The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1864-11-11
TEE IRON SEEEsOUD.

The following story which was first
published in Blaclwood's Magazine
about forty years since, under the
title Of Vivenzio or Italian Vengeance
attracted great attention and has been
frequently reprinted. 1t will how
ever be new to many of our younger
readers. For intensity of tragic in
tercst and fearfully romantic power,
it has hardly been equalcd. 1t sug
gested Poe swell known tale The Pit
and the Pendulum" The title which
we have prcliXcd to the narrative has
been substituted by common consent
rs more appropriate than the allitcra-
ativc one emplo2cd hr its authUt.
The castle of the prince Of Tolf
was built on the summit of the tower q
and precipitous rocks OF Scylla, and
commanded q magnificent view Of
Sicily in all its grandeur. Here, du
ring the wars Of the middle ages, when
the fertile plains ofItaly were devas-
tated by hostile factions, those pris
oncrs were confined, for whose ran
som a costly price was demanded
Here, too, in a dungeon excavated
deep in the solid rock, the miserable
victim was immured, whom revenge
pursued,-the dark, fierce, and un-
pitYing revenge of an Italian heart.
Vivcnzio--thc noble and the gen
erous, the fearless in battle, and the
pride of Naples in her sunny hours OF
pcace--the young, the brave, the
proud Vivenzio fell beneath this snb-
tie and rcmorsel0ss spirit. He was
the prisoner of Tolli, and he Ian
guishod in that rock encircled dun
geon, which stood alone, and whose
portals never opened twice upon n
living captive.
1t had the somblance of vast cage,
for the roof and floor, and sides, were
of iron, solidly wrought, and spa
ciously constructed. High above
there ran range of seven grated win
dows, guarded with massy bars of the
same metal, which admitted light and
air. Save these and the tall folding
doors beneath them, which occupied
the center, no chink, or chasm, or pro-
lection broke the smooth black sur
face Of the.walls. An iron beadstead,
Uttered with straw, stood in the cor
ner; and beside it, vessel with water,
and q coarse dish filed with coarscr
food.
Even the intrepid soul of Vivenzio
shrunk with dismay as he entered this
abode, and heard the pondcrous door
triple-locked by the sileRt-ruflians
who conducted him to it. Their ST
lence seemed prophetic of his fate, OF
the living grave that had been pre-
pared for him. His menaces and his
cntreaties, his indignant 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
retiring steps! And as their faint
echoes died along the winding pass
ages, a fearful presage grew with him,
that never more the face, or voice, or
tread, of man, would greet his senses.
He had seen human beings 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 minion he
had been! Here he was to end his
life-a life he had just begun to revel
in! And by what means? BY secret
poison? or by muIderous ASSAULT
No for then it had been needless to
bring him thither. Famine perhaps.
a thousand deaths in one! 1t was
terrible to think ofIt-but it was yet
more terrible to picture long, long
years of captivity, in a solitude so ap-
pailing, loneliness so dreary, that
thought, for want oftellowship, would
lose itselfin madness, or stagnate into
idlocy.
He should 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 liberty from the relenting