Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-05-27
= @umaute uf the gsrolntian.
ELLEN CAMPBELL, !, !,
KINGS MOUNTAIN.
BY MRS. MARY a. EWAET.

competent, 80 far as discipline and compan'
iousbip were concerned, to restrain the wilful,
impressible and volatile Herbert W. The
restlessness of travel increased this natural
disposition of 6cklessness and versatility, and
declaring it was impossible for him to study
until he had visited classic Itsly and caught
some inspiration from the poet land, he per-
suaded Mr.. Monckton to accompany him
thither. Some whimsical caprice led him to
take the name of Howard, declaring it was
not only more poetical but more chivalric
and noble than. Willoughby, and by this
name he insisted upon being addressed.
Arriving in Italy, his life there was like
dream of fairy land. Now be would study
"clouds, mists, streams, watery rocks, and
emerald turf" beneath the shadow of the
Alps; listen to the crash and roar of the
laundering music of the aelanche; or in the
heart of Switzerland's grandeur, gaze on the
snowy monarch Of the mountains, its huge
glaciers, its granite peaks, its beautiful wales,
still and shining like picture. Here with
air, earth, ice, rocks and mist, he would study
the glorious images of Dante, whose burning
pen had traced what his imagination had
painted of Paradise; for surely here was
where the angels of God, brighter than the
sun, ascend and descend how blind old Mil.
ton would claim his worship, as the Aeecy
clouds, like cohort Of angels brushed the
summit with their wings, the sunlight reflect.
ing from the snow to the clouds, from the
clouds to the snow, making a glowing and
dazzling splendor. And then what an Eden
below! Forests of the richest, deepest green !;
vast masses Of outrageous foliage; the open
ing of the rich valleys, leading off the eye in
a perspective wilderness Of idleness and beau
ty the bro d imprisoned lakes, the rivers
springing from their crystal sleeping sources,
gliding swift and graceful as an arrow; or
bursting from the guarding glaciers thunder
ing sullenly on. The miniature cascades fall
ing like wells of silvery lace; the vines trel-
Used among the rocks-the flowers worthy of
Paradise; the luxuriance and sublimity, the
desolation and the beauty struck his poetic
sense with such exquisite pleasure, as to forbid
all graver or more practical pursuits. These
wanderings and reveries by solitary streams
and mountain passes, this study Of the poetry
of the middle ages, its lofty strains according
we'll with the Surrounding aisles of the dim
woods" their chcckered light, their Gothic
grandeur; This listening spirit, that heard the
wild song of the glaciers and the thrilling
tales murmnred by rivers from mountain SOL
itude this music of brook and waterfall the
signing of the wind among the leaves, the
carroling OF the birds in the air, the tinkling
sound of the distant villages was to him as
the evening ssng of the angels. His vivid
imagination, his southern Incidence, in fact
the dolce for nisnte Of his nature, was led COM
petely captive, and his wilfulness would min
lister to that and to that alone. Now he would
away to the land Of Tasso, Of Dante, of
Ariosto, and by the memory-haunted Medi-
terranean, he would dwell on the glories of
the past, while enjoying the charms of the
present He would study diplomacy from
their great statesmen; their brave heroes
should teach him courage and daring; and
then noble poets, ah their poets, should teach
it is impossible, "Not to love all things in a
world so flied where the breeze MARBLES and
the mute still air is slumbering on her instru'
ment." He would study Ttian's radiant
pictures of sensuous beauty, glowing with
their gorgeous tints, or the dreamy landscapes
of Claude Lorraine-soft, breezy, dewy; or
wonder at the gloomy grandeur and terrible
magni6cence of Salvador Rosa, Praxiteles
and Phidias the sculptor of Grecian fame,
should give his dreaming mind fresh models
of beauty and grace, and from every temple
and arch and breathing statue, would ne
gather luxurious and fascinating memory.
He would visit Athens muse on the banks of
the Ilyssus with Socrates, or sit in the acade.
my of Plato Now he would ascend Parnas.
sus, and sitting by the Castilian fount, wor-
ship Apollo and the muses., and with the sum
light of festivals and the moonlight of ruins,
he would forget that career of mind is ac'
tion that has an aim, and indulge in blissful
reverie-that heritage of women. If Mr..
Monckton dared to expostulate as to this
waste of time, Herbert would Indignantly de.
clare he was accomplishing the most earnest
labors, pursuing the most arduous study.
For was not eloquence, with mute persuasive
strain stirring his soul to deeds of daring and
of blood? Was not philosophy, rich in intel
lect, acute in metaphysics, and sparkling with
admirable morality, breathing in every record
of the past? Was not poetry, the enchant-
ing Priestess-with allegory, fable and fiction,
daily opening rich mines of precious ore
No, in Dante, he would study the history,
theology and politics of the middle ages
Shakespeare would unravel the great mysteries
of the human heart; Cervantes should teach
him to shun the follies his satrical pen de-
scribes Spenser should elevate him to sub
lime pathos, and Milton to holy fervor.
Ariosto, fresh, spirited and rich, would be his
model for action. Boccacio with his Decam'
eron painting, extravagant and mic-touch-
ing and tragic, would be to him imagery and
melody; and Tasso, equiste Tasso, would be
the string of feeling and love. Too good ma
tured to contend, too absorbed to do more
than occasionally expostulate, Mr.. Monckton
allowed the young Herbert to wander as his
mood called him. Now in Verona, where he
would "stop with Juliet at the Masque;" now
in Venice, "rising with her train of proud
towers" uoW at "sober. learned Padua"-