312a. *_Among the Ruins of a Convent in the Apennines_. [XXIII.]

The political revolutions of our time have multiplied on the Continent objects that unavoidably call forth reflections such as are expressed in these verses, but the ruins in those countries are too recent to exhibit in anything like an equal degree the beauty with which time and Nature have invested the remains of our convents and abbeys.  These verses, it will be observed, take up the beauty long before it is matured, as one cannot but wish it may be among some of the desolations of Italy, France, and Germany.

313. *_Sonnets after leaving Italy_. [XXV.]

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 d’Allemagna,’ to the east of the high passes of the Alps, which take you at once from Italy into Switzerland.  The 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 I was aware we had quitted Italy; and hence the unwelcome shock alluded to in the two or three last lines of the Sonnet with which this imperfect series concludes.

314. *_Composed at Rydal on May morning_, 1838.

This and the following Sonnet [now XXVI.] were composed on what we call the ‘far terrace’ at Rydal Mount, where I have murmured out many thousands of my verses.

315. *_Pillar of Trajan_. [XXVIII.]

These verses had better, perhaps, be transferred to the class of ‘Italian Poems.’  I had observed in the newspaper that ’The Pillar of Trajan’ was given as a subject for a Prize Poem in English verse.  I had a wish, perhaps, that my son, who was then an undergraduate at Oxford, should try his fortune; and I told him so:  but he, not having been accustomed to write verse, wisely declined to enter on the task; whereupon I showed him these lines as a proof of what might, without difficulty, be done on such a subject.

316. *_The Egyptian Maid_.

In addition to the short notice prefixed to this poem, it may be worth while here to say, that it rose out of a few words casually used in conversation by my nephew Henry Hutchinson.  He was describing with great spirit the appearance and movement of a vessel which he seemed to admire more than any other he had ever seen, and said her name was the Water Lily.  This plant has been my delight from my boyhood, as I have seen it floating on the lake; and that conversation put me upon constructing and composing the poem.  Had I not heard those words it would never have been written.  The form of the stanza is new, and is