It was the appalling beauty of the
King of Hell. The frightful discord vibrated through my whole frame, and
I turned for relief to the figure below.... But I had turned from the
first, only to witness in the second object, its withering fascination.
I beheld the mortal conflict between the conscience and the will--the
visible struggle of a soul in the toils of sin.
* * * * *
From his "Letters."
=_278._= ON A PICTURE BY CARRACCI.
The subject was the body of the virgin borne for interment by four
apostles. The figures are colossal; the tone dark, and of tremendous
color. It seemed, as I looked at it, as if the ground shook at their
tread, and the air was darkened by their grief.
* * * * *
=_279._= ORIGINALITY OF MIND.
An original mind is rarely understood until it has been _reflected_ from
some half dozen congenial with it; so averse are men to admitting the
true in an unusual form; whilst any novelty, however fantastic, however
false, is greedily swallowed.
* * * * *
=_James K. Paulding, 1779-1860._= (Manual, p. 510.)
From "Letters from the South."
=_280._= CHARACTER OF THE DUTCH AND GERMAN SETTLERS.
In almost every part of the United States where I have chanced to be,
except among the Dutch, the Germans, and the Quakers, people seem to
build everything extempore and pro tempore, as if they looked forward
to a speedy removal or did not expect to want it long.
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