estion was committed by
stabbing, and the motive of the criminal who had come to Florence for
the express purpose of killing his enemy was vengeance for a great
wrong. Having accomplished his purpose he quietly walked out of the
_cafe_ and went away. I happened to be on the spot shortly afterwards,
and inquired, with some surprise at the escape of the murderer, why he
had not been arrested red-handed. "He had a sword in his hand!" said
the person to whom I had addressed myself, in a tone which implied
that that quite settled the matter--that of course it was absolutely
out of the question to attempt to interfere with a man who had a sword
in his hand!

It is a very singular thing, and one for which it is difficult to
offer any satisfactory explanation, that the change in Florence in
respect to the prevalence of crime has been of late years very great
indeed I have mentioned more than once, I think, the very remarkable
absence of all crimes of violence which characterised Florence in
the earlier time of my residence there. It was not due to rigorous
repression or vigilance of the police, as may be partly judged by the
above anecdote. There was, in fact, _no_ police that merited the name.
But anything in the nature of burglary was unheard of. The streets
were so absolutely safe that any lady might have traversed them alone
at any hour of the day or night. And I might add to the term "crimes
of violence" the further statement that pocket-picking was equally
unheard of.

_Now_ there is perhaps more crime of a heinous character in Florence,
in proportion to the population, than in any city in the peninsula. I
think that about the first indication that all that glittered in the
mansuetude of _Firenze la Gentile_ was not gold, showed itself on
the occasion of an attempt to naturalise at Florence the traditional
sportiveness of the Roman Carnival. There and then, as all the world
knows, it has been the immemorial habit for the population, high and
low, to pelt the folks in the carriages during their Corso procession
with _bonbons, bouquets_, and the like. Gradually at Rome this
exquisite fooling has degenerated under the influence of modern
notions, till the _bouquets_ having become cabbage stalks, very
effective as offensive missiles, and the _bonbons_ plaster of Paris
pellets, with an accompanying substitution of a spiteful desire to
inflict injury for the old horse-play, it has become necessary to
limit the duration of th