"He who hath fixed on Christ alone his eyes, Not he who best hath understood, or read Most earthly volumes, shall Heaven's bliss attain. For not on paper did He write His law, But printed it on expurgated hearts Stamped with the fire of Jesus' holy love." In another remarkable sonnet, she gives expression to the prevailing feeling of the pressing necessity for Church reform, joined to a marked declaration of belief in the doctrine of Papal infallibility; a doctrine, which by its tenacious hold on the Italian mind, contributed mainly to extinguish the sudden straw-blaze of reforming tendencies throughout Italy. The lines run as follows:— "Veggio d'alga e di fango omai sì carca, Pietro, la rete tua, che se qualche onda Di fuor l'assale o intorno circonda, Potria spezzarsi, e a rischio andar la barca; La qual, non come suol leggiera e scarca, Sovra 'l turbato mar corre a seconda, Ma in poppa e 'n prora, all'una e all'altra sponda E' grave sì ch'a gran periglio varca. Il tuo buon successor, _ch'alta cagione Direttamente elesse_, e cor e mano Move sovente per condurla a porto. Ma contra il voler suo ratto s'oppone L'altrui malizia; onde ciascun s'è accorto, Ch'egli senza 'l tuo aiuto adopra in vano." Which may be thus read in English blank verse, giving not very poetically, but with tolerable fidelity, the sense of the original:— "With mud and weedy growth so foul I see Thy net, O Peter, that should any wave Assail it from without or trouble it, It might be rended, and so risk the ship. For now thy bark, no more, as erst, skims light With favoring breezes o'er the troubled sea; But labours burthen'd so from stem to stern, That danger menaces the course it steers. Thy good successor, _by direct decree Of providence elect_, with heart and hand Assiduous strives to bring it to the port. But spite his striving his intent is foiled By other's evil. So that all have seen That without aid from thee, he strives in vain." [Sidenote: PAPAL PRETENSIONS DEAR TO ITALIANS.]