Opis: Ave Maria (Classic Reprint) - Author Unknown

Excerpt from Ave Maria

Of "La Morte d'Abel" it is written: "It unites three kinds of poetry - the epic, the tragic, and the pastoral. The characters are drawn with much regard to propriety, and the objection which some critics have offered - that he reminds us of Milton - may surely be turned into a compliment. He begins where Milton ends."

With the rush of Paris divided by the Seine - over which, upon the beautiful bridges, black throngs were continually crossing and recrossing, - the swift boats threading the stream beneath me, and the roar of the great city booming in my ears, - I turned to "The Death of Abel,' Book I, and read:

"Henceforth repose in silence, thou soft pipe. No more I render thee vocal, no more I chant the simple manners of the rustic swain Fain would I raise my voice to bolder strains, and in harmonious lays rehearse the adventures of our primeval parents after their dreadful fall. Fain would I celebrate him, who, sacrificed by a brother's fury, his dust first mingled with the earth. Come, thou noble Enthusiasm, that warmest and fillest the mind of the rapt poet, who, during the silent hours of night, contemplates in the gloom of the thick grove, or at the side of the clear stream glimmering with the moon's pale lamp; when, seized by a divine transport, imagination takes her flight, and, with bold wing traversing the regions of created substances, penetrates into the distant empire of Possibilities, discovering with clear view the marvellous that captivates and the beautiful that enchants."

Ah, Gessner, Gessner, you were right! What would a soul like yours have found in Paris, even though the Duchess of Choiseul displayed all her taste! Better a thousand times to meditate in the comparative seclusion of thy native Zurich, since it was endeared to thee by nature's tenderest ties.

Here on the banks of the Seine, O Gessner! - the shore I seek in desperation of heart or of spirit - how many have sought in like mood and found no consolation among the booksellers! How many have at last cast themselves into the horrid flood, and been stretched stark upon the marble slabs at the morgue yonder, behind the cloisters - the cloisters that exist in name only - of Noire Dame!

"What is the price of this" I turned a look of inquiry into space, and in a moment the most civil, if not the best dressed, of tradesmen bowed charmingly as he replied: "Soixante-quinze centimes, monsieur." And so for fifteen cents, delivered in joyous haste, I became the possessor of Gessner's Miltonic thapsody, the sublime "Death of Abel," uniting the three kinds of poetry - epic, tragic, pastoral - in one.

On another occasion I stumbled upon a copy of Miss Edgeworth's "Parents'Assistant," in six dwarfed volumes, leather back and tips, marble sides and huge type, with scarce a quarter of an inch of margin. It is announced as a new edition, "printed, by assignment from the executors of the late Mr. Johnson, for R. Hunter (successor to J. Johnson), St. Paul's Churchyard; and Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 47 Paternoster Row, London, 1815."

How, I wonder, came Lazy Lawrence, Simple Susan, Old Poz, and those other homely worthies, lounging upon the quays of Paris, and at their age too A couple of francs rescued them from their vagabondage, and henceforth they shall hold their own in the best society on the book-shelves in my sanctum. Never shall I look upon their dear old-fashioned pages - so full to overflowing with large, round type - without pleasantly remembering the very day when I secured them, the very hour of the day. It was after High Mass at Notre Dame, and I was lounging in the Latin Quarter before reluctantly returning to my lodgings on the more fashionable and less interesting side of the river.

There were fine types of faces poring over the litter of more or less ragged leaves upon the quay; many a scholarly brow was knit as it bowed under the low box-lid, seeking earnes

Szczegóły: Ave Maria (Classic Reprint) - Author Unknown

Nazwa: Ave Maria (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Author Unknown
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781331184294
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 636
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: Ave Maria (Classic Reprint) - Author Unknown