318 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SEALER 



I came back at sundown. The whole of the majestic mass of Porta Magna 

 was taking the last of the day, making a golden crown of it. In the tram-car 

 was a Florentine man of trade ; he spoke a poor English of which he was very 

 proud, and he had cut his beard and his clothes in the conventional English 

 way. It is the fashion here to gird at the English, but there is a foundation 

 of vast admiration of that folk. The Florentine was surprised to hear that 

 there was any profitable lignite in this valley. He complained that every- 

 thing among his countrymen was done in a corner; that if a business man 

 found a good thing he kept it so secret that until his work was laid bare by 

 death no one would know he had made a fortune, and the business was likely 

 to die with him. There was doubtless some truth in this tale, for secretive- 

 ness and want of mutual action and trust seem to be the evils most com- 

 plained of by the intelligent natives. This does not seem to be the nature 

 of the folk, but the product of their long struggle with the oppression that 

 has been laid upon them. I noticed that all sorts of associations are spring- 

 ing up, and these seem to show by their general success that the power of 

 combination in action is latent in the people; that in their new life they 

 will not want for this element of power. 



Having pretty well explored the immediate neighborhood of 

 Florence, Mr. Shaler set out on a journey to the south of Italy. 

 He writes in letters under date of March, 1882 : 



ROME, Sunday Evening, March 12, 1882. 



With nothing to note save my loneliness I got here at 4.40. ... I have 

 fallen in with a nice old German scholar from near Hanover. He is bound 

 for Sicily and wants to travel with me. So if I go to Sicily at all I shall have 

 a very decent if rather dull company. 



The old Rome we saw together is no longer here, in its place a half-Paris 

 of a city, boulevards, etc. Even the Pantheon has been shorn of its age 

 and looks less old than the British Museum Reading-room. 



I walked up the Pincian Hill; met Miss H . Saw one or two other 



familiar faces, but spoke to no one else. To-morrow at 6 A. M. I take train 

 for Naples. The next morning I shall go to Vesuvius, and hope to see all 

 that I need in a day. 



NAPLES, March 13, 1882. 



I came here this afternoon at one o'clock, too late to go to Vesuvius. I 

 hope to attack it to-morrow morning; it is smoking like a great chimney, in 

 a dull, businesslike fashion. I shall not be able to fix the matter of JEtna 

 until I find what its state is. 



