It is of its very nature slow, and is therefore apt to escape the eyes of the moralist or cynic who dwells on the untoward signs of the present.

But the Rome for which Mazzini and his compatriots yearned and struggled can hardly fail ultimately to rise to the height of her ancient traditions and of that noble prophecy of Dante: "_There_ is the seat of empire.

There never was, and there never will be, a people endowed with such capacity to acquire command, with more vigour to maintain it, and more gentleness in its exercise, than the Italian nation, and especially the Holy Roman people." The lines with which Mr.Swinburne closed his "Dedication" of _Songs before Sunrise_ to Joseph Mazzini are worthy of finding a place side by side with the words of the mediaeval seer:-- Yea, even she as at first, Yea, she alone and none other, Shall cast down, shall build up, shall bring home, Slake earth's hunger and thirst, Lighten, and lead as a mother; First name of the world's names, Rome..