And from the shore that once, when armies met,1
Rocked to and fro unfelt, so terrible

The rage, the slaughter, I had turned away;
The path, that led me, leading through a wood,
A fairy wilderness of fruits and flowers,
And by a brook that, in the day of strife,2
Ran blood, but now runs amber-when a glade,
Far, far within, sunned only at noon-day,
Suddenly opened. Many a bench was there,
Each round its ancient elm; and many a track,
Well known to them that from the highway loved
Awhile to deviate. In the midst a cross
Of mouldering stone as in a temple stood,
Solemn, severe; coeval with the trees
That round it in majestic order rose;
And on the lowest step a Pilgrim knelt
In fervent prayer. He was the first I saw,
(Save in the tumult of a midnight masque,
A revel, where none cares to play his part,
And they that speak at once dissolve the charm,)
The first in sober truth, no counterfeit ;
And, when his orisons were duly paid,
He rose, and we exchanged, as all are wont,
A traveller's greeting.-Young, and of an age
When Youth is most attractive, when a light
Plays round and round, reflected, while it lasts,
From some attendant Spirit, that ere long
(His charge relinquished with a sigh, a tear)
Wings his flight upward-with a look he won
My favour; and, the spell of silence broke,

I could not but continue." Whence," I asked,
"Whence art thou ?"-"From Mont' alto," he rep

1 The Roman and the Carthaginian. "Such was the animosity," say an earthquake, which turned the course of rivers and overthrew citie tains, was felt by none of the combatants." (xxii. 5.)

2 A tradition. It has been called from time immemorial, "Il Sang

"My native village in the Apennines."

"And whither journeying?"-" To the holy shrine.
Of Saint Antonio in the City of PADUA.
Perhaps, if thou hast ever gone so far,

Thou wilt direct my course."-"Most willingly;

But thou hast much to do, much to endure,

Ere thou hast entered where the silver lamps

Burn ever. Tell me . . . I would not transgress,

Yet ask I must . . . what could have brought thee forth, Nothing in act or thought to be atoned for?"—

"It was a vow I made in my distress.

We were so blest, none were so blest as we,

Till Sickness came. First, as death-struck, I fell;

Then my beloved sister; and ere long,

Worn with continual watchings, night and day,

Our saint-like mother. Worse and worse she grew;

And in my anguish, my despair, I vowed,

That if she lived, if Heaven restored her to us,

I would forthwith, and in a Pilgrim's weeds,

Visit that holy shrine. My vow was heard;

And therefore am I come."-" Blest be thy steps;

And may those weeds, so reverenced of old,
Guard thee in danger!"-"They are nothing worth.

But they are worn in humble confidence ;
Nor would I for the richest robe resign them,
Wrought, as they were, by those I love so well,
Lauretta and my sister; theirs the task,
But none to them, a pleasure, a delight,

To ply their utmost skill, and send me forth

As best became this service. Their last words,

'Fare thee well, Carlo. We shall count the hours!'

Will not go from me."-" Health and strength be thine

In thy long travel! May no sunbeam strike;
No vapour cling and wither! May'st thou be,
Sleeping or waking, sacred and secure;

And, when again thou com'st, thy labour done,

The sun was wheeling westward, and the cliff's
And nodding woods, that everlastingly
(Such the dominion of thy mighty voice,1
Thy voice, VELINO, uttered in the mist)

Hear thee and answer thee, were left at length
For others still as noon; and on we strayed
From wild to wilder, nothing hospitable
Seen up or down, no bush or green or dry,
That ancient symbol at the cottage-door,
Offering refreshment-when LUIGI cried,

"Well, of a thousand tracks we chose the best!"
And, turning round an oak, oracular once,
Now lightning-struck, a cave, a thoroughfare
For all that came, each entrance a broad arch,
Whence many a deer, rustling his velvet coat,
Had issued, many a gipsy and her brood
Peered forth, then housed again-the floor yet grey
With ashes, and the sides, where roughest, hung
Loosely with locks of hair-I looked and saw
What, seen in such an hour by Sancho Panza,
Had given his honest countenance a breadth,
His cheeks a flush of pleasure and surprise
Unknown before, had chained him to the spot,
And thou, Sir Knight, hadst traversed hill and dale,
Squire-less.--Below and winding far away,

A narrow glade unfolded, such as Spring

Broiders with flowers, and, when the moon is high,
The hare delights to race in, scattering round

The silvery dews.2 Cedar and cypress threw

Singly their depth of shadow, chequering

The greensward, and, what grew in frequent tufts,

1 An allusion to the CASCATA DELLE MARMORE, a celebrated fall

VELINO near TERNI.

2 This upper region, a country of dews and dewy lights, as described by and PLINY, and still, I believe, called La Rosa, is full of beautiful scenery does not wish to follow the footsteps of CICERO there, to visit the Reating and the Seven Waters?