imagination alone can penetrate; and I easily conceive that neither the
inhabitants nor the strangers who visit it, are disgusted with Rome, by
the species of peril to which they are exposed there during the most
beautiful seasons of the year."

Book vi.

THE MANNERS AND CHARACTER OF THE ITALIANS.

[Illustration]

Chapter i.

The indecision of Oswald's character, increased by his misfortunes, led
him to dread forming any irrevocable resolve. He had not even dared, in
his state of irresolution, to ask of Corinne the secret of her name and
destiny; nevertheless, his love acquired every day new strength; he
never beheld her without emotion; in company he could hardly quit, even
for an instant, the place where she was seated; she did not speak a word
that he felt not; nor did she experience one moment's sadness or gaiety,
that was not reflected in his countenance. But in the midst of his
admiration and of his love for Corinne, he recollected how little such a
woman agreed with the English manner of living; how much she differed
from the idea which his father had formed of her whom it would be proper
for him to espouse; and all that he said to Corinne partook of the
trouble and constraint which these reflections caused him.

Corinne perceived this too well; but it would have cost her so much to
break off with Lord Nelville, that she herself endeavoured to avoid, as
much as he, a decisive explanation; and as she was not possessed of much
foresight she was happy with the present, such as it was, although it
was impossible for her to know what would be the issue of it.

She had become entirely divided from the world, in order to devote
herself entirely to her passion for Oswald. But at length, so much
affected was she at his silence with regard to the future, that she
resolved to accept an invitation for a ball to which she had been
pressingly solicited. Nothing is more common at Rome than to leave
society and to appear in it again, alternately, just as the parties feel
it agreeable to themselves: it is the country where people trouble their
minds the least with what is elsewhere called _gossip_; each one does as
he pleases, without any person enquiring about it, or at least, without
finding in others any obstacle either to his love or his ambition. The
Romans are as inattentive to the conduct of their fellow-countrymen, as
to that of strangers, who pass and repass through their city, the
rendezvous of Eur