ys of their singing.

It is however no credit to the Tuscans to tell, that of all the people
gathered together here, they are the worst-looking--I speak of the
_men_--but it is so. When compared with the German soldiery, the English
sailors, the Venetian traders, the Neapolitan peasants, for I have seen
some of _them_ here, how feeble a fellow is a genuine Florentine! And
when one recollects the cottagers of Lombardy, that handsome hardy race;
bright in their expression, and muscular in their strength; it is still
stranger, what can have weakened these too delicate Tuscans so. As they
are very rich, and might be very happy under the protection of a prince
who lets slip no opportunity of preferring his plebeian to his patrician
subjects; yet here at Leghorn they have a tender frame and an unhealthy
look, occasioned possibly by the stagnant waters, which tender the
environs unwholesome enough I believe; and the millions of live
creatures they produce are enough to distract a person not accustomed to
such buzzing company.

We went out for air yesterday morning three or four miles beyond the
town-walls, where I looked steadily at the sea, till I half thought
myself at home. The ocean being peculiarly British property favoured the
idea, and for a moment I felt as if on our southern coast; we walked
forward towards the shore, and I stepped upon some rocks that broke the
waves as they rolled in, and was wishing for a good bathing house that
one might enjoy the benefit of salt-water so long withheld; till I saw
our _laquais de place_ crossing himself at the carriage door, and
wondering, as I afterwards found out, at my matchless intrepidity. The
mind however took another train of thought, and we returned to the
coach, which when we arrived at I refused to enter; not without
screaming I fear, as a vast hornet had taken possession in our absence,
and the very notion of such a companion threw me into an agony. Our
attendant's speech to the coachman however, made me more than amends:
"_Ora si vede amico_" (says he), "_cos'e la Donna; del mare istesso non
ha paura e pur va in convulsioni per via d'una mosca_[Z]." This truly
Tuscan and highly contemptuous harangue, uttered with the utmost
deliberation, and added to the absence of the hornet, sent me laughing
into the carriage, with great esteem of our philosophical _Rosso_, for
so the fellow was called, because he had red hair.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote Z: Now, my friend, do but obs