of the history
of the Italian Republics, to inform him of my intended visit to him, and I
forwarded to him at the same time two letters of introduction, one from
Colonel Wardle and the other from Mr Piton, banker at Geneva, who mentioned
me in his letter to Sismondi as having _des idees parfaitement analogues
aux siennes_. I received a most friendly answer inviting me to come to
Pescia and to pass a few days with him at his villa. Pescia is thirty miles
distant from Florence and the same from Leghorn. I was delighted with the
opportunity of seeing a man whom I esteemed so much as an author and as a
citizen, and of visiting at the same time the different cities of Tuscany,
particularly Lucca and Pisa. I accordingly hired a cabriolet and on the
morning of the 6th Novr drove to Prato, a good-sized handsome town, solidly
built, ten miles distant from Florence. The country on each side of the
road appears highly cultivated, and the road is lined with villas and farm
houses with gardens nearly the whole way. Changing horses at Prato, I
proceeded ten miles further to Pistoia, a large elegant and well-built town
on the banks of the Ombrone.

The streets in Pistoia are broad and well paved and the _Palazzo pubblico_
is a striking building; so is the _Seminario_ or College. Here I changed
horses again and proceeded to Pescia, where I alighted at the villa of M.
Sismondi. The distance between Pistoia and Pescia is about ten or eleven
miles.

Pescia is a beautiful little town, very clean and solidly built, lying in a
valley surrounded nearly on all sides by mountains. Its situation is
extremely romantic and picturesque, and there are several handsome villas
on the slopes and summits of these mountains. On market days Pescia is
crowded with the country people who flock hither from all parts, and one is
astonished to see such a number of beautiful and well dressed country
girls. Industry and comfort are prevalent here, as is the case indeed all
over Tuscany; I mean agricultural industry, for commerce is just now at a
stand.

I passed three most delightful days and which will live for ever in my
recollection, with Mr Sismondi, in whom I found an inexhaustible fund of
talent and information, combined with such an unassuming simplicity of
character and manner that he appeared to me by far the most agreeable
litterary man that I ever met with. His mother, who is a lady of great
talent and perfectly conversant in English litterature, r