and live as near as possible to the Venetian borders, so that
the State Inquisitors might satisfy themselves of my good conduct. M.
Zuliani, brother to the Duchess of Fiano, gave me the same advice, and
promised to use all his interest in my behalf.
With the idea of following this counsel I decided to set up my abode at
Trieste, where M. Zaguri told me he had an intimate friend to whom he
would give me a letter of introduction. As I could not go by land without
passing through the States of Venice I resolved to go to Ancona, whence
boats sail to Trieste every day. As I should pass through Pesaro I asked
my patron to give me a letter for the Marquis Mosca, a distinguished man
of letters whom I had long wished to know. Just then he was a good deal
talked about on account of a treatise on alms which he had recently
published, and which the Roman curia had placed on the "Index."
The marquis was a devotee as well as a man of learning, and was imbued
with the doctrine of St. Augustine, which becomes Jansenism if pushed to
an extreme point.
I was sorry to leave Bologna, for I had spent eight pleasant months
there. In two days I arrived at Pesaro in perfect health and well
provided for in every way.
I left my letter with the marquis, and he came to see me the same day. He
said his house would always be open to me, and that he would leave me in
his wife's hands to be introduced to everybody and everything in the
place. He ended by asking me to dine with him the following day, adding
that if I cared to examine his library he could give me an excellent cup
of chocolate.
I went, and saw an enormous collection of comments on the Latin poets
from Ennius to the poets of the twelfth century of our era. He had had
them all printed at his own expense and at his private press, in four
tall folios, very accurately printed but without elegance. I told him my
opinion, and he agreed that I was right.
The want of elegance which had spared him an outlay of a hundred thousand
francs had deprived him of a profit of three hundred thousand.
He presented me with a copy, which he sent to my inn, with an immense
folio volume entitled "Marmora Pisaurentia," which I had no time to
examine.
I was much pleased with the marchioness, who had three daughters and two
sons, all good-looking and well bred.
The marchioness was a woman of the world, while her husband's interests
were confined to his books. This difference in disposition sometim
|