Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1852-02-19
Multitude in the wide range of this worlds ag.

eyes were riveited upon that part of the wall
which was ever his bed of straw. Words are
inscribed there! A human language traced
by human hand He rushes towards them;
but his blood freezes as he reads
i, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of
the Prince ofTolf, spent three years in con-
triving and executing this triumph of my art
When it was completed, the perfdious Tolf,
more devil than man, who conducted me hither
one morning, to be witness, as he said, Of its
perfection, doomed me to be the first victim of
my own pernicious skill lest, as he declared,
should divulge the secret, or repeat the effort
of my ingenuity. May God pardon him, as /
hope he will me, that ministered to his unhal-
lowed purpose. Miserable wretch, whoe'er
thou art, that readest these lines, fall on thy
knees, and invoke, as l have done, His sus-
tanning mercy, who alone can nerve thee to
meet the vengeance of Tolf, armed with his
tremendous engine which, in few hours must
crush you, as it will the needy wretch who
made it =
A deep groan burst from Vivenzio. He
stood like one transfxed, with dilated eyes,
expanded nostrils, and quivering lips, gazing
at this fatal inscription. It was as if voice
from the sepulchre had sounded in his ears,
Prepare = Hope forsook him. There was
his sentence recorded in those dismal words
The future stood unveiled before him, ghas,ly
and appalling. His brain already feels the
descending horror-hs bones seem to crack
and crumbe in the mighty grasp of the iron
walls! Unknowing what it is he does, he
fumbles in his garment for some weapon of
self-destructon. He clenches his throat in his
convnlsive grpe, as though he would straugle
himself at once. He stares upon the walls,
and his warning spirit demands, will they not
anticipate their office if | dash my head against
them' An hysterical laugh chokes him as he
exclaims, why should l! He was but man
who died first in their fierce embrace and |
should be less than man not 10 do so much'
The evening sun was descending, and Vi
venzio beheld its golden beams streaming
through one of the windows. What thrill
of joy shot through his soul at The sight! Ii
was precious link, that united him, for the
moment, with the world beyond. There was
ecstacy in the thought. AS he gazed, long
and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows had
lowered sufficiently for him to reach them
With one bound he was beneath them-with
one wild spring he clung to the bars. Wheth-
er il was so contrived, purposely to madden
with delight the wretch who looked, he knew
not; but at the extremity of long vista, cut
through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky, the
setting sun, olive groves, shady walks, and, in
the farlhest distance, delicious glimpses of
magnificent Sicily, burst upon his sight
How exquisite was the cool breeze as it swept
across his cheek, loaded with fragrance He
inhaled it as though ii were the breath of con-
tnued life. And there was freshness in the
landscape, and in the ripping of the calm
green sea, that fell upon his whitening heart
like dew upon the parched earth. How he
gazed and painted, and still clung to his hold,
sometimes hanging by one hand, sometimes
by the other, and then grasping the bars with
both as loath to quit the smiling paradise out
stretched before him; till exhausted, and his
hands swollen and benumbed, he dropped help
less down, and lay stunned considerable time
by the fall
When he recovered, the glorious vision had
vanished. He was in darkness lie doubted
whether it was not dream that had passed be-
fore his sleeping fancy; but gradually his
thoughts returned !; and with them came remem-
brance. Yes he had looked once again upon
the gorgeous splendor of nature! Once again
his eyes had trembled beneath their veiled lids
at the suns radiance, and sought repose in the
soft verdure of the olive-tree, or the gentle
swell of undulating waves. Oh, that he were
a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the
worst fury of storm and tempest; or very
wretch loathsome with disease, plague-strick-
en-, and his body one leprous contagion from
crown TO sole, hunted forth to gasp out the
remnant of infectious lie beneath those YER
dant trees, so he might shun the destiny upon
|
whose edge he tot.ered
Vain thoughts like these would steal over
his mind from time 10 time in spite of himself !;
but they scarcely moved it from that stupor
into which it had sunk, and which kept him,
during the whole night, like one who had been
drugged with opium. He was equally insen-
sible 10 the calls of hunger and of thirst, though
the third day was commencing since even a
drop of water had passed his lips. He re-
mained on the ground, sometimes sitting,
sometimes lying at Intervals, sleeping heavi-
ly; and when not sleeping, silently brooding
over what was to come, or talking aloud, in
dsordered speech fhis wrongs, of his friends,
of his home, and of those he loved, with con-
fused mngling Of all. -.... .. ......
In this piiiable condition, the sixth and last
morning dawned upon Vivenzio, if dawn it
might be called-tEe dim, obscure light which
family struggled through the ONE SOLITARY
window Of his dungeon. He could hardly be
said TO notice the melancholy token. And yet
he did notice it; for as he raised his eyes and
saw the portentous sign, there was conyul-
sive distortion Of his countenance. BIT what
did attract his notice, and at the sight of which
his agitation was excessive, was the change
which his iron bed had undergone. II was a