throughout southern Europe as an ingredient only for the apothecary's
keeping; nor was it often to be found among his stores; and the
_convives_ used, as a substitute, large draughts of the pleasant
mountain liquors of the adjacent main, which produced an excitement
scarcely greater, while it may be questioned if it did as much injury to
the health. The stranger, however, both ate and drank sparingly, for,
while he affected to join cordially in the discourse and the business of
_restoration_, he greatly desired to be at liberty to pursue his
own designs.

Andrea Barrofaldi did not let so excellent an opportunity to show his
acquirements to the podestà go by neglected. He talked much of England,
its history, its religion, government, laws, climate, and industry;
making frequent appeals to the Capitano Smees for the truth of his
opinions. In most cases the parties agreed surprisingly, for the
stranger started with a deliberate intention to assent to everything;
but even this compliant temper had its embarrassments, since the
vice-governatore so put his interrogatories as occasionally to give to
acquiescence the appearance of dissent. The other floundered through his
difficulties tolerably well, notwithstanding; and so successful was he,
in particular, in flattering Andrea's self-love by expressions of
astonishment that a foreigner should understand his own country so
well--better, indeed, in many respects, than he understood it
himself--and that he should be so familiar with its habits,
institutions, and geography, that, by the time the flask was emptied,
the superior functionary whispered to his inferior, that the stranger
manifested so much information and good sense, he should not be
surprised if he turned out, in the long run, to be some secret agent of
the British government, employed to make philosophical inquiries as to
the trade and navigation of Italy, with a view to improve the business