It was suggested by my friends that instead of troubling the friend of our host at Orvieto we might very well find out the best inn in the place and go to it at once. I agreed, but with misgivings. It turned out that there was only one establishment in the whole place bearing the name of osteria, and thither we went. Its first appearance was not promising; but things might be somewhat better than they looked; they often are in Italy. On inquiry, we found there was but one bedchamber, but it was large, and had several beds in it, if the gentlemen could accommodate themselves. H- went to see it; but the horrors of that prison-house were never completely unfolded. Enough. We at once bore our note and the barrel of wine to Signor M-. Signor M- was a young married man, a half-pay in the pope's service, having held a position under the pontifical government, living under the expectation that the old dominion would reassert its sway. He received us very kindly, and was sorry that his establishment did not allow him to offer us accommodation in his own house. Indeed, it was with great difficulty that we obtained lodgment at all; for although Bagnorea is by no means an insignificant town in regard to size, we were told that so few strangers came there, that the inhabitants never thought of providing anything more than they wanted themselves. At last we found two rooms in separate houses, where we were lodged decently, and fed tolerably-quite as well, perhaps, as we might expect of a place so much out of the world. Bagnorea was the Balneum Regis of the ancients, formerly celebrated for its hot-water springs, which have now ceased to flow in consequence of the earthquakes to which the town and its neighbourhood have been subjected. In the year sixteen hundred and ninety-five a great part of the town was destroyed by one. It was conquered by the Longobards in six hundred and six, and afterwards restored to the papacy, first by Charlemagne and then by Otho the Second, in the tenth century. It was once under the |