Excursions in Italy Author:James Fenimore Cooper Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: is FLORENCE. tude of the church is imposing. The campanile hat the same fault; though, a finical thing in itself, it can better bear finery. The baptistery is... more » near by, and altogether the spot has the charms of magnificence sustained by those of association. The servant pointed out a particular stone, on which Dante, it is said, used to seat himself in the cool of the evening, in order to breathe an airless confined than that of the streets. This night I first learned to respect a musquito. If Buffon had in view the comparative merits of these insects when he broached his theory of the inferiority of the animal nature of America to that of Europe, there is more apology for the extravagance of the supposition than is commonly thought among ourselves. Luckily we bad musquito nets,—a thing I never saw at home, by the way,—and though they were full of holes, the creatures were too large to find their way through them. One fellow did get in, however, and he made as much noise as the horn of a mail-coach, at the distance of half a mile. The next morning poor Lucie, who I fancy had no net, looked as if she had the small-pox. LETTER III. Florence.—Formerly the focus of Trade.—Palaces constructed like Fortresses.—Moderate price for Lodgings.—Wine sold by great Families.— Character of the Florentines.—Feelings on visiting the Antique Statues. A favourite residence with Foreigners.—Rage for travelling.—The Count di V——.—English Amateur Theatricals.—English feeling towards America.—Receptions of the Prince Borghese.—Waltzing—Notable persons served at the Pergola. As it was our intention to pass the winter here, old Caspar was discharged, and we took lodging. Florence is full of noble hotels, which are termed palaces in the language of the country, and few families still retaining a...« less