engulfed and sobered me. Late at night I reached a village at the foot
of the mountains, whose name I don't know, and sought out the only inn
the place boasted--if any place could have been assured enough to boast
of so miserable a shelter. By this time I had walked off my fury and a
great part of my piety. I shall only add of Bologna, which I have never
revisited, that, if it is the duty of a city of the Church to freeze the
faith out of the heart of a son of the Church, then that haughty seat
may boast of having fulfilled it.

My inn was full of French and Savoyard soldiers, recruiting, it was
evident, for their cause or their pockets. War was said to be
threatening between the Holy See and the Grand Duchy: these were the
Pope's allies, roaring, drinking, carding, wenching, and impressing all
travellers who could not pay their way out. Saturnian revels! The
landlord was playing Bacchus, much against his will; the landlady and a
tattered maid were Venus and Hebe by turns; for my own part, shunning to
be Ganymede, I slunk into an outhouse and shared its privacy with some
scared fowls and a drover of the Garfagnana, who, taking me at first for
a crimp, ran at me gibbering with a knife. I pacified him, luckily,
before it was too late, and crouched with him until daylight, expecting
discovery at every outcry. Not until then did the house seem asleep. But
about cockcrow there was a silence as of the dead, and that time was
judged favourable by my companion-in-hiding to get clear away. Knife in
mouth he crept out of cover and went tiptoe by the house. The poor
fellow was crimped at the corner by some wakeful sentry and tied up to
fight the Grand Duke. So I stayed with the fowls until the maid came in
for a victim, which was to supply the lieutenant's breakfast.

Here was my chance. "Madam," says I, and the girl gave a little shriek.
Being desperate, I put an arm round her waist and covered her mouth with