The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard TaylorConwell, Russell H.
General
The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor
Conwell, Russell H.
Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878
From Burglen, where Tell was born and where he so heroically died while
attempting to save a child from drowning, they marched upward along the
banks of the Reuss to Amsteg, and thence along the precipices where
the craggy mountains rose thousands of feet above them, and, the wild
stream surged and raged far, far below them. No scene more wild and
overwhelmingly grand than that at the “Devil’s Bridge,” over which they
crossed on their way to the summit of St. Gothard. Black chasms yawned at
their feet; enormous shelving rocks hung threatening overhead. Clouds of
spray, like steam from huge caldrons, arose from numberless pits, wherein
the streams boiled and hissed in their crevice-like channels. The clear
air was like wine. The peaks seemed to reach to heaven, and gleamed with
celestial purity. The charm of the scenery lifted the mind and awakened
the holiest emotions, while the balm of health permeated the body, and
gave it a strength seemingly supernatural. What person is there who loves
not the dear old peaks of Switzerland! Who has passed the heights of St.
Gothard and not awakened a glow in his body and an impulse in his soul
that strengthen him ever after!
But it is not our purpose to portray to the reader the scenes, in the
description of which Bayard so much excelled, and hence, making note
only of such things as had a marked influence on his life and writings,
we hastily follow him in his pilgrimage through the vale of Ticino,
over Lago Maggiore, to the gates of Milan, under the clear blue sky of
lovely Italy. There the most magnificent marble Cathedral in all the
world, when considered as a triumph of art in reproducing the Beautiful,
lifted its spires and figures above the roofs of churches and palaces.
A bewildering forest of peaks and towers confuse the student of its
outline, and innumerable collections of exquisitely wrought groups
and statues dishearten and confuse the student of art. Yet the unity
of its proportions, and the symmetry of its arches and cornices, were
recognized by all. Bayard trod its artistic pavement with feelings of
awe and admiration. He gazed long upon its aisles and pillars, and crept
on tip-toe into the shadows of its great altar. It is one of the most
solemn things in life to stand in such a temple of genius. The stained
windows, with their sacred figures and symbols, the sweet reverberations
of the sacred music, the low chant of the priests, the kneeling forms of
penitent worshippers, the strength of the workmanship and vastness of
its sombre recesses, awaken sensations that sleep in the open air. The
naturally vicious and cruel avoid those chancels, and the wise and good
gain encouragement from the supreme calm that reigns therein. Bayard
enjoyed his stay in Milan and his visits to the Cathedral most heartily,
and it was an important experience in the development of his natural
character. How his skill in observation, and his interest in everything
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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