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that fear is never known to the great。〃
With these words Zanoni abruptly left the artist; humbled;
bewildered; and not convinced。 He remained alone with his
thoughts till he was aroused by the striking of the clock; he
then suddenly remembered Zanoni's prediction of the Cardinal's
death; and; seized with an intense desire to learn its truth; he
hurried into the streets;he gained the Cardinal's palace。 Five
minutes before noon his Eminence had expired; after an illness of
less than an hour。 Zanoni's visit had occupied more time than
the illness of the Cardinal。 Awed and perplexed; he turned from
the palace; and as he walked through the Chiaja; he saw Jean
Nicot emerge from the portals of the Prince di 。
CHAPTER 3。V。
Two loves I have of comfort and despair;
Which like two spirits do suggest me still。
Shakespeare。
Venerable Brotherhood; so sacred and so little known; from whose
secret and precious archives the materials for this history have
been drawn; ye who have retained; from century to century; all
that time has spared of the august and venerable science;thanks
to you; if now; for the first time; some record of the thoughts
and actions of no false and self…styled luminary of your Order be
given; however imperfectly; to the world。 Many have called
themselves of your band; many spurious pretenders have been
so…called by the learned ignorance which still; baffled and
perplexed; is driven to confess that it knows nothing of your
origin; your ceremonies or doctrines; nor even if you still have
local habitation on the earth。 Thanks to you if I; the only one
of my country; in this age; admitted; with a profane footstep;
into your mysterious Academe (The reader will have the goodness
to remember that this is said by the author of the original MS。;
not by the editor。); have been by you empowered and instructed to
adapt to the comprehension of the uninitiated; some few of the
starry truths which shone on the great Shemaia of the Chaldean
Lore; and gleamed dimly through the darkened knowledge of latter
disciples; labouring; like Psellus and Iamblichus; to revive the
embers of the fire which burned in the Hamarin of the East。
Though not to us of an aged and hoary world is vouchsafed the
NAME which; so say the earliest oracles of the earth; 〃rushes
into the infinite worlds;〃 yet is it ours to trace the reviving
truths; through each new discovery of the philosopher and
chemist。 The laws of attraction; of electricity; and of the yet
more mysterious agency of that great principal of life; which; if
drawn from the universe; would leave the universe a grave; were
but the code in which the Theurgy of old sought the guides that
led it to a legislation and science of its own。 To rebuild on
words the fragments of this history; it seems to me as if; in a
solemn trance; I was led through the ruins of a city whose only
remains were tombs。 From the sarcophagus and the urn I awake the
genius (The Greek Genius of Death。) of the extinguished Torch;
and so closely does its shape resemble Eros; that at moments I
scarcely know which of ye dictates to me;O Love! O Death!
And it stirred in the virgin's heart;this new; unfathomable;
and divine emotion! Was it only the ordinary affection of the
pulse and the fancy; of the eye to the Beautiful; of the ear to
the Eloquent; or did it not justify the notion she herself
conceived of it;that it was born not of the senses; that it was
less of earthly and human love than the effect of some wondrous
but not unholy charm? I said that; from that day in which; no
longer with awe and trembling; she surrendered herself to the
influence of Zanoni; she had sought to put her thoughts into
words。 Let the thoughts attest their own nature。
THE SELF CONFESSIONAL。
〃Is it the daylight that shines on me; or the memory of thy
presence? Wherever I look; the world seems full of thee; in
every ray that trembles on the water; that smiles upon the
leaves; I behold but a likeness to thine eyes。 What is this
change; that alters not only myself; but the face of the whole
universe?
。。。
How instantaneously leaped into life the power with which thou
swayest my heart in its ebb and flow。 Thousands were around me;
and I saw but thee。 That was the night in which I first entered
upon the world which crowds life into a drama; and has no
language but music。 How strangely and how suddenly with thee
became that world evermore connected! What the delusion of the
stage was to others; thy presence was to me。 My life; too;
seemed to centre into those short hours; and from thy lips I
heard a music; mute to all ears but mine。 I sit in the room
where my father dwelt。 Here; on that happy night; forgetting why
THEY were so happy; I shrunk into the shadow; and sought to guess
what thou wert to me; and my mother's low voice woke me; and I
crept to my father's side; closeclose; from fear of my own
thoughts。
〃Ah! sweet and sad was the morrow to that night; when thy lips
warned me of the future。 An orphan now;what is there that
lives for me to think of; to dream upon; to revere; but thou!
〃How tenderly thou hast rebuked me for the grievous wrong that my
thoughts did thee! Why should I have shuddered to feel thee
glancing upon my thoughts like the beam on the solitary tree; to
which thou didst once liken me so well? It wasit was; that;
like the tree; I struggled for the light; and the light came。
They tell me of love; and my very life of the stage breathes the
language of love into my lips。 No; again and again; I know THAT
is not the love that I feel for thee!it is not a passion; it is
a thought! I ask not to be loved again。 I murmur not that thy
words are stern and thy looks are cold。 I ask not if I have
rivals; I sigh not to be fair in thine eyes。 It is my SPIRIT
that would blend itself with thine。 I would give worlds; though
we were apart; though oceans rolled between us; to know the hour
in which thy gaze was lifted to the stars;in which thy heart
poured itself in prayer。 They tell me thou art more beautiful
than the marble images that are fairer than all human forms; but
I have never dared to gaze steadfastly on thy face; that memory
might compare thee with the rest。 Only thine eyes and thy soft;
calm smile haunt me; as when I look upon the moon; all that
passes into my heart is her silent light。
。。。
〃Often; when the air is calm; I have thought that I hear the
strains of my father's music; often; though long stilled in the
grave; have they waked me from the dreams of the solemn night。
Methinks; ere thou comest to me that I hear them herald thy
approach。 Methinks I hear them wail and moan; when I sink back
into myself on seeing thee depart。 Thou art OF that music;its
spirit; its genius。 My father must have guessed at thee and thy
native regions; when the winds hushed to listen to his tones; and
the world deemed him mad! I hear where