apo- 
logy from want of any convenience 
purchafable by money; and which 
mutt for that reafon be the choice 
of inhabitants, who would perhaps 
be too happy, had they a natural 
taite for that neatnefs which might 
here be enjoyed in its purity. The 
arches formed to defend paflengers 
from the rain and fun, which here. 
might have even ferious effeéts from 
their violence, deferve much praife; 
while their architecture, uniting our 
ideas of comfort and beauty to- 
gether, form a traveller’s tafte, and 
teach him to admire that perfe@ion, 
of which a miniature may certain- 
Jy be found at Turin, when once a 
police fhall be eftablifhed there to 
prevent fuch places being ufed for 
the very groffeft purpofes, and pol- 
luted with finells that poifon all 
one’s pleafure. 
MILA N. 
The phrafe of mifref is here 
not confined to fervants at all; gen- 
themen, when they addrefs one, 
cry, mia padrona*, mighty {weetly, 
and in a peculiarly pleafing tone. 
Nothing, to fpeak truth, can ex- 
ceed the agreeablenefs of a well- 
bred Italian’s addrefs when fpeak- 
ing to a lady, whom they alone 
know how to flatter, fo as to retain 
her dignity, and not lofe their own:- 
refpectful, yet tender; attentive, 
not officious; the politenefs of a 
* My miftrefs, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
man of fafhion /ere is true politenefs 
free from all affeétation, and ho- 
neftly expreffive of what_he really 
feels, a true value for the perfon 
{poken to, without the f{malleft de: 
fire of fhining himfeif; equally 
removed from foppery on one 
fide, or indifference on the other. 
The manners of the men here are 
certainly pleafing toa very eminent , 
degree, and in their converfation 
there is a mixture, not unfrequent 
too, of claffical allufions, which 
ftrike one with a fort of literary 
pleafure I cannot eafily deferibé. 
Yet is there no pedantry in their 
ufe of expreffions, which with us 
would be laughable or liable to cen- 
fure: but Roman notions here are 
not quite extinét; and even the 
houfe-maid, or donna di gros, as 
they call her, fwears by Diana {fo 
comically, there is no telling. They 
chriften their boys Fabius, their 
daughters Claudia, very commonly. 
When they mention a thing known, 
as we fay, to Tam o’Styles and Fobn 
o’ Nokes, they ufe the words ¥izxio 
and Sempronio. A lady tells me, 
fhe was at a lofs about thé dance 
yelterday evening, becaufe fhe had 
not been inftruéted in the program- 
ma; and a gentleman, talking of , 
the pleafures he enjoyed fupping 
laft night at a friend’s houfe, ex- 
claims, Eramo pur jeri fera in Ap- 
polline * / alluding to Lucullus’s en- 
tertainment given to Pompey and 
Cicero,. as [ remember, in the 
chamber of Apollo. But here is 
enough of this—more of it, in their 
own pretty phrafe, /eccarebbe pur 
Nettunnot+. : 
We haveall heard much of Italia 
* We paffed yefter evening as if we 
had been in the Apollo. 
+ Would dry up old Neptune him- 
lf, yp ep 
cicifbeifm ; 
