the latter had not previously been compelled
to set off for Flanders, as was expected.

Two days after these arrangements were made, Rodaja took leave of the
captain, and in five days from that time he reached Florence, having
first seen Lucca, a city which is small but very well built, and one
where Spaniards are more kindly received and better treated than in any
other part of Italy.

With Florence Rodaja was infinitely delighted, as well for the
pleasantness of its position as for its sumptuous buildings, its fine
river, agreeable streets, and cleanliness of aspect. He remained there
but four days, and then departed for Rome, the queen of cities and
mistress of the world, whose temples he visited, whose relics he adored,
and whose grandeur he admired: and as from the claws of the lion you may
judge of its mass and force, so did Rodaja infer the greatness of Rome
from the fragments of her marbles--her statues, broken or entire--her
arches, fallen or fractured--her baths, crumbled to ruin--her
magnificent porticos and vast amphitheatres--her renowned and holy
river, which ever fills the banks with water to the brim, while it
blesses them with innumerable remains of the martyrs whose bodies have
found a burial beneath its waves. Nor did our traveller fail to estimate
the beauty of the bridges, which one might fancy to be admiring each
other, or the streets, which, by their very names alone, claim authority
and pre-eminence over those of all other cities in the world: the Via
Flaminia, for example, the Via Julia, the Appia, and others of the same
character.

No less was Rodaja satisfied with the division of those hills which
exist within the city itself, the Caelian, the Quirinal, the Vatican, and
the other four, whose very names bear evidence to the Roman greatness
and majesty. He took careful note, moreover, of that authority which
attaches to the College of Cardinals, and of the dignity represented in
the person of the Supreme Pontiff; nor did he suffer to pass unnoticed
that great concourse and variety of men from all nations ever
congregated within the walls of the city.

All these things Rodaja admired, reflected on, and arranged in the order
of their importance; and having made the station of the Seven Churches,
confessed to a Penitentiary, and kissed the feet of his Holiness, he
departed, well loaded with _Agnus Deis_ and legends, determining thence
to proceed to Naples.

But the time was one of important