I did not consider myself
entitled to intrude upon him merely to gratify my own curiosity,
although no one admired his noble and disinterested character more than
I did. Not so, many of my countrymen, and countrywomen too, as well as
ladies of other nations, who worried the poor man out of his life, and
made themselves eminently ridiculous. One lady went so far as to collect
the hairs from his comb,--others showered tracts upon him.

I had hitherto been very healthy; but in the beginning of winter I was
seized with a severe illness which, though not immediately dangerous,
lasted so long, that it was doubtful whether I should have stamina to
recover. It was a painful and fatiguing time to my daughters. They were
quite worn out with nursing me; our maid was ill, and our man-servant,
Luigi Lucchesi, watched me with such devotion that he sat up twenty-four
nights with me. He has been with us eighteen years, and now that I am
old and feeble, he attends me with unceasing kindness. It is but justice
to say that we never were so faithfully or well served as by Italians;
and none are more ingenious in turning their hands to anything, and in
never objecting to do this or that, as not what they were hired for,--a
great quality for people who, like ourselves, keep few servants. After a
time they identify themselves with the family they serve, as my faithful
Luigi has done with all his heart. I am sincerely attached to him.

* * * * *

In the spring, when I had recovered, my son and his wife came to Spezia,
and we all went to Florence, where we had the pleasure of seeing many
old friends. We returned to Spezia, and my son and his wife left us to
go back to England, intending to meet us again somewhere the following
spring. I little thought we never should meet again.... My son sent his
sisters a beautiful little cutter, built by Mr. Forrest in London, which
has been a great resource to them. I always insist on their taking a
good sailor with them, although I am not in the least nervous for their
safety. Indeed, small as the "Frolic" is--and she is only about
twenty-eight feet from stem to stern--she has weathered some stiff gales
gallantly, as, for instance, when our friend, Mr. Montague Brown,
British consul at Genoa, sailed her from Genoa to Spezia in very bad
weather; and in a very dangerous squall my daughters were caught in,
coming from Amalfi to Sorrento. The "Frolic" had only just arrived at
Spezia, w