period of his death, his most distant excursion from Rome, in which
city he had fixed his residence in 1832, did not exceed a hundred
miles--namely, to Naples, for the purpose of visiting the Chinese
College which is there established.

It is true that at the period of which we speak, Bologna lay upon the
high-road to Rome, and that travellers more frequently rested for a
space upon their journey, than in these days of steam-boat and railway
communication. But, even then, the opportunities of intercourse with
foreign-speaking visitors in Bologna were few and inconsiderable
compared with the prodigious advances which, under all his
disadvantages, Mezzofanti contrived to make. The ordinary European
languages presented but little difficulty; the frequent passings and
repassings of the allied forces during the later years of the war,
afforded him a full opportunity of acquiring Russian; and the
occasional establishment of Austrian troops in Bologna, brought him
into contact with the motley tongues of that vast empire--the Magyar,
the Czechish, the Servian, the Walachian, and the Romani; but beyond
this, even his spirit of enterprise had no vent in his native city;
and all his further conquests were exclusively the result due to his
own private and unassisted study.

His fame, nevertheless, began to extend to foreign countries. Among
many distinguished foreigners to whose acquaintance his extraordinary
faculties as a linguist became a passport, was the celebrated Russian
general, Suwarrow; and with him Mezzofanti long maintained the most
friendly relations. From the Grand-Duke of Tuscany he received a
pressing invitation to fix himself at Florence; and Napoleon himself,
with that engrossing spirit which desired to make Paris the centre of
all that is great in science, in art, and in literature, offered him a