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FRANCESCA CARRARA.
states of mind, the least accessible to the affections. It distrusts them as human, dreads them as perishable, and despises them as degrading; and their renouncement, at first so bitter, soon becomes a triumph. Francesca felt the indifference by which she was surrounded overpowering in its depression. If it be sad to go where there is no welcome, it is equally sad to part where there is no farewell. Hopes and regrets are the sweetest links of existence—we pine to attach and be attached; and Francesca felt both angry and ashamed that the tears should stand in her eyes, while parting from those who cared so little at parting with her.
