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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
warmth now ? But liker , far liker is it to the bland smile and courteous glance that drop on the intended victim—which sport and shine to mask the bleakness of a corrupted thought , and callous treachery . The portion of the building in which we now stand was probably the Atria to that hall , which , from its size , and the vestiges oi profuse decoration , it is easy to suppose was once magnificent , and
echoed the laugh of revelry , and reflected the glory of eyes which dazzled each other with beauty and gay lustre . Now , how sad ; rendered ten times more sad by these torn records of its former splendour . See , jutting from the crevice , between that charred beam and the wall which clips it , a single scarlet flower contrasts its fresh youth and loveliness with the blackness of the wood . It is one sole , pure , and healthy thing smiling in the midst of an enduring pestilence ,
unconscious of the death which looks upon and surrounds it . It is a fairhope light that gleams to cheer the storm-tossed spirit ; or a guileless child keeping- the vigil during the sleep of groups of desperate men , fatigued with ruffian toil . It is a little bright star , shining singly and solitarily in the sky all night . And who would pluck it ? Do not touch it ; here let it stay , and , live and die : it beautifies desolation , and desolation worships it .
It is not likely that this survey , cursory as it was , should diminish the desire to know the history of the place ; and Pietro Camiso ' s repeated ejaculations of ' pauvretli , ' having reference to the persons whose calamitous fate was connected with the ruins , tlie cottage of his amico was now the object to which we turned our eyes . The door by which tlie ground-floor apartments were entered , was closed ; but a flight of rude stone steps led exteriorly to the upper chambers , the portal of
which , as we began to ascend , opened , and a most venerable looking man , with a head of flowing hair that was as white as the snow on the Carniolan alps , hailed us with a clear-toned , a kind-toned * Buono Giorno , ' closing a volume at the same moment , and retaining it , with the finger mark , in his hand , as most cheerfully he welcomed us . While he and Pietro were busied in setting black bread , goat ' s milk and
cheese , and some delectable purple grapes before its , I looked at the old man a request of permission to open the book , which now lay on a stool . Si , signior , si . ' It was the Gierusaleme Liberate , ' and I commenced forthwith , at the opening stanza , and trolled out , with 4 bad emphasis and bad discretion , '
' Canto l ' arme pietose , 6 u Capitano , Che gran' sepolcro libero de Christo . * The old man caught the words , threw down the grapes , capsized a bowl of milk , ran to me and smacked my cheeks with half a dozen kisses , and continued the theme , while arranging the eatables and drinkables , with enthusiasm flashing eyes ; and so through our repast , which was as heartily accepted , as it was most freely offered ; and from this rare old man—he was an Istrian peasant , truly the son of an ostler—I heard the history of The Dried Font . *
The communicated facts did not refer back to the period when the mansion , was erected , nor to the time the hand of art was employed to decorate the natural formation of the Font ; but a legend had long existed in the family of Oschiaro , to whom the chateau and its
Untitled Article
Autobiography of Pel . Verjuice . § Bl
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 631, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/47/
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