DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0434
388
mediate departure, requested as the last favour at his
hands, that he would put me in the way of finding a con-
veyance to Rome.—“ What,” exclaimed he, “ I provide
the means of rendering us miserable? Nay, Signor Don
Luigi, tins is too much to ask, though I might, had you no
other friends in town, be perhaps prevailed upon to do even
thus much, rather than see you fall nfo rascally hands. No,
no, go to your English acquaintances, ask your fuori-grotla
jockies*, they will not be at a loss to pack you off from us.”
—With these, words, uttered in the tremulous accent of
deep emotion, Don Michele left the room.
Strongly moved as I myself felt by this scene, and nearly
wavering in my determination, I took the advice of the honest
Calabrese in good earnest, and, at the recommendation of a
friend in the city, engaged with the master of a single horse
chaise to take me to Rome in three easy day’s-journies, for
which, inclusive of the keep of the horse and driver, I agreed
in writing to pay twenty-five ducats f.
The bargain was scarcely struck, when captain N. made
his appearance at my quarters to inform me that he had
altered his mind, and that, if it could still be done, he
would gladly accompany me as far as London. As the cause
of this change in his resolution he stated, that on going to
his inn the day before, he found his intended fellow-travel-
lers, the two French messengers, tooth-and-nail engaged in
a quarrel about some woman, and finally challenging each
other to fight. Although the captain’s arrival and inter-
ference caused a suspension of hostilities, and an apparent
reconciliation, he nevertheless wisely considered the proba-
bility of similar scenes occurring in thecourse of their journey,
between
* English friends of the author’s, who occasionally amused themselves in horse-races
on the Sea-beach, outside of the Grotta of Posilipo.
+ Not quite fiv<* pounds.
mediate departure, requested as the last favour at his
hands, that he would put me in the way of finding a con-
veyance to Rome.—“ What,” exclaimed he, “ I provide
the means of rendering us miserable? Nay, Signor Don
Luigi, tins is too much to ask, though I might, had you no
other friends in town, be perhaps prevailed upon to do even
thus much, rather than see you fall nfo rascally hands. No,
no, go to your English acquaintances, ask your fuori-grotla
jockies*, they will not be at a loss to pack you off from us.”
—With these, words, uttered in the tremulous accent of
deep emotion, Don Michele left the room.
Strongly moved as I myself felt by this scene, and nearly
wavering in my determination, I took the advice of the honest
Calabrese in good earnest, and, at the recommendation of a
friend in the city, engaged with the master of a single horse
chaise to take me to Rome in three easy day’s-journies, for
which, inclusive of the keep of the horse and driver, I agreed
in writing to pay twenty-five ducats f.
The bargain was scarcely struck, when captain N. made
his appearance at my quarters to inform me that he had
altered his mind, and that, if it could still be done, he
would gladly accompany me as far as London. As the cause
of this change in his resolution he stated, that on going to
his inn the day before, he found his intended fellow-travel-
lers, the two French messengers, tooth-and-nail engaged in
a quarrel about some woman, and finally challenging each
other to fight. Although the captain’s arrival and inter-
ference caused a suspension of hostilities, and an apparent
reconciliation, he nevertheless wisely considered the proba-
bility of similar scenes occurring in thecourse of their journey,
between
* English friends of the author’s, who occasionally amused themselves in horse-races
on the Sea-beach, outside of the Grotta of Posilipo.
+ Not quite fiv<* pounds.