| | 1 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Bravo  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The sun had disappeared behind the summits of
the Tyrolean Alps, and the moon was already risen
above the low barrier of the Lido. Hundreds of
pedestrians were pouring out of the narrow streets
of Venice into the square of St. Mark, like water
gushing through some strait aqueduct, into a broad
and bubbling basin. Gallant cavalieri and grave
cittadini; soldiers of Dalmatia, and seamen of the
galleys; dames of the city, and females of lighter
manners; jewellers of the Rialto, and traders from
the Levant; Jew, Turk, and Christian; traveller,
adventurer, podestà, valet, avvocato and gondolier,
held their way alike to the common centre of amusement.
The hurried air and careless eye; the measured
step and jealous glance; the jest and laugh;
the song of the cantatrice, and the melody of the
flute; the grimace of the buffoon, and the tragic
frown of the improvisatore; the pyramid of the grotesque,
the compelled and melancholy smile of the
harpist, cries of water-sellers, cowls of monks,
plumage of warriors, hum of voices, and the universal
movement and bustle, added to the more permanent
objects of the place, rendered the scene the
most remarkable of Christendom. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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