“I am glad of it,” said she, moving away--“he had a deal of trouble with those themes of mine. No one knows what they cost him.” I could have told what they cost _me_; but I never did, till the present moment. I need not say with what an appetite I dined on that day, nor with what abject humility I behaved to my wife, nor how I skulked down in the evening to the landlord to apologise for not being able to pay the bill before I left, an unexpected demand having left me short of cash. All these, seventeen years ago as they are, have not yet lost their bitterness, nor have I yet arrived at the time when I can think with composure of this friend of Gioberti. Admiral Dalrymple tells us, amongst his experiences as a farmer, that he gave twenty pounds for a dung-hill, “and he’d give ten more to any one who’d tell him what to do with it.” I strongly suspect this is pretty much the case with the Italians as regards their fleet. There it is--at least, there is the beginning of it; and when it shall be complete, where is it to go? what is it to protect? whom to attack? The very last thing Italians have in their minds is a war with England. If we have not done them any great or efficient service, we have always spoken civilly of them, and bade them a God-speed. But, besides a certain goodwill that they feel for us, they entertain--as a nation with a very extended and ill-protected coast-line ought--a considerable dread of a maritime power that could close every port they possess, and lay some very important towns in ashes. Now, it is exactly by the possession of a fleet that, in any future war between England and France, these people may be obliged to ally themselves to France. The French will want them in the Mediterranean, and they cannot refuse when called on. Count Cavour always kept telling our Foreign Office, “A strong Italy is the best thing in the world for you. A strong Italy is the surest of all barriers against France.” There may be some truth in the assertion if Italy could spring at once--Minerva fashion--all armed and ready for combat, and stand out as a first-rate power in Europe; but to do this requires years of preparation, long years too; and it is precisely in these years of interval that France can become all-dominant in Italy--the master, and the not very merciful master, of her destinies in everything. France has the guardianship of Italy--with this addition, that she can make the minority last as long as she pleases.