These news were received in Rome with indescribable
rapture. Men danced, and women wept with joy along the street. The
youths rushed to enrol themselves in regiments to go to the frontier.
In the Colosseum, their names were received.
* * * * *
_Rome, April 1, 1848._-Yesterday, on returning from Ostia, I find the
official news, that the Viceroy Ranieri has capitulated at Verona;
that Italy is free, independent, and one. I trust this will prove no
April foolery. It seems too good, too speedy a realization of hope.
* * * * *
_Rome, April 30, 1848._--It is a time such as I always dreamed of; and
that fire burns in the hearts of men around me which can keep me warm.
Have I something to do here? or am I only to cheer on the warriors,
and after write the history of their deeds? The first is all I have
done yet, but many have blessed me for my sympathy, and blest me by
the action it impelled.
My private fortunes are dark and tangled; my strength to govern them
(perhaps that I am enervated by this climate) much diminished. I have
thrown myself on God, and perhaps he will make my temporal state very
tragical.
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