The Shasta courier., 1866-09-29
SHASTA COURIER.
GINEvRA; OR, THE DEAD ALIVE.


There is an antique street in Florence
which bears the startling title of Via della
Morta-Street of the Dead. The original
name of Via del Campanile was changed to
Via della Morta to commemorate the resus-
citation of the beautiful Ginevra, who, hav.
ing escaped from the tomb, wandered thro'
the streets by night, seeking that shelter
which the terrors of superstition denied
her.
The story OF Glnevra, even more thrilling
and singularly romantic than that of Romeo
and Juliet, can hardly be called tradition
or legend. 1t is, beyond question, a true
history, and has been chronicled ! y various
reliable Italian historians.
Toward the close of the fourteenth cen.
tury the young Antonio Rondinelli became
enamored of Ginevra Almieri, lady of high
lineage. Count Bernardo, the father OF
Ginevra, stern, hard, grasping man, was
at variance with the Rondinelli family
Tie youthful Ginevra warmly responded to
the passion which her lovely person and love-
lier character had kindled and notwith-
standing the division between their families,
the trusting lovers basked in the delicious
hope that they would one day be united.
Antonio sought Count Bernardo, and in
spite of frigid and frowning reception,
boldly avowed his affection for Ginevra, and
prayed that the discord between their houses
might be melted into harmony by her fair
hand clasped, before the altar, in his. The
father repulsed him rudely and forbade all
intercourse between tie lovers. Then Cine
vra, gaining courage through her dismay,
went to her father and implored him to hear
her-told HIM of Eer love for Antonio, and
besought him not to separate them. The
father turned an obdurate ear to her plead
ings, and drove her from his presence
Ginevra mourned and pinned for her Danish.
ed lover without Disgusting her sorrow =
Count Bernardo argued from this open grief
that she cherished hope that he would be
moved to revoke the sentence of separation.
To dispell any such baseless delusion, he
determined to give her in marriage without
delay.
francesca Agolanti was one of the most
opulent men in Florence. From certain
facts. however. related by historians, it may
be inferred that he was as miserly as he was
wealthy. Ginevra, far from listening to his
wooing, turned from him with unconcealed
aversion; but this did not prevent Agoanti's
demanding her hand of her father, who
promised it willingly. When her approach
ing betrothal was announced to Ginevra she
made resolute resistance, and coniured her
mperious father not to add this new aff1ic
tion to the one which had already bereft her
of her happiness. His reply was to hasten
the preparations for her nuptials. When
Ginevra found her struggles fruitless, she
fell into state of deep detection and list
less apathy. She no longer seemed to notice
what passed around her, and was led to the
altar INTERESTINGLY, as though her faculties
had become torpid-as if she was no longer
capable even of the sensation of pain.
After her marriage, this inert and pas
sive condition became confirmed. She NOV
ed about like a being whose soul was absent
and went through the ordinary routine of
life mechanically, almost unconsciously.-
She seldom spoke, or smiled, or even la
mented her fate aloud Very soon she was
attacked by an hysterical affection which in
duced long swoons of frequent occurrence
The physicians who attended her pronounced
her disease consumption. AT the end of
four years. she one day fell into swoon
from which all efforts to revive her proved
Intellectual. The medical men, after having
exhausted their skill without result. inform
ed her husband that she had expired.
AT sunset on the evening of the same day,
she was carried with great pomp, upon an
open funeral car, to the family vault of the
Agolanti, in the cemetery of the cathedral.
Here, according to custom, her fair body was
laid upon a shelf, among the mouldering
skeletons of her husbands ancestors. The
month was October. The moon shone
brightly that night. The stone placed at
the mouth of the tomb had not been rece-
mented. The masons were to perform the
work on the morrow. Through the aperture
left by the loosened and ill-ftting stone the
moonlight streamed and lighted up the dis
NAL vault.
Ginevra from her long swoon had sunk
into deep trance, but life was not extinct.
In the middle Of the night she feebly stirred,
and slowly recovered her consciousness. At
first, in her half wakened and TREMENDOUSLY
weak state, she thought herself oppressed by
a frightful dream. But as her senses fully
returned, she saw the skeleton forms With
which she was holding companionship, and
attempted to start up. but fell back power
less, and in great alright, for she now dis
covered that her hands and feet were bound.
Then, for the first time, she beheld the grave
clothes in which she was attired, and knew
by them, and her bandaged feet and hands,
ttlttt cuc uust n0fC DCCu cuppOoSN W " NNeNNf
and bad been buried. Fear lent her new
strength, and after many despairing efforts
she succeeded in loosening the bandages,
and disentangled herself from the swathing
folds of her long shroud. She stood up,
trembling and appalled,. But, guided by
the moonlight, she staggered to the five steps
before the entrance, and crept up to the stone
which barred ber exit. To remove it with
those delicate and feeble hands seemed i'm
possible; but at such moments the frailest
natures are endowed with superhuman
strength. After several futile attempts,
which with every failure increased her hor.
ror, the stone was rolled over, and she stood
IN the moonlight, in the open cemetery,
treed-saved from living tomb, probably
from death of maddening terror.
With feeble steps she hurried tbroueb the
streets, her long shroud trailing on the
ground, her white drapery floating around
her, and her ghastly face looking nneartbls
in the moonlight. She was Seeking he,
home-the home from which she had tba,
morning been borne as a corpse. Wha,
wonder the midnight stragglers who met he,
fled affrighted "A0