d the sun for the God
of its life; the power which so dazzled and subdued the rough crusader
into forgetfulness of sorrow and of shame, that Europe put on the
splendor which she had learnt of the Saracen, as her sackcloth of
mourning for what she suffered from his sword;--the power which she
confesses to this day, in the utmost thoughtlessness of her pride, or
her beauty, as it treads the costly carpet, or veils itself with the
variegated Cachemire; and in the emulation of the concourse of her
workmen, who, but a few months back, perceived, or at least admitted,
for the first time, the pre-eminence which has been determined from the
birth of mankind, and on whose charter Nature herself has set a
mysterious seal, granting to the Western races, descended from that son
of Noah whose name was Extension, the treasures of the sullen rock, and
stubborn ore, and gnarled forest, which were to accomplish their destiny
across all distance of earth and depth of sea, while she matured the
jewel in the sand, and rounded the pearl in the shell, to adorn the
diadem of him whose name was Splendor.

Sec. XXXV. And observe, farther, how in the Oriental mind a peculiar
seriousness is associated with this attribute of the love of color; a
seriousness rising out of repose, and out of the depth and breadth of
the imagination, as contrasted with the activity, and consequent
capability of surprise, and of laughter, characteristic of the Western
mind: as a man on a journey must look to his steps always, and view
things narrowly and quickly; while one at rest may command a wider view,
though an unchanging one, from which the pleasure he receives must be
one of contemplation, rather than of amusement or surprise. Wherever the
pure Oriental spirit manifests itself definitely, I believe its work is
serious; and the meeting of the influences of the Eastern and Western
races is perhaps marked in Europe more by the dying away of the
grotesque laughter of the Goth than by any other sign. I shall have more
to say on this head in other places of this volume; but the point I wish
at present to impress upon the reader is, that the bright hues of the
early architecture of Venice were no sign of gaiety of heart, and that
the investiture with the mantle of many colors by which she is known
above all other cities of Italy and of Europe, was not granted to her in
the fever of her festivity, but in the solemnity of her early and
earnest religion. She became in af