Sir Moses says: "We have made every arrangement to send 50 mille gold to-night; if needful, 100 mille to-morrow, and 50 mille on Thursday. This is, I think, all that caution and prudence can require for the week, and hope all demand for gold will cease before that time; if not, we have plenty of Consols, new Three Per Cent. Bank Stock, and India Bonds, besides an immense amount of bills we have discounted. I wish every bank was as well prepared for a severe run as, thank God, we are." Still the anxiety must have been very great.
The panic in England was followed by a monetary crisis at Hamburg, and there was great apprehension of many failures in London and other commercial places. During this time Lady Montefiore had been suffering from illness, and was still very poorly. She was frequently attended by eminent physicians, who recommended her a change of climate.
At the beginning of 1858, just as they had arranged to return to East Cliff to allow Lady Montefiore the benefit of rest, Mr Arthur Cohen (the present Queen's Counsel and Member of Parliament) and his brother called on them with a message from his parents, to the effect that they were desirous of passing a couple of months with them in a warmer climate. Both Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, ever delighted to have an opportunity of evincing their affection towards their brother and sister, at once changed their plans, and made arrangements to take a trip to Italy, and thus avoid the inclemency of an English winter.
Lady Montefiore, recording the day of their departure in her Diary, invokes the blessing from Heaven. "May every evil," she prays, "be averted from us, and may joy and thankfulness fill our mind throughout our projected journey."
Sir Moses, wishing good acts to accompany them, as it were, like guardian angels, handed on that day a cheque for £100 to the treasurer, as his donation to the Lord Mayor's Commemoration Scholarship for the Jews' College, and bestowed various gifts on charitable institutions and deserving individuals.
On March 20th the travellers reached Florence, where, unfortunately, Lady Montefiore was taken seriously ill. Two eminent physicians, Dr G. Levy and Professor Pietro Ciprani, held frequent consultations. Dr Canham, the physician who attended her at Ramsgate, was also sent for, and it was not until the 13th of May that the doctors considered her sufficiently recovered to continue the journey. That was an anxious time for Sir Moses, the more so as he himself was ill and obliged to keep his bed for seventeen days.