Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Dante's comparison of the giant Antaeus, when he stooped, to the tower of Garisenda when a passing cloud sweeps across the sky from that quarter to which it leans, must be a lively and powerful image to those who have witnessed this effect. Even the straightest of spires, if very tall, will seem to bend towards the driving clouds when you watch it intently. The railway from Bologna to Lucca crosses the Apennine Range, following the valley of the river Reno. The Reno is a type of the mountain streams in southern lands, occupying a huge bed, and continually rolling its little restless stream from side to side of it. The scenery is wild and rugged until the highest point is passed, some 2,000 feet, soon after which beautiful glimpses of the plains to the south are seen, and presently we descend to the rich and lovely plain on which Pistoia is built. A more beautiful moment for seeing it would have been impossible ; the lower slopes of the Apennines were glowing in the setting sun with the gorgeous purples and blues of a pigeon's breast, and their snowy tops wereflushed with tender rose-colour, while above the cold blue eastern hills, on which the shades of night had already sunk, rose the great silvery orb of a full moon, closely attended by a small crimson cloud of exquisite beauty. Darkness had fallen long before we reached Lucca, and the only impression we experienced that night was that the streets are much better paved than at Bologna, and the hotels—for we drove first to one and then to another—are singularly primitive and cheerless. Visitors were obviously not expected. The next morning was a cloudless one, and we drove to the Villa Marlia, famous for its gardens, laid out in imitation of those at Marly. But they must be seen in summer. The unhappy white statues shran...