Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-02-24
VOL. ). NO Is.

won tue Heatl Oi WpaSSlOneu ullet
The Gothic lattice. the frequent balcony, the
garden seen through the iron gates that clo-
sed yonder ancient court, do they not all
breathe of Roneo-of Shakspeare-of ro-
nance of that romance which is STEPPED in
the colors of so passionate, so Intoxicating
love, that IN order even TO comprehend II.
We must lift ourselves out of our common and
worldly nature-we must rise from what our
youth has been made by the arid cares and
calculating schemes of life-we must shut
ourselvc up, as it were in a chamber of sweet
dreams. from which all realities must be rig
idly excluded-we must call back to the
heart, to the sense, to the whole frame, Its
6rst youth-we must feel the blood pass
through the veins elixir, and imagine
that VIC are yet IN the first era of the world.
when (accordiug to the Grecian snperstition)
Lore was the only deity that existed, and his
breath was the religion of creation. Then,
and then only, we acknowledge that tho
legend of Romeo aud Juliet does not pass
the limits of nature. For the great charac-
terstic OF their love is youth-the sparkling
and divine freshness of first years its lGxu-
riant Imaginatiou-its suddeuness, and yet its
depth-the conceito and phantasies which find
common language too tame, and wander into
sweet extravaganza from the very truth of the
passion All this belon IS but to the flesh and
May of life the beauty of years-the
sunny surface uf the golden well. You see
at once the vouugnoss of that love, if you
compare It with the love of Antony and Gle
opatra in another aud no less wonderful tra-
gedy of the great master. The love, in eth
! er. passes the level Of human emotions-it is
/ the love of warmer hearts and stronger ma
/ lures than the world knows. But the one is
( the love that demands luxury and pomp; it
} with ,rlpr, lnt with ms yniS-
ccuce; il lies
In pavilion. cloth of gold, of tissue,
Ger picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature"
Take away the majesty from that love and
it sinks into the gross passion of hoary dot
ard and old coquette. But everything about
the love of Juliet is young, pure even in its
passion. II does not lose words, but can dis
pense with the world itself; it ASKS no purple
canopies, TO regal feasts; It's wine is rich
enough without dissolving pearls i'll its spark
ling freshness: it is precisely that which be-
ougs to the beautiful incxperience of the pas
sinnate girl; IL IS the incarnation of passion,
solely because il IS the incarnation of youth.
Aud there in that barn belonging te the cov-
vent of the Fraucscaus, the very convent of
the good old frlar of the tale-ro roof above
the damp rueuid be!ow-the broken, OBJ
long sepuchre itself, half filed with green
water, is the tomb of this being, made rs fa-
miliar to us by genius as if she had really
moved and llved before us-as If we had
gazed upon her in the revel, and listened to
her voice from the mooniit balcony. Moth
ing equal the sadness and gloom OF the
spot. On the walls Yet remain two old and
faded frescos on the religious subjects favor, 4
, by Italian art: morning aud night the dew s
ell bT,x-.
choIy stars gleam the tomb, whence the
very dust is g-ne! II has not even he gran
deur OF desolation-no splendid sepulchre, no
, cathedral aisle, no high-arched- roof, piled
mpresses you with awe. 4 heap of faEots,
, piled carelessly al one end of the lt-house.
proves the little yeueration in which the place
is held The spot is desec-ated the old
! tomb. with its pillow of stone, is but broken
cstern to the eyes of the brethren Of the con-
. vent. The character of the place is drear.
: unsanctfying. slovenly discomfort Beauti-
= ful daughter of the Capulet ?-noue care for
! thee thy love, thy memories, save the
strangers from the Far Isle, whom . north
. ern minstrel hath taught to weep fer thee
= 1t is this peculiar dreariness, this want OF
4 harmony between the spot and the associa-
:, tions, which makes tho scene so impressive,
: The eager, tender, ardent Juliet-ever,
tuuuSui Il poSSi very 11GDe or 10
i nance. never fated to be old ana this damp
. unregarled hovel, strewed with vile lumber,
and protane to all uses What 4 contrast
s what moral of human affections. Fad
# 1t been green spot in some quiet vally, with
N the holiness of nature to watch over it. the
n tomb would have impressed Us with sweet
h not sorrowtul, associations, We should hav,
"a felt the soft steps OF the appropriate spirit
"a the place, and dreamed back the dreams @
to, poetry, as at Arqua, III the grotto of Eye
ria. But there is no poetry here all i
stern and real the lovliest vision of Shak
speare surrounded hy the hardest scenes O
= Crabbe And aiar in the CITY rise the gor
geous tombs Of the Scalieers, the family o
that Duke of Verona who is but Il pageant
thing at foil and glitter in the machiner,
OF tl4at enchanting tale Ten thousand fiorin
of gold had one of these naughty 7 noes con
E. sumed. IN order to eclipse, III his own, tn
magnifcence of the toubs eff his predecessors
Fretted and arched in all the elaborate tracer
Id of the iourteenth century. those feu.lal tom b
make yet the pride and boast of Verona =
~ aud to Juliet, worth, to the place, all th
ID dukes that ever strutted their hour upon tn
ts stage, this gray stone. aud this moulderin
III baru 1t Is "a # to avense the slight upo
$ her beautiful memory, that we yawn as W
n. gaze upon the tombS Of power, and feel $
le deep sympathy with this POOR monument c
k love!
ds The old woman that showed us the pIac
s. had something IN her al the picturesque
[ aged and wrInEied, and hideous-witbI h,
IS hard hand inlpetiently stretched out for ,L
e- petty coin which was to pay for admission
IT. the spot--she suited well with all the rest
ief She increased the pathos that belongs to tt
he deserted sanctuary. How little could 81