The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 367, January 8, 1887 — John Shaqi
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 367, January 8, 1887Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 367, January 8, 1887
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
The question seems further from being solved as we wander through
the streets and squares of the poetical city. Every step brings
us in the presence of some wondrous recollection of the past, and
there is nothing to fasten down our ideas to the present time. Fresh
dreams arise in every street. What is this vast oval structure, with
its countless arches, reminding one of the great Colosseum at Rome?
Ruinous, it is true; but as we enter it, strange to say, it seems to
have suddenly awakened from its dream of sixteen centuries. Alas! it
awakens us also, for what do we see but in the centre of this great
arena the hanky-panky tricks of modern horsemanship and hear the stale
jokes of a modern English clown! Let us, however, leave this singular
scene of anachronism and again wander and dream.
This time there rises before us a series of lofty sculptured
tombs, each crowned by a spire, surmounted by the figure of a man
on horseback, separated from the roadway by some delicate metal
work, wrought by the hand of a thirteenth-century blacksmith into a
bewildering combination of quatrefoils, and supported by graceful
marble columns, each bearing the image of a saint or angel. To complete
the picture, the whole is backed up by a venerable-looking church,
with a low, tile-covered steeple and roof, plain enough but for a
beautiful marble monument placed above the doorway. It is difficult
to imagine anything more enchanting in the way of architecture than
this extraordinary cemetery, filling up the centre of one of the small
squares of the city.
We wander on again, and find ourselves in front of a noble Gothic
church, with a façade shaded by two mighty arches, one over the other,
and beneath the lowermost a richly-carved doorway. We enter, and a
superb picture is presented to our view. A Gothic church of exquisite
proportion and rich detail, gleaming with coloured decoration, to
which the softening touch of time has lent harmony and mellow tints.
A pavement of variegated marble is beneath our feet. Two queer little
statues, supporting holy water basins, attract our attention, and a
voice seems to whisper in our ear, “I Gobbi.” Need we say that this is
the Church of St. Anastasia in Verona.
It would be impossible to give our girls anything like a description of
the very interesting objects in this beautiful city, or adequately to
express the feelings with which one wanders about its streets. It is
said that “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,” and the man
must indeed be a savage who would not feel the same soothing influence
in looking at Verona.
Everything, from its sweet-sounding name, seems to breathe poetry and
music into the mind.
One seems to exist in a realm of fancy, and little imagination is
required to people it again with Montagues and Capulets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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