From experience, I would now recommend as a modification of the above plan, after reaching Sienna on the first night, to rest there for a day or two, which not only gives an opportunity of seeing this interesting town, but serves to recruit the horses, or mules, so as to expedite the remainder of the journey. It will be desirable to leave Sienna at four o’clock in the morning, in order to reach La Scala in time to secure good accommodations; in addition, by arriving early, the horses will have a prolonged rest, before undertaking, the next morning, the fatiguing journey over Radicofani: after staying the third night at Bolsena, it is very necessary to set off early on the following morning, to enable you to reach Ronciglione; for although better accommodation might be found at Viterbo, this place is too distant, to make it easy to reach Rome on the following evening, and there is no town between these points which offers any comfortable accommodation.
On arriving at the gates of Rome, your carriage will be taken possession of by custom-house officers, termed doganieri, who conduct you to the custom-house, where a close inspection of baggage takes place; but it is possible to avoid this detention, by writing to your banker, to obtain a lascia passare, or permission to pass, which should be left directed for you at the gate.
Possibly, instead of contracting with the vittureno to perform the journey in a limited time, it might be preferable to engage with him by the day. In this case, you might rest for any time on the road, when points of interest presented themselves; or if he behaved ill, or from any cause became unable to proceed, he might be discharged.
CHAP. XV.
ROME.
I took up my residence at Francis’s hotel, in the Strada Conducto; this house has a table d’hôte, said to be the only one in Rome, ready at four o’clock, and consisting of partly an Italian, and partly an English dinner, for which, with a bottle or more of good wine, they charge six pauls, equal to about two shillings and nine pence sterling. The house being very full, I did not succeed in getting so good a bed-room as I could have wished.
In the morning, I engaged a servitore de piazza, or valet de place, and sallied forth to deliver the letters with which I had been intrusted, and particularly to call upon Dr. Clarke, to whom I had an introduction. After attending the English divine service, I visited that most magnificent of all Christian temples, the church of St. Peter’s, in which every Christian country in the world, at the time of its erection, may fairly claim a proprietorship, as each contributed largely to its edification. On entering it, I felt myself impressed with awe and veneration, and notwithstanding the distinctions of ceremony, did not fail to offer up my humble adoration and thanks to the Almighty, for his protection, and mercies so abundantly bestowed upon me, since the first moment of my existence.
It would be ridiculous in me to attempt a description of this grand and magnificent structure, while so many correct and interesting delineations exist.
I spent the evening at Dr. Clarke’s, where I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman, Mr. L⸺, who had been robbed three nights before, on his return from Tivoli. He did me the favour to relate the circumstances, which were as follow:
Having, with three other gentlemen, engaged a carriage for the day, to see the falls of Tivoli, the party imprudently deferred their return, until the approach of evening. On arriving within two miles of Rome, they were compelled to turn out for a short distance, into a temporary road, in consequence of the main one being under repair; here, from the darkness of the night, which had become so intense that they could not see their horses’ heads, the coachman lost his way, and was obliged to make inquiries of various charcoal drivers, whom they fell in with; as they were on the point of regaining the main road, the coachman cried out “Genti, Genti,” immediately upon which, the carriage was surrounded by banditti. The gentlemen attempted to rush out of the carriage, in hopes of escaping through the darkness of the night, but, with the exception of Mr. L⸺, were immediately secured and plundered. The latter gentleman, after having a musket discharged at him, the fire of which singed his coat and waistcoat, while the ball passed so near as to leave a black mark on his side, succeeded in getting to a dry ditch, bounded by a wall, which he in vain attempted to scale; he therefore determined to lie quiet until the affair was over, taking a valuable watch out of his pocket, and concealing it in one of his gaiters: shortly after, he heard his friends calling him by name, and concluding that the robbers were gone, quitted his place of concealment, in order to rejoin them, when, to his great surprise, he was seized and plundered. They felt for his watch, which he pretended not to have with him, but this would not do; with a dagger at his breast, they menaced instant death if it was not produced; he then stated that he had left it at his place of concealment, and begged them to accompany him to search for it, when after pretending to seek for it, he gave it up, requesting that one particular seal might be returned: this however, after a consultation with their captain, was refused.