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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:29:34 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:29:34 -0700 |
| commit | 8a152725511ca8e09a9ce0e84e18b03dd50a1636 (patch) | |
| tree | 6c85d4345172b52f910e481fc714fcf160d8ffb7 /7373-h | |
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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Path to Rome + +Author: Hilaire Belloc + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #7373] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH TO ROME *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> <img src="images/path-1.jpg" alt="path-1.jpg" class="c1" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2">'... <i>and as to what may be in this book, do not + feel timid nor hesitate to enter. There are more mountains than mole-hills</i> + ...'</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <h2> + HILAIRE BELLOC + </h2> + <h1> + The Path to Rome + </h1> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5 c3">'. .. AMORE ANTIQUI RITUS, ALTO SUB NUMINE ROMAE'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <hr /> + <p> + <img src="images/path-2.jpg" alt="path-2.jpg" class="c4" /> + </p> + <h3> + PRAISE OF THIS BOOK + </h3> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To every honest reader that may purchase, hire, or + receive this book, and to the reviewers also (to whom it is of triple + profit), greeting--and whatever else can be had for nothing.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">If you should ask how this book came to be + written, it was in this way. One day as I was wandering over the world I + came upon the valley where I was born, and stopping there a moment to + speak with them all--when I had argued politics with the grocer, and + played the great lord with the notary-public, and had all but made the + carpenter a Christian by force of rhetoric--what should I note (after so + many years) but the old tumble-down and gaping church, that I love more + than mother-church herself, all scraped, white, rebuilt, noble, and new, + as though it had been finished yesterday. Knowing very well that such a + change had not come from the skinflint populace, but was the work of some + just artist who knew how grand an ornament was this shrine (built there + before our people stormed Jerusalem), I entered, and there saw that all + within was as new, accurate, and excellent as the outer part; and this + pleased me as much as though a fortune had been left to us all; for one's + native place is the shell of one's soul, and one's church is the kernel of + that nut.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Moreover, saying my prayers there, I noticed + behind the high altar a statue of Our Lady, so extraordinary and so + different from all I had ever seen before, so much the spirit of my + valley, that I was quite taken out of myself and vowed a vow there to go + to Rome on Pilgrimage and see all Europe which the Christian Faith has + saved; and I said, 'I will start from the place where I served in arms for + my sins; I will walk all the way and take advantage of no wheeled thing; I + will sleep rough and cover thirty miles a day, and I will hear Mass every + morning; and I will be present at high Mass in St Peter's on the Feast of + St Peter and St Paul.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I went out of the church still having that + Statue in my mind, and I walked again farther into the world, away from my + native valley, and so ended some months after in a place whence I could + fulfil my vow; and I started as you shall hear. All my other vows I broke + one by one. For a faggot</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>PRAISE OF THIS BOOK</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">must be broken every stick singly. But the strict + vow I kept, for I entered Rome on foot that year in time, and I heard high + Mass on the Feast of the Apostles, as many can testify--to wit: Monsignor + this, and Chamberlain the other, and the Bishop of <i>so-and-so--o--polis + in partibus infidelium;</i> for we were all there together.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And why (you will say) is all this put by itself + in what Anglo-Saxons call a Foreword, but gentlemen a Preface? Why, it is + because I have noticed that no book can appear without some such thing + tied on before it; and as it is folly to neglect the fashion, be certain + that I read some eight or nine thousand of them to be sure of how they + were written and to be safe from generalizing on too frail a basis.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And having read them and discovered first, that it + was the custom of my contemporaries to belaud themselves in this + prolegomenaical ritual (some saying in a few words that they supplied a + want, others boasting in a hundred that they were too grand to do any such + thing, but most of them baritoning their apologies and chanting their + excuses till one knew that their pride was toppling over)--since, I say, + it seemed a necessity to extol one's work, I wrote simply on the lintel of + my diary, <i>Praise of this Book,</i> so as to end the matter at a blow. + But whether there will be praise or blame I really cannot tell, for I am + riding my pen on the snaffle, and it has a mouth of iron.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now there is another thing book writers do in + their Prefaces, which is to introduce a mass of nincompoops of whom no one + ever heard, and to say 'my thanks are due to such and such' all in a + litany, as though any one cared a farthing for the rats! If I omit this + believe me it is but on account of the multitude and splendour of those + who have attended at the production of this volume. For the stories in it + are copied straight from the best authors of the Renaissance, the music + was written by the masters of the eighteenth century, the Latin is + Erasmus' own; indeed, there is scarcely a word that is mine. I must also + mention the Nine Muses, the Three Graces; Bacchus, the Maenads, the + Panthers, the Fauns; and I owe very hearty thanks to Apollo.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Yet again, I see that writers are for ever anxious + of their style, thinking (not saying) -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'True, I used "and which" on page 47, but Martha + Brown the stylist gave me leave;' or:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What if I do end a sentence with a preposition? I + always follow the rules of Mr Twist in his "'Tis Thus 'Twas Spoke", Odd's + Body an' I do not!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now this is a pusillanimity of theirs (the book + writers) that they think style power, and yet never say as much in their + Prefaces. Come, let me do so ... Where are you? Let me marshal you, my + regiments of words!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">8</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>PRAISE OF THIS BOOK</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Rabelais! Master of all happy men! Are you + sleeping there pressed into desecrated earth under the doss-house of the + Rue St Paul, or do you not rather drink cool wine in some elysian Chinon + looking on the Vienne where it rises in Paradise? Are you sleeping or + drinking that you will not lend us the staff of Friar John wherewith he + slaughtered and bashed the invaders of the vineyards, who are but a + parable for the mincing pedants and bloodless thin-faced rogues of the + world?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Write as the wind blows and command all words like + an army! See them how they stand in rank ready for assault, the jolly, + swaggering fellows!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">First come the Neologisms, that are afraid of no + man; fresh, young, hearty, and for the most part very long-limbed, though + some few short and strong. There also are the Misprints to confuse the + enemy at his onrush. Then see upon the flank a company of picked + Ambiguities covering what shall be a feint by the squadron of Anachronisms + led by old Anachronos himself; a terrible chap with nigglers and a great + murderer of fools.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But here see more deeply massed the ten thousand + Egotisms shining in their armour and roaring for battle. They care for no + one. They stormed Convention yesterday and looted the cellar of + Good-Manners, who died of fear without a wound; so they drank his wine and + are to-day as strong as lions and as careless (saving only their Captain, + Monologue, who is lantern-jawed).</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here are the Aposiopaesian Auxiliaries, and + Dithyramb that killed Punctuation in open fight; Parenthesis the giant and + champion of the host, and Anacoluthon that never learned to read or write + but is very handy with his sword; and Metathesis and Hendiadys, two + Greeks. And last come the noble Gallicisms prancing about on their light + horses: cavalry so sudden that the enemy sicken at the mere sight of them + and are overcome without a blow. Come then my hearties, my lads, my + indefatigable repetitions, seize you each his own trumpet that hangs at + his side and blow the charge; we shall soon drive them all before us + headlong, howling down together to the Picrocholian Sea.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So! That was an interlude. Forget the clamour.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But there is another matter; written as yet in no + other Preface: peculiar to this book. For without rhyme or reason, + pictures of an uncertain kind stand in the pages of the chronicle. Why?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>Because it has become so cheap to photograph on + zinc.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In old time a man that drew ill drew not at all. + He did well. Then either</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>PRAISE OF THIS BOOK</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">there were no pictures in his book, or (if there + were any) they were done by some other man that loved him not a groat and + would not have walked half a mile to see him hanged. But now it is so easy + for a man to scratch down what he sees and put it in his book that any + fool may do it and be none the worse--many others shall follow. This is + the first.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-3.jpg" alt="path-3.jpg" class="c6" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Before you blame too much, consider the + alternative. Shall a man march through Europe dragging an artist on a + cord? God forbid!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Shall an artist write a book? Why no, the remedy + is worse than the disease.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Let us agree then, that, if he will, any pilgrim + may for the future draw (if he likes) that most difficult subject, snow + hills beyond a grove of trees; that he may draw whatever he comes across + in order to enliven his mind (for who saw it if not he? And was it not his + loneliness that enabled him to see it?), and that he may draw what he + never saw, with as much freedom as you readers so very continually see + what you never draw. He may draw the morning mist on the Grimsel, six + months afterwards; when he has forgotten what it was like: and he may + frame it for a masterpiece to make the good draughtsman rage.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The world has grown a boy again this long time + past, and they are building hotels (I hear) in the place where Acedes + discovered the Water of Youth in a hollow of the hill Epistemonoscoptes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then let us love one another and laugh. Time + passes, and we shall soon laugh no longer--and meanwhile common living is + a burden, and earnest men are at siege upon us all around. Let us suffer + absurdities, for that is only to suffer one another.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">10</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">PRAISE OF THIS BOOK</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c7">Nor let us be too hard upon the just but anxious + fellow that sat down dutifully to paint the soul of Switzerland upon a + fan.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-4.jpg" alt="path-4.jpg" class="c8" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font14"><i>The Path to Rome</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When that first Proverb-Maker who has imposed upon + all peoples by his epigrams and his fallacious half-truths, his empiricism + and his wanton appeals to popular ignorance, I say when this man (for I + take it he was a man, and a wicked one) was passing through France he + launched among the French one of his pestiferous phrases, <i>'Ce n'est que + le premier pas qui coûté" \</i> and this in a + rolling-in-the-mouth self-satisfied kind of a manner has been repeated + since his day at least seventeen million three hundred and sixty-two + thousand five hundred and four times by a great mass of Ushers, Parents, + Company Officers, Elder Brothers, Parish Priests, and authorities in + general whose office it may be and whose pleasure it certainly is to jog + up and disturb that native slumber and inertia of the mind which is the + true breeding soil of Revelation.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For when boys or soldiers or poets, or any other + blossoms and prides of nature, are for lying steady in the shade and + letting the Mind commune with its Immortal Comrades, up comes Authority + busking about and eager as though it were a duty to force the said Mind to + burrow and sweat in the matter of this very perishable world, its + temporary habitation.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Up,' says Authority, 'and let me see that Mind of + yours doing something practical. Let me see Him mixing painfully with + circumstance, and botching up some Imperfection or other that shall at + least be a Reality and not a silly Fantasy.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then the poor Mind comes back to Prison again, and + the boy takes his horrible Homer in the real Greek (not Church's book, + alas!); the Poet his rough hairy paper, his headache, and his cross-nibbed + pen; the Soldier abandons his inner picture of swaggering about in + ordinary clothes, and sees the dusty road and feels the hard places in his + boot, and shakes down again to the steady pressure of his pack; and + Authority is satisfied, knowing that he will get a smattering from the + Boy, a rubbishy verse from the Poet, and from the Soldier a long and + thirsty march. And Authority, when it does this commonly sets to work by + one of these formulae: as, in England north of Trent, by the manifestly + false and boastful phrase, 'A thing begun is half ended', and in the south + by 'The Beginning is half the Battle'; but in France by the words I have + attributed to the Proverb-Maker, <i> 'Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte'.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By this you may perceive that the Proverb-Maker, + like every other Dema-</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>CHARACTER OF PROVERB-MAKER</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">gogue, Energumen, and Disturber, dealt largely in + metaphor--but this I need hardly insist upon, for in his vast collection + of published and unpublished works it is amply evident that he took the + silly pride of the half-educated in a constant abuse of metaphor. There + was a sturdy boy at my school who, when the master had carefully explained + to us the nature of metaphor, said that so far as he could see a metaphor + was nothing but a long Greek word for a lie. And certainly men who know + that the mere truth would be distasteful or tedious commonly have recourse + to metaphor, and so do those false men who desire to acquire a subtle and + unjust influence over their fellows, and chief among them, the + Proverb-Maker. For though his name is lost in the great space of time that + has passed since he flourished, yet his character can be very clearly + deduced from the many literary fragments he has left, and that is found to + be the character of a pusillanimous and ill-bred usurer, wholly lacking in + foresight, in generous enterprise, and chivalrous enthusiasm--in matters + of the Faith a prig or a doubter, in matters of adventure a poltroon, in + matters of Science an ignorant Parrot, and in Letters a wretchedly bad + rhymester, with a vice for alliteration; a wilful liar (as, for instance, + '<i>The longest way round is the shortest way home'),</i> a startling + miser (as, <i>'A penny saved is a penny earned'),</i> one ignorant of + largesse and human charity (as, '<i>Waste not, want not'),</i> and a + shocking boor in the point of honour (as, <i>'Hard words break no bones'--</i>he + never fought, I see, but with a cudgel).</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But he had just that touch of slinking humour + which the peasants have, and there is in all he said that exasperating + quality for which we have no name, which certainly is not accuracy, and + which is quite the opposite of judgement, yet which catches the mind as + brambles do our clothes, causing us continually to pause and swear. For he + mixes up unanswerable things with false conclusions, he is perpetually + letting the cat out of the bag and exposing our tricks, putting a colour + to our actions, disturbing us with our own memory, indecently revealing + corners of the soul. He is like those men who say one unpleasant and rude + thing about a friend, and then take refuge from their disloyal and false + action by pleading that this single accusation is true; and it is perhaps + for this abominable logicality of his and for his malicious cunning that I + chiefly hate him: and since he himself evidently hated the human race, he + must not complain if he is hated in return.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Take, for instance, this phrase that set me + writing, <i>'Ce nest que le premier pas qui coûte'.</i> It is false. + Much after a beginning is difficult, as everybody knows who has crossed + the sea, and as for the first <i>step</i> a man never so much as remembers + it; if there is difficulty it is in the whole launching of a thing, in the + first ten pages of a book, or the first half-hour of listening to a + sermon, or the</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GRAND CLIMACTERIC</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">first mile of a walk. The first step is undertaken + lightly, pleasantly, and with your soul in the sky; it is the + five-hundredth that counts. But I know, and you know, and he knew (worse + luck) that he was saying a thorny and catching thing when he made up that + phrase. It worries one of set purpose. It is as though one had a voice + inside one saying:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I know you, you will never begin anything. Look + at what you might have done! Here you are, already twenty-one, and you + have not yet written a dictionary. What will you do for fame? Eh? Nothing: + you are intolerably lazy--and what is worse, it is your fate. Beginnings + are insuperable barriers to you. What about that great work on The + National Debt? What about that little lyric on Winchelsea that you thought + of writing six years ago? Why are the few lines still in your head and not + on paper? Because you can't begin. However, never mind, you can't help it, + it's your one great flaw, and it's fatal. Look at Jones! Younger than you + by half a year, and already on the <i>Evening Yankee</i> taking bribes + from Company Promoters! And where are you?' &c., &c.--and so + forth.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So this threat about the heavy task of Beginning + breeds discouragement, anger, vexation, irritability, bad style, pomposity + and infinitives split from helm to saddle, and metaphors as mixed as the + Carlton. But it is just true enough to remain fast in the mind, caught, as + it were, by one finger. For all things (you will notice) are very + difficult in their origin, and why, no one can understand. <i>Omne Trinum:</i> + they are difficult also in the shock of maturity and in their ending. + Take, for instance, the Life of Man, which is the Difficulty of Birth, the + Difficulty of Death, and the Difficulty of the Grand Climacteric.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. What is the Grand Climacteric?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I have no time to tell you, for it would + lead us into a discussion on Astrology, and then perhaps to a question of + physical science, and then you would find I was not orthodox, and perhaps + denounce me to the authorities.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I will tell you this much; it is the moment (not + the year or the month, mind you, nor even the hour, but the very second) + when a man is grown up, when he sees things as they are (that is, + backwards), and feels solidly himself. Do I make myself clear? No matter, + it is the Shock of Maturity, and that must suffice for you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But perhaps you have been reading little brown + books on Evolution, and you don't believe in Catastrophes, or Climaxes, or + Definitions? Eh? Tell me, do you believe in the peak of the Matterhorn, + and have you doubts on the points of needles? Can the sun be said truly to + rise or set, and is there any exact meaning in the phrase, 'Done to a + turn' as applied to omelettes? You know there is; and so also you must + believe in Categories, and you must admit differences of kind as well as + of degree, and you must accept exact definition</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>DIFFICULTY OF ENDING A BOOK</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and believe in all that your fathers did, that + were wiser men than you, as is easily proved if you will but imagine + yourself for but one moment introduced into the presence of your + ancestors, and ask yourself which would look the fool. Especially must you + believe in moments and their importance, and avoid with the utmost care + the Comparative Method and the argument of the Slowly Accumulating Heap. I + hear that some scientists are already beginning to admit the reality of + Birth and Death--let but some brave few make an act of Faith in the Grand + Climacteric and all shall yet be well.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, as I was saying, this Difficulty of + Beginning is but one of three, and is Inexplicable, and is in the Nature + of Things, and it is very especially noticeable in the Art of Letters. + There is in every book the Difficulty of Beginning, the Difficulty of the + Turning-Point (which is the Grand Climacteric of a Book)--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. What is that in a Book?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Why, it is the point where the reader has + caught on, enters into the Book and desires to continue reading it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. It comes earlier in some books than in + others.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. As you say ... And finally there is the + Difficulty of Ending.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I do not see how there can be any + difficulty in ending a book.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. That shows very clearly that you have + never written one, for there is nothing so hard in the writing of a + book--no, not even the choice of the Dedication--as is the ending of it. + On this account only the great Poets, who are above custom and can snap + their divine fingers at forms, are not at the pains of devising careful + endings. Thus, Homer ends with lines that might as well be in the middle + of a passage; Hesiod, I know not how; and Mr Bailey, the New Voice from + Eurasia, does not end at all, but is still going on.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Panurge told me that his great work on Conchology + would never have been finished had it not been for the Bookseller that + threatened law; and as it is, the last sentence has no verb in it. There + is always something more to be said, and it is always so difficult to turn + up the splice neatly at the edges. On this account there are regular + models for ending a book or a Poem, as there are for beginning one; but, + for my part, I think the best way of ending a book is to rummage about + among one's manuscripts till one has found a bit of Fine Writing (no + matter upon what subject), to lead up the last paragraphs by no matter + what violent shocks to the thing it deals with, to introduce a row of + asterisks, and then to paste on to the paper below these the piece of Fine + Writing one has found.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I knew a man once who always wrote the end of a + book first, when his mind was fresh, and so worked gradually back to the + introductory chapter, which (he said) was ever a kind of summary, and + could not be properly dealt with till a man knew all about his subject. He + said this was a sovran way to write History.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">16</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font1"><b>THE VALLEY OF THE MOSELLE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But it seems to me that this is pure extravagance, + for it would lead one at last to beginning at the bottom of the last page, + like the Hebrew Bible, and (if it were fully carried out) to writing one's + sentences backwards till one had a style like the London School of Poets: + a very horrible conclusion.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">However, I am not concerned here with the ending + of a book, but with its beginning; and I say that the beginning of any + literary thing is hard, and that this hardness is difficult to explain. + And I say more than this--I say that an interminable discussion of the + difficulty of beginning a book is the worst omen for going on with it, and + a trashy subterfuge at the best. In the name of all decent, common, and + homely things, why not begin and have done with it?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was in the very beginning of June, at evening, + but not yet sunset, that I set out from Toul by the Nancy gate; but + instead of going straight on past the parade-ground, I turned to the right + immediately along the ditch and rampart, and did not leave the + fortifications till I came to the road that goes up alongside the Moselle. + For it was by the valley of this river that I was to begin my pilgrimage, + since, by a happy accident, the valley of the Upper Moselle runs straight + towards Rome, though it takes you but a short part of the way. What a good + opening it makes for a direct pilgrimage can be seen from this little map,</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-5.jpg" alt="path-5.jpg" class="c9" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FIRST GARRISON</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">where the dotted line points exactly to Rome. + There are two bends which take one a little out of one's way, and these + bends I attempted to avoid, but in general, the valley, about a hundred + miles from Toul to the source, is an evident gate for any one walking from + this part of Lorraine into Italy. And this map is also useful to show what + route I followed for my first three days past Epinal and Remiremont up to + the source of the river, and up over the great hill, the Ballon d'Alsace. + I show the river valley like a trench, and the hills above it shaded, till + the mountainous upper part, the Vosges, is put in black. I chose the + decline of the day for setting out, because of the great heat a little + before noon and four hours after it. Remembering this, I planned to walk + at night and in the mornings and evenings, but how this design turned out + you shall hear in a moment.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had not gone far, not a quarter of a mile, along + my road leaving the town, when I thought I would stop and rest a little + and make sure that I had started propitiously and that I was really on my + way to Rome; so I halted by a wall and looked back at the city and the + forts, and drew what I saw in my book. It was a sight that had taken a + firm hold of my mind in boyhood, and that will remain in it as long as it + can make pictures for itself out of the past. I think this must be true of + all conscripts with regard to the garrison in which they have served, for + the mind is so fresh at twenty-one and the life so new to every recruit as + he joins it, he is so cut off from books and all the worries of life, that + the surroundings of the place bite into him and take root, as one's school + does or one's first home. And I had been especially fortunate since I had + been with the gunners (notoriously the best kind of men) and not in a big + place but in a little town, very old and silent, with more soldiers in its + surrounding circle than there were men, women, and children within its + useless ramparts. It is known to be very beautiful, and though I had not + heard of this reputation, I saw it to be so at once when I was first + marched in, on a November dawn, up to the height of the artillery + barracks. I remembered seeing then the great hills surrounding it on every + side, hiding their menace and protection of guns, and in the south and + east the silent valley where the high forests dominate the Moselle, and + the town below the road standing in an island or ring of tall trees. All + this, I say, I had permanently remembered, and I had determined, whenever + I could go on pilgrimage to Rome, to make this place my starting-point, + and as I stopped here and looked back, a little way outside the gates, I + took in again the scene that recalled so much laughter and heavy work and + servitude and pride of arms.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was looking straight at the great fort of St + Michel, which is the strongest thing on the frontier, and which is the key + to the circle of forts that make up</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">18</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON JUSTICE IN ARMIES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">this entrenched camp. One could see little or + nothing of its batteries, only its hundreds of feet of steep brushwood + above the vineyards, and at the summit a stunted wood purposely planted. + Next to it on the left, of equal height, was the hog back of the Cote + Barine, hiding a battery. Between the Cote Barine and my road and wall, I + saw the rising ground and the familiar Barracks that are called (I know + not why) the Barracks of Justice, but ought more properly to be called the + Barracks of petty tyrannies and good fellowship, in order to show the + philosophers that these two things are the life of armies; for of all the + virtues practised in that old compulsory home of mine Justice came second + at least if not third, while Discipline and Comradeship went first; and + the more I think</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-6.jpg" alt="path-6.jpg" class="c10" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of it the more I am convinced that of all the + suffering youth that was being there annealed and forged into soldiery + none can have suffered like the lawyers. On the right the high trees that + stand outside the ramparts of the town went dwindling in perspective like + a palisade, and above them, here and there, was a roof showing the top of + the towers of the Cathedral or of St Gengoult. All this I saw looking + backwards, and, when I had noticed it and drawn it, I turned round again + and took the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had, in a small bag or pocket slung over my + shoulder, a large piece of bread, half a pound of smoked ham, a + sketch-book, two Nationalist papers, and a quart of the wine of + Brule--which is the most famous wine in the neighbourhood of the garrison, + yet very cheap. And Brule is a very good omen for men that are battered + about and given to despairing, since it is only called Brule on account of + its having been burnt so often by Romans, Frenchmen, Burgundians,</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">CHARMING VILLAGE OF BRULE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Germans, Flemings, Huns perhaps, and generally all + those who in the last few thousand years have taken a short cut at their + enemies over the neck of the Cote Barine. So you would imagine it to be a + tumble-down, weak, wretched, and disappearing place; but, so far from + this, it is a rich and proud village, growing, as I have said, better wine + than any in the garrison. Though Toul stands in a great cup or ring of + hills, very high and with steep slopes, and guns on all of them, and all + these hills grow wine, none is so good as Brule wine. And this reminds me + of a thing that happened in the Manoeuvres of 1891, <i>quorum pars magna;</i> + for there were two divisions employed in that glorious and fatiguing great + game, and more than a gross of guns--to be accurate, a hundred and + fifty-six--and of these one (the sixth piece of the tenth battery of the + eighth--I wonder where you all are now? I suppose I shall not see you + again; but you were the best companions in the world, my friends) was + driven by three drivers, of whom I was the middle one, and the worst, + having on my Livret the note 'conducteur mediocre'. But that is neither + here nor there; the story is as follows, and the moral is that the + commercial mind is illogical.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When we had gone some way, clattering through the + dust, and were well on on the Commercy road, there was a short halt, and + during this halt there passed us the largest Tun or Barrel that ever went + on wheels. You talk of the Great Tun of Heidelburg, or of those monstrous + Vats that stand in cool sheds in the Napa Valley, or of the vast barrels + in the Catacombs of Rheims; but all these are built <i>in situ</i> and + meant to remain steady, and there is no limit to the size of a Barrel that + has not to travel. The point about this enormous Receptacle of Bacchus and + cavernous huge Prison of Laughter, was that it could move, though + cumbrously, and it was drawn very slowly by stupid, patient oxen, who + would not be hurried. On the top of it sat a strong peasant, with a face + of determination, as though he were at war with his kind, and he kept on + calling to his oxen, 'Han', and 'Hu', in the tones of a sullen challenge, + as he went creaking past. Then the soldiers began calling out to him + singly, 'Where are you off to, Father, with that battery?' and 'Why carry + cold water to Commercy? They have only too much as it is;' and 'What have + you got in the little barrelkin, the barrellet, the cantiniere's + brandy-flask, the gourd, the firkin?' He stopped his oxen fiercely and + turned round to us and said: 'I will tell you what I have here. I have so + many hectolitres of Brule wine which I made myself, and which I know to be + the best wine there is, and I am taking it about to see if I cannot tame + and break these proud fellows who are for ever beating down prices and + mocking me. It is worth eight 'scutcheons the hectolitre, that is, eight + sols the litre; what do I say? it is worth a Louis a cup: but I will sell + it at the price I name, and not a penny less. But whenever I come</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">20</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font1"><b>STORY OF THE GREAT BARREL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">to a village the innkeeper begins bargaining and + chaffering and offering six sols and seven sols, and I answer, "Eight + sols, take it or leave it", and when he seems for haggling again I get up + and drive away. I know the worth of my wine, and I will not be beaten down + though I have to go out of Lorraine into the Barrois to sell it.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So when we caught him up again, as we did shortly + after on the road, a sergeant cried as we passed, 'I will give you seven, + seven and a quarter, seven and a half', and we went on laughing and forgot + all about him.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For many days we marched from this place to that + place, and fired and played a confused game in the hot sun till the train + of sick horses was a mile long, and till the recruits were all as deaf as + so many posts; and at last, one evening, we came to a place called Heiltz + le Maurupt, which was like heaven after the hot plain and the dust, and + whose inhabitants are as good and hospitable as Angels; it is just where + the Champagne begins. When we had groomed and watered our horses, and the + stable guard had been set, and we had all an hour or so's leisure to + stroll about in the cool darkness before sleeping in the barns, we had a + sudden lesson in the smallness of the world, for what should come up the + village street but that monstrous Barrel, and we could see by its + movements that it was still quite full.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We gathered round the peasant, and told him how + grieved we were at his ill fortune, and agreed with him that all the + people of the Barrois were thieves or madmen not to buy such wine for such + a song. He took his oxen and his barrel to a very high shed that stood by, + and there he told us all his pilgrimage and the many assaults his firmness + suffered, and how he had resisted them all. There was much more anger than + sorrow in his accent, and I could see that he was of the wood from which + tyrants and martyrs are carved. Then suddenly he changed and became + eloquent:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Oh, the good wine! If only it were known and + tasted! ... Here, give me a cup, and I will ask some of you to taste it, + then at least I shall have it praised as it deserves. And this is the wine + I have carried more than a hundred miles, and everywhere it has been + refused!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was one guttering candle on a little stool. + The roof of the shed was lost up in the great height of darkness; behind, + in the darkness, the oxen champed away steadily in the manger. The light + from the candle flame lit his face strongly from beneath and marked it + with dark shadows. It flickered on the circle of our faces as we pressed + round, and it came slantwise and waned and disappeared in the immense + length of the Barrel. He stood near the tap with his brows knit as upon + some very important task, and all we, gunners and drivers of the battery, + began unhooking our mugs and passing them to him.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE LAKE OF THE MOSELLE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There were nearly a hundred, and he filled them + all; not in jollity, but like a man offering up a solemn sacrifice. We + also, entering into his mood, passed our mugs continually, thanking him in + a low tone and keeping in the main silent. A few linesmen lounged at the + door; he asked for their cups and filled them. He bade them fetch as many + of their comrades as cared to come; and very soon there was a circulating + crowd of men all getting wine of Brule and murmuring their + congratulations, and he was willing enough to go on giving, but we stopped + when we saw fit and the scene ended. I cannot tell what prodigious measure + of wine he gave away to us all that night, but when he struck the roof of + the cask it already sounded hollow. And when we had made a collection + which he had refused, he went to sleep by his oxen, and we to our straw in + other barns. Next day we started before dawn, and I never saw him again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This is the story of the wine of Brule, and it + shows that what men love is never money itself but their own way, and that + human beings love sympathy and pageant above all things. It also teaches + us not to be hard on the rich.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I walked along the valley of the Moselle, and as I + walked the long evening of summer began to fall. The sky was empty and its + deeps infinite; the clearness of the air set me dreaming. I passed the + turn where we used to halt when we were learning how to ride in front of + the guns, past the little house where, on rare holidays, the boys could + eat a matelote, which is fish boiled in wine, and so on to the place where + the river is held by a weir and opens out into a kind of lake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here I waited for a moment by the wooden railing, + and looked up into the hills. So far I had been at home, and I was now + poring upon the last familiar thing before I ventured into the high woods + and began my experience. I therefore took a leisurely farewell, and + pondered instead of walking farther. Everything about me conduced to + reminiscence and to ease. A flock of sheep passed me with their shepherd, + who gave me a good-night. I found myself entering that pleasant mood in + which all books are conceived (but none written); I was 'smoking the + enchanted cigarettes' of Balzac, and if this kind of reverie is fatal to + action, yet it is so much a factor of happiness that I wasted in the + contemplation of that lovely and silent hollow many miles of marching. I + suppose if a man were altogether his own master and controlled by no + necessity, not even the necessity of expression, all his life would pass + away in these sublime imaginings.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This was a place I remembered very well. The + rising river of Lorraine is</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE COMING OF EVENING</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-7.jpg" alt="path-7.jpg" class="c11" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">caught and barred, and it spreads in a great sheet + of water that must be very shallow, but that in its reflections and + serenity resembles rather a profound and silent mere. The steeps + surrounding it are nearly mountainous, and are crowned with deep forests + in which the province reposes, and upon which it depends for its local + genius. A little village, which we used to call 'St Peter of the + Quarries', lies up on the right between the steep and the water, and just + where the hills end a flat that was once marshy and is now half fields, + half ponds, but broken with luxuriant trees, marks the great age of its + civilization. Along this flat runs, bordered with rare poplars, the road + which one can follow on and on into the heart of the Vosges. I took from + this silence and this vast plain of still water the repose that introduces + night. It was all consonant with what the peasants were about: the return + from labour, the bleating folds, and the lighting of lamps under the + eaves. In such a spirit I passed along the upper valley to the spring of + the hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In St Pierre it was just that passing of daylight + when a man thinks he can still read; when the buildings and the bridges + are great masses of purple that deceive one, recalling the details of + daylight, but when the night birds, surer than men and less troubled by + this illusion of memory, have discovered that their darkness has + conquered.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The peasants sat outside their houses in the + twilight accepting the cool air; every one spoke to me as I marched + through, and I answered them all, nor was there in any of their + salutations the omission of good fellowship or of the name of God. Saving + with one man, who was a sergeant of artillery on leave, and who cried out + to me in an accent that was very familiar and asked me to drink; but I + told him I had to go up into the forest to take advantage of the night, + since the days were so warm for walking. As I left the last house of the + village I was not secure from loneliness, and when the road began to climb + up the hill into the wild and the trees I was wondering how the night + would pass.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE NIGHT IN THE FOREST</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With every step upward a greater mystery + surrounded me. A few stars were out, and the brown night mist was creeping + along the water below, but there was still light enough to see the road, + and even to distinguish the bracken in the deserted hollows. The highway + became little better than a lane; at the top of the hill it plunged under + tall pines, and was vaulted over with darkness. The kingdoms that have no + walls, and are built up of shadows, began to oppress me as the night + hardened. Had I had companions, still we would only have spoken in a + whisper, and in that dungeon of trees even my own self would not raise its + voice within me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was full night when I had reached a vague + clearing in the woods, right up on the height of that flat hill. This + clearing was called 'The Fountain of Magdalen'. I was so far relieved by + the broader sky of the open field that I could wait and rest a little, and + there, at last, separate from men, I thought of a thousand things. The air + was full of midsummer, and its mixture of exaltation and fear cut me off + from ordinary living. I now understood why our religion has made sacred + this season of the year; why we have, a little later, the night of St + John, the fires in the villages, and the old perception of fairies dancing + in the rings of the summer grass. A general communion of all things + conspires at this crisis of summer against us reasoning men that should + live in the daylight, and something fantastic possesses those who are + foolish enough to watch upon such nights. So I, watching, was cut off. + There were huge, vague summits, all wooded, peering above the field I sat + in, but they merged into a confused horizon. I was on a high plateau, yet + I felt myself to be alone with the immensity that properly belongs to + plains alone. I saw the stars, and remembered how I had looked up at them + on just such a night when I was close to the Pacific, bereft of friends + and possessed with solitude. There was no noise; it was full darkness. The + woods before and behind me made a square frame of silence, and I was + enchased here in the clearing, thinking of all things.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then a little wind passed over the vast forests of + Lorraine. It seemed to wake an indefinite sly life proper to this + seclusion, a life to which I was strange, and which thought me an invader. + Yet I heard nothing. There were no adders in the long grass, nor any frogs + in that dry square of land, nor crickets on the high part of the hill; but + I knew that little creatures in league with every nocturnal influence, + enemies of the sun, occupied the air and the land about me; nor will I + deny that I felt a rebel, knowing well that men were made to work in happy + dawns and to sleep in the night, and everything in that short and sacred + darkness multiplied my attentiveness and my illusion. Perhaps the + instincts of the sentry, the necessities of guard, come back to us out of + the ages unawares</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">24</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE UNHAPPY VILLAGE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">during such experiments. At any rate the night + oppressed and exalted me. Then I suddenly attributed such exaltation to + the need of food.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'If we must try this bookish plan of sleeping by + day and walking by night,' I thought, 'at least one must arrange night + meals to suit it.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I therefore, with my mind still full of the + forest, sat down and lit a match and peered into my sack, taking out + therefrom bread and ham and chocolate and Brûlé wine. For + seat and table there was a heathery bank still full of the warmth and + savour of the last daylight, for companions these great inimical + influences of the night which I had met and dreaded, and for occasion or + excuse there was hunger. Of the Many that debate what shall be done with + travellers, it was the best and kindest Spirit that prompted me to this + salutary act. For as I drank the wine and dealt with the ham and bread, I + felt more and more that I had a right to the road; the stars became + familiar and the woods a plaything. It is quite clear that the body must + be recognized and the soul kept in its place, since a little refreshing + food and drink can do so much to make a man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">On this repast I jumped up merrily, lit a pipe, + and began singing, and heard, to my inexpressible joy, some way down the + road, the sound of other voices. They were singing that old song of the + French infantry which dates from Louis XIV, and is called 'Auprès + de ma blonde'. I answered their chorus, so that, by the time we met under + the wood, we were already acquainted. They told me they had had a + forty-eight hours' leave into Nancy, the four of them, and had to be in by + roll-call at a place called Villey the Dry. I remembered it after all + those years.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a village perched on the brow of one of + these high hills above the river, and it found itself one day surrounded + by earthworks, and a great fort raised just above the church. Then, before + they knew where they were, they learnt that (1) no one could go in or out + between sunset and sunrise without leave of the officer in command; (2) + that from being a village they had become the 'buildings situate within + Fort No. 18'; (3) that they were to be deluged with soldiers; and (4) that + they were liable to evacuate their tenements on mobilization. They had + become a fort unwittingly as they slept, and all their streets were + blocked with ramparts. A hard fate; but they should not have built their + village just on the brow of a round hill. They did this in the old days, + when men used stone instead of iron, because the top of a hill was a good + place to hold against enemies; and so now, these 73,426 years after, they + find the same advantage catching them again to their hurt. And so things + go the round.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Anyway Villey the Dry is a fort, and there my four + brothers were going. It was miles off, and they had to be in by sunrise, + so I offered them a pull of my</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE CRY FOR A BED</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">wine, which, to my great joy, they refused, and we + parted courteously. Then I found the road beginning to fall, and knew that + I had crossed the hills. As the forest ended and the sloping fields began, + a dim moon came up late in the east in the bank of fog that masked the + river. So by a sloping road, now free from the woods, and at the mouth of + a fine untenanted valley under the moon, I came down again to the Moselle, + having saved a great elbow by this excursion over the high land. As I + swung round the bend of the hills downwards and looked up the sloping + dell, I remembered that these heathery hollows were called 'vallons' by + the people of Lorraine, and this set me singing the song of the hunters, + 'Entends tu dans nos vallons, le Chasseur sonner du clairon,' which I sang + loudly till I reached the river bank, and lost the exhilaration of the + hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had now come some twelve miles from my + starting-place, and it was midnight. The plain, the level road (which + often rose a little), and the dank air of the river began to oppress me + with fatigue. I was not disturbed by this, for I had intended to break + these nights of marching by occasional repose, and while I was in the + comfort of cities--especially in the false hopes that one got by reading + books--I had imagined that it was a light matter to sleep in the open. + Indeed, I had often so slept when I had been compelled to it in + Manoeuvres, but I had forgotten how essential was a rug of some kind, and + what a difference a fire and comradeship could make. Thinking over it all, + feeling my tiredness, and shivering a little in the chill under the moon + and the clear sky, I was very ready to capitulate and to sleep in bed like + a Christian at the next opportunity. But there is some influence in vows + or plans that escapes our power of rejudgement. All false calculations + must be paid for, and I found, as you will see, that having said I would + sleep in the open, I had to keep to it in spite of all my second thoughts.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I passed one village and then another in which + everything was dark, and in which I could waken nothing but dogs, who + thought me an enemy, till at last I saw a great belt of light in the fog + above the Moselle. Here there was a kind of town or large settlement where + there were ironworks, and where, as I thought, there would be houses open, + even after midnight. I first found the old town, where just two men were + awake at some cooking work or other. I found them by a chink of light + streaming through their door; but they gave me no hope, only advising me + to go across the river and try in the new town where the forges and the + ironworks were. 'There,' they said, 'I should certainly find a bed.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I crossed the bridge, being now much too weary to + notice anything, even the shadowy hills, and the first thing I found was a + lot of waggons that belonged</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10"><b>26</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FULL CURSE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">to a caravan or fair. Here some men were awake, + but when I suggested that they should let me sleep in their little houses + on wheels, they told me it was never done; that it was all they could do + to pack in themselves; that they had no straw; that they were guarded by + dogs; and generally gave me to understand (though without violence or + unpoliteness) that I looked as though I were the man to steal their lions + and tigers. They told me, however, that without doubt I should find + something open in the centre of the workmen's quarter, where the great + electric lamps now made a glare over the factory.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I trudged on unwillingly, and at the very last + house of this detestable industrial slavery, a high house with a gable, I + saw a window wide open, and a blonde man smoking a cigarette at a balcony. + I called to him at once, and asked him to let me a bed. He put to me all + the questions he could think of. Why was I there? Where had I come from? + Where (if I was honest) had I intended to sleep? How came I at such an + hour on foot? and other examinations. I thought a little what excuse to + give him, and then, determining that I was too tired to make up anything + plausible, I told him the full truth; that I had meant to sleep rough, but + had been overcome by fatigue, and that I had walked from Toul, starting at + evening. I conjured him by our common Faith to let me in. He told me that + it was impossible, as he had but one room in which he and his family + slept, and assured me he had asked all these questions out of sympathy and + charity alone. Then he wished me good-night, honestly and kindly, and went + in.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By this time I was very much put out, and began to + be angry. These straggling French towns give no opportunity for a shelter. + I saw that I should have to get out beyond the market gardens, and that it + might be a mile or two before I found any rest. A clock struck one. I + looked up and saw it was from the belfry of one of those new chapels which + the monks are building everywhere, nor did I forget to curse the monks in + my heart for building them. I cursed also those who started smelting works + in the Moselle valley; those who gave false advice to travellers; those + who kept lions and tigers in caravans, and for a small sum I would have + cursed the whole human race, when I saw that my bile had hurried me out of + the street well into the countryside, and that above me, on a bank, was a + patch of orchard and a lane leading up to it. Into this I turned, and, + finding a good deal of dry hay lying under the trees, I soon made myself + an excellent bed, first building a little mattress, and then piling on hay + as warm as a blanket.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I did not lie awake (as when I planned my + pilgrimage I had promised myself I would do), looking at the sky through + the branches of trees, but I slept at once without dreaming, and woke up + to find it was broad daylight, and the sun</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">27</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON BREAKFASTS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">ready to rise. Then, stiff and but little rested + by two hours of exhaustion, I took up my staff and my sack and regained + the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I should very much like to know what those who + have an answer to everything can say about the food requisite to + breakfast? Those great men Marlowe and Jonson, Shakespeare, and Spenser + before him, drank beer at rising, and tamed it with a little bread. In the + regiment we used to drink black coffee without sugar, and cut off a great + hunk of stale crust, and eat nothing more till the halt: for the matter of + that, the great victories of '93 were fought upon such unsubstantial + meals; for the Republicans fought first and ate afterwards, being in this + quite unlike the Ten Thousand. Sailors I know eat nothing for some + hours--I mean those who turn out at four in the morning; I could give the + name of the watch, but that I forget it and will not be plagued to look up + technicalities. Dogs eat the first thing they come across, cats take a + little milk, and gentlemen are accustomed to get up at nine and eat eggs, + bacon, kidneys, ham, cold pheasant, toast, coffee, tea, scones, and honey, + after which they will boast that their race is the hardiest in the world + and ready to bear every fatigue in the pursuit of Empire. But what rule + governs all this? Why is breakfast different from all other things, so + that the Greeks called it the best thing in the world, and so that each of + us in a vague way knows that he would eat at breakfast nothing but one + special kind of food, and that he could not imagine breakfast at any other + hour in the day?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The provocation to this inquiry (which I have here + no time to pursue) lies in the extraordinary distaste that I conceived + that morning for Brule wine. My ham and bread and chocolate I had consumed + overnight. I thought, in my folly, that I could break my fast on a swig of + what had seemed to me, only the night before, the best revivifier and + sustenance possible. In the harsh dawn it turned out to be nothing but a + bitter and intolerable vinegar. I make no attempt to explain this, nor to + say why the very same wine that had seemed so good in the forest (and was + to seem so good again later on by the canal) should now repel me. I can + only tell you that this heavy disappointment convinced me of a great truth + that a Politician once let slip in my hearing, and that I have never since + forgotten. <i> 'Man,'</i> said the Director of the State, <i>'man is but + the creature of circumstance.'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As it was, I lit a pipe of tobacco and hobbled + blindly along for miles under and towards the brightening east. Just + before the sun rose I turned and looked backward from a high bridge that + recrossed the river. The long effort of the night had taken me well on my + way. I was out of the familiar region of the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">28</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FURTHER VALLEY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">garrison. The great forest-hills that I had + traversed stood up opposite the dawn, catching the new light; heavy, + drifting, but white clouds, rare at such an hour, sailed above them. The + valley of the Moselle, which I had never thought of save as a half + mountainous region, had fallen, to become a kind of long garden, whose + walls were regular, low, and cultivated slopes. The main waterway of the + valley was now not the river but the canal that fed from it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-8.jpg" alt="path-8.jpg" class="c12" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The tall grasses, the leaves, and poplars + bordering the river and the canal seemed dark close to me, but the valley + as a whole was vague, a mass of trees with one Lorraine church-tower + showing, and the delicate slopes bounding it on either side.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Descending from this bridge I found a sign-post, + that told me I had walked thirty-two kilometres--which is twenty + miles--from Toul; that it was one kilometre to Flavigny, and heaven knows + how much to a place called Charmes. The sun rose in the mist that lay up + the long even trends of the vale, between the low and level hills, and I + pushed on my thousand yards towards Flavigny. There, by a special + providence, I found the entertainment and companionship whose lack had + left me wrecked all these early hours.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I came into Flavigny I saw at once that it was + a place on which a book might easily be written, for it had a church built + in the seventeenth century, when few churches were built outside great + towns, a convent, and a general air</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">29</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>HOW TO WRITE RHYMES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of importance that made of it that grand and noble + thing, that primary cell of the organism of Europe, that best of all + Christian associations - a large village.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say a book might be written upon it, and there + is no doubt that a great many articles and pamphlets must have been + written upon it, for the French are furiously given to local research and + reviews, and to glorifying their native places: and when they cannot + discover folklore they enrich their beloved homes by inventing it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was even a man (I forget his name) who wrote + a delightful book called <i>Popular and Traditional Songs of my Province,</i> + which book, after he was dead, was discovered to be entirely his own + invention, and not a word of it familiar to the inhabitants of the soil. + He was a large, laughing man that smoked enormously, had great masses of + hair, and worked by night; also he delighted in the society of friends, + and talked continuously. I wish he had a statue somewhere, and that they + would pull down to make room for it any one of those useless bronzes that + are to be found even in the little villages, and that commemorate solemn, + whiskered men, pillars of the state. For surely this is the habit of the + true poet, and marks the vigour and recurrent origin of poetry, that a man + should get his head full of rhythms and catches, and that they should + jumble up somehow into short songs of his own. What could more suggest + (for instance) a whole troop of dancing words and lovely thoughts than + this refrain from the Tourdenoise -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">... <i>Son beau corps est en terre Son âme + en Paradis.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Tu ris?</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Et ris, tu ris, ma Bergère, Ris, ma Bergère, + tu ris.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That was the way they set to work in England + before the Puritans came, when men were not afraid to steal verses from + one another, and when no one imagined that he could live by letters, but + when every poet took a patron, or begged or robbed the churches. So much + for the poets.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Flavigny then, I say (for I seem to be + digressing), is a long street of houses all built together as animals + build their communities. They are all very old, but the people have worked + hard since the Revolution, and none of them are poor, nor are any of them + very rich. I saw but one gentleman's house, and that, I am glad to say, + was in disrepair. Most of the peasants' houses had, for a ground floor, + cavernous great barns out of which came a delightful smell of morning -- + that is, of hay, litter, oxen, and stored grains and old wood; which is + the true breath of morning, because it is the scent that all the human + race worth calling</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HAY-MAKING</b> NUNS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">human first meets when it rises, and is the + association of sunrise in the minds of those who keep the world alive: but + not in the wretched minds of townsmen, and least of all in the minds of + journalists, who know nothing of morning save that it is a time of jaded + emptiness when you have just done prophesying (for the hundredth time) the + approaching end of the world, when the floors are beginning to tremble + with machinery, and when, in a weary kind of way, one feels hungry and + alone: a nasty life and usually a short one.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To return to Flavigny. This way of stretching a + village all along one street is Roman, and is the mark of civilization. + When I was at college I was compelled to read a work by the crabbed + Tacitus on the Germans, where, in the midst of a deal that is vague and + fantastic nonsense and much that is wilful lying, comes this excellent + truth, that barbarians build their houses separate, but civilized men + together. So whenever you see a lot of red roofs nestling, as the phrase + goes, in the woods of a hillside in south England, remember that all that + is savagery; but when you see a hundred white-washed houses in a row along + a dead straight road, lift up your hearts, for you are in civilization + again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But I continue to wander from Flavigny. The first + thing I saw as I came into the street and noted how the level sun stood in + a haze beyond, and how it shadowed and brought out the slight + irregularities of the road, was a cart drawn by a galloping donkey, which + came at and passed me with a prodigious clatter as I dragged myself + forward. In the cart were two nuns, each with a scythe; they were going + out mowing, and were up the first in the village, as Religious always are. + Cheered by this happy omen, but not yet heartened, I next met a very old + man leading out a horse, and asked him if there was anywhere where I could + find coffee and bread at that hour; but he shook his head mournfully and + wished me good-morning in a strong accent, for he was deaf and probably + thought I was begging. So I went on still more despondent till I came to a + really merry man of about middle age who was going to the fields, singing, + with a very large rake over his shoulder. When I had asked him the same + question he stared at me a little and said of course coffee and bread + could be had at the baker's, and when I asked him how I should know the + baker's he was still more surprised at my ignorance, and said, 'By the + smoke coming from the large chimney.' This I saw rising a short way off on + my right, so I thanked him and went and found there a youth of about + nineteen, who sat at a fine oak table and had coffee, rum, and a loaf + before him. He was waiting for the bread in the oven to be ready; and + meanwhile he was very courteous, poured out coffee and rum for me and + offered me bread.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a matter often discussed why bakers are such + excellent citizens and good men. For while it is admitted in every country + I was ever in that cobblers are</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">THE VALUE OF BAKERS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">argumentative and atheists (I except the cobbler + under Plinlimmon, concerning whom would to heaven I had the space to tell + you all here, for he knows the legends of the mountain), while it is + public that barbers are garrulous and servile, that millers are cheats (we + say in Sussex that every honest miller has a large tuft of hair on the + palm of his hand), yet--with every trade in the world having some bad + quality attached to it--bakers alone are exempt, and every one takes it + for granted that they are sterling: indeed, there are some societies in + which, no matter how gloomy and churlish the conversation may have become, + you have but to mention bakers for voices to brighten suddenly and for a + good influence to pervade every one. I say this is known for a fact, but + not usually explained; the explanation is, that bakers are always up early + in the morning and can watch the dawn, and that in this occupation they + live in lonely contemplation enjoying the early hours.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So it was with this baker of mine in Flavigny, who + was a boy. When he heard that I had served at Toul he was delighted beyond + measure; he told me of a brother of his that had been in the same + regiment, and he assured me that he was himself going into the artillery + by special enlistment, having got his father's leave. You know very little + if you think I missed the opportunity of making the guns seem terrible and + glorious in his eyes. I told him stories enough to waken a sentry of + reserve, and if it had been possible (with my youth so obvious) I would + have woven in a few anecdotes of active service, and described great + shells bursting under my horses and the teams shot down, and the gunners + all the while impassive; but as I saw I should not be believed I did not + speak of such things, but confined myself to what he would see and hear + when he joined.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Meanwhile the good warm food and the rising + morning had done two things; they had put much more vigour into me than I + had had when I slunk in half-an-hour before, but at the same time (and + this is a thing that often comes with food and with rest) they had made me + feel the fatigue of so long a night. I rose up, therefore, determined to + find some place where I could sleep. I asked this friend of mine how much + there was to pay, and he said 'fourpence'. Then we exchanged ritual + salutations, and I took the road. I did not leave the town or village + without noticing one extraordinary thing at the far end of it, which was + that, whereas most places in France are proud of their town-hall and make + a great show of it, here in Flavigny they had taken a great house and + written over it ÉCOLE COMMUNALE in great letters, and then they had + written over a kind of lean-to or out-house of this big place the words 'Hôtel + de ville' in very small letters, so small that I had a doubt for a moment + if the citizens here were good republicans--a treasonable thought on all + this frontier.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, a mile onward, I saw the road cross the + canal and run parallel to it. I</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HEAT OF MORNING</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">saw the canal run another mile or so under a fine + bank of deep woods. I saw an old bridge leading over it to that inviting + shade, and as it was now nearly six and the sun was gathering strength, I + went, with slumber overpowering me and my feet turning heavy beneath me, + along the tow-path, over the bridge, and lay down on the moss under these + delightful trees. Forgetful of the penalty that such an early repose would + bring, and of the great heat that was to follow at midday, I quickly + became part of the life of that forest and fell asleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I awoke it was full eight o'clock, and the + sun had gained great power. I saw him shining at me through the branches + of my trees like a patient enemy outside a city that one watches through + the loopholes of a tower, and I began to be afraid of taking the road. I + looked below me down the steep bank between the trunks and saw the canal + looking like black marble, and I heard the buzzing of the flies above it, + and I noted that all the mist had gone. A very long way off, the noise of + its ripples coming clearly along the floor of the water, was a lazy barge + and a horse drawing it. From time to time the tow-rope slackened into the + still surface, and I heard it dripping as it rose. The rest of the valley + was silent except for that under-humming of insects which marks the + strength of the sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now I saw clearly how difficult it was to turn + night into day, for I found myself condemned either to waste many hours + that ought to be consumed on my pilgrimage, or else to march on under the + extreme heat; and when I had drunk what was left of my Brule wine (which + then seemed delicious), and had eaten a piece of bread, I stiffly jolted + down the bank and regained the highway.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In the first village I came to I found that Mass + was over, and this justly annoyed me; for what is a pilgrimage in which a + man cannot hear Mass every morning? Of all the things I have read about St + Louis which make me wish I had known him to speak to, nothing seems to me + more delightful than his habit of getting Mass daily whenever he marched + down south, but why this should be so delightful I cannot tell. Of course + there is a grace and influence belonging to such a custom, but it is not + of that I am speaking but of the pleasing sensation of order and + accomplishment which attaches to a day one has opened by Mass; a purely + temporal, and, for all I know, what the monks back at the ironworks would + have called a carnal feeling, but a source of continual comfort to me. Let + them go their way and let me go mine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This comfort I ascribe to four causes (just above + you will find it written that I could not tell why this should be so, but + what of that?), and these causes are:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">1. That for half-an-hour just at the opening of + the day you are silent and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">33</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>_-. THE MORNING MASS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">recollected, and have to put off cares, interests, + and passions in the repetition of a familiar action. This must certainly + be a great benefit to the body and give</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">it tone.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">2. That the Mass is a careful and rapid ritual. + Now it is the function of all ritual (as we see in games, social + arrangements and so forth) to relieve the mind by so much of + responsibility and initiative and to catch you up (as it were) into + itself, leading your life for you during the time it lasts. In this way + you experience a singular repose, after which fallowness I am sure one is + fitter for</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">action and judgement.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c14">3. That the surroundings incline you to good and + reasonable thoughts, and for the moment deaden the rasp and jar of that + busy wickedness which both working in one's self and received from others + is the true source of all human miseries. Thus the time spent at Mass is + like a short repose in a deep and well-built library, into which no sounds + come and where you feel yourself secure against the outer world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">4. And the most important cause of this feeling of + satisfaction is that you are doing what the human race has done for + thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years. This is a matter of such + moment that I am astonished people hear of it so little. Whatever is + buried right into our blood from immemorial habit that we must be certain + to do if we are to be fairly happy (of course no grown man or woman can + really be very happy for long--but I mean reasonably happy), and, what is + more important, decent and secure of our souls. Thus one should from time + to time hunt animals, or at the very least shoot at a mark; one should + always drink some kind of fermented liquor with one's food--and especially + deeply upon great feast-days; one should go on the water from time to + time; and one should dance on occasions; and one should sing in chorus. + For all these things man has done since God put him into a garden and his + eyes first became troubled with a soul. Similarly some teacher or ranter + or other, whose name I forget, said lately one very wise thing at least, + which was that every man should do a little work with his hands.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Oh! what good philosophy this is, and how much + better it would be if rich people, instead of raining the influence of + their rank and spending their money on leagues for this or that + exceptional thing, were to spend it in converting the middle-class to + ordinary living and to the tradition of the race. Indeed, if I had power + for some thirty years I would see to it that people should be allowed to + follow their inbred instincts in these matters, and should hunt, drink, + sing, dance, sail, and dig; and those that would not should be compelled + by force.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now in the morning Mass you do all that the race + needs to do and has done for all these ages where religion was concerned; + there you have the sacred and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">34</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE SENSIBLE SQUIRE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">separate Enclosure, the Altar, the Priest in his + Vestments, the set ritual, the ancient and hierarchic tongue, and all that + your nature cries out for in the matter of worship.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">From these considerations it is easy to understand + how put out I was to find Mass over on this first morning of my + pilgrimage. And I went along the burning road in a very ill-humour till I + saw upon my right, beyond a low wall and in a kind of park, a house that + seemed built on some artificial raised ground surrounded by a wall, but + this may have been an illusion, the house being really only very tall. At + any rate I drew it, and in the village just beyond it I learnt something + curious about the man that owned it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-9.jpg" alt="path-9.jpg" class="c15" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For I had gone into a house to take a third meal + of bread and wine and to replenish my bottle when the old woman of the + house, who was a kindly person, told me she had just then no wine. 'But,' + said she, 'Mr So and So that lives in the big house sells it to any one + who cares to buy even in the smallest quantities, and you will see his + shed standing by the side of the road.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Everything happened just as she had said. I came + to the big shed by the park wall, and there was a kind of counter made of + boards, and several big tuns and two men: one in an apron serving, and the + other in a little box or compartment writing. I was somewhat timid to ask + for so little as a quart, but the apron man in the most businesslike way + filled my bottle at a tap and asked for fourpence. He was willing to talk, + and told me many things: of good years in wine, of the nature of their + trade, of the influence of the moon on brewing, of the importance of + spigots, and what not; but when I tried to get out of him whether the + owner were an eccentric private gentleman or a merchant that had the sense + to earn little pennies as well as large ones, I could not make him + understand my meaning; for his idea of rank was utterly different from + mine and took no account of idleness and luxury and daftness, but was + based entirely upon</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">35</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">THE LAST MILE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">money and clothes. Moreover we were both of us + Republicans, so the matter was of no great moment. Courteously saluting + ourselves we parted, he remaining to sell wine and I hobbling to Rome, now + a little painfully and my sack the heavier by a quart of wine, which, as + you probably know, weighs almost exactly two pounds and a half.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was by this time close upon eleven, and I had + long reached the stage when some kinds of men begin talking of Dogged + Determination, Bull-dog pluck, the stubborn spirit of the Island race and + so forth, but when those who can boast a little of the sacred French blood + are in a mood of set despair (both kinds march on, and the mobility of + either infantry is much the same), I say I had long got to this point of + exhaustion when it occurred to me that I should need an excellent and + thorough meal at midday. But on looking at my map I found that there was + nothing nearer than this town of Charmes that was marked on the + milestones, and that was the first place I should come to in the + department of the Vosges.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It would take much too long to describe the dodges + that weary men and stiff have recourse to when they are at the close of a + difficult task: how they divide it up in lengths in their minds, how they + count numbers, how they begin to solve problems in mental arithmetic: I + tried them all. Then I thought of a new one, which is really excellent, + and which I recommend to the whole world. It is to vary the road, suddenly + taking now the fields, now the river, but only occasionally the turnpike. + This last lap was very well suited for such a method. The valley had + become more like a wide and shallow trench than ever. The hills on either + side were low and exactly even. Up the middle of it went the river, the + canal and the road, and these two last had only a field between them; now + broad, now narrow.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">First on the tow-path, then on the road, then on + the grass, then back on the</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-10.jpg" alt="path-10.jpg" class="c16" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>CHARMES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">tow-path, I pieced out the last baking mile into + Charmes, that lies at the foot of a rather higher hill, and at last was + dragging myself up the street just as the bell was ringing the noon + Angelus; nor, however tedious you may have found it to read this final + effort of mine, can you have found it a quarter as wearisome as I did to + walk it; and surely between writer and reader there should be give and + take, now the one furnishing the entertainment and now the other.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The delightful thing in Charmes is its name. Of + this name I had indeed been thinking as I went along the last miles of + that dusty and deplorable road--that a town should be called 'Charms'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Not but that towns, if they are left to themselves + and not hurried, have a way of settling into right names suited to the + hills about them and recalling their own fields. I remember Sussex, and as + I remember it I must, if only for example, set down my roll-call of such + names, as--Fittleworth, where the Inn has painted panels; Amberley in the + marshes; delicate Fernhurst, and Ditchling under its hill; Arundel, that + is well known to every one; and Climping, that no one knows, set on a + lonely beach and lost at the vague end of an impassable road; and Barlton, + and Burton, and Duncton, and Coldwatham, that stand under in the shadow + and look up at the great downs; and Petworth, where the spire leans + sideways; and Timberley, that the floods make into an island; and No Man's + Land, where first there breaks on you the distant sea. I never knew a + Sussex man yet but, if you noted him such a list, would answer: 'There I + was on such and such a day; this I came to after such and such a run; and + that other is my home.' But it is not his recollection alone which moves + him, it is sound of the names. He feels the accent of them, and all the + men who live between Hind-head and the Channel know these names stand for + Eden; the noise is enough to prove it. So it is also with the hidden + valleys of the lie de France; and when you say Jouy or Chevreuse to a man + that was born in those shadows he grows dreamy--yet they are within a walk + of Paris.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But the wonderful thing about a name like Charmes + is that it hands down the dead. For some dead man gave it a keen name + proceeding from his own immediate delight, and made general what had been + a private pleasure, and, so to speak, bequeathed a poem to his town. They + say the Arabs do this; calling one place 'the rest of the warriors', and + another 'the end', and another 'the surprise of the horses': let those who + know them speak for it. I at least know that in the west of the Cotentin + (a sea-garden) old Danes married to Gaulish women discovered the just + epithet, and that you have 'St Mary on the Hill' and 'High Town under the + Wind' and 'The Borough over the Heath', which</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">37</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>NATURE OF TEMPTING DEVILS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">are to-day exactly what their name describes them. + If you doubt that England has such descriptive names, consider the great + Truth that at one junction on a railway where a mournful desolation of + stagnant waters and treeless, stonewalled fields threatens you with + experience and awe, a melancholy porter is told off to put his head into + your carriage and to chant like Charon, 'Change here for Ashton under the + Wood, Moreton on the Marsh, Bourton on the Water, and Stow in the Wold.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Charmes does not fulfil its name nor preserve what + its forgotten son found so wonderful in it. For at luncheon there a great + commercial traveller told me fiercely that it was chiefly known for its + breweries, and that he thought it of little account. Still even in Charmes + I found one marvellous corner of a renaissance house, which I drew; but as + I have lost the drawing, let it go.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I came out from the inn of Charmes the heat + was more terrible than ever, and the prospect of a march in it more + intolerable. My head hung, I went very slowly, and I played with cowardly + thoughts, which were really (had I known it) good angels. I began to look + out anxiously for woods, but saw only long whitened wall glaring in the + sun, or, if ever there were trees, they were surrounded by wooden + palisades which the owners had put there. But in a little time (now I had + definitely yielded to temptation) I found a thicket.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You must know that if you yield to entertaining a + temptation, there is the opportunity presented to you like lightning. A + theologian told me this, and it is partly true: but not of Mammon or + Belphegor, or whatever Devil it is that overlooks the Currency (I can see + his face from here): for how many have yielded to the Desire of Riches and + professed themselves very willing to revel in them, yet did not get an + opportunity worth a farthing till they died? Like those two beggars that + Rabelais tells of, one of whom wished for all the gold that would pay for + all the merchandise that had ever been sold in Paris since its first + foundation, and the other for as much gold as would go into all the sacks + that could be sewn by all the needles (and those of the smallest size) + that could be crammed into Notre-Dame from the floor to the ceiling, + filling the smallest crannies. Yet neither had a crust that night to rub + his gums with.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Whatever Devil it is, however, that tempts men to + repose--and for my part I believe him to be rather an Aeon than a Devil: + that is, a good-natured fellow working on his own account neither good nor + ill--whatever being it is, it certainly suits one's mood, for I never yet + knew a man determined to be lazy that had not ample opportunity afforded + him, though he were poorer than the cure of Maigre, who formed a syndicate + to sell at a scutcheon a gross such souls as were too insignificant to + sell singly. A man can always find a chance for doing nothing as amply and + with as ecstatic a satisfaction as the world allows, and so</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">to me (whether it was there before I cannot tell, + and if it came miraculously, so much the more amusing) appeared this + thicket. It was to the left of the road; a stream ran through it in a + little ravine; the undergrowth was thick beneath its birches, and just + beyond, on the plain that bordered it, were reapers reaping in a field. I + went into it contentedly and slept till evening my third sleep; then, + refreshed by the cool wind that went before the twilight, I rose and took + the road again, but I knew I could not go far.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was now past my fortieth mile, and though the + heat had gone, yet my dead slumber had raised a thousand evils. I had + stiffened to lameness, and had fallen into the mood when a man desires + companionship and the talk of travellers rather than the open plain. But + (unless I went backward, which was out of the question) there was nowhere + to rest in for a long time to come. The next considerable village was + Thayon, which is called 'Thayon of the Vosges', because one is nearing the + big hills, and thither therefore I crawled mile after mile.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But my heart sank. First my foot limped, and then + my left knee oppressed me with a sudden pain. I attempted to relieve it by + leaning on my right leg, and so discovered a singular new law in medicine + which I will propose to the scientists. For when those excellent men have + done investigating the twirligigs of the brain to find out where the soul + is, let them consider this much more practical matter, that you cannot + relieve the pain in one limb without driving it into some other; and so I + exchanged twinges in the left knee for a horrible great pain in the right. + I sat down on a bridge, and wondered; I saw before me hundreds upon + hundreds of miles, painful and exhausted, and I asked heaven if this was + necessary to a pilgrimage. (But, as you shall hear, a pilgrimage is not + wholly subject to material laws, for when I came to Épinal next day + I went into a shop which, whatever it was to the profane, appeared to me + as a chemist's shop, where I bought a bottle of some stuff called 'balm', + and rubbing myself with it was instantly cured.)</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I looked down from the bridge across the + plain, and saw, a long way off beyond the railway, the very ugly factory + village of Thayon, and reached it at last, not without noticing that the + people were standing branches of trees before their doors, and the little + children noisily helping to tread the stems firmly into the earth. They + told me it was for the coming of Corpus Christi, and so proved to me that + religion, which is as old as these valleys, would last out their + inhabiting men. Even here, in a place made by a great laundry, a modern + industrial row of tenements, all the world was putting out green branches + to welcome the Procession and the Sacrament and the Priest. Comforted by + this evident refutation of the sad nonsense I had read in Cities</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">39</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">OF MOUNTAIN TOWNS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">from the pen of intellectuals--nonsense I had + known to be nonsense, but that had none the less tarnished my mind--I + happily entered the inn, ate and drank, praised God, and lay down to sleep + in a great bed. I mingled with my prayers a firm intention of doing the + ordinary things, and not attempting impossibilities, such as marching by + night, nor following out any other vanities of this world. Then, having + cast away all theories of how a pilgrimage should be conducted, and broken + five or six vows, I slept steadily till the middle of the morning. I had + covered fifty miles in twenty-five hours, and if you imagine this to be + but two miles an hour, you must have a very mathematical mind, and know + little of the realities of living. I woke and threw my shutters open to + the bright morning and the masterful sun, took my coffee, and set out once + more towards Epinal, the stronghold a few miles away--delighted to see + that my shadow was so short and the road so hot to the feet and eyes. For + I said, 'This at least proves that I am doing like all the world, and + walking during the day.' It was but a couple of hours to the great + garrison. In a little time I passed a battery. Then a captain went by on a + horse, with his orderly behind him. Where the deep lock stands by the + roadside--the only suggestion of coolness--I first heard the bugles; then + I came into the long street and determined to explore Epinal, and to cast + aside all haste and folly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There are many wonderful things in Epinal. As, for + instance, that it was evidently once, like Paris and Melun and a dozen + other strongholds of the Gauls, an island city. For the rivers of France + are full of long, habitable islands, and these were once the + rallying-places of clans. Then there are the forts which are placed on + high hills round the town and make it even stronger than Toul; for Epinal + stands just where the hills begin to be very high. Again, it is the + capital of a mountain district, and this character always does something + peculiar and impressive to a town. You may watch its effect in Grenoble, + in little Aubusson, and, rather less, in Geneva.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For in such towns three quite different kinds of + men meet. First there are the old plain-men, who despise the highlanders + and think themselves much grander and more civilized; these are the + burgesses. Then there are the peasants and wood-cutters, who come in from + the hill-country to market, and who are suspicious of the plain-men and + yet proud to depend upon a real town with a bishop and paved streets. + Lastly, there are the travellers, who come there to enjoy the mountains + and to make the city a base for their excursions, and these love the + hill-men and think they understand them, and they despise the plain-men + for being so middle-class as to lord it over the hill-men: but in truth</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">40</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>EPINAL CHURCH</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">this third class, being outsiders, are equally + hated and despised by both the others, and there is a combination against + them and they are exploited.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And there are many other things in which Épinal + is wonderful, but in nothing is it more wonderful than in its great + church.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I suppose that the high Dukes of Burgundy and + Lorraine and the rich men from Flanders and the House of Luxemburg and the + rest, going to Rome, the centre of the world, had often to pass up this + valley of the Moselle, which (as I have said) is a road leading to Rome, + and would halt at fipinal and would at times give money for its church; + with this result, that the church belongs to every imaginable period and + is built anyhow, in twenty styles, but stands as a whole a most enduring + record of past forms and of what has pleased the changing mind when it has + attempted to worship in stone.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus the transept is simply an old square barn of + rough stone, older, I suppose, than Charlemagne and without any ornament. + In its lower courses I thought I even saw the Roman brick. It had once two + towers, northern and southern; the southern is ruined and has a wooden + roof, the northern remains and is just a pinnacle or minaret too narrow + for bells.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-11.jpg" alt="path-11.jpg" class="c17" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE APPLE MAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then the apse is pure and beautiful Gothic of the + fourteenth century, with very tall and fluted windows like single prayers. + The ambulatory is perfectly modern, Gothic also, and in the manner that + Viollet le Duc in France and Pugin in England have introduced to bring us + back to our origins and to remind us of the place whence all we Europeans + came. Again, this apse and ambulatory are not perpendicular to the + transept, but set askew, a thing known in small churches and said to be a + symbol, but surely very rare in large ones. The western door is purely + Romanesque, and has Byzantine ornaments and a great deep round door. To + match it there is a northern door still deeper, with rows and rows of + inner arches full of saints, angels, devils, and flowers; and this again + is not straight, but so built that the arches go aslant, as you sometimes + see railway bridges when they cross roads at an angle. Finally, there is a + central tower which is neither Gothic nor Romanesque but pure Italian, a + loggia, with splendid round airy windows taking up all its walls, and with + a flat roof and eaves. This some one straight from the south must have put + on as a memory of his wanderings.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The barn-transept is crumbling old grey stone, the + Romanesque porches are red, like Strasburg, the Gothic apse is old white + as our cathedrals are, the modern ambulatory is of pure white stone just + quarried, and thus colours as well as shapes are mingled up and different + in this astonishing building.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I drew it from that point of view in the + market-place to the north-east which shows most of these contrasts at + once, and you must excuse the extreme shakiness of the sketch, for it was + taken as best I could on an apple-cart with my book resting on the + apples--there was no other desk. Nor did the apple-seller mind my doing + it, but on the contrary gave me advice and praise saying such things as--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Excellent; you have caught the angle of the apse + ... Come now, darken the edge of that pillar ... I fear you have made the + tower a little confused,' and so forth.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I offered to buy a few apples off him, but he gave + me three instead, and these, as they incommoded me, I gave later to a + little child.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed the people of Épinal, not taking me + for a traveller but simply for a wandering poor man, were very genial to + me, and the best good they did me was curing my lameness. For, seeing an + apothecary's shop as I was leaving the town, I went in and said to the + apothecary -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'My knee has swelled and is very painful, and I + have to walk far; perhaps you can tell me how to cure it, or give me + something that will.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'There is nothing easier,' he said; 'I have here a + specific for the very thing you complain of.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">42</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE LITTLE RUNNEL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With this he pulled out a round bottle, on the + label of which was printed in great letters, 'BALM'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'You have but to rub your knee strongly and long + with this ointment of mine,' he said, 'and you will be cured.' Nor did he + mention any special form of words to be repeated as one did it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Everything happened just as he had said. When I + was some little way above the town I sat down on a low wall and rubbed my + knee strongly and long with this balm, and the pain instantly disappeared. + Then, with a heart renewed by this prodigy, I took the road again and + began walking very rapidly and high, swinging on to Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Moselle above fipinal takes a bend outwards, + and it seemed to me that a much shorter way to the next village (which is + called Archettes, or 'the very little arches', because there are no arches + there) would be right over the hill round which the river curved. This + error came from following private judgement and not heeding tradition, + here represented by the highroad which closely follows the river. For + though a straight tunnel to Archettes would have saved distance, yet a + climb over that high hill and through the pathless wood on its summit was + folly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went at first over wide, sloping fields, and + some hundred feet above the valley I crossed a little canal. It was made + on a very good system, and I recommend it to the riparian owners of the + Upper Wye, which needs it. They take the water from the Moselle (which is + here broad and torrential and falls in steps, running over a stony bed + with little swirls and rapids), and they lead it along at an even + gradient, averaging, as it were, the uneven descent of the river. In this + way they have a continuous stream running through fields that would + otherwise be bare and dry, but that are thus nourished into excellent + pastures.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Above these fields the forest went up steeply. I + had not pushed two hundred yards into its gloom and confusion when I + discovered that I had lost my way. It was necessary to take the only guide + I had and to go straight upwards wherever the line of greatest inclination + seemed to lie, for that at least would take me to a summit and probably to + a view of the valley; whereas if I tried to make for the shoulder of the + hill (which had been my first intention) I might have wandered about till + nightfall.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was an old man in a valley called the Curicante + in Colorado that taught me this, if one lost one's way going <i>upwards</i> + to make at once along the steepest line, but if one lost it going <i>downwards,</i> + to listen for water and reach it and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">43</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE FALSE <b> BATTERY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">follow it. I wish I had space to tell all about + this old man, who gave me hospitality out there. He was from New England + and was lonely, and had brought out at great expense a musical box to + cheer him. Of this he was very proud, and though it only played four silly + hymn tunes, yet, as he and I listened to it, heavy tears came into his + eyes and light tears into mine, because these tunes reminded him of his + home. But I have no time to do more than mention him, and must return to + my forest.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I climbed, then, over slippery pine needles and + under the charged air of those trees, which was full of dim, slanting + light from the afternoon sun, till, nearly at the summit, I came upon a + clearing which I at once recognized as a military road, leading to what we + used to call a 'false battery', that is, a dug-out with embrasures into + which guns could be placed but in which no guns were. For ever since the + French managed to produce a really mobile heavy gun they have constructed + any amount of such auxiliary works between the permanent forts. These need + no fixed guns to be emplaced, since the French can use now one such + parapet, now another, as occasion serves, and the advantage is that your + guns are never useless, but can always be brought round where they are + needed, and that thus six guns will do more work than twenty used to do.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This false battery was on the brow of the hill, + and when I reached it I looked down the slope, over the brushwood that hid + the wire entanglements, and there was the whole valley of the Moselle at + my feet.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As this was the first really great height, so this + was the first really great view that I met with on my pilgrimage. I drew + it carefully, piece by piece, sitting there a long time in the declining + sun and noting all I saw. Archettes, just below; the flat valley with the + river winding from side to side; the straight rows of poplar trees; the + dark pines on the hills, and the rounded mountains rising farther and + higher into the distance until the last I saw, far off to the south-east,</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-12.jpg" alt="path-12.jpg" class="c18" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GREAT VIEW</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">must have been the Ballon d'Alsace at the sources + of the Moselle--the hill that marked the first full stage in my journey + and that overlooked Switzerland.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed, this is the peculiar virtue of walking to + a far place, and especially of walking there in a straight line, that one + gets these visions of the world from hill-tops.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I call up for myself this great march I see + it all mapped out in landscapes, each of which I caught from some + mountain, and each of which joins on to that before and to that after it, + till I can piece together the whole road. The view here from the Hill of + Archettes, the view from the Ballon d'Alsace, from Glovelier Hill, from + the Weissenstein, from the Brienzer Grat, from the Grimsel, from above + Bellinzona, from the Principessa, from Tizzano, from the ridge of the + Apennines, from the Wall of Siena, from San Quirico, from Radicofani, from + San Lorenzo, from Montefiascone, from above Viterbo, from Roncigleone, and + at last from that lift in the Via Cassia, whence one suddenly perceives + the City. They unroll themselves all in their order till I can see Europe, + and Rome shining at the end.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But you who go in railways are necessarily shut up + in long valleys and even sometimes by the walls of the earth. Even those + who bicycle or drive see these sights but rarely and with no consecution, + since roads also avoid climbing save where they are forced to it, as over + certain passes. It is only by following the straight line onwards that any + one can pass from ridge to ridge and have this full picture of the way he + has been.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So much for views. I clambered down the hill to + Archettes and saw, almost the first house, a swinging board 'At the sign + of the Trout of the Vosges', and as it was now evening I turned in there + to dine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Two things I noticed at once when I sat down to + meat. First, that the people seated at that inn table were of the + middle-class of society, and secondly, that I, though of their rank, was + an impediment to their enjoyment. For to sleep in woods, to march some + seventy miles, the latter part in a dazzling sun, and to end by sliding + down an earthy steep into the road, stamps a man with all that this kind + of people least desire to have thrust upon them. And those who blame the + middle-class for their conventions in such matters, and who profess to be + above the care for cleanliness and clothes and social ritual which marks + the middle-class, are either anarchists by nature, or fools who take what + is but an effect of their wealth for a natural virtue.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say it roundly; if it were not for the + punctiliousness of the middle-class in these matters all our civilization + would go to pieces. They are the conservators and the maintainers of the + standard, the moderators of Europe, the salt of</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">45</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>APOLOGY FOR THE MIDDLE-CLASS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">society. For the kind of man who boasts that he + does not mind dirty clothes or roughing it, is either a man who cares + nothing for all that civilization has built up and who rather hates it, or + else (and this is much more common) he is a rich man, or accustomed to + live among the rich, and can afford to waste energy and stuff because he + feels in a vague way that more clothes can always be bought, that at the + end of his vagabondism he can get excellent dinners, and that London and + Paris are full of luxurious baths and barber shops. Of all the corrupting + effects of wealth there is none worse than this, that it makes the wealthy + (and their parasites) think in some way divine, or at least a lovely + character of the mind, what is in truth nothing but their power of + luxurious living. Heaven keep us all from great riches--I mean from very + great riches.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now the middle-class cannot afford to buy new + clothes whenever they feel inclined, neither can they end up a jaunt by a + Turkish bath and a great feast with wine. So their care is always to + preserve intact what they happen to have, to exceed in nothing, to study + cleanliness, order, decency, sobriety, and a steady temper, and they fence + all this round and preserve it in the only way it can be preserved, to + wit, with conventions, and they are quite right.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I find it very hard to keep up to the demands of + these my colleagues, but I recognize that they are on the just side in the + quarrel; let none of them go about pretending that I have not defended + them in this book.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I thought of how I should put myself right with + these people. I saw that an elaborate story (as, that I had been set upon + by a tramp who forced me to change clothes: that I dressed thus for a bet: + that I was an officer employed as a spy, and was about to cross the + frontier into Germany in the guise of a labourer: that my doctor forbade + me to shave--or any other such rhodomontade): I saw, I say, that by + venturing upon any such excuses I might unwittingly offend some other + unknown canon of theirs deeper and more sacred than their rule on clothes; + it had happened to me before now to do this in the course of explanations.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I took another method, and said, as I sat down + -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Pray excuse this appearance of mine. I have had a + most unfortunate adventure in the hills, losing my way and being compelled + to sleep out all night, nor can I remain to get tidy, as it is essential + that I should reach my luggage (which is at Remiremont) before midnight.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I took great care to pay for my glass of white + wine before dinner with a bank-note, and I showed my sketches to my + neighbour to make an impression. I also talked of foreign politics, of the + countries I had seen, of England especially, with such minute exactitude + that their disgust was soon turned to admiration.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">46</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>OF DORMITORY TREES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The hostess of this inn was delicate and courteous + to a degree, and at every point attempting to overreach her guests, who, + as regularly as she attacked, countered with astonishing dexterity.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus she would say: 'Perhaps the joint would taste + better if it were carved on the table; or do the gentlemen prefer it + carved aside?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To which a banker opposite me said in a deep + voice: 'We prefer, madam, to have it carved aside.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Or she would put her head in and say: 'I can + recommend our excellent beer. It is really preferable to this local wine.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And my neighbour, a tourist, answered with + decision: 'Madame, we find your wine excellent. It could not be bettered.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nor could she get round them on a single point, + and I pitied her so much that I bought bread and wine off her to console + her, and I let her overcharge me, and went out into the afterglow with her + benediction, followed also by the farewells of the middle-class, who were + now taking their coffee at little tables outside the house.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went hard up the road to Remiremont. The night + darkened. I reached Remiremont at midnight, and feeling very wakeful I + pushed on up the valley under great woods of pines; and at last, diverging + up a little path, I settled on a clump of trees sheltered and, as I + thought, warm, and lay down there to sleep till morning; but, on the + contrary, I lay awake a full hour in the fragrance and on the level carpet + of the pine needles looking up through the dark branches at the waning + moon, which had just risen, and thinking of how suitable were pine-trees + for a man to sleep under.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'The beech,' I thought, 'is a good tree to sleep + under, for nothing will grow there, and there is always dry beech-mast; + the yew would be good if it did not grow so low, but, all in all, + pine-trees are the best.' I also considered that the worst tree to sleep + under would be the upas tree. These thoughts so nearly bordered on nothing + that, though I was not sleepy, yet I fell asleep. Long before day, the + moon being still lustrous against a sky that yet contained a few faint + stars, I awoke shivering with cold.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In sleep there is something diminishes us. This + every one has noticed; for who ever suffered a nightmare awake, or felt in + full consciousness those awful impotencies which lie on the other side of + slumber? When we lie down we give ourselves voluntarily, yet by the force + of nature, to powers before which we melt and are nothing. And among the + strange frailties of sleep I have noticed cold.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here was a warm place under the pines where I + could rest in great comfort on pine needles still full of the day; a + covering for the beasts underground that love an even heat--the best of + floors for a tired man. Even the slight wind that</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">47</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE DAWN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">blew under the waning moon was warm, and the stars + were languid and not brilliant, as though everything were full of summer, + and I knew that the night would be short; a midsummer night; and I had + lived half of it before attempting repose. Yet, I say, I woke shivering + and also disconsolate, needing companionship. I pushed down through tall, + rank grass, drenched with dew, and made my way across the road to the bank + of the river. By the time I reached it the dawn began to occupy the east.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For a long time I stood in a favoured place, just + above a bank of trees that lined the river, and watched the beginning of + the day, because every slow increase of light promised me sustenance.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The faint, uncertain glimmer that seemed not so + much to shine through the air as to be part of it, took all colour out of + the woods and fields and the high slopes above me, leaving them planes of + grey and deeper grey. The woods near</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-13.jpg" alt="path-13.jpg" class="c19" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">me were a silhouette, black and motionless, + emphasizing the east beyond. The river was white and dead, not even a + steam rose from it, but out of the further pastures a gentle mist had + lifted up and lay all even along the flanks of the hills, so that they + rose out of it, indistinct at their bases, clear-cut above against the + brightening sky; and the farther they were the more their mouldings showed + in the early light, and the most distant edges of all caught the morning.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At this wonderful sight I gazed for quite + half-an-hour without moving, and took in vigour from it as a man takes in + food and wine. When I stirred and looked about me it had become easy to + see the separate grasses; a bird or two had begun little interrupted + chirrups in the bushes, a day-breeze broke from up the valley ruffling the + silence, the moon was dead against the sky, and the stars had disappeared. + In a solemn mood I regained the road and turned my face towards the + neighbouring sources of the river.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SPECIAL CHAPELS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I easily perceived with each laborious mile that I + was approaching the end of my companionship with the Moselle, which had + become part of my adventure for the last eighty miles. It was now a small + stream, mountainous and uncertain, though in parts still placid and slow. + There appeared also that which I take to be an infallible accompaniment of + secluded glens and of the head waters of rivers (however canalized or even + overbuilt they are), I mean a certain roughness all about them and the + stout protest of the hill-men: their stone cottages and their lonely paths + off the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So it was here. The hills had grown much higher + and come closer to the river-plain; up the gullies I would catch now and + then an aged and uncouth bridge with a hut near it all built of enduring + stone: part of the hills. Then</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-14.jpg" alt="path-14.jpg" class="c20" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">again there were present here and there on the + spurs lonely chapels, and these in Catholic countries are a mark of the + mountains and of the end of the riches of a valley. Why this should be so + I cannot tell. You find them also sometimes in forests, but especially in + the lesser inlets of the sea-coast, and, as I have said, here in the upper + parts of valleys in the great hills. In such shrines Mass is to be said + but rarely, sometimes but once a year in a special commemoration. The</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-15.jpg" alt="path-15.jpg" class="c21" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">49</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON LOCAL NAMES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">rest of the time they stand empty, and some of the + older or simpler, one might take for ruins. They mark everywhere some + strong emotion of supplication, thanks, or reverence, and they anchor + these wild places to their own past, making them up in memories what they + lack in multitudinous life.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I broke my fast on bread and wine at a place where + the road crosses the river, and then I determined I would have hot coffee + as well, and seeing in front of me a village called Rupt, which means 'the + cleft' (for there is here a great cleft in the hillside), I went up to it + and had my coffee. Then I discovered a singular thing, that the people of + the place are tired of making up names and give nothing its peculiar + baptism. This I thought really very wonderful indeed, for I have noticed + wherever I have been that in proportion as men are remote and have little + to distract them, in that proportion they produce a great crop of peculiar + local names for every stream, reach, tuft, hummock, glen, copse, and gully + for miles around; and often when I have lost my way and asked it of a + peasant in some lonely part I have grown impatient as he wandered on about + 'leaving on your left the stone we call the Nuggin, and bearing round what + some call Holy Dyke till you come to what they call Mary's Ferry'... and + so forth. Long-shoremen and the riparian inhabitants of dreadful and + lonely rivers near the sea have just such a habit, and I have in my mind's + eye now a short stretch of tidal water in which there are but five shoals, + yet they all have names, and are called 'The House, the Knowle, Goodman's + Plot, Mall, and the Patch.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But here in Rupt, to my extreme astonishment, + there was no such universal and human instinct. For I said to the old man + who poured me out my coffee under the trellis (it was full morning, the + sun was well up, and the clouds were all dappled high above the tops of + the mountains): 'Father, what do you call this hill?' And with that I + pointed to a very remarkable hill and summit that lie sheer above the + village.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'That,' he said, 'is called the hill over above + Rupt.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Yes, of course,' I said, 'but what is its name?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'That is its name,' he answered.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And he was quite right, for when I looked at my + map, there it was printed, 'Hill above Rupt'. I thought how wearisome it + would be if this became a common way of doing things, and if one should + call the Thames 'the River of London', and Essex 'the North side', and + Kent 'the South side'; but considering that this fantastic method was only + indulged in by one wretched village, I released myself from fear, + relegated such horrors to the colonies, and took the road again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All this upper corner of the valley is a garden. + It is bound in on every side</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE YOUTH OF RIVERS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">from the winds, it is closed at the end by the + great mass of the Ballon d'Alsace, its floor is smooth and level, its + richness is used to feed grass and pasturage, and knots of trees grow + about it as though they had been planted to please the eye.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nothing can take from the sources of rivers their + character of isolation and repose. Here what are afterwards to become the + influences of the plains are nurtured and tended as though in an orchard, + and the future life of a whole fruitful valley with its regal towns is + determined. Something about these places prevents ingress or spoliation. + They will endure no settlements save of peasants; the waters are too young + to be harnessed; the hills forbid an easy commerce with neighbours. + Throughout the world I have found the heads of rivers to be secure places + of silence and content. And as they are themselves a kind of youth, the + early home of all that rivers must at last become--I mean special ways of + building and a separate state of living, a local air and a tradition of + history, for rivers are always the makers of provinces--so they bring + extreme youth back to one, and these upper glens of the world steep one in + simplicity and childhood.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was my delight to lie upon a bank of the road + and to draw what I saw before me, which was the tender stream of the + Moselle slipping through fields quite flat and even and undivided by + fences; its banks had here a strange effect of Nature copying man's art: + they seemed a park, and the river wound through it full of the positive + innocence that attaches to virgins: it nourished and was guarded by trees.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-16.jpg" alt="path-16.jpg" class="c22" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE PIOUS WOMAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was about that scene something of creation + and of a beginning, and as I drew it, it gave me like a gift the freshness + of the first experiences of living and filled me with remembered springs. + I mused upon the birth of rivers, and how they were persons and had a + name--were kings, and grew strong and ruled great countries, and how at + last they reached the sea.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But while I was thinking of these things, and + seeing in my mind a kind of picture of The River Valley, and of men + clustering around their home stream, and of its ultimate vast plains on + either side, and of the white line of the sea beyond all, a woman passed + me. She was very ugly, and was dressed in black. Her dress was stiff and + shining, and, as I imagined, valuable. She had in her hand a book known to + the French as 'The Roman Parishioner', which is a prayer-book. Her hair + was hidden in a stiff cap or bonnet; she walked rapidly, with her eyes on + the ground. When I saw this sight it reminded me suddenly, and I cried out + profanely, 'Devil take me! It is Corpus Christi, and my third day out. It + would be a wicked pilgrimage if I did not get Mass at last.' For my first + day (if you remember) I had slept in a wood beyond Mass-time, and my + second (if you remember) I had slept in a bed. But this third day, a great + Feast into the bargain, I was bound to hear Mass, and this woman hurrying + along to the next village proved that I was not too late.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I hurried in her wake and came to the village, + and went into the church, which was very full, and came down out of it + (the Mass was low and short--they are a Christian people) through an + avenue of small trees and large branches set up in front of the houses to + welcome the procession that was to be held near noon. At the foot of the + street was an inn where I entered to eat, and finding there another man--I + take him to have been a shopkeeper--I determined to talk politics, and + began as follows:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Have you any anti-Semitism in your town?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is not my town,' he said, 'but there is + anti-Semitism. It flourishes.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why then?' I asked. 'How many Jews have you in + your town?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He said there were seven.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'But,' said I, 'seven families of Jews--'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'There are not seven families,' he interrupted; + 'there are seven Jews all told. There are but two families, and I am + reckoning in the children. The servants are Christians.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why,' said I, 'that is only just and proper, that + the Jewish families from beyond the frontier should have local Christian + people to wait on them and do their bidding. But what I was going to say + was that so very few Jews seem to me an insufficient fuel to fire the + anti-Semites. How does their opinion flourish?'</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE JEWS IN THE HILLS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'In this way,' he answered. 'The Jews, you see, + ridicule our young men for holding such superstitions as the Catholic. Our + young men, thus brought to book and made to feel irrational, admit the + justice of the ridicule, but nourish a hatred secretly for those who have + exposed their folly. Therefore they feel a standing grudge against the + Jews.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When he had given me this singular analysis of + that part of the politics of the mountains, he added, after a short + silence, the following remarkable phrase--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'For my part I am a liberal, and would have each + go his own way: the Catholic to his Mass, the Jew to his Sacrifice.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I then rose from my meal, saluted him, and went + musing up the valley road, pondering upon what it could be that the Jews + sacrificed in this remote borough, but I could not for the life of me + imagine what it was, though I have had a great many Jews among my friends.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was now arrived at the head of this lovely vale, + at the sources of the river Moselle and the base of the great mountain the + Ballon d'Alsace, which closes it in like a wall at the end of a lane. For + some miles past the hills had grown higher and higher upon either side, + the valley floor narrower, the torrent less abundant; there now stood up + before me the marshy slopes and the enormous forests of pine that forbid a + passage south. Up through these the main road has been pierced, tortuous + and at an even gradient mile after mile to the very</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-17.jpg" alt="path-17.jpg" class="c23" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">53</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BALLON D'ALSACE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">top of the hill; for the Ballon d'Alsace is so + shaped that it is impossible for the Moselle valley to communicate with + the Gap of Belfort save by some track right over its summit. For it is a + mountain with spurs like a star, and where mountains of this kind block + the end of main valleys it becomes necessary for the road leading up and + out of the valley to go over their highest point, since any other road + over the passes or shoulders would involve a second climb to reach the + country beyond. The reason of this, my little map here, where the</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-18.jpg" alt="path-18.jpg" class="c24" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">dark stands for the valley and the light for the + high places, will show better than a long description. Not that this map + is of the Ballon d'Alsace in particular, but only of the type of hill I + mean.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Since, in crossing a range, it is usually possible + to find a low point suitable for surmounting it, such summit roads are + rare, but when one does get them they are the finest travel in the world, + for they furnish at one point (that is, at the summit) what ordinary roads + going through passes can never give you: a moment of domination. From + their climax you look over the whole world, and you feel your journey to + be adventurous and your advance to have taken some great definite step + from one province and people to another.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I would not be bound by the exaggerated zig-zags + of the road, which had been built for artillery, and rose at an easy + slope. I went along the bed of the dell before me and took the forest by a + little path that led straight upward, and when the path failed, my way was + marked by the wire of the telegraph that crosses to Belfort. As I rose I + saw the forest before me grow grander. The pine branches came down from + the trunks with a greater burden and majesty in</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">54</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE INNER DARKNESS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">their sway, the trees took on an appearance of + solemnity, and the whole rank that faced me--for here the woods come to an + even line and stand like an army arrested upon a downward march -- seemed + something unusual and gigantic. Nothing more helped this impression of awe + than the extreme darkness beneath those aged growths, and the change in + the sky that introduced my entry into the silence and perfume of so vast a + temple. Great clouds, so charged with rain that you would have thought + them lower than the hills (and yet just missing their tops), came covering + me like a tumbled roof and gathered all around; the heat of the day waned + suddenly in their shade: it seemed suddenly as though summer was over or + as though the mountains demanded an uncertain summer of their own, and + shot the sunshine with the chill of their heights. A little wind ran along + the grass and died again. As I gained the darkness of the first trees, + rain was falling.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The silence of the interior wood was enhanced by a + bare drip of water from the boughs that stood out straight and tangled I + know not how far above me. Its gloom was rendered more tremendous by the + half-light and lowering of the sky which the ceiling of branches + concealed. Height, stillness, and a sort of expectancy controlled the + memories of the place, and I passed silently and lightly between the high + columns of the trees from night (as it seemed) through a kind of twilight + forward to a near night beyond. On every side the perspective of these + bare innumerable shafts, each standing apart in order, purple and + fragrant, merged into recesses of distance where all light disappeared, + yet as I advanced the slight gloaming still surrounded me, as did the + stillness framed in the drip of water, and beneath my feet was the level + carpet of the pine needles deadening and making distant every tiny noise. + Had not the trees been so much greater and more enduring than my own + presence, and had not they overwhelmed me by their regard, I should have + felt afraid. As it was I pushed upward through their immovable host in + some such catching of the breath as men have when they walk at night + straining for a sound, and I felt myself to be continually in a hidden + companionship.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I came to the edge of this haunted forest it + ceased as suddenly as it had begun. I left behind me such a rank of trees + aligned as I had entered thousands of feet below, and I saw before me, + stretching shapely up to the sky, the round dome-like summit of the + mountain--a great field of grass. It was already evening; and, as though + the tall trees had withdrawn their virtue from me, my fatigue suddenly + came upon me. My feet would hardly bear me as I clambered up the last + hundred feet and looked down under the rolling clouds, lit from beneath by + the level light of evening, to the three countries that met at my feet.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">55</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE KNOT OF EUROPE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For the Ballon d'Alsace is the knot of Europe, and + from that gathering up and ending of the Vosges you look down upon three + divisions of men. To the right of you are the Gauls. I do not mean that + mixed breed of Lorraine, silent, among the best of people, but I mean the + tree Gauls, who are hot, ready, and born in the plains and in the + vineyards. They stand in their old entrenchments on either side of the Saône + and are vivacious in battle; from time to time a spirit urges them, and + they go out conquering eastward in the Germanics, or in Asia, or down the + peninsulas of the Mediterranean, and then they suck back like a tide + homewards, having accomplished nothing but an epic.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then on the left you have all the Germanics, a + great sea of confused and dreaming people, lost in philosophies and + creating music, frozen for the moment under a foreign rigidity, but some + day to thaw again and to give a word to us others. They cannot long remain + apart from visions.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then in front of you southward and eastward, if + you are marching to Rome, come the Highlanders. I had never been among + them, and I was to see them</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-19.jpg" alt="path-19.jpg" class="c25" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">in a day; the people of the high hills, the race + whom we all feel to be enemies, and who run straight across the world from + the Atlantic to the Pacific, understanding each other, not understood by + us. I saw their first rampart, the mountains called the Jura, on the + horizon, and above my great field of view the clouds still tumbled, lit + from beneath with evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I tired of these immensities, and, feeling now my + feet more broken than ever, I very slowly and in sharp shoots of pain + dragged down the slope towards the main road: I saw just below me the + frontier stones of the Prussians, and immediately within them a hut. To + this I addressed myself.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was an inn. The door opened of itself, and I + found there a pleasant woman of middle age, but frowning. She had three + daughters, all of great strength, and she was upbraiding them loudly in + the German of Alsace and making them scour and scrub. On the wall above + her head was a great placard which I read very tactfully, and in a distant + manner, until she had restored the discipline of</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE COMMON FAITH</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">her family. This great placard was framed in the + three colours which once brought a little hope to the oppressed, and at + the head of it in broad black letters were the three words, 'Freedom, + Brotherhood, and an Equal Law'. Underneath these was the emblematic figure + of a cock, which I took to be the Gallic bird, and underneath him again + was printed in enormous italics--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c27"><i>Quand ce coq chantera Ici crédit l'on + fera.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">Which means--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">When you hear him crowing Then's the time for + owing. Till that day--Pay.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">While I was still wondering at this epitome of the + French people, and was attempting to combine the French military tradition + with the French temper in the affairs of economics; while I was also + delighting in the memory of the solid coin that I carried in a little + leathern bag in my pocket, the hard-working, God-fearing, and honest woman + that governs the little house and the three great daughters, within a yard + of the frontier, and on the top of this huge hill, had brought back all + her troops into line and had the time to attend to me. This she did with + the utmost politeness, though cold by race, and through her politeness ran + a sense of what Teutons called Duty, which would once have repelled me; + but I have wandered over a great part of the world, and I know it now to + be a distorted kind of virtue.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">She was of a very different sort from that good + tribe of the Moselle valley beyond the hill; yet she also was Catholic-- + (she had a little tree set up before her door for the Corpus Christi: see + what religion is, that makes people of utterly different races understand + each other; for when I saw that tree I knew precisely where I stood. So + once all we Europeans understood each other, but now we are divided by the + worst malignancies of nations and classes, and a man does not so much love + his own nation as hate his neighbours, and even the twilight of chivalry + is mixed up with a detestable patronage of the poor. But as I was + saying--) she also was a Catholic, and I knew myself to be with friends. + She was moreover not exactly of- what shall I say? the words Celtic and + Latin mean nothing-- not of those who delight in a delicate manner; and + her good heart prompted her to say, very loudly--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What do you want?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I want a bed,' I said, and I pulled out a silver + coin. 'I must lie down at once.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">57</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SINGLE BEVERAGE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I added, 'Can you make omelettes?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now it is a curious thing, and one I will not + dwell on--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. You do nothing but dwell.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. It is the essence of lonely travel; and if + you have come to this book for literature you have come to the wrong booth + and counter. As I was saying: it is a curious thing that some people (or + races) jump from one subject to another naturally, as some animals (I mean + the noble deer) go by bounds. While there are other races (or + individuals--heaven forgive me, I am no ethnologist) who think you a + criminal or a lunatic unless you carefully plod along from step to step + like a hippopotamus out of water. When, therefore, I asked this + family-drilling, house-managing, mountain-living woman whether she could + make omelettes, she shook her head at me slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on + mine, and said in what was the corpse of French with a German ghost in it, + 'The bed is a franc.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Motherkin,' I answered, 'what I mean is that I + would sleep until I wake, for I have come a prodigious distance and have + last slept in the woods. But when I wake I shall need food, for which,' I + added, pulling out yet another coin, 'I will pay whatever your charge may + be; for a more delightful house I have rarely met with. I know most people + do not sleep before sunset, but I am particularly tired and broken.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">She showed me my bed then much more kindly, and + when I woke, which was long after dusk, she gave me in the living room of + the hut eggs beaten up with ham, and I ate brown bread and said grace.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then (my wine was not yet finished, but it is an + abominable thing to drink your own wine in another person's house) I asked + whether I could have something to drink.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What you like,' she said.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What have you?' said I.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Beer,' said she.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Anything else?' said I.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'No,' said she.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why, then, give me some of that excellent beer.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I drank this with delight, paid all my bill (which + was that of a labourer), and said good-night to them.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In good-nights they had a ceremony; for they all + rose together and curtsied. Upon my soul I believe such people to be the + salt of the earth. I bowed with real contrition, for at several moments I + had believed myself better than they. Then I went to my bed and they to + theirs. The wind howled outside; my boots were stiff like wood and I could + hardly take them off; my feet were so</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE TRACK TO SWITZERLAND</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">martyrized that I doubted if I could walk at all + on the morrow. Nevertheless I was so wrapped round with the repose of this + family's virtues that I fell asleep at once. Next day the sun was rising + in angry glory over the very distant hills of Germany, his new light + running between the pinnacles of the clouds as the commands of a conqueror + might come trumpeted down the defiles of mountains, when I fearlessly + forced my boots on to my feet and left their doors.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The morning outside came living and sharp after + the gale--almost chilly. Under a scattered but clearing sky I first + limped, then, as my blood warmed, strode down the path that led between + the trees of the farther vale and was soon following a stream that leaped + from one fall to another till it should lead me to the main road, to + Belfort, to the Jura, to the Swiss whom I had never known, and at last to + Italy.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But before I call up the recollection of that + hidden valley, I must describe with a map the curious features of the road + that lay before me into Switzerland. I was standing on the summit of that + knot of hills which rise up from every side to form the Ballon d'Alsace, + and make an abrupt ending to the Vosges. Before me, southward and + eastward, was a great plain with the fortress of Belfort in the midst of + it. This plain is called by soldiers 'the Gap of Belfort', and is the only + break in the hill frontier that covers France all the way from the + Mediterranean to Flanders. On the farther side of this plain ran the Jura + mountains, which are like a northern wall to Switzerland, and just before + you reach them is the Frontier. The Jura are fold on fold of high + limestone ridges, thousands of feet high, all parallel, with deep valleys, + thousands of feet deep, between them; and beyond their last abrupt + escarpment is the wide plain of the river Aar.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now the straight line to Rome ran from where I + stood, right across that plain of Belfort, right across the ridges of the + Jura, and cut the plain of the Aar a few miles to the west of a town + called Solothurn or Soleure, which stands upon that river.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was impossible to follow that line exactly, but + one could average it closely enough by following the high road down the + mountain through Belfort to a Swiss town called Porrentruy or Portrut--so + far one was a little to the west of the direct line.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">From Portrut, by picking one's way through + forests, up steep banks, over open downs, along mule paths, and so forth, + one could cross the first ridge called the 'Terrible Hill', and so reach + the profound gorge of the river Doubs, and a town called St Ursanne. From + St Ursanne, by following a mountain road and then climbing some rocks and + tracking through a wood, one could get straight over the second ridge to + Glovelier. From Glovelier a highroad took</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">59</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <img src="images/path-20.jpg" alt="path-20.jpg" class="c28" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SECLUDED VALLEY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">one through a gap to Undervelier and on to a town + called Moutier or Munster. Then from Munster, the road, still following + more or less the line to Rome but now somewhat to the east of it, went on + southward till an abrupt turn in it forced one to leave it. Then there was + another rough climb by a difficult path up over the last ridge, called the + Weissenstein, and from its high edge and summit it was but a straight fall + of a mile or two on to Soleure.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So much my map told me, and this mixture of roads + and paths and rock climbs that I had planned out, I exactly followed, so + as to march on as directly as possible towards Rome, which was my goal. + For if I had not so planned it, but had followed the highroads, I should + have been compelled to zig-zag enormously for days, since these ridges of + the Jura are but little broken, and the roads do not rise above the + crests, but follow the parallel valleys, taking advantage only here and + there of the rare gaps to pass from one to another.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here is a sketch of the way I went, where my track + is a white line, and the round spots in it are the towns and villages + whose names are written at the side. In this sketch the plains and low + valleys are marked dark, and the crests of the mountains left white. The + shading is lighter according to the height, and the contour lines (which + are very far from accurate) represent, I suppose, about a thousand feet + between each, or perhaps a little more; and as for the distance, from the + Ballon d'Alsace to Soleure might be two long days' march on a flat road, + but over mountains and up rocks it was all but three, and even that was + very good going. My first stage was across the plain of Belfort, and I had + determined to sleep that night in Switzerland.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I wandered down the mountain. A little secret + path, one of many, saved me the long windings of the road. It followed + down the central hollow of the great cleft and accompanied the stream. All + the way for miles the water tumbled in fall after fall over a hundred + steps of rock, and its noise mixed with the freshness of the air, and its + splashing weighted the overhanging branches of the trees. A little rain + that fell from time to time through the clear morning seemed like a sister + to the spray of the waterfalls; and what with all this moisture and + greenery, and the surrounding silence, all the valley was inspired with + content. It was a repose to descend through its leaves and grasses, and + find the lovely pastures at the foot of the descent, a narrow floor + between the hills. Here there were the first houses of men; and, from one, + smoke was already going up thinly into the morning. The air was very pure + and cold; it was made more nourishing and human by the presence and noise + of the waters, by the shining wet grasses and the beaded leaves all + through that umbrageous valley. The shreds of clouds which, high above the + calm, ran swiftly in the upper air, fed it also with soft</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">61</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MANY PRIESTS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">rains from time to time as fine as dew; and + through those clear and momentary showers one could see the sunlight.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I had enjoyed the descent through this place + for but a few miles, everything changed. The road in front ran straight + and bordered--it led out and onwards over a great flat, set here and there + with hillocks. The Vosges ended abruptly. Houses came more thickly, and by + the ceaseless culture of the fields, by the flat slate roofs, the + white-washed walls, and the voices, and the glare, I knew myself to be + once more in France of the plains; and the first town I came to was + Giromagny.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here, as I heard a bell, I thought I would go up + and hear Mass; and I did so, but my attention at the holy office was + distracted by the enormous number of priests that I found in the church, + and I have wondered painfully ever since how so many came to be in a + little place like Giromagny. There were three priests at the high altar, + and nearly one for each chapel, and there was such a buzz of Masses going + on, beginning and ending, that I am sure I need not have gone without my + breakfast in my hurry to get one. With all this there were few people at + Mass so early; nothing but these priests going in and out, and continual + little bells. I am still wondering. Giromagny is no place for relics or + for a pilgrimage, it cures no one, and has nothing of a holy look about + it, and all these priests--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Pray dwell less on your religion, and--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Pray take books as you find them, and + treat travel as travel. For you, when you go to a foreign country, see + nothing but what you expect to see. But I am astonished at a thousand + accidents, and always find things twenty-fold as great as I supposed they + would be, and far more curious; the whole covered by a strange light of + adventure. And that is the peculiar value of this book. Now, if you can + explain these priests---</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I can. It was the season of the year, and + they were swarming.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. So be it. Then if you will hear nothing of + what interests me, I see no reason for setting down with minute care what + interests you, and I may leave out all mention of the Girl who could only + speak German, of the Arrest of the Criminal, and even of the House of + Marshal Turenne--- this last something quite exceptionally entertaining. + But do not let us continue thus, nor push things to an open quarrel. You + must imagine for yourself about six miles of road, and then--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">62</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GREAT GARRISONS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">--then in the increasing heat, the dust rising in + spite of the morning rain, and the road most wearisome, I heard again the + sound of bugles and the sombre excitement of the drums.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a thought-provoking thing, this passing from + one great garrison to another all the way down the frontier. I had started + from the busy order of Toul; I had passed through the silence and peace of + all that Moselle country, the valley like a long garden, and I had come to + the guns and the tramp of Épinal. I had left Épinal and + counted the miles and miles of silence in the forests, I had crossed the + great hills and come down into quite another plain draining to another + sea, and I heard again all the clamour that goes with soldiery, and + looking backward then over my four days, one felt--one almost saw--the new + system of fortification, the vast entrenched camps each holding an army, + the ungarnished gaps between.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I came nearer to Belfort, I saw the guns going + at a trot down a side road, and, a little later, I saw marching on my + right, a long way off, the irregular column, the dust and the invincible + gaiety of the French line. The sun here and there glinted on the ends of + rifle-barrels and the polished pouches. Their heavy pack made their tramp + loud and thudding. They were singing a song.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had already passed the outer forts; I had noted + a work close to the road; I had gone on a mile or so and had entered the + long and ugly suburb where the tramway lines began, when, on one of the + ramshackle houses of that burning, paved, and noisy endless street, I saw + written up the words,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8">Wine; shut or open.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As it is a great rule to examine every new thing, + and to suck honey out of every flower, I did not--as some would--think the + phrase odd and pass on. I stood stock-still gazing at the house and + imagining a hundred explanations. I had never in my life heard wine + divided into shut and open wine. I determined to acquire yet one more + great experience, and going in I found a great number of tin cans, such as + the French carry up water in, without covers, tapering to the top, and + standing about three feet high; on these were pasted large printed labels, + '30', '40', and '50', and they were brimming with wine. I spoke to the + woman, and pointing at the tin cans, said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Is this what you call open wine?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why, yes,' said she. 'Cannot you see for yourself + that it is open?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That was true enough, and it explained a great + deal. But it did not explain how--seeing that if you leave a bottle of + wine uncorked for ten minutes you spoil it--you can keep gallons of it in + a great wide can, for all the world like so</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON BUILDING BRIDGES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">much milk, milked from the Panthers of the God. I + determined to test the prodigy yet further, and choosing the middle price, + at fourpence a quart, I said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Pray give me a hap'orth in a mug.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This the woman at once did, and when I came to + drink it, it was delicious. Sweet, cool, strong, lifting the heart, + satisfying, and full of all those things wine-merchants talk of, bouquet, + and body, and flavour. It was what I have heard called a very pretty wine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I did not wait, however, to discuss the marvel, + but accepted it as one of those mysteries of which this pilgrimage was + already giving me examples, and of which more were to come--(wait till you + hear about the brigand of Radicofani). I said to myself—</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'When I get out of the Terre Majeure, and away + from the strong and excellent government of the Republic, when I am lost + in the Jura Hills to-morrow there will be no such wine as this.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I bought a quart of it, corked it up very + tight, put it in my sack, and held it in store against the wineless places + on the flanks of the hill called Terrible, where there are no soldiers, + and where Swiss is the current language. Then I went on into the centre of + the town.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I passed over the old bridge into the + market-place, where I proposed to lunch (the sun was terrible--it was + close upon eleven), I saw them building parallel with that old bridge a + new one to replace it. And the way they build a bridge in Belfort is so + wonderfully simple, and yet so new, that it is well worth telling.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In most places when a bridge has to be made, there + is an infinite pother and worry about building the piers, coffer-dams, and + heaven knows what else. Some swing their bridges to avoid this trouble, + and some try to throw an arch of one span from side to side. There are a + thousand different tricks. In Belfort they simply wait until the water has + run away. Then a great brigade of workmen run down into the dry bed of the + river and dig the foundations feverishly, and begin building the piers in + great haste. Soon the water comes back, but the piers are already above + it, and the rest of the work is done from boats. This is absolutely true. + Not only did I see the men in the bed of the river, but a man whom I asked + told me that it seemed to him the most natural way to build bridges, and + doubted if they were ever made in any other fashion.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There is also in Belfort a great lion carved in + rock to commemorate the siege of 1870. This lion is part of the precipice + under the castle, and is of enormous size--- how large I do not know, but + I saw that a man looked quite small by one of his paws. The precipice was + first smoothed like a stone slab or tablet, and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">64</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SAD ECONOMISTS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">then this lion was carved into and out of it in + high relief by Bartholdi, the same man that made the statue of Liberty in + New York Harbour.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The siege of 1870 has been fixed for history in + yet another way, and one that shows you how the Church works on from one + stem continually. For there is a little church somewhere near or in + Belfort (I do not know where, I only heard of it) which, a local mason and + painter being told to decorate for so much, he amused himself by painting + all round it little pictures of the siege--of the cold, and the wounds, + and the heroism. This is indeed the way such things should be done, I mean + by men doing them for pleasure and of their own thought. And I have a + number of friends who agree with me in thinking this, that art should not + be competitive or industrial, but most of them go on to the very strange + conclusion that one should not own one's garden, nor one's beehive, nor + one's great noble house, nor one's pigsty, nor one's railway shares, nor + the very boots on one's feet. I say, out upon such nonsense. Then they say + to me, what about the concentration of the means of production? And I say + to them, what about the distribution of the ownership of the concentrated + means of production? And they shake their heads sadly, and say it would + never endure; and I say, try it first and see. Then they fly into a rage.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I lunched in Belfort (and at lunch, by the + way, a poor man asked me to use <i> all my influence</i> for his son, who + was an engineer in the navy, and this he did because I had been boasting + of my travels, experiences, and grand acquaintances throughout the + world)--when, I say, I had lunched in a workman's cafe at Belfort, I set + out again on my road, and was very much put out to find that showers still + kept on falling.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In the early morning, under such delightful trees, + up in the mountains, the branches had given me a roof, the wild + surroundings made me part of the out-of-doors, and the rain had seemed to + marry itself to the pastures and the foaming beck. But here, on a road and + in a town, all its tradition of discomfort came upon me. I was angry, + therefore, with the weather and the road for some miles, till two things + came to comfort me. First it cleared, and a glorious sun showed me from a + little eminence the plain of Alsace and the mountains of the Vosges all in + line; secondly, I came to a vast powder-magazine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To most people there is nothing more subtle or + pleasing in a powder-magazine than in a reservoir. They are both much the + same in the mere exterior, for each is a flat platform, sloping at the + sides and covered with grass, and each has mysterious doors. But, for my + part, I never see a powder-</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE POWDER-MAGAZINE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">magazine without being filled at once with two + very good feelings--- laughter and companionship. For it was my good + fortune, years and years ago, to be companion and friend to two men who + were on sentry at a powder-magazine just after there had been some + anarchist attempts (as they call them) upon such depots--and for the + matter of that I can imagine nothing more luscious to the anarchist than + seven hundred and forty-two cases of powder and fifty cases of melinite + all stored in one place. And to prevent the enormous noise, confusion, and + waste that would have resulted from the over-attraction of this base of + operations to the anarchists, my two friends, one of whom was a duty-doing + Burgundian, but the other a loose Parisian man, were on sentry that night. + They had strict orders to challenge once and then to fire.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now, can you imagine anything more exquisite to a + poor devil of a conscript, fagged out with garrison duty and stale + sham-fighting, than an order of that kind? So my friends took it, and in + one summer night they killed a donkey and wounded two mares, and broke the + thin stem of a growing tree.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This powder-magazine was no exception to my rule, + for as I approached it I saw a round-faced corporal and two round-faced + men looking eagerly to see who might be attacking their treasure, and I + became quite genial in my mind when I thought of how proud these boys + felt, and of how I was of the 'class of ninety, rifled and mounted on its + carriage' (if you don't see the point of the allusion, I can't stop to + explain it. It was a good gun in its time--now they have the seventy-five + that doesn't recoil--<i>requiescat),</i> and of how they were longing for + the night, and a chance to shoot anything on the sky line.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Full of these foolish thoughts, but smiling in + spite of their folly, I went down the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Shall I detail all that afternoon? My leg + horrified me with dull pain, and made me fear I should never hold out, I + do not say to Rome, but even to the frontier. I rubbed it from time to + time with balm, but, as always happens to miraculous things, the virtue + had gone out of it with the lapse of time. At last I found a side road + going off from the main way, and my map told me it was on the whole a + short cut to the frontier. I determined to take it for those few last + miles, because, if one is suffering, a winding lane is more tolerable than + a wide turnpike.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Just as I came to the branching of the roads I saw + a cross put up, and at its base the motto that is universal to French + crosses--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8"><i>Ave Crux Spes Unica.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thought it a good opportunity for recollection, + and sitting down, I looked backward along the road I had come.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0"><b>66</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE LAST OF THE VOSGES</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There were the high mountains of the Vosges + standing up above the plain of Alsace like sloping cliffs above a sea. I + drew them as they stood, and wondered if that frontier were really + permanent. The mind of man is greater than such accidents, and can easily + overleap even the high hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-21.jpg" alt="path-21.jpg" class="c29" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then having drawn them, and in that drawing said a + kind of farewell to the influences that had followed me for so many + miles--the solemn quiet, the steady industry, the self-control, the deep + woods, of Lorraine--1 rose up stiffly from the bank that had been my desk, + and pushed along the lane that ran devious past neglected villages.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The afternoon and the evening followed as I put + one mile after another behind me. The frontier seemed so close that I + would not rest. I left my open wine, the wine I had found outside Belfort, + untasted, and I plodded on and on as the light dwindled. I was in a grand + wonderment for Switzerland, and I wished by an immediate effort to conquer + the last miles before night, in spite of my pain. Also, I will confess to + a silly pride in distances, and a desire to be out of France on my fourth + day.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The light still fell, and my resolution stood, + though my exhaustion undermined it. The line of the mountains rose higher + against the sky, and there entered into my pilgrimage for the first time + the loneliness and the mystery of meres. Something of what a man feels in + East England belonged to this last of the plain under the guardian hills. + Everywhere I passed ponds and reeds, and saw the level streaks of sunset + reflected in stagnant waters.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The marshy valley kept its character when I had + left the lane and regained</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">67</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>WHAT IS THE SOUL?</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">the highroad. Its isolation dominated the last + effort with which I made for the line of the Jura in that summer twilight, + and as I blundered on my whole spirit</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-22.jpg" alt="path-22.jpg" class="c30" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">was caught or lifted in the influence of the waste + waters and of the birds of evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I wished, as I had often wished in such + opportunities of recollection and of silence, for a complete barrier that + might isolate the mind. With that wish came in a puzzling thought, very + proper to a pilgrimage, which was: 'What do men mean by the desire to be + dissolved and to enjoy the spirit free and without attachments?' That many + men have so desired there can be no doubt, and the best men, whose + holiness one recognizes at once, tell us that the joys of the soul are + incomparably higher than those of the living man. In India, moreover, + there are great numbers of men who do the most fantastic things with the + object of thus unprisoning the soul, and Milton talks of the same thing + with evident conviction, and the Saints all praise it in chorus. But what + is it? For my part I cannot understand so much as the meaning of the + words, for every pleasure I know comes from an intimate union between my + body and my very human mind, which last receives, confirms, revives, and + can summon up again what my body has experienced. Of pleasures, however, + in which my senses have had no part I know nothing, so I have determined + to take them upon trust and see whether they could make the matter clearer + in Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But when it comes to the immortal mind, the good + spirit in me that is so cunning at forms and colours and the reasons of + things, that is a very different story. <i>That,</i> I do indeed desire to + have to myself at whiles, and the waning light of a day or the curtains of + autumn closing in the year are often to me like a door shutting after one, + as one comes in home. For I find that with less and less impression from + without the mind seems to take on a power of creation, and by some mystery + it can project songs and landscapes and faces much more desirable than the + music or the shapes one really hears and sees. So also memory can create. + But it is not the soul that does this, for the songs, the landscapes, and + the faces are of a kind that have come in by the senses, nor</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">68</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>DISASTER OF THE WINE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">have I ever understood what could be higher than + these pleasures, nor indeed how in anything formless and immaterial there + could be pleasure at all. Yet the wisest people assure us that our souls + are as superior to our minds as are our minds to our inert and merely + material bodies. I cannot understand it at all.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I was pondering on these things in this land of + pastures and lonely ponds, with the wall of the Jura black against the + narrow bars of evening--(my pain seemed gone for a moment, yet I was + hobbling slowly)--I say as I was considering this complex doctrine, I felt + my sack suddenly much lighter, and I had hardly time to rejoice at the + miracle when I heard immediately a very loud crash, and turning half round + I saw on the blurred white of the twilit road my quart of Open Wine all + broken to atoms. My disappointment was so great that I sat down on a + milestone to consider the accident and to see if a little thought would + not lighten my acute annoyance. Consider that I had carefully cherished + this bottle and had not drunk throughout a painful march all that + afternoon, thinking that there would be no wine worth drinking after I had + passed the frontier.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I consoled myself more or less by thinking about + torments and evils to which even such a loss as this was nothing, and then + I rose to go on into the night. As it turned out I was to find beyond the + frontier a wine in whose presence this wasted wine would have seemed a + wretched jest, and whose wonderful taste was to colour all my memories of + the Mount Terrible. It is always thus with sorrows if one will only wait.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So, lighter in the sack but heavier in the heart, + I went forward to cross the frontier in the dark. I did not quite know + where the point came: I only knew that it was about a mile from Delle, the + last French town. I supped there and held on my way. When I guessed that I + had covered this mile I saw a light in the windows on my left, a trellis + and the marble tables of a cafe. I put my head in at the door and said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Am I in Switzerland?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A German-looking girl, a large heavy man, a + Bavarian commercial traveller, and a colleague of his from Marseilles, all + said together in varying accents: 'Yes.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why then,' I said, 'I will come in and drink.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This book would never end if I were to attempt to + write down so much as the names of a quarter of the extraordinary things + that I saw and heard on my enchanted pilgrimage, but let me at least + mention the Commercial Traveller from Marseilles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10"><b>60</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE PHOCEAN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He talked with extreme rapidity for two hours. He + had seen all the cities in the world and he remembered their minutest + details. He was extremely accurate, his taste was abominable, his + patriotism large, his wit crude but continual, and to his German friend, + to the host of the inn, and to the blonde serving-girl, he was a familiar + god. He came, it seems, once a year, and for a day would pour out the + torrent of his travels like a waterfall of guide-books (for he gloried in + dates, dimensions, and the points of the compass in his descriptions); + then he disappeared for another year, and left them to feast on the memory + of such a revelation.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For my part I sat silent, crippled with fatigue, + trying to forget my wounded feet, drinking stoup after stoup of beer and + watching the Phocean. He was of the old race you see on vases in red and + black; slight, very wiry, with a sharp, eager, but well-set face, a small, + black, pointed beard, brilliant eyes like those of lizards, rapid + gestures, and a vivacity that played all over his features as sheet + lightning does over the glow of midnight in June.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That delta of the Rhone is something quite + separate from the rest of France. It is a wedge of Greece and of the East + thrust into the Gauls. It came north a hundred years ago and killed the + monarchy. It caught the value in, and created, the great war song of the + Republic.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I watched the Phocean. I thought of a man of his + ancestry three thousand years ago sitting here at the gates of these + mountains talking of his travels to dull, patient, and admiring + northerners, and travelling for gain up on into the Germanics, and I felt + the changeless form of Europe under me like a rock.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When he heard I was walking to Rome, this man of + information turned off his flood into another channel, as a miller will + send the racing water into a side sluice, and he poured out some such + torrent as this:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Do not omit to notice the famous view S.E. from + the Villa So and So on Monte Mario; visit such and such a garden, and hear + Mass in such and such a church. Note the curious illusion produced on the + piazza of St Peter's by the interior measurements of the trapezium, which + are so many years and so many yards, ...' &c., and so forth ... + exactly like a mill.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I meanwhile sat on still silent, still drinking + beer and watching the Phocean; gradually suffering the fascination that + had captured the villagers and the German friend. He was a very wonderful + man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He was also kindly, for I found afterwards that he + had arranged with the host to give me up his bed, seeing my weariness. For + this, most unluckily, I was never able to thank him, since the next + morning I was off before he or any one else was awake, and I left on the + table such money as I thought would very likely satisfy the innkeeper.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">70</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE NEW COUNTRY</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was broad day, but not yet sunrise (there were + watery thin clouds left here and there from the day before, a cold wind + drove them) when, with extreme pain, going slowly one step after the other + and resting continually, I started for Porrentruy along a winding road, + and pierced the gap in the Jura. The first turn cut me off from France, + and I was fairly in a strange country.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The valley through which I was now passing + resembled that of the lovely river Jed where it runs down from the + Cheviots, and leads like a road into the secret pastures of the lowlands. + Here also, as there, steep cliffs of limestone bounded a very level dale, + all green grass and plenty; the plateau above them was covered also with + perpetual woods, only here, different from Scotland, the woods ran on and + upwards till they became the slopes of high mountains; indeed, this + winding cleft was a natural passage through the first ridge of the Jura; + the second stood up southward before me like a deep blue storm.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had, as I passed on along this turning way, all + the pleasures of novelty; it was quite another country from the governed + and ordered France which I had left. The road was more haphazard, less + carefully tended, and evidently less used. The milestones were very old, + and marked leagues instead of kilometres. There was age in everything. + Moss grew along the walls, and it was very quiet under the high trees. I + did not know the name of the little river that went slowly through the + meadows, nor whether it followed the custom of its French neighbours on + the watershed, and was called by some such epithet as hangs to all the + waters in that gap of Belfort, that plain of ponds and marshes: for they + are called 'the Sluggish', 'the Muddy', or 'the Laggard'. Even the name of + the Saone, far off, meant once 'Slow Water'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was wondering what its name might be, and how + far I stood from Porrentruy (which I knew to be close by), when I saw a + tunnel across the valley, and I guessed by the trend of the higher hills + that the river was about to make a very sharp angle. Both these signs, I + had been told, meant that I was quite close to the town; so I took a short + cut up through the forest over a spur of hill--a short cut most + legitimate, because it was trodden and very manifestly used--and I walked + up and then on a level for a mile, along a lane of the woods and beneath + small, dripping trees. When this short silence of the forest was over, I + saw an excellent sight.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, below me, where the lane began to fall, was + the first of the German cities.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. How 'German'?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Let me explain. There is a race that + stretches vaguely, without</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>DE GERMANIA</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">defined boundaries, from the Baltic into the high + hills of the south. I will not include the Scandinavians among them, for + the Scandinavians (from whom we English also in part descend) are + long-headed, lean, and fierce, with a light of adventure in their pale + eyes. But beneath them, I say, there stretches from the Baltic to the high + hills a race which has a curious unity. Yes; I know that great patches of + it are Catholic, and that other great patches hold varying philosophies; I + know also that within them are counted long-headed and round-headed men, + dark and fair, violent and silent; I know also that they have continually + fought among themselves and called in Welch allies; still I go somewhat by + the language, for I am concerned here with the development of a modern + European people, and I say that the Germans run from the high hills to the + northern sea. In all of them you find (it is not race, it is something + much more than race, it is the type of culture) a dreaminess and a love of + ease. In all of them you find music. They are those Germans whose + countries I had seen a long way off, from the Ballon d'Alsace, and whose + language and traditions I now first touched in the town that stood before + me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. But in Porrentruy they talk French!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. They are welcome; it is an excellent + tongue. Nevertheless, they are Germans. Who but Germans would so + preserve--would so rebuild the past? Who but Germans would so feel the + mystery of the hills, and so fit their town to the mountains? I was to + pass through but a narrow wedge of this strange and diffuse people. They + began at Porrentruy, they ended at the watershed of the Adriatic, in the + high passes of the Alps; but in that little space of four days I made + acquaintance with their influence, and I owe them a perpetual gratitude + for their architecture and their tales. I had come from France, which is + full of an active memory of Rome. I was to debouch into those larger + plains of Italy, which keep about them an atmosphere of Rome in decay. + Here in Switzerland, for four marches, I touched a northern, exterior, and + barbaric people; for though these mountains spoke a distorted Latin + tongue, and only after the first day began to give me a Teutonic dialect, + yet it was evident from the first that they had about them neither the + Latin order nor the Latin power to create, but were contemplative and + easily absorbed by a little effort.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The German spirit is a marvel. There lay + Porrentruy. An odd door with Gothic turrets marked the entry to the town. + To the right of this gateway a tower, more enormous than anything I + remembered to have seen, even in dreams, flanked the approach to the city. + How vast it was, how protected, how high, how eaved, how enduring! I was + told later that some part of that great bastion was Roman, and I can + believe it. The Germans hate to destroy. It overwhelmed me as visions + overwhelm, and I felt in its presence as boys feel</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">72</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ASTOUNDING WINE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">when they first see the mountains. Had I not been + a Christian, I would have worshipped and propitiated this obsession, this + everlasting thing.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As it was I entered Porrentruy soberly. I passed + under its deep gateway and up its steep hill. The moment I was well into + the main street, something other of the Middle Ages possessed me, and I + began to think of food and wine. I went to the very first small + guest-house I could find, and asked them if they could serve me food. They + said that at such an early hour (it was not yet ten) they could give me + nothing but bread, yesterday's meat, and wine. I said that would do very + well, and all these things were set before me, and by a custom of the + country I paid before I ate. (A bad custom. Up in the Limousin, when I was + a boy, in the noisy valley of the Torrent, on the Vienne, I remember a + woman that did not allow me to pay till she had held the bottle up to the + light, measured the veal with her finger, and estimated the bread with her + eye; also she charged me double. God rest her soul!) I say I paid. And had + I had to pay twenty or twenty-three times as much it would have been worth + it for the wine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I am hurrying on to Rome, and I have no time to + write a georgic. But, oh! my little friends of the north; my struggling, + strenuous, introspective, self-analysing, autoscopic, and generally + reentrant friends, who spout the 'Hue! Pater, oh! Lenae!' without a ghost + of an idea what you are talking about, do you know what is meant by the + god? Bacchus is everywhere, but if he has special sites to be ringed in + and kept sacred, I say let these be Brule, and the silent vineyard that + lies under the square wood by Tournus, the hollow underplace of Heltz le + Maurupt, and this town of Porrentruy. In these places if I can get no + living friends to help me, I will strike the foot alone on the genial + ground, and I know of fifty maenads and two hundred little attendant gods + by name that will come to the festival.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What a wine!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was assured it would not travel. 'Nevertheless,' + said I, 'give me a good quart bottle of it, for I have to go far, and I + see there is a providence for pilgrims.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So they charged me fourpence, and I took my bottle + of this wonderful stuff, sweet, strong, sufficient, part of the earth, + desirable, and went up on my way to Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Could this book be infinite, as my voyage was + infinite, I would tell you about the shifty priest whom I met on the + platform of the church where a cliff overhangs the valley, and of the + anarchist whom I met when I recovered the highroad--- he was a sad, good + man, who had committed some sudden crime</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0"><b>73</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font1"><b>THE ERRONEOUS ANARCHIST</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and so had left France, and his hankering for + France all those years had soured his temper, and he said he wished there + were no property, no armies, and no governments.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But I said that we live as parts of a nation, and + that there was no fate so wretched as to be without a country of one's + own--what else was exile which so many noble men have thought worse than + death, and which all have feared? I also told him that armies fighting in + a just cause were the happiest places for living, and that a good battle + for justice was the beginning of all great songs; and that as for + property, a man on his own land was the nearest to God.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He therefore not convinced, and I loving and + pitying him, we separated; I had not time to preach my full doctrine, but + gave him instead a deep and misty glass of cool beer, and pledged him + brotherhood, freedom, and an equal law. Then I went on my way, praying God + that all these rending quarrels might be appeased. For they would + certainly be appeased if we once again had a united doctrine in Europe, + since economics are but an expression of the mind and do not (as the poor + blind slaves of the great cities think) mould the mind. What is more, + nothing makes property run into a few hands but the worst of the capital + sins, and you who say it is 'the modern facilities of distribution' are + like men who cannot read large print without spectacles; or again, you are + like men who should say that their drunkenness was due to their drink, or + that arson was caused by matches.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But, frankly, do you suppose I came all this way + over so many hills to talk economics? Very far from it! I will pray for + all poor men when I get to St Peter's in Rome (I should like to know what + capital St Peter had in that highly capitalistic first century), and, + meanwhile, do you discuss the margin of production while I go on the open + way; there are no landlords here, and if you would learn at least one + foreign language, and travel but five miles off a railway, you + town-talkers, you would find how much landlordism has to do with your + 'necessities' and your 'laws'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I thought you said you were not going to + talk economics?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Neither am I. It is but the backwash of a + wave ... Well, then, I went up the open way, and came in a few miles of + that hot afternoon to the second ridge of the Jura, which they call 'the + Terrible Hill', or 'the Mount Terrible'--and, in truth, it is very jagged. + A steep, long crest of very many miles lies here between the vale of + Porrentruy and the deep gorge of the Doubs. The highroad goes off a long + way westward, seeking for a pass or neck in the chain, but I determined to + find a straight road across, and spoke to some wood-cutters who were + felling trees just where the road began to climb. They gave me this + curious indication. They said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">74</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MOUNT TERRIBLE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Go you up this muddy track that has been made + athwart the woods and over the pastures by our sliding logs' (for they had + cut their trunks higher up the mountains), 'and you will come to the + summit easily. From thence you will see the Doubs running below you in a + very deep and dark ravine.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thanked them, and soon found that they had told + me right. There, unmistakable, a gash in the forest and across the + intervening fields of grass, was the run of the timber.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I had climbed almost to the top, I looked + behind me to take my last view of the north. I saw just before me a high + isolated rock; between me and it was the forest. I saw beyond it the + infinite plain of Alsace and the distant Vosges. The cliff of limestone + that bounded that height fell sheer upon the tree-tops; its sublimity + arrested me, and compelled me to record it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-23.jpg" alt="path-23.jpg" class="c31" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Surely,' I said, 'if Switzerland has any gates on + the north they are these.' Then, having drawn the wonderful outline of + what I had seen, I went up, panting, to the summit, and, resting there, + discovered beneath me the curious swirl of the Doubs, where it ran in a + dark gulf thousands of feet below. The shape of this extraordinary turn I + will describe in a moment. Let me say, meanwhile, that there was no + precipice or rock between me and the river, only a down, down, down + through other trees and pastures, not too steep for a man</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">75</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BENT WINDOWS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">to walk, but steeper than our steep downs and + fells in England, where a man hesitates and picks his way. It was so much + of a descent, and so long, that one looked above the tree-tops. It was a + place where no one would care to ride.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I found a kind of path, sideways on the face of + the mountain, and followed it till I came to a platform with a hut perched + thereon, and men building. Here a good woman told me just how to go. I was + not to attempt the road to Brune-Farine--that is, 'Whole-Meal Farm'--as I + had first intended, foolishly trusting a map, but to take a gully she + would show me, and follow it till I reached the river. She came out, and + led me steeply across a hanging pasture; all the while she had knitting in + her hands, and I noticed that on the levels she went on with her knitting. + Then, when we got to the gully, she said I had but to follow it. I thanked + her, and she climbed up to her home.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This gully was the precipitous bed of a stream; I + clanked down it--thousands of feet--warily; I reached the valley, and at + last, very gladly, came to a drain, and thus knew that I approached a town + or village. It was St Ursanne.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The very first thing I noticed in St Ursanne was + the extraordinary shape of the lower windows of the church. They lighted a + crypt and ran along the ground, which in itself was sufficiently + remarkable, but much more remarkable was their shape, which seemed to me + to approach that of a horseshoe; I never saw such a thing before. It + looked as though the weight of the church above had bulged these little + windows out, and that is the way I explain it. Some people would say it + was a man coming home from the Crusades that had made them this eastern + way, others that it was a symbol of something or other. But I say--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-24.jpg" alt="path-24.jpg" class="c32" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. What rhodomontade and pedantry is this + talk about the shape of a window?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Little friend, how little you know! To a + building windows are everything; they are what eyes are to a man. Out of + windows a building takes</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">76</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>PRAISE OF WINDOWS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-25.jpg" alt="path-25.jpg" class="c33" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">its view; in windows the outlook of its human + inhabitants is framed. If you were the lord of a very high tower + overlooking a town, a plain, a river, and a distant hill (I doubt if you + will ever have such luck!), would you not call your architect up before + you and say--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Sir, see that the windows of my house are <i>tall, + narrow, thick,</i> and have a <i> round top to them'?</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Of course you would, for thus you would best catch + in separate pictures the sunlit things outside your home.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Never ridicule windows. It is out of windows that + many fall to their deaths. By windows love often enters. Through a window + went the bolt that killed King Richard. King William's father spied + Arlette from a window (I have looked through it myself, but not a soul did + I see washing below). When a mob would rule England, it breaks windows, + and when a patriot would save her, he taxes them. Out of windows we walk + on to lawns in summer and meet men and women, and in winter windows are + drums for the splendid music of storms that makes us feel so masterly + round our fires. The windows of the great cathedrals are all their + meaning. But for windows we should have to go out-of-doors to see + daylight. After the sun, which they serve, I know of nothing so beneficent + as windows. Fie upon the ungrateful man that has no window-god in his + house, and thinks himself too great a philosopher to bow down to</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">77</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>GORGE OF THE DOUBS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">windows! May he live in a place without windows + for a while to teach him the value of windows. As for me, I will keep up + the high worship of windows till I come to the windowless grave. Talk to + me of windows!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Yes. There are other things in St Ursanne. It is a + little tiny town, and yet has gates. It is full of very old houses, + people, and speech. It was founded (or named) by a Bear Saint, and the + statue of the saint with his bear is carved on the top of a column in the + market-place. But the chief thing about it, so it seemed to me, was its + remoteness.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The gorge of the Doubs, of which I said a word or + two above, is of that very rare shape which isolates whatever may be found + in such valleys. It turns right back upon itself, like a very narrow U, + and thus cannot by any possibility lead any one anywhere; for though in + all times travellers have had to follow river valleys, yet when they come + to such a long and sharp turn as this, they have always cut across the + intervening bend.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here is the shape of this valley with the high + hills round it and in its core, which will show better than description + what I mean. The little picture also shows what the gorge looked like as I + came down on it from the heights above.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-26.jpg" alt="path-26.jpg" class="c34" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In the map the small white 'A' shows where the + railway bridge was, and in this map, as in the others, the dark is for the + depth and the light is for the</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE TEMPTING BRIDGE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-27.jpg" alt="path-27.jpg" class="c35" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">heights. As for the picture, it is what one sees + when one is coming over the ridge at the north or top of the map, and when + one first catches the river beneath one.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thought a good deal about what the Romans did to + get through the Mont Terrible, and how they negotiated this crook in the + Doubs (for they certainly passed into Gaul through the gates of + Porrentruy, and by that obvious valley below it). I decided that they + probably came round eastward by Delemont. But for my part, I was on a + straight path to Rome, and as that line lay just along the top of the + river bend I was bound to take it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now outside St Ursanne, if one would go along the + top of the river bend and so up to the other side of the gorge, is a kind + of subsidiary ravine--awful, deep, and narrow--and this was crossed, I + could see, by a very high railway bridge.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Not suspecting any evil, and desiring to avoid the + long descent into the ravine, the looking for a bridge or ford, and the + steep climb up the other side, I made in my folly for the station which + stood just where the railway left solid ground to go over this high, high + bridge. I asked leave of the stationmaster to cross it, who said it was + strictly forbidden, but that he was not a policeman, and that I might do + it at my own risk. Thanking him, therefore, and considering how charming + was the loose habit of small uncentralized societies, I went merrily on to + the bridge, meaning to walk across it by stepping from sleeper to sleeper. + But it was not to be so simple. The powers of the air, that hate to have + their kingdom disturbed, watched me as I began.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had not been engaged upon it a dozen yards when + I was seized with terror.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">79</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE DREADFUL BRIDGE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I have much to say further on in this book + concerning terror: the panic that haunts high places and the spell of many + angry men. This horrible affection of the mind is the delight of our + modern scribblers; it is half the plot of their insane 'short stories', + and is at the root of their worship of what they call 'strength', a + cowardly craving for protection, or the much more despicable fascination + of brutality. For my part I have always disregarded it as something impure + and devilish, unworthy of a Christian. Fear I think, indeed, to be in the + nature of things, and it is as much part of my experience to be afraid of + the sea or of an untried horse as it is to eat and sleep; but terror, + which is a sudden madness and paralysis of the soul, that I say is from + hell, and not to be played with or considered or put in pictures or + described in stories. All this I say to preface what happened, and + especially to point out how terror is in the nature of a possession and is + unreasonable.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For in the crossing of this bridge there was + nothing in itself perilous. The sleepers lay very close together--I doubt + if a man could have slipped between them; but, I know not how many hundred + feet below, was the flashing of the torrent, and it turned my brain. For + the only parapet there was a light line or pipe, quite slender and low + down, running from one spare iron upright to another. These rather + emphasized than encouraged my mood. And still as I resolutely put one foot + in front of the other, and resolutely kept my eyes off the abyss and fixed + on the opposing hill, and as the long curve before me was diminished by + successive sharp advances, still my heart was caught half-way in every + breath, and whatever it is that moves a man went uncertainly within me, + mechanical and half-paralysed. The great height with that narrow + unprotected ribbon across it was more than I could bear.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I dared not turn round and I dared not stop. Words + and phrases began repeating themselves in my head as they will under a + strain: so I know at sea a man perilously hanging on to the tiller makes a + kind of litany of his instructions. The central part was passed, the + three-quarters; the tension of that enduring effort had grown intolerable, + and I doubted my ability to complete the task. Why? What could prevent me? + I cannot say; it was all a bundle of imaginaries. Perhaps at bottom what I + feared was sudden giddiness and the fall--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At any rate at this last supreme part I vowed one + candle to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour if she would see that all went + well, and this candle I later paid in Rome; finding Our Lady of Succour + not hung up in a public place and known to all, as I thought She would be, + but peculiar to a little church belonging to a Scotchman and standing + above his high altar. Yet it is a very famous picture, and extremely old.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">80</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>SAFETY BEYOND</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, then, having made this vow I still went on, + with panic aiding me, till I saw that the bank beneath had risen to within + a few feet of the bridge, and that dry land was not twenty yards away. + Then my resolution left me and I ran, or rather stumbled, rapidly from + sleeper to sleeper till I could take a deep breath on the solid earth + beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I stood and gazed back over the abyss; I saw the + little horrible strip between heaven and hell--the perspective of its + rails. I was made ill by the relief from terror. Yet I suppose railway-men + cross and recross it twenty times a day. Better for them than for me!</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-28.jpg" alt="path-28.jpg" class="c36" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There is the story of the awful bridge of the Mont + Terrible, and it lies to a yard upon the straight line--<i>quid dicam---</i> + the segment of the Great Circle uniting Toul and Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The high bank or hillside before me was that which + ends the gorge of the Doubs and looks down either limb of the sharp bend. + I had here not to climb but to follow at one height round the curve. My + way ran by a rather ill-made lane and passed a village. Then it was my + business to make straight up the farther wall of the gorge, and as there + was wood upon this, it looked an easy matter.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But when I came to it, it was not easy. The wood + grew in loose rocks and the slope was much too steep for anything but + hands and knees, and far too soft and broken for true climbing. And no + wonder this ridge seemed a wall for</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">81</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE COMMON FIELD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">steepness and difficulty, since it was the + watershed between the Mediterranean and the cold North Sea. But I did not + know this at the time. It must have taken me close on an hour before I had + covered the last thousand feet or so that brought me to the top of the + ridge, and there, to my great astonishment, was a road. Where could such a + road lead, and why did it follow right along the highest edge of the + mountains? The Jura with their unique parallels provide twenty such + problems.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Wherever it led, however, this road was plainly + perpendicular to my true route, and I had but to press on my straight + line. So I crossed it, saw for a last time through the trees the gorge of + the Doubs, and then got upon a path which led down through a field more or + less in the direction of my pilgrimage.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here the country was so broken that one could make + out but little of its general features, but of course, on the whole, I was + following down yet another southern slope, the southern slope of the <i>third</i> + chain of the Jura, when, after passing through many glades and along a + stony path, I found a kind of gate between two high rocks, and emerged + somewhat suddenly upon a wide down studded with old trees and also many + stunted yews, and this sank down to a noble valley which lay all before + me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The open down or prairie on which I stood I + afterwards found to be called the 'Pasturage of Common Right', a very fine + name; and, as a gallery will command a great hall, so this field like a + platform commanded the wide and fading valley below.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-29.jpg" alt="path-29.jpg" class="c37" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was a very glad surprise to see this sight + suddenly unrolled as I stood on the crest of the down. The Jura had + hitherto been either lonely, or somewhat awful, or naked and rocky, but + here was a true vale in which one could imagine a spirit of its own; there + were corn lands and no rocks. The mountains on either</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">82</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>THE HUMAN TIDE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">side did not rise so high as three thousand feet. + Though of limestone they were rounded in form, and the slanting sun of the + late afternoon (all the storm had left the sky) took them full and warm. + The valley remaining wide and fruitful went on out eastward till the hills + became mixed up with brume and distance. As I did not know its name I + called it after the village immediately below me for which I was making; + and I still remember it as the Valley of Glovelier, and it lies between + the third and fourth ridges of the Jura.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Before leaving the field I drew what I saw but I + was much too tired by the double and prodigious climb of the past hours to + draw definitely or clearly. Such as it is, there it is. Then I went down + over the smooth field.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There is something that distinguishes the rugged + from the gracious in landscape, and in our Europe this something + corresponds to the use and presence of men, especially in mountainous + places. For men's habits and civilization fill the valleys and wash up the + base of the hills, making, as it were, a tide mark. Into this zone I had + already passed. The turf was trodden fine, and was set firm as it can only + become by thousands of years of pasturing. The moisture that oozed out of + the earth was not the random bog of the high places but a human spring, + caught in a stone trough. Attention had been given to the trees. Below me + stood a wall, which, though rough, was not the haphazard thing men pile up + in the last recesses of the hills, but formed of chosen stones, and these + bound together with mortar. On my right was a deep little dale with + children playing in it--and this' I afterwards learned was called a + 'combe': delightful memory! All our deeper hollows are called the same at + home, and even the Welsh have the word, but they spell it <i>cwm;</i> it + is their mountain way. Well, as I was saying, everything surrounding me + was domestic and grateful, and I was therefore in a mood for charity and + companionship when I came down the last dip and entered Glovelier. But + Glovelier is a place of no excellence whatever, and if the thought did not + seem extravagant I should be for putting it to the sword and burning it + all down.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For just as I was going along full of kindly + thoughts, and had turned into the sign of (I think it was) the 'Sun' to + drink wine and leave them my benediction--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why your benediction?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Who else can give benedictions if people + cannot when they are on pilgrimage? Learn that there are three avenues by + which blessing can be bestowed, and three kinds of men who can bestow it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">(1) There is the good man, whose goodness makes + him of himself a giver of blessings. His power is not conferred or of + office, but is <i>inhaerens persona;</i> part of the stuff of his mind. + This kind can confer the solemn benediction, or</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THEORY OF BLESSINGS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>Benedictio major,</i> if they choose; but + besides this their every kind thought, word, or action is a <i>Benedictio + generalise</i> and even their frowns, curses, angry looks and irritable + gestures may be called <i>Benedictiones minores vel incerti.</i> I believe + I am within the definitions. I avoid heresy. All this is sound theology. I + do not smell of the faggot. And this kind of Benedictory Power is the + fount or type or natural origin, as it were, of all others.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">(2) There is the Official of Religion who, in the + exercise of his office--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. For Heaven's sake--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Who began it? You protested my power to + give benediction, and I must now prove it at length; otherwise I should + fall under the accusation of lesser Simony--that is, the false assumption + of particular powers. Well, then, there is the Official who <i>ex officio,</i> + and when he makes it quite clear that it is <i>qua sponsus</i> and not <i>sicut + ut ipse,</i> can give formal benediction. This power belongs certainly to + all Bishops, mitred Abbots, and Archimandrates; to Patriarchs of course, + and <i>a fortiori</i> to the Pope. In Rome they will have it that + Monsignores also can so bless, and I have heard it debated whether or no + the same were not true in some rustic way of parish priests. However this + may be, all their power proceeds, not from themselves, but from the + accumulation of goodness left as a deposit by the multitudes of + exceptionally good men who have lived in times past, and who have now no + use for it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">(3) Thirdly--and this is my point--any one, good + or bad, official or non-official, who is for the moment engaged in an <i>opusfaustum</i> + can act certainly as a conductor or medium, and the influence of what he + is touching or doing passes to you from him. This is admitted by every one + who worships trees, wells, and stones; and indeed it stands to reason, for + it is but a branch of the well-known <i>'Sanctificatio ex loco, opere, + tactu vel conditione.'</i> I will admit that this power is but vague, + slight, tenuous, and dissipatory, still there it is: though of course its + poor effect is to that of the <i>Benedictio major</i> what a cat's-paw in + the Solent is to a north-east snorter on Lindsey Deeps.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I am sorry to have been at such length, but it is + necessary to have these things thrashed out once for all. So now you see + how I, being on pilgrimage, could give a kind of little creeping blessing + to the people on the way, though, as St Louis said to the Hascisch-eaters, + <i>'May it be a long time before you can kiss my bones.'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I entered the 'Sun' inn and saw there a woman + sewing, a great dull-faced man like an ox, and a youth writing down + figures in a little book. I said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Good morning, madam, and sirs, and the company. + Could you give me a little red wine?' Not a head moved.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">84</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE RUDE PEASANTS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">True I was very dirty and tired, and they may have + thought me a beggar, to whom, like good sensible Christians who had no + nonsense about them, they would rather have given a handsome kick than a + cup of cold water. However, I think it was not only my poverty but a + native churlishness which bound their bovine souls in that valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I sat down at a very clean table. I notice that + those whom the Devil has made his own are always spick and span, just as + firemen who have to go into great furnaces have to keep all their gear + highly polished. I sat down at it, and said again, still gently--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is, indeed, a fine country this of yours. + Could you give me a little red wine?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then the ox-faced man who had his back turned to + me, and was the worst of the lot, said sulkily, not to me, but to the + woman--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'He wants wine.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The woman as sulkily said to me, not looking me in + the eyes--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'How much will you pay?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I said, 'Bring the wine. Set it here. See me drink + it. Charge me your due.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I found that this brutal way of speaking was just + what was needed for the kine and cattle of this pen. She skipped off to a + cupboard, and set wine before me, and a glass. I drank quite quietly till + I had had enough, and asked what there was to pay. She said 'Threepence,' + and I said 'Too much,' as I paid it. At this the ox-faced man grunted and + frowned, and I was afraid; but hiding my fear I walked out boldly and + slowly, and made a noise with my stick upon the floor of the hall without. + Neither did I bid them farewell. But I made a sign at the house as I left + it. Whether it suffered from this as did the house at Dorchester which the + man in the boat caused to wither in one night, is more than I can tell.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road led straight across the valley and + approached the further wall of hills. These I saw were pierced by one of + the curious gaps which are peculiar to limestone ranges. Water cuts them, + and a torrent ran through this one also. The road through it, gap though + it was, went up steeply, and the further valley was evidently higher than + the one I was leaving. It was already evening as I entered this narrow + ravine; the sun only caught the tops of the rock-walls. My fatigue was + very great, and my walking painful to an extreme, when, having come to a + place where the gorge was narrowest and where the two sides were like the + posts of a giant's stile, where also the fifth ridge of the Jura stood up + beyond me in the further valley, a vast shadow, I sat down wearily and + drew what not even my exhaustion could render unremarkable.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <img src="images/path-30.jpg" alt="path-30.jpg" class="c38" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">While I was occupied sketching the slabs of + limestone, I heard wheels coming up behind me, and a boy in a waggon + stopped and hailed me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What the boy wanted to know was whether I would + take a lift, and this he said in such curious French that I shuddered to + think how far I had pierced into the heart of the hills, and how soon I + might come to quite strange people. I was greatly tempted to get into his + cart, but though I had broken so many of my vows one remained yet whole + and sound, which was that I would ride upon no wheeled thing. Remembering + this, therefore, and considering that the Faith is rich in interpretation, + I clung on to the waggon in such a manner that it did all my work for me, + and yet could not be said to be actually carrying me. <i>Distinguo.</i> + The essence of a vow is its literal meaning. The spirit and intention are + for the major morality, and concern Natural Religion, but when upon a + point of ritual or of dedication or special worship a man talks to you of + the Spirit and Intention, and complains of the dryness of the Word, look + at him askance. He is not far removed from Heresy.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I knew a man once that was given to drinking, and + I made up this rule for him to distinguish between Bacchus and the Devil. + To wit: that he should never drink what has been made and sold since the + Reformation--I mean especially</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font0">86</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>LITERAL VOW</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">spirits and champagne. Let him (said I) drink red + wine and white, good beer and mead--if he could get it--liqueurs made by + monks, and, in a word, all those feeding, fortifying, and confirming + beverages that our fathers drank in old time; but not whisky, nor brandy, + nor sparkling wines, not absinthe, nor the kind of drink called gin. This + he promised to do, and all went well. He became a merry companion, and + began to write odes. His prose clarified and set, that had before been + very mixed and cloudy. He slept well; he comprehended divine things; he + was already half a republican, when one fatal day--it was the feast of the + eleven thousand virgins, and they were too busy up in heaven to consider + the needs of us poor hobbling, polyktonous and betempted wretches of + men--I went with him to the Society for the Prevention of Annoyances to + the Rich, where a certain usurer's son was to read a paper on the cruelty + of Spaniards to their mules. As we were all seated there round a table + with a staring green cloth on it, and a damnable gas pendant above, the + host of that evening offered him whisky and water, and, my back being + turned, he took it. Then when I would have taken it from him he used these + words--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'After all, it is the intention of a pledge that + matters;' and I saw that all was over, for he had abandoned definition, + and was plunged back into the horrible mazes of Conscience and Natural + Religion.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What do you think, then, was the consequence? Why, + he had to take some nasty pledge or other to drink nothing whatever, and + become a spectacle and a judgement, whereas if he had kept his exact word + he might by this time have been a happy man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Remembering him and pondering upon the advantage + of strict rule, I hung on to my cart, taking care to let my feet still + feel the road, and so passed through the high limestone gates of the + gorge, and was in the fourth valley of the Jura, with the fifth ridge + standing up black and huge before me against the last of the daylight. + There were as yet no stars.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, in this silent place, was the little + village of Undervelier, and I thanked the boy, withdrew from his cart, and + painfully approached the inn, where I asked the woman if she could give me + something to eat, and she said that she could in about an hour, using, + however, with regard to what it was I was to have, words which I did not + understand. For the French had become quite barbaric, and I was now indeed + lost in one of the inner places of the world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A cigar is, however, even in Undervelier, a cigar; + and the best cost a penny. One of these, therefore, I bought, and then I + went out smoking it into the village square, and, finding a low wall, + leaned over it and contemplated the glorious clear green water tumbling + and roaring along beneath it on the other side; for a little river ran + through the village.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON THE FAITH</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I leaned there resting and communing I noticed + how their church, close at hand, was built along the low banks of the + torrent. I admired the luxuriance of the grass these waters fed, and the + generous arch of the trees beside it. The graves seemed set in a natural + place of rest and home, and just beyond this churchyard was that marriage + of hewn stone and water which is the source of so peculiar a satisfaction; + for the church tower was built boldly right out into the stream and the + current went eddying round it. But why it is that strong human building + when it dips into water should thus affect the mind I cannot say, only I + know that it is an emotion apart to see our device and structure where it + is most enduring come up against and challenge that element which we + cannot conquer, and which has always in it something of danger for men. It + is therefore well to put strong mouldings on to piers and quays, and to + make an architecture of them, and so it was a splendid thought of the + Romans to build their villas right out to sea; so they say does Venice + enthrall one, but where I have most noticed this thing is at the Mont St + Michel--only one must take care to shut one's eyes or sleep during all the + low tide.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I was watching that stream against those old + stones, my cigar being now half smoked, a bell began tolling, and it + seemed as if the whole village were pouring into the church. At this I was + very much surprised, not having been used at any time of my life to the + unanimous devotion of an entire population, but having always thought of + the Faith as something fighting odds, and having seen unanimity only in + places where some sham religion or other glozed over our tragedies and + excused our sins. Certainly to see all the men, women, and children of a + place taking Catholicism for granted was a new sight, and so I put my + cigar carefully down under a stone on the top of the wall and went in with + them. I then saw that what they were at was vespers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All the village sang, knowing the psalms very + well, and I noticed that their Latin was nearer German than French; but + what was most pleasing of all was to hear from all the men and women + together that very noble good-night and salutation to God which begins--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8"><i>Te, lucis ante terminum.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">My whole mind was taken up and transfigured by + this collective act, and I saw for a moment the Catholic Church quite + plain, and I remembered Europe, and the centuries. Then there left me + altogether that attitude of difficulty and combat which, for us others, is + always associated with the Faith. The cities dwindled in my imagination, + and I took less heed of the modern noise. I went out with them into the + clear evening and the cool. I found my cigar and lit it again, and musing + much more deeply than before, not without tears, I considered the nature + of Belief.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">STILL ON FAITH</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Of its nature it breeds a reaction and an + indifference. Those who believe nothing but only think and judge cannot + understand this. Of its nature it struggles with us. And we, we, when our + youth is full on us, invariably reject it and set out in the sunlight + content with natural things. Then for a long time we are like men who + follow down the cleft of a mountain and the peaks are hidden from us and + forgotten. It takes years to reach the dry plain, and then we look back + and see our home.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What is it, do you think, that causes the return? + I think it is the problem of living; for every day, every experience of + evil, demands a solution. That solution is provided by the memory of the + great scheme which at last we remember. Our childhood pierces through + again ... But I will not attempt to explain it, for I have not the power; + only I know that we who return suffer hard things; for there grows a gulf + between us and many companions. We are perpetually thrust into minorities, + and the world almost begins to talk a strange language; we are troubled by + the human machinery of a perfect and superhuman revelation; we are + over-anxious for its safety, alarmed, and in danger of violent decisions.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And this is hard: that the Faith begins to make + one abandon the old way of judging. Averages and movements and the rest + grow uncertain. We see things from within and consider one mind or a + little group as a salt or leaven. The very nature of social force seems + changed to us. And this is hard when a man has loved common views and is + happy only with his fellows.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And this again is very hard, that we must once + more take up that awful struggle to reconcile two truths and to keep civic + freedom sacred in spite of the organization of religion, and not to deny + what is certainly true. It is hard to accept mysteries, and to be humble. + We are tost as the great schoolmen were tost, and we dare not neglect the + duty of that wrestling.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But the hardest thing of all is that it leads us + away, as by a command, from all that banquet of the intellect than which + there is no keener joy known to man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went slowly up the village place in the dusk, + thinking of this deplorable weakness in men that the Faith is too great + for them, and accepting it as an inevitable burden. I continued to muse + with my eyes upon the ground ...</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was to be no more of that studious content, + that security in historic analysis, and that constant satisfaction of an + appetite which never cloyed. A wisdom more imperative and more profound + was to put a term to the comfortable wisdom of learning. All the balance + of judgement, the easy, slow convictions, the broad grasp of things, the + vision of their complexity, the pleasure in their innumerable life--all + that had to be given up. Fanaticisms were no longer entirely to be + despised, just appreciations and a strong grasp of reality no longer + entirely to be admired.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">89</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON STYLE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Catholic Church will have no philosophies. She + will permit no comforts; the cry of the martyrs is in her far voice; her + eyes that see beyond the world present us heaven and hell to the confusion + of our human reconciliations, our happy blending of good and evil things.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By the Lord! I begin to think this intimate + religion as tragic as a great love. There came back into my mind a relic + that I have in my house. It is a panel of the old door of my college, + having carved on it my college arms. I remembered the Lion and the Shield, + <i>Haec fuit, Haec almae janua sacra domus.</i> Yes, certainly religion is + as tragic as first love, and drags us out into the void away from our dear + homes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a good thing to have loved one woman from a + child, and it is a good thing not to have to return to the Faith.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They cook worse in Undervelier than any place I + was ever in, with the possible exception of Omaha, Neb.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why do you use phrases like <i>'possible + exception'?</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Why not? I see that all the religion I + have stuck into the book has no more effect on you than had Rousseau upon + Sir Henry Maine. You are as full of Pride as a minor Devil. You would + avoid the <i>cliché</i> and the commonplace, and the <i>phrase + toute faite.</i> Why? Not because you naturally write odd + prose--contrariwise, left to yourself you write pure journalese; but + simply because you are swelled and puffed up with a desire to pose. You + want what the Martha Brown school calls 'distinction' in prose. My little + friend, I know how it is done, and I find it contemptible. People write + their articles at full speed, putting down their unstudied and valueless + conclusions in English as pale as a film of dirty wax--sometimes even they + dictate to a typewriter. Then they sit over it with a blue pencil and + carefully transpose the split infinitives, and write alternative + adjectives, and take words away out of their natural place in the sentence + and generally put the Queen's English--yes, the Queen's English--on the + rack. And who is a penny the better for it? The silly authors get no real + praise, not even in the horrible stucco villas where their clique meet on + Sundays. The poor public buys the <i>Marvel</i> and gasps at the + cleverness of the writing and despairs, and has to read what it can + understand, and is driven back to toshy novels about problems, written by + cooks. 'The hungry sheep,' as some one says somewhere, 'look up and are + not fed;' and the same poet well describes your pipings as being on + wretched straw pipes that are 'scrannel'--a good word.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Oh, for one man who should write healthy, hearty, + straightforward English! Oh, for Cobbett! There are indeed some great men + who write twistedly simply</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">90</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GERMAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Because they cannot help it, but <i>their</i> + honesty is proved by the mass they turn out. What do you turn out, you + higglers and sticklers? Perhaps a bad triolet every six months, and a book + of criticism on something thoroughly threadbare once in five years. If I + had my way--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I am sorry to have provoked all this.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Not at all! Not at all! I trust I have + made myself clear.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, as I was saying, they cook worse at + Undervelier than any place I was ever in, with the possible exception of + Omaha, Neb. However, I forgave them, because they were such good people, + and after a short and bitter night I went out in the morning before the + sun rose and took the Moutier road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The valley in which I was now engaged--the phrase + seems familiar--was more or less like an H. That is, there were two high + parallel ranges bounding it, but across the middle a low ridge of perhaps + a thousand feet. The road slowly climbed this ridge through pastures where + cows with deep-toned bells were rising from the dew on the grass, and + where one or two little cottages and a village already sent up smoke. All + the way up I was thinking of the surfeit of religion I had had the night + before, and also of how I had started that morning without bread or + coffee, which was a folly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I got to the top of the ridge there was a + young man chopping wood outside a house, and I asked him in French how far + it was to Moutier. He answered in German, and I startled him by a loud + cry, such as sailors give when they see land, for at last I had struck the + boundary of the languages, and was with pure foreigners for the first time + in my life. I also asked him for coffee, and as he refused it I took him + to be a heretic and went down the road making up verses against all such, + and singing them loudly through the forest that now arched over me and + grew deeper as I descended.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And my first verse was--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">Heretics all, whoever you be, In Tarbes or Nimes, + or over the sea, You never shall have good words from me. <i>Caritas non + conturbat me.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">If you ask me why I put a Latin line at the end, + it was because I had to show that it was a song connected with the + Universal Fountain and with European culture, and with all that Heresy + combats. I sang it to a lively hymn-tune that I had invented for the + occasion.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I then thought what a fine fellow I was, and how + pleasant were my friends when I agreed with them. I made up this second + verse, which I sang even more loudly than the first; and the forest grew + deeper, sending back echoes--</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>HERETICS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">But Catholic men that live upon wine Are deep in + the water, and frank, and fine; Wherever I travel I find it so, <i>Benedicamus + Domino.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There is no doubt, however, that if one is really + doing a catholic work, and expressing one's attitude to the world, + charity, pity, and a great sense of fear should possess one, or, at least, + appear. So I made up this third verse and sang it to suit--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2">On childing women that are forlorn, And men that + sweat in nothing but scorn: That is on all that ever were born, <i>Miserere + Domine.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, as everything ends in death, and as that is + just what Heretics least like to be reminded of, I ended thus--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2">To my poor self on my deathbed, And all my dear + companions dead, Because of the love that I bore them, <i>Dona Eis + Requiem.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say 'I ended.' But I did not really end there, + for I also wrote in the spirit of the rest a verse of Mea Culpa and + Confession of Sin, but I shall not print it here.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So my song over and the woods now left behind, I + passed up a dusty piece of road into Moutier, a detestable town, all + whitewashed and orderly, down under the hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was tired, for the sun was now long risen and + somewhat warm, and I had walked ten miles, and that over a high ridge; and + I had written a canticle and sung it--- and all that without a sup or a + bite. I therefore took bread, coffee, and soup in Moutier, and then going + a little way out of the town I crossed a stream off the road, climbed a + knoll, and, lying under a tree, I slept.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">I awoke and took the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">The road after Moutier was not a thing for + lyrics; it stirred me in no way. It was bare in the sunlight, had fields + on either side; and in the fields stood houses. In the houses were + articulately-speaking mortal men.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">There is a school of Poets (I cannot read them + myself) who treat of common things, and their admirers tell us that these + men raise the things of everyday</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">92</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>EVERYDAY LIFE, HORRORS THEREOF</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">life to the plane of the supernatural. Note that + phrase, for it is a shaft of light through a cloud revealing their + disgusting minds.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Everyday life! As <i> La Croix</i> said in a + famous leading article: <i>'La Presse?'</i> POOH!' I know that everyday + life. It goes with sandals and pictures of lean ugly people all just like + one another in browny photographs on the wall, and these pictures are + called, one 'The House of Life', or another, 'The Place Beautiful', or yet + again a third, 'The Lamp of the Valley', and when you complain and shift + about uneasily before these pictures, the scrub-minded and dusty-souled + owners of them tell you that of course in photographs you lose the + marvellous colour of the original. This everyday life has mantelpieces + made of the same stuff as cafe-tables, so that by instinct I try to make + rings on them with my wine-glass, and the people who suffer this life get + up every morning at eight, and the poor sad men of the house slave at + wretched articles and come home to hear more literature and more + appreciations, and the unholy women do nothing and attend to local + government, that is, the oppression of the poor; and altogether this + accursed everyday life of theirs is instinct with the four sins crying to + heaven for vengeance, and there is no humanity in it, and no simplicity, + and no recollection. I know whole quarters of the towns of that life where + they have never heard of Virtus or Verecundia or Pietas.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12 c5">LECTOR. Then--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Alas! alas! Dear Lector, in these houses + there is no honest dust. Not a bottle of good wine or bad; no prints + inherited from one's uncle, and no children's books by Mrs Barbauld or + Miss Edgeworth; no human disorder, nothing of that organic comfort which + makes a man's house like a bear's fur for him. They have no debts, they do + not read in bed, and they will have difficulty in saving their souls.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Then tell me, how would you treat of + common things?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Why, I would leave them alone; but if I + had to treat of them I will show you how I would do it. Let us have a + dialogue about this road from Moutier.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. By all means.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. What a terrible thing it is to miss one's + sleep. I can hardly bear the heat of the road, and my mind is empty!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why, you have just slept in a wood!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Yes, but that is not enough. One must + sleep at night.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. My brother often complains of insomnia. He + is a policeman.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Indeed? It is a sad affliction.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Yes, indeed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Indeed, yes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">93</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>PLAYS WITHOUT WORDS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I cannot go on like this.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. There. That is just what I was saying. One + cannot treat of common things: it is not literature; and for my part, if I + were the editor even of a magazine, and the author stuck in a string of + dialogue, I would not pay him by the page but by the word, and I would + count off 5 per cent for epigrams, 10 per cent for dialect, and some + quarter or so for those stage directions in italics which they use to pad + out their work.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So. I will not repeat this experiment, but next + time I come to a bit of road about which there is nothing to say, I will + tell a story or sing a song, and to that I pledge myself.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By the way, I am reminded of something. Do you + know those books and stories in which parts of the dialogues often have no + words at all? Only dots and dashes and asterisks and interrogations? I + wonder what the people are paid for it? If I knew I would earn a mint of + money, for I believe I have a talent for it. Look at this--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-31.jpg" alt="path-31.jpg" class="c39" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There. That seems to me worth a good deal more + money than all the modern 'delineation of character', and 'folk' nonsense + ever written. What verve! What terseness! And yet how clear!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Let us be getting on.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. By all means, and let us consider more + enduring things.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After a few miles the road going upwards, I passed + through another gap in the hills and--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Pardon me, but I am still ruminating upon + that little tragedy of yours. Why was the guardian a duchess?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Well, it was a short play and modern, was + it not?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">94</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ACOLYTE OF RHEIMS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Yes. And therefore, of course, you must + have a title in it. I know that. I do not object to it. What I want to + know is, why a duchess?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. On account of the reduction of scale: the + concentration of the thing. You see in the full play there would have been + a lord, two baronets, and say three ladies, and I could have put suitable + words into their mouths. As it was I had to make absolutely sure of the + element of nobility without any help, and, as it were, in one startling + moment. Do you follow? Is it not art?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I cannot conceive why a pilgrimage, an adventure + so naturally full of great, wonderful, far-off and holy things should + breed such fantastic nonsense as all this; but remember at least the + little acolyte of Rheims, whose father, in 1512, seeing him apt for + religion, put him into a cassock and designed him for the Church, + whereupon the youngling began to be as careless and devilish as Mercury, + putting beeswax on the misericords, burning feathers in the censer, and + even going round himself with the plate without leave and scolding the + rich in loud whispers when they did not put in enough. So one way with + another they sent him home to his father; the archbishop thrusting him out + of the south porch with his own hands and giving him the Common or Ferial + Malediction, which is much the same as that used by carters to stray dogs.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When his father saw him he fumed terribly, cursing + like a pagan, and asking whether his son were a roysterer fit for the + gallows as well as a fool fit for a cassock. On hearing which complaint + the son very humbly and contritely said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is not my fault but the contact with the + things of the Church that makes me gambol and frisk, just as the Devil + they say is a good enough fellow left to himself and is only moderately + heated, yet when you put him into holy water all the world is witness how + he hisses and boils.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The boy then taking a little lamb which happened + to be in the drawing-room, said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Father, see this little lamb; how demure he is + and how simple and innocent, and how foolish and how tractable. Yet + observe!' With that he whipped the cassock from his arm where he was + carrying it and threw it all over the lamb, covering his head and body; + and the lamb began plunging and kicking and bucking and rolling and + heaving and sliding and rearing and pawing and most vigorously wrestling + with the clerical and hierarchically constraining garment of darkness, and + bleating all the while more and more angrily and loudly, for all the world + like the great goat Baphomet himself when the witches dance about him on + All-hallowe'en. But when the boy suddenly plucked off the cassock again, + the lamb, after sneezing a little and finding his feet, became quite + gentle once more, and looked only a little confused and dazed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">95</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MILLS OF GOD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'There, father,' said the boy, 'is proof to you of + how the meekest may be driven to desperation by the shackles I speak of, + and which I pray you never lay upon me again.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">His father finding him so practical and wise made + over his whole fortune and business to him, and thus escaped the very + heavy Heriot and Death Dues of those days, for he was a Socage tenant of + St Remi in Double Burgage. But we stopped all that here in England by the + statute of Uses, and I must be getting back to the road before the dark + catches me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I was saying, I came to a gap in the hills, and + there was there a house or two called Gansbrunnen, and one of the houses + was an inn. Just by the inn the road turned away sharply up the valley; + the very last slope of the Jura, the last parallel ridge, lay straight + before me all solemn, dark, and wooded, and making a high feathery line + against the noon. To cross this there was but a vague path rather + misleading, and the name of the mountain was Weissenstein.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So before that last effort which should lead me + over those thousands of feet, and to nourish Instinct (which would be of + use to me when I got into that impenetrable wood), I turned into the inn + for wine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A very old woman having the appearance of a witch + sat at a dark table by the little criss-cross window of the dark room. She + was crooning to herself, and I made the sign of the evil eye and asked her + in French for wine; but French she did not understand. Catching, however, + two words which sounded like the English 'White' and 'Red', I said 'Yaw' + after the last and nodded, and she brought up a glass of exceedingly good + red wine which I drank in silence, she watching me uncannily.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I paid her with a five-franc piece, and she + gave me a quantity of small change rapidly, which, as I counted it, I + found to contain one Greek piece of fifty lepta very manifestly of lead. + This I held up angrily before her, and (not without courage, for it is + hard to deal with the darker powers) I recited to her slowly that familiar + verse which the well-known Satyricus Empiricius was for ever using in his + now classical attacks on the grammarians; and without any Alexandrian + twaddle of accents I intoned to her--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-32.jpg" alt="path-32.jpg" class="c40" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and so left her astounded to repentance or to + shame.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I went out into the sunlight, and crossing + over running water put myself out of her power.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">96</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>BETWEEN THE TREES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The wood went up darkly and the path branched here + and there so that I was soon uncertain of my way, but I followed generally + what seemed to me the most southerly course, and so came at last up + steeply through a dip or ravine that ended high on the crest of the ridge.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Just as I came to the end of the rise, after + perhaps an hour, perhaps two, of that great curtain of forest which had + held the mountain side, the trees fell away to brushwood, there was a + gate, and then the path was lost upon a fine open sward which was the very + top of the Jura and the coping of that multiple wall which defends the + Swiss Plain. I had crossed it straight from edge to edge, never turning + out of my way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was too marshy to lie down on it, so I stood a + moment to breathe and look about me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was evident that nothing higher remained, for + though a new line of wood--firs and beeches--stood before me, yet nothing + appeared above them, and I knew that they must be the fringe of the + descent. I approached this edge of wood, and saw that it had a rough fence + of post and rails bounding it, and</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-33.jpg" alt="path-33.jpg" class="c41" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">as I was looking for the entry of a path (for my + original path was lost, as such tracks are, in the damp grass of the + little down) there came to me one of those great revelations which betray + to us suddenly the higher things and stand afterwards firm in our minds.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, on this upper meadow, where so far I had + felt nothing but the ordinary gladness of The Summit, I had a vision.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What was it I saw? If you think I saw this or + that, and if you think I am inventing the words, you know nothing of men.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">97</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE VISION OF THE ALPS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I saw between the branches of the trees in front + of me a sight in the sky that made me stop breathing, just as great danger + at sea, or great surprise in love, or a great deliverance will make a man + stop breathing. I saw something I had known in the West as a boy, + something I had never seen so grandly discovered as was this. In between + the branches of the trees was a great promise of unexpected lights beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I pushed left and right along that edge of the + forest and along the fence that bound it, until I found a place where the + pine-trees stopped, leaving a gap, and where on the right, beyond the gap, + was a tree whose leaves had failed; there the ground broke away steeply + below me, and the beeches fell, one below the other, like a vast cascade, + towards the limestone cliffs that dipped down still further, beyond my + sight. I looked through this framing hollow and praised God. For there + below me, thousands of feet below me, was what seemed an illimitable + plain; at the end of that world was an horizon, and the dim bluish sky + that overhangs an horizon.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was brume in it and thickness. One saw the + sky beyond the edge of the world getting purer as the vault rose. But + right up--a belt in that empyrean--ran peak and field and needle of + intense ice, remote, remote from the world. Sky beneath them and sky above + them, a steadfast legion, they glittered as though with the armour of the + immovable armies of Heaven. Two days' march, three days' march away, they + stood up like the walls of Eden. I say it again, they stopped my breath. I + had seen them.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So little are we, we men: so much are we immersed + in our muddy and immediate interests that we think, by numbers and + recitals, to comprehend distance or time, or any of our limiting + infinities. Here were these magnificent creatures of God, I mean the Alps, + which now for the first time I saw from the height of the Jura; and + because they were fifty or sixty miles away, and because they were a mile + or two high, they were become something different from us others, and + could strike one motionless with the awe of supernatural things. Up there + in the sky, to which only clouds belong and birds and the last trembling + colours of pure light, they stood fast and hard; not moving as do the + things of the sky. They were as distant as the little upper clouds of + summer, as fine and tenuous; but in their reflection and in their quality + as it were of weapons (like spears and shields of an unknown array) they + occupied the sky with a sublime invasion: and the things proper to the sky + were forgotten by me in their presence as I gazed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To what emotion shall I compare this astonishment? + So, in first love one finds that <i> this</i> can belong to <i>me.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Their sharp steadfastness and their clean uplifted + lines compelled my</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ALPS, THEIR PICTURE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">adoration. Up there, the sky above and below them, + part of the sky, but part of us, the great peaks made communion between + that homing creeping part of me which loves vineyards and dances and a + slow movement among pastures, and that other part which is only properly + at home in Heaven. I say that this kind of description is useless, and + that it is better to address prayers to such things than to attempt to + interpret them for others.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">These, the great Alps, seen thus, link one in some + way to one's immortality. Nor is it possible to convey, or even to + suggest, those few fifty miles, and those few thousand feet; there is + something more. Let me put it thus: that from the height of Weissenstein I + saw, as it were, my religion. I mean, humility, the fear of death, the + terror of height and of distance, the glory of God, the infinite + potentiality of reception whence springs that divine thirst of the soul; + my aspiration also towards completion, and my confidence in the dual + destiny. For I know that we laughers have a gross cousinship with the most + high, and it is this contrast and perpetual quarrel which feeds a spring + of merriment in the soul of a sane man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Since I could now see such a wonder and it could + work such things in my mind, therefore, some day I should be part of it. + That is what I felt.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This it is also which leads some men to climb + mountain-tops, but not me, for I am afraid of slipping down.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then you will say, if I felt all this, why do I + draw it, and put it in my book, seeing that my drawings are only for fun? + My jest drags down such a memory and makes it ludicrous. Well, I said in + my beginning that I would note down whatever most impressed me, except + figures, which I cannot draw (I mean figures of human beings, for + mathematical figures I can draw well enough), and I have never failed in + this promise, except where, as in the case of Porrentruy, my drawing was + blown away by the wind and lost--- if anything ever is lost. So I put down + here this extraordinary drawing of what I saw,</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-34.jpg" alt="path-34.jpg" class="c42" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">99</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE CLIFF</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">which is about as much like it as a printed song + full of misprints is to that same song sung by an army on the march. And I + am consoled by remembering that if I could draw infinitely well, then it + would become sacrilege to attempt to draw that sight. Moreover, I am not + going to waste any more time discussing why I put in this little drawing. + If it disturbs your conception of what it was I saw, paste over it a + little bit of paper. I have made it small for the purpose; but remember + that the paper should be thin and opaque, for thick paper will interfere + with the shape of this book, and transparent paper will disturb you with a + memory of the picture.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was all full of this, as a man is full of music + just after hearing it, that I plunged down into the steep forest that led + towards the great plain; then, having found a path, I worked zig-zag down + it by a kind of gully that led through to a place where the limestone + cliffs were broken, and (so my map told me) to the town of Soleure, which + stands at the edge of the plain upon the river Aar.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was an hour or more going down the enormous face + of the Jura, which is here an escarpment, a cliff of great height, and + contains but few such breaks by which</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-35.jpg" alt="path-35.jpg" class="c43" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">100</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">SOLEURE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">men can pick their way. It was when I was about + half-way down the mountain side that its vastness most impressed me. And + yet it had been but a platform as it were, from which to view the Alps and + their much greater sublimity.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This vastness, even of these limestone mountains, + took me especially at a place where the path bordered a steep, or rather + precipitous, lift of white rock to which only here and there a tree could + cling.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was still very high up, but looking somewhat + more eastward than before, and the plain went on inimitably towards some + low vague hills; nor in that direction could any snow be seen in the sky. + Then at last I came to the slopes which make a little bank under the + mountains, and there, finding a highroad, and oppressed somewhat suddenly + by the afternoon heat of those low places, I went on more slowly towards + Soleure.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Beside me, on the road, were many houses, shaded + by great trees, built of wood, and standing apart. To each of them almost + was a little water-wheel, run by the spring which came down out of the + ravine. The water-wheel in most cases worked a simple little machine for + sawing planks, but in other cases it seemed used for some purpose inside + the house, which I could not divine; perhaps for spinning.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All this place was full of working, and the men + sang and spoke at their work in German, which I could not understand. I + did indeed find one man, a young hay-making man carrying a scythe, who + knew a little French and was going my way. I asked him, therefore, to + teach me German, but he had not taught me much before we were at the gates + of the old town and then I left him. It is thus, you will see, that for my + next four days or five, which were passed among the German-speaking Swiss, + I was utterly alone.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This book must not go on for ever; therefore I + cannot say very much about Soleure, although there is a great deal to be + said about it. It is distinguished by an impression of unity, and of civic + life, which I had already discovered in all these Swiss towns; for though + men talk of finding the Middle Ages here or there, I for my part never + find it, save where there has been democracy to preserve it. Thus I have + seen the Middle Ages especially alive in the small towns of Northern + France, and I have seen the Middle Ages in the University of Paris. Here + also in Switzerland. As I had seen it at St Ursanne, so I found it now at + Soleure. There were huge gates flanking the town, and there was that + evening a continual noise of rifles, at which the Swiss are for ever + practising. Over the church, however, I saw something terribly seventeenth + century, namely, Jaweh in great Hebrew letters upon its front.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE REMOTE INN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, dining there of the best they had to give me + (for this was another milestone in my pilgrimage), I became foolishly + refreshed and valiant, and instead of sleeping in Soleure, as a wise man + would have done, I determined, though it was now nearly dark, to push on + upon the road to Burgdorf.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-36.jpg" alt="path-36.jpg" class="c44" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">I therefore crossed the river Aar, which is here + magnificently broad and strong, and has bastions jutting out into it in a + very bold fashion. I saw the last colourless light of evening making its + waters seem like dull metal between the gloomy banks; I felt the + beginnings of fatigue, and half regretted my determination. But as it is + quite certain that one should never go back, I went on in the darkness, I + do not know how many miles, till I reached some cross roads and an inn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">102</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GOOD SAVAGES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This inn was very poor, and the people had never + heard in their lives, apparently, that a poor man on foot might not be + able to talk German, which seemed to me an astonishing thing; and as I sat + there ordering beer for myself and for a number of peasants (who but for + this would have me their butt, and even as it was found something + monstrous in me), I pondered during my continual attempts to converse with + them (for I had picked up some ten words of their language) upon the folly + of those who imagine the world to be grown smaller by railways.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I suppose this place was more untouched, as the + phrase goes, that is, more living, more intense, and more powerful to + affect others, whenever it may be called to do so, than are even the dear + villages of Sussex that lie under my downs. For those are haunted by a + nearly cosmopolitan class of gentry, who will have actors, financiers, and + what not to come and stay with them, and who read the paper, and from time + to time address their village folk upon matters of politics. But here, in + this broad plain by the banks of the Emmen, they knew of nothing but + themselves and the Church which is the common bond of Europe, and they + were in the right way. Hence it was doubly hard on me that they should + think me such a stranger.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I had become a little morose at their + perpetual laughter, I asked for a bed, and the landlady, a woman of some + talent, showed me on her fingers that the beds were 50c., 75c., and a + franc. I determined upon the best, and was given indeed a very pleasant + room, having in it the statue of a saint, and full of a country air. But I + had done too much in this night march, as you will presently learn, for my + next day was a day without salt, and in it appreciation left me. And this + breakdown of appreciation was due to what I did not know at the time to be + fatigue, but to what was undoubtedly a deep inner exhaustion.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I awoke next morning it was as it always is: + no one was awake, and I had the field to myself, to slip out as I chose. I + looked out of the window into the dawn. The race had made its own + surroundings.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">These people who suffocated with laughter at the + idea of one's knowing no German, had produced, as it were, a German + picture by the mere influence of years and years of similar thoughts.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Out of my window I saw the eaves coming low down. + I saw an apple-tree against the grey light. The tangled grass in the + little garden, the dog-kennel, and the standing butt were all what I had + seen in those German pictures which they put into books for children, and + which are drawn in thick black lines: nor did I see any reason why tame + faces should not appear in that framework. I</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">103</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b> ISOLATION</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">expected the light lank hair and the heavy + unlifting step of the people whose only emotions are in music.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But it was too early for any one to be about, and + my German garden, <i>si j'ose m'exprimer ainsi,</i> had to suffice me for + an impression of the Central Europeans. I gazed at it a little while as it + grew lighter. Then I went downstairs and slipped the latch (which, being + German, was of a quaint design). I went out into the road and sighed + profoundly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All that day was destined to be covered, so far as + my spirit was concerned, with a motionless lethargy. Nothing seemed + properly to interest or to concern me, and not till evening was I visited + by any muse. Even my pain (which was now dull and chronic) was no longer a + subject for my entertainment, and I suffered from an uneasy isolation that + had not the merit of sharpness and was no spur to the mind. I had the + feeling that every one I might see would be a stranger, and that their + language would be unfamiliar to me, and this, unlike most men who travel, + I had never felt before.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The reason being this: that if a man has English + thoroughly he can wander over a great part of the world familiarly, and + meet men with whom he can talk. And if he has French thoroughly all Italy, + and I suppose Spain, certainly Belgium, are open to him. Not perhaps that + he will understand what he hears or will be understood of others, but that + the order and nature of the words and the gestures accompanying them are + his own. Here, however, I, to whom English and French were the same, was + to spend (it seemed) whole days among a people who put their verbs at the + end, where the curses or the endearments come in French and English, and + many of whose words stand for ideas we have not got. I had no room for + good-fellowship. I could not sit at tables and expand the air with + terrible stories of adventure, nor ask about their politics, nor provoke + them to laughter or sadness by my tales. It seemed a poor pilgrimage taken + among dumb men.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Also I have no doubt that I had experienced the + ebb of some vitality, for it is the saddest thing about us that this + bright spirit with which we are lit from within like lanterns, can suffer + dimness. Such frailty makes one fear that extinction is our final destiny, + and it saps us with numbness, and we are less than ourselves. Seven nights + had I been on pilgrimage, and two of them had I passed in the open. Seven + great heights had I climbed: the Forest, Archettes, the Ballon, the Mont + Terrible, the Watershed, the pass by Moutier, the Weissenstein. Seven + depths had I fallen to: twice to the Moselle, the gap of Belfort, the + gorge of the Doubs, Glovelier valley, the hole of Moutier, and now this + plain of the Aar. I had marched 180 miles. It was no wonder that on this + eighth day I was oppressed and that all the light long I drank no good + wine,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">104</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font3"><b> DESOLATION</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">met no one to remember well, nor sang any songs. + All this part of my way was full of what they call Duty, and I was + sustained only by my knowledge that the vast mountains (which had + disappeared) would be part of my life very soon if I still went on + steadily towards Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The sun had risen when I reached Burgdorf, and I + there went to a railway station, and outside of it drank coffee and ate + bread. I also bought old newspapers in French, and looked at everything + wearily and with sad eyes. There was nothing to draw. How can a man draw + pain in the foot and knee? And that was all there was remarkable at that + moment.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I watched a train come in. It was full of + tourists, who (it may have been a subjective illusion) seemed to me common + and worthless people, and sad into the bargain. It was going to + Interlaken; and I felt a languid contempt for people who went to + Interlaken instead of driving right across the great hills to Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After an hour, or so of this melancholy dawdling, + I put a map before me on a little marble table, ordered some more coffee, + and blew into my tepid life a moment of warmth by the effort of coming to + a necessary decision. I had (for the first time since I had left Lorraine) + the choice of two roads; and why this was so the following map will make + clear.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here you see that there is no possibility of + following the straight way to Rome, but that one must go a few miles east + or west of it. From Burgundy one has to strike a point on the sources of + the Emmen, and Burgdorf is on the</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-37.jpg" alt="path-37.jpg" class="c45" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>105</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>A DAY WITHOUT SALT</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Emmen. Therefore one might follow the Emmen all + the way up. But it seemed that the road climbed up above a gorge that way, + whereas by the other (which is just as straight) the road is good (it + seemed) and fairly level. So I chose this latter Eastern way, which, at + the bifurcation, takes one up a tributary of the Emmen, then over a rise + to the Upper Emmen again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Do you want it made plainer than that? I should + think not. And, tell me--what can it profit you to know these geographical + details? Believe me, I write them down for my own gratification, not + yours.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say a day without salt. A trudge. The air was + ordinary, the colours common; men, animals, and trees indifferent. + Something had stopped working.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Our energy also is from God, and we should never + be proud of it, even if we can cover thirty miles day after day (as I + can), or bend a peony in one's hand as could Frocot, the driver in my + piece--a man you never knew--or write bad verse very rapidly as can so + many moderns. I say our energy also is from God, and we should never be + proud of it as though it were from ourselves, but we should accept it as a + kind of present, and we should be thankful for it; just as a man should + thank God for his reason, as did the madman in the Story of the Rose, who + thanked God that he at least was sane though all the rest of the world had + recently lost their reason.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed, this defaillance and breakdown which comes + from time to time over the mind is a very sad thing, but it can be made of + great use to us if we will draw from it the lesson that we ourselves are + nothing. Perhaps it is a grace. Perhaps in these moments our minds repose + ... Anyhow, a day without salt.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You understand that under (or in) these + circumstances--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I was at Oxford there was a great and + terrible debate that shook the Empire, and that intensely exercised the + men whom we send out to govern the Empire, and which, therefore, must have + had its effect upon the Empire, as to whether one should say 'under these + circumstances' or 'in these circumstances'; nor did I settle matters by + calling a conclave and suggesting <i>Quae quum ita sint</i> as a common + formula, because a new debate arose upon when you should say <i> sint</i> + and when you should say <i>sunt,</i> and they all wrangled like kittens in + a basket.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Until there rose a deep-voiced man from an + outlying college, who said, 'For my part I will say that under these + circumstances, or in these circumstances, or in spite of these + circumstances, or hovering playfully above these circumstances, or--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">106</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">IN ALL THESE CIRCUMSTANCES</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-38.png" alt="path-38.png" class="c46" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I take you all for Fools and Pedants, in the + Chief, in the Chevron, and in the quarter Fess. Fools absolute, and + Pedants lordless. Free Fools, unlanded Fools, and Fools incommensurable, + and Pedants displayed and rampant of the Tierce Major. Fools incalculable + and Pedants irreparable; indeed, the arch Fool-pedants in a universe of + pedantic folly and foolish pedantry, O you pedant-fools of the world!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But by this time he was alone, and thus was this + great question never properly decided.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Under these circumstances, then (or in these + circumstances), it would profit you but little if I were to attempt the + description of the Valley of the Emmen, of the first foot-hills of the + Alps, and of the very uninteresting valley which runs on from Langnau.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had best employ my time in telling the story of + the Hungry Student.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. And if you are so worn-out and bereft of + all emotions, how can you tell a story?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. These two conditions permit me. First, + that I am writing some time after, and that I have recovered; secondly, + that the story is not mine, but taken straight out of that nationalist + newspaper which had served me so long</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">107</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HUNGRY STUDENT FAILS TO APPEAR</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">to wrap up my bread and bacon in my haversack. + This is the story, and I will tell it you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now, I think of it, it would be a great waste of + time. Here am I no farther than perhaps a third of my journey, and I have + already admitted so much digression that my pilgrimage is like the story + of a man asleep and dreaming, instead of the plain, honest, and + straightforward narrative of fact. I will therefore postpone the Story of + the Hungry Student till I get into the plains of Italy, or into the barren + hills of that peninsula, or among the over-well-known towns of Tuscany, or + in some other place where a little padding will do neither you nor me any + great harm.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">On the other hand, do not imagine that I am going + to give you any kind of description of this intolerable day's march. If + you want some kind of visual Concept (pretty word), take all these little + châlets which were beginning and make what you can of them.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Where are they?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. They are still in Switzerland; not here. + They were overnumerous as I maundered up from where at last the road + leaves the valley and makes over a little pass for a place called + Schangnau. But though it is not a story, on the contrary, an exact + incident and the truth--a thing that I would swear to in the court of + justice, or quite willingly and cheerfully believe if another man told it + to me; or even take as historical if I found it in a modern English + history of the Anglo-Saxon Church--though, I repeat, it is a thing + actually lived, yet I will tell it you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was at the very end of the road, and when an + enormous weariness had begun to add some kind of interest to this + stuffless episode of the dull day, that a peasant with a brutal face, + driving a cart very rapidly, came up with me. I said to him nothing, but + he said to me some words in German which I did not understand. We were at + that moment just opposite a little inn upon the right hand of the road, + and the peasant began making signs to me to hold his horse for him while + he went in and drank.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">How willing I was to do this you will not perhaps + understand, unless you have that delicate and subtle pleasure in the + holding of horses' heads, which is the boast and glory of some rare minds. + And I was the more willing to do it from the fact that I have the habit of + this kind of thing, acquired in the French manoeuvres, and had once held a + horse for no less a person than a General of Division, who gave me a franc + for it, and this franc I spent later with the men of my battery, + purchasing wine. So to make a long story short, as the publisher</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">108</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>STORY OF THE HORSE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">said when he published the popular edition of <i>Pamela,</i> + I held the horse for the peasant; always, of course, under the implicit + understanding that he should allow me when he came out to have a drink, + which I, of course, expected him to bring in his own hands.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Far from it. I can understand the anger which some + people feel against the Swiss when they travel in that country, though I + will always hold that it is monstrous to come into a man's country of your + own accord, and especially into a country so free and so well governed as + is Switzerland, and then to quarrel with the particular type of citizen + that you find there.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Let us not discuss politics. The point is that the + peasant sat in there drinking with his friends for a good three-quarters + of an hour. Now and then a man would come out and look at the sky, and + cough and spit and turn round again and say something to the people within + in German, and go off; but no one paid the least attention to me as I held + this horse.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was already in a very angry and irritable mood, + for the horse was restive and smelt his stable, and wished to break away + from me. And all angry and irritable as I was, I turned around to see if + this man were coming to relieve me; but I saw him laughing and joking with + the people inside; and they were all looking my way out of their window as + they laughed. I may have been wrong, but I thought they were laughing at + me. A man who knows the Swiss intimately, and who has written a book upon + 'The Drink Traffic: The Example of Switzerland', tells me they certainly + were not laughing at me; at any rate, I thought they were, and moved by a + sudden anger I let go the reins, gave the horse a great clout, and set him + off careering and galloping like a whirlwind down the road from which he + had come, with the bit in his teeth and all the storms of heaven in his + four feet. Instantly, as you may imagine, all the scoffers came tumbling + out of the inn, hullabooling, gesticulating, and running like madmen after + the horse, and one old man even turned to protest to me. But I, setting my + teeth, grasping my staff, and remembering the purpose of my great journey, + set on up the road again with my face towards Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I sincerely hope, trust, and pray that this part + of my journey will not seem as dull to you as it did to me at the time, or + as it does to me now while I write of it. But now I come to think of it, + it cannot seem as dull, for I had to walk that wretched thirty miles or so + all the day long, whereas you have not even to read it; for I am not going + to say anything more about it, but lead you straight to the end.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Oh, blessed quality of books, that makes them a + refuge from living! For in</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">109</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE UPPER EMMEN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">a book everything can be made to fit in, all + tedium can be skipped over, and the intense moments can be made timeless + and eternal, and as a poet who is too little known has well said in one of + his unpublished lyrics, we, by the art of writing--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">Can fix the high elusive hour And stand in things + divine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And as for high elusive hours, devil a bit of one + was there all the way from Burgdorf to the Inn of the Bridge, except the + ecstatic flash of joy when I sent that horse careering down the road with + his bad master after him and all his gang shouting among the hollow hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So. It was already evening. I was coming, more + tired than ever, to a kind of little pass by which my road would bring me + back again to the Emmen, now nothing but a torrent. All the slope down the + other side of the little pass (three or four hundred feet perhaps) was + covered by a village, called, if I remember right, Schangnau, and there + was a large school on my right and a great number of children there + dancing round in a ring and singing songs. The sight so cheered me that I + determined to press on up the valley, though with no definite goal for the + night. It was a foolish decision, for I was really in the heart of an + unknown country, at the end of roads, at the sources of rivers, beyond + help. I knew that straight before me, not five miles away, was the + Brienzer Grat, the huge high wall which it was my duty to cross right over + from side to side. I did not know whether or not there was an inn between + me and that vast barrier.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The light was failing. I had perhaps some vague + idea of sleeping out, but that would have killed me, for a heavy mist that + covered all the tops of the hills and that made a roof over the valley, + began to drop down a fine rain; and, as they sing in church on Christmas + Eve, 'the heavens sent down their dews upon a just man'. But that was + written in Palestine, where rain is a rare blessing; there and then in the + cold evening they would have done better to have warmed the righteous. + There is no controlling them; they mean well, but they bungle terribly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road stopped being a road, and became like a + Californian trail. I approached enormous gates in the hills, high, + precipitous, and narrow. The mist rolled over them, hiding their summits + and making them seem infinitely lifted up and reaching endlessly into the + thick sky; the straight, tenuous lines of the rain made them seem narrower + still. Just as I neared them, hobbling, I met a man driving two cows, and + said to him the word, 'Guest-house?' to which he said 'Yaw!' and pointed + out a clump of trees to me just under the precipice</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BRIENZER GRAT, HOW IT LIES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and right in the gates I speak of. So I went there + over an old bridge, and found a wooden house and went in.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was a house which one entered without ceremony. + The door was open, and one walked straight into a great room. There sat + three men playing at cards. I saluted them loudly in French, English, and + Latin, but they did not understand me, and what seemed remarkable in an + hotel (for it was an hotel rather than an inn), no one in the house + understood me--neither the servants nor any one; but the servants did not + laugh at me as had the poor people near Burgdorf, they only stood round me + looking at me patiently in wonder as cows do at trains. Then they brought + me food, and as I did not know the names of the different kinds of food, I + had to eat what they chose; and the angel of that valley protected me from + boiled mutton. I knew, however, the word Wein, which is the same in all + languages, and so drank a quart of it consciously and of a set purpose. + Then I slept, and next morning at dawn I rose up, put on my thin, wet + linen clothes, and went downstairs. No one was about. I looked around for + something to fill my sack. I picked up a great hunk of bread from the + dining-room table, and went out shivering into the cold drizzle that was + still falling from a shrouded sky. Before me, a great forbidding wall, + growing blacker as it went upwards and ending in a level line of mist, + stood the Brienzer Grat.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To understand what I next had to do it is + necessary to look back at the little map on page 105.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You will observe that the straight way to Rome + cuts the Lake of Brienz rather to the eastward of the middle, and then + goes slap over Wetterhorn and strikes the Rhone Valley at a place called + Ulrichen. That is how a bird would do it, if some High Pope of Birds lived + in Rome and needed visiting, as, for instance, the Great Auk; or if some + old primal relic sacred to birds was connected therewith, as, for + instance, the bones of the Dodo.... But I digress. The point is that the + straight line takes one over the Brienzer Grat, over the lake, and then + over the Wetterhorn. That was manifestly impossible. But whatever of it + was possible had to be done, and among the possible things was clambering + over the high ridge of the Brienzer Grat instead of going round like a + coward by Interlaken. After I had clambered over it, however, needs must I + should have to take a pass called the Grimsel Pass and reach the Rhone + Valley that way. It was with such a determination that I had come here to + the upper waters of the Emmen, and stood now on a moist morning in the + basin where that stream rises, at the foot of the mountain range that + divided me from the lake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Brienzer Grat is an extraordinary thing. It is + quite straight; its summits are, of course, of different heights, but from + below they seem even, like a ridge: and, indeed, the whole mountain is + more like a ridge than any other I have</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FOG</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">seen. At one end is a peak called the 'Red Horn', + the other end falls suddenly above Interlaken, and wherever you should cut + it you would get a section like this, for it is as steep as anything can + be short of sheer rock. There are no precipices on it, though there are + nasty slabs quite high enough to kill a man--I saw several of three or + four hundred feet. It is about five or six thousand feet high, and it + stands right up and along the northern shore of the lake of Brienz. I + began the ascent.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-39.jpg" alt="path-39.jpg" class="c47" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Spongy meads, that soughed under the feet and grew + steeper as one rose, took up the first few hundred feet. Little rivulets + of mere dampness ran in among the under moss, and such very small hidden + flowers as there were drooped with the surfeit of moisture. The rain was + now indistinguishable from a mist, and indeed I had come so near to the + level belt of cloud, that already its gloom was exchanged for that + diffused light which fills vapours from within and lends them their + mystery. A belt of thick brushwood and low trees lay before me, clinging + to the slope, and as I pushed with great difficulty and many turns to + right and left through its tangle a wisp of cloud enveloped me, and from + that time on I was now in, now out, of a deceptive drifting fog, in which + it was most difficult to gauge one's progress.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now and then a higher mass of rock, a peak on the + ridge, would show clear through a corridor of cloud and be hidden again; + also at times I would stand hesitating before a sharp wall or slab, and + wait for a shifting of the fog to make sure of the best way round. I + struck what might have been a loose path or perhaps only a gully; lost it + again and found it again. In one place I climbed</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">112</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HALT IN THE FOG</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">up a jagged surface for fifty feet, only to find + when it cleared that it was no part of the general ascent, but a mere + obstacle which might have been outflanked. At another time I stopped for a + good quarter of an hour at an edge that might have been an indefinite fall + of smooth rock, but that turned out to be a short drop, easy for a man, + and not much longer than my body. So I went upwards always, drenched and + doubting, and not sure of the height I had reached at any time.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At last I came to a place where a smooth stone lay + between two pillared monoliths, as though it had been put there for a + bench. Though all around me was dense mist, yet I could see above me the + vague shape of a summit looming quite near. So I said to myself--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I will sit here and wait till it grows lighter + and clearer, for I must now be within two or three hundred feet of the top + of the ridge, and as anything at all may be on the other side, I had best + go carefully and knowing my way.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I sat down facing the way I had to go and + looking upwards, till perhaps a movement of the air might show me against + a clear sky the line of the ridge, and so let me estimate the work that + remained to do. I kept my eyes fixed on the point where I judged that sky + line to lie, lest I should miss some sudden gleam revealing it; and as I + sat there I grew mournful and began to consider the folly of climbing this + great height on an empty stomach. The soldiers of the Republic fought + their battles often before breakfast, but never, I think, without having + drunk warm coffee, and no one should attempt great efforts without some + such refreshment before starting. Indeed, my fasting, and the rare thin + air of the height, the chill and the dampness that had soaked my thin + clothes through and through, quite lowered my blood and left it piano, + whimpering and irresolute. I shivered and demanded the sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I bethought me of the hunk of bread I had + stolen, and pulling it out of my haversack I began to munch that + ungrateful breakfast. It was hard and stale, and gave me little + sustenance; I still gazed upwards into the uniform meaningless light fog, + looking for the ridge.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Suddenly, with no warning to prepare the mind, a + faint but distinct wind blew upon me, the mist rose in a wreath backward + and upward, and I was looking through clear immensity, not at any ridge, + but over an awful gulf at great white fields of death. The Alps were right + upon me and before me, overwhelming and commanding empty downward + distances of air. Between them and me was a narrow dreadful space of + nothingness and silence, and a sheer mile below us both, a floor to that + prodigious hollow, lay the little lake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">My stone had not been a halting-place at all, but + was itself the summit</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE LIFE-QUALM</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of the ridge, and those two rocks on either side + of it framed a notch upon the very edge and skyline of the high hills of + Brienz.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Surprise and wonder had not time to form in my + spirit before both were swallowed up by fear. The proximity of that + immense wall of cold, the Alps, seen thus full from the level of its + middle height and comprehended as it cannot be from the depths; its + suggestion of something never changing throughout eternity--yet dead--was + a threat to the eager mind. They, the vast Alps, all wrapped round in ice, + frozen, and their immobility enhanced by the delicate, roaming veils which + (as from an attraction) hovered in their hollows, seemed to halt the + process of living. And the living soul whom they thus perturbed was + supported by no companionship. There were no trees or blades of grass + around me, only the uneven and primal stones of that height. There were no + birds in the gulf; there was no sound. And the whiteness of the glaciers, + the blackness of the snow-streaked rocks beyond, was glistening and + unsoftened. There had come something evil into their sublimity. I was + afraid.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nor could I bear to look downwards. The slope was + in no way a danger. A man could walk up it without often using his hands, + and a man could go down it slowly without any direct fall, though here and + there he would have to turn round at each dip or step and hold with his + hands and feel a little for his foothold. I suppose the general slope, + down, down, to where the green began was not sixty degrees, but have you + ever tried looking down five thousand feet at sixty degrees? It drags the + mind after it, and I could not bear to begin the descent.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">However I reasoned with myself. I said to myself + that a man should only be afraid of real dangers. That nightmare was not + for the daylight. That there was now no mist but a warm sun. Then choosing + a gully where water sometimes ran, but now dry, I warily began to descend, + using my staff and leaning well backwards.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was this disturbing thing about the gully, + that it went in steps, and before each step one saw the sky just a yard or + two ahead: one lost the comforting sight of earth. One knew of course that + it would only be a little drop, and that the slope would begin again, but + it disturbed one. And it is a trial to drop or clamber down, say fourteen + or fifteen feet, sometimes twenty, and then to find no flat foothold but + that eternal steep beginning again. And this outline in which I have + somewhat, but not much, exaggerated the slope, will show what I mean. The + dotted line is the line of vision just as one got to a 'step'. The little + figure is AUCTOR. LECTOR is up in the air looking at him. Observe the + perspective of the lake below, but make no comments.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">114</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>THE STEEP</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-40.jpg" alt="path-40.jpg" class="c48" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went very slowly. When I was about half-way down + and had come to a place where a shoulder of heaped rock stood on my left + and where little parallel ledges led up to it, having grown accustomed to + the descent and easier in my mind, I sat down on a slab and drew + imperfectly the things I saw: the lake below me, the first forests + clinging to the foot of the Alps beyond, their higher slopes of snow, and + the clouds that had now begun to gather round them and that altogether hid + the last third of their enormous height.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I saw a steamer on the lake. I felt in touch + with men. The slope grew easier. I snapped my fingers at the great devils + that haunt high mountains. I sniffed the gross and comfortable air of the + lower valleys, I entered the</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <img src="images/path-41.jpg" alt="path-41.jpg" class="c49" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>BAD GEOGRAPHY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">belt of wood and was soon going quite a pace + through the trees, for I had found a path, and was now able to sing. So I + did.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At last I saw through the trunks, but a few + hundred feet below me, the highroad that skirts the lake. I left the path + and scrambled straight down to it. I came to a wall which I climbed, and + found myself in somebody's garden. Crossing this and admiring its wealth + and order (I was careful not to walk on the lawns), I opened a little + private gate and came on to the road, and from there to Brienz was but a + short way along a fine hard surface in a hot morning sun, with the gentle + lake on my right hand not five yards away, and with delightful trees upon + my left, caressing and sometimes even covering me with their shade.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was therefore dry, ready and contented when I + entered by mid morning the curious town of Brienz, which is all one long + street, and of which the population is Protestant. I say dry, ready and + contented; dry in my clothes, ready for food, contented with men and + nature. But as I entered I squinted up that interminable slope, I saw the + fog wreathing again along the ridge so infinitely above me, and I + considered myself a fool to have crossed the Brienzer Grat without + breakfast. But I could get no one in Brienz to agree with me, because no + one thought I had done it, though several people there could talk French.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Grimsel Pass is the valley of the Aar; it is + also the eastern flank of that great <i>massif,</i> or bulk and mass of + mountains called the Bernese Oberland. Western Switzerland, you must know, + is not (as I first thought it was when I gazed down from the Weissenstein) + a plain surrounded by a ring of mountains, but rather it is a plain in its + northern half (the plain of the lower Aar), and in its southern half it is + two enormous parallel lumps of mountains. I call them 'lumps', because + they are so very broad and tortuous in their plan that they are hardly + ranges. Now these two lumps are the Bernese Oberland and the Pennine Alps, + and between them runs a deep trench called the valley of the Rhone. Take + Mont Blanc in the west and a peak called the Crystal Peak over the Val + Bavona on the east, and they are the flanking bastions of one great wall, + the Pennine Alps. Take the Diablerets on the west, and the Wetterhorn on + the east, and they are the flanking bastions of another great wall, the + Bernese Oberland. And these two walls are parallel, with the Rhone in + between.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now these two walls converge at a point where + there is a sort of knot of mountain ridges, and this point may be taken as + being on the boundary</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">117</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>A DOUBTFUL MAP</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">between Eastern and Western Switzerland. At this + wonderful point the Ticino, the Rhone, the Aar, and the Reuss all begin, + and it is here that the simple arrangement of the Alps to the west turns + into the confused jumble of the Alps to the east.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When you are high up on either wall you can catch + the plan of all this, but to avoid a confused description and to help you + to follow the marvellous, Hannibalian and never-before-attempted charge + and march which I made, and which, alas! ended only in a glorious + defeat--to help you to picture faintly to yourselves the mirific and + horripilant adventure whereby I nearly achieved superhuman success in + spite of all the powers of the air, I append a little map which is rough + but clear and plain, and which I beg you to study closely, for it will + make it easy for you to understand what next happened in my pilgrimage.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-42.jpg" alt="path-42.jpg" class="c50" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The dark strips are the deep cloven valleys, the + shaded belt is that higher land which is yet passable by any ordinary man. + The part left white you may take to be the very high fields of ice and + snow with great peaks which an ordinary man must regard as impassable, + unless, indeed, he can wait for his weather and take guides and go on as a + tourist instead of a pilgrim.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You will observe that I have marked five clefts or + valleys. A is that of the <i>Aar,</i> and the little white patch at the + beginning is the lake of Brienz. B is that of the <i>Reuss.</i> C is that + of the <i>Rhone;</i> and all these three are <i>north</i> of the great + watershed or main chain, and all three are full of German-speaking people.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">On the other hand, D is the valley of the <i>Toccia,</i> + E of the <i>Maggia,</i> and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">118</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>MORE GEOGRAPHY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">F of the <i> Ticino.</i> All these three are <i>south</i> + of the great watershed, and are inhabited by Italian-speaking people. All + these three lead down at last to Lake Major, and so to Milan and so to + Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The straight line to Rome is marked on my map by a + dotted line ending in an arrow, and you will see that it was just my luck + that it should cross slap over that knot or tangle of ranges where all the + rivers spring. The problem was how to negotiate a passage from the valley + of the Aar to one of the three Italian valleys, without departing too far + from my straight line. To explain my track I must give the names of all + the high passes between the valleys. That between A and C is called the <i>Grimsel;</i> + that between B and C the <i>Furka.</i> That between D and C is the <i>Gries</i> + Pass, that between F and C the <i>Nufenen,</i> and that between E and F is + not the easy thing it looks on the map; indeed it is hardly a pass at all + but a scramble over very high peaks, and it is called the Crystalline + Mountain. Finally, on the far right of my map, you see a high passage + between B and F. This is the famous St Gothard.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The straightest way of all was (1) over the <i>Grimsel,</i> + then, the moment I got into the valley of the Rhone (2), up out of it + again over the <i> Nufenen,</i> then the moment I was down into the valley + of the <i> Ticino</i> (F), up out of it again (3) over the Crystalline to + the valley of the <i>Maggia</i> (E). Once in the Maggia valley (the top of + it is called the <i>Val Bavona),</i> it is a straight path for the lakes + and Rome. There were also these advantages: that I should be in a place + very rarely visited--all the guide-books are doubtful on it; that I should + be going quite straight; that I should be accomplishing a feat, viz. the + crossing of those high passes one after the other (and you must remember + that over the Nufenen there is no road at all).</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But every one I asked told me that thus early in + the year (it was not the middle of June) I could not hope to scramble over + the Crystalline. No one (they said) could do it and live. It was all ice + and snow and cold mist and verglas, and the precipices were smooth--a man + would never get across; so it was not worth while crossing the Nufenen + Pass if I was to be balked at the Crystal, and I determined on the Gries + Pass. I said to myself: 'I will go on over the Grimsel, and once in the + valley of the Rhone, I will walk a mile or two down to where the Gries + Pass opens, and I will go over it into Italy.' For the Gries Pass, though + not quite in the straight line, had this advantage, that once over it you + are really in Italy. In the Ticino valley or in the Val Bavona, though the + people are as Italian as Catullus, yet politically they count as part of + Switzerland; and therefore if you enter Italy thereby, you are not + suddenly introduced to that country, but, as it were, inoculated, and led + on by degrees, which is a pity. For good things should come suddenly,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">119</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GRIMSEL BEGINS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">like the demise of that wicked man, Mr <i>(deleted + by the censor),</i> who had oppressed the poor for some forty years, when + he was shot dead from behind a hedge, and died in about the time it takes + to boil an egg, and there was an end of him.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Having made myself quite clear that I had a formed + plan to go over the Grimsel by the new road, then up over the Gries, where + there is no road at all, and so down into the vale of the Tosa, and having + calculated that on the morrow I should be in Italy, I started out from + Brienz after eating a great meal, it being then about midday, and I having + already, as you know, crossed the Brienzer Grat since dawn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The task of that afternoon was more than I could + properly undertake, nor did I fulfil it. From Brienz to the top of the + Grimsel is, as the crow flies, quite twenty miles, and by the road a good + twenty-seven. It is true I had only come from over the high hills; perhaps + six miles in a straight line. But what a six miles! and all without food. + Not certain, therefore, how much of the pass I could really do that day, + but aiming at crossing it, like a fool, I went on up the first miles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For an hour or more after Brienz the road runs + round the base of and then away from a fine great rock. There is here an + alluvial plain like a continuation of the lake, and the Aar runs through + it, canalized and banked and straight, and at last the road also becomes + straight. On either side rise gigantic cliffs enclosing the valley, and + (on the day I passed there) going up into the clouds, which, though high, + yet made a roof for the valley. From the great mountains on the left the + noble rock jutted out alone and dominated the little plain; on the right + the buttresses of the main Alps all stood in a row, and between them went + whorls of vapour high, high up--just above the places where snow still + clung to the slopes. These whorls made the utmost steeps more and more + misty, till at last they were lost in a kind of great darkness, in which + the last and highest banks of ice seemed to be swallowed up. I often + stopped to gaze straight above me, and I marvelled at the silence.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was the first part of the afternoon when I got + to a place called Meiringen, and I thought that there I would eat and + drink a little more. So I steered into the main street, but there I found + such a yelling and roaring as I had never heard before, and very damnable + it was; as though men were determined to do common evil wherever God has + given them a chance of living in awe and worship.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For they were all bawling and howling, with great + placards and tickets, and saying, 'This way to the Extraordinary + Waterfall; that way to the Strange Cave. Come with me and you shall see + the never-to-be-forgotten Falls of</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">120</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE LOUD NOISE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">the Aar,' and so forth. So that my illusion of + being alone in the roots of the world dropped off me very quickly, and I + wondered how people could be so helpless and foolish as to travel about in + Switzerland as tourists and meet with all this vulgarity and beastliness.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">If a man goes to drink good wine he does not say, + 'So that the wine be good I do not mind eating strong pepper and smelling + hartshorn as I drink it,' and if a man goes to read a good verse, for + instance, Jean Richepin, he does not say, 'Go on playing on the trombone, + go on banging the cymbals; so long as I am reading good verse I am + content.' Yet men now go into the vast hills and sleep and live in their + recesses, and pretend to be indifferent to all the touts and shouters and + hurry and hotels and high prices and abominations. Thank God, it goes in + grooves! I say it again, thank God, the railways are trenches that drain + our modern marsh, for you have but to avoid railways, even by five miles, + and you can get more peace than would fill a nosebag. All the world is my + garden since they built railways, and gave me leave to keep off them.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Also I vowed a franc to the Black Virgin of La + Delivrande (next time I should be passing there) because I was delivered + from being a tourist, and because all this horrible noise was not being + dinned at me (who was a poor and dirty pilgrim, and no kind of prey for + these cabmen, and busmen, and guides and couriers), but at a crowd of + drawn, sad, jaded tourists that had come in by a train.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Soon I had left them behind. The road climbed the + first step upwards in the valley, going round a rock on the other side of + which the Aar had cut itself a gorge and rushed in a fall and rapids. Then + the road went on and on weary mile after weary mile, and I stuck to it, + and it rose slowly all the time, and all the time the Aar went dashing by, + roaring and filling the higher valley with echoes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I got beyond the villages. The light shining + suffused through the upper mist began to be the light of evening. Rain, + very fine and slight, began to fall. It was cold. There met and passed me, + going down the road, a carriage with a hood up, driving at full speed. It + could not be from over the pass, for I knew that it was not yet open for + carriages or carts. It was therefore from a hotel somewhere, and if there + was a hotel I should find it. I looked back to ask the distance, but they + were beyond earshot, and so I went on.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">My boots in which I had sworn to walk to Rome were + ruinous. Already since the Weissenstein they had gaped, and now the + Brienzer Grat had made the sole of one of them quite free at the toe. It + flapped as I walked. Very</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SNOW BLINK</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">soon I should be walking on my uppers. I limped + also, and I hated the wet cold rain. But I had to go on. Instead of + flourishing my staff and singing, I leant on it painfully and thought of + duty, and death, and dereliction, and every other horrible thing that + begins with a D. I had to go on. If I had gone back there was nothing for + miles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Before it was dark--indeed one could still read--I + saw a group of houses beyond the Aar, and soon after I saw that my road + would pass them, going over a bridge. When I reached them I went into the + first, saying to myself, 'I will eat, and if I can go no farther I will + sleep here.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There were in the house two women, one old, the + other young; and they were French-speaking, from the Vaud country. They + had faces like Scotch people, and were very kindly, but odd, being + Calvinist. I said, 'Have you any beans?' They said, 'Yes.' I suggested + they should make me a dish of beans and bacon, and give me a bottle of + wine, while I dried myself at their great stove. All this they readily did + for me, and I ate heartily and drank heavily, and they begged me + afterwards to stop the night and pay them for it; but I was so set up by + my food and wine that I excused myself and went out again and took the + road. It was not yet dark.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By some reflection from the fields of snow, which + were now quite near at hand through the mist, the daylight lingered + astonishingly late. The cold grew bitter as I went on through the + gloaming. There were no trees save rare and stunted pines. The Aar was a + shallow brawling torrent, thick with melting ice and snow and mud. Coarse + grass grew on the rocks sparsely; there were no flowers. The mist overhead + was now quite near, and I still went on and steadily up through the + half-light. It was as lonely as a calm at sea, except for the noise of the + river. I had overworn myself, and that sustaining surface which hides from + us in our health the abysses below the mind--I felt it growing weak and + thin. My fatigue bewildered me. The occasional steeps beside the road, one + especially beneath a high bridge where a tributary falls into the Aar in a + cascade, terrified me. They were like the emptiness of dreams. At last it + being now dark, and I having long since entered the upper mist, or rather + cloud (for I was now as high as the clouds), I saw a light gleaming + through the fog, just off the road, through pine-trees. It was time. I + could not have gone much farther.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To this I turned and found there one of those new + hotels, not very large, but very expensive. They knew me at once for what + I was, and welcomed me with joy. They gave me hot rum and sugar, a fine + warm bed, told me I was the first that had yet stopped there that year, + and left me to sleep very deep and yet in pain, as men sleep who are + stunned. But twice that</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>HEAD OF THE PASS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">night I woke suddenly, staring at darkness. I had + outworn the physical network upon which the soul depends, and I was full + of terrors.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Next morning I had fine coffee and bread and + butter and the rest, like a rich man; in a gilded dining-room all set out + for the rich, and served by a fellow that bowed and scraped. Also they + made me pay a great deal, and kept their eyes off my boots, and were still + courteous to me, and I to them. Then I bought wine of them--the first wine + not of the country that I had drunk on this march, a Burgundy--and putting + it in my haversack with a nice white roll, left them to wait for the next + man whom the hills might send them.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The clouds, the mist, were denser than ever in + that early morning; one could only see the immediate road. The cold was + very great; my clothes were not quite dried, but my heart was high, and I + pushed along well enough, though stiffly, till I came to what they call + the Hospice, which was once a monk-house, I suppose, but is now an inn. I + had brandy there, and on going out I found that it stood at the foot of a + sharp ridge which was the true Grimsel Pass, the neck which joins the + Bernese Oberland to the eastern group of high mountains. This ridge or + neck was steep like a pitched roof--very high I found it, and all of black + glassy rock, with here and there snow in sharp, even, sloping sheets just + holding to it. I could see but little of it at a time on account of the + mist.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Hitherto for all these miles the Aar had been my + companion, and the road, though rising always, had risen evenly and not + steeply. Now the Aar was left behind in the icy glen where it rises, and + the road went in an artificial and carefully built set of zig-zags up the + face of the cliff. There is a short cut, but I could not find it in the + mist. It is the old mule-path. Here and there, however, it was possible to + cut off long corners by scrambling over the steep black rock and smooth + ice, and all the while the cold, soft mist wisped in and out around me. + After a thousand feet of this I came to the top of the Grimsel, but not + before I had passed a place where an avalanche had destroyed the road and + where planks were laid. Also before one got to the very summit, no short + cuts or climbing were possible. The road ran deep in a cutting like a + Devonshire lane. Only here the high banks were solid snow.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Some little way past the summit, on the first + zig-zag down, I passed the Lake of the Dead in its mournful hollow. The + mist still enveloped all the ridge-side, and moved like a press of spirits + over the frozen water, then--as suddenly as on the much lower Brienzer + Grat, and (as on the Brienzer</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">123</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b> DIGRESSION</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Grat) to the southward and the sun, the clouds + lifted and wreathed up backward and were gone, and where there had just + been fulness was only an immensity of empty air and a sudden sight of + clear hills beyond and of little strange distant things thousands and + thousands of feet below.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Pray are we to have any more of that fine + writing?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I saw there as in a cup things that I had + thought (when I first studied the map at home) far too spacious and spread + apart to go into the view. Yet here they were all quite contained and + close together, on so vast a scale was the whole place conceived. It was + the comb of mountains of which I have written; the meeting of all the + valleys.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, from the height of a steep bank, as it were + (but a bank many thousands of feet high), one looked down into a whole + district or little world. On the map, I say, it had seemed so great that I + had thought one would command but this or that portion of it; as it was, + one saw it all.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And this is a peculiar thing I have noticed in all + mountains, and have never been able to understand--- namely, that if you + draw a plan or section to scale, your mountain does not seem a very + important thing. One should not, in theory, be able to dominate from its + height, nor to feel the world small below one, nor to hold a whole + countryside in one's hand--yet one does. The mountains from their heights + reveal to us two truths. They suddenly make us feel our insignificance, + and at the same time they free the immortal Mind, and let it feel its + greatness, and they release it from the earth. But I say again, in theory, + when one considers the exact relation of their height to the distances one + views from them, they ought to claim no such effect, and that they can + produce that effect is related to another thing--the way in which they + exaggerate their own steepness.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For instance, those noble hills, my downs in + Sussex, when you are upon them overlooking the weald, from Chanctonbury + say, feel like this--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-43.jpg" alt="path-43.jpg" class="c51" /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">INTERLUDE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">or even lower. Indeed, it is impossible to give + them truly, so insignificant are they; if the stretch of the Weald were + made nearly a yard long, Chanctonbury would not, in proportion, be more + than a fifth of an inch high! And yet, from the top of Chanctonbury, how + one seems to overlook it and possess it all!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">Well, so it was here from the Grimsel when I + overlooked the springs of the Rhone. In true proportion the valley I gazed + into and over must have been somewhat like this--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-44.jpg" alt="path-44.jpg" class="c52" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">It felt for all the world as deep and utterly below + me as this other--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-45.jpg" alt="path-45.jpg" class="c53" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Moreover, where there was no mist, the air was so + surprisingly clear that I could see everything clean and sharp wherever I + turned my eyes. The mountains forbade any very far horizons to the view, + and all that I could see was as neat and vivid as those coloured + photographs they sell with bright green grass and bright white snow, and + blue glaciers like precious stones.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I scrambled down the mountain, for here, on the + south side of the pass, there was no snow or ice, and it was quite easy to + leave the road and take the old path cutting off the zig-zags. As the air + got heavier, I became hungry, and at the very end of my descent, two + hundred feet or so above the young Rhone, I saw a great hotel. I went + round to their front door and asked them whether I could eat, and at what + price. 'Four francs,' they said.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What!' said I, 'four francs for a meal! Come, let + me eat in the kitchen, and charge me one.' But they became rude and + obstinate, being used only to deal with rich people, so I cursed them, and + went down the road. But I was very hungry.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">125</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SECOND GOOD WOMAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road falls quite steeply, and the Rhone, which + it accompanies in that valley, leaps in little falls. On a bridge I passed + a sad Englishman reading a book, and a little lower down, two American + women in a carriage, and after that a priest (it was lucky I did not see + him first. Anyhow, I touched iron at once, to wit, a key in my pocket), + and after that a child minding a goat. Altogether I felt myself in the + world again, and as I was on a good road, all down hill, I thought myself + capable of pushing on to the next village. But my hunger was really + excessive, my right boot almost gone, and my left boot nothing to exhibit + or boast of, when I came to a point where at last one looked down the + Rhone valley for miles. It is like a straight trench, and at intervals + there are little villages, built of most filthy chalets, the said chalets + raised on great stones. There are pine-trees up, up on either slope, into + the clouds, and beyond the clouds I could not see. I left on my left a + village called 'Between the Waters'. I passed through another called + 'Ehringen', but it has no inn. At last, two miles farther, faint from lack + of food, I got into Ulrichen, a village a little larger than the rest, and + the place where I believed one should start to go either over the Gries or + Nufenen Pass. In Ulrichen was a warm, wooden, deep-eaved, frousty, + comfortable, ramshackle, dark, anyhow kind of a little inn called 'The + Bear'. And entering, I saw one of the women whom god loves.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">She was of middle age, very honest and simple in + the face, kindly and good. She was messing about with cooking and stuff, + and she came up to me stooping a little, her eyes wide and innocent, and a + great spoon in her hand. Her face was extremely broad and flat, and I have + never seen eyes set so far apart. Her whole gait, manner, and accent + proved her to be extremely good, and on the straight road to heaven. I + saluted her in the French tongue. She answered me in the same, but very + broken and rustic, for her natural speech was a kind of mountain German. + She spoke very slowly, and had a nice soft voice, and she did what only + good people do, I mean, looked you in the eyes as she spoke to you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Beware of shifty-eyed people. It is not only + nervousness, it is also a kind of wickedness. Such people come to no good. + I have three of them now in my mind as I write. One is a Professor.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And, by the way, would you like to know why + universities suffer from this curse of nervous disease? Why the great + personages stammer or have St Vitus' dance, or jabber at the lips, or hop + in their walk, or have their heads screwed round, or tremble in the + fingers, or go through life with great</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">126</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON THE MANIA OF UNIVERSITIES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">goggles like a motor car? Eh? I will tell you. It + is the punishment of their <i> intellectual pride,</i> than which no sin + is more offensive to the angels.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What! here are we with the jolly world of God all + round us, able to sing, to draw, to paint, to hammer and build, to sail, + to ride horses, to run, to leap; having for our splendid inheritance love + in youth and memory in old age, and we are to take one miserable little + faculty, our one-legged, knock-kneed, gimcrack, purblind, rough-skinned, + underfed, and perpetually irritated and grumpy intellect, or analytical + curiosity rather (a diseased appetite), and let it swell till it eats up + every other function? Away with such foolery.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. When shall we get on to ...</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Wait a moment. I say, away with such + foolery. Note that pedants lose all proportion. They never can keep sane + in a discussion. They will go wild on matters they are wholly unable to + judge, such as Armenian Religion or the Politics of Paris or what not. + Never do they use one of those three phrases which keep a man steady and + balance his mind, I mean the words (1) <i>After all it is not my business.</i> + (2) <i>Tut! tut! You don't say so!</i> and (3) <i>Credo in Unum Deum + Patrem Omnipotentem, Factorem omnium visibilium atque invisibilium;</i> in + which last there is a power of synthesis that can jam all their analytical + dust-heap into such a fine, tight, and compact body as would make them + stare to see. I understand that they need six months' holiday a year. Had + I my way they should take twelve, and an extra day on leap years.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Pray, pray return to the woman at the inn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I will, and by this road: to say that on + the day of Judgement, when St Michael weighs souls in his scales, and the + wicked are led off by the Devil with a great rope, as you may see them + over the main porch of Notre Dame (I will heave a stone after them myself + I hope), all the souls of the pedants together will not weigh as heavy and + sound as the one soul of this good woman at the inn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">She put food before me and wine. The wine was + good, but in the food was some fearful herb or other I had never tasted + before--a pure spice or scent, and a nasty one. One could taste nothing + else, and it was revolting; but I ate it for her sake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, very much refreshed, I rose, seized my great + staff, shook myself and said, 'Now it is about noon, and I am off for the + frontier.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At this she made a most fearful clamour, saying + that it was madness, and imploring me not to think of it, and running out + fetched from the stable a tall, sad, pale-eyed man who saluted me + profoundly and told me that he</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">127</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE IMPASSABLE HILLS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">knew more of the mountains than any one for miles. + And this by asking many afterwards I found out to be true. He said that he + had crossed the Nufenen and the Gries whenever they could be crossed since + he was a child, and that if I attempted it that day I should sleep that + night in Paradise. The clouds on the mountain, the soft snow recently + fallen, the rain that now occupied the valleys, the glacier on the Gries, + and the pathless snow in the mist on the Nufenen would make it sheer + suicide for him, an experienced guide, and for me a worse madness. Also he + spoke of my boots and wondered at my poor coat and trousers, and + threatened me with intolerable cold.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It seems that the books I had read at home, when + they said that the Nufenen had no snow on it, spoke of a later season of + the year; it was all snow now, and soft snow, and hidden by a full mist in + such a day from the first third of the ascent. As for the Gries, there was + a glacier on the top which needed some kind of clearness in the weather. + Hearing all this I said I would remain--but it was with a heavy heart. + Already I felt a shadow of defeat over me. The loss of time was a thorn. I + was already short of cash, and my next money was Milan. My return to + England was fixed for a certain date, and stronger than either of these + motives against delay was a burning restlessness that always takes men + when they are on the way to great adventures.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I made him promise to wake me next morning at + three o'clock, and, short of a tempest, to try and get me across the + Gries. As for the Nufenen and Crystalline passes which I had desired to + attempt, and which were (as I have said) the straight line to Rome, he + said (and he was right), that let alone the impassability of the Nufenen + just then, to climb the Crystal Mountain in that season would be as easy + as flying to the moon. Now, to cross the Nufenen alone, would simply land + me in the upper valley of the Ticino, and take me a great bend out of my + way by Bellinzona. Hence my bargain that at least he should show me over + the Gries Pass, and this he said, if man could do it, he would do the next + day; and I, sending my boots to be cobbled (and thereby breaking another + vow), crept up to bed, and all afternoon read the school-books of the + children. They were in French, from lower down the valley, and very + Genevese and heretical for so devout a household. But the Genevese + civilization is the standard for these people, and they combat the + Calvinism of it with missions, and have statues in their rooms, not to + speak of holy water stoups.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The rain beat on my window, the clouds came lower + still down the mountain. Then (as is finely written in the Song of + Roland), 'the day passed and the night came, and I slept.' But with the + coming of the small hours, and with</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">128</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>THE START</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">my waking, prepare yourselves for the most + extraordinary and terrible adventure that befell me out of all the marvels + and perils of this pilgrimage, the most momentous and the most worthy of + perpetual record, I think, of all that has ever happened since the + beginning of the world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At three o'clock the guide knocked at my door, and + I rose and came out to him. We drank coffee and ate bread. We put into our + sacks ham and bread, and he white wine and I brandy. Then we set out. The + rain had dropped to a drizzle, and there was no wind. The sky was obscured + for the most part, but here and there was a star. The hills hung awfully + above us in the night as we crossed the spongy valley. A little wooden + bridge took us over the young Rhone, here only a stream, and we followed a + path up into the tributary ravine which leads to the Nufenen and the + Gries. In a mile or two it was a little lighter, and this was as well, for + some weeks before a great avalanche had fallen, and we had to cross it + gingerly. Beneath the wide cap of frozen snow ran a torrent roaring. I + remembered Colorado, and how I had crossed the Arkansaw on such a bridge + as a boy. We went on in the uneasy dawn. The woods began to show, and + there was a cross where a man had slipped from above that very April and + been killed. Then, most ominous and disturbing, the drizzle changed to a + rain, and the guide shook his head and said it would be snowing higher up. + We went on, and it grew lighter. Before it was really day (or else the + weather confused and darkened the sky), we crossed a good bridge, built + long ago, and we halted at a shed where the cattle lie in the late summer + when the snow is melted. There we rested a moment.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But on leaving its shelter we noticed many + disquieting things. The place was a hollow, the end of the ravine--a bowl, + as it were; one way out of which is the Nufenen, and the other the Gries.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here it is in a sketch map. The heights are marked + lighter and lighter, from black in the valleys to white in the impassable + mountains. E is where</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-46.jpg" alt="path-46.jpg" class="c54" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">129</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ALL SNOW</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">we stood, in a great cup or basin, having just + come up the ravine B. C is the Italian valley of the Tosa, and the neck + between it and E is the Gries. D is the valley of the Ticino, and the neck + between E and it is the Nufenen. A is the Crystal Mountain. You may take + the necks or passes to be about 8000, and the mountains 10,000 or 11,000 + feet above the sea.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We noticed, I say, many disquieting things. First, + all, that bowl or cup below the passes was a carpet of snow, save where + patches of black water showed, and all the passes and mountains, from top + to bottom, were covered with very thick snow; the deep surface of it soft + and fresh fallen. Secondly, the rain had turned into snow. It was falling + thickly all around. Nowhere have I more perceived the immediate presence + of great Death. Thirdly, it was far colder, and we felt the beginning of a + wind. Fourthly, the clouds had come quite low down.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The guide said it could not be done, but I said we + must attempt it. I was eager, and had not yet felt the awful grip of the + cold. We left the Nufenen on our left, a hopeless steep of new snow buried + in fog, and we attacked the Gries. For half-an-hour we plunged on through + snow above our knees, and my thin cotton clothes were soaked. So far the + guide knew we were more or less on the path, and he went on and I panted + after him. Neither of us spoke, but occasionally he looked back to make + sure I had not dropped out.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The snow began to fall more thickly, and the wind + had risen somewhat. I was afraid of another protest from the guide, but he + stuck to it well, and I after him, continually plunging through soft snow + and making yard after yard upwards. The snow fell more thickly and the + wind still rose.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We came to a place which is, in the warm season, + an alp; that is, a slope of grass, very steep but not terrifying; having + here and there sharp little precipices of rock breaking it into steps, but + by no means (in summer) a matter to make one draw back. Now, however, when + everything was still Arctic it was a very different matter. A sheer steep + of snow whose downward plunge ran into the driving storm and was lost, + whose head was lost in the same mass of thick cloud above, a slope + somewhat hollowed and bent inwards, had to be crossed if we were to go any + farther; and I was terrified, for I knew nothing of climbing. The guide + said there was little danger, only if one slipped one might slide down to + safety, or one might (much less probably) get over rocks and be killed. I + was chattering a little with cold; but as he did not propose a return, I + followed him. The surface was alternately slabs of frozen snow and patches + of soft new snow. In the first he cut steps, in the second we plunged, and + once I went right in and a mass of snow broke</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">130</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>THE TOURMENTE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-47.jpg" alt="path-47.jpg" class="c55" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">off beneath me and went careering down the slope. + He showed me how to hold my staff backwards as he did his alpenstock, and + use it as a kind of brake in case I slipped.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We had been about twenty minutes crawling over + that wall of snow and ice; and it was more and more apparent that we were + in for danger. Before we had quite reached the far side, the wind was + blowing a very full gale and roared past our ears. The surface snow was + whirring furiously like dust before it: past our faces and against them + drove the snow-flakes, cutting the air: not falling, but making straight + darts and streaks. They seemed like the form of the whistling wind; they + blinded us. The rocks on the far side of the slope, rocks which had been + our goal when we set out to cross it, had long ago disappeared in the + increasing rush of the blizzard. Suddenly as we were still painfully + moving on, stooping against the mad wind, these rocks loomed up over as + large as houses, and we saw them through the swarming snow-flakes as great + hulls are seen through a fog at sea. The guide crouched</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>DEFEAT</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">under the lee of the nearest; I came up close to + him and he put his hands to my ear and shouted to me that nothing further + could be done--he had so to shout because in among the rocks the hurricane + made a roaring sound, swamping the voice.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I asked how far we were from the summit. He said + he did not know where we were exactly, but that we could not be more than + 800 feet from it. I was but that from Italy and I would not admit defeat. + I offered him all I had in money to go on, but it was folly in me, because + if I had had enough to tempt him and if he had yielded we should both have + died. Luckily it was but a little sum. He shook his head. He would not go + on, he broke out, for all the money there was in the world. He shouted me + to eat and drink, and so we both did.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I understood his wisdom, for in a little + while the cold began to seize me in my thin clothes. My hands were numb, + my face already gave me intolerable pain, and my legs suffered and felt + heavy. I learnt another thing (which had I been used to mountains I should + have known), that it was not a simple thing to return. The guide was + hesitating whether to stay in this rough shelter, or to face the chances + of the descent. This terror had not crossed my mind, and I thought as + little of it as I could, needing my courage, and being near to breaking + down from the intensity of the cold.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It seems that in a <i> tourmente</i> (for by that + excellent name do the mountain people call such a storm) it is always a + matter of doubt whether to halt or go back. If you go back through it and + lose your way, you are done for. If you halt in some shelter, it may go on + for two or three days, and then there is an end of you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After a little he decided for a return, but he + told me honestly what the chances were, and my suffering from cold + mercifully mitigated my fear. But even in that moment, I felt in a + confused but very conscious way that I was defeated. I had crossed so many + great hills and rivers, and pressed so well on my undeviating arrow-line + to Rome, and I had charged this one great barrier manfully where the + straight path of my pilgrimage crossed the Alps--and I had failed! Even in + that fearful cold I felt it, and it ran through my doubt of return like + another and deeper current of pain. Italy was there, just above, right to + my hand. A lifting of a cloud, a little respite, and every downward step + would have been towards the sunlight. As it was, I was being driven back + northward, in retreat and ashamed. The Alps had conquered me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Let us always after this combat their immensity + and their will, and always hate the inhuman guards that hold the gates of + Italy, and the powers that</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">132</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE RETREAT</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">lie in wait for men on those high places. But now + I know that Italy will always stand apart. She is cut off by no ordinary + wall, and Death has all his army on her frontiers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, we returned. Twice the guide rubbed my hands + with brandy, and once I had to halt and recover for a moment, failing and + losing my hold. Believe it or not, the deep footsteps of our ascent were + already quite lost and covered by the new snow since our halt, and even + had they been visible, the guide would not have retraced them. He did what + I did not at first understand, but what I soon saw to be wise. He took a + steep slant downward over the face of the snow-slope, and though such a + pitch of descent a little unnerved me, it was well in the end. For when we + had gone down perhaps 900 feet, or a thousand, in perpendicular distance, + even I, half numb and fainting, could feel that the storm was less + violent. Another two hundred, and the flakes could be seen not driving in + flashes past, but separately falling. Then in some few minutes we could + see the slope for a very long way downwards quite clearly; then, soon + after, we saw far below us the place where the mountain-side merged easily + into the plain of that cup or basin whence we had started.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When we saw this, the guide said to me, 'Hold your + stick thus, if you are strong enough, and let yourself slide.' I could + just hold it, in spite of the cold. Life was returning to me with + intolerable pain. We shot down the slope almost as quickly as falling, but + it was evidently safe to do so, as the end was clearly visible, and had no + break or rock in it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So we reached the plain below, and entered the + little shed, and thence looking up, we saw the storm above us; but no one + could have told it for what it was. Here, below, was silence, and the + terror and raging above seemed only a great trembling cloud occupying the + mountain. Then we set our faces down the ravine by which we had come up, + and so came down to where the snow changed to rain. When we got right down + into the valley of the Rhone, we found it all roofed with cloud, and the + higher trees were white with snow, making a line like a tide mark on the + slopes of the hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I re-entered 'The Bear', silent and angered, and + not accepting the humiliation of that failure. Then, having eaten, I + determined in equal silence to take the road like any other fool; to cross + the Furka by a fine highroad, like any tourist, and to cross the St + Gothard by another fine highroad, as millions had done before me, and not + to look heaven in the face again till I was back after my long detour, on + the straight road again for Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But to think of it! I who had all that planned + out, and had so nearly done it! I who had cut a path across Europe like a + shaft, and seen so many strange</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">133</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SULLEN HOURS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">places!--now to have to recite all the litany of + the vulgar; Bellinzona, Lugano, and this and that, which any railway + travelling fellow can tell you. Not till Como should I feel a man again + ...</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed it is a bitter thing to have to give up + one's sword.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had not the money to wait; my defeat had lowered + me in purse as well as in heart. I started off to enter by the ordinary + gates--not Italy even, but a half-Italy, the canton of the Ticino. It was + very hard.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This book is not a tragedy, and I will not write + at any length of such pain. That same day, in the latter half of it, I + went sullenly over the Furka; exactly as easy a thing as going up St + James' Street and down Piccadilly. I found the same storm on its summit, + but on a highroad it was a different affair. I took no short cuts. I drank + at all the inns--at the base, half-way up, near the top, and at the top. I + told them, as the snow beat past, how I had attacked and all but conquered + the Gries that wild morning, and they took me for a liar; so I became + silent even within my own mind. I looked sullenly at the white ground all + the way. And when on the far side I had got low enough to be rid of the + snow and wind and to be in the dripping rain again, I welcomed the rain, + and let it soothe like a sodden friend my sodden uncongenial mind.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I will not write of Hospenthal. It has an old + tower, and the road to it is straight and hideous. Much I cared for the + old tower! The people of the inn (which I chose at random) cannot have + loved me much.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I will not write of the St Gothard. Get it out of + a guide-book. I rose when I felt inclined; I was delighted to find it + still raining. A dense mist above the rain gave me still greater pleasure. + I had started quite at my leisure late in the day, and I did the thing + stolidly, and my heart was like a dully-heated mass of coal or iron + because I was acknowledging defeat. You who have never taken a straight + line and held it, nor seen strange men and remote places, you do not know + what it is to have to go round by the common way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Only in the afternoon, and on those little + zig-zags which are sharper than any other in the Alps (perhaps the road is + older), something changed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A warm air stirred the dense mist which had + mercifully cut me off from anything but the mere road and from the + contemplation of hackneyed sights.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A hint or memory of gracious things ran in the + slight breeze, the wreaths of fog would lift a little for a few yards, and + in their clearings I thought to approach a softer and more desirable + world. I was soothed as though with</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">134</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11">ITALY!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c26">caresses and when I began to see somewhat farther + and felt a vigour and fulness in the outline of the Trees, I said to + myself suddenly--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c26">'I know what it is! It is the South, and a great + part of my blood. They may call it Switzerland still, but I know now that + I am in Italy, and this is the gate of Italy lying in groves.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c26">Then and on till evening I reconciled myself with + misfortune, and when I heard again at Airolo the speech of civilized men, + and saw the strong Latin eyes and straight forms of the Race after all + those days of fog and frost and German speech and the north, my eyes + filled with tears and I was as glad as a man come home again, and I could + have kissed the ground.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c5">The wine of Airolo and its songs, how greatly they + refreshed me! To see men with answering eyes and to find a salute + returned; the noise of careless mouths talking all together; the group at + cards, and the laughter that is proper to mankind; the straight carriage + of the women, and in all the people something erect and noble as though + indeed they possessed the earth. I made a meal there, talking to all my + companions left and right in a new speech of my own, which was made up, as + it were, of the essence of all the Latin tongues, saying--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'Ha! Si jo a traversa li montagna no erat + facile! Nenni! II san Gottardo? Nil est! pooh! poco! Ma hesterna jo ha + voulu traversar in Val Bavona, e credi non ritornar, namfredo, fredo erat + in alto! La tourmente ma prise...'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c5">And so forth, explaining all fully with gestures, + exaggerating, emphasizing, and acting the whole matter, so that they + understood me without much error. But I found it more difficult to + understand them, because they had a regular formed language with + terminations and special words.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c5">It went to my heart to offer them no wine, but a + thought was in me of which you shall soon hear more. My money was running + low, and the chief anxiety of a civilized man was spreading over my mind + like the shadow of a cloud over a field of corn in summer. They gave me a + number of 'good-nights', and at parting I could not forbear from boasting + that I was a pilgrim on my way to Rome. This they repeated one to another, + and one man told me that the next good halting-place was a town called + Faido, three hours down the road. He held up three fingers to explain, and + that was the last intercourse I had with the Airolans, for at once I took + the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c5">I glanced up the dark ravine which I should have + descended had I crossed the Nufenen. I thought of the Val Bavona, only + just over the great wall that</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11">135</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE NEW WORLD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-48.jpg" alt="path-48.jpg" class="c56" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">held the west; and in one place where a rift (you + have just seen its picture) led up to the summits of the hills I was half + tempted to go back to Airolo and sleep and next morning to attempt a + crossing. But I had accepted my fate on the Gries and the falling road + also held me, and so I continued my way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Everything was pleasing in this new valley under + the sunlight that still came strongly from behind the enormous mountains; + everything also was new, and I was evidently now in a country of a special + kind. The slopes were populous, I had come to the great mother of fruits + and men, and I was soon to see her</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">136</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MANY CHURCHES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-49.jpg" alt="path-49.jpg" class="c57" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">cities and her old walls, and the rivers that + glide by them. Church towers also repeated the same shapes up and up the + wooded hills until the villages stopped at the line of the higher slopes + and at the patches of snow. The houses were square and coloured; they were + graced with arbours, and there seemed to be all around nothing but what + was reasonable and secure, and especially no rich or poor.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I noticed all these things on the one side and the + other till, not two hours from Airolo, I came to a step in the valley. For + the valley of the Ticino is made up of distinct levels, each of which + might have held a lake once for the way it is enclosed: and each level + ends in high rocks with a gorge between them. Down this gorge the river + tumbles in falls and rapids and the road picks its way down steeply, all + banked and cut, and sometimes has to cross from side to side by a bridge, + while the railway above one overcomes the sharp descent by running round + into the heart of the hills through circular tunnels and coming</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">137</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>FAIDO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-50.jpg" alt="path-50.jpg" class="c58" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">out again far below the cavern where it plunged + in. Then when all three--the river, the road, and the railway--- have got + over the great step, a new level of the valley opens. This is the way the + road comes into the south, and as I passed down to the lower valley, + though it was darkening into evening, something melted out of the mountain + air, there was content and warmth in the growing things, and I found it + was a place for vineyards. So, before it was yet dark, I came into Faido, + and there I slept, having at last, after so many adventures, crossed the + threshold and occupied Italy.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Next day before sunrise I went out, and all the + valley was adorned and tremulous with the films of morning.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now all of you who have hitherto followed the + story of this great journey, put out of your minds the Alps and the passes + and the snows--postpone even</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">138</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>8 FRANCS IO CENTIMES</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">for a moment thé influence of the happy + dawn and of that South into which I had entered, and consider only this + truth, that I found myself just out of Faido on this blessed date of God + with eight francs and forty centimes for my viaticum and temporal + provision wherewith to accomplish the good work of my pilgrimage.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now when you consider that coffee and bread was + twopence and a penny for the maid, you may say without lying that I had + left behind me the escarpment of the Alps and stood upon the downward + slopes of the first Italian stream and at the summit of the entry road + with <i>eight francs ten centimes</i> in my pocket--my body hearty and my + spirit light, for the arriving sun shot glory into the sky. The air was + keen, and a fresh day came radiant over the high eastern walls of the + valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And what of that? Why, one might make many things + of it. For instance, eight francs and ten centimes is a very good day's + wages; it is a lot to spend in cab fares but little for a <i>coupé.</i> + It is a heavy price for Burgundy but a song for Tokay. It is eighty miles + third-class and more; it is thirty or less first-class; it is a flash in a + train <i>de luxe,</i> and a mere fleabite as a bribe to a journalist. It + would be enormous to give it to an apostle begging at a church door, but + nothing to spend on luncheon.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Properly spent I can imagine it saving five or six + souls, but I cannot believe that so paltry a sum would damn half an one.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, again, it would be a nice thing to sing + about. Thus, if one were a modern fool one might write a dirge with 'Huit + francs et dix centimes' all chanted on one low sad note, and coming in + between brackets for a 'motif, and with a lot about autumn and + Death--which last, Death that is, people nowadays seem to regard as + something odd, whereas it is well known to be the commonest thing in the + world. Or one might make the words the Backbone of a triolet, only one + would have to split them up to fit it into the metre; or one might make it + the decisive line in a sonnet; or one might make a pretty little lyric of + it, to the tune of 'Madame la Marquise' -</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-51.jpg" alt="path-51.jpg" class="c59" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2"><i>'Huit francs et dix centimes, Tra la la, la la + la.'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Or one might put it rhetorically, fiercely, + stoically, finely, republicanly into the Heroics of the Great School. Thus + -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">139</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">FORCED MARCHES</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2">HERNANI <i>(with indignation)... dans ces efforts + sublimes</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2"><i>'Qu'avez vous à offrir?'</i> RUY BLAS <i>(simply) + Huit francs et dix centimes!</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Or finally (for this kind of thing cannot go on + for ever), one might curl one's hair and dye it black, and cock a dirty + slouch hat over one ear and take a guitar and sit on a flat stone by the + roadside and cross one's legs, and, after a few pings and pongs on the + strings, strike up a Ballad with the refrain -</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-52.jpg" alt="path-52.jpg" class="c60" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c61"><i>Car j'ai toujours huit francs et dix centimes!</i> + a jocular, sub-sardonic, a triumphant refrain!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But all this is by the way; the point is, why was + the eight francs and ten centimes of such importance just there and then?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For this reason, that I could get no more money + before Milan; and I think a little reflection will show you what a meaning + lies in that phrase. Milan was nearer ninety miles than eighty miles off. + By the strict road it was over ninety. And so I was forced to consider and + to be anxious, for how would this money hold out?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was nothing for it but forced marches, and + little prospect of luxuries. But could it be done?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thought it could, and I reasoned this way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is true I need a good deal of food, and that + if a man is to cover great distances he must keep fit. It is also true + that many men have done more on less. On the other hand, they were men who + were not pressed for time--I am; and I do not know the habits of the + country. Ninety miles is three good days; two very heavy days. Indeed, + whether it can be done at all in two is doubtful. But it can be done in + two days, two nights, and half the third day. So if I plan it thus I shall + achieve it; namely, to march say forty-five miles or more to-day, and to + sleep rough at the end of it. My food may cost me altogether three francs. + I march the next day twenty-five to thirty, my food costing me another + three francs. Then with the remaining two francs and ten centimes I will + take a bed at the end of the day, and coffee and bread next morning, and + will march the remaining twenty miles or less (as they may be) into Milan + with a copper or two in my pocket. Then in Milan, having obtained my + money, I will eat.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">140</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">STORY OF THE OLD SAILOR</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">So I planned with very careful and exact + precision, but many accidents and unexpected things, diverting my plans, + lay in wait for me among the hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">And to cut a long story short, as the old sailor said + to the young fool--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">LECTOR. What did the old sailor say to the young + fool?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c62">AUCTOR. Why, the old sailor was teaching the + young fool his compass, and he said---</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Here we go from north, making round by west, and + then by south round by east again to north. There are thirty-two points of + the compass, namely, first these four, N., W., S., and E., and these are + halved, making four more, viz., NW., S W., SE., and NE. I trust I make + myself clear,' said the old sailor.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'That makes eight divisions, as we call them. So + look smart and follow. Each of these eight is divided into two + symbolically and symmetrically divided parts, as is most evident in the + nomenclature of the same,' said the old sailor. 'Thus between N. and NE. + is NNE., between NE. and E. is ENE., between E. and SE. is...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I see,' said the young fool.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The old sailor, frowning at him, continued--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Smart you there. Heels together, and note you + well. Each of these sixteen divisions is separated quite reasonably and + precisely into two. Thus between N. and NNE. we get N. by E.,' said the + old sailor; 'and between NNE. and NE. we get NE. by E., and between NE. + and ENE. we get NE. by E.,' said the old sailor; 'and between ENE. and E. + we get E. by N., and then between E. and ESE. we get...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But here he noticed something dangerous in the + young fool's eyes, and having read all his life Admiral Griles' 'Notes on + Discipline', and knowing that discipline is a subtle bond depending 'not + on force but on an attitude of the mind,' he continued--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'And so TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT we come round to + the north again.' Then he added, 'It is customary also to divide each of + these points into quarters. Thus NNE. 3/4 E. signifies...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But at this point the young fool, whose hands were + clasped behind him and concealed a marlin-spike, up and killed the old + sailor, and so rounded off this fascinating tale.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">Well then, to cut a long story short, I had to + make forced marches. With eight francs and ten centimes, and nearer ninety + than eighty-five miles before</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">141</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>BODIO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">the next relief, it was necessary to plan and then + to urge on heroically. Said I to myself, 'The thing can be done quite + easily. What is ninety miles? Two long days! Who cannot live on four + francs a day? Why, lots of men do it on two francs a day.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But my guardian angel said to me, 'You are an ass! + Ninety miles is a great deal more than twice forty-five. Besides which' + (said he) 'a great effort needs largeness and ease. Men who live on two + francs a day or less are not men who attempt to march forty-five miles a + day. Indeed, my friend, you are pushing it very close.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Well,' thought I, 'at least in such a glorious + air, with such Hills all about one, and such a race, one can come to no + great harm.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But I knew within me that Latins are hard where + money is concerned, and I feared for my strength. I was determined to push + forward and to live on little. I filled my lungs and put on the spirit of + an attempt and swung down the valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Alas! I may not linger on that charge, for if I + did I should not give you any measure of its determination and rapidity. + Many little places passed me off the road on the flanks of that valley, + and mostly to the left. While the morning was yet young, I came to the + packed little town of Bodio, and passed the eight franc limit by taking + coffee, brandy, and bread. There also were a gentleman and a lady in a + carriage who wondered where I was going, and I told them (in French) 'to + Rome'. It was nine in the morning when I came to Biasca. The sun was + glorious, and not yet warm: it was too early for a meal. They gave me a + little cold meat and bread and wine, and seven francs stood out dry above + the falling tide of my money.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here at Biasca the valley took on a different + aspect. It became wider and more of a countryside; the vast hills, + receding, took on an appearance of less familiar majesty, and because the + trend of the Ticino turned southerly some miles ahead the whole place + seemed enclosed from the world. One would have said that a high mountain + before me closed it in and rendered it unique and unknown, had not a wide + cleft in the east argued another pass over the hills, and reminded me that + there were various routes over the crest of the Alps.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed, this hackneyed approach to Italy which I + had dreaded and despised and accepted only after a defeat was very + marvellous, and this valley of the Ticino ought to stand apart and be a + commonwealth of its own like Andorra or the Gresivaudan: the noble garden + of the Isere within the first gates of the Dauphine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I was fatigued, and my senses lost acuteness. + Still I noticed with delight the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">142</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>LAKE MAJOR</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">new character of the miles I pursued. A low hill + just before me, jutting out apparently from the high western mountains, + forbade me to see beyond it. The plain was alluvial, while copses and wood + and many cultivated fields now found room where, higher up, had been + nothing but the bed of a torrent with bare banks and strips of grass + immediately above them; it was a place worthy of a special name and of + being one lordship and a countryside. Still I went on towards that near + boundary of the mountain spur and towards the point where the river + rounded it, the great barrier hill before me still seeming to shut in the + valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was noon, or thereabouts, the heat was + increasing (I did not feel it greatly, for I had eaten and drunk next to + nothing), when, coming round the point, there opened out before me the + great fan of the lower valley and the widening and fruitful plain through + which the Ticino rolls in a full river to reach Lake Major, which is its + sea.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Weary as I was, the vision of this sudden + expansion roused me and made me forget everything except the sight before + me. The valley turned well southward as it broadened. The Alps spread out + on either side like great arms welcoming the southern day; the wholesome + and familiar haze that should accompany summer dimmed the more distant + mountains of the lakes and turned them amethystine, and something of + repose and of distance was added to the landscape; something I had not + seen for many days. There was room in that air and space for dreams and + for many living men, for towns perhaps on the slopes, for the boats of + happy men upon the waters, and everywhere for crowded and contented + living. History might be in all this, and I remembered it was the entry + and introduction of many armies. Singing therefore a song of Charlemagne, + I swung on in a good effort to where, right under the sun, what seemed a + wall and two towers on a sharp little hillock set in the bosom of the + valley showed me Bellinzona. Within the central street of that city, and + on its shaded side, I sank down upon a bench before the curtained door of + a drinking booth and boasted that I had covered in that morning my + twenty-five miles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The woman of the place came out to greet me, and + asked me a question. I did not catch it (for it was in a foreign + language), but guessing her to mean that I should take something, I asked + for vermouth, and seeing before me a strange door built of red stone, I + drew it as I sipped my glass and the woman talked to me all the while in a + language I could not understand. And as I drew I became so interested that + I forgot my poverty and offered her husband a glass, and then gave another + to a lounging man that had watched me at work, and so from</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b> BELLINZONA</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-53.jpg" alt="path-53.jpg" class="c63" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">less than seven francs my money fell to six + exactly, and my pencil fell from my hand, and I became afraid.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I have done a foolish thing,' said I to myself, + 'and have endangered the success of my endeavour. Nevertheless, that + cannot now be remedied, and I must eat; and as eating is best where one + has friends I will ask a meal of this woman.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now had they understood French I could have + bargained and chosen; as it was I had to take what they were taking, and + so I sat with them as they all came out and ate together at the little + table. They had soup and flesh, wine and bread, and as we ate we talked, + not understanding each other, and laughing heartily at our mutual + ignorance. And they charged me a franc, which brought my six francs down + to five. But I, knowing my subtle duty to the world, put down twopence + more, as I would have done anywhere else, for a <i>pour boire;</i> and so + with four francs and eighty centimes left, and with much less than a third + of my task accomplished I rose, now drowsy with the food and wine, and + saluting them, took the road once more.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">144</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE PROUD STATIONER</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But as I left Bellinzona there was a task before + me which was to bring my poverty to the test; for you must know that my + map was a bad one, and on a very small scale, and the road from Bellinzona + to Lugano has a crook in it, and it was essential to find a short cut. So + I thought to myself, 'I will try to see a good map as cheaply as + possible,' and I slunk off to the right into a kind of main square, and + there I found a proud stationer's shop, such as would deal with rich men + only, or tourists of the coarser and less humble kind. I entered with some + assurance, and said in French--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Sir, I wish to know the hills between here and + Lugano, but I am too poor to buy a map. If you will let me look at one for + a few moments, I will pay you what you think fit.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The wicked stationer became like a devil for + pride, and glaring at me, said--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Look! Look for yourself. I do not take pence. I + sell maps; I do not hire them!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I thought, 'Shall I take a favour from such a + man?' But I yielded, and did. I went up to the wall and studied a large + map for some moments. Then as I left, I said to him--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Sir, I shall always hold in remembrance the day + on which you did me this signal kindness; nor shall I forget your courtesy + and goodwill.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And what do you think he did at that?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Why, he burst into twenty smiles, and bowed and + seemed beatified, and said: 'Whatever I can do for my customers and for + visitors to this town, I shall always be delighted to do. Pray, sir, will + you not look at other maps for a moment?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now, why did he say this and grin happily like a + gargoyle appeased? Did something in my accent suggest wealth? or was he + naturally kindly? I do not know; but of this I am sure, one should never + hate human beings merely on a first, nor on a tenth, impression. Who + knows? This map-seller of Bellinzona may have been a good man; anyhow, I + left him as rich as I had found him, and remembering that the true key to + a forced march is to break the twenty-four hours into three pieces, and + now feeling the extreme heat, I went out along the burning straight road + until I found a border of grass and a hedge, and there, in</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-54.jpg" alt="path-54.jpg" class="c64" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">H5</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE AFTERNOON</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">spite of the dust and the continually passing + carts, I lay at full length in the shade and fell into the sleep of men + against whom there is no reckoning. Just as I forgot the world I heard a + clock strike two.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I slept for hours beneath that hedge, and when I + woke the air was no longer a trembling furnace, but everything about me + was wrapped round as in a cloak of southern afternoon, and was still. The + sun had fallen midway, and shone in steady glory through a haze that + overhung Lake Major, and the wide luxuriant estuary of the vale. There lay + before me a long straight road for miles at the base of high hills; then, + far off, this road seemed to end at the foot of a mountain called, I + believe, Ash Mount or Cinder Hill. But my imperfect map told me that here + it went sharp round to the left, choosing a pass, and then at an angle + went down its way to Lugano.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now Lugano was not fifteen miles as the crow flies + from where I stood, and I determined to cut off that angle by climbing the + high hills just above me. They were wooded only on their slopes; their + crest and much of their sides were a down-land of parched grass, with + rocks appearing here and there. At the first divergent lane I made off + eastward from the road and began to climb.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In under the chestnut trees the lane became a + number of vague beaten paths; I followed straight upwards. Here and there + were little houses standing hidden</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-55.jpg" alt="path-55.jpg" class="c65" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">in leaves, and soon I crossed the railway, and at + last above the trees I saw the sight of all the Bellinzona valley to the + north; and turning my eyes I saw it broaden out between its walls to where + the lake lay very bright, in spite of the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10"><i>146</i></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE ITALIAN LAKES</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">slight mist, and this mist gave the lake + distances, and the mountains round about it were transfigured and seemed + part of the mere light.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Italian lakes have that in them and their air + which removes them from common living. Their beauty is not the beauty + which each of us sees for himself in the world; it is rather the beauty of + a special creation; the expression of some mind. To eyes innocent, and + first freshly noting our great temporal inheritance--I mean to the eyes of + a boy and girl just entered upon the estate of this glorious earth, and + thinking themselves immortal, this shrine of Europe might remain for ever + in the memory; an enchanted experience, in which the single sense of sight + had almost touched the boundary of music. They would remember these lakes + as the central emotion of their youth. To mean men also who, in spite of + years and of a full foreknowledge of death, yet attempt nothing but the + satisfaction of sense, and pride themselves upon the taste and fineness + with which they achieve this satisfaction, the Italian lakes would seem a + place for habitation, and there such a man might build his house + contentedly. But to ordinary Christians I am sure there is something + unnatural in this beauty of</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-56.jpg" alt="path-56.jpg" class="c66" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">147</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE DISHONEST MAN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">theirs, and they find in it either a paradise only + to be won by a much longer road to a bait and veil of sorcery, behind + which lies great peril. Now, for all we know, beauty beyond the world may + not really bear this double aspect; but to us on earth--if we are ordinary + men--beauty of this kind has something evil. Have you not read in books + how men when they see even divine visions are terrified? So as I looked at + Lake Major in its halo I also was afraid, and I was glad to cross the + ridge and crest of the hill and to shut out that picture framed all round + with glory.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But on the other side of the hill I found, to my + great disgust, not as I had hoped, a fine slope down leading to Lugano, + but a second interior valley and another range just opposite me. I had not + the patience to climb this so I followed down the marshy land at the foot + of it, passed round the end of the hill and came upon the railway, which + had tunnelled under the range I had crossed. I followed the railway for a + little while and at last crossed it, penetrated through a thick brushwood, + forded a nasty little stream, and found myself again on the main road, + wishing heartily I had never left it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was still at least seven miles to Lugano, and + though all the way was downhill, yet fatigue threatened me. These short + cuts over marshy land and through difficult thickets are not short cuts at + all, and I was just wondering whether, although it was already evening, I + dared not rest a while, when there appeared at a turn in the road a little + pink house with a yard all shaded over by a vast tree; there was also a + trellis making a roof over a plain bench and table, and on the trellis + grew vines.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Into such houses,' I thought, 'the gods walk when + they come down and talk with men, and such houses are the scenes of + adventures. I will go in and rest.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I walked straight into the courtyard and found + there a shrivelled brown-faced man with kindly eyes, who was singing a + song to himself. He could talk a little French, a little English, and his + own Italian language. He had been to America and to Paris; he was full of + memories; and when I had listened to these and asked for food and drink, + and said I was extremely poor and would have to bargain, he made a kind of + litany of 'I will not cheat you; I am an honest man; I also am poor,' and + so forth. Nevertheless I argued about every item--the bread, the sausage, + and the beer. Seeing that I was in necessity, he charged me about three + times their value, but I beat him down to double, and lower than that he + would not go. Then we sat down together at the table and ate and drank and + talked of far countries; and he would interject remarks on his honesty + compared with the wickedness of his neighbours, and I parried with + illustra-</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">148</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HONEST MAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">tions of my poverty and need, pulling out the four + francs odd that remained to me, and jingling them sorrowfully in my hand. + 'With these,' I said, 'I must reach Milan.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I left him, and as I went down the road a + slight breeze came on, and brought with it the coolness of evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At last the falling plateau reached an edge, many + little lights glittered below me, and I sat on a stone and looked down at + the town of Lugano. It was nearly dark. The mountains all around had lost + their mouldings, and were marked in flat silhouettes against the sky. The + new lake which had just appeared below me was bright as water is at dusk, + and far away in the north and east the high Alps still stood up and + received the large glow of evening. Everything else was full of the coming + night, and a few stars shone. Up from She town came the distant noise of + music; otherwise there was no sound. I could have rested there a long + time, letting my tired body lapse into the advancing darkness, and + catching in my spirit the inspiration of the silence--had it not been for + hunger. I knew by experience that when it is very late one cannot be + served in the eating-houses of poor men, and I had not the money or any + other. So I rose and shambled down the steep road into the town, and there + I found a square with arcades, and in the south-eastern corner of this + square just such a little tavern as I required. Entering, therefore, and + taking off my hat very low, I said in French to a man who was sitting + there with friends, and who was the master, 'Sir, what is the least price + at which you can give me a meal?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He said, 'What do you want?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I answered, 'Soup, meat, vegetables, bread, and a + little wine.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He counted on his fingers, while all his friends + stared respectfully at him and me. He then gave orders, and a very young + and beautiful girl set before me as excellent a meal as I had eaten for + days on days, and he charged me but a franc and a half. He gave me also + coffee and a little cheese, and I, feeling hearty, gave threepence over + for the service, and they all very genially wished me a good-night; but + their wishes were of no value to me, for the night was terrible.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I had gone over forty miles; how much over I did + not know. I should have slept at Lugano, but my lightening purse forbade + me. I thought, 'I will push on and on; after all, I have already slept, + and so broken the back of the day. I will push on till I am at the end of + my tether, then I will find a wood and sleep.' Within four miles my + strength abandoned me. I was not even so far down the lake as to have lost + the sound of the band at Lugano floating up the still water, when I was + under an imperative necessity for repose. It was perhaps ten</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">149</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE DREAM</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">o'clock, and the sky was open and glorious with + stars. I climbed up a bank on my right, and searching for a place to lie + found one under a tree near a great telegraph pole. Here was a little + parched grass, and one could lie there and see the lake and wait for + sleep. It was a benediction to stretch out all supported by the dry earth, + with my little side-bag for pillow, and to look at the clear night above + the hills, and to listen to the very distant music, and to wonder whether + or not, in this strange southern country, there might not be snakes + gliding about in the undergrowth. Caught in such a skein of influence I + was soothed and fell asleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For a little while I slept dreamlessly.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Just so much of my living self remained as can + know, without understanding, the air around. It is the life of trees. That + under-part, the barely conscious base of nature which trees and sleeping + men are sunk in, is not only dominated by an immeasurable calm, but is + also beyond all expression contented. And in its very stuff there is a + complete and changeless joy. This is surely what the great mind meant when + it said to the Athenian judges that death must not be dreaded since no + experience in life was so pleasurable as a deep sleep; for being wise and + seeing the intercommunion of things, he could not mean extinction, which + is nonsense, but a lapse into that under-part of which I speak. For there + are gods also below the earth.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But a dream came into my sleep and disturbed me, + increasing life, and therefore bringing pain. I dreamt that I was arguing, + at first easily, then violently, with another man. More and more he + pressed me, and at last in my dream there were clearly spoken words, and + he said to me, 'You must be wrong, because you are so cold; if you were + right you would not be so cold.' And this argument seemed quite reasonable + to me in my foolish dream, and I muttered to him, 'You are right, I must + be in the wrong. It is very cold ...' Then I half opened my eyes and saw + the telegraph pole, the trees, and the lake. Far up the lake, where the + Italian Frontier cuts it, the torpedo-boats, looking for smugglers, were + casting their search-lights. One of the roving beams fell full on me and I + became broad awake. I stood up. It was indeed cold, with a kind of + clinging and grasping chill that was not to be expressed in degrees of + heat, but in dampness perhaps, or perhaps in some subtler influence of the + air.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I sat on the bank and gazed at the lake in some + despair. Certainly I could not sleep again without a covering cloth, and + it was now past midnight, nor did I know of any house, whether if I took + the road I should find one in a mile, or in two, or in five. And, note + you, I was utterly exhausted. That enormous</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">150</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">march from Faido, though it had been wisely broken + by the siesta at Bellinzona, needed more than a few cold hours under + trees, and I thought of the three poor francs in my pocket, and of the + thirty-eight miles remaining to Milan.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The stars were beyond the middle of their slow + turning, and I watched them, splendid and in order, for sympathy, as I + also regularly, but slowly and painfully, dragged myself along my + appointed road. But in a very short time a great, tall, square, white + house stood right on the roadway, and to my intense joy I saw a light in + one of its higher windows. Standing therefore beneath, I cried at the top + of my voice, 'Hola!' five or six times. A woman put her head out of the + window into the fresh night, and said, 'You cannot sleep here; we have no + rooms,' then she remained looking out of her window and ready to analyse + the difficulties of the moment; a good-natured woman and fat.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In a moment another window at the same level, but + farther from me, opened, and a man leaned out, just as those alternate + figures come in and out of the toys that tell the weather. 'It is + impossible,' said the man; 'we have no rooms.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then they talked a great deal together, while I + shouted, <i>'Quid vis? Non e possibile dormire in la foresta! e troppo + fredo! Vis ne me assassinare? Veni de Lugano--- e piu--- non e possibile + ritornare!'</i> and so forth.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They answered in strophe and antistrophe, + sometimes together in full chorus, and again in semichorus, and with + variations, that it was impossible. Then a light showed in the chinks of + their great door; the lock grated, and it opened. A third person, a tall + youth, stood in the hall. I went forward into the breach and occupied the + hall. He blinked at me above a candle, and murmured, as a man apologizing + 'It is not possible.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Whatever I have in common with these southerners + made me understand that I had won, so I smiled at him and nodded; he also + smiled, and at once beckoned to me. He led me upstairs, and showed me a + charming bed in a clean room, where there was a portrait of the Pope, + looking cunning; the charge for that delightful and human place was + sixpence, and as I said good-night to the youth, the man and woman from + above said good-night also. And this was my first introduction to the most + permanent feature in the Italian character. The good people!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I woke and rose I was the first to be up and + out. It was high morning. The sun was not yet quite over the eastern + mountains, but I had slept, though so shortly yet at great ease, and the + world seemed new and full of a merry mind. The sky was coloured like that + high metal work which you may see in the studios of Paris; there was gold + in it fading into bronze, and above, the bronze</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE WAGGON-BOATS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">softened to silver. A little morning breeze, + courageous and steady, blew down the lake and provoked the water to glad + ripples, and there was nothing that did not move and take pleasure in the + day.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Lake of Lugano is of a complicated shape, and + has many arms. It is at this point very narrow indeed, and shallow too; a + mole, pierced at either end with low arches, has here been thrown across + it, and by this mole the railway and the road pass over to the eastern + shore. I turned in this long causeway and noticed the northern view. On + the farther shore was an old village and some pleasure-houses of rich men + on the shore; the boats also were beginning to go about the water. These + boats were strange, unlike other boats; they were covered with hoods, and + looked like floating waggons. This was to shield the rowers from the sun. + Far off a man was sailing with a little brown sprit-sail. It was morning, + and all the world was alive.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-57.jpg" alt="path-57.jpg" class="c67" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Coffee in the village left me two francs and two + pennies. I still thought the thing could be done, so invigorating and + deceiving are the early hours, and coming farther down the road to an old + and beautiful courtyard on the left, I drew it, and hearing a bell at hand + I saw a tumble-down church with trees before it, and went in to Mass; and + though it was a little low village Mass, yet the priest had three acolytes + to serve it, and (true and gracious mark of a Catholic country!) these + boys were restless and distracted at their office.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You may think it trivial, but it was certainly a + portent. One of the acolytes had half his head clean shaved! A most + extraordinary sight! I could not take</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">152</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ORACLE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-58.jpg" alt="path-58.jpg" class="c68" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">my eyes from it, and I heartily wished I had an + Omen-book with me to tell me what it might mean.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When there were oracles on earth, before Pan died, + this sight would have been of the utmost use. For I should have consulted + the oracle woman for a Lira--at Biasca for instance, or in the lonely + woods of the Cinder Mountain; and, after a lot of incense and hesitation, + and wrestling with the god, the oracle would have accepted Apollo and, + staring like one entranced, she would have chanted verses which, though + ambiguous, would at least have been a guide. Thus:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Matutinus adest ubi Vesper, et accipiens te + Saepe recusatum voces intelligit hospes Rusticus ignotas notas, ac flumina + tellus Occupat--In sancto tum, tum, stans Aede caveto Tonsuram Hirsuti + Capitis, via namque pedestrem Ferrea praeveniens cursum, peregrine, + laborem</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font7"><b>153</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ENGLISH OF IT</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Pro pietate tuâ inceptum frustratur, + amore Antiqui Ritus alto sub Numine Romae.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">LECTOR. What Hoggish great Participles!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">AUCTOR. Well, well, you see it was but a rustic + oracle at 9 3/4 d. the revelation, and even that is supposing silver at + par. Let us translate it for the vulgar:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">When early morning seems but eve And they that + still refuse receive: When speech unknown men understand; And floods are + crossed upon dry land. Within the Sacred Walls beware The Shaven Head that + boasts of Hair, For when the road attains the rail The Pilgrim's great + attempt shall fail.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Of course such an oracle might very easily have + made me fear too much. The 'shaven head' I should have taken for a priest, + especially if it was to be met with 'in a temple'--it might have prevented + me entering a church, which would have been deplorable. Then I might have + taken it to mean that I should never have reached Rome, which would have + been a monstrous weight upon my mind. Still, as things unfolded + themselves, the oracle would have become plainer and plainer, and I felt + the lack of it greatly. For, I repeat, I had certainly received an omen.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road now neared the end of the lake, and the + town called Capo di Lago, or 'Lake-head', lay off to my right. I saw also + that in a very little while I should abruptly find the plains. A low hill + some five miles ahead of me was the last roll of the mountains, and just + above me stood the last high crest, a precipitous peak of bare rock, up + which there ran a cog-railway to some hotel or other. I passed through an + old town under the now rising heat; I passed a cemetery in the Italian + manner, with marble figures like common living men. The road turned to the + left, and I was fairly on the shoulder of the last glacis. I stood on the + Alps at their southern bank, and before me was Lombardy.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Also in this ending of the Swiss canton one was + more evidently in Italy than ever. A village perched upon a rock, deep + woods and a ravine below it, its houses and its church, all betrayed the + full Italian spirit.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The frontier town was Chiasso. I hesitated with + reverence before touching the sacred soil which I had taken so long to + reach, and I longed to be able to drink its health; but though I had gone, + I suppose, ten miles, and though the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">154</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">COMO</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">heat was increasing, I would not stop; for I + remembered the two francs, and my former certitude of reaching Milan was + shaking and crumbling. The great heat of midday would soon be on me, I had + yet nearly thirty miles to go, and my bad night began to oppress me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I crossed the frontier, which is here an imaginary + line. Two slovenly customs-house men asked me if I had anything dutiable + on me. I said No, and it was evident enough, for in my little sack or + pocket was nothing but a piece of bread. If they had applied the American + test, and searched me for money, then indeed they could have turned me + back, and I should have been forced to go into the fields a quarter of a + mile or so and come into their country by a path instead of a highroad.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This necessity was spared me. I climbed slowly up + the long slope that hides Como, then I came down upon that lovely city and + saw its frame of hills and its lake below me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">These things are not like things seen by the eyes. + I say it again, they are like what one feels when music is played.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I entered Como between ten and eleven faint for + food, and then a new interest came to fill my mind with memories of this + great adventure. The lake was in flood, and all the town was water.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Como dry must be interesting enough; Como flooded + is a marvel. What else is Venice? And here is a Venice at the foot of high + mountains, and <i>all</i> in the water, no streets or squares; a fine even + depth of three feet and a half or so for navigators, much what you have in + the Spitway in London River at low spring tides.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There were a few boats about, but the traffic and + pleasure of Como was passing along planks laid on trestles over the water + here and there like bridges; and for those who were in haste, and could + afford it (such as take cabs in London), there were wheelbarrows, coster + carts, and what not, pulled about by men for hire; and it was a sight to + remember all one's life to see the rich men of Como squatting on these + carts and barrows, and being pulled about over the water by the poor men + of Como, being, indeed, an epitome of all modern sociology and economics + and religion and organized charity and strenuousness and liberalism and + sophistry generally.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For my part I was determined to explore this + curious town in the water, and I especially desired to see it on the lake + side, because there one would get the best impression of its being really + an aquatic town; so I went northward, as I was directed, and came quite + unexpectedly upon the astonishing cathedral. It</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">155</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ESTIMATE OF CONSULS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">seemed built of polished marble, and it was in + every way so exquisite in proportion, so delicate in sculpture, and so + triumphant in attitude, that I thought to myself—</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'No wonder men praise Italy if this first Italian + town has such a building as this.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But, as you will learn later, many of the things + praised are ugly, and are praised only by certain followers of charlatans.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I went on till I got to the lake, and there I + found a little port about as big as a dining-room (for the Italian lakes + play at being little seas. They have little ports, little lighthouses, + little fleets for war, and little custom-houses, and little storms and + little lines of steamers. Indeed, if one wanted to give a rich child a + perfect model or toy, one could not give him anything better than an + Italian lake), and when I had long gazed at the town, standing, as it + seemed, right in the lake, I felt giddy, and said to myself, 'This is the + lack of food,' for I had eaten nothing but my coffee and bread eleven + miles before, at dawn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I pulled out my two francs, and going into a + little shop, I bought bread, sausage, and a very little wine for + fourpence, and with one franc eighty left I stood in the street eating and + wondering what my next step should be.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It seemed on the map perhaps twenty-five, perhaps + twenty-six miles to Milan. It was now nearly noon, and as hot as could be. + I might, if I held out, cover the distance in eight or nine hours, but I + did not see myself walking in the middle heat on the plain of Lombardy, + and even if I had been able I should only have got into Milan at dark or + later, when the post office (with my money in it) would be shut; and where + could I sleep, for my one franc eighty would be gone? A man covering these + distances must have one good meal a day or he falls ill. I could beg, but + there was the risk of being arrested, and that means an indefinite waste + of time, perhaps several days; and time, that had defeated me at the + Gries, threatened me here again. I had nothing to sell or to pawn, and I + had no friends. The Consul I would not attempt; I knew too much of such + things as Consuls when poor and dirty men try them. Besides which, there + was no Consul I pondered.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went into the cool of the cathedral to sit in + its fine darkness and think better. I sat before a shrine where candles + were burning, put up for their private intentions by the faithful. Of + many, two had nearly burnt out. I watched them in their slow race for + extinction when a thought took me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I will,' said I to myself, 'use these candles for + an ordeal or heavenly judgement. The left hand one shall be for attempting + the road at the risk of illness or very dangerous failure; the right hand + one shall stand for my going</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">156</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ORDEAL OF THE CANDALS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">by rail till I come to that point on the railway + where one franc eighty will take me, and thence walking into Milan:--and + heaven defend the right.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They were a long time going out, and they fell + evenly. At last the right hand one shot up the long flame that precedes + the death of candles; the contest took on interest, and even excitement, + when, just as I thought the left hand certain of winning, it went out + without guess or warning, like a second-rate person leaving this world for + another. The right hand candle waved its flame still higher, as though in + triumph, outlived its colleague just the moment to enjoy glory, and then + in its turn went fluttering down the dark way from which they say there is + no return.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">None may protest against the voice of the Gods. I + went straight to the nearest railway station (for there are two), and + putting down one franc eighty, asked in French for a ticket to whatever + station that sum would reach down the line. The ticket came out marked + Milan, and I admitted the miracle and confessed the finger of Providence. + There was no change, and as I got into the train I had become that rarest + and ultimate kind of traveller, the man without any money + whatsoever--without passport, without letters, without food or wine; it + would be interesting to see what would follow if the train broke down.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">I had marched 378 miles and some three furlongs, or + thereabouts.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus did I break--but by a direct command--the + last and dearest of my vows, and as the train rumbled off, I took luxury + in the rolling wheels.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thought of that other medieval and papistical + pilgrim hobbling along rather than 'take advantage of any wheeled thing', + and I laughed at him. Now if Moroso-Malodoroso or any other Non-Aryan, + Antichristian, over-inductive, statistical, brittle-minded man and + scientist, sees anything remarkable in one self laughing at another self, + let me tell him and all such for their wide-eyed edification and + astonishment that I knew a man once that had fifty-six selves (there would + have been fifty-seven, but for the poet in him that died young)--he could + evolve them at will, and they were very useful to lend to the parish + priest when he wished to make up a respectable Procession on Holy-days. + And I knew another man that could make himself so tall as to look over the + heads of the scientists as a pine-tree looks over grasses, and again so + small as to discern very clearly the thick coating or dust of wicked pride + that covers them up in a fine impenetrable coat. So much for the moderns.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">157</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">MILAN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The train rolled on. I noticed Lombardy out of the + windows. It is flat. I listened to the talk of the crowded peasants in the + train. I did not understand it. I twice leaned out to see if Milan were + not standing up before me out of the plain, but I saw nothing. Then I fell + asleep, and when I woke suddenly it was because we were in the terminus of + that noble great town, which I then set out to traverse in search of my + necessary money and sustenance. It was yet but early in the afternoon.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What a magnificent city is Milan! The great houses + are all of stone, and stand regular and in order, along wide straight + streets. There are swift cars, drawn by electricity, for such as can + afford them. Men are brisk and alert even in the summer heats, and there + are shops of a very good kind, though a trifle showy. There are many + newspapers to help the Milanese to be better men and to cultivate charity + and humility; there are banks full of paper money; there are soldiers, + good pavements, and all that man requires to fulfil him, soul and body; + cafés, arcades, mutoscopes, and every sign of the perfect state. + And the whole centres in a splendid open square, in the midst of which is + the cathedral, which is justly the most renowned in the world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">My pilgrimage is to Rome, my business is with + lonely places, hills, and the recollection of the spirit. It would be + waste to describe at length this mighty capital. The mists and the woods, + the snows and the interminable way, had left me ill-suited for the place, + and I was ashamed. I sat outside a café, opposite the cathedral, + watching its pinnacles of light; but I was ashamed. Perhaps I did the + master a hurt by sitting there in his fine great café, unkempt, in + such clothes, like a tramp; but he was courteous in spite of his riches, + and I ordered a very expensive drink for him also, in order to make + amends. I showed him my sketches, and told him of my adventures in French, + and he was kind enough to sit opposite me, and to take that drink with me. + He talked French quite easily, as it seems do all such men in the + principal towns of north Italy. Still, the broad day shamed me, and only + when darkness came did I feel at ease.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I wandered in the streets till I saw a small + eating shop, and there I took a good meal. But when one is living the life + of the poor, one sees how hard are the great cities. Everything was + dearer, and worse, than in the simple countrysides. The innkeeper and his + wife were kindly, but their eyes showed that they had often to suspect + men. They gave me a bed, but it was a franc and more, and I had to pay + before going upstairs to it. The walls were mildewed, the place</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">IS»</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>LOMBARDY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">ramshackle and evil, the rickety bed not clean, + the door broken and warped, and that night I was oppressed with the vision + of poverty. Dirt and clamour and inhuman conditions surrounded me. Yet the + people meant well.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With the first light I got up quietly, glad to + find the street again and the air. I stood in the crypt of the cathedral + to hear the Ambrosian Mass, and it was (as I had expected) like any other, + save for a kind of second <i>lavabo</i> before the Elevation. To read the + distorted stupidity of the north one might have imagined that in the + Ambrosian ritual the priest put a <i>non</i> before the <i>credo,</i> and + <i> nec's</i> at each clause of it, and renounced his baptismal vows at + the <i>kyrie;</i> but the Milanese are Catholics like any others, and the + northern historians are either liars or ignorant men. And I know three + that are both together.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I set out down the long street that leads + south out of Milan, and was soon in the dull and sordid suburb of the + Piacenzan way. The sky was grey, the air chilly, and in a little + while--alas!--it rained.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Lombardy is an alluvial plain.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That is the pretty way of putting it. The truth is + more vivid if you say that Lombardy is as flat as a marsh, and that it is + made up of mud. Of course this mud dries when the sun shines on it, but + mud it is and mud it will remain; and that day, as the rain began falling, + mud it rapidly revealed itself to be; and the more did it seem to be mud + when one saw how the moistening soil showed cracks from the last day's + heat.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Lombardy has no forests, but any amount of groups + of trees; moreover (what is very remarkable), it is all cultivated in + fields more or less square. These fields have ditches round them, full of + mud and water running slowly, and some of them are themselves under water + in order to cultivate rice. All these fields have a few trees bordering + them, apart from the standing clumps; but these trees are not very high. + There are no open views in Lombardy, and Lombardy is all the same. + Irregular large farmsteads stand at random all up and down the country; no + square mile of Lombardy is empty. There are many, many little villages; + many straggling small towns about seven to eight miles apart, and a great + number of large towns from thirty to fifty miles apart. Indeed, this very + road to Piacenza, which the rain now covered with a veil of despair, was + among the longest stretches between any two large towns, although it was + less than fifty miles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">On the map, before coming to this desolate place, + there seemed a straighter and a better way to Rome than this great road. + There is a river called the Lambro, which comes east of Milan and cuts the + Piacenzan road at a place called Melegnano. It seemed to lead straight + down to a point on the Po, a little above Piacenza. This stream one could + follow (so it seemed), and when it joined the Po get a boat or ferry, and + see on the other side the famous Trebbia, where Hannibal</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">159</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12">NAPOLEON'S ROAD</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">conquered and Joubert fell, and so make straight + on for the Apennine.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Since it is always said in books that Lombardy is + a furnace in summer, and that whole great armies have died of the heat + there, this river bank would make a fine refuge. Clear and delicious + water, more limpid than glass, would reflect and echo the restless + poplars, and would make tolerable or even pleasing the excessive summer. + Not so. It was a northern mind judging by northern things that came to + this conclusion. There is not in all Lombardy a clear stream, but every + river and brook is rolling mud. In the rain, not heat, but a damp and + penetrating chill was the danger. There is no walking on the banks of the + rivers; they are cliffs of crumbling soil, jumbled anyhow.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Man may, as Pinkerton (Sir Jonas Pinkerton) + writes, be master of his fate, but he has a precious poor servant. It is + easier to command a lapdog or a mule for a whole day than one's own fate + for half-an-hour.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nevertheless, though it was apparent that I should + have to follow the main road for a while, I determined to make at last to + the right of it, and to pass through a place called 'Old Lodi', for I + reasoned thus: 'Lodi is the famous town. How much more interesting must + Old Lodi be which is the mothertown of Lodi?' Also, Old Lodi brought me + back again on the straight line to Rome, and I foolishly thought it might + be possible to hear there of some straight path down the Lambro (for that + river still possessed me somewhat).</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Therefore, after hours and hours of trudging + miserably along the wide highway in the wretched and searching rain, after + splashing through tortuous Melegnano, and not even stopping to wonder if + it was the place of the battle, after noting in despair the impossible + Lambro, I came, caring for nothing, to the place where a secondary road + branches off to the right over a level crossing and makes for Lodi + Vecchio.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was not nearly midday, but I had walked perhaps + fifteen miles, and had only rested once in a miserable Trattoria. In less + than three miles I came to that unkempt and lengthy village, founded upon + dirt and living in misery, and through the quiet, cold, persistent rain I + splashed up the main street. I passed wretched, shivering dogs and + mournful fowls that took a poor refuge against walls; passed a sad horse + that hung its head in the wet and stood waiting for a master, till at last + I reached the open square where the church stood, then I knew that I had + seen all Old Lodi had to offer me. So, going into an eating-house, or inn, + opposite the church, I found a girl and her mother serving, and I saluted + them, but there was no fire, and my heart sank to the level of that room, + which was, I am sure, no more than fifty-four degrees.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">160</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font1"><b>OLD LODI, ITS UGLY CHURCH</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Why should the less gracious part of a pilgrimage + be specially remembered? In life were remember joy best--that is what + makes us sad by contrast; pain somewhat, especially if it is acute; but + dulness never. And a book--which has it in its own power to choose and to + emphasize--has no business to record dulness. What did I at Lodi Vecchio? + I ate; I dried my clothes before a tepid stove in a kitchen. I tried to + make myself understood by the girl and her mother. I sat at a window and + drew the ugly church on principle. Oh, the vile sketch!</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-59.jpg" alt="path-59.jpg" class="c69" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Worthy of that Lombard plain, which they had told + me was so full of wonderful things. I gave up all hope of by-roads, and I + determined to push back obliquely to the highway again--obliquely in order + to save time! Nepios!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">These 'by-roads' of the map turned out in real + life to be all manner of abominable tracks. Some few were metalled, some + were cart-ruts merely, some were open lanes of rank grass; and along most + there went a horrible ditch, and in many fields the standing water + proclaimed desolation. IN so far as I can be said to have had a way at + all, I lost it. I could not ask my way because my only ultimate goal was + Piacenza, and that was far off. I did not know the name of any place + between. Two or three groups of houses I passed, and sometimes church + towers glimmered through the rain. I passed a larger and wider road than + the rest, but obviously not my road; I pressed on and passed another; and + by this time, having ploughed up Lombardy for some four hours, I was + utterly lost. I no longer felt the north, and, for all I knew, I might be + going backwards. The only certain thing was that I was somewhere in the + belt between the highroad and the Lambro, and that was little enough to + know at the close of such a day. Grown desperate, I clamoured within my + mind for a miracle; and it was not long before I saw a little bent man + sitting on a crazy cart and going</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">161</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>NOTHING MUCH</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">ahead of me at a pace much slower than a walk--the + pace of a horse crawling. I caught him up, and, doubting much whether he + would understand a word, I said to him repeatedly--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'La granda via? La via a Piacenza?'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He shook his head as though to indicate that this + filthy lane was not the road. Just as I had despaired of learning + anything, he pointed with his arm away to the right, perpendicularly to + the road we were on, and nodded. He moved his hand up and down. I had been + going north!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">On getting this sign I did not wait for a cross + road, but jumped the little ditch and pushed through long grass, across + further ditches, along the side of patches of growing corn, heedless of + the huge weight on my boots and of the oozing ground, till I saw against + the rainy sky a line of telegraph poles. For the first time since they + were made the sight of them gave a man joy. There was a long stagnant pond + full of reeds between me and the railroad; but, as I outflanked it, I came + upon a road that crossed the railway at a level and led me into the great + Piacenzan way. Almost immediately appeared a village. It was a hole called + Secugnano, and there I entered a house where a bush hanging above the door + promised entertainment, and an old hobbling woman gave me food and drink + and a bed. The night had fallen, and upon the roof above me I could hear + the steady rain.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The next morning--Heaven preserve the world from + evil!--it was still raining.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. It does not seem to me that this part of + your book is very entertaining.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I know that; but what am I to do?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why, what was the next point in the + pilgrimage that was even tolerably noteworthy?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I suppose the Bridge of Boats.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. And how far on was that?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. About fourteen miles, more or less ... I + passed through a town with a name as long as my arm, and I suppose the + Bridge of Boats must have been nine miles on after that.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. And it rained all the time, and there was + mud?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Precisely.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Well, then, let us skip it and tell + stories.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. With all my heart. And since you are such + a good judge of literary poignancy, do you begin.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I will, and I draw my inspiration from + your style.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">162</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>STORY OF CHARLES BLAKE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Once upon a time there was a man who was born in + Croydon, and whose name was Charles Amieson Blake. He went to Rugby at + twelve and left it at seventeen. He fell in love twice and then went to + Cambridge till he was twenty-three. Having left Cambridge he fell in love + more mildly, and was put by his father into a government office, where he + began at <i>£180</i> a year. At thirty-five he was earning £500 + a year, and perquisites made £750 a year. He met a pleasant lady and + fell in love quite a little compared with the other times. She had £250 + a year. That made <i> £1000</i> a year. They married and had three + children--Richard, Amy, and Cornelia. He rose to a high government + position, was knighted, retired at sixty-three, and died at sixty-seven. + He is buried at Kensal Green...</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Thank you, Lector, that is a very good + story. It is simple and full of plain human touches. You know how to deal + with the facts of everyday life ... It requires a master-hand. Tell me, + Lector, had this man any adventures?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. None that I know of.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Had he opinions?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Yes. I forgot to tell you he was a + Unionist. He spoke two foreign languages badly. He often went abroad to + Assisi, Florence, and Boulogne... He left £7,623 6s. 8d., and a + house and garden at Sutton. His wife lives there still.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12 c5">AUCTOR. Oh!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. It is the human story ... the daily task!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Very true, my dear Lector ... the common + lot... Now let me tell my story. It is about the Hole that could not be + Filled Up.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Oh no! Auctor, no! That is the oldest + story in the--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Patience, dear Lector, patience! I will + tell it well. Besides which I promise you it shall never be told again. I + will copyright it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, once there was a Learned Man who had a + bargain with the Devil that he should warn the Devil's emissaries of all + the good deeds done around him so that they could be upset, and he in turn + was to have all those pleasant things of this life which the Devil's + allies usually get, to wit a Comfortable Home, Self-Respect, good health, + 'enough money for one's rank', and generally what is called 'a happy + useful life'--<i>till</i> midnight of All-Hallowe'en in the last year of + the nineteenth century.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So this Learned Man did all he was required, and + daily would inform the messenger imps of the good being done or prepared + in the neighbourhood, and they would upset it; so that the place he lived + in from a nice country town became a great Centre of Industry, full of + wealth and desirable family mansions and street property, and was called + in hell 'Depot B' (Depot A you may guess at). But at last toward the 15th + of October 1900, the Learned Man began to</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">163</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>STORY OF THE DEVIL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">shake in his shoes and to dread the judgement; + for, you see, he had not the comfortable ignorance of his kind, and was + compelled to believe in the Devil willy-nilly, and, as I say, he shook in + his shoes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So he bethought him of a plan to cheat the Devil, + and the day before All-Hallowe'en he cut a very small round hole in the + floor of his study, just near the fireplace, right through down to the + cellar. Then he got a number of things that do great harm (newspapers, + legal documents, unpaid bills, and so forth) and made ready for action.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Next morning when the little imps came for orders + as usual, after prayers, he took them down into the cellar, and pointing + out the hole in the ceiling, he said to them:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'My friends, this little hole is a mystery. It + communicates, I believe, with the chapel; but I cannot find the exit. All + I know is, that some pious person or angel, or what not, desirous to do + good, slips into it every day whatever he thinks may be a cause of evil in + the neighbourhood, hoping thus to destroy it' (in proof of which statement + he showed them a scattered heap of newspapers on the floor of the cellar + beneath the hole). 'And the best thing you can do,' he added, 'is to stay + here and take them away as far as they come down and put them back into + circulation again. Tut! tut!' he added, picking up a moneylender's + threatening letter to a widow, 'it is astonishing how these people + interfere with the most sacred rights! Here is a letter actually stolen + from the post! Pray see that it is delivered.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So he left the little imps at work, and fed them + from above with all manner of evil-doing things, which they as promptly + drew into the cellar, and at intervals flew away with, to put them into + circulation again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That evening, at about half-past eleven, the Devil + came to fetch the Learned Man, and found him seated at his fine great + desk, writing. The Learned Man got up very affably to receive the Devil, + and offered him a chair by the fire, just near the little round hole.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Pray don't move,' said the Devil; 'I came early + on purpose not to disturb you.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'You are very good,' replied the Learned Man. 'The + fact is, I have to finish my report on Lady Grope's Settlement among our + Poor in the Bull Ring--it is making some progress. But their condition is + heart-breaking, my dear sir; heart-breaking!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I can well believe it,' said the Devil sadly and + solemnly, leaning back in his chair, and pressing his hands together like + a roof. 'The poor in our great towns, Sir Charles' (for the Learned Man + had been made a Baronet), 'the condition,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">164</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>AND THE LEARNED MAN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c70">I say, of the--Don't I feel a draught?' he added + abruptly. For the Devil can't bear draughts.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why,' said the Learned Man, as though ashamed, + 'just near your chair there <i> is</i> a little hole that I have done my + best to fill up, but somehow it seemed impossible to fill it... I don't + know...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Devil hates excuses, and is above all + practical, so he just whipped the soul of a lawyer out of his side-pocket, + tied a knot in it to stiffen it, and shoved it into the hole.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'There!' said the Devil contentedly; 'if you had + taken a piece of rag, or what not, you might yourself... Hulloa!...' He + looked down and saw the hole still gaping, and he felt a furious draught + coming up again. He wondered a little, and then muttered: 'It's a pity I + have on my best things. I never dare crease them, and I have nothing in my + pockets to speak of, otherwise I might have brought something bigger.' He + felt in his left-hand trouser pocket, and fished out a pedant, crumpled + him carefully into a ball, and stuffed him hard into the hole, so that he + suffered agonies. Then the Devil watched carefully. The soul of the pedant + was at first tugged as if from below, then drawn slowly down, and finally + shot off out of sight.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'This is a most extraordinary thing!' said the + Devil.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is the draught. It is very strong between the + joists,' ventured the Learned Man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Fiddle-sticks ends!' shouted the Devil. 'It is a + trick! But I've never been caught yet, and I never will be.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He clapped his hands, and a whole host of his + followers poured in through the windows with mortgages, Acts of + Parliament, legal decisions, declarations of war, charters to + universities, patents for medicines, naturalization orders, shares in gold + mines, specifications, prospectuses, water companies' reports, publishers' + agreements, letters patent, freedoms of cities, and, in a word, all that + the Devil controls in the way of hole-stopping rubbish; and the Devil, + kneeling on the floor, stuffed them into the hole like a madman. But as + fast as he stuffed, the little imps below (who had summoned a number of + their kind to their aid also) pulled it through and carted it away. And + the Devil, like one possessed, lashed the floor with his tail, and his + eyes glared like coals of fire, and the sweat ran down his face, and he + breathed hard, and pushed every imaginable thing he had into the hole so + swiftly that at last his documents and parchments looked like streaks and + flashes. But the loyal little imps, not to be beaten, drew them through + into the cellar as fast as machinery, and whirled them to their + assistants; and all the poor lost souls who had been pressed into</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">165</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>APPARITION OF ST CHARLES BORROMEO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">the service were groaning that their one holiday + in the year was being filched from them, when, just as the process was + going on so fast that it roared like a printing-machine in full blast, the + clock in the hall struck twelve.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Devil suddenly stopped and stood up.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Out of my house,' said the Learned Man; 'out of + my house! I've had enough of you, and I've no time for fiddle-faddle! It's + past twelve, and I've won!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Devil, though still panting, smiled a + diabolical smile, and pulling out his repeater (which he had taken as a + perquisite from the body of a member of Parliament), said, 'I suppose you + keep Greenwich time?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Certainly!' said Sir Charles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Well,' said the Devil, 'so much the worse for you + to live in Suffolk. You're four minutes fast, so I'll trouble you to come + along with me; and I warn you that any words you now say may be used + against...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At this point the Learned Man's patron saint, who + thought things had gone far enough, materialized himself and coughed + gently. They both looked round, and there was St Charles sitting in the + easy chair.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'So far,' murmured the Saint to the Devil suavely, + 'so far from being four minutes too early, you are exactly a year too + late.' On saying this, the Saint smiled a genial, priestly smile, folded + his hands, twiddled his thumbs slowly round and round, and gazed in a + fatherly way at the Devil.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What do you mean?' shouted the Devil.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What I say,' said St Charles calmly; '1900 is not + the last year of the nineteenth century; it is the first year of the + twentieth.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Oh!' sneered the Devil, 'are you an + anti-vaccinationist as well? Now, look here' (and he began counting on his + fingers); 'supposing in the year 1 B.C. ...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I never argue,' said St Charles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Well, all I know is,' answered the Devil with + some heat, 'that in this matter as in most others, thank the Lord, I have + on my side all the historians and all the scientists, all the + universities, all the...'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'And I,' interrupted St Charles, waving his hand + like a gentleman (he is a Borromeo), 'I have the Pope!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At this the Devil gave a great howl, and + disappeared in a clap of thunder, and was never seen again till his recent + appearance at Brighton.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So the Learned Man was saved; but hardly; for he + had to spend five hundred years in Purgatory catechizing such heretics and + pagans as got there, and instructing them in the true faith. And with the + more muscular he passed a knotty time.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">166</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON THE GERMANS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You do not see the river Po till you are close to + it. Then, a little crook in the road being passed, you come between high + trees, and straight out before you, level with you, runs the road into and + over a very wide mass of tumbling water. It does not look like a bridge, + it looks like a quay. It does not rise; it has all the appearance of being + a strip of road shaved off and floated on the water.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All this is because it passes over boats, as do + some bridges over the Rhine. (At Cologne, I believe, and certainly at + Kiel--for I once sat at the end of that and saw a lot of sad German + soldiers drilling, a memory which later made me understand (1) why they + can be out-marched by Latins; (2) why they impress travellers and + civilians; (3) why the governing class in Germany take care to avoid + common service; (4) why there is no promotion from the ranks; and (5) why + their artillery is too rigid and not quick enough. It also showed me + something intimate and fundamental about the Germans which Tacitus never + understood and which all our historians miss--they are <i>of necessity</i> + histrionic. Note I do not say it is a vice of theirs. It is a necessity of + theirs, an appetite. They must see themselves on a stage. Whether they do + things well or ill, whether it is their excellent army with its ridiculous + parade, or their eighteenth-century <i>sans-soucis</i> with avenues and + surprises, or their national legends with gods in wigs and strong men in + tights, they <i>must</i> be play-actors to be happy and therefore to be + efficient; and if I were Lord of Germany, and desired to lead my nation + and to be loved by them, I should put great golden feathers on my helmet, + I should use rhetorical expressions, spout monologues in public, organize + wide cavalry charges at reviews, and move through life generally to the + crashing of an orchestra. For by doing this even a vulgar, short, and + diseased man, who dabbled in stocks and shares and was led by financiers, + could become a hero, and do his nation good.)</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. What is all this?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. It is a parenthesis.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. It is good to know the names of the + strange things one meets with on one's travels.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. So I return to where I branched off, and + tell you that the river Po is here crossed by a bridge of boats.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a very large stream. Half-way across, it is + even a trifle uncomfortable to be so near the rush of the water on the + trembling pontoons. And on that day its speed and turbulence were + emphasized by the falling rain. For the marks</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">167</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MOOR S HEAD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of the rain on the water showed the rapidity of + the current, and the silence of its fall framed and enhanced the swirl of + the great river.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Once across, it is a step up into Piacenza--a step + through mud and rain. On my right was that plain where Barbarossa + received, and was glorified by, the rising life of the twelfth century; + there the renaissance of our Europe saw the future glorious for the first + time since the twilight of Rome, and being full of morning they imagined a + new earth and gave it a Lord. It was at Roncaglia, I think in spring, and + I wish I had been there. For in spring even the Lombard plain they say is + beautiful and generous, but in summer I know by experience that it is + cold, brutish, and wet.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And so in Piacenza it rained and there was mud, + till I came to a hotel called the Moor's Head, in a very narrow street, + and entering it I discovered a curious thing: the Italians live in + palaces: I might have known it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They are the impoverished heirs of a great time; + its garments cling to them, but their rooms are too large for the modern + penury. I found these men eating in a great corridor, in a hall, as they + might do in a palace. I found high, painted ceilings and many things of + marble, a vast kitchen, and all the apparatus of the great houses--at the + service of a handful of contented, unknown men. So in England, when we + have worked out our full fate, happier but poorer men will sit in the + faded country-houses (a community, or an inn, or impoverished squires), + and rough food will be eaten under mouldering great pictures, and there + will be offices or granaries in the galleries of our castles; and where + Lord Saxonthorpe (whose real name is Hauptstein) now plans our policy, + common Englishmen will return to the simpler life, and there will be dogs, + and beer, and catches upon winter evenings. For Italy also once gathered + by artifice the wealth that was not of her making.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He was a good man, the innkeeper of this palace. + He warmed me at his fire in his enormous kitchen, and I drank Malaga to + the health of the cooks. I ate of their food, I bought a bottle of a new + kind of sweet wine called 'Vino Dolce', and--I took the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. And did you see nothing of Piacenza?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Nothing, Lector; it was raining, and there + was mud. I stood in front of the cathedral on my way out, and watched it + rain. It rained all along the broad and splendid Emilian Way. I had + promised myself great visions of the Roman soldiery passing up that + eternal road; it still was stamped with the imperial mark, but the rain + washed out its interest, and left me cold. The Apennines also, rising + abruptly from the plain, were to have given me revelations at sunset; they + gave me none. Their foothills appeared continually on my right, they + themselves were veiled. And all these miles of road fade into the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">168</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON PERFECT THINGS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-60.jpg" alt="path-60.jpg" class="c71" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">confused memory of that intolerable plain. The + night at Firenzuola, the morning (the second morning of this visitation) + still cold, still heartless, and sodden with the abominable weather, shall + form no part of this book.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Things grand and simple of their nature are + possessed, as you know, of a very subtle flavour. The larger music, the + more majestic lengths of verse called epics, the exact in sculpture, the + classic drama, the most absolute kinds of wine, require a perfect harmony + of circumstance for their appreciation. Whatever is strong, poignant, and + immediate in its effect is not so difficult to suit; farce, horror, rage, + or what not, these a man can find in the arts, even when his mood may be + heavy or disturbed; just as (to take their parallel in wines) strong + Beaune will always rouse a man. But that which is cousin to the immortal + spirit, and which has, so to speak, no colour but mere light, <i>that</i> + needs for its recognition so serene an air of abstraction and of content + as makes its pleasure seem rare in this troubled life, and causes us to + recall it like a descent of the gods.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For who, having noise around him, can strike the + table with pleasure at reading the Misanthrope, or in mere thirst or in + fatigue praise Chinon wine? Who does not need for either of these perfect + things Recollection, a variety of according conditions, and a certain easy + Plenitude of the Mind?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So it is with the majesty of Plains, and with the + haunting power of their imperial roads.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">169</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>FUGUE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All you that have had your souls touched at the + innermost, and have attempted to release yourselves in verse and have + written trash--(and who know it)--be comforted. You shall have + satisfaction at last, and you shall attain fame in some other + fashion--perhaps in private theatricals or perhaps in journalism. You will + be granted a prevision of complete success, and your hearts shall be + filled--but you must not expect to find this mood on the Emilian Way when + it is raining.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All you that feel youth slipping past you and that + are desolate at the approach of age, be merry; it is not what it looks + like from in front and from outside. There is a glory in all completion, + and all good endings are but shining transitions. There will come a sharp + moment of revelation when you shall bless the effect of time. But this + divine moment--- it is not on the Emilian Way in the rain that you should + seek it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All you that have loved passionately and have torn + your hearts asunder in disillusions, do not imagine that things broken + cannot be mended by the good angels. There is a kind of splice called 'the + long splice' which makes a cut rope seem what it was before; it is even + stronger than before, and can pass through a block. There will descend + upon you a blessed hour when you will be convinced as by a miracle, and + you will suddenly understand the <i>redintegratio amoris (amoris + redintegratio,</i> a Latin phrase). But this hour you will not receive in + the rain on the Emilian Way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">Here then, next day, just outside a town called + Borgo, past the middle of morning, the rain ceased.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Its effect was still upon the slippery and shining + road, the sky was still fast and leaden, when, in a distaste for their + towns, I skirted the place by a lane that runs westward of the houses, and + sitting upon a low wall, I looked up at the Apennines, which were now + plain above me, and thought over my approaching passage through those + hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But here I must make clear by a map the mass of + mountains which I was about to attempt, and in which I forded so many + rivers, met so many strange men and beasts, saw such unaccountable sights, + was imprisoned, starved, frozen, haunted, delighted, burnt up, and finally + refreshed in Tuscany--in a word, where I had the most extraordinary and + unheard-of adventures that ever diversified the life of man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">170</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>UNIMPORTANT TOPOGRAPHY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The straight line to Rome runs from Milan not + quite through Piacenza, but within a mile or two of that city. Then it + runs across the first folds of the Apennines, and gradually diverges from + the Emilian Way. It was not possible to follow this part of the line + exactly, for there was no kind of track. But by following the Emilian Way + for several miles (as I had done), and by leaving it at the right moment, + it was possible to strike the straight line again near a village called + Medesano.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now on the far side of the Apennines, beyond their + main crest, there happens, most providentially, to be a river called the + Serchio, whose valley is fairly straight and points down directly to Rome. + To follow this valley would be practically to follow the line to Rome, and + it struck the Tuscan plain not far from Lucca.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But to get from the Emilian Way over the eastern + slope of the Apennines' main ridge and crest, to where the Serchio rises + on the western side, is a very difficult matter. The few roads across the + Apennines cut my track at right angles, and were therefore useless. In + order to strike the watershed at the sources of the Serchio it was + necessary to go obliquely across a torrent and four rivers (the Taro, the + Parma, the Enza, and the Secchia), and to climb the four spurs that + divided them; crossing each nearer to the principal chain as I advanced + until, after the Secchia, the next climb would be that of the central + crest itself, on the far side of which I should find the Serchio valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-61.jpg" alt="path-61.jpg" class="c72" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font2"><b>171</b></span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE RED INN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Perhaps in places roads might correspond to this + track. Certainly the bulk of it would be mule-paths or rough gullies--how + much I could not tell. The only way I could work it with my wretched map + was to note the names of towns' or hamlets more or less on the line, and + to pick my way from one to another. I wrote them down as follows: Fornovo, + Calestano, Tizzano, Colagna--the last at the foot of the final pass. The + distance to that pass as the crow flies was only a little more than thirty + miles. So exceedingly difficult was the task that it took me over two + days. Till I reached Fornovo beyond the Taro, I was not really in the + hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">By country roads, picking my way, I made that + afternoon for Medesano. The lanes were tortuous; they crossed continual + streams that ran from the hills above, full and foaming after the rain, + and frothing with the waste of the mountains. I had not gone two miles + when the sky broke; not four when a new warmth began to steal over the air + and a sense of summer to appear in the earth about me. With the greatest + rapidity the unusual weather that had accompanied me from Milan was + changing into the normal brilliancy of the south; but it was too late for + the sun to tell, though he shone from time to time through clouds that + were now moving eastwards more perceptibly and shredding as they moved.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Quite tired and desiring food, keen also for rest + after those dispiriting days, I stopped, before reaching Medesano, at an + inn where three ways met; and there I purposed to eat and spend the night, + for the next day, it was easy to see, would be tropical, and I should rise + before dawn if I was to save the heat. I entered.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The room within was of red wood. It had two + tables, a little counter with a vast array of bottles, a woman behind the + counter, and a small, nervous man in a strange hat serving. And all the + little place was filled and crammed with a crowd of perhaps twenty men, + gesticulating, shouting, laughing, quarrelling, and one very big man was + explaining to another the virtues of his knife; and all were already amply + satisfied with wine. For in this part men do not own, but are paid wages, + so that they waste the little they have.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I saluted the company, and walking up to the + counter was about to call for wine. They had all become silent, when one + man asked me a question in Italian. I did not understand it, and attempted + to say so, when another asked the same question; then six or seven--and + there was a hubbub. And out of the hubbub I heard a similar sentence + rising all the time. To this day I do not know what it meant, but I + thought (and think) it meant 'He is a Venetian,' or 'He is the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">172</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE TAVERN BRAWL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Venetian.' Something in my broken language had + made them think this, and evidently the Venetians (or a Venetian) were (or + was) gravely unpopular here. Why, I cannot tell. Perhaps the Venetians + were blacklegs. But evidently a Venetian, or the whole Venetian nation, + had recently done them a wrong.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At any rate one very dark-haired man put his face + close up to mine, unlipped his teeth, and began a great noise of cursing + and threatening, and this so angered me that it overmastered my fear, + which had till then been considerable. I remembered also a rule which a + wise man once told me for guidance, and it is this: 'God disposes of + victory, but, as the world is made, when men smile, smile; when men laugh, + laugh; when men hit, hit; when men shout, shout; and when men curse, curse + you also, my son, and in doubt let them always take the first move.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say my fear had been considerable, especially of + the man with the knife, but I got too angry to remember it, and advancing + my face also to this insulter's I shouted, <i>'Dio Ladro! Dios di mi alma! + Sanguinamento! Nombre di Dios! Che? Che vole? Non sono da Venezia io! Sono + de Francia! Je m'en fiche da vestra Venezia! Non se vede che non parlar + vestra lingua? Che sono forestiere?'</i> and so forth. At this they + evidently divided into two parties, and all began raging amongst + themselves, and some at me, while the others argued louder and louder that + there was an error.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The little innkeeper caught my arm over the + counter, and I turned round sharply, thinking he was doing me a wrong, but + I saw him nodding and winking at me, and he was on my side. This was + probably because he was responsible if anything happened, and he alone + could not fly from the police.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He made them a speech which, for all I know, may + have been to the effect that he had known and loved me from childhood, or + may have been that he knew me for one Jacques of Turin, or may have been + any other lie. Whatever lie it was, it appeased them. Their anger went + down to a murmur, just like soda-water settling down into a glass.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I stood wine; we drank. I showed them my book, and + as my pencil needed sharpening the large man lent me his knife for + courtesy. When I got it in my</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-62.jpg" alt="path-62.jpg" class="c73" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">173</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE CLOUDS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">hand I saw plainly that it was no knife for + stabbing with; it was a pruning-knife, and would have bit the hand that + cherished it (as they say of serpents). On the other hand, it would have + been a good knife for ripping, and passable at a slash. You must not + expect too much of one article.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I took food, but I saw that in this parish it was + safer to sleep out of doors than in; so in the falling evening, but not + yet sunset, I wandered on, not at a pace but looking for shelter, and I + found at last just what I wanted: a little shed, with dried ferns (as it + seemed) strewed in a corner, a few old sacks, and a broken piece of + machinery--though this last was of no use to me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I thought: 'It will be safe here, for I shall rise + before day, and the owner, if there is one, will not disturb me.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The air was fairly warm. The place quite dry. The + open side looked westward and a little south.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The sun had now set behind the Apennines, and + there was a deep effulgence in the sky. I drank a little wine, lit a pipe, + and watched the west in silence.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Whatever was left of the great pall from which all + that rain had fallen, now was banked up on the further side of heaven in + toppling great clouds that caught the full glow of evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The great clouds stood up in heaven, separate, + like persons; and no wind blew; but everything was full of evening. I + worshipped them so far as it is permitted to worship inanimate things.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They domed into the pure light of the higher air, + inviolable. They seemed halted in the presence of a commanding majesty who + ranked them all in order.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This vision filled me with a large calm which a + travelled man may find on coming to his home, or a learner in the + communion of wise men. Repose, certitude, and, as it were, a premonition + of glory occupied my spirit. Before it was yet quite dark I had made a bed + out of the dry bracken, covered myself with the sacks and cloths, and very + soon I fell asleep, still thinking of the shapes of clouds and of the + power of God.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Next morning it was as I had thought. Going out + before it was fully light, a dense mist all around and a clear sky showed + what the day was to be. As I reached Medesano the sun rose, and in + half-an-hour the air was instinct with heat; within an hour it was + blinding. An early Mass in the church below the village prepared my day, + but as I took coffee afterwards in a little inn, and asked about crossing + the Taro to Fornovo--my first point--to my astonishment they shook their + heads. The Taro was impassable.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE IMPASSABLE RIVER</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Why could it not be crossed? My very broken + language made it difficult for me to understand. They talked <i>oframi,</i> + which I thought meant oars; but <i>rami,</i> had I known it, meant the + separate branches or streams whereby these torrential rivers of Italy flow + through their arid beds.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I drew a boat and asked if one could not cross in + that (for I was a northerner, and my idea of a river was a river with + banks and water in between), but they laughed and said 'No.' Then I made + the motion of swimming. They said it was impossible, and one man hung his + head to indicate drowning. It was serious. They said to-morrow, or rather + next day, one might do it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Finally, a boy that stood by said he remembered a + man who knew the river better than any one, and he, if any one could, + would get me across. So I took the boy with me up the road, and as we went + I saw, parallel to the road, a wide plain of dazzling rocks and sand, and + beyond it, shining and silhouetted like an Arab village, the group of + houses that was Fornovo. This plain was their sort of river in these + hills. The boy said that sometimes it was full and a mile wide, sometimes + it dwindled into dirty pools. Now, as I looked, a few thin streams seemed + to wind through it, and I could not understand the danger.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-63.jpg" alt="path-63.jpg" class="c74" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After a mile or two we came to a spot in the road + where a patch of brushwood only separated us from the river-bed. Here the + boy bade me wait, and asked a group of peasants whether the guide was in; + they said they thought so, and some went up into the hillside with the boy + to fetch him, others remained with me, looking at the river-bed and at + Fornovo beyond, shaking their heads, and saying it had not been done for + days. But I did not understand whether the rain-freshet had passed and was + draining away, or whether it had not yet come down from beyond, and I + waited for the guide.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They brought him at last down from his hut among + the hills. He came with</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">great strides, a kindly-looking man, extremely + tall and thin, and with very pale eyes. He smiled. They pointed me out to + him, and we struck the bargain by holding up three fingers each for three + lira, and nodding. Then he grasped his long staff and I mine, we bade + farewell to the party, and together we went in</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">i?5</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE CROSSING OF THE TARO</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">silence through thick brushwood down towards the + broad river-bed. The stones of it glared like the sands of Africa; Fornovo + baked under the sun all white and black; between us was this broad plain + of parched shingle and rocks that could, in a night, become one enormous + river, or dwindle to a chain of stagnant ponds. To-day some seven narrow + streams wandered in the expanse, and again they seemed so easy to cross + that again I wondered at the need of a guide.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We came to the edge of the first, and I climbed on + the guide's back. He went bare-legged into the stream deeper and deeper + till my feet, though held up high, just touched the water; then + laboriously he climbed the further shore, and I got down upon dry land. It + had been but twenty yards or so, and he knew the place well. I had seen, + as we crossed, what a torrent this first little stream was, and I now knew + the difficulty and understood the warnings of the inn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The second branch was impassable. We followed it + up for nearly a mile to where 'an island' (that is, a mass of high land + that must have been an island in flood-time, and that had on it an old + brown village) stood above the white bed of the river. Just at this + 'island' my guide found a ford. And the way he found it is worth telling. + He taught me the trick, and it is most useful to men who wander alone in + mountains.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You take a heavy stone, how heavy you must learn + to judge, for a more rapid current needs a heavier stone; but say about + ten pounds. This you lob gently into mid-stream. <i>How,</i> it is + impossible to describe, but when you do it it is quite easy to see that in + about four feet of water, or less, the stone splashes quite differently + from the way it does in five feet or more. It is a sure test, and one much + easier to acquire by practice than to write about. To teach myself this + trick I practised it throughout my journey in these wilds.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Having found a ford then, he again took me on his + shoulders, but, in mid-stream, the water being up to his breast, his foot + slipped on a stone (all the bed beneath was rolling and churning in the + torrent), and in a moment we had both fallen. He pulled me up straight by + his side, and then indeed, overwhelmed in the rush of water, it was easy + to understand how the Taro could drown men, and why the peasants dreaded + these little ribbons of water.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The current rushed and foamed past me, coming + nearly to my neck; and it was icy cold. One had to lean against it, and + the water so took away one's weight that at any moment one might have + slipped and been carried away. The guide, a much taller man (indeed he was + six foot three or so), supported me, holding my arm: and again in a moment + we reached dry land.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After that adventure there was no need for + carrying. The third, fourth, fifth,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">176</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ST CHRISTOPHER</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">and sixth branches were easily fordable. The + seventh was broad and deep, and I found it a heavy matter; nor should I + have waded it but for my guide, for the water bore against me like a man + wrestling, and it was as cold as Acheron, the river of the dead. Then on + the further shore, and warning him (in Lingua Franca) of his peril, I gave + him his wage, and he smiled and thanked me, and went back, choosing his + plans at leisure.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">Thus did I cross the river Taro; a danger for + men.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Where I landed was a poor man sunning himself. He + rose and walked with me to Fornovo. He knew the guide.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'He is a good man,' he said to me of this friend. + 'He is as good as a little piece of bread.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'E vero,' I answered; 'e San Cristophero.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This pleased the peasant; and indeed it was true. + For the guide's business was exactly that of St Christopher, except that + the Saint took no money, and lived, I suppose, on air.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And so to Fornovo; and the heat blinded and + confused, and the air was alive with flies. But the sun dried me at once, + and I pressed up the road because I needed food. After I had eaten in this + old town I was preparing to make for Calestano and to cross the first high + spur of the Apennines that separated me from it, when I saw, as I left the + place, a very old church; and I stayed a moment and looked at carvings + which were in no order, but put in pell-mell, evidently chosen from some + older building. They were barbaric, but one could see that they stood for + the last judgement of man, and there were the good looking foolish, and + there were the wicked being boiled by devils in a pot, and what was most + pleasing was one devil who with great joy was carrying off a rich man's + gold in a bag. But now we are too wise to believe in such follies, and + when we die we take our wealth with us; in the ninth century they had no + way of doing this, for no system of credit yet obtained.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then leaving the main road which runs to + Pontremoli and at last to Spezzia, my lane climbed up into the hills and + ceased, little by little, to be even a lane. It became from time to time + the bed of a stream, then nothing, then a lane again, and at last, at the + head of the glen, I confessed to having lost it; but I noted a great rock + or peak above me for a landmark, and I said to myself-</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'No matter. The wall of this glen before me is + obviously the ridge of the spur; the rock must be left to the north, and I + have but to cross the ridge by its guidance.' By this time, however, the + heat overcame me, and, as it was</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">177</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GREAT VIEW</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">already afternoon, and as I had used so much of + the preceding night for my journey, I remembered the wise custom of hot + countries and lay down to sleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I slept but a little while, yet when I woke the + air was cooler. I climbed the side of the glen at random, and on the + summit I found, to my disgust, a road. What road could it be? To this day + I do not know. Perhaps I had missed my way and struck the main highway + again. Perhaps (it is often so in the Apennines) it was a road leading + nowhere. At any rate I hesitated, and looked back to judge my direction.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was a happy accident. I was now some 2000 feet + above the Taro. There, before me, stood the high strange rock that I had + watched from below; all around it and below me was the glen or cup of bare + hills, slabs, and slopes of sand and stone calcined in the sun, and, + beyond these near things, all the plain of Lombardy was at my feet.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was this which made it worth while to have + toiled up that steep wall, and even to have lost my way--to see a hundred + miles of the great flat stretched out before me: all the kingdoms of the + world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nor was this all. There were sharp white clouds on + the far northern horizon, low down above the uncertain edge of the world. + I looked again and found they did not move. Then I knew they were the + Alps.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Believe it or not, I was looking back to a place + of days before: over how many, many miles of road! The rare, white peaks + and edges could not deceive me; they still stood to the sunlight, and sent + me from that vast distance the memory of my passage, when their snows had + seemed interminable and their height so</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-64.jpg" alt="path-64.jpg" class="c75" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">178</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">ON PRISONS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">monstrous; their cold such a cloak of death. Now + they were as far off as childhood, and I saw them for the last time.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All this I drew. Then finding a post directing me + to a side road for Calestano, I followed it down and down into the valley + beyond; and up the walls of this second valley as the evening fell I heard + the noise of the water running, as the Taro had run, a net of torrents + from the melting snows far off. These streams I soon saw below me, winding + (as those of the Taro had wound) through a floor of dry shingle and rock; + but when my road ceased suddenly some hundreds of feet above the bed of + the river, and when, full of evening, I had scrambled down through trees + to the brink of the water, I found I should have to repeat what I had done + that morning and to ford these streams. For there was no track of any kind + and no bridge, and Calestano stood opposite me, a purple cluster of houses + in the dusk against the farther mountain side.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Very warily, lobbing stones as I had been taught, + and following up and down each branch to find a place, I forded one by one + the six little cold and violent rivers, and reaching the farther shore, I + reached also, as I thought, supper, companionship, and a bed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But it is not in this simple way that human life + is arranged. What awaited me in Calestano was ill favour, a prison, + release, base flattery, and a very tardy meal.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is our duty to pity all men. It is our duty to + pity those who are in prison. It is our duty to pity those who are not in + prison. How much more is it the duty of a Christian man to pity the rich + who cannot ever get into prison? These indeed I do now specially pity, and + extend to them my commiseration.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What! Never even to have felt the grip of the + policeman; to have watched his bold suspicious eye; to have tried to make + a good show under examination ... never to have heard the bolt grinding in + the lock, and never to have looked round at the cleanly simplicity of a + cell? Then what emotions have you had, unimprisonable rich; or what do you + know of active living and of adventure?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was after drinking some wine and eating + macaroni and bread at a poor inn, the only one in the place, and after + having to shout at the ill-natured hostess (and to try twenty guesses + before I made her understand that I wanted cheese), it was when I had thus + eaten and shouted, and had gone over the way to drink coffee and to smoke + in a little cafe, that my adventure befell me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In the inn there had been a fat jolly-looking man + and two official-looking people with white caps dining at another table. I + had taken no notice of them at the time. But as I sat smoking and thinking + in the little cafe, which was bright</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">179</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12">THE POLICEMAN'S LIE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and full of people, I noticed a first + danger-signal when I was told sullenly that 'they had no bed; they thought + I could get none in the town': then, suddenly, these two men in white caps + came in, and they arrested me with as much ease as you or I would hold a + horse.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A moment later there came in two magnificent + fellows, gendarmes, with swords and cocked hats, and moustaches <i>a l'Abd + el Kader,</i> as we used to say in the old days; these four, the two + gendarmes and two policemen, sat down opposite me on chairs and began + cross-questioning me in Italian, a language in which I was not proficient. + I so far understood them as to know that they were asking for my papers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Niente!' said I, and poured out on the table a + card-case, a sketch-book, two pencils, a bottle of wine, a cup, a piece of + bread, a scrap of French newspaper, an old <i>Secolo,</i> a needle, some + thread, and a flute--but no passport.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They looked in the card-case and found 73 lira; + that is, not quite three pounds. They examined the sketch-book critically, + as behoved southerners who are mostly of an artistic bent: but they found + no passport. They questioned me again, and as I picked about for words to + reply, the smaller (the policeman, a man with a face like a fox) shouted + that he had heard me speaking Italian <i>currently</i> in the inn, and + that my hesitation was a blind.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This lie so annoyed me that I said angrily in + French (which I made as southern as possible to suit them):</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'You lie: and you can be punished for such lies, + since you are an official.' For though the police are the same in all + countries, and will swear black is white, and destroy men for a song, yet + where there is a <i>droit administratif-</i> that is, where the Revolution + has made things tolerable--you are much surer of punishing your policeman, + and he is much less able to do you a damage than in England or America; + for he counts as an official and is under a more public discipline and + responsibility if he exceeds his powers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then I added, speaking distinctly, 'I can speak + French and Latin. Have you a priest in Calestano, and does he know Latin?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This was a fine touch. They winced, and parried it + by saying that the Sindaco knew French. Then they led me away to their + barracks while they fetched the Sindaco, and so I was imprisoned.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But not for long. Very soon I was again following + up the street, and we came to the house of the Sindaco or Mayor. There he + was, an old man with white hair, God bless him, playing cards with his son + and daughter. To him therefore, as understanding French, I was bidden + address myself. I told him in clear and exact idiom that his policemen + were fools, that his town was a rabbit-warren, and his prison the only + cleanly thing in it; that half-a-dozen telegrams to places</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">180</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BILINGUAL MAYOR</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I could indicate would show where I had passed; + that I was a common tourist, not even an artist (as my sketch-book + showed), and that my cards gave my exact address and description.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But the Sindaco, the French-speaking Sindaco, + understood me not in the least, and it seemed a wicked thing in me to + expose him in his old age, so I waited till he spoke. He spoke a word + common to all languages, and one he had just caught from my lips.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Tourist-e?' he said.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I nodded. Then he told them to let me go. It was + as simple as that; and to this day, I suppose, he passes for a very + bilingual Mayor. He did me a service, and I am willing to believe that in + his youth he smacked his lips over the subtle flavour of Voltaire, but I + fear to-day he would have a poor time with Anatole France.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What a contrast was there between the hour when I + had gone out of the cafe a prisoner and that when I returned rejoicing + with a crowd about me, proclaiming my innocence, and shouting one to + another that I was a tourist and had seventy-three lira on my person! The + landlady smiled and bowed: she had before refused me a bed! The men at the + tables made me a god! Nor did I think them worse for this. Why should I? A + man unknown, unkempt, unshaven, in tatters, covered with weeks of travel + and mud, and in a suit that originally cost not ten shillings; having + slept in leaves and ferns, and forest places, crosses a river at dusk and + enters a town furtively, not by the road. He is a foreigner; he carries a + great club. Is it not much wiser to arrest such a man? Why yes, evidently. + And when you have arrested him, can you do more than let him go without + proof, on his own word? Hardly!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus I loved the people of Calestano, especially + for this strange adventure they had given me; and next day, having slept + in a human room, I went at sunrise up the mountain sides beyond and above + their town, and so climbed by a long cleft the <i>second</i> spur of the + Apennines: the spur that separated me from the <i>third</i> river, the + Parma. And my goal above the Parma (when I should have crossed it) was a + place marked in the map 'Tizzano'. To climb this second spur, to reach and + cross the Parma in the vale below, to find Tizzano, I left Calestano on + that fragrant morning; and having passed and drawn a little hamlet called + Frangi, standing on a crag, I went on up the steep vale and soon reached + the top of the ridge, which here dips a little and allows a path to cross + over to the southern side.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">It is the custom of many, when they get over a + ridge, to begin singing. Nor did I fail, early as was the hour, to sing in + passing this the second of my</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">181</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE PEASANT</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Apennine summits. I sang easily with an open + throat everything that I could remember in praise of joy; and I did not + spare the choruses of my songs, being even at pains to imitate (when they + were double) the various voices of either part.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now, so much of the Englishman was in me that, + coming round a corner of rock from which one first sees Beduzzo hanging on + its ledge (as you know), and finding round this corner a peasant sitting + at his ease, I was ashamed. For I did not like to be overheard singing + fantastic songs. But he, used to singing as a solitary pastime, greeted + me, and we walked along together, pointing out to each other the glories + of the world before us and exulting in the morning. It was his business to + show me things and their names: the great Mountain of the</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-65.jpg" alt="path-65.jpg" class="c76" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Pilgrimage to the South, the strange rock of + Castel-Nuovo; in the far haze the plain of Parma; and Tizzano on its high + hill, the ridge straight before me. He also would tell me the name in + Italian of the things to hand--my boots, my staff, my hat; and I told him + their names in French, all of which he was eager to learn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We talked of the way people here tilled and owned + ground, of the dangers in the hills, and of the happiness of lonely men. + But if you ask how we understood each other, I will explain the matter to + you.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In Italy, in the Apennines of the north, there + seem to be three strata of language. In the valleys the Italian was pure, + resonant, and foreign to me. There dwell the townsmen, and they deal down + river with the plains. Half-way up (as at Frangi, at Beduzzo, at Tizzano) + I began to understand them. They have the nasal 'n'; they clip their + words. On the summits, at last, they speak like northerners, and I was + easily understood, for they said not <i><sup>l</sup>vino'</i> but <i> + 'vin';</i> not '<i>duo'</i> but <i>'du'</i>, and so forth. They are the + Gauls of the hills. I told them so, and they were very pleased.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">182</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">'MOLINAR'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">Then I and my peasant parted, but as one should + never leave a man without giving him something to show by way of token on + the Day of Judgement, I gave this man a little picture of Milan, and bade + him keep it for my sake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">So he went his way, and I mine, and the last + thing he said to me was about a <i> 'molinar',</i> but I did not know what + that meant.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I had taken a cut down the mountain, and + discovered a highroad at the bottom, I saw that the river before me needed + fording, like all the rest; and as my map showed me there was no bridge + for many miles down, I cast about to cross directly, if possible on some + man's shoulders.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I met an old woman with a heap of grass on her + back; I pointed to the river, and said (in Lingua Franca) that I wished to + cross. She again used that word <i>'molinar',</i> and I had an inkling + that it meant 'miller'. I said to myself--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Where there is a miller there is a mill. For <i>Ubi + Petrus ibi Ecclesia.</i> Where there is a mill there is water; a mill must + have motive power:' (a) I must get near the stream; <i>(b)</i> I must look + out for the noise and aspect of a mill.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I therefore (thanking the grass-bearing woman) + went right over the fields till I saw a great, slow mill-wheel against a + house, and a sad man standing looking at it as though it were the + Procession of God's Providence. He was thinking of many things. I tapped + him on the shoulder (whereat he started) and spoke the great word of that + valley, <i> 'molinar'.</i> It opened all the gates of his soul. He smiled + at me like a man grown young again, and, beckoning me to follow, led + radiantly up the sluice to where it drew from the river.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here three men were at work digging a better entry + for the water. One was an old, happy man in spectacles, the second a young + man with stilts in his hands, the third was very tall and narrow; his face + was sad, and he was of the kind that endure all things and conquer. I said + <i> 'Molinar?''</i> I had found him.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To the man who had brought me I gave 50 c., and so + innocent and good are these people that he said <i>'Pourquoi?'</i> or + words like it, and I said it was necessary. Then I said to the molinar, <i>'Quanta?'</i> + and he, holding up a tall finger, said '<i>Una Lira<sup>1</sup>.</i> The + young man leapt on to his stilts, the molinar stooped down and I got upon + his shoulders, and we all attempted the many streams of the river Parma, + in which I think I should by myself have drowned.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I say advisedly--'I should have been drowned.' + These upper rivers of the hills run high and low according to storms and + to the melting of the snows. The river of Parma (for this torrent at last + fed Parma) was higher than the rest.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Even the molinar, the god of that valley, had to + pick his way carefully, and the young man on stilts had to go before, much + higher than mortal men, and</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">183</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>ANDIAMO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">up above the water. I could see him as he went, + and I could see that, to tell the truth, there was a ford--a rare thing in + upper waters, because in the torrent-sources of rivers either the upper + waters run over changeless rocks or else over gravel and sand. Now if they + run over rocks they have their isolated shallow places, which any man may + find, and their deep--evident by the still and mysterious surface, where + fish go round and round in the hollows; but no true ford continuous from + side to side. So it is in Scotland. And if they run over gravel and sand, + then with every storm or 'spate' they shift and change. But here by some + accident there ran--perhaps a shelf or rock, perhaps a ruin of a Roman + bridge--something at least that was deep enough and solid enough to be a + true ford--and that we followed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The molinar--even the molinar--was careful of his + way. Twice he waited, waist high, while the man on stilts before us + suddenly lost ground and plunged to his feet. Once, crossing a small + branch (for the river here, like all these rivers, runs in many arms over + the dry gravel), it seemed there was no foothold and we had to cast up and + down. Whenever we found dry land, I came off the molinar's back to rest + him, and when he took the water again I mounted again. So we passed the + many streams, and stood at last on the Tizzanian side. Then I gave a lira + to the molinar, and to his companion on stilts 50 c., who said, 'What is + this for?' and I said, 'You also helped.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The molinar then, with gesticulations and + expression of the eyes, gave me to understand that for this 50 c. the + stilt-man would take me up to Tizzano on the high ridge and show me the + path up the ridge; so the stilt-man turned to me and said, '<i>Andiamo'</i> + which means <i> 'Allons'.</i> But when the Italians say <i>'Andiamo'</i> + they are less harsh than the northern French who say <i>'Allans';</i> for + the northern French have three troubles in the blood. They are fighters; + they will for ever be seeking the perfect state, and they love furiously. + Hence they ferment twice over, like wine subjected to movement and + breeding acidity. Therefore is it that when they say <i>'Allons'</i> it is + harsher than <i>'Andiamo'.</i> My Italian said to me genially, <i>'Andiamo</i>'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Catholic Church makes men. By which I do not + mean boasters and swaggerers, nor bullies nor ignorant fools, who, finding + themselves comfortable, think that their comfort will be a boon to others, + and attempt (with singular unsuccess) to force it on the world; but men, + human beings, different from the beasts, capable of firmness and + discipline and recognition; accepting death; tenacious. Of her effects the + most gracious is the character of the Irish and of these Italians. Of such + also some day she may make soldiers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Have you ever noticed that all the Catholic Church + does is thought beautiful and lovable until she comes out into the open, + and then suddenly she is found</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">184</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MANY</b> BEASTS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">by her enemies (which are the seven capital sins, + and the four sins calling to heaven for vengeance) to be hateful and + grinding? So it is; and it is the fine irony of her present renovation + that those who were for ever belauding her pictures, and her saints, and + her architecture, as we praise things dead, they are the most angered by + her appearance on this modern field all armed, just as she was, with works + and art and songs, sometimes superlative, often vulgar. Note you, she is + still careless of art or songs, as she has always been. She lays her + foundations in something other, which something other our moderns hate. + Yet out of that something other came the art and song of the Middle Ages. + And what art or songs have you? She is Europe and all our past. She is + returning. <i>Andiamo.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. But Mr <i> (deleted by the Censor)</i> + does not think so?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I last saw him supping at the Savoy. <i>Andiamo.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We went up the hill together over a burnt land, + but shaded with trees. It was very hot. I could scarcely continue, so fast + did my companion go, and so much did the heat oppress me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We passed a fountain at which oxen drank, and + there I supped up cool water from the spout, but he wagged his finger + before his face to tell me that this was an error under a hot sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We went on and met two men driving cattle up the + path between the trees. These I soon found to be talking of prices and + markets with my guide. For it was market-day. As we came up at last on to + the little town--a little, little town like a nest, and all surrounded + with walls, and a castle in it and a church--we found a thousand beasts + all lowing and answering each other along the highroad, and on into the + market square through the gate. There my guide led me into a large room, + where a great many peasants were eating soup with macaroni in it, and some + few, meat. But I was too exhausted to eat meat, so I supped up my broth + and then began diapephradizing on my fingers to show the great innkeeper + what I wanted.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I first pulled up the macaroni out of the dish, + and said, <i>Fromagio, Pommodoro,</i> by which I meant cheese--tomato. He + then said he knew what I meant, and brought me that spaghetti so treated, + which is a dish for a king, a cosmopolitan traitor, an oppressor of the + poor, a usurer, or any other rich man, but there is no spaghetti in the + place to which such men go, whereas these peasants will continue to enjoy + it in heaven.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I then pulled out my bottle of wine, drank what + was left out of the neck (by way of sign), and putting it down said, <i>'Tale, + tantum, vino rosso.'</i> My guide also</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">185</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">THE BARGAIN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">said many things which probably meant that I was a + rich man, who threw his money about by the sixpence. So the innkeeper went + through a door and brought back a bottle all corked and sealed, and said + on his fingers, and with his mouth and eyes, 'THIS KIND OF WINE IS + SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Only in the foolish cities do men think it a fine + thing to appear careless of money. So I, very narrowly watching him out of + half-closed eyes, held up my five fingers interrogatively, and said, <i>'Cinquante?'</i> + meaning 'Dare you ask fivepence?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At which he and all the peasants around, even + including my guide, laughed aloud as at an excellent joke, and said, <i>'Cinquante, + Ho! ho!'</i> and dug each other in the ribs. But the innkeeper of Tizzano + Val Parmense said in Italian a number of things which meant that I could + but be joking, and added (in passing) that a lira made it a kind of gift + to me. A lira was, as it were, but a token to prove that it had changed + hands: a registration fee: a matter of record; at a lira it was pure + charity. Then I said, <i>'Soixante Dix?'</i> which meant nothing to him, + so I held up seven fingers; he waved his hand about genially, and said + that as I was evidently a good fellow, a traveller, and as anyhow he was + practically giving me the wine, he would make it ninepence; it was hardly + worth his while to stretch out his hand for so little money. So then I + pulled out 80 c. in coppers, and said, '<i>Tutto',</i> which means 'all'. + Then he put the bottle before me, took the money, and an immense clamour + rose from all those who had been watching the scene, and they applauded it + as a ratified bargain. And this is the way in which bargains were struck + of old time in these hills when your fathers and mine lived and shivered + in a cave, hunted wolves, and bargained with clubs only.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So this being settled, and I eager for the wine, + wished it to be opened, especially to stand drink to my guide. The + innkeeper was in another room. The guide was too courteous to ask for a + corkscrew, and I did not know the Italian for a corkscrew.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I pointed to the cork, but all I got out of my + guide was a remark that the wine was very good. Then I made the emblem and + sign of a corkscrew in my sketch-book with a pencil, but he pretended not + to understand--such was his breeding. Then I imitated the mode, sound, and + gesture of a corkscrew entering a cork, and an old man next to me said '<i>Tira-buchon'--</i>a + common French word as familiar as the woods of Marly! It was brought. The + bottle was opened and we all drank together.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">As I rose to go out of Tizzano Val Parmense my + guide said to me, '<i>Se chiama Tira-Buchon perche E' lira il buchon?</i> + And I said to him, <i>'Dominus Vobiscum?</i> and left him to his hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I took the road downwards from the ridge into the + next dip and valley, but</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">186</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font4"><b>TIZZANO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">after a mile or so in the great heat (it was now + one o'clock) I was exhausted. So I went up to a little wooded bank, and + lay there in the shade sketching Tizzano Val Parmense, where it stood not + much above me, and then I lay down and slept for an hour and smoked a pipe + and thought of many things.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-66.jpg" alt="path-66.jpg" class="c77" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">From the ridge on which Tizzano stands, which is + the third of these Apennine spurs, to the next, the fourth, is but a + little way; one looks across from one to the other. Nevertheless it is a + difficult piece of walking, because in the middle of the valley another + ridge, almost as high as the principal spurs, runs down, and this has to + be climbed at its lowest part before one can get down to the torrent of + the Enza, where it runs with a hollow noise in the depths of the + mountains. So the whole valley looks confused, and it appears, and is, + laborious.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Very high up above in a mass of trees stood the + first of those many ruined towers and castles in which the Apennines + abound, and of which Canossa, far off and indistinguishable in the haze, + was the chief example. It was called 'The Tower of Rugino'. Beyond the + deep trench of the Enza, poised as it seemed on its southern bank (but + really much further off, in the Secchia valley), stood that strange high + rock of Castel-Nuovo, which the peasant had shown me that</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-67.jpg" alt="path-67.jpg" class="c78" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">morning and which was the landmark of this + attempt. It seemed made rather by</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">man than by nature, so square and exact was it and + so cut off from the other hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was not till the later afternoon, when the air + was already full of the golden</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">187</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">CEREGIO</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">dust that comes before the fall of the evening, + that I stood above the Enza and saw it running thousands of feet below. + Here I halted for a moment irresolute, and looked at the confusion of the + hills. It had been my intention to make a straight line for Collagna, but + I could not tell where Collagna lay save that it was somewhere behind the + high mountain that was now darkening against the sky. Moreover, the Enza + (as I could see down, down from where I stood) was not fordable. It did + not run in streams but in one full current, and was a true river. All the + scene was wild. I had come close to the central ridge of the Apennines. It + stood above me but five or six clear miles away, and on its slopes there + were patches and fields of snow which were beginning to glimmer in the + diminishing light.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Four peasants sat on the edge of the road. They + were preparing to go to their quiet homesteads, and they were gathering + their scythes together, for they had been mowing in a field. Coming up to + these, I asked them how I might reach Collagna. They told me that I could + not go straight, as I had wished, on account of the impassable river, but + that if I went down the steep directly below me I should find a bridge; + that thence a path went up the opposite ridge to where a hamlet, called + Ceregio (which they showed me beyond the valley), stood in trees</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-68.jpg" alt="path-68.jpg" class="c79" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">on the crest, and once there (they said) I could + be further directed. I understood all their speech except one fatal word. + I thought they told me that Ceregio was <i>half</i> the way to Collagna; + and what that error cost me you shall hear.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They drank my wine, I ate their bread, and we + parted: they to go to their accustomed place, and I to cross this unknown + valley. But when I had left these grave and kindly men, the echo of their + voices remained with me; the deep valley of the Enza seemed lonely, and as + I went lower and lower down towards the noise of the river I lost the sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">188</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE CROSSING OF THE ENZA</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-69.jpg" alt="path-69.jpg" class="c80" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Enza was flooded. A rough bridge, made of + stout logs resting on trunks of trees that were lashed together like + tripods and supported a long plank, was afforded to cross it. But in the + high water it did not quite reach to the hither bank. I rolled great + stones into the water and made a short causeway, and so, somewhat + perilously, I attained the farther shore, and went up, up by a little + precipitous path till I reached the hamlet of Ceregio standing on its + hill, blessed and secluded; for no road leads in or out of it, but only + mule-paths.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The houses were all grouped together round a + church; it was dim between them; but several men driving oxen took me to a + house that was perhaps the inn, though there was no sign; and there in a + twilight room we all sat down together like Christians in perfect harmony, + and the woman of the house served us.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now when, after this communion, I asked the way to + Collagna, they must have thought me foolish, and have wondered why I did + not pass the night with them, for they knew how far off Collagna was. But + I (by the error in language of which I have told you) believed it to be + but a short way off. It was in reality ten miles. The oldest of my + companions said he would put me on the way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We went together in the half light by a lane that + followed the crest of the hill, and we passed a charming thing, a little + white sculpture in relief, set up for a shrine and representing the + Annunciation; and as we passed it we both smiled. Then in a few hundred + yards we passed another that was the Visitation, and they were gracious + and beautiful to a degree, and I saw that they stood for the five joyful + mysteries. Then he had to leave me, and he said, pointing to the little + shrine:</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">'When you come to the fifth of these the path + divides. Take that to the left, and follow it round the hollow of the + mountain: it will become a lane. This lane crosses a stream and passes + near a tower. When you have reached the tower it joins a great highroad, + and that is the road to Collagna.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And when he indicated the shrines he smiled, as + though in apology for them, and I saw that we were of the same religion. + Then (since people who will not meet again should give each other presents + mutually) I gave him the best of my two pipes, a new pipe with letters + carved on it, which he took to be the initials of my name, and he on his + part gave me a hedge-rose which he had plucked and had been holding in his + fingers. And I continued the path alone.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Certainly these people have a benediction upon + them, granted them for their simple lives and their justice. Their eyes + are fearless and kindly. They are courteous, straight, and all have in + them laughter and sadness. They are full of songs, of memories, of the + stories of their native place; and their worship is conformable to the + world that God made. May they possess their own land, and may their + influence come again from Italy to save from jar, and boasting, and + ineptitude the foolish, valourless cities, and the garish crowds of + shouting men.... And let us especially pray that the revival of the faith + may do something for our poor old universities.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">Already, when I heard all these directions, they + seemed to argue a longer road than I had expected. It proved interminable.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was now fully dark; the night was very cold + from the height of the hills; a dense dew began to fall upon the ground, + and the sky was full of stars. For hours I went on slowly down the lane + that ran round the hollow of the wooded mountain, wondering why I did not + reach the stream he spoke of. It was midnight when I came to the level, + and yet I heard no water, and did not yet see the tower against the sky. + Extreme fatigue made it impossible, as I thought, to proceed farther, when + I saw a light in a window, and went to it quickly and stood beneath it. A + woman from the window called me <i>Caro mio,</i> which was gracious, but + she would not let me sleep even in the straw of the barn.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I hobbled on in despair of the night, for the + necessity of sleep was weighing me down after four high hills climbed that + day, and after the rough ways and the heat and the continual marching.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I found a bridge which crossed the deep ravine + they had told me of. This high bridge was new, and had been built of fine + stone, yet it was broken and ruined, and a gap suddenly showed in the + dark. I stepped back from it in fear. The clambering down to the stream + and up again through the briars to regain the road broke me yet more, and + when, on the hill beyond, I saw the tower</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">190</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE LAST HOURS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">faintly darker against the dark sky, I went up + doggedly to it, fearing faintness, and reaching it where it stood (it was + on the highest ground overlooking the Secchia valley), I sat down on a + stone beside it and waited for the morning.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The long slope of the hills fell away for miles to + where, by daylight, would have lain the misty plain of Emilia. The + darkness confused the landscape. The silence of the mountains and the + awful solemnity of the place lent that vast panorama a sense of the + terrible, under the dizzy roof of the stars. Every now and again some + animal of the night gave a cry in the undergrowth of the valley, and the + great rock of Castel-Nuovo, now close and enormous--bare, rugged, a desert + place--added something of doom.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The hours were creeping on with the less certain + stars; a very faint and unliving grey touched the edges of the clouds. The + cold possessed me, and I rose to walk, if I could walk, a little farther.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What is that in the mind which, after (it may be) + a slight disappointment or a petty accident, causes it to suffer on the + scale of grave things?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I have waited for the dawn a hundred times, + attended by that mournful, colourless spirit which haunts the last hours + of darkness; and influenced especially by the great timeless apathy that + hangs round the first uncertain promise of increasing light. For there is + an hour before daylight when men die, and when there is nothing above the + soul or around it, when even the stars fail.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-70.jpg" alt="path-70.jpg" class="c81" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And this long and dreadful expectation I had + thought to be worst when one was alone at sea in a small boat without + wind; drifting beyond one's harbour in the ebb of the outer channel tide, + and sogging back at the first flow on the broad, confused movement of a + sea without any waves. In such lonely mornings I have watched the Owers + light turning, and I have counted up my gulf of time, and wondered that + moments could be so stretched out in the clueless mind. I have prayed for + the morning or for a little draught of wind, and this I have thought, I + say, the extreme of absorption into emptiness and longing.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">191</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>THE SUN!</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But now, on this ridge, dragging myself on to the + main road, I found a deeper abyss of isolation and despairing fatigue than + I had ever known, and I came near to turning eastward and imploring the + hastening of light, as men pray continually without reason for things that + can but come in a due order. I still went forward a little, because when I + sat down my loneliness oppressed me like a misfortune; and because my + feet, going painfully and slowly, yet gave a little balance and rhythm to + the movement of my mind.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I heard no sound of animals or birds. I passed + several fields, deserted in the half-darkness; and in some I felt the hay, + but always found it wringing wet with dew, nor could I discover a good + shelter from the wind that blew off the upper snow of the summits. For a + little space of time there fell upon me, as I crept along the road, that + shadow of sleep which numbs the mind, but it could not compel me to lie + down, and I accepted it only as a partial and beneficent oblivion which + covered my desolation and suffering as a thin, transparent cloud may cover + an evil moon.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then suddenly the sky grew lighter upon every + side. That cheating gloom (which I think the clouds in purgatory must + reflect) lifted from the valley as though to a slow order given by some + calm and good influence that was marshalling in the day. Their colours + came back to things; the trees recovered their shape, life, and trembling; + here and there, on the face of the mountain opposite, the mists by their + movement took part in the new life, and I thought I heard for the first + time the tumbling water far below me in the ravine. That subtle barrier + was drawn which marks to-day from yesterday; all the night and its + despondency became the past and entered memory. The road before me, the + pass on my left (my last ridge, and the entry into Tuscany), the mass of + the great hills, had become mixed into the increasing light, that is, into + the familiar and invigorating Present which I have always found capable of + opening the doors of the future with a gesture of victory.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">My pain either left me, or I ceased to notice it, + and seeing a little way before me a bank above the road, and a fine grove + of sparse and dominant chestnuts, I climbed up thither and turned, + standing to the east.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, without any warning of colours, or of the + heraldry that we have in the north, the sky was a great field of pure + light, and without doubt it was all woven through, as was my mind watching + it, with security and gladness. Into this field, as I watched it, rose the + sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The air became warmer almost suddenly. The + splendour and health of the new day left me all in repose, and persuaded + or compelled me to immediate sleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I found therefore in the short grass, and on the + scented earth beneath one</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">192</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE PASS INTO TUSCANY</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of my trees, a place for lying down; I stretched + myself out upon it, and lapsed into a profound slumber, which nothing but + a vague and tenuous delight separated from complete forgetfulness. If the + last confusion of thought, before sleep possessed me, was a kind of + prayer--and certainly I was in the mood of gratitude and of + adoration--this prayer was of course to God, from whom every good + proceeds, but partly (idolatrously) to the Sun, which, of all the things + He has made, seems, of what we at least can discover, the most complete + and glorious.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Therefore the first hours of the sunlight, after I + had wakened, made the place like a new country; for my mind which received + it was new. I reached Collagna before the great heat, following the fine + highroad that went dipping and rising again along the mountain side, and + then (leaving the road and crossing the little Secchia by a bridge), a + path, soon lost in a grassy slope, gave me an indication of my way. For + when I had gone an hour or so upwards along the shoulder of the hill, + there opened gradually before me a silent and profound vale, hung with + enormous woods, and sloping upwards to where it was closed by a high bank + beneath and between two peaks. This bank I knew could be nothing else than + the central ridge of the Apennines, the watershed, the boundary of + Tuscany, and the end of all the main part of my journey. Beyond, the + valleys would open on to the Tuscan Plain, and at the southern limit of + that, Siena was my mark; from Siena to Rome an eager man, if he is sound, + may march in three long days. Nor was that calculation all. The + satisfaction of the last lap, of the home run, went with the word Tuscany + in my mind; these cities were the approaches and introduction of the end.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I had slept out the heat, I followed the + woods upward through the afternoon. They stood tangled and huge, and the + mosses under them were thick and silent, because in this last belt of the + mountains height and coolness reproduced the north. A charcoal burner was + making his furnace; after that for the last miles there was no sound. Even + the floor of the vale was a depth of grass, and no torrent ran in it but + only a little hidden stream, leafy like our streams at home.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At last the steep bank, a wall at the end of the + valley, rose immediately above me. It was very steep and bare, desolate + with the many stumps of trees that had been cut down; but all its edge and + fringe against the sky was the line of a deep forest.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">After its laborious hundreds of feet, when the + forest that crowned it evenly was reached, the Apennines were conquered, + the last great range was passed, and there stood no barrier between this + high crest and Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The hither side of that bank, I say, had been + denuded of its trees; the roots</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">193</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FURTHER SIDE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of secular chestnuts stood like graves above the + dry steep, and had marked my last arduous climb. Now, at the summit, the + highest part was a line of cool forest, and the late afternoon mingled + with the sanctity of trees. A genial dampness pervaded the earth beneath; + grasses grew, and there were living creatures in the shade.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Nor was this tenanted wood all the welcome I + received on my entry into Tuscany. Already I heard the noise of falling + waters upon every side, where the Serchio sprang from twenty sources on + the southern slope, and leapt down between mosses, and quarrelled, and + overcame great smooth dark rocks in busy falls. Indeed, it was like my own + country in the north, and a man might say to himself--'After so much + journeying, perhaps I am in the Enchanted Wood, and may find at last the + fairy Melisaunde.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-71.jpg" alt="path-71.jpg" class="c82" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A glade opened, and, the trees no longer hiding + it, I looked down the vale, which was the gate of Tuscany. There--high, + jagged, rapt into the sky--stood such a group of mountains as men dream of + in good dreams, or see in the works of painters when old age permits them + revelations. Their height was evident from the faint mist and grey of + their hues; their outline was tumultuous, yet balanced; full of accident + and poise. It was as though these high walls of Carrara, the western + boundary of the valley, had been shaped expressly for man, in order to + exalt him with unexpected and fantastic shapes, and to expand his dull + life with a permanent surprise. For a long time I gazed at these great + hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, more silent in the mind through their + influence, I went down past the speech and companionship of the springs of + the Serchio, and the chestnut trees were redolent of evening all round. + Down the bank to where the streams met in one, down the river, across its + gaping, ruinous bridge (which some one, generations ago, had built for the + rare travellers--there were then no main roads across the Apennine, and + perhaps this rude pass was in favour); down</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">194</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>SILLANO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">still more gently through the narrow upper valley + I went between the chestnut trees, and calm went with me for a companion: + and the love of men and the expectation of good seemed natural to all that + had been made in this blessed place. Of Borda, where the peasants directed + me, there is no need to speak, till crossing the Serchio once more, this + time on a trestle bridge of wood, I passed by a wider path through the + groves, and entered the dear village of Sillano, which looks right into + the pure west. And the peaks are guardians all about it: the elder + brothers of this remote and secluded valley.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">An inn received me: a great kitchen full of men + and women talking, a supper preparing, a great fire, meat smoking and + drying in the ingle-nook, a vast timbered roof going up into darkness: + there I was courteously received, but no one understood my language. + Seeing there a young priest, I said to him--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'Pater, habeo linguam latinam, sed non habeo + linguam Italicam. Visne mi dare traductionem in istam linguam Toscanam non + nullorum verborum?'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To this he replied, <i>'Libenter,'</i> and the + people revered us both. Thus he told me the name for a knife was <i>cultello;</i> + for a room, <i>camera par domire;</i> for 'what is it called?' <i>'come si + chiama?';</i> for 'what is the road to?' <i>'quella e la via a ...?'</i> + and other phrases wherein, no doubt, I am wrong; but I only learnt by ear.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then he said to me something I did not understand, + and I answered, <i> 'Pol-Hercle!'</i> at which he seemed pleased enough.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, to make conversation, I said, <i>'Diaconus + es?'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And he answered me, mildly and gravely, <i>'Presbyter + sum.'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And a little while after he left for his house, + but I went out on to the balcony, where men and women were talking in + subdued tones. There, alone, I sat and watched the night coming up into + these Tuscan hills. The first moon since that waning in Lorraine--(how + many nights ago, how many marches!)--hung in the sky, a full crescent, + growing into brightness and glory as she assumed her reign. The one star + of the west called out his silent companions in their order; the mountains + merged into a fainter confusion; heaven and the infinite air became the + natural seat of any spirit that watched this spell. The fire-flies darted + in the depths of vineyards and of trees below; then the noise of the + grasshoppers brought back suddenly the gardens of home, and whatever + benediction surrounds our childhood. Some promise of eternal pleasures and + of rest deserved haunted the village of Sillano.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In very early youth the soul can still remember + its immortal habitation, and clouds and the edges of hills are of another + kind from ours, and every scent and colour has a savour of Paradise. What + that quality may be no language can tell, nor have men made any words, no, + nor any music, to recall it--only in a transient way and elusive the + recollection of what youth was, and purity, flashes</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">195</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ON ANYTHING</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">on us in phrases of the poets, and is gone before + we can fix it in our minds--oh! my friends, if we could but recall it! + Whatever those sounds may be that are beyond our sounds, and whatever are + those keen lives which remain alive there under memory--whatever is + Youth--Youth came up that valley at evening, borne upon a southern air. If + we deserve or attain beatitude, such things shall at last be our settled + state; and their now sudden influence upon the soul in short ecstasies is + the proof that they stand outside time, and are not subject to decay.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This, then, was the blessing of Sillano, and here + was perhaps the highest moment of those seven hundred miles--or more. Do + not therefore be astonished, reader, if I now press on much more hurriedly + to Rome, for the goal is almost between my hands, and the chief moment has + been enjoyed, until I shall see the City.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now I cry out and deplore me that this next sixty + miles of way, but especially the heat of the days and the dank mists of + the night, should have to be told as of a real journey in this very + repetitive and sui-similar world. How much rather I wish that being free + from mundane and wide-awake (that is to say from perilously dusty) + considerations and droughty boredoms, I might wander forth at leisure + through the air and visit the regions where everything is as the soul + chooses: to be dropped at last in the ancient and famous town of Siena, + whence comes that kind of common brown paint wherewith men, however + wicked, can produce (if they have but the art) very surprising effects of + depth in painting: for so I read of it in a book by a fool, at six + shillings, and even that was part of a series: but if you wish to know + anything further of the matter, go you and read it, for I will do nothing + of the kind.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Oh to be free for strange voyages even for a + little while! I am tired of the road; and so are you, and small blame to + you. Your fathers also tired of the treadmill, and mine of the conquering + marches of the Republic. Heaven bless you all!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But I say that if it were not for the incredulity + and doubt and agnostico-schismatical hesitation, and very cumbersome air + of questioning-and-peering-about, which is the bane of our moderns, very + certainly I should now go on to tell of giants as big as cedars, living in + mountains of precious stones, and drawn to battle by dragons in cars of + gold; or of towns where the customs of men were remote and unexpected; of + countries not yet visited, and of the gods returning. For though it is + permissible, and a pleasant thing (as Bacon says), to mix a little + falsehood with one's truth (so St Louis mixed water with his wine, and so + does Sir John Growl mix vinegar with his, unless I am greatly mistaken, + for if not,</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">196</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GARFAGNANA</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">how does he give it that taste at his dinners? eh? + There, I think, is a question that would puzzle him!) yet is it much more + delectable, and far worthier of the immortal spirit of man to soar into + the empyrean of pure lying--that is, to lay the bridle on the neck of + Pegasus and let him go forward, while in the saddle meanwhile one sits + well back, grips with the knee, takes the race, and on the energy of that + steed visits the wheeling stars.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This much, then, is worth telling of the valley of + the Serchio, that it is narrow, garrulous with water brawling, wooded + densely, and contained by fantastic mountains. That it has a splendid + name, like the clashing of cymbals--Garfagnana; that it leads to the + Tuscan plain, and that it is over a day's march long. Also, it is an oven.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Never since the early liars first cooked eggs in + the sand was there such heat, and it was made hotter by the consciousness + of folly, than which there is no more heating thing; for I think that not + old Championnet himself, with his Division of Iron, that fought one to + three and crushed the aged enormities of the oppressors as we would crush + an empty egg, and that found the summer a good time for fighting in + Naples, I say that he himself would not have marched men up the Garfagnana + in such a sun. Folly planned it, Pride held to it, and the devils lent + their climate. Garfagnana! Garfagnana! to have such a pleasant name, and + to be what you are!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Not that there were not old towers on the steep + woods of the Apennine, nor glimpses of the higher peaks; towns also: one + castle surrounded by a fringe of humble roofs--there were all these + things. But it was an oven. So imagine me, after having passed chapels + built into rocks, and things most curious, but the</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-72.jpg" alt="path-72.jpg" class="c83" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12">197</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BRIDGES OF CASTEL-NUOVO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">whole under the strain of an intolerable sun, + coming, something after midday, to a place called Castel-Nuovo, the first + town, for Campogiamo is hardly a town.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At Castel-Nuovo I sat upon a bridge and thought, + not what good men think (there came into my memory no historical stuff; + for all I know, Liberty never went by that valley in arms); no + appreciation of beauty filled me; I was indifferent to all save the + intolerable heat, when I suddenly recognized the enormous number of + bridges that bespattered the town.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'This is an odd thing,' I mused. 'Here is a little + worriment of a town up in the hills, and what a powerful lot of bridges!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-73.jpg" alt="path-73.jpg" class="c84" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I cared not a fig for the thousand things I had + been told to expect in Tuscany; everything is in a mind, and as they were + not in my mind they did not exist. But the bridges, they indeed were + worthy of admiration!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">198</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE BRIDGE-GOD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here was a horrible little place on a torrent + bank. One bridge was reasonable for by it went the road leading south to + Lucca and to Rome; it was common honour to let men escape. But as I sat on + that main bridge I counted seven others; indeed there must have been a + worship of a bridge-god some time or other to account for such a necklace + of bridges in such a neglected borough.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You may say (I am off hard on the road to Borgo, + drooping with the heat, but still going strongly), you may say that is + explicable enough. First a thing is useful, you say, then it has to become + routine; then the habit, being a habit, gets a sacred idea attached to it. + So with bridges: <i>e.g.</i> Pontifex; Dervorguilla, our Ballici saint + that built a bridge; the devil that will hinder the building of bridges; + <i> cf.</i> the Porphyry Bridge in the Malay cosmogony; Amershickel, Brùckengebildung + im kult-Historischer. Passenmayer; Durât, <i>Le pont antique, + étude sur les origines Toscanes;</i> Mr Dacre's <i>The Command of + Bridges in Warfare; Bridges and Empire,</i> by Captain Hole, U.S.A. You + may say all this; I shall not reply. If the heat has hindered me from + saying a word of the fine open valley on the left, of the little railway + and of the last of the hills, do you suppose it will permit me to discuss + the sanctity of bridges? If it did, I think there is a little question on + 'why should habit turn sacred?' which would somewhat confound and pose + you, and pose also, for that matter, every pedant that ever went blind and + crook-backed over books, or took ivory for horn. And there is an end of + it. Argue it with whom you will. It is evening, and I am at Borgo (for if + many towns are called Castel-Nuovo so are many called Borgo in Italy), and + I desire to be free of interruption while I eat and sleep and reflect upon + the error of that march in that heat, spoiling nearly thirty miles of + road, losing so many great and pleasurable emotions, all for haste and + from a neglect of the Italian night.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And as I ate, and before I slept, I thought of + that annotated Guide Book which is cried out for by all Europe, and which + shall tell blunt truths. Look you out <i>'Garfagnana, district of, Valley + of Serchio'</i> in the index. You will be referred to p. 267. Turn to p. + 267. You will find there the phrase -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'One can walk from the pretty little village of + Sillano, nestling in its chestnut groves, to the flourishing town of Borgo + on the new Bagni railway in a day.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">You will find a mark [1] after that phrase. It + refers to a footnote. Glance (or look) at the bottom of the page and you + will find:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8">[1] But if one does one is a fool.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c3">So I slept late and uneasily the insufficient + sleep of men who have suffered, and in that uneasy sleep I discovered this + great truth: that if in a southern</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">199</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12">WHY 'DECIMO'?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">summer you do not rest in the day the night will + seem intolerably warm, but that, if you rest in the day, you will find + coolness and energy at evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The next morning with daylight I continued the + road to Lucca, and of that also I will say nothing.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why on earth did you write this book?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. For my amusement.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. And why do you suppose I got it?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I cannot conceive ... however, I will give + up this much, to tell you that at Decimo the mystery of cypress trees + first came into my adventure</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-74.jpg" alt="path-74.jpg" class="c85" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and pilgrimage: of cypress trees which + henceforward were to mark my Tuscan road. And I will tell you that there + also I came across a thing peculiar (I suppose) to the region of Lucca, + for I saw it there as at Decimo, and also some miles beyond. I mean fine + mournful towers built thus: In the first storey one arch, in the second + two, in the third three, and so on: a very noble way of building.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And I will tell you something more. I will tell + you something no one has yet heard. To wit, why this place is called + Decimo, and why just below it is another little spot called Sexta.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font12 c5">LECTOR.. ..</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I know what you are going to say! Do not + say it. You are going to say: 'It is because they were at the sixth and + tenth milestones from Lucca on</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">200</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">BECAUSE OF THIS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">the Roman road.' Heaven help these scientists! Did + you suppose that I thought it was called Decimo because the people had ten + toes? Tell me, why is not every place ten miles out of a Roman town called + by such a name? Eh? You are dumb. You cannot answer. Like most moderns you + have entirely missed the point. We all know that there was a Roman town at + Lucca, because it was called Luca, and if there had been no Roman town the + modern town would not be spelt with two <i>c's.</i> All Roman towns had + milestones beyond them. But why did <i>this</i> tenth milestone from <i>this</i> + Roman town keep its name?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I am indifferent.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I will tell you. Up in the tangle of the + Carrara mountains, overhanging the Garfagnana, was a wild tribe, whose + name I forget (unless it were the Bruttii), but which troubled the Romans + not a little, defeating them horribly, and keeping the legionaries in some + anxiety for years. So when the soldiers marched out north from Luca about + six miles, they could halt and smile at each other, and say 'At <i> + Sextant...</i> that's all right. All safe so far!' and therefore only a + little village grew up at this little rest and emotion. But as they got + nearer the gates of the hills they began to be visibly perturbed, and they + would say: 'The eighth mile! cheer up!' Then 'The ninth mile! Sanctissima + Madonna! Have you seen anything moving on the heights?' But when they got + to the <i>tenth</i> milestone, which stands before the very jaws of the + defile, then indeed they said with terrible emphasis, <i>'Ad Decimam!'</i> + And there was no restraining them: they would camp and entrench, or die in + the venture: for they were Romans and stern fellows, and loved a good + square camp and a ditch, and sentries and a clear moon, and plenty of + sharp stakes, and all the panoply of war. That is the origin of Decimo.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For all my early start, the intolerable heat had + again taken the ascendant before I had fairly entered the plain. Then, it + being yet but morning, I entered from the north the town of Lucca, which + is the neatest, the regularest, the exactest, the most fly-in-amber little + town in the world, with its uncrowded streets, its absurd fortifications, + and its contented silent houses--all like a family at ease and at rest + under its high sun. It is as sharp and trim as its own map, and that map + is as clear as a geometrical problem. Everything in Lucca is good.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I went with a short shadow, creeping when I could + on the eastern side of the street to save the sunlight; then I came to the + main square, and immediately on my left was the Albergo di + Something-or-other, a fine great hotel, but most</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">201</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6"><b>THE BANQUET</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">unfortunately right facing the blazing sky. I had + to stop outside it to count my money. I counted it wrong and entered. + There I saw the master, who talked French.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Can you in an hour,' said I, 'give me a meal to + my order, then a bed, though it is early day?' This absurd question I made + less absurd by explaining to him my purpose. How I was walking to Rome and + how, being northern, I was unaccustomed to such heat; how, therefore, I + had missed sleep, and would find it necessary in future to walk mainly by + night. For I had now determined to fill the last few marches up in + darkness, and to sleep out the strong hours of the sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All this he understood; I ordered such a meal as + men give to beloved friends returned from wars. I ordered a wine I had + known long ago in the valley of the Saône in the old time of peace + before ever the Greek came to the land. While they cooked it I went to + their cool and splendid cathedral to follow a late Mass. Then I came home + and ate their admirable food and drank the wine which the Burgundians had + trodden upon the hills of gold so many years before. They showed me a + regal kind of a room where a bed with great hangings invited repose.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All my days of marching, the dirty inns, the + forests, the nights abroad, the cold, the mists, the sleeplessness, the + faintness, the dust, the dazzling sun, the Apennines--all my days came + over me, and there fell on me a peaceful weight, as his two hundred years + fell upon Charlemagne in the tower of Saragossa when the battle was done; + after he had curbed the valley of Ebro and christened Bramimonde.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So I slept deeply all day long; and, outside, the + glare made a silence upon the closed shutters, save that little insects + darted in the outer air.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I woke it was evening. So well had they used + me that I paid what they asked, and, not knowing what money remained over, + I left their town by the southern gate, crossed the railway and took the + road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">My way lay under the flank of that mountain + whereby the Luccans cannot see Pisa, or the Pisans cannot see Lucca--it is + all one to me, I shall not live in either town, God willing; and if they + are so eager to squint at one another, in Heaven's name, cannot they be at + the pains to walk round the end of the hill? It is this laziness which is + the ruin of many; but not of pilgrims, for here was I off to cross the + plain of Arno in one night, and reach by morning the mouth</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">202</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>NOTHING PARTICULAR</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">and gate of that valley of the Elsa, which same is + a very manifest proof of how Rome was intended to be the end and centre of + all roads, the chief city of the world, and the Popes' residence--as, + indeed, it plainly is to this day, for all the world to deny at their + peril, spiritual, geographical, historical, sociological, economic, and + philosophical.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For if some such primeval and predestinarian + quality were not inherent in the City, how, think you, would the valley of + the Serchio--the hot, droughty, and baking Garfagnana--lead down pointing + straight to Rome; and how would that same line, prolonged across the + plain, find fitting it exactly beyond that plain this vale of the Elsa, + itself leading up directly towards Rome? I say, nowhere in the world is + such a coincidence observable, and they that will not take it for a + portent may go back to their rationalism and consort with microbes and + make their meals off logarithms, washed down with an exact distillation of + the root of minus one; and the peace of fools, that is the deepest and + most balmy of all, be theirs for ever and ever.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Here again you fall into errors as you read, ever + expecting something new; for of that night's march there is nothing to + tell, save that it was cool, full of mist, and an easy matter after the + royal entertainment and sleep of the princely Albergo that dignifies + Lucca. The villages were silent, the moon soon left the sky, and the stars + could not show through the fog, which deepened in the hours after + midnight.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A map I had bought in Lucca made the difficulties + of the first part of the road (though there were many cross-ways) easy + enough; and the second part, in midnight and the early hours, was very + plain sailing, till--having crossed the main line and having, at last, + very weary, come up to the branch railway at a slant from the west and + north, I crossed that also under the full light--I stood fairly in the + Elsa valley and on the highroad which follows the railway straight to + Siena. That long march, I say, had been easy enough in the coolness and in + the dark; but I saw nothing; my interior thoughts alone would have + afforded matter for this part; but of these if you have not had enough in + near six hundred miles of travel, you are a stouter fellow than I took you + for.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Though it was midsummer, the light had come + quickly. Long after sunrise the mist dispersed, and the nature of the + valley appeared.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was in no way mountainous, but easy, pleasant, + and comfortable, bounded by low, rounded hills, having upon them here and + there a row of cypresses against the sky; and it was populous with + pleasant farms. Though the soil was baked and dry, as indeed it is + everywhere in this south, yet little regular streams (or canals) irrigated + it and nourished many trees--- but the deep grass of the north was + wanting.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">203</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE TEMPTATION</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For an hour or more after sunrise I continued my + way very briskly; then what had been the warmth of the early sun turned + into the violent heat of day, and remembering Merlin where he says that + those who will walk by night must sleep by day, and having in my mind the + severe verses of James Bayle, sometime Fellow of St Anne's, that 'in + Tuscan summers as a general rule, the days are sultry but the nights are + cool' (he was no flamboyant poet; he loved the quiet diction of the right + wing of English poetry), and imagining an owlish habit of sleeping by day + could be acquired at once, I lay down under a tree of a kind I had never + seen; and lulled under the pleasant fancy that this was a picture-tree + drawn before the Renaissance, and that I was reclining in some background + landscape of the fifteenth century (for the scene was of that kind), I + fell asleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I woke it was as though I had slept long; but + I doubted the feeling. The young sun still low in the sky, and the shadows + not yet shortened, puzzled me. I looked at my watch, but the dislocation + of habit which night marches produce had left it unwound. It marked a + quarter to three, which was absurd. I took the road somewhat stiffly and + wondering. I passed several small white cottages; there was no clock in + them, and their people were away. At last in a Trattoria, as they served + me with food, a woman told me it was just after seven; I had slept but an + hour.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Outside, the day was intense; already flies had + begun to annoy the darkened room within. Through the half-curtained door + the road was white in the sun, and the railway ran just beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I paid my reckoning, and then, partly for an + amusement, I ranged my remaining pence upon the table, first in the shape + of a Maltese cross, then in a circle (interesting details!). The road lay + white in the sunlight outside, and the railway ran just beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I counted the pence and the silver--there was + three francs and a little over; I remembered the imperial largesse at + Lucca, the lordly spending of great sums, where, now in the pocket of an + obsequious man, the pounds were taking care of themselves. I remembered + how at Como I had been compelled by poverty to enter the train for Milan. + How little was three francs for the remaining twenty-five miles to Siena! + The road lay white in the sunlight, and the railway ran just beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I remembered the pleasing cheque in the + post-office of Siena; the banks of Siena, and the money changers at their + counters changing money at the rate of change.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'If one man,' thought I, 'may take five per cent + discount on a sum of money in the exchange, may not another man take + discount off a walk of over seven</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">204</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE FALL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">hundred miles? May he not cut off it, as his due, + twenty-five miserable little miles in the train?' Sleep coming over me + after my meal increased the temptation. Alas! how true is the great phrase + of Averroes (or it may be Boa-ed-din: anyhow, the Arabic escapes me, but + the meaning is plain enough), that when one has once fallen, it is easy to + fall again (saving always heavy falls from cliffs and high towers, for + after these there is no more falling).... Examine the horse's knees before + you buy him; take no ticket-of-leave man into your house for charity; + touch no prospectus that has founders' shares, and do not play with + firearms or knives and never go near the water till you know how to swim. + Oh! blessed wisdom of the ages! sole patrimony of the poor! The road lay + white in the sun, and the railway ran just beyond.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">If the people of Milo did well to put up a statue + in gold to the man that invented wheels, so should we also put one up in + Portland stone or plaster to the man that invented rails, whose property + it is not only to increase the speed and ease of travel, but also to bring + on slumber as can no drug: not even poppies gathered under a waning moon. + The rails have a rhythm of slight falls and rises ... they make a loud + roar like a perpetual torrent; they cover up the mind with a veil.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Once only, when a number of men were shouting + 'POGGI-BON-SI,' like a war-cry to the clank of bronze, did I open my eyes + sleepily to see a hill, a castle wall, many cypresses, and a strange tower + bulging out at the top (such towers I learned were the feature of + Tuscany). Then in a moment, as it seemed, I awoke in the station of Siena, + where the railway ends and goes no farther.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was still only morning; but the glare was + beyond bearing as I passed through the enormous gate of the town, a gate + pierced in high and stupendous walls that are here guarded by lions. In + the narrow main street there was full shade, and it was made cooler by the + contrast of the blaze on the higher storeys of the northern side. The + wonders of Siena kept sleep a moment from my mind. I saw their great + square where a tower of vast height marks the guildhall. I heard Mass in a + chapel of their cathedral: a chapel all frescoed, and built, as it were, + out of doors, and right below the altar-end or choir. I noted how the city + stood like a queen of hills dominating all Tuscany: above the Elsa + northward, southward above the province round Mount Amiato. And this great + mountain I saw also hazily far off on the horizon. I suffered the + vulgarities of the main street all in English and American, like a show. I + took my money and changed it; then, having so passed not a full hour, and + oppressed by weariness, I said to myself:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">205</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">A REFERENCE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'After all, my business is not with cities, and + already I have seen far off the great hill whence one can see far off the + hills that overhang Rome.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With this in my mind I wandered out for a quiet + place, and found it in a desolate green to the north of the city, near a + huge, old red-brick church like a barn. A deep shadow beneath it invited + me in spite of the scant and dusty grass, and in this country no one + disturbs the wanderer. There, lying down, I slept without dreams till + evening.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Turn to page 94.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I have it. It is not easy to watch the + book in two places at once; but pray continue.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Note the words from the eighth to the + tenth lines.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. They will make what follows seem less + abrupt.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Once there was a man dining by himself at the Cafe + Anglais, in the days when people went there. It was a full night, and he + sat alone at a small table, when there entered a very big man in a large + fur coat. The big man looked round annoyed, because there was no room, and + the first man very courteously offered him a seat at his little table. + They sat down and ate and talked of several things; among others, of + Bureaucracy. The first maintained that Bureaucracy was the curse of + France.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Men are governed by it like sheep. The + administrator, however humble, is a despot; most people will even run + forward to meet him halfway, like the servile dogs they are,' said he.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'No,' answered the Man in the Big Fur Coat, 'I + should say men were governed just by the ordinary human sense of + authority. I have no theories. I say they recognize authority and obey it. + Whether it is bureaucratic or not is merely a question of form.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At this moment there came in a tall, rather stiff + Englishman. He also was put out at finding no room. The two men saw the + manager approach him; a few words were passed, and a card; then the + manager suddenly smiled, bowed, smirked, and finally went up to the table + and begged that the Duke of Sussex might be allowed to share it. The Duke + hoped he did not incommode these gentlemen. They assured him that, on the + contrary, they esteemed his presence a favour.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">206</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">STORY OF THE DUKE OF SUSSEX</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'It is our prerogative,' said the Man in the Big + Fur Coat, 'to be the host Paris entertaining her Guest.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They would take no denial; they insisted on the + Duke's dining with them, and they told him what they had just been + discussing. The Duke listened to their theories with some <i>morgue,</i> + much <i>spleen,</i> and no little <i>phlegm,</i> but with <i>perfect + courtesy,</i> and then, towards the coffee, told them in fluent French + with a strong accent, his own opinion. (He had had eight excellent + courses; Yquem with his fish, the best Chambertin during the dinner, and a + glass of wonderful champagne with his dessert.) He spoke as follows, with + a slight and rather hard smile:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'My opinion may seem to you impertinent, but I + believe nothing more subtly and powerfully affects men than the + aristocratic feeling. Do not misunderstand me,' he added, seeing that they + would protest; 'it is not my own experience alone that guides me. All + history bears witness to the same truth.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The simple-minded Frenchmen put down this + infatuation to the Duke's early training, little knowing that our English + men of rank are the simplest fellows in the world, and are quite + indifferent to their titles save in business matters.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The Frenchmen paid the bill, and they all three + went on to the Boulevard.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Now,' said the first man to his two companions, + 'I will give you a practical example of what I meant when I said that + Bureaucracy governed mankind.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He went up to the wall of the Credit Lyonnais, put + the forefinger of either hand against it, about twenty-five centimetres + apart, and at a level of about a foot above his eyes. Holding his fingers + thus he gazed at them, shifting them slightly from time to time and moving + his glance from one to the other rapidly. A crowd gathered. In a few + moments a pleasant elderly, short, and rather fat gentleman in the crowd + came forward, and, taking off his hat, asked if he could do anything for + him.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why,' said our friend, 'the fact is I am an + engineer (section D of the Public Works Department) and I have to make an + important measurement in connexion with the Apothegm of the Bilateral + which runs to-night precisely through this spot. My fingers now mark + exactly the concentric of the secondary focus whence the Radius Vector + should be drawn, but I find that (like a fool) I have left my Double + Refractor in the cafe hard by. I dare not go for fear of losing the place + I have marked; yet I can get no further without my Double Refractor.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Do not let that trouble you,' said the short, + stout stranger; 'I will be delighted to keep the place exactly marked + while you run for your instrument.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">207</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">STORY OF THE DUKE OF SUSSEX</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The crowd was now swelled to a considerable size; + it blocked up the pavement, and was swelled every moment by the arrival of + the curious. The little fat elderly man put his fingers exactly where the + other's had been, effecting the exchange with a sharp gesture; and each + watched intently to see that it was right to within a millimetre. The + attitude was constrained. The elderly man smiled, and begged the engineer + not to be alarmed. So they left him with his two forefingers well above + his head, precisely twenty-five centimetres apart, and pressing their tips + against the wall of the Credit Lyonnais. Then the three friends slipped + out of the crowd and pursued their way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Let us go to the theatre,' said the experimenter, + 'and when we come back I warrant you will agree with my remarks on + Bureaucracy.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">They went to hear the admirable marble lines of + Corneille. For three hours they were absorbed by the classics, and, when + they returned, a crowd, now enormous, was surging all over the Boulevard, + stopping the traffic and filled with a noise like the sea. Policemen were + attacking it with the utmost energy, but still it grew and eddied; and in + the centre--a little respectful space kept empty around him--still + stretched the poor little fat elderly man, a pitiable sight. His knees + were bent, his head wagged and drooped with extreme fatigue, he was the + colour of old blotting-paper; but still he kept the tips of his two + forefingers exactly twenty-five centimetres apart, well above his head, + and pressed against the wall of the Credit Lyonnais.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'You will not match that with your aristocratic + sentiment!' said the author of the scene in pardonable triumph.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I am not so sure,' answered the Duke of Sussex. + He pulled out his watch. 'It is midnight,' he said, 'and I must be off; + but let me tell you before we part that you have paid for a most expensive + dinner, and have behaved all night with an extravagant deference under the + impression that I was the Duke of Sussex. As a fact my name is Jerks, and + I am a commercial traveller in the linseed oil line; and I wish you the + best of good evenings.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Wait a moment,' said the Man in the Big Fur Coat; + 'my theory of the Simple Human Sense of Authority still holds. I am a + detective officer, and you will both be good enough to follow me to the + police station.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And so they did, and the Engineer was fined fifty + francs in correctional, and the Duke of Sussex was imprisoned for ten + days, with interdiction of domicile for six months; the first indeed under + the Prefectorial Decree of the 18th of November 1843, but the second under + the law of the 12th germinal of the year VIII.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">208</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">ST AUGUSTINE CENSURED</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In this way I have got over between twenty and + thirty miles of road which were tramped in the dark, and the description + of which would have plagued you worse than a swarm of hornets.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Oh, blessed interlude! no struggling moon, no + mist, no long-winded passages upon the genial earth, no the sense of the + night, no marvels of the dawn, no rhodomontade, no religion, no rhetoric, + no sleeping villages, no silent towns (there was one), no rustle of + trees--just a short story, and there you have a whole march covered as + though a brigade had swung down it. A new day has come, and the sun has + risen over the detestable parched hillocks of this downward way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">No, no, Lector! Do not blame me that Tuscany + should have passed beneath me unnoticed, as the monotonous sea passes + beneath a boat in full sail. Blame all those days of marching; hundreds + upon hundreds of miles that exhausted the powers of the mind. Blame the + fiery and angry sky of Etruria, that compelled most of my way to be taken + at night. Blame St Augustine, who misled me in his Confessions by talking + like an African of 'the icy shores of Italy'; or blame Rome, that now more + and more drew me to Herself as She approached from six to five, from five + to four, from four to three--now She was but <i>three</i> days off. The + third sun after that I now saw rising would shine upon the City.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I did indeed go forward a little in the heat, but + it was useless. After an hour I abandoned it. It was not so much the sun, + though that was intemperate and deadly; it was rather the inhuman aspect + of the earth which made me despair. It was as though the soil had been + left imperfect and rough after some cataclysm; it reminded me of those bad + lands in the west of America, where the desert has no form, and where the + crumbling and ashy look of things is more abhorrent than their mere + desolation. As soon march through evil dreams!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The north is the place for men. Eden was there; + and the four rivers of Paradise are the Seine, the Oise, the Thames, and + the Arun; there are grasses there, and the trees are generous, and the air + is an unnoticed pleasure. The waters brim up to the edges of the fields. + But for this bare Tuscany I was never made.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">How far I had gone I could not tell, nor precisely + how much farther San Quirico, the neighbouring town, might be. The + imperfect map I had bought at Siena was too minute to give me clear + indications. I was content to wait for evening, and then to go on till I + found it. An hour or so in the shade of a row of parched and dusty bushes + I lay and ate and drank my wine, and smoked, and then all day I slept, and + woke a while, and slept again more deeply. But</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">209</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>SAN QUIRICO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">how people sleep and wake, if you do not yet know + it after so much of this book you never will.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was perhaps five o'clock, or rather more, when + I rose unhappily and took up the ceaseless road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Even the goodness of the Italian nature seemed + parched up in those dry hollows. At an inn where I ate they shouted at me, + thinking in that way to make me understand; and their voices were as harsh + as the grating of metal against stone. A mile farther I crossed a lonely + line of railway; then my map told me where I was, and I went wearily up an + indefinite slope under the declining sun, and thought it outrageous that + only when the light had gone was there any tolerable air in this country.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Soon the walls of San Quirico, partly ruinous, + stood above the fields (for the smallest places here have walls); as I + entered its gate the sun set, and as though</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-75.jpg" alt="path-75.jpg" class="c86" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">the cool, coming suddenly, had a magic in it, + everything turned kinder. A church that could wake interest stood at the + entry of the town; it had stone lions on its steps, and the pillars were + so carved as to resemble knotted ropes. There for the first time I saw in + procession one of those confraternities which in Italy bury the dead; they + had long and dreadful hoods over their heads, with slits for the eyes. I + spoke to the people of San Quirico, and they to me. They were upstanding, + and very fine and noble in the lines of the face. On their walls is set a + marble tablet, on which it is registered that the people of Tuscany, being + asked whether they would have their hereditary Duke or the House of Savoy, + voted for the latter by such and such a great majority; and this kind of + tablet I afterwards found was common to all these small towns. Then + passing down</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">210</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE VALLEY LIKE A WAVE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">their long street I came, at the farther gate, to + a great sight, which the twilight still permitted me to receive in its + entirety.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">For San Quirico is built on the edge of a kind of + swell in the land, and here where I stood one looked over the next great + wave; for the shape of the view was, on a vast scale, just what one sees + from a lonely boat looking forward over a following sea.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">The trough of the wave was a shallow purple + valley, its arid quality hidden by the kindly glimmer of evening; few + trees stood in it to break its sweep, and its irregularities and mouldings + were just those of a sweep of water after a gale. The crest of the wave + beyond was seventeen miles away. It had, as have also such crests at sea, + one highest, toppling peak in its long line, and this, against the clear + sky, one could see to be marked by buildings. These buildings were the + ruined castle and walls of Radicofani, and it lay straight on my way to + Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-76.jpg" alt="path-76.jpg" class="c87" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c26">It is a strange thing, arresting northern eyes, + to see towns thus built on summits up into the sky, and this height seemed + the more fantastic because it was framed. A row of cypress trees stood on + either side of the road where it fell from San Quirico, and, exactly + between these, this high crest, a long way off, was set as though by + design.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE SILHOUETTE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With more heart in me, and tempted by such an + outline as one might be by the prospect of adventure, I set out to cross + the great bare run of the valley. As I went, the mountain of Amiato came + more and more nearly abreast of me in the west; in its foothills near me + were ravines and unexpected rocks; upon one of them hung a village. I + watched its church and one tall cypress next it, as they stood black + against the last of daylight. Then for miles I went on the dusty way, and + crossed by old bridges watercourses in which stood nothing but green + pools; and the night deepened.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-77.jpg" alt="path-77.jpg" class="c88" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was when I had crossed the greater part of the + obscure plain, at its lowest dip and not far from the climb up to + Radicofani, that I saw lights shining in a large farmhouse, and though it + was my business to walk by night, yet I needed companionship, so I went + in.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There in a very large room, floored with brick and + lit by one candle, were two fine old peasants, with faces like apostles, + playing a game of cards. There also was a woman playing with a strong boy + child, that could not yet talk: and the child ran up to me. Nothing could + persuade the master of the house but that I was a very poor man who needed + sleep, and so good and generous was this old man that my protests seemed + to him nothing but the excuses and shame of poverty. He asked me where I + was going. I said, 'To Rome.' He came out with a lantern to the stable, + and showed me there a manger full of hay,</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE HORN SONG</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">indicating that I might sleep in it... His candle + flashed upon the great silent oxen standing in rows; their enormous horns, + three times the length of what we know in England, filled me with wonder + ... Well! (may it count to me as gain!), rather than seem to offend him I + lay down in that manger, though I had no more desire to sleep than has the + flittermouse in our Sussex gloamings; also I was careful to offer no + money, for that is brutality. When he had left me I took the opportunity + for a little rest, and lay on my back in the hay wide-awake and staring at + darkness.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The great oxen champed and champed their food with + a regular sound; I remembered the steerage in a liner, the noise of the + sea and the regular screw, for this it exactly resembled. I considered in + the darkness the noble aspect of these beasts as I had seen them in the + lantern light, and I determined when I got to Rome to buy two such horns, + and to bring them to England and have them mounted for drinking + horns--great drinking horns, a yard deep--and to get an engraver to + engrave a motto for each. On the first I would have -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">King Alfred was in Wantage born He drank out of a + ram's horn. Here is a better man than he, Who drinks deeper, as you see.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus my friends drinking out of it should lift up + their hearts and no longer be oppressed with humility. But on the second I + determined for a rousing Latin thing, such as men shouted round camp fires + in the year 888 or thereabouts; so, the imagination fairly set going and + taking wood-cock's flight, snipe-fashion, zigzag and devil-may + care-for-the-rules, this seemed to suit me -</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Salve, cornu cornuum! Cornutorum vis Boûm. + Munus excellent Deûm! Gregis o praesidium! Sitis desiderium! Dignum + cornuum cornu Romae memor salve tu! Tibi cornuum cornuto--</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. That means nothing</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Shut up!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Tibi cornuum cornuto Tibi clamo, te saluto + Salve cornu cornuum! Fortunatam da Domunt!</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8">213</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b> RADICOFANI</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And after this cogitation and musing I got up + quietly, so as not to offend the peasant: and I crept out, and so upwards + on to the crest of the hill.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But when, after several miles of climbing, I + neared the summit, it was already beginning to be light. The bareness and + desert grey of the distance I had crossed stood revealed in a colourless + dawn, only the Mont' Amiata, now somewhat to the northward, was more + gentle, and softened the scene with distant woods. Between it and this + height ran a vague river-bed as dry as the stones of a salt beach.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-78.jpg" alt="path-78.jpg" class="c89" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The sun rose as I passed under the ruined walls of + the castle. In the little town itself, early as was the hour, many people + were stirring. One gave me good-morning--a man of singular character, for + here, in the very peep of day, he was sitting on a doorstep, idle, lazy + and contented, as though it was full noon. Another was yoking oxen; a + third going out singing to work in the fields.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I did not linger in this crow's nest, but going + out by the low and aged southern gate, another deeper valley, even drier + and more dead than the last, appeared under the rising sun. It was enough + to make one despair! And when I thought of the day's sleep in that + wilderness, of the next night's toil through it--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. What about the Brigand of Radicofani of + whom you spoke in Lorraine, and of whom I am waiting to hear?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. What about him? Why, he was captured long + ago, and has since died of old age. I am surprised at your interrupting me + with such questions. Pray ask for no more tales till we get to the really + absorbing story of the Hungry Student.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, as I was saying, I was in some despair at + the sight of that valley, which had to be crossed before I could reach the + town of Acquapendente, or Hanging-water, which I knew to lie somewhere on + the hills beyond. The sun was conquering me, and I was looking hopelessly + for a place to sleep, when a cart drawn by two oxen at about one mile an + hour came creaking by. The driver was asleep, his head on the shady side. + The devil tempted me, and without one struggle against temptation, nay + with cynical and congratulatory feelings, I</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">214</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>SECOND FALL</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">jumped up behind, and putting my head also on the + shady side (there were soft sacks for a bed) I very soon was pleasantly + asleep.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We lay side by side for hour after hour, and the + day rose on to noon; the sun beat upon our feet, but our heads were in the + shade and we slept heavily a good and honest sleep: he thinking that he + was alone, but I knowing that I was in company (a far preferable thing), + and I was right and he was wrong. And the heat grew, and sleep came out of + that hot sun more surely than it does out of the night air in the north. + But no dreams wander under the noon.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">From time to time one or the other of us would + open our eyes drowsily and wonder, but sleep was heavy on us both, and our + minds were sunk in calm like old hulls in the dark depths of the sea where + there are no storms.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">We neither of us really woke until, at the bottom + of the hill which rises into Acquapendente, the oxen stopped. This halt + woke us up; first me and then my companion. He looked at me a moment and + laughed. He seemed to have thought all this while that I was some country + friend of his who had taken a lift; and I, for my part, had made more or + less certain that he was a good fellow who would do me no harm. I was + right, and he was wrong. I knew not what offering to make him to + compensate him for this trouble which his heavy oxen had taken. After some + thought I brought a cigar out of my pocket, which he smoked with extreme + pleasure. The oxen meanwhile had been urged up the slow hill, and it was + in this way that we reached the famous town of Acquapendente. But why it + should be called famous is more than I can understand. It may be that in + one of those narrow streets there is a picture or a church, or one of + those things which so attract unbelieving men. To the pilgrim it is simply + a group of houses. Into one of these I went, and, upon my soul, I have + nothing to say of it except that they furnished me with food.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I do not pretend to have counted the flies, though + they were numerous; and, even had I done so, what interest would the + number have, save to the statisticians? Now as these are patient men and + foolish, I heartily recommend them to go and count the flies for + themselves.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Leaving this meal then, this town and this people + (which were all of a humdrum sort), and going out by the gate, the left + side of which is made up of a church, I went a little way on the short + road to San Lorenzo, but I had no intention of going far, for (as you know + by this time) the night had become my day and the day my night.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I found a stream running very sluggish between + tall trees, and this sight sufficiently reminded me of my own country to + permit repose. Lying down there I slept till the end of the day, or rather + to that same time of evening which had now become my usual waking hour ... + And now tell me, Lector, shall I</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">215</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>HOW TO WRITE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">leave out altogether, or shall I give you some + description of, the next few miles to San Lorenzo?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Why, if I were you I would put the matter + shortly and simply, for it is the business of one describing a pilgrimage + or any other matter not to puff himself up with vain conceit, nor to be + always picking about for picturesque situations, but to set down plainly + and shortly what he has seen and heard, describing the whole matter.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. But remember, Lector, that the artist is + known not only by what he puts in but by what he leaves out.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. That is all very well for the artist, but + you have no business to meddle with such people.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. How then would you write such a book if + you had the writing of it?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. I would not introduce myself at all; I + would not tell stories at random, nor go in for long descriptions of + emotions, which I am sure other men have felt as well as I. I would be + careful to visit those things my readers had already heard of (AUCTOR. The + pictures! the remarkable pictures! All that is meant by culture! The brown + photographs! Oh! Lector, indeed I have done you a wrong!), and I would + certainly not have the bad taste to say anything upon religion. Above all, + I would be terse.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. I see. You would not pile words one on the + other, qualifying, exaggerating, conditioning, superlativing, diminishing, + connecting, amplifying, condensing, mouthing, and glorifying the mere + sound: you would be terse. You should be known for your self-restraint. + There should be no verbosity in your style (God forbid!), still less + pomposity, animosity, curiosity, or ferocity; you would have it neat, + exact, and scholarly, and, above all, chiselled to the nail. A fig (say + you), the pip of a fig, for the rambling style. You would be led into no + hilarity, charity, vulgarity, or barbarity. Eh! my jolly Lector? You would + simply say what you had to say?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Precisely; I would say a plain thing in a + plain way.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. So you think one can say a plain thing in + a plain way? You think that words mean nothing more than themselves, and + that you can talk without ellipsis, and that customary phrases have not + their connotations? You think that, do you? Listen then to the tale of Mr + Benjamin Franklin Hard, a kindly merchant of Cincinnati, O., who had no + particular religion, but who had accumulated a fortune of six hundred + thousand dollars, and who had a horror of breaking the Sabbath. He was not + 'a kind husband and a good father,' for he was unmarried; nor had he any + children. But he was all that those words connote.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This man Hard at the age of fifty-four retired + from business, and determined</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">216</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>STORY OF MR HARD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">to treat himself to a visit to Europe. He had not + been in Europe five weeks before he ran bang up against the Catholic + Church. He was never more surprised in his life. I do not mean that I have + exactly weighed all his surprises all his life through. I mean that he was + very much surprised indeed--and that is all that these words connote.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">He studied the Catholic Church with extreme + interest. He watched High Mass at several places (hoping it might be + different). He thought it was what it was not, and then, contrariwise, he + thought it was not what it was. He talked to poor Catholics, rich + Catholics, middle-class Catholics, and elusive, wellborn, penniless, + neatly dressed, successful Catholics; also to pompous, vain Catholics; + humble, uncertain Catholics; sneaking, pad-footed Catholics; healthy, + howling, combative Catholics; doubtful, shoulder-shrugging, but devout + Catholics; fixed, crabbed, and dangerous Catholics; easy, jovial, and + shone-upon-by-the-heavenly-light Catholics; subtle Catholics; strange + Catholics, and <i>(quod tibi manifeste absurdum videtur)</i> intellectual, + <i>pince-nez,</i> jejune, twisted, analytical, yellow, cranky, and + introspective Catholics: in fine, he talked to all Catholics. And when I + say 'all Catholics' I do not mean that he talked to every individual + Catholic, but that he got a good, integrative grip of the Church militant, + which is all that the words connote.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Well, this man Hard got to know, among others, a + certain good priest that loved a good bottle of wine, a fine deep dish of + <i>poulet à la casserole,</i> and a kind of egg done with cream in + a little platter; and eating such things, this priest said to him one day: + 'Mr Hard, what you want is to read some books on Catholicism.' And Hard, + who was on the point of being received into the Church as the final + solution of human difficulties, thought it would be a very good thing to + instruct his mind before baptism. So he gave the priest a note to a + bookseller whom an American friend had told him of; and this American + friend had said:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'You will find Mr Fingle (for such was the + bookseller's name) a hard-headed, honest, business man. He can say a <i>plain + thing in a plain way?</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Here,' said Mr Hard to the priest, 'is ten + pounds. Send it to this bookseller Fingle and he shall choose books on + Catholicism to that amount, and you shall receive them, and I will come + and read them here with you.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So the priest sent the money, and in four days the + books came, and Mr Hard and the priest opened the package, and these were + the books inside:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Auricular Confession:</i> a History. By a Brand + Saved from the Burning.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Isabella; or, The Little Female Jesuit.</i> By + 'Hephzibah'.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Elisha MacNab:</i> a Tale of the French + Huguenots.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>England and Rome.</i> By the Rev. Ebenezer + Catchpole of Emmanuel, Birmingham.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9">217</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>STORY OF MR HARD</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Nuns and Nunneries.</i> By 'Ruth', with a + Preface by Miss Carran, lately rescued from a Canadian Convent.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>History of the Inquisition.</i> By Llorente.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>The Beast with Seven Heads; or, the + Apocalyptical Warning.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>No Truce with the Vatican.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>The True Cause of Irish Disaffection.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Decline of the Latin Nations.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13"><i>Anglo-Saxons the Chosen Race,</i> and their + connexion with the Ten Lost Tribes: with a map.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c13">Finally, a very large book at the bottom of the + case called <i>Giant Pope.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And it was no use asking for the money back or + protesting. Mr Fingle was an honest, straightforward man, who said a plain + thing in a plain way. They had left him to choose a suitable collection of + books on Catholicism, and he had chosen the best he knew. And thus did Mr + Hard (who has recently given a hideous font to the new Catholic church at + Bismarckville) learn the importance of estimating what words connote.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. But all that does not excuse an + intolerable prolixity?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Neither did I say it did, dear Lector. My + object was merely to get you to San Lorenzo where I bought that wine, and + where, going out of the gate on the south, I saw suddenly the wide lake of + Bolsena all below.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It is a great sheet like a sea; but as one knows + one is on a high plateau, and as there is but a short dip down to it; as + it is round and has all about it a rim of low even hills, therefore one + knows it for an old and gigantic crater now full of pure water; and there + are islands in it and palaces on the islands. Indeed it was an impression + of silence and recollection, for the water lay all upturned to heaven, + and, in the sky above me, the moon at her quarter hung still pale in the + daylight, waiting for glory.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I sat on the coping of a wall, drank a little of + my wine, ate a little bread and sausage; but still song demanded some + outlet in the cool evening, and companionship was more of an appetite in + me than landscape. Please God, I had become southern and took beauty for + granted.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Anyhow, seeing a little two-wheeled cart come + through the gate, harnessed to a ramshackle little pony, bony and hard, + and driven by a little, brown, smiling, and contented old fellow with + black hair, I made a sign to him and he stopped.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">This time there was no temptation of the devil; if + anything the advance was from my side. I was determined to ride, and I + sprang up beside the driver. We raced down the hill, clattering and + banging and rattling like a piece of ordnance, and he, my brother, unasked + began to sing. I sang in turn. He sang of Italy, I</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">218</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE MIGHTY DRIVE</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of four countries: America, France, England, and + Ireland. I could not understand his songs nor he mine, but there was wine + in common between us, and <i> salami</i> and a merry heart, bread which is + the bond of all mankind, and that prime solution of ill-ease--I mean the + forgetfulness of money.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">That was a good drive, an honest drive, a human + aspiring drive, a drive of Christians, a glorifying and uplifted drive, a + drive worthy of remembrance for ever. The moon has shone on but few like + it though she is old; the lake of Bolsena has glittered beneath none like + it since the Etruscans here unbended after the solemnities of a triumph. + It broke my vow to pieces; there was not a shadow of excuse for this use + of wheels: it was done openly and wantonly in the face of the wide sky for + pleasure. And what is there else but pleasure, and to what else does + beauty move on? Not I hope to contemplation! A hideous oriental trick! No, + but to loud notes and comradeship and the riot of galloping, and laughter + ringing through old trees. Who would change (says Aristippus of Pslinthon) + the moon and all the stars for so much wine as can be held in the cup of a + bottle upturned? The honest man! And in his time (note you) they did not + make the devilish deep and fraudulent bottoms they do now that cheat you + of half your liquor.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Moreover if I broke my vows (which is a serious + matter), and if I neglected to contemplate the heavens (for which neglect + I will confess to no one, not even to a postulate sub-deacon; it is no + sin; it is a healthy omission), if (I say) I did this, I did what peasants + do. And what is more, by drinking wine and eating pig we proved ourselves + no Mohammedans; and on such as he is sure of, St Peter looks with a kindly + eye.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Now, just at the very entry to Bolsena, when we + had followed the lovely lake some time, my driver halted and began to turn + up a lane to a farm or villa; so I, bidding him good-night, crossed a + field and stood silent by the lake and watched for a long time the water + breaking on a tiny shore, and the pretty miniatures of waves. I stood + there till the stars came out and the moon shone fully; then I went + towards Bolsena under its high gate which showed in the darkness, and + under its castle on the rock. There, in a large room which was not quite + an inn, a woman of great age and dignity served me with fried fish from + the lake, and the men gathered round me and attempted to tell me of the + road to Rome, while I in exchange made out to them as much by gestures as + by broken words the crossing of the Alps and the Apennines.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then, after my meal, one of the men told me I + needed sleep; that there were no rooms in that house (as I said, it was + not an inn), but that across the way he would show me one he had for hire. + I tried to say that my plan was to walk by night. They all assured me he + would charge me a reasonable sum. I insisted</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">219</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">MONTEFIASCONE</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">that the day was too hot for walking. They told + me, did these Etruscans, that I need fear no extortion from so honest a + man.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Certainly it is not easy to make everybody + understand everything, and I had had experience already up in the + mountains, days before, of how important it is not to be misunderstood + when one is wandering in a foreign country, poor and ill-clad. I therefore + accepted the offer, and, what was really very much to my regret, I paid + the money he demanded. I even so far fell in with the spirit of the thing + as to sleep a certain number of hours (for after all, my sleep that day in + the cart had been very broken, and instead of resting throughout the whole + of the heat I had taken a meal at Acquapendente). But I woke up not long + after midnight--perhaps between one and two o'clock--and went out along + the borders of the lake.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The moon had set; I wish I could have seen her + hanging at the quarter in the clear sky of that high crater, dipping into + the rim of its inland sea. It was perceptibly cold. I went on the road + quite slowly, till it began to climb, and when the day broke I found + myself in a sunken lane leading up to the town of Montefiascone.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The town lay on its hill in the pale but growing + light. A great dome gave it dignity, and a castle overlooked the lake. It + was built upon the very edge and lip of the volcano-cup commanding either + side.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I climbed up this sunken lane towards it, not + knowing what might be beyond, when, at the crest, there shone before me in + the sunrise one of those unexpected and united landscapes which are among + the glories of Italy. They have changed the very mind in a hundred + northern painters, when men travelled hither to Rome to learn their art, + and coming in by her mountain roads saw, time and again, the set views of + plains like gardens, surrounded by sharp mountain-land and framed.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road did not pass through the town; the grand + though crumbling gate of entry lay up a short straight way to the right, + and below, where the road continued down the slope, was a level of some + eight miles full of trees diminishing in distance. At its further side an + ample mountain, wooded, of gentle flattened outline, but high and + majestic, barred the way to Rome. It was yet another of those volcanoes, + fruitful after death, which are the mark of Latium: and it held hidden, as + did that larger and more confused one on the rim of which I stood, a lake + in its silent crater. But that lake, as I was to find, was far smaller + than the glittering sea of Bolsena, whose shores now lay behind me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The distance and the hill that bounded it should + in that climate have stood clear in the pure air, but it was yet so early + that a thin haze hung over the earth, and the sun had not yet controlled + it: it was even chilly. I could not catch the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font6">220</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE GREAT WALLS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c7">towers of Viterbo, though I knew them to stand at + the foot of the far mountain. I went down the road, and in half-an-hour or + so was engaged upon the straight line crossing the plain.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I wondered a little how the road would lie with + regard to the town, and looked at my map for guidance, but it told me + little. It was too general, taking in all central Italy, and even large + places were marked only by small circles.</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-79.jpg" alt="path-79.jpg" class="c90" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I approached Viterbo I first saw an + astonishing wall, perpendicular to my road, untouched, the bones of the + Middle Ages. It stood up straight before one like a range of cliffs, + seeming much higher than it should; its hundred feet or so were + exaggerated by the severity of its stones and by their sheer fall. For + they had no ornament whatever, and few marks of decay, though many of age. + Tall towers, exactly square and equally bare of carving or machicolation, + stood at intervals along this forbidding defence and flanked its curtain. + Then nearer by, one saw that it was not a huge castle, but the wall of</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>I ENTER VITERBO</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">a city, for at a corner it went sharp round to + contain the town, and through one uneven place I saw houses. Many men were + walking in the roads alongside these walls, and there were gates pierced + in them whereby the citizens went in and out of the city as bees go in and + out of the little opening in a hive.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But my main road to Rome did not go through + Viterbo, it ran alongside of the eastern wall, and I debated a little with + myself whether I would go in or no. It was out of my way, and I had not + entered Montefiascone for that reason. On the other hand, Viterbo was a + famous place. It is all very well to neglect Florence and Pisa because + they are some miles off the straight way, but Viterbo right under one's + hand it is a pity to miss. Then I needed wine and food for the later day + in the mountain. Yet, again, it was getting hot. It was past eight, the + mist had long ago receded, and I feared delay. So I mused on the white + road under the tall towers and dead walls of Viterbo, and ruminated on an + unimportant thing. Then curiosity did what reason could not do, and I + entered by a gate.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The streets were narrow, tortuous, and alive, all + shaded by the great houses, and still full of the cold of the night. The + noise of fountains echoed in them, and the high voices of women and the + cries of sellers. Every house had in it something fantastic and peculiar; + humanity had twined into this place like a natural growth, and the + separate thoughts of men, both those that were alive there and those dead + before them, had decorated it all. There were courtyards with blinding + whites of sunlit walls above, themselves in shadow; and there were many + carvings and paintings over doors. I had come into a great living place + after the loneliness of the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, in the first wide street I could find, I + bought sausage and bread and a great bottle of wine, and then quitting + Viterbo, I left it by the same gate and took the road.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For a long while yet I continued under the walls, + noting in one place a thing peculiar to the Middle Ages, I mean the apse + of a church built right into the wall as the old Cathedral of St Stephen's + was in Paris. These, I suppose, enemies respected if they could; for I + have noticed also that in castles the chapel is not hidden, but stands out + from the wall. So be it. Your fathers and mine were there in the fighting, + but we do not know their names, and I trust and hope yours spared the + altars as carefully as mine did.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road began to climb the hill, and though the + heat increased--for in Italy long before nine it is glaring noon to us + northerners (and that reminds me: your fathers and mine, to whom allusion + has been made above {as they say in the dull history books--[LECTOR. How + many more interior brackets are we to have? Is this algebra? AUCTOR. You + yourself, Lector, are responsible for the</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">THE SILENT OLD MAN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">worst.]} your fathers and mine coming down into + this country to fight, as was their annual custom, must have had a plaguy + time of it, when you think that they could not get across the Alps till + summer-time, and then had to hack and hew, and thrust and dig, and slash + and climb, and charge and puff, and blow and swear, and parry and receive, + and aim and dodge, and butt and run for their lives at the end, under an + unaccustomed sun. No wonder they saw visions, the dear people! They are + dead now, and we do not even know their names.)--Where was I?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. You were at the uninteresting remark that + the heat was increasing.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Precisely. I remember. Well, the heat was + increasing, but it seemed far more bearable than it had been in the + earlier places; in the oven of the Garfagnana or in the deserts of Siena. + For with the first slopes of the mountain a forest of great chestnut trees + appeared, and it was so cool under these that there was even moss, as + though I were back again in my own country where there are full rivers in + summer-time, deep meadows, and all the completion of home.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Also the height may have begun to tell on the air, + but not much, for when the forest was behind me, and when I had come to a + bare heath sloping more gently upwards--a glacis in front of the topmost + bulwark of the round mountain--- I was oppressed with thirst, and though + it was not too hot to sing (for I sang, and two lonely carabinieri passed + me singing, and we recognized as we saluted each other that the mountain + was full of songs), yet I longed for a bench, a flagon, and shade.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And as I longed, a little house appeared, and a + woman in the shade sewing, and an old man. Also a bench and a table, and a + tree over it. There I sat down and drank white wine and water many times. + The woman charged me a halfpenny, and the old man would not talk. He did + not take his old age garrulously. It was his business, not mine; but I + should dearly have liked to have talked to him in Lingua Franca, and to + have heard him on the story of his mountain: where it was haunted, by + what, and on which nights it was dangerous to be abroad. Such as it was, + there it was. I left them, and shall perhaps never see them again.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road was interminable, and the crest, from + which I promised myself the view of the crater-lake, was always just + before me, and was never reached. A little spring, caught in a hollow log, + refreshed a meadow on the right. Drinking there again, I wondered if I + should go on or rest; but I was full of antiquity, and a memory in the + blood, or what not, impelled me to see the lake in the crater before I + went to sleep: after a few hundred yards this obsession was satisfied.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">223</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE POND OF</b> VENUS</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I passed between two banks, where the road had + been worn down at the crest of the volcano's rim; then at once, far below, + in a circle of silent trees with here and there a vague shore of marshy + land, I saw the Pond of Venus: some miles of brooding water, darkened by + the dark slopes around it. Its darkness recalled the dark time before the + dawn of our saved and happy world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At its hither end a hill, that had once been a + cone in the crater, stood out all covered with a dense wood. It was the + Hill of Venus.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was no temple, nor no sacrifice, nor no + ritual for the Divinity, save this solemn attitude of perennial silence; + but under the influence which still remained and gave the place its + savour, it was impossible to believe that the gods were dead. There were + no men in that hollow; nor was there any memory of men, save of men dead + these thousands of years. There was no life of visible things. The mind + released itself and was in touch with whatever survives of conquered but + immortal Spirits.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Thus ready for worship, and in a mood of + adoration; filled also with the genius which inhabits its native place and + is too subtle or too pure to suffer the effect of time, I passed down the + ridge-way of the mountain rim, and came to the edge overlooking that arena + whereon was first fought out and decided the chief destiny of the world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">For all below was the Campagna. Names that are at + the origin of things attached to every cleft and distant rock beyond the + spreading level, or sanctified the gleams of rivers. There below me was + Veii; beyond, in the Wall of the Apennines, only just escaped from clouds, + was Tibur that dignified the ravine at the edge of their rising; that + crest to the right was Tusculum, and far to the south, but clear, on a + mountain answering my own, was the mother of the City, Alba Longa. The + Tiber, a dense, brown fog rolling over and concealing it, was the god of + the wide plain.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There and at that moment I should have seen the + City. I stood up on the bank and shaded my eyes, straining to catch the + dome at least in the sunlight; but I could not, for Rome was hidden by the + low Sabinian hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Soracte I saw there--Soracte, of which I had read + as a boy. It stood up like an acropolis, but it was a citadel for no city. + It stood alone, like that soul which once haunted its recesses and + prophesied the conquering advent of the northern kings. I saw the fields + where the tribes had lived that were the first enemies of the imperfect + state, before it gave its name to the fortunes of the Latin race.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Dark Etruria lay behind me, forgotten in the + backward of my march: a furnace and a riddle out of which religion came to + the Romans--a place that has left no language. But below me, sunlit and + easy (as it seemed in the cooler</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">224</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE ARENA</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-80.jpg" alt="path-80.jpg" class="c91" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">air of that summit), was the arena upon which were + first fought out the chief destinies of the world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And I still looked down upon it, wondering.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Was it in so small a space that all the legends of + one's childhood were acted? Was the defence of the bridge against so + neighbouring and petty an alliance? Were they peasants of a group of huts + that handed down the great inheritance of discipline, and made an iron + channel whereby, even to us, the antique virtues could descend as a living + memory? It must be so; for the villages and ruins in one landscape + comprised all the first generations of the history of Rome. The stones we + admire, the large spirit of the last expression came from that rough + village and sprang from the broils of that one plain; Rome was most + vigorous before it could speak. So a man's verse, and all he has, are but + the last outward appearance, late and already rigid, of an earlier, more + plastic, and diviner fire.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Upon this arena,' I still said to myself, 'were + first fought out the chief destinies of the world'; and so, played upon by + an unending theme, I ate and drank in a reverie, still wondering, and then + lay down beneath the shade of a little tree that stood alone upon that + edge of a new world. And wondering, I fell asleep under the morning sun.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But this sleep was not like the earlier oblivions + that had refreshed my ceaseless journey, for I still dreamt as I slept of + what I was to see, and visions of action without thought--pageants and + mysteries--surrounded my spirit; and across the darkness of a mind remote + from the senses there passed whatever is wrapped up in the great name of + Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">When I woke the evening had come. A haze had + gathered upon the plain. The road fell into Ronciglione, and dreams + surrounded it upon every side. For the energy of the body those hours of + rest had made a fresh and enduring</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">225</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>TOO MANY PEASANTS</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">vigour; for the soul no rest was needed. It had + attained, at least for the next hour, a vigour that demanded only the + physical capacity of endurance; an eagerness worthy of such great + occasions found a marching vigour for its servant.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">In Ronciglione I saw the things that Turner drew; + I mean the rocks from which a river springs, and houses all massed + together, giving the steep a kind of crown. This also accompanied that + picture, the soft light which mourns the sun and lends half-colours to the + world. It was cool, and the opportunity beckoned. I ate and drank, asking + every one questions of Rome, and I passed under their great gate and + pursued the road to the plain. In the mist, as it rose, there rose also a + passion to achieve.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">All the night long, mile after mile, I hurried + along the Cassian Way. For five days I had slept through the heat, and the + southern night had become my daytime; and though the mist was dense, and + though the moon, now past her quarter, only made a vague place in heaven, + yet expectation and fancy took more than the place of sight. In this fog I + felt with every step of the night march the approach to the goal.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Long past the place I had marked as a halt, long + past Sette Vene, a light blurred upon the white wreaths of vapour; distant + songs and the noise of men feasting ended what had been for many, many + hours--for more than twenty miles of pressing forward--an exaltation + worthy of the influence that bred it. Then came on me again, after the + full march, a necessity for food and for repose. But these things, which + have been the matter of so much in this book, now seemed subservient only + to the reaching of an end; they were left aside in the mind.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was an inn with trellis outside making an + arbour. In the yard before it many peasants sat at table; their beasts and + waggons stood in the roadway, though, at this late hour, men were feeding + some and housing others. Within, fifty men or more were making a meal or a + carousal.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">What feast or what necessity of travel made them + keep the night alive I neither knew nor asked; but passing almost + unobserved amongst them between the long tables, I took my place at the + end, and the master served me with good food and wine. As I ate the + clamour of the peasants sounded about me, and I mixed with the energy of + numbers.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">With a little difficulty I made the master + understand that I wished to sleep till dawn. He led me out to a small + granary (for the house was full), and showed me where I should sleep in + the scented hay. He would take no money for such a lodging, and left me + after showing me how the door latched and unfastened; and out of so many + men, he was the last man whom I thanked for a service until I passed the + gates of Rome.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">226</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>ROME CALLS ME</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Above the soft bed which the hay made, a square + window, unglazed, gave upon the southern night; the mist hardly drifted in + or past it, so still was the air. I watched it for a while drowsily; then + sleep again fell on me.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">But as I slept, Rome, Rome still beckoned me, and + I woke in a struggling light as though at a voice calling, and slipping + out I could not but go on to the end.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The small square paving of the Via Cassia, all + even like a palace floor, rang under my steps. The parched banks and + strips of dry fields showed through the fog (for its dampness did not cure + the arid soil of the Campagna). The sun rose and the vapour lifted. Then, + indeed, I peered through the thick air--but still I could see nothing of + my goal, only confused folds of brown earth and burnt-up grasses, and + farther off rare and un-northern trees.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">I passed an old tower of the Middle Ages that was + eaten away at its base by time or the quarrying of men; I passed a + divergent way on the right where a wooden sign said 'The Triumphal Way', + and I wondered whether it could be the road where ritual had once ordained + that triumphs should go. It seemed lonely and lost, and divorced from any + approach to sacred hills.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">The road fell into a hollow where soldiers were + manoeuvring. Even these could not arrest an attention that was fixed upon + the approaching revelation. The road climbed a little slope where a branch + went off to the left, and where there was a house and an arbour under + vines. It was now warm day; trees of great height stood shading the sun; + the place had taken on an appearance</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-81.jpg" alt="path-81.jpg" class="c92" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">227</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">FAREWELL TO ALL MEN</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">of wealth and care. The mist had gone before I + reached the summit of the rise.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There, from the summit, between the high villa + walls on either side--at my very feet I saw the City.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And now all you people whatsoever that are + presently reading, may have read, or shall in the future read, this my + many-sided but now-ending book; all you also that in the mysterious + designs of Providence may not be fated to read it for some very long time + to come; you then I say, entire, englobed, and universal race of men both + in gross and regardant, not only living and seeing the sunlight, but dead + also under the earth; shades, or to come in procession afterwards out of + the dark places into the day for a little, swarms of you, an army without + end; all you black and white, red, yellow and brown, men, women, children + and poets--all of you, wherever you are now, or have been, or shall be in + your myriads and deka myriads and hendeka myriads, the time has come when + I must bid you farewell--</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font8 c2"><i>Ludisti satis, edisti satis, atque bibisti; + Tempus abire tibi est....</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Only Lector I keep by me for a very little while + longer with a special purpose, but even he must soon leave me; for all + good things come to an end, and this book is coming to an end--has come to + an end. The leaves fall, and they are renewed; the sun sets on the Vexin + hills, but he rises again over the woods of Marly. Human companionship + once broken can never be restored, and you and I shall not meet or + understand each other again. It is so of all the poor links whereby we try + to bridge the impassable gulf between soul and soul. Oh! we spin + something, I know, but it is very gossamer, thin and strained, and even if + it does not snap time will at last dissolve it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Indeed, there is a song on it which you should + know, and which runs--</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-82.jpg" alt="path-82.jpg" class="c93" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5">228</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <img src="images/path-83.jpg" alt="path-83.jpg" class="c94" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So my little human race, both you that have read + this book and you that have not, good-bye in charity. I loved you all as I + wrote. Did you all love me as much as I have loved you, by the black stone + of Rennes I should be rich by now. Indeed, indeed, I have loved you all! + You, the workers, all puffed up and dyspeptic and ready for the asylums; + and you, the good-for-nothing lazy drones; you, the strong silent men, who + have heads quite empty, like gourds; and you also, the frivolous, useless + men that chatter and gabble to no purpose all day long. Even you, that, + having begun to read this book, could get no further than page 47, and + especially you who have read it manfully in spite of the flesh, I love you + all, and give you here and now my final, complete, full, absolving, and + comfortable benediction.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To tell the truth, I have noticed one little fault + about you. I will not call it fatuous, inane, and exasperating vanity or + self-absorption; I will put it in the form of a parable. Sit you round + attentively and listen, dispersing yourselves all in order, and do not + crowd or jostle.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Once, before we humans became the good and + self-respecting people we are, the Padre Eterno was sitting in heaven with + St Michael beside him, and He watched the abyss from His great throne, and + saw shining in the void one far point of light amid some seventeen million + others, and He said:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'What is that?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And St Michael answered:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'That is the Earth,' for he felt some pride in it.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'The Earth?' said the Padre Eterno, a little + puzzled . . . 'The Earth? ...?... I do not remember very exactly . . .'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Why,' answered St Michael, with as much reverence + as his annoyance could command, 'surely you must recollect the Earth and + all the pother there was in heaven when it was first suggested to create + it, and all about Lucifer--'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Ah!' said the Padre Eterno, thinking twice, 'yes. + It is attached to Sirius, and--'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'No, no,' said St Michael, quite visibly put out. + 'It is the Earth. The Earth which has that changing moon and the thing + called the sea.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">229</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b> CONTINUEZ</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Of course, of course,' answered the Padre Eterno + quickly, 'I said Sirius by a slip of the tongue. Dear me! So that is the + Earth! Well, well! It is years ago now ... Michael, what are those little + things swarming up and down all over it?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Those,' said St Michael, 'are Men.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Men?' said the Padre Eterno, 'Men ... I know the + word as well as any one, but somehow the connexion escapes me. Men ...' + and He mused.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">St Michael, with perfect self-restraint, said a + few things a trifle staccato, defining Man, his dual destiny, his hope of + heaven, and all the great business in which he himself had fought hard. + But from a fine military tradition, he said nothing of his actions, nor + even of his shrine in Normandy, of which he is naturally extremely proud: + and well he may be. What a hill!</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'I really beg your pardon,' said the Padre Eterno, + when he saw the importance attached to these little creatures. 'I am sure + they are worthy of the very fullest attention, and' (he added, for he was + sorry to have offended) 'how sensible they seem, Michael! There they go, + buying and selling, and sailing, driving, and wiving, and riding, and + dancing, and singing, and the rest of it; indeed, they are most practical, + business-like, and satisfactory little beings. But I notice one odd thing. + Here and there are some not doing as the rest, or attending to their + business, but throwing themselves into all manner of attitudes, making the + most extraordinary sounds, and clothing themselves in the quaintest of + garments. What is the meaning of that?'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Sire!' cried St Michael, in a voice that shook + the architraves of heaven, 'they are worshipping You!'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">'Oh! they are worshipping <i>me!</i> Well, that is + the most sensible thing I have heard of them yet, and I altogether commend + them. <i> Continuez,'</i> said the Padre Eterno, <i> 'continuez!'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And since then all has been well with the world; + at least where <i>Us continuent.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And so, carissimi, multitudes, all of you + good-bye; the day has long dawned on the Via Cassia, this dense mist has + risen, the city is before me, and I am on the threshold of a great + experience; I would rather be alone. Good-bye my readers; good-bye the + world.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">At the foot of the hill I prepared to enter the + city, and I lifted up my heart.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">There was an open space; a tramway: a tram upon it + about to be drawn by two lean and tired horses whom in the heat many flies + disturbed. There was dust on everything around.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">A bridge was immediately in front. It was adorned + with statues in soft stone, half-eaten away, but still gesticulating in + corruption, after the manner of the</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">230</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">seventeenth century. Beneath the bridge there + tumbled and swelled and ran fast a great confusion of yellow water: it was + the Tiber. Far on the right were white barracks of huge and of hideous + appearance; over these the Dome of St Peter's rose and looked like + something newly built. It was of a delicate blue, but made a metallic + contrast against the sky.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">Then (along a road perfectly straight and bounded + by factories, mean houses and distempered walls: a road littered with many + scraps of paper, bones, dirt, and refuse) I went on for several hundred + yards, having the old wall of Rome before me all this time, till I came + right under it at last; and with the hesitation that befits all great + actions I entered, putting the right foot first lest I should bring + further misfortune upon that capital of all our fortunes.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">And so the journey ended.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">It was the Gate of the Poplar--not of the People. + (Ho, Pedant! Did you think I missed you, hiding and lurking there?) Many + churches were to hand; I took the most immediate, which stood just within + the wall and was called Our Lady of the People--(not 'of the Poplar'. + Another fall for the learned! Professor, things go ill with you to-day!). + Inside were many fine pictures, not in the niminy-piminy manner, but + strong, full-coloured, and just.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">To my chagrin, Mass was ending. I approached a + priest and said to him:</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'Pater, quando vel a quella hora e la prossimma + Missa?'</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'Ad nonas,'</i> said he.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5"><i>'Pol! Hercle!'</i> (thought I), 'I have yet + twenty minutes to wait! Well, as a pilgrimage cannot be said to be over + till the first Mass is heard in Rome, I have twenty minutes to add to my + book.'</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">So, passing an Egyptian obelisk which the great + Augustus had nobly dedicated to the Sun, I entered....</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. But do you intend to tell us nothing of + Rome?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. Nothing, dear Lector.</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">LECTOR. Tell me at least one thing; did you see + the Coliseum?</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10 c5">AUCTOR. ... I entered a cafe at the right hand of + a very long, straight street, called for bread, coffee, and brandy, and + contemplating my books and worshipping my staff that had been friends of + mine so long, and friends like all true friends inanimate, I spent the few + minutes remaining to my happy, common, unshriven, exterior, and natural + life, in writing down this</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font10">231</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>LOUD AND FINAL SONG</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c2">DITHYRAMBIC EPITHALAMIUM OR THRENODY</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c2"><i>In these boots, and with this staff Two hundred + leaguers and a half--</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c2">(That means, two and a half hundred leagues. You + follow? Not two hundred and one half league.... Well--)</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Two hundred leaguers and a half</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Walked I, went I, paced I, tripped I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Marched I</i>, <i> held I, skelped I, slipped + I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Pushed I, panted, swung and dashed I;</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Picked I, forded, swam and splashed I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Strolled I, climbed I, crawled and scrambled,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Dropped and dipped I, ranged and rambled;</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Plodded I, hobbled I</i>, <i>trudged and + tramped I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>And in lonely spinnies camped I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>And in haunted pinewoods slept I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Lingered, loitered, limped and crept I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Clambered, halted, stepped and leapt I;</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Slowly sauntered, roundly strode I,</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>And ...</i> (Oh! Patron saints and Angels<br /> + That protect the four evangels!<br /> And you Prophets vel majores<br /> Vel + incerti, vel minores,<br /> Virgines ac confessores<br /> Chief of whose + peculiar glories<br /> Est in Aula Regis stare <br />Atque orare et exorare<br /> + Et clamare et conclamare<br /> Clamantes cum clamoribus<br /> Pro nobis + peccatoribus.)</span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9 c13"><i>Let me not conceal it... Rode I.</i><br /> (For + who but critics could complain<br /> Of 'riding' in a railway train?) <i>Across + the valleys and the high-land,<br /> With all the world on either hand.<br /> + Drinking when I had a mind to, <br />Singing when I felt inclined to;<br /> + Nor ever turned my face to home <br />Till I had slaked my heart at Rome.</i></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font9">232</span><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font5"><b>THE END AGAIN</b></span><br /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11 c26">LECTOR. But this is dogg--</span> + </p> + <p> + <span class="font11 c26">AUCTOR. Not a word!</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/path-84.jpg" alt="path-84.jpg" class="c95" /> + </p> + <p class="paragraph"> + <span class="font11">FINIS</span><br /> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path to Rome, by Hilaire Belloc + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH TO ROME *** + +***** This file should be named 7373-h.htm or 7373-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/3/7/7373/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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