The travellers in the restoring line, who used
to flock to Gaeta and Portici, carried off a great number of them in
their bags; what they left are in the casket of the young Countess
Ferretti.
The character of this respectable old man, is made up of devotion,
simplicity, vanity, weakness, and obstinacy, with an occasional touch
of rancour. He blesses with unction, and pardons with difficulty; he
is a good priest, and an insufficient king.
His intellect, which has raised such great hopes, and caused such
cruel disappointment, is of a very ordinary capacity. I can hardly
think he is infallible in temporal matters. His education is that of
the average of cardinals in general. He talks French pretty well.
The Romans formed an exaggerated opinion of him at his accession, and
have done so ever since. In 1847, when he honestly manifested a desire
to do good, they called him a great man, whereas in point of fact he
was simply a worthy man who wished to act better than his predecessors
had done, and thereby to win some applause from Europe. In 1859, he
passes for a violent re-actionist, because events have discouraged his
good intentions: and above all, because Cardinal Antonelli, who
masters him by fear, violently draws him backwards. I consider him as
meriting neither past admiration nor present hatred. I pity him for
having loosened the rein upon his people, without possessing the
firmness requisite to restrain them seasonably.
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