ly city of Benares; the magnificent remains of
Bisnagar; the splendid Pagodas of Ramisseram; the policy of the Bramins;
the appalling voluntary penances of the _Joguis_ or _Fakirs_ as the
Europeans call them; the bed of spikes; the arm held up in the air for
fifteen years; the tiger hunt; the method of catching the elephant in
Ceylon; the pearl fishery; Sepoy establishment; in short I must have
appeared to them a Ulysses or a Sindbad, and I dare say that they thought I
added from time to time a little embellishment from my imagination, tho' I
can safely and solemnly aver that I did not extenuate nor exaggerate any
thing, but simply related what I had myself seen and witnessed.

Mr Sismondi is under a sort of banishment from his native country Geneva in
consequence of the side of the question he took in his writings on the
return of the Emperor Napoleon from Elba. It was indeed natural for the
restored government (the Bourbons) to desire the removal from France of a
man of talent who had exposed their past and might scrutinize their future
conduct and wilful faults; but why the Government of Geneva should espouse
their quarrel and visit one of their most estimable citizens with
banishment for opinions not at all connected with nor influential upon
Geneva, appears to me not only absurd and anomalous, but unjust in the
highest degree. But such is the state of degradation to which Europe is
reduced by the triumph of the old _regime_; and the Swiss Governments are
compelled to become the instruments of the vengeance of the coalition. But
I shall dwell no more on this subject at present. Let us hope that in a
short time a more liberal spirit will arise, and the Genevese will be eager
to recall in triumph the illustrious citizen of whom they have so much
reason to be proud.

We spent our mornings, Mr Sismondi and I, in promenades towards the most
striking points of the country immediately environing Pescia, and as I had
at this time some idea of coming to settle in Tuscany, he was so kind as to
conduct me to look at several villas that were to let; and I inspected
three very beautiful ones well furnished and each capable of holding a
large family, that were to be let for 18, 20, and 24 _louis d'or_ per
annum.

Wine and every article of life is of prodigious cheapness here, and the
inhabitants are so respectable, and there is such an absence of all crime,
that Pescia must be a very desirable and economical residence for any
f