tor (a Milanese) who
attended him did not hesitate to condemn the sanitary condition of the
hotel where he was staying at the time of his illness. The hotels in the
Corso Vittorio Emmanuele are, I believe, without reproach in this
respect.

After leaving Milan, we passed through Magenta, situated amid fertile
corn-fields and plantations of mulberry trees. This was the scene of one
of the greatest battles in the war which gained Italy her freedom from
the hated rule of Austria. Close to the railway station is a huge
pyramidal monument, indicating the spot where the brunt of the battle
was borne, and erected to the memory of the brave French who fell in the
contest. All along the route are mementoes of the late war. Casting our
eyes over the level plains, occasionally broken by the river Ticino, and
undulating towards the hills, it was interesting, though sad, to imagine
the desperate conflicts of which it had so recently been the
scene--these now peaceful plains and valleys saturated with the blood of
valiant men, whose bones lie beneath the green sod and waving corn! The
result, however, was glorious--a People's Freedom! Very different to the
selfish ends and aims of the insatiable Napoleon!

Reaching Turin, we found the station, like that at Milan, an imposing
structure, standing in a fine open space planted with trees, the Piazza
Carlo Felice. This is surrounded by a colonnaded square--from which runs
the Via Roma, one of the principal streets--and extends as far as the
Piazza Castello. The streets, which are long and straight, like those
of an American city, in some cases seem to run right up to the circling
foot of the snowy Alps; and, looking up these streets towards the north,
one gets most lovely vistas of the grand Alpine range, and feels their
majestic presence by the dazzling light reflected from their snowy
slopes, and the cold air from their icy peaks, to which the fair blue of
the sky above forms a beautiful canopy.

Turin seems to have been badly treated; the removal of the seat of
government from her to Milan, Florence, and ultimately to Rome, caused
the value in land, etc., to fall considerably. The city was extended,
great piazzas and streets lined with handsome shops, tramways laid down
in all directions, theatres built on a large scale, and all preparations
for making it the capital of Italy; and this expenditure proved, after
all, a needless outlay, for soon the city was comparatively deserted, so