Roses of Paestum (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900. Excerpt: ... Palmers, Pilgrims, and Romers "D Y a certain innate faculty of symbolism, colours are suggestive of conditions or qualities. Violet has been said by Mendelssohn to be the supreme colour of music--as being the faint hue which the air takes in vibrating to its harmony; and the first violet, legend tells, was born of melody, for it grew on the spot of earth where the lyre of Orpheus rested when he fell asleep after playing to the woods and mountains. Red is the colour of love; green is at times a pledge of hope or peace--at times, witness of envy; white is the emblem of purity. Such symbolism is, for the most part, of general acceptance, and the connection of thought is either instinctive, or, when realized, is abiding. Certain colours may, however, have for each of us a several and distinct sphere of suggestion. Some particular hue when it meets the eye has the power to touch certain chords of memory so that it speaks from the past, recalling the associations of some place visited, or awakening some mood of thought. In certain of the French and Italian cathedrals, wandering amid the grey light of nave and transept, you may see some window suffused with a rich warmth of colour. It will probably be one of the older windows--fourteenth or fifteenth century at latest--and the colour of the glass is richer and softer than that of any in the windows more recent. The subject represented there--a scene from the life of Christ or from the Old Testament--is perhaps indistinct and not easily recognisable. The blue and purple of the raiments are darkened and scarce distinguishable from the silt left by rain and wind without and the dust of centuries within. But while blackening the darker colours the lapse of time has mellowed and deepened those that are paler, blendi...