The Argosy — page 154: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

In Sunny Climes. ™39 The next morning, like so many previous mornings, rose hot and glowing. ‘The town looked absolutely gorgeous in its colouring. The intense blue of the sky was toned by a brooding look which suggested ideas of a furnace seven times heated. The wonderful brilliancy of the skies of Rome was not to be found here, any more than it is to be found in any other part of Italy ; nevertheless the skies of Italy are all beautiful. The river ran its cool and picturesque course. ‘There was no troubled surface to show that last night it had been wantonly intruded upon. ‘The sleepers had all disap- peared from the smooth copings: whether to work or to idle did not appear; probably the latter. It was far too hot to walk, and breakfast over, we chartered one of the open Victorias plying for hire, and took a guide with us to save time. He was very ordinary and prosaic, very mechanical in his mode of proceeding ; not half so intelligent as our Roman little guide Salvator Rossi had been. The latter, indeed, had begged to accompany us during the remainder of our peregrinations in Italy, but that we had thought unnecessary. There is so much to be seen in Florence that in merely passing through it, it is difficult to decide what to do, what to leave undone. Its greatest attractions are of course its art treasures ; its wonderful picture galleries. It lives more in the comparative present than in the remote past. It is the very opposite to Rome. It has no Forum, no ruins, no Appian Way. It has no St. Peter’s to awe by its size, no St. Paul’s to charm by its simple dignity. It has a river, but its banks are not lined by ancient houses: no Castle of St. Angelo rises in solid majesty ; nothing so beautiful as the Bridge of Fabricius spans the stream. ‘There is no Vatican to cast its halo- upon the city, no Pope to pronounce a benediction upon thousands: of bowed forms. Much of the glory of Rome is martial; that of Florence is rather intellectual. Here much of thought and science and philosophy has developed and spread out into the world. It has had a distinct influence upon Italy, but it has been the in- fluence of the pen, whilst that of Rome has been of the sword. Its men of the Middle Ages have been great: and for ever inter- twined with the name of Florence are the names of such men as Dante, Michel-Angelo, Savonarola, Galileo and Alfieri: the last living in more modern times, and perhaps hardly to be linked with the former, though he made a distinct impression upon the literature of his country. Florence gave birth to none of these, Dante excepted ; but they loved her, and more or less lived beneath her skies; and most of their remains repose under marble monu- ments in the beautiful and interesting aisles of Santa Croce. With Florence is also for ever associated the names of the Medicis. Here they reigned, and fell, and reigned again, their influence in an earthly sense omnipotent and often misdirected. And here in a round chapel, gorgeous with jewels and marbles and decorated to. (SO im =)