I Twice Leaned Out To See If Milan Were Not
Standing Up Before Me Out Of The Plain, But I Saw Nothing.
Then I fell
asleep, and when I woke suddenly it was because we were in the
terminus of that noble great town, which I then set out to traverse in
search of my necessary money and sustenance.
It was yet but early in
the afternoon.
What a magnificent city is Milan! The great houses are all of stone,
and stand regular and in order, along wide straight streets. There are
swift cars, drawn by electricity, for such as can afford them. Men are
brisk and alert even in the summer heats, and there are shops of a
very good kind, though a trifle showy. There are many newspapers to
help the Milanese to be better men and to cultivate charity and
humility; there are banks full of paper money; there are soldiers,
good pavements, and all that man requires to fulfil him, soul and
body; cafes, arcades, mutoscopes, and every sign of the perfect state.
And the whole centres in a splendid open square, in the midst of which
is the cathedral, which is justly the most renowned in the world.
My pilgrimage is to Rome, my business is with lonely places, hills,
and the recollection of the spirit. It would be waste to describe at
length this mighty capital. The mists and the woods, the snows and the
interminable way, had left me ill-suited for the place, and I was
ashamed.
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