Tuscany I did not like as well.  It is a great place to study the history of character and art.  Indeed, there I did really begin to study, as well as gaze and feel.  But I did not like it.  Florence is more in its spirit like Boston, than like an Italian city.  I knew a good many Italians, but they were busy and intellectual, not like those I had known before.  But Florence is full of really good, great pictures.  There first I saw some of the great masters.  Andrea del Sarto, in particular, one sees only there, and he is worth much.  His wife, whom he always paints, and for whom he was so infatuated, has some bad qualities, and in what is good a certain wild nature or diablerie.

Bologna is truly an Italian city, one in which I should like to live; full of hidden things, and its wonders of art are very grand.  The Caracci and their friends had vast force; not much depth, but enough force to occupy one a good while,—­and Domenichino, when good at all, is very great.

Venice was a dream of enchantment; there was no disappointment.  Art and life are one.  There is one glow of joy, one deep shade of passionate melancholy; Giorgione, as a man, I care more for now than any of the artists, though he had no ideas.

In the first week, floating about in a gondola, I seemed to find myself again.

I was not always alone in Venice, but have come through the fertile plains of Lombardy, seen the lakes Garda and Maggiore, and a part of Switzerland, alone, except for occasional episodes of companionship, sometimes romantic enough.

In Milan I stayed a while, and knew some radicals, young, and interested in ideas.  Here, on the lake, I have fallen into contact with some of the higher society,—­duchesses, marquises, and the like.  My friend here is Madame Arconati, Marchioness Visconti.  I have formed connection with a fair and brilliant Polish lady, born Princess Radzivill.  It is rather pleasant to come a little on the traces of these famous histories; also, both these ladies take pleasure in telling me of spheres so unlike mine, and do it well.

The life here on the lake is precisely what we once imagined as being so pleasant.  These people have charming villas and gardens on the lake, adorned with fine works of art.  They go to see one another in boats.  You can be all the time in a boat, if you like; if you want more excitement, or wild flowers, you climb the mountains.  I have been here for some time, and shall stay a week longer.  I have found soft repose here.  Now, I am to return to Rome, seeing many things by the way.

TO R.F.F.

Florence, Sept. 25, 1847.—­I hope not to want a further remittance for a long time.  I shall not, if I can settle myself at Rome so as to avoid spoliation.  That is very difficult in this country.  I have suffered from it already.  The haste, the fatigue, the frequent illness in travelling, have tormented me.  At Rome I shall settle myself for five months, and make arrangements to the best of my judgment, and with counsel of experienced friends, and have some hope of economy while there; but am not sure, as much more vigilance than I can promise is needed against the treachery of servants and the cunning of landlords.