" And under
this denomination the poor old colonel, packed in the carriage
together with his beloved violoncello, passed the gates of Rome and
the Tuscan frontier, and arrived safely at the place of his latest
destination. The servant who was employed to conduct this singular
operation did not above half like the job entrusted to him, and used
to tell afterwards how he was frightened out of his wits, and the
driver exceedingly astonished, by a sudden _pom-m-m_ from the interior
of the carriage, caused by the breaking, in consequence of some
atmospheric change, of one of the strings of the violoncello.
Malicious people used to say that the Queen of the Baths was innocent
of all deception as regarded the custom-house officials; for that
if any article was ever honestly described as _roba usata_, the old
colonel might be so designated.
The queen herself shortly followed (by another conveyance), and was
present at the interment, on which occasion she much impressed the
population by causing a superb crimson chair to be placed at the head
of the grave, in order that she might be present without standing
during the service. The chair was well known, because the queen, both
at the Baths and at Florence, was in the habit of sending it about
to the houses at which she visited, since she preferred doing so to
incurring the risk of the less satisfactory accommodation her friends
might offer her!
If space and the reader's patience would allow of it, I might gossip
on of many more reminiscences of the baths of Lucca, all pleasant or
laughable.
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