Page:Sarah Sheppard - L. E. L.pdf/102

 patient endurance, and fearless fortitude, are the elements of her character, and are admirably developed by circumstances. To Francesca Carrara may be applied the exquisite feminine portraiture by another gifted hand,— Nor look nor tone revealeth aught, Save woman's quietness of thought; And yet around her is a light, Of inward majesty and might."

"Francesca's beauty belonged to features and to expression,—features perfect in the Greek outline. A brow, noble, as if never unworthy or ungenerous thought had crossed its white expanse; the lip somewhat scornful, but smiling, when it did smile, with the sweetness of a thousand common smiles. Large lustrous eyes, passionate, thoughtful, clear, and calm; their general character was repose,—but the lightning slept in their midnight depths,—that flash which the mind alone can give, but whose light is that of the sky whence it emanates. Usually of a clear, delicate, yet healthy paleness, any strong emotion would flood her cheek with crimson. No one would have thought of calling her merely pretty: a sure test of beauty." You feel, and the conviction is borne out, that she cannot act unworthily and be true to herself; and, feeling this, the deeper interest of admiring esteem gathers around her history. Poor Guido, his tale may be soon told; possessed of one attribute of genius—imagination, but which, in him, being unregulated by the sterner powers of the mind, makes him its victim, by exciting aspirations he could never fulfil,—by inspiring a love, more than half ideal, doomed never to be requited,—thus lighting in his soul a fire, but supplying no fuel; the