Climate and Sanitary Condition. —The climate of Florence is extremely variable, especially in the early spring, when the inhabitants are liable to diseases of the trachea, to bronchitis, and affections of the lungs. The summers are hot; but both the summers and autumns are peculiarly healthy, when the city is entirely free from intermittent fever, while typhoid fever is of rare occurrence. Eruptive diseases and all children’s complaints are exceed-inglymild. Diphtheria appeared first in 1868, and continued as a severe epidemic until 1872, since which time it has only occurred at intervals and in isolated cases. Cholera has more than once visited Florence with severity, but the last time it was in Italy this city escaped the calamity. The migliaria, so much dreaded by the Florentines, is not confined to Italy, but here, as elsewhere, is found to be an accompaniment of typhoid fever, pneumonia, and some other diseases. The average temperature throughout the year is about 15° centigrade (59° Fahr.). The greatest summer heat averages 36° centigrade (96 , 8° Fahr.), but it has risen exceptionally to 39° centigrade (102 - 2° Fahr.). The greatest cold is about 6° centigrade below zero (21 ’ 2° Fahr.). The longest day is 15 hours 23 minutes; the shortest, 8 hours 50 minutes. The average annual rainfall is about 9 inches. The drainage of the city is imperfect, and it is ill supplied with water, which is largely impregnated with carbonate of lime. The wells are shallow, not above 20 or 22 feet deep. The best drinking water is conveyed in pipes from a distance of seven miles north of Florence to the Palazzo Pitti. The water of the Arno above the town has latterly been filtered and pumped up to a reservoir for distribution in the city.

Public Buildings, Parks, and Charitable Foundations.— Florence contains more than 170 churches, several of which are Italian Evangelical, besides English, American, French, and German Protestant, and a large Jewish synagogue lately erected. The most remarkable are the Badia or ancient abbey, the cathedral with its campanile, and the baptistry, Sta Maria Novella, San Marco, the SS. Annunziata, and Or San Michele, with San Miniato and San Francesco beyond the walls. Of the palaces, whose construction of rough hewn stone gives a peculiar character to the city, those of greatest interest are the royal residence of the Pitti, the Palazzo Vecchio or municipal palace, and the Palazzo Riccardi, once the mansion of the Medici, but now the palace of the prefect. To these may be added the private palaces of the Strozzi, Rucellai, Corsini, Corsi, Quaratesi, Gondi, Albizzi, and Alessandri. The streets of modern Florence bear the names of many illustrious citizens of the past, and in the older narrower streets which have been left standing, the former homes of Dante, Macchiavelli, Guicciardini, <fcc., have tablets with their names inscribed. Some of the tabernacles, or frames containing pictures of sacred subjects, with lamps burning before them, still remain, commemorating the ancient usage of praying in the corners of the streets. The walls of Florence north of the Arno have been demolished, leaving the gates isolated, huge monuments of the past. South of the Arno the four gates of Romana, San Frediano, San Giorgio, and San Nicolo, remain as of old.

The city is intersected from S.E. to N.W. by the river, which is crossed by six bridges. Two are suspension bridges, the remaining four of stone. The Ponte Vecchio, or .jewellers’ bridge, alone retains its ancient form, and is still flanked on both sides by goldsmiths’ shops; the bridge of the S. Trinità is adorned with statues, and is remarkable for the perfect symmetry of the arches. The fortresses of Belvedere and Del Basso are now only used as barracks for soldiers. Since the annexation of Tuscany to the Italian kingdom the convents in Florence have been suppressed. A few monks are allowed to remain in each sanctuary, but the Government has prohibited any new monks or nuns to be added to the present number. This prohibition is, however, constantly evaded, and some of the schools for the young continue in their hands. There are twelve hospitals, including those for the blind, deaf and dumb, and insane. The hospital for the sick of Sta Maria Nuova, was founded by Folco Portinari, the father of Dante’s Beatrice, and the institute for the relief of the poveri vergognosi, or those ashamed to beg, by the good bishop Antonino, in the 15th century. One of the most important and beneficial charities is that of the Misericordia, or brothers of mercy.

Florentines of all ranks belong to the society, and the members are equally bound to lend their services without remuneration when summoned, either to convey sick or wounded persons to the hospital, to nurse them in their homes, or to carry the dead to burial. Next in antiquity is the Bigallo for the reception of orphans or children abandoned by their parents, as well as the Innocenti or Foundling Hospital. The most admirably conducted modern charity is the work-house or Pia Casa di Lavoro of Monte Domini. The building comprises two former convents; the Pia Casa is self-supporting, and independent of the municipality. None are admitted who are able-bodied, or who have relations capable of supporting them. An excellent education is provided for the boys, who are taught a trade by being hound apprentices to one of the λvorkshops attached to the establishment. The girls are provided with dowries when they leave the Pia Casa.

There are nine theatres, and several public parks or gardens. The Cascine, a large extent of ground surrounding a fancy farm formerly belonging to the grand dukes, and planted in long avenues of ilex and other trees, is the fashionable resort of the Florentine nobility. The Strada dei Colli, outside the Porta Romana, winds round the hills of Arcetri and San Miniato, affording a magnificent prospect over Florence. The Boboli garden, behind the Pitti, and belonging to the royal palace, is open twice a week to the public, and, with its trim alleys, quaint terraces, statues, and fountains, is the delight of the Florentines.

Galleries of Art and Libraries.— Besides some excellent private collections, such as those of the Torrigiani, Corsini, and Strozzi, the Uffizi contains a very fine gallery of paintings, especially of the Tuscan school, but including several of Raphael’s and Titian’s masterpieces. The greatest treasures of the gallery are contained in one room called the Tribune, where are also placed the most celebrated statues of antiquity. A suite of small rooms contains some admirable specimens of other schools of painting. In one of the larger rooms is the famous group of the Niobe; two others are filled with portraits of artists, chiefly by their own hands; and there are, besides, valuable collections of busts, coins, medals, gems, engravings, and drawings by the old masters. The Pitti collection of paintings is perhaps the finest in the world, not only from the chefs d’oeuvre of the great masters, but from the small number of pictures which may be considered of even mediocre merit. The Academy is assigned for the best examples of early art down to the time of Fra Angelico and Perugino; and connected with it are the cloisters of the former convent of the Scalzo or barefooted friars, where are some of the finest works of Andrea del Sarto in chiaroscuro. The Egyptian museum in the Via Faenza is small, but contains several objects of interest, and the museum of Etruscan art under the same roof is peculiarly important from a life-size bronze statue, a marble Greek sarcophagus with a coloured representation of the battles between the Greeks and Amazons, and a terra-cotta statue of a lady in the costume of the third century before Christ. Here also is an interesting fresco of the Last Supper attributed to Raphael, whilst the Convent de’ Pazzi possesses the finest work of his master Perugino, a Crucifixion, now open to the public.

There are three large and valuable libraries in the city. The National library, which unites the former library of the Pitti with the Magliabecchian, the two together containing 280,000 volumes: the Marucelliana, chiefly remarkable for important works on art; and the Laurentian, founded by Lorenzo de’ Medici, and attached to the convent of San Lorenzo. This last is rich in a collection of more than 9000 valuable manuscripts, as well as illuminated bibles and missals, and possesses about 20,000 volumes of print.

The pride of the collection is an original and perhaps unique copy of the Pandects of Justinian.

University and Schools.— The university of Florence, which is rather an institute for advanced studies,—Istituti de’ Studi Superiori Pratici e di Perfezionamento,—has its origin as far back as the year 1348. It was divided into six “scholae,” viz., theology, jurisprudence, medicine, belles lettres, Greek and Latin literature, and astrology or astronomy. To counteract the effects of the plague,-which in the year just mentioned had decimated Florence aud caused the city to be avoided by strangers, it was decreed that no one living within the walls, or even in the territory of the republic, should be allowed to seek an education abroad, and that those youths who were already attending other lyceums should forthwith return to their native city. In 1421 there were already 42 professors, and although in 1472 the Medici desired to revive the splendour of the Pisan university, and transferred several of the chairs from the city to Pisa, Florence retained many distinguished professors. The university underwent various changes, both in organization and name, but continued to flourish under the Medicean grand dukes. It gave rise to several academies, the most ancient of which was the Platonic, founded by Marsilio Ficino, for the cultivation of Greek literature, the Florentine academy, and the Accademia del Cimento (discussion) which had its rise with Galileo and his scholars. The Accademia della Crusca—named from crusca (bran) to express sifting the language—was founded in 1552, and the agricultural academy of the Georgofili in 1783. The taste for botany of Cosimo I. led to the formation of a herbal garden (Giardino de’ Semplici)—and ultimately to the botanic garden under the walls of the Boboli. Natural science first formed a branch of study under the patronage of the Medici, who invited foreigners of scientific distinction to Florence. A vast collection of objects of natural science and physics having accumulated, the celebrated professor Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, in the 18th century, threw them open to the public. The observatory, once attached to the museum, has been removed to a height corresponding with that on which Galileo made his observations. The collection in the museum was enriched by the valuable waxen anatomical preparations of Giulio Zummo of Syracuse, aud by a unique collection of physical instruments, most of which had belonged to the Accademia di Cimento. The university was reorganized in 1859, when Baron Ricasoli presided over Tuscany. Several new professorships were founded, in law, philosophy, and philology. In 1869 a chair of anthropology was added. The medical school of Sta Maria Nuova has also been attached to the university. At one time the students of law, medicine, and natural science were expected to pursue their studies, first in Pisa, and the last two years in Florence, where they received their degrees. This has again been modified, and students in Florence have now the option of receiving degrees in Florence, Siena, or Pisa. Natural science degrees are conferred at the Specula, or institute of natural science, in the Via Romana.

The communal or municipal schools, where the pupils are admitted gratis, have increased enormously. From 4 schools under the last grand-duke, there are now, besides 32 elementary schools, 15 lyceums, of which three are for girls, and one of these a normal school for the training of teachers. The entire number of pupils in the schools averages 7900.

The manufactures are few and of small importance, that of silk standing first. The cultivation of the silk-worm aud straw plaiting are the usual occupations of the people. The porcelain manufacture of the Marchese Ginori at Doccia, a few miles from Florence, has greatly fallen off in work as well as reputation; but a successful attempt to revive majolica ware has recently been made by Signor Can-tigalli, whose manufactory is beyond the Porta Romana.

Administration.— Florence is governed by a prefect or representative of the chief government, who has a force of cιrabineers (mounted police) at his disposal, besides guardie di sicurezza, partly paid by the municipality, although there is also a city police. The ancient office of gonfalonier is replaced by that of syndic, who is president of the junta or municipal council. The city is divided into four electoral districts, and sends four deputies to parliament. Every male inhabitant above twenty-five years of age has the right of suffrage, although twenty-one is the usual age qualifying for official posts in Italy.

Population.— The population of Florence is very fluctuating. In 1854 the inhabitants numbered 115,675, but during the short period when it was the capital of the new kingdom there was a large increase of Italians as well as foreigners; this diminished as rapidly on the transference of the capital to Rome. By the census taken December 31, 1871, the total population, foreigners included, amounted to 167,093. On December 23, 1876, the number had risen to 176,121. In 1871 there were 158,704 Italian Roman Catholics, 917 Italian Protestants, 2366 Jews, and 5106 of other sects.

The Florentines are gentle and courteous in their manners, though retaining the republican feeling of equality, and are well disposed towards all who treat them with kindness and respect. They are justly proud of the traditions of their native city, but are hardly conscious that centuries of misgovernment have left them behind in the race of civilization. Though the advantages of a liberal education are now open to them, and they are remarkably rapid in acquisition, the more important moral training is still wanting,—a defect which, with the absence of chivalrous respect for women, renders men of all classes, as is too much the case also in other parts of Italy, tyrannical to their wives and children, as well as indifferent to the sufferings of the lower animals, all alike being regarded as property, over which they have an absolute control. From their nervous physical organization the Florentines are defective in manly courage, but peculiarly sensitive to the beautiful in art, and able to reproduce all that is delicate and refined in decoration. As, however, with the decline of the healthy vigour and simple lives of their ancestors they have lost much of their originality, modern sculpture and painting are in general feeble, and wanting in truth of expression and colour. Though indolent and incapable of great exertion, the lower orders are industrious, and though impetuous, they have displayed exemplary patience and moderation in times of adversity. Their greatest misfortunes are the passion for gambling, with other vices remaining from a corrupt state of society, and the extremes of superstition and scepticism, which belong to the state of transition, political and religious, of the present era in Italy (1878). The large middle class, however, besides producing men eminent in literature and science, is rising in social and political importance, and by their intelligence and domestic virtues may well redeem faults in their fellow citizens, which are to be regarded rather as the result of adverse circumstances, than as a constant factor in the character of the Florentine people.

History.— Florence was originally a small trading village belonging to the Etruscan city of Fiesole, whence merchandise was sent down the Arno to Pisa, then a seaport. When colonized by the soldiers of Sulla, it gradually attained.the dignity of a city, with the rank and privileges of a municipium. The name Florentia may have been derived from Florinus, a Roman general, or from Fluentia, because situated at the confluence of the Arno and Mugnone, or from the profusion of flowers growing in the vicinity. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar the Florentines sent an embassy to Romo to deprecate α decree of the Roman senate, by which, in order to check the inundations caused by the number of tributary streams flowing into the Tiber, it had been proposed to turn the Chiano into the Arno. Christianity was first introduced in 313 a.d., and the most celebrated of early Florentine bishops was Zanobius, who died in 417, and to whom various miracles are ascribed. During his lifetime an invading army of barbarians approached Florence, but w ere defeated and destroyed in the fastnesses near Fiesole by the Roman general Stilicho. The Florentines, however, attributed the preservation of their city to the prayers of Zanobius. The victory was won in 405 on the 8th October, a day dedicated to a youthful saint, Reparata, who is said to have appeared in the midst of the battle, bearing in her hand a blood-red banner with the device of the white lily, which from that time became the badge of the city, whilst a new cathedral, built on the site of the old church of San Salvador, received her name. Florence had suffered the fate of other Italian cities at the hands of northern invaders, when Charlemagne, on his way to Rome, rebuilt its walls. Commerce began to flourish in the 10th century, when as yet German nobles or their descendants, who held their castles in fief of the German emperors, dwelt beyond the city. The pope, because an Italian sovereign, was regarded as the representative of national independence, and when Tuscany fell to the inheritance of the Countess Matilda, the Florentines found in her a patriotic champion of their rights, as well as a staunch adherent of the reigning pope, Gregory VII. A second circle of walls was built as a protection against the imperialists, and Matilda obliged some of the powerful nobles in the neighourhood to yield their lands to the canons of Sta Reparata. She died in 1115, leaving a name so beloved by the Florentines that their female children were frequently christened Contessa, or Tessa, in remembrance of their benefactress. As the Florentines conquered and destroyed the castles of the robber chieftains who infested their neighbourhood, they obliged them to reside within their city—an impolitic measure, which sowed the seeds of future discord and civic war. The romantic story of the Buondelmonti, whoso assassination in 1215, for a breach of promise of marriage, occasioned a fierce outbreak of strife, is an instance of the many feuds that caused bloodshed in Florence during centuries.

About 1240 the Paterini, a sect of Reformers, after the manner of the Albigenses in France, had gained considerably in numbers and influence, especially among the imperialists, who about this time assumed the name of Ghibellines. Their adversaries, the Guelphic or papal party, called in Peter Martyr, a Dominican friar of Verona, to rouse the multitude for the destruction of this heresy. Two columns in Florence still mark the spots where the Paterini were massacred. A few years later the Guelphic Florentines sustained a severe defeat from Manfred, a natural son of the emperor Frederick IL, at Monteaperti near Siena; and the Ghibellines, whom they had banished, re-entered Florence. The Ghibelline conquerors proposed to level the city with the ground, but λvere deterred by the bold and determined opposition of one of their own party, Farinata degli Uberti, whose name has been immortalized by Dante. About this time a French pope, Clement IV., invited Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. of France,...