CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Bequest of ROGER P. CIARK 1940 The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029248592 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. A TALE OE- €\t llefonttation in % Stents Centnrg. BOSTON: THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, iNSTITCTXD 1814. DEPOSITOBIES, 28 COENHII/L, BOSTON; AND 13 BIBLE HOUSE, ASTOR H-AOE, NEW YORK. REPKKfTED PEOM THE LONDOIT RELIGIOtJS TKACT SOCIETY. GEO. O. BAND & ATSRT, STERBOTYPERS AND PRIITTKBa. PREFACE. o»;o C*^'HIS historical tale of the Italian Reformation (^y has been prepared with great care from the best authorities on the subject. The writer has en- deavored to present a faithful picture of a period the most eventful in the religious history of Italy, when the little light that had always lingered among the Vaudois in the recesses of the Alps seemed rising and spreading on the horizon toward a perfect day. Man}'' a heart in the crowded cities of the priest-rid- den land hailed it with gladness. Cloistered monks, "nuns in their narrow cell," Roman nobles, Floren- tine citizens, Venetian senators, not a few, opened their souls to its effalgence. It has been painful to write how that glorious light was quenched, gradu- ally, but surely. One by one, Italy's contingent to the noble army of martyrs was dismissed heaven- ward, amid blood and fire, which darkened the land. in IV PREFACE. Ruthles^nd bloody persecution was followed by a terrible retribution of spiritual death, continuing almost to the present hour. The names and histories of men who fought and fell in this struggle for God's truth should not willingly be let die out of our memories and our grateful love. It has seemed to the writer that British Christians know less about these Italian Reformers than about any others. Perhaps the present little work may help to supply a felt deficiency. The accuracy of all its historical and biographical statements, and the truthfulness of the local coloring introduced, may be relied on. It is hoped that the reader's heart may be stirred up to gratitude toward God for his mercy manifested to our own favored Britain, wherein " the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ" has not been extinguished, but is spreading, as from a center, over the benighted na- tions of the earth, and even once more into that poor Italy. ^^ CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I.— The Dream before Awaking 7 II.— The Escape, 16 III. — Bbfoee the Nuncio, ■■..... 21 IV.— The Wayside Cross, 31 v. — The Sermon in ihe Piazza, . . . . ; 37 VI.— The Exodus, 4? VII. — The Heretic Pilgrimage, ...... S3 Vm. — The Relic-Sellek's Bemorse, ..... 62 IX.— Among the Fbancisoans, 70 X.— The Arrest 78 xi.— In a Cell 88 XII.— The Screw Ecclesiastic, 99 XIII.— The Sentence, 107 XIV. — Among the Mountains, ...... 116 XV.— The Altar IN THE Foreign Land, . . . .124 XVI. — Fra Bebnardin, ....... 133 XVII.— A Daughter of France 142 XVIII.— The Audience, 1S2 XIX.— Ferrarese Interiors, 161 XX.— "OUK Olympla," 171 XXI. — The Renegade Monk, 181 XXII. — Padua, 191 XXIII. — The COMING Cloud OF War, 199 1* VI CONTENTS. XXIV. — Tkmptation, XXV. — How Things went on in Modena, XXVI. — A Clew to a Conspieact, XXVII. — Ducal Commands, XXVIII. — KENftE'S Beneficencb, . XXIX. — The Mountain Osteria, XXX. — Beetheen in Flokence, XXXI. — Savonarola, .... XXXII. — On the Road to Rome, . XXXIII. — LUDOVICO Paschali, . XXXIV. — The Eternal City, XXXV. — Genius and Faith, XXXVI.— A Cleft in a Kock, XXXVII. — Juan Valdez and his School, . XXXVIII. — The Calabrian Colonies, XXXIX. — Storm gathering from the North, XL. — The Fokekunnee of the Tempest, XLI. — " Perfect through Sufferings," XLII. — The Resolve of San Sesto, . XLIII. — Samson's Chase, XLIV. — In "the Tops of the Ragged Rocks, XLV. — The Parley and the Assault, . XLVI. — The Ruined Home, XLVII. — Sign-Posts of the Times, . XLVIII. — Fire and Water, .... XLIX. — Eclipse deepens into Night, 208 216 227 234 245 263 263 272 282 291 300 308 317 324 33S 342 351 360 .369 377 385 394 402 411 421 430 From Baton to Bark in Italg. OH AFTER I. THE BBEAM BEFORE AWAKING. »GLORY of Italian noonday lay upon the little town of Locarno. Sun-ounding Alpine hights were yet snowy with winter's livery, and the near forests of pine showed grandly gloomy against the distant peaks of piercing white- ness ; hut Lago Maggiore rippled as hlue and calm as in midsummer, reflecting a heaven without a cloud. The narrow streets of Locarno shut off the sunshine well, except in the broad market-place, where the usual venders of country provisions sat and sold and chattered in the pftnia of the mountains. Some absorbing subject interests them to-day. Many glances are directed towards the huge dark monastery 7 8 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. which overtops and shadows the other buildings, as the church in that age towered above and eclipsed all things secular. A side of the square is filled with the gray mas- sive front and ponderous portals of a convent. Occasion- ally a dingy lay brother enters or emerges from it, with fifty pair of eager black eyes following his movements, and fifty gUb tongues gossiping about him in whispers. "And how say you," observed a peasant girl, carrying a fruit-basket, to an aged crone who sold relics and images at a stall in one comer : " are the heretic ladies before his Eminence even now ? " "Even now," echoed Dame Ursula, crossing herself quickly: "the holy saints defend us from heresy and witch- craft, and all evil! I saw them entering' two hours agone. His Eminence condescends to argue with them, hoping to draw them again into the true faith. If they are obsti- nate, why, the Church has power to punish yet, in spite of Luther and all his fiends." The old woman pursed her withered lips firmly together, as she replaced on its proper end a leaden Madonna which had rattled down against a bead rosary, and propped it up by a crucifix securely. "But, Mother Ursula, they would not bum women, would they ? " And the dark eyes of the maiden opened widely with a sort of dread, as she nestled closer to the old relic-vender. "No, foolish child, not here; though I've heard of it in other places : but the Church has ways of punishing besides that, beheve me." The crone put up her brown bony finger, and nodded mysteriously, as if she knew a THE DREAM BEFORE AWAKING. 9 great deal, were she only willing to tell. "You have heard of the Holy Office, child?" Twelve years before, in 1543, Pope Paul the Thii-d had issued his bull founding in Rome the congregation sancti officii, constituting six cardinals inquisitors-general, and endowing them with terrific power for the extirpation of Lutheran opinions. Thenceforward the dawn of divine truth in Italy began to be overcast with the darkness of premature eclipse. Caterina, the peasant-girl, had never heard the tremen- dous name, which was to prove a watchword of terror to the extremest verge of her native soil. Old Mother Ursula knew little more than the name ; but, drawing on her vivid southern imagination for her facts, she quickly sketched a few items of horror which blanched her listen- er's cheek and lips. " The poor ladies ! I hope his Eminence will convince them of their errors," sighed the girl. " It must be a ter- rible calamity to be a heretic ! Now, what is it that they don't believe. Mother Ursula ? " " Every thing," answered the other oracularly. " They don't believe the very saints are in heaven ! Nay, they blaspheme the adorable sacrifice of the mass, affirming that any common piece of bread is as good as the blessed euoharist! Sancta Cecilia pardon me for saying the words!" And she crossed herself vehemently many times, and pattered a few prayers on her bead amulet. "These very ears," she continued, "heard the physi- cian's wife declare that extreme unction was of no avail 10 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to a soul that had lived in sin. When I confessed it to Father Pietro, he said it was rank heresy, and an invea- tion of the Lutherans. And as for purgatory, they don't believe in it at all." Here the relic-seller grasped her companion's wrist, as she glanced at two men who passed by the stall. " There he goes, the Signor di Montalto, her husband ; the best leech in Locarno, and kindest to the poor, — more pity that he should be tainted with a heretic wife. And that tall youth beside him is a young doctor fi-esh from Padua, — Signor Francesco, they call him ; a most gentle and learned student, who cured my cough with a draught of simples the other day. He hath a certain look of my son Giovanni, thinkest thou, .Caterina? The same firm, burnt cheek, and great eyes, as black and bright as mid- night round the stars. But I forget; thou knowest not Giovan, who has gone to the wars : all the saints preserve him!" The two gentlemen thus noticed passed by the convent, and entered a labyrinth of wretched streets beyond, bound on some professional visit, much to Dame Ursula's disap- pointment, and that of other gazers in the market-place, who hoped that the plot was thickening by their an-ivah Let us readers in the nineteenth century do what they longed for in vain, enter the monastery, and oversee the conference between his eminence the papal nuncio Ri- verda, Bishop of Terracina, and these two Lutheran ladies of Locarno. He had been more than two hours convincing them, The dream before awaking. ii these weak women, With the triple power of his own episco- pal theology, and that of two Dominican divines besides ; and they were not yet convinced, nor even frightened. Brucioli's Italian Bible was their armory of arguments, which all the authority of popes and fathers could not foil. His Eminence the limicie was getting angry,— with some cause ; for is it not provoking when the battering- ram that could crush in a fortification strikes harmless against a soft cushion ? " Truly, the Church was wise when she forbade the read- ing of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue to the common people," he said with bitterness. "It hath ever been a fertile source of the most pernicious errors ; for the un- learned and the ignorant will wrest them to their own destruction." " My lord, we are ready to be taught," replied Lucia di •Orello gently ; " we desire to be instructed by those wiser than ourselves. If your Eminence can prove to us from God's Word that we are wrong " — " But we must have such proof, and none other will suf- fice," interposed the more impetuous Barbara di Montalto. • • "We submit to no human authority in matters of faith; not even to that of his Holiness, or of a General Coun- cil." The priests looked at one another. " Thou art a bold woman," said the nuncio, as he noted something in tablets before him, « thus to declare thyself superior to the voice of the Church in all ages." "But the voice of the Church hath uttered error," an- 12 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Bwered the lady fii-mly; "and God hath enabled us to discern that error through the light of his Spirit on Scrip- ture : therefore we will endure all things rather than yield an iaji8,.of the truth." The nuncio had grown suddenly cool. Except for an evil hght lurking in his deep-set eye, like lurid flame in a cavern, one might have thought he asked rather an indif- ferent question in his next words. "And what, signora, call you truth which the holy Ko- man Church calls not truth?" A slight gesture of his hand, imperceptible except to the person for whom it was meant, caused the Dominican beside him to record the answer in his tablets, unperceived by the speaker, whose enthusiasm kindled a bright glow in her eye and cheek as she stood before him. "All that God has written in his holy Scripture is truth. All that the popes have published in theu- decretals, add- ing to Scripture, is error. The whole system of the papacy is one vast error. Show me any thing in its doctrines or practices that is not alloyed with falsehood ! " As she paused for a moment, the nuncio shrugged his shoulders sUghtly, and his lips contracted back over his white teeth in a sort of smile. "The doctrine of the adorable eucj^ariati " he said insi^isualy. "Thou knowest, my lord, that there, most of all, thy Church has failed in keeping the truth," was the undaunted reply. " Thou knowest that Peter and John never under- stood the sacred bread and wine to contain the very body and soul of Christ, which then sat with them at the table. THE DREAM BEFORE AWAKING. 13 But thy Church has made merchandise of the Holy Sup- per, turning it into an idolatrous mass, and causing men to worship the work of their own hands." " Barbara," said the soft voice of her friend Lucia, as she pulled the skirt of the speaker's robe, " you are over- bold ; you forget " — " I do not forget. I know that they have my life in their hands, that they can send me to the stake if they will. But I must speak the truth; and I say that the Romish mass is idolatrous, and an insult to the majesty of Heaven as well as to the reason of men ! " " Basta ! it is enough," exclaimed the nuncio, rising, with that evil smile on his lips still. " I thank you, ladies, for your courtesy and your plain words. My desire was to convince you of your heresy, and bring you back to the one fold under the one shepherd; and as I have failed, and these learned doctors have failed, our conference had best come to a close." He waved his hand, on which glittered the costly ring of his egiscogaitfi. The Lutheran ladies made their obei- sance, and withdrew. "O Barbara!" said the gentle Lucia, drawing a free breath when they reached the open air of the streets by a secluded postern, "how I trembled for you! The eyes of that Dominican were like daggers. You are too brave, ■ my friend. You have a lion-heart." "Not braver than your own, my Lucia; though you have the grace of gentleness," said the Signora di Mon- taltQ, looking at her affectionately. "I know that you 2 14 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. would stand as firmly as I, but perhaps with less rash demonstration of strength. Ah! here conres Francesco." " Well, sign ora, are you convinced?" the young physi- cian asked with a smile. And it was apparent, from the conversation which followed, that others in the Montalto household besides its mistress were tainted with the lea ren of heresy. The house which they approached was more like a for- tress than a private dwelling. Immensely thick walls, slit with loopholes, and battlemented at top, — the foundation on a rock circled on three sides by the waters of the Lago Maggiore, — one could easily believe that its origin was during the wars between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, when every man's home required the strength of a castle. Night came down over the beautiful lake, arrayed in purple robes pierced with a thousand stars. In a turret of the fortified house a lamp burned, hour after hour, gleaming redly out upon the darkness. It shone on the coarse yellowish pages of a large volume under the eyes of Barbara di Montalto, — a copy of Brucioli's translation of the Bible. When her spirit was overwhelmed within her, when the sure re-action came after her excitement before the nuncio, she sought for cordial here. And, in a still small voice, these words breathed itito her soul : "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." And her dauntless eyes filled with happy tears in the realization of the presence .and help of ' that precious Saviour. TBE DREAM BEFORE AWAKING. 15 A sound as of some person speaking in the next room, which opened from the turret by a curtained archway," attracted her attention. Shading the lamp with her hand, she entered, and stood by the couch on which her husband lay in restless sleep. His face startled her. The large veins were swollen on his forehead, the brows knit heav- ily, the lips drawn back from the clinched teeth. He flung out his arm violently. "Off — off!" he exclaimed fiercely, grasping the side of the couch, as if engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle. " Villains, traitors ! ye shall not dare " — She could look on the agony in his face no longer. She put her hand on his shoulder, and called him by name. Di Montalto's eyes opened widely, and glared about him with the indistinct vision of one suddenly awaked. "It was only a dream, mio caro," said his wife gently; " only a dream." And she pushed back the matted hair which had fallen over his damp brow. He drew a long, deep breath of relief. " It was horrible as a reality," he said. " They were dragging me to the dungeons of the Holy Office, Barbara. I tell you, I have seen nothing more plainly in my waking hours than the dark, reeking walls of that torture-chamber just now. I clung to them; I fought desperately. God be thanked, it was but a dream ! " His wife's face had paled somewhat, and a slight shiver ran through her frame. The dream was no impossibility •br her. CHAPTER II. THE ESCAPE. Jl MONTALTO'S sleep was over for that night. Presently he left his chambV3r, and proceeded down a narrow, winding stairs, contained in the thickness of the wall, to the lower stories of the fortified house. As he descended the steep, moldering steps, night air from the loopholes blew across his lana.p at intervals, and the plashing of waters became a nearer sound through the great silence without, till he reached a dark embrasure, wherein was sunk a massive iron-barred door. It had not been opened for a long time. Rust lay thick on the bolts, almost welding them and their holdfasts into a solid mass. Huge knobs of iron studded the ponder- ous oaken panels, between the interstices of a grating of the same metal. A lock of ancient and peculiarly strong construction secured the door into a socket of stone. " I must call Francesco," said the physician, shaking his head at all this strength, and at a mental measurement of the immense key in his hand with the force of his unaided THE ESCAPE. 17 wrist. And so, passing from the -winding stair by a nar- row side-door which he unlocked, he roused his assistant, and told him what he wanted. " I can scarce account for the impulse," he said ; " but I am urged by some irresistible feeling to have this door opened, and the boat in readiness without. Tou smile ; you think the dream has not yet ceased beating in my brain: nor, perchance, has it; for I tell you, Francesco, the -rision was marvelously distinct. Methinks it were a warning from heaven. I see not thy face now more cleaiiy before me, boy, than I saw that ruffianly soldier's a while gone. And yet my Lutheran opinions have always been moderately held." The student's countenance had suddenly become grave, and he hurried on his clothes. " I trust it bodes no evU to the signora your wife," said he. "She is so fearless; she may have spoken unadvisedly before his Eminence." " Tut : the Church contends not with women," rejoined the worthy physician. "I will have that door opened in any case. I hope the boat has not quite decayed in its niche ; but we shall see." When at last, with the help of two servants, the .ock was forced back, the huge bolts drawn from their sock- ets, and the door, after infinite labor, pushed open la its groove widely enough to admit the passage of a man, the dark, deep water appeared just below the threshold with- out, fluctuating with a sobbing sound. Afar rose the wild, white Alps, ghostly in the starlight, and seen through a black tunnel of rock, into which opened the secret door. 2*" 18 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. " Ecco ! " said the physician, peering thi-ough the dark- ness with his lamp. " There's the boat on its shelf. Pull the chain, Piero;" and presently it was di-awn into its native element with a sUght splash. A slender cockle- shell of a bark, it could hold no more than three persons. From long disuse, the seams began to leak immediately. Francesco and his patron set about calking them with any rude means to be had at a minute's warning. Piero and the other serving-man had been sent to their beds again ; and, when the job was nearly finished, the physi- cian ascended to the roof of his mansion to look out for the danger of which his dream had wai-ned. All tranquil under the clear air and the starlight, the Uttle huddled Locarno lay on the edge of the great placid lake, and slept. No soul seemed stirring in aU the scene save himself. And he, a timid man, and one wise in his generation as worldly men count wisdom, began to think it had been as well he had never meddled with these new Lutheran opinions, and thus disquieted his life. The sound of oars, though very gently moved, broke upon his reverie unpleasantly. He crouched instantly be- hind a projecting battlement, and scanned the polished surface of the lake; but all was motionless. Leaning cautiously over, keeping his head in the shadow, he was relieved by seeing his own skiff creeping along from the cove by the edge of the rocks. The oarsman he guessed to be Francesco, who presently shot out his bark one or two boat's lengths on the luminous water, as if to obtain a viow of something high in the buUdingi «' But," thought THE ESCAPE. 19 the husband, "he is a foolish boy thus to betray the secret of the door to any one who may be watching. Those Holy Office people come on one like serpents. Pah ! " and he shuddered again at the remembrance of his dream. In fact, Di Montalto was thoroughly frightened ; and a little pressure would have made him recant on the spot all his, Protestant sentiments. I say "sentiments," not "opinions" or "convictions;" for the latter can not be recanted when once they have entered and become incorporate with a man's being. But the first physician in Locarno was one of the stony-ground hearers, who, in time of persecution, faU away and are offended. He was tested at dawn next morning. A party of sol- diers burst into the room where his wife was dressing, and exhibited a warrant from the Locarnese deputies for her arrest. - Her husband involuntarily drew near, and shielded her with his arm. •" For blasphemies against the adorable sacrifice of the mass!" exclaimed the leader roughly. "For profaning the blessed sacrament to the very ears of his Eminence the nuncio ! Come, doctor, make way : you should have kept your wife in better order. But you'll smart for it, or my name's not Andrea d'Agnolo. Well, signora, are you ready?" Not a nerve of the brave woman had trembled, now that the worst was actually come : her heart seemed raised above fear. "Go to Bianca," she said to her husband. "The poor 20 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. child will be terrified. As for these gentlemen, I must ask leave to finish dressing in this turret;" and she moved towards the door. "N"ay, signora; but you shall have leisure to dress even here," quoth Andrea. " His Eminence likes a woman to look well. Out, comrades ! "We shall leave sentinels at the doors." No sooner was the last step withdrawn than she raised the hangings, touched a concealed spring, and the door of the winding stairs flew open and closed behind her. Her heart beat violently, her eyes were dizzy, as she rap- idly descended the steps, and entered the waiting boat, wherein sat Francesco and Piero. In a moment they had shot out of the dark nook, and the disappointed shouts of their enemies were dwindling in the distance. ^^^ '^tf^ CHAPTER III. BEFORE THE NUNCIO. iHE trooper Andrea had employed himself meanwhile in searching the turret-chamber for Lutheran books; and, making discovery of a portly volume in a niche behind the hangings, he congratulated himself on the stroke of politic politeness by which he had prevented the Signora di Montalto fi-om hav- ing opportunity to conceal any thing. "Ho, POippo!" to the sentry, who stood mute beside the door whUe his chief rummaged ; " but here's heresy enough to taint all Locarno. She thought to make away with this under pretence of dressing, forsooth. Tr^ to hoodwink an old campaigner, indeed ! I was not at the Bourbon's sack of Rome for nothing. Canst thou read, comrade ? " "I thank San Pietro, I can not," replied the sentry, on whose undisceming ear had just smitten the click of the secret door's closing. " It seems to me the high road to being an heretic: those printed books do all the mis- chief." 21 22 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. "It's not a missal," said the other, dubiously turning over the coarse leaves. « I'll bring it before his Eminence. No more than thyself can I tell a letter, Filippo. My broadsword's my book;" and, having opened a chest of wearing apparel, 'he shook out its contents on the point of said sword. "Hist!" exclaimed Filippo presently, raising his hand. " She's veiy quiet within; "and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Andrea strode across, and burst the frail fastenings of the door. No one in the room ; but from the window he caught sight of the boat flying over the gleaming water, impelled by the pushing of two stout oarsmen, and with the signora seated in the stern. " Help, ho ! al-armi ! " he stamped his mailed foot, and shouted with rage and mortification, profanely swearing by all the saints in the calendar, and by divers of the heathen gods. His soldiers quickly gathered round him, only to gaze with helplessness on their escaping prisoner. But how could she have escaped ? Filippo prudently said nothing of the click of a fastening door which he had heard, and the remembrance of which had made his ears sensitive to the subsequent silence. The window was merely a narrow diamond casement of thick gi'eenish glass set in lead, and moving a few inches on a hinge : the lake lay full forty feet below, welling against the perpen- dicular rock. "I'll try a shot with my arquebuss, commander," said Filippo in an inquiring tone, as he raised his piece, and BEFORE THE NUNCIO. 23 Stolidly covered the fugitives. Andrea's hoarse laugh sounded savage ; but with a gesture he stayed the brawny hand which was cocking the clumsy, crooked gun. "Truly they would leap if thy two-ounce ball struck among them; but it's not in the warrant, amico mio. Fools! idiots!" and the Italian burst into sudden fury: "why do none of you get a boat, and pursue?" It was more easily said than done. Before they could be afloat in the boat of a terrified fisherman, the skiff bear- ing their prey had shot round a craggy point, and was lost to sight and to pursuit. The story was a poor one to bring to his expecting Eminence, the Bishop of Terracina ; and, that they might not return quite empty-handed, Andrea and his troopers haled before him the physician, Di Montalto, and his daughter, as accomplices aiding and abetting the escape of a heretic. With bound hands they were marched through the principal streets and the market-place of Lo- carno to the court-room where the ecclesiastics and magis- trates were assembled. Old Dame Ursula, behind her relic-stall, crossed herself many times as'they passed, mut- tering, "May the holy saints defend us from heresy and all the fiends ! " " But surely, mother, that sweet young face belongs to no heretic ! " exclaimed a peasant youth who stood by. "I could believe no evil of the beautiful signorina." "My little one," answered the crone, "you know not. I've been told the worst heresy 'oft takes the fairest form. She may be like the ripe fruit which is rotten at the core. 24 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. His Eminence will know." And tongues went chattering round the piazza like a tribe of jays, having all the same burden,— the escape of the signora, and the arrest of her husband and daughter; whereof many versions revolved, each one enlarging the marvel. Whatever doubts and fears the physician had experi- enced on the preceding night were as nothing to his sensa- tions now in the noonday. His heart, never very buoyant, sank and sank, as a millstone.in the Maggiore, deeper and deeper in depression, whereof the outward index was his chin clothed in grizzled beard, which dropped lower and lower till it rested on his very bosom. And thus he stood before the deputies and the nuncio, no protect- or, in sooth, for the slender maiden beside him: verily the timid nature of the girl seemed to have passed into the strong man's form, bending him like a reed, while Bianca's calm face and upright demeanor showed that her mother's spirit was hereditary. Not without effort was she thus calm externally : the tension of highly strung nerves was visible in the brightly dilated eye, and her heart beat with thick pulsation against her crimson bod- ice. Tet she could not suppress a slight smile at D'Ag- nolo's relation of how his prisoner had balked him and gone clean out of his hands. It was a slur on the' trooper's abilities, and he knew it, that a woman should have thus outwitted him. He waxed redder, and pulled his mustache more fiercely, as he told the story. " But in any case, your Eminence, though the jade has escaped this time, I've brought a proof of rank BEFORE THE NUNCIO. 25 heresy against the whole household of this yorthy gentle- man ; for I take it, where a printed book so bulky as this is found, any fool can smell Lutheranism." His Eminence examined the book, passed it to his chap- lain, and said nothing then about it. His mood was sternly grim ; for the lady's escape and the physician's ill- concealed nervousness suggested to him a satiating object. Di Montalto was pitilessly examined and threatened. All soi-ts of vague terrors of confiscation, torture, death, were hung out in his view, till the craven heart thought of nothing but crouching. " Those Lutheran opinions were my wife's, most Ulus- tiious Eminence, and not mine. I never professed them to the extremity that it pleased her to do. Ask any citizen in Locarno; ask any of the worshipful deputies themselves;" and he spread out his hands appealingly towards the seats which they occupied. "Ask the illus- trious prefect Reuchlin, who so worthily presides over this city, was I not by his side at the last festa in the Chapel of Madonna del Sasso ? Have I ever failed in pay- ment of the Church's dues ? " And in fact he was correct. Di Montalto had been noted as a trimmer, — one who would fain keep well with both parties, the Reformed and the Catholic. But when, still further to defend himself, he ^.cknowledged that his absent wife had a rash tongue and a headstrong spirit, which it should have been his duty to keep under and bring into subjection; that he lamented the vehemence of her opinions, and even deemed her worthy of correction 3 26 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. therefor, — tl\p large bright eyes of his daughter turned upon him slowly with surprise, and perchance a lurking scorn, in their expression. "The signorina wishes to speak. My daughter, what wouldst thou say?" interposed one of the Dominicans sitting below the nuncio. " Speak without fear, mia fig- lia," he added insinuatingly. But her father's warning look came in time. She only replied by an obeisance to the monk's invitation. And, when presently examined herself, she kept clear of the theological traps laid for her, with a discretion surprising in one so young. Di Montalto left the court a beggar. Complete confis- cation of his property was the sentence passed by the seven deputies and his fellow-townsmen, under pressure of the episcopal presence. And whereas Bianca walked forth as stately as ever, her clear brown cheek perhaps a trifle paler, her father came out as if ten years had sud- denly been added on his shoulders and to the Knes on his brow. No man of all his wide acquaintance was brave enough to bear him company; and he had been a coward and a recreant for no gain. Dark thoughts enough to bring with him to the old fortified house of his fathers by the Lago Maggiore ! Guards were there in possession. Bianca was to be permitted to take her clothes; and he who but yesterday was the first physician in Locarno might lodge .in an attic of his own mansion until the great exodus of the Frotestants, a week hence, on the 3d of March, 1555. Wo understand which vast eviction, we must go back a BEFORE TBE NUNCIO. 27 few weeks to one memorable afternoon when a procession filed through the streets of Locarno, — a procession not fragrant with incense, nor illuminated with wax tapers, nor gorgeously appareled in ecclesiastic robes, nor a pro- cession echoing with soft-chanted music, but more accept- able in the sight of the Highest than all these. Two hundred resolute and silent men, with wives and little children by the hand, walking to the council-chamber to confront the overwhelming power of the Swiss diet, and confess theii- faith in Christ as the only Saviour, though bonds and afliictions might abide them, — was not the spectacle one which the hosts of heaven might deem sub- lime, while the superbest pageants of Chaiies the Fifth, emperor, were not worth the passing glance of an angel's eye? They advanced — the dauntless, unarmed two hundred — with their wives and little ones, and appeared in the council-hall, greeted by the laughter and jeers of the deputies from the seven cantons, who found a ludicrous absurdity in the protest of this trifling minority against the religion which the large majority of Locamese had professed in the morning. The chief among the Protes- tants stood forth, and declared, in the name of his breth- ren, their common faith. The articles of this were few and grand, chiefly com- prised in the one, that theybeUeved the gospel prefigured in the Old Testament, and revealed more clearly by Christ and his apostles. They rejected aU buman tradition; they prayed for divine illumination upon Holy Scripture. 28 FllOM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. They abhorred all false doctrine and all licentious prac- tice. They were prepared to suffer any thing rather than be the cause of civil war; yet they implored the lords of the cantons to have pity on the helpless women and chil- dren, and not drive them forth to exile and penury, espe- cially at the present inclement season. And the deputies replied, coldly and haughtily, " We come not here to listen to your faith. Our religion may not be disputed. Wherefore say, are you ready to quit your faith, or are you not ? " Clear and bold from the lips of the spokesman came the answer, "We will live in it, we will die iq it!" And, without a moment's hesitation, all the two hundred caught up the refrain, " We will live in it, we wiU die in it 1 " A divine fervor seemed to seize upon them: "Ours is the only saving faith," they cried: "we wiU never renounce it!" The names of those gallant heretics were taken down by the cleA of the council. Clasping hands together, con- gratulating each other on being called to suffer for Christ's sake, they came forward joyfully to be entered in the list of exiles ; for a decree had been issued by the diet that the inhabitants of Locarno who professed any other than the "Catholic" religion should leave their native country for ever; and in the teeth of this edict had the brave two hundred come forwai'd, knowing and having weighed their dooni. Di Montalto had admired their courage afar off; and now he was forced to share the confessor's suffering with- BEFORE TEE NUNCIO. 29 out the rewai-d of the confessor's palm of victory. He had gained nothing hut contempt for his. shuffling and evasions. He had saved not a single ducat of his life's earnings, nor a hand's breadth of the popular esteem on which his fair fortune was built. The bleak world was before him, to be commenced again in his declining years. "I shall go to Florence, girl," he would say to Bianca. " I can not expatriate myself among those tei-rible Swiss mountains from my sunny Italy. They talk of refuge at Zurich. Whom know I there ? I shall go to Florence, or to Ferrara. Your mother once knew the Duchess Renee. From her she imbibed much of her unfortunate Lutheranism. Yes: FeiTara would be best," added the physician, stroking his neglected beard meditatively. " My father, it is God's truth : don't call it unfortunate," said Bianca, raising her face from her work. "It must prevail at the last." "I hope so, I hope so," replied her father peevishly; " but I know that at preserit it has caused me the loss of every thing. Young people are thoughtless, and don't understand losses." " Father, rememberest thou what the Lord said ? " and Bianca laid one hand on his shoulder, raising the other solemnly, as she pronounced, in the soft tones of her na- tive tongue, "lo vi dico in veritk, Che non v'e alcuno ch'abbia lasciata caso, o fratelli, . . . . o possessioni, per amor di me, e dell' evangelo, ch'ora, in questo tempo, non ne rioeva, cento cotanti, ease, e fratelli, . . . . e posses- sioni, con persecuzioni : e, nel seoolo a venire, la vita s* 30 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. etema ! " A passage which the English reader will find in Mark x. 29, .30. "ChUd, child, you are too enthusiastic. And I wish you would conceal that book : the sight of it may get us into further trouble ; though how much deeper we could be " — and he shrugged his shoulders dismally. " The book is hidden, father ; and I spoke those words of vhe Gospel from memory. But, father," and she trem- bled a little, " they say that Nicolas was put to the torture yesterday. Thank God that my mother has escaped ! " "Yes, girl: put to the rack last eventide, and sentenced to death this morning. What horrible times ! I wish we were well over the Alps, or somewhere that a man's head were safe." And the physician rose to walk up and down the narrow stone floor uneasily, ruminating over his losses and his prospects, with the anxiety of a soul unstayed by Heaven's strengthening faith. CHAPTEE IV. THE WAYSIDE CEOSS. r^ARLT morning broke upon the Alpine coun- try at the head of Lago Maggiore. Mists yet lay in the mountain gorges, islanding peak from peak, suggesting an infiniteness of ex- pansion and of distance. Gradually they floated out and away, to be glorified into sunlit clouds in the upper air. Every shade of indigo and purple lay on the nearer hills and hollows, except where a struggling sunbeam touched them with spring's emerald ; and afar, a chaos of snow-covered sum- mits on the horizon, now revealed, now hidden in patches, by the coquetry of clouds. Here, on the sloping side of a glen which widens to the lake's edge, stands a peasant's holding, — a rude, strong house of brown stone, set in a scant garden, where the shallow soil has been cultivated to the utmost. Not that much grows in it at this season, when thaw has only just unchained the ground. The vine alcoves are bare skele- ton scaffoldings, and pale buds are bursting on the fruit- trees. Narrow paths, scarce wide enough for the worker's 81 32 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. feet, divide the strips of vegetable-beds ; and so steep are they, that a stone set rolling adown them might leap sheer to the depth of the glen, and be buried in its rush- ing rivulet. On the ground-floor, lit by holes for windows, this brown house has a kitchen, and a shed for two cows. We can not say much for the cleanliness of either place. Our acquaintance, Caterina^its composedly milldng, and singing a bit of a Swiss ditty, amid sights and smells which would horrify an English dairy-maid. Perhaps she is thinking of Luigi, a stalwart peasant who lives a mile farther up the glen, and who happens to be her betrothed, or promesso sposo; for she is deaf to many calls from the kitchen till the voice comes forth. " Dove sei ? where art thou, little one ? I've been calling thee these ten min- utes past, and thou'rt dumb as the roof-tree. Listen. Thy father saith the snow has melted beyond the spring near the holy cross : thou mayest take the cows up there this morning for the new pasture." It was a very withered and wrinkled face that spoke ; but Caterina's mother was not within thirty years of what would be supposed her age. The hardships of peasant life, of exposure to the weather, and much labor in the open field, had serrated forehead and cheek with deep lines. "Thy father goes into Locarno to the execution," — here she crossed herself, — "and thou'rt to go with him: wherefore hasten, child, hasten." And she went back to her work, — the preparation of the morning meal. THE WAYSIDE CROSS. 33 Caterina felt a momentary shudder, and muttered a prayer for the doomed man who was to suffer ; but she had all an Italian's love for a spectacle, of whatever species, and all an Italian's confidence that the Church can do no wrong. " If he had not meddled with heresy, — all the saints defend us ! — he had not been put in prison or condemned, I wish Luigi had not the way of talking that he has. He doesn't respect the monks one bit, and calls the preach- ing friars a pack of lazy beggars. He'll get himself into trouble with that free tongue of his, — our Lady preserve him ! He says only old women mind all those stories about the Madonna del Sasso and her wonderful cures. He doesn't care a farthing about relics, and called my bone of St. Christopher, which Mother Ursula says will save me from ever being drowned, — Luigi called it a bit of dried stick. I'm sure I hope that isn't heresy ; for if itis" — Now, what the Temple of Diana was to the Ephesians in the time of Demetrius the silversmith, the Chapel of the Madonna del Sasso was to the Locarnese in the sixteenth century. " The image which fell down from Jupiter" had its countei-part in the waxen statue, gorgeously dressed, which received the homage of all good Catholics, and about which were incrusted a score of legends. And "the silver shrines" had their successors in a host of votive offerings of various values, from old clothes to jewelry. During her soliloquy, Caterina was driving her. cows 34 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. along the narrow winding path which climbed the hights between masses of gray Uchened rook. The clear, cool morning air stood about her, which exhilarates young blood like wine : it helped her to shake ofP that fear about ]juigi. After some distance and many turnings, the path sud- denly veered round a jutting spur of crag, which cut off all view downwards; and beyond was a pleasant reach of green, sloping gently towards the barren uplands on high. Midway in the little glen stood a great rusty-looking cross, formed by two pieces of wood, once painted a dull red, but now blackened by exposure ; and near the riiouth of the glen was the spring, gushing from a crevice in the rocks. Caterina started when she tui-ned that way; for a lady was stooping over the well, and drinking from her curved hand; and the sight of anybody in these solitudes was unexpected. The lady, becoming aware of her presence through the tread of the cattle, stood quietly, and looked at her. "Buon giomo, signora," quoth Caterina rather trem- blingly, yet deeming it best to be civil, even if the figure should prove an apparition. She was relieved when her salutation was returned in a suflSciently earthly voice ; yet she did not like the consciousness that those strange eyes were watching her, till she came to the cross, and, accord- ing to her custom, kneeled down before it. A hurried prayer for Luigi, for herself, for the man doomed to death in Locarno that day ; a glance upward THE WAYSIDE CROSS. 35 at the rude spear, the sponge, the nails, fastened as re- membrancers upon the crossbeam; and she turned to descend the ravine homewards. But the stranger had come quickly from the spring, and met her. "My child, to whom did you pray ? " The sweet voice softened the abrupt question. Cate- rina dropped an obeisance as she observed, — " To our Blessed Lady, signora." ' " Why, was it she who died on the cross for you ? Was it our Lady who felt the spear and the nails ? " "No, surely," replied the peasant girl; "it was her blessed Son ; " and Caterina knelt again for an instant be- fore the cross. " Then, my child, why not pray to him ? He loves you, or he would not have died in torments that you might be saved. He is not pleased when we doubt his love, and think that we must ask anybody to ask him to be good to us. May he bless you, my child ! " and the stranger passed on with rapid ' step toward the upper end of the valley. Caterina was yet thinking of this rencounter, when she spied a man's figure climbing the rooks to the left beneath her. Before she distinctly beheld him, she felt that he was Luigi. But, for the first time that she could remem- ber, he did not seem equally pleased to see her. His brow contracted stormily. " What ! up the mountain so early ? Wherefore, Cater rina ? I thought your cows pastured lower down." She explained, and told him of the strange lady, 36 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Luigi, she said what I remember your saying to me once, — that the Madonna never suffered or died for us." " Well, isn't it true ? But look here : don't say a word to any one of this lady. I know about her, and you might get me into trouble." That hint was stronger than an iron seal on Caterina's lips ; and so Signor Luigi was awai-e. " See the flowers I've been gathering for you through the gorges as I came along." He had them imprisoned in the cavity of his round hat, — a mass of blue cycla- men, and purple gentianella, and snowdrops and violets. " Wear a bouquet of them for my sake, little one." And so they parted. « He had a wallet," thought Caterina ; " and I feared to ask him whither he was going. Alas ! I dread lest he get into trouble through these heretics. He is so brave that he fears nothing himself. I must say more prayers for him, — my poor Luigi." Thus seeking the true refuge for her care, provided the prayer were but right, Caterina, from this day forward, never could kneel at a Madonna's shrine without misgiv- ings. Luigi's want of faith had much to do with this ; but by and by the feeling was her own. The era of her blind credulity was over. Now, however, she must go into the town with her father, and behold the great sight ; for this is a holiday in Locarno. wm CHAP.TER V. THE SERMON IN THE PIAZZA. HE old relic-vender sits behind her stall, as usual, this afternoon of the high holiday in Locarno. On her knees is the scaldino, 6r ' red earthei-n pipkin containing a little glow- ing charcoal, over which she warms her skinny- hands. For into this shady cdtner of hers the wind comes cuttingly enough down a narrow by-street, and age is apt to be chill. Perhaps not from age or cold alone does she- shiver, now and again; especially when her keen eyes return, urged by a species of irresistible fascination, to that spot in the midst of the market square, where men are busy building up something. Full and bright the rich sun- shine falls on them and on their work, as if it approved and caressed. Mother Ursula has seen such preparations before now, and knows what they portend : the blackened timbers, the pile, the cord, are not utter novelties to her gaze ; and she is bigot enough rather to relish the Church's cruel justice. Still, the withered face, puckered over as if knives had seamed every inch of skin, is singularly 4 37 38 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. troubled. She is paler than the string of white beads that encircle her wizened throat in double row, and at which she clutches sometimes absently. "He was guilty: he would have been condemned in any case ; " so her thoughts ran. " There were other wit- nesses besides me ; and, moreover, could I refuse to speak ? It would have availed him inothing, and Father Antonio says that it would be a mortal sin on my soul." She pat- tered off a set of prayers rapidly. " I'm a poor old woman, and couldn't afford to buy indulgences." Here sjie stirred up the smoldering charcoal with a huge rusty key, — that of her own dwelling in a neighboring alley. Her finger touched the fuel for an instant. "Santissima! what bad pain! Ah, but burning must be a cruel pal*! These heretics don't mind it, as I'm told. Well, he will be strangled first. He always sneered at my relics. Many a good sale he has hindered. Still,- I'm sorry I bore witness; but I was forced. Perhaps the petitions of so many worthy citizens, true sons of the Church, may prevail with their lordships the deputies to save him, if he recant his errors." Thus endeavoring to quiet her uneasy conscience, which even now felt the murder-stain upon it, she looked forth again from under the penthouse of her black brows to the piazza. Already the crowd from the country was assem- bling for the spectacle; peasants with their wives and daughters taking up the best positions along the sides and on door-steps, — a gay-colored bordering to the rough brown houses. THE SERMON IN THE PIAZZA. 39 " Well, Monna Ursula, and how fares it ? " inquired the rich round voice of Caterina's father. " So the fellow is to be executed after all." The old woman laid down the charcoal pipkin, and he r countenance perceptibly changed when she heard that. "The citizens have just come back from tl^e council- chamber. His Eminence wouldn't hear of it. He says an example is necessary to frighten the Lutherans. And, for my own part, I say, Down with all slanderers of our Madonna del Sasso ! " The impulsive crowd lining the piazza caught the words, and re-echoed them in a shout. It was not to be endured that any man should dare to doubt the power and glory of their pet idol. Our Lady of the Stone. « "What, girlj do you tremble ? " for Caterina clutched her father's arm nervously as the shout sprang up and circled round among the people. « She was ever a timid dove," he said half apologetically to old Ursula, who had the reputation of a sharp nose wherewith to smell heresy : " 'tis no sympathy she bears for heretics, believe me. But what, mother ! shutting up your stall ? I should say there never was a better day for driving a good trade. Evciry man will want to prove himself a good Catholic." The old woman was hastily gathering her reliquaries — bits of blessed bone and rags, and metal Madonnas, and crucifixes, and rude flaring pictures — into a basket be- neath her little counter, huddling all those reverend ob- jects together promiscuously as they had been so many chips of most unreverend wood. 40 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "A touch of a certain faintnesfi that seizes me now and again," whispered her shaking lips. "A sinking and weak- ness at the heart. Our Lady uphold me ! Help me to lift this basket, friend : 'tis heavy for my old arms. I will get me home, and lie down : these breezes are over-sharp." "Nay, good mother; but I will carry it for thee." And the peasant's brawny muscles raised the trifling weight on his shoulder, and took the scaldino in his hand. « Cate- rina, support her, and lead the way." Old Ursula had never fully realized the fact that her evidence had actually brought a good man to his death until now, when she heard the failure of his fellow-towns- men's intercession. She had strongly hoped that it would have availed to save his life ; for he had already under- gone sore punishment. She had been the. informer who began his persecution : she felt she could not dare to stay now and view the completion of her work. "And they say," quoth the peasant, walking after the two women along a street so naiTow that his hands could without difficulty have touched the houses on either side, — "they say he was tortured yesterday, — put to the question, they call it. I'm told he was slung up by a rope to the ceiling, and suddenly let fall with a jerk, to dislo- cate his bones, poor wretch ! I dare say he wishes he had let our Lady alone before now. But there's no teaching these heretics." Dame Ursula uttered an irrepressible moan, " Here is the house, my daughter; and this is the key. Nay, thy father had best turn it : 'tis hard on thy small hands. I'll THE SERMON IN THE PIAZZA. 4] go and say prayers for the poor wretch's soul, if I may pray for an unrepentant blasphemer of our Lady. I'll go to the Church of San Giorgio." "And thou wilt let me go with thee, good mother? I shall pray likewise. I fear to look on his death." Poor little heart of Caterina ! how fast it beat to think that Luigi had more than once spoken in-everently of that very Madonna del Sasso, thereby repeating 'the crime for which Nicolas had to die ! But her father insisted on her return to the market square ; and they left the old woman muttering and mum- bling in the gloomy stone vault, which she called her chamber, and which was hung with musty valuables of the relic class. " Methinks Mother Ursula likes not what she has helped to do," observed the peasant shrewdly. " But there will be one heretic the less in Locarno.'' The piazza had become considerably more crowded during the interval of their absence. Guai-ds paced up and down, to keep a clear space all about the spot where execution was to be done. The workmen had completed their hideous scaffolding ; above which rose a high black stake with a cross-beam, — a gaunt outline well known in Italian cities of that age. This stake was girt about with a broad pile of brush- wood and fagots. One or two executioner's assistants were building up the raw material into a proper shape for readier burning, when the human body should be laid in its core. The laying of every fagot had a honid fascina- 42 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. tion for Caterina's eyes. Hid in a comer of a church- porch, behind her father's broad shoulders, she could peer thi'ough a crevice at the central object of attraction. She beheld seats arranged for the honorable deputies of the Swiss Catholic cantons, and for the illustrious nuncio and his attendant ecclesiastics, where was the best sight-seeing focus. She saw the windows of the tall dai-k houses filled with faces looking down, except where the great blank walls of the Dominican convent stretched along, incapa- ble of revealing aught to the most earnest gaze. Even the roofs were crowded, so far as she could see from her shelter. Truly it was a high holiday in Locarno. " Our prefect won't much relish being present at this afternoon's work," remarked a brawny blacksmith to his neighbor the peasant. " He's a Lutheran at heart, is that Monsignor Reuchlin. But he had better beware: keen eyes are on him." " What ! does he favor heretics ? " asked the other, who had all a peasant's veneration for the civic magistracy. "Amico mio, though you are from the country, I should think you might know better than to ask that," retorted the blacksmith, looking at him. "Why, he tried to save this veiy Nicolas, the blasphemer who is to die presently, by trying him in his own court, and giving him a fool's sentence of sixteen weeks' imprisonment. Forsooth ! as if he had stolen a loaf of bread instead of the good name of our Lady. But the lords of the Seven Cantons are not easily blindfolded, and his Eminence quickened their zaal." THE SERMON IN TBE PIAZZA. 43 "Why," interposed a little man in front of their group, turning quickly round, " what would become of Locarno if the chapel of our Madonna were defamed ? No more pilgrimages, if all men thought as these scurvy Lutherans do, nor votive offerings, nor traffic of travelers stopping at thy forge to shoe their beasts, friend, and at my shop to purchase images of our Lady. For every consideration of public policy, these Lutherans must be extirpated. The Holy Office must become more vigorous." "Hark, father: hearest thou not the distant chant?" whispered Cateiina from the shadow. The chattering crowd — for an Italian assemblage is always talkative — grew presently husted under that sound, as if a chill crept through their ranks. " Miserere, Domine ! " Nearer and nearer swelled the long-drawn intonations of that prayer, appealing to heaven for mercy refiised by man on earth! And soon appeared the friars in their gray woolen frocks and rope girdles, walking in couples along the victim's death-path, rolling forth the unctuous "miserere" in a medley of bass and tenor voices. Two of them had the doomed man under convoy, alternately brandishing crucifixes before his downcast eyes and pour- ing exhortations into hie ears. There was a movement among the crowd, like a ground , swell, when the procession debouched into the square; and another movement much more thrilling, and a sup- pressed murmur, when the pallid prisoner came past. The majority of the gazers had seen him a thousand times, 44 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. this poor Protestant tradesman Nicolas, whose humble life could furnish no reproach, save the few hot-headed words against the Virgin, spoken in the haste of argu- ment with a neighbor, — words no stronger than you, my reader, would pronounce, if called upon to believe, that, in a particular church in yom- next street, a particular picture was curing the sick and giving sight to the blind. You, safe in the nineteenth century, would scout the notion with incredulity. So did the tradesman Nicolas ; but he lived three hundred years too soon for such liberty of speech. That the weeks of imprisonment had told on him, and yet more the dislocating torture, those of his acquaint- ance in the crowd could see. The support of the strong monks at each side was absolutely necessary for his fail- ing limbs. Some of the lookers-on misconstraed this physical weakness into drpad or unwillingness; but that impression subsided when he raised his face, and they saw how untroubled it was. The poor thin features were glorified with calm; at sight of which all the women crossed themselves, and believed the heretic delivered over to a delusion. But there were certain among the crowd who could understand the grand composure on that humble man's commonplace countenance, and knew that it proceeded neither from stupor nor from an attempt at heroism. Many of the Protestants of Locarno were present to look upon their brother's death, and to aid his constancy by their silent prayers. Once that he glanced round upon THE SERMON IN THE PIAZZA. 45 the people, he caught a gUmpse of some friendly eyes, and was strengthened by the human sympathy in his consciousness of the divine. For a moment the composure of his spirit had been disturbed when he beheld the gaunt apparatus of death beside him. There were certain things in this world, certain joys in his obscure life, which made it as hard for Nicolas to leave it as for any noble sufferer whom history records. But God had opened his eyes to see higher joys beyond tlie black gulf yawning at his feet, and had en- nobled him with the inspiration of a celestial love. For Christ's sake he could even die. That supreme moment was not yet come. Into an old carved stone pulpit, at an angle of the piazza, clambered a monk, and began to preach, partly to the people, partly to the prisoner. His coarse cowl fell back from the tonsured head, his ascetic face gleamed with eagerness, as he urged upon Nicolas a recantation for his soul's sake. " The blessed Padre Antonio ! He would stir the very stones with his words!" quoth the women. "A most blessed man ! They say he can even work miracles ! " But the heretic's heart was beyond his power. Perhaps the heretic's ears scarce took note of the fervid exhorta- tion. Those near him obseiwed his Ups moving, and his downward gaze abstracted. "Father, father!" said Cateiina in the church porch, "let me away! I can not look upon the death. I will to the altar's foot, and pray for him, if perchance even at the last he may be moved to forsake his errors : father, 46 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. I m%bst go ! " and she swung aside the great folding-doo7 behind her, and entered the cold dim church. "A plague on the girl and her tender-heartedness!" ex- claimed the father, after grasping her cloak in an eflFort at detention. But the juncture was too interesting to admit of moving his gaze from the scaffold. " Santissima 1 how firm he stands on the ladder! How he looks round 1 Ha! there's the iron in the executioner's hand that's to girdle his thi-oat." And so the sermon preached that day in the Locarnese market-place came to an end ; the monk's words crowned with the martyr's deed. CHAPTER VI. THE EXODUS. \ HE execution of Nicolas seemed to sever the last bond between the reformed Locarnese and their native city. It also served to luU persecution somewhat for a time ; as a victim cast to a ravenous beast temporarily aUaya his fury. The Catholic citizens were -not without emotions of pity for these feUow-townsmen, who were about to suffer the loss of all things except life — of property, friends, homes, country — for the mere sate of religious opinion. It was incomprehensible to the worldly-wise: only a few loQ;ier natures had a glimpse of the moral magnificence of the renunciation, and ad- mired withoiit the power to imitate. But the lords of the seven Romish cantons, and their counselors the priests, relented not. They procured an edict from the Milanese government, within whose juris- diction lay the easiest passes of the Alps, forbidding any of their subjects to extend shelter or assistance to the Locarnese exiles, even dming then* necessary journey, on pain of death. This edict gi'eatly perplexed, the pooi i7 48 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Protestants : it cut them oflf fi-om tlie accessible entrance to theii- brethren in Switzerland. Now their only route lay through the country of the Grisons, and it was im- probable that the passes of the Helvetian Alps were open thus early in the yeai-. In any case, they must depart fi-om Locarno on the 3d of March. On the evening of the day previous, a man and a woman might have been observed walking slowly along the mountain path which we have seen before, near the rude TOSty-looking wayside cross. They were evidently in deep converse, and the maiden had been weeping. "Nay, my Caterina, but thou wouldst not have me give up my faith and my conscience, even for thy sake ? " asked Luigi, taking her passive hand : " thou wouldst not have a perjured hypocrite for thy husband ? But, more- over, this separation shall be only for a time, — a short time. I will return when I have found a home for thee, anima mia; and we shall be pai-ted no more tih God parts us." " But thou ai-t leaving .thy fi-iends, thy country, the house thy fathers built, and going forth a poor wanderer on the world. See how all men hate the Lutherans! Thou wilt be no better tlian one of them. O Luigi ! where didst thou learn this wretched heresy? Why couldst thou not live and die as our ancestors have done ? " He paused before the cross, and made a reverence. " Because I have seen Him who died there," he said in a low tone. "Nay, mistake me not: I have not looked on the blessed Chiist with my bodily eyes, but with the THE EXODUS. 49 Mght of my soul I have seen his most holy sacrifice foi my redemption ; and I know that fiiar or euoharist can do no more for me than he hath perforrned in dying. Therefore I must depart where I can worship him pm'ely, without committing sin." " Thou didst never speak of it to me before," said Cate- rina after a pause. "Because I feared thou wouldst shun me, — hate me, anima mia ! I cared more for that than for his Eminence and all his monks." She had thought him stern in his declaration of depart- m"e, at the opening of their interview ; hard and cold in his resolve to cast in his lot with the proscribed Protest- ants. It seemed such a fearful sacrifice. Why should he set himself up to be wiser than aU the blessed priests and bishops, and join the people that everybody despisied and detested ? ." I hope thou wilt know one day," Luigi had said, look- ing at her affectionately : " I hope thou wilt feel the rea- son in thine own heart, as I do. Thinkest thou it Is no trial to me to depart, Caterina? But I would do even more than this for the sake of the most blessed Saviour." « How knowest thou that he would have thee do it, Luigi ? " she asked with some shrewdness. "Little one, God has written a book for aU men to read, which contains his wiU and his orders to men. In this book, which the monks keep to themselves, there is not one word about praying to om- blessed Lady, or to the holy saints, or about purgatory ; and there are many words 50 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. against bowing down to images. Now, if I stay here, I shall be obliged to do all that the book tells me not to do, unless I want to lose my life ; and that I had sooner keep for the present." "But if thou didst propound thy doubts to a reverend monk, — say to that holy Padre Antonio: they say he is most learned in such matters." "What! he who preached while Nicolas was burning? I care not to walk right into the wolFs den, little one. Thou wouldst not relish to see me strung up to the black stake." " O Luigi ! hush. Go if thou wilt. And I will pray our Lady" — " Thou mightest as well pray to the mountain-top, Ca- terina: she hears thee not, being but a woman, and far away in heaven. But pray in the name of the most blessed Christ, who loveth us, and hath power to help. I will pray him for thee, dear." And thus they parted, the chasm of a diverse creed be- tween them. Poor little Caterina wept abundantly, and felt very wretched, when, next morning in early dawnlight, she be- held the flotilla of boats begin to cross the lake, — a long procession of penniless exiles. Her heart was not more sad than many another among those two hundred families uprooted for ever from their homes. Luigi found com- panions enough in tribulation. Some shed silent tears: the more impulsive mourned aloud. A few firm natm-es held back theii- emotions, and sustained the rest by their THE EXODUS. 51 words and demeanor. Perhaps not half a dozen among them all would have rescinded the declaration of faith which was costing them so much; hut natural feeling would have way, and no enemies were looking on to cause the restraint of pride. It is well that we should occasionally realize such scenes; that we should now and then lift our thoughts from the wide-spread toleration of our age, and look hack on the less-favored centuries, when pauperism and banishment were deemed mild punishments for reUgious belief. Which of us would have held by his Protestantism as did these Looamese, when to do so involved worldly ruin ? From the midst of our safety and comfort let us gaze with admiration at the men and women who feared utter poverty and persecution less than a compromise of their faith. Bianca and her mother — who had stealthily returned the previous evening — were seated together in the stern of a barge, hand clasped in hand. Theirs were the most heroic hearts on board just then ; for they had the cordial of a glad meeting to string each flagging nerve. Much was told in a low voice of the various events since they had parted : often each eye glanced at the moody figure of the physician, who paced up and down the deck out- side the shed which "^sheltered the women of the party. What a droop in his shoulders since a month ago ! The look of broken fortunes was upon him. And, without doubt it was somewhat hard, while he possessed not the spirit of a martyr for conscience' sake, to be compelled to suffer a martyr's hardships. 52 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. At last the signora caught her husband's eye, and beck- oned to him to sit beside her. He complied with a lan- guid snule. " Thou ait looking wearied, my friend : the last weeks have told on thee, dear one," she said tenderly. " Bianca hath been giving me the history of all that has taken place, more fully than Francesco's hints could do." "Ay, Francesco," repeated the physician : "he is a good fellow. I trust he may be able to save some remnant of my property in Locarno. He has a rai-e head for busi- ness, though so young. I doubt that the confiscation can extend farther than the bailiwick." And over that he fell into a brown study, passing his fingera through his grizzled beard, while his elbow rested on his knee. Which of us all would not have looked longingly back at the Egyptian flesh-pots under like cii-cumstances ? Di Montalto is a representative man of the majority. CHAPTER VII. THE HERETIC PILGRIMAGE. LOWLY the heavily-laden harges crossed the lake, propelled by the usual long oars, which in Italy are invariably pushed forward, not pulled backward as with us. Prom distant spui-s of the shore, the goatherd and vine- dresser saw the procession of boats, and knew that it was no pleasure party nor holiday gath- ering of pilgrims to some shrine, but the passage into exile of brave souls. And so surely does persecution work adversely to what its promoters would desire, that even the dullest hind could not but think there was a reality in the faith for which these men and women were suffering the loss of the chief things which sweeten life. Ere they were half way to the nortliem extremity of the lake, the brightness of the morning became overcast ; threatening clouds floated up from the mountain gorges, and blackened overhead into dense masses. Luigi, who was working one of the oars with might and main, as finding muscular exertion the best specific for his mental disquietude, sprang to reef the broad discolored canvas, 6» 53 54 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ■ whicli hitherto acted as sail, just before the stormy shower came rushing from its laii- in a defile, and burst on the leading boat. Di Montalto was roused from the reverie concerning his confiscated possessions by the shai-p pelting of sleet, at d by the oarsmen's exertions to render the shed a more efl:ective shelter for the women of the party. The sail was flung across so as to curtain the open sides pai-tially; but the passionate shower was not thus to be balked. It continually rent up the corners of this canopy, and beat in with /Vehemence at unexpected points, each di'op cold and cutting as steel. Bianca was very soon drenched and shivering, but no worse than many of the other poor women and children on board. A few cowered round the single rude stove, and kept themselves comparatively dry. The men abided the blast as best they could out- side. " Coragio, signorina mia ! " said Luigi, making his way towards Bianca and her mother through the crowded deck, and bearing something aloft in his hand. "The sky is clearing in the east : we shall have fair weather by and by. Fair weather of every sort, ladies. But, in the mean time, here's a scaldino." The warm earthen pipkin was a comfort by no means to be despised. Luigi went back to his oar, and toiled strenuously. The signora told her daughter what she knew of him, — how he had daily brought her supplies of food during her concealment in the mountains ; how he had told her his religious doubts and fears, those rifts THE HERETIC PILGRIMAGE. 55 in tlie clouds which precede the dawn of divine truth in the soul ; how for conscience' sake he was leaving all whom he loved, and going in search of a new home where he would have freedom to worship God. It is a pitch of sublime devotion to abstract principle, which we in these days of complacent self-indulgent re- ligion can hardly comprehend . in all its bearings. Yet poor Luigi felt any thing but heroic at the present junc- ture. What enthusiasm can resist the combined influence of wet and cold ? His sensitive southern nature sank to zero. Doubts, desii'es, anxieties, thronged over his heart. He could have leaped ashore, and gone back to Caterina, were that possible. " Friend, I will take your oar," said a voice beside him, — the physician's. " My wife would speak with you." Had not the woman's keen eye seen the sinking spirit, and the need of cordial ? She had the very best ready — and for others besides Luigi — in the broad book open on her knee. No human words were fit to breathe comfort to their deep poverty. God's own words might do it. Forth shone the unvailed sun brilliantly, as the dimin- ished clouds glided away, having spent their showers; and she began : — "Thus saith the Lord of heaven and of earth to his poor children: 'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed ; for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. « ' Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall 56 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. be ashamed and confounded; ... for I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not. . . . When thou passest through the waters, I will bo with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not ovei-- flow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Sa\'iour.' " These glorious words came not hackneyed to the hear- ing of the exiles. Few of them, though banished for the Bible's sake, had read that Bible through, or were ac- quainted with more than the salient points of its histories. A direct and express revelation could scarce have soothed those sore hearts better than did this adaptation of the old Hebrew verses. Barbara di Montalto paused for a few moments, turning over the leaves, before she repeated : — " ' Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- ness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Dear fi-iends, is not the reward worth the suffering ? " " It is, it is ! " burst fi-om the impulsive listeners. " The kingdom of heaven is worth it all ! " "Ah ! we don't know that so well now as we shall by and by," said the lady. "By and by we shall see the glory and the gain ! Now the dark cloud shadows our path : then shall "be eternal sunshine. Let us fui'ther see what Christ our Saviour has suffered for us." « And she read, in her distinct low voice, the narrative in the twenty-seventh chapter of Matthew's Gospel, to the fiftieth verse. The deepest silence grew on her audi- THE HERETIC PILGRIMAGE. 57 ence as she proceeded. The children, hushed by their mothers, nestled against their skirts, and hearkened to that wondrous history of divine love and pain. No sound in all the dense freight of living beings save the regular plash of the oars and the voice of the reader, unless when 'an occasional exclamation testified to the depth of suppressed emotion in some heart. Tears were stealing down more than one brown cheek when the climax was solemnly pro- nounced : — '"Jesus, having again cried vrith a great voice, gave up his spirit.' " * It was enough. The contrast between their small suf- fering and his mighty pangs was suggested to each soul of the exUes. " The good Lord ! the most blessed Christ ! We love thee ; we give thee thanks ! " Such were their exclama- tions ; and presently they burst into a simultaneous hymn of praise. Prom boat to boat it echoed, and was caught up as by electric impulse. All faces brightened : even Di Montalto smiled, and a hght dawned in his leaden eyes as his daughter wound her arm within his and joined in the triumphal music. "That is all very well, my. little one," he said after- wards; "but where are we to find daily bread?" "The good Lord will provide, father. He knows all about us, and that we shall have no food except he send it. I am not afi-aid that he will forget us, father." " Ay ; and Francesco may be able to save some of the * A literal translation of tbe Italian version of Matt, xxril. 50. 58 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. property outside of the bailiwick," said the physician thoughtfully. His trust in the aim of flesh was strong. Bianca was silent for a few minutes; then timidly asked, "Father, I hope he runs no danger, — no great danger?" "Danger?" repeated her father somewhat testily; "why, we are all in danger continually, especially we who have the misfortune to be suspected of Lutheranism, child. The very earth and air are ftiU of enemies for us ! If those rascally lords of the Seven Cantons have not a band of condottieri on the road to the Giisons to fall on and slaughter us, poor outlaws of the creation, we may be thankful. Such things have been done before now, child." She shuddered slightly; for sudden death is tremen- dous, even to the most spiritually-minded, when violence is the means. She narrowly scanned the neaiing shore. Nothing but crags and rocks, and green patches between. Ah! something moves on that beetling summit. Nay, 'tis but a wild goat browsing, and raising his horned head to look wonderingly on the boats below. "But, father," she said, "the lords of the cantons would not be guilty of such wickedness; for when the nuncio wanted them to detain the children of the Lutherans, that they might be brought up in the Eomish faith, the lords would not consent." "It is tyranny, — the gi-ossest tyranny!" exclaimed the physician, chafing against his loss for the hundredth time. "These" — indicating his fellow-passengers — "have all some remnant of property; but I — I have none. I, a THE HERETIC PILGRIMAGE. 59 Montalto, am a pauper in my gray hairs. I'll appeal to the Diet : they must do me justice." "Father," Bianoa murmured in the gentlest tone, and with an appealing look which would have disarmed the worst anger, — " Father, dost remember the prayer, ' Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven' ? " " But I can not see that it is God's will. I can only see it man's most unrighteous and cruel will," he said. She answered nothing to that; for she felt that his view was natural enough : she only pressed his arm lov- ingly. Her last words worked the better for her present silence. Rejoining her mother shortly afterwards, she observed, with a little sigh, " Madre mia, what a wicked man is that Walther, who caused all this persecution ! " " We will not think of him, dear. Our blessed God has permitted his evil doings for some wise purpose, which we do not see as yet, but shall know hereafter. The only vengeance we can take is to pray for him, Bianca." But the thought of many in that company would revert to the act of treachery and falsehood which laid fitting foundation for all subsequent injustice towards the Prot- estants, and it required a very efficient Christianity truly to forgive the prime mover in the iniquity. Walther was town-clerk of Locarno, and had some years before forged a deed, which he sent to the assembly of the seven Cath- olic cantons when the time was fully ripe. The deed pur- ported to be a declaration on oath, by whicli the senators and citizens of the bailiwick of Locarno boun(^ themselve* 60 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to adhere to the Romish religion, and to their holy fathei the pope, until the meeting of a General Council should settle the world's theology. Immediately on receipt of this bond, the deputies decreed that the Locarnese should fulfill their engagement by confessing to their priests dur- ing the coming Lent, and that no rights of burial should be pei-raitted to any person who should die without re- ceiving the Romish eucharist. After that decree came the choice offered to the inhabitants, — either to profess the Catholic religion, or to leave their native land for ever; and seven deputies were sent from the Catholic cantons to enforce the edict on the spot. Zurich alone, of the four reformed cantons, protested warmly against this tyranny; but her single voice availed nothing, except as encouragement to the oppressed. Zmich was now the refuge they sought to gain. They had sent a deputation to request shelter for their brethren in the faith. During those highly theological centmies, when the pivot of the world's politics was a question of creed, no bond was closer between man and man than a coFimon belief. Nationality was not so near a connec- tion. These Locarnese — Italians to all intents and pur- poses — turned from their native land and their native language to settle among the foreign Swiss, and feel them the closest friends. Before noon they had disembarked, and begun the most toilsome part of their pilgrimage. Some few mountain ponies, some sure-footed mules, some strong oxen draw- ing carts, were the means of transport, — not half enouo-h THE HERETIC PILGRIMAGE. 61 for sucli a multitude as two hundred families. So the ■weakest were sent forward, and the others walked in long procession after them. Many a tearful last look was cast upon their beautiful lake, as they climbed the pass which would soon shut it from their view for ever. Past the Helvetic bailliages, past the town of Bellin- zone, trudged the heretic pilgiims, growing wearier every hour. But they knew it was not safe to pause until they entered Protestant territory. The country of the Grisons was this day's goal. They passed its frontier with an ac- clamation, and presently approached the town of Rogo- reto through gatheiing dusk. " Father, look, look ! " exclaimed Bianca, pointing for- ward to the barrier of Alps beyond ; upon which wall of opal slowly dawned a pure, calm light, as if kindling from within, and eased with diamond. "Only the moon rising off there out of sight," explained the physician. " I'm sorry to see the mountains so snow- bound. We shall not be able to cross them for a month at least." He was only mistaken in his calculation as to time. Two months were to elapse before the exiles could pursue their journey. 6 -s^t^Y^b^- CHAPTER VIII. THE EELIC-SELLER'8 REMORSE. OCARNO had thus oast forth her heretics on the wide world. She was a purified city. "The accursed thing was rooted fi-om her heart," quoth the nuncio. She seemed, by one bold stroke, to have attained the beau ideal of the theologians and statesmen of that age, — perfect uniformity in religion. It was to be expected that a remedy so violent would leave the patient weakly and exhausted. After a few days' fierce exultation, the Catholic enthusiasm collapsed in all but ecclesiastic minds. The gaps in the social and commercial circles of the town became disagreeably evident. Somehow those ejected Lutherans had been pleasant neighbors, industrious citizens, faithful Mends. Ifay, they had beeh perhaps the cleverest in their respect- ive callings, and the most upright ; for which reason, me- diocrities and less upright tradesmen had borne them no good will. But long-headed people began to suspect that Locarno had injured herself by such violent expressions of her orthodoxy. The silk manufacture, the dyeing 62 THE RELIC-SELLER'S REMORSE. 63 • trade, had both been pretty well drained of their practi- tioners by the Protestant exodus. The blessing of the Bishop of Terraoina would be but a poor recompense for declining commerce. As yet, however, only the far-see- ing few anticipated the real result of the expulsion. Spoil was to be divided, and the wolves soon began to wrangle over it. Most Italian cities of the time had their Capulet and Montague, — powerful rival families contin- ually at feud about one thing or other, who kept civic life in hot water. These in Locarno were named the Buchia- chi and the Rinaldi, who had been temporarily leagued against the Lutherans. Now that this source of union was no more, they recommenced the chronic quarrel. Street skirmishes were not infrequent, where the combat- ants on both sides were good Catholics, and the bone of contention some portion of Protestant property derelict. A very big bone was the sovereignty of a neighboring vil- lage vacated by the heretics. This, or some other cognate cause of dissension, had one evening brought on a brawl in a wine-shop on the piazza. The smooth-tongued landlord sought to pacify both parties into a common consumption of his liquor; and, failing that, persuaded them to have out their quar- rel in the street. Rushing forth headlong, the two fore- most, charging one another with blind fury, came full upon poor old Ursula's frail stall, where she was just put- ting up her wares. A crash and a cry, — all had fallen together, the relic-vender undermost. 64 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "What, ho! good Christians, help! here's a woman badly hurt," cried one of the combatants, when he had picked himself vip, and beheld the old woman motionless. "Holy Madonna! but I believe she's dead. A piece of the wood must have hit her hard. "Well, fate is fate ; and she wouldn't let me have that tooth of San Ambrociio's this forenoon under a broad piece. I may help myself to it now." So, coolly pocketing the relic from the owner's basket, the bravo turned away to join in the melee raging stiU a few yards off. But old Ursula was not dead. Presently a sharp pain forced through her dulled consciousness, and she opened her eyes to the faces bending over her, — one, that of a friar supporting her head ; the other, of the young leech who had been applying restoratives. " I told you how it was, Fra Pietro," observed the latter pale and intelligent face to the former flabby and undis- cerning one. " She was but stunned, not slain ; and should be taken home now, poor woman." In which office he volunteered to assist personally. When laid on the pallet in her gloomy stone chamber, lit only by a loophole, she plucked his sleeve. " I know thee," she whispered : " thou art the young Lutheran doctor from Padua. It is not safe for thee to be here." "Nay, good dame; I feai- not," he rejoined, and con- tinued in the same suppressed tone to give directions for the compounding of a lotion to soothe her sprained foot. THE RELIC-SELLER'S REMORSE. 65 " But thou miglitest fear me. Knowest thou not that it -was I who bore witness to the death against Nicolas?" she said, her glittering eyes fixed on his face. "I know it," he replied, bowing his head slightly. " Thou needest forgiveness, truly, for that misdeed ; albeit Nicolas may well pai'don thee for aiding in his translation among the angels of God, and count thee his best friend, Dame Ursula." She turned her head uneasily away, with an irrepressi- ble moan, from sight of those grave, kindly eyes. " What are you saying ? " asked the friar curiously. " She seemeth to have some charge on her conscience," observed Francesco. Stooping over her for another in- stant, he added in the aforesaid low tone, " If we confess our sins to God, Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Pray to him, good mother." And he left the apartment with the usual "buona notte," drawing his mantle forward so as to conceal the lower part of his face, while a deep slouched hat shaded his upper features. "It puzzles me to recall where I have seen that young man before," quoth Fra Pietro. "Ah ! now I bethink me, it was in the piazza the day that Mcolas was burned. San Pietro defend us from heretics! He took not his eyes from the pile to the very last. I fear much that he is one of like vein himself. " "Good father, he would not have recommended me to confession with his last words were he a Lutheran," sail I the old woman cunningly. 0* 66 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "And did he so?" Then he is a true son of our Holy Mother Church ; for nothing do these heretics detest so entirely as confession to a priest. Well, my daughter," and Fra Pietro assumed his professional drawl, and his professional half-closed eyes, " I am ready, as thy ghostly father, to receive thy confession, and to give thee the grace of absolution when thou shalt have opened to me thine heart." "Father, I must prepare myself by thought and prayer; for I would make it a general confession, and my old memory needs quickening. To-morrow, at noon, I shall be ready for thee. I am in sore pain now." Fra Pietro hitched up his rope girdle, and departed, his fingers raised in a hasty benediction ; for he just re- membered that the evening meal at his monastery was approaching, and this was not a fast day. A neighbor woman, who came in to trim the feeble lamp and gossip over the accident, had also gone, when Dame Ursula raised herself, and drew from her bosom a small bright object, which she kissed fervently. It was counted a most precious relic, even a bit of the wood of the true cross, set in silver, under a crystal lid, — a treasure so costly as to have absorbed most of the old woman's life-long savings, and so enviable that she scarce dare avow its possession. Yet even the fervid grasp of this valued object gave her conscience but little ease just now. She had never got rid of the blood-stain of that bearing witness against the Iiutheran Nicolas. Two or three absolutions since THE RELIC-SELLERS REMORSE. 67 had not wiped it out, nor all the spiritual sophistry of her confessors deadened the feeling of guilt. Fneasy from pain of body and of mind, she lay awake the live- long night; while the little. lamp burned out, and the moon traced with a silver arrow the loophole on the dark wall. Very little would have made the old relic- vender behold visions in that bright ray. A degree more of mental excitement, a pulsation or two of fever, and the moonbeam would have quivered with angels to her gaze. Litany after litany, paters, aves, and credos by the de- cade, she repeated to her long black rosary. " St. Barna- bas, St. Lawrence, and all the holy martyrs ! St. Augus- tine, St. Chrysostom, and all the holy doctors! all the holy pontiffs, all the holy virgins and widows, all the holy saints of God, — orate pro me ! " Such was the style of Ursula's prayers, and hence may be judged their efficacy. Conscience was really aroused now, and no such opiates could lull it to sleep. Mid-day was nearing when the little Caterina, missing the old woman from her accustomed stand in the market- place, looked into the dark chamber where she Hved. A fine young gentleman stood by the bed, talking earnestly. When he turned his face to notice what caused the shadow in the open door, she recognized the student whom she had seen in the piazza one day. " Go on, signer," said the tremulous tones of old Ursula, >-how weak and ill she looked, even by this insufficient 68 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. light! — "goon; it is only the little Caterina: you may speak before her." "The best way that I can speak for thee, good dame, is to pray;" and down on the blocks of stone he kneeled, and held up his hands toward heaven. What ! was the relic- seller listening to a heretic prayer? Yet she dared not interrupt his few solemn words. But she grasped the bit of the true cross tightly, as a talisman against evil ; and kept repeating, under her breath, a host of aves. "Blessed be all in this house!" exclaimed the friar, entering, with his three fingers uplifted in the stereotype form of benison. "I was telling my rosary, good father," said the old woman, to explain the devotional attitudes of the party; for Caterina had had her face buried in the pillow beside her aged friend. "A pious and a worthy office, my daughter," rejoined Fra Pietro, " when partaken of by worthy souls. And that young leech — he knelt also? Methought I heard his voice as I drew near;" and the ecclesiastical eyes looked cunning. Any reserve in the poor old penitent's conscience was quickly dragged to light by the machinery of the confes- sional. Fra Pietro laid on her a heavy penance for hav- ing hearkened to the Lutheran's prayer, and went away cogitating as to how he should stop this pestilence. Ursula was in an agony of conflicting feeling when the peasant girl returned. Her confession would probably THE RELIC-SELLER'S REMORSE. 69 cause the arrest of that kind physician. She should he foi-ced to bear witness again. " I must warn hun, I must warn him," she repeated. " He must fly. Couldst thou seek him out, little one? Alas! I know not whither to guide thee; and I will not have a second death to answer for, Santa Brigida forgive me ! " CHAPTER IX. AMONG THE FRANCISCANS. 1 HE friar had gone away from old Ursula's bed- side in thoughtful mood, with that portentous under lip of his pui-sed out, and his broad thumbs deeply sunk in the rope girdle which bound his coarse woolen fi'ock at the waist. His half-shut eyes fixed abstractedly on the uneven flagstones of the piazza, as he shuffled along in his sandals, were taken as the index of pious meditation within that shaven crown. " The holy man ! " murmured the brown contadinas in the market-place, as, with low obeisance, they noted his absorbed demeanor from beneath their hempen hoods: "he is doubtless med- itating on his breviary, or reciting some sacred office." But Fra Pietro was only devising the best plan to cir- cumvent a heretic ; which certainly was all of a piece with his habitual holiness, and nowise at variance with the popular estimate of the sanie. The Franciscan well knew how dangerous was the leaven of these new doctrines, which threatened to dis- turb all the comfortable ecclesiastic arrangements of soci- 70 AMONG THE FRANCISCANS. 71 ety by their uplifting and disrupting tendencies, and to eject his fraternity, in common with all others, as the veriest scum of the ferment. He was fully aware, that, if Lutheranism gained the upper-hand, the power of the priesthood, both secular and regular, was at an end. Therefore he hated Lutherans with a blind, unreasoning hatred ; and would willingly have lit the fagots that con- sumed Nicolas, or any other sectary holding those level- ing doctrines. Something of the Demetrius spirit was in it, — "seeing that by this craft we have our wealth:" friars by these superstitions had their existence. And here was a young Paduan student endeavoring to undermine that great pillar of all orthodoxy, that might- iest engine of all church power, — the confessional! This pestilent heresy must not be allowed to spread : stamp out the spark at once, thought brother Peter, and you will never have a conflagi-ation. His dull nature was quick- ened into cunning by sundry hopes and fears : hopes of the merit, accruing to him with his superiors in the order, for vigilance and discernment, — two qualities for which the monk had heretofore not been much distinguished ; and, like all persons of similar mental caliber, he was most de- sirous to be esteemed as possessing the sharpness of which he was devoid by nature. Likewise by fears : a chronic dread of the heresy, and an immediate dread lest anybody else should discover the culprit, and gain the honor and glory resulting therefi-om. But he must put the conduct of the affair into abler hands than his own. Hence, when he entered the con- 72 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. vent, and had learned from the lay-brother porter that their holy father the prior was absent on some sphitual mission in the, town, Fra Pietro lounged into the cloisters, and awaited his retm-n with ill-dissembled impatience. He was not the sole occupant of the old stone benches under these carved Gothic arches. One or two monks were reading; others were conversing; and pairs were walking to and fro, arm-in-arm, reciting Latin psalms in alternate verses, or, if less devotionally disposed, indul- ging in such gossip as the monastery afforded. Very small and scant were the items of news sufficient to animate the whole fraternity. We, in this age of electric telegraphs and daily newspapers, can scarcely form a con- ception of the narrow range of thought, the exceedingly limited vision, of a cenobite of those cloistered centuries. His widest horizon was the town in which he lived ; his largest interests, the petty ambitions of his convent. The last few months had been times of unwonted excitement. The decree against the Lutherans of Locarno ; the visit of the seven lords of the Romish cantons, and afterwards of his Eminence the papal nuncio ; the expulsion of the whole heretic population at one swoop, — had, indeed, been stirring events. So much had not clustered together in any monk's memory there present, not even in that of aged, doting Friar Ambrogio, whose nerveless hands were spread feebly on his knees under the warm sunshine, and his lack-luster eyes raised mildly to the face of each pass- er-by when the shadow touched him. No such events had strode across his dead level of a life. AMONG THE FRANCISCANS. 73 " But much I fear," observed a tall, ascetic-looking man, the loftiness of whose head bespoke a favorable moral development, — "much I fear that only the branches have as yet been lopped off: the root of the tree of heresy remains in our midst. That wholesale turning to the faith is auspicious. I believe not in the devotion which must be forced at the spear's point." " Truly, truly," muttered Fra Pietro, in assent, from his seat in the cornei-, and nodded his round head porten- tously. " Truly thou art right." " Brother Pietro hath made a great discovery to-day," remarked the second monk in an ironical tone. " Where- in dost thou vouchsafe to consider our brother Stefano right, good Pietro ? " " In all that he saith about the heretics," was the some- what sullenly-spoken answer. Fra Pietro could not but be conscious that he was oftentimes the butt of the bi'other- hood ; and now, when he was swelling with the impor- tance of a secret, the sense of this was doubly galling. " I also know that the pestilence is not extinct," he added. "When thou seest wine, my brother, thou knowest there have been grapes," said the other, turning away. But the monk Stefano paused. "Perchance our good brother has aught to impart: thou wert in the town this morning?" he observed in the silldest of tones ; for the half-suppressed importance of Fra Pietro's manner struck him. But the latter had no idea of a premature disclosure ; and, besides, the seal of the confession.".! was upon him. He had really little to 7 74 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. tell of anybody ; though his surmises and suspicions had been increasing every moment in magnitude, till they filled the whole field of his mental vision, and caused him to view poor Francesco Altieri, the Paduan student, as a monster of depravity and evil-doing, who must be had in safe keeping as speedily as possible. « Under these circumstances, the good friar took refuge in nods and shakes of the head, meant to convey the vast importance of that knowledge which he held concealed, and the impossibility of revealing it to any but the supe- rior of the monastery in proper person. " Our brother has doubtless had a vision, by the special favor of his patron saint," said the monk who had before spoken ironically : " he would fain organize a new crusade against heretics." " Heretics ! ah, those are bad men," babbled Fra Am- brogio, raising his bleached face when he caught the word. "But Savonarola was none such. I remember," — and he passed his hand over his poor wrinkled brow, — "I re- member his heavenly face when he stood up to preach in the Church of San Marco in Florence, and the day when he headed the Dominicans to essay the ordeal of fire." ''And the order of Saint Francis gained the victory!" interposed brother Stefano, his cold eye kindling. " How came it thou wast not a Dominican, Fra Ambrogio, thou dost espouse theii- champion so warmly, albeit he was a thorough-paced heretic as ever burned ? The black habit would have suited thee better than the woolen frock; and then ttou wouldst be of the dominant order, — that AMONG THE FRANCISCANS. 75 which hath the Holy Office, and all power in heaven and on earth in consequence," he added with some bitter- ness ; for the rivalry between these monastic tribes had always run high. "I — I — pardon me, good brother," said the old monk falteringly; "I am an aged man, and infirm. I may say things I should not. But the prior of San Marco was to my soul an exceeding precious comforter in time of trouble, speaking of the love of Christ : therefore I did cleave to him. But he is gone ; and I am an old man, — very old : I know not how many years it is ago." And the gleam of reasoning remembrance which had visited the aged brain died away into inarticulate mur- murs. "And he was once of the Florentine signory, sixty years ago ! " observed the monk Stefano, with contemptu- ous compassion in his tone, as they walked away from the poor bent figure. " Methinks I should not care that my own novitiate for the kingdom of heaven were so length- ened as our good brother's. Ha ! here comes our reverend father the prior." The prior paused before the aged Ambrogio with a few kind words for his infirmities ; while Fra Pietro, big with the importance of his revelation, lingered uneasily beside the door he must pass at the farther end of the cloister. " Well, brother, what wouldst thou ? " asked the great man, coming upon him with a sudden movement, which rather disconcerted the slow-brained monk. "My father, I have somewhat to say unto thee in pri- 76 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. vate." Whereupon the prior swung open the heavy oaken door, and passed rapidly along the corridor leading to his cell, having signed to Fra Pietro to follow. It was in no wise distinguished from the habitation of the humblest monk in the convent, except by the rare beauty of a silver crucifix hung upon the wall, in full light of the deep window, and directly above it a snowy skull resting on a bracket. What exquisite sculpture in that drooped head beneath its thorny crown ! what an aban- donment of agony in the suffering limbs ! The work was Benvenuto Cellini's, who was then the highest sculptural celebrity in the world. " My good brother, I musk ask thee to be brief," were the priors words as he seated himself on the hard bench, which, with a low table, and a sleeping-pallet pillowed by a log, composed the sole furniture of the apartment. In answer, Fra Pietro offered himself for confession. His spiritual father was listless enough at first, as expect- ing only some peccadillo needing absolution, or some cob- web of theologic perplexity troublihg his thick-headed brother. But his attention deepened very visibly toward the close of the narration. "And I fear, my father, that I may have done wi'ong in according her absolution, when she hath listened to such rank heresy." "No, no, good brother, — absolvo te, — thou hast acted to the best of thy judgment, and hereby I absolve thee. But who, sayest thou, was the second person who heard this young leech utter his blasphemies ? " AMONG THE FRANCISCANS. 77 "A young contadina, my father. I know not more particularly ; though I have seen her in the mai-ket-place, methinks, before" now." " Then I charge thee to discover, and have word for me at this hour on the morrow." He rapidly repeated the Latin formula of absolution, and added, " Thou hast done well, brother, to bring this matter before rae, and wilt bo discreet concerning it elsewhere." With which, Pra Pie- tro was turned out of the cell, to relish the implied pro- hibition of his self-importance as he might, and find that, in this instance, duty was not its own reward. The Franciscans were determined to prove their zeal for the Church as well as their powerful rivals, the Domi- nicans, who occupied the vanguard as defenders of the faith. What seemed a goodly opportunity was now at the prior's feet ; and he had never been slow to make cap- ital of pious deeds. What could be greater piety than to capture a noted heretic, and to procure evidence against him sufficient to warrant the interference of the secular arm? 1* CHAPTER X. THE ARREST. THEREFORE it came to pass, that on the same evening, after sundown, three men, coming from different directions, dropped in, one after another, within the shadow of the "loggia," or arcade along the lower story, of a house opposite to old Ursula's dwelling. They did not exchange a word, but watched the street intently. As a general rule, nothing watched for ever comes ex- actly when and how it is expected. Andrea d'Agnolo had begun to mutter through his mustache, and make various restive movements, like a war-horse kept too long in the stall, when that warning " Hist ! " — singularly resembling the sound of a serpent, which Italians utter when they wish to attract one's notice — issued from the farther end of the loggia. Their prey was walking unsuspiciously up the center of the narrow street, a cloak wrapped about him, so that they could not see whether he carried weapons. He 78 THE ARREST. 79 paused an instant, after knocking at old Ursula's door, ere he entered. " Eoeo ! he's trapped," growled Andrea. " Now for your part, good neighbor." One of the three, who wore a civic dress and was ap- pai-ently unarmed, stole from the loggia, and crossed "the few yards into the passage beside the relic-seller's cham- ber. The two troopers followed, but did not take the same pains to get within earshot : they contented them- selves with standing sentry at each doorpost. This is what the spy heard : — "And in thy pain of body, good mother, I trust thou hast not pain of soul ? Didst thou confess, as I advised thee?" Strange advice for a heretic, thought the spy within himself. . "Thou must go, — thou must fly, signer. I fear the sbirri will be upon thee each moment!" exclaimed the old- woman's voice eagerly. " They wiU drag thee to prison, — perchance to the fate of Nicolas ! As thou vai- nest life, fly while there is time ! " An evil smile grew on the concealed face of the listener on the threshold. "Nothing shall befall me but what my God pleases," was the calm rejoinder. " I will first dress these bruises of thine, good dame." He could see that she was perceptibly weaker than in the morning, and that the healing process was almost at a stand in her aged frame. 80 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. " Thou hast lived many years in this world, mother," ho said, after a pause of attention to her injuries. " Thou hast a long life to remember, and a longer life soon to begin." The old woman groaned. "And my last action has been to do hai-m to thee, my kind friend," she said. " I have done thee a notable harm to-day, — all the saints jDreserve thee, signor! I am a most unfortunate old wretch, — Santa Brigida forgive me! — but I did not in- tend to work thee evil." "Ask not the saints to forgive thee, dame," — and the eaves-dropper's nostrils quivered at this first scent of her- esy : " for they are doubtless blessed ; but, being men and women like ourselves, they can not aid thy soul, nor wash it white of a single stain. But ask our most precious Lord to pardon thee, who died for thee on that painful cross ; " and he pointed to a rude crucifix in one corner of the meager room, where, with much red paint and un- shapely carving, the death of the Saviour was set forth roughly and coarsely for common minds. " He will pardon thee," continued Francesco, withdraw- ing his gaze after an instant from the crucifix, as if the unfitness of the symbol almost pained him ; " and he will give thee the sense of pardon in thine heart, — a most joyous knowl'edge, a divine flame to warm thy whole being. This is God's absolution, dame : without it, man's is little worth." " Now thou speakest heresy, and I dare not listen to thee," interposed the old relic-vender. " Fra Pietro laid THE ARREST. 81 penance on me of aves and credos, which this day hath been too short to fulfill by one-half. Go, signer, go ; and the blessing of all the holy saints.be with thee! " Long before this, the impatient Andrea d'Agnolo had been champing outside, though noiselessly, and much dis- posed to go in and cut short the conference by a summary an-est. As the Paduan student stepped over the thresh- old, the spy withdrew a few paces into the darkness, and the troopers laid hands on their prisoner. Two against one, and fully armed men, again -.t a half- drawn rapier : yet the wild thought of the youth for the first moment was successful resistance ; the next he was overborne and pinioned. Neighbors, putting forth cau- tious heads when the sound of the scuffle had ceased, beheld three dark figures passing away down the narrow street, and the fourth skulking at some distance behind. Women-friends, flocking in to old Ursula for explanation, found her in a heavy swoon, unable to give any ; and, as under similar circumstances in the nineteenth century, they gossiped and chatted an infinite deal while bringing the poor patient round. " There hath an ill-favored bravo been lingering about the street all the afternoon," quoth one whisperingly. " I saw him when going to draw water at the Piazza foun- tain; raethought as evil eye as ever glanced beneath a broad leaf." "Yes, yes," added another; "and he frightened mio poverino, the little Jacopo, nearljr into fits. Our Lady defend us ! " 82 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "It is just those heretics again," put in a third oracle. " Locarno will have no peace till they are rooted out en- tirely. Just those heretics, — nothing else ! " " Well," said a woman who had been particularly active about the sick Ursula, and was bathing her temples with water, " I have no evii to say of the Lutherans. What- ever their faith be, their deeds are more right than most good Catholics. They visit the sick and the aged like any friars or nuns in an order, and all for the love of God, without any vows. I remember, when my good Geronimo was ill of the ague, how the Signora di Montalto hath many a time ministered unto him with her own hands, and made savory messes to tempt his appetite ; and she was wont to talk no heresy, but most sweetly to discourse of the divine and most blessed Christ." "Ah! that is the worst," rejoined the last speaker: "it is a poison which you know not till it begins to slay. They are too cunning openly to attack the Church, most of them. And as for the Signora di Montalto, it is well known that she uttered blasphemies in the ears of his illustiious Eminence the Nuncio himself. Our blessed Mother preserve us from all delusions of Luther and of the devil!" "Amen ! " echoed the pious women, crossing themselves severally with great expertness. Luther and the devil were well-nigh synonymous terms in Italian ears of that age ; and the sign of the cross was a specific to ward off any evil from either fiend. Of the two, it is probable that an orthodox Italian THE ARREST. 83 cliurohmaii in the sixteentli century entertained less dread of the latter, whose influence might indeed lead to the commission of sins, venial or mortal, as the case might be ; but a sufficiency of money or of penances would set all that to rights: whereas the suspected influence of Lu- theran doctrines could by no means be atoned for, and entailed sundry direful inconveniences in this world, even to loss of goods and of Ufe, — considerations which made the other influence clearly preferable. A mingled terror and rage was excited by the very name of the great German reformer. The mass of the faithful believed in some witchcraft exercised by him and his followers, which di-ew away men from their allegiance to the holy father, and rendered them insensible to self- interest, even to self-preservation, where the new creed was concerned. The perpetually inexplicable fact of the Divine Spirit's agency on the soul, leading it into all truth, . nerving it for all disaster, ^- that enigma of the renewed heart, which has, since the gospel was first published, been a deep mystery to natural men, — was accounted for in the vulgar estimation by sorcery during the great Refor- mation movement; as at the present day the wise, the wealthy, and the learned are too often satisfied, in similar cases, with the solution, — "enthusiasm." Andrea d'Agnolo and his troopers, possessing the usual conscience and creed of men-at-arms, were least of all able to comprehend the faith of the heretics whom they hunted down. Plucking a half-burned brand from the hearth in the guard-room, the condottiere captain held it pear his prisoner's face. 84 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Ay, I thought %hou wert not unknown to me," he observed, flinging back his impromptu torch, which sent forth a volley of sparks. "I owe thee a gi-udge likewise, messer, if I don't mistake, for carrying oflf my lady the physician's wife after she was my lawful capture. Thou deservest to swing for that alone, my young sir, to teach thee better manners in future." Francesco replied nothing. He was only just beginning to realize that he was in the power of enemies whom he had done much to exasperate. Some bewildennent was over him: consequences and possibilities were so jumbled before his thoughts, that he but half caught the meaning of Andrea's words. The next that distinctly visited his consciousness were these : — " Do you hear, messer ? I say that I would fain ask thee a question for my own satisfaction. What business hast thou, being a fine handsome young fellow with the world before him, and plenty of advantages to make way in it too, — what business hast thou meddling with the musty creed of these Lutherans, and getting thy fingers burnt — ay, and perchance thy whole body burnt too — in their heretic practices ? Thou ait no old man tired of life, nor hast had thy fill of enjoyment, and art now trying to secure the other world too ; though, if we're to believe our good fathers the friars, you're going the very way to lose both. I'm a rough soldier of fortune ; and I haven't niany words, nor many thoughts either, beyond my sword and my goblet : but I'd like to understand this." "They are all mad," succinctly observed the trooper Filippo. THE ARREST. 85 " Yes, madness might account for a man's standing in the fire as if he didn't feel it, while his ten fingers were blazing like torches, as I've seen at an auto da fe, which is the new Holy-Office name for heretic bonfires; but it won't account for other things." " My friend," said Francesco, " we are not mad. We liave counted the cost, and set this world against the next, and have seen which is best worth our pains and our esteem. And, moreover " — "Enjoy the present, and let the future take care of itself, — that's my i;ule," inten-upted another of the band, whose huge sensuous lower jaw fully bore out his asser- tion. " Priests and women pray enough for us all." " Ho, comrade ! none of thy heathenish notions here," called the authoritative voice of the captain. "No man is the worse for an occasional ave or credo, and a relic or two inside his cuirass. Thou mayest be glad enough to don the cowl in thy coffin yet." For be it noted here, that to die and be buried in a monk's habit was considered, " during the ages of faith," one of the readiest modes of enduing the soul with some robe of righteousness ; and being so much less costly than a life of purity, and so much more comprehensible to the popular mind than simple faith in the Eedeemer's finished work, it was a mode much patronized, and originated an extensive mercantile traffic in cast-off cowls, to the great benefit of divers fi-aternities. " But I have not answered the noble captain's inquiry," said the prisoner, when he could get a hearing. "The 86 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. heretics whom he has seen die were men who knew that heaven was right before them to enter, and who preferred that joy to a few years longer of this sorrowful earth. I also have seen such men die, shouting 'victory' even amid the cries of their bodily anguish in the flames." "And thou wert not terrified?" asked Andrea with in- terest. "My mortal heart may have trembled," acknowledged the prisoner; "but my spirit was the stronger for the sight, through favor of my good Lord. And I tell thee, noble captain, that should the good Lord vouchsafe to thee, even to thysel:^ the same grace, and put into thy soul his ardent love, thou couldst give up all for him, as the Lu- therans do, and even walk to death with a glad face." " Thou art right, Pilippo : 'tis a sort of madness," ob- served D'Agnolo after a pause, during which he surveyed the student attentively by the flicker of the firelight. "Yet. there is no wildness in his words, except their wild meaning. Hark ye, messer: a word of counsel. Be not so open-mouthed before the holy fathers, or — the stake of Nicolas may be thine." Here the person in a civic dress who had followed them at a distance in the streets, and had eaves-dropped at Ursula's threshold, entered the guard-room, and made some whispered communication to its officer. " Amico mio, thou hast some little way farther to walk," D'Agnolo observed to his prisoner when the messenger was gone. " I would fain keep thee here all night ; but it may not be. Nevertheless, I'll give thee a friend's ad- THE ARREST. 87 vice : throw heresy to the dogs, come out into the world, and amuse thyself as a young man should. Though thou didst do me an evil turn about the lady, I wish thee no ill, and should be sorry to think thou wert food for fagots." " Worthy captain, my life is dear to me : but one thing is dearer still, — my Saviour ; and I dare not, I can not, deny him. Perchance the charge against me may not affect hfe. I know not what I have done, nor wherefore I am thus haled to prison. I thank thee for thy kind- ness." " Thank me not," growled D'Agnolo. " If thou carest not for thyself, who else should care ? " Francesco was considerably relieved to find that his guard stopped not before the Dominican convent, where the Holy Office of the Inquisition held tribunal, but before the common prison of Locarno. CHAPTER XL IN A CELL. I HE word "prison," though still a sound of suf- ficient dread and discomfort, means something very different with us Britons of the nine- teenth century from what it meant in the ears of Italians of the sixteenth. We erect large airy edifices for our criminals, paying due at- tention to health as well as to safe keeping: but the jails of olden time were regarded simply as lock- up places; and, provided the walls were thick and the dungeons deep, the prisoners might die from foul air, or starve from scanty food, or perish wholesale from disease, without the free world outside troubling itsBlf at all on the matter. Francesco Altieri knew pretty well what he had to ex- pect in the common prison of Locarno, — a wide, low, vaulted chamber, with matted masses of straw in the cor- ners and along the sides where the damp floor and damp walls met ; each of these pallets occupied by one or two prisoners, so that a perfect fringe of heads raised them- selves to look at the new arrival : an atmosphere of the 88 IN A CELL. 89 foulest; for a grating in the massive door, and a slit in the six-foot-thick masonry at one end, were all the access to outer air. "You'll find some of your kin there before you," re- marked the jailer with a hoarse laugh. "We're accus- tomed to heretic guests of late;" and the door swung back into its socket with the dull, heavy collapse of ex- ceeding strength. "Altieri, my friend, is it thou?" and a person who had been sitting apart on a stone bench rose, and clasped his hand. " I grieve to see thee here, brother, although it is for conscience' sake. I hoped thou hadst made good thy retreat with the exiles." " I had well-nigh done so, but returned on business of my patron's," answered the Paduan student, trying to make out the other's face by the dim light of the oil lamp, which flung a pattern of the grating on the floor from the passage outside. " Thou dost not remember : yet, signer, thou mightest recall the dyer Ottoboni, who refused to have his child baptized after the Roman manner, with chrism and cross ; and whom the deputies of the Seven Cantons amerced in a heavy fine, enough to ruin an honest man." " Forgive me," said Francesco, grasping his hand afresh. " Methought I knew the voice, but could not recall the name. I have seen thee in the Lutheran meetings at the Signora di Montalto's. I should have better known thee, my brother in the faith." They seated themselves on the stone bench by the en- 6* 90 PROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. trance, and conversed in low tones. Both were .jheered by this unexpected meeting; for the poor dyer's mind had been growing more and more rancorous against the persecutors who had robbed him of his hvehhood and ruined his humble business : he was in danger of totally forgetting the precepts of Christian charity. Perhaps the meekest of us would do likewise in like case. And Fran- cesco was the better for seeing one in worse estate than himself, — one who had wife and children depending on him, whose lives as well as his own were blighted by this tyranny. "A plague on you for pestilent heretics!" growled the occupant of the nearest pallet ; " you will not let a good Christian sleep, with your prating! If I had but my trusty poniard, and the use of my sword-arm, I would soon have you silent enough ! " Francesco turned round. He was young, and of gentle blood, and his heart was hot : he could not trust himself to speak for a few moments. Then he said gently, — " Friend, thy poniard is not needed : we can hold our peace without it." He leaned back his proud head against the massive rough stones of the prison, and choked down the resentment which had surged into his feelings, with difSculty enough. Presently the soothing came; across his memory ghded those words concerning his Saviour: — "II quale, oltraggiato, non oltraggiava all'incontro ; pa- tendo, non minacciava," — " Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; suffering, he threatened not." Francesco could not but be calm in presence of that IN A CELL. 91 great Exemplar. As for poor Ottoboni, his spirit was broken by his month of captivity, during which he had been the pariah among the orthodox criminals who had only transgressed the laws of God and of the State ; while his unpardonable offense was, that he had transgressed the laws of the Church. A heavy groan from that neighboring pallet more than once disturbed the slight uneasy slumber into which the Paduan student fell, farther in the night. A groan, and the unquiet plunge of great restless limbs; and, by the dim oil light which gleamed through the grating, he could just see the outline of a long stalwart figure flung on the straw, with one arm apparently bound up. "A brigand, brought in yesterday," whispered Ottoboni. "He suffered from a sore wound in his right arm, received in his capture, as well as another on his head ; and he is a very savage, as thou heardest a while since. They say he has uncounted murders on his soul : he was the terror of the passes to the MUanese." " Poor wretch ! " But remorse had no part in his dis- quietude : it proceeded simply from physical pain and impatience. Ere long his inarticulate moans passed into very articulate imprecations. "Friend," said Francesco, "I am a leech, and might perchance be able to relieve thy pain, if the wounds want dressing, and a light could be had." "No!* exclaimed the other with an oath : "no heretic hand shall touch my bandages, laid on with holy hands. 92 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Because of thy hateful presence is the blessed charm un- availing doubtless." Francesco was sufficiently versed in the popular medi- cal practice of the lower classes to be aware that the charm alluded to consisted of three pieces of old linen steeped in holy water, and bound on the wound in shape of a cross. At the time of application, no weapons should be about the patient, and he should repeat three paters and three aves by heart : if unable to do so, somebody must say them on his behalf, — a salve of most singular efficacy when used in faith ! Whether the brigand had not sufficient faith, or there had been some error in the performance of the rite, his wounds were none the easier when morning light stole in through the deep loophole at the end of the vault. Grad- ually the haggard faces and forms of the prisoners came in view, long after the outer world had been glorified with full day. "And now, fi-iend," said Francesco, after some struggk with himself whether he should again proffer his rejected kindness, " I might be able to do thy wounds a service." The sufferer replied not; and, taking the silence for assent, the young surgeon laid bare the brawny arm, where a sword-thrust had passed through the muscles, and severed much of the flesh : he washed it in water pro- cured from the jailer, and bound it up afresh in linen torn from his own sleeve. Likewise to the wound on the head, cutting away the close curling hair from its edges. "And pray to thy God, poor man, instead of cursing IN A CELL. 93 thy fellows and thyself; pray to him to forgive thy sins, and to heal the sore wounds of thy soul as well as of thy body. For be assured that this is but a light torment to that which will overtake thee if thou continuest in sin, and repentest not that thou mayest be saved." " Chut ! " exclaimed the wounded man : " an indulgence will settle all that for me comfortably. Ten golden crowns will buy me a free pass through the gates of heaven, praise to our Lady ! " "And thinkest thou the Most High, who hath created the mines of silver and gold in the bowels of the hills, can be tempted with thy poor offering of coin ? No, my friend : he hath given power to no man to admit sinners into heaven. He will not have heaven bought; but he giveth it freely to aU who repent through his dear Son." "And it seemeth to me, that, were thy doctrine right, our holy father the Pope would have but a beggarly ex- chequer ! " observed a man who leaned against the wall at the head of the pallet, and had narrowly watched the binding of the wounds. "Thy doctrine will never find favor among the great ones, good sir, and will only get thine own skin into danger. If our good friars didn't empty the 'people's purses to their own advantage by masses and indulgences, and such Uke holy wai-e, the blessed men would be reduced to work themselves,— don't you see ? " Francesco looked inquiringly at the speaker of these free-thinking words, who immediately added with a cun- ning laugh, "But I'm a good Catholic aU the time, you 94 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. know: I'd kiss his Holiness's toe with anybody, d'ye see?" "And when you come to die, friend ? " asked the stu- dent. The prison door was flung wide, and a rush of the purer air without hurried to replace the exhausted and foul at- mosphere within. Standing on the threshold, the com- mandant of the town-guard required to see Francesco Altieri, who soon learned that he was to go in his cus- tody to the Dominican convent, where the Holy OflSce at that time held court; and fetters were placed upon his hands. " Fare thee well, brother ; God strengthen thee, — God bring thee safe through ! " and the poor dyer embraced the gentiluomo, to whom at another time he would dofi' his cap obsequiously. But, in community of faith and of suffering, all social distinction between the physician and the artisan vanished. "God be with thee, good Otto- boni ! " and Francesco felt as if he had left the last friendly face. He passed the prisoner's wife and child in the court-yard, bringing to him some meager fare, yet better than the jailer was authorized to provide; and the inno- cent babe — unwitting occasion of its father's i-uin — woke in its mother's arms from the noisy tramp of the guards, and wept. Francesco had been in the Dominican convent before now, to attend an ailing monk : the massy gloom of its apartments was therefore no novelty to him. The hall where Riverda had endeavored to argue the Lutheran IN A CELL. 95 matrons from their faith was changed into a sort of tribu- nal : two velvet chairs were set on the dais for the inquis- itors, and two secretaries sat at ends of a table before them. But the proceedings to-day were merely prelimi- nary : Francesco was asked a few questions about name, residence, and such indifferent matters, and presently re- manded. " But, most holy fathers, I would fain know the charge against me," he remonstrated, — "I would fain know whereof I am accused, that I may clear myself." The chief inquisitor waved his hand impatiently, and two monks grasped each arm of the prisoner. " I warn thee and all," exclaimed Francesco, standing still for a moment by main force, "that I am no subject of the can- tons : I claim the protection of the Venetian Republic ; I was born under the Lion of St. Mark." " That may not much avail thee," observed the second inquisitor with a sarcastic smile ; " for know that the Holy Office regardeth not race or nation, being established above all civil power by the ordinance of our holy father, Pope Paul the Third." The prisoner was hurried away into the underground vaults of the convent, where monks were sometimes sent for discipline of fasting and seclusion. He was barred into a cell of narrow dimensions, and heard the footsteps of his guard die away along the dark passage they had come. What a silence when that sound had passed! No (^eater silence could be if he was buried. Was any liv- 96 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ing thing in the cells he had seen near? He hoped so. But the mighty masonry would intercept the loudest voice. By and by, when the chafing of his spirit had worn off, and his thoughts grew more calm, that silence came upon him more oppressively. He began to calcu- late how far he was from the other inmates of the con- vent, tracing his steps back as well as he could remember tlie labyi-inth of passages and staii-ways he had come. Ha! something moved across that slit in the wall, far above his head, on which his eyes were fixed with the craving which they have for' light ; something moved ! Francesco sprung to his feet, and watched intently Again ! — and only a green leaf blown "by the fragrant breeze; yet it shed a gladness on his heai't which was to himself inexplicable. It was a stepping-stone for his thoughts to the outer world, fi-om which he had begun to feel himself so hopelessly immured. "Whither did that slit look out? On trees and grass above ground, cer- tainly ; and though he had not been many hours removed from the sight of those common things, he felt an uncon- trollable desire to gaze at them again. He examined the projections of the rough stone-work for a means to climb ; but — what madness ! wei-e not fetters on his hands ? He threw himself on the thin mattress, which was his bed, and groaned. The clanking irons on his wrists, fast- ened together by a short chain, seemed a pledge of im- prisonment forte et dure. His own helplessness irritated him. But he knew of the unfaULng refuge for this and all IN A CELL., 97 other ills. He betook himself to prayer: "My Father, my Father ! have I faint heart already ? Can I not -watch even one hour with thee ? Shall I, on this my first day of suffering for thy sake, chafe against the discipline thou permittest me ? Forbid it. Lord ! I am very weak. Oh, strengthen me ! " In many ejaculations like these, he wrestled against the adversaiy who would tempt him to repine. Days passed over, and, except the lay-brother who brought him food and water once in the twenty-four hours, he saw no one, nor heard any voice. The want of events made the time seem intolerably long; and he found but one subject of thought ever fresh, perennially new ; but one topic which did not pall nor wear out, — the thought of his Saviour. At times one verse of the Scrip-- tares stored in his memory would stand out before him as if illuminated within and without with heaven's o-wn light ; as if some angel painted each word with brilUant coloring of celestial dyes. He would lie rapt in spirit before that many-sided truth, and wonder how he had never before seen its splendor. O Divine and Holy Ghost ! rightly art thou named the Comforter. In many a wretched garret, devoid of all earth's delights, thou art now working this miracle of consolation, as in martyrs' cells of old! Thou showest of the things of Christ ; and a glimpse at this treasury of heaven is enough to outbalance all the feKcity of worldly men ! Reader, do you feel this true ? or does it seem an en- 9 98 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. thnsiasm without parallel in your experience ? If bo, pray to God to visit you with the glorious fact. Looking back to the Dominican prison in after-times, Francesco could not say that he had been ever intolerably unhappy, even in his worst hours; and he could recall many a season of exquisite spiritual enjoyment. He knew that there he had been very near to God, which is the soul's bliss. CHAPTER XII. THE SCREW ECCLESIASTIC. jNE night, torches came along the subtena- nean passage, and the door of Francesco's cell was unbarred. He had been sleeping tranquUly. The sudden entrance and flai-e of light startled him to his feet. The next instant, two stout, monks had him in convoy, as on the previous occasion. Hardly were the prisoner's faculties fully collected, when he found him- self in a large vaulted apartment, and sitting on a block, to which the fetters on his wrists were quickly fastened by another short chain. The two inquisitors, whom he had seen before, being the Dominicans who had come with the nuncio Riverda, and who stayed after his departure to finish the work of heretic extirpation which that worthy bishop had begun, were seated on "the throne of judgment" in front of the prisoner. Their iron-like faces, wherein appeared no fea- ture capable of change or of motion save the cold eyes, would indeed chill a heart more sanguine than Frances- 99 100 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. co's. Some large, low object at the side of the room was covered with a dark cloth. The glances of the accused turned uneasily thither. A shudder ran through his fi-ame at the premonition, that underneath was stretched the hideous machinery of the rack. The inquisitors, skilled in human emotions, noted that slight shudder as a key to operations. Presently the ex- amination began. A deposition from some unknown wit- ness. was read, narrating Francesco's conversation at the bedside of the old. relic-vender on the night of his an-est, and considerably exaggerating his alleged heretical state- ments ; and he was asked what he had to say in answer. "That much of it is false," was the impetuous reply. "That is, false as to the fact of my utterance on the occasion referred to; not false as to'' — He hesitated, remembering that he was in no wise bound to criminate himself by too open confession of his opinions in the very teeth of the inquisitors. " Go on, my son," said the elder Dominican in a wheed- ling tone. "I demand to be confronted with my accusers," ex- claimed Francesco. " 'Tis not the usage of the Holy Office," coldly replied the judge. "But to what in this testimony dost thou plead guilty?" he added insidiously. "I say not that I am guilty of aught," answered the prisoner. "Guilt is a word pertaining to crime, and I have committed no crime. Bring forward my accusers, holy father : let them meet me face to face, and testify THE SCREW ECCLESIASTIC. 101 boldly as to what I have said or done that is deserving of punishment." " Thou art contumacious, my son ; yet will I bear with thee a little," said the chief inquisitor. " Know then that thou art charged with holding Lutheran tenets, to the denying of the blessed sacrament of auricular confession, and also to the contempt of prayers addressed to the holy ' saints, whose intercession availeth much with the most high God. Thou art ch&ged with disseminating these pestilent heresies on more than one occasion." "My father, I would crave you to name the circum- stances." Francesco waited a few minutes to collect his thoughts, and decide on his reply. He was sorely tempted to evade a full declaration of his faith. Which of us, with the rack two yards away, and unscrupulous hands ready to stretch the victims thereupon, would not be assailed with similar temptation? The prisoner's glance was troubled, and fixed upon the groimd. Earthly probabili- ties, earthly hopes, weighed with him, and curbed down his soul. "Take thy choice, my son, between recantation and punishment. The Church is most merciful to those who will return to her embrace," were further words of the inquisitor. " She desireth not the death of a sinner, as saith Holy Scripture. And if thou wilt not recant, my son, I would be loth to put thee to the torture." " Father, you are taking my heresy for granted," said the prisoner. " Now, I affirm that I am no heretic, but a 9* 102 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. true follower of Christ our Saviour, and an unworthy member of his most holy Church." '* Subterfuge ! " exclaimed the inquisitor almost angrily. "Thou canst not deny that thou despisest the sacrament of confession, and blasphemously casteth slanders on the power of the most blessed saints. But I will speedily put thee to the test." He drew over to him some papers, and, after a momentary looking among them, read the follow- ing query : — "Dost thou believe, that after the sacramental «words have been pronounced by the priest at mass, after he haa said the holy formula, 'Hoc est corpus meum,' the body of Christ is truly and indeed present in the host?" The prisoner paused for a moment. All the conse- quences of speaking the truth rushed before him; yet nothing seemed so utterly impossible as the utterance of the lie which might have freed him. Only a word ! only to say that he did believe ! But for worlds he could not stain his soul with that falsehood. Still, human nature shrank on the verge of the avowal. " Well, my son, we wait your answer," said the oily voice of the chief inqmsitor. "Do you believe that the body of Christ is carnally and indeed present in the con- secrated host?" .Francesco raised his head, and a light glowed in the previously deadened eyes. " Christ's body is in heaven, whither h^ bath asoei^ded to sit upon the right haad of G^d ! Aad the pppQ and all his Ciardi;ii9ls, co^ld not bripg THE SCREW ECCLESIASTIC. - 103 him down until he come to judge the quick and the dead! Yet I believe in his presence to all his faithful people." "The Zwinglian heresy perfected," remarked one of the judges to the other. "Even the accursed Luther hath not dared to go as far as this. It was reserved for. a son of Switzerland to cap the climax of heretical doctrine by denying the divinity of the blessed eucharist. Thou need'st say no more," he continued, addressing the pris- oner ; " thine own lips have condemned thee. The only question now is. Wilt thou recant ? " " Father, if you mean that I am expected to declare that I believe what I do not believe, my conscience toward God will not allow of falsehood. But if you can show me that the doctrine of Christ's real presence in the mass is taught in Holy Scripture, I am ready to be con- vinced, and shall gladly be reconciled to the CathoUc Church on that point." Now, be it observed that a secretary was taking copious notes of every word spoken on either side. " "We have no time for controversy with obstinate here- tics," began the young inquisitor; but the elder inter- posed. " Out of compassion for thy youth, which may have led thee astray, I wUl endeavor to enlighten thee. Thou deniest the doctrine of the mass, as a sacrifice for the Uving and the dead? Then hearken. In the Pentateuch itself is this truth taught; for what signifleth the He- brew 'massah,' to consecrate, whence Gom«th the very 104 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. name 'mass,' the name of a holy sacrifice appointed by God?"* Francesco Altieri had dabbled in other studies besides those of medicine ; and even his small knowledge of the Hebrew tongue enabled him to see the fallacy of the translation sought to be fastened on the word " massah." " I have read portions of Holy Scripture in the original tongues, my father," he said with deference, and suppress- ing the smile in which he could have indulged. " I do not remember where that word beareth the sense you would put upon it. But surely there are other passages where the repetition of the Redeemer's death as an effi- cient sacrifice, and the adoration of the host, are set forth. 1 would crave instruction." The prisoner could not wholly stifle the perilous mock- ing spirit which was evoked by the Dominican's lame argument. " Though young in years, we perceive that thou art old in heresy," observed the chief inquisitor. " We must try other means of taming thy spirit." A slight gesture of his head, and the attendants drew the cloth from the face of the rack, revealing the cruel apparatus of pulleys and cords across that dismal oblong frame. Here had poor Nicolas lain to be drawn asunder by torture. Now was he receiving his reward in the martyr's heaven ! Francesco, at that sight, kneeled down, * This identical argument was put forward by Autoine Poussevin, ecolesias- tloal oommiBsioner among the Vaudois in the Valley of Lucerne, during the year 18* i itnd was considerfed most convincing — by the aUreody orthodox I TBE SCREW ECCLESIASTIC. 105 •with difficulty by reason of his chains, and besought his Master to help him to witness for his truth. What in- tensity of prayer was compressed into those moments! Face between the fettered hands bowed down, he heard not the clank of iron handles fixing into the transverse bars, nor saw the lay-brethren fling off their serge gowns for greater freedom of action. All he knew was that the crisis of his faith had come, and he had need of divine strength that he might not be found wanting. The chain was unfastened: his wrists were sore from the weight of the heavy irons. A strange sensation of lightness and fi'eedom to be without those fetters ! But it was momentary : his hands were bound behind him. Then his torture was not to be the rack, after all ? Inquisitorial mercy has provided grades of torment for its victims. Step by step are they inducted into the arcana of physical anguish. Agony is dealt out in drops, diluted less and less according to the endm-ance. The opening scene was generally an attempt to dislocate the prisoner's limbs, — a trifling inconvenience when com- pared with the roasting of his feet over a brazier of glow- ing charcoal, which was a more advanced stage, worthily occupying the next station to burning alive. And so Francesco Altieri was suspended by a rope to a pillar ; which rope being suddenly let slip, he fell down violently to within a short distance of the ground, every muscle of his joints strained by the jolt. Setting his teeth firmly, he did not even moan, though every limb ached sharply. Two or three performances of this dislo- 106 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. eating jerk qualified him for promotion to the deepei anguish of the rack. He could never teU afterwards how long he had been lying there ; how long the pulleys and straps were strain- ing fiercely at his limbs, worked by strong men till the damp ran down their faces. All sense of time, all con- sciousness, was swallowed up soon in excess of suffering. They asked him questions; but he remained resolutely- silent, except for the groans and exclamations forced fi-om him at every fi-esh strain of the ghastly machinery. At last the chief inquisitor commanded the pressure to be relieved for a few moments. " My son, our hearts bleed to see thee obstinate. One little word, and thy torture ceases. Dost thou recant ? " "O Saviour! aid thy poor servant not to deny thy truth," was the sufferer's feebly-spoken prayei". The Dominican's face darkened, and he signed for the assistants to proceed, leaving the subterranean chamber himself, immediately. The powerless had baflled the powerfiil ! Before the cords had tightened by more than an addi- tional turn of the screws, Francesco had swooned. CHAPTER XIII. THE SENTENCE. SLOW, heavy dawning of consciousness, as in the gradual withdrawal of some terrific dream which has filled hours with perplexed involutions of misfortune, and the Paduan student opened his weary eyes. Pain, — pain all over, — and the utterest exhaustion; these were his waking sensations, when, with a long- drawn hreath, the swoon passed. No longer on the rack, nor in the subterranean vault, lit by swinging, smoky oil-lamps shedding radiance on hard faces dealing out torture. He was alone in his old cell, with early daylight streaming through the loophole, and the blessed air blowing in upon his fevered head. The old cell ! but could he have seen himself as he lay there, and compared himself with the Francesco Altieri who had issued thence on the previous night, he would scarce have recognized his own form. Gaunt and hag- gard, with lines furrowed on his face, which might have been the work of five years' hardship, or of five months' illaesB; every oerve flaccid and uastrung, every sinew 108 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. distended, till his body was but one huge bruised sprain, and to move was a fresh anguish, he could only lie still and endure passively. Sleep, or an unconsciousness, came at intei-vals. To- ward mid-day, he, roused with a great thirst upon him, perceived that an earthen jar had been left within his reach ; and, when he had grasped it with infinite pains, he drank copiously of the water. After that his brain was clearer. The sort of dull submissiveness of devotion whioh had lain in his spirit became more active : he was able to pray and to think. Many days passed before he could stand without sup- port. He anticipated that another visit to the torture cham))er was preparing for him : but the lay-brother, who was his sole jailer, came morning after morning with his food, as dumb as though he could not hear when the pris- oner spoke ; and no one else ever came. When the last bolt had shot into its sheath outside, and the sandaled feet trod away in the passage, Francesco might reckon upon total silence, except for vesper and matin bells, until the same hour next day. Sometimes he sang aloud him- self, to break that incubus from his heart. Then he would get rapt in the hymn, and fancy his voice joining the Church triumphant, even through dense walls and from this living grave. But how long was it to last? Had they indeed sen- tenced him to solitary confinement for life ? He shuddered at the thought of years lapsing through that cell ; of his head growing old and gray in its muiiy shadows. Intol- TEE SENTENCE. 109 erable! The fiery death would be more easily borne than such living burial. Thus, as he recovered bodily strength, the stagnation of this existence began to corrode his spirit. That paltry incident, the leaf blowing across the loop- hole, — he had recognized it as an ivy-leaf by this time, and guessed that the wall was grown over outside, — he would watch for, lying on his pallet, with an interest for which he almost despised himself. He had no fetters on his hands now, and so essayed to climb by the rough ma- sonry to the opening as soon as he was strong enough. By picking out the mortar tediously, for it was well-nigh as hard as the stones it cemented, he widened niches for his feet and fingers. Oh joy ! when at last one evening he grasped a bar across that window-slit, and had a glimpse of the outer earth again. ^ Into a garden the loophole looked ; for grass was level with his eye, and trunks of trees close by, — olives, he knew by their gnarled and tortuous outlines. Dead gray wall shut in the enclosure ; but brilliant sunshine lay upon that grassy expanse for some time every day, till the shadows of unseen buildings stole across it. Francesco could soon have constructed a dial by the regular march- ings of their shade ; and the bell-tower of the convent was sketched in variable slopes of profile, — continuing to lie there sometimes when the night air was full of moon- light. Once a monk came to read his hours while walking under the dead gray wall. "Without thinldng of conse- 10 110 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. quences, Francesco called aloud in his first gladness at beholding an accessible human being: whereupon the good friar paused, looked round, and up and down, seem- ing to wait for a repetition, which the prisoner was wise enough to withhold. Fra Domenico crossed himself piously, uttered a short exorcism against all things evil, and took his hours elsewhere for completion. Shortly afterwards a pair of monks entered the little garden, looked down and up and about with the same sort of gesture, and whispered each other ominously. Francesco could scarce refrain from scaring their superstitions with another cry; But the risk was too gi-eat. If his stolen outlook was discovered, he would certainly be consigned to a still more lonely cell. The prior's private garden had thenceforth an uncanny reputation : the hardiest monks ventured not within its precincts after vespers, and even in the noonday none cared to read his breviaiy there alope. Fra Domenico would tell the tale of that strange cry to the novices in recreation time, with various imaginative interpellations, which soon grew into historical facts. It is so hard to avoid being a hero when one tells one's own tale ! But even the view from his loophole had palled upon poor Francesco ere long. He implored his dumb servitor for a book, — for writing materials, — any thing to em-, ploy himself. He might as well have petitioned one of the stalwart oUves outside. The lay-brother made as though he heard not. A tenible torture is utter idleness 930^ hopelessness t THE SENTENCE. Ill The Christian can never be hopeless, never -without resource. He has a personal Friend whom no bars and bolts can shut out, no banishment distance. Francesco was thrown more upon his spiritual relationships by this long isolation. God the Father above him, — God the Redeemer beside him, — God the Spirit within him. When he was enabled to realize this, the meager cell be- came a chamber of delights. And he knew that even in the present evil world the Lord of hosts has given them that love him such good things as pass carnal man's un- derstanding, — such good things as merely mortal eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard. Two months had probably passed from the day that he had last crossed the threshold, when again the torches flared into his cell at midnight, and he was brought forth once more. Steeling his nerves for anticipated suffering, he entered the torture chamber, — the hall of judgment in inquisitorial phrase. The Dominicans who had previously examined him were not present. In their stead sat the prior of the convent. A record of the foregoing process was read, and the prisoner was asked whether he assented to its truth. On his reply in the affirmative, the' prior took up another paper, and read aloud the sentence of the Holy Office : That whereas the accused, Francesco Altieri, had con- fessed the heretical principles laid to his charge by several credible witnesses, and, having been put to the question, bed signified his desire of being reconciled to the holy 112 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Catholic Church, thereby vii-tually recanting the aforesaid heresies, the Court of the Congregation of the Holy Office, of its clemency, decreed that the extreme punishment to be inflicted on the said Francesco Altieri, graduate in medicine of the University of Padua, was confiscation of goods and perpetual banishment from the Locamese and the Seven Cantons, adding the usual threat of the penalty of death should he return. One throb of delight in the prisoner's heart ; the iiext instant he was grave as though stepping to the rack in- stead of regaining liberty. " Father, they have misunderstood, — I did not recant ; I never meant to recant. The words I spoke can not bear that interpretation." The prior, a former acquaintance of Altieri's, had left his elevated seat immediately on the declaration of the .sentence, and with it quite put oflF his official manner. Inquisitor's work was very distasteful to his easy, indul- gent nature ; and he hated the arrears of such business left hun by the Roman doctors. " We are not here to judge thee, but to pronounce a sentence previously concluded on, my son," he said blandly enough. " 'Tis a mistake, if there be one, for which thou shouldest be thankful, and bless our Lady, instead of peck- ing at thy good fortune. And if thou art so ambitious to be a martyr, there will be fires enow in all Italy soon ; for his Holiness Pope Paul the Fourth has been grand inquis- itor himself, and likes the trade." "What, Cardinal Caraflfapope!" exclaimed the prisoner TBE SENTENCE. 113 eagerly. " He who was once of ' the Oratory of Divine Love,' — once a reformer ? " "Even so," quoth the prior dryly. "And now, my son, I counsel thee to withdraw thyself from reach of the same Holy Office. A boat waits to take thee from the bailiwick into neutral soil. Thou -didst once do me a service in curing for me a troublesome pleurisy: therefore I wish thee well, and did speak on thy behalf to the Roman in- quisitor. Buon viaggio, my son;" and the good-natured monk moved away, waving a benediction. That piece of political news, the election of a fresh pope, turned the current of Francesco's feelings wonder- fully. The great surging world of living beings, from whom he had been so long cut off, suddenly arose again before his eyes ; and the young blood pulsed quicker at thought of its struggles, its ambitions, its countless inter- lacing interests. He shook the slough of the prison from his heart. Oh ! how fresh was the open air ; how glitter- ing the silver stars ; how beautiful even the night earth, on which he had not looked for so long a time ! Andrea d'Agnolo and a couple of his " free lances " were at the monastery gate to convoy the banished to the water's edge. " Methinks thou hast learned some shai-p lessons since we spoke together in the guard-room, good friend," said the trooper when he recognized his charge. " What say- est thou, FUippo ? Is he not taller than his wont, — taller by an inch or two of the rack?" The soldier appealed to laughed gratingly, and signified assent. " I hope thou art 10* 114 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. a cured case of heresy now," continued Andrea, " and wilt give these merciful priests no more trouble. Indeed, un- less thou wert, thou wouldst scarce be -walking toward freedom now." "Friend," began the prisoner, "if thou meanest that I have grown tired of my faith, or have found it not woith the suffering for, thou art mistaken. Christ's soldiers do not desert his colors so : they love their general too well." "I never shall understand it, — never," replied the trooper. " Why men who might lead an easy life persist in leading a hard and painful life, and not only cut them- selves off every enjoyment, — for wine and dice find no favor among you ' Oltramontani,' — but also run the risk of rack and stake, — for what? an idea; a thing they neither hear nor see : Andrea d'Agnolo can not fathom it." Did not Francesco remember that prophecy of the far- seeing Apostle, " The preaching of the cross is, to them that perish, foolishness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spirit- ually discerned " ? And if any should glance upon this page who exult in the pride of intellect as the bright keen weapon to cut the Gordian knot of theology, and rather despise the sim- ple, unquestioning faith of the unlettered, or the thorough- ly submissive Christian, — bewai-e lest this be foolishness to your wisdom, only because you are one of those that perish ! THE SENTENCE. 115 'My friend," said Pranoesoo, "suppose thou -wert sen- ^uflced to a sore punishment for some crime, and one came forward, who was innocent, to bear the suffering for thee, simply because he loved thee, and would not have thee suffer: wouldst thou not love that person evermore? wouldst thou not hold by him for thy life long ? " "Find me the friend first," said the trooper incredu- lously. " Most men love themselves better than anybody else." " I found such a friend once ; and shall I join his ene- mies, who dishonor him ? Never! Moreover, he hath done for thee what he hath done for me, — taken aU the pun- ishment due for thy sins, and borne it on the cross, to which his blessed limbs were nailed by unholy hands : he hath done this for thee; and thou canst never be con- demned, so thou but believe." "Thou mightest be a preaching friar, messer, thou speakest with such unction," carelessly replied the trooper. "Meanwhile, here we are at the boat. Filippo, see this good gentleman safe out of the baUiwick, and let him have converse with none while in thy custody. Fair voyage, my excellent sir ; felicissima notte." Trolling a stave of a soldier's song, the condottiero disappeared in the darkness. CHAPTER XIV. AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. Lull a fortnight after Francesco Altieri had been landed on the opposite shore of the Lago Maggiore, to make his way as best he could without money or friends in a strange coun- try, he found himself traveling through the Grison Alps, staff in hand, toward the exiles' refuge at Zurich. For he had learned at Ro- goreto, that after a forced sojourn of two months, on account. of the continuance of snow and ice in the defiles beyond, the majority of the Locarnese had set forward, upon the earliest May thaw, and reached the canton of Zurich, which had hospitably offered them an asylum. This latest exile was now treading in their footsteps across the savage mountain passes which are the sole ave- nues into Switzerland from Italy. He had gone through the Bernardin Pass, and was now approaching that most sublime of Alpine defiles, the Splugen. Engineering has made all transits easy now-a-days, and well-nigh completely subjugated the world of matter to the world of motion. The traveler may drive in his car- 116 AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 117 riage from end to end of the tremendons gorge of the Via Mala, the core of the Sphigen, and, from his cushions and comforters, leisurely sprvey the overwhelming sublimity of precipice and snow-peak; but our poor exiled stu- dent's journey was made before smooth pai-apeted roads had been carved along the sides of the stupendous rift, a thousand feet above the raging young Rhine. He was obliged to scale crags and skirt chasms and leap torrents, and otherwise comport himself, with an agility which would puzzle our modern traveler in a London-built britzs- ka. He had certain advantages over that comfortable traveler, nevertheless ; for he could pause when he pleased, and he could select the finest points of view, had he been so minded, and stand still while the grandeur of nature entered and elevated his very soul. Those precipices might be sixt^ hundred feet high in some places; and down in their black depth thundered the aforesaid impatient Rhine, flashing whitely in cas- cades, or plunging furiously athwart -fathomless pools.* Dark forests of- fir climbed the lower slopes and shelves of the split mountains wherever foot of tree could plant itself; sturdy large-Umbed firs, accustomed to wrestling with tempests. And some of them in that wrestling had succumbed, and lay prostrate, flung do.wn by strong invis- ible arms of the winds ; others stood blasted on inaccessi- ble bights, as if proving thai the loftiest position is also the most perilous. Francesco had never imagined any thing more grand than this gorge. His heart expanded under a sense of 118 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the exceeding great power of his God, the Creator of "the strength of the hills." Standing on the edge of the vast rift, while the surging of the imprisoned river came almost faintly from the far depths, he opened his lips in a song of praise. It was one of the hymns written by Antonio Brucioli, translator of the earliest Italian Bible from the Hebrew and Greek ; a man not professedly Lutheran, yet persecuted as such ; and his works ranked among prohib- ited books of the first class, by the Index Expurgatorius of the Council of Trent. What was Francesco's astonishment, as he paused after the first verse, to hear it taken up and repeated by some unknown voice not far distant ! Echo ! was his first idea, but rejected instantly. What echo could recite four lines of a hymn, with all variations of tune ? Some Lutheran traveler like himself; Ited he peered about unavailingly, till the singer emerged at the corner of the path, where it wound round a lichened crag. " My good fiiend Luigi Feo 1 " "Well met, signer! and let me introduce to you my traveling companion, my little wife Caterina." He had kept his word of returning, so soon as the home was found for her ; and the maiden, following the myste- rious law coeval with creation, had left father and mother, and cleaved to her husband, even to a life-long exile. "You see, signor, I did not wait two months at Rogo- reto with the rest of them. I was young and hardy, accustomed to the mountains : so I set out before the thaw," said Luigi, "and reached Zurich safely; where I AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 119 found my knowledge of weaving silk so nwioh in demand, that very soon I had more employment than I could man- age, and shall have the same now, when I return. I think, though, the little Caterina would sooner I had fixed to stay in Rogoreto among the Grisons. Wouldst thou, anima mia?" And she answered dutifully what was the very truth, that Luigi knew best, and that she was satisfied. " Poor little heart ! the mountains fi:ighten her ; and half the time she hath her eyes shut as the mule plods past the precipices," observed her husband. "What a woman's fears are, for a verity ! But thou art going to Zurich, signor?" Luigi was not quite sure that he would find the physi- cian Di Montalto and his family before him. When he left, they were speaking of returning into Italy, and set- tling at Ferrara. This intelligence took Messer Francesco almost aback ; but, as nothing certain was known of their movements, he concluded to go on to where they were last heard of. "And now that I look at you, signor, you seem older and more worn than when last I saw your face among the Locamese mountains. Ah ! little thou knewest mine errand past the Red Ci'oss that morning, Caterina ! This gentleman and I were taking care of the Signora Barbara. But in very truth, signor, thou hast suffered since then !" The young physician told of his imprisonment and tor- ture in the Dominican convent; little Caterina uttering all sorts of pitying exclamations, and once or twice begin- 120 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ning the usual appeal to the saints or our Lady, until she met her husband's grave glance. "My friend, I forget," she said to him apologetically, twining her arm within his as he stood. Her life's habit was not easily broken, though its substratum of bhnd be- lief was gone. Luigi's brows knitted, and his black eye flashed, to hear of the torture. « If they had caught the signora, she would have lain on the same rack! We are well out of that land, Cate- rina : we go where they dare molest no man for his belief, — where no shaveling Mar durst show himself among a free people ! " The good Luigi not perceiving that this last was intolerance even as the former, — a shortness of sight common to his cotemporaries. By and by, when the toils of the way permitted further conversation, Francesco learned that old Ursula had died, — in great remorse and unquietness of conscience, Cate- rina said, grasping the holy reho of the true cross even to the last — "And it helped to show this little one," added Luigi, who seemed to consider himself necessarily his wife's spokesman, — "it helped to show this little one, more than any thing else, that the pope's religion is not God's religion, when nothing could pacify the old woman's mind. No absolutions nor rosaries nor masses gave her ease; not even a letter of plenary indulgence itself, ratified by the archbishop, and costing many golden scudi, was suf- ficient. And she called incessantly for her son Giovan : AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 121 that was the last day, when her head wandered. He weot to the' wars some years ago, selling himself as a condot- tiero to the Emperor Charles ; and she called him to come and drive away with his sword the evil things tliat looked at her." Lutheran as Luigi was, old habit inclined him much to cross himself at this juncture. Caterina shuddered. " She always said she had helped to kill Nicolas, and would be the means of slaying you also, signer ; and not all Fra Pietro's preachings could persuade her that was a pious work. All the money she had she left to that shaveling knave to say masses for her soul ; and she gave Caterina the blessed relic, the bit of the true cross, — of inestimable value, they say ! " "Signor," began the young wife, a blush tinging her dark rich cheek, "I now bethink me how Fra Pietro questioned me concerning the evening that thou didst pray beside old Ursula. I could not know why he ex- amined me so closely ; perchance it was to witness against thee, signor : and he laid on me heavy penances." "Which thou didst perform, like a little fool," cried Luigi, patting her cheek. "Well, never friar again shall dare hear the soul secrets of wife of mine ! Of all the clever things invented by pope and cardinals, confession is the very cleverest ; for don't you see, signor, it gets the key of the world through the women ! Do you think I'd tell ray wife any thing, if she was to kneel next week at the ear of some double-dealing priest, and tell it all back again?" 11 122 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ' Luigi's opinions had undergone considerable strength- ening during his residence among the Lutherans at Zu- rich. He cast in his lot with the Reformed party, by rea- son of the single point of truth which he clearly saw, — Christ's power to save, above all saints, priests, or popes ; and gradually he was advancing to see other truths, and to reason from them and concerning them with consider- able homely good sense. Indeed, the truth first received had embodied, them all, as surely as blossoms in the sheath of a many-shafted lily. Their development might confi- dently be awaited. For that promise is of eternal fulfill- ment, " If any man will do God's wiU, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." A part of the pass which suspended aU conversation was before the travelers. This is the abyss entitled by the peasantry the Verlohren Loch, or Lost Gulf; a por- tion of the chasm impassable, until, within the present century, a tunnel was blasted through the overhanging mountain. Here our three wayfarers were compelled to make a long circuit over steep hights ere they could again descend the pass toward Tusis. And here, once more in the grand gorge, a view of sur- passing splendor opened before their eyes. Through the jaws of the dark ravine, as through a vista of perspective, were seen, afar, sunlit lands, with the old Etruscan castle of Realt in the foreground, cresting a vast detached clill^ the warder of the mighty pass. It would have been easy to idealize that scene — something of the thought crossed Francesco's imagination — behind, black precipices and AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 123 gloomy caverns, a very land of the shadow of death, whence the Reformed were making their way slowly, painfully, through hosts of difficulties, to a fair sunlit land of freedom and happiness. "See, signer!" observed the garrulous Luigi : "a fair omen ! The clouds are in the rear, the sunshine all be- fore us!" And, with common consent, the pilgrims took up again their hymn of praise. CHAPTER XV. THE ALTAR IN THE FOREIGN LAND. fcROM the village of Tusis, situated before the jaws of the mighty Splugen Pass, our travel- ers proceeded northward along the Rhine to Reichenau, and thence — still along the Rhine, but eastward — to Coire, capital of the Grison country. Now, these Grisons had been most kind to the Locarnese exiles ; had offered to them a permanent refuge, and admission into all the rights of citizenship, as if they had been born Switzers, instead of Italians. Nearly half the Protestants who had left Locarno were induced by these advantages to travel no farther, but to settle down in the Grison canton with their wives and families. And truly, even in this world, the hospitable Grisons had their reward. An infusion of the best new blood was thus poured into their State ; in- dustrious sinew and bone, intelligent heads and honest hearts, were added to the subjects of the League ; and an access of material prosperity was the result, by the devel- opment of new trades and manufactures, and the exten- sion of the old. 124 TBE ALTAR IN THE FOREIGJST LAND. 125 Some of the indomitable Protestant spirit lingers still among the mountaineers of this region. There ia a ham- let called Feldsberg, built in a perilous position beneath a mountain so perpendicular that its fall was expected, which would of course crush the village utterly. The in- habitants petitioned the authorities of a neighboring com- mune for leave to migrate, and settle in their territories; which was refused, unless the Protestants of Feldsberg would become Roman Catholics. And the peasants pre- ferred to abide the chance of burial alive under their over- hanging mountain than to give up their olden faith. All honor to their brave persistence ! This occurred not so many years ago ; and hitherto the threatening rocks have been upheld. Francesco's haste to Zurich made him quite an impa- tient lingerer for a few days at Coire, even among his brethren the Locarnese emigrants. Joyfully tui-ning west- ward at Ragatz, through the beautiful Vale of Scez, the glorious mountains again gathered round him at the " Wallenstatter," that grand Lake of Wallenstadt. Hard times again for Caterina's mule; but no other pass like the Via Mala tried his sinews and her nerves. Amid all the magnificence of the scenery, our pilgrims began to feel the sensations of exiles. No flowing accents of sweet Italian greeted their ears at the inns, but rough guttural German dialects, of which poor Caterina could not comprehend a syllable. The dress of the peasantry, their dwellings, the very vegetation of the earth, were all alien. Something of her loneliness she breathed to Luigi. 11* 126 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ' " Dear heart ! our God will make a home for us : we shall learn to love these great mountains ; " but an almost involuntary sigh escaped his own breast. " It is the wUl of the good God, Uttle one; and heaven is as near Zurich as Locarno, — ay, and a trifle nearer,'' he added, knitting his black brows. " See ! the excellent signor hath gone on before to the point of the pass: methinks his heart outruns his steps to Zurich. Ah ! I know what that feel- ing is, httle one." " But, Luigi," she said, " I hope the mountains are not so fierce about Zurich : I never could love them, I know. Our own beautifiil lake was so gentle! the sunshine seemed to love it, and the rocks were not black and bris- tling like these." " Well, thou wilt have a lake at Zurich which is fair enough," repUed her husband. " The Switzers love it sur- passingly. Behold ! here are pilgrims bound for out Lady of Einseidlen ; they cross our path southwards : her ora- tory is off there among the mountains." A number of men and women, walking in long files, telling their beads audibly, and some carrying huge waxen tapers for presentation at the shrine ; chiefly peas- ants, who had left home and families and all the duties of their hardworked lives in order to fulfill a senseless vow of pilgrimage. Presently, through the murmur of patera and aves, a single rough voice began to chant — " Ave, maris Stella, l>el mater alma, Atque semper virgo, Felix coeli porta!" THE ALTAR IN THE FOREIGN LAND. 127 and twenty other voices took up tlie strain, hailing Mary, " Star of the Sea, Mother of God, Gate of Heaven ! " In the next verse, they besought her to pardon all their sins ; and so marched away through the valley, to the burden of a song as idolatrous as ever ancient Helvetian uttered before pagan deity. Perhaps Caterina felt some wi-enchings of the old creed at her heart as she listened to the rude melody of that well-known hymn winding away among the mountains. Luigi looked at her earnestly : he divined the feeling. " Little one ! it is for love of me, and not of God's truth, that thou hast left father, mother, and native land. But I will. pray that thou mayest love the blessed Jesus more than thou lovest me, dear heart! I wUl read to thee from the Book, Caterina, that the divine flame may light into thy soul, and fill thee with joy, and enable thee to cast off the chains of the pope's religion for evermore. For dost thou not see that thou art in chains as long as thou hast a dread of God, — the God who is loving thee ? And popes and priests like men to have such a terror; for then they are driven to seek access through them, which puts money into the Church's purse, and power into the Church's hands." The Italian girl listened, with her large dovelike eyes fixed on her husband, thinking in her simple heart how clever he was, but not quite able to follow his ideas. " I can not help going back to the old religion sometimes," she said : " but you will teach me better, Luigi ; I have no head for these things." 128 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. '"Tis not head that God wants, but heart, little one. Pray to him to make it clear to thee how the blessed Christ has redeemed thee, and thou needest to do nothing further but believe: thou needest not penances nor absolutions nor pilgrimages, nor aught else, but only to trust in him.'' And Luigi walked silently at the head of her mule for a long distance, until they came in sight of the blue Zu- rich-See, lying tranquilly among verdant hills, which were crested with snowy peaks rising behind afar off. Their road lay through the old fortified town of Rapperschwyl, on the edge of the lake ; whence was twenty miles to the city of their destination. A month before, when the great body of the Locamese exiles approached Zurich, with one consent the inhabit- ants came forth to meet them, and embrace the sufferers as dear brethren, and give them house-room and heart- room. What a strange old-world scene ! One would like to have looked on it, and brought away the lesson, "See how these Christians love one another!" The strong, simple-hearted Protestantism of the age was most earnest in its sense of brotherhood, and of its duties toward the household of faith, even to self-sacrifice. We trust, that, in our more complicated and refined state of society, the feeling is only latent, not deadened. For truly the closest bond that can unite human beings, whether singly or in masses, is the community of conver- sion to God : all other ties are without the man, are per- ishable with this world's ending at furthest; but this single bond clasps soul to soul, and js eternal as heaven. THE ALTAR IN THE FOREIGN LAND. 129 Francesco pressed forward to the city in early morning. Noon was shining on the wide waters when he first beheld the amphitheater of hights circling Zurich ; well-cultured hills, bearing rich pastures and farmsteads, — a populous and peaceful province, doubly gi-ateful to the eye after the savage scenery he had passed through. The tiled roofs and church-steeples of the town nestled to the water's edge, after the manner of most lake cities : that ancient cathedral of the tenth century crowned all, and the white peaks of the Albis culminated the view. " What ho, Peppi ! " This to a man who was traveling along before him at a rapid rate. "Dost not know thy friends ? " when he paused and stared. " The Signor Altieri ! Nay, but we had given thee up for lost ; " and the men shook hands heartily. " Thou hast escaped, then? I give thee joyous welcome to the land of ireedom." "But what of Di Montalto, the physician? Is he iu Zurich?" "Methinks he is now in the new church which the senate have given us, listening to Fra Bemasdin, our pas- tor, who is installed to-day." " Not Bernardin Ochino, the celebrated general of the Capuchins ? " said Francesco. " The same. He has been in Basle since he fled fi-om England, and was invited to be our chaplain, after Becoa- ria; a most eloquent friar, they say, nnd one sound in the faith. I was hastening but now to hear him." " Then I will speed Tvith thee ; " and they mended their 130 * FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. pace toward the gates of the towD, Francesco's spirits having risen considerably to find that his patron, and by- probable consequence his patron's family, were still in Zurich. As they walked along, the refugee told the young physician various circumstances of interest con- nected with the exiles, — the brotherly welcome they had received in Zwingle's' city, the efforts made to procure them occupation suited to their callings, and many do- mestic particulars, with which this narrative has naught to do. Passing through the quaint, steep-roofed streets, they found themselves presently standing amid the Ustening crowd in the vestibule of the Locarnese church. The good Zurichers had flocked in numbers to behold the inauguration of this fiery Capuchin friar, who had endured BO much for the faith, and whose zeal was unquenchable by the bitterest persecution. True, few of them could understand the tide of burning language which flowed from his lips, and flooded the hearts of the exiles with passionate emotion. Francesco could hear that great glowing voice where he stood near the street entrance. He wondered whether the Signora Bianca was listening to it likewise. But presently the marvelous ardor and eloquence of the preacher seized his whole attention, and held it riv- eted. His subject was evidently justification by faith, the mighty doctrine which had first given quietness to his own restless, seething soul. These were some of Ochino's words : — rEE ALTAR IN THE FOREIGN LAND. 131 " How is it possible that a man, by his owii exertions, can make atonement for his immeasurable sinfulness? Would it not be as if a dead man should attempt to call himself back to hfe?. Christ by no means said to the chief ruler of the synagogue. Do thou perform thy part of the atonement, and I will fiU up what is wanting. Nay : he said, ' Only beheve ! ' It was human righteousness that cracified Christ ; and how can we ascribe to it the power of justifying and blessing mankind? Look to the thief who was affixed to the accursed tree along with Christ ; and tell me, I pray you, what good did he ever do that he should hear from Christ those words, ' This day shalt thou be with me in paradise ' ? You say, perhaps, he suf- fered stripes and the cross. Ah ! were he to die a thous- and times over, he could not give satisfaction to Divine Justice. If you should say he was saved by a miracle, I tell you that it is by an equal miracle, and by the singular mercy of God, that any of us will be saved." * Some movement in the crowd enabled Francesco to advance nearer, so that presently he had a view of the speaker, — a tall, spare, worn form, the hair and beard white as a snowdrift, the last flowing even to his gii-dle ; but in the midst of his pallid face glowed most searching eyes, whence one could have fancied the glitter of flint sparks, when the excitement of the man's spirit rose high. Francesco cast one rapid glance round the building for his friends, but could not see them. They were perchance * Extracted ttom a eermon of Ms, translated into Latin from Italian by Beeundo Curlone. 132 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. in the galleries overhead. Again he was bome away on the preacher's words : — "Let not any man imagine that we are thus justified by Christ simply as an intercessor,-!- because he asks God the Father for remission of our sins. My friend, you omit the divinest thing of all ! — for Christ hath transferred our sins to himself, and desired that they be ascribed to him, out of his great kindness. And not only did he accept them, as if he, who was free from all shadow of blame, had committed them, but he suffered the most agonizing death to satisfy Divine Justice. He gave unto us his innocence, his holiness, nay, his very spirit and soul, to animate our souls, to enable us to call God our Father, before whom we may stand boldly, uncontaminated by even the shadow of a sin. We are utterly free from our old sins, because Christ has made them his own, and has given us his purity, that we may appear lovely before God. But this immortal treasure depends upon one faith, one strong and certain persuasion, which is only to be received from God. "And why should I detain you longer? Whoever is justified in this manner may stand before God's tribunal with that security wherewith Christ himself doth stand. As Jacob was received by his father instead of Esau, from wearing his brother's garments, so are we clothed with Christ, and with his ornaments beautified. God will re- ceive us as sons, and give us a portion in his everlasting kingdom." CHAPTER XVI. FRA BEENAEDIN. ^NGLISH words can render the main matter of Ochino's sermons, but not the full force or delicacy of meaning ; nor can the fervid ac- cents, the impassioned gestures, of this most celebrated preacher of the Italian Reforma- tion, be reproduced across the ages for our appreciation. Suffice it to say, that among his cotemporaries he was renowned for "extraordinary eloquence," and that Cardinal Caraffa, mourning his de- fection from the Roman faith, wrote of Mm thus : "Ah ! Bernardino, how great wert thou in the eyes of all men ! Thy coarse cap excelled the pope's miter; thy deep pov- erty, the riches of the world. Thou wert the very herald of the Highest ; full of wisdom, and adorned with knowl- edge : the Lord placed thee in his holy mount as a light, as the sun of the people, as a pillar in his temple, as a watchman in his vineyard." And when the emperor Charles the Fifth heard him preach, he exclaimed, " That man would make the very stones weep ! " He had been twice general of the order of Capuchins, 12 133 134 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. and bid fair for a cardinal's haf. Now, for conscience' sake, he was the persecuted pastor of a congi'egation of exiled Italians; and aU prospects of earthly honor were closed to the heretic. Oohino thought that he had chosen the best part ! In the evening, when young Altieri was sitting at sup- per with Di Montalto and his family, the new pastor entered. The nobility of his presence struck Francesco even more than it had done from the pulpit. "My mend, hearing that thou art going back to our -poor Italy, I bethought me that I might be of some service to thee, with such friends as yet remember the name of Fra Bemardin," he said, addressing the elder j)hysician. " So, if I can do aught for thee in letters of introduction, or such like, I pray thee to command me, brother." "I think of going to Ferrara," replied Di Montalto, passing his hand across his bearded chin in a furtive man- ner and with look askance. The truth was, that he had no desire to distinguish himself in Italy by adherence to the Reformed party, but meant to take a middle course, in which he had already proved that no safety rested. He would as soon be without Oohino's introductions. " Ferrara ! Ah ! that was once a blessed city," said the ex-Capuchin ; " a light to the dark places of Lombardy. And still there are precious souls there, — God's hidden ones : above all, the noble Duchess Ren^e ; though she hath appeared, of late, to fall from the truth." " It was my privilege to know her Excellency," said the FEA BERNARDIN. 135 Signora Barbara, " and to receive much benefit from her teaching in my youth. I could scarce believe that she would recant the convictions of her soul." '•Ah!" observed Ochino, "the heart is weak, and our deadly enemy is strong." "But Christ is stronger!" exclaimed the physician's wife. " True, my sister, most true ; yet even a Peter failed in the hour of bearing witness," replied the deep tones of the pastor. "Not unto all men is martyr's grace given." And Fi-aneesco remembered the account he had heard of Ochino's own flight from Florence to Geneva; not a flight connected with any dishonor or cowardice, but simply a withdrawal from the face of death in its most fearful form. " But it is better to fly than to desert to the enemy," remarked Francesco when he perceived the glittering eye of Ochino fixed upon him. " Thou hast borne scars in the cause likewise, if I am told rightly concerning thee, my young brother," said the ex-Capuchin. " I hear that already thou hast sufiered at Locarno for the name of Jesus. Thou hast the honor of early graduating in Christ's coUege of trial. I would fain learn how it was, brother." So Francesco, for the second time, narrated the main facts of his arrest, im- prisonment, and torture. He fancied that the Signorina Bianca shuddered and grew paler as he just touched on those terrible hours spent upon the rack; but then she would compassionate anybody, her mature was so kind. 136 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Ah ! " exclaimed Ochino, rousing himself from the sort of reverie in which he had hearkened, " we have seen but the prelude of the martyrdoms in our poor Italy. I know the Cardinal Caraffa well, — he who last month assumed the tiara under the name of Paul the Fourth : no sterner bigot ever wore the purple ! He is one, that, in slaying Christ's servants, will think he doeth God service. Not that he is without noble qualities: in purity of life he yields to none, and in singleness of aim. He is a man of one idea; and that iden, the dominance of the Catholic Church." "Yet he once belonged to that saintly society, 'The Oratory of Divine. Love,' with Sadolet and Thiene — who, they say, is fit for canonization — and the noble Conta rini." "Ay, well mayest thou say 'the noble Contarini!'" echoed Ochino, his piercing eye softening at recollection of his friend. " That gentle soul suffers no more contra- diction of unrighteous men, — he hath passed to heaven before the evil days. Never did the scarlet hat rest on a worthier or more unworldly head. In very truth, he was too guileless for this age of hypocrisy and state-craft. His dream was the reformation of the Church, by the agency of her own sons stripping off her meretricious adornment; but God chose to reform her by a disruption of the very foundations of her throne: and when Contarini saw that she would still clasp all her filthy rags and false jewelry to her heart, and would not be purified, the idea of his life was gone ; he had but to die. And he died believing FRA BERNARDIN. 137 in Christ only, justified by his righteousness only. I saw him at Bologna shortly before he yielded up the ghost, and he found this fsiith sufficient for that hour of fear." A few moments' pause, and the physician's wife gently remarked, "From the conclave to the peasant's cot, Christ's truth hath witnesses throughout all Italy." " Yet, mark me," — the monk rose as one inspired, — " it will not prevail ! The agencies of evil are too many and too active. Methinks it is not God's purpose to bless our poor Italy with a fi-ee gospel. She is trampling out the spark of light most vehemently, and she will suflFer through centuries to come — centuries of chained con- sciences and of fettered Uberties — for her present rejec- tion of her Lord ! " "But the Duchess Renee surely hath some power in Ferrara still ? " quoth the physician, who had been think- ing over his worldly prospects, and had heard little of the foregoing conversation. Bending an anxious gaze on Ochino, he repeated his interrogative remark. ''As a daughter of France, she must always wield influ- ence, even over the despotic Ercole, her unworthy hus- band. I doubt if there could be a safer retreat for the Reformed in Italy, except indeed among the Waldense colonies in Calabria, far south." ''A pastoral people," said the physician; "and I am ac- customed to the life of cities. I love not the stagnation of the country. I seek to live an honest, quiet life, as folks led before these new opinions came to overturn the world. Why can not men believe what they choose, and la* 138 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. make no noise about it?" added Di Montalto testily "The world would be so much happier!" "And, my friend," what of the next world ? Would that not be so much the unhappier ? " asked Ochino. " Time- serving is one of the devil's delusions. Did Christ make a pleasant home for himself on earth? Then how can we, his followers, nestle ourselves down in the comforts and pleasures of time?" But Di Montalto would not be lifted out of his dissatis- faction. Fra Bemardin's keen wits had little diflBculty in reading the inner man. " My friend," he said, " bewai'e that the wings of thy soul become not clogged with earthly dross, which will prevent thy rising into the heav- ens when thy call comes." " Thou wert speaking of the present pope," interposed Francesco, willing to divert his attention. Ochino saw the object, and humored it. Before wife and daughter, he could not rebuke father. " Is he not a very aged man ? and may not deliverance fi-om his bigotry arise by the shortness of his reign ? " " His years may be nine and seventy," replied Ochino. " He is hale and healthy as thou art. He has been grand inquisitor ; whence thou mayest judge of his mind toward the Refonned. He helped to found the order of Thea- tines; whence judge of his ascetic devotion. He will be for purging the Church, but only after his own manner. His first bull proclaimed reform for the Roman court and the hierarchy. The very day of his coronation, he sent monks into Spain to restore the discipline of convents FRA BERNARDIN. 139 there. Oui- latest news speaks of a congregation of cardi- nals and prelates established for purposes of general re- form. There is no mightier proof of the conquests of Lutheranism than the election of such a pope. Alexan- der and Leo would not have dreamed of this forty years ago." "But it is merely lopping oflf disfiguring excrescences," said the young man: "all Rome's soul-destroying delu- sions remain ; she is still a church of works, and not of faith. "What avails it that an ecclesiastical government is pure, when it saves not souls ? " "Rome is the wicked Antichrist," affirmed Ochino. " There can be no compromise with her ; for she is founded on the one huge lie, that man's own doings can make him acceptable to the holy Lord God. Many years was I myself in thralldora to that yoke. I sought, by fastings, prayers, .abstinence, watchings, afflictions of the flesh, to purchase heaven, and make satisfaction for my sins through the concurring grace of God. Therefore I joined the order of Franciscan Obsei-vants, as the most austere of all regulars; therefore I further joined the more rigid Capuchins, when I beheld their still severer ritual, which commanded midnight prayers, weeks of silence, personal discipline from sackcloth and scourge. And then I said to Christ, 'Lord, if I am not saved now, I know nothing more that I can do ! ' Still was my heart dark and wretched. I was a stranger to true peace of mind, * until, in the Sacred Scriptures, Christ showed me his great 140 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. righteousness as enough for me and all mankind. It was as if the sun had arisen over a cold, dark world. Thence- forth my soul was glad and strong." " I suppose," remarked Francesco, " that most of those who come out from Rome have a similar struggle of human works against divine faith. I have heard my ex- cellent uncle, Baldassare Altieri, of Venice, speak of his own emancipation from the false faith in words like those ; but he never took the monk's fi-ock." "And thou art so close of kin to that worthiest of Ve- neti.m confessors?" said Ochino. "Then suffering for Christ's cause is in some measure thine heritage. How noble that declaration of his to Bullinger by letter! I have seen it under his own hand : ' Having given myself to Christ, I chose exile rather than to enjoy pleasant Venice.' And he hath since been wandering about with his wife arid boy, in want and trouble, sealing his faith verily with a painful life. Has aught been heard of him lately, knowest thou ? " "Alas!" said Francesco, "we fear he hath fallen into the hands of his adversaries ; but I purpose a journey to Ven- ice, where live my nearest of kin, and I shall make inquiry concerning him." "Be not rash, my son, when thou approachest the stronghold of the wicked one," said Ochino after a pause of steadfiist regard. " Thy body as well as thy soul belongs to Chi-ist, and must be preserved for his service. Yet flinch not should the hour of trial come ; for He can give FRA BEENARDIN. 141 strength for any endurance. And now methinks we have Bpoken long enough of things pertaining to this passing world: let us raise our thoughts to heavenly places in Christ. What sayest thou, my young brother? " And Fra Bernardin drew a book from his long loose sleeve, opened it at John's Gospel, and read. CHAPTER XVII. A DAUGHTEE OF FRANCE. EVEN" miles'feircuit of -walls, set in vast marshes along the curve of a turbid, sluggish river, which is probably given to overflow ; for high embankments shut it in. A network of simi- lar embankments cross the country wherever a stream creeps through the rich black soil, and between the most fertile fields in North Italy. Maize and millet and rice gi-ow luxuriantly, when- ever the desolation of war sweeps not over the plain with destructive blast. But no peasant was quite sure of his harvest anywhere near the Lombardian battle-ground of kings during the sixteenth century. Everybody lived in an uncertain, disquieted way; even when men were honest burghers, and dwelt under guard so efficient as the above seven miles of wall. Within, long lines of handsome, spacious streets radiate 10 the central heart of the place, — a moated castle of ponderous red masonry. Plenty of marble-fronted palazzi intersperse those busy streets, richly carved in plaster and fagade, yet with iron-stanchioned windows, strangely sug- 142 A DAUGHTER OF FRANCS. 143 gestive of an insecure state of society. The piazza contains a fine old cathedral, and is overlooked by the aforesaid huge castle, yet with a deep broad fosse between, — unwitting symbol of the chasm between the common life of the people and their prince, over which may sometimes be flung the drawbridge of necessity or of policy, only to be lifted away again when the urgency is past, and leave the despot isolated as before. Such were Ferrara and her surroundings as they ap- ]!CP-red to the newly-arrived from Switzerland in the r.utumn of 1555. Such, in outline, is Ferrara still. TI'.c great skeleton city remains, though the informing life has departed. It now resembles one of the gaunt suits of armor set up in our museums, — a shape over a hoUow- ness. The rich marshes along the sluggish river give off as much malaria as harvest, owing to bad tiDage and drainage. The spacious streets are muffled with grass and weeds; and, for the most part,, are silent as Tadmor in the wilderness. The sculptured palazzos survive, gi-eat stranded monsters of the aristocratic age, sometimes hous- ing a colony of canaille instead of the blue-blooded counts and cavaliers of their original; but still is the conve- niently situated castle true to its duty, as the residence of the spider who watches this web, — no longer one of the ducal line of Este, but a frocked churchman deputed by Ferrara's late lord pope, or perchance, at the present date, a green-coated Sardinian officer. But we have to do with "la gran Donna di Po," as Tassoni terms it, in tht; era of her greatness, while yet a 144 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. native prince sat in the huge red castle, with a daughter of France for his spouse. Then were the streets and squares abundantly animate; commerce and manufactures were carried on to some considerable extent ; fleets of trading-boats voyaged on the Po ; the university boasted dozens of learned professors occupying all sorts of chairs, and mentally ministering to hundreds of students. Duke Ercole was esteemed a well-conditioned prince, as princes went in his time ; that is to say, he would now be consid- ered an intolerable tyi-ant, and probably meet the fate of the recent King of Naples : but the standard of princely character was low in Italy of the sixteentli centmy, much lower than that required in their subjects. A little cru- elty, a little license, were reckoned trivial blemishes, espe- cially if a ruler were orthodox. That Ercole the Second was orthodox, he had given many convincing proofs. Had he not inaugurated the martyr ci-usade in Italy, by the burning of Faventino Fanriio of Faenza, a young man of blameless life, but of heretical opinions ? Had he not established a college for the new order of Jesuits, and taken one of their number to be his confessor? Above all, had he not forced his wife, the daughter of Louis XII. of France, to recant her heresies, under the potent influence of solitary confine- ment in the CavaUo chambers of his grim old castle, where deprivation of her children's company, an absence of all comforts of books and friends, and a dread of still further extremities, in short space brought her to declare that she believed what all men knew that she did not be- A DAUGHTER OF FRANCE. 145 lieve ? Who could doubt that Duke Erode was a favorite son of the Church, after such signal achievements ? True, he never could quite cleanse the precincts of his palace from heretical taint. In whatever guise of sophis- iry the Duchess Renee reconciled her conscience to the recantation aforesaid, she in reality yielded none of her obnoxious Protestant opinions. The barest conformity was her concession to the Roman ritual ; and, somehow or other, none of her chosen companions, none of her im- mediate household, were what might be called good Cath- olics. The confessor Pelletario was wont to tease Duke Ercole on this head more than on his small offenses of cruelty and license above alluded to, but with no tangible result ; for the duchess had acquired worldly wisdom, and gave no tangible offense. Besides, there were limits to the persecution that could be brought to bear on a daugh- ter of France. But would it not have been happier for Renee to have been more straightforward in her conduct ? That defec- tion of hers has been a scandal to the Church through the centuries since, and was a stumbling-block to many a feeble Christian during her own time. Perhaps it is the consciousness of this consequence which casts such a shadow over her large open brow, as we behold her sit- ting in an apartment of the huge red castle one autumn morning, engaged with her women at embroideiy. Her pale plain face bends over the work into which she is weaving golden threads ; but her thoughts are evidently oot absorbed by the rich tissue, in her fingers, On the 13 146 FnOM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. marble slab near her is lying an open volume, — Thomas h. Kempis' great work " On the Imitation of Christ." Per- haps she is thinking how weakly she has failed in follow- ing him. Out of sight, in the pockets of that stiff brocade dress, which rustles with every movement, she cai-ries a little book which she deems yet niore precious than k Kempis. It is a small swart volume, meanly bound, fitter in aspect for a poor scholar than a duchess ; and as she presently draws it forth, and turns over the closely printed leaves, covered with the beautifiil black typography of the age, we read the title, "Trattato utilissimo del beneficio de Gesu Cristo crucifisso verso i Cristiani," — "A most useftd tract concerning the benefits which Christ crucified giveth unto Christians," — by a learned professor of Siena, named Aonio Paleario. Verily a proscribed book, containing heresy enough to infect a province, the approval and cir- culation of which, some years afterward, helped to pro- cure the imprisonment of the vii-tuous Cardinal Morme, and the burning of Carnesecchi ; for it clearly set forth, as Paleario himself testified, " that those who turn with their souls to Christ crucified, commit themselves to him by faith, and cleave to him with assured confidence, are delivered from all evil, and enjoy full pardon of their sins. And, since he in whom the Divinity resided has poured out his life's blood so willingly for our salvation, we ought not to doubt of his good wUl, but may promise ourselves the greatest tranquillity and peace." * * Extracted from Falsario's defense, pronounced before the senate of Sten*. A DAUGHTER OF FRANCE. 147 These glorious doctiines — now, thank God, the heri- tage of every English cottager in our free land — were a stolen luxury to this royal duchess. Her heart was soothed as she read ; the contracted lines on her forehead smoothed away under the influence of happier thoughts. A page entered, and announced a visitor. One of Rente's favorite learned men; a Greek professor, named Franciscus Portus in the Latinized speech of the day, but a Candian by birth, and more than suspected of the new heresy. Reni^e led the way to a deep bay-windowed recess, which looked out on the brimming canal or moat encir- cling the castle : beyond were the quaint crowded tene- ments of old Perrara. Here they could speak without being overheard by her ladies. "I have brought to your Excellence the promised sonnets of the most noble the Marchesa di Pescara, the 'divine Colonna,' as scholars dehght to call her," said Portus, after gome opening conversation. "Truly, for purity of idiom and beauty of conceits, there hath not arisen her like since Petrarch's lyre is dumb." " But I wonder," quoth Renee, turning over the thin volume, — for her soul needed something better than liter- aiy conceits just then, — "I wonder if she hath expressed any of her rehgious feelings here. I have seen sonnets wherein her words had scarce an uncertain sound. Oh for the old days when we both heai-kened with delight to the good Prate Bemardin Ochino preaching in our cathe- 148 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. dral on the piazza, ere yet the ferocious Inquisition shut the "Word of God from our people ! " The wary professor glanced across his shoulder; but the three attendants were tranquilly embroidering, as their mistress had left them. "All 'novatori,' as our Reformed are styled," said the duchess, answering the gesture. " Moreover, we are too distant to be overheard. My friend, believe me that I have learned to bccautious." " If your excellent Highness will permit me," said Tor- tus, coloring slightly, "I will show you certain in this collection of sonnets which prove that the marchesa still retains the truth, "howsoever her utterance of it may be straitened. What think you of these lines against Rome's most powerful engine of craft, — the confessional?" He read for the duchess the sonnet whose ending runs briefly thus in English prose : — " Passing beyond the priestly gown, To Christ alone we tell our every sin." "Methinks," added the professor, "that verse bears not indistinct meaning." "Many a minor heretic has been burnt for less," said the lady, glancing through the short poem a second time. " Poor Vittoria ! she was very near the kingdom of God, — that kingdom which I have entered, and seemed to betray," added Renee in her own heart. " Yet can I not serve the good cause better as I stand in my royal estate than if I were a captive in a dungeon ? " A DAUGHTER OF FRANCE. 149 Povtus respected her momentary reverie, and spoke not till she looked up. "Another sonnet, your Highness, and one of the Col- onna's best, sets forth plainly the reformed doctrines of instant conversion and justification, without any agency of Church or ceremony; a truth surely most distasteful to Rome, as striking at the very root of her dominion. The marchesa affirms that the miraculous light from heaven hath molten the ice roimd her heart, hath caused the dark mantle of her sin to fall away, and hath discov- ered her robed in primal innocence and primal love ! " Reaee smiled ; and Nature, as if to compensate for her homely features, had bestowed on her a smile of rare sweetness. "Well had she known the sensation which that sonnet recorded; the purest of all joys granted to human souls, — conscious conversion to God. And she remem- bered that no vivid metaphor, nor impassioned eloquence of words, could exaggerate the glory of that light from heaven, or the deliverance from that dark vesture of sin. "But she writes only of primal innocence," observed the duchess when Portus had finished reading the grace- ful fourteen lines. " She speaks not of Christ's righteous- ness ; and evil were it for us if we had not justification through him, as well as sanctification through the Divine Spirit." "Most noble lady, the marchesa has not forgotten," cried the professor, who did not like the smallest blemish to be found in the compositions of this literary idol ; for 13* 150 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Buch was Vittoria Colonna during her brilliant lifetime. " Hearken to these lines : — * Fear not, poor seal I into this world has come / Jesus, great ocean of eternal good : He will make light for thee each heaviest load.' Or these other lines ; " and Portus turned the pages rap- idly:— ■■ ■ He who alone on Christ hath fixed his gaze, N^ot who best understands, or studies best With human learning, shall be blest in heaven.' " " Yes," obsei'ved the duchess, " that is the ring of the true metal. My good Portus, I thank you for your trouble in procuring me this book. And now about the signora concerning whom you spoke to me formerly ? " "I crave your Highness's pardon," said the professor hurriedly; "but the Signora di Montalto hath been wait- ing in the antechamber till it should be your pleasure to admit her to audience. I — I — your Highness knows my absent disposition, especially when a matter of learning is in hand." "It were well that the fault could be remedied, my fiiend," replied Renee gently when he stumbled in his excuses. " It were hardly courteous to leave the lady — an old acquaintance too — so long waiting. But you have something further to say, monsieur?" "A moment: I would beseech your Highness to permit that I should introduce to you the noble Count Galeazzo Caraccioli, eldest son of the Marquis di Vico, who is trav- A DAUGHTER OF FRANCE. 151 eling to Geneva, and is under persecution for the gospel's sake. The noble •gentleman is lodging at my poor house for the present." "We will receive him; but the Signora di Montalto Cometh first," said the duchess briefly, and rising. Now, when Ren^e stood, the natural deformity of her figure became manifest: attitudes of sitting might conceal the crookedness. Another of the crosses in her apparently brilliant lot was this peraonal uncouthness ; and the worse was it because it alienated from her the regards of her husband. Ercole the Second would never have cast into solitary confinement a wife whom he reaUy loved. CHAPTER XVIII. THE AUDIENCE. I HE Signora di Montalto had begun to be seri- ously uneasy for her expected reception be- fore the forgetful Portus re-appeared. The windows of the antechamber looked upon a narrow alley floored with a canal of deep dark water ; for the huge red castle is intersected with canals which flow beneath archways and between lofty piles of buildings : and the dungeons under- neath — oh, what noisome and slimy recesses of unclean things ! Barbara could not help thinking of the dungeons as she glanced downward at that dull, blinking water. But up here in the royal rooms, all high and dry, are walls paneled with paintings, and ceilings emblazoned, and ponderous inlaid furniture, and beaufets ten or twelve feet high in the banqueting-hall, loaded with silver plate ;. and the sleeping-chambers contain beds curtained with crimson satin, adorned with massive gold fringe. This anteroom, where Barbara di Montalto has been waiting so long, is lined with sets of stamped leather hangings, of the valuable " ostrich-egg " pattern : vast settees, iin- 162 THE AUDIENCE. 153 movable as stone benches, extended in various lengths along the sides. A couple of richly dressed pages lounge near the door opening on the grand staircase, " The court is much gayer," quoth one lad, " since the return of the Prince Alfonso; but I fear me he hath broiight with him some of the hatred against the Protes- tants which 'our cousin Henry of France' shows so plen- tiftilly. He goes with the duke in every thing." " His sister of Guise has been giving him some lessons, I trow," rejoined the other. "Besides, don't you see, 'tis easy for us to tails, and for her Highness, who won't have to handle halbert? But we lie too close to Rome here; and that fiery old Paul the Fourth would swoop down upon Ferrara like a kite on a capon if the duke didn't give him at least fair words." Conversation of this sort did not tend to re-assure the already downcast spirit of the physician's wife. And so much depended on this interview ! so many hopes had been built on it! Two anxious hearts waiting at home, — drearily waiting, — looking out for her ere now : what if she could only bring them disappointment? And then she tried to stay her soul on the great ultimate thought, — the will of God, which must be good and wise for all who put their trust in him. She tried to leave on him her care, knowing that he had permitted this evil of exile to befall them. Yes, come what might, she would not lose hope in him. When the professor entered from the duchess's saloon, Barbara almost expected to hear that her request for. 154 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. an audience was refused : she had learned something of Rente's position, and the extreme caution which that royal lady was compelled to observe in her encourage- ment of the Reformed. It was therefore a joyful surprise when Portus, drawing his cloak about him, whispered, — "The most illustrious duchess will receive you: enter at once. I go for the Count Caraecioli, of whom I told you: addio." With a beating heart, the physician's wife entered Rente's presence. She was standing still in the recessed window, looking forth on the slumbering moat and its brown shadows. Quickly turning at the slight sound of the footstep, she looked piercingly on Barbara, who knelt, according to usage, and kissed the sovereign hand. " Thou art not so much changed by time and matron- hood," said the duchess, " but that I would know thee to be the daughter of Bianca Dolfi, — a lady for whom, in verity, we had much esteem and regard, and whom the princesses still remember with aflfection. Therefore thou art welcome to Perrara, and to such poor help as may lie in our present favor." The physician's wife again kissed the sovereign's hand with fervor, and tears rose in her eyes. " Your Highness is too good," she said falteringly ; for the graciousness had been more than she had dared to hope during the last dreary hour. "Portus has told me somewhat of you," added the duchess, " and that you approved yourself a good soldier of Jesus Ghilst before the papal nuncio at Locarno. You THE AUDIENCE. 155 have been braver l3ian I, good Barbara," continued Ben^e, with a touching humility; "you stood firm where I failed: the scholar has indeed excelled the teacher ! " "Most illustrious lady," began Di Montalto's wife, rather confounded by this unexpected allusion to Rente's public defection from the faith. She sought for some courtly words which might gloss over that great error ; but truth compelled her to be silent. " Thou doest well not to strive for excuse," observed the duchess, "with a shade of bitterness in her tone. " But let that pass. Tell me, when wert thou last at this court of ours ? " " Twenty years agone, most noble lady, since the spring when the Signor Carlos Heppeville sojourned in this castle," was the reply. "Ah! the great John Calvin, as he is called in our native land," observed the duchess. "A powerftil and weighty preacher as ever wielded God's word to the con- fusion of error. He had just at that time printed his ' In- stitutes of the Christian Religion,' dedicated to our royal brother-in-law Francis : we remember it well. Ah ! the light of truth was rising fairly over our poor Italy in that year ; but, since, it hath been as a morning overcast with cloud and storm." A few brief moments' pause; while Rente's mind trav- eled quickly back over that gulf of twenty years, to the days of her youth, when fair children clustered about her knees, nor had yet been taught to regard their mother's instructions as contamination, — Anna d'Este, now ijnhap- 156 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. pily wife to Duke Francis of Guise, then learning Scrip- ture from her lips, with the self-willed heir-apparent Alfor.so. Ob for those happy times of love and trust and unsullied trith! Other figures rose in the camera obscura of memory, — the sweet, grave face of Madame de Sou- bise, governante of Ren(5e's childhood, to whom she owed her first glimpse of the Reformed faith; the learned canon Calcagnini, who was the earliest asserter in that age of the schoolboy truism of the earth's rotation on its axis ; the strange and versatile Clement Marot, her secretary and laureate, who cultivated poetry and theology by turns, enjoying the sentimental beauty of Scripture truth, but having no root of the matter in him. These, and many others, all passed away ! The followers of Christ's gospel skuUking in holes and corners of the Ferrarese territory, herself first among renegades! The duchess heaved a deep sigh, and returned to the widely difierent present time. "I had forgotten," said the physician's wife timidly, — " I had well-nigh forgotten to give your Excellence a let- ter from the Frate Ochino, wherewith he intrusted me when Are were leaving Zurich." At the close of faithful counsels to the lady's selfj — and so plain-spoken were these counsels, that even the gentle Ren6e's brow contracted while reading them, — the former general of the Capuchins mentioned somewhat of the physician Di Montalto's desire to settle and follow his profession in Ferrara, under the powerfiil protection of her most serene Highness. THE AUDIENCE. 157 " He overrates my power," said the duchess sadly. " I, who can not protect my own self from imprisonment, am scarcely likely to be able to protect others. But the post of second physician to our household may soon be vacant, for the present holder thereof seeks for a chair of medi- cine at Padua : if he succeed, then the Sieur di Montalto may reckon on our favor. Nay, no thanks : are we not commanded, above all others, to assist the household of faith?" Renee pronounced these words, and indeed all which bore reference to her proscribed opinions, in a lower tone. As she ended, some bustle in the antechamber, audible even at this far end of the inner apartment, announced an arrival of importance. The heavy door was swung aside by the page to its fullest width ; and his " most illus- trious Highness il Principe Luigi " was announced. The duchess's pale face, which, for an instant, had worn an expression of anxiety and unpleasing expectation, — had she not feared the entrance of her despotic lord, Ercole the Second ? — hghted up as if a sunbeam had glanced across her, as the gallant-looking young prince bent knee and kissed her hand, — such courtly deference did the manners of the age require between the best- loving parent and child. But the next instant he was clasped in her arms, and, stooping his tall figure, pressed his lip on her brow affectionately. " I could not go on the hawking-party without seeing thee, dear mother," he whispered. " I have been at mv books all the morning, — my father saith I shall be a pre- 14 158 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. mature charchman ; truly I delight more in them than in falcon and hound : but he sent to demand my presence on this ride ; so I obey." It was the blessed golden thread of domestic peace in Rente's life, the possession of this vii-tuous and dutiful son. Called at the font after his grandfather Louis XII., the "father of his people," she had often prayed that in goodness he might resemble that kindly monarch : and the prayer was granted ; for, even under the cardinal's red hat which he wore in aftei'-years, Luigi d'Este was honorably known for his gi-eat virtues. "And thou hast not looked at my brave attire, my lady mother,'' said he, drawing himself up with a smile : " the handsomest doublet in all Ferrara, be the other what it may. Methought," he added saucily, "the woman's eye would spy out the finery in a moment ! " Of Genoa velvet, slashed in the sleeves so as to show the white linen beneath, and embroidered with dead gold, . it became the lithe figure well ; and the close-fitting pur- plish-gray hosen, reaching from hip to heel, set off his shapely limbs. From his hand dangled a black velvet cap, adorned with a flowing ostrich plume of the purest white. " Thou art well dressed, my dearest," replied tjie mother, her eye wandering with an instant's pride over the well- loved form; "but I trust,"— and here Ren(5e'8 voice again dropped to the heretical whisper, — "I trust thou hast fairer adornments than these, in the sight of thy God, my LuigL" TEE AUDIENCE. 159 The winding of bngles was heard without. " Well, mother mine, when'I am pontiff, thine innocent little heresy shall not be disturbed, — you have my epis- copal word for it; I am sure that faith can not be bad which makes you so much better than anybody else; though I was forgetting, — you are as orthodox as any of us since Pelletario heard your confession. I must be gone, or those horns will be hoarse, and his most serene Highness in a rage ! " And the brilliant hawking-party rode over the castle drawbridge, and across the thronged piazza; foremost "the fine presence" and commanding - port of Ercole the Sec- ond, with his fair youngest son riding at his right hand. Merry jest and laugh resounded among the richly dressed cavaliers and dames who followed the sovereign's steps on jennet and palfrey; while the poor hard-working lieges, in hempen attire, looked at the courtly array- as at some glimpse of a grandeur immeasurably above them, — as much above their lowly spheres of labor and of need as the ponderous red castle is above the fruit-booths in the subject piazza. Not twenty minutes after the ducal cavalcade has glit- tered by, a woman in common black mantle and tunic coi^es over the same drawbridge, and through the same thronged market-place, bearing in her heart more gen- uine happiness than the most envied individual of that brilliant hafl"king-party. Indeed, Barbara di Montalto feels as though her cup of joy were well-nigh running over ; for it is a very little temporal delight, that, added 160 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to a heart already endued with a' love of our dear Saviour, will suffice to fill it to the toim with happiness. What a value is added to the commonest events, the humblest joys and successes, of human life, if the" Almighty Friend stand consciously by, blessing them all ! CHAPTER XIX. FEEEAKESE INTERIORS. I^T is Chiistmas-tide in FeiTara. All the broad, paved thoroughfares are full of fluctuating crowds, swaying to and fro at church arch- ways, flowing beneath the heavy-corniced pal- aces and beside great grim monasteries, bound on that mixed medley of business, pleasure, and devotion, which forms a Roman holiday. Enter these vast ecclesiastical buildings, and see the religion of the multitude embodied in wax or marble, — in endless groups of the predominant Mother and her subject Child. Behold the cupola of burnished gold above her head, her throne of lapis-lazuli, her robes of the gaud- iest and costliest tissues inwrought with precious stone. The holy Child is quite subordinate, both in the image and in the worship it calls forth. Again, pass into the next sanctuary among the surging crowd trampling the mosaic pavement between dim marble columns ; gaze at the treasures this day bared to popular view, — a dusky antique picture of the same holy woman, — in sooth, not fair to view, but stern enough for a sphinx, — with golden 14* 161 162 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. lamps burning continually before the flattened features, and golden angels holding up the frame. St. Luke is be- lieved to have been the painter of the representation thus glorified. Votive offerings of jewels and cups and chalices lie before it. A neighbor church has no such transcendent attraction ; but the wits of the brotherhood which own it have devised a very taking exhibition to draw some cus- tom to their booth. This is none else than an accurate model of the Bethlehem stable, including the manger, the cattle, waxen figures of Joseph and Mary, and— wonderful to relate ! — a tiny clothes-horse holding still tinier baby linen of cambric and lace ! This exhibition particularly pleased the women and children, who were not soon tired of admiring the miniature waxen Mother and her infant Son, but, above all, the domestic drapery attendant. Why, the dazzling high altar, with curtains of rose-colored silk looped up to its snowy pillars, with its tall crosses of many-hued flowers, with its galaxy of gold and silver ves- sels flashing back the brilliance of a hundred tapers, was no attraction compared with the tiny clothes-horse ! Then there was no end of processions, music, chanted litanies; long files of tapers winding round the aisles, dropping wax as they went on the mosaic ; priests and friars in all sorts of garments, from violet silk and lace to the dun serge and rope. The religion of scenic effect was perfect. Yet not all in Ferrara bowed down before it. A little band of obscure Christians lurked in by-streets, who dared to withdraw themselves from the universal popular hom- FERRARESE INTERIORS. 163 age, and who found not food for devotion in pictures, ohantings, and wax-lights. Nay, even the noble army of martyrs had gained recruits among them. Fannio had led the van of the Italian contingent gradually ascend- ing in fiery chariots to join that mighty army in heaven. Death, tortui-e, banishment, had greatly lessened the once- flourishing Reformed Church in Ferrara ; and perhaps the sorest blow of all was struck by the hand of a real friend, when the Duchess Rent5e bowed in the Romish confes- sional, and publicly received the Romish eucharist. And so, this Christmas-time of 1555, the religion of scenic effect was in ftill swing at Fen-ara ; in full favor at court and with the people. Our few obscure " heretics " hid themselves, and were satisfied to retain their lives and daily bread if possible. Particularly softly did the physi- cian Di Montalto walk, as a man wise in his generation, as a child whose fingers have been burned. "All things to all men" was a text which he admired much, and ap- plied in practice according to his own theory of its mean- ing. He had no mind to suffer any further for conscience' sake. He would sail with the tide ; but he fondly hoped to be able to port helm and shift yards before coming to the breakers. Had he not a mental reservation of belief? Could any one really blame him for bowing his head be- fore St. Luke's blackened picture, when in his heart he knew it a hideous imposition, though it would cost him his life to say as much? He reasoned that the philo- Rophio deceit was necessary, — "evil that good might come," 164 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. The young girl clasping his arms through all the crowds never made a semblance of obeisance at any shrine. The very multitude was her safety in this daring disobedience. Drawing her wimple about her face with one hand, she clung to her father with the other, noting with her bright eyes the theatrical decorations, the religious jewelry, the toy-shop models, and having some scorn for them all; also noting the hurried gestures which were deemed de- votion, the rapid signing of the cross, mutterings with the lips while the eyes wandered in quick glances at one's neighbors, and the facile knee bent for a few seconds before an image. A good deal of this was new to Bianca. She had been reared in the lap of the Reformation by an enlightened mother, and the thick darkness of Italian popery came upon her with unpleasant suri^rise. She had gone to none of the festas in Locarno. Her father occa- sionally went, true to his trimming policy ; and now, in Ferrara, he insisted on her accompanying him. What comparisons to the pure worship of the Reformers were made by that pi'etty, well-balanced head veiled with the dark wimple ! How much worthier of the Supreme ap- peared the spirit-adoration of a renewed heart, clothed in fervid utterance of the common tongue, than these pro- longed Latin chantings, these meaningless genuflexions! How incomparably more exalted one of Savonarola's or Brucioli's hymns than these litanies and rosaries replete with nomenclature ! She was glad when the tour of the churches was over and she entered the narrow, quaint street where she wag FERRARESE INTERIORS. 165 to join her mother and friends at supper. Her father did not speak for some minutes after they had left the crowds behind. She felt that he was displeased. "A tolerable religion this of yours," he observed at last, " which allows you to disobey your parent, and run him into danger. But I warn you. Mistress Bianca. Your mother has drawn on me the loss of all my property, and left me a pauper in my gray hairs ; and I have no mind to lose my life for sake of your obstinacy next." " Father, what can I do ? " said Bianca with a sinldng heart. "Just what the Duchess Ren(5e has done, like a sensible woman. Keep your opinions as you choose, but don't obtrude them. Everybody knows that she has not really given up one iota of her faith, and that her confessing to Fra Pelletario was a mere form, gone through for peace' sake. But see what she has gained by it ! I wish your mother would follow her example, that's all, and not run my neck into danger by her headstrong zeal. It is little more than three years since Giorgio Siculo, a most learned man, was found hanging before the windows of that Pa- lazzo della Ragione on charge of heresy." Di Montalto shuddered as he glanced at the great marble pile, the upper stories of which passed on high into the dark air far above. Not far away was the spot where had stood the stake of Fannio ; and an undersound, pervading the hum of populous streets, was the plash and lapse of that turbid river which had borne the martyr's ashes to the sea. Ferrara had corners, dowered with associations, sufficient 166 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to make a nervous man, suspected of heresy, tremble in his shoes. He left his daughter on the high steps of the house of the Madonna Morata, and passed along deeper into the labyrinth of streets himself. " My father, — who used to be so kind, so good, — how strangely altered!" thought Bianca. "My dear father I His soul is bitter vdth poverty. God show him the true riches ! " "Within a low, wide room, rather bleak-looking, — for, in Italian houses of the middle classes of that period, httle provision for winter comfort existed, — three women were sitting at work. Bianca's mother we readily recognize by the bold, dauntless features, which yet have enough of feminine softness chastened by trial : beside her is a worn- looking woman, with pale, anxious face, now bent over repairs of house linen, but more often laying down her needle in the earnestness of conversation. This was the Dame Luoresda Morata, described by cotemporaries as " a model of matronly and domestic virtue, and who proved by her conduct in times of trial and persecution that she was also endowed with strength of mind and genuine religious principle." The third is a fair young matron, scarce past the bloom of girlhood : her distaflf and spindle are busy. Bianca is received with much welcome, — with more demonstrations of it from the strangers than from the parent; but the eye of this last follows her and rests on her when the polite- ness of the others has ceased, and notes a certain weari- FERBARESE INTERIORS. 167 ■atWs in her expression. She is able to guess the cause, and says nothing. Work was found for Bianca on some of the house-linen, — such hard, heavy linen as no loom produces now, each web of which might last a lifetime, und form an item in a legacy. The younger women naturally draw together, and con- verse in low tones. Between them, in matters mental, lies one great gulf Morata's daughter has been trained, as became the sister of the celebrated Olympia, to a con- siderable knowledge of classic learning. Latin iambics and Greek hexameters are famiUar to her ; while Bianca knows no more of the dead languages than a few gram- mar-lessons from Francesco Altieri have left in her mem- ory. Consequently, she looks with respectful admiration on the other ; for the hight of education in that age was to construct Latin verses fluently, and to translate the Psalms of David into Greek odes. But not on such learned topics do they talk this even- ing. The signorina who has been visiting the churches relates their scenic shows, and the signora who has stayed at home admires or condemns as the narrative requires. "But, my Bianca," the young matron says, with the slightest of sly looks, " how would a friend of ours who has gone into the Venetian territories approve of this man- ner of spending your Christmas Eve ? " " I don't suppose he would approve of it at all," replies the other, coloring deeply, despite her quiet tone; "but; yoM know that I do not owe him obedience, until" — 168 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. And here some intricacy in the damsel's work requires her to look very closely at it inxJeed. "Well done, my transparent Bianca," cries her mis- cHevous friend. -" Until when do you intend to disobey this yoxmg signor ? " "I mean," said the other, "that — that it is my certain duty to obey my father." An appealing look was turned upon Peregrina, with the words, "Tou know it is my duty to obey my father; and he required me to go with him to see the sights." " Whether such bowing in the house of Rimmon is al- lowable even on the plea of filial obedience," — remarked Peregrina, rather pedantically, but relapsing into serious- ness, — "I have not made up my mind ; though I rather think that sophistry alone can justify it." " But, my Peregi-ina, I did not bow," pleaded Bianca : "I merely looked. I have come back, as I always do, tenfold a Lutheran. Such ceremonies and splendors don't now attract me in the least." " Because you have a northern imagination. They arc only suited for our warm southerns," responded Peregrina. "Now, they attract me strongly. I own to an admiration for the music, the lights, the crowds, the rich coloring: therefore there's some merit in my abstinence." "Well," said Bianca, "what I think about these shows and ceremonies is, that when the most gracious Lord has truly enhghtened one's soul, and revealed his own salva- tion by the indwelling of the Divine Spirit, then one sees the popular religion to be dishonoring to him, and that an FERRARESE INTERIORS. 169 idolatry of the Virgin and the saints has supplanted true spiritual worship of Christ our Saviour. Is it not so, dear -friend?" "Truly," said Peregiina. "It hath often struck me, when reading the poets and historians of old Rome. Thou knowest somewhat of those great luminaries of the mind, my Bianca ? " " Nay, scarce any thing," said Di Montalto's daughter humbly, and feeling herself only fit for house-linen. "Well, it hath come forcibly to my thought, that the numerous saints of our modern Rome do strongly resem- ble the gods and goddesses of the old Pantheon in pagan times. The Virgin is worshiped in the very shrines of Diana and of Venus : she is called the Queen of Heaven, like Juno. Minor divinities have quite withdrawn wor- ship from the Supreme : every village hath its local saint, successor of the tutelary god of the Romans." " Peregrina," called her mother across the table, " find for me in the second oaken chest that Sapphic ode written by our Olympia when she was but in her twelfth year. Ah! how entranced was the Canon Calcagnini over it! How did he style her the tenth Muse ! Methinks I be- hold her now in fair white vesture reciting her verses for her father's learned friends ; conversing with them in Latin as fluently as in Italian, while they marveled at her acquirements. Ah me, those happy days ! " The poor widow leaned back in her chair, and a natural tear welled down the faded cheek. But present exigen- cies brought back her wandering regrets ; as the returning 16 170 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. needs of daily life do always, in God's wise providence, recall from sorrow. "Peregrina, go thou and see after the supper: that service-maid is dilatory." So the youthful matron obedi- ently rose a second time to carry out her mother's behest. Filial submission was in that age considered to extend through life, and no altering of position or circumstances could release from such duty. The Dame Lucrezia or- dered about her daughter — though manied for some time to a Milanese signer of good means — as if she had been yet a school-girl. Rice, with milk of almonds and dried figs, fish cooked «dth wine and spices, were the items of fare this evening * at the Italians' great daily meal of supper ; for it was the vigil of a festival. The table now only awaited the arri- val of the Milanese signer and of Di Montalto. CHAPTER XX. "OUR OLYMPIA." \ HE massive oaken chest had accordingly been opened, whose lid was all heavily carven in basso-relievo ; and a treasury of a few valuable books — relics of the late professor's library — and priceless papers revealed. Examine the former, chiefly delicate editions of the classics from the Venetian press of the famous typog- rapher Aldus; hold the latter up to the hght, and you will find the orthodox water-mark of the crossed keys on its coarsely wired surface. Early scribblings of the gifted Olympia's hand ; translations of Italian fables into Latin (bearing date of an age when our degenerate children toU through monosyllabic spelling-books of their mother- tongue) ; attempts at Greek composition of an equally premature season ; some few finished poems, which showed an astonishing command over the resources of an extinct language; — these were the proud mother's choice posses- sions, showed out daintily while the women waited for their lords. "And my little Emilio was treading in her steps : bless 171 172 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. his heart! he's hardly the little Emilio now, but growing apace, she tells me, and making progress in all polite learning, under her instruction. She hath had him to train from the cradle, — he numbered but five years when his poor father died ; and she would take him to Schwein- furth with her when she was married." "You said she dwells at Heidelberg now?" remarked the other matron. "Yes, Griinthler has got the chair of medicine at the university; and our Olympia might be attached to the elector's court, an she but willed it. Methinks her spirits have never recovered that fearful siege of Schweirifurthj when she and her husband lost every thing; and her health has never been the same. "Would that I could see her once more ! They have asked us to go and live in Germany with them; but traveling is so uncertain in these warlike times- for women. Olympia calleth Italy Babylon, and would have us leave it at all hazards ; but I love Ferrara, and my son-in-law conld not withdraw him- self from his properties : he is well to do, as thou knowest, Dame Barbara, and asked no dowry with my Peregrina. And I hear enough of tumults on the other side of the Alps likewise : the emperor wiM fight with the electors, and keep Germany in a broil. Mine elder daughter Vit- toria is well settled with the Princess Lavinia della Ro- vere, in Rome ; who was a special friend of our Olympia, and favored her when even the Duchess Ren^e was turned against her by the arts of that Cannelite Bolsec : for I am convinced it was all his fault," said the poor mother, to "OUR OLYMPIA." 173 whom the machinations of a court and the whims of royal personages were inexplicable. "As almoner, he had the ear of her Excellence ; and was a most pestilent knave, and hated the influence of our Olympia over the prin- cesses." " But I have heard you say yourself, my friend," inter- posed the physician's wife, "that her disgrace at court was the first thing which drove her soul to the blessed Christ ; and, if this be so, it wei-e not a misfortune to her best interests." " Oh ! truly it was the neglect of her great friends which turned her heart to God," replied the mother. "During her years at court, when she was feted, admired, caressed beyond example, by the noble and the learned, she was indeed a good and a worthy daughter ; but the Greek and Latin authors had filled her mind with heathen lore so much, that she might nigh as well have been a pagan maiden of TuUy's time, for all the Christian faith and hope that was in her soul. She knew not the grace of God as a living principle. She had heard Fra Bernardin Ochino, whose eloquence would move the very angels; yet his sermons were to her only as the music of a sweet player, passing away when the sound was over. Her brain was indeed filled with curious speculations as to election, predestination, and the like class of doctrine, with which, as my poor Fulvio Morata used to say, she too much occupied the intellect, to the neglect of the practical culture of the heart. But when the blessed Lord spake to her himself by troublous dispensations, and J5» 174 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. brought the dark cloud of sorrow and poverty over her life, she was humbled, and hearkened unto him; and I have heard her bless the day that her life at court ended. Therefore she careth not to be the electress's lady-in- waiting now. See what her letter sayeth, — this letter which my daughter Vittoria sent to me to read some time since." There was a very small bundle of them, these precious letters; not so many received during the four-years' ab- sence, as you, my young lady-readers, probably have in your desk from a fortnight's correspondence. But, in six- teenth-centuiy days of scant and slow communication, an epistle was a large event to both sender and receiver : it was no ephemeral production, to be tossed aside when glanced over, but rather in the nature of an important dispatch, to be laid up carefully after every word was weighed. " 'Tis many a month since we heard from our Olympia : ah ! my friend, there was a time when all Ferrara proudly styled her ' our Olympia.' Do I not remember her," and the mother pulled down again the cumbrous, jointed spectacles through which she was about to scan the let- ter,— « do I not remember her in her fifteenth year, de- claiming publicly in Latin and Greek before the whole court and university, explaining the paradoxes of the gi-eatest orators, answering every question addi-essed to her, and all with so much modesty and gi-aoe, that she won the affection as well as the admiration of her hearers? Ah, those were halcyon days!" exclaimed the widow, "OUR OLYMPIA." 175 looking back with pai-donable elation on the triumph of her child. "How proud was her poor father! for her learning was his work. Many a bitter day of penury and exile did he spend ia laying a foundation for her fame ; and truly her like was seen in no age since the Augustan." With a sigh, the faded woman closed that bright page of her memory, and pushed up the clumsy spectacles again to read a duskier page of later date. Her greatest pleasure was to talk of the old laurel-crowned times ; and a curious struggle existed between her worldly pride in these remembrances, and her consciousness that the pres- ent obscurity of Olympia's life — away in Germany, mar- ried to a poor physician — was best both for her temporal and eternal happiness. These were some extracts fi-om the cherished letter, after an account of the siege of Schweinfurth, and her husband's settlement as professor in Heidelberg; — "In England, also, I hear that the pious are much afflicted" (written in 1554, when Mary Tudor had com- menced lighting the Smithfield fires) ; " so that whoever wishes to be a Christian must bear with him his cross in all places. Indeed, I would rather endure any evils in the cause of Christ, than possess the whole world without him; nor do I desire any thing more than him. One thing I implore, — that God may bestow on me constancy and faith, even unto the end. I continually pour out my soul to him : nor is it in vain ; for I feel myself so strength- ened and supported, that I would not yield even a hair's- breadth in his cause My sister, I again beseech 176 PROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. you to have more fear of that Being who by a word created the universe, than of powerless creatui-es of clay, or of the aspect of this world, whether threatening or smiling." Few knew more of it in both aspects than the gifted wiiter. Her letter ended with the commendation, " Fare- well, and overcome, my dearest Vittoria ! " Verily Olymr pia was changed since her days of declaiming before the Ferrarese court, when the turning of a Greek strophe was her chief object in Ufe. She had made the glorious discovery, that the foolishness of Christ's gospel was nobler than the wisdom of the world. The widow's thoughts had sundry times wandered from even these" precious letters and remains to her waiting suppei", as testified by various interjections with reference to the delay of the honorable signors they expected. Be- fore long, these last arrived. Di Montalto looked brighter than usual. An envoy from the palace had sought Mm, and formally presented him with the place of second phy- sician to the ducal household. " Ah ! thou seest the Duchess Renee did not forget ! " exclaimed his wife. " Her protection availeth much even yet ; and she is so kind, so good ! " For every one knew that Rente's benefactions to the- poor and afflicted were of unexampled generosity ; and that, even at the matter of gifts, her land nature did not stop, but was always planning for their benefit in other ways. "And I also have news for thee, madonna," said Dam' Lucrezia's son-in-law ; " at least, whatever tidings is t.cn. "OUR OLYMPIA." 177 tained in that," laying before her a slight packet wound round with silken thread. "A messenger from Lucca, bringing advices to the Jew banker in the Piazza, brought that among them." ^ It contained money sent by the beloved Olympia, gathered from her poor income at Heidelberg, and re- mitted to one Thomas of Lucca for behoof of her mother. The said Jew banker would pay gold-pieces to the order which Dame Lucrezia Morata was to present him with. And a short letter, in the dear, beautiful handwriting, ac- companied the filial tribute, — a letter which she was afraid might fall into unkindly hands, the wording was so cautious, and no friend specially mentioned. She was aware that the mere name of one so celebrated for per- sistent heresy as herself might draw on the correspondent trouble fi-om the Inquisition. The floodgates of the poor mother's heart were opened afresh ; and glad tears wetted the short, vague, constrained note which Olympia's hand had touched. Ah, could she have seen the vacant, desolate home at Heidelberg this very Christmas Eve! Could she have seen the heart- broken husband of her adored child, going about his duties mechanically, through a plague-stricken city, and with the seeds of death lodged already in his frame, turn- ing ofttimes into the graveyard of St. Peter's Church, where lay buried the remains of her who was his very life of life! A merciful vail of time and distance hung be- tween the bereaved mother and that reality. But thus was it torn away. Olympia died in October; 178 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. and such was the slowness of communication in those days, such also the unwillingness of friends in Germany to impart the sad news, that up to the middle of January, 1556, it had not ||ached Ferrara. Then, one day, came the fatal missive from Bale. Some speculation took place, before the sheet was opened, as to whose writing addressed the exterior. It was not Andreas Grunthler's, and certainly not Olympia's own. Peregiina, looking oyer her mother's shoulder, read the uppermost line of the letter as follows : — "CeHo Secondo Gurione, to the most excellent Dame Lucrezia Morata, wisheth health." "Ah! dear mother, thou seest how needless was thy fear ! " she said with a caress. " A letter from my father's oldest friend, the professor of Roman eloquence at Bale University: perchance he hath some studentship for our Emilio, or hath late tidings of our Olympia. Read, dear mother; read." " If I have seldom written to you, Lucrezia," so ran the letter, " you whom I cherish as a sister, you must regard it as a sad effect of the disturbances of our time, and not as flowing from forgetftdness of your former kindness. I shall always remember the good offices which you ren- dered me during the life of your husband Fulvio, when your house was my asylum." "Ay, ay," said the widow, "but my poor Fulvio was kind to him ; though he considered it Only the discharge of a debt, since from Gurione he had learned the re- formed faith, when in exile at Vercelli, — before you were "OUR OLYMPIA." 179 bom, child. And that time, when the pope threatened to excommunicate the University of Pavia on his account, he had to fly to Venice, and thence here. I remember my Pulvio's letter inviting him, as if it was written yes- terday; and our Olympia was then but a growing girl, beautiful and learned beyond her years; and Curione taught her much." Then came fresh reminiscences of that period of Olym- pia's glory, — the noontide splendor to which the poor widow so often reverted, as the eyes of a person who has passed from light into obscurity love to gaze back at a former brilliance on his path. " But, dear mother, wilt thou not read ? " said the half- impatient Peregrina. What gloom of foreboding, inexplicable save by the mysterious intimations which we sometimes seem to have of approaching calamity, grew over the mother and daughter even before that letter was perused! Curione went on to narrate some of Olympia's trials and difficul- ties; merging thence into a reflection on the fleeting nature of all earthly joys, contrasting them with the fixed and perfect glories of the eternal life laid up in heaven, which is the perpetual aspiration and earnest desire of the Christian soul. It had been Olympia's often-expressed and fervent wish to depart, and be with Christ her Redeemer. Peregrina need scarce have read farther ; but the next lines told how the dear, suffering Olympia had gained her highest bliss. " God has taken her from the arms of the 180 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. tenderest husband, and permitted her peaceftdly to depart to heaven ; has transported her into his glory, where only is happiness worthy of the name, — that happiness which she always desired." Not for days afterward could the poor mother receive the sequel of the consolation which Curione had penned. How cold and measured were the warmest words of sym- pathy in the hitter hour of bereavement! "If we think only of ourselves," he wrote, "we can not be too much afiB.icted at having lost her ; but, if we com- pare the feUcity she enjoys with the miseries of this life, we shall find cause for thankfulness as well as consolation. The Olympia whom we loved is not dead ; she lives with Jesus Christ, happy and immortal: after the storms of her earthly destiny, she dwells safe in the haven of an eternal repose ! " Her poor husband had requested of Curione, as one who loved and valued the gifted dead, and who was in- timately acquainted with the whole family, to break the sad tidings to her mother. His letter is a model of its kind for caution and tenderness and piety. It arrived in Ferrara much about the time that the heart-broken hus- band of Olympia and her young brother Emilio lay dead together of the plague in Heidelberg. Thus one of the brightest stars sparkling in the dawn of the ItaUan Reformation set to the earthly horizon, only to shine in a more glorious firmament for ever and ever. CHAPTER XXI. THE RENEGADE MONK. m i N" Ferraxa the Reformed party dared not wor- ship openly at this period. Upper chambers and subterranean vaults were their cathedrals, — the place of gathering changed each meet- ing for greater security; for the Argus-eyed Inquisition was abroad. None of our safe English Sabbaths for these pioneers of Italian reformation, but a skulking through by-places at early or late hours, with a consciousness that every man's hand was against them, and that the forbid- den luxury of united prayer might be paid for with their lives. Would our churches be crowded if such were the terms of fellowship? It is good sometimes to glance back at the dark places of the past, and contrast other men's privations with our own privileges, purchased for us through blood and fire in these same years 1555-6. Let us visit one of these dangerous gatherings, which the archbishop of the Ferrarese diocese knows well to exist; though he can not lay his crosier thereon to crush them, for want of definite information. Spies are dis- 16 181 182 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. persed everywhere, commissioned traitors empowered to scent out heresy anyhow, — to work into unsuspecting confidences, to assume any character, to commit any base- ness, so only they bring fuel to the fires of the Holy Office. Many an incautious speaker has thus been haled to prison? and many a heedless Uver, who neglected the sacrament of penance, been stimulated to fulfillment of a duty so dangerojifc when left undone ; and many who felt them- selves unsound in theology have fled to territories where the Argus eye is not quite so penetrating. For some have been tortured, some banished, some put to death, by the sacred tribunal, acting on the information of its flying squadron of spies. The external uniformity of Ferrarese faith is quite edifying of late. But not a bowshot from the sumptuous BasiUoa del Spirito Santo, — all whose bells are ringing forth this noontide, and priests crowding about its various altars, clothed in purple and fine linen, — within the unacknowl- edged sanctuary of a humble room, two or three are met together in the name of Christ. Very apostoUc is the dan- ger and the obscurity of their assemblage. These taste- less sectaries have passed by the great folding-doors of ■ the Basilica, whence issue faint odors of perfumed incense, and full echoes of most harmonious chanted masses ; and have chosen, instead of that rich ritual, the unadorned speaking, the fervid supplication, th^ reading from a Bible Ln common words, which are the sole forms of devotion in their heretic meetings. Raise their voices in a hymn they dare not; but He who stood in the midst of the THE RENEGADE MONK. 183 gathered apostles when " the doors were shut for fear of the Jews" was surely present in this perilous place of prayer, breathing on his servants the priceless gift of the Holy Ghost. Truly were the inspired- words here fulfilled, — "Not many mighty, not many noble, are called." Poor and unattractive were the few who held fast through much tribulation, and counted the reproach of Christ better than the world's smiles. A renegade monk was to preach, who had lately escaped from prison at Bologna, and was hiding in Duke Ercole's territories. A beaten, hunted man he looked, but vehement with the enthusiasm of per- secution: Ms eye had an almost startling glare, — perhaps from having for months viewed the blazing pile of martyr- dom not a day's length away in possibility. Ascetic and haggard in his countenance; and his words weighty, drawn from the depths of a rare experience of suffering and of spiritual support. The old doctrine he chooses to discourse upon, the key- note of the Reformation, — justification by faith in Christ's merits only. Twice it has nigh cost the intrepid monk his hfe; and so it is most dear to him, as an imperiled treasure is cherished by men specially. Afterward he gives to the little audience, who drink in his words with eager ears, — no listless attention there, good reader ! no wandering thoughts or abstracted eyes ! — the renegade monk gives them some account of the Church of God in Bologna, whence he has just escaped. Ten years ,ago it numbered many thousand converts, in- 184 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. eluding some of the highest names at the university. The disturbance had begun by the Minorite friar Mollio's lectures on the Epistles of Paul; for which the said friar was cited to Rome, and defended himself so ably, that the judges appointed by Pope Paul III. to try him were forced to acquit him of the chai-ge of heresy, declaring that the doctrines he taught were true, though not such as could be pubUcly promulgated without injury to the apostoUc see ! For, before Romish error was irrevocably fixed by the canons of the Council of Trent, some lati- tude of belief was permitted in theory ; at least, a loop- hole of escaj)e might thus be opened to the accused. " Ah ! woe is me," said our monk ftirther, " that I stood beside the same Frate Giovanni MoUio before the congre- gation of the Holy Office in Rome, and that I witnessed his good confession without sharing it ! For tremors of the flesh came over me, and my heart sank from the long imprisonment in noisome dungeons, and I was not clear in the truth then as I am now ; and the evil one whispered to me of the agonies of death and the sweetness of life. I was among those that recanted," added the monk in a lower tone, and drooping his head with abasement. " Only two stood firm of all who held the death-torches in that dismal procession. The Frate Giovanni had leave to speak to his articles of accusation. They hoped he would have given them the triumph of yielding : but no ; he defended his heresies most boldly, no whit abashed by the six illustrious cardinals and the episcopal assessors. Nay, he even declared the power n.f the pope to be anti- THE RENEGADE MONK. 185 Christian, and derived from the devil. 'If you, cardinals and bishops,' said he, holding the torch aloft, 'if your power was from God, then your doctrine and life would resemble those of the apostles. But now your church is a receptacle of thieves and a den of robbers, overspread everywhere with falsehood and profaneness. Your great object is to seize and amass wealth by every species of injustice and cruelty. You thirst without ceasing for the blood of the saints. Can you be the successors of the holy apostles, the vicars of Jesus Christ, — you who de- spise Christ and his word, who act as if you did not believe there is a God in heaven, who persecute to the death his faithful ministers ? ' " A low, deep hum of approbation from the audience, whose eyes were spai-kling assent to these daring senti- ments of the martyr. The monk paused, that the effer- vescence might for the moment subside. "Dear brethren and sisters in the Lord, I had not strength to follow that noble example; for which I do most heartUy repent, seeing that I should now have entered upon that eternal joy which the good Frate Gio- vanni has these two years experienced in the presence of the most blessed Christ and his angels. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! I am not worthy to minister unto the (Jhui-eh of the most high God. But, further, the Frate said words like these ; for I was by, holding my torch while he spoke: 'I appeal from your sentence, O crael tyrants and murderers ! I summon you to appear before tho judgment-seat of Christ at the last day, and answer 16* 186 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. for your deeds, where your pompous titles and gorgeous trappings ■will not dazzle us, nor your guards and tortures terrify us ! And, in testimony, take back what you have given me;' herewith he flung the flaming torch on the ground, and extinguished it. The cardinals ordered him, and another who was equally steadfast, instantly to the fire; and so he entered heaven that same day from the Campo del Fior." With breathless interest had the narrative been followed by the hearers. It was a case which might any day be theirs ; no old-world story, looked back to from a safe dis- tance of centuries, but duplicate transactions were each week taking place throughout Italy. The professor Pran- ciscus Portus, who was present, had known the Minorite Mollio as a celebrated teacher in the universities of Milan and Pavia, as well as of Bologna : he had read his com- mentary on Genesis, which was composed while in prison at Rome. " My brother," said the professor, rising, and laying his hand on the monk's shoulder, " not to every man is mar- tyr's grace given. Thou hast done well to confess thy fault, and the gracious Lord has surely forgiven thee. His mercy endureth for ever. Wherefore, be not down- hearted, but for the future use thy gifts to the edifying of the Church of God : so shalt thou pm-chase to thyself a good degree. Thou hast heard of the blessed Faventino Fannio, who sufiered here in the Piazza of Perrara ? He had an hour of weakness like thine, when his young wife and his fiiends persuaded him to deny Christ ; but he was THE RENEGADE MONK. 187 miserable till he again confessed him, and did his best to repair the error by sowing the truth through the Romagna. Some here," added Portus, looking round the room, "knew him well, and learned the knowledge of salvation from his lips, even in his prison." Yes : one had been confined for a crime, and by Fan- nio's teaching had been brought to sin no more ; another had visited him from the pious motive of trying to con- trovert his errors, and been himself drawn into them beyond remedy; others had read letters of his, issuing from his cell of solitary confinement, and by them been freed into the glorious liberty of the gospel. Truly Rome was wise to put out of the way the author of so much damage to her empire, whose efforts to spread divine truth ceased but with his mortal breath. "And, if he glorified God by after-Ufe, why mayest not thou?" continued Portus. "Dying for Christ is not al- ways the best way of serving him : if all his confessors were martyred, would truth be found upon the earth? Wherefore be of good courage, brother : thou hast work to do for the Master yet." The monk raised his hollow eyes, which had been hid- den by his hand. " There is forgiveness with Him, that he may be feared," he murmured ; " and oh ! brother, I have had a bitter repentance since ! " When he had returned to his Bolognese convent, with the ban of the Inquisition upon him, and many irksome penances to perform, — such as carrying heavy tapers for hours about the church and in street processions, dressed 188 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. as a penitent ; or lying for hours in the form of a cross, extended on the stone pavement before our Lady's altar; or repeating hundreds of aves and credos, and dozens of penitential psalms, within a given time ; or passing days in darkness and solitude in subten-anean cells beneath the monastery, — he found these acts of enforced mortifica- tion an intolerable dissembling. The solitary hours which his spiritual overseers intended him to spend in meditation on his heresies were indeed so spent, but with a diflference. The doctrines which were the convictions of his soul came again uppermost, and demanded their supremacy. A season of deep depression for his sin was followed by another sight of the Lord Jesus as the j)ardoner for his own sake; and the renegade monk found it impossible to continue to appear what his heart disavowed. After some lengthened imprisonment for his lapse, he was per- mitted to escape by connivance of the civil authorities, who, in Bologna, reserved some traditions of former fi-ee- dom, and did not always allow the inquisitors to ride rough-shod over them, but were capable of being visited by an occasional impulse of human pity ; for the doublet and hose of the laic covered charities and sympathies wholly unknown to the priestly heart. Such was the story of the renegade monk, — a story far from uncommon with pliant natures and tender nervous temperaments, who grasped a behef without being able physically to brave the suffering it entailed. Yet, by drawing back in the hour of trial, they incurred mental torture worse than the bodily, — a torture whence some THE RENEGADE MONK. 189 of them gladly rushed for refuge even to rack and stake again, rather than face the endless anguish of remorse. One or two other brethren spoke afterward. The sub- ject of the address of the last — an old white-haired man leaning on a stick — was the suggestive expression of Scriptui-e, "As when a standard-bearer fainteth." " My brethren," he said, " I remember when I was a young man, in wars which are now forgotten, as all the p?mp and pageants of this world pass away, — I mind me, when, in battle, he who bore the banner fell, it was as though the army was routed; for its ensign of victory was gone ! But if he had only fainted through the sore bur- den, and arose again, raising his standard, or if a stronger hand drew it from his weak grasp, and upheld it in sight of friend and foe, then arose a shout from the ranks ; for the old flag was floating once more, and all remembered that the general who led the army was still at its head. My brethren, it is so with us : our standard-bearer hath for the moment fainted, and the banner lies low; shall we, therefore, be dispirited ? No, comrades ; for the great Captain never leaves our van ; and the standard will be lifted by some stronger hand, though I may not live to see it." All understood the old soldier's allusion to the drawing- back of the Duchess Ren^e under the threats of her hus- band, and his words deeply moved the little assemblage. His voice, which had deepened into ' energy as he spoke, broke again into trembling accents when he resumed. " I have lived many years in the world, — years before 190 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the infamous Borgia sat upon Peter's throne ; and I re- member the time when Italy lay black as a moonless mid- night in the thickest darkness of ignorance. I was here in the days of Ercole the First, when all the great streets of Ferrara were built. I remember when none in all Italy dare wag his tongue against priest or friar ; when they did what they liked, and lived how they chose, and the blessed "Word of God was never heard of. I suppose the monks had it locked up safely, out of the way. At last, a monk got at it ; and he was honester than the rest, and spoke about the wonderful things in the book. But they burned him because he would not be silent. His name was Savonarola : he was bom here in Ferrara, I have heard old people say. He was the first dawn of the light, blessed be God! The light has been all over Italy since. My comrades, we are not to be cast down when the standard- bearer faints. My grandson read that for me from the good book: I thought it like ourselves. I thought I would say a few words about it, as I am a very old man. We will fight on, comrades ! " He sat down again. Ah that the great Duchess Ren^e should deserve such a censure, and should give such dis- couragement to the people of the Lord ! The little prayer-meeting presently dispersed ; its mem- bers dropping away in twos and threes at intervals, and taking unfrequented paths back into the wider thorough- fares. A knot of half a dozen remained to witness the betrothal of Bianca di Montalto to the young physician Francesco Altieri. CHAPTER XXII. PADUA. ^ND now to seek for a home to shelter that dear one who would intrust herself to him all the world over, — a home in which they might with peace worship God as their con- sciences directed them. Where, through the length and breadth of toi-mented, restless, priest-ridden Italy, was such a spot to be found ? Francesco had been to Venice seeking it, though ostensibly bound on other errands. He imagined, that, in his native republic, he might find protection for the faith which was incorporate with his life. He knew that the signory had never permitted the establishment of the Inquisition as a domestic institution within their territo- ries : he had himself been brought up at Vicenza and Padua, where were flourishing Reformed churches, which no man made afraid in those days. The wide commerce of Venice made liberty of speech and of thought well- nigh a state necessity in her cosmopolitan society. Her senate was aware of this, and was very slow to lay an iron yoke of Rome's forging on the people's neck. Powers 191 192 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. civil and ecclesiastic did not pull together to accomplish this end, but for a long time pulled most contrariwise. A papal rescript complained to the doge that the magis- trates of Vicenza would not aid their bishop in extii-pating heresy, but rather connived at the scandal. Alas ! that Mot of toleration was now removed from the Venetian icutcheon. The Re&rmed churches had been scattered tocadcast into many lands. The Lutheran was become as much a fair object of chase and of cruelty on Venetian soil as elsewhere ; though, up to this time, no lives had beeii sacrificed to the demon of bigotry. But the thin edge of the wedge had been introduced into- the State : Roman artifices had procured the admis- sion of inquisitors as judges in all cases of heresy ; with the ria\'iiig clause, that certain ci^dl magistrates should always bt piescnt at such trials to examine witnesses and scrutinize the vholo procedure. Under this joint juris- diction, ne>'ertl;elesp, the galleys were pretty well replen- ished with heretics : there was soon no spot in the repub lie's provinces safe for xhe sole of a Lutheran foot. Francesco found his brniher living still at Padua, hold- ing an office in the university, and reputably vailing his opinions by an occasional hearing of mass and a regular payment of dues. "What can I do? "he said: "behold my little children ! " "And our mother, Giuseppe, — our mother, descended from the j)urest blood of the Vaudois, who have held God's truth as an heir-loom through generations, — what would she say, could she know of the weak compliance ? " PADUA. 193 "My poor little children!" was all Giuseppe's argument. But there was in this temporizing something far more excusable than in that of the physician Di Montalto ; per- sonal selfishness being the mainspring of the latter. It set Francesco deeply thinking, whether, in these perilous times, he would do right to_ encumber his fate with a wife, however beloved. How much stronger, then, would be his bonds to the present evil world! How much harder would he find it to bear testimony for his Saviour, even to the death, if needed ! Would it be just to her to ask her to link her life with one in frequent dan- ger, in continual poverty? For his patrimony was but small, and unless he settled in some great town, under a great patron, his profession would prove little resource ; and he could not live in a pubho position without his religion attracting notice. Alas ! those were times when the dearest relations of life only exposed the followers of Christ to the intenser suffering. " Thou seest, my brother," pursued Giuseppe, breaking in upon the young man's reverie, — "thou seest that the blessed Lord, having given me these children, doth not in- tend that I should fail in duty toward them by leaving them orphans prematurely. He intendeth that I should train them up in his nurture and fear ; which I am doing, God wot ! And when thou hast wife and Uttle ones thy- self, my Francesco, thou wilt not think evU of the outward eomplianfce which gaineth for them bread and home." " I would ask thee a question, Giuseppe mio. Is it now "with thee as in days past? ' Hast thou the hearenlypres- 17 194 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ence in thine heart as strongly as when we both Lingered before Ochino's pulpit, and heard words of life from his Ups?" " It was excitement," said the other, yet with a some- what averted glance ; "it was but excitement, and youth's blood is easily made hot. And if thou wantest examples," he added with alacrity, "have we not in this very city Pietro Carnesecchi, the Florentine, keeping his opinions quiet for his safety's sake ? " This was not altogether the case. Carnesecchi had been a wanderer in many lands for Christ's sake before he settled in Padua about 1552. Savoy and France had successively yielded him asylum ; and he who was once so influential at the papal court, that a proverb ran, " The Church is governed rather by Carnesecchi than by Pope Clement," was a persecuted, homeless man, in daily dread, at the present juncture, of a monitory summons to appear at Rome, and give himself up to the most furiously bigot- ed pontiff that had ever sat under the tiara. But he was prepared for the worst, this gentle, amiable, accomplished Florentine ; this man with such refined taste, such distin- guished appearance, such courtly manners, who had been lapped in the luxuries of high estate xmtil the heresy blasted his prospects, and caused men to consider his wis- dom folly, and his sobriety madness. Twelve years from the present date — that is to say, in 1567 — his long im- prisonment in Roman dungeons ended, and the block and stake gave him eternal freedom. "And does Carnesecchi compromise so far as to attend PADUA. 195 the idolatrous mass ? " asked Fi-ancesco. Brother Giuseppe, coloring, could not assert that he did ; but, then, he held no public employment. It was a guaranty required of public men ; and, more than all, the little children must live. Francesco said nothing further on the subject; though strongly into his mind came the Redeemer's declaration : " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him wiU I also confess before my Father which is in heaven ; but whoso- ever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." May we all remember, that, even in our enUghtened nineteenth century, the force of this passage remains the same, and the need for our fulfillment of the greafduty it enjoins! Still must we confess. Christ before men, un- heeding smile or s»eer, if we would share in his glory at the last. " Giuseppe mio," asked Francesco by and by, " I would fain learn something of our uncle Baldassare Altieri, — he who was secretary to the English embassy. Have there been late tidings of him ? Tell me what thou knowest." " No late tidings," replied his brother. " I fear me he has fallen into the hands of his enemies. He was hiding in the Brescian territory when we last heard; and his let- ter said that he was there in great trouble, and danger of his life. We know" — and the cautious Giuseppe spoke very softly, with a furtive glance at the closed door of the apartment — "that the Holy Office has spies every- where, and scarce a dog can run across a road in Italy but 196 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. they know it. Therefore I believe that our good uncle has been tracked and seized : we shall never hear of him again. For oftentimes, when they can not punish a heretic with impunity at any palrtioular city, they convey him secretly to some other, where he is unknown, or to Rome itself where the whole world might seek for him in vain." AH his caution could not suppress a little shudder, as the ubiquity of the selfsame Holy Office, its remarkably sharp eyes, and remai-kably long arms, occurred to him forcibly. He would go to hear mass the very next day, would Giu ■ seppe, further to lull suspicion : nay, he wondered if it would not be good policy to make some sort of confession to some friar or other. This was an under-current of thought. Aloud he was saying, -"Had our good uncle stayed among the Grisons, he would be safe : that was my advice to him. He had made himsilf too remarkable to return to Venice with impunity: the magistrate could scarce do any thing else than demand a recantation, and condemn him to exile when he refused. You see, brother Francesco, had he followed my plan " — " I never quite understood," interposed the other, " why he went into the Grison country at that time." " He wanted to get the agency of the cantons, as he al- ready held that of the Elector of Saxony and other Lu- theran princes at Venice : he thought he could then bring their influence to bear in favor of the Protestants. But he only succeeded in getting letters of commendation in behalf of the persecuted ; which caused him much disap- pomtment. Passing through Padua on his way hack, he PADUA. 197 told me that he knew of the designs of his enemies, and how much he was hated by the papal party at Venice : he foreboded the worst, and asked our prayers. When I be- sought him to attend to his private affairs, and provoke none by an undue display of zeal, — for thou knowest, brother, that he had a wife and child dependent on hun, — he replied, somewhat hotly, 'God forbid that I should entertain the blasphemous thought of ceasing to labor for Christ, who never ceased laboring in my cause until he had endured the reproach of the cross ! I am ready to meet whatever may befall me, and willing to be bound for the name of Christ.' He was always a trifle too impetuous, was our worthy uncle." Francesco did not care to controvert the opinion : he knew how that alleged impetuosity ranked in the es- timate of Heaven. But, from that hour to the present, nothing further was ever heard of the intrepid Baldassare Altieri ; he probably perished in nameless martyrdom : but is not "the death of his saints" "precious" in the eyes of the Lord? And shall not the smallest particle of their dust, whether dispersed m ashes over a flowing tide, or walled up in a black, forgotten dungeon, or sleeping peace- fully in our quiet English churchyards, be raised again in glory at the last day? Padua was no place for him to settle : Francesco came to that conclusion. The other conclusion to which he was coming, that this restless era was no time for him to marry, lasted in force till he amved\t Ferrara again. 17* 198 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. After a few days, he became convinced, that, with a be- loved wife, he could better stand the brunt of every storm likely to assaU him ; and, as another person was of the same opinion, the result was the betrothal by the rene- gade monk before mentioned. CHAPTER XXIII. THE COMING CLOUD OF WAR. ANY an anxious donbt and fear overshadowed that betrothal. For, to the followers of Christ in the Reformation of the sixteenth century, every relationship of hfe, even the sweetest, became imbittered. Parent looked anxiously on child, because not the tenderest years could disarm the rage of persecution, or stay the assassin's hand, if once let loose to shed Protestant blood. Husband and wife knew that their bond of union might at any moment be severed by the sword. The lover and his betrothed dare not yield to the happy an- ticipations natural to their estate ; for were they not of a proscribed race, to whom the face of the earth seemed to offer no safe resting-place ? Perhaps their hearts were all the more in heaven. Di Montalto did not very much relish his daughter's choice, in the present juncture of circumstances. Any tacit encouragement formerly given to the affau', when they lived at Locarno, had arisen from a half-formed idea that this young man, of good family and good character, 199 200 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. would be a suitable partner and successor for himself in his " practice," as a modem physician would teiTa it ; but now, when the family was living on his precarious gains in a foreign city (and the professions were just as overstocked in those days as they are now, and there was as little open- ing for a new leech in Ferrara as in any English country town which boasts the usual staff of physician, surgeon, and a couple of chemists), and when young Altieri was totally without employment, and with but a small sum of money in the celebrated Bank of Venice for his patri- mony, the elder physician very naturally thought that cir- cumstances looked rather gloomy for a betrothal. Like all other fathers, he would fain have seen something tangible for the young pair«to Uve upon before they contemplated housekeeping. However, the preliminary cei-emony of be- trothal did not of necessity imply subsequent marriage ; and Di Montalto was an easy-going man, addicted to the laissez faire : he permitted it to take place ; but, rather sulkily, so managed his employments for the day, that he could not be present. No rosy horizon opened forth before these betrothed ones as they returned quietly through the quaint streets from standing before the renegade monk. TSo troops of friends escorted them, nor was a feast prepared in cele- bration; no festal garlands, no picturesque scene-work, as fete-loving Italians are wont to arrange round every avail- able occasion in their lives. A looker-on would have said, "How somber! " The Ferrarese maidens of Bianca's ac- quaintance did say, " How stupid ! " There was no end THE COMING CLOUD OF WAR. 201 to the decorations and junketings they would have had! But these " novatori," you know, these " infected " people, are so queer, so different fi-om everybody else 1 None could see the wellspring of tranquU happiness that lay deep in those newly united hearts : only each knew it of the other, and was satisfied. One or two friends, also "infected" people, came to sup with the promessi sposi and their parents ; chief of them the Madonna Morata, her daughter and son-in-law, the Milanese gentleman who had asked no dower with his wife, because his own means were enough. But Fran- cesco had dower neither to get nor to give. A most im- provident match, sufely! Even the usual chest-full of clothes and jewelry would probably be wanting to this poor pair. Any gossips of Dame Barbara's acquaintance in Ferrara held but the one opinion on the matter ; and such topics were just as interesting to the female mind then as now. Di Montalto was thinking some desponding thoughts about it when he came into his house in the afternoon ; for, since the court appointment, he had succeeded in ob- taining a roof of his own. He set himself moodily to in- scribe some manuscript by the window, not heeding Bian- ca's presence, tiU she drew near to him, and stood by his chair. "Father! will you not speak to me on this day?" Tears were in her eyes, and in her voice as she spoke : he looked up suddenly. "Child! what would you have?" He laid by the great goose-quill which he was dipping 202 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. in the ink-horn, rose to his feet, and blessed her solenmlj- ; then kissed her brow. It was an age when the reverence of children to parents was carried to a pitch of obsequious- ness which seems most strange to this free-and-easy gene- ration." Bianca durst not even return the caress, though her heart yearned to her father. "And now, child, for this foolish lover of thine. I met him in the street but anon ; I gave him my benediction also : though I could wish thou wert to marry a man more settled in the world, mia figlia, and able to take thee under a roof-tree of thine own. I suppose thou thinkest thy Francesco fortune and dower enough? Well, so said thy mother in the day 6f our espousal; and I know not whether she has repented her trust." Plucking that grizzled beard as he spoke, and looking ftirtively; for he could not but guess that many a time of late he had been a sore cross to his bolder-minded wife, while he was trying to walk as no time-server has ever yet succeeded in walking, — one foot in the narrow and another in the broad way. " But it is certain," added the physician, rousing him- self and his face changing into sternness, " that marriage for you both is out of the question, till Altieri can show me a home for thee, Bianca mia." He kissed her agam, but with rather a chillier touch; and resumed his quill and horn over the parchment of the manuscript he was noting. Presently thereafter arrived the widow Morata; and Di Montalto received her with his best affability. Men of THE COMING CLOXTD OF WAR. 203 his character have a strong regard for external advan- tage of any sort, and prefer these, even in the past tense, to the undistinguished individuals who have never had them at aU. The halo of the lost court-life surrounded this faded woman even still, in the eyes of the Locamese physician ; and, while the newly affianced pair were talk- ing low apart, the elders were traveling back over times when things were very different in Ferrara, and when that Reformed faith, which now was a bar, was a passport to the favor of the reigning family. "But," quoth Di Montalto, "the Church had not then decided as to whether many of Luther's doctrines were to be believed or not. Now this council of the fathers at Trent is settling every thing, methinks it were not just to censure men for espousing opinions which had never been condemned by the Church. How is a man to know whether faith or worlds is the justifier, unless the Church win speak plain ? " His wife looked at him half-sorrowiully : was expe- dience, then, to be the sole rule of faith ? But she. said nothing ; and he took care not to glance toward her, as he added, " The Almighty knows that we are often obliged to put on an appearance of believing what we don't be- lieve ; but he is most merciful, and looks more to one's heart than to one's knees." " Yet the blessed Lord was not pleased when San Pietro denied him three times ; and San Pietro would perchance not have denied him, had he not been sitting" familiarly among the servants of his enemies," said the Dame Lucre-; 204 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. zia Morata, who was in her heart somewhat disposed to contemn the cringing principles of the physician, and had, moreover, a womanly sympathy for her friend his wife. Well she guessed what her decision of spirit must suffer, mated with his indecision ; her heart, Ml of fervor, yoked to his timid, calculating brain. But this unsuitability was Dame Barbara's private cross, which she revealed to none by word or act. Before long, the physician betook himself again to hie manuscript of medical secrets bequeathed to him from his master in the art thirty years ago, who again inherited it from his a generation farther back ; for these ever-during parchments had not yet been quite superseded by the comparatively ephemeral printed book. Look over Di Montalto's shoulder, and you, graduate of our rnodern colleges, will strangely despise the lore therein presented with all gravity. " Pulverized humaai bones " is an arti- cle constantly recurring in the pharmacopoeia. Much is written of the virtues of egg-shells and sodden snails. "The toad's stone" is a specific against poison, and stanches blood when aE other styptics fail ; daisy-tea cures goiit and rheumatism : and, for alraopt every ailment, the earliest ren^edy is letting blood; which, indeed, is of greatest repute in Italian medical practice to this day. - Then there is no end of prescriptions for charms and amulets ; for a drink to make splintered bones come out of the wound of their own accord ; a balsam of bats, com- prising such ingredients as earthworms, adders, the mar- row; of a stag, &c. ; ajid if the amethyst be hung round THE COMING CLOUD _ OF WAR. 205 the neck, or, more efficacious still, be powdered into a draught, "it resists sorrow, and recreates the heart;" the sapphire, similarly used, will yet more marvelously operate, by freeing the mind and mending the manners. Whence it will appear that the sesixteenth-century physi- cians had secrets for moral as well as corporeal cures, entering with fearless foot upon ground where their mod- em successors dare not tread. The good Dr. di Montalto was known to take refuge in this volume, and in noting his " cases " on interleaves of paper, whenever perturbed by domestic or other occur- rences. Professor Portus came in by and by with the latest whisperings of court news ; likewise with an offering of a Latin epithalamium, or betrothal ode, to the bride elect, whereof she very ignorantly did not comprehend more than a few nouns here and there : but could not Francesco translate it for her? "Ah!" exclaimed the professor regretfully, " what a rare head for polite learning was lost in the Signoiina Bianca ! I could wish she had been attending my course of readings from Sophocles," — a desire not echoed by the subject of it. The court news was rather important. For on dit in the Ferrarese world that Philip II., newly ascended on the throne of Spain by the abdication of that emperor whose will had been law to half Europe for thirty years, was forming a party in Italy, clustering round his depend- encies of Milan and Naples, to counterpoise French ia- fluence; and Cosmo de Medici, Duke of Tuscany, with 18. 206 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Ottavio Famese, Diike of Parma, were reported to have allied themselves in the design. " And of course," said the professor oracularly, " our Duke Ercole goes with his nephew, Henry of France, who is leagued hand and glove with his Holiness. More clouds and storms for us poor Lutherans;" whereat his friend the physician slightly shivered, and complained of a draught of air from the ill- fitting leaden casement. Bolder hearts than the Locamese doctor's might tremble to perceive that little cloud on the horizon, no bigger now than a man's hand. Two of the fiercest persecutors ever molded were sitting irresponsibly on the world's loftiest thrones, and determined in their unrighteous hearts to make war on the saints; whatever else disagreed upon, firmly agreed in this, — to press the iron hoof of uniformi- ty, even to crushing, upon the necks of aU nations. " We have had no war in Lombardy, to speak of, since 1552," said Portus further; "but Paul IV., our duke's suzerain, is a very firebrand, old as he is, — enough to set all Italy iu a blaze." "Ercole is peacefully inclined enough himself" ob- served Di Montalto. " Yes ; but he dare not offend his liege lord : he has a good memory, and can recall what his father Alfonso suf- fered from Julius and Clement. Even peace' sake may force him into war; but whichever side gaia the upper hand, whether Philip or Paul, we poor Lutherans are equally in the lurch." "'God is our refiige and strength,'" said Francesco in TEE COMING CLOUD OF WAR. 207 a low tone to his betrothed ; " ' a very present help in trouble : therefore wUl not we fear, though the earth be removed.' " But a shadow was creeping over Francesco's own hope- ful heart likewise. CKAPTER XXIV. TEMPTATION. =.FTER the company had departed, that self- same shadow wrapped round Di Montalto's mien loweringly, as he still bent over his chi- rurgical manuscript. " A word with you, messer, ere you leave," he said, in almost a hostile manner, to Altieri, while the goose-quill scratched a transcript of some prescription. It cost Bianca something to retire after her mother, and leave him to face the brunt of the storm alone. "And 'tis not just," she thought in her little heart, — "'tis not just of my father to have given his consent to our betrothal, and now to harass Francesco with doubts and fears. I hope I have not done wrong in thiniing thus of my father. I hope I was right ia loving Fran- cesco. Oh, I hope it is not all, all wrong ! " as a hundred irrepressible anxieties thronged before her mind, and she threw herself on her knees beside her bed, ia the small cell which was her chamber, where her mother found her presently, and comforted her with that thQught- 208 TEMPTATION. 209 ful tenderness which reads even unexpressed doubts by the intuition of love. Remembrance of her own maiden- hood brought her interpretation for poor little Bianca's tears ; and she could repeat to her the oft-told consolation, that the heavenly Father above was watching lovingly over her and over him, and would guide their lives at the last to some perfect end. Meanwhile Francesco was sitting at the table on which his patron was writing, without the latter's taking heed of him for some space; but the puckered lines on his forehead deepened with the access of uneasy thoughts. " You desired speech with me, signor," said the young man, after a pause of watching the slow- letters as. they grew under the quill. "Yes," replied the elder, throwing down his pen: "I want to know what you will do about this betrothal. It is a very foolish business, where there is nothing to live upon." " Certainly, signor," rejoined the young man with frigid pohteness, but a blush mounting to his forehead. « I hope that my profession " — To his amazement, Di Montalto repeated these last words, laying most scornful emphasis on " hoJ)e " and " pro- fession." " You ought to know, messer, that no one can live on hopes." " N"or do I expect it, signor," said Francesco, who grew coolei" when he saw the excitement of the other ; and under no circumstances could he be angry with Bianca's father. " I mean to woi"k, and to earn a position for my- Bclf and for her." 18* 210 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Ay, under the ban of the Church, a proscribed heretic, with your neck in the noose ; a Lutheran, with every man's hand against him through the wide world!" It was very exasperating to a man of no particular faith, at least of none that had made lodgement in his heart, to find his plans . obstructed and himself impover- ished by the obstinate adherence of others to an unprofit- able, nay, a positively ruinous heresy. "I ought to have withheld my consent," added this vacillating and irascible temper, " untU some better turn in affairs. It is a positive sacrifice of the little one's pros- pects in life. There is a gallant at court admires her much." " Signer," said Francesco, whose heart was growing hot within him, " this is beside the mark. What you wish to speak of is the future, not the unchangeable past. I pur- posed to seek for a home in the Calabrias, among kinsfolk of my mother, until you expressed your disapprobation, and desired me to try the expedient of opening classes in the languages at this university: but now I think of Modena as more suitable ; and the worthy professor, Fran- ciscus Portus, but this day promised me patronage of his friends there, he having read Greek lectures in that uni- versity for many years." The elder physician had time to calm during this speech, though he still looked sullen. He had been walking about perturbedly : now he drew near, and stood. " Hearken, my Mend. Thou art young, and not devoid of talent, which may push thy way to the highest chair m TEMPTATION. 211 llie colleges. Why lose thy hest chances, and doom Tier to a life of struggle and of poverty, because of an open profession of a faith which all society disowns ? "Why not cloak thy creed tiU happier times shall give liberty ? Thy life belongs not now altogether to thyself; thou hast pledged it to her : why needlessly risk it ? Canst not hold thy faith as firm imder the disguise of an apparent con- formity to things indifferent, as if thou wert a mark for the scorn of aU men, — a very outcast ? and couldst thou bear to have Tier such ? " The first words of this artful address had found Fran cesco very resolved : the last words had trickled deeply under the foundation of his firmness ; he drooped his face upon his hands. The tempter, encouraged by this sjrmp- tom of indecision, went on, touching his shoulder with his finger: — " Conceal thy faith : that is all I would have of thee. Heaven forbid that I should ask thee to violate thy con- science further ! Thou art called to no public recantation, no open denial: thou art but entreated by aU that is dearest to thee to refi-ain Irom outward demonstration against the Roman creed ; to purchase thyself an easy life — ay, my Francesco, and to purchase Tier a happy life ^— by a simple negation, a simple abstinence fi-om assertion of thy belief or thy non-belief Think well of it, my son, and thou wilt see the wisest and kindest course." He resumed his walk into the shadows at each end of the lank apartment, leaving his words to work. But before the shrouded eyes of the young man had arisen, 212 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. during those last sentences, a melancholy vision of mtm- ory, — a ghastly face and form lying in ever-during mental anguish ; lips always burning with thirst, always refusing drink, often shaping and uttering the despairing words, "My sin is greater than the mercy of God! I have denied Christ voluntarily, and against my knowledge; and I feel that he hardens me, and will allow me no hope. Yes, my sin is greater than God's mercy." Then, for a moment, the closing scenes of that sad drama : the slow-decaying atrophy sapping life away ; the restless bloodshot eyes, very homes of blank despair; groups of Romish priests, — ay, up to the purple legate, — aU powerless to bring an instant's consolation ; humble, simply-clad Christian men, whose prayers might suffice, like EUjah's, to shut or open the windows of heaven, aU powerless likewise to bring a ray of peace to the apostate's soul ; and the last supreme hour, when the tor- mented skeleton frame slowly yielded up its tormented spirit, with the fearful conviction, that, as he had rejected Christ, Christ had also for ever rejected him. Francesco sprung to his feet. " No, signer ! — never, never ! I have seen Spira the apostate. I beheld him devoured with the torments of hell for many miserable months even in this world. I was in the church at Citadella," he added in a quieter tone, "the day that he repeated his abjuration, at the close of the mass, before two thousand persons, who had often heard him preach mightily the doctrines of free grace ; and I saw him swoon away for very anguish when TEMPTATION. 213 the words were ended. Afterward at Padua I was brought to his chamber by one of the many surgeons attendant on him. It is eight years ago; but nothing of yesterday's experience is more vividly before me than that haggard, despairing man, a lost soul incarnate, ever seeming to have foretaste of endless agonies. Present with him continually was the judgment-day in its worst terrors, and the nether hell in its vast despau-." " A very pretty case of insanity, or, more probably, of demoniacal possession," he remarked, with aifected care- lessness, when the speaker paused. "The man wanted to be exorcised : some witchcraft was over him. A very pretty case of insanity," he remarked again, in a dogged sort of tone, as if determined that nothing should con- vince him to the contrary. " I suppose the upshot of all this is that you will not do the sensible thing, but are de- termined to ruin both yourself and the confiding little one who has trusted herself to you. If I could have foreseen you would be so headstrong " — " Signor,'' interrupted Francesco respectfully, " you knew that my principles were fixed on the ground of God's word, which is unchangeable. I have been brought up in the Reformed faith ; yet not for that reason do I adhere to it, but because it is the religion of my heart, ^nd because my Saviour, the most blessed Christ, has given me the joy of his divine love in my soul. More- over, signor, you ask me to do what, were Bianca here, for whose sake you urge it, she would be the first to forbid and condemn. She would despise me were I to 214 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Stifle or suppress my religion for the sake of any worldly advantages. If I mistake her not most grievously, she would prefer a poor and narrow home, unpurchased by apostate concessions, to the richest palazzo in all Modena gained by a virtual denial of our heavenly Lord." "Well, well," said the poor puzzled physician, "she will know what she will know, after a few years of such sordid life. But it comes to this, — that, between the obstinacy of you three, my house is the most Ul-smelling * in all Ferrara, and I hope I shall be able to keep out of the duke's dungeons. Young people will be so hot and so headstrong ! " And he muttered further to himself as he stowed away ink-horn and manuscripts in the drawers of a tall beaufet by the wall. • " I hope I need not say, signer, that I shall run myself into no unnecessary danger, and that I shall preserve Bianca with aU the powers of my head and hand from every harm or trouble," quoth the aewly affianced, with a very warm glow at his heart from the thought of that pleasant duty. " I shall strive to obey and to please her father in every thing which interferes not with the higher fealty I owe to my divine Saviour." "Well, well," repeated Di Montalto, as if to himself: " queer notions are afloat now-a-days. Men like to get their heads broken, when they might live easy lives^ And mine the most ill-smelling house in all Ferrara, as the Padre Abbate told me but to-day. Well, well." * A colloqnial expression of the time; signif^g, tainted with Iseresy. TEMPTATION. 215 And Bianca heard like mutterings to these, as she lay- awake in her little stone ceU, every sense watching for the close of the conference ; when her father came heavily lip the narrow steps which wound past her door, and another tread passed downwards into the street. The poor little betrothed prayed for both very fervently. CHAPTER XXV. HOW THINGS WENT ON IN MODENA. m lITH efficient recommendations from the learned of Ferrara, the new classical teacher had, a month afterward, commenced his lec- tures at Modena. Of com-se he found vested interests to oppose him, and would have to work his way through the disadvantages of youth and an unknown name ; but there ap- peared a very reasonable prospect of his doing well after a time, provided he kept quiet those unfortunate religious opinions. Almost every city of any note in N"orthern Italy pos- sessed a university in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies. The age of the " Renaissance " (as it was fondly called), the time of the new birth of science and tlie awakening of literatm-e, was distinguished by a supreme desire for collegiate education. The scholars of Europe wandered from one seat of learning to another, imparting and receiving knowledge by turns. A constellation of professors gathered at the great schools of Pai-ma, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Padua, Mantua, Milan, Brescia, and a 216 MODENA. 217 score of others, scattered thick through Lomhardy ; and, as usual, true learning attended true religion as hand- maid. The most enlightened colleges were those with the greatest names attached to their chairs : most of the Eeformed " infection " were found where dwelt the high- est repute for secular knowledge. Duke Ercole II., Renee's husband, possessed two of these illuminated cities in his small feudatory dominions. Both Ferrara and Modena contained distinguished uni- versities. But the former was declining strangely of late years. It was surely singular, that from the period when the duke had thrown his sword into Mother Church's scale, and done his best to secure purity- and uniformity of Catholicism in his capital, the brightest ornament of that capital should immediately begin to decline and fade ; yet this certainly was the case. Where now was the galaxy of genius that had decorated the Ferrarese uni- yersity during the early years of Rente's reign ? Names which wake no echo of memory in our nineteenth century then commanded the audience of civilized Europe, — Calcagnini, filling the chair of belles-lettres, with a uni- versality of accompUshments, which, at our present Ox- ford or Cambridge, would excite wonder; Giraldi, the renowned Grecian of vast erudition ; Guarini, the gram- marian, also the duke's secretary; Ricoi, the writer of the best Italian comedy extant, tutor to Prince Alfonso ; the brothers Sinapi, presiding respectively over Greek and medicine ; Celio Curione, celebrated for eloquence : all these stars glittered in Fen-ara before the cloud of bigo.try 218 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. blotted out their brightness. For most of them wore persons of "ill savor," suspected of favoring, or else having openly espoused, the new German doctrines, which were setting aU society by the ears ; and, when Duke Ercole sold himself to do evil at the papal bidding, his covey of learned professors grew frightened, and took to flight. Students ceased to crowd the haUs when the attraction of teachers with great names was withdrawn : the Ferrarese university had received its death-blow, and not even the subsequent glory of Ariosto's residence could revive it. Strange, how generally a declension in all things of worldly value has followed a suppression of religious liberty through every land ! As surely as night follows *;he setting of the sun, so surely do the people degenerate who have been deprived of freedom of conscience. What incalculable happiness and wealth has Italy lost by her r6_^^ection of a pure gospel when it stood in her midst, and attracted the noblest and best of her sons about its glorious shining ! What incalculable wealth and happi- ness has Britain gained by her acceptance of the same gospel, and her kindling from its light the household fires of generations 1 But those "who loved darkness rather than light" were in power over poor Italy. This very year 1556, in partic- ular, when Philip and Paul were quarreling, and Michael Angelo Was repairing the fortifications of Rome with a view to siege by those faithful children of the Church, Alva's troops, the Inquisition was more busily at work MODENA. 219 than ever since its resuscitation under the third Paul The system of espionage was working well. A cloud of terror hung over the wretched sectaries who dared seek for freedom of conscience on this side the Alps. "A look, a word, the possession of a book deemed heretical, or of a New Testament in the vulgar tongue, were of- fenses sufficient to expose persons, without distinction of age, sex, rank, or office, first to imprisonment ; afterwards, by means of torture, to forced concessions, to no less forced recantations; or, as the case might turn out, to death itself." Thus writes an historian of credit. Thus went on the crusade against God's truth. Perhaps there was less of this ecclesiastical tyranny in Duke Ercole's dominions than elsewhere in Italy, ex- cept in that far sunny south of the Calabrias, where, un- der a convention more than a century and a half old, a goodly colony of Waldenses worshiped the God of theii fathers without present molestation. Thither Francesco's heart often turned in wishful longings for such external peace. Certain of his mother's kinsfolk had settled there, with the last migration of Vaudois, about the year 1500 ; and so he ftlt to have some tie with the region, besides the common bond of the common faith. He would take part of his patrimony in broad pieces from the Bank of Ven- ice, and purchase a strip of land and a house, and settle himself and Bianca in rural life. His solitary castle in the air! and a modest one enough ; but Di Montalto set his face wholly against such felicitous obscurity. He was unwilling that the talents he 220 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. descried in his future son-in-law should thus be buried, — lost alike to name and fame. He was pleased with the praises which the professor Portus, and the acute critic Castelvetro of Modena (to whom Portus had introduced Francesco), uttered concerning the young man's abilities. The patronage of the latter, himself also one of the " in- fected," procured several pupils for the new teacher of medicine and of Greek. The distinguished Academia del Grillenzone, so called because that company of learned men met originally in the house of a physician with this name, was inclined to take up the young Venetian, and push his interests. " All might be well," muttered the old father-in-law, " if only he will keep under those unfortu- nate religious opinions." For some time, the suspicion that he was addicted to Lutheranism rather served than injured him, notwith- standing. The sympathy among the learned of Italy for the Reformation movement was largely diffused. War with the illiteracy of the Romish priests was the normal state of literature and its professors. A decree of the In- quisition about this period states that three thousand schoolmasters had embraced refoi-med tenet%'; and that vigilant tribunal immediately addressed its energies to lessen the number. Perhaps our poor Francesco was in- cluded in the list ; for he \^as incapable of dissimulation. The most he could do was to refrain from demonstration. Once Modena had been most remai-kable for her enthu- diastic reception of the Lutheran doctrines. " Persons of all classes," writes a cotemporary Romish author, "not MODENA. ^ 221 only the learned, but also the illiterate and women, when- ever they met in the streets, in shops, or in churches, dis- puted about faith and the law of Christ ; and all promis- cuously tortured the Sacred Scriptures, quoting Paul, Matthew, John, the Apocalypse, and all the doctors."* Cardinal Morone, bishop of the see, and himself tainted, says it was the common report, that "the whole city -was turned Lxitheran." But the aU-powerful Inquisition had worked with conclusive eflfect : heresy only smoldered in the popular depths now. Francesco had entrance to the academic conversazioaes, which were the chief form of social intercourse among the higher educated classes of the day in university-towns. To a modem of our time, these gatherings would have been insufferably stiff: for the themes of commonest talk were readings of obgcure passages in the classics ; the last new watery sonnet of some bepraised literary favorite ; the abstruse doctrines of predestination, or fi-ee-will ; the pursuance of an argument through weary stages of syllo- gisms. From specimens that have descended to us, we may congratulate ourselves that our colloquial entertain- ments iave taken a livelier turn. But there was one sub- ject which never failed to kindle all hearts, — one danger- ous subject, perhaps fascinating from its very danger, to be spoken of with bated breath, and a glance round for spies. The tenets taught among them by Ochino, and later by Ricci and the friar Pergala, were more interesting by far than any scholastic disputation; and many of the * Tassoni. 17* 222 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. wise men of Modena had taken them into their hearts, and owned them as a rule of life. "But I fear me a storm is brewing for us," remarked Castelvetro to his young acquaintance Altieri, as .they stood at a case of old Roman coins : " the inquisitors look very brisk these few days past, as if fresh orders had ar- rived from head-quarters. ' H Padre Canonico ' of the Duomo glances at me most knowingly ; as who should say, ' You're a heretic, good Ludovico ; and I'll have my hands on you by and by ! ' " Francesco smiled. " I suppose there will be naught for it but the old advice : 'When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another,' " he observed. " That saved me more than once or twice," said a third person, joining the group. " Ay, that it did, my Filippo ! " rejoined Castelvetro fa- miliarly. " For instance, the night that Erri and his sol- diers found the bird flown ! " " How was that ? " asked Francesco " Well, you must know that we academicians were long known to be a body of ill savor to his Holiness : and one Filippo Valentino, happening to be of noble birth, was reckoned the worst criminal ; also because his fi-iends were partial enough to talk of his talent. The Famese Pope Paul did me the honor of issuing a special brief to Duke Ercole, stating that the author of all heresy in Modena was that son of wickedness, Filippo Valentino ; and re- questing that I should therefore be delivered up to his merciful hands. And so, one night, I received warning, MODENA. 228 from a friend, of the friendly purpose ; and had left my house but a short time, when Pellegrino Erri and his ' sbirri ' came up, and, in default of my person, arrested all my papers. I went off to Trent, and after some time got myself elected podesta, which was a safeguard from any legal attempts. But the Inquisition is not particular, and we don't forget the Borgias : so I keep rather a sharp lookout in general, since I've come back to the old nest." Here a call rose from the company that the young no- bleman should favor them with some proof of the aston- ishing memory which was his distinguishing talent. Bow- ing gracefully, he signified assent : whereupon a learned professor stood up, and read from Erasmus's celebrated " Praise of Folly " several pages. This treatise, renowned for its biting sarcasm and its daring liberalism, was so popular as to pass through twen- ty-seven editions during the lifetime of its author, and to be translated into every European tongue. Gadaldino, the great printer of Modena, held now the original Latin version in his hands wherewith to experiment on Valen- tino's memory. It sets forth the eulogy of Moria, or Folly, daughter of Plutus, born in the Fortunate Isles, reared in darkness, and become the queen of a powerful empire among men. The satire spares not any, from the triple crown to the friar's frock. Valentino stood perfectly motionless — his ear slightly bent toward the reader, his eyes fixed on the ground — until the pages were ended ; when, suddenly raising his head, he began to speak at the opening paragraph, giving 224 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to each sentence its due intonation, animating it as if it were his own mental utterance, until he reached the end. This is part of what he pronounced : — "The mind of man is so constituted, that imposture has more hold on it than truth. If there be one saint more apocryphal than another, — a St. George or Christo- pher or Barbara, — you will see him more worshiped than Peter or Paul ; nay, more even than Christ himself. . . Can there be any greater enemies to the Church than those unholy pontiffs, who, by their silence, allow Jesus Christ to be forgotten ; who bind him by their mercenary regulations, falsify his doctrine by forced interpretations, and crucify him a second time by theii- scandalous lives ? " The hum of applause broke into frequent " vivas " as Valentino uttered the last words of his task with great force. "Ecco! that's the truth! they suffer the most blessed Christ to be forgotten! they crucify him with their scandalous lives ! E pw troppo vero : it is but too true ! " Amid the gush of conversation which followed, all tongues being loosened (and Italians are a gravely garru- lous people), when Castelvetro was whispering to Fran- cesco, " That is nothing of a test for Valentino's memory ; he hath the principal Latin poets by heart, and, after a long sermon, he can repeat it word for word," — the mas- ter of the house was called aside by one of the servants, who seemed dismayed enough. Castelvetro returned after a few moments, bearing in his hand a legal-looking document. His own face had MODENA. 225 changed mucli in those few moments, and bore ahnost a haggard expression. And well it might; for the whole prospects of his life had been overcast, and the fear of death had fallen upon him as by a single stroke. "Ohe vuol c^re? what's the matter?" and his guests crowded about him curiously, yet some of them with a foreboding. " Only my citation to appear before the Congregation of the Inquisition at Rome," replied Castelvetro in a husky voice, and gazing at the fatal paper. "I don't know what charges they can have against me : I am sure I have been cautious enough." " I never saw one of those birds of ill omen solitary," remarked Valentino : " there's a flook of them abroad, be sure. And shall we meanly cower before them, friends? Shall we not remember om- own dear Lord's saying? — ' Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.' " "Ay," added his brother Bonifacio, who was provost of the cathedral : " we ought to make a hand-in-hand vow that we will die ere we desert the cause." Alas ! less than two-years' imprisonment, subsequently, in the vaults of the Inquisition, taught this fiery disciple his own weakness ; for Bonifacio made a solemn and pub- lic recantation in the Minerva church at Rome, and after- ward in his own at Modena, of all the doctrines which he now thought he would die fori 226 FROM DAWN 10 DARK IN ITALY. The company were not long in dispersing that night from Castelvetro's conversazione; the instinct of fleeing a felling house uppermost with some. The printer and the provost were apprehended, and sent under guards to Rome : Castelvetro and Filippo Valentino fled. This was the death-blow to the Reformation in Mo- dena. CHAPTER XXVI. A CLEW TO A CONSPIEACY. 'Y that swoop of the hawk-like Inquisition, the university was pretty well frightened. Learn- ing is a delicate plant, which can not thrive in a disturbed air, but sickens and dies amid storms, even if not uprooted by force of the blast. The tide of students began to recede from Modena likewise, as the city became more orthodox. Francesco's moderate success for a few months dwindled into a final failure. The prospects of the poor betrothed pail" seemed duller than ever, and Di Montalto was yet angrier with himself and those about him for the dismal fate which seemed to link his fortunes so determinedly with the sinking Reformation. Francesco guessed that the women of the family must suffer a good deal from his testy temper, and he sometimes found Bianca with traces of tears on her face; but nothing was ever told him of the husband and father's private demeanor, and he respected their silence. Now he was trying a teacher's life in Ferrara ; that ip m 228 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Modena having been abruptly closed by the sudden per- secution. It was a consolation to be near Bianca in any case, and to see her every day ; though marriage for them seemed as distant as ever. Portus helped him to some pupils ; and he struggled on. The cloud of war now actually lowered over the terri- tories of Ferrara. Duke Ercole yielded at last to entrea- ties and menaces from his spiritual father the pope, and his very unspiritual nephew Henry II. of France : he joined their league against Philip of Spain in mid-Novem- ber, 1556, and was named captain-general. The land rang throughout with preparations for the strife, — with the swinging of smiths' hammers upon cuirass and halberd, with the tramp of mailed men, and the roll of war-wagons. Six thousand infantry were Er- cole's contingent to the invading army of France, besides horse and men-at-arms. His son-in-law, the Duke of Guise, was to be his fellow-general. Francesco offered himself as one of the Ferrarese sur- geons to accompany the expedition. He had deliberated much before taking this step, which was so strongly urged by his futui'e father-in-law: he knew not but it might place him in a false position, making his duty to his earthly prince clash with his duty to his heaivenly King. "You will make more in a single campaign than in seven years' slaving at the desk," quoth Di Montalto. The young physician was not so sure of that ; for he dis- dained to share in plunder: still there was nothing un- lawful in, find there was a certain amount of gain con- A CLEW TO A CONSPIRACY. 229 nected Avith, the post of soldier-surgeon. And Di Montalto urged it on him by every plea : he might earn a position to enable him to man-y Bianca ; and so he went. Present at the great review, at Reggio, of the allied French and FeiTarese forces; present at the ineffectual sieges of Coreggio and Guastalla ; present during the idle summer's watching of the Milanese frontier, where Span- iards swai-med (for Ercole would not leave his own States unprotected, and suffered Guise to go on to the glory of laying waste the Abruzzo, and threatening Rome, without him), — Francesco was weary of camp life ere he had been a month in it. The scene was most uncongenial ; though, even among the rough soldiers, he found some of the "infected" like himself, and with them enjoyed stolen worship. In fact, where were not the Reformed to be found in Italy at that time, despite all the savagery of per- secution ? From the pillared halls of the Vatican, where Michael Angelo, a concealed heretic, held audience with his Holiness concerniDg St. Peter's, and knew that certain cardinals were " lame of the same foot," to the tent of the trooper, the cell of the Carmelite, the cot of the peasant, Christ's gospel of glad tidings bad penetrated alike to hearts beneath the purple robe, the glitteiing cuirass, the woolen frock, and the hempen doublet. 'Italy was abun- dantly leavened with the truth ; but ^he Inquisition sup- pressed its healthy fermentation, causing a bitterness which works fatally even stUl. Francesco was attached to the household troops., and returned to Ferrara with joy when the duke paid Mb 20 230 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. palace a business visit. And here occurred a circumstance of moment for all parties. The commonest things in the Italian political world of that age were conspiracies. Everybody of any note had a hand in plots of one kind or other for the promotion or downfall of governments or dynasties ; and some highly respectable personages did not scruple to put their fingers into very dirty plots occasionally, when any big purpose was to be served. Noblemen and ecclesiastics alike, nay, even the delicate hands of high-born women, were found meddling with such ugly work. Now, Duke Ercole being captain-general of the league against King Philip, and his States lying very conveniently for junction to the Spanish fief of the Milanese, it. occurred to the astute Cardinal Madrucci and to the Marquis di Pescara, Philip's agents in Italy, that if, by any means, Ercole and his family could be got rid of, their master's cause would be well served. But, of course, persons in such lofty positions must not be seen at all in the busi- ness : there were hangers-on enough, of doubtful reputa- tion, to whom a hint was sufficient; and before long a very neat little conspiracy was hatching in Ferrara itself, within a stone's-throw of the tremendous red moated cas- tle, in whose strength Rende securely reposed. And so it came to pass, that one day, when the duke walked in the gardens of his grand Belvidere Palace (cotemporary historians grow plethoric of fine adjectives in 'th^ vain attempt to delineate the splendors of this regal residence of the house of Este, and finally denominate it A CLEW TO A CONSPIRACY. 231 a terrestrial paradise), — as he walked here, with the lovely Leonora, his youngest daughter, beside, him, — that Leo- nora who afterward became "the worship and the woe of Tasso," — one of his gentlemen came to say that a certain young man, but now arrived from the city, craved audi- ence. "Admit him here," replied the duke : "this shall be our presence-chamber for the nonce." And he seated him- self on a carved bench which commanded a view of the superb palace at some distance, which was built on a tri- angular island, formed by arms of the River Po. Marble battlements girded the shore, and shut in the little wilder- ness of woods, meadows, fountains, and streamlets, gar- dens of rich flowers and fruits, all contrived by the inge- nuity of Alfonso I., and serving subsequently to inspire Tasso's description of the gardens of Armida. Francesco hardly saw these glories and beauties as he stepped forward, almost too hastily for the marshaling of the official, and, in reply to the duke's address, demanded to speak with him piivately. He had been personally known to his Highness before now. Ercole walked aside a few paces into shelter of a blos- soming bosquet of shrubs. Whatever he heard in that shadow had strangely changed his mien when he returned to where Leonora d'Este still sat, looking toward the smiling palace. " I must leave thee, anima mia : urgent business calls me to the city immediately. Order one of the barges to be got ready without delay," he said to a gentleman-in- 232 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. wajting; and a scowl gaAered ominously on his already dark brows as he turned away, and Leonora fancied she could detect the muttered « Traitors !" gnashed between his teeth. After the noble figure of their duke stared the crowd in the piazza, as he galloped by with a detachment of his guards, and stopped presently at a convent gate. The minute after, he stood beside a bed in the infiiTuary of the brotherhood. An old man, grievously wounded, had been found without in a neighboring street, — wounded unto the death, the most skillftil monk thought : and so did Altieri, the surgeon, to whom alone he imparted the secret that enemies had set on him because he had gained knowledge of a certain conspiracy against the duke and his dynasty, which they feared he would divulge ; and sought to in- sure his silence by the dagger's .point. Ercole heard it all — all he could tell — from the failing breath of tlie old trooper. " Because I was one of the Reformed, and thou a pers«5utor, they thought I would approve their .lesassin's plan. — Take away that bawble, good brother," — to a monk who held a crucifix before him. "The cross of Christ is in my hearty I want no other Saviour. I have the most blessed Christ " — " Holy Mother ! the man is a heretic ! " ejaculated the monk with the crucifix, rather over his breath. "If we knew that, it is long till such carrion should defile our convent " — The duke raised his eyes, and regarded the sycophant so sternly that he shrank back a pace. "Better try to A CLEW TO A CONSPIRACY. 233 convert him than refuse comforts to the dying," remarked Ercole : " he has been a loyal subject, and shed his life for us and ours as truly as 'twere on the battle-field. — Good friend," and he turned to the prostrate old man, " would we could requite thee this service ! but thy spirit is ebb- ing fast. Nevertheless, we will have a thousand masses sung for thy soul, to bring thee quickly into paradise through the aid of our Lady " — By a prodigious exertion of his last strength, the dying man raised himself partially, and fixed his hollow, glitter- ing eyes on the duke. " Tour Excellence is most kind ; but there is no need of masses for me. I shall go straight to heaven; for has not my Saviour died? I believe. — that for the most blessed Christ's sake — I am even now pardoned — all my sins." The aged voice had broken, and he presently sank back exhausted. It was one glimpse of the pui'e, the ennobling faith of the gospel, in nature's dire extremity, bi'ought before the bigoted Ercole ; but he viewed it thl'ough the mist of a thousand prejudices and false beliefs. " One reward," gasped the poor old man : " tell them" — he glanced at the friars about — "not to molest me — with prayers — for I have my own Oonfessor — my Sa- viour;" and the worn face brightened into a smile. "Let the heretic die in his heresy, good fathers," ordered the duke ; " but we will have the thousand masses for him, notwithstanding." And he strode away. 20* CHAPTER XXVII. DUCAL COMMANDS. CONSEQUENTLY the plot so comfortably hatching in the very heart of Ferrara was stifled before maturity : and Fen-ante di Gon- zaga and the cardinal and the marquis, those highly noble personages who moved the pup- pets by wires from Milan, and whose honor was in no wise soiled by the concoction of assassination, heard of the failure as a piece of grievous ill-fortune, but hoped for better luck next time ; and left their subordinates to perish from Duke Ercole's anger without a quahn, except for the usefulness of the agency thus destroyed. Enter we the ducal cabinet, in that moated castle be- fore described, where the lord of Ferrara is engaged in public business with his secretary. Just now the work in hand is a dispatch to Rome, to answer the pope's urgent demands that Ercole and his troops shall march south- ward to co-operate with the Duke of Guise against Naples. But Ercole knows well the unremitting vigilance of his Spanish neighbors in the Milanese, and will not be per- 234 DUCAL COMMANDS. 235 suaded to leave his capital undefended, even to engage in the holier office of keeping Alva's hands off Rome. There- fore the holy father is informed in the most respectful manner, by his dutiful son Ercole, that a murderous con- spiracy has been but just disconcerted, which had for its object the destruction of the whole ducal family; that, for this and other reasons, he must utterly decline to stir either himself or his soldiers from their vantage-ground in Lombardy. " His Holiness seems quite to forget every interest save his own," was the duke's remark, somewhat petulantly spoken. "Not content with dragging me into this war sorely against my will, he now indicates to me the direct road to ruin, and would have me walk ia it to please him. Think you these rotten fortifications of Ferrara would hold out forty-eight hours against the Milanese army ? And, once in the grasp of the Spaniards, it is too fair a fief to be loosened by aU the power of the keys." " And your Highness has more than your share of the burden of the war already," observed the obsequious sec- retary. " Ay, truly : have I not engaged to supply the army of Guise with munitions of war ? and do not I guard for them the passage of retreat to their own country ? For retreat they will," added the duke. "The strife is too unequal : would that I were well out of it ! Our nephew Henry of France is able to hold his own ; but I have every thing to fear from Philip's vengeance." He walked about the apartment perturbedly, a firown 236 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. contracting his handsome, imperious face. It was rather hard, that he, constitutionally a lover of peace, should be plunged against his will into an expensive and harassing war, whence he could gain no advantage, but incuiTcd the extremest danger. "Friendship or enmity, both well-ni^ equally fatal," muttered he, his chin on his chest, as he looked down- ward into the deep coui"t-yard, where stood the equestrian statue of Niccolo III. of the Est6 line. " The Holy See hath damage even in its amity for its poor allies. Domes- tic broils without end," — and the regretful thought of an instant was given to the gentle wife who had suffered so much from his bigotry, though he fain would cloak that persecution under pretext of obedience to his spiritual guides, — " domestic broils without endj" thought Ercole, " and the Inquisition for my subjects, and now perchance the loss of the dukedom for myself Rebellion could scarce be worse punished than fealty is rewarded." And the massive statue of his old ancestor, so tran- quilly standing below in such a steadfast calm, representa- tive of a man once just as full of cares, and of honors, and of ambitions, and of restlessness, seemed a tacit rebuke to the chafed spirit, — seemed virtually to say to the unquiet ruler of Ferrara, "Wait, thou inheritor of my glories and of my toils, but wait, and thou shalt be calm as I!" Perhaps Ercole felt the unspoken utterance : be turned abruptly from the window, and rang a little silver bell which was on the table. A page from the antechamber DUCAL COMMANDS. 237 entered; and inxmediately afterward, on his summons, our old acquaintance Francesco Altieri. "Well, my young leech," was the duke's reply to his obeisance, " and what wouldst have for the service thou hast rendered us?" "Tour most excellent Highness sent for me," began Altieri, somewhat puzzled at thus being peremptorily re- quired to name his price. "Yes, yes, — just to ask you this," returned Ercole. " Most essential service have you rendered us : we wish to reward it in a way chosen by yourself." " Tour Highness, I was but a messenger." "A truce to extenuations," interrupted the duke im- patiently: "we have no time to waste in idle converse. We are wUling to reward, be you but willing to receive. Say, then, what would you have ? " " Tour Highness's commands," promptly answered .the young physician, as he stood respectfully before his prince,' — "your Highness's commands to leave your army, and betake myself as a settler to the Calabrias." Ercole fixed on hini his sharp eyes. "To leave my service ? Methinks thou shouldst be more than ever anx- ious to be retained in it, now that thou hast laid us under an obligation," he observed. "And wherefore to settle in the Calabrias, messer ? " "Because, your Excellence"-^ And Francesco, in few words, told of his betrothal for the past year and a half well-nigh, and his desire to find a home for his bride. The duke listened attentively. 238 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "But yet I perceive no reason why that home need be in the Calabiias," said Ercole ; " while I can see many reasons for retaining so loyal a subject as thou in Ferrara." "Your Highness knows not," replied Francesco, " that I am of the Lutheran faith, and seek a place where I can worship my God as my conscience directs." " A Lutheran ! " The moment's pause which followed seemed to the young physician minutes long. His sover- eign was steadily gazing at the hardy Ladividual who dared present himself in the Ferrarese audience-chamber, and avow himself a Lutheran. " Then you have weU said," resumed Ercole, " that my dominions are no place for heretics! I give thee the re- quired guerdon : leave my service, and get thee to the Calabrias, and see whether our brother of Spain and Naples hath not even a warmer welcome for the ' novar tori ' than we have here ! " He drew over a set of papers, and began to turn them uneasily with his hands, Ulce one pre.-occupied with some thought. Gratitude was struggling with bigotry. " And see, Messer Altieri, — now that we recall it, thy name seems flavored with heresy in its very sound, -r- was there not some noted Lutheran so called ? " He appealed to his secretary. " Si, Monsignor," answered that supple personage, one of whose duties was to keep a prodigious memory : " agent for sundry German princes at Venice, and secretary to the English embassy." "Wherein a heretic would find small favor now," ob- DUCAL COMMANDS. 239 sei-ved his master. "His Eminence the Cardinal of England* hath -wrought wonders there, and brought back the whole nation into apostolic allegiance. But tliis Altieri in Venice, was he kin of thine ? " " My father's brother, your Excellence," said Francesco, ieeling as if he was cutting oflf his last chance of favor. An attendant entered with a packet of dispatches from France, just arrived by special courier. "Then," said Ercole, negligently breaking the seal, "thou hast it by hereditary descent, which is not so blamable. — Ha! what have we here?" His eyes seemed to devour the lines of writing; but the healthy florid complexion of his face actually paled to a livid hue ere he had ended. "Now, indeed, has the worst come," said he, folding the paper half mechanically, as he handed it to his sec- retary. " A great battle at St. Quentin, in Picardy ; the French troops utterly routed, — a second Pavia. The Duke of Guise must be recalled directly ; and I shall have to bear the brunt of both Alva and Gonzaga. Holy Mother, what a fearful calamity!" He would have totally forgotten Francesco's presence, had not the secretary pointed to where he stood. " This gentleman, your Highness, has not received your High- ness's final orders." "Ay: what was I speaking of?" Ercole passed his broad white hand over his bronzed brow. "I remem- ber — yes, I was about to teU thee, that as Di Montalto is but a refugee, and can not have much dower for his • Cardinal Pole. 240 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. daughter, and as thou hast rendered us good and loyal service nathless thine heresy, we will of our bounty be- stow upon the maiden five hundred gold florins as a por- tion on her wedding-day." And so Francesco was bowed out .by the supple secre- tary, feeling in his heart more profiise of thanks than his Hps had time to utter. And which was the happier, — the almost penniless young physician, despised as one of th". "infected" by certain courtiers in the antecham- ber attired in brave raiment of brocade and gold ; or the powerful prince of Ferrara, seated in his cabinet to wres- tle with the black care and fear that had issued from those dispatches, and laid hold of his Highness like twin- vultures ? Cause enough had Ercole for dread. The dispatch informed him, that, in the battle of St. Quentin, no fewer than six hundred French gentlemen, the flower of the noblesse, had been taken prisoners ; so utterly broken was the French chivalry. The great Marshal de Montmorency had also fallen into the hands of the Spaniards : the Duke of Guise must be recalled with his troops to protect Paris. "What remained to oppose the overwhelming Spanish force in Italy ? A handful of papal troops, chiefly mercenaries, and the Ferrarese six thousand, against whom were pitted the armies of Alva and Gonzaga, the Dukes of Parma and of Florence. Well might Ercole call the tidings " a fear- ful calamity." Italian princes of that age held their temtories by such slight tenure, that the scepter was always trembling in DUCAL COMMANDS. 241 their grasp. Any shook of war might precipitate their feudal cro-wns to the dust ; and Ereole might be pardoned for the first thought that his turn of decadence had come. " Guise must leave me troops," he soliloquized : " I shall be ruined without Krench help. Hire Germans or Swiss, after the example of the holy father? Nay, but my prov- inces would be snapped up by Gonzaga ere an arquebuse would have time to cross the mountains. Oh that Guise had taken Milan when it lay comparatively at his mercy ! But the Caraffas insisted on the march into Naples : this comes of gownmen meddling in campaigns." It may be believed that Ercole's gold-iringed pillows were pressed that night by a weary yet restless head. Hour after hour, thinking, thinking, — traveling back over his policy, forward over its probable disastrous results ; his wakeful eye wandering over the dark folds of the Flan- ders arras lining his apartments, whence loomed shadowy- woven figures dismal as his fears. The rich crimson satin hangings and embroidered Unen and silken coverlet of his couch were to him smaU elements of comfort that night. Few Ferrarese peasants, lying on their sack beds stufied irregularly with husks of maize, and looking up to their duke habitually as to some half-celestial being, but enjoyed sounder repose than his ; for they knew not the ducal sen- sation of thorns in the piUow." Some of his thoughts dwelt on the strange anomaly then enacting in the Papal States. Those Gei-man and Swiss mercenaries, who were protecting the holy father against his most dutiful children of Naples, were men SI 242 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. who, for the most part, despised his anthority utteily in their own persons. Paul IV. was warred against by AlTa, who would have lain in the dust to be walked over by the papal palfrey, so deep was his reverence for the see of Rome. He was defended by the troops of Albert of Brandenbui'g, the head of the Protestants of the em- pire, — soldiers who "jeered at the images of the saints, laughed at the mass, broke the fasts of the Church," * and scrupled not to insult sacerdotal dignity whenever it suited them to do so. Eroole of Ferrara knew in his heart that such an anomaly could not long continue. He foresaw a speedy peace between Philip and Paul, even though his correspondents in Rome had written to him how the pope would inveigh against the Spaniards as " schismatics, ac- cursed dregs of the earth." Now, to get himself advan- tageously inserted in such a peace was the main object of Ercole's cogitations. He was passing through the antechamber into his cabi- net next morning, still brooding on the same, when he spied among the bare-headed gathering of courtiers and suitors the physician Di Montalto ; who was first honored with an audience, being, in fact, invited into the presence- chamber by the duke himself — an action which had a very significant value in the courtiers' eyes, and caused them to respect "il medico" rather more than previously. "Well, my fiiend," said Ercole familiarly, — for he was commonly renowned by reason of his afiable manners, and now was in better humor than for twenty-four hours paet, * Kouke'B " History of toe Popes." DUOAL COMMANDS. 243 as imagining he saw a way out of his political difficulties, — " well, amico mio, how goes it ? I hope you have set- r tied all that affair of the betrothal with your son-in-law that is to be? I must, see the young lady myself : per- chance I may give her away at the bridal ? Eh, Messer Physician, what do you say ? " Di Montalto's countenance had positively fallen at the idea. "What if he were compelled to confess the humili- ating truth, that the rite must be Lutheran? for those whom it most nearly concerned were Lutheran. He ac- tually blushed under the ducal gaze. "Ha! I had forgotten," said Ercole, perhaps divining the cause of his physician's discomfited look, — "I had for- gotten that the young fellow declared himself one of the accursed ' novatori,' — one of those heretics who have set the world in a blaze ! But surely it can not be the case that thy daughter goes with him in his opinions, thou seemest so orthodox thyself, Di Montalto?" added the duke rather maliciously ; for he had more than a suspicion of how matters were in the physician's household. " I try to do my duty to God" and man, your Highness," replied the other, trying with a bow to conceal the sensa- tions which made his very grizzled mustache quiver; "but, unfortunately, my daughter has imbibed certain of the new doctrines." " Ay, ay : a maiden is but too apt to pick up the con- science of her betrothed," said the duke. "Thou canst scarce do better than ship them off for the Calabrias, and BO relieve thy household of the taint which may fetter our 244 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. favor. The dower shall be paid by our treasurer;" and Ercole rapidly wrote a memorandum. " Leave us now ; " and Di Montalto, with much obeisance, glided from the presence, who was unconscious of his profound bows, be- ing seated with its back to the door, and engrossed with the perusal of a state paper. The deferential curve in Di Montalto's shoulders less- ened perceptibly in the antechamber, and disappeared al- together in the street ; and, by the time he reached " the most ill-smelling house in aU Fen-ara," his mien was as unbending as ever had stricken with dread the sensitive nature of poor little Bianca. > CHAPTER XXVIII, EEKEE'S BENEFICENCE. ;S the Duke of Ferrara had foreseen, the pope was obliged to conclude peace with Philip of Spain in little more than a month from the battle of St. Quentin. Very tenderly had the superstitious Alva made war upon his holy father, and very submissively did he impose peace. After advancing twice to the gates of Rome, and having the Vatican at his mercy, he gave back to Paul IV. every advantage he had gained; restored every castle and city which his Holiness claimed.^ and comported himself in all things as if he had been the' conquered, instead of the conqueror. Shortly afterward might such a scene as the following have been witnessed in Rome, — Paul the Fourth, " the servant of servants," seated upon a throne, high and lifted up ; his tall, commanding figure dressed in purple robes of empire, his deep sunken eyes glowing with the fire of youth in a frame which numbered more than eighty years in age ; something of scorn, of suppressed hate and rage, conflicting with politic afiability and papal dignity in his 21* 245 246 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. still handsome countenance. And before him kneels the conqueror Alva, with profoundest reverence asking par- don for his conquests; with deepest abasement kissing the foot of his vanquished enemy ; his cruel soul actually cringing before the octogenarian pontiff: for he declared subsequently, that never had he feared the face of man as he did Paul's. But what about Ercole of Ferrara in this peace-mak- ing ? Alas ! he had been quite left out : he might make tei-ms for himself as best he could. Paul was, perhaps, disposed to punish him. for previous lukewarmness ; or perhaps — thought Ercole, apprehensively — he would have no objection to the Ferrarese tenitoiies forming a principality for his favorite nephews, the Caraffas. It would be quite after the manner of the popes, this last notion. Amid such wars, and rumors of wars, in the autumn of 1557, were celebrated the humble nuptials of our be- trothed pair. And, as at the former ceremony, little fes- tivity was held : it was chiefly a festival of hearts. A cus- tom of the age was, that the bridegroom spent the bride's dower in handsome clothes and ornaments for her, which were all exhibited at the wedding-feast, — we presume, as a stimulus to other maidens to follow her example; but Bianoa had no finery to exhibit. The touching simplicity of the Reformed service — again in an upper chamber — was indeed a contrast to the marriage rite as elsewhere performed in Ferrara : with a deeper, holier import were these two lives joined, to walk together not only through RENTE'S BENEFICENCE. 247 time, "till death them did part," but to love for eternity also. This privileged thought has the Christian at his espou- sals, and no other man. The marriage-bond is, for all but Christians, a tie snapped at death, or only productive of additional misery beyond ; while for the children of God it endures, so far as spiritualized affection is concerned, into the countless ages of a glorious eternity. Francesco and his wife knew it, — felt it : how inexpressibly endear- ing the belief ! But after a few brief weeks must come the needful parting for a time, while Francesco sets out for the Cala- brias to establish there the home he had promised Bi- anca; a long, unfjertain journey, which could be lightened by few of those great consolers of absence, — letters; but' a journey through a country devastated by the late wars, and where even yet hostile troops were moving. At last came tidings that Cosmo, Duke of Florence, had made peace with his neighbor Ercole. The poor new little wife Bianca never had been so sorry to hear of any war being ended ; for it seemed to clear the path for Francesco's departure on his perilous quest. But still war was going forward with Parma : she would fain keep him until that danger was removed likewise. Had not the gallant young Prince Alfonso gone forth at the head of all the Ferrarese chivalry against Ottavio Far- nese? He must have success with such a brave com- pany ; and if Francesco would but wait until then ! So reasoned Bianca. 248 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. It came trae in the first month of the year 1558, when a battle was fought discomfiting Parma; and peace en- sued among all parties, and harassed Duke Ercole could breathe easily. Francesco and his father-in-law had been by no means idle of late. For the remains of the army of Guise had gathered to Ferrara, destitute of every thing ; hoping re- lief from the known hberality and kindliness of the Duch- ess Rende, daughter of their olden king. Sick, wounded, naked, were not a few of these poor French soldiers, — the raw material of victories, discarded like a broken tool when no longer wanted by the great weavers of wars; and starving were they all, even to the number of thou- sands. Every surgeon in Ferrara was employed by the duchess to look after their needs, and supply them with suitable medical appliances, at her sole expense. One forenoon, having an audience with her on such matters, the young surgeon Altieri was present when the steward of her household brought in his accounts; her embroidering ladies working at a little distance, mean- while, as usual. "Your Highness will observe," quoth the gray-haired servitor, bowing low, "that the expenses of this week past have been yet heavier than those of the foregoing ; and, if I might presume to speak to your Highness " — "I know what thou wouldst say, good Checco," inter- rupted his mistress pleasantly, and with her sweet smile. " Thou wouldst say that the expense of aU these poor sol- diers falls heavily on om* treasury : thinkest thou I have RENTE'S BENEFICENCE. 249 not read as much in thy glance for the last half-dozen audiences we have given thee? Thou dost grudge the golden ducats, good Checco ; and reasonably enough, were the case other than it is. But, my faithful Checco, con- sider ,hat these are poor Frenchmen, and my country- men, who had been my subjects now had I a beard on my chin ; nay, would have been my subjects but for the unjust Salic law.* And so it comes to pass, that we "tliink no sacrifice too gi-eat for these poor soldiers, and no succor too costly. I should rather thou wonldst curtail our own personal expenses, good Checco, than stint these our kins- folk of help." The steward, privileged old attendant as he was, durst say no more ; and his grudgingness for a little time was quickened subsequently, more from dread of the duchess's displeasure than from approbation of her spendings. " Is it not true, signer ? " asked Ren^e graciously, turn- ing to the young physician who stood near, when Checco and his papers had departed. "Could I refuse aid to these poor creatures, victims of my nephew's ambition ? " " It would not be like your Highness's usual benignity to do so," replied Francesco, uttering a courtier's phrase with more than a courtier's sincerity ; for Renee's benefi- cence had passed into a proverb. " Nay, is it not in a manner my duty ? " exclaimed Re- nde with animation. " Debarred by a hard fortune from succoring ' the household of faith,' " she added in a lower tone, " shall I not at least succor ' my kinsmen according * Brantome. 250 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. to the flesh ' ? Well, well : patience ! The cause of Christ must conquer yet." She resumed her conference with the young surgeon about his destitute and diseased French patients, but by and by came back to what was, after all, nearest to Rente's heart, — the cause of her co-religionists, the Re- formed. For them her sympathies never ceased to be drawn forth ; though she seldom dared ©jDenly display her partiality, because of her stormy lord. But somehow she always contrived to be surrounded by the infected. "And the latest news from Rome," quoth the duchess, " is that stringent measures of reform have begun there : a medal has actually been struck, representing Paul the Fourth, under the type of the most blessed Christ, cleans- ing the temple of its salesmen and money-changers ! " " I fear that reform, in the mind of a pope who has been Grand Inquisitor, will mean also persecution," said Fran- cesco respectfully. " He has given earnest of it already," the duchess re- plied, "by the increased activity of the Holy Office since his reign began. It is said that he even means to cite the more liberal-minded cardinals, such as Morone and Fos- cherari, before the Congregation, on suspicion of hetero- dox opinions; and, when the red hats can not escape, what are humbler heads to do ? Messer Altieri, hold you still to your purpose of settling in the Calabrias, and thereby withdrawing yourself from these stormy times in the north?" Yes,, he persevered in his intention. He did not care RENEE'S BENEFICENCE. 251 to utter what was the truth, — that here he could not stay- without a compromise of principle farther than he felt would be faithful to his Master. But had he not the highest example of compromise before him ? He checked himself just in time. " Colonies of Waldfinses have settled in Apulia and Calabria, under convention with the lords of the soil, and have preserved their religious privileges intact for nigh two hundred years," said the young physician. " I wish to find a resting-place among them, being somewhat of kin. My mother's ancestors were from the Valleys." " But I believe," observed the duchess, " that they have not kept free of persecution without a variety of unworthy compliances : at least," she added, and her fair brow col- ored slightly, "they have been compelled to admit the Roman baptism. of their children, and to receive the holy eucharist at mass " — • " Truly unworthy compliances ! " Francesco uttered when the duchess paused, " such as I trust my God will give me grace to refrain from. Most noble lady," he added, repenting lest his unwary ejaculation should be misunderstood to contain a personal reflection, " I entreat you to believe " — " Only the unguarded utterance of a fervid and honest heart," rejoined Ren^e, looking kindly on his embarrass- ment. " Thy zeal may find reasons enow for cooling by and by, signer: thou hast not had thy finest aflfections put to the torture yet." There was something so deprecatingly gentle ir hey 252 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. tone and manner, that Francesco, as he kissed her hand at departure, could willingly have kissed the hem of her robe, in honor of that noble humility. " We may give thee letters to sundry in Rome, which will bear thy traveling charges so far," was Rente's last act of grace toward her young brother in the faith. CHAPTER XXIX. THE MOUNTAIN OSTEEIA. I OTWITHSTANDING aU the delays, the bit- ter day of parting came none the less surely. Poor Bianca took leave of her husband for his long and perilous journey with many a tear and many a lingering embrace ; but even ia the sorrow of separation she had a conso- lation of which the world knows nothing. Her heart was stayed on the faithfulness of God : no great evil could he permit to befall his servant ; for over such he giveth his angels charge. And she could have the fullest confidence in prayer for Francesco, as knowing that he was one of the Lord's own people, dear unto him with a most special love. Across the broad Ferrarese marshes, among the planta- tions of maize and millet, and the innumerable sluggish streams embanked in deep channels, until, behind the pil- grim, the great city had contracted to a long, low line of roofs, broken by towers of churches, he rode as far as Bologna, where the mountains begin by a great gathering of summits behind the minarets and leaning towers of the 22 253 254 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. town. Here lie lodged -with certain brethren, after the manner of primitive times ; having been recommended to them by friends in Ferrara. " The underground railroad " of the United States was in that age anticipated by the Reformed. Hunted as per- sistently as any fugitive slaves from city to city, a c ordon of communication from one haunt of heresy to another was needful. Many towns full of persecutors had yet one Mnason, a disciple with whom other disciples might seek shelter. But, desiring to push on as rapidly as possible to Flor- ence and to Rome, our pilgrim stayed only a night in Bologna, nor visited any of its hundred churches, rich iu sculpture and fresco ; for he regarded them as little better than idol-temples. Men were apt at that time to hold strong opinions. Nor did he look through the oldest uni- versity in Europe : his hours were too precious for sight- seeing. Yet he contrived to ascend the hill whence he might have a last view of Ferrara far away to the east, beneath the long line of the Adriatic skirting the skies ; and scarce glanced at the broad, level plains of Lombardy, stretched northward, studded with villages and towns, even so far as Mantua and Verona, which lay embossed on the land darkly, a mass of miniature towers. Then slowly he turned his face to the hill country of the Apennines, and entered the chaos of bights and hol- lows, of serrated peaks and ravines, which slowly ascends for many a mile to the highest range of the Italian back- bone. The path— it was not entitled to be called a road THE MOUNTAIN 08TERIA. 255 — climbed by circuitous ways along the edges of olive- clothed dells, and under shadow of crags, and beneath gray walls of outlying monasteries, and past many little saint-shrines, hung up in solitary trees, or fixed in niches of rock ; hour after hotlr attaining gi-eater altitude ; get- ting into barrener regions, where moss and lichen clung to the cliff-faces, despite wild storms, and where the view was savagely lonely of precipice and torrent and black tarn asleep. Those torrents hurried to the river beside Perrara. Then he would emerge at the summit of some pass, and get a glimpse of the plain behind, sown with white cities thickly, and seamed with wandering streams. Occasionally he arrived at a piece of table-land bearing a hamlet and some fields. In one such place he deemed it expedient to stop for the night ; and went up to the gaunt, stone post-house to seek shelter. Straw was the only bed, and black bread and olives, with a skin of sour wine, the only fare ; but Francesco had been used to rough it, and heretics could never afford, to be particular. He was asleep soundly on the straw in the comer of the great stone room, with his knapsack — or what answered to that modern convenience in the six- teenth century — under his head ; when, toward midnight, he was roused by the tramp of many feet and loud voices entering the outer door. A military tramp, he was sure ; and some of the voices spoke a foreign tongue, — German. "What ho, mine host! Rouse the house! Bring lights ! " and the trooper strode to the kitchen fireplace, kicked the dying brands with his foot, and, seizing a quan- 256 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. tity.of the straw which carpeted the floor, illuminated the apartment in a moment. " Come, mine host ! wine for the defenders of his Holiness ! " The nearly empty flagon on the rude table was drained of its dregs into his hairy lips in a moment. Francesco lay quite stUl in his comer, and unseen by reason of his envelopment of straw. Others had come in, and, bringing fagots from the wood- pile, soon had crackling an enormous fire, the breadth of the great chimney. ' " Ha ! wouldn't his Holiness like to set a heretic roast- ing in the middle of that ! " exclaimed one, following his remark with a horse-laugh loudly echoed. "As for me," said another, "I don't wonder at his visit to Home making a heretic of Martin Luther. I'm very much of the mind of the Jew who was advised by his friend to go there and see all the finery of the pope, think- ing it must convert him : and sure enough he Avent, and came back, and got himself baptized immediately; be- cause, he said, nothing short of a perpetual miracle could keep alive a religion which was supported by such wicked men as the priests and cardinals." ""Well done, TTlrich ! thy tale and jest as ustial. Com- rades, we'll have to help ourselves in this house, I fore- see," — and he looked significantly at some dried meat and skins of wine pendent from the ceiling, — "if so be that mine host comes not quickly. He doth sleep soundly, this fellow!" Then, roaring forth a song by Hans Sachs (the popular lyrist of the Reformation), either his music or his threat THE MOUNTAIN OSTERIA. 257 speedily brought down the owner of the establishment, — a black little Italian, who actually cowered before these huge Geraian guests, and, with a profusion of bows, would know their pleasure. " Pleasure ! why thou sleepest heavily as a cathedral," said the former spokesman in tolerable Italian, " or thou wouldst know that our pleasure is supper, at this present. What else should troopers, hungry off the road, requu-e at this time of night ? So quicken thyself, good Boniface : for my men are rare eaters, and don't understand being kept waiting. Meantime, a skin of thy vintage here." The expression of the Italian's face, as Francesco could see it over the fire while cooking, boded any thing but good wiU to these blustering " oltra-montani," who had thus stormed his dwelling at night's noon. But, when- ever he had occasion to turn around toward the company, its suavity was delightful to behold. The Germans sat round the. table, with drinking-horns busy; or sauntered up and down the room, conversing in their own tongue. Francesco, still lying with his knap- sack under his head, could make out sufficient of their words to pick up allusions to tbeir late campaign, and in- timations of how things were going on in Rome. " Paul was badly off for defenders when he sent for us," said one". " The idea of us Protestants fighting- against good Catholics, all for the sake of his Holiness ! " "But did you ever see such fellows as those Roman arquebusiers ? The very braying of a trumpet would 22* 258 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. disperse them, albeit their ofBcers were all of noble blood!" "I hope you valued the pope's blessing properly, Hans?" shouted another. "It's worth half our pay, at all events." Hans growled. " I would sooner have a ducat than five hundred of his benedictions ! " And darker grew the Italian landlord's face as this last observation was ^repeated to him, in his own tongue, by a soldier at the fireplace. "And the Swiss from XJnterwalden were a legion of angels ! " laughed another. " I suppose gold chains are part of angeho outfit, since his Holiness gave them to the captains ! Ah ! mine officer, wert thou there ? " But the young man, who sat at the table without touch- ing the wine, glanced at his underling sternly enough to repress the familiar speech on his lips, prompted, perhaps, by the aforesaid wine. ITot until then- meal was over, and they were lying down to sleep on different parts of the floor, did the Ger- mans perceive the stranger in the corner. " Ho ! what have we here ? A spy ? " "A true man!" replied Francesco in their own lan- guage, springing to his feet. "A true man, and a Lu- theran ! " But he was prepared for the suspicious demeanor of the Gertnan officer, notwithstanding this declaration, — the hostile scanning from his blue eyes under bent brows; for he knew how unsafe the times were, and how many THE MOUNTAIN OSTERIA. 259 doubtful characters loitered about Italy. Francesco walked forward to the firelight, to reveal his faith thor- oughly, with the truth and honesty which he felt was in it. "An thou wert one of the Holy-Office spies, HeiT Stranger," growled a gigantic trooper, "thou wouldst find a short shrift, and a shorter rope to the nearest tree!" "I am soiTy to hear you, fiiend," replied Francesco _ undauntedly, " talk so lightly of committing murder." "A truce to this," quoth the captain, raising his lazy length from the bench where he had been sitting. " My men have witnessed an auto-da-fe, good sir, and are in no pleasant mood toward any emissaries of the Inquisi- tion. But I can perceive, if I have any skill in reading the countenance, that thou ai-t none such. I would invite thee, if thou hast had enough sleep, to some conference over the remains of this flagon. To your slumbers, my fellows; and leave this gentleman and myself to settle matters." The troopers, who had crowded round the table, re- treated to their cloaks on the straw. Francesco soon found that his companion was one of those free-thinking soldiers of fortune 'tvho sold their swords to the highest bidder; and who, while professing to despise the Roman religion and to be disciples of Luther, had, in reality, no faith at all, but a sort of deism. So long as Francesco dwelt on the abuses of the Church, the young man could talk glibly enough; but when he rose higher, into the atmosphere of spiritual knowledge and feeling, the sol- 260 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. dier could not follow. He could recite passages of tl i "Eulenspiegel," that celebrated German satiric poem, ■wherein the priests are ridiculed as sensual and glutton- ous, keeping handsome and luxurious establishments, with fat butteries and groaning supper-tables. These he much enjoyed, as hkewise the belligerent passages of Luther's works ; but the gentle spirit of the gospel found no echo in his heart. " It is true," said he, " what Ulrich von Hiitten wrote in his 'Roman Trinity:' 'There are three things that Rome does not beUeve, — the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and heU.' I thought it an exaggeration, till I saw for myself." "After aU," responded Altieri, "it is not what Rome disbelieves, but what we believe, that is the great concern for us, and on which our eternal safety hangs." "As to that," observed the German, "what a pity it is that even the Reformed camp is splitting up into divis- ions, and that their greatest doctors can not settle on what should be believed! Theology does not he in a soldier's way." "Pardon me," said Altieri; "but I can imagine no closer concern of anybody's than how he may be saved." " Oh ! of course," answered the other, shifting his posi- tion somewhat uneasily ; " and we all know the standard doctrine of justification by faith, — that on which gallant old Luther so bravely did battle with the popedom : he had the spirit of a Paladin, and deserved to have been born a general, instead of a miner. I believe they all THE MOUNTAIN OSTEEJA. 261 agree on that point. But they have had a regular split on the matter of the Real Presence ; and Luther upholds something very like the old Roman doctrine ; and Zwin- gle, the Swiss preacher, says the bread is nothing but bread : and, vrhere the captains differ so much, how shall the privates know which to believe ? " "But that is also a question wide of personal salva- tion," said Altieri. "I think that Luther and Zwingle have met in heaven ere now, and wondered at their dif- ferences, while each adoring the most blessed Christ who purchased their eternal pardon. And, my friend, it is the great matter for us to get to heaven likewise ; to be for- given all our sins now; and to have the divine presence of the Saviour in our hearts, as the earnest of glory here- after." "Yes, yes, of course," replied the officer, pulling his fair mustache over his red lips. " Of course, that is the main matter. But we were speaking of divisions in the Reformed camp ; and the latest is that headed by Lelius Socinus, who has gathered the anti-Trinitarians into a body, and will have none of the divinity of Christ ; and runs a tilt at various other of the received doctrines, fol- lowing the footsteps of Servetus : and these all Itahaa . heretics too." " God pardon them for darkening the light of his truth, and dishonoring his most divine Son ! " prayed Francesco. ''Sir Officer, you and I may never meet again; and I would say to you. Permit not your mind so to run after these curious points of doctrine, or to speculate in here- 262 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. sies, as to forget to insure the regeneration of your own heart by the power of the Divine Spirit." "It is clear thou art no Socinian, at all events," ob- served the officer. "Methinks we might get an hour's sleep ere dawn ; and, as thou hast given me good counsel about my soul, I would give thee good counsel about thy body. Be somewhat less free-spoken when thou goest farther on the road : for, now that Philip and Paul pull together, the conjunction of two such baleful stars omens a fiery persecution ; and 'tis hard if aught in Italy be left breathing that opposes itself to the papacy. Every vil- lage and public place is swarming with spies ; hence my men's suspicion of thee but a while since : and citizens dis- appear from their very homes, kidnapped into the Inqui- sition. Thou hast been slack at the wine-skin, friend ; " the fact being that Francesco had not even touched it. " Well, as I intend to pay honorably, — you see we secured our 'gelt' before leaving Rome, — I may drain the horn. Here's to thy health and safe journey, an thou wilt but be prudent, Messer Traveler." CHAPTER XXX. BRETHEEUr IN FLORENCE. I HE highest pass of these Tuscan Apennines was yet to he surmounted. There were no grand gorges, like the Splugen ; no sublimity of desolation ; but for miles the path wound away without habitation or sign of man, save a rude cross, or cairn of stones, perhaps mark- ing the site of some deed of violence. It was a country eminently suited for the transaction of banditti business, and is celebrated for such even to this day. As he climbed, Francesco felt the wind becoming stronger, as if resenting the invasion of its nurseries on the hill-tops ; and from transverse openings into glens it would burst furiously at times, and belabor the solitary man, who struggled steadfastly on. He thought he should scarce have a harder bit of his journey than this. A final buffeting visited him at the turn down the western slope : thence the greatest difficulty was over. From naked gray crag he descended upon lichen and moss, from moss upon grassy nooks where wild goats pastured, from these upon patches of vines ; and now the streams all flowed down- 263 264 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ward to the Amo, not to the Po. Somehow he felt as if that were another link severed between him and home. Soon hamlets and villages sprinkled the valleys, and flowers bloomed abundantly in sunny spots ; for was he not approaching Fiorenza la Bella, the flower of Italy, set in the midst of its garden ? Warm southern airs blew over the plains of the Arno, past mulberry groves and olive thickets and chestnut copses: a fair land and a goodly was this of Tuscany, flowing with wine and oil at the industry of its peasants. Early one morning, he looked from the hUl which com- mands a view of Florence. Dominant over all, the vast dome of its cathedral curved grandly against the blue distance. He gazed upon the silver Arno spanned by busy bridges, and the many-colored marble campanile rising amid a maze of palaces. All around were lands of the deepest verdure, blossoming into white villas and cottages, inclosed by lines of superb mountains. Francesco descended into this panorama of loveliness, and an hour afterward found himself on one of the bridges aforesaid; being that Ponte Vecchio built by so old an architect as Taddeo Gaddi of the fourteenth century. It was clustered closely over with shops and houses, and some of the busiest traffic in Florence went on in its narrow thoroughfare. The traveler with staff and knapsack made his way to a central house, a little workshop of a lapidary, adorned with handsome speci- mens of "pietro duro," the special jewelry of Tuscany, set out in cases to tempt the passer-by. BRETHREN IN FLORENCE. 265 A customer was haggling with the gray-bearded pro- prietor of the shop over some article of this precious in- laid work. So Francesco merely glanced into the place, and, turning back, passed near by, at the opening, in the side of the bridge, which revealed the favorite view of Michael Angelo. Framed like a bright-colored picture in the old stone buttresses, he could see a massive brown castle standing out against a hUl of rich foliage : clusters of houses and church-towers lined the slopes to the Amo ; dense banks of verdure, interspersed woods, hoary crags, crowned the prospect. Many dwellers on that bridge had seen the greatest artist of aU time stop to gaze at the fa- miliar view, and never grow weary of drinking into his eyes its details of beauty. Francesco returned to find the bargain not as yet com- pleted: so he looked over the ipecimens of "pietro duro," and refused to be served by the 'prentice lad, who stood up from his bench at seeing the travel-soiled stranger, and who kept a sharp eye on him after that suspicious reftisal. At length, the two voluble Tuscans had ended their chaf- fering; and the lapidary, depositing certain broad pieces in his pouch, came over with a gi'ave politeness to Fran- cesco, and inquired his pleasure. " I would know the cost of these ear-rings ; " and he singled out a pair covered over so closely with turquoises, that the gold setting was scarce visible. Then bending toward the lapidary, while he peered into the jewels for the mark of their value, Francesco whispered a word or two. 23 266 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. The shop-owner raised his head slowly, and fixed a piercing gaze on the stranger. "These ear-jewels are cheap at fifty ?ire," he said. " Stephano ! " — to the 'pren- tice youth aforesaid, who was within easy earshot of any conversation, — " prepare thee, and take this casket to the Marchesana Pamfili, that she may choose certain of the rings ; and hasten, lad, and bring back a ready account of what is trusted to thee." When he had gone, the lapidary again took a long investigating look at the stranger. "Didst thou not know Monsignor Camesecchi?" inquired the latter. "I have heard him. speak of thee as of a good Mend ia Florence." " Since he became a heretic, and fell under the ban of our holy father the pope, but few good Catholics know aught of him whom you mention," replied the other eva- sively, and taking out fi-esh ear-rings. " These, signor, I can let you have for thirty Kre." * " But Pietro Martire Vermigli has lodged in thy house," persisted Francesco. A visible alarm was growing in the honest lapidary's spirit. " Before they became heretics, I wUl acknowledge my acquaintance with those persons," he answered, clos- ing his last casket nervously. " Come, come," said Francesco ; " a little more, and thou wouldst deny even thy Master. Admit me to sit on thy working-bench for a few moments, and I will satisfy thee jat I am a true man, and no spy. Hearest thou not my * About twelve pounds Btoiliug. BRETHREN IN FLORENCE. 267 speech, that it is no ' lingua Toscana,' but from the north side of the Apennines ? " " Yet, my good sir, there be villains north of the Po, as on the Amo," returned the lapidary. The young physician laughed at the fallacy of his own proof. But he had papers in his pocket enough to con- vince the most incredulous of his truth. And so it came to pass, that, when the boy Stefano returned, he found the stranger disencumbered of staff and knapsack, seated in the little upper room with the lozenge-shaped glass case- ment, and busily tended by the lapidary's own hands. But it was not till nightfall, when the shops on the Ponte Vecchio were closed, and lights began to gleam from the darkening casements, as though to challenge the flashing-forth of stars above, that the gray-bearded jew- eler and his country visitor had much converse. He brought Francesco to the uppermost room in his narrow house, where was another lozenge-casement, looking out over the Amo as it lapsed away peacefully beneath the old bridge and its freight of houses ; and here the new friends, drawn together by that single bond of faith in Christ, talked tiU the night wore on, and the stars had traveled much of their silvery rounds. " I am obliged to keep very quiet, as you saw to-day," said the lapidary, " and to be most cautious in my speech. There are so many spies going, an honest man hardly knows how to walk without setting foot in the trap." "And are many like-minded with you in the city ? " in- quired Francesco. 268 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "A few — perhaps" — answered his host, coughing be- hind his hand, as he glanced round apprehensively. "It's best not to mention names ; for the very walls have ears these times." "Well, well, three stories above the river, I would fancy we should be free from eavesdroppers," quoth the new- comer. "Best to be safe, — best to be safe," observed the other. "But Florence never made much way in the Reformed doctrines : she lost her opportunity, I trow, when Savo- narola preached to our fathers. Besides, we Florentines have had two of our citizens in the papal chair of late : we could not be so ungrateful as to spui-n what promoted us to such honor." "Yet you boast the names of Carnesecchi and Peter Martyr," said Francesco. "Ay, and of two translators of the Sacred Scriptures, — Brucioli and Teofilo," asserted the lapidary. "Oh! our city hath not been wanting in upholders of the truth, though she has no great number of Reformed," he added. " I do not remember the name of Teofilo," remarked his guest. The lapidary rose, and, from behind a panel in the til- ing of the wall, drew'forth two books. " My treasures," said he ; " and enough to bum me, should the Holy Office get scent of them : which I pray may never be the case ; for I fear that I should dishonor my Lord and Master by a denial. Brother, those words of thine this day pierced BRETHREN IN FLORENCE. 269 me to the heart, — 'A little more, and thou wouldst deny the Christ,' — because they are so true. Brother, I am one of the weak- souls: I have not martyr's grace at all. I could not face the rack or the stake ; nor, I fear me, even the prison-walls." " If thy Lord tries thee, he will give strength for the hour," gently responded Francesco ; and he told how he had himself been stretched on the rack at Locarno, and how the suffering, though intense, was no greater than he could bear. ''And I have been base enough to doubt thee for a moment, my brother ! " cried the lapidary with tears in his old eyes, and grasping the stranger's hand. "Nay, let me embrace thee, tlwu noble confessor of the faith ! " and the impulsive Florentine kissed Francesco's cheek. " Thou art one of the brave souls who put all the world to shame, and shalt be crowned first on the resurrection- morning." This last revelation of Francesco's quite broke away every remaining barrier of reserve on the part of his en- tertainer. Had he been the first nobleman of Duke Cos- mo's court, he could not have been honored more by. the poor lapidary ; for men commonly accord the highest ad- miration to those mental qualities which are most oppo- site to their own. " I was about to show thee Teofilo's translation, signer : it is the New Testament, pubUshed at Lyons in 1551; and is rendered in remarkably pure and choice Italian, whereas Brucioli is rough enough at times. Nevertheless, 23* 270 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. I would not give up this old Bible of Antonio Brucioli's for all the new versions they can print ; for this it was which led me fii-st into the truth,, twenty-five yeai-s ago, signor. And I am a very bahe in Christ stiU, albeit my gray hairs should speak me a master in Israel. I fear at the very shadow of persecution ! But He who looked so gently at Peter will not discard me : that is my faith and Iiope, signor." " Still thou livest far below thy privilege, friend. God empowers thee to know that thou art redeemed, not for thine own merits ; nor wilt thou be condemned for thy de- merits or shortcomings : for Christians are perfect through the comeliness of the blessed Christ upon them, now and for ever." « "Ah ! " said the lapidary, " so sayeth that good book of Messer Paleario's, ' On the Benefit of the Death of Christ ; ' a treatise which hath been of unspeakable com- fort to me at times, — a most sweet, pious, and simple book. See here, signor," — and he drew from the same sliding panel the heretical " tratto," eagerly turning over the leaves to his favorite passage, — " how blessed are these thoughts : ' He ' (that is, God) ' hath already pun- ished and chastised all our sins in his own dearly-beloved Son, and consequently proclaims a general pardon to all mankind; which everybody enjoyeth that believeth the gospel. . . . Oh great unkindness ! that we who profess ourselves Christians, and hear that the Son of God hath taken all our sins upon him, and washed them out with his precious blood, suffering himself to be fastenecl to the BRETHREN IN FLORENCE. 271 cross for our sakes, should nevertheless make as though we would justify ourselves, and purchase forgiveness of our sins by our own works! — as who should say, that the deserts and bloodshed of Jesus Christ were not enough to do it, unless we add our righteousness, which is altogether defiled.' Signer Altieri, what think you: are these not fine words?" " Truly," answered Francesco. " They have the very pith and marrow of the gospel in them : methinks it wiU go hard but Rome fix her claws in the author. Milan is perilous ground for so noted a reformer as he : 'twere weU he placed the Alps or the ocean between him and the Holy Office." And Rome did fulfill her vengeful will when she burned him on the 3d of July, 1570, — twelve years forward from the date when Francesco was speaking. CHAPTER XXXI. SAVONAEOLA. t'LL tell thee a tale I heard of that devout and learned Aonio," pursued the lapidary's guest. " He, being asked one day what was the chief ground on which men should rest for their sal- vation, answered immediately, ' Jesus Chi-ist ; ' and, being still asked the second ground, he stUl answered, ' Christ ; ' and, being asked the third ground, he answered, ' Christ.' Truly he is a most pious Christian, not only in words "and writings, but also in deeds." "Ah," quoth the lapidary with a great sigh, and bend- ing forward his arms upon his knees, " the same Aonio is of opinion, that, in such times as these, it becometh not a Christian to die in his bed. Alas ! my friend, I feel not within me grace to profess the same. I am a most timid soldier in, the heavenly warfare : one screw of that rack of which thou spakest a while since would make me say any thing. Nothing astonishes me more than the forti- tude of some men. Thou hast heard of the noble Ga- leazzo Trezia, in the Milanese ? " 272 SAVONAROLA. 273 And he went on to tell the circumstances attendant on his being burnt alive for the faith of Christ ; the unflinch- ing endurance of the torture, when some apparently trivial concessions would have saved him. "I was in company the other night," said Francesco, "with a German officer, who had late news from the north. Since Alva has been made governor of the Span- ish provinces, the persecution there is redoubled. Two persons were burnt alive only the other day: one a monk, who was placed in a pulpit beside the stake, in hopes he would recant ; but he only proclaimed the truth most loudly, and was diiven into the fire immediately with blows and curses. No matter: the angels had benedic- tions for him." "Well, well, pazienza!" exclaimed the lapidary after a moment's pause. "Let us have patience. The divine Lord sees it all. It only sets one longing for the New Jerusalem, friend." And in a low, melodious voice, he commenced to chant that very ancient hymn, descended from the primitive Church, — a voice of all ages, — " CoBlestis urbs Jerusalem, Beata pacis visio," concerning "the heavenly city, the blessed vision of peace," which is yet to come down from God among men. Heaven's last great boon to earth. " You see," he said, pausing in the chant, " I dare not sing one of Savonarola's or Brucioli's hymns, for they are deemed heretical ; ajid who kijows how I might be over- 274 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. heard ? A boat passing the Amo below, or a spy in the next window, — ah ! my friend, men have to be cautious these times, when the Inquisition is all eyes and ears, and a grand inquisitor wears the tiara. But I find hymns enow in the services of the Church ; and Latin is all jight, they think, whereas Italian would be suspicious : and I'm in no good odor already, though I pay my dues so regu- larly, and my old friend Fra Battista lets me off very easily at confession twice a year. He's half a Lutheran himself, — the good old monk ! and when, I told him that I read the writings of Fra Girolamo, ' Thou dost well, my son,' quoth he: 'that was a most holy doctor, and unjustly put to death ! ' But, you perceive, he knew to whom he was talking. Signor, he would not be so open-mouthed to everybody, though he generally has a volume of the Vulgate in his sleeve: and I suspect he's not thought much of as a confessor, — he has been under discipline, I know ; but he is very aged, and they let him alone." "It is wonderful," said Francesco, as if reflecting, "how many monks have simultaneously been taught the truth of God in their cells, — most unlikely places for the light to penetrate. Our church in Locarno, which, as I told thee, gave, three years since, two hundred families to exile for Christ's cause, began with three members in 1530, — one of them a monk named Balthasar, who wrote to the churches of Germany for books ; and from that spark God kindled a great flame. It may yet be so with Florence." "Alas!" said the lapidary, "thefcares of this world, and SAVONAROLA. 275 the deceitfulness of riohes, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitftil among us Florentines. The people are too wealthy and too worldly. Even the eloquence of Ochino produced but a temporary sensation; for, when the heart is a money-bag, where is room for Christ? Ah! the Fra Savonarola knew us well: 'You ought already to be saints,' quoth he, ' having heard so much ; yet it appears to me you wUl not understand ; ' and it is thus still." "What! you have written copies of Savonarola's ser- mons ? " " Si, signer, — copies descended to me from my father, who heard him when a young man, and when printed books were scarce beginning to be known. Here is his treatise on the fifty-first Psalm, — a most sweet and com- fortable writiug for Christian souls. Thou knowest it, signor ? Then thou hast drawn peace fi-om these blessed words: 'Here am I, a great sinner, to whom the Lord God has pardoned many sins, washing them out by the blood of his Christ, and covering them by his passion. "Why, Lord, didst thou give me this knowledge of thy Son? Why this faith in him? Didst thou give it me that I might have the more sorrow ; seeing my redemp- tion, and not being able to attain it?', " Signor," observed the lapidary, pausing, with his fin- gei on the yellow page under the line, " that's where most men stop, who caU themselves Christians. Seeing the re- demption, but not knowing how to attain to it ! And the Koman Church steps in, and says, 'Do so apd so: take a 276 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY- pilgrimage, buy so many indulgences, keep your sins bal- anced and blotted by confessions and penances ; so shalt thou grasp this redemption WTOught by the Son of God.' Fra Savonarola knew better : he knew that men had but to reach forth the hand of faith." Again the reader bent his eyes on the page, and fin- ished the passage of the commentary which he had be- gun. " ' No, certainly; bat thou didst give me this knowl- edge, that I, seeing pardon prepared for me, should take it by the grace of Christ.' " It was a joy of no usual sort to this poor lapidary to meet with one before whom he could confess his faith, sure of a sympathetic resj)onse. Now his pale features glowed, his deep-set eyes kindled, the irresolute lines of his face seemed set with strength. He could have been brave in a multitude ; but, singly, his soul cowered. Be- fore we censure him, or secretly despise him, let us ask ourselves, " How bold have I been to-day in confessing my Master Christ ? Have I manfuUy faced, not stake or sword, but the lesser sharpness' of a sneer or a smile, for his sake?" ■Do we not all too much cover up our Christianity ? Is there not too strenuous an effort to speak the language, and walk in the ways, of those to whom our Redeemer is an obnoxious stranger ? And what is this compliance but another and less justifiable development of the timidity which caused many a weak believer in the sixteenth cen- tuiy to hide his faith ? And, had not bolder spirits taken the lead, — men who counted not their lives dear unto SA VONAliOLA. 277 them, — the world -would never have been blessed with the Reformation. The lapidary would not permit his guest to go away early in the morning, as he would have wished. " No," said the timid man : " they might infoi-m on me for enter- taining secret envoys, and get me into I know not what ti-ouble. Thou must be seen by the neighbors ; thou must come to look at the chief places in Florence." " But I bear letters from the Duchess of Perrara to Rome," replied Francesco: "I know not how they can brook delay. Nevertheless, I would not bring thee into trouble, my brother : I will stay untU two hours before noon." "And I will direct thee to a certain house in Siena, through which thy road lies, and where are brethren who wiU receive thee joyfully," said his host. And so, next morning, while the early sun glittered on the snow- browed Apennines and on the silver Arno, and over all the marble palaces of Fiorenza la Bella, the little shop was left in care of the apprentice Stefano, while its owner and his north-country guest sallied forth to look at the lions. The lapidary was very proud of his beautiful city, and especially of that masterpiece of architecture, the Duomo, which is described as a very " mountain of pre- cious marbles and mosaics," and before which the poet Dante would sit for hours together on the stone afterward engraven with the title, " Sasso di Dante," gazing up at the glorious pile. Beside it rose the Campanile of Giotto, — a most unequaled bell-tower, slender, and "gi-aceful as 24 278 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. a lily of paradise ; " and palace after palace, tier above tier, looked over the wondrous piazza wlii«h held these two gems of art, — the Cathedral and the Campanile. But one spot was more sacred than all the rest, though tmglollfied by statue or mausoleum, — the spot where the proto-martyr of Italy had suffered, after he had fulfilled his course a» her earliest reformer. "I am sixty-seven years old, and was but a bambino at the time," quoth the lapidary, smoothing his ragged beard ; " but well I remember one or two incidents of that scene. I bethink me of holding my father's hand, he weeping the while : and before my memory comes the high black stake, — a strong wind driving aside the smoke and flame, so that for long the dead body chained to the stake was not touched ; but the arm was still stretched forth, as if to bless the people. I remember, before that, the majestic figure ascending the ladder, gazing on the multitude, his lips moving : my father has since told me, that he, the heresiarch, the contumacious son of the Church, repeated in that awful moment the Apostles' Creed. These are the only distinct memories I have of what I witnessed ; but my father often made a tale for us children of the ordeal by fire which Fra Savonarola was willing to pass through to establish the truth of his doc- trine." "Was it not on the same spot as the burning?" said Francesco. "Tes, signer, next to the Golden Lion, and opposite that street leading to Santa Cecilia. I have myself a dim SAVONAROLA- 279 remembrance of the huge pile of fagots and brushwood erected for the rival friars to pass through, eighty feet long, and as high as a man. A naiTow passage ran its whole length. Oil and pitch and gunpowder were poured on the wood to make the burning better. I was but a bambino at the time," repeated the good lapidary, — "only seven years of age; yet I think those,, sights did terrify me for all my life long ! The most ordinary fire btingeth to my thought a martyrdom." " But the friars did not enter the pile ? " "No; for the Franciscans and Dominicans could not agree as to the manner. First, the Franciscans would not permit Fra Domenico, who was Savonarola's champion, to bring the crucifix with him into the flames ; and, when that was settled, they would not permit him to carry the host in his hands, lest their god should be burnt. Finally, a tremendous storm of haU and rain beat down upon the pile, and extinguished their fire : the Almighty had de- cided as to the impiety of such ordeals. But, my brother, there is a listener," — looking round apprehensively, — " and this is a spot of ill savor. Let us come away ; " and the lapidary began to move ofi". Francesco perceived that the piazza was filling with its daily traffickers, and that a certain contadino, with his heavy ox-cart, had drawn near enough to be in ear-shot, had he so listed ; while the dull countenance of the peas- ant gave him sufficient assurance that he could not acit the spy. Bui it "vas not so easy to convince the lapi- 280 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. dary that his fears overrated the danger. " My brother, my brother," he whispered, "thou knowest not the wiles of these men : Italy is full of spies. Two men can not stop to speak, without the Inquisition hearing. One can not be too cautious ; " and he stopped not till he had lefl the piazza altogether. " But there is a thing also in my memory ; for I was a man when it took place," he said, pointing to the front of the old Palace of the Signoiy, on which appeared nine scutcheons of successive governments ; and between the aims of the Duke of Athens and the Republic was carven the monogram of the Redeemer of the world, recording the fact, that, in the year 1528, the Grand Council of Flor- ence had formally elected the Lord Jesus Christ to be their King ! " ' My kingdom is not of this world,' " repeated Fran- cesco gently. " They did not give him the rule of their hearts,' which is the royalty he values." The friends, now making their way to the skirt of the town, passed the grand Pitti Palace, and through divers strange old winding streets dense as passages in a rabbit- warren. " And there," quoth the lapidary in a reverential tone, " in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, is Cima- bue's great picture of the most blessed Madonna, brought thither in procession two hundred and fifty years ago; also certain frescos by Fra Angelioo." When the young physician saw the cowled figure that passed by, shuffing in sandals before the words were well SAVONAROLA. 281 spoken, he understood the reason of the reverence in the speaker's manner. His was a scared soul, truly ; " through fear of death, all its lifetime subject to bondage : " and yet which of us, in our safe century, dare censure him? Francesco, who had himself endured the rack, could only pity him. 24* CHAPTER XXXII. ON THE ROAD TO ROME. ^HE first stage lay through a very beautiful country to Siena; passing through villages which looked lovely at a distance, — white, nestUng among vine-leaves and lemon-copsefi, — but, near at hand, changed into rows of flat- roofed, ugly houses, filthy and dark within, with brown children rolling about in the sun- shine outside; while the women spun or loitered, as pleased them. Thus the human sh*re of the landscape was not inviting ; but Nature made up for such blots by her own exceeding beauty of hill and vale. What a won- drous coloring ! what grouping of mountainous masses ! Sometimes bare marble shafts and peaks, sometimes rounded verdurous bights in the foreground; and the marvel ously beautiful vegetation of Tuscany covering all the lowlands, — almond-trees drooping with blossom, or- ange and citron groves, copses of fig and olive, — on the earth a perfect carpet of flowers. But the roads were atro- cious ; and there were few passengers, albeit Francesco was on the northern highway to the world's capital. 282 ON THE ROAD TO ROME. 283 Tuscan peasants worked in the fields here and there, shaded from the sun by their broad-leaved straw hats : great patient oxen were their helpers, with enormous strength and stolidity, plowing or" harrowing, or draw- Lag burdens; harnessed by their huge, homed heads. Spotless cream-color were they, of the very race which had tilled the soil around Mantua when Virgil was a boy. The buUook-carts might have had equally antique de- scent ; their wheels being each a solid wooden circle, and the linchpin like the stem of a young pine. The sun had set when our traveler approached Siena, — that city enthroned in the very crater of a spent vol- cano, and whose streets gush up over the edge, and flow down the cone-sides in intricate lines of building bounded by the old walls. Here had the great preacher Ochino been bom ; and here had Paleario taught for many a year, ostensibly Greek and Latin ; but a good deal more besides, which was not so harmless to Mother Church. Here also was the very seat and throne of the mighty miracle-work- ing St. Catherine, whose house is yet shown to adoring pilgrims ; and who is to this hour the town's deity, as truly as ever was Diana of the Ephesians. Thence, another day's journey brought Francesco to the edge of the papal dominions. Nearing Aquapendente the second forenoon, he looked out for some place of refresh- ment and shelter from the hottest hours of the sun. See- ing a flask and vine-branches hanging over a doorway, he accepted the sign of hospitality, and approached; though beneath the thick shade of some mulberry-trees along- 284 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. side were sitting soldiers, whom a slight development of his Florentine friend's caution would have taught him to avoid. Some of the pope's guard : which fact he did not know, or he would have thought twice before entering the oste- ria. But having a good conscience, and being constitu- tionally void of nervousness, he sat down upon one of the benches to rest, and enjoy the cool ; while before him lay the wide landscape shimmering in a hazy heat. " That feUow looks like an ' oltra-montano,' " remarked one thick-headed trooper to another ; observing through eyes which much wine might have muddled, were it in the power of wine to do so : but it could as soon have in- fluenced the wooden cask in which it was shipped. "Ay, that he does ; or like a north-country heretic : they say Lombardy is fiiU of them," responded the comrade addressed, taking another pull at the flask. " His clothes and his tongue are not Tuscan, I'll wan'ant you. Pity our barisello is not here : he has a sharp nose for smelling out heresy." " Ho ! good fi-iend," quoth the principal trooper, stand- ing up, and beckoning him. "You seem lonely over there : come and join us in our wine-skin. Nothing like good fellowship between travelers ! " Francesco hesitated for an instant : he was already un- comfortable by reason of their glances and whisperings, and knew not whether it were best to advance or retreat. His frank disposition and his tired limbs inchned him to comply with the invitation ; prudential motives suggested the pursuance of his journey. ON THE ROAD TO ROME. 285 "The fact is, my friend," added the soldier, approaching him as he buckled on a rapier which had till then Iain against the tree-trunk', " we're susijicious about you, and can't let you stir till our captain comes back from the town yonder. So you may as well come and sit with us, and let's while away the time in talk." " Certainly, good sirs," replied the young physician with an alacrity partly assumed, and looking up at the rough, bearded faces which had gathered round. "I shall be ready to give account of myself to your officer : at the same time, I warn you how you detain a courier from her Highness the illustrious Duchess of Ferrara, bearing let- ters to certain noble personages in Rome." For a moment, the troopers glanced at each other ; then the spokesman said, — " We have that on your own word, messer : but, be it ever so true, Ferrara's heretical quarters to hail from ; and as to the duchess, she's known to be out and out a Luther- an. So I'm afraid you must wait tiU our barisello returns : no discourtesy to you, messer ; for we'd serve her Highness herself in the same way. Our holy father makes 'no apol- ogy to any one on his own territories ; and we've got or- ders to arrest every suspicious person, and search him." There was nothing for it but submission ; and so Fran- cesco imstrapped his knapsack, and laid it by him on the bench, in some misgivings as to what results an examina- tion of its contents might bring on his head. For he now remembered with alarm, that the book of the Gospels, done into Italian by Brucioli, and usually carried in hie 286 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. bosom, he had hastily laid in his pack that morning, when leaving the inn where he had slept. Had the deadliest adder been spied nestling among the traveler's poor clothes in the bundle, the worthy ser- geant of the guard could not have expressed in counte- nance and gesture more hate and horror than at sight of the printed volume. A line of it he could not read: enough for him that it was a book, belonging to a man who acknowledged his origin to be Ferrara. " My friend," said Francesco gently, " it is not an heret- ical book ; it is a book highly honored in the Church, and to be found in every convent hbrary through Italy : nay, in the very Vatican thou wouldst find it in the holy father's chamber ! Stay, and I wiU read for thee certain passages to prove how good it is." And he lifted the volume from among the things in his pack, and, opening it on the table, turned over some leaves. "A book which the holy father would have in his cham- ber, and in every convent library!" muttered the ser- geant: "truly, if that be so, no good Christian can be harmed by having it or hearing it. Go on, messer, so as it be not so stupid as worthy Friar Ambrogio's sermons." "Whereat I fell asleep last Sunday," obse^ed a soldier. "This is a book of histories of the life of the most blessed Christ," said the traveler. "And, for that ye are soldiers, I will read you somewhat about soldiers ; because there is here what suits each man to his profit. Behold, then, what Roman soldiers did to the most blessed Christ ON THE ROAD TO ROME. 287 our Saviour ; " and he commenced to read the nineteenth chapter of John's Gospel, at the first verse, slowly and reverently. As he proceeded, the attention of his listeners became more fix^ed; even the wine-skin was neglected. Their black eyes presently glowed and lightened as every fresh insult to the Lord of life and glory passed the reader's lips. The fascination of the most thrilling tale of all time was upon them. Suppressed murmurs bespoke their in- terest. " O che meraviglia ! what marvel ! Ahi poltroni ! ah, the villains ! who would have believed it ? — who ever eaw the like ? " And, when the chapter was ended, their exclamations were yet louder. " My friends," said the reader, " behold what the most blessed Christ suffered to redeem us, and to open to us the kingdom of heaven ! Think you he could not have had hosts of angels in a moment from the skies to defend him ? But, if he had not endured all this, we could not have been saved. Behold his love ! Will you not love him in return ? He stretches out his arms from that cross, — his hands pierced, and dropping blood : your sins nailed him there ! " " "Well, I never forget to say a pater and five aves every night," said the sergeant : " and the blessed Virgin has a special care of those who remember her; and I never pass her shrine without an obeisance, and a prayer if I've time. That was a fine story of the brigand who always prayed to her before every robbery; and, when at last he was hanged for his misdeeds, she kept her white hands under 288 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. his feet for two whole days, holding him up invisibly; and, when the executioner tried to finish his job with the sword, she turned aside every blow. So you see the benefit of remembering the Madonna ! " Just as this notable legend was finished, the clatter of hoofs announced the return of the barisello, who flung himself off his horse into the group, saying, " What have we here ? " All his danger, partially forgotten in the excitement of his reading, rushed back on Francesco's heart with a sick- ening shock. He raised his eyes to the bronzed face of the man in whose hands lay his fate. Where had he seen it before ? Gravely the captain listened to his sergeant's recital, and inspected the things found in the pack. Then he de- manded to see the letters intrusted to the courier by the Duchess Ren(5e ; which Francesco delivered up under pro- test. But the barisello merely looked at the seals, and gave them back. Then he walked away a little distance under the mulberry-trees, out of hearing, beckoning the prisoner to follow. "Dost not remember Andrea d'Agnolo, in the guard- room at Locarno ? For the sake of all thy suffering then, comrade, I'll let thee off this time. Pack up thy bundle, and be off; for I can't always answer for my fellows : and, if thou hadst not these letters with thee, I should bring thee before the prior at yon convent," — pointing to a square white building emerging from thickets of oUve and cypress on the slope of the hill, not far off, — " that ON THE ROAD TO ROME. 289 he might judge of the contents of that book I see with thee. I've little doubt myself, — though I can't read a word, thanks to the blessed Madonna! — I've little doubt but it's the 'Vangelo, the Gospel-book, which would get thee the lowest dungeon in the Inquisition an thou wert a cardinal. Take my advice, and, before going a mile farther, burn it under the fagots in mine host's fire ; for thou mayest not meet an old acquaintance at every hos- tehy." "I thank thee for thy kindness, good friend," replied Francesco ; " but, as touching my book, the best I could wish thee for the next world would be that thou shouldst grasp the hope and the faith that are in it : then wouldst thou not counsel me to bum it, but rather to keep it most sacredly, as the words of my best Friend and only Sa- viour. Mayest thou, good bariseUo, yet know in thy heart the preciousness of this Word which bringeth salvation, and embrace the most blessed Christ in the arms of thy soul's desire ! " D'Agnolo was lounging back to his troopers, and made no answer. " Comrades," he observed, " I've spoken with this fel- low, and find he is what he represents himself; and so we will allow him to pursue his journey. But it was.a proper zeal to detain him until ye were assured of his nature and business. Now, messer, as thou hast perchance had enough of resting from the noonday heats, thou mayest be gone." One of the guardsmen passed with him from beneath 26 290 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the mulberry shade, and a little 'way along the road, — a beardless youth, whose eyes had glistened vdth feeling a while since, as he heard the altogether new story of the gospel. " I fain would hear it again, friend ; but I may not linger : it gave me a pleasure such as never did tale before, or legend of saint. Friend, I would not have pierced the blessed Christ with my halberd, had I been there. Friend, thinkest thou it is all true ? " "Written by the finger of God himself! " was the reply; " and, because of that most holy death of the innocent for the guilty, are we freed from all sin and from eternal pain. Believe this ; take it into thy soul, and love Him who so loved us as to die for us." " I will go to the church this very night, and look at him hanging on that cross," said the young soldier. "Fare- well, friend!" • "Ton need not wait till then to think of him," said Francesco as they parted. CHAPTER XXXIII. LtTDOVICO PASCHALI. ANY pens have endeavored to depict the desolation of the Campagna of Rome, upon ■which Francesco entered from the latest spurs of the Apennines. A great silence and drear- iness hangs over the vast rich plain ; yet the heaven above is bright and clear, the soil fat and fertile. In ancient times, the republic and the empire drew from it vast wealth by agriculture ; but centuries of disuse and papal misgovemment have reduced the population to a few scattered groups of peas- ants in miserable huts, and the cultivation to a few patches of arable land. It is the same under Pius the Ninth as under Paul the Fourth ; for the papacy is unchangeable. Little shrines and great stone crosses dotted the road- side at intervals, as usual. From a long way ofl^ our pil- giim would discern one of these, and make its attainment a sort of object in his dreary flat walk. Sometimes in a knot of trees one trunk would have a hollow, dressed up and lined gayly when the now-faded trappings were new, and enshrining a tiny image of stone or metal or painted 291 292 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. wood. Before this, devout Catholics were wont to pause for a bareheaded prayer. It was precisely the want of this bit of devotion which caused Francesco to wonder who, those two travelers at some distance before him could be; for they had passed three saintly shrines and a large cross without stopping, or in any wise displaying rever- ence, — a very unusual, in fact an altogether improbable, omission on the part of orthodox Romanists. Could they be even as Francesco himself, refraining from idolatry conscientiously ? He would draw near, and observe them more narrowly. Their pace was so rapid, that his own had to be much accelerated to gain upon them. He thought he could notice a certain foreignness of attire and general aspect, afler he had attained a closer inspection. Presently they paused in the shade of a strip of copse ; for the noontide heats were strong : they sat upon the grass, and seemed to eat somewhat from a wallet borne by one. Francesco shortly reached the spot, and, seeing them both young men,'with the frankness of his own youth addressed them. " Buon ^orno, good friends ! I have been desirous to come up with you ; for I perceive that you did not bow before the images or crosses on the wayside." He paused; for the travelers exchanged a glance: and the idea in- stantly struck him, that he must not commit himself with these total strangers ; one of whom, at least, was thijiking the same. " Nay," responded the elder of the twain, " but we had once noticed that you yourself refrained in like manner." LUDOVIGO PASCHALI. 293 " He seems an honest man," quoth the other traveler, whose semi-mUitary bearing had struck Francesco, and whose glittering eyes had been reading the new-comer's face and mien. " He seems an honest man, Stefano : why not avow " — "Thine avowals, my brother Ludovico, will one day ruin thee," said the other in a suppressed tone, and put- ting a hand on his arm. " Spies are abroad, and men can not be too cautious." " I have come from Ferrara," said Francesco, " and have bowed knee to no shi-ine along the road. If your motive be the same as mine, we are brothers in the true faith of Christ." "Well and freely spoken!" exclaimed the traveler Ludovico, springing up, and clasping his hand warmly. " Thou art a Lutheran ; and so are we : we hold the truth of God, written in his Holy Scriptures, as above all priests and popes, our sole rule, our sole knowledge of salvation." Francesco returned the pressure. " Even so, my friend : I am even as ye are. God has granted me knowledge of his free grace from childhood until now. I hail you heart- ily as brethren." The cloud of doubt did not remove from the more worldly-wise Stefano for some little time; while Ludo- vico, with characteristic ardor, took their new acquaint- ance cordially as he declared himself. But when Fran- cesco exhibited the credeqtials of the Duchess Een^e, in answer to the unexpressed suspicion, even Stefano was satisfied. 25* 294 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. That noontide rest was lengthened so much by the pleasant converse of those beneath the trees, that shadows ■were growing long on the plain when they bestirred them- selves again. The bond uniting Christians in that age was of a strength and thrilling power which we hardly know. Danger hemmed them in as by a narrowing circle of ever-advancing angry tides ; and the souls within that circle were driven very closely together, and very near to the great common center, — their divine Master. " My brother Stefano Negrino and myself are pastors of a Reformed church," Ludovico said. " We are on a mission to certain brethren in the south of Italy." " Perchanqe to Calabria ! " exclaimed the young physi- cian eagerly. "Even so. We have been deputed by the Italian Church at Geneva to visit the colonies of the Vaudois, and assist in building up that portion of Christ's Church which has in some respects wandered from the simplicity of the truth." "But, my brother," interposed the gejitler Stefano, " they have been sorely tempted and tried." "No temptati«n," averred the sturdy half-soldier Ludo- vico Paschali, "is sufficient warrant for concealment of the faith, and a sinful compliance with the superstitious practices of Rome. They have been guilty of a very gen- eral lapse in taking the eucharist at mass, and permitting the baptism of their children by Romish priests, while yet they secretly hold that the mass is a horrid impiety, and reject purgatory and saint-worship. But what saith the LUDOVICO PASCBALI. 295 worthy doctor Ecolampade in his Remonstrance ? " and Paschali drew from his bosom a roll of parchment, whence he selected a page: "'It; becomes men who know they have been redeemed by the blood of Christ to be more courageous. In sajdng Amen to the mass, do you not deny Christ ? for, if these masses make satisfaction for the sins of the living and the dead, what is the consequence, but that Christ has not made it sufficiently, and that he died for us in vain ? ' Thou seest, then, my brother, what dishonor these Calabrian churches have cast upon their Lord : they need a reformution, though reformed." " I grieve to hear all this," said Francesco ; "for my pur- pose was to settle among these Vaudois colonies, to which I have certain ties by blood, and with whom I had heard that freedom of conscience was established in some sort. Perchance portions of the colonies may be freer from the taint of Romanized worship than others ? " "They settled on the soil," said Ifegrino, raising his thoughtful face, " under convention with the signers who owned it, and who guaranteed to them self-government by their own magistrates and pastors. This convention was ratified by Ferdinand of Aragon, Eng of Naples, so late as the year 1500 : methinks it ought to be security enough for the peaceable exercise of religion ; but, alas ! the theorj»is better than the practice. The clergy have long complained that these Calabrians are not like other people, in that none of them become priests or nuns ; and they concern themselves little about chantings, wax- tapers, or images: that they had unknown foreign school- 296 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. masters, to whom they paid a deeper respect than even to the secular clergy, Now, these suspicions being afloat, the Calabrians have been compelled to be very cautious, lest the Inquisition should be down upon them; for it overrides all laws and national institutions, as remodeled by the Cardinal Carafia. Hence the state of things which our brother Paschali describes. A people within a people, they have been seeking to blot over the line of demarca- tion as much as might be, for self-preservation's sake." " But now, when the Christian world is rising against Antichrist as one man," exclaimed the vehement Paschali, " shall they sleep the ignominious sleep of carnal security longer? shall they not add their voice to the universal protest ? When this peninsula, the very seat of the beast, is stirred from its center to its verge with the great Ref- ormation movement, shall the Calabrian colonies, who have possessed the light of truth so long, be not rather ashamed of the cowardice which has kept it so much con- cealed?" "Ah! my brother," said Negrino, looking at the flash- ing eyes and kindling face with a certain affectionate sor- To^w, " methinks thou art a candidate for the noble army of martyrs. Methinks, in laying by helmet and rapier, thou didst not put aside the martial spirit." " Nay, my Stefano," said the other more caimly, " but surely a man may have ardor in Christ's army, and for the Captain of his salvation, as ever for earthly general. My warlike instincts may serve me in good stead against spiritual foes ; and, if I ' please Him who hath chosen me to be a soldier,' I care httle for aught else." LUDOVICO PASCHALI. 297 " But the day is wearing," observed Stefano ; " the sim is "wheeling westward already. If we would reach Rome to-night, we had better resume our way." The fragments of the meal were stowed away in the wallet carried by Paschali, and the three travelers passed from the copse to the open road again. Before them, afar, rose towers and spires of the Eternal City, crested with the wondrous, though yet unfinished, dome of St. Peter's. "Ay, the great Babylon," muttered Paschali, striding onwards, " drunken with the blood of the saints, and of the martyrs of Jesus. Hast thou heard of the latest mar- tyrdom, brother?" turning round to Francesco. "God- fredo Varaglia, the Capuchin preacher, has sealed his testimony with his blood, not a month since, at Turin." " What ! he who once preached so vehemently against the Waldenses ? " " Even so. While arguing with our pastors, God gave him power to receive the truth to the salvation of his soul. Fra Bernardin Ochino, general of Ms order, was of Hke belief; and they worked together in publishing Christ's gospel, until Rome became so roused that Ochino had to fly. Varaglia was arrested, and, on making some abjuration of heresy in general terms, was kept in Rome for five years. Afterward he went to France with the papal legate; and thence retired to Geneva, where his heart had long been with Calvin and Beza. Again he went among our brethren of the Valleys ; but it was now to preach the faith he had once labored to destroy: and 298 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the long arms of the Inquisition, stretching over the fron- tier, seized him. When questioned before the tribunal, he declared that the number of preachers ready to enter Italy and publish the gospel was so great, that wood to bum them could not be found." Again Paschali took the lead, as if his ardent spirit was hasting onward to his scene of labor moi'e rapidly than his body could travel. With head erect, and military marching gait, the ex-soldier pressed forward: Negrino, older and less fiery, kept with Francesco a few paces in the rear. " The pastor hath been in the army," observed the lat- ter, indicating Paschali by that pointing of the thumb which is so characteristically Italian. " He was trained for it," was the reply, " but quitted it for Christ's service whUe very young; studied at Lau- sanne for some time ; and, when the Calabrese Vaudois applied for an Italian preacher as well as the occasional 'barbe' from the VaUeys, he was found so eminently suited by zeal and by acquirements, that he was at once nominated by our Genevese pastors to accompany me. Poor feUow ! he has much to sadden him just now. He was betrothed, two days before his appointment, to a cer- tain maiden, Camilla Guarina, whom he truly loves : yet at the call of duty they severed ; and she, more vahant than ever was the lady of knight going into mortal com- - bat, and buckling on the armor in which he may receive the death-wound, committed him to her God for this per- ilous mission, not knowing if she shall ever again behold' him in the flesh." LVDOVICO PASCHALI. 299 A thrill of sympathy struck through the listener's heart as he heard of this quiet heroism ; not very iafrequent in an age when principle constantly demanded the highest sacrifices, but still appealing to the deepest feelings of human nature. "A nobler spirit never breathed," quoth Negrino in the same undertone. " He counteth not his life dear unto him, so he may finish his course with joy, and gain the great Master's 'Well done, good and faithful servant!'" The interest attached to PaschaU was indefinitely in- creased in Francesco's eyes by this item of knowledge about his former life. He bent instinctively before the noble, self-sacrificing soul which for Christ's sake separat- ed itself from all it held dearest on earth, and went forth to carry the banner of truth into a region where the very air of common life breathed peril. And the name of Camilla Guarina — the betrothed maiden whose self-sacrifice was equal; for she remained at home to sufier in monotony and silence, while Paschali passed into exciting scenes of action and endurance — should not be forgotten among those of the women who laid their hearts on the shrine of the Italian Reformfition, She never saw her lover on earth again. CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ETERNAL CITY. IITH that aerial dome for goal, our travelers marclied across the blackened bosom of the Campagna. Michael Angelo was yet its un- paid architect, toiling day after day at col- onnade and arch and pier, elaborating the minutest details with the grand exactitude of genius, as the vast pile slowly grew, which took more than a century to mature into full magnifi- cence. But few sight-seers visited Rome at this era. The world's business was too stem to admit of pleasure- tours; and the concourse of outer "barbarians," who now annually admire the Eternal City, was utterly unknown. For something apart from archaeology or sesthetics did the pilgrim from north or west cross sea and mountain to the center of the Christian world, the capital of the faith, the seat of the earthly vicegerent of the Supreme. "Accursed Babylon!" muttered Paschali in the very Porta del Popolo, unawed by the magnificence sun-ound- ing; and, though his tongue was silent, his companions could read the same denunciation in his uncomiDromising 300 THE ETERNAL CITY. 301 face, as they passed along crowded streets, and under the walls of the immense Fortress of St. Angelo, raising its gray battlements far above their heads. Two short years aflei-ward, what a scene for him in the court adjoining ! What a presentation before the hierarchy of pope and purple cardinals, and before the more glorious, though invisible, hierarchy of heaven ! what a spectacle for angels and for men ! But the future is vailed from us in mercy. Pasohah was not to be unnerved for present duty by any prevision of his mortal fate. A vast crowd is gathered before one of the half-thou- sand churches : it was that higher order of ecclesiastical building entitled a basiUca, of dignity sufficient for ponti- fical ceremonies. And the very crowd is characteristic of Rome. Nowhere else such a medley of. ecclesiastic cos- tumes, such variety of cowls and gowns and cords and caps, appertaining to all orders of regulars. Long flowing robes of some, coarse brown cloaks of others, white tunics of a third order ; all most blessed, and conferring on their wearers the privilege of independent idleness. "Ditemi che c'e? Tell me, what's all this about?" asked Francesco of his nearest neighbor, whose homed cowl and patched rochet bespoke him a Capuchin. The friar turned on his questioner a pair of lazy brown eyes, as he replied, — « Oh ! it's only our holy father borne in his chair of Slate. As you're evidently a new-comer, I don't mind making room for you, if you care to see the show ;" and 26 302 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. he moved to let Francesco on a step which he occupied as vantage-ground. While thanking him, the obliged person could not but feel the language rather more irrev- erent than he would have looked for in a monkish habit ; but he soon found, that, in Rome, this was nothing new. The crowd were talking abundantly among themselves, and now and then sending up a jet of applause into the air around the old church-towers. The murmur of the garrulous Romans, separated into its constituent elements of gossip, was not always complimentary to their spiritual father and his court. For instance : — "I say, Jacopo, did you see how angrily the pope glanced at his nephew CarafFa, when he drew near to him at the doorway? The old man is beginning to see through that hypocrite ; and 'tis time." " Nay, but they say that lately, when the cardinaJ was ill, the holy father, going to visit him suddenly, found him in very bad company. His Eminence has long loved gam- blers and drinkers more than learned doctors and priests : how he managed to hide it from the sharp eyes of Paul, is the question." " Oh ! that's his camp education," put in a little shorn Benedictine, clothed in black woolen gown. "Why, the holy father himself said of the cardinal, that his arm was dyed in gore to the elbow." Paschali uttered a sort of groan. "And are these thy princes, O Rome ? " was his mental ejaculation: The Capuchin stared as intently as his sleepy brown eyes could. « Art thou ill, friend ? " TEE ETERNAL CITY. 303 "Not in the least," responded Paschali curtly; "but a. man may.groan over sin, especially when throned in high places, my friend." « Oh ! if that be thy fancy," observed the monk, pushing back his funnel-shaped cowl, " thou needst not be silent night or day in Rome; "we're used to it here: and yet the holy father himself is all a pope should be. But human nature is human nature, we all know;" and he shrugged his shoulders cozily under the patched cloak. " I fancy thou art a stranger, or this would not be so new to thee, and thy groanings would be kept for thyself." "But the pope — he is a conscientious man: how can he tolerate this blood-stained Caraffa ? " " Hist ! speak gently, fiiend. Though everybody knows it, 'tis a matter for whispering. Now, in the first place, Caraffa is his nephew; and you wouldn't have the holy father without natural affection ? Then the cardinal had cleverness enough to feign a deep remorse for his past excesses, and was more than once surprised — accidentally of course — by his Holiness, prostrate before the crucifix, and confessing apparently sins. Being the sincerest man alive himself, our holy father could not suspect such play- ing of the hypocrite, and gave the opportune penitent the red hat he sought ; took him deeply into his counsels, and often praised him as the ablest statesman in the pa- pacy, — a character which Caraffa vindicated by plunging headlong into wars with the Colonnas, whom he plun- dered ; and with Spain and Naples, who plundered him back again." 304 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "And what of the government of the Church all this time of wielding the secular sword?" asked Pasohali. "The Church! — oh! she is taken good care of: don't you know the promise to Saint Peter, that ' the gates of hell shall not prevail against' her? And his Holiness is a pope most zealous for the faith : never was the Holy Office so busy ; never was heresy more determinately rooted out, with an unsparing hand, from the highest places as well as from the lowest. The cardinal's pui-ple is no protection : Contarini could not now palter with heretics as he used. Morone and Foscarari have seen the inside of the new Lutheran prison beyond Tiber. Even the Cardinal of England has fallen under suspicion : nay, the tribunal of the Inquisition itself has required expurgation ; and lay- men of undoubted orthodoxy have been introduced as judges instead of suspected clerics. Ah ! my friend, there wiU not be a heretic breathing on this side the Alps in five years, if his Holiness works as he is now doing. I only wish he could plant the same all-powerful machinery on the other side.'' Had the heavy brown eyes been a trifle sharper, they might have read in the stranger's face a very unmistaka^ ble dissent from his enthusiasm in favor of the Holy Office ; but the good monk never doubted he was speak- ing to a stanch Catholic Uke himself, — one who could see discrepancies of practice in his spiritual superiors, but never deem them the less worthy of all reverence, or the less infalhble in their ecclesiastical capacity. "You see," continued the talkative Capuchin, "I can't THE ETERNAL CITY. 305 bear those Lutherans. They would take the supremacy fi-om our Rome: no more universal bishop, forsooth! What would become of us all here, I should like to know ? We might shut up half our churches and convents. That's- the great thing with these 'novatori;' and I just wouldn't leave one of them breath to be crowing his blasphemies in our ears, and picking the Church's pockets of her dues." Paschali was with dLflBculty silent : only the strongest sense of the duty of self-preservation restrained his speech. Negrino, who feared that his ardor would betray him into imprudent utterance, hastened to inteipose. "And these Lutherans of whom you speak, my friend: have they been numerous in Rome ? " " I should irather say not,'' replied the other with a low laugh ; " though there are accessions most days, brought in from all parts, to that palace of theirs, beyond the Tiber, whereof I spoke anon, and which our present holy father has erected for their accommodation." "Are we likely to see the pope to-day?" inquired Ne- grino when the monk's chuckle ceased. " Oh, yes ! he will come out to give us all his blessing, don't you understand? " and herewith the Capuchin picked from the pouch of a mendicant Franciscan beside him, who was returning home from his morning's work of begging victuals, a portion of bread and meat, and began to eat. The action struck the rude sense of humor in the lookers- on ; and hearty laughter followed the discomforted look of the Franciscan, as he found how involuntarily he had ministered to his brother's need. 26* 306 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Never mind, good Frate: thy pouch is tolerably swol- len yet." "Fasting a meal will do his fat cheeks no harm!" And similar remarks greeted him on every side, till he retreated to rid himself of the bulging provender in the safe repository of his convent. At intervals, these outsiders heard peals of solemn chantings from within ; and wafts of incense through the wide folding-doors visited another sense. At last came forth the center of aU eyes, — Paul the Fourth, — borne in a great gUded chair, beneath a canopy of white satin heavily fringed with bullion ; the old man's bony hand perpetually raised in the benedictory attitude, Hs lips moving Avith benedictory words, but no trace of snule or of blessing on the thin anxious face or in the restless fiery eyes. Whatever this holy father could do in the way of making others happy or blessed, he had certainly kept but little of such enjoyments for himself, to judge by appear- ances. No, not all the ascetic observances of the Theatine Car- dinal (as he was called, because of founding that order), not all the zealous preachings of John Peter Caraffa, not all the bitter bigotry of the Grand Inquisitor, had sufficed to make of Pope Paul the Fourth aught but a misera- ble old man. Disappointed in his schemes of ambition, thwarted in the nearest relations of life by his designing nephews, defeated in every war, he was victorious on one field alone, — the pope against the heretics. Here he had undisputed conquest : here might the malevolence of his spirit legitimately expatiate, and his furious temper find THE ETERNAL CITY. 307 victims for vengeance. No one did more to crush the Reformation in Italy than this man, who had in his early- days sat in the Oratory of Divine Love, with Sadolet, Pole, Contarini, and other men who loved the gospel in its purity. Widely had their paths diverged ; never to meet, we fear, for aU eternity. CHAPTEE XXXV. GENIUS AND I-AITH. ^N old man stands in a sculptor's studio, strik- ing flakes of marble from a block before him with a most decisive chisel. Three figures of a group are already sketched, and he is at work on the fourth. A dead Christ, supported by the sorrowing mother, forms the chief of these. The former is partially elaborated; and a weight of deathliness has been infused from the artist's vivid conceptions into those marble limbs, which is to this day, in the duplicate group, the wonder of all beholdera, where the statues remain behind the great altar of the Cathedral of Florence. The other figures are much less finished. The sculptor is now outhning a standing N"ico- demus. His chisel-strokes are so vehement, — though the arm wielding that mallet is now eighty-three years old! — that the spectator trembles for the roughness of each blow, lest the design be injured by the great fragments which fall away ; but the impetuous sculptor sees through the shapeless marble his idea, and is merely knocking away the dead matter that imprisons it. 808 GENIUS AND FAITB. 309 Francesco paused on the threshold of Michael Angelo's studio, and beheld the scene. So engrossed was the re- nowned workman, that he did not hear the entrance : with knitted brows, and concentrated expression of face, he continued to strike and to ruminate, until his servant Antonio, drawing near, announced a messenger from the Duchess of Ferrara. Then the full piercing glance of those blue-gray, deep- set eyes suddenly fell on the visitor ; a most kingly face and form, bearing some natural command in both, born of inextinguishable self-reliance and self-knowledge. Fran- cesco approached the greatest artist of the age with the reverence due to his genius, and presented him with the letter from her Highness of Ferrara. While it was being read, he had leisure to look about him in this sanctuary of art. A model of the cupola of St. Peter's stood on a table; plans of the building lay about : unfinished statues abound- ed. For such was the impetuous eagerness of the great sculptor, that he frequently grew impatient with the slow development of his ideal from the dull marble ; and some la,ter-born thought would usurp possession of his brain, which he must forthwith strive to evolve into actual shape and solidity. Hence the number of unfinished works which remain to attest the unexampled fecundity of Mi- chael Angelo's imagination. - "Eh, signor, you admire that?" said the garrulous and familiar Antonio in an undertone, while he glanced toward his ma^er, and signaled the stranger Avith his thumb to 310 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN Il'ALY. draw nearer. "'Tis a rare design; but you should see the original that he gaye me ! The .Signer Tiberio CaU- agni — you know him, a Florentine sculptor? He has it now, giving me two hundred.gold crowns for my right. Of course, signer, the seudi were of more use to a poor man than the statue ; yet, for all, I did not quite like to sell it. My master intended it for his own tomb first ; but he grew tired of it, and the marble had a blemish which provoked him mightily every day. At last, striv- ing to finish the whole afiair in a hurry, he unfortunately struck a bit off the Madonna's elbow; and I think he would have smashed up the whole group in his vexation, if I had not begged him to give it me just as it was. Then Signer Tiberio, who had been longing to possess some work of art from my master's hand, persuaded me to let him have it for the two hundred crowns ; and my master has promised me the use of his models for its re- pair. This is the same subject, but smaller in size. My master just amuses himself with sculpturing it, as you saw him new : but he can not work long at a time ; age comes en him apace." And the voice of the faithftil servant dropped still lower, as he looked toward the spare snoy- crowned figure of the master concerning whom he was so proud. "And this?" ventured Francesco, seeing the still ab- stracted gaze of Michael Angelo upon his letter. « This, signer, is a model of the restoration of the fa- mous terse of the Belvidere^ — Hercules reposing from his labors, do you see ? My master amuses himself with GENIUS AND FAITH. 311 such trifles, signor : he has not the heart nor the muscle for large labors now, more especially since Urbino died. Urbino was my predecessor, signor : my master loved him greatly, and grieved much for him after twenty-six years living together. He has an incomparable heart, has my master!" "♦ Michael Angelo seemed suddenly to rouse himself from a reverie. He walked quickly across the room to another chamber beyond, and returned in a few minutes with a large cartoon in his hand, which presented the outlines of a very beautiful face, and a figure half length, — the fea- tures of rich Roman type, and exceeding purity of line : calm, full eyes ; classic nostril ; soft, crimson lips ; and light golden hair, in great folds of plaiting and waves around the head, beneath a heavy antique ornament Uke a half helmet. "Ah! " explairned Michael Angelo, setting his drawing in a good light against the wall, " hast thou ever seen face like that, young man ? " Never, might Francesco safely affirm, as he gazed at that peerless beauty. " Her Highness , the duchess is good enough to ask me for a picture of the illustrious Marchesa di Pescara, — she who is best known, perhaps, by her name of the ' divine Vittoria Colonna.' I have nothing but this sketch ; yet, if a man so old as I am may talk of time or opportunity, I shall endeavor to complete from it a portrait worthy of the subject and the person for whom it is destined. Thou art not going hack, to Fen-ara immediately?" 312 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ]!To : the young physician had business in Naples. "My good Antonio, thou mayest go." So the servant, who had busied himself in grinding colors at a little dis- tance from the conversation, left the studio. " Thou art no mere courier, signor, — of that thine air and gait would inform me ; but this letter teUs somewhat more. , We are in Rome, so can not speak plainly : yet I will say so far as that, thou seest a like believer in Michael Angelo Buona- rotti ; and, in what thou needest, command my help." Francesco clagped the aged hand which had executed the world's wonders of art, yet was dearer to him as the hand of one who trusted in the same Saviour than as a hand which princes had pressed in deference : he kissed it fervently, — an Italian action of reverential respect from man to man. " Most noble signor, I thank thee." " Yes," said the great artist, turning again toward the portrait of his illustrious friend : " she it was who led me to the truth, and taught me the path to heaven. I pre- sented to her 'the blank page of a troubled mind;' and on it she wrote for me the highest knowledge, — the knowl- edge that brings eternal life. She was my spiritual guide : she held up before me the one solution for all my doubts and fears, in the faith of the most blessed Christ. Ought I not to be grateful to her memory? She has helped me to be new-born, — to be remodeled for eternity." • A minute's gazing at the magnificent features, grandly calm. " Beautiful as her soul," observed Michael Angelo : " never was fairer spirit shrined in fairer form." * See the sonnets of Michael Angelo. GENIUS AND FAITH. 313 " One would scarce think to find a noble lady of her dignity, and among her temptations, heeding the truths of the gospel," said Francesco. " 'Not many mighty, not many noble, are called.' " " Fra Bernardino Ochino was the first who showed her the truth. When her heart was desolate after Pescara's death, and no comfort but the Divine could reach her, his words seemed a balm from heaven; and he set her to search the Holy Scriptures of God, to prove whether his sayings were true, and that the faith of Christ alone could justify. Verily it was good news ! As for me, my soul had for sixty-three years been tossed on seas of doubt be- fore I received that glorious knowledge, and sailed into the haven of everlasting peace. "Well-nigh had I doubted that a religion so full of the foulest corruption as this in Rome could be from God in any wise ; well-nigh had I looked up with the fool, and said, ' There is no God,' or such iniquities could not be done under the sun ! For I remember Borgia pope, young man; and human crime has never farther gone ! " " Even the papacy has been purified to a certain de- gree," said the visitor. " Paul IV. is a vast improvement on Alexander and Leo." "Yes, yes," assented the artist; "but never can the Church agree to the great doctrine of justification by- faith. Don't you see that it would cut away every tem- poral power at a blow? No more purgatory with a golden key; no more sacrifices for the dead; no more be- quests of rich lands to buy salvation after a life of ciime ; 27 314 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. no more papal absolutions nor indulgences ; in fact, vei-y little need of a priesthood. Ah ! no, my friend : this new Council at Trent will condemn justifying faith as the blackest heresy. It can not do otherwise." Just then, a man in the prime of life,_ and richly dressed in courtier's garb, entered the studio, and saluted Michael Angelo with the familiarity of an assured friend. "Ah, my Giorgio ! is it thou ? Hast done any thing to- ward rectifying the mistake which that yarlet of a mason committed in the King of France's chapel at St. Peter's ? How he could make so grave an error in the measure- ments, I know not. My model should have been sufficient guide. See here ; " and he proceeded to explain and com- ment on the fault that had occurred, as lucidly and ener- getically as if but fifty years, instead of eighty, were weighing on his brain. " He believes, I dare Warrant, that Michael Angelo is reaUy in second childhood, as certain detractors have asserted; and thinks he may alter my plans with impunity. I shall show him that it is not so. See, young man ! " turning to Francesco : " they say I am in my dotage : look here ! " He brought him to the half-finished model of the cu- pola which had attracted Francesco's attention previously. "Behold! much of it was executed by this hand. It should be sufficient to prove my continued faculties, think you?" Francesco felt it almost affecting to be thus appealed to by this mighty intellect ag^st detracting suspicions of decay. Hfe bent to inspect the model closely, as well as lio hide a moisture that gathered about his eyes. GENIUS AND FAITH. 315 " Noble Buonarotti, it seemeth to me perfect," he said unfeignedly. " But I am no artist nor engineer." " My Vasari," said Michael Angelo, addressing the new- comer, " hast thou that last sonnet I sent thee but a short time agone"? He would have more skill to judge of words than of "architecture, perchance." And Vasari read for the young man the beautiful lines which have descended to our day, wherein the great sculptor takes adieu of his art, and of imagination, its " idol and monarch ; " wherein he speaks of the two deaths approaching, — "one certain, the other threaten- ing. What can art or imagination do to avert such doom?" " My one sole refuge is that love divine Which from the cross stretched forth its arms to save." * "Methinks that Michael Angelo hath even excelled himself in this sonnet," observed Vasari complaisantly. " There is the ring of the true Petrarch metal therein." "And of a greater than Petrarch!" broke in Francesco. "A celestial hope and faith are uttered, of which Petrarch never dreamed in his loftiest inspirations." "Young men, young men, ye are partial," said the author. " Yet believe me that not my works, which the world is pleased to call mighty efforts of genius, nor my fame, which is great, nor my friends, which are many and dear, are my cherished thought now, or my source of sat- isfaction. Nay, rather do I turn to Him who died upon • Sonnet Ivi., written in Ms eighty-third year. 316 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. that cross; and straightway my soul, 'like a frail bark 'scaped from fierce storms of wrath, glides into a placid sea of peace.' * Before I knew the ftdlness of Christ's pardon, I scarce thought that even Divine Love could overlook my countless sins ; but now the priceless value of his blood has taught me that ' measureless as his pains for us is his mercy for us, most blessed Christ ! ' " f The reader of Michael Angelo's sonnets at the present day is amazed to find that this great man, who dwelt in the antechamber of popes, and devised gorgeous accesso- ries for Roman worship, and devoted his highest science to the erection of the noblest Roman cathedral, yet held doctrines as Protestant as Luther or Zwingle, and was at heart a humble, earnest believer in Jesus, and not in the sacred mummeries which daily surrounded him. Thus did the Lord God choose his own people from the most unlikely positions, and seal them his own till the day of his appearing. Vasari, who is chiefly renowned in the nineteenth cen- tury as the Boswell to this greater than Johnson, pres- ently brought forward a plan of some apartments in the ducal palace at Florence, on which he was then engaged as architect and fresco-painter. Francesco shortly took his leave. He had thus executed the Duchess Rente's last commission in Rome, and was at liberty to proceed on his jomney southward. * Sonnet sUz. t Sonnet 1, CHAPTER XXXVI. A CLEFT IN A EOCK. ONG lines of tapers blinking feebly to the noonday sun, and dropping wax about as they leaned hither and thither in uncertain hands ; crucifixes seeming top-heavy, and borne at va- rious angles ; a path beautifully flower-strewn, embroidered with patterns of colored blossoms, crushed at every step of the crowd ; an image lifted above all, — the perpetual Madonna, smiling feebly with scarlet lips and pink cheeks and staring eyes ; copes and cowls in abundance on the central line of the pro- cession, — all winding through a long street of lava-built houses in the little town of Ariccia. Had the pagans of Horace's time, who worshiped Diana on the same spot, glanced aci-oss the centuries, and seen this procession to honor the Virgin Mary, they could scarce believe but it was their own goddess-adoration still walking the earth, a little modernized, but essentially the same. " My httle heart," quoth Paschali to a chUd by the way- side, as the procession drew nigh along the flower-strewn road, " what great day is this, that the images are shown forth?" 27* 317 318 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. The child looked up at the tall, bearded figure, without reply : her skirt was fuU of the roseate-purplish cyclamen, which she strewed into oei"tain chalked marks on the path. Others were similarly engaged with baskets of blossoms; and so the many-colored mosaic of flowers grew before the feet of the procession, and behind them was a crushed, shapeless mass. " Knowest thou not the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross?" said an old monk, who stood aside, and seemed to superintend the carpeting of the road. "Me- thinks, friend, thou hast paid but small attention to the festivals of our holy Church, or thou needest not have asked. Come here, mia figlia, and lay a bordering of that golden broom-blossom along the edge of this cyclamen. These two little damsels, my son," he added, addressing Paschaliagain," are most highly honored of our Lady; for they have so well behaved themselves by her favor, as to be chosen to represent the blessed Santa Anna and the Madonna on the last festa in Ariccia." Then Paschali noticed, that, instead of a garland round her hair, the little girl with the cyclamen wore a gilded coronet, and that the small head was held erect with somewhat of an elated au-. Could the child forget that lately she had been seated on a throne before the high altar, as representative of the queen of heaven ; and that a whole congregation had bowed before her, and done her reverence ? It was a lesson of self-importance and of idolatry not easily obliterated. " Come away down this by-street," said Negrino, who A CLEFT IN A ROCK. 319 did not desire to attract suspicion by an ostentatious re- fusal of obeisance as the procession passed. " Perchance there is some outlet for getting on the Naples road more quickly than if we waited till this path be clear." So, just as the foremost taper-carriers approached, our tliree travelers dived down a narrow passage between the lava-built houses skirting the main streets at the back. Emerging lower down on the bill which the town crests, before them stretched along the horizon the wide blue expanse of the Mediterranean; and the land was all diver- sified with hill and vale and wood between. "Again thou didst tremble for my headstrong zeal, amico mio," said Paschali to his brother pastor, Negrino. " Yet I am well assured, that, at a pinch, thou wouldst be as steadfast in not bowing the knee to the idol as I would be.".. The other smiled. " I hope so," he said. " But my body belongs to my Master, as well as my soul ; and I am desirous to work for him so long as I can, knowing that he does not wish me rashly to destroy any of his good gifts. It seemeth to me that we can glorify the most blessed Christ, and do injuiy to the kingdom of Satan, at this pres- ent time, more by our life than by our death, my Paschali." " Hear him, arguing with rue as with a being devoid of the first principle of self-preservation ! " quoth the Pied- montese, turning toward Francesco. "Ah! my friend, thou knowest I have too many reasons to wish for both long hfe and quiet life," he added, with a touch of mourn- fulness in his voice, as his thoughts went back to the 320 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. lonely maiden in Geneva, — a reflex of some of her con- tinual thoughts of him. " But, as I was saying before we met the procession," quoth Negrino, taking up the thread of foimer discourse, " the characteristic of this present Reformation is its union of science and piety. The enlightened and educated of the earth are its great promoters, and it has repaid their attachment by a Christianizing influence on the learning of the age. I doubt not but Italy would drift back into paganism, except for the renovation of religion conse- quent on the study of the Sacred Scriptures." "It is strange how the modern tongues have been brought into use by the same movement!" remarked Francesco. " The appeal of the reformers to the people necessitated the speaking in the popular languages, and not in Latin or Greek, which is understood only by learned men. Luther wrote in German : Ochiao can only utter or write Italian! It is a sign of the times." "Yes, a symptom that the renovation of religiqn pro- ceeds now from no limited sect or narrow clique, but from the powerful people." "More so in Germany than in Italy, I should say," ob- served Francesco. " I see no fewer processions than ever, nor are the churches less crowded. I fear that with us the Reformation is rather among the upper ranks." " It was fashionable to be a free-thinker before it be- came a dangerous amusement," said Negrino. "Prm- cesses and cardinals do not easily lay down their honors and go to prison : they have not the sturdy grasp of aty. A CLEFT IN A ROCK. 321 common men and Tvomen upon truth and faitli. Yet me- thinks Contarini could have made a martyr." " AU believers need that stamp upon them )w, when a Caraffa wears the tiara," observed Paschali, his face, set sternly. "As for me, I expect none other fate. Nay, what do I say? I look for none other crown of rejoicing." Some days of slow pedestrian march elapsed before they reached Naples. " Vedi Napoli, e poi muori ! " — " See Naples, and die ! " ^ is the vainglorious proverb of its citizens ; and truly God has showered a rich dower of beauty on the southern capital of Italy. But in no splen- did villa or palazzo set in gorgeous scenery did our trio of travelers, find repose. Negrino, who waiS a Vaudqis "barbe,"or itinerant pastor, and had been thisiroad before on a Calabiian mission, knew that the brethren who would receive them in Naples were poor and obscure, hiding lit- erally in the rocks. He guided his cc-mpanioBS to, a certain outlet of the town, where were prenpitauig mural cliffs, perhaps the relic of an ancient sea-bfcach. Little shops, were ranged along beneath : at one, th&t of a fruit-seller, he pausjed. The old woman was in,tent on arran^g a fresh batch of blood-oranges among their green leavoa temptingly. Negrino put his, hajod on the brown wrinkled lingers with a friendly pressure. She looked wp quickly,, sha,diw^ her eyes from the, sun-glare. " What, signer ! Thou art wen-ome to pof^r oiA Clar-, ic%'% Ismm- N*y, .qQ«« ifl: <^va^ te J^ BS*"**? geBtsJo- 322 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. men : I have a chamber for ye all, an ye be the right sort, as I guess by your company. Gian, stay by the fruit-bas- kets till I return;" ■which, aside, was addressed to a chubby grandchild, who looked far more ready to eat the figs and oranges than to take care of them. " Here, gentlemen, — here is the chamber where Mon- signor Valdez hath often held his meetings, when poor old Clarice was a younger woman by twenty years : thou knowest it of old, Messer Negiino ; and, for that it hath been put to holy uses, no common traveler lodges therein. Enter, gentlemen, — enter in the name of the blessed 'Vangelo, which we all love ; and I will have somewhat for your repast presently." The room was excavated from the precipitous rock, and was reached by a flight of steps similarly cut out. Two or three other such apartments, but darker and smaller, com- posed the fruit-seUer's whole house. " Clarice is an old disciple," Observed Negiiao. " She hath kept on the even course of her profession for thirty years, as I have heard, since the gospel was first preached in Naples; and her fearlessness seems to prosper. She hath never had the persecution, one might think ; yet I doubt if she hath sheltered herself beneath any com- pliances." "Ah! my friend, the bold policy is not always the worst, thou seest," said Paschali. " ' He giveth his angels charge : ' no servant of God can perish till his Master's work be ended." " CJarice," asked Negrino, while the old woman bustled A CLEFT IN A ROCK. 323 about preparing their meal, " we were wondering how it came to pass that you have been preserved to this day in peace and safety, with the Inquisition abroad." " Ah ! signor, that's just as it should be ; through the good hand of the great Lord taking care of me. Perhaps they don't think a poor old woman of my sort worth burning, or shutting up in prison : perhaps they never re- member me at all. In either way, it's just the doing of the good Lord ; and I am not afraid, signor, — not afraid but he will take care of his poor servant to the end. I was in the hands of the sbirri once, signor : but the good Lord saved me ; and I was sent back the same day to my little shop, and didn't lose as much as an orange by the business. Hey, Gian, what's that ? " For the little guardian of the baskets called his grand- mother on appearance of a customer. Having received many kisses and blessings for his faithfulness, he was con- tinued in office after the sale was effected; and Dame Clarice i-eturned to her guests. "Ay, this is a blessed chamber," began the garrulous Neapolitan afresh. " Many a time have I seen the holy signer Valdez sit where you sit now, signor, and hold dis- course over the blessed gospel-book with the most rever- end Fra Pietro Martire, the Frate MoUio, and others:- nay, we had the Fra Bernardin here more than once. Ohim^! alas! those are old times now, and the Word is nigh extinct in Naples. 'Tis hard for a poor body to get along ; but there's the same most blessed Christ in heaven ; and he never changes, never grows old." CHAPTER XXXVII. JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. , LD Clarice the fruit-seller was bent on show- ing her best hospitality to the strangers, for the sake of the common faith. Stefano Ne- grino was a former acqi^aintance, having trav- eled this way before on a mission to the Ca- labrian Christians : for, as a Yaudois " barbe," or pastor, his duty called him to go whither the synod sent him; and thus the colonies were minis- tered unto in spiritual things by itinerant teachers com- missioned from the Valleys. He sat at the small window, whose wooden sliutter was drawn back for light's sake, and looked out on the little open-ail" shops in the street, and on the changeful tide of people flowing past. Naples was just rousing from its si- lent hours of siesta : the lazzaroni were stretching their great drowsy lengths in shades of porches and arcades, waking from the delicious oblivion of sleep to the want of macaroni : even the wide, cool churches had been ten- anted by many a slamberer ; while tl^e fierce sun burned external nature with almost tropical glow, compelling lan- guor and repose to all things animate. 324 JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. 325 Negrino turned from the window with an audible moan, after a few minutes' gaae. The thought which so often visits eariiiest-minded believers in Jesus Christ, and partakers of his great salvation, whe» they behold heedless multitudes treading the common ways of life, crowding the thoroughfares of busi^vess or pleasure,— "How is it with the souls of all these? how fare these oh the journey for eternity ?" — had entered the pastor's heart, and smote his spiritual sensibilities to the quick. Ay, he felt that he could offer his body to be burned on the grand piazza of the heedless city, if only such a sacri- fice might stir the souls of its thousands, and set them, in the road to eternal life. " Once it bid fair for reformation," he murmured i "but, the movement is stifled ere this, and Naples' day of grace is past. Good sister," he added aloud to old Clarioei "have our Mends any meeting-place now, as in times gone by ? " "Alas!" was the reply, "save a gathering here, or m some poor brother's upper room, we dare not assemble regularly to worship the Lord. A great many of them have gone back, signor ; affiighted, doubtless, at the cruel rage of the adversary. Ah ! gentlemen, how different was it in the days of my mistress, the most illustrious signora, Giula Gonzaga, when I have seen the noblest dames, apd docto;:s of Naples 9,11 assembled to study the sacred Word!" " Wert thou then," asked Paschali with interest, " ap- pertaining tq the hQUiehold ojftjiat celebrated lady?" 326 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Ay, was I, signer ; and there I learned the truth, which has become a part of my own soul : for meetings were held in my lady's private chambers, to which sometimes her servitors were admitted, when any learned man was to edify by preaching the Word. Whom have I not seen there, among the noble and the good of Naples? And how beautiful was she herself, my most illustrious fnis- tress ! Those two ladies, sisters-in-law likewise, were like angels come down from heaven, more lovely than any man had ever beheld, — the Marchesa di Pescara and my mistress. Often have I seen them sitting humbly side by Bide, with a volume of the Gospel-book, the 'Vangelo, be- tween them, while some learned doctor expounded it in their hearing. She had the most golden hair that ever . was seen, had the Marchesa Vittoria ; but verily you could not tell which of the twain was the lovelier, my mistress or she. And they were as good as they were beautiful, and loved each other exceeding much ; though they loved our Saviour Christ more than all things. Ah ! most blessed days were those ! But poor old Clarice is left almost a sole relic in Naples ; for they are all dead or gone. I'm like a withered cluster of last year's grapes on a blasted vine, signor ! Well, pazienza ! the good Lord won't forget poor old Clarice, when his time comes." Attending them during supper, and by no means to be persuaded to partake of the meal, she had more to say of her remembrances on the same subject. Twenty-two 3'ears before, the Refoi-med doctrines had found in Naples Bome of their warmest supporters throughout Italy. A JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. 327 band of earnest believers quickly gathered round Juan Valdez, a highly born and intellectual Spaniard ; who, in- trusted with a German embassy by Charles the Fifth, had in Germany found the turning-point of his life, when he read the writings of Luther, and felt the truths therein contained brought home to his heart by the Divine Spirit. Coining to Naples as secretary to the viceroy, and con- scious in himself that he was a saved man through the^ belief of Christ, he could not rest satisfied without impart- ing this life-giviQg faith to others; and the distinctive doctrines of justification , by faith, and sanctification by the Spirit, were received among the noble and the highly educated before the dark suspicion of heresy had visited Valdez. He had extraordinary influence, from his position and his talents, with those of the highest rank ; and this power he used for his soul's Master, without ceasing; and the more efficaciously, in that he wore no ecclesiastical frock, nor ever arrogated to himself the office of preacher. But he was a close, careful Bible-student ; and his whole conduct was permeated with the piety thence drawn : his eloquence of conversation and elegance of manner were pressed also into the service of his Lord. Men saw that he lived the truths which he professed; and the beauty of his example drew forth many inquirers to ask after "the more excellent way" in which Juan Valdez was walking. Old Clarice remembered that spare, slender figure well, which seemed always in infirm health, yet always beam- ing with intellect and heart-happiness. It was the center 328 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. of every gathering of the Reformed in Naples for man • year. She had seen it surrounded by such learners « Peter Martyr, Camesecchi, Marc Antonio Plaminio (the greatest Latinist of his age), Giula Gonzaga, and Vittoria Colonna. The honest fruit-aeller comprehended not the full significance of such names ; but she knew that they were of the world's great ones : and many besides poor Clarice were attracted by the brilliancy of the clique,, who in time of temptation and persecution fell away, because they had no deepness of earth. " But, gentlemen, I was forgetting" — and away bustled the old woman to the crevice in her cavern home which acted as her cellar, the cool storage-place for fruits and flowers over-night. " Gentlemen, here's some of the best wine of Naples, from the black volcanic grape which is so much esteemed. Ecco ! 'tis, almost thick : they call it mangiaguerra. You've no such wine in the north, sig- ner." But she thought that they did not at all do. justice to her precious beverage in the small quantity each used. " These are no times for fleshly delights, such as eating and drinking beyond what we need for mere sustainment of our bodily strength," observed the ascetic PaschaU in answer to her remonstrance. "Good sister, be not like Martha in the 'Vangelo, who. was cumbered about much serving." "And if the honest woman had a house and guests, as I have, it was all very, natural and proper that she should be desirous to serve them," cyied old Claiice, her hous,^- JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. 329 ■wifely instincts rising. *'And thou, young signer, hast had never a roof of thine own, or thou wouldst understand her better." PaschaU made no reply ; but a glance of Negrino's as- sured the latter that his companion was carried back in thought to the fair betrothed in Geneva, the maiden with whom he had hoped one day to share a home. The young man arose, and walked quickly to the unshuttered opening which served for a window. How would the old hostess's heart have yearned over him with the true in- stincts of woman, — whose compassion is deep for such things, — had she guessed how matters stood with that fine soldierly fellow! As it was, she felt somewhat af- fronted, and put up her wine with an offended air. The two pastors had some business with a certain Nea- pohtan who carried on the trade of a goldsmith in one of the most populous streets. To him they had letters equiv- alent to money, which it behooved them to cash before proceeding farther on their journey. The man had been a Valdesian once, but had taken the safe line of outward conformity to the Romish Church of late years, " Better to bend, and avoid the storm, than let it sweep me away altogether," he remarked, as he gathered from a drawer the golden ducats which were value for the dingy uncommercial-looking bit of paper that Fegrino had given him. "'Tis pity," said he, lingeringly toying with the coins, and glancing again half dubiously at the bit of paper, — "'tis pity to trust such good gold with you, mes- ser, on a dangerous errand. Could you not leave even 28* 330 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. a portion in my safe keeping? I'll give thee wan-ant for it." "Why, man," quoth Negrino, "it is naught but affection for the very metal thou hast, or thou wouldst consider that the exchange letter amply pays thee for thy trouble. Ah ! my fiiend, now I comprehend how thy former faith has waned so as to scandalize thy brethren." The citizen minutely scanned the order again with a darkened face. Reproof was no sweeter to him than to any other man. He commenced paying out the money slowly. " But, fi-iend, art thou not returning after a time ? Would it not be well to leave some of this gold in safe hands?" No great sum was it, after all: Negrino took every ducat into his broad leathern purse. " We would not be burdensome on the churches," he observed ; " although he who serves the altar should live of the altar. And Cala- bria is no such unsafe place, unless the sbirri of the Inqui- sition penetrate therein," he added. The citizen visibly shuddered as he locked his till, more from apprehension for his dear-loved money than for him- self. Yet some old feeling of clanship moved him toward the pastors. " Come,'' he said, " and rest a while, if ye have no further business ; come in and sup with my fam- ily. I am glad to see friends of such nature ; and truly we are not much troubled with them in these days." The goldsmith's house was a fine one, and overlooked the wide, blue bay of Naples ; concerning whose beauties, pairters and poets have gone wild for expression these JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. 331 two centuries past. Opposite rose its distinctive feature, the dread volcano, which by day wafts a faint smoke into the blue heavens, gentle as the breathing of a censer's incense, and by night shows its brow frowned over by a black cloud, and ftirrowed oftentimes with fire. The broad road between the houses and the water's edge was peopled with an ever-passing throng; and the highway of the sea was gay with vessels, from the latteen-sailed felucca to the armed galley of Spain. Truly a fair scene, as well under the iron government of Alva as under the tyranny of the last Italian Bourljon. Our three travelers needed not to sup again ; but Ne- grino had desired converse with the goldsmith, and em- braced the opportunity afforded by the social board. The latter was a gray-haired man, probably co-eval with the century. His shifting eyes and hard-set mouth were a good index to his character. Yet deep in his soul lay the conviction of the truth of the doctrines which once he had openly professed, while Religion walked in her silver slippers ; and the double-dealing of his life brought its own punishment of inquietude and unhappiness in its train. "Does not the Marchese di Vico dwell somewhere near?" asked Negrino. "Methinks his palazzo is on the bay, as well as I remember." "Ah I yes," replied the citizen; "but farther on some distance, — a very noble residence : but he takes no pleas- ure in aught since he is so angered with his son." A light broke on Negrino's countenance. "Galeazzo Caraccioli hath indeed chosen the better part, and counted 332 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ' the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,'" he observed, smiling. "He hath seen 'the recompense of the reward ' by faith, and deems it worth some little endurance." "Well, well, there's reason in all things," rejoined the time-serving citizen ; " and, when a man is born to a great inheritance, I see not why he should willingly put himself on equality with those who are bom to nothing but hard work." "There's one answer to it all, my friend, — 'For Christ's sake ! ' The noble young marquis knows that he can not bear too much for Him who died to save his soul. Thou didst know Caraccioli at Geneva, my brother ? " This he said to Paschali, who answered in the affii-ma- tive. " He is among the refugees in most consideration, so that to him Ca^yin has dedicated a Commentary ; yet he has laid aside his title, and lives as simply as any barbe of the VaUeys, without the least pretension." "And now, with his relative Caraffa on the papal throne, he might hope for any reward, were he to give up the faith," remarked Negiino. " That was one of the bribes held out to tempt him, when some time sinee his father had an interview with him at Mantua; but finding him inflexible to prayers, and considerations of interest, the old man ended by cursing him heartily, and loading him with the bitterest re- proaches." "Ay, he has proved Jmnself a good soldier," was Ne- gjiino's observation. JUAN VALDEZ AND HIS SCHOOL. 333 "But his hardest trial of all," said Paschali, "was when his wife, whom he tenderly loved, wrote to him, naming a place of meeting, where she could propound to him cer- tain scruples of conscience ; and when, at the risk of his life, he reached the Castle of Vico, where his whole family- were assembled, he found that the said scruples were artful insinuations of her confessor, that she ought to iivorce herself from a heretic. Even this did not move jhe young man's steadfastness ; nor the tears and caresses i*f his little children, nor the entreaties of his aged father, renewed with importunity. No : he could not falsify his 'faith for the dearest relationships on earth combined! He came back, looking haggard and worn from the effects of this fiery trial. And what is mine to his?" added Paschali mentally. "Another star in Valdez' crown of rejoicing," said Ne- grino, his eyes on the distant altar-fire of the volcano. "'Whoso leaveth wife and children and houses and lands, for my sake and the gospel's,' saith Christ, ' shall receive a hundred-fold.' " " It is well for those to whom grace is given," quoth the worthy citizen, who had Budgeted a little during the story of Caraccioli. And when, later in the evening, his guests rose to depart, he drew Kegrino aside, and be- sought him once more to reflect whether the sum he was carrying in solid gold were not better left in surety tUl matters were somewhat more settled: "For they say," added the goldsmith, " that, whensoever Alva succeeds in erecting his Spanish Inquisition here, the first onslaught 334: FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. will be on that very Calabrian territory whereunto yon are bound; and then, signer" — shrugging his shoulders expressively, as if to signify a universal deluge, in which gold-pieces must needs be irrecoverably swallowed up. "Amico mio, I had trouble to keep thy patrimony from his hands," said Negrino to Francesco Altiefi, as they proceeded to old Clarice's cavern-quarters for the night. For the major part of the gold belonged to Francesco, and was intended for investment in some fields and house where he might prepare a home for his wife. He had not been re-assured by the goldsmith's last statement ; but it only proved a fresh anxiety to cast upon his strong Sa- viour. What he would have done many a time, but for that mighty refuge and help, what worldly men did always without it amid the turmoils and uncertainties of this troublesome life, he could not tell. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE CALABRIAJSr COLONIES. I HE monastery bells from the Lights were toll- ^^^^^ ing the Ave Maria, soothingly floated down ^^^^^^ the chimes through the still evening air ; and "^^ aU men paused in their work or their pleas- ure, whatever it might be, to utter the un- meaning prayer which was, in their habit, indissolubly connected with those evening bells. The goat-herd stood still in his lounging march homeward ; the peasant with the buffalo cart made the sign of the cross, and muttered ; the housewife laid down her spindle for a minute ; and Italy was wrapped in brief, idolatrous devotion, from the Alps to the Straits of Mes- sina. Scarcely a whit more idolatrous had it been the glory of the sinking sun which they adored, as away the orb subsided from sight, settling down, Uke a red wreck, into the great Mediterranean Sea. Through the mouth of the valley that pageant could be seen, where the spurs of the Southern Apennines stood apart, to admit cool, salt breezes into the heart of a hot laud. But all in that glen 336 336 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. did not ■worship when the monastery chimes came float- ing down so musically from the hights. Certain cottages there were, where dwelt men of doubtftil opinions, but of undoubted character; men seldom seen at mass or con- fession, but always seen when a sick neighbor needed help, or some righteous work for public weal required to be done ; men whom monk and priest hated, except for the fat tithes, the best in the district, paid regularly from their farms, yet who were loved by the peasantry about them for their kindliness and good-wiU. This contrariety between heretical faith and most Christian practice had sorely confounded others than the illiterate farmers of Calabria. " If you ask what is its manner of life,'' wrote St. Bernard, " nothing is more irreproachable. The Vau- dois heretic strikes no one, defends no one; does not exalt himself above any one. Fastings render him pale : he does not eat the bread of idleness, but labors with his own hands for a hvehhood." And an archbishop of Turin had testified, " They are without blame among men ; ap- plying themselves with all their power to the observance of the commandments of God." Our travelers, with the bright sunset before aUuded to, had reached the outskirts of the Vaudois settlements. But they were anxious to attain San Sesto before resting , if possible ; and pushed on through the waning many- colored light, and through the beautiful landscape of wood and hill and fertile valley, where the air was laden with luxurious perfume from the orange-blossom and from hedges of sweet myrtle ; and for treble to the grand THE CALABRIAN COLONIES. 337 bass diapason of the not distant surge was the shrill mu- sical monotone of the cicala in the long grass, and the notes of some of the latest-waking birds in the copse. How lovely was every scene ! how peaceful ! Francesco's heart beat with throbs of joy to think of Bianca's hap- piness here, if their heavenly Father so willed it. The twUight was not long : before Francesco had ceased from the thought of Bianca, night had descended upon the glowing world, and troops of stars rushed forth into the purple vault above. Simultaneously, troops of other stars seemed to kindle on the earth ; myriads of brilliant , atoms flitted about, an evanescent illumination of all dark places. Never had our northerns seen fireflies so numer- ous and dazzling. They could scarcely "weary of admira- tion; for, in this land, night seemed jocund as day. A mass of dark, mysterious woods girded the road almost to the dwellings of San Sesto. Primeval forest/ and marsh, according to JSTegrino : "A retreat for om- four thousand," quoth he, "should ever — which God forbid! — persecution set its iron front in our territory." The Nea- politan's words had perhaps helped him to a foreboding. "And the colony amounts to four thousand?" said Francesco. "A strong body, especially of such men as our Vaudois. Methinks even Philip's government would hesitate ere it lent sanction to the oppression of so many good subjects and citizens." "Ah! but see you not," returned Negrino, "that thfe Church has no such scruples. Its officers are the most •pitiless men aliv^, — men in whom every feeling of com- 338 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. passion and brotherliness has been stifled by their unnat- ural life, devoid of hallowing domestic ties. But evil is sufficient for its own day," he added more cheerfully. "Not a hair of our head can perish without our Father. Come, my brothers, let us sing the ' Hymn of the Cross.' " And the three voices, on the skirts of the dark forest, raised the sweet words of Savonarola : — " Jesu, 9ommo conforto, Tu eel tutto il mio amore, E'l mlo beato porto, E santo Redentore I O gran bontiil dolce pietkl Felice quel che teco unlto stal " "Tes, happy the soul united unto thee!" reiterated Negrino, pausing in the chant. "My brothers, in the strength of .this, shall we not face any woe, knowing that Ufe or death can not separate us from the love of Christ?" The hymn, heard distinctly by the dwellers in San Sesto, was recognized ere the singers had ended it, and reached the first houses of the little town. Negrino threaded his way with the assured step of one familiar to the place, unheeding the curiosity of people that turned out of their cottages to look at the strangers as the bright moonlight revealed them, until he came to a small habitation close by a large one. And here, opening the door without preliminary, he was in the presence of a family at supper. The father rose up inquiringly; but, ifter a steady glance, he embraced th6 forenrost of the THE CALABRIAN COLONIES. 339 three. "My brother! — thou hast returned! Thou art a thousand times welcome." " And I have bj-ought thee a new pastor," said Negrino, introducing Paschali, — "a pastor that shall abide to feed the flock, and that is fearless as any mountain eagle in his defense of truth," he added. The younger man smiled, perhaps a little sadly, at the commendation. The Vaudois schoolmaster looked nar- rowly at his countenance as he grasped his hand : then, as if satisfied with the inspection, he wrung it again, cor- dially. " Welcome, in thy Master's name." Wife and children were meanwhile busy adding to the repast for the strangers : an uncut goat's-milk cheese was produced, more maize-cakes put on the table, some Cala- briari wine drawn from their small stores. Chestnuts and olives brought them to their limit of variety; and the good woman secretly wished she had only known of the guests beforehand: she might have procured grapes, or even baked fresh maize-cakes, instead of these stale, crus- ty things. She was soon easy on the subject ; for two of the new arrivals seemed not to. know what they were eating, and engrossed her husband so much, that he was nigh as ab- stinent as themselves. Francesco, who was not quite so sublimated, won her heart by his attention to the cheese and cakes, accompanied with certain laudatory words. Supper was scarce over, when neighbors began to drop in ; and soon the news spread like wild-fii-e through the adjoining streets, that the new pastor had come for whom 340 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Marco d'Asceglo had been sent, — tbg Genevese ordained preacher, who was to dwell among them, and set all right which had hitherto been wrong in theip discipline or doc- trine. Paschali was nothing loth to begin his ministerial work that very hour. To as many as the small house would hold, and as many as could hear his words through the open door, he preached a full and clear gospel. He spared not that which he considered their sinM compli- ances for safety's sake. "You have forgotten that you should confess Christ's name ; and remember you not, O deluded people ! that whoso confesseth not Christ upon earth shall be denied by him before his Father and the holy angels? Certainly ye are not alone in this backsliding. There be some in our valleys of the Alps who carry with them certificates that they be genuine papists, and have their children bap- tized by priests with all the mummeries of superstition ; ay, and go to the so-called sacrifice of the mass, openly bowing the knee to Baal, that they may be seen of men ; and they excuse themselves — verily a fancied excuse ! — by saying secretly when they enter the mass-house, ' Cave of robbers, may God confound thee ! ' I have heard that similar practices extend even here. My brethren, such duplicity is intolerable to the righteous Lord. Think you that he wUl not protect the men who range themselves under his banner against Antichrist in the face of all the world ? I tell you, that, if all the devils on earth and in hell were leagued to destroy you, mightier is He that is for you than all that can be against youl Your Father THE CALABRIAN COLONIES. 341 can slieathe the sward and quench the fagot of the per- secutor, if it be his will; and if it he not his will, O servants of Christ ! will there not be a quicker entrance into the joy of your Lord, and a more dazzling crown of glory?" Sobs and moans came from that excitable southern audience : glowing eyes, betokening glowing hearts, met the youthfiil preacher's every look. " I am no smooth man," he said, " and shall speak no smooth words to you, people of my charge. I shall pub- lish the gospel of Christ among you, in this and your other towns, as freely and fearlessly as they do at Gene- va. Circumstances of peril do not alter a pastor's duty. If it were my duty in Switzerland to speak boldly the whole doctrine of my Master, it is no less my duty in Italy, having no fear before mine eyes but that of God." Thus did Paschali enunciate the principles which were to guide his ministry. Strange passionate feelings of re- morse for past dereliction, resolve for future duty, admira- tion of the fearless young man who thus offered himself a mark for all venom-points of hate and persecution, mingled stormily in the breast of many a one in San Sesto that night. A throb of electric courage had passed from his intrepid soul to theirs : a new career of confess- ofship was indeed opening before them. 29* CHAPTER XXXIX. STORM GATHERING FROM THE NORTH. ASOHALI fulfilled the promise of his earliest seiiQon in San Sesto. Nothing could be more uncompromising than his preaching. Through all public places in Calabria, wher- ever descendants of the Vaudois were to be found, there did the young Genevese pastor stand up and declare the gospel of Christ with boldness, fearing no earthly menace. Such zeal is infectious. His exhortations against the sinful compli- ances to which fear had forced his flock were so effectual, that numbers ceased to attend the services of the Romish Church, notwithstanding the suspicion that fell on them forthwith. Par and wide it was reported among the Roman Catholics of Calabria and ApuUa, that a fiery Lutheran had come from the north, utterly to destroy the Church in these provinces. But there seemed no feasible plan for silencing the daring evangeUst as yet. The "Vaudois residents were protected by the most sa- credly stringent conventions, observed by generations of landholders and rulers, which guaranteed them certain 342 STORM GATHERING. 34!» rights of worship, and the possession of theii- own teach ers. "But, my friend," would the gentle Negrino say, "thou needest not to be so vehement, nor to attack the religion of the majority so openly." " Truth requires openness and vehemence," would be PaschaU's reply. " Too long has God's word been spoken with bated breath and fearfulness. Forgettest thou the confession of Angrogna ? If 'twere by nothing but that, I am bound to set my face against all evasions of duty, and every act of dissimulation by which the weak-minded seek to ward off danger. Thou dost remember how that synod adjured all men to practice no more concealment,, but be open in their profession of faith, for the glory of God? And as for my own life, brother, which thou apprehendest may fall a sacrifice, I fear not," added Pas- chah with a sublime smile. " I have given it to God : let him use it as seemeth good in his sight." And the young pastor persisted in denouncing every superstition which came under his view ; would ridicule the ceremonies of dedicating altars or holy places, calling them "feasts of stones;" would openly proclaim that none but God can excommunicate ; that every man in a state of grace has as much power of absolution as the pope himself, for that the only abfolution possible by man is the declaring to the contrite heart the benefit of the death of Jesus Christ our Lord. Other such doctrines, leveling at the root of priestly power, would he proclaim on every occasion, continually fearless of consequences. 344 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Thus a year passed by. Mutterings of storm were heard in the distance ; but the heaven over the Vaudois was as yet serene ; while the other Reformed communi- ties of Italy experienced the full buffetings of persecu- tion. Often did Francesco and his wife (for Bianca had now joined him) congratulate each other on the quiet retreat they had found in these Calabrian vales, where they could worship their God in simplicity and peace. Paschali was a frequent guest in their vine-covered cot- tage, not far from the town of La Gnardia ; which Fran- cesco had chosen for neighborhood, because it was the single fortified place possessed by the colonists, and had been erected pui-posely for defense and refiige on the sea-coast. The first Vaudois had been aided to build it by their feudatory the Marquis of Spinello, who named it from its guardian wall. One blight evening in July, 1559, Bianca was sitting in the little garden which fronted their cottage, waiting foi' the return of her husband from the fields. At her feet, on the grass, nestled a little child of some months old. She looked away toward the concentrated brilliance of the sunset over the sea. A few bands of rose-colored vapor lay about the declining orb ; and away, farther north, was piled a stone-gray mass of cloud, now gilded most beauti- fully on its protuberances, and almost imperceptibly di- lating, climbing, sailing southward. "Hal eccolo! my little bird, my angel! here comes father! Dost see thy father, little one? Look down the slope, mio fanciuUetto ! Ah ! thou seest him : thou shalt STORM GATHERING. 345 run to meet him, little bird ! And the good pastor is with him : nay, frown not at the stranger, mio bambinello, my precious one ! " And caiTying on such running remarks concerning the phases of feeling which she, by an innocent fiction not yet wholly extinct, chose to attribute to her babe, the young mother hastened toward the pair who were slowly ascending the hill. Before reaching them, she saw that some grave business was in hand. Francesco's eyes met hers without the usual smile : he even put by her arm in an abstracted way, and scarce noticed his child. ""She stepped behind into the narrow path, with an undefined sinking at her heart, conscious that the matter must in- deed be important which absorbed her husband's faculties so completely; and the old bugbear of Bianca's Ufe rose before her again, — the very real fiend. Persecution. It was no sentimental terror, this which had overshad- owed her since her early days at Locarno. She had lived in a continual dread and doubt until her removal to Ca- labria, where the extensive tract of country peopled by Protestants, their organization and guaranteed immuni- ties, gave her a sense of security unknown before. And, now, was the old dread to be revived ? Walking after the men in the path, she could overhear such low wgrds as the " marquis our suzerain," " never adverse formerly," "summons to appear at Foscalda," and others like these: whence her woman's wit easily welded the tmth. Suddenly her husband turned round, as if some idea nad struck him; and he took the burden of the child from 346 tROM DAWN TO DARK IN (TALY. her arms. "'Tie too much for thee, up-hill, my Bianca;" and the grave face resumed its talking with Paschali. The Marchese di Spinello summon the Vaudois before him ! Why, he' had always hitherto been friendly : verily it was his interest to be so, seeing that he had no more improving tenants on all his lands than these " oltra-mon- tani," as the Romigh peasantry styled them. No higher or surer rents Were payable throughout the province than they paid. Some dense pressure must have been put on him from without, to induce this seemingly hostile step of a formal citation. And the poor young wife trembled in her very soul as she heard again the dreaded names which had been familiar enough in Ferrara, — the Holy Office, the Inquisition, the Congregation of the Faith. Mysteri- ous and awful powers ! Bianca pressed her hand on her throbbing little heart, which already imagined the worst ; and unspoken words ascended in prayer to God. The child reached forth its chubby hands, with inartic- ulate murmurings of wishfulness, toward a bright knot of crimson gladiolas growing on a crag beside the pathway. The father stopped, and gathered for him the blossom, smiling at his eagerness, and smiling also back at the mother; by which action he became aware of the fear dwelling in her face. Immediately he left Paschali, and drew her arm within his own. "What aileth thee, dear one? Is it this news of the summons before the marquis that affiighteth thee ? Let not thy faith be small, my wife. He who has delivered us from six troubles is not powerless to save us from the seventh." STORM GATBERING. 347 "But tell me, Francesco, — tell me what it is that causeth this sudden change of our lord's demeanor. He ■was wont to be conciliating toward the oltra-montani." A slight contraction grew on her husband's brow. " To tell thee very truth, I know not," was his reply. « It may be but to save appearances with the court of Rome, and that merciless bigot, Philip of Spain, his liege lord and our sovereign. It may be that he is compelled to wear an aspect of austerity against Us which his heart belies ; for, unless the man be a very monster of falsity, he bears us good will, and is thoroughly alive to his own interests in having such tenants as the Vaudois. So put not on thyself the burden of to-morrow, Bianca mia, in addition to what our most blessed God has given us to carry to- day : he has promised strength for the day, dear one, but not strength for the morrow." " Yet the child, the child, Francesco ! " and all the dis- quiet of her heart was expressed in the passionate em- brace which wrapped the boy for a moment : " we might bear persecution for ourselves; but for himP'' Her eyes were fiill of tears. "Tut, tut, thou trembler!" said her husband. "Doth not thy God love him even better than thou ? Canst thou not trust ? The grain of mustard-seed hath more faith than we who call ourselves Christians, and who^rofess to have a more enduring substance in heaven, and a city which hath foundations ! Dishonor not thy Saviour by such doubt, my little one. Perchance thou art conjuring up fears which are but phantoms. It is a very innoceiit 348 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. thing after all, this citation. Paschali is sanguine of a ta- vorable result : if they seek to put us down by contro- versy, no man is more able at the weapons of dialectic discourse than he." The pastor was walking forward, his head erect, with the usual fearless, martial air which he had drawn from nature and training ; perhaps a Uttle pang at his heart as he was conscious of the pair behind him, happy even in this hour of fear that they could trust in one another. And wrenching his mind from that, as many a time he had to do, by reason of the enervation which attends use- less wishings, Paschali grasped the truth of his position now, standiag in the forefront of his four thousand Vau- dois, first to meet whatever storm was coming. His he- roic soul rose to the hight of his great calling, to be an example in all things, not only by word and deedj but also by patience, to those among whom God had made him overseer ; and the thought of divine duty comforted him, as it does all strong souls. When Bianca and the child had passed into the cot- tage, the men lingered a moment outside. The gloi-y of the sunset had all but departed, — only a gold streak oi two lined the edge of the great blue sea ; and the banls. of heavy cloud had stolen onward in its imperceptible march, tflteatening presently to swallow up even the gleam of past light. Amidst it, as they looked at its black folds, burst forth a sheet of pale lightning, wavering for an instant among abysses of the solid vapor, revealing a ■B'orld of menacing bights and gulfs aloft in that cloud- Land. STORM GATHERING. 349 "I fear me, a storm is gathering from the north," ob- served Francesco, looking at his friend with a meaning. Paschali's eyes were now fixed on the rapidly fading gleam in the west. " The light is but overlaid, curtained, not extinguished," was his remark. "God's sun must run its appointed course, and no earth-bom clouds can permanently blot its glory. Amico mio ! let us sing the forty-sixth of David's Psalms ; " and some of the sublime trust therein breathed entered into their souls : — "God is our reftige and strength, a very present help in trouble. " Therefore wiU not we fear, though the earth be re- moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled ; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Ere it was ended, Francesco felt his wife's cheek laid against his arm, and heard her clear voice mingling in the strain. " Be stUl, and know that I am God : I will be exalted in the eartk The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our reftige." Grand words and inspiring, even as we read them here, sitting safely in our protected English homes. But what were those thoughts of divine all-power and guardian care to men and women who thoroughly realized the need of it in the common affairs of life ; who might to-morrow be dragged from their homes to noisome dungeons by a 30 350 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. relentless tyranny; who might end their career on the scaflFold, or by the sword of indiscriminate massacre ? I teU you that the whole Bible was transfigured by such light of possible experience, and its truths were intensified so as we can scarce realize. And for many an hour, during that wild night of tem- pest, did Bianca lie awake, listening and dreading. Through pauses of the blast she could hear the pastor's voice, from his little chamber in the roof: she could dis- tinguish no word, but judged from the earnest tone that it was prayer. And . here lay the secret of Paschali's strength, — in close, constant communion with his God. Like Luther, he wrestled mightily, and prevailed. CHAPTER Xii. THE FOKEETJSTNER OF THE TEMPEST. ASCHALI was thus fitted to be the next morning the animating soul of the body of Vaudois which obeyed the summons of their suzerain, and journeyed toward Foscalda be- fore noontide. • All men of mark among the colonists were there. At their head walked Marco d'Asceg- lio, " the principal man," who had been deputed to obtain them a preacher fi-om Geneva, and whose exertion had gained them Paschali. He and the pastor — Uke-minded in many ways — led the van of the party; though some- times they dropped behind among the others with cheer- ing or strengthening words. " I desire nothing better," said the zealous young pas- tor, "than an opportunity to preach Christ's glorious gospel to the marquis and his oflScers : the truth of God against any man's falsehood ; ay, albeit he were a pope ! Perchance the marquis may have Romish priests to argue down our faith : I hope so ; I desire nothing better than a tilt at arms with the heaviest-armed doctor of them all ! " 361 352 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. " But, my brother," said D'Asceglio, " it is probable that oui- lord the marquis has been urged to this citation and apparent unfriendliness by the bigots' outcry round him : he finds, perchance, that he will himself be suspected of heresy, if he scowl not at us. This may be a monitory measure, — a safeguai-d for us as well as for himself." " Let me only spread the truth of God, whether by life or by death," rejoined the intrepid Paschali. "And thou, my brother," quoth he to Francesco Altieri, whose heart was heavy enough as he thought of the precious ones at home in the vine-covered cottage, " be not mournful, as if the great God were dead, and no help could come from heaven. But I have a commission to give thee, should aughF that men call evil befall me this day. Thou know- est how I have been preparing a new translation, in French and Italian, of the most blessed Word of lifo especially for our people, who comprehend either tongue. I would have thee take the papers in thy custody, and let them not perish, but prosper to the end I purposed in the undertaking. At Lyons, or at Geneva, thou mayest find a printer willing for the risk; which indeed I trust is smaU in days when Holy Scripture hath so many readers." Francesco could not help remarking, that the chances of his escape, should an outburst of persecution come, were but small: wife and child were no aids to rapid and secret traveling. "And where, upon this earth, shall we find rest for the sole of our feet?" he added somewhat bitterly. "Were I alone, I think I should not care to walk to the death for sake of the most blessed Christ; FORERUNNER OF THE TEMPEST. 3J3 but, O my friend ! thou knowest not the anguish of fear- ing for those dearer than life." "Nor know I the joy of possessing such," returned Pas- chali sadly. "But thou must pray for more faith, my brother; more of such faith as can subdue the world under our feet, can stop the mouths of lions, can quench the violence of fire, and out of weakness be made strong!" But a deep yearning lay in those anxious hearts for rest, for some safety or assurance, such as we enjoy every day around us hke the common air, so pei-petual a bless- ing that we cease to recognize it or to be thankful for it. What would not the harassed Lutherans of Italy have given for a measure of our security, our tranquil certainty that " to-morrow shall be as this day," so far as regards social safety, and permission to serve God as we Hst! Let us not forget to enter this in the roll of our thanks- givings to that heavenly Father who has set us a peace- able habitation, guarded by law, and guaranteed by the strength of a mighty people. The Marquis di Spinello met his vassals with a stern demeanor. They had- exceeded the limits of their lib- erty ; they had attacked the ruling Church by the mouths of their pastors with a license altogether to be condemned, and which the marquis would not permit in the districts of which he was suzerain. " Since your coming," added the nobleman, addressing himself to Paschali, "there has been naught but confusion and uproai". You have drawn these oltra-montani from the peaceable ways of their fore- fathers, from the decent agreement with others in wor- 30* 354 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ship and manners of life, to a fancied rule of your own, to a rejection of every symbol of the true faith, and made them — I know not what — truly I know not what," ended the marquis, plucking his mustache in sore perplexity. "Most noble marquis," began the young pastor gently, "it is not I that have made them any thing, but the Spirit of God, that divine flame which cometh down from heaven, and giveth light to dead human hearts. And, as touching the practices and doctriaes of that false religion which thou caUest true, 1 am ready to join issue with any of your Excellency's chaplains or learned men, now or at any fu- ture time, to prove them contrary to the tenor and spirit of Holy Scripture, which hath been appointed to us of God to be our lamp and guide." "But I can permit no such controversies within my domains," declared the marquis, remembering the very emphatic pressure from the ecclesiastic powers in Naples which had caused him to convene this assembly of his chief tenants. " Te must submit ; ye must obey," he reiter- ated. " I can have no heresies in my domains. Ye must hold your peace, and be content -to do as did your fore- fathers. Why can ye not let your children be baptized," — he had taken up a paper, apparently of charges against the Vaudois, and cast his eye along the items, — "and assist at the celebration of mass, and keep the saints' days and fast-days, and pay your dues regularly, as heretofore ? If ye wiU return to the old ways, there may yet be peace ; and, if not, I give warning that I can not sacrifice myself to protect a set of obstinate wrong-headed heretics." FORERUNNER OF THE TEMPEST. 355 A moment's silence among the Vaudois : they looked at one another. AH knew now wherefore they had been assembled, and what they had to expect in case of adher-' ence to their faith. " Yes, yes," said the marquis, who looked on the slight pause as favorable to the success of his design ; " yes, yes, good people, submit, obey, — only obey, and there shall be no more about this. I wUl intercede for you ;" and his Excellency smoothed back his short peaked beard com- placently. " Only obey, good people : nothing is easier." " Pardon us, most noble marquis," said Asceglio, step- ping forward a pace in front of his brethren : " nothing is more impossible. I speak for all, when I say, that never will we give up our right to that blessed gospel which has brought us salvation; never will we enter the churches where Roman worship of saints and angels defiles God's sanctuary. But we appeal to the conventions under which our forefathers settled on the lands of your Excellency's ancestors, — conventions, the latest of which is ratified by no less a person than Ferdinand of Aragon, King of Spain and Naples, and which not even Philip himself durst dis- regard ! Tour ExceUenoy may recollect, that under those deeds we were guaranteed perfect freedom of worship ; we were permitted to govern ourselves in civil matters by our own magistracy, as in spiritual matters by our own pas- tors ; and we have done nothing to deserve the forfeiture of these privileges." The marquis had listened with iU-restrained impatience, and now broke forth afresh. "I am neither theologian 356 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. nor lawyer : I will have none of this. It comes to the one point, — will you subnait to the Church's authority, or will you not ? " Then said Paschali, "We must obey God rather than men." A murmur of approbation followed his words. The marquis started from his seat in a fury. " Away with him to the dungeons ! " The guard of sbirri seized Paschali. "My lord, this is illegal: no charge has been laid against me." " We will find charges enough ! " said the marqui^ ve- hemently. "It is enough that thou hast disturbed and perverted the people, making the province a very hotbed of heresy." Paschali remembered one to whose charge was laid the like, and he held his peace. A priest at the marquis's elbow whispered him something. "Ay, truly, tliis other man seems a pestilent fellow like- wise : we had best have him in safe keeping also. Arrest Marco d'Ascegho for being a ringleader of heresy and sedition, and have them both to the prison of the castle : there they may preach and pray so long as they list." A dead silence fell upon the remaining Vaudois. A parting look was aU the farewell of those dear brethren , but that Paschali said, " Quit you like men ; be strong 1 " The marquis, chafing with vexation, — for his sudden rage, and the monk at his ear, had committed him to a line of conduct which his sober judgment by no means approved, — bit his mustaches petulantly, and growled like one of his own hounds. FORERUNNER OF TEE TEMPEST. 357 " Ye see what ye have to expect. I'll have no heresy in my domains : I'll have none but good Catholics on my lands." Francesco thought he said this manifestly for the benefit of the monk b^gide him. "As to those old conventions to which yon fellow appealed but just now, his Holiness is not bound by one of them : his Holi- ness knows nothing about them. And King Philip kfiows that a ruler's first obligation is to root out heresy." Here the evil-omened monk whispered again.- "Is one Stefano Negrino among you?" inquired his Excellency the mouthpiece. " My summons extended to him; did it not ?" addressing the secretary, who answered affirmatively. But Negrino was not present, and the de- sign of the inquisitor was baffled for that time. " I will have no heretics on my lands," repeated the marquis, who took refuge in this tautology whenever he was at a loss for somewhat convincing to say. " So now go home all of you ' oltra-montani,' and reflect on what you've seen, and remember that I expect obedience and submission from you all as your suzerain and liege, and I command you to obey the holy Church and our holy father." This oration concluded, his Excellency, the not very fluent marquis, rose from his seat in the great hall, and, raising the tapestry at his left hand, passed out of sight. The audience was ended. Bianca waited long that evening for her husband's re- turn. The child was sleeping; and again and again she went to the door to look out, seeing a most serene heaven lit with the great silver-shielded moon, which had echpsed 358 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the stars in all her neighborhood, as day eclipses them, by affluence of light. But, for many a weary hour, no echo of footstep satisfied the young wife's ear. Her heart was sick before it came. Nor hers alone ; but in fifty Vaudois cottages that night was the same anxious watch, — the same yearning of listening. What had been the result of that day's perilous interview ? For that it was perilous, and a premonition of worse things coming, the instinct of afiection too truly told those women watchers. At last — oh joy! — the step is heard, rapidly ascending toward the vine-clad cottage. Bianca flies to meet him. "What news ? what has been done? " and many a thanks- giving for his safety interpolates his narrative. " But where is the pastor Paschali ? I deemed he was to have been home with thee." " He is in prison at Foscalda. There ! it were no use to conceal fi-om thee what is the town-talk already. He and Marco d'Asceglio were arrested before the audience was over. The marchese was much chafed, and ordered it in a sudden wrath ; but I dare say, that, before a few days, they may be released." Francesco said nothing of the spiritual power at the nobleman's elbow. Bianca shuddered, clinging to her husband's arm. "God was very merciful that thou wert not taken," she mur- mured. " But the evil days are come, and the curse of Cain is on this land : it contains no rest. Let us go away, Francesco." "Away, dear one?" he repeated. "Whither? Are not all other regions of Italy even more dangerous than this? FORERUNNER OF THE TEMPEST. 359 No : we will wait and see what God has in store for Cala- bria. Perchance this is but a passing gust of storm, which will blow over. The imprisonment of two is not the persecution of a nation ; and, however the marquis may swagger, he can scarce disregard the treaties under which the oltra-montani colonized here." " But another power can, and will," interposed Bianca. " The Inquisition knows no law, human or divine. Let us go away, Francesco, if only for the child's sake." "Dear one, thou reniemberest not how the chief part of my small patrimony is sunk in this cottage and these fields : until I find a purchaser, at least, we must remain. It all comes to this, my wife: 'God is our refuge and strength.' " CHAPTER XLI. "PERFECT THROUGH STIFFERINGS." I HE bright busy months of harvest and of vin- tage came, and passed, over the valleys of Car labria ; and, during the earliest of them, it was reported that the fiery old Carafia, Pope Paul the Fourth, bigot and persecutoi', had died- Rather good news for Protestants everywhere, but especially those within arm's-reach in It- aly, could they have hoped that the intolerant spirit of which he was the embodiment had died with him. Reg- ularly every Thursday had the aged pontiff attended the Congregation of the Inquisition, and urged forward the severest measures against heretics. Whatever other duty of his office was left undone, he never forgot this. His big- otry grew into a rampant rage against all who dared differ from him: the very cardinals and inquisitors themselves became objects of his suspicion. His last words were to commend the Inquisition to the care of the Conclave; and, with the thought, the old man, invigorated for a moment, strove to raise himself up, to speak further ; but strength there vas none : he fell back, and died. 360 PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. 361 Then the people arose, and their concentrated fury burst forth, when the keen, lion-like eye that had so often awed them was dull and closed. They rushed upon the statue of the pope, and took a poor revenge for his tyrannies by breaking it in pieces, and dragging the triple-crowned head through the mire of the streets. A worthier effort of theii- rage was the attacking and bui-ning of the Inqui- sition buildings, and destruction of the archives. The Dominican convent della Minerva, whose brethren were particularly active against heresy, narrowly escaped the same fate. The echoes of these doings penetrated even to the Ca- labrian vintage-grounds, and waked some hope in Vaudois breasts. While crushing the purple grapes in the wine- press, or shaking the ripe chestnut-boughs, these simple people would tell each other the exaggerated story, how all Rome had arisen, and cast out the Inquisition ; and who knows but it is the beginning of a Protestant move- ment ? — who knows but the dear pastors will soon be released from Poscalda dungeons, and liberty of faith be permitted once more ? Others, less sanguine, thought it was a mere momentary ebullition of feeling, perhaps of turbulent license, — simply the re-action from a tyranny to an interregnum; and the Romans would presently accommodate their necks to the yoke as abjectly as ever, and yell around an. mtto-dorfe as savagely. So the issue proved. Did any such news penetrate into the gloomy prisons of Foscalda, where the pastors and D'Asceglio lay im- 31 362 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. mured ? Did the long fair summer days wane into the shortest, and no tidings from the outside world reach these confessors of the faith ? None but what their keep- ers chose to tell. How chafed the soldier spirit of Pas- chali, which could better have borne the active torture than the passive endurance ! "What strifes for submission did he wage with the flesh and the devil ; ay, and with their ally, the- world ; for life was fair to him as to most young men ; and his prospects might be bright enough, if he would only give up his Saviour : but, by the grace of God, he received strength to conquer them all. Round the evening fires that winter, many a story crept out among the frightened flock — as dreadful slimy crea- tures crawl from the darkness of dungeons — concerning secret tortures of body and of mind borne by their beloved pastor and their friend D'AscegUo. Many a brawny hand of herdsman and husbandman was clinched in impotent rage ; while the women cowered in terror from the tale, . and had afterward uneasy dreams. It was a time for searchings of heart, for much and mighty prayer, among these Italian Vaudois ; and the majority of them feared nothing so greatly as a possible desertion of the truth in the hour of nature's weakness. Even Bianca could, not wish to purchase the safety of her husband at this price. Yet between her and the sunshine loomed perpetually that awfiil shadow of what might be coming : had she not from childhood heard of sword and fire as the proper her- itage of Lutherans ? The dread imbittered every sweet which God poured into her cup of life. It ought not to PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. 363 have been so : for Paul -writes the injuaction, " Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer make your re- quests known unto God ; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts." Like- wise a greater than Paul spoke: "Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof Take no thought for your life : - . . the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Bianca should have remembered, and practically wrought out, these blessed truths. The Almighty Father has given power to many a weak woman so to do ; as in this very year 1560, in the Piedmontese town of Carignan, a won- drous heroism was witnessed by the angels and the inquis- itors. A certain man named Mathurin was in prison for heresy, and before him lay the option of recantation or the fire. Easy words for me to write, and for you, my reader, 'to pronounce ; but just try, for a moment, to real- ize the dread alternative ! His wife obtained leave to speak with him for a few moments in presence of the commissioners, "for his good," as she phrased it; and they understood that after their own fashion : and, when she entered his ceU, she besought him to persevere in his confession of faith, and not to trouble himself about the agonies of his punishment, which could not last long; for that, if it pleased God, she would die with him at the same stake. Great was the fury of the inquisitors : they had made sure that her entreaties would have taken quite another turn ; and the utmost effort of their malignity could only compass that which most she desired, — a joint entrance into heaven. 364 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. . But, if we are disposed to censure poor little Bianca fot her want of faith and trust in the God whom she believed to be her Father, do we not commit the same sin often- times ourselves without a tithe of the cause ? Are we not anxious and troubled about many things, which in- volve nothing at all so precious as the liberty and life of our best loved ? Whoever has not thus oflFended, let that rare individual pass judgment. Francesco tried in vain to keep from her the intelli- gence which was whispered about in spring, blanching many a cheek and lip with fear. Stefano Negrino, the beloved missionary from the Alpine Valleys, had been seized, and tortured to death. In February of the year, the three martyrs had been removed fi-om Foscalda to the securer and more hopeless dungeons of the Castle of Cosenza; where the secret efforts of the Marquis di Spinello to ward off persecution from them, and to avert the zeal of the bishop, who was fain to attempt forced conversion, woxdd be unavailing. It is probable that then the prisoners gave up hope, and parted company with desire of life. Until the all-reveal- ing judgment of the great day, the savage secrets of the Cosenza prison-house may not be known. What press- ure of torture was appUed to the poor body, while its unflinching mate, the soul, agonized in every sensation, yet rose superior to the pain, clinging fast to the out- stretched hand of Omnipotence ; what torture of tempta- tion to the mind, arrays of promises and threatenings, if by any means such noted men might be warped from PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. 365 Steadfastness, and their fall be as when a standard-bearer faileth, — we have only vain records of these. It is cer- tain that the many torturings of the gentle Stefano Ne- gi-ino ended in the climax of death by hunger; and through this painful door he entered into the joy of his Lord. And Marco d'Asceglio, the layman, — had he like pre- cious faith ? Could he hold out bravely, though assaulted by rack and fagot ? There was a pile built one April day in the courtyard of the castle, and his worn and ema- ciated form stood upon it to be burnt, — " not accepting deliverance, that he might obtain- a better resurrection." Such heroic self-devotion is pitched more than a note too high for our social scale. Comfortable carpet Chris- tians are the rule now-a-days ; and we look back from our easy existence with a half-incredulous marveling at the grand old souls, who counted not ease or life so dear as Christ. It is good to think ourselves back into that age of true heroes, and stimulate our sluggish hearts by such examples. Paschali's hour was not yet come. A few days after the burning of his friend D'Asceglio, he was conducted to Naples in company with twenty-two prisoners sentenced to the galleys. The man whose crime was preaching Christ chained hand to hand with banditti and mur- derers ! It was a long, weary journey on foot. Paschali's let- ters have left on record some of its painfulness. The Spaniard who had charge of the prisoners hated the here- 31* 366 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. tic most of all : an assassin was less odious in his eyes. In addition to the chain which bound Paschali like the others, he put upon >iiTn " a pair of handcuffs, so strait that they entered into the flesh;" and when at night, aftei the day's march over rough roads and through noontide heats, the wretched prisoners reached the rude inn where a few hours' pause would be made, their bed was the hard earthen floor, without pillow or covering, while the very beasts had litter on which to rest. But, if Paschali had had the most luxurious couch, he could not have slept, because of the torturing handcuffs eating into his flesh. He asked the Spaniard to remove them, and found that what would not be done for justice or mercy might be accomplished by an adequate bribe. Alas! the heretic possessed but two ducats in the world : with these he must feed himself. So the handcuffs remained on him nine nights and days, until he was finally lodged in the dungeon allotted to him at Naples, — a most noisome cell, reeking with " damp and the putrid breath of prisoners." Prom all which, and from all possible torture and cruel death, he had it in his own power to save himself by one simple action, one falsehood. " Say that yoii recant ; so shall hfe, enjoyment, honor, be yours." How often was this fair prospect held up before his weary eyes ! How did human nature plead within the youthful heart ! How did the face of his dearly loved, his betrothed, rise with irrepressible yearnings of memory, of hope, across the blank dungeon-walls ! Not alone to the Saviour of man- kind on the mountain's brow did the enemy whisper, PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS. 367 " If thou wilt ■worship me, all shall he thine." Paschali heard the words ; hut he was given grace to turn away likewise from the tempter. Ay, though he came at last in the guise of a beloved brother, who offered Paschali half his property if he would recant, and backed the entre|,ty with prayers and tears. It was harder to endure this than the cajolings and threats of a crowd of priests. But the Vaudois pas- tor stood fast by his faith. He was in no wise unwilling to live : he loved ease and domestic enjoyments and quiet days as much as other men. The difference was, that he loved his Saviour more. Truly an obstinate heretic ! So proclaimed all the monkish doctors, whose rhetoric was foiled by his firm faith. Had the Caraffa been pope, he would long since have brought so perverse a Lutheran to Rome, and dealt with him in the court of the Castle of St. Angelo. But Pius the Fourth, of a jovial and worldly disposition, desired not the unenviable reputation of his pi-edecessor for big- otry and blood-thirstiness. The Inquisition was not his pet institution as it had been Paul's. Nay, Pius had been known even to censure the harshness of its proceedings, not as inhuman or unjust, but simply as impolitic : yet, at the same time, he declared that he would not interfere with the tribunal ; for he was no theologian. The Con- gregation might continue to do whatever they deemed necessary for the extirpation of heresy; while his Holi- ness amused himself with architecture, gardening, conver- saziones, diplomacy. Obscure Lutherans were no affair 368 FROU DAWN TO DARK IN ITALYr of his: if princes were infected, the supreme pontiff might be called on to interfere. He wished, indeed, that all the world could quietly dwell in the fold of Rome, and be sheared or slain meekly at the will of the chief shepherd. As for the outlaws who transgressed limits, let the Holy OflSce do<«Bdth them as seemed good in its sight. And presently the Holy Office thought fit to have Lu- dovico Pasehali, the obstinate Vaudois heretic, who con- stantly asserted that the pope was Antichrist, and his seat the Apocalyptic Babylon, brought in chains to Rome on the 16th of May, 1560. CHAPTER XLII. THE RESOLVE OF SAII SESTO. J NE afternoon, in the same month of May, the schoolmaster of San Sesto came home de- cidedly out of sorts. The playfulness or caresses of his childi-en failed to extort a smile on his usually indulgent face. He ate of his favorite dish, — a sort of rude omelet, — and his wife knew that he was scarce conscious of the nature of his food. Not so sensitive as Bia,nca, the good woman merely concluded that her " sposo " had heard some bad news abroad, which he would be sure to tell her by and by ; and as to that intelligence being any thing which could very deeply affect her, — why, her whole world was contained within the four walls of her humble house. Her husband and children were secure as yet; and it is a privilege possessed by such slow, short-sighted natures as the schoolmaster's wife, that the largeness of evil which a higher type of woman can in a m.oment an- ticipate never strikes them until actually presented. And so the good Cecca saw her husband's gloomy mood without a pang of that agonizing^ fprebodin^ which would 369 370 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. have rent Bianca's heart in like case. She stowed away the children in their crib early, from instinctive feeling that their frolic annoyed the father somehow ; and, return- ing, found him sitting in the same spot, but with his head laid on his arms upon the uncleared table where they had supped. "Amico mio, what aileth thee? " Twice she repeated the little question ere reply came : then he raised his face to look at her large, placid, ox-like eyes, as he said, " There's evil news abroad, Cecca. Evil visitors come to our town, from whom the Lord alone can deliver us." "Why, what have we done?" she asked. "Done ? Are we not Vaudois ? are we not ' oltra-mon- tani ' ? That were enough for a fiery death, my wife." " The good Lord will care for us, caro sposo," was her quiet answer. " "We ought not to be afraid under the pro- tection of the good Lord. But who are the evil visitors of whom you spake ? " " Two Dominican monks, sent by the Cardinal Alexan- drin, inquisitor-general, to suppress heresy in the Cala- brias," he answered. " They have convened a great meet- ing of- the inhabitants of our town for to-morrow, in the piazza, at noon ; when, I suppose, we shall hear our fate." "The good Lord will take care of us," repeated the placid woman ; yet even she had pressed her hand on her breast for an instant when she heard the dreaded word " inquisitor." And she went steadily about her household duties as usual, with nothing in her outward appearance THE RESOLVE OF SAN SESTO. 37l to testify that a dull pain had been planted at her heart, — the man's eyes following her; for this evening his dear books were neglected, and he was calculating conse- quences. There he sat until his God raised him from that dreary mental occupation, and directed the troubled spirit to the fountain of comfort in his own "Word. " Bring the 'Vangelo, the Gospel-book, Cecca," he said to his wife. And therewith he roused from his despond- ing recumbent posture to find such words as these : — " Beati coloro che son perseguiti per cagione di giusti- zia ; perciocch^ il regno de' cielo e loro," — " Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." " The kingdom of the heavens is theirs." The poor schoolmaster felt immediately lifted to the consciousness of the vastness of his Ufe, — the life which, through his Saviour, had been given to his regenerate soul. No en- emy could take from him the eternal happiness which Jesus had purchased, and the existence of unknown joys which awaited him, whenever it should please his Father to call him from this mortal life. But the little children ! With a great pang, the. thought of them came across his stout heart : he grasped the book with a starting of the muscles in his hands, — with a far fii-mer grasp than was needftil, and which left the fingers white from pressure. "Cecca mia, listen to what our most blessed Christ said: — « « Voi sarete beati, quando gli uomini v'avranno vitu- 372 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. perati, e perseguiti: e mentendo, avranno detto contr'a voi ogni mala parola per cagion mia.' " 'Tis just what they have done," said the schoolmaster, leaving his finger under the line : " they falsely have spo- ken evU words against us for Christ's sake. The priests and monks assert that we commit the most odious crimes when we meet together to worship God ; and the calumny is revived stronger than ever of late, since the dear pastor Paschali's preaching. But we are blessed when men re- vile and persecute us ! " He read and mused long over the 'Vangelo that night ; and the strength which God's words give in the hour of need visited his soul like cordial. Yet the children's crib almost unmanned the father again. For those beloved little ones on the morrow — what ? He remembered traditions descended from the last generation, of fiendish persecu- tions in the valleys of Piedmont, — of " mother and infant hurled down the rocks," of children held aloft on transfix- ing spears. Such images haunted his sleep, when he did sleep, through one or two feverish hours to dawn. His was not the only restless head that night in San Sesto. The presence of those two ill-omened monks of St. Dominic had given the population of the town a night- mare. Longing for, and yet fearing, the light of the day which was to decide all, the worst would have been almost as bearable as the suspense. Hundreds of eyes scanned those monks' inscrutable faces that forenoon in the piazza, — the one, a portly, im- perious-voiced man, whose coarse white woolen robe en- THE RESOLVE OF SAN SESTO. 373 veloped a massive figure ; the other, dark, pale, lithe ; but both with countenances impenetrable, at least to the hur- ried, anxious stare of the multitude who felt in their power. Very gentle was the speech of the little monk, yet sig- nifying much : — "Most dear friends, the Fra Valerio and myself have been sent hither by his Eminence the Cardinal Alexan- drin, of the Holy Congregation ; and we come in all love and good faith, not to hurt any person, but only to warn you, as deeply concerned for your prosperity and salva- tion, that you should desist from hearing any teachers of religion but those appointed by your ordinary the bishop. His Eminence has learned with sorrow that certain Lu- therans have penetrated among you, and are seeking to undermine the foundations of your faith. Now, if you dismiss these men, who have led you astray, and sought to draw you from the holy Roman Church into all manner of heresies, you shall do well. We are desirous to deal by you in love and peace : therefore we invite all here pres- ent to the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the mass to- morrow morning, at the hour of matins, in the Church of our Blessed Lady ; when we shall be enabled to distin- guish the tares from the wheat, and to act accordingly. And now we commend you to the guardianship of our Lady and the holy saints. Benedicite." The monk's prayer was stifled in a chorus of murmurs which arose from the crowd. But his brother Valerio stepped forward. In few and terse words, he gave them to understand the alternative, — recantation, or loss of life 32 374 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. and property. If they attended the mass, and comported themselves otherwise as good Catholics, no inquiry as to former conduct should endanger them : if they remained obstinate, they must expect the punishment of heretics. "And the convention, — the convention ! " The royally ratified treaty, guaranteeing the rights of the Vaudois set- tlers, — -was it so much waste paper? Could no security be drawn from long usage, long possession, from genera- tions gone by, under feudatories who obeyed their own and their fathers' promises and agreements sacredly? Ah ! the Inquisition could ride roughshod over all. No power, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, could pretend to stay the hand of the terrible tribunal, or to ask it, " What doestthou?" So the Dominican monks knew that the turbulence of the crowd was but vaporing: they waited, calmly confi- dent, tUl the morrow's crisis. Brother Alfonso and brother Valerio attended in the Church of our Lady at the ap- pointed hour: the bell rang for matins, loud and long; the mass was begun, the mass was ended. Where were the congregation ? Fra Valerio swung his incense to comparatively empty benches: the handful of Roman Catholics in San Sesto attended, — not one more. The elder Dominican's black eyes gleamed dangerously. His ofSce and his embassy despised by these " oltra-mon- tani"! Contemptuous silence and disobedience their only answer to persuasions and threatenings ! He would show them that he was not thus to be trifled with. He would send to the viceroy at Naples for troops, and compel these obstinate heretics to submit at sword's-point. THE RESOLVE OF SAN SESTO. 375 But lo ! when he came forth into the town, thus chafed, and lithe brother Alfonso casting oil on the flame with his quiet words, the street was deserted. The house-doors stood open into empty chambers. A great silence was everywhere. 2^0 clang of hammer or anvil, no ox-carts standing in the market-place, no busy stalls and shops, no voices of children at play in the shady loggias : the place was as one depopulated. What had become of the inhab- itants ? "Verily," quoth Fra Alfonso with his sinister smile, "had we brought with us the plague, we could not be more shunned by the good people of San Sesto. Ecco ! there's an old man leaning on a staff. Follow and ques- tion him, my brother Giulio, that we may solve this mys- tery. Truly, were the town all asleep or dead, 'twould scarcely be more silent." The aged Vaudois was brought forward and interro- gated. It took not many questions to draw from him the fact, that the inhabitants of San Sesto had in a body left their homes, their trades, their property, and withdrawn to the shelter of the neighboring woods. Fra Valeiio's countenance grew pale with rage. "And wherefore, old dotard," he shouted, "have they thus done ? Let them not think to escape the Holy Of- fice. I will have troops from the viceroy; I will hunt them from their coverts." "Ay, thou art a worthy successor of St. Dominic the persecutor!" replied the old man undauntedly, — "he who massacred our forefathers in Provence, and lighted 376 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. the piles of a thousand martyi-s ! Yes, strike me do^7n, if thou wilt ; I have lived long enough : my greatest hope is death!" " Have him away to the prison, for insult to the repre- sentatives of the Holy Office!" ordered Fra Valerio; "and prepare a swift messenger to Naples immediately. These heretics must be made an example of. We came in all peace and amity, willing them to be reconciled to the Church ; and they have rejected mercy : nothing re- mains but justice." "Yet I would suggest," said the younger monk, "that a bloodless victory would bring greater honor to our mis- sion. I would try gentler measures a while. I know they deserve severe punishment ; yet may not a premature drawing of the sword defeat our ends ? " The inquisitors held conference together for some mo- ments in low tones. Fra Alfonso's crafty countenance indicated some deep-laid scheme of astute policy; to which the other monk gradually assented, as his wrath cooled. No more was heard of troops from the viceroy. In much milder mood, Fra Valerio returned to his convent ; whence, shortly after, he and his brother inquisitor emerged, mounted mules at a postern gate, and, accom- panied by the guard of sbirri, took the road to La Guar- dia, twelve miles away. CHAPTER XLIII. SAMSON'S CHASE. sLONG through the beautifiil Calahrian valleys passed the monldsh cavalcade from San Sesto to La Guardia, — a distance of perhaps twelve miles. Central in the party were the two in- quisitors, bestriding their apostolic mules ; al- beit that to Fra Alfonso's lean form and fiery eye a war-charger would have seemed the more suitable beast. Not alone to the sword spiritual did these worthy sons of the Church trust. A goodly escort of soldiers and sbirri accompanied them ; for there was no knowing what these " oltra-montani " might attempt in their desperation. And portly Fra Valerio entered no strip of woodland nor gloomy gorge of the hills without certain uneasy sensations, and an irrational desire to spur his peaceful mule. But they traveled without interruption tUl the broad blue sea lay stretched before them ; and, like a cluster of shells on the shore, rose the gray walled town of La Guar- dia at some distance. Straight toward the shimmering waters lay the road now, through open country, smiling 82* 377 378 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. with the cultivation of fields and vineyards. Fra Valeric felt his valor wax strong again as he emerged from the perilous cincture of hills upon level lands, where white cottages lay scattered like sheep ready for slaughter. Entering La Guardia, immediately the gates were shut, and soldiers posted beside them. What hostile move- ment was this? The people flocked to the piazza, the center of civic life, where, if anywhere, they would learn the meaning of this alarming demonstration. The smooth- tongued brother Alfonso adjusted his white robe grace- fully, and uttered falsehoods without a blush on his pale olive cheek. "Dear and faithful friends," he began, "we shall be compelled, much to our regret, to condemn you to death, if you do not follow the example of yom- brethren at San Sesto. They have renounced their errors, and returned to the bosom of the holy Church with true contrition. They have assisted at the most blessed sacrifice of the mass, and received the most holy eucharist; and there- upon a plenary absolution has been granted them. The like course is open to you. You may follow the example of their dutiful conduct, and thereby consult your best in- terests, and be partakers of their blessings. Be wise, as they have been, most dear friends ; for the Chm'ch hath yet open arms to receive the penitent, while she hath a sharp sword for the ofiending." Now, the people of La,Guardia were simple folk, for the most part wholly unused to deceit and treachery. Had tJ-«r brethren of San Sesto yielded? — then the sin could ' SAMSON'S CHASE. 379 not be gi-eat of doing likewise. They had no time to de- liberate : the bloody sword or the mass was offered ; the decision must be immediate. Who would not be soared by the alternative ? And as to questioning the truth of the inquisitor's plausible statement, their own native hon- esty disarmed them from suspicion. So Fra Valerio and Fra Alfonso swung their censers, and performed their genuflexions, and adored their conse- crated bread, in presence of the population of La Guardia, who with unquiet consciences looked on, and knelt when required, sullenly obedient and perplexed. Truly a great victory for the monks ! It never occurred to these worthy gentlemen that the deluded Vaudois might prove recalcitrant on discovering the trick played on them. But, next day, there was a tumultuous gather- ing in the same market-place. The news of the steadfast- ness of San Sesto had reached their ears, filling them with shame and self-scorn. They would instantly leave their town, with wives and children, and go to join their breth- ren in the woods. The Marquis di Spinello, their feu- datory superior, endeavored to quell their excitement. He made the fairest promises and representations. He would use his influence with the viceroy that the San Sesto people should meet with no further persecution. Attendance at mass M'w a mere matter of form, which was valuable as securing them from the Inquisition. They would not draw fire and sword on themselves by an in- considerate zeal ! He who had imprisoned Paschah and P'Asceglio might seem a bad preacher of moderation; 380 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. but it is a terrible thing by the heat of the moment to for- feit home and property, perhaps life. The veryspeecb of the marquis, if only by its duration, helped to cool the au- dience. They hesitated from the boldness of their first resolve: they were prevailed on to wait the issue of events. The ardent and youthful spirits among them were iU satisfied with such cautious conduct. Some went off to join the San Sestans in their forest, in no wise anxious to avoid the hand-to-hand combat which seemed there in- evitable. For soon the news spread that the Marquis di Spinello had promised more than he could perform. Two companies of soldiers had already been dispatched by the monks to pursue and exterminate the fugitive Vau- dois. Francesco Altieri was at supper with his wife and child in the vine-covered cottage before mentioned, when the door was burst open suddenly, and a very tall man ap- peared in the entry. Bianca grasped her husband's arm convulsively until the stranger spoke in familiar tones : — " What, Samson ! " said Francesco, half rising. ''At this hour ! News from La Guardia, my friend ? " "Ay, truly; shameful and sorrowful news," answered the young man, coming forward, and flinging his broad- leaved straw hat on the table. He narrated what has been told already in this chapter. "And thou art away to the woods?" asked Altieri. "Yes: whither I counsel thee and thine also to retreat," replied the speaker, who, for his colossal size and strength, SAMSON'S QBASE. 38] was surnamed by his acquaintances Samson. He rose from his seat. " I miist depart now, and endeavor during the dark hours to find our brethren's hiding-place. I came simply to warn thee, my friend, that soldiers are abroad, led by devils in the shape of monks. Thinkest thou, that should a score of them come upon thy cottage, and know it inhabited by a Vaudois, either justice or mercy would save thee? Verily, nay; for their delight is treachery and blood." He took the wide hat again in his hand. " Fly with me. I know the passes of the woods and glens better than thou" — "What ! this night ? " said Bianca fearfully. " N'ay," said her husband, " but we would do nothing rashly. We wUl ask God to guide us ere we decide, anima mia ! I thank thee, Samson, for coming with the news, dark and grievous though it be. If thou wilt stay till the morning" — But Samson would not. Through the moonless mid- night he sped him along, by unfrequented paths, into the deepest recesses of the Apennines skirted with forest. Here were defiles where a few might hold an army at bay; and great fastnesses of rock, which required only victual- ing to make them tenable as towers*; and patches of pes- tilent marsh, over whose quaking surface now crept the wavering ignis-fatuus. When some distance into the depths of these solitudes, he began to feel a weariness stealing over him. He could stumble upon no trace of his exiled brethren anywhere : the hooting of the owl, the 882 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. chii-ping of the cicala, were the only sound of living thing. He would lay him down and rest till dawn. Accordingly, he climbed to a shelf of rock a few yards jfrom the rugged goat-path he had been pursuing among the crags, and was presently fast asleep on its hard surface. Samson was not used to much luxury of soft pillows or coverlets in his simple Vaudois life : his strength rested as dreainlessly on the rock as on feathers. But, as the morning light was breaking over the mountains, a dream visited the sleeper. He heard the baying of hounds ; he was pursued by them ; he fled precipitately ; his breath came quick, his limbs failed; their fangs were fastened in him ! Samson started up, cold drops on his brow. Little birds were singing morning-songs in the boughs beneath. A stream wad trickling in tiny cascade over the rock. But beyond and above these sounds came at intervals a distant baying of dogs : some hunters were abroad. And Samson smiled at the terrors of his dream. He returned thanks to his God for the repose which had re- freshed him, and clambered down to the goat-herd's path. The baying of hounds again ! but considerably nearer. He paused a moment. That was no ordinary baying. He listened for a repetition : he recognized the deep mouth of the bloodhound. Then the fiends had brought dogs to track the wretched Vaudois! But he had not a moment for indignation: flight was his only resource, and to endeavor to reach some inaccessible rock, or to break the scent somehow. He bethought him of having heard that water would SAMSON'S CEASE. 383 throw a hound off track: he sped through the trees to find the course of the little stream from whose tinkling cascade he had drank a few minutes previously. It lost itself in a marsh, as do most waters of the district. But central in the marsh was a rushy mere. Samson plunged through quagmire and slough and sedge, startling a flock of wild water-fowl, which rose with screams into the air ; plunged into the stagnant lakelet, and gained the matted copse at the other side. He had escaped. But many and many a fugitive in those woods could not escape. Many and many a man and woman were seized, dragged down, hardly delivered from the cruel teeth of the bloodhounds into the crueler hands of the soldiery and inquisitors. Thus opened the campaign against the Vaudois by the use of an expedient so barbarous as to be unknown in civilized warfare. But there was no law nor usage which might not be wrested in favor of persecuting Lutherans all over Italy at that date. No treatment was too savage for them. The story of the Calabrese Vaudois is written in blood, — as miserable a story as ever historian penned ; and details which we shudder only to hear were actually endured by men and women Uke ourselves, for no other offense than that they worshiped God as we do. The game of hunter and hunted went *on bravely in these woods for some days : the hunters, well-fed soldiers in the livery of his Spanish majesty, ruler of Naples like- wise ; and the hunted, humble unarmed " oltra-montani," with their wives and little children. One might have 384 FROM DAWN TO. DARK IN ITALY. thought that tameness in the quarry would blunt the edge of the hunters' gratification. But desperation makes even the timid doe turn to bay. How many unobserved and unrecorded martyrdoms dyed the moss and fallen leaves of those CaJabrian forests, none knows but He who has kept a record of them all. The woodland rang with the savage cry, " Amazzi, amazzi ! " — " Kill jthem, kill them ! " The inexplicable fierce thirst for slaying which forms the dehrium of battle, and makes some natures of kia with the tiger, possessed the ISTeapolitan soldiers. Our saintly Dominican monks meanwhile kept their white vestments without sensible blood-spot; but how crimson-dyed was the sin of their souls ! Perhaps they mildly censured the vehemence of such proceedings ; yet the population of a province would rather have cumbered the dungeons of the Inquisition. Their myrmidons might have remembered, however, that such is the tenderness of holy Church about shedding of blood, that she favors the condemned with the stake instead of the sword. CHAPTER XLIV. IN "THE TOPS OP THE BAGGED ROCKS." kHREE men sat beside a watch-fire built against a great gray crag on a mountain-side. Large branches of cork-trees fed the blaze, which sprang up merrily from time to time, licking the face of the rock affectionately, and crack- ling with energy and cheeriness. The features of the watchers reflected little more than the outside ruddiness of that buoyant flame. Surely that grave countenance, with more than one Une of care on its youthful brow and a sorrowful droop in the curve of the lips, is not the face of our friend Fran- cesco ? If so, a few days' racking anxiety and danger have oldened him by years. Well might it be ; for all that he holds dearer than life are staked upon this des- perate cast, — successful resistance by the unarmed to the armed. Bianoa and her child are among the women in the central point of the Vaudois position, — a wild glen higher up, whose sides have more than one cavern pierced therein. The man next Erancesco has ^jrife and babes also to think of: he is the sohoolmaster of San Sesto. > 33 385 _ ( 386 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. The tall figure of Samson paces to and fro as sentry at a little distance, on a spot conuiianding the only path at that side of the mountain. They are rudely armed. Scythes and reaping-hooks, sharpened spades, a few rusty halberds apd swords, a few rough pikes, hurriedly manufactured by the country smiths from any iron at hand, form the chief weapons among these poor Vaudois. They rely most on ammu- nition of huge rocks, which they have gathered to certain exposed points, with intent to hurl down on the enemy. The goodness of their cause, and the desperation of their circumstances, are the grand armory whence they gain nerve, — a quality much needed : for they have heard a rumor, that the Cardinal Alexandrin himself, the chief inquisitor, to whom was committed by his Holiness the conversion of Calabria, has arrived in their countiy from Naples with fresh troops, temporal as well as spiritual ; and further, that his Highness the viceroy is hastening after him, to bring all civil and military power to aid this Church's crusade. No wonder that the three countenances round the watch-fire were gloomy. Thinking, forecasting, to meu in their position, was a maddening process; yet every eflfort at conversation died away presently into silence. " My brothers, let us sing to the God of our salvation," said the schoolmaster, raising himself. " The Lord often hath sent good comfort on the wings of music and sweet words of praise. Christ is not dead, that he can not hear or help : let us trust in him." And his voice rtiised the prayer,— IN THE TOPS OF THE ROCKS. 387 " La croce e" 1 orooiflsso 61a nel mio cor scolpito, Ed io eia sempre affisso In gloria ov egli 6 ito ! " * " ' Sta con Gesu, cuor mio, £ lascia ogn' uomo gridarel Questo 6 il tuo doloe Dio ! ' " f The words of trust and aspiration which had com- forted Savonarola in many a troubled hour were soothing to these watchers. They were able to join in full chorus with the last verse, which begins, — " Prendete tutti I'arme Nemici d'ogni bone : Che pill non temo, e parme Che dolci Biau le pene." % "Tet," said the schoolmaster, breaking the swell of mu- sic, " the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. I would not use sword or spear against them : it is not lawful, as I before declared, for Christian men to defend themselves by blood-shedding. Ye see not with me, my brothers, nor can I expect that hot young hearts should ; but the holiest of our forefathers in the Valleys were of like opin- * We want tlie Cross and the Crucified more deeply graven on our hearts. We want' to realize that we have risen with him, and are ascended to his glory, with as great surety as if already there. t My heart, remain TvitU Jesus, and leave all men to wrangle : he is thy gentle God. X Take, therefore, all your weapons, ye enemies of every thing good I We fear you no longer; nay, rather, your enmity is welcome, your cruelties are sweet I 388 fhom da wn to dark in italy. ion, that only in the last extremity should a Christian man fight'' — "And are -we not now at the last extremity?" asked the third person in the group, a young armorer from La Guardia: "A fig "for such timid policy! We are not bound to let ourselves be slaughtered like sheep by these ravening wolves, who thirst for the blood of the martyi-s of Jesus ! " "Then 'they that take the sword shall perish with the sword ! ' " exclaimed the gentle-spirited schoolmaster. "Knowest thou not what the Lord said? — 'If any man smite thee on the left cheek, turn to him the other also.' Such was the spirit of our most blessed Master ; and shall we, his servants " — "Methinks, good neighbor," said the young armorer hotly, "thou deemest thyself discoursing to a knot of boys in thy school, or perchance women in thy meeting-room, and not men whose hearts are afire with countless wrongs. How dare these accursed inquisitors come into our coun- ti-y, and make desolate a thousand homesteads at a blow ? How dare they threaten to take away our lives by the crudest of deaths ; and not only ours, but the live? of harmless women and helpless children ? " " My brother," interposed the quiet voice of the elder man, — and in its tones was a touch of heart-break, — "have I not wife and children? Thou hast none. Would I not lie down and die for them ? Ay, truly : so it saved them from suffering, dying were but a small matter. My brother, I speak as conscience guides me, concerning the IN THE TOPS OF THE ROCKS. 389 fighting ; not from vain chimera or from cowardice," he added humbly. The other was softened : he grasped his hand, and kissed it, in his impulsive ItaUan way. " I was wrong, father ; I was impetuous : forgive my wild words. But truly these are times that would mad- den the coolest judgment. How doth the Lord in heaven look on such iniquities, and flash not forth his lightning ? " " Because he knoweth the end from the beginning," was the reply. "It seems to me," said Francesco, who had been thoughtftiUy gazing at the burning brands, and from time to time replenishing the fuel, " that, in making resistance to the inquisitors and their troops, we shall only be dis- charging the duty of self-preservation ; and further, that the guilt of blood will really lie upon the men who pur- sued us, and forced us to draw the sword. Our just God knoweth that we fight not from wantonness nor foolhard- iness, but simply to prevent the cruel slaying of those dear to us. I would that a further trial were made of ne- gotiating : it seemeth to me impossible that all hearts in the king's troops are so steeled to mercy " — "A better hope," observed the armorer shrewdly, " lieth in the great strength of our position here, which must cost them many lives or a long blockade to force. Bemardin Conto and myself walked round about the crags at sunset this night. "Well-nigh inaccessible is our eyiie : on but one side could any enemy, unless he had squirrels' feet, scale our defenses." " ' The strength of the hills is his also,' " murmured the 33* 390 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. schoolmaster. "'And their defense shall be the muui- tions of rocks : bread shall be given them ; their waters shall be sure.' " "But I would that further negotiation were tried," Francesco said, rising, and moving apart to think over his idea. A few yards away, and he stood on the edge of a sheer precipice rising from dense woods. A whisper of numberless leaves came up to his ears, as the night wind stirred among the matted boughs a hundred feet be- low. Far off in an opening between dark hiUs, streaks of silver amid dappled pearl showed where the moon would rise presently. No sign of enemy in aU the noise- less land could he see ; but he had learned to be cam- paigner enough, during his service with the Duke of Fer- rara's forces, to know that such non-appearance was de- ceitful. He had a suspicion that every brake and copse concealed a foe ; that the glens could in a moment glisten with hostile halberds. His spirit groaned to think of the inequality of the strife, — simplicity of peasants and arti- sans matched against aU the arts and duplicities of war ; rude weapons, manufactured from husbandry implements, to contend with the well-appointed soldiers of Spain. Then before his memory rose an unequal contest be- tween a Philistine giant and a shepherd's boy in Palestine long ago. " Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield ; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God whom thou hast defied ! " Francesco looked back to the watch-fire burning against the crag ; and forcibly it reminded him of the emblem of IN THE TOPS OF THE ROCKS. 391 the Vaudois church, — a lighted torch amid darkness, bear- ing for motto, " Lux lucet in tenebris." "Thou wilt not suffer the spark of thy truth to be trampled into darkness, O Lord!" And gradually the conviction strengthened upon him, that, however Christ's cause might for a while be crushed in this spot of Cala- bria, — and Francesco had Uttle hopes that matters could end otherwise, — God's truth must run and be glorified over the whole earth, and prosper to the purpose for which he sent it. Suddenly, from the very edge of the precipice, a man slowly raised himself, and whispered, " Hist ! " Francesco recoiled a pace. " Hist ! " repeated the other, raising his hand as a warning sign : the new moonbeams fell full on his crouching figure. "I would speak with thee. Alarm not thy guard ; for I am unarmed, see ! " "And what dost thou want with me ? " asked the young physician, half inclined to collar and drag him to the fire. Some faint memories were moved by the voice and the gesture, he could not tell what : his curiosity wfis roused. " I have been seeking to speak with thee these three days past," said the stranger ; " for I would do thee a ser- vice in this perilous time for thee and thine. I would show thee the securest hiding-place in all the Apeu; nines " — " Come, my friend," said Altieri incredulously, " if thou'rt not able to give some better account of thyself than this, I must seize thee as a spy. Why shouldst thou . seek to befriend me ? " 392 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "Because I remember the common prison of Locamo," was the only answer. It set swimming in the young phy- sician's brain a variety effaces there seen. "And what of the common prison of Locarao?" he asked in some slight bewilderment. "A wounded brigand," — it all flashed on Francesco's memory in a moment; "but the wound is quite healed years ago, signer: thanks to thy bandaging, from that day 'twas better. And I made a vow to my patron saint, that, could I meet the man to whom I did insult before he did me kindness, I would, repay as I could" — " Thanks, my friend. Where is the hiding-place thou speakest of?" " Not far from here, — a cavern : wife and child could shelter in it. It has been my lair for months, when I wanted no man to know whence I came. It is in the face of a clifl^ with trees across the mouth, — a most secure hiding-place as ever bandits roosted in." He was still at the old trade, this brigand, and had been one of a gang among the numerous gangs which in- fested the mountain passes, and defied all the civic power of his Neapolitan majesty ; but as they merely robbed travelers, and murdered them occasionally, the Church never bestirred herself against outlaws who regularly mut- tered prayers at every shrine they came across. "And, signor, I have somewhat to tell thee of danger. A proclamation has been issued, as I am told, oflfering • pardon to aU of us — to all the banditti in Naples — if they will help to exterminate the heretics ; and you ' oltra- IN THE TOPS' OF THE ROCKS. 393 montani' were never regularly hunted down till that were done, — if it be done. The banditti know every pass and secret path in your mountains : they can guide troops to the securest lurking-places." Considerable alarm was awakened in Francesco's mind by this intelligence. Such human bloodhounds were in- finitely more dangerous than the trained sleuth-dogs which had been ranging the forests. "And sayest thou that no man Imows of this cavern?" said he, grasping at the hope of absolute secrecy for his dear Bianca and h6r little Cosmo. " Well, my watch ends at dawn : I may not leave my post till then." "Signor, I can wait;" and he rolled himself into a shadow of I'ocks and bushes, earthing himself so well, that when Francesco returned to the place, as the first rosy streaks painted the east, he could see no trace of him ; until, with a low, hissing laugh, the robber crept from the thicket. " I was sleeping, signor ; but the step of a hare would rouse me. In half an hour hence, you had been too late to see the cavern this morning ; for, though the secretest place in all the Apennines whe*!} once you're in it, the en- trance is about the most public ; " and he chuckled through his black bristling beard. " The signorina will be quite safe there, amico mia : fear not." CHAPTER XLV. THE PARLEY AND THE ASSAULT. ^S that morning's sun raised his round red disk above the edge of the world, and his light caught on the tops of the serrated crags, fling- ing long shadows behind and across the rifts and patches of table-rock where the fugitive Vaudois nested, he looked right into a deep ascending ravine, stretching east and west, wherein men were busy throwing up an intrenchment. This was the one accessible point of the position, and the way by which it was known the troops would advance to the attack. All the simple engineering skill of the Vau- dois was exerted to make the passage difficult. A bani- cade of trees was thrown 'across. Piles of stones wore heaped along the tops of the precipices at each side, to be flung down on the invaders. And then, having done all in human power to prepare for defense, they committed their cause to their God. Bare-headed knelt the mass of fugitives, gilded by the early sunlight, as, one after another, their leading men arose and prayed. What prayer was that! what a press S94 THE PARLEY AND THE ASSAULT. 395 ing to the foot of the divine throne! what a wrestling with divine strength ! what a cleaving to the arm of Om- nipotence ! No lukewarm feelings, no half-hearted words, there. Tears poured down many a firm face unused tc such trickling. The tremendous issues involved in the approaching contest ; the all at stake, and veriest weakness to protect what was most precious, — little wonder that they had an agony of prayer, and could scarce be silent. Intense " Amens" burst from a hundred lips at each clause of a petition ; and many, prostrate upon their faces, re- peated again and again the prayer which had just left the lips of the spokesman with iiTepressible moans of longing. And while yet kneeling before theii- God, under his own canopy of heaven, a scout appeared upon the crags near by. A message was brought to the leading rhen. AH knew what it meant, ere the words went round,— ^ that the troops were within sight, marching up the defile toward the intrenchment. The well-ai-med, well-trained veteran soldiers, who had faced many a stomi of battle, despised these puny Vaudois adversaries with their wretched scythe-blades and plow- coulters and rusty ancestral rapiers. Hitherto the contest had been nothing but a secure running-down of game, as it wore. They anticipated nothing more now ; save, per- haps, such slight resistance as should add piquancy to the sport. But deeper they wound into the defile, and closer darkened the sides precipitously together : it v?-as becom- ing an ugly-looking place to get entangled in, The cap- tain called the peasant who acted as gilide, and interro- 396 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. gated him. Was this the only avenue to the heretics' lair? Then they had more knowing heads among them than he fancied. ITever mind: the conquest would be the completer. The wilderness had shut them in : none could escape. At one blow, Calabria would lose all her heresy, and he, the captain, would be covei'cd with im- mortal honor. So the troops advanced until they came in sight of the ban-icade. It had been erected at the narrowest part of the pass; and the gulley in front was commanded by a double pile of rocks, and of desperate men to hurl them down. A hesitation entered the captain's mind, though his apparent advance was sturdy as before. The place was ugly, — there was no doubt of that. It could be made a Thermopylas ; but the gallant capitano d'infanteria had never heard of that celebrated pass, and go did not institute comparisons. But the thought did flash into his military mind, that here could a few resolute men st;op an army; yet it was so improbable that these untutored peasants and tradesmen would know how to organize a successful defense. "Like their own wild goats," reflected il capitano, " which look boldly at one fi-om the brow of the precipice before starting off in flight." He took it as a symptom of the approaching flight ivhen a man appeared on the nearest crag, waving some white cloth as a flag of truce. "The varlets! A proper answer would be to shoot him as he stands ! " observed the leader to the oiiiccr THE PARLEY AND THE ASSAULT. 397 next him. "Nevertheless, to gain time, — for I believe not but there must be some safer access than this to their position ; and if so, yon guide shall swing from the near- est cork-tree, — to gain time, while we send to examine, shall we hear what the wretches have to say?" " Perhaps it is to negotiate a surrender," remarked the other. For a few moments, such might be thought. The envoy was not one skilled in diplomatic arts ; nor did he remember how thoroughly steeled to all merciful con- siderations were the men vwhom he addressed, when he began by entreating them to have pity on the helpless women and children, and not hunt down to death the unoffending. As well might he have pleaded with the mountain vulture to spare the lamb because it was help- less. Had the prey not been helpless, neither vulture nor trooper would dare swoop upon it. "A truce to this folly!" called the captain. "Sun-en- der thyself and thy fellows, and leave his Highness the viceroy to deal as he will with convicted rebels." « But we are no rebels, may it please your Excellency," answered the Vaudois. "We only seek to enjoy our common rights as men. We only want our lives and our lands secured to us as they have been by treaty from time immemorial. Our forefathers inhabited this country of Calabria for ages, and gave no person cause of com- plaint by their conduct " — « Come, come," said il capitano impatiently : " we can 84 398 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. not listen to thy harangues all day. Will ye surrender, or not?" "If your Excellency meaneth by 'surrender' our yield- ing ourselves and our little ones to the edge of the sword, such we wUl not do while God gives us strength to defend the weak ! " proclaimed the Vaudois spokesman undaunt- edly. "But if our adversaries are resolved not to leave us in this land of Calabria any longer, unless we base!)- renounce our faith, we trust that the king's clemency will allow us to withdraw to some other country, where we can worship God as our consciences dii-ect. We will go, by sea or by land, to any place which our superiors are pleased to appoint; and we will promise never to return." The captain would not listen to the proposition, which it had cost the poor Vaudois so much to make, in good faith : he would not- even report it to his superior officer, or suspend operations till a messenger could be sent to the viceroy. He knew the temper of his master too well, perhaps ! "And we will take no property with us ; we will give up all but a bare support during the journey; thy soldiers shall not be balked of their plunder," pleaded the flag of truce with pitiable humility. "There is no peace to be held with heretics," was the captain's answer. "If ye be reconciled to the holy Church" — "That is the one thing we can not do, yom* Excellency kuoweth : we can never forswear our faith. But, should THE PARLEY AND THE ASSAULT. we be driven now to extremities, your Excellency, per- haps, can guess the strength that lieth in desperate men." " What, ho ! do ye threaten ? Sound the advance there, trumpeter ! We shall teach tiaese heretics a lesson." And, as the companies of half-mailed infantry marched forward, they caught a ghmpse of a strange sight. Down upon their knees had fallen the Vaudois. To supplicate mercy from the relentless? — no ; but to cry to the strong God for strength in this terrible horn-. Entreaty had failed, eflfort at oapitulation had failed; and they were thrown upon the last resource, hand and sword. The infantry rushed on with shrill outcries and blasts of horns, drowning the momentary prayer. Their fore- most files were almost at the barricade, when, thundering into their midst, plunged huge bowlders from the preci- pices, crushing all they touched. Twenty picked men of the heretics dashed among them to take advantage of the confusion. A fearful hand-to-hand struggle succeeded; and all the while these unassailable enemies on the bights roUed great stones down, without aim, or need for it, pros- trating some foe with every fragment of rock. The defile was choked with struggling soldiers; and the few who could get away were glad to retreat from such inglorious destruction. They could hear — as, abashed and confounded, a mere handful of the two companies of invaders gathered them- selves out of that fatal ravine — they could hear already rising from the hills the songs of thanksgiving with which the heretics celebrated their victory. Tears of joy were 400 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. no rare tribute of gratitude that morning. The women, who had cowered in their glen and caverns during the strife, listening fearfully for every sound, — or some on their knees, hiding their heads, and smothering their ears fi-om the tenible distant clamor, — came forth to welcome their deliverers — husbands, sons, brothers — who had re- pulsed the foe. What meetings ! what embraces ! what happiness ! too heartfelt for laughter, and nearer akin to weeping. The success purchased at least a temporary respite. Our discomfited captain of infantry returned to his mas- ters the monks with a very different tale from what they had expected momentarily to hear. Fra Valerio was con- siderably frightened. Though within a fortified castle, with portcullis down, he expected every hour to hear the battle-cry of the avenging Vaudois without. He wished himself well out of the cursed country. He vowed all sorts of severest punishments on the heretics who had dared defend themselves. But Fra Alfonso's far-seeing eyes glittered with an unpleasant light. Never were the Vaudois so sure^ of extermination as now : they were not only heretics to holy Church, but rebels to the king. He sat down and wrote a letter to Naples, setting forth and magnifying the repulse of the royal troops. He sent this missive by a courier, and tranquilly awaited the result. Meanwhile Fra Valerio tried the cajoling system. Ho put forth papers fuU of brotherly kindness and charity. His roaring was gentle as the voice of a dove. He la- mented pitifully over the deplorable contumacy of his THE PARLEY AND THE ASSAULT. 401 dearly-beloved sons the Vaudois of Calabria. He invited them even yet to return to the open arras of their most affectionate mother the Church, who longed to pour forth her compassions upon these poor prodigals. Certain cred- ulous people were found to believe him, and fell into the snare thus baited: they were quietly lodged In prison until such time as the inquisitors should be at leisure to look up their victims. The discerning among the band of Vaudois on the mountains well knew that this lull was but the prelude to a terrible tempest. They spent the pause wisely in trying to fortify and provision their retreat ; for they like- wise knew that no mercy was to be had by submission, and that their sole chance of quarter lay in a desperate defense. o^?3~— CHAPTER XLVI. THE RUINED HOME. ^T was one morning at this time, before the mists of night had cleared from the water- courses of the valleys, that Francesco Altieri approached his cottage home in company with the brigand who had so unexpectedly be- friended him. He thought of bringing cer- tain things from it to make less bare the cav- ern where Bianca and her child were to find refuge at the last extremity, — some covering for the straw and boughs which had formed the robber's lair, some stores of food. They emerged from the dense cork woods, crossed the last strip of morass, and entered cultivated lands. As the dawn-light increased, they saw the fea- tures of the country more plainly. The fields had a strange look. Green and flourishing a few days before, when Francesco paid his last visit to the vine-covered cottage, they seemed now trampled and torn up. Closer inspection showed that some destroyers had been there, ruining the crops of the year. The land was as if a whirl- wind had dashed across it, prostrating every plant and 402 THE RUINED HOME. 403 tree. The maize was lying in matted masses, the vines were rooted up, the mulberry-trees were cut down. Even the brigand gnashed his great teeth together, and mut- tered a curse on the savage soldiery. ""Ks fit for Turks and Pagans; 'tis no Christian war- fare! "said he, little aware that a first principle of Mo- hammedan war-making is, that no tree useful to man, and no herb of the field yielding food, shall be destroyed by the soldiers of the crescent. But, in the sixteenth cen- tury, the Turks were yet a chronic terror to Christendom, and every thing particularly evil and brutal was laid to their charge. " And here's a farm-house smoking, burnt yesterday, I suppose : perhaps the owners within it ; for that would be a mere peccadiglio, and just anticipate the roasting they would get from their Excellencies the in- quisitors. As weU have it over sooner as later. I hope they haven't laid hands on your pretty nest, signer." " It is very unlikely that they have spared it," was the reply, as Francesco tried to steel his heart for what he might see. Alas ! no white walls gleaming through green leaves met his view when he came hurrying along to the first point of sight, but a blackened ruin, from one comer of which a faint smoke curled up into the early light. -Yes, the pretty, peaceful homestead was iitterly de- stroyed. Francesco gasped for breath as he gazed on the ruthless ruin. The walls of the little inclosure were beaten down ; every plant rooted up ; the vines cut ofi" close to the earth; the fruit-trees wounded half across their trunks, so that akeady their tops were dying. The 404 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. houseliold furniture was all burnt: only charred sticks remained protruding from the crushed wreck of a roof. " Come, come, signor, bear up ! " said the brigand in his rough, friendly way, when he saw the young physician bury his face in his hands with uncontrollable emotion. "The best part of the home is left you yet in the signo- rina and the little ohe. Thank the saints you were not all in it yester-morn, when this havoc was done ; for they are folk who would only reUsh such a center to their fire. Come to the spring, signor, and drink : 'twill refresh you." But the spring was choked, the basin was filled up. "Like them!" exclaimed the brigand. "And these devils hunt us, who never thought of such wickedness in our lives. Ma coragio, signor! You and I will see better days, may it please the blessed saints." When poor Francesco came to himself, and could re- flect on what were best to be done, — which truly in this bewilderment were a hard matter, — he gave a few of his remaining crowns to his companion, that he might buy in the nearest village some needful comforts for Bianca and the child. Off marched the brigand, and left Francesco alone in his ruined home. Never more could it be a home, that was certain ; for one might more easily construct house and garden fi-om the wilderness than rebuild and replant what the destroy- ers had desolated. A surprising ingenuity of mischief had in an horn- laid waste the industry of years. And something more than vines and fruit-trees had been rooted THE RUINED HOME. 405 up for Francesco : all the sweet associations of home, all the tendrils which hunian hearts wind about familiar ob- jects, were torn asunder utterly. Perhaps this ruin was a providential teaching as to his future course. He must turn his mind now to another wandering in search of a home : all hope connected with this one died out as he examined the smoldering wreck. He knew, that, since God had ceased speaking to men with audible voice, he directs his servants by events, wherein is to be found the " promised guidance with the eye," for those who look at all things, great or small, as the expression of Divine Will. Francesco began to revolve plans for escape fi'om the country. His patrimony was buried in these blasted fields ; but it must go. "Was not " the life more than meat ? " A vessel from the coast was the most feasible means of de- parture. Bianca and the child could travel in no other way. While yet cogitating, a step ascending the hill at- tracted his attention; and he recognized the peaked hat of the brigand with some surprise. " Why, my fi-iend, you must have flown," he said, going to meet him: "you've surelynot been to the town since?" « I've been far enough," was the dubious answer, as he lifted off the slouched hat to cool his brow. "I've been to Chigi's masseria, and heard news enow for one day, I'll warrant, and a fine opportunity for making my fortune into the bargain." " How ? what mean you ? " « I've but to go across to Cosenza, and offer his High- 406 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. ness the viceroy my services to guide his troops to the Vaudois fastnesses, — hey presto ! my fortune's made." « What ! has the viceroy come into Calabria ? " "Ay, has he, with a whole army; and has delivered up San Sesto already to fire and sword. And the proolamar tion to the banditti is really out at last, — free pardon to everybody, no matter how bad, if he'll only help against the heretics. Tou see it's not . near so unpardonable to murder a man as to refuse to go to mass, signor." His eye was caught by something moving on the plain far off. He pointed his finger. " Ecco ! i soldati." His quick sight had recognized the uniform at such great distance. They were clustering about a masseria, or farm-house. "If we look long enough, we shall see smoke presently," predicted the brigand. "They leave fire-marks after them like the Evil One." And so it was. " The mountains will be overrun immediately," he add ed, " by these banditti, who know every recess. Birds ol the air could not escape. Take my advice, signor, and lodge la signora and her little one in the den I showed you. There's no other safety for them." Francesco returned through the woods and marshes empty-handed, and with a heavy heart. He found his wife in some alarm at the thi'eatened ill- ness of her little child, who lay on her knees in an unquiet sleep, his dark curls tossed back from a burning forehead. A slight infantine fever, the father thought. " Lay him aside for a moment, dear Bianoa, and come with me." She knew that she would not be asked to lay by her little THE RUINED HOME. 407 Cosmo without urgent reason. The brigand opened his great smii-ched arms for the load, and she trusted him. Woman and babe can touch the roughest hearts, and Sanga was harder by trade than by nature. She could read the troublous news in her husband's eyes even before he spoke. " Bene mio, some evil has be- fallen ; yet not such as we can not bear, while we are left to one another, Francesco." He told her in few words ; and she bravely suppressed the pang of the destruction of their pleasant home, till he thought the misfortune much the lighter for the manner in which she bore it. " I am ready to do what you think fit, Francesco," when he suggested their withdrawal to the place of concealment offered by Sanga. " Yet, O my husband ! can we trust him so implicitly ? " "You have already trusted him with something far more pi-ecious than yourself, little heart,'' observed Fran- cesco, smiling down to her fice. "Aiter laying Cosmo in his arms, 'tis not for thee to talk of want of confidence ! " The mass of fugitives collected in the glen had melted away from various causes. Some were trying to steal out of the country by land or sea during the interim of quiet- ness. Many had taken their families to securer retreats in the mountains, where they had collected some small store of provisions, and trusted to hide till the storm blew over. All thought of combined defense, which might have ef- fected some compromise, was at an end : the doomed peo- ple were scattered abroad, — sheep without a shepherd. 408 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. A slaughter in detail corameuced. The viceroy lay in- active with the chief body of his troops when he saw that his opportune proclamation to all freebooters, outlaws, and criminals was likely to do the business of extermina- tion quietly yet surely, and save him the trouble. Singly and in families, according as they were discovered, the Vaudois perished by the sword ; while the benevolent in- quisitors were shocked at the stories of wholesale assassi- nation which they heard, and would have murder perpe- trated more orthodoxly, — by dungeon, rack, and fagot. Fra Valeric and Fra Alfonso, to whose council was now added the chief inquisitor Panza, withdrew their merciful selves from the neighborhood of the war. Military exe- cution was too severe to find favor in their eyes ; but the bloodiest rapier was mercy compared with their designs. The whole, district smoked with fires, and streamed with slaughter. Those heretics who gave themselves up in despair were reserved for the after-repast.. The inquisi- tors published a decree full of soft promises, summoning the people of La Guardia to assemble before them. Our unwary Vaudois, slow to learu the fathomless duplicity of monkhood, gathered in the market-place of the town to the number of seventy. Soldiers immediately issued from all the avenues and buildings round, and took them pris- oners, chained then-., and led them to Montalto for safe keeping. This was the last great haul maao by Mother Church. She had now sixteen hundred heretic wretches in her hands, to be treated as she list ; and cruel was her pleasure. THE RUINED HOME. 409 Sixteen hundred inoffensive, well-behaved men and ■women, concerning whose conduct no accusation could be brought ; persons who were represented by the testimony- even of foes to have been noted for indefatigable industry, orderly conduct, good manners, social truth and happi- ness ; sixteen hundred of such doomed to suffering and to death because of their faith in Christ as the only Sa- viour ! Never had the noble army of martyrs a nobler addition to its celestial ranks than day by day ascended from the torture-chambers, the reeking woods, and blood- stained caverns of Calabria, during that dreary autumn and winter of 1560. The brigand Sanga would bring tidings of such things going on in the outer world to Altieri and his wife, shut up in their hiding-place among the rocks. The man was strangely faithful to these helpless ones. He sought remedies for the child's ailment, even at personal risk; and thus when Vaudois babes were per- ishing on all sides by sword and famine, in ways too hor- rible for narration sometimes, Bianea saw nothing of these mm'ders. Her husband was careftil lest she should even hear revolting details. So, in her ignorance, she would murmur occasionally at the perpetual shutting-up in the cave ; it was injuring the health of httle Cosmo : he pined for full light and fresh air, like a flower transplanted frotai the mountain-side into a vault. He would run, whenever he found himself free, in the intervals of fever, toward the pale-green twilight which entered at the opening 86 410 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. through branches of underwood : but outside was a preci- pice sheer for so many feet down, that his mother hurried after him in terror ; and the disappointed little creature would lay his curly head on her knees, and cry bitterly. Francesco could see that daily the bright eyes were grow- ing dim, and the little cheek becoming paler and less round, the little pulse more feeble and fluttering ; and the apprehension slowly augmented into a certainty, that the Good Shepherd was removing their darling gently from them to the green pastures and still waters of a fair world where there is no strife in which lambs are stifled. Yet he spoke not of this truth to the mother, lest in her wild grief she should chafe against the insurmountable. And how gentle was this dealing to the agonies of other Lu- theran mothers in that black year ! One Glencoe, in the history of England, remains a foul stain for ever ; but, in these Calabrian valleys and villages, Glencoe was repeated, fore-acted, a hundred times, with aggravation of treachery and cruelty. Scarce can our re- fined ears bear to hear what these noble confessors of the faith endured. A Romish historian writes : " Some had their throats cut, others were "sawn across the middle, others thrown firom the top of a high cliflT: all were cru- elly put to death. It was strange to heai- of their obsti- nacy ; for while the father saw his son put to death, and the son his father, they not only showed no symptoms of griie^ but said jpj^ajly that ih^y would be as the aijgelg of God." CHAPTER XLVII. SIGN-POSTS OF THE TIMES. CORCHING noontide lay upon all Calabria. Even the tops of the gray-green Apennines rose bare and sharp into the blue air; there being in the whole skies no cloud for them to transfix, and hold charmed upon their sum- mits. The brigand Sanga climbed a peak somewhat out of his pathway, and could see across the lerel land to the horizon of sea. How changed the prospect since a few weeks! The trail of the de- stroyer defaced all that was human. For white farm- houses were blackened heaps; for tilled fields, withered patches of blight ; for vine-yards and olive-yards, confused brown dead herbage and foliage. A blast had passed over the country, — a blast more desolating than sirocco ; for man's malignity to man had guided it. "And they were a peaceful, happy people," mused Sanga as he gazed. "They were mild and sober and faithful above most men. No crimes were heard of here but what were done against them, not by them. Only for me, and such as me, the district had been spotless. 411 412 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. See this very pair, the young leech and his wife that are hiding in my den, — how good are they! They talk of a forgiveness toward their worst enemies; and when I have marveled that their country people did not unite, and at least sell their lives as dearly as possihle, — nay, but revenge and bloodshed are forbidden by the most blessed Christ. Nay, but the signora would forgive even those who burned her pretty house to the ground ! And how wondrously they die, these Vaudois! That gray- haired elder, whose body was smeared with stilphiu: and resin before he was committed to the fire yesterday, — how bravely he endured it ! What fiends these holy in- quisitors are, to be sure ! " He turned to descend the peak on the other side. A few yards downward, and his attention was arrested by a growling, proceeding from the rocks on his left. Picking his poniard fi:om his belt, he advanced toward the noise, and found himself opposite the entrance to a cave, which was partially concealed by a huge jutting bowlder. Enter- ing cautiously, and side-long, that he might not intercept the light, he saw some object, a man perhaps, lying on the ground, and a great dog standing over him. The animal flew forward fizriously ; and then Sanga perceived that his fangs and mouth were bloody. He struck at him with the dagger, and the beast fled howling away out of the cave down the hiU. Just as he had died lay the corpse of the Vaudois ; an aged man, as the white hair testified. Hand and arm were torn by the brute which had discovered the carrion: SIGN-POSTS OF THE TIMES. 413 not indeed that much could be picked from the poor bones; for manifestly he had perished from starvation. And yet, "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." "Pah!" said the brigand with a shudder, "but he has 'scaped the burnings and butoherings only by the same road, after all. I suppose there will be many lost this way by starvation in the caves. Poor souls ! the whole world is against them : they'd best leave it as quickly as they can." He went out of the cave to reconnoiter, and returned presently. The mountain lakelet was near enough, as he had imagined : he partly drew, partly carried, the body to the precipitous edge, and cast it into the deep dark water. " There ! 'tis the only burial I had for thee, poveretto ; 'tis better than that savage dog's maw, at all events : and, if thy soul's home is with the blessed God, what matters it ? I wonder " — and his eye glanced upward from its shaggy brow — " which is wrong. Mother Church or thee? And without doubt these Vaudois lead rare Jives." A quarter of an hour afterward, he turned into the narrow glen which was the covered way to his friends' retreat. Great bowlders leaned their massive gray sides on emerald turf, and a rivulet ran from a sullen black tarn buried in precipices at the upper end. Now, just at the commencement of the tarn, one of these huge bowlders rose abruptly : the robber mounted it by a path at the 86* 4:14 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. back. When he walked to the edge nearest the muial precipice, a space of nine or ten feet separated it from a naiTOW ledge, on which, somewhat farther, underwood had rooted. Sanga jumped the space with slight effort : a false step would have flung him into the water, producing a bath which would have troubled him no longer than the necessity for drying ; but he made no such mistake. He went for a few yards along the ledge, which indeed was exceedingly naiTOw; and presently, raisiag the trailing bushes, stooped into the cave. " Buon di h. vosignoria," he said, seeing Francesco first in the dim twilight. "I bring good news, o che bella nuovita! There's a ship on the coast." But the absence of response to his salutation, the un- usual stillness, checked his garrulous tongue from even " la bella nuovita." The father moved a pace aside ; and then Sanga saw that little Cosmo, the oheiished child, had died. Bianca was tearless now. Her grief had exhausted itself in violence during the first hours of bereavement, when the Uttle flower of her life had finally drooped its liead, and breathed away the last sigh. " He has God's light and heaven's own air now, bene mio ! " she said to her husband : .that was the first glimpse of comfort. "I would not call him back to this cavern. No : he nestles in the ai-ms of the beloved Jesus ! " But when the little clay treasure had to be laid in the hole dug in the earthen floor of the cave, and to be cov- ered up from her sight for evermore, the moment was SIGN-POSTS OF THE TIMES. ilfi more bitter than mortal mother could bear. She flung herself passionately on the baby form whioh she had loved so intensely ; she wreathed that icy coldness with arms which seemed as though they never would untwine. " La signorina should^ thank the good God that he died without pain," observed the brigand, standing by. "1 have seen infants writhing upon pike-points before their mothers' eyes." The words recalled her to self-control. "Let me lay him down myself," she pleaded: "I have always folded him to sleep." So, with her poor eyes streaming, she composed the Uttle limbs, and crossed the limp dimpled hands, and placed a coverlet above : the father laid green leaves upon it before he gently turned in the earth. And thus was the little Cosmo hidden from the evil to come. And, kneeUng by the sacred spot, Francesco poured forth his soul in prayer to his God. How near seemed the heaven which that sweet babe had entered ! how real the everlasting arms which infolded little children ! The brigand, standing by, and crossing himself and kissing his relic at intervals, heard his own eternal weal pleaded for with the Most High, fervently, as for a deeply desired re- quest. What was the new life they wanted for him? — some of their mystic heresies, he thought. But they were very good people, notwithstanding : they lived like saints, whatever they believed. "And now, signer," quoth Sanga by and by, "there's no time to lose. The next fair wind, and the fSlucoa's off to sea. And believe me, the death of the child is not such a 416 FROM DA WN TO DARK IN ITALY. bad thing for you both, — nay, signorina mia, look not so angrily ; for I would have kept ' il poverino ' living if I could, — but you can escape so much more easily. 'H poverino ' would certainly have betrayed you. Now it is only to assume some of the signqr's costume, and travel as brothers. The master of the felucca expects my cousin and his wife, — not but he has a shrewd notion of the truth : so I'd have you hold yourselves close, and say little, and cut off your traces as soon as possible by dis- guising yourselves as I say." It was after sundown when they left the cavern, which had suddenly become a most precious place to poor Bi- anca. When Francesco took her hand to guide her across the rude plank (which connected the bowlder with the ledge, and was then drawn back into the underwood by Sanga), he found clasped in it a bit of earth, — a ves- tige of that beloved grave, caught up in the agony of parting. She hardly cared what fortune they might meet with, now that this great joy had died. Even the mightier love against which she leaned produced no warmth in her callous heart during the stun of bereave- ment. She heard her husband talking, and Sanga talk- ing, as one in a dream hears with half-comprehension. She knew that her hand was clasped in Francesco's, drawn within his arm closely ; and he felt how very chUl and pulseless it was, how dead to every thing but the dear little one whom it never more might touch. Sanga was "talking of the state of the country. An awful sameness of suffering and of cruelty was in his SIGN-POSTS OF THE TIMES. 417 narratives. Devastation of house and land, and simple murler with the sword, were the gentlest of the miseries he could tell. "You see, signer, our new inquisitor, Panza, has got into his head that all sorts of evil practices were carried on in the reUgious meetings of you ' novatori : ' somebody told him thf'lie, I suppose ; and he's determined to get it proved somehow. So he puts everybody on the rack, light and left, to try whether he can wring out a con- fession. It didn't do that he saw a man die before his eyes last week, actually torn to bits on the rack, — pulled asunder, as one may say. There's another precious instru- ment, called a ' hell ; ' and he kept poor Verminello — do you recollect him, signer? — he kept him on it for eight hours after he had promised to go to mass, a,nd yet he couldn't make him say what he wanted. I suppose, when he gave way in one point, and promised to attend mass and forswear his religion, poor wretch ! — il poveraccio ! — the inquisitors thought it only wanted stronger pressure to make him do any thing they chose; but they were mistaken." "He was a steadfast spirit, after all," observed Fran- cesco. " 'Twere a pity he marred his constancy by the first lapse." "Well, signor, you have some right to speak; for you did not flinch from the rack in Locarno, as I have heard. But as to myself,"— and he shrugged his shoulders incred- ulously, —" I'd swear any thing they chose to name after one turn of the screw. Stay: did you hear of Samsoii? 418 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. No: how should you, who have been so shut up? He was hurled from a high tower the other day, and his bones all fractured on the pavement beneath. It didn't kill him. He was still breathing, crushed and mangled though he was, when his Highness the viceroy came by. 'What camon is this ? ' quoth his Excellency. 'A heretic that will not die ! ' answered some attendant : wffereupon his Highness kicked Samson's bleeding head, and ordered that the pigs should eat him ! " The woman, clinging to her husband's arm, here clasped it closer with a sudden cry ; not alone from horror at the recital of the barbarous death of one whom she had known as a friend, but from a conviction of her own great bless- ing in the safety of that husband, and the guilt of repining at any will of God so long as he was left to her heart. "Pardon me, bene mio; I have seemed regardless of thee, when the child was taken : in my impatience I have un- dervalued thee, my Francesco ! Thou mightest have suf- fered as they have, but for the good God's care." He had to stop and soothe her. The revulsion of feeUng was ben- eficial : she saw how much worse they might have had to bear than the faUing-asleep of an infant. How those great agonies are borne I profess myself un- able to imagine. God be thanked that such do not cross our quiet English life-paths ! But no efibrt of realization could help us to know how Verminello lay eight hours, stanch to truth, on a torturing instrument so diabolical as to deserve the naine of a "hell;" or how Samson en- dured to be devoured piecemeal by swine ; or how Ber- SIGN-POSTS OF THE TIMES. 419 nardin Conto, at about the same period, was covered with a coat of pitch, and burned alive as a human torch in the market-place of Cosenza. For Conto had been going to an ordinary burning at the stake, when his zealous execu- tioner forced a crucifix into his hands : the martyr flung away the idolatrous symbol, and Panza the inquisitor in- vented for him this new torment. Elders and schoolmas- ters of the Vaudois had the dismal pre-eminence of being coated with resin ere consumed, " in order," writes Luigi d'Appiano, " that, being burned slowly, they might suffer the more in the correction of their impiety." Through the blasted land our travelers proceeded, in gathering night, toward the shore. Afar on the sea, the horizon line was broken by a dim gray peak, solid against the clearness of the west : faint smoke hung over that volcanic isle of Stromboli perpetually. When they reached a frequented district outside the woods and marshes which skirted the hills, — or rather a district that had once been frequented, where happy homesteads and cultured fields had once flourished, — Sanga walked on in front, and en- joined strict silence. At last, they struck upon a public road. The robber paused. " 'Tis fortunate if the wind do not veer," he said, look- ing up to the winking stars where a few clouds hung mo- tionless across their faces. "It has already dropped very low. The signora should hasten as much as possible: we are a mile from the shore yet." Rapidly as they sped along, she could not help observ- ing, that, at regular iatOTvals on this high-road, they 420 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. passed certain posts sunk at the side, which appeared b the uncertain light to uphold some strange excrescences. " What are they, Francesco ? " she asked, yet shuddering ■without known reason at the mysterious objects. " Well, I did not think they'd do it," was the comment of Sanga, " though I heard it was threatened to set way- posts of Vaud|Ois Umbs for thu-ty-six miles through their country. I'd sooner the lady hadn't noticed it: what! has she fainted ? And, if the wind veers, that felucca is off to a certainty! Che c'e da fdre, — what is to be done now?" CHAPTER XLVIII. FIKE AND WATER. I HE felucca was running along in the gray morning light, leaving Stromboli far to the south-west under its canopy of smoke, and to the east the pretty Calabrian coast. Bianca lay on the little deck, and would not glance landward. " It is a cursed country," she said, " though it holds Cosmo's grave : I wiU look at God's pure sky and sea." The sturdy rowers, bronzed lithe sailors, standing at their vocation, and pushing their oars forward to help the latteen sails which pointed like pinions far above their heads, easily divined the truth about this hapless pair of refugees. But though each of the eight wore round his neck a reUc more or less sacred, from a shaving of the toe-nail of St. Peter to a thread of St. Catherine of Siena's robe, they were no bigots, and felt not called upon to assist the Holy Office to more victims by informing. They only trusted that these " oltra-montani " would not bring them any ill luck in the shape of bad weather ; and the skipper kept a sharp lookout to windward. 36 421 42^ FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Nevertheless, and despite the heretic freight, they made Policastro without accident, and set their passengers ashore. The rest had somewhat recruited poor Biancai's strength toward the fatigue of land-journeyings. Here was effected the disguise of which Sanga had spoken, and which both now recognized to be the wisest plan for traveling. Here also Francesco learned with dread that orders had been dispatched throughout Italy to all civic powers, to magistrates and sbirri, to bargemen and wag- oners, to inn-keepers and toll-keepers, that they should arrest, or cause to be arrested, every passenger who could not produce a certificate of orthodoxy from his parish priest, with visas from other priests at every stage of his journey. Proceeding northward by land seemed hopeless in this condition of things. An idea which had already struck him appeared more feasible ; which was, to cross the country to the Adriatic coast, and there find some felucca from port to port till they should reach Venice. His own and Bianca's nearest friends were in Venice and Ferrara. It needs not to follow them step by step through their wearying pilgrimage. Danger and fear "were never absent from their path by land or sea. The feeling of perfect personal security, common to us as the air we breathe, was wholly unknown to the Italian Protestant of that age. Every stranger might be, and probably was, an enemy. Noah's dove had no more resting-place in the weltering world of deluge than could the Lutheran have among the fluctuating princedoms and republics of the peninsula. FIRE AND WATER. 423 When, after infinite toils and risks, our poor pair reached Venice, it was only to find new dangers. From the Tyrol to Cape Spartivento, there could henceforth be no spot in Italy tolerant of the Reformed opinions ; no spot without the glaring eye of the Holy Office bent on it fiercely, if perchance some man dared assert that first freedom of humanity, — the freedom of the soul. Now, there was a certain brother in the faith, Antonio Ricetto of Vicenza, formerly known to Francesco ; and in his house in Venice the young physician and his wife obtained shelter and breathing-time for a short space. Whither to turn for permanent refiige, they knew not as yet. The horizon was clouded everywhere. War deso- lated the Alpine valleys of Piedmont, where they had kin of blood and of faith. Far-distant England, under sagacious and strong-hearted Elizabeth, seemed the one earthly land of rest for Protestants. Altieri and his friend sat in the window of a mansion in the sea-streeted city at eventide. A sheen of sunset lay along the silent canal below, broken here and there by shadowed bars of bridges. Occasionally a gondola glided by, and the stillness was disturbed by the sharp warning ciy of the solitary boatman as he neared a comer. The two had been speaking of news but that day arrived from Rome, — the news of ftfrther " acts of faith," and of the death of the Calabrian pastor, Ludovico Paschali. The record remains for us, written by his brother, who had offered him half his property if he would recant. "It was hideous to see him," writes this zealous Catholic, 424 fEOM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. "rntli his bare head, his hands and arms lacerated by cords. On advancing to embrace him, I sank to the ground. ' My brother ! ' he exclaimed, ' if you are a Chris- tian, why distress yourself thus ? Do you not know that a leaf can not fall to the ground without the wiU of God ? Comfort yourself in Christ Jesus; for the present troubles are not to be compared with the glory to come.' " And, not many days before Francesco reached Venice, a scaffold was built in the court of the Castle of St. Ange- lo; and aU around it and its ghastly stake and pile of fagots curved an amphitheater of luxurious couches and richly adorned benches for the spectators of the tragedy. Chief figure among these was his Holiness Pope Pius the Fourth ; a jovial, pleasant, affable prince to all but here- tics ; " fond of witty conversation, good cheer, and merri- ment," yet presiding here at the cruel execution of a blameless man ! Around him, crowds of cardinals, in- quisitors, monks of all orders and garbs ; an excited popu- lace filling every remaining space where guards were not. And then forth comes the martyr, the young man bleached and wrinkled with captivity and tortures, who has been buried so deep beneath the Torre di Nona that his poor eyes scarce bear the daylight. With difficulty he drags himself along under a weight of chains; and see! the duU cords have cut his flesh to the bone, leaving red raw wounds. How do the people gaze, and the guards aniB the clergy and the cardinals, even up to the sacred eyes of Pius himself and seek for some symptom of fear in that frail form and worn face ! But the gentleness of FIRE AND WATER. 425 endurance and pardon is all they can read; and he ascends the scaffold with feehle step, though nowise reluctant. A short interval is allowed him to speak ; and he declares that for no crime has he come to die, but for confession of the pure faith of Jesus his Master; that the pope is not the vicar of God on earth, but most plainly Antichrist, showing himself in every thing the mortal enemy of the Lord. Ho ! this fellow takes too much license. Pius moves imeasily in his gUded chair : the chief inquisitor makes a secret signal to the executioner. But, before the last act of the tragedy can be consummated, Paschali in a loud voice proclaims, — " I summon you to the bar of God ! I summon you to give account of your cruelties and heresies and supersti- tions with which you have defiled tie Church of Christ ! I shall stand in his presence before another hour. I shall bear witness against you, pope and cardinals and monks!" They could have gnashed their teeth with rage, those gloriously arrayed dignitaries in purple and scarlet ; and who shall say how many deathbeds were haunted by that apparition of the pale martyr in chains at the black stake, charging the heads of the Church with their misdeeds? His ashes were thrown into the Tiber; and the cruel ti- dings traveled north to her who loved him best, — the Genevese maiden, Camilla Guerina. "Father," said the noble boy of perhaps seven years, who stood between the knees of Antonio Eicetto at the window where he talked with Altieri, — "father, I wish 36* 426 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. those wicked men were burned themselves ! " And the child's dark eyes brimmed over with tears. "Father, will not God punish them? I — I wish I were a man, to have helped Paschali ! " Ricetto smoothed the dark hair under his hand, and pushed it from the ingenuous brow. " He is happier now than if thou hadst saved him, dear heart of mine. He is with the most blessed Christ yonder." The boy furtively dashed away his tears, and smiled into his father's face. " Then it is good he died, mio padre ? " "Yes, Picciolo; for that was his birthday into the end- less life ; and he glorified his God before men and angels." Francesco had been looking at the child, and thinking that his Cosmo might have been thus, had God spared him. " Read, my friend," said Ricetto, " that letter of Pas- chaU's to his people. Methinks I scarce could hear it too often. Now, little one, hearken to his own words about his departure." They were rather above the child's comprehension, but gave him a general sort of idea that Paschali had been well content to die. " I feel my joy increase every day," he wrote ; " for I approach nearer to the hour in which I shall be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ, my faithful Saviour; yea, so inexpressible is my gladness, that I seem to myself to be free fi'om captivity, and am pre- pared to die, not only once, but many thousand times, for Christ, if that were possible." Such were some of the expressions in that parting letter from the martyr to his old flock. FIRE AND WATER. 427 Ricetto rose, and brought away the boy in his arms, •'I have left him with my wife and thine," quoth he to Francesco on return; "for the child is sensitive, and might be dreaming, perchance, of these horrors. Evil days hath he fallen on, il poveretto ! — evil days for Lu- therans' children." " The persecution appears to rage less intensely here than elsewhere in Italy," remarked Francesco. " Perchance so, in that we have as yet no Ughted pyres in our piazzas," replied Ricetto. " But many a one is in close durance for the cause of Christ. There is Fra Baldo Lupetino, once provincial of the Franciscans, and an emi- nent preacher of God's word in both Italian and Sclavonic : he lies in a dungeon these many years, and not all the in- tercession of the German princes can get him out. And Julio Gnirlanda of the Trevisano — they threaten him constantly with death: but the doge and senate will allow no burnings; they have invented another martyr- dom." "What?" " Suitable to Venice, — drowning. The inquisitors ob- ject, because such death will not be at all so horrifying as the stake ; so impressive to all good Christians, as they term it. I wonder, indeed, that they have not long since made away with Fra Baldo ; for his steadfastness does them grievous harm : he bears the most undaunted testi- mony to the blessed gospel." "And how hast thou kept thyself safe, good friend ? " "Perchance through a want of faithfiiliies?," was the an- 428 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. swer. " N"ot that I have ever denied my Master in word or in deed; but methinks all tnie men will suffer persecu- tion in such times as these." Antonio Ricetto could not see, over the lapse of five years coming, into a prison-chamber where his future self stands, listening to an offer, fi-om the senate, of life, lib- erty, and property, provided he wiU conform to the wor- ship of Rome ; or afterward, when his boy, now grown to twelve, falls at his feet, and beseeches him with tears and caresses not to die, — not to leave him fatherless. Nor yet farther, into a gloomy midnight, where a gondolar has drawn up beside that prison, and receives the victim, and shoots along canal after canal, and away from lighted houses to the lonely sea, to where, beyond the Two Cas- tles, another gondola waits ; and a plank is laid between them; and the shackled prisoner, stones fastened to his feet, is placed upon it. What sayeth the prisoner? Prayers to God for those who ignorantly put him to death ; praises of the Saviour whose heaven he shall presently enter : and so the gondolas glide apart, and the martyr is cast into the deep dark sea. Thus did Antonio Ricetto depart this life, and enter upon his eternal joy. The Pra Baldo Lupetino of whom he spoke lingered in prison for twenty years before like deliverance. Even his Holiness applied to the senate that he naight be burned, as a noted heresiarch ; but the request was not acceded to, though renewed many times. The martyrology of Venice comprises noble names, but none of steadfaster endurance than this monk. FIRE AND WATER. 429 Reader, are you weary of the roll of heroes? Cruelties were committed upon God's servants in that age of Italy, too foul and fiendish for our ears to hear, or our hearts to conceive. The hundredth part of the maUee and the barbarity of the Roman Inquisition can not be told, nor every hundredth name among those whom it recruited into heaven's " noble army of martyrs." CHAPTER XLIX. ECLIPSE DEEPENS INTO NIGHT. I OTHER and daughter were again clasped in each other's arms : Barbara di Montalto once more held her child to her heart, and gazed into her eyes, and wept over her who had been given up for lost. In these days of rail and telegraph, when Moscow is nearer to Lon- don than was Naples to Rome during the six- teenth century, few partings or meetings of friends can be such as they were in those days of no correspondence. We receive letters from India and Australia as regularly as the month changes, — letters which bring dear ones close in spirit. But then, mother and daughter separated, it might be by only a couple of hundred miles, and no blank barrier of empty space could stay intercourse more effectually than did that interval during disturbed times in Italy. Princes had couriers, commerce had pack-horses and galleys, but, for private requirements of friendship among the masses of men,- there was no post, no courier. They had a great deal to say to each other then, these women. All the information that would have been dis- 430 ECLIPSE DEEPENS INTO NIGHT. 431 tilled on paper in successive letters, had they lived in oui; time, was condensed into one tide of talk. You may he sure that before and above all else was the little dead Cosmo spoken of, and the dark slight curl from his small head fingered and wept over, and kissed lovingly. His winning ways and his smiles and his broken talk — the mother had worlds to say of these to the other mother's sympathizing ears ; and her heart was relieved when she had poured it all forth. The physician of the ducal household seemed much as usual. His wife did not say, even to his daughter, how far he had gone in the matter of conformity ; for he regu- larly went to mass now, and conducted himself, in all re- spects, as an orthodox Catholic. Yet he said that this was merely for the sake of peace ; that his opinions were unchanged : in which case, he certainly took great pains to hide his light under a bushel. No man could get on in the world, he averred, who did not swim with the tide ; he had not the temperament of a martyr, and his private beliefs were no matter to any one. But he had never been able to induce his wife to follow his example. She read her Bible at home, and visited a few obscure " novatori " in the lanes of the city, and held her faith pertinaciously. Di Montalto was perpetu- ally afraid that he would get into trouble on her account ; and this bugbear made him unjust to her at times. Bianca heard not a word of it : her mother was one of those self- denying, reticent women, who do not add to the burdens of others by a recital of their own, but bear in silence and y-' 432 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. submission what God has sent them : and their reward is, that the load becomes lighter and smaller; while what we contemplate, and talk about, increases. Bianca was inquiring after her old friends. Few of the Refoi-med were left : they had emigrated, or quietly set- tled into the courtly faith. "And, since that dear lady the duohess left, things look darker than ever for us," said the Signora Barbara. " While she was here, we felt that some protection could be had." " Tell me about it, mother. Why did the duohess leave her realm ? " "As I believe, the cause was her faith," replied the physician's wife. "She 'revealed the state of her heart' more openly than ever during Duke Ercole's lifetime- and declared herself, if not absolutely in words, yet in every deed, to be a Lutheran." " Bat I thought that her son loved her greatly,'' said Bianca. "My daughter, all considerations of aflfection yield to policy with princes, so 'far as I have ever seen," said the elder lady. " The Duke Alfonso went to Rome last May to receive investiture of his fiefs from the Holy See; and it is said that the pope complained to him of the scandal which his mother's heresies were bringing on the house of Este. So, when the prince came home, he entreated her to act as in his father's lifetime, and attend the public worship of the Church. But neither his prayers, nor the persuasions of various learned men, who thought ECLIPSE DEEPENS INTO NIGHT. 433 to overcome her resolution by argument, could move her from her faith. At last, the duke was driven to declare that she must either conduct herself as a Catholic, or leave Ferrara. Her husband had left her the jsalace of Belri- guardo and half its lands by his will, for so long as she remained a good Catholic : of course his bequest was void now. And she chose to depart, even for ever, rather than act over again the old falsehood, which had once wrought such disgrace in the Church of God." " She was always a most noble heart," observed Bianca. "And are not the people grieved at her absence? Her liberality was wondrous great." "Yes: they are sorry for her, because she never was weary of aiding the necessitous by plenteous alms. It was a sad day when she departed from the city, where for more than thirty years she had been everybody's friend. We shall see her in heaven, Bianca mia^" "Ah ! mother, it never was so real to me till my little flower died ! " With the Duchess Renee went out the gospel-light of Italy. Ifo more patronage in high places for the word of God, but the utterest persecution for all who dared read or listen to it. Pius the Fourth could look all over the land with his shrewd worldly eyes, and behold naught but clouds of thick darkness rolUng on every side, obscuring the whole spiritual firmament, as he would fain have it obscured ; while the wax tapers of Rome and the lurid pyres of martyrs alone ht the evil gloom. A few confessors of God's truth still remained; such as sr 434 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. Barbara di Montalto, who would not bow the knee to Baal. Perhaps there were many more than we suspect ; for had not the Lord seven thousand worshipers in idola- trous Israel, when Elijah the Tishbite believed himself the only one ? But, whatever was their number, in the night that overspread Italy henceforth they kept them- selves close and quiet, and were thankful to be permitted to die peaceably in their beds. Old Babylon was scarcely a worse desolation than the once fertile and flourishing Vaudois valleys of Calabria, whose roads were dotted with quartered heretics, black- ening under sun and moon. The policy inaugurated by Paul the Fourth had verily prospered and prevailed. One bright evening in the summer of 1561, two persons were approaching the little town of La Torre, under the long sliadow of the Castelluzzo. Before tbem lay the Valley of Lusema, sentineled by that wondrous obelisk whose top often catches clouds as they fleet by ; and mas- sive mountains, snow-crowned, yet robed in coats of many colors where they rested on the earth, encompassed it. A tinkle of bells was in the air, yet not the Ave Maria, which bowed every superstitious head in Italy just then, but simply the ringing of the cattle as they were driven home from pasture. "At last," sighed Bianea, "this land looks like peace." "Little heart," said her husband, "how well is it that not on outward things alone do we depend for peace! How well that God has given us of his celestial calm which passeth all understandincr!" ECLIPSE DEEPENS INTO NIGHT. 435 "Thou art right, my friend," she answered gently. "God will pardon me for that murmur." Dearly had the Vaudois purchased whatever peace reign fed in their valleys just now. Fifteen months of sore strife, many defeats and obstinate defenses, had tenni- nated in the treaty of Cavor, signed by Philip of Savoy, and ratifying to them a certain liberty of conscience. For they had repulsed the savage Count de la Trinite in his attack on Pra del Torre ; and he declared that in revenge he would ravage the whole country, destroying all the corn in the blade and the young vines ; and, while yet a serious illness held him back from fulfillment of his threat, the mountaineers sought and obtained the media- tion of Philip of Savoy, who procured them a general pardon from their prince, Emanuel PhUibert, and a prom- ise of the impartial administration of justice in future. All fugitives were to be permitted to return, and enjoy their religion without molestation. Common rights enough, such as we have every day, blessed be God ! without fighting for them, but an inesti- mable boon to the Cottian Vaudois. And likewise intol- erable to the h'ead of the Komish Church: Pius the Fourth complained bitterly of this "pernicious example of tolerance," — this single gleam of illumination on the Western Alps, theextremest edge of his dark empire. But no treaty of peace, no princely promises, could give again the noble hearts sacrificed, the happy homes deso- lated, in the strife. "When Francesco Altieri and his wife came to settle in the Valleys, vestiges of the late wars 436 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. were everywhere apparent. Ruined chalets clung tc the mountain-sides ; the mills had been destroyed. Only gradually did the old people come back who had sought refuge in dens of the Upper Alps, and found their villages for the most part heaps of ruin; and the neighbors — where were they? Slain, or galley-slaves, or beggars. Yet, "bating no jot of heart or hope," the often- crushed Vaudois set about a reconstruction of their homes and society. Some small contribution of mem- bers came from the far-off Calabrian colonies, stripped of every thing, having passed through unnumbered dan- gers and disguises. An equality of poverty was theirs. For the first year, there was scarce enough to eat. But had they not freedom to worship God ? And this com- pensated for aU beside. Many years afterward, in a white ^alSt upon a moun- tain spur striking the Val d',^grogna, lived the pastor and physician of the place', no native-born Vaudois, peo- ple said, and speaking their patois in a strongly Italian fashion, but much beloved, and worthy of love. A grave, man, as one who has seen and suffered above the common allotment; but the more qualified he to comfort and to strengthen others. The education of endurance had beeii his, by which God fits men for usefulness to their fellows. And to Bianca was given a noonday of peace after a morning of cloud and storm. Although other children gi-ew up around her knees, born to a fairer prospect of niortal life than her little Calabrian Cosmo, perhaps none was loved so intensely as that early lost one. His ]fahy fingers had loosened her grasp of all earthly joys. ECLIPSE DEEPENS INTO NIGHT. 437 And, whenever M. le Pasteur Altieri and his wife looked from their quiet mountain-home eastward upon their own loved land of Italy, "behold trouble and dark- ness, dimness of anguish ; " yea, it was driving daily into deeper darkness. Yet never have the Vaudois hill-tops lost the gleam of the glorious sun ; and even now, three hundred years since the light of truth was eclipsed in Italy, from the self-same Cottian Alps comes a kindling ray, already caught upon the palaces of Turin and the workshops of Florence, and perhaps destined to be re- flected on the very Tiber itself, rolling beside the wreck of Inquisition-prisons, during decades to come. 37* ]sr O T E ! ! jj. The following extracts fi-om M'Crie's " History of the 'EeA)nnation iu Italy" is inserted, in order to show how. closely the actual facts have been adhered to in the fore- gSiipg tale. It narrates the incidents described in the earlier ^chapters. " Perceiving that they could look for no favor from the deputies, who sternly refused them permission to remain till the rigor of winter was over, the Protestants made prepai-ations for their departure, arid sent Taddeo it Dunis before them to request an asylum at Zurich from the magistrates of that city. But they had sffllto suffer greater trials. Riverda, tlio papal nuncio, following up his success in Switzerland, appeared at Locarno. Having obtained an audience of the deputies, and thanked them in the pope's name for the care they had testified for the Catholic faith, ho requested, first, that they^hould require the Grison League to deliver up the fugitive Beccario, that he might be punished for the daring crime which he had committed in coiTupting the faith of his countrymen ; and, secondly, that they would not permit the Locarnese emigrants to carry along with thera their property and children, but that the former should be forfeited, and the latter retained, anil broiight up in the fnith of the Church of Rome. The ilcputiorf «8 NOTE. 439 readily acceded to the first of these requests, but excused themselves from complying with the second, with which their instructions would not allow them to interfere. At the same time, they begged the nuncic to grant power to the priests of Locarno to receive such of the Protes- tants as might be induced to return into the bosom of the Church. This Riverda not only granted, but also offered his services, along with those of two Dominican doctors of theology, whom he had brought along with him, for convincing the deluded heretics ; but though he harassed the Protestants by obliging them to listen to harangues deliv- ered by the monks, and to wait on conferences with himself, he did not succeed in making a single convert. "Having heard of three ladies of great respectability — Catarina Eosalina, Lucia di Orello, and Barbara di Moutalto — who were zealous Protestants, the nuncio felt a strong inclination to hold a controversy with them ; but they parried his attacks with so much dexterity, and exposed the idolatry and abuses of the Romish Church with such bold- ness and severity, as at once to mortify and irritate his Eminence. Barbara di Montalto, the wife of the first physician of the place, having incurred his greatest resentment, he prevailed on the deputies to issue an order to apprehend her for blasphemies which she had uttered against the sacrifice of the mass. Her husband's house, which had been con- structed as a place of defense during the violent feuds between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, was built on the Lago Maggiore, and had a concealed door, which it required the strength of six men to move, opening upon the water, where a boat was kept in waiting, to carry off the inmates upon any sudden alarm. This door he had caused his servants to open at night, in consequence of an alarming dream, which led him to apprehend danger, not to his wife indeed, but to himself. Early next morning, the officers of justice entered the house, and, bursting into the apartment where the lady was in the act of dressing herself, presented a warrant from the deputies to convey her to prison. Rising up with great presence of mind, she begged them, with an air of feminine delicacy, to permit her to retire to an adjoining apartment for the purpose of putting on some article of apparel. This being 44:0 FROM DAWN TO DARK IN ITALY. granted, she descended the stairs, and, leaping into the boat, was rowed off in safety before the eyes of her enemies, who were assembled in the court-room to receive her. Provoked at this disappointment, the nun' cio and deputies wreaked their vengeance upon the husband of the lady, whom they stripped of his property. Kot satisfied with this, they amerced in a large sum two members of the Keformed Church who had refused to have their children baptized after the popish forms. " But the severest punishment fell on a poor tradesman named Nico- las, who belonged to the Eeformed Church. He had been informed against, some time before, for using, in a conversation with some of his neighbors, certain expressions derogatory to the Virgin Mary, who had a celebrated chapel in the vicinity, called Madonna del Sasso ; and the prefect Eeuchlin, with the view of silencing the clamors of the priests, had punished his imprudence by condemning him to an imprisonment of sixteen weeks. This poor man was now brought a second time to trial for that offense ; and, after being put to the torture, had sentence of death passed upon him, which was unrelentingly executed by order of the deputies, notwithstanding the intercession of the Roman-Catho- lic citizens in his behalf. " The Protestants had fixed on the 3d of March, 1555, for setting out on their journey ; and so bitter had their life been for some time, that, attached as they were to their native place, they looked forward to the day of their departure with joy. But, before it arrived, they received intelligence which damped their spirits. The government of Milan, yielding to the instigations of the priesthood, published an edict, com- manding all their subjects not to entertain the exiles from Locarno on their journey, nor allow them to remain above three days in the Milan- ese territory, under pain of death ; and imposing a fine on those who should afford them any assistance, or enter into conversation with them, especially on any matter connected with religion. Being tlius precluded from taking the road which led to the easiest passage across the Alps, they set out early in the morning of the day fixed, and, after sailing to the northern point of the Lago Maggiore, passed the Helvetian bail- liages by the wiiy of Bellinzone, and, before night came on, reached Rog- N@TE. 441 orcto, — a town subject to the Grison League. Here the Alps, covered with snow and ice, presented a barrier which it was vain attempting to pass, and obliged them to talte up their winter quarters, amidst the in- conveniences necessarily attending the residence of such a number of persons among strangers. After two months, the thaw having opened a passage for them, they proceeded to the Grisons, where they were welcomed by their brethren of the same faith. Being offered a perma- nent residence, with admission to the privileges of citizenship, nearly half of thrar number took up their abode in that country : the remainder, amounting to a hundred and fourteen persons, went forward to Zurich, the inhabitants of which came out to meet them at their approach, and, "by the kind and fraternal reception which they gave them, consoled and revived the heairts of the sad and weary exileSi" Cornell University Library BR390 .F93 1865 From dawn to dark In Italy : a tale of t olln 3 1924 029 248 592