Coni 227 



we lost the company of the old colonel, his brother, and friend; 

 they went five miles further to the estate of one of them at 

 Centalle. Sup at the table d'hote. Our landlady is a tall well- 

 looking virago ; the officers made love to her with one hand, 

 while they supped with the other. They then asked me a 

 thousand questions about English duelling. Was it in a circle? 

 At what distance ? On horseback ? With what pistols ? etc. — 

 37 miles. 



24/A. The friar and one of the officers proceeded no further; 

 the other and myself for Turin. Leaving Coni, the view from 

 the fortifications of the Alps is very fine; a range of them capped 

 with snow is now seen by us to the left; Mont Viso among them 

 very high. At Centalle we were stopped by the servant of my 

 friend, the colonel, who had orders to conduct us to the house of 

 the cure, to take chocolate. The brother of the colonel is, it 

 seems, cure and archpretre of the parish. It was impossible to be 

 received with more kindness and hospitality than I was here. 

 The colonel started a plan for keeping us to dinner, and his 

 brother immediately begged we would change our intention of 

 sleeping at Carignan for Racconis,^ which would enable us to dine 

 with him. To this we readily assented. I now found that the 

 colonel was the Chevalier Brun, on a visit to his brother, who 

 has built an excellent parsonage-house, as we should call it, at 

 his own expense, and has two cures under him as archpretre ; he 

 has arch-hospitality also; gave us an admirable dinner, well 

 served, and excellent wine, and wished I would make a longer 

 stay. As this was the first Italian house I had been in, except 

 inns, it was interesting enough to me to excite all my curiosity 

 and attention. Expressing a wish to have some conversation 

 with a practical cultivator, they had the goodness to walk with 

 me to the Count de Bonifante, who lives on his own estate here 

 and farms it. I soon found that this nobleman loved the subject, 

 for he seemed to take a pleasure in answering my inquiries. We 

 walked over his, and some of his neighbours' farms for more 

 than two hours; and though my questions were pretty numerous 

 he was so kind as to meet them with the utmost willingness of 

 explanation. If I have many such days as this in Italy, I shall 

 be equally well pleased and informed. Centalle was the residence 

 of the Marquis de Suza. Take my leave of this agreeable and 

 hospitable family, which I shall long remember with pleasure. 

 Pass Savignan, a considerable and pretty town; and what is 

 much better to my eyes, a fine range of level plain, all rich and 



' Racconigi. 



