6 - The configuration of the shores of rivers and their permanency.
These studies should be of value to mariners.
Francesco finds that much of the information I had recorded is spotty.
Tomorrow we will begin with item 1.
October 28, ’18
A lavish autumn!
Gold leaves float on the river, and, as I walk along, admiring them, a handsome riderless horse crosses, shakes his mane vigorously, plunges wherever the water is deep, then stands on the shore for a few moments, regarding me.
Again and again the fog becomes total master here: blanketed by this Loire curtain, we are obliterated almost nightly: a visitor would have a hard time locating the château. King Francis, and his retinue and parasites, have fled to Paris for the winter.
I have hours to contemplate his Italian plunder: in his salons, his superb collection of Mazzoni marbles—twenty-one major pieces.