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TOC
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learned in modulation, and, in slow move-
ments, truly pathetic.
M. de Maupertuis, in his voyage to the
polar circle, was told by the Laplanders
of a monument which they regarded as
the most wonderful thing in their coun-
try: upon the merits of this report only,
he says, he was almost ashamed to confess
that he undertook a very fatiguing and
dangerous journey to see it. Something
of the same kind happened to me: in go-
ing to the opera, a second time, I was sur-
prised to find the theatre almost empty;
and, upon enquiry into the reason of it, I
was told that the chief musicians, and
the best company of Italy, were assembled
at Figline, a town in the Upper Val
d'Arno, about thirty miles from Florence,
to celebrate a kind of jubilee, in honour
of Santa Massimina, the protectress of that
place; and I am almost ashamed to con-
fess, that, without enquiring of persons
well informed, I took upon trust this
report, and travelled all night, in or-
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