Page:A Picture-book without Pictures and Other Stories (1848).djvu/152

 between the rocks; the water comes splashing down, and high up above on the mountains, between the tops of the trees, stands the magnificent dome of the church, as if in heaven. The bells sound. There stands a cross by the road-side; handsome girls are walking along, they bend before the cross and repeat their prayers on their rosary. We are approaching Genzano. The two poets alight from the carriage; they are going to see the Nemi lake, which was once the crater of a volcano. Yes, that is a much older story even than the Horatii. Let us canter whilst the poets get into an enthusiasm! They can catch us in Velletri. Let us have a gallop.

The Post-horses.—What is come to the first horse? he is like a mad thing! He can neither stand nor go! And yet one would think he was old enough to have learned both.

Pegasus.—Deep below us lie the green marshes overgrown with grass, and the rocky island of Circe in the sea. We are now in Cisterna, the little city where the Apostle Paul was met by his friends at Rome, when he was on his way to that city. Sing about