308 MORE POT-POURRI 



May SZnd. When I made up my mind last year to 

 go to Florence I thought I would try and collect a few 

 appropriate books to enlighten my ignorance and refresh 

 my memory. I asked my friends what I should take, 

 merely reminding them that Mr. Hare's volumes on Italy 

 and George Eliot's ' Eomola ' had naturally occurred to 

 myself. I got very little help before I went ; but by 

 degrees, during the month I was in Florence and since- 

 rny return, I have collected and read several books which 

 I should have been glad to have had last year, and which 

 may help those who go straight from a busy home life 

 and take a short trip to Florence. Of course the litera- 

 ture on Florence is so enormous, and people's taste in 

 books differs so greatly, that to write a mere list of names 

 would enlighten no one. I shall only mention those 

 books which I either possess or have had lent to me to 

 read ; and if I describe them a little in detail, I think it 

 may help the inexperienced to make a selection of those 

 which they themselves would enjoy. At Florence there 

 is a most excellent lending library ; in fact, probably more 

 than one. 



As an example of ' art ' teaching at the end of the last 

 century there is now a cheap edition of Sir Joshua 

 Beynolds's ' Discourses,' which are full of wisdom and 

 general instruction. He shares with the greatest Michael 

 Angelo especially the misfortune that those who came 

 after him degenerated, which seemed at one time to 

 justify the condemnation of his teaching. Here is a 

 sentence from one of his ' Discourses ' which comes home 

 to me as a reason why, instead of giving my own super- 

 ficial opinions, I try to help others by recommending 

 books which I think will greatly add to their enjoyment 

 of a visit to Florence : 



' The great business of study is to form a mind 

 adapted and adequate to all times and all occasions ; to 



