16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [l825. 



And now began iny education in earnest. I soon mastered 

 French, and carried away various prizes amongst others that 

 for Cacographie, which consisted in rendering into correct French 

 a paper of text badly spelt. My translations of Latin into 

 French were approved, and my reading of Dante and Ariosto 

 gave satisfaction to my Italian master, who recorded his approval 

 in the following lines 1 : 



" Al Gentilissimo Signer GIUSEPPE PRESTWICH in attestato di verace 

 affetto il servo suo divoto FREDERICK) BROGLIO. 



SONNET 

 (of which a free translation is here given)? 



"PARIS, 8th July 1825. 



" When now, as wont, you turn and leave behind 

 Fair France, at this last moment, in words brief, 

 Full of esteem and love for you, I find 

 Expression for my thoughts and for my grief. 

 Benign One ! hearken to my loving lay. 

 May not these accents to the winds be sent, 

 But in my heart for ever may you stay, 

 There find a home and soften my lament. 

 On your return midst household gods again, 

 With troops of chosen friends around you, then, 

 Upon that man unknown to fame, ah ! deign 

 Upon him, far removed by seas, as when 

 He taught you Tuscan tones in bygone days, 

 To think, for he will ever love and praise ! " 



Amongst the public events which I witnessed during my 

 residence in Paris were the return of the French army from 

 Spain and the arrival of the Duke of Northumberland as 

 ambassador to "Louis Dix-huit." The procession of carriages 

 and military in the latter case was very gorgeous, and the most 

 extravagant reports were circulated of the great wealth of the 

 Duke. I was in the crowd in the Rue du Faubourg Saint 

 Denis, and the people around me were speculating, not upon 

 his yearly income, but upon how much he was in receipt of 



1 These were evidently farewell verses addressed to him when leaving 

 school in Paris. 



2 By the writer's youngest sister. 



