Copy 1, Volume 1

I promessi sposi = : The betrothed / by Alessandro Manzoni. A new translation.

  • Alessandro Manzoni
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: I promessi sposi = : The betrothed / by Alessandro Manzoni. A new translation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sight, and one he would not willingly have seen. Two men, one opposite the other, were stationed at the con- fluence, so to say, of the two ways: one of them was sitting across the low wall, with one leg dangling on the outer side, and the other supporting him in the path : his companion was standing up, leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed on his breast. Their dress, their carriage, and so much of their expression as could be distinguished at the distance at which the curate stood, left no doubt about their condition. Each had a green net on his head, w hich fell upon the left shoulder, and ended in a large tassel. Their long hair, appearing in one large lock upon the forehead: on the upper lip two long mustachios, curled at the end: their doublets, confined by bright leathern girdles, from which hung a brace of pistols: a little horn of powder, dangling round their necks, and falling on their breasts like a neck- lace : on the right side of their large and loose panta- loons, a pocket, and from the pocket the handle of a dagger: a sword hanging on the left, with a large basket-hilt of brass, carved in cipher, polished and gleaming:—all, at a glance, discovered them to be indi- viduals of the species bravo. This order, now quite extinct, was then most flourish- ing in Lombardy, and already of considerable antiquity. Has any one no clear idea of it ? Here are some authentic sketches, which may give him a distinct notion of its principal characteristics, of the means put in force to destroy it, and of its obstinate vitality. On the 8th of April, 1583, the most Illustrious and Excellent Signor Don Carlo d’Aragon, Prince of Castel- vetrano, Duke of Terranuova, Marquis of Avola, Count of Burgeto, grand Admiral, and grand Constable of Sicily, Governor of Milan, and Captain-General of His Catholic Majesty in Italy, being fully informed of the intolerable misery in which this city of Milan has lain, and
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