“Casa Ximenes, Florence, Aug. 12, 1848.
“....Truth is, I am stunned. The pressure that demands [? money] impedes any fresh efforts on my part, and I sit down to work with a depressed and jaded spirit. Nothing less nourishes than the head that is wet with tears. ‘Roland,’ bad as it is, is therefore better than it might be.
“Do you deem all intercourse with M’Glashan inadvisable? It is the only magazine where I should like to contribute, and if I could make any terms for a series of papers I should soon be in a position to clear off some of my debts. I cannot address him myself: if you chanced to meet him you might feel the way.
“The Austrians have reconquered Lombardy and the whole of Italy, and, if the French do not intervene, will soon be at peace.”
To Mr Alexander Spencer.
“Casa Ximenes, Florence, Aug. 19, 1848.
“....Although politically all looks more tranquil here, yet for personal reasons I should draw somewhat nearer to England. I am hampered by the difficulty of postal communication, and to go to London even alone and back would cost me above £100. Otherwise I like the place better than any I have ever known,—a climate beyond praise, a beautiful country, excellent society, and perfectly sound liberty which lets you live in the world or out of it exactly as suits your inclination. The heat, to be sure, is great. 132° Fahrenheit yesterday on the terrace, and that at five o’clock in the afternoon!
“I hope you continue to like ‘Roland Cashel.’ Has any one detected Archbishop Whately as my Dean of Drumcondra? The whole dramatis per-sonæ are portraits.
“As to Ireland. All foreign sympathy is over, [? owing to] the late cowardice and poltroonery of the patriots.* Even Italians can fight.
* See John Mitchel’s ‘Jail Journal’ for observations on this
observation.—E. D.