We arrived at Naples on the 29th October without accident. A _buona grazia_
of a _scudo_ at the frontier obviated the delay which would otherwise have
occurred in examining our baggage by the _douaniers_. I put up at No 1
_Largo St Anna di Palazzo_, near the _Strada di Toledo_, at the house of
one Berlier, who had been a domestic of poor Murat's. The Austrian troops
being now withdrawn, the military cordon of sentinels from the frontier to
Naples is kept up by the Neapolitan troops; but what a contrast between the
vigilance of the Austrian sentinels, and the negligence of the Neapolitans!
The last time I travelled on this road, I never failed, after dusk, to hear
the shout of _Wer da?_ of the Austrian sentries, long before I came up to
them, and I always found them alert. Now that the cordon was Neapolitan, I
always found the sentries either asleep, or playing at cards with their
companion (the sentries being double), both having left their arms at the
place where they were posted. At night I have no doubt they all fall
asleep, so that three or four active _banditti_ might come and cut the
throats of the whole chain of sentries in detail.
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