I had proof in several instances that the Carbonari, if I may still call them so, and their favourers, are opening their eyes to the necessity of patience, and are intent upon spreading knowledge actively but quietly as they can. May they have resolution to continue in this course! for it is the only one by which they can truly benefit their country. We left Italy by the way which is called the "Nuova Strada de Allmagna," to the east of the high passes of the Alps, which take you at once from Italy into Switzerland. This road leads across several smaller heights, and winds down different vales in succession, so that it was only by the accidental sound of a few German words that I was aware we had quitted Italy, and hence the unwelcome shock alluded to in the two or three last lines of the latter sonnet.

FAIR Land! Thee all men greet with joy; how few,

Whose souls take pride in freedom, virtue, fame,

AT BOLOGNA, IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE LATE INSURRECTIONS, 1837

1837. 1842

I

Aн why deceive ourselves! by no mere fit Of sudden passion roused shall men attain True freedom where for ages they have lain Bound in a dark abominable pit,

With life's best sinews more and more unknit.

Here, there, a banded few who loathe the chain

May rise to break it; effort worse than vain
For thee, O great Italian nation, split
Into those jarring fractions. - Let thy scope
Be one fixed mind for all; thy rights approve
To thy own conscience gradually renewed;
Learn to make Time the father of wise Hope;

As leaves are to the tree whereon they grow
And wither, every human generation
Is, to the Being of a mighty nation,
Locked in our world's embrace through
weal and woe;

Thought that should teach the zealot to forego

Rash schemes, to abjure all selfish agitation, And seek through noiseless pains and moderation

The unblemished good they only can bestow. Alas! with most, who weigh futurity Against time present, passion holds the scales:

Hence equal ignorance of both prevails, And nations sink; or, struggling to be free,

Are doomed to flounder on, like wounded whales

Tossed on the bosom of a stormy sea.

"WHAT IF OUR NUMBERS BARELY COULD DEFY" 1837. 1837

WHAT if our numbers barely could defy The arithmetic of babes, must foreig hordes,

Slaves, vile as ever were befooled by words Striking through English breasts the ararchy

Of Terror, bear us to the ground, and tie Our hands behind our backs with fel cords?

Yields every thing to discipline of swords? Is man as good as man, none low, now high?

Nor discipline nor valour can withstand The shock, nor quell the inevitable rout, When in some great extremity breaks out A people, on their own beloved Land Risen, like one man, to combat in the sig Of a just God for liberty and right.

A NIGHT THOUGHT
1837. 1842

These verses were thrown off extempors upon leaving Mrs. Luff's house at Fox-Gh one evening. The good woman is not disposs. to look at the bright side of things, and the happened to be present certain ladies who ha reached the point of life where youth is ende and who seemed to contend with each other it expressing their dislike of the country and mate. One of them had been heard to say s could not endure a country where there wa "neither sunshine nor cavaliers."

Lo! where the Moon along the sky
Sails with her happy destiny;
Oft is she hid from mortal eye
Or dimly seen,

But when the clouds asunder fly
How bright her mien !

Far different wea froward race,
Thousands though rich in Fortune's grace
With cherished sullenness of pace
Their way pursue,
Ingrates who wear a smileless face
The whole year through.

If kindred humours e'er would make My spirit droop for drooping's sake,

759