The six sisters of the valleys : an historical romance - University Library

THE CAMP. 143
of the invisible, shines in the deep blue sky
of Italy, and drowns the twinkling stars as
if she would disown her satellites. Such,
at least, might Petrarch have conjectured
before Galileo's glass began to rescue nature
from the misjudging eye of sense.
How sweetly the moonlight sleeps upon
the rugged crags that frown upon the
Valley of Lucerna ! How brightly yon snow
ghstens in that chaste shower of lio*ht ! the
ridge of Castelluzzo is sharply edged against
the sky; the massed and gloomy pine
forests, dappled with light and shade, ap-
pear more mysterious than in the blazing-
day; the stream quivers in the pale
light, which, refracted like the sunshine,
casts a fainter shadow upon the rocky bed
beneath.
Heaven is at peace, save that in the
distance over yon western range a floating
rain-cloud drips, in whose falling shower
is wreathed the beauteous traceiy of a
lunar rainbow, as if to afford the moon the