[I think the following extracts from letters written by my mother during the year 1859 and the following, ever memorable in Italian history, may not be unwelcome to the reader. My mother took the keenest interest in all that occurred. Owing to the liberal opinions she had held from her youth, and to which she was ever constant, all her sympathies were with the Italian cause, and she rejoiced at every step which tended to unite all Italy in one kingdom. She lived to see this great revolution accomplished by the entry of Victor Emmanuel into Rome as King of Italy; a consummation believed by most politicians to be a wild dream of poets and hot-headed patriots, but now realised and accepted as a matter of course. My mother had always firm faith in this result, and it was with inexpressible pleasure she watched its completion. Our intimacy with the leading politicians both in Tuscany and Piedmont naturally added to our interest. Ricasoli, Menabrea, Peruzzi, Minghetti, &c., we knew intimately, as well as Camillo Cavour, the greatest statesman Italy ever produced. No one who did not witness it can imagine the grief and consternation his death occasioned, and of which my mother writes in a letter dated June 19th, 1861.] FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ. FLORENCE, _May 5th, 1859_. MY DEAREST W., Your letter of the 28th would have made me laugh heartily were we not annoyed that you should have suffered such uneasiness on our account; the panic in England is ridiculous and most unfounded. The whole affair has been conducted with perfect unanimity and tranquillity, so that there has been no one to fight with. The Austrians are concentrated in Lombardy, and not in Tuscany, nor is there any one thing to disturb the perfect peace and quietness which prevail over the whole country; not a soul thinks of leaving Florence. You do the greatest injustice to the Tuscans. From first to last not a person has been insulted, not a cry raised against anyone; even the obnoxious ministers were allowed to go to their country houses without a word of insult, and troops were sent with the Grand Duke to escort him and his family to the frontier. Martha and Mary went all through the town the morning of the revolution, which was exactly like a common festa, and we found the tranquillity as great when we drove through the streets in the afternoon. The same quiet still prevails, the people are at their usual employments, the theatres and private receptions go on as usual, and the provisional government is excellent. Everyone knew of the revolution long before it took place and the quietness with which it was to be conducted. I am grieved at the tone of English politics; and trust, for the honour of the country and humanity, that we do not intend to make war upon France and Sardinia. It would