li followed the opposite course,
and was no better obeyed. To avoid suspicion I did not give the pair any
present, but I gave up my landau to them that they might enjoy the
carnival on the Corso, and I told Costa to get them a box at the
Capranica Theatre. Momolo asked me to supper on Shrove Tuesday.

I wished to leave Rome on the second day of Lent, and I called on the
Holy Father at a time when all Rome was on the Corso. His Holiness
welcomed me most graciously, and said he was surprised that I had not
gone to see the sights on the Corso like everybody else. I replied that
as a lover of pleasure I had chosen the greatest pleasure of all for a
Christian--namely, to kneel at the feet of the vicar of Christ on earth.
He bowed with a kind of majestic humility, which shewed me how the
compliment had pleased him. He kept me for more than an hour, talking
about Venice, Padua, and Paris, which latter city the worthy man would
not have been sorry to have visited. I again commended myself to his
apostolic intercession to enable me to return to my native country, and
he replied,--

"Have recourse to God, dear son; His grace will be more efficacious than
my prayers;" and then he blessed me and wished me a prosperous journey.

I saw that the Head of the Church had no great opinion of his own power.

On Shrove Tuesday I dressed myself richly in the costume of Polichinello,
and rode along the Corso showering sweetmeats on all the pretty women I
saw. Finally I emptied the basket on the daughters of the worthy
'scopatore', whom Costa was taking about in my landau with all the
dignity of a pasha.

At night-time I took off my costume and went to Momolo's, where I
expected to see dear Mariuccia for the last time. Supper passed off in
almost a similar manner to the supper of last Sunday; but there was an
interesting novelty for me--namely, the sight of my beloved mistress in
her character of bride. Her husband seemed to be much more reserved with
respect to me than at our first meeting. I was puzzled by his behaviour,
and sat down by Mariuccia and proceeded to question her. She told me all
the circumstances which had passed on the first night, and she spoke
highly of her husband's good qualities. He was kind, amorous,
good-tempered, and delicate. No doubt he must have noticed that the
casket had been opened, but he had said nothing about it. As he had
spoken about me, she had not been able to resist the pleasure of telling
him that I