In October they returned to Florence, though only for about six weeks, before moving on to Rome for the winter. * * * * * _To Mrs. Jameson_ [Florence]: Casa Guidi: Friday [October 1859]. Ever dearest Mona Nina,--Here we are at our Florence, very thankful for the advantages of our Siena residence. God has been kind. When I think how I went away and how I came back, it seems to me wonderful. For the latter fortnight the tide of life seemed fairly to set in again, and now I am quite well, if not as strong--which, of course, could not be in the time. My doctor opened his eyes to see me yesterday so right in looks and ways. But we spend the winter in Rome, because the great guns of the revolution (and even the small daggers) will be safer to encounter than any sort of tramontana. To tell you the truth, dearest friend, there have been moments when I have 'despaired of the republic'--that is, doubted much whether I should ever be quite well again; I mean as tolerably well as it is my normal state to be. So severe the attack was altogether. As to political affairs, I will use the word of Penini's music-master when asked the other day how they went on--'_Divinamente_,' said he. Things are certainly going _divinamente_. I observe that, while politicians by profession, by the way, have various opinions, and hope and fear according to their temperaments, _the people_ here are steadily sanguine, distrusting nobody if it isn't a Mazzinian or a codino, and looking to the end with a profound interest, of course, but not any inquietude. '_Divinamente_' things are going on. There is an expectation, indeed, of fighting, but only with the Pope's troops (and we all know what a '_soldato del papa_' means), or with such mongrel defenders as can be got up by the convicts of Modena or Tuscany to give us an occasion of triumph presently. The expected outburst in Sicily and the Neapolitan States will simply extend the movement. That's _our_ way of thinking and hoping. May God defend the right!