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cambridge pieces-第5节

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d'hote to be leaning over the balcony that ran round the house and
passed our bedroom door; when a man and a girl came out with two
large pails in their hands; and we watched them proceed to a cart
with a barrel in it; which was in a corner of the yard; we had been
wondering what was in the barrel and were glad to see them commence
tapping it; when lo! out spouted the blood…red wine with which they
actually half filled their pails before they left the spot。  This
was as Italy should be。  After dinner; too; as we stroll in the
showy Italian sort of piazza near the inn; the florid music which
fills the whole square; accompanied by a female voice of some
pretensions; again thoroughly Italianises the scene; and when she
struck up our English national anthem (with such a bass
accompaniment!) nothing could be imagined more incongruous。

Sleeping at La Tour at the hotel kept by M。 Gai (which is very good;
clean; and cheap); we left next morning; i。e。 Tuesday; June 16; at
four by diligence for Pinerolo; thence by rail to Turin where we
spent the day。  It was wet and we saw no vestiges of the Alps。

Turin is a very handsome city; very regularly built; the streets
running nearly all parallel to and at right angles with each other;
there are no suburbs; and the consequence is that at the end of
every street one sees the country; the Alps surround the city like a
horseshoe; and hence many of the streets seem actually walled in
with a snowy mountain。  Nowhere are the Alps seen to greater
advantage than from Turin。  I speak from the experience; not of the
journey I am describing; but of a previous one。  From the Superga
the view is magnificent; but from the hospital for soldiers just
above the Po on the eastern side of the city the view is very
similar; and the city seen to greater advantage。  The Po is a fine
river; but very muddy; not like the Ticino which has the advantage
of getting washed in the Lago Maggiore。  On the whole Turin is well
worth seeing。  Leaving it; however; on Wednesday morning we arrived
at Arona about half…past eleven:  the country between the two places
is flat; but rich and well cultivated:  much rice is grown; and in
consequence the whole country easily capable of being laid under
water; a thing which I should imagine the Piedmontese would not be
slow to avail themselves of; we ought to have had the Alps as a
background to the view; but they were still veiled。  It was here
that a countryman; seeing me with one or two funny little pipes
which I had bought in Turin; asked me if I was a fabricante di pipi…
…a pipe…maker。

By the time that we were at Arona the sun had appeared; and the
clouds were gone; here; too; we determined to halt for half a day;
neither of us being quite the thing; so after a visit to the
colossal statue of San Carlo; which is very fine and imposing; we
laid ourselves down under the shade of some chestnut trees above the
lake; and enjoyed the extreme beauty of everything around us; until
we fell fast asleep; and yet even in sleep we seemed to retain a
consciousness of the unsurpassable beauty of the scene。  After
dinner (we were stopping at the Hotel de la Poste; a very nice inn
indeed) we took a boat and went across the lake to Angera; a little
town just opposite; it was in the Austrian territory; but they made
no delay about admitting us; the reason of our excursion was; that
we might go and explore the old castle there; which is seated on an
inconsiderable eminence above the lake。  It affords an excellent
example of Italian domestic Gothic of the Middle Ages; San Carlo was
born and resided here; and; indeed; if saintliness were to depend
upon beauty of natural scenery; no wonder at his having been a
saint。

The castle is only tenanted by an old man who keeps the place; we
found him cooking his supper over a small crackling fire of sticks;
which he had lighted in the main hall; his feeble old voice chirps
about San Carlo this and San Carlo that as we go from room to room。
We have no carpets hereplain honest brick floorsthe chairs;
indeed; have once been covered with velvet; but they are now so worn
that one can scarcely detect that they have been so; the tables
warped and worm…eaten; the few; that is; that remained there; the
shutters cracked and dry with the sun and summer of so many hundred
yearsno Renaissance work here; yet for all that there was
something about it which made it to me the only really pleasurable
nobleman's mansion that I have ever been over; the view from the top
is superb; and then the row home to Arona; the twinkling lights
softly gleaming in the lake; the bells jangling from the tall and
gaudy campaniles; the stillness of the summer nightso warm and yet
so refreshing on the water; hush; there are some people singinghow
sweetly their voices are borne to us upon the slight breath of wind
that alone is stirring; oh; it is a cruel thing to think of war in
connection with such a spot as this; and yet from this very Angera
to this very Arona it is that the Austrians have been crossing to
commence their attack on Sardinia。  I fear these next summer nights
will not be broken with the voice of much singing and that we shall
have to hush for the roaring of cannon。

I never knew before how melodiously frogs can croakthere is a
sweet guttural about some of these that I never heard in England:
before going to bed; I remember particularly one amorous batrachian
courting malgre sa maman regaled us with a lusciously deep rich
croak; that served as a good accompaniment for the shrill whizzing
sound of the cigales。

My space is getting short; but fortunately we are getting on to
ground better known; I will therefore content myself with sketching
out the remainder of our tour and leaving the reader to Murray for
descriptions。

We left Arona with regret on Thursday morning (June 18); took
steamer to the Isola Bella; which is an example of how far human
extravagance and folly can spoil a rock; which had it been left
alone would have been very beautiful; and thence by a little boat
went to Baveno; thence we took diligence for Domo d'Ossola; the
weather clouded towards evening and big raindrops beginning to
descend we thought it better to proceed at once by the same
diligence over the Simplon; we did not care to walk the pass in wet;
therefore leaving Domo d'Ossola at ten o'clock that night we arrived
at Iselle about two; the weather clearing we saw the gorge of Gondo
and walked a good way up the pass in the early morning by the
diligence; breakfasted at Simplon at four o'clock in the morning;
and without waiting a moment as soon as we got out at Brieg set off
for Visp; which we reached at twelve on foot; we washed and dressed
there; dined and advanced to Leuk; and thence up the most
exquisitely beautiful road to Leukerbad; which we reached at about
eight o'clock after a very fatiguing day。  The Hotel de la France is
clean and cheap。  Next morning we left at half…past five and;
crossing the Gemini; got to Frutigen at half…past one; took an open
trap after dinner and drove to Interlaken; which we reached on the
Saturday night at eight o'clock; the weather first rate; Sunday we
rested at Interlaken; on Monday we assailed the Wengern Alp; but the
weather being pouring wet we halted on the top and spent the night
there; being rewarded by the most transcendent evening view of the
Jungfrau; Eiger; and Monch in the clear cold air seen through a thin
veil of semi…transparent cloud that was continually scudding across
them。

Next morning early we descended to Grindelwald; thence past the
upper glacier under the Wetterhorn over the Scheidegg to Rosenlaui;
where we dined and saw the glacier; after dinner; descending the
valley we visited the falls of Reichenbach (which the reader need
not do if he means to see those of the Aar at Handegg); and leaving
Meyringen on our left we recommenced an ascent of the valley of the
Aar; sleeping at Guttannen; about ten miles farther on。

Next day; i。e。 Wednesday; June 24; leaving Guttannen very early;
passing the falls of Handegg; which are first rate; we reached the
hospice at nine; had some wine there; and crawled on through the
snow and up the rocks to the summit of the passhere we met an old
lady; in a blue ugly; with a pair of green spectacles; carried in a
chaise a porteur; she had taken it into her head in her old age that
she would like to see a little of the world; and here she was。  We
had seen her lady's maid at the hospice; concerning whom we were
told that she was 〃bien sage;〃 and did not scream at the precipices。
On the top of the Gemini; too; at half…past seven in the morning; we
had met a somewhat similar lady walking alone with a blue parasol
over the snow; about half an hour after we met some porters carrying
her luggage; and found that she was an invalid lady of Berne; who
was walking over to the baths at Leukerbad for the benefit of her
healthwe scarcely thought there could be much occasionleaving
these two good ladies then; let us descend the Grimsel to the bottom
of the glacier of the Rhone; and then ascend the Furkaa stiff
pull; we got there by two o'clock; dined (Italian is spoken here
again); and finally re

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