His stories are good to hear at night, because we can dream about them asleep; and good in the morning, too, because then we can dream about them awa… - Nathaniel Hawthorne

When we have once known Rome, and left her […], we are astonished by the discovery, by-and-by, that our heartstrings have mysteriously attached themselves to the Eternal City, and are drawing us thitherward again, as if it were more familiar, more ultimately our home, than even the spot where we were born.

In this republican country, amid the fluctuating waves of our social life, somebody is always at the drowning-point.

"I sometimes fancy," said Hilda, on whose susceptibility the scene always made a strong impression, "that Rome — mere Rome — will crowd everything else out of my heart."