Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. I by Hester Lynch Piozzi
page 30 of 281 (10%)
page 30 of 281 (10%)
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chairmen who carry one though, nothing can be new; it is observable that
the glories of these objects have never faded--I heard them speak to each other of their beauties, and the change of light since they had passed by last time, while a fellow who spoke English as well as a native told us, that having lived in a gentleman's service twenty years between London and Dublin, he at length begged his discharge, chusing to retire and finish his days a peasant upon these mountains, where he first opened his eyes upon scenes that made all other views of nature insipid to his taste. If impressions of beauty remain, however, those of danger die away by frequent reiteration; the men who carried me seemed amazed that I should feel any emotions of fear. _Qu'est ce donc, madame_?[Footnote: What's the matter, my lady?] was the coldly-asked question to my repeated injunction of _prenez garde_[Footnote: Take care.]: not very apparently unnecessary neither, where the least slip must have been fatal both to them and me. Novalesa is the town we stopped at, upon entering Piedmont; where the hollow sound of a heavy dashing torrent that has accompanied us hitherto, first grows faint, and the ideas of common life catch hold of one again; as the noise of it is heard from a greater distance, its stream grows wider, and its course more tranquil. For compensation of danger, ease should be administered; but one's quiet is here so disturbed by insects, and polluted by dirt, that one recollects the conduct of the Lapland rein-deer, who seeks the summit of the hill at the hazard of his life, to avoid those gnats which sting him to madness in the valley. Suza shewed nothing that I took much interest in, except its name; and |
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