The officer thought, "Now for trouble! That man will be killed to
a certainty!" The crowd--who were filling the air with shouts of
"_Morte!" "Abbasso l'Austria!" "Morte agli Austriaci_!"[1]--crowded
round the fallen trooper, while the officer tried to push forward
towards the spot. But when he got within earshot, and could see also
what was taking place, he saw the people immediately round the fallen
man busily disengaging him from his horse! "_O poverino! Ti sei fatto
male? Orsu! Non sara niente! Su! A cavallo, eh?_"[2] And having helped
the man to remount, they returned to their amusement of roaring
"_Morte agli Austriaci!_" The young officer perceived that he had a
very different sort of populace to deal with from an angry crowd
on the other side of the Alps, or indeed on the other side of the
Apennines.
[Footnote 1: "Death! Down with Austria! Death to the Austrians!"]
[Footnote 2: "Oh! Poor fellow! Have you hurt yourself? Up with you! It
will be nothing! Up again on your horse, eh?"]
I remember another circumstance which occurred a few years
previously to that just mentioned, and which was in its way equally
characteristic. In one of the principal _cafes_ of Florence, situated
on the Piazza del Duomo--the cathedral yard--a murder was committed.
The deed was done in full daylight, when the _cafe_ was full of
people. Such crimes, and indeed violent crimes of any sort, were
exceedingly rare in Florence.
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