quent chapter.

Meantime those dull mutterings as of distant thunder, which Signor
Alberi had, as mentioned at a former page, first signalised to me,
were gradually growing into a roar which was attracting the attention
and lively interest of all Europe.

Of the steady increase in the volume of this roar, and of the results
in which it eventuated, I need say little here, for I have already
said enough in a volume entitled _Tuscany in 1849 and in 1859_. But
I may jot down a few recollections of the culminating day of the
Florentine revolution.

I had been out from an early hour of that morning, and had assisted at
sundry street discussions of the question, What would the troops do?
Such troops as were in Florence were mainly lodged in the forts, the
Fortezza da Basso, which I have had occasion to mention in a former
chapter, and the other situated on the high ground beyond the Boboli
Gardens, and therefore immediately above the Pitti Palace. My house at
the corner of the large square, now the Piazza dell Indipendenza, was
almost immediately under the walls and the guns of the Fortezza da
Basso; but I felt sure that the troops would simply do nothing; might
very possibly fraternise with the people; but would in no case burn a
cartridge for the purpose of keeping the Grand Duke on his throne.

A short wide street runs in a straight line from the middle of one
side of the Piazza to the fort; and a considerable crowd of people,
at about ten o'clock, I think, began to advance slowly up this street
towards the _fortezza_, and I went with them. High above our heads
on the turf-covered top of the lofty wall, there were a good number,
perhaps thirty or forty soldiers, not drawn up in line, but apparently
merely lounging and enjoying the air and sunshine. They had, I think
all of them, their muskets in their hands, but held them idly and with
apparently no thought whatever of using them. I felt confirmed in my
opinion that they had no intention of doing so.

Arrived at the foot of the fortress wall, the foremost of the people
began calling out to the soldiers, "_Abbasso l'Austria! Siete per
Italia o per l'Austria?_" I did not--and it is significant--hear any
cries of "_Abbasso il Gran Duca!_" The soldiers, as far as I could see
at that distance, appeared to be lazily laughing at the people.
One man called out "_Ecco un bel muro per fracassare il capo
contro!_"--"That is an excellent wall to break your heads against!"
It was