DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0056
30 TRAVELS IN UPPER
the praises of Deity, and to make the arches of*
his temple resound with the harmonious accents of
wretched victims whom, by a refinement in bar-
barism, they had expunged from the list of men.
But, what is hardly credible, this idea of mutilation
originated in the head of a woman. A celebrated
queen of antiquity, Semiramis, who by her riches,
her power, her victories, and the lustre of her reign,
was exalted to the highest rank of human beings,
Semiramis is the first who set the example of a
cruelty which is a blot on the page of history.-
Pacherotti, whom Bi ydonehad seen not long he-
fore on the stage of Palermo, and whose talents he
celebrates *, was then at Genoa. Notwithstanding
the vehement elogium pronounced on that song-
ster by the English traveller, I thought him far be-
neath the high reputation he had gained. His
voice was indeed full of sweetness, but his mode
of playing was spiritless, and his delivery totally
destitute of warmth : he was a thing to be heard
and not seen. His countenance, his gestures,
though he was young and handsome, wore the ap-
pearance of constraint, of imbecility, which dis-
graced his singing. He otherwise fulfilled all that
was to be expected of him. In truth, the energy
of action, the fire of expression, which can flow
F * Travels in Sicily and Malts, Demeunier's translation, torn,
ii. p, 146, 147, and 200.
only
the praises of Deity, and to make the arches of*
his temple resound with the harmonious accents of
wretched victims whom, by a refinement in bar-
barism, they had expunged from the list of men.
But, what is hardly credible, this idea of mutilation
originated in the head of a woman. A celebrated
queen of antiquity, Semiramis, who by her riches,
her power, her victories, and the lustre of her reign,
was exalted to the highest rank of human beings,
Semiramis is the first who set the example of a
cruelty which is a blot on the page of history.-
Pacherotti, whom Bi ydonehad seen not long he-
fore on the stage of Palermo, and whose talents he
celebrates *, was then at Genoa. Notwithstanding
the vehement elogium pronounced on that song-
ster by the English traveller, I thought him far be-
neath the high reputation he had gained. His
voice was indeed full of sweetness, but his mode
of playing was spiritless, and his delivery totally
destitute of warmth : he was a thing to be heard
and not seen. His countenance, his gestures,
though he was young and handsome, wore the ap-
pearance of constraint, of imbecility, which dis-
graced his singing. He otherwise fulfilled all that
was to be expected of him. In truth, the energy
of action, the fire of expression, which can flow
F * Travels in Sicily and Malts, Demeunier's translation, torn,
ii. p, 146, 147, and 200.
only