New mode of Travelling.—Route from Venice to Vicenza.—Theatre on a new plan by Palladio.—Verona: The Amphitheatre, and the Tomb of Juliet.—Observations on Italians and Italian Society.—Banditti and Assassins.—Lower classes of Italians.—Nobles and Gentlemen.—Italy by nature a single country.—Its divisions into States.—Obstacles to its consolidation.—Napoleon.—A confederated Republic predicted.—Line of the Tyrol.—New mode of Travelling the most expensive.—The Inn at Trent.—Picturesque Valley.—Tower at Botzen.—Brixen.—Pass of the Brenner.—Innspruck.—The Cathedral, and the Castle of the Counts of the Tyrol. A novel mode of travelling was suggested to me, and I determined to try it, merely to compare it with the others. In most of the countries of the Continent, the governments control the diligences, or public coaches, which are drawn by post-horses. In the Austrian States one can travel in the diligences at his own hours, provided a certain number of places are paid for. The size of my family admitting of this, I have come up from Venice to Innspruck in that mode; the advantages being those of paying once for all at Venice, of travelling entirely under the authority of the government, and of not being under the necessity of wrangling with the postillions. The disadvantage, as I have since discovered, was that of paying considerably more than I should have done, after quitting Italy, had we come post in the old way. In Lombardy we had no difficulty, postmasters and postillions conducting themselves admirably; but in the Tyrol it was a constant scene of wrangling about hours and horses. I shall not repeat the experiment, after we have fairly crossed the Alps. We left Venice quite early, in a public boat, being now fairly in the hands of government. At Mestre we found our own carriage, and, entering it, we were soon furnished with four horses and two postillions. The latter cut a strange figure, in yellow coats and cocked hats. They were perfectly civil, however, and we soon found ourselves in Padua. Changing horses, we now diverged from our old route, taking the road to Vicenza, where we dined. The country was not so tame as Lombardy is in general, and we were rapidly approaching the advanced hills of the Alps. Still, the road, a good one in every sense, ran along a very even surface.