The old man rose up to meet me, and with a respectful cordiality
would have me sit down at the table; my heart was set down the
moment I enter'd the room; so I sat down at once like a son of the
family; and to invest myself in the character as speedily as I
could, I instantly borrowed the old man's knife, and taking up the
loaf, cut myself a hearty luncheon; and, as I did it, I saw a
testimony in every eye, not only of an honest welcome, but of a
welcome mix'd with thanks that I had not seem'd to doubt it.
Was it this? or tell me, Nature, what else it was that made this
morsel so sweet, - and to what magic I owe it, that the draught I
took of their flagon was so delicious with it, that they remain
upon my palate to this hour?
If the supper was to my taste, - the grace which followed it was
much more so.
THE GRACE.
When supper was over, the old man gave a knock upon the table with
the haft of his knife, to bid them prepare for the dance: the
moment the signal was given, the women and girls ran altogether
into a back apartment to tie up their hair, - and the young men to
the door to wash their faces, and change their sabots; and in three
minutes every soul was ready upon a little esplanade before the
house to begin. - The old man and his wife came out last, and
placing me betwixt them, sat down upon a sofa of turf by the door.
The old man had some fifty years ago been no mean performer upon
the vielle, - and at the age he was then of, touch'd it well enough
for the purpose. His wife sung now and then a little to the tune,-
-then intermitted, - and join'd her old man again, as their children
and grand-children danced before them.
It was not till the middle of the second dance, when, from some
pauses in the movements, wherein they all seemed to look up, I
fancied I could distinguish an elevation of spirit different from
that which is the cause or the effect of simple jollity. In a
word, I thought I beheld Religion mixing in the dance: - but, as I
had never seen her so engaged, I should have look'd upon it now as
one of the illusions of an imagination which is eternally
misleading me, had not the old man, as soon as the dance ended,
said, that this was their constant way; and that all his life long
he had made it a rule, after supper was over, to call out his
family to dance and rejoice; believing, he said, that a cheerful
and contented mind was the best sort of thanks to heaven that an
illiterate peasant could pay, -
Or a learned prelate either, said I.
THE CASE OF DELICACY.
When you have gained the top of Mount Taurira, you run presently
down to Lyons: - adieu, then, to all rapid movements! 'Tis a
journey of caution; and it fares better with sentiments, not to be
in a hurry with them; so I contracted with a voiturin to take his
time with a couple of mules, and convoy me in my own chaise safe to
Turin, through Savoy.
Poor, patient, quiet, honest people! fear not: your poverty, the
treasury of your simple virtues, will not be envied you by the
world, nor will your valleys be invaded by it. - Nature! in the
midst of thy disorders, thou art still friendly to the scantiness
thou hast created: with all thy great works about thee, little
hast thou left to give, either to the scythe or to the sickle; - but
to that little thou grantest safety and protection; and sweet are
the dwellings which stand so shelter'd.
Let the way-worn traveller vent his complaints upon the sudden
turns and dangers of your roads, - your rocks, - your precipices; -
the difficulties of getting up, - the horrors of getting down, -
mountains impracticable, - and cataracts, which roll down great
stones from their summits, and block his road up. - The peasants had
been all day at work in removing a fragment of this kind between
St. Michael and Madane; and, by the time my voiturin got to the
place, it wanted full two hours of completing before a passage
could any how be gain'd: there was nothing but to wait with
patience; - 'twas a wet and tempestuous night; so that by the delay,
and that together, the voiturin found himself obliged to put up
five miles short of his stage at a little decent kind of an inn by
the roadside.
I forthwith took possession of my bedchamber - got a good fire -
order'd supper; and was thanking heaven it was no worse, when a
voiture arrived with a lady in it and her servant maid.
As there was no other bed-chamber in the house, the hostess, -
without much nicety, led them into mine, telling them, as she
usher'd them in, that there was nobody in it but an English
gentleman; - that there were two good beds in it, and a closet
within the room which held another. The accent in which she spoke
of this third bed, did not say much for it; - however, she said
there were three beds and but three people, and she durst say, the
gentleman would do anything to accommodate matters. - I left not the
lady a moment to make a conjecture about it - so instantly made a
declaration that I would do anything in my power.
As this did not amount to an absolute surrender of my bed-chamber,
I still felt myself so much the proprietor, as to have a right to
do the honours of it; - so I desired the lady to sit down, - pressed
her into the warmest seat, - called for more wood, - desired the
hostess to enlarge the plan of the supper, and to favour us with
the very best wine.
