yet snow was lying thick under
the pine-trees, within a few yards of the gate.

309. *_At Vallombrosa_. [XVIII.]

I must confess, though of course I did not acknowledge it in the few
lines I wrote in the strangers' book kept at the Convent, that I was
somewhat disappointed at Vallombrosa. I had expected, as the name
implies, a deep and narrow valley, over-shadowed by enclosing hills: but
the spot where the convent stands is in fact not a valley at all, but a
cove or crescent open to an extensive prospect. In the book before
mentioned I read the notice in the English language, that if any one
would ascend the steep ground above the convent, and wander over it, he
would be abundantly rewarded by magnificent views. I had not time to act
upon the recommendation, and only went with my young guide to a point,
nearly on a level with the site of the convent, that overlooks the Vale
of Arno for some leagues.

To praise great and good men has ever been deemed one of the worthiest
employments of poetry; but the objects of admiration vary so much with
time and circumstances, and the noblest of mankind have been found, when
intimately known, to be of characters so imperfect, that no eulogist can
find a subject which he will venture upon with the animation necessary
to create sympathy, unless he confines himself to a particular act, or
he takes something of a one-sided view of the person he is disposed to
celebrate. This is a melancholy truth, and affords a strong reason for
the poetic mind being chiefly exercised in works of fiction. The poet
can then follow wherever the spirit of admiration leads him, unchecked
by such suggestions as will be too apt to cross his way if all that he
is prompted to utter is to be tested by fact. Something in this spirit I
have written in the note attached to the Sonnet on the King of Sweden;
and many will think that in this poem, and elsewhere, I have spoken of
the author of 'Paradise Lost' in a strain of panegyric scarcely
justifiable by the tenour of some of his opinions, whether theological
or political, and by the temper he carried into public affairs, in
which, unfortunately for his genius, he was so much concerned.

[Among the printed Notes is this--The name of Milton is pleasingly
connected with Vallombrosa in many ways. The pride with which the Monk,
without any previous question from me, pointed out his residence, I
shall not readily forget. It may be proper here to defend the Poet from