by Daniel Defoe
Turin, which met us at Suza; sothat we were accommodated again, and went by easy journeys afterwards toRome, where his business, whatever it was, called him to stay some time,and from thence to Venice.
He was as good as his word, indeed; for I had the pleasure of hiscompany, and, in a word, engrossed his conversation almost all the way.He took delight in showing me everything that was to be seen, andparticularly in telling me something of the history of everything heshowed me.
What valuable pains were here thrown away upon one who he was sure, atlast, to abandon with regret! How below himself did a man of quality andof a thousand accomplishments behave in all this! It is one of myreasons for entering into this part, which otherwise would not be worthrelating. Had I been a daughter or a wife, of whom it might be said thathe had a just concern in their instruction or improvement, it had beenan admirable step; but all this to a whore; to one who he carried withhim upon no account that could be rationally agreeable, and none but togratify the meanest of human frailties--this was the wonder of it. Butsuch is the power of a vicious inclination. Whoring was, in a word, hisdarling crime, the worst excursion he made, for he was otherwise one ofthe most excellent persons in the world. No passions, no furiousexcursions, no ostentatious pride; the most humble, courteous, affableperson in the world. Not an oath, not an indecent word, or the leastblemish in behaviour was to be seen in all his conversation, except asbefore excepted; and it has given me occasion for many dark reflectionssince, to look back and think that I should be the snare of such aperson's life; that I should influence him to so much wickedness, andthat I should be the instrument in the hand of the devil to do him somuch prejudice.
We were near two years upon this grand tour, as it may be called, duringmost of which I resided at Rome or at Venice, having only been twice atFlorence and once at Naples. I made some very diverting and usefulobservations in all these places, and particularly of the conduct of theladies; for I had opportunity to converse very much among them, by thehelp of the old witch that travelled with us. She had been at Naples andat Venice, and had lived in the former several years, where, as I found,she had lived but a loose life, as indeed the women of Naples generallydo; and, in short, I found she was fully acquainted with all theintriguing arts of that part of the world.
Here my lord bought me a little female Turkish slave, who, being takenat sea by a Maltese man-of-war, was brought in there, and of her Ilearnt the Turkish language, their way of dressing and dancing, and someTurkish, or rather Moorish, songs, of which I made use to my advantageon an extraordinary occasion some years after, as you shall hear in itsplace. I need not say I learnt Italian too, for I got pretty wellmistress of that before I had been there a year; and as I had leisureenough and loved the language, I read all the Italian books I could comeat.
I began to be so in love with Italy, especially with Naples and Venice,that I could have been very well satisfied to have sent for Amy and havetaken up my residence there for life.
As to Rome, I did not like it at all. The swarms of ecclesiastics of allkinds on one side, and the scoundrel rabbles of the common people on theother, make Rome the unpleasantest place in the world to live in. Theinnumerable number of valets, lackeys, and other servants is such thatthey used to say that there are very few of the common people in Romebut what have been footmen, or porters, or grooms to cardinals orforeign ambassadors. In a word, they have an air of sharping andcozening, quarrelling and scolding, upon their general behaviour; andwhen I was there the footmen made such a broil between two greatfamilies in Rome, about which of their coaches (the ladies being in thecoaches on either side) should give way to the other, that there wasabout thirty people wounded on both sides, five or six killed outside,and both the ladies frighted almost to death.
But I have no mind to write the history of my travels on this side ofthe world, at least not now; it would be too full of variety.
I must not, however, omit that the prince continued in all this journeythe most kind, obliging person to me in the world, and so constant that,though we were in a country where it is well known all manner ofliberties are taken, I am yet well assured he neither took the libertyhe knew he might have, or so much as desired it.
I have often thought of this noble person on that account. Had he beenbut half so true, so faithful and constant, to the best lady in theworld--I mean his princess--how glorious a virtue had it been in him!And how free had he been from those just reflections which touched himin her behalf when it was too late!
We had some very agreeable conversations upon this subject, and once hetold me, with a kind of more than ordinary concern upon his thoughts,that he was greatly beholden to me for taking this hazardous anddifficult journey, for that I had kept him honest. I looked up in hisface, and coloured as red as fire. "Well, well," says he, "do not letthat surprise you, I do say you have kept me honest." "My lord," said I,"'tis not for me to explain your words, but I wish I could turn them myown way. I hope," says I, "and believe we are both as honest as we canbe in our circumstances." "Ay, ay," says he; "and honester than I doubtI should have been if you had not been with me. I cannot say but if youhad not been here I should have wandered among the gay world here, inNaples, and in Venice too, for 'tis not such a crime here as 'tis inother places. But I protest," says he, "I have not touched a woman inItaly but yourself; and more than that, I have not so much as had anydesire to it. So that, I say, you have kept me honest."
I was silent, and was glad that he interrupted me, or kept me fromspeaking, with kissing me, for really I knew not what to say. I was oncegoing to say that if his lady, the princess, had been with him, shewould doubtless have had the same influence upon his virtue, withinfinitely more advantage to him; but I considered this might give himoffence; and, besides, such things might have been dangerous to thecircumstance I stood in, so it passed off. But I must confess I saw thathe was quite another man as to women than I understood he had alwaysbeen before, and it was a particular satisfaction to me that I wasthereby convinced that what he said was true, and that he was, as I maysay, all my own.
I was with child again in this journey, and lay in at Venice, but wasnot so happy as before. I brought him another son, and a very fine boyit was, but it lived not above two months; nor, after the first touchesof affection (which are usual, I believe, to all mothers) were over, wasI sorry the child did not live, the necessary difficulties attending itin our travelling being considered.
After these several perambulations, my lord told me his business beganto close, and we would think of returning to France, which I was veryglad of, but principally on account of my treasure I had there, which,as you have heard, was very considerable. It is true I had letters veryfrequently from my maid Amy, with accounts that everything was verysafe, and that was very much to my satisfaction. However, as theprince's negotiations were at an end, and he was obliged to return, Iwas very glad to go; so we returned from Venice to Turin, and in the wayI saw the famous city of Milan. From Turin we went over the mountainsagain, as before, and our coaches met us at Pont a Voisin, betweenChambery and Lyons; and so, by easy journeys, we arrived safely atParis, having been absent two years, wanting about eleven days, asabove.
I found the little family we left just as we left them, and Amy criedfor joy when she saw me, and I almost did the same.
The prince took his leave of me the night before, for, as he told me, heknew he should be met upon the road by several persons of quality, andperhaps by the princess herself; so we lay at two different inns thatnight, lest some should come quite to the place, as indeed it happened.
After this I saw him not for above twenty days, being taken up in hisfamily, and also with business; but he sent me his gentleman to tell methe reason of it, and bid me not be uneasy, and that satisfied meeffectually.
In all this affluence of my good fortune I did not forget that I hadbeen rich and poor once already alternately, and that I ought to knowthat the circumstances I was now in were not to be expected to lastalways; that I had one child, and expe
cted another; and if I had bredoften, it would something impair me in the great article that supportedmy interest--I mean, what he called beauty; that as that declined, Imight expect the fire would abate, and the warmth with which I was nowso caressed would cool, and in time, like the other mistresses of greatmen, I might be dropped again; and that therefore it was my business totake care that I should fall as softly as I could.
I say, I did not forget, therefore, to make as good provision formyself as if I had had nothing to have subsisted on but what I nowgained; whereas I had not less than ten thousand pounds, as I saidabove, which I had amassed, or secured rather, out of the ruins of myfaithful friend the jeweller, and which he, little thinking of what wasso near him when he went out, told me, though in a kind of a jest, wasall my own, if he was knocked on the head, and which, upon that title, Itook care to preserve.
My greatest difficulty now was how