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Leaves from a Roman diary: February, 1869 (Rewritten in 1897)
As I look out of P--'s windows on the
Via Frattina every morning at the plaster bust of Pius IX., I like his face more and more, and feel that he is not an unworthy companion to
George Washington and the young
Augustus.
1 I think there may be something of the fox, or rather of the
crow, in his composition, but his face has the wholeness of expression which shows a sound and healthy mind,--not a patchwork character.
I was pleased to hear that he was originally a liberal; and the first, after the long conservative reaction of Metternich, to introduce reforms in the states of the
Church.
The Revolution of 1848 followed too quickly, and the extravagant proceedings of
Mazzini and
Garibaldi drove him into the ranks of the conservatives, where he has remained ever since.
Carlyle compared him to a man who had an old tin-kettle which he thought he would mend, but as soon as he began to tinker it the thing went to pieces in his hands.
The Revolution of 1848 proved an unpractical experiment, but it