still unable
to go out with his pupil, who had all the vices and none of the virtues
of youth. Consequently, Stratico was always afraid of something happening
to him, and he begged me to make myself his companion, and even to share
his pleasures, so that he might not go into bad company and dangerous
houses alone and undefended.

Thus my days of calm study vanished away. I had to partake in the
debauchery of a young rake, and all out of pure sensibility.

The Chevalier Morosini was a thorough-paced profligate. He hated
literature, good society, and the company of sensible people. His daily
pleasures were furious riding, hard drinking, and hard dissipation with
prostitutes, whom he sometimes almost killed.

This young nobleman paid a man for the sole service of getting him a
woman or a girl every day.

During the two months which he passed in Florence I saved his life a
score of times. I got very tired of my duty, but I felt bound to
persevere.

He was liberal to the verge of recklessness, and would never allow me to
pay for anything. Even here, however, disputes often arose between us; as
he paid, he wanted me to eat, drink, and dissipate in the same measures
as himself. However, I had my own way on most occasions, only giving in
when it suited me to do so.

We went to see the opera at Lucca, and drought two of the dancers home to
supper. As the chevalier was drunk as usual, he treated the woman he had
chosen--a superb creature--very indifferently. The other was pretty
enough, but I had done nothing serious with her, so I proceeded to avenge
the beauty. She took me for the chevalier's father, and advised me to
give him a better education.

After the chevalier was gone I betook myself to my studies again, but I
supped every night with Madame Denis, who had formerly been a dancer in
the King of Prussia's service, and had retired to Florence.

She was about my age, and therefore not young, but still she had
sufficient remains of her beauty to inspire a tender passion; she did not
look more than thirty. She was as fresh as a young girl, had excellent
manners, and was extremely intelligent. Besides all these advantages, she
had a comfortable apartment on the first floor of one of the largest
cafes in Florence. In front of her room was a balcony where it was
delicious to sit and enjoy the cool of the evening.

The reader may remember how I had become her friend at Berlin in 1764,
and when we met again at Florence