I have not been able to answer your letter till now, and indeed even now I am interrupting my work to do it; I will answer all your questions categorically. First, about the brigands--I have made inquiries, and have heard of nothing new since these two cases about five weeks back, and am told that now the roads may be considered safe; indeed, no time is generally so good for travelling as just after an accident of that kind, as the authorities are on the look out: if you go by _vetturino_, there will in all probability be other _vetturini_ on the road, and you will start together and arrive together from and to the different stations on the road. You quite misunderstood the sense of my letter, dear Mamma, if you imagined that I knew nothing of rumours of war, &c. &c.--so far from not knowing what is going on, I live in a hot-bed of politics, what with Cartwright and what with Odo Russell. I expressed my surprise that you should speak with confidence of the withdrawal of the French troops when the official news of the Pope's _formal request_ to that effect could not yet have reached Florence, for the reason that it had not taken place; with the Florentine politicians the wish must have been father to the thought. What really will happen is impossible to say; they won't withdraw till the Austrians do--that is pretty certain; the French, I think, like to mislead people about it. A French general told a friend of mine that in _six weeks_ they would all be gone, but _Antonelli_, who ought to be the best authority, told Odo Russell they would not go for six _months_, though the occupation has already ceased (as the _Moniteur_ expresses it) "en principe." You see, dear Mamma, that it is entirely impossible for me to give you any _definite_ information at a moment when nobody seems to know what is coming next. I should be very much disappointed if you could not come; if you settle to come, let me know in time to look for rooms at an Hôtel, and tell me what you expect to give. My work would not allow me to go to Florence. My pictures for the R.A. this year are three portraits in different sizes and attitudes from the same model, all _dressed_--one a small half-length, the other a kit-cat, the third a small head the size of my hand--this I have sold to Lady Hoare for forty guineas. It has been much coveted--Lady Stratford de Redcliffe wanted a repetition (I never do repetitions), and Mrs. Phipps seemed quite distressed it was sold. The Prince and his party told O. Russell they liked my studio better than any they had seen in Rome. My "Pan" and "Venus" are stowed away in London.