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diff --git a/42296-8.txt b/42296-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c6ecbac..0000000 --- a/42296-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5816 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Duchess of Trajetto, by Anne Manning - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Duchess of Trajetto - -Author: Anne Manning - -Release Date: March 10, 2013 [EBook #42296] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUCHESS OF TRAJETTO *** - - - - -Produced by Sue Fleming, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - THE - - DUCHESS OF TRAJETTO. - - - BY - - THE AUTHOR OF "MARY POWELL." - - - Giulia Gonzaga, che, dovunque il piede - Volge, e dovunque i sereni occhi gira, - Non pur ogn' altra di beltà le cede, - Ma, come scesa dal ciel, Dea l'ammira. - - Ariosto. - - - LONDON: - - ARTHUR HALL & CO., 26, PATERNOSTER ROW. - - 1863. - - - - - LONDON: - - BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I. THE DUCHESS IN DANGER 1 - - II. THE DUCHESS IN SAFETY 15 - - III. THE DUCHESS'S STORY 34 - - IV. MOORISH SLAVES 48 - - V. THE CARDINAL AND THE JEW 62 - - VI. THE SORROWS OF THE JEW 74 - - VII. SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO 86 - - VIII. THE DUCHESS AND THE PAINTER 99 - - IX. DAWN OF A PURE LIGHT 115 - - X. VITTORIA DI COLONNA 129 - - XI. VALDÉS AND OCHINO 144 - - XII. GOING TO LAW 159 - - XIII. THE CARDINAL TEMPTED 172 - - XIV. WHAT BEFEL BARBAROSSA 187 - - XV. MORE ABOUT THE CARDINAL 197 - - XVI. THE DUCHESS AND THE MARCHIONESS 221 - - XVII. ISCHIA 233 - - XVIII. A BETTER LIFE 247 - - XIX. REST AND PEACE 261 - - APPENDIX 275 - - - - - THE DUCHESS OF TRAJETTO. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - THE DUCHESS IN DANGER. - - -It was night--the Duchess was in bed. Her hand shaded her wakeful eyes -from the light of a silver lamp fed with perfumed oil, which shone only -on what was calculated to please the taste, minister to the luxury, and -display the wealth of the owner. Rare paintings of Scriptural and -mythological subjects decorated the walls, the ceiling was richly -moulded and gilt, the floor of polished marble was only partially -covered with fine matting, a few choice statuettes and vases occupied -brackets and niches; the massive toilette service and mirror-frame of -precious metal were shaded by some texture of light silvery tissue; -while half-open cabinets and caskets revealed priceless jewels and -fragrant perfumes. On a velvet cushion lay an illuminated missal and a -rosary. - -Here was every outward appliance, one might think, to make a favourite -of fortune happy; but the good and honest face of the Duchess, which -spoke her every thought, did not look so. The night was sultry; she had -tried to sleep, but could not; and now she was feverishly endeavouring -to think of something pleasant, without success. - -The deep stone windows of her apartment, which were open, commanded a -small garden sleeping in the moonlight, where terraces were cut on a -declivity; and where Cupid and Psyche, Diana with her hounds, and Apollo -with his bow, gleamed white among orange, lemon, and myrtle. This little -pleasaunce was shut in within the walls of a strong baronial castle; -and beyond them lay the little town of Fondi, consisting of a single -street built on the Appian Way. Beyond it, a lake, a forest, a marsh, -stretching down to the blue brimming Mediterranean. The little town -seemed steeped in sleep: the silence was intense. - -All at once, a low, regular sound jarred on the Duchess's quickened ear. - -"That's a very unaccountable noise," thought she to herself. "I wonder -what it is. People are about, who ought to be in their beds. If it -continues, I shall ring up the Mother-of-the-maids. Now it has stopped. -I wish I were not so wakeful--how tiresome it is! - -"What could induce Isabella to write me that disagreeable letter? I -fancy the Prince of Sulmona had a hand in it. It is very hard, after the -Pope's substantiating my rights as he has done, and bringing me through -with a high hand, that I should be assailed in a fresh quarter. How -sorry Rodomonte would have been! Poor fellow, he loved us both so -dearly! And if ever a step-mother did her duty by a step-daughter, I did -mine by Isabella. But there was too little difference in our ages. She -presumed on my forbearance, and tried to domineer over me. I dare say -many people fancy the life of a rich young widow must needs be very -happy. Some were even stupid enough to think my dear Duke and I could -not be as happy as we seemed. Oh, yes, we were!--though he was forty and -I but thirteen." - -"Supposing I had been over-persuaded to have Ippolito, how different -would have been the story of our lives! Happier for him, possibly, but -he may be very well content to be a cardinal. At the same time I have -somehow suspected that if ever any one really valued me for myself, he -did. They all flatter too much. A flattered person is the tool of the -flatterer. It hurts one's mind---- - -"That noise again! Can it be Caterina snoring? She says she never does: -just as if she could hear herself! Whatever it is, I'll have it inquired -into. Caterina! Caterina! Cynthia! Cynthia!" - -At the sound of the Duchess's voice, two of her attendants came running -in from the antechamber. One of them was a withered old woman with a -very benevolent face and thin grey hair fastened at the top of her head -in a little knot about as big as an egg, with a bodkin: the other a -Moorish girl, with large, startled, lustrous eyes, and symmetrical as -one of Calypso's nymphs moulded in bronze. She was in a single white -garment, but had caught up a striped goat's hair haik, which by day -formed the upper part of her attire. - -"Did Leila call?" "What will your Vossignoria?" - -"I called because I could bear your snoring no longer, Caterina." - -"_I_ snore?" repeated Caterina, with a look of injured innocence. -"Vossignoria must surely be mistaken; for I was lying wide awake, with -Cynthia sleeping beside me, as quiet as a lamb." - -"You were dreaming that you were awake," said the Duchess. "I have not -once closed my eyes, nor has it been possible--Hark! there is the noise -again!" cried she, excitedly. "What on earth can it be?" - -They remained transfixed, with suspended breath, in various attitudes of -surprise and affright; each of them intently listening. - -"I hear nothing, Eccellenza," began Caterina. - -"There! there!" exclaimed the Duchess. - -Cynthia suddenly sprang to one of the open windows, and looked -out--then, clapped her hands to her head, and gave an unearthly yell. - -"What is it?" cried Caterina, hastening towards her, and peering forth -into the darkness. Then, shrieking, she exclaimed,----"The pirates are -upon us!" - -"_Balzo dal letto._"[1]--The Duchess sprang from her bed, and took one -hasty glance from the window. She could discern a string of turbaned -figures with gleaming scimitars swarming up the walls, and leaping down -on the inner side. - - [1] "Come lupi famelici entrarono in Fondi que' barbari, - destandovi tra gli ululati degli abitanti un tumulto indicibile. - Il fremito de' ribaldi assalitori, le grida degli assaliti che - assordavano l' aria, ruppero a Giulia il sonno, e mentre - palpitando e incerta iva pensando qual potesse essere la cagione - di tanto rumore, eccole i pallidi famiglieri col tristo annunzio - che i Turchi scorrevano l' occupata città, e che non vi era - tempo a perdere se bramava salvarsi dalle indegne loro mani. - Balzo dal letto," &c., &c.--Ireneo Affo, _Memorie di tre - Principesse_, &c. - -"We are undone!" exclaimed she, desperately. "Caterina! arouse the men! -Cynthia, help me to dress." - -Wild sounds were already heard on every side, both in the town and the -castle--alarm-bells ringing, hoarse war-cries, piercing -screams--Hayraddin Barbarossa was upon them! - -What a plunder! There was the town, to begin with; then, there was the -castle; and within the castle, the most beautiful and beloved lady in -all Italy! the friend and favourite of popes and princes; a princess -herself, enormously rich! What a ransom! - -But no ransom was the object of Hayraddin Barbarossa, the scourge of the -seas. He meant to carry her away captive to Solyman the Magnificent, -Emperor of the Turks. With this purpose, and no less, had Hayraddin been -hovering off the coast with a hundred galleys and two thousand Turks on -board,[2] terrifying the Neapolitans out of their wits at the very -thought of his red beard and red flag--he, who avowed himself "the -friend of the sea, and the foe of all who sailed upon it"--whose very -name was a word of fear from the Straits of Gibraltar to the -Dardanelles![3] - - [2] "Piena l' Italia e l' Europa fosse di quanto iva spargendo la - fama intorno le singolare bellezze di Giulia; erane passato - anche il grido ai molli regni dell' Asia. Solimano II., - Imperadore de' Turchi, non ignorava quanto ella fosse avvenente; - onde giacchè avea guerra coll' Imperador Carlo V., fornito - Ariadene Barbarossa di cento galere, con ciu potesse trascorrere - i mari nostri, e battere le coste de paesi Christiani, gl' - ingiunse che tra le spoglie più rieche, onde carico lo - attendeva, dovesse aver luogo la vagha Signora di Fondi. Fece - plauso al comando il baldanzoso corsaro, che, avido di riportar - gloria, al mare affidosi pien di si audace pensiero," - &c.--_Idem._ - - [3] Robertson's "Charles the Fifth." - -"They will be upon us directly, Signora," said her trembling, -grey-haired seneschal, who had hastened to her at the first alarm. "Lose -no time in escaping. The pirates will never content themselves with the -town--rely on it, _you_ are their object. We will lower you from the -window--you must then cross the draw-bridge, and pass through the -gallery cut in the rock. It will bring you out on the hill-side, where -Tiberio shall join you with horses--" - -"Come, then, Caterina--" - -"Alas, Madama, I am too old for jumping out of windows--I will remain to -secrete the jewels, and look after the maids. We will lock ourselves in -the cellars." - -"Come then, Cynthia. Be quick." - -Cynthia, who was wrapping herself in her haik, looked unwilling, and -said: - -"May I not remain with Caterina, Leila?" - -"Certainly not. Jump out of window this instant, and then you can help -me down." - -The Duchess accelerated her by a slight push, on which she sprang -lightly as a chamois to the ground, which was not far below; and the -Duchess, seeing she came to no harm, called on the saints, and did the -same. Caterina lowered them a lamp, which they covered, and soon they -were in the rocky passage, while the Turks in the distance were howling -like hungry wolves or mad dogs.[4] - - [4] "Lupi famelici," "colla rabbia d' affamati cani." - -"How cold it is!" complained the Duchess, shivering and drawing closer -the richly furred velvet mantle in which she was enveloped. - -"And you gave me no stockings, Cynthia, only slippers. How _could_ you -be so foolish?" - -"You must not mind that, Leila, since you are safe," said Cynthia, -bluntly. "Think what horrors are going on in the town. Holy prophet! it -reminds me of the night when my parents fled from the Spaniards!" - -"Cynthia, it is very wicked of you to use those heathenish imprecations, -now that I have taken the trouble to have you baptised. Your prophet was -not holy, nor a prophet at all, but a very bad man, as I have told you -several times, and you must not be so benighted any more." - -Cynthia's eyes flashed fire, but she held her peace. - -"If you call any one holy," continued the Duchess, "it should be the -blessed Virgin and holy saints. You ought to consider it a great mercy -that you have been led to the service of a Christian mistress who cares -for your soul. Don't you feel this?" - -"No," said Cynthia, stoutly; "I do not feel grateful that I was torn -from my home and country, and that my father was cut down on his own -doorstep, and my mother dragged along the ground by the hair of her -head. Could _you_ feel grateful, Leila?" - -"Not for those things, certainly; but misfortunes are often blessings in -disguise, and the Moors are very wicked people, and--" - -"They are doing those very things, just now, to _your_ people," said -Cynthia, expressively, and stretching out her arm towards the town. - -"Ah! Heaven forbid!" said the Duchess. - -"Heaven does not forbid, though," said Cynthia, sorrowfully, "and I -cannot think why Heaven only looks on." - -"Cynthia!" cried the Duchess, suddenly stopping short, and fixing a -piercing look on her, "did _you_ bring these people on us?" - -"What people, Leila?" - -"These pirates!--these Moors!" - -"Take the lamp!" cried Cynthia, thrusting it into her hand, and stamping -passionately. "Kill me if you will, since you can suspect me! Here's a -dagger--I brought it to defend you and myself." - -"Nay, but I do not want to suspect you. Put up your dagger, foolish -girl. Who talks about killing?" said the Duchess, shrinking from the -gleaming steel. "Speak but the word and I will believe you; only, as -they are countrymen of yours, and as you so hate the Christians, the -thought just crossed me." - -"I'll _never_ speak the word," said Cynthia, stubbornly. "You may kill -me if you will, but I'll _never_ say!" - -And with dilated nostrils, quivering lips, and flaming eyes, she strode -on before her mistress. It was not a time or place for the Duchess to -take notice of it--to a woman with a dagger! - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - THE DUCHESS IN SAFETY. - - -Emerging from the gallery, the Duchess uttered a faint cry, and would -have shrunk back again on seeing some dark figures stealthily -approaching; but they proved to be only two of her own servants, each -with a led horse, on which she and Cynthia were speedily mounted, and on -their way to Vallecorsa. - -Meantime a desperate conflict was raging in the town and castle, led on -by the fiery Barbarossa himself, his lieutenant Dragut, and the renegade -Sinan, the most relentless of his corsairs. Again and again resounds the -cry "Where is the Duchess, ye Christian dogs?"--"Out of your reach!" -they shout back; and a volley of stones descends from the battlements. -Defence is vain; the gates are forced in, the assailants pour through -the rooms, and, disappointed of their prey, hack and spoil the rich -furniture, and carry off what comes ready to hand. Faithful retainers -are cut down; others have their hands tied and are carried off to be -sold into slavery; among them, a youth called Tebaldo Adimari, the pride -and hope of Fondi. - -Day was breaking when the corsairs, laden with booty, drew off from the -town in good order and formidable numbers, leaving very few of their -party behind them. The little town was sick and gasping. Here and there -were low wails and continuous sobbings in-doors. Here and there a hollow -groan from some ditch. Here and there a broken scimitar, an unrolled -turban, a pool of blood. Monks now began to steal forth in couples from -the Dominican convent in which St. Thomas Aquinas had taught theology. -They went to shrive the dying, bury the dead, and console the bereaved. -A Jewish physician, with a couple of Hebrew servants, was also engaged -in offices of benevolence; causing some to be carefully removed; binding -up the wounds of others on the spot. The peril of the Duchess--though -she escaped unscathed--caused great commiseration and excitement at the -time. The death and captivity of the nobodies elicited a slight shudder -or a shrug, and was passed over. - -Cautiously the withered face of the Mother-of-the-maids peered forth -from the cellar-door when all was quiet; and fearfully issued forth the -train of scared, bewildered females who had taken shelter under her -wing. They were relieved to find themselves alive and safe; but -lamentations soon succeeded gratulations. Isaura's betrothed had been -carried away captive; Tonina's father lay stark and stiff. As for the -_cameriera_, she was weeping herself blind to find the Duchess's room -ransacked, the mirror smashed, the gowns tossed like hay, the pictures -stabbed, and many of the properties made booty of. She smote her breast -and wrung her hands to that degree that it was dreadful to see her. - -The news of the attack reaching Rome, Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, who -was much more of a warrior than a churchman, hastened to the rescue with -a troop of horse. - -Meanwhile, a messenger from Vallecorsa brought a billet from the -Duchess. - -"Are the wretches gone? Have they done much harm? I have nothing to put -on. Is anybody hurt? I suppose I may come back?" - -As everybody was at sixes and sevens without the Duchess, a council was -held, the Dominican prior was consulted, evidence was heard, and it was -finally reported that the Paynims had made off, _viâ_ Itri, and put to -sea. - -On this, back came the Duchess, in very miscellaneous toilette; and she -was met by a general turn-out of the people of Fondi--a rough, -wild-looking set at their best, poor creatures! furnishing more than -their due quota, then as now, to the briganti. In the midst were two -biers, supporting the corpses of men who had been slain in the late -attack, and borne by monks, while the populace confusedly pressed around -them, beating their breasts, tearing their hair, and filling the air -with their lamentations. These were redoubled at sight of the Duchess, -whose tender heart melted at the scene. The sight of their liege-lady in -tears redoubled their woe; they closed round her, kissing her dress, -hands, and feet, recounting their losses, and each doing his possible to -prove himself more in want of solace than the rest. She condoled with -all, promised monetary restitution to the living and masses for the -dead; and, to crown all, proceeded straight to church to give thanks -for her deliverance and pray for the souls of the slain. Then she -re-entered her castle in a chastened frame of mind. - -"Caterina," said she to her old nurse, "how little we know what a few -hours may bring forth! It seems an age since yesterday. What a turn it -gave me when Cynthia first shrieked out! By the way, do you think she -was really frightened?" - -"Really frightened, Eccellenza?" - -"Yes. Do you not think it possible she might be glad the Moors were -landing and might carry her off?" - -"Barbarossa, Signora?" - -"Well, I know it was Barbarossa; but still he was her own countryman, -and--" - -"I do not think she would acknowledge Barbarossa for a countryman, -Illustrissima. She claims descent from the old Moors of Grenada--from -the Abencerrages." - -"Oh, yes, she may claim descent, and call herself a princess and all -that. They all do, I believe. You should have seen her look when I told -her Mahound was a false prophet--" - -"She's very touchy about that, I well know," said Caterina. - -"Touchy? Why, I believe she prays to him still--swears by him at any -rate. There is no sounding the depths of these Paynims." - -"I believe you would find great love for yourself in the depths of -Cynthia's heart,--poor, darkened young thing--if you could sound it, -Signora." - -"Ah, but unfortunately, I cannot; and she behaved very improperly to me -in the cavern." - -"You shock me, Illustrissima!" - -"She thrust the lamp into my hand, saying: 'Hold the light!' and -stamped!" - -"Inconceivable! Abominable!" ejaculated Caterina. "What could she have -been thinking of?" - -"And she brandished a dagger! Not to kill me, but telling me to kill -_her_. So uncalled for!" - -"I fear I must give her up," said Caterina, "though Perez lent her the -dagger to defend you, and she has returned it. I was beginning to grow -fond of her. She must be corrected, Signora." - -"Well, truly, I think she must. Let me speak to her first. I dare say -she is as hard as a stone. Call her." - -To the Duchess's surprise, when Cynthia was brought to the bar of -justice, and accused of _lèse-majesté_, she at once pleaded guilty, -saying her proud heart sometimes got the better of her; and kneeling -down, kissed the hem of her mistress's garment, in token of submission. -This appeased the placable Giulia, who contented herself with asking -what business she had with pride. - -"You doubted my fidelity, Leila," said Cynthia. "No one must doubt the -fidelity of an Abencerrage." - -"Tut! how do I know that you are an Abencerrage?" said the Duchess -lightly. "And what are the Abencerrages, or any other Moors, in the eyes -of Christians?" - -"They may be nothing now, but they were something once," said Cynthia -proudly; without rising, however, from her knees; or rather, sitting -upon her heels. "While the western Caliphate lasted, the Christians were -few and straggling in the land; and the mountains of Spain echoed back -the cry of the muezzins: 'There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his -prophet!'" - -"Ah, profanity!" exclaimed the Duchess, in disgust; and at the same -instant, her seneschal, bowing low, announced to her the arrival of -Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici. The Cardinal was already standing in the -doorway, noting at his leisure, and with admiration, the contrast -between Giulia's high-born beauty and that of the dusky Moorish girl at -her feet. - -He then advanced, with the mien of a prince and the tread of a soldier, -and said: - -"Your peril compelled me to fly to your succour. I have brought a troop -of horse, and will not leave you till danger and alarm be past." - -"How very good of you!" said the Duchess. "I was, indeed, sorely -scared--" - -"Fear no more," said he. "No harm shall reach you but through myself." - -"How very good of you," repeated the Duchess. "I was, indeed, as I said, -sorely scared; but all danger, and even the fear of it, is now over--" - -"That is more than you can tell," interrupted the Cardinal, "and since -you, the noblest and fairest lady in Italy, are so utterly unprotected, -I shall make your safety my care as long as Barbarossa is off the -coast." - -"Though I hope to have no need of you as a guard, you are most welcome -as a guest," said the Duchess. Then, addressing her seneschal, she said, -"Let suitable apartments be instantly prepared for his Eminence and also -for his suite, and provide good quarters for his Eminence's troops and -good stabling for their horses--" - -"I lodge with the Dominicans," interrupted the Cardinal, "and the Prior -will tell me where to bestow my men--" - -"Nay, then," said the Duchess, "direct immediate refection to be served -for his Eminence, and bid the Prior and a few select friends to supper; -to wit, Sertorio Pepe and his sister, Madonna Bianca, the Abate Siffredi -and the Abate Vincenzo." - -The seneschal bowed low and withdrew. - -"Giulia," said the Cardinal, reproachfully, "I am unwelcome." - -"On the contrary, you are most welcome," said she; "but I seek to grace -my guest, and distrust my own powers of entertainment. You find us in -sad disorder, but I will send a line to the Bishop--" - -"Pray do nothing so unnecessary, so unwished for--Ah, Giulia! it was -not thus I hoped you would welcome me! You will never understand that I -am your true friend, and prefer your conversation to that of any one -else. Your welfare, your safety, are dear to me; and yet you always -distrust me." - -"How can you say so?" said she, dropping her eyes. - -"How, indeed, save that you always betray it! Come, cannot we be -friends?" said he, pleasantly. "Once we might have been more, and now -need we be less?" - -"By no means, Cardinal, and--" - -"I am always Ippolito, to _you_--" - -"By no means, Cardinal; I enjoy using your title, it is so noble, so -imposing, it becomes you so well. You have taken a decided part at last, -and I esteem you all the more for it. Your learning and genius will -adorn your high vocation. What influence you now possess! how many look -up to you! Surely your position must be an enviable one?" - -A complex expression crossed his face, as he said, with emphasis, - -"Very! And yours?" - -"Oh, mine is what it has long been. It has its lights and its shadows." - -"Shadows?" - -"Not very dark ones, certainly; but three-fourths of my life are spent -in a sort of dull twilight, that is--infinitely melancholy!" - -"Whence proceeds that melancholy?" - -"I know not. My natural disposition, perhaps. I have everything I can -want or wish, yet it sometimes seems to me that there is only one thing -to reconcile us to life--" - -"What is that?" - -"The fear of death." - -"Just so," said he, abruptly. - -"Can you, a churchman, tell me how to overcome that fear?" - -"There is no fear of your dying--" - -"Die I must, soon or late! Death comes to all. Can you, a churchman, -tell me how to meet it?" - -"Surely, surely! The Church has provided supports. There are the -sacraments. There is absolution. There is extreme unction." - -"I do not know how these may support me when the time comes. Meanwhile -they do not remove the fear of death." - -He looked at her earnestly for a moment, and was about to speak, but -refrained. At the same time, the customary refection of wine and -comfits was brought in by two of the Duchess's damsels, while a third -brought a golden ewer of rose-water, and a fourth a basin and -gold-fringed napkin. The duenna and Moorish girl were embroidering at -one of the windows. - -When the girls had withdrawn, the Cardinal and Duchess resumed their -conversation, like two old and familiar friends, who had at some former -period seen a good deal more of one another than of late. - -He spoke of Hayraddin Barbarossa's descent upon Fondi, and minutely -inquired into the particulars, and the amount of damage done. He ended -with "Well, a wilful woman must have her way. All this may happen again, -and with a worse end." - -"Please do not frighten me," said the Duchess. "It is very unkind." - -"I mean it for kindness, for I want to put you on your guard." - -"I shall be on my guard now. My poor people have suffered sufficiently -to be on the alert. And I have long thought I should like to winter at -Naples. Now I have a sufficient reason for going." - -"The sooner the better. Giulia, how you surprised me just now by what -you said! How can one so good, so blameless as you are, be afraid of -death? You have never done anything wrong. I cannot conceive you ever to -have offended God, even in thought. Can _you_, then, be afraid to meet -Him?" - -"Ah! I am always shy of strangers; and, to me, God is such a -stranger!--" - -"But you _believe_ in Him, do not you? You believe that He _is_?" - -"Of course! But that is so little!" - -The Cardinal looked as if he thought it a good deal. - -"Your nerves are weak," said he, after a pause. "Your organisation is -too delicate. I should advise you to dwell as little as you can on -these things." - -"Oh, I speak of them to _no_ one. I don't know how I came to do so now. -Only, I suppose, because you are a friend and a churchman." - -"I _like_ you so to speak. Say on." - -"Why, then, I will add that, apart from this fear of death, which -sometimes thrills me, and especially did so last night, is a far more -permanent feeling--a desire for some higher good. An intense -dissatisfaction with myself and with all the things of this life." - -"Do you really suppose that that feeling is peculiar to yourself? -Everybody has it!--everybody who thinks and feels. I myself suffer -martyrdom from it." - -"Can you--a churchman--prescribe its remedy?" - -"There are two ways," said the Cardinal, after a pause, "in which you -may overcome it. In the first case, you must fast, you must pray, you -must keep painful vigils, you must perform pilgrimages barefoot, you -must deny yourself every innocent enjoyment, you must bestow all your -possessions on the Church--" - -"Hold, hold, I can never do all that," interrupted the Duchess. "Tell me -some other way, I beseech you, of remedying the weariness of life and -the fear of death." - -"The only other way," said he, hurriedly, "is to take the world as you -find it; enjoy the passing hour, indulge every innocent desire, and--let -come what may." - -"Is there no other course?" - -"None, Giulia, none! There is no middle path.[5] You must choose for -yourself." - - [5] Non c' è mezzo termine. - -"Of course I know which I ought to choose," said she, sorrowfully. "But -to give up _all_--and to the Church!--ah! this Church must have charms -for you that she has not for me!" - -"I am not very deeply in love with her," said the Cardinal, attentively -regarding his nails. "But my part is taken and I will play it out. Come, -shall we talk of something pleasanter?" - -"Yes, and, some of these days, I will try this better way you point -out--this watching, this fasting; only I know beforehand, I shall not -carry it out." - -"No good in trying then." - -"I am afraid you are right. I so dread the world's laugh! And I so -dislike doing what is disagreeable!" - -"Why on earth should you, then?" said he briskly. - -"Ay, why indeed?" said she, laughing and changing the subject. -Afterwards she thought, "What an answer for a priest! I was a goose to -say so much to him. I will not do so again." - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - THE DUCHESS'S STORY. - - -Giulia di Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke of Sabbionetta, was born -somewhere about the beginning of the sixteenth century. She was one of a -numerous and beautiful family, and, from her earliest infancy, the -darling of all hearts. There must have been something charming about the -dear little girl whose "vezzi e grazie," even from her cradle, were so -extolled by dry annalists,[6] and whose riper graces were sung by -Ariosto, Bernardo Tasso, Molza, Gandolfo Porrino, Claudio Tolomei, and -all the noted poets of the day. A child who, from the nursery, kisses, -sugar-plums, and petting could not spoil, her sweetness equally bore the -test when promoted to the school-room, where, without any apparent -trouble to herself, she outstripped her elder sisters, Paola, Ippolita, -and Eleanora, in their studies, though they were none of them considered -deficient. Enough, if not too much, praise was bestowed on the skill -with which her pretty hands touched the lute and guided the embroidery -needle. Children are quick to hear their own encomiums, though uttered -under the breath. - - [6] "Imperrochè le fu natura tanto de' suoi doni benefice, e - cosi di vezzi e di grazie la ricolmo, che gli atti suoi e le sue - parole, accompagnate ognora da modesta vivacità e condite di un - lepor soavissimo, legavano dolcemente a lei gli animi di - ciascuno."--Ireneo Affo. - -She had scarcely grown to her full height, and left off being sent early -to bed, when she was given in marriage to Vespasiano Colonna, Duke of -Trajetto. He was forty, and crippled with the rheumatism, yet her -parents thought it a suitable match. They told her he was good, -generous, and indulgent, and so he proved. She liked him. She liked -pleasing him, and tending him, and receiving his pleasant praises and -smiles. He had a daughter by a former marriage, rather younger than -herself, and he wished them to be friends; but Isabella was of a colder -nature than Giulia. The Duke had a singular feeling towards his little -bride. She was so good, so pure, that he shrank from her being -contaminated by the pernicious influence of Italian society, such as it -was in the sixteenth century, and resolved to seclude her from it as -much as he could in the retirement which his infirm health rendered so -grateful. But he did more than this, for he resolved that her mind -should receive the highest culture, and thus possess resources in itself -which should make retirement happy. And as he was a man of good parts -and delightful conversation, affectionate, indulgent, and quietly -humorous, it is not at all surprising, I think, that he captivated this -young girl, and made her really love him. - -This rendered more than tolerable her attendance on him as a nurse. He -would not let her do anything really painful or wearisome, took care -that she should have plenty of open-air exercise, and won her admiration -of his patience and cheerfulness during his tedious decline. - -When he died, in the year 1528, he left Giulia mistress of all his -possessions in the Campagna, the Abruzzi, and the kingdom of Naples, and -guardian of Isabella, whom he designed for the wife of Ippolito de' -Medici, nephew of Pope Clement the Seventh. - -Giulia soon felt the want of a male protector, for two of the Duke's -kinsmen, Ascanio di Colonna and Napoleone Orsini, laid claim to the -estates. The Pope substantiated her right to them, and the Emperor -Charles the Fifth, then a young man of eight-and-twenty, commissioned -her brother, Don Luigi, to put her in possession. Luigi, who was a -brilliant soldier, paid his sister a hasty visit at Fondi; and before -he left it, he and Isabella exchanged secret vows of affection. - -When Ippolito de' Medici, with youth, good looks, and noble bearing to -recommend him, was sent by the Pope to woo and win Isabella, he found -the Duchess much more attractive; and when she remarked one day on -something strange in his conduct, he spoke out at once, and said-- - -"Giulia, I care nothing for _her_--and I cannot but care for _you_!" - -Thereon the Duchess was much offended, and said she should write to the -Pope. Ippolito very stoutly refused to own himself at all wrong. -Giulia's widowhood, he averred, had been long enough for the world to -suppose that her hand might be sued for. The Pope would be well pleased -to see him win the daughter, but infinitely more so at his obtaining the -mother. Giulia very indignantly replied that no Pope on earth had, or -should have, power to make her marry again, against her will. She was a -free agent; she respected and cherished the memory of her dear Duke too -much ever to give him a successor. The amaranth was her chosen emblem, -and "_Non moritura_" her motto. - -Ippolito here ventured to murmur something about disparity of years, -which she instantly checked as the height of disrespect; and he then -said all that could be said by a very clever man, really and deeply, and -honestly in love; but the more he said, the less Giulia minded him, for -the idea had possessed itself of her mind that he might not have found -her so pre-eminently attractive but for the thirteen thousand ducats -which her good Duke had added to her dowry of four thousand immediately -after their marriage. Besides, she was extremely sensitive to the -opinion of "everybody," and she pictured what "everybody" could say, -if, after inviting Ippolito to her castle as the suitor of her -step-daughter, she were to marry him herself. Moreover, she did not like -the Medici; they were wonderfully clever, but they were not good. _Volti -sciolti, pensieri stretti_--she would rather not trust her happiness to -any one of them. Or to _any_ one. Why should not she continue, free and -happy as she was? - -So Ippolito found her impenetrable to the most insinuating words and -melting tones; and as she found him equally impracticable on the subject -of being faithful, as she called it, to Isabella, though he denied -having pledged any faith to her at all, Giulia told him very plainly she -wished he would end his visit; which he, much hurt, said he would do. -And his farewell bow was as stiff and stately as if he were an -unsuccessful envoy to a warlike sovereign; and he went away without any -leave-taking of Isabella. - -Thereon, the Duchess, much fluttered and embarrassed, went to tell -Isabella that Ippolito was gone; and Isabella, in her cold, dry way, -said: - -"Why?" - -Then the Duchess said he had been talking very uncomfortably and -unintelligibly: he seemed hardly inclined to fulfil his engagement. Then -Isabella said: - -"He need not trouble himself. I made no engagement with _him_." - -Then the Duchess said: - -"My dear Isabella! what _can_ you be thinking of?" - -"I am thinking," says Isabella, after a pause, "of Rodomonte." - -"_Possibile? che gioja!_" cried the Duchess, embracing her. - -Rodomonte was the pet name of Giulia's younger brother Luigi, already -spoken of. If Isabella were inclined to marry him, her portion would be -a famous thing for him. The only question was, would the Pope consent? - -The Pope consented when he found Isabella would not have Ippolito at any -rate, and when he learnt that Ippolito had good hope of securing the -Duchess. So Luigi and Isabella were married, and Luigi was mortally -wounded the following year in endeavouring to recover one of his -sister's castles; and died recommending his widow and infant son to her -care. Isabella afterwards married the Prince of Sulmona. - -Ippolito now changed his tactics. When the Duchess had received him as -the future husband of her step-daughter, she, not imagining their -positions could be misunderstood, addressed him by his Christian name. -Whereon he, not to be behindhand, and seeing that they were nearly of an -age, immediately called her Giulia, and persisted in doing so in spite -of hints and rebuking looks. Now that he had been charged with -"disrespect," he resolved to try what the utmost deference could do; so -he sent her a translation he had made (extremely well, too), of the -second book of the Æneid, with the following dedication prefixed: - -"Because that it often happens that one's woes are soothed by matching -them with those that are greater, I, not finding for my pain any other -remedy, have turned my mind to the burning of Troy; and, measuring my -own wretchedness with that, have satisfied myself beyond doubt that no -evil happened within its walls which I myself have not felt in the -depths of my heart; the which, seeking in some degree to ease by -thinking on Troy, I have thereby been enabled to understand. I therefore -send you this, that it may give you a truer picture of my grief than my -sighs, my tears, my pallid cheeks could ever impart." - -The obdurate Giulia was not to be melted. She was more impenetrable than -ever; and with good reason; having heard of a street fight in Rome, in -which Ippolito had killed a man. It is true Ippolito said he had not -meant it--he only meant to hurt him, and teach a lesson to a troublesome -fellow. However that may be, the man _was dead_, and Ippolito was under -a cloud for a while, till it blew over, according to the fashion of the -times, and he could come out again with only the taint of justifiable -homicide. He was a good deal quieted. He did not know what to do with -himself, nor did the Pope (a very bad old man) know what to do with him -or for him, since he would not or could not make his fortune by -marriage. There was the mixture of fame and infamy in his lineage which -pertained to but too many of the Medici, and he had not a penny that the -Pope did not give him; so the only opening for him was in the Church. He -gave him the Cardinal's hat. - -A handsome, comfortable-looking cardinal was Ippolito, with very little -token of care feeding on his damask cheek. You may see him, any time you -like, in the National Gallery--there he is, pen in hand, at a table -covered with a Persian carpet, having just signed a deed, apparently, to -which Sebastian, the famous Venetian painter, has affixed the leaden -seals, in virtue of his office as keeper of the Papal signet--whence his -cognomen, _Del Piombo_. Note them: they are noteworthy men. Sebastian -has put himself foremost; the Cardinal in the background. But the -Cardinal takes it easily; he has a jolly, good-tempered face, black -eyes, an aquiline nose, and black hair. - -His relations with Giulia were a good deal altered by the cardinalate. -She need no longer fear him as a suitor; she hoped his entering the -Church was a sign of a changed heart; she revered his holy office, and -gradually identified him with it. Once or twice, when affairs drew her -to the Eternal City, she saw him take part in the grand pageantry; and -when she heard Kyrie Eleison rolling and swelling through nave and -aisle, and Veni Creator breathed like the whispers of angels in -soul-subduing softness, and the Pope himself intoning the Te Deum,--her -unsophisticated mind was deeply impressed; for Giulia was still, and all -her life, as guileless as a little child; and herein, no doubt, lay the -unexplained and unexplainable attraction about her. She was glad -Ippolito had put an insuperable barrier between her and himself, because -now she could enjoy his really delightful society, when they met, -without alloy. - -But they did not meet very often; and it was a good thing they did not, -for Ippolito loved her as dearly as ever. It was a good thing they did -not meet often, and yet it was a good thing they met sometimes, and that -her influence continued to be felt by him, for it was the only good -influence he had! Poor Ippolito, with all his sins, was much better -than those who constantly surrounded him. The nearer from church, the -farther from God, was awfully true of the Papal court; and if he sought -refuge from men in books, as he continually did, they were the books of -heathens, none the less anti-Christian and poisonous for being in Greek. - -While the very ground seemed sinking under him, and all trust and hope -in himself and others perishing, there came the news that Giulia was in -danger, and had fled to the mountains to escape Barbarossa. Instantly -his better nature awoke, and he flew to her succour. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - MOORISH SLAVES. - - -A clatter of horses' feet in the court-yard announced the arrival of new -guests; and when these proved to be noble kinsmen and friends of the -Duchess, who had hastened to rally round her in her danger, the Cardinal -inly congratulated himself on having been the first comer and the -recipient of her first thanks. - -The old feudal castle, lately the nest of a few defenceless women, now -resounded with the clank of arms. Nothing could be more graceful than -the Duchess's reception of her guests. There was just enough of danger -past, and possibly impending, to give zest to present safety and -sociality. The feast was spread in the old ancestral hall, where the -family plate shone in beaufets ten feet high, music breathed from the -gallery amid the pauses in conversation, and the cobwebbed banners waved -heavily overhead in the cool evening air from the Mediterranean, that -stole through the open windows. Giulia's little cloud had entirely -disappeared: it was simple and even needful that she should just now -only seek to embellish the passing hour; and the Cardinal, as the -noblest dignitary present, fully seconded her as leader of the feast, or -rather took the initiative in entertaining and pledging the rest, while -she had only to sit by, smile, and enjoy it all. The Moorish girl, with -splendid jewels in her ears, stood behind the Duchess with a feather -fly-flapper. - -Barbarossa's enormities were the favourite theme; there was plenty of -red put in the brush. The streams of blood he had shed would float a -squadron; his beard was bright scarlet. He was even worse than his -brother Horuc had been; and now that he was Dey of Tunis, as well as of -Algiers, and the ally of Solyman the Magnificent, the world would not -hold him! He would swallow Italy, some of these nights, at a snap. - -Yet it was astonishing what some of the company were ready to do, -single-handed, against him! Only let him come on! _They'd_ show him -something. The Duchess need not be afraid. Not a hair of her head should -he touch. - -The next day or two these bold spirits scoured the neighbourhood, -and--as Barbarossa was out of sight--they did not spare their bragging. -They only wished he would come back, that they might give him his -deserts. The Cardinal grudged these vapourers their share of Giulia's -ear. True, he sat at her right hand; and none of them were younger, -braver, handsomer, or wittier than himself. And it was sweet, with all -its mixture of bitter, to be here at all; but then, how soon it would -end! How soon pass into that hungry, never-satisfied abyss of vanished, -irreclaimable joys! And then his old feeling of blank, gnawing -dissatisfaction returned. - -"That Mauritanian slave of yours," he said one day to Giulia, as they -returned from a reconnoitering party, "is singularly beautiful. She -would make a good study for Sebastiano. How I wish you knew that -remarkable man! You would delight in his musical attainments. He touches -the lute and viol with rare perfection, and has composed some exquisite -motets. As a portrait painter he is unrivalled. The Pope is so pleased -with the likeness he has painted of him, that he has conferred on him -the office of keeper of the papal signet. His verses are charming, and -he is a most excellent companion." - -"You excite my curiosity," said the Duchess. "Cannot you invent some -excuse to bring him here?" - -"Certainly," said the Cardinal, who was aiming at this very point. -"There could be no better method than for me to tell him you had -promised me your picture. This would draw him hither quite easily, after -such representations as I should make to him; for you must know, -Sebastiano is becoming exceeding coy and difficult, and will only on -much importunity be prevailed on, now, to paint a portrait. It is really -the branch in which he excels, and by which he will be known to -posterity; but he is slow and irresolute in his execution, and his taste -chiefly inclines him to large historical pieces, in which he is excelled -by Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. I beseech you, let me send him to paint -your portrait. You will be repaid for your complaisance by becoming -acquainted with a really great artist." - -"So let it be, then," said the Duchess. "With regard to my Moorish girl, -he may introduce her in the background if he will. Beautiful she is, -but the crossest patch at times! I pity her, and humour, and perhaps -spoil her a little, yet I shrink from her sometimes, for we hardly seem -of the same flesh and blood." - -"Is she converted?" inquired the Cardinal. - -"Baptized," said the Duchess, "but she seems utterly unimpressible as to -Christian doctrine. Confess she will not, and when we endeavour to -enforce its obligation on her, she answers us in her Arabic jargon, 'I -do not understand.'" - -"Is it safe to have her about you?" said the Cardinal. - -"I know not that there is any harm in her," said the Duchess, "and she -can be very ingratiating when she likes; but I own, a horrible thought -crossed my mind when she and I were escaping through the caverns. 'What -if she should have brought Barbarossa on us?'" - -"That is quite possible," said the Cardinal, gravely. "Has she any -confederates hereabouts, think you, among her own people?" - -"The only other Moor in my establishment is a poor boy whose tongue has -been cut out. His own people thus punished him, when he fell into their -hands, for having come over to us; he escaped from them, and knows too -well his own interest to betray us. He is in my stables." - -"I do not altogether like this," said De Medici, meditatively; "it would -be well to induce the girl to confess, even by a little wholesome -torture; for as long as she is unshackeled by Christian obligations, you -have no hold on her." - -"Torture, however," said Giulia, "is a course I particularly dislike." - -They were now riding into the castle court-yard; and, as the day was -very warm, she was thirsty, and called for a glass of iced water. It -was brought her by Cynthia; and at the moment she appeared with the -goblet on a salver, a large Spanish bloodhound, belonging to Alfonso -Gonzaga, sprang at her throat. - -The poor girl screamed piercingly, and so did the Duchess, who sprang -from her horse. Gonzaga, brutally laughing and swearing, called the dog -off without success; but the Moorish stable-boy, seizing it by the tail, -bit it till his teeth met. The unfortunate Cynthia was released, and she -fell swooning into the arms of her compassionate mistress, whose dress -was stained with her blood. She was instantly relieved of her burthen, -however, by her _maestro di casa_, Perez, who bore her off to her women, -while the hunting-party pressed round Giulia to extol her humanity to -the skies. Turning to the Cardinal she said, expressively-- - -"She _is_ of the same flesh and blood, after all!" And then went to -visit her poor wounded maiden, and change her dress. - -Cynthia, more dead than alive, was laid on a pallet bed, and Caterina -was in anxious attendance on her, while a Jewish physician dressed the -wound. - -"Do you think she will die?" said the Duchess in a low voice. - -"It is impossible, at present," returned he, "to pronounce an opinion." - -Cynthia opened her languid eyes, and seeing the Duchess's dress stained -with her blood, mutely drew it to her lips. Giulia kindly patted her -hand, saying-- - -"My poor girl! Keep quiet; be patient, and you will soon be well," and -then withdrew. - -When she re-entered the _sala di compagnía_, her cousin was telling -stories in a loud over-bearing voice, of the feats of his dog in hunting -up and pulling down Moors, Jews, and heretics. The brute's ancestors had -distinguished themselves in this line during the repeated massacres in -Spain. - -"Pray desist, Alfonso," said the Duchess, "or I shall be unable to eat -my dinner." - -He laughed, and continued his narrations in a lower voice. This was the -Cardinal's last day, and he grudged every moment of Giulia's time that -was devoted to any but himself. - -"Is the girl going on well?" said he to her. - -"The wound is dressed, but her recovery is considered doubtful by Bar -Hhasdai. Do you disapprove of my employing a Jewish leech?" - -"By no means; there are none equal to them. The Spaniards did very -foolishly, I think, to expel the whole race. There are no such -physicians, astronomers, or metaphysicians." - -"They are sad infidels, however, and Bar Hhasdai is unconverted." - -"All the better," said the Cardinal lightly. "I distrust renegades. -Better be a good Jew than a bad Christian. In medicine especially, I -believe a baptised Jew loses half his virtue; the charm is broken." - -"That never occurred to me," said the Duchess. "But I dare say it is so, -since you say it." - -"Your Jew," observed Ippolito, "will deal kindly by your Moorish girl, -for, under the western caliphs, his people were fostered by her people. -The prime minister of Abderrahman the Second was a Jew of the same name -as your physician, who probably claims descent from him. The two peoples -promoted each other's prosperity, for the Jews extended their commerce -with the East, and supplied them with the sinews of war. The Moors let -them peaceably accumulate wealth, occupy high offices, build synagogues, -and cultivate learning, insomuch that there was not a Jewish family -without a copy of the law; and they all could read it. So that 'the -Moor's last sigh' was nearly the last sigh of the Hebrew too. We are -profiting by the short-sightedness of Spain and Portugal. Clement the -Seventh permits even the Jews who have been forcibly baptised, to come -and settle in his dominions, without any inquiry into their past lives; -and owing to their industry Ancona is becoming a flourishing sea-port. -But, Giulia, if this girl is about to die, she had better receive the -last offices of the Church. I should like to receive her confession. -Tell her, if she will confess to me, she shall receive a cardinal's -absolution." - -"Are you in earnest?" - -"Quite." - -This was so high an honour, that the Duchess did not fail to acquaint -Cynthia with it. But Cynthia had no mind for confession, nor any respect -for a cardinal's absolution. She feigned lethargy, and could not be -induced to admit that she heard or understood anything that was said to -her while the Cardinal remained. - -"This looks bad," said he. "Can anything be made of the Moorish boy, -think you?" - -"He is dumb." - -"True; but not deaf, I suppose?" - -"No." - -"Let us have him in, then. I should like to speak to him." - -The boy was sent for. He was a sad object, poor lad. - -The Cardinal, without any preface, said to him in the _lingua Franca_, -which was commonly understood among the Moors-- - -"Did you send for Barbarossa?" The boy's eyes flashed fire. - -"If I have any reason to think you did so, you shall be flayed alive; -and I shall be sure to find out." - -The boy looked unmoved. - -"Your only chance of escaping punishment is your being henceforth -inviolably faithful to your mistress. There, go; and be a good boy." - -The boy made a salaam and retired. - -"There can be no harm," said the Cardinal to Giulia, "in giving him a -little reminder." - -Next day the boy was found drowned. Whether he had tried to escape by -swimming, or had intentionally ended his life, nobody knew. He could no -longer be a traitor at any rate. But this is anticipating. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - THE CARDINAL AND THE JEW. - - -"I should like," said Ippolito, "to speak with that Jew before I leave -you. He may help me to some curious manuscripts." - -The Medici were very clever in hunting up curiosities of literature; -for their encouragement of the arts sprang less from the love of that -renown which rewards liberal patronage, than from real, genuine interest -in arts and letters _for their own sake_. Hence the worship of their -very names among poor _literati_, to whom sympathy and appreciation -are dearer than gold, though they like that too. Pity that they loved -Plato better than Christ! The spirit of poetical and philosophical -emulation which they kindled was accompanied by utter obtuseness to -spiritual things. A keen sense of purity of language fostered no love -of purity of life; there was, in fact, complete antagonism between the -elegant disciples of Lorenzo and the severe followers of Savonarola and -Bernardino Ochino; and if the very light that was in them was darkness, -how great was that darkness! The Medici retarded rather than advanced -the spirituality of their age; and in like manner, though in different -proportion, their elegant biographer has thrown a false shadow on good, -and a false light on evil. Of course I shall be covered with obloquy for -saying this. - -Cardinal Ippolito received Bar Hhasdai in a cabinet adjoining the _sala -di compagnía_, in which music and society-games were beguiling the -tedium of the other guests. The Jew was a grand specimen of the -Sephardim--he was a great deal older than he looked, his hair -unbleached, and his head unbent by age. - -"Your name is that of a great man," said the Cardinal to him. - -"My descent is from him likewise," said the physician. "I am son, or, as -your people would say, descendant of that Hhasdai ben Isaac who was -Hagib to the second Abderrahman, and wrote the famous epistle--of which -you doubtless have heard--to Joseph, King of Cozar." - -"No, I never heard anything about it," said Ippolito with interest. "Who -was the king of Cozar?" - -"The Cozarim," replied Bar Hhasdai, "were Jews dwelling on the Caspian -Sea. My ancestor had long heard of them without being able to -communicate with them, till, from the Spanish embassy at Constantinople, -he learned that some of them frequently brought furs for sale to the -bazaars there. On this, he addressed an epistle to them, beginning: 'I, -Bar Hhasdai ben Isaac, ben Ezra, one of the dispersed of Jerusalem, -dwelling in Spain,' and so on--'Be it known to the king that the name of -the land we inhabit is, in the holy language, Sepharad, but in that of -the Ishmaelites, el Andalus,' &c. Bar Hhasdai despatched this epistle to -the East by an envoy, who returned six months afterwards, saying he had -hunted high and low for the Cozarim, without being able to find them. -Their kingdom undoubtedly existed, but was quite inaccessible. Bar -Hhasdai transmitted his letter afterwards, however, through two -ambassadors of the Asiatic people called Gablim, who visited Cordova." - -"And were these Cozarim the lost tribes?" - -"I know not." - -"Where are they now?" - -"They are not found." - -"How came you Jews to settle in Spain?" - -"I believe in Abarbanel. He tells us that two families of the house of -David settled in Spain during the first captivity. One of them settled -at Lucena; the other, the Abarbanels, took root at Seville. Hence all -their descendants were of the royal stock--of the tribe of Judah." - -"You yourself, then, are of the royal stock?" - -"I trace up to David." - -Ippolito did not know whether to believe him; but he evidently believed -in himself. - -"I thought," said De' Medici, "your genealogies were lost?" - -"Not when we came to Spain. But it is believed that many Jews were in -Spain even _prior_ to the first captivity--Jews who came over with the -merchant ships of Hiram in the days of David and Solomon, and who -remitted large sums of money towards the erection of the Temple. You may -see a tombstone that confirms this, without the walls of Saguntum, to -this day. It bears the following inscription in Hebrew--'The sepulchre -of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came hither to collect -tribute.' The tomb was opened about fifty years ago, and found to -contain an embalmed corpse of unusual stature." - -"This is curious," said the Cardinal, reflectively,--"and merely a -matter of curiosity." - -"It ought not to be so in your eyes--nor in the eyes of any thoughtful -Christian," said Bar Hhasdai. - -"Why not?" - -"Because we Sephardim were not consenting unto the death of him whom you -term the Christ." - -"Ha!--But you would have done so, most probably, if you had been on the -spot." - -"That is a gratuitous supposition. On the contrary, we wrote an epistle -to Caiaphas the High Priest, pleading for the life of Jesus, whose good -report had been brought us." - -"Can this be so?" - -"Prince Cardinal! when I and my brethren were banished from Spain forty -years ago, we appealed to an ancient monument in the open square of -Toledo, bearing the inscription of some very early bishop, to the effect -that we Sephardim had not quitted Spain during the whole time of the -second Temple; and, therefore, could not have shared in the guilt of -crucifying Jesus!" - -"Singular!" - -"When Taric the Moor took Toledo, in the year 710 of your era, he found, -at Segoncia, among other treasures, the actual table of shew-bread which -had belonged to Solomon's Temple! and which our nation had secretly -brought to Spain. It was composed of one huge emerald, surrounded by -three rows of the choicest pearls, and it stood upon three hundred and -sixty feet of pure gold." - -"Are you fabling?" exclaimed the Cardinal, whom this tradition -interested more than all the rest. - -"Nay," said Bar Hhasdai, "the fable is not mine, at any rate. That such -a relic was really found there, is proved by their changing the name of -the place from Segoncia to Medinat al Meida, _the place of the table_." - -"Why, man, such a relic as that would redeem your whole race! Hist, the -Duchess is singing----" - -A lute, rarely touched, preluded a sweet, plaintive air, sung by a balmy -voice in the saloon. The Cardinal listened with pleasure and a little -provocation; for the Duchess had twice refused to sing to him, and it -was very bad of her to do so at the request of some one else. The little -snatch of song ended abruptly in the minor. - -"Could not you enter into that?" said Ippolito, noticing a strange -mixture of sadness and sarcasm on the physician's face. He replied with -a distich-- - - - "What saith the art of music among the Christians?-- - 'I was assuredly stolen from the land of the Hebrews!'" - - -"Do you mean that that is a Hebrew melody?" - -"O, yes!" - -"Jew! _why_ will you not convert, and be healed?" - -"It cannot be. I have seen whole families of slain Jews with gaping -gashes in their bodies, heaped at their own thresholds--and those gashes -were made by the swords of Christians!" - -"But that was in Spain." - -"Bear with me, Cardinal, while I repeat a parable to you. Pedro the -Great of Arragon inquired of a learned Jew which was the best religion. -He replied: 'Ours is best for us, and yours for you,' The king was not -satisfied with this answer, and the Jew, after three days, returned to -him seemingly in great perturbation, and said: 'A neighbour of mine -journeyed to a far country lately, and gave each of his two sons a rich -jewel to console them for his absence. The young men came to me to -inquire which jewel was the most valuable. I assured them I was unable -to decide, and said their father must be the best judge, on which they -overwhelmed me with reproaches.' 'That was ill done of them,' said the -king. 'O, king!' rejoined the Jew, 'beware how thou condemnest thyself. -A jewel has been given unto the Hebrew and likewise to the Christian, -and thou hast demanded that I should decide which is the most precious. -I refer thee to our great Father, the Giver of all good gifts, who alone -can exactly determine their comparative and absolute values.'" - -This apologue pleased the Cardinal, though, in fact, it was very -superficial. He inquired whether Bar Hhasdai could help him to any rare -manuscripts. - -"The few which I possess," said the physician, after a pause, "are not -such as would be of any value in your eyes: being either on our own law, -or on the science of medicine--" - -"Nay, but," said the Cardinal, "the latter are such as I should greatly -prize." - -"They are altogether obsolete and unworthy of your notice," said Bar -Hhasdai, "but I have a little treatise on Chess, which really is a -curiosity in its way; and also a treatise on Aristotle's Ethics, by -Rabbi Joseph ben Caspi, of Barcelona, which is at your service." - -"Let me have them both," said the Cardinal, "and in return I beg you to -accept this ruby of small value." - -"This is a rare gem!" said the physician, with delight, "and cut with -Hebrew characters. May I really have it?" - -"Certainly. And pray tell me before you go, do you think the Moorish -girl will recover?" - -"I have some hope of it." - -"Could not you, as you have a key to her confidence, which we have not, -ascertain whether she is really faithful to the Duchess?" - -"There can be no question of her fidelity. She has spoken of her -mistress with gratitude." - -"That is well. Farewell, then." - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - THE SORROWS OF THE JEW. - - -When Cardinal Ippolito had taken leave, and the last glimpse of his -scarlet tippet had been seen as his little cavalcade wound out of sight, -Giulia found her remaining guests very stale, flat, and unprofitable; -and when they too had departed, she became exceedingly listless and -peevish; very much in the mood of little children in the nursery, when -they weary their nurses with "I don't know what to do!" - -To do Giulia justice, it must be admitted that this mood was not -habitual to her. Naturally sweet-tempered, and highly cultivated, she -had too many resources within herself to be accustomed to find her time -hang heavy on her hands. She could sing, play, and paint; she was -skilful at her needle; she wrote very tolerable sonnets, and -corresponded with many of the most celebrated people of the day. She was -praised without insincerity by men whose names are still honoured among -us. And yet she was just now in that vapid frame when one exclaims--"Man -delighteth me not, nor woman either;" in that longing for some unknown, -unattainable good which made St. Anselm say--"Libera me, Domine, a isto -misero homine _meipso_!" - -So she leant her head on her hand and shed a few tears: then, fancying -she must be sickening of marsh miasma, she sent for Bar Hhasdai. - -The physician, perceiving that there was nothing the matter with her, -began to tell her, incidentally as it were, while he felt her pulse, of -the grief of the Adimari family, whose son had been carried off by -Barbarossa. The Duchess became interested in their sorrows, and forgot -her imaginary ailments. She consulted with him how she might console -them and relieve other bereaved persons. - -"Surely," said she, looking at his hand, "I have seen that ruby worn by -Cardinal Ippolito?" - -"He gave it me but yesterday," said Bar Hhasdai, "in return for two -manuscripts of not half the value; whereon I sent him another really -rare, and worthy of a place in the Vatican library." - -"You were determined not to be outdone by him in generosity, it seems," -said Giulia. "He told me he had held a very interesting conversation -with you about your own people. Tell me, Bar Hhasdai, is it really true -that you Jews mingle the blood of a Christian child with your unleavened -bread at Passover time?" - -"It is false, most scandalously false," replied Bar Hhasdai, "and only -invented by the Christians to colour their own outrages upon us. You -might as well ask, if there were any truth in the old story of there -being a magical brazen head in the castle of Tavora, which, on the -approach of any one of our race, would exclaim, 'A Jew is in Tavora!' -and, on his departure, 'The Jew is now out of Tavora!' O lady! revolting -are the accusations that have been raised against us!--of our crucifying -children, drinking their blood, and burning their hearts to ashes. -Sometimes our people have been tortured till their agonies have wrung -from them false confessions, which afterwards have been disproved; as in -the case of the brothers Onkoa, who, in the reign of one of the Alonsos, -were accused of stealing two of the king's golden vessels, and by -torture were induced to confess it, in consequence of which they were -hanged. Yet, three days after, the vessels were found in the possession -of one of the king's own servants." - -"I have always held torture," said Giulia, "to be a very uncertain as -well as cruel test." - -"Alonso quoted what I have related, as a case in point," said Bar -Hhasdai, "when certain Jews were accused of secreting the dead body of a -Christian, which, after all, turned out to have been cast into the house -of one of them by his Christian debtor, who owed him a sum of money he -had no mind to repay. Thus have obloquy and contumely been heaped upon -us, without our having the power to avenge ourselves; for the Lord hath -forgotten His footstool in the day of His wrath." - -"Who or what do you call His footstool?" - -"In a general sense, the whole earth; but in a more particular one, -Jerusalem." - -"Since you admit that God has forgotten you, you must submit to your -judicial punishment." - -"Lady, it is hard! Easy to say, but hard to do. The only consolation is -in knowing that a good time is coming, when we shall--when the Gentiles -themselves shall speed us to our city, even carrying us on their -shoulders." - -"Do you really believe that?" - -"_Literally!_" said Bar Hhasdai. "But I do not expect to live to see -it." - -"You are yet young----" - -"Ah, no! I am very old, and worn out with a life of trouble." - -"Tell me the story of your life," said the Duchess, with interest. "Tell -me how you came to leave Spain." - -"Will you listen to me?" said Bar Hhasdai. "Then you shall hear. In the -month Abib, or, as you would say, in March, in the year 5052, or -according to your reckoning 1492, a decree was passed that every Jew -should quit Arragon, Castile, and Granada, on pain of death and -confiscation. By a refinement in injustice, we were forbidden to take -out of the country plate, jewels, or coin: we must convert all our -possessions into bills of exchange. As our enemies would not buy of us -till the last moment, and then at a prodigious discount, you may -conceive the way in which we were pillaged, often reduced to exchange a -good house for an ass, or a field or vineyard for a few yards of cloth. - -"When the royal proclamation was announced, Abarbanel the Jew happened -to be at court. He entered the king's presence, and cast himself before -him on his face, exclaiming, 'Regard us, O king! Use not thy faithful -servants with so much cruelty! Exact from us everything we possess, -rather than banish us from what has now become our country!' But it was -all in vain. At the king's right hand sat the queen, who was the Jews' -enemy, and who urged him with an angry voice to carry through what he -had so happily commenced. We left no effort untried to obtain a reversal -of the king's sentence; but without effect. Baptism was the only -alternative. I am sorry to say, there were some who submitted to it, -rather than forsake their homes. Home is dear; but it may be purchased -too dearly. More noble were those _eight hundred thousand_ Sephardim who -forsook house and hearth, garden, field, and vineyard, the synagogues -and the burial-places of their fathers, and, on foot and unarmed, -collected together from every province, young and old, infants and -women, noble examples of passive endurance, to go whither the Lord -should lead them! Of that number was I; and with God for our guide we -set out---- - -"Do I tire you?" - -"O no!----Go on." - -"About twenty thousand of us took refuge in Portugal, where they were -admitted, _pro tempore_, on payment of eight golden ducats per head: -but, if they remained beyond a certain day, they were sentenced to -slavery. The frontiers were lined with tax-gatherers, to exact the -poll-tax. - -"The majority of us embarked at the different ports, where brutal -ship-masters exacted enormous sums for their passage, and, in many -cases, burned or wrecked their vessels when at sea, escaping themselves -in their boats, and leaving the unhappy Jews to perish. - -"The crew of the ship in which I, a young child, was, rose to murder us, -for the sake, as they averred, of avenging the death of Christ; but a -Christian merchant on board told them that Christ died to save men, not -to destroy them. So they altered their purpose, stripped us, and set us -on a barren coast, under a blazing sun, where they left us to perish. We -found a spring of fresh water, at which we slaked our thirst; but food -we had none. At night, some of our party were devoured by lions. Five -days we remained in this wretched state: we were then picked up by the -crew of a passing ship, who tore up old sails to clothe us, gave us -food, and carried us to a port. The people of that place inquired -whether they had brought us for sale. The ship-master nobly answered -'No!' and delivered us to our brethren in the city, who gladly -reimbursed him for our expenses, and united with us in praying that he -might live to a good old age." - -"You see there are some good Christians among us," interrupted the -Duchess. - -"Certainly," said the Jew. "But the majority of them were against us: -nor did we experience any better treatment from the Moors. At Fez the -gates were closed against the Jews, who, beneath a burning sun, could -find nothing but grass to eat, and miserably perished. Many hundred -children were sold into slavery. One mother was known to strike her -expiring child on the head with a stone, and then breathe her last on -his dead body. Two hundred widows dwelt together in Barbary, labouring -diligently with their hands, and sharing all things in common. Many of -these women had been separated from their husbands by cruel -circumstances, but knew not whether they were dead or alive. A -pestilence broke out among the Jews, who filled nine caravels bound for -Naples. On landing there the disease communicated itself to the -inhabitants, and swept off twenty thousand of them. At Genoa, the -citizens met our people with bread in one hand and the crucifix in the -other. Their choice lay between baptism and starvation." - -"I cannot wonder," said the Duchess, after a pause, "that you are -prejudiced against our religion, for you have seen it under false -colours, but I hope the time will come when those prejudices may wear -off." - -"I hope it may," said the physician, equivocally; and he changed the -subject. - -The little Vespasiano Gonzaga, who, on the death of the Duke of -Sabbionetta, came into Giulia's guardianship at eight years old, in -after times was very liberal to the Jews. He granted them a licence to -establish a Hebrew press at Sabbionetta, from which issued several -editions of the Pentateuch, Psalter, and Hebrew commentaries.[7] - - [7] Benj. Wiffen, _Introduction to Alfabeto Christiano_. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO. - - -Giulia remembered, the next morning, as her cameriera was warping some -pearls into her hair, that she had meant and half engaged to try a -course of mortification on the Cardinal's departure. She therefore put -on an old green gown, with bouffonnée sleeves, which was almost too worn -for a duchess; and, in a very easy pair of slippers, sat down to her -morning refection. Some sweetmeats allured her, but she took a piece of -plain bread and a glass of lemonade; after which, she thought "Well -done, resolution!" and tasted the sweetmeats after all. Moderately, -however. - -After this, she sat for a good while in a waking dream; and then, -rousing herself, determined to go to church, but found it was too late. -She thought she would send for the poor widow of whom Bar Hhasdai had -spoken to her; but just then, Caterina came to tell her that her lapdog -had run a thorn into its foot; and as one act of mercy would do for -another, she superintended the dressing of the little animal's paw, and -did not send for the widow. After this, she inspected the embroidery of -her maids of honour, and thought of fourteen rhymes as the skeleton of a -sonnet. - -She had advanced thus far in this well-spent day, when the sound of -horses' feet made her suddenly aware of the approach of a visitor. Now, -our Duchess did not like being caught; it was very seldom, indeed, that -she _could_ be caught in déshabille; for she enjoyed the consciousness -of being at all times a perfectly well-dressed woman. It was hard, -therefore, to be found in half-toilette the only time in all the season -that such a misfortune could have occurred; especially as it would not -be known to partake of the meritorious nature of a penance. However, -the mortification would be all the more complete. Who could the visitor -be? The Bishop of Fondi? - -She looked into the court-yard, and saw a grave, elderly person in -ecclesiastical habit, with four mounted attendants, descending somewhat -stiffly from his horse. His face was rather plain; his figure tall and -imposing. He had a snub nose, high, broad forehead, small, penetrating -eyes, and auburn hair and beard a little silvered. - -In a few minutes the maggior-domo announced "Messer Sebastiano -Veneziano." - -The Duchess uttered an exclamation of joy, and advanced, beaming with -smiles, to meet him. Never had she looked more lovely: the painter -started, and paused for a moment, as she approached. The next instant, -her white hand was in his. - -"Welcome, Messer Sebastiano, welcome! How good of you to grace my poor -house!" - -"Illustrious Lady, his Holiness the Pope desired me to give you his -paternal greeting." - -"I gratefully thank his Holiness." - -"--And his Eminence, Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici kisses your hands, and -supplicates of your condescension that you will remember your promise to -let my poor pencil limn your features." - -"I have not forgotten it. I shall esteem it an honour to sit to so great -a master. How would you have me dressed, Messer Sebastian? What pose -shall you choose?" - -"Vossignoria will allow me to study you a little before I decide?" - -"Certainly, certainly. Rather formidable, though, to think I am always -being studied!" - -"I should recommend Vossignoria not to think at all about it." - -"Well, I will try. You are fatigued with your journey, Messer -Sebastian." - -"It will soon pass off. My hand is not steady enough to paint to-day. -The journey has interested me. I have made acquaintance with the -promontory of Circe, the shining rock of Anxur, and the towering -Volscian mountains--all renowned in song, as I need not tell you, -Signora! I observed Cora and Sezza shining like aërial palaces against -the brown rugged rock that supports them. I viewed with interest the -woods and thickets that once sheltered Camilla. Piperno is, you know, -the _antiqua urbs_ of Virgil. I am speaking to a princess who is a -classical scholar----" - -"Little enough of one," replied the Duchess. "Cardinal Ippolito took -compassion on my ignorance, and translated the second book of the Eneid -for me. But how go things at Rome?" - -And the great painter found that the great lady was more interested in -the chit-chat of the capital, than in classical allusion and learned -quotation. - -The Duchess could always summon at short notice a little circle of -deferential friends to her evening meal. She appeared in velvet and -jewels. The next morning she wore white. This was not out of coquetry, -but as a simple matter of business, that the famous master might make up -his mind what suited her best, as a sitter, and proceed to work. - -"Lady," said he, "I prefer the dress in which I saw you first." - -"Oh, but that is so old! so shabby!----" - -"_Non importa_--it harmonises with your complexion----" - -"Two shades of olive," said she, laughing a little; and she went to -change her dress. - -When she returned, Sebastian had concentrated the light by excluding it -altogether from one window, and placing a screen before the lower half -of the other. His easel and panel had been brought in by his attendant, -who was now busy laying his palette, and the artist was selecting chalks -and cartridge paper for a preparatory sketch. - -"You look charming," said he, as Giulia entered and seated herself in a -raised chair. She was in the olive-green dress, cut square on the bust, -with velvet bars on the corsage; and full, puffed, long sleeves, a white -lace neckerchief, and long transparent veil, added to the modest and -noble simplicity of her dress; while her rich auburn hair, dark in the -shade and golden in the sun,[8] was braided behind with a few pearls, -and gathered into rich coils. - - [8] "As through the meadow-lands clear rivers run, - Blue in the shadow, silver in the sun." - - Hon. Mrs. Norton. _Lady of La Garaye._ - -Poor Cynthia, with her throat swathed up, stood behind with her -feather-fan; but the painter looked distastefully at her, and did not -repeat his glance: he had no mind to introduce her, even as a foil. - -"I must make a saint or an angel of you, since you are for a Cardinal," -said he, with a grave smile; "and it will not be difficult." - -"Surely, this old gown is not very angelical?" said the Duchess. - -"No matter. A nimbus and pincers will identify you with St. Agatha or -St. Apollonia, quite sufficiently for the purpose." - -He began to draw with great diligence, and was terribly silent. The -Duchess felt inclined to yawn. - -"More to the right," he said, abruptly, as she inclined her head a -little to the left. "Perdona, illustrissima." - -"Pray do not stand on ceremony," said she. Her countenance had become -vacant, and he felt he must call up its expression. - -"Do you take any interest in art, Signora?" - -"O yes, a great deal. I only wish I knew more about it." - -"Do you know what is its great object?" - -"To address the eye?" - -"To address the mind." - -"Certainly. Of course. I ought to have said so." - -"The painter who only aims to deceive the eye is ignorant of the true -dignity of art." - -"To deceive the eye, and to please it, however, are different things." - -"I grant it; but the eye of an intelligent, a refined person, is not -pleased by that which offends the mind." - -"I thought you Venetians cared more for colour than for drawing or -expression." - -"I did so as long as I was a pupil of Giorgione's. But when I came to -Rome, Michael Angelo showed me where I was wrong. He said, 'It is a pity -you Venetians do not learn to draw better in your youth, and adopt a -better manner of study.' I took the hint, and drew diligently from the -living model. But even this did not content him. 'You neglect the ideal -beauty of form,' said he, 'and propriety of expression,' I treasured -this hint, too. I said to him, 'If you would condescend to unite our -colouring to your drawing, you would be--what, after all, you are -already--such a master as the world ne'er saw,' 'That may not be,' said -he, half-smiling; 'you might as well try to graft a rose on an oak: but -if _you_, my son, would unite good drawing to your colouring, you might -distance Raffaelle.' And, taking up a piece of pipeclay, he sketched out -a Lazarus, and splashed in the colour. I do not altogether like it, the -action is too violent, and he has made him as black as your Moorish -girl; but still it is a grand thing--a very grand thing--the action of -the toe, trying to disentangle the bandage of the left leg, is -wonderfully original. I have tried to paint all the rest of my picture -up to it. A little more to the right, Signora!" - -"Cardinal Ippolito told me that picture of yours was very grand," said -the Duchess. "He especially admired the different expressions of the two -sisters. But he thought the figure of the Saviour too small." - -"----Well," said Sebastian, after drawing for a few minutes in silence, -"perfect proportion always gives the idea of smallness. The figure was -on the same scale with the rest, till Michael Angelo put in his great -Lazarus: and you know I could not re-touch the master's work." - -"Michael Angelo writes to me sometimes," observed the Duchess, "but he -is a better correspondent of my cousin, Vittoria Colonna." - -Sebastian worked a little while in silence, and then said: - -"Is not the Marchioness somewhat tinctured with the new opinions?" - -"Yes," said Giulia, "I am afraid she is. That's the worst of being too -clever." - -"Is it a proof of being so?" - -"Well, clever people are apt to run after new things." - -"Perhaps they see more in them than the less clever do." - -"They think they do, at any rate." - -"Has your ladyship looked yet into the works of the Prince of Carpi?" - -"Do you mean the great heavy books you brought me from the Cardinal? -No." - -"They contain a masterly refutation of the heresies of Erasmus. The -Cardinal thought they might confirm you in the faith." - -"I am happy to say my faith wants no confirming. I would rather have had -some novels. You may tell him so, if he says anything to you about -it.... Have you read the books yourself?" - -"I have looked into them." - -"Have you read Erasmus's books?" - -"No." - -"Well, when I attack controversy, I will read both sides." - -"That will be rather dangerous." - -"How can that be? Only one side can be right." - -"Your excellency is of course above danger," said Sebastian, with a -little cough, "but, for common minds, there is the danger of not -distinguishing which _is_ the right. For myself, being but a moderate -logician, and still slighter theologian, I prefer taking my religion as -I have been taught it, to meddling with edged tools. The Church is -irrefutable: the Church has foundations that will never be shaken. And I -am content to abide by its decisions.--A little more to the right." - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - THE DUCHESS AND THE PAINTER. - - -After the steed is stolen, we shut the stable-door; and the Duchess, who -now felt very cowardly after dark, set a regular watch on the -battlements, whose orders were that he should wind his horn every hour, -as he paced his rounds, that she might be certified he was on the alert. -The prolonged, wailing note of this horn, piercing the solemn stillness -of night, had something infinitely melancholy in it, and often woke her -with a start; but then she had the satisfaction of thinking all was -safe, and soon yielded herself again to soft repose. Her maids, of whom -she had as many as the Duchess in Don Quixote, were much more timorous -than she was, and yielded a good deal to their fears, thinking it rather -pretty and interesting to start and shriek on the smallest alarm, till -they were scolded out of it by the Mother of the maids. This important -functionary, whose name, like that of Giulia's nurse, was Caterina, but -who bore the dignified prefix of Donna, was of Spanish birth, starched -and stiff as Leslie's duenna. In the feudal times, when the sons of -knights and nobles took service in the household of some brother noble -or knight, and performed the various duties of page and squire, their -sisters in like manner attended on the said noble's lady, somewhat in -the capacity of maids of honour, under the strict surveillance of the -Mother of the maids, who initiated them into all feminine crafts and -handiworks, as well as into the decorums and duties of life. That the -Duchess's household comprised many of these girls, we know from her -will, leaving them marriage portions, generally with the addition of a -bed and bedding. Doubtless there was some Altesidora among them, -accustomed to wear the old Duenna's heart out with her mischief and fun; -but, on the whole, Donna Caterina's rule was popular. Obedience, the -grand principle of peace and order, once enforced, she exercised no -vexatious petty tyrannies. - -On the first rumour of Barbarossa's invasion, Donna Caterina had swept -off all these young people into the cellar, and there locked them and -herself in, while Caterina, the nurse, devoted herself to securing the -jewels and plate, which she did with complete success. - -Sebastian del Piombo made many studies of the Duchess before he could -please himself; and the irresolution with which captious cavillers have -chosen to charge him was indicated in the deliberation with which he -poised and valued the merits of each before his final decision was made. -But deliberation is a very different thing from vacillation; and even -irresolution is as often an evidence of a great mind before the ultimate -choice, as it is of a little one after it. Plenty of illustrations will -occur to you, without any impertinent suggestions. - -After sketching her, then, as a nymph, an angel, a goddess, he chose the -simplest of his studies: one that represented her as - - "A creature not too bright or good - For human nature's daily food; - But yet an angel, too, and bright - With something of celestial light:" - -and then, to it he set _con furore_, grasping palette and brushes as -Jove might his thunder-bolts, and painting up his study with consummate -art and science, often in dead silence only broken by "A little more to -the right." - -As for the Duchess, when she was off duty, that is, when Sebastian was -getting his picture together, and bringing the separate parts well up -at the same time--as nature creates her works--she would dabble a little -in the arts herself, and pore over a few inches of paper, working as if -for her bread; with now and then a modest appeal,--"Is this altogether -ill-done? Is this a trifle better? Just put in a touch or two." - -O, delightful art of painting! Who can pursue you and not be happy? -Those artists who have known envy, jealousy, and malice, have not loved -you for yourself, but for ends far below you; for you are infinitely -calming! The true painter knows no rivalry but with nature, no master -but truth, no mistress but purity, no reward but success. As Garibaldi, -king of men, said last year, "When God puts you in the way of doing a -good thing, _do it_, and hold your tongue." - -"Do you think," said Giulia, one day, "I might become a good painter, -if I gave my mind to it?" - -"Certainly, if you gave your mind to it. But you never will! You are too -rich to be a good painter. A certain degree of excellence you may -attain, that will embellish your life and charm your leisure; but, to -become really _great_, one must attack painting like any mechanical -trade, and apply to it like an apprentice, not merely when the fancy -inclines, but at all times, willing or unwilling." - -"Ah, that would never suit me," said the Duchess. "But, supposing I -could leap over the apprenticeship, and become at once a great artist -like Michael Angelo, I might have underlings to do all the rough work -for me, and only do what was pleasant." - -"That is not Michael Angelo's way at all," said Sebastian. "He grinds -his own colours, I promise you, and lays his own palette, as I myself -do when at leisure. One thinks out many profitable thoughts at such -times. And no one can prepare our colours to please us as we can -ourselves. Though many of the early stages of sculpture are executed -from the clay model by rule and plummet, yet I assure you Michael Angelo -trusts it to no inferior workman, but does it himself. He is a great -man! a truly great man! And one of his great achievements has been to -sweep away the gold and purple backgrounds and other puerilities of the -dark ages." - -Sebastian little thought art would ever make a _retrograde progress_ to -pre-Raffaelitism. _Do_ we then, after all, move in a circle? - -In a month, the picture was finished. It was curious that Giulia should -have sat for it, at Ippolito's request, and for Ippolito; but we know -that she did. Affo supposes that she could not in courtesy refuse him, -after his coming so chivalrously to her succour. You may see the picture -now, at the National Gallery. The Duchess and the painter had quite a -friendly parting; and she engaged him, at his earliest leisure, to paint -her a portrait of himself. - -When the Cardinal saw the picture, it gave him a strange mixture of -pleasure and pain. - -"You have doubtless had a pleasant month," said he, moodily. "I wish you -had been Ippolito and I Sebastian." - -And when he found that Sebastian had promised Giulia his own picture, he -begged him to introduce _his_ portrait into it--which he did. - -"Ippolito had, at all events," says one of his chroniclers, "some -loveable and estimable qualities, and most of the historians have a -good word for him."[9] Doubtless this was owing to the genuine love of -letters which made the Medici the idols of the literati. Endowed by -Clement the Seventh with immense wealth, he was, says Roscoe, "the -patron, the companion, and the rival of all the poets, musicians, and -wits of his time. Without territories and without subjects, Ippolito -maintained at Bologna a court far more splendid than that of any Italian -potentate. His associates and attendants, all of whom could boast of -some peculiar merit or distinction which had entitled them to his -notice, generally formed a body of about three hundred persons. Shocked -at his profusion, which only the revenues of the church were competent -to supply, Clement the Seventh is said to have engaged the _maestro di -casa_ of Ippolito to remonstrate with him on his conduct, and to request -that he would dismiss some of his attendants as unnecessary to him. -'No,' replied Ippolito, 'I do not retain them at my court because I have -occasion for their services, but because they have occasion for mine.'" -An answer worthy of a Medici, "His translation of the Eneid into Italian -blank verse is considered one of the happiest efforts of the language, -and has been frequently reprinted. Amongst the collections of Italian -poetry, also, may be found some pieces of his composition, which do -credit to his talents."[10] - - [9] T. A. Trollope. - - [10] Roscoe's Lorenzo de' Medici. Some of his pieces may be - found in Crescembini, Della volgare Poesia, ii. 11. - -One morning, when it was discovered that many valuable statues in Rome -had been broken and defaced during the night, the Pope was so incensed -at it that he gave orders that whoever had committed the outrage, unless -it should prove to be Cardinal Ippolito, should be hanged. This looks as -if he were not quite sure that Ippolito might not be the culprit. -However, the offender proved to be Lorenzino de' Medici; and it required -all Ippolito's influence with the Pope to get him off. - -A Cardinal who could even be suspected by a Pope of playing such a prank -must have been a sorry sort of a churchman; and though we read of "his -frank, chivalrous nature," it would be vain indeed to look for anything -like spirituality in a Medici. When Giulia asked him for something to -supply the vague longings of her heart for a higher happiness than this -world could give, he was quite at sea, and could direct her to nothing -but ascetic observances and the sacrifice of all her possessions to the -church, whose coffers he so recklessly emptied. Yet he had a nature -capable of better things; but it could not shake itself free from the -trammels of earth. When he looked at Giulia's picture he thought, -"There, is a woman who might have made me happy." Perhaps he even -thought, "There is a woman who might have made me good;" but when a man -thinks this and makes no effort to become one whit better than he is, he -might just as well spare himself the reflection. - -Of course there were many versions of the story of Barbarossa's attempt -to capture the Duchess. Affo, the family annalist, summons all his -sesquipedalian vocabulary to dignify the occurrence with such eloquence -as this--"Quali fosseri gli affetti del suo delicatissimo animo in cotal -fuga, degno argomento di poema! e di storia, gioverà per interrompimento -di questo basso mio stile, di alzarsi a tanto incapace," &c., &c. And -Muzio Giustinapolitano indited an eclogue on the subject, beginning-- - - "Muse! quali antri o qual riposte selve - Vi teneano in quel punto? e tu, Minerva! - Qual sacri studj? E qual nuova vaghezza - Il dolce Amor?" &c., &c. - -"What were you all about, ye muses, goddesses, and you, you little god -of love," &c., that you did not fly to the rescue of this adorable lady? -and so forth. - -It was not only declared that Barbarossa had been despatched by the -Sultan, who desired to enumerate her among the beauties of his harem, -but that she had flung herself out of window, in her chemise, and fled -barefooted to the mountains, where she fell into the hands of some -condottieri, who, recognising her, respectfully conducted her back to -her castle. Giulia was very angry when these stories reached her, which -she was the last, however, to hear of; and when it was learnt that she -was contradicting them with warmth, another and worse story was -circulated, that she had had a Moorish slave assassinated for having -told the truth; in proof of which, his dead body had been cast ashore -with his tongue cut out. When Giulia begged her kinsmen to refute these -calumnies, they only pooh-poohed them, which greatly enraged her; and -she was heard to exclaim, "What a world this is!" which, after all, was -not a very original observation. - -Extremely weary of herself and of things in general, she one morning -languidly opened a letter from her cousin, the Marchioness of Pescara, -with very little expectation of its affording her much interest or -amusement. - -"Vittoria is always a flight above me," she mentally said. "I never was, -and never shall be, one of your grand intellectual ladies." - -This was said with that species of contempt with which too many of us -imply, "Your grand intellectual ladies are great stupids, after -all"--but are they so? Have they not often the best of it, even in this -world? Appreciation and applause that we real stupids would be very glad -of, fall to the share of the working bees that make the honey, and have -not some of them, at any rate, as fair a hope as any of us, of a good -place in the world to come? - -Thus wrote "the divine Vittoria," as she was frequently called--not in -the sense of her being a doctor of divinity, but addicted to divine -things:-- - - "There is now among us a man who is producing an extraordinary - sensation--Fra Bernardino Ochino, a Capuchin, who comes in the - spirit and with the power of Savonarola. Another valuable addition - to our Christian circle is Signor Juan de Valdés, the new Governor - of San Giacomo, and twin-brother of the Emperor's Latin secretary. - How I wish you were among us! We have a very pleasant little - society here, quite apart from those worldlings whose company you - and I have forsworn, our chief delight being to interchange - thoughts and feelings, cultivate our minds, and elevate our souls. - When the hot weather comes, I shall return to Ischia. Farewell." - - "Thy Vittoria." - -"Truly," exclaimed the Duchess, "to be at Naples would be ten thousand -times better than to remain here, where the malaria certainly affects -me; and I am sure my dear Duke would have said so, were it only for fear -of Barbarossa." - -So she gave the word of command, to the immense joy of her ladies, and, -after a prodigious bustle of preparation, she started with quite a -little army of retainers--six ladies of honour in sky-blue damask, six -grooms in chocolate and blue, her maggior-domo in starched ruff and black -velvet, and a competent number of men armed to the teeth. She performed -the journey, no very long one, in a horse-litter, curtained with blue -and silver, and piled with blue satin mattresses; and when she wished to -change her position she mounted her white palfrey. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - DAWN OF A PURE LIGHT. - - -Even in the darkest period of the middle ages, God had not left Himself -without witnesses of the Truth among the Alps. It was in the year 1370 -that these pure-minded people, finding themselves straitened for room, -sent emissaries into Italy in quest of a convenient settlement. These -deputies travelled as far south as Calabria, where they treated with the -proprietors of the soil for a waste, uncultivated district. Thither -emigrated a chosen body of the Vaudois, under whose industrious hands -the desert soon blossomed as the rose, the thorn and the thistle gave -place to clustering vines and waving corn; and the blessing of God -evidently rested on a praying people, who fed on His unadulterated -word, and addressed Him without superstition. - -This little light in a dark place could not shine unobserved. The -prosperity of the new settlers excited the envy of the neighbouring -villagers, who, seeing that they neither came to their churches nor -observed their ceremonies, got up the cry of heresy against them. The -land-proprietors, however, protected their valuable tenants; and the -priests, finding the increasing amount of their regularly paid tithes, -winked at their non-conformity. Thus, the little band continued to -flourish and increase till the dawn of the short-lived Italian -reformation. - -From a Calabrian monk of this district, Petrarch acquired a knowledge of -the then totally neglected Greek language; and Boccaccio learnt it of -this monk's disciple. These two distinguished Italians, of whom it is -poor praise to say that they would still have been great men, though -the one had never written sonnets, nor the other novels, gave an impulse -to the benighted minds of their countrymen which eventually led to the -glorious restoration of learning. The light went on shining more and -more unto the perfect day, till Greek became the one thing needful; and -Greek was the casket which enshrined the New Testament. - -It is sorrowful to know, however, that a love of letters does not imply -a love of religion, and too often accompanies a total disrelish of it. -Lorenzo the Magnificent lavished all his patronage on the disciples of -pagan Greece, and Leo the Tenth reserved preferment for the exponents of -a refined heathenism. Erasmus heard a sermon preached before Julius the -Second, in which the Saviour was likened to Phocion and Epaminondas. Of -Cardinal Bembo, the apostolical secretary, it was thought the highest -praise to say that he rivalled Cicero and Virgil. - -A doubtful convert from Judaism, detesting the brethren who now regarded -him as a renegade, obtained a decree from the Imperial chamber that all -Hebrew books but the Old Testament should be destroyed. Reuchlin, the -restorer of Hebrew literature among Christians, rose up to prevent the -execution of this barbarous decree, which would, indeed, have got rid of -the Mishna and Gemara,[11] but at the expense (perhaps not too great) of -annihilating many a profound and valuable work. - - [11] The Mishna, or Duplicate, purports to embody laws given to - Moses on the Mount, and delivered by him, not in writing, but by - word of mouth, to the elders of Israel. Though a bold imposture, - the Jews have accepted it as a divine tradition. The Gemara, or - Accomplishment, consists of a mass of Rabbinical expositions, - proverbs, and allegories. The two, united, form the Talmud, or - Doctrine; and to it the Jews referred all their decisions, - "making the Word of God of none effect."--_Finn's Sepharim._ - -Reuchlin's successful opposition aroused the anger of the clergy, and a -hot controversy ensued, in which Luther and Erasmus warmly took part. -Thereby many a chink was made in the strong prison-walls that shut in -the undying lamp of Truth; and through these crannies the pure light -streamed forth. - -The works of Luther and Erasmus, Zwingle and Melancthon, were eagerly -read in Italy, but speedily suppressed. Some of them, under feigned -names, even found their way into the Vatican. - -"We have had a most laughable business before us to-day," wrote the -elder Scaliger. "The Commonplaces of Philip Melancthon were printed at -Venice with this title, 'Per Messer Ippofilo da Terra Negra.' Being sent -to Rome they were speedily bought up and read with great applause, so -that an order was sent to Venice for a fresh supply. Meantime, a -Franciscan friar, who possessed a copy of the original edition, -discovered the trick, and denounced the book as a Lutheran production of -Melancthon's. It was proposed, at first, to punish the poor printer, -who probably had not read a word of the original; but, on second -thoughts, it was decided to burn the copies and hush up the whole -affair." - -Almost as bad as Elizabeth Barrett Browning's having her Greek books -bound like novels from the Minerva press! - -It is one thing, however, to perceive the scandals and abuses of the -Romish church, and another to appreciate the spirituality of the -Saviour's pure doctrine. But there were Italians who could do this. - -"It is now fourteen years," wrote Egidio da Porta, "since I, under the -impulse of a certain religious feeling, but not according to knowledge, -forsook my parents and assumed the black cowl. If I did not become -learned and devout, at any rate I appeared so, and for seven years was a -preacher of God's word, though, alas, in deep ignorance. I ascribed -nothing to faith, all to works. But God would not permit His servant to -perish for ever. He brought me to the dust. I was made to cry 'Lord! -what wilt thou have me to do?' And then the delightful answer was borne -in upon my heart, 'Arise, and go to Zwingle,' and he will tell thee what -thou must do!'" - -The Jews contributed their share towards the intelligent study of -Biblical literature. Already the world owed to them that prodigious -effort of patient industry, the Masora--a verification of every jot and -tittle of the Hebrew Scriptures, for the purpose of giving a full and -exact text of the Holy Word. The newly invented art of printing now gave -it extension and perpetuity. In 1477, the Hebrew Psalter, and various -books of the Old Testament, issued from the press; and in 1488, a Jewish -family at Soncino, in the Cremonese, brought out a complete Hebrew -Bible. For thirty years afterwards, this department of typography was -almost entirely engrossed by the Jews; and I have already mentioned how -Giulia Gonzaga's nephew, Vespasiano Colonna, subsequently allowed the -Jews to establish a printing-press in his duchy of Sabbionetta. - -Erasmus published his Greek edition of the New Testament in 1516. In -1527, Pagnini of Lucca published his Latin translation of the whole -Bible. Thus, the minds of the learned were attracted to the Scriptures -as literary curiosities; and happily there were some among them who -thereby became wise unto salvation. While, however, the Old and New -Testament were still confined to the dead languages, they were only -accessible to scholars. But, as early as in 1471, an Italian translation -of the Bible was printed at Venice, and it went through many editions. A -better translation, by Brucioli, was published in 1530. - -Travelling and letter-writing contributed to enlarge the minds of the -Italians and spread the reformed doctrines. There were also many -Reformers in the service of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who freely -broached their opinions while in Italy. Thus, like fire set to the dry -prairie grass, the flame ran across the country, soon dying out where it -found no combustible matter; in other quarters, smouldering unseen, when -it seemed trodden out. The Pope reproached the Emperor; the Emperor -recriminated, and bade the Pope reform his clergy. The sack of Rome -under the Constable de Bourbon was looked on by many of the Italians as -a judgment on the Pope for his impiety, and the names of heretic and -Lutheran were no longer heard with horror. Sermons were delivered in -private houses against the abuses of Romanism; and the number of -evangelical Christians increased every day. - -About this time, there might be seen, pacing along the high-roads of -Italy, a venerable man of most charming aspect. His beard was white as -snow, and descended to his girdle: his profile was finely cut, his skin -transparent and pale even to delicacy; his large, lustrous, dark brown -eyes were deep set beneath overhanging brows whose shadow gave them -wonderful intensity of expression. He carried a staff, but his figure -was erect and vigorous, his tread firm. When he came to the palace of a -prince or bishop, he was always received with the honours due to one of -superior rank: when he departed, it was with the same distinction. The -lead in conversation was by common consent yielded to him; people, -whether rich or poor, hung on his words, and tried to remember them. He -ate of such things as were set before him, but sparingly, and as if he -did not care what he ate. He drank water from the spring, or wine -tempered with water. - -This was Bernardino Ochino, the Capuchin friar. He was a native of -Sienna, and of obscure parentage. Impelled by religious motives, he had -early in life joined the Franciscan Observantines, but he afterwards -became a member of the Capuchin brotherhood, and adopted the most rigid -ascetic practices. These altogether failed to give him the peace of mind -which he sought. At his wit's end, he exclaimed:-- - -"Lord, if I am not saved now, I know not what else I _can_ do!" - -At length he found the very guide he wanted in the Bible, by the -attentive perusal of which he became convinced that Christ by his death -had made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the -whole world,--that religious vows of human invention were not only -useless but wicked,--and that the Romish church, with all her appeals to -the senses, was unscriptural and abominable in the sight of God. - -Ochino's natural powers of oratory, improved as they were by -cultivation, led to his being chosen for one of the Lent preachers in -the principal cities of Italy. He drew crowds to hear him. The Emperor, -when in Italy, attended his sermons. For the time, at any rate, he -effected in his hearers a change of heart and life--made them give -largely of their abundance to the poor, and reconciled their -differences. His adoption of the reformed doctrines was not discovered; -he seemed aiming at a reformation within the church, while Luther and -Calvin were effecting one out of it. The lower orders were becoming -imbued with new principles. An Observantine monk, preaching one day at -Imola, told his congregation that they must purchase heaven by their -good works. A young boy who was present exclaimed:-- - -"That's blasphemy! for the Bible tells us that Christ purchased heaven -for us by his sufferings and death, and bestows it freely on us by his -mercy!" - -"Get you gone, you young rascal," retorted the monk, "you are but just -come from the cradle; and do you take upon you to understand sacred -things which even the learned cannot explain?" - -"Did you never read these words," then rejoined the boy--"'Out of the -mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise?'" - -On this, the monk, furious with anger, quitted the pulpit, and delivered -the poor boy over to the secular arm, by which he was marched off to -jail; an awful warning to youngsters of his age and degree. - -When Giulia Gonzaga arrived at Naples, it was already beginning to -ferment with the leaven of the new opinions, without having yet drawn on -itself the displeasure of the Sacred College. She established herself in -a good house in the Borgo delle Vergini, (sleeping every night in the -nunnery of Santa Clara,) and immediately sought the society of Vittoria -Colonna, whose extraordinary interest in the reformed doctrines she was -at first quite at a loss to comprehend. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - VITTORIA DI COLONNA. - - - "Vittoria è 'l nome; e ben conviensi a nata - Fra le vittorie, ed a chi, o vada o stanzi, - Di trofei sempre e di trionfi ornata, - La Vittoria abbia seco, o dietro o innanzi. - Questa e un' altra Artemisia, che lodata. - Fu di pietà verso il suo Mausolo; anzi - Tanto maggior, quanto è più assai bel opra - Che por _sotterra_ un nom, trarlo _di sopra_." - - Ariosto. _Orlando_, xxxvii., 18. - - -Costanza, the young and beautiful Duchess of Francavilla, had, at the -beginning of the century, the fortress of the little island of Ischia -committed to her charge. This young widow had sense, goodness, courage, -rare prudence, energy, and fidelity; or Ischia, the key of the kingdom, -and more than once a royal asylum, would never have been entrusted to -her keeping. - -She was not only guardian of the castle and island, but of her infant -brother, Ferdinand, Marquis of Pescara. In his fifth year, the little -fellow was betrothed to the baby Vittoria Colonna, of the same age, who -was thenceforth consigned to the Duchess Costanza, to be educated with -her future husband; and the little _promessi sposi_ might be seen -straying about together, hand in hand, sharing their sweetmeats and -play-things, and now and then having a little fight. - -"Let dogs delight," however, was so strenuously inculcated by the -Duchess, that reciprocal forbearance soon cemented their affections. The -Marquis was taught that he must reserve kicks and blows for his future -enemies, and Vittoria that she must learn to bind up wounds rather than -inflict them. And so they chased butterflies, gathered flowers, and -hunted for strawberries together, themselves the prettiest blossoms -that ever floated on summer air. - - "Ah, lovely sight! behold them,--creatures twain, - Hand in hand wandering thro' some verdant alley, - Or sunny lawn of their serene domain, - Their wind-caught laughter echoing musically; - Or skimming, in pursuit of bird-cast shadows, - With feet immaculate the enamelled meadows." - - "Tiptoe now stand they by some towering lily, - And fain would peer into its snowy cave; - Now, the boy bending o'er some current chilly, - She feebler backward draws him from the wave, - But he persists, and gains for her at last - Some bright flowers, from the dull weeds hurrying past."[12] - - [12] Aubrey de Vere. "A Tale of the Olden Time." - -And thus the little betrothed led charmed lives, sporting and caressing, -in the intervals of learning hymns and legends and listening to the -Duchess's fairy tales. - -She also taught them a good deal of history by word of mouth, so that -they came to be quite as conversant with Romulus and Remus, Curtius and -Horatius Cocles, as with giants and dwarfs. Then came the conning of -the criss-cross row, duly followed by the Latin accidence, each -rivalling and yet helping the other. Learned tutors and gifted artists -gave the Duchess their aid; and thus the tranquil days glided on till -they were nineteen; the bloodshed and anarchy which distracted unhappy -Italy never troubling this charmed islet. - -Bishop Berkeley said of Ischia, in a letter to Pope: "'Tis an epitome of -the whole earth! containing within the compass of eighteen miles a -wonderful variety of hills, vales, rugged rocks, fruitful plains, and -barren mountains, all thrown together in most romantic confusion. The -air is, in the hottest season, constantly refreshed by cool breezes from -the sea; the vales produce excellent wheat and Indian corn, but are -mostly covered with vineyards, interspersed with fruit trees. Besides -the common kinds, as cherries, apricots, peaches, &c., they produce -oranges, limes, almonds, pomegranates, figs, water-melons, and many -other fruits unknown in our climate, which lie everywhere open to the -passenger. The hills are the greater part covered to the top with vines; -some with chesnut groves, and others with thickets of myrtle and -lentiscus." - -During this interval, Pescara had grown up into a strikingly handsome -and interesting youth. His hair, says Giovio, was auburn, his nose -aquiline, his eyes large and expressive; alternately flashing with -spirit and melting with softness. Vittoria worshipped him; and this was -so artlessly manifest that Pescara grew a little arrogant upon it. She -was a lovely blonde, with regular features, blue eyes, and hair of that -tint which Petrarch described as "chioma aurata," and which Galeazzo da -Tarsia, one of her poet-lovers, called "trecce d'oro." The Spanish -painter, Francesco d'Olanda, spoke of her rare beauty; and Michael -Angelo felt its powerful though innocent spell when, after their tender -leave-taking on her death-bed, he regretted that he had not kissed her -cheek instead of her hand. - -Vittoria's father, in spite of his grand, historic name, was but a -condottiere or captain of free lances, whose business and pleasure -consisted in bloodshed and rapine. He dwelt perched up in an old -ancestral castle overlooking a gloomy little walled town on a steep -hill-side, from whence he and his men would now and then sweep down to -devastate the property of his neighbours, much in the style of our own -border chiefs. It was his son Ascanio, Vittoria's brother, who made war -on Giulia, and seized her castles. - -Thus, Vittoria, the daughter and sister of fighting men, was ready to -admire and sympathize in the martial ardour of Pescara, which would have -had something respectable in it, had any one fought in those days for -any grand principle. - -At nineteen, the betrothed were married. Of course there was much -rejoicing, much feasting; chroniclers record the homages Vittoria -received from rich relations, in the shape of diamond crosses, diamond -rings, "twelve golden bracelets," &c., and recount the crimson velvet -gowns fringed with gold, the flesh-coloured silk petticoats trimmed with -black velvet, the purple brocaded mantles and so forth, composing her -wardrobe, which doubtless exemplified the height of the fashion of the -time. - -After the great stir was a great calm: two years ensued of perfect -married happiness. Then the young Marquis was summoned to the field; nor -did Vittoria seek to withhold him from the call to arms. The King of -Spain was also King of Naples, so of course Pescara fought on the -Spanish side: but the French were victorious at Ravenna, where he was -taken prisoner, after receiving some wounds in the face, which, the -Duchess of Milan told him, only made him the better-looking. - -He charmed his captivity by addressing to his wife a Dialogue on Love, -full of the studied conceits of the time. Vittoria sent him a poetical -epistle, full of tenderness and classicality. Playing on her own name, -she said:--"Se Vittoria volevi, io t'era appresso. Ma tu, lasciando me, -lasciasti lei." - -"If victory was what you wanted, _I_ was by your side. But, leaving -_me_, you lost _her_." - -One day, when she was with tearful eyes, inditing a sonnet to him, lo, -Pescara himself suddenly stood before her! He had been released on -paying a heavy ransom: she looked on him as "un gran capitano." - -Before their happiness could pall, he was off again, to win new laurels. -He had, indeed, bravery worthy of some good cause; but he was a stern, -inflexible commander: and in doing justice, he sometimes lost sight of -mercy. - -Pescara supplied his wife with an occupation during his absence, by -sending her a young boy to educate; a little cousin of his own, the -Marquis del Vasto; beautiful as a Cupid, but the naughtiest little Turk! - -In a little while, Vittoria could guide him with a rein of silk. It is -excellent woman's work to train boys. It is well to talk to them and -listen to them a good deal; tell them your own plans and air-castles; -hear all about theirs; help them in little matters and get them to help -you in yours; ask their opinion sometimes, and suggest rather than -intrude your own. Long walks together inevitably lead to long talks: -little things occur in which the boy may aid the woman as if he were a -man; though it be but to help her across a brook or over a stile. - -Del Vasto soon adored Vittoria, and as she was a good classic, he -feared her detection of false quantities, and yet would often come to -her for help, sure of obtaining it. He burned to be a hero like Pescara: -they both thought him quite up to Achilles. But Vittoria was to learn -her idol was made of clay. - -They met once more--they spent three days together, without knowing they -were not to see each other again. He hurried back to take the lead in a -brilliant but cruel campaign. It included the battle of Pavia. Robertson -calls Pescara the ablest and most enterprising of the Imperial generals; -and certainly he divided with Lannoy the merit of this victory, which -caused the captivity of two kings, and changed the fate of Europe. - -Pescara thought himself injured, in having Francis the First taken out -of his hands; and his known pique on the subject made a certain -political party, with the Pope for its real, and a man named Morone for -its ostensible head, think they might perhaps detach him from the -Spanish interest--in other words, make a traitor of him. - -In an evil hour, Pescara listened. Where was the pure, lofty influence -of his wife at that moment? She was far away, believing in his unstained -honour. A fatal letter was written by him, yielding to the tempter's -snares, and entrusted to a messenger named Gismondo Santi. - -This man, lodging at a low hostelry on his journey, was murdered by the -landlord, and buried under his staircase. As no tidings, consequently, -were heard of the unfortunate emissary, Pescara concluded he had turned -traitor (like his master) and carried his despatches to the Emperor. -Fancy his feelings. - -Oh, for Vittoria! Oh that she had been with him at first!--oh! that she -were with him now! As he clasped his strong hands over his burning eyes, -and strove to think, he seemed to see her, sitting at her -writing-table, pensively gazing at his miniature, and then at the -crucifix above it, with a prayer for him on her lips--a prayer that he -might be surrounded by an atmosphere of sanctity and safety. - -After crowning such a brilliant campaign by winning the battle of Pavia, -should he end by dying a disgraced man?--a convicted traitor, like De -Bourbon, with, perhaps, the felon death that De Bourbon had escaped? And -all for what? What dust and ashes the Evil One gives us to drink! - -Just then, a courier, hot with haste, brought him a letter--it was from -Vittoria. Too agitated to disentangle gently the tress of her fair hair -knotted round it, he cut it with his dagger, and devoured rather than -read it. - -Some bird of the air had carried the matter!--she had heard of the plot! -No Lady Macbeth was Vittoria, to urge her husband on to guilt--she was -his guardian angel, and wrote, with infinite trouble and anxiety, to -implore him to think of his hitherto unstained character, and to weigh -well what he was about, declaring to him that she had no desire to be -the wife of a king, but only of a loyal and upright man. - -This letter decided Pescara as to his course. He wrote a full confession -to the Emperor, who certainly owed him small thanks for it, seeing he -believed him to know all already; and the confederates he compromised -owed him still less. Pescara was too deep in the mire now, to come out -unstained. He returned to his allegiance to the Emperor, but he betrayed -his friends, his tempters, accomplices, or whatever name we may give -them. The Pope, of course, was above danger; but Morone fell into a -regular trap laid for him. - -Vittoria, far away in her little island, would only hear as much as -Pescara chose to tell her, and in his own way. She would suppose his -character unscathed, his possession of imperial favour undiminished, -since he was shortly afterwards made generalissimo of the forces. -Suddenly his health broke down. No one could say why, unless the slight -wounds he had received at Pavia had injured him more than was supposed. -A troubled mind, probably, was at the root of his mortal sickness. - -And so, in the prime of life, and loaded with honours, he found all -earthly things receding from his grasp, and death hovering in view. In -great anguish he sent for Vittoria, begging her to come quickly. She -started instantly with all speed, and had travelled as far northwards as -Viterbo, when she was met by the news of his death. - -Thus closed their life's romance. And if she had breathed her last on -his grave, she would only be known to us, if known at all, as a -constant, affectionate woman. Instead of which, she lived to immortalise -his memory in noble verse, to exemplify by her life a rare purity, -constancy, intelligence, and devotion, and then to dedicate her pen to -the loftiest themes that an evangelical faith could consecrate. No mere -idyls or love-verses: her poems are full of deep thought and profound -piety. - -This was the Vittoria, perhaps the most distinguished lady in Italy, -whom Giulia Gonzaga, her cousin by marriage, found at Naples, listening -to the preaching of Bernardino Ochino. - -Del Vasto, her boy pupil, was now arrived at man's estate, and her -dearest friend. He was married to Maria d'Aragona, the greatest beauty -of the day. Like Pescara, he was destined to die early. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - VALDÉS AND OCHINO. - - -Evening was closing on Naples and Pausilippo--bright, serene, -odoriferous. The sea spread its azure surface as smooth as glass--many a -lateen sail was extended to the grateful breeze. The universal hum of a -talkative city was continually broken by whoop and halloo, scream and -laughter, snatch of song or the sound of some stringed or wind -instrument. Now and then a church bell fell musically and mournfully on -the ear. - -A grave signor sat pensively at a table, with an open book before him. -He was the true type of a Castilian hidalgo; tall, spare, with long, -narrow face, classically cut features, the eyes almond-shaped and very -dark, lighted as if from within: the face oval, the beard pointed, the -skin clear olive, the brow high and pale. - -His habit was of black velvet, slashed with satin and with buttons of -jet: a small starched cambric ruff, edged with lace, was closed at the -throat with white silken cords and tassels. A rapier at his side; a -diamond of the purest water on his long, thin white hand. - -"It must needs be so"--such was the tenor of his meditation. "The very -image of God must be stamped on our souls like the cameo in soft wax, if -we are to be His. Oh, my God, mould me with thine own impress! stamp me -with thine own seal! keep my thoughts--I cannot keep them!--efface even -the memories of sin. Make me a weapon for thine own armoury, whether to -be used in actual service or to hang on the wall ready for use!" - -He covered his face with his hand, and remained lost in thought, till -some one tapped at the door. It was Fra Bernardino Ochino, the -Capuchin. - -I know not why Ochino should have had so white a beard; for his age, at -most, was scarcely fifty: but so it was. - -"Brother," said Valdés gladly, "you come at the right moment; for I am -in a singular frame of mind." - -"Strange!" cried Ochino; "I, too, found myself in a singular mood, and -it was on that account that I sought you. There are times when I am -oppressed by vain questionings; and nobody quiets them better than you -do." - -"I wonder whether your questionings relate to the same subject as my -own," said Valdés, with his peculiarly sweet smile. "Come! let us talk -it out. It wants half-an-hour yet to the time when Donna Isabella -expects me." - -"You know," said Ochino, "I am not book-learned--" - -"My chief book is my mind," rejoined Valdés. "Therein I read a nature -totally corrupt, and find an unutterable want of God. My other book is -His word. Herein I find a solution to every question, a remedy for every -want, in the blood of Christ. And that is my peace." - -"Such is the substance of all my preaching. I aim not so much at pulling -down rotten opinions as sowing good seed." - -"You are right, you are right: that will carry us through. The rotten -walls will fall of themselves. They already totter and crumble." - -"But oh, what a God is ours!" cried Ochino, stretching his two arms -straight upward. "His judgments are past finding out. How easy it would -be to Him to make all straight!--I find myself ready to pray there may -be no hell: that it may be a depopulated country--a burnt-out volcano: -that all, _all_ may be saved." - -"Surely you may do that," said Valdés. "The Lord's hand is not -shortened, that He cannot save. He stands at the door of our hard hearts -and knocks. He cries 'turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?' Could a -_man_ say more? Excuse the bathos of the expression. It is man who says -'I will not.'" - -"But what vindictive expressions--" - -"Hush, hush, my brother. David's vindictive expressions were those of a -Jew, not a Christian: and, after all, what a loving heart he had! If he -stormed at his enemies one instant, he forgave them the next. Otherwise, -he could never have been the man after God's own heart. His inner being -is subjected to a test that none of us could stand--the Psalms are -literally his heart-sighings--the thoughts and feelings that chased one -another like cloud-shadows over waving corn. Oh! believe me, the fault -is not in God, but in ourselves. Since we admit that He is not only -round about us but within us, how is it that we have so little -perception of Him? Because His grace does not operate in us. And why -does not His grace operate in us? Because, in reality, we do not humbly, -devoutly, and earnestly desire it.[13] Why do not we both desire it and -seek it? Because we do not love God with the whole heart and with all -the senses. Why not? Because we do not know Him. Why do not we know Him? -Because we do not even know ourselves." - - [13] Valdés. "Chain of Virtues and Vices." _Vide_ Wiffen's - "Alfabeto Christiano." - -"All this is true and logical enough," said Ochino; "and brings us back -to your starting-point, that your first book was your own mind. But that -book cannot be read _in the dark_. Nor without the light of the Holy -Spirit." - -"Unquestionably not," said Valdés. "That light enables me to read my own -book. It makes plain and full of interest what was arid, forbidding, -and deeply disappointing. You know that the Scriptures have helped me to -understand my own book. David and St. Paul are nothing to us, in -comparison with God and Christ. In the Old Testament we read of a God of -vengeance, and a Lord of hosts; for to the Jews he exhibited himself but -through a glass darkly. But _we_ know him through Christ, and, in seeing -one, we see the other. Oh, then, how is it we are insensible to such -love? A man would give the whole world, if he had it, to save the life -of an only son: God gave His own Son to save an ungrateful world." - -"That is a strong figure," said Ochino, with emotion. - -"And since He and His Son are one, in a mystical manner which we cannot -comprehend," pursued Valdés, "what is His giving His Son for us, but, in -other words, giving himself? His _alter ego_. 'Greater love than this -hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.' 'For scarcely -for a _righteous_ man (even) will one _die_:--but God commendeth His -love towards us, in that, while we were yet _sinners_, Christ died for -us.' Can you conceive a nobler antithesis?" - -"Ah!" said Ochino, gladly extending his arms. "I see it! I embrace it!" - -"Hold it fast, my brother. For on this rock is built the church. He was -delivered (delivered up by _man_) for our sins, but was raised, by God, -for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have -peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Continue to hammer upon -that, as you have done, and are still doing. Did you note an honourable -woman who sate immediately before you, this morning, with Vittoria -Colonna?" - -"Yes. She was very attentive." - -"She is Giulia, Duchess of Trajetto: one on whom the pure gospel light -has not yet shined. I believe she is much under the influence of -Cardinal Ippolito: as much as the Marchioness of Pescara is under that -of Cardinal Pole. Pernicious directors, both! You must do them all the -good you can, while they are under your ministry. There is much that is -hopeful in the little circle of distinguished women who are now drawn -together here. Isabella Manricha is far advanced in the spiritual life, -and will faithfully guide her younger sisters along the narrow way. -Speak the truth to them boldly: the word of God is not bound. And now -the time is come for our evening reading at Donna Isabella's, and here -comes Giulio Terenziano to join us." - -As he spoke, a slender, intellectual-looking young man, with eyes full -of spiritual light, entered, whom he embraced as a younger brother. -This youth was afterwards a sufferer for the truth. - -Nothing was more remarkable in the foregoing dialogue than the manner in -which Valdés took the lead, though Ochino was a churchman and he was -not, and he was Ochino's junior by twelve or fourteen years. It is -currently believed that Valdés was at this time secretary to the Spanish -Viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro de Toledo: he was certainly governor of the -Hospital of Incurables. His remarkable personal influence was exercised -both in conversation and by letters on special subjects; by meetings for -the purpose of reading and exposition, either at his friends' houses or -in his own in Naples, or at Pausilippo. Mr. Wiffen tells us that some -interesting allusions in the "Dialogo de la Lengua" give an insight into -his manner of reading and discoursing with his friends. - -"He held frequent intercourse with them at his own residence in the -city. His less divided leisure was given to them at his country house, -situated in a garden, on the shore of the Bay of Naples, near Chiaja. At -this country house, Valdés received on the Sunday a select number of his -most intimate friends; and they passed the day together in this manner. -After breakfasting and taking a few turns round the garden, enjoying its -beauty and the pleasant prospect of the shores and purple ripples of the -bay, where the isle of Capri on one side drew the eye to the luxurious -mansion of Tiberius, and Ischia and Procida rose in sight on the other, -they returned into the house, when Valdés read some selected portion of -the Scriptures, and commented upon it, or some divine 'Consideration' -which had occupied his thoughts during the week.... After this, they -discussed the subject together, or discoursed on some other points which -Valdés himself brought forward, until the hour for dinner. After -dinner, in the afternoon, when the servants were dismissed to their own -amusements, his friends and not himself proposed the subjects and led -the conversation, and he had to discuss them agreeably to their desire. -As they had been pleased to consecrate the morning according to his -wishes, in reading 'The Book of the Soul,' or upon subjects like his -'Divine Considerations,' he in return devoted his acquirements to their -gratification on themes of their selection. Such was the origin of the -'Dialogo de la Lengua,' a dialogue on the Spanish language, which -occupied seven or more sittings, and was in all probability much more -copious than the text which has come down to us, and which furnishes us -with these particulars. At nightfall, Valdés and his friends returned to -the city. - -"The Sunday meetings may have continued four or five years. These -Sabbaths of studious Christians, this exchange of subjects, this -interchange of thought between the proposers, the day, the pure -elevation of mind they brought as it were with them, the situation, the -beauty of the country, the transparent skies of a southern climate, the -low murmurs of the bay, would all be favourable to the purpose of -Valdés."[14] - - [14] Introduction to Wiffen's translation of the "Alfabeto - Christiano." - -The extreme beauty of this extract will preclude the need of apology for -its length, especially as the general reader could not otherwise have -access to it; for I believe only a hundred copies for private -circulation have been printed of the work to which Mr. Wiffen has -affixed his delightful introduction. - - "O, evenings worthy of the gods!" exclaimed - The Sabine bard. "O, evenings," I reply, - "More to be prized and coveted than yours, - As more illumined, and with nobler truths." - - Cowper, "The Task," book iv. - -Verini has described the charms of Lorenzo's farm at Poggio Cajano, and -Politian has left us a delightful description of his summer evenings at -Fiesole. - -"When you are incommoded," says he, "with the heat of the season in your -retreat at Careggi, you will perhaps think the shelter of Fiesole not -unworthy your notice. Seated between the slopes of the mountain, we have -here water in abundance, and being constantly refreshed with moderate -winds, find little inconvenience from the glare of the sun. As you -approach the house, it seems embosomed in the wood; but when you reach -it, you find it commands a full view of the city. But I shall tempt you -with other allurements. Wandering beyond the limits of his own -plantation, Pico sometimes steals unexpectedly on my retirement, and -draws me from my shades to partake of his supper. What kind of supper -that is, you well know; sparing, indeed, but neat, and rendered -grateful by the charms of his conversation." - -Pico and Politian would doubtless be very good company; but not equal to -Valdés and Ochino. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - GOING TO LAW. - - -Giulia was in Naples, but she was neither enjoying herself nor -benefiting herself, as much as she ought to have done. The Princess of -Sulmona, who stood in the double relation to her of daughter-in-law and -sister-in-law, and who had once been her chosen companion and bosom -friend, had, since her second marriage, been gradually estranged from -her: and, from time to time, the Duchess had received letters from her -in so altered a tone, that she might have exclaimed-- - - "Is all the friendship that we two have shared, - When we have chid the hasty-footed time - For parting us,--oh! and is all forgot?" - -Firstly, a demand for a certain ewer and chalice of silver, richly -chased by Benvenuto, which were heirlooms, and held by Giulia in charge -for her nephew and Isabella's son, the little Vespasiano. On reading -this missive, the Duchess took the trouble to write her a long, -explanatory, and reproachful letter, reminding her of things whereof -Isabella ought not to have needed reminding. - -Letter the second, after a considerable pause, took no notice of -Giulia's answer, but enforced attention to letter the first, making -additional claim to a large ruby ring and a string of oriental pearls. - -On reading this, the Duchess said: "She's mad!"--burnt the letter, and -did not answer it. - -Letter the third was filled with the most aggravating things that one -woman could say to another. - -Giulia replied by desiring her instantly to return a service of plate -and several family jewels which had been lent her on her marriage. - -In answer to this, Giulia received a lawyer's letter, telling her that -her husband's will was null and void, and threatening her with -proceedings. - -Fancy the state of the poor Duchess! She received this letter just -before she went, for the first time, with Vittoria, to hear Ochino -preach; and however attentive he might have thought her, she was in fact -thinking of the lawyer's letter all the while, and writing imaginary -letters to the Pope and the Emperor. For, Giulia had overpowering -allies; and if her sweet nature were sufficiently stirred to call them -to her succour, woe unto those who attacked her! This had been -exemplified immediately after the Duke's death, when his kinsmen, -Ascanio Colonna and Napoleone Orsini, taking advantage of her supposed -helplessness, laid claim to his estates. Up in arms were the Pope and -the Emperor directly. The Pope pronounced the will valid, and the -Emperor put her in possession of her estates. Yet, now, here was the -whole matter to go over again, and with some one much nearer and dearer! -Giulia had a fit of crying; and the humid eyes and dejected mien which -Ochino and Valdés attributed to her convictions of sin were traceable to -a much lower source. - -"How well dear Ochino laboured the point of justification by faith!" -exclaimed Vittoria, after their return from church. "Did you ever hear -it better demonstrated?" - -"To say the truth, dear Vittoria," replied the Duchess, "I scarcely -heard two words of it, and do not remember one." - -The Marchioness looked shocked; but Giulia continued-- - -"Isabella threatens me with a lawsuit, and I am determined to write to -the Pope about it." - -"Oh, pray do not," cried Vittoria, "you are always a great deal too -violent. You use such extraordinarily strong measures when mild ones -would do." - -"_I_, violent? Why, that is the last thing I am! It is because I am -unprotected that people trample on me!" - -"Trample! O, my dear Giulia!" - -"Why, only remember how Ascanio and Napoleone came down upon me directly -my poor Duke was dead!" - -"Yes, and only remember how _you_ came down upon them. You raised the -whole country about it. No one less than the Pope and the Emperor would -serve your turn." - -"Well, and did not they say I was right? and did not they take my part?" - -"Truly they did!--but it does not follow that they would do so again. -Men are apt to fly to the rescue, directly they think a helpless woman -is oppressed; but if they find out she is able and willing to fight her -own battles, they let her! And indeed, dear Giulia, it does not become -a woman to be pugnacious." - -"Pugnacious!" The word was highly offensive, and the Duchess was deeply -hurt. She threw herself on a pile of cushions and began to tear a -nosegay to pieces, without saying a word. - -"Hear what St. Paul says," pursued Vittoria, sitting down beside her, -and turning over the leaves of a little book. - -"St. Paul knows nothing about it," muttered the Duchess. - -"There you are quite mistaken," said Vittoria, still eagerly hunting up -the passage, "St. Paul knew something about everything, for he was a -great genius and an eminently practical man, besides being a holy -apostle. This is what he says--'Dare any of you, having a matter against -another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?... I -speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? -No? Not one, that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But -brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers! Now, -therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one -with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do not ye rather -suffer yourselves to be defrauded?'" - -"That is very fine for St. Paul to say," said Giulia. "I wonder how he -would have liked it himself." - -"Giulia! you must not say such things as that. It is wicked." - -"Why, to hear you talk, one would think it was I who wanted to go to law -with Isabella; whereas, it is Isabella who wants to go to law with -_me_!" - -And Giulia began to cry. - -"Nobody is so unfortunate as I," said she. - -"I pity you," said Vittoria, "but I own I think you are blameworthy." - -"In what?" - -"In your spirit." - -"Why, what would you do in my place?" - -"I would not write to the Pope." - -"That's what you would _not_ do. What would you do?" - -"Settle it by amicable agreement." - -"But Isabella will not be amicable!" - -"If she will not, that is _her_ fault." - -"Certainly! And so it is her fault." - -"Well, my dear Giulia, I would not trouble myself so for all the pearls -and diamonds in the world. What are they, but so much dust? If you throw -them into a crucible, they will lose all their beauty, and--" - -"So should I, if you put _me_ into a crucible," said Giulia, beginning -to laugh; and her own little joke did more to make her see the bright -side of things than all her cousin's wise saws. - -"I know what I'll do," said she. "I'll write to Ferrante." - -Ferrante was her only surviving brother. - -"Ah, that is a good thought," said Vittoria. "He will be sure to help -you." - -So the Duchess wrote to Don Ferrante; and when Don Ferrante's answer -came, which was not within a fortnight, he told her he was sorry to find -she was embroiling herself again with her husband's relations; a -contentious spirit was worse than a continual dropping: he feared she -had had a little too much prosperity and petting: misfortunes were the -lot of all, and it was vain to repine because a rose-leaf was doubled on -our couch, &c., &c., &c. Think how many people were a great deal worse -off, &c., &c., &c. - -Clearly, there was no comfort to be had from Don Ferrante. So Giulia, -getting another aggravating letter from Isabella, consulted the best -lawyers in Naples; who advised her not to answer her, but to leave them -to conduct the correspondence (for a consideration). - -Then came so much parry and thrust, and tergiversation, and objurgation, -and recrimination, that poor Giulia became seriously ill. Then the -Marchioness of Pescara was very kind to her, and sat by her all day, and -would have done so all night, but she fidgeted her to death, by what -Giulia called preaching, though Vittoria only spoke what she meant for a -word in season; and Giulia longed to tell her she would rather be nursed -by her own maids. - -"Ah, Leila!" said Cynthia, as she knelt, fanning her mistress, "I wish -we were all back at Fondi." - -"Why do you wish that, Cynthia?" - -"You would be better there, Leila. You would be under the care of Bar -Hhasdai." - -"Bar Hhasdai has no cure for worry, Cynthia." - -"I think you would be better there, Leila." - -"Cynthia! do _you_ care for me? do you love me?" - -Cynthia replied by repeatedly kissing the hem of the Duchess's garment. - -"Ah, it is all very well to make that dumb show; but do you really love -me?" - -"Yes, Leila, I love you. When the hound flew at me, you were bathed in -my blood, and did not mind." - -"Of course, poor girl, I could not help pitying you. By the bye, -Cynthia--would you do anything that would make me better?" - -"Try me, Leila." - -"Well then, Cynthia--do tell me--frankly, as a friend--I'll forget I am -your mistress--I will not punish you. _Did_ you have any communication -with Barbarossa?" - -Cynthia's face changed. "Oh, Leila! how can you ask?" - -"Well then, say no! It is so easily spoken." - -"It is not easy." - -"Easy or difficult, you _must_ say." - -Cynthia's obstinate look came on, which showed the case to be hopeless. - -"Oh, very well, Cynthia; then you do not love me, that is all." And the -Duchess turned her face away. - -"I _do_ love you, Leila." - -"No, I don't believe you." - -Cynthia took her hand and wetted it with tears. The Duchess drew it -away. - -"I wish you would kill me, Leila." - -"Don't tell such stories, Cynthia. You know it is not my nature to kill -people; though there were persons wicked enough to say I had killed poor -Muza, after cutting out his tongue, which you know he had lost before he -ever came to me." - -"I know it, Leila." - -"Muza was perhaps sent back as a spy; though he pretended he had -escaped. There are so many wicked people in the world that I do not know -who to trust--I believe I shall end by distrusting everybody." - -"Oh no, Leila. Do not!" - -"Why, how can I trust _you_? You have eaten of my bread and drank of my -cup these two years, and you are no more _of_ us than if you were a -stone." - -"I love my own people, I own," said Cynthia. "And so would you love -yours, if you were exiled from them." - -"I love mine without being exiled from them." - -"But you would find you loved them still more if you were sold into -slavery." - -"If Barbarossa had taken me to Constantinople! Well, I believe I should. -There is no making anything of you, Cynthia. You are a riddle. I believe -I could love you if you were not so close. But you shut yourself up like -a hedgehog. Sing me one of your Moorish songs--that one about Zelinda -and Ganzul. Perhaps you may quiet my poor nerves." - -So Cynthia immediately began a long, wailing ballad, the Spanish version -of which begins:-- - - "En el tiempo que Zelinda - Cerro ayrada la ventana - A la disculpa, a los zelos - Que il Moro Ganzul le dava." - -Before she reached the happy reconciliation of Ganzul and Zelinda, the -Duchess was asleep. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - THE CARDINAL TEMPTED. - - -How fared it with Cardinal Ippolito, after he left Fondi? In a general -way we may be pretty sure that he fared sumptuously every day, clothed -in purple and fine linen; that he entertained a constant succession of -noble, learned, witty, and intellectual guests; that a certain portion -of broken victuals from his table was daily given to beggars full of -sores at his gate; that he read the Greek and Latin poets a good deal -more than the Old and New Testament; that he bought whatever pleased him -in the way of intaglios, cameos, mosaics, ivory carvings, rare -manuscripts, and paintings,--out of the revenues of the Church; that he -now and then gave a ring, chain, or purse of gold to some poor author or -artist,--out of the revenues of the Church; that he took part in high -solemnities, and looked and acted his part well when relics were to be -exhibited, or pontifical mass performed, or martyrs to be canonised. - -Did he believe in them, think you? Did he believe in "the most holy -cross," "the most holy visage," the "sacred spear"? I very much doubt -the poor Cardinal's faith in much holier things than these. He would -have been very glad to possess the faith of that barefooted little -contadina with the silver dagger in her hair, whom he saw pressing her -lips so undoubtingly and affectionately to a dirty little box held by a -still dirtier friar. To him it was all an extremely well got-up scene; -interesting in an artistic point of view; painfully unreal whenever he -came to think of it. He liked the thrilling music, the air heavy with -incense, the various costumes and draperies, the heaps of church plate, -the shrines encrusted with gems, the portraits of famous beauties with -haloes and palms; but oh! they did not even touch his feelings; and as -for his thoughts, his thoughts!-- - -It seemed to him quite as hard to believe that the bread and wine on the -altar were what they purported to be, as that the imprint of the -Redeemer's face was stamped on the kerchief of St. Veronica. Sometimes -he was ready to persuade himself he blindly believed all; at other -times, he was too sadly sure he believed in nothing. Nothing but -death!--and it was almost death to think of it. "Let us eat and drink, -for to-morrow we die!" - -Well, but there was his old uncle, the Pope, who had a good deal more on -his conscience than he had, and must be a good deal nearer that -catastrophe than he was, he was so much older!--and how comfortably he -took it all!--washing the pilgrims' feet, blessing the horses, borne -aloft in that tottering seat between the two great fans of ostrich -feathers, stretching out his fingers in continual benediction--the -king--the vice-God of the hour--forgiving the sins of all the -world--_he_ seemed to get through it all very well-- - -But, just as the Cardinal had reached this point, Pope Clement -_died_--and how did the people show their sense of his holiness? He died -on the 26th of September, 1534; just two months after the sack of Fondi; -and during the period between his decease and the election of a -successor, the contempt and hatred of the Romans showed themselves by -the most outrageous insults to his memory. Night after night, his bier -was broken and defaced. On one occasion his body was actually torn from -its grave-clothes, and found in the morning transfixed with a sword. And -there were those who scrupled not to say it would have been dragged -through the streets with a hook, but for respect for Cardinal Ippolito. - -All this was very terrible for Ippolito. Death, in all its grisly -horrors, and without any of its holy and softening associations, was -brought before him whether he would or no; with no sacrament of tears -and blessings, no cherished memories of the last look, the last sigh; no -death-bed sanctities. - -And then the new Pope, Paul the Third, was a Farnese. The Medici party -had gone out, the Farnese party had come in; and Ippolito was looked on -as an enviable pluralist, whose benefices the new Pope's friends would -gladly share. Ippolito knew it was so, because it must be so: it would -not be Roman human nature if it had been otherwise. And in the night, he -would lie awake and think, "What a juggle, and a struggle, and a farce -it all is!--What a seeming, and a sham!--Why did I ever accept this -detestable hat? Why should I have been put off with it? Why should not I -have been Grand Duke of Florence instead of Alessandro? I am of the -elder branch, and any way I would have played my part better. O, Giulia, -why would not you have me? It would have been better for both of us!" -And he got into the way of fancying that all his faults were _her_ -fault. - -He was just in that state that he lay open to any temptation. And -temptation is never long coming, when we are in that case. He was ready -for anything that seemed to promise to put him in Alessandro's place; -and there was a large body of banished Florentines, or _fuorusciti_ as -they were commonly called, who burned to dethrone the tyrant and abolish -tyranny. Their views were larger and more patriotic than Ippolito's, for -he only wished to transfer his cousin's power to himself: however, -Felippo Strozzi, the richest and most crafty citizen in Florence, knew -enough of both parties to think he could make them serve his own -purposes. - -Felippo Strozzi therefore opened his mind to Ippolito on the subject of -getting rid of Alessandro, and found it easier to do than it might have -been, because Ippolito was already a guilty man concerning his -cousin--he had already been trying to induce the Archbishop of -Marseilles to assassinate him. What churchmen!--That scheme had not -answered, but his part was taken now; with a colour of patriotism in it; -for he must keep his selfish views out of sight of the _fuorusciti_, or -they would have nothing to say to him. - -The simplest way appeared to be to get Charles the Fifth to change the -government of Florence by an act of his sovereign will; and then, no -assassination need be in question. - -This appeared so bright an idea to the Cardinal, that, without troubling -himself to take counsel with his confederates, he sent a trusty -messenger on his own account to the Emperor, to lay such a statement -before him as would, he hoped, convince him of the justice and -expediency of subverting Alessandro's government. But alas, the -messenger brought back word that the Emperor would have nothing to say -to it; the Cardinal had nothing to expect from him. - -On this, Ippolito had recourse to his bad adviser, Strozzi, and put it -to him-- - -"What say you? Shall I, under these circumstances, please the Emperor by -making up matters with Alessandro, and accept the ecclesiastical -preferments which have, in that case, been offered me?" - -"Please yourself," says Felippo, with his cynical smile. "I wouldn't, if -I were you, but that's not my affair. Such a peace-making would -doubtless be very acceptable to the Duke, as relieving him of a -dangerous enemy; but it would be both injurious and disgraceful to -yourself. At least, that's the way _I_ take it." - -"Here am I all at sea again, then," said the Cardinal. - -"You talk of a reconciliation as if it could really be made," pursued -Strozzi; "whereas it would assuredly come to nothing: because such -matters have already passed between you as that Alessandro would never -really trust you; and this feeling on his part would make you, or ought -to make you, equally distrustful of him. So that you never could live -safely in Florence as long as he was in power there. And as to the -appanages he has promised you, depend upon it, that as soon as his -alliance with the Emperor was secured he would snap his fingers at you, -and you might go whistle for them!" - -"If you think _that_--" said Ippolito. - -"I do think that, I promise you," said Felippo Strozzi. "I don't want to -make differences between relations, not I; but if you ask me for my -plain opinion, there you have it. He would take care to gain the ear of -the Emperor so as that you should never have one of those benefices, for -his cue will be to keep you down as much as he can." - -"Nay then--" said the Cardinal. - -"Besides," continued Strozzi, "such a reconciliation would make you -despicable in the sight of all the world; for every one knows your -opinion of Alessandro, and would be quite aware that nothing but mere -hope of profit could have brought you to make it up with him--they would -never believe in any more honourable motive." - -"Then again--" resumed he, seeing that Ippolito was in a painful state -of vacillation, "by adopting a more spirited line of action, and uniting -yourself with the _fuorusciti_, you would gain immortal honour and glory -as the deliverer and true father of your country, _and would see your -arms put up all over the city_!" - -This last bait was too much for Ippolito to resist. His eye kindled, and -he half started from his seat. - -"And this would even be your wisest course of action," pursued his -cunning tempter, "should you feel inclined to make yourself absolute -master of the state instead of liberating it, inasmuch as it would -obtain such popularity for you in the first instance. All the old -friends of your house are so disgusted and alienated by the conduct of -Alessandro, that they would gladly transfer their allegiance to you. And -_I_ will undertake, if you will only be prudent, to make the -_fuorusciti_ espouse your cause. With the French money and favour which -my influence can secure to you, you may be certain of success!" - -Ippolito's breast heaved. It seemed "a good plot--an excellent -plot"--though a voice in his heart made its stifled accents heard -against it. And so, in evil hour, the decision was made; and he became -the tool of this wicked man, who designed, through him, to wreak his own -vengeance on Alessandro. - -But a bird of the air carried the matter to the Grand Duke; else how -should he have heard of it? He, ready enough to fight conspirators with -their own weapons, communicated secretly with Ippolito's steward, Giovan -Andrea di Borgho San Sepolcro, and covenanted with him to do a certain -deed for a certain sum of money. - -Meantime, Strozzi negotiated with the leaders of the _fuorusciti_, who, -knowing his character for craft and treachery, were not at all ready to -meet him half way, and sometimes drove him to such desperation with -their answers to his advances that he was almost minded to throw up -conspiracy altogether, and retire upon his enormous fortune to Venice, -and live quietly like an honest man. Well if he had! - -The Cardinal, meantime, hearing that the Emperor was fitting out an -expedition to Tunis, resolved to follow him thither, accompanied by -certain of the _fuorusciti_, and lay his complaints before him in -person. - -No sooner had he decided on this step than he hastened his preparations -for departure. He loved action and the bruit of arms: he would have made -a pretty good soldier: probably a noted commander. To supply himself -with the necessary funds, he broke up and sold all his plate, and -borrowed ten thousand ducats of Felippo Strozzi. Having hired twenty -horses for his personal attendants and four Florentines who were to -accompany him, he started from Rome at the latter end of July, 1535, _en -route_ for the little town of Itri, near Fondi, where he purposed -awaiting the vessel in which he was to embark at Gaeta. - -The reason he meant to wait at Itri rather than Gaeta was that he -believed Giulia to be at Fondi--in which he was mistaken. - -As he was in the act of mounting his beautiful mare, she fell beneath -him, without any apparent reason; which was afterwards looked back on as -an evil omen. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - WHAT BEFEL BARBAROSSA. - - -The Emperor Charles the Fifth had been very indignant when he heard of -the sack of Fondi, and the attempt to seize the Duchess. Some months -afterwards, when Muley Hassan, whom Barbarossa had driven from Tunis, -appealed to him for assistance, Charles, who was ambitious of military -renown, resolved at once to rid the coast of a dangerous invader, and -avenge an injured prince, by heading an expedition against Hayraddin. - -The united strength of his dominions was therefore called out upon this -enterprise, which he intended to increase his already brilliant -reputation. As the redresser of wrongs, his cause was popular, and drew -on him the applause of Christendom. A Flemish fleet conveyed his troops -from the Low Countries; the galleys of Naples were loaded with the -Italian auxiliaries, and the Emperor himself embarked at Barcelona with -the flower of his Spanish nobility, and considerable reinforcements from -Portugal. Andrea Doria commanded the Genoese galleys, and the Knights of -Malta equipped a small but powerful squadron, and hastened to the -rendezvous at Cagliari. - -All this mighty armament to hunt down a Lesbian pirate, the son of an -obscure potter! - -Hayraddin was, however, no contemptible foe. Ambitious and relentless, a -skilful and a generous chief, his lavish bounties among his partizans -made them his blind adherents: while his wondrous versatility had -enabled him to ingratiate himself with the Sultan and his Vizier. It was -therefore to be war to the knife between the Crescent and the Cross. - -As soon as Barbarossa heard of the Emperor's formidable preparations, -he called in all his corsairs from their different stations, drew from -Algiers what forces could be spared, summoned Moors and Arabs from all -quarters to his standard, and inflamed their fanaticism by assuring them -he was embarking in a holy war. - -Twenty thousand horse and a considerable body of foot answered his -summons, and drew together before Tunis. Hayraddin knew, however, that -his greatest dependence must be on his Turkish troops, who were armed -and disciplined in the European manner. He therefore threw six thousand -of them, under Sinan, the renegade Jew, into the fortress of Goletta -commanding the bay of Tunis; which the Emperor immediately invested. - -Three separate storming parties attacked the fort; Sinan raged like a -lion at bay: frequent sallies were made by his garrison, while the Moors -and Arabs made diversions. But nothing could withstand the fury of the -assailants; and a breach soon appeared in the walls of the fortress, -which the Emperor pointed out to Muley Hassan. - -"Behold," said he, "the gate through which you may re-enter your -kingdom!" - -With the Goletta, Barbarossa's fleet fell into the Emperor's hands; and -he was driven to extremities. Having strongly entrenched himself within -the city, he called his chiefs to a council of war, and proposed to -them, that before sallying out to decide their fate in battle, they -should massacre ten thousand Christians whom he had shut up in the -citadel. - -Even his pirate chiefs were staggered at this proposal; and Barbarossa, -seeing they would not support him in it, yielded the point with a -gesture of disgust at their want of hardihood. Charles and his chivalry -were meanwhile painfully toiling, under a blazing African sun, across -the burning sands which encompass Tunis, without so much as a drop of -water to cool their tongues: - - "Non e gente Pagana insieme accolta, - Non muro cinto di profonda fossa, - Non gran torrente o monte alpestre e folta - Selva, che 'l loro vïaggio arrestar possa." - - La Ger. Lib., _Canto I._ - -Hayraddin, sallying out upon them with his best troops, made a desperate -onset, but was so vigorously repulsed that his forces surged back to the -city, and he himself was irresistibly borne along with them like a straw -on the tide. - -Meanwhile, a pale girl, a Christian slave, who had been within earshot -of the council, carried the report of Barbarossa's ferocious proposal to -the keepers of the citadel. They were revolted at his cruelty, and her -entreaties, backed by the clamours of the despairing wretches in their -charge, prevailed on them to release the Christian prisoners and strike -off their fetters. Forth came Tebaldo Adimari, the pride of Fondi; -forth came many a grey-haired senator, illustrious cavalier, and -venerable hidalgo, some in their full strength, others wasted with long -captivity, but nerved at this moment to strike a blow for freedom. -Unarmed as they were, they flung themselves on the surprised guard, and -turned the artillery of the fort against Barbarossa himself as he and -his discomfited troops poured back in disorderly retreat. O, fell rage -and despair of the defeated pirate, late the sovereign of two kingdoms, -as he now heard Christian war-cries defying him from his own -battlements! gnashing his teeth, and cursing the comrades whose humanity -compelled him to spare those who were now manning the walls, he sought -safety in ignominious and precipitate flight. - -Then what a cheer arose, as the Christians saw the turbans in retreat, -and themselves masters of the city! The Emperor was first made aware of -the turn affairs had taken, by the arrival of deputies from Tunis, who -brought him the keys, and piteously besought him to check the violence -of his troops. In vain! They were already sacking the city, killing and -plundering without mercy; and thirty thousand defenceless people were -the victims of that day, while ten thousand more were carried away as -slaves. - -It is said that Charles lamented this dreadful slaughter, and that he -declared the only result of his victory which gave him any satisfaction -was his reception by the ten thousand Christian captives, who fell at -his feet, blessing him as their deliverer. In all, he freed twenty -thousand slaves, whom he sent, clothed at his own expense, to their own -homes; and they, as may well be supposed, made Europe ring with their -praises of his goodness and munificence. It was a bright day for Fondi -when Tebaldo Adimari returned! Though the Duchess was at Naples, and -though Isaura was in her train, he had seen them both on his way home, -and ratified his vows of love and constancy. The Duchess had promised to -smile on their espousals, which were shortly to take place; and -meanwhile his friends and relations got up a festa to welcome him, and -there was church-going and bell-ringing, and eating and drinking, and -dancing and singing, without any drunkenness, stabbing, or even -quarrelling. - -If such was the public joy in a little town of four thousand people at -the return of a young fellow of no mark or likelihood whatever, except -that he was comely, merry, brave, ingenuous, with a good word for -everybody and with everybody's good word,--it may be supposed what a -stir the Emperor's arrival at Naples made, and how that pleasure-loving -capital nearly exhausted itself in demonstrations of welcome. The mole, -when he landed, was so crowded, that you may be sure a grain of millet -thrown upon it would not have found room to reach the ground. Nothing -was to be heard but bell-ringing, acclamations, and the thundering of -cannon; nothing to be seen but gold, velvet, silk, and brocade, festoons -of flowers, triumphal arches, processions, deputations, triumphal cars, -prancing steeds, waving plumes, and bronzed cavaliers looking up at the -balconies of fair women waving their handkerchiefs, among whom, rely on -it, were Vittoria Colonna and Giulia Gonzaga. - -Charles, with his Spanish gravity ever uppermost, took it all very -soberly; heard what people had to say, enjoyed it in his way, said very -little himself, and in the proverb style; went to the cathedral, heard -Fra Bernardino Ochino preach, and afterwards observed, composedly, "That -man would make the stones weep!"--his own eyes being quite dry all the -while. Also if anything inexpressibly funny were said, he remarked, "How -very diverting!" but did not smile. He was best at business, and he -entered upon Giulia's affairs. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - MORE ABOUT THE CARDINAL. - - -Itri, the birthplace of the notorious Fra Diavolo, is a regular -robber's-nest, picturesquely placed on the side of a lofty hill, and -crested by a ruined castle. - -In Ippolito de' Medici's time the castle was not ruined; and there was -also a monastery, where he and his attendants were suitably entertained. - -On the afternoon of the 2nd of August, after a meal which we should call -luncheon, but which the early habits of those days distinguished as -dinner,--succeeded by a moderate siesta,--the court-yard was all alive -with preparations for a gallant riding-party, in the full heat and glare -of the day. Groups of cowled and bare-headed monks stood curiously -about, admiring the Cardinal's beautiful mare; and groups, too, of -robber-like, shaggy-looking men, and bright-eyed women and girls with -golden bodkins in their hair, hung about the gates and passed their -comments on the cortége. The Cardinal came forth, talking to the Prior, -whose pale, attenuated face and hollow eyes formed a notable contrast to -the vivid colouring of his own healthy, well-fed countenance. He was -within an ace of losing his good looks from too much eating and -drinking. In dress, the Cardinal was superb, with a touch of the church -militant. A smile was on his lip as he patted his mare and examined her -trappings, saying, - -"She will not serve me that sorry trick again, I hope." - -"Fear not, my Lord Cardinal," said his groom; and he threw himself into -the saddle. The Florentines also mounted their horses. - -At this moment, Piero Strozzi stepped forward, saying, "This, from my -father," with a meaning smile; and gave him a billet. - -This Piero was son of Felippo, and had something of the same cold, sly -look. - -The billet only contained these words: "All goes well." The Cardinal -read it with a gay smile, and tossed it back to Strozzi. - -"Good news to start with," said he to his companions, as they rode out -of the yard. - -"The sun can scarce be hotter in Africa than it is here to-day, I -think," said Donati, one of the _fuorusciti_. - -"Not a whit too hot for me; I enjoy it," said the Cardinal. "And the -road is in our favour, for it is all down-hill." - -"_Facile descensus_," said Capponi. "What a vibrating haze!" - -"We shall enjoy the shade and the coolness at Fondi," said Ippolito. -"You know I have undertaken to show you the fairest lady in Italy." - -"And I maintain, beforehand, that she cannot be so fair as the -Marchesana del Vasto," said Donati. - -"Allowing for difference of years, you mean," said Capponi. "The Duchess -is a little past her prime." - -"No such thing," said Ippolito quickly; and he used the spur, though -there was no need. The mare sprang forward; the others were obliged to -quicken their pace, and they had ridden a mile or two before another -word was spoken. - -Then the Cardinal slackened his speed, and began to talk of matters -quite different; of the brilliant African campaign; of the likelihood of -Muley Hassan holding his own, now he was reinstated; of the probable -movements of Barbarossa; of the glut of Moorish slaves in the market, -and so forth. - -Arrived at Fondi, the Cardinal was preparing to alight, when the -Duchess's grey-haired seneschal came forward and announced the -mortifying intelligence that his lady was from home. - -It may be matter of surprise that the Cardinal should not have been -apprised of her absence at Itri; but, in fact, he had learnt from what -he had considered good authority, that she was to return to Fondi a -little before this time, so that he had made sure of finding her at her -castle. - -His chagrin was extreme; not only because he had counted much on this -visit, and had now no hope of seeing her before he sailed, but because -he had given out to his companions that he possessed such perfect -knowledge of her movements and such security of a cordial reception, -that he was now open to their raillery, whether or no they spared it. - -The seneschal, who knew him well, respectfully besought him to partake -of such poor refreshment as the castle afforded; but the Cardinal was -vexed, and rode off again, without compassion for man or beast. - -The Florentines looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders, but -were too wise to remonstrate. They followed him, panting, across the -steaming plain, where groups of cream-coloured oxen, cropping the rank -herbage, looked up at them with dreamy, wondering eyes. When they -reached the covert of cypress, poplar, and gnarled old olives, they -loitered dangerously in the shade; and then, when well chilled, spurred -on again, making themselves and their horses hotter than ever. And of -course, as there was a descent all the way going, there was an ascent -all the way back. - -Arrived at Itri, the Cardinal, throwing himself from his horse, called -loudly for iced water. - -"My lord, you are very hot," said Giovanni Andrea, with seeming -kindness. "Let me prevail on your Eminence to take this broth instead. -It will be safer, and will repair your strength." - -The Cardinal took the broth, which was temptingly seasoned, and turned -away with a sigh of relief. It was the early supper-hour, and the tables -were already spread in the vaulted refectory, with abundance of better -cheer than the Prior's larder usually afforded, some of which had been -brought by his illustrious guest. And soon the hungry visitors took -their places, and a long Latin grace was said, and the first course of -confetti was served; and then the trencher of each man was filled with a -large piece of meat that had been stewed with almonds and sugar. - -And while this was being disposed of, the Cardinal's servants and -rubicund lay-brothers covered the table with dishes of boiled meat, -fowls, small birds, kids, wild boar, and other viands. And after this -course, another was to succeed, of tarts and cakes covered with spun -sugar. - -But before the banquet reached this stage, the Cardinal, who had -scarcely spoken since he sat down to table, and who had frequently -changed colour, suddenly exclaimed-- - -"Take me hence--I am strangely ill!"---- - -Every eye was upon him in a moment--many started from their seats--one -or two noted gourmands feigned deafness, and helped themselves to the -best. Bernardino Salviati, the Cardinal's personal attendant, caught him -in his arms. - -"Lean on me, my Lord Cardinal," said he. "We will bear you to your -chamber." - -"Treachery, treachery, Salviati!" murmured the Cardinal, almost -inarticulately. "I am poisoned." - -Giovanni Andrea, his other supporter, making believe to wipe the clammy -dew from his face, held the handkerchief over his mouth, so as to -muffle his voice. Above it glared the Cardinal at him fiercely. - -"Stand back!" said Salviati to him, roughly. - -"My Lord Cardinal is delirious, he raves," said Giovanni Andrea, -shrinking away. - -"Prior! don't let that man come near me," said Ippolito, faintly. - -The Prior, with solicitude, bent his ear to his lips, but only saw them -move. The next instant they were contorted with a spasm. - -By this time, they had carried him to his bed-room, which, though the -best guest-chamber of the monastery, was furnished with ascetic -plainness; a crucifix, a bénitier, and a wooden pallet, comprising most -of its moveables, the meagreness of which contrasted strangely enough -with the crimson satin cushions and mattresses the Cardinal had brought -with him, and which belonged to his horse-litter. - -"Air! air!" he said, feebly, as his friends pressed round him. - -"It will be well, I think, for all of you to leave the chamber," said -the Prior, "except Salviati, Brother Marco, and myself. The Cardinal is -in a high fever--I will open a vein for him." - -"Not on your life," gasped Ippolito. - -Meanwhile, all retired from the room except those whom the Prior had -named. - -"Marsh miasma, no doubt," said Donati, as he returned to the refectory. -"There was a pestiferous vapour on the marshes to-day." - -"And he would ride so fast," said Capponi, resuming his seat at table. -"For my part, I wonder we are not ill too. I feel quite spent, and want -something solid. I dare say a good night's rest will set him up again. -He is of a full habit, like many of the Medici: it does not do for them -to over-heat themselves. He takes everything too violently. What -excellent beccaficoes! I prefer, however, thrushes stuffed with -bergamots." - -While these two were composedly resuming their repast, there were others -who did not even sit down to table, but stood apart in a little knot, -anxiously debating whether the Cardinal had or had not exclaimed, - -"Ahí! tradimento!"-- - -Anxious looks were cast towards the door; and once or twice an envoy was -despatched to the sick room. The first of these came back with disturbed -aspect, saying, - -"His Eminence positively refuses to be bled, and the Prior is at his -wit's end." - -"What a pity!" said Strozzi. "There is no finer remedy." - -"If it were any one else," pursued the first, "the Prior might take the -matter into his own hands; but 'tis ticklish meddling with a Cardinal." - -"Especially when that Cardinal's a Medici," said young Strozzi, with his -father's unpleasant smile. "I'll go and see to it myself." - -Presently Strozzi returned, saying mysteriously, - -"A courier is instantly to be despatched to the Pope, to beg of him a -certain oil he possesses, known to be a sure antidote to all poison." - -"Poison!" repeated they all. - -"Can it be so?" said Capponi, wiping his lips, and rising from table. -"This ought to be looked to." - -"Nay, I say not that it _is_ so, I only say that he thinks so," replied -Strozzi. "At all events, I'm going instantly to despatch a messenger." - -"Sad, sirs, sad!" said Capponi, looking his companions in the face, as -Strozzi passed out. - -"Nay, I expect not that it will turn out anything serious," said Donati. - -"The Strozzi are tender on the subject of poison," observed Messer -Giunigi, the fourth Florentine, under his breath, "since the death of -Madonna Luisa." - -"Hush, sir, that touches me nearly too," gravely said Capponi, who was -of kin to Madonna Luisa's husband. - -Here the Prior came forth, very irate. - -"The Cardinal will none of my assistance," said he, "and yet I have been -held to know something. He is out of his head, and yet exacts obedience -as if he were himself. Not content with obstinately refusing to lose -blood, which would reduce the fever at once, and leave him as cool as a -cucumber, he insists that a courier on a fleet horse shall instantly be -despatched to Fondi for a certain Jew physician, named Bar Hhasdai, in -whom he has more faith than in all the Christian leeches in Italy. The -Jew hath never been baptised, therefore I cannot consent to send for -him." - -"Nay, but," said Donati, solicitously, "if the Cardinal himself desires -him, I see not how you are exonerated from having him, baptised, or -otherwise." - -"Send for him yourself, then," said the Prior; "you have plenty of your -own people." - -"That will I readily," said Donati, and he left the refectory for that -purpose. - -Those who remained behind, discussed the chances of the Pope's sovereign -remedy arriving in time to be of use, and talked over the present -political aspect of affairs in Rome, Florence, and Bologna; and of the -various deaths of the Medici--which was almost as dreary a subject as -their lives. - -Meanwhile, there lay the poor Cardinal on his crimson satin mattresses, -with his once ruddy, handsome face, now pale as ashes, pressed against a -crimson satin pillow fringed with gold--nothing white, nothing cool and -comfortable about him--there he lay, alternately flushing and chilling, -torn with pain and languishing with sickness and faintness--and all the -while ideas were rushing through his distracted head like clouds across -a racking sky; and the one predominant thought was, "Treachery! -treachery!" _Now_, he who had conspired, knew what it was to be -conspired against. Oh! what a long, long night! He scarcely knew or -cared that people from time to time looked in on him, stooped over him -to hear if he breathed, touched his heart, his wrist, drew the coverlet -closer over him, and went away. He scarcely knew or cared whether many -were around him or only the faithful Salviati. His thoughts were -following a fleet horse tearing along the road to Fondi, and striking -sparks as it clattered down the lava paved street. Then he seemed to see -the yellow-faced Jew, in a red night-cap, peering forth from one of the -high, unglazed windows, as the courier shouted out his name--and behind -him that Hebrew youth, whether son or acolyte, whom the Cardinal had -seen at his door in passing, only a few hours before, with his pale, -delicate face, and long, spiral curls, and look of sadness and -submission. How singular that that face, only once seen, and seen for a -moment, should have stereotyped itself on his mind as the type of Isaac -about to be sacrificed!--and now he seemed to see him collecting -medicines, while the old Jew hastily threw on his furred gaberdine and -came down to the door. - -A din of wild church music seemed to come through the air, and to wax -insufferably loud, and then die wailing away like a requiem over the -Pontine marshes. And then, wild shouts of "Palle! palle!" and citizens, -half-dressed and half-armed, rushing through streets, and some of them -crying "Liberty! liberty at last!" And then there was an awful, crushing -struggle at a cathedral door; and partisans were rallying round some one -who was being borne into the sacristy; and blood was flowing and swords -were clashing, and all the while an old pontiff at the altar, who seemed -charmed into stone, was holding aloft the consecrated wafer, and the -little tinkling bell was perpetually ringing till its shrillness seemed -as if it would crack the tympanum of his ears; and sweet childish voices -were singing:-- - - "Et in terra pax! hominibus bonæ voluntatis!" - -Then all melted away, and he was aware of a long, long suite of marble -halls, their silk and gilding covered with dust; and of an old, old man -with hoary hair borne through them in the arms of his servants, and -saying with a sigh, as he wistfully looked around them: - -"This is too large a house for so small a family!" - -After this stalked the dread pageant of his sins--sins of omission and -sins of commission--sins that seemed so little once, and that seemed so -crushing now--and as he moved his weary head, gibing faces seemed -grinning and skinny fingers pointing at him round the bed; and when he -closed his burning eyelids, he seemed to see them still, and to hear a -voice say, "Son, thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." - -Oh! where were the sacraments of the Church? Where were they? Why did -not some one think of them and bring them? Why had he not voice enough -to ask for them? or strength enough to sign for them? And if he had, -could they do him any good? - -He knew not how time went. It seemed one long, long night, but in fact -it covered a few days. Bar Hhasdai arrived at last--he had been absent -when sent for. The Christian hangers-on scowled and spat on him as he -passed. He looked loftily down on them, and he passed on; following the -pale-faced Giovan Andrea. Pausing at the door, the Jew looked full at -him. - -"I want a dog," said he. - -"A dog?" repeated the steward, aghast. - -"Yes: a four-footed one; not a Christian. And a roll of bread." - -He passed into the sick room, where the faithful Salviati rose from the -Cardinal's bedside. The Prior, who was telling his beads, drew his robe -closer round him and retired as far from the Jew as possible. - -Bar Hhasdai took up a lamp, and held it full in the Cardinal's unwinking -eyes. - -"He does not see it," said he. - -He laid the palm of his hand against his heart: then taking some crumb -of the roll the steward had brought him, he rubbed it against his own -face and offered it to the lapdog Giovan Andrea held under his arm. The -little dog immediately ate it. - -"What next?" thought the steward, in wonder. The Prior stood transfixed, -curiously on the watch. Salviati's eyes had something imploring in them: -the faithful fellow had not once left his master, and was now haggard -with his long vigil. - -The Jew silently took another piece of bread and rubbed the Cardinal's -clammy face with it: then offered it to the little dog. The little dog -smelt it, and resolutely refused to taste it. - -"You see," said Bar Hhasdai, fixing the steward with his eye, "the -Cardinal is poisoned." Then, to the Prior, "Let him have the sacraments -of your Church." - -Giovan Andrea reeled back, but recovered himself in time to escape -falling. - -"Wretch!" exclaimed Salviati, springing towards him in rage and -despair; but Giovan Andrea glided like a serpent from beneath his grasp, -and clapped the door after him. - -"He will not escape justice," said the Prior. "I have given orders that -he shall be watched." - -Salviati cast himself on his expiring master in a paroxysm of grief. At -the sound of his wild cry, others rushed in: and the Jew quietly passed -out. Extreme unction was administered. - -Thus perished the brilliant Ippolito de' Medici, who would deserve more -pity if he had not designed some very similar end for his cousin -Alessandro. He was abundantly regretted; for his companionable qualities -and lavish bounties had endeared him to a very large circle of friends, -who did not scan his faults too closely; while his death was hailed with -intense satisfaction by his enemies. Paul the Third made a frivolous -excuse for not sending him the specific he so urgently requested. -Probably it would not have saved him; but the animus of his Holiness was -not shown to his advantage on the occasion. - -As for the wretched Giovan Andrea, he made straight for the outer gates -when he quitted the Cardinal's chamber; but was there collared by a -stalwart lay-brother, who, with the assistance of two of Ippolito's -retainers, conveyed him to the lock-up room. Here he remained a short -time, in full anticipation of being put to the torture; which too surely -came to pass. At first he denied any guilt; but that most odious process -being persisted in, his agony at length wrung from him the admission -that he had administered poison to the Cardinal, having ground it -between two stones, which he had afterwards thrown away. - -Where had he thrown those stones? - -Upon a rubbish-heap outside the buttery-window. - -Search was made for the stones. They were found, with marks of some -foreign substance upon them. They were shown him: he said they were the -same. - -The Cardinal's retainers were so enraged with the wretch, that they were -with difficulty restrained from falling upon him and putting him to -death. Felippo Strozzi had strongly charged his son to deliver him out -of their hands, that a regular judicial examination might take place at -Rome, and Alessandro's guilt, as the prompter of the crime, be -established. - -The younger Strozzi, therefore, sent Giovan Andrea, under a sufficient -guard, to Rome, where his examination took place; and in the first -instance he confirmed his former confession, and stated that he had -received the poison from one Otto di Montacuto, a servant of Duke -Alessandro's, to be employed as he had used it. - -Yet, after this, he denied _both_ his former confessions, and, in spite -of all that Strozzi could say or do, was actually let off! He thereupon -went straight to Florence, and remained some days in the Duke's palace, -openly under his protection. He then retired to his native place, Borgo -di San Sepolcro, a little town under the Apennines, some forty miles -from Florence. And here, after remaining in safety a few months, whether -or no on account of any fresh proof of his crime, he was stoned to death -in a sudden outburst of popular indignation. - -As for the wicked Duke, his employer, I shall only say that his murder -was most horrible: so that Ippolito's death was amply avenged. We may -all be very glad to have done with the subject. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE DUCHESS AND THE MARCHIONESS. - - -It was given out to the world that Ippolito had been carried off by -fever, caught on the marshes during his hot ride to and from Fondi; and -this filled the tender-hearted Duchess with grief, as she knew not but -that, had she been at home, he might yet be alive. She dwelt with -mournfulness on his long-cherished attachment, wept over his poems, -recalled his brightest points, and even questioned herself whether she -ought to have accepted him; but the answer always was no. And surely she -was right; for whatever Ippolito's society-attractions might have been, -and however his character might have been purified by household -association with a better nature, his worse qualities would undoubtedly -have cropped out as long as he remained an unconverted man. Might not -she have converted him? Why, Vittoria, who knew her best, would have -told you that, at this time, Giulia was not even converted herself. She -was very sweet, very amiable and charming; but she had not the faith -which saves. Vittoria, with her higher views and deeper nature, was -almost out of patience with her sometimes. - -"What is it you want? What is it you need?" she would say to her; trying -to rouse her to a nobler life. "I can tell you: you want the Holy -Spirit; and He will come to you if you seek Him: but unsought, He is -unfound." - -"O Vittoria! why _will_ you torment me so?" said Giulia, fretfully. "I -want rest; I want peace." - -"Rest and peace? Why, you have a great deal too much of both to be good -for you; and as for your lawsuit, that is a mere mosquito-sting, that -draws neither blood nor tears. Fie on you, Giulia! with all your -advantages, you ought not to sit and wail about nothing. I think you -loved Ippolito more than you say you did, or you would not give way so." - -"I did not love Ippolito at all," said Giulia, nettled. "I suppose one -may be sorry for a friend, without having been in love with him. You do -injustice to the memory of my dear Duke, to suppose I could ever forget -him." - -"As to that," said Vittoria, "considering your good Duke's years and -infirmities, it is difficult for any one to see why you should be -inconsolable. I am sure I am quite ready to do justice to all his -qualities of head and heart; but, if I am to speak sincerely, I must own -that your deploring him in the way you have done has always seemed to me -a little exaggerated." - -"I never asked you to speak sincerely," returned Giulia; "and people -generally make that a pretext for saying things that are disagreeable. -As for exaggeration, nobody possessed of any feeling could consistently -accuse me of having too much of it." - -"I am the last person to make an inconsistent accusation," observed -Vittoria, "and my own irreparable and immense loss is too world-known -for any one to say I want feeling. I think, cousin, there is no one in -Italy, unless yourself, who has not compassionated me in having been -bereaved of my beloved, adored Pescara, a man of infinite virtues, -graces, and attractions; in war a hero, in wisdom a sage; in love and -constancy a perfect phoenix,--reft from me, me wretched! in the very -prime and flower of his life." - -"Well, and I was very sorry for it," said Giulia, "as sorry as it was -possible to be for a man I had never seen, because I could feel for -_you_, cousin; and I went into the deepest mourning--" - -"The outward garb has little to do with inward woe, Duchess," said -Vittoria, severely, "else I had worn weeds for ever"--and she plunged -into her pocket for her handkerchief. - -"Well, and so should I have done, Marchioness," said Giulia. And then -they both burst into tears. - -"Oh, Giulia," said Vittoria, in a stifled voice, after crying some time, -"why _will_ you try me so?" - -"Why, you began," said Giulia. And then they embraced, like Brutus and -Cassius; and Vittoria's good and kindly nature recovering its -ascendancy, she said with her charming smile: - -"I really thank you, Giulia, for upsetting me, for I have wanted the -relief of a good cry for some time." - -"You dear thing," said Giulia, kissing her--"that was just my feeling -too." - -So, after this little squall, there was bright sunshine. And as this -was only a day or two before the 17th of August, when the Emperor was -expected to land on his return from Africa, Vittoria proposed to Giulia -that they should witness the procession together from the balcony of a -friend's palace in the best situation. - -Giulia said half reluctantly, "I don't affect such worldly scenes -much--" - -"Nor do I, certainly," said Vittoria. "But yet I should like to show my -loyalty to the Emperor; and the scene will not be a mere show, but will -have a kind of historic interest; and will doubtless figure hereafter on -the historic page. So that, if I go, surely you may." - -"Ah, well, we will go together," said Giulia, who really liked the idea. -So these two illustrious ladies were among the fairest of the fair whose -eyes "rained influence" on the gay pageant; and, the same evening, the -staid, sober Emperor left the banquet early, and sought out the widow -of his brave though not blameless general, Pescara; and he liked her so -well, that the following year, when he and she were in Rome, she was -almost the only lady whom he condescended to visit. - -On the present occasion, Giulia was with her; and something happening to -be said by the Viceroy, Don Pedro di Toledo, who accompanied the -Emperor, about her roses having paled in consequence of her vexatious -lawsuit, Charles inquired into it, and in his dry, succinct way, desired -Don Pedro to see to it, and let the affair be adjusted. So, when the -Emperor was gone, the Viceroy undertook the investigation of the rival -ladies' claims; and the result was, that he advised the Duchess to be -satisfied with her ample dowry, and the addition made to it by her -husband. - -This did not content Isabella, who laid claim to thirteen thousand -ducats for pin-money, and required that a judicial disposition she -herself had made should be declared void! She offered, as a set-off, to -give up five hundred ducats per annum to Giulia; but again changed her -mind. So that Giulia, nearly worried out of her life by this -unreasonable woman, again appealed to the Emperor, who deputed a -commission of three members of his council to give judgment as the case -required. This unpleasant affair extended through great part of another -year. - -Nothing brings out the unromantic features of human nature so -unpleasantly as a lawsuit. Giulia was in a constant turmoil; and she -lacked those leadings to a better life, which Ochino might have afforded -her; for he had been summoned to Venice by Cardinal Bembo, who was -anxious to hear him. - -This cardinal was not a good man, though I suppose there are good -cardinals now and then; however, he was at least a distinguished man -and a great scholar. And being an epicure in pulpit eloquence, he wrote -to Vittoria Colonna, begging her to use her known influence with Fra -Bernardino, to induce him to preach at Venice during the ensuing Lent. -Vittoria complied with his behest; and Ochino consequently went to -Venice, where the impression that he made may be judged-of from the -following passage in a letter from the Cardinal to the Marchioness: - - "I send Vossignoria notes of Fra Bernardino's sermons, to which - I have listened with a pleasure I cannot express. Certainly, I never - heard so capital a preacher, and I cannot wonder at your estimation - of him. He discourses in quite another manner from any one I have - ever heard; and in a more Christian spirit; bringing forward truths - of the utmost weight, and enforcing them with loving earnestness. - Every one is charmed with him: he will carry away all our hearts." - -And again: - - "I write to you, Marchioness, as freely as I talk to Fra - Bernardino, to whom I this morning opened my whole heart. Never have - I had the pleasure of speaking to a holier man. I ought to be now at - Padua, on account of a business which has engaged me all the year, - and also to get out of the way of the constant applications with - which I am assailed on account of this blessed cardinalate; but I - could not bear to lose the opportunity of hearing some more of his - excellent sermons." - -And again: - - "Our Fra Bernardino, whom I must call mine as well as yours, is - at present adored in this city. There is not a man or woman who does - not cry him up to the skies. Oh, what pleasure! oh, what delight, - oh, what joy has he not given! But I will reserve his praises till - I see Vossignoria, and meantime pray God to prolong his life for the - glory of the Lord and the good of man." - -What a pity that this enthusiasm was so short-lived! Ochino was soon -afterwards chosen Director of the Capuchins. His influence over his -brother friars was then great; and many of them, before they were well -aware of it, became imbued with the reformed opinions. Purgatory, -penance, and papal pardons crumbled and fell before his powerfully -wielded hammer, the doctrine of justification by faith. - -Side by side with him laboured Pietro Martire Vermigli, who possessed -more scholarship, and who, while Ochino filled the pulpit, furthered the -same cause by delivering lectures on the Epistles of St. Paul. Many -monks, many students, many nobles attended these lectures. At length -their tone became so different from that of the Church, that the -Viceroy interdicted him from preaching and lecturing. But Pietro -Martire appealed to Rome, and obtained the removal of the interdict. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - ISCHIA. - - -Giulia was recruiting her health, meantime, at Vittoria's charming -island-home of Ischia, - - "Where nothing met the eye but sights of bliss." - ---where a graceful simplicity, indeed, reigned, but under the regulation -of the purest taste,--where duties, softened into pleasures, filled up -every hour; and where leisure, never degenerating into laziness, was -alternately dedicated to poetry, music, and painting, to the enjoyment -of the most exquisite beauties of nature, to the cultivation of the -mind, and to offices of charity and devotion. Among the poets and -eminent men who here "invoked the muses and improved their vein," and -who helped to make this remote rock famous, were Musefilo, Filocalo, -Giovio, Bernardo Tasso, and many others. Bernardo Tasso thus sang the -praises of this charmed islet-- - - "Superbo scoglio, altero e bel ricetto - Di tanti chiari eroi, d'imperadori, - Onde raggi di gloria escono fuori, - Ch' ogni altro lume fan scuro e negletto, - Se per vera virtute al ben perfetto - Salir si puote ed agli eterni onori - Queste più d'altre degne alme e migliori - V'andran che chiudi nel petroso petto. - Il lume è in te dell' armi; in te s'asconde - Casta beltà, valore e cortesia, - Quanta mai vide il tempo, o diede il cielo. - Ti sian secondi i fati, e il vento e l'onde - Rendanti onore, e l'aria tua natia - Abbia sempre temprato il caldo e il gelo!" - -Nor did younger and gayer poets want younger and gayer beauties to -inspire them than the two noble widows; for Vittoria's household -comprised six or eight nobly-born girls who were being trained under her -eye, and whom her conscientiousness prevented from turning over to the -sole superintendence of the Mother of the maids. - -"You might take more interest than you do, Giulia," said she, "in the -education of your damsels. It would do them good, and you, too." - -"Ah, nothing could be more tiresome to me," said Giulia. "I am most -happy to leave them to Donna Caterina!" - -"I doubt, however," said Vittoria, "whether we have even the right to -keep fellow-creatures about us, of like affections and passions with -ourselves, without providing some legitimate outlet for them, or -supplying them with sufficient motives for their restraint." - -"My girls seldom go into passions," said Giulia; "and I should think it -impertinent to inquire into their affections." - -"Why now, you incorrigible Giulia, did not you tell me of your fits of -suppressed laughter while you were overhearing (actually -eaves-dropping) that love dialogue between Tebaldo and Isaura? and of -your laughing at her to her face, afterwards, in the presence of the -other girls?" - -"I gave her a pearl necklace," said the Duchess. - -"Not till she married, months afterwards." - -"Well, I own I let myself down on that occasion." - -"As to letting yourself down, it is your keeping yourself up that I -complain of--" - -"O, what a beautiful butterfly!--" - -"My dear Giulia, _don't_ run after it and put yourself in a fever. You -are not quite a child now!" - -"No, but I was a child once; and when I was a child-Duchess of thirteen, -I thought that if I did not keep my maids at a distance, they would not -respect me. And my mother's word had always been, 'Never associate, -child, with servants.'" - -"Servants and slaves, that may apply to very well," said Vittoria, who -had not surmounted class-prejudices, "but your maids-of-honour are -well-born, and though for a time they occupy subordinate positions, -eventually they will marry respectably, it is to be hoped." - -"And that hope is enough to enliven them, I suppose," said Giulia. "My -dear Duke said to me, very soon after our marriage: 'Pargoletta!'--you -know he loved to call me 'pargoletta,' or 'animetta,' or 'dolce alma -mia,'--he said, 'Pargoletta, don't have much to say to your maids; they -are light and frivolous, and will do you no good.' And I loved to obey -him; and I love to obey him still, for he was a wise man." - -"They might do you no good, but you might do them great good now," said -Vittoria. - -"O, my dear, that set have long married off, and had their portions--so -many ducats, a bed, bedding, and ewer and basin." - -"The new set, then--" - -"Here's a strawberry, I declare," said Giulia, diving into the leaves on -the bank upon which they were sitting. "Do have it!" - -"No, thank you. The--" - -"I could no more preach and pray with my maids as you do, Vittoria, than -I could fly!" - -"Why not?" - -"I should die of shame." - -"Nonsense," said the Marchioness, laughing. - -"I really should. It would be so ridiculous." - -"Quite otherwise, I think, if you undertook it in the right spirit." - -"But I never could. It is not in me. They would all begin to laugh--" - -"They must be under very poor control, then," said Vittoria. - -"Besides, it would be so uncalled for--it would take their thoughts off -their proper work." - -"What is their proper work?" - -"To do vast quantities of embroidery and fine needlework." - -"Well, I think _your_ proper work is to care for their souls." - -"That's Fra Silvano's office." - -"Does he fulfil it?" - -"Not very well, I'm afraid. He chatters and laughs with them too much." - -"I should like to see him chatter and laugh with _my_ maids," said -Vittoria, kindling. "He should not do so twice." - -"Ah," said Giulia, after a pause--"I wish I were as good as you, -Vittoria--" - -"My dear soul, I am not good." - -"You are a great deal better than I am. Such as I am, I am and ever -shall be." - -"Hush, we can none of us say that!" - -"At any rate, there is no good thing in me, to impart to others. And the -girls do very well as they are--they stick to their needles." - -"What do they think of the while?" - -"Of their needles, I suppose." - -"If they do, they are better than I am," said Vittoria, almost with a -groan. "Oh, Giulia, don't believe it!" - -"Well, I suppose nonsense of some sort may pass through their heads," -said Giulia, rather uneasily. "How am I to keep it out?" - -"By putting something better in. Not merely by preaching and praying, -but by supplying proper, innocent food for their imaginations and -fancies. You know I read my girls pleasant tales and dialogues -sometimes, and lend them books of poetry and history." - -"Well, your girls are certainly better conducted than mine," said -Giulia. "They giggle less." - -"A canister with very little in it always rattles," said Vittoria. "I -hate giggling." - -"So do I; and, do you know, my dear Vittoria, that is one reason why I -have so little to say to my maids." - -"It is the very reason why you should say the more. You should fill the -canisters." - -"I will try then," said the ingenuous Giulia, "when I return to Fondi." - -She returned there very soon: and Vittoria Colonna went to Lucca; "in an -unostentatious manner," says the old chronicler, "attended by only six -gentlewomen." - -Why she went to Lucca, except that it was just then rife with the -Reformed opinions, and ready to throw off the yoke of Rome, the -chronicler sayeth not. From Lucca she proceeded by easy stages to -Ferrara, mounted on her black and white jennet, with housings of crimson -velvet fringed with gold, and attended by six grooms on foot, in cloaks -and jerkins of blue and yellow satin. She herself wore a robe of -brocaded crimson velvet, with a girdle of beaten gold; and on her head a -travelling-cap of crimson satin, well becoming her "trecce d'oro," and -large, mild blue eyes. - -Arrived at Ferrara, she was delightedly welcomed by Duke Ercole and -Duchess Renée. Here was a house divided against itself. The poor -Duchess--highly intelligent and a little crooked--now in her -twenty-ninth year, had been harshly dealt with by her husband, only a -twelvemonth back, for harbouring and comforting those arch-heretics -Calvin and Clement Marot; and was now kept very much in check by the -terrors of the Church, though in heart as much a Reformer as ever. - -To grace "the divine Vittoria," whose poetical fame was known all over -Italy, and whose eulogist, Bernardo Tasso, was secretary to the Duchess -of Ferrara, Duke Ercole invited the most distinguished literati of -Venice and Lombardy to meet her. Oh, what a feast of reason and flow of -soul! What reciprocations of compliments and couplets! What ransacking -of heathen mythologies for metaphors and allusions! And then, in the -retirement of the Duchess's closet, poor Renée could, with a full heart, -ask Vittoria how things were going at Naples, whether Fra Bernardino -were really as moving a preacher as was reported, and whether Juan di -Valdés were sound on the doctrine of justification. - -And perhaps they had a snatch of serious reading together, and Vittoria -might recite to her a few of her sacred sonnets, copies of which were -coveted even by cardinals; and if the Duke came in and constrained them -to change the subject, there was the clever little Princess Anne to -exhibit, who was being educated, for the sake of emulation, with Olympia -Morata. Certes, Vittoria was made much of! But the air of Ferrara did -not agree with her health, and she was soon obliged to move southwards. -Among the dreams and schemes of the hour, which were never to be -realised, was a projected visit to the Holy Land. She would so like to -see the holy places! - -"The wildest scheme!" young Del Vasto pronounced it, when a rumour of it -reached him at Rome. He lost no time in hastening to his beloved friend, -to dissuade her from what she had perhaps never seriously contemplated, -and to induce her to be content with the Eternal City. And when she -reached it, she was received with almost public honours--so proud was -Italy of its "divine Vittoria Colonna!" - -Here she found a circle of the most eminent men in Italy, hopefully -awaiting the issue of Cardinal Contarini's conciliatory mission to the -German Reformers; and it was trusted that, by wise concessions on the -part of Rome, a fearful schism might be avoided. But when did Rome ever -make wise concessions? - -It was at this time that the friendship commenced between Vittoria and -Michael Angelo, which was equally honourable to both; and we have his -own word for it, that through her he was made a devout Christian. It was -the crowning beauty of her life. - -Meanwhile Giulia was the prey of intense melancholy at Fondi. It -expressed itself in joyless looks, in mournful tones, in neglected -dress, in small austerities, in rising at out-of-the-way hours to tell -her rosary, &c. - -Her ladies united in declaring that she must be ill, and that the marsh -miasma was answerable for it. So then Bar Hhasdai was sent for; and he -advised change of air and _quantum sufficit_ of generous red wine well -spiced. She acquiesced in both prescriptions; and then indulged in a -little doctors' gossip, that most healing balm. They talked over the -Cardinal's death, and Bar Hhasdai said that, even if he had been sooner -sent for, he did not believe he could have saved him. - -"One cardinal the less, one saint the more," said Giulia. - -Bar Hhasdai looked sceptical. "Was he of the stuff that saints are made -of?" said he. - -"He was very generally liked," said Giulia. - -"And so long as thou doest good unto thyself, men will speak well of -thee," said the Jew, equivocally. - -So she returned to her old quarters at Naples, where she had the -satisfaction of hearing from Valdés, who immediately waited on her, that -Ochino was again preaching with great acceptance. She had tried ascetic -mortifications, on a small scale, without any beneficial result; and she -now, with a heart aching for a better life, and sick of the world's -pleasures, which, after all, she had never much indulged in, resolved to -prove whether enduring comfort might not be derived from the cross of -Christ. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - A BETTER LIFE. - - -You may have seen an old print of Titus's Arch, in the foreground of -which is an Italian lady of quality, with hoop, lappets, and fan, -sailing to church, attended by her gentleman-usher. A stately -man-servant in advance clears the way, two ladies-in-waiting follow -their mistress at a respectful distance, and two or three more menials -close the procession. - -Something in this style did Giulia go to the cathedral. As she was -returning from it one evening, accompanied by Valdés, her heart was -full, and, after one or two ineffectual beginnings she said--[15] - - [15] Vide "Alfabeto Christiano." - -"I have so much confidence in our friendship, Signor Valdés, that I -feel as if I could speak to you on some subjects even more freely than -to a confessor. If you are not pre-engaged, therefore, I would gladly -tell you what is on my mind. Do I importune you?" - -"On the contrary, Signora," said Valdés, "I am honoured by your -commands, and you well know there is no one I love better to serve." - -"A truce, then, with compliments of every kind. I want to open to you my -whole heart, for I am sure you will pity me. I am a prey to such -constant dissatisfaction with myself and with everything around me, as -cannot be described. I neither know what I wish, nor with what I should -be contented. Hence, I cannot conceive anything that could be offered me -capable of appeasing this inquietude and removing my confusion of mind. -Many years have I felt thus: and of late you have given me reason to -hope that if I would give ear to the preaching of Ochino I should be -tranquillised. Alas, I find it quite otherwise! And though I admit that -the fault may be mine rather than his, yet the disappointment is so -bitter, that tears frequently come into my eyes through not knowing what -to do with myself, nor what to lean upon." - -Saying which, her tone was so sad, and she looked so troubled, that the -humane Valdés was filled with compassion. - -"Say freely, Signora," said he, "whatever you wish to ask of me; and be -assured that I will always expend in your service all that I know and am -able to do." - -"Tell me, then," said Giulia, "from what cause you believe this state of -mind to spring, and how, if possible, it can be remedied, or whether it -must be borne." - -"You must first make me one promise," said Valdés. - -"What can that be?" inquired the Duchess. - -"If I show you the way by which you may be relieved from your -disquietude, you must promise to walk in it." - -"Of course. Gladly!" - -"Be very attentive, then, Signora, to what I am about to say. You know -it is written that man is made 'in the image and likeness of God.' And -you will also remember that St. Paul counsels the Corinthians to put off -the old man with his deeds, that is, the sinful nature we have all -inherited since the fall, and be clothed with the new man, who is -created 'in the image and likeness of God.' From this it appears, that -in such a degree as man retains in himself the image and likeness of -God, in the same degree he apprehends and appreciates spiritual things -in a spiritual life and conversation. Recognise this, and you will all -at once perceive whence your disorder and disquietude of mind arise; -because you will see that your soul is striving for restitution to the -image of God, of which at present it is deprived. The remedy is in your -own hands." - -"In my hands?" - -"Yes! Because as soon as you determine to renew and restore within -yourself the image and likeness of God, you will find peace, quiet, and -repose." - -Giulia drew a deep breath, and then said-- - -"How must I do this?" - -"By withdrawing your affections from vain and transitory things, and -fixing them on those which are spiritual and eternal. Your spirit thus -finding its proper aliment, will always be content and cheerful, and -here in this present life will begin to taste of that felicity which it -expects to enjoy for ever in the life eternal. To this happiness only -the real Christian can attain." - -"As for that," said the Duchess, "I know many persons who have as much, -and perhaps more, cancelled the image of God than I have, who are yet -perfectly content and happy." - -"Such persons," returned Valdés, "have low and vulgar minds, and can -therefore suffice themselves with mean and frivolous objects that could -never satisfy a refined and generous nature like yours.... I am not at -all sorry that you should be troubled in the way you have described, -because it shows that the preaching of the Gospel is producing its first -effect on you.... There is nothing in this world that could give me so -much pleasure as to see you walking in the path of life, for I hold it -for certain that, once in complete union with God, you would outstrip -many who are now saints in heaven." - -"I desire to do so," said she, softly. - -"Then why don't you do what you desire?" rejoined Valdés. - -"Because I don't know how." - -"Force, force, Signora! force is the one thing wanting. 'The kingdom of -heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.'" - -"Lead me by the hand, then," said she, "instructing me in those -footsteps by which I believe you have walked." - -"You want me," said Valdés, "to show you some royal and ladylike road by -which you may get to God without turning away from the world. But, lady, -no such compromise can be made. Have you ever crossed a running stream?" - -"Yes, many times." - -"Do you not remember how your head swam if you looked at the flowing -water, but how steady it was if you fixed your eyes on the opposite -shore? Thus, with God and the world, endeavour to keep the view of your -soul fixed and nailed with Christ on the cross. And if at any time, -through want of care, your eyes are diverted to the things of this -world, return, return, Signora, as quickly as possible, to fix them on -Christ crucified; and all will be well. You know the human heart is -naturally inclined to love. It must either love God and all things for -God, or it must love itself and all things for itself. He who loves God, -performs everything he does for Him. And thus, if he loves anything -besides God, he loves it for the sake of God, and because God wills it -so. And then his good works please and are acceptable to God, because -they spring from love. Agreeable to this is what St. Augustine -says--'Good works follow in them who are already justified, and do not -go before in him who has to be justified.' You know how you yourself -estimate what a person does in your affairs when you know you owe not -his good services to the affection he bears you, but to some other -motive." - -This dialogue, which had been begun in the open air, was now being -carried on in the Duchess's parlour. She sat in a high-backed, richly -carved chair, looking out through the balconied window, on the bay of -Naples, with streaks of summer lightning now and then illumining the -sky, and the lurid fires of Vesuvius glowing in the distance. Valdés sat -on a stool a little apart. - -"Since you wish me," said she, after a pause, "to make the love of God -my prime motive, and, next to it, the love of my neighbour,--well then, -I will do so!--but mention, if it please you, some rule by which I may -know and understand what it is I ought to do; because I wish to give -myself up to the love of God, even so much so as to deprive myself of -your favour, and that of a hundred others like you." - -"No, Signora, no! you can never do that!" said Valdés, fervently: and he -then sketched out for her the outline of a Christian life, not -circumscribed within slavish bounds, but capable of adaptation to time -and place, sex and degree, based only on the immutable principle of -loving God above and in all things, and one's neighbour even as one's -self. It was a memorable evening for Giulia. Her cheeks were wet with -tears, but they were the sweetest she had ever shed. They took no note -of time, but prolonged the interview till night. - -When they parted, she said to him: - -"I shall never forget this conversation!" - -"And I," said he, deeply moved, "shall remember it always." - -"Oh, that I could preserve every word you have spoken! Do you think you -could commit the substance to writing?" - -"Undoubtedly, if you wish it." - -"I do wish it, most earnestly. And pray for me, pray for me, dear -friend, that your words may not only sink into my heart, but take root -in it, and bring forth fruit abundantly." - -"I will, indeed, Signora; but, above all, fail not to pray for yourself, -that the love of God may abound in you yet more and more." - -"Never knew I till now what that love was! I have heard tell a thousand -times of this going out of a person's self to enter into God, but never, -in all I have heard, was it made comprehensible." - -"You are so much the more under obligation to love God, since He has -preserved you so long in this world as to come to know this which till -now you have not understood." - -"You are right. May it please God that I know how to profit by it." - -She gave him her hand. He kissed it with the utmost reverence: then, -raising his eyes heavenwards, uttered a short, fervent prayer for her -confirmation in the knowledge and love of God. - -When he was gone, she covered her eyes with her hand, and tears slowly -trickled down her cheeks. Almost unconsciously, she sank on her knees -and murmured---- - -"O, my God! teach me to be what Thou wouldst have me to be, and then -enable me to do what Thou wouldst have me to do! Form in me Thine own -image and likeness, for Christ's sake!" - -A strange calm and sweet peace took possession of her soul. - -When Valdés presented himself to her, a few days afterwards, he brought -her his manuscript version of the substance of their dialogue, written -in his native Spanish, which was nearly as familiar to her as Italian, -seeing that it was continually spoken by Vittoria Colonna and others of -her familiar acquaintance. The faithfulness with which he had recalled -the vivacity of her rejoinders showed how deeply they had interested -him, and if his own speeches were less closely reported, it was chiefly -because he had taken the opportunity of extending them even at the -price of weakening their spirit. - -"Here," said he, "you have what you required of me; and I have called it -the Christian Alphabet, because, in fact, it contains but the A B C of -Christian doctrine. Believe in nothing I have here set down that you -cannot bring to the test of Scripture. And do not content yourself with -this Alphabet, or with any mere writings of men, but drink of the pure -water of life at its source. May Christ become the peaceful possessor of -your heart, in such a manner as that He may absolutely and without -contradiction rule and regulate all your purposes. When this is the -case, you will not feel the want of anything whatsoever in this life to -give you contentment and repose." - -She took the book with solemnity, and promised compliance with his -wishes. This singular little work, of which, till lately, it was not -known that there was a copy extant, does not profess to be more than -what Valdés called it, and confines itself to inculcating the formation -of the Divine image in the soul, if haply it might find Him, without -attempting to attack the prevailing corruptions of the Church. In fact, -this remarkable layman, who set so many Reformers forward on the path of -martyrdom, did so by inculcating a few great truths, rather than by -pulling down strongholds of error; and a certain class of his disciples -eventually brought discredit on him by veiling Reformed opinions under -the punctilious observance of Romish practices. But not of these -temporising spirits were Carnesecchi, Flaminio, or Vergerio; all of whom -were of the school of Valdés. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - REST AND PEACE. - - -When the structure is built, the scaffolding is removed: when we are -raised up to Christ, our earthly props are often knocked away. - -Ochino was soon to leave Naples--Valdés was soon to leave this earthly -world. For a little while the Church had rest: and then burst out a -furious, fiery persecution. Its burning annals have no place in my -story; but I will annex a chapter about it as an Appendix, for those who -will not or cannot refer to the original sources. - -An advance had taken place in Ochino's opinions, which, for a time, was -felt rather than understood by his hearers. He appealed directly to the -Scriptures in support of his doctrine, and bade them search for -themselves. In spite of his boldness, he not only was allowed to -continue to preach in the Cathedral, but, in a chapter held at Naples in -1541, was re-elected General of the Capuchins. - -His departure from the Church of Rome was detected, however, by the -jealous eye of Cardinal Pole, who wrote to Vittoria Colonna, urging her -to beware of his influence, and even exacting from her a promise, which -no woman of independent spirit would have given, that she would not read -any letter addressed to her by Ochino, without consulting him or -Cardinal Cervini. Vittoria gave this promise, and afterwards redeemed it -by transmitting to Cardinal Cervini, not one letter, but a packet of -letters written to her by Ochino; observing on them, in an accompanying -note, "I am grieved to see that the more he attempts to excuse himself, -he condemns himself the more; and the more he believes he shall save -others from shipwreck, the more he exposes himself to the deluge; being -out of the ark which alone can save." - -Vittoria was at Rome, the head-quarters of intolerance, attending Fra -Ambrogio's lectures in the church of San Silvestro, and sending her -servant, after the sermon, to Michael Angelo, saying, "Tell him that I -and Messer Lattanzio are here in this cool chapel, that the church is -shut and very pleasant, and ask him if he will come and spend the -morning with us." And when he came, their talk was not of polemics, but -of painting, and of her building a convent on the slope of Monte -Cavallo. - -Vittoria, having put her hand to the plough, had drawn back; but Giulia -had chosen the better part, and has attained the honour of being -stigmatised in Romish records as "suspected of heretical pravity." - -Oh! how she wept when Valdés died! They were tears of sweet and pure -affection, unmixed with bitterness or gloomy foreboding, for he had -been called, at the second watch, to his rest: and she had now a good -assurance of following in the same luminous track, upheld by the same -right hand, straight up to heaven, without the intervention of a fearful -purgatory. - -He was called away in the strength of his manhood, for he was little -more than forty, and his twin brother is lost sight of about the same -time. Lovely in their lives, in death they were not long divided. -Peaceful, natural decline removed them from the persecutions that -awaited their followers. - -It is not hard to divine his last admonitions to Giulia. "Search the -Scriptures, for in them we know that we have eternal life. Pray, dear -Signora! pray! As our Lord prayed on the mount, the fashion of His -countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistening! -Doubtless, whenever _we_ pray, the expression of our countenance is -altered in the sight of God, if not of man; and our raiment, the -righteousness of Christ, becomes white and glistening. Oh, what an -incentive to prayer! St. Matthew and St. Luke, you will find, in -narrating the transfiguration, do not give us the preface--'_and as he -prayed_.' But how important an addition it is! What a blessing that -prayer drew down! It drew prophets and saints from heaven!" - -"Valdés, dear friend! Would that my prayers might hereafter draw _you_ -down from heaven to comfort me! Yet no; I recall the selfish wish. -Rather let me fancy you calling, 'Come up hither!'" - -"Fancy our Lord so calling you, dear Signora, and it will be mere fancy -no longer. All my teaching will have been in vain, if you covet human -rather than divine sympathy and help." - -"But you have been to me as a brother." - -"There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, Signora. Come, -give me a text, ere you leave me, to dwell upon when you are gone." - -"'Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.'" - -"God grant it! And here is one for you, whose time has not yet come to -be led forth. 'Behold! I have refined thee, but not with silver'--(not -in the same way, that is; not with mere physical heat)--'I have chosen -thee in the furnace of affliction.' See! there is something that escapes -us at first. God not only says He has tested us, but that He has -_chosen_ us. O, blessed to be the chosen of the Lord----" - -"Valdés, I seek Him, but I know not that I have yet found Him----" - -"Signora! 'let the heart of them rejoice that _seek_ the Lord.'" - -While masses were being sung and said for the soul of Cardinal -Ippolito, the spirit of Valdés departed without a sigh. "For so He -giveth His beloved sleep." But were Giulia's affections, which had been -gradually refining, then left without a human object? No. By the will of -his paternal grandfather, her nephew, Vespasiano, the little Duke of -Sabionetta, came into her charge; and the education of the dear little -boy, now eight years old, became her care. She procured the best and -most enlightened tutors for him, in Tuscan, Latin, and Greek; and -despatched an envoy to Charles the Fifth, to secure for him the -investiture of the state of Lombardy, and to supersede its -administrators by Don Ferrante and Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga. - -This young boy was trained up by her in the paths of virtue and -godliness; and lovingly did he repay her pains. He grew up a fine -character, distinguished for liberality and intelligence; and to him the -Jews owed the licence for their printing press at Sabionetta. When he -died, in 1591, the line became extinct. - -Besides superintending Vespasiano's education, the Duchess devoted -herself to visiting the sick in the hospitals, and relieving the poor -with her own hands. She shunned the company of the idle and frivolous, -and cultivated the friendship of the wise and good. She lived to a ripe -old age, shining more and more unto the perfect day--a light in a dark -place, during an age of gross corruption--unsullied by the breath of -slander, and respected, in spite of her averred 'heretical pravity,' by -the Romish Church. - -The faithful old maggior-domo, Perez, wrote thus to Vespasiano, on the -19th of April, 1566: - - "It appears to me that I should fail in my duty, as a servant for - twenty-one years together, towards the deserving memory of the - illustrious lady, my Lady Donna Giulia di Gonzaga, your aunt, if I - did not offer to condole with your Excellency on her death." - - ... "Her illustrious ladyship died, as you will have heard by - letter from Magnifico Modignano, and from M. Federigo Zanichelli - to-day, between twenty-one and twenty-two o'clock. She made an end - conforming with her most holy life, continuing sensible to the - moment when her sainted spirit left the body. Her will has been - opened, and you will have learnt from the before-mentioned - Modignano and Zanichelli, that your Excellency is left absolute - heir of her property, deducting certain legacies; the will being - very different from one executed seven years ago." - -To the aforesaid Perez she left an annuity of a hundred ducats: to -Caterina, her maid, two hundred ducats down, and a bed and bedding. To -Petrillo, whom she had brought up in her house, a thousand ducats; or, -in case of his death before he were of age, half that sum to his father -and mother. To Metello, her page, a hundred ducats down. To the brother -of her former maid, Caterina Rosso, and to his two children, a hundred -ducats each, in remembrance of her services. To her chaplain, twenty -ducats. To Madonna Antonia, her lady's-maid, twenty ducats and her -salary. To two little girls assisting in the kitchen, ten ducats each, -besides their wages. To all the house-servants, their expenses for a -month. - -Also, remembrances to the nuns of Santa Clara, and to certain officers -of the Hospital for Incurables. - -Also marriage portions to sundry young women, and legacies to her -physicians. - -Also legacies to four hospitals. - -This remarkable entry was made---- - - "I leave Cynthia, my slave, to the said Vespasiano my heir, whom - I direct to take her to his state of Lombardy; and, when he has - come to the truth of what I wished to know from her, to give her - in marriage in that province, with two hundred ducats currency - as dowry, and to make her free and set her at liberty." - -And, on re-consideration, towards the close of the will,--after leaving -a legacy to her undutiful daughter-in-law, and to her sister, a nun,---- - - "If ever any person be found who may have given me offence in - any manner whatsoever, I freely pardon them, and beg my heir not - to bear any resentment. I also order and bind my said heir that - he use no constraint or severity towards the said Cynthia;--nor - am I careful that he should learn from her what I said before - that I wished to know; but that he shall make her free and set - her at liberty, and give her in marriage in the province of - Lombardy, as I before said." - -If looks could kill, would not the stubborn, impenetrable Cynthia have -been annihilated by the glances that were given her by the rest of the -Duchess's women, when this testamentary disposition transpired? Had they -the concentrated power of burning-glasses, she would have borne them -just as stoutly. All her life she had been sinning and inly repenting; -but, to draw from her one word she did not choose to speak--no! that -they should not! _She_, an Abencerrage, to be treated like a slave? She -had no feelings in common with her captors: she hated their race, and -despised their creed. She only made an exception in favour of the -Duchess; but the Duchess did not understand her: nobody understood her. -Oh! how hackneyed a complaint it is, that we are not understood! - -So, although Cynthia had shed sincere tears for her mistress, she felt a -gloomy glory, when she heard the first clause relating to herself, in -thinking that the more the young Duke insisted on her telling, the more -she would never mind. But when she found her gentle mistress had -retracted that command, and left her mentally and bodily at liberty--she -stole away to a solitary place, and there shed big tears, beating her -breast, and saying, - - "O Leila, Leila! You loved me!--and indeed I loved you!" - - [Illustration] - - - - - APPENDIX. - - -My story is ended--but, as it is based on Truth, I hope few who have -read the foregoing pages with any pleasure, will be without some -interest in the subsequent progress of the Italian Reformation. - -Stifled in its infancy, it is now re-awakening into life; and though it -as yet only numbers its open converts by hundreds, yet, where the Bible -is now freely read, it cannot be but that Truth, which is great, shall -eventually prevail. - -The following sketch, chiefly abridged from McCrie may be acceptable to -those who cannot refer to his History of the Reformation in Italy. I -have, however, likewise drawn from other sources. - -It was in 1542 that the court of Rome first became seriously alarmed at -the progress of the new opinions in Italy. Cardinal Caraffa, who -afterwards became Pope Paul the Fourth, laid before the sacred college -the discoveries he had made of their spread in Naples and many other -parts. It was resolved to proceed against some of the leaders, -especially Ochino and Peter Martyr Vermigli. Ochino, learning that his -death was determined on at Rome, hastily fled to Ferrara, whence, being -assisted by the good Duchess Renée, he escaped the hands of the armed -men despatched to apprehend him, and reached Geneva in safety. - -This flight was considered very cowardly by the resolute disciples he -had left behind; and, indeed, Ochino's story would read much better if -he had remained to share their fate, for there is a great falling off in -his subsequent history. - -As for Martyr, who had parted with him at Florence, he took refuge in -Zurich, whence he wrote back to those whom he had left to weather the -storm, advising _them_ by all means to stand by the sinking ship! Seeing -the wolf coming, he and Ochino left the sheep, and fled; no wonder that -the wolf scattered the sheep. - -The result was this. Many of Ochino's friends were apprehended, and some -of them driven to recant: and eighteen monks of Peter Martyr's monastery -were thrown into prison. Before the year was out, eighteen more of them -escaped to Switzerland. Yet the little church that was in Lucca kept its -lamp burning twelve more years. - -Celio Curio was another leading Reformer. Receiving private information -that he had better consult his safety, he sought refuge in Lausanne. A -few months afterwards, he stole back to fetch his beloved wife and -children; but was tracked by the familiars of the Inquisition. He was -dining at an inn, when a captain of the Papal Band entered, and -commanded him to surrender. Celio rose from table, the carving-knife -still in his hand; the captain involuntarily drew back--seeing which, -Celio, still grasping the knife, and assuming a look of great -determination, walked deliberately out of the room, passed through the -armed men at the door, took his horse from the stable, and made off. - -The Inquisition had been introduced into Italy at its first -establishment in the twelfth century, but was so repugnant to the free -states, that it was confined to the Order of St. Francis. Bishops might -take part with the inquisitors in the examination of heretics, but had -no power to inflict punishments. In 1543, however, Paul the Third -granted the title and rights of inquisitors to six cardinals, with full -power to apprehend and imprison suspected persons of whatever rank: and -the operations of this court gradually extended over Italy, in spite of -great resistance. This was decisive of the unfortunate issue of the -movements in favour of religious reform. Numbers of Reformers fled from -the country: others remained to abjure or die for their faith. A -formulary was drawn up, to which academicians were expected to -subscribe, and this produced a great excitement. - -In 1545, proceedings were commenced against Felippo Valentino, a young -man of great promise, at Modena, suspected of heresy. Hearing that an -armed force was coming to apprehend him, he escaped by night, leaving -his books and papers behind, which, being examined by the Inquisitors, -brought many of his friends into trouble. Next day, an edict was -published, forbidding any to have heretical or suspected books, or to -dispute publicly or privately on any point of religion, under the -penalty, for the first offence, of a hundred crowns of gold, or, if -unable to pay that sum, of the strappado. For the second offence, two -thousand golden crowns, or banishment. For the third, death. - -Valentino and Castelvetro were cited to appear at Rome. The popular -feeling was so strong for them, that the Duke of Modena was petitioned -to intercede with the Pope, that the trial should be suspended; which he -declined. Valentino and Castelvetro, not answering the citation, were -excommunicated. The latter escaped to Ferrara, thence to Geneva, and -finally settled at Chiavenna. What became of Valentino we are not told. -He was gifted with an extraordinary memory, and could correctly repeat a -sermon or lecture after hearing it once. - -Another distinguished sufferer for the Truth was Olympia Morata, who did -not indeed seal her testimony with her blood, but who was driven from -home and country. Celio Curio had found refuge in her father's house in -Ferrara, about the time that Olympia went to reside at the Ducal Palace, -in order to inspire the little Princess Anne with emulation in her -classical studies. Here, her life was too gay and worldly to be good for -her. - -"Had I remained longer at court," she afterwards wrote to Celio Curio, -"it would have been all over with me and my salvation. For never, while -I remained there, did I attain the knowledge of ought high or heavenly, -or read the Old or New Testament." - -Yet she had two female friends of more than average merit--Francesca -Bucyronia and the Princess Lavinia della Rovere. Gifted and pure-minded -as they were, these interesting girls as yet only cared for the things -of this present life, and philosophy, falsely so called. - -Olympia was summoned from court by the mortal illness of her beloved -father; and, in the wholesome discipline of the sick-room, received -lessons of invaluable worth. He died, reposing on her promise to supply -a parent's place, as far as possible, to her little brother and her -three young sisters, and to minister with filial devotion to her sickly -mother. - -It was a great charge, but she struggled bravely with her difficulties. -The great questions at issue between the Reformers and their foes -addressed themselves, also, to her attention, more forcibly than -heretofore; connected as they were with the fate of one in whom her -friend, the Princess Lavinia, took deep interest. A young man, named -Fannio, was consigned to the dungeons of Ferrara, for adhering to the -reformed opinions. To his wife and sister, who came to see him in -prison, he said, "Let it suffice you that, for your sake, I _once_ -denied my Saviour! Had I then had the knowledge which, by the grace of -God, I have acquired since my fall, I would not have yielded to your -entreaties. Go home in peace!" Weeping, they went. He lay two years in -prison, "to the furtherance of the Gospel," inasmuch as "his bonds in -Christ were manifest in all the palace." Faithful friends resorted to -him thither; among them were Lavinia and Olympia. The peril of their -visits perhaps added a little zest to the impression of his teaching. In -that gloomy cell, he and they and a little handful of the faithful, -prayed, and read the Scriptures, and broke bread, and sang hymns, just -as in the early times. - -When it was found that many persons of rank, besides Lavinia, stole to -these meetings, while his fellow-prisoners were so wrought upon by his -heavenly-mindedness that they declared they had never known what true -liberty and happiness were till they found them in a prison--Fannio was -put into solitary confinement. - -Though visitors were rigorously excluded, he reached them with his -letters; notwithstanding the repeated change of his gaolers. With what -intense interest must Lavinia and Olympia have pored over these letters! -In 1550, Fannio was brought to the stake, and, being first strangled, -was committed to the flames. He was the first of the Reformers who laid -down his life for his faith. - -Olympia, meanwhile, bereft of court favour, led a troubled and painful -life. She wrote to Celio Curio--"After my father's death, I remained -alone; abandoned by those who ought to have supported me. My sisters -were involved in my misfortune, and only reaped ingratitude for the -devotion and services of years. How deeply I felt it, you may readily -conceive. Not one of those who had been our friends in former times had -now the courage to show the least interest in us." She knew and he knew, -indeed, that the Princess Lavinia was a noteworthy exception. - -This cheerless loneliness was broken by the constancy of a young -Bavarian student of medicine, named Grünthler, who had already offered -his hand to her and been refused. He now renewed his addresses: his -devotedness touched her heart, and she accepted him. They were married -very quietly in 1550. "Neither the resentment of the Duke," she wrote to -Curio, "nor all the miserable circumstances which surrounded me, could -induce him to abandon his desire to make me his wife. So great and true -a love has never been surpassed." - -Leaving her under the protection of Lavinia, Grünthler repaired to -Germany to find a home for her, where they might at least enjoy freedom -of conscience. - -"Your departure," Olympia wrote to him, "was a great grief to me, and -your long absence is the greatest misfortune that could befall me. I am -always fancying you have had a fall, have broken your limbs, or been -frozen by the extreme cold. You know what the poet says-- - - "Res est soliciti plena timoris amor." - -"If you would alleviate this tormenting anxiety, let me know what you -are about; for my whole heart is yours, as you know full well." - -Grünthler was so long finding what he wanted, that his good friend, -George Hermann, advised him to fetch his wife and live with him at -Augsberg, till something should turn up--which he did. Olympia's grief -was great at parting with her mother and sisters, whom she had little -hope of ever seeing again: her brother Emilio, eight years of age, she -took with her. Thus Italy lost one of its most distinguished women. - -Once settled in Germany, she was very happy. "We are still," she wrote, -"with our excellent friend, and I am delighted with my home here. I pass -my entire day in literary pursuits--_me cum Musis delecto_--and have no -cares to draw me away from them. I also apply myself to the study of -Holy Writ, which is so productive of peace and contentment." - -The occupation she chiefly found for her pen was translating the Psalms -of David into Greek verse. These her husband used to set to music, and -the singing of them formed the evening amusement of their little circle. - -After residing some months with George Hermann, they removed to another -friend, John Sinapi, a good physician who had married Olympia's early -companion, Francesca Bucyronia. At length they obtained a humble home of -their own at Schweinfurth on the Maine. And here they dwelt usefully and -happily till war and pestilence raged around them. Schweinfurth was -sacked: Olympia fled from it barefoot, in worse plight than Giulia -Gonzaga, for she had no horse to carry her to the nearest refuge, ten -miles off. "I might have been taken," she said, "for the queen of the -beggars." - -At length they reached Erbach, where the good Countess received her like -a mother, and nursed her through her sickness. But Olympia never -recovered from the effects of that fearful flight; and an early death -crowned her beautiful and exemplary life. - -The persecution which raged against the humbler confessors in Ferrara, -failed not to attack the Duchess herself, though the daughter of a King -of France. It was not till she had endured a short imprisonment that she -was intimidated into concealing her convictions. On the death of the -Duke, she returned to France, where she made open profession of the -reformed faith, and afforded shelter to its confessors. - -In the Venetian states, the persecution raged with great violence. -Francesco Spira, a lawyer of Padua, died in such agonies of mind at -having been induced, by the terrors of the Inquisition, to recant, that -Vergerio, the converted bishop of Capo d' Istria, who was present at his -death, was greatly affected by it. "To tell the truth," says he, "I felt -such a flame in my breast, that I could hardly help going to the legate -at Venice, and crying out, "Here I am! where are your prisons and your -fires?" Instead of this, he sought refuge among the Grisons." - -The way of putting the Venetian martyrs to death was not by fire but by -water. At dead of night, the prisoner was taken from his cell, and put -into a gondola, attended by a priest. He was rowed out to sea, beyond -"The two Castles," where another boat was waiting. A plank was then laid -across the two gondolas, upon which the prisoner, heavily chained to a -stone, was placed. On a given signal, the two boats paddled different -ways. - -The first martyr who thus suffered was Giulio Giurlanda. When set on the -plank, he calmly bade the gondoliers farewell, and, calling on the Lord, -sank into the deep. - -Antonio Bicetto, of Vicenza, followed his example, though urged to -recant by the most tempting bribes. Space would fail if I undertook to -recount all who in their turn were faithful unto death. Others escaped; -and there was not a city of note in Italy that did not swell the list of -fugitives. This shows how widely the reformed opinions must have -spread. - -Nowhere was greater cruelty shown than to the Milanese. Galeazzo Trezio, -a man of noble birth, was sentenced to be burnt alive, which he bore -with the utmost fortitude. A young priest, after being half-strangled, -was literally roasted alive, and then thrown to the dogs. - -At Naples, so great was the rigour of the Inquisition as seriously to -affect trade. Whole streets were deserted by their inhabitants. -Terrified by the severities exercised upon their brethren, a -considerable body of Neapolitans agreed to quit Italy together. But, -when they reached the Alps, and stopped to take a last view of their -beloved country, they burst into tears and resolved to return home. They -no sooner reached it than they were cast into prison. - -But, of all the barbarities of which Rome was guilty at this time, none -were more horrible than those which were inflicted on the Waldenses who -had settled in Calabria. I have already related how these peaceable -people had founded a little colony, and, by their exemplary lives, had -won the good opinion of even the priests. They now amounted to about -four thousand persons, and they possessed several towns in the -neighbourhood of Coscenza, two of which were Santo Xisto and La Guardia. - -Cut off from all intercourse with their Waldensian brethren, these -colonists had habituated themselves to attend mass, without which they -found it difficult to maintain friendly relations with their neighbours. -Hearing of the spread of the reformed opinions in Italy, similar to -those for which their ancestors had bled, these Waldenses became -convinced they had sinned in conforming to Popish observances, and they -applied to their friends and ministers at Pragela and Geneva, for -teachers who should reform and restore their discipline. - -No sooner was this known at Rome, than two monks were sent to reduce -these Waldenses to obedience to the holy see. They began very gently -with the inhabitants of Santo Xisto, saying they had only come to -prevent them from lapsing into error; and they appointed a time for the -celebration of mass, which they enjoined every person to attend. - -Instead of this, the Waldenses, in a body, retreated into the woods, -only leaving behind them a few old people and children. The monks, -concealing their chagrin, repaired to La Guardia, and, having caused the -gates to be shut, assembled the inhabitants and told them their brethren -of Santo Xisto had renounced their errors, and they had better follow -their good example. - -The poor simple people were talked over, and complied; but great was -their indignation when they found the deceit that had been practised on -them. They were eager immediately to join their brethren in the woods, -but were dissuaded by their feudal lord. - -Meanwhile, the monks directed two companies of foot-soldiers to beat the -woods, and hunt down the fugitives in them like wild beasts, which they -did, with cries of "Ammazzi! ammazzi!" "Slay them! slay them!" - -Some of the Waldenses, securing themselves among the rocks, demanded a -parley with the captain of their assailants. They pleaded for their -wives and children, said they were willing peaceably to leave the -country, and implored him to withdraw his men. Instead of this, the -captain commanded an instant attack, most of the parleyers were cut -down, and the rest took to flight. San Xisto was given up to fire and -sword; and the fugitives still lurking in the woods, either were put to -death or perished with hunger. - -The people of La Guardia were then given up to the tender mercies of the -Inquisition. My pen refuses to copy the account of the horrible -cruelties to which they were subjected. Sixty women were tortured, most -of whom died in prison, in consequence of their wounds remaining -undressed. Yet this was nothing to what afterwards ensued. One of the -Catholic historians says, "Some had their throats cut, others were sawn -asunder, others thrown from a high cliff: all were cruelly, but -deservedly put to death. It was strange to hear of their obstinacy; for -while the father saw his son put to death, and the son his father, they -not only exhibited no symptoms of grief, but said joyfully that they -should be angels of God! So much had the devil, to whom they had given -themselves up as prey, deceived them!"[16] - - [16] Tommaso Costa. - -Martyrs of whom the world was not worthy! It is less sad, after all, to -read of the martyrdoms of Carnesecchi, and Di Monti, and Paleario, and -many others, than to find heresies and schisms creeping into the little -flock itself, and drawing many of them away from the purity of that -faith for which others died. - -Unitarianism was the canker that ate into the bud of the Italian -Reformation. The opinions of Servetus and Socinus, and various -modifications of them, insinuated themselves into the minds of the -hapless exiles, who were scattered as sheep having no shepherd. Camillo -Renato was one of the leading schismatics; and though he did not avow -his own disbelief in the Trinity, his followers made no scruple of doing -so. Many were tossed in a wild sea of doubt; others were swayed to and -fro by every wind of doctrine; but we must not forget that a great many -were consistent and faithful to the end of their course. Even Ochino's -orthodoxy was suspected; though Calvin saw no reason to doubt it. There -was a cloud, however, over his latter days. - -Pius the Fourth was of a mild disposition, but he was not powerful -enough to overrule the inquisitors. A house beyond the Tiber was -appropriated to them, to which cells were added for criminals, or those -who were accounted such. This was called "the Lutheran prison," and it -was said to be built on the site of the ancient Circus of Nero, in which -so many Christians were delivered to the wild beasts. - -The persecution raged with redoubled fury under Pius the Fifth: -especially at Bologna, where "persons of all ranks were indiscriminately -subjected to the same imprisonment, tortures, and death. In Rome, some -were every day burnt, hanged, or beheaded; all the prisons were filled, -and they were obliged to seek new ones." Think of the constancy of these -confessors! Rome had no need to go to Japan for martyrs. If she should -hereafter have a Protestant martyrology, many of her own sons and -daughters may be enrolled in it. "We know not what becomes of people -here," wrote Muretus to De Thou; "I am terrified every morning when I -rise, lest I should be told that such and such a one is no more: and if -it should be so, we should not dare to say a word." - -And thus the Italian Reformation was crushed out! But its motto is -"Resurgam!" - - - II. - -"The 'Alfabeto Christiano' is a book unknown even to bibliographers for -the last three centuries. It had its origin in an actual conversation -between Juan de Valdés, twin brother to the Latin secretary of the -Emperor Charles the Fifth, and Giulia Gonzaga, Duchess of Trajetto and -Countess of Fondi, at Naples, about the close of 1535, or the beginning -of the following year. At her request it was immediately afterwards -written down by him in Spanish, to promote her instruction and refresh -her memory. It now essentially conveys to us the spirit and substance of -the conversation in the precise form and manner in which it took place -between them."--_Introduction by Benjamin B. Wiffen, Esq., to his -translation of the "Alfabeto Christiano."_ - -"It was printed at a time when for a few years the press of Venice was -comparatively free; and when, taking advantage of this liberty, then -existing nowhere else in Italy, it multiplied the tracts of the -Reformation by thousands. When the friends of Valdés were afterwards -persecuted at Naples, and his name condemned by the authority of Rome, -implicating by connection with him, one of the most distinguished -members of the noble family of the Gonzagas,--all parties, friends -equally with opponents, would of course be concerned to observe silence -on the subject; while all the friends of the family would be urged alike -by religious sentiment and by family considerations to destroy silently -and irrecoverably every copy of a book that appeared to cast, by its -association with her name, the shadow of its principles upon those who -were allied to her."--_Ibid._ - -The passage describing the manner in which a stray copy fell into his -hands, and the circumstances under which he perused it, is one of the -pleasantest in Mr. Wiffen's Introduction. McCrie quotes a passage from -Fontaine, who tells us that "on taking down an old house at Urbino, in -1728, the workmen disinterred a copy of Bruccioli's 'Paraphrase of St. -Paul's Epistles,' with some books of Ochino, Valdés, and others of the -same kind, which had remained in concealment for more than a century and -a half." - - - III. - -"Carnesecchi was secretary to Clement the Seventh, and afterwards -prothonotary to the Apostolic See. One of his preferments was an abbey -at Naples.... After the death of Clement, he retired from the Roman -court to Naples, where he became intimate with Juan de Valdés. He was in -that city in December, 1540, when Valdés died; and if he did not himself -receive his last confession, which is very probable, he at least knew -what it was, for his commendation of it formed part of the accusation -against him on his trial in 1567, before the Inquisition at Rome; and -after the death of Valdés he succeeded to the confidence of Giulia -Gonzaga. This correspondence brought her also under the suspicion of the -Inquisition on two occasions; once in 1545, and again, a short time -before her death, in 1566."--_Wiffen's Introd., &c._ - - - IV. - -"Few were the years of the life of Valdés after the conversation of the -'Alfabeto Christiano,' yet during four, or at the most, five of them, he -presented to Giulia his translation from the Greek of the Gospel -according to Matthew, of the Psalms translated from the Hebrew, of the -Epistle to the Romans, from the Greek, with a commentary; nor could she -be unacquainted with his 'Considerations' and other writings, while they -were yet in manuscript."--_Ibid._ - - - V. - -"Ippolito's translation of the second book of the Æneid was published at -Rome, in 1538, 4to., and in Venice, 1540. The latter is entitled, 'I sei -primi libri del Eneide de Vergilio, &c. Il secondo di Vergilio de -Hipolito de Medici Cardinale, a la Signora Giulia Gonzaga, MDXXXX.' It -contains twenty-three leaves."--_Ibid._ - -The lengthy title of Ireneo Affo's work, which a friend transcribed for -me at the British Museum, is:--"Memorie di tre Principesse della -famiglia Gonzaga; offerte a sua ecc: il Signor Conte Stefano Sanvitale -Parmigiano, gentiluomo di camera con esercito ed essente delle reali -guardie del corpo di S. A. R., in occasione delle sue felicissime nozze -con sua eccel: la Signora Principessa Donna Luigia Gonzaga Mantovana. -Parma, 1787. 4to." - -The title is not more wordy than the memoir itself, though a short one. - - - THE END. - - - BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - * * * * * - - This day is Published, in fep. 8vo., neatly bound, - - THE NEST HUNTERS; - - OR, ADVENTURES IN THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. - - By WILLIAM DALTON, Esq. - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS. - - CHAPTER - - I. An Important Letter. - - II. A Great Calamity. - - III. Our Uncle's Last Will and Testament. - - IV. The Robbery and Abduction of Marie. - - V. We Run Away and take Service with Nest Hunters. - - VI. We set out on our Voyage. - - VII. The Old Chief. The "Strong One," the "Weak One," the "Handsome - One." - - VIII. We descend into the Nest Caves. - - IX. My Adventures in the Nest Caves. - - X. I recognise the Nest Robbers. - - XI. A Search for a Mare's Nest - - XII. We "Bite the Biters," but are Overhauled by a Dutch Cruiser. - - XIII. We Sell our Nests, are taken Prisoners, but capture our Captors. - - XIV. History of our Captain: his Hatred of the Dutch. - - XV. Adventures with a Big Snake and a Man-eater. - - XVI. We pick up a Chinese Story-Teller, who sends us to Sleep. - - XVII. We are Hoodwinked by the Chinese, who Robs us of our All. - - XVIII. Wherein a Chief proves his Invulnerability by killing Himself. - - XIX. We visit the Capital of Blilling and witness Widow-Burning. - - XX. We return to the Coast and hear of an Old Enemy. - - XXI. The Wen-necked Hunchback and his Revelation to Prabu. - - XXII. We join a Tiger Hunt, but narrowly escape being Poisoned by a - Chief. - - XXIII. A Fight, a Great Peril, and a Timely Rescue. - - XXIV. We land at Mojopahit and are imprisoned as Rebels. - - XXV. Through Woods and Wilds. - - XXVI. We hunt Tigers and discover some Old Acquaintances. - - XXVII. And Last, containing a Tolerably Happy Ending. - - - * * * * * - - Shortly, - - ARTHUR MERTON. - - A STORY FOR THE YOUNG. - - By Mrs. J. B. WEBB, - - AUTHOR OF "NAOMI; OR, THE LAST DAYS OF JERUSALEM." - - In 16mo. With Frontispiece. - - - ARTHUR HALL & CO., 26, PATERNOSTER ROW. - - - * * * * * - - In Preparation. - - THINGS HARD TO BE UNDERSTOOD; - - OR, ILLUSTRATIONS OF DIFFICULT DOCTRINES - - AND MISINTERPRETED TEXTS. - - By the Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D., F.R.S.E. - - A NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. - - * * * * * - Price 2s. 6d. Cloth, 3s. Gilt. - - SUNDAY THOUGHTS; - - OR, GREAT TRUTHS IN PLAIN WORDS. - - By MRS. T. GELDART. - - SECOND EDITION. - - - * * * * * - - Price 5s. Cloth. - - THOUGHTS AND SKETCHES IN VERSE. - - By CAROLINE DENT. - - - * * * * * - - Price 3s. Cloth, 5s. Gilt. - - POEMS. - - By the late MARIE J. E. FOTHERBY. - - EDITED BY HER HUSBAND. - - - * * * * * - 12mo., Cloth, 2s. - - BELLENGER'S FRENCH FABLES. - - ONE HUNDRED CHOICE FABLES, IMITATED FROM LA FONTAINE. - - - For the use of Children, and all Persons beginning to Learn the - French Language; with a Dictionary of the Words and Idiomatic - Phrases, Gramatically Explained. - - NEW EDITION, Revised and Corrected by C. J. DELILLE, Professor at - Christ's Hospital, &c. - - * * * * * - ARTHUR HALL & CO., 26, PATERNOSTER ROW. - - - - - Transcriber's Note: Although most printer's errors have been - retained, some have been silently corrected. Some spelling and - punctuation, capitalization, accents and formatting markup have been - normalized and include the following: - - Page 180 convice is now convince. - - The oe ligature has been expanded. - - Quotation marks have been inserted in rows 138, 224, 2068, 2344, - 2762, 4714, 4972 and 5016. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Duchess of Trajetto, by Anne Manning - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUCHESS OF TRAJETTO *** - -***** This file should be named 42296-8.txt or 42296-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/2/9/42296/ - -Produced by Sue Fleming, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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