groaned. Really to elevate and free Italy, it was necessary to
remove the yoke of ecclesiastical and political thraldom; to do this
formed no part of his plans,--from his very nature he was incapable
of so great a purpose. The expression in her letters of this opinion,
when most people hoped better things, was at first censured, as doing
injustice to Pius IX.; but alas! events proved the impulses of his
heart to be in subjection to the prejudices of his mind, and that mind
to be weaker than even she had deemed it, with views as narrow as she
had feared.

The third part of this volume contains some letters to friends, which
were never written for the public eye, but are necessary to complete,
as far as can now be done, the narrative of her residence abroad. Some
few of these have already appeared in her "Memoirs," a work I cannot
too warmly recommend to those who would know my sister's character.
Many more of her letters may be there found, equally worthy of
perusal, but not so necessary to complete the history of events in
Italy.

The fourth part contains the details of that shipwreck which caused
mourning not only in the hearts of her kindred, but of the many
who knew and loved her. These, with some poems commemorative of her
character and eventful death, form a sad but fitting close to a book
which records her European journeyings, and her voyage to a home which
proved to be not in this land, where were waiting warm hearts to bid
her welcome, but one in a land yet freer, better than this, where she
can be no less loved by the angels, by our Saviour, and the Infinite
Father. After the copy for this volume had been sent to the press,
it was found necessary to omit some portions of the work in the
republication, as too much matter had been furnished for a volume of
reasonable size. The Editor made these omissions with much reluctance,
but the desire to bring a record of Madame Ossoli's journeyings within
the compass of one volume outweighed that reluctance. He believes the
omissions have been made in such a way as not materially to diminish
its value, especially as most which has been omitted will find place
in another volume he hopes soon to issue, containing a portion of the
miscellaneous writings of Madame Ossoli.

All of these omissions that are important occur in the Summer on the
Lakes, it being thought better to omit from a portion of the work
which had previously been before the public in book form. The
epis