I am so glad he remains in all
respects but information a great child.'
If this letter is correctly dated, the cause was already lost and
the King had already abdicated when these lines were written. No
sooner did the news reach Genoa, than there began 'tumultuous
movements'; and the Jenkins' received hints it would be wise to
leave the city. But they had friends and interests; even the
captain had English officers to keep him company, for Lord
Hardwicke's ship, the VENGEANCE, lay in port; and supposing the
danger to be real, I cannot but suspect the whole family of a
divided purpose, prudence being possibly weaker than curiosity.
Stay, at least, they did, and thus rounded their experience of the
revolutionary year. On Sunday, April 1, Fleeming and the captain
went for a ramble beyond the walls, leaving Aunt Anna and Mrs.
Jenkin to walk on the bastions with some friends. On the way back,
this party turned aside to rest in the Church of the Madonna delle
Grazie. 'We had remarked,' writes Mrs. Jenkin, 'the entire absence
of sentinels on the ramparts, and how the cannons were left in
solitary state; and I had just remarked "How quiet everything is!"
when suddenly we heard the drums begin to beat and distant shouts.
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