vetturino_ to conduct us to Turin, stopping one day
at Milan. The Baroness did not speak Italian and generally sent for me to
interpret for her when any disputes occurred between her and the people at
the inns, and these disputes were tolerably frequent, as she always gave
the servants wherever she stopped a good deal of trouble and on departing
generally forgot to give them the _buona grazia._ I sometimes paid them for
her myself in order to avoid noise and tumult; at other times we departed
under vollies of abuse and imprecations such as _brutta vecchia, maladetta
carogna,_ and so forth. The Baroness had strong aristocratic prejudices and
was a bitter enemy of the French Revolution to which she attributed
collectively all the _desagremens_ she had experienced during life and all
the inconveniences she met with during our present journey. The negligence
and impertinence of the servants in Italy were invariably attributed by her
to the revolutionary principle and she told me that the servants in her
native canton Bern were the best in the world, but that even in them the
French Revolution had made a great deal of difference and that they were
not so submissive as they used to be. As she sent for me to be her dragoman
in all her disputes on the road, you may conceive how glad I was to arrive
at Turin to be rid of her. She put me in mind of Gabrina in the _Orlando
Furioso._ We stopped one day at Milan but we were very near being detained
two or three days at Fiacenza owing to an informality in the Baroness's
passport, which had not been vise by the Austrian Legation at Florence. In
vain she pleaded that she was told at the inn at Florence that such _visa_
was not necessary; the police officer at the Austrian _Douane_, at a short
distance beyond Piacenza, was inexorable and refused to _viser_ her
passport to allow her to proceed. She was in a sad dilemma and it was
thought we should be obliged to remain at Piacenza. I however recommended
her to be guided by me and not to talk with or scold anybody, and that I
would ensure her arrival at Milan without difficulty, for I had observed
that her scolding the officer at the _Douane_ only served to make him more
obstinate. I recommended her therefore that when we should arrive within
sixty or seventy paces of the gate at Milan, she should get out of the
carriage with her son and walk thro' the gate on foot with the utmost
unconcern as if she belonged to the town and was returning from