passports. He urged that nothing could be easier, that no objection
could possibly be taken to it; that the Tuscan government was by no
means desirous of giving up these men, and would only be too glad to
get out of it; that England both at Malta and in the Ionian Islands
had plenty of Italian subjects--and in short, I undertook the mission,
I confess with very small hopes of success. Lord Holland laughed
aloud when I told my tale, and said he thought it was about the most
audacious request that had ever been made to a British minister. But
he ended by granting it. Doubtless he knew very well the truth of what
d'Azeglio had stated--that the Tuscan government would be much too
well pleased to ask any questions; and the passports were given.

It was not long after our establishment in the Via dei Malcontenti
that a great disaster came upon Florence and its inhabitants and
guests. Arno was not in the habit of following the evil example of the
Tiber by treating Florence as the latter so frequently did Rome. But
in the winter of the year 1844 a terrible and unprecedented flood
came. The rain fell in such torrents all one night that it was feared
that the Arno, already much swollen, would not be able to carry off
the waters with sufficient rapidity. I went out early in the morning
before breakfast, in company with a younger brother of the Dr.
Nicholson of Penrith whom I have mentioned, who happened to be
visiting us. We climbed to the top of Giotto's tower, and saw at once
the terrible extent and very serious character of the misfortune.
One-third, at least, of Florence, was under water, and the flood was
rapidly rising. Coming down from our lofty observatory, we made our
way to the "Lung' Arno," as the river quays are called. And there the
sight was truly a terrible and a magnificent one. The river, extending
in one turbid, yellow, swirling mass from the walls of the houses on
the quay on one side, to those of the houses opposite, was bringing