To his wife and had
noticed his going into the house, he went directly to his wife's chamber,
where the first thing that captivated his attention was a man's military
glove on the bed. He, however, said nothing, but from that moment abstained
from all conjugal duty. The lady finding herself thus neglected by a
husband who had been formerly tender and attentive, was at a loss to know
the reason, and determined to come to an eclaircissement with him in as
delicate a manner as she could. She therefore took a slip of paper, wrote
the following lines thereon and placed it on his table:
Vigna era, vigna son;
Era podada, or piu non son;
E non so per qual cagion
Non mi poda il mio patron.[103]
The husband, on reading these lines, wrote the following in answer:
Vigna eri, vigna sei;
Eri podada, e piu non sei;
Per la gran fa del Leon
Non ti poda il tuo patron.
The lady on reading these lines perceived at once the cause of her
husband's estrangement and succeeded in explaining the matter
satisfactorily to him, which was facilitated by the ingenuous declaration
of Leon himself that he had tried to succeed but had been repulsed. The
husband and wife being perfectly reconciled lived happily and no doubt the
vine was cultivated as usual.
I left Florence the 27th November, and arrived at Turin 5th December. In an
evil hour I engaged myself to accompany an old Swiss Baroness with whom I
became acquainted at the Hotel of Mine Hembert to accompany her to Turin.
She had with her her son, a fine boy of thirteen years of age but very much
spoiled. We engaged a vetturino to conduct us to Turin, stopping one day
at Milan. The Baroness did not speak Italian and generally sent for me to
interpret for her when any disputes occurred between her and the people at
the inns, and these disputes were tolerably frequent, as she always gave
the servants wherever she stopped a good deal of trouble and on departing
generally forgot to give them the buona grazia. I sometimes paid them for
her myself in order to avoid noise and tumult; at other times we departed
under vollies of abuse and imprecations such as brutta vecchia, maladetta
carogna, and so forth. The Baroness had strong aristocratic prejudices and
was a bitter enemy of the French Revolution to which she attributed
collectively all the desagremens she had experienced during life and all
the inconveniences she met with during our present journey. The negligence
and impertinence of the servants in Italy were invariably attributed by her
to the revolutionary principle and she told me that the servants in her
native canton Bern were the best in the world, but that even in them the
French Revolution had made a great deal of difference and that they were
not so submissive as they used to be.
