The Writings of George Eliot (Volume 18); The Spanish Gypsy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1908. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... A HANDSOME ROOM IN THE CASTLE On a table a rich jewel-casket Silva had doffed his mail and with it all The heavier harness of his warlike cares. He had not seen Fedalma; miser-like He hoarded through the hour a costlier joy By longing oft-repressed. Now it was earned; And with observance wonted he would send To ask admission. Spanish gentlemen Who wooed fair dames of noble ancestry Did homage with rich tunics and slashed sleeves And outward-surging linen's costly snow; With broidered scarf transverse, and rosary Handsomely wrought to fit high-blooded prayer; So hinting in how deep respect they held That self they threw before their lady's feet. And Silva -- that Fedalma's rate should stand No jot below the highest, that her love Might seem to all the royal gift it was -- Turned every trifle in his mien and garb To scrupulous language, uttering to the world That since she loved him he went carefully, Bearing a thing so precious in his hand. A man of high-wrought strain, fastidious In his acceptance, dreading all delight That speedy dies and turns to carrion: His senses much exacting, deep instilled With keen imagination's airy needs; -- Like strong-limbed monsters studded o'er with eyes, Their hunger checked by overwhelming vision, Or that fierce lion in symbolic dream Snatched from the ground by wings and new- endowed With a man's thought-propelled relenting heart. Silva was both the lion and the man; First hesitating shrank, then fiercely, sprang, Or having sprung, turned pallid at his deed And loosed the prize, paying his blood for nought. A nature half-transformed, with qualities That oft bewrayed each other, elements Not blent but struggling, breeding strange effects, Passing the reckoning of his friends or foes. Haughty and generous, grave and passionate; W...