Letters to Somebody - A Retrospect By The Right Hon. Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson PREFACE I HAVE addressed these letters to Somebody in the hope that Somebody will read them. I make no pretence of having written a book. All I have attempted to do has been to put on paper some recollections of a rather hard life and of a somewhat strenuous career. The desire to write Recollections may be a form of mental malady, but after all there is no reason why a swan should hold the monopoly of chirruping his memoirs when his dissolution becomes imminent. CONTENTS LETTER I.1850-1860 GENESIS CHILDHOOD ABOUT SOME PEOPLE TUTORS. LETTER II .THE RISORGIMENTO CAVOURSOLFERINO CAMPAIGN REVOLUTION IN FLORENCE DEPARTURE OF GRAND DUKE VICTOR EMANUEL. LETTER III.1861 THE GOMBOMY FATHER AND MOTHER. LETTER IV.18621868 LIFE IN FLORENCE FLORENCE FRIENDS DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND. LETTER V.ITALY IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES AUSTRIAN OCCUPATIONRELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. LETTER VI.1868-1888 EARLY LIFE IN LONDON EXAMINATION FIRST APPOINTMENT RELIGIOUS BELIEF EGYPT TRANSFER TO WAR OFFICE.