The moon had risen, and the night had grown chilly, before we reached the other inn. It was a single house, in a sort of heathy country, the very type of solitude. Here, however, we were joyfully received. Mounting by a narrow flight of steps, we were shown into the _sala_, a room of some size, lighted from above, and surrounded by bedchambers. In one corner there was a fire-place, and a fagot was soon in a bright blaze. The beds were homely, but clean, and I took care to secure one for each of us, with the proper number of apartments. This was the first house we had entered that had a truly distinctive Italian character, and we submitted to some wants, the more readily from the circumstance. The woman of the house was all assiduity and attention, and it was not long before our supper made its appearance. Our great desire was to dispose of this, and to get quietly into our own rooms, before any more of the rejected travellers should arrive from the other place. None came, however, though we had one or two alarms, and we ate our chickens fried in oil undisturbed. Secure of the supper, we strutted about our _sala_, admiring the novelty of the situation, gazing at the wild waste from the windows, and setting all couriers at defiance. I have since been told that this very inn was the scene of many robberies and murders that were perpetrated with the connivance of the parish priest, and which were subsequently discovered. The host had however been changed, and we were now in honest hands. Certainly no house could be better situated for deeds of violence; and there was even something in its internal arrangements, so retired and gloomy, as to aid such practices. Altogether, we enjoyed the excitement of the incidents, preserved our place on the road, had an entire house to ourselves, gained two leagues in distance, and considered ourselves the gainers. We kept the track in the next day’s racing. Much of the way was descending, and the southern faces of the Apennines, like those of the Alps, were more genial and fertile than the northern. I ought to have said that we entered Tuscany near the place where the alarm had been given by the peasant. I shall take this occasion to say that, with a slight exception, on entering France and the Milanese, the custom-house officers have given us no trouble between this and London, although we have passed through eight different states, and entered the ninth. We have uniformly met with civility; nor have the _douceurs_ been heavy; and what is more, they have followed, and not preceded, the politeness. To-day we passed a spot where high poles lined the road; a precaution to enable travellers to keep it, in the deep snows. This was Alpine, and yet the spot was on the brow of the southern margin. We strained our eyes in the hope of getting a glimpse of the blue Mediterranean, but in vain.