by what means,
feels himself relieved. It seemed to me that Captain Alban had come to
point out the only thing I could possibly do; I dressed myself in haste,
and tying all my worldly possessions in a handkerchief I went on board.
Soon afterwards we left the shore, and in the morning we cast anchor in
Orsara, a seaport of Istria. We all landed to visit the city, which would
more properly be called a village. It belongs to the Pope, the Republic
of Venice having abandoned it to the Holy See.

A young monk of the order of the Recollects who called himself Friar
Stephano of Belun, and had obtained a free passage from the devout
Captain Alban, joined me as we landed and enquired whether I felt sick.

"Reverend father, I am unhappy."

"You will forget all your sorrow, if you will come and dine with me at
the house of one of our devout friends."

I had not broken my fast for thirty-six hours, and having suffered much
from sea-sickness during the night, my stomach was quite empty. My erotic
inconvenience made me very uncomfortable, my mind felt deeply the
consciousness of my degradation, and I did not possess a groat! I was in
such a miserable state that I had no strength to accept or to refuse
anything. I was thoroughly torpid, and I followed the monk mechanically.

He presented me to a lady, saying that he was accompanying me to Rome,
where I intend to become a Franciscan. This untruth disgusted me, and
under any other circumstances I would not have let it pass without
protest, but in my actual position it struck me as rather comical. The
good lady gave us a good dinner of fish cooked in oil, which in Orsara is
delicious, and we drank some exquisite refosco. During our meal, a priest
happened to drop in, and, after a short conversation, he told me that I
ought not to pass the night on board the tartan, and pressed me to accept
a bed in his house and a good dinner for the next day in case the wind
should not allow us to sail; I accepted without hesitation. I offered my
most sincere thanks to the good old lady, and the priest took me all over
the town. In the evening, he brought me to his house where we partook of
an excellent supper prepared by his housekeeper, who sat down to the
table with us, and with whom I was much pleased. The refosco, still
better than that which I had drunk at dinner, scattered all my misery to
the wind, and I conversed gaily with the priest. He offered to read to me
a poem of his own composition,