NEVER UNTIL NOW, MOST HOLY FATHER! DID I HOPE OR DESIRE TO OFFER
MY HOMAGE TO ANT POTENTATE ON EARTH; AND NOW I OFFER IT ONLY TO THE HIGHEST OF THEM ALL.
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE CULTIVATORS OF LITERATURE WERE PERMITTED AND EXPECTED TO BRING THE FRUIT OF THEIR LABOUR TO THE VATICAN. NOT ONLY WAS INCENSE WELCOME THERE, BUT EVEN THE HUMBLEST PRODUCE OF THE POOREST BOIL.
VERBENAM, PUERI, PONITE THURAQUE.
IF THOSE BETTER DAYS ABB RETURNING, WITHOUT WHAT WAS BAD OR EXCEPTIONABLE IN THEM, THE GLORY IS DUX ENTIRELY TO YOUR HOLINESS. YOU HAVE RESTORED TO ITALY HOPE AND HAPPINESS; TO THE REST OF THE WORLD HOPE ONLY. BUT A SINGLE WORD FROM YOUR PROPHETIC LIPS, A SINGLE MOTION OF YOUR EARTH-EMBRACING ARM, WILL OVERTURN THE FIRMEST SEATS OF INIQUITY AND OPPRESSION. THE WORD MUST BE SPOKEN; THE ARM MUST WAVE. WHAT DO WE SEE BEFORE US? IF WE TAKE THE BEST OF RULERS UNDER OUR SURVEY, WE FIND SELFISHNESS AND FRIVOLITY: IF WE EXTEND THE VIEW, INGRATITUDE, DISREGARD OF HONOUR, CONTEMPT OF HONESTY, BREACH OF PROMISES: ONE STEP YET BEYOND, AND THERE IS COLD-BLOODED IDIOCY, STABBING THE NOBLES AT HOME, SPURNING THE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, AND VOIDING ITS CORROSIVE SLAVER IN THE FAIR FACE OF ITALY. IT IS BETTER TO LOOK NO FARTHER, ELSE OUR EYES MUST BE RIVETED ON FROZEN
CIOUS ANIMAL LEAVES THE IMPRESSION OF ITS BROAD AND HEAVV FOOT ON THE SNOW OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE AND OF THE CAUCASUS. AND IS THIS INDEED ALL THAT EUROPE HAS BROUGHT FORTH, AFTER SUCH LONG AND PAINFUL THROES? HAS SHE ENDURED HER MARATS, HER ROBESPIERRES, HER BUONAPARTES, FOR THIS? GOD INFLICTED ON THE LATTER OF THESE WRETCHES HIS TWO GREATEST CURSES; UNCONTROLLED POWER AND PERVERTED INTELLECT; AND THEY WERE TWISTED TOGETHER TO MAKE A SCOURGE FOR A NATION WHICH REVELLED IN EVERY CRIME, BUT ABOVE ALL IN CRUELTY. IT WAS INSUFFICIENT. SHE IS NOW UNDERGOING FROM A WEAKER HAND A MORE IGNOMINIOUS PUNISHMENT, PURSUED BY THE DERISION OF EUROPE. TO SAVE HER HONOUR, SHE PRETENDED TO ADMIRE THE COURAGE THAT DECIMATED HER CHILDREN: TO SAVE HER HONOUR, SHE NOW PRETENDS TO ADMIRE THE WISDOM THAT IMPRISONS THEM. CUNNING IS NOT WISDOM; PREVARICATION IS NOT POLICY; AND (NOVEL AS THE NOTION IS, IT IS EQUALLY TRUE) ARMIES ARE NOT STRENGTH: ACRE AND WATERLOO SHOW IT, AND THE FLAMES OF THE KREMLIN AND THE SOLITUDES OF FONTAINEBLEAU. ONE HONEST MAN, ONE WISE MAN, ONE PEACEFUL MAN, COMMANDS A HUNDRED MILLIONS, WITHOUT A BATON AND WITHOUT A CHARGER. HE WANTS NO FORTRESS TO PROTECT HIM: HE STANDS HIGHER THAN ANT CITADEL CAN RAISE HIM, BRIGHTLY CONSPICUOUS TO THE MOST DISTANT NATIONS, GOD’S SERVANT BY ELECTION, GOD’S IMAGE BY BENEFICENCE.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
IT is hardly to be expected that ladies and gentlemen will leave on a sudden their daily promenade, skirted by Turks and shepherds and knights and plumes and palfreys, of the finest Tunbridge manufacture, to look at these rude frescoes, delineated on an old wall high up, and sadly weak in coloring. As in duty bound, we can wait. The reader (if there should be one) will remember that Sculpture and Painting have never ceased to be occupied with the scenes and figures which we venture once more to introduce in poetry, it being our belief that what is becoming in two of the Fine Arts is not quite unbecoming in a third, the one which indeed gave birth to them.