SHOULD you be in Florence in the summer, visit Vallombrosa, one of the greatest natural curiosities in Tuscany, though Milton mentions only an ordinary circumstance, that of the fall of the leaves in autumn. You will be astonished the whole way at the boldness of the scenery : - and not least, the mountain itself which looks proudly down on all that surrounds it. San Giovanni Gualberto founded the convent in the midst of woods on top of the Appenines, inhabited by wolves and bears ; it has now become one of the pleasantest spots in Tuscany. A forest of chesnut leads you to a forest of firs, and you at length arrive at the convent, situated on a delightful lawn, enclosed in an amphitheatre of wood. - Beckford Letters.