Codogno 241 



had had my little girl with me; I could not help picturing her 

 by my side, supposing the expressions of her pleasure, and giving 

 an imaginary presence to her smiles, her inquiries, and her 

 enjoyment. In truth it was better adapted to her age than to 

 nine. — 20 miles. 



12th. I had brought a letter to a Signore Mayer, lieutenant of 

 aagoons, who yesterday, when I waited on him, introduced me 

 to the Cavaliere Don Bassiano Bona Noma, who promised to 

 find a person this morning for conducting me to a celebrated 

 dairy of his near Lodi ; h'e was as good as his word, and by his 

 means I was introduced into two dairies, one of 90 cows, and 

 assisted in making the cheese. In the afternoon to Codogno, 

 through fifteen miles of dead flat, of singular aspect; it is inter- 

 sected by ditches, without hedges, but a row of pollard poplars 

 and willows on each side. The head of these trees form a wood- 

 land, as the fields are very small, and looking through the stems 

 under the covert of their heads is something like the prints I 

 have seen of the forests of Tasso, but without the wildness 

 or enchantment. The inhabitants here are neither witches_, 

 nymphs, nor knights, but cows and frogs : the music of the latter 

 not quite so agreeable as last night's warblings of Senesino. In 

 truth this country is better for these two animals than for man. 

 The whole is a water sponge; the ditches innumerable; now 

 water, now mud ; the climate hot; and ventilation excluded by 

 a crowd of aquatics. I figured sickness and disease in every 

 quarter : and the want of scattered habitations renders the whole 

 silent and solitary, in spite of a considerable population, that is 

 concealed by the endless pollards. Willows, ditches, mud, and 

 frogs ! these are features in perfect contrast to the scenes of 

 last night! yet they are attended by a fertility that gives 

 warbling to the throat and quivering to the fantastic toe of 

 beauty. At Codogno waited on Signore Bignami, a considerable 

 cheese-merchant. I was in luck; a numerous company spent 

 the evening with him, from whom he selected a party that were 

 well acquainted with grass and cows; and retiring into another 

 apartment, they had the goodness, with him and his son, to 

 dedicate some time to the satisf^nng of my inquiries; and I 

 should be very backward if I did not observe that the free and 

 agreeable manner in which they did it proves equally their 

 liberality and politeness. Codogno is a neat little town of about 

 eight thousand people. And note (for the thing is extraordinary), 

 an opera here too ; another new-built theatre, of this year. It is 

 not so large, or so much decorated as that of Lodi, but the form 



