Category: Historical Novels
Shift we the scene, and return to the kingdom of Attila! It was the fourth day after Theodore had left the country of the Huns for that sweet distant land where happiness, as we have seen, awaited him, and a bright gleam of sunshine was destined to checker his dark fate, when,...
Shift we the scene, and return to the kingdom of Attila! It was the fourth day after Theodore had left the country of the Huns for that sweet distant land where happiness, as we...
2. CHAPTER II.The wind blew keen over the plains through which the Danube wanders, ere, in approaching Orsova, it rushes between the giant mountains, through which it seems to have rent its o...
3. CHAPTER III.Near a bend of the Tibiscus, on a meadow that might have refreshed the weary eye in summer by its beautiful verdure, the Romans pitched their tents at the close of their first d...
4. CHAPTER IV.Splendour and feasting reigned in the halls of Attila. Round the immense hall of his cottage palace were spread tables on every side; and the wooden walls, quaintly carved and o...
5. CHAPTER V.He stood alone at the door of his dwelling, gazing forth upon the summer sunset, as--reflected in rays of gold and rose colour from the summits of the mountains where the snow s...
6. CHAPTER VI.In the vast plains between the Seine and the Marne, where the eye can roam unobstructed over many a mile of open country, runs a brook of the clearest water, which, wandering on...
7. CHAPTER VII."Let the dead be numbered!" said Attila, as he entered his tent--"let the dead be numbered! I have lost many of my children! Let every chieftain of every tribe count up their nu...
8. CHAPTER VIII.Rome, immortal Rome! the capital of the greatest and most despotic of governments, whether democratic, imperial, or clerical, that ever this world has known; the fountain-head o...
9. CHAPTER IX.In a room in the imperial palace, lighted from above, and far removed from any of the chambers usually inhabited by the emperors, upon a luxurious couch of down, covered with cr...
10. CHAPTER X.There is even now--when the sweeping hand of ages has levelled with the earth so many of the things which in the times we speak of were in their splendour--there is even now at...
11. CHAPTER XI.In a mountain pass a little to the westward of the spot where now stands the small town of Bassano, among the first shoots of the Rh[ae]tian Alps, travelled onward the family of...
12. CHAPTER XII.It was in a vast hall in the ancient city of Tridentum, hanging over the Adige, where, rushing through the mighty rocks of the Rh[ae]tian Alps, that river pours on to fertilize...
13. CHAPTER XIII.It was the same hall, but the things within it were changed. It blazed with lights; it was crowded with people; and the leaders of the Hunnish host stood round Attila the King,...
14. CHAPTER XIV.Trent was still in the possession of the Huns--though the main body of their innumerable host had passed on--when, on the third day after the departure of Theodore, two young an...
15. CHAPTER XV.Long and dark was the sleep that fell upon Ildica: the overwrought mind, the overexcited feelings, the heart and brain, stretched beyond their bearing to support each other, had...
16. CHAPTER XVI.Scarcely was Zercon gone when the hangings of the tent which he had let fall behind him were again pushed aside, and an old woman, of some barbarian tribe, frightful in features...
17. CHAPTER XVII.Through the most fertile plain that Europe can display, amid the olive and the fig, the loaded vine and the ripening corn, with on one side a vast and interminable view over lan...
18. CHAPTER XVIII."On to Rome! on to Rome! On to the eternal city! On to the ancient capital of empires! On to the throne of mighty kings of old! Attila has conquered [AE]tius! The two mighty men...
19. CHAPTER XIX.There were frequent messengers came and went to and from the tent of Attila, and there was movement and agitation in the camp. Round the monarch sat his tributary kings; and var...
20. CHAPTER XX.We must now turn again to Ildica! In agony of heart, she sat within her tent with the spirit bowed down and nearly broken, and the bodily frame bent and shaken under the load of...
21. CHAPTER XXI.On an eminence rising above the banks of the river, near which the vast army of the Huns pitched its camp on the ensuing night, was found a splendid pavilion, with workmen still...
22. CHAPTER XXII.All was quiet amid the splendour of the pavilion of Attila. Not a sound was heard within its walls, though the light of day had made the long morning shadows short, and the squa...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.A second, a third day had passed, and it was night; and, kneeling humbly before a small black cross, with tears continually streaming from her eyes, was that fair girl whose unh...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.It was a fair autumn day, and the mighty clouds which swept from time to time over the deep blue sky served not to lessen, but rather to increase the brightness of the face of n...