File:The ring and the book (1897) (14783035375).jpg

Identifier: ringbook00brow (find matches)
Title: The ring and the book
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Browning, Robert, 1812-1889 Porter, Charlotte Endymion, 1859-1942, ed Clarke, Helen Archibald, d. 1926, joint ed
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Publisher: New York, Boston, T.Y. Crowell & company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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240 .Sixty years since: he spent to the last doitHis bishops-revenue among the poor.And used to tend the needy and the sick,IJarefoot, because of his humility. He it was,^—when the Granduke Ferdinand^ 245 Swore he would raze our city, plough the placeAnd sow it with salt, because we AretinesHad tied a rope about the neck, to haleThe statue of his father from its base For hates sake, — he availed by prayers and tears 250 To pacify the Duke and save the town.This was my fathers fathers brother. You see,For his sake, how it was I had a rightTo the self-same office, bishop in the tgg.So, grew i the garb and prattled in the school, 255 Was made expect, from infancy almost.The proper mood 0 the priest; till time ran byAnd brought the day when 1 must read the vows, 1 Capo-in-Sacco : ^Mercato: market (see preceding note). Already had Caponsacco to the Market ^Ferdinand: Ferdinand II., Grand-duke From Fiesole descended. of Tuscany, 1621-1670, one of the Medici.(Dantes Paradiso, xvi. 121.)i
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X .x\ GIUSEPPE CAPONSACCHI. 197 Declare the world renounced and undertake To become priest and leave probation, — leap 260 Over the ledge into the other life. Having gone trippingly hitherto up to the height Oer thewan water, just a vow to read! 1 stopped short awe-struck. How shall holiest flesh Engage to keep such vow inviolate, 265 How much less mine? I know myself too weak. Unworthy! Choose a worthier stronger man! And the very Bishop smiled and stopped my mouth In its mid-protestation. Incapable? Qualmish of conscience? Thou ingenuous boy! 270 Clear up the clouds and cast thy scruples far! I satisfy thee there s an easier sense Wherein to take such vow than suits the first Rouo-h rigid reading. Mark what makes all smooth, Nav, has been even a solace to myself! 275 The Jews who needs must, in their synagogue. Utter sometimes the holy name of God, A thing their superstition boggles at, Pronounce aloud the ineffable sacrosanct,^— How does their shrewdness help them ? In this wis

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