“Is it possible?” said I, in a tone expressive enough of my indignation; “sure we are not at present in a country of barbarians.” “Yes, worse than barbarians,” said he, “for among them, justice is administered according to the law of nature, but here we have no law at all. I repeat it again,” continued he, “my advice is, that you tarry no longer in a part of the world where the chief magistrates are so little scrupulous as to make the guilty pass for innocent, and treat the innocent as guilty.” I promised my lawyer that the very next day I would follow his advice. I thanked him for the pains and trouble he had been at, and pulled out my purse to recompense him, but he declined taking any thing from me. “You have lost enough already,” said he, “if I were to take any fee from you, I should deserve, I think, to be considered as one of those whom you have to complain of. Besides, I wish, that in quitting the city of Bologna, you may be convinced that though rogues are abundant, yet there are a few men of honour to be found in it.” I returned to my lodging, mightily pleased with the frank proceeding of my lawyer, and found Sayavedra in no small fear, lest I should sacrifice him to recover my goods. Undoubtedly, if I had produced him in Court, it would at once have defeated the arts of old Bentivoglio; but it never entered into my heart to be guilty of such a piece of treachery. I had forgiven him, and since that time he had served me so faithfully, that he left me no occasion to remember what he had done. I told him that our law-suit was finished, though no judgment had been given upon it; that we had but to seek our fortune elsewhere, and that, as I intended to set out for Milan the next day very early in the morning, he had nothing to do but to hire post-horses, and prepare every thing for our journey. I had scarcely finished giving these orders to Sayavedra, when there entered the inn a great number of bailiffs and bailiffs’ followers,--a trade the devil would not be of. They made no more ado, but took me by the collar and hauled me off to prison. I asked for what I was committed, and what I had done to merit such usage? I was answered I should know in good time; which I did indeed, and found that it was for the crime of having been robbed, and that I should be very lucky if I got out of prison by being sent to the galleys. That Counsellor Bentivoglio, in order to punish me for my insolence in bringing an action against his son, and presenting petitions that were looked upon as defamatory libels against the nobility of his family, and more particularly against Signor Alexander, whose morals and good manners were so well known in the city of Bologna, had obtained from the justice of the Auditor a warrant to arrest me, until I should be adjudged a punishment suitable to my rashness.