The Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ...proportions or a throne of the most magnificent possibilities would have eclipsed in his sight the new facade of the viceregal palace. And to such a people as this he had come back empty-handed He could not but regard himself as a very shabby and ungrateful fellow, and if his recollection of his quest for the Perugino had not remained to reassure him that his intentions, at least, had been of the best, he would doubtless have seen himself in a light more unfavorable still. He made up his mind at once that his people's evidence of regard and esteem should be requited as promptly as possible. He would repay them, and repay them in kind. He would erect, at his own expense, some great architectural monument and band it over in fee simple to the Arcopian people. He would build a town hall, a palazzo pubblico that would be much more an honor and a credit to the city than the present edifice; and, returning without great delay to the mainland, he would search out, in a kind of architectural tour, the most recherche and attractive models that Lombardy and Venetia had to offer, and would erect vis-d-vis to his own rehabilitated residence a fabric that should be a worthy companion to it as well as a lasting token of his gratitude. It were ungracious, perhaps, to comment too pointedly here upon the Prorege's motives and preferences; but it is useless to deny that he was somewhat prone to self-indulgence, or to blink the fact that if he were going back to Italy on an architectural excursion he would be merely going just where he wanted to go in order to do just what he wanted to do. For him Italy was the land of lands, and architecture the interest of interests--_the art of arts. His leaning toward music was truly, as I have elsewhere...