In this instance only did the natural affection of the father prevail over the acquired severity of the reformer.

Here he condescended, for the first and the last time, to the sweet trivialities of youth.

Here, indulgent in spite of himself, he fixed his little household, and permitted to his daughter her sole recreations of tending the flowers in the garden and luxuriating in the loveliness of the distant view.
* * * * * The night has advanced an hour since the occurrence mentioned in the preceding chapter.

The clear and brilliant moonlight of Italy now pervades every district of the glorious city, and bathes in its pure effulgence the groves and palaces on the Pincian Mount.

From the garden of Numerian the irregular buildings of the great suburbs of Rome, the rich undulating country beyond, and the long ranges of mountains in the distance, are now all visible in the soft and luxurious light.