222 A SKETCH OF THE 



good knight one reads about, but never sees. The vision while it 

 lasted was delightful, and was, so we subsecjuently learnt, connected 

 with a masked ball, to be held in the theatre that night. After 

 parading through the town, the troop came back, and, much to my 

 satisfaction, dismounted close to where we stood. I went up to one 

 of them to see if he was really flesh and blood and not a vision, when 

 suddenly he reeled against the wall, clutched at the bricks to find 

 support, at the same time giving me a vacant stare. I looked no 

 more ; for, whatever may have been the condition of his comrades, 

 now turning into a low-roofed tavern, this man was clearly drunk. 

 Truly, I thought, here in Italy as in England, wine is not only used 

 to give a man a cheerful countenance. Nor was this opinion 

 dispelled later by the sounds of revelry, borne on the night air 

 through my open window at the hotel, from the distant low-roofed 

 tavern. 



Next morning, before starting for our walk of thirty miles to 

 Alassio, we went to the railway station in order to send on our own 

 luggage, and we were met by a ragged-looking fellow, whom we 

 thought had come to beg ; but he took us into the office, wrote 

 out receipts, and did the honours of the place. In fact, as my 

 companion, who has been in Australia, remarked, he was evidently 

 " head boss " there. He presided over a bookstall also, where the 

 only publication for sale was a penny paper, illustrated with a full- 

 page engraving of a horse, labelled " Afganistan,'" kicking its heels 

 into the air, whilst its rider was sprawling in the dust below. 

 Underneath was the legend, " John Bull, Viwmo che voleva scendere 

 di sella." 



Directly we were fairly on our way we had the pleasure of seeing 

 several plants which we had not seen wild before. High up among 

 the crevices of the rocks were mauve-coloured stocks, beautifully 

 conspicuous against a background of yellow, stone. Near them 

 were wild cabbages in flower clinging to the precipice, and causing 

 us to wonder how the seed could possibly have got there, and how 

 the roots found sufficient nourishment to support their numerous 



