The portal
shut instantly with a clang, and Tancred found himself alone and in
comparative darkness. His previous experience, however, sustained him.
His eye, fresh from the sunlight, at first wandered in obscurity, but
by degrees, habituated to the atmosphere, though dim, the way was
sufficiently indicated, and he advanced, till the light became each step
more powerful, and soon he emerged upon the platform, which faced the
mountain temple at the end of the ravine: a still and wondrous scene,
more striking now, if possible, when viewed alone, with his heart the
prey of many emotions. How full of adventure is life! It is monotonous
only to the monotonous. There may be no longer fiery dragons, magic
rings, or fairy wands, to interfere in its course and to influence our
career; but the relations of men are far more complicated and numerous
than of yore; and in the play of the passions, and in the devices of
creative spirits, that have thus a proportionately greater sphere for
their action, there are spells of social sorcery more potent than all
the necromancy of Merlin or Friar Bacon.
Tancred entered the temple, the last refuge of the Olympian mind. It was
race that produced these inimitable forms, the idealised reflex of
their own peculiar organisation.
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