ip to this city. The
wretched old apology for a steamship whereon I had reached Leghorn (80
miles) in eighteen hours from Genoa may not yet have completed her
return passage between those ports, though I think she has; but whether
her officers know enough to receive and deliver a Mail-bag is
exceedingly doubtful. If they did, I see not how my letter can have been
stopped this side of Marseilles. I remember that it did particular
justice to French Government steamships in the Mediterranean and to
American Consuls in Italy, showing how our traveling countrymen are
crucified between the worthlessness of the former and the rapacity of
the latter. Our Consuls may well rejoice that said Letter XXII. comes up
missing, and perhaps the Tuscan Police has cause to join in their
exultation.

This letter also gave some account of Leghorn, a well-built modern city,
the only port of Tuscany, situated on a flat or marsh scarcely raised
above the surface of the Mediterranean, and containing some 80,000
inhabitants. It has few or no antiquities, and not much to attract a
traveler's attention.

Some thirty miles inland in a north-easterly direction, is _Pisa_, once
a very wealthy and powerful emporium of commerce, now a decaying inland
town of no political importance, with perhaps 30,000 inhabitants. It
lies on both sides of the Arno, several miles from the sea, and I
presume the river-bed has been considerably filled or choked up by
sediment and rains since the days of Pisa's glory and power. Her
wonderful Leaning Tower is worthy of all the fame it has acquired. It is
a beautiful structure, though owing its dignity, doubtless, to some
defect in its foundation or construction. The Cathedral of Pisa is a
beautiful edifice, most gorgeous in its adornments, and with by far the
finest galleries I ever saw. Near these two structures is an extensive
burial-place full of sculptures and inscriptions in memory of the dead,
some of them 2500 years old, and thence reaching down to the present
day. Had I not extended my trip to Rome, I should have brought home far
more vivid and lasting impressions of Pisa, which has nevertheless an
abiding niche in my memory.

The day before my visit was the anniversary of the Patron Saint of Pisa,
which is celebrated every fourth year with extraordinary pomp and
festivity. This time, I was informed, the fire-works exploded at the
public charge, in honor of this festival, cost over $100,000, though
Pisa _cannot