LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 107 



" I am very averse to Italian cooking in general. We had a dish 

 one day, which, by its appearance and the sliminess of its sauce, I 

 took to be a compound of cat arid snail. When I shrugged up my 

 shoulders at it, and refused to take it on my plate, as the waiter pre- 

 sented it to me, I could perceive by the expression of his face, that 

 the scoundrel pitied my want of taste. 



" At the town of Monsilice, there was nothing in the way of Natural 

 History. On our way there, I observed a fair sprinkling of carrion 

 crows, but nothing more. 



" The morning on which we left Monsilice for Bologna was dark 

 and gloomy, but towards noon the sun broke out in all his glory. 

 Butterflies and wasps were on the wing, even though we were in the 

 month of November and I could perceive cats sunning themselves 

 at the windows of the houses on the side of the road. Finches and 

 sparrows were not uncommon, but not a crow, nor a daw, nor a mag- 

 pie could be observed. Plenty of more than usually large turkeys, 

 evidently of this year's breed, were in great abundance ; and very 

 numerous also were dunghill fowls in the adjacent fields, and at the 

 barn-doors of the farm houses. Dogs, upon the whole, seemed scarce, 

 teal and widgeons in abundance. 



" Whilst in this city, the Marquis Fransoni, eldest brother of the 

 Cardinal, gave us an introduction to the Church, where, in an ad- 

 joining apartment, is kept the incorrupt body of St Catharine of 

 Bologna. We saw it, and we had the finest opportunity of examin- 

 ing it with great attention. 



" At Rimini, now celebrated for its miraculous picture of the 

 Blessed Virgin, we could see the larger and the smaller species of 

 bats, on wing, as the night set in. Here, again, large turkeys and 

 common fowls were most numerous. The horses are no great 

 things, but there are potent mules and asses. Some of the carts 

 cut a droll appearance, 'by having three beasts abreast, closely allied 

 to each other, but not forming one distinct family. Thus, you would 

 see a horse harnessed on one side, and an ass on the other, whilst 

 the middle place was occupied by the mule, their strong and stubborn 

 half-brother. The oxen are nearly all one colour. They are docile, 

 large and beautiful. Animals, ' sine fraude dolisque.' Huge fat red 

 pigs, some of them with white faces, might be seen, well packed in 



