above
thirty miles in circumference, having three islands, abounding with
excellent fish: upon a peninsula of it, there is a town and castle. It
was in this neighbourhood where the consul Flaminius was totally
defeated with great slaughter by Hannibal. From Perugia to Florence,
the posts are all double, and the road is so bad that we never could
travel above eight and twenty miles a day. We were often obliged to
quit the carriage, and walk up steep mountains; and the way in general
was so unequal and stony, that we were jolted even to the danger of our
lives. I never felt any sort of exercise or fatigue so intolerable; and
I did not fail to bestow an hundred benedictions per diem upon the
banker Barazzi, by whose advice we had taken this road; yet there was
no remedy but patience. If the coach had not been incredibly strong, it
must have been shattered to pieces. The fifth night we passed at a
place called Camoccia, a miserable cabaret, where we were fain to cook
our own supper, and lay in a musty chamber, which had never known a
fire, and indeed had no fire-place, and where we ran the risque of
being devoured by rats. Next day one of the irons of the coach gave way
at Arezzo, where we were detained two hours before it could be
accommodated. I might have taken this opportunity to view the remains
of the antient Etruscan amphitheatre, and the temple of Hercules,
described by the cavalier Lorenzo Guazzesi, as standing in the
neighbourhood of this place: but the blacksmith assured me his work
would be finished in a few minutes; and as I had nothing so much at
heart as the speedy accomplishment of this disagreeable journey, I
chose to suppress my curiosity, rather than be the occasion of a
moment's delay. But all the nights we had hitherto passed were
comfortable in comparison to this, which we suffered at a small
village, the name of which I do not remember. The house was dismal and
dirty beyond all description; the bed-cloaths filthy enough to turn the
stomach of a muleteer; and the victuals cooked in such a manner, that
even a Hottentot could not have beheld them without loathing. We had
sheets of our own, which were spread upon a mattrass, and here I took
my repose wrapped in a greatcoat, if that could be called repose which
was interrupted by the innumerable stings of vermin. In the morning, I
was seized with a dangerous fit of hooping-cough, which terrified my
wife, alarmed my people, and brought the whole community in