48 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



the mother still ' child enough ' to be delighted 

 when she saw ' real monks ' ; and both mother and 

 son thrilling with the first sight of snowy Alps, the 

 blue Mediterranean, and the crowded port and the 

 palaces of Genoa. Nor was their zeal without 

 knowledge. Ruffini, deputy for Genoa and soon 

 to be head of the University, was at their side ; 

 and by means of him the family appear to have had 

 access to much Itahan society. To the end, 

 Fleeming professed his admiration of the Pied- 

 montese and his unalterable confidence in the 

 future of Italy under their conduct ; for Victor 

 Emanuel, Cavour, the first La Marmora and 

 Garibaldi, he had varying degrees of sympathy and 

 praise : perhaps highest for the King, whose good 

 sense and temper filled him with respect — ^perhaps 

 least for Garibaldi, whom he loved but yet mis- 

 trusted. 



But this is to look forward : these were the days 

 not of Victor Emanuel but of Charles Albert ; 

 and it was on Charles Albert that mother and son 

 had now fixed their eyes as on the sword-bearer of 

 Italy. On Fleeming's sixteenth birthday, they 

 were, the mother writes, ' in great anxiety for news 

 from the army. You can have no idea what it is 

 to live in a country where such a struggle is going 

 on. The interest is one that absorbs all others. 

 We eat, drink, and sleep to the noise of drums and 

 musketry. You would enjoy and almost admire 



