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Florence
improves upon acquaintance. I first entered it at evening, in a violent
rain, and for a week or two the weather was anything but pleasant or mild,
making everything seem cheerless, and my first impressions not very agreeable.
But when the weather became settled, the skies delightfully clear, and the
air pure and invigorating, things wore a new and more pleasing face.
New and congenial acquaintances were formed, and respected visits to the
wonderful creations of art and genius rendered my stay in the city increasingly
attractive; while the streets and buildings assumed an improved appearance,
and the muddy Arno sometimes really had a transparent aspect, especially
under a glorious Italian sunset or the glitter of a thousand lamps that
line its borders at night.
Trusch brings pleasures and benefits, and a kind of education that can be
acquired in no other way. Opportunities are constantly afforded for observing
the grand and beautiful works, both of nature and art, as well as for studying
the character and habits of different people. No day need pass without something
of good profit seen, learned, or experienced. Even the annoyances one constantly
meets – the discomforts and perplexities where passports, custom houses,
and various hungry officials detain and tax you; the swarm of beggars, including
the lame, the blind, and the diseased, as well as the destitute and the
lazy, who beset you like a pack of ravenous wolves; the ignorance and degradation
that surround you; the blind and puerile superstition of the people, amid
magnificent temples apparently devoted to God’s service; the great
poverty of lands rich in natural capabilities and varied beauties –
all these make you grateful for the bond of your birth, and lead you to
praise more highly its people, its government, its religion and its good
institutions.
Here and in fact throughout Italy, great contrasts are continually meeting
the eye. Go into the galleries of painting and sculpture, enter many of
the cathedrals, churches, palaces, and other public or private buildings,
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