Nearly all suppressed by the French.'
'Monasteries or convents?'
'No. The French again! Nearly all suppressed by Napoleon.'
'Much business?'
'Very little business.'
'Many strangers?'
'Ah Heaven!'
I thought he would have fainted.
'Then, when we have seen the two large churches yonder, what shall
we do next?' said I.
He looked up the street, and down the street, and rubbed his chin
timidly; and then said, glancing in my face as if a light had
broken on his mind, yet with a humble appeal to my forbearance that
was perfectly irresistible:
'We can take a little turn about the town, Signore!' (Si puo far
'un piccolo giro della citta).
It was impossible to be anything but delighted with the proposal,
so we set off together in great good-humour. In the relief of his
mind, he opened his heart, and gave up as much of Mantua as a
Cicerone could.
'One must eat,' he said; 'but, bah! it was a dull place, without
doubt!'
He made as much as possible of the Basilica of Santa Andrea--a
noble church--and of an inclosed portion of the pavement, about
which tapers were burning, and a few people kneeling, and under
which is said to be preserved the Sangreal of the old Romances.
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