"If we have our peculiar enjoyments and our moments of divine contemplation, other towns have advantages of their own; Genoa and Pisa, Firenze, Ancona, Roma, Palermo, and, chiefest of all, Napoli--" "Napoli, father!" "Daughter, Napoli.

Of all the towns of sunny Italy, 'tis the fairest and the most blessed in natural gifts.

Of every region I have visited, during a life of wandering and penitence, that is the country on which the touch of the Creator hath been the most God-like!" "Thou art imaginative to-night, good Father Anselmo.

The land must be fair indeed, that can thus warm the fancy of a Carmelite." "The rebuke is just.

I have spoken more under the influence of recollections that came from days of idleness and levity, than with the chastened spirit of one who should see the hand of the Maker in the most simple and least lovely of all his wondrous works." "You reproach yourself causelessly, holy father," observed the mild Donna Florinda, raising her eyes towards the pale countenance of the monk; "to admire the beauties of nature, is to worship Him who gave them being." At that moment a burst of music rose on the air, proceeding from the water beneath the balcony.