Here, The
Imperishable Part Of Noble Minds Survives, Placid And Equal, When
Strongholds Of Assault And Defence Are Overthrown; When The Tyranny
Of The Many, Or The Few, Or Both, Is But A Tale; When Pride And
Power Are So Much Cloistered Dust.
The fire within the stern
streets, and among the massive Palaces and Towers, kindled by rays
from Heaven, is
Still burning brightly, when the flickering of war
is extinguished and the household fires of generations have
decayed; as thousands upon thousands of faces, rigid with the
strife and passion of the hour, have faded out of the old Squares
and public haunts, while the nameless Florentine Lady, preserved
from oblivion by a Painter's hand, yet lives on, in enduring grace
and youth.
Let us look back on Florence while we may, and when its shining
Dome is seen no more, go travelling through cheerful Tuscany, with
a bright remembrance of it; for Italy will be the fairer for the
recollection. The summer-time being come: and Genoa, and Milan,
and the Lake of Como lying far behind us: and we resting at Faido,
a Swiss village, near the awful rocks and mountains, the
everlasting snows and roaring cataracts, of the Great Saint
Gothard: hearing the Italian tongue for the last time on this
journey: let us part from Italy, with all its miseries and wrongs,
affectionately, in our admiration of the beauties, natural and
artificial, of which it is full to overflowing, and in our
tenderness towards a people, naturally well-disposed, and patient,
and sweet-tempered.
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