Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Illustrating the Arms, Arts, and Literature of Italy, from 1440 to 1630, Volume 3

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Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851 - Art, Renaissance

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Page 266 - Most musical, most melancholy' bird! A melancholy bird? Oh! idle thought! In Nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man whose heart was pierced With the remembrance of a grievous wrong, Or slow distemper, or neglected love, (And so, poor wretch...
Page 342 - A light, a darkness, mingling each with each ; Both, and yet neither. There, from age to age, Two ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres. That is the Duke Lorenzo. Mark him welL He meditates, his head upon his hand. What from beneath his helm-like bonnet scowls ? Is it a face, or but an eyeless skull ? 'Tis lost in shade ; yet, like the basilisk, It fascinates, and is intolerable.
Page 150 - That place, that does Contain my books, the best companions, is To me a glorious court, where hourly I Converse with the old sages and philosophers ; And sometimes for variety I confer With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels ; Calling their victories, if unjustly got, Unto a strict account ; and in my fancy, Deface their ill-placed statues.
Page 341 - Nor then forget that Chamber of the Dead, Where the gigantic shapes of Night and Day, Turned into stone, rest everlastingly; • Yet still are breathing, and shed round at noon A two-fold influence — only to be felt — A light, a darkness, mingling each with each ; Both and yet neither. There, from age to age, Two Ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres. That is the Duke LORENZO. Mark him well. He meditates, his head upon his hand. What from beneath his helm-like...
Page 128 - Meanwhile the Duchess wished to return to Ferrara, where she subsequently chose to remain, a resolution which gave no annoyance to her husband ; for as she was unlikely to bring him a family, her absence mattered little. Her provision was amicably arranged, and their intercourse continued uniformly on the most courteous terms.
Page 27 - God, even upon his holy hill. 2 The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth : upon the north-side lieth the city of the great King; God is well known in her palaces as a sure refuge. 3 For lo, the kings of the earth : are gathered, and gone by together.
Page 211 - Europe was afterwards to become to the rest of the world — an organised body of highly civilised states, different in their origin, laws, and constitutions ; divided by local jealousies and opposite interests ; constantly engaged in their endeavours to establish a political equilibrium by the manoeuvres of a wary and even unprincipled diplomacy ; baffled oftentimes in their ambitious schemes, and brought into sudden collision, but still deriving new energies from their very rivalry, and promoting,...
Page 338 - Angela, and also to build a palace adjoining the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, of which Julius had been titular cardinal Giuliano was much disappointed that Bramante was preferred to himself as architect for the new basilica of St Peter, and this led to his returning to Florence, where he was warmly received by the gonfaloniere Pier...
Page 334 - Still to new scenes my wandering Muse retires, And the dumb show of breathing rocks admires; Where the smooth chisel all its force has shown, And softened into flesh the rugged stone. In solemn silence, a majestic band, Heroes and gods and Roman consuls stand, Stern tyrants, whom their cruelties renown, And emperors in Parian marble frown ; While the bright dames, to whom they humbly sued, Still show the charms that their proud hearts subdued.
Page 343 - ... answer what their course has been, And every work be tried, if bad or good. Now do those lofty dreams, my fancy's brood, Which made of ART an idol and a queen, Melt into air ; and now I feel, how keen ! That what I needed most I most withstood. Ye fabled joys, ye tales of empty love, What are ye now, if twofold death be nigh ? The first is certain, and the last I dread. Ah ! what does Sculpture, what does Painting prove, When we have seen the Cross and fixed our eye On him whose arms of love...

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