r usual drive to the
Cascine after dinner, and went to the theatre in the evening; the
streets were perfectly quiet, and next morning the people were at work
as usual. Sir James Scarlett was our minister, and had a reception the
evening after these events, where we heard many predictions of evil
which never were fulfilled. The least of these was the occupation of
Florence by a victorious Austrian army. The Tuscan archdukes precluded
all chance of a restoration by joining the Austrian army, and being
present at the battle of Solferino. At Florence a provisional
government was formed with Bettino Ricasoli at its head; a parliament
assembled three times in the Sala dei Cinquecento, in the Palazzo
Vecchio, and voted with unanimity the expulsion of the House of
Lorraine, and the annexation of Tuscany to the kingdom of Italy. In the
meantime the French and Italian arms were victorious in Lombardy. As,
however, it is not my intention to give an historical account of the
revolution of 1859, but merely to jot down such circumstances as came
under my own immediate notice, I shall not enter into any particulars
regarding the well-known campaign which ended in the cession of Milan
and Lombardy to Italy.

We were keenly interested in the alliance between the Emperor Napoleon
and the King of Italy, in hopes the Quadrilateral would be taken, and
Venice added to the Italian States. We had a map of Northern Italy
spread on a table, and from day to day we marked the positions of the
different headquarters with coloured-headed pins. I can hardly describe
our indignation when all at once peace was signed at Villafranca, and
Napoleon received Nice and Savoy in recompense for his aid, which were
given up to him without regard to the will of the people. When the peace
was announced in Tuscany it caused great consternation and disgust; the
people were in the greatest excitement, fearing that those rulers so
obnoxious to them might by this treaty be again forced upon them; and it
required the firm hand of Ricasoli to calm the people, and induce the
King to accept the annexation which had been voted without one
dissentient voice.

Baron Ricasoli had naturally many enemies amongst the Codini, or
retrograde party. Hand-grenades were thrown against the door of his
house, as also at those of other ministers, but without doing harm. One
evening my daughters were dressing to go to a ball that was to take
place at the Palazzo delle Crocelle, close to