the sky.

Sec. LIV. Now observe, in this tomb, as much concession is made to the
pride of man as may ever consist with honor, discretion, or dignity. I
do not enter into any question respecting the character of Can Grande,
though there can be little doubt that he was one of the best among the
nobles of his time; but that is not to our purpose. It is not the
question whether his wars were just, or his greatness honorably
achieved; but whether, supposing them to have been so, these facts are
well and gracefully told upon his tomb. And I believe there can be no
hesitation in the admission of its perfect feeling and truth. Though
beautiful, the tomb is so little conspicuous or intrusive, that it
serves only to decorate the portal of the little chapel, and is hardly
regarded by the traveller as he enters. When it is examined, the history
of the acts of the dead is found subdued into dim and minute ornament
upon his coffin; and the principal aim of the monument is to direct the
thoughts to his image as he lies in death, and to the expression of his
hope of resurrection; while, seen as by the memory far away, diminished
in the brightness of the sky, there is set the likeness of his armed
youth, stately, as it stood of old, in the front of battle, and meet to
be thus recorded for us, that we may now be able to remember the dignity
of the frame, of which those who once looked upon it hardly remembered
that it was dust.

Sec. LV. This, I repeat, is as much as may ever be granted, but this ought
always to be granted, to the honor and the affection of men. The tomb
which stands beside that of Can Grande, nearest it in the little field
of sleep, already shows the traces of erring ambition. It is the tomb of
Mastino the Second, in whose reign began the decline of his family. It
is altogether exquisite as a work of art; and the evidence of a less
wise or noble feeling in its design is found only in this, that the
image of a virtue, Fortitude, as belonging to the dead, is placed on the
extremity of the sarcophagus, opposite to the Crucifixion. But for this
slight circumstance, of which the significance will only be appreciated
as we examine the series of later monuments, the composition of this
monument of Can Mastino would have been as perfect as its decoration is
refined. It consists, like that of Can Grande, of the raised
sarcophagus, bearing the recumbent statue, protected by a noble
foursquare canopy, sculptured with ancient Scr