Vittoria, Complete
ed pinnacles of grey and rust-red crags. At dawn the summit of the mountain has an eagle eye fo
hem until they have got the aspect of the storm. They take colour from sunlight, and are joyless in colour as in shade. When the lower world is under pushing steam, they wear the look of the revolted sons of Time, fast chained before scornful heaven in an iron peace. Day at last brings vigorous fire; arrows of light pierce the mist-wreaths, the dancing draperies, the floors of vapour; and the mountain of piled pasturages is seen with its foot on the shore of Lago Maggiore. Down an extreme gulf the full sunlight, as if darting on a jewel in the deeps, seizes the blue-green lake with its isles. The villages along the darkly-wooded borders of the lake show white as clustered swans; here and there a tented boat is visible, shooting from terraces of vines, or hanging on its shadow. Monte Boscero is unveiled; the semic
sturdy soldier, squareset and hard of feature, for whom beauties of scenery had few awakening charms. The remaining couple were an old man and a youth, upon whose shoulder the veteran leaned, and with a whimsical turn of head and eye, indicative of some playful cast of mind, poured out his remarks upon the objects in sight, and chuckled to himself, like one who has learnt the necessity to appreciate his own humour if he is disposed to indulge it. He was carelessly wrapped about in long loose woollen stuff, but the youth was dressed like a Milanese cavalier of the first quality, and was evidently one who would have been at hom
-steamer was discerned puffin
xhibit motherly regard, or none, for the regions of the picturesque? None, I say. It is an arbitrary distinction of our day. To complain of the intrusion of that black-yellow flag and foul smoke-line on the lake undernea
ear Agostino,"
the thing used to be done in my time. Old legs must be the pupils of young ones ma
people of Italy first felt and acted as a nation, and Charles Albert, called the Sword of Italy, aspired, without comprehe
e topmost eminence in view, when reaching it they found themselves on a fresh plateau, traversed by wild water-courses, and browsed by Alpine herds; and again the green dome was distant. They came to the highest chalet, where a hearty wiry young fellow, busily employed in making cheese, invited them to the enjoyment of shade and fresh milk. "For the sake of these adolescents, who lose much and require much, let it be so," said Agostino gravely, and not witho
it true?-the
o. "If he marches out of his dominions, the ki
untaineer waved his finger
d in his eyeballs, as if upon a fiery answer. The intemperate fit subsided. Smoothing dawn h
him: I fly him not, neither do I propel him. So, therefore, I cannot predict the
a quick gaze up the a
w straight thither where there is a vacuum; and all that we can state of the king is, that there is a pos
y for the speaker to relieve a mind surcharged with bile at the mention of the king; for, having do
. On your mouth were better," Agostino
trust somebody. Milan has made me sick
lgence in permitting yourself to like the look
y, and awoke a prompt response from the mountaineer
king! If you confound it, he takes you for an enemy. These free mountain bre
of crying a 'Viva' to him anywhere upon earth,"
man was
joints of mine touched me with a grateful sense of his royal bounty. I had from him a chair, a bed, and a table: shelter from sun and from all silly chatter. Now I want a chair or a bed. I should like to sit at a table; the sun burns me; my ears are afflicted. I cry 'Viva!' to him that I may be in harmony with the coming chorus of
When I see this king swallow one ounce of Aust
He has swallowed enough of Austrian bread. He took an Austrian wife to his bed. Who knows? he may some d
that were glazed with th
d we simply shrug. We cannot plant him neck-deep for everlasting in a burning marl, and hear him howling. We have no weapons in these times-none! Our curses come back to roost. This is one of the
ou see him?" burst from the thr
Carlo shot ahead. The others trod after him more deliberately, but in glad excitement, speculating on the time which this sixth member of the party, who were engaged to assemble at a certain hour
mill-stone about it-a heart to breed a country from! There stands the man who has faith in Italy, thoug
, eyed the great scene stedfastly, with the absorbing simple passion of one who has endured long exile, and finds his clustered visions of it confronting the strange, beloved, visible life:-the lake in the arms of giant mountains: the far-spread