the power of infusing zeal and a pride in
their work, and in the establishment to
which they belong, into all his staff of
subordinates. This gentleman is the
Commendatore Carlo Peri. He has held the
post for only four years, and has introduced
very large and important improvements
into the conduct of the establishment.

He has no control whatsoever over the
admission or non-admission of any applicant.
Applications for relief are made to the
corporation. They investigate the case,
and, if it be a fitting one, send the applicant
with an order to the "Pia Casadi Lavoro"
—such is the style and title of this
establishment—where he or she is received as
a matter of course; the corporation
thereupon becoming responsible to the Pia Casa
for one franc daily, as long as the person so
received remains an inmate. The persons
deemed fit objects to be so sent are all who
are destitute, and so far infirm as to be
unable to obtain their living by their
labour; all who are too old, or too young,
or too weakly, being at the same time
destitute of the means of support." But
what of those," I asked, "who are able
and willing to work, but can find no
work?" "There are none such," was the
reply. "If any man able to work says
that he can find no work in Florence at
the present day, it is because he has not the
will to work. There is work, and to spare,
for all." Further, the police have authority,
not only to procure admission for all
street beggars (of course, after sufficient
proof of destitution), but to compel them
to enter the "Pia Casa." For these, also,
the corporation pays one franc per head
per day.

The Pia Casa is essentially a workhouse,
and the able-bodied young (who are
retained as inmates up to sixteen years of
age) and the more able-bodied portion of the
adults are all required to work. Certain
portions of the building have been turned into
workshops for various trades; these are let
to masters in such trades, who avail
themselves of the labour of the boys, and teach
them their business. Sundry branches of
manufacture of articles needed in the house
for clothing, &c., are made in it by the
inmates. And in every case of work done
of any sort, half the value of the work, most
scrupulously valued, goes to the doer of it
and the other half to the establishment.
Even the sweeping and cleaning of the
wards is thus valued as work done, and is
paid for accordingly. Of the half of the
proceeds coming to the inmate, the sum of
five centimes is given to him daily; the
rest is put by at interest for his benefit.

Some small assistance hence accrues to
the establishment, but very little. Something
is also derived from the letting of
the shops above-mentioned, and something
from the proceeds of a large garden. But,
on the whole, there is very little income
over and above the daily franc paid for each
inmate. According to the last report,
made up to the 31st of December, 1868, the
number of the "family" then in the house
was five hundred and sixteen. It is now
somewhat larger, and must necessarily
increase with the rapidly increasing
population of Florence.

Of these five hundred and sixteen, there
were

With the five hundred and sixteen
francs per diem received for these inmates,
assisted by the small matters above
mentioned, Signer Carlo Peri has to provide
for the following objects:

The inmates are to be clothed, fed, and—
as regards the young, and such adults as
are in a condition to profit by teaching—
instructed. Besides the trade teaching
already mentioned, the house provides
writing, reading, sewing, drawing, and
gymnastic masters. A philanthropic and highly
competent singing master, Signer Giulio
Roberti, whose name is not unknown in
London, strongly persuaded of the
humanising influence of his art, gives
gratuitous instruction in music; and the writer
witnessed some time since, a little trial
of the acquirements of the scholars, at
which a knowledge of the elements of
musical notation was manifested which
might have put many a drawing-room
singer to the blush.

This is not all that Signor Peri has
to do with his five hundred and sixteen
francs a day. When he accepted the
position of director of the Pia Casa, the
establishment was very deeply in debt. This
debt had to be provided for. It has already
been in great part paid. The amount of
its pressure on the resources of the
establishment may be estimated by an
observation made by Signor Peri to the present