Washington sentinel., 1854-01-07

Then we crossed the Col de Balm together, and
for the first time saw Mont Blanc, the monarch
of the mountains-
So in a robe of clouds
With a dadem Of snow"
Together we entered the vale of Chamouny
and saw the sun set and the sun rise there, and
repeated Coleridges Hymn as we had often done
before we reached the scene of its inspiration.
know nothing in the language more genial
to the soul among the Alps than that hymn.
1t rang in my ears all the way through Switz-
erland We were up and down the lake of
Geneva, and the Calvin city, and then we cross
ed Mont Gents, and saw Turin, and wandered
in the valleys of the Waldenses, where we were
received with warmth of welcome that made
us feel the power Of christian love. From Turin
we went to Genoa, and then to Milan and to
lake Como--one of the fairest and fairyest
lakes in the world-a "thing of beauty Joy
to remember; and so is Venice, where we
dreamed few days in the gondolas, city the
streets of which are liquid, and where the sound
Of wheel is never heard city Of the sea
dream glorious in its decay; for Venice is
sinking, and will soon find watery grave.
From Venice we came to Florence, and there
my younk friend and companion of travel,
who had crossed the ocean and the continent,
with me, found his grave, among strangers
and, thank God, also among friends. All this
travel, which will require year of letters to
describe, I have no heart to write. 1t is so
blended, every step Of it, with one who is with
me no more, that must leave it, and write it
out hereafter for that book, which is to be made
one of these days, to contain the chronicles of
this notable year. From this time onward,
can do nothing more than to give you brief
notes of travel from week to week, which we
will fill out when we can sit down and talk
over these things at our leisure.
'.Hec olm meminissi juvabit."
1t was sad morning when / left Florence.
q A load Of emptiness was on my heart.
More heavy than the weight of actual woe;
Nature too seemed oppressed, as il apart
OfAvhat my soul suffered she did know
And would fellowship of sadness show"
The skies wept freely, and so did two strong
men in that parting embrace, and he who re-
NAMED said " You have made US precious
visit--it has been hallowed by death, and now
will be memory forever" And then we were
sundered, and was once more alone. Ny
faithful Italian servant, who really seemed to
love me, began to tell me of Rome and Naples,
and was amused with his attempts to amuse
me; the queer pleasures he described as in
prospect, and which he was sure would drive
away all melancholy and restore me to myself
again.
Pisa is on the way from Florence to Leghorn,
and few hours there will furnish quite as
much of interest as can be found in the same
time and within so small o space in Europe.
The leaning tower" is reckoned among the
wonders of the world and justly so. Standing
rs far from it as on the opposite side of the
square, it excites in the beholder's mind the
constant apprehension that it is going over,
II II 1.oJ Al, hot
leads to the summit, / was all the time hitting
one side or the other of the staircase, so far
does it hang out Of the perpendicular. Galileo
often climbed these stairs, and here performed
his experiments to determine the fall Of heavy
bodies, and in the cathedral close at hand is
still hanging the same old iron chandelier,
which when swinging suggested to him the idea
of the pendulum as measure of time. A hum
dred windows of stained glass admit dim light
by which / could scarcely see the paintings that
adorn this church in greater numbers than any
other in Europe. Some of them are very fine,
and more of them are not.
The Campo Santo is a mausoleum that can
never be forgotten after once being seen. No
burial place has so deeply affected me. The
earth was brought from Jerusalem in fifty
ships, but that is nothing. Artists of mastery
skill have for FIVE centuries been embellishing
lC Win painting anu sculpture, anu the Oiu Sc
pulchres of Greece and Italy have been robbed
to furnish statues, sarcophagi and monuments
to adorn this sanctuary of the dead. 1t was a
fitting place to muse in, to me striking rep
resentation of all this land---a land Of the past
Ia land Of sepulchres-of beauty, but such
beauty only MS cannot die--its hills, and plains,
and sea are here as they were when the men
and the women were alive, for whom these
marble cofins were wrought with such exquis-
ite skill
Leghorn is q seaport with no objects of spe-
cial attraction to the traveller. Great quanti-
ties Of marble are here shipped for England and
America, and was pleased to see the familiar
names of New York and Boston on the ships in
the harbor, and to hear the good old tongue OF
my native land, even in the coarse and some
times rather hard dialect of the sailor. But
there is no language, believe, SO complete for
swearing in as the Italian. The ease and inge-
nuity are quite peculiar, with which man
manages to work in string Of oaths, Of every
degree in the scale Of profanity, which would
certainly confound Yankee sailor competent
even to box the compass with quid Of tobacco
in his mouth. II was good news to me that a
steamer was TO start at A p. M. for Civita
Vecchia.
In spite Of the rain which was now pouring
and the prospect of rough night, put off in
row boat, and got on board the Anatole, a
ranu1ar mos os,o