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THE LION OF FLORENCE.

MONSIAU.

TOWARDS the end of the seventeenth century, a Lion escaped from the menagerie of the Grand Duke, and ran through the streets of Florence, spreading every where the utmost terror and dismay. A woman, flying from his fury, with her infant in her arms, dropt it in her fright, when it was immediately seized upon by the Lion. Frantic at the disaster, she threw herself on her knees before the animal, and implored, with all the energy and expression of a mother in despair, the life of her child, The Lion stopped-fixed his eyes upon her-placed the infant upon the ground, without having done it the smallest injury, and departed. Such is the pathetic trait chosen, by M. Monsiau, for the subject of his picture, which attracted, during its exhibition, peculiar notice, no less from the talent exhibited by the artist, than the interest it conveys.

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Zondon Publisha April 1.1808 by Vernor, Hood & Sharpe Poultry.

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