principles
which ought to regulate the matter in question. He was, I fancy, rather
fond of lecturing, and would rather have liked the work of a professor
of the fine arts. I have seen people writhe under his patient and
lengthy expositions, which they were as capable of understanding as so
many bullocks, and which they had brought down on themselves by some
absolutely absurd remark on the work before them. I have seen such
delinquents use every sort of effort to put a stop to or escape from the
punishment they had brought upon themselves. In vain: the lecture would
continue with a placid _uninterruptibility_ which it was amusing to
witness.

It was in 1854, I think, or thereabouts (for I have not at hand the
means of verifying the date with accuracy, and it is of no consequence),
that Mr. Hume, the since well-known medium, came to Florence. He came to
my house on the pressing invitation of my mother, my then wife and
myself. We had seen accounts of extraordinary things said to have taken
place some months previously at the house of a Mr. Rymer, a solicitor
living at Ealing near London, and our curiosity and interest had been so
much excited that the hope of being able to witness some of these
marvels was not the least among the motives of a journey that summer to
England. We obtained an introduction to Mr. Rymer, were present at
sundry _seances_ at his house at Ealing, made acquaintance with Mr.
Hume, and invited him to stay for a while in my house in Florence. He
came accompanied by his friend, a son of Mr. Rymer; and both the young
men were resident under my roof for about a month, leaving it to accept
an invitation from Mr. Powers to make his house their home for a while.
The manifestations of phenomena produced, or supposed to be produced, by
what has become known to the world as "Spiritualism," were then only
beginning to attract in Europe the very general attention which they
have since that time attracted. The thing was then new to most people.
During the month that Mr. Hume and his friend were in my house we had
seances almost every evening, with the "assistance," as the French say,
of a rather numerous and very varied circle. For, as may easily be
supposed, all our friends were anxious to witness the new marvels, and
we, desirous only of as many eyes and as many minds as might be for the
better watching and discussion of the phenomena, welcomed all comers to
the extent of the capacity of our room and table. I h