Relics of Antiquity: Exhibited in the Ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, with an Account of the Destruction and Recovery of Those Celebrated Cities

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W. B. Gilley, 1826 - Herculaneum (Extinct city) - 143 pages
 

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Page 1 - For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes, gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, poetic fields encompass me around, and still I seem to tread on classic ground; for here the Muse so oft her harp has strung, that not a mountain rears its head unsung, renown'd in verse each shady thicket grows, and every stream in heavenly numbers flows.
Page 104 - The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself; * Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind.
Page 80 - But who can paint Like Nature? Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers ? Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, And lose them in each other, as appears In every bud that blows...
Page 97 - In other times, and in other places, one single edifice — a temple, a theatre, a tomb, that had escaped the wreck of ages — would have enchanted us ; nay, an arch, the remnant of a wall, even one solitary column, was beheld with veneration: but to discover a single ancient house, the abode of a Roman in his privacy, the scene of his domestic hours, was an object of fond, but hopeless longing.
Page 124 - While cloistered Piety displays Her mouldering roll, the piercing eye explores New manners, and the pomp of elder days, Whence culls the pensive bard his pictured stores. Nor rough, nor barren, are the winding ways Of hoar Antiquity, but strewn with flowers.
Page 98 - In the streets, you are afraid of turning a corner, lest you should jostle a passenger ; and on entering a house, the least sound startles, as if the proprietor was coming out of the back apartments. The traveller may long indulge the illusion ; for not a voice is heard, not even the sound of a foot, to disturb the loneliness of the place, or to interrupt his reflections.
Page 35 - As he was coming out of the house he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her ; for, her villa being situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea ; she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance.
Page 75 - ... the north-east wind ; and it is as warm on this side as it is cool on the opposite : in the same...
Page 98 - It is clothed with corn, poplars, mulberries, and vines in their most luxuriant graces, waving from tree to tree, still covering the greater part of the city with vegetation, and forming with the dark brown masses half buried below, a singular and most affecting contrast. This scene of a city, raised...
Page 34 - ... he might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterwards to ascend from Mount Vesuvius.

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