Sub-Apennine Italy was before me, and it seemed the Italy I had dreamed of, could I only see it; but, alas! it was blotted with mists, and overshadowed by a black canopy of cloud. Outspread, far as the eye could extend southward, was a landscape of ridges and conical tops, separated by winding wreaths of white mist, giving to the country the aspect of an ocean broken up into creeks, and bays, and channels, with no end of islands. The hills were covered to their very summits with the richest vegetation; and the multitude of villages sprinkled over them lent them an air of great animation. The great chain of the Apennines, with rolling masses of cloud on its summits, ran along on the east, and formed the bounding wall of the prospect. Below us there floated on the surface of the mist an immense dome, looking like a balloon of huge size about to ascend into the air. It did not ascend, however; but, surrounded by several tall shafts and towers which rose silently out of the mist, it remained suspended over the same spot. Like a buoy at sea affixed to the place where some noble vessel lies entombed, this dome told us that engulphed in this ocean of vapour lay FLORENCE, with her rich treasures of art, and her many stirring recollections and traditions. CHAPTER XIX. FLORENCE AND ITS YOUNG EVANGELISM. Beauty of Position--Focus of Italian Art--Education on the Aesthetic Principle--Effects as shown in the Character and Manners of the Florentines--The result not Civilization, but Barbarism--The Artizans of Britain surpass the Florentines in Civilization--Early English Scholars at Florence--Man's Power for Good--Savonarolo--History of present Religious Movement in Tuscany--Condition of Tuscan Government and Priesthood prior to 1848--Attempts to introduce Religious Books--The Priests compel the Government to interfere--The Revolution of 1848--The Bible translated and seized--Visit of Vaudois Pastors--Secret Religious Press--Work now carried on by the Converts--Denunciation of DEATH for Bible Reading--Great Increase of Converts notwithstanding--Present State and Prospects of Movement--Leave Florence--Beauty of the Vale of the Arno--Pisa--Arrive at Leghorn. Of Florence "the Beautiful," I must say that its beauty appeared scarce equal to its fame. In an age when the capitals of northern Europe were of wood, the Queen of the Arno may have been without a rival on the north of the Alps; but now finer streets, handsomer squares, and nobler facades, may be seen in any of our second-rate towns. But its dome, by Brunelleschi, the largest in the world,--its tall campanile,--its baptistry, with its beautiful gates,--and its public statuary,--are worthy of all admiration. Its environs are superb.