It was but a step to the cathedral square, and I was no sooner dressed than I ran out to feast my eyes with its wonders. The buildings had a mottled look that displeased me, being faced with differently coloured marbles; but the magnitude of the church is imposing. The _campanile_ has the same fault; though, a finical thing in itself, it can better bear finery. The baptistery is near by, and altogether the spot has the charms of magnificence sustained by those of association. The servant pointed out a particular stone, on which Dante, it is said, used to seat himself in the cool of the evening, in order to breathe an air less confined than that of the streets. This night I first learned to respect a musquito. If Buffon had in view the comparative merits of these insects when he broached his theory of the inferiority of the animal nature of America to that of Europe, there is more apology for the extravagance of the supposition than is commonly thought among ourselves. Luckily we had musquito nets,--a thing I never saw at home, by the way,--and though they were full of holes, the creatures were too large to find their way through them. One fellow did get in, however, and he made as much noise as the horn of a mail-coach, at the distance of half a mile. The next morning poor Lucie, who I fancy had no net, looked as if she had the small-pox. LETTER III. Florence.--Formerly the focus of Trade.--Palaces constructed like Fortresses.--Moderate price for Lodgings.--Wine sold by great Families.--Character of the Florentines.--Feelings on visiting the Antique Statues.--A favourite residence with Foreigners.--Rage for travelling.--The Count di V----.--English Amateur Theatricals.--English feeling towards America.--Receptions of the Prince Borghese.--Waltzing.--Notable persons observed at the Pergola. As it was our intention to pass the winter here, old Caspar was discharged, and we took lodgings. Florence is full of noble hotels, which are termed palaces in the language of the country, and, few families still retaining a sufficient portion of the ancient wealth to occupy the whole of such huge edifices, apartments are let in them, furnished, or not, as it may happen, on the French plan. Hunting for lodgings gives one a good idea of the domestic economy of a place, for we entered some twenty or thirty of these palaces with this object. Rooms are unusually cheap, notwithstanding the number of strangers who resort to the place, for the town has shrunk to less than half its ancient population, and probably to a tithe of its ancient magnificence.