I was offered an introduction to the Grand Duke, but declined it, feeling no wish to go through with an empty formality, and having seen as much of him in public, as was sufficient for my purposes. From all I have been able to learn, he possesses little mind and no force of character. He was educated by pedants and religionists, who amused him with jests, and inculcated lessons of subserviency to the church, instead of liberal views becoming a prince. Religious toleration nominally exists in his dominions; yet informations by the priesthood, and proscription and banishment by the government, are said to be frequent. Report ascribes to him studious habits, and mornings spent among his books; but the fruits of his researches are not visible in his public measures. The commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests are depressed; the economical system of his predecessors has been deserted; the extravagance of his court is greatly aug mented; taxes are quadruple the amount of former years; and his subjects are reduced to beggary.

During the life of Ferdinand his father, he was not initiated at all into the cares of state, and on his accession to the throne, at an early age, his ministers took the reigns of government into their own hands. They still have control of the public interests, leaving to the Grand Duke merely the management of private affairs, and the promotion of his personal favourites to office. Fassombroni is the Prime Minister; a veteran in office, who has gained an ascendency over the mind of the sovereign, by a pretended attachment to his father. He is a man of a good deal of address and shrewdness, making a great show of liberality and regard for the interests of the people, while he is only seeking to advance his own, by securing his place. The Minister of the Interior was educated in the Papal Court, and has brought with him all its bigotry and superstition, together with the haughtiness of his rank, and an open contempt for popular rights. The third minister is a mere cipher; a lawyer of moderate talents, and a sort of clerk to his associates. Such is the government of Tuscany, denominated good only by comparison, because the other petty sovereignties of Italy are worse. Sardinia and Naples, the extremes in territory, are also the extremes in degradation, surpassing even the empire of the Pope. It is no uncommon thing for exiles from the tyranny of other Italian States, to seek refuge in Tuscany. Several banished Sicilian nobles were seen at Florence.

The streams from a corrupt fountain must of course be impure; and the evils of the Tuscan government are diffused through its remotest and lowest channels. I made particular inquiries into the judicial system. The administration of justice here, as in other parts of Italy, is defective.

arbitrary, and despotic. It has scarcely the shadow of independence, and personal rights and property are placed at the mercy of capricious tribunals. All the courts are the mere creatures of the sovereign, whose will is the law, directed in subserviency to his interests, partialities, or animosities. The subordinate tribunals go through the forms of judicial proceedings, with the civil law for their guide; and in most instances, their decisions may be impartial. But the supervision of all important cases is vested in the Grand Duke, and they are ultimately disposed of as he may dictate. A cause was recently decided against a French nobleman, in which the amount in litigation was $500,000. Some hard things were said of the motives of the tribunal, and the French minister protested against the equity of the decision.

LETTER LXXX.

FLORENCE CONTINUED-PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY OF TUSCANY-MANUFACTURE OF SILKS-STRAW HATS-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS-EDUCATION— ASCENDENCY OF THE PRIESTHOOD-RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS—A LIVING SAINT-THEATRES-OPERA-THE GOLDONI-ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS

-READING-ROOM-ITALIAN NEWSPAPERS.

July, 1826.

I MADE inquiry into the state of productive industry in Tuscany, and obtained information more in detail, than can here be given without converting a brief sketch into a dissertation on statistics and political economy. The two most prominent branches of manufactures are silks and straw hats. It is estimated, that about 100,000 persons are employed in these two kinds of fabrics. Both are on the decline, from causes already assigned, from the competitions of other nations, and from recent changes in the commercial world. The exportation of silks to Cyprus, Damascus, and other parts of the Levant, formerly so extensive and profitable to Tuscany, has been almost entirely suspended by the war between the Turks and the Greeks, and the monopolizing traffic of the French. Less quantities are also sent to Germany. The English have never allowed the importation of any thing beyond the raw material, to supply their own manufactories. At present, therefore, the trade is confined chiefly to the United States, Portugal, and a few places in the north of Europe.

These fabrics are wrought almost entirely in Florence. In some districts of the city, a great majority of the inhabitants are weavers. Houses are purposely constructed in a substantial manner, with two looms each, in the first and second stories, and three in the third. Young and robust females are employed in the manufacture, which is extremely hard work. At the age of forty they are worn out, and be come unfit for the severe labour of driving the looms.

The raw materials are prepared by the peasantry, who commence their labours about the last of April. Seed is sown and a crop of silkworms spring up. When of a proper size, they are placed upon mats and fed with the leaf of the mulberry, till full grown and their skin becomes semi-transparent and glossy. They are then transferred to the birch, where they spin their silken webs. In the month of June, the cocons are collected and exposed for sale in the Florentine market. They are immersed in hot water, to destroy the worm forming the nucleus, who would otherwise eat his way through the envelope. The

thread is then wound, and becomes fit for use.

Such is an outline of

the process, literally ab ovo. The best stuffs wrought at Florence are black satins and taffeties; while the richest are dove-coloured silks, gros de naples, and dies produced from the cochineal.

The manufacture of straw hats in Tuscany is of remote origin. As early as the year 1776, when Leghorn, in preference to the other ports of the Mediterranean, became the centre of business to English merchants, these fabrics took the name of the mart, and were made an article of profitable trade. The fashion subsequently extended to other countries, and among the rest to our own. England has since imposed

a duty, which amounts nearly to a prohibition. Yet the law is evaded by smuggling and collusion. As the importation of hats is forbidden, crowns are sent in one box, and the flats in another, which are stiched together after their arrival. The French have adopted another expedient. Finding that the climate of their own country was not congenial to the production of the raw material, they have established themselves in Tuscany, and become manufacturers as well as factors.

But notwithstanding all these deductions, 50,000 persons are now employed in this branch of industry, and the annual proceeds amount to about five millions of dollars. Manufactories are established all over Tuscany, but more particularly in the environs of Florence, where some of the dealers in this article have amassed immense fortunes. Hats of the first quality are sent to France; those of a second rate to England; and the refuse to the United States and the north of Europe. Such is my imformation, derived from authentic sources. The shades of excellence are as strongly marked by the material, the braid, and the finish, as are the different qualities in the same species of cloth. Any are deemed good, till better have been examined. Much fraud and imposition have been practised by some of the manufacturers, in glossing over slight and coarse fabrics.

The wheat of which the Tuscan hats are made, is sown in November and December. Barren and dry lands yield the best qualities. When it has attained a proper growth, it is plucked up by the roots, and bleached by alternate exposure to the dew and sun. Afterwards it is separated at the joints in the stalks, tied up in bunches, and laid for three days under a coat of brimstone. The braid consists of thirteen strings, and the sewing is done with a double thread, properly prepared by boiling. After the fabric is completed, it is first washed in pure cold lie; then dressed with a hair-brush, dipped in a hot lie mixed with French soap; and lastly rinsed in fresh water. The hats are subsequently exposed to the sun till they are thoroughly dried, buried again under brimstone for three days, and the finishing touch given to them

by a lukewarm iron. I shall need no apology for the minuteness of the foregoing sketch, if it shall direct the attention of any of our eountrywomen to this species of industry; for it is a neat, delicate employment, peculiarly suited to female fingers. The Tuscan peasant girls never appeared to better advantage, than when seated under the shade of the vine, engaged in weaving the fairy web.

The public institutions of Florence are numerous; but they do not at present appear to possess much activity, or to be very productive of benefits to the country. I was informed, that in many instances they are badly managed, being committed to the charge of men, who are either not qualified for the places they hold, or who prefer their own ease and interest to the public good. Ecclesiastics have a controlling influence in every department of society. The education of boys is entrusted to priests and monks; and females are buried in nunneries, till they are of age. Doctrines, prejudices, and prepossessions, thus early instilled and deeply rooted, give to the priesthood an ascendency, which is wielded to their own purposes. They appear to be quite as numerous as at Rome. Every tenth man you meet wears a tunic and a cocked hat. They are leeches upon the body politic, who gorge themselves with the life-blood of their victims.

Religious processions take place almost daily. We attended several. The first was the Feast of the Madonna del Carmine. All the city rallied as usual. It was an intensely hot day, and it appeared to me the priests and monks, particularly the ensigns or standard-bearers of the regiment, earned all the applause they received. They bore tremendous wooden crosses, heavier than they ever sustained spiritually, judging from the rotundity of their forms; and they puffed like porpoises, as they toiled and sweat along the procession, sniffing the fumes of burning tapers, instead of the smoke of incense. After marching about from street to street, to the sound of a fine band of music, they entered a church and deposited their banners for the night, hurrying off to the Piazza del Duomo, for an ice-cream and a glass of orgeat to cool their fervour.

But the greatest show took place on another day, I forget in honour of what Madonna or Saint, so numerous are they in Florence. The scene of action was laid in the great avenue leading from the Cascine, or in other words on the race-course; and the same set of decorations answered for both festivals. If possible, the priests drew together a greater concourse of people, than the Barbary steeds. Am. phitheatric seats were again put in requisition. The procession did not move till dark; for the blaze of tapers and the glare of banners, as well as the solemn chant, produce a much finer effect at night. Crosses