y.]

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE SENATOR ENTRAPPED.--THE WILES AND WITCHERY OF A QUEEN OF SOCIETY.
--HIS FATE DESTINED TO BE, AS HE THINKS, ITALIAN COUNTESSES.
--SENTIMENTAL CONVERSATION.--POETRY.--BEAUTY.--MOONLIGHT.--RAPTURE.
--DISTRACTION.--BLISS!

The blandishments of Florentine society might have led captive a
sterner soul than that of the Senator. Whether he wished it or not,
he was overcome. His friend, the Minister, took him to the houses of
the leaders of society, and introduced him as an eminent American
statesman and member of the Senate.

Could any recommendation be equal to that? For, be it remembered, it
was the Revolutionary time. Republicanism ran high. America was
synonymous with the Promised Land. To be a statesman in America was
as great a dignity as to be prince in any empire on earth. Besides,
it was infinitely more honored, for it was popular. The eyes of the
struggling people were tamed to that country which shoved them an
example of republican freedom.

So if the Florentines received the Senator with boundless hospitality,
it was because they admired his country, and reverenced his dignity.
They liked to consider the presence of the American Minister and
Senator as an expression of the good-will of the American Government.
They looked upon him diplomatically. All that he said was listened to
with the deepest respect, which was none the less when they did not
comprehend a word. His pithy sentences, when translated into Italian,
became the neatest epigrams in the world. His suggestions as to the
best mode of elevating and enriching the country were considered by
one set as the profoundest philosophy, and by another as the keenest
satire. They were determined to lionize him. It was a new sensation
to the Senator. He desired to prolong it. He recalled the lines of
the good Watts:

"My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this."

He thought of Dr. Franklin in Paris, of his severe republicanism amid
the aristocratic influences around. How like his present situation
was to that of the august philosopher!

The marked attention which the Minister paid to the Senator added
greatly to the importance of the latter. The Florentines reasoned
thus: A Minister is a great man. As a general thing his travelling
countrymen pay respect to him. What then must be the position of
that travelling fellow-countryman who receives attention instead of
paying it? What would the position of an Engl