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A C ANTES, OVER THE CAMPAGNA. 239
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
"Well! Rome Would Be A Charming Place If...
_tliose who once peopled this great plain , and raised the stately ruins which , still remain to tell us of the grand old Romans , whose
glory so long since passed away : "Apparemment Mademoiselle ( comme moi-meme ) aime les
reveries solitaires ? " It is startling to be recalled suddenly from dreams of the ancient
Eomans to the realities of modern Roman life , by the sounds of Parisian French . I suppose I looked disconcerted , for the speaker ,
a young Brazilian diplomat , who had rejoined me unperceived during my fit of absencemade profuse excuses for disturbing me
" but I would have the goodness , to perceive that I was riding to- , wards a gate he was desolated to say was locked , and not to the
bar he would have the felicity of putting down for me to pass over safely . "
I had hitherto only known my present companion as an accomplished dancer , a leader of the cotillon at all the great Roman
houses , and had looked upon him as a finished specimen of the society-loving , " bien-gante " diplomat , and now the ease with
which he managed his restless fiery horse , whose gazelle-like b supposed ounds must " he have had been unseated much a accustomed less skilful to rider riding , surprised . ' me . I
- " I rode almost before I could walk _; " and then , more as a soliloquy than as conversation addressed to me , he described the
_boimdless grassy plains , the lofty snowy peaks , the gigantic forests full of radiant birds and flowers" beautiful as fairy land" of his own
, , Brazil , which he left in his boyhood . Strange , how the first childish instincts remainrepressed but not destroyedby education and long
, , custom . The languid diplomat flushed with excitement as he recalled the wild free life , far from courts and cities , and declared
that the first wish of his heart was to return to his beloved fatherland— " to live and die there ! " ¦
- What can be the matter with the rest of our party ?—they were walking their horses quietly enough a minute ago j and now , with
loud shouts from the gentlemen and subdued screams from the ladies , they gallop frantically forwards . Even " Cassandra" leaps a ditch
without a warning , and Mr . Brown and Miss Grey , who have just got out of the thorns , with habit and coat considerably rent , fly
past us on the regrdar track—for once ! Of course we gallop on with the rest , and soon discover the cause of all the excitement . A
fri most ghtened horse little and then fox gallop disappears s on in some some yards secret in hiding advance -place of the . Ci fore Mon
-Dieu , que , c'est Anglais ! " remarks my companion , with an expressive shrug of his shoulders as we' stopand all the gentlemen
, describe , at the same time , where the fox would have run if it had continued running , and what would have been done with a good
rails pack , of & c hound . & c , s recalling , and which 1 vividl horse y , common would have evening been screwed conversation at which in _,
English country houses . Miss Rose and the Rev . Basil Small ( a
A C Antes, Over The Campagna. 239
A C ANTES , OVER THE _CAMPAGNA . 239
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1862, page 239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121862/page/23/
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