The rector having joined us, I left them together, and went to my class.

An our later, the rector sent for me.
"Why did you feign such ignorance at the examination ?" he asked.
"Why," I answered, "were you unjust enough to compel me to the degradation of an examination ?" He looked annoyed, and escorted me to the dogmatic school, where my comrades of the dormitory received me with great astonishment, and in the afternoon, at play time, they gathered around me and made me very happy with their professions of friendship.
One of them, about fifteen years old, and who at the present time must, if still alive, be a bishop, attracted my notice by his features as much as by his talents.

He inspired me with a very warm friendship, and during recess, instead of playing skittles with the others, we always walked together.

We conversed upon poetry, and we both delighted in the beautiful odes of Horace.

We liked Ariosto better than Tasso, and Petrarch had our whole admiration, while Tassoni and Muratori, who had been his critics, were the special objects of our contempt.