nd the abate was nearer
right than myself. June, 1794.)

In the afternoon through a poor country to Ponte di Po, a miserable
village on the borders of the duchy, where we lay, not slept, in our
clothes, at the worst inn I have yet encountered. Here our luggage was
plumbed for Pianura. The impertinence of the petty sovereigns to
travellers in Italy is often intolerable, and the customs officers show
the utmost insolence in the search for seditious pamphlets and other
contraband articles; but here I was agreeably surprised by the courtesy
of the officials and the despatch with which our luggage was examined.
On my remarking this, my companion replied that the Duke of Pianura was
a man of liberal views, anxious to encourage foreigners to visit his
state, and the last to put petty obstacles in the way of travel. I
answered, this was the report I had heard of him; and it was in the hope
of learning something more of the reforms he was said to have effected,
that I had turned aside to visit the duchy. My companion replied that
his Highness had in fact introduced some innovations in the government;
but that changes which seemed the most beneficial in one direction often
worked mischief in another, so that the wisest ruler was perhaps not he
that did the greatest amount of good, but he that was cause of the
fewest evils.

The 2nd.

From Ponte di Po to Pianura the most convenient way is by water; but the
river Piana being greatly swollen by the late rains, my friend, who
seems well-acquainted with the country, proposed driving thither: a
suggestion I readily accepted, as it gave me a good opportunity to study
the roads and farms of the duchy.

Crossing the Piana, drove near four hours over horrible roads across
waste land, thinly wooded, without houses or cultivation. On my
expressing surprise that the territory of so enlightened a prince would
lie thus neglected, the abate said this land was a fief of the see of
Pianura, and that the Duke was desirous of annexing it to the duchy. I
asked if it were true that his Highness had given his people a
constitution modelled on that of the Duke of Tuscany. He said he had
heard the report; but that for his part he must deplore any measure
tending to debar the clergy from the possession of land. Seeing my
surprise, he explained that, in Italy at least, the religious orders
were far better landlords than the great nobles or the petty sovereigns,
who, being for the most part absent from