It was a heavy entertainment, copious in quantity, excellent in quality, plainly but well cooked.  I remarked there was no fish.  The widow replied that everybody present ate fish to satiety at home.  They did not join a marriage feast at the San Gallo, and pay their nine francs, for that!  It should be observed that each guest paid for his own entertainment.  This appears to be the custom.  Therefore attendance is complimentary, and the married couple are not at ruinous charges for the banquet.  A curious feature in the whole proceeding had its origin in this custom.  I noticed that before each cover lay an empty plate, and that my partner began with the first course to heap upon it what she had not eaten.  She also took large helpings, and kept advising me to do the same.  I said:  ’No; I only take what I want to eat; if I fill that plate in front of me as you are doing, it will be great waste.’  This remark elicited shrieks of laughter from all who heard it; and when the hubbub had subsided, I perceived an apparently official personage bearing down upon Eustace, who was in the same perplexity.  It was then circumstantially explained to us that the empty plates were put there in order that we might lay aside what we could not conveniently eat, and take it home with us.  At the end of the dinner the widow (whom I must now call my comare) had accumulated two whole chickens, half a turkey, and a large assortment of mixed eatables.  I performed my duty and won her regard by placing delicacies at her disposition.

Crudely stated, this proceeding moves disgust.  But that is only because one has not thought the matter out.  In the performance there was nothing coarse or nasty.  These good folk had made a contract at so much a head—­so many fowls, so many pounds of beef, &c, to be supplied; and what they had fairly bought, they clearly had a right to.  No one, so far as I could notice, tried to take more than his proper share; except, indeed, Eustace and myself.  In our first eagerness to conform to custom, we both overshot the mark, and grabbed at disproportionate helpings.  The waiters politely observed that we were taking what was meant for two; and as the courses followed in interminable sequence, we soon acquired the tact of what was due to us.

Meanwhile the room grew warm.  The gentlemen threw off their coats—­a pleasant liberty of which I availed myself, and was immediately more at ease.  The ladies divested themselves of their shoes (strange to relate!) and sat in comfort with their stockinged feet upon the scagliola pavement.  I observed that some cavaliers by special permission were allowed to remove their partners’ slippers.  This was not my lucky fate.  My comare had not advanced to that point of intimacy.  Healths began to be drunk.  The conversation took a lively turn; and women went fluttering round the table, visiting their friends, to sip out of their glass, and ask each other how they were getting on.  It was not