The main object, on this occasion, being that of visiting his native place, Panizzi’s official position must be temporarily ignored, and this point of view kept in sight. On the 24th of June of the year 1845, he received a friendly note from the Austrian Ambassador in London, requesting him to call at the Embassy, in order that he might submit to him a dispatch from Prince Metternich, and another from the Minister of Police, Count Sedlnitzky, stating that he might with safety proceed to the Austrian Empire. Early in July he arrived at Vienna, as has already been noticed, and was there received with marked attention by Her Majesty’s Ambassador. The Duke of Modena was at the time on a visit to the Emperor of Austria, and through Sir Robert Gordon, Panizzi obtained an interview with Francis IV. Before the meeting took place, Panizzi wrote to a near relative of his, Signor Prospero Cugini, to the effect that the Duke had accepted all he had heard of him with unusual grace, expressing, at the same time, his desire for an interview, and also, what must have astonished Panizzi most, that he would have been allowed to go _unmolested_ to Brescello. His delight can easily be imagined. On the 21st of July he had the gratification of an interview with the Duke, who, being now in his 66th year, was perhaps a little less blood-thirsty than when Panizzi left him in the year 1821. Francis’s love for Jesuitism and his cunning never seems to have abandoned him, even to the last; he died in the following year. The meeting was all that could be desired; and, as may be conceived, the conversation turned at once on the political state of Italy. On this subject Panizzi was too open-hearted, even to the extent of forgetting the prudence which should have permeated his words and actions; he clearly and distinctly told the Duke that his mode of Government was wholly hateful to his visitor, though he had no feeling of enmity towards the Duke himself personally, and that perhaps there remained even a sense of gratitude. However, in spite of this, they parted apparently good friends, and with the full assurance that Panizzi was at perfect liberty to go to Modena, or wherever he pleased. His license was, however, based on false pretences; no such liberty was in reality granted. Indeed, it was never intended to be carried out, or if so, to be under the most unpleasant restrictions. Our warrant for this assertion is not only gathered from Panizzi’s own words, but from incontrovertible and stern facts. On the 7th of August Panizzi wrote from Venice to Cugini:—