The bells in the tower amused us in another way:  an old man who has the care of them, delighted much in telling us how he rung tunes upon them before the Duke of Parma, who presented him with money, and bid him ring again:  and not a little was the good man amazed, when one of our company sate down and played on them himself:  a thing he had never before been witness to, he said, except once, when a surprising musician arrived from England, and performed the like seat:  by his description of the person, and the time of his passing through Cremona, we conjectured he meant Dr. Burney.

The most dreadful of all roads carried us next morning to Mantua, where we had letters for an agreeable friend, who neglected nothing that could entertain or instruct us.  He shewed me the field where it is supposed the house stood in which Virgil was born, and told me what he knew of the evidence that he was born there:  certain it is that much care is taken to keep the place fenced, from an idea of its being the identical spot, and I hope it is so.

The theatres here are beautiful beyond all telling:  it is a shame not to take the model of the small one, and build a place of entertainment on the plan.  There cannot surely be any plan more elegant.

We had a concert of admirable music at the house of our new acquaintance, in the evening, and were introduced by his means to many people of fashion; the ladies were pretty, and dressed with much taste; no caps at all, but flowers in their heads, and earrings of silver fillagree finely worked; long, light, and thin:  I never saw such before, but it would be an exceeding pretty fashion.  They hung down quite low upon the neck and shoulders, and had a pleasing effect.

Mantua stands in the middle of a deep swampy marsh, that sends up a thick foggy vapour all winter, a stench intolerable during the summer months.  Its inhabitants lament the want of population; and indeed I counted but five carriages in the streets while we remained in the town.  Seven thousand Jews occupy a third part of the city, founded by old Tiresias’s daughter, where they have a synagogue, and live after their own fashion.  The dialect here is closer to that Italian which foreigners learn, and the ladies speak more Tuscan, I think, than at Milan, but it is a lady’s town as I told them.

    “Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris
    Fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis,
    Qui muros matrisque dedit tibi. Mantua nomen.”

    Ocnus was next, who led his native train
    Of hardy warriors thro’ the wat’ry plain,
    The son of Manto by the Tuscan stream,
    From whence the Mantuan town derives its name.

    DRYDEN.

The annual fair is what contributes most to keeping their folks alive though, for such are the roads it is scarce possible any strangers should come near them, and our people complain that the inns are very extortionate:  here is one building, however, that promises wonders from its prodigious size and magnificence; I only wonder such accommodation should be thought necessary.