X 82 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into 

 the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 

 Spirit of the Lord." 



THE SUPERGA. 1 



BEFORE a noble votive church I stood, 



Raised o'er the dead of Savoy's royal blood, 



Crowning the summit of a lonely height; 



And what a wondrous view burst on my sight ! 



It seemed as if heaven's door were opened wide, 



The very portals of the grave beside. 



On the horizon, from the boundless plain, 



From end to end rose the whole Alpine chain. 



Each peak stood out against the cloudless blue ; 



The more I gazed, the more sublime they grew. 



Life rolled its green waves to their feet, and broke 



In spray of pines upon each highest rock; 



] About five miles down the river Po, in the neighbourhood of 

 Turin, there is an isolated hill, about 1,440 feet high, called 

 the Superga. On the summit stands a magnificent dome- 

 shaped church, built by Vittorio Amadeo II. in fulfilment of a 

 vow when the French, in 1706, abandoned the siege of the 

 Sardinian capital. In the subterranean vaults are the sarcophagi 

 containing the remains of Princes of the House of Savoy. From 

 the grassy terrace in front of the church may be obtained on a 

 clear day one of the grandest views in Europe, embracing the 

 vast green plain of Piedmont, with the Po glittering through it, 

 and bounded on the horizon by the whole range of snowy Alps, 

 from Mount Viso to Monte Rosa, rising straight up like an 

 enormous wall, each peak clear cut like a cameo against the 

 blue sky. 



