charms nature gave her, or rather never thinking of the matter at all, her wishes seemed wholly to be concentrated in diffusing cheerfulness and contentment around her. "Knowing my friend's character tolerably well, I felt that I could calculate upon his terror. He did as I expected; and in a moment I stood beside him in the gallery, with one hand on his throat, and with the other flourishing the but-end of the pistol, ready to knock With people like her and her husband, one is soou him down. Beatrice uttered a slight scream; but I at home, especially when they happen to have a host begged her to be silent, and go in. Instead of attend- of children, who know not what shyness or reserve is." ing to my injunction, however, in another moment, These little Italians appeared to me the very beau ideal to my utter surprise, she was by my side, intreating of folks of their age, enjoying everything within their me to use no violence. I said I meant none, but only reach-talking, laughing, merry, though full of deferrequired of Count Z- who stood there, half-ence and courtesy towards their elders. One of them, choked with rage, but scarcely struggling at all, a pro- a little girl about four years old, took her station ou mise that he would be silent on what he had seen. The one of my knees, and soon coaxed her little brother, mock Count almost immediately complied, after which somewhat younger than herself, to occupy the other. he retreated from the gallery. I then conducted Bea-With these blessed little companions I amused myself trice back to her apartment, and retired, with my a great part of the way. bridge, into my own rooms. Here, for the present, terminated the adventure of my friend L, on whom, when he had finished his relation, I bestowed some good advice. He was conscious of the impropriety of his conduct, but would hear no reason. To all my representations he only replied he meant no harm, in which I believed him; but as the worst of all harms, the entire shipwreck of a woman's hopes in life, might arise from his pursuing the adventure, I intreated him to desist. Whether or not he listened to me will appear hereafter. CHAPTER XLII. THE HAPPY FAMILY, Leaving my friend L- to enjoy his excursion with Beatrice and the Tibaldo family, I proceeded to the house of the Governor, who had kindly invited me to spend the day with him and his family, on the Monte Nero, and in a short time we were comfortably stowed, children and all, in a roomy carriage, and on our way across the plain. The morning was bright with sunshine, which imparted to the landscape a delightful aspect, such as makes the heart glad, and sets the animal spirits bounding through our frames. For some distance our road lay along the sea, whose waves seemed to salute us merrily as we proceeded. Autumn is not a cold season in Tuscany, and therefore the refreshing breeze, entering our carriage windows from the Mediterranean, was no unwelcome guest. Beside our track, on banks and hillocks, were numbers of those small wild flowers, which, delighting in a saline atmosphere, gem in all countries, the borders of the ocean, and impart to them a peculiar beauty, a beauty made up of wildness and freshness-of perpetual motion, contrasted with perpetual rest-of natural decay and eternal rejuvenescence. At intervals, scattered over the plain, were numerous clumps of trees, some evergreen, others deciduous, presenting a rare combination of sombre verdure with piles of red and gold, sprinkled with dew, and glitteringmagnificently in the sun; huge buffaloes, couched lazily here and there, chewed the end with serene satisfaction, while groups of peasants, talking or singing, carried on the labours of agriculture beneath that genial sky. These rustic sounds, mingled with the dash and roar of the waves, the songs of our merry driver, and our own voices, excited in us the most agreeable sensations, so that we arrived at the church in the best humour imaginable. When marriages are happy in Italy they would seem to be remarkably so. In the present instance, at least, husband and wife appeared to be really one-wishing the same things, believing the same things, hoping the same things. Their children united them together indissolubly, so that it was no small pleasure to be in their company. External life, and that round of amuse- Every person who has visited that edifice knows ments from which others derive so much gratification, that it is celebrated for a rare collection of votive were nothing to this military philosopher, who had dis-offerings, made to our Lady of Monte Nero by the covered the utter hollowness of the world, and felt that we must be happy at home, or nowhere. In search of happiness, when it has been lost there, men may travel where they please, they will never find it; some mitigation of their sorrows may be vouchsafed them in the world, but that is the utmost they can hope for. A blighted hearth means a blighted life, and wretched above all others are they to whose lot it falls. peasants of the surrounding districts, by enthusiastic wayfarers, and by sailors who have been preserved from shipwreck on the deep. Far be it from me to ridicule any form of piety, though I sometimes found it difficult to repress a smile at various articles in the strange assemblage. Some of the offerings, however, were in the highest degree touching. I particularly noticed at cradle, in which some dear baby had been rocked when afflicted with grievous sickness; and, asHeaven came to The Governor's lady was a true woman, whose chief its aid, and restored it to health, the grateful mother happiness consisted in exciting it in others. No taint dedicated this memorial of her love and tenderness to of selfishness appeared ever to have reached her mind. the Blessed Virgin. Many, many years have rolled away She lived for her husband and her children, and all since then, and both mother and child have been, probathose with whom the interest or gratification of these bly, long at rest beneath the Tuscan soil-no other record brought her in contact. Her face was radiant with good-remaining of them than that sweetest of all records ness, with a cheerful benignity which made one feel perfectly satisfied in her company. Beautiful, in the ordinary sense, she never could have been, nor did she in the slightest degree affect it. Content with the that they were parent and child. Will my readers pardon me if I confess that my eyes filled with tears at the sight of that cradle, around which oling such a world of domestic associations? The heart knows no resting-place so dear as the mother's lap, and never || domincer over their neighbours. As the world goes, the art of government is the art of fraud. Why? By its involutions and evolutions, its tricks and machinations, its delusions and hypocrisies, it plunges the greater part of our species in irremediable misery. To remedy this odious state of things, we have only to disseminate truth, for when men comprehend their own nature and the nature of things, they will not submit to be ridden or driven like beasts, by persons no better than themselves." in after life tastes of that profound and exquisite tranquillity which settles on infancy in the cradle. Beside this was the portion of the keel of a shipwrecked vessel, from which all the mariners had escaped with life. Elsewhere, I observed the representation, in the rudest style of art, of a pair of eyes, which a lady who had been blind, and had recovered her sight, offered in Loly gratitude to the Virgin. Let who will laugh at this as superstition; to me it appeared to be a monument of the heart's thankfulness-of deep and earnest devo- As you are a stranger," said the Governor, "I do tion--and of a strong relish of life, and all that renders not fear confessing to you that my opinions very strongly it desirable. resemble your own. What we chiefly want in this The Governor, who read my feelings in my counte-world is the recognition of the greatest of all truths, nance, observed to me, in a low voice, that it is good to cultivate in mankind the habit of gratitude, the noblest of all the virtues which adorn this life, and fit us for the enjoyment of another. "No one supposes," said he, "that we enrich God by storing up these trifling offerings in his shrine. It is ourselves that we enrich, by multiplying the mementos of our dependence upon him." "And," added his wife, "it always does me good to come to this place, where peculiar blessings seem to descend on my children. Half the offerings you see are those of mothers, whose love, deep and boundless, seeks to develop itself in all forms." After walking about the building for some time, we went forth into the lanes and fields, and strolled, amid beautiful groves and copses, till the hour for dinner, which it was agreed we should take at a small rustic inn, well known to my companions. At table our conversation became more familiar and agreeable than ever. The children, who reminded me every moment of my own, were infinitely cheerful, and appeared to inspire their mamma with a joy inexpressible, and, perhaps, unintelligible to man. Who has not watched a mother's countenance when surrounded by the children she loves, all in the enjoyment of health and happiness, and envied her the rapture-if anything so pure can provoke envy which beams like a lambent flame from every feature? I had long been accustomed to this pleasure; and now, beholding it renewed after a brief interruption, learned to set a higher value on it than ever. which appear to me to be the fundamental principles of Christianity; I mean the relationship of man to man. We are all brethren; whereas, all the established Governments of the world, except those in which the democratic principle is predominant, are based upon the idea that men are by nature enemies to each other, and must be scourged and kept in order by severe laws and oppressive systems of rule. Should the Gospel ever pass into our hearts, instead of its resounding perpetually from our lips, we should at once become wise and happy; and to treat men as brethren is to destroy all the fictions, fallacies, and tyrannies by which society has been vexed for so many thousand years." The enunciation of these sentiments was, evidently, not new to his wife, who smiled approval at the conclusion of every sentence, and, when he had done || speaking, observed to me : What my husband has now said, he would not have ventured to say before any subject of the Grand Duke, except myself. I feel honoured by his confidence, and it shall be my endeavour to inculcate his principles into my children. I feel these opinions must be right, because they are his." "There is another reason, madam," said I, "why they must be right.' "What is that?" inquired she. "Why, that they are the doctrines," I replied, "of the great promulgator of peace and good-will towards men.' That sets the stamp of divinity upon them." CHAPTER XLIII. THE ENGLISH CEMETERY. wards that he related it to me, on his return from a protracted sojourn in the East. The reader will unite with me in condemning him severely, though not more severely than he afterwards condemned himself. Like many others, he discovered his error when it was too late, when, by the reckless indulgence of his own feelings, he had opened up a source of overflowing anguish to others. By degrees the Governor and I glided into the subject of politics, always full of peril among other than intimate friends. As I have said, however, he was a philosopher in the truest sense of the word- I shall here introduce the sequel of L--'s adventhat is, one who is ready, on all proper occasions, toture with Beatrice, though it was many years afterassert his own opinions, and disposed to tolerate those of others. We spoke of the prospect of a revolution in Italy; and, with a frankness which might have proved misplaced, I maintained the desirableness of subverting all its established Governments. "All the world over," I said,|| "men are governed too much, and instructed too little. Government is the counterbalance of ignorance. Men require to be led, because they are not taught to walk alone, and have their public business transacted for them often contrary to their wishes, because they do || not know how to transact it themselves, or to check those who voluntarily undertake the task. If mankind were enlightened, there would be no such thing as Government, in the vulgar sense of the word, which implies the possession of a superior nature by certain classes of individuals, who believe themselves born to Many things," he said, had contributed to dissipate the ennui which, on my arriving at Leghorn, threatened to torment me; but principally your society and that of Beatrice, who, every day, by the gracefulness of her manners, and the elevation and beauty of her character, rose in my estimation. The evenings on which she was not engaged at the opera were devoted to me, and at length we determined to walk out together in the day time. Our first stroll was towards the English ceme- "Over Beatrice's soul, the coming on of night had shed unusual gloom. Everywhere around rose the most dismal mementos-cypresses and weeping-willows drooping tremblingly over graves; white marble mouuments looking ghostly in the moonlight, while the soft, balmy breeze, breathing lassitude and languor, disposed us to view the whole scheme of sublunary things under the most discouraging aspect. each other, there was a long, painful pause in our conversation. It was clear that she had something to say, which, in her opinion, I ought to have said. "While all was yet uncertain, I bitterly reproached myself with the course I had pursued. I ought not to have conversed with her so frequently-ought not to have devoted myself as I had done to amuse her, to interest her imagination, to win her friendly regard. There my utmost desires had stopped short; but I now felt that I had won more—and, too late, the conviction came that this was wrong. At length, in an almost inaudible whisper, Beatrice said that when I should depart, life would lose all value in her eyes, and that I must || therefore abandon my Eastern expedition, or take the necessary steps to authorise her accompanying me. "You will easily comprehend that that was a moment of extreme pain, of bitter self-reproach, of deep anguish and repentance. It never occurred to me till then that Beatrice did not know the circumstances of my life. Because I myself was acquainted with them I had mechanically taken it for granted that everybody else must be so too; but it was quite otherwise. She had believed me to be free, and had, therefore, naturally interpreted my attentions and manner, as I now too plainly saw they could alone have been interpreted. What would I not have given to have retraced my steps-to have erased a few short months from my life! The excess of reserve, or even misanthropy itself, appeared to me, at that moment, more estimable than my sociable and fraternizing disposition. For a moment, all the force of my mind seemed to have left me; but, in the best way I could, I faltered out the truth, that I was betrothed to a lady at Calcutta, without, however, adding that I supposed she knew it, which would have been a gratuitous unkindness. 'Beatrice fell back lifeless against the tomb, and it was some time before, by my utmost exertions, I could restore her. When she did come to herself, nothing like a reproach passed her lips, except this gentle one rose from the steps of the tomb, and, walking down the central avenue towards the gate, in silence, were let out by the porter. We returned slowly towards the city, and, on the way, I said all I could to explain or palliate my conduct. She saw it in the right light, and was satisfied that I had been guilty of thought If I had admired her "When I first met, and began to converse, with this most ingenuous and fascinating woman,it was merely with the idea of spending a few moments agreeably. It did notYou should have told me that before.' We then seem probable that the opportunity would be afforded us of becoming so much even as acquaintances. Circumstances, however, formed that acquaintance, and ripened it into friendship; and it now seemed likely that, on the very eve of an eternal separation, the feelings were rapidly taking another turn. Some will, perhaps, think that they had done so already; but if so, we were both un-lessness, but nothing more. conscious of it. We never spoke of our mutual feelings, but amused ourselves with building castles in the air together, projecting our thoughts into the long vista of the future, talking of impossible contingencies, and weaving up a romance which, on some future day, was to be realised on the banks of the Ganges. As this never assumed any shape more distinct or tangible than that of a dream, it had never seemed to me worth while to bring to bear upon it the concentrated light of reason, that it might be dissipated for ever. before, my admiration was a thousand times greater now. There was something so noble, so disinterested, so forgiving, in her, that I would have given the world to have placed her in her true position. All the temptations of the stage had produced no effect upon her. She passed through them as beneath the shadows of the clouds, that, when they are gone, leave no trace behind them. Nothing could exceed the purity of her mind, except that boundless spirit of forgiveness which it inspired. Herself intending no evil, she was slow to impute evil intentions to others. Her feelings for me, therefore, underwent no change, save that she now saw that they were to be combated and subdued. "We sat down on the marble steps of a tomb-the tomb of an English senator, cut off in the fervour of youth, in the midst of dreams of greatness, and the "On arriving at the city gates, we had the mortificathroes of inordinate ambition. A cypress rose at tion to find them shut for the night; and no entreaties either end, and funereal plants dimly reflected the or offers of bribes could move the porter to admit us. moonlight from their leaves, which rustled heavily in the It was in vain that I laid our case before him—that I breeze. Almost for the first time since we had known || conjured him at least to let the lady in, though he should exclude me. He was deaf to every reason; so that, despairing, at length we turned away in the greatest perplexity. I proposed that we should stroll down to the sea-shore, to which Beatrice consented, seeing it was utterly indifferent in what direction we moved. The moon shone brightly, illuminating our sad path with her friendly light. Beatrice sketched to me her future life-not for the purpose of heightening my grief, or adding poignancy to my self-reproaches; she was too generous for that-but, on the contrary, to show me, she said, how a woman could act under the influence of pure love. "I have a profession,' she said, 'which will afford me competence-wealth, even, if I desire it. I will devote myself to it heart and soul; and should I ever acquire fame, it will come to you wherever you may be, and you will say to yourself when you hear my name, "That woman loved me." Nor am I one of those who can shift and change. You will never see me other than I am now, except in so far as time may indurate my heart, and quench whatever is impassioned or vehement within me.' her mother. If fame be happiness, she may be happy, happy as I could wish her—that is, happy as it is given any in this world to be. Farewell, Beatrice! and may the wrong I once unconsciously did thee, long ere this, be obliterated from thy memory. I meant it otherwise, and it is to be hoped that at the final account the will will be taken for the deed-Beatrice, farewell!'' CHAPTER XLIV. C'EST LE PREMIER PAS QUI COUTE. Going to sea implies, everywhere, passing from a warm climate to a cooler. When we bade adieu to Tuscany, the sun was shining brightly on that lovely portion of Italy, and accompanied us for several hours on our track across the waves. But towards the afternoon, just as we were abreast of the barren volcanic cone of Monte Christo, a shower of rain came on, and imparted a biting cold to the air. On the left lay Giglio, which belongs to Tuscany, and appears bare of vegetation. On Monte Christo there are wild goats and water, and when we passed the centre of it the clouds were driving over its highest peaks, which they partly concealed, as they used to do the Dent de Jaman, or the summits of the Valaisan Alps. I was standing, pen in hand, setting down the various phenomena of nature that surrounded me; the colour of the sky, interspersed with straggling clouds, and the peculiar hues of the waves, in which blue and green strove for the mastery, while the chill white of the breaking surges lent a dreary aspect to the restless expanse, heaving, tossing, and roaring on all sides, much farther than the eye could reach. "I believed her, and was silent. We arrived on the sea-shore, and, sitting down on a ledge of rock, gazed upon the restless waves as they chafed and glittered beneath us in the moonlight. What a change had come over both of us within the space of a few hours! Her voice seemed to have lost its buoyancy, and now sounded full of sadness and depression. Nature, herself, seemed to have changed her aspect. The roar of the sea appeared to me full of menaces, the moonlight looked frigid and comfortless, while the stars frowned, instead of smiling, on the earth. All within me was I have the little note-book still in which I was encold and chill, and, in order to change the scene, I arose, gaged in setting down my memoranda, on which the and led her back towards the cemetery, with the porter rain fell, and half-obliterated the words. Showers, of which I had made a sort of acquaintance. On my beautiful and poetical everywhere, are doubly so in the knocking, he opened the door, and let us in; and his South, while they sweep like an artificial apparatus bewife, a bustling, cheerful little woman, blew up the fore the eye; composed of dense columns of mist, wood fire, threw fresh logs upon it, and then, leaving pierced by millions of descending drops, and partly us to our own reflections, again retired to bed. There enveloped with a mantle of prismatic colours by the sun. we sat and talked till dawn, when we returned to the Many travellers affect to be of iron mould, and oppose to city. I was able to pass Beatrice into her own apart-everything around them the nil admirari of Horace and ments without discovery. I then retired to my own, not to sleep, but to pace to and fro till the hour should arrive for proceeding with my carpet bag on board. I was sick of Leghorn, sick of the land, and eager, in the agitation and tossing of the sea, to lose, if possible, the recollection of what had befallen. "What more I have to say of Beatrice is very little. On my return from India, I went with a number of friends to the delightful little opera-house at Palermo, where I presently heard a voice which I thought never to have heard again. It was that of Beatrice. She was rapturously received, applauses and flowers were showered in profusion upon her, and all the men in the theatre reckoned themselves among her admirers. I did not applaud, I threw no flowers on the stage; but, towards the end of the opera, Beatrice saw me. I was then swarthy as a Moor; but her memory was faithful, as the alteration immediately observable in the tones of her voice too well convinced me. I shall not pretend to describe my own feelings. I did not repeat my visit to the opera, and never saw her again; but her name has since been familiar to all Italy, perhaps to all Europe. Her life, however, has been a solitary one. No man has called her wife-no child has called Lord Bolingbroke. I do not belong to this class of wise men; on the contrary, I am a sort of instrument which everything in God's universe can easily play on. Delight, thrills through my whole frame at the sight of anything new or strange, and I easily invest with sublimity whatever comes before me clothed with the characteristics of vastness, elevation, and obscurity. As we swept before the gale, along the shores of Elba, Corsica, and Sardinia, their grand mountainous outline, relieved against the western sky, inspired me with a strong desire to traverse their fastnesses, and stroll through those lofty valleys, of which we appeared to catch glimpses through the clouds. But my subject is running away with me. Successive showers of heavy rain sent me, before nightfall, down into the cabin, where another cause far more disagreeable kept me at intervals for hours. The wind, meanwhile, rose by degrees to a gale, in which the Aquila Nera rolled and pitched like a stormy petrel among the billows of the Atlantic. Still our cabin was not altogether cheerless. We were seven in number, two Italians, two Turks, and three Englishmen. To some of us the East was an unknown region, which had been studied, indeed, through the aid of books, but, in spite of this, lay before our imaginations wrapt in almost fabulous obscurity. To me, perhaps, it was sequently, we made the discovery that we were to drink still more unreal than to any one else. I have a knack our tea and coffee in large basins, which he had proof investing things, visible and palpable, with the mists ||vided at the rate of one for three persons. There was, of antiquity; of yielding myself up to the potent influ- indeed, a quantity of crockery on board, even, as I have ences of poetry and romance ; of intermingling scrip- said, in our very cabin; but this did not exaetly conture, profane history, and tradition into one vast mystic sist of conveniences for tea-drinking. However, we veil, with which to tapestry the rocks, precipices, determined not to make ourselves unhappy about caverns, and valleys of a distant land. The Nilotic trifles; and at the proper hour sat down to tea, with Valley was to me the country of the lotus-eaters; and, || a firm resolution to enjoy it. through the superincumbent strata of Mohammedan, Roman, Macedonian, and Persian history, I could behold the genuine old mummy-making race, raising the pyramids, scooping out in the mountains subterranean palaces for the dead, erecting forests of obelisks and gigantic columns, and creating with the human hand an artificial sea in the desert, larger than the lake of Geneva, which still rolls and glitters beneath the fervour of an African sun. Several of my companions had been in the East-one in Egypt; but they had seen little or nothing of what I desired to see. The Neapolitan, in particular, who had drunk of the waters of the Nile, was too completely absorbed by the worship of Mammon to discover beauty in anything but gold. He spoke of the Arabs as "cattiva gentè," and of their country as una maladetta deserta," which he would never visit but for the great gains he made there. He was a petty merchant, who believed in no divinity but dollars, though I saw him, on one occasion, fall upon his knees before a picture of the Virgin, when death- But this is anticipating, and I shall relate the incident in its proper place. As good luck would have it, our whole party, except one, was sociable and accommodating. The ex ception was Gaetano, the Neapolitan, who affected to despise the Chinese leaf, and therefore refused to join our meal, though he sat in the cabin smoking, and throwing now and then a word or a phrase into the stock of conversation. Ali Bey was ready to agree to anything, and took to tea-drinking as a Newfound land dog takes to the water. He was at home with Souchong at once, though we had not a drop of milk to make it palatable. Our captain had got some goats on board, which he assured us, at Leghorn, were to be milked night and morning for our benefit; but we were no sooner at sea than we found that all the milk they could supply was barely sufficient to satisfy the cravings of their goatlings, whose claims were, of course, preferred to ours. Despite ourselves, therefore, we were compelled to rise to the level of philosophers, and be content without this northern luxury. I wish I could give you an idea of our tea party. In the centre of the cabin was a table, screwed to the floor, without which precaution it would not have remained on its legs for five minutes. It was likewise The other Italian was a Florentine, travelling from I furnished with a rim, about two inches high, which know not what motives. Distinguished for his gentle- prevented the basins from tumbling into our laps with manly manners, and an extraordinary amount of know their scalding contents. Bread and butter we had ledge, he was yet shy and reserved; full of wild fancies; none; but, instead, very good biscuits, which we reambitious as Lucifer; when roused, impetuous and over- lished excessively at first. The tea, we had taken bearing, and withal a little vindictive. We contracted care, should be good. There was plenty of sugar, and a liking for each other, which helped considerably to the captain supplied us with abundance of hot water. dispel the ennui of the voyage. Of the Bey, Kafoor, What more could we want? Instead of spoons, we and my Pisan companion, I have spoken already. There used a fragment of biscuit. Unfortunately, our teais, therefore, no necessity to enter into details respect-pot, the only one on board, was of earthenware, so that ing them. Of the lover of Beatrice the reader will have formed his own opinion. The cabin was a low room, of about fourteen feet by twelve, lighted up at night by one dim lamp, which just sufficed to show us to each other. Everything was in disorder and confusion; chests, trunks, baskets of earthenware, hat-boxes, band-boxes, and a thousand indescribable articles, which ought not to have been there. The Bey and his slave had a very small cabin to themselves, but opening into ours, so that while in bed we could talk comfortably with each other, when the roaring of the waves without would suffer our words to be heard. By agreement, we were to be boarded by the cap tain, at so much a-day; but, judging by his physiog nomy that he was not likely to kill us with kindness, we had all of us had the prudence to lay in some little supplementary stores for ourselves, such as tea, coffee, bottles of sherbet, fine biscuits, maccaroni, and vermicelli. To a certain extent, therefore, we were independent. One thing, however, we had unfortunately forgotten, that is to bring along with us a supply of cups and saucers, things with which our Genoese captain scorned to encumber himself. At tea-time, con had any mischance befallen it, we should have been reduced to the necessity of making tea in a coffee-pot. We consequently watched over it as a sort of palladium upon which our social happiness was to depend for Heaven knew how long. I never saw a teapot so venerated. An African from the interior would have mistaken it for our fetish, and thought we worshipped it; which in some sort we did, since it was to us a source of unequalled pleasure. It is easy to conceive that we had no soft divans, sofas, or even chairs, to draw around our tea-table. We sat on roughly-corded trunks or boxes, between any two of which we were careful not to put our legs, lest the next lurch of the ship should send them against each other, like two icebergs in the Arctic regions, and crush, as a Yankie would say, the intervening limbs to "immortal smash." Ali took his place beside me, and soon began to assist me in projecting my fancy into the regions of the East. We were perfectly democratic, and made no objection to the slave's sitting in the midst of us; so Kafoor took his place on my right hand; next to him sat the Florentine, close to Ali sat Mr. L the lover of Beatrice, and then my Pisan friend; last of all, Gaetano, the Neapolitans |