only just begun. I had often thought of living a few months near St.
Peter's, that I might go as much as I liked to the church and the
museum, have Villa Pamfili and Monte Mario within the compass of
a walk. It is not easy to find lodgings there, as it is a quarter
foreigners never inhabit; but, walking about to see what pleasant
places there were, I had fixed my eye on a clean, simple house near
Ponte St. Angelo. It bore on a tablet that it was the property of
Angela ----; its little balconies with their old wooden rails, full
of flowers in humble earthen vases, the many bird-cages, the air of
domestic quiet and comfort, marked it as the home of some vestal or
widow, some lone woman whose heart was centred in the ordinary and
simplest pleasures of a home. I saw also she was one having the most
limited income, and I thought, "She will not refuse to let me a room
for a few months, as I shall be as quiet as herself, and sympathize
about the flowers and birds." Now the Villa Pamfili is all laid waste.
The French encamp on Monte Mario; what they have done there is not
known yet. The cannonade reverberates all day under the dome of St.
Peter's, and the house of poor Angela is levelled with the ground. I
hope her birds and the white peacocks of the Vatican gardens are in
safety;--but who cares for gentle, harmless creatures now?

I have been often interrupted while writing this letter, and suppose
it is confused as well as incomplete. I hope my next may tell of
something decisive one way or the other. News is not yet come from
Lesseps, but the conduct of Oudinot and the formation of the new
French ministry give reason to hope no good. Many seem resolved to
force back Pius IX. among his bleeding flock, into the city ruined
by him, where he cannot remain, and if he come, all this struggle and
sorrow is to be borne over again. Mazzini stands firm as a rock. I
know not whether he hopes for a successful issue, but he _believes_ in
a God bound to protect men who do what they deem their duty. Yet how
long, O Lord, shall the few trample on the many?

I am surprised to see the air of perfect good faith with which
articles from the London Times, upon the revolutionary movements,
are copied into our papers. There exists not in Europe a paper more
violently opposed to the cause of freedom than the Times, and neither
its leaders nor its foreign correspondence are to be depended upon.
It is said to receive money from Austria. I know not