Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. XL

394
tic forms; and in these again are various grottos
and galleries, hollowed out by nature though oc-
casionally enlarged by art. The thick groves
that crown the summit and nod over the steeps,
cast a rich and mellow shade over the whole
scene, which thus appears to great advantage
from its contrast with the bleak barren hills that
lie immediately under. The view is varied, on
one side extending over a rugged uncultivated
tract, and on the other towards Vallombrosa,
losing· itself amidst wooded vallies and scattered
villages, dells, and mountains rising in confusion
one above another, and forming that outline both
bold and beautiful which characterizes Apennine
perspective. Most of the grottos which I have
mentioned are distinguished by some real or le-
gendary history of St. Francis. In a little re-
cess, on the edge of a tremendous precipice, the
saint sheltered himself from the devil, who en-
deavored to hurl him down the steep; the saint
adhered to the rock; the daemon darted over.
Had the latter profited by experience, he would
not have renewed a mode of attack in which he
had been foiled twice before in the very same
neighborhood. This attempt is, however, the
last of the kind on record. “ In this cave (said
our guide) St. Francis slept; that very stone en-
closed in an iron railing was his bed; and on
that peninsulated rock called La Spilla, hanging