Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . order to do so it is necessary to look at it seriously and reverently; thosewho are incapable of doing so can find absolutely nothing in the landscape ; although,perhaps, at home they had been attracted by the numerous pictures of the Campagna in THE NORTHERN WANDERER IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA. 283 which the painter has represented some picturesque bit, with interesting details of still life,and a favourable disposition of light and shade. The English, at least, get some practicalbenefit out of the locality, and ride and hunt in all directions over the rolling p
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . order to do so it is necessary to look at it seriously and reverently; thosewho are incapable of doing so can find absolutely nothing in the landscape ; although,perhaps, at home they had been attracted by the numerous pictures of the Campagna in THE NORTHERN WANDERER IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA. 283 which the painter has represented some picturesque bit, with interesting details of still life,and a favourable disposition of light and shade. The English, at least, get some practicalbenefit out of the locality, and ride and hunt in all directions over the rolling plain. Andyet I do not say that one may not educate ones eyes and ennoble ones the traveller once has the green North fairly behind him, and in his progress fromthe Alps Southward has grown accustomed to the Italian atmosphere and the Italianvegetation,—which in its colour and the stiffness of its forms has also somewhat of an epiccharacter,—as soon as he becomes aware that the commonplace conception of what is. VALMONTONE. pretty and pleasant, is entirely foreign to this soil, and that in its stead the tragic andserious are met with everywhere, so soon will his eyes be opened to the glory of the ruinsand the beauty of this dead earth. And the view of the wilderness spreading aroundthe walls of Rome will awaken thoughts in him which could never have been arousedamong the rich cornfields under the shady beeches and oaks, or upon the well-kept roadsof his cultivated home. When once we have made a journey through the Campagnafrom the mountains to the sea, with seriousness and reverence, we understand the spiritof history; we understand history itself,—not merely its small unimportant marginal noteswhich concern individuals, but its complete, grand, universal significance. We have readthe most important leaf that has remained from the burning of the Sybilline books. The conclusion of these general remarks is, I think, the right place in which to quotea few wor
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