The applause given to the Grand Duke at this critical period is so much the
more creditable to the Florentines as they in general receive their Prince,
on his presenting himself at the theatre, with no other ceremonial than
rising once and bowing. There is no fulsome _God save the King_ repeated
even to nausea, as at the English theatres. In fact none of the Italians
pay that servile adulation to their Sovereigns that the French and English
do.
The changes projected in Italy at the treaty of Luneville by Napoleon then
first Consul, and his further views on Italy, induced him at length to
eject an Austrian Prince from the sovereignty of a country which he
intended to annex to the French Empire. The Grand Duke was indemnified with
a principality in Germany, where he remained until the downfall of Napoleon
in 1814; subsequent arrangements again restored him to the sway of the land
he loved so well, and he returned to Florence as if he had only been absent
on a tour, finding scarcely any change in the laws and customs and habits
of the country; for tho' Tuscany was first erected into a Kingdom by the
title of Etruria, and afterwards annexed to the French Empire, the
institutions and laws laid down by Leopold and followed strictly by his
successor were preserved; very little innovation took place, and the few
innovations that were effected were decided ameliorations; for the Emperor
Napoleon had too much tact not to preserve and protect the good he found,
tho' he abolished all old abuses.
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