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.
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