Pencillings by the Way: Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in EuropeWillis, Nathaniel Parker
General
Pencillings by the Way: Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe
Willis, Nathaniel Parker
Europe -- Description and travel
Our seven days expire to-morrow, and we are preparing to eat our last
dinner in the lazaretto with great glee. A temporary table is already
laid upon the quay, and two strips of board raised upon some ingenious
contrivance, I can not well say what, and covered with all the private
and public napkins that retained any portion of their maiden
whiteness. Our knives are reduced to two, one having disappeared
unaccountably; but the deficiency is partially remedied. The surgeon
has "whittled" a pine knot, which floated in upon the tide, into a
distant imitation; and one of the company has produced a delicate
dagger, that looks very like a keepsake from a lady; and, by the
reluctant manner in which it was put to service, the profanation cost
his sentiment an effort. Its white handle and silver sheath lie across
a plate, abridged of its proportions by a very formidable segment.
There was no disguising the poverty of the brown paper that contained
the salt. It was too necessary to be made an "aside," and lies plump
in the middle of the table. I fear there has been more fun in the
preparation than we shall feel in eating the dinner when it arrives.
The Belgian stands on the wall, watching all the boats from town; but
they pass off down the harbor, one after another, and we are destined
to keep our appetites to a late hour. Their detestable cookery needs
the "sauce of hunger."
The Belgian's hat waves in the air, and the commissary's boat must be
in sight. As we get off at six o'clock to-morrow morning, my portfolio
shuts till I find another resting place, probably Genoa.
LETTER XXVI.
SHORE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN--NICE--FUNERAL SERVICES OF MARIA
THERESA, ARCHDUCHESS OF AUSTRIA--PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO--ROAD
TO GENOA--SARDINIA--PRISON OF THE POPE--HOUSE OF
COLUMBUS--GENOA.
The health-magistrate arrived at an early hour, on the morning of our
departure from the lazaretto of Villa Franca. He was accompanied by a
physician, who was to direct the fumigation. The iron pot was placed
in the centre of the chamber, our clothes were spread out upon the
beds, and the windows shut. The _chlorin_ soon filled the room, and
its detestable odor became so intolerable that we forced the door, and
rushed past the sentinel into the open air, nearly suffocated. This
farce over, we were permitted to embark, and, rounding the point, put
into Nice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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