The Works of Mrs Hemans; With a Memoir of Her Life, by Her Sister [H.M. Owen]. (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: RESTORATION WORKS OF ART TO ITALY. [" The French, who in every invasion have been the scourge of Italy, and have rivalled or rather surpassed the rapacity of the Goths and Vandals, laid their sacrilegious hands on the unparalleled collection of the Vatican, tore its masterpieces from their pedestals, and, dragging them from their temples of marble, transported them to Paris, and consigned them to the dull sullen halls, or rather stables, of the Louvre. But the joy of discovery was short, and the triumph of taste transitory."?Eustace's Classical Tour through Italy, vol. ii. p. 60.] " Italia, Italia ! O tu cui die la sorte Dono infelice di beliezza, ond' h;ii Funesta dote d'infiniti guai, Che'n fronte scritte per gran doglia porte; Deh, fossi tu men belia, o almen piu forte. FlLICAJA. Land of departed fame! whose classic plains Have proudly echo'd to immortal strains; Whose hallow'd soil hath given the great and brave, Daystars of life, a birth-place and a grave; Home of the Arts! where glory's faded smile, Sheds ling'ring light o'er many a mould'ring pile; Proud wreck of vanish'd power, of splendour fled. Majestic temple of the mighty dead! Whose grandeur, yet contending with decay, Gleams through the twilight of thy glorious day; Though dimm'd thy brightness, riveted thy chain, Yet, fallen Italy! rejoice again ! Lost, lovely realm! once more 'tis thine to gaze On the rich relics of sublimer days. Awake, ye Muses of Etrurian shades, Or sacred Tivoli's romantic glades; Wake, ye that slumber in the bowery gloom Where the wild ivy shadows Virgil's tomb; Or ye, whose voice, by Sorga's lonely wave, Swell'd the deep echoes of the fountain's cave, Or thrill'd the soul in Tasso's numbers high, Those magic strains of love and chivalry: If yet by classic stream...