Venice alone,
thought of the Stuarts, Bourbons, Bonapartes, here in Italy, and
offered up a prayer that other names, when the possessors have power
without the heart to use it for the emancipation of mankind, might he
added to the list, and other princes, more rich in blood than brain,
might come to enjoy a perpetual _villeggiatura_ in Italy. It did not
seem to me a cruel wish. The show of greatness will satisfy every
legitimate desire of such minds. A gentle punishment for the
distributors of _letters de cachet_ and Spielberg dungeons to their
fellow-men.

Having passed more than a fortnight at Venice, I have come here,
stopping at Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Lago di Garda, Brescia.
Certainly I have learned more than ever in any previous ten days of my
existence, and have formed an idea what is needed for the study of Art
and its history in these regions. To be sure, I shall never have time
to follow it up, but it is a delight to look up those glorious vistas,
even when there is no hope of entering them.

A violent shower obliged me to stop on the way. It was late at night,
and I was nearly asleep, when, roused by the sound of bubbling waters,
I started up and asked, "Is that the Adda?" and it was. So deep is
the impression made by a simple natural recital, like that of Renzo's
wanderings in the _Promessi Sposi_, that the memory of his hearing the
Adda in this way occurred to me at once, and the Adda seemed familiar
as if I had been a native of this region.

As the Scottish lakes seem the domain of Walter Scott, so does Milan
and its neighborhood in the mind of a foreigner belong to Manzoni. I
have seen him since, the gentle lord of this wide domain; his hair is
white, but his eyes still beam as when he first saw the apparitions of
truth, simple tenderness, and piety which he has so admirably recorded
for our benefit. Those around lament that the fastidiousness of his
taste prevents his completing and publishing more, and that thus
a treasury of rare knowledge and refined thought will pass from
us without our reaping the benefit. We, indeed, have no title to
complain, what we do possess from his hand is so excellent.

At this moment there is great excitement in Italy. A supposed spy
of Austria has been assassinated at Ferrara, and Austrian troops are
marched there. It is pretended that a conspiracy has been discovered
in Rome; the consequent disturbances have been put down. The National
Guard is forming. All things s