its exception, and I was one. I daresay I should
have got over my nostalgia if I had treated it with contempt, and then I
should not have wasted ten years of my life in the bosom of my cruel
stepmother Venice.

I dined with M. Zaguri at the consul's, and I was invited to dine with
the governor, Count Auersperg, the next day.

The visit from a Venetian 'avogador' made me a person of great
consideration. I was no longer looked upon as an exile, but as one who
had successfully escaped from illegal confinement.

The day after I accompanied M. Zaguri to Gorice, where he stayed three
days to enjoy the hospitality of the nobility. I was included in all
their invitations, and I saw that a stranger could live very pleasantly
at Gorice.

I met there a certain Count Cobenzl, who may be alive now--a man of
wisdom, generosity, and the vastest learning, and yet without any kind of
pretention. He gave a State dinner to M. Zaguri, and I had the pleasure
of meeting there three or four most charming ladies. I also met Count
Tomes, a Spaniard whose father was in in the Austrian service. He had
married at sixty, and had five children all as ugly as himself. His
daughter was a charming girl in spite of her plainness; she evidently got
her character from the mother's side. The eldest son, who was ugly and
squinted, was a kind of pleasant madman, but he was also a liar, a
profligate, a boaster, and totally devoid of discretion. In spite of
these defects he was much sought after in society as he told a good tale
and made people laugh. If he had been a student, he would have been a
distinguished scholar, as his memory was prodigious. He it was who vainly
guaranteed the agreement I made with Valerio Valeri for printing my
"History of Poland." I also met at Gorice a Count Coronini, who was known
in learned circles as the author of some Latin treatises on diplomacy.
Nobody read his books, but everybody agreed that he was a very learned
man.

I also met a young man named Morelli, who had written a history of the
place and was on the point of publishing the first volume. He gave me his
MS. begging me to make any corrections that struck me as desirable. I
succeeded in pleasing him, as I gave him back his work without a single
note or alteration of any kind, and thus he became my friend.

I became a great friend of Count Francis Charles Coronini, who was a man
of talents. He had married a Belgian lady, but not being able to agree
they had separ