370 CHARLES-FRANgOIS-MARIE, COMTE DE EEMUSAT. 



alpine kingdom, which was soon after consumraated by the never-to- 

 be-forgotten entrance of King Victor Emmanuel into Florence. He 

 could not see, as others did, those streets strewn with flowers, those 

 houses draped with banners and tapestries, that King of a United 

 Italy, who, riding on a white charger, came with an endless crowd of 

 willing subjects, to add one more jewel to his crown ; for since 1844 he 

 had been blind. But his ears were open to the sounds of rejoicing, 

 and no heart of all those which swelled with emotion on that day to 

 think that Italy was no longer " a geographical expression," but a 

 country one and indivisible, beat more loyally than his, or responded 

 more warmly to the calls of that memorable occasion. "With it his 

 connection with political events ceased. During the remainder of his 

 life, he occupied himself with literary labors, and by the publication of 

 his " History of the Florentine Republic," a year before his death, 

 brought them to a noble termination. For many years, as he says in 

 his preftice to this work, it had from time to time engaged his atten- 

 tion, but owing to frequent inten-uptions it was not completed until 

 its author had attained the age of eighty. "With what conscientious- 

 ness he labored to make it a faithful record of events, and why he did 

 so, he himself tells us in this same preface, in these simple words : 

 " Once that I had undertaken it, it seemed to me to be the duty of an 

 honest man to labor at it with the utmost diligence, and to give it my 

 best thoughts, because a history carelessly written is often a false his- 

 tory, or, in other words, a lie. Wherefore, for all the shortcomings of 

 this book. I have no other excuse to offer to the reader but this very 

 plausible one, that I was unable to make it better than it is." 



CHARLES-FEAN90IS-MARIE, COMTE DE RflMUSAT. 



Charles-Fran^ois-Marie, Comte DE Remusat, died on the 6th 

 of June, 1875. He was born on the 14th of March, 1797, and had thus 

 nearly reached his seventy-eighth year. He was the son of Count de 

 Remusat, a chamberlain of the first Napoleon, wlio married a niece 

 of the Count de Vergennes, an intimate friend of the Empress Jose- 

 phine. Some of his early years were thus passed at St. Cloud, where 

 his father was Prefet of the Palace. He was educated at the Lycee 

 Kapoleon, and was there distinguished for his scholarship. He began 

 early to write in the journals and periodicals, and always on the 

 liberal side. In 1830, he took bold ground, with M. Thiers, against 

 the ordinances of M. Polignac, which cost Charles X. his throne. 



