^:t. 28.] JOURNAL. 201 



instruments, peeped through his telescope, and from 

 the top of the tower had a most beautiful panoramic 

 view of Florence and the surrounding country. We 

 then passed through the museum of natural history, 

 which is in the same building, and is prettily arranged ; 

 saw the famous flowers and fruits done in wax, but 

 not the figures which represent the Plague, which were 

 in the anatomical museum adjoining, and which I did 

 not care to see. In the collection were some recent 

 models made under Amici's superintendence to illus- 

 trate his discoveries, etc. They were wonderfully fine, 

 and would be useful in a class-room. Amici is a good 

 observer with the microscope, but his anatomical or 

 physiological notions are in some cases very wide of 

 the mark, and quite surprised me. 



On leaving, Mr. Sloane and myself separated, he 

 going to fulfill some engagement, and I to the Palazzo 

 Pitti, as it is still called from the founder, though it 

 early passed into the hands of the Medici family, who 

 finished it, and now it is the ducal residence. I must 

 tell you, by the way, that I should have seen a remark- 

 able person in Florence, had she not been sick. Sloane 

 is very intimate with her and wished me to see her ; 

 she is the ex-queen of Naples, the widow of Murat 

 and the sister of Napoleon. . . . 



On returning to the hotel, however, I learned that I 

 could not get a place with the courier next day, that 

 the diligence which left at mid-day did not arrive at 

 Bologna imtil Sunday afternoon, so I engaged a 

 cabriolet, to start with me after dinner, arranged my 

 affairs, called on Mr. Sloane to bid him an unexpected 

 adieu, dined at the table d'hote at five, and at dark I 

 was climbing the outskirts of the Apennines. 



I would have liked to call upon our sculptor 



