As for the husband, he would by all
means attend me to the high road leading to Berne; which road he said
was but two miles distant from that place. But he insisted on my first
going back with him, to see the way I had come the night before; the
only way, he said, I could have possibly come from the neighboring
canton of Lucerne. I saw it, and shuddered at the danger I had escaped;
for I found I had walked and led my horse a good way along a very narrow
path on the brink of a very dangerous precipice. The man made so
many pertinent and pious remarks on the occasion, as both charmed and
surprised me. I no less admired his disinterestedness than his piety;
for, upon our parting, after he had attended me till I was out of all
danger of losing my way, I could by no means prevail upon him to accept
of any reward for his trouble. He had the satisfaction, he said, of
having relieved me in the greatest distress, which was in itself a
sufficient reward, and he wished for no other.
Having at length got safe into French Flanders, I there repaired to the
college of the Scotch Jesuits at Douay, and discovering myself to the
rector, I acquainted him with the cause of my sudden departure from
Italy, and begged him to give notice of my arrival, as well as the
motives of my flight to Michael Angelo Tambuvini, general of the order,
and my very particular friend.
The rector wrote as I desired him, to the general, and he, taking no
notice of my flight, in his answer, (for he could not disapprove, and
did not think it safe to approve of it,) ordered me to continue where I
was till further notice. I arrived at Douay early in May, and continued
there till the beginning of July, when the rector received a second
letter from the general, acquainting him that he had been commanded by
the congregation of the Inquisition, to order me, wherever I was, back
into Italy; to promise me, in their name, full pardon and forgiveness if
I obeyed, but if I did not obey, to treat me as an apostate. He added,
that the same order had been transmitted, soon after my flight, to
the nuncios at the different Roman Catholic courts; and he, therefore,
advised me to consult my own safety without further delay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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