upon the side of Italy. It should not be forgotten that they were
both on their first visit to that country; the mother still child
enough 'to be delighted when she saw real monks'; and both mother
and son thrilling with the first sight of snowy Alps, the blue
Mediterranean, and the crowded port and the palaces of Genoa. Nor
was their zeal without knowledge. Ruffini, deputy for Genoa and
soon to be head of the University, was at their side; and by means
of him the family appear to have had access to much Italian
society. To the end, Fleeming professed his admiration of the
Piedmontese and his unalterable confidence in the future of Italy
under their conduct; for Victor Emanuel, Cavour, the first La
Marmora and Garibaldi, he had varying degrees of sympathy and
praise: perhaps highest for the King, whose good sense and temper
filled him with respect - perhaps least for Garibaldi, whom he
loved but yet mistrusted.

But this is to look forward: these were the days not of Victor
Emanuel but of Charles Albert; and it was on Charles Albert that
mother and son had now fixed their eyes as on the sword-bearer of
Italy. On Fleeming's sixteenth birthday, they were, the mother
writes, 'in great anxiety for news from the army. You can have no
idea what it is to live in a country where such a struggle is going
on. The interest is one that absorbs all others. We eat, drink,
and sleep to the noise of drums and musketry. You would enjoy and
almost admire Fleeming's enthusiasm and earnestness - and, courage,
I may say - for we are among the small minority of English who side
with the Italians. The other day, at dinner at the Consul's, boy
as he is, and in spite of my admonitions, Fleeming defended the
Italian cause, and so well that he "tripped up the heels of his
adversary" simply from being well-informed on the subject and