The country of The ring and the book . secretive,being approached slyly by unexpected steps and a sinisterarchway (Plate 62). The whole warren of houses issuspicious, wily, oppressive and fear-compelling. The past history of Perugia is hideous and annals are concerned with endless fighting, withdeadly feuds, with sickening acts of revenge, with basetreachery, murder and rapine. At one period therewas scarcely a day when the clash of steel was not tobe heard in the open square, scarcely a night the awedsilence of which was not broken by the shriek of aman stabbed to the heart, or
The country of The ring and the book . secretive,being approached slyly by unexpected steps and a sinisterarchway (Plate 62). The whole warren of houses issuspicious, wily, oppressive and fear-compelling. The past history of Perugia is hideous and annals are concerned with endless fighting, withdeadly feuds, with sickening acts of revenge, with basetreachery, murder and rapine. At one period therewas scarcely a day when the clash of steel was not tobe heard in the open square, scarcely a night the awedsilence of which was not broken by the shriek of aman stabbed to the heart, or by some sudden andhorrible alarm. He who mounted the steep, pavedalley by the light of the dawn was likely to come upona trickle of blood and, following it round a corneror two, stumble over the body of a friend lying headdownwards on the slope. Children playing about thepurlieus of a palace might be startled to see a fainthand stretched out between the bars of a dungeonwindowr. And yet, in the midst of all this, Perugino painted 194. s ^ r; qdE^fr H ifr H q-f* 75.—POSTING-ROAD MAP FROM FOLIGNOTO ROME BY CASTELNUOVO. From KLa Jera Guida per chi Viaggia in Italia Rome, 1787. From Perugia to Foligno by Assisi his Madonnas and his saints, while young Raphael,palette in hand, dreamed in his masters studio. In thechief piazza of the town stands that most exquisite achieve-ment of art, the fountain of Niccolo Pisano (Plate 61).The little figures that decorate its panels of stone hefashioned in the year 1280—over six centuries ago—when Edward I. was King of England. It was aroundthis fountain that most of the fighting took place, andone wonders how many stricken men have bathed theirwounds in its clear pool, and how often a cup of waterhas been dipped from its basin to allay the thirst of adying man. One thing in Perugia can never be forgotten, thetwittering of the thousands of swallows that dart inthe air, above the streets, around the towers and throughthe purple deep beyond t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
