The Pitti Palace. 235 



modelled in wax. I had the honour of being elected 

 a member of the Academy of Natural Science at 

 Florence. 



There were many agreeable people at Florence 

 that winter and a good deal of gaiety. The Mar- 

 chese Antinori presented Somerville and me to 

 the Grand Duke, who had expressed a wish to 

 know me. He received us very graciously, and 

 conversed with us for more than an hour on 

 general subjects. He afterwards wrote me a polite- 

 letter, accompanied by a work on the drainage 

 of the Maremma, and gave directions about our 

 being invited to a scientific meeting which was 

 to be held at Pisa. "We were presented to the 

 Grand Duchess, who was very civil We spent 

 the summer at Siena, and had a cheerful airy 

 apartment with a fine view of the hills of Santa 

 Fiora, and with very pretty arabesques in fresco on 

 the walls of all the rooms, some so very artistic 

 that I made sketches of them. In these old cities 

 many of the palaces and houses are decorated with 

 that artistic taste which formerly prevailed to such 

 an extent in Italy, and which has now yielded, 

 here as elsewhere, to common-place modern furniture. 



[While we were at Siena, my mother received the fol- 

 lowing letter from Lord Brougham, who was a frequent 



