I may declare with truth that wherever I have stopped in Italy I have been lodged, not to say well, but excellently, except in Florence--and there I did not leave the inn in spite of the discomforts I had to endure, especially in the summer heat--and in Venice, where we lodged in a noisy ill-kept house, as our sojourn was to be a very brief one. My chamber here was apart, supplied with everything I could need, convenient and perfectly quiet. I rejoiced that the people of the place did not call upon me--or only one or two--for even civility sometimes becomes irksome. I slept and read as I was inclined, and when I went abroad I always found conversation in plenty with the people in the streets, who would be ready for a chat at any hour of the day; and then there were the shops, and the churches, and the market-place. Going about like this, from one country to another, I was never at a loss for material for the satisfying of my curiosity. And all this time I felt my mind at ease, as much as ill-health and old age would allow, and little prone to seize opportunities for disturbing itself from the outside world. The only loss I felt was that of a sympathetic companion, for, being alone, I had to enjoy all these pleasures by myself, and could not share them with another. The people of Lucca are greatly given to, a game called _Pallone_, and they often meet for matches. Men seldom ride on horseback through the streets, and it is the rarest sight to see one in a coach, but ladies go on mule-back with a foot-servant. Strangers coming here have great difficulty in finding houses to let, the city itself being very thickly populated and the travellers visiting it very few. For an ordinary house with four furnished chambers, a dining-room, and a kitchen I was asked a rent of seventy crowns a month. It is hard to find any society in Lucca, for the reason that all the people, even the very children, are taken up with business incessantly, and with winning riches by means of traffic. On this account Lucca is somewhat unpleasant as a residence for foreigners. On August the 10th we rode out into the country with certain gentlemen of the city who had lent us horses. All round about I saw a vast number of delightful villas for the distance of three or four miles, built with porticoes and loggias, which add greatly to their beauty. One had a very large loggia, arched all along inside, and clad without by the branches and tendrils of vines which were planted and trained over certain supports, the effect being one of coolness, verdure, and natural beauty.