_The Porphyry Bridge in the Malay cosmogony;
Amershickel, Brueckengebildung im kult-Historischer. Passenmayer;
Durat, _Le pont antique, etude sur les origines Toscanes;_ Mr Dacre's
_The Command of Bridges in Warfare; Bridges and Empire,_ by Captain
Hole, U.S.A. You may say all this; I shall not reply. If the heat has
hindered me from saying a word of the fine open valley on the left, of
the little railway and of the last of the hills, do you suppose it
will permit me to discuss the sanctity of bridges? If it did, I think
there is a little question on 'why should habit turn sacred?' which
would somewhat confound and pose you, and pose also, for that matter,
every pedant that ever went blind and crook-backed over books, or took
ivory for horn. And there is an end of it. Argue it with whom you
will. It is evening, and I am at Borgo (for if many towns are called
Castel-Nuovo so are many called Borgo in Italy), and I desire to be
free of interruption while I eat and sleep and reflect upon the error
of that march in that heat, spoiling nearly thirty miles of road,
losing so many great and pleasurable emotions, all for haste and from
a neglect of the Italian night.
And as I ate, and before I slept, I thought of that annotated Guide
Book which is cried out for by all Europe, and which shall tell blunt
truths. Look you out _'Garfagnana, district of, Valley of Serchio'_
in the index. You will be referred to p. 267. Turn to p. 267. You
will find there the phrase -
'One can walk from the pretty little village of Sillano, nestling in
its chestnut groves, to the flourishing town of Borgo on the new Bagni
railway in a day.'
You will find a mark [1] after that phrase. It refers to a footnote.
Glance (or look) at the bottom of the page and you will find:
[1] But if one does one is a fool.
So I slept late and uneasily the insufficient sleep of men who have
suffered, and in that uneasy sleep I discovered this great truth: that
if in a southern summer you do not rest in the day the night will seem
intolerably warm, but that, if you rest in the day, you will find
coolness and energy at evening.
The next morning with daylight I continued the road to Lucca, and of
that also I will say nothing.
LECTOR. Why on earth did you write this book?
AUCTOR. For my amusement.
LECTOR. And why do you suppose I got it?
AUCTOR. I cannot conceive ... however, I will give up this much, to
tell you that at Decimo the mystery of cypress trees first came into
my adventure and pilgrimage: of cypress trees which henceforward were
to mark my Tuscan road.
