etty, and men generally
well-informed, because they have been educated in Naples or in Rome. I
left Cosenza on the third day with a letter from the archbishop for the
far-famed Genovesi.

I had five travelling companions, whom I judged, from their appearance,
to be either pirates or banditti, and I took very good care not to let
them see or guess that I had a well-filled purse. I likewise thought it
prudent to go to bed without undressing during the whole journey--an
excellent measure of prudence for a young man travelling in that part of
the country.

I reached Naples on the 16th of September, 1743, and I lost no time in
presenting the letter of the Bishop of Martorano. It was addressed to a
M. Gennaro Polo at St. Anne's. This excellent man, whose duty was only to
give me the sum of sixty ducats, insisted, after perusing the bishop's
letter, upon receiving me in his house, because he wished me to make the
acquaintance of his son, who was a poet like myself. The bishop had
represented my poetry as sublime. After the usual ceremonies, I accepted
his kind invitation, my trunk was sent for, and I was a guest in the
house of M. Gennaro Polo.

CHAPTER IX

My Stay in Naples; It Is Short but Happy--Don Antonio
Casanova--Don Lelio Caraffa--I Go to Rome in Very Agreeable
Company, and Enter the Service of Cardinal Acquaviva--
Barbara--Testaccio--Frascati

[Illustration: 1c09.jpg

I had no difficulty in answering the various questions which Doctor
Gennaro addressed to me, but I was surprised, and even displeased, at the
constant peals of laughter with which he received my answers. The piteous
description of miserable Calabria, and the picture of the sad situation
of the Bishop of Martorano, appeared to me more likely to call forth
tears than to excite hilarity, and, suspecting that some mystification
was being played upon me, I was very near getting angry when, becoming
more composed, he told me with feeling that I must kindly excuse him;
that his laughter was a disease which seemed to be endemic in his family,
for one of his uncles died of it.

"What!" I exclaimed, "died of laughing!"

"Yes. This disease, which was not known to Hippocrates, is called li
flati."

"What do you mean? Does an hypochondriac affection, which causes sadness
and lowness in all those who suffer from it, render you cheerful?"

"Yes, because, most likely, my flati, instead of influencing the
hypochondrium, affects my