r objects are sought out, disappointment is, I believe, invariably
felt. Ability to recover from this disappointment will exist in
proportion to knowledge, and the power of the mind to reconstruct out of
fragments and parts, and to make details in the present subservient to
more adequate comprehension of the past.

304. '_At Rome_.'

'They who have seen the noble Roman's scorn.' [VII. l. 1.]

I have a private interest in this sonnet, for I doubt whether it would
ever have been written, but for the lively picture given me by Anna
Ricketts of what they had witnessed of the indignation and sorrow
expressed by some Italian noblemen of their acquaintance upon the
surrender, which circumstances had obliged them to make, of the best
portion of their family mansions to strangers.

305. *_At Albano_. [IX]

This sonnet is founded on simple fact, and was written to enlarge, if
possible, the views of those who can see nothing but evil in the
intercessions countenanced by the Church of Rome. That they are in many
respects lamentably pernicious must be acknowledged; but, on the other
hand, they who reflect while they see and observe cannot but be struck
with instances which will prove that it is a great error to condemn in
all cases such mediation, as purely idolatrous. This remark bears with
especial force upon addresses to the Virgin.

306. *_Cuckoo at Laverna_. [XIV.]

May 25th, 1837. Among a thousand delightful feelings connected in my
mind with the voice of the cuckoo, there is a personal one which is
rather melancholy. I was first convinced that age had rather dulled my
hearing, by not being able to catch the sound at the same distance as
the younger companions of my walks; and of this failure I had proof upon
the occasion that suggested these verses. I did not hear the sound till
Mr. Robinson had twice or thrice directed my attention to it.

307. _Camaldoli_. [XV.]

This famous sanctuary was the original establishment of Saint Romualdo,
(or Rumwald, as our ancestors saxonised the name) in the 11th century,
the ground (campo) being given by a Count Maldo. The Camaldolensi,
however, have spread wide as a branch of Benedictines, and may therefore
be classed among the _gentlemen_ of the monastic orders. The society
comprehends two orders, monks and hermits; symbolised by their arms, two
doves drinking out of the same cup. The monastery in which the monks
here reside is beautifully situated, but a large unattr