TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO FLORENCE. 3I

inhabitants. Triumphal arches in imitation of antique marble, festooned with evergreens, were erected at the ends of the streets, the whole fronts of the houses were draped in flowers, the pavements were carpeted with laurels and bays, the tricolour floated from every window and housetop, and the passage from the railway station to the Palazzo Vecchio was one continuai shout of applause.

‘ Why such frantic joy ? ’ asked a distinguished foreigner of a lad who was clapping his hands and cheering vocifcrously at the sight of his new sovereign.

‘ We are Eleven Million Italians ! ’ was the reply. Mamiani, who accompanied the king on his tour, thus describes the effect : —

I believe that rarely if ever has there been recorded in the history of any people such an entry of a prince into a newly annexed province as that of our king ; and I who hâve been many times witness of the enthusiasm feel quite incapable of giving an account of it. In the chief dties where he passed he excited an ardour, an intoxication of pure universal joy, to which no pen and no style cap do justice. I will only say that at his presence there arose from the thickly-packed and enthusiastic multitude, a thunder of applause that never ceased, and that resounded high above ail other noises of carnages, of bells, of artillery, which were completely extinguished and drowned. Over the king and around him fell incessantly, continually, the loveliest flowers, like thick rain. At every step there

were festoons, arches, triumphs, national banners hy the thousand, arras, damasks, rich pavilions, pictures, emblems, inscriptions, — everywhere a jubilee passionate intense, interminable. How many triumphs of Cæsars, how many coronations of kings, what act of taking possession by great monarch, captain, or conqueror, has ever called forth such ovations ? I believe none. For no king ever brought with him like this ail the great social and political good — liberty, independence, means of defence, personal dignity, the right of self-government.

Victor Emmanuel found ail the men of letters devoted to him, because his was the only State in ItaJy in which éducation and intellectual life were encouraged and fostered. ‘ I am only a soldier,’ he used to say, modestly ; but he knew how to appreciate talent of every sort. We hâve seen what Gioberti and Manzoni thought of him ; and on his arrivai in the Tuscan capital, Gino Capponi was amongst the first to welcome the new sovereign. Victor Emmanuel, grasping the hand of the venerable historian, said : ‘ I rejoice to press the hand of the first citizen of Florence.’ There came also the octogenarian poet, Niccolini, though hardly able to support himself on his feet, happy to behold, and once before he died, the deliverer in whom he had taught his countrymen to trust. He presented the king with his National Poems and Arnauld da Brescia, and read an address to him. There was something touching and beautiful in the enthusiasm of the old poet, trembling on

NICCOLINl’S ADDRESS TO THE KING.

the brink of the grave, and Victor was profoundly moved by it.

The beauty of the language we cannot render ; we can but hope to convey the sentiments expressed in that address.

G. B. Niccolini to Victor Emmanuel.

I corne, O sire, although bowed down by years and illhealth, I corne with infirm step and with unutterable émotion which renders me almost mute, to revere in you the liberty-Ioving monarch, the stupendous example to the world of loyalty, the first soldier of the war of Italian independence, the elect of the people, the desire, the joy of ail Italy. And if it bc permitted to me, O sire, I corne to express the joy of my soûl, to tell you that when I wrote, more than thirty years ago, these poor Unes, —

Qui necessàrio estimo un Rè possente.

Sia di quel Rè scettro, la spada, e 1’ elmo La sua corona ; le divise voglie  concordia riduca, a Italia sani Le servili ferite e la ricrei, —

I did not dare to hope for a fate so benignant as to see, before closing these eyes for ever to the sweet light of Italy, my most ardent desire for you fulfilled.

Still, if I hâve ever desired that my humble words might carry power with them, I had it in my soûl last year, when, with the assistance of a young friend, almost a son in my affections, I gave to the light one of the books which with a frank and reverent love I