There Is
Something So Striking In The Appearance Of This Black Gigantic Figure When
Viewed From Afar, And Still More
When you are at the foot of it, that you
would suppose yourself living in the time of fairies and
Enchanters, and it
strongly reminded me of the Arabian Nights, as if the statue were the work
of some Genie or Peri; or as if it were some rebel Genius transformed into
black marble by Solomon the great Prophet. I am not very well acquainted
with the life and adventures of this Saint, but he was of the Borromean
family, who are the most opulent proprietors of the Milanese. Every tract
of land, palace, castle, farm in the environs of Arona seem to belong to
them. If you ask whose estate is that? whose villa is that? whose castle is
that? the answer is, to the Count Borromeo, who seems to be as universal a
proprietor here as Nong-tong-paw at Paris or Monsieur Kaniferstane at
Amsterdam.[53] Arona is a large, straggling but solidly built town, and
presents nothing worth notice.
We proceeded on our journey the next morning. Shortly after leaving Arona,
the road diverges from the lake and traverses a thick wood until it reaches
the banks of the Tessino; on the other bank of which, communicating by
means of a flying bridge, stands the town of Sesto Calende. The Tessino
divides and forms the boundary between the Sardinian and Austrian
territory, and Sesto Calende is the frontier of His Imperial, Royal and
Apostolic Majesty.
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