My Wife And I Were Immediately Accommodated With Dry
Stockings And Shoes, A Warm Apartment, And A Good Supper, Which I
Ate With Great Satisfaction, Arising Not Only From Our Having
Happily Survived The Adventure, But Also From A Conviction That
My Strength And Constitution Were Wonderfully Repaired:
Not but
that I still expected a severe cold, attended with a terrible fit
of the asthma:
But in this I was luckily disappointed. I now for
the first time drank to the health of my physician Barazzi, fully
persuaded that the hardships and violent exercise I underwent by
following his advice, had greatly contributed to the re-establishment
of my health. In this particular, I imitate the
gratitude of Tavernier, who was radically cured of the gout by a
Turkish aga in Aegypt, who gave him the bastinado, because he
would not look at the head of the bashaw of Cairo, which the aga
had in a bag, to be presented to the grand signior at
Constantinople.
I did not expect to see the rest of our company that night, as I
never doubted but they would stay with the coach at the inn on
the other side of the Arno: but at mid-night we were joined by
Miss C - and Mr. R - , who had left the carriage at the inn, under
the auspices of the captain and my servant, and followed our
foot-steps by walking from the ferry-boat to Florence, conducted
by one of the boatmen. Mr. R - seemed to be much ruffled and
chagrined; but, as he did not think proper to explain the cause,
he had no right to expect that I should give him satisfaction
for some insult he had received from my servant. They had been
exposed to a variety of disagreeable adventures from the
impracticability of the road. The coach had been several times in
the most imminent hazard of being lost with all our baggage; and
at one place, it was necessary to hire a dozen of oxen, and as
many men, to disengage it from the holes into which it had run.
It was in the confusion of these adventures, that the captain and
his valet, Mr. R - and my servant, had like to have gone all by
the ears together. The peace was with difficulty preserved by the
interposition of Miss C - , who suffered incredibly from cold and
wet, terror, vexation, and fatigue: yet happily no bad
consequence ensued. The coach and baggage were brought safely
into Florence next morning, when all of us found ourselves well
refreshed, and in good spirits. I am afraid this is not the case
with you, who must by this time be quite jaded with this long
epistle, which shall therefore be closed without further ceremony
by, - Yours always.
LETTER XXXV
NICE, March 20, 1765.
DEAR SIR, - The season being far advanced, and the weather growing
boisterous, I made but a short stay at Florence, and set out for
Pisa, with full resolution to take the nearest road to Lerici,
where we proposed to hire a felucca for Genoa.
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