Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-05-30
MARTINsBURG, VA) THURSDAY, MAY 80, 1888.

hsk, and with those two magnificent
fountains sending their musical waters
as If to the sky, and the two encircling
wings OF the church embracing the im-
mense area with its triple colonnades,
felt the grandeur of st. Peters. felt
It again in the gigantic and richly
wrought porches, and again with in.
descrlbable surprise and admiration at
the hrst step on the pavement of the
interior. There was not figure on
ITS immense floor from the door TO the
altar, and its far off roof, its mighty
pillars, Its gold and marbles in such
profusion, that the eye shrinks from
the examination, made their overpow-
erlng impression uninterrupted.-You
feel that it must be glorious creature
that could build such temple to his
maker.
An organ was playing brokenly in
one OF the distant chapels, and, draw.
ing lnsensibly to the music, we found
the door half open, and monk alone,
running his fingers over the keys, and
stopping sometimes, as if to muse, till
the echo died and the silence seemed
to startle him anew. 1t was strange
music, very irregular, but sweet, and
IN less excited moment, could have
sat and listened to it till the sun set.
strayed down the aisle, and stood
before the ''Dead Christi of Michael
Angelo. The Saviour lies in the arms
of Mary. The limbs hang lifelessly
down, and, exquisitely beautiful as
they are, express death with a wonder
ful power. 1t is the best work Of the
artist, think, and the only one was
ever moved in looking at.
The greatest statue and the first pic.
ture in the world are under the same
root, and we mounted to the Vatican.
The museum is a wilderness of statua-
ry. Old Romans, men and women,
stand about you, copied, as you feel
when you look on them, from the life,
aud conceptions of beauty in children
nymphs, and heroes, from minds that
conceived beauty in degree that has
never been transcribed, confuse and
bewilder you with their number and
wonderful workmanship. 1t is like
seeing vision of past ages. 1t is cal.
ling up from Athens and old classic
Rome, all that was distinguished and
admired of the most polished ages OF
the world. On the right Of the long
gallery, rs you enter, stands the bust
OF the "Young Augusta" ia kind OF
beautiiied, angelic likeness of Napole-
on, as Napoleon might have been in
his youth. 1t is a boy, but with a
serene dignity about the forehead and
lips, that makes him visibly boy. EN-
peror--born for his throne, and con-
scious of his right to it. There is
nothing in marble more perfect, and
never saw any thing which made me
realize that the Romans of history
and poetry were men-nothing which
brought them so Familiarity to my mind,
as the feeling for bounty shown in this
infantine bust. would rather have
it than all the gods and heroes in the
Vatican.
No cast gives you any idea worth
having of the Apollo Belyidere. 1t is
godlike model of a man. The light.
ness and the elegance of the limbs; the
free, fiery, confident energy of the at
titude; the breathing, indignant nostril
and lips; the whole statues mingled
and equal grace and power, arc, with
all its truth to nature, beyond any con.
ception had formed Of manly beauty
1t spoils ones eye for common men
to look at it. 1t stands there like 8
descended angel, with a splendor o
form and air of power, that makes one
| feel what he should have been, anC
mortifies him for what he is. Mos
women whom | have met in Europe
adore the Apollo as far the finest stat
ute in the world, and most men say al
much of the Medicean Venus. But
to my eye, the Venus, lovely as sht
is, compares with the Apollo as NOR
tai with an angel of light. The latte
IS incomparably the finest statue.
it were only for its face, it woul'
transcend the other infinitely. Th,
beauty of the Venus is only the limb
and body. 1t is faultless, and witha
modest representation of the flesh AM
| blood beauty of a woman. The ApoI
| 10 is all this, and has a soul. | hav,
seen women that approached the Venu
| in form, and had finer faces-I neve
saw a man that was shadow to the A
polio in either. 1t stands as it should
in a room by itself, and is thronged a
all hours by female worshippers. The,
never tire of gazing at it; and | shout
believe, from that open-mouthed won
J der OF those | met at the pedestal, tina