322 Mary Somerville. 



an Italian prince, excluding all Austrians for ever. The 

 union is perfect, and the determination quiet but deep 

 and unalterable. If the Archduke is forced upon them, 

 it must be by armed force, which the French emperor 

 will not likely permit, after the Archduke was fool 

 enough to fight against him at Solferino. All the four 

 states have unanimously voted union with Piedmont ; 

 but they do not expect it to be granted. The destinies of 

 Europe are now dependent on the two emperors 



FEOM MES. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ. 



FLORENCE, 23rd April, 1860. 



You would have had this letter sooner, my dearest 

 Woronzow, if I had not been prevented from writing to 



you yesterday evening The weather has been 



atrocious ; deluges of rain night and day, and so cold 

 that I have been obliged to lay in a second supply of 

 wood. The only good day, and the only one I have been 

 out, was that on which the king arrived. It fortunately 

 was fine, and the sight was magnificent ; quite worthy of 

 so great an historical event. No carriages were allowed 

 after the guns fired announcing that the king had left 

 Leghorn ; so we should have been ill off, had it not been 

 for the kindness of our friend the Marchesa Lajatico, 

 who invited us to her balcony, which is now very large, 

 as they have built an addition to their house for the 

 eldest son and his pretty wife. We were there some 

 hours before the king arrived ; but as all the Florentine 

 society was there, and many of our friends from Turin 

 and Genoa, we found it very agreeable. The house is in 



