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Zicci - Complete
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89 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1838
1 person is currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
4,504 books227 followersEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC, was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night."
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 1, 2021
There was not a lot of information about "Zicci" and I happened to run across similar names while reading Edward Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni. If you read on Kindle and it especially becomes interesting if you are reading a collection of works because you can type a word in search; and see that word other places in that story and other stories. This happened when I looked up the word "Mejnour" and found similar names in "Zicci". Not knowing about this shorter story than "Zanoni" and being an inquisitive reader; loving book mysteries, I uncovered the truth and will impart my knowledge. I read a Delphi Collection of his works and if interested my notes are public in comparing the books. I warn the reader when you see "Zicci" highlighted, that it will spoil your read but if you are one who already read "Zanoni" & are not interested in reading but wonder, it is perfect for you. Listed above my Edward Bulwer Lytton shelf.
"Zicci" published 1838; "Zanoni" in 1842.
I will start by saying that these stories in some sections completely similar yet different in somethings. I absolutely loved "Zanoni" and "Zicci" was a weak love but yes a love. The premise of a stranger of unknown background and with insights and powers unknown is the main crux. But the ending in "Zicci" is quite different and to me Lytton matured in his feelings of the unknown, God's presence and human fatalities which excelled "Zanoni" in surpassing Charles Dickens to me! I love💖 Dickens but "Zanoni" compared to "Tale of Two Cities" is grandeur. No worries Dickens, I love all my classic authors and will read all, I can before I die. "Zicci" has no time period as "Zanoni" is set in The French Revolution period and the plot centers around that where in "Zicci" it centers on the Stranger, his mentor, a young girl and young man. The uplifting feeling in "Zanoni" is flatter in "Zicci" besides characters being a little different.
The main characters-
Zicci .... ...... Zanoni
Zicci - is a little bit of a good rake
Zanoni- is very noble and looks to help
Isabel- pure but also outspoken and fiesty
Viola- very pure and very noble
Clarence Glyndon- basically the same in both seeking for knowledge and passionate.
Mejnour - basically the same, science is all and the humanity plays second fiddle.
This was worth the read but like I said before "Zanoni" is one of my all time favorite reads, so in reading this it made me appreciate the growth of writers and his knowledge imparted by his dead friend who left him papers that made Zanoni possible. The French Revolution part because his friend lived the times. If interested in more information that makes this review even more clearer read my Zanoni review under the author shelf above.
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻 spoiler alert🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
I read this after reading Zanoni; so if you read my notes it might give this story and Zanoni away; be forewarned!
There was not a lot of information about "Zicci" and I happened to run across similar names while reading Edward Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni. If you read on Kindle and it especially becomes interesting if you are reading a collection of world because you can type a word in search; and see that word other places in that story and other stories. This happened when I looked up the word "Mejnour" and found similar names in "Zicci". Not knowing about this shorter story than "Zanoni" and being an inquisitive reader; loving book mysteries, I uncovered the truth and will impart my knowledge. I read a Delphi Collection of his works and if interested my notes are public in comparing the books. I warn the reader when you see "Zicci" highlighted, that it will spoil your read but if you are one who already read "Zanoni" & are not interested in reading but wonder, it is perfect for you. Listed above my Edward Bulwer Lytton shelf. "Zicci" published 1838; "Zanoni" in 1842. I will start by saying that these stories in some sections completely similar yet different in somethings. I absolutely loved "Zanoni" and "Zicci" was a weak love but yes a love. The premise of a stranger of unknown background and with insights and powers unknown is the main crux. But the ending in "Zicci" is quite different and to me Lytton matured in his feelings of the unknown, God's presence and human fatalities which excelled "Zanoni" in surpassing Charles Dickens to me! I love Dickens but "Zanoni" compared to "Tale of Two Cities" is grandeur. No worries Dickens, I love all my classic authors and will read all, I can of before I die. "Zicci" has no time period as "Zanoni" is set in The French Revolution period and the plot centers around that where in "Zicci" it centers on the Stranger, his mentor, a young girl and young man. The uplifting feeling in "Zanoni" is flatter in "Zicci" besides characters being a little different. The main characters- Zicci .... ...... Zanoni Zicci - is a little bit of a good Zanoni- is very noble and looks to help rake Isabel- pure but also outspoken. Viola- very pure and very noble Clarence Glyndon- basically the same in both seeking for knowledge and passionate. Mejnour - basically the same, science is all and the humanity plays second fiddle. This was worth the read but like I said before "Zanoni" is one of my all time favorite reads, so in reading this it made me appreciate the growth of writers and his knowledge imparted by his dead friend who left him papers that made Zanoni possible. The French Revolution part because his friend lived the times. If interested in more information that makes this review even more clearer read my Zanoni review under the author shelf above. If you have read this let me know your thoughts on my review.
“All the gentlemen present then declared that they could comprehend, and had felt, what the stranger had described. “According to one of our national superstitions,” said Merton,”
“Zicci. Signor Zicci.” “Is it not an Italian name? He speaks English like a native.” “So he does French and German, as well as Italian, to my knowledge. But he declares himself a Corsican by birth, though I cannot hear of any eminent Corsican family of that name. However, what matters his birth or parentage? He is rich, generous, and the best swordsman I ever saw in my life. Who would affront him?”
In Zanoni name different and birthplace unknown.
“But to change the subject: how gets on the love affair?” “Oh! Isabel could not see me to-night. The old woman gave me a note of excuse.” “You must not marry her; what would they all say at home?” “Let us enjoy the present,” said Glyndon, with vivacity; “we are young, rich, good-looking: let us not think of to-morrow.” “Bravo, Glyndon! Here we are at the hotel. Sleep sound, and don’t dream of Signor Zicci.”
Isabel is Viola in Zanoni.
“Here he had fallen in love — deeply in love, as he said and thought — with a young person celebrated at Naples, Isabel di Pisani. She was the only daughter of an Italian by an English mother. The father had known better days; in his prosperity he had travelled, and won in England the affections of a lady of some fortune. He had been induced to speculate; he lost his all; he settled at Naples, and taught languages and music. His wife died when Isabel, christened from her mother, was ten years old. At sixteen she came out on the stage; two years afterwards her father departed this life”
Isabel's father is different more normal and the mother dies early here but in Zanoni at about the same time as father due to illness. The father a musican and writer of music in Zanoni.
In Zanoni- Mervale
“Oh, Gionetta, he is here again! I have seen him again! And again, he alone of the whole theatre withholds from me his applause. He scarcely seems to notice me; his indifference mortifies me to the soul, — I could weep for rage and sorrow.”
Same
“the actress, with a mixture of naivete and coquetry, gave her handy to her lover, who kissed it with delight.”
In Zanoni no kissing or coquetry
“Fear not, fairest Pisani,” said he, gently, “no ill shall befall you.” As he spoke, he wound his arms round the form of the fair actress, and endeavored to lift her from the carriage. But the Signora Pisani was not an ordinary person; she had been before exposed to all the dangers to which the beauty of the low-born was subjected amongst a lawless and profligate nobility. She thrust back the assailant with a power that surprised him, and in the next moment the blade of a dagger gleamed before his eyes. “Touch me,” said she, drawing herself to the farther end of the carriage, “and I strike!”
In Zannoi it was Gionetta not Viola.
Glyndon and Zicci in this scene of attempted murder about he same except Isabel is more outspoken.
“Oh, do not leave me yet! You have read a secret of which I myself was scarcely conscious: you despise me, — you, my preserver! Ah! do not misjudge me; I am better, higher than I seem. Since I saw thee I have been a new being.”
In Zanoni no love is admitted yet but he reads she is fond of him.
“No! ah, no! Severe as thou art, I love better to hear thee than, than — What am I saying? And now you have saved me, I shall pray for you, bless you, think of you; and am I never to see you more? Alas! the moment you leave me, danger and dread will darken round me. Let me be your servant, your slave; with you I should have no fear.”
Viola would never utter these words; slave. She would only seek marriage.
“It is in vain that we struggle with our doom,” said he, calmly; “listen to me yet. I am a man, Isabel, in whom there are some good impulses yet left, but whose life is, on the whole, devoted to a systematic and selfish desire to enjoy whatever life can afford.”
Zanoni never just seeked pleasures.
“Signor Glyndon,” said he, “loves Isabel; he may wed her. You love your mistress: plead for him. Disabuse her, if you can, of any caprice for me. I am a bird ever on the wing.” He dropped a purse, heavy with gold, into Gionetta’s bosom, and was gone.”
Zicci says some good impulses left which makes him different than Zanoni.
“and here it may be observed that Zicci had no one servant who knew anything of his origin, birth, or history. Some of his attendants he had brought with him from other cities; the rest he had engaged at Naples. He hired those only whom wealth can make subservient. His expenditure was most lavish, his generosity, regal; but his orders were ever given as those of a general to his army. The least disobedience, the least hesitation, and the offender was at once dismissed.”
Zicci was written in 1838; & Zanoni 1842. It is extremely interesting comparing these similar yet different stories.
“The room was small; a few phials and some dried herbs were ranged in shelves on the wall, which was hung with snow-white cloth of coarse texture. From the shelves Zicci selected one of the phials, and poured the contents into a crystal cup. The liquid was colorless, and sparkled rapidly up in bubbles of light; it almost seemed to evaporate ere it reached his lips. But when the strange beverage was quaffed, a sudden change was visible in the countenance of Zicci: his beauty became yet more dazzling, his eyes shone with intense fire, and his form seemed to grow more youthful and ethereal.”
In Zanoni the actual mixing and taking he exilir were not described nor their effects on him.
“And a little while ago I was so calm, so innocent, so gay. I did not hate you then, Gionetta, hateful as your talk was; I hate you now. Go in; leave me alone — leave me.”
Another difference in character.
“The thought and recollection of that moonlight hour in the gardens, of the strange address of Zicci, froze up all human passion; Isabel herself, if not forgotten, shrank back like a shadow into the recesses of his breast. He shivered as he stepped into the sunlight, and musingly retraced his steps into the more populous parts of that liveliest of Italian cities.”
“The Ides are come, not gone.” “Tush! if he is a soothsayer, you are not Caesar. It is your vanity that makes you credulous. Thank Heaven, I do not think myself of such importance that the operations of Nature should be changed in order to frighten me.” “But why should the operations of Nature be changed? There may be a deeper philosophy than we dream of, — a philosophy that discovers the secrets of Nature, but does not alter, by penetrating, its courses.”
“A second eddy of sulphureous vapors from the volcano, yet more rapidly, yet more densely than its predecessor, rolled over the mountain; and either the nature of the exhalation, or the excess of his own dread, was such that Glyndon, after one wild gasp for breath, fell senseless on the earth.”
Like Zanoni, Glyndon escapes to see the volcano but after some movements it turned into a disaster which he tries to escape.
“Consult not your friend; he is sensible and wise, but not now is his wisdom needed. There are times in life when from the imagination, and not the reason, should wisdom come, — this for you is one of them.”
“On the one hand, Isabel, a tranquil home, a happy and serene life; on the other hand all is darkness, darkness that even this eye cannot penetrate.”
“Glyndon rejoined his impatient and wondering friend; but Merton, gazing on his face, saw that a great change had passed there. The flexile and dubious expression of youth was forever gone; the features were locked, rigid, and stern; and so faded was the natural bloom that an hour seemed to have done the work of years.”
“And the solemn stars, that are mysteries in themselves, seemed by a kindred sympathy to agitate the wings of the spirit no longer contented with its cage. As he gazed, a star shot from its brethren and vanished from the depth of space!”
Same the saving of Glyndon from the volcano and wanting to learn him and giving up love of Isabel.
“Why, the beautiful actress, — the wonder of Naples! I always thought she would have good luck.” “Well, well, what of her?” “The Prince di — has taken a prodigious fancy to her, and has carried her to his own palace. The Court is a little scandalized.” “The villain! by force?” “Force! Ha! ha! my dear signor, what need of force to persuade an actress to accept the splendid protection of one of the wealthiest noblemen in Italy? Oh, no! you may be sure she went willingly enough. I only just heard the news: the prince himself proclaimed his triumph this morning, and the accommodating Mascari has been permitted to circulate it. I hope the connection will not last long, or we shall lose our best singer. Addio!”
This is different; in Zanoni he comes to take Viola away and can not prevent the prince from taking her. Isabel is taken away but it seems like they say she went willingly but she did not.
“Isabel was already in the grasp of two of the myrmidons; her shriek smote the ear of Zicci. He sprang forward, and Isabel heard his wild cry in a foreign tongue, — the gleam, the clash of swords. She lost her senses; and when she recovered, she found herself gagged, and in a carriage that was driven rapidly, by the side of a masked and motionless figure. The carriage stopped at the portals of a gloomy mansion. The gates opened noiselessly, a broad flight of steps, brilliantly illumined, was before her, — she was in the palace of the Prince”
The same when he professes his love and she will go with him they are too late and the Prince captures her.
“I forgive you; and if the wine should kill me, I promise you that my ghost shall not haunt so worshipful a penitent. Enough of this. Conduct me to the chamber of Isabel di Pisani; you have no further need of her. The death of the jailer opens the cell of the captive. Be quick, — I would be gone.” Mascari muttered some inaudible words, bowed low, and led the way to the chamber in which Isabel was confined.”
The same scene at the palace and the prince being killed and Zicci taking Isabel away.
“Such fools are we when we aspire to be over-wise! To be enamoured too madly of the goddess of goddesses is only to embrace a cloud, and to forfeit alike heaven and earth.”
“Thou hast decided thine own career; thou hast renounced love; thou hast rejected wealth, fame, and the vulgar pomps of power. What, then, are all mankind to thee? To perfect thy faculties and concentrate thy emotions is henceforth thy only aim.”
Glyndon is given a choice and decides to be a pupil of Mejnour. The same.
“This is madness,” said Merton, passionately, but with a tear in his eye; “your health is already failing; you are so changed I should scarcely know you: come, I have already had your name entered in my passport; in another hour I shall be gone, and you, boy that you are, will be left without a friend to the deceits of your own fancy and the machinations of this relentless mountebank.”
“Mejnour with a smile. “Welcome, my friend and pupil,” said he; “he who seeks for Truth can find in these solitudes an immortal Academe.”
The same with the guide who tells his history of the cardinal son illegitimate and his trials of life.
“If,” answered Mejnour, “before one property of herbalism was known to them, a stranger had visited a wandering tribe, — if he had told the savages that the herbs, which every day they trampled underfoot, were endowed with the most potent virtues; that one would restore to health a brother on the verge of death; that another would paralyze into idiocy their wisest sage; that a third would strike lifeless to the dust their most stalwart champion; that tears and laughter, vigor and disease, madness and reason, wakefulness and sleep, existence and dissolution, were coiled up in those unregarded leaves, — would they not have held him a sorcerer or a liar? To half the virtues of the vegetable world mankind are yet in the darkness of the savages I have supposed. There are faculties within us with which certain herbs have affinity, and over which they have power. The moly of the ancients was not all a fable.”
THE END
Reading this you feel the difference though this is really good, having read Zanoni, this lacks the flavor. The student goes into be happy as the couple does too!
"Zicci" published 1838; "Zanoni" in 1842.
I will start by saying that these stories in some sections completely similar yet different in somethings. I absolutely loved "Zanoni" and "Zicci" was a weak love but yes a love. The premise of a stranger of unknown background and with insights and powers unknown is the main crux. But the ending in "Zicci" is quite different and to me Lytton matured in his feelings of the unknown, God's presence and human fatalities which excelled "Zanoni" in surpassing Charles Dickens to me! I love💖 Dickens but "Zanoni" compared to "Tale of Two Cities" is grandeur. No worries Dickens, I love all my classic authors and will read all, I can before I die. "Zicci" has no time period as "Zanoni" is set in The French Revolution period and the plot centers around that where in "Zicci" it centers on the Stranger, his mentor, a young girl and young man. The uplifting feeling in "Zanoni" is flatter in "Zicci" besides characters being a little different.
The main characters-
Zicci .... ...... Zanoni
Zicci - is a little bit of a good rake
Zanoni- is very noble and looks to help
Isabel- pure but also outspoken and fiesty
Viola- very pure and very noble
Clarence Glyndon- basically the same in both seeking for knowledge and passionate.
Mejnour - basically the same, science is all and the humanity plays second fiddle.
This was worth the read but like I said before "Zanoni" is one of my all time favorite reads, so in reading this it made me appreciate the growth of writers and his knowledge imparted by his dead friend who left him papers that made Zanoni possible. The French Revolution part because his friend lived the times. If interested in more information that makes this review even more clearer read my Zanoni review under the author shelf above.
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻 spoiler alert🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
I read this after reading Zanoni; so if you read my notes it might give this story and Zanoni away; be forewarned!
There was not a lot of information about "Zicci" and I happened to run across similar names while reading Edward Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni. If you read on Kindle and it especially becomes interesting if you are reading a collection of world because you can type a word in search; and see that word other places in that story and other stories. This happened when I looked up the word "Mejnour" and found similar names in "Zicci". Not knowing about this shorter story than "Zanoni" and being an inquisitive reader; loving book mysteries, I uncovered the truth and will impart my knowledge. I read a Delphi Collection of his works and if interested my notes are public in comparing the books. I warn the reader when you see "Zicci" highlighted, that it will spoil your read but if you are one who already read "Zanoni" & are not interested in reading but wonder, it is perfect for you. Listed above my Edward Bulwer Lytton shelf. "Zicci" published 1838; "Zanoni" in 1842. I will start by saying that these stories in some sections completely similar yet different in somethings. I absolutely loved "Zanoni" and "Zicci" was a weak love but yes a love. The premise of a stranger of unknown background and with insights and powers unknown is the main crux. But the ending in "Zicci" is quite different and to me Lytton matured in his feelings of the unknown, God's presence and human fatalities which excelled "Zanoni" in surpassing Charles Dickens to me! I love Dickens but "Zanoni" compared to "Tale of Two Cities" is grandeur. No worries Dickens, I love all my classic authors and will read all, I can of before I die. "Zicci" has no time period as "Zanoni" is set in The French Revolution period and the plot centers around that where in "Zicci" it centers on the Stranger, his mentor, a young girl and young man. The uplifting feeling in "Zanoni" is flatter in "Zicci" besides characters being a little different. The main characters- Zicci .... ...... Zanoni Zicci - is a little bit of a good Zanoni- is very noble and looks to help rake Isabel- pure but also outspoken. Viola- very pure and very noble Clarence Glyndon- basically the same in both seeking for knowledge and passionate. Mejnour - basically the same, science is all and the humanity plays second fiddle. This was worth the read but like I said before "Zanoni" is one of my all time favorite reads, so in reading this it made me appreciate the growth of writers and his knowledge imparted by his dead friend who left him papers that made Zanoni possible. The French Revolution part because his friend lived the times. If interested in more information that makes this review even more clearer read my Zanoni review under the author shelf above. If you have read this let me know your thoughts on my review.
“All the gentlemen present then declared that they could comprehend, and had felt, what the stranger had described. “According to one of our national superstitions,” said Merton,”
“Zicci. Signor Zicci.” “Is it not an Italian name? He speaks English like a native.” “So he does French and German, as well as Italian, to my knowledge. But he declares himself a Corsican by birth, though I cannot hear of any eminent Corsican family of that name. However, what matters his birth or parentage? He is rich, generous, and the best swordsman I ever saw in my life. Who would affront him?”
In Zanoni name different and birthplace unknown.
“But to change the subject: how gets on the love affair?” “Oh! Isabel could not see me to-night. The old woman gave me a note of excuse.” “You must not marry her; what would they all say at home?” “Let us enjoy the present,” said Glyndon, with vivacity; “we are young, rich, good-looking: let us not think of to-morrow.” “Bravo, Glyndon! Here we are at the hotel. Sleep sound, and don’t dream of Signor Zicci.”
Isabel is Viola in Zanoni.
“Here he had fallen in love — deeply in love, as he said and thought — with a young person celebrated at Naples, Isabel di Pisani. She was the only daughter of an Italian by an English mother. The father had known better days; in his prosperity he had travelled, and won in England the affections of a lady of some fortune. He had been induced to speculate; he lost his all; he settled at Naples, and taught languages and music. His wife died when Isabel, christened from her mother, was ten years old. At sixteen she came out on the stage; two years afterwards her father departed this life”
Isabel's father is different more normal and the mother dies early here but in Zanoni at about the same time as father due to illness. The father a musican and writer of music in Zanoni.
In Zanoni- Mervale
“Oh, Gionetta, he is here again! I have seen him again! And again, he alone of the whole theatre withholds from me his applause. He scarcely seems to notice me; his indifference mortifies me to the soul, — I could weep for rage and sorrow.”
Same
“the actress, with a mixture of naivete and coquetry, gave her handy to her lover, who kissed it with delight.”
In Zanoni no kissing or coquetry
“Fear not, fairest Pisani,” said he, gently, “no ill shall befall you.” As he spoke, he wound his arms round the form of the fair actress, and endeavored to lift her from the carriage. But the Signora Pisani was not an ordinary person; she had been before exposed to all the dangers to which the beauty of the low-born was subjected amongst a lawless and profligate nobility. She thrust back the assailant with a power that surprised him, and in the next moment the blade of a dagger gleamed before his eyes. “Touch me,” said she, drawing herself to the farther end of the carriage, “and I strike!”
In Zannoi it was Gionetta not Viola.
Glyndon and Zicci in this scene of attempted murder about he same except Isabel is more outspoken.
“Oh, do not leave me yet! You have read a secret of which I myself was scarcely conscious: you despise me, — you, my preserver! Ah! do not misjudge me; I am better, higher than I seem. Since I saw thee I have been a new being.”
In Zanoni no love is admitted yet but he reads she is fond of him.
“No! ah, no! Severe as thou art, I love better to hear thee than, than — What am I saying? And now you have saved me, I shall pray for you, bless you, think of you; and am I never to see you more? Alas! the moment you leave me, danger and dread will darken round me. Let me be your servant, your slave; with you I should have no fear.”
Viola would never utter these words; slave. She would only seek marriage.
“It is in vain that we struggle with our doom,” said he, calmly; “listen to me yet. I am a man, Isabel, in whom there are some good impulses yet left, but whose life is, on the whole, devoted to a systematic and selfish desire to enjoy whatever life can afford.”
Zanoni never just seeked pleasures.
“Signor Glyndon,” said he, “loves Isabel; he may wed her. You love your mistress: plead for him. Disabuse her, if you can, of any caprice for me. I am a bird ever on the wing.” He dropped a purse, heavy with gold, into Gionetta’s bosom, and was gone.”
Zicci says some good impulses left which makes him different than Zanoni.
“and here it may be observed that Zicci had no one servant who knew anything of his origin, birth, or history. Some of his attendants he had brought with him from other cities; the rest he had engaged at Naples. He hired those only whom wealth can make subservient. His expenditure was most lavish, his generosity, regal; but his orders were ever given as those of a general to his army. The least disobedience, the least hesitation, and the offender was at once dismissed.”
Zicci was written in 1838; & Zanoni 1842. It is extremely interesting comparing these similar yet different stories.
“The room was small; a few phials and some dried herbs were ranged in shelves on the wall, which was hung with snow-white cloth of coarse texture. From the shelves Zicci selected one of the phials, and poured the contents into a crystal cup. The liquid was colorless, and sparkled rapidly up in bubbles of light; it almost seemed to evaporate ere it reached his lips. But when the strange beverage was quaffed, a sudden change was visible in the countenance of Zicci: his beauty became yet more dazzling, his eyes shone with intense fire, and his form seemed to grow more youthful and ethereal.”
In Zanoni the actual mixing and taking he exilir were not described nor their effects on him.
“And a little while ago I was so calm, so innocent, so gay. I did not hate you then, Gionetta, hateful as your talk was; I hate you now. Go in; leave me alone — leave me.”
Another difference in character.
“The thought and recollection of that moonlight hour in the gardens, of the strange address of Zicci, froze up all human passion; Isabel herself, if not forgotten, shrank back like a shadow into the recesses of his breast. He shivered as he stepped into the sunlight, and musingly retraced his steps into the more populous parts of that liveliest of Italian cities.”
“The Ides are come, not gone.” “Tush! if he is a soothsayer, you are not Caesar. It is your vanity that makes you credulous. Thank Heaven, I do not think myself of such importance that the operations of Nature should be changed in order to frighten me.” “But why should the operations of Nature be changed? There may be a deeper philosophy than we dream of, — a philosophy that discovers the secrets of Nature, but does not alter, by penetrating, its courses.”
“A second eddy of sulphureous vapors from the volcano, yet more rapidly, yet more densely than its predecessor, rolled over the mountain; and either the nature of the exhalation, or the excess of his own dread, was such that Glyndon, after one wild gasp for breath, fell senseless on the earth.”
Like Zanoni, Glyndon escapes to see the volcano but after some movements it turned into a disaster which he tries to escape.
“Consult not your friend; he is sensible and wise, but not now is his wisdom needed. There are times in life when from the imagination, and not the reason, should wisdom come, — this for you is one of them.”
“On the one hand, Isabel, a tranquil home, a happy and serene life; on the other hand all is darkness, darkness that even this eye cannot penetrate.”
“Glyndon rejoined his impatient and wondering friend; but Merton, gazing on his face, saw that a great change had passed there. The flexile and dubious expression of youth was forever gone; the features were locked, rigid, and stern; and so faded was the natural bloom that an hour seemed to have done the work of years.”
“And the solemn stars, that are mysteries in themselves, seemed by a kindred sympathy to agitate the wings of the spirit no longer contented with its cage. As he gazed, a star shot from its brethren and vanished from the depth of space!”
Same the saving of Glyndon from the volcano and wanting to learn him and giving up love of Isabel.
“Why, the beautiful actress, — the wonder of Naples! I always thought she would have good luck.” “Well, well, what of her?” “The Prince di — has taken a prodigious fancy to her, and has carried her to his own palace. The Court is a little scandalized.” “The villain! by force?” “Force! Ha! ha! my dear signor, what need of force to persuade an actress to accept the splendid protection of one of the wealthiest noblemen in Italy? Oh, no! you may be sure she went willingly enough. I only just heard the news: the prince himself proclaimed his triumph this morning, and the accommodating Mascari has been permitted to circulate it. I hope the connection will not last long, or we shall lose our best singer. Addio!”
This is different; in Zanoni he comes to take Viola away and can not prevent the prince from taking her. Isabel is taken away but it seems like they say she went willingly but she did not.
“Isabel was already in the grasp of two of the myrmidons; her shriek smote the ear of Zicci. He sprang forward, and Isabel heard his wild cry in a foreign tongue, — the gleam, the clash of swords. She lost her senses; and when she recovered, she found herself gagged, and in a carriage that was driven rapidly, by the side of a masked and motionless figure. The carriage stopped at the portals of a gloomy mansion. The gates opened noiselessly, a broad flight of steps, brilliantly illumined, was before her, — she was in the palace of the Prince”
The same when he professes his love and she will go with him they are too late and the Prince captures her.
“I forgive you; and if the wine should kill me, I promise you that my ghost shall not haunt so worshipful a penitent. Enough of this. Conduct me to the chamber of Isabel di Pisani; you have no further need of her. The death of the jailer opens the cell of the captive. Be quick, — I would be gone.” Mascari muttered some inaudible words, bowed low, and led the way to the chamber in which Isabel was confined.”
The same scene at the palace and the prince being killed and Zicci taking Isabel away.
“Such fools are we when we aspire to be over-wise! To be enamoured too madly of the goddess of goddesses is only to embrace a cloud, and to forfeit alike heaven and earth.”
“Thou hast decided thine own career; thou hast renounced love; thou hast rejected wealth, fame, and the vulgar pomps of power. What, then, are all mankind to thee? To perfect thy faculties and concentrate thy emotions is henceforth thy only aim.”
Glyndon is given a choice and decides to be a pupil of Mejnour. The same.
“This is madness,” said Merton, passionately, but with a tear in his eye; “your health is already failing; you are so changed I should scarcely know you: come, I have already had your name entered in my passport; in another hour I shall be gone, and you, boy that you are, will be left without a friend to the deceits of your own fancy and the machinations of this relentless mountebank.”
“Mejnour with a smile. “Welcome, my friend and pupil,” said he; “he who seeks for Truth can find in these solitudes an immortal Academe.”
The same with the guide who tells his history of the cardinal son illegitimate and his trials of life.
“If,” answered Mejnour, “before one property of herbalism was known to them, a stranger had visited a wandering tribe, — if he had told the savages that the herbs, which every day they trampled underfoot, were endowed with the most potent virtues; that one would restore to health a brother on the verge of death; that another would paralyze into idiocy their wisest sage; that a third would strike lifeless to the dust their most stalwart champion; that tears and laughter, vigor and disease, madness and reason, wakefulness and sleep, existence and dissolution, were coiled up in those unregarded leaves, — would they not have held him a sorcerer or a liar? To half the virtues of the vegetable world mankind are yet in the darkness of the savages I have supposed. There are faculties within us with which certain herbs have affinity, and over which they have power. The moly of the ancients was not all a fable.”
THE END
Reading this you feel the difference though this is really good, having read Zanoni, this lacks the flavor. The student goes into be happy as the couple does too!
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