when the many
reasons for the new prevail, I hope what is poetical in the old will
not be lost. The ceremonies of New Year are before me; but as I shall
have to send this letter on New-Year's day, I cannot describe them.
The Romans begin now to talk of the mad gayeties of Carnival, and the
Opera is open. They have begun with "Attila," as, indeed, there
is little hope of hearing in Italy other music than Verdi's. Great
applause waited on the following words:--

"EZIO (THE ROMAN LEADER).

"E gittata la mia sorte,
Pronto sono ad ogni guerra,
S' io cardo, cadre da forte,
E il mio nome restera.

"Non vedro l'amata terra
Svener lenta e farri a brano,
Sopra l'ultimo Romano
Tutta Italia piangera."

"My lot is fixed, and I stand ready for every conflict. If
I must fall, I shall fall as a brave man, and my fame will
survive. I shall not see my beloved country fall to pieces and
slowly perish, and over the last Roman all Italy will weep."

And at lines of which the following is a translation:--

"O brave man, whose mighty power can raise thy country from
such dire distress; from the immortal hills, radiant with
glory, let the shades of our ancestors arise; oh! only one
day, one instant, arise to look upon us!"

It was an Italian who sung this strain, though, singularly enough,
here in the heart of Italy, so long reputed the home of music, three
principal parts were filled by persons bearing the foreign names of
Ivanoff, Mitrovich, and Nissren.

Naples continues in a state of great excitement, which now pervades
the upper classes, as several young men of noble families have been
arrested; among them, one young man much beloved, son of Prince
Terella, and who, it is said, was certainly not present on the
occasion for which he was arrested, and that the measure was taken
because he was known to sympathize strongly with the liberal movement.
The nobility very generally have not feared to go to the house of his
father to express their displeasure at the arrest and interest in
the young man. The ministry, it is said, are now persuaded of the
necessity of a change of measures. The king alone remains inflexible
in his stupidity.

The stars of Bonaparte and Byron show again a conjunction, by the
almost simultaneous announcement of changes in the lot of women with
whom they were so intimately connected;--the Archduchess of Parma,
Maria Louisa, is dead; the Countess Guic