I thanked my uncle for his obliging anxiety; and pretending that I had no fear of being robbed, I told him, that when I set out for Rome, I had taken the precaution of leaving my most valuable effects in the hands of our Ambassador, and that in respect to the plate, although it was troublesome to a traveller, I was not sorry that I had brought it with me, as in case of necessity I could sell it much more easily than jewels. All the family seemed to acquiesce in this reason; and as I mentioned the Ambassador, my cousins began to speak of that minister. They said that they had seen him as he passed through Genoa on his road to Rome. Upon which, to convince them that I stood well with his Excellence, I shewed them the portrait he had presented me with. This was quite sufficient to persuade them of the Ambassador’s great esteem and friendship for me. Don Bertrand, still harping upon the danger of keeping my plate at an inn, returned once more to the charge, and I was obliged to quiet his apprehensions by promising that I would have it all packed in the two trunks in which I told him I usually locked it up, and send it to his house immediately after dinner. We changed the subject, and began to converse on my intended marriage. My uncle, addressing himself to me, said, that I ought to think seriously of marrying in my youth, and not to defer it to a more advanced age, to have the agonies of leaving orphan children behind me. He then represented to me all the disagreeables of an ecclesiastical life, and concluded his harangue by enlarging on the perfections of the young lady whom he wished me to marry. She is my niece by the mother’s side, added he; of noble blood, and of ample beauty to make up for the deficiency of her fortune; besides which, she has a mother who will cherish as the apple of her eye, both you and your children.