Volume VI Part 94 (2/2)

I hastened to speak

”It's entleht think me contraband”

The consul answered wittily that I was not contraband but in quarantine, pending my return to my native land; and that in the meanwhile his house would always be open to me, as had been the house of the Venetian consul at Ancona

In thisabout me, and I was not at all sorry for it

Marco Monti, such was the consul's name, was a reat conversationalist, fond of telling arave face--in fact,of a 'conteur'anecdotes In spite of his thirty additional years I was a tolerable match for hi to kill the tiood deal by his offices during the two years I spent in Trieste, and I have always thought that he had a considerable share in obtaining reat object in those days; I was a victiia, or home sickness

With the Swiss and the Sclavs it is really a fatal disease, which carries them off if they are not sent home immediately Germans are subject to this weakness also; whilst the French suffer very little, and Italians not much more from the complaint

No rule, however, lacks its exception, and I was one I daresay I should have got over ia if I had treated it with contempt, and then I should not have wasted ten years of my life in the bosouri at the consul's, and I was invited to dine with the governor, Count Auersperg, the next day

The visit froreat consideration I was no longer looked upon as an exile, but as one who had successfully escaped froal confineuri to Gorice, where he stayed three days to enjoy the hospitality of the nobility I was included in all their invitations, and I saw that a stranger could live very pleasantly at Gorice

I met there a certain Count Cobenzl, who enerosity, and the vastest learning, and yet without any kind of pretention He gave a State dinner to M Zaguri, and I had the pleasure ofladies I also met Count Tomes, a Spaniard whose father was in in the Austrian service He had ly as hiirl in spite of her plainness; she evidently got her character froly and squinted, was a kind of pleasant ate, a boaster, and totally devoid of discretion In spite of these defects he was ood tale and h If he had been a student, he would have been a distinguished scholar, as his ree my ”History of Poland” I also met at Gorice a Count Coronini, as known in learned circles as the author of some Latin treatises on diploreed that he was a very learnedman named Morelli, who had written a history of the place and was on the point of publishi+ng the first volu me to make any corrections that struck ave hile note or alteration of any kind, and thus he becareat friend of Count Francis Charles Coronini, as aable to agree they had separated and he passed his ti the papers, literary and political He laughed at those sages who declared that there was not one really happy person in the world, and he supported his denial by the unanswerable dictum:

”I myself am perfectly happy”

However, as he died of a tue of thirty-five, he probably acknowledged hisas a perfectly happy or perfectly unhappy man in the world One has more happiness in his life and another more unhappiness, and the same circumstance may produce widely different effects on individuals of different temperaments

It is not a fact that virtue ensures happiness for the exercise of so is incompatible with happiness

My readers may be aware that I am not inclined toItto have a clear conscience, but I cannot see that it would at all relieve the pangs of hunger

Baron Pittoni and uri to the Venetian border, and we then returned to Trieste together

In three or four days Pittoni tookthe club where none but persons of distinction were ad

Ast the ladies, the uelin, as a Swabian by birth

Pittoni was in love with her and continued so till her death His suit lasted for twelve years, and like Petrarch, he still sighed, still hoped, but never succeeded Her name was Zanetta, and besides her beauty she had the charer and a polished hostess

Stillsweetness and equability of her disposition

I did not want to know her long before recognizing that she was absolutely inable I told Pittoni so, but all in vain; he still fed on eh no one would have judged so from her appearance, but it ell known to be the case She died at an early age

A few days after M Zaguri's departure, I had a note froined for this advice, for M Morosini was a personage of the greatest importance He had known me from childhood, and the reader may remember that he had presented me to Marshal Richelieu, at Fontainebleau, in 1750