n perfect good faith with everybody. He
thought that the art of a scribe solely consisted in possessing a good
hand, and that the fairest writer would be the best scribe. He said as
much while he was examining a paper I had written, and as my writing was
not as legible as his he tacitly told me I was his inferior, and that I
should therefore treat him with some degree of respect. I laughed at this
fad, and, not thinking him incorrigible I took him into my service. If it
had not been for that odd notion of his I should probably have merely
given him a louis, and no more. He said that spelling was of no
consequence, as those who knew how to spell could easily guess the words,
while those who did not know were unable to pick out the mistakes. I
laughed, but as I said nothing he thought the laugh signified approval.
In the dictation I gave him the Council of Trent happened to occur.
According to his system he wrote Trent by a three and a nought. I burst
out laughing; but he was not in the least put out, only remarking that
the pronunciation being the same it was of no consequence how the word
was spelt. In point of fact this lad was a fool solely through his
intelligence, matched with ignorance and unbounded self-confidence. I was
pleased with his originality and kept him, and was thus the greater fool
of the two, as the reader will see.

I left Avignon next day, and went straight to Marseilles, not troubling
to stop at Aix. I halted at the "Treize Cantons," wishing to stay for a
week at least in this ancient colony of the Phocaeans, and to do as I
liked there. With this idea I took no letter of introduction; I had
plenty of money, and needed nobody's help. I told my landlord to give me
a choice fish dinner in my own room, as I was aware that the fish in
those parts is better than anywhere else.

I went out the next morning with a guide, to take me back to the inn when
I was tired of walking. Not heeding where I went, I reached a fine quay;
I thought I was at Venice again, and I felt my bosom swell, so deeply is
the love of fatherland graven on the heart of every good man. I saw a
number of stalls where Spanish and Levantine wines were kept, and a
number of people drinking in them. A crowd of business men went hither
and thither, running up against each other, crossing each other's paths,
each occupied with his own business, and not caring whose way he got
into. Hucksters, well dressed and ill dressed, women, pretty and pla