Note 47 — XVI IN MY SOLITARY LIFE (continued 2)

Shortly before this my publishers had given me a magnificently bound copy of “Walks in Rome,” with the desire that I would present it to Princess Margherita. I demurred to doing this, because, owing to the strictures which the book contains on the “Sardinian Government,” I thought it might be considered little less than an impertinence; but I told the Duchess S. Arpino, who was in waiting at the time, and she repeated it. The amiable Princess said, “I am sorry Mr. Hare does not appreciate us, but I should like my present all the same,” and the book was sent to her.