and a
capacious velvet mantle. A sword of unusual length hung from his belt,
whence also projected the handle of a poniard, which blazed with
jewels of great lustre and value. At the age of forty-two, Barozzo was
still in the full vigour of manhood; and the martial ease and energy
of his movements indicated that he would find full occupation for the
quick eye and unrivalled skill of the comparatively unarmed Colonna.

The governor saluted me as usual, and after some remarks upon the
beauty of the surrounding scenery, he carelessly inquired where my
friend the painter was. I replied, that he was gone up the lake in his
bark, and described him as an itinerant personage, who delighted in
ranging over the Brescian mountains, where he passed a considerable
portion of his time in sketching, and was but an occasional inmate
of my father's villa. The governor made no comment, and resumed
his observations on the wild mountain scenery to which we were
approaching. I inquired if he had yet discovered in his rides a defile
of singular and romantic beauty, the avenue to which, from the
main-road, was concealed by a grove of beech. He replied in the
negative, and assented to my proposal that we should explore it. A
ride of two hours brought us to the secluded entrance of this
picturesque ravine, and we descended into its deep and silent
recesses. The road was stony, rugged, and unfrequented; and, except at
intervals, admitted only two horsemen abreast. The mountains on each
side rose with bold abruptness, and their mossy surfaces were dotted
with perennial oaks and lofty beeches, which threw their arched and
interwoven branches across the chasm, and intercepted agreeably the
glare and heat of the morning sun. We had proceeded about a league
along this still and dusky hollow, when we distinguished the sound of
a woodman's axe, and the sharp report of its echo from the opposite
cliffs. We soon reached the spot above which the labourer was
employed; but the profusion of foliage and underwood entirely screened
the person of the woodman, whose axe continued to descend with
unabated energy. We had advanced about a hundred paces beyond this
point, when our course was arrested by a groaning and mighty crash,
succeeded by a stunning shock, which shook the ravine like an
earthquake, and was re-echoed in deep, long mutterings by the adjacent
rocks. Tranquillising our startled coursers, we looked around and
beheld a colossal beech, lying in the