DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0032
14
the very summit of the Infrescata, a hill in the suburbs,
which derives its appellation from the salubrity of the at-
mosphere.
In my rambles after new quarters, tedious anywhere, but
more so here, where no bills in the windows guide your en-
quiries, I was shewn to the house, or, as they called it, the
palace of a private gentleman. To you, as a geometrician,
it will not be matter of surprise to find every house with a
great gate, styled palace, in a city where, as I have already
informed you, our humble Sir is translated into Eccellen?:a ;
for—
Sir to Eccellenza, so House to Palace.-Euclid.
Indeed Euclid was perfectly at home in this palace, as you
shall see presently. The private gentleman received me
with Neapolitan politeness (c’est tout dit), regretted infi-
nitely that his apartments were still in the occupancy of a
Signore Moscovita ; but assured me, that such was bis par-
tiality to the British nation, and his knowledge of their gene-
rosity and noble manner of acting, that he should contrive
to put me in possession of the apartments in a week or ten
days, the time necessary to give warning to the Russian
gentleman. This most generous offer being civilly declined
on my side, he added that, at all events, in less than three
weeks, the gentleman would set off for Rome, when I might
without scruple become his inmate. During this conversa-
tion, a lady, of about 17 or 18, was occupied at another
table in executing an academical drawing. On admiring
her proficiency, Donna Nicoletta was introduced as the
daughter of the owner of the house. She was employed on
a copy of the Earnesian Hercules, the original of which I
have since seen in the Regii Studii; and the young artist
had faithfully copied rude antiquity in all its parts, owing
probably to her having taken the design previously to the
visit
the very summit of the Infrescata, a hill in the suburbs,
which derives its appellation from the salubrity of the at-
mosphere.
In my rambles after new quarters, tedious anywhere, but
more so here, where no bills in the windows guide your en-
quiries, I was shewn to the house, or, as they called it, the
palace of a private gentleman. To you, as a geometrician,
it will not be matter of surprise to find every house with a
great gate, styled palace, in a city where, as I have already
informed you, our humble Sir is translated into Eccellen?:a ;
for—
Sir to Eccellenza, so House to Palace.-Euclid.
Indeed Euclid was perfectly at home in this palace, as you
shall see presently. The private gentleman received me
with Neapolitan politeness (c’est tout dit), regretted infi-
nitely that his apartments were still in the occupancy of a
Signore Moscovita ; but assured me, that such was bis par-
tiality to the British nation, and his knowledge of their gene-
rosity and noble manner of acting, that he should contrive
to put me in possession of the apartments in a week or ten
days, the time necessary to give warning to the Russian
gentleman. This most generous offer being civilly declined
on my side, he added that, at all events, in less than three
weeks, the gentleman would set off for Rome, when I might
without scruple become his inmate. During this conversa-
tion, a lady, of about 17 or 18, was occupied at another
table in executing an academical drawing. On admiring
her proficiency, Donna Nicoletta was introduced as the
daughter of the owner of the house. She was employed on
a copy of the Earnesian Hercules, the original of which I
have since seen in the Regii Studii; and the young artist
had faithfully copied rude antiquity in all its parts, owing
probably to her having taken the design previously to the
visit