best example is the Appian Way, which still survives, and is constructed of square blocks of stone. 15. When the new kingdom of Italy was founded in 1859, FLORENCE was selected as the capital. Florence the Fair, or, as the Italians call it, Firenze la Bella, stands on the Arno, about fifty miles from the coast, and surrounded by beautiful hills. Its church of the Holy Cross is the Westminster Abbey of Italy; and within its walls lie the bones of Dante,7 Michael Angelo, Galileo, and other great men. But, since 1870, the seat of the capital has been removed to Rome. 16. Another of the great cities of Italy is VENICE, one of the most curious and remarkable towns in the world. It may be said to stand in the sea; its streets are canals; its cabs are gondolas; and there is an eternal silence over the city. 8 The sea is in the broad, the narrow streets, No track of men, no footsteps to and fro, As to a floating city-steering in, And gliding up her streets as in a dream. 17. Venice was once the capital of a proud and powerful republic, which was Queen of the Adriatic, and which held Cyprus 10 and the Morea11 in her hands. The president was called Doge, or Duke; and, in a splendid and glittering ceremony, he 'married the Adriatic' once a year. The first Doge was created in 809; and he was followed by seventy-nine successors, the last of whom disappeared in 1797. 18. Rome was once the centre of the known world; the most powerful military state-in comparison with the others of her time-that ever the world saw; That was and all known nations paid tribute to her. the time when all power was based upon arms and military skill, and when the Mediterranean was believed to be the only great sea in the world, and to stand in the centre of the earth. Now, however, power is wielded by commerce; and the new Mediterranean of nations is the Atlantic Ocean. The great tide of commerce does not come near Rome; she is stranded upon the deserted shores of ancient times; and the currents of power sweep around England and that Newer England on the other side of the Atlantic which is called the United States. NOTES. 1 Vespasian, a Roman emperor from 69 to 79 A.D. He built the Coliseum, and was the father of Titus, who took Jerusalem, 70 a.D. 2 Hadrian or Adrian, a Roman emperor from 117 to 138. In 121 he built the wall which extends from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. Santa Croce (Holy Cross), in 6 Appian Way, the most import- 3 Avignon, a beautiful city in the 7 Dante south of France, on the left 4 Vatican, begun by Pope Eugenius III. in 1146; and Gregory 5 Michael Angelo Buonarotti Alighieri, commonly called Dantë (1265-1321), was the greatest of Italian poets. His chief work was La Divina Commedia, which consists of three parts- the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. 8 Galileo Galilei, a great Italian astronomer (born 1564, the same year as Shakspeare; died 1642, twenty-six years after Shakspeare), who was imprisoned by the Inquisition for declaring that the earth moved round the sun. After signing a recantation, he whispered to a friend: 'It moves, for all that.' EXERCISES.-1. Write a SUMMARY of sections 8 to 12 inclusive. 2. Write a short paper on 'Modern Rome' from your own summary. 3. Explain the following sentences and phrases, and give synonyms for the single words: (1) At its highest pitch of prosperity. (2) Proconsuls. (3) To commemorate private feelings. (4) Collecting the chief trophies of her line. (5) Hadrian gave an entertainment in honour of his birthday. (6) Following the varying fortunes of two men fighting for their lives. (7) The most pathetic sight that the human mind can conceive. (8) A wall pierced with sixteen gates. (9) Squalor. (10) Débris. (11) There is no monotony. (12) The internal decorations. (13) Subterranean galleries. (14) Its cabs are gondolas. (15) Power is now wielded by commerce. (16) Rome is stranded" upon the deserted shores of ancient times. 4. Parse the words in the following sentence: 'That was the time when all power was based upon arms and military skill.' 5. Analyse the following sentence: Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes To pace the ground, if path there be or none, 6. Give all the words you know connected with the following English words: Five; land; call; hill; town; sea; clip1; sweep2; all; follow; heal. 7. Give all the derivatives you know which come from the following Latin words: Gladius, a sword; gradus, a step; teneo, I hold (root ten, stem tent), compound with con, re, de; ruo, I fall down; miror, I wonder (root mir, stem mirat), compound with ad; scribo, I write (root scrib, stem script), compound with in, de, sub. 8. Write sentences containing the following pairs of words: Hoard and horde; indict and indite; meeter and metre. 9. Write sentences containing the following words and phrases: Stagger belief; beggar description; unaccountable; incredible. [John Milton was born in the year 1608, and died in 1674. He was educated at home and at St Paul's School. He entered himself of Christ's College, Cambridge, and was known there, from his delicate appearance, as 'the lady of Christ's.' When on a tour through Italy, he visited Galileo in prison at Florence. He was Latin or foreign secretary in the government of Oliver Cromwell. He is the author of many great poems, the chief of which are Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. He was eight years old when Shakspeare died. He was a contemporary of Butler, the author of Hudibras, who was born in 1612; of Dryden, who was born in 1630; of Jeremy Taylor, the great English prose-writer, who was born in 1613; and of John Locke, the great philosopher, who was born in 1632.] Hall and bower. This was the old | Dower, dowry. From Fr. douaire; name for the two rooms of from Low Lat. dotarium, something given. which an old English cottage consisted-the outer and the inner room. 1. Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Wordsworth (1770-1850). Joher millora Autograph of Milton. |