Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-01-23
NO. 5.

like one transfxed, with dilated eyes, expand
cd nostrils and quivering lips, gazing at this
fatal inscription. It was as if a voice from the
sepulchre had sounded on his ears "PrepareW
Hope forsook him. There was his sentence,
recorded in those dismal words. The future
stood unveiled before him, ghastly and appal-
ling. His brain already feels the descending
horror,-his bones seem to crack and crumble
in the mighty grasp of the iron walls! I'm
knowing what it is he do s, he fumbles in his
garment for some weapon of selfdestruction.
He cenches his throat in his convulsive gripe,
as though he would strange himself at once.
He stares upon the walls, and his warning
spirit demands "Will they not anticipate their
office if dash my head against them9" An
hysterical laugh chokes him as he exclaims.
"Why should II" He was but man who
died first in their fierce embrace; and | should
be less than man not to do as much!'
The evening sun was descending, and ,Viven-
zio behed its golden beams streaming through
his soul at the sight! 1t was a precious link,
that united him, for the moment, with the
world beyond. There was exstacy in the
thought AS he gazed, long and earnestly, it
seemed as the windows had lowered sufficient
ly for him to reach them With one bound he
was beneath them-with one wild spring he
clung to the bars Whether it was so contrived,
purposely to madden with delight the wretch
who looked, he knew not; but at the extrem-
ity of long vista, thro' the solid rocks, the
ocean, the sky the setting sun, the olive groves,
shady walks, and in the farthest distance, deli
cous glimpses ofmagnifcent Sicily, burst upon
his sight How exquisite was the breeze as it
swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance!
He inhaled it as though it were the breath of
continued 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, and 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. He doubted
whether it was not dream that had passed
before his sleeping fancy but gradually his
scattered thoughts returned and with them
came remembrance Yes he had looked once
again upon the gorgeous splendour Of nature
Once again his eyes had trembl0d beneath their
vecd liGs, at the suns radiance, and sought
- h. G, Of thn oil trap Or
the gentle swell of undulating waves.
Oh, that he were a mariner exposed upon
those waves to the worst fury of the storm and
tempest; or a very wretch, Ioathsome with
disease, plague-stricken, and his body one
leprous contagion from the crown to sole, hunt
ed forth to gasp out the remnant Of infectious
life beneath those verdant trees, so he might
shun the destiny upon whose edge he totteredl
Vain thoughts like these would steal over
his mind from time to time in spite of himself;
but they scarcely moved it from that stupor in
to which it had sunk, and which kept him
during the whole of the night, like one who
had been drugged with opium. He was equally
insensible to the calls Of hunger and Of thirst,
though the third day was now commencing
since even drop Of water had passed bis lips.
He remained on the ground, sometimes sit
ting and sometimes lying; at intervals, sleep
ing heavily and when not sleeping, silently
brooding over what was to come, or talking
aloud, in disordercd speech, Of his wrongs, Of
his friends, of his home, and Of those he loved
with confused mingling Of all
In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last
moring dawned upon Vivenzio, II dawn it
might be called-the dim, obscure light which
family struggled through the ONE SOLITARY win
dow of his dungeon. He could hardly be said
to notice the melancholy token. And yet he
did notice it for rs he raised his eyes and saw
the portentous sign, there was slight convul-
slve distortion of his countenance. But " hat
did attract his notice, and at the sight Of which
his agitation was excessive, was the change his
iron bed had undergone. 1t was bed no
longer 1t stood before him, the visible SEM
bance Of funeral couch or bier! When he
behcld this, he started from the ground; and,
in raising himself, suddenly struck his head
against the roof, which now was 81 low that
nc could no longer stand upright Gods
will be donel" was all he said, as he crouched
his body, and placed his hand upon his bier,
for such it was. The iron bcdstcad had been
so contrived by the mechanical art OF Ludoyico
| Sforza, that as the advancing walls came in
contact with its head and feet pressure was
produced upon concealed springs, which, when
made to play set in motion very simple though
inreniouslv contriyed machinery, that effected
the transformation. The object was, Of course,
to heigbten, in the closing scene Of this horri-
BILE drama, all the feelings of despair and an
ruish which the preceding one had aroused
For the same reason, the last window was so
made as to admit only a shadowy kind Of
gloom rather than light, that the wretchcd
captive might be surrounded, as it were, with
every seeming preparation for approaching
/ death.
Vivenzio seated himself on the bier. Then
he knelt and prayed fervently; and sometimes
tears would gush from him. The air seemed
thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or 1t
might be that he fancied it was so, from the