xl MEMOIR 



question of Frank Scott's, f I could find no national game in France 

 but revolutions ; ' and the witticism was justified in their experi- 

 ence. On the first possible day, they applied for passports, and 

 were advised to take the road to Geneva. It appears it was scarce 

 safe to leave Paris for England. Charles Reade, with keen dra- 

 matic gusto, had just smuggled himself out of that city in the 

 bottom of a cab. English gold had been found on the insur- 

 gents, the name of England was in evil odour ; and it was thus 

 for strategic reasons, so to speak that Fleeming found him- 

 self on the way to that Italy where he was to complete his 

 education, and for which he cherished to the end a special 

 kindness. 



Sympathy It was in Genoa they settled ; partly for the sake of the 

 with Italy. Ca pt a i n5 W h m ight there find naval comrades ; partly because 

 of the Ruffinis, who had been friends of Mrs. Jenkin in their 

 time of exile and were now considerable men at home ; 

 partly, in fine, with hopes that Fleeming might attend the Uni- 

 versity ; in preparation for which he was put at once to school. 

 It was the year of Novara ; Mazzini was in Rome ; the dry bones 

 of Italy were moving ; and for people of alert and liberal sympa- 

 thies the time was inspiriting. What with exiles turned Ministers 

 of State, universities thrown open to Protestants, Fleeming him- 

 self the first Protestant student in Genoa, and thus, as his 

 mother writes, ' a living instance of the progress of liberal 

 ideas ' it was little wonder if the enthusiastic young woman 

 and the clever boy were heart and soul upon the side of Italy. 

 It should not be forgotten that they were both on their first 

 visit to that country ; the mother still ' child enough ' to be 

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

 son thrilling with the first sight of snowy Alps, the blue Medi- 

 terranean, 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 

 Italian society. To the end, Fleeming professed his admiration 

 of the Piedmontese and his unalterable confidence in the future 

 of Italy under their conduct ; for Victor Emanuel, Cavour, the 



