the universal stare made the eyes ache. towards the distant blue of the italian coast, indeed, it was a little relieved by light clouds of mist slowly rising from the evaporation of the sea, but it softened nowhere else. far away the staring roads, deep in dust, stared from the hillside, stared from the hollow, stared fi＇om the interminable plain. far away the dusty vines overhanging wayside cottages, and the monotonous wayside avenues of parched trees without shade,dropped beneath the stare of earth and sky. so did the horse with drowsy bells, in long files of carts, creeping slowly towards the interior; so did their recumbent drivers, when they were awake, which rarely happened; so did the ehausted laborers in the fields. everything that lived or grew was oppressed by the glare: ecept the lizard, passing swiftly over rough stone walls,and cicada, chirping its dry hot chirp, like a rattle. the very dust was scorched brown, and something quivered in the atmosphere as if the air itself were panting.
blinds, shutters, curtains, awnings, were all closed and drawn to keep out the stare. grant it but a chink or a keyhole,and it shot in like a whitehot arrow.
