NOTES ΤΟ ARNALDO. Note 1, page 8, line 12. But the Camozza-hunters lone. The chamois is called camozza in Italian, which language prevails in that region of the Alps where the scene of the foregoing poem is partly laid. Note 2, page 19, line 11. In Val Maggia far below. The English reader should be informed that the name of this place is pronounced Val Madjeea. Note 3, page 23, line 1. The ranks that Bourbon boldly led. "In the year 1527 the Imperial Army under the Constable de Bourbon and the Prince of Orange took Rome by assault. It is impossible to describe, or even to imagine the misery and horror of that scene which followed. Whatever a city taken by storm can dread from military rage unrestrained by discipline; whatever excesses the ferocity of the Germans, the avarice of the Spaniards, or the licentiousness of the Italians could commit, these the wretched inhabitants were obliged to suffer. Churches, palaces, and the houses of private persons were plundered without distinction. No age, or character, or sex, was exempt from injury. Cardinals, nobles, priests, matrons, virgins, were all the prey of soldiers, and at the mercy of men deaf to the voice of humanity."-Robertson's History of Charles V. Book v. page 370. Note 4, line 23, page 39. That Grecian wonder-maker-he Whose strangely beautifying hand Made Venus worshipped in his land With fulness of idolatry, &c. Praxiteles, the sculptor of the Cnidian Venus. Note 5, page 43, line 20. When, as the eagle that grandly soars Where the great flood-fall's thunder roars, &c. It would be a pity to curtail the following fine passage :— "Nous arrivâmes bientôt au bord de la cataracte, qui s'annonçait par d'affreux mugissemens. Elle est formée par la rivière Niagara, qui sort du lac Erié, et se jette dans le lac Ontario; sa hauteur perpendiculaire est de cent quarante-quatre pieds: depuis le lac Erié jusqu'au saut, le fleuve arrive toujours en déclinant par une pente rapide; et, au moment de la chute, c'est moins un fleuve qu'une mer, dont les torrens se pressent à la bouche béante d'un gouffre. La cataracte se divise en deux branches, et se courbe en fer à cheval. Entre les deux chutes, s'avance une ile, creusée en dessous, qui pend, avec tous ses arbres, sur le chaos des ondes. La masse du fleuve, qui si précipite au midi s'arrondit en un vaste cylin dre, puis se déroule en nappe de neige, et brille au soleil de toutes les couleurs celle qui tombe au levant, descend dans une ombre effrayante; on dirait que c'est une colonne d'eau du déluge. Mille arcs-en-ciel se courbent et se croisent sur l'abîme. L'onde, frappant le roc ébranlé, rejaillit en tourbillons d'écume qui s'élèvent au-dessus des forêts, comme les fumées d'un vaste embrasement. Des pins, des noyers sauvages, des rochers taillés en forme de fantômes, décorent la scène. Des aigles, entraînés par le courant d'air, descendent en tournoyant au fond du : gouffre, et des carcajoux se suspendent par leurs longues queues au bout d'une branche abaissée, pour saisir dans l'abîme les cadavres brisés des élans et des ours.-CHATEAUBRIAND. Note 6, page 47, lines 13 and 14. Sweet as the hopes fond youth can number, Calm as an infant's calmest slumber, &c. These two lines, which were written in 1819, bear a strong resemblance to a couplet which is to be found in one of the songs lately published by an eminent melodist, viz. Calm thy sleep as infant's slumber, Bright as angel's thoughts thy dreams, Note 7, page 59, lines 14 and 15. Alive into that nook she went, To be in breathing burial pent. The ecclesiastical law, which assigned the punishment of living inhumation to those who broke their monastic vows, was I believe very seldom enforced, even during the murkiest ages of superstition. It is quite possible, however, that the barbarity which authorised Autos da Fè may have also caused more secret murders than have ever been guessed at. It is, at all events, enough for the purposes of fiction that such a law existed, and was sometimes carried into effect. Arnaldo certainly speaks in a very irreverent way of the monks; as much so, in fact, as if he was one of the rioters at Madrid or Barcelona, in our own times. Well, thank heaven, we have reached the year 1835! there is not a monk in Spain! When will beautiful Italy have as much to say? Bye and bye. Note 8, page 75, line 13. I've had such dreams as this before, &c. It may appear unnatural that one in such a state of mental decay as Ferrante had sunk to, should utter even those words: but in the life of Dr. Beattie it is related that, after grief had overthrown his mind, he became silent for a long time, and at length enquired, one day, if still he had a son. It was the death of his son which had afflicted him so much as to produce insanity. GADDO. An Occidental Story. The author not remembering that he ought to Which in a tattered play-book I've just got to, (The title's out-so can't tell who's the writer; But howsomever here it is, my boys :) "I sing of Africa, and golden joys."-Typographicus Typicus. |