At this moment there is great excitement in Italy.  A supposed spy of Austria has been assassinated at Ferrara, and Austrian troops are marched there.  It is pretended that a conspiracy has been discovered in Rome; the consequent disturbances have been put down.  The National Guard is forming.  All things seem to announce that some important change is inevitable here, but what?  Neither Radicals nor Moderates dare predict with confidence, and I am yet too much a stranger to speak with assurance of impressions I have received.  But it is impossible not to hope.

LETTER XVI.

REVIEW OF PAST AND PRESENT.—­THE MERITS OF ITALIAN
LITERATURE.—­MANZONI.—­ITALIAN DIALECTS.—­MILAN, THE MILANESE, AND
THE SIMPLICITY OF THEIR LANGUAGE.—­THE NORTH OF ITALY, AND A TOUR TO
SWITZERLAND.—­ITALIAN LAKES.—­MAGGIORE, COMO, AND LUGANO.—­LAGO DI
GARDA.—­THE BOATMEN OF THE LAKES AND THE GONDOLIERS.—­LADY FRANKLIN,
WIDOW OF THE NAVIGATOR.—­RETURN TO AND FESTIVALS AT MILAN.—­THE
ARCHBISHOP.—­AUSTRIAN RULE AND AUSTRIAN POLICY.—­THE FUTURE HOPES OF
ITALY.—­A GLANCE AT PAVIA, FLORENCE, PARMA, AND BOLOGNA, AND THE WORKS
OF THE MASTERS.

Rome, October, 1847.

I think my last letter was from Milan, and written after I had seen Manzoni.  This was to me a great pleasure.  I have now seen the most important representatives who survive of the last epoch in thought.  Our age has still its demonstrations to make, its heroes and poets to crown.

Although the modern Italian literature is not poor, as many persons at a distance suppose, but, on the contrary, surprisingly rich in tokens of talent, if we consider the circumstances under which it struggles to exist, yet very few writers have or deserve a European or American reputation.  Where a whole country is so kept down, her best minds cannot take the lead in the progress of the age; they have too much to suffer, too much to explain.  But among the few who, through depth of spiritual experience and the beauty of form in which it is expressed, belong not only to Italy, but to the world, Manzoni takes a high rank.  The passive virtues he teaches are no longer what is wanted; the manners he paints with so delicate a fidelity are beginning to change; but the spirit of his works,—­the tender piety, the sensibility to the meaning of every humblest form of life, the delicate humor and satire so free from disdain,—­these are immortal.

Young Italy rejects Manzoni, though not irreverently; Young Italy prizes his works, but feels that the doctrine of “Pray and wait” is not for her at this moment,—­that she needs a more fervent hope, a more active faith.  She is right.