Last Days Of Pompeii Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from The Last Days of Pompeii, And, the Disowned Writing the work almost on the spot, and amidst a popala tion that still preserve a strong family likeness to their classic forefathers, I could scarcely fail to catch something of those living colors which mere book-study alone would not have sufficed to bestow. It is, I suspect, to this acci dental advantage that this work is principally indebted for a greater popularity than has hitherto attended the attempts of scholars to create an interest, by fictitious narrative, in the manners and persons of a classic age. Perhaps, too, the writers I allude to, and of whose labors I would speak with the highest respect, did not sufficiently remember that in works of imagination the description of manners, however important as an accessory, must still be subordinate to the vital elements of interest; namely, plot, character, and passion. And in reviving the ancient shadows they have rather sought occasion to display erudition than to show how the human heart beats the same, whether under the Grecian tunic or the Roman toga. It is this, indeed, which distinguishes the imitators of classic learning from the classic literature itself. For in classic literature there is no want of move ment and passion, - oi all the more animated elements of what we now call Romance. Indeed, romance itself, as we take it from the Middle Ages, owes much to Grecian fable. Many of the adventures of knight-errantry are bor rowed either from the trials of Ulysses or the achieve ments of Theseus. And while Homer, yet unrestored to his throne among the poets, was only known to the litera ture of early chivalry in a spurious or grotesque form, the genius of Gothic fiction was constructing many a tale for Northern wonder from the mutilated fragments of the divine old tale-teller. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.