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The Marble Faun; Or, The Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Pages
about 279
Category
Literature & Fiction
Language
English
Reading time
5.1 h at 250 wpm
Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 2.9 h at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

XXIV THE TOWER AMONG THE APENNINES XXV SUNSHINE XXVI THE PEDIGREE OF MONTE BENI XXVII MYTHS XXVIII THE OWL TOWER XXIX ON THE BATTLEMENTS XXX DONATELLO’S BUST XXXI THE MARBLE SALOON XXXII SCENES BY THE WAY XXXIII PICTURED WINDOWS XXXIV MARKET-DAY IN PERUGIA XXXV THE BRONZE PONTIFF’S BENEDICTION XXXVI HILDA’S TOWER XXXVII THE EMPTINESS OF PICTURE GALLERIES XXXVIII ALTARS AND INCENSE XXXIX THE WORLD’S CATHEDRAL XL HILDA AND A FRIEND XLI SNOWDROPS AND MAIDENLY DELIGHTS XLII REMINISCENCES OF MIRIAM XLIII THE EXTINCTION OF A LAMP XLIV THE DESERTED SHRINE XLV THE FLIGHT OF HILDA’S DOVES XLVI A WALK ON THE CAMPAGNA XLVII THE PEASANT AND CONTADINA XLVIII A SCENE IN THE CORSO XLIX A FROLIC OF THE CARNIVAL L MIRIAM, HILDA, KENYON, DONATELLO

It was in June that the sculptor, Kenyon, arrived on horseback at the gate of an ancient country house (which, from some of its features, might almost be called a castle) situated in a part of Tuscany somewhat remote from the ordinary track of tourists. Thither we must now accompany him, and endeavor to make our story flow onward, like a streamlet, past a gray tower that rises on the hillside, overlooking a spacious valley, which is set in the grand framework of the Apennines.

The sculptor had left Rome with the retreating tide of foreign residents. For, as summer approaches, the Niobe of Nations is made to bewail anew, and doubtless with sincerity, the loss of that large part of her population which she derives from other lands, and on whom depends much of whatever remnant of prosperity she still enjoys. Rome, at this season, is pervaded and overhung with atmospheric terrors, and insulated within a charmed and deadly circle. The crowd of wandering tourists betake themselves to Switzerland, to the Rhine, or, from this central home of the world, to their native homes in England or America, which they are apt thenceforward to look upon as provincial, after once having yielded to the spell of the Eternal City.

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