East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-05-24
THE IRON SHROUD.

The castle Of the Prince of Toli was
built on the summit of the towering anil
PERCEPTIONS rock Of Scylla, and command.
ed magnificent view of Sicily in all its
grandeur. Here, during the wars of the
middle ages when the fertile plains Of
Italy were devastated by hostile factions,
those prisoners were confined, for whose
ransom costly price was demanded,--
Here, too, in dungeon, eXcavated deep
in the solid rock the miserable victim
was immured, whom revenge pursued -
the dark, fierce, and Implying revenge
of an Italian heart.
VIvEyzlo-the noble and generous, the
fearless in battle, and the pride Of Naples
in her sunny hours Of peace--the young,
the brave, the proud Vivenzio, fell beneath
this subtitle and remorsless spirit. He
was the prisoner of 'rol6, and he languish-
cd in that rock-encircled dungeon, which
stood alone, and whose portals never
opened twice upon living captive.
It had the semblance of vast cage,
for the roof, and floor, and sides, were Of
iron solidlly wrought, and spaciously
constructed. High above there ran n
range of seven grated windows, guarded
with massive bars Of the same metal ;,
which let in light and air. Save these,
and the tall folding-doors beneath them,
which occupied the center, no chink, or
chasm, Or projection, broke the smooth
black surface of the walls. An iron bed
stead, Uttered with straw, stood in one
corner; and beside it a vessel with water
and a coarse dish filed with coarser food.
Even the intreped soul Of Vivenzio
shrunk with dismay as he entered this
obode, and heard the ponderous doors
triple locked by the silent ruffians who
conducted him to it. Their silence SEEM
ed prophetic Of his fate, of the living
grave that had been prepared for him
His menaces and entreaties, his indig-
nant appeals for justice, and his impatient
questioning of their intentions, were alike
vain. They listened, but spoke not
Fit ministers of crime that should have
no tongue
How dismal was the sound Of their re-
firing steps And, as their faint echoes
died along the winding passages, fear
ful presage grew within him, that never
more the face, or voice, or tread of man,
would greet his senses. He had seen
human beincs for the last time! And he
had looked his last upon the bright sky,
and upon the smiling earth, and upon a
beautiful world he loved, and whose min.
- a., boJ kao,t Ha,o bo ,,,os 10 nnJ
his life--a life he had just begun to revel
in Aud by what means? By secret
poison? or by murderous assault? No
for then it would have been needless to
bring him thither Famine perhaps
thousand deaths in one. 1t was horrible
to think of it; but it was yet more terri
ble to picture long, long years of captivi-
ty, in solitude 50 appalling, loneliness
so drcary, that thought, for want of fel.
lowship, would lose itself in madness, or
stagnate into idiocy.
He could not hope to escape, unless he
had the power with his bare hands, Of
rending asunder the solid iron walls of
his prison. He could not hope for liber-
ty from the relenting mercics of his ene-
my. His instant death under any form
of refined cruelty, was not the object Of
Tolf, for he might have inflicted it, and
he had not. 1t was too evident therefore,
he was reserved for some premeditated
scheme of subtle vengeance and what
vengeance could Transcend in fendish
malice, either the slow death Of famine;
or the still slower one Of solitary incar-
nation, till the last lingering spark Of
Of life expired, or till reason fled, and