The Civetta, or Little Italian Owl. 303 



a wormwood- looking money-monger, seemed determined that 

 myself and my owls, and the rest of my family, should advance 

 no farther. Having lost my letter of credit in the late ship- 

 wreck, and there not having been time, after my return to Rome 

 and my short stay there, to receive another from London, I was 

 furnished, by the bank of Prince Torlonia, with a very warm 

 and complimentary letter of introduction to Passavant of Basle, 

 in case I might fall short of money on my way home; and 

 Prince Canino (Charles Bonaparte), whom I accidentally met 

 in Genoa, gave me another of the same tenour. But all would 

 not do. I only wanted 12/., which, with what I had by me, 

 would have enabled me to reach Cologne, where I could have 

 got any supply of money from the good landlord of the hotel 

 du Rhin. Passavant, to whom I had presented the two letters, 

 and to whom I had given a full account of the unfortunate 

 shipwreck, could not possibly comprehend how I could have 

 the temerity to travel without a regular letter of credit. I 

 offered him my draught on Denison of London. He refused to 

 take it. Would he accept my watch worth forty guineas, in 

 pledge, till my bill should be honoured ? No. He looked at 

 me, and then at the letters, and then at me again ; and said 

 there was something equivocal in the one from Prince Torlonia's 

 bank. He would not advance me a single sous. On making 

 my retiring bow, I told him that, as I was in the habit of writing 

 occasionally on natural history, I would make honourable mention 

 of his great liberality in my next publication, and that, in the 

 meantime, I would send Torlonia a full account of our in- 

 terview. * 



I should have stuck fast for money in Basle, had not Lord 

 Brougham's brother (William Brougham, Esq.) luckily arrived 

 in the town that very day. He immediately advanced me an 

 ample supply. 



All went well after this, until we reached Aix-la-Chapelle. 

 Here, an act of rashness on my part caused a serious diminu- 

 tion in the family. A long journey, and wet weather, had 

 tended to soil the plumage of the little owls; and I deemed 

 it necessary, that they, as well as their master, should have the 

 benefit of a warm bath. Five of them died of cold the same 

 night. A sixth got its thigh broke, I don't know how ; and a 

 seventh breathed its last, without any previous symptoms of in- 

 disposition, about a fortnight after we had arrived at Walton 

 Hall. 



The remaining five have surmounted all casualties, having 

 been well taken care of for eight months. On the 10th of May, 



* Prince Torlonia, on receiving my letter, made Passavant smart severely 

 for his conduct. 



