Canto III

Yet to the wondrous St. Peter's, and yet to the solemn Rotunda,Mingling with heroes and gods, yet to the Vatican Walls,Yet may we go, and recline, while a whole mighty world seems above us,Gathered and fixed to all time into one roofing supreme;Yet may we, thinking on these things, exclude what is meaner around us;Yet, at the worst of the worst, books and a chamber remain;Yet may we think, and forget, and possess our souls in resistance.--Ah, but away from the stir, shouting, and gossip of war,Where, upon Apennine slope, with the chestnut the oak-trees immingle,Where, amid odorous copse bridle-paths wander and wind,Where, under mulberry-branches, the diligent rivulet sparkles,Or amid cotton and maize peasants their water-works ply,Where, over fig-tree and orange in tier upon tier still repeated,Garden on garden upreared, balconies step to the sky,--Ah, that I were far away from the crowd and the streets of the city,Under the vine-trellis laid, O my beloved, with thee!

Why doesn't Mr. Claude come with us? you ask.--We don't know,You should know better than we. He talked of the Vatican marbles;But I can't wholly believe that this was the actual reason,--He was so ready before, when we asked him to come and escort us.Certainly he is odd, my dear Miss Roper. To change soSuddenly, just for a whim, was not quite fair to the party,--Not quite right. I declare, I really almost am offended:I, his great friend, as you say, have doubtless a title to be so.Not that I greatly regret it, for dear Georgina distinctlyWishes for nothing so much as to show her adroitness. But, oh, myPen will not write any more;--let us say nothing further about it.Yes, my dear Miss Roper, I certainly called him repulsive;So I think him, but cannot be sure I have used the expressionQuite as your pupil should; yet he does most truly repel me.Was it to you I made use of the word? or who was it told you?Yes, repulsive; observe, it is but when he talks of ideasThat he is quite unaffected, and free, and expansive, and easy;I could pronounce him simply a cold intellectual being.--When does he make advances?--He thinks that women should woo him;Yet, if a girl should do so, would be but alarmed and disgusted.She that should love him must look for small love in return,--like the ivyOn the stone wall, must expect but a rigid and niggard support, andE'en to get that must go searching all round with her humble embraces.