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COLLECTION 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 
 BRITISH AUTHORS, 
 
 VOL. CCCCXXIII. 
 
 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
PARIS.— PRINTED BY FAIN AND THUNOT, 
 Rue Racine, 28, near Ibe Odeon. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA 
 
 HISTORICAL ROMANCE. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF WHITEFRIARS. 
 
 f^.ir^ 
 
 Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle 
 Are einlilems of deeds that are done m iheir clime? 
 
 ■Where the raj;? of ihe vulture, the love < f the turtle, 
 Now luell into sorrow, now madden to crime .' 
 
 BVROM. 
 
 f Of TMP 
 
 PARIS: 
 
 BAUDRY'S EUROPEAN LIBRARY, 
 
 3, QUAI MALAQUAIS, NEAR THE PONT D£S ARTS. 
 
 1847. 
 
/ 
 
PREFACE DEDICATORY. 
 
 c 
 
 ? 
 
 HI 
 
 / 
 
 Forasmuch as in the course of this my present labour, which I have undertaken 
 for the benefit of these times, or, if they should prove ungrateful, of posterity ; 
 considerini; the extraordinary and dangerous nature of the materials with which I 
 wrought, (even as one who extracteth line colours iind dyes out of poisonous roots 
 and minerals, or composeth brilliant devices in fire with explosive compounds,) 
 I have felt myself more than ever exposed lo the attack-; of the n\tdral enemies 
 of all writers whom the world hath honoured with it>; commendations: and also 
 remembering that certain Cliques have vowed my utter destruction in revenge 
 for having demonstrated that the chief part of salvation is out of their little pales, 
 the panic fear whereof all the generosity and favour of the Public, speaking 
 through its mightiest organs, have not altogether dissipated !— considering these 
 considerations, I say, the necessity of obtaining some protection for my work and 
 myself did occur to me in a very ghastly manner, even as to a country lass who 
 has parted with her sweetheart, and who perceiveth at a distance an awful Turmp 
 La>te[{\, set by a jealous rival on a hedge, with sharp teeth, flaming eyes, and 
 fearfully pale visage ! 
 
 And even as she casteth about and debateth in her own mind, hesitating, on a 
 stile, what to do, so did 1 : and thereupon the practice of the authors our prede- 
 cessors of the two late centuries, came in my cogitations; who, visited by similar 
 appreheiuious, by soliciting the countenance and aid of some powerful friend, in a 
 DEDiCATiOiN, unconsciously imitated the unlearned conclusion of the apple-cheeked 
 wench when she turneth back a whole coni-lield, and requesteth her lover to 
 accompany her past the object, albeit acknowledging the unreal nature of the 
 terrors diUused by the hollow esculent. 
 
 Moreover, it seemed to me that in labouring, by example, to restore the Art of 
 Dedication to the esteem it once enjoyed, 1 should confer a great and substantial 
 benefit on literature. An art, indeed, nearly lost, like that of illuminating upon 
 glass, which it much resembles, the object of bolh being to substitute a gorgeous 
 glare for the pure insipidity of truth or daylight; but whose advantiiges, at least to 
 the artist, cannot be denied, and are therefore not to be despised by any modern 
 professor of literature. For although the world hath abandoned some of its favour- 
 ite traditions relating to the proper treatment of authors, and hath not of late 
 publicly starved any one of the tribe,— yet until the nations do universally arrive 
 at the conclusion that Mind is property as well as Mod : that justice (to say nothing 
 of gratitude) demands that those who supply the highest and noblest wants of 
 humanity should be no worse treated than those who minister to its basest and 
 most animal requirements; that no point of national policy or well-being is 
 concerned in coniiscaliug the properly of a foreign author for the benefit of a na- 
 tive bookseller ; and that it is a procedure as unjust, though not so palp ible, as to 
 seize a cargo of foreign corn for the use of the native baker, gratis, under pretext 
 that it wds not grown by the country into which, for that very reason, it is im- 
 ported! — until, in brief, an Universal Ci pyright is conceded to all authors, by all 
 civilized nations, railroad kings will continue to be the richest of men !— and until 
 then the "■smallest contribution" should be thankfully received by literature; and 
 
 1 
 
2 PREFACE DEDICATORY. 
 
 as a (lerlicafion has always been cnnsidered a claim on the patron's generosity, to 
 restore the cu>t<)iii is to coiiier ;i great literary benefit ! 
 
 But so great is my alarm — which iiicrea-eih wilh every bol I worJ I enforce 
 myself to utler — th'.t 1 dare not c nil le in the pruteclion of one patron only ; and 
 therefore I have selected several, to whom 1 dedicate the following work under a 
 form (.f division, which also, in a modeat and unpretending manner, expresseth 
 the contents. 
 
 To Ladies and Gentlewomen, and indeed to all honest and fair damsels who 
 amuse their leisure hours with profit ible perusals, is dedicated all that relates to 
 Beauty's triumphs, disdams. favours, and excellent caprices ; to Lovers, the sweet 
 and amorous parts are feelingly inscribed ; to Soldiers, the martial achievements ; 
 to Scholars, the learning; to Historians, the romance ; to RoiuancL-rs. the history ; 
 to Poets, the verse; to Moralists, the catastrophe; to Critics, all thil they find 
 good ; and to Posterity, the whole ! 
 
 In recompense for the distinguished honour which I have thus conferred, all 
 that I demand cf the munificence of my patrons (with understanding that it is not 
 to become a precedent) is — that they will believe me when upon my word and 
 honour 1 assure ih m that I am myself and nobndy else !— that all the conjectures 
 and imputations which have conf. undeiJ me with divers renowned personases do 
 them lheGr,t\Th.ST i>justice! — that 1 have never had my p^ rlrail put to any book, 
 althougii ], too. might have taken warning by the doubtfulm ss of Sh iksperes, 
 and Used the precaution so diligenMy ot>served by the immortal writers vi this 
 ase, who ha\e themselves carefully seen to the transmission of their features, 
 ta-tefully idealized on canvas, to pu.-teriiy ! — and that whatever the liberality of 
 foreign and donie-;lic critics may ha\e fathered upon me, 1 solemnly assure the 
 whole human race that the only compositions of the kind with which I have con- 
 tributed to Its delectation are three in number; whereof the first is entitled 
 " Whitefriars, " the second '• Whitehall," and the third what the puissant reader 
 may readily discover by turning over this leaf, on which 1 subscribe myself, 
 
 His or her most obliged and terror-stricken 
 
 Servant and Client, 
 
 Tbe Author of •' Whitefrurs.'' 
 
CtESAR BORGIA. 
 
 ^ UNIVSRt. 
 CHAPTER I. ^^i^iio^'^. ■ 
 
 ITALY IN THE YEAR 1500. 
 
 " Che le terre d'ltalia tulte piene 
 Son di tiranni; ed un Marcel diventa 
 Ogni villan clie parteggiando viene."— Dante. 
 
 For all the lands of Iialy o'erdow 
 
 With tjranls; and each barbarous slave becomes, 
 
 Nursing our mad divisions, sovereign. 
 
 The great festival of the Christian world, the Jubilee of the year of Our 
 Lord 1500, notwithstanding the distracted state of Italy, and the evil 
 repute of the sovereign head of the church himself, attracted vast multi- 
 tudes of pilgrims from all parts of Europe to Rome. Although firmly 
 persuaded of the truth of the dark legends afloat concerning the cruelly, 
 tyranny, and licentiousness of the supreme pontiff, Alexander VI., these 
 pious wanderers were not deterred from seeking at his hands the in- 
 dulgences and plenary absolutions offered to the faithful attending the 
 jubilee in the city of" St. Peter. The great dogma of the church that, 
 however it may happen in matters temporal, in matters spiritual it is 
 never deserted by its founder, had as yet sustained no shock in the 
 universal opinion. It seemed as if the world, like Boccaccio's Jew, was 
 only the more convinced of the divine essence of a religion which could 
 remain so unshaken by the viciousnoss of its professors. The fire kindled 
 by Savonarola seemed to die out with that which consumed his own 
 substance; or threw forth only a few bickering and scattered sparkles 
 which were far from portending the great conflagration at hand. Remorse 
 for guilt, the pangs of sorrow, the restlessness of suffering, the fears of 
 superstition, the dreams of enthusiastic devotion, conducted thousands 
 from all the regions of then Catholic Europe to the capital of Christianity. 
 It is computed that no less than two hundred thousand |)ilgrims entered 
 Rome on this grand festival — the last which the church celebrated in 
 her unity. 
 
 The dignity of danger, perhaps, gave zest to the devotion oFthe warlike 
 populations which sent each their quota to the spiritual rendezvous. At 
 no period of h r stormy existence had Italy been so convulsed and 
 devastate! by almost all the evils which can befall a nation,' — by foreign 
 invasion and domestic strife, — as at the period when we lake up our 
 chronicle. 
 
 In the South, the French, Spaniards, Turks, and Neapolitans, struggled 
 
4 CJESXR BORGIA. 
 
 for tho possession of Naples and Sicily, and deluged ihe beautiful lands 
 in dispule willi their blood. In ijie North, the French and Venetians 
 ravaged Lonibardy. Milan, in a scries of revolutions, alternately lost and 
 regained inriependence; numerous small stales, among. which were dis- 
 tinguished the polished dukedom of Ferrara, and the republics of Pisa, 
 Lucca, and Sienna, with difficulty withstood subjugation to one or other 
 of the mighty oppressors, their neighbours. In Tuscany, the Florentines, 
 rent by furious factions, though protected by the French, were scarcely 
 able to baffle the ambitious designs of the papal power, directed against 
 them with the sagacity, perfidy, and merciless energy which distinguished 
 the ca|)iain-general of the church, Caijsar Borgia, above all the politicians 
 and commanders of the age. 
 
 This too lamous leader was the natural son of Alexander VI,, whom, to 
 the scandal of the whole Christian world, he had raised to the highest 
 honours which it was in his supremacy to bestow — honours which were 
 far from satisfying the ambition of the reci|)ient, to whom the princes of 
 Italy ascribed the vast project of uniiiug its shattered sovereignties into an 
 imperial crown for his own head. The great abilities which he had 
 disjjlayed in war, his unmatched subUely, his courage, which seemed to 
 defy both Cod and man, the unbounded ambition which he was known to 
 cherish, justly rendered him the terrur of Italy. 
 
 Nor was this magnificent project so visionary as modern historians have 
 been inclined to consider it. the papal dominion in itself was one of the 
 most extensive and powerful of all Italy, and was wielded by the intriguing 
 and daring Alexander, a prince who, with all his vices, crimes, and 
 inordinate lust of aggrandizement, possessed an extraordinary capacity. 
 He was a Spaniard by birth, and to the sullry passions of his native 
 land was believed to add all the refinements in dissimulation and treachery 
 which centuries of slavery had taught the Italians. Age might probably 
 have moderated the violence of his character, but the expiring volcano 
 was continually restiried into action by the no less vehement, but more 
 subtle genius of Caesar Borgia, to whose vast jilans his father's co-operation 
 was essentially necessary. 
 
 Ca3sar had been originally intended for the church, and during the 
 lifetime of his elder brother, the I>uke of Candia, whose tragical and 
 mysterious fate excites so gloomy a curiosity, he had worn the mantle 
 of a cardinal. But the moment, that assassination, perhaps involving a 
 still blacker crime, had removed this shadow of an elder brother from his 
 path, he threvv off the purple, and seemed determined never again to 
 resume it, unless as a king. His valour in the field, and the alliance of 
 the French, soon raised him to a high rank among the Italian generals. 
 The !*ontitf created him his generalissimo, and by conferring upon him 
 the Dukedom of Romagiia, seemed to open the way to him of sovereignty. 
 
 But the chief obstacles to the execution of the vast designs of Csesar 
 Borgia were the very instruments which he was compelled to use. The 
 paj)al power, like all the odier sovereignties of Euro|)e at the period, was 
 Jeudal in all its ramificaiions. During the wars of the emperors and popes, 
 the Roman barons had managed to usurp to themselves even greater pri- 
 vileges and more complete independence than any other nobility. The 
 great possessions of the church were held by them, with only a nominal 
 submission, under the title of vicai's. To break — to destroy the jjower of 
 these nobles — became a great object of Caesar's policy •, lo wrest back 
 their usurpations was essential to ihe execution of his vaster plans. The 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 5 
 
 animosities and factions among llie nobility themselves assisted his 
 projects, and his own subtle genius furnished him with innumerable 
 engines. 
 
 Ages of mutual rivalry and wrongs had exasperated against each other 
 the two most powerfur Roman families, the Orsini and the Colounas. 
 With the impolitic aid of the former, the Borgias drove the latter into 
 exile, and confiscated their immense possessions. Following up his suc- 
 cesses, Caisar, in two dreadful campaigns, distinguished by every species 
 of barbarity, succeeded in destroying the power of nearly all the great 
 families of Romagna. Meanwhile, "Alexander crushed the rebellious 
 spirit of the church by the exile, ruin, or death of a great many cardinals 
 Avho opposed themselves to his tyranny, chiefly through resentment at 
 the disappointment of the promises which he had made to secure his 
 election. 
 
 While thus crushing their chiefs, Csesar won, if not the affection, at 
 least the goodwill of the common people, by substituting to the unbounded 
 oppressions of their former masters a sway, which, however blood-thirsty 
 and extortionate, was still a change for the better. The Roman nobility, 
 like all that have been crushed, deserved their fate. The detail of their 
 cruelties and oppressions form the blackest pages in the history of Italy. 
 Dwelling in vast fortresses, with unnumbered dependents existing only 
 on war and plunder, they committed every species of disorder with 
 perfect impunity— robbed, murdered, ravaged, made war on one another, 
 and laughed to scorn the powerless suzerainty of a priest, even while re- 
 verencing to adoration his spiritual character. 
 
 ^yith the aid of the French, Caesar successfully pushed on his great 
 project; but the Orsini and other powerful barons at length perceived 
 their mistake m aiding him, even to the ruin of their enemies. Symptoms 
 of disaffection daily ^increased, and when Csesar's allies, the French, 
 sustained their great defeats iu Lombardy, an open combination was 
 entered into against him. The tyranny and licentiousness of the French 
 had provoked the miserable vanquished into revolt. Milan had succeeded 
 in expelling the invaders, and welcomed back its unfortunate and blood- 
 stained sovereign. Ludovico Sforza. 
 
 Far from aiding Caesar in his designs on Tuscany, the French not only 
 withdrew their troops from his service, but demanded that he should in- 
 stantly march with his own to their aid. But the open defection of his 
 raost powerful adherents, and the uncertain tenure of his conquests, ren- 
 dered Caesar deaf to any promptings of gratitude. He remained among 
 his conquests, busily engaged in cementing them, while the French ge- 
 nerals awaited in inaction the arrival of their king with a new army with 
 which he was preparing to ravage Italy. 
 
 Meanwhile the league against the Borgias assumed a formidable consis- 
 tency. The dispossessed barons assembled a considerable army on the 
 frontiers ofRomagna; the states ofMilan,Ferrara, Pisa, the Florentines and 
 Venetians, joined them in a pov.erful league. The French were believed 
 to be exasperated with the defection of Caesar during the revolt of Milan, 
 and were besides scarcelv able to retain their own position, driven to the 
 foot of the Alps. The ulter ruin of the Borgias seemed to impend; the 
 deposition of Alexander was openly threatened. Caesar himself appeared 
 for a moment overwhelmed by the opposition which was loinied against 
 him-, after sustaining several severe checks in arms, he bad betaken him- 
 self to the resort of weakness — negotiation. 
 
6 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 There were innumerable points of disunion in the confederacy, into 
 which the subtle genius of the Bitrgias easily discerned how to drive their 
 wedges. Thi^ Venetians and Florentines were divided by ancient grudp;es 
 and rival pj-elensions ; ihe feu Is among the great barons were only lulled 
 by ihe pressing perils without. The Bentivogli hated the Montefultri ; 
 the Malatesla, the Sforza ; the Perucci, the Baglioni ; the Colonna, the 
 Orsini; the Este, all. Bui the machinations of (loesar appeared only in 
 their effects. The Florentines sent him ambassadors to treat of a general 
 peace : Ferrara made a truce wilh him, and the duke, Ercole d'Este, 
 listened wilh eagerness to the proposals of Alexander, that his daughter, 
 Lucrezia, should wed the heir of his ancient and glorious race. At the 
 same time it was rumoured that Caesar had cajoled the Orsini back to his 
 interests, by offering the lady's hand to the heir of that powerful family, 
 Paolo Orsini, son to ihe Duke of Gravina. 
 
 There was now a short lull in the storm which ravaged Italy, but it was 
 gathering blacker and blacker on every point of the horizon. While the 
 French, Spaniards, and Turks, with their allies the Swiss, Burgundians, 
 Germans, and Moors, and the Italians themselves, were collecting all their 
 energies to struggle for the possession of the beautiful land, its coasts 
 were devastated by pirates, its cities sacked by robbers, the plague 
 spread death and desolaiion throughout its length and breadth. It seemed 
 as if Heaven intended ihe total extirpation of the Italian race! 
 
 And yet, amidst all this chaos, the serene glory of the arts arose like 
 the day-spriiig from a turbulent ocean. Leonardo da Vinci had painted 
 his masters-pieces, Michael Angelo was founding his school at Florence, 
 Raphael and Julio Romano were crayoning their first rude creations ; the 
 young Cellini was moulding his beauteous fancies in gold The recent 
 conquest of Constantinople, by the Turks, filled Italy with learned exiles, 
 who revived the ancient taste for Hellenic literature. Ariosto made 
 Ferraia illustrious with the dawn of his beautiful genius, thai rainbow 
 spanning the heavens of poesy, whose very tears are but weepings of 
 sunshine. But it was chiefly as a school of arms that the unlettered na- 
 tions of western Europe regarded Italy, and n)any of the pilgrims who 
 now hastened to obtain iheir share of the indulgences so libprally showered 
 on the faithful in the jubilee at Rome, conlemplaterl the recreation of a 
 campaign or so on their return, by way of indemnification for the fatigues 
 they might undergo, nearly indifferent on what side they performed their 
 achievements. 
 
 To this class, from their appearance, might be ascribed the leaders of 
 an armed parly which, towards the close of day, came slowly winding 
 round the edge of one of those lofty precipices by which the Apennines 
 descend into the plains of Umbria, 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PILGRIMS OF THE APENNINES. 
 
 "For, in Ihis present volume may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, 
 hardiness, love, iriendship, cowardice, murder, liate, viriue, and sin. Do after the good, and 
 leave the ill, and it shall bring you to good fame and renown."— Caxton, Prologue to the Mori 
 d'Author. 
 
 The troop consisted of about twenty men, all well mounted, and 
 wearing the usual accoutrements of the common soldiery of the ago The 
 breast and back were |)rotected with plates of steel, the head with a 
 bassinet or cap of steel, and the rest of the person with slout embossed 
 leather. Each was armed with a sword and lance, and to the saddle 
 hung on one side a poleaxe, on the other a rude arquebuss of great size 
 and weight, with conveniences to discharge il attached, in the shape of a 
 coil of tarred rope, matches, and a flint. The rude fashioning of the 
 armour, and the powerful limbs of the wearers, seemed to indicate men 
 of some barbarian race, as the Italians still called and considered the 
 transalpine nations. From the sprig of broom in the bassinets of the 
 riders, a skilful herald would speedily have known they were English,— 
 the broom flower being the cognizance of the kings of England, until the 
 overthrow of the last of the Plantagenet race in the person of Richard 111., 
 an event which had taken place some dozen years previous to the com- 
 menceuientof our narrative. In addition to this badge, the soldiers wore 
 another wrought in their mantles, a blazing sun, with the motto in the 
 centre, " Oh I mon Le Beaufort! " 
 
 The leaders of the party were literally so, for they kept considerably in 
 advance of their troop, the intmediate contmand of which was devolved 
 on an inferior officer, as he seemed to be, who yet was not even of the 
 lowest order of chivalry, as he did not wear the arms peculiar to an 
 esquire. His accoutrements differed but little from those of his followers, 
 but he carried a little flag or banderol on the point of his lance, and was 
 furnislied with a shield in addition to his arms of offence. So much of 
 his visage as was visible from the steel cap, displayed a grim set of features, 
 seamed with many a scar, short black hair, touched with gray, and a 
 thick beard to correspond. 
 
 The foremost persons of the party were three in number. The eldest 
 was apparently verging on forty, rode a mule, and from his habit was a 
 secular canon. His features were long and sharp, his head rather bald, a 
 capillary deficiency which he made up by a beard of patriarchal length 
 and volume ; his eyes were full of expression and gaiety, and from the 
 joyous cast oflhe counieuauce he might rather be taken for a disciple of 
 Anacreon than of Augustine. 
 
 Resuming our description by age, the next would be a personage about 
 thirty years old, of a tall and stately figure, who wore the habit of a Knight 
 Hospitaller of St. John. A long black mantle, wrought in the left with a 
 white cross in eight points, covered nearly his whole person •, his feet 
 and arms only appeared, except the head, and were cased in brass njail. 
 His helmet was carried by one of the attendants, and his while hood was 
 
8 C.£SAR BOKGiA. 
 
 drawn partially over his face to keep off the sun ; but the countenance 
 which appeared from it was remarkable for the noble and austere beauty 
 of its expression, shadowed with a deep cast of melancholy and pride, 
 liis black hair curling short round his temples and face, completed ihe 
 effect of the high and imijosiug severity of character stamped on its prince- 
 ly lineaments. This expression was not unsuitable to the mingled pro- 
 fessions of priest and warrior assumed by the Knights of St. John, who, 
 in addition to their military devotion, were bound in the strict rules of 
 chastity and obedience professed by the hermits of St. Augustine. 
 
 The third leader was apparently several years younger than the Knight 
 of St. John, and from his golden spurs and arms was of similar rank, but 
 of a lay order of chivalry. The elastic [)lates of silver mail in v.hich he 
 was clad from head to foot, displayed a figure of extraordinary strength 
 and agility, though inferior in height to that of the Hospitaller, to whose 
 gloomy garb his array brilliantly contrasted. The .splendour of his ap- 
 pointments, indeed, amply supported the title, which from the embla- 
 zonment on his shield he seemed to have assumed, of the Knight of the 
 Sun. His armour glittered like the lucid scales of a fresh-caught salmon, 
 and on his breast it was so skilfully wrought into a blazing sun, that the 
 luminary ap|)eared as if redected in a njirror. He wore a cap of silver 
 tissue , in which was a sprig of pur[)le broom ; and the joyous gallant 
 countenance, which expressed careless good humour, reckless daring, 
 and high spirits, well harmonized with the warlike coxcombry of his 
 array. His complexion had been originally very fair, and the long brown 
 hair and blue laughing hawk's eye marked his northern descent. But 
 the fierce sun of Italy had embrowned the skin wherever it was not 
 usually covered by the helmet, and presented something of the effect of a 
 bronze mask, which, however, gave a soldierly and veteran look to the 
 otherwise youthful and blooming countenance. 
 
 For some time the travellers had been winding up the steep brow of an 
 acclivity, on a road which was formed only by cutting down a few trees, 
 the trunks of which still remained half hidden among the grass, and made 
 the horses stumble every instant. On one side was a lofiy succession of 
 dark desolate hills, at whose base they proceeded ; on the other stretched 
 down a fathomless chaos of rocks, precipices, forests, and torrents, forming 
 a mountainous valley, which seemed as if dashed together by nature in a 
 fit of madness. Beyond the valley appeared a still vaster pile of hills 
 towering one above the other like the Titans' stairs to heaven, until the 
 topmost shone white as if with snow, and bounded the immense view. 
 
 The travellers proceeded lor some time in silence, probably too fatigued 
 for conversation, as they seemed to have made a long journey, their 
 horses' tongues hanging out, and their breasts covered with foam. The 
 English knight had been humming a roundelay in his own language— the 
 chief words distinguished being "• Robin Hood, and the good greenwood." 
 But the still and sultry calm into which the evening gradually closed 
 produced an effect even on his buoyant spirits. 
 
 " Messer Bembo," he said at last, addressing the ecclesiastic in good 
 Italian, but with a foreign accent ^ " methinks this castle of yours, if it be 
 not removed by faerie art, should now be somewhere in sight." 
 
 " I have noted the canon this last hall hour or so, and he sometimes 
 checks his mule as if he misdoubted his ov,n guidance," said the Hospital- 
 ler, with a quietly sarcastic smile. 
 
 "No, monsignor, no," replied the ecclesiastic, with nevertheless a 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 9 
 
 very puzzled countenance. "It is true that it is now seven years since I 
 last' found my way to my good friend Savelli's castle-, for since Ferrara 
 and his holiness disagreed "^at the sword's point, I have had but liitlc oc- 
 casion to go to Rome ; and yet it distinctly appears to me as if in the old 
 lime it crowned the summit of this gorge, thereby commanding the pass, 
 by the irrefragable sign that all who crossed the Apennines were compelled 
 to come this way to pay their composition, and obtain the free leave and 
 protection of my Lord Jacopo Savelli. He had a tower built over the 
 road on purpose, and I myself once heard him order the portcullis to be 
 driven down upon a gang of insolent traders of Genoa, who refused to 
 pay what he ordered them,— three crowns, I think it was, a head, with a 
 velvet robe for my lady, and ten fine wax candks for his lordship's chapel." 
 " And did it spike any of the jolly burghers?" said the yuung knight, 
 laughing heartily. 
 
 " Nay, the fright was enough for them ;" replied Messer Bembo, laughing 
 also until his eye suddenly lighted upon the stern and displeased coun- 
 tenance of the Hospitaller. "But 1 am the more certain that we are in 
 the right w^ay now 1 observe yonder mountain, resembling a white cone 
 projecting among the clouds^ at the end of that promontory of woody 
 rocks." 
 
 " You are right as to the cone, Messer, but for the castle, by St. George, 
 1 do no more see it than the battlements of my father's strong place of 
 Beaufort, in England!" said the young knight. 
 
 " Let us push on; perchance the walls may be hidden in the height," 
 said Messer Bembo, pricking on his mule. 
 
 "Or perchance a cloud may be around it — and yet the summit shines 
 very clear," said the Hospitaller. " What say you, Messer Canonico, if 
 the Borgia, when he crossed these mountains on his late ravages in Tus- 
 cany, took the opportunity to destroy a fortress belonging to so noted an 
 enemy of his name!" 
 
 " Tsay, then, my royal lord, that we shall lodge worse than I thought, 
 
 to-niiiht," replied Messer Bembo, dismally and wiih a sigh of weariness. 
 
 '' How, Messer Pietro Bembo, will you ever forget my injunctions, and 
 
 how much depends on their observation?" said the Knight Hospitaller, in 
 
 an angry tone. 
 
 " Nay, monsignor, but theBorgias are all for making love to us now-a- 
 days," returned the canon submissively. 
 
 ''And are, therefore, the more to be feared!" replied the Knight of 
 St. John. " The Borgias regard no faith, human or divme; and if they 
 had me in their powerwould, perhaps, compel me into this infernal mar- 
 riage with their demon daughter." 
 
 " Hush, or some of the fellows may hear us gabble, and only William 
 of Bampton is to be trusted!" said the younger knight. " Not but that 
 they are all very good rascals, and English to the backbone, but they are 
 by no means aware of the wiles of this land, and oft mistake crafty wine 
 for honest ale." 
 
 "Then, monsignor, I would say, reverend brother, I marvel what 
 brings you to Rome, for he who shuns the wolf, should surely not hide in 
 his cave?" contiimed Messer Bembo. 
 
 " if there be any time sacred with the Borgia, it will surely be this of 
 the glorious Christian jubilee," replied the Hospitaller. " The vast mul- 
 titude of pilgrims will render our arrival unnoted, and while the city is in 
 their hands they will not suffer so crying an enormity as the moieslatiou 
 
10 CMSAR BORGIA. 
 
 of one of their number. But," he continued with rising warmth, "no one 
 knows better than thou, Pietro, my intent in journeying to Rome. Silh- 
 ence my father is so blinded by his fears and policy, that he will not 
 believe the hideous rumours afloat concerning this modern harpy, on 
 report, and would compel me to accept her direful hand, I have sworn to 
 learn the truth of all with mine own avouch; and then, if he persists in 
 his resolution, I will take this holy and unwedding mantle in very earnest, 
 and spend the remainder of my days fighting for the redemption of the 
 Holy Sepulchre." 
 
 '•Your brother, Monsignor Hippolito, would be grieved to hear you 
 talk so, sir," said the canon, smiling. 
 
 " I blame thee not for the word, brother in arms," said the English 
 knight, in a more serious tone than his galliard mood often prom|)ted. 
 " For melhinks (if it be no sin to say so) even the holv father's uncleship 
 should scarcely coax me into uniting the honours of my house, though 
 inferior to yours, (albeit we are cousins to the king's mother, the Lady 
 IMargaret,) to the bastard brood of Borgia." 
 
 "But their actions, their actions!— 1 look the rather to them!" said the 
 Knight of St. John, with increasing vehemence. 
 
 "•Look then what scant wisdom may come with gray hairs!" said 
 Messer Bembo, smiling; "since the famously wise duke, Ercole, your 
 father, consented to this project of your reverend lordship's solely in the 
 belief that you would come back a convert to his own." 
 
 " Yea, for our poet legend-monger, Messer Ariosto, reports us such 
 marvellous tales of this woman's beauty, as if it were of Helen of Troy!" 
 returned the Knight of St. John, colouring and smiling, but with a strong 
 curl of contempt! "You look only to the outside of things, you poets, 
 Bembo-, you suspect not the serp'^iit among the rosemary. But were she 
 beautifuras Venus, she hath too many of the impudent goddess's other 
 qualities, to win aught but scorn and hatred from a soul like mine. The 
 woman whom i love. Sir Reginald, must be pure in name as in deed, in 
 deed as in spirit, in spirit as yonder summit of snow which mingles white- 
 ness with the heavens!" 
 
 " Then, by the mass, you must not seek for her in Italy," replied Sir 
 Reginald, selling his cap aside on his handsome audacious features, and 
 smiling significantly; " at least so far as my experience warrants." 
 
 " Ay, it is such as thou, Le Beaufort !— it'is the perpetual wars of which 
 you barbarians make Italy your battle-field, which is gradually trampling 
 out every noble quality in"^this once heroic land!" said the Hospitaller, 
 sighing deeply. 
 
 " Then where would you recommend monsignor rather to seeka vvife? 
 — taking it that he hath assumed this holy garb only for a carnival time?" 
 said Bembo. somewhat testily. 
 
 " 1 have abode long with him in Italy— let him return with me to 
 England!" said the young knight enthusiastically; "there he will find 
 maidens infinitely more beautiful than your sun-scorched women here, 
 and as innocent as the pearls they deck their ringlets withal!" 
 
 " Colourless ghosts are not to my taste, Messer," replied Bembo, 
 hastily. 
 
 " Colourless !— could you see my sweet cousin Alice ! " said the young 
 knight. " 1 remember her with cheeks as ruddy as any rose ; and 1 loved 
 her so well, that meaning to wed her to my brother Henry, 1 believe 'twas 
 one of the reasons they sent me to these Italian wars. But since he fell 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 11 
 
 by a Scottish lance they must have me home again, as if I were the sight of 
 their eyes. Our Lady keep his soul ! — but he hath left me a greater heir 
 than ever I thouahi. to be." 
 
 " Amen I " said Ihe ecclesiastic tranquilly, crossing himself. '• But you 
 must abate something of the shar|)ness of your tongue against the brown 
 Italian ladies, if you hope to obtain Ihe dispensation to wed your cousin 
 that was betrothed to your brother, for ladies have some influence at Rome, 
 or they tell great lies that come from it." 
 
 " "Tis a traveller's trick, they say," observed the Knight of the Sun, 
 slightly pricking his steed ; " butl am not so unhandsomely put toi^ether 
 as to be sorry for that. But, assuredly, Messer Bembo.^ your castle is one 
 in the air, in many respects." 
 
 " Yet Lucrezia Borgia is fair, not brown," said the Hospitaller musingly, 
 without noticing this latter observation. 
 
 " The duke your father was ever held to be a wise man," said Messer 
 Bembo slily. " I have often heard it said that the golden-haired goddess 
 herself was not fairer that day she sprang from ocean, while the waters 
 blushed rosy red with delight and shame to see her unveiled charms." 
 
 "You are in Messer Ariosto's vein this sunset, Pietio," said the Hospi- 
 taller, somewhat sadly; "but it needs a very inventive genius to speak 
 well of this lady." 
 
 " By the bonny broom-flower I to be so very married a damsel, 1 did 
 never hear of one who bore so very evil a report, " said Sir Reginald, 
 laughing; and striking his long lance against the trunk of a beech-tree 
 which shadowed the ]jath. he struck off a huge piece of bark, much ap- 
 parently to his content. 
 
 *' Married I truly, I am to be the fourth husband this lady hath ho- 
 noured with her rapid affections I " said the Hospitaller, with a tart 
 smile; "or perchance it were speaking it more to the matter to say — 
 person." 
 
 " Nay, monsignor, for a knight and eremite of holy Austin you speak it 
 harshly," said .Messer Bembo. " The first espousals were when she was 
 a mere child, and I doubt whether she eversaw the betrothed gentleman; 
 for she had not left the convent when her sire dissolved the contract, as 
 a match unequal to his new dignities. The Lord of Pesaro she quarrelled 
 with:^ — let me see, no, it was not at the allai- — but the divorce was pro- 
 nounced by a very solemn and unprejudiced tribunal. Then for the tliird 
 ■ — Don Alfonso of Arragon — poor lord, he did not survive his marriage 
 long ! " 
 
 " Murdered — assassinated ! Who knows if not by her connivance ?" 
 said the Hospitaller. " Well may she be called in Rome the Fatal Bride I 
 — and 'tis believed that 1 will consent to make the fourth ! The first — mark 
 you the gratitude of these Borgias I — was son of the Casiilian gentleman 
 who saved Alexander's life, in battle against the Moors of Granada, when, 
 forsooth, he was a soldier I And yet, not satisfied with an ignominious 
 breaking of the contract, ho even compelled the old man to put his son in 
 a manner to death by making a friar of him." 
 
 " My experience of friars, signor, leads me to think that many a ghost 
 would be glad if you could prove the identity I " replied Bembo. " It is 
 known how rash and headlong in all his passions the pontiff is — and was 
 it not the very madness of gratitude to betroth a youth of twenty to a child 
 in the cradle? And if he made a priest of him, it was probably to his 
 good, that he might recompense his loss with the dignities and wealth at 
 
12 C.4:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 l)is disposal ! I have heard it said, the young man was so deep a scholar, 
 that he was fit for nolhinir but a vSpanish bishopric or the president's chair 
 at Bologna the learned I " 
 
 "The second I" continued the Hospitaller vehemently, as if vexed at 
 the apology, "the second a dispossessed and shame-struck exile-, the 
 third gashed all over, then strangled ! You shall pardon me." 
 
 " But may not the unhappy lady herself be innocent, whoever is guilty 
 oftlie.se atrocities?" said Bembo earnestly. 
 
 " It is burned into my soul — those direful lines of Pontano I" said the 
 Hospitaller, vehemently. "They were put in the mouth of the death's- 
 head which was served to m.e at table, in a golden ewer, that day my 
 father feasted Caesar's ambassadors, who brought the proposal of this Jalack 
 alliance." 
 
 He then repeated, in a dark and brooding tone, the hideous distich which 
 has been one of the chief means of rendering the name of Lucrezia Borgia 
 portentous in the ear of posterity. 
 
 " Lucretia, nomine, sed re- 
 Thais. Alexandri lilia, sponsa, nurus.' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DOMINICAN. 
 
 " Man's life is all a mist, and in the dark 
 Our fortunes meet us "— Drttden. 
 
 A deep and somewhat awful silence followed for some minutes, and 
 then Messer Bembo spoke in a low and timid tone in reply. 
 
 "Calumny spares not even the saints in bliss," he said dubiouslv. 
 ''Then wherefore should a lying Neapolitan poet, who for the turn of an 
 epigram, or to give it an acuter sling, would speak worse of the devil 
 than he deserves, or of himself even, who is not so good a fellow!" 
 
 "Calumny hath not spared so reverend a man as yourself, Messer Pie- 
 tro," said the English knight. " Nay, she speaks even ill of me, who 
 never gave her the least occasion which I could muster virtue to forego." 
 
 "Thou art a very Sir Galaor indeed, who, they say, matched Sir 
 Lancelot in everything but constancy," said the Hospitaller, with a grave 
 smile. 
 
 "Constancyl— the rogue,— to his king's wife!" returned the Knight 
 of the Sun. "You may measure his faith by his faithlessness : but in 
 very sooth, Messer Bembo, 1 think your casUe must have belonged to 
 Fairy Morgana, and has sunk in the rocks as hers sink in the waves." 
 
 " By this good lamp of day, which is fast going out, on this summit 
 once stood as fair a lortalice as nature and art, plotting together, could 
 build! " said the canon, checking his exhausted mule, and staring amaz- 
 edly around. 
 
 The three leaders had now reached a lofty table-land, formed by the 
 summits of a vast rock, shaped as irregularly as if an earthquake had 
 tossed a mountain in the air, and let it i'all in fragments. The men-at- 
 arms, on their wearied horses, straggling up the prodigious ravine after 
 
CAESAR BORGIA. 13 
 
 lliem, bad disappearet), and by a singular illusion of ibc porspeciivo, iho 
 amphilhealre of forests which towered one above another on the moun- 
 tains beyond, seemed only sepiiraled l)y air. Before the travellers the 
 rocks descended in layers of blue cliffs, densely clothed in pines and 
 stunted oaks, until they formed two lofty walls, in which flowed a river; 
 or rather torrent, the roar of which was audible, but the waves were lost 
 in the darkness of the ravine through which they thundered. Based on 
 the opposite cliffs, arose apparently an endless succession of mountains 
 of a strange bluishly snowy tint, interspersed with masses of darkness 
 which looked like the waveVing shadows of vast forests. But after gazing 
 for a few moments, the rapidchanges of the shapes of these mountains 
 convinced the travellers that it was an illusion produced by the sun sel- 
 ling behind those on which they stood, and throwing a reflection of their 
 outlines on the mists which arose steaming from the plains below. 
 
 " It was here, it was undoubtedly on this spot that the castle of Jacopo 
 Savelli stood I" exclaimed Messer Pielro, glancing back in amazement at 
 the endless succession of moimlains, and the piles of rocks whose sum- 
 mits still glowed red-hot in the setting luminary. "I remember often 
 bemusing how these cliff's resembled battlements of gigantic castles, such 
 as the greater Morgan might have inhabited." 
 
 "There are yet traces of walls, and yonder still stands a watch-lower 
 baniJiing to a shattered battlement ! " said the Haspitaller. ""The spoiler's 
 work has been well done, for it looks as ruined as aught of the Roman 
 time." 
 
 The Hospitaller slightly pricked his horse with the spur, but the English 
 knight suddenly clutched him back by the rein, exclaiming, " San eta 
 Maria!— see you not, monsignor, how long the grass grows? the ground 
 is deeply hollowed." 
 
 "Truly, and I thank you, brother Reginald," said the elder knight, 
 slightly startled. "The fortress has been destroyed with gunpowder, 
 and it has rent some ghastly depths." 
 
 " See you not, as it were, some huge words sculptured on the red cliff 
 yonder, on which stood the donjon?" said Bembo, pointing opposite, 
 across the ruins, to a rock which was the highest of the whole group, 
 
 "You are a scholar and may tell us— Father Ambrosius could never 
 get me beyond my letters," replied the young knight. 
 
 "It is Latin, bul very legible even at this distance," said the Hospitaller. 
 " We cannot move in Italy, but we find the traces of this ravaging beast : 
 AUT c.€SAn, AUT NuuL. But whaL is yonder ? There are signs of more recent 
 conflict than these grass-grown ruins announce." He pointed, as bespoke, 
 with his lance to an object which attracted his attention, at the foot of one 
 of the sharp precipices which edged the ruined fortalice. There sprawled 
 a figure which, by the gleam ot armonr, and the inanimate manner in 
 which it lay, appeared to be the corpse of a soldier. 
 
 " Perhaps the man may be only asleep ; let us call him," said the canon, 
 adding in a shrill and terrified tone, " Friend, in a holy name, who art 
 thou ? " 
 
 " If he be asleep, 'tis in a very dangerous spot, " observed the Hospi- 
 taller. " The duty of the order I have assumed is to protect travellers 5 
 I will arouse him '}" 
 
 And vaulting with practised agility from his powerful steed, he flung 
 the reins to the canon, who shook so that he could scarcely take them. 
 
 " Nay, then, brother, you shall have a companion ; these mountains are 
 
14 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 peopled with banditti, and this may be some ambush," said he of the Sun, 
 disniouuling with equal rapidity, and hastening to join the Hospitaller, 
 who strode on before. 
 
 '' Wait at least, good my lords, until our people gather ; for all our pre- 
 servations, I adjure you !" groaned the prudent ecclesiastic; but the young 
 knights seemed to take no notice of what he said. 
 
 '• Oh, what a world is this below; but what a heaven there is above ! " 
 said the poetical canon, who looking devoutly up for celestial aid, was 
 struck with the exceedingly beautiful blue of the sky, in which myriads 
 of stars beamed silvery pale, though daylight lingered yet. 
 
 But he had scarcely uttered the exclamation when his attention was 
 recalled to sublunary concerns by a sudden hiss and snarl close to the 
 feet of his mule, which began to plunge violently, notwithstanding its 
 weariness. Probably startled by the advance of the intruders, a wolf 
 rushed out, and half rolled and half ran down a precipice to the right, in 
 a panic fully equal to that of Messer Bembo, But dismayed at the appa- 
 rition, he slided down from the mule, and leaving it wildly striking out 
 with its heels in every direction in which it apprehended the enemy 
 might approach, hastened to join his companions, whose lances he ob- 
 served gleaming in the distance. 
 
 In the couise of his i)rogress, struggling with thorn bushes or plung- 
 ing into hollows full of stagnant water, the canon perceived how it was 
 that the fortalice had so nearly vanished. Large Iragmenis of the ruins 
 had been hurled among the precipices by the explosion which had de- 
 stroyed it, and the rest was hidden by the rank and rapid vegetation 
 which delights in covering decay. Stumbling among the ruins in his 
 eagerness to rejoin his companions, Messer Bembo observed with extreme 
 horror several figures lying about the bulrushes, whose immoveability, 
 strange altitudes, and garbs discoloured with blood and rain, convinced 
 him thai they were bodies of recently slaughtered men. Avoiding as 
 much as |)0ssihle even to glance at the direful forms, the canon at length 
 reached the two knights, who were standing in discourse at the edge of 
 the clilV which bore the inscription. The carcass which had first excited 
 their attention lay directly below, partially stripped, and so gnawed by 
 wolves and crows that the face was gone, and much of the body which 
 was not defended by the steel garniture which it had carried. A bush of 
 wild raspberries grew close beside it, and the ripe red fruit hung over the 
 silent slain. 
 
 "This at least is probably not Caesar's work," said the English knight. 
 "Yonder are the enjbers oi a fire, and a half-roasted kid; they have been 
 travellers surprised by banditti." 
 
 " Let us hasten away!" said Messer Bembo, crossing himself with more 
 devotion than he had yet displayed. "Madonna herself can scarcely 
 protect us against these villains!" 
 
 " Are we sure this is none of the Borgia's work?" said the Hospitaller 
 thoughtfully. " JNote ye the badge in yon unhappy crow-pudding's mur- 
 rion? Mark you, Messer Bembo— the bear? The Orsini's crest, whom 
 he so hates! " 
 
 " The man is a very devil — that I should pronounce such a name — for 
 who sits there?" exclaimed ;he canon, turning white and blue by turns as 
 he pointed up to a hollow in the clilV just above the triumphant inscrip- 
 tion. A raven partially gray with his century of years was perched on it, 
 and seemed to watch the intruders with keen vindictive eyes. 
 
C.^SSAR BORGIA. 15 
 
 " Again, 1 say, let us hence, in our blessed Mother's name!" continued 
 the canon ; ''the night closes in, and if we do not find a lodging soon we 
 !~ha!l get among the mists, and go headlong down some precipice which 
 will not leave us a whole bone in onr skins. 1 remember there is a mo- 
 nastery at no great distance, which he will not have destroyed, because it 
 is a dependence of the Holy See. There, at least, we shall find shelter; 
 but for our fare I can pronnsc little, because they are of a severe rule, and 
 keep it.'' 
 
 •"■ And some of the good brothers will give these poor souls Christian 
 earth to lie in," said Sir Reginald. '' Have with you, Messer Bembo ; 
 come, brother, our tarriance here does the dead no good." 
 
 The Hospitaller complied in silence, and they returned to the spot where 
 Bembo had parted with his mule. They found the animal quietly munch- 
 ing some thistles, while William of Bampton stood with his gaunt figure 
 erect in the stirrups, straining his eyes in amazement at the disappearance 
 of the leaders. The men-at-arms had halted in a picturesque and disor- 
 dered group among the rocks. 
 
 Under guidance of Messer Bembo the whole troop now filed down an 
 excessively steep declivity facing the cloud-mountains which we have 
 mentioned. It wound, hesaid, into the depths of the ravine, to the river, 
 by whos'i course he hoped to find their way to the monastery, which was 
 somewhere on its banks. The precipitous character of the roa<l, if road, 
 it could I e called, soon compelled all the riders to dismount and lead their 
 beasts, fearing lest they should roll overhead into the ravine — all, except 
 ?i!essor Bembo, who trusted more in the steadiness of his mule's feet than 
 in his own. 
 
 The danger increased as they gradually became involved in the white 
 mist, which made the air as thick and hazy as the steam of boiling water. 
 But the increasing loudness of the roar of the river convinced them that 
 tliey wtM-e |)ursuing the right path. At length they entered a narrow 
 ravine cloven by a torrent on its way to die main stream, in which now 
 flowed scarcely sufflcient water to wet the hoofs of the horses. The rocks 
 on each side gradually heightened, for the path was in truth a fls>ure in 
 the mountains formed by some terrific eruption of their volcanic depths. 
 
 This path emerged by a narrow opening into the river. It was a stream 
 of considerable depth, bordered on each side by lofty clifl's of volcanic 
 strata, quite bare to the summits, where they were crowned by forests of 
 the dismal pine. The river descended in so rapid an inclination, that but 
 for the innumerable rocks among which its violent current churned and 
 roared, it would have been impassable. The velocity of the torrent was 
 further cheeked by the numerous deep cavt-s in the bases of the rocks, in 
 which the waters were diverted, sometimes into deep stagnant ponds, at 
 others into whirlpools that played and flashed like ringy lightning. 
 
 Messer Bembo was rather puzzled, for he could not, even with the assis- 
 tance of resting his chin on his hand, exactly remember whether the 
 monastery was above or below the entrance to the m.ain stream. But as 
 he recollected that it formed a cataract at some short distance above the 
 monastery, the Hospitaller recommended that they should follow the 
 course of the river until they ascertained whether they were above or 
 below the fall. 
 
 By a singular y)henomenon, not unusual in mountain atmospheres, the 
 mist hung several feet above the level of the waters, so that the upper parts 
 of the riders' persons were involved in it, while iheir steeds stood in a 
 
16 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 glassily clear air. The men-at-arms were otdered to halt where they 
 were, while the canon and the two knights pursued the course of the river, 
 to ascerlain the point in doubt. Sir Reginald took a horn which hung to 
 William ol" Bamplon's saddle, and it was only on a signal blast from him 
 that the wearied soldiers were to advance. 
 
 The horses gladly enlered the bed of the cool waves, and after slaking 
 their thirst, moved down the centre of the stream, which it was necessary 
 to keep, the sharp rocks and deep gulfs allowing no passage along the 
 base of the cliffs. 
 
 " These caves are said to be the haunts of dragons, where they brood 
 over hidden treasures," said Messer Bembo, smiling, but taking care to 
 keep abreast with the Knight of St. John. ''Yet for all I am with two 
 such noble (;hevaliers, 1 could be very ill content to see the glittering 
 green head poking out of one of them." 
 
 " Sir Reginald will have the first brush ; see you how he is urging on 
 bis horse .^" said the knight. " But, look, what is yonder? In sooth it 
 reseniblos the vast, glitlering back of a dragon weltering across our 
 path I" 
 
 " Ha, Madonna! it is the edge of the cataract I Hist, sir knight I the 
 uproar drowns my voice, and the thick-headed barbarian is making his 
 horse ca|)rii)le I" exclaimed the canon, clasi)ing his hands. " He will bo 
 dashed Id pieces; it falls to such a depth that it is lost in foam long ere it 
 reaches the rock below!" 
 
 But the Hospitaller listened only to the first words of this warning, 
 and dashing the spurs into his horse compelled it to gallop forward through 
 the whirling waters, to the rescue of his brother-in-arms. As he ap- 
 proached, however, he discerned that it was not carelessness which was 
 conductmg the young knight as it seemed to inevitable destruction. His 
 steed, terrifi<'d to madness vvith the uproar, was struggling furiously to 
 break away, and in the contest for the mastery was rapidly getting down 
 to where the smooth eel-like flow of the wave denoted the great depth of 
 its cuirent ere it overleaped the precipices in a cataract. In vain did the 
 knight endeavour to control the furious animal's violence, while his fearless 
 spirit, and jjerhaps the danger of sinking under the weight of his arms in 
 the waters, hindered him from seeking safely by leaping off. The 
 destruction of the youthful chevalier seemed inevitable, when, as if sent 
 by some direct and miraculous interposition, a tall figure garbed as a 
 Dominican monk rushed into the stream before it, whence no one could 
 discern, and seizing the horse's head with mighty force, rather hurled 
 than drove it headlong back on its haunches, and after a struggle as it 
 seemed of main strength, compelled it to halt. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " 1 blame not him wtio discredits, for indeed, with tfie proof in my hand, myself could doubt 
 {."—Truth's Troubles. 
 
 " Gramercy, our Lady! — Gramercy, good sir monk! fie, to be a monk 
 with an arm like thine, which could bear down a stand of pikes," ex- 
 claimed Sir Reginald, panting for breath, and unclasping his gorget. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 17 
 
 *' My cousin, fair Alice, must surely be praying for me now, to bring Ihee 
 BO in the very niclc." 
 
 "Your liorse, sir knight, is in this instance* the wiser animal of the 
 two; he feels the clanger coming," replied the monk, hurriedly. " The 
 torrent-wind I the torrent-wind I — call to your companions to make to the 
 shelter of the rocks on this side, for I see it is tearing up the water along 
 the whole line of the river to the left." 
 
 Singular as was this intimation, the commanding tones and gestures 
 of the monk induced Le Beaufort to act as if he clearly understood the 
 nature of the approaching danger. He shouted and waived to his friends 
 to quit the centre of the stream, and join hin) behind the projecting rocks, 
 to which the Dominican had forced his courser to retreat. They had 
 barely time to act upon the counsel, ere a rushing roar, louder than the 
 noise of the cataract, which seemed as if the mountains were rending in 
 an earthquake, broke upon their hearing. Rider and horse stiffened alike 
 widi amazement and terror, for while the air where they stood was scarcely 
 sufficient to lift the manes of their horses, a whirlwind of prodigious 
 violence, which must have hurried them over the abyss, had they stood 
 in its line of advance, roared along the left shore of the river, and drove 
 the waters before it like a herd of snow-white bulls rushing over each 
 other in mad confusion. Wind and waves thundered on to the edge of 
 the cataract, where a singular phenomenon, sometimes observed in the 
 mountainous regions of the north, took place. The wind, pursuing its 
 impetuous career over the torrent, cleared away the mist which overhung 
 it, in a circle, and for a few moments revealed a scene of great beauty 
 and grandeur. The torrent might be seen foaming wildly down among 
 vast rocks, until it reached the bed of a river which flowed through a 
 narrow but richly wooded valley formed by an amphitheatre of rocks, the 
 bases in their turn of mountains which towered above, until lost in blue 
 sublimity. The amphitheatre opening directly in front, revealed an 
 immense plain, bounded only by the Mediterranean, the waters of which 
 were distinctly visible, rolling of a dark violet hue against the bright line 
 of the sunset. 
 
 Midway down the ravine, through which the torrent thundered, although 
 the eye at first scarcely noticed it, the rocks projected and receded in 
 such a manner as to allow space and verge for the monastery of which our 
 travellers were in search. A wall running round the edge of some cliffs, 
 and two old gray towers, were all that was visible of it among the wind- 
 ings of the rocks, and the shadows of the overhanging pine and beech 
 trees. A bridge formed by a single arch, bare and undefended, spanned 
 a narrow neck which the opposite clifl's formed below the monastery, and 
 no other means of approach could be discerned. But the whole landscape 
 vanished almost immediately, for when the whirlwind had passed, the 
 
 mists again arose in their cloudy masses. 
 
 " They will feel this wind, ere many hours elapse, on the sea," said the 
 
 Dominican, as if following with his gaze the career of the tempestuous 
 
 visitor. 
 
 "The Holy Virgin have pity on mariners then," said Le Beaufort, 
 
 crossing himself. 
 
 " And on all men 5 all need it," returned the monk. 
 " Surely the devil rode in it, with his whole sabbath of witches," con- 
 tinued the astonished English knight. " But how, bi-othcr, by what rare 
 
 gift did you behold this wind coming?" 
 
 2 
 
18 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Nay, 'tis a four-fooled beast ihat sees the wind," replied the monk, 
 somewhat churlishly, for he spoke without the least appearance of jocu- 
 larity. 
 
 " Holds the proverb true of your red Italian pig?" said the knight, good- 
 naturedly smiling. " Howbeit, 1 am your debtor, and I pray you take 
 this gold chain oKhirty links, and hang it on your holiest shrine, an offer- 
 ing from Reginald Le Beaufort. Nay, 'tis no unlawful plunder, hut a 
 reward given me by the noble Duke of Ferrara that day his son and I kept 
 the lists at Fossom'brone against all comers, for one mortal rise and set, 
 •without once being worsted. What ails the man that he will not take it?" 
 
 " I am a humble brother of the beatified Dominic, and not of the Car- 
 thusians who inhabit this solitude, to whose saint your offering is due," 
 replied the Dominican, glancing at his white habit. "But you may well 
 mistake these bedabbled robes for russet. From Ferrara? Methought 
 your Italiau rung with a touch of the tramontane iron in it! — You and 
 these gentlemen are doubtless of France?" 
 
 " St. George forbid, or that I should mate with caitiffs who fly at the 
 blast of an English trumpet, as if it were Roland's," exclaimed Sir Regi- 
 nald. " And foul fall the day when any Englishman shames to say as I 
 would in the world's teeth — I am one. These gentlemen, my friends, are 
 worthily approved Italian knights, belonging to the Duke of Ferrara." 
 
 " How say you, sir? when one is a black Knight of St. John, the other 
 an ecclesiastic," exclaimed the monk. 
 
 "True, I had forgotten, my brains are whirling on a mill-wheel," mut- 
 tered the English knight, confusedly ^ and the canon, who had several 
 times made an effort to break the conversation, although the roar of the 
 waters prevented his hearing distinctly what was said, hastened to the 
 rescue. 
 
 ''We are all on a holy vow to the jubilee," he said. " But methinks 
 we shall be starved, or blown to death, or murdered by banditti, on the 
 road, unless some Christian will guide us in mercy to a shelter." 
 
 The priestly knight's hood was blown back by the wind, in his rapid 
 advance, and Uie Dominican surveyed him as it seemed with a particular 
 degree of attention from the depths of the cowl in which his own counte- 
 nance was so completely shaded as almost to baffl - scrutiny. But the 
 singularly fiery gleam of his eyes, the haggard outline of the features 
 duskily discernible, his great stature, and the musical depth and sweet- 
 ness of his voice, were potent challenges to curiosity. 
 
 " I will do my endeavour, for 1 seek some such matter myself, bro- 
 ther," relurned" the monk. " More especially as— hut that it is well 
 known that Consignor Don Alfonso has crossed the Alps, 1 could almost 
 have dreamed, despite that sacred habit, that 1 beheld the prince himself 
 in the weeds of a Knight Hospitaller." 
 
 " Nay, there are many gentlemen in Italy who resemble the good Duke 
 Ercole, for I never heard that he was a hater of the fair," said iMesser 
 Bembo, hastily interposing. " But prithee how is this convent to be 
 reached, for we have already been disappointed in a castle, where we 
 had made up our minds to sup and sleep? but man proposes— the proverb 
 rhymes." 
 
 " But is surely not often true, or where are we to look for refuge?" re- 
 plied the Dominican, in a mournful and musing tone. " I was seeking a 
 path in these rocks by which to descend to the valley below the torrent, 
 in which the convent is situated, when I heard your horse's struggles. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 19 
 
 But there is a truer proverb than yours, Messer Canouico, that, what strips 
 the sheep clothes the hedge, for 'tis an extreme misfortune to a noble 
 gentleman which has brought me hither to be your guide." 
 
 " What hath happed, I pray you?" said the canon, with great eager- 
 ness. 
 
 " I bear news which will spread a general consternation in Rome, " 
 replied the Dominican. " A most noble gentleman of the Orsini family, 
 passing through these mountains with few attendants, on a secret mission, 
 'tis said, from the confederated barons to our Holy Father, has been seized 
 by banditti, and his retinue murdered. Yesternight, returning from Lo- 
 retto, I was surprised by a party of the same band, who would have forced 
 me to grant them absolution." 
 
 " And you refused, brother ?" interrupted Bembo, startled at the magna- 
 nimity of the deed, 
 
 " Yea, though they threatened to roast my feet off at a slow fire," replied 
 the Dominican, calmly. " Finding that I was inflexible, they offered me 
 my liberty on condition that I took a message from them to Piome, de- 
 manding a ransom of ten thousand gold crowns for their prisoner's re- 
 demption. At first I refused, whereupon they blindfolded and led me to 
 some cavern in these rocks, known only to themselves, where they have 
 confined the Orsino. After showing him to me at a distance, chained to 
 a rock, in which was sculptured a colossal crucifixion, the captain of the 
 robbers, or disbanded soldiers, for I know not which they are, swore to 
 me that unlil some messenger, and but one, returned with the ransom, 
 the unfortunate gentleman should neither taste of food nor drink, were it 
 to be but one day or all time." 
 
 " Monsters without faith, hope, or charity ! " exclaimed Messer 
 Bembo. 
 
 "Why then pause you even for an instant, brother?" said the Knight 
 of St. John. 
 
 " It is not long since they released me, after vainly attempting to move 
 Ihem to mercy ; and, as I have told you, I cannot find the way to the valley 
 below," I'eplied the monk. 
 
 '' Can you not guide us to the place where these banditti await their 
 ransom; I bear one in my scabbard," said Le Beaufort, with his charac- 
 teristic impetuosity. 
 
 " Your ancestors, indeed, have fought at great odds, but not as one to 
 forty," said ihe Dominican. 
 
 " We are more than muster here," replied Le Beaufort. '' A wind of 
 my horn summons twenty stout fellows, whose flesh hath borne iron so 
 long, that it something partakes of its qualities.'' 
 
 " It were in vain ; the brigands know all the passes of these mountains, 
 and could easily elude our search, and would perhaps murder their pri- 
 soner in their rage," said the Dominican. " But I will tell you a strange 
 imagination which haunts me. How we entered the cavern I cannot di- 
 vine; they bandaged me high up in the mountains, and when they suffered 
 me to remove the fillet, I found myself in a craggy cleft, overlooking the 
 hollow rocks which form the cave. But I noticed a yawning mouth of 
 granite at one extremity, and from the foaming clouds which every mo- 
 ment rushed in, and the infinite uproar, I imagmed that it was below the 
 fall of some torrent. Moreover, the crucifixion helped to kindle my sus- 
 picions." 
 
 "Suspicions, brother, in so blessed a sign?" interrupted the canon. 
 
50 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Hear me oul, master canon," said the Dominican, in the same imper- 
 turbable narrative tone. "The disciple of St. Bruno, who, three hundred 
 years ago, founded a convent of his order in these mountains, was an 
 anchoriie who abode in a cavern over which this torrent falls — a blessed 
 silence compared with the distracting tumults of the world. With his own 
 hands he struck a crucifixion out of the solid rock, which is recorded 
 among the good deeds which enabled the church to canonize him among 
 ber triumphant warriors. He died one night alone in his cell, and when 
 the Carthusians came to bury bim, they found that his body was gone, 
 and only a heavenly perfume remained, as if angels had been there. 
 Many pious pilgrims came to visit the cave, but as no other means of 
 entering it were known but by passing through the cataract, so many lost 
 their lives in the attempt that it was at length forbidden by a papal bull 
 to make it. Yet, I cannot help thinking, there must be some secret entry 
 to the cave, which the Carthusians may have concealed, as there were 
 rumours raised that the saintly founder was assassinated on account of the 
 extreme severity of his government, and which the robbers may have 
 accidentally discovered." 
 
 " 'lis a strange tale, indeed, to be true," said Messer Bembo with a 
 slight sneer. "JBut if matters stand thus, I would advise you to hasten 
 on your journey to Rome." 
 
 "The Orsini have good reasons for keeping their treasures out of Rome, 
 and I doubt if, even in this exigency, and to redeem the heir of their 
 great house, they could raise ten thousand gold crowns anywhere nearer 
 than Venice — too late to save the young lord from his menaced doom !" 
 returned the monk, eyeing the Hospitaller with keen attention. 
 
 "The heir of the Orsinil — what, Signer Paolo?" exclaimed the latter 
 with visible interest, adding in a colder tone, "Why, since the Borgias 
 intend him for their son-in-law, the rusty ducats of the Vatican will 
 surely be forthcoming were the sum ten times to be told." 
 
 The monk laughed, but it was gloomily and derisively, without the 
 least tinge of mirth. 
 
 "If you listen to the little birds singing, an' they be wise, ye will hear 
 them say little on that matter," he said. " 'Tis known what remarkable 
 love the Borgias have as vet shown to their sons-in-law, and 1 see not 
 why they should display less tenderness towards one who is also the 
 great strength of their rebels against them, whose subtlety, if any can 
 above ground, matches their own." 
 
 " In the plain vulgar tongue, brother of St, Dominic, tell us what you 
 mean?" adjured the canon, with a bewildered stare. 
 
 "Moreover, duke Valentino is at Faenza, carrying on his siege there, 
 and the Pope is not so headstrong and fierce as of old, and does nothing 
 without direction," returned the monk, apparently avoiding a direct 
 answer. 
 
 "Is not Cffisar's lieutenant, Don Remiro, that wolf of justice who hath 
 so nigh extirpated the Black Bands, to be found in Komagna?" said the 
 Hospitaller. "Tut, tut, there is always along stream of blood flowing 
 from his abode whereby to find him." 
 
 "Force were of no avail; they will flee and take their secret with 
 them," replied the Dominican. "Moreover, Paolo is probably at this 
 moment dying of cold, hunger, and terror, in the disnjal cavern below. 
 Rut 1 tnarvel not that friends to the Duke of Ferrara should be willing to 
 let his :son's rival perish, even by so terrible a doom." 
 
a^SAR BORGIA. 21 
 
 "Now, by our Lady's tears at the cross, I will not leave these mountains 
 until I have redeemed Paolo Orsino, or shared his fate," exclaimed the 
 generous Hospitaller, with sudden vehemence. 
 
 "And as we are the very cow and calf of knighthood, by the same, I 
 will not leave you until this matter be determined," said Sir Ilefiinald ; 
 and, raising his horn, he blew a cheerful blast : but he had no great oc- 
 casion furt that expenditure of breath, as the men-at-arms, wearied and 
 alarmed at the long delay, came straggling into sight. 
 
 " It is a |)rofane and heathen templ^ing uf Providence, a wicked oath, 
 from which I absolve you both,"' said the canon, infinitely alarmed 5 but 
 without heeding his dehortation, the knights entreated the monk to en- 
 deavour to recollect if he had no clue by which to guide them to the adit 
 possessed by the robbers. He shook his head mournfully. 
 
 "Then let us even take the blessed saint's own way, and clamber up 
 the torrent," said the gallant Englisli knight. 
 
 "It is possible the Carlhusians may have some tradition left, which 
 may be easier to follow than you njight find it to climb a rope of water," 
 replied the Dominican. " At all events the night is coming, and you will 
 need torches. Moreover your armour must be laid aside^'in such an at- 
 tempt, for it requires the litheness of the serpent to glide among those 
 slippery chasms, where a false step is perdition. Therefore let us in the 
 first place find out our way to the monastery,— and yonder methinks — 
 nay 'tis certain— is the cleft for which I have been searching so long." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " By ihe pricking of my thumbs 
 Someihing wicked this way comes." — Macbeth. 
 
 The sun was now completely set, and the shadows of the rocks had 
 shifted, so that some which had been concealed projected, and others 
 vanished into darkness. A red glare down a pile of massy rocks crowned 
 with pines of immense height, the trunks of which were so weather- 
 stained as to seem of old rusty iron, revealed a steep and very narrow 
 defile, which, after ascending for a short time, apparently broke off ab- 
 ruptly in mid air. 
 
 But on reaching the summit, under guidance of the Dominican, the 
 travellers found that the path continued, descending through a sloping 
 forest, which clothed the sides ofone of those wild sierras. Thence, by a 
 winding succession of precipices over the torrent, they emerged on a 
 species of platform of bare rocks, on which one side of the bridge 
 rested. 
 
 To cross this bridge, which was scarcely wide enough for a single pas- 
 senger, which had no parapet, and which seemed to shake with the 
 thunder of the cataract, whose white waves rolled at a ghasty depth 
 below, appeared scarcely a possible feat for a horseman. But Le Beaufort, 
 laughing at the canon's exclamations of terror, set spurs to his horse, 
 and crossed the bridge at a gailoi), waving his hand in triumph when he 
 reached the opposite ledge. The Knight of St. John I'uUowed more 
 eisurely, but with even greater coolness, for he checked his steed in 
 
^2 G/ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 the centre of the bridge, and surveyed the cataract with calm attention. 
 
 The waters rushing in a vast body over the highest pile of roclis, fell 
 in one headlong sheet to another which jutted considerably, and on which 
 they dashed themselves into a sea of foam, rolling over in a hundred se- 
 parate torrents, which in their turn were flung and torn to pieces on the 
 precipices they encountered in their descent. The hollow darkness 
 below the projecting rocks of the second fall, marked the entrance to the 
 cavern ; but the Hospitaller's attention was caught by a strange red glow 
 on the impetuous waters which rolled over it, as if from some fire within. 
 As he gazed, it died out, and he was left in doubt whether it was an illu- 
 sion of his imagination, or some phenomenon peculiar to those volcanic 
 regions. 
 
 Meanwhile the canon was shouting lustily to him to cross and leave the 
 way clear, for although in mortal trepidation, there was no resource but 
 to follow. The canon's mule look the bridge steadily, while he himself 
 endeavoured by stretching both arms to assist in keeping the balance. 
 But whether from the force of imitation, or from some good reason of its 
 own, the mule paused directly in the centre of the bridge, and in spite of 
 b11 the canon's earnest entreaties and caresses, for he dared not provoke 
 it to open mutiny by blows, would not stir a single inch until William of 
 Bampton, who followed, pricked it boldly in the haunch with his spear. 
 Setting its tail^ and uttering a shrill cry, the mule then tremblingly 
 advanced, and, by slow degrees, during which the canon crossed himself 
 a hundred times, they reached terra firma in safety. The men-at-arms 
 followed in an orderly file. 
 
 The Dominican brought up the rear, and as the twilight had now 
 deepened into darkness, the knights awaited his passage with some 
 anxiety. Both the Hospitaller and Sir Beginald perceived him reach the 
 middle of the bridge, where he too halted, as if struck with some object 
 before him, to which he visibly pointed. The knights looked in the di- 
 rection indicated, and again observed the mysterious glare lighting up 
 the torrent with extreme splendour, for an instant. When they looked 
 round, the monk had disappeared. 
 
 All united in declaring that he had not crossed the bridge, neither had 
 any one observed him return, or fall. Exceedingly alarmed and sur- 
 prised, the two leaders dismounted and crossed over the bridge in search 
 of their guide, but could discern no traces of him, nor obtain any reply 
 to the shouts with which they almost overpowered the unceasing roar of 
 the waters. If he had fallen over, he must certainly have been instantly 
 dashed to pieces, and his shattered carcass hurried away by the rapid 
 stream. But those black depths denied all means of ascertaining, and 
 the only contrary hope which they could devise, was that the monk had 
 taken panic at the ]>rospect of the enterprise in which he had engaged 
 them, and had withdrawn from any share in its prosecution. With this 
 thought, however, mingled a superstitious feeling, which, although none 
 avowed, all felt, and which both the appearance and disappearance of 
 the stranger were well calculated to excite. 
 
 Engaged in sombre rumination on their adventure, the travellers at 
 length proceeded on their way, guided by the distant chaunt of the 
 Carthusians at vespers, and reached a massive gate between two high 
 cliff's, formed of slender pine-boles, welded together with iron. A 
 twisted brass horn, finely polished, hung as at the drawbridge of some 
 giant's castle in old romance; which, when Sir Reginald blew it, gave 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA, 23 
 
 out a singularly wild screeching blast, being probably fashioned so as to 
 utler a shrill cry which could be distinguished amidst the noise of the 
 near waters. 
 
 There was a short pause, and then an old monk made his appearance, 
 after withdrawing two vast wooden bolts. He wore the dull red Carthu- 
 sian garb, fastened round the waist by a rope, to which hung a woodea 
 cross ; but true to his obligation of silence, he made no reply to the 
 knight's request to be allowed shelter for the evening, beyond pointing 
 to the monastery which was mjmediately in front. 
 
 With this tacit permission they continued liieir road, and arrived at a 
 narrow causeway, by which they ascended to a still narrower portcullis, 
 above which, piled among the rocks, and somptimes perhaps cut in their 
 substance, arose the monastery. Knocking with their spears at tli^'gate, 
 a monk appeared at the wmdow of a tower above the portcullis, and alter 
 reconnoitring, set some machinery in motion, by which the portcullis 
 was raised. They then found themselves in a long narrow yard, cut in 
 the rock, on each side of which were caves artiricially excavated, and 
 which were probably intended to be used by travellers as stables. 
 Immediately they had entered, the portcullis was lowered behind them, 
 and having performed this duty, the janitor himself descended. 
 
 The monk was a lay brother, and seemed to be exempt from the perio- 
 dical fit of silence to which the Carihusian rule subjects its members. 
 He received the travellers with bland courtesy, and regretted the badness 
 of the accommodations which he had to otfer, especially as the best at his 
 disposal were already occupied by a numerous coinpany of soldiers, 
 escorting the ambassador of Florence to Rome. He added, that the prior 
 was at vespers in the chapel, but would see them as soon as he had con- 
 cluded his devotions; pointed out what premises were unoccupied in the 
 rock-stables, and where thev might find straw for their horses, and in- 
 vited the commanders to follow him into the monastery forthwith. He 
 then led the way up a very steep succession of stairs, eut at intervals in 
 the rock, and ushered them into the great hall of the convent. 
 
 As this apartment had formerly been a natural cavern, it presented an 
 exceedingly gloomy aspect, being of great extent, with windows only on 
 one side, hewn in the solid granite, and set exceedingly deep. It was 
 crossed at intervals by archways, marking the termmaiion of many 
 flights of stairs, leading by galleries to the upper parts of the monastery. 
 In the centre of the hall was a long stone table, with benches of the same 
 material immoveably fixed, for they were cut in the rock. A pulpit, sup- 
 ported on a pillar, was similarly sculptured in the wall, from which a monk 
 usually read some passages of the Scriptures or homilies during every 
 meal. Five or six pinewood torches were stuck in holes at far intervals 
 in the granite, and shed a dismal swarthy light, the gloom of which was 
 not diminished by the enormous pile of red embers which glowed on the 
 hearth in a cave, or rather chimney, at the extremity of the hall. 
 
 The travellers found here the party with whom they were to share the 
 hospitality of the alpine fathers. In addition to several long-bearded, 
 silent Carthusians, who were engaged in attendance on their guests, the 
 stone table was occupied by some thirty men-at-arms, feeding on a kind 
 of black barley bread, cheese, curds, and milk. Beside each man, cross- 
 ing the table, lay a spear nearly double his own height, its point barbed 
 like a fish-hook, so that on being withdrawn from a wound, the flesh must 
 be fearfullv lacerated : their armour was at once strong and rich, bright 
 
24 C^SAR bORGIA. 
 
 from the smithies of .Milan, and apparently manufactured in imitation of 
 the ancient Roman military fi;arb — greaves of polished steel, bare knees, 
 short kilts of quilted steel, breast and back pieces of gleaming plate, 
 helmets surmounted by silver eagles with outspread wings and sun-soaring 
 upward gaze. A round shield with a pike in the centre, a short sword, 
 and a massive mace intended to knock those on the head whose armour 
 denied the sword access when overthrown, completed the uniform. 
 
 It needed not the additional emblem of Caesar Borgia's motto encircling 
 the arms of the church in their mantles, to inform the new comers that 
 they beheld a detachment of the terrible guard of that leader, known 
 throughout Italy lor their cruelties and valour. He had selected this body 
 from almost all the nations which battled iu Italy, and principally of those 
 whose ferocity and crimes had rendered them outcasts even from the 
 direful armies which disgorged them, and whose wild wolf natures he 
 alone had found it possible to control. Accordingly their complexions 
 presented almost every hue, from the sable Moor to the white-haired 
 German ; but all were men of great stature, and remarkable for thew 
 and muscle only to be acquired by lives of toil, and the fierce exercise of 
 war. 
 
 Seated in a vast wooden chair, a seat of distinction usually appro- 
 priated to the superior of the monastery, for all the other seats were 
 stools, basking as it were in the warm refulgence of the fire, sat a person- 
 age whom this formidable escort attended. He was a man in thf; prime 
 of life, of a good stature, somewhat spare in flesh, with sharply defined, 
 but handsome Italian features. His eyebrows had an habitual curve 
 downward, as if accustomed to brooding thoughtfulness, the mouth in 
 repose had an expression of singular unhappiness; but whenever they 
 broke from this musing calm, the eyes and features lighted up with a sa- 
 tirical, and yet jocose brilliancy, and his smile was full of humour and 
 vivacity. 
 
 This personage wore a long crimson cloak, probably the ensign of 
 some dignity, for the rest of his garb was of dark velvet, and, for an age 
 delighting in rich garnitures, exceedingly plain. He was apparently 
 amusing himself with watching the gambols of one of those unhappy at- 
 tendants on ancient grandeur, whose office it was to entertain their rude 
 lords with the vagaries of their disordered and reckless wits, whose 
 brightest sparkles indeed were supposed to be caused by the Haw in the 
 understanding, as a broken mirror distorts and splinters the light into 
 effects more curious and brilliant than the smoothest surface. 
 
 The fool or jester in question, however, was evidently no ordinary 
 member of the hairbrained fraternity. His figure, as displayed in his 
 motley garb, was remarkable for its grace and suppleness, and although 
 not powerful, and of common height, yet its exceeding limberness and 
 serpent-like vivacity of movement would have made even a gladiator 
 pause with the feeling with which the strongest eye any animal of the 
 reptile species ere attacking it. His features, as well as could be ascer- 
 tained amid the grotesque daubing and patches which covered it, were 
 fine in outline and almost femininely delicate in finish. His mouth might 
 have been called beautiful, but that when at rest, it remained parted with 
 a slight, but very odious expression of bloodlhirstiness. But the eyes were 
 the most singular •, they were set very deeply under his perfectly arched 
 brows, and might without any exaggeration be compared to diamonds 
 in sparkle and infinite variety of tint — sometimes a glow merely with un- 
 
C.ilSAR BORGIA. 25 
 
 meaning glitter, at others flaming with strange wildness and the multitu- 
 dinous leverish fancies of a mind diseased. 
 
 The jester was busied in playing with or rather teasing two enormous 
 bloodhounds which shared the'hearth with him, endeavouring with many 
 antic tricks and allurements to induce them to put their great paws into 
 the hot embers to draw out some chestnuts which he was roasting. The 
 dignitary was so absorbed in laughing at this dangerous sport, that he 
 scarcely noticed the arrival of the new guests, until the clank of armed 
 feet startled him. Glancing round, and observing the chivalric strangers, 
 he arose to salute them. The tool stared at them with a lack-lustre gaze, 
 and then shaking his shaggy red hair over his face, as if the matter in 
 nowise concerned him, resumed his divertisement wuh the dogs. 
 
 " Have I really the happiness, in this step of n)y painful pilgrimage, 
 to encounter your worthiness, Messer Machiavelli of Florence? " exclaimed 
 the canon, in a tone by no means so joyful as his words, but perceiving 
 that subterfuge would be in vain, and that the ambassador bad immediately 
 recognised him. 
 
 " And if /le jjleases not your reverence, there is only another to send 
 for," said the jester, pointing downward with a very expressive gesture; 
 then giggling vacantly, he stirred the embers with an iron pole kept for 
 the purpose. 
 
 "Mean you the devil or Csesar Borgia, lad?" said the ambassador, 
 smiling. " But do I behold the mirror of Parnassus, the quintessence of 
 all learning and ingenuity, the Hercules of theology, in the person of 
 Messer Bembo of Ferrara, lean canon of a fat cathedral?" he continued, in 
 a highflown but somewhat ludicrous tone of compliment. '• If I obtain 
 no other reward for n)y journey across the Apennines, this is sufficient. 
 But surely your party is not so much in favour at Rome, my dear Pietro, 
 as to render a penitential journey thither of any particular advantage to 
 your affairs ? " 
 
 •' I do not go to solicit a benefice, signor," replied the canon rather 
 testily. "ISeither are faith and good works so altogether out of date as 
 to make mine and these noble knights' journey to Rome at this season so 
 marvellous a miracle as to stare a man's eyes out. But how chances it 
 that the secretary of the magnificent signory is on his way to the capital 
 of the enemy?" 
 
 " We want not the Medici home in the republic, and as all the rest of 
 you are making your peace with the church, 1 see not why we should be 
 so unchristian, not to say so mad, as to hold out alone," replied the 
 ambassador. " And this their magnificences have deputed a plain man 
 to say to the Holy Father. But what are the latest news in the north? 
 I warrant they scent as far down the wind at Ferrara as in the Val 
 d'Arno." 
 
 "All I know is, that I go to Rome for my sins, and on no embassy, 
 unless I find occasion to apologise for our young prince's unavoidable 
 journey to France," replied the canon. 
 
 " Nay, troth, he is better there than with t'other Don Alfonso, among 
 the worms," said the zany, staring with his glittering and yet vacant eyes 
 on the Knight of St. John' 
 
 ^ Why if you bring your sins to Rome, where are all the pretty damsels 
 we might expect to see in your train, master canon? " said the Florentine, 
 laughing. 
 
 " It makes no matter how many; thei^c is room for all the world at 
 
56 C.«SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Rome, and his wife, as well as paramour," continued the fool. "And 
 then if Rome siiould sink with the weight of you, the bottomless pit 
 would be long in tilling, uncle— but, however, Ihey would make room 
 below, for they are very polite people there, as right they should be, 
 being chiefly courtiers and great personages that have leftthoir names 
 in chronicles — such as your king, your great general, your wit, and 
 your poet— folks that would be knocking their heads against the stars." 
 
 " But have you faithfully, brother Pieiro and schoolfellow, no business 
 in Rome but to do your soul good?" said the Florentine, with an acute 
 gaze. 
 
 " And if I had, brother Niccolo, I have been your schoolfellow to more 
 purpose than to let my secrets flutter to every wind," re|)lied the canon, 
 with atfected cheerfulness. '" Yet truly I am glad to see you safe from 
 the lion's den, as 1 call iMonsignor Borgia's camp. 'Tis a comfort to 
 remark even one returning claw-print in the sand." 
 
 " And truly I am sorry to hear this news of your prince's running away 
 from the gorgeous alliance offered him wiih the Caesar's sister," replied 
 the Florentine, with a vexed look. " The Orsini will have it all their 
 own way, and if they conclude their marriage — woe to Tuscany." 
 
 " Yes, yes, let the bear try what sort of a wedge his paw will make," 
 said the fool, laughing and chuckling. " Did his reverence the fox see 
 aught of the Orsini claws in the sand, when he looked which way the 
 beasts were going?" 
 
 " Now, by'r Lady, for a fool you have hit well in the bull's eye with a 
 random bolt! " exclaimed Sir Reginald. " Do but hear, Signer Ambas- 
 sador, what we have discovered, and judge if Caesar's friends be any safer 
 than his foes." 
 
 "Why, what history is this that hath a miserere before it?" said 
 Messer Machiavelli, with an expression of sudden and strong interest; and 
 even ihe fool leaned forward, but almost instantly resumed his careless 
 attitude. "IN'ow for a good tale, or let it not be about the Borgia ; for 
 our palates are high-seasoned with the tidings we hear of him at every 
 step," said Machiavelli, with a glance at the jester, who joggled his 
 head about, making the little silver bells ring a very gay and musical 
 peal . 
 
 The canon was about to commence the narrative of their late singular 
 adventure, when he was luckily spared the trouble of repeating it to two 
 sets of listeners by the entrance of the prior and a long train of Car- 
 thusians, from their devotions. The monks all advanced in solemn 
 silence, their heads sunk hunibly on their breasts, the superior hinjself 
 so worn with vio;ils and fasts, that his gaunt and powerful form seemed 
 like that of a huge skeleton. He was the only one of the group who uttered 
 any word of welcome to the new guests, yet he received them with a grave 
 austerity which could scarcely be called so, and a general air of apathy 
 which age and solitariness miglit well contract. 
 
 Machiavelli abruptly terminated the canon's oratorical request for hos- 
 pitality by demandnig the details of the circumstance relating to the Orsini 
 to which he had alluded. Messer Bembo began a very eloquent narration, 
 but Le Beaufort, wearied of his discursive progress, broke in, and told 
 the story in as many words as the former intended to have used sentences. 
 He concluded by requesting the prior to inform him if he knew any means 
 by which the cavern might be seaiched, and the truth or falsehood of the 
 information ibev had received ascertained. 
 
C^SAR BORGfA. 27 
 
 " Did ye all dream this at, once, or did one fool make many ?" said the 
 jester, with a strange laugh ofdtrision. "-What needs it, uncle Niccolo, 
 to take me as a present to the pope, when these gentlemen are going of 
 their own accord ?" 
 
 "A civil tongue keeps a sound skin, fool," said the Florentine signifi- 
 cantly. 
 
 The prior, whose brows had been gradually darkening, now observed, 
 "All this is impossible, that you have been told — some wandering maniac's 
 dream? No one among us has ever heard of any other means of access to 
 the saint's cell but through the cataract, in which enter|)rise so many of 
 the faithful have perished that it has long been prohibited." 
 
 "I have heard, when I was a novice," faltered out an ancient monk, 
 bent nearly double with the weight of a hundred years, — " I have heard 
 . . . what have I heard ? — some way to the cave among the rocks . . . 
 Father Ambrosio could have told .... but he has been dead sixty years 
 and odd, come Candlemas again. The winter was very cold, and he had 
 long had a cough — poor man, he died very hard — Amen I — 1 mean, Saint 
 Guidohald keep his soul." 
 
 " Perchance they have seen the Bad One in the likeness of that blessed 
 saint, to put them all on breaking their necks," suggested the jester, with 
 a loo ot gi'eat gravity and deliberation. 
 
 " The holy hermit. Saint Guidoba dl — 'tis not the first time that men 
 have seen his likeness wandering about the cave where his canonized 
 bones repose," said the centenarian. " But he appears only to men in 
 mortal sin, to warn them of their approaching end." 
 
 " Nav, for he that appeared to us wore not the Carthusian habit, but 
 that of learned Dominic," said Messer Bembo, with a shudder. '"You 
 learn to speak and think very dismally, brother, among these great, 
 sprawling, ghostly pine forests." 
 
 "We learn to die," said the prior, with melancholy austerity. 
 
 " Alas I it is an art which we all acquire at the first trial," replied the 
 canon. 
 
 "What ye look to be white robes of a Dominican, were, in truth, 
 the folds of his shroud in which they wrapped our saint ere the angels 
 came, ' said the ancient monk, with the obstinate fidelity of age to its 
 opinions. 
 
 " Then, perchance, Saint Guidohald is at last tired of his neglected 
 grave, and would have his bones brought to the monastery, to be enshrined 
 and work miracles like another," said the Florentine. 
 
 "Deem you so. signor?" returned the prior, obviously struck with a 
 fancy which chimed in harmoniously with the dominant ideas of the age. 
 "And truly, as to bandits — none have been seen or heard of since Don 
 Remiro was podesta of Romagna, for they must all either hang or enlist 
 under the Duke's banner." 
 
 "But we saw with our own eyes the carcasses of the Orsino's men, on 
 the spot where was once Jacopo Savelli's castle I" exclaimed Le Beaufort. 
 The prior looked at him somewhat incredulously, and then observed, "If 
 it be so, let us wait till daylight, for else it were dangerous lest the rob- 
 bers resist." 
 
 " To-night, to-night I not a single instant will I delay," said the Hos- 
 pitaller, impetuously. "To-morrow may be too late: they may remove 
 or slay him. Let every Christian man among you take a torch and follow 
 mel" 
 
28 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " What say you, fool, is not this an enterprise for thee to meddle in V 
 said Messer iS'iccolo. 
 
 "Nay. I will look on and see fair play; strike away, boys, ye cannot 
 hurt nie," returned the buffoon, with a listless yawn. 
 
 " If you are resolved, our brothers shall lend you such assistance as 
 may be," said the prior 5 "but you will find your undertaking is impos- 
 sible." 
 
 "Let us then to work, and I pledge my knighthood we will do nothing 
 that is impossible, father," said Le Beaufort, himself setting the example 
 by snatching a blazing branch from the fire. Even the Carthusians awak- 
 ened from their usual apathy, and set to work with eagerness to kindle 
 torches, and the ambassador's escort looked at him with the eyes of 
 hounds in the leash. 
 
 "Yea, since all Christians are to be aiding, let your cutthroats loose, 
 uncle," said the fool ; and it seemed they needed no farther permission, 
 but riotously joined in the enterprise. All the conventuals, except such 
 as were disabled by extreme age, also followed the knights to the yard 
 where the English soldiers were engaged in stabling their horses, leaving 
 the ambassador and his fool nearly alone in the hall. 
 
 "Come, master, let us be mad with the rest ; 'tis not enough to be fools 
 this weather," said the jester, after pausing for some moments as if in 
 thought, and seizing the ambassador's long cloak, he danced fantastically 
 after him down the hall, as if officiating as a train-bearer 
 
 Messer Niccolo seemed to take little notice of his elvish attendant, until 
 they had passed the outer gate of the monastery, and beheld the glare and 
 smoke of the torches vanishing and appearing in the windings of the rocks 
 which descended to the bed of the torrent. He then paused, and turning 
 with a smile of unutterable meaning to the jester, and changing his tone 
 to one of profound respect — " What says your grace?" he observed in a 
 low voice. "Will this turn out aught but a sick man's dream?" 
 
 " I shall begin to believe in miracles, Niccolo, an' itdo; I that deal in 
 them I" replied the other, in a tone of sarcastic levity. " Migueloto sel- 
 dom half does his work ; he has but one vice which is not useful to me — 
 he is avaricious, Niccolo, avaricious! — But he is a sponge which, when 
 full, I may, perchance, take a fancy to squeeze into my treasury; for 
 without nioney, Niccolo, without money we can do little good in this 
 world. Let us take our seat on the bridge, and watch these fools tumble 
 down the precipices. But where are my hounds? — Ho, Sylla and Ma- 
 rius !" 
 
 " They are gone with the rest; they scarcely know you in your fool's 
 garb, my lord," said the Florentine. 
 
 "If I thought the fiend would not, I would sooner die in it than in a 
 monk's," returned the jester; but he seemed scarcely pleased with the 
 desertion of his dogs, and whistled and called them for some time in vain 
 ere he appeared to think it was so. Meanwhile Messer Niccolo had quietly 
 quitted the path followed by the torch-bearers, and turned into that which 
 led to the bridge. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 59 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY. 
 
 " Cosa non delta in prosa raai ne in riraa."— Ariosto. 
 Thing never told before in prose nor rhyme. 
 
 Commanding a view of the whole scene of operations, the ambassador 
 and his jester could scarcely have chosen a belter point whence to con- 
 template them than the centre of the bridge, which spanned the river like 
 an arch of darkness. The noise of the torrent made conversation difflcult; 
 but neither seemed much inclined to indulge in it, both watching with 
 interest for the appearance of (he explorers. All was as yet darkness 
 below, for allhoutih the skv was perfectly clear and set with innumerable 
 stars, its feeble shine could not penetrate those mighty depths. 
 
 " 'Tis a grim height," said the jester, after a pause, during which he 
 seemed to be calculating the possibilities of success in the enterprise. 
 " And this were no ill place to be alone with one's enemy; 'tis so easy to 
 slip accidentally. Why look you so stealthily at me, iSiccolo? 1 know 
 ihou art mv friend." 
 
 '• MoMsignor, 1 was but considering, that even with all the advantages 
 of suddenness and treachery, such sports might be d;ingi-rous," replied 
 the Florentine. "But Signer Paolo was your friend too; at least you 
 embraced him and called him your brother." 
 
 " Why, so he meant to be," replied the jester calmly. 
 " I see n?t into the depths of this policy very clearly," continued the 
 Florentine,—" at this time, when it is of'so much consequence to your 
 lordship to conciliate the Orsini and their faction, to destroy him on his 
 way to Rome with proposals of peace?" 
 
 "I will destroy them all either bv force or fraud, fair weapons both 
 against their treachery and rebellion !" returned the jester fiercely. "^Vere 
 it the sea, I would empty it drop by drop rather than sit down and told 
 my hands in despair. ^loreover, can I prevent men that travel as they 
 deem l.v stealth, without adequate attendance, from being murdered by 
 banditti ? Know you not, that he departed for Rome rather by my father s 
 invitation than by my will? And shall I tamely lose the recompense ot 
 all my toils, because an old man grows timorous and full of fantasy?" 
 
 " Indeed, if Donna Lucrezia should wed an Orsino, the barons must be 
 restored to their usurpations," returned the ambassador. 
 
 " And what were then my dukedom of Romagna? a trumpet sound lull 
 of bravery without substance I" said the jester, tossing his false hair impa- 
 tiently back from his eves. 
 
 "And where were then your kingdom of Italy?" continued the politic 
 Florentine, in a \o\x but very emphatic tone. 
 
 "You jest with me, Niccolo, but fate shall not!" replied the motley, 
 with a fierce sparkle of his brilliant eves, and clutching his delicate hand 
 as if it already held the sceptre. " I would I could see again that withered 
 old wizard of Padua, half madman as he was, who was wont to assist me 
 
30 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 when, being a visionary school-boy at Pisa, I studied the magic art while 
 our long-bearded masters imagined 1 was lost in the dust of Augustine 
 and Bernard I" 
 
 " Me did show you a vision, methinks, I have heard it said, in amirror 
 forim-d of one vast amethyst?" inquired Messer Machiavelli in a slightly 
 nuK'king tone. " At least so it is vulgarly reported in Italy, and that the 
 skilful greybeard was the devil himself. But now they appear! Look 
 how their torches light up the waters like a hot stream of hell!" 
 
 " Didst thou gojthitlier to school, that thou rememberest it as clearly as 
 Dante, Niceolo?" replied the motley. " Yea, and with as yearning a me- 
 lancholy as a Swiss clown the green valleys and snow-diademed hills of 
 his land! But what do the peasants prattle that the wizard showed to me 
 by his felonious art?" 
 
 " A skeleton in a royal crown and mantle, offering to your kneeling 
 form his sceptre," returned the ambassador. 
 
 " ll is false, and I will bake in a furnace him who says so !" exclaimed 
 the motley with fierce vivacity. " It was a shadow wearing the imperial 
 crown and mantle of Charlemagne, as we see his effigies in the chronicle 
 books, offering me his sceptre and sword twisted together in the likeness 
 of a serpent." 
 
 " Your grace has read the lesson then well!" replied Machiavelli. 
 
 "And I know thou thinkest that thy master has learned thee all his 
 tricks, being his favourite pupil, as the ancient boxer taught his," said 
 the jester, with a peculiar smile. "Yet beware that, like him, he has 
 not reserved one which may foil thee at last. Yet when I have made my 
 crown something more than this fool's bauble which I wear, Niccolo, 
 my subtle Niccolo — when I am Caesar indeed, what shult thou not be 
 to me?" 
 
 " Thy Brutus ! " replied the Florentine, with a peculiar flashing glance at 
 his companion. 
 
 " My Sejanus, thou meanest rather, dear Niccolo," said the motley, with 
 a smile in which lurked a dark and deep underthought, " but thou art ever 
 ill at comparisons." 
 
 Machiavelli njade no reply, beyond raising his furred cap half ironically, 
 as if accepting the office, and reverted his eye to the spectacle below, 
 keeping, however, a sid^-long note of his companion's movements. The 
 great mass of light, now brought to bear, revealed a grandly picturesque 
 and singular scene. Along the bed of the stream, leaping from rock to 
 rock in the rapid waters, appeared the knights and men-at-arms, and the 
 Carthusians with their sha<igy beards, all waving their torches, shouting 
 to each other, and peering among the rocks forming the bosom of the gulf 
 which received the torrent in its tempestuous overflow. Under this illu- 
 luination the waves flew and eddied in wide streams of silver, and the 
 cascade sparkled in infinite showers of diamonds. 
 
 But it seemed that the search led to no result, and the jester laughed 
 aloud, when, gathering into such groups as the rocks permitted, it was 
 even apparent to those above that they were engaged in despairing con- 
 sultation. But while gazing thus, both the anjbassador and his attendant 
 started at a play of crimson light from the mouth of the cave before 
 them. It vanished instantly; but was evidently noticed by the throng 
 below, for they raised a shout which rang above "the confused roar of the 
 torrent. 
 
 "There is murder, surely, in yonder cave, that will out," said the Flo- 
 
C.ESAP. BORGIA. 31 
 
 rentine with a slight shudder, and an acute glance at his companion. 
 
 "Murder hath no skill at kindling fires, to guide men to his haunis, that 
 ever I heard," replied the jester, coldly. "However it be, they must 
 needs retire, and have their labour for their pains." 
 
 "Yet wherefore are the knights stripping off their armour?— what can 
 be meant?" returned the ambassador. "See you, the grim English 
 squire is taking his lord's cuishes, and the canon is wringing his hands; 
 what has he done with his torch?" ^^ 
 
 "Let it droD in the waves— I saw it go hissing down the current, 
 replied the motley. ' ' But where are the hounds ?— I do fear their instinct 
 more than these men's reason." 
 
 "Now, bv St. Julian I the madmen intend to climb yon slippery preci- 
 pices 1" exclaimed Machiavelli. See you, sir?— they take opposite sides 
 of the cata^ct... well leaped, fool of the sun I— he is a whole rock above 
 his compeer. Hark I huw he laughs and waves his hand in triumph I — San 
 Zanobi, it cannot be so difficult as we imagine hence to climb those 
 rocks !— See howcontentiously they keep pace with each other ! All the 
 fiends I thev mount as if thev had scaling ladders." 
 
 "No, noli— ha,hal— look,"vonder fellowslips— slides— the holy knight! 
 —he will be dashed to pieces— well, what is that to thee or me, Niccolo ? 
 —ha, he has caught by vonder drooping water-larch I— he is sale now," 
 ejaculated the motlev. watching the hazardous descent of the Hospitaller, 
 whose feet had slipped among the precipices, and who only saved himself 
 from falling the whole height which he had ascended, by clutching at a 
 dwarf pine which grew oul'^of a cleft in the precipices. As it was, only with 
 extreme difficulty and at imminent hazard of being engulfed beneath the 
 masses of water, did he gradually regain the bed of the river. 
 
 "Where is the English savage now?" exclaimed the motley, after 
 watching with breathless attention the perilous descent. 
 
 " He IS lost in the cloudy foam I -there, there I— see you him not, like 
 a sea-gull in a storm ?" returned Messer Niccolo. 
 
 "Would the other were where he siands!— Uikehisface theworseofthe 
 two", said the jester. "And truly he intends to follow, finding thatdestruc- 
 tioo could not meet him on the other side 1— but he is not so lithe of limb I 
 —he has slipped three times ! Now, by the fisherman's keys I the English 
 madman siands upon the rock before us— drenched and drowned as a rat-, 
 and yel with but a leap to place him in the cavern's mouth , or in the ravine 
 below 1 By heaven, his glorious courage makes me wish him success, 
 though it be to save one of that detested brood ! " 
 
 "Tlierock trembles beneath his feet; he means to leap I— Sir knightl 
 • 'tis madness — return ! ' shouted Messer Nicculo. 
 
 "Let us not grieve too much: he will leave inheritors, no doubt," said 
 the jester, relapsing into his usu-d tone. " But look you— he dares not— 
 he hesitates — he dares not!— nor any man in his senses; the mere weight 
 of the water would beat him down." 
 
 It seemed as if those below also perceived the desperate position and 
 design of Le Beaufort. The Carthusians set up a confused miserere ; the 
 Hospitaller, the canon, and all the men-at-arms joined in wild shouts to 
 him not to attempt the imminently dangerous leap before him. They saw 
 him wave his ha:id exultingly, as if he discerned some advantage which 
 th.'V could not below— and he leaped I 
 
 the Kloreiitiue closed his eyes with a shudder, but opened them at an 
 exclamation from his companion, not of horror but of extreme surprise. 
 
33 CJISAR BORGIA. 
 
 The mysterious light again arose, and by lis glare the figure of the knight 
 appeared as if within a wall of water formed by the curve which the cataract 
 made in pouring over the upper rocks. 
 
 '•He will be murdered doubtless the moment he enters; some will be 
 there to do the honours of the cave, if one may judge by yonder light," 
 said the motley, hurriedly. 
 
 The figure of the knight disappeared. 
 
 There was another pause of profound and aghast silence, and then the 
 Hospitaller was observed rushing rather than climbing up the rocks, 
 followed by the English soldiers. But the latter, embarrassed with their 
 armour, could make but little progress, although animated by the most 
 resolute dosporation at the disappearance of their young leader. Anon 
 the Hospitaller reached the projection from which his brother-iu-arms 
 had leaped, which was separated only by a chasm of roaring water from 
 the marble buttress which broke the torrent into its first fall. 
 
 "What ails him?— dares henot follow?" saidMachiavelli, breathlessly. 
 "And now, look you, he is bending forward as if listening to some one 
 speakirfg within the cavern I" 
 
 "Perchance 'tis the knight yelling for aid!" said he of the motley, 
 leaning forward, as if he too would endeavour to catch the sound. "And 
 now the priest halh got the belter of the soldier in him ! mark, how like 
 a man pursued by wolves he is hurrying down the precipices as if tempt- 
 ing fate to pitch him headlong into death." 
 
 *' He has joined ihem — tells a breathless tale -and see you they are 
 all rushing to the rocks on your side I" said the Florentine, \vhose com- 
 panion was seated a little further on the bridge towards the shore op- 
 posite to the convent. At this instant the deep bay of bloodhounds dis- 
 covering a scent was heard. 
 
 "What has happened?" exclained the motley, hurriedly, and gazing 
 intently below. Men-at-arms and monks seemed alike rushing in deli- 
 rious excitement over the shallow river, and vanishing ra])idly one after 
 the other in a dark Assure of the rocks. 
 
 " My life on it, they have discovered the saint's road to his hermitagel" 
 exclainjcd Machiavelli. 
 
 "Migueloto, if thou hast deceived me!" muttered the jester, springing 
 up like a startled tiger, and leaping with the agility of the same animal 
 over the Florentine, who still lay on the bridge, he hurried down the 
 rocks. Messer Niccolo followed more leisurely, but the jester continued 
 to hasten along, striding with such rapidity that on reaching the shore he 
 nearly overthrew Messer Bembo, who was wringing his wet clothes and 
 distractedly chaunling a hymn of thanksgiving. 
 
 "What is discovered? what hath happ'ed?" exclaimed the Florentine. 
 
 Messer Bembo could merely point to the opposite rocks, and then he 
 laughed hysterically, wiping the tears from his eyes at the same time. 
 
 The nimble jester waited not to learn what might be the precise cause 
 of this excitement. He vaulted from stone to stone across the river, and 
 reached a yawning fissure in the rocks up which the glare of light, the 
 distant shouts, and the continued howl of the hounds, convinced him that 
 there was a way discovered. This passage in the rock had probably ex- 
 isted ever since the earthquake which had reft a way for the torrent itself, 
 and ascended in a frightful zigzag, sometimes completely closed in by a 
 kind of natural arch of huge marble blocks, at others cloven to a vast 
 height so as to admit a pale streak of light. After winding as it seemed 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 33 
 
 for a great way through the dark entrails of the mountain, the passage 
 terminated in the cavern below the torrent. 
 
 A singular spectacle awaited the gaze of the eager jester. The cavern 
 was of great extent, composedofenormous masses of rock tossed together 
 in chaotic confusion, and glittering ail over in the blaze of the "innu- 
 merable torches as if with serpents of coloured light, so singularly brilliant 
 and twisted were the stalactites and petrifactions which clustered on it. 
 One rock indeed there was in which a strong effort of the imagination 
 might shape some resemblance to a crucifixion. Fastened to this by an 
 iron rivet, a chain, and a belt round his waist, lay the figure of a man, 
 palpitating and struggling like a fallen horse, while the two knights, the 
 Carthusians, and the men-at-arms, in a delirium of excitement, were 
 endeavouring to break the massive links with blows, with their teeth, 
 with exertions of main strenuth I Some embers of dry drift wood still 
 burned near the prisoner, and had probably been the means by v.-hich he 
 kindled the flames which had encouraged his deliverers to his aid ; and 
 but just in time, to judge by the cadaverous paleness of his features. The 
 two hounds, which had evidently been beaten from their scent, stood 
 licking their jaws and howling at a distance. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " A net in th' one hand, nnd a rusty blade 
 In th' oiher was : this ilischiefe, that Mishap ; 
 Wiih th' one his foes he threatened to invade. 
 With th' other he hi^ friends meant to enwrap, 
 For whom he could not k.ill he practised to entrap.'' — Spenser. 
 
 Messer Niccolo followed in the steps of his companion at a more 
 leisurely and careful pace ; but such was the strength of the chain which 
 bound the unlucky Orsino to its rock, that the rescuers had not suc- 
 ceeded in severing its links when he too arrived. It was of the kind 
 used in fastening up in their stalls the mighty animals intended for the 
 bull fights— a pastime which the Spaniards had "introduced with themselves 
 into Italy. 
 
 The Florentine took a leisurely survey of the whole scene, and of the 
 person of the prisoner, which indeed was not unworthy of notice, for it 
 presentend many of the finer characteristics of the Italian race, deterio- 
 rated indeed from the manliness and vigour of the Latin, but retaining 
 much of the symmetry and grace befitting the boasted descendants of 
 Venus. The Orsino was a man in the prime of his age , and possessed a 
 frame rather remarkable for elegance and proportion than for power, yet 
 which was probably of much greater strength than might at first have 
 been concluded, from the perfect harmony and adjustment of the parts. 
 The feamres were stronjily, but at the same time finely delineated, traces 
 of ardent passions visible in their rapid workings, and ever-restless 
 variety of light and shade ; which yet, at pleasure, could sink into a 
 marble repose, that mocked the scrutiny of the observer. The com- 
 plexion, too, might be compared to that which marble takes when long 
 exposed to the rays of a southern sun, that golden paleness of hue which 
 we rarely or never behold in the north, now deepened to swarthiness by 
 
 3 
 
34 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the dark sweat which balhcd iho visage of the exhausted captive. His 
 long raven-blue hair heightened the cadaverous lint which suffering and 
 dread had bestowed, and over which his sunken eyes, flashing with 
 delirious excitement, diffused a strange light. His whole frame was 
 indeed in agitation, the muscles throbbing, the palpitations of the heart 
 visible through the mantle of flock cloth which he wore, his general 
 costume being that of a Lombard merchant, which he had probably as- 
 sumed as a disguise for his real quality. Surcharged wilh the electric 
 fluid of the passions as was the nature of the Italian of the sixteenth 
 century, still he had nothing of the mercurial vivacity of the Frenchman 
 in him. His vehemence vented itself in thunder storms occasionally, but 
 for the most part smouldered under a calm aspect, differing equally from 
 the pompous gravity of the Spaniard, and which was not melancholy, and 
 yet resembled it as twilight resembles moonlight. It was in this age that 
 the Italians achieved that character throughout Europe which induced 
 Shakspeare to make Italy the scene of some of his most vigorous and ter- 
 rible creations, for there the passions of humanity seemed to have 
 reached their hottest glow; the human intellect to have attained its 
 subtlest polish— there the sun-struck passion of Romeo, and the refined 
 fiendishness of lago, were natural productions of an atmosphere so 
 fraught with good and evil, with horror and beauty, treachery and cruelty 
 so remoi'seless, love so absorbing as to resemble madness, and which 
 only the delirious splendour of the imagination of that age, excited by the 
 strange convulsions and revolutions which befell it, could have reflected 
 into such terrible and yet magnificent distoi'tions. 
 
 So much were the actors in the scene absorbed, that no one noticed 
 the entrance even of so dignified a personage as the Florentine ambas- 
 sador, except the jester, who had himself hailed under the black natural 
 archway which the piled rocks formed opening into the cavern. 
 
 " They have saved him indeed, the deaaliest snake of the whole brood!" 
 muttered the jester, half to himself, half to Messer Niccolo. " 1 will at- 
 temjit no enterprise again on this day of the moon, for on it the blindest 
 chance has foiled all'wisdom and foresight ! Yet stay ! look how his 
 tongue has swollen too big for his jaws— water would refresh him. Me- 
 thinks I will bear him some-, 'twere a charity." 
 
 " And lest the cold wave should chill, yTu will season it with some 
 eastern jiowder, which warms the stomach suddenly?" returned Messer 
 Niccolo, with an inquiring glance:; adding, in a somewhat deprecative 
 tone, " But I see not any good policy in that— it is one of my maxims, 
 that a prince who intends to crush his enemies, should not attempt to do 
 it in many blows, but in one which shall concentrate the strength of many, 
 for else he runs much risk of exciting a resistance which may baffle him. 
 Never injure but where you destroy, or you but sow the dragon's teeth 
 for your own destruction ; therefore," until you can extirpate the whole Or- 
 sini family, I would not have you provoke them by the destruction of one 
 of its greatest members, in whom its life-blood flows— its heir — for you can 
 scarcely hope so sudden a catastrophe should hap without suspicion." 
 
 " It is another of your maxims, Niccolo, that whoever would keep a 
 newly-acquired state, must root out the whole race of the expelled prince," 
 replied the motley, musingly. " My power is only that of which I have 
 deprived the feudatories of ihe Holy See." 
 
 "Without doubt, you are the destined instrument to exterminate the 
 petty tyrants of Italy, and once more to restore her unity," replied the 
 
C.«SAR BORGIA. 35 
 
 politician. " It is also true that Paolo Orsinoisoneofthe most powerful — 
 nay, since the Colormas were stripped naked — f/te most powerful of the 
 church's rebels-, still, i do not think the time is seasonable at this moment 
 for his destruction." 
 
 '■ Niccolo, thou hast a better brain to devise, than heart to execute," 
 replied the jester, somewhat contemptuously smiling. ^' But thou art 
 ever mine oracle ; and moreover, there is something whispers me that, 
 like all the other mischances of my life, even this is working to my 
 good. I may vet need Paolo to play against the proud coxcomb of Fer- 
 rara. What doth this Bembo with his sharp nose cutting the air of 
 Umbria?" 
 
 " I would I could assure myself on that thesis, sir," returned the poli- 
 tician. 
 
 " I will not give the Orsino to drink then— now ; moreover, I must learn 
 who hath betrayed me thus by suffering him to live to need a draught at 
 my hands, or the tickling in his ribs of a sprinkle of mercy !" continued 
 the motley. " But 1 much doubt whether Signor Paolo, who has cause to 
 know m.e!^ who has met me in battle, where men's looks strike into each 
 other's souls, may not recognise me even in this disguise. Anon, and I 
 shall find it as difficult to hide me as the sun, were he to play at bo-peep 
 with the world." 
 
 " Nay, sir ; in this disguise, with those fiery red locks, that bepatched 
 visage, "^those strange eyes, who could recognise the great duke of Ro- 
 magna? And considering how little some do love you, who could suspect 
 such folly in the subtlest'spirit of the age, as to believe he would trust 
 himself to its protection?" said Messer Niccolo. 
 
 ''Nay, good lad, not altogether-, these fellows of mine will not turn 
 their backs on double their number," replied the jester, rather hastily, as 
 if he liked not the covert sneer. But, at this n'oment, a shout of joy 
 interrupted the dialogue. One of the massive links of the chain had 
 yielded to a prodigious blow which Sir Reginald struck it with a sharp 
 fragment of rock, and the prisoner sprang up, at liberty. His next move- 
 ment was to throw himself on his knees before the crucifixion, and so- 
 lemnly to vow the erection of a chapel to Saint Guidobald, as near as 
 possible to the scene of his miraculous deliverance. Then, rising, he 
 embraced his deliverers in turn, with the most vehement protestations of 
 eternal gratitude. 
 
 " My castles, lands, revenues, my heart and soul, and those of my 
 whole rare, are at your devotion, noblest knights!" he exclaimed. '"The 
 life which you have preserved is yours, and there is nothing I call mine, 
 excepting {he love I bear my beautiful mistress, which 1 would not gladly 
 part withal to lighten me of the vast burden of gratitude which will else 
 overwhelm my soul." 
 
 " We shalf not ask you to surrender that sole reservation among your 
 treasures, my lord, more especially as it seems only a talisman of 
 mishaps," replied the Hospitaller, wiih a sarcastic smile. "But your 
 thanks are more truly owed to the compassionate Dominican monk who 
 guided us hither, than tons, to whom it was merely an exercise and a sport." 
 " .\ Dominican!" exclaimed the young bnron, with an appearance of 
 much surprise. "Surely, then, 'lis my guardian angel, sent in that 
 disguise by my sweet patroness. Our Lady of the Church uf Santa Maria 
 Maggiore, to whom I also vow threescore torches of Turkish ambergris at 
 Candlemas." 
 
38 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 '' Of Santa Maria Mapgiore I" muLtercd the jester. "Ay, forsooth, 
 because Our Lady's portrait there so nearly resembles his beautiful 
 mistress." 
 
 "It had like, for I do hear that incomparable piece of Leonardo's was 
 painted from your beauteous mother, Madame Vanozza," said Messer 
 Niccolo, in a whisper to his companion, whose whole frame vibrated as 
 if struck with some jarring association. 
 
 " Do you notice, — did you ever notice, my best Niccolo, how little I 
 resemble either the Virgin of Santa Maria Maggiore, my mother, or the 
 Vicar of Christ, my faiher?" he said, in an eager and hurried tone. 
 '' Well ! 1 have heard it often whispered, (1 am half convinced of the truth 
 of it myself,) that I was exchanged at nurse ; for, after all, the pope fears 
 much more than he loves me, and 1 never had much brotherly affection 
 for my kin, nor they for me, by Saint Peter's rock! and his holiness as 
 good as disowned me when he made me a cardinal. I think some day to 
 question the hag who nursed me ; ay, and if need be, in a way that shall 
 force the truth out, if it be anywhere in her withered old carcass!" 
 
 He spoke with a singular vehemence, and even fury, as if stirred with 
 Ihe remembrance of this imaginary wrong. Miisser Niccolo looked at 
 him with a keen and penetrating gaze; but he replied, as if not laying 
 much stress on what was said, " Methinks it were no stroke of policy on 
 your part, my lord, to prove this rumour fact, if rumour it be." 
 
 "You are mistaken, Niccolo. — Niccolo, for once you are mistaken!" 
 returned the jester, in a lower, but still excited key. "By heaven! I 
 would rather be acknowledged, at this moment, the lawful heir of my 
 old foster-father Schiavone's poverty, than remain the monstrous bastard 
 of a priest!" 
 
 " Is it possible?" exclaimed Machiavelli, gazing incredulously at the 
 speaker, and subjoining in thought, " Can remorse or shame, in reality, 
 enter this fiendish bosom?" But an idea, suggested by the dreadful 
 reports afloat in Italy, occurred to him, and he continued, with a subtle 
 smile, " But you will not tempt or force your old foster-mother to tell the 
 truth until you are established in Italy as yourself, and not as a Borgia, 
 monsignor?" 
 
 "Oh, thou brother of my soul ! our thoughts are ever twins," replied 
 the jester, in a tone of some displeasure, as if vexed that he had so far 
 revealed his secret mind. "Therefore 1 can hide nothing from thee, 
 were I even willing. But, come, let us keep the start of the mob, for I 
 see they mean to lead their precious prize once more into the free air." 
 
 After the first enthusiastic outburst of joy and feeling, the Orsino had, 
 it appeared, become again exhausted, and was now supported staggeringly 
 towards the exit by some of his numerous deliverers. The ambassador 
 and his companion immediately hastened on before, unwilling to mingle 
 in the confusion of the returning multitude. 
 
 As they approached the end of the fissure on the river, the voice of the 
 canon was audible, calling in an excited tone, but not venturing to explore 
 what had happened in propria persond. The jester amused himself with 
 answering in a variety of ghostly and discordant cries, which were mul- 
 tiplied and made hoarse by the echoes ofthei'ocks; the due effect of which 
 appeared, when, emerging on the river, they found that the canon had 
 disappeared. 
 
 " Methought he dared not encounter the substance of those sounds! — 
 few priests dare, even of those which themselves make," said the jester, 
 
C.€SAR BORGIA. 37 
 
 laughing sardonically. "But I can in nowise fathom this matter of the 
 Dominican. Il was my father himself who inviied ihe Orsino to Ron)e, 
 bard against mv will, until 1 belhonijht me of the dangers that beset tra- 
 vellers in ihese^times, and that with Paolo's the brams of the cont'ederacy 
 were knocked nut. But how could his sanctity have such certain notice 
 of mv designs?" 
 
 "Yon are not, then, my lord, of Signor Paolo's opinion, that heaven 
 itself took so strong an interest in his affairs as to send one of the blessed 
 to hisd<'liverance?" said Machiavelli. 
 
 "If the heavens troubled themselves much about what is done on earth, 
 methinks the world's business would be nigh bankruptcy," returned the 
 jester. " But 1 deem, if all the saints in heaven were as contentious after 
 "an errand as the porters at St. John J.aleran's gate, there is ne'er a prince 
 nor lord in Italy, at this present naming, who is not loo affectionately and 
 zealously served by the devil to need their aid." 
 
 " Then, perchance, my Lord Paolo's good devil hath stood his friend 
 on this occasion," said the Florentine, gravely. " Mayhap he prayed so 
 earnestly in his tribulation, that it was thought expedient to leave him 
 to be plucked in a time of less grace than this of the jubilee, when heaven 
 showers indulgences with both^hands as liberally as jsjirls throw the yellow 
 asphodels at one another in the Campagna, in April." 
 
 " What if it be rather the work of my bad devil,— for I have one, that 
 thwarts and ravels all my plans !" exclaimed the motley, with passionate 
 and sudden vehemence. 
 
 "Do I live to hear mv Caesar say that of a man above ground?" said 
 Messer Niccolo, with great curiosity. 
 
 "No, Niccolo, thou dost not— thou dost not!" returned the motley, 
 hurriedly ; and iMachiavelli remarked that his features became of an un- 
 earthly paleness. 
 
 " My lord, you would not say, that — " began the Florentine, when his 
 companion interrupted him — 
 
 "Thou dost not believe in ghosts, Niccolo, dost thou — at all?" he said 
 m a calmer lone, " whether in the flesh, or out of it ; or else ihou dost oft 
 jest daringly ! But wonldst thou disbelieve in thine own eyes ?" 
 
 "There is nought that I do less believe in ; the cores of things, and not 
 the rinds for me, my lord," replied the politician. "Had 1 believed 
 mine eves, I should have written word to my serene lords that your grace 
 was making a b' other of the Medici's nephew, this Orsino, and that conse- 
 quently they should keep our drawbridges up in Florence as expecting an 
 enemv." 
 
 "The confederates strain at nothing else ; neither of us can trust the 
 other; so that for either parly to keep his forces we can only unite agamst 
 some third ; — but thou hast my word for it — the Venetians shall feel the 
 earthquake first, if i am he who loosens, it," said the jester. " But what 
 saidst thou concerning the rinds of things? Is it not Lucretius who 
 fancies spirits represent the forms of their once bodies as the flimsy 
 onion peel its substance when stripped from it? But, being so, a ghost 
 should preserve the exact appearance in which its carcass disappeared I 
 They are not like players, that can shift their garbs at pleasure behind 
 the black curtain, ha? What say you?" 
 
 "Pray you, my lord, explain' yourself more clearly to a dull appre- 
 hension/' returned Messer Niccolo, with an eye, however, which in its 
 piercing earnestness gave no evidence cf intellectual hebetude. 
 
38 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "I would say, for example," observed ihe motley, in a tone of dark 
 rumination, "1 speak as the ihou^hl flashes over my mind — that if my 
 sometime brother, the iUike of Gandia, fur instance, would obligingly 
 gratify my father, who whines so often over the fate of his firstborn, that 
 was forsooth so beautiful and good that people blessed him as he went 
 along merely for his fair looks, and all the women doated on him! — I say, 
 if Francesco's ghost should take a fancy to present itself some night to 
 — to Alexander VI., what form and what garb deem you he were likely 
 to appear in ?" 
 
 "To his father?" replied Ser Machiavelli, without daring to trust his 
 eyes to meet the fiery gaze which he felt was fixed upon him. ''Oh, 
 fathers are a strange people I Certainly not with all those dagger-wounds 
 upon bim, and the slime of the Tiber streaming from his long golden 
 curls, which I have heard his holiness fondly call his rays. Biit, if it 
 consulted the parental taste, most likely it would appear as the blooming 
 young Anlinous he seemed among all the youth of Rome that day he was 
 made gonfalonier of the church, when he wore the white velvet habit 
 trimmed with rubies, and rode the snowy charger bit with silver and 
 pearls." 
 
 " I will shoe my horses with silver, but the Romans shall forget that 
 pageantry '." returned the motley, vehemently. " But, for myself, I shall 
 not very"^ soon ; for I remember, when I rode behind him on my silly 
 mule, perked up in my violet cardinal robes, his horse bespattered n;eall 
 over with mud,' as he reined it suddenly up to salute his sister, Donna 
 Lucrezial — for I can scarce call her mine. I was in such a passion that I 
 nigh choked in silence I I thought it was done with the purpose to affront 
 rae; for vou should have heard how the rabble laughed." 
 
 "I did hear; for they laughed so loud that we heard it at Florence," 
 returned Messer Niccolo i)layfully. "Then, when we took it up, the 
 laugh went on to Mantua, and"^so to the king of France's court at Milan,— 
 where thev laughed too. no doubt, for they haled you then." 
 
 " Thev'hateme now I but 1 care not who hates, provided men serve 
 my purpose ; nay, it pleases me to see my haters fawn upon me. What 
 is power, but to "sway men against their wills?" replied the jester; and 
 reverting to the strange topic which he had himself cnosen, as if it amused 
 him, he continued,— ^'Let us say, then, that Francesco would put on bis 
 state-robes to visit his august sire ; he would surely shift them to visit his 
 murderer?" 
 
 "1 should conjecture he would appear with the very look, garb, and 
 gesture with which he died beneath the monster's blows I" returned 
 Machiavelli, kindling out of his habitual tone of cynical indifference. 
 " His countenance convulsed with horror, pain, and desperate entreaty ; 
 hisnine wounds panting out the crimson blood of his youth, like young 
 vipers gasping for food: his fair hair drenched and bedabbled ; his beau- 
 tiful face drained of its lovely colours, and whitening into stone! yea, 
 with the very aspect of the sinless Abel, bleeding on his odoriferous sa- 
 crifice!" 
 
 "Lamented over bv his wife— and sister, ha!" exclaimed the jester, 
 with a wild and scornful laugh. "Well, Abel merited his fate, though 
 not perchance at the hands of Cain, if divines now-a-days are right — but 
 my poor brother ! Alas, what had he done to anger any one, whose fiery 
 temper was veL as manageable and full of all comely sweetnesses as the 
 highblooded steed of Arabia, so docile to the rein, so furious to the spur!" 
 
C.^ESAll BORGIA. 39 
 
 "He was, indeed, a most excellent and well-conditioned youth; as 
 promisingjly laden with fair qualities as an almond-tree with blossoms," 
 returned Ser iMachiavelli. ''Peace to his soul, if he had one! Ho has 
 been long enough in purgatory to burn out that worst offence he hud — a 
 too lavish affection for that which Plato did not call the beautiful." 
 
 " But when we consider, too, that from his offence sprung his chastise- 
 ment!" said the jester, with hypocritical suavity. "Some jealous hus- 
 band, or revengeful lover, no doubt met him that fatal fourteenth of 
 June. " 
 
 " Or maddened father, or irritated brother!" said Machiavelli. "They 
 told us in Florence that at the great feast which your mother gave to you 
 on that day, — the next, and vour grace (then cardinal) was to depart for 
 Naples, to crown King Don Federigo,— a masked stranger frequonliy ap- 
 plied to see the duke, and at length had access, and delivered him a per- 
 fumed letter at table. Whereupon he soon after pleaded some indisposi- 
 tion, and withdrew ; and your grace (having preparations to make for your 
 journey) went with him." 
 
 "We parted on the steps of the Palazzo Sforza; 'tis all true enough," 
 said the jester, calmly. " And he, in his merry way, would needs have 
 nie give him absolution, (being a priest,) for that he was wending to see 
 the fairest lady in all the patrimony of St. Peter ! I, as laughingly, alack ! 
 told him he must first do penance; and away went he, waving his hand, 
 and singing in his gaiety, as it were in triumph. Perchance he meant, 
 too, to have wished my sister Lucrezia good night, for he went towards 
 the convent where she was staying until the divorce was pronounced 
 which severed her from the Lord of Pesaro." 
 
 " And your grace never saw him again?" said Machiavelli, suddenly. 
 
 "Surely! when we drew his corpse all streaming from the river, 
 
 near Caslel Santangelo, and also when we buried him in state, in his ar- 
 mour and gauds as gonfalonier," replied the jester. " I was obliged to 
 ordain all, for his father iook no notice of anything, but bolted himself in 
 his chamber, and starved for three days; and would have starved himself 
 to death but for Lucrezia's prayers and tears, and getting very hungry. 
 And oh, what vows of reformation did he make! but his holiness is like 
 Vesuvius, ever either raging with fire, or silent in snow." 
 
 " Ay, it is so, my lord, but surely you are the Titan whose throes within 
 cause the mountain to heave," said Ser Machiavelli ; " yet continuing our 
 confabulation of ihe secrets of Orcus, in what guise does your lordship 
 imagine the spirit of your noble brother would appear to his murderer 7" 
 
 " As a black shadow, without voice, visage, colour, or form," replied 
 the jester, turning with so strange an expression to Messer Niccolo, that, 
 but that he was a perfect diplomatist, he must have started. " Yet, lack- 
 ing all these means of enforcing recognition, still would he be recognized! 
 The murderer of the pope's darling can be no coward; he might not fear 
 this presence; still would it irk him more than the direfullest form, shake 
 his soul with its silence more than by the most terrible imprecations; 
 until he shall defy, madden, rave, rush at it sword in hand, and wake and 
 laugh, and gnash his teeth, and know that it is only a darkness, and yet 
 that it is there, and v/ill not away throughout time or eternity !" 
 
 " I marvel not you solace your vain revenge with such fearful hopes," 
 said the Floi'cntine; " since the murderers have so long eluded all search 
 that 'tis past expectation they should ever be discovered, on earth at least. 
 Alas I what feelings must be yours, my lord; you that were his brother, 
 
40 C.tSAK BOKGIA. 
 
 that played with him in childhood, that spent your flourishing youth to- 
 gether engaged in all manly exercises and joyous sports, bijdding and 
 branching like two fair cypresses planted by the same hand in the'same 
 hour." 
 
 " Ko ; but like two acorns, one of which by the mere accident of the 
 sun shoots up and dwarfs his brother," returned the jester, bitterly. " But 
 let all that pass. I must find the bottom of this strange matter of the Do- 
 minican. Migueloto dared not have thus trifled with my orders. Have 
 I not heard thee say, iNiccolo, that my lieutenant, Don Remiro, has re- 
 ceived some kind of obligation from llie sacred chamber lately without 
 my connivance?" 
 
 " His holiness admired the rigidness of his justice so much, that he 
 gave him a general indulgence for all the cruellies he has commiited in 
 his office," said Ser Machiavelli. " Moreover, his wife is some kindred 
 lo the Colonnas." 
 
 " How came I ever to forget that?" observed the jester, musingly. 
 
 " Nay, my lord, you needed a man of a nature so relentless in right as 
 Don Remiro's." said the Florentine. " And has he not justified your con- 
 fidence by routing out nearly all the robber-holes in Romagna, so that the 
 peasants even sow corn as far as Spoleto?" 
 
 "And what is more, they reap it," said the motley. "When I made 
 Don Remiro podesta; I told him that I would not have a rogue left in all 
 Jtaly. if 1 could prevent it, but myself. Yet they tell me, he is as little 
 loved as the fierce iron with which we have our wounds seared up; and if 
 he has stood in the way of my will in this matter, 1 know the people would 
 clap hands to see him come out on one of his own streaming scaflolds." 
 
 "Then, I approve the sending of him forth," said the ambassador, 
 jocosely. "No man has a right to govern another, even to his advantage, 
 against his will. But where in the name of marvels have we wandered?" 
 
 "Whither 1 have been leading all along, fur I never furget business in 
 pleasure, A'iccolo," replied the jester. " I would have you send me my 
 mute, Zeid, and this gigantic pine is a landmark by which you may guide 
 him to my biding-place." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE BLACK PENITENT. 
 
 " I have heard how desperate wretches, like myself. 
 Have wandered out ai this dead time of night. 
 And met the foe of mankind in his walks."— Otwat. 
 
 " Nay, my lord, you will surely feel very melancholy to be left alone in 
 this dismal gorge, (specially after our ghostly conversation," said the 
 Florentine, looking up the mountainous valley towards the torrent which 
 they had left at some distance in the rear. 
 
 " 'Tis very sad indeed to think of it-, but the Duke ofGandia is better in 
 heaven, and we have more room on earth," said the jester, mockingly. 
 " Hasten, my good Niccolo, and send this fellow to me, but let them not 
 note his coming : and let him bring my hounds with him." 
 
 "They are here, my lord," said Ser Machiavelli, pointing to the dogs, 
 
CESAR BOKGIA, 41 
 
 which, with dejected steps and drooping heads, had hitherto followed 
 their master in silence. 
 
 "Poor things! they are not accustomed to be so cheated of their 
 rewards," said the jester, compassionately patting the heads of the savage 
 brutes. "But there is no time to be lost, Machiavelli^ I will sit and 
 watch the bear in the skies until 1 have given Zeid his orders, and then 
 rejoin the bear in the convent." 
 
 "But again, mv lord, 1 would have you think well ere you deyise 
 aught against this gentleman," said Messer Niccolo, slightly shivering, 
 and then wrapping his cloak around him as if it were the night air which 
 chilled his blood. , 
 
 "Rest content ; I mean only to despatch Zeid on a message, returned 
 the motley, impatiently, and observing that he was chafed and out of 
 temper, the Florentine bowed respectfully and withdrew. Retracnig his 
 steps with some trouble up the steep paths which led to the monastery, he 
 could not refrain from pausing once on a projecting precipice whence he 
 could easily distinguish the pine tree at whose root Ca3sar Borgia had 
 seated himself. . . 
 
 "Tyrant, murderer, fratricide!" he could not forbear from exclaiming 
 aloud, as if to s^ive the suppressed feelings of his soul vent. " But also 
 destrover of tyrants! be a king, that thou mayst make all form of royalty 
 detestable, as thy sire is a priest, to make all forms of superstition ter- 
 rible. Cement the shattered provinces of Italy in an ocean of blood, il it 
 must be, but once more together. Live to make Italy one, thou shall die 
 to make it free!" 
 
 And, clutching the hilt of his dagger with a kind of convulsive gesture 
 which was not unusual with him, the Italian republican of the sixteenth 
 century strode on his way. 
 
 Before reaching the gate of the monastery, however, the personage of 
 whom he was in search luckily presented himself. Excepting the am- 
 bassador himself, no one in the train beside this being knew the real 
 rank of the jester; and there was no «reat stretch of coiifidence in his 
 knowing it, for besides being an African Moor, and therefore scarcely at 
 all acquainted with the language of Italy, he was one of the miserable 
 victims of oriental crueltv and jialousy. and had formerly been a mule in 
 a Turkish seraglio, his tongue being slit in a manner which rendered any 
 attempt which he might make to speak an inarticulate babble. But dis- 
 cretion was a quality which the Borgia esteemed in his instruments, and 
 this enforced silence made him acceptable to his European master, who 
 raised him gradually to a post which obtained him in Rome the title of II 
 Strozzacalore, or the Strangler •, but which in Cesar's household ranked 
 him as first runner to his grace. Eor the former office, although never 
 . ostensibly employed, and having apparently no instrument to perform his 
 operations with ever about him, extraordinary stories were afloat as to 
 his capabilities ; for the latter, which answers in some respect to a mo- 
 dern king's messenger, except that the Moor always travelled on loot, 
 and in straight lines, swimming rivers and crossing mountain and valley 
 with equal facility, still more singular legends were believed as to his 
 qualifications. Among others, it was said that he had trequently hunted 
 the stag on foot, and had never failed to run down his prey without 
 assistance either of hound or arrow. 
 
 The Stran^ler's appearance was such as might gralily expectation, 
 considering him under either point of view. If a leopard stood upright 
 
42 C.^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 on iis hind legs, with its paws abjectly dropped in front, it would have 
 been the figure of the Scrangler, and its huge, round, bestial, h^iiry visaije, 
 black and brindled, with the same wild-beast expression of eye, would 
 have daguerreolyped his countenance. In fact, he had little more than 
 a rough resemblance to the general attributes of humanity, and one or 
 two shades of its feelings; ammg which the most abject respect and 
 obedience to his terrible master might perhaps be reckoned. 
 
 The few simple words which the Moor understood, enabled him to 
 comprehend Machiavelli's order, and he hastened down the ravine with 
 such rapidity that the Florentine almost imagined that he had doubled 
 himself up, and rolled down like a dry bush of furze. Crossing himself, 
 notwithstanding all his scepticism, he gladly continued his route through 
 the convent gates. 
 
 The Strangler, by whatever means he reached a fooling in the ravine, 
 speedily made his way to the appointed spot, indicated by a lofty |>ine, 
 which was entirely bare to its summit, where it was singularly tufted. 
 He found his lord with folded arms walking restlessly up and down, on a 
 strip of green turf beneath it. 
 
 "Zeid, thou art weary ; my good dog, I now wish I had not diverted 
 myself with seeing thee chase the hare in the snow-hills above," he said, 
 in a mild and somewhat cajoling manner. " But I know thou lovest me ! 
 Did I not beg off thy life, when Sultan Zem slashed thee once in the neck, 
 and had raised his scimitar for a second blow?'"' 
 
 The slave acquiesced with a slight snort, like that of a horse when it 
 perceives danger. 
 
 "Then th( umust be in Ronciglione to-night, wert thou twice as spent," 
 continued Caesar, changing his tone to one of command. " In the castle 
 there thou wilt find the podesta of Romaiina, Don Remiro d'Orco, awaiting 
 my arrival. Take this ring as thy credential, and bid him on the very 
 instant despatch Don Migueloto, with all the Spanish men-at-arms not 
 necessary to keep the walls, to meet me as near as may be to this place 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 Zeid knelt, took the ring, and placed it on his head in token of obe- 
 dience. 
 
 "Follow the course of the river to Narni ; thou knowest the track thence," 
 continued desar ; and the runner made a spring as if to dart forward on his 
 journey, when his lord with a rapid clutch detained him. 
 
 "Delay n(jt on thy journey so long as a hunted stag to lap in a stream," 
 he said; and pointing to the moon, which shone serenely above, he con- 
 tinued — "In an hour yonder light will sink behind the hills ; and when 
 ils last rim has disappeared I shall loosen my hounds on your traces, so if 
 you pause to sleep, you know by whom you will be overtaken." 
 
 The Moor again bowed reverentially, as if the supervision indicated was , 
 a very proper and usual one, shot away like an arrow from the bow, and 
 was almost instantly out of sight. 
 
 As it seemed with the intention of faithfully keeping his promise, Csesar 
 remained on the spot which he had selected for the interview, pausing for 
 some time in deep thought, and then resuming his restless pacing up and 
 down, without noticing that the two hounds never failed to follow him, 
 however short the trip and sudden the turn. And yet it was a scene and 
 a night which might have dilVusel its calm even over that perturbed and 
 terrible mind, the mountains towered around in a kind of transparent 
 darkness, so bright were the Heavens above, and so soft the shadows 
 
C,£SAR BORGIA. 43 
 
 which the moonliaht threw among their rupfged sides and aerial pinnacles. 
 The distant roar of ihe cataract rather harnionized with than disturbed the 
 blessed silence ; even the turbulent river v,-as there calm and undertoned, 
 as if it feared to disturb the sleep of the mountains and forests around. 
 
 But Caesar's step rather increased in frethil rapidity, and his eyes shone 
 with more impatient sparkles, as he occasionally glanced up at the moon. 
 At last he became weary of this exercise, and leaning his back again>t the 
 pine, with his face to the fair planet, he seemed to watch it as if its gaze 
 could follow or hasten its imperceptible movement over the sky. Sylla 
 and Marius seated themselves on each side of their master, and appeared 
 as if engaged in the same occupation, for certainly their red glistening 
 eyes wt-re fixed on the ball of light above. 
 
 While apparently the hounds a\id their lord were absorbed in this survey, 
 the tv\-o former utteVed a low whine, stretched their noses to the wind, and 
 began to tremble in a very strange and unusual manner. Csesar, after a 
 glance at the dugs, looked in the direction whence it was evident they 
 apprehended some approach, expecting to behold either a wolf or wild 
 boar, or some other of the savage denizens ; yet, for some moments, even 
 his vulture gaze could discern no object. Butsuddenly a black form about 
 the height and breadth of a man, but with no distinct outline of one, 
 appeared on the bank of the river, at some distance, looking towards the 
 cataract. 
 
 Caesar's visage grew for a moment stonily pale and fixed, and he clutched 
 at the pine to sup'port his tottering limbs ;^ but the next instant, either his 
 self-possession returned, or his "terror took the form of defiance. He 
 sprang forward several steps and although he paused irresolutely, he 
 shouted in an unwavering tone, ".Speak! who goes there?— Friend or foe 
 to Duke of Romagna?" 
 
 "Hillo, echoes', hillo, ladies! play me none of your cheats to-night! " 
 a voice was heard gibbering in reply: the mere sound of which restored 
 Caesar to himself. He continued to watch, but no longer with any alarm, 
 the gradual approach of the dark traveller, who came along with singular 
 slowness, as if he were a very aged man, and talking to himself all the 
 way. But the fears of the hounds' did not diminish ; they crouched on the 
 grass, and continued their low tremulous whine. The stranger approached 
 without apparently noticing any of the group, and in any other age and 
 country might indeed have been pronounced a terrific object. He seemed 
 to be a'verv old man, for hi- figure was much bowed, and his gait feeble, 
 supportintj himself with difficulty on a staff; but his face and form were 
 completely covered with a black mantle tied round the waist, and per- 
 forated with holes at which the eyes looked out, but which was else all of 
 a piece. This was the garb of a Black Penitent, which was only enjoined 
 to be worn on a pilgrimage by criminals of the greatest atrocity. 
 
 " Good even, father ! whither wend you so late by night, and so lonely?" 
 said the motley, in a cheerful tone, as if relieved from some secret appre- 
 hension. 
 
 " Lonely!— when the owl andthe wolf hoot and howl at every turning," 
 replied the Penitent with a wild laugh. 
 
 " Have I not heard that voice before ?" said Caesar, musingly. " Why, 
 thou art come as if a wish could summon thee ! Art thou not mine an- 
 cient master in the great art, Dom Sabbat, of Padua, who put fine thoughts 
 in my head by showing me my fortune in a mirror of magic stone, and 
 who,' when the Inquisition sought thy acquaintance, left books and chara- 
 
44 C.iiSAU BORGIA. 
 
 bers in a blaze, and disappeared like Ihe flame on pools where murdered 
 men lie rotting?" 
 
 " Or like yonder tongues of fire on the hill-side? " returned the Penitent, 
 extending an arm of singular length, lerminaled by a hand so fibrous, lean, 
 and withered, that it resembled the branch of a fir-tree in winter, and 
 pointing to the brow of a distant mountain which presented a brilliant phe- 
 nomenon not unusual in those volcanic regions. The craggy side of the 
 mountain seemed as if set at intervals with blazing torches thrust from the 
 earth by demon hands, which appeared and disappeared in fantastic evo- 
 lutions. 
 
 "But thou art he?" said Ca3sar, after gazing with an instant's careless 
 attention at the spectacle. 
 
 " I have been so for a long time," replied the Penitent, with a dark 
 chuckling laugh. 
 
 ''Yes, thou art old, and very old ; and thou needest some comfort in 
 these thy worn-out times," replied Cajsar, cajolingly. " I am not so poor 
 and powerless to do my friends good turns as I was when we studied the 
 cabala at Pisa together — and I love to encourage the sciences — therefore, 
 my good Sabbat, if thou wilt come and sojourn with me, thou shalt have 
 a tower in Santangelo, and practise thy forbidden art so nigh to the fn- 
 quisition, that thou canst spit at it fromlhy windows; and thou and I will 
 make brazen heads that chatter, and devise antidotes, and study the plants 
 that poison so prettily that 'tis a pleasure to die by them, and such like 
 toys, which thou wert wont to love in the old time when I was thy so 
 reverent and faithful pupil." 
 
 "Truly, your grace is no longer a younger brother," replied the Pe- 
 nitent, inclining himself forward as if to do homage to the accession of 
 dignity in his pupil, but with a degree of mockery, " and I thank you for 
 your noble offer; but it behoves men who have lived for fifteen hundred 
 and odd years to think of dying;— and so they have compelled me to 
 abjure the dark science, and have sent me to Rome to save my soul this 
 jubilee time!" 
 
 "Fifteen hundred years! — thou jestest, or art mad, Dora Sabbat!" ex- 
 claimed the Hoi'gia, somewhat startled. 
 
 "Oh, you know not how long Heaven can hate!" returned the Penitent 
 with wild vehemence. " 'Tis many a diousand years since the great bonfire 
 was kindled ; and he who spat in ihe face of the Son of God when he bore 
 the cross up Calvary still wanders alone through all time!" 
 
 " Yet come with me ; I know thou hast many noble secrets which the 
 church herself permits us to learn," said Caesar, soothingly. " Have I 
 not seen thee raise the dead in the person of that imperial phantom who 
 offered nje his sceptre?" 
 
 " What would it pleasure thee or profit thee to trouble him again — besides 
 shaking the towers of Aix-la-Chapelle, which are already so old and tot- 
 tering, to raise him?" returned the Penitent. 
 
 " But if thou canst raise the dead, canst thou not also lay them ? — Canst 
 thou not bid them back to their tranquillity? — why should they blot 
 sunshine with their dark presence?" exclaimed Caasar, with an impatient 
 and fierce glitter of the eye, and knitting his hand convulsively. 
 
 "That is the church's office — to exorcise, not mine!" returned the 
 Black Penitent. 
 
 "Tut, tut, I have been a cardinal, and I know what priests can do," 
 said Caesar. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. <5 
 
 "And stand the dead too in thy lidit?''rctui'nod the Penitent, his strange 
 eyes (Taring tlirough their holes hke flame, if flame could glow with 
 meaning, with diabolical, sarcastic, and at the same time insane thought. 
 
 "Thou art deft at guessing riddles," said Ca?sar, calmly. "It is not 
 that I fear him — It I — but it wearies me when so oft in the midst of ban- 
 quets and splendid feasts,.! rr.isemine eyes and behold it standing before 
 me. But do not deem 1 fear it — I despised him living- — I despise him 
 dead! — I tell thee, Dom Sabbat, when 1 first beheld it, at the instant when, 
 as legate of the holy see, I put the crown on the head of King Don Fe_derigo 
 in INaples, — I did not even start " 
 
 ''You speak some feverish fancy, my son-, the strongest of your recol- 
 lections haunts you, which only a stronger can tlface, replied the Penitent, 
 with a short discordant laugh.' " But you forget, boy, to slip the hounds, 
 and the moon is far behind .Monte Somma." 
 
 "Heard you my threat to Zeid?" said Cassar, with a slight shudder. 
 " But I never threaten in vain, or I should be no better served than my 
 hot sire himself; so whooj), hounds — after him, after him !" 
 
 He stirred the hounds with his foot, which still lay couching and panting 
 on the grass, as if the presence of the stranger infused terror even into 
 their savage natures. They whined, but would not move. 
 
 "There is surely a spell about me— but I am going," observed the Pe- 
 nitent, with his dark inward laugh. 
 
 " It is late; rest with me to-night in the Carthusian monastery above," 
 said Cffisar eagerly ; but the Penitent shook his head. 
 
 " 1 am forbidden to rest under any roof — out of Rome — much more to 
 profane consecrated stone and mortar with my presence," he said, in a 
 derisive and yet profoundly gloomy tone. 
 
 " Then I wnll spend the night in converse with thee under this mightiest 
 roof above I" replied Caesar. 
 
 " Nay, for I may not pause, and thou art needed with the company. 
 Dost thou not feel thy cheek sear, for they are talking of thee ?" said the 
 Penitent, taking his staff as if to resume his journey. 
 
 "But promise me at least that thou wilt visit me in Rome," said Csesar, 
 very eagerly. "Thou hast but to present thyself at Santangelo, with a 
 token from me to Donna Fiamma, who honours science equally, and she 
 will see thee lodged and attended more zealously than ever Merlin in King 
 Arthur's court." 
 
 " Give me thy token ; I have heard of the lady, and of her nourishing 
 love for the art," replied the sage, after a moment's pause. 
 
 "I must give thee then my poison-emerald, which reddens when my 
 drink is dangerous ; for 1 have sent my signet on another errand," said 
 Caesar, slowly and somewhat reluctantly taking a small leaden box, about 
 the shape and size of dice, from a hollow in the stick of his fool's bauble, 
 which, nevertheless, he handed over to the Penitent. "And when we 
 meet auain, Dom Sabbat, as thou canst no longer fc'ar I should betray thee, 
 either for lack of faith or wit, let me at last see thy face, which thou 
 keepest ever so strangely masked and muzzled." 
 
 " Trust none, fear none," replied the Penitent, gloomily. " But hark I 
 thev are calling thee, or what voices are those which make the rocks 
 ring?" 
 
 ''Farewell, then, till we meet in Santangelo," said Caesar; and he 
 stepped forward to ofter his hand in parting. But the stranger contented 
 himself with a fantastic salute, by waving his withered hands in the air at 
 
4G CJESkV. BORGIA. 
 
 an exlraordinary height, and hastening forward, almost instantly disap- 
 jioart'd behind sonic jjrojecting rocks. 
 
 Indistinct voices were now audible in the distance, calling "Zany, 
 Ziiiy," as ii' the ambassador had taken alarm at the long absence of his 
 jester. The hounds sprang Uf) with their wonted alacrity the moment 
 tlie adept in the unholy science had disappeared •, and ren)arking it, Csesar 
 cnleavoured, but in vain, to get the dogs to follow even the shortest dis- 
 tance on his trace. They howled fearfully, but would not stir, until he 
 took them back to the pine tree where the Strangler had left him, whose 
 scent Ihey took eagerly, and followed with emulous swiftness. After 
 listening till the liglit patter of their delicate feet was inaudible in distance, 
 even to the fine organs of the Borgia, he turned and retraced his way to 
 the Carthusian monastery. • 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " voi ch' avete gli inlellelti sani, 
 Mirate la dottrina die s'asconde 
 Solio'l vellanie degli versi strani."— Dante. 
 
 " ye of subtle intellect, mark the doctrine hidden under the veil of these strange words." 
 
 Reluniing up the rocks, and imitating as he went very accurately the 
 cries of a screech-owl, the jester guided MesSer INiccolo, and two or three 
 soldiers who were in search of him with torches, until they met. The 
 Florentine affected to rate his fool severely for the trouble his lingering 
 had occasioned; to which he replied, thai he had been trying to get the 
 great gold crown which hung in the sky, and whistled vacandy, until the 
 soldiers, who turned back at a signal frotn Messer Miccolo, were at a 
 distance. 
 
 " It is possible, after all, my lord, that Ihe Dominican was sent by your 
 father; for I hear that he met and warned Signer Paolo to turn back long 
 ere he fell into his danger," said the Florentine. 
 
 •" Mow should that be? — Banditti were not likely to make a confidant of 
 our holy father," returned the jester, drily. "But in truth, I know not 
 what to think of the matter. My sister's confessor is a Dominican." 
 
 " The l\imous father, Bruno Lanfranchi, the disciple of Savonarola?" 
 rcjilicd Ser ftlachiavelli. " But wherefore should your sister- — ■ — " 
 
 "Ay, the insolent monk, whose revilings should long since have ob- 
 tained for him the justice of having his tongue plucked out by the root, 
 but for Lucrezia's fully I" replied the motley, fiercely. ^' They control me 
 in all things now — but my time will come." 
 
 As he spoke they entered the monastery, and made their way to the 
 great hall, in which they found the Orsino and his rescuers engaged in 
 discussing the recent event, and such viands as the austere rules of the 
 ord. r permiiled them to furnish. In addition, the canon had found in 
 some part of his baggage several skins of excellent wine, some draughts 
 of which had evidenily much revived the late prisoner. 
 
 '' I was saying, Messer Niccolo." he observed, as the ambassador took 
 his seal, while the fool threw himself carelessly into his old place on the 
 straw heaped round the fire, " that I do grievously misdoubt — that I know 
 
 L .. 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 47 
 
 not by what means tliebanditli could have leanipd my intentions to cross 
 the mountains \Yilh ihc slight escort whom ibov murdered when ihoy cap- 
 tured me?" 
 
 " !f only Alexander knew of your intentions, and not his detested 
 son I Still the inference needs no cart-horse to draw, signor," said the 
 Hospitaller: and there was a moment's general but most emphatic si- 
 lence. 
 
 "Nay, sir knight, though you be my noble and most gallant deliverer, 
 I pray you speak not thus?' said iheOrsino, his countenance becoming of 
 a livid paleness. " Lucrezia is as good as she is beautiful, and 'tis blas- 
 phemy even in madness to dream such hideous phantoms." 
 
 " You are fortunate in thinking so, my lord," said the knight, very 
 coldly. 
 
 " Her charities are boundless I There is not a beggar on this side Po 
 but has tasted of them," continued the young baron. 
 
 " They had need be, to cover such sins, uncle Niccolo," said thee fool, 
 with a vacant look, as if of inquiry, at the Florentine. 
 
 " Beware that these soldiers hear nut our prattle, Lord Paolo ; they serve 
 the duke," said Ser Machiavelli, with real uneasiness. 
 
 " Nay, the worst of my Englisli is a match for the best of yon mixed 
 scum I'' s:^id Le BeaufoVt, scornfully. "And the thieves are mostly 
 asleep in theirlitters, and truly, being chiefly savages, they can understand 
 but little of what we speak at this distance." 
 
 " Sooner than wed this lady, were she Dame Venus herself," exclaimed 
 Le Beaulbrt, who had been musing for some minutes, a very unwont 
 practice with him, " I would wed the fiend's eldest daughter, with dam- 
 nation for her dowry !" 
 
 " Were she even that, and death the high priest who should solemnize 
 our bridalty, I would to my grave with rapture, if only her beauty shared 
 it with me," returned the passionate Italian. 
 
 " She must needs be beautiful I" said the canon, with a glance at the 
 Hospitaller. 
 
 ' ' Perchance the sire and son then made signs to each other in this afifair 
 of your betrayal, Signor Orsino?" said the unmoved chevalier. 
 
 " For in Ihe rose there was a wasp 
 iAVhich slung his nose to smell— to smell, 
 And then he blamed tlie rose— Ihe rose— 
 And {lung it in— a well, ' 
 
 improvisated the jester, with a sarcastic and yet vacant expression, as if 
 he lost sight as he went on of his own meaning. 
 
 "No, no, sir knight I — indeed such treachery were impossible I" ex- 
 claimed Messer Bembo. 
 
 " But hath he been thrusting his hand in among the thorns too, that he 
 complains S'l bitterly I" continued the zany, gazing still more earnestly on 
 the priestly knight ^'but suddenly turning"' a look of stony stupidity to the 
 Orsino, who for the first time was regarding him wiih attention. 
 
 " Lii-dit of Heaven I what is impossible to the Borgias?" exclaimed the 
 Hospitaller, without hcedinu the canon's deprecating look. " For what 
 cause do men report that the unfortunate Duke of Gandia was murdered?" 
 
 •' There is a R.jland for an Oliver— Csesar is Duke of Bomagna," said 
 Le Beaufort, laughing, but not with his usual cheer. 
 
 " Rome was f^junded by a fratricide: why, uncle, 'tis the very man to 
 
^8 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 restore her?" said the jester, with a sudden sparkling of his diamond eyes 
 as he glanced at Messer Niccolo. 
 
 '"Of a truth, and Rome is as full of thieves and vagabonds as ever it 
 was in that chieftain's palmiest day," said the ambassador, with a forced 
 smile. " Signer Orsino, you are avare that it is not the policy of my 
 serene lords to make peace between your faction and the duke; but surely 
 his affairs being at such a pass and low ebb, he could not but have every 
 motive to act smcerely and fairly by you, who are the chief agent in this 
 reconciliation?" 
 
 " Moreover," said the Orsino, eagerly snatching at this straw, " in 
 proof of his sincerity, Caesar betrayed to me the secret dealings of those 
 gentlemen of Bologna with him, the Marescotti, who were willing, from 
 their hatred of ihe Benlivogli, to surri^nder the cily to him." 
 
 " Me betrayed them because he thought they had not power to keep 
 their promises," said the relentless Hospitaller. 
 
 " Then is he a very shame of knighthood, a base disloyal chevalier I" 
 exclaimed Sir Rejiinaid vehemently. 
 
 " Dare you tell him so in Rome, Sir Knight?" said Machiavelli, with an 
 uneasv smile. 
 
 "Yea, or in his native hell!" returned the young knight. A slight 
 gesture from the zany cut short some reply which Messer Niccolo intended 
 to have made. "Nay ye cannot blame some eggs for hatching croco- 
 diles," the former observed, with his strange unmeaning look presenting 
 its usual contrast to his pregnant words. 
 
 " I do grieve to hear ye talk in this heedless manner, gentlemen," said 
 the canon; "for indeed you must needs involve our holy mother, the 
 church herself, in this scandal which you throw upon her supreme minister 
 on earth ; yea, sap thefoundalionsof our blessed faith, for can that religion 
 be divine which has a monster of abominable wickedness for its represen- 
 tative on earth ?" 
 
 "He was elected by simony, and therefore but usurps his seat until 
 the thunder drives him out of it," returned the Hospitaller with vehe- 
 mence. 
 
 " Or the confederacy of the Roman barons, who I do hear plot some 
 such security to themselves," said the Florentine ambassador. 
 
 " The vengeance of heaven has already overtaken his electors, and even 
 by his agency, for their sin against the Holy Ghost," continued the Knight 
 of St. John. "Cardinal Colonna is in exife, Julian dellaRovere, Ascanio 
 Sforza, Savelli, are stripped of their possessions, and have fled from 
 Rome for their lives ; the old Cardinal of Capua was poisoned ; Cardinal 
 Orsino and the Archbishop of Florence will be destroyed in time with the 
 rest of their name, Signor Paolo I — Cardinal Michele died very suddenly 
 — but then he was old and rich." 
 
 " And yet it may well be that Heaven . . . that is — only so violent and 
 terrible a spirit as that of his sanctity could restore the grandeur of the 
 church, and her plundered inheritance, and therefore Heaven may have 
 suffered his elevation," said the canon, somewhat staggered. 
 
 " Nay, 'tis perchance the devil's master-piece, to poison the source that 
 men may refuse to drink of the stream, or to set them on digging wells 
 of heresy for themselves and their children to drink destruction at,"' said 
 Messer Niccolo, with a subtle and as it were inward smile. 
 
 "A lawyer, a soldier, and a priest!— is that the receipt to make a devil, 
 uncle, for he hath been all bv turns?" said the Zanv. 
 
- CESAR BORGIA. 49 
 
 "And adjudged so great in all!" rpplicd the Florentine. "Surely 
 there hath bi^en infiiiitely worse said of him th'in he deserved ; 'lis his 
 immoderate love of power, and of his children, his desire to aggrandize 
 his name, his vast and furious passions, which have driven him into such 
 monstrous acts of tyranny, which are yet so well directed that they can 
 scarcelv be accused" of injustice. Which of his victims has not deserved 
 his fate?'' 
 
 " But how accuse you the cardinal of simony, when, at the time of his 
 election, no saint in Heaven ever had so high a reputation for all divine 
 and human virtue as he had on earth?" chimed in the canon. 
 
 " Hideous hypocrisy!" returned the Knight of St. John. " But I am 
 williniT to admit that his son is tho worse demon of the two, and thai he 
 stimulates the angry old man to his furious acts ; for until Csesar acquired 
 influence in his counsels, Rome was governed as if by the Areopagus. 
 Nay, even now, at limes, they say, he hath fits of remorse, and would 
 haft, but for the torrent whicl/urges hini on I Alexander is a mad tiger, 
 but Caesar is a cross between the tiger and the snake." 
 
 " Noble knight, I would advise you, for your goodly person's sake, let 
 not the walls hear you whisper mailer like this in Rome," said the am- 
 bassador, very earnestly. 
 
 '• In Rome my deliverer will be under my custody: and we Orsini have 
 bearded the pope and Caesar both in ill"" said Signer Paolo, with a 
 haughty flush of his pale cheeks. 
 
 '■"I know your family is very powerful, my lord; but you speak it 
 strangelv fork vassal of the Holy' See,'" returned Messer Xiccolo, coldly. 
 
 '' If there be one species of wickedness this Cassar hath not committed, 
 by'r ladv, 1 know not what name he gives it in confession I " said the 
 young English knight. " In my land we should have smothered him at 
 his brrth,"had he shown his soul in his visage 1 " 
 
 "Whv strangled ye not your king then, Caesar's pattern, Richard 
 Crookback?" said the canon", drily. " Shone the sun ever on a blacker 
 miscreant than he?" 
 
 " Speak not against King Richard, or, by the mass!-— cry you mercy, 
 sir canon I but vou know not that 'twas that brave king who made me a 
 knight, on the morning of Bosworth field, and gave me the broom from his 
 own bonnet for a cognizance I" exclaimed Le Beaufort, warmly. 
 
 " Marrv, and what good feat of arms had you done, being, as I take it, 
 then scarcely a dozen years old?" said Ser .Machiavelli. ''Tell me, I 
 pray vou, sir, tor I know that king did little without a reason." 
 
 •• Mv father, brother, and their following withdrew, in the night, to 
 join Richmond, ihal is now king," replied the knight. " Bull, who knew 
 nolhin? of Richard's misdeeds, and loved his valiant chivalry, secretly 
 left them and returned to his camp ; which, when he knew, he swore by 
 St. Paul 1 was worth all mv kindred, and shouting, ' Oh. mon Beaufort, 
 seras le Beaufort," he dre\v his sword and knighted me, with so hearty a 
 stroke that my back ached for a week after,— when the poor king himself 
 wasniuh rotten in Leicester AbbL'V." 
 
 " ln\erv faith, brother Reginald, a notary might make a fair penny of 
 Ihelistof iheCtesar's crimes,""conlinued the Hospitaller, with unslackened 
 heat. 
 
 '' Crimes imputed, sir, it were more fit and just to say, ' returned 
 Messer Nicolo, speaking also with much warmth. *' But what hath beea 
 proved against the Borgias? Are the accusalions of iheir bitter enemies, 
 
50 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 whom they have dispossessed of unjust and insolent usurpations, to be 
 taken for gospel? Alexander endeavours to restore the rights of the 
 Church over her vassals; they resist — he crushes them — he is therefore a 
 tyrant! The princes of the Church rebel against their sovereign — he 
 banishes their persons, and confiscates their wealih — he is therefore an 
 oppressor ! His eldest son fails by the hand of a secret rival, and therefore 
 his brother has slain him, and oh, horror of horrors, animated by what 
 unimaginable jealousy ! " 
 
 " The sons-in-law of the pontiff are slaughtered one after another, and 
 men hint there is a reason for it," said the Hospitaller, ironically imitating 
 the toneofMesser Nicculo. "The Bishop of S(Mta is poisoned, and country 
 folks dream that he perished for daring to falsify Caesar's denial that he 
 had brought the bull with him to France which dissolved the marriage 
 of King Louis with his cousin, the cripple, and gave him the buxom widow 
 of Brittany to spouse. They war down the chief barons of Rome, and 
 utterly ruin them; turn their arms against the feudatories of Romagna, 
 and then people have the simplicity to think they mean to erect their own 
 tyranny on the ruins of the common liberties ! " 
 
 " Some old voluptuaries die suddenly, and therefore Caesar has poisoned 
 them!" said Messer Niccolo, with, a degree of |)ettishness, which even his 
 practised dissimulation could not suppress, in his tones. 
 
 "Nay, young ones, loo!" retorted the resolute Hospitaller. "The 
 Grand Signor offers three hundred thousand gold ducats for the life of his 
 rebel and fugitive brother. Sultan Zem ; and even in the very camp of the 
 King of France, who did so lovingly intend to use him in his crusade 
 against the accursed Turk, he perished, by poison." 
 
 " And therefore follows it of course that the Borgias did it? If Bajazet 
 would give so great a price for his brother's death, could he find no other 
 hand nor means to procure it?" said the Florentine. 
 
 " Cicero's question regarding a crime whose perpetrator is unknown 
 were a fair touchstone— Cui bono, to whose advantage was it?" returned 
 the Hospitaller. " Who but Caesar inherited the young Turk's treasures, 
 his seraglio, and all the plunder which he had borne into Italy after the 
 failure of his rebellion?" 
 
 *•' The state is the lawful heir of all foreigners who die without leaving 
 any other, and it pleased the sacred chamber to transfer its rights to 
 monsignor the Cardinal of Valenza, as he then was," interposed the Or- 
 sino. 
 
 "You mean, my lord, that it pleased the Cardinal of Valenza to have 
 it, and the prothonotary, Giovanni Battisla Ferraro, to sign it over to him 
 in the nanie of the sacred chamber," returned the Hospitaller. " The 
 cardinal of Valenza! a sweet churchman, truly, that stole a dedicated nun 
 from the cloisters, and one too that bore the noblest name in Rome, a Co- 
 lonna " 
 
 "You shall pardon me, sir; the Orsini yield to none; our charters are 
 the oldest which the church ever granted!" said Signor Paolo, with an 
 asperity, which was perhaps as much occasioned by the disparaging tone 
 of the religious knight's observations upon his promised bride, as even 
 the fierce hatred and emulation which had existed between his race and 
 that of the Colonnas for many ages. " Moreover, 'tis well known that it 
 was the pagan sultan who lured that hapless damosel to her destruction, 
 eternal and temporal." 
 
 " rSay, that was only the pretext which that chivalrous Turk allowed to 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 51 
 
 be used, to varnish Alexander's rcrusal to seize and punish her as the' 
 canon law enjoins," said ihu slern Knight oC St. John. 
 
 "Messer liembo, 1 pray you tell me wliat punishment that may be?" 
 said Sir Reginald, turning to the ecclesiastic with an expression of some 
 interest. 
 
 "Her punishment would be immuralion ; that is, she ought to be 
 bricked up in the convent wall, and in the cloisters where the sisters 
 walk, that they may not soon forget it," replied the canon, gravely. 
 " But you do not often hear of these sentences being properly executed, 
 to the great relaxation of discipline." 
 
 ■■' Then all honour to Pope Alexander, and I drink his health a thousand 
 times, thai would not suffer it!" exclaimed the hearty young English 
 knight, swallowing a deep draught of the canon's wine. 
 
 " Melhinks, gentlemen, the night being far wasted, and this conver- 
 sation likely to bear no good fruit, it were time we hopped up on our 
 perches," mtenupted Ser Machiavelii, with a feigned yawn. " Signor 
 Paolo, you most of all need rest." 
 
 " But I would not have it last loo long," said the Orsino, starting from 
 areverie into which he had fallen, and looking palely around at the sleep- 
 ing soldiery, and the silent Carthusians, who had yet been listening with 
 the eager interest which only men so long secluded from the world take 
 in its affairs. " Who knows," he continued, in explanaiinn of the some- 
 what singular observalion, " who knows what these wild soldiers of the 
 Borgia's may have overheard or project?" And his eye fell with a puzzled 
 and profound earnestness on the countenance of the fool, who had for 
 some time nodded and dozed on his lowly couch. 
 
 " I will waich, then," said Sir Kegimild, "and, lest I fall asleep, will 
 stride up and down the hall till 1 see as many shadows on the wall as there 
 are moonbeams on the windows." 
 
 " Brother, wc will walch turn about," said the Hospitaller, gravely 
 smiling, "or we shall have thee dropping from the saddle to-morrow." 
 
 " That will be much the best," said the canon, who loved his ease and 
 safety almost equally. "And but that I am nigh dead with the jolting of 
 my mule, I would let none of you share the vigil with me, for you are 
 young and need rest, God knows." So saying, he adjusted himself as 
 comfortable a couch as he could achieve out of the materials at hand, and 
 finally fell aslee|j on it, without learning with any nicely the issue of a 
 controversy which arose between the Orsino and his two deliverers, the 
 former of whom insisted on taking his turn in this seemingly superfluous 
 watch. But so |)Owerfully worked in men's imaginations the extraordinary 
 anecdotes of the Borgian subtlety and cruelty, which had formed the staple 
 of the conversation, that no one seemed to perceive anything ridiculous 
 or excessive in the precaution. 
 
52 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Nihil jus, nihil fas ; aurum, vis, et Venus imperabat." 
 
 Cardinal of Viterbo. 
 
 No laws, no rights ; gold, violence, and licentiousness ruling all. 
 
 Wbellier the Hospitaller and his wild-spirited young comrade kept 
 their watches so sedulously as they had promised, we cannot take upon 
 us to aver : but the restlessness of the Orsino, who, notwithstanding his 
 exhaustion, scarcely slept three minutes together without starting awake, 
 rendered anv other vigilance almost unnecessary. He was the first to 
 announce the break of day, and to rouse the travellers, urging the ex- 
 pediency of reaching the plains before the heat of the sun set in. The 
 Orsiuo's anxiety to be in Rome had become akin to a passion in its 
 extreme eagerness and impatience ; but it took a somewhat discourteous 
 form when'he privately urged on the English knight that they should set 
 forward without waiting for the company of Ser Machiavelli and his men- 
 at-arms, which he declared would very much delay them. If Sir 
 Reginald intended to accede to this arrangement, it was foiled by the 
 zany, who suddenly started from his slumbers, and blew a blast upon a 
 horn, which chanced to be near him. so loud and shrill, tliat it would 
 have awakened Arthur nnd all his knights from the petrified sleep in the 
 Welch cavern. The effect was instantaneous, and so far from parting 
 company, Ser Mccolo, still rubbing his eyes, entreated that his fellow- 
 pilgrims would not hurry themselves, for rather than miss their society, 
 he would tarry the whole day. 
 
 Paolo's diligence, however, at least hastened the departure. Mass 
 was said, a solenm benediction bestowed by the prior of the Car- 
 thusians, and leaving divers gifts, and the promise of many more, but 
 truth to say with but a scanty breakfast, the military cavalcade streamed, 
 glittering and irregular as a mountain water, down to the shores of the 
 Nar, or Nera, as it is more commonly called in Italy. The monks 
 watched the departure from their rocky heights, and as they disap- 
 peared, one or two so far overcame their stoicism as to wave a farewell 
 with their brown, bare arms. 
 
 It was a morning such as is only seen in southern climates, and at 
 similar elevations — the air so pure and bright that it seemed to show all 
 objects as if through a shining medium of glass. A faint rosiness tinged 
 the tians[)art-nt blue of the sky, and all the tops of the mountains were 
 touched with a deeper hue of The same beautiful olour. The valley, al- 
 though partially veiled in mists, began to disclose its richness and variety. 
 Litde villages appeared nestling at the craggy bases of the mountains ; 
 castles and minor forts towered on remote pinnacles ; forests of beech 
 and pine waved freshly in the wind ; pastures of the brightest emerald 
 green bordered the river; every rock displayed in its nooks and crannies 
 wild flowers of brilliant hues: every fan of the soft morning breeze brought 
 some sweet scent 1 The very cataract, though l<jst in snowy mists. wor(! 
 a diadem — a rainbow spanning it in a circular fjrm of the palest |)ink nnd 
 azure. So fresh and lovely shone the scene, that as they journeyed on 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 53 
 
 the wild path which bnrdcreil ihe river, among its tanghnl underwood of 
 TDYPlles, stunted vines, and high weeds, which sometimes nearly con- 
 cealed both hnrse and rider, while the lufiier forest trees showered their 
 golden dew continually on them as they passed, the canon could not 
 hinder himself from exclaiming aloud, "This is Italy I— Lombardy is 
 a lie." 
 
 An echo of surprising distinctness and musical cadence immediately 
 took up the words, and repeated them in sweet low murmurs, so like the 
 remote melody of women's voices, that for a moment the panon stared 
 aghast. But remembering himself, he observed in soliloquy, ''No marvel 
 they fable Echo a nymph— there seemed to be a hundred babblmg to one 
 another yonder ! But it is some comfort to behold these fat pastures! 
 We shall come to something by and by not fed— or rather starved — for 
 the tables of yonder mortified men, who might consider that whatever 
 merit there is in their own abstinence, none thereof accrues to those 
 whom their inhospitality compels to share it!" 
 
 Tlie cavalcade proceeded with as much order as the ruggedness of the 
 way allowed, which dived into valleys and ascended craggy steeps ap- 
 parently at pleasure of its own sweet will, but seldom leaving the river at 
 any considerable dist-mce. The Orsino and Sir Reginald kept each other 
 close company, the former mounted on a horse belonging to one of the 
 latter's robust fullowers, who yet easily maintained his i)lace with the 
 train on foot. 
 
 Perhaps the very contrariety of character between the Italinn noble 
 and his new friend was one of the causes of the liking they had evidently 
 taken to each other. The frank, joyous, unsuspicious nature of the one, 
 afforded a secret satisfaction to the dark, impassioned, and brooding 
 genius of the other. The vivacity and careless good nature of the Knight 
 of the Sun presented humanity under a light which the black experience 
 of the times had rarely offered to the Italian baron. It was a relief to the 
 overwrc^ught and complex mind to watch the undisguised and simple 
 operations of intellect almost in a state of nature, untranmielled by too 
 much knowledge either of books or men. The English nobility plumed 
 themselves in that age chiefly on physical qualities. They very much 
 resembled their ancestors of the Round Table, when Merlin put upon 
 them the jocularity of asking their counsel on affairs of state; who, after 
 looking at each other for some time, at a loss to understand what was 
 required of them, unanimously exclaimed, "We are very big!" On the 
 contrary, the Italians had reached, — or rather had retained, from the 
 ruins of their ancient civilization, — a diseased excess of the intellectual 
 qualities,— and their rulers, who considered politics as a game of skill, 
 were astonished and overwhelmed at the first shock of the nations who, 
 in the fifteenth century, contended for the possession of Italy. War with 
 the Italians had become almost a bloodless game — a tournament in the 
 open field— when Charles Vlll. invaded Naples, and the first experience 
 of the sanguinary earnestness of the transalpine warfare infused a terror 
 into the conquered, which was only succeeded by a still more bloody 
 ferocity in themselves. These two convulsive epochs produced such 
 mingled characters as Paolo Orsino and CaBsar Borgia, comj^aring them 
 merely in the union at once of southern subtlety with northern ferocity. 
 
 Messer Bembo and the Florentine ambassador kept up such grave con- 
 versation as suited their dignified stations, on the aspect of political affairs, 
 in which the creat labour of both was to hide their real opinions, and 
 
54 C/ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 worm out each other's. The Hospitaller but rarely seemed to notice what 
 was said, except occasionally by sternly smiling at some enthusiastic 
 praise of the Lady Lucrezia, which Paolo frequently managed to introduce 
 into his discourse. The wartnth of the Lord Paolo's imagination, and 
 perhaps a secret desire to apologize for the strange weakness of loving a 
 woman whose brother he believed to have attempted his life, and whose 
 name was so fearfully darkened, gave his eloquence on this point a glow 
 of colour which the subject and the voluptuous influence of the sunny air 
 they breathed, made less wearisome to his hearers than such eulogiums 
 usually are. iMeanwhile the zany flitt'd about, sometimes behind, some- 
 times in front, sometimes shooting far ahead of the troop-, now engaged 
 in a mock deep conversation with a trooper, then darling off in pursuit of 
 some bee humming among the aromatic furze, which he deprived of its 
 honey-bag with great skilU so as not to be stung by the luckless insect as 
 he slowly ravelled out its bowels, returning from his excursions fantasti- 
 cally crowned with golden thistles, or with his mantle richly ornamented 
 with burrs. The Orsino watched this volatile being at times with an un- 
 quiet eye, but to as little purpose as one might the inconstant light re- 
 flected from dancing water. 
 
 But few persons'passed the travellers on this unfrequented road-, at 
 times a solitary pilgrim emerged from some secluded nook in which he 
 had passed the night-, or a hermit appeared at prayers, perched in some 
 hole of the cliffs above; or a peasant, bronzed almost to blackness, bent 
 in abject homage to the warlike train as it passed the entrance of his wild 
 ravine. The procession was fast disentangling itself from the tortuous 
 bases of the mountains, and the canon was in high spirits, expatiating on 
 the various scenes they passed, and displaying great antiquarian learning 
 to very ins^ensible listeners, when they suddenly came in sight of the 
 ruined arches of a bridge of vast marble blocks, "which had once united 
 the two sides of the defire by crossing the river. On its lofty summit ap- 
 peared two figures; one, that of a goat, quietly browsing on the edge of 
 the broken central arch, the other, to judge by the momentary flash of the 
 sun on it as it disappeared, a man in steel.' Though the crags beneath 
 the bridge appeared a steep hill, covered with cypress trees nnd leaden- 
 tinted ofives, through which peeped numerous towers and terraces, as if 
 of some flourishing city. 
 
 The canon endeavoured for a moment to persuade himself that he had 
 not seen the glitter of armour on the bridge; but while he was reasoning 
 with his senses on the subject, a trumpet was audible at no great distance, 
 which was innnediately answered by one more remote, and suddenly a 
 body of horsemen, in'bright armour, with spears set in the rests, and 
 banners streaming, emerged from the groves of the hilly city. Our tra- 
 vellers simullaneously reined up their horses, and gazed in great alarm at 
 the advancing troop. 
 
 "Perhaps they are only pilgrims going to Rome," said the canon, de- 
 sperately. 
 
 " Why, then, are they in armour, and with their backs turned to Rome?" 
 replied the Knight of St. John. 
 
 " iAhiyhap thev are friends of my Lord Paolo, come to see how it fares 
 with him?" said^Machiavelli, wilh"^a sliu;ht .shrug of the shoulders. 
 
 "• I know not how my friends should dare to leave Rome in such force, 
 considering whom they may expect to find at the gates on their return I" 
 exclaimed the Orsino. " But, no, Our sweet Mother in Heaven! see you 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 55 
 
 not it is the banner of the church I the cross keys I the sword of St. Peter I" 
 
 " Ho, there, spears in rest I'' shouted Sir Reginald, looking round for 
 his men, but he was so'.newhat surprised to observe that his immediate 
 followers were the Borgian guards — who, however, couched their lances 
 instantly. 
 
 " Beware, sirs I look that you are not assailed both in front and back I" 
 said Messer Mccolo in a low^one, and adding, with an expression of sar- 
 castic humour, " you and I are safe enough, brother Bembo; for doubt- 
 less you will now think it meet to take upon you your true and inviolable 
 character of ambassador from the Duke of Ferrara I" 
 
 " Messer Niccolo, your jests might find a fitter season," said the canon, 
 in a strange flutter. ""'But, at all events, we are vowed pilgrims to the 
 blessed jubilee, and— but these fellows may be only vassals of some noble 
 airing iheir horses, or foragers of Ronciglione." 
 
 " And Yonder is the jester among them I I do hope they will not maltreat 
 the gibbering idiot— but 1 know^that I am lost!" said the Orsino, in a 
 calm and deliberate tone of despair. 
 
 " I, for one, will not desert you. the betrothed of Donna Lucrezia, and 
 on that failh will mingle blood with you I" said the Hospitaller, and 
 drawmg his dagger he" pricked his arm till the blood spurted from the 
 wound, and handed it covered with crimson to the Lord Paolo. 
 
 The latter immediately, in the enthusiasm of gratitude, tore open his 
 doublet, and drew the drops which he mmgled from his breast, directly 
 above the heart: and he had scarcely performed his part in the ceremony 
 ere Sir Reginald snatched the weapon, and after hesitating for an instant, 
 as if to select the most apy^ropriate proof of his friendly zeal, slashed a 
 little cross in his broad left shoulder, from which heunclasped thearmour. 
 This was a ceremony which constituted the three knights brothers-in- 
 arms, and was one of the most sacred and indissoluble rites of chivalry. 
 And hardlv had the affrighted canon surveyed in sorrow the consumma- 
 tion of an act which imposed duties so likely to prove inconvenient, ere 
 the approaching horsemen halted with a sudden clash of arras under the 
 ruined briclfje, whose arches towered at a great height above them. 
 
 The spare, but tall and sinewy fljures, the buff armour, the prodigi- 
 oiislv lonti spears, round shields", and cross-bows; the vast mnetachios 
 and beards, the exact disciphne, the small fiery jennets which they 
 gauntly bestrode, the red ruHs round their necks, the numerous leaden 
 Lambs'-of-God with which their breasts were studded : marked the troops 
 to be Spanish, or rather Catalan, for those national designations were still 
 kept as jealouslv distinct as Scot and .Englishman, or Burgundian and 
 Frenchman ; although, unlike the latter, the provinces of the peninsula 
 miuht be considered as united into one monarchy under Ferdinand and 
 Isabel. 
 
 The leader of this partv seemed to be a horseman who separated himself 
 from their ranks, and came riding at a slow and equable pace towards the 
 pilffrims, giving amjile leisure to form a correct idea of his personnel. 
 Hewas of middle stature and of a spare frame, which was yet muscularly 
 powerful, war-worn until the flesh seemed as tough as leather. The 
 features were lean and large, and mingled something of the Arab in the 
 hard-cut nostrils, thick lips, olive complexion, and coarse hair, thick and 
 wirv as that of a bull. The eve had nothing of the mistrust and raelan- 
 cholv thought of the Italian; but it was reserved, stern, and, so to speak, 
 stonily determ.ined, without giving a hint on what; the gazer felt that 
 
 k 
 
56 C.£SAR B0RGI4. 
 
 there were few human weaknesses remaining in the soul which looked out 
 at those cold crystals. He was armed at all points in dull iron plates ex- 
 ce[)ling the head, on which he wore a steel cap, hy way of relaxation 
 from the weight of his helmet, which he carried at the pommel of his high 
 saddle. 
 
 Abasing his lance with an appearance of some deference, the stranger 
 approached the group of pilgrims, surveying them with fixed but not 
 menacing attention. The Knight of Si. John spurred his horse slighily for- 
 ward, with a haughty wave of bis lance, and the opposite cavalier imme- 
 diately drew his rein, horse and rider standing fixed as an equestrian 
 statue in bronze. 
 
 " Is your business with us, condottiero?" said the Hospitaller, who ob- 
 served at a glance that his opponent wore not the golden spurs of knight- 
 hood. " Or wherefore have you halted your men in our way ?"' 
 
 "My name is Don Miguel de Murviedro — Migueloto men commonly call 
 me — captain of the castle and legation of Ronciglione, reverend knightl" 
 replied ihe Catalan with stern conciseness. "Therefore, mdhinks i have 
 some right to inquire what your armed band do here at Narni ; else 1 am 
 but little inclined to a dis|)Uie, for 1 am on an errand that brooks no delay, 
 from my commander, the Podesta of Romagna ; being to seek out, and 
 rescue, if need be, by force of arms, the person of his holincss's son-in-law 
 elect, the most nobfe lord, Dom Paolo Orsino, from the hands of certain 
 traitors and vagabond plunderers who have seized and confined him for 
 ransom in the hills about the >hirble Fall." 
 
 '• Then, sir, you may even turn back rejoicing, for lam rescued and in 
 perfect sal'etv. journeving here with my friends I ' said the Italian kin'ght, 
 advancing and gazing with wild and startled earnestness at the iron figure 
 before him, either from some secret suspicion which entered his mind, or 
 from the recollection that he beheld before him a man who was believed 
 to be the instrument of Caesar's most atrocious deeds, at once a bloody 
 soldier of fortune and a crafty assassin. 
 
 ''Then, my most illustrious lord, 1 shall have the honour of escorting 
 your excellence to the castle of Ronciglione," replied the condottiero, 
 alighting, as it seemed, to show his profound respect ; " Don Remiro 
 awaits you there, and will thence accompany your lordship to Rome." 
 
 " 1 thank you, valiant gentleman, and your sender, but it needs not, as 
 I am now in good and sure hands, to whom I joyfully entrust myself," 
 replied the Orsino. 
 
 " 1 pray your noble lordship to remember that 1 am soldier, sworn to 
 obey his officers, and the supreme podesta has sent me on this errand and 
 no other, to bring your excellent person to Ronciglione," replied Migueloto, 
 with a tone and gesture which struggled between cajolery and command. 
 "After what has happened, Don Remiro will not permit a safety so es- 
 sential to that of the state, so dear to the duke, his master, to be under 
 any other guardianship but his own. My life may pay the penalty of dis- 
 obedience." 
 
 " You mean not of a surety to say that you will take this gentleman 
 with you against his will?" said Le Reaufort, impatiently vibrating his 
 lance. 
 
 "I must obey the orders of the lieulenant of the Duke of Romagna, sir 
 knight,"' replied the Catalan, with a smile darkening rather than lighting 
 his visage. "And, if I mistake not, you have lances belonging to his 
 highness both before and behind you. Therefore 1 leave your excellencies 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 57 
 
 to deliberation ; but you cannot and must not pass on this way but in my 
 conipany, and lo Ronciglione." 
 
 Enraged at this reply, Le Beaufort couched his lance impeluously, but 
 Bembo and Ser JNiccolo both seized it, while the Catalan, affecting not lo 
 notice the action, and bowing almost to his belt, backed his horse to the 
 troopers beyond the aqueduct. 
 
 "Whalis to be done?" said the canonina doleful voice; "it is impos- 
 sible for us to resist." 
 
 " So long as they stand one to ten my English will not turn their backs I" 
 exclaimed Le Beaufort. 
 
 " But, meanwhile your own backs should be looked to, sir," said Ma- 
 chiavelli ; "it were not, perchance, inexpedient to remember as much 
 whom you have behind as before." 
 
 " Nay, gallant brothers, you shall not uselessly perish in so hopeless a 
 brawl, for my sake," said the Orsino sadly, but adding more cheerfully, 
 " Don Remiro is not altogether my unfriend ; and but for this Migueloto ! 
 — laugh at me and my moony madness if you will, — but it seems to me 
 as if he resembled in stature and voice the chief of the Black Band which 
 captured me I" 
 
 "Sound then a charge, and if these rogues behind us stir— let them 
 look lo their own rear ;" said the fiery young Knight of the Sun. 
 
 "Tush, brother, it were certain overthmw ! But ill beiide mc w'hen 
 I desert a companion by blood I" said the more sober Hospitaller. " We 
 will with Signer Paolo to Roncigliono ; and our presence may haply avert 
 any mischief, if mischief be intended." 
 
 "What else by a Borgia?" muttered the canon. "And moreover, I 
 have oft known suspicion put the harm into people's heads, as heaping 
 sand-bags directs besiegers where they are most dangerous." 
 
 But despite this and much more eloquent protest, the canon's advice 
 was overruled, and the brolhers-in-arms resolved to swim or sink toge- 
 ther. It was agreed that the Orsino should announce their resolution to 
 Don Migueloto, Ser Niccolo consenting, with another of his emphatic 
 shrugs, to see that the conditions were duly observed, while Ee Beaufort 
 rejoined hisosvn men, and prepared them for either event. But on turn- 
 ing with that intent, and riding towards the escort, he perceived to his 
 great indignation that they kept their spears couched as if to receive him 
 on the points. 
 
 "St. George and rescue?" shouted the impetuous knight in English, 
 rising in the stirrup and setting his lance ; and his followers, hearing the 
 cry, suddenly couched the long spears on which they had been leaning, 
 thuugh quite unconscious of the occasion of so abrupt a breach of good 
 fellowship. But at this moment the zany, springing nimbly before Sir 
 Reginald, called to the escort to open their ranks in a tone which they 
 instinctively obeyed. He then ran up the passage thus made, striking 
 with his bauble saucily on both sides, until he reached the English men- 
 at-arms. 
 
 " Broom-flowers I broom-flowers I St. George, the dragon wants 
 you!" he said, with a loud idiotic laugh. 
 
 Observing that their lord motioned them to advance, the English riders 
 immediately filed through the open ranks of their quondam allies, and 
 rejoined him at the instant that the Orsino and Ser Niccolo returned to 
 say that Don Migueloto was perfectly willing to accede to the required 
 terms. 
 
58 C/ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 Matters were now arranged apparently to tlie satisfaction of all parties; 
 Migueloto, with a courteous apology, directing his soldiers to lake the 
 lead in the ascent towards Narni. " But he himself waited beneath the 
 arches, with his steel cap in his hand, until the knights, the ambassador, 
 and the canon, with their English men-at-arms, had passed through. 
 Cffisar's guardsmen then set their horses in motion, and followed, so tliat 
 the little party in the centre were very completely enclosed. 
 
 Perhaps aware that his presence might suggest recollections whic-h he 
 did not desire to rouse, Don Migueloto lingered to some distance in the 
 rear. It was certainly not to admire the magnificent combinations of 
 scenery which the ascent to Narni offered — its castled summit overlooking 
 a wide expanse of forest, and the valley through which tunibledand foamed 
 the Nar from its lofty home in the mountains— that Don Migueloto occa- 
 sionally paused and looked around. If his eye rested for a mon)ent on 
 the superb landscape, it was only to form a vague idea of the goodly 
 plunder which so rich a land might yield, not to enjoy the gorgeous va- 
 riety of beauty which its mountains^ forests, and vast valley offered to 
 the eye. 
 
 ' The real object of his search soon appeared, in the person of the zany, 
 who cnme bounding and gibbering along, until he reached the Catalan's 
 side, when, with a leap of singular agility, he suddenly seated himself 
 on the crupper behind him. 
 
 " (jO on; they will but take it for a fool's jest, even if they observe 
 us," said the zany, in a tone of habitual authority. " By'r lady I it costs 
 me some trouble to put my skeins in order after such a ravelling as thy 
 blundering hand has made I" 
 
 " By the beard of Santiago, my lord, I am not to blame in the matter!" 
 replied Don Migueloto. "Such is Don Remiro's vigilance, that my men 
 could not by any means have traversed the country without his permis- 
 sion ; but when I showed him your grace's unlimited commission, he 
 had the insolence to produce an order under his holiness's own hand, 
 commanding him on pain of his head to escort the Orsino safely to the 
 gates of Rome ; or if his lordship chose to keep his incognito, to observe 
 that he sustained no damage or molestation on the way. When I asked 
 him how he came to think that any harm was intended to the Lord Paolo, 
 he replied that his holiness had taken alarm on that matter only; so if 
 my business touched not the Orsino, I v,as at freedom to fulfil your ho- 
 noured commands " 
 
 "Ay, indeed! and not otherwise?" murmured the jester. 
 
 "Nay, my lord, for when I found myself driven to a pass at which I 
 was bound to acknowledge your gracious will, he disputed a good hour 
 that you could not mean any such treachery, as he called it •, and said at 
 last that he was podesla of the Church, and not of the Duke of Ro- 
 magna." 
 
 "Ha! is he of that opinion!" exclaimed the Borgia. "Ungrateful 
 bosom-serpent! Have I supported this sanguinary judge so long, — this 
 bloodier Draco, — not only against the outcries of the people, but the an- 
 gry remonstrances of my father, — but for this!" 
 
 " Perchance there are folks at Rome who were not grieved to see what 
 hatred to your government is planted in men's hearts by the podesta's re- 
 lentless justice !" returned the insidious rufflan. 
 
 " Cood ! — but they shall learn ! know how to use men so as they shall 
 do me all the good they can, and none of the harm," returned the Borgia. 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 59 
 
 " Remiro has crushed Romagna into order and obedience ; what if I lura 
 him forth as a goat of atonement into the wilderness ?" 
 
 " I fear vour grace's friends will have less cause to love him still; I 
 know there are great messages passing between the Vatican and Ronci- 
 glione I" said Du"n Migueloto." •' Even when at length I expounded your 
 gracious purpose most clearly, he turned as pale as a soose's liver, and 
 would onlv consent that I should capture the Orsino until he could receive 
 tidings of Your pleasure from vour own lips I That is, till he cuuld warn 
 the Orsino in Rome, and theVitelli, at Castello: and this ou threat of 
 sawing me in halves if I disobeyed I" 
 
 " Sawing thee in halves! — this Aragonian teaches me a way of death 
 I did not know, but a good punishment for traitorsi" said Caesar, 
 thoughtfully. " Is he not very rich, too— very rich, considering the 
 need's of the state, and the oppressions of the poor peasants?" ^^ 
 
 "• And therefore he strives so hard to win our holy father's sunshine? 
 said the Catalan. " He fears vour grace much more than loves you, and 
 gropes about for help-, and hfs extorted wealth is lodged in Ronciglione 
 to prevent surprise." 
 
 " Deem you these soldiers are to be depended upon? " returned Caesar, 
 with a slight smile. 
 
 " Their terrors of Remiro can only be overcome by your personal 
 interference, ' replied the Catalan, "1 am an officer of no eminent com- 
 mand, as vour highness knows." 
 
 " Tut, tut, thou art on thy way to a better! " returned the Borgia. 
 
 " So vour goodness was pleased to promise me on an occasion " 
 
 " 1 tell thee I have not forsottt-n it! "Tis aaainst thyself lo remind me 
 of mv promises, for I have much greater largess in store for th^e! " in- 
 terrupted Casar. imi)atientlv. "Has the sun ever ceased to shme upon 
 thee since thou didst aid me to remove that shadow which covered mine? 
 How long is it, rogue, since ihou wert in Rome? ' 
 
 " I prav vour g'race to remember that 1 am a born gentleman, and mav 
 not brook" a" title which we only bestow on low-born scum and varlets!" 
 said the Catalan, haughtilv. 
 
 " In faith I cannot mend it unless for a worse," said Caesar, with a 
 scornful laugh. "Go to, gentleman and villain ! how long is it since thou 
 wert in Rome? " 
 
 " Your orders found me there, monsignor," replied the ruffian, somewhat 
 cowed in tone. 
 
 "Indeed! then I mav gather news at will; for thou art none of those 
 who look on and see nothing, or bring half tidings which but puzzle 
 expectation! How is my peevish sire? what thinks he of these latest 
 doings of ours? " 
 
 " Even as ever, mv lord ; glorying in the aggrandizement of his house, 
 but starting and shirkum at the means," returned Migueloto. 
 
 " >'av, "that is not all! — what said he to my messenger, that carried 
 him the' keys of Faenza?" said the Borgia, gloomily. " ' Caesar is making 
 me a giant^ — but a uiant in chains ! ' " 
 
 " In sad truth, his holiness grows very snarling and suspicious with 
 
 age," said the Catalan. ■ e 
 
 " I hear he hath named the old dotard, Cardinal Piccolomini ol 
 
 Sienna, to command in Santangelo! " returned Caesar, sharply, " during 
 
 the jubilee?" . . 
 
 "What matters it. signer, when the Germans and Gascons in it are 
 
60 C-fiSAR BORGIA. 
 
 yours to a man I " said Don Mi,n;ueIoto. "Yet 'tis a sad thought to 
 remember how much depends on the whims of a choleric old man, wliose 
 conscience is subject to ills of the quah7isl " 
 
 " Speak wiih more respect, infiJel, of the successor of St. Peter I " said 
 Ceesar, in a jesiing tone. " But wliat are the news from Milan, for I 
 have heard none during these tramping days of mine, wandering among 
 my citadels?" 
 
 " A herald from the King of France passed through Ronciglione 
 yesterday with, I fear, some bitter message from his king at Milan lo our 
 holy father and your highnessi " replied Don Migueloto. 
 
 " The Kins of France at Milan I — surely you jest, my stout Migueloto I " 
 exclaimed Caesar, with an expression of mingled wonder and conster- 
 nation, 
 
 " Monsignor, is it possible you have not heard how the French have 
 rushed on Milan, destroyed and slaughtered all opposers; and that Duke 
 Sforza is now their prisoner by the treachery of his Swiss?" 
 
 " You rave, man ! — it cannot be ! The last accounts left their foragers 
 in Savov I " continued Caesar, incredulously. But the details which his 
 confidant now poured out of the extraordinary conquest which Louis XII. 
 effected of the Milanese after their second revolt, left no room for doubt. 
 
 " Here were matter now for a good morality on the fall of wicked 
 princes!" said Caesar, recovering from his surprise. "And yet, so 
 subtle a brain— welcomed back so joyfully by his subjects — how could it 
 chance? Did he not pay his mercenaries enough, or loo much? Friend 
 Niccolo, this is a problem wdiich I must have Ihee to solve for me. Those 
 accursed Swiss! who, after this, will trust them?" 
 
 " Certes, not your grace; and I misdoubt if they have forgotten that 
 glorious massacre you made among them in Borne, in revenge for the 
 pillage of your mother's house by their brethren of King Charles's army," 
 said Migueloto. 
 
 " Thou knowest men but little, if thou deemest there is any bottom to 
 their credulity," returned the Borgia, sharply. 
 
 " His holiness seems to think as I do, natheless, signor, since he has 
 made those whom his interposition saved from our swords guards to my 
 most noble lady, Donna Lucrezia!" said Migueloto, with a peculiarly 
 leering and malignant expression. 
 
 " Snh ! " was the only observation in return, which was yet full of 
 meaning to the initiated attendant. 
 
 " And on the news of your highness's happy return, he has added a 
 hundred light-armed estradiots of ihe fugitive Albanian Greeks, who keep 
 skimming all over the country around Nepi, like fire-flies round a pool," 
 continued Migueloto, 
 
 " Nepi ! what doth she there? " said Caesar, with affected carelessness. 
 
 " Performs a penance — for other folks' sins, perchance! " replied Don 
 Migueloto, with a dark smile. " For doubtless, in honour of your 
 victories and happy return, his sanctity has created his daughter Duchess 
 of Nepi, a seigneury which takes her oft from Rome, and which hath a 
 strong castle." 
 
 " Jest not with mo, Migueloto; 'tis ill tickling a gored hound," said 
 Caesar, with a flish of passion which effectually awed his companion out 
 of his jocose mood; and then, as if wishing to banish the subject, he 
 continued, " But truly this strange success of the French alters all my 
 views ! I am already sufficiently pressed by the rebellious confederates, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. Bl 
 
 and 1 fear nie France will be peevish for my necessary denial of the Iroops 
 to the conslahle of Milan. Who could have dreamed of so sudden a turn 
 in the luck I " 
 
 "Your enemies will everywhere take heart, my lord," said Migueloto, 
 dolefully. 
 
 " One good may yet be derived from this evil," returned Caesar. " I can 
 depend no longer on the French, and the pope cannot deny me now to 
 raise an Italian army of my own, which iN'iccolo doth above all things 
 advise." 
 
 Migueloto shook his head with a crafty smile. "He will rather make 
 peace with the Colonnas themselves, than set your grace in such mastery," 
 he replied. 
 
 " Said I not that even this mischance of the Orsino was meant by for- 
 tune to my advantage?" exclaimed Cffisar. " 1 must have peace with his 
 faction at every risk, to avert the Colonnas, and therefore do now rejoice 
 in his safely." 
 
 "At every risk, my lord?" said Don Migueloto, with the samedisgustmg 
 leer overspreading his evil countenance. ^^ 
 
 '• i\o, 1 will never again endure— but, tush, let us to our news again . 
 said Cffisar, with a vehemence which he almost instantly checked. " How 
 is the Cardinal Borgia, my cousin? he was ailing when he left me at 
 Faenza." 
 
 "•Alack, mv lord, he died of a disease as sudden as the plague, on his 
 way to Rome," three days are gone," said Migueloto, in a tone of hypocri- 
 tical sorrow. 
 
 "He was no friend of mine ; and 1 regret only thai he did not die coming 
 from some other quarter than my camp," returned Cajsar " I'll warrant 
 me— because the man was always eating melons— they will say 1 poisoned 
 him I But at all events, tell me better news of my dear friend, Monsignor 
 Agnelli, archbishop of Cosenza, clerk of the chamber, and vice-legate of 
 Viterbo?" 
 
 " The morning I left Rome he was found dead in his bed, after eating 
 a most hearty supper! " said Migueloto. laughing outright. 
 
 " Alas, poor man, that was sudden! but such holy men are alwaysready 
 for their calls," said Caesar, smiling too. "Alas ! and what part has my 
 father assigned me in his relics ? " 
 
 " 'Tis lo be spent, I hear, on the ceremonies of your reception, and in 
 those of the holy week," said Don Migueloto. "But I marvel your 
 highness has never once inquired after your royal wife." 
 
 '*' DoUi she still live then, being in Rome?" said Caesar, carelessly. 
 " 1 have not heard of her death, my lord ! " replied Don Migueloto, some- 
 what slarlled. 
 
 " Why, then, no doubt she is still alive ; and Donna Fiamma must be 
 singularly out of spirits with ihis marriage of mine," continued Caesar, 
 with a degree of agitation which was visible even in the unconcerned 
 manner which he knew so well how to assume. 
 
 "Your grace indeed should have seen her when, six months ago, I deli- 
 vered her vour letter from France, announcing the marriage," said Don 
 Miguelolo,\vith a slight shudder, which, in a man of his steely nature, was 
 of no ordinary significance. , ■ i iv 
 
 "What! did she stamp and rave like any other deserted drab? said 
 Caesar, smiling scornfully. 
 
 " Signor, she spoke not a word for many minutes, but looked hxedly at 
 
62 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 mo, and her face grew white as lifihlninf?, and writhed into the very 
 likeness of the .Medusa in the Capitol I " replied Don Migueloto. "At last 
 she siglifd such a sigh that it seemed as i f her heart were reft in twain ; and 
 yet she shed but one tear— as large and heavy as a drop of molten lead — 
 '.viped it disdainfully away, and gave me a rich ring, as she said, for my 
 good news; and then she laughed, said it was a fair day, and that the 
 sun shone very brightly for a wedding— and so fell senseless on the 
 ground! " 
 
 "lam quits with her now, indeed, for that matter of Sultan Zem ! " said 
 Csesar, hurriedly. 
 
 "Nay, my lord, I must needs think your highness was jealous there 
 on small occasion," replied Don Migueloto, in a timorous and insinuating 
 tone. 
 
 "Perchance!— perchance I think even as thou dost 5 but, thou knowest 
 not how excellent it is to have an answer ready for an upbraiding woman!" 
 returned the Borgia. "And thou shaft see how easily, with a few honeyed 
 words, and lying protestations, these foolish souls will believe where they 
 love! She will weep and rage at lirst; but at last will ruffle down like a 
 sea after the storm, when the sun breaks out— for love in a woman's breast, 
 even in its hiry, is at worst but the sun murky with a tempest. The vio- 
 lence of its own winds will tearopen a way to the golden light, and then is 
 all but the sweeter and calmer for the past frenzy. But peace awhile— 
 this is a fair scene beneath our feet. 
 
 It was, indeed, a fair scene 5 for the travellers had now reached an ele- 
 vation between the lofty njountains that form the valley of the Nar, which, 
 projecting beyond their vast bases, overlooked the plains of the Tiber. 
 The valley immediately below was filled with a dense forest, beyond which 
 the famous river wound like a monstrous golden serpent, with its yellow 
 folds gleaming at intervals through the rank verdure of the stagnant niarshes 
 which bordered it. At the base of the hill upon which they stood were 
 visible the naked colum.ns and shattered porticoes of some Roman ruins, 
 gleanjing red in the s:dtry light. Beyond the river extended a vast 
 savannah, grazed by herds of buffaloes, whose large carcasses wei c some- 
 times nearly covered by the rank grass of the marshes ; a range of violet- 
 coloured mountains terminated the view to the nurth ; to the south extended 
 a vast plain, bounded only by the silver line of the sea ; and imme- 
 diately in front,— stdl at a great distance, although from the purity of the 
 atmosphere it seemed ahiiost beneath the point of view,— shone a broad 
 lake of ihe purest celesiifd blue, set in a basin of woody hills, the highest of 
 which had the town of Roneiglione at its base, above which arose the 
 massive towers and battlement's of its Gothic castle. 
 
 " Yonder is Nepi !" said Don Migueloto, checkmg his horse, and point- 
 ing to the left of the tract of country just described, where, on the summit 
 of a craggy eminence, shot high into the air the silvery pinnacles of the 
 ancient cathedral. 
 
 "What penance doth she at Nepi? Is it akin to the pilgrimage of my 
 Lady Isabel Visconti, on her vow to St. Mark of Venice, which was so plea- 
 santly spent that on her leturn she was obliged to poison her husband to 
 preserve his peace from tale-bearers ?" said Ca3sar, after amoment's pause 
 of gloomy thought. 
 
 "Nay, for the rigid Dominican directs it," replied Migueloto. " A man 
 who would whip Venus herself at a cart-tail, and rebuke Diana for for- 
 wardness," 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 63 
 
 " Ay, Ibc Dominican I if I thought ihal she valued this Orsino so far as to 
 have sent him on the errand which he executed, no circumstances of policy 
 should prevail on me to spare him I " said the Borgia. " 1 must win some 
 light on this matter ; but, m(;anwhile— yonder they are crossmg the bridge 
 —we must elearly decide on what we have to do, for an order understood 
 is half obeyed." 
 
 Leaving" the Kalian chieftain and his confederate to lorm their plans, 
 we rejoin the cavalcade in the plain, at a moment Avhen, crossing the 
 river, the canon exclaimed, in a fit of poetical and learned delight,— 
 
 " Vides ut alia slet nive candidum 
 Soracle!'' 
 
 and, pointing to the mountain, which shone in the brightness of the ho- 
 rizon liku a prodigious mound of frosted silver, he translated the lines for 
 the benefit of his un-Horatian hearers: "Behold how, white with snow, 
 Soracte towers !" 
 
 ''Sant' Oreste!" repeated the soldiery, and every head was instantly 
 bared in homage to the supposed saint. 
 
 " No, no, my brothers ! " said the canon, somewhat confused. " But 
 'tis all one, for if 1 may credit the short shadows of the poplars, it is noon- 
 day, and, consequently, the hour of the Ave Maria against the Turks, which 
 we will all say together." So saying, he stopped his mule, clasped his 
 hands, and looking up to the hot blue' sky, fervenlly chanted half-a-dozen 
 invocations to Our Lady for protection against, not only the Turks, but 
 all enemies far and near, in which the canon most fervently but secretly 
 included the whole Borgian dynasty. A bright golden cloud which 
 hovered over the mililary'devoiees, to a poetical eye might have seemed 
 a throne, from whence the Virgin Queen of heaven listened to her sup- 
 pliants. 
 
 "And now, benedicite, my children, and heartily on, for I trust we 
 shall none of us live to see the" church wronged in my person, or in those 
 of the pious ()ilgrims my companions !" said Messer Bembo, assuming 
 much comfort tVo1n the reference with which the soldiers followed his re- 
 ligious guidance. But at this moment Don Miguelolo approached, disen- 
 cumbered of his late e(»mpanion on the erupper, and directed the march 
 of the escort from the main road over a dismal volcanic waste, diversified 
 at far intervals with cities and monasteries, perched as it seemed on 
 inaccessible summits. A wavy succession of hills, on which the sun 
 shone while with excessive hea't, terminated the view in every direction. 
 The bright verdure of the vegetation which overspread the sw^amp con- 
 cealed its pestilential depths, which the sulphurous miasma it sent forth 
 betrayed. The incessant croaking of frogs, the green glister of lizards, 
 darting out of their coverts, the shrill cries of mooribwl, revealed the 
 treachery of that lustrous verdure. But at last even that false luxuriance 
 vanished •, a black plain, furrowed all over with streams of lava, which 
 ^ ages of times had not effaced, spread before them. Then appeared a still 
 blacker forest, which climbed ihe side of a mountain in front, and looked 
 like hearse-plumes waving to the sky, against the radiance of the now 
 wester'iiiu sun. 
 
 The aspect of the country was not such as was likely to diminish the 
 siiiisier forebodings of the Orsino -, but Ser Niccolo himself seemed to take 
 fright, for he talked of resuming his direct way to Rome. A short confe- 
 rence with Don Migueloto either allayed or overruled his apprehensions, 
 
64 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 anf] the whole cavalcade finnlly entered Ihc forest, ^Yllich wound upwards 
 wiili great steepness along lofty layers of crags. Abysses of forest soon 
 a[)peared on every side, ancient as the mountain itself, the trees so 
 gnarled and intertwisted at times thai light could not penetrate, and 
 seeming as if strugijling together in inextricable conflict into the ravines 
 beiow. Strange gleams of red light pierced at intervals ; the bowlings 
 of unseen wikl beasts were audible-, the cries of ill-omened birds ; and yet 
 the ferocity of man was as usual more direful than that of nature. On 
 reaching the summit of the mountain, and commencing the descent on the 
 opposite side, the road was skirted with oak trees of extraordinary ma- 
 jesty ; on every twelfth one of which, for the space of sixty, hung the 
 carcass of a man I These unfortunate persons seemed by their garbs to 
 be serfs belonging to some chieftain, who had been pleased to brand 
 their right arms with a cross. 
 
 The jester had again rejoined Migueloto, who was now in advance of 
 his prisoners; and after a moment's careless glance at the carcasses which 
 poisoned the air with the scents of deconifjosition, he inquired for what 
 and by whom they had been thus suspended. 
 
 "By Don Uemiro, for the love of the (lolonnas!" replied the malignant 
 captain of Ronciglione. "Yonder is the fortress of Agapit Colonna, 
 which, in defiance of his lordship's order to the contrary, and your sworn 
 determination, he persisted in secretly furnishing with provisions and 
 men of his vassalage. Whereupon, refusing to undertake a siege without 
 danger or difflciilLy, the podesla sent him word that until he submitted 
 to receive your garrison, he would hang one of his ihralls every day, 
 until not a living soul remained to till his lands. And so he proceeded, 
 — and as Agapit continues obstinate, heaven knows what the end may 
 be ! " 
 
 "The villain I he but spares the castle for the sake of his wife's 
 kinship I" said Caesar fiercely. "■ Had he slauglered a hundred nobles 1 
 could sooner have forgiven it than the murder of these stalwart knaves! 
 What is the use of these dead bodit-s to me !" 
 
 "The |)odesla is indeed a bloodthirsty butcher ! " said Migueloto. 
 
 " He is indeed I" returned Ca?sar, in a milder and somewhat regretful 
 accent. '' And I will be convinced of his treachery ere I deprive myself 
 of so valuable a minislerl Thy device is too violent, Migueloto mine! — 
 neither imagine that I will make thee podesta in his room, for 1 need 
 thee elsewhere, and mean to govern the poor people so that they shall 
 lake a singular love for me I But , saidst ihou not that he carries on his 
 traitorous correspondence with my enemies in Rome, by means of carrier- 
 pigeons?" 
 
 Migueloto stretched his gaunt neck round, to observe that no one was 
 near, and then replied, "Nay, my lord, I said — with his fair wife, 
 Beatrice Colonna." 
 
 "When thou hast informed Don Remiro that I desire him to keep the 
 Orsino till he hears further from me, and that 1 have gone on secretly to 
 Rome, if he be the traitor thou wouldst have me think him, he will send 
 his pigeons with the news I" said (Caesar. "Now, when thou hast privily 
 adn)ilted me to the castle, I will sit and watch his doings in the tower of 
 the winds, with my good hawk, Gorebec, that never failed, on my wrist I 
 1 trust that thou hast kept him well fleshed?" 
 
 Even Migueloto stared in astonishment at this subtle and strange de- 
 vice ; but he had no time to offer objections, even if he intended any. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA, 65 
 
 The report of a cannon suddenly a%Yakened all the echoes of the lake, 
 towards whose golden expanse they were now descending. The direc- 
 tion of the sound, and ihe smoke which arose on the slilly evening air, 
 announced thai the castle had caught sight of their appi-oach, and was 
 inclined to receive them with unusual honours. This opinion was con-- 
 firmed when, at the entrance of a deep glen, die crags above which were 
 crowned witli an endless succession of towers and battlements, a group 
 of persons appeared, as if assembled to await the arrival. Caesar ex- 
 changed a few more words with his captain, and then, with one of his 
 fantastic gambols, disappeared from the train. 
 
 Don Migueloto hastened on, and soon came up to the group in anxious 
 expectation, which was composed of Spanish soldiers, like those of the 
 escort, excepting one personage, who was mounted on a snow-white 
 mule, and was attired in the black-furred mantle and cap of a doctor of 
 laws, his rank of podesta marked only by a gold chain which hung to his 
 feet. A lean and shrivelled body, a visage all over with the lines of 
 thought and care, long hair prematurely grey, an expression sinister and 
 troubled, a frown quivering with nervous emotion and restlessness, like 
 a loadstone m the box, composed the personal attributes of the merciless 
 administrator of the law. 
 
 Don Migueloto requested to speak with the podesta in private; and to- 
 gether they proceeded down the glen, until their figures were darkened 
 under the shadows of the huge black rocks upon which the castle was 
 built, and of the woods above ; the brawl of a stream which fell through 
 a distant archway in the walls, and rattled through the ravine, rendering 
 their voices inaudible at a distance. 
 
 The podesta had undoubtedly been the dupe of the message brought on 
 the previous night by the African runner; and he heard with surprise 
 and alarm, which distorted his wiry features in the struggle to seem calm 
 — that the duke had met Migueloto at Narni, in disguise, and directed 
 him to proceed instantly to the rescue of the Lord Paolo. That his 
 highness was not displeased with the obstacles the podesta had thrown in 
 the way of that baron's destruction, traitor as he was, since he had heard 
 the ill news from Milan, of which doubtless the podesta had been informed. 
 But the duke still thought it expedient to have Signer Paolo detained until 
 he found how matters stood in Rome, whither he had secretly hastened. 
 He therefore ordered him to keep the Orsino at Ronciglione until he had 
 news from himself at Home; by fair means, if possible, but at all events 
 to detain him. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FEUDAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 '' Wtiat is this world? what axen men to have? 
 Now with his love, now in the colde grave 
 Alone, withouten any corapagnie."— Chaucer. 
 
 The practised features of the judge resumed their equanimity during 
 this oration •, not that his inward trouble had at all abated, but the habit 
 of dissimulation relur:ied. Migueloto then calmly added that the duke 
 had so contrived it, that one of his servants, disguised as a monk, had 
 
 5 
 
66 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 revealed the place of the Orsino's confinement to some pilgrims, who 
 had rescued him. This intbrmalion somewhat appeased the doubts in 
 the i)odesta's mind, and he replied with humility, that his supreme joy 
 and duty were to obey his generous master. At the same time his eye 
 fell with searching suspicion and uneasiness on the crafty features of his 
 of&cer, whose hatred and ambition were probably more than guessed by 
 him. But the rest of the cavalcade approached, and the escort halting, 
 opened a pathway lined with spears for the advance of the personages 
 whom they guarded. 
 
 The podesta returned, observing with surprise the number and quality 
 of these leaders — but recognising the Orsino, he dismounted to receive 
 him, a courtesy which the Roman baron instantly returned. They met 
 accordingly on foot, and with all the formal ceremonial of the age, kissing 
 each other on both cheeks. The podesta warmly congratulated the young 
 baron on his escape from the banditti, who, he had heard with extreme 
 grief and confusion, had ventured, even under his own immediate juris- 
 diction, to seize on his illustrious person, and put it to ransom! 
 
 " Let us not speak of that; our Black Bands have, in man's memory, 
 assailed even the person of an emperor," returned the baron. " But 1 
 am safe now, and under the friendly escort of my rescuers •, and the way 
 lo Rome is not easily missed over" the Campagna. Therefore, niy lord 
 podesta, but for my joy to see you in such excellent health, I am sorry 
 you have brought me thus far to the west, and must make up for lost time 
 by abridging the pleasure of this interview, for I mean to lodge to-night 
 at Sutri or INepi." 
 
 "My lord, as you perceive by the length of the rays over the hills, it is 
 nigh sunset," replied the podesta in a resolved and even stern voice. 
 ' ' The road you speak of is through fen and forest and wastes : your horses 
 are spent; so are those of my troopers-, moreover, signor, I have no 
 warrant to permit a lord, so well known to be in rebellion against the 
 church, to proceed to Rome. Therefore, I must hund^ly implore and 
 beseech your lordship to lake up your lodging at Ronciglione, until I can 
 obtain his Holiness's commands."' 
 
 " Mean you, sir podesta, that you will force me to delay thus on my road, 
 bearing as I do the articles of a fair peace?" said the baron, passionately. 
 
 " 1 must do my duty, noble sir," replied the podesta, with a look of 
 much significance. "And the time will come when your lordship will 
 see that 1 am, and have been, your truest friend." 
 
 " And the husband of a Colonna!" exclaimed Paolo. 
 
 "The Colonnas love the Orsini little, but they love others less," 
 replied the podesta, slightly smiling at the pleasant recollection of his 
 young wife. 
 
 "Our Holy Father himself invited me to Rome, and i will only enter these 
 towers under sway of the strong hand !" replied the Orsino. "These my 
 friends will stand by me! — and you shall perpetrate my murder under the 
 gaze of Italy, which sees all you do through the eyes of yonder gentleman, 
 the ambassador of Florence." 
 
 "Health to the serene and magnificent signory," said the podesta, 
 uncovering and bending profoundly to thedignitary who represented them ; 
 and his gloomy visage cleared up wonderfully as he added, " I cantiot but 
 otfer the same hospitality to your company, signer; and if it be true that 
 you have his Holiness's invitation, why dread you the slight delay which 
 IS necessary to bring me the confirmation from Rome?" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 67 
 
 " Promise then, sir podesla, that the Lord Paolo shall not be separated 
 from us, his friends; and that when we dej)art from Pionciglione, he shall 
 accompany us," said the Hospilaller. 
 
 To this proposal the magistrate assented with great readiness ; and as in 
 fact resistance was impossible, the travellers were fain to accept the 
 slender guarantee which it tendered. 
 
 The unwilling guests now proceeded on the way up to the fortress-gates, 
 Machiavelli smiling vaguely •, for in truth he himself was uncertain as to 
 what was to happen, but felt that it would be mischief. The immense 
 extent and strength of the castle appeared more plainly as the windings 
 of the crags in the ascent revealed its towers and battlements stretching 
 remotely in every direction, it might almost be considered as a double 
 castle : for above the first circles of Gothic fortifications arose a pile in 
 the Saracenic style, and of a whiter stone, in the centre of which was a 
 round tower of extraordinary height, which, being pierced with horse- 
 shoe embrasures on every side, was popularly called the Tower of the 
 Winds. 
 
 The interior of the castle, however, shadowed forth some of the great 
 changes of the time 5 fur, although preserving the warlike characteristics 
 of a feudal castle in either particulars, traces of that magnificence and love 
 of the arts which had arisen in Italy appeared even in the stronghold of 
 the ferocious Borgia, The aparlmeiUs allotted to the guests were furnished 
 with great magnificence, perhaps with a barbarous profusion of gilding 
 and ornament; and the great saloon, in which a repast was served shortly 
 after their arrival, instead of being as usual hung with uncouth designs in 
 arras, was painted in fresco by some masterhand. The vessels from 
 which they were to eat and drink were of silver, and already forks of one 
 prong were used in partaking of the viands. 
 
 The knights had refused to unarm, alleging that it was part of their 
 pilgrim vow to remain in steel; but the canon was much comforted 
 to observe that, although waited on by the soldiers of the castle, the 
 English men-at-arms were served at a lower table m the same apartment. 
 Gratified with this proof of the absence of any immediate treachery, the 
 epicurean ecclesiastic watched with satisfaction the preparations for a 
 noble bancpiet which began to load the tables. Some beakers of choice 
 red wine had removed the sense of fatigue ; and while Messer Bembo's 
 good wit was cheered and sharpened by frequent encounters with that of 
 the Florentine ambassador, his eye was charmed with the superb view 
 which the saloon commanded. The lake of Vico lay almost immediately 
 below in its woody amphitheatre, beyond which arose the distant snowy 
 piles of the Ciminian Alp. The forests which clothed the opposite hills 
 were shot with the scarlet effulgence of the sunset, while the waters of 
 the lake had subsided into deep sombre purple, excepting where the 
 direct line of the sun crossed them in a column of wavering gold. The 
 air was wooingly sweet and balmy, with the scent of odoriferous herbs 
 and flowers; and the only animated objects which disturbed the Eden-like 
 solitude were the snowy swans which glided majestically over the bosom 
 of the lake. 
 
 At last the table seemed sufficiently furnished : wild boars roasted 
 whole, noble haunches of venison, pasties whose vast walls inclosed every 
 species of game, fish in profusion, and above all, an enormous roasted 
 crane, composed the staple viands. Nought was wanting but the presence 
 of the host himself, who had retired, said Gaplain Migueloto, to write some 
 
68 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 despatcliPS. The canon gazed hungrily and unpoetically at the table, and 
 thence with a siyh to the lake. He was just remembering somewhat va- 
 cantly the beanliful legend which appertains to its waters, as well as to so 
 many other European lakeS' — that a submerged city is frequently beheld 
 by fishermen below its bright depths, when his attention was caught by 
 observing a pigeon, with something white lied round its neck, dart from 
 a tower above. The bird flew at first in a straight and steady line to- 
 wards the south, but suddenly it whirled round, panting rather than flying 
 with its wings and dived down to the lake. 
 
 Bembo's curiosity was excited, and looking upward, it was some mo- 
 ments before he discerned a hawk so high in the air that it looked little 
 more than a black spot. But it was descending in its fatal gyrations, and 
 as if aware of an inevitable doom, the pigeon, after a few vain fluUerings, 
 made a last despairing soar, and soon the rapacious claws were in its 
 back, and the ruthless beak in its brain. 
 
 The canon had no time to notice what further befell the unhappy bird, 
 for at this moment the much desired podesta made his appearance. He 
 entered, but with so much agitation and anger visible in his countenance, 
 that Bembo's alarms were all renewed. "Who is it, Migueloto, that 
 presumes to fly the duke's hawks without my allowance?" he said, fiercely. 
 "I have just lost one of my best carrier pigeons, which was seized by a 
 hawk launched from the Tower of Winds, and the letter to my wife, 
 which I despatched by it, is probably lost I" 
 
 " It is Uguccione. I have warned him many a time that he displeased 
 your lordship," replied Don Migueloto. " But the hawks are too well 
 trained to have eaten the pigeon; therefore undoubtedly the letter is 
 safe." 
 
 "Go and bring the rogue this instant before me; and by heaven ! if the 
 seal is but breathed upon, I will have him hung up as a wnrning to all such 
 insolent, meddling villains that keep no discipline," said the podesta, 
 whose agitation was so extreme that Ser Niccolo inwardly smiled. Don 
 Migueloto departed, apparently with very good will, on his errand *, and 
 striving to resume his equanimity, Be'miro invited the guests to seat 
 themselves. Some time elapsed, and although the podesta continued to 
 be much disturbed, the guests did ample honour to their repast. The 
 Orsino, for whatever reason, ate only of such meats as he saw were served 
 to his host ; but no one had as yet assailed the crane when the captain of 
 Ronciglione made his re-appe"arance. His naturally insidious and at 
 the same time ferocious countenance displayed its characteristics now so 
 legibly, that a child could not have mistaken them. He held an open 
 letter in his hand, which he presented to the podesta. " It was not the 
 under-falconer, as 1 imagined, my lord," he said, with a satanic leer, " but 
 a fellow that lately came" to ihe castle, who has dared to amuse himself 
 with flying the duke's hawks; and whom I surprised perusing your letter 
 to Signora Donna Beatrice, your honourable wife!" 
 
 " My wifel— then— thou hast not— thou hast not read it too, Migue- 
 loto?" exclaimed the podesta, turning deadly pale as he received the 
 epistle. 
 
 " Your lordship knows that I am as great a fool in monk-learning as a 
 monk were in soldiery ! " replied Migueloto. 
 
 "True — that thou "hast often said!" observed Ihe podesta, breathing 
 hard, as if relieved from a weight on his chest. " But did not this prying 
 villain read it to thee?" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 69 
 
 *' Bv the rood ! I gave him not the time !" replied the captain. 
 
 "What, my excellent, my faithful Migiieloto I thou didst not, in thy 
 passion at his" insolence, strike thy dagger into him?" said Don ilemiro, 
 hurriedly. 
 
 ''1 caused him to be instantly seized — but 1 thought it behoved me 
 rather to wait for your lordship's judgment," said the captain. 
 
 " Where have you left him ? In whose company ? Take him at once 
 to the nearest tree!" said the podesla, with increasing agitation. 
 "Doubtless he is some spy employed by our enemies— else wherefore 
 should he read my letters?" 
 
 " My lord, he is a freeman, and as such, according to the laws of that 
 same Roman king you so often upbraid us with, he must be fairly adjudged 
 ere he be put to death, " replied the malicious captain, who enjoyed his 
 superior's confusion. 
 
 "Let none speak to him. Bring him here gagged, and I will adjudge him 
 fast enough," said Don Remiro, passionately. 
 
 " He is at the door— your lordship need not long delay your dinner," said 
 Don Migueloto, stepping eagerly to the portal, which he threw widely open. 
 The burnished casques and spears of the Florentine ambassador's escort 
 suddenly glittered on the startled gaze of the banquetters, filing into the 
 saloon in rapid succession, from the centre of whose opening ranks, with 
 a rapid and fiery step, eyes blazing with wrath, his fine nostrils quivering, 
 his cheek pale with concentrated passion, came Caesar Borgia I The 
 suddenness of his entry, his wild looks, his dark hair waving like black 
 serpents beneath his cap of white fur— even his garb, which was of sable 
 velvet gleaming all over with gems — might have struck terror into men 
 who had no reason to dread his wrath. As it was, Don Remiro stood 
 fixed and pallid as stone — the knights started up and laid their hands on 
 their swords, and the canon broke into the form of exorcism to a fiend. 
 
 " Ha, podesla! you are determined then to send me to the gibbet for 
 impertinence! — What then does treason merit?" thundered the terrific 
 master; and turning with a sudden change to the most courtly and blan- 
 dishing kindness, he said, "Disturb not at this, noble gentlemen, and 
 my dear friend and brother, Orsino ! — But assist me to pronounce what 
 punishment is due to this ungrateful traitor, who is not content with en- 
 deavouring to blow into a more furious tlame than ever this civil war which 
 we were all striving to extinguish, but desires to blacken my good name 
 with the foulest treachery ; to raise not only Rome but all humanity against 
 me, yea, even to set war, and hatred, and suspicion between a father and 
 his child ! " 
 
 As he spoke, he snatched the paper from the passive hand of the po- 
 desta, and read aloud the intercepted letter to his no less passive au- 
 ditors. 
 
 The podesla had indeed been inspired by his evil genius when he penned 
 this epislle. After a loving preamble to his fair wife, and intense regrets 
 expressed at their long se[)aration, Don Remiro cooingly declared that he 
 believed the time of iheir mutual misery was drawing to a close. He then 
 informed the lady of the arrival of Paolo Orsino and his company at Ron- 
 ciglione; described the calamities hf had suttercd on the way ; and desired 
 her immediately on the receipt of this letter to hasten to the Apostolic Pa- 
 lace, use the signal lie had taught her to obtain a private audience of the 
 Pope, and lhen\o inform his holiness of the event-, with the addition, that 
 the podesla knew the whole to have been plotted by the Duke of Romagna 
 
70 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 to murder his intended brother-in-law, and that unless speedy rescue ar- 
 rived, the deed would siill be accomplished ! To prevent which, he ad- 
 vised that the Pope should send a nuncio, with his command to the podesta 
 to bring the Orsino instantly to Rome; and lest the soldiery and seditious 
 captain of Ronciglione should refuse obedience, he advised that the nuncio 
 should be accompanied by the German ordnance and a muster of the Or- 
 sini, allowing them, by way of security, the guard of the Flaminian Gate, 
 until their return. In a private postscript, the uxorious magistrate informed 
 his wife, that as he could no longer live apart from her, and as the duke 
 began to suspect his attachment to the service of his holiness, and was 
 moreover more rapacious than a harpy, cruel than a tiger, and false than 
 a serpent, he did not intend to return to his of&ce, and therefore desired 
 her to send three large carriages, with broad wheels, to convey away his 
 treasures and effects, before the tyrant could arrive. Among the latter 
 was a pearl chain, of the bigness of pigeon eggs, taken from a certain 
 lady of Montefeltro, who was executed for blasphemously pretending to 
 miraculous powers in foretelling events — among which she had dared to 
 include the podesta's approaching destruction,- — which he hoped soon to 
 see on the fairest neck in the world. 
 
 "Now gentlemen and true knights, deem you the lady of the pigeon- 
 egg pearls ought to be mistaken ?" said the Borgia, with a terrible laugh as 
 he concluded reading the epistle. * 
 
 " If I ton Uemiro has spoken the truth in this amorous overflow, where- 
 fore would you punish him, Duke of Romagna?" said the Hospitaller, 
 whether in desperation or defiance, he himself could scarcely have said. 
 But instead of being irritated to madness, as the unhappy canon imme- 
 diately expected to" behold him, Caesar's fierce eyes suffused with tears, 
 and he uttered, in a voice apparently choked with grief, touching laments 
 over the severity of his fortune which exposed him to such undeserved 
 suspicions. " You loo, Paolo, you too, suspected me, else wherefore did 
 you journey by stealth through my estates?" he said, with a pathetic look 
 of reproach which almost deceived the Orsino himself. '' But our blessed 
 Mother be praised ! 1 can give a noble answer to these calumnies of my 
 enemies and traitors ! Are you not here in my power, in my strong castle, 
 which Orsini and German ordnance might vainly assail for years- 
 surrounded by my devoted soldiery? Well!— to thee, Paolo, I offer the 
 fullest and amplest confirmation of all the terms of the peace which we 
 concluded at Imola, — to all of you a friendly welcome, safe lodging and 
 good cheer,— and to-morrow, with the dawn, we will all troop in company 
 to Rome, where you shall share such honours as the too liberal state will 
 needs heap upon me ! " 
 
 He extended his hand at the same time with seeming enthusiasm *lo the 
 Orsino, vvho looked at him for a moment in doubt, as he replied, " Do 
 you then consent to cement our alliance in the way so oft proposed ?— Say 
 yes, Csesar!— fulfil your promise of setting us free, and my doubts are 
 gone forever!" 
 
 " On that one point Donna Lucrezia herself must decide, and your own 
 fortune in love," replied the duke composedly. 
 
 " But you will no longer use your influence in favour of the Prince of 
 Ferrara?" returned the Orsino, with lingering incredulity expressed in his 
 every tone. 
 
 " Ha, ha, what say you, when the vain simpleton has crossed the Alps 
 to shun an alliance which an emperor might rejoice in?" replied Cajsar, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 71 
 
 with a momentary expression of mortified pride. " But why keep we 
 the privy councillor of our holy father standing?— away with him, Migue- 
 loto!' 
 
 ''Mercy, my lord, my master, my glorious and victorious prince! — 
 mercy to a wretched criminal !" yelled" the podesta, prostrating himself 
 on the rushes strewed over the floor. 
 
 " Mercy, merciless traitor! — what mercy didst thou show to the lady 
 with the chain of pigeon-egg pearls ?" replied Caesar, spurning the wretched 
 man with his foot as he endeavoured to clasp his knees. Migucloto darted 
 forward and seized the podesla by his fur mantle, but Paolo Orsino now 
 interposed. " However falsely, treacherously, and ungratefully this maa 
 has behaved to you, Cffisar, still it is not for me to forget that he shewed 
 a concern for my safety, though doubtless of a misjudging and selfish 
 cast Therefore, I pray you, do not at least inflict upon him — death !" 
 
 "I would humbly propose, my lord, that he be delivered bound to the 
 people whom he governed — to the wives and children of the serfs whom 
 we found hanging on the green oaks above," said Machiavelli, in a mild 
 and interceding tone. 
 
 " So let it be!" said Csesar, joyously. '-And when they have done 
 with him, saw me his carcass in twain, and set it up like a shark's jaw in 
 the market-place, to let the people know that I loved not nor approve his 
 cruelties!" 
 
 At this terrific sentence, all vestiges of sense deserted the wretched 
 magistrate, and he reeled back into the arms of Don Migueloto. It is 
 probable that the recollection of the direful cruellies of the podesta, which 
 they had so lately witnessed, somewhat cooled the zeal of the intercessors 
 on his behalf. Moreover, Migueloto rushed upon his victim with the 
 avidity of a wild beast, fearful lest its prey should be snatched from it, 
 and hurried him out. But .Messer Niccolo, when he found his advice, 
 which was given rather in satirical bitterness than in earnestness, so 
 fearfully taken, besought Caesar to revoke his sentence. At first his en- 
 treaties produced no effect, but when he pointed out the danger of suffering 
 the people to tear their tyrant to jiieces, the duke consented that a mes- 
 senger should be sent to counternmnd the order for the execution, and to 
 convey the criminal to a dungeon beneath the castle. "And there let 
 him muse at his leisure on his wife's fair neck, and the large pearls that 
 are to deck it," said the humourous tyrant; and throwing himself with a 
 lofty air into the raised seat so lately occupied by the fallen podesta, he 
 filled a goblet of wine to the brim, and with a smile which seemed full of 
 joviality and heartiness, drank to the health of all his honoured guests, 
 and of his dear brother, the Orsino, in particular. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A FEUDAL PEACE. 
 
 " Why, 1 can smile, and murder while I smile. 
 And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart, 
 And wet my cheeks wiih artilicial tears. 
 And frame my face to ail occasions."— Shakespere. 
 
 After this ceremonial it seemed as if, for the first time, that Ca;sar no- 
 ticed specifically the presence of the Florentine ambassador. lie em- 
 
/2 CfiSAR BORGIA. 
 
 braoerl him warmly. " In happy hour are we all met I" he said. " For 
 now yrjur maiinificent lords may clearly learn how unfounded are their 
 suspicions that mv peace with the Or>.im must needs include some harm 
 to their stales. YourselT shall witness the truth to them I Miguelotol 
 ■where is he? Ah, true : let some one bring me my steel strong-box." 
 
 Half-a-dozen soldiers darted oft" immediately on this service, and re- 
 turned with a massive chest, which the Hospitaller had some faint idea he 
 had noticed among the baggage of Ser Niccolo. A vast parchment was 
 produced, which Cgesar himself read in a loud and distinct, and at the 
 same time musical voice. This document remains one of the most sin- 
 gular monuments of that tempestuous age. It provided for the restoration 
 of the dispossessed barons to ail their ancient powers and dominions, 
 ■with such exceptions as the harmonious hatred of the contracting parties 
 sometimes agreed upon. The Colonnas were of the number; but the mul- 
 titude of the restored barons, their hard Gothic names barbarously Lati- 
 nized, mark how feeble must have been the sovereignty which was to be 
 acknowledged to the Holy See by these turbulent feudatories. Still it 
 was a vast advantage, overlooked by the colleagues, which was bestowed 
 on the church by their consent to a general surrender of all fiefs hr-ld by 
 them under grants of the emperors, on condition that they should be in- 
 stantly restored by the pontifl' as his own. This stipulation conferred on 
 the church all rights of suzerainty,— among the rest that of compelling 
 them to serve it in arms, which the barons were content to concede, in 
 the belief that their restored power would enable them to desjiise that of 
 their new master. Ao other state of Italy was mentioned in the stipula- 
 tions, either in a hostile or friendly spirit; so that none could apparently 
 lake umbrage. 
 
 "lam willing to these conditions — but, alas, I shall remain but a 
 shadowy duke I " said Caesar, with a quaint smile. 
 
 " Surely, my lords, there should be ^ome hostage, some pledge for the 
 due observance of this peace, which is else but scrawled deerskml " said 
 the Hospitaller, in his deep, austere tones; and fixing his gaze on Csesar, 
 he continued — "Since it appears that our holy father desires these 
 nuptials, wherefore do ye not solemnly covenant to bind your loves in 
 adaniant by wedding the heir of the Orsini to the lady of the Borgias?" 
 
 " Will .\iesser Bemibo, so fresh from Ferrara, put his hand to this good 
 stipulation? " said Ser Niccolo, wiih evident alarm at the proposal. " Or 
 "vvill your highness bind yourself to exercise what may perchance prove a 
 tyrannous control over that beauteous lady's likings?" 
 
 " The Lord Paolo had time while I was in France, 1 have heard, to 
 prove her likings," replied Caesar, with a piercing look at Paolo. " If, 
 brother, thou canst truly aver that she showed thee any buddings of hope, 
 I will do even as this warlike peace-maker would have us I " 
 
 The Orsinc/s countenance darkened, and in almost exact proportion 
 that of Caesar irradiated. 
 
 " 1 am net of those disloyal cavaliers who are wont to boast their lady's 
 gentleness into her shame," he replied with a gloomy smile. "Let us 
 leave that matter to lime and fortune, and the warmth of a passion which 
 might enforce a returning glow in the bosom of a statue moulded like 
 St. Cyprian's in snow." 
 
 Cffisar made no reply, but snatched a pen from a vast leaden stand which 
 one of the notaries attached to thepodesla's train came bearing in trembling 
 humiility. He was about to sign, when Don Migueloto re-entered with a 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 73 
 
 fiondisli smile, ^^■hich he vainly strove to conceol under a forced sadness 
 of aspect. Glancing at his j'aniih'ar's countenance, the duke observed, 
 "JMy countermand arrived then too late? " and wrote his name in huge 
 capitals. 
 
 " Signer, before he had reached the gates, a soldier, whose brother 
 he once hanged, ripped him up ^Yilh his dagger," replied Migueloto com- 
 posedly. 
 
 " Then it will not hurt him to saw^ him in Uvain; so let it be done in- 
 continently," replied the duke. 
 
 " It is done, my lord : 'lis astonishing how dexterous with the sawZeid 
 is I " said the captain. 
 
 ''Ha! and what say the people?"' continued Caesar, calmly. "Have 
 you set him up in the market-place?" 
 
 " The dead lion scares them ; they have left their melons and olives to 
 the care of the baskets, and the square is empty — but 1 saw some women 
 creeping in again, so they will soon be as thick as the carrion-flies about 
 it," said Migueloto, laughing at the ludicrous recollection of the flight of 
 the peasants. , 
 
 " Go and wash thine hands, Migueloto I Not that I mean thee for my 
 cup-bearer," replied Ccesar. "And that minds me — where is Aslor 
 Manfredi, whom I raised to that noble office at my last sojourn? " 
 
 " I shall find him, 1 warrant ^ he leaves his chamber but seldom, signor," 
 said Don Migueloto, with his crafty leer. 
 
 "Then now let us give a loose to mirth and festivity," said Ctesar 
 joyously. " Let the soldiers lap a butt of my noblest Sicilian; send 
 couriers to Rome, announcing this excellent peace and our approach; 
 also to the V^itelli and to Bologna; and in especial to my good friend, 
 Giovanni Frangiani, of Fermo." 
 
 " Signor, you have not then heard of the chance that has befallen that 
 ancient gentleman?" said the canon, timidly. " We heard it on our 
 pilgrimage from Ferrara." 
 
 " Is he at last gone peaceably, as he hath lived, to his ancestors? " said 
 Ser ISiccolo. 
 
 " Nay, sirs, but he is foully and treacherously murdered by his sister's 
 son, whom he brought up from an infant, and treated ever as his own!" 
 said the Knight of St. John. " Under pretext of paying his uncle a loving 
 visit during this latter truce, he introduced himself into Fermo, and 
 slaughtered the good old man in the midst of a banquet which he gave to 
 welcome him!" 
 
 " Oliverolto is a friend and ally of thine, Orsino, and a pupil of the 
 Vitelli," observed Ccesar, demurely. 
 
 " Let him now apply himself to doing good to the commons, or I take 
 it he will not long be sovereign in Fermo," said SerNiccolo thoughtfully, 
 ruminating as if studying in his prolific brain the means to support so 
 direful an usurpation. 
 
 At this moment Don Migueloto made his re-appearance with a bustling 
 retinue, bearing the materials for a much more sumptuous banquet than 
 that which had been interrupted. Some of the men-alarms bore a canopy 
 of crimson and gold, under which the podesta w^as wont to administer 
 justice, which they arranged as a state over their chieftain. Migueloto 
 lumself can)e leading, or rather dragging, a figure, whose woe-begone 
 aspect immediately attracted the gaze of the canon. It was that of a youth 
 scarcely eighteen years old, who^e form and countenance had once been 
 
74 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 of perfect beauty; but whose sunken eyes now glared with a mixture of 
 idiocy and madness— despair, rage, and yet vacancy — inexpressibly 
 affecting and terrible. He had obviously been dressed up hastily for 
 exhibition, and his splendid garb hung about his wasted fr'aaie in bags; 
 and yet it had exactly fitted that once Apollo-like form, when in the flush 
 of youth and bravery he had defended during a year his inheritance of 
 the city of Faenza against Caesar Rorgia. What had been his subsequent 
 fate? Was it the misfortunes of his house and imprisonment only which 
 had wrought this ruin? 
 
 "Jupiter himself has not a nobler cup-benrcr than mine ; and in truth 
 1 carried him away on the back of my eagles !" said the Borgia, who had 
 not yet perceived the entry of his cup-bearer. " Ft pleases me to see the 
 proud boy serve me, pouting and beautiful with 'disdain — for he forsooth 
 would be a soldier, and mar his bright complexion in the sun! Why, 
 Migueloto, what goblin is this?" 
 
 " It is the Lord Manfredi; hut he hath been so closely pent up by the 
 podesta's orders, who fancied that he meant to escape!" — said Don 
 Migueloto. when Csesar interrupted him by exclaiming fiercely, "To 
 escape! — how to escape, when 1 had promised to use my every effort to 
 obtain his restoration and the grace of our holy father!" 
 
 "To escape — to join your highness in your warfare," replied Migueloto, 
 in confusion. 
 
 " Six months have wondrously changed him," said Caesar, gazing at 
 his miserable victim, with perhaps a momentary feeling of remorse, for 
 there was a touch of com])assion in the tones which seemed to arouse 
 some recollection and consciousness in the poor idiot. Tears began to 
 flow fast from his hollow eyes, and he uttered a long piteous whine like 
 the cry of a beaten hound. 
 
 "Remove him: let him be looked tc^ — I will send mediciners from 
 Rome!" said Csesar. "But how comes it, Migueloto, that 1 see ne'er a 
 face without a beard among you ? There were some as smooth as peaches 
 when 1 was last in Pionciglione." 
 
 " He that is in halves now made short work among them one morning, 
 my lord," replied Migueloto, grimly smiling. " He had his fits of justice, 
 as he called it; but let us not speak evil of the dead ! Natheless, if your 
 grace pleases, I will take a dozen spears, and bring you a few of the pret- 
 tiest girls in the market-place. They are not all baked brown." 
 
 "If any violence be intended to women, Duke Caesar, it is both in my 
 rule of knighthood and religion— to battle him to death who dares to 
 offer it!" said the Hospitaller, rising and directing his fierce gaze on 
 Migueloto, as he clasped the hilt of his heavy sword. 
 
 " Peace to your valour, sir knight! but I also am of the noble order of 
 chivalry, by the hand of a king,— therefore am equally bound to protect 
 the weak — and what is weaker than woman?" said Caesar, smiling with 
 bitter irony, and playing at the same time with the golden doves of an 
 order which he wore on his neck. He then made a sign to Migueloto, 
 who immediately retired with the young Manfredi. 
 
 During the revelry which ensued, the Hospitaller alone continued 
 gloomy and silent, scarcely mingling at all in the dialogue, or partaking 
 of the viands. The impression of the tragical scenes they had lately 
 witnessed seemed not to wear so soon from his mind as from the joyous 
 and free-hearted English n)an's, or so subtly to be concealed as by the 
 other Italians. But Caesar's manner had in it something of fascination, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 75 
 
 ■when he chose to exert the fine qualities of intellect which he had so 
 fearfully abu«ed. The broad jest for one — for another the refined, vo- 
 luptuous, or brilliant thought— the [ilay of fancy or wit — enthusiasm, or 
 its withering enemy, ridicule— all moods of the human mind seemed 
 equally wiihin the compass of the strangely Protean powers of the man. 
 Time passed rapidly, and the night was far advanced ere Migueloto ven- 
 tured to suggest, that as the duke and his guest intended to proceed to 
 Rome on the following morning, it would be expedient to take some 
 repose. The Orsino's countenance slightly paled at the proposal, which 
 the keen eye of his host observed, for he said with his peculiar smile — 
 " 'Tis not my intent to break any article of our late podesta's stipulations; 
 we are all soldiers, and if heather couches are not too voluptuous for you, 
 we will have them strewed in this chamber, so that your men-at-arms 
 may sleep around us I" 
 
 The Orsino affected to accept this offer as dictated by convenience ; 
 and the lodging was so arranged. Some half-naked slaves, seamed with 
 many a mark of lash and blow, brought in the bundles of sweet-scented 
 heather, which they placed along the walls, one for each man. The only 
 distinction consisted in the leaders having each a covering of bear-skins. 
 But all commentary on the events of the day among our travellers was ef- 
 fectually prevented by Caesar's apparently generous and trusting resolution 
 to sleep with them in the saloon. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " The truth :— what is the truth?" 
 
 Dying words of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York. 
 
 " clari soholes Luerelia Borgiae, 
 
 Pulchro ore, et pulchris aequantem moribus aut quas 
 Verax fama refert, aut quas sibi fabula finxit."— Ariosto. 
 
 Lucretia Borgia : equalling in beauty the most famous of antiquity ; in virtues all that trulh 
 reports, or story has feigned. 
 
 After a night even more restless than the preceding one to the Orsino, 
 the longed-t'or light came at last. Mass was sung — a stupendous break- 
 fast despatched — and as Csesar was now undoubtedly as anxious as his 
 guests to proceed, no time was lost in getting to the saddle : and while 
 the morning was still in its earliest blush, the little army passed out of 
 Ronciglione. It was now much increased by a part of the garrison, un- 
 der the command of Don Migueloto, and by continual accessions which 
 met them, as if by appoinlement, on their line of advance. The majority 
 of the latter consisted of inferior barons with their vassals, feudatories of 
 the Hody See, but there were also several large bodies of German cavalry. 
 Altogether the array began to assume a very formidable appearance. 
 Cffisar was so much occupied in receiving these chieftains, and listening 
 to the intelligence they brought, that his guests had frequent opportuni- 
 ties of conversing with each other. Le Beaufort, with the frank gene- 
 rosity of his character, already began to entertain a more favourable opi- 
 nion of the duke, and he laughed at a suspicion which it seemed Paolo 
 had imbibed — that the zany, their late companion, who had mysteriously 
 disappeared, was Csesar Borgia himself I It is true that he but hinted 
 
76 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 this fancy, and strove to throw an air of incredulity into his words ; but 
 the canon and the Knight of St. Juhn seemed (o be^of his opinion. The 
 former tremulously endeavoured to recollect all that he had said and done 
 in the Carthusian monastery, while Paolo laboured to convince himself 
 that Caesar could not have been in the plot against him, since it was im- 
 probable that he would quietly look on to see it frustrated. 
 
 They were now traversing the vast plain of the Catnpagna, then as in 
 our own times, but from a different cause, a desert ol reedy grass, 
 marshes, and forests, through which wound the sluggish Tiber. "iNot a 
 trace of human habitation appeared. A few tombs and ruined columns 
 still marked the line of the Flaminian way, else every vestige of a road 
 had vanished. 
 
 Strong as was his escort, Caisar quitted the direct line over the Campa- 
 gna, under some pretext that the castellain of Monterosi, beneath whose 
 walls they must have passed, was of the Colonna faction. They accor- 
 dingly left Nepi to the right, and jdunged into a forest of seemingly 
 boundless extent, and of an antiquity which vied with the oldest monu- 
 ments of Italy. The noonday heat, which was extreme in the open plain^ 
 was agreeably tempered by the shadows of the enormous oaks of w hich 
 the forest w^as chiefly composed, and by the damj)ness arising from the 
 numerous swamps in its recesses. 
 
 Traversing this leafy wilderness, a sudden opening in the forest 
 revealed a watery waste of black mud, dotted with islands of rank ver- 
 dure, which stretched far towards the Lake of Bracciano. A herd of 
 buffaloes, grazing as their wont is at some distance from each other, or 
 wallowing in the foul marsh, were the only animated objects visible. 
 Whether these animals were wild, and as such the prey of all who dared 
 attempt their destruction, or were the property of some one of his nume- 
 rous enemies, or that he needed their carcasses to feed his array, we 
 know not, but Caesar gave orders that some of the herd should be sur- 
 rounded and destroyed. To effect this purpose, a body of spearmen was 
 despatched to the skirl of the marsh, who with shouts and the goadings 
 of their weapons were to drive the herd towards the forest, where the 
 duke with a chosen squadron of mounted archers awaited their approach 
 to overwhelm them with javelins and arrows. The ferocity and prodi- 
 gious strength of the aninials made the first part of this enterprise full of 
 danger, and for that reason Sir Reginald insisted on accompanying the 
 spearmen. The Knight of St. John took apparently but little interest in 
 the matter ; but as it semed, rather than remain with Caesar in the forest, 
 he followed at a leisurely pace the march of the spearmen. 
 
 To conceal their approach from the herd, the hunters took a circuit 
 into the wood which skirted the marsh ; and it was in following their 
 hoof-tracks that the Hospitaller lighted on a scene which so strongly 
 attracted his notice, that he halted to gaze upon it. He reached a point 
 at which the forest descended into one of those deep ravines from which 
 arise the rocks on which most of the towns of the Campagna are budt. 
 A city picturesquely built on the brow of the opposite hill, surrounded 
 by walls, and crowned with a strong castle, appeared in some remote- 
 ness. The country around was richly cultivated, the mountain being 
 completely covered with vines and olives, and the plain waving with 
 corn or verdant pastures, on which fed white steers and numerous flocks 
 of sheep. Ceres indeed seemed to have shaken her horn empty over 
 this fortunate site, and there was such an air of pastoral tranquillity and 
 
C.i:SAR BORGIA. ?? 
 
 security brooding over all. that the Hospitaller knew not how to account 
 for such an oasis in the devastaled territory. 
 
 He concluded, in his musiug survey, tiiat the land belonged to some 
 monastery, the sanctity of which protected its possessions from spolia- 
 tion ; more especially as he remarked, in the ravine below, a scene of a 
 very ecclesiastical character. From its groves of cyi)resses and pines 
 arose the airy shafts of a Gothic shrine ])laced over a fountain, and sur- 
 mounted by a cross, with a figure of the Virgin kneeling and embracing 
 it in aprony, while some saint in tln^ gard of a monk offered conso- 
 lation by pointing upward. The waters of the fountain flowed from 
 lion's heads at the top of some circular steps, on the highest of which 
 stood a Dominican monk, preaching, apparently with great fervour, to 
 a crowd of listeners below. Numerous groups of peasants in wild, but 
 gaily-tinted garbs, stood or knelt around the shrine, their bronze coun- 
 tenances glowing with agitation and religious zeal. Many pilgrims, 
 known by bearing the rosemary branch, were among them, and two or 
 three soldiers were visible among the trees. 
 
 But the principal group was undoubtedly around a lady who seemed to 
 be of high rank, for she satin a gilded chair opposite the preacher, while 
 several ecclesiastics, wh"se gorgeous robes proclaimed them to be tbe 
 chapter of a cathedral, with a bishop at their head, stood around. A 
 number of richly attired ladies were also standing, and a litter of purple 
 silk, borne on gilded poles by slaves, might be observed at some distance. 
 Even at the height where he was placed, the Hospitaller could not but 
 remark the queenly grace with which the lady sat. and his curiosity was 
 kindled when he remarked, that with all these attributes of grandeur 
 around her, she wore a robe of the coarsest sackcloth, but which could 
 not altogether hide the beauty of her form. Her feet were naked, and 
 their sculpturesque whiteness was displayed on the coarse rug of black 
 wool beneath them. The long tresses of her golden hair were unbound, 
 and flowed down to her waist in silky waves, and with the hand on 
 which she leaned in penitential humility, nearly concealed her face. 
 
 This apparition was the more extraordinary, as the shrine appeared to 
 be decked out for a festival, every fret and pinnacle of the elaborate 
 masonry being hung with garlands of flowers. So deejjly did it excite the 
 curiosity of the religious knight, that observing an uneven path before 
 him, which descended to the ravine, he followed it some little way, when 
 a crashing noise mingled with shouts induced him to turn his head. He 
 beheld an enormous black buffalo bull, with its tufted tail high in the 
 air, as if stung to madness by gadflies, come rushing down the steep, 
 pursued by Sir Reginald at full gallop, who was laughing and shouting in 
 the hilarity of the chase. But he was certainly ignorant that the whole 
 herd was on his rear, frantically following the flight of their leader, and 
 urged on by the spearmen, who rode afier them in the hope of turning 
 their career. The Hospitaller perceived at a glance the destruction which 
 must ensue among the defenceless multitude below, if the herd arrived 
 while they were thus absorbed. He therefore set spurs to his horse, and 
 galloped down the declivity, shouting " Buffaloes, buffaloes !" at the pitch 
 of his powerful voice. A direful uproar instantly arose, more especially 
 as, unable to check his horse on its reaching the ravine, the armed 
 phant'-m dashed round the shrine, and left in full view the approach of 
 the terrific and maddened brute. The peasants, yelling distractedly, 
 rushed away in every direction, falling over one another in their flight 5 
 
78 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 pilgrims, slaves, and priests fled alike confusedly — all save the monk who 
 iiad been preaching. When the Hospitaller brought his horse round, he 
 ])eri.cived that the unarmed friar had rushed befor^e the chair, from which 
 the lady in sackcloth had risen, but had not fled, for there she stood, 
 calling alternately to the Virgin, and onher fugitive vassals for protection, 
 perfectly pale, but as if disdaining to share "their cowardly flight. To 
 perceive that the buffalo was rushmg full tilt on the lady, that only the 
 gaunt figure of the friar stood between her and destruction, and to dash 
 forward with his mighty war-steed between them and the furious beast, 
 were almost simultaneous actions with the chivalrous Hospitaller. 
 
 The buffalo was of prodigious size and strength— an African bull of the 
 largest species, covered with black shaggy hair, its vast forehead so 
 broad that its curled horns, which might separately have measured ten 
 feet, could not compass it; its neck of amazing bulk; its small red eyes 
 whirling in eddies of fire ; its nose to the ground ; its whole enormous 
 strength concentrated like a battering ram, and increased by its wild ve- 
 locity ;— such was the assailant to which the Knight of St. John opposed 
 himself and steed — not indeed with the insane purpose of receiving its 
 shock, for swerving his shrilling horse with the dexterity which the prac- 
 tice of the bull-fight had made habitual to the Italian nobles, the Hos- 
 pitaller seized the lightning instant when it rushed past, and struck one 
 mighty blow with his axe, at the point where the spine enters the brain. 
 The buffalo's career came to an inbtantaneous stop — he reeled, and si- 
 multaneously his vast flank was pierced by Sir Reginald's spear, who ar- 
 rived v.iih such headlong impetuosity ihat^he weapon shivered to pieces, 
 and he himself was tossed far over the buffalo's back. But the spear 
 pierced the beast's entrails, and with a roar of anguish which seemed to 
 shake the ground, and tossing torrents of his black blood around him, the 
 \vretched animal fell with all his monstrous carcass, and rolled over on 
 his hack in the agonies of death, The herd that followed, dismayed at 
 the sound, suddenly paused, and then seized with panic, turned on their 
 pursuers. Sir Reginald sprang up but litde hurt by his fall, and flew to 
 assist his brother-in-arms. But he found him dismounted, and hastening 
 with his hands full of water to the assistance of the lady, whom the 
 Dominican had borne in his arms, chair and all, up the steps of the shrine 
 — where she lay insensible. 
 
 Tne monk knelt supporting her in his arms, and vainly chafing her 
 brows ; but even in that moment of terror and suffering, pale and co- 
 lourless as marble, the Knight of St. John was struck with a fecljng of 
 astonishment at the extraordinary beauty of the lady's form. Her sack- 
 cloth robe, deranged in the confusion, displayed it but too libercdly, 
 and the voluptuous roundness of the outlines, and the snowy fairness of 
 the complexion, struck the Hospitaller's imagination with a splendid 
 though vague vision, as if he were playing Prometheus to a statue of 
 Venus. Throwing aside his hood, he hung over the beautiful form, ab- 
 sorbed as intensely in his efforts to revive her, as if in reality, like the 
 sculptor demigod, he were kindling marble into life with the stolen fire. 
 The monk zealously aided, and Sir Reginald threw himself on horseback 
 to hasten in quest of the canon, who possessed more skill in the medical 
 art. 
 
 And like the vivification of the love-hewn Grecian statue v/as the return 
 of life to the form of the beauteous penitent. A pale pinkiness gradually 
 creiit over the snowy paleness, like flame on marble, — deepened to rose 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 79 
 
 on the clieeks, — to coral on the lips ; the large humid warm blue eyes, 
 with Iheir long silken hishes, opened, and the return of sensation to the 
 soul was feelingly marked by the flush which deepened all those lovely 
 tints when she perceived the dark warrior countenance bending over her, 
 and met a gazf whose natural severity was softened into almost feminine 
 tenderness. She drew her coarse robe around her neck with the gesture 
 of a nymph of Diana surprised when bathing, and n)urmuring some 
 incoherent words of gratitude, which yet sounded like babblings of the 
 sweetest music, slie raised herself feebly in the arms of the Dominican. 
 Gazing then for an instant at the monstrous beast, which lay wallowing in 
 a pool o'l" its own gore, she shuddered convulsively, and turning to the 
 knight with such a look of admiration and passionate gratitude that it 
 seemed to kindle fire in his breast, she said, "Signer, are you hurt!" in 
 a tone which showed that her anxiety was altogether transferred from 
 herself to him. 
 
 " In no \vi>e, noble lady, save in my apprehension lest humanity should 
 lose ils massterpiece of beauty !" replied the Hospitaller, who, it seemed, 
 could be gallant when it pleased him. 
 
 "And my poor vassals ! — and the good bishop with his retinue?" she 
 continued, with a faint smile, turning to the monk. 
 
 " They left you, daughter, to your fate, and you may well leave them 
 to theirs! — yet all are safe," replied the monk, " But get you to your 
 litter, lor here come a multitude of I know not who— but such as should 
 not see you in this guise, though it be in performance of a holy and 
 necessary penance." 
 
 Blushing still more deeply, the lady seated herself in the chair, while 
 the Dominican hurried down among the people, who now began to return 
 from their panic, armed with staves and stones, ordering them to raise 
 the litter, which its bearers had thrown on the ground. But he returned 
 with surprising rapidity, bringing a rich mantle which it seemed belonged 
 to the lady, and which he had scarcely time to throw over her penitential 
 garb, ere a multitude of men-at-arms descended the ravine at a gallop. 
 Among these wei-e Ca3sar, Paolo, the Florentine ambassador, and the 
 canon, dragged at a distressing jolt on his mule by Le Beaufort. 
 
 It seemed as if this military avalanche infused some new and excessive 
 terror into the lady's mind. She started up with a glance full of fear and 
 suspicion even at her I'escuer; but her strengdi was exhausted, and she 
 must have fallen liad not the Hospitaller put his steely arm around her 
 waist, and held her up. Thus su|)ported, and gazing up with a look of 
 supplication to the stalwart warrior, and with the mingled expression of 
 delight and protection with which he returned it, the imagination of the 
 hearers readily assented to Messer Bembo's outburst as he approached 
 — " Mars and Venus!" But ere the canon could dismount to tender his 
 services, Caesar had leaped from his steed. Hew up the steps, and ex- 
 claimed, with a wild face of alarm, "Lucrezia! my sister! ray dearest 
 sister! tliou art nut hurt?" 
 
 As Cassfir pronounced the fatal name, as his bright eyes blazed upon 
 the lady and from her to the Hospitaller, a vortex of emotions whirling in 
 them, — th(! knight literally tore away his sup|)orting arm, and started a 
 wide pace from her. The lady glanced at him widi profound astonishment, 
 grew very pale, and then the blood returned in crimson, not only to her 
 l)row, but to her whole frame, for even the while feet became suflused. 
 The expression of intense horror, loathing, and even of fear which, 
 
80 C;£SAR BORGIA. 
 
 however momenlarily, painted itself on thai noble and severe countenance, 
 could not be mistaken. After a moment of startled wonder, a crowd of 
 llioughts seemed to rush upon Lucrezia; her own beautiful features flushed 
 at once and spai'kled all over with mingled emotions- but the whiteness 
 came again, and she sank down in her chair, as if relapsing into the 
 swoon. 
 
 All pressed eagerly around with assistance, excepting the Hospitaller; 
 but Caesar sternly commanded that none should mount the steps save the 
 canon, who canje rubbing a rosenjary branch, discarded by sonie fugitive 
 pilgrim, in his hands, and applied the strong scent to revive the lady. 
 The ell'ect indeed soon Jollowed, for she had not fainted, and stretching 
 her hand to the monk, she murmured in a low voice, " Father, let me be 
 gone ! 1 am not well here." 
 
 '' Dost thou not know me, Lucrezia! I am thy brother, Caesar!" said 
 the duke, in a tone of crouching humility very unusual in his voice. 
 
 "Csesar!— my brother! — yes, truly," she replied, starting up without 
 assistance, and with a degree of wildness. " Welcome, our brother! — 
 My lord, I am well, very well, — in nowise injured, — what do you all here, 
 you and your soldiers? — Know you, sirs, that you break my charter from 
 the holy father, in Rome, by your presence here? Wherefore are our 
 peaceful festivals thus disturbed by armed men !" 
 
 "Fear nothing, daughter; all is well!— Remember yourself! — The 
 duke is here by chance •, these soldiers are your brother's, lady !" said the 
 Dominican. 
 
 " i*ardon me; I am foolish with fear!" replied the lady, melting into 
 a gush of tears, and adding, with an hysteric smile, "Oh, no, no, no, we 
 cannot fear any oli'ence to our new seigneury from our brother. Welcome, 
 signer, very welcome home from your victories." 
 
 " In faith, you send so few tidings of your doings about Rome, that I 
 pray you, my fair sister, how was I to know that 1 was hunting on your 
 lands, being at Nepi?" said Ctesar with his usual affectation of careless 
 good humour. " But here is one with me who I know will find a warmer 
 'God save ye!' — my Lord Paolo Orsino." 
 
 He turned, and with a slight and almost contemptuous gesture, indicated 
 the presence of the young Roman baron, who, pale and quivering with 
 emotion, ascended some of the steps, and knelt before the lady. 
 
 " Signor ! — Ctesar, this is not kind," said Lucrezia, with an angry 
 glance, and coldly extending her hand, which the Orsino passionately 
 kissed. " I am in no condition to receive such a court ; and craving all 
 your fair allowance, I will to Nepi, whither I grieve that I cannot invite 
 your armed company, my lord, for the town hath certain privileges granted 
 by the Holy See, on condition that it denies all entry to any soldiers but 
 those belonging to its lords." 
 
 "Yet first, noble lady, pardon the unwitting cause of this disaster, who 
 would a thousand times rather have perilled his own life than so peerless a 
 princess's ! " said Le Beaufort, with enthusiastic warmth, and kneeling on 
 the lowest step of the shrine. 
 
 '•'Tis granted ere asked, — and indeed we think you perilled your own 
 safety for ours, as well as this valiant gentleman, sir tramontane ! " replied 
 the lady, resuming a dignity which seemed natural to her, and with a 
 flashing glance at the Hospitaller. "But like a truly generous giver, it 
 seems as if he has already forgotten what he has bestowed." 
 
 " Thank chance, lady, and not its blind instrument," said the Hospitaller, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 81 
 
 with calm austerity. " Even this holy man hazarded himself without 
 arms in vour defence!— Butif any moriithcre be, letitgoto the advantage 
 of the Lord Orsino, your sworn servant and knight, whose will would have 
 hazarded all for you^ whereas it wasraihermy necessity than choice which 
 put me on the service which von deign to thank.'' 
 
 '•Nay my lord I- illustrious lady I — methinks the true knight is he that 
 doth the si?rvice of one ! " said the canon, who had been gazing in an 
 ecslasv of admiration at the too famous beauty. " Wherefore I deem there 
 is none worthier here to be the eagle of your sun of loveliness than this 
 valiant and approved champion of the buffalo, who is also my dear friend, 
 and a most noble gentleman of Ferrara." 
 
 Again Lucrezia glanced at the knight with an expression of half pride, 
 halt^supplication, but marvellously beautiful in its effulgence of struggling 
 emotions, which puuted the lips'with haughtiness, and at the same time 
 moistened the fire in the eyes as if with tears. 
 
 "You mark not my habit, messer canon," replied the Hospitaller, with 
 increased sternness."^ " 1 am no less monk than knight, — the soldier of 
 Christ, whose service 1 may not profane with any earthly admixture,— for 
 if this lady be not cele^tial, as her beauty would declare her,— what else 
 are we to deem her ? " 
 
 "Wert thou the Blue Eagle ofEste himself turned monk, 'tis too friarly 
 spoken," said Ser Niccolo, attentively surveying the knight's countenance, 
 and in almsion to the heraldic bearings of the Dukes of Ferrara. 
 
 "Machiavellol best wit of Italy! thou art indeed welcome! " said Lu- 
 crezia. with sudden animation, as the Florentine made his way up to kiss 
 the hand which she joyfully extended to greet him. The deep melancholy 
 voice of the Dominican was heard at this instant. '• Daughter! it was no 
 part of thy penance to be the gaze of this courtly presence in these sad 
 weeds," he said. "The litter is prepared, and your guards are in readi- 
 ness." Manv eyes turned towards the monk as he spoke, for although his 
 words were sufficiently common-place, there was a strange ring of warn- 
 ing and even menaceni his tones which excited a vague echo in every 
 heart. The composed and majestic countenance, nevertheless, ottered some 
 satisfaction tu curiosity. It was one which a painter might have taken as a 
 study lor St. Paul's, but for its maceration and gloom— St. Paul converted 
 after a life of warlike broils and violent passions. 
 
 " But we shall meet again, all, in Rome, where our holy father will 
 thank vou, knight, for a life which he values beyond its worth," said 
 Lucrezia. with a beseeching look, and a wavering, wooing smile which it 
 seemed impossible to resist.'' The Hospitaller only replied with a stiff bend; 
 and the blush which again dyed her fair skin was rendered more glowingly 
 beautiful bv the mixture of anger with shame— a rush of rosy light. She 
 hastened down the steps to the litter, which some soldiers now carried, 
 and who presented a still more novel variety in the genus military than all 
 which our travellers had yet encountered. ' They were Creeks, from the 
 coast of the Morea opposite to Italy, lightly armed in cuirass of mail, with 
 javelins and cross-bows, and riding small, wild-looking horses, rather 
 adapted for flight than to engage in conflict with the massive cavalry of 
 the age. 
 
 Caesar advanced to otter his assistance to his sister in ascending the 
 liner, but seeming as if she did not notice his gesture she gave her hand 
 to Ser ^'iccol6, w'ho eagerly accepted the honour. U appeared as if sho 
 were about to go without anv ceremonv of farewell, but suddenly remem- 
 
 6 
 
82 CtESAR borgta. 
 
 bering herself, she turned and bent to the chief personages of the group 
 with the grace and majesty of the fair goddess whose other attributes were 
 so lavishly bestowed on her. 
 
 But amidst all those plumed and helmeted heads bending in homage, her 
 eye sought only the stately figure of the Hospitaller, and rested on it but 
 for a flash of thought. She then entered the litter, which the soldiers at 
 the monk's signal set in motion, and followed by such attendance as had 
 rallied of her scattered relinue, departed. In a few moments the principal 
 evidence of the interrupted festival which remained, were the bleeding 
 buffalo and the garlanded shrine. 
 
 "Whewl— this is scant courtesy,brother-in-law!" saidCiesar, slapping 
 Paolo on the back, who stood as if in profound reverie. " By the cross- 
 keys I you should be thanklul that our brolher-in-arms here is as good a 
 monk as knight, or he were like to prove a dangerous rival." 
 
 The Orsino smiled absently, but his eye fell with a somewhat fierce 
 expression on the Knight of St. John. No further words passed, until 
 the cavaliers had remounted ; and leaving the buflalo herd to roam 
 unmolested, the whole array once more resumed their passage through 
 the forest. 
 
 It was remarkable that Sir Reginald, usually so buoyant and boisterous, 
 continued long silent, and lost in thought. On the contrary, the Hospi- 
 taller for the first time began to speak much and hurriedly, as if to silence 
 some importunate inner thought. For the first time he entered into con- 
 versation with Caesar, and seemed to take pleasure in the loud gaiety of 
 the remarks which the duke made on the past adventure, which he com- 
 pared to the achievements of the ancients paladins, to whom the destruc- 
 tion of the most prodigious monsters was a daily and facile amusement. 
 But when Messer Bempo burst almost into poetry, and somewhat licen- 
 tious poetry, loo, in praise of the excessive beauty of the lady, when Ser 
 ISiccolo joined in with his bitter and double-meaning praise, the knight 
 relapsed into his austere silence. From this repose he was at length 
 aroused bv an observation of the Orsino, which had little connexion 
 with the canon's rhapsodies. " Did you note the Dominican monk, re- 
 verend brother?" he said. " Resembled he in aught the wandering friar 
 who set vou on my luckless traces ?" 
 
 "We"^SHW nothis visage; but his hollow voice and stature even now 
 suggested the thought to me," said the Knight of St. John, with a profound 
 sigh. 
 
 " Then, Cffisar, methinks I may claim some little interest in Donna 
 Lucrezia's regard, since 1 cannot iDUt think it was lur confessor who met 
 and warned me of my danger in crossing the Apennines!" said Paolo, 
 brightening from his habitual gloom. 
 
 "And finding you despised the warning, did my sister also set the 
 banditti to teach you less incredulity, brother Paolo ?" said Caesar, with a 
 tart laugh and a frown, which he almost instantly ruffled away into a 
 smiling expression. " Nay, let Saint Guidobald's ghost keep his honours, 
 for it were to suppose the good confessor either a notorious rogue or 
 fool to thus weave and ravelhis own designs. Search into the mystery 
 no farther, or you may light on some such fancy as that my sister sent 
 her confessor to warn you— in order that you migbtkeep your distance! " 
 
 Sir Reginald laughed at this suggestion, but without his usual light- 
 hearted peal. 
 
 The forests around Nepi gradually thinned, and the cavalcade once 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 83 
 
 more appeared on the open campagna, on which the sim poured the full 
 fervour of his beams until the earlh itself seemed to beat up light. But 
 there was no refuge from the heat in that vast plain, which spread on 
 every side with the broad sterility of an African desert. Half blinded and 
 involved in clouds of dust, which glittered like powdered gold high above 
 their heads, they proceeded, Caesar now lingering in the rear. But sud- 
 denly Don Migueloto rode up to the army and ordered a general halt. 
 He gave no explanation of his reasons, and the cause was only declared 
 when the approaching gleam of banners and lances on their rear an- 
 nounced the approach of some unexpected body of armed men. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " She who was named Eternal, and arrayed 
 Her warriors but to confjuer— she who'veiled 
 Earlli wiih her haujihty shadow, and displayed. 
 Until the o'ercanopied'horizon failed, 
 Her rushing wings— Oh: she who was .\lmighly hailed!" 
 
 The place of the halt was on the summit of a hill, whence the distant 
 walls of Rome, set with numerous towers, were visible, rising abruptly 
 in the plain. A black, volcanic waste spread around, diversified only by 
 stagnant ponds, which exhaled a sul]jhureous stench, or by a solitary 
 pirn', standing like a mourner in the desolation. 
 
 Wheeling their horses round, our travellers scanned with anxiety the ap- 
 proaching troop; but as the halt of Ccesar's array compelled his masses to 
 spread out, their followers halted too, as if for the first time perceiving 
 that they were coming on so powerful a body. After a few moments 
 standing at gaze, Caesar commanded Migueloto to tie a white banderol to 
 his lance, and advance to demand, in his name, who the new comers were, 
 and their business in the Comarca of Rome. But ere the order was 
 given, a figure ari"ayed in the many-coloured garb of a herald, with a 
 silver wand in his hand, emerged from the opposite ranks, and ascended 
 the intervening hill with the calm assurance befitting his office. Caesar 
 dashed forward impatiently to meet him, and the herald immediately 
 knelt, uncovered his head, and pronounced in a loud tone — " Potent lord! 
 or whoever you njay be, — my ma-,ter and sender, Vjtellozzo Vitelli, Lord 
 of Citta di Castello, a devout pilgrim to the holy juuiiee, availing himself 
 of the safe conduct offered to all men alike by our holy father, — would 
 know to whom he sends his peaceful greeting by me, that no blame may 
 attach to him if it should turn out that ye are otherwise inclined." 
 
 To very lew of the hearers was this message pleasing, for Yitellozzo was 
 chiefof the powerful family of the Vitelli, whose immense possessions owf of 
 Rome rendered them the most formidable in it, of all the rebellious feuda- 
 tories of the Holy See. In the league formed against the pretensions of 
 Alexander YI., the Yitelli had been the strongestlink, for in addition to the 
 common motive of the barons, in resisting the efi'ortsto crush their power, 
 the Vitelli were united to the Orsini by the ties of blood, and consequently 
 to the banished Medici of Florence. "^To the cause of the latter they were 
 farther bound bv the revenge which their chieftain cherished against the 
 
84 CMSkR BORGIA. 
 
 Florentines for the death of his bivaher. who, commanding his merce- 
 naries in their service, was beiieaded by them for some real or supposed 
 treason. Viteliozzo's German horsemen had principally caused the de- 
 feat of the papal forces in the pitched field of Bracciano, and since then 
 his pride and arrogance had swelled to such a degree that he was said to 
 project the expelling of Alexander himself from the chair of St. Peter. 
 
 Such was the devotee, who, surrounded by nearly a thousand horse- 
 men, whose ponderous figures and comj)lete panoply attested their genea- 
 logy from the ancient ravagers of Italy, a|tpeared on his way to join in the 
 celebration of the great feast of Christianity. 
 
 Whatever n)ighl have been the feelings with which Csesar listened to 
 the herald's announcement, after scarcely a moment's thought, he replied 
 in a tone of delight, " Signor Paolo, hear you ? — our good fortune is at its 
 height now, and our peace will indeed be written in adamant, if the 
 noble Vitelli sign it — at least seal it— for it remembers me the Lord of 
 Citta di Castello boasts he cannot write. But why comes he with all 
 this array of arms to a Christian rite of peace?" 
 
 " Leave me to inquire that, my lord, and to settle the terms of fellow- 
 ship and brotherhood between ye!" said the Orsino with great eagerness. 
 
 " Fellowship and broiherhood! — the Vitelli are vassals of the church — 
 I am its lieutenant I" said Caesar, with a momentary flash of his natural 
 haughtiness^ but as his experienced eye again perused the massive squa- 
 drons below, the smile returned to his lips. "Go then, dear brother, 
 that shall be ; but let not your conference be long, or the sun will melt 
 away my men in their armour." 
 
 "Lead on, herald," said the Orsino, and with a'significant glance of 
 triumph at Sir Reginald, he followed the parti-coloured messenger towards 
 the troops of his friend. 
 
 "I know not well what to think of this! " said Caesar to Migueloto, 
 who stood beside him, and in that tone scarcely above a whisper, which 
 habit only enabled the captain to hear distinctly. "We have the vantage 
 of numbers, but I doubt if we could bide the shock of yonder sandy-locked 
 barbarians? Moreover, it were not perchance without its use, that his 
 holiness should comprehend that, however maligned, we are yet of some 
 service to his state. And the Florentines may learn, too, that our friend- 
 ship is at least the frost which keeps this torrent from rushing down upon 
 them ?" 
 
 As ho spoke Ser Niccolo approached. " My lord duke," he said, with 
 a sarcastic and yet indignant expression, "Well may you call your power 
 a child's bauble if you suffer this army of your enemies to join the insur- 
 gent Orsini and the other barons in Rome!" 
 
 "Hush, my dear master! — What can I do?— The lime may come— shall 
 come!" replied Caesar. " 'Tis not by force that men slay the rushing bull ! 
 And see you not yonder cuirassiers are savages from the Elbe and Danube ? 
 — If these troops of mine were overthrown, then indeed might Vitellozzo 
 march on Rome, and dethrone our holy father (Heaven forbid!) in the 
 presence of the whole Christian world !" 
 
 "The pilgrims would by no means suffer it ! — They come from remote 
 lands, and know no reason which could justify tn^ason against Heaven in 
 the person of its earthly lieutenant !" replied Machiavelli, with a smile, and 
 then asigh,wi)ich seemed to acknowledge the wisdom of the duke'siVars. 
 
 " Trust me, master, I will only yield as a wave that (lows away until it 
 is high enough to overwhelm," returned the Borgia. 
 
C.'ESAR BORGIA. 85 
 
 "Sinewy slaves, indeed I" continued Ser Niccolo, surveying liie Ger- 
 man riders. " But why levy you not a band in England, wlierc the men 
 are yet bigger, and so staunch and fiery, that they beat the French against 
 as fearful odds as the French beat us?" 
 
 " I have thought of that— but they area people so fierce and unpuly that 
 their own kings cannot govern them," replied Cssar. "• But, lo, our 
 peacemaker— our lovesick peacemaker — seems to succeed, for here comes 
 the giant himself in his company." 
 
 "I marvel he breaks not the back even of that antediluvian steed!" 
 said Ser Mccolo, with the scorn of mind for matter, when the vast form 
 of Vitellozzo emerged from his ranks, on a white steed of suitable bulk, 
 Telamonian Ajax himself would scarcely have contended with such a 
 figure even for the arms of Achilles, so vast and portentous showed the 
 chieftain, who was nearly seven feet high, of proportionable bulk, mounted 
 on a prodigious steed, which, like himself, was encased in massive ar- 
 mour, and with a lofty black plume waving over his helmet, which indeed 
 seemed more like an iron barrel than the receptacle of a human head. 
 To this immense stature, so unusual among the Italians, Vitellozzo owed 
 great part of his fame and the singular fidelity which his barbarians pre- 
 served rather to his bulk than to himself, although indeed there were few 
 chieftains whose riches and ferocity entitled them more to the esteem of 
 the mercenary soldier. 
 
 Vitellozzo advanced with the Orsino, followed only by two spearmen, 
 about a bow-shot beyond his cuirassiers; but suddenly he paused, and 
 his loud voice could "be heard even to the distance at which the Borgia 
 stood, exclaiming, " No, by St. Paul, Fll venture no nearer to his nets 
 till 1 have better assurance how far they are spread !" 
 
 Poalo seemed then to speak in a deprecating tone; but Caesar, with his 
 usual promptitude, desired Miguelolo to keep his array at a stand, set 
 spurs lohis horse, and descended alone to meet his suspicious visitor. 
 
 This act of apparent confidence did more to win Vitellozzo than all the 
 rhetoric of the Orsino. His large visage, which had settled into an obsti- 
 nate and bull-like lower, became electrified as if with surpi-ise, and 
 brightened up, while his thoughts passed like gloomy clouds over it, in 
 a manner which showed that he possessed but little of the art of conceal- 
 ing them. 
 
 " Your grace is nobly welcome I— Body of me I alone?" exclaimed be, 
 staring for a moment as if incredulously, and then looking round at his 
 lancers with a strange expression of alarm. 
 
 " 1 never trust— half— Vitellozzo !" replied the duke. " But nriethinks 
 you have shown but little confidence in our holy father's pledge, since you 
 travel to the jubilee with a thousand spears!" 
 
 " Our holy father has only promised to protect those who cannot protect 
 themselves," replied the lord of Caslello, recovering his natural fierce- 
 ness and insolence of manner. " Moreover, we had heard oidy that our 
 dear friend, Paolo, had been seized on his way by brigands — not that he 
 was rescued ! And to conclude, we would give our rogues a share in the 
 indulgences of this blessed time — for, God's faith ! they need it." 
 
 "But now that 1 have declared the terms of our agreement, and the 
 valiant Vitello assents to them, his force but adds to yours, Caesar?" inter- 
 posed the Orsino. 
 
 " So be it!" replied the duke, with a courteous bend, and affecting 
 not to notice the expression of irresolute doubt on the baron's face, 
 
86 C/ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 which exhibited its meanings on too large a scale to be easily mistaken. 
 Muttering something incoherently, Viteilozzo at length concluded with, 
 — " But we bear you have the ambassador of the Florentine rabble with 
 you ; and / have with me their banished prince^ — Pier de Medici !" 
 
 This information did indeed somewhat startle Caesar. "But — well!" 
 he said, after a moment's pause. " Pier wends to Rome also as a pilgrim, 
 like yourself!— As such, the lieutenant of the father of Christendom can, 
 without offence to any man or state, bid him welcome." 
 
 A slender but graceful knight, armed in complete steel, excepting that 
 he wore no helmet, and his long fair hair was parted over a countenance 
 full of mildness and melancholy, now rode towards the speakers. A 
 single man-at-arms, with a blue banner, strewed with the well known 
 golden balls of the Medici, followed him. By a coincidence not very 
 desirable, Machiavelli at the same moment joined the duke, so that the 
 expelled prince and the ambassador of the republic met face to lace. 
 There was a moment's pause. 
 
 "Ser INiccolo, of the Machiavelli?" said Pier, in a mild tone. "A 
 learned and valiant gentleman, whom indeed we are very glad to see." 
 
 " I am the ambassador of the Florentine republic, signor," replied Ma- 
 chiavelli, somewhat sternly. " But I am indeed very glad also to meet 
 your lordship here." 
 
 " Ha, ha, Mosser Niccolo, how like your citizens my late visit to the 
 Valdarno?" said Vitellozzo, smiling ferociously at the recollections which 
 arose in his mind. 
 
 "So well that they intend to return it anon, my lord," replied the 
 envoy. 
 
 " I trow that all the plagues of Egypt could not have done better among 
 the lands of those bloody murderers!" continued the gigantic chieftain, 
 flushing darkly. 
 
 "Nay, nay,' you take too many for one! — Your brother's manes must 
 long since have been appeased!" said Csesar, purposely reviving the re- 
 collection. 
 
 " There are some, Lord Caesar, who value a brother's blood as merchants 
 do their wares!" returned Vitellozzo fiercely. " But mine 1 have written 
 on every rood of Florentine earth, and hope to do it yet more plainly in 
 Florence herself!" 
 
 " Tush, tush, VitelIo,"you mistake," interposed Pier earnestly, to his 
 impolitic ally. 
 
 " I shall not fail to write to my lords to tell them so," replied Ser Nic- 
 colo. 
 
 '• And add—" continued the chieftain in a raised voice and trembling 
 with rage, when again Pier interrupted him. 
 
 " Nay, but rather, my good Niccolo," he said, "ride on with me, and I 
 
 will speak to thee of matters conducive to the ending of this dire brawl !" 
 
 " Mv lord, as we see, you have your pills gilded," replied the ambas- 
 
 sador,^with a scornful glance at the banner; " but yet, 1 do assure you, 
 
 the Florentine republic will not swallow them again." 
 
 " Sirs, sirs," said Beinbo, who had at length joined in the group, " when 
 are we to reach Home, if we stand here chatting until the sun goes down ? 
 — 'Tis my advice that we all proceed instantly, and leave future matters 
 to futurity." 
 
 Perceiving that no good was likely to ensue from any further discus-- 
 sion, all parties tacitly assented to this arrangement-, and Caesar, as if to 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 87 
 
 give the friends an opportunity of conversing freely, said that lie would be 
 their herald into Rome; and bending courteously to the group, lie motioned 
 to Machiavelli, returned with him to his own troops, and gave the order 
 to advance. Some short time elapsed ere Vitellozzo's parly followed the 
 example. 
 
 "And dost thou think that I will ever willingly endure the arrogant 
 equality of yonder Gog and Magog in one? — that bull in armour?" said 
 Caesar, observing the gloom which lingered on xMachiavelli's brow. 
 "And for the Medici !— dost thou deem that I have forgotten the day 
 when I journeyed to Florence to beg the life of a servant of mine, who had 
 slain a Florentine citizen in some brawl, of this very Pier? xMy father 
 was then but a simple cardinal, looking for the tiara in the dust' — and 
 Pier was in the puff of his fortune ! By themass, Niccolo, I wailed a whole 
 day in his ante-chamber among his lacqueys, and at sunset he sent me 
 word he was busy, and could not see me ! Busy I at a feast ! Whereat, 
 being slung, 1 left the poor wretch to his mercy, and he had him broken 
 on the wheel; my most faithful servant — broken on the wheel I" 
 
 Ser Niccolo looked somewhat comforted at this vivid recollection of an 
 insult, which he knew the proud never forgive. 
 
 The distant city gradually became more visible, with its innumerable 
 spires and pinnacles rising in the brilliant air ; and the desert aspect of ihe 
 country was relieved by numerous groups of pilgrims. The majority of 
 the devotees were indeed arrived, especially those who came fron) remote 
 districts of Europe, but many groups of knights with their vassals, and the 
 farmers and serfs of the campagna, poured forth. Sometimes, too, an 
 abbot with all his monastery, or an abbess with her gentle recluses, 
 ambled over the plain on their sleek mules, attended by armed retainers, 
 and frequently bearing some precious relics under sumptuous canopies. 
 Some were travelling as if to a carousal, others to a funeral; some armed, 
 some almost naked, beggars, princes, priests, nobles, vassals, soldiers, 
 lroo|)ed on for once in peace and mutual forbearance. Devotion took many 
 curious forms; but in particular a group of Spanish pilgrims went past, 
 with the cockle-shells of St. James ofCompostellain their broad hats, bare 
 to the waist, their .backs completely raw and streaming with blood from 
 the severe flagellation they inflicted on themselves with leather whips, 
 singing loud Hosannas as they v>ent. 
 
 But Rome was before the gaze of Csesar and his companion — only the 
 narrow Tiber seemed to flow between — for a mist of glory shed over it by 
 the setting sun confused the perception of distance. 
 
 " Rome, Rome, my Niccolo ! " exclaimed Caesar, with an enthusiasm 
 to which he seldom gave way. "There she stands, the dethroned em- 
 press of the world, who will place her diadem on the brow of the peer- 
 less knight that shall win it back from the caitiff hands which have torn 
 it from her temples ! By the mass ! yon circling walls with their towers 
 seem to me to float in the air like une vast crown of beaten gold !" 
 
 " Is not yonder the tomb of Nero?" said Ser Niccolo, with extreme cold- 
 ness, pointing to a remote and solitary ruin. 
 
 " Ay, and a fortress of the Frangipani !" said Caesar, calming down, 
 "Mark you not their banner with ihe broken loaf? But what is all that 
 stirring on the bridge ?" 
 
 " I see what appears to me like a great procession, and a mob," replied 
 Ser Niccolo, straining his sight. " But here come wayfarers, who I doubt 
 not bring us the news." 
 
8S CESAR BOUGIA. 
 
 Two personages mounted on mules, one of whom wore the mitre and 
 robes of a bislmp, followed at a distance by some knights wiiose rich 
 arn.our continually flashed like cloth of diamonds in the sun, were seen 
 approachinf;-. 
 
 " By my faith, it is my friend the Bishop of Modona, Datary, and king of 
 financiers," said Csesar, eagerly. "And with him comes the pon)pous 
 fool, Master John of Strasburgh, his holiness's master of the ceremonies, 
 who, if the gales ()f heaven were open to all mankind but for half an 
 hour, would wait till it came to the turn of the deans before he ofi'ered to 
 enter." 
 
 The personages whose characters were thus described were now so 
 near that their material presentments might also be scrulinized. The 
 Datary was a man about sixty, with a little, lean and shrivelled form, and 
 a face which was generally cast down as if in humility, but when lifted, 
 so closely resembled that of a red fox, in the sharp cunning features, in 
 the peculiar glitter of the eye, that few beheld it without making the 
 comparison. The other was a fat bulky man, whose large, dull, German 
 visage was as it were oiled all over with sclf-couiplacency and stolidity, 
 and contrasted curiously with the acute physiognomy of the Datary. This 
 was that papal Polonius, John Burchard, whose diary remains to verify some 
 of the most incredible passages of this true history. 
 
 " Burciardo I yonder is the duke," exclaimed the Datary, switching his 
 mule. 
 
 " It cannot be- — without befitting attendance!" said the master of the 
 ceremonies, "and in advance of his whole army." 
 
 " Nay, but it is! — there is not another pair of eyes in all Italy which 
 flash like those," continued the Datary, pushing vigorously on. 
 
 '' Itdoes not become your reverend lordship to trot," returned Burchard. 
 " It becomes every man — prudent n)an at least — to show his zeal on 
 this happy occasion," said the bishop, continuing at a pace which soon 
 brought him to the spot where the duke and the Florentine had paused. 
 Great ceremonies of welcome ensued, and the Datary informed Caesar that 
 his holiness had ordered his entry should be greeted with every mark of 
 respect, and that a procession awaited him at the Ponte MoUe. 
 
 "His holiness has also decreed your grace a gold and silver illumina- 
 tion, and a triumphal pomp, which, inasmuch as sufficient time has not 
 been allowed for preparation, we pray your grace to excuse," said the 
 Dean of Slrasburgh with becoming pomposity. "Meanwhile I am to con- 
 duct the most serene personage to the Golonna palace, which his holiness 
 has been pleased to confer upon him, not only as a present lodging, but 
 as a lodging present, and where he is to reside henceforth." 
 
 " The Colonna palace I is there then no room for a simple soldier in the 
 Vatican?" said Caesar, with a dark frown. 
 
 *' The royal lady, your august spouse, inhabits the Colonna palace, and 
 there only can your grace's retinue be suitably lodged," replied Burchard, 
 timorously shrinking from the ominous scowl. "The sacred palace is 
 filled with illustrious pilgrims, and the magnificent lady, Donna Lucrezia, 
 is expected to arrive there to-morrow." 
 
 "Donna Lucrezia! lodged in the Vatican?" exclaimed Caesar. " Surely 
 so great a scandal — why 'tis as if we heard — tell me, Burciardo, 
 hast thou in all thy experience, in all thy researches in the chro- 
 nicles of the papacy, heard of women openly lodged in the palace of 
 St. Peter?" 
 
C.ESAU BORGIA. 89 
 
 " Heard we never of Pope Joan ?" whispered Ser Niccolo ; bulEurehard 
 merely looked fuolisb and frightened, and made no reply. 
 
 "But since the holy father cannot err, we are bound to obey his will, 
 without inquirin^A' into it," said the duke with ironical bitterness. 
 " Hasten, honest John, and fell the gapers I am conning. And thon, Don 
 Miguel," he added, as the obsequious master of the ceremonies retired, 
 "go and tell the Orsino and his companions to come up and share my 
 honours as brethren should' — and fail not to enlarge upon this novelty of 
 lodging a lady in the house of a priest. And so his holiness will have ihe 
 Tiber between himself and his loving son?" he continued, to the Dalary, 
 as his ready captain started off. 
 
 "Yea, and your grace cannot cross it without permission asked," re- 
 turned the Datary, with a short, dry, malicious laugh. "Old Piccolomini, 
 to whom the council gave the government of the city when the Orsini 
 flew to arms, on learning Signor Paolo's mishap, — the Cardinal of Sienna, 
 I ought to say I — has appointed a new captain to Santangelo." 
 
 "Wherefore then did his holiness make me constable for life?" said 
 Caesar, clenching his teeth. 
 
 "You had need to visit us, my lord, at this time," continued the Datary. 
 " There are men about his holiness bent on making mischief between ye, 
 and who throw a cross light on all you do I — Why, when the Orsino 
 disappeared, it was as njuch as those who were faithful to you could do 
 to hinder him from putting himself at the head of his guards to march 
 and punish the banditti, leaving Rome to be seized by the barons. 'Tis 
 strange how strongly he is set on this match now that the negotiation with 
 Ferrara has i'ailed." 
 
 "My sister is a widow now — full twelwe months I his holiness hath his 
 reasons!" returned Caesar. "But I will find away with all these evil 
 counsellors! Have ye yet heard in Rome of 4lie merry trick I played 
 Signor Don Remiro in Ronciglione?" 
 
 The Datary bent the full keenness of his foxy eyes on Caesar, with a 
 smile that seemed to anticipate something particularly facetious, and re- 
 plied in the negative. But when the duke related the tragedy, with a 
 gaiety which was really fiendish, the financier's visage whitened, as if he 
 himself were about to receive a doom of similar horror. 
 
 " You do not laugh, monsignor, and yet what is more diverting than to 
 see a rogue caught in his own springes?" said Csesar, sharply turning to 
 the pallid minister. 
 
 " I conceive so, my lord, — yes, it is very diverting, but I know not 
 what his holiness will think— sawn in twain I" stammered the Datary. 
 
 "A double politician easily makes two," said the duke, laughing scorn- 
 fully. "But 1 will produce evidence of his guilt to satisfy a consistory of 
 unbelieving Jews! But how say you— the Orsini drew their knives?" 
 
 "All Rome was in a roar ; the Colonnas themselves ventured to appear; 
 the Cenci, the Conti, the Salviati barricadoed their streets-, we were all 
 out of our senses with alarm saving his holiness, who, when the pilgrims 
 flocked down to the Vatican in commotion, spoke to them from the balcony, 
 and convinced them that it was not one of their number who had been 
 captured." 
 
 " Why, the old ruins must be nigh peopled again with this foreign mul- 
 titude! " said Ctesar, observing with surprise the immense masses which 
 covered the way from the river to the city walls. 
 
 " But, alas ! they are uncommonly greedy, and yield little of what might 
 
90 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 be expected in return for the prodigal beneficence of the holy father I" 
 said the rapacious financier sadly. 
 
 " Ye should have made your indulgences dearer then, and harder to win 
 — why take ye not the lesson from women ?" returned Caesar. The Datary 
 had by this time recovered from his panic, and began laughing, ap- 
 parently at some sprightly recolletion. 
 
 "Your grace will be surprised to see the cardinal of Lisbon, without 
 attendance, and almost in rags, that was once the most magnificent of the 
 sacred college?" he said, still laughing. "You shall hear how it chanced. 
 Being as he imagined at death's door, and thinking to cheat the church of 
 her inheritance of his wealth, he made it all away in gills to his relations 
 and servants before he drew the breath. But Heaven, to punish him for 
 his designed fraud, answered their hypocritical prayers, and he recovered ; 
 but not one of these ungrateful wretches would bestow on him even an 
 alms from his own riches, and now he is a beggar, and a living warning 
 to all who think to cheat the sacred treasury !" 
 
 It was a gorgeous spectacle which now saluted the gaze of the returning 
 general of the church. The river was crowded with gilded galleys, vvhose 
 richly carved prows, variegated standards, and pictured keels were 
 magnificently relieved by the burnished gold of the waves. The bridge 
 was spanned by a triumphal arch, in which the ingenious artist, whde 
 preserving the proportions of architecture, had managed to twist laurels, 
 and spears, and trumpets into a resemblance of its richest ornaments; 
 on the bridge were assembled the principal persons deputed to receive 
 the duke — cardinals, in their scarlet robes and purple mantles, on mules; 
 the barons of Borne, principally of inferior grade, glittering in armour 
 and in jewelled mantles of flaunting colours ; prelates in sacerdotal |)om|); 
 numerous domestics, pages, and footmen or staffieri in the most gorgeous 
 liveries, and surrounded by the steel-clad ranks of the pope's Spanish 
 guard. 
 
 Beyond the bridge the whole valley between the Marian and Pincian 
 hills, up which the road to Borne proceeds, was thronged with a splendid 
 and ever-varying multitude. Nobles, surrounded each by his mass of 
 armed retainers ; ambassadors from foreign courts displaying the royal 
 banner of their countries, each attended by his glittering herald and re- 
 tinues, which vied with one another in prodigality of decoration, velveted, 
 jewelled, embroidered, and plumed ; the guilds of the city, each headed 
 by its gonfalonier, with rich flags ornamented with some appropriate 
 device ; the prefect of Bome with a white flag, on which, in letters of 
 gold surrounded by laurel, blazed the antique initials S. P. Q. B. ^ and 
 mingling with all these gorgeous groups — flooding indeed the whole 
 valley, crowning the pine-clad mounts which formed it, massed upon the 
 walls, and all the ascents of the seven hills, from whence even the most 
 distant view could he obtained, — were grouped innumerable gazers — 
 pilgrims from every land of the known world, in every garb, speaking as 
 many tongues as at the confusion of Babel. The round battlements of 
 St. Angelo topped the view, or rather the vast standard, wrought with 
 golden keys of enormous size, which waved from a lofty tree on its 
 summit, trumpets and drums resounded in all directions, and over the 
 whole animated and dazzlingly changeful spectacle shone the sky of a 
 Boman twilight, like a dome of pallid gold. 
 
 The duke had scarcely time to take a cursory view of these preparations 
 ere Paolo Orsino, with Sir Begiuald and Don Migueloto, rode up to him. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 91 
 
 " Vitellozzo prays your excuse, my lord," said the Orsino vvilh obvious 
 hesitation- " He dares not trust his barbarians to any guidance but 
 his own." 
 
 "Alas, Paolo, he still mistrusts us I" replied Csesar, mournfully. " Is 
 there no way by which we can convince him of our sincerity? Go, dear 
 Paolo, and say that we entreat him, then, to precede us into the city, and 
 to take up his quarters round the Colonna palace, for we will have no 
 guard but his valiant barbarians !" 
 
 "Is the Colonna palace, then, confiscated?" said the baron, rather 
 aghast at this intimation of the total ruin, even of the nobles against whom 
 his house had so long waged war. 
 
 " Ay, dost thou think, brother, that 'tis flt when the hornets are dispersed 
 to leave the nest?" returned Csesar. "Where, too, is the noble Hospitaller? 
 He should share these vanities with us !" 
 
 " He has dropped far in the rear, to gloom at his leisure," said Paolo 
 testily ; and after a moment's thought he hastened back to the Vitelli. 
 
 "Noble English knight, may I crave you to warn our friends at the 
 bridge of our approach?" said Caesar, with such bland courtesy, that Sir 
 Reginald could not refuse, and the knight, although indignant at the 
 office of herald thus thrust upon him, bowed and dashed his war-horse 
 forward to the bridge. 
 
 " Oh, my INiccolo, fear thou not but 1 will some day avenge thy lords 
 on this insolent brood I" said Caesar, with the rage hitherto suppressed 
 flashing in his eyes. 
 
 "Will your grace have your tent pitched, and attire you in more state 
 for this great occasion?" said Don Miguelolo. 
 
 " 1 know not which of my garbs might be noted among all this crimson 
 and gold !" said the duke. '•'• Herein, to be observed", a man n)ust be 
 simple ! I will wear the plainest robe I have— the black velvet — the 
 velvet J wore at (jandia's funeral! — a fraternal sadness which will give 
 the lie to many a gossip 5 and let my gentlemen be all in their doleful 
 blacks too I" 
 
 A tent was hastily pitched at some remove from the road, along which 
 the legions of Vitellozzo now heavily moved. Whether the chieftain, 
 notwithstanding those suspicions of the Borgia which never left him, fouii(i 
 that he could not with any grace refuse his request, or that the making 
 it lulled his fears, he complied; and heading his cuirassiers with a broad 
 axe in his hand, the edge of which he turned over his mighty shoulder 
 from those he approached, he passed overPonte MoUe but a few minutes 
 before Csesar followed. 
 
 In his lugubrious dress of black velvet, ornamented only by a chain of 
 massive gold beads, and a medal in his hat, the duke's appearance was 
 certainly more remarked than the gayest which he could have assunied. 
 A general shout, followed by a protracted buzz of curiosity, once more 
 shook the shores of the Tiber, which had so often echoed to the welcome 
 of conquerors. Pier de Medici had accompanied Vitellozzo into the city, 
 with his visor closed, and near the duke rode only the Orsino and 
 Machiavelli. Don Migueloto had been despatched with some secret com- 
 mission to the array in the rear. 
 
 Observing the duke's approach, the master of the ceremonies, who 
 was watching with intense anxiety for the precise instant, made a bow to 
 the personages whose immediate office it was to receive him. Three 
 cardinals instantly set their mules in motion. The first was an ancient 
 
92 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 man, whose serene and pious visage, worn by time and maceration, 
 presented an engaging and dignified portrait of devotion; the two oihers 
 were young men. hoih iiandsume and of noble persons, one of them 
 remarkable for his stately and princely gravity, and his fellow for a dashing 
 vivacity rather befitting the cavalier than the priest. The former was 
 the Cardinal of Medici, afterwards Leo X. The latter, the Cardinal Adrian 
 of Corneto, famous for his share in a subsequent tragical adventure. The 
 eldest cardinal was afterwards that Pius III. whose short reign left only 
 regrets behind. 
 
 The shout again arose — and again sunk into silence — when the cardinal 
 and the duke met, and the venerable prelate delivered the benediction of 
 the church, and afterwards a Latin harangue in commendation of his 
 exploits. The Borgia listened with bare head, and bending in deep 
 humility over his steed, whose snorts frequently disturbed the harangue, 
 and at w^hich the master of the ceremonies glanced with restrained in- 
 dignation. Once or twice the Cardinal of Medici involuntarily smiled, 
 perhaps at the monkish Latin of his superior, perhaps at the grotesque 
 faces and sly buffooneries of the }oung Corneto during the speeches of 
 welcome and modest acceptance. "And before it was concluded, — despite 
 all the warning wafiures of the Dean of Strasburgh's wand of office,— an 
 old nobleman on foot, and surrounded by a number of cavaliers, a 
 cardinal, another prelate, and about a score of footmen in the white and 
 red flames of the Orsini livery, approached. The last words of the 
 greeting were interrupted by the embraces of Paolo Orsino and his 
 family, of whom the ancient nobleman was his father, the Duke of 
 Gravina. 
 
 Some idea of the power of this great house may be formed from the 
 fact, that among the Orsini who pressed to receive the heir of their 
 chieftain were no less than seven barons, a cardinal, an archbishop, and 
 nearly a score of inferior captains, who each, however, possessed some 
 castle or place of strength near Rome. In spite of all efforts to ihe 
 contrary, tears rushed down the furrowed cheeks of Cravina, when he 
 clasped his son to his breast, and sobs heaved his stout old heart. (Caesar 
 himself seemed moved, for he turned aside as if to conceal his feelings,- 
 but those to whom he turned thought that his lips writhed rather with 
 derision than tenderness. 
 
 The Orsini were relieved from an observation, which after the first 
 burst of joy became oppressive, by the cares of Burchard, who now 
 requested the ambassadors to advance and pay iheir compliments. 
 Instantly the whole diplomatic corps was in motion, struggling and 
 hurrying to gain the precedence, which the dean vainly attempted to 
 obviate by yelling to each his proper station in the advance. The English 
 ambassador, a grave and majestic noble, distinguished by the pointed 
 beard then coming into fashion in the west, with his retinue of young 
 cavaliers, pushed so vigorously forward that he arrived as soon as the 
 emperor's envoy, who had yet, by prescription, precedence of all, and 
 was, moreover, favoured in locality by master John of Strasburgh. 
 
 Great confusion followed this untoward event, the rest of the ambas- 
 sadors arriving to greet the duke in such disorder and eagerness that he 
 laughed and exclaimed — " What, messires, ye will knock off each other's 
 spurs at this ralel " 
 
 " None shall but touch mine till he hath first knocked my head ofl", 
 signer 1" exclaimed the Spanish ambassador, furiously. 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA, 93 
 
 "The Spaniards are not wont to boast, my lord knowsl" said ihc 
 French ambassador — a splendid cavalier, who sal his sleed wiih kiii^hily 
 grace, and eyed the stiff Spaniard with evident disdain. 
 
 "Ah, noble d'Aubignyl" said Caesar, eagerly stretching his hand to 
 the envoy of the formidable power he had ottended. " Never did 1 1'ejoice 
 more to behold thy victorious crest, for 1 see thou art at our peaceful 
 triumph in complete panoply.'" 
 
 "Which I may not change till I have fulfilled my king's behests from 
 Milan," replied the French warrior, haughtily, and Caesar turned from 
 him to caress the Spaniard. 
 
 While the ambassadors were offei'ing their congratulations, Paolo was 
 searching among the crowds fur his deliverers, that he might present them 
 lo his sire. But Sir Pieginald, offended at the use to which Cajsar had put 
 him, had hastened over the bridge, and the Hospitaller had not appeared 
 for some lime. Burciardo allowed as long as possible lor the compli- 
 ments, but he now pushed into the throng lo inform the duke that the 
 most serene and royal princess his wife had been for a long period await- 
 ing his presence on the other side of the bridge. 
 
 Csesar slightly started, and waving his hand with smiling courtesv to 
 the ambassadors, set his horse in motion. The master of ihe ceremonies 
 earnesdy entreated them not to slir, but disi-egarding his enirealies all 
 
 f)ushed fiercely on, and he was swept along in the height of his expostu- 
 ations. As Caesar crossed the bridge his person became distinctly visible 
 lolhe immense groups which filled the valley to Borne, and the' sinister 
 gloom of his habiliments uniling with the tremendous reports of his cha- 
 racter, produced a great effect. Some faint altempls at a shout were au- 
 dible, which died away in indistinct and awe-struck mutters, — were again 
 renewed, and then passed into utter silence. 
 
 The silence of a great multitude is fearful, and Cssar glaiiced wiih his 
 brilliant eyes over the masses with some alarm. Luckily some partisans 
 of the exiled Colonna, screened by distance, ventured to raise their war- 
 cry, and instantly arose a stormy "VivaBorgia I" — "Orso, Orsol"— which 
 effectually broke the silence. 
 
 The bride of Csesar appeared a little way beyond the bridge, mounted on 
 a palfrey covered with white velvet, led by grooms in cloth of gold, under 
 a canopy of crimson velvet sown wiih the lilies of France, and surmounted 
 by a royal crown, borne by four knights in silver armour. She was a 
 very young and lively-looking French girl, with an air of coquetry and vi- 
 vacity which disappeared instantly, as well as the colour from her cheek, 
 as her terrible lord appeared. A bevy of beautiful ladies, her attendants, 
 and the proud consorts of the barons of Bonie, formed a superb cavalcade 
 around her. 
 
 " See you, neighbour, how he kisses her hand, while his eyes are all 
 the while among the damsels about her?" said a knight in the crowd to a 
 little deformed dwarf, who wiih a smile of malignant mirth stood scratch- 
 ing a disproportioned head beside him. 
 
 "And why not, neighbour.^ They are older acquaintances of his than 
 the norlh girl," replied the dwarf. " Know you not that to avoid scandal 
 Csesar has appointed his seraglio to wait on his wife?" 
 
 At ibis moment a considerable confusion and uproar in ihe crowd form- 
 ing the procession atlracled the attenlion of all. In truth the ambas- 
 sadors, after struggling and jostling one another over the bridge, had 
 come to direct contest at its exit, each obstinatelv refusing to vield to 
 
94 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 the other. The imperial ambassador's precedence alone was not disputed, 
 but the ambassadors of France, Spain, England, Naples, and Navarre, 
 fiercely contended for the lead. In vain did Biircliard quote innumerable 
 authorities assigning them each their place in the apostolic processions 5 
 — his voice, though loud and shrill, was lost in the uproar. Swords 
 were drawn, and the French and English ambassadors were at sharp and 
 angry parley. 
 
 "the most Christian king is the eldest son of the church!" yelled the 
 master of the ceremonies ; " and as such " 
 
 "We are ambassadors from the Lord Caesar's royal father-in-law, and 
 as such ," remonstrated the Navarrese. 
 
 "The crown of England shall yield to none but that of the empire!" 
 shouted the English ambassador. 
 
 "The most Catholic kings, my sovereigns!" — began the Spanish 
 envoy, stroking his long beard rapidly. 
 
 "VVe are the first, as the representatives of the church's faithful vassal, 
 king Don Federigo of Naples!" shouted the Neapolitans. 
 
 The muUiludes of the different nations scattered among the crowds 
 caught intelligence of what was going on, and their tumultuous cries and 
 gestures seemed to announce some terrible outbreak. 
 
 Caesar took the opportunity to commence his policy of conciliation to 
 the French. 
 
 "Marshal d'Aubigny," he said, in the first pause of the uproar. "I 
 will ride between you and the ambassador of the emperor. I may surely 
 this day choose my company! Navarre cannot be denied his place by 
 his sovereign's daughter!" 
 
 " Now by the thistle of my own Scotland, I will not yield to all England 
 and Italy to boot!" said the ambassador, who was a valorous soldier of 
 fortune, by birth a Scot, and allied to the royal family of Scotland, as he 
 dashed forward to the place assigned him. 
 
 "St. George and England to the rescue!" shouted a young knight, 
 urging his steed with headlong violence through the crowd, drawing his 
 sword, and bending low to the ambassador. 
 
 "Sir Reginald Le Beaufort!" exclaimed the ambassador. "Good 
 knight and loyal! — nay, the odds are too much against us ; but, Master 
 Dean, take noiice that ! withdraw njyself from the procession, because I 
 am not allowed my proper place in ii." 
 
 " Your proper place, magnificent signer," began the worthy dean. 
 
 "God's life ! is it al the tail of the men who cannot face us in the field ?" 
 returned the foaming English earl. " Here is my gautitlet against the 
 bestof you that denies the right of the crown of England to march before 
 all hut the Imperial." 
 
 "My lord, as far back as any record extends, the kings of France"— 
 ejaculated the master of the ceremonies. 
 
 "French knights! which of you will break a lance with me on this 
 quarrel !" shouted Sir Reginald. 
 
 Many a hand was instantly on the lance, many a sLeed received a sud- 
 den spur ; but the aged cardinal of Sienna urged his mule between the 
 enraged challenger and his antagonists. 
 
 " Know ye not, bold man !" he exclaimed, "that in this holy season of 
 Christian love and fellowship of all men in Christ, decree of excommuni- 
 cation -excommunication which is damnation! — is denounced against all 
 who shall draw brand or dagger, or wield lance in any manner of hostility ?" 
 
g.ESAR BORGIA. 95 
 
 There was immediately a pause of submission, reluctant indeed, but 
 still of submission. Lances sunk, steeds were checked, and during the 
 pause Burciardo restored his glove to the English ambassador, who 
 received it with a mixture of rage and submission. 
 
 Somewhat coolinjj his ire, the ambassador turned to invite his valiant 
 voung countivman to accom|)any him home to his palace, when Paolo 
 brsin'o, who had heard the voice at a distance, arrived with all his potent 
 kinsmen around him. He pressed Sir Reginald so vehemently to become 
 his guest, moreover declaring that- he had found the canon, and had 
 despatched him to obtain the Hospitaller's company too, that Le Beaufort 
 declined the ambassador's proffer, and accepted that of his friend. 
 
 The procession was now moving on, and although the hues of twilight 
 began to fall purple on the groups, the splendour of the effect, as it went, 
 could scarcely be surpassed. Helmets and mitres flashed, plumes soared, 
 banners streamed, lances sparkled — a rainbow effulgence of colour glowed 
 along the rich groups in their liveries and pompous ceremonial garbs. 
 All the discordant peals of military music, softened amid the general 
 tramp and murmur, harmonized with one gorgeous triumphal melody. 
 A poet might have imagined he was gazing on an antique Roman spectacle, 
 when conquerors returned with the spoils of nations! The splendour of 
 the show produced its usual effect on that vast mob, despite the secret 
 aversion and horror entertained by so many against its hero ; and as the 
 procession reached the Porta del Popolo, the shouts of welcome and 
 gratulation shook the seven hills of the eternal city, as they had shaken 
 them to greet the return of a Pompey or the departure of a Brutus I 
 
 The moment the procession reached the walls, the bells of the innu- 
 merable churches of Rome burst into a simultaneous peal, and kept up 
 their stirring melody during its whole progress through the city, till the 
 air itself seemed maddening with clamour. At the same time, immense 
 bonfires were kindled on the seven hills, and vast pyramids of flame 
 ascended above ths cvpresses, and palaces, and ruins which thickly 
 strewed them. The twihghl reddening with the reflection of the fires, 
 gave a new and singularly'beautiful hue to the colours of the procession, 
 as it passed up the'Corso, the palaces on each side of which were hung 
 with costly pictures, and tapestry, banners, and triumphal arches, in- 
 scribed with glorifying inscriptions and verses. 
 
 Turning from the Corso to go to Santangelo, the procession passed 
 towards the Piazza Navona. In this district lay the chief strength of the 
 Orsini — the great square being environed with the jialaces of the chief 
 barons of the name,' and streets inhabited only by their clansmen or 
 clients, as the Roman nobles were still pleased to style their dependents. 
 Here were their fortress of Monte Giordano, and the palace of the Mas- 
 simi, their devoted kinsmen and aUies, the colony exlenchng its ra- 
 mifications over a great space to the bend of the river, opposite the Isle 
 of the Tiber, where arose, on the ruins of the theatre of Marcellus, their 
 strong fortress, which they pacifically denominated Palazzo Orsini. 
 Entering this camp, as it might be called, of his enemies, the narrow 
 gloomy stn-eis of which were all hung with chains, levelled cannon appear- 
 ing at'every opening into the square^— Caesar looked round for the Orsini. 
 
 " i will not enter without my hostsi" he said, with a caressing smile, 
 and backing his horse till it was abreast with Paolo's, he added, " We 
 will on together like brothers—for, indeed, henceforth we are to be but 
 equals in Rome !" 
 
96 C.flSAR BORGIA. 
 
 Piobably the Orsino divined iho duke's suspicions, for there was 
 someihing disdainful in the silrnL iieud with which ho received this 
 honoiu'. The procession moved on. 
 
 They entered the great square. All looked dark, silent, and melan- 
 choly. Suddenly, a blast of trumpets was heard, and as if by magic an 
 immense bonfire blazed up in the centre of the square, to the height of 
 the surrounding houses; garlands of flaming pith appeared at every 
 window ; and starling from the pavements on\vhich they were couched, 
 as from the earth, gleamed an armed multitude, all in the Orsiui livery! 
 CcBsar gave an involuntary jerk in his saddle, put his hand on his dag- 
 ger, and seized Paolo's hand— who returned his grasp with a friendly 
 pressure, and another smile of doubtful meaning." Rut the. duke per- 
 ceived instantly that no treachery was meant, and he himself joined in 
 the uproarious shouts which now resounded from every street and alley, 
 and palace around, of Orso !— Borgia! Borgia! — Borgia! Orso! 
 
 With this shout mingled the roar of forty bullocks which stood 
 chained to stakes around the bonfire, the glare of which and the uproar 
 aflVigliLed the poor animals. But the roar soon ceased ; — butchers placed 
 near the oxen despatched them with their axes preparatory to roasting 
 them at the bonfire. At the same moment the two fountains at the extre- 
 mities of the piazza began to pour, each from its three dolphins' heads, 
 wines of six dilferent colours. Amidst the rush of the populace to share 
 this refreshment — the groans of the dying beasts — the shouts of the mob — 
 the proces-iou crossed the square, their horses snorting and prancing at 
 the blaze, and slipping as they curvetted in the newly-slied blood. 
 
 Notwiihstanding these honours, it is probable that Csesar was nut grieved 
 when he had fairly passed through iheOrsini quarter, and approached the 
 bridge of Santangelo. Nevertheless it was observed that he turned pale 
 as the river came in sight, and there was someihing demoniac and wild 
 in his gaze. Some who were looking at him earnestly imagined that it was 
 the recoUeclion of a black deed which writhed within him; for there — 
 right in front— arose that vasl and gloomy pile— the fortress-tomb of the 
 once master of the world, — which had received his brother's disfigured 
 corpse when rescued from the ooze of the Tiber. Others more chanlable 
 ascribed his eniotion to the contrast thus forced upon him of his own 
 glories with that brother's dismal tragedy ! But his paleness might merely 
 have been the cliilling hues of the moon, which had now risen broad and 
 full in the darkening twilight, and shone over the terraces of the Vatican 
 and the spires of St. Peter — for as yet Michael Angelo had not hung the 
 Pantheon in the air. 
 
 All conjectures on this subject were speedily swallowed in others more 
 cogent. The legions of Vitellozzo appeared drawn up, as if in order of 
 battle, in the centre of the square before the bridge, which ihey ought 
 already to have crossed. Marvelling at a delay which was likely to m- 
 crcase the confusion of the armed masses, the duke's alarms again re- 
 turned — and there was a fierceness in his eyes when he inquired the matter, 
 which affrighted the soldier to whom he spoke so much thai he could not 
 reply. But Vitellozzo almost instantly appeared, and with a countenance 
 by no means so full of regret as his words, informed Cffisar that his 
 Germans refused to lower their standard in homage to that of the church on 
 Santangelo, because the Swiss and Gascons who garrisoned it had set up 
 their own flags on the ramparts below, and it might be construed into a 
 mark of homage to those mercenaries, which their German competitors 
 
d:SAR BORGIA. 9" 
 
 would not endure. On the other hand the Gascons threatened to discharge 
 their artillery if the Germans passed without ihe required obeisance; and iu 
 this dilemma the captain of Santangeloandhimseli'had agreed to await his 
 grace's commands. 
 
 There was a smile of dull malice and hatred onVitellozzo'sface, as if he 
 had reduced the general of the church toa dilemma, which did not escape 
 Caesar's penetration. And a dilemma it was! It seemed that he must 
 either suffer an insult to be off3red to the sovereignly of the church in her 
 metropolis, before the gaze of Chiistendom, or exhibit his own weakness 
 in a vain attempt to compel a submission which the proud mercenaries 
 were not likely to yield. 
 
 A moment's musing showed Caesar both these horns of the alternative, — 
 another suggested to him not only an escape, but advantages to be reaped 
 from it. 
 
 "Let the captain of Santangelo attend me — methinks I am still the 
 constable! Where is Don Miguelolo?" and he glanced round. The Ca- 
 .talan was at hand, following at the head of Caesar's antique guard. He 
 beckoned to him — the watchful myrmidon was by his side in an instant. 
 The captain of Santangelo at the same time approached, bearing with 
 him a ring or rather hoop of massive keys, which he probably intended to 
 present, by way of compliment, to the constable. 
 
 " What! — or are we mistaken?" said the duke, colouring darkly, as a 
 massive Swiss approached with a spear of the usual vast length of the 
 infantry of that country, then the most famous in Europe. '• Pflingerl — 
 whom we forbade ever to appear again in the Roman jurisdiction ! — Ho- 
 micide ! what dost thou here? " And suddenly stooping to the astonished 
 Swic^s, he snatched the keys, and handed them over his shoulder to 
 Migueloto. "Go with your men," he continued to the Catalan. "Tell 
 the Swiss and Gascons to meet me instantly on the other side of the bridge, 
 with their standards, to be my escort to the Vatican I — Till then, Germans, 
 let none pass I — If afterwards they assail you, help yourselves as ye well 
 know in time of need I — And thou Migueloto, art from this instant my 
 captain of Santangelo." 
 
 The fierce flash of Caesar's eye fell upon the discomfited visage of 
 Vitellozzo,and so rueful was its expression, that he laughed aloud, and the 
 whole mass of the spectators laughed in uproarious concert. Ser Niccolo's 
 worn features gleamed with a satirical and yet melancholy smile. 
 
 Vitelli stood for a moment irresolute : he glanced at the Orsini, but they, 
 too, were laughing; he glanced at his mercenaries — they sat wearily on 
 their exhausted steeds — and he laughed also! But the sound of his 
 cacchination suddenly stilled that of the assembly. Something he probably 
 meant to say — perha|)S something to do — which would have compromised 
 the newly-restored peace — when suddenly all attention was caught and 
 absorbed in a report which sounded like the explosion of a volcano, and 
 the whole summit of the fortress-sepulchre appeared as if disgorging a sea 
 of flames, which flowed over the battlements in streams of crimson fire! 
 
C-^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XV, 
 
 " Her face was to mine eye beyond all vender ; 
 The rest ( hark in ihine ears) as black as incest." 
 
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
 
 That the Swiss and Gascons, in their rage at the orders which Migueloto 
 had probably by this lime carried them," had blown up the fortress, was 
 the thought which struck every heart like the blow of a hammer I The 
 Germans shouted and brought their lances with a loud clash lu the rests. 
 But alarm in an instant became wonder, when the lava overflow seemed 
 suddenly to curl up its torrents, and rush upwards even to the sky, forming 
 a pyramid of fire, the base of which was as broad as the immense tower 
 from which it rose. The pyramid itself appeared then to rise in the air, 
 until by some wondrous, and as it seemed to the multitude, magic device, 
 its base rounded, hollowed, and became like a crown of laurels of the 
 purest flame! Beneath the extraordinary effulgence of this illumination, 
 the river, the fortress, the immense multitude of gazing faces, the towers 
 of the Vatican, the bridge, the galleys, — all becanie of red hot hues. But 
 the wonders in store even exceeded these. A black cloud siiddenly rushed 
 over the battlements, and sounds as if of a wnld tempest were heard, with 
 gleams of lightning darling jaggedly around. The cloud gradually grew 
 thinner and brighter in the middle, until, as if through a veil of crape, the 
 figure of a woman appeared, of great beauty, to judge from the perfect 
 symmetry of the outlines, for the face was averted. Her long black hair 
 flowed wildly on the wind from beneath a crown of polished silver; she 
 wore a black robe, girded at the waist with a silver ser|)ent, and seemed 
 engaged in some mysterious ceremony, waring over her head a branch of 
 an af»ple tree of gold, with golden Iruit. 
 
 "In our Lady's name, what may all this be?" exclaimed Vitellozzo, 
 crossing himself many limes, and speaking to the dispossessed Swiss. 
 
 " Surely 'tis the work of the sorceress of Santangelo ! " replied the aghast 
 castellain. 
 
 " Sorceress! what sorceress , idiot? '' exclaimed Caesar, fiercely. 
 
 "The nun who is imprisoned there — who was stolen from our lady's 
 house on Mount Aveiitiiie by the pagan sultan, signor I " replied the Swiss, 
 confusedly. "His holiness commanded me not to meddle with her, or 
 by the Holy Cross ! " 
 
 "A crown!— and of laurels !— it is Fiamma! "' interrupted Cassar, as if 
 he heard not what was said in his absorption. The populace, perceiving 
 the drift of the flaming allegory, applauded it with a terrific shout, and 
 fired with the gorgeous vision which filled his imagination, Caesar bent to 
 the people with the majesty of an emperor receivmg his crown. But at 
 the same instant his flushed countenance grew white, his teeth became 
 clenched, his eyes stared wildly and fixedly forward, and his locks were 
 drenched in the dark sweat which streamed down his face. 
 
 Luckily, at this instant, the great gale of Santangelo opened, and Mi- 
 gueloto rode out with the Swiss and Gascons following him in sullen 
 silence. The approach of danger seemed to restore the balance to Caesar's 
 powerful mind. He beckoned to the Swiss captain whom he had just 
 dispossessed of his castellainship, and observed with a tart smile, "It 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 might be, captain, that you were right— some ill might befall if this ma 
 of cavalry crossed the bridge. Therefore keep it until you have furlh 
 orders from the most reverend Cardinal of Sienna, your general I V 
 know the Swiss slight cavalry charges, as rocks those of the sea! V 
 will take our royal duchess no farther, with the end that all Christendo 
 should know that we, at least, introduce no women into the Apostol 
 palace." 
 
 The Swiss stared in a disconcerted manner at the duke, and stroi 
 hastily over the bridge to his soldiers, who halted at his command, b 
 the Gascons rushed forward to greet Caesar with luud shouts of joy ai 
 welcome. The duke meanwhile glanced round, not expecting that tl 
 princess was advanced so far, butcher zealous attendants had halted h 
 only a few paces in the rear. The young duchess started the instant h 
 lord's eye fell upon her, and for the first time that day she exercised h 
 will unprompted, and turned her palfrey's head. But the stafflers in go 
 and crimson who held the bridle checked any further movement, n 
 being able to bt-lieve that the princess could in reality mean to do aug 
 unprescribed in the day's progran)me. 
 
 "Hal my gallant riders of Perigord at least have not forgotten me 
 said Caesar, mingling among the Gascons, and addressing many of the 
 by nicknames and rude patronymics which it was marvellous how ! 
 remembered, since the owners themselves might have been excused 
 they had forgotten them. 
 
 Thus dextrously had Ceesar apparently thrown his enemies into coll 
 sion, the Swiss indeed not advancing, but seeming to await some hosli 
 movement from the Germans. But Paolo Orsino had hastened back 
 Vitellozzo, and by his arguments prevailed upon him not to throw tl 
 city in the direful commotion which an assault would occasion, and tl 
 issue of which would be very doubtful, as the pontiff and the pilgrin 
 would certainly construe the attack into one on themselves. Vitelloz: 
 sullenlv consented to remain where he was until Paolo's return, bitter 
 subjoining, if he had the good fortune ever to do so. The Orsino the 
 hastened to the Swiss captain, and prevailed upon him also to promi 
 that he would take no steps uniil he received further commands, providv 
 the Germans did not attempt to cross the river. 
 
 "What ails them now. thou merry bitterness, thou olives and wine 
 said the Knight of St. John, who had formerly spoken to the deform 
 tailor, and who was again driven by the pressure to the little man's sid 
 
 " How many eyes hast thou not to see by his glad countenance that 
 is bidding his wife 'God be with her' tilfhe sees her again?" return 
 Paschino. " He will say that to her the day before doomsday some da 
 or old mother Hecate's drugs will lose their virtue." 
 
 " But wherefore doth she not accompany him to the Vatican?" return 
 the knight. 
 
 " Know you not that the entrance thereof is strictly forbidden to ; 
 women— to believe the old songs which they call canons and bulls?" sa 
 the tailor. 
 
 " Have I not told thee what I have heard— that Donna Lucrezia is 
 lodge in the palace — doubtless with a female court?" said the knigl 
 sharply. 
 
 " ♦ Ergo te semper cupiet, Lucrelia, Sexlus '.'" 
 
 returned the dwarf, rubbing his hands and chuckling as if this black Ij 
 contained only a witty allusion. 
 
100 CAESAR BORGTA. 
 
 "Paschinol hast thou not told me that certain monks saved thee, 
 being a foundlinc; left on a dunghill before their monastery— taught thee 
 all thy scraps of learning— and dost thou laugh to utter such horrors 
 against the supreme pastor of the church?" said the Hospitaller, with 
 warmth. 
 
 "Truly, signer sparkle-beard I I was found by a friar even as you 
 say," returned the droll " But who knows who put me on the dunghill? 
 Yet for certain I owe the monks my life — such as it is — perchance for a 
 better reason than picking me up, like a jewel, from the mud I — They 
 who hide can find ! But I might foruive them my existence, inasmuch 
 as the girls around their monastery (I mean the holy brothers on iMount 
 Aventine) are notoriously as tempting and ready as ripe melons! — But 
 why should 1 forgive them for making a tailor of me— a fellow to line 
 brocades and chp sleeves of the villanous Venice fashion — out of pure 
 envy, lest their gravest doctors should be silenced, confuted, and put to 
 shame, by the learning which might have been added to my natural 
 parts?" 
 
 "•Nowise man whets a knife for his own throat — thou art even too 
 keen already!" returned the Hospitaller. "Moreover, thou knowest 
 that merit was not made to be rewarded in this world." 
 
 " But the prospect is far — beyond the moon ? " said the dwarf. *' How- 
 ever, 1 will gel me one of those glasses through which thev say that the 
 Spaniards have lately seen a new world ! — In faith, they do well to lie 
 due west, for there is abundance of room from the Pillars of Hercules to 
 Asia ! " 
 
 The pressure of the crowd buffeting to accompany the now advancing 
 procession, against the stream which set in to escort the returning bride 
 ofCa3sar, quickly separated the gossips. The Knight of St. John urging 
 on his charger to regain the line of procession, with difficulty penetrated 
 the masses of the populace crowding into the square of St. Peter, which 
 was already thronged. Before him was the antique basilica of Constan- 
 tine— that of Michael Angelo existed as yet only in his vast genius, like 
 the statue in the marble. 
 
 The castle of Santangelo had elapsed into darkness, but in recompense 
 the whole Vatican ascent was one blaze of light. The immense extent of 
 the illuminations revealed that of the palace itself, which resembled 
 rather an irregular city of palaces, of strange and varying architecture — 
 pile after pile, pillars'and towers, terraces, balconies, domes, bosomed 
 amidst stately groves and gardens, all glittering with innumerable lamps, 
 whose beams were softened into a silver haze by the white splendour of 
 the moon. In a balcony over the portico of St. Peter, an assemblage of 
 personages in habits whose gorgeousness the blaze of torches revealed, 
 probably marked the spot fro'm which the pontiff was pleased to witness 
 his son's triumphant entry. But the radiance disai)peared when the 
 procession had fairly entered the square. 
 
 Anxjous to witness the meeting of the sire and son, but keeping as 
 much as possible in the rear of the gorgeous train of prelates and nobles, 
 the Hospitaller regained the line of the procession, and was admitted as 
 part of it. The whole pomp passed on in due marshalry to the Sala Regia, 
 and entered it at the same time that from a magnificent staircase at the 
 extremity the pontiff descended. The spectators might have thought that 
 the procession to meet Caesar must have exhausted the papal court ; and 
 yet large groups of gilded officials, and of pilgrims of illustrious rank, lay 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. I©1 
 
 and clerical, prelates from remote lands, princes, abbots, grand masters 
 of the chief European orders of knighihood, monks, pages, guardsmen, 
 continued to pour down tlie stairs in attendance on the pontiff. 
 
 The Hospitaller's anxiety to behold the pontiff was great, but he took 
 care to remain so far amidst the throng, that his dark plume was the only 
 .piece of his habiliments visible. It needed not the gorgeous pontifical 
 robes, stiff with gems, the blazing tiara, nor the golden keys in his band, 
 the glistering slippers wrought with the cross in rubies, the little canopy 
 of cloth-of-gold borne over his head, to distinguish the person of 
 Alexander the Sixth. He stood with the majesty of a Jupiter,— his great 
 stature, his large and noble features, the despotism and irascibility of his 
 regards notunsuited to the other characteristics of the son of Saturn. A 
 nearer approach, it might be, dissipated something of this grandeur of 
 person. The workings' of age, the traces of furious passions, the lines 
 wrought by care and sorrow, were visible in his countenance, and some- 
 times gave it, to the eye of the physiognomist, an expression of melan- 
 choly and devouring thought, approachmg to anguish. Seventy years of 
 ordinary existence leave "iron prints; but when the turbulent career of 
 Alexander is consided, his experience of almost all the varieties of for- 
 tune and conditions of life, of grief and joy, terror and triumph, struggle 
 and victorv, the adamantine quality of the soul appeared, which could 
 support that weight of thought with so unbending a majesty. 
 
 The personages of Caesar's procession halted instantly on discovering 
 that of the pontiffs, and filing open, the duke advanced up the passage 
 thus made for him, taking Paolo Orsino familiarly by the arm, and lead- 
 ing him by his side. He looked very pale, but his eye glittered, and his 
 manner was so hurriedly vivacious that it formed a great contrast to the 
 austere and immovable majesty of the pontiff. The most skilful observer 
 might have been foiled at the marvellous combination of expressions 
 which Alexander's countenance exhibited. Sorrow and pride— suspicion 
 and tenderness— the love of the father with the doubts and fears of the 
 monarch receiving the homage of so formidable a subject — seemed to 
 struggle for the mastery. 
 
 Three golden cushions pladed by Burciardo at prescribed intervals, the 
 last at some distance from the stairs, marked the spots at which the duke 
 was to pay his kneeling homage. He performed the ceremonial hastily, 
 and when he reached the last cushion, the dean raised his wand, and in a 
 loud voice commanded silence, for there was a great buzz and trampling 
 in the saloon. A hundred ushers echoed the cry— and there was silence. 
 
 It was observed thalCssar, usually so glib of speech, slightly hesitated, 
 for he was now expected to offer his thanks. But with his usual judg- 
 ment, he spoke to the pontiff in Spanish, an idiom always pleasant to his 
 ears, being that of his native land. " Behold me here, most blessed 
 father I" he said, "to kiss with reverent tenderness your holy feet, and 
 render due thanks for so many honours, for so many benefits confered 
 on me in this my long absence from your sight, although not from your 
 heart, assuring vour sanctity that not for these favours alone, but many 
 others, 1 profess^rnvself a singularly benefited son of our Holy Mother the 
 church ; proof of mv everlasting gratitude for which I will give by pledg- 
 ing and holding my life in the'service of the apostolic throne and of the 
 sacred college— in which I glory to have been once counted a brother." 
 
 There was a moment's profound silence, and the pontiff, replied, not 
 without some emotion in his tones, and in the same language. "Even 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 il now we have been well content with your actions, and now we re- 
 ve with satisfaction this attestation in words; which acce|)tino; as a 
 Jgc of your faith, and of a continual loyal service, we pronnise you 
 r to correspond to with greater honours, and rewards. The holy chair 
 ds not dominions and riches to exalt its majesty, but truly for orinces 
 cknowledge its grentnrss, and to sustain it in the veneration of others, 
 ask none'better'lhan yourself, with the strength with which we shall 
 ust you, to the confusion of those, who show themselves the more 
 utifiil to us, in proportion to the obligations we heap upon them!" 
 he latter part of the speech touched many present, and it was with a 
 1 glance at the Orsino that (laesar advanced to kiss the cross on the 
 tiff's feet. The honour of saluting his cheek rarely granted to any but 
 'reigns and the members of the sacred college, was also granted to the 
 e. 
 
 hen rising, Csesar motioned to the Orsino to advance, and said, with 
 
 ■en glance at his sire, "None in this presence, holy father, need now 
 
 the sting of your reproach to the unfilial conduct of some! Signor 
 
 lo Orsino lighted on his mishap bringing to your throne the submis- 
 
 and devotion of its chief rebels !"' 
 
 he young nobleman advanced, and knelt at Alexander's feet, who to 
 great scandal of the master of ihe ceremonies, instantly raised him, 
 kissed both his cheeks. " Welcome, thrice welcome out of the jaws 
 le whale, beloved son !" be said, with a warmth which could scarcely 
 ' been feigned. '' Know you not that we were about to draw the 
 rd of St. Peter, and come to the rescue ourself? It were not fur the 
 lime we have worn armour, God aud our Lady wot well, and the 
 el Moors of Granada!" 
 
 he Orsino replied with the profound humility and gratitude due to so 
 ious a speech; and then intreating of his holiness permission to in- 
 uce one of his deliverers to his paternal notice, he beckoned to Sir 
 inald. The young knight was leaning in mute reverence on the cross 
 ' is sword ; aud although a summons to instant and deadly battle 
 Id scarcely have quickened his pulse, he responded lo this signal with 
 A-e and perturbation which caused a general smile among the Italians. 
 We heard there was one of the brothers of the Holy Sepulchre in it 
 is is not he?" said the pontitf with great kindness. "Approach, 
 g man. and receive the blessing of heaven fur a christian deed." 
 Most holy father ! I am not worthy ! " replied Sir Reginald, devoutly 
 .ling. 
 
 Yea, and the worthier for thinking so — or but saying so is it with 
 loo ? Yet thy tongue rings with some of the honest discords of 
 nd sea !" said Alexander, smiling. " Master John, is he of thy blunt 
 en land ?" 
 
 I know not whether of Saxony or of France, for methinks, holy 
 r, he is both fish aud flesh," replied the master of the ceremonies. 
 More of a fish, please you, being an English islander," said Sir 
 nald, recovering his natural boldness. 
 
 Ha! — and is your king still wearing away with his consumption? " 
 the pontif. eagerly. -'Hast thou any commission from him to this 
 ed festival? for indeed we fear those vast treasures he hath heaped 
 vill hang like a leaden mountain on his ascending soul ! " 
 The knight is from Ferrara, where he hath long tarried, holy father," 
 Cffisar, with some emphasis. ^ ., 
 
C.f:SAR BORGIA. 103 
 
 " Ferrara!— How fares it with the c;ood duke ? " said the pontiff, with 
 sudden haughtiness of manner. "iMelhinks— remembering that all his 
 cities and lands have been assumed from the Holy See — he might have 
 honoured us with a special embassy on this occasion !" 
 
 "Messer Pietro Bembo is at hand, and perchance is honoured with 
 some such commission? " said Caesar, suddenly turning, and indicating 
 the canon, who stood, as he thought, secluded among the crowd. 
 
 "Most holy father! " said Bembo, somewhat flurriedly, "my master's 
 duty to your paternity is so perfect that to protest it would, he thought, 
 lay it open to suspicion, as for a merchant in diamonds to declare that there 
 was no flaw in the one he offered, when no judicious eye imagined any! — 
 and therefore I am only hereon my devotion to the jubilee." 
 
 " Messer Bembo, you are a poet and an Italian — f am a simple man, and 
 a native of Aragon," replied Alexander, sharply ; for, in common with the 
 other descendants of the warlike barbarians of the north, he entertained a 
 profound contenjpt for the Italians, 
 
 " I also, holy father, am three parts Italian! " Said the Dukeof Romagna, 
 with this dextrous move turning the general though silent resentment of 
 the Italians at his father's contemptuous speech to his own favour. 
 
 The pontift" smiled. "Ay, nephew, — a Roman ! " he said, but still with 
 a tinge of contempt. " That was a fine name once, when the Colosseum 
 stood whole— ere the Gothic fathers of Spain beheld it!— But we heard 
 that the Lordof Cilta di Castello was with you : where is he now?" 
 
 "He came — with a thousand lanzknechts, to share your paternal abso- 
 lution ! " said Caesar, emphatically ; " who are also the cause why I have 
 been compelled to send my own guard into Santangelo, and withdraw the 
 Swiss and Gascons " 
 
 "Say you so?" exclaimed Alexander, with strong and evidently 
 unpleasant surprise. 
 
 " The Germans are proud — Vitellozzo could not compel them- to lower 
 their standard before those of the Swiss, who threatened else to discharge 
 their ordnance at us ! " said the Orsino, very eagerly. 
 
 '■^What! do my Swiss, too, mutiny? — Where is Pflinger?" said 
 Alexander, with a sudden darkening which betokened a storm. 
 
 " I have broken the slave! — he was one of the plunderers in thebandy- 
 legged's army — of King Charles, 1 would say ! " said the duke, hastily. 
 
 "Then, son, you know not that we have given him and his followers 
 plenary remission of the same— is itnotso,Gian-Battista?" said the pontiff, 
 turning to the Datary. 
 
 "And moreover youi- holiness was pleased toremittothem theexpenses 
 of the bull," replied the minister, in a grave and disapproving tone. 
 
 " 'Tis perchance, as well ns it hath happed— Santangelo should be in 
 sure haiids at this season!" said the duke, with a significant glance. 
 " And considering the strange words spoken by the Lord of Castello in 
 the camp before Faenza, he is as well lodged on the farther side of the 
 1*1 ver." 
 
 " ft" was his passion, holy father, and a helmet-full of the thick wine of 
 that country, which he had just drained, that spoke, not Vitellozzo I" said 
 the Duke of Gravina, vehemently. 
 
 " The Lords Orsini are indeed good testimony, for they were all around 
 him when he announced his hope to thrust your holiness from the chair 
 of St. Peter ! " said Caesar, in a mild and interceding tone. 
 
 "Your holiness was once a soldier, and must needs remember how 
 
104 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 the blood maddens in triumph I " said Paolo , with a mixture of humility 
 and haughtiness. 
 
 "Triumph I— ay, in a field gained against the majesty of Heaven and 
 ourown !" exclaimed Alexander, impetuously. "But yet we distinguish! 
 — rebelhon with the Orsini is a disease, a healthful exercise with the 
 Vitelli! — let it pass? And now, nephew, hasten to pay your adorations 
 at the shrine of St. Peter, where the Penitentiary will hear your confession, 
 and receive your offering." 
 
 "But first, it is most needful that the Orsini induce their friends to 
 retire from Sanlangelo, and that I provide for the quartering of my troops, 
 lest mischief or confusion happen !" said the duke; an intimation which 
 at such a moment was of pecuHar emphasis. 
 
 "Hast thou many with thee, Csesar?" ^aid the pontiff, turning with a 
 vague expression of anxiety and suspicion. "We bade you not burden 
 the city at this time, when we are obliged to open our ancient stores, 
 lest the faithful should lack corn in the land of promise!" 
 
 "Chiefly the barons of the Campagna with their retinues, and a sprink- 
 ling of honest Catalans," replied Caesar, carelessly. 
 
 "Look you, duke, we will have no quartering on this side Tiber, 
 unless it be beyond the Isle, — and to prevent quarrels, we will make room 
 for the Swiss in the Vatican," continued the pontiff, who had for a 
 moment been lost in thought. "The Cardinal of Sienna will consult 
 with you as to the disposal of the rest." 
 
 The duke bowed with a smile of mock deference to the venerable priest. 
 " I am glad your holiness has given me a colleague whose integrity not 
 all the devil showed Our Lord could tempt," he said, relapsing into an air 
 of gloom and sorrow; "For grievous indeed it is to punish traitors with 
 the severity they compel— and my heart yet aches to think of the black 
 ingratitude and treason which 1 have rewarded in Don Ramir, the podesta, 
 in whom your holiness, the sacred college, and myself trusted so much !" 
 
 "The podesta of Romagna!" exclaimed the pontiff, turning slightly 
 pale. 
 
 "Has not the news of his treason and punishment ran before us to 
 Rome?" said Cassar, with affected astonishment. 
 
 "What hath happened to him?" demanded the pontiff hastily. 
 
 " He is beheaded and quartered — halved, 1 should say — in Ronciglione! 
 The particulars of his treason I reserve for your holiness's private au- 
 dience!" returned the duke, with perfect tranquillity. 
 
 It was evident that this news was received with a strong internal shock 
 by the pontifl', and the Cardinal of Sienna crossed himself aghast. But 
 suffering few signs of his emotion to appear, Alexander said, alter a short 
 pause, "A matter like this brooks no delay — we will hear your reasons 
 instantly: meanwhile, Lord Paolo, return and prevent any occasion of an 
 outbreak, by bidding the Swiss attend us here, and the Vitelli to retire to 
 their quarters." 
 
 Then stretching his arms, the whole assembly knelt, and uttering a 
 hasty benediction, the pontiff remounted the staircase followed by the 
 duke and his immediate attendants. 
 
 The gorgeous court dissolved as rapidly as the coloured clouds of 
 sunset when the luminary has disappeared •, but the Hospitaller watched the 
 departure of the Orsini before he left the palace. He then hastened out, 
 as he imagined, unobservedly, but suddenly his mantle was respectfully 
 touched, and Bembo joined him on the steps of the portico. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 105 
 
 "My lord, the Orsini are searching for you everywhere, earnestly 
 desiring your presence in their palace, and have left me ou the watch to 
 secure you!" said the canon, breathlessly. 
 
 "But, Messer Pietro, I intend not to harbour with the Orsini," replied 
 the prince. "Thou knowest I have an errand — a vow— in this city, 
 which is not likely to be executed in the palace of the betrothed of 
 Lucrezia Borgia I — Tell them Ihatl an) fulfilling a sacred obligation of my 
 order— and sacred 'tis! But to my brother, Reginald, say — that even 
 thus unknown, and with the purpose in my heart,—! will not drink the 
 wine of a man who might be— whom the ignorant world might call— my 
 enemy — my rival!" 
 
 "Psotgo to the Orsini palace, where we should be so safe— so royally 
 entertained!" said the canon, ruefully. 
 
 "Nay, I mean not to take thee from the flesh-pots, Pietro!" said the 
 knight, smiling: "the rather that thy })rcsence there will serve for a 
 blind to my proceedings; but thou mayest see me at thy pleasure, for I 
 intend to strike my staff at yonder hostelry;— dost thou not mark it in the 
 middle of the square, with the shields of certain Knights of Almaine glit- 
 tering among the vines of the trellis, and a peasant in a crimson cap 
 dancing with some blue petticoat or another before it? " 
 
 "Your highness's prejudices are, then, in nowise shaken?" said the 
 canon, very disappointedly. "So beautiful a lady, too, that Paris would 
 have preferred her to Helen, and given her the apple rather than to 
 Cytherea!" 
 
 "'Tis the heavier confirmation— there is no virtue nor villany which 
 such beauty might not cause !" replied the prince, vehemently, but sud- 
 dently checking himself with a sigh. 
 
 "But, my lord," said the canon, "I have it in charge from there- 
 doubted prince your father, and may not lose sight of you even for the 
 space of a wink. Where you go, I go ; and so^ lead on, signer!" 
 
 "Art thou dealing with' a child, or with a man, dtemest thou, sir 
 canon ?" said the knight, sternly. "Refuse the Orsini if thou wilt, but 
 we may not shelter together, for already I note thou art suspected as an 
 envoy from my father. " Thou hast my command, which it is thine to obey, 
 not discuss ; and so, a fair good night, Messer Pietro ! 1 am not angry 
 with you, but would be alone." 
 
 And turning from him, the knight retraced his way to the place where 
 he had left his horse and squire ; but at some distance he looked back, 
 and consoled the canon with a friendly wave of farewell. Perceiving 
 that his dismissal was peremptory, the ecclesiastic determined to make 
 the best of his situation, mounted his mule, and rode towards the palace 
 on the Tiber inhabited by the Duke of Gravina and his son. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Geryon, arise! and Gorgon, 
 Chimaera, and thou Sphinx, subtlest of liends. 
 Who ministered to Thebes Heaven's poisoned wine, 
 Unnatural love, and more unnatural hale, 
 These shall perform jour task."— Shellett. 
 
 The masses assembled to witness the entry of the general of the church 
 were gradually dispersing -, the nobles and vassals to iortified palaces, the 
 
108 CJESXR BORGIA. 
 
 mercenary soldiers to their quarters, the oppressed but dazzled and satis- 
 fied populace to their hovels and desolale homes amonc: the ruins of the 
 grandeur of their marvellous ancestry. As if watching the gradupl sinking 
 of the city inlo calm, two persons slowly paced up and down the ramparts 
 of St. Angelo, on the side beneath the lound tower which overlooked the 
 river, one keeping slightly behind with the respect of an inferior, though 
 engaged in an apparently confidential dialogue. 
 
 '• Butstil. my lord, if I migh^ speak, these illuminations of Santangelo 
 passed the displays of human" art! " said Migucluto. for it was he accom- 
 panying the Duke of Romagna. " Donna Fianjma affected indeed to use the 
 service of your faithful Gascons and of the Turkish slaves, bat there are 
 some who report they sawstrange grisly forms of brightness and darkness 
 mingled, which flew about, obeying her behests." 
 
 "Av, the vuL'ar deem everything great beyond the power of humanity 
 — measuring it by their own base incapacities! " replied Ca?sar. "" But if 
 she has discovered secrets !— what then?— Was not Pope Silvester II. a 
 potent magician? Yea, and Benedict the Ninth, and Gregory the Seventh, 
 and holy Dunstan? But. Migueloto, seeing how I managed mine enemies 
 to-day, deem you that I need the sleeve of Hildebrand from which he 
 shook out thunder and lightning?— or the flute of Benedict, with which 
 he enchanted women to follow him over wilds and wolds, seeing how the 
 lofty spirit of Fiamma bows down before me, like flame indeed beneath a 
 magician's wand?" 
 
 '' God's life ! my lord, what hope can she have remaining but from your 
 gracious favour?" exclaimed the captain. 
 
 "Yea, and she loves me, pretty soul!" said Caesar, with a scornful 
 smile ; but he added in a darker lone, "And she alone, perchance, of all 
 the beauteous fools who have told me so?— Surely, Migueloto, I am a deep 
 Platonic, seeking as I perpetually do the ideal of beauty, and finding only 
 disappointment'in all its forms!" 
 
 "Signor, m my opinion, for I am not versed in the schoolmen's, my 
 lady. Donna Lucrezia, approaches the nearest to the perfection of all love- 
 liness," said the captain, starting to observe thai his superior suddenly 
 paused, as if he had seen a snake in his path. 
 
 '•Why, thou repeatesl a common tale!'" he said, almost instantlyre- 
 suming his pacing, but more rapidly. " Is she not as famous in Italy as 
 Helen in Greece?— Ay, and more than famous— for men's bkme spreads 
 wider than their praise, thou knowest, Migueloto; else how chances it thjit 
 all thy deeds of arms are outblazoned by ihy deeds of guile, for the Romans 
 call you cut-throat oftener than soldier, Migueloto I— But is it not strange 
 that my father, who des'res so earnestly that I should doat on nrry gewgaw 
 of a bride, encourages Fiamma in her pranks?" 
 
 "Is it not strange, too, th U D. una Lucrezia is to lodge in the sacred 
 palace?" returned the confidant. 
 
 " It shall be stranger yet, if this precaution furnishes not a more blasting 
 mildew than any yet'disiilled on her renown — alas I " said the duke, and he 
 continued his walk for some time without speaking. 
 
 "Where is Fiamma now?" he said at last. 
 
 •^' Practising some incantation with the haggish sisters of the Ghetto, in 
 the tomb,'" said Mi^ueloto, glancing at the huge round tower which he thus 
 designated. " I do believe, some love-spell to lure your highness back 
 to your old worship." ' • ' '. • • 
 
 "Tiien shall 1 begin to -deem thev have some science beyond their 
 
C.-ESAR BORGIA. 107 
 
 father's skill in the black herbs of death, which he left them for an in- 
 heritance when be treated hinl^elf one day to a draught of one of his own 
 compounds." said €»sar, gaily. ''For indeed 1 feel as if mine ancient 
 love were rekindling fn m its ashes in my heart.— Meihinks I loved her 
 once, before I loved ambition I But hast thou heard of one whom I bade 
 attend me herein Santangelo. a wizard whose skill mocks theirs to clouds 
 and vapours— one Dom Sabbat?" 
 
 ".My lord, no, — 1 have not been many hours captain of Santangelo," 
 returned Migneloto. 
 
 "Migueloto.' said the duke, suddenly stopping and turning with an 
 expression of fierce scrutiny on his captain. "I think thou dost often 
 strangely mistake me— wherefore deemest thou that I am animated by 
 so persevering and exterminating a hate of these husbands and these 
 wooers of my sister? " 
 
 '•Because — because — the fiend carry me if I know I — unless that your 
 grace deems all unworthy of your future grandeur," said Migueloto, 
 shuddering beneath the serpent eyes which yet fascinated his own. 
 
 '• Partly so," replied Ca?sar, in a gratified tone : " but also because that 
 the sorcerer — this Dom Sabbat — who showed to me my own imperial for- 
 tunes, at the same time raised for me the phantoms of my sister's descen- 
 dants,- — and they were all crowned with diadems, whose glory melhought 
 even oulglared the lustre of Charlemagne's!— And deem^you that 1 will 
 suffer, if J can prevent it, the wreath which I must acquire' with toils and 
 cares so mighty, to pass away from the succession which 1 hope to leave 
 behind me?" 
 
 " It were not reasonable," replied the captain. "-But indeed I marvel 
 his holiness is not weary of marrying her to these husbands that die 
 so fast I" 
 
 " 'Tis no ill means to refute report, and his holiness values the breath 
 of men which thev call opinion, — these espousals dazzle the aim of 
 suspicion I" replied Cpesar, with dark significance. "This, at least, I 
 would have all friends of mine reply to lonjecturers ! — and this Orsini 
 match is to be paraded before the eyes of Christendom. But there may 
 be a deeper policy in it! I have had ill offices done me with his holiness 
 — he takes Remiro's tidings very strangely I — and Lucrezia — but who can 
 give reasons for women's doings? Let the mob believe even the worst 
 they will, for, Migueloto, an emperor and a pofie cannot sit thtoned 
 together in Rome I" but observing the gloom on the superstitious captain's 
 face, he continued ; "Tush, man. 1 am but jesting now — albeit the chair 
 of St. Peter was at first of very plain wood I 1 would only do what many 
 Christian men have earnestly desired these latter times? What say you, 
 if I called into counsel the ascetic, Lanfranchi, who would strip the church 
 as naked as she was born, and turn her out of Constantine's doors as meek 
 and ragged, holy and beggared, as she entered it? So great a service 
 might win Heaven's pardon for many little malefactions: and besides 'lis 
 in my thought some day to redeem the holy sepulchre from the infidels. 
 And that minds me : — what has become of our Knight Hospitaller all 
 to-day?" 
 
 " I know not, signor, I saw him but once in the procession," replied 
 Migueloto. 
 
 '• 'Tis a very silent gentleman — I must have farther news cf him," said 
 the Duke, musingly. " A sullen fellow, too !— marked you his ungracious 
 acceptance of Lucrezia's thanks? But, softly, we must take order for the 
 
108 CvESAR BORGIA. 
 
 safety of the city I The good Cardinal of Sienna it seems withdraws his 
 gray beard from our discussions." 
 
 "Those tidings of the double podesta told well in there," replied 
 Migaeloto. 
 
 " But also didst thou observe how the Datary started when I commu- 
 nicated the news to him ?" returned the duke. '' He hath done me good 
 service — but wherefore did he start?" 
 
 " Urdess that he feared the like, having the like treachery in his heart," 
 said the amiable castellain. 
 
 "Then had he cause," replied Ceesar. 
 
 " Our two she-apothecaries are not, I warrant them, out of their stock 
 of herbs, though there is a brisk trade in them, and the grisly women are 
 said to be so monstrously rich, that but that they are witches too, they 
 had long since been murdered," said Migueloio. 
 
 " Ay, but these herbs are dangerous, and require too heavy sums in 
 purchasing the treachery necessary to their administration, to be used 
 on vulgar occasions. The brawlers of Vitellozzo, — the insolent vassals of 
 the Orsini, — merit no such pains. Besides, these sudden deaths are 
 suspected I — 1 want some stout knaves readv to strike with the open 
 steel, so that folks may lay the blame on chaffering cups,— or to throw a 
 rogue into the Tiber without much splashing— thuu knowest some such?" 
 
 "My lord, the Cardinal of Sienna has issued a decree of banishment to 
 all the banditti in Bome," said the captain, evasively. 
 
 "Why, so has the consistory issued a decree of deposition to all the 
 tyrantsof Romagna I" returned the duke, laughing tartly. "Tut, captain, 
 where didst thou find the men who met Lucrczia's last husband on the steps 
 of St. Peter?" 
 
 "The bur)gling villains I that gave him a dozen wounds, yet not one 
 mortal I — and left it for a poor gentleman (but yet a gentleman) of your 
 grace's, to strangle him in his bed, after all I" said the captain, grum- 
 blingly. 
 
 " That minds me, — art thou certain yonder fool of the ceremonies did 
 not note you on that occasion?" said Caesar. "He is the very ass to 
 listen to a message of state compliment, and was it not with some such 
 folly you got admittance to the boaster's bed of sickness? I do oft mark 
 some straijge significance in his eyes I" 
 
 "If I thought so!" said Migueloto, with a short but most emphatic 
 pause, during which the throat of the sapient master of the cerenjonies 
 ought to have smarted. " But as I persuaded him I came from his holiness 
 — all 1 did he imagines to be done by an authority which he would as soon 
 think of misdoubting, as one brought direct from Heaven by the ar- 
 changel Gabriel, with his gold and white wings beating the air into 
 sparkles of silver." 
 
 " Thou ravest, Migueloto, or art turned poet I" exclaimed Ceesar, with 
 a derisive smile. 
 
 "Nay, my lord, I was but remembering the limning of the Annunciation 
 in the Church of the Hermits of Mount Aventine," replied the matter-of- 
 fact captain. 
 
 " Thou rememberest it to a good purpose," returned the duke, absently, 
 "How many wounds didst thou say? It must have made his motherweep 
 to hear the tale, — sad as a grandmother's, when the fox has been in her 
 henroost! But he who had been Lucrezia's husband — who boasted that 
 he would love her so, that she should perforce at last love him, ^and 'tis 
 
CJESXR BORGIA. 109 
 
 like enough, for the passion of women is for the most part, Migueloto, but 
 the warm" reflection of the flame of oars,— spiritual, mark you, radiance 
 and heat without the material earthinessl~why dost thou stare? Know 
 vou not how many hours I wasted, ravelling the subtleties of the angehc 
 and seraphic doctors?)— What were we discoursing?— He had a ]_)retty 
 fancy at a glowing description, that Aragonian ; and, mercy on usl how 
 he would rave of her beautv, till men were taint with rage to hear him prate ! 
 And yet I say, did I say it before?— he died not ill m the flush of youth, 
 and wine, and triumph — that husband of Lucrezial" 
 
 " It must have gone nigh to madden her grace's adorers to hear the boy 
 gabble!" said Migueloto, with his disgusting smile. 
 
 '• Thev were nmd already to be so f but who is sane?— To my thought, 
 few but honest labourers whistling after their ploughs, and puzzlmg their 
 brains in nowise either with the carcasses or souls of their fellows!" 
 returned Caesar. " But of what spoke we ? Ay, truly,— come— your old 
 friends the banditti?— They are not so completely banished from Rome as 
 thou wouldst have me think." 
 
 . "Perchance it mav be-that John of the Catacombs still hngers m 
 some of his old haunls^" said the captain reluctantly, butunder the eye of 
 Caesar even he could not lie 
 
 "i'U warrant, then, he hath as many of his worthy coadjutors ^at 
 
 whistle, as might set all Rome in a blaze, aud cut throats by the hght?" 
 
 " More than enow to plunder the whole city, and all the pilgrims 
 
 in it, if taken at unawares," replied the captain, with a sudden kindling of 
 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 "Why, thou dunderheaded Catalan! what manner of policy were it to 
 kill the goose that lavs the golden egss?" saiil C»sar, laughing. " 1 would 
 but know on what Tmay depend— in case of the worst— in case the pope 
 persists in his purpose of defeatinu all mv plans, by weddmg his daughter 
 to the chief of the rehellious barons! — Marked you how warnily he 
 received him— how mistrustfully me? Some have done me marvellously 
 ill offices with our holv father, whispered, no doubt,— by our Lady, 
 when he cried, 'Welcom'e, Cajsar!' his eyes were full of recollections of— 
 Francesco!" 
 
 "John uf the Catacombs might perchance be found by a good pair of 
 eyes, in Hume, for he cannot read, and the edict is posted up in Latin . " 
 said Migueloto, with increasing interest. 
 
 " 'Tis enough, if we know where to find him at the time of need, 
 replied the duke, thoughtfully. " A tumult raised by them were dan- 
 gerous. And after this'quarrel between the Swiss and Germans, our holy 
 father must see a necessity for my troops to occupy all the chief points of 
 vantaore in the citv. against the brigands, thou knowest, for John must let 
 us hear the sharpeninii of his knife. And, Migueloto, all the points of 
 strength but this castle, which we hold as it were merely by a trick oj 
 chance, are occupied by his holiness's Spaniards,— good and faithtul 
 men, 'tis true,— but not' so devoted to us as to save our house Irom the 
 snare even in despite of its short-sighted chief! —But no more of this— I 
 had something of more instant urgency. Migueloto, 'lis a pity thou hast 
 no scholarshrp— else thou mightst read this list, furnished me by the 
 Datarv, of the names and biding places of the captains or other agents of 
 the black bands who are now inRome, to obtain remissions ior themselves 
 and their brethren, of all the mortal sins, and more than all. a thousand- 
 fold repeated." 
 
110 C^SAR BORGIA, 
 
 "What would such clerkship service me in, my lord?" said Migueloto, 
 somewhat surprisedly. 
 
 "Nay, it would only service me, who shall, as it is, be compelled to 
 read it to thee," replied Caesar, carelessly. " For I would have thee use 
 some secret diligence to understand how these religious freebooters stand 
 aiFected towards me, — whether any would be willing to join the standard 
 of the church, — in especial of those now in the service of the barons or 
 the lords ofNaples, — to obtain full absolution (which shall else be clogged 
 with conditions) and ample pay." 
 
 "1 know' not, signur, — I know not that they would believe me, if I 
 oftered more than they already drain out of the lords who employ them,i' 
 said the captain, dubiously eyeing his chieftain. 
 
 " Bui if those lords were all gone, (and the best of us die some day,) 
 would they not need a new^ master, and were it not well to be of the first 
 in the market?"' replied Ccesar. "Moreover. — canst thou not repeat to 
 thenj some of the fine songs I have sung to thee — concerning yon shower 
 of ducal bonnets and princes' feathers — golden spurs and earls' baldrics 
 —in especial to the Swiss captains, whose beggarly peasant sovereignties 
 give none; — and to the Cernians, that bestow so many ih-at every man who 
 is not at the least a belted knight holds himself for wronged and cheated 
 of a bu-thright?" 
 
 "Would your highness have me then to tamper even with his holiness's 
 retainers?" said Aligueloto, following at a slower and more reluctant step 
 the bharp exercise of his superior. 
 
 " Would your captainship ever desire to be of a loftier title?" returned 
 Csesar, pettishly. '• But what manner of boggling fool art thou? — Dost 
 think I mean to tear up mine own root— for what is Caesar Borgia but a^ 
 poor graltling of an aged priest's power? Go to, go to —Dost think that 
 the piiuje of the church's ministers, the Datary himself, would aid in my 
 projects if they meant aught but the good of the church?" 
 
 "\our highness, then, does not mistrust him— for all he started when'' 
 he heard of Don Uemiro's mischance? " said the captain, with the rancour' 
 of one favourite against another. 
 
 " J look on all that folks are busy at with a hundred eyes," said the duke* 
 quietly 3 " and that reminds me — 1 must have a good intolligencer among 
 theOrsini. Poor Agnulo is gone, it seems?" 
 
 " Old Gravina was pleased to lake it into his head lbat.it was- be in- 
 formed you of his son's intent to visit Rome, and so hung him from his 
 palace weathercock, whence he was taken down but to-day, when- ihey' 
 got matters prepared for your triumphant reception,'' said" the capt/ain, 
 laughing drily, and not without some reason. 
 
 " This whey-faced lover, his son, will persuade him out of that belief, 
 were it nailed in his mind like a bad coin on a Jew's change-table," said 
 Caesar. "But meanwhile the poor man is certainly at rest, and we must 
 find some one to supply bis place. — That was an excellent artifice of the 
 Greeks, when Ihey ujaltreated Sinon, and so got him entrance iulo Troy I 
 — What if thy Juhn of the Catacombs t-el upon some fellow of my choosing 
 near the Orsini palace, and sufi'ered him to escape into it for refuge? " 
 
 " A goodly plan, my h.rd," replied the captain : " and then, under some 
 pretext of gratitude, to enter that noble family's service?" 
 
 "Oh, nimble wit, but ihou art apprehensive I" said Ca3sar, with a burst 
 of ironical admiration. <' It were not amiss, too, that we had one or two 
 more observers about my fair sister, for in this time of universal festival ■ 
 
CESAR BORGIA. Ill 
 
 and far-cnmers we shall have even as many lovers glistering in her beauty 
 as motes ill the sunbeams." 
 
 "Nay, my lord, we have never yet been deceived by babbling Fra 
 Biccocco, who learns everything from her confessor, Lanfranchi, on 
 whom lie ever attends," said the captain. " I marvel how so wise and so 
 gloomy a man can trust so much to such a shallow-brained, gossipping, 
 wine-bibbiiig babbler." 
 
 " Why so do II'' said Csesar, in a somewhat startled tone, " And yet, 
 no, — (is a great refreshnjenl for men of dark and melancholy genius lo 
 divert their fancies at times with these empty wits, for they are ordina- 
 rily also light and volatile as corks in water. Yet is Fra Bruno a monk 
 qf strange demeanour, that might have been a bishop, and prefers to be 
 a barefooted friar I" 
 
 ''Doth not that demonstrate in him, my lord, a poor and grovelling 
 spirit, and by no means to be misdoubted?" said the captain, with the 
 implicit curiosity of one expecting an oracle, which indeed the ex- 
 traordinary penetration of Caesar frequently gave forth. " 'Tis for 
 that reason of his humility and holy unconcern in thi^ world's business, 
 that I ever go to him when my breast hath need of a bitter purgative to 
 be at any rest I" 
 
 "Darest thou go to him with any secret of mine in ihy breast, as thou 
 callesi thy fleshy corslet below the steel ?" said Caesar, with sudden fierceness. 
 
 "Nay, my lord, for no Christian is bound to confess the sins of another, 
 and all that i do in your grace's service 1 leave to your reckoning," replied 
 Migueloto. in a timid or rather frightened tone. 
 
 " Do as thou will, for that J' said Cgesar, pacified by the avowal of this 
 stranae principle of niorality '• But thou art right in thinking either that 
 this Dominican is without ambition, or hath so much that all the gratifi- 
 cations yet offered to it are beneath iis aim I — Enough of that ; 1 will find 
 fellows to creep about where I would have them I But, hark thee, cap- 
 tain, 1 would have thee, when thou art again fearful to forget ihy sins in 
 their multitude, to carry them to some other confessional than Lan- 
 franchis,— for I do misdoubt that ihv peccadilloes are so closely inwoven 
 with mine that thou must occasionally show the woof by the threads, — 
 and the fox needs but half a cackle !'' 
 
 "But, my lord, 1 cannot sleep at times I" said Migueloto, imploringly. 
 
 "Then lie awake, and plot more mischief, like thy betters!" returned 
 the duke, jocosely. "Tut, man, go to some jolly, round-faced friar, like 
 Fra Biccocco, who lives and will let live, and. sets men on no such 
 foolish penances as 1 have seen ihee perform standing in frozen steel of a 
 winier's night, muttering thy paternosters to the crows on the ramparts."' 
 
 "But it seems to do my soul good, my signor, and I feel no comfort 
 when I am set to easy shrift : for sins like mine, they know not their trade 
 that pardon on a small matter," said the pious captain of Santangelo. 
 
 " Soul 1 — dost thou believe in these mcnkish dreams, and darest to be 
 the thing thou art?" returned Csesar, with sudden impatience. " But," 
 he add-.d with a sardonic smile, '-thou hast not been with me in the 
 schools of Padua, where they weigh, and sift, and decompose what thou 
 callcbt sonl — ihougbl — brain — into dust and lime and water." 
 
 "What avails that, my lord, when none of them can compound again, 
 long-bearded doctors though they be, dust, and lime, and water, into 
 what I call biain— thought — soul?" replied the captain, sorrowfully. 
 
 " Whv, now, thou talkest not altogether like a thick-skulled Catalan as 
 
112 C.^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ihouarti" said the (\nh\ somewliat stiggered by this reply. "But my 
 beauteous Fiamma's i^pell works. Go then and set the watch. I will in 
 to greet her with a soldier's kiss, an she coy me not, which is ever 
 woman's trick when she hath her own wishes before her, like fiends 
 evoked by a fearful magician." 
 
 "Shall I warn her of your highness's approach ?" said the captain. 
 
 "No, no; 1 never send heralds to bid folks be in readiness to cheat me 
 — which women besides but rarely need," returned the duke-, who, like 
 all rogues past, present, and to come, was an infinite vilifier of the fair 
 descendants of Eve. 
 
 He then leisurely ascended a flight of narrow steps up a bastion of the 
 tower, and entered at a still narrower doorway, followed by Don Migue- 
 loto de Murviedro. 
 
 Passing through a series of apartments furnished in a style of massive 
 but antique grandeur, — perhaps with relics of the magnificence of the two 
 profligate women who in the tenth century lorded over Rome from this 
 fortress, or of the Orsini who had usurped it as their own during the 
 eleventh and twelfth : the duke and his captain descended by a succession 
 of winding stairs and corridors, which communicated with similar suites 
 used for various purposes of residence or imprisonment. All tne principal 
 points of access or egress to these chambers were now guarded by senti- 
 nels from the Borgian guard, whose remote lamps and the gleam of the 
 bright night sky through deep shafts rather than windows, perforated in 
 the thickness of the walls, afforded the only light which they thought 
 proper to use. 
 
 "• Who are thy chief prisoners I — Hast thou yet had time to inquire?" 
 said the duke, as they descended through these dark labyrinths. 
 
 ''lam not, I trow, to consider my lady Fiamma as one, albeit she be 
 imprisoned on so heinous an accusation that being a nun she became the 
 infidel sultan's leman ?" said Miguelolo, with a grin, the sneering malignity 
 of which was concealed by the gloom, or he had not dared to indulge his 
 features in it. 
 
 " That is as I shall find her humour disposed; for I will have no whim- 
 pering wantons wailing after me," returned the duke. " But go on — who 
 lodges above?" 
 
 " Jacomo Caetano, the apostolic prolhonotary, brother to Nicholas, that 
 ■was strangled by your lordship's justice at Sermoneta," replied the cap- 
 tain. "They say he is crazed, and spends the whole livelong day with 
 his hooked nose at the bars of his chamber, looking up to Heaven, as if 
 he expected some visitor thence." 
 
 " Let him look on ; there is enough of the blue sky for us all to stare 
 at," replied Caesar. " But where does Monsignur Florida keep his state, 
 that forged the dispensation for the heiress of Portugal to wed, — or doth 
 be deny it as obstinately as ever?" 
 
 "He retracts his c nfession, my lord, into which he says he was 
 cajoled by your grace's emissary, under terror of torture and death." 
 
 "The more shame to him that yielded I — But what music is that we 
 hear, which seems to come from the grottoes to our left?" said Csesar. 
 
 " 'Tis the musician Tomasino, who, for the love of his lady. Caterina 
 Sforza, whom your lordship was then besieging in Forli, endeavoured 
 the sacrilegious murder of his holiness with poisoned letters,'" returned 
 Migueloto. " They have left him his flute, and as the grottoes are dark 
 as night nearly all clay, he has no other amusement but to play on it." 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 113 
 
 ''What say j'ou ! — Tomasino, and alive !" exclaimed Caesar. 
 
 "His holiness was pleased lo spare his life in consideration of the 
 eminent couraiie he showed in allempling his own, for the sake of his 
 native town and mjistress !',' returned the captain. 
 
 " He breathes into his reed so utter a hopelessness and anguish that 
 to gibbet him were to do him a kindness — so let the sacrilegious parri- 
 cide live on !"' said the Borgia. "But this place is very dark, my Migueloto, 
 and by the cold damp air 1 should say we were nigh the entrance to some 
 cavern or vault." 
 
 "We shall have light enough soon, my lord, although certes it were 
 not ill if 1 returned above for a lamp, that you might see the curious de- 
 vices on the walls," said Migueloto, with a slight shudder. "This is the 
 gallery which leads to the sepulchral chamber of the emperors, where we 
 shall find Donna Fiamma, for there she chiefly pursues her studies in the 
 black art, and, as they say, can raise the devil at her will — all holy saints 
 keep us from harm, and absolve our wTetched souls I — But there are not 
 ■wanting some who aver that she has made the great stone head in the 
 corridor speak, and brought the ghost of Emperor Adrian out of his stone 
 coffin, whose lid no earthly force can open! " 
 
 " Lead on, lead on, and cease thy nursery babble," said Csesar, in a 
 contemptuous tone, which, despite the vigour of his mind and his scep- 
 ticism, was assumed, for the general belief in magic and necromancy 
 was, as we have seen, abundantly shared by that strangely compounded 
 intellect. But at the same monientone of the sudden suspicions natural to 
 so dark a fancy struck him, that perhaps his captain meditated some 
 treachery, and was leading him into the reach of ambushed assassina- 
 tion I He started back — drew his dagger— and but that at the instant he 
 beheld a distant glow in the ground of the earthen gallery, round and 
 deep, as if arising from a well, the worthy captain himself might have 
 been in no better plight than the imperial ghost whose enforced re-ap- 
 pearances he had alluded to. 
 
 "Return and bring me a lamp ; yonder light will guide me the rest of 
 my way," said Csesar, concealing his dagger in his cloak as he brushed 
 past the captain, who with a profound bend, which was scarcely to be 
 discerned in the murky twilight, obeyed. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " There is a snake in lliy smile, my dear; 
 And a bilter poison within thy lear."— Shelley. 
 
 Csesar proceeded with cautious steps and keen glances forward to the 
 place of radiance, the gallery gradually becoming illuminated with a red 
 rellection, which glowed on the lofty walls, covered in parts with hiero- 
 glyphics and rich carvings in maible, in others defaced, and revealing 
 the granite foundations of the pde. The mutilated remains of many of the 
 mysterious forms of Egyptian superstition gave a terrible and prctern;itural 
 aspect to the ruins around, and marked the origin of that colossal and 
 gloomy magnilicence which distinguishes all the labours of Adrian, and 
 is alike to be discovered in the ruins of his palace and of his tomb. The 
 michangeable nature of man miijht have been bittprly bemused by a 
 
 8 
 
114 OESAR BORGIA. 
 
 philosopher who had marked the scornful glance with which Csesar sur- 
 veyed the ruins of a grandeur meant to be perpetual — himself at the same 
 time devoured by an ambition whiclf perhaps the possession of the tomb- 
 maker's empire could not have satisfied ! 
 
 A circular hole now appeared in the earth, resembling a well of light; 
 but a massive pillar of granite arose in its centre, into which the arches 
 of the vaulted chamber below converged, and so intricately, that it was 
 some moments before Ctesar discerned that the pillar was hollow, and set 
 w'ith steps which wound like a corkscrew in it, and doubtless down to the 
 vault. Meanwhile he was occupied in considering the extraordinary 
 scene below, as visible through the ruined dome which had once covered 
 this sanctum sanctorum of grandeur, the sepulchre of the masters of 
 the world. 
 
 At a considerable depth below appeared an extensive chamber, ex- 
 cavated seemingly in the volcanic rock on which the foundations of the 
 castle are laid, vast masses of which, wrought with hieroglyphics and the 
 mystic ornaments of Egyptian architecture, reposed on the heads of 
 gigantic caryatides hewn in the solid rock, whose features bore that 
 expression of malicious and mocking profundity remarkable in Egyptian 
 statues, and which seems to conceal an explanation of the great enigmas 
 of human existence. Behind these colossal guardians of the secrets of 
 death— to judge by the hollow darkness— extended grottoes or subter- 
 raneous corridors. 
 
 A great fire, apparently of innocuous flames, for it burned with extra- 
 ordinary splendour in a gigantic sarcophagus without emitting smoke or 
 consuming a figure of wax which reposed in the midst of it, shed lurid 
 glares from thesummit of a kind of altar, supported by couching sphinxes. 
 Caesar smiled, but not without some secret inquietude, when he imagined 
 he recognised in this fire-wrapped form a very strong resemblance to his 
 own person and features. 
 
 On the breast of the figure was a skull, in which was a substance 
 resembling either a human heart or that of some animal of similar orga- 
 nization, recently torn from the breast in which it had been wont to beat. 
 Two ancient hags were busied in continually ladling this skull full of the 
 beautiful flames in the sarcophagus, or in feeding them with strange 
 ingredients which were heaped in their reach. Phials of eastern confi- 
 gm-ation were there, filled with curious oils, naphtha, and fluids unknown 
 to the modern pharmacopoeia, inventions chiefly of Arabian and Greek 
 chemists in the pursuit of sciences abhorred then, and despised now, and 
 which were supposed to possess magic or cabalistical virtues known only 
 to the initiated. Bundles of herbs, chiefly of the dreary plants alien to 
 human life, which grow in churchyards or in ruins, such as hemlock, 
 nightshade, ivy, vervain, and yew, were mingled with the most precious 
 drugs of remote lands, of India and of Iceland. Mosses covered with the 
 froth of an insect which was then supposed to be raised by the direct 
 influence of the moon; gUttering dust of gold and pounded diamonds; a 
 multitude of still stranger ingredients, such as bat-^, hearts of doves, 
 snakes, lizards, toads, select'portions of other reptiles and of ferocious 
 beasts; a pile of what seemed to be eyes; the head of a mummy, which 
 one of the haggard attendants occasionally rasped into a fine powder over 
 the supplies of fuel ; and an infinite variety of the most beautiful flowers, 
 composed the extraordinary preparations. 
 
 The malicious and enigmatical faces of the sphinxes and caryatides, 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 115 
 
 which brightened and darkened with the wavering of the flames, as if at 
 times about to utter their secrets, relapsing as suddenly into profound and 
 impenetrable gloom, — seemed rather a repetition than a contrast to the 
 living countenances of the two weird women who superintended the rite. 
 Ca?sar immediately recognised in them two female apothecaries, Jewesses 
 of the Ghetto, commonly styled Notte and Morta — Night and Death, — as 
 well from the indistinct traditions which yet survived in the popular mind 
 of the properties of those ancient divinities, as from peculiarities in their 
 personal appearance. Both were tall and large-boned ; both aged, and 
 yet of remarkable bodily strength and agility; both hideously ugly; but 
 Notte's skin was of a singularly dark leaden colour, and Morta's framework 
 of mortality was so gauntly developed and fleshless that she resembled 
 a breathing skeleton, and amply answered the idea raised by her de- 
 signation. 
 
 It was currently reported in Piome, that the oldest inhabitant remem- 
 bered these women old in his youth. Their real name was unknown, or 
 forgotten in the universality of their nicknames, to which they themselves 
 answered without hesitation or apparent dislike. Their faiher was said 
 to have been a Jewish physician of transcendant skill, which he was 
 supposed to owe to a compact with the fiend, who, after serving him for 
 a certain number of years, deserted him and suffered him to fall into abject 
 poverty. Some indeed did not scruple to assert that the devil himself 
 was the parent of these sisters, who, after instructing them in many hellish 
 arts, set them up with an ample stock of poisonous drugs, and left them 
 to make the best of it. 
 
 More enlightened or more" sceptical persons, however, there were, who 
 disbelieved in this legend, or explained it by the fact that, in his old age, 
 the sage had betaken himself to the study of the occult sciences, and in 
 their toilsome pursuit had worn out both his intellect and his wealth. In 
 these sciences he was said to have bad for indefatigable pupils and co- 
 labourers his two daughters, who thus acquired their skill in drugs and 
 chemicals, and, if report might be trusted, in darker and criminal arts. 
 He left them extremely destUute, to all appearances, at his death, but it 
 was now generally believed that, although continuing to live in a state of 
 abject poverty, the sisters were possessed of great wealth — the profits of 
 their unearthly traffic, it was wonderful that, with this mingled repu- 
 tation, they had hitherto escaped the notice of the ecclesiastical tribunals 
 especially appointed to take cognizance of such delinquencies. It was 
 muttered that they had powerful though secret protectors, to whose 
 vengeance their accursed arts had been serviceable; and as everything 
 evil was supposed to have some natural alliance with the Borgias, it was 
 rumoured that the rapacious Datary himself had been several times 
 restrained from laying his inquisitorial hands upon them, by Csesar's in- 
 terposition. If so, they owed to science what might be considered to 
 counterbalance the great injury it had inflicted upon them in causing the 
 peculiar hideousness of their countenances and pei sons, for it was said 
 that the old physician, their father, by a failure in a wonderful elixir, 
 which he had concocted and given to their mother, in the confidence that 
 it would render her unborn olTspring extremely beautiful, caused her 
 death and the untimely birth of a pair uf frightful twins. 
 
 But Caesar's eye scarcely glanced over these fearful and disagreeable 
 objects, ere it rested on a form which, although not without a mixture of 
 the terrible in its beauty, displayed even in its disorder of apparel and 
 
{ 116 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ' look much to attract the gaze of the sensual Borgia. It was a woman of 
 
 fine stature, her features carved with the sculpturesque regularity which 
 Roman beauty still retains, and distinguished by a haughty and fiery 
 expression, suiting a descendant of the ancient masters of the world. She 
 was attired in a long black robe, girdled wilh a sdver serpent, loosened as 
 if to allow room for the tempestuous heavings of her bosom, whose purple 
 veins swelled full wilh every breath she drew. She lay in an attitude 
 at once expressive of enforced resignation and ravening impatience, 
 on the steps of the sarcophagus, gazing wildly around, starting at 
 every crackle or flash of the flames, sometimes upbraiding the hags with 
 the slow progress of the incantation, at others snatching up an open 
 volume beside her, emblazoned with strange figures and characters, 
 and reading in a distracted ami hurried tone the directions which ap- 
 parently it contained for the due performance of the spell. She had 
 dashed away her silver diadem, and the masses of large sable rings in 
 which her hair fell on her naked shoulders revealed and heightened iheir 
 perfect contour and whiteness. The expression of the countenance was 
 at once celestial and fiendish; the distortions of contending passions, 
 hope and despair, love and hatred, at limes rendered it diabolic with all 
 its great beauty, at others sunk il into what was perhaps its habitual cast 
 — that of the pride and supernatural melancholy of a fallen seraph. 
 
 " He comes not, he comes not, and ye do but mock me with your mad 
 mutterings and powerless herbs! " she exclaimed, as Caesar gazed. " He 
 is even now clasping his bride to his heart, and assuring her of his love, 
 and upbraiding his long absence from her arms, — and gives not a thought 
 — not a sigh— not one recollection to the all-abandoned Fiamma! And 
 why should he? What charm have I to lure him back! — what spell is 
 there in a beauty of which he was wearied ere he left me for accursed 
 France! — a beauty which sorrow, and disgrace, and infamy have ravaged — 
 ay, and time, and lime, and time— for I am aged with grief!— nay, and how 
 many years, think ye, lam older, friends, than this royal toy of Navarre.^" 
 "Nay, daughter, when thou art as old as INolte it will be time enough 
 to reckon years!" returned the dark-skinned sybil, lithening the stiff 
 folds of a viper in a blue oil, which cast out a noisome perfume as she 
 stirred it. " Fie, how the essence of wolf's bones stinks in the nostrils!" 
 " She is but seventeen summers old, and I have been miserable three 
 and twenty winters!" continued the lady, in atone of profound and utter 
 desolation. " No more, no more, my friends! Leave me to die; what 
 have I to do to live?" 
 
 "'Tis worth staying in this world were it merely to keep out of the 
 other, daughter!" said the beldame of the skeleton carcass in a strange 
 whistling voice, and with a grin which showed her while but deformed and 
 unnaturally numerous teeth. " But for beauty — when thou art as lean and 
 chapless asMorta -then mayest thou lament over thy vanished loveliness! " 
 " And wert thou of a fair presence once, Morta?" said Donna Fiamma, 
 gazing at her with wild and yet absent earnestness. 
 
 " As my sister yonder — before the Inquisition (curse on every stone of 
 it! ) seized me and famished me, hanging by one hand, with the tip of niy 
 foot but a bi-eath of air above the ground, to make me confess how I got 
 my livelihood!" replied the hag. " It was before Caesar's lime, lady, — 
 time out of mind, — and all who adjudged me arc in hell, whither my curses 
 conlinually follow them andslir the flames-, and lam here. But what can 
 repay me for being so withered and old before my time? " 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 117 
 
 And she looked with a malignant and envious leer at the beautiful 
 Roman, who certainly scarcely noticed that she was speaking, or only so 
 far as to understand that she ha.l ceased. 
 
 "Thou lying book, and still more lying prophet!" she exclaimed, 
 dashing the mysterious vohime from her. '' If the spell of love is over, 
 what is there in magic that can replace ils power? — But doth the traitor 
 think to trample on "me thus? — 0, Cajsarl thou hast made me a demon, 
 but look that I prove not one that shall tear its maker into pieces! " 
 
 The sisters looked at each other, exchanged smiles such as serpents 
 might give, and remused their toils. 
 
 A silence of some moments followed, during which Fiamma leaned her 
 burning cheek on her hand, and gazed with eager and devouring eyes 
 on the glowing sarcophagus. 
 
 "An emperor's dust is calcining there ; what can the pride of the Son 
 of Morning require more^" she said atlength, in a melancholy musing tone. 
 
 "I told thee, daughter, that the heart should be taken from a living 
 man, and not a dead deer !" said Morta, shaking her long skinny finger 
 emphatically at the contents of the skull. 
 
 "Thou t;ilkest now, indeed, mother, remorselessly as that death whose 
 name thou bearest!" said Fiamma, with a convulsive shudder. "We 
 have done all hitherto by the very letter and command of Dom Sabbat, 
 and the book he gave me." 
 
 "Dom Sabbat!"— for my part I would so great a master as he reports 
 himself would take the trouble and shame of his own failures!" said 
 Notte, peevishly, and looking for approbat'on to her sister, in whom she 
 recognised the superiority which her clearer intellect, sharpened and em- 
 bittered by sufferings and wrongs more terrible, conferred. 
 
 "Yea, sist'^r, we are not to blame if Borgia comes no nearer the Co- 
 lonnas to-night than entering their palace, in which a Colonna dare not 
 be found for his head !" returned the malignant crone. 
 
 " A Colonna ! a Colonna! Oh ! that there were any saint in heaven to 
 whom I dared shriek for mercy!" exclaimed the miserable lady, throw- 
 ing herself with violence on the sphinxes' steps in a tearless agony of 
 despair. 
 
 "Yield not thus hastily, daughter," said Notte, perhaps somewhat 
 touched or alarmed by the excess of this silent anguish. "Albeit we fail 
 with this spell of thy unknown Magus, we may do better with one of our 
 own which is in our father's books— the wisest and the greatest since 
 Zoroaster compelled the sun to stand still in heaven during a year of days 
 and nights!— Be but patient— patient— patient!" 
 
 "We must have a warm human heart— not a cold deer's!" said Morta, 
 contemptuously. 
 
 " Take your brass sickle, and tear out mine, for 'tis on fire in my 
 breast!" said Fiamma ravingly, and pointing to an instrument which, in 
 obedience to the traditions of the craft, the sisters used in gathering their 
 herbs. 
 
 Again they exchanged their mysterious but dreadful smile, and con- 
 tinued their labours in silence, interrupted only by the disconsolate sighs 
 and moanings of Fianjma. 
 
 At last, either wearied with these expressions of anguish, or that the 
 
 grand moment of projection had arrived, Morta made a sign to her sister. 
 
 " We must now burn the heart in naphtha and frankincense !" she said. 
 
 "Thou, daughter, put on the wreath of purple nightshade, and with bare 
 
118 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 feet, and scattering flowers, walk continually around the sarcophagus, 
 singing love-songs in a sweet and persuasive voice, until we bid you 
 desist, when he will appear, or Dom Sabbat, adept of the Arabian school 
 thou^h he be, is a fool and a liar I" 
 
 The Roman lady arose listlessly and despairingly, and while the hags 
 mumbled and assisted one another in preparing their drugs and fluids over 
 the fiery sarcophagus, she slowly and hopelessly collected a heap of flowers 
 in her arms, and bound her brows with the gloomy garland indicated by 
 the weird woman. Not a movement of this drama was lost upon the un- 
 seen spectator, and although it is probable that the passion which the 
 Roman beauty so wildly displayed for him excited rather his contempt 
 than emotion, the tvraniiical voluptuary could not be allugelher insensible 
 to its warmth. Still he resolved to mortify the sorceresses, and prove 
 the futility of their spell by not appearing until ihey had exhausted it, and 
 despaired of success. 
 
 The hags had now completed their preparation, and the heart appeared 
 surrounded by a pure flame of naphtha ; and while they continued heaping 
 it with frankincense, Fiamma commenced her perambulation, scattering 
 flov/ers,and singing with a voice which, however wild and troubled, was 
 of a passionate and melting harmony; and with a frenzied fervour that 
 gave her the aspect and inspired eflFnlgence of beauty which would 
 have befitted a Delphic sybil, she chaunted the following lines :— 
 
 THE INCANTATION. 
 
 By all tlie joys that Me have shared, 
 By all the wralli that we iiave dared, 
 By all we are— and should not be- 
 By the despair and ecstasy! 
 The anguish and inlolerable bliss 
 Of that moment— and of this!— ;, 
 
 By the guilt and the rapture, 
 The triumph and (he woe, 
 By the Heaven we have offended, 
 By the Hell that yawns below, 
 Come to the embrace which thou shouldst never linow! 
 
 Spirits, that do his behest 
 Whom our love pleases best! 
 Bear on some wooint; breeze 
 Thnughts which flood the soul like purple seas. 
 And burning memories of the times that were, 
 Like the all-melting warmth of sunset's golden air! 
 Bememher him how first we met! 
 Remember him— alas: who could forget,— 
 Tl e terror and delight 
 Of that Grst pressure-slight 
 As music ruffling the still waves. 
 
 When our lips trembled together, 
 Like two rosebuds in summer weather, 
 Fanned by warm wafts,— or waters that join their mutual laves! 
 Recall to him that moment which we dare not name, 
 When they met rielirioiislv, in mingling (lame, 
 Aiui all was lost but the delight without measure. 
 Which perished with its own excess of pleasure! 
 
 But if love may not move, 
 Nor all the untravelled tracks of joy we yet midil prove, 
 Yet— by the deep damnation we must share. 
 By our eternal despair, 
 Bv the doom which circles us in allwhere, 
 "Which is only hell when parted. 
 Albeit together broken-hearted!— 
 By the hatred in the eyes of men 
 Who smile.— but most do loathe us then, — 
 Come, come, come to mine arms. 
 By these, or by whatever are of more prevailing charms ! 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 119 
 
 As she sung, the voluptuous and affecting recollections kindled by her 
 words, the melody of her voice, her beauty, her despair, the intoxicating 
 vapour of the drugs, roused Caesar's passions into flame. In the delirium 
 
 and enthusiasm of returning love, — if love we may dare to call it 
 
 Caesar forgot all his determinations and desire to disappoint the beldame 
 sisters. He entered the winding hollow of the pillar, and turning round 
 and round with giddy rapidity, descended, and arriving at the exit at the 
 very instant when the flames of the naphtha expired, th"e song ceased, and 
 Fiamma had halted like a figure suddenly transformed into stnne,— he 
 leaped into the chamber. One wild shriek, and she had rushed into his 
 arms, while the hags, after a momentary pause of surprise, clapped their 
 withered hands in congratulation. Showers of tears, amidst wild 
 laughter, sobs, sighs, kisses delirious with passion and joy, a milliori 
 broken exclamations of delight and despair, love and reproach, embraces 
 which in their frantic ardour overstepped or despised all the limits of 
 female reserve, — betrayed the convulsive reaction in the soul of the de- 
 spairing sorceress. 
 
 "And didst thou deem any other spell necessary to lure me back to 
 thee, than the memory of thy beauty and our past happiness!" said Csesar, 
 when this sunny hail-shower had begun to slacken, and kissing away the 
 tears which continued to flow over the now crimsoning cheeks. 
 
 "Nay, ('ssar, nay! — I but desired to hear thee say thou hast not ut- 
 terly abandoned me, love!— to know that I am not altogether alone in the 
 universe in the presence of that God whom I have betrayed!" exclaimed 
 the hapless lady of Santanijelo. " Tell me but— but — that thou dost not 
 despise and loathe me as I do myself! Remember that although I have 
 lost all— I have lost all for thee! "Remember that I was the bride of Christ 
 —the daughter ofColonna, innocent, happy, loved,— remember what I 
 was once and am now, — a wretch under the malediction of Heaven and of 
 earth, — of the Celestial Spouse whom I have abandoned, — of the illus- 
 trious name 1 have darkened,— remember all the oaths thou hast broken, 
 — remember that— oh, what have I not suffered and lost for thee— and 
 can I, can I, Cfesar, forgive thee ever?— do aught but hate and curse thee, 
 and wear out my soul in imprecations on thy head ?" 
 
 ''Curse on, then, loveliest; for my part I will kiss!" said Caesar, re- 
 newing his caresses. " But dost thou too reproach me with my miseries, 
 for I trow ihy woman's frenzy is running now on this ill-starred and un- 
 ■v^'illing marriage of mine with the silly French girl oflVavarre?" 
 
 "Yes, trait'ir — yes, fathomless betrayer!" exclaimed Donna Fiamma, 
 with sudden fury, and tenring herself from his embrace. "And darest 
 thou with that unblushing front— thus carelessly — speak of that consum- 
 mation of all perfidy — that perjury unmatched-^which alone shall damn 
 thee below the blackest fiends of hell — the betrayers of a thousand gene- 
 rations of men? Villain, villain, villain! — is this thy pledge sworn by 
 oaths which made the stars turn pale,— that thou would make me thy 
 wife, — thy queen — the Empress of Italy?" 
 
 Notte smiled, and began mumbling in her teeth, but Morta bTeathlessIy 
 signed tj her not to interrupt a conversation so much to her malign and 
 misanthropic taste. 
 
 "J remember the occasion well," said Caesar, in a cajoling and yet iro- 
 nical tone. " Thou mindest me well, ray bright Fiamma I We were in 
 the vineyard of the gloomy Carmelites, where they had imprisoned thee; I 
 was the cardinalValentino then, thou wert the nun Maddelena ; I was leading 
 
120 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 thee to my ladder of ropes on the walls where good old Aliberto trained his 
 choicest figs for my lady abbess's own dish ; and thou wert as reluctant as 
 an it were leaving paradise, weeping and turningthy lustrous neck towards 
 the stony walls, what could 1 but promise? But was it for an intellect like 
 thine, which unites the greatest qualities of man's even with the mostpas- 
 sionate and wayward of woman's, to believe me, or to deem that Heaven 
 would ratify an "oath by which we swore to make us perjurers to itself?" 
 
 "But hell, at least"^ confirmed it, Csesarl— thou art absolved from thy 
 priestly shackles, — thou art on thy way, if thy soul quail not, to that empire 
 whichl was to have shared, — which a barbarian girl— sprung from the 
 deadliest enemies of Italy — the deepest-dyed in her hlooci — shall mount 
 with thee, it seems I" returned Fiamma, with a slight pause at the conclu- 
 sion, not unnoted by the subtle Borgia. 
 
 "Yea, Fiamma, yea, my soul's soull — 1 have mounted, and ever by 
 thy means, until my foot is now on the first round of empire!" he said, 
 fixing his eyes with a passionate and mournful expression on the lady. 
 "And wouldst thou dash me down again,— dispel the vision just as its 
 brightness is hardening into a reality as brilliant as if raised in solid 
 diamond ? And wherefore? — a woman's phantasy I — an unreasoning jea- 
 lousy fit only to be entertained by one of thy sex's common sort, above 
 whom thy glorious and heroic spirit set thee ever as a star over the 
 sparkles of a camp watch-fire, — who, indeed, might smile where thou wilt 
 weep to hear me say that, whoever properties this poor casket of my soul, 
 the gem is thine,— thine only, — and, despite of all appearances to the 
 contrary, never, for an instant, has it wavered in its faith to thee !" 
 
 "Art thou not this princess's husband?— Or what liars are those who 
 sent us the news of thy gorgeous nuptials in Orleans?" returned Fiamma, 
 wildly. "Traitor, traitorl — But I will not pass away without ray ven- 
 geance — and would that then 1 might sink into the nothingness from which 
 I have only been evoked to suffer!" 
 
 "What canst thou do, Fiamma?" said Caesar, smilingly. "If I had 
 feared thy vengeance on thy French rival, — if I had not known that see- 
 ing her thou wouldst know that my soul, which has been twined in fire 
 wilh thine, could not mingle with that watery jihantom's of vapour, — if I 
 had loved her, — deem you 1 had trusted her in this city, without com- 
 mands to keep thee in reality a prisonner, as thou art in name?" 
 
 "And art thou assured that ihy commands could have been obeyed! — 
 Have I not brought thee hither by a spell, thou cruel, thou unmerciful be- 
 trayer!" said Fiamma, with eyes that sparkled at once with tears and 
 fury. "And could not one of equal power belike have rescued me from 
 thy castle and thy myrmidons' clutch?" 
 
 " Now, by holy Peter ! I swear I do believe thou hast a spell — and one 
 irresistible !" returned Caesar, seizing the indignant beauty, and clutching 
 her, despite her struggles and wrath, in a fierce embrace. " But have I 
 not one over thee? — Dost them not love me, my Fiamma? — Hast thou not 
 lost heaven itself for me? — Art thou not the talisman of my power and of 
 my glory, for without thy love to reward, thy courage to prompt, thy zeal 
 to second, wore 1 not still a whining priest cursing the altars at which he 
 kneels ? Moreover, love, thou art so wholly mine that thou canst in no way 
 harm me without harming thyself a thousand-fold I" 
 
 " And deemest thou, Caesar, that I fear aui;ht which thy power, or thy 
 sire's, or all mankind's, can do against me?" said the laciy, with a smile 
 of supernatural despair. "What if 1 had yielded to the impulse that urged 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 121 
 
 me, as if with an angel's fiery sword, to rush out of my prison, and pro- 
 claim thy crimes in the presence of the whole Christian world, assembled 
 before St. Peter's tomb? — They would have believed me there I" 
 
 "What would they have believed ?—'Tis indeed not altogether incre- 
 dible in this land of Boccaccio, that a prie?t might err, or a youthful nun 
 discover that the blood in her veins flowed si-mething warmer than melt- 
 ing ice," said Caesar, tranquilly. " But thou knowest, shouldst thou ad- 
 ventui'e to revive that ancient charge against me, there is thine own con- 
 fession on record before the tribunal of the Holy Office, confirmed by the 
 pagan sultan, whose leman thou didst avow thyself, before so many wit- 
 nesses!" 
 
 "To shield thee from the just infamy of thy crime — to baffle the ven- 
 geance of my noble uncles— the brothers of my dead father I" replied 
 Fiamma, vehemently. "Oh, Prospero and Fabrizio! — what heavier ven- 
 geance need you imprecate on my guilty head I Oh, aged Colonna, my 
 grandsire, thy curse is now exhausted I Hopeless days and sleepless 
 nights .'• — remorse, and terror, and despair, and desolation for ever around 
 me I Oh, needed it this, thy last irrevocable treason, betrayer I to fill to 
 overflowing the cup of my bitterness?" 
 
 " Wherefore, then, didst thou not tarry with thy heathen saviour, as 
 thou wert wont to call the vile worshipper of Mahound, who gave thee 
 shelter in that troublous hour?" said C£e>ar, darkening into livid paleness, 
 "I trow, if all the truth were known, 1 had but little cause to laud myself 
 on his generosity in taking upon him a b'ame which nothing harmed liim, 
 and welcoming to his seraglio beauty like thine, while the storm rattled 
 over me alone, and no man was deceived, save the fool, perchance, who 
 trusted his treasure to the keeping of a robberl" 
 
 "Thou sayest not this, Csesar, as meaning it, — thou dost not, — thou 
 darest not I '"' said Fiamma, with rekindling fury. "And yet the noble. 
 Turk died — as those whom thou halest are wont to die I — Oh, if he pe- 
 rished by thy treachery, and not by thy father's cruelty and avarice sold 
 to the imperial murderer, his brother, — why then, Caesar, why then I — 
 But 'tis impossible! — Oh, God? let this at least be impossible! —And yet 
 thou hadst a brother, too; once!— Csesar ! I but desired thy presence to 
 tell thee how I haled, loathed, despised thee! — to bid thee farewell for 
 ever!" 
 
 " Shall we remove the image, daughter, or close it up in the marble, 
 asDom Sabbat bade us, to preserve thy lover ever loving, and bring him 
 continually back to thine arms like a bird to its nest ?" said Morta, with 
 a hideous grin of scorn and malice, her serpent eyes overflowing with 
 fiendish delight and cunning. 
 
 "Pardon me, gorgon mothers, for not previously baring my head to 
 your fury ships I — But what sayest thou, love ! — my own Fiamma !— what 
 shall the grisly mothers do?" said Csesar, gazing with eyes fraught with 
 fire on his beautiful victim. 
 
 Shame and passion, pride and disdain struggled for some instants in 
 her haughty bosom, and alternately whitened and crimsoned her gor- 
 geous complexion, like the rose and snowy lights of an Alpine sunset. 
 But it was not hard to predict which emotion would triumiih in the tem- 
 pestuous spirit of the fond Italian, and sinking in an agony of shame and 
 love in the betrayer's arms, the weird sisters seemed to need no further 
 instructions. While Ca?sar poured fortii a torrent of passionate assu- 
 rances and loving upbraidings of her doubts, they proceeded, by the 
 
122 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 operation of some unseen mechanical agency, muttering divers recondite 
 spells, to cover the sarcoph;igus with a lid which seemed to belong to it. 
 When this was completed, Notte melted some lead in an earthern pot of 
 naphtha, atid they proceeded to solder it up^ with many additional rites 
 and ceremonies. 
 
 "Thou triunjphest, Ca)sar, thou triumphest !— But, man, thou art 
 mistaken in me ! — I desire henceforth to be only thy friend,— thy coun- 
 sellor if thou wilt,— but lover never more!" she said, starting up with a 
 new outbreak of womanly wrath and shame. " Lc3ave nie now, my heart 
 is sufficiently comforted. I have seen thee— I know thou dost not hate 
 me!— 'Tis enough ; return to thy bride— to thy home— leave me to my 
 despair— to my lonely anguish ! — 1 will watch thee to thy palace from my 
 towers,— and as the last torch vanishes in its gates, Ishall know that 
 although thy bride stand there to meet thee, thou art remembering that 
 in those halls of my fathers, thou didst first behold me, an innocent child 
 at my grandsire's feet— wreathing a garland of flowers in my careless joy 
 to deck the gray hairs which 1 was to bring with sorrow and disgrace to 
 the tomb !" 
 
 Even Csesar Borgia was touched with this melancholy recollection. 
 
 "Nay, loveliest!— my first and only love!— even by the memory of 
 that delicious past! I will not leave thee till thou hast sworn to love me as 
 faithfully and wholly as then!" he said, vehemently, "And hear me, 
 when in return 1 sweai- to thee, by all my hopes of sovereignty and ven- 
 geance ! — the moment the necessity of keeping the favour of the detested 
 French is over, I will send them their foolish gewgaw back, and keep to 
 to thee far, far more than ever I have sworn, and "thou, indeed, shalt be 
 my wife, my queen, my empress, and share with me the diadem of Italy!" 
 
 Weeping, but listening not unsoothedly to the flattering sounds, Fianima 
 murmured some scarcely articulate words to the busy hags, to which, 
 however, they nodded assent. With an irresolute glance at Csesar, she 
 yet suffered him to follow her in the ascent of the pillar, but so rapidly 
 she went, that not being accustomed to its giddy gyrations, he was left 
 considerably m the rear. On 'reaching the summit, he was surprised to 
 find Migueloto therewith a torth, — but Fiamma had vanished. 
 
 " Where is Donna Fiamma?' — Hast thou not seen her pass, Migueloto?" 
 he exclaimed. 
 
 "My lord, no!" returned the captain, much startled. "Yet I have 
 been awaiting your excellency here a tedious hour." 
 
 "But this is strange!" said Csesar, with a momentary feeling of su- 
 perstitious awe. " It would almost seem that she hath discovered the 
 secret of walking invisible! — And, in truth, there must needs be some 
 magic in her spell, for scarcely in the maddest days of my love for her, 
 did her coyish pranks so irk me as now ! 1 will not leave the castle till 
 I have found her." 
 
 " 'Tis looking for a seed in a pomegranate, my lord, if she is bent to 
 the contrary." said Don Migueloto. "And I must needs remind your 
 grace, that the great company which awaits to welcome you to your new 
 palace, have already surpassed all patience in their courteous atten- 
 dance. " 
 
 " State aff'airs— state affairs— thou knowest, captain, have detained us! 
 Lend me thy torch, this capricions girl shall not thus sport with the flames 
 she sets to the hearts of others !" returned the chief, impatiently; and 
 snatching the torch, he began his explorations with an eagerness and 
 
CvESAR BORGIA. 123 
 
 perseverance which was long before it yielded to Migueloto's convictions 
 of their uselessness. It was easily ascertained that she could not have 
 retired to her own apartments, for none of the sentinels, whom she must 
 have passed, had seen the least signs of such an apparition. 
 
 "She hath indeed discovered a spell which, by our Lady! had she 
 known earlier, might have kept me enslaved much longer than as it 
 befel ?" said the duke, at last, with mingled vexation and emotion. " But 
 look to it, captain, that I find her in sight at my next visit, — or I shall 
 deem thou art in the trick too ! And bid her summon her Dom Sabbat, 
 — or rather mine, — for he must needs be of some wonderful skill, in a 
 science in which I am curious— no more ! So stare not with thy stony 
 eyes — but learn to obey without thinking too much on what thou hast but 
 to put in act." 
 
 And with this admonition, Csesar unwillingly prepared to quit the 
 fortress. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 . " Va col pensier cercando in inille modi 
 
 Non creder quel cti'al suo dispe to crede." — Ariosto. 
 
 And wlih a thousand crafty turns of thought. 
 He strives not to believe what still he must. 
 
 Meanwhile the canon hastened to the Orsini palace, sorrowfully revolving 
 the obstinacy of his young lord, but not altogether discontent to be out of 
 the way ofthe perils in which his strange purposes were likely to involve 
 him. After the destruction of the Colonna family, the Orsini had un- 
 doubtedly become the chief of the Roman nobility, a preeminence for which 
 they had struggled for ages with that house. And now, enriched with a 
 large portion of the plunder of the Colonnas, and by their numerous 
 alliances and possessions, equalling many ofthe inferior princes of Italy, 
 the wonder liiat they should resist the power ofthe Borgias, changes into 
 one, that the Borgias could make head against theirs. 
 
 But little was wanting to make the grandeur of the Orsini sovereign. 
 The immense circuit of their palace, and the contiguous district, were 
 crowded with their armed adherents. Numerous bands of foreign mer- 
 cenaries surrounded them, and the followers of several ofthe great barons 
 by whose aid they had so successfully resisted the attempts of Caesar, now 
 swelled their usual force to that of an army. Among these, the canon 
 found the burly Vitello/zo, and a company more congenial to his refined and 
 intellectual tastes in the persons and retinues of Pier de' Medici, and Guido- 
 baldo. duke of Urbino, one ofthe m.ost distinguished guests, whose little 
 court was then famous as the Athens of Italy, and who possessed a princi- 
 pality, the strength and remoteness of which had enabled its possessors 
 for ages to refuse all but a nominal submission to the Holy See. The duke 
 was rendered yet more obnoxious to Alexander personally, as the nephew 
 of his most bitter and active enemy, the cardinal Julian dellaRovere, after- 
 wards pontiff under the name of Julius II. 
 
 The canon was received by the Orsini with the cordiality due to one of 
 the deliverers of their heir, and deep regret was expressed by all at the de- 
 termination of the Knight of St. John, although with a somewhat enforced 
 warmth by Paolo himself. The chief branches of this great family now 
 consisted ofthe Dukeof Cravina, his brother, the Archbishop of Florence, 
 
124 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 and two sons, beside Paolo, one of whom was a cardinal, the other a young 
 and delicate boy. The duke and his brother might be taken as the last 
 representatives of an order of tliinn;s, which was rapidly passing away. 
 Tlie former, a man well stricken in years, but still animated by fierce pas- 
 sions, ignorant and superstitious, despotic, proud, and revengeful, but 
 lavishly generous to his followers and dependents, lofty and implacable to 
 his enemies, ferociously fervid in favour of his friends, heedless of the right 
 or wrong in their cause, embodied many of the characteristics, good and 
 evil, of the great feudal noble of the filteenth century. The archbishop 
 was a prelate much more skilled in the lance than in the breviary, and 
 being dispossessed of the revenues of his bishopric with his kinsfolk, the 
 Medici, spent the greater part of his life in active and persevering labours 
 to restore them in Florence •, and being endoved with a very sanguine, 
 restless, and courageous disposition, was not one of the least formidable 
 of the enemies of the republic. 
 
 The sons of the Duke of Gravina, on the other band, represented the 
 passing and the approaching era. The Lord Paolo, fraught with the same 
 violent passions, but governing them by a finer reason, and modified in 
 manners by the refined tastes which began to prevail ; his brother, the 
 cardinal, learned, polished, ambitious, and intriguing, represented thenew 
 generation, while the young Fabio, studious, melancholy, and gentle, 
 somewhat shadoved forth that weaker but more elegant and calm age which 
 was to succeed. Traces of the approaching changes appeared even in the 
 military household of the Duke of Gravina ; artists and scholars of various 
 pretensions mingled with the brawling soldiery who crowded it; and dis- 
 cussions of philoso])hy and Arcadian contentions in verse made themselves 
 heard amidst the din of arms. Brutal mercenaries, refined poets, gorgeous 
 painters, plotting exiles, intriguing ecclesiastics, composed groups in which 
 might be discerned a fair epitome of the times. 
 
 The opinions which Bembo entertained on the subject of the projected 
 alliance between his prince and the daughter of the Borgias, which had 
 been much deepened by the sight of her surpassing beauty, were not likely 
 to meet with any check in the society with which he now mingled. The 
 Orsini and their guests were alike absorbed in the hopes and fears which 
 the alliance prompted. Ambition in the Duke of Gravina, and desire to 
 secure his house from the destruction menaced by the Borgias, made the 
 thought ever uppermost in his mind. The confederate barons regarded 
 it as the only durable cement of the new peace and of their own power 5 
 and the alliance was especially dear on that account to the Duke of Ur- 
 bino, whose love of learned leisure and of the arts, personal infirmities, 
 and great possessions, rendered him the most unwilling to engage in 
 broils, and the most likely to be assailed by them. 
 
 The canon was somewhat surprised at Sir Reginald's demeanour on 
 learning the resolution of his illustrious brother-in-arms. It seemed that 
 he admired his unshaken determination against the projected alliance; 
 but in speaking of it, he so marvelled at Alfonso's ability to refuse such 
 happiness, and launched into praises so passionate of Lucrezia's beauty, 
 that Bembo laughingly bade him remember that love in Italy was not of 
 the slow growth of the north. The knight's martial visage suffused like 
 that of a young maiden, and Bembo thought more of his own words than 
 at first he had. But the light shade of suspicion vanished, when he ob- 
 served the warmth of the friendship which the frank and undissembling 
 northman had contracted with Paolo Orsino. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 125 
 
 Two or three days intervened before the opening of the jubilee, and 
 meanwhile the Hospitaller began to imagine that in coming to Rome for 
 evidence against Lucrezia, he was likely to find his labour in vain. Vague 
 rumours, indeed, he encountered similar to those which had already pre- 
 judiced him so strongly against her; but very strangely all this darkness 
 which surrounded Lucrezia seemed only to give a contrast which height- 
 ened the splendour of her brilliant qualities, and the interest which her 
 beauty and talents universally created. The Roman populace, with a 
 species of that enthusiasm for all that is illustrious, v»hich they have pre- 
 served among the few relics of their glory, idolized her for the mere per- 
 fection of her person; and, moreover, believed that to her they owed the 
 paternal mildness of the rule, with which Alexander had replaced the 
 ruthless tyranny of the barons. It seemed impossible to discover any 
 tangible proof, or even clue to one ; all that was certainly known was in 
 Lucrezia's favour. 
 
 The Knight of St. John did not often see Sir Reginald during this in- 
 terval, partly at his own desire, and partly because the latter was deeply 
 engaged in warlike exercises with the Lord Paolo, who earnestly desired 
 to shine before his mistress in a tournament, which was to be given among 
 the other rejoicings of the festival. The knights of England and of France 
 surpassed those of all other countries in the science of these military pas- 
 times, and Le Beaufort, as might be expected in one of such strength and 
 agility, trained to arms, and delighting in little else from his childhood, 
 was of amazing dexterity in all exercise of the body. Alfonso had also 
 been his pupil, and owed much of his skill to the young tramontane's 
 instructions. But iMesser Bembo presented himself as frequently as the 
 prince would permit, and always with some new insinuations in favour 
 of Lucrezia. Among the rest he had discovered that she was a poetess, 
 and in the little poems which Pier de' Medici and others of the guests in 
 the Orsiui palace ascribed to her, there breathed a strange mixture of vo- 
 luptuousness and melancholy, tenderness and gaiety, that but for the ge- 
 neral shadow which was indefinably visible over all, the Hospitaller would 
 have thought it impossible that so dark a spirit could give utterance to 
 phantoms so radiantly coloured, and dancing in pleasurable light. 
 
 Apprehending that among the multitude of strangers whom he might 
 expect to encounter, some one would recognise him, Alfonso rigidly 
 adhered to his monkish costume, the hood of which enabled him to con- 
 ceal his ounlenance without exciting attention. The austerity of his ge- 
 neral co;;duct authorised this strictness in observing the rules of his 
 order, which, in that age of dissolution and license n)ight else have chal- 
 lenged suspicion. And thus he spent his time, restlessly wandering 
 about the great city and its ruins, striving in vain, although a scholar, and 
 fraught with the grand historical recollections which haunt all ils circuit, 
 to take an interest in what he beheld, and rather distracted than amused 
 with the Babel-like confusion of nations, languages, and costumes which 
 surrounded him. 
 
 The days immediately preceding the opening of the jubilee w^ere devoted 
 by the pilgrims to solemn and penitential devotion, confession, and ihe 
 fulfilment of various vows. The stairs of St. Peter were continually 
 crowded with devotees, who spent whole days in ascending them on 
 their knees, uttering a certain number of prayers on each stt'p, persons of 
 the highest rank, and especially women, b>_'ing of the number. But it 
 raised strange thoughts on the depravity of tbe times, to witness how con- 
 
126 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 tinuilly the confessional of the grand Penitentiary was entered by masked 
 personages, though prof.'ssedly instituted for the audience of crimes of a 
 magnitude beyond ail the extensive )XJ\versof absolution confided to the 
 clergy in general. On this subject Alfonso took a new and extraordinary 
 interest when he heard that the office was exercised by the Dominican 
 confessor of Donna Lucrezia. lie conceived a project which was in keep- 
 ing with Ihe characteristics of the Italian mind, but which was probably 
 not uninfluenced by the superstitious feehng to which the associations of 
 his whole life had subjected even the powerful intellect of the Prince of 
 Fcrrara. 
 
 The thought occurred to him that he would seek the presence of the 
 Penitentiary, and confess the horrors which filled his mind under pretence 
 of learning whether such suspicions against the pontiff, although involun- 
 tary, were an offVnce against the church. The look or even gestures of 
 the confessor of Lucrezia might throw more light than any words he was 
 likely to reply. Accordingly, enveloped in his mantle and hood, the 
 Knight of St. John went to St. Peter's, in which the Penitentiary held his 
 dark sessions. It was the eve of the jubilee, and at the hour of vespers. 
 The area of the basilica was filled with a vast and silent crowd, absorbed 
 in their devotions, and the only light was bestowed by the evening sun 
 duskily illuminating the eniblazoned windows, or the glimmer of distant 
 shrines hung with black, and attended each by its group of ministering 
 priests. 
 
 The Penitentiary's station was in the subterraneous chapel, in which 
 is the tomb of St. Peter — the very loadstone of devotion throughout the 
 Christian world. Standing among a number of penitents in a dark vault 
 before the shrine, the scene within was only occasionally visible to Alfonso, 
 when the bronze gate opened for the exit or entrance of some of those 
 heavily laden sumers. The tomb was stripped of its costly ornaments, and 
 lighted only by the torches of some monks, each of a different nation, 
 whose office it was to interpret to the Penitentiary whenever occasion 
 arose. These torches gave the dusk and mournful light suiting the place 
 of sepulchre of martyred saints On the tomb itself stood an urn of black 
 marble, beneath which was an alabaster tablet, on which were engraven 
 the bull declaring the jubilee, and the conditions of penance and prayer 
 to enable the faithful to obtain its benefits. The devotion and infinite 
 variety of the pilgrims was evinced by the great heap of coins of the 
 mintage of almost all the European nations, and of all metals, fronigold to 
 lead, which were piled before the shrine. Immediately below this 
 treasury, in a coarse wooden chair, sat tlie Penitentiary— his hands 
 clasped rigidly together, and his usually stern and pale visage overspread 
 with a darker haze of its habitual gloonj. 
 
 While Alfonso was anxiously awaiting his turn to be admitted to the 
 presence of the Penitentiary, the gates of the confessional suddenly opened, 
 and a female form glided out. She was closely veiled, and in his ab- 
 sorption of mind, Alfonso might scarcely have noticed her, but for the 
 singular intensity of the gaze with which the Dominican followed her 
 retreating figure. Glancing at the lady, a vague suspicion crossed 
 Alfonso's mind that she was'not altogether unknown to him. It seemed, 
 too, that the lady paused, as if involuntarily, and with a gesture of sur- 
 prise, but almost simultaneously she quickened her step, and has- 
 tened out. 
 
 To verify this doubt, however, became a matter of such eager curiosity 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 127 
 
 t(^ the Knight of St. John, that he abandoned his first project, and followed 
 the fair coufessionist in her hurried exit. Keeping at some distance in 
 the rear to prevent suspicion, he watched the lady down the aisles into a 
 side chapel, and concludnig that she had entered to perform sume devo- 
 tional exercise, he determined lo await her return at the poital. A consi- 
 derable time elapsed when, growing impatient, he entered the chapel. 
 He found it hung with black, with an altar in the centre dimly illuminated, 
 near which was the tomb of a former pontiff of the Borgian name, 
 Calixtus III. Some priests were engaged in chaunting a funeral mass at 
 the aliar; and the veiled lady was kneeling before it. apparently absorbed 
 in devotion, or in some stronger feeling, for Alfonso heard her sob when 
 she attempted to articulate in the responses to the solemn and pathetic 
 litany which the Catholic church consecrates to the dead. But Alfonso's 
 observation was immediately checked. A verger came forward upon 
 those soundless shoes which all vergers seem to have, and mildly in- 
 formed him that the lady, Donna Lucrezia, had commanded that no one 
 should be admitted during the performance of the mass for the repose of 
 the soul of her murdered brother, the Duke of Candia. 
 
 " Ay, she is afraid that men will note the strange excess of her grief — 
 she whose offences are, even in her own opinion, of a dye to call for the 
 cleansing hand of the Penitentiary himself I" mused Alfonso bitterly, as he 
 retired ; and persuading himself that he was much pleased with this 
 shadow of confirmation, he returned with a somewhat laggard step to his 
 projected interview with the Dominican. But as he arrived in the church, 
 which was now nearly in darkness, he heard a distant chaunt, and saw a 
 procession approaching down the centre aisle ; and by the torches which 
 they carried he distinguished a number of Dominicans, with the banner 
 of the Inquisition borne among them, a red cross in a black field, bearing 
 the motto — 
 
 " In hoc signo vinces. " 
 
 Among them, and seemingly as the principal personage, came Fra Bruno. 
 The gloom and austere melancholy of his countenance was strongly con- 
 trasted by the round and jovial features of the monk, who, according to 
 the custom of religious orders, was the Dominican's special companion. 
 If a hero is seldom one to his valet-de-chambre, familiarity seemed in 
 nowise to have diminished the reverence of the theologian's attendant, 
 who followed him with the respectful admiration and awe due to a superior 
 being. 
 
 To the increased disappointment of the Knight of St. John, the procession 
 w'as joined as it advanced by a number of noblemen and dignitaries civil 
 and religious, among whom were the three conservatori, as the principal 
 magistrates of Rome, under the Senator, were styled. A guard ofpikemen 
 belonging to these magistrates, waited at the entrance of the basilica, 
 who surrounded the procession when it arrived, and escorted it through 
 the crowd in the square below towards the bridge of Santangelo, attended 
 by a great multitude. The observations of the bystanders soon explained 
 the meaning of this scene to the Hospitaller. 
 
 " ril to the (ihetto, and hear him preach to the infidel dogs of Jews I" 
 exclaimed one. 
 
 " They say he will preach in Hebrew, for he has the gift of the tongues 
 like the Apostles I" said another. 
 
 " I marvel the holy father thinks it worth his while to trouble about the 
 souls of Jews I" said an old besear. 
 
128 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " He is sufficient to convert the fiends in hell!— 0, my brethren, what 
 an honour it is Ihat our order should have produced such a saint on earth !" 
 said a Dominican among tlie crowd. 
 
 " In trotli, it is said ye lead him the life of one!" said the deformed 
 tailor, who happened to be at hand. " Yet some report it is not by the 
 good will of his brethren that he was not long ago translated above !" 
 
 The laugh at this sarcastic allusion to the jt^alousies by no means unu- 
 sual among those who ought least to entertain them, had scarcely sub- 
 sided, ere a rough voice yelled out — "What avails preaching to the 
 murderers of our Lord? Fur my part, I would set the whole Jewry in a 
 blaze, and burn them root and branch in it!" 
 
 " 11 is always usual to preach to them on the great vigils of the church, 
 and what is greater than the Jubilee? — besides, they pay notable fines 
 for exemptions," said an officer of the Datary's chamber. 
 
 " I fear 'lis a composition with Antichrist !" returned a personage who 
 from his garb might beafamiliar of the Inquisition. 
 
 He who had proposed the root and branch measure turned with eager 
 approval to the functionary, but on observing his costume, immediately 
 dived into the crowd like a fish into the water. The Hospitaller had 
 scarcely time to take a glance at this violent specimen of Christian zeal; 
 but in that brief view he was much struck with his appearance. He was 
 a man past the middle age, with the sallow complexion of a peasant of 
 the Marshes, to which his costume answered. His broad hat, garnished 
 with many-coloured ribands, was drawn over his visage, but not suffi- 
 ciently to conceal the ghastly scars with which it was disfigured. His 
 lurking suspicious eye, and the peculiar manner with which, from habit, 
 he carried his short cloak drawn over his breast, as if to conceal the naked 
 stiletto, convinced the knight that, whatever he might assume to be, he 
 was one of those blackest of the scourges of Italy which the license of 
 the times had rendered fearfully numerous^ — the banditti and bravoes. 
 
 Scarcely bestowing more than a thought on so usual an evidence of 
 social disorder, the Hospitaller passed on without noticing that he himself 
 had attracted at least equal attention from the worthy described. Being 
 now aware of the direction in which he was certain to find the Dominican, 
 Alfonso determined not to follow his train through the quarter which led to 
 the Ghetto, to which indeed the multitude offered serious obstacles, only 
 allowing room for the monk's retinue in reverence to him, and by painfully 
 compressing one another; but to hire a boat which would probably convey 
 him to the scene of action as speedily as those who went by land through 
 so many obstructions, though the river wound considerably. He took his 
 way down a narrow lane which descended to the Tiber in a precipitous 
 slope, and gave the usual whistle. Only one little boat appeared, whose 
 owner seenitd to be asleep in despair of custom, for it was not until the 
 whistle was repeated more shrilly that he set his oars in motion, and 
 came slowly over the water. 
 
 It was one of those barques common on the Tiber, used in transporting 
 fruit and vegetables and other light merchandize. It was built on a pattern 
 probably in use in the days of the first Tarquin. A slender bowsprit of 
 some supple wood, nearly double the length of the boat, lay across a little 
 mast, with its canvass ready to be spread for shelter against the sun, or to 
 catch any favouring breeze. The prow was high and curved, and orna- 
 mented with rude carvings, the rudder broad, and the oars of classical 
 squatness and breadth. The old man himself who rowed it seemed dried 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 129 
 
 and hiirdened by exposure and toil into a kind of wood, but that the 
 expression of discontent and gloom in his visage belonged but too much 
 to flesh. 
 
 The knight stepped into this barque without exchanging a word with 
 his equally laconic Charon, until having tnken his place at the rudder, he 
 said "' Tothe Ghetto!" The boatman iramt'diately splashed in his oars, 
 and they were fairly out in the stream ere the knight observed that there 
 was a third passenger — and no other than the assumed peasant of the 
 Marshes. 
 
 " What dost thou here, fellow?— The boat is mine for the nonce," said 
 the Hospitaller, not without a start of unpleasant surprise. 
 
 The peasant replied in a rude and broken dialect, that he besought his 
 reverend lordship's pardon, but as a Christian anxious to hear the confu- 
 tation of the Jews out of their own books, he implored to be allowed to ac- 
 company him. 
 
 The knight mused for an instant; but considering the determined man- 
 ner of the rufQin, which gave the humility of his phrase a tinge of 
 mockery, the doubtful nature of his own suspicions, and of the boatman's 
 appearance, he desisted from his first intention, which was to throw his 
 follower overboard. 
 
 " But thou shalt not have thy passage for thanks," he said, hitting upon 
 an ingenious [dan to obviate any sudden danger from the lurking right 
 hand. '' Take a pair of oars, and help the old man on, or I tell thee 
 plainly, good brother pilgrim, one of us two must leave the wood for the 
 water." 
 
 A slight shuffling of the hand in the cloak seemed to indicate that the 
 Hospitaller's suspicions were not w-ithout foundation. At all events, the 
 movement of sheathing a weapon would have produced a similar sound. 
 But the man obeyed without apparent hesitation, and thus reinforced, the 
 boat shot rapidly down the stream. 
 
 The knight's observation never in reality wandered from the persons 
 of his rowers, but he affected to survey the shores on each side with the 
 curiosity of a stranger. On one was the thronij;pd and thickly built piles 
 of the ancient city, on the other the Janiculan Hill with its solitary palaces 
 and immense gardens. The moon shining in a sky of silvery blue, 
 speckled with little purple clouds, revealed the distant magnificence of 
 the Vaticany and suffered the gaze to expand even to the remote swell of 
 the Apennines. 
 
 By degrees the shores widened into the elbow-like bend of the Tiber 
 below the Capitoline, and the Island of St. Bartholomew appeared. 
 Beyond that, the river takes another deep curve, bathing the base of the 
 mountain of ruins — the Aventine. Even from that distance, colossal relics 
 of ancient grandeur — shattered walls— naked porticoes— wildernesses of 
 broken arches and solitary columns— could be discerned amidst the woods 
 and wild vegetation, which had arisen as if to re-assert their ancient pos- 
 session of the deserted site. The impressed oarsman did little to exrite 
 farther suspicion, and both he and the old boatman plied their task manfully 
 — until suddenly, as if by consent, they dropped their oars, and both began 
 to mutter a Pater Noster. In spite of this pious exordium, the knight's 
 suspicions would have vented themselves in some positive form, if he had 
 not observed that the boatman and the peasant both stopped short, and 
 looked at each other with surprise. 
 
 "Hast thou a vow to St. Bartlemv too, brother?" said the boatman, 
 
 9 
 
130 CiCSAR BORGTA. 
 
 spcnking nearly for iho fir.-,tlime since he had received bis passengers on 
 board. 
 
 " i\;iv, brother, bul here Uv. ills thf>y say is the great, mouth of the city 
 sinks, down which so many dfad Ch'-istians h .iirly fl^al, that I ihou-ht 
 it a gnod di ed to prav fur^he soul of any that may now he cimmig," 
 rejihcd the- disguised bravo, as hf tnopf than ever seemed lo D m Alfonso. 
 
 •'And hereabouts b.-gaii my ill luck, fur ever since I saw the Duke of 
 Gandia's body ipoor genti. man !) thrown into the river yonder, I have 
 been shunned"^ like the pestilence, hy all but strangers whom St. Bartlemy 
 occasionally sends to keep me from star\ation," said the boatman, 
 dismally. "No Uoman will he seen in my boat, lest the nmrdercrs should 
 believe'that I am giving inklintis as to their persons and qualities, when 
 heaven knows, if 1 can guess at either I" 
 
 "Art thou sure of that, old man?— His holiness would not tell the gold 
 with which he would repay such intelligence as might ^uide his ven- 
 geance?" returned the peasant of the Marshes, in a pure Roman dialect, 
 and he drew himself with a sudden slide towards the o'.d man, gazing at 
 him eaucrlv, and putting his hand again in his cloak. But ere an\ ell'ect 
 could follow this gesture, the Knighfof St. John S[)rang forward, and with 
 a sudden exertion of his great strength, fairly heaved the peasant over- 
 board I 
 
 "My lordl would you murder the man?" exclaimed the boatman, 
 staring aghast. 
 
 " 11 he be a peasant of the Marshes, they are ail as good for water as 
 land,— if not, he is some assassin, who is as well below, to keep com- 
 pany perchance with some of his sending there I" replied the Hospitaller. 
 "What is this he hath left behind him ?— Is this stiletto thine, old man?" 
 
 "Oh, blessed Bartlemy, no!" exclaimed the boatman, raising the 
 weapon as cautiously as I'f he were picking up a serpent " But, as I 
 think, 1 have seen Just such a one hanging at the belt of John of the 
 Catacombs, ere he and his bravoes were banished by the good Cardinal of 
 
 Sienna I" • , • . . 
 
 "Would, then, I had an arquebuss or bow, for yonder is his head 
 dotting up in the water— now under again, like a water duck's— as if he 
 feared" a bolt!" said the knight. "He is making for the reeds in the 
 island^ but so much the bette'^r do I think of thee for his mislike, that I 
 will myself tuu at the oar— so have with you !" 
 
 "Ah, my lord, I was not once so gloomy a man as to make people 
 misdoubt nie, but as full of my songs and cheer as another,' returned the 
 boatman. " But every thing'has gone wrong with me since that night — 
 that night!— and all for being so tired, that 1 forgot to say my devotion to 
 the Saint of the Ship!" 
 
 By the latter name, the unlucky boatman designated the island of the 
 Tiber, which in those navs, still preserved a resemblance to the form in 
 which the fantastic magnificence of the republic had thrown it. 
 
 "But how chanced \t! — Tell me the story, for it hath been variously 
 bruited in the noithern countries of Italy, whence thy Roman ear has long 
 since advised thee I come?" said the knight, with an anxiety which he 
 carefully suppressed in his tones. 
 
 "Why. you must know, signer, it was some such night as this, only it 
 was on a W'ednesday, but I speak now of the weather," said the old man, 
 his suppressed sorrows suddenly bursting into garrulity. " 1 had unload- 
 ed my wood on the shore yonder, near the Jewish quarter, and was 
 
C.«SAR BORGIA. |31 
 
 restinc; mysolf in tbo serene of the iiii>lit, in my boat, ^s well as T could 
 for the Wrtt'-h I was bound to kt'e|), tlint nobody else should loud hiniSflf 
 with what I had unloaded ; and, by the whiti-uing of the stars, it mi"ht 
 have been about midnight, when I shw — (would to all the saints 1 had 
 been asleep, as many a time that night a good angel sirove to lull me, 
 with the calmest sounds thai ever I heard of wind and water \) when 1 saw, 
 corning out of the lane, to the left of the church of San Giroiamo (oia pro 
 nie!) two men on the open square— on foot— who. by iheir skulking 
 i manner, and going backward and forward, showed that they were only 
 [ there to And out if there was anybody else." 
 
 " Have YOU no recollection of their persons?" interrupted the knight, 
 eagerly. 
 
 '•' By our Lady I— but one was very like yon rogue, whom I hope your 
 lordship has sunk I" said the old man, pleased with the interest bis tale 
 excit"d. " The other, by his voice and st;ff gait, might be a Spaniard, — 
 but ihey both wore black masks. Having explored in every direction, 
 and seeing not a living soul, (for yonr lordship may believe, I dared 
 scarcely move under the sail with which I had covered me against the 
 dew,) they returned up the same lane Shortly alter, two others came 
 Old, who used a like diligence, and finding nothing new, gave a signal, 
 which seemed to summon their companions; for out of the lane eame, 
 first, a man upon a dapple grey horse, who carried on the crupper the 
 body of a dead man, the head and arms hanging on one side, and the 
 feet'^on the other; and the two men who had come in the first place to 
 see how the land lay, propped it on each side, lest it should hustle otf. 
 
 "These three came forward to the river (the » ther two remaining to 
 guard the street); and just above the arches of the sewers, he who was 
 on horseback turned the crupper to the water, and the two who were on 
 each side of him seized the dead carcass, one by the arms, the other by 
 the legs, and after swinging it backward and forward once or twice, for 
 the better purchase, they tossed it headlong into the water. Then he who 
 was on horseback inquired of them, whether 'it was thrown?' without 
 turning his head, as if to shun the horror of the sight; but when they 
 rofilied, 'signor, yes:' he whirled the horse round, and turned bis face 
 to the river." 
 
 "And his face! — Dost thou not remember it?— Some dim view thou 
 must needs have caught of it?" said the knight, so breathlessly agitated 
 that the old man [lanscd and seemed affrighled. 
 
 " I have already told your excellence, and so may Saint Bartlemy send 
 me bread or not, 1 dared' not look at it, lest the horseman's eye, 'which 
 blazed like a coal, should meet mine — for there is a strange sonif thmg in 
 eyes, signor, that men always feel when they are looked at I But seeing 
 the dead man's mantle float on the waters, lie asked, what black thing 
 tliat was, swimming? Whereupon one answered — one answered — " 
 
 ".\nd what? " exelainu'd the impatu'nt Hospitaller. 
 
 ''Heaven forgive me if it comes not oft-n into my memory, that he said 
 ' Eminence,— the mantle I ' — But, no, it must have been Excellence, — 
 ' Excellence, the mantle I' Ay, it was Excellence! " said the old man 
 confusedly. " Whereupon one of them threw a heap of heavy stones 
 up(jn it, which made it smk to the bott')m ; and whei; there was no longer 
 a bubble to be seen, tliey were all turningaway whenagirl came shrieking 
 down the narrow lane with two old women alter her. But what she had 
 to do in the matter 1 know not, only that the rider galloped up to her, and 
 
132 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 seized her by the hair, and held her until the old women came ap. Then 
 she swooned, and the women carried her off, while the men turned up the 
 other lane, which leads to San Giacomo. This is all that I saw and know 
 about the matter, as I told the sanctity of our holy father himself; and why 
 I should be shunned like the fiend of the plague himself — " 
 
 " Bat the girl — the girl I — what sort of a girl was she? — what height — 
 complexion — shape?" exclaimed the Hospitaller, letting his oar drop in 
 the absorption of his anxiety. 
 
 " How know I?— She was a girl like another girl — she wore petticoats," 
 replied the old man, gruffly. " Why do you lease me with such strange 
 questions? — A girl! is not one girl as like another as two poppies?" 
 
 "Noted you not even the colour of her hair, good father? — 1 am not 
 asking you questions to amuse myself, but with an intent to make it worth 
 your trouble replying," said the knight, with forced calmness. "Was 
 not her hair of a bright golden colour, for indeed that is much given to 
 mischief? " 
 
 " Signor, I caught but a glance at her like an owl's at the moon ; but 
 now you speak of hair, I think I noticed on hers a string of coins on a red 
 ribbon, such as the foolish Jew girls of the Ghetto wear for ornament, — or 
 else it was blood, and they had hurt her too, — for the moon shone so 
 brightly I could but see it." 
 
 " And yet you noted not the colour of the hair— although the horseman 
 seized her by it too?" exclaimed the Hospitaller, impatiently. 
 
 " All cats are grey by night, and yet methinks it must h;ive been black, 
 for he twisted his hand" in it, and the hand looked very while against it," 
 replied the old man musingly. " And yet I know no miOre than the waves 
 1 strike whether it were not green or blue I — I have known hills that were 
 pink at a distance turn black at hand." 
 
 " But wherefore hastened you not to communicate to the governor of 
 the city what you had seen, so quickly as to give a clue to ihe murderers, 
 for 1 have heard the body was not fuund till Friday? '" said the knight. 
 
 " The saints reward you I since I have earned my living on Tiber," re- 
 turned the boatman with a grim smile, "I have seen dead bodies thrown 
 in, in like manner, at least a hundred times, and never heard a word said 
 about it, nor any imaginable trouble taken in the matter. So thinking that 
 this would pass like the rest, I minded my own business, and let other 
 folks' alone, until, like a fool as I was, hearing the greatness of him who 
 •was lost, I thought I should make a good day's work by carrying the news, 
 as if I might not have remembei-ed the saying, 'Ill-come was never 
 Welcome!' and so ruined myself for five crowns, which was what the 
 duke gave me, — the cardinal that was then, and said it was too much for 
 a drunkard's dream! Could I indeed have given them any clue to the 
 murderers I might havu made my fortune, for his holiness and Lady Lu- 
 crezia were sheer mad with grief; but I had too much conscience to accuse 
 the innocent I — Tis hard indeed that conscience should cheat a man of his 
 daily bread! — And yet 'twas as well as it happened, praised be Saint 
 Barllemy ! for perhaps if Ibey had thought 1 could have betrayed them, they 
 would have cut my throat before I could i^el the words well out, for who 
 knows who was in the secret? But yonder is the Ghetto, and I trust your 
 excellence will remember I have but so many passengers as my blessed 
 saint sends me in defiance of my evil fortune." 
 
 " And in addition to good paV, I will give thee a counsel, old father," 
 said the Hospitaller, with a heavy sigh. " Do not tell your story before 
 
C.f;SAR BORGIA. I S3 
 
 too many of your passengers, even strangers, lest you should not always 
 have such honest listeners I— Nay, perchance you may meet with some 
 who, like yon courteous attendant of mine whom we left in the waters — 
 may have their reasons to stop your tongue at your throat." 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE JEWS OF ROME. 
 
 "But yet, I say, 
 If imputation and strone circumstances, 
 Which lead directly to the door of truth, 
 Will give you satisfaction, you may have it."— Shakespere. 
 
 In Rome, as in most of the Christian cities of Europe, the Jews had 
 (and have still in Rome!) a pecuHar district appropriated to them, out of 
 which thev were not permitted to dwell. In London it was the_ Jewry — 
 in Rome, 'the Ghetto— stvled more loftily, in the pontifical edicts, He- 
 breorum Contubernium. 'This Contuben'iium was a district of consi- 
 derable extent raised originally amid>t the swamps of the Tiber, at the 
 foot of the Capitoline, surrounded either by lofty walls or houses, which 
 were not permitted to have even a loophole to the exterior. Five massive 
 gates, guarded by the halberdiers of the Roman magistracy, were opened 
 at sunrise and closed at sunset, to emit and receive back the descendants 
 of Abraham, bees laden with a spoil sweeter to them than honey— that 
 of the persecuting but outwitted, the insolent but cheated Christian. 
 
 Objects of uniitlerable contempt and hatred with the populace, in whose 
 hearts the Catholic Church of the middle ages had infused a veneration 
 and love for the person of the Redeemer, rather than of his attributes, ap- 
 proaching to a passion, and whose devotion was as yet unalloyed by the 
 scepticism and indifference which began to pervade the higher classes of 
 society— the regulations of the Ghetto were perhaps as beneficial to the 
 Jews as they appeared to be severe and restrictive. Within its walls, at 
 least, thev were safe from any sudden outbreak of the fury which smouldered 
 in the hearts of the people against the descendants of the destroyers of the 
 Saviour ; thev might observe their customs and religious rites unmolested 
 and unquestio'ned'^ and hoard the treasures which their patient industry, 
 skill in many arts, and above all usuries, accumulated. 
 
 In the Ghetto accordingly the Jews of Rome dwelt as a nation apart — 
 separated almost equally 'by their own abhorrence of the Nazarenes, and 
 the spirit of their laws, as by the loathing of their oppressors. Many of 
 the Jewish women were said to have never been outside the walls of the 
 Ghetto, and to be as ignorant of the system of policy surrounding them 
 as if the tribes still pitched their tents in the wilderness. The Hebrews 
 themselves, whh the jealousy of orientals and that inspired by their rigid 
 law, cherished this vague ignorance in their women, while with matchless 
 patience and pliancy they adapted their combinations to every change in 
 the shifting panorama of the world without. , • i j 
 
 Spread all over the earth, but preserving the fellowship of kindred 
 wrongs and hopes, the Jews enabled one another to forestal and engross 
 some'of the most valuable trades which were exercised in the rude state 
 
I Si C^SAR BORGU. 
 
 of sncictv. Ahove all, as usurers and tlealers in prorious stones, tbcybad 
 acquin-d riclics which thf^ popular onvv and arced pxagpfratt'd even into 
 the |»oss,e5;siuM oliiayic skill m the IraiiMnuthti' d nfnii tals. The natural 
 tendency of the Hebrew njind t<> ah>tfuse and cab;di^tieal lore, their in- 
 tercourse with the Arabians and other eastern nations, had indi-ed fre- 
 quently thrown some of their most subtle intellects into [)ursuits still darker 
 and njore fallacious. All these vague causes of haired and fear in the 
 minds of t!ie people were increased by the reports in circulation relating 
 to the mysterious customs and ceremonies of the Jewish religiou. 
 Hideous t;ilos were repeated, and found a ready credence among the po- 
 pulace, against them. The immoveable constancy wiih which they 
 adhered to their law, the bitter animosity with which they regarded the 
 few proselytes gained over by the (Christian church, furnished the ground- 
 work of niany of those dark legends prevalent against them; such as 
 that they ofleVed human sacrifiees at their hi^h festivals, generally of 
 Christian children beguiled into th'-ir |)ower, or of apostates from the law; 
 the latter snp|)osition not altogether unsupported by the fanatic hatred 
 with whiih they [lursued such offenders. 
 
 Thus separated from the (hiistian masses, or rather imprisoned, the 
 Jews of the Ghetto preserved the charaeteristics of a foreign and eastern 
 people. iNotwiihstaiiding the belief of their immense riches, or perhaps 
 to baffle its dangerous effecis, whenever the Ghetto was opened fop the 
 ins|tection of Christians, it presented one aspect ot haggard and dilapi- 
 dated poverty. This happened i;enerally about three or four times a 
 i' * year, wht^n a'grand atter»ipt at conversion was niade, ihe pope appointing 
 
 the most esteetned preachers to d» liver s-rmons, at which the Jews were 
 i comjielled to be present. All the rest of the year they were subject to 
 
 unremitting fines and penalties, under whieh ihoy still contrived lo 
 flourish like chiekweed beneath a stone. To gratify the hatred of the 
 people, the most degrading submissions and dues were exacted from 
 them— amona the rest the annual ceremony of presenting the hook of 
 their law with an entreaty to be allowed to siay another year in Rome, 
 either to the pontiff or the magistracy, on which it was usual to l< t the 
 book fall, and to deliver the gracious reply that the pontiff permitted, but 
 did not confirm. A foot-race of Hebrews was also a pastime which the 
 po[iulace were never denied in carnival time. 
 
 On the occasion to w hich the above dissertation is a necessary pro- 
 lixitv, the Jews had pood n ason to expect a more than usually devote 
 throng in the train of the announcer of the Jubilee. They had prepared 
 acc.rdiiigly. On entering the gate of ihe Gh. tto, the Hospitaller was 
 struck with the melancholy aspect of the houses and the emptiness of the 
 little shops, which seemed like holes in the walls. The precious wares, 
 the silks, the stuffs, the gold, the corns, if any such the Hebrews of the 
 Ghetto possessed, were as carefully coni-eaUcl as those they abstracted 
 from the r.yyptians on their departure into (ianaan. The exceeding nar- 
 rowness of the St: eets, which were soinetimes scarcely wide enough to 
 allow two persons to go abreast, and were generally in a manner arched 
 by the bending over of the story s above, increased the disagreeable effect. 
 Noisome smells greeted the nostrils at every turn, and the flutter of rags 
 from numerous dark lattices seemed to announce the poverty within. 
 
 Not a Jew was to be seen, much less a Jewess, throughout the whole 
 line of march to the large open space where they held their market, and 
 where they were decreed to assemble in mass. The Christians rushed 
 
CESAR BORGTA. 135 
 
 uninterruptedly on, laughing, shouting, yelling, and crushing against one 
 another, as it' iliey were taking possession by storm. The long, narrow, 
 and unknown windings confused and misled many, but the Hospitaller, 
 happening to take a by-way which led directly to the scene of action, 
 entered the market-place among the multitude which had kept pace with 
 the Dominican and his attendants. 
 
 An open square of great extent appeared, unevenly surrounded with 
 piles of dwellings, equally ruinous and disconsolate with those of the 
 narrow streets b'ehind. Most of these alleys radiated from all points into 
 this space, and gave its disordered architecture the appearance of being 
 split and reft into chasms. Some of the houses seenjcd to be doubtfully 
 propped with timber; but on the summits of nearly all these tottering 
 fabiics, the curious eye of the Hospitaller remarked, by the light of the 
 tolerant plnnet which did not disilain to shed its beams as benignantly as 
 on ihe domes of the Vatican, innumerable flower-pots and outlines of 
 terraces, evincing no small skill in the oriental art of making skyey 
 gardens on the roofs. 
 
 The piazza was paved with volcanic tufa, very unevenly laid, and in the 
 centre was a great fountain of granite, without the least ornament, intended 
 exclusively lor use. Around this were arranged stone benches, with 
 tabh s of similarly rude materiHl, at which usually sat the council of the 
 elders, who decided in all disputes, regulated the' market, and governed 
 this inner empire, partly by the maKinis of common sense and justice, 
 and paitly bv the laws prescribed in their sacred books; severe indeed — 
 and sevei^^ely executed— without provoking a thought of appeal to the 
 milder iiud often op|)osing C.hrisiian judicature. 
 
 But nuw this Siidiedrim was installed in its place of honour for a far 
 ditferent pur[)ose, to hear with inward abhorrence and outward respect 
 that law reviled, and its com[)lete overthrow denounced. To this intent 
 a moveable pulpit, whirh resembled abronze cauldron on a tripod, carried 
 by four Jewish converts, was dniv planted under the supreme direction of 
 the Dominican's companion friar. The prcncher himself kneli in fervent 
 but si ent prayer, su-rounded by his nolde guard, mosl of whom were 
 deeply in debt to the listeners, snnling with haired and contcm|)t, and 
 leaning on their naked swords. Beyond the seals of the elders were as- 
 sembled the great mass of those who were to profit by the exhortation, 
 distinguished by their long beards, gliltering eyes, and peculiar physiog- 
 nomies, but the whole nmle popula'.ion of the Ghetto— for not a single 
 female was to be seen— could not certainly have been there; and in fact 
 the Jews elected from among themselves, by lot, a certain number to make 
 up a show, to listen to Christian verities, and to endure the insults and 
 violence of the Christian visitors. 
 
 Beyond the circle of these compelled neophytes, a tumultuous mob 
 struggled fur the possession of every point whence a view of the pro- 
 ccedins could be obtained, quarrelimg and fighting with one another, 
 buffeting and pressing against the unresisting Jews., who knew that their 
 policy was not lo give "the least pretext fur the general massacre and 
 plunder which on these occasions hovered over them by a finer thread 
 than ihai tu which hung the sword of Damocles. They submitted without 
 ex|)Osiulatiun to the rude swaying of the mob; to their "blows and revilings 
 opposing only an endurance' which could not be exhausted. But the 
 horror, anxietv, and rage which glowed in their bosoms were strongly 
 reflected in their visages as seen by the smoky glare of innumerable 
 
136 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 torches which they were compelled to exhibit at all the windows of their 
 houses. Engaged in this office only did some women appear— for the 
 most part withered and old— or veiled with more than Turkish scru- 
 pulosity. 
 
 A remarkable exception to this seeming rule struck Alfonso, when 
 having ensconced himself out of observation up a dark doorway which 
 belonged to a house falling in ruins and uninhabited, he had leisure to 
 survey the whole pandemonium . Not far to his left projected an irregular 
 pile ot woodwork, built not without some pretensions to architecture, with 
 quaint carvings and devices of beasts and birds on the joists and window- 
 frames, but all toppling down in extreme niglect and decay. About mid 
 height jutted a penthouse with a narrow balcony, supported like many of 
 the other buildmgs by props of timber set against it from the ground. 
 The lower part of the house was closed and barred, but from the mortar 
 hanging over the door with a pestle chained to it, the knight concluded 
 that it was the residence of some apothecary or other professor of the 
 healing art. 
 
 In the balcony of this tumbling tenenient was the object which attracted 
 the Hospitaller's attention, always, in spite of his severe principles, alive 
 to the perception of female beauty, yet it was not this quality alone which 
 fixed his notice, although the face and form might have been taken fur a 
 perfect model of oriental beauty, but for the pallid hue which sicklied the 
 golden cast of the complexion, the drooping and meagre lines of the figure, 
 else so finely moulded. The Jewess was attired in a dusty and disordered 
 garb, which yet was originally of fine silks, but so curiously pranked out 
 and bedizened with ribands, shreds of different colours, and what seemed 
 to be gems of the purest water, that the knight at first imagined she was 
 some unhappy creature put forth to attract licentious observation. Her 
 countenance, young, wasted, and pallid, strengthened the impression, 
 but a farther consideration at last staggered it. Shading the torch with 
 her hand, its light struck pow^erfully on her face; and in the wild, vacant 
 depth of the eyes, the unmeaning smile with which she watched the rolling 
 of the human sea below, the fantastic richness of her garniture, exceeding 
 in glare and contrast every vagary even of a Jewish toilet, Alfonso imagined 
 that he recognised characteristics of insanity. But perhaps it was one of 
 these ornaments — a chain of coins twisted in the black disordered hair — 
 which chiefly aiiracted the Hospitaller's continued observation. And yet 
 he could not remember for some time why he noticed it at all. 
 
 Meanwhile the preparations for the Dominican's harangue went on. 
 The pulpit was duly hoisted, and as the friar had now concluded his 
 prayer, two rabbins advanced to present him with a copy of the Old Tes- 
 tament used in the synagogue, for from their own law were they to be 
 confuted. They offered it with a deep oriental bend, aud a humble re- 
 quest that the messenger of his holiness, their sovereign, would be 
 pleased to deliver his message. The Dominican replied briefly and 
 sternly that it was not the message of any earthly power which he was 
 there to deliver, and then mounted the pulpit by a ladder, which his 
 humble brother held for him with infinite reverence. The attendant friar 
 then s()rinkleda lustration all around the pulpit with a bunch of hyssop, 
 which he dipped in an urn of holy water, liberally showering on the 
 elders, whde they gnawed their under Iit)S in silent wrath and contempt. 
 
 Interested as the Hospitaller fell himself in the singular appearance of 
 the Jewish girl, it was with no satisfaction that he "found his curiosity 
 
C.flSAR BORGIA. 137 
 
 shared by a personage who took his post immediately before the doorway 
 in which the knight had ensconced himself out of observation. He wore 
 a large hat, slouched over his face, with a twist of cockleshells round it, 
 the grey njantle and staff of a piliirim of Compostella, so that little of his 
 features was visible, save his very brilliant eyes. These he kept fixed so 
 Ions; and earnestly on the Hebrew girl in her balcony, that Alfonso's 
 uneasiness was certainly not unjustified, since he began to take an in- 
 terest in her welfare, and the eyes were filled with something of mingled 
 gloom and scrutiny. 
 
 ''Ay, it is she— but how changed I" muttered the gazer half aloud. 
 " Where is this rogue? — he keeps us waiting long." 
 
 This the Hospitaller now perceived was addressed to a man who stood 
 at some little distance, who, by his coarse armour and accoutrements, 
 especially the morion unhononred by any cognizance, was probably a 
 rider, in one of the numerous free companies. 
 
 "Yea, my lord, it is mad Miriam I" returned the rider, in an under tone. 
 "The wench who they say had a Christian lover roasted alive by the 
 Jews?" said the pilgrim, ironically. "It is indeed — physician, cure 
 thyself I — since the skilful hags, her grandames. cannot restore the blood 
 tothal corpse-like cheek, nor take the wild-fire out of her eyes. But 
 surely this boasted steel-hearted knave of thine means to play us false?" 
 
 "Were it against the fiend, I would warrant him; but folks have a 
 great reverence for this holy man, that goes to visit a plague-patient more 
 cheerful than another his dame," replied the rider. " But if it is neces- 
 sary he should die, meihinks it might be much more wisely adventured 
 in the lonely places be haunts, than here in the midst of thousands." 
 
 " Heie only can a tumult be raised without much danger, and easily 
 limited. 1 do not set forests on fire to make me warm, " replied the pil- 
 grim. "Here they will lay the mischief on the Jews ; elsewhere suspi- 
 cion might — nay, must — be roused ; for what bravo would deem it worth 
 his while to slay a wretched monk?"' 
 
 " Yonder he comes, and, by all my sins ! streaming like a water-dog! 
 — Waggle your staff, signor,— but he sees us," said the soldier, in whom 
 and in his fellow interlocutor a vague suspicion entered the mind of the 
 involuntary hearer thet he beheld the Duke of Romagna, and his satellite, 
 Migueloto. But he had scarcely time to devise any tangible meaning to 
 the strange words he overheard, when a third person joined the pilgrim 
 and his fnend. It was not without some emotion that he recognised in 
 the sullen, drenched ruffian who approached, his late unlucky companion, 
 the peasant of the Marshes. 
 
 " Giovan, GiovanI how long thou hast kept me gaping for thee I" mut- 
 tered the pilgrim, clutching the bravo's arm impatiently. "But how 
 camest thou in this plight?" 
 
 At this moment the voice of the preacher was heard over all the mur- 
 muring and confused noises in the piazza, reading a Hebrew text, which 
 he afterwards translated into Latin. It was the sinking of the rock by 
 Moses, when the waters gushed forth at Horeb. The mingling of those 
 powerful tones hindered Alfonso from distinctly hearing the account 
 which the bravo gave of his immersion. But towards the conclusion the 
 pilgrim drew him" farther back into the ruined gateway, and the Hispilal- 
 ler heard him ejaculate between his clenched teeth— "Dog of a villain I 
 dost thou dare to say that ihou wilt fail me then? Hast thou forgotten 
 who I am?" 
 
138 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Bill, signnr, melbinks it was an angol sent to my prevention, in the 
 armour of a Knight of the Sepulchre !" said the bruvo, shuddering with 
 fear and the cold of his wet clothing. 
 
 " Idiot I dost thou deem thai an angel could have touched thee, and not 
 blasled thee ?" returned the pilgrim, impaliendy. "But if Giorgio Schia- 
 vone babbles thus — it is well for the old fool that he pretends not to have 
 seen faces but masks ! But what hath ihis stranger — a Knight of St. John, 
 thou savest —to do to stir up the muddy waters? An angell — by Heaven, 
 I will make a devil of thee if thou dost hesitate I What more wouldst 
 thou have? y-ame thine own reward." 
 
 "A pyran)id of gold shall not bribe nie to it, signor I" replied the 
 bravo. " But I am a true man. and will keep no hire which I have not 
 earned ; so come, Don Miguel, when it pleases you, to the catacombs, and 
 I will restore all that I have received of my lord's gold. But the saints 
 protect that holy man — else wherefore should (he armed figure deprive me 
 of my stiletto, and leave me my life to repent in?" 
 
 " H' ly man! — hel — honest Giovanni — holy I— ay, according to his 
 country's proverb — Lacruz en los pechos, el diablo en los hechos I" re- 
 turned the pilgrim, with stifled vehemence. '■ Yes, yes I — the cross on 
 the breast, the devil in the resll — 1 tell thee, friend— was it a saint's part 
 to stir a wife to moit=il liatred of her husband, — to scorn, to loMihe. to di- 
 vorce him I — for it was he that stirred the fire in her soul against the Lord 
 of Pesaro, and will prrvenl her from this so necessary marriage with the 
 Orsinol Thou su[)erstilious slave I canst thou not guess a reason for it? 
 See we not all, that he watches over her like a dragon over a mine of 
 diamonds?' 
 
 It mav may he imagined with what painful curiosity the Hospitaller 
 listened to this effusion, apparently of jt-alousy,. although the lady's name, 
 its object, had not once been pronounced ; but he no longer doubted that 
 the pilgrim was Caesar Borgia. 
 
 "I know nothing of any dragons nor hidden treasures, my lord," said 
 the bravo, with dogged stubborness. ""Albeit, I have paid many a bright 
 ducat (which will never C(aiie back to me) to Mother .^'otte for divining 
 rods, and such like trumperies. But may my soul never see Paradise, 
 if I lift steel against that blessed man I" 
 
 '' Fool, idiot, beast I" said iho pilgrim, gnashing his teeth like a baffled 
 tiger. " Why, when this traitorous monk's destruction will set the mob 
 in such roaring mutiny as will give thy people (whom I see swarming 
 abont'a chance to commence a work which will enriched ye all for ever I" 
 
 " For ever I" repeated the bravo, somewhat hesitatingly. "But 'tis im- 
 possible! See you not how he is surrounded by naked swords! I thuught 
 he woul I have come darkling through the narrow streets. Moreover, I 
 have taken an oath — you heard it, signor? — at least, a man would not 
 willingly dariin himself." 
 
 '•Thou sworest, Giovanni, not to lift steel against him I" said the pilgrim, 
 eagerly. ''But have I not seen thee biing dovvn an eagle's flight soaring 
 almost out of sight, with thine arquebuss? Where is it?— thou wert wont 
 to carry it slung on thy shnulders." 
 
 '• ! siild it to the Leghorn rogues to take to England, where the gentle- 
 men love such distant fowling. For my j)art I prefer to steal on my game 
 with a club or a dagger," replied the bravo. 
 
 "Tut!— but wail-, methinks I can yet provide thee with a weapon — I 
 have marked for some time time yonder man-at-arms keeps gaping at the 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 139 
 
 Jcwpps," said tbo pilfrnm, cmeriiinp and signina to the hravo and Miguoloto 
 to rftreiit into the doorwav. This movctiifnt brouuht ihe twain much 
 nearer to Don Alfonso, but luckilv without coming into contact with liim, 
 for valiant and powerful as was the Knijiht of St. John, it may be conjec- 
 tured thai he had no desire to expose himself to a conflict in the dark with 
 three such opponents. 
 
 The person whom Csesar indicated had indeed been for some time en- 
 gaged in surveying the young Hebrew girl, and in vainly soliciting her at- 
 tention with gestures and smiles. He was of middlinu height, but very 
 stout and bnrly in frame, round of jaws and square of forehead, with a 
 fierce and audacious expression of countenance, not unmin^led with a kind 
 of brutal good humour and joviality. His armour and accoutrements were 
 those of a German trooper. 
 
 " By the mass, signor I I see your eyes are caught loo," said the pil- 
 grim, courteously saluting the man-al-arms. " Saw you ever a preilier 
 piece of heathen flesh and blood?" 
 
 " And yet she looks more like a waxen image than a woman of the 
 stuff you mention, sir pilgrim," returned the trooper, in an Italian which 
 partodk in no manner of a foreign accent. 
 
 "She is poisoned by the vapours of the drugs, and minerals, and 
 alchemy amidst wbii'h" she lives, and it were a charity to take her out 
 of it." replied the pilgrim. 
 
 '' I would Ihe Chtito were put to plunder, and take the Jewish gold 
 who might, 1 would have yonder Jewi^.h girl for my share," replied the 
 trooper; adding in a melancholy loi'C, "■ bni I am under severe penances 
 now, hv injunction of yonder bitter Penitentiary " 
 
 '' Thou nuist have wrought some special deed to need his aid, brother," 
 returned the pilgr m. 
 
 "Bui for wronging an old man of some few evil days of pams and 
 aches," said ihe trooper, carelessly. "Bui since we are at questioning, 
 what hast ihou done lo travel so far with the cockleshells?" 
 
 " 1 killtd my brother, they say," replied the pilgiim, with equal coolness. 
 " Mini! was but nunc unele !" said the trooper, eagerly, as if rejoicing 
 in the comparative inlVrioriiy of his crime. " 'Tis true he had pampered 
 me when a child, hul who can wail forever for an inheritance;?" 
 
 ''Avl— old men never die," returned the pilgrim, gloomily. "Thou 
 an a b(.ld f. How, doubtless, and a soldier too. ' 1 have been a yood part 
 of my time a silly priest, vet will 1 wager thai 1 dare do what thou arl now 
 onlv darins lo think." 
 
 " What am I thinking, 1 pray ye, then?" replied ihe trooper, with evi- 
 dent surprise. 
 
 "Thou art marking how conveniently those timbers are set to the 
 balconv of tiie Jewess, for a man lo climb up, and thinking that th«>u 
 wouUisl be glad if thou couldst summon the courage to scale il, and give 
 her a kiss, lo the scorn of ihis infidel mob," said ihe p Igrim. 
 
 " V{ a, 'lis said they can belter bear to have their beards spat on, than 
 their women smiled on— and thou hast fairly guessed," replied the soldier, 
 wiih increased surprise. " But lor the fear of it !— I have clambered the 
 wall of a strong city with my dagger's aid only, when boiling lead poured 
 over among us like melting snow, and Vileilozzo himself kept his foot 
 from the ladder." 
 
 " My staff against thine arquebuss, thou darest not attempt it, and I 
 will succeed in il," relurned the pilgrim. 
 
140 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "By our Lady I— but the Penitentiary bound me only to do offence to 
 the pagans, and to use wy arms against no man but by his command," 
 said the soldier. 
 
 " What man dost thou rave about, or what arms,— to snatch a kiss from 
 a Jew girl's brown cheek?" replied the pilgrim. " And are no! ihe Jews 
 pagan enough? Then, by Santiago, it thou wilt hold my staff, which is 
 hollow and full of the gold of my expenses, 1 will do it before thine eyes, 
 and for the very honour of the faith to put so bold a scorn upon these cru- 
 cifiers!" 
 
 "Nay, but thou shalt not — at least till I have failed," said the trooper, 
 angrily. " Hold thou mine arquebuss and morion while I climb ; but for 
 I know that this town is full of rogues, if thou meanest me any deceit, 
 learn better than to practise it, for 1 am not what I seem, but a great lord 
 who will as soon crack a skull as an egg." 
 
 The pilgrim replied apparently with some warmth, but as the preacher's 
 tones swelled suddenly high, only his latter words were audible, in which 
 he declared that he would remain near the ruin, to restore the arquebuss, 
 or rouse the populace to a rescue in case it became necessary. And with 
 this compact, Alfonso marked that the trooper gave his weapon, helmet, 
 and some heavy pieces of armour to the care of the pilgrim, and glided 
 away as if to fulfil his insolent and violent project. 
 
 The pilgrim retired almost instantly, and rejoined his two accomplices, 
 who were eagerly listening in their concealment of tiie doorway. 
 
 " Here, then, is thy weapon, Gian, if thou wouldst not rather have the 
 lead in thine own skull!" he sfiid, handing the piece to the bravo, who 
 received it with manifest reluctance. " Moreover, I have made thee a 
 pretty diversion — when the tumult which this villain will raise begins, 
 what hast thou to do but to fire! And dost thou fear for thy person and 
 soul when so black a wretch— for I know the thickskull to be Oliverotto 
 da Fermo, that murdered his good old uncle by treachery — hazards both 
 for a fool's frolic? The monk is a fair mark ! — do but look at him |)erched 
 in his pulpit yonder with his arms spread out as if to open his breast to 
 thy aim !" 
 
 " He looks like a black crucifixion!" muttered the bravo. "Some stray 
 eyes will be sure to note Ihe light of the burning tow, — and if I escape 
 not, the Jews will scarce be questioned." 
 
 "Tush! — thou canst easily retreat into these ruins— and the uproar 
 which Miguel and I will raise at different extremities of the crowd will 
 distract ail attention," returned the Borgia, and the bravo seemed at length 
 to yield to the force of argument. He examined the lock of the arquebuss, 
 pronounced it excellent, and finally, although with some lingering hesi- 
 tation, declared his readiness to undertake the task. Jt was agreed that 
 he should take the opportunity of the confusion which would be sure to 
 follow the Lord of I'ermo's attack, to fire at the monk ; after which it was 
 certain that a tumult would arise to facilitate his escape. Meanwhile the 
 duke and his myrmidon were to separate to opposite ends of the crowd, to 
 misdirect the populace with their shouts. Upon this notable project they 
 separated almost immediately, for Oliverotto was certain to put no delay 
 in the execution of so congenial an action, as that into which he had been 
 cajoled. 
 
 But while the conspirators rapidly settled the details of the plan, their 
 unseen auditor was as rapidly revolving in his mind the possible means of 
 foiling it. To rush forth, and proclaim the intended treachery would, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 141 
 
 perhaps, in most other countries, ages, and places have been sufQcientto 
 counteract it, and bring punishment on the planners. But in this case it 
 was more likely to secure their triiim[)h. It Nvas far from improhable that 
 the projectoi's," finding their murderous intentions delected, would fall 
 upon the detector unitedly, and perhaps assassinate him ere he had time 
 to reveal their treachery. In the rancorous and mutually suspicious irri- 
 tation of men's minds, the least spark might kindle an universal blaze. 
 The fears and hatred of both parties would probably interpret the first 
 flash of steel into a signal of precuncerted massacre or attack; and the 
 consequences sought to be averted would inevitably follow. 
 
 The sagacious intellect of Alfonso suggested these dangers and their 
 remedies almost simultaneously. He patiently awaited the separation of 
 the colleagues on iheir enterprise, and meanwhile, under this new and ap- 
 palling light, Alfonso glanced towards the Dominican with a change of 
 every feelmg which he had hitherto experienced towards him. He was 
 now in the height of his discourse, and for the first time the Hospitaller 
 noticed that he was preaching in Hebrew. Whether this was merely to 
 display his profound erudition, or to captivate the inhabitants of the Ghetto 
 by so unusual a condescension, it is certain that m Hebrew he was dis- 
 coursing — and Hebrew which seemed now to excite a real and profound 
 attention in the Jewish audience. It seemed to the Hospitaller, from the 
 names he distinguished, that Fra Bruno was arraying ihe evidence of the 
 prophecies in battering-rams — the usual course in cunvincing the uncon- 
 vincibles of fifteen hundred years. And yet his discourse moved both 
 himself and his audience more than the mere utterance of rabbinical glosses 
 was likely to do. In his jealous hallucination — if such for the moment it 
 was — Alfonso thought that the monk was much younger than he at first 
 conjectured him to be — that the austerity and gloom of his countenance 
 only displayed more brilliantly the irradiations of mind which illuminated 
 it, and that his worn and gaunt figure had in it something of supernatural 
 dignity and grandeur. He remembered the gaze with which the confes- 
 sor had followed the retiring figure of his beauteous penitent; and the 
 influence which his eloquence was likely to exercise on women was evinced 
 in the wild and breathless attention with which the Jewish girl gazed and 
 listened. But there was no time for reflection on the subject, for John of 
 the Catacombs now turned his back to the crowd, knelt, and with great 
 caution began striking a flint to kindle his rnatchrope. 
 
 With equal heedfulness, to avoid betraying his whereabouts, the Knight 
 of St. J"hn unsheathed his massive sword, and awaited the result of The 
 worthy's labours. But the slight jar of the metal with the sheath startled 
 thebravo's sense. He paused for an instant, and then muttering "a rat!" 
 resumed his operation. A spark soon fell upon the tow, but as if not quite 
 well assured as to the cause of the sound he had heard, he blew the match- 
 rope into a glow which lighted up — not only the ruin— but the tower- 
 ing person of the Knight of St. John, leaning on his bare and glittering 
 brand ! With a yell as if he had seen a wild beast couched to spring at 
 him, the bravo sprung up — and was instantly struck down with a mighty^ 
 blow of the Hospitaller's gauntleted hand. He lay senseless and covered 
 with blood on the ground ; and, setting his foot on the ruffian's breast, for 
 an instant Alfonso hesitated whether to strike the blade into it, or spare 
 him to make a full revelation of his coadjutors' persons and purposes. 
 The steel hung wavering over the prostrate bravo when the shrieks of 
 a woman, and tumultuous outcries in the piazza, announced that Oliver- 
 
142 CiESAR BORGIA.. 
 
 otto liarl sunceoflod bettor in his part of the |»lan. Tbore was no longer 
 limf I'T (IcIibiTalioii, and Ifainpling willi Ins crushing wci-lil over the 
 biavo's brcfisl, Don Alfonso rushod furlh in Lhc jiiazza, shouting in a voice 
 which would liave been dislincdy audible amidsi the roar of a batiic— 
 "(;hri!>li;ins and Jews! stir tiol--Chrislians, I am a Knight of the Holy 
 Sepulchre;— Jtnvs, 1 will rebuke this licentious brawler I" And forcing 
 his way ihrough ihe iniTeasing confusion, a sudden hush of fear atid d-mbt 
 silenced the mingled mass when his poweiful form was seen clambering 
 up to the balcony, where Oliverotto held the shrieking Jewess struggling 
 in his arms. 
 
 "•Come, come, my pretty decoy-dove ! what means this? I want but a 
 bltle wasp of a kiss or soout of ihose dragon-fl.>wer lips !" said the baron, 
 clutching the Jewish girl in spite of her struggles and continued shrieks, 
 disregarding in his brutal eagerness all that passed below. But suddenly 
 his shoulder was gras|)ed as if in the teeih of a lion, and so painful was the 
 pressure that the arm was benumbed and dropped powerlessly to his 
 side-, anfl before he could make a single elfort at resistance, the powerful 
 Hos|)italler seized and hurled him over from die balcony, amidst a thunder 
 of applause mingled wiUi howls of diirision and rage. 
 
 The populace immediately below, being ihe outskirts of the centre of 
 conversion, were principally composed of Christians, and die rabble of 
 the pilgrims. An insult to a Jewess was not likely to rouse their indigna- 
 tion against the perpetrator, though the prompt retribution excited mer- 
 riment, and admiration of the cliivalrous inflicter, but they offered no 
 obstacles, when OliveroUo, who was but little hurt by his fall, turned 
 ragingly round, and challenged his assailant to descend and meet hiin in 
 mortal conflict. But the Donnnican. perceiving the tumult and its cause, 
 shouted to the people to secure the brawler, in the name of (iod and of the 
 church. The mob obeyed, alihough with doubt and reluctance, and closed 
 their ranks to obstruct the way. But Oliverotio, who had sovereign 
 reasons to dread finding himself in the custody of the church, being Vitel- 
 lozzo's beloved pupil and lieutenant, gave up his contest with the Hospi- 
 taller, and took to flight. Overthrowing the first who met him, and the 
 rest offering no very sturdy resistance, he forced his way to one of the 
 narrow passages of the Ghetto, and fled through it Fra Bruno was not, 
 however, to be so easily baffled-, he had already leaped from his pulpit, 
 and waving a silver cross in the air, he led ihe way in tumultuous pursuit, 
 ■with a general rush of the nobles, pilgrims, Jews, and populace. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Her speech is nolhing, 
 
 Yet the unshaped use of il doih move 
 
 The hearers lo collection ; ihey aiin at it, 
 
 And bolch the words up lit lo iheir own ihoxi^hls."— Hamlet. 
 
 Meanwhile the Hospitaller turned to look for the young Jewess, but she 
 had fled into ihe house the instant she was released from Oliverotto's 
 grasp, leaving her torch burning on the balcony floor. Ap|)rehensive that 
 terror acting ou a disordered fancy might have driven her to some desperate 
 act, — perhaps not without an impulse of curiosity, — the knight raised the 
 torch, and stepped from the balcony into a chamber on a level with it. 
 
CESAR BOP.GTA. 143 
 
 Tt wasalarp'c but ruinously diliipidatc I apartment, inlowliicli (lie floors 
 of a iii'st ol small, T rooms ()|ieiH'(l, all aj)|)areiiily in a similar cmdiiion. 
 The few articles of liirnimro were in S'ldi a stale of mouldering dtCiiy as 
 showed that they had been long out of use. There w;is so detjj a silence 
 in these cliambcis. tlml after h mnnient's intent listening, Airoiisocoiiclnded 
 that the fugitive had not taken refuge in any of them, more espeeially as 
 lie discerned the massive carved p-isis of a staircase winch |)rol)ably 
 descended loan inhabited parlofihe house. Oii ai)prnaciiing he ])erceived 
 that it w:;s abrupt and steep as a ladder, pieriing a square hole, which 
 scarcely allowed room for the action of the limbs, and made it necessary 
 to descend backwards. Not much wondering at this econ(tmy of space 
 in the limited Chelio, the knight yet hesitated as to the propriety of adopt- 
 ing smh a means of descent, imceriain what might await him below, or 
 how his visit mi-ht be construed. But hearing no sound below, calling 
 and no one replying, pity and curiosity alike urging him, he boldly con- 
 tiniied his quest. 
 
 Descending, the Hospitaller soon found the wall behind break off, and 
 unwilling to run the chances wiih his back turned, and arms powerless, 
 he dropped the remainder of the steps. The clash of his armour rang 
 through the desolate house, and he brushed his torch so rudely in the 
 scramble of the fall, that it was some moments ere he could fan it into a 
 light siiffleiently strong to sectmd his investigations. What he saw then 
 confirmed a conjectm 6 which he had formed Irom the scent of drugs and 
 herbs, that he was in the apothecary's shop, to whom the hnuse seemed 
 to belong. An infinite array of dusiy jars, phials emblazoned wiih mys- 
 terious emblems, stuffed li cards, a n)ummy, ser|)enisand various strange 
 animals jjreserved in licpiids, which weri- many of them dried up, a rusty 
 hnsm to bleed in, caulering irons, and oiher im|jl(ments ot (thank Cod !) 
 antique surgery, with a leaden table, massive and shapeless as a butcher's 
 block, in the centre, covered with cabalistical lines and figures from which 
 to calculate the favourable instant of swallowing medicines or performing 
 operations, — comprised the stock in trade. 
 
 The dusty and neglected aspect of the whole pharmacy indicated that the 
 owner had not many calls on his skill, and apologized for his absence, even 
 if it were not probable that he was one of the contuberninm allotted to hear 
 the sermon. But no other living soul appeared, and as there seemed to be 
 no exit but by a strongly barred door and casement, closed with iron 
 panels, after a glance over the medicinal wares, Alfonso concluded that 
 the object of his search must have remained above. Under this persuasion 
 he was about to remount the stairs, when he distinctly heard what scented 
 to be a sob or sigh from below the S|)Ot where he stood. Glancing sud- 
 denly round he perceived a slight glin.mer in a large chimin iiey-place 
 behind, alihough there was certjunly no fire in it; and stumbling as he 
 ■went over some old crucibles in his hurry, he found, with astonishment, 
 that the light fell from what appeared to be an open trapdoor in the back 
 wall of the chimney, masked by the projection of the IVimt. The same 
 light revealed a flight of narrow steps on each side, which ascended to it. 
 
 More than ever piqued by curiosity, and insensible to the fi-ars which 
 would have restrained most men from gratifying it under such circum- 
 stances, Don Alfonso look only the |jrecaution to leave his torch in one of 
 the numerous cracks in the stones of the chimney, and rapidly climbed 
 the steps. Stooping nearly double to enter the trapdoor, he perceived a 
 broader flight of stairs down the inside of the wall, to the right of which 
 
 L 
 
144 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 extended a dark chamber, or butvery dimly lighted by some embers which 
 glowed on a hearlh opposite. This feeble radiance lighted up occasionally, 
 and showed that the vault — for it seemed little better — was filled with a 
 strange heap of lumber, muUifarious and diversified as the contents of a 
 cave in which wreckers had stowed the pillage of a drowned armada; 
 perhaps lodged there as in a place of safely. Some furniture of a very- 
 mean description, — among the rest a bed overhang by a tattered tent once 
 of rich brocade, the shelter of some princely chieftain in the field; rude 
 articles of domestic use oddly mingled with others, which, although 
 tarnished to blackness, seemed from their rich workmanship to be wrought 
 in precious metals; a huge pair of bellows; a variety of strangely twisted 
 chemical machines scattered round a cold furnace within another chimney 
 as ample as that fiy which the knight entered ; a large oaken wardrobe, 
 elaborately welded with brass — were some of the objects on which he 
 glanced. But his attention was immediately absorbed in the figure of the 
 young Jewess, couched upon the hearlh, and listening with head erect like 
 a fawn in covert, and features startled into rationality, but still with a 
 degree of wildness and vacuity. 
 
 Uncertain as to the effect which his appearance might produce, Don 
 Alfonso hesitated on the summit of the stairs. But during that pause, a 
 momentary gleam lighted up his arms, and the girl perceived him, for 
 she sprang up, and uttered a shriek of absolute despair. There was now 
 only a choice of evils, and the knight preferred that of descending slowly 
 into the vault, at the same time exhorting the Jewess not to be alarmed, 
 announcing that his intention was merely to ascertain that she was not 
 injured bv the rough handling of the unmanly wretch from whom he had 
 rescued her. The first tones of his voice seemed to re-assure her ; and 
 looking up, she suddenly changed her cries into a wild peal of laughter, 
 clapped her hands as if in ecstasy, and rushed to meet him. As suddenly, 
 however, she paused, and stared at him in amazement, as if struck with 
 his lofty stature, or with his half-warlike and half-monkish array, differing 
 probably from any costume she had seen. "But is it really thou?" 
 she exclaimed, after a moment's profound pause. " 'Tis long, indeed,^ 
 since we have met! but thou art now so tall— tall as a cedar! — Or art 
 thou — who art thou?" 
 
 '* 1 am he who rescued thee from the rude soldier in the balcony. — But 
 didst thou expect some stranger of my tokens, that thou gazest thus at me, 
 fair Miriam?" said the Hospitaller, very gently. 
 
 "No, no, it is not he! — i\o, no, he will never come again!" murmured 
 the girl to herself, sofdy. " And yet he had a voice very like — full of the 
 sweet bells that sing silvery to each other I Do not mock me, Francesco ! 
 ■ — What needed it to comein this disguise I for indeed, dear love, I will 
 never reproach thee, — never tell thee what I have thought of thy long 
 absence, — and how I have wept my brain so dry, that I can never weep 
 again, were each drop a precious pearl! — Speak, my own Francesco ! and 
 only say that it was not scorn of the poor Jewish girl that has kept thee so 
 long away !— Speak, dearest! thou needst not fear the witches will suspect 
 — for they tell me thou art dead and gone ; and besides they are gone — 
 gone, as thou wert wont to sav, to meet the Evil One in Africa. — Nay, if 
 thou wilt not answer me, I will get a light and see thy face. I shall know 
 it if it is not so pale as— thy cheeks were like blowing carnations until — 
 But no, no, no; he is dead, he is dead, he is dead I" 
 
 " Francesco I" mused the Hospitaller, and then smiled derisively at his 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 145 
 
 own sudden recollection that it was the name of the murdered Duke of 
 Gandia — but also oF almost every tenth person in Italy. 
 
 Meanwhile the Jewish girl, clinging with the tenacity of the mind 
 diseased to its favourite visions, even when dispelled bv gleams of saner 
 memory, hurried to the hearth, and after groping about fijr some moments 
 lighted a lamp shaped like a twisted dragon, and returned to the knight 
 with great eagerness. Quietly awaiting the result of her scrutiny, he 
 stood in silence and suffered her to survey him from head to foot. But 
 after gazing long and wistfully at his face, she shook her head, and with 
 a deep sigh seemed to abandon her thought, whatever it might be, and 
 set the lamp down. 
 
 '■' Thou seest I am not he ; but for whom didst thou mistake me, 
 Miriam?" said the Hospitaller, earnestly — perhaps loo earnestly, — for the 
 Jewess looked at him with sudden suspicion and alarm. 
 
 "What dost thou want with him 1 — to betray him to the sorceresses? 
 To the Scarlet Man with the ashy face?"' she said bitterly ; adding with 
 a wild triumphant laugh, "but thou canst not ^ 1 have hidden him too 
 well for any of you to find him; nor shall you touch him until ye have 
 torn my heart out, and I will shriek until your God has heard as well as 
 mine I— And He is good and just and merciful, or you Christians — Oh, 
 you Christians I — what said the good rabbi but now?" 
 
 She reclmed her chin on her hand, and seemed endeavouring to recall 
 the Dominican's words, or at least meaning, to mind ; while Alfonso dwelt 
 •with a pertinacity which he could only ascribe to the forcible impression 
 •which the boatman's narrative had made on his imagination, on the ex- 
 pression relating to the " Scarlet Man." 
 
 " Our law is the rock of Horeb — and yours the sweet waters which 
 gushed out of it, at which all the nations may drink peace and salvation," 
 murmured the Jewish girl, probably repeating the very words of the 
 preacher, " But what is peace? — is it death? — for when he was dead — 
 with all those cruel stabs— how calm he lay !" 
 
 There was a short pause, during which Miriam looked vacantly and 
 inquiringly up at the knight. 
 
 " Wei't thou decked out as gaily as now when — when the Scarlet Man 
 •was here?" he said at last, with hesitation. 
 
 " It was not here, thou knowest, but in the chambers above — they 
 brought him here too — but that was in my dream," replied Miriam. 
 "Indeed, my lord, it was a dreadful dream I — But I was much finer than 
 I am now, for they all loved me then, and thought diamonds too mean 
 for me to wear ; and I had no delight but to dress myself in the prettiest 
 things, and to braid my hair, when 1 knew that he was coming. But they 
 did not! ' 
 
 "And was thy dream so sad? — I pray thee tell it to me, Miriam; 
 thou seest I am as dark as cypress, and I love to hear sad tales," said 
 the knight. 
 
 "Oh, but I may not tell it to thee, nor to any one, or my grandames 
 will murder me tool" replied the Jewess. " Bui it was very horriblel — 
 to hear the blood go drop, drop! — to see them all run in upon him with 
 their long keen poniards, and press them into his poor flesh, while 
 thousands and thousands of voices — Oh, how I shrieked murder, murder, 
 murder I until this roof rang like the clatter of hoofs at the tournament, 
 where we saw him first! But my voice became like wool, and would 
 not sound ! — Knight, thou art in a begaar's harness compared with him 
 
 10 
 
 i 
 
146 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 that day! 1 stole out when they were busy — puff, puff, puffing— and the 
 embers flaminjj:, and all Iheir bolLles red hot in ihe glow — litile dreanf)ing 
 that I had wandered fronj my wheel with Dinah and old Rebeeca to see 
 the Christian show I — Bui then to see them lift him up so drenched in 
 blood ihat ii ran down his bright hair—for when he was dead he could 
 not keep his head up, 1 remember. " 
 
 "And who was ihy Francesco that wore such noble armour? And 
 didst ihou dream thai he was murdered here — and by thy people?" said 
 the Hos|»italler, in a tone ot carelessness which he thought would disarm 
 the poor mad girl's suspicions. 
 
 '' No, it was all a dream — a wicked dream ; and I am to be punished 
 some day in fiery mines for remembering it," she said with profound 
 sadness, and tears trickled fast but unheeded down her face, and she 
 seemed to sink into a puzzled reverie. The Hospitaller awaited the result 
 in silence, hoping that some clearer revelation might rise in her chaotic 
 memory. But suddenly she raised her eyes, wiped the tears hastily away, 
 and looked at him wiih a gaze lull oP mingled suspicion and dread. "But 
 yet," she said at length hesitatingly, " thou art not like the serpent that 
 came and questioned me with his oily tongue, and whispered lies of him, 
 and said he loved another belter far, and challenged me else to win him 
 from his appointment with her that night — the beautiful bright lady that 
 was queen at the tournament I— but it was only one of my aunt's devils, 
 you must know, sir, — for when he came they murdered him!" 
 
 "Loved another!— and who was she? What did men call her?" ex- 
 claimed the knight. 
 
 " Oh, she was so beautiful, that indeed it was a scorpion in my breast 
 to hear it said! Hast thou not — come from what land thou wilt— heard 
 of the daughter of the Christian high priest, Donna Lucrezia?" 
 
 " And thy Francesco preferred her to thee?" returned the Hospitaller, 
 with a start. 
 
 "No, no, no! — 'tis false! — he came, he came!" said the Jewess, with 
 eyes that flashed through her tears. " Thou art a devil, too, to belie him 
 thus, for when I told him what the serpent visage said — " 
 
 " Ay ! what did he answer then?" returned the Hospitaller, breathlessly. 
 
 "Hush! didst thou not hear a step?" interrupted Miriam, staring 
 ■wildly, and tossing her black hair from her shoulders to listen. 
 
 " Embers sinking on the hearth. But tell me, Miriam, I adjure thee, 
 what said he when thou didst upbraid him with his inconstancy?" 
 
 " That was the very way they came! — 1 heard them creeping up the 
 stairs, and listening and whispering, and thouglit it was but the wind,'' 
 replied the Jewess, lifting her slender finger with a wildly startled look. 
 " But Ihou art not asleep as he was ! — He looked so beautiful in his sleep 
 that it ever grieved me to waken him when the sweet dawn came, though' 
 I knew the witches would have killed him had they found him there.' 
 
 "But what said he to thy gentle jealousies, fair Mniam? Did he 
 smile?" reiterated the knight. 
 
 " JNay, 1 knew not till ihcn that he could look so terrible! And he 
 swore that if- that if — on the following day I would fly IVom the Ghetto 
 to — to— whither was it?" said Miriam, pressing her forehead between 
 her hands, " His cruel brother was to be gone then, that would have 
 betrayed how the Christian knight had made the Jewish girl his only 
 love— and then— he would show me, he said, how it was impossible that 
 he should seek that lady's love, fair though she might be, and would slay 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 147 
 
 the fiend who told me so, if 1 could show him who it was ! But even as 
 he spoke — hark !— there are muffled feet coming up the stairs!''^ 
 
 " We are below stairs here, remember thee, poor Miriam ! " said the 
 Hospitaller, much agitated. "But who, then, was thy Francesco, that 
 be boasted such power over life and death? Some great lord, doubdess. 
 Was he one of the Orsini, whose palace is so near Lhe Ghetto?" 
 
 "The Orsinil— there is not one of their proudest worthy to hold my 
 Francesco's stirrup, when he mounted on his joyful steed I " returned the 
 Jewish girl with wild enthusiasm. " So good, so beautiful, so brave I — 
 the smile on his red lips was brighter than a ruby's sparkle, and when he 
 looked into mine eyes, my soul dissolved away in happiness! But I 
 dreamed of him long, long before 1 saw him, and there was nothing plea- 
 sant to me because 1 saw him not. Yet it was all a dream— else, where- 
 fore, being so great a lord, would he never tell me more than that his 
 name was Francesco? But what needed I to know more? He was him- 
 self, if he had had no name but his own beauty I " 
 
 " But if thou didst love him so, wouldstthou not avenge his cruel mur- 
 ther ?" said the Hospitaller. ''Does it not darken sunshine to thee when 
 thou markest those of thy people who were his assassins, smiling at one 
 another with the sweet recollection of their bloody vengeance, when 
 they meet in the market place?" ^^ 
 
 " Nav, they were demons in masks, raised by the witches, my aunts, ' 
 replied^Miriam, musingly. "All but one— and my Francesco tore that 
 from the face of the Scarlet Man, to show me how it had been turned in 
 hell to the palest ashes— paler than those of a pinewood fire when the 
 morning shines on it." 
 
 " But that one— that one I— wert thou to behold his face again, surely 
 thou hast not forgotten that one?" said Alfonso. 
 
 " I tell thee again! they were all devils raised by Notte and Morta to 
 tear him to pieces— for they langhed and held me while it was all^done !" 
 returned the girl pettishly ; and the recollection of the boatman's story, 
 and the circumstance of the girl who came shrieking after the victim, 
 pursued by two old women, recurred to him almost with the force of con- 
 viction. But still he had but his own suspicions as to who the mysterious 
 murderer might have been. The mingling of Lucrezia's name renewed 
 all his perplexities. Was it not possible that the jealousy of an enraged 
 woman, not the fury of a rival, or the ambition of a younger brother, had 
 wrought that dismal tragedy? Tales which he had heard of the strange 
 disappearances of persons even of high rank, who were supposed to be 
 lovers of Lucrezia, occurred to him. But this reasoning was based on a 
 hope which now glided into his thoughts, that the Jewess's unfortunate 
 lover was not the Duke of Gandia. the number of assassinated persons 
 thrown nightly into the river, as into a common reservoir, permitted this 
 dark wandering of the bright spirit ; for even to find Lucrpzia a murder- 
 ess, rather than the worse horror which the 'enemies of her house repre- 
 sented her, appeared to him a hope. And yet the name— Fi-ancesco ! 
 The only possible solution of the direful riddle— the only possible light 
 to be obtained — seemed to glimmer in the evanescent flashes of the 
 Hebrew girl's half-extinguished intellect. . . 
 
 She watched him during his musing with a vacant sort of curiosity, 
 carelessly weaviuLT her long hair into ringlets. 
 
 " But when they had killed him, what did they with the gashed body? 
 he said at last. 
 
148 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Oh, I will show thee very soon. I found out the trick when it was 
 loo late," she replied, with sudden vivacity, and darting towards the mas- 
 sive wardrobe which we adverted to in describing the locale, she pulled 
 a chain, which raised a strong bolt-, then opening the leaves of the ward- 
 robe, the Hospitaller beheld with amazement, by the light of the lamp 
 which she hastened to bring, that a stream of water flowed past between 
 the houses and a dead wall of equal height, which was roofed in. 
 
 "And whither flows this dark stream, Miriam?" he said, lookingup 
 both ways, and ascertaining that the corridor, or covered way, extended 
 without any apparent exit on either. 
 
 "Only the rats and the Jews are to know that," replied the girl, with 
 a smile of simple cunning, as if she had detected and were baffling some 
 tricksy purpose. 
 
 " Miriam, hear me!" said the Hospitaller, a thought occurring to him. 
 "Thou hast seen that mine arm is strong! — Thou art but fooled by thy 
 cruel grandames to believe that demons slew thy beautiful lover -some 
 rival among ihe Christians has slain him, perchance for the love of that 
 fair lady of whom it was spoken to thee. Now, if amidst all the crowds 
 which are assembled at these feasts of the Jubilee, thou canst or wilt 
 point out to me those — him — who wrought this deed, 1 swear by all that 
 is holy both to Jews and Christians I will avenge thee so that thou thyself 
 shalt cry 'Enough !'" 
 
 " I cannot see them ; — I go to no feasts now — the witches will not let 
 me," she replied, with evidently startled attention. 
 
 " But is there not some secret exit contrived by thy people from the 
 Ghetto by this stream?" said the knight, "-Name but where I may find 
 thee at to-morrow's sunrise, and I will be thy guide and champion through 
 all their galliard shows — and we will discover the murderers of thy noble 
 lover." 
 
 "The witches will kill me if I stir out of their house — but I never 
 thought of this?" said the Jewess, with a deep sigh. " They say I am 
 crazed, and must not even go into the market place now to show my 
 pretty sparkling stones and my eyes, which were brighter far before I 
 wept them away!" 
 
 " But if thou art crazed— if they say thou art, Miriam, it is the wont of 
 madness to love wandering, and that may plead thine apology if even the 
 old dames discover thou art flown from their perch awhile," returned the 
 Hospitaller. 
 
 "Hi, hi!— but how folks will laugh to see the Christian knight and the 
 Jewish girl together, and hoot at me and stone us both ! — for so Fran- 
 cesco said," replied Miriam, with a faint hysteric giggle, stopped by a 
 shower of tears. 
 
 The knight himself was for a moment perplexed. 
 
 "But who, gentle Miriam, will note us in the hurlyburly ? And if they 
 do, 'tis the office and devoir of a true knight to shield "and succour all 
 women, be their nation or religion what it hath pleased God," returned 
 the Hospitaller. 
 
 "And wilt thou, indeed, with thy strong right arm, avenge — for now 
 I remember it was thou who rescued me from the armed man, when I was 
 looking for Francesco in the crowd !" she replied, hurriedly. 
 
 "For Francesco!" repeated the Hospitaller, with some disappointment 
 at this reversion of incompatible ideas. 
 
 "Yes, signor; for I said to my heart, if he is among them all — those 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 149 
 
 Christians— he will see me, and remember, and then he must needs take 
 pity on me— at least he will lell me why he despises me so much that he 
 never even said, ' xMiriam, I am weary of thee !' " said ihe Jewess, mourn- 
 fully. "Why should he not even tell me why he scorned me— why he 
 never wished to see me again ? Perchance ihey have told him lies of me, 
 as they will ever of poorsouls who love so much they know not how to 
 hide it •, but then it needs only a word to set all right again when truth is 
 listened to." 
 
 "Wherefore then wilt thou not abroad with me and seek him out?" 
 said the Hospitaller, tacking to this new gust. " When canst thou hope 
 to see him and tell thy truths, penned up in these darksome places, where 
 he never comes?" 
 
 Miriam looked at her adviser with a kind of wondering doubt •, but she 
 suddenly exclaimed, with eyes and features kindling with rage, " Devil ! 
 I know thee now!— thou art he who came before as the leaden-visaged 
 Spanish liar, for all thou art so changed !— the witches have sent thee to 
 find out who mv Francesco is,— and then my dream will all come true!" 
 Confounded with this new turn, the Hospitaller siood for some moments 
 in silence, scarcely noticing a slight murmur which much more vividly 
 attracted the attention of the Jewess. 
 
 "They come, they come!" she exclaimed, in a breathless undertone, 
 and startled into some degree of sane recollection. " Fly, fly, or we 
 shall both be murdered !— They are all coming to take away their pre- 
 cious things, now the Christians are gone, and surely if they find thee 
 here they will do murder, lest thou shouldst report their wealth to thy 
 people!" 
 
 The whispering of several voices, and a sound as if of unlocking or 
 unbarring the doors of the pharmacy, were distinctly audible ; and brave 
 and powerful as he was, the Hospital'lerwas by no means so much a paladin 
 as to despise the danger of being surrounded by numbers, under circum- 
 stances which would prompt the kindled passions of the Hebrew popu- 
 lation. 
 
 "Whither does this marvellous passage conduct?" he exclaimed. 
 
 " To the marsh below Palazzo Orsini, out of the walls," replied Miriam, 
 wringing her hands. "They come, they come!— they will not believe 
 us— they will murder thee, and call me bitter names— follow the stream, 
 the stream! Fly, fly!" 
 
 " I will only depart on condition that thou meetest me to-morrow in the 
 Forum— the Ox-market as ye call it in Rome— with the early light," re- 
 turned the Hospitaller. 
 
 "Yes, yes, 1 will meet thee there, even if they kill me !— indeed, indeed, 
 I swear it!" said the girl, hurriedly essaying with her feeble force to draw 
 him to the exit. 
 
 " Swear to me by all thy hopes of seeing thy Francesco again, in heaven 
 or on earth !" said Alfonso, hastening his own movements towards it. 
 
 "I swear — 1 swear!" 
 
 " But thou wilt forget !— Promise not once to look at this strange portal, 
 but to remember thy pledge!" said the Hospitaller. 
 
 "I will— 1 will!— it is not deep!" she exclaimed, as the knight took 
 the lamp, and threw its radiance on the rapid water. " "Tis crystal pure, 
 too, for we use it in kneading the shew-bread. — On, on !" 
 
 The knight indeed hesitated in descending the two or three steps which 
 led to the channel, for a momentary suspicion of treachery crossed his 
 
 L 
 
150 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 mind when be glanced down the watery way. But the anxious implicit- 
 ness oC the Jewess's coiintetiauce reassured him, and hearing the mut- 
 tering gibber of the two old women's voices approaching the chamber, he 
 pressed Mariam's hand to his heart, and descended the steps. '•! will 
 take thy lamp," he said, wiih a smile, "for they will scold thee for losing 
 it, and so keep up the recollection of thy pledge." 
 
 Miriam made no reply, but by a strange laugh in which fear and a vague 
 sense of ihe ridiculous mingled, and closed the opening with such rapidity 
 thai the Hospitaller was barred out before he had well concluded the ob- 
 servation. 
 
 He found himself perched on a loose step partially laved by the waters 
 as Ihey passed. The stream was not deep, unless its exceeding purity 
 deceived the eye. Probably it flowed from some spring in the neighbour- 
 ing Capitoline, and was thus carefully covered in by the inhabitants no 
 less as a means of eluding the vigilance of their jailers, than to gratify an 
 oriental scrupulosity in diet. That at which he had made his exit, how- 
 ever, appeared to Alfonso the only door opening on the water. High 
 square holes with buckets hanging at them, suggested the means by 
 which the neighbours took in their supplies. 
 
 Several voices of men speaking confusedly and in raised and indignant 
 tones were now audible to the knight; and apprehending more for the 
 girl's sake than his own, if the gleam of his torch should be observed 
 through the chinks, he shaded it, and stepped into the channel. It was 
 deeper than he had at first conjectured, flowing over his knee; but 
 carefully pebbled, and somewhat raised in the centre. Proceeding along 
 this line, and reconnoitring as he advanced, he saw that the water fl(nved 
 down so rapid an inclination that but ior the intervention of numerous 
 dams it must have become very shallow. 
 
 Alfonso began to muse on the probabilities that the stream would ter- 
 minate in some deep cistern or reservoir. A dark thought assailed him 
 that he was perhaps barred in a j)lace whence there was no exit, and 
 where he might miserably perish •, for the importance of the secret which 
 he had discovered of their hidden wealth, would drive the Jews to de- 
 speration, so that a return through their quarters was inipossible. Still 
 it was not likely that a project so treacherous and malignant could enter 
 the bewildered fancy of the young Jewess •, considering, too, the poignant 
 recollections which she seemed to preserve of a former scene of bloodshed 
 and betrayal. This thought conjured up a vision of the horrible tragedy 
 in the knight's imagination, and so vividly, that the flashes of the lamp on 
 the water startled him at times as if they were gouts of blood speeding 
 past. So strongly did this fancy work that once he thought he heard 
 shrieks, and paused to listen. 
 
 Perhaps it was still but the sport of imagination on his excited organs, 
 but it seemed to him as if he heard remote halloos and shouts, above all 
 which was distinct the voice of Miriam, repeating her "• Fly, fly !" in ac- 
 cents of frantic warning. If she were indeed urging on his flight, or 
 merely giving way to the vagaries of delirium, was of equal portent, and 
 The Hospitaller hastened on. 
 
 But a greater per()lexity shortly awaited him. The dark way suddenly 
 terminated. A wall as high as the roofing was before him, beneath which, 
 at a low massive archway scarcely high enougli to allow it, the waters 
 crept out of the Ghetto. The knight could scarcely bring himself even to 
 imagine that the Israelites got out of their inclosure by crawling under 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 151 
 
 this arch, at the hazard of being suffocated in the water. Still he could 
 discern no other way, and his heart b.-at high with feelings very unusual 
 in that stout breast, when he ap|)roached to satisfy himself by a diligent 
 search that there was no other possible exit. 
 
 Approaching the arch, he was almost instantly struck by observing that 
 there were stones jutting out at intervals so as to make an easy ascent of 
 a few steps to the top of its curve. Satisfied that there was a use for this 
 contrivance, though he could as yet perceive none, Alfonso mounted the 
 stairs, and reaching the summit of the arch in two or three strides, he 
 stood amazed at the ingenuity of the trick which he discovered. The wall 
 instead of resting on the arch, as it seemed at a distance, was separated 
 from it by a space sufficiently wide to allow the stoutest man to drop be- 
 tween. Then by stooping double it was possible to pass under a second 
 archway, much higher than the first, to which by an illusion of [.erspec- 
 tive it seemed to be joined, when viewed from the exterior. The blue 
 darkness at the extremity convinced the knight that he should then be in 
 the open air. 
 
 He delayed but little after this discovery, and passing without much 
 difficulty beneath the outer arch, emerged, as he expected, outside 
 the walls of the Chelto A sedgy marsh through which the stream 
 crept into the Tiber,— the river and its island covered with massive 
 ruins and cypresses standing motionless in the windless air, — were before 
 him. 
 
 Concluding that if he kept by the wall he should reach some gate into 
 the Ghetto, at which he mightenler to learn what had happened in the 
 pursuit of the Jewess's assailant, he took that course. Startling the 
 waterfowl which* had built their nests on the deserted shore, and avoiding 
 the numerous pools of stagnant water by their glare in ihe moonlight, 
 the knight at length reached a scattered suburb of mean cottages, all 
 silent and emptied of their sight-seeing dwellers. Then came a suc- 
 cession of narrow and equally'^deserted lanes, passing through some of 
 which he suddenly emer^^ed in an open square. Great numbers of people 
 were thronging into it from various quarters. One side of the space was 
 occupied by a" lofty palace, or rather fortress, for it was mounted with 
 cannon, and secured by massive walls. Remembering that the Orsini 
 palace was rai^ed on the ruins of an ancient Roman theatre, and contrasting 
 the grand Grecian architecture of the lower storeys of the pile with the 
 Gothic battlements and towers which ran above, the Hospitaller had little 
 doubt that he stood before the stronghold of that powerful race. 
 
 He listened for an in>tant to the hubbub of conversation around him, and 
 soon fouiid that the mub were of those who had been in the Ghetto. He 
 inquired of one of the loudest and most gesticulating of the incomers, who 
 happened to be our worthy little friend Paschino, the tailor, what the 
 matter was. 
 
 "Matter enoughl when a Christian may not even honour a Jew girl 
 with a kiss but lie must be hunted like a water-rat!" replied Paschimo, 
 who was nothing, if not critical. " Besides, it was a trick to get up a 
 tumult, that the'jews might cut all our throats in their narrow maccaroni 
 lanes. At first, the noble gentlemen about the preacher (bless their thick 
 skulls'.) would have it that'one of their acquaintance had rescued the girl; 
 and they ransacked the Jew's house, but found nobodv in it — not even the 
 wench. And while we are all busy looking tor them like fools as we were 
 born, in gallipots and rat-holes, came in two old hags who looked as if 
 
152 C-^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 they had been to have their beards singed in hell, and swore that their 
 niece was mad, and must have run out of the house. Whereupon I told 
 them that they were not mad who left, but who stayed in such a musty 
 pomegranate ; and Fra Bruno, seeing people's temper rise, seized his cross, 
 and commanded us one and all to troop it out of the Ghetto, and those who 
 hesitated he drove before him — and so here we are all I" 
 
 "And the fellow who caused the disturbance escaped?" said the 
 knight. 
 
 " Of course— and who should escape but the guilty?" returned Pas- 
 chino, 
 
 " And Fra Bruno has taken refuge with the Orsini in their palace?" said 
 Don Alfonso. 
 
 "Refugel — why should Fra Bruno take refuge?" replied the tailor. 
 " Unless indeed from the envy of his thickhead brethren, which has driven 
 him, they say, to live as a hermit on Mount Aventine, in the ruins of the 
 baths there,— whiiher he is now gone after giving us all more than my 
 mother thought necessary for me at ieast, — a blessing." 
 
 "Mount Aventine I — surely he hath not gone alone to that desert!" 
 said the knight, startled with'his recollection of the attempt to assassinate 
 the friar. 
 
 " ^yorse than alone, for he hath the fat fool, Biccocco, with him," said 
 Paschino. " 'Tis strange how fond these deeply wise men are of the 
 company of fools I — and yet he shuns the society of women worse than 
 that of black vipers I " 
 
 " He is in danger, if he hath no other company," exclaimed the Hospi- 
 taller. " Canst thou guide me to these ruins, Paschino, where he has his 
 hermitage?" 
 
 "Yea, like a sign-post, than which 1 will stir no more over that ground 
 by night I " replied the tailor. " Let those go the journey that have bu- 
 siness at the end of it,— let the arrow fly that has a mark I I have heard 
 enough how he treats his disciples! — certes, not with loaves and fishes; 
 nay, what is rarer, he declines them himself, though confessor to a lady 
 who has cause no doubt to be grateful for absolutions. Perhaps, indeed, 
 he has not yet been offered aught large enough for his appetite, for you 
 don't catch wolves with almond-cakes." f 
 
 " It were charity in thee to guide me on his way, for I have reason 
 to believe the good man's life is in danger," returned the knight, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " >ay, for he is said to be so skilful an anatomist and physician, that he 
 might take a fancy to see how 1 came to be so small. — And your Spaniards 
 when they set about a thing have as much mercy as carrion-crows picking 
 the eyes of a dying horse," said Paschino, wiih'a start. 
 " Is Fra Bruno a Spaniard ? " returned the Hospitaller. 
 " Is the devil a Dutchman! —who knows not that? How else should 
 he climb to honours in Italy, and be the right hand of my Lady Donna 
 Lucrezia?" 
 
 The latter part of this question revived the recollection of the pilgrim of 
 Compostella's observations on the monk, and of the pressing nature of the 
 peril which beset him. Alfonso renewed his request, but his earnestness 
 rather gave the tailur suspicions of his int^^ntious, th;in any inclination to 
 second them. Perhaps even he thought thai the knight himself was on 
 an errand of no good import to Fra Bruno, whose doctrines were already 
 suspected to have brought him into bad odour in the Vatican. Such was 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 153 
 
 the terror which the Borgian tyranny had infused, that the poor tailor was 
 seized on the thought with a grievous panic. Finally, he acted like the 
 labourer in the fable who promised not to tell the huntsman where the deer 
 lay, and only pointed to its refuge. He described the way to the monk's 
 hermitage, and took the opportunity of a general commotion in the crowd, 
 caused by two men who had drawia daggers on some slight quarrel, and 
 slunk out of sight. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " But quiet to quicli bosoms is a hell, 
 And there haih been thy bane. . 
 
 And who can view the ripened rose, nor seek 
 To wear it? who can curiously behold 
 The smoothness and the sheen of beauty's cheek, 
 Kor feel the heart can never all grow old.'" 
 
 Taking the route indicated by the gibing tailor, the knight gradually 
 cleared himself of the mob from the Ghetto, and passed through several 
 streets in which only a few devotees crossed his path, gliding from shrine 
 to shrine. What his own object was he could scarcely have said. To 
 warn the confessor of his danger, and to use the interesl which he might 
 acquire by the service in obtaining some light on his perplexities, even 
 of that involuntary sort which looks and gestures yield — curiosity and hu- 
 manity — were motives so inextricably mingled that he could not have 
 decided which was the strongest. 
 
 So lost in thought went he, that learned as, considering the age, he 
 might be called, Dun Alfonso passed through the deserted valley between 
 the Palatine and Aveniine, without ever noticing that the ruined arches 
 scattered so far along the way were the remains of the famous Circus 
 Maximus. Silence more profound — desolation more complete — the de- 
 serts of Palmyra cotild not have offered, for both were deepened rather 
 than broken Ly the distant hum of the agitated city. A few shepherds' 
 huts, and ruins, then as now possessed this hill, which had once been 
 covered with palaces. 
 
 Gradually all traces of a road vanished, and on each side were woody 
 acclivities, covered with ruins and melancholy cypresses. The only guide 
 of the Knight of St. John was now a small stream which traversed the 
 valley, and which Paschino had informed him flowed very near the ruins 
 of which he was in search. The guide indeed was failhful, and after 
 murmuring through a deep wood, the underwood of which was chiefly of 
 ■wild roses in full blossom, it conducted him into a verdant desert, in the 
 midst of which the vast ruins of the Baths of Caracalla are scattered. For 
 a few minutes the knight stood breathlessly gazing at the immense 
 destruction — the wilderness of shattered arches, lonely columns, useless 
 porticoes, fallen walls, or but standing in parts like jagged towers 
 attesting the former height of the whole — which stretched beneath his 
 gaze. 
 
 The hopelessness of searching among these unknown masses for the 
 Dominican's hermitage, struck Alfonso instantly, and he would probably 
 have returned on his steps, but that he chanced to perceive a figure ad- 
 vancing out of the ruins, as if coming towards the city. Hoping that it 
 might prove either some follower of the monk, or peasant acquainted with 
 
154 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the locality, he hastened to meet the stranger, who came on, muttering 
 and cro?sing himself, as if at prayer, and so lost in his devotions that he 
 took no notice of the knight until he was within a few yards of him. Al- 
 fonso had seated himself, in expectation of his approach, on the half- 
 buried capital of a pillar, and rising suddenly, his appaniion excited so 
 much terror in the beholder, that he'uttered a' terrific yell, and fled I But 
 in that instant Alfonso had recognized the bravo of the Ghetto, and was 
 about to rush in pursuit, when a Ught suddenly appeared among the ruins, 
 and a voice quaggy with fat and alarm called out, " What ails thee, 
 brother?" 
 
 Alfonso dreaded that the mischief he had come to prevent was already 
 done, but confiding in the terror which his appearance seemed to diffuse, 
 he pushed forward, and discerned by the glare of a torch which he carried 
 the goodly rotund visage of Fra Biccocco, white and seething with 
 alarm. 
 
 "In the name of the Five Wounds who art thou?" gasped the friar, 
 after staring agape for several moments. 
 
 " It matters nothing to my puriiuse, father; lead me to the presence of 
 Fra Bruno; my business is with him," replied the knight. " Is he well, 
 or hath aught happened to him?"' 
 
 "0 woithy knight I— thou art not that devil in human form to breakup 
 so peerless a vessel of light as my dear maslerl — Holy Thomas Canla- 
 ruensis protect us I — but art thou here to do murder on that precious torch 
 of theology?" 
 
 " Rather to save him from murderers —extinguishers, if thou wilt. — 
 But whence came that villain who but now passed me?" returned the 
 knight. 
 
 " From confession with my blessed brother, the ornament and glory 
 of our order." said the Iriar, breathlessly. 
 
 " If yonder assassin hath been with the good father, he is dead!" ex- 
 claimed the knight. " And this 1 tell you, who am the soldier of the cross 
 who rescued the Jewess in IheGhettti." 
 
 " Sancta Maria, niater Dei, ora pra nobis I — what have I done, a sinner, 
 to merit this celestial honourl" said Fra Biccocco, kneeling before the 
 astonished Hospitaller. " If it was St. Michael who saved that caudle of 
 the faiih, as the vdlain swore, and thou art he — probatum est^ ora pro 
 nobis I" 
 
 " Thou art mad, friar; the villain's fears have deceived him, or he has 
 but fooled you to gain access to your master and slay him. — Doubtless he 
 is even now weltering in his blood 1" returned the knight, despite the 
 horror of his suspicions almost laughing at his sudden canonization. 
 " Lead me to him, I conjure thee— albeit, I fear all help will come too 
 latel" 
 
 pertory, but this one was so clear and so emphatically slated that it dis- 
 p^^lled in an instant his supertitious fancies, and convinced him that he 
 was speaking to a form of flesh and blood like himself, although not so fat. 
 Then the dread that his ornamental superior was murdered took posses- 
 sion of his mind, and he trembled all over like a man in an ague fit, or 
 rather like a ;elly on a shaking sideboard. Quaking he stood and gazed 
 with undiminished su-picion at the stranger, not daring either to take to 
 flight or to reuiain. It wns some minutes before the latter, by the most 
 earnest protestations mingled with threats to his osvn personal damage, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 155 
 
 prevailed on Fra Biccocco to guide him to Bruno's cell — not knowing 
 whether to behold a tragedy or loarctderale f^ne. 
 
 The fiiar ltd the way with many a sliuddering retrospect, being in 
 great doubt whether it was not inteiidt^d lo slab him behind, through the 
 central masses of ruin, beneath unnumbered shattered arches. Viewing 
 the internjinable alleys of pillars and colonnades and chambers which 
 extended on either side, it seemed as if time alone could not have wrought 
 that prodigious destruction— that an earthquake must have assisted. 
 Once or twice they startled a sleeping goat in the aisles of the ruin, or an 
 owl shot with a wild hoot over the monk's torch ; else they encountered 
 no living object to break the sepulchral desolation. 
 
 At length Fra Biccocco turned to the right beneath the remains of a 
 triumphal portico, on each side of which stood the headless statues of 
 two Roman emperors. Thence he entered into a wilderness of grottoes, 
 the broad corridors of which were at limes almost choked with odori- 
 ferous shrubs and wild flowers, which poured their generous sweetness 
 on the desert around without stint or measure. He stopped at last at 
 what probably had once been a principal entrance to the baths, judging 
 by the remains of the magnificent columns before it; ascended a flight 
 of giass-grown steps, and entered a series of desolate chambers, which 
 although roofless and choked with ruins and rank vegetation, bore traces 
 of their ancienl dedication. These terminated before a pile of archways 
 ascending in various stages of ruin much higher than the surrounding 
 masses, with an entrance secured by a very clumsily manufactured door. 
 The friar pushed it hastily open, and admitted his companion into a 
 chamber which had been one of the principal balhs, but was now very 
 singularly occupied, partly as a hermitage and partly as the studium of a 
 philosopher. High unglazed holes admitted lii:ht and air together, and 
 with the aid of the friar's torch and the dull reflection of a dying fire, 
 revealed various apparatus of chemistry and anatomy, books, telescopes, 
 and other learned instrunjcnts, oddly mingled with crosses, disciplines 
 or scourges, rude drawings of the Virgin and saints, culinary implements, 
 two beds or rather lairs of reeds, a block for a table, and two stools. 
 
 Without pausing to allow his companion time to note any minor details 
 of the scene, Fra Biccocco crossed the chamber to an opposite door, 
 opening which a square inclosure of ruins appeared. "Brother Bruno I 
 brother Bruno I in mercy's name, if you are alive, speak I" exclaimed 
 the friar, but no voice replied, "Oh, he is in Heaven! — he is in 
 Heaven I" exclaimed the poor monk, sobbing at the thought as if his 
 heart would break. "Ah, little thought I, and woe the hour, when he 
 mounted those stairs to his little cell, tliat he was only going so far on his 
 way to ihe sky I But at least spare me, good knight : for now he is gone 
 I am of no more significance than the shadow of a siraw I He was my 
 teacher, my master, my prop, my glory, my light!— and now 1 am only a 
 biscuit fur a dog!" 
 
 "What stairs? " returned the knight, snatching the torch, and throwing 
 its light forward he perceived the remains of a flight of steps, overhung 
 by laurel trees and juniper bushes, which ascended the ruins. 
 
 "His lamp is still burning, but he himself is blown out by the devil's 
 breath!" groaned the friar, looking up. " Mercy, mercy, signor cava- 
 liero. on a poor Christian who does not know you]^ and has no lunger any- 
 business on the earth! ' 
 
 "There is blood on these steps indeed!" said the knight, passing the 
 
156 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 torch over some dark clots on the weeds which rankly clothed them. 
 
 "I remember me the bravo was badly wounded ; pray all the saints it 
 be his blood — I would not grudge a sea of it!" returned the bewildered 
 friar. 
 
 "Give me thy torch, I will learn : and if thou fearest for thine own 
 safety, stay below," ^aid the Hospitaller, springing up the steps with a 
 rapidity which soon placed him on a plattorm above, leaving Biccocco 
 invoking all the saints in the calendar by name. 
 
 The ray of a torch streaming from a perforation in front guided Alfonso 
 to the sanctum of Fra Bruno, iDut in his eagerness he nearly slipped down 
 a chasm yawning in the way, before he perceived that it was necessary 
 to take a slight detour to reach the chamber in safety. He arrived im- 
 mediately before a square opening from which the light came, and raising 
 himself on tiptoe he looked into the chamber with almost the certainty 
 knocking at his ribs that he was about to gaze upon a scene of horror. 
 
 But it was not so: it was a large chamber strewed with still more 
 curious and cabalistical instruments than the vault below. About the 
 middle was a table covered wilh books and writing materials ; and di- 
 rectly in front was an altar, decorated with singular taste, hung wilh 
 magnificently embroidered velvet, and set wilh antique vases of great 
 beauty full of flowers. A crucifixion, wrought in fine gold, hung above 
 the altar, and before it knelt the monk, apparently whole and sound, but 
 in such an ecstasy of devotion that it seemed as if a cannon discharged in 
 the cell could scarcely have broken it. He was praying aloud, and partly 
 in awe and partly in curiosity the Hospitaller listened-, and his prayer 
 seemed to be a rhapsody of thanksgiving for the encouragement given him 
 in overcoming all weakness of the flesh, and strength bestowed for some 
 great task in hand. But it struck the Hospitaller chiefly that in the 
 course of this rapt overflow he heard the name of Lucrezia more than 
 once. 
 
 So mundane a word broke the spell ; but it was with a much increased 
 confidence in the holy man whom he had thus behold at unawares more 
 devout than in the presence of his admirers, that Alfonso looked around 
 for some entrance to the cell. This was easily found, for it was a narrow 
 archway without a door, through which the Knight of St. John boldly 
 stepped, exclaiming as he appeared, '' Your pardon and blessing, father! 
 on one whose weighty business alone emboldens his interruption." 
 
 The Dominican started, glanced round, and sprang up, and for a mo- 
 ment his sallow cheek grew paler yet, and his right hand convulsively 
 grasped the rope of his girdle, as if he had expected to find sonie weapon 
 there. A spasmodic smile then crossed his lips, and folding his arms on 
 his breast, and turning his eyes upward until all but the white disap- 
 peared, he said — '' Strike! — since this is the only redemption Heaven can 
 give my struggling soul— strike! " 
 
 " Do you then forget me, father? One of those travellers to whom you 
 rendered a signal service at the falls of Velino, which he is rejoiced to 
 have it now in his power to return," replied the knight in a reverential 
 tone. 
 
 " Thou ! —the Knight of St. John !— Art thou sent by heaven or by hell ?" 
 said Fra Bruno, starling at the voice from his altitude of fixed endurance, 
 and darting a wild and glaring gaze at his visitor. 
 
 " Doubtless from Heaven, since I come to do service to so faithful a son 
 of the church," returned Alfonso. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 157 
 
 "Speak thy purpose then— or do it I " said the monk, with an agitation 
 which the immediate apprehension ol' death had caused him. 
 
 The HospitaUer judiciously replied by giving a brief account of the 
 attempt at assassination wiiich he had fruhlraled in the Ghetto, not, 
 however, mentioning his suspicions of the instigator, to observe if the 
 monk's consciousness would suggest that of his dire enemy. As he spoke, 
 a smile of bitter mirth stole over Era Bruno's gloomy features. 
 
 " It was no armed angel, then, as worihy John of the Catacombs had 
 nigh persuaded me— it was thou I " he exclaimed, with strange wildness. 
 "Oh, now indeed am 1 shorn of my strength, and am at sea again in the 
 tossing tempest of my thoughts! Butbehevuig, instead of murdering me 
 he came to implore my forgiveness, and confess his crime, concealing 
 only the name of his instigator, which yet I can freely guess, since it was 
 not the fiend himself" 
 
 "And the bravo has confessed to you the crime he meditated against 
 yourself!" exclaimed the knight, not without surprise, famdiar as the 
 marvellous workings of superstition were to all men in that age. "But 
 ■what had you done against his prompter, who seemed to be a personage of 
 high degree, that he should thirst for your blood?" 
 
 "He knows that I know him to be a devil — and he would have the 
 ■world to think that he is a man," replied the Dominican, sedately. 
 
 "But, father, he seemed to be some irritated husband, accusing you of 
 having caused a divorce— and impeaching your motives therein most 
 blackly !" said the knight, continuing his scrutiny. 
 
 "A divorce?— but it is true ! — and who that finds a canker worm in a 
 matchless rose but would tear it out and crush it! " replied the monk, his 
 pale complexion slightly mantling. "Yet, if I mistake not, the com- 
 plainer was not that wretched thing whom you glorify by styling her 
 husband! Signer, I acknowledge the otfence with pride, and since you 
 gaze at me thus earnestly, I will add— but nay, the secrets of the con- 
 fessional are sacred I — let it pass." 
 
 " At least, then it was not Alexander nor Caesar who caused that first 
 divorce," mused the Hospitaller, whose suspicions, lightened in that 
 direction, darkened against the monk. "But, father," he continued, " It 
 behoves you perchance to take some measures against the scandals which 
 your enemy scatters, insinuating that your interference was prompted by 
 an unholy passion for the wife whom you incited to throw oti'the yoke of 
 — it might be — an ill-assorted marriage " 
 
 "Ha!— and who will believe such a tale of an old bald-headed friar, 
 skilled only in musty manuscripts, whose life hath been one long despair 
 — and of a woman in the full tlush and glow ofyouth and beauty, whose 
 bosom pants for pleasure more restlessly than the golden seas of Italy to 
 reach their sunny skies?" replied the Dominican, with a fearful kindling 
 of the eye, and a hectic flame burning over his face. 
 
 "Nay, father, but it is known — whether women are, as Iheir eulogists 
 at times affirm, of a finer and more spiritual essence than ours; or 
 ■whether, as a contrary sect misdoubt, their mental inferiority disposes 
 them to an extravagant admiration of intellectual greatness ;— certain it is 
 that women have ever been more abjectly subject to its magic than men," 
 returned the subtle Hospitaller. " In such a love there were no guilt, but 
 even a foretaste of the celestial calm of that in Heaven ! " 
 
 "Ay, but the fire and clay are so closely lAeaded in humanity— the 
 dross and gold !— the soul is debased to the qualities of its earthy habita- 
 
158 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 lion ; the immortal is enslaved by the mortal ! " said the friar, with extreme 
 bitterness. ''Say what ihe PlatonisL may — man is more than half beast 
 — and knows only that he is spirit too by discovering that there are inti- 
 nite longings wiihin him which his bestial enjoyments but mock with 
 momentary glimpses ol fulfilment I Yet the love of which thou speakest — 
 spiritual and pure as the soul — might be eternal too as iti— miiiht be the 
 love of the blessed — were it returned !— But women— say what ihou wilt of 
 their reverence of mind— understand not love like this, or— yes, reve- 
 rence I— they revere mind, but ihey love— carcass ! " 
 
 " Yet they are happy who speak thus from observation — not experience," 
 replied Alfonso, jealously concluding that it was jealousy which thus 
 bitterly tinged the confessor's discourse. 
 
 '• They only then of all ere tures rational, if I may credit my experience, 
 that have looked into the diseased heart of humanity with a mediciuer's 
 eye," said the Penitentiary, more calmly. '• But this is not to the point : 
 — it seems I owe you my life, and should thank you for it, nor will 1 tell 
 tell you now how little I value it, lest you should deem that 1 would 
 underrate the gratitude I owe." 
 
 "Speak not of gratitude, father, for 1 intend that you shall soon overpay 
 me," returned Alfonso. "So violent a close would'ill have fitted a life so 
 calm and passionless as yours, which to a soldier were a natural climax." 
 
 " Thou deemest, then, there are no passions but such as take outward 
 forms of action?— None which like the Spartan's fox gnaw the heart 
 beneath the mantle?" replied the Dominican, smiling i^loomily. "No 
 troubles of the mind only — no tempests of the soul? What if my calum- 
 niator spoke the truth— not of me— but of one in my place? Dost thou 
 know what hell there might be even in the confidence 'and trust which the 
 object of the unhallowed passion reposed — demonstrations of its hopeless- 
 ness more certain than any language could bestow? Is it nothing, 
 deemest thou, to make the lips ice-cold in a kiss of tranquil benediction 
 when the heart is on fire? — To see a woman kneel at your feet before 
 whose adorable beauty I — but men rave for the most part who talk out 
 of their knowledge, and by your eyes 1 see that I do— You said, my son, 
 that it was in my power somewhat to repay you? " 
 
 "I said so, and— but I scarcely know how lo shape my asking, so 
 Strange it is — but at least I may confide in your secrecy, father?" said 
 Alfonso, who, with all his subtlety, scarcely knew how to commence what 
 he desired to say. 
 
 The Dominican pointed emphatically to the crucifix on his altar, and 
 after a short pause said mildly, "Speak, my son 5— I listen, and none 
 else on earth." 
 
 "iMen say that you are profoundly skilled in casuistry, and learned in 
 all doctrine, so ihat your words set ihe soul to rest on every controversy," 
 began the Hospitaller, hesitatingly. 
 
 " Well, they say so — men say many things — this among the rest," said 
 the friar, seemingly but little 'flattered by the compliment. " To your 
 purpose — for only time stands between men and eternity I" 
 
 " Then, father, I would know whether it is damnable for men to en- 
 deavour to ascertain matters which being kno<.vn might tend to the 
 destruction of the Church by destroying all reverence for its chief ministers 
 and incarnations ?" replied Alfonso. 
 
 The Penitentiary was.for a moment silent, and a somewhat strange 
 expression passed over his countenance. 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 159 
 
 "Truth is the rofk on which the church is founded," he said at last. 
 " Thereft)re the truth cannot harm her ; therefore if the truth is sought— 
 butwiialisthati— \Ahai is the truth I" he concluded, with singular wildness. 
 
 "Ay, that, father, is the point which you alone, of all mankind, per- 
 chance, can reS'ilve me," returned the Hospitaller. '* Listen to me, and 
 I will expound myself under sanction of your promises.— 1 am the secret 
 eiivoY of Alfonso of Ferrara, whose aversion to his sire's and the French 
 king's project of wedding him to the daughter of the Borgias is so great, 
 that i am in Rome solely to win for him some certain proof of the monstrous 
 guilt laiil to her charge, to excuse him in their eyes for refusing com- 
 pliance. You, father,' are the confessor of the illustrious lady 5— if truth 
 cannot harm the church, can certainties on this matter?" 
 
 The Penitentiary listened with profound attention, but on this sudden 
 conclusion he glanced with astonishment at the questioner, and their eyes 
 met in a kind'of concussion of thought from which both hastily with- 
 drew them. 
 
 The monk made no direct reply, which indeed Alfonso scarcely ex- 
 pected-, but a gleam of satisfaction' lighted his visage as he said, after a 
 short sihMice, "" Strange, indeed!— But you have seen her, and do you 
 persist in this vour black errand?" 
 
 " Oh. she- is" fairer than the light; and could she but be cleared of the 
 direful charges against her, Alfonso of Ferrara— it were not in humanity 
 to resist such loveliness 1 " exclai med the Hospitaller, involuntarily yielding 
 to his enthusiasm. 
 
 "Indeed, indeed. 1 know not that!" replied the Dominican, hurriedly. 
 " But know you not the obligations of the confessional, to which yet you 
 have appealed, and hope that for less than a direct mandate from Heaven 
 I will betrav its secrets?" 
 
 *' 1 am answered sufficiently in that refusal— to admit a negative were 
 to break none of its laws, ' replied Alfonso, despairingly. 
 
 " A negative may affirm— 1 have replied nothing," said the confessor, 
 much agitaied. " Let us be very patient ; — tell me, what are the accusa- 
 tions vou bring against this youthful lady ?" 
 
 '• INot mine, father, but the whisperings which are heard all over Italy," 
 replied the Hospitaller, shuddering at "the impossibility which he felt of 
 pulling his suspicions into plain language. " They say that she hath 
 fortunate lovers— whom she loves?" "continued the' knight, somewhat 
 vacantly, in his embarrassment 
 
 '• She loves not— she never hath loved 1" interrupted Bruno, vehemently. 
 "And for her lovers, it is false! This at least I may tell you— for who 
 can doubt there is some dark power which surrounds her with an at- 
 mos|ihere of death and fatality?- Some secret and demoniac energy, which 
 like a mandrake near a treasure blasts with its hidden poisons ail who 
 approach ?" 
 
 " But the charm were broken if Donna Lucrezia weds the heir of the 
 Orsini?" returned the Hospitaller. 
 
 '^ The marriase fixes her in Rome," replied the Dominican, with so 
 dark a glance tliat it suddenly struck the Hospitaller he might he thus 
 prompluig and seconding his suspicions in dread of the alleged possibility 
 of a change in the resoliJtion of the Prince of Ferrara, contingent on the 
 clearing up of his suspicions. 
 
 " But if the pontiff' was sincere in his urgent proposals to Duke Hercules 
 —he meant her to leave Rome for ever," he replied. 
 
160 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "And if the sky above us should fall— it wojuld cover many an 
 iniquity !" said the'monk, hurriedly. " The Orsino himself has already 
 escaped from a sharp hazard, albeit I know that Donna Lucrezia hath 
 no manner of liking to him, and yields but to sway in this planned 
 alliance." 
 
 "And he escaped partly by thine aid, father," returned the knight. 
 "For certes thou art the Dominican friar who guided us to the cavern 
 ■where Paolo Orsino was confined?" 
 
 Fra Bruno looked for a moment much disconcerted, but the certainty 
 in the eye of his questioner was evidently not to be shaken. 
 
 "What if I admit so much — do not betray me to an irksome gratitude," 
 he replied. " The dark heavings of men's consciences oft cast their se- 
 creis up to my ken." 
 
 While Fra Bruno made this admission, aided, by his new lights the 
 memory of the Italian prince reverted with suspicion to the circumstance 
 of the earnestness with which the monk had desired them to goto the mo- 
 nastery for assistance — where they had found the Duke of Bomagna, with 
 a force quite adequate to foil their intentions, and expose themselves to 
 great hazard. 
 
 " I am answered merely if you tell me that Caesar intended the de- 
 struction of his future brother, now that the necessity of bis affairs so 
 strongly prompt him to the alliance," said Alfonso, with a deep throb of 
 the heart. 
 
 " And this question I may not answer," replied the Dominican. 
 "Albeit I tell you— what indeed it seems you know — that it was Caesar 
 himself who attempted your life to-night !" said the Hospitaller, thrown off 
 his guard by his own vehemence. 
 
 " And didst thou know this, and — indeed, but thy master has chosen his 
 envoy well !" returned Fra Bruno, evidently startled. "But as I have 
 said, I cannot answer you on these points : — men are to judge only of 
 men's actions— God and His church of their intentions !" 
 
 "Yet at least in the njatter of my theological doubt — " began Alfonso. 
 "Tempt me no more I I have made up'my soul to endure whatever may 
 be rather than again — leave me — tempt me no more!" exclaimed the 
 monk, with sudden wildness, 
 
 "I tempt you to no sin, but rather to a saintly work, redeeming per- 
 chance a limed soul from the the snares of Satan!" returned the knight. 
 
 " Nay, if the devil come in an angelic form, who can resist him ?" said 
 Fra Bruno, in a voice full of the echoes of despair. " But hear me, and 
 judge whether I a;m the oracle you deem me. Hear me- the great theo- 
 logian, when I confess to you that I know not, in mine own labours, 
 whether I am inspired by a god or a demon ! — whether in exposing the 
 abuses of Christianity I am not mining its whole fabric ! — whether, instead 
 of tidings of salvation, I am not scattering the seeds of damnation on all 
 the winds! — whether 1 am a reformer or a destroyer! — whether my wages 
 will be life or death ! — whether the denunciation I intended to deliver to- 
 morrow before assembled Christianity (since it seems I was saved by no 
 miracle) be prompted by heaven or by hell !" 
 
 ''They err not then that ascribe to you some taint of the heresies of 
 Savonarola?" said the knight, despite his strong nerves shrinking a Httle 
 back. 
 
 " Savonarola deserted Heaven, not Heaven Savonarola — a vessel too 
 weak to endure the furnace !" rephed the monk, kindling with enthusiasm, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. !61 
 
 and continuing to sppak in a r^pt tone. " But who says that T lack signs 
 to support me in my task? VVhil if revenge first promptoJ, d d not the 
 dream visit me m mv youth whi-n my soul was pure ? Is it not against 
 evei'y yearning ol'the flesh — every hope ul earthly recompense — in defiance 
 of every templatiou? Have I not been preserved to it by miracle this 
 nighi— tor 'tis not the less a miracle thai is wrought by human agency? 
 Is not my soul set at rest on its siormiest headland even by — evd that 
 good may come ! how is that?" he broke otf as if awaking from a dream. 
 
 "• Then, fadier contessor, you avow that you can give me no assistance 
 in biighienin^ the reputation of your beauieous penitent?" said Alfonso. 
 
 '■'iJi' what do ye accuse her?" returned the monk, with a piercing 
 glance. "• Is it that you exjject me to swear that in an age so depraved, 
 a court so corrupt, beneath skies like these of Italy, a wonmn more 
 beautiful than all her sex. is also more honest?" 
 
 ''Nay, it would content me could you say that she is not more vile," 
 returned the Ho>pilaller, warmly. 
 
 '• 1 am but little versed in the sex, and know not how to reply— a book- 
 worm monk — what counsel can I give on such matters?" replied Fra Bruno, 
 ■with a sardonic smile. ''When you can tell me the limits of female 
 wickedness, then I will tell you whether Lucrezia has passed ihem." 
 
 '"Then is u possible to be a thing more dire than these lines declare 
 her," said the Hospitaller, and gl id lo shroud his meaning under a lan- 
 guage which, being dead, could not blush, he repeated the lines which it 
 seemed haunted his memory — 
 
 " Lucretia, nomine, sed re 
 Thais, Alexandri lilia, spoiisa, nurus." 
 
 "Thou hast seen Lucrezia — and thou believest in these words?" said 
 the monk, gazing with a strange eagerness and incredulity at his ques- 
 tioner. 
 
 '•I have seen and believe them the more!" returned Alfonso, with at 
 least e(jual anxiety. 
 
 " VVny ihen" — said Fra Bruno, and ho paused during one long moment 
 in which the struggle of poweriul passions rendereil his usually calm visage 
 absolutely feai-ful. ••Why then— believe itstid— and be content I" 
 
 The shock of lightning entering his Iraine could scarcely have vibrated 
 more fearfully through every nerve of Alfonsj than these terrible words, 
 which contiiined his worst fears, from the confessor of Lucrezia Borgia. 
 His emotion was visible to the monk, wiio, however, only turned coldiy_ 
 away, and said, ''You saved my lif^; — I h ive put you now in the way of 
 the rewards due to a successful ambassador, from your munificent 
 prince." 
 
 Alfonso endeavoured to summon energy to utter his thanks with com- 
 posure, w.ieu luckily as he began to speak, an hvsteric laugh of joy, 
 mi.igleJ with sobs and cxclam.tiions of delight, startled them both. Fra 
 Biccocco appeared crawling in at the doorway on his hands and feet, 
 having at lengdi suinuioned courage to ascend and learn the worst. 
 
 Qiieimgihe emjiioa of his faitlii'ul attendant with a few words of 
 rebuke, and satisfying his senses that he was alive and well, Fra Bruno 
 turned to the Hospitaller and asked if he would accept such poor accoin- 
 modaiion for the night as his hermitage atiordeJ. " It were daiigerous to 
 pass the desert Aventine in the dark, if this rogue has begun to unbeatify 
 you, signor," he said, with a melancholy smile. " But i remember, — 
 
 11 
 
Ifi2 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 you are a soldier and must not know fear ; and therefore stay to be my 
 guard. I cannot indeed play the host, for I must to my interrupted toil, 
 which will probably last me out the night-stars ; but brother Biccocco is a 
 much better convoy to good cheer than brother Bruno." 
 
 " And that is true enough, for of all the delicate cates sent us by Ma- 
 donna Lucrezia, on occasion of to-morrow's blessed feast—" began the 
 good friar, but Fra Bruno impatiently interrupted him by desiring him, 
 before he went to rest, to bring him another lamp. Biccocco took the 
 bint, and turned to guide the knight to the chamber below. 
 
 Not vainly had Fra Bruno vaunted the capabilities of his attendant; for 
 the good man, once convinced that his guest was a creature of flesh and 
 blood, bestirred himself anxiously to promote his comfort as such; but 
 never was there a greater contrast than in the fat, loquacious, good- 
 hearted and ignoram fiiar to his master. He talked incessantly, even 
 when blowing the fire through a reed, chiefly descanting on the praises 
 of his superior, but diversifying his talk with eulogiums of the viands which 
 he set on the table. And in truth they were of an excellence and refined 
 cookery which supported his assertion that all came from the kitchens 
 and cellars of Donna Lucrezia. 
 
 Fra Biccocco's jubilate on the favour enjoyed by his master with Donna 
 Lucrezia, confirmed by these abundant signs, did not much delight the 
 hearer; and yet, bv an amazing contradiction, it had become almost a 
 hope wiih him to discover that the Dominican had motives of jealousy to 
 prompt his revelation to him in his character of envoy from the Prince of 
 Ferrara. And thus for some time, instead of listening to Biccocco's dis- 
 course, he was lost in moody reverie; but at last the viands were ready, 
 and the friar invited Alfonso to commence. He himself, with a sigh, be- 
 gan to eat a little bread and some onions, savouring the repast with water 
 from an earthen pitcher, to which he set his lips with slight relish, and a 
 woful glance at the Hospitaller's brimming tankard of wine.^ 
 
 " Nay, if you will not join me, 1 will join you, brother," said Alfonso, 
 in his perplexity hoping that he might extract some ray of light from the 
 friar's loquacity. 
 
 " Not so. brother; this is a vigil of the church, on which it behoves us 
 to set the laity an example," replied the good monk, with a somewhat 
 rueful look at his pitcher. " But you, who have no occasion to set your- 
 self up as a light on a rock, drink while you are able, for no man drinks 
 for ever; nor\vill vou fill your cup from every brook with such stuff as 
 you have there— wine ol' Chios, Iruity as treacle, presented by my dear 
 lady and princess. Donna Lucrezia, whose soul the saints keep in paradise 
 when it goes there!" 
 
 " Nav, but you are host as well as monk— and what example do you 
 set to your guest, scarce wetting your Hps with that thin potation?" replied 
 the knight. " Did not your superior as good as bid you join me in all 
 lawful conviviality ; moreover, this is the eve of the jubilee, though it be 
 Lent; and i trust we have that share in our brother's fasting above to 
 excuse our own 5 and the wine is of a marvellous quality. So if thou wilt 
 not pledge me, neither will 1 drink alone — a drunkard's not a merry com- 
 panion's wont." . 
 
 Thus pressed, Fra Biccocco could no longer refuse without being guilty 
 of inhospitality— a sin at least equal to breaking a self-imposed fast. One 
 quaff introduced that which followed ; and as the engrossing topic of the 
 friar's mind was a devote admiration of the superior whom he attended, 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 163 
 
 his talk ran all on that subject. Many curious particulars of the life and 
 manners of the Dominican, whom he evidently looked upon as a man 
 destined to be first pope, and then saint, did Fra Biccocco relate. And 
 almost every anecdote he heard raised contrary doubts and opinions in 
 the mind of Don Alfonso. 
 
 It seemed that Fra Bruno was believed to be a native of Spain, although 
 his patronymic of Lanfranchi would seem to mark at least an Italian pa- 
 rentage. At all events he had resided for many years in that country, 
 engaged it was thought in the study of physic, in which science the 
 Moorish and Jewish schools of the south were then renowned, and which 
 was still his favourite relaxation from his more profound theological pur- 
 suits. In the pursuit of the recondite mysteries of this art, and of its 
 sister, chemistry, Fra Biccocco modestly intimated that he had always 
 been of singular service to his superior; and he dilated on his own know- 
 ledge in herbs and minerals, and in the conduct of the operations of the 
 science. Wonderful in their nature were mafiy of these, as Fra Biccocco 
 averred, rising to fill the knight's tankard (which he shared) for the fourth 
 time. * 
 
 Biccocco related that it was in the midst of mundane studies like these, 
 while yet young, and fast acquiring an universal renown by his attain- 
 ments, that Fra Bruno was seized with a profound disgust for the world, 
 and became a monk. Several subsequent \ears he spent in wandering 
 in remote and heathen lands, spreading the tidings of salvation, until as 
 the good friar declared, he received an extraordinary call, to the effect, as 
 he more mysteriously hinted, that he was destined to turn the church from 
 divers great errors into which she had fallen, and which else threatened 
 her destruction. During the time of Savonarola's mission in Florence he 
 had been one of his most zealous and fervent disciples; and so far from 
 being daunted by the disastrous fate of his chief, and the dis|)ersion of his 
 sect, he came to Home itself., and commenced the promulgation of similar 
 doctrines. Fortunately, to save him from the consequences of this daring, 
 it pleased Our Lady that at this time Donna Lucrczia, being oppressed 
 with sorrow on account of her unhappy union with the Lord of Pesaro, 
 went to him as to a saint on earth tor advice and religious consolation. 
 Shortly followed the divorce, and the appointment of Fra Bruno to the 
 office of confessor, to the great wrath of half a dozen loftier pretendants. 
 Alfonso thought that there might have been as much policy as piety in 
 this arrangement, for Biccocco unguardedly acknowledged that the duties 
 of his new office took up so much of his lime that the friar discontinued 
 1 his public arraignment of abuses. But he frequently attempted to resign 
 it 5 and finding that his entreaties were disregarded, and u))braided in his 
 conscience by his neglect of the duties of his call, he finally determined to 
 withdraw himself from Rome, in secret, and he undertook a pilgrimage 
 to Jerusalem. Biccocco accompanied him on this long and dangerous 
 voyage, the perils and sufferings of which he related at great length, per- 
 petually eulogizing his master's patience and saint-like inditt'erence to 
 1 every toil and hazard. They wandered a long time in Syria and Pales- 
 I tine, making many proselytes, and comforting the little congregations of 
 I Christians s'cattered over those infidel countries. In the course of these 
 I perambulations again the Dominican received a call back to his neglected 
 i work of reformation, and hurried back to Italy, arriving in Home amidst 
 i the rejoicings which celebrated the marriage of Donna Lucrezia with her 
 i second husband, the Prince of Salerno. The catastrophe, however, which 
 
164 CJESXR BOHGIA. 
 
 SO shortly followed turned all her thoughts aaain to devotion, and much 
 totheaiinovance of the Dominican she t;«iuyhl him out pf-rsonally to entreat 
 liim to resume his office. Biccocco was present at the scene, and he 
 minutely detailed his maslc^r's steady refusals and the urgent supplications 
 of his penitent; but what princi|»ally struck Alfonso was, that the asi-etic 
 reproached her with her marriage as with a crime on which the vengeance 
 of Heaven had fallen. But filially his obstinacy was overcome by the 
 submission and entreaties of ihe lady ; but he had not desisted from his 
 labours, and the number of his disciples was daily increasing. Among 
 these Alfonso found thats «mething extraordinary was expected to happen 
 on the following day, when the Penileniiary was to preach before the 
 jnbilants in St. I'eter, an honour which was obtained for him by Lucrezia. 
 But it was not doubt d ih.it he would take the opportunity, at whatever 
 risk, to promulgate his reforming doctrines before the assembla.e of the 
 Christian world. 
 
 Time wore away in this \png discourse, and it was with a start that 
 the friar heard the remtjto belf of a monastery toll midnight. He apo- 
 logized to Alfonso for keepiuij; him so long awake when he was doubtless 
 weary and desired to rest. " 'Tis the better fault of two," replied the 
 Hospitaller. "'■ But methinks I should not have been less inclined to sleep 
 if I had been at conversation with Apollo and all the muses." 
 
 Fra Biccocco laughed jollily at this compliment, and busied himself 
 with renewed zeal in arranging the rushes which were to receive the 
 honour of the guest's pressure. When this was performed to his satis- 
 faction, he was about to betake himself in peace to his own heap, when 
 Alfonso reminded him of the lamp which his superior had desired him to 
 ■"enew. The friar thanked him heartily, rinsed his mouth of the lume of 
 Ijie wine, and taking ajar of oil, disappeared with a somewhat wavering- 
 step. 
 
 He returned in a few minutes. " If ever mortal saint were lifted up in 
 the air by intense devotion, my beloved master is now," he exclaimed. 
 " He heard me no more than if I had been a ghost, though I had the mis- 
 fortune to stumble and spdl a good deal of oil, not to mention the sputter- 
 ing of the flame as I poured it into his lamp. Oh, benedicite ! — were it 
 not for h s sanctity being over us, 1 should no more dare to close mine 
 eyes under these mountains of ruin than an owl in the Corso on a feast 
 day. " 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ,, THE JUBILEE. 
 
 " Unless to Peter's cliair the viewless wind 
 Must come and asii permission when lo blow, 
 Wtiat fiinher empire would il have? for now 
 A ghostly Doiiimaiion. uiicoiilined 
 As Uial by dreaming; Banls lo Love assigned, 
 Sits lliere in sober iruUi."— Wokdsworih. 
 
 The morning of the Jubilee dawned 5— and it was the distant roar and 
 merriment of cannon and bells announcing the dawn of the >rroHl day 
 which startled the Hospitaller from a profound but dr'am-haunted sleep. 
 
 The first object he behold was his kindly host. Biccocco, who was 
 boiling milk, and at the same time grilling a fowl split in halves over the 
 
CAESAR BORGIA. 165 
 
 fire. Alfonso could scarcely foibcnr laughing at the profounrl grrtvity 
 with which he perfirmed this opecalion, as if it was the must important 
 in which man could be engaged. Observing hiin stir, the friar Icjoked 
 round, and informed him th it Fra Bruno had already gone to join the pro- 
 cession of his or ier, leavmij; word ihatlhe knight should not he disturbed. 
 Alfonso uttered some words of moody thanks, and while Biccocco put 
 the breakfast in more active preparation, he sallied forth from the ruins 
 to bathe in the lucid stream which fl ws near ihera. As he went he was 
 struck wiih the changi- which dnylight produced on tho^e extraordinary 
 remains, so dismal and funereal by night. Millions oj flowers of die most 
 beautiful colours bloomed in every crevice in the deserted chambers, on 
 the summits of the aerial arches, around the f:dlen columns, and filled the 
 air wiUi fresh and dewy perfumes. B rds of sweet note sung on every 
 bough ; the dark cypresses became pyramids of verdure shooting into the 
 silvery sky; the slopes of the hills on each side seemed no longer desolate; 
 their ruins iidiabited them. 
 
 Discontented with himself and all things, still the balmy freshness of 
 the sweei air somewhat soothed Alfon-o's inilation ; and when he return- 
 ed to breakfast with Biccocco he had regained calm enough to observe 
 the agitation of the poor monk. To his inquiries into the cause for some 
 time Biccocco returned evasive replies, but at last he confessed that he 
 apprehended his n)asier would mako some great ouibreak of holy indig- 
 nation, which would bring his friends into trouble, despite the potent 
 favour of Donna Lucrczia. He had aone out fasting, announcing as much 
 to his faithful attendant, by advising him not to he ot his company on that 
 day. But Biccocco declared, with tears bubbling over his jolly eyes, 
 that he had no doubt a visible miracle would be performed in his supe- 
 rior's behalf, if he incurn d danger, and therefore he should hasten to 
 join him as soon as breakfast was despatched. 
 
 A thought beamed in upon Alfonso that it was his knowledge of the 
 dangerous designs of the Penitentiary, in a political sense, which had in- 
 cited Caesar to "the attempt on his life. And if Fra Bruno really intended 
 to enter into an open war with the papal court, was it not certain that he 
 could have no motive of jealousy to actuate his revelation of the previous 
 night? So important had the solution of this point become to Alfonso, 
 that, but that he remembered his compact with the young Jewess, he 
 would haveaccom[)aiiied Biccocco. But feigning some excuse, he part- 
 ed with him where the road to the Forum branched off, the fzood monk 
 bestowing on him his benediction, and a branch of consecrated palm. 
 
 It was, however, with great doubt that Miriam would or could keep 
 her appointment that the Hospitaller made his way to the Forum in which 
 he had agreed to meet her. It was not probable that her memory, which 
 confounded impressions so mucdi more vivid, would retain one so evanes- 
 cent. Moreover, now that he imagined he had attained the certainty of 
 Lucrezia's guilt, the rest seemed merely matter of idle curiosity. And 
 ■when he arrived in the Forum, or Ox-Market as it had come to be called, 
 the proditiious multitudes which already began to swarm — multitudes of 
 every land and costume,— am^ng whom the Bomans themselves by their 
 paucity seemed to be the foreigners, — he began almost to wish that she 
 might have forgotten the; plight. 
 
 He took his'station for some time on a conspicuous point— a sort of 
 mound of accumulated ruins and rubbish, on which were three solitary 
 columi.s, supporting a broken capital. A gorgeous dream of the magni- 
 
166 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ficence of ancient Rome, coniured up even by the ruins around, for a time 
 diverted ills darker visions, Tlie broad space was bounded by the 
 towers of the Capitol on one hand, on another by the distant majesty of 
 the Colosseum, showing its massive ruins far above the tallest trees • Lhe 
 Palatine lay before him covered wiih the stupendous remains of the pa- 
 laces of lhe Csesars, temples and arches crowning every steep, and hiding 
 their decay in the golden mists which were but just rising under the glow 
 of day ; and the diversified masses of the passing crowds banished the 
 sense of silence and desolation, usually so oppressive when it is that left 
 by the departure, not the mere absence of man. 
 
 But in vain did the Hospitaller await his damsel with a lover's impa- 
 tience ; and still more vainly did he mingle with the festal throngs ia 
 search of her. The hopelessness of his expectations at last occurred to 
 him so strongly, as time wore on, that, he resolved to go to the (ihetto, 
 and under pretence of purchasing some drugs, (for he recollected that the 
 house belonged to an apothecary,) ascertain if there was any possibility 
 of reminding Miriam of her promise. 
 
 He hastened, therefore, to the Ghetto; but on reaching the first gate, 
 he learned thai no Christian was to be allowed Lo enter, nor Jew to leave 
 it, during the whole week of lhe Jubilee, with the exception of those 
 who, according to custom, were to run a foot-race to divert the populace 
 — an indignily which is now commuted into paying the expenses of one 
 of horses, which takes place annually during the carnival. 
 
 The knight's anxiety for the safely of Miriam returned, and it was with 
 some vague intention of venturing into the Chetto by the strange means 
 he had left itort the previous night, that he strayed down the Marsh to 
 the archway of lhe stream. To his surprise he found the waters rushing 
 out in such volume that they filled the archway, and rendered any 
 attempt at entering by it impossible. This circumstance made him sus- 
 pect that the Hebrews"had discovered his visit, and increased his anxiety, 
 while it deprived him of all means of satisfying it. 
 
 Much lime had been wasted in these researches ; and fearing lest he 
 should be too late to witness the opening splendours and portents of the 
 Jubilee, Alfonso joined the masses which were now sweeping towards the 
 Vatican. 
 
 It was in the antique cathedral of Constantine that the grand mass of 
 the Jubilee was to be celebrated ; but vast as was its extent, only a part of 
 the pilgrims could be contained, and the gates were thrown open to allow 
 the great multitude which filled the square of St. Peter to share the bene- 
 fits, 'and some of the glories of the spectacle. His great strength and re- 
 ligious attire enabled the Hospitaller to cross these masses, and to enter 
 the basilica. The interior presented a scene of extraordinary magnifi- 
 cence, for the wealth and ostentation of the Borgias made this last jubilee of 
 Christian unity themostgorgeous— like the glories around the setting sun. 
 
 The cathedral, crumbling under the weight of twelve centuiies, its, 
 ruinous fissures concealed by hangings of precious woofs, in a manner 
 typified the faith of which it was the arena. But unbounded was the re- 
 verence with which it was regarded by all Christendom, for it was still 
 supported on pillars whose foundations the first Christian emperor had 
 laid, and beneath its pavement reposed the ashes of the glorified founder 
 of the papacy, of the saint who had seen and conversed with the divinity 
 in human form. 
 
 A brilliant sun illuminated the vast area of the pile, and revealed its 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 167 
 
 extent by lighting up innumerable remote altars, all glistering with gold 
 plate, emblazoned canopies, jewelled shrines, and the most valued relics 
 of various saints and founders of orders, each attended by its deputation, 
 often from distant countries, set forth with every decoration of gold and 
 precious stones which could evince their own veneration, and win the 
 gaze of the people. But the grand altar, in the centre of the middle aisle, 
 attracted all attention. It was raised upon a circular platform, carpeted 
 with cloth-of-gold, and, to believe the whispers that circulated, was it- 
 self of the same ore, most skilfully ornamented with precious stones, 
 which blazed forth the name of Jesus, and various personifications of 
 ("Jiristianity. It was canopied by a pavilion of cloth-of-gold still more 
 lustrously gemmed, beneath which was the tabernacle of the Host, on 
 which indeed every dazzling power of the goldsmith's and jeweller's art 
 had been exhausted, and which blazed like a noonday sun. 
 
 The principal pomp of the spectacle was yet wanting, the pontiff and 
 his court being still in the Vatican, receiving the congratulations of the 
 jubilants, and iheir homage. But while surveying the preparations, Al- 
 fonso found that he was himself an object of notice ; a page who had been 
 listlessly wandering about, no sooner saw him than he darted forward, 
 and respectfully inquired if his name w^as the Lord Alfonso of Ravenna, 
 that which the prince had assumed to misdirect curiosity from his own. 
 He replied in the affirmative, but before he could demand the page's 
 reason for his inquiry, he had bounded away, as if in great satisfaction. 
 In a few minutes after the knight beheld Burchard advancing towards him. 
 
 " The most holy father commands you to his presence, sir knight," he 
 said briefly. "Follow me." 
 
 Waving his silver wand with great dignity he passed on, and never 
 doubting but that the cavalier would follow him on wings, looked not back 
 until he had almost reached a door which opened into the Vatican. But 
 hearing no sound of voice or footfall he turned his head, and perceived 
 that the knight still stood as if rooted to the ground. Imagining that he 
 had not perceived that he spoke to him, the dean beckoned to him 
 authoritatively ; and the hesitation of the instant passed, Alfonso obeyed. 
 
 The grandeur of the Borgian taste, and the dawn oF a new age which 
 was to unite all the glories of the arts, were visible at every step through 
 the palace which Alfonso traversed. But he was scarcely surprised with 
 the magnificence he beheld, until arriving at a line of gilded porphyry 
 pillars which descended by a flight of marble stairs to the vast hall in 
 which Alexander sat enthroned, he commanded a view of a spectacle so 
 extraordinarily superb, that it was with difficulty he prevented himself 
 from uttering an exclamation. A continual procession of jubilants, lay 
 and clerical, in gorgeous costumes, were passing before the pontifl"'s 
 throne, kissing his feet in homage, and offering their congratulations, 
 and then joining the magnificent crowd which was stationary behind the 
 throne. Even as the Hospitaller entered he remai^^ed an unwont and, 
 truth to say, scandalous spectacle in an ecclesiastical court. Lucrezia, 
 attended by a retinue of young and beautiful ladies, was at the moment 
 kneeling before the pontiff, to receive his benediction • and whether in 
 bravery, or refutation of opinion, he raised her in his arms, and kissed 
 her with extreme tenderness. Burchard gave a deep sigh, though pro- 
 bably because the presence of a female at all was out of all precedent •, and 
 Lucrezia, turning to take a place which seemed assigned to her on the 
 right of the throne, suddenly encountered the eyes of Don Alfonso. She 
 
168 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 started, and a scarlet tint instantly overspread her blooming complexion, 
 succeeded by waxen paleness ; and AlloiibO advanced without again raising 
 his eyes 
 
 It was not without strong inner emotion that he approached the throne 
 under the gaze of so many eyes, which seemed all iixed on him as on an 
 object of great cuiiosiiy. But hs he came, Lucrezia recovered her self- 
 possession ; her beauty lit up with an expression of sparkling joy and wel- 
 come, its roseate hues all deepened, and her sweet eyes were aglow with 
 an emotion which, in spite of all her efTorls, wet their long lashes wiih 
 tears. The warm and m< king nature of the south predon.inated over 
 every habit of female dissimulation ; and it was wiih the most undisguised 
 and rapturous delight, ihat as ihe knight knelt at die fool of die potitifieal 
 throne, she exclainied — "He is here! Holy father! if my life be of any 
 value, behold the matehless chevalier to whom I owe ill" 
 
 "Oscula pedes beatos beatissimi Palris!" whispered Burchard to Don 
 Alfonso, who mechanically obeyed by mounting the steps of the throne, 
 and kneeling at the pontiff's feet, which he kissed. 
 
 "Rise and let us embrace you, valiant Cid I for Ruy Diaz el Campeador 
 bath few achievements in his chroniele which surpass thine of ihe buf- 
 falo," said Alexander, placing his jewelled hands on the warrior's shoul- 
 ders, "Moreover, we owe thee it seems a share in our good son, Paolo's 
 redemption! Therefore, name wlmt recompense thou wilt ihat is in our 
 power to grant, and Christendom shall see if we are not as grateful for 
 services as resentful of evil entreatmeni!" 
 
 " Holy father! men are neither rewarded nor punished for (he accidents 
 of which they are unwilling agents, «ood or bad," ie[)lied Alfonso, with 
 a stern gravity which obviously surprised all wiihin hearing, f<ir even this 
 warmth of gratitude struck him in an evil light. "Wherefore the only 
 recom()ense which I demand is to have none imputed to me in this matter 
 — for, indeed, the atoms of Rpiciirus came n(t together more fortuitously 
 than my steed and lance between the magnificent lady, your huliness's 
 niece, and the enraged bull atNepi." 
 
 " But I aspiie to owe you gratitude, knight, for a favour which valour, 
 not ch;ince, must bestow," i^aid Lucrezia, blushing still more exquisitely 
 beautiful as she stepped towards Alfonso, and taking a silvery scarf from 
 her neck, threw ii lightly over his shoulders. " In the a|)proaching 
 tournament, that I mny a^sure myself of the prize, noble Hospitaller, I 
 name you my knight." 
 
 Alfonso's heart throbbed, and his cheek flushed, and he was probably 
 about lo ^'ive way to a mastering impulse ; but, at the momeni, his eye 
 encountend a pair fixed upon him in the cowl of a monk with a glare like 
 that of some wild animal in a cave. He recognized Fra Bruno, and ihe 
 sudden tide of recollections came into concussion wiih the feeling, and 
 strong as it was, repelled it. 
 
 " August lady !" he replied, drawing off the scarf, which clung to the 
 rivets of his aimour; " as you may well perceive, it is not permitted me 
 to contend for the smiles of earthly beauty. But to win the crown for the 
 shrine of Our Lady of Purity in Ferrara I wid venture me as far as may be ; 
 — whereby all women shall owe me thanks, that show then by how in- 
 finitely I esteem the celestial chastity and modesty of which Our I^ady is 
 exemplar, and which are ihe supreme ornaments of ih'ir sex ; without 
 which, indeed, I hold all hi'auiy as a lure of Satan, poison in a golden 
 vase, roitcnuess swathed in cloth of gold!" And, as he spoke, finding 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 169 
 
 that the scarf was still caught in his armour, he clutched it away so impa- 
 lieiiily llr.il he lore ii into several sinps. 
 
 Thiise who beheld the countenance of Lncrrzianorgia as the Hospitaller 
 spoke could scarcely follow, even in thought, ihe rapid alternaiiun of 
 emotions which troubled its beauty. Rut after the instant's pause of 
 astonishment which held tin; whole presence, an expression of pride and 
 defiance subdued thai of extreme shame and angui^h Her rosy mouth 
 shone with a smile of scorn, her eyes lightened, her checks crimsoneJ, 
 and snatching the scarf which iheknighl presenledon his knee, she turned 
 to the surrounding nobles. 
 
 " Ladies were not wont to be thus denied, in the days of Carlo Magno or 
 of King Arthur, iMesser Renibol" she said, observing the canon. " How 
 did Boiardo learn his fair tales of love and courtesy in Ferrara? But if 
 they be not forgotten legends overall Italy, 1 trust 1 shall find some knight 
 who will essay to win the prize forme — were 1 even the reverse; of our 
 blessed Lady of Purity — whose knight we cannot own this holy warrior 
 lo be, until she hath avowed him b\ giving his lance the victory." 
 
 " The gentleman is from iM-rrara, lady, 'lis true," replied Benibo, half 
 smiling and yet very much confused. "• But your grace should be informed 
 that 'lis a Ferrarese proveib thai he who may not eat the pea<-h should not 
 smell at it — and the Knights of St. John are but monks in steel." 
 
 " Deign lo bestow this precious siik on me. lady!" said Paolo Orsino, 
 kneeling, and kissing it with jiassionate enthusiasm. " And in a gentle 
 and loving pass of arms 1 hope to convince this gentleman, my Iricnri, that 
 the prize of earthly beauty should go w here the consent of mankind would 
 place it, not where only angels should |irelend to challenge its setting." 
 
 " In you. Signor Paolo, this were an enforced devoir. 1 will name 
 none my knight but he who brings me the crown," said the lady, biting 
 her bright lip "■ Bui, Knight of England! 1 would fain count your lance 
 among my hopes?" 
 
 Starling from an altitude of gloom in \Nhich he had been listening, Sir 
 Reginald's face beamed over with joy ; and kneeling, he swore so 
 vehemently by St. f.eorge that he would strive lo win her the wreath as 
 long as he could sit in saddle or conch spear, that Lucrczia sndled upon 
 him with a tenderness which heighlened his enihusiasm almost to rapture, 
 and infused a new I'eeling inl<j Don Alfonso's breast. Innumerable voices 
 now declared ihe same intention. 
 
 " Nay, bullet us not deprive some worthier lady of her champion," said 
 Lucrezia, glancing with a mixture of triumph and sadness around. "We 
 know not why indeed Our Lady of Purity should be thus as it were set in 
 coniesl and contrast with us; but that none of you may fear her aidance 
 against us, if ihe wreaih be mine I will win it only as an ollering to the 
 shrine of Our Lady of the Jubilee, to whom we mean to dedicate a chapel 
 on Ihe spot where we escajied — by chance — from a buffalo." 
 
 " Ay, 'tis not so easy to win the crown of a tournnmentas to frighten a 
 bullock," said Caesar, "marking with satisfaction the gloom on his sire's 
 brow. " But your paternity may remember that time presses." 
 
 " Knight, thou art not half, but wholly a monk !" exclaimed Alexander, 
 with evident displeasure. "At thy years it had been easier for me to 
 have won ten ton- naments, than lo iiave refused one sik h request from a 
 dame so beauliliill" And he glanced wih |)ride and alleclion on his fair 
 daughter, darkening when he marked her emotion. He then noddtd im- 
 patiently to the master of the ceremonies, who, with his wand, motioned 
 
170 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 to the Hospitaller to pass behind the throne, and to those beyond to con- 
 tinue their homage. 
 
 The stupendous form of Vitellozzo now appeared, and the clash of his 
 armour, as he knelt, rang through the hall. 
 
 "The lord of Citla di Caslello!" exclaimed the pontiff with evident 
 astonishment, and withdrawing his foot as if he meant to spurn the giant 
 with it. 
 
 "In all humility and devotion, here, to kiss the blessed feet," said 
 Vitellozzo, in a tone in which awe struggled with habitual hardihood. 
 
 " This is too insolent. Lords Orsini, if it is ye have brought this man to 
 mock us with his homage before a throne from which he' threatened to 
 thrust us!" exclaimed Alexander, turning with vehemence to those nobles. 
 
 "Nay, holy father, it was at my entreaty and advice, since we are all to 
 be brothers henceforth," replied the Duke of Romagna, with his tart smile. 
 
 " Holy father! I pray you but to show me what I must do to win your 
 pardon?" said Vitellozzo, whom his ingrained superstition, which was 
 part and |)arcel of his very rebelliousnes, and the silence of the Orsini, 
 much discomfited. 
 
 "Disband thy German thieveS' — and let thy vassals learn there are other 
 duties for Christian men than obeying the licentious commands of their 
 lord against his owm," returned Alexander passionately, and rising from 
 his seat, while Vitellozzo also rose with alow hoarse laugh from his knees, 
 and retreated sullenly among the Orsini. 
 
 The duke glanced sorrowfully at Paolo Orsino as his irritated sire 
 resumed his seat, with an angry frown at the whole group, and the cere- 
 monial proceeded, hastened by the visible impatience of the pontiff — was 
 at length concluded, and then the whole court was marshalled in proces- 
 sion to proceed to St. Peter's. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE SERMON OF THE JUBILEE. 
 
 Prometheus. — " Venerable mother ! 
 
 All else who live and suffer take from thee 
 
 Some comfort; flowers, and fruits, and happy sounds. 
 
 And love, though fleeting ; these may not be mine, 
 
 But mine own words, I pray, deny me not."— Suelley. 
 
 Unwilling to share the observation which would attend those who 
 followed in the procession, Alfonso glided out of the palace into the temple, 
 and look up a remote station at a shrine in one of the cross aisles. The 
 tolling of unnumbered bells and the thunder of artillery soon announced 
 the approach of the papal procession; but some time before it appeared a 
 gorgeous chaunt was remotely audible, mingling in that of the cathedral 
 choirs with a sweet and melancholy effect, as if the heavens had opened, 
 and the distant harmony descended from angelic voices. At the point 
 where he stood the procession appeared to Alfonso one moving mass of 
 glitter and sumptuous colour, as the sun streamed down upon it along the 
 cross-aisle which it traversed. The rich copes of the ecclesiastics, stiff 
 with gold and gorgeous brocade, the jewelled mantles of the nobles, the 
 polished breastplates and tasselled spears of the guard, passed in a con- 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 171 
 
 fusion of splendour. But Alfonso easily recognized the pontiff, borne in 
 bis gilded chair, under a superb canopy, surrounded by a crowd of 
 bishops, his episcopal cope and tiara glittering all over wiih jewels, and 
 extending his hands in benediction as he advanced to the kneeling 
 myriads. 
 
 An infinite array of officials followed • and then came the pilgrims of 
 the highest rank, each nation marching in separate masses, in the most 
 sumptuous and various costumes. Tlien followed an endless procession 
 of the different orders of monks and nuns, the former carrying torches, the 
 latter lighted tapers, albeit the sun flamed down the aisles in blazing cata- 
 racts. Alter these fraternities and sisterhoods came Lucre/.ia with her 
 court, Cs;sar, his wife, and their retinue. Alfonso discerned that Lucrezia 
 walked between the Orsino and Le Beaufort, and for the first time he 
 noticed the peculiar magnificence of the latler'sgarb. It is true that the 
 handsome English knight had always been conspicuous for the pomp of 
 his garniture, but on this occasion he surpai.sed himself. Even the Orsino, 
 whose taste was naturally to sombre colours, was now arrayed like a 
 kingly bridegroom, had he looked the character more cheerfully. 
 
 Caesar was habited in red satin and gold brocade, powdered all over 
 with large diamonds and pearls : his ducal cap was encircled with three 
 rows of jewels, conspicuous among which were seven rubies, ''of the 
 bigness of large beans," as a cotemporary record declares. His breast 
 glittered like the shield of the magician Atlante, with so brilliant a lustre 
 that it was scarcely possible to look at it more steadily than at the sun. 
 Even his boots were of fretted gold-work, and the spurs shone on the 
 pavement with the sparkles of gems His magnificent mantle, which it 
 was noted was of imperial purple lined with ermine, and borne by ten 
 barons of high rank, a gorgeous sword, and the insignia of many 
 illustrious orders of knighthood, completed his splendour. 
 
 After this blaze all that followed seemed poor, although the immense 
 procession continued to pass as glorious as rich stuffs and banners and 
 jewels and pomp of bearing could make them; or the darkening of the 
 knight's fancies, and the clouds of incense which arose, made it appear 
 to him as if the dun of evening had suddenly fallen over all that coloured 
 magnificence which had set the air alight as it went. Nevertheless he 
 joined in the line of the procession, when he considered it sufficiently 
 remote from the chief personages, and was drifted by chance, and almost 
 against his will, to a station opposite to Lucrezia's. 
 
 And now arose the ocean-like chaunt of measured and harmonious 
 voices ; and the pontiff, descending from his throne, proceeded to officiate 
 as high-priest in the august solemnity. Come with what prejudices men 
 might, it was not in humanity to resist the impressions of overwhelming 
 awe produced by the magnificence of the spectacle, and the sublime 
 recollections with which the solemnity in every stage was associated. The 
 majestic person, and great but unbent age of Alexander, when not con- 
 tradicted bv the fire and impatience of his eye and occasional gesture, sup- 
 ported all the venerableness and dignity of a Pontifex Maximus ; and when 
 at the conclusion of the mass he bestowed his benediction on all Christen- 
 dom, the Knight of St. John was kneeling with the immense masses — ■ 
 perhaps as well convinced as the most enthusiastic pilgrim there, that 
 he was receiving a blessing direct from heaven. 
 
 The paroxysm only subsided when, raising his head, Alfonso beheld Fra 
 Bruno, attended by a number of Dominicans of his order, mount a richly 
 
172 CJESkV^ BORGIA. 
 
 carvpd pulpit fixpd in one of tbe immense j)i11ars. He carried with him a 
 panhmeiit scaled with leid, supposed lo be the Bull of Indulgences, which 
 WHS inipHlieiitly expecled by the pilgrims. 
 
 Throwing back his cowl, llic severe Spanish features of ihe friar were 
 seen, pale but composed, like one brought forth to suffer some terrific 
 punishment, but who despised its terrors. There was a short silence, 
 during which the Romans communicaled the name and repulHtioii of the 
 Penitentiary to their foreign guests. Gazing at him, Alfonso felt assured 
 that no failure in his courage need be anticipated; and he mused with 
 bitter satisfaction on the astonisliment and discomfiture which the papal 
 court was about to sustain. Fia Bruno, however, did not reid the bull, 
 seeming to reserve it for a bonne bouche after the harangue which he was 
 lo pronounce. 
 
 The sermon was delivered in Latin, which was still the common lan- 
 guage of Europe; and it was such as for some time amply answered Al- 
 fonso's expectations. The preacher began with a truly lerrific picture of 
 the slate of society and religion throughout Ihe Christian world, which he 
 delineated with such Danlesque ^loom and horror, that but for his ara- 
 besque entanglfment and gorgeonsncss of imagery it mi>iht h ive been 
 ihouiiht that the poet of hell had returned to describe earth in colours 
 taken from its murkiest de|)ths. But with all the fantastic convolutions 
 of his reasoning the fervour of a real eloquence began lo overdood the 
 twisted fonnl;iins in which the scholastic rhetoric of the day usually con- 
 fined its displays. These qualities Fra Bruno specially exhibited when, 
 describing iht; dawn of the pure liyhl of Christianity in which the gods of 
 paganism vanished like phantoms, he declared that they were once more 
 deified on earth, and the light all but extinguished. Ti-eating the antique 
 divinities as personifications ol human passions and lusts, his eloquence 
 took the most various and terrible tints, and considering the nature of 
 some of the crimes which he thus dehnealed and anathematized, many 
 began lo perceive personal applications of a hideous nature. None more 
 than the HoS|)italler. 
 
 Afier this exordium the ascetic friar drew a contrast of the slate which 
 he declared would be the fulfilment of the ideal of Christianity, and the 
 dreams of stoic or Spartan legislator never [)resenled a sterner vision of 
 human duties and existence. It seemed as if his words, like the lava 
 overflow of a volcano, withered all that was green and flowery in their 
 way. The universe, in his desponding eloquence, seemed but a vasi de- 
 solation — space itself the destined arena of immeasurable sadness;— all 
 thebeaulil'ul illusions which the magic of the passions bodies forth withered 
 beneath his touch into the phantoms which perhaps they are. The vanity 
 of ho|te, the hollowness of success, the bitterness which mingles in the 
 most U'ctareous draughts of glory, and love, and triumph — he painted in 
 powerhil colours, to contrast with the marble calm of that form of stoicism 
 which he called religion. Thence he passed into a still more terrific de- 
 lineation of the morals and manners of the clergy. 
 
 The astonishment and even fear of the great assembly every moment 
 increased. But as the attack dealt only as yet in generals, Alexander 
 seemed lo listen toil even wiih satisfaction. A singula ity remarked in 
 the character of this poutilTby all his historiaris, and whicli by some has 
 been considered as proof of a nature not originally evil, was his love of 
 virtue in the abstract. He himself was frequent in resolutions and recom- 
 mendations to reformation, which his violent passions, ambition, and 
 
C^SAR BORGIA 173 
 
 perhaps ihe necessities of his dangerous supremacy, had always frus- 
 Iratod, 
 
 The duke listened to Fra Bruno's declamation with a livid satirical 
 smile, as if it diverted him, and occasinnally he pointed the invectives of 
 Ihe friar by nodding at those wlio were supposed to be guilty of the crimes 
 alleged, as if to call upon ihem to notice that they were assailed. 
 
 Some terrible climax to this extraordinary harangue seemed in prepa- 
 ration, Fra Bruno himself paused like one collecting all his energies for 
 a dreadful feat. It was at this moment that rollinjjf his eyes around the 
 assembly, as if to gather all their attention — his glam-e tell upon Donna 
 Lucrt'zia. She was j^azing nt the Hospitaller in siich absorption, that she 
 seemed not even to observe the silence. 
 
 The words which Fra Bruno had began to form died away on his lips, 
 his large chest heaved with a convulsive breathing, — and again he was 
 silent. Lucrezia started as if awaking from a dream, and she j^lanced up 
 at the friar in astonishnjcnt. He began to speak once more, but it was in 
 an altered, wandering tone, which for some lime had little or no con- 
 nexion with liis subject, nor was it perceptible by what means he intro- 
 duced a very diflerent tftpic— his own preservation on the |)revious night. 
 Something he spoke in general about the Jubilee— about niercy — and 
 then of this signal one granted to himself-, and he related minutely his 
 escape from the designs of certain masked assassins. The Hospitaller 
 heard, with astoni>hment at the imprudent gratitude of the monk, the 
 commendations which he lavishly bestowed upon him; and almost feared 
 that he would divulge his suspicions of the instigators of the crime. 
 
 Lucrezia could not suppress her tears, and a general nmrmur of applause 
 arose, despite the sacrednessot the lime and place; when it subsided, Fra 
 Bruno was audible, continuing his narrative wiih increased vehemence, 
 bordering on wildness. But tar from imputing the attempt to its real 
 planner, it almost seemed that he hinted ai the Orsini, in declaring that 
 from ihe discourse of the assassins it appeared that their wrath was ex- 
 cited against him by his known disapprobation of an alliance projected by 
 two mighty houses. In defiance of this frenzied revenge, Fra Bruno so- 
 lenmly announced, that he continued in the belief and declaration that, 
 afier ilie iwo tremendous judgments in which heaven itself had condemned 
 the hopes of nuptial hap|)iness, in one of the contracting parlies, further 
 to tempt its wrath were to bring down the lightning directly on the heads 
 of the offenders! No reason for this opinion did he give beyond the pro- 
 phetic and oracular tone in which he uttered it, and which was distinctly 
 heard amidst all the mutter which arose throughout the basilica. 
 
 Various was the effect of this extraordinary announcement. The 
 pontiff glanced wrathfully and suspiciously at Caesar, who sat smiling, as 
 if he imagined this was his work ; the Duke of Gravina started up, and 
 laid his hand on his dagger, tossing his grey hair from his flashing eyes, 
 but Paulo drew him back, and in a whisper implored him not thus to point 
 the insinuation of the bribed and malignant cordessor. Lucrezia, however, 
 made no effort to conceal her confusion, but covered her face with both 
 hands; while the Hospitaller's imagination filled up the dark void which 
 the monk's silence left, on the reasons which induced him to anathematize 
 an union with a wretch so guilty. 
 
 Gliding dexlrously from his dangerous subject, Fra Bruno pronounced 
 a public forgiveness of his enemies, for, —remembering no longer his first 
 terrible analysis of religion,— he declared that its essence was love. And 
 
174 C.f:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 now, indeed, did the extraordinary friar become eloquent!— it was amazing 
 with wliat unnatural but surpassing ingenuity he transferred the attributes 
 of an intellectual operation into those of a sensual passion — religion into 
 love — with the fervid alchemy of his Spanish imagination. So warmly 
 eloquent waxed his discourse, that the voluptuous glow returned to 
 Lucrezia's complexion, and a deeper chill to Alfonso's ; but it was remark- 
 able that, even in one of his most splendid flights, Fra Bruno abruptly 
 checked himself — and with a deep groan be snatched up the Bull, tore off 
 its leadenseal, and read it in a strangely altered, loud, and discordant voice. 
 A few moments of devote silence followed, and the Penitentiary was 
 expected to kneel and utter a prayer of thanksgiving. But he stood 
 motionless; and after waiting for some short time, Alexander coldly 
 observed to some attendants, '"Go and see what ails the disciple of 
 Savonarola — and we will say the Gratias ourself! '" and rising, he returned 
 to thi' altar, with the accustomed retinue of cardinals and prelates, and 
 chaunted the thanksgiving with a voice of the harmonious volume and 
 power of an organ-pipe. At the conclusion the Duke of Romagna ap- 
 proached the altar, alone, demanded permission to njake his duteous 
 offering, and, instead of gold, emptied a casket of precious gems on the 
 platform. 
 
 " 'Tis a most princely and regal benefaction I " exclaimed the Datary, 
 in delight. " A most illustrious exemplar! " 
 
 " Gharlemagne gave more! — but when 1 come like him to receive the 
 crown of the West, so will I ! " replied the duke, smiling, amidst a general 
 stare ofamazement. But the example was immediately followed, and in 
 a few minutes the altar was heaped around wiih present of extraordinary 
 magnificence and value — offerings from nearly all the sovereigns, states, 
 nobles, great cities, and commonalties of Europe. Sacks of gold and 
 silver were emptied out, jewels, crucifixes, relics, necklaces, cloths of 
 gold, rich embroideries, tapestries, amber, pearls, strange productions 
 of the newly discovered world, gold-dust, ivory, rare spices, all the most 
 precious commodities of the remote lands from which the pilgrims came, 
 in return for which each received a branch of consecrated palm from the 
 hands of the Datary, whose keen eyes glistened almost as brightly as the 
 treasures whose recei[)t he thus acknowledged. 
 
 Meanwhile drums beat, trumpets sounded, and the guards discharged 
 their pieces in the square outside, answered by remote peals of ordnance, 
 while within the basilica the organs of the various chapels poured down 
 the aisles torrents of melody which joined into one mighty flow, and the 
 vast multitude within and without joined the ecclesiastics in ihe magni- 
 ficent notes of a Gloria in Kxcelsis. Alfonso's gaze was still, however, 
 attracted towards the Dominican's pulpit, from which he beheld him 
 descend, pale, dazzled, and staggering, as if under the influence of a 
 sunstroke, and leaning on the shoulder of Biccocco. But at this moment 
 a terrific event turned away the Hospitaller's attention, and absorbed it. 
 The great bell of the basilica was tolling to celebrate the Jubilee, and the 
 agitation of the air produced by so many sounds shook the vast and 
 ruinous piles so violently, that a prodigious mass of iron, which formed 
 one of the clappers of the bell, fell from the belfry in its skyey spire, and 
 dashing with irresistible weight through every obstruction, reached the 
 ground at the very feet of the pontiff, crushing & deep hole in the pavement, 
 and throwing a million pieces of shattered "^marble over himself and his 
 attendants. 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 175 
 
 The vast assemblage was for a moment motionless with terror and 
 surprise, expecting universal destruction, for nothing less thnn the downfall 
 of the whole basilica, with all its ponderous masses of marble on their 
 heads, was expected. A cry arose that the pope was killed, which was 
 echoed in a million ditferent tones according as men's fears or hopes 
 predominated ; and the commotion which arose gave a lively idea of what 
 might have followed the fall of the tower of Babel. But even in the first 
 moment of the panic, when it was doubtful whether the whole centre of the 
 basilica was not crumbling down, Lucrezia, with a shriek which rang to 
 its summit, had rushed from the comparative safety of her own position — 
 and when Alfonso opened his eyes, or rather saw again, after the mo- 
 mentary blindness of the shock, he beheld her folded in her father's 
 arms. And if indeed Alexander was the monster which his enemies 
 represented him, never was the might of opinion more remarkably 
 displayed than at that moment, since it could even impose upon himself in 
 a conjuncture of such terror and deadly suspense : for, as if he were indeed 
 the acceptable vicar of Christ, and high priest of the Eternal, suffering 
 Lucrezia to sink in her exhaustion at his feet, and raising his clasped hands 
 with the majesty of a prophet interposing between the offended heavens 
 and the earth, he uttered a De Profundis, with vehement fervour, amid 
 profound silence, the multitude seeming stilled from its panic, which 
 might have been attended with far more deadly consequences than the 
 accident, as if by a spell. There was then a solemn pause— no stone 
 stirred — and a sea-like response of Amen, and an universal sigh of relief 
 which sounded like a forest rising when the wind has passed over it, 
 marked the restoration of confidence. 
 
 With a smile of unutterable tenderness, and gently chiding her terrors, 
 Alexander then raised his weeping and half-distracted daughter, who 
 covered both his hands with her kisses and tears. Alfonso thought he 
 beheld a few stern drops from the pontiffs eyes mingle with this feminine 
 overflow ; and while the duke, with a crowd of the devotees, rushed round 
 Alexander with congratulations and inquiries, the voice of the Hospitaller 
 was heard above all, — "The summits of St. Peter yet stand I — but if they 
 be not speedily repaired and rebuilt, the whole mass will fall into ruin; 
 even so, pilgrims of the world, will it befall with Christianity!'' 
 
 "'Whoever speaks, says well! — and it were a noble work of piety in 
 the faithful to contribute each his might or his niite towards so great a 
 work!' said Caesar, whose ambition look the form of the most rapturous 
 filial joy at his sire's preservation. " But meanwhile, holy father, comfort 
 the hearts of the myriads outside with your presence, lest evil men 
 mi-direct their grief and despaii-I" 
 
 "We will to Santa Maria in solemn procession. — Monsicnor Ferrara 
 bring with us three hundred gold crowns in the rare chalice presented 
 us by the Hanseatic. in offering to my guardian saint, our Lady of that 
 church!" said Alexander somewhat faintly, adding, "We haVe great 
 warnings granted us !" and the pontiff drew an ivory reliquary from his 
 bosom, in which it was said that he always carried the Host,\vhich he 
 kissed with great devotion. "Courage, our Lucrezia! — Orsino, lend 
 your sup|)Oi I — the elm and the vine, in school comparison I Let us away 
 to Santa Maria Magiiiore!" 
 
 The immediate attendants of the pontiff had now assembled and brought 
 his chair of slate ; but he refused to mount it, and desiring all present to 
 follow him to the church he had himself named, to return thanks to the 
 
J 76 CJ:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Holy Virgin for his preservalion, hf^ headeil the procession with Lucrezia, 
 the duke, and a confused niuliiiude of cardinals and courtiers. Bur- 
 ciardo gave one look of utter despair over the masses as they crowded 
 out of the basilica, and apparcnily abandoned all hope of restoring its 
 order. 
 
 Soon were audible the deafening shouts of gratulation which resounded 
 over the Piazza, as the pontifical procession poured out ; but Alfonso 
 made no attempt to follow. In an incredibly short time the whole b<isi- 
 lica seemed empiied— whde he gazed widi a degn;e of vacancy after ihe 
 vanishing masses, more gorgeous in their broken and mingled pomp than 
 when in mHrshalled order, as they passed out of the great portal uf the 
 church, lit by the powerful sun. Alfonso stood lost in a confused reverie, 
 for there wds not one of his doubts but was deepened by the scene he 
 had witnessed. The wild devotion of Lucrezia to her father— that father's 
 unmoved majesty in so awlul a conjuncture— the monk's audacity in pro- 
 claiming the abuses of the papacy, his dastardly imputation of ihe attempt 
 on the Orsini, if the drift of his s ispicons had not been misunderstood 
 by Alfonso,- his seeming absence of any feeling of jealousy in the splendid 
 eulogiums he had heaped on a cavalier already so much favoured by 
 Lucrezia! But it occurred to Alfonso that these praises might have been 
 uttered to expose him to the veng.'ance of the Duke of llmiigna; and 
 while musing on this subject, he suddenly discerned the friar, attended 
 by Biccocco, who stood gazing as it were incredulously at the shattered 
 altar pavement antl the mass of iron deeply embedded in it. He 
 advanced hastily towards him, but as he approached he was struck by 
 observing the D.)minican raise his eyes, sparkling with mad fury, to the 
 sunshine, and clench his hands as if in defimce of iis glory. Yet when 
 he reached the spot, he seemed calm, and awaited his approach with 
 perfect composure. 
 
 '* You hold your life indeed rather as a wrong thiin as a benefit, monk, 
 since it is thus that you repiy its defence!" exclaimed Alfonso, somewhat 
 staggered by tlie unmoved countenance of the Dominican. 
 
 "If I have done thee any temporal injury, be comforted, for thou hast 
 wrought mi; an eternal one!" rt?plied Bi-uno, wMth a profound sigh. 
 
 "I, Dominican!" exclamed Alfonso, almost concluding at the moment 
 that the Penitentiary was out of his senses. 
 
 "Even thou! — the struggle of the d.irk and bright angel were over in 
 my soul, when thou didst come to renew it!" said Fra Bcuno, in a tone of 
 exceeding bitterness. "And yet again 1 had strung my soul t ) its mighty 
 task— I beheld you again — and 1 shrunk from it, a second and more 
 cowardly Judas!" 
 
 "Shrunk, brother! when you lashed ihem till their souls must have 
 more weals in them than the windy sea!" said Biccocco, vvon l.^ringly. 
 
 "My commission was to call upon the whole (Christian world, herein 
 assembled, to form themselves into a gnieral council, and eject from a 
 chair which he had obtained hy simo ly, with the aid of the devil, R jderic 
 Borgia, commonly called Pope Alex ^m* t VI.," said du monk, furiously. 
 "Which simony h^is rendered all hi acts and deeds null, and rolls back 
 upon himself and the fiend who supports him all the scandal and infamy 
 which the deeds of the pretended vicar of Christ throw upon Christianitv 
 itself!" ^ 
 
 " Take your superior out of the temple ; he is mad and blasphemes I" 
 said the Hospitaller, appalled at this wild outburst. 
 
CtESAR BORGIA. 177 
 
 "Else that the church should anon be rent in twain, and form a chasm 
 down which countless generations shall fall into the abyss I" continued 
 the monk, rapidly, and then gnashing his teelh as if the remembrance of 
 his failure ru^hed upon him. 
 
 "If he would buL hnve taken a morsel of the grilled fowl, or a bite 
 of wheaten bread I — but he has been a-hungering these four-and-thirty 
 hours I" said Biccocco, also staring aghast. 
 
 " I am not hungry— 1 feel no corporeal pang— scorch me with fire, 
 and I shall not feel it— and thus perchance my despair shall be too great 
 even for the tortures of hell to give me the relief of anguish I" continued 
 the m )nk. '• But, Knight, thou owest me no vengeance — I have saved 
 thee— I have made this city a place of terror fur thee I Caesar suspects thee 
 — remain and thou art lost I — Or if it be true that I h:ave wronged thee, — 
 come when thou wilt— during all the season of the Jubilee— thou wilt And 
 me a ruin amongst ruins, on Aventine!" 
 
 "Tell me only, monk, ho%v could mv presence throw obstacles in the 
 way of thine intents?" said Alfonso, perceiving that Fra Bruno had turned 
 to de()art, and more doubtful th-m ever that his sanity was disturbed by 
 maceration and religious melancholy. 
 
 "Biccocco has told you — i am very faint — lost — I know not what I 
 say!" returned the Dominican, clutching his companion's shoulder as if 
 about to fall. "Lead me to the open sunshine I — sunshine — darkness! 
 darkness, nothing but darkness— and forever !" 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 " Non con spirit! costretli lali incanti, 
 Ne con osMTvazlon di slelle fanno, 
 Ma con simulation, meiizogne, e frodi, 
 Legano i cor d iudissolubil nodi."— Ariosto. 
 
 Not with constrained fiends such charms are wrought, 
 Nor observation of Kie midnijihl stars, 
 Bui with deceit, and fraud, and lies, they make 
 Chains which the shackled spirit caanot break. 
 
 Itwassunriseonthe morning following the ominous opening of thejubilee 
 of the fifieenlh century. The young rays pi/rcing at a grilled window in 
 the castle of Saiitangelo, lighted two persons engaged in conversation, 
 and showed that the walls were hunu wiih various instruments of torture, 
 and even the ceiling was set with hooks and rings as if for the same pur- 
 poses. Oneofthe interlocutors was John of the Catacombs, looking bruised 
 and ghastly in the morning light ; the other was Don Migueloto, whose 
 usually murky visage was now lit up with vexation like a blacksmith's 
 rusty forge. 
 
 "Yea, we have missed our chance— but this cursed Ferrarese shall have 
 a handful from our ill-luck— let but his highness hear your story," said 
 Don Migueloto, who had been listening to the bravo's long detail. "And 
 hark ! 1 hear him, for all he comes on such soft wolfs paws!" 
 
 Almost as these words wtre uttered, Caesar entered the chamber, 
 wrapped in a long Spani.-h cloak, and with a plain hat slouched over his 
 visage, so that he appeared to be scarcely above the rank of a common 
 citizen. He was engaged in so profound a rumination, th d at first he did 
 
 12 
 
178 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 nol notice the sinister form of the bravo, and when his eye lighted on 
 him, he gave a start backward and drew some weapon from his breast. 
 
 " My lord ! — it is honest John whom you desired to see!" exclaimed 
 Migueloto. The bravo bent almost to his boots, or rather sandals, for they 
 closely resembled the ancient Italian greaves. 
 
 "Cry you mercy, honest John !" said theduke, returning the bend with 
 mock solemnity. "Who could have expected to meet with anything 
 honest so early, and in such company! But you spoke in good lime, 
 Miguel, for my finger was on the spring of this toy, and if there had been 
 a dozen of you, every n)an would have had his share of poisoned needles 
 somewhere in the face — best in the eyes." 
 
 And whether in warning, or to exhibit the ingenious toy to which he 
 alluded to such excellent connoisseurs, he opened his hand, and displayed 
 a round ball |)ierced all over with needle-holes. "But honest John," he 
 continued smilingly, " thou look'st for all the world as if thou hadst been 
 crushed in a wine-press, — I swear thou art of as many tints as a vine- 
 yard in October! Tell us how it all befell — and be honest now indeed, 
 or — " and his eye glanced significantly over the instruments of torture. 
 But John of the (Catacombs needed no impelling force to detail his wrongs, 
 of which he evidently cherished the most bitter recollection. 
 
 "Well ! — thou hast failed, man ; the best of us may fail, even with the 
 devil's own hand in it," said (igesar, thoughtfully, and not at all so ex- 
 cited against the meddling Hospitaller as the two friends anticipated. 
 
 " But, Signer, he has safely lodged your spy in the Orsini palace," said 
 Migueloto, intercedingly. 
 
 " Ay, but instead of a scratch, I hear your fellow struck at his neck as 
 if it were to butch a calf," returned the duke. "Yet the Orsini will put 
 the stronger faith in him— a skin-wound might have been suspected. 
 And now, honest John, art thou not very anxious and resolved to be 
 avenged, instead of grateful, for all these pretty colours in which the 
 knight has tricked you out?" 
 
 " Signor, — Fra Bruno is a most holy saint of God ! 1 will not lift mine 
 arm against him," said the bravo, with zealous earnestness. 
 
 "SayesL thou so, Boman mobster?" returned Caesar, hastily. "Nay, 
 then, he is dangerous! — But after the doctrine he delivered yesterday on 
 Lucrezia's nuptials, 1 cannot spare him as yet to heaven!— The cat's 
 "wauling vexes the ear, but it keeps the rats from our bacon, perchance. 
 Fear not for him! — 1 spoke of this archangel of thine, who hath the 
 sledge-hammer to his wrist." 
 
 " Would your highness have light let him to brighten his vision in our 
 matters?' said the bravo eagerly, and knitting liis surly brows. "But 
 whether 'tis a job or not, I owe him a turn of mine own free good-will, 
 which 1 will pay him ere many suns go down in Borne!" 
 
 "It was therefore 1 summoned thee; for, hearken, honest John, 1 will 
 not have one hair of his head plucked out but by him who means to die 
 by some strange and marrow-piercing torture," returned Caesar suddenly ; 
 and his two attendants stared at one another in vacant astonishment. 
 " Bemember what I have said keep thy tongue in ihy teeth; double 
 whatever has been promised him, captain, and let him go!" 
 
 Migueloto bowed submissively but still more surprisedly, and gave a 
 signal to honest John, who followed him, staring and bending confusedly 
 to the duke. When they had disappeared, Caesar, with a slight smile at 
 their puzzled visages, left the Chamber of Questions, as it was called, 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 179 
 
 and ascended by a narrow, unlighted staircase to a door which admitted 
 him on the ramparts of the tower of Santangelo. 
 
 Day had not long dawned, and the sky was flecked all over with little 
 rosy clouds, the sun being siill behind the remote hills of the Campagna- 
 The tranquillity of night and the beauty of day were united in that lovely 
 morning twilight. The bright and animating breeze which played over 
 the extensive scene below, appeared to be the only thing awake through- 
 out its piles of palaces — its woods, vineyards, ruins,— the desolate plains 
 which stretched beyond the walls — the fortress and its neighbouring 
 river. 
 
 Seated on a huge culverin in one of the embrasures, leaning on her 
 arm as if lost in contemplation of the scene below, with Cssar's blood- 
 bounds asleep at her feet, was Donna Fiamma. The duke approached on 
 tiptoe, yet not so lightly but that the hounds raised their heads ; and re- 
 cognizing him, couched contentedly down. Not so Fiamma, who remained 
 immersed in thought until Caesar, gallantly kneeling, pressed his lip to 
 her hand. 
 
 Fiamma turned, and the profound sadness in her countenance sparkled 
 up into brightness as she perceived her lover in his attitude of tenderness 
 and humility. 
 
 "Thou seest, love," said Cassar as he embraced her with apparently 
 rapturous delight, ''thou seest— perverse and froward as thou art I how 
 early I can leave the bride thou enviest so, to come to thee. But hast 
 thou thought of my plans, and art thou willing to execute thine own part 
 in them ?" 
 
 "Why, lam sold to thee! — I am what thou wilt have me, Csesarl — I 
 have no excuse now ; no refuge in any part of my soul I I am not betrayed 
 — I have fallen— knowingly — fallen below mine own contempt or pity I" 
 returned Fiamma. " But speak on thy words of love : there is a music in 
 them which sounds to me with a kind of gentler anguish, as if one of the 
 damned should hear music dimly floating out of paradise I" 
 
 " Then say that thou lovesl me, love I — it was a word which was ever 
 cooing on thy lips once," returned Csesar, tenderly. " But now — nay, 
 nay, thou dost not love me now !" 
 
 •' Oh, if I did not love thee, my Csesarl — woman and lost as 1 am— we 
 had not met again I" said the hapless lady, sinking into those ready arms. 
 "Then how couldst thou hesitate hi lend me thine aid, seeing on what 
 a balanced ball 1 waver?" returned Csesar, in a tone of minaled reproach 
 and tenderness. "Or art thou too — Colonna as thou wert before we 
 loved I— a partisan of the Orsini alliance and of my ruin ?" 
 
 "The Orsini I — ruthless butchers I— no," replied Fiamma, vehemently. 
 "But it is strange that thou shouldst wish me to counterfeit thy sister— 
 to play the wanton in thy sister's name !" 
 
 '' A carnival juke I But it is her nature thou wilt play, and no assump- 
 tion," returned the Duke. "Thou dost not wrong her— what manner of 
 damsel she is, all Italy — even you prisoners have heard 1" 
 
 "Yet if we believed all that we have h> ard, Caesar I— if even we could 
 deem it possiblel." said Fiamma, with a burning wildness in her gaze 
 which startled even the Borgia. 
 
 " 1 speak not now of the lies that are told of ws, but of the truths that 
 are told of her," he rejtlied, hastily, and rising, he walked up and down 
 as he continued, — "But since the part mislikes thee, only to some few 
 whom 1 suspect need you play it — to the captains of the Black Bands thou 
 
180 CJ:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 shalt be another— they are men for the most part of galliard disposition — 
 thou art beautiful, niatchlessly beautiful! and for the nonce shall he the 
 wife of our casleilain here— but let. not Migueioto know the jest till it is 
 well played, for he forsoolh is an hidalgo and an old Christian ! Under 
 this guise, we vvill invite the captains to some private collation in Sanlan- 
 gelo— while the good casleilain is abroad, and — why dost thou stare so 
 dismally, as if I bade thee truly — betray myself?'' 
 
 " Forgive me ! I knew not quite how low I had fallen," said Fiamma, 
 biting her nether lip till the blood flowed, and glaring fixedly upward. 
 "Forgive me — I am not accustomed to be the thing I am — 1 will abandon 
 myself to it anon — but memory and consciousness! — can only death 
 destroy them? — Can Death? — Why, if so, lies he not couched at the base 
 of these battlements?" 
 
 " What marvel that I look in vain around me for some hope, since 
 they who love me best will not pronounce a few words — a few carnival 
 sweetnesses — to save me," exclaimed Caesar, mournfully. "• Canst thou 
 dream, sweet wife, that I would suffer the impious breath of another to 
 profane thy beauty? I alone will meet them in the castle! Amazed at 
 beholding one another there, if even they listen not to my gilded pro- 
 mises, an universal doubt shall arise among them, which will almost 
 serve my purposes as well! Idiot that I was! I had even prepared a 
 masking array such as my jealousy approved ! The garb of Queen 
 Morgan le Fay, ghttering all over with gems, as if of woven gold-dust— 
 in which I thought to witness the adoration thy loveliness must provoke, 
 humbly following thee in the guise of a black slave," said Csesar, assum- 
 ing an injured and sorrowful air. 
 
 "Thou! — why then, indeed, if thoulovest me, I wnll plague thee fairly 
 even with thine own device," said Fiamma, suddenly. "And if thou hast 
 any regard for the honour of thy name, methinks I will overplay thy 
 sister's part, be she all that thou art wont to call her." 
 
 " Thou canst not against one whom I would have thee assay with all 
 the allurements thou knowesl but too well how to spread, like a bank of 
 flowers that flatters every sense," said Cssar. " Did not Migueioto tell 
 thee of a marvellous Knight of St. John — a religious who keeps his vows 
 — a man of marble who stalks about among us searching into mischiefs 
 against me, as an he were some commissioner sent from above to turn up 
 the edges of our darknesses, and utterly ruin us." 
 
 "Chiefly, methinks I heard that he refused to be Lucrezia's knight, 
 and with a strange scornfulness," replied Fiamma. 
 
 " So beauteous a dame as some call her— and offering herself with a 
 marvellous ungu irdedness and warmth I" continued Caesar. " But hast 
 thou never heard in ballads, my Fiamma, that slighted love makes a 
 colder nun than all the vows of the eleven thousand virgins of Cologne?" 
 
 " I may live to know it," returned Fiamma. 
 
 " Never, never, unless your love wanders from mine," said Caesar, 
 ardently. " But to continue — Lucrezia was created only for pleasure, as 
 the passion-dower only for light ; it is her element, and one frost would 
 fold up her luxuriance for ever. And therein 1 see a little speck of light 
 which, when it breaks, will flood the sky. Thou knowest, Sabbat pro- 
 phecies my ruiii in Luerezia's marriage— but the Orsini must not doubt 
 my love for them and their princely house — and Paolo should have my 
 most zealous assistance, did 1 but know there is a woman's fancy in the 
 way to render all, even her sire's commands, of no avail." 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 181 
 
 " But if— if Lucrezia be still so fair as once she was — certes, she will 
 not love in vain," said Fiamma. 
 
 "Oh. bill thou hast not seen my marvellous Hospitaller — my man of ice," 
 replied Caesar, gaily. "Yet I would be well assured, ere I use him to 
 my purposes. And thou, who art so skilled in imitating the tones and 
 gestures of others, — disguised and masked — and we are marvellously 
 favoured in Lucrezia's caprice who has refused the Orsmi accompaniment, 
 and declares she will view the carnival in some unknown disguise — 
 mayst easily assay his metal, which perchance is false, albeit it rings so 
 silvery clear. Moreover, we can try what rivalry may prompt, for he hath 
 a brother-in-arms, a gHlliar-d English noble. who stares at Lucrezia as if he 
 had never seen a woman before, and could not but wonder what manner 
 of gaudy bird it might be I But now I must hasten to send thy munjmery 
 and assume mine own ; for 1 noted not, in our love-talk, how broadly the 
 sun had risen. Gomel — since thou art such a looker back — remember 
 that thou wert never wont to let me leave thee without one little kiss, 
 freely besiowed, not taken." 
 
 The recollection, thus skilfully touched, went to the depths of the fair 
 Roman's soul, and Csesar left not the battlements without some such 
 pledge of tenderness. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE CARNIVAL OF THE JUBILEE. 
 
 " They say ttiis town is full of cozenage; 
 As nimble jesters that deceive the eye, 
 Darli-workinp sorcerers that change the mind, 
 Soul-killing witches thai deform the body, 
 Disguised cheaters, prating mouniebanks. 
 And many such like liberties of sin.''— CoTnedy of Errors. 
 
 The Orsini and their noble guests were busily engaged in preparing a 
 gorgeous masque, to form the cortege of Lucrezia in the carnival. A 
 voung painter in the train of the Duke of Urbino, named Raffaelo Sanzio, 
 was tlie chief contriver of the pageantry, and lavished on it the beauty 
 and splendour of his dawning genius, and it was expected to produce aa 
 effect favourable to Paolo with Donna Lucrezia, the magnificence and 
 elegance of whose tastes were likely to be gratified in it. Great, there- 
 fore, was the disappointment w^hen Burciardo arrived in the palace, with 
 a message from Donna Lucrezia, declining the intended accompaniment; 
 but the refusal was softened by a declaration which was added, that she 
 expected love would take olF his fillet for once, and recognize her in 
 whatever disguise she assumed, and meanwhile she desired that the 
 pageant of his triumph, projected by the Orsiuo, should be exhibited as 
 originally intended. Le Beaufort knew not how to account for the disap- 
 pointment of his friend; but as the Orsini and their guests were to 
 accompany the Triumph in various characters of the Knights of the Round 
 Table, he enacted his part of the cheerful and chivalrous Sir Lauucelot of 
 the Lake with a vivaciiy which deepened the characteristics of theamorous 
 and melancholy Sir Tristan, assumed by Lord Paolo. 
 
 The Duke of Gravina was the representative of the royal .Arthur, and be 
 of Urbiiio, with his frame deformed and blasted with the gout, personated 
 
182 CMSAR BORGIA. 
 
 the enchanter, Merlin. Vitellozzo disdained not to enhance the effect of 
 the spectacle by a|)pearin<i as a pagan giant, especially as it allowed him 
 to wear armour, out of which, in Rome, he did not fVel at ease. The 
 other personages of the round table, familiar to the imagination of all the 
 European populations, were judiciously distributed •, and as each knight 
 was characteristically arrayed, attended by his squires, his banner, and 
 minstrels, the spectacle was very splendid. It was only when the knights 
 assumed their masks, in which the passions for which in the chivalric 
 romances they were chiefly renowned, were caricatured by skilful artists, 
 that they became grotesque as suited a carnival show. 
 
 The masking commenced at noonday, and the Knight of St. John, 
 wandering almost at random through the city, mingled absently amidst 
 the riot and splendourand universal gaiety of the great Christian saturnalia. 
 At a period of such general dissolution of manners, when in addition to 
 the licentious populations of Italy, the city was crowded with foreigners, 
 the violence of whose passions had brought them thither, and whose 
 customs were infinitely more gross and brutish— the confusion and effer- 
 vescence passed all ordinary displays, or modern conception. Thejubilants, 
 rid of the weight of their sins, and surrounded by all the temptations 
 which the luxurious and dissolute city could offer, abandoning itself to 
 all its fervent passions, too often ran up a new score. 
 
 The endless variety of costume which a multitude, assembled from every 
 corner of Europe, must present, was now exaggerated by the wild fanci- 
 fulness and grotesque gaiety of carnival devices. And though this revelry 
 was common to all the nations of the Christian world, it was practised 
 in such different forms as influenced by climate and national character, 
 that the contrast, when thus thrown into comparison, was a perpetual 
 source of amusement and surprise. The sober northmen beheld with 
 amazement the excesses into which the ardent temperament of the south, 
 released from every shackle, rushed like a gentle river, suddenly falling 
 over rocks in a cataract— all sparkle, uproar, and shining tumult. And 
 the southrons revelling in their own wild gaiety and extravagance, failed 
 not to satirise their visitors with the most laughable buffooneries, in- 
 geniously veiled from the notice of the strangers themselves, whose 
 violence and ignorant pride were justly dreaded by the Italians. 
 
 Passingthroughstreetswhichblazedwithbannersand pictured tapestries, 
 and tlovvers and'rich ornaments displayed on the balconies and window- 
 sills, which rang with shouts and laughter and ribaldry and roaring music, 
 —the Hospitaller hastened on— he knew not whither. The revellers, 
 imagining that he was disguised in his religious habit to mock it, beset 
 him in various shapes Jo elicit the jests and sarcasms with which they 
 supposed him to be fraught. A legion of devils surrounded him with 
 hideous visages and flaming torches, imploring his benediction, and leave 
 to return to hell to get out of the noise and clatter of a Christian festival ; 
 anon, a giantess caught him in her arms, and with fierce blandishments, 
 made still more fearful by a monstrous mask and beard, assailed him with 
 lascivious love-making." Tearing himself from her powerful embraces, 
 which were in reality those of a' huge German soldier, with a difficulty 
 which roused a tumult of laughter, Alfonso became involved in a mul- 
 titude who were pelting with sweetmeats a long tatterdemalion, bedizened 
 car, in which came nine women, playing on various instruments of music, 
 all of goodly persons, scarcely at all concealed by the tinselled rags they 
 ^vore — a circumstance which in that age excited not the slightest animad- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 183 
 
 version, but to the contrary, great and general satisfaction. The inscrip- 
 tion which they bore on a canopy over their heads, though probably a 
 jest which disclosed their real purposes, revealed the agency of intellects 
 of a higher order than those who executed most of the satirical buf- 
 fooneries which abounded, many of which were indeed inventions of 
 Machiaveili, who was famous for this species of practical wit. 
 
 " The Muses nine are we— and courtesans of Naples— 
 Of whose lush clime, in all time, we were counted staples; 
 To our lord, the Pope, we owe the pomp in which we go, 
 Our condition, to our lovers- the Princes of the Po." 
 
 Smiling tartly at the allusion to the meagre patronage which the turmoiled 
 pontiff bestowed on the learned, and the meretricious flatteries to which 
 they were reduced by that of the northern courts of Italy, including his 
 father's, Alfonso passed on, encountering innumerable demons, fairies, 
 satyrs, and fauns. Deities of all the ancient and modern mythologies, 
 known, or wildly guessed at from the reports of travellers, met, and engaged 
 in mock disputes and ribaldry, in which every form of religion was turned 
 into ridicule by men at other seasons wrapt in superstitious terrors. The 
 carnivallers seemed to expect that Heaven, like the Roman masters 
 of old, when their slaves enjoyed the license of the saturnalia, would 
 take no notice of what was said or done during this outburst of liberty in 
 its own. 
 
 Over all the changeful splendours and ever-varying movement, shone 
 the festal sun of Italy, in whose brightness even a funeral puts on an air of 
 good cheer and enjoyment. The wildest combinations of dreams never 
 presented anything stranger than these of the carnival of the Jubilee ; but 
 the gloiious effulgence seemed to harmonize all things, and a magic 
 world was created by its glow in which the strangest vagaries of the 
 phantasmagoria were no longer wonderful. Mermaids wiih their tails 
 calmly folded around them ; cormorants who preached burlesque sermons 
 on the top of lofty stilts, exhorting the people to listen to what they said, 
 which was of such efficacy that they need take no care of their purses ; 
 broken columns which walked, and reminded the spectators of the 
 misfortunes of the exiled Colonnas; bears that jeered at ihem ; friars who 
 paraded along with asses' heads and goats' feet: leopards who chaunted 
 Misereres on their hind legs ; wolves, with shears in their paws, inquiring 
 for the Christian flock •, tigers and monkeys who danced merrily together-, 
 enoinious owls which sang in melodious concert, refuting augury ; 
 nought seemed wild or improbable. Sometimes a group of bacchanals 
 reeled past, imitating in their songs, vine-twisted brows, half-naked 
 forms, and lascivious gestures, the traditions of antiquity, who encounter- 
 ing a grave bevy of nuns, compelled them to drain their goblets, and join 
 in a frantic dance. 
 
 INational characteristics were rather heightened in colouring than effaced 
 by the chaotic mingling. Spanish stateliness, German grossness and 
 grotesque wildness of fancy, French coxcombry, English humour, ap- 
 peared in the most resolute efforts to imitate opposite characteristics. 
 In vain was the Spaniard an ape, or the Frenchman a lion ; the one stalked, 
 and the other tripped. But when, as frequently happened, pilgrims of 
 the same nation had united to compose spectacles in the style of their 
 respective countries, a magnificent and bizarre effect was produced. Each 
 nation took the opportunity to vaunt its glories before the gaze of the rest 5 
 but the most appropriate to the occasion were those of the Spaniards. 
 
184 C.«:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 leading Moors in chains, and parading some feather-garbed natives of the 
 newly discovered Wf^st Indies. 
 
 Above all, the Roman lords vied with ea«h other in the gorgeousness 
 and picturesque arraiigemeni. of their pageants, and the arlislic taste and 
 splendour of lliesp CNhibitions astonished the unrefined strangers of Ihe 
 north. Among these Alfonso's attention was much attracted by the Orsini 
 masque, which he encountered in his peregrinations The beautifully 
 painted banners, borne by the ktiigh:s of King Arthur, which represented 
 the most touching events produced by the agency of love, in history or 
 romance, flaming in the sun ; the resplendent armour and colours of the 
 warriors and their steeds, and the triumph itself, which in elegance and 
 perfection of design resembled a Grecian bas-relief fmt into motion and 
 vitality, excited universal admiration. On a car of silver, surmounted 
 with a canopy of roses, drawn by six snowy steeds with trappings of 
 flowers, came the god Eros, worthily represented by the blooming young 
 Rafaello, the designer of the spectacle, with wings, arrows, and bow, his 
 lightly-clad form scarcely less beautiful, or more masculine, than ihe 
 Cupid whom Psyche loved. The Hours, clad in the brightest tints, and 
 linked by chains of roses, danced around his car whenever it halted ; 
 immediately after which, in chains, came Anleros, the god of slighied 
 love, and who avenges it pangs, surrounded by his myrmidons similarly 
 shackled, and most expressively masked — Jealousy, Discord, Drunken- 
 ness, Scorn, Hate, and other domestic plagues. Anteros was enacted by 
 Fabio Orsino, at his own desire, against the artist's respectful wish that 
 he would take the office of the superior and more joyful divinity. And 
 there was much in his young, sorrowful, and brooding visage, pale as if 
 with the fires of a passion which consumed itself inwardly, to realize the 
 god of "despised love " The Desires, Constancy, Sighs, Chastity, and 
 all the domestic virtues, wielding various appropriate arms, kept guard 
 over these prisoners ; and Hymen brought up the rear,' holding his unlighted 
 torch to the sun, as if to kindle it at his |)ute and eternal ray. 
 
 Satirical buffooneries abounded : almost immediately afier this proces- 
 sion had passed, amidst the acclanmtions of the people, came a figure of 
 Truth, streaming with water and weeds, as if just risen from her well, 
 who shook her head in reply to the numerous questions addressed to her, 
 pointing to the padlock on her mouth. Then came a Curtius on a lean 
 horse, with a multitude of puppets dressed as French, Spaniards, and 
 Germans, with whom he was going to leap into a gulf for the salvation of 
 his country ^ a pantaloon hobbled after him, robed as a Venetian doge, 
 and complaining that his French shoes were too tight to walk in. The 
 alliance between Naples and the S()aniards was figured by a fox and a 
 goose waddling along together, bearing the motto " Amigosalamuerte" 
 — Friends to death. 
 
 It was remarkable that although there were many severe allegorical 
 sarcasms directed at the pope and his daughter, the boldest of the jesters 
 had not ventured to aim at Caesar — the halving of Don Remiro was too 
 recent an event. In those directed against Lucrezia, however, there was 
 often as much tenderness as blame. It seemed as if the voluptuous south- 
 rons could not find it in their hearts to condemn her with severity ; and yet 
 Alfonso scinned each new group with the feelings of one who expects 
 every instant to suffer the renewed pangs of some lulled ache. On one 
 occasion he met with a procession escorting a car, on which was a statue 
 very well moulded in wax to represent Lucrezia, but with the attributes of 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 18S 
 
 a Venus, bortie in triumph by a crowd of masks, in the habit of cardinals, 
 ringing bells, and profanely calling on all good Christians to love one 
 another, after the good example set them by the heads of the church. 
 Yetalmost immediately after he was somewhat comforted by observing a 
 figure advancing along by singular leaps, half toad and half serpent, 
 painted all over tongues, and labelled *' Calumny," undercover of which 
 candid acknowledgment he repealed malignant distichs, with surprising 
 versatility and invention, which mystically included the blackest charges 
 against Alexander, his children, and his court, and in whom Alfonso was 
 not long before he recognized Paschino. 
 
 Musing on the coincidence, the prince became involved, he scarcely 
 knew how, in the tumultuous throngs which swayed up and down the 
 Corso. Wandering amidst the glittering confusion, and at times scarcely 
 heeding it, his attention was suddenly caught, with that of many others, 
 by the approach of a singular and very magniflcenl show. 
 
 Entering the Corso came a troop of persons in the richest and most 
 glaring Oriental costumes, leaping, dancing, and making the air lesound 
 with noisy instruments of music— tambours, bells, cymbals, and gongs, 
 — which kept up an incessant jingle and roar of melody. These heralded 
 a lady, garbed to represent the royal, licentious, and deceptive fairy, 
 Morgana, who was thus suitably attended because that in Italy all fairies 
 were held to be unbelievers, and all unbelievers either Turks or Saracens. 
 She sat in a castle, on the back of an elephant caparisoned with scarlet 
 and gold ; and as it was built of little squares and lozenges of burnished 
 looking-glass set in a silver framework, its sparkle and evanescence 
 answered the ideas entertained of the illusive pomps of the watery fay. 
 The figure of the enchantress was beautifully moulded, and amply displayed 
 in her rich garb of gold lace besprent with diamonds as thick as dew. 
 Her hair was concealed by an immense turban, and her face by the most 
 hideous mask imaginable, one half being that of a gorgon, the other of a 
 beautiful woman. 
 
 "Viva Morgana I" resounded on every side, and by the throngs which 
 pressed around her, the laughter, and continual clapping of hands it 
 appeared that the fairy's wit equalled her splendour; moreover, she dis- 
 tributed innumerable little nosegays with which her castle seemed stocked, 
 and pelted the crowd when they pressed on her too eagerly with a storm 
 of gilded sweetmeats. At limes she spoke in a pretended eastern lan- 
 guage, but which was in reality an ingenious and laughable compound of 
 the dialects of Italy, to a black slave who guided her elephant with a wand 
 of mother-of pearl, who was arrayed with great splendour to represent 
 the accursed Maomet himself, and whose face was concealed in a mask 
 which frightfully exaggerated the characteristics of a negro visage, of 
 gigantic size. Wielding a broad and gleaming sabre, the slave affected 
 the airs of a jealous oriental, by flourishing it among those admirers who 
 pushed too near; but ever and anon he turned back, and whispered to 
 some of the maskers whom he selected. 
 
 From these signs Alf<mso conjectured no good of the fairy, but his 
 interest was strongly excited by remembering that the only elephant in 
 Italy, and on which consequently she was enthroned, belonged to the 
 pope — part of the spoils of Sultan Zem. hi his anxiety to ascertain who 
 the lady might be, he pushed eagerly forward among the crowd, and as 
 he approached, the negro's eye gleamed upon him from the depths of his 
 mask^ he uttered a screech of joy, and muttered some words to the fairy in 
 
186 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 a tone which the uproarious throng could not overhear. Morgana im- 
 mediately gave a signal to her whole retinue to halt, and beckoned to the 
 Hospitaller so pointedly that he could not doubt he was the personage 
 distinguished by her summons. He approached in a fever of curiosity 
 and fear lest he should find his anticipations verified. 
 
 "What would you with me, illustrious fairy?" said Alfonso, in a 
 voice whose tranquil sternness contrasted with the enthusiastic clamour 
 around. 
 
 "• Xay, what would you wnth me. Sir Knight of the cross and buffalo?" 
 replied the fairy in tones whose low, liquid, perfidious sweetness re- 
 sembled those "fa syren imitating some fine earthly harmony to lure the 
 mariner amid the crimson flowers blooming among her rocks over fester- 
 ing carcasses. " I am the Fata Morgana — who am all things to all men 
 — even what their own wishes would have! To the soldier, glory ; to the 
 priest, dominion ; to the poet, immortality ; to the lover, his mistress ; 
 to every madness, in brief, its proper frenzy ; name thou thine." 
 
 "Nay, fairy — since thou art as fallacious as the waves in which thou 
 raisest thy translucent palaces — so sea-green bright without, so dark 
 within, — tosink with all who trust themselves in thy treacherous bowers!" 
 replied the Hospitaller. "Yet if thou canst aid me in my research, I will 
 confess that — I seek for one whom I would not find." 
 
 "Then art thou truly my lord and sultan — I come from the land of 
 Upside Down, whereof 1 am queen." said the enchantress. "There the 
 men are bashful, and the women wooers; and as thou seest, hearing the 
 custom prevailed latterly in Rome, I am come here to choose me a 
 seraglio from among all the modest beauties of thy sex — and justly 
 methinks thou art entitled to the most honourable place ; therefore mount 
 and accompany me on my elephant, which already kneels of its ow'n 
 grace and understanding." 
 
 The prodigious creature did indeed, at a signal from the negro's wand» 
 bend its massive knees on the pavement, and with a huge yawn seemed 
 to await the result of the conference. 
 
 " Sorceress queen ! the order of all nature is too much reversed in 
 your kingdom for me to venture in it, while I still walk erect— even Circe 
 made men hogs before she put them in sties ! " returned the severe knight. 
 " Moreover, the disappearances from your seraglio are so numerous and 
 so trasical, that it is conjectured by some there is a hidden snake in it." 
 
 " But 1 have never loved till now— oi- I would have made me some 
 charm to stiffen the green reptile, jealousy! " returned the fairy. " Hear 
 but how aielodiously I have lamented the circumstance, long before I 
 could have dreamed to bring it in evidence." 
 
 And she sang, or rather chanted, in the same sweet, penetrating, and 
 yet direful voice the following lines, which Alfonso remembered tha^t 
 Bembo had recited to him as the composition of Donna Lucrezia. 
 
 DITHVRAMBIC. 
 
 For that I love not, Lovers ! 
 Your gentle blame around me hovers. 
 That bites like quarelling doves beneath the noontide covers ! 
 But rather sliould ye pity show, 
 As to one fluttering in llie windy snow, 
 That sees, bul cannot reach, some sunny glow! — 
 Fain would 1 love, and all my soul" 
 Yield to the burning god's control : 
 Fain in the universal harmony 
 
C^S.\R BORGIA. 187 
 
 No more a discord be: — 
 For. better ilian \our choral lyres can prove, 
 I feel Ihal all things are ailuned to Love; 
 
 There's not a star in Heaven thai burns 
 Nor flower that upwards lifts its coloured urns, 
 Nor murmur of the odorous breeze 
 Kissing our soft Italian seas. 
 But preaches his religion of delight! 
 
 Music IS but his murmuring in dreams. 
 Laughter, his footstep flashing over streams. 
 His breath, the scent of dew> flowers by night ! 
 
 The boundless noonday hush 
 His silence is- and twilight's golden blush 
 
 His wakening from the sleep 
 Of rosy childhood, to he lulled again 
 By brown-robed Night, his nurse, with many anold-world strain, 
 So sweet the listeners weep! 
 Yea! but Love playing with his grandsire's shafts, 
 Are lightnings— else so dread— sabres of unseen hafts ! 
 Fain, 
 The ecstatic wine of life to drain. 
 And know existence's extremes of joy and pain. 
 Lovers, I would love and be beloved ! but 'tis in vain ! 
 
 Oh, vainly all things. Love, with thee conspire, 
 My soulsreflects but warms not in thy fire ! 
 ;v Vet say not that the faculty divine. 
 
 The infinite desire— are not mine, — 
 As all light centred, is the sun,— 
 
 Could all I am be one. 
 Thought, feeling, memory, hope, fear, light, breath, 
 Love it must be or— Death ! 
 
 " If thou hast never loved — why, then, thou hast not even a base 
 apology to be the thing thou art! thou shouldst have been the madness of 
 love, "which else thou art of brutish appetite!'" returned the Hospitaller, 
 with extreme violence, "Go on thy way, as 1 will on mine; atid may 
 they never cross each other again I" 
 
 The populace applauded, considering that the religious knight was 
 sustaining his character. 
 
 '■1 must seek those then who are not so wise as to be miserable — to 
 refuse the quaff of pleasure because other lips have been to the goblet," 
 returned the enchantress gaily. " Bat at least thou wilt not refuse to do 
 me this liltle favour— to "bid' thy friend, the handsome English knight, 
 come hither, and take the place which thou refiisest." 
 
 " This [ will do— to prove that ! envy it not," replied the Hospitaller, 
 now thoroughly irritated, and retreatiuLj hurriedly among the crowd, who 
 laughed heartily at the conclusion of the dialogue. The fairy made a 
 haughty gesture, the procession moved on, and Alfonso imagined he had 
 torn himself out of its dangerous influence, when suddenly he felt his 
 mantle plucked, and turning he beheld the negro. 
 
 '"Signor, that you may do your errand better with the English knight, 
 if it be impossible that your own obduracy should relent. Queen Morgan 
 le Fay desires you to accept her portrait in this case," said the negro, 
 producingan armlet in which was a large gold medallion, which he handed 
 to the knight, attentively watching him as he examined it. The medallion 
 was beautifully chased, and represented a figure of the ancient Lucretia 
 stabbing herself. 
 
 " What is the meaning of this?" exclaimed Alfonso. 
 
 '•Every medal has its reverse," replied the black, showing his white 
 teeth at the huge lips of his mask, and pressing a spring which flew open 
 and revealed a fine miniature of the celestial countenance of Lucrezia 
 Boi'gia. 
 
 '' 1 will deliver this portrait to Sir Reginald, with your lady's message," 
 
188 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 said the knight, with affected tranquillity. " Return and tell her po." 
 
 " If thou (Jost this " relumed ihe negro, speaking in a tone which 
 
 had nigh betraved him, but almost instantly changing it. " If thou dost 
 this — ihou shall be canonized alive I" 
 
 Laughif)g bitierly, Alfonso stole away and hastened in the direction in 
 which a short time previously he had noticed the Triumph of Love taking 
 its way amidsl the acclamations of the people. But considerably to his 
 surprise and vexation, he had not gone far before he perceived Le Beau- 
 fort riding up the street alone, his mask laid aside, and scanning all the 
 groups he encountered with great curiosity. 
 
 Summoning all his resolution, Alfonso accosted the young knight, and 
 inquired how it chanced that he was thus alone-, to which Le Beaufort 
 dejectedly replied, that, being unable to discover Lucrezia, and afraid 
 that all the fine verses they had prepared would be wasted, it was agreed 
 that they should separate in every direction on a quest after her. " Then 
 art Lhou as was ever thy wont. Sir Launcelot, the fortunate knight of the 
 adventure!" replied Alfonso; and he related his encounter, delivered his 
 message, and the armlet, without the least outward sign of his inward 
 feelings, but observing the tlush which coloured Sir Reginald's bronzed 
 fairness, he added, "Make haste, make haste I — for thou art one of 
 many !" 
 
 " Were it over a precipice, and so fair a damsel summoned me, 
 I would on ! " returned Le Beaufort, with enthusiastic delight. " And in 
 very truth, if thou art canonized, as the infidel said, I will light a candle 
 to thee all the year round ; for werl even thou in my way — yea, by'r Lady, 
 though thou art my dearest friend — if all good and evil angels stood 
 between !--! know not what I say — but 1 will learn her pleasure, or perish 
 on the road ! " 
 
 "Wilt thou not warn thy friend, the Orsino, of the discovery, that he 
 may bear thee company to his lady's presence ?" said the Hospitaller. 
 
 " Nay, Don Alfonso, for no true knight would linger to obey a lady's 
 behest! " replied Le Beaufort, hurriedly, and urging his horse forward. 
 " She may not choose that it should be known — may charge me with som^e 
 mockery to him; — tut, brother-in-arms , never fear that I shall drown in 
 a cup of water! " And he darted past, putting his courser to a pace which 
 threatened danger to all whom it encounterrd. 
 
 It would scarcely be possible to analyse the confusion of emotions with 
 which Alfonso watched the departure of his young comrade, and which 
 kepi him fixed on the spot gazing after hiai long after he had disanpeared. 
 Compassion and anger— regret and disdain and jealousy — were all ingre- 
 dients; and when at length he resumed his way, regardless whilher,"the 
 tumult without passed almost unheeded. Cerberuscs darted their three 
 beads in his face without making him start •, huge frogs leaped in his way, 
 and croaked raillery at him, without provoking him to reply ; the Furies 
 shook their torches at him ; the syrens wooed him with lascivious songs, 
 •—and he disregarded both. Even a hydra h-ssed its many heads at him 
 in vain ; and yet his eye understood with little aid of the mind the bold 
 political allegory contained in the carcass of the direful monster, which 
 represented in hieroglyphics the chiefdisturbers of Italy. The serpenttail 
 represented the Sforzas, whose arms were that reptile-, the body, the 
 winged lion of Venice. The lion of Florence, the wolf of Sienna, the pan- 
 ther of Luca, the eagle of Ferrara, the bear of the Orsini ; and a variety of 
 other heraldic crests of the factions and states of Italy, all surmounted by 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 189 
 
 the triple crown, and with a broken column in one of the hydra's paws, 
 by which il limped along, completed the allegory. 
 
 Alfonso afterwards remembered that as he quitted the Corso a graceful 
 figure of a Sicilian dancing girl tripped across his palh, and beating a 
 tambour above her head, seemed lo invite him to join in lier amusement. 
 But he hastened on, and alihough ihe form slill swam in his fancy as one 
 of exceeding beauty, and aerial voluptuousness of oulhne, he had almost 
 lost the impression when he suddenly found himself in the open space 
 before the Capitol. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " Che se ben con efTeUo io non peccai, 
 lo do maleria che ounun dica 
 Ch'essendo vagabonda io sia impudica."— Ariosto. 
 
 For though, in reality, 1 do nothing wrong, 
 1 give the world occasion lo report, 
 Because 1 stroll about, that— I'm a bad one, in short; 
 
 In the space before the Capitol there was some degree of tranquillity, 
 for it waschietly those who were weary of the uproar, or who desired lo 
 cool themselves by unmasking, that went thither. Their strange accoutre- 
 ments still formed splendid groupings and kaleidoscope effecfs of colour, 
 but without the fatiguing confusion of the Corso. It was drawing towards 
 evening, and the deepenmg purple of the sky mellowed the glaring tints into 
 a sober richness, like autumn foliage at sunset. The moon gleamed pale 
 as an alabaster lamp in the still sun-fraught heavens, but trembled lumi- 
 nously on the waters of a fountain which tlowed from beneath the palace 
 of the Capitol. Innumerable groups of the po[)ulace, in their strange 
 tinselled disguises, sat or lolled on the ground, discussing the amusements 
 of the day, eating fruit, banding calabashes of wine or water to one 
 another, jesting, laughing, love-making, singing little scraps of the 
 breviary chaunts to droll airs, or profane ballads with choruses from the 
 psalms. Sometimes, seated in circles, they improvisated lively epigrams 
 on each other and all around them, or answered remoter groups in jeering 
 songs which occasionally led to words and blows. The Neapolitans, 
 lively as their own polichinelli, contrasted with the Venetians, grave and 
 silent as the waves th<'y lived on; the elegant and vivacious Tuscan, with 
 the sombre and yet fiery Roman ; all with their foreign visitors. The 
 oyster-like Balavian might be seen staring in vacant amazement at the 
 supple Creek, as he disported with others in the graceful dances of his 
 country. The Cermaii, accustomed to a severe sky, marvelled to behold 
 the Sicilian making preparations to spend the ni^ht under the bare stars 5 
 and the English islander seemed never weary of listening to the sea-like 
 flow of the Venetian barcarols, while perchance his eye was fixed with 
 astonishment and curiosity on a group of girls who had clubbed nosegays 
 to weave into an ingenious tipestry of flowers Grotesque parties of more 
 dignified maskers — vizard in hand— paraded up and down, engaged in con- 
 versation, and enjoying the sweet coolness of the evening air. 
 
 Fevered with agitation, Alfonso made his way to the fountain, and 
 seated on the margin, despite the chattering groups which continually 
 clustered and dispersed around it, felt his spirit calm in the monotony of 
 the buzz, and the rushing gurgle of the waters streaming down the rock 
 
190 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 and spurting from various grotesque mouths of lions and dolphins. The 
 shadows deepened, the stars began to sparkle moistly over the blackening 
 cypresses which crowned the hills around, and the innumerable palaces 
 and ruins upon ihem stood forth in distinctness of splendour or desolation 
 against the brightness of the horizon. 
 
 The Hospitaller mused on the events of the day with exceeding bitter- 
 ness. Without a spice of the vanity of the coxcomb in his lofty and 
 austere character, slill he could not have failed to observe that Lucrezia's 
 eyes had discoursed to him something warmer than the gratitude due to 
 her deliverer even from so great a peril. And now her licentious co- 
 quetry in the character of the royal sorceress confirmed all the tales of 
 her profligacy — made every darker accusationprobable — even gave a gloss 
 of likelihood to the insinuations of Cccsar against her confessor ;— for 
 whom would such a Messalina deem unworthy of her arts? The mental 
 agonies which so evidently preyed on the monk, might be the viper- 
 stingingsof remorse for his guilt, which — revolving the strange vagaries 
 of superstition he had lately witnessed — it seemed not impossible that 
 Lucrezia might have seduced him into, to secure more easily the pardons 
 which her enormous crimes demanded, and which the church had con- 
 fided to him I There were moments in this meditation, — wdien his indig- 
 nation swelled the highest — that he blamed himself for not accepting her 
 invitation, ascertaining her full depravity, and humbling her with a scorn 
 and refusal which, if aught could, would strike shame and dismay into 
 her haughty soul. It did not occur to the lofty Knight of St. John that the 
 experiment might have proved dangerous. 
 
 His cogitations on this point were, however, interrupted by the sound 
 of a tambour ; and looking up from his reverie he perceived that the po- 
 pulace were gathering in a wide circle before the fountain, assembling 
 like bees to the nmsical noise. In the centre— kept thus remote by the 
 vigilance of an old woman and two half-savage Calabrians, well armed^ 
 who seemed to be the proprietors of the show — stood a young Silician 
 girl preparing to dance, in whose beautiful form Alfonso suddenly re- 
 membered his nymph of the Corso. She belonged apparently to a class 
 of damsels who were oi-dained under severe penalties to go masked, dur- 
 ing all the religious festival, to protect the pilgrims from the influence of 
 their baleful charms ; for there could be no other reason why a wandering 
 female jongleur or minstrel, who employed the takmts which the har- 
 monious climate of Italy lavishes at times on its poorest children, to earn 
 a scanty living from the rude populace— should otherwise atfect the mo- 
 desty and concealment of the vizard which the girl wore, and which was, 
 moreover, of a peculiar form, devised by the pious cardinal of Sienna, 
 with demoniac features well calculated to scare curiosity. But her form, 
 as she stood collecting the spectators with the ringing music of her tam- 
 bour, in that graceful Sicilian costume, which still retains the charac- 
 teristic elegance of its Greek original, coimteracled all that the hideous 
 mask could do to persuade the gazers that she was hideous too — a form 
 which would have furnished a model for the Muse of Love, and inventress 
 of the dance, voluptuous Erato herself I Alfonso's imagination was per- 
 haps influenced by the reverie m which he had been indulging, but it 
 struck him that the fine proportions of the Sicilian's figure resembled 
 those of Lucrezia's — nay, that they were more exquisitely and womanly 
 soft than his memory recalled Queen Morgan le Fay's. 
 
 It was, therefore, an unalloyed, because not perilous delight, to gaze 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 191 
 
 upon so perfect a specimen of nature's divinest workmanship ; but while 
 thus innocently amusing his disturbed fancies, the knight became aware 
 that he had aitracted ihe notice of the ballerina, for he encountf^red her 
 eyes beaming at him with earnest attention, from the depths of a green 
 and speckled mask, which was intended by its ordainer to represent the 
 corruption of disease, but which the comic humour of the populace had 
 transmuted into a pleasant association by calling such vizards — cardinal 
 melons. 
 
 The ballerina started from a somewhat listless attitude into one of gaiety 
 and animation when she saw how earnestly the knight surveyed her ; and 
 tripping ligthly over the circle, she paused before him, and said in a voice 
 whose music flowed to his heart in its mingled tenderness and humility, 
 *' Holy knight! this is a Christian day I — will it disdain you to dance 
 the tarantella with a poor Sicilian sinner, for the love of Saint Rosalie?" 
 
 "Thou art like to make many for thine own, fair sister," replied the 
 Hospitaller. " But I do not mask in this array, as perchance thou 
 deemest, and as too many of my brethren do : and therefore it were but 
 little seemly to behold a sinner in my weeds link in the dance with a 
 sinner in thine." 
 
 While he spoke the knight gazed with such interest and curiosity in 
 the marked visage of the ballerina that so much of her fair neck aswas 
 visible rosied all over. 
 
 "A'ay, then, I must use my spells," she replied after a moment's 
 thought, and glancing round the circle, which was now increased by 
 many personages, among whom the toad of Calumny had squatted him- 
 self tranquilly in the foremost row to list^'n, and beings so opposite as a 
 friar— who had paused on the skirts of the throng— and the devil himself, 
 with his hoofs, tail, and horns, who was leaning elegantly on his pitchfork 
 — were now assembled. ''My spells I — to raise the dead, since love and 
 pleasure are dead in thy dedicated soul I— mother, my mandolin." 
 
 The populace listened to this dialogue with the" interest which the 
 southern imagination takes in all displays of the sensual talents; and 
 ■when the improvisatrice, for such she seemed to be from the impromptu 
 subject of her lay, threw her tambour over her fine shoulders by its silver 
 chain, and took the instrument which one of her attendants brought, the 
 whole multitude stood hushed as lovers listening to a nightingale. The 
 smile on her lips shone even through the mask, and indeed'there was 
 something of magic fascination in the effect which the tenderness and 
 sweetness of her tones produced as she said, tuning her mandolin, "But 
 first you must answer me a question fairly — or I shall not know which 
 of my spells to use, for, with some, memory hath the only sorceries — 
 with others, hope I " And she began to sing in a voice of indescribable 
 harmony the following verses — which the reader must not forget were 
 sung in Italy — in the carnival— and at the close of the fifteenth century. 
 
 I. 
 
 " Know'st thou the pain — that is sweeter than pleasure? 
 The joy brightly sad as the sun's crimson parting? 
 
 That comes like the lightning — 
 
 All withering, or brighl'ning: 
 And with serpents of lire flow the veins in its darting. 
 And the grief and the rapture are both without measure! 
 
 II. 
 
 " Know'sit thou the moment— vhen Love first Love meeting 
 Eyes mingle id music— glauee lightens in glance? 
 
192 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 When hearts vainly panting 
 
 Quaff all that was warning, 
 And the dreams of desire link in ccslasied dance, 
 And Hope seeins eternal— Aias! when most fleeting?" 
 
 The songstress paused, seeniingly to await a reply to her question, 
 amidst murniiirs oF delight; and there was as light tremulous heaving in 
 her bosom, as if she really expected it with anxiety. The first sounds of 
 her voice fixed the attention of Alfonso, and not alone for its exquisite 
 purity and sweetness, which arose like the musical murmur of a fountain, 
 descending in showers of silver warblings-, for it seemed to him that, if he 
 could ever have heard Lucrezia sing, the passionate playfulness of her 
 spirit might have vented itself in similar strains. But his reply partook of 
 the asperity which every recollection of her now kindled. " Dost ima- 
 gine, pretty vagabond, such gossamer subtleties were like to find anchorage 
 in a large, rude, and restless breast like this, which — thou hearest — I 
 strike, and it answers only with a jangle of steel?" 
 
 "Nay, then it is worse with thee; — where the pure spirit comes not, 
 the dark one will I" continued the ballerina, continuing her song in a voice 
 of still more voluptuously penetrating and luxurious sweetness : — 
 
 " Know St thou the madness?— the stortr. of emotion, 
 When lips join their roses all fraught with the sun ? 
 
 When Love in Love fuses 
 
 His essence, and loses. 
 All passion— all feeling- all memory in one! — 
 And the calm that fills heaven— repose's rapt ocean ? " 
 
 The melting softness of the ballerina's voice; the grace of her form; 
 the humility of her attitude of entreaty ; the subduing languor of the glow- 
 ing twilight; his recent tumult of passions; a strange suspicion which 
 entered his mind — iriusl all be pleaded in excuse for the religious knight, 
 when we confess that while the last dulcet notes of the stanza admirably 
 imitated in their dying harmony the delicious serenity of the thought — he 
 started up, and attempted to clasp her in his arms, exclaiming, " Nay, 
 but by even as sweet a place, thou shall teach me thy sweetest science, or 
 ere we part!" 
 
 "Thou hast forgotten, knight!— thou wearest the livery of holy St. 
 John, as you admonished me but now!" said the ballerina, laughing with 
 musical softness, but eluding the seizure with a grace and dexterity which 
 raised an universal acclaim of delight and applause in the spectators. 
 Pausing on perceiving that the discomfited knight had checked himself, 
 and stood looking at her half in vexation and half in admiration and sur- 
 prise, she continued laughingly, " Oh, I could teach thee a much sweeter 
 lesson — but you men will never learn it, long as women have been trying 
 to teach it on earth, poor souls !— There's none of ye all can answer ' Yea' 
 to this turn in the tune!" 
 
 And then with a spiritual gaiety which yet mingled melancholy in its 
 marvellous tenderness, she continued : — 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Know'st thou the bliss,— when, like flames in the light, 
 Man's love melts in woman's, and shares its serene? 
 
 When like odours of flowers 
 
 From nielli's uewy bowers. 
 Souls mingle in souls— and our softness, your might. 
 Make the one Heaven intended,— Ah, would it had been!" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 193 
 
 " And wilt tboii teach me such a science as this! — "Wherefore wear you 
 then that mask?" returned the Hospitaller, striving to put the severity in 
 his tones which was very far from being in his heart. 
 
 " To please— monsignor the cardinal of Sienna !" replied the ballerina, 
 with a curtsey and an archness in the expression which produced a ge- 
 neral murmur of laughter, accompanied with cries of " Melons, melons, 
 who'll buy?" from the representative of his satanic majesty. Then as if 
 inspired by an influx of gaiety and derision, the enchanting ballerina laid 
 her mandolin aside, and beating her tambour to a lively air, improvisated 
 — what follows : — 
 
 " To prevent a schism,— 
 
 Through in this carnival, 
 By order of the cardinal 
 Reverendissime, 
 
 We wear masks as frightful as any in a dream, 
 Beneath it— I'll not say- 
 But if you ran away, 
 
 At the sight of a rose undoubtedly you scream! 
 So in the world's at large — 
 Stranger, listen, now Icharge!— 
 
 I am not— I swear it— I am not what I seem ! " 
 
 These last words were pronounced with a fervour and even passion 
 which more than overexcited the curiosity of Alfonso 
 
 " 1 do believe it! — art must have perfected even so special a marvel of 
 nature's handiwork!— and thou speakest the golden language of courts I" 
 exclaimed he, gazing at her in incredulous amazement. 
 
 " The thing goes well," said he of the club-feet at this point, " What 
 are those cursed Agonizants beginning their psalms for now?" 
 
 " It is yonder croaking Dominican !" said the toad of Calumny. " But 
 he is silent again ; he began with a Laudamus that stuck in his throat." 
 
 " I'll pitch him a stave to the tune !" returned the Evil One, blithely. 
 
 " For all men's miseries, but chiefly to see 'em 
 So thankful for wretchedness- Laudamus Deum! " 
 
 A distant chorus of bacchantes replied in dog Latin, 
 
 "Deus noster est ille quo primus 
 Vinum bibiinus 
 Bacchus, lo!" 
 
 "Peace, peace, they are at it again— and the parley is to my taste!" 
 shouted the fiend. 
 
 " I doubt if Lucrezia herself sings better when she charms the rage out 
 of Father Jupiter," exclaimed the toad. 
 
 "Well!— what wouldst thou— with me?" said Alfonso, in a staggered 
 and yet fascinated tone. The ballerina replied, as her wont was, in verse. 
 
 " I would twine my thoughts in garlands— but the roses would betray, 
 With their blushes— wishes which-what is it I would say?— 
 
 By your smiles, ah, \e guess !— then the lily, if I chose .'— 
 Tiie lily's pale with passion— tells truth like any rose !— 
 
 The yellow jacinth would declaie some jealousy within ! — 
 How shall 1 tell him— Ihal 1 love :— without a deadly sin : " 
 
 "It is a song which thou hast ready for all accosters.— How canst 
 thou pretend to love me?" returned the "Hospitaller in a tone which be- 
 trayed in its wavering the tumult within. "But wherefore dost thou 
 shrink away thus?" 
 
 " Nay, if thou wilt not dance with me, I must look for another partner, 
 for my mother grows impatient, as yon may see by the twirling of her 
 
 13 
 
194 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 sirdle," returned the ballerina pettishly. "I never cared who 'twas be- 
 fore—and now, merely because 1 like you, you hate me I" 
 
 " TRou knowest it is the bite of a poisonous spider which the tarantella 
 dances away ;— kiss me, then, thou lovely serpent, and perchance 1 shall 
 go mad tool" returned the fascinated Hospitaller. 
 
 "Nay, 'tis not a Sicilian custom for the women to give— but for the 
 men to take!" said ihe dancing-girl, with a pretty disdain glowing over so 
 much of her complexion as was visible. 
 
 '' Neither, by my faith, shall it be mine I" exclaimed the vanquished 
 Knigt of St. John, darting forward to grasp his prey, as he imagined; but 
 auam eluding him, she fled before him in a maze of the most graceful 
 nfovemenls, which mingled at once allun.'menl and laughing refusal. Tlie 
 knight pursuing with a resolution to capiureher, and involunlarily foUow- 
 inglier rapid evolutions in the attempt, quite naturally and unconsciously 
 performed his part in the dance— which like most southern dances ex- 
 pressed the amorous coquetry of two lovers, who alternalely woo and dis- 
 dain with the mute language of gesture and voiuptuous motion. And, to 
 complete her mockery of his eflbrts, the ballerina continued to sing even 
 amidst all the velocity and vagaries of her dance. 
 
 " Yes! till Time snatches Youih's wine-cup away, 
 Bieaihless. we 11 qualT every drauj;hl of delight ! 
 Wieaihinj; the hours 
 Like a jiariand of flowers. 
 Only of those that are fragrant and bright. 
 And fresh with the gold-dews of Love or of May > " 
 
 Adding with a continual variety of laughing music, 
 
 «' But kisses are showers 
 That should fall but by night: " 
 
 The merriment of the spectators at his continual failures in entrapping 
 the nin)ble ballerina, who c.lebraled her escapes wilh triumphant changes 
 in the lively air on the tambour to which she accompanied her evolutions, 
 seemed to "bring the Hospiialler to a sense of the ridicule in his position. 
 But in reality it only inspired him with an artful ruse. He feigned now to 
 perform his part in'the dance of love in a legitimate fashion : he retreated, 
 and the nymph — somewhat warily at first— came treading the air with 
 wooing gestures, expressive of despair, or hope, or tender entreaty. 
 After Ions coyness on the lover's part, the damsel in her turn grows 
 scornful and indignant, and retires. The lover then repents, and kneels 
 for forgiveness, when hke a butterfly returning in fluttering circles to a 
 flower from which it has been frighted, th.' damsel gradually ap- 
 proaches him. 
 
 Brilliantly aud gracefully as light playing on circles in the water, and 
 with as rapidly sparkling steps, did the 'young dancing-girl return. The 
 genius of pleasure animated her every movement, and breathed such 
 essences of delight around her that the sunset air seemed like a rosy 
 emanation from her beauty filling all heaven and earth with fragrance 
 and colour. 
 
 The wily Hospitaller concealed the throbbing of his heart, and aftected 
 to kneel, and go through his loving pantomime with little more than the 
 customary gestures expressive of passion and submission. The disdainful 
 circles narrowed, and the beautiful form swam nearer and nearer in his 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 195 
 
 intoxicated gaze — and still he controlled his impatience. The populace 
 looked on with increased delight, struck with the incongruous attitude of 
 the religious knight, and testified their enthusiasm with an uproar of 
 joyful shouts and exclamaliuns. Showers of silver, and even gold, which 
 fell in the circle, showed that the jubilants had not exhausted their re- 
 sources in pious contributions, and were greedily collected by the old 
 woman and her comrades; while several masked magniticoes who joined 
 the crowd whispered the hag, and gave her rings and other rich pledges, 
 all which she accepted, and seemed to repay the donors in a less substan- 
 tial coin of promises. 
 
 But the Hospitaller's moment had now arrived, when the relenting fair 
 one at length concluded her mazy circles by forming one with her arms 
 Qver his head, in token of forgiveness. But instead of rising and con- 
 cluding the dance with the usual reverse of matters, the knight threw his 
 arm dexterously round her waist, and fairly captured the brilliant fu- 
 gitive. 
 
 " Our dance is not on equal terms, for thou canst see in my face how 
 my wrath is but feigned, while thine is hidden!'' he said, trembling with 
 eagerness. " Let me remove thy mask, and behold if there be two faces 
 on earth to match that matchless form I — Moreover, for mine order's sake, 
 I will teach thee henceforth not to throw resistless temptations in the 
 way of holy men I" And he strained the soft furm with such violence 
 to his breast thnt he probably hurt the unfortunate balleiina against the 
 iron plates whose janglings he had boasted, for she uttered a faint cry, 
 and called out in great terror, "Mama Faustina, rescuel — carnival, car- 
 nival I" And before the words were well uttered, the old woman with 
 her two Calabrians, the latter with daL'gers drawn, rushed towards them. 
 The mob also raised the shout of " Carnival, carnival 1"' and seemed to 
 project a forcible rescue. The uproar changed the nature of the balle- 
 rina's alarm. 
 
 " In our Holy Mother's name, forbear I" she exclaimed, waving to 
 the Calabrians and the mob to keep otf, and turning to her capturer she 
 murmured in a tone of almost abject entreaty, "'Belease me, noble 
 knight I — indeed I am not what I seem — and to be recognized would be 
 my ruin I — Nay, I will confess all I— I am a waiting damsel of my Lady 
 Donna Lucrezia — and have but put this jest upon you to know whether 
 you hated all womankind, or only so bad a one !" 
 
 " Thou hast stolen her rosy fragrance too !" muttered the amazed Hos- 
 pitaller. " But that it is impossible I — or is she indeed a sorceress ! — 
 Whatever chance 1 will satisfy this doubt I" 
 
 "Mercy, dearest knight I — thou knowest 'tis a grievous flagellation to 
 be seen without my cardinal melon I" murmured the ballerina, with a 
 return of the willing witchery to her tones, and attempting, but in vain, 
 to glide from his arms. 
 
 ''Ob, if thou art not she — I will prove by loving thee more than all 
 womankind that I bate not all I" exclaimed the bewildered Hospitaller. 
 " And thou art not — it cannot be — yonder the fiendish enchantress 
 comes I'' and half releasing her. he gazed like one in a distempered 
 dream towards the Corso, along which, attended by a concourse of admir- 
 ing gazers, the procession of Fala Morgana was passing. 
 
 " Cerles, lam not yonder sumptuous lady — my mistress I' returned 
 the prisoner, tremulously, but with exceeding eagerness. 
 
 " Release the harlot !— ^how darest thou— thou, a soldier of the church ! 
 
196 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 — to break the commands of the Apostolic Lieutenant I" exclaimed a 
 husky voice, while a strong hand grasped the shoulder of the knight, 
 who turned and beheld the Dominican, Fra Bruno, whose countenance 
 flamed with fanatic wrath. 
 
 " Ay, and it hath come to my turn to rescue damsels, and moreover to 
 serve the church I'' added another speaker, in fierce tones, whom Alfonso 
 recognized instantly to be Oliverotto da Fermo, although he was disguised 
 in an extraordinary paraphernalia of gilt scales, contrived to make him 
 resemble a. huge fish moving about on its tail. But luckily his only- 
 weapon appeared to be an enormous hook, baited with a doll, on which 
 was inscribed, with dullard wit, " To catch Bears." This, however, he 
 held high and menacingly in the air. 
 
 " Friar, look to your ally, if such he be — lest I do what I should have 
 done the other night, and make a very harmless rogue of him!" said 
 Alfonso, not abandoning his clutch of the ballerina with one hand, though 
 he grasped his sword with the other. 
 
 " Peace, Oliverotto ! — is it indeed the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre?" 
 returned the monk, drawing his ally forcibly back. " Let the woman go, 
 good soni — you know the cardinal's decree, — and it disgraces you !" 
 
 " I did but rebuke her for the scandal she would have brought on my 
 livery.' — It is fit to punish her by removing her mask," said the knight, 
 somewhat confusedly. 
 
 " x\ay, father, by the bruises which still ache me all over, I will return 
 my wrong, and rescue the wenchi" said Oliverotto, again raising his 
 massive hook. The monk and some bystanders interposed, partly with 
 W'ords, and partly by forcing themselves between. 
 
 " Now, then, 1 am like to have good sport — a monk, a woman, and a 
 soldier I — I require no more to set the world in a blaze," said the club- 
 footed mask, grasping his pitchfork as if prepared to take a share in the 
 riot. 
 
 "Knight I — I implore Ihee! — Release me, and I swear thou shalt 
 behold my face without any mask, even of glass I" whispered the balle- 
 rina, with passionate entreaty, amidst the noisy tumult of expostu- 
 lations and rage. " I would not be known to yonder monk for all the 
 world I" 
 
 " Ay I — but by what oath wilt thou swear — which even Lucrezia Borgia 
 would not dare to break," returned the knight. 
 
 " By the desire I have to see thee again I" replied the ballerina, pour- 
 ing the blue lightning of her eyes from her mask with a mixture of terror 
 and laughing indignation into those of the obdurate Hospitaller. 
 
 "The when and the where?" he replied, hurriedly, and completely 
 bewildered with the expression of those brilliant eyes, which for the first 
 time throughout the scene had fully encountered his own. 
 
 " Be at the gate of San Sebastian when the moon is three hours older 
 — Faustina shall guide you thence to my abode — in the grotto of Egerial" 
 returned the ballerina, falteringly. 
 
 " The grotto of Egerial— tlie gardens of Lucrezia Borgia!" exclaimed 
 the knight. 
 
 "Ay, but each of her favourites has a key — and 1 am one; you need 
 not fear to meet my devilish mistress there to-night!" exclaimed the 
 ballerina. " She is v.ickedly busy elsewhere : you can believe that?" 
 
 But. at (his moment, the cry among the people warned Alfonso that 
 the Lord of Fermo's indignation had at length mastered every effort to 
 
C.ilSAR BORGIA. 197 
 
 restrain him ; and whirling round to defend himself, he was thus com- 
 pelled tu release the gleemaiden, or whatever she might be calied. But 
 instead of making the use whieh might be expected of her liberty, she 
 shrieked wildly to the monk, yet in a voice whieh struck, the Hospitaller 
 as simulated, to part the fray in the name of all the saints, and the obli- 
 gations of the Jubilee. 
 
 "Villain of Fermo ! — get thee arms, and I will satiate justice upon 
 thee," said the Hospitaller, half unsheathing his sword. 
 
 "Beware, beware I — yonder comes Donna Lucrezia, with all her 
 attendance," continued the ballerina, m a strangely altered voice. 
 Christ's peace, Christ's peace I all of ye keep it, in the name of our Lord, 
 the Pope, and the Church." 
 
 "Yes, it is Donna Lucrezia I — 'tis but a witness the more of the chastise- 
 ment thou shouldst receive, assassin I" shouted Alfonso, still unwilling 
 to draw his sword against the hook of the ruffianly baron. 
 
 " Lucrezia I— yonder?" repeated the monk, gazing earnestly in the di- 
 rection indicated, and as the procession was now approaching, the 
 elephant was visible, with the fairy enthroned in her castle on it. And, 
 moreover, the glistering figure of Sir Regmald was seated beside her, as 
 if in triumph ; while the magnificent pageant of the Orsini surrounded it, 
 and peals of music shook the air. Fra Bruno stepped forward, and in 
 that brief pause the light-stepped ballerina had disappeared. 
 
 Oliveroito also looked somiewhatalarmedly at the approaching spectacle. 
 " Since thou knowest me, I care not to find myself among a crowd of 
 Borgians, wiih a pretext for a seizure," he said to the Hospitaller. " But, 
 trust me, we will meet some day where there shall be no interruption. 
 Meanwhile 1 have given thee an olive for a fig— the girl is gone — and so, 
 for the nonce, farevell." 
 
 The Lord of Fermo then turned on his heels— for heels he had below 
 his fan-like tail ; and Alfonso, n)uch less anxious to pursue his quarrel 
 than to ascertain who the fascinating ballerina was, turned eagerly to look 
 alter her. But she was gone — she and her attendants— and in the agi- 
 tation of the tumult no one had noticed whither. Fra Bruno hims'elf 
 deigned to make inquiries on this subject, and finding them in vain, 
 hurriedly moved off towards the pomp of Queen Morgan le Fay. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 " In vallem Egeriae descendimus et speluncas 
 Dissimiles veris." Jcvenal. 
 
 We have descended into the valley of Egeria, 
 And her rocks unlike the real ones. 
 
 " 'Tis a most lovely light-of-love you have lost, signor, by this clinking 
 of metal, — yet it is not often that Mars frightens away Venus," said he 
 of the cloven hoofs, accosting the Hospitaller as he was looking in vain 
 for bis fugitive partner. 
 
 " The devil can speak truth, they say; but I believed it not until now," 
 replied the knight. " If I mistake not, I speak to Messer Niccolo of 
 Florence ?" 
 
198 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Even to no better a man — when my mask is off," replied the am- 
 bassador, suiting the action to the word. 
 
 " Have you seen this singing-wench before? — Know you aught of her?" 
 said the knight with much anxiety. 
 
 '' You should have asked me these questions ere I drew off my mask," 
 replied Messer Niccolo, smiling. "• But although 'lis certain it swims in 
 my memory that I have seen her elsewhere, I trust the fiend I represent 
 has forgotten as much as 1 have — where." 
 
 " 'Tis strange I" mused Alfonso. " The same thought has occurred to 
 me.— Marked you, Messer, the magnificent show of Donna Lucrezia to- • 
 day? — As the enchantress Morgana? — and in very truth I deem she is a 
 sorceress, and can be in two places at once!" 
 
 "The enchantress ^lorgana!— the personage with whom our fellow- 
 traveller, Sir Reginald — by our lady ! he is like to prove the Adonis then 
 of our modern Venus I" exclaimed Machiavelli. " I saw^ him seated beside 
 her in her castle, and there was a sweet love-toying going on as ever I 
 noted in two billing doves ! — The luck of these boys is marvellous." 
 
 " But yet 1 think— I doubt— I am sure it could not be Donna Lucrezia!" 
 said Alfonso, hurriedly. 
 
 " I have but your authority for supposing so, signer," replied Machia- 
 velli. smiling. "'' Yet 'tis no harm to say that if she it was, I envy the 
 English barbarian his place more than the cherubim theirs!" 
 
 " I had rather chauL'e it wilh one of your courtiers b 'low, master devil!" 
 said the toad, who had squalled himself familiarly near the interlocutors. 
 " It were ihe cooler place." 
 
 "Ha, Calumny ! — tell us the worst thou canst of her; we are in a 
 mood to believe all now," said Alfonso, affecting indifference and hilarity. 
 " The worst 1 know of her is very good," replied the load, grinning. 
 " Her virtues are carried to excess — that is all. She is a daughter only 
 too dutiful— a sister only too affectionate— a Christianella only too universal 
 in her love!" 
 
 '' Have a care thou dost not some day see thy tongue in a dish before 
 thee I ' said Messer Xiccolo. 
 
 " I should marvel if I saw my eyes out — that is all, in Rome,'' replied 
 the toad. "But I will hence where my conversation is more like to be 
 appreciated, for yonder knight is as fast asleep with his eyes open as ever 
 1 was with mine shut, though 1 slept very soundly last night in the portico 
 of the Orsini pnlace — for since his holiness frowned the other day, the 
 resort has not been great thither." 
 
 Alfonso was indeed absorbed in a reverie which all the cynical wit of 
 Machiavelli, though at present much to his humour, could not dissipate. 
 He began to imagine himself under the influence of some species of 
 nympholepsy, for in spile of his conviction that Lucrezia was ihe en- 
 chantress of the fairy pageant, in spite of the marvellous improbability 
 that so proud and loftv a lady would mingle in the wild revelry in so 
 lowly a disguise— it haunted him that the Sicilian ballerina was Lucrezia 
 herself! 
 
 Notwithstanding the improbability, not to say impossibility, of this 
 supposition, at times he cherished it, when he dwelt on Machiavelli's 
 allusion to Sir Reginald's treatment by the fairy. Morgana ; then again it 
 troubled him inconceivably to think that Lucrezia and the ballerina were 
 not one and the samel But when the Florentine had left him, to share 
 in the diversions which were to conclude the day's amusements, and he 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 199 
 
 had leisure to recall the indescribable fascinations to which he had been 
 subjected, his fancy warmed so glowin^dy in the recollection, that— he 
 came to the conclusion that his only motive in resolving most religiously 
 to keep his appointment was to be well assured the ballerina was not 
 Lucrezia I 
 
 In this mood it may be imagined with what impatience he watched the 
 gradual rising of the moon, which showed herself not in the least inclined 
 to hurry on his account. Three hours after, according to the ballerina's 
 compact, he was to present himself at the gate of San Sebastian, to await 
 her messenger. But it cannot be denied that during that long lapse — 
 immeasurable it seemed to the Hospitaller — when his mind reverted lo 
 the supposition of her identity with Lucrezia, some chilling doubts came 
 over the sultry reverie. If the lady of the Borgias was indeed the dreadful 
 being she was represented — animated by passions so terrific— might she 
 not meditate vengpance for the affronts he had put upon her? And, 
 moreover, what if the Dominican had communicated the purpose of his 
 alleged embassy from Ferrara, — was not that alone sufBcient to kindle her 
 hauglity blood into flame ; or might he not have communicated to others, 
 still more merciless, to whom detection and exposure were still more 
 formidable? And when he remembered the spot assigned for the inter- 
 view — gardens with which Lucrezia had embellished the beautiful valley 
 consecrated by the h'gend of the Roman lawgiver and his nymjjh— the 
 tales of the Nea|)olitan poets occurred to him, whose wanion imaginations 
 revelled indesciiptions of the secret haunts of pleasure which they ascribed 
 to Lucrezia, like those of the enchantresses of old. Not satisfied with 
 imputing to her every lascivious excess, in these bowers, they pretended 
 that the only distinction between her and the ancient Circe was, that the 
 latter contented herself with transforming the lovers of whom she was 
 weary into beasts and reptiles, while the former secured the silence of 
 hers in a much more efficacious manner. 
 
 But such was the ardour of discovery in the knight's breast, that no con- 
 sideration of danger had influence with him ; and nearly an hour before 
 the appointed one his shadow walked darkly beside him over the desert 
 Aventine. The sight of the ruins in which Fra Bruno dwelt rekindled 
 some of his wildest fancies, and he paused with a degree of irresolution ; 
 but a sweet breath of roses blown to his lips by a chance breeze so forcibly 
 recalled one of the most insidious charms of the ballerina, that he hastened 
 on, wondering at his own hesitation. The way was nearly solitary until 
 he passed the magnificent temple of St. John Laieran, which was crowded 
 with devotees: and the Ho.-pilaller felt a vague feeling of remorse and 
 apprehension steal over his heart as he glidetl past the shrines of the saint, 
 the garb of whose martial professors he had assumed, bound on such an 
 errand, and heard the lugubrious chaunt of the funeral mass which, even 
 on this day of her triumph, the church dedicated to her fifteen hundred 
 years of departed faithful. 
 
 Passing through the gate of San Sebastian, the open Campagna was 
 before him — a sea of long, flowery grass broken only by remote arches of 
 ruined atjueducts, or a few solitary tombs, and bounded by wave-like 
 mountains whose tops shone silvery in the moonlight. The only living 
 objects visible were a few sheep or goats ^ the only sounds audible were 
 distant warblings of shepherds' pipes, who diverted themselves by night 
 after the traditional manner of their Arcadian predecessors. The sky was 
 still tinged with glowing tints towards the west, and the solemn heads of 
 
200 C^.SAR BORGIA. 
 
 one or two solitary pines had not quite abandoned the reflection. The 
 contrast of the purity and serenity of nature to his turbulent passions 
 somewhat restored the Hospitaller's reason. He strove to disgust himself 
 by recalling the lascivious pictures which the Neapolitan satires presented 
 of Lucreziaand her court; and almost imagined that he had resolved to 
 depart, without waiting to see the result of the adventure, when he beheld 
 the old woman approaching whom the ballerina called Faustina, and in a 
 contrary direction from the city. Now was the moment to put his deter- 
 mination in practice — instead of which he hurried forward to meet her. 
 
 " 0, my son, is it thou ! well, God be praised ! you are very early ; but 
 they do say lovers' feet are not asses', and 'lis all the belter, for disappoint- 
 ment comes soon enough, and 1 bring it," said the old woman much 
 agitated, and seemingly out of breath. 
 
 Alfonso's virtuous resplutions vented themselves only in an echo full of 
 the meaning of the word. " Disappointment! what mean you, mother? 
 It is impossible— here is gold. She promised, she swore to let me behold 
 her face without a mask— which is all that 1 ask ! A few moments will 
 suffice, and in your presence." 
 
 " Fie upon thee, son !— gold !— for what dost thou take me ? Nay, if I 
 take them, it must be to ofler to the Jubilee, for indeed I have only be- 
 stowed two candles for the good of my soul," said the beldame, with in- 
 dignation, but pocketing the coins. " Yet understand me, my son; 1 tell 
 you, it is impossible— unless we put all our heads in a lion's mouth. 
 Thou wilt believe me when I tell thee, my poor son, that my lord the Duke 
 of Romagna has taken a caprice for our ballerina, and sent her a lapful of 
 ducats, and word that it is his pleasure to hear her sing some of her pretty 
 songs to-night!" 
 
 Alfonso was instantly struck with the incongruity of this statement with 
 that which the ballerina had communicated to him of her real rank ; and 
 his second thought was one that thrilled through his blood like the scor- 
 pion's bite. The old woman probably mistook the nature of his agitation, 
 imputing it to the terror which so formidable a rival was likely to pro- 
 duce. 
 
 " And where doth she attend him— in his palace ?" said the Hospitaller, 
 taking refuge in the thought that it was not unusual in great households, 
 at festivals, to invite such persons as the ballerina to entertain the guests 
 with their talents. " You came in the direction, and I heard that— she 
 promised me an interview in the gardens of Lucrezia Borgia!" 
 
 " Lucrczia Borgia! marry, where learned you that familiarity?" said 
 Faustina, somewhat disconcertedly staring at the knight. " It is the most 
 illustrious Lady Donna Lucrezia who gives the feast, at which our ballerina 
 is to sing by the duke's command ; but the feast is not to be till the night 
 is older— and meanwhile I go to inform his highness that he is obeyed, 
 for my daughter is there." 
 
 " Why there are yet a few precious minutes ; hobble a little on thy way, 
 and I shall have become air ere ye return !" said Alfonso, with infinite 
 eagerness, and seconding his entreaties with the more eloquent per- 
 suasions of gold. 
 
 " In very sooth thou deservest not to be so wretched, my beloved son, 
 whom I cherish like my first-born, or the sweet lady 1 reared with my own 
 milk, wicked old wretch that I am!" said Faustina, unguardedly, and with 
 something of remorse in her tones. '' An if she dared, she would have 
 been as glad to see you as your mother from a battle — and ten times 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 201 
 
 gladder. Bui thou knowest — the Duke of Romagna is no fool's bladder, 
 that hits and gives no headaches." 
 
 " I know (he peril I run ; and therefore 'tis certain I shall not delay to 
 fall into it," returned the Hospitaller. 
 
 " Oh, but lovers never hear vespers rung. Moreover, she would be 
 mad if she thought I had betrayed her secret— for the poor soul loves you 
 so, she would fain have you believe — that she loves people for nothing," 
 continued the disgusting" old wretch, and yet there was something in the 
 thought which touched Alfonso, for he felt certain it could not have 
 originated in the mind of the beldame. 
 
 " I promise you by — nothing holy indeed — but may all the sins that 
 have brought men to this Jubilee be imputed to me, if I betray thee," 
 returned the knight. " 1 will feign some excuse — or rather, in very 
 truth, I go only to put a scorn upon her for her vileness in attempting to 
 corrupt one of my order." 
 
 Faustina glanced at him with a look which only a Roman hag can give, 
 her black eyes flaming like gassy coals; and then she burst into an im- 
 moderate fit of laughter, which subsided only in an as immoderate fit 
 of coughing. 
 
 " Bones of holy January I to hear him talk ! " she exclaimed. " But in 
 good faith, I was thinking thou wert little less than mad to coine on a love 
 adventure armed cap-a-pie! Yes, my sweet child, 1 will trust thee — 
 Dotliing could have fallen better. Go on thy way ; if any note thee, they 
 will lake thee for an officer of the duke. Here is a pass-key; thou hast 
 but to follow the windings of the garden to a grotto where she is — or 
 will come very shortly, for indeed 1 have lighted on you sooner than I 
 expected." 
 
 "Go on thy way, then, too, and I shall know that I have no time to 
 lose," replied' the Hospitaller, hastening from the society of the ballerina's 
 respectable parent. "When we meet again I will double what I have 
 given thee." 
 
 " 1 am old, sir knight, but note that I go at a good step I" screamed 
 the beldame, setting off, indeed, at a pace into which she could, perhaps, 
 scarcely have been whipped on a better errand. 
 
 Thus, then, were all his riddles simplified to the fortunate envoy — he 
 had but to ascertain without a doubt that the ballerina was LucreziaBorgia, 
 which, he now discovered, he had all along believed. 
 
 The way was not unknown to him_, and taking a path which branched 
 off to the left, he arrived among some ruins, apparently of a temple, which 
 crowned a sleep unnoticed in the general wave of llie Campagna towards 
 Naples. Below lay a wooded valley, into which he began to descend, 
 after passing through a gate in a hedge of aloes, matted together with 
 every species of odorous climbing plant. 
 
 The thoughts which Alfonso ruminated were certainly not inspired by 
 the genius of the place. The enervating perfume of flowers saluted him 
 on every side, for the underwood of the bank which he descended by an 
 ingenious labyrinth of windings to the valley beneath was formed of 
 fragrant shrubs, and the most richly coloured and scented productions of 
 the profuse Flora of Italy. The myrtle, laden with thoughts of love, 
 glittered tearfully in the 'moonlight;' lavender breathed its fine essences 
 with the benign perfume of the bay ; roses innumerable filled the air with 
 their heavenly breath, and their dewy crimson reminded Alfonso — and 
 yet with a shudder — of Lucrezia's perfect mouth. The wood itself was 
 
202 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 chiefly of oranges, cedar, and wild fig-trees, all in full blossom, and 
 exhaling the most intoxicating odours, intermingled with a few stately 
 oaks, the graceful foliage of the willow and laburnum, or slender boles of 
 the ash and sycamore, gleaming high in the silvery air. 
 
 From the depth of the valley came the musical murmur of a stream, 
 mingled with the songs of innumerable nightingales which seemed to 
 have colonized so congenial a residence. And if his ear did not mock 
 him, the knight distinguished faint murmurs of flutes and other svlvaa 
 music, which came and died away on the evanescent breezes. Withal 
 there was an air of wildness, as if nature only had abandoned herself to 
 this prolusion of loveliness, and no trace of art was obvious to break the 
 spell with which it delighted the senses. Even the statues of rural divi- 
 nities which occasionally appeared, startled rather by a vague impression 
 of existence and reality, than as wonders of artificial creation. 
 
 Descending through this bosquet of Eden, Alfonso came to a dell at its 
 base on a bank of the stream whose verdure was — to use a worn-out 
 phrase, but here literally true — enamelled with flowers. The moon shone 
 so brightly that the superb tints of those myriad blooms were softened, 
 but not lost in the shade; even the dark violets displayed their purple, 
 edged with golden light. The stream flowed through the middle of the 
 valley in a gentle, copious, and perfectly translucpnt wave, bordered on 
 the other side by a similar meadow, and another climbing v/ood. 
 
 As yet the Hospitaller had not encountered a single living thing: but so 
 absorbed was he in his dark thoughts that he never once noticed the 
 circumstance until he reached the edge of the stream, and paused in doubt 
 which way to turn. But remembering that its spring flowed from the 
 grotto of Egeria, he turned his steps against the stream, and proceeded, 
 sometimes kicking away in impatience the broad aquatic flowers which 
 willowed from their waters over the edge. A little higher the waters formed 
 a cascade, over which the statues of Flora and Pomona bent towards one 
 another, entwining flowers and fruit, as if gracefully exchanging |)resents, 
 into an arch. Beyond the cascade the meadow opened in a circular form, 
 and immediately in front arose a lofty bank in which appeared the mossy 
 entrance to the grotto of Egeria, whence flowed the perennial fountain by 
 whose waters, three thousand years agone, the Roman lawgiver had caught 
 inspiration from the lips of love. 
 
 Taste was yet a word unapplied in its modern sense, but the poetical 
 imagination of the fair restorer of this solitude was one of those from which 
 its rules might have been deduced. Art only imitated the affluent caprices 
 of nature in the adornment of this charmed retreat. The rocks overhead 
 preserved their native moss; the wild vine clambered with the wild rose 
 and still wilder fig-tree, ostentatiously spreading its large flame-coloured 
 blossoms among their crags; drops dribbled through the interstices, and 
 streamed down the long green hair of the creeping plants which hung 
 from their fissures. Even the profusion of sweet-scented flowers seemed 
 only to prove that nature herself had taken an exceeding delight in the 
 place, and had decked it with her most lavish magnificence for her own 
 retreat from the glowing suns of her beloved Italy. 
 
 The Knight of St. John paused at the entrance of the grotto, though the 
 archways of honeysuckle hanging over it, stirred by the breeze, shook the 
 sugared dew from their sea-shell coloured bells in his face, as ifto refresh 
 and invite him in. It was not any wavering of purpose — he had deter- 
 mined, at whatever risk, to learn who the ballerina was — but he was struck 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 20S 
 
 with amazement at the silence and mat-ic solitude which seemed to reign 
 in the supremely beautiful scene before him, where he had expected to find 
 Lucrezia and the ministers of her direful pleasures. 
 
 The traveller who at this dav visits the valley of Egeria will be reversely 
 disappointed to the great Roman satirist who went away execrating all 
 that art had done in the embellishment of the poetical site : he will miss 
 the natural charms with which the imagination of Lucrezia had wrought 
 out the sweet fable of the antique world. Time and barbarous hands have 
 been at work, defacino, and scarcelv so much of Lucrezia s retreat 
 remains as the knight beheld forming a grotto over the fountain at the 
 opposite extremity before him. The rest was an irregular dome, com- 
 posed of slender twigs matted with vines, honeysuckles, aud other twining 
 plants, supported as on pillars of verdure by the trunks of the trees up 
 which they climbed, and walled with moss and espaliers ot flowers, some- 
 times admitting some uncertain flickers from without, but m general 
 excluding all exterior light. Yet this was rendered unnecessary by the 
 soft and milky radiance of an alabaster lamp, shaped like a moon sus- 
 pended, no one could tell bv what means, in the herbage above the lount^n, 
 while a flight of Cupids seemed endeavouring to veil Us light from 
 streaming into the waters below, and revealing the robeless loveliness ot 
 the nymph Egeria, rising from it, with her finger on her lips, and looking 
 timidiv up to ihe radiance of her botrayed mistress. Alfonso's gaze was 
 instantly fixed by the certaintv which he felt that the statue whose beauties 
 were thus lavishly displayed in the polished snow of the marble, was 
 moulded from Lucrezia's exquisite form!— an enthusiasm of devotion to 
 the art, not so surprising in that age of its revival as in our own, in which 
 it has been emulated, but which made Alfonso gnash his teeth in a frenzy 
 of admiration and despair. „ 
 
 The soft effulgence of the lamp reflected in silver from the bosom ot 
 the broad bason into which the fountain fell with a perpetual music, and 
 which overflowing its margin streamed through the centre of the cayern 
 over white sand and inlaid pebbles and spars of bright tints, enabled 
 Alfonso to perceive that he was alone ui it. Some preparations [or a feast 
 indeed were visible, such as wine piled in snow, and some light gilded 
 tables set with brilliant crystals; a lyre of antique form lay near the 
 fountain ; and Alfonso bitterly noted the many couches of flowery moss, 
 which would indeed have furnished forth fit resting places for the nymphs 
 who were supposed to haunt the cave, and yet whose softness and fragrance 
 those of Cytherea need not have disdained. 
 
 Forgetting his own earliness, Alfonso instantly concluded, that not 
 expecting the Duke of Homagna for some time, the successor of Egeria 
 had not vet arrived in her beautiful haunt. The thought then struck him 
 that he had the means of ascertaining the reality of his suspicions beyond 
 the cavil of doubt, or fearof disapointment, which was very likely to meet 
 him if he attempted anv open satisfaction of his curiosity, no\y that Lu- 
 crezia must be awakened to the danger of detection. At terrible hazard 
 indeed ! but his resolution was wrought to a kind of frenzy, and he looked 
 round for some means of concealinu^ himself so as to witness the expexted 
 interview unseen. The solitude throughout the valley had no doutjt been 
 purposelv ordained to secure it from such observation; but at jeast it 
 assured him that, even in case of detection, he should not be assailed by 
 numbers. , , 
 
 Glaring eagerly around, Alfonso perceived that the rocks of the cavern 
 
204 C.flSAR BORGIA. 
 
 were broken at various elevations by little caves and narrow terraces of 
 rock, blooming with flowers or shadowed witti drooping foliage, all in 
 profuse blossum, which were reached by playful zij^zags irregularly cut 
 as if to mock the efforts of a climber. But the diversion of mounting them 
 seemed seldom used, for the musk which covered them was untrodden, 
 and in many places briar-roses and jasmine had so twisted over, that the 
 rural nymphs themselves would have had some difficulty in mounting even 
 to rob a bee-hive, or to regain a fugitive dove. But the Hospitaller was of 
 sturdier make, and besides gave himself no time for deliberation, for 
 selecting one of the higher ledges, in which yawned a spar-glittering cave, 
 and which was thrown into shadow by a profusion of laurels in their full 
 purple flowers, at some distance from the fountain, but commanding a 
 view of the whole interior of the grotto, he tore rather than clambered his 
 way up to it. Heedless of the possibility of finding some mhospitable 
 denizens intheeave.he couched downin it on abed of iris and basil, whose 
 swcftnes vainly wooed his notice, into which he thrust his limbs, peering 
 out like a wild animal from its haunt, and with feelings little less ferocious. 
 Remembering that his white hood might attract notice, he pushed it back, 
 and drew his hair as much as possible over his face, so that there was 
 little probability that he could be discerned in the deep shadow. 
 
 Some time elapsed, during which not a sound but the throbbings of bis 
 own heart met the Hospitaller's strained sense: but anon he thought he 
 beard a distant murmur of female voices, mingled with the light, brilliant 
 laughter of the sex — that flame on the straw of their flimsy fantasies, 
 kindled and gone I But it died away almost immediately; and after a con- 
 siderable pause of expectation, Alfonso was about to indulge himself with 
 a full inhalation into his half-smothered chest, when he distinguished a soft 
 and rapid footfall approaching. The step seemed somewhat to hesitate on 
 entering the grotto, but as if re-assured by the silence, a female form 
 glided m. 
 
 The grace and lightness of her movement, and the rounded beauty of the 
 figure, convinced Alfonso that he beheld the ballerina, although she had 
 changed her costume to one purely Grecian, the loose robes of which, of 
 some shimmeringand exquisitely Qnetissueofsilk,of the mostdelicate tints 
 of the sky-colours in a sea-shell floated round her, scarcely confined by the 
 coral clasps on her fair shoulders and her cincture of glistering mother-of- 
 pearl, leaving the arms and feet bare, except where the latter were san- 
 dalled with silver, .\lfonso remarked the golden hue of her now loosened 
 hair, which was ornamented with a wreath of small crimson water flowers 
 common in Italy, twisted with the glossy green leaves and white aromatic 
 flower of the myrtle : but still, to Alfonso's surprise and vexation, she 
 wore a mask, the relentless cardinal melon I — in all other appearances as 
 lovely a naiad as ever bedecked her beauty in the mirror of her native 
 fountain. 
 
 After satisfying herself, apparently by a glance round the grotto, that 
 none but her fair self was in it, the ballerina approached the fountain, 
 sat down on its margin — sighed— took up her lyre, plaved a few waver- 
 ing, pettish notes— threw it aside — and finished as women always do on 
 like occasions, by endeavouring to ascertain how she looked in the watery 
 glass beside her. Another timid listening — and she drew off her mask'l 
 The countenance blooming with the loveliest tints of youth and beauty, 
 now heightened with the glow of agitated passions, could belong to none 
 but Lucrezia Borcial — And she it was. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 205 
 
 But for the dire circumstances of the assignation which had brought 
 this proof before him, Alfonso's delight would have been extreme to 
 discover thai she could not possibly be identical with the licentious Fairy 
 Morgana. Now it added only a new bitterness to his cup of wormwood. 
 And yet — as if the daughter of the Borgias had been aware of the fuel she 
 was iieaping on fire, and took her revenge with the melaphysi<^al cruehy 
 of her sex and nation, not satisfied with the survey of her charming face, 
 something in the posure of her robes seemed to displease her, and she 
 unclasped the neck, and leisurely arranged her white cobweb-fine linen 
 round her bosom — fair as the tints of a blush rose with its coral buds 
 peeping among the fragrant whiteness. So perfect it was that even her 
 own beauty seemed to delight herself, or the vague deliciousness of love 
 made all things lovely alluring, or its superior coolness made it pleasant, 
 — but she leaned her warm cheek on her shoulder, fondling them together 
 as Venus might her doves, — lightly kissed one wave-like heaving of its 
 moony neighbour, and then laughed, tenderly and sweetly, and yet with 
 a playful derision, as if she were mocking some unseen lover i^and was 
 she not?) as she fastened the vest. 
 
 Her attitude now — as she sat with the mask in her hand, impatiently 
 listening — was only a new variation of beauty, in the graceful contour 
 into which the gesture threw her head and pliant limbs, which Phidias 
 himself could but have imitated. Then her glance fell on the mask — 
 and she slapped its hideous visage with the disdain of beauty, then seemed 
 to be striving to make it prettier by rubbing and smoothening some of 
 its asperities — then she dipped her hand in the fountain and wrote in its 
 waters a nauje — Alfonso could not discern what, but doubted not that 
 it was Csesar. — then in a renewed fit of impatience and playfulness she 
 heaped abundant showers on the statue of herself— so unclad in the 
 fountain, as if Love had taught her his divinest n)ystery of modesty. She 
 listened again, and Alfonso thought he could discern the beatings of her 
 heart thro^jgh her aerial robe; — a bird chirruped, and she started up, 
 her face flushing a bright crimson — silence followed — and she turned 
 with a species of scorn and haughtiness from the undarkened threshold. 
 Another pause, and, as if overcome by impatience, she moved rapidly 
 from the fountain to the entrance of tiie grotto, and looked forth. To 
 Alfonso's deep satisfaction she returned disappointedly, sat down on one 
 of tiie mossy couches, and played for a moment with her thick waving 
 ringlets;— then she covered her eyes with her hand, and then — like a 
 pettish thing as she was. and unaccustomed to the least thwarting — a 
 shower of tears bedewed her cheek — were dried indignantly awav, — and 
 she sunk languidly down on the verdant couch, as if quite vanquished by 
 the weariness of expectation. There was some little rest thus, joining 
 her soft hands and circling her arms over her head; but the inquietude 
 of passion returned; she kissed the misnamed heart's-ease and migno- 
 nette of her pillow with vague rapture — started up, gathered a nosegay of 
 the poor flowers, covered them with kisses, and pressed them with 
 devouring tenderness to her lips and bosom, — then threw them disdainfully 
 awoy. Another April shower— another restless rest-^and then with a 
 tumultuous blush she sprang up from the couch. Footsteps were audible, 
 and in an instant she had covered her face with the mask' — regained the 
 fountain — and sat on its margin apparently as calm and passionless as the 
 statue in its waves. 
 
 There was something of madness in the mingling of emotions with 
 
206 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 which Alfonso watched these irrefragable signs of kindled passion — these 
 preparations for the recppiion of his monstrous rival ! He who approached 
 came steahhily as a leopard, but his fooifall was sufflciently audible to 
 the lady, who. however, looked not in the direction, and began to mur- 
 mur a little melody, so that but for the throbbing of her bosom it could 
 not have been thought that she noticed it. The figure of a cavalier, very 
 splendidly garbed and masked, appeared at the entrance of the grotto of 
 Egeria, and paused for an instant as if to survey the interior; and his 
 figure, which largely |)artook of the beauty and elegance of his race, but- 
 above ?ill, the demoniac glitter of his eyes, as his gaze fell on that of the 
 ballerina, informed Alfonso that he beheld the Duke of Rumagna. 
 
 It was a monient of almost mortal agony in the heart of the prince, and 
 clutching his dagger, and closing his eyes, he drew himself up with all 
 but the resolution to rush forth, and rid Italy and humaniiy of a monster 
 who but usurped its form — when his purpose was checked by hearing a 
 faint exclamation, almost amounting to a stifled shriek, from the ballerina. 
 Alfonso's heart slnod still with excess of emotion as he opened his eyes, 
 and saw that the nymph seemed struggling to free her hand from the 
 grasp in which Caesar held it in both of his own, kneeling at her feet, 
 and muttering excuses in a most lover-like and dulcet tone, as if deprecat- 
 ing her displeasure. 
 
 " 'Tis false — 'tis false, cavalier! — I await no one — or but my mistress, 
 Donna Lucrezia! — who indeed will be here upon the instant!" exclaimed 
 the ballerima, in a terrified and even horror-struck tone. "Begone, 
 begone ! We are not so Icjnely as you think ! — these gardens swarm with 
 my friends! — 1 would not that any should find you here, for ail 1 own or 
 hope on earth or in heaven!" 
 
 "Tush, tush, my fairest unknown ! — What then when I tell thee that 
 I heard thy beldame whisper thy laggard love — the Knight of St. John?— 
 heard him refuse thy gentle invitation with loathing and abhorrence — 
 pucker-browed monk as he is!— and bethought myself to come in his 
 place ; — for the bold in love are favoured by Venus for the sake of her 
 valiant lover, the god of war!" returned Caesar. 
 
 " Refused ! — loathing!— abhorrence !"— exclaimed the ballerina, in a 
 half-stitled voice. "It is impossible! — and yet it is?-*-Why then, why 
 then, — I am glad — my soul is glad — since he disdains all women, not me 
 alone! — I meant not that!— My mistress, Donna Lucrezia — ye have all 
 seen how he despised and scorned her! — ■desired but to learn, that she 
 might revenge— planned a merry scoff — I, her handmaiden, what could 
 1 but obey?" 
 
 " Ay, but she will do like great kings detected in base policies— deny 
 her emissary," replied Caesar, in a strange tone, which mingled some- 
 thing of mad ferocity with its eagerness. "And 1 tell thee — if thou but 
 dare again to soil her dignity with such an imputed share in thy offence — 
 1 will trumpet thy shame to all the world — to Rome, to the court, to the 
 pontiff, to all Christendom — how being a woman, forsooth, a lady! — 
 thou hast not blushed to disguise thyself as a harlot — to use all the blan- 
 dishments of one — to win an unwilling stranger to thine arms! — Will not 
 such a tale renown thee farther even than the dark supposal against thy 
 mistress, Lucrezia— albeit that hath spread to every land like night?— 
 Nay, they will believe yet worse of her, seeing what her handmaids are! 
 — But do not shudder, nor meditate aught franiical, thou fairest of all 
 Eve's daughters !— 1 mean not to pry into thy mask ! But thou shalt not 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 267 
 
 waste thy beauty and this loving hour because contemned by yonder clod 
 of frosted clay!" 
 
 "Thou shall not need to pry beneath my mask— behold, here is my 
 face !" interrupted the ballerina, with a laugh of unutterable scorn and 
 fury, and tearing off her mask, her features were visible, the eyes flam- 
 ing, and her whole visage alight with passions the more terrible from 
 the contrast of their fierceness with its beauty. 
 
 " Coesar! — thou knowest me now! Depart, if thou wouldst not have 
 me summon my court and guards, as with the least utterance I cau !" she 
 exclaimed, as the duke, feigning great astonishment, started up and retired 
 several paces. ''Go — I defy thee! — go with Uiy tale to whom or what 
 thou wilt — or, to disprove it, 'lis enough that all this valley is filled with 
 concealed troops of my friends, invited by me,— that here, and almost 
 at this hour, 1 have consented to receive the serenade of Paolo Orsino ! 
 So thou seest, subtle as they are, thy spies are at times at fault, and that a 
 woman— fools and toys of caprice as thou deemest, us ; — but no, no, no! 
 — J will believe thee ! — Ihou art undeceived — I am myself— begone!" 
 
 "So, then, our fair sister, who finds such fault with the world for 
 gossipry — really and verily is here on a rendezvous with a Knight of 
 St. John ?" said Caesar, laughing with inexpressible bitterness. 
 
 "What if it be so? — what right hast thou to dispute my pleasure?" 
 returned Lucrezia, passionately. "Art thou husband or father — and for 
 brother — brother ;~0h, if thou rememberesl, monster! — thou hast 
 affirmed to me that thou art not my brother — a changeling at nurse— as 
 would 10 God thou wert, that thy neck might feel the edge of the axe it 
 hath deserved by out-deserving a million times!" 
 
 "I was mad once— delirious with the fever of my toils to raise our 
 name to the grandeur which now environs it — and raved — and my sister 
 reproaches me wiih my sufferings!" said the Duke, in a lone compounded 
 of anger, fear, and feigned contrition. 
 
 "Ah,C8esar! — would I coul believe thee!" she replied, with a wild gush 
 of tears; but after a moment's pause adding, in a milder tone, "but yes, 
 yes, 1 wdl believe it; 1 must believe it, or madden loo! -Only begone 
 now, for if this knight should come — not for a thousand worlds would I 
 have it known to him that — that I am I^ucrezia Borgia!" 
 
 Thus far had the Hospitaller listened with a fluctuation of anxiety, 
 doubt, joy, and uliimate triumph to this involuntary and irresistible evi- 
 dence of Luerezia's innocence on one tremendous point — and so absorb- 
 edly that he scarcely breathed : — but suddenly the whole bright fabric 
 which had already risen from the ruins of this accusation was dashed to 
 pieces. 
 
 " Art thou not more fearful that father Saturn may hear of it, Lucretia 
 nostra?" Ciesar replied, with a withering, livid smile, of which only 
 himself and the fiend he served seemed capable. "Ancient fable— and 
 modern history— show us that in his jealousies or fears for the supremacy 
 he hath not paused to devour his own flesh ! Remember Francesco's 
 doom, whom you loved so well ! — and do not bid me tremble — but for thy 
 minion, tremble thou !" 
 
 "Oh, thou— what can I call thee! What if 1 told ihy sire — but how 
 could 1 accuse thee ? The devils themselves know no names for thy 
 crimes !" said Lucrezia, gaspingly. 
 
 " Accuse me to him !— doubtless thou canst wield the thunder as thou 
 wilt!— the cestus of thine unimaginable beauty has given thee sovereignty 
 
208 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 over our earthy Jove !" replied Caesar, with exceeding fierceness. " Let 
 him cast another son into the gory grave of him who— died so suddenlyin 
 the — who knows where I — dost thou? Or of him — thy husband— who, 
 when the assassins failed on the steps of St. Peter — was cured of all his 
 suspicions and jealousies under the paternal roof, in the Vatican I" 
 
 " 1 will not call thee any moiister — 1 know none that thou art !" said 
 Lucrezia, resuming a singular calmness. "But hearken to me, at least, 
 in this matter :— dost thou hear me, Csesar, Duke of Romagna? — I dared 
 not tell my own heart — no, nor the heavens themselves — I dared not 
 believe — why I thought that in these horrors thou wert not so ignor- 
 ant as the merciless steel that wrought ihem! But,— listen tome! — if but 
 one hair of my noble deliverer's head be harmed — rest thou assured that 
 I will live only to avenge it — and that I shall be at no loss to tell what hand 
 hath struck the blow, though it be by the murkiest midnight that ever 
 covered thy most damned enterprise!" 
 
 " 1 know thy vengeance' — but, Lucretia nostra I I shall not perish so 
 dove-like as my predecessors — I am no dumb fish, to die without a shriek, 
 with a gasp I" said Caesar, fiercely, and yet with a mixture of sarcastic 
 levity. '• Ere I make my shamble from the scene I will confess — not 
 only mine own offences, but all that Italy injputes to your grace I Of a 
 surety, posterity wdl deem me a likely witness — and humanity cannot 
 doubt it when they hear that Death stood by, the scrivener of my harangue! 
 Thou knowest not what lam! — but this I will do, if thy vengeance — as 
 thou callesl ihy woman's pecking — force me to it." 
 
 " Thpy will call thee a madman — as thou art — humanity cannot be- 
 lieve it!" replied Lucrezia, in a thunderstruck and wavering manner, as 
 if her own mind were reeling under too mighty a weight of anguish. 
 " Nay, perchance, with the springs of thy direful existence would be ex- 
 hausted those of mine ignominy ! And he who first gave the sound forth 
 might perish with its last echo on his lips?— Humanity cannot believe it." 
 
 "No? — and how, I pray thee, did this towering iceberg ihou wooest 
 look,' — when your sire honoured us all by kissing you to our faces?" said 
 the merciless Borgia, skilled in the finest nerves of mental agony. 
 
 " He looked — as I would have had him look, believing thy measure- 
 less lies ! — for yes, yes, they are thiue ! Never till that hour — when thou 
 didst reveal thyself to be the fiend — had calumny herself breathed evil 
 word of me !" said Lucrezia, distractedly ; but perhaps struck with a dark 
 change in Caesar's countenance, she continued almost imploringly — 
 " But, no, — perchance 1 am harsh now — it is my evil fate alone ! — yet let 
 me not drag more victims into its whirl. What shall I do then? Hate 
 my father — refuse him the only love which yet remains to comfort his 
 lonely age !■ — The only pure light beaming peace on the troubled tempests 
 of his conscience, himself hath told me ! Liars of the earth, lie on ! — it 
 shall not be ! And let whoso believes these things against me on no other 
 proof than invented murmurs — a licentious poet's written vipers — a base 
 populace's belief — a daughter's love for a most loving and lavishly indul- 
 gent lather ! — let him be judged and condemned by the like! He hath 
 recognized the tribunal !" 
 
 "Thou hast uttered a malediction on thy tall Hospitaller — whereto 
 most clerkly, sweet abbot, I chaunt — Amen !" replied Caesar, with a 
 ludicrouss imitation of the careless nasal tone in which such functionaries 
 often deliver their responses. " No doubt, since thy fearful, gentle sex 
 delight only in sinewy ferocities, thou deemest him a very lion of courage 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 209 
 
 —dost applaud him in thy tender soul for the only man-slayer 1 doth it 
 not? Ha, ha, but he dares not venture into Lucrezia's den I'' 
 
 An involuntary movement of the concealed knight at this imputation on 
 his courage, stirred one of the laurels against which he pressed in his 
 eagerness ; but excited no attention beyond a single instant's pause in the 
 dialogue. 
 
 " He dares— but be will not 1 — thou canst not cheat me of this comfort 
 at least:— he despises all women, not me alone I" returned Lucrezia, 
 vehemenilv. 
 
 " But 1 will cheat thee of that comfort, thou fair wTetch I— and disprove 
 thy lies, black duke I" muttered Alfonso, in the depths of his soul. 
 
 •' He will not come, 1 tell thee — he haih other sheep to mind I" returned 
 Caesar, with triumjjhant bitterness. " 1 had him loo well watched not to 
 know that a certain Morgan le Fay — whom doubiless you also beheld, 
 blazing it — and whose acquaintance I too can boast — has invited him to 
 sup with her to-night." 
 
 " If this be true — why then — what is it to nje?— 0, Holy Mary I how 
 often hast thou moved me to thy sweet dedication ; and this perchance is 
 but a harsher call I" exclaimed Lucrezia, with such passionate grief that 
 Alfonso was at once touched with pity, indignant at Cccsar's falsehood, 
 and at the same time struck by the coincidence with a dim thought that 
 perhaps Lucrezia had some reason in declaring that she was calumniated 
 — and bv his agency. 
 
 "Wliatl— our yo'uthful widow, scarcely in her twentieth spring— Lu- 
 crezia Borgia— a nun I" said Caesar, with a contemptuous laugh. '^ They 
 ornament death with flowers — but of the colder sort— lilies and violets and 
 dank wall-flowers. But if it be true ye are scandalled, wherefore do ye 
 confirm loose talk by this Roman marriage, when one in distant Ferrara 
 would choke the very life-breath of calumny?" 
 
 "The Prince of Ferrara disdains to mingle the unstained honours of 
 his ancestry with the shame of that pollution thou callest thy sister, Caesarl" 
 retorted the lady, as if rejoicing to be able to m.ake her reply so stinging, 
 though she herself shared the venom. 
 
 "For which some day I will cut his throat, and make him prince of all 
 the carrion-flies that can find him on a dunghill I" said Caesar, with ex- 
 treme fierceness. '-But thou pralest, our Lucrezia I— or if thou wert 
 sincere it were easy enough for thee — since thou seest he will not love — 
 to knit policies with this man of Ferrara, and persuade him to renew the 
 chatter about weddings with the proud wittol his lord ; — for all men have 
 a handle, if not in one vice, in another— and his may be ambition." 
 
 Lucrezia was silent, and Alfonso bitterly concluded that she was ruminat- 
 ing on the feasibility of such a project Tand almost frenzied with wrath 
 and indisnation, he might perhaps have made some violent outbreak, if 
 the hopes of a sweeter and subtler vengeance had not restrained him. 
 
 Very cautiously at first, he imitated with his hands the sound of remote 
 footsteps, and he had the satisfaction to hear Lucrezia exclaim—" He 
 comes, he comes I I swear to thee, Caesar, 1 did but intend to play him a 
 merry rebuke for his scorn of me, which thyself may witness I But if he 
 comes and finds thee here— something desperate I must needs do!" 
 
 Caesar laughed scornfully. " He will not come," he said, " the sage 
 
 will not— the coward dares not I Moreover, if 'tis he, and 1 pass him in 
 
 this thwart light, he will as plainly discern me as the sun in an eclipse," 
 
 "It needs not," said Lucrezia, beseechingly, "Retire into yonder 
 
 n 
 
510 CAESAR BORGIA. 
 
 archway of ivy — thou shall he:ir all that passes •, — but I had promised he 
 should see me without a mask — and 1 meant to kee|) the word to its 
 sound by wearing only that of darkness so long as to fulfil my pledge — 
 and this lamp hath a mystery iii it invented by a rare artist of Flo- 
 rence. " 
 
 " Ha, ha .'—didst thou in very truth? He will not come— thy muffled 
 she-Mercury will tell lhee„ how vaiidy she besought him— but I will 
 •witness this trick of thine for a divortissenient ; " and still laughing 
 gloomily, the duke strode to the archway indicated by Lucrezia, which 
 was at some distance fiom the fountain, in the rocks, and raising the 
 tapestry of ivy which almost concealed it, he retired within. 
 
 AlTonso stirred the laurels among which he was ensconced, and 
 Lucrezia, satisfied that some one was apfiroaching, touched an un-een 
 spring, and suddenly the Cupids anjund the artificial moon, expanding 
 their wings by a marvellously ingenious machinery, closed up every ray 
 of light, and the grotto of Kgeria was in complete darkness. The Hospi- 
 taller seized his opportunity, glided out of his concealment, and easily 
 reached the ground. He hesitated slightly, fearing lest she should 
 observe that he did not make his entry at the portal ; but as if ascribing 
 the pause lo a[)prehension of some treachery in the arrivant, the balle- 
 rina began warbling like a nightingale luring its male, and full as tremu- 
 lously — 
 
 ♦' Come, love !— I'll teach ihee 
 How 'lis 10 love;— 
 And fear not 'iwlll harm thee, * 
 
 I learned from a dove." 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 " Love is a species of melancholy, and a necessary part of this my treatise, which I may 
 not omit ; optri susceplo insenitndum fuit ; so Jacobus .MjsiHus pleadflh for himself in 
 his translation of Lucian's dialogues, and so do I; 1 must and "will perform my task."— 4na- 
 tomie of Utlancholy. 
 
 Alfonso could no longer doubt that Lucrezia had been betrayed by 
 her emissary to the duke, and t' alconse(]uenlly the solitude, the adorn- 
 ment, the tears, the passionate patitomime he had witnessed — were all 
 for him I These were perilous recollections to bear with him in the part 
 which he haci resolved to play, more especially as he concluded Lucrezia's 
 assurances that she was surrounded by an unseen court, were only in- 
 ventions to cajole or intimidate her unwelcome visitant. 
 
 Guided by the warm moonlight at the entrance of the grotto, Alfonso 
 groped his way to it; then turned, and seemed as if entering from the 
 exterior, though somewhat suddenly. He was continuing his advance 
 wiih a firm step towards the fountain, which slightly gleamed even in the 
 darkness, when the ballerina ceased her lure. " Sir cavalier," she said, 
 in her clear, fiute-like tones, '^'methinks you are now as near as reve- 
 rent worshi()pers are wont to approach lo my waves, though, as one of 
 Dian's knights, the vestal nymphs of these caves bid you very welcome." 
 
 " Meihiiiks the vestal nyirifihs must long since have departed, since 
 here Lucrezia Borgia is worshipped as of old the Queen of Paphos !" said 
 the knight, irresolutely pausing. 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 211 
 
 "What doth a Knight of holy John then in such a bower?" replied 
 the ballerina. " But, "remember, Knight of St. John, 1 have kepi mine 
 oalh, for I speak to thee now unmasked." 
 
 " Unmasked!— when darkness hides you as affectually as a mountain 
 from my gaze," returned Alfonso, with an agitation which almost betrayed 
 itself in his wavering voice. 
 
 " 1 have kept myfaiih to the letter — what more ask you of a woman, 
 and an attendant on Lucrezia Borgia?" said the ballerina, with forced 
 vivacity. " But I heard thou werl affiighted — didst not dare to come — 
 — lest the Sicilian dancer should prove to be the fiend like her who 
 tempted Cyprian ? And these fears redouble in darkness 5 we will have 
 light." 
 
 And almost simultaneously the Cupids withdrew their wings, and the 
 light streamed over the scene, revealing the nymph of Egeria sealed on 
 the brink of her fountain, once more masked. 
 
 " I deceived thy messenger — no ill precaution, lest ill should be 
 plotted," returned the Hospitaller, collecting all his firmness, and hurry- 
 ing to make the offence he meditated irre[)arable at once. " I feared thee 
 not, since I suspected — and Ihy deception now adds proof — that thou 
 werl a viler thing than Cyprian's devil— a licentious woman! Or, to 
 say the worst at once, Lucrezia Borgia herself! — and yet I am here. 
 But hearken to what purpose, and if thou art that spot on all her sex, 
 on all humanity, and for ever! — somelliingit may kindle thee to shame 
 and repentance that have so falsified nature's brightest mintage, matching 
 so precious an outward show with baseness so intrinsic! Something 
 it may serve to convince thee that there are breasts in which — that thy 
 licentious love can kindle no answering flame in any but hearts as sul- 
 phuric with foul passions ! I am here but to receive confirmation of thine 
 infamy by gazmg at it with mine own eyes. 1 am in Rome itself, only to 
 obtain such evidence, to justify Alfonso of Ferrara in his refusal to mingle 
 the purple of his royal blood with so contaminate a stream ! " 
 
 Alfonso Ihoughl'he distinguished an irrepressible exclamation of 
 triumph from the ivy archway ; but Lucrezia made no reply, gazing from 
 her mask as if turned to stone. There was a pause of utter silence, 
 lasting several moments. 
 
 " Knight, — but you rave ! You dared not utter sounds like these to the 
 Lucrezia of whom you speak, and who 1 am not, 1 swear to you by all the 
 saints above the golden stars!" she replied at length with bewildered 
 vehemence. "And for the ducal churl, thy sender, return and tell him 
 — nay, tarry but a short lime longer in Rome, and thou shall return to 
 rid him of wil fear by bearing the tidings of Lucrezia's marriage with the 
 heir of the Or^ini." 
 
 This was a form of vengeance and pride on which Alfonso had not 
 calculated, so womanly it was; and she spoke the words with a pas- 
 sionate fierceness which showed that the Borgian fire glowed even in her 
 rosy blood. 
 
 " INay, then, if thou art not Lucrezia, let me behold thy face even as 
 Ihou didst swear to me," he returned, much more mildly. '^ Oh, could I 
 think indeed that there was another woman in the world so like — and so 
 unlike her, as I would find thee! — an innocent Lucrezia! — but none but 
 Lucrezia melts language into music — none but Lucrezia breathes en- 
 circled wiih the air of paradise!" 
 
 " It is then true that — you hate not all woraaakind, but only Lucrezia 
 
212 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Borgia?" returned the ballerina, in a mollified and even not ungratified 
 tone. 
 
 "Wert thou any other, I would answer by loving thee more than all 
 ■womankind halh been or shall be loved by man when the last day 
 sums up all time!" returned Alfonso, somewhat too warmly, certes, for 
 his part. 
 
 "Were I Lucrezia — the terrible, death-dealing Lucrezia Borgia of 
 •whom thou speakest— dost thou think I would listen to thee thus — I will 
 not belie my thought— delightedly," replied the ballerina, playfully, and 
 yet with a deep sigh. "Kail on against her; 'lis nought to me — or 
 rather, it is pleasant, being my rival, it seems, in your saintly liking- 
 were she any other than herself. Ah, indeed, but it crowns my glory ia 
 having obtained so virtuous a society in this place, to know that my 
 unseen beauties have won the victory 'over charms which— I have heard 
 men praise, perchance, that lacked judgment. I pray you, knight, give 
 my vanity the triumph to know when and where that proud lady has 
 wooed you so closely that you are driven so desperately on your defences? 
 Our Lady witness I though one of a gossiping company, I had not heard 
 that Madama Lucrezia was reduced to such straits." 
 
 Again the Hospitaller was foiled, for he felt that, without displaying a 
 coxcombry alien to his nature, he could not allege any proof in support 
 of his insinuations, since the ballerina persisted in denying her identity. 
 But his subtle intellect, rapid in combinations, suggested a master-stroke. 
 
 "Thy question would have remained unasked, if thou hadst heard her 
 speeches to me in this day's carnival, disguised as Fata Morgana," he 
 replied. " The sprighlliest wooer of our sex — Ovid himself — might have 
 learned something from her." 
 
 "Nay, now, indeed thou beliest her, knight I— some witchcraft has 
 deceived thee," said the ballerina, hurriedly. 
 
 "And so did I hope— misdoubt— when I beheld thee playing thy 
 sorceries as the ballerina, and dreamed thou wert Lucrezia I" replied 
 the Hospitaller. "But since thou art nof Lucrezia, the lascivious Fairy 
 Queen, no doubt, was the lady who bears that much wronged name." 
 
 " Nay, knight, I will be just even to my rival I— I have told you I am 
 an attendant on Donna Lucrezia, and I declare to you that Morgan le Fay 
 was enacted by her this day, even as much as by me! — and thou mayst 
 remember her procession passed while we were at parle at the Capitol," 
 said the ballerina. 
 
 "Nav, theu, if thou art of her so nigh attendance, and dislikest me 
 not— thou art the very sphinx to unravel me my riddles," returned the 
 Hospitaller. 
 
 "But, holy knight! is it religious to win vassals to traduce their lords?" 
 said the ballerina, with an audible falter of the voice. 
 
 "And so thou dost acknowledge that to speak the truth of Lucrezia is 
 to speak evil?" retorted the knight. 
 
 "Go on, go on : speak plainly, and I will answer so— but indeed you 
 trap me with these indirections," said the ballerina. " 1 am a woman — 
 thou art half a priest— both fond of scandal, some have it : therefore ask 
 ■what thou wilt, and to the compass of my knowledge I will answer with 
 the truth." 
 
 " 'Tis well minded ;— you are a woman — therefore swear by some oath, 
 if there be any which women keep, that at least thou wilt not betray the 
 trust 1 repose in you I" said the Hospitaller. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 213 
 
 "Trust me not, trust me not— if thou hast aught to say which the most 
 dreadful of the Rorgias may not hear!" exclaimed the ballerina, with an 
 intensity of alarm which Alfonso saw, but feigned not to observe. 
 
 " How else 1 know not any means to accomplish my errand," he said, 
 with a strong effort to hinder his voice from faltering. " Proofs— proofs 
 of her guilt !-" 
 
 "What need of proofs when the world is judging a woman?" replied 
 the ballerina, with a bitterness foreign to her usual tones. ''^ Speak on; 
 what am I to answer?— for indeed you have me on the rack!" 
 
 " Lady, then— placed as you are "so near Lucrezia's person— you must 
 be able to tell me whether she is innocent or guilty?" replied Alfonso, 
 with sonie scarcely observable hesitation. 
 
 " Innocent or guilty ! — of what?— I tell you again, sir knight, I am no 
 sphinx, therefore deal not wiih me in enigmas I" she exclaimed, breathing 
 short as if with strong emotion. 
 
 " Nay, 1 will indeed remember that you are a woman; — I may not speak 
 more plainly.— But, lady, you cannot be ignorant of what whispers, uni- 
 versal as the wind, discourse concerning the hideous beauty your mis- 
 tress !" said Alfonso, not without a pang of remorse. " But yet— under- 
 stand me when I say it— that if your service is of three years' standing 
 with Donna Lucrezia— can you give me no inkling of where the Duke of 
 Gandia was slain, by whose hand, and for what cause !" 
 
 "I would give my dearest heart's blood — I mean, my lady hath often 
 said so— but'she is a devil, we know,— to learn !" replied the ballerina. 
 
 "But can it be that neither you nor any of that too beautiful lady's at- 
 tendance had any suspicions?" said Alfonso. 
 
 " Yours should teach us how baseless such may be!" replied the lady, 
 with a stifled sigh, but carefully noted by her inquisitor. 
 
 "And therefore do I seek certainties. — Remember you, lady, of the 
 night when the young duke perished?" pursued he. 
 
 " Oh, in very Vuth, I forget it not! But you are discoursing dangerous 
 matters in this air!" said the ballerina, with a fugitive glance at the ivy 
 archway. 
 
 "iNay, damsel, I trust we need not fear to be overheard by Francesco's 
 murderers in this haunt of his kinsfolk," he continued. " You remember 
 him, then? He was a fair youth, if men report the truth." 
 
 "Oh, holy Molherof mercy!— Francesco!" was all the ballerina could 
 reply, choked by the bitterness of the recollections which arose in her 
 heart. 
 
 " And loved to glass his goodly form in women's eyes— wherefore I may 
 apprehend a reason for that passion which holds you. Your beauty, lady, 
 moves me to think that perchance the blooming and amorous cavalier was 
 wont to address some portion of his vows to you ?" 
 
 "As a most dear brother I loved him— as a faithful friend — as one 
 whose bright and generous spirit— whose courage and love— but he is 
 gone! To pray hourly for the justice due on his unknown murderers is 
 all that even his fond father and loved sister can now perform." 
 
 "Loved!— ay, perchance /oo well?" said the knight; and although the 
 drift of his questioning could scarcely have escaped her perception, the 
 lady started as if she had till then forgotten it in those tragical recollec- 
 tions. The sagacious inquirer noted this to her advantage, that it seemed 
 like a shock to the currentof her ideas, and therefore by possibility flowed 
 not from the common source which guilt would offer. 
 
214 C.^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Too well I— all that I have heard of their affection 1 will tell you." she 
 said, after a pause. " Thry were so like in person that, but for the differ- 
 ence of sex and some few years, never was resemblance closer ; and in 
 their natures (deem what thou wilt of it! ) there was that sweet and mu- 
 sical concord which in two insirunienis is harmony— in souls love as 
 spiritual and as pure! And if the fierce and intractable temper of a 
 brother strengthened this alliance of love into one also of policy — and his 
 envious carpings have been thus blackly interpreted — Heaven grant it was 
 not his intent as well as deed !" 
 
 " Soh ! — fair one, thou s^houldst have worn a lawyer's gown to make the 
 science musical !" said the Hospitaller. "But since you remember that 
 direful night— were you with l.ucrezia on it?" 
 
 "1 was, and we were in the convent of the blessed sisters of Santa Maria 
 Transteverel" replied the ballerina, with a convulsive shudder. 
 
 "How chanced it she was there on a night in which the solemn feast 
 was given to celebrate the departure of the cardinal— now Duke of Ro- 
 magna — her brother, to present the crown of Naples to Don Federigo?" 
 said the knight, not without a deep satisfaction mingling wiih his hopeless- 
 ness of a satisfactory solution, at ihe discomfiture of the listener. 
 
 " Lucrezia and the cardinal had — h;id quarrelled on a matter which, if 
 I remember rightly — nay, it was a foolish quarrel — a word — a nothing!" 
 she exclaimed, starting at a slight stir in the ivy. 
 
 Foiled by this circunjsiance, still Alfonso was not displeased to remark 
 the emotion of the unseen auditor. 
 
 " Concludmg, then, that Francesco perished by the hand of some secret 
 rival— who might it be that, under the roof of the V^itican itself, strangled 
 the Prince of Salerno in his bed?" said Alfonso, with mingled severity and 
 gloom. 
 
 "It is false, most false I — who is it says this horror is true?" said the 
 ballerina, wildly. " The Prince of Salerno perished of the wounds he re- 
 ceived in the square of St. Peter, from enemies whom his own rashness and 
 arrogance had provoked." 
 
 "The story sounded not so in Ferrara— it was there averred that he was 
 recovering so fast of his wounds that the time was almost gone to pn'tend 
 with any decency that he died of them, though humanity is of a niaivellous 
 chemistry," replied the knight. " We heard, too, of a strange scene which 
 preceded his destruction — when she debarred him her very presence — 
 when he forced his wav to it by violence — and she fled to her father, and 
 for hours refused even to look at her husband, clinging to the pontiff, and 
 hiding her face in his robes, while he, forsooth, preached duly and a v/ife's 
 submission I — And won her at length to consent to a return to it within a 
 month; but meanwhile deaih spread his snares in secret, and caught the 
 unhappy youth exulting in his fool's paradise of hope, on the very day of 
 the promised fulfilment, on the steps of the pontifical palace— if thou 
 wilt!" 
 
 "Oh, but you know not all— indeed you know not all!" returned the 
 ballerina, desperately. " She married him against her will — moved only 
 bv the supplications ot that father!— bethink you! the vicar of Heaven, a 
 father, supplicating — wherefore so earnest, then— Lucrezia but slightly 
 misdoubted. I know not why — it might be because sheloved not the effe- 
 minate Lord of Pesaro— Net 1 know not wherefore the ferocious boy of 
 Salerno was chosen, whose brutish excesses of — love, thou wilt call it, 
 being a man— whose sensual madness — once suffered, infused such indig- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 215 
 
 nation, loatliing, terror, that — but whatever was done, was prompted and 
 sanctioned by a man whose holiness makes all his utterances oracles of 
 Heaven I'" 
 
 " Fra Bruno I" returned the Hospitaller with a start. "He also who 
 procured the divorce of the Lord of Pesaro?" 
 
 " The Lord of Pesaro — was divorced by a decree of the church I" said 
 the ballerina, covering her mask with her hands, and speaking in a low, 
 panting, shamestruck tone, as if nearly exhausted by the length and 
 severity of the scrutiny, and vet unwilling to abandon any hope of dissipat- 
 ing the evil impressions of the scrutinizer. "^ay, morel — I will avow 
 a secret which shall put me as much in thy power, as thy questionings do 
 thee in mine I A secret of Lucrezia Borgia'sl — thou hast heard what Fra 
 Bruno said of this Ursine marriage? But thou knowesl not that he hath 
 infused scruples into Lucrezia relating to the lawfulness of the dissolulioa 
 of her first betrothal, albeit to one whom she never saw ! And that there- 
 fore any subsequent marriage were but disguised adultery I" 
 
 " Tut, tut, lady, you jest with me I —The daughter of the supreme head 
 of the cliurch entertain doubts of his powei- to dissolve all contracts, 
 earthly— ay, even heavenly?" returned the knight. "And who can 
 believe that such a phantasy divorced Pesaro, when it prevented not the 
 marriage wiih him whom thou hast called a ^feroci' us boy?'" 
 
 "Heaven forgive me. since he is gonel" said the ballerina, melting 
 into tears. " 1 said not so — but, knight, thou knowest not— nay, who 
 can tell the motives of that change? — What if in the absence of that 
 powerful spirit on which she leaned. — impelled by irrestible cii cumstances, 
 — ay, even by a womanly passion for that fair fame which you hold to be 
 extinct in her breast — but what avail words? — Deem, if thou wilt, that she 
 married the violent jirince to murder him — since murder is her habitual 
 and favourite pastimel" 
 
 " Lady, if we acjuit her — more darkly fall our suspicions on the un- 
 known rival who sometimes uses the keys of St. Peter — at others the dagger 
 of the assassin — to set her free— or rather to clutch her away from the 
 arms to which he had unwillinalv resigned her, to deceive the world's 
 suspicion or cajole it into doubt!" 
 
 " And this unknown I — you speak as if he were not unknown to you I — 
 Knight, if you be a man, speak out and fairly, for indeed these fiendish 
 hints torture me nigh to madness I exclaimed the ballerina, starting up 
 with frenzied impatience, but almost instantly resuming hei seal as if in 
 exhaustion, and faintly adding, " 1 pray you, in mercy, tell me who this 
 unknown may be, in your suspicions?" " 
 
 " Nay, lady — bid me not answer by aught but silence ! — yet perchance 
 the spectre that must needs haunt Salerno's chambers in the Vatican, could 
 reply I ' said the unrelenting Ho-pitaller. 
 
 " Will thou interrogate it, then, and thou shall have lodging in them?" 
 replied the ballerina, with a wild laugh. "Lucrezia at least fears not 
 whatever it may reveal !" 
 
 " Let me do ihe phantom's office, then I —why, who is it that is so bent 
 on wedding Lucrezia to the heir of the Orsini — thai she may be fixed in 
 Rome — against every maxim of policy?'" replied Alfonso, giving way to 
 the bitterness which possessed his soul. 
 
 "Truly! — I know not that: so powerful a race only can balance — ^I 
 know not what I say !" exclaimed the ballerina, in a voice whose despair 
 went to the heart ot" Alfonso. Blessed Virgin! — truly art thou Lucrezia's 
 
2i6 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 only refuge, since even this renewed sacrifice avails only to strengthen the 
 dire phantasy it would destroy I— thou cruel man of Ferrara! thine own 
 dark errand hither might have better instructed thee— for if Lucrezia must 
 remain in Rome, Lucrezia had not been offered lo Ferrara! — and Ferrara 
 need not basely have sought the means to traduce her in it !— Nay, I will 
 keep your counsel ; fear not. Only those who love Lucrezia, need fear ! 
 — and I blame you not for your hatred of her, believing thus, for methinks 
 I should abhor the very sun that shone on such a wretch ! Return to 
 your harsh land, and win what reward you may by telling your master that 
 one who should know best— one who has known Lucrezm since she knew 
 herself^admitted all the worst that you could say against her, as truths 
 which only angels from heaven can disprove!" 
 
 ]\luch but secretly affected at the blank desperation of this avowal, 
 Alfonso made a few irresolute movements, but no reply, until he was nigh 
 vanquished by observing how fast tears rained from her eyes into the 
 fountain, over which she bent to conceal the agony of her grief. 
 
 "It is enough— this confession suffices!" he said, approaching, though 
 with hesitation, and raising her hand to his \\\)S. " But for yourself, 
 lady, your generous advocacy even of so evil a cause persuades" me that 
 you are worthy of a true friend>hip !" 
 
 She drew the hand from him instantly, and with a kind of delirious 
 gaiety wrote the word " friendship" rapidly on the waters of the fountain. 
 
 "Look! — scarcely a ripple remains! ' That is the end!" she said, 
 laughing with wonderful bitterness. " Let us add but another word- 
 farewell !— and let the trace it shall leave tell when we shall meet again!" 
 
 Something the Hospitaller meant to say, but the words died on his lips ; 
 but seating himself beside her on the"^ fountain niargin. he gazed with 
 mingled sadness and passion on the lovely form of the ballerina, heaving 
 with the emotion which she endeavoured to conceal. 
 
 " We will not part thus — enemies !" he said at length with increasing 
 emotion, and scarcely knowing what he did say. " Those lips whose 
 roses are blossoming fire— to make my nature divine too— nay!— let me 
 but behold thy face, or prove, prove that thou art wo< Lucrezia, and I will 
 worship thee!" 
 
 "Yes, I will prove it, assuredly I will prove it- but touch not my 
 mask, as thou art a knight and a man!" exclaimed the ballerina, starting 
 up in terror as Alfonso, finding his resolutions reel, seized the mask with 
 the intentionof leaving himself by the revelation without resource or hope. 
 But at the instant that he drew it off, the light again disappeared at the 
 touch of the invisible spring — and simultaneously the Hospitaller felt his 
 neck encircled as if by the arms of some air-incumbent form, and lips 
 whose velvety sweetness seemed to combine all essences of deliciousness, 
 were pressed breathlessly and glowingly to his own, but for an evanescent 
 instant of sensation, while a voice whispered on them in ripples of music, 
 "Would Lucrezia have so forgiven thee?" Yielding irresistibly to the 
 delirium of his delight, the Hospitaller stretched his arms to clutch the 
 beauteous phantom— but he grasped only empty air! 
 
 He rushed forward, and, at the same instant, there arose a wild uproar 
 and tumult all around ; the moon of the fountain burst into a blaze of 
 whirling light which illumined ihewhole grotto; a shrill, agitated bell was 
 audible, as if from the depths of the fountain • and sudde'nlv the verdant 
 precincts were crowded with a most extraordinary company, shouting, 
 hooting, laughing, yelling, and waving^torches around. Satyrs, nymphs, 
 
C.'ESAR BORGIA. 217 
 
 fauns, and all ihe varieties of sylvan deities poured out of every nook and 
 cranny by which there was entrance — all shrieking execrations on the 
 profaner of the sacred solitude, and brandishing various weapons appro- 
 priate to their qualities. The satyrs wielded their crooked staves, ihe 
 fauns their stiff pine-wreaths, the nymphs their branches of oak, and all 
 menacingly and with hideous clamour. But by far the most formidable 
 personages of the group were a number of shepherds, with huge boar 
 spears, who made their appearance on every side. 
 
 "Pan, Pan!" shouted a hundred voices. " Come and judge the mortal 
 who has dared to profane thy solitudes I Echo, where is Pan ?" 
 
 Distant, faint, and melodious voices repeated in every direction, "Pan! 
 where is Pan?" 
 
 At first Alfonso stood as if rooted to the ground, almost believing him- 
 self surrounded by the rural gods in reality, or under the illusion of some 
 strange sorcery. But suddenly the conviction rushed upon him that he 
 was betrayed either to be made the jest of a company of carnival revel- 
 lers, or perhaps to the vengeance of Lucre/ia and her myrmidons for the 
 affronts which he had put upon her. While gazing round in amazement 
 to find himself so completely circled, and hesitatmg whether to attempt 
 a forcible escape, the shrill shriek of pipes was heard, and attended by a 
 riotous company of satyrs, Pan hobbled into the grotto on his goats' legs, 
 the satyrs playing a wild march with their oaten reeds. 
 
 "Silence ! — and where is the guilty nymph who has lured the mortal 
 hither?" shouted the sylvan god 
 
 " Egeria, Egeria I" exclaimed unnumbered accusing voices. 
 
 "At thine old tricks again, luring wisdom whither it should least come," 
 said Pan, severely. "Yes, hide thyself in thy blushing waves! — But the 
 mortal, where is he ?" 
 
 " Fie, fie, fie ! — a Knight of St. John, a Knight of St. John !"' exclaimed 
 all the nymphs at once. " Had it been old Silenus now, or one of the 
 satyrs, we had not wondered." 
 
 " The Holy Knight of St. John !" resounded on all sides, amidst a ge- 
 neral and outrageous peal of laughter. 
 
 " In very truth, ye have the laughing side of the jest, but if ye will 
 confront me with the nymph, 1 will prove that at least we ought to share 
 the punishment!" said the Hospitaller, endeavouring to make the best 
 of his ludicrous ordangerousposition— hescarcelv knew which, orwhether 
 both. 
 
 "And then it will be a pleasure! — No, no, no; bring him along, and 
 our queen shall judge him?" exclaimed the nymphs, and Alfonso beheld 
 himself rapidly hemmed in by the shepherds with their spears. 
 
 His doubts seemed now to call for some imperative decision •, but 
 •while he reniembered almost in a mass the dismal legends of Lucrezia's 
 haunts, his lips still tingled with the honied fire left on them from hers, 
 and it seemed impossible that she could really mean him harm ? And yet 
 he stood hesitating, when suddenly a laughing voice saluted him, and the 
 Dukeof Romagna made his entry, as if from the valley without, with his 
 vizard in his hand, and a smiling look of welcome. 
 
 " Fear nothing, good knight," he said, "your sentence shall not be too 
 severe! — and suffer these rural folk to lead you before their empress, 
 Donna Lucrezia, who, with nje, has devised this carnival jest. Your forfeit 
 shall be light, if you can detect and pacify her damsel who performed the 
 part of Egeria, and who has already rejoined her mistress, unmasked." 
 
2t8 CAESAR BORGIA. 
 
 The secret feelings with which Alfonso listened to this beguiling and 
 perfidious statement may be imagined i but not deserted bv his own skill 
 in the conjuncture, he replied in a tone of similar hilarity, "Lead on, since 
 your highness guarantees my safety from the fate of Orpheus! And if I 
 find the damst-l, before ycii all she sliall acknowledge that I accepted 
 her invitation only to read her a sermon which she will not soon forget." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 " In all my strict inquiries, all the humours 
 Which I have drain'd with more than chjmist's pains, 
 I have noi found a temper so complete 
 To furnish forth a greatness as my Caesar's."— Lee. 
 
 Marching like a prisoner of war, surrounded by his shepherd spearmen, 
 Alfonso allV'cled to enter into the spirit of the jest, and suffered himself to 
 be quietly !^hackled by Pan with ivy, which an effort would snap. The 
 moinenl he stepped forth in this array from the gnUto, the road was 
 best't by a multitude of the most extraordinary phantoms, i)elling him 
 with comfits; the woods around teemed with the wildest forms of Grecian 
 mythology; statues took life; every tree yielded its sleeping dryad; far 
 melodies sounded in every direction; naiads arose in the stream, and 
 laughingly threw their waters in showers at him; with a cheerful huniing 
 blast Diana and her nymphs appeared on a rock, and darted at him blunt 
 arrows with gilded heads; through all which they arrived at an avenue of 
 lofty elms, whose overarching branches, filagreed by the moonlight, 
 resembled the interior of a Gothic cathedral, and formed a natural hall fit 
 for the audience of the rural deities. Beneath these, again, were bosquets 
 of orange trees in full blossom, which diifused an mexpressibly sweet 
 perlume in the air, and cooled the gaze as if their verdure was strewn 
 with snow. The vista terminated in an open semicircular saloon on a 
 somewhat raised terrace of blue marble, richly gilded, and decorated 
 with frescoes; in the midst of which was a verdant throne. The moon 
 shone fully upon it, with a light like that of a rayless sun, and by the 
 luslre Alfi)nso discerned that the terrace was thronged with a splendid 
 court, assembled round a lady who occupied the throne, among which 
 the scarlet robes of cardinals, and the continual flashing of jewels, an- 
 nounced personages of high rank. 
 
 As the prisoner approached, environed by his grotesque capturers, 
 laughter as inextinguishable as that which shook the gods on a somewhat 
 similar occasion, resounded among the occupants of the terrace. Con- 
 tinuing his enforced advance, Alfonso discerned with amazement that in 
 the brief time which had elapsed, Lucrezia had totally changed her attire, 
 and was now arrayed in a Spanish dress, suitable to her rank, and in the 
 lashion of the time. A boddice of silver tissue confined her perfect shH[)e, 
 with every heave of which sparkled unnumbered jew^els; and a diadem 
 which shone as if with stars, so bright and large were the diamonds in it, j 
 flashed on her brow She looked a (jueen, resembling only in the vague 
 identity of all forms of beauty, either the vivacious dancer of the Capitol, 
 or the voluptuous nymph of the fountain; and but for the paleness of her 
 complexion, it was impossible to guess that she had passed though scenes 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 219 
 
 SO exhausting— feelings so passionate— either hy her manner or expres- 
 sion, which was proud and stedfasily tranquil. , ^ , ^ ... „ , 
 
 Alfon&o's suspicions weredeepenea by ihis wonderful facility ot change 
 which sren.ed to demonstrate in her faculties of d.ssimu lalu.n inuch 
 exercised: but expecting the raillerv which the supposed relaxion o his 
 principles would occasion, he was troubled to observe among the laughing 
 groups nearly all those who had witnessed his grand display ol tliem m 
 refusing Lucrezia's scarf— the Orsino, Le Beaufort, Bembo and a multi- 
 
 The gloom on the Orsino's visage, however, marked but little delight 
 in the frolic, and formed a contrast to Sir Reginald, whose bold, handsome 
 countenance was all alit with mirth and satislaction. Bembo seemed not 
 to know how to look, but to intend to take his cue Irom the aspect ot his 
 lord; and accordinglv he grew solemn and sedate when he perceived 
 Alfonso's stern composure. Indeed the manner became more general, 
 when the coui tiers observed that Lucrezia's palen.'ss deepened— her hps 
 trembled- and that when the criminal was placed before her, and Paa 
 recited his accusation, complaining of an attempt to misuse his innocent 
 solitudes, aud to n.isguide one of his chastest nymphs,-instead ot he 
 laughing raillerv of which she was mistress, and w.th which a 1 expected 
 she w.,uld overwhelm the religious knight who had relused to be her 
 champion-she was silent, and kept her eyes sunk with an expression ot 
 shame, and even of an undefined tearfulness. «• .• * 
 
 '' Knight! answer, or thou art lost! " exclaimed Casar, aflecting to 
 clap the Hospitaller encouragingly on the shoulder. 
 
 -These charges are too general, signor. Let Pan, if he ha h any 
 witnesses of what passed, allege particulars; and, by his crootvcd stall, 
 those shall acquit me without any other reply,' said A lonso, in the bit- 
 terness of his feelings projecting a stroke which should deal two ways at 
 once. " Thereby shall ye truly discern that I accepted the nymph s in- 
 vitation— more effectually t. convince her that I despised it, taking no 
 advantage either of the solitude or of her unconcealed tenderness, but to 
 read her a more dismal lecture than, 1 misdoubt, some lather contessors 
 would ! And when Echo betrayed us to Pan, I grieve to think iMt it was 
 envv which prompted her to repeat a sound so delicate that the neign- 
 bouVing niiihlin-ales, albeit on the listen, heard it not-when, mark no 
 all! without anv- encouragement, wish, or return frnm me,she pressed her 
 lips,— which vet 1 own, if thev had not touched like flame, Irom some 
 cedarv sweetness in them, would not have troubled me so much.— to 
 mine; in that form which hath for several ages been known t" immor a s 
 and men by the style and title of a-kiss ! So that, indeed, 1 have cause 
 to bless Echo, that brought Pan and light to my assistance, or 1 know not 
 what might have befallen me in the power of a nymph so enterprising . 
 
 General murmurs of applause, mingled wiih laughter, accompanied this 
 extraordinary defence, during which Lucrezia s countenance fl'j^l'cd ^o 
 deeply that h was in itself sufficient to betray her to ^H who ad any 
 inklin-s of the truth ; but Cesar's visage, tor an instant, took all the pallia 
 tints which deserted hers, ere it recovered its own. 
 
 "This is, indeed, a fearful charge to be brought against a nymph that 
 belongs not to the court of Paphos," he said. - Dearest Lucrezia!^ let 
 her be called, and publicly repel this boasting companion s accusa . 
 
 -Not so, not so-sinci he hath so thanklessly betrayed her to our 
 laughter-it were to shame both," replied the lady, hastily, without lift- 
 
220 C.€SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ing her long eyelashes, and colouring back into paleness like a cloud 
 receding into whiteness as it passes from the sunset. " Not that I beh'eve 
 it altogether for a verily— but we will not labour to prove what, being 
 known, were so little to any satisfaction but that of this chevalier's vanity 
 —which perchance she but intended to make overflow, as we have seen 
 it. Knight, knight, it is not well of thee — if such occurred — to betray 
 this folly, but it is warning to trust thee with none of niore blushing 
 avowal. Leaving the rest in surmise, we will only pronounce on thee 
 this punishment, that if thou canst not detect among my retinue, un- 
 masked, her who cajoled you, masked, — your ignorance shall be per- 
 petual.*' 
 
 Alfonso bowed with an air of inditference which he could perceive 
 struck a pang into the lady's heart ; but without relenting he stepped 
 aside. 
 
 "And now, my Lord Orsino, having adjudged this knotty cause, we 
 are in the humour to listen to vour music," she continued, turning to 
 Paolo with a kindness which obviously brightened his expression-, and 
 starting up as it were into existence on the word, he left the terrace, and 
 in a few moments appeared beneath it with a retinue of chosen musicians. 
 They commenced immediately in a fine strain of harmony, whose effect 
 beneath the hushed and resplendent skies was inexpressibly delicious. 
 The dreams of Elysium seemed to be realized, and that these were the 
 happy fields in whose atmosphere the delighted spirit was consoled for 
 every woe; and with all his wrath, Alfonso's heart melted in his bosom 
 when he gazed on Lucrezia, and remarked the languor and dejection in 
 her face, and the tears, scarcely repressed, which lurked beneath her 
 eyelids. But the Orsino, who had a rich and tuneable voice, disturbed 
 the reverie by a song which he sang in pathetic lamentation over the 
 cruelty of his mistress, all the musicians answering him in set responses 
 like an ancient chorus. 
 
 At the conclusion of the lay, the ladies on the terrace showered nose- 
 gays, worn hitherto in their bosoms, among the serenaders, and the 
 young nobles around them, which they eagerly caught or raised and set 
 in their breasts; all save the Knight of St. John, who made no effort to 
 secure any. 
 
 When the laughing scramble was over, the serenaders crowded up the 
 terrace; and, as if starting from a dream, Lucrezia arose. 
 
 " How is this? I have not thrown my nosegay!" she said, hurriedly. 
 " And ye are all matched by the chances of the sweet flowers. But the 
 Knight of St. John has picked up none, and so it seems that fate would 
 have us walk to our collation in the grotto together. Therefore, dearest 
 ladies, and my lords, link hands as your flowery lucks direct; and we, 
 as considering his renown we well may without "scandal, will follow last 
 with this faithful Knight of the Cross." 
 
 The youthful ladies immediately obeyed their mistress, by taking the 
 arms of the cavaliers who had chanced upon their nosegays— an artifice 
 which chained the discontented Orsino and Le Beaufort remote from their 
 cynosure, but rendered it impossible fur them without extreme discourtesy 
 to avoid. X number of pages, beautiful as Cupids, lighted the way with 
 torches which burned with a perfumed lustre, and the procession was set 
 in motion tow^ards the grotto. But the last couple had preceded for 
 some instants ere Lucrezia, without raising her eyes, took the arm of the 
 motionless but reverential kni^ht. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 221 
 
 They advanced for some steps in silence, and if Alfonso had pre- 
 viously doubted it, the musical motion of her form might have convinced 
 him of her identity with the ballerina : the recollection of all that had 
 passed between them— his bitter invectives against her — of the light in 
 which he had represented himself — a feeling of tendernes and compas- 
 sion which he could not vanquish, prolonged the silence. Lucrezia 
 doubtless fathomed the thoughts which possessed him in part, for she 
 bit her proud lip which curled with beauty and haughtiness, and yet 
 smiled with a degree of timidity and wavering doubt as she broke it. 
 
 "We are alone, signer," she said, "which 1 have purposely con- 
 trived — but start not I Whatever you may have heard of Lucrezia Borgia, 
 you, at least, are in no danger from her cruelty — who saved her lil'e at 
 the hazard of your own! Fain would I, by any means, in some part 
 requite the obligation; and chance has perchance offered me no ill one. 
 Your friend, Messer Bembo, assures that you are of noble birth, and of 
 no mean fortunes! The damsel who lured yon hither is the heiress of 
 great wealth, the only daughter of a most noble house. She has confessed 
 to me — nay, your divulgement more than confesses it, that she dislikes 
 you not! Signor, deem you — is it impossible that you should love? — 
 For, procuring a dispensation from your vows from our holy father, 
 what remains but that 1 make two happy, who am said to have made 
 many miserable?" 
 
 Alfonso paused for a moment in utter astonishment, mingled, scarcely 
 to his own consciousness, with chagrin •, for he discerned in it an anxious 
 attempt to destroy all suspicion in his mind of her identity with the 
 ballerina, and so to conclude the adventure. 
 
 " Lady," he replied, turning suddenly and almost starting at the deep 
 earnestness with which Lucrezia was gazing in expectation of his reply. 
 " Lady, I am deeply bound to you and to the fair dame who honours 
 me so far ; but my vow is of that power and efficacy which even the 
 holy father of Christendom cannot absolve — being the determination of 
 my own heart and will." 
 
 " It must be," replied Lucrezia, with a playful and yet melancholy 
 smile — " It must be, signor, that your heart is already pledged, and the 
 memory of some one very beauteous makes all our Boman charms poor 
 in your sight." 
 
 " It is not so, illustrious lady," replied Alfonso, wiih involuntary fer- 
 vour. " For until 1 came to Rome, I never gazed on beauty that won 
 from me more than the eye-hornage which as fair a painting might have 
 claimeii." 
 
 " Why, then,' — since you have never seen the lady's face, you say, — 
 said you not so? with whose hand I would enrich you, knight, will you 
 not at least delay your stay until you have?" said Lucrezia. " For love 
 comes more stealthily than light, of which even the dark cypresses are 
 enamoured in our Italian noondays — and how know you but that your 
 hour may strike at last?" 
 
 " Bright lady, it is known that you are love's oracle! — and yet still let 
 me deem my heart in little danger from any of your fairest satellites," 
 replied Alfonso, with a strange mixture of asperity and warmth. 
 
 "Love's oracle! — then indeed am I inspired by an unknown god!" 
 replied Lucrezia, colouring more beautifully than ever in the earnest look 
 which Alfonso cast upon her, as she uttered the words so contradictory 
 to her reported character. "But mistake me nut, sir llospilallei'I *I 
 
222 C.«SAR BORGIA. 
 
 deny not the meaning of your glance, for T have sought love in all things, 
 and under all forms I — And if I have fi^und it not, even when most 
 inspiring it — if I have listened to its richest eloquence as to some foreign 
 language which my heart understood not— it is not that 1 have lacked 
 the soul for love! Love I found not— but 1 deny not the accusation of 
 your glance— its f)hantoms I have eagerly chased ; and since happiness 
 cannot be mine, wherefore should I hesitate at least to quafi' at the purple 
 fountains of pleasure, and feast out the else unmeaning or troubled dream 
 of life?" 
 
 "You need no other defence, lady, than that which was used of old— 
 to display your beauty to your judges," replied Alfonso, coldly. 
 
 " As Phryne, the Athenian courtesan I Yon example me nobly, signor, 
 — but I blame you not,' she replied, with exceeding sadness and gentle- 
 ness. " What avails contending with desliny ? — And this is mine." 
 
 "• If Lucrezia Borgia complains of fortune, who then has cause to praise 
 her!" he said, secretly touched with the plaintive submission of the 
 reply. 
 
 "A vintage feast overshadowed by a thunderstorm, who enjoys?" 
 returned Lucrezia with vivacity, but pausing suddenly. 
 
 " I fear, lady, you have too sever(; a confessor, since futurity appears 
 to you under so dark a simile," said the knight, with an innuendo which 
 he thought would not escape Lucn^zia's notice. 
 
 '' Futurity I -how can my contessor threaten me with that, when I 
 obey all his injunctions to the letter- when — but no, I have indeed done 
 wrong, ' said Lucrezia, turning pale, and instantly adding, with a liveliness 
 which, from the contrast, seemed forced, — " But we are fallen in a m 'le's 
 pace; and despite vour sanctity, my Lord Orsino looks often back? — 
 Signor, I will not take your denial utjlil you have seen all my fair court 
 unveiled, (among whom will be tbenymphof theLgerian fount. fand if your 
 cold eye selects none, your silence shall be a sufficient answer.' 
 
 She quickened her step as she spnke the word, and (hey soon ap- 
 proached the grotto which whs in complete darkness. Perhaps this was 
 pur[)osely ordained, for when they reached the entrance Lucrezia hastened 
 some steps before the Hospitaller, made a signal to one of the attendants, 
 and with a general start the company found themselves standing in a 
 blaze of light fronj innumerable lamps, which seeujed to kindle of their 
 own accord. The sumptuous dresses of the dames and cavaliers blazed 
 into view; the fountain h-aped up to a great height and descended in 
 showers of liquid jewels of lovely hues; and a collation of exquisite 
 viands, fruit, sweetmeats, and wines, served in richly wrought plate, 
 wooed the appetite on every hand. S>-veet harmonies were audible in the 
 neighbouring groves, and amidst a fanfare of trumpets, and a general 
 buzz of delight and admiration, Lucrezia took her seat with Caesar at the 
 banquet. 
 
 The Orsino glared gloomily at Alfonso as he entered, and Le Beaufort, 
 who better knew w^hat was to be feared in that quarter, grew pale; and 
 the smiles which Lucrezia profusely bestowed on the latter, and the 
 silence and reserve of the Hospitallei-, as he took his [)lace as far as possi- 
 ble from ihe queen of the least, but little lightened Paolo's uneasiness. 
 
 The flower of the beauty, wit, and magnificence of the pontifical court 
 seemed culled to grace this festival, for none was present who was not 
 remarkable for one of the attributes, and sometimes for a union of all. 
 The most beautiful women in Italy, whom the jubilee had assembled in 
 
C-^SAR BORGIA. 223 
 
 Rome, and her own noble and lovely relinue, surrounded Lucrezia ; and 
 yet envy itself could nol deny thai she surpassed them all. Nevertheless, 
 and neHiMps for the first time, she misdoubted ihe supremacy of her own 
 beauty; and wlnle atl'ecting to have her attention absorbed ni other ob- 
 jects,' her eye watched with devouring anxiety every glance of the 
 Hospitaller's.' 
 
 Alfonso, on his part, desirous to strengthen himself in his resolutions, 
 by removing temptations from his path which he fell every instant 
 growing more irresistible, and to nnsguide the hatred of the Duke of 
 Romagna, affected to be instantly siruck with the appearance of one of 
 Lucrezia's ladies, who in stature'and the colour of the hair somewhat 
 resembled her. It seemed that he mistook her for the damsel of the 
 grotto, laughinyly chrdlen--ing her acquaintHUce, which she as merrily 
 denied, declaring' herself to be the wife of one of the noblemen present; 
 but Alfonso would not be convinced, and attached himself to her with a 
 zeal which brought on both a continual play of raillery. 
 
 Lucrezia imniediately observed this artifice, which she did not suspect 
 to be one; but her terror of the Duke suggested a somewhat similar proce- 
 dure : she affected to join her guests in their merriment, and, supported 
 at once by pride, rivalry, and the unbounded admiration of her courtiers, 
 which seemed to restore her confidence in her beauty, her gaiety dazzled 
 even in that universal blaze. Among the banqueters were some of the 
 most brightly imaginative, or profoundly politic of the great geniuses who 
 made the age illustrious; and yet the brilliant play and coruscations of 
 Lucrezia's wit, and the depth of some of those glittering remarks which 
 fell from her lips, were not surpassed by any. There was, indeed, 
 something of recklessness in the general effect— a tone of defiance and 
 mockery, — the lightning's power to scorch as well as shine ; but when 
 relapsing into what appeared to be its more natural moods it was scarcely 
 possible to resist the seductions of her eloquence. Even the doctrines 
 which, half in gaietv, and half in haughty acceptance of the character 
 assigned to her, she promulgated, full of poetical epicureanism, came 
 with so sweet an harmony from her lips that saints could not have wished 
 them mended. 
 
 Alfonso continued to play his own part, but he lost not a single word 
 nor gesture of the lady; and his regrets mcreased every moment with his 
 admiration. He observed loo, -and without the pleasure which men 
 should take in a friend's happiness, that her choicest smiles were showered 
 upon the young English noble, who, although he had usually a good deal 
 of attention to "spare from the fair sex to his own very handsome person, 
 seemed to have neither eyes, nor ears, nor understanding, for any form, 
 sound, or utterance but Lucrezia's. Scarcely past the childhood of love, 
 he was already in its dotage : his soul drank in the beams of her loveliness 
 as a palm-tree absorbs the fervid light of Africa— immoveable with pas- 
 sionate enjoyment I The Hospitaller's dissatisfaction was still more 
 intense when he remembered that Le Beaufort was still deceived with 
 regard to the real personage of the fairy who had treated him with such 
 freedom in the carnival • ^ 
 
 Gaietv and convivial enjoyment seemed the only feelings in Caesars 
 breast, although his demeanour to Lucrezia was not calculated to dispel 
 the ideas which were known to possess some of the guests. Even the 
 saturnine wit of Machiavelli t^ok lively colours in reflecting back that of 
 Lucrezia-, but the epicurean Bembo was in a paradise of delight, and de- 
 
224 C.4:SAR BORGTA. 
 
 fended himself but faintly ap;ainst an accusation which Machiavelli urged 
 on him, that he bad avowed a determination to make Donna Lucrezia as 
 immortal as Petrarca's Laura, in his verses. 
 
 " Inasmuch as hopelessness was Petrarca's muse, cartes I may boast 
 the same," said Bembo, warmly. " But would to Heaven that my verse 
 could sufficiently please your grace to obtain me even a glory so morn- 
 ful." 
 
 " Nay, Messcr canon, methinks this life is long enough to be unhappy 
 in," replied Lucrezia, with a playful sarcasm, in which there mingled the 
 sigh of a deeper feeling. 
 
 "Madama, it is impossible to escape your immortality," said Duke Gui- 
 dobaldo. "Even now, Messer Pietro has in his doublet, fairly penned 
 on a perfumed and flowered parchment, a matchless canzonet in your 
 praise." 
 
 " Let us hear it, Messer Pietro— since among you it is determined I 
 must appear at the bar of posterity," said Lucrezia, and after the usual 
 modest denials and defences, the fiscinated canon produced a canzone, 
 which we may quote as a specimen of the artificial court style in which 
 Messer Bembo prided himself in excelling. 
 
 CANZONE. 
 
 Immortals) when of old 
 Pandora with all gifis je did endow,— 
 Thj rainbow brow. 
 And eyes in which light lives. Love's moiher, thou; 
 Cupid, thy bow to form ihe rosy part 
 Whence arrowy smiles raigtil darl ; 
 Pallas, ihy wii; Diana, lh> chaste bliss 
 So perfect tt at it knows not that it is! 
 
 Who thought the gods, like sculptors skilled, 
 Could in a second mould improve the first, '•' 
 
 Making a lovelier m Lucrezia now? 
 
 The ancient fable more than truth? 
 
 Perfection perfected?— completion filled ? 
 
 Hebe give fresher than her freshest youth? 
 Bui with this bettered best we have a worsened worst! 
 For all the ills Pandora's box 
 Could yield— the thousand natural shocks — 
 More anguish work her subtle charms, 
 
 More intinite griefs and harms, 
 For, oh, antique Lucrelia! in thine 
 Lingered the comforter divine. 
 While our Pandora still to all denies 
 Hope! — without which love cannot cease— yet dies ! 
 
 During the recitation of this elaborate inspiration Lucrezia listened with 
 a kind of absent smile: and when it was concluded, and the poet expected 
 his meed of thanks, she began to utter them— but suddenly her voice 
 faltered,' and tears rushed in a sparkling shower to her ejes. 
 
 " Sannazzaro writes not thus of me I — and the syrens of his native Par- 
 thenope have taught him so sweet a warble to his verse, that posterity will 
 listen with a pleased ear," she said, laughing with disdain at her own 
 weakness, and yet with tears, so that her cheeks resembled carnations in 
 the sun after a shower. "And yet this is of a fair sound, too!— we would 
 fain have with us some of the masters of the future thoughts of men. — 
 Messer Niccolo, what deem you of your schoolfellow's verse?" 
 
 " As of my schoolfellow's, lady," replied Machiavelli, smiling. 
 
 " It is loo Lombard for Messer JNiccolo's tasLe. He permits no phrase 
 that cannot be found in bright Boccaccio," said the young cardinal of 
 Medici. 
 
 " These trifles lose their appreciation in ears that have been long out of 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 225 
 
 FloreQce, and grown familiar in their wanderings with all the other dia- 
 lects of Italy, Eminence," replied Niccolo, with a smile of peculiar mean- 
 ing to the brother of the exiled Pier. " But 1 marvel to hear your most 
 reverend lordship recommend Boccaccio so warmly, as an it were of as 
 profitable perusal as some holy breviary." 
 
 " Men look not in breviaries for good language, sir secretary, but good 
 divinity — though I have not heard you look in them for aught," replied 
 the young cardinal. 
 
 " What occasion, my lord, when we see how zealously the ministers 
 of religion preach it by example?"' said Machiavelli. 
 
 Csesar interrupted this sharp interchange by proposing a ballet, to 
 which Lucrezia languidly assented, and the brilliant company trooped out 
 into the meadow before the grotto. The religious knight, who was also 
 in heavy garniture, of course declined any share in the revelry ; but Paolo 
 Orsino eagerly offered himself as Lucrezia's partner. To his surprise and 
 evident chagrin she replied, in an absent manner, by declaring that she 
 had already danced so much that day as to be too weary ; and then ob- 
 serving a sudden glance which Alfonso cast at her, full of some strange 
 intelligence, Paolo retired in silent wrath. 
 
 Caesar's vigilant eye probably noted the whole scene, and perceiving 
 that the Orsino strolled discontentedly away from the revellers, he took 
 an opportunity, and quietly glided after him, into a singular winding 
 maze of myrtles. 
 
 Hearing steps the moody lover turned, and recognizing Csesar awaited 
 his approach, perhaps more in suspicion than in respect. 
 
 "Chance is my friend, Lord Paolo; I knew not by what means, 
 unobservedly, to win your private ear," said the duke, very graciously, 
 and even affectionately. "Our Lady be thanked I — I have now an oc- 
 casion for which I have long prayed, to convince your noble house of the 
 sincerity of my goodwill to it, and desire to conclude its projected 
 alliance with ours." 
 
 "Signor, it needs no assurances. — The sudden coldness of his holiness 
 to ourselves — his open scorns on our allies — the Lady Lucrezia's contempt 
 — are matters that speak for themselves!" replied Paolo, with infinite 
 bitterness. 
 
 " I do mistrust that it is yonder buckram from Ferrara that makes our 
 sire so stiff!" returned Csesar, and Paolo's start confessed how suddenly 
 the insinuation found entry into his mind. "Nay, I have more than 
 suspicion in warranty for believing that the Hospitaller's uncourtly re- 
 fusals are but to blind suspicion — that under veil of the foolish farce, at 
 which we all clapped hands to-night, Lucrezia gave this man an au- 
 dience, to listen to renewed proposals from Ferrara." 
 
 "Signor, if you deem so, and are sincere in your promises to us, you 
 will on the moment drive him back to his insolent master I" exclaimed 
 the Orsino, instantly and vehemently excited. 
 
 "I am not the master in Rome 5 moreover, this is a mission with 
 whose secret import only the pontiff and Lucrezia are acquainted, but we 
 all behold the effects," replied Caesar. "Yet for the sincerity of my 
 intents, this confidence may vouch ; and, moreover, I frankly avow that 
 if I saw nat my own interests in yours you should have sought it in some 
 other quarter. To be brielly tedious— I have conceived a great project, 
 to which the alliance with Ferrara would be fatal, and to succeed in which 
 I cannot hope without vours=" 
 
 15 - 
 
226 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 "I would refuse few matters short of my honour or life to have this 
 demonslraled, siyiior!" said Paolo, eayerly. 
 
 "To begin ilieti where — 'lis sirasige— vet few men do — even at the 
 beginning," said (iaesar ; •' 1 have discuvered (it was al Bracciano) that it 
 is in vain to hM|je to fuund a dominion among these hills of Homiilus ; — 
 frankly, your tusks defend your pork so well, that 'tis out of hope — though 
 that be uifinite — to make a roast of yel Patiencel — I shall come to a 
 point anon I 01 laie, his hot boline&s being angry with Ferrara. we were 
 wont to discourse tdgother how that, albeit usurped from the church, the 
 lands on ilie Po are as njuch to be found in the bequest of the Countess 
 Matilda (Heaven keep her silly ghosti) as any of those on Tiber, which ye 
 grasp so tightly ! Moreover, they lie as it were in one hug with my pos- 
 sessions in Romagna, and with Bologna— but I speak not of the sausage- 
 makers now — ihey are your friends ; — and thereupon flattering me with 
 fine toys of winning the ducal crown of Ferrara, to set upon these brows 
 of mine, by aid ot your potent alliance, — his paternity wiled me of my 
 consent into his project of marrying his daughter into your house — 
 which, I will confess, 1 had till then opposed as the ruin of all my hopes." 
 
 "My lord, if 1 have thought so, you will pardon the jealousies of one 
 who hath so priceless a good in chase, that he fears a rival even in the 
 stirring of the wind I" replied the Orsino, struck with the candour of the 
 avowal. 
 
 "But all is changed since these accursed Ferrarese set foot in Rome !" 
 exclaimed Caesar. "The pontitf discourses strangely with me.— And 
 wherefore delays he this marriage, to etiect which doubtless he invited 
 you to Rome?" 
 
 *'His holiness bids me win his heavenly daughter's consent, aud 1 have' 
 his own," returned the startled Orsino. 
 
 " Once he was not wont to ask her pleasure, but bade her do his— a 
 true Spanish father!" said Csesar. "But how progress you with the 
 lady? — By all mankind's I I think she gives your love but such frosty 
 sunshine as rather blasts than feeds the vine." 
 
 Paolo's dismal aspect acknowledged the truth of the observation. 
 
 "Ha, and it cannot be mere maiden modesty," continued Caesar, 
 laughing again. "So haughty-fair a dame, in whose veins flows the 
 aspiring Borgian blood, were like enough to prefer the sovereignty of 
 Ferrara even to your as potent vassalage. — Have we- not all remarked 
 how, despite his feigned slights, she still pours the full sunshine of her 
 kindness on this emissary?" 
 
 "He did her some service — more indeed by chance than will- — your 
 grace remembers our accursed chase of the bullalo?" said Paolo, hur- 
 riedly. " But if I thought — if 1 had proof of this treachery !" he continued 
 fiercely, and clutching the hilt of his dagger ; when Caesar interrupted by 
 gently grasping his arm, and whispering in a mild and reproaching tune, 
 "Signer — he saved your lifel" 
 
 "'Tistruel — 'tis verytrue!" returned the Orsino, somewhat ashamedly, 
 and relinquishing his hold. " But if he would lake it again— if he would 
 deprive me of the only hope which renders life pleasant to me — life' 
 sutterablel— hath he not cancelled the obligation?" 
 
 "But not on suspicions — when certainties themselves would scarcely 
 excuse— should men rush to extremities of such import I" said Caesar. 
 "Yet 1 own it were bitter to you if the envoy should succeed, (and 'tis 
 like enough, seeing how oft'ended bis holiness is with the insolence of 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 227 
 
 your allies — Vitellozzo, in esj3ecial), Avhy then, I say, it were no pleasing 
 office lor you, as ibe greatest of the Roman barons, to hold the haughty 
 briJegroom's stirrup as he niuunts to go to church." 
 
 " When ihiit huur comes— but your grace is pleased to make me your 
 fool aud muckl" exclaimed the Ursino. with flashing eyes. 
 
 " My good angel grant, if 1 have one, that 1 am not myself made 
 Fortunes'^ idiot in this malterl" said Caesar, speaking thickly, as if half 
 choked with indignation. 
 
 " Your highness is known to be a poet, and these fears may be but 
 visions ofyuur fertile imagination,'"' replied Paolo. 
 
 '• As 1 have tuld you, 1 but doubtfully affirm this man's purposes — for 1 
 repeat, my Paolo, 1 am not admitied into the core of iheir mysteries. — It 
 is in vam to deny what all the world hath long whispered, that his 
 holiness's heart is nut so entire with me as it was once; — the old man 
 dreams only of tbe aggrandizement of his dotage, his superb melon-flower, 
 as he calls her, — his daughter I" said Ccesar, with uuafl'ected bitterness. 
 "But will It nut seem strange if, after granting the envoy this interview 
 to-night, alone, in these gardens, — to-rnorruw she exhibits a sudden 
 change to coldness and distance with him? — Ask me not whence 1 derive 
 my tnoughi — but use your own eyes." 
 
 "' Alone I — in these gardens 1" muttered the Orsino. 
 
 " Tbe puwer is in your hands to confirm or remove our fears I" said 
 Csesar, tranquilly remarking the eflectof his insinuations. '" Use it ; — 
 for opportunity, as Miccolo will tell you, but that you love him not, hath 
 only a lock of hair in front whereby to be seized. Demand the immediate 
 fulfilment of the prouiised nuptials, backed by the overawing of ail your 
 mighty confederacy. • Let the pontifl' know that you have the power aud 
 dare to use it — in a short time it will melt away in your hands I" 
 
 The Urbino looked at Cassar, almost staggered into some belief in his 
 sincerity, above all cajoled by the allurement held out of the immediate 
 gratitication of the fierce passion which raged in his rich Roman blood — 
 for though we speak of love these epithets only can be applied to the 
 maddening desire which Lucrezia's supreme beauty kindled. 
 
 Still he replied with hesitation — '' Signor, you speak of dethroning one 
 of tbe most powerful and ancient of the princes of Italy, as an it were but 
 stretching out your hand to pluck a ripe fig I— And one in close alliance 
 with the victorious King of France I" 
 
 '■Aud therefore the more mine enemy I— unless 1 buy a return of the 
 favour 1 have forfeited by promoting the alliance with Ferrara, which 
 Louis hath always so earnestly sought, with inlenlto secure to such fauhful 
 friends all that should be mine — which his holiness will joyfully heap on 
 his daughter's husband I" returned Caesar, passionately. •'But the 
 republic of Florence is equally protected by France; and yet the friends 
 of Pier de* Medici do not despair to see the golden bails glistering once 
 more over the portals of the Signory I" 
 
 " But the friends of Messer Aiccoio of Florence are not likely to aid in 
 any such enterprize!" said Paolo, once more very dubiously. 
 
 " 1 desire only that men should believe in my actions— for words are 
 air, aud impossibilities are as easily shaped in them as aught feasible," 
 replied the subtiC Borgia. '• Let us keep from these revelleia, Paolo j — 
 the very leaves must nut bear me now, lest they whisper it again . If thou 
 wilt apply the test we have devised, — if we find ihe reality of our sus- 
 picions, — if thou wilt enter into this compact with me, that Ferrara shall 
 
228 C.^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 be mine,— as preliminaries and hostaf]jes of faith I consent that we will 
 unitedly restore ttie Medici in Florence, and compel the pontiff to ratify 
 the marria£;e between yourself and Lucrezia— if it be true that so wise a 
 politician sets store on such a trifle as a voman, more or less." 
 
 " These are still but words, my lord, in which you have well said that 
 impossibilities are possible," replied the Orsino. 
 
 " But I will give you things.— I was about to say— what was it?— I am 
 overwhelmed bv a sea of thoughts: — nay, not overwhelmed, but much 
 betossed," said'Caesar, musingly. " To "the matter 1— thou knowest how 
 valuable the city of Arezzo is^to the Florentines; what a Ihorn it was in 
 their sides until'they subdued it, — being so equally near to themselves and 
 their enemies the Yitelli, at Castello ?" ^^ 
 
 " I have not forgotten mine own name, signer, nor these matters,' 
 returned the Orsino, coldly. 
 
 " But thou knowest not that when I was warring in Tuscany, came to 
 me secretlv two of its chief citizens, with offer to raise the city against the 
 Florentines, if I would sanction the enterprize?" said Ca?sar. "Your 
 friends were then not mine, and I refused ; but with all my friendship 
 with Niccolo I betrayed not those worthy gentlemen, who still go about 
 in Arezzo with theirlieads on their shoulders." 
 
 'Something — "tis true— 1 have heard of this," said the Orsino, now 
 much shaken. 
 
 " A word of mine could re-stir this action — a warning that the republic 
 has ii.formation of their treason ripens it at once— if Vitellozzo would 
 promise aid from. Castello," continued the Borgia. " That word shall be 
 uttered as soon as 1 am convinced of the reality of my fears. A successful 
 revolt would rally all the partisans of the Medici,— the French will be soon 
 too busy in Naples to obstruct us,— and together we will invade Tuscany, 
 — restore Pier,— and thus mightily strengthened, think you the pontiff 
 would dare to refuse his daughter to your victorious arms?" 
 
 Artfully dovetailed as this project"^seemed to be, still if he had not been 
 blinded with passion the sagacious Orsino would probably have discerned 
 manv flaws or unstable junctions in it. As it was, he endeavoured to 
 adjourn any positive resolution by reverting to his doubts of the pretended 
 mission from Ferrara — the basis' on which the whole structure stood ; but 
 Csesar, craftily adapting himself to this mood, urged that he should make 
 the assay which he had proposed, and rouse all the confederacy to an 
 united and peremptory demand for the fulfilment of the understood 
 compact in the alliance'between their leader and the lady of the Borgias. 
 Unable of course even to conjecture the extraordinary discoveries which 
 Caesar imagined he had made, and which secretly actuated him, Paolo 
 could divirie no reason to suspect his sincerity in thus accelerating the 
 measures once so unpalatable to him, and for the dangerous confidence 
 reposed in his enemies. Finally, he consented at least to propose the 
 matter to the barons, so far as related to the expediency of demanding an 
 immediate conclusion of the marriage ; the rest being withheld until the 
 result was ascertained on which it depended. 
 
 In the midst of the discussion on this latter point, which passed chiefly 
 in whispers, the distant music of the revelry, which had hitherto never 
 ceased, suddenly cams to a pause which attracted Caesar's attention. 
 
 *■' Surelv Lucrezia has taken the pet at our long absence, and broken up 
 the festival I " he exclaimed, "Let us hasten tu learn ; and meenwhile, 
 in token of our new brotherhood, let us embrace, Paolo— and separate. 
 
C.flSAR BORGIA. 229 
 
 Is it possible! — do you wear steel beneath satin?" he continued, releasing 
 Paolo from a fraternal pressure. 
 
 "And take antidotes before all my meals — and sleep in chambers so 
 barred and guarded that even the invisible slayers of young Salerno can 
 hardly come at my throat!" replied the Orsino, with a gloomy glance at 
 the unruffled visage of Caesar. 
 
 "And you do well — for in truth the Romans have not misnamed my 
 sister — the Fatal Bride!" returned lie gaily. "But she is an apple to be 
 gathered on a holiday, even at the risk of c'asping the devil's burning hand 
 out of the leaves instead ! " 
 
 The Orsino smiled with an effort, and the new allies, wending their 
 way out of the maze, separated as they approached the light of the 
 revelry. 
 
 "And now," mused Caesar, with a long, scornful gaze after his late 
 companion; "and now — will he take our damsel in the raw of her late 
 strange discomfiture, and she will turn as restive as an unmanaged barb. 
 — And his holiness is not yet so subdued to the quality of milk that he 
 may not be stirred to anger by the first rude shock of the power he would 
 conflrm to his rebels. The Vitelli busied at Arezzo — the Orsini irritating 
 the French in attempting to reseat their cousin— the war of Naples im- 
 minent — the cards are once more in my hands ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " I have thought 
 Too long and darkly, till my brain became, 
 In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought, 
 A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame.'— Byron. 
 
 Mingling with the first group of revellers whom he encountered, Paolo 
 learned that Caesar's conjecture was well founded, so far as related to 
 Lucrezia, who had suddenly retired with a few persons of her suite, but 
 commanding that the festival should continue as long as it pleased those 
 who shared it. He looked around instantly for the Hospitaller, and per- 
 ceived him standing almost in the precise attitude and place where he had 
 left him ; but Sir Reginald had been chosen by the lady to escort her to her 
 litter. 
 
 All interest in the scene instantly vanished from Paolo's breast, and he 
 gave immediate orders for his retinue to assemble and depart, impatiently 
 waiting for the duke's reappearance to take his farewell. The bustle 
 seemed to startle the Hospitaller from a waking dream, and he also 
 hastened to quit the valley. 
 
 He had not gone far when he met Le Beaufort, returning from his 
 honourable service— and, contrary to all custom, so lost in thought that 
 when Alfonso suddenly paused in his way he started back as if he had not 
 in the least observed his approach. 
 
 "Soh! — her favour extended not so far — as yet — as to invite you to 
 accompany her to Rome ? " said Alfonso, with a deep pang as he observed 
 Le Beaufort's somewhatguilty blush. "And yet your close conference this 
 hour might have settled a weightier matter." 
 
 " I pray you jest not thus with me. my lord, and brother-ia-armti! " 
 replied Sir Reginald, testily. 
 
230 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " What, brother Reginald! that hadst ever a hawk's eye for the meanest 
 game, dost pretend thou wouldst have denied ihis peerless dame so small 
 a request?" said Alfonso, with an ironical laugh. 
 
 "No, nor my heart's blood, if she demanded it!" said Le Beaufort, 
 enthusiastically. " But you speak, my lord, of the betrothed of my friend ; 
 — yet, in good faith, she might have honoured me to be her escort, but 
 that it pleases her, late as the hour is, to visit her confessor in his hermi- 
 tage on some hill they call Aventine,— and takes with her as few attendants 
 as possible," 
 
 "Indeed, indeed I— why, yes, 'tis late ! " said Alfonso, somewhat wildly. 
 "Midnight, I think; — what wouldst thou give, brother, to be this lady's 
 confessor? " 
 
 "Nay, that office were more to your taste, being a Knight of St. John," 
 replied Le Beaufort, quite unconscious of the Hospitaller's insmualion. 
 "But yet, by'r Lady ! were it not for Paolo, I would give the whole world 
 to be anything ihat'never left her !— To be a flower in her bosom, though 
 I sicklied and died there!— a bird to sing in a cage when she was at 
 'broidery! — a hound to lie at her feet, and be patted by her eider-down 
 hand!— a pillow on which to rest her warm cheek!— And, oh, how 
 lovingly I would press around the dint of its gracious rest! " 
 
 "Let Paolo look to it 5 — for thou wilt smother his betrothed, if sorcery 
 be not incapable of the transformation ! " said Alfonso, stung at heart, and 
 determined if possible to takeaway what be more than concluded to be a 
 groundwork for these rapturous fancies. " And tell me truly, brother, did 
 not the Fairy Morgana offer thee some such assistance? " 
 
 Le Beaufort's ingenuous countenance coloured again, as he replied with 
 hesitation, "She promised— success inall things, and to all men,lhiUthey 
 dared undertake— and invited me like the rest to visit her in her Palace of 
 Fallacy." 
 
 "Shame on thee, then, that had not the courage to remind her of her 
 promise— as perchance she meant when she made you her escort to- 
 night ! " returned Alfonso, with singular vehemence. 
 
 "Shame on thee to speak thus of so honourable a lady— but that 'tis in 
 jest," said Le Beaufort, also warmly. " Such fair sayings are but meant as 
 the pace-eggs which we colour beautifully in my land, "to crush at Easter 
 in mock lilts. — Things not to beremembered. — And yet it was strange how 
 anxiously she inquired how men liked her pageant and her sayings — would 
 have me describe her look, her gestures, her very words— though in faith 
 and troth it made me redden like a winter-berry to repeat some! " 
 
 "Nay, then, thou wert not so mere a beginner as to deny her the 
 opening which her promise gave to offer — fulftment? " replied the irritated 
 knight. 
 
 " Not purposely — it stumbled forth, I know not how," said Sir Reginald, 
 with perfect integrity of look. "And we both but laughed at the quaint 
 fancy of it— and it was then that you saw her whisper to me, for I noted 
 your eye upon us — and she bade me tell you the story, with a mock that 
 she desired to know what the fairy had promised to you, as she meant to 
 keep all the pronnses of Morgana "herself." 
 
 Alfonso looked incredulously at Sir Reginald for an instant, and then 
 with a heart which beat in thick throbs, he exclaimed almost with con- 
 tempt, "Boy! anddidst thou miss the meaning of that!— Co to, goto-, thou 
 wilt not understand her when — but it matters not ; the Orsino is fortunate 
 in such a rival." 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 231 
 
 "By the bonny broom, though — if one had kissed me as thou re- 
 portedst the girl of these groltoes — nymphs is it ye call them? — kissed 
 thee — in faith, I had had more to boast of, or I had not boasted so much," 
 exclaimed the young knight, vehemently. "Oh, fie, fiel — in England, 
 kiss and tell goes to a warning rhyme." 
 
 " Do thou be secret then of thy farther fortunes; she is no icicle thou 
 hast to deal with! " said Alfonso, shuddering with suppressed fury. " Go 
 now to thy friend, as I will to mine inn, which I use for my covering and 
 convenience." 
 
 With this covert gibe the ancient brothers-in-arms separated with much 
 less than their usual cordiality — Le Beaufort the more indignant perhaps 
 at the suspicions insinuated, laecause his throbbing pulses half confessed 
 that they were not unfounded. Alfonso meanwhile hurried ou, forming 
 a new project which his recent success in a similar one suggested, for he 
 was now animated by a frenzy which no consideration of danger or diffi- 
 culty, or even right or decency, could resist. One of his most terrible 
 suspicions had been overthrown, but with such confirmation of a worse 
 — the worst I — as Caesar's black jealousy bestowed; yet still Alfonso felt 
 an imperative necessity to obtain positive proof to give his soul the least 
 hope of calm. Lucrezia had gone to her confessor, and remembering the 
 circumstances of the locality, Alfonso followed. 
 
 He made such good speed that when he came within sight of the gi- 
 gantic ruins of Caracalbi's Baths, he perceived by the advancing torches 
 which the horsemen of h^r guard carried that Lucrezia's retmue had not 
 reached them. Approaching nearer he observed them halt near the ruins, 
 and in a few moments the lady, mufQed in a dark Spanish mantilla, des- 
 cended from the liiter, received by a bobbing, quivering monk, in whom 
 Alfonso easily recognised Fra Biccocco. Escorted by him she walked 
 hastily into the ruins, disappearing soon in their intricacies ; and recalling 
 all the observations he had made on his former visit, Alfonso wound his 
 way from the rear to the same point, so that none of the retinue, who 
 were laughing and criticising the festival among themselves, discerned 
 him. Thence he rapidly threaded his way to the chamber in which he 
 had shared Fra Biccocco's hospitality, through which the lady and her 
 guide had just passed ; boldly followed into the opening from which 
 Bruno's cell was reached, and laid down among the Img grass, befriended 
 by the darkness, until Biccocco descended from his accoujplished task, 
 returning into his abode proper. Alfonso then sprang up, and in a few 
 instants was at his former post of observaiion, looking into Fra Bruno's 
 hermitage or laboratory, whichever it was. 
 
 The confessor himself had beenas far from anticipating one arrival as the 
 other, which those who had seen him some time before it happened would 
 have acknowledged. For hours he had been seated at his large stone table, 
 which was covered with open V(.)lumes of ponderous manuscript, nearly 
 all in the learned or in eastern languages, perusing what seemed likely to 
 prove an addition to their number — a huge sheet of parchment, headed 
 in large characters, which Biccocco in his devote admiration had care- 
 fully illuminated, 
 
 "Be flracbcsttnattone." 
 
 For some minutes the theologian had leaned himself exhaustedly back 
 in his chair, but still holding his pen in hand, as if meditating farther ex- 
 ploits. 
 
232 C.tSAR BORGIA. 
 
 " This then, was the thesis," he mused half aloud, after the manner ot 
 solitary thinkers, as if essaying the etfect on themselves of their own ar- 
 guments. " ' Pr.edestinatio necessitat' — and yet—' bjusTus non est 
 Deus.' Fate is inevitable, but God is just; these are the terms. Sanctus 
 Augustinus, ad Sixtum, dixit — " and then he paused in too rapid a series 
 of thought for words. " Yes, Saint Augustin said it ; — and is it a demon 
 or an angel in thy soul, Bruno, which would have thee believe it ? Yanitas 
 vanitatum I — vainest of all sciences — science of words — theology! And 
 do they hang on my lips for the echo of heavenly oracles— echoes only of 
 the dreams of men- — when in every human heart— no, no, let us not fook 
 in the heart for the will of God! It is not there — it is — where ? In these 
 musty parchments, or in yonder sweet air, which wooes me forth to re- 
 joice in the beauty of the night ? Get thee behind me, Satan ! — what have 
 I to do with beauty in any form ? — Satan, 1 spit at thee. 
 
 " Meritum hominis nullum est : — why then, — yes, it were just if man's 
 offences were also nothing — not to be imputed to him — more than his de- 
 servings! And if it was eternally thus — eternally damned or eternally 
 saved — follows it not— wherefore make this short pause of existence a 
 part of the futurity of hell, if it must be — that might be at least a short 
 glimpse of Heaven ? Wherefore, Bruno— wretch, monster ! w^hat 
 devil is whispering thee I Yet let us not be afraid of reason — or, fiend, 
 dost thou take its form ? Let us reason. Is love in itself a crime? Deus 
 amor est .'— no. \Yhat, then, is criminal in love? — Priest, answer. But 
 wert thou not first a man? And what is a man, mere man? A beast! 
 from which degradation thou hast recused thyself — to sit on a frozen emi- 
 nence, and see mankind rejoice in the warm valleys beneath. Yet to be 
 inwisdom as a god — this is something I Yea, this is something — " 
 
 He paused, and the perfect stillness of the desert Aventine permitted 
 some breathings of the remote music of the revelry in the valley of Egeria 
 to come to his hearing; and after listening for a moment, he arose and 
 traversed his cell wdih a rapid step. 
 
 " They are around her now in revelry— they gaze upon her with their 
 gloating eyes — 'perchance her warm blood kindles too in the contagion ! 
 — but no, no, when that befalls I — What is it to thee, Fra Bruno ?'^ Not 
 only tyranny took — 0, slave, thou didst abdicate all right I Measureless 
 sacrifice I — and yet again abandonest the task for which it was decreed ! 
 What task? — When Heaven itself takes his part! — When thou darest not 
 proclaim its behests, and he holds up his hands to stay the thunder, and it 
 pauses I— Let us to our words again ; let us not think. Yet at the worst, 
 torture immortal were not too great a penalty to pay if — old man ! — ema- 
 ciated friar I — what is this thou ravest ? Even the conclusion of the thesis : 
 IVon perseverantes usque in finem non sunt prcedestinati ! — that is all." 
 
 At this [)oint, when the theologian was about to continue his disquisi- 
 tion, having resumed his pen and place, voices were audible, and Biccocco 
 entered, having scarcely time to announce Donna Lucrezia ere she fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 "A fair even, father, — be not startled; — I was returning from my 
 gardens of Egeria, and I have brought your altar some of its choicest 
 flowers," she said, in a reverential and timid voice, producing at the same 
 lime a superb nosegay. " Moreover, I would speak a few words alone 
 with you — Father Biccocco, with your good allowance." 
 
 The worthy friar, looking at her as she threw back her mantle on 
 her shoulders with a goggle of intense admiration , and almost wonder 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. IZo 
 
 that there could be anything so beautiful, respectfully prepared to obey. 
 
 "Biccoccol— I command tbee, stayl" exclaimed Fra Briino, starting 
 up. "I would say — nay, daughter, is it thou? — I knew not at first — 
 Biccocco, I bade thee let none trouble me — but, tears? — What ails our 
 gentle penitent? Hath she forgotten a whole string of aves? Or what 
 heavier offence ? It was but yesterday 1 counselled with thee. But a 
 fewhours is much to a woman : — wherefore glow thy cheeks thus with this 
 lire of shame? — Biccocco, leave us." 
 
 "Father, I have sinned— yes, in these few hours have grievously 
 sinned," said the bright penitent, melting into a passion of tears as soon 
 as the restraint of Biccocco's presence was removed, and little aware of the 
 listener who succeeded. " I have sinned — but I repent, and even in mine 
 offence have found its chastisement." 
 
 "Art thou then well assured that it is repentance— not regret?" replied 
 the monk. "Thy sex doth oft mistake one for the other. But what is 
 the matter— surely it might not hinder thee of thy needful rest— might 
 bide the light, to listen to— for, indeed, thou art now strangely pale !" 
 
 "1 have been mad, my father I — I know not what I have done! — I 
 dare not look at you and tell you ; let me arrange my flowers in your 
 chalices while I speak," replied Lucrezia, hiding her face in the fragrant 
 bundle. 
 
 " Not so — the eye and look oft confesses more than the apologising 
 lip," returned the confessor, now evidently startled. "Kneel in thy 
 wonted place ; no other attitude becomes thy" dignity or mine; for either 
 thou kneelest to the servant of God, or debasest thyself before the brother 
 of man." 
 
 Lucrezia complied instantly, and the Penitentiary throwing himself 
 back in his chair, fixed his eyes on the crucifix before him, without even 
 glancing at his penitent. 
 
 "Father, you — you warned me — would I had taken heed!" she began, 
 still weepingly. " I had not suffered this shame— but my vanity !— it was 
 but my vanity. You warned me of all the ills that would happen — by all 
 that have happened — never even to look at him again. — How wicked it 
 was, 1 knew, for the Knights of St. John are almost priests I — but it stung 
 my proud soul to the quick to think that he should despise and publicly 
 scorn me!" 
 
 "Of whom speak we now? What is all this, daughter?" said Fra Bruno, 
 turning very pale, and glancing with a degree of fierceness mingled with 
 astonishment at the penitent. 
 
 "The Hospitaller who saved my life. — Ah, father, you know not what 
 women feel when — the cold Knight of St John, my father !" 
 
 "Well, what of him ? — thou hast not had him harmed for his faithful- 
 ness to his vows?" returned the Dominican, hurriedly. 
 
 " Harmed ! I would rather myself perish in some very cruel way than 
 any ill should befall him," exclaimed the penitent. 
 
 "Then, indeed, thou hast committed a deadly crime! — A darker 
 adultery of the soul I" said Fra Bruno, wildly. "Nay, my child, I speak 
 too harshly now. But what hast thou more to say? Time wears, and 
 this suft cheek should be upon the down, or its sweetness will not blow 
 so freshly as some of its rivals at dawn. Thou seest, this hermitage from 
 which thou wouldst lure me yields me some recollections to brighten its 
 desolation. — What is it thou wouldst say?" 
 
 " How shall 1 say it — that am ashamed to think it?" said Lucrezia, hesi- 
 
234 CJESAR BORGIA, 
 
 tatingly. '^ But yes, yes, thou didst behold — thou wilt remember — in the 
 carnival to-day — " 
 
 "They said thou wert the actress in sooth of an evil part; and but that 
 thou didst it perchance to flaunt (he Orsini, it pained me, indeed, to wit- 
 ness thy folly with the English boy," said Fra Bruno. 
 
 "The fairy deceived youthen as well as others. — I know not why, as- 
 suming my part, and so completely as to deceive the Orsini themselves," 
 replied Lucrezia, clasping her soft bands on the bony one with which the 
 friar gras|)ed the arm of his chair. "But be not very angry with me, 
 father! — I played even a worse — oh, far worse I — I feared, alas I that you 
 knew me '. — remember you not that wicked, wicked ballerina?" 
 
 Fra Bruno was for a moment silent, and then said in a cold undertone, 
 as if endeavouring to recollect, " Methinks 1 saw some such vessel of in- 
 famy—some such unhappy lostness— lasciviously disporting to win the 
 gaze of a ruifianly mob at the Capitol." 
 
 " IVay, now you wrong her— you wrong me, Fra Bruno I — lasciviously, 
 what is that?" exclaimed Lucrezia, with some indignation. "What did I 
 do to merit such a word?" 
 
 "Thou! — daughter, thou! — what ails thee? — are we awake?" said 
 Bruno, snatching his hand furiously away, 
 
 "Nay. dearest father, nay, but hear me?" continued Lucrezia, in spite 
 of his wrath regaining his hand, and holding it between her own, "I 
 intended but to win him to — to some foolish meeting — wherein I intended 
 to expose him to the just laughter of my court." 
 
 "A wise project;— and whither, pray you, Eve's true descendant?" said 
 the monk, more mildly, 
 " In the grotto of Egeria." 
 
 "The grotto of Egeria I — and so he refused thy lures, and thou art 
 vexed to have escaped perdition?" returned the Penitentiary. 
 "Nay, — for he came." 
 
 " He came!— jest not in such a matter as this! — thou knowest his cer- 
 tain destruction— new horrors— more blood — rave not, my daughter, 
 madness like this — for again the direful gulf will open! — thou knowesl I 
 have cause, too, to love — to wish this man well ; — at least this one!" said 
 Bruno, somewhat incoherently, 
 
 " 'Tis that emboldens me — and the immediacy of the danger, said 
 
 Lucrezia. "I must needs avow my whole offence. He came and " 
 
 "Why dost thou pause?— and what? Daughter, what means this 
 silence?" said the friar, now^ so much agitated, that, but that she was 
 equally so, Lucrezia must have observed it. 
 
 "He came— contenjned — despised me, mistaking indeed for another — 
 but not the less despising me in both persons," wept Lucrezia. "And 
 then — oh, my father, I have confessed to thee things — but never aught so 
 strangely mad! — because that 1 would have him share some offence to 
 justify the clamour I had provided — scarcely I know how to believe it now 
 myself. I did to his— brow— what I now do to your hand!" And she 
 kissed it with profound reverence and many tears. 
 
 "Thou! — and yet again, thou! — not yet a proclaimed harlot!— not yet 
 set in the first line of the Book of Shame"!— thou, a woman, an all-wooed 
 beauty, a Borgia !" shouted the confessor, convulsively starting at every 
 word of his own climax. " Begone, begone, — tell me no more— madden 
 me not with the rest — the certainty of thy damnation! — Begone! — revel 
 out the dream, and wake in the everlasting flames! Begone! — or some- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 235 
 
 thing prompts me that it were even now a holy and an acceptable work 
 to slop thy downward rush — even — even with death I" 
 
 '•^ly father I what mean you?— what say you?" exclaimed Lucrezia, 
 colouring fervently. " Oh, indeed, indeed, your suspicion shows me all 
 my ignominy. But, dearest my father I— even then — then— he did but 
 suffer because he wotted not in the darkness mine intent." 
 "The darknessi" 
 
 "Yes— but I know how he despised and hated me for it — when after- 
 wards he made me a jest and scorn to all by relating how it was snatched 
 from him — how he would have repulsed it." 
 
 "it is impossible I — it is in^possible as to clasp the plague till it is 
 rotten, and share not the contagion I" exclaimed the monk. "Woman, 
 thou mockest me— but, remember, not me alone. His brow? Thou 
 couldst not reach it unless it bent to thee ; — darest thou prevaricate with 
 Heaven ?" 
 
 "Father, 1 said — said I not his lips? — though indeed his brow would 
 better have contented me— but so it chanced," said Lucrezia, shrinking 
 with a mixture of shame and fear from Fra Bruno's eyes. 
 
 " Why then — let us have the rest of the truth, since we improve thus in 
 there-telling," said the friar, with wonderful bitterness. "Hope not to 
 deceive me I— though ihou art of woman's perfect stature, but that he bent 
 to meet thy shamelessness, this might not be." 
 
 "Deem you so, father, — is it certain?" said the penitent, with an eager- 
 ness so natural and yet so betraying, that though she could not repress it, 
 the manifestation renewed her confusion. 
 
 "1 am of his stature," exclaimed the Dominican, half rising his tall, 
 attenuated figure — and then sinking back with a low laugh of unutterable 
 self-derision. 
 
 " Thou, father I — ay, but for thy clerkly bend, — his head is loftier, and 
 set as firmly as that of Mars !"' she replied. "But wilt not thou forgive me 
 — wilt not thou at least return v;ith a kiss of pardon this of penitence?" 
 
 And once more she raised the friar's hand with touching humility to her 
 lips. 
 
 " Of pardon I — no, no, no ; go, thou art very vile — what— but just from 
 that unhallowed scene! — Begone, I say I — go to thy sirel — only his su- 
 premacy can forgive sins multiplied like thine till the condemning angel 
 closes the record, knowing thou hast incurred the worst I Begone ! " 
 
 "What rave^t thou now? Indeed, but now thou ravest, Friar Brunol 
 Priest, what meanest thou now?" exclaimed Lucrezia, starting up with 
 sudden indignation. " Thou to whom 1 have confessed all— thou to taunt 
 me thus I What mean you ? Then 1 will to him myself and warn him of 
 his danger — for during all the meeting the Duke of Romagoa was con- 
 cealed, and watched us from one of the ivy hollows in the cave." 
 
 "The Duke of Romagnal" exclaimed the friar, with evident amaze- 
 ment. " Why then — nay, all is well ; and yet how came he there ^" 
 
 " He did believe— or feigned — nay— he believed that I was really the 
 wandering thing I seemed — overheard my messenger — 1 know not what," 
 said Lucrezia, tremulously. " But 'tis therefore I would have the Hospi- 
 taller warned against Caisar's malice and revenge." 
 
 "Caesar were not like to cherish either if it be true that the knight 
 treated thee with insult and scorn," replied the friar. 
 
 "Yea,— but himself betrayed that I— I have told all, father; but me- 
 thought the knight would scarcely have revealed — which else Caesar could 
 
236 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 scarcely have suspected— my marvellous madness, when as I said—" 
 
 "It needs not— I have heard it," interrupted the monk hurriedly. 
 " But dost thou Iruly repent?— does thai fair bosom heave now with the 
 freshening winds of penitence, or ihe ground-swell of a passion which 
 hath exhausted itself even by its own violence?" 
 
 "1 will undertake what penance pleases you, father; but — I would fain 
 that he were warned of danger," replied the lady, evasively, but kneeling 
 again with earnest entreaty at the friar's feet. " I would — if it must be- 
 that he should quit Rome." 
 
 "It is in vain— I have already exhausted persuasion on him— he hath 
 an errand in Rome which he will fulfil at every risk," replied "Fra Bruno, 
 musingly. 
 
 "And, father, dost thou also know it?" exclaimed Lucrezia, with a 
 startled expression. 
 
 "And who knows — being the marvellous man that he is — but that 
 Heaven intends, by pouring on thee its bitterest vial of love despised, to 
 make thee willingly take to the shelter I have so often pointed out to thee 
 from the storms of the world— which thy fatal beauty — which thy ill re- 
 nown — which the crimes thou hast caused, and mayest still — the vasty 
 projects to which thou art the stumbling-block— all would urge thee into?" 
 continued Ihe monk, absorbedly. " Know it!— what know you, daughter? 
 Surely thou dost not know his purposes in Rome?" 
 
 " Himself has told me — the envoy of Ferrara — to prove against me — to 
 prove me to be — learned father, if there be any word would raise the 
 fiend,— and yet he comes to prove 1 am the thing!" exclaimed Lucrezia, 
 cowering her face on the monk's hand. 
 
 " Take comfort, daughter-, he cannot," replied the Dominican, bend- 
 ing over her, and speaking in so low a tone that the devouring listener 
 could not distinguish the words. 
 
 " But, my father, you forgive me?" said Lucrezia, looking up with a 
 somewhat comforted visage, but suddenly starting as she met the gaze of 
 Fra Bruno. He was silent. 
 
 "Speak, you frighten me!— answer me, father! — is it too great an 
 offence— what penance — Blessed Lady!— is he struck with death!— 
 Biccocco !" 
 
 " Peace, peace, nothing ails me ! — fasting, and too long thought and 
 this anguish !— Salve me, Jesu!— Thy first'husband, Lucrezia !— leave 
 me : you poison the very air ! — leave me, terrible woman ! — Darest thou 
 — with all thy passions still palpitating thus— Oh, Lucrezia !— Light eddies 
 round me!— To stifle me thus— Domme, an me reliquisti ?—liesiUliM 
 fiend ! begone." 
 
 " Forgive me, father !— dearest father !— or I shall never sleep again," 
 said Lucrezia, with a caressing and supplicating gesture, in evident and 
 complete ignorance of the nature of the Dominican's agitation, and af- 
 frighted by the idea that the magnitude of her offence had kindled it. 
 
 "Forgive thee!— heavenly Lucrezia! Some sign now! Now let the 
 thunder descend or—" The raving exclamation was cut short by a sound 
 not altogether unresembling that imprecated : a large block of ruin, 
 dislodged by a sudden and violent movement of the unseen auditor, rolled 
 with a hollow rumble into the vaults below. 
 
 The Dominican started up from the benediction which he was bending 
 forward to pronounce— almost dashed Lucrezia away— rushed to his altar 
 —and throwing himself prostrate before the divine symbol which adorned 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 237 
 
 it, "Blessed be Thy name for ever and for ever I — Gloria Domino I Gloria 
 in Kxcelsis! Praise ye the Lord I — He saves in the furnace of fire?" he 
 exclaimed in a frantic ecstasy of devotion, and for some minutes was lost 
 in prayer too intense for words. 
 
 Lucrezia meanwhile, completely panic-struck and astonished, arose 
 and gazed at the friar in mute dismay, and when at length he raised 
 himself and turned towards her— but that he kept his own eyes steadily 
 fixed on the ground, the womanly unconsciousness of her whole look and 
 attitude might have shown him that the apology he uttered was scarcely 
 necessary — while it utterly clashed with all Alfunso's dominant ideas. 
 
 " Thiiik nought of this — but as of a grief which— thy soul is infinitely 
 precious in my love ! — but go now ; go, Lucrezia, — 1 will devise some 
 fitting penance at more leisure," he said, confusedly. 
 
 "But, father- my request?" 
 
 " Ay, truly— I will renew my warning. — His safety is dear to me too," 
 he replied in an altered tone. "But meanwhile, do thou continually 
 cherish these recollections— which methinks may stir a woman and a 
 Borgia to more than repay such wrong, — that as one he hath despised 
 thee, as the other seeks to overwhelm thee with eternal infamy I" 
 
 " Yes, yes, and I wnll hate him — hate him as he hales me," said Lu- 
 crezia, sobbing audibly as she once more shrouded her face in her 
 mantle. " Henceforth I will but think of him to execrate my own folly 
 equally with his merciless arrogance — to despise him as he despises rrje." 
 
 Smiling with austere melancholy, Fra Bruno raised a lamj) to escort 
 the lady out, and Alfonso had scarcely time to hide himself among the 
 ruins ere they appeared descending them — the friar anxiously watching 
 every step of his penitent down the steeps. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " Solca neir onde, e nell' arene semina, 
 E tenia i vaghi venti in rete accopliere, 
 Chi fonda sue speranze in cor di femmina."— Sannazzaro. 
 
 He ploughs in the waves, and sows in the sand, 
 
 And strives to catch the vagabond winds in nets. 
 Who founds his hopes in woman's heart or hand: 
 
 The festival on the following day was diversified with a stupendous 
 hull fight, given by the Orsini in their square of Navona ; and thither the 
 jubilants trooped in masses. The Orsini displayed their magnificence 
 and wealth to a boundless excess in the exhibition of a sport in which 
 the Spanish tastes of Alexander delighted, and in which their heir was 
 famous for his dexterity. The whole square was built up to the first 
 story with seats covered with rich cloths, surmounted by canopies and 
 banners, above which were mostly balconies of the inhabitants, still 
 'more superbly decorated. A certain space of the square was railed off 
 for the populace, whose curiosity despised the danger of an inrush from 
 the terrible brutes who were to make the sport — not unfrequently in the 
 manner of Samson diverting the Philistines. The station prepared for 
 the papal court was of extraordinary splendour — a scaffolding hung wiih 
 scarlet silk, in the centre of which was a pavilion of the same richly 
 
238 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 coloured velvet, and lined inside with white satin, flowered all over with 
 gold, and surrounded with network curtains ol' gold thread to preserve 
 the degree of incognito which Alexander considered due to his double 
 character oF priest and sovereign. 
 
 Full ol" gloom and dissatisfaction, and with no thought of taking part 
 in the scene, still the Hospitaller could not hiuder himself from joining 
 the throngs that hastened thither, but keeping secluded from observation 
 among the masses ol the vulgar who crowded the area. On his arrival he 
 found all the points of view occupied, the pontifical court blazing in all 
 its splendour in its gallery ; and within the transparent pavilion Lucrezia, 
 surrounded principally ' by ladies, sal with the ponlift"— laughingly 
 discouising with a cavalier, who was almost the only one admitted, 
 Sir Reginald le Beaufort! Alfonso inquired, and le;irned' that the English 
 knight had alleged a want of skill in the pastime— and yet he remembered 
 to have seen him bear away great applauses in it, and that there was once 
 nothing he loved better than danger and triumph of any sort! 
 
 The arena was strewed deeply with while sand, laid with rose-water, 
 showered from the great fountain as often as the dust began to rise; and 
 it was now covered with groups of horsemen on steeds of fiery mettle, 
 bedizened with the colours of their mistresses and rich embroideries. 
 Among these Laisar and the Orsino were easily distinguished,— the former 
 arrayed in black velvet decked with fiame-coloured ribands, it was sup- 
 posed, in honour of the Orsini; the latter in wliite, Lucrezia's colour, 
 mingled with his own flame-lints and green, the colour of hope and 
 spring. Plumes of corresponding hues set in knots of diamonds^ short 
 cloaks, white boots, and gilt spurs, with each a short sword and a quiver 
 of darts at his embroidered girdle, and a light spear in hand — completed 
 the accoutrements of the bull-fighters. 
 
 Sixtc-en cavaliers, including these chieftains, were presented by the 
 marshal of the course before the pavilion of Lucrezia, to request permission 
 to fight the bulls, in honour of herself and the ladies present. Sir Reginald 
 opened the golden net, while Lucrezia and her attendant daraoisells 
 smilingly saluted the cavaliers. Alfonso noticed that the Orsino's homage 
 was received with coldness, while Sir Reginald's open visage beamed all 
 over with delight; and unluckily, Paschmo, who was among the crowd, 
 called out so as to be heard by all in his neighbourhood— ''Ho, ho! 
 yonder net it seems was not wrought by Vulcan, yet it has as pretty a pair 
 within!" 
 
 " 1 give you fair leave, cavaliers, and wish you victory," said Lucrezia, 
 handing a large iron key to the Orsino, and speaking with some hesita- 
 tion. "But how chances it the Knight of St. John is not among you? 
 Does he fear to lose on bulls the renown he won on bufialoes? — Or 
 reserves his strength to win the prize against us to-morrow?" 
 
 "Your grace probably knows better than I — I take little note of his 
 movements, which are all under clouds and secrecy," replied Paolo, 
 moodily. Lucrezia bent haughtily, and the cavaliers returned to their 
 places. The are.ia was cleared of all but those who were to engage in 
 the conflict ; the assailants took their allotted stations, lances were couched; 
 all was silence and expectation, while Paolo delivered lo the marshals ihe 
 key of the massive byre or stable of unwrought limber, at a part of the 
 square near the palace of the Massimi, in which the bulls were confined. 
 To heighten the interest of the spectacle and the glory of the combatants, 
 four of these ferocious beasts were ordered to be let out at once, although 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 239 
 
 more than one was scarcely ever ventured upon ; and renowned as were 
 all the cavaliers for dexterity in the sport, men awailed ihe entrance of 
 the bulls with a vague feelujg of horror, nimghug with the absurbing 
 delight uf tlie expeiuaiion. bo fierce were the^e creatures known lu be 
 thai even their keepers, alter unlocking the door, anJ throwing it open, 
 raised ihe [jurlcuihs whicb still intervened, from above. Then with a 
 dreadlul elash of trumpets and kettledrums, a hideous roar as the blaze of 
 day and of ihe gorgeous scene fell upun tlieir eyes, four prodigious bulls, 
 all coal-black and covered wiih shaggy hair, rushed forih inio the arena. 
 The excuement of the speciacle oveicuine all Alexander's scruples, and he 
 was now seen himself holding back the golden net, and hanging from his 
 gilded seal with much more of the aspect of the Spanish Cid than of a 
 sovereign priest, exuliiug in the terrible revel. 
 
 It is astonishing how unmieresled the Hospitaller continued in the 
 spectacle, amidst ihe universal uproar of delight and frenzied enthusiasm 
 with which It was watched. He shared not the thundering acclaim which 
 saluted the Orsino, when at the cuntinual hasard of Ins life, and by 
 displaying a marvellous horsemanship, he wreaihed the horns of one of 
 the most luriuus animals with Lucrezia s colours; when Cajsar, at a single 
 blow, struck off the vast head of a Calabrian bull 5 when pressing his 
 lance into the stubborn tlankof one, his horse reared so high that it stood 
 bolt uprignt, aAid he still sat it, laughing at the cries of terror among the 
 ladies, and withdrawing his lance at tlie very instant when the strength 
 of the bull became irresistible,— vaulted, steed and all, over its deadly 
 rush I 
 
 INot satisfied with these displays, both Caesar and the Orsino atlerwards 
 dismounied, and fought on loot, in company with a crowd of humbler 
 combatants, who were exposed to much more danger; and inconlesiably 
 the two carried off the glory of the day from all their competitors, and so 
 equally that, but that La^sar gracefully waived his claim in favour of his 
 friend, Paolo, the judges would have been troubled how to have decreed 
 the prize, li was a sword of the richest workmanship, the sheaih being 
 wrought in open gold work, with martial arabesques; and with this prize 
 in his hand, nearly exbaasted, covered with dust, but wilh a heart swelling 
 with hope, the Orsino knelt before Lucrezia to present it to her as the lady 
 of his loveaud chivalry. 
 
 The warm commendations of Alexander, who seldom restrained the 
 instant's impulse, added to his satisfaction; and Lucrezia herself received 
 the gill wiih a more cloudless smile than she often bestowed un her wooer. 
 But with a much more sunny glance at Sir Reginald she extended her 
 while and jewelled hand, and drew the sword wUich the Orsino held by 
 the scabbard, though with some difficulty, on account of its weighl; and 
 the populace, strucK by the contrast of her feminine loveliness with the 
 gleam and terror of the weapon which she laughingly attempted to wield, 
 raised an universal shout of joy and interest. It was, perhaps, for the 
 first time on that day that Lucrezia had observed the Huspiialler, ai least to 
 his consciousness; iiui at this moment her eye flashed upon him, and 
 with the utmost gaiety of tone she replied to the Orsino, ••To-morrow, 
 wilh this good blade will I duj Knights of Love all who are willing to 
 undertake nis cause against recusauis— chiefly the Knight ot St. John. 
 Meanwhile, since 'tis something too heavy an ornament for our proper 
 girdle, and )0U are speni with tUe labours of your glory, we give it to the 
 custody and porterage of Sir Reginald le Beaufort." 
 
240 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 She offered the hilt as she spoke to the English knight, and Alfonso was 
 convinced that she purposely held it so that his eager grasp partly pressed 
 her hand as he clutched it. 
 
 The spectacle concluded with the appearance of four parti-coloured 
 heralds, who with all the grandiloquence and pomp of their cratt pro- 
 claimed a tournament to be held on the day after the following, in the 
 Colosseum, given by the city of Rome in celebration of the Jubilee, and on 
 occasion of the birthday of his holiness's niece, the most illustrious lady, 
 Donna Lucrezia Borgia. Safety, honour, and fair play to all comers were 
 solemnly pledged ; a variety of stipulations declared against magical de- 
 vices, treachery, or the use of certain prohibited arms ; and finally, the 
 prize was declared to be a diamond wreath, bestowed by his holiness, 
 and valued at fifteen thousand Venice ducats of gold, which, according 
 lo the general judgment of the ladies, of the Duke of Romagna, judge of 
 the tournament, and of fifteen marshals, heralds, and pursuivants, was to 
 delivered by the same thrice noble and potent lady to the knight who best 
 deserved it. 
 
 Even this magnificent announcement was eclipsed, when immediately 
 after these heralds of the city of Rome had concluded, two in the coat-ot- 
 arms of the Duke of Romagna appeared in the square, and in his name in- 
 vited the whole Roman people, and all the pilgrims who chose to attend, to 
 a feast in his palace and gardens on the Capitol, and to witness a masque of 
 the ancient gods. All who were skilled in the preparation or performance 
 of these entertainments were invited with liberal promises to attend the 
 officers of the duke's household in Santangelo— in especial one Dom 
 Sabbat, of Padua, a learned clerk famously skilled in antiquities, and who 
 was allured with great assurances to assist in the preparations of a triumph 
 which the duke desired to exhibit on receiving the Gonfalonierate and 
 consecrated rose decreed to him by his holiness, the people, and Senate 
 of Rome. 
 
 The papal court then retired into the Massimi palace, to partake of a 
 great banquet prepared by the Orsini ; and in a mood of silent bitterness 
 Alfonso returned — but certainly not to take his ease in it— to his inn. 
 
 He had spent nearly the whole previous night anxiously reviewing the 
 events of the day, striving to persuade himself, that although some fearful 
 suspicions had cleared themselves from Lucrezia, yetthat her guilt in the 
 worst was sufficiently proved. The jealousy of Caesar, his reproaches and 
 accusations I — the upbraidings of the monk addressed to Lucrezia herself 
 on some dark and terrific crime I — which latter balanced any doubts which 
 the Jewess's legend might raise on Caesar's insinuations relating to the 
 murder of his unhappy brother:— all these arguments were incessantly 
 repeated by the Hospitaller to meet the thought which haunted him, that 
 he had irrevocably offended Lucrezia. But now he more than ever needed 
 such consolations as they could offer — for the result of his devouring 
 observations at the bull-fight persuaded him that Lucrezia had transferred 
 her licentions liking to one from whom she need apprehend rather a too 
 violent return than a repulse. 
 
 With a soul stung all over, or rankling wath these poisoned wasps of 
 passion, Alfonso was in a very unsociable mood when, entering his 
 chamber, and despoiling himself of his armour, he heard a tap at the door, 
 which opening at his testy permission admitted— Fra Bruno. The pale 
 and composed countenance of the Penitentiary yet bore traces of the se- 
 verest mental agony, which kindled the Hospitaller's contempt and hatred 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 241 
 
 instead of pity, retnembering wiili jealous bilternpss the scene he had wit- 
 iie>sc-d, ami dcleslmg the uiiliap|iy Qidik even fur ihe ghastly struggle and 
 ihesupeihumaM victory he had won. Moreover, he guessed his purpose, 
 and f(lt his heart stUf more pniiifully touched by a proof of Lucrezia's 
 interest in liis fate, though at the same tinje he laboured to persuade 
 himself that it hnd changed into a desire to remove so dangerous an in- 
 quisitor into her misdeeds. 
 
 The saluiaiion was sufficiently cold on both sides ; and after a very short 
 preface, recnllm^ the obligation under which the knight had laid him, Fra 
 Bruno siaieil that he felt bound in return to inform him thai his life ran 
 hourly risk in Rome, the object of his embassy being suspected, and his 
 ferreiiuiis discovered by personages wh ise vengeance, once provoked, 
 noihing hut blood could satisfy; and that therefore he earnestly implored 
 him to m^ke not a moment's delay, but hasten out of Rome and the power 
 of his enemies. 
 
 "Fra Bruno, you are a monk, and insensible to human passions," re- 
 plied Alfonso, with a covert siing. ""If not, you could not dream that a 
 soldier and a man, who had pledged himself as I have done to defy the 
 wrath of the idolaters of your Roman Venus in to-aiorrow's tournament, 
 would basely retire as if n terror from the redemi)tion of his word." 
 
 "■Therein do I chieQy fear for you," replied F.a Bruno wiih a slight 
 flush. "I dread— and not without prompting reasons — that so glaring 
 and public a s<^orn will exhaust the last drop of pitience in the cup of the 
 proud and merciless woman whom you have alreaily, I And, exasperated 
 to that pass at which her angei' haih ever been found deadly." 
 
 "Proud and mercilessi — deadly?" repeated Alfonso, adding with a 
 sympiilhetic consciousness of where his siroke would deal shnrpe^t, "■ But 
 1 trust and believe Dame Vmus is at present too much absorbed in love 
 matters with the blooming Knight of England to give immediate attention 
 to the horrors, her more cu>toinary pastimes." 
 
 Fra Bruno smiled all over his visage, except the lips, and yet mental 
 anguish in its most violent ouibreaks never expressed so much of its own 
 essence. 
 
 " Be it so, since you will not listen to the charmer, charm he never so 
 wisely I" rephe 1 the h'iar, ^ft^-r a pause. ''Pray, then, th^it you may 
 suffer some great ovenhrow in the tournament to eonttnt the anger of 
 your enemies. But if you meet with some misfortune in the meantime, 
 the blame is not with me; neiiher can you altogether doubt from what 
 hand it proceeds— and therefore not altogether blaiTjC a vengeance which, 
 in truth, your own rashness and violence provoke. ' 
 
 Alfonso made no reply ; but after the monk had retired, he dwelt with a 
 continually deepening wrath and pain on the thonghi thatin all probability 
 heonlv spoke the truth; that Lucrezia now abhoired him; that her mo- 
 mentary liking was changed into the bloodthirsty revenge and haired 
 natui-al to a despised woman and a Borgia. Y^-t. in defiance of the threats 
 held out to him, and to hii> own extreme fatigue and disgust, Alfonso again 
 formed one of the tumultuous ma-sesof the carnival ; retired the latest lo his 
 , abod--; and on the following day was one of the foremost of the pr,idigious 
 throngs who swarmed up the Q^iirinal on their way to the Colonna palace 
 — laughing, gibbering, brawling, mail the efferveseeiiceof|»0|Tiilardeliuht. 
 The observations whi' h / AiI<miso overneard showed how well (>aBsar 
 understood the nature of the Roman populace; his praises were on every 
 lip; he knew what was due to the Roxnan people ; he v/as no Spaniard ; it 
 
 IG 
 
242 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 •was ■^ell the Colonna were banished, since their beautiful gardens were 
 now thrown open to all the world-, and scholars declared that it was a 
 feast on the magiiificent scale of an ancient Roman emperor, and that the 
 grand davs of the Pioman people were returning. 
 
 Arriving at the gates, the masses poured eagerly in, and found their an- 
 ticipations mure than realized. If nature herself had spread the feast, she 
 could not have been more prodigal than Csesar's purveyors. The foun- 
 tains flowed with wines, and kept the marble basins conlinually full, 
 from which all were at liberty to help themselves; unnumbered tables 
 groaned with the choicest viands ; chesnuts and oaks were amazed to find 
 themselves completely hung wiih clusters of the finest truiis, grapes, 
 melons, oranges, figs; innunierable carvers were busy distribuling frag- 
 ments of oxen and boars, roasted whole, game, and immense pasties. 
 
 The eminence on which are the supposed ruins of the Temple of the 
 Sun was appropriated to the most illustrious of the guests, and those who 
 enacted Caesar's pageant of the ancient mythos. In itself, its elevation 
 rendered it not altogether an unfit Olympus, commanding all the spectacle 
 below, the vast gardens swarming with countless multitudes as if the 
 earth teemed with men like ants, and hemmed in by a wide amphitheatre 
 of palaces, woods, vineyards, and illustrious ruins, half lost in the golden 
 haze of noonday. The whole height was canopied with silk so palely 
 blue that it could scarcely be distinguished from the heaven above ; sur- 
 rounded by couches whose voluptuous colours and softness well imitated 
 the clouds on which thedivinitiesof Homer were wont to solace themselves; 
 and thronged with illustrious guests at a banquet which the gods might 
 have left their nectar and ambrosia to shrire. Ascending to the scene in 
 mingled defiance and curiosiiy, Alfonso himself stood amazed, among a 
 mass of privileged gazers, at the more than Assyrian magnificence of The 
 spectacle. 
 
 Alexander was the only personage present who appeared in his usual 
 costume; but his mnjeslic aspect, and rubes, qualified him without Muy 
 mythological insignia to represent the Father of the Gods. Csesar enacted 
 a MercuVy, which ids gay and yet astute countenance, brilliant, but 
 licentious and cynical wit, admirably suited. By some it was thought 
 that he had assunfed this character because that Mercury was the messenger 
 and instrument of his sire; by others in relation to the peace-making 
 qualities of the god ; and a sarcastic allusion was supposed to be couched 
 in the twining serpents of his caduceus. 
 
 But Alfonso nodeed little else after his eye had once fallen on Lucrezia 
 — who enacted the part which all would have nssigned her, but which, 
 considering the attributes of the goddess and those assigned to herself, it 
 looked likedefiance of opinion to assume — ihat of the Queen ol Love. She 
 ■wore the skyey purple rob, starry with diamonds, which the ancients 
 ascribed to Venus, cla-ped by a girdle of pure gold, lo which hung the 
 silver looking-glass— and with the golden sandals and crown of ruses, the 
 fresh bloom of her complexion, the warm perfume breathing round her; 
 the laughter and triumph which sparkled in her eyes ; the grace of her 
 gestures; the winning sweetness of her voice, — united every attribute of 
 the all-subduing celestial 
 
 Beside her sat Signer Paolo, in passion and doting admiration, at least 
 supporting the character of the warrior lover of Venus; while the Duke of 
 Urbmo performed that of the jealous and deformed husband with the skill 
 of a comic actor of great ability. But Alfonso was more troubled to 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 243 
 
 observe that Le Beaufort performed llie part of an Adonis at the laughing 
 suggestion of r.uidol)aldo, eagerly adopted by the young baibariau when 
 he'heard the tale attached — and he looked the robustly beautilul hunter to 
 admiration. And strangely well did Lucrezia enact her part of tenderness 
 towaids him ; and indignation took possession of Alphonso's soul when he 
 marked the bewildering efiect of this coquetry on Le Beaulort, Cruel to 
 the last degree, he hoped it was, and thought that it was a still greater 
 proof of her diabolical nature, if it was not. 
 
 Cffisar had made no exceptions in his invilalions— Vitellozzo figured as 
 a Hercules, at no great distance from the Momus of Messer iNiccolo. 
 Bembo was there as an Orpheus, lyre in hand, and perhaps sonnet in 
 petto ; and an Alecto, who never laid aside her black mask, and well sup- 
 ported her mournful character, faced him with her knotted snakes fearfully 
 stiffened out around her head. 
 
 Himself apparently unnoticed, Alfonso gazed with a burning heart on 
 the spectacle ; remarking that Lucrezia's gaiety was so extreme that at 
 times it bordered on wildenes. Glistering pages, golden vases, banners, 
 flowers, the splendid canopy overhead which within was lined with gold 
 rays spreading from the centre ; the festal splendour of the gardens below j 
 the moving masses of the rejoicing populace ; their dances and revelries ; 
 the glorious landscape around \ the wit, the laughter, the music, floated 
 all indistinctly through his waking dream. Something he afterwards 
 remembered of the Orsino's gaze fixed on him once with fierce scrutiny ; 
 some of the gibes of Machiavelli which moved incessant laughter, after- 
 wards recurred to him; but all confusedly — wails of dreams. The ban- 
 quet, lung as it was, seemed to him to pass in a moment; and when the 
 revellers arose— although the project had been for some lime discussed 
 among them, — he had only a siraii_e vacant idea that they meant to go to 
 a part of the gardens which overlouked the Corso to witness some kind of 
 a race, but. suddenly, when he found himself lelt almost alone on the emi- 
 nence, he reniembered that it was to be a foo-trace of the .Jews! 
 
 The remembrance of Miriam can.e back with the word upon him. If 
 the Jews were to run a race the Ghetto would be open; and it so, he might 
 bring her forth to proclaim — what? He knew not. Somelhmg vaguely 
 he ihi.ughi of convincing himself that there was no room lo doubt 
 Lucrezia's guilt— to prove that Miriauj's Francesco was not the Duke of 
 Gandia — to uverwhelm the whole Burgian race with doubt and terror — to 
 satisly hlm^elf by Alexander's conduct that he feared the detection of the 
 murderer of his hon ! 
 
 Hastening down the acclivity, his eye caught the remote glitter of the 
 court winding up lo a marble terrace which overlooked the Corso, amidst 
 the exulting acclamations of the well-feasted multitude. And looking 
 after it witii great intentness, he almost stumbled over the Alecto. whom 
 he had noticed at the banquet, who wassealed on abroken column belong- 
 ing to the ancient temple w hose ruins were around, with her njask ofi', as if 
 to inhale the air more freely. In the momentary glimpse which he caught 
 ere she could replace it, Alfonso saw a countenance which amply an- 
 swered in Its sculjtmresque beauty and gloom the fury its owner personated. 
 
 "Divinity of Tartarub! may i pass without the oll'ence you know so 
 well how to avenge?" said Allonso, for he felt that he could scarcely go 
 on without some notice in common courtesy. 
 
 '' If that be Greek for hell — in Italian it is memory !" returned Alecto, 
 with intense and seemingly irrepressible bitterness. Pardon me, signor I 
 
244 CMSkR BORGIA. 
 
 — but I should kow. Let mc not liiuder you— rlouhtlos^ as eager a wor- 
 shipper as all the I'estol' mankind <if yonder beaulil'ul lady — musL beanliful I 
 — 1 dreamed not she was so bi-anlilull" 
 
 "There is something in your tone, lady,— nay, I am certain that the 
 fair fury of to-day was the Fata Morgana of yesterday?" said Alfonso, 
 suddenly struck with her voice. 
 
 "I have heard too that you mistook a dancing-girl for the lady of the 
 Borgias,'" re|)lied the lady, turning raj)idly away. "Bui this lean truly 
 assure you, knight, whatever 1 was yesLerday, or am to-day, a Borgia 
 made me — even to the ruin around us!" 
 
 Leaving the Hospitaller to ponder this inlpUigence or enigma, the fury 
 hastily disappeared, and he resnmed his way. 
 
 In the (lorso, Alfonso met the Jews who were to run the race, stripped 
 nearly naked, their frames glistening with oil, and eager as gladiators, for 
 the prize was exemption from a year's imposts and fines. Allowing ihem 
 and their rabble to pass, Alfonso continued his route until he arrived in 
 the Piazza Cindea, a square flanked on one side by the (Jhetto. But here 
 be encountered another and much more numerous crowd, the central 
 figure of which caught his nnmci ale notice. 
 
 Mounted astraddle on an ass, which was led by two sbirri of the city 
 guard, her feel tied under it, and face turned to the tail, came a female 
 figure, in a showy Jewish costimte, whom Alfonso almost insiandy re- 
 cogniz'd as Miriam. Some hallucination doubtless possessed her, for 
 although ihe people kept up a continual sullen roar of derision and anger 
 around her, her features wi're elate with joy and triumph, as if she were 
 the chief parsonage of a fine procession. 
 
 The Hospitaller made his way through all the throng to the sbirri, and 
 with much agitation inquired what they were going to do with their pri- 
 soner, and wliat she had done to deserve to be so. 
 
 "li is a Jewish harlot, signor, who manag(?d to steal out with the run- 
 ners, des|)it'' all orders to the contrary ; and we are leading lier for 
 punishmenl before the Conservatorio," re|)lied one of the axemen. 
 
 "(lut her to piec(s!— the Jewish harlot that brings the plague among 
 us!" yelled a woman whose own designation probably needed but to be 
 changed in ihe epithet. 
 
 Two stout ruffians, seemingly retainers of some great house, drew 
 their ('aggers, shouting "Death, deaihl" and sueh a gibbering tumult 
 arose that for some minutes it was scarcely possible to distinguish a word 
 that was said, the ass bra\ing in concert. 
 
 •'Pea<'e, peace!" said the knii-lit, waving his sheathed sword disdain- 
 fully to die rabble. "Valiant ^birri! mark you not that the poor girl is 
 mad?— Leave her to my care, and 1 will see her restored to her home, 
 without offence to any good Christian." 
 
 An universal laugh", aird slionis of "Shame, shame!" showed in what 
 light the populace took this proposal. But turning at ihe soui d of his 
 voice on her uneasy elevaiinn, Miriam ajipeared to recognise liim, for she 
 cla|)ped her hands in delight. "'Tis hel— tis ihe dark cedar!" she 
 exclaimed, rejoicingly. "I have kept niy word, thou seesl! — Lead me 
 to him! — Where is l-'rancesco? — For were I ten times a queen, I will be 
 but his servant and loving slave!" 
 
 "Shame!— so liktly a'nian to take such a psrt!" resumed the woman 
 who had spoken. "But they make philtres and love-draughls in the 
 Ghetto, and the poor handsome young man is bewitched." 
 
CJ:SAR BORGIA. 245 
 
 " Death to the wif^h I" again rcsoundfd on all sides. 
 
 " Patience, my bmthers I— whoever ;r|)|)n>aehes witliin my sword's 
 icnj^th shall tnsttMis ed^el ' said the Hi'Spilallcr. '"I leU ye again, the 
 young girl is niMd; but to conLeiit ye, 1 will obtain her disnjissal before 
 some conipeient piesenoe."' 
 
 The awe which tlie power and tyranny of the nobles and military 
 difPuseil b.'li ieiiiled the knighl on this occ;^^ioa Murmurs indeed ai-ose, 
 and indisliiict expressions • t" auger or disapproval, t)ut no one otfered any 
 serious o|)structi«»n when the knight cut ihe thon<;s which iHsleiied (he 
 Jewess's feet, made her lurii to a more dfcenland feminine altitude, and 
 led ihe ass on by the halter, de.-iring ihe sbirri to keep on each side, 
 himself wau^hluliy observing the mob wiili a hand on his sword 
 
 The intenlioii which the adventurous Kuight of St. Jnhii had formed 
 was 10 lead ihe Jewess direct to die presence of the pontdl, and under 
 pretext of craviim justice on her behalf, ascerlaiii if she recognised C.sesar, 
 at the risk of whatever consequences mi^ht ensue. 
 
 But .Minam herself si'emed I kely to baffle his purpose. Far from any 
 nrttion of deiecling ihe murderer of her lover, sh-' was possessed with a 
 noiion that she was being escorted with all possible honours to his palace 
 and arms — reminiscences, probably, of some fair promises which love 
 had lavished. Her saiis'aetion was so complete that it seemed a cruelty 
 to atu-mpt to break the illusion on which it was founded Every object 
 in turn ailracted her delighted notice: she patted the ass, and kissed her 
 hands at the mob incessantly, acknowledging iheircivility in accompany- 
 ing her, bill which they took to be a mockery of their baffled fury. The 
 wliis[>ers in which the Hospitaller endeavoured to recall her wandering 
 mind, necessarily close and earnest, also heightened their suspicions and 
 indigiiaiion to ihe highest degree. 
 
 But in vain did the knighl labour to dissolve the hallucination which 
 possessed her: every stately buiMing which they apfiroached she con- 
 cluded to be ihe palaci^ of her unknown lover, and she stared with 
 amazement when tliey passed without beholding him ; the glittering con- 
 fusion of the Corso was a festive pomp prepan-d for her reception, and 
 the splendid groups of the papal court which appeared in the distance on 
 a terrace overlooking it, convinced her that they wereatlengib approaching 
 her lover's presence. 
 
 " How may that be, Miriam?" at length exclaimed the knight. " Hast 
 thou not told me thy lover is dead — slain by assassins in ihe Ghetto?" 
 
 "■ k was a dream- — a dream ! 1 had often fearful dreams, for I knew my 
 people wouhi have slain him and sioned meifihey had seen his shadow!" 
 she replied, iinpaiit;iitly. "Bui we shall easily know him : look, here 
 are the (lowers he is like — how withered they are!" she added, glancing 
 at a nosegay in her breast. ''Daffodils foi- his fair brow — pinks for his 
 cheeks — musk for hisbreaih — there was nothingred enough forhislips — but 
 here's peach Idossom loo for his cheeks — and blue starwortfor bis eyes." 
 
 Beduced to despair by finding that no appeal to ihe realities of the scene 
 could restore her lo Cfnisciousness,, Alfonso was scarcely sorry toohsei've 
 thnt as they approached the terrace, and were descried from it, an » fflcer 
 ■who commanded the guanls ranged before it received some ord( r, and 
 r»»de towards them, shouting in a lia'sh and imperative lone, *' Halt, all !" 
 Alfonso immediately obeyed, and the populace paused too, but raising a 
 tempest of cries, explanations, and demands of vengeijnce which drowned 
 every distinct sound. 
 
246 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 " What the foul fiend is tliis, scum?" saiflthe bnrspmJiTi, slill advancing, 
 " that ye break into our lord his holiness's diversions with your rude 
 clamour? Is it a cut [nirse, or — what have we here?" 
 
 The commander's vizor was raised, and Alfonso perceived that his 
 sallow complexion grew nearly bloodless as he looked at ihe young Jewess. 
 But bef<ire he could make any reply Miriam uttpred a joyful cry of recogni- 
 tion, and exclaimed, "Take me to him! — take me to him! Sir Black 
 Knight, you may leave me now in a blessed hour, for here is the stranger 
 who came wiih the tidings of my Francesco. Son of a fortunate father! 
 lead me to him, and thou shall have gold, and spices, and frankincense, 
 more than thy son's son can use!" 
 
 " What is this?" stammered the rider, staring with mingled terror and 
 amazement around. A hundred voices began to reply ; but that of the 
 Hos|)ita'ler quickly overpowered even the numerous rivalry. 
 
 " Seiior Don Migueloto," he said, '' Ihis ^irl is mad, but not so mad but 
 that it is to he discerned she halh suffered a grievous wrong, either from 
 her own people, or some monstrous villains of ours ; and I have promised 
 to lead her before our lord to demand justice." 
 
 "I am not mad ! — .Art thou not come, good Christian, to lead me to 
 my lord?" said Miriam, angrily, and looking with ihe eagerness of hope 
 at the grim and fear-struck visage of the captain of Santangelo. 
 
 "Thou— she — Francesco!— how came this Jewish woman here?" he 
 exclaimed at last. 
 
 " She stole forth with the runners — let us trust, not to meet her para- 
 mour, and to the shame of the holy cross this knight, who is a priest of 
 St. John?" said the deep, melancholy, but now somewhat derisive voice 
 of Fra Bruno who, enveloped in his cowl had mingled in the throng. 
 
 Migueloto took the hint, and wrinkling his brow terrifically, he turned 
 to one of the sbirri, and demanded his account of the matter. 
 
 " Truly, niy lord, we discovered the wench straying out of bounds, and 
 the knight and she seemed well acquainted when they met, insomuch 
 that he rushed against all odds to the rescue." 
 
 The unanimous reiteration of the mob confirmed this view of the trans- 
 action, and Migueloto's countenance gradually recovered some lints of 
 life. 
 
 " It is death for any Jewish woman to leave the Ghettoduring the Jubilee, 
 more especially one of this wench's trade, and like enough to bring down 
 a heavy judgment on us all," he said. "Co thy ways in peace, cavalier, 
 and leave the harlot to the punishment that befits her offence. Honest 
 men, whip her back to the Ghetto : but give her fair way, that she may 
 make the best of her courser's speed." 
 
 This proposition was received with universal applause, many reserving 
 to themselves the power of extending its provisions, while Mirian) looked 
 at the sentencer in vacant surprise and alarm. 
 
 " Sir Castellain, this shall not be — at least until his Holiness has heard 
 her complaint," said Alfonso, with difficulty bridling his wraih. " Some 
 foul play hath been wrought against her — some Christian lover slain in 
 her ))resence — she shall have justice !" 
 
 " 'lis false ! — it chances that 1 know the truth of the matter — she is forth 
 to poison men's ears with calumnies of the Jew dogs, her kinsfolk," said 
 Migueloto, fiercely. " It shames such a saint as you would have men 
 think you — ay, and women too! — to bo stirring in such a cause ; but since 
 she is your paramour, I tell you, knight, the only means to show your 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 247 
 
 kindness now is to drive her ass at a good speed, for until she reaches 
 the Ghetto I give every man lawful loave to wreak his scorn on her!" 
 
 " I appeal to the pontiff hirnsL'll I" shouted Don Alfonso, and so loudly 
 that his voice probably reached the terrace. " Bar not my way, for I 
 will make it through au army rather than suffer your bloodthirsty malice 
 to prevail." 
 
 "What malice have 1 against the wench?" returned Miaueloto, his 
 complexion resuming its leaden tints beneath the eye of the Hospitaller. 
 " Woman I hast thou ever seen me before, or I thee, that I should owe 
 thee malice?" 
 
 The castellain had certainly not noticed the strange and varying expres- 
 sion of Mariam's countenance as he spoke ; but when he turned and looked 
 at her with his fierce protruding eyes, she uttered a shriek which rang 
 over the whole Corso, and clapping her hands, and hissing as if to Irighlea 
 away some direful animal, she shouted — "Murderer I" till the very sky 
 seemed to echo with tlie crimson word. 
 
 " Upon her ! hack her to pieces ! It is the law — I will see it justified ! 
 Harm not the madman, but death to the Jewess!" yelled Migueloto, 
 pressing his horse towards her; but step|)ing between him and his intended 
 victim, the knight drew his sword, and waving it round him soon cleared 
 a circle to some distance. But recovering from their panic, and encourag- 
 ing one another with a loud shout of fury, the populace drew their daggers, 
 and were certainly meditating an onset which all his courage could 
 scarcely have withstood — when Master John of Slrasburgh, accompanied 
 by half a dozen halberdiers, appeared to command peace in his holiness's 
 name, and with order to bring all the parlies in the disturbance before 
 him. 
 
 Alfonso most willingly obeyed, and Migueloto seemed afraid to offer any 
 further opposition; so that lifting Miriam from the ass, half carrying half 
 dragging her, he made his way to the terrace through the now unresisting 
 masses. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIl. 
 
 " 0, how itiis spring of love resemblelh 
 The uncertain glories of an April day, 
 Which now shows all ihe beauty of the son. 
 And by and by a cloud takes all away : "— Sharspere. 
 
 "Remember all thy story— thy Francesco's murder— and demand 
 justice at the feet of the venerable judge before whom I will place thee," 
 said Alf -nso, as they mounted the terrace; and Miriam, whose recollections 
 were now rekindled in all their violence, shrieked "Justice, justice!" 
 with frenzied eagerness at every step of their advance 
 
 A moment bdore, the alteniil)n of ihe court and populace was absorbed 
 in the victor of the race — who had fallen insf^nsible with exhaustion as he 
 reache>l the goal. Now all eyes and all curiosity was turned towards the 
 strange speciacle of the Knight of St. John and the Jewess, bedizened in 
 her tattered and disordered array. 
 
 Alexander was the only parsonage on the terrace who was seated, Caesar 
 standing bv his chair on one hand, Lucrezia on the other, the court forming 
 a glittering half mooa behind. The masks, laid aside at the banquet, 
 
248 C,£SAK BORGIA. 
 
 were now all rpsumed; a circumstance rather favourable to the Hospi- 
 taller's intents, for a t>io t^uddcn rrci^iiiiiftn nfilie niurderer niiglil prevt:nt 
 the hearinir of the lale, and Miriam would secJTi only l(» rave. 
 
 Innnmerable were the excl.imaliDns of aslonislimeiil iind incredulity 
 when the Hospilalier was clparly recognised, as he jt-d the Jewess up the 
 steps of ihe terrace. Alexander himsell" lonkfd at llie pair with amaze- 
 ment, and when Miri--im [troslrafcd herself with ori-'ntai hnmafre ai his 
 feel, he exclaimed to the knight — '"What fluttering jay is this? — a Hebrew 
 convcrtite?" 
 
 '• Holy father, you are to know that this is the Jewish girl whom I 
 rescued Irom ruffians in the Chcito. as your paiernity may have heard it 
 related; and whom I now b^ing to your feci to denmnd jusiice for a 
 much more horrible fact," said the knight, noiwiihstaoding a ilin b even 
 of his sloul heart when he beheld the glance which Ceesar turned on ihe 
 suppliant. 
 
 " VVhiit fact? — of what speak you? This is neither the time nor place; 
 his holiness's juslicers are men of approved integrity!" said Csesar; and 
 at the sound of his voice Miriam's whole frame trembled and clasping 
 her hands on her forehead, she glared fixedly up at the masked speaker. 
 
 *' Formal justice is too slow I Three years have elapsed since the deed 
 of which we demand redress was perpetrated," replied the knightly ad- 
 vocate. 
 
 "Knight of St John! 'lis more than rumoured that you are in Rome to 
 gather miller of accusation and aspersion against ihe holy see," began 
 Caesar, when the pontiff inlerrupied him. 
 
 "Three years! —truly, it is as great an injustice to delay justice as to 
 refuse it. We will hear and adjudge ihe mailer if it be within an hour's 
 compass, which we doubt n<ii, ' said Alexander. 
 
 " But if il be some intricate matter of law, as it must be since your 
 learned administraiors have hesitated so long!" said Caisar, when the 
 pontiff again cut him short 
 
 " I'lveii so — ourself served a full apprenticeshi|) to the law," he said; 
 "and during that lime we observed what sb;ill now persuade us that 
 there is no nut in juslii-e so hard to crack that lawyers must keep it turning 
 in their mouths till the kernel is musly. Sneak on, daughter of the tribes! 
 we will liear thee— but be not loo womanly in your discourse — that is, 
 too long." 
 
 "But, holy father, if her argument runs against a Christian, she is a 
 Jewess, and her evidence cannot be enlertnined," said Cae-ar. 
 
 " If that be the law in l>ome. from this moment we aboli>h it! " returned 
 Alexander, widi his usual vehemence. "■ But in what di th the spur gall 
 you, nephew? Is the com|tlaiiil against any ruffian whose lord supports 
 instead of punishing his crime, as even too many of ye do?" 
 
 " Holy father.our f)lainlisof a murder commitied three years are gone — a 
 secret, foul, and most treacherous murder— when the Duke of Romagna 
 was a gentle cardiual — and therefore 'tis not like to attach lo any of his 
 religious following," said the Hospitaller. 
 
 " Three years ago?" said Alexander, with a darkening shadeof memory 
 passing over his bioad fori head. "Secret, foul, and ireacherous! i.isicn, 
 sirs, with ilie end lli; t all ofye may spare supplication, and none ci'nceive 
 the denial special to himself— I swear by llic ashes of holy Peter thai I will 
 see juslice done on this criminal, whoever he be, or ere i sleep tu-iiight, 
 were he as near and dear to lue as our nephew here." 
 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 2-59 
 
 " This mnc-li 1 hnvp ccathorod, then, holy father," said Alfonso. '"This 
 Jiapless uirl hwd a Chii.-tiiHi lover, whose quahtv and name were uulumwn 
 to her, but who eallid hitnselt Fraiiceseo; and who, from her confused 
 repoit. niusi needs have been a noble of high rank." 
 
 "Tut! ' iiittrru|iled Caesar. ''Is it llie old story over again of the 
 Christian paramour that was killed and pickled by the Jews for pork?" 
 
 "• Francesco!— but go on, go on!" exclaimed the poutifl", very hur- 
 riedlv. 
 
 '•the story hath then reached your highness's hearing?" said Alfonso, 
 concealing vviih difflfulty ihe agitation' which w<irk<'d within him. 
 
 ''Among many others which, since our dear and hapless bi«)iherniet 
 his m>^ti'rioiis doom, we eagcrU clutch at, in the vain hope ()f obtaining 
 some clue lo vengeance," replied Cajsar, calmly ''■Bui this sti-ry we 
 found had nu other foundation than the ravings of a mad Jew girl, whose 
 relatives declared that she had never stirred out of the Ghetto during all 
 her life." 
 
 "This mad Jew girl is now at your feet, most holy father; and for the 
 sake of a dearer Fra'ncesco I implore you to hear what she can relate of the 
 barbarous muriher of her own!" said Alfonso. "Sometliing she will 
 speak itdisorderedly, as one whose mind is shattered by the blow of the 
 direst calamity — yet not so wholly unpioced but ihatskilled eyes may join 
 the parts " 
 
 " We will hear her," said Alexander, in a troubled and yet eager tone, 
 a dark cloud gathering over his temples. " Arise, daughter, and speak as 
 to a kind and pitying^ father. When and how perished your lover— your 
 Francesco? By whose hand? If thy people slew him 1 will protect 
 thee against their anger, and avenge thee so that— even to thy heart's 
 content." 
 
 Miriam had continued kneeling during the whole dialogue, which 
 perhaps she scarcely heard, so intently wrapt was she in coiisideri ig 
 Caesars person and habilmienls. SolJst was she in this scrutiny that 
 she started when Alfonso gently plucked her girdle lo recall her at- 
 tention. 
 
 " Now, Miriam, speak ! — Who was it bade thee summon thv Francesco 
 —to baffle an appoiulmenl with some fair Christian dame?" exclaimed 
 Alfonso. 
 
 "Where is he? — Oh, he is gone," she said, looking timidly round, 
 and glanemg over the whole multitude, whence, indeed, Migueloto had 
 disappeared. " I never liked his black-bead e\es— and so I told Fran- 
 cesco ; but he w^as so brave, and loved me so - he would needs slay I And 
 so the moon was shining, and he was fast asleep— and first they tit ked at 
 the door — and I would not believe I heard any sound lest it should be the 
 witches! But he came— he came!— The proud Chrihiian woman with 
 her diamond eves could not win him from his poor Jewess — yet I saw them 
 smiling together at ihe tournament when he kissed his hand at me, — poor 
 fool! for it frightened me thattheChrislian marked me! But then he was so 
 beautdul— where are my flower.■^?-This was his colour, my lord— nay, I 
 thought I had a white rose too ! — Bui it makes no matter; I can blow iliis 
 open till you see the whiteat the bottom, and that will serve for his brow." 
 
 And she I.egan bieaihing one (>riier roses. .pen with the gentlest puifs, 
 and yet with gre.it anxiciy lo display the pallid tints in its depilis. 
 
 "H.w long are we to listen to' ihi« preitv madness?" taid Caesar, 
 casting himself into a careless and inattentive attitude. 
 
250 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "And was thy Francesco fair — very fair?" exclaimed Alexander, who 
 to the contrary ^'rew evidently agitated, and, to the grief of Burciardo, not 
 only permilting the profane hands of tlie Jewess to cling to his knees, but 
 bending over her so anxiously that his mitre touched the folds of her 
 Jewish headdress. 
 
 "The moonshine on his face that night was no fairer! " said the Jewess, 
 with a heavy sigh, and again looking with crouching and fascinated eyes 
 at Cse^^ar. 
 
 " His hair I — what colour was his hair! " continued the pontiff. 
 
 "Brighter than these gold zequins, though I wear them for a remem- 
 brance," replied the Jewess ; and heaving a deep sigh, or rather groan, 
 Alexander threw himself back in his chair. 
 
 "And now, Miriam, remember! repeat the tale you told me of his murder! 
 — remember how they tore him from your arms— your cries— their stabs 
 — his longhair drenched in blood — and how they dragged the body away !" 
 exclaimed Alfonso. 
 
 Uttering a wild shriek as the words struck on all the jarring strings of 
 her memory, Miriam embraced the pontiff's knees in oriental supplication, 
 and poured forih the dreadful revelation wiih such passionate vehemence, 
 that, wild and broken as it was. the scene became almost visual in the 
 painting of her frenzied imagination. 
 
 Alfonso kept his eves fixed on the pontiff, and he observed that his 
 powerful frame trembled all over with agitation; and his anxiety to iiearthe 
 tale was so apparent — his emotion so great — that the knight could scarcely 
 doubt that he suspected the murdered cavalier was his unfortunate son. 
 
 "The murderers were — masked! — wore the Christian dress! Oh, 
 could I but think — the whole Ghetto, man, woman, and child, were all loo 
 few!" he gasped, when the Jewess broke off" with frantic shrieks for 
 justice. "Tell me truly — on thy life, tell me ! — know you nought of this 
 unhappy youth but that his name was Francesco! " 
 
 Miriam shook her head mournfully. 
 
 "Your paternity is listening to a mad woman!" said Caesar, in a 
 perfectly composed voice. " I did not think to bring so sad a recollection 
 back to your holiness ; but you must learn that when formerly I questioned 
 this matter, her grandames told me that the amazing tidings of our dear 
 brother's doom— the proclamation of his beautiful person to guide disco- 
 very — worked on this mad wench's brain even to believe the tale we 
 hear — but wherewith while 1 live no man shall slander the memory of 
 my brother, imputing to him a crime forbidden both in Heaven and on 
 earth ! " 
 
 " And yet— I will be free to tell your highness— that it was with some 
 hope to throw light on that mournful business which gave me daring to 
 bring it bt-fore his holiness." replied the Hospitaller, sternly. 
 
 "VVeare infinitely beholden to you, Kniglh of St. John!— but all this is 
 a stale legend," saiii Cae.-«ar, continuing, in a mild and compassionate tone 
 to the Jewess— '^'" Alack, poor wench, thou dost not know that 'tis our 
 Christian wont to throw away the flower when we have withered it with 
 our evil breath. Art thou well assured thy Francesco did not abandon 
 thee when thou hadst, as women think, yiven him even too much cause for 
 faith?" 
 
 " Where is he, then ?— lead me to him ! — let me but see him, and then 
 he cannot be so cruel ! " exc.laiined poor Miriam, frantically. " Do this, 
 and I will give thee more gems than hang on a rose-bush at dawn." 
 
CAESAR BORGIA. 251 
 
 "Your holiness hears!— but while we listen to the mad reverie, we 
 forget that ihe world is listening loo ! " said Caesar. 
 
 "And if S'.me such crime has been commilted— unless the Jews can 
 disprove it— they can well afTord to pay ten thousand gold crowns as a 
 fine," said the Datary, gliding up to the pontiffs chair, and bending over to 
 his ear. 
 
 "A fine !— ten thousand gold crowns !-Si'll his blood for gold! 
 —1 will have them all put to the rack— to tortures infinite— till they confess 
 who did it! "groaned Alexander in a harsh undertone, as if the words 
 were drawn gratingly over his heart. 
 
 "On a mad woman's legend, holy father !— where were then your 
 justice ? " said Caesar, very calmly. '"' But even as your wisdom pleases 
 —the Jews are no clients of mine!— only your paternity may remember 
 the wench says her murderers wore the Christian garb. She hath not wit 
 enough to turn the blame that way, or there's deeper instruction in it! " 
 And he glanced malignantly at the Hospitaller. 
 
 "iMiriam ! were all the murderers of Francesco masked? or fell not the 
 mask from the visage of the chief one in the struggle? For so she told 
 . me, illustrious signor," said Alfonso, with an ample return of the look ; 
 and then indeed Csesar did slightly start. 
 
 'Ms this true, Jewess ?— speak, my daughter !—Dist thou behold the 
 worse than devilish visage of one of the murderers? " said Alexander, with 
 a wildness which contrasted strongly with his usual Spanish dignity and 
 calm. 
 
 " One!— yes, the scarlet one ! " said Miriam, with an insane breathless 
 rapidity, as if she, too, comprehended that ihey were on the verge of a 
 discovery. 
 
 "Let your holiness command all present to unmask, and we shall see if 
 she recognises any one here!" said Alfonso. 
 
 " The farce grows somewhat dangerous," replied Caesar, hastily. 
 *' Her madness is as like to hit on one as anoiher, and thus darken some 
 innocent person in our sunshine for ever. Nay, she is like enough to 
 mark me, for look how she gazes at me, and speaks of scarlet because I 
 wear it!" 
 
 "It were indeed too hazardous," said Lucrezia, for the first time speak- 
 ing, in a low, horror-struck voice, 
 
 "Yea! and to prove what fearful fallacy were in the assay— I dare be 
 sworn, for that our sister is by some held fair, if she unmask, this Hebrew 
 shall avouch that she was the rival from whose arms she lured Francesco 
 that night!" returned the duke scornfully. 
 
 " Nay, then, unhappy Hebrew, look on me! Am I thy rival?" said Lu- 
 crezia, rapidly clutching the mask from her beautiful and tear-bathed face. 
 Miriam started— tossed back her long black hair— and gazed at her with 
 eyebrows rising like the back of a hyena, so fearful was the expression. 
 
 "Yes, yes, it was ihnu. muriheress!— it was thou who had him mur- 
 dered forloving me much better !— it was thou, it was thou ! Seize her, 
 most venerable judge ! — she murdered him — they told me so— for winning 
 her Francesco!" shrieked Miriam, starling up, and but that the Hospi- 
 taller interposed, she would have rushed upon Lucrezia. "Now I re- 
 member, now 1 remember— the Scarlet Man told me they slew him by 
 that proud murihcress's command, whom he deserted for me! Seize 
 her! — seize her !" 
 
 " She is road indeed— and we have listened too long to these ravings ! " 
 
25C! C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 said Alexander; but Alfonpo nrtlieed lint his eye fell and dwelt with a 
 mnmenl'?. dcvuurirm sijs|»icii>n on ihc agliasi coiMilenaiice of Lucrozia — 
 and his own henrl seemed <irHS|ied by a hand of i.-e. 
 
 At this tnomenl a noise and nioveint'iil in llie crowd attracted Ihe atten- 
 tion, though but dreamily, of the awed and panic-struck courtiers, who 
 hardly dared to look in eneh other's faces le>t their eyes should betrav 
 their ihoiii:;hls. Two haiigard old women a|)|)eared, slru_'2:lin2:, seream- 
 inir, and pushing their way through the mob. who bufft-ied them, plucked 
 their long gray hair, ;iiid yelled — '■ The wiiehes oC ihe (dielio I" while 
 th<'y made the air ring with crie^ of "iMiriam, Miriam !— mercy on our 
 child I she is niaii, mad, mad!" 
 
 "Some kuidred of the Jewess come to rescue their wanderinc idiot," 
 said Csesar, lauuhing outright wjih die wilduess of overcharged feelings. 
 " INHte and M rta in very lioih I Here is your lo-t lamb, shepherdesses 
 of the devd ! (iuards, rescue ihem from Christian bulfeters, and bring 
 them hither." 
 
 This order was given but in time to save the two old women from some 
 violent marks of the popnlar hatred. As it was, they were dragged on the 
 terrace from the mob with diflficuliy, and presented die wild and haggard 
 appearance of two owls lorn by hav ks Irom iheir holes into daylight. 
 The instant Miriam saw them she cowered down like a hare when the 
 hounds are upon it. 
 
 "VVh;it forms are these?— of earth or hell?" said Alexander, as the 
 hags prostrated themselves at his footstool. 
 
 "Of neither, please you, but of the (ihetio," re|)lied Caesar, hastening 
 to encourage his allies. '" S|)eak without fear, j-ood grandames, and tell 
 us what ails this wench; that she teds tales of nmrder and bloodshed as 
 if it were tlie trade your fnmdy worked at?" 
 
 ''Signor, we are two miserabl) poor, old, deformed, deserted, friend- 
 less women of the seed of Jacob, that live by htmesi midwdVry, and some 
 small skill in lierbs inherited from our father, a wise physician," said 
 Morta, raising her.-elf with her hands in a ghastly attitude oi' supplication. 
 "This is our father's son's son's danghlei-, and she is mud for the love of 
 a Chri>tian, who taught her sin, and left her repentance; deserting her as 
 soon as the fruits of her guilt became manifest, whence she fell into a 
 madness; and taking occasion frnm ihe name of the most n ble lord, Duke 
 Francesco, when his murder and the reward whs proclaimed in the tents 
 of our sojourning place, — waking one night from a I'earfnl dream, — she 
 would have it that it was her own base abandoner, and upbraided us 
 poor, weak, miserable, aged, hopeless women, with his death." 
 
 " Ancient wo(nenI name to me the >ediicer, and the kings of the earth 
 kneeling at our footstool shall not obtain his pardon from us!" exclaimed 
 Alexander 
 
 "Master and sovereign! he concealed all but the name — Francesco — 
 even from his wretched leman, dreading the justice oF your laws," replied 
 Notle, with a smile which ^ileamed on her visage like phosphor on a skull. 
 
 "The punishmeni is death— your inlallibiliiy deems his crime deserved 
 it?" snid (]aesar, with extreme eagerness. 
 
 " Dismiss them- 1 am nut welll" said the ponlilT, gasping heavily for 
 breath. 
 
 " liemrive your unhappy child, good ancestresses," said Ca^-ar. "Me- 
 ihinks, crnzy as this wench is, s!ie is too t'idrly moulded to keep much 
 more of such holy company without scandal — yet thouj-h unsuccessful, his 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 05;^ 
 
 holinpss cannot but be c[r;Ueful, sir Hospit-ilier, for the zeal you show in 
 gr tifyiiiii the great wish oTall our hearis." 
 
 >'.>iti' and Morta sprang tnrwaril nn their passive but Iremblitig descen- 
 d tilt, whii-e eyes, lor the first tiiDeaiiiiiist the lerntrs of thc^ day, ex|»ressed 
 ahi'^et and phvsical fear. But Airoiisn, although be felt ihnt Lucrczia 
 gazed at him with inl'Mise anxiety, and knew the motives which were as- 
 cribed to him. — raised her, and mlMrnied ihe hags that he would aid in 
 escorting her back to the Gheilo, in a tone which a md from Cassar in- 
 formed diem dii'y were not to dispute. Accordingly the whole liroiip retired 
 tVum the |joiiiiH''s [ir.sence. theHospita'lercarchdly snpix'rtiiiylhc sta^gcr- 
 ing s eps of lli<' Jc\vc>s.amidsi general signs of wonder and di>ap|)rob;ili<)n. 
 
 Still it might have been difficult for the Jewesses to pass through the 
 cnragrd and muiiering masses, if Fra Bruno hud not joined the Hospi- 
 taller as he descended, and commanded the throngs to make way wiih his 
 usual austerity and sway. With this assistance they gradually got clear 
 of the (lorso; but .Miri.m's memory seemed once more vacant of all its 
 images, and she ahandoned the Hospiialler's support, gambolling and 
 singing before him, lo the great scandal of those who coniinued 10 stare 
 after them. The old crones sp ike not a word, althouyh they continued 
 to glower vindictively at their escorlers, until ihey reached the gates of 
 the (Jheiio, when ihey muttered a pn)fusioii of thanks and blessings pro- 
 nounced much in the manner of curves, and seemed to decline any farther 
 attendance. Feariiiif, in fact, that more intert'erence would only exas- 
 perate her kindred against !)0or Miriam, Alfonso admonished iiiem to 
 forgive this strange vagary of her disease, which had also iurposed on him- 
 self, and complied wuh iheir tacit desire. 
 
 Fia Bruno accompanied him as he retired, and as soon as the gates of 
 the Ghetto had clos-'d on the Jewesses, abruptly renewed his advice to the 
 Hospitaller to quit Rome imuiediately. 
 
 "1 know of noughL whuh hath occurretl to change my resolve before 
 announced to you." renlied Alfonso, im|)aiiently. "'To ilie contrnrv, in 
 the earnestnt^ss of the pontiff to delect the murdeiers of his son — after 
 what has passed between us, father, you will understand me." 
 
 ""Yea! — but you have hovered on the verge of a more direful secret. 
 Be wise jn time;, wotTien provoked to extremity are more relentless ihan 
 men, as water petrified is harder than natural stone " replied the Peniten- 
 tiary, wuh ai innuendo which, coupled with .Miriam's accusations, pro- 
 duced a [lowerful effect on Allonso. 
 
 " I will but lany to rebuke the pride of yonder malapert English boy, 
 who imagines that no Italian can resist him and his tricks of lance," he 
 repli( d ; but in the same flash of thought, remeiubering Miriam's recogni- 
 tion of Migueloto — her allusions It) ihe Seariel Man —the boatman's story 
 — and the reasons he had lo distrust the Domini'-an, his smothered pas- 
 sions boiled up into ra^e a-aiiist the latter. "And then, friar, ' he i.-on- 
 linued, wiih a glance which obviously startled the confessor, '"Then— I 
 will leave the field, though ii be of lili'-s and roses, clear to ye all." 
 
 " Clear — to us all! ' exclaimed Fra Bruno, stalling, almost insanely, at 
 the knight. 
 
 ""E s(! wherefore did a certain great n)an attem|)t your life?" returned 
 the Hospitaller. ^ H" you Would not have me explain mysell' far her, 
 trouble me with no more of your importunities; for, saint as yo'i are, I 
 doubt not the people would be amaz 'd to hear all that iniglil be related 
 of your long interview in the hermitage on the Aventine— when thunder 
 
254 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 only — the thunder of a brick pressed out of ils place by one who was de- 
 termined to be convinced of your innocence, — pi evented you from at least 
 attempted guilt!" 
 
 Fra Brunu's aspect, as these words were uttered, was so terrific in its 
 agony of shsime, remorse, fear, doubt, and wrath, that Alfonso himself 
 was troubltd at beholding it. 
 
 "■ Hcsi content — 1 will not betray you ; but dare not to betray me, since 
 Ihoii seest what I can return upon ihee!" he said, hurrying away-, but 
 looking back once at a considerable distance, he perceived Fra Bruno still 
 standing, rooted to the spot ; and somewhat repenting his own inconsi- 
 derate fury, he continued his route. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 LA GIOSTRA FURIOSA. 
 
 " Oh, holy St. George! very champion! 
 undefj led and mosi holy Kiilglit ! 
 geiiiine ol cliivair) ! O very eiiieraud stone! 
 
 O luadstiir ol lojally ! diamond uiosiqwyghll 
 saptiir of sadne>s : O ruby ol most right: 
 
 O very carbuncle ! ihou inaiiiese of Vnde! 
 Graunte rue thy beipe — thy coinlort for to fj nde ! '' 
 
 Old Lines, quoied in Dugdale's Baronage. 
 
 The day of the tournament—the festival most anxiously expected by 
 the warlike pilgrims of all those which the magnificence of the Borgias 
 provided or promised — dawned with congenial splendour. The ceremo- 
 nies of the day commenced with the exhibition of a Roman triumph, in 
 which Caisar went to ihe Capitol to receive the investiture of the Gonfalo- 
 nierate, habited like the first who made the name glorious and ominous 
 for ever. Alfonso was among the gazers, curious to witness with what 
 degree of firmness the duke would assume the insignia ol his slaughtered 
 brother •, and he quailed not once. He refused, indeed, to a!?sume the 
 robes of the office, and went bare-headed ihrough the ceremonial, as a 
 mark of his respect to the senate and Roman people — two fieiions which 
 were supposed to have conferred the honour — until a woman, who repre- 
 sented Desiiny, no less in her stern beauty than in her array, who came 
 whence no one knew, nor by whose command, descended from the lower 
 of the (Capitol, and crowned him with a wreath of laurels, at the same lime 
 pronouncing a gorgeous prophecy ol his fuiure achievemenls, in which 
 she did not scruple to |iroiiiibe the restoration of the ancient Roman gran- 
 deur in his own, as emperor of a people who required only such a leader 
 to become once more all that ihey had bteu I The enihusiasm of the 
 populace was visibly kindled by these splendid promises, but Cassar re- 
 plied only with a smiling and modest abnegaiiou ; and the pomp concluded 
 by the senaiors, magisirales, and all ihe orders of the ciiy conduciing 
 him to receive the cjufirmalion of his dignity in the Vatican. 
 
 Allonso inniiediately remeiiibered the features ol the Destiny to be those 
 of ihe lady to whom he had spoken in the Coloniia gardens, and of the 
 Fairv Morgana; and now, coneludiiig that she was some instrument of 
 Cassar's, the Prince of Ferrara was alarmed at the proclamation of an am- 
 bition so boundless; for doubtless, beneath this seemingly unconcerted 
 adulation his real hopes and intentions were insinuated. His regrets at 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 255 
 
 the impossibililies to which he haH himself added of an alliance \vilh the 
 power most cajiable of curbing these diUigeruus designs, servpd now 
 only to increase tlie desire which possessed hnn of giving ihe deaih-blow 
 to all h'ipe by pulting the crown on his oflf.-nces lo Lucrezia, and winning 
 from her champions the triumph she coveted in ihe tournament. A 
 bmniug jealousy ofLe Beaufurt, who alone he believed likely to wrest the 
 victory Irom him, heightened the feeling to a kind uf I're. zy. 
 
 He returned lo his inn lo arm himself, and partake of some needful 
 refreshment: fur which latter purpose his host produced some fruits and 
 wines of finer quality than any the Huspitaller had yet tasted in his abode. 
 He therefore ate and drank more heartily than was his woul — perhaps lo 
 strengthen the resolution which was continually melting in iiis heart. 
 When he had done, and was commending the viands, while the host 
 assisted his squires to arm him, the good man, who was pleased with the 
 manners and liberality of his guest, could not forbear telling him, under 
 great injunctions of secrecy, that the repast \vas sent to be served lo him 
 By some lady — who it was he knew not, but the Hospitaller could pro- 
 bably guess, and so the man-at-arms who brought il had averred. 
 
 At first Alfonso was almost vanquished by this last proof of the gene- 
 rosity and tenderness of Lucrezia; and his enamoured fancy dwell with 
 delight on renewed hopes — but gradually he began to f^el a species of 
 languor and inertness creeping over his whole frame, and slight convul- 
 sive trembles shook his joints which he had great difficulty in concealing 
 from those who armed him. It was long, however, before the direful 
 thought occurred to him, which finally — when his squires had retired to 
 prepare his steed, and, the excitement of iheir presence gone, he felt an 
 almost invincible necessity of yielding to sleep, — rushed upon him that 
 he was poisoned ! 
 
 Poisoned, and by Lucrezia I— when these two thoughts conjoined first 
 sprang upon his soul, for some moments its reasoning faculties deserted 
 him. He tried to persuade himself that he was in a dream, and strove to 
 waken from it. Consciousness and memory, however, would not thus be 
 cajoledoulof their victim ; and it was amazing in what brief time, and with 
 what vividness all that could render death itself terrible, and this death most 
 terrible, rushed upon his imagination ! He had just discovered Lucrezia's 
 innocence of some of the most heinous charges against her, and the fall 
 of parts had shaken the whole fabric of accusaiiun ; he felt that she had 
 loved liim, who now hated him so much as to have contrived his death; 
 he had raised to himself, by his own implacable coldness and arrogance, 
 a rival who, if Lucrezia tiad spoken the truth against herself, wouid not 
 long sigh in vain. His fancy raised an instantaneous vision of the tour- 
 naineni, in which Sir Reginald rode victor in the triumph at once ol love 
 and chivalry, securing the rewards of bulh I His own absence lo be re- 
 garded as a proof ol cowardice, a confession of inability to maiuiain bis 
 Vaunts against the glorious minion I And he meanwhile a prince, wooed 
 by all the delights of existence ; a soldier and a statesman full of noble 
 projects; — lo perish miserably by a w-anton's hate I 
 
 Those who had prepared thedrui;, which was evidently of an opiate 
 nature, had either nui calculated that the knight would partake so largely 
 of it, not iiiiendlng the operation to be immediate, or had not sufficiently 
 alhiwed for the cuunteractive power which tlie violent passions kindled 
 in his blood ofiered to its preliminary stupor. Instead of yielding to the 
 lethargy which had oppressed him, his whole frame tiagled with a burn- 
 
Jofi CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 ing fever of wrath; and aflor using such simple remedies as the host 
 sugiii'sted, on Inarning that lie fcareil he had fatcn some puisonnus insect 
 in tile' gum of a lou ripe peach, he fch tliatthe worst synplom was past. 
 Languid, giil.lv, ami enfechli-d, indeed, he rcnrained, and inf>st unfit for 
 the lask which he medilaied, but resolved lo appal and vex the guilty eyes 
 of Lucnzi I with his apparition in the lists from which she had sent Death 
 to keep him ! 
 
 Siill he was no! so insensible lo his own safety, but ihat he lesolved, in 
 the first place, to procure some efficacious Mnlidole, and lo ascertain with 
 what poison the wine was compnundrd, in which he believed he had taken 
 it. Unwilhnu lo trust any one with his suspicions, he left the inn under 
 pretext of slightly breathing himself and his horse; ard knowing that 
 the prohibition i-elating to the Ghett* was now expired, he hastened 
 thither, thinking at once to propitiate the Jewish hags with the gold they 
 so eagerly sought, and confiilent \n their skill in the dismal branch of 
 pharmacy the effccls of which he had experienced. 
 
 He found both Notte and MorU in their shop or laboratory, engaged in 
 sorting heaps of withered camomile and other flowers useful in their art, 
 while iMiriMUi sat at their feet, occupied intently in the same toil, and sing- 
 ing, or rather twittering in imitition of some rare bird, vvhich wis boside 
 her in a litde gilded cage shaped like a mosque. The apothec iresses 
 were obviously stattled, but although Miriam gazed up at the knight, she 
 gave bun not the least sii^n of recognition or recollection. 
 
 Both the crones snatched at the bottle aionce, when Alfonso presented 
 it with a desire that ihey would tell him if there was any poisonous mix- 
 lure in its contents, and he saw with satisfaction that they exchanged 
 looks expressive ofanger to find that iheir trade was exercised by others. 
 But as soon as Nolle had tasted ii, she spai it out with the scorn of an 
 experienced vininer lasting a bad wine. " Moria, drink iti — Drink a 
 cu|)f(il of it : it will not harm thee, child I" she said, laughing derisively. 
 "What fciirful fool hath mingled this? Go notlo him again if ihouwuuldst 
 buy death." 
 
 "Fool, fool thyself, how thou pratest!" said the more profound Morta. 
 "A hand as subtle as our fathers' has seasoned ihis draught! no flavour, 
 albeit the potent red dragon is in ill yet death could scarcely have been 
 intended, unless in a waiery blood ! It is of such stuff as we sell to 
 curious rivals, who w.>uld have the bridegroom fall asleep at the wed- 
 ding feast. Uiless Some qualm foil it, he who lakes a draught of this isbut 
 the show and presentmenl of a man ! —powerless ! his enemy shall strike 
 him down wiih (he shadow of his spear." 
 
 '•'•My dishonour, then, if not my death, was intended !" said Alfonso 
 inwardly, and the ihouglit was the more bitter, adding to Morta, '"Dne 
 whom I friend hath swallowed ihis poiion — canst thou give me aught that 
 will restore him lo his powers, be it but for a ft!w hours?" 
 
 •■' Thai hadi been provided agaiii>t only bewaie that they bury notlhy 
 friend alive, li.r if the stupor is u|)On him, it will laslii-elloui, sometime.'? 
 si.d<iiig iiiln ihe reality, but always wearing the semblance of death, if 
 once soaked into the brain!" replied Morta ; and Alfonso, who had indeed 
 some d<»ubls whether an aiilidote from such hands might not be as danger- 
 ous as ihe original dranghi, amply rewarded the hags, and retired, without 
 venluriiig lo solicit .\iiriani's ailention. 
 
 The hour named for ihe lournameiii was now at hand, and though he 
 felt scarcely able lo support the weight of his armour, Alfonso delayed 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 25? 
 
 not to follow up his heroic determination ; and his sable panoply was not 
 among the last to appear among the multitudes thronging to the scene of 
 action. 
 
 It was in the spot where the ancient masters of the Roman world had 
 displayed their most prodigal splendour, that it pleased iheir modern 
 imitator to exhibit his own, — in the Colosseum. One again the vast ruin 
 ■was filled with gazing myriads, all its galleries, shattered and destroyed 
 as they were in parts, being occupied to the highest round by prodigious 
 crowds of the jubilants. 
 
 It was very possible to believe for some instants, until the recollection 
 was struck with the unclassical costumes of the congregated nations, that 
 the days of the Roman empire had returned, and that those innumerable 
 spectators were assembled to behold some colossal display of the cruel 
 magnificence for which the amphitheatre was built. It is true that the 
 first circle above the arena was no longer occupied by a Roman emperor 
 and senate, the golden knights and the vestal virgins, and the priests of 
 a thousand gods; but a scaffolding of gilded poTes, hung with purple 
 velvet, and "canopied with cloth-of-gold, concealed the ruins of the im- 
 perial gallerv, and accommodated the pomp of their successors. The 
 pontiff occupied a throne which was ascended by several steps in the 
 centre of this gallery ; while Caesar, habited slill like a Roman consul, sat 
 as judge of the field in a curule chair below, environed by a semicircle 
 of ladies, his assistant jury, beyond which rose seals in gradation, filled 
 with the most distinguished personages of the court — cardinals, princes, 
 nobles, ambassadors, and illustrious jubiiants. 
 
 Reneath this gallery and around the whole lowest range of the amphi- 
 theatre were hung the shields of all the knights who intended to join in 
 the day's dangerous pastime — each watched by a trusty squire, with his 
 roaster's banderol floating on a lance. The grim visage of William of 
 Ramptom was conspicuous among all, stern, and expressive of little 
 satisfaction in the spectacle ; for in truth his master's delay in accom- 
 plishing the object of his journey to Rome had for some lime given him 
 great uneasiness. The arena was cleared of its chief obstructions in fallen 
 ruin or herbage, strewn deeply with sand, and kept vacant by the exer- 
 tions of a multitude of kings-at-arms, heralds, and marshals, and the 
 crossed spears of a numerous guard at all the entrances. 
 
 Above the ground gallery arose the second grade of the amphitheatre, 
 its weed-overgrown corridor, concealed beneath scarlet cloth, and densely 
 occupied by spectators in the most various and sumptuous costumes. 
 The effect was very magnificent and gay, for among them mingled a great 
 number of women in the diversified and picturesque garbs of almost every 
 state in Europe, certainly of every city and province of Italy, from the 
 Juno-like robed Sicilian!^ to the half-naked Venetian, scandalizing her 
 muffled Lombard neighbour with bare bosom and arms. 
 
 Although the Colosseum in the filteenlh century had not yet fallen into 
 the grandeur of ruin in which it is now beheld, was not yet turned into 
 the qijarry whence the modern architect procured his materials, still the 
 third tier'of galleries, occupied as of old by the populace, was in many 
 parts so dilapidated that it presented only zig-zag masses of spectators, 
 someofwho(n seemed perched so high that they might touch the heavens 
 with their hands. And those heavens I— a sea of blue becalmed — bright, 
 lustrous, intense blue, whose transparent and motionless concave over- 
 hung the spectacle like a dome of sapphire. Lucrezias popularity was 
 
 17 
 
258 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 very visibly displayed in these sleeps occupied by the Roman populace, 
 for in honour of her birthday, almost every one eilber carried a nosegay 
 or wore a wreath of flowers; and as the Orsini marriage was approved by 
 the people because it promised her larriance in Rome, a vast number had 
 decorated their breasts and caps with flame-coloured ribands streaming 
 in the air, which, with the rich colours of the flowers that seemed to have 
 exhausted the gardens of Italy, whose fields are such, glowing in the now 
 meridian sun, gave the summits of the amphitheatre the many-tinted ra- 
 diance of a peacock's tail. 
 
 The popular feeling was still more plainly evinced when Lucrezia ar- 
 rived, heading the immense cavalcade of the knights, as Queen of the 
 Tournament. Refore her was borne, on a crimson cushion, by two kings- 
 at-arms, attended by a dozen trumpeters with silver horns, and as many 
 heralds, the splendid prize — a wreath of diamonds set with admirable skill, 
 so as at once to form a most graceful convolution, and the words— "To 
 the bravest — the fairest!" She rode a snow-white charger full of fire, 
 but docile to the least gesture, as if he, too, loved his beautiful mistress, 
 tossing his plumed head high in the air, sporting, and arching his neck 
 till his nostrils blew the foam off his broad breast and slender forelegs. 
 The housings were of white velvet, sown with pearls, and Lucrezia's robe 
 was of the same virgin-hued satin, wrought at the bosom and down the 
 ■whole front with a cross of diamonds; her train was of a light rose- 
 coloured velvet, strewed with ruby stars, and borne by six pages ; but the 
 only ornament which she wore on her head, beside its glory of golden 
 ringlets, was a garland of white roses. A canopy of silver damask was 
 borne over her by two knights— the Orsino and Sir Reginald. 
 
 The former might have been styled, and indeed generally was, through- 
 out the day— the White Knight, so elaborately had he covered himself 
 with the colour of his lady's choice. His very armour, overlaid with plates 
 of silver, shone white; his surcoat, but for the crimson heart wrought in 
 the centre, was white ; his shield was white, with a sufflcienUy blank motto 
 — "This or love !" The bear on his crest was white— lance and scarf, and 
 sword and belt all white— and trulyit might be added that his visage was so 
 too, though set with an expression of fixed determination, which promised 
 as stout deeds of arms as the hilarity and joyous colour on Le Reaufort's. 
 
 Rut there was something more of the experienced tournayer in the 
 English knight's appearance. His powerful and yet supple limbs were 
 sheathed so perfectly in the steel which cased them, )hat the play of the 
 strong muscles and vigorous sinews could be as plainly discerned as if 
 he wore only silk, and displayed indeed a person whose youthful grace, 
 activity, and strength, were of the kind which is said to win most favour 
 in the eyes of women, the full energy of manhood not yet developed into 
 coarseness. He bestrode a mighty English steed, embarrassed with no 
 panoply but armour, and a plume of lofty broom flowers, and a dazzling 
 effect was produced by the innumerable suns emblazoned in the steel, and 
 especially one on his own breast, in the midst of which was the cheerful 
 motto—" Of the sun indeed !" 
 
 We should need the pen of Homer (if he had one), and the privileges 
 conferred bv three thousand years of immortality, to venture on a de- 
 scriptive catalogue of the innumerable chivalry which formed the caval- 
 cade, and which extended as far as the topmost spectator could view— a 
 tossing mass of glittering armour, helmets, plumes, and prancing steeds, 
 and showy surcoats, and mingled blazonries of every land! Ail halted 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 259 
 
 •when Lucreziahad reached the arena until she ascended to a throne prepared 
 for her m front of the fair jury, amidst a thunder of delighted acclama- 
 tions, in which Alexander hunself could not forbear audibly joining. The 
 Orsino and Sir Reginald then took their stations beneath the throne, and 
 a universal flourish of trumpets invited the knights to continue their 
 advance. 
 
 But for the order in which the marshals grouped them as they entered, 
 even the vast area of the Colosseum could scarcely have contained the 
 numerous aspirants to the honours of that illustrious day. And yet it is 
 probable that not one escaped at least a momentary notice from Lucrezia 
 as they crowded in ; so that when at length the Hospitaller entered in his 
 dark panoply she observed him instantly. The whole amphitheatre was 
 between them — but she started as if with an electric shock at the terrible 
 glance which met hers, and stared indeed for several instants as if she 
 had beheld a spectre newly risen from the grave. This proof of guilt 
 reanimated the sinking powers of the Hospitaller, and few of the wine- 
 flushed and holiday warriors rode with more stalwart dignity into the 
 arena than the half-poisoned and soul-exhausted Knight of St. John. 
 
 The masses were at length concentrated — silence proclaimed— and a 
 herald with stentorian lungs declared the conditions of the tournament. 
 All who engaged in it were to be noble both by father and mother, of legi- 
 timate birth, untainted with any crime or dishonour, not excepted against 
 by any lady or damsel, and unassisted by any supernatural arms or de- 
 fences. The weapons to be used were blunt lances of ash, the back edge 
 of the sword, or axe, and unpointed daggers; no stroke below the girdle 
 was to be considered lawful, and to kill a horse deprived the oflender of 
 his own, and of all claim to the prize. The combat was to be that of 
 the Melee or Medley, which imitated the confusion of a battle, and was 
 usually adopted when the number of candidates for glory was very great, 
 as on ihejjresent occasion, observing of course some distinctions, which, 
 although the laws of this hurly burly contest were generally known, were 
 recited, that no one might pretend ignorance. Each onset, or in modern 
 fisticuff phrase, round, was to last three lances— that is, each knight, if 
 he were not disabled, in addition to the lance with which he commenced, 
 might use two more, held in readiness by his squire. Whoever un- 
 horsed an opponent, provided that he was not himself thrown three times, 
 might enter in the next onset-, and whoever, after having used his three 
 lances, failed either to overthrow an adversary, bend him back in his 
 crupper by strength of lance, or strike off his helmet, was to quit the 
 conflict altogether. >'o two or more knights were permitted under the 
 most sevei'e denunciations ol' ignonjiny, scorn of the ladies, and forfeiture 
 of arms and horse, to assail one at the same time; and as the confusion 
 and violence of these tournays nearly resembled those of a battle, the 
 squires were exhorted to win themselves honour, and to show how nobly 
 and dexterously they could serve iheir masters in that more perilous 
 conjuncture, by removing the fallen from the press, helping them to 
 remount, furnishing them with new lances, unclasping their vizors to 
 allow them breath, and other services of the like nature. 
 
 The herald cuncludyd by announcing punishments for proved trans- 
 gressions of these rules, and by inviting all the gentle chivalry whose 
 hearts were animated by love, to be admitted into an order of knighthood 
 which he vas pleased to found, and had deputed his Queen, the Lady 
 Lucrezia Borgia, to confer on all who desired to enter it. 
 
260 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 This proposition was received with a deafening shout of approval from 
 
 the warriors, echoed by the whole assembly save one or two ; and the 
 manner of the initiation was indicated by Paolo Orsino, who eagerly 
 claimed his right to be the first received in it. "Be it so — and Sir 
 Reginald shall be the last!" said Lucrezia, smiling as the young knight 
 knelt to present to her the sword which she had confided to his care. 
 Drawing the weapon with his assistance, she advanced to the edge of the 
 platform, and slightly laid it on Paolo's shoulder, as he bent deeply on his 
 war-horse to receive the distinction, and he then passed on, in an order 
 previously arranged, and a concourse of the eager chivalry followed, who all 
 pressed to the gentle stroke with enthusiastic rivalry, many of them earning 
 at the same time some precious favours from their lady-loves in the gallery 
 — such as scarfs, knots of riband, jewels, and other ornaments. 
 
 The throng around the Hospitaller rapidly thinned, as the innumerable 
 knights of love hastened to enrol themselves in his chivalry 5 and, at 
 length, looking up from a disordered reverie, he found himself nearly alone 
 — only two knights adhered to what seemed to be a forlorn cause. The 
 great bulk of one of these revealed him to be Vitellozzo — the other quickly 
 revealed himself. 
 
 "By my faith. Knight of Jerusalem I seeing that we owe one another but 
 little now, 1 am well content to stand by yo"u in your quarrel against the 
 Borgias ! " said Oliverotto da Fermo, with a strange smile. 
 
 "Among us — if sinews carry it, we may surely hinder the proud 
 strumpet of her will for once," said Vitellozzo, with his habitual brutality 
 and violence. "And yonder galliard boy whom she halh taken so fairly in 
 her meshes — look ! she leans upon his goodly shoulder as he kneels, for 
 weariness, no doubt, — fie, wanton I— if 1 brn'ig him not to the ground like 
 a winged mallard— look I she makes a dint in the steel with her amorous 
 paddling — but, by my saint, his bones shall ache too much for it to-night, 
 damsel ! " 
 
 " She counterfeits a faintness — inhuman perfidy ! " groaned the Knight 
 of St. John. " But, lord Yitello, I pray you of your gentleness, let me first 
 try my fortune with him— and I care not what else befalls." 
 
 " I will not yield my hope to make all that snow puff with grief that now 
 swells with amorousness, for as much gold as would roof Castello! " 
 returned the burly chieftain. 
 
 "And by your beard, Vitellozzo, I will have my stroke to despoil him 
 of that fair sword — look, she gives it to him! " exclaimed Oliverotto. 
 
 "Good knight, its work is done I — wear it for my sake," were indeed 
 the words which now came to their ears, pronounced by Lucrezia as she 
 handed the weapon to Sir Reginald. " Do me some gentle strokes with 
 it to-day— and keep it for thy rougher sports for ever! " 
 
 Delighted almost to ecslacy, Le Beaufort kissed the fair hand that 
 bestowed the gift so passionately, that a general titter arose among the 
 ladies ; in the midst of which, vaulting from the platform on his steed with 
 matchless dexterity, the knight dashed it forward into a magnificent 
 charging altitude, and flashing the sword over his head, shouted til! the 
 arena rang again, "Lucrezia against the world, with either edge! " 
 
 "1 accept ihe challenge," replied a still louder cry, and the Hospitaller 
 galloped furiously forward, throwing his lance on the ground, drawing his 
 sword, and striking it with such frenzied rage against Le Beaufort's, that 
 sparks flew all around, and the young knight, not expecting such an onset, 
 scarcely retained his hold. 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 261 
 
 "Why, brother-in-arms I what is this?" said Le Beaufort, dropping the 
 point of his weapon the instant he perceived who his assailant was, and 
 in that brief pause Alfonso's reason had returned. 
 
 " Ha, hal 'tis but to show ye. Knights of Love, we of Honour are of 
 good cheer yet I " he said, laughing hoarsely. -'You vaunt it too proudly 
 over our fewness— but few as'we are, ere night, I promise, — some both 
 wished and intended we should be fewer." 
 
 Sir Reijinald laughed goodhumouredly, though he perceived not the wit 
 of the allusion. '''Let u's to deeds, then, brother I " he exclaimed. ''My 
 heart is getting too impatient for its mew, and there is nothing pleasanter 
 than the clashing of tournays except the real hurly burly of battle. 
 Largess I largess l" and with' this cry he threw a handful of gold among 
 the heralds a"nd pursuivants, an exaniple which was immediately followed 
 by all the chivalry as a reward for the exertions of the meritorious func- 
 tionaries, and a signal that they desired the lists to be cleared for deeds of 
 arms. 
 
 While the heralds collected their rewards into a common heap for future 
 division, Casar stood up, and commanded the kings-at-arms to divide the 
 arena with a rope of curiously rich dyes, which they held up at a distance 
 of about thirty paces from the opposite entrances of the Colosseum. The 
 knights were then requested to ride out at the entrance towards the Palatine, 
 and" turning round the amphitheatre, to re-enter at that of the Esquiline, 
 each jouster, taking an opposite side of the rope to that of him who pre- 
 ceded, so as to divide the whole chivalry with all possible fairness of 
 chance. This formed no small portion of the amusement of the spec- 
 tators in the amphitheatre, and also of a great multitude assembled outside, 
 who were only enabled to see the knights in this procession, and to hear 
 the triumphant music to which they marched. 
 
 Although strenuous commands had been issued that no one should 
 presume to disturb the pomp of the spectacle with outcries, gestures, or 
 other intimations of opinion, the chatter, the laughter, the shouts, con- 
 tinued so incessantly, that, as there was no instant of silence to contrast, 
 not even the all-important and all-interfering marshals noticed it. 
 
 In a brief space the combatants w^ere arranged in two solid squadrons 
 along the whole length of the arena which, vast as it was, could scarcely 
 contain them— the oldest and most experienced knights averring that, 
 except in the marshalry of great battles, they had never seen so many 
 renowned and illustrious crests opposed. A clear space of about a hundred 
 feet was reserved between these masses to give sufficient impetus to the 
 shock of their encounter, which was diligently kept by the sergeants-at- 
 arms. And now the division was nearly completed, only one knight 
 remained to be placed who had purposely'reserved himself that he might 
 be sure to get into the rank opposite to Sir Reginald, and this was the 
 Hospitaller, who, lingering in his transit round the amphitheatre, suffered 
 a new annovance when he was at length about to enter it. Paschino 
 called to hini with the familiarity of an old acquaintance, from the top of 
 a conical ruin, which is said to have been a fountain, where he had 
 perched himselfin a vain hope of seeing something of the spectacle within. 
 "In mercy's name! do but gratify my curiosity, knightl to tell me who 
 occupy the seats of the vestal virgins? Give 'me argument for eternal 
 laughter, and sav— 'tis Lucrezia and her ladies I" 
 
 '^ Laugh on then, little spider, till thy venom bag bursts and chokes 
 thee with thine own bitterness!" replied the angry knight, passing into 
 
262 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 the arena. Discerning at a glance on which side Le Beaufort was posted, 
 he checked his rein towards the opposite, but was immediately met by 
 the truncheons of the marshals ; and then as if the whole multitude had 
 fathomed the secret of his soul, and derided its incongruous nature, so 
 loud a shout of laughter arose that the immense ruins seemed to shake as 
 if with an earthquake. 
 
 But the matter w^as explained almost at the very instant when Alfonso 
 was about to make some furious outbreak. " Give the odd man to us, 
 marshals, in common fairness •, no two of us can match the lord of Cas- 
 tello!' said Le Beaufort, unconsciously, by the laughter which the gibe 
 provoked, adding to the animosity of his fellow-guest, which his open 
 nature did not suspect, and who, being in the opposite ranks, had managed 
 to post himself in front of the English knight. 
 
 "Take him then to your own aid, for I mean to try my lance on you, 
 sweet gentleman !" replied the gigantic chieftain, fiercely. 
 
 "Take advice, and do not— for one such fall as I can give to knights of 
 your flesh puts them to bed for a month!" replied the knight, somewhat 
 offendedly. 
 
 "Sirs, this may not be — we must appeal to his highness the judge of 
 the field!" said a grave king-at-arms, who had advanced, and who ac- 
 cordingly hastened to Csesar's throne. 
 
 He returned in a few minutes with the duke's decision that until the 
 combatants already ranged became odd by the chances of the conflict the 
 Hospitaller must remain out ; consoling himself with the advantage in the 
 reservation of his strength. Meanwhile the duke desired him to take his 
 station near himself, to assist him and the ladies in the judgment of the 
 field. 
 
 Knowing that it was in vain to resist, and feeling at the same lime a 
 relapse into an extreme weakness. Alfonso tacitly obeyed, and half un- 
 consciously found himself posted beside Caesar, listening to his condo- 
 lences, and immediately under the eyes of Lucrezia and her ladies. 
 
 Alfonso's strength returned with the violence of his indignation when 
 he perceived that she looked at him with an instant's intense wondering 
 and sorrowful gaze— doubtless to mark and regret the little mischief her 
 potion had wrought, for he knew not that his visage was so deadly pale! 
 
 "Welcome, Sir Dolorous!" said Caesar, smilingly. "But that it might 
 ill become me to contend with my guests, I would have sided with you, 
 merely out of spite to the women, who have given me so many restless 
 nights ! but now I see why they were nigh killed with laughter yesterday 
 when your English brother described to them a manner of sport they 
 have in his land called a cock-fight, thinking of their own to-day, — for 
 'tis nothing other ^ and mark you not how each watches her chanticleer 
 as eagerly as if she had staked a dozen gold crowns on his mettle, and how 
 the proud birds purfle and stalk? But you have not saluted our fair hens 
 at anxious roost above !" 
 
 "It were a lost courtesy— their souls are in the lists below," replied 
 Alfonso, gazing, and yet scarcely noticing anything in the scene before 
 him. 
 
 The spectacle was now at its greatest point of splendour ; the two lines 
 of the opposing combatants were on the eagerest strain of the start, lances 
 fixed, bending forward in intense expectation, their steeds tossing and 
 foaming with impatience, and all their panoply and plumes one restless 
 mass of glitter, colour, and flash. But the Hospitaller remembered no- 
 
CJESkR BORGIA. 263 
 
 thing very distinctly afterwards, until suddenly the cry of the heralds " Let 
 do! — let Ho!" the crash of a thousand warlike instruments — the simul- 
 taneous shout and rising of the vast assembly — the flying away of the 
 rope — announced the decisive moment of the onset ! The next instant 
 and the cloud of sand tossed fronj unnumbered hoofs — the clash of armour 
 — the splintering of lances — the fall of rider and man— the cries of squires 
 and pursuivants— a deafening uproar of acclamations, shrieks of women, 
 neighing of horses, triumphal bursts of music — declared that the passage 
 of arms'^had commenced ! Among a hundred saddles instantly emptied, 
 Alfonso saw only that the mighty Vitellozzo was hurled over, steed and 
 rider, beneath the lance of Sir Reginald — and that, continuing his career, 
 the English knight overthrew three more in succession, among whom was 
 the adventurous Oliverotto. 
 
 Such of the overthrown as could rally their energies, assisted by the 
 squires, caught their horses and remounted ; those who could not were 
 raised by the same faithful attendants ; but true to his promise, Sir Regi- 
 nald had" sent Vitellozzo to the ground with such violence that he w-as 
 taken up insensible and bleeding from eyes and ears, his great bulk with 
 difficulty carried off by half a dozen squires, like a bull's from the arena. 
 And this exploit was signalized by an audible exclamation of satisfaction 
 from the pontiff. Rut Oliverotto quickly recovered himself, and seem- 
 ingly bent on vengeance, seized a new lance, (his own was broken against 
 Le Reaufort's shield,) leaped into his saddle, and rushed round to meet 
 Sir Reginald, who was continuing his exploits with a success which 
 amazed'lhe Italian spectators, and drew down incessant shouts of applause 
 and wonder. Le Reaufort, laughing aloud with the delight of his fierce 
 pastime, was overthrowing all before him, but hearing shouts of warn- 
 ing from the populace, whose favourite his successes had instantly ren- 
 dered him, he wheeled round to meet whatever foe might be following. 
 It happened that the Orsino was immediately after him, who had already 
 displayed an enthusiasm which had in it something of the desperation and 
 ferocious violence of a real battle, and had overthrown many who imagined 
 themselves more than a match for him. Whether he was blinded by the 
 passions which urged him on, or in reality sought the perilous glory of 
 overthrowing the English knight, our chronicler but conjectures, certain 
 onlv that the Orsino "drove fi-.li tilt at the breast of Le Reaufort — who then 
 exhibited the noblest quality of his chivalric character, for sinking his 
 own lance, he suffered the whole shock of his opponent's weapon, which 
 bent him back in the crupper, but shivered in the deed, and springing up 
 again in the saddle with a sprightly — ''Ha, Paolo, thou hast my breath on 
 thy lance?" he passed on, and dashed Oliverotto from his saddle as if he 
 had been a ficure of stuffed straw, with what little or none remained in 
 his lunas ! The generosity and heroic valour of the whole deed struck 
 the noble chords which are in every human breast, though sometimes 
 rusted and discordant— and there arose such a tempest of applause — such 
 deafening Vivas— Hurrahs — Vive-vives! Vivats I that when some gla- 
 diador did bravely in the ancient times under the gaze of eighty thousand 
 spectators, never was there a louder tumult. Rul the most precious tri- 
 bute of all was Lucrezia's involuntary repetition of the young knight's 
 motto — mon Le Beaufort ! — which all around her distinctly heard. 
 
 Rut among his fellow-combatants this universal applause kindled as 
 general a desire to carry away the glory of the overthrow of so distin- 
 guished a knight ^ in especial the French cavahers, of whom there were 
 
3t)4 C^SAK B0RGI.4. 
 
 aiany present, learning that he was English, essayed all that the brilliant 
 skill and courage of their nation could do against him. But the thews 
 and sinews of the English youth, and his unconquerable resolve still bore 
 him off victorious from every encounter, until humanity itself seemed in- 
 capable of farther exertion, without some pause. The kings-at-arms, 
 while recording his achievements with astonishment, entreated him to 
 resej've some strength for the subsequent contests : even Lucrezia sent in 
 vain the requests of herself and the ladies to give himself some rest, since 
 in him ihey placed their chief hopes : until he had shivered the last of his 
 three spears, he would not leave the field, and then rode, covered with 
 dust and warlike sweat, but with a gay and prancing movement of his 
 equally English steed, to thank the ladies for their concern in his behalf. 
 
 " If your king called you TJxe Beaufort — henceforth we are determined 
 to call you The Knight I you have no match in Italy — none in the world I" 
 said Lucrezia, with a female enthusiasm for valour, perhaps quickened by 
 the fierce glance of the Hospitaller. " Would the hour were come to re- 
 lieve you of that steel, for you must needs be hurt by the Orsino's ungentle 
 blow I — and, if you will accept such awkward squires, myself and dam- 
 sels will rejoice in the task. Meanwhile, I pray you, wipe the dust from 
 your visage with this kerchief I" 
 
 And she handed her own — one of precious woof, curiously embroidered, 
 and certainly gifted with effects as poisonous as that of the Moor of Venice. 
 But using it only to press to his lips, the young knight tied it round his arm, 
 exclaiming, " Now I cannot fail I" 
 
 Meanwhile the conflict in the lists continued, though with less interest 
 in the spectators, until the achievements of the Orsino began to attract ge- 
 neral attention. Feeling that his triumph against Le Beaufort had brought 
 on him general disapprobation, himself ashamed of it, and anxious toef- 
 face the recollection, his former niotives were so reinforced that he gained 
 a strength like that of madness ; and his fury materially aided in the rapid 
 winnowing which now took place among the combatants, a considerable 
 part of whom, stunned by severe falls, or with dislocated limbs, were 
 continually retiring from the conflict. Finally, the last lance of this first 
 struggle which remained unbroken of those who had the power to use the 
 prescribed number, was found m the Orsino's hand. 
 
 The moment the first onset finished, the heralds hurried to compare 
 notes before Caesar; the pursuivants to clear the arena of all the shattered 
 pieces of armour, the scarfs, the plumes, the jewels, which all became 
 their perquisites. A chronicler relates that of broken lances alone there 
 might have been kindled a bonfire to roast a dozen oxen I The squires 
 hastened to undo the armour of their lords during the breathing space, to 
 hand them wine and other refreshments, and solace them with tidings of 
 "what they had observed of their valour ; while the sergeants-at-arms busily 
 examined the bundles of fresh lances which were brought in, to be cer- 
 tain that they were all of the prescribed form and thickness. The Orsino 
 hastened to join Le Beaufort beneath the balcony of the ladies. He was 
 received at first with evident coldness by all the fair bevy, until he said, 
 handing his lance to Sir Beginald, " Here is one which your pupil was 
 determined to win for you, to beg the pardon of another that did wrong- 
 but in heedlesness."' 
 
 "It was a shrewd stroke — but I am only woman within my breast, for 
 there only the blow pained me, coming from thee— for had we not promised 
 to forbear each other?" said the young knight, jocundly. " But I knew 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 265 
 
 thou didst it not of purpose, but in the pell-mell, where a man might 
 drive at his father's grey beard. Yet, in faith, if this lance win me the 
 prize, it shall not be against its giver." 
 
 Paolo was touched^ and Liicrezia, pleased with his evident feeling, 
 praised his achieven)ents so warnjly that his desire to renew them was 
 heightened to its former feverish violence. 
 
 Fruit and wines were now distributed to all the pontifical guests and 
 the knights ; but it was observed that the Hospitaller refused either with 
 a shudder. And yet he had long felt his strength ebbing away, and it 
 was with difficulty he kept upright in his saddle. 
 
 The preparations continued for the second onset, which was likely to 
 prove a far more obstinate one than the first, as only the bravest and most 
 skilful knights remained to contest it, more than half the number being 
 weeded out. Caesar had been for a long time engaged in consultation 
 with kings-at-arms and heralds; but at length it was declared that Sir 
 Reginald had won the first praise of valour, and the Orsino the second. 
 This was of no advantage to either, except to soften the possi])le ultimate 
 defeat; for all who had accomplished the feat of overthrowing one op- 
 ponent, were entitled to continue the struggle for the prize. On hearing 
 the declaration, and the numbers for the renewed contest, the Hospitaller 
 roused himself with a strong efibrt of mind over matter, and demanded a 
 place in it. "But inasmuch as 1 should not enter it, being fresh, let me 
 first break a lance with the two victors of the onset — Sir Reginald first," 
 he exclaimed, endeavouring to speak with calmness. 
 
 "Nay — for I am grieved, good knight, but the numbers are again equal," 
 said CaDsar. "You must yet abide your lime ; since none of these can 
 breathe during a second course without forfeiting all the honour he won in 
 the first." 
 
 "Yet I will yield my place, to give my brother-in-arms room to display 
 his noble chivalry ; I shall be well recompensed by remaining here," said 
 the generous knight of England. 
 
 "Why so, then, it shall be. The Lord Orsino longs to essay your 
 Lombard chivalry," said Caesar, and, with inexpressible disappointment 
 and vexation, but finding that he could not possibly retreat, Alfonso was 
 compelled to accept the proffer. The look of enthusiastic approbation 
 ■which Lucrezia cast on Sir Reginald, seemed, however, to revive all the 
 exhausted powers of his frame. Emulation and a burning thirst for re- 
 venge chased off the insidious languor with which the potion he had 
 swallowed yet lingered in his veins ; and when the trumpets again blew 
 to the charge, few rushed into the conflict with a more furious determi- 
 nation to triumph in it, or perhaps with more likelihood, if the wild ex- 
 citement did not pass away. 
 
 The second battle might almost be considered a repetition of the first, 
 save that it was contended during a much longer time, with more skill, 
 and with less of the mad impetuosity of the outbreak. From different 
 causes, the same thing animated both Alfonso and the Orsino to almost 
 superhuman exertions — Lucrezia now fairly hung over her balcony, eyes, 
 ears, and soul rapt in the spectacle below, — Alfonso imagined, to rejoice 
 in his overthrow procured by her inhuman arts, while the Orsino was 
 stimulated by the desire to prove that he could maintain her cause as 
 valiantly as Sir Reginald, and by his hatred of the supposed envoy un- 
 definediy mingled with jealousy. But with all this mutual ill-will, ac- 
 cident prevented them from coming to an encounter, until the continual 
 
266 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 triumphs of Alfonso stimulated the Orsino's exasperation, and the thin- 
 ning of the ranks permitted him to indulge it. "Ho, Knight of St. John!" 
 he shouted. " Now is the time of which I spoke to you erewhile ! — Let 
 us cross spears ! Lucrezia and Love !" 
 
 "Our Lady and Chastity!" replied Alfonso, and they rushed at one 
 another, lance in rest, the knights in general pausing to give their fury 
 way. The next instant the Orsino lay upon the sands of the lists, and his 
 courser was galloping wildly and unmastered round them — the saddle for 
 the first time on that day emptied. 
 
 Le Beaufort hastened with the Orsino's squires to raise him, but ere 
 they arrived Paolo was on his feet, staggering about to regain his horse, 
 and dizzy like a drunken man. But there was something in Alfonso's 
 demeanour which excited general indignation •, he laughed loudly and 
 scornfully, and glanced up at Lucrezia with a frenzied exultation which 
 she felt in her soul's core, and which stirred Le Beaufort's hot blood at 
 once with pity and anger. Regardless of any sign of opinion, Alfonso 
 continued to rage like some hero of fabulous romance, until no one dared 
 to meet his shock, and he overthrew almost without resistance, remaining 
 undoubted triumpher in the second contest, but without extorting any 
 mark of popular admiration or sympathy. « 
 
 The Orsino sat, much exhausted, in a chair beneath the balcony of the 
 ladies, comforted somewhat by Lucrezia's condolence, and the attentions 
 of his friend, but still burning with secret indignation. The moment the 
 course was finished, he sprang up, and commanded his squires to relock 
 his armour for a new assault. At this moment, Lucrezia's eye wandered 
 to the Hospitaller, who had raised his vizor to breathe, and was leaning 
 motionless on his lance in the centre of the arena. "Nay, my lord, you 
 have rested ; our cause needs no advantages, and the Knight of St. John 
 is spent!" she exclaimed. "Duke Caesar, this must not be. — We will 
 not win unfairly." 
 
 The duke glanced expressively at the Orsino, as he replied, "Our sister 
 fulfils a Christian precept; — but we deem 'tis justly urged. The third 
 onset shall be fought without any of the three triumphers, and there will 
 remain, 'tis like, the very flower and essence of the luckier chivalry to 
 contend against them!" 
 
 Jhe. decrees of the Judge of the Field were always absolute, and one of 
 the three champions indeed was evidently too much exhausted. The 
 spectators beheld that when Alfonso's squires put his horse in motion to 
 lead him out of the lists, he sank forward on its neck, and with dilTiculty 
 straightened himself again in the saddle. It seemed that even Lucrezia 
 was moved at the sight, or desired to complete her work ; for a page of 
 her suite arrived with a goblet of wine, which he was commanded in her 
 name to request him to accept. The Hospitaller instantly seized the goblet, 
 and poured the whole rich beverage on the sand, returning it empty to the 
 page. " Our Lady of Purity supports me! 1 need none other," was his 
 reply to the astonished attendant, and to the still more amazed and dis- 
 concerted gazer. 
 
 And now began the third onset, which, to the surprise of many, was as 
 furious and more lasting than either of the preceding; for not only was 
 the grain thrice bolted, but those who remained in the contest were re- 
 kindled and desperate with ihe narrowing of the circle of hope. Heralds 
 in general allowed that brighter feats of chivalry had not been exhibited 
 within their recollection ; and one ancient king-at-arms, nearly a century 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 267 
 
 old, declared, in the exultation of his heart, that knighthood had reached 
 its highest splendour, and could but henceforth decay. 
 
 These three conflicts had wasted nearly the whole of the day, and 
 Le Beaufort, in his impatience, kept up an uneasy glancing at the sun, 
 which began to decline; but, at length, the third triple of lances was 
 exhausted, and of the five hundred which began the battles, only forty 
 remained to contest the prize with Alfonso, the Orsino, and Sir Reginald; 
 but as the triumpher in this round had not given so many strokes as Paolo 
 in the contest in which he was only second to Le Beaufort, he was declared 
 to be champion of it. Paolo now hastened to Caesar's chair, and earnestly 
 requested that the last contest might be with swords. 
 
 "Nay, for ye are all too angry-coloured, and mayhap will turn the 
 edges," replied Caesar. "And for the same cause, we ordain that unless 
 there be no other opponents, none of you three shall tilt at the other, or 
 shall forfeit the prize." 
 
 The discontent of the Orsino was very visible, and he muttered in a low 
 tone, "Signor, you too favour the envoy ! — he hath already thrown me at 
 the lance: my horse wavers at his black panoply." 
 
 " Tut, man, I have observed him this half hour: his colours come and 
 go like a Sallee rover's — he shall be the more spent to your hand," re- 
 turned the duke, in the same voice. " I care not, for my part, if your 
 lance had a point to gore a buffalo mad, and were in his back I" 
 
 After a sufficient rest allowed to the late combatants, once more the 
 lines were marshalled : and the excitement, which had been long languish- 
 ing, was renewed with more than its first energy, but in a differerent man- 
 ner. Attention was concentrated and silent; all hung eagerly forward, 
 even those on the most slippery elevations, but no one uttered a sound; 
 the very women ceased to buzz their hopes and fears. The kings-at- 
 arms who guarded the prize raised it more loftily on their gilded staves, 
 the diamonds sparkling ruby tints in the westering sun; the trumpets that 
 timed the marshalry fluttered with the agitation of their blowers. It was 
 remarked that when the Hospitaller was summoned, he did not seem to 
 hear until his squires had twice admonished him : and then he came into 
 the lists with a slow and trailing movement. Even when the onset began 
 he appeared like one awaking slowly from a lethargy ; and suddenly the 
 rude shock of a French spear, which carried off his helmet, tearing all its 
 lacings asunder, revealed him glaring around as if awakened on the start, 
 deadly pale, and paler by contrast with his raven hair. A faint female 
 cry was heard, which became general and mingled with those of men, 
 and especially of the marshals, when, without accepting the helmet which 
 his squire instantly raised, the Hospitaller dashed on like a madman, and 
 overthrew the Frenchman, and two more knights in his way. Excited 
 then by a furious emulation, Sir Reginald and the Orsino even surpassed 
 their former achievements. But the resistance was desperate and pro- 
 longed ; instead of the shivered armour and spears, the sands became 
 reddened all over with large drops of blood. Several fell from exhaus- 
 tion, after defying every effort of their enemies to overthi-ew them. Caesar 
 himself seemed fearful of the results; and once or twice, as the conflict 
 waxed very close and furious, he raised his baton as if intending to inter- 
 pose ; and as the Hospitaller had not resumed his helmet, insensible to all 
 the cries of his squire, but continued to rage on, there seemed a justifiable 
 pretext. But something in the horror-struck lone m which Lucrezia 
 called upon him to interfere, so diverted him that he could not for laugh- 
 
268 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ing— when suddenly all necessity ceased. Six knights only remained ex- 
 cepting the three who were forbidden to attack each other— and these 
 six, on the verge of exhaustion and blind with rage and emulation, rushed 
 at each other with such transcendant fury tliat all were overthrown, 
 horses and all, as if with the scattered destruction of a thunderbolt. 
 
 After a moment's pause of general astonishment, there arose a deafening 
 uproar, which subsided into a sudden and appalling silence when the 
 spectators beheld what instantly followed. 
 
 The pallid visage of the Hospitaller flushed some unearthly colour, his 
 eyes flamed madly, his whole frame shook with the convulsions of a pas- 
 sion which seemed loo violent for the frame of humanity to endure ; and 
 whirling his horse round as if to take room for a charge, he yelled till the 
 amphitheatre rung in every crevice, " Have at you now, English boy ! " 
 
 " Nay, Lombard ! unless my brother the Orsino's arm fails— 1 contend 
 no longer for the prize I — It is sufficient that Love triumphs over your 
 rudeness !■' replied Sir Reginald, with strong and ill-suppressed emotion, 
 partly at the strange bitterness of his once brother-in-arms, but chiefly 
 with regret at the enormous sacrifice which his generous friendship made, 
 — perhaps unknown to himself, with an intention of refuting Paolo's rising 
 suspicions. 
 
 "With none but thee! " shouted the Hospitaller, wheeling his horse, 
 poising his lance, and taking his career. '' 1 have but strength for thee I 
 I have overthrown the Orsino — the repetition were easy— but thou I — I say, 
 thou I — Knight of England I if thou art not a coward, a dastard I— before thy 
 mistress 1 say ii ! — a slave to be spat upon in the market-place— if '' 
 
 But ere he had reached thus far Le Beaufort had dashed his spurs to the 
 rowels in his steed, and rushed forward like a mountain-torrent suddenly 
 bursting through some dam— without observing that the Orsino, half 
 maddened with his share of the insult, was also in full career; — neither 
 did the Hospitaller, absorbed in the frenzy of his feeling against Le Beau- 
 fort. In vain arose on every side one universal shout and Shriek ; in vain 
 did the truncheon of the judge fall ; in vain did marshals and heralds rush 
 in! The decisive moment was passed, and the Hospitaller encountering 
 at the same instant the shock of two lances urged with all the violence 
 which the madness of passion could give, was hurled to a considerable 
 distance from his horse, and lay stretched on his back on the lists, his 
 head bleeding from behmd so as to redden all the black hair, his breast- 
 plate torn away and blood soaking through the silk doublet ..within, 
 perfectly motionless, and apparently dead I 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 " Sith there is yet a credence in my heart, 
 An esperance so obstinately strong, 
 As doth invert the attest of eyes and ears, 
 As if those organs had deceptious functions, 
 Created only to calumniate."— Shakspep.e. 
 
 During several days after the tournament the Knight of St. John enjoyed 
 but a degree of twilight consciousness. Something'he afterwards remem- 
 bered of a rushing crowd, of being borne along gently but rapidiv, as if bv 
 the wind, and of the cold air of a river blowing stronglv on his face. Then 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. jgg 
 
 all was lost until opening his eyes, stretched as though on a bank of soft 
 grass, numerous faces swam around him, and he had a distinct recollection 
 of a hooded nun washing his wounded breast with some balmy fluid, while 
 divers sages, in black mantles and furred caps, spoke in low and mvs- 
 rious mutterings around. He remembered little more until, awaking with 
 a start from a deep sleep, he found himself extended on a magnificent 
 couch, covered with white velvet brocade, and propped, on cushions of 
 white satin. The walls were hung wiih arras, wrought with representa- 
 tions of the loves of the gods, which future times have considered some- 
 what exceeding even the license of those in which they were devised. 
 The ceiling was painted with a Hymen and Cupids showering flowers on 
 the couch below ; and from this circumstance, and the predominance of 
 white and silver in the ornaments, it seemed like a bridal chanjber but 
 just made ready for the reception of some royal pair. Among all the objects 
 around him Alfonso recognised only one— Messer Pietro Bembo — who 
 was busied in penning some inspiration, which he huddled up the moment 
 he perceived his lord looking at him with an understanding and remem- 
 bering eye, but which was undoubtedly headed " Ad Lucretiam." 
 
 Alfonso's recollections rapidly returned, and he began to make inquiries 
 which for some time Bembo endeavoured to avoid answering, until he 
 found that the prince was more irritated by his silence than he could be by 
 his communicativeness. Alfonso then learned with amazement and chagrin 
 that he was in an apartement of the Vatican, whither he had been conveyed 
 by the pontiff's orders; and where he had been sedulously attended by 
 his holiness's own chirurgeons, an ancient lady, nurse to Donna Lucrezia, 
 and a nun of the Agonizants, whose charitable dedication it was to attend 
 the sick and console the dying. All had been unremitting in attentions ; 
 the pope sent messengers hourly to inquire into his state; the canon had it 
 in command to wait upon Donna Lucrezia three times in the day to report 
 it; the Penitentiary had presented himself several times to administer spi- 
 ritual assistance. " Alfonso began to suspect that the canon had betrayed 
 his rank; but he declared to the contrary with such solemnity, averring 
 that as his abhorrence of the lady had so vehemently increased, he knew 
 that tu divulge it would bring him into a position of great danger — that 
 the prince could not refuse him credence. 
 
 "And the false and dishonoured knights who hurled me from my horse 
 ■with a conjoint treachery I which of them has won the prize, — wherein, 
 by my father's life, he shall not long exult I" said the Hospitaller, with a 
 violence which announced either the return of strength to his exhausted 
 frame, or renewed fever. 
 
 ''Nay, my lord,Le Beaufort wept when he saw what had happed, and 
 all men agreed that it was an accident; and as oft as he meets me in the 
 palace, though he is yet mad with the words you gave him, and the 
 Orsino, to my thought, rejoices in your evil chance — he asks how flires 
 it with you as tenderly as an it were for his brother," replied Bembo. 
 "As to the prize, no man hath it; the Duke of Romagna has impounded 
 it for farther advice." 
 
 "In the palace? A frequent guest, I doubtnot, of Lucrezia. Methought 
 I heard her laugh the loudest when I fell I" 
 
 "1 have not heard her grace laugh loudly at all," replied Bembo. 
 " But certain I am, she laughed neither loudly nor lowly on occasion of 
 your lordship's mishap, for she immediately swooned away, and, as I 
 happened to be at hand, in my arms, so that I could not mistake." 
 
270 CyESAR BORGIA. 
 
 " She feared for her minion !" bitterly replied Alfonso. 
 
 " Who that may be, I guess not, but cerles your grace was the only one 
 to be feared for at the instant. Why, she even delayed the tournament 
 feast until the mediciuers pronounced you in no danger, for at the lime 
 the strange symptom of your deep sleeps had not struck them, which 
 were not, the little Greek declares, lethargies of concussion, but some 
 wonderful and admirable provision of nature to restore the exhaustion of 
 the spirits, wliich is the worst part of your injuries." 
 
 Alfonso smiled derisively and bitterly at this medical acumen, remem- 
 bering the fatal potion, the etfects of which he had struggled against on 
 the whole of that eventful day, but which had finally contributed in no 
 small degree to his defeat. 
 
 " I shall revive, then, it seems, from that, and soon," he replied. 
 "And after I have righted myself on the EngUsh minion, I have nothing 
 more to do in Rome-, and, canon, we will depart satisfied that our bruises 
 are no worse." 
 
 "Let us depart at once, if at all, my lord ; for indeed you have no wrong 
 to avenge on the young knight," said Bembo pathetically. 
 
 " But art thou assured of that? Yea, I am convinced that by this time 
 — nay, indeed they must laugh; together when they think of it," ejaculated 
 Alfonso. 
 
 " I shall be infinitely blamed by the mediciners for stirring you thus; 
 and a melon against a millet-seed, here they come!" exclaimed the 
 canon, hearing a footstep ; but if any one had taken his wager he would 
 have lost the melon, for the opening door admitted Fra Bruno. 
 
 Although of its wonted studious pallor, the visage of the friar betraye 
 none of the emotion which, remembering the manner of their parting, 
 the sight of Alfonso would seem naturally to rekindle. Excepting that 
 his eye shunned Alfonso's, his demeanour. was inexpressibly gentle and 
 compassionate. He seated himself beside the couch, and observing that 
 he had some skill in the mediciner's art, he felt the patient's pulse. 
 
 "It is still perturbed, but life returns in its full tide," he said, thought- 
 fully. "Yet, if I have any skill, your lesion is as much of mind as body ; 
 and perchance I might bestow some soothing emollients to the wounds 
 within," and he glanced significantly at Bembo. 
 
 *' Nay, reverendissime, 1 cannot leave my friend for an instant, for so 1 
 faithfully promised the gentle nun," said the canon. 
 
 "The nun! — have you a nun among your attendants, signor?" said Fra 
 Bruno, with a melancholy smile. 
 
 " And I am pledged not to suffer any medicamcnisto be applied to the 
 wounds but those which she spreads, under sanction of the physicians," 
 continued Ben)bo, resolutely, and with a suspicion in his manner which 
 struck the Hospitaller. 
 
 "Indeed!— then even in your presence, master canon, I must bid you 
 beware, Knight of Ferrara!" exclaimed the Dominican, with a glance 
 full of trouble and anguish. " I know that some frenzy has deceived you 
 into mistrust of mine intents— the malice of my enemies gives to all my 
 acts, even of Christian charity, of gratitude, of ghostly concern in a peni- 
 tent's relapses — hideous misinterpret:^tions! Bat although my predic- 
 tions and warnings seem contradicted by the event, although you are here 
 as an honoured and cherished guest, in this chamber which beheld the 
 Prince of Salerno, within one little moon, a bridegroom delirious with 
 happiness — a corpse covered with bleeding wounds! I tell you, suffer no 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 271 
 
 woman to medicine your hurts — whose unskilful or too skilled hands — 
 gangrene I have known oft to follow on a raw wound tented ihus!" 
 
 " Fra Bruno, since we last met, 1 have had much cause to think your 
 warnings as laithful as the raven's, however prompted," replied Alfonso, 
 starting convulsively up from his soft pillows. "Yea, death was tendered 
 to me in as fair a guise as it may now be amid this magnificence ? Poison 
 was administered to me in fruit and wine, slow, lethargic poison, intending 
 both my dishonour and destruction." 
 
 "Your reverend lordship will be much and fitly blamed for this influx 
 of delirium," said Bembo, reproachfully. 
 
 "Why, sol will believe it — so I will hope! Signor, it could not be, or 
 was meant only to hinder you from appearing against her at the tourna- 
 ment," said the friar, hurriedly. '■ But, indeed — 1 have heard something 
 of this. I beseech you depart with all speed from Rome, for the Borgias 
 — but if this chamber be dumb to you, the eloquence of an angel were in 
 vain I" 
 
 " Doth the ointment pain you, my lord, which is now on your torn 
 breast?" said Bembo, fairly aghast. 
 
 " No, to the contrary — it soothes as if Love had gathered the simples 
 for Esculapius," replied the prince. 
 
 "And your hurts are fast healing — the bruises paleing — your senses 
 clear and perfectly restored," continued the bewildered canon. " 1 know 
 not what ye speak of drugs and poisons, but on my faith, and as I live, 1 
 do believe that this nun who washes them as much in her tears as in the 
 mediciner's lotions, is Donna Lucrezia herself, for I detected her by her 
 matchless hand, and a rare emerald on it, forgotten in hurry and agitation," 
 
 " Can this be possible?" exclaimed Alfonso, staring at the Dominican. 
 
 " It was even thus with the Prince of Salerno— him too I warned — 
 but he tarried on," said Fra Bruno calmly, and rising to depart. " But 
 let this oracle remain with thee, son — if the light and varying fancy of a 
 woman wavers now to preserve thee, thou art only the more assured of 
 destruction from a sterner nature which nothing human ever yet re- 
 strained I" 
 
 " Let us leave this fatal palace — Rome itself— on the instant, signor I" 
 ejaculated Bembo; and while he spoke, footsteps were audible, scarcely 
 heeded in his agitation until the door opened, and four dignitaries of the 
 healing art, one of whom was a Greek and a dwarf, accompanied by two 
 females, made their appearance. The sages wore the robes and hoods 
 peculiar to their oflBce, for two centuries were yet given to them ere, in 
 evil hour, the disciples of Galen resigned half their sway over human 
 credulity with their imposing costume. One of the females was a closely 
 veiled nun of the Agonizants-, the other a grave, matronly dame, in black 
 satin rube and hood, nearly covered with pricked lace, and with a most 
 respectable and demure air, in whom, nevertheless, Alfonso recognized 
 Mona Faustina. 
 
 Fra Bruno paused, eyeing the nun with a piercing glance, to which 
 she only replied by a reverential bend, approaching the patient's couch. 
 The little Greek, who was one of the best physicians of Rome, and was 
 known by the name of " 11 Gobbo," immediately directed the wonjen to 
 remove the bandages, an office which the sages seemed to consider below 
 their dignity. But when the nun made a modest gesture, as if to withdraw 
 the coverlet from the knight's breast, he repulsed her with some violence, 
 clutching her arm and griping rather than holding it, as he said, " 2io, 
 
?72 C.^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 good sister, no I for since an attempt was made to poison me by a woman, 
 I liave ever dreaded the softness of female touch : you shall not dress my 
 wounds.'"' 
 
 " To poison you, signer I" said the nun, faintly, but in an exceedingly 
 alarmed voice. 
 
 " Or 1 were not now here — for it was the drugs they gave me in my 
 meat, and not the lance of the Orsino's accomplice, that laid me in the 
 dust, for Borgias to laugh at I" continued the knight. "Go to, goto; 
 you shall not touch me — unless indeed you unveil, that I may behold you 
 are not some form of the treachery that pursues me." 
 
 "An attempt was indeed made — or by accident some evil drug was 
 administered to my friend, on the morning of the tournament," said Bembo, 
 intercedingly. " ^ 
 
 " 11 Gobbo, the knight still raves I" said the nun, in a disordered 
 voice. "Our presence seems but to heighten his delirium— Mona Faustina, 
 let us hence." 
 
 Perceiving that the nun's step wavered as she retired from the couch, 
 Fra Bruno advanced to her support; but resuming her strength with an 
 eflfort, she repeated her reverence, and glided rapidly out of the chamber, 
 followed, nevertheless, by the Penitentiary. 
 
 The physicians, not much surprised at a feverish caprice, dressed the 
 hurt themselves, which was principally a broad laceration of the skin by 
 Le Beaufort's lance, and withdrew, commanding that the patient should 
 be kept very quiet. But Bembo's anxiety had become too great to comply 
 with the injunction, and, at his entreaty, Alfonso revealed the adventure 
 of the fruit and wine, and the reasons which he had to believe that Lu- 
 crezia herself had devised the mischief. 
 
 " And can it really be that angels to look at, can be devils indeed?" 
 said the canon, bewilderedly. "I will tear my sonnet; — and now I 
 remember it was a strange word dropped by Master Burciardo, when he 
 showed me over these gorgeous bridal chambers, moralizing something 
 tediously on the vanity of earthly pomp, for he said ' Who would have 
 thought that within a month after so joyful a wedding, the royal groom 
 himself should die on that very couch, like a deer strangled by the dogs 
 when the hunters' arrows had failed in manv wounds to make one mortal?'" 
 
 _" Said he so?" returned Alfonso, remembering, at the same instant, 
 with singular effect, the ballerina's declaration that at least Lucrezia 
 feared not the revelations which these direful chambers might give forth. 
 "By whose order was I brought to so ill-omened a lodging?" 
 
 " By express command of the Lady Lucrezia, and i thought it was to 
 us the more honour," said Bembo, timorously peering around, " But 
 who knows ^ it may he perchance the chamber hath facilities we wot not 
 of, for purposes of mischief-, and now 1 can believe what you went so 
 perilously nigh with your Jewess to prove, signor, that Lucrezia could 
 give us a true report of Duke Gandia's end." 
 
 This conviction in another, which he had laboured so assiduously to 
 procure for himself, was in a high degree distasteful to the Hospitaller; 
 and he now indirectly strove to shake u by relating the whole process of 
 his Hebrew discov.Ties. The canon grew every instant more and more 
 puzzled, and suspended the destruction of his sonnet. 
 
 " All that I can clearly conclude is that the same hand hath been ever 
 at work: but whether A's, or C's, or L's, are mysteries impenetrable," 
 he said at length, with a fearful glance round the "chamber. " Would to 
 
C.€SAR BORGIA. 273 
 
 heaven, though the mere thought makes me shudder, that there be some 
 ghost appertaining to this magnificence who would blab the truthi" 
 
 " Burciardo's saying gives me hopes of a less fearful intelligencer," 
 replied Alfonso. "The chirurgeons counsel me to eat— what if, when he 
 comes, as thou sayest he often does from the pontiff, we got him into a 
 talking humour over some viands?" 
 
 "To eat with him were indeed a good precaution," said Bembo, timidly. 
 "But h miiiht be dangerous to know too much." 
 
 " I would incur every risk to know but so much as might satisfy these 
 devouring doubts in my soul I" replied Alfonso. 
 
 Some hours, however, elapsed ere the occasion arrived in the person of 
 the worthy Dean of Strasburgh, who was later than his wont, for night 
 was gatherinc; in. Alfonso had long been silent, exhausted with the 
 conversation and his emotion, while the canon tormented himself in 
 silence with a flood of new and vague apprehensions. His reverie was at 
 last disturbed by a gentle rap at the door; but as Alfonso seemed not to 
 hear it, Bembo 'persuaded himself that he had not either; and with this 
 conviction his teeth began to chatter in his head. 
 There was another tap at the door. 
 
 '• Signor, hear you not that— that rapping?" said Bembo, desperately. 
 " Murder does not announce his approach; admit it, whatever it may 
 be,"' said Alfonso. 
 
 ■•'Admit It, signorl" said the canon, by no means dehghted with the 
 pronoun. 
 
 " Enterl" said the Hospitaller, in a loud voice, glancing at his sword, 
 which was at the foot of the couch, and then looking steadfastly at the 
 door. It opened immediately, and no ghost appeared, but to the contrary, 
 the substantial person of the' master of the ceremonies, attended by two 
 pages with lamps. The radiance, and the heavy honest visage of the 
 German ecclesiastic restored the canon's heart to its usual place under the 
 fifth rib. 
 
 " And how fares it with your lordship?" he said, with an air of im- 
 portance, but with evident kindness. ' ' I come not now from his holiness, 
 but from the Lady Lucrezia, who bade me say that she would not commence 
 the saraband until she learned your condition." 
 
 " Nothing ails me but a little weariness, and a scratch or two scarce 
 worth the leeching,' replied the knight, carelessly. "I pray you return 
 my humblest thanks, the more due because the less deserved ; and then, if 
 you have a few minutes to waste, it were charity, worthy master dean, to 
 bestow them in cheering us with your conversation, the wit and pleasantry 
 of which Messer Pietro'lauds to the skies." 
 
 " And, truly, he is allowed to be the completest judge in Italy in such 
 wares," replied the gratified dean. " But 1 need not hurry ; it as a mere 
 court sugar-plum. I'll warrant, if I had turned as I went out, I should 
 have seen her already in the saraband with Sir Reginald. He is the ladies' 
 peacock now— none' but he."' And selecting a chair, he seated himself 
 with a pompous sight, as if quite exhausted with the fatigues of the day. 
 
 " Messer Bembo, have we no wine to commend to Master John's favour, 
 spent as he is with the toils of his illustrious office?" said Alfonso. 
 
 " No, no: not for the world; you must not be allowed to taste a drop of 
 wine for the whole world ! " replied the German ecclesiastic, adroitly shift- 
 ing the first too positive negation. 
 
 " Nav, 'tis permitted now," said the wounded knight, jocosely. "And 
 
 18 
 
274 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 Bembo knows what talisman to touch to bring us aught we require in these 
 enchanlc^d precincts." 
 
 Wine was accordingly produced, and although Bembo's taste was de- 
 cidedly opposed to the tart wines of Germany, he imitated the dean in 
 drinking only Bhenish. 
 
 "Heartily pledging your speedy wholeness, reverend knight," said 
 Burchard, with a quaff which seemed lo threaten his own, "It is as cool 
 as if from the cellars of my abbey, which are under the Rhine. My la- 
 borious cfflce indeed sometimes makes refreshnient desirable, for heaven 
 knows it were easier lo keep a herd of fleas on the Campagna, than this 
 court in order. Nevertheless, brothers. I shall deem myself happy if you 
 will command me on anything to your service, which has been particularly 
 enjoined on me. Drink, brother canon, — but melhought you prefectcd 
 the Greco? Fear it not, it is very ripe." 
 
 " Thanks to your care, father, — if I may call one so who is apparently 
 not very much older than myself, — I lack nothing," replied the Hnspi- 
 laller. "To the contrary, I am too well treated; tor methinks I must 
 needs have turned some worthier person out of these chambers, which 
 seem rather prepared for a jojful bridegroom than a wounded com- 
 batant?" 
 
 "You are right and you are wrong, signor; but you have turned no one 
 out of his enjoyments, — at least, I hope not, for thpse apartments have not 
 been inhabited by any one since the death of the Prince of Salerno, Duke 
 of Biselli, whose soul all blessed saints assoil I " said Master John. 
 
 " The husband of his holiness's daughter?" returned the knight, 
 carelessly. 
 
 " His holiness's niece, brother," said Burchard, reprovingly, but not 
 unmindful of Alfonso's generous equalization of their ages. 
 
 " Ay, truly, his nicce-, but he loves her as if she were his own daughter? 
 ay, and morel" re|jlied the knight, widi a penetrating glance which was 
 altogether lost on Master John's stolid visage. 
 
 ""Ay, indeed, for he uses her counsels even in the government of the 
 church ; and in his holiness's absences she has more than once had the 
 whole patrimony under her orders," said the worthy dean with a sigh. 
 " Not that there are many cardinals who have a belter judgment in state 
 matters than Domina Lucretia. I have seen her knitting gold lace, and 
 all the time give as wise orders for the management of the city as if she 
 were reading out of Proverbs; but the scandal of it, signor, the scandal! 
 It is well that our poor Germans listen to nothing that comes from Rome 
 but the Apostolic bulls, or they would be taking crotchets again like those 
 of the poisonous Englishman, Johannes Wiclitliis." 
 
 Once in the vein of complaint, it was not dififieult to keep Burchard in 
 it. It was strange how the German — all ecclesiastic as he was — managed 
 to unite the mosl implicit veneration for the pontiff with a general disap- 
 probation for his actions, or ralher manners. Burchard was naturally 
 garrulous and communicative ; the wine began to assist his conversational 
 powers ; and finding that he was listened lo with iireat interest, he related 
 numerous anecdotes of the court which made even Benjbo stare, and con- 
 template with a species of envy the man who dared to relate them with 
 such freedom. But what principally struck Alfonso was the dean's nu- 
 merous allusions to secret counsels and interviews which took place be- 
 tween Lucrezia and the pontiff; to which he seemed to attach some por- 
 tentous significance. Alfonso silently interpreted these suggestions in 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 275 
 
 harmony with his own black Iheorios, although he clearly perceived from 
 the drift of the dean's discourse, his di>like of the new courtiers, as he 
 called the men raised by Caesar's influence, his hints of the reasons which 
 induced Alexander to wed his daughter to the chief of the rebellious 
 barons, that he alluded to some disunion among the Borgias themselves. 
 
 " And was it merely to make way for this alliance that the Prince of 
 Salerno was murdered, deem you," brother?" said Alfonso, striving to 
 conceal the anxiety which he feared his eyes betrayed. 
 
 '•The Prince of "Salerno, Dux Bisifiamm. was murdered on the steps of 
 St. Peter, immediately before the great jubilee entrance, by divers unknown 
 persons," he replied", staggered by the very boldness of the question, 
 "But perhaps it were nof unseasonable to mention, although 1 received 
 some hints to the contrary, thai the chambers to the left of this tower are 
 inhabited by Domina Lucretia, and her vigilant female court, who have 
 more sensitive ears than any hare in stubble." 
 
 " In verily," said Alfonso ; and he paused musingly ere he continued. 
 " But certain it is that the Prince of Salerno was murdered ^ and so learned 
 a clerk cannot be ignorant of the Ciceronian question concerning a crime 
 "whose perpetrators are unknown : Cui bono? to whose advantage was it?" 
 
 "Alas, my learning is not so vast as you imagine, and other people 
 conjecture, s"eeing that I write in Latin with as much ease as in my mother 
 tongue," replied'the modest Dean of Sirasburgh, "which, by the by, I 
 have almost forgotten, for Domina Lucrelia tuld me the other day that I 
 had transferredmy German accent altogeiher into the Italian ^ and it cannot 
 be denied she has a sweet smile when she pleases I But your Cui bono, 
 signor, would lay the blame at Orsini doors, who were at that time far 
 enough from dreaming to become his holiness's sons-in-law, being in arms 
 against him." 
 
 "iNephews-in-law, good brother I" said Alfonso, jocosely adopting the 
 late reproving tone of the dean. "But we heard in Lombardy that the 
 prince perished not of the wounds he received— but was strangled in his 
 own chamber of the Vatican !" 
 
 "You did — in Lombardy?" said the dean, vacantly. " 'Tis true, he 
 died very suddenly— for I myself— I had not left him many minutes — on 
 that very couch whereon you now lie— recovering fast he was, too, when 
 I may say, I just looked round, and it was over I" 
 
 "Then it is utterly false that the young man was 'strangled like a deer 
 by the dogs when the hunter's arrows have failed?' " said Alfonso, repeating 
 Benib(j's report of the dean's own words. 
 
 " Of course— utterly I" said Burchard, with a look which confessed the 
 reverse, and a dim consciousness that he heard himself quoted. 
 
 " How fell it then, since you were present, and his wounds were healing 
 fast?" said Alfonso; and Bembo hung forward in an agony of attention. 
 
 "Hi, hi,— I suppose you have your fears like the ignorant vulgar— 
 ignarum pecus, eh?" said Burchard!^ with an unconscious chuckle. '-And 
 to be sure theie are stories which, I suppose, frightened my Lady Lucrezia 
 from lodging here: for she is altogether a woman — the mo^t complete 
 woman 1 ever saw, in her ways ! ^ot that 1 ever saw anything myself— 
 but to be sure, 1 have never' been in these rooms after nightfall, until 
 now." 
 
 "Tell me then how it chanced— for you must own it is no pleasant 
 thought to accompany slumbers in this magnificent desolation," said 
 Alfonso. 
 
?76 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 *'Certes, no; and I may certainly relate what I witnessed," said 
 Burchard, musing by what means he might, without compromising him- 
 self, indulge in his Beloved gossip. ''You must know, signer," he con- 
 tinued, leaning with his elbow on the knight's pillows, and speaking in 
 a low and confidential tone, " You must know that the young prince had 
 five chief wounds, two on the head and shoulder, strokes of an axe ; a 
 knife run into his left side that missed the heart ; a sword-cut in the hand, 
 and a deep laceration of a halberd in the thigh : one would have thought he 
 might have died of all that?" 
 
 " But be lived a month after?" interrupted the knight. 
 
 *'A month?— let me see," observed the dean, with an air of deliberate 
 calculation, which he assisted by many sips at his goblet. " He received 
 these wounds (besides a score of less important things) at one hour after 
 sunset, on the fifteenth day of the month of June; and on the eighteenth 
 day of the following July he was strangled." 
 
 "Strangled, say you?" interrupted Alfonso, catching at the word which 
 the dean, in the ardour of calculation, inadvertently dropped. 
 
 "What am 1 raving?" he exclaimed, starting and colouring to the deep 
 rich lint of beet-rot in a sallad. " Surely 1 was thinking of something else 
 in my diary, for I enter all these little things for future precedents. But 
 to our discourse, signor. On that day, 1 mean rather night, ( it was about 
 this hour,) it pleased heaven most unexpectedly to release his highness 
 from the flesh. Yes, he was recovering— recovering fast— fori came on 
 that very occasion from his holiness to know how the duke fared, and 
 found him propped up, just as you are now, brother, chirping little bits of 
 Neapolitan love ditties, and — well may they talk of the light before death! 
 —laughing atFra Bruno's shaven crown, who had been sent to him with 
 some kind words from the Lady Lucrezia, (though 1 know it was chiefly 
 by his holiness's command,) and — what did he compare it to? Was it a 
 turkey's egg? for, said he, 'tis no goose's, thine, friar Bruno! He was a 
 rough lad indeed to be a prince— as rough as a young bear ! — how he 
 would anger my Lady Lucrezia with his mad ways before everybody— her 
 fath— uncle too! And while we were talking with him, and comforting 
 him, comes in a gentleman with some private njessage from his holiness, 
 relating to the prince's demand that his wife should come and see him, 
 which she had not dared after his furious accusation of her, as if that she 
 —but that is nothing to the point. Thereupon we retired, as became us, 
 the message being" private— Fra Bruno and I — and, in very truth, ! can 
 but recollect with what a look he followed us, as an he would have bid us 
 rest, but dared not ! So there remained only Don Miguel and the Greek 
 physician we call ' II Gobbo.' " 
 
 "Don Miguel? interrupted Alfonso, "What, the Captain of Santan- 
 gelo? " 
 
 " Yea, therein superseding the Bishop of Giorgento. a very capable man, 
 but no soldier," said Burchard, somewhat grumblingly." "Well, we 
 yrent out— was I not there? We went out at "yonder door, which opens 
 into a fair saloon, much garnished with Venice mirror: and, not to seem 
 listening, walked to the opposite end. Suddenly Fra Bruno plucked my 
 sleeve, and asked me if I did not hear some noise, as of one that callecl 
 for help ; whereupon I, being I confess somewhat anxious to know for 
 what cause his holiness had sent a gentleman not of his attendance— a 
 new courtier, a servant of the Duke's — went lightly back on tiptoe to learn 
 what his highness wanted. But already, poor youth, he was at the last 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 277 
 
 agony — Don Miguel and the physician both hanging over him, trying to 
 undo the tight things about his neck, and so frightened they could not 
 call lor help. For my part, I dared not pretend to have seen ; Fra Bruno 
 had vanished, I know not whither ; and when at last they regained voice, 
 and 1 heard them cry, the poor prince was so dead that ail I could do was 
 to say a miserere for his cruelly parted soul ! " 
 
 " Don Miguel — Caesar's chosen instrument— /le did it? " exclaimed 
 Alfonso, with such an eagerness and plainness of innuendo that Burchard 
 gave a terrified start. 
 
 " Nay, truly he did afterwards deny to my face that he had alleged any 
 mission from his holiness, and II Gobbo confirmed the same," replied the 
 dean, suddenly rising. "And indeed, whoever speaks of Don Migueloto, 
 cannot deny that he is a most honourable gentleman! But now that I 
 have set your mind on down regarding the natural death of your predeces- 
 sor, I must take my leave, for Domina Lucrelia will begin to remember 
 that she sent me on an errand, and I have discoursed enough to give oup 
 noble patient a good night's rest." 
 
 Alfonso protested, and with great truth, that he had not discovered any 
 soporific virtues in the dean's discourse ; and with mutual compliments, 
 they separated, Berabo ceremoniously escorting the visitor to the corridor, 
 into which the apartments opened. 
 
 The canon anxiously awaited his lord's commentary on his brother ec- 
 clesiastic's revelations; and he was surprised at the earnestness with 
 which he laboured to withstand his conclusions against Caesar rather than 
 his sire, which the share of Don Miguelin the tragedy irresistibly prompted. 
 In vain he endeavoured to make it more palatable to the prince by con- 
 ceding that the cruel deed had been wrought in concert with Lucrezia. 
 In mere justice, Alfonso was compelled to admit the reasons which he had 
 to believe that, however pleasing the result of the crime might be to her, 
 she was not likely to have wrought it in concert with Caesar. The canon 
 heard with astonishment the details of the adventures of the Valley of 
 Egeria, which established the fact of the dislike, even abhorrence, which 
 she cherished towards the duke; and not without a vague hope did he 
 listen to Alfonso's scornful description of the fascinations he had despised. 
 But he was filled, indeed, with alarm when he learned the false confidence 
 which Alfonso had put in the ballerina; and it was that which induced him 
 most diligently to search every hole and cranny of the chamber before he 
 ventured lo compose himself for the night, without in the least sharing his 
 lords passionate wish that the spectre of his slaughtered predecessor 
 would appear, and reveal the destroyer. 
 
 The night, however, passed without the least sign of intelligence from 
 the other world ; but the morning brought startling news from that 
 without. Rumours of tumults and disorders in the city were rife, caused 
 by the arrival of one of the Colonnas, under sanction of an embassy from 
 the king of Naples, bearing, it was supposed, bitter complaints of the 
 pontiff's leaning to the French in their projected invasion, accompanied 
 with menaces from the Spanish sovereigns. The Colonnas were believed 
 to project some commotion of their adherents under colour of this office, 
 and to add to the perplexities of the pontiff, the barons had announced 
 thoir determination to take the advantage of the juncture, and demand the 
 fulfilment of their conditions in the alliance between Lucrezia and 
 thoir leader. Complaints, suppressed during the first rejoicings of the 
 Jubilee, were also expected from several other powers, even including the 
 
278 C.«SAR BORGIA. 
 
 French, whose representative would take the opportunity of the public 
 audience granted to him of Naples. 
 
 In spite of all his efforts to sustain his evil opinion of Lucrezia, Alfonso 
 was so shaken by his last discovery of the circumstances attending 
 the death of the Prince of Salerno, that hope involuntarily mingled 
 sunshine in his reveries, when his ftassions were rekindled by a message 
 which Burchard brought from Donna Lucrezia, congratulating him on his 
 convalescence, and hoping that he would soon be well enough to embrace 
 his friend, the English knight, in her presence. Alfonso replied with 
 sufficient coolness to deceive the stolid dean, that he should use all 
 diligence to see his friend, the English knight, under such gracious ob- 
 servation. He then carelessly inquired if Donna Lucrezia would— be 
 present at the court held that day, which master John sighingly admiited, 
 wailed till the physicians had retired whom the dean accompanied without 
 either nun or nurse, and then informed Bembo that he had resolved to 
 make his appearance in it also. Knowing by experience of the tones in 
 which the prince spoke that he was resolved, Bembo did not venture to 
 offer any obj^^ction, though niyriads occurred to him ; but when .Alfonso 
 desired him to inform Le Beaufort of his intention, and to summon him to 
 meet him publicly in the pontiffs presence, he insinuated a remonstrance, 
 to which the knight listened with the utmost impatience. 
 
 "Tut, tut! I threaten no ill to follow I" he interrupted, with flashing 
 eyes. "The minion will deem that I desire to hug him to the wounds 
 he has inflicted I — But if I do, it shall not be so softly as 1 warrant me 
 he hath had experience of some greetings lately, or ripe hopes ready for 
 plucking that he shall when suspicion is lulled again or winks." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 SACEEDOTIUM REGALE. 
 
 " Ttiis push 
 Will cheer me ever, or desert me dqw."— Macbeth. 
 
 About the time when the canon departed on his message to Sir Reginald, 
 with a heavy and unwilling heart, Cgesar was himself escorting two 
 muffled strangers, in a Spanish garb, through a back staircase of the Co- 
 lonna palace, which he inhabited as his own. This passage seemed only 
 used by himself, for he locked all the doors as he returned from his office 
 of civility, and concealed the last key behind an old suit of armour hang- 
 ing on the walls ere he rang a little bell, apparently as a signal to admit a 
 third personage, who instantly made his entry. It was Don Migueloto, 
 with a most gbjomy and fretful visage. 
 
 "And now what says my lady-love? Thou hast the most vinegar 
 aspect that ever Love's'ambassadur wore ; but I know 'tis anew entreaty 
 for my presence," said the duke, with a gaiety which the castellain 
 thought singularly out of season. '"Tis so, b\ that writhe which in thy 
 vocabulary is called a smile. But no, Migueloto, she will be better 
 pleased that I refuse. She over-acted the part on which 1 set her, to 
 learn if 1 loved her sufficiently to be jealous. Therefore, mark you, I am 
 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 279 
 
 jealous — will not see her — will not come until my fears for her safety 
 vanquish every displeasure." 
 
 "Signor, methinks it were to your advantage if neither fear nor hope 
 ever brought you near her again, for it brings a curse on all our en- 
 terprises, your grace having^ a nun for a paramour," said, Migueloto, 
 resoiutelv. 
 
 "Are our enterprises cursed, then?— Why so, if success be the curse," 
 said Caesar, jocundly. " But though thou art something bolder than thy 
 wont, (a good straw to show how the wind blows,) I am so far tainted 
 with thine opinion, that I intend she shall leave Rome this very night, 
 for which have a handsome train in readiness, with led horses, and suffi- 
 cient carriage for the Sultan's wealth, which thou knowest she is supposed 
 to possess." 
 
 "Signor, do you yield thus to the insolent fury of the Colonnas?" 
 returned the castellain, evidently surprised. 
 
 "Their insolence and fury furnish me the pretext, and will stir her to 
 the vengeance I meditate," replied Caesar. " Enough of that, for the hour 
 of the consistory approaches ^ but now tell me, wert thou not amazed to 
 see so much good companv in Sanlan2;elo the other night?" 
 
 "The captains of the Black Bands! I know not by what magic your 
 grace lured them into your known stronghold," said Migueloto, very 
 curiously. 
 
 '•One which I employ on many others— perchance on thyself," said 
 Caesar. " I will tell thee all some day, when I would have thee smile thy 
 sweetest; but already ihe spell works, and Oliverotlo's report hath spread 
 infinite mistrusts. Vitellozzo desires nothing but to leave the city, and 
 scarcely will bide till this day's clamour is over. Yet 1 could find a use 
 for a veritable magician ;— tis strange that no tidings can be learned of 
 Dom Sabbat." 
 
 "An impostor, I doubt not, who fears that your grace intends him 
 some punishment for his sorceries with Donna Fiamma," replied the 
 castellain, yet very dubiously. 
 
 " But then the thing that haunts me may be a fancy too, and yield to 
 the exorcism of as unreal a spell," said Caesar, with a troubled expression. 
 " I would not have the people see me stand agape, and foam like an 
 epileptic in his convulsions •, and yet to assume the very robes, — his robes 
 of gonfalonier — which 1 must when I head the army I — I would give a 
 thousand golden crowns to see Dom Sabbat again " 
 
 "No diligence shall be lost, signor," replied Migueloto ; " for in truth 
 men pratile boldly enough of us now I" 
 
 " They think my sun is setting that is scarcely yet above the horizon !" 
 said Caesar, in a rapt tone, almost instantly reverting into his usual one. 
 "And methinks it were not amiss to example one of the meaner railers ; 
 let me have Paschino's tongue slit to-day, ihe dwarf tailor of Piazza Na- 
 vona, who says such witty 'things of us all that Machiavelli himself asks 
 his company." 
 
 " It were'little good-, he will set the statues a gibbering then," replied 
 the castellain. 
 
 " There is one before his house for the purpose,— let it be down I" re- 
 turned the duke. " And that which they call Marforio, where the beggars 
 go to exchanoe the lies of the citv, may answer iti — A merry conversa- 
 tion, and the only one which I will allow on my matters in Rome. But 
 how dismally thou starest! I'll warrant deeming all lost, as thou didst 
 
:280 C.-ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 when the mad Miriam burst upon us ! Cheer up, man, I was never in 
 better case than I am now." 
 
 " With the French, the Spaniards, the Ferrarese, the Orsini, the Co- 
 lonnas, the PontitF, Donna Lucrezia, all on us at once !" said the castellain, 
 with a dry Spanish shrug. 
 
 "Even so; the first unwind of the whole web is in my hand," said 
 Csesar. " And yet I blame not those incredulous beards ! Come, I will 
 give thee some comfort : know, that the Spaniards and French are driven 
 by my provocations to the public outrages they meditate to-day, only that 
 I may win the pontiff to my long- projected partition of Naples between 
 them— a black treachery, which I trust will work them both a reward in 
 years of bloodshed and mutual slaughter ! Even for this have I urged the 
 Neapolitans to their insolence, suffered the Colonnas to enter Cite city! 
 The Orsini are my dupes, and to-day will lose for ever the favour of the 
 pontiff, by their rebellious violence — and for Lucrezia! Oh, thou hast 
 not heard our Lucrezia's last project! And thereupon pay Mona Faustina 
 ten gold crowns ; albeit she declares that only the love of her nurseling 
 induces her to betray her — virtue should be rewarded ! Why, man, Lu- 
 crezia is so stung with the Hospitaller's slights, that she has vowed by 
 something that women swear by, to compel him to love her— herself— in 
 her proper person — Lucrezia Borgia ! and then to retaliate all his disdain." 
 
 " Is he to die, then, signer?" said the castellain, eagerly. 
 
 " Unless he lives for ever, doubtless, some day — but not until she has so 
 far fixed her dotage upon him as to make the alliance with Ferrara, or any 
 other, hateful to her! Therefore I mean to aid her plans, caring mean- 
 time in a way of my own that no ill comes of it," continued Caesar. " I 
 shall be absent for awhile, leaving this Lombard savage's disgust and in- 
 creased suspicions and Faustina ever on guard, at whose least intimation 
 of danger it will be your charge to reveal his true errand to the pontiff, upon 
 which, if he be not abruptly hurried out of Rome, out of a wider iniquity 
 he will be! But I meditate a finer stroke of nature ! Notte and Morta tell 
 us that she attempted by a sleepy potion to prevent the Lombard from ap- 
 pearing against her in the tournament ; she has begun, it seems, to dabble 
 m those tempting povi^ers I What if by his scorns and contempts we 
 could drive her to his destruction— to love him so well as to slaughter 
 him ! Smile, man, smile at the triumph of it I" 
 
 " Nay, 'lis like enough for a woman to do, and then weep her eyes out 
 over the poor man's dust," said Migueloto. 
 
 " But we must remove an obstacle which threatens to thwart us all," 
 returned the duke. " Faustina has a fine ear for keyholes, and I find that the 
 Penitentiary, Era Bruno, insists that Lucrezia, as an expiation for her fault, 
 shall herself accuse the Ferrarese to her father. This she ferociously re- 
 fuses? — but she dares not long walk about in the sunshine under her con- 
 fessor's wrath, so that we must either be rid of him, or resign our pro- 
 ject." 
 
 "Would your grace— against so saintly a man — after that proof of a 
 special providence watching over him ?" said the castellain. 
 
 " 1 intend him no other harm than what were perchance his safety, — 
 for the Orsini are much enwralhed against him, and mean to exhibit his 
 sermon among their complaints to-day, — a few week's meditation in 
 Santa ngelo," returned Caesar. " Neither are his pratings to be suffered, 
 scattering ill seed on these specimens of all the clays of man. Tell me, 
 is not Era Biccocco given to boast of his master?" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 281 
 
 " Your grace knows we have oft gathered intelligence from the like," 
 returned the castellain. 
 
 " Then he shall become his accuser. Some crafty witnesses shall ques- 
 tion him what the Penitentiary meant by averring the Orsini match ful- 
 minated from above. To-night he shall be in Santangelo, at their demand, 
 on accusation of heresy, denving the power of tlie keys in the matter of 
 Lucrezia's divorces — nay, the first, I think his conceits run on," said 
 Caesar, musingly. "The rest will follow— for this Hospitaller seems to 
 be one of those pragmatical knaves who must have the whole tree, or 
 they'll not a cherry on iti" 
 
 " Such is our Spanish fancy too, signor," said the Catalan drily. 
 
 *' Yet the wild birds starve not in your country more than in Italy," re- 
 plied Caesar. " But I have no leisure to reason' the matter further ; thou 
 hast thy commissions, and I must now to execute mine own." 
 
 With these words, and with a gesture which more emphatically ex- 
 pressed the command conveyed, Caesar dismissed his satellite. 
 
 Purposely delaying until he knew that the court was assembled, he 
 made his appearance in the Sala Regia among the last of the j^ersonages 
 of any consequence who entered it, with a slow and dejected gait, very 
 different from his usual rapidity of motion. His dress was remarkably 
 negligent, and his countenance so haggardly pale, that it probably owed 
 something to art. 
 
 The pontiff was seated in his usual state, surrounded by the great offi- 
 cers of his court •, and at one of the vast gilded doors at the extremity open- 
 ing into the palace stood Lucrezia, with some of her ladies, and several of 
 the younger courtiers, among whom was Sir Pieginald, as if merely in 
 curiosity to witness the spectacle. The countenance of Le Beaufort was 
 elate with joy, for he had not long received Bembo's message, which he 
 had obviously misinterpreted into one of good-will, the canon purposely 
 suppressing its covert hostility in hope that, after all, peace might be 
 made. But Cesar's rapid eye had detected in a remote corner the figure 
 of the Hospitaller^ in some degree disguised, by having changed his black 
 mantle for the scarlet one worn by his order in war time, and screened 
 by the crowd who pressed before him, and he marked with satisfaction the 
 look w^ith which he surveyed the distant group at the golden portal. 
 
 The ambassador from Naples was not yet admitted, but one from almost 
 every other European power was present; and the Orsini, with a great 
 throng of the barons of iheir party, were ominously gathered together in 
 the centre of the chamber of audience. Caesar's arrival seemed to be 
 waited for, and many significant looks were exchanged when it was seen 
 with what profound and almost cringing respect he saluted the assenjbly, 
 and the extra warmth with which he embraced Paolo Orsino. Imme- 
 diately that he had taken his place beside the pontifical throne, Burciardo 
 received a signal, disappeared, and returned, ushering in the ambassador 
 of Naples, Fabrizio Colonna — in himself an assurance of a displeasing 
 embassy. 
 
 Unattended by aught but his own pride and stateliness, the dispossessed 
 chieftain stalked into the presence of his great enemy, evincing only in 
 his knit brows and compressed lips the strife of passions within his soul. 
 He was clad in complete armour, except the head, which was bare, and 
 carried the golden baton which appertained to his office as constable of 
 Naples— a tall, thin, but muscular figure, with the strongly defined and 
 massive features of a Roman of the antique mould. 
 
582 C/ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 " The Lord Fabrizio Colonna ! we trust the message is more loyal and 
 dutiful than the choice of a bearer would argue," said the pontiff very 
 harshly, observing the perceptible hesitation of Fabrizio ere he knelt in 
 homage. 
 
 "lam the ambassador of Naples — not now Fabrizio Colonna I" said the 
 warrior, rising abruptly. "When I come once more in that name to 
 Rome — but let it pass. Holy father! I bear the strenuous complaint and 
 remonstrance of my lord, your faithful vassal. King Don Federigo, foras- 
 mucli as he is full well informed of the favour and encouragement your 
 holiness affords to the Lord Louis of France, in his projected invasion of 
 his territories, more openly apparent in the dealings of your nephew, the 
 Duke of Romagna." "^ 
 
 " Alas, my Lord Marshal d'Aubigny can furnish me witb too ready a 
 reply to this accusal, noble Fabrizio, to whom i heartily commend myself," 
 said Caesar; and ihe Colonna cast on him a glance of unutterable loathing 
 and hatred, such as a man mi^ht turn on some reptile, whose venom 
 rankled in his flesh. 
 
 " Yea, truly, Duke, you did desert us at the direst pinch of our affairs, for 
 which my lord vows a reckoning, in the matter of Milan!" said the im- 
 petuous soldier. 
 
 " To the pope, my sovereign, only am I bound to account for my de- 
 meanour in that urgency," said Caesar, submissively. " But as also the 
 humble vassal and lover of my lord the King of France, I intend to depart 
 as soon as may be for Milan, to offer my excuses in person. 
 
 A general murmur of astonishment arose, and Alexander himself looked 
 at his son with uneasiness and suspicion. 
 
 " But, moreover, I am the bearer of this letter from the mighty kings 
 of Spain, on behalf of their kinsman, my master," said Fabrizio, fiercely, 
 " which being perused, may perchance spare his grace the trouble of a 
 journey to Milan. My Lord Datary, you are skilful in parchment hand, I 
 pray you read it." 
 
 The Datary mechanically took a paper offered to him, but receiving a 
 nod from (^sesar, he cut the silk which tied the epistle, and read it aloud, 
 giving by his manner of delivery addilionnal weight to the offensive parts 
 of the contents, it was one lon^ string of complaints and reproaches, 
 couched in terms of feigned humility, in which the Spanish sovereigns 
 upbraided the pontiff with his preference of the French, declared their 
 determination to support the King of Naples against all enemies, denounced 
 the Duke of Romagna as the cause and promoter of all the acts inimical to 
 the Spanish interests, and in conclusion threateningly implored the pontiff 
 to make him resume the ecclesiastical life he had quitted. 
 
 " Alas I what will become of my young bride if ye make a monk of 
 me ?" said Caesar, without even smiling, while the courtiers laughed out- 
 right. 
 
 "We will endeavour not to forget you are an ambassador. Lord Fa- 
 brizio; but be brief in what you have yet to add!" said Alexander, with 
 extreme difficulty bridling his wrath, 'and rebuking the untimely mirth 
 with a glance. 
 
 "The rest is of less weight, but my lord permits me to urge two matters 
 on your holiness's justice, in his name," said Fabrizio, darkening to the 
 most ghastly hue of suppressed passion. " I demand that the laws of God 
 and man be put into execution against the woman called, to the eternal 
 blush of our name, Fiamma Colonna, once a nun, whom your tribunals 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 283 
 
 have condemned as the paramour of an accursed paynim ; and the restora- 
 tion of Ihe wrongfully seized and lyrannously forfeited estates, honours, 
 and wealth of our house!" 
 
 " Mfrciless Ghibelline ! art thou not satisfied with the blood which thou 
 and thy faction have so long drained from every pore of this land, but 
 must afso thy brother's blood, flowing in the veins of a most miserable 
 woman, be shed to appease its thirst?" exclaimed Alexander, yielding to 
 his anger. "Begone from our presence, and as soon as may be from the 
 city, or your name of ambassador shall scarcely protect your substance 
 of traitor!" 
 
 " Nay, holy father, even we, the Orsini, earnestly entreat you to restore 
 theColonnas to your paternal favour and their inheritance," said the Duke 
 of Gravina, stepping forward with his hand on his sword, an habitual 
 gesture with him when he spoke with any vehemence "We would 
 have your holiness apply a general bandage to the wounds of the state 5 
 and in truth Rome bleeds fast from these of the Colonnas." 
 
 Alexander stared with an instant's amazement at this unexpected and 
 most dangerous sign of concert between the ancient and hereditary ene- 
 mies, by means of whose disunion only he had suppressed the power ofone. 
 
 " This is a new matter indeed ! Colonna and Orsino knitting claws — 
 tiger and bear !" exclaimed the pontilF at last. " But I forget ; your cause 
 is in reality one ; your quarrel is only who shall devour the prey when it 
 is torn to pieces." 
 
 " Holy father, we desire but to intercede for the Colonnas humbly and 
 wofully as befits your merest vassals," said the Duke of Urbino, pluck- 
 ing back his ally of Gravina; "and for ourselves, we still more submis- 
 sively beseech of your paternity the ratiflcatirm of the peace already con- 
 cluded with Duke Caesar, which Love and Hymen are ready to bind in 
 chains of flowers stronger than adamant. Grant us only this gentle con- 
 firmation — the hand of your most serene and beautiful niece, in recom- 
 pense of the Lord Paolo's long-devoted love — and we ask no more." 
 
 " Lucrezia! — she shall herself answer ye," said Alexander, turning and 
 waving his hand impatiently to the lady to advance. " Win her consent, 
 and we have frequently declared our own shall not lag behind. Lucrezia I 
 — but what mean ye? That we should rise and drag our child to the altar, 
 whither the loadstone of love only should lure woman to debase herself 
 to the earthy nature of man!" 
 
 " 'Tis not indeed to be desired that your paternity should play the 
 wooer in this matter," said Fabrizio, with a meaning couched in his 
 tones which was lost on few present Lucrezia was advancing with an ex- 
 pression of disdain and melancholy playing over her features, in unwilling 
 obedience, when the words struck her ear. A spot of fire burst like a star 
 on her brow, and rapidly crimsoned downward ; she pressed her clenched 
 hands to her bosom, and cowered her face upon them with a natural 
 gesture of the most agonizing shame-, but instantly conscious of the inter- 
 pretation which might be put on her action, her proud spirit rallied as 
 it had yielded. With a bright flashing glance of contempt and defiance 
 at the Colonna, her fine lip and nostril instinct like a celestial's with a 
 beautiful ire, she quickened her step, the courtiers making way for her 
 with emulous rapidity, until she reached the steps of the throne, on which 
 sat Alexander, in awful silence, the fierceness of his nature struggling 
 with its policy that counselled the prudence of not affecting to perceive 
 the Colonna's black innuendo. 
 
■2fi4 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Holy father, I am here, to obey your holiness's command in this and 
 in all things, save where obedience is but its own counterfeit, as to profess 
 ■with the lips what the heart disavows," she said, in her sweet but now- 
 firm and resolved tones. " Rather than which, since I am the cause of 
 so much trouble and turmoil to your paternity, let me retire and end my 
 days in peace in some nunnery— remote fromall." 
 
 " Signer, if this request is ^listened to— which 'tis well knowm Donna 
 Lucrezia can but propound in jest — neither I nor my friends but must 
 needs conclude— it must be that the glorious hope was only extended to 
 lure us into some pitfall— to plunge me into eternal misery ; for without 
 this guarantee, friends, barons, Vitellozzo, Urbinol we cannot, we ought 
 not, we will not be satisfied!" was the broken harangue of Paolo Orsino, 
 his visage flaming like a comet's, and with his hair tossed as disorderedly 
 about in his agitation. n 
 
 "So think we all I" shouted Vitellozzo. "We will accept no other 
 pledge of your holiness's good faith I We have been cheated too often 
 with snow for barley !" 
 
 " Rebellious vassal, thou liest I" exclaimed Alexander, turning furiously 
 to the speaker. " Thou and thy fellow-robbers repay us with this inso- 
 lence only for too much lenity and forbearance. But we will take a 
 lesson now which shall last us for the remainder of our time." 
 
 " Signer, we complain not on idle surmises," said the Orsino, striving 
 to restrain his own vehemence. " In your very presence, as if by some 
 potent command, a monk is suffered to preach heresies against us, denying 
 your supreme powers before the whole Christian world ! And it is known 
 — the Lady Lucrezia herself will not deny it— an envoy from Ferrara is 
 among us, who has been honoured with her repeated private audience." 
 " What says our fair sister to this? What private audiences are these 
 we hear of?" said the duke, in a tone apparenUy of playful mockery, as 
 if he did not credit the statement. 
 
 " Peace, malapert boy I and let our niece reply," said Alexander, look- 
 ing with surprise and suspicion at Lucrezia, whose quivering lip and 
 rapid changes of complexion confessed some secret consciousness. In 
 her exceeding dread for the safety of the Hospitaller from her father's 
 wrath, if what she believed to be his real mission were betraved, and 
 almost equal fear of the shame which her own share in the adventure 
 seemed to entail— Lucrezia had no resource but to admit the statement, 
 with feminine tact counteracting its effects as much as possible. 
 
 '• There is indeed, we have learned, one in Rome from Ferrara, who 
 hath a mission concerning us," she said, with visible hesitation ; "but to 
 prove the little weight we attached to it— the little the Orsini have to 
 dread from it — we have not yet judged it necessary even to mention it to 
 his paternity, contenting ourself with vague replies to vague demands and 
 questionings." 
 
 " Our Lady preserve us, since women, too, are taking it upon them to 
 sovereign it in our place!" said Alexander, passionately. ''But who is 
 this envoy, and where may he be found?" 
 
 Caesar glanced expressively at the Orsino as if bidding him remark 
 how well the farce was plaved. 
 
 " I am bound by sulenm promise to secresy, unless to your paternity 
 only," replied Lucrezia, much agitated. " It is enough that I solemnly 
 assure the Lord Orsino that the envoy's mission, so far as 1 know or desire, 
 lias failed, and shall continue to fail, unless falsehood can become truth." 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. :385 
 
 "And on this assurance 'tis fit you rest content, Lord Paolo," said 
 Caesar, with iiis crafty glance. " But for your complaint concerning the 
 seditious monk, if you can allege evidence, 1 am of opinion that the Datary 
 should inquire into it." 
 
 " Even so 5 let it be done," said Alexander, sharply; and a general 
 glance fell on Lucrezia, as if they expected some intercession on her 
 part; and indeed she began to speak, but she broke off suddenly, turning 
 very pale. 
 
 " On no assurance can my soul rest content but in the possession of 
 its sole object, sole hope, sole everything!" replied Paolo, with wild 
 vehemence. 
 
 " Oh, wherefore will you drive me to extremity?" exclaimed Lucrezia, 
 beseechingly. " Surely all knighthood and manhood are mingled ignobly 
 now, since even the victor in so renowned a dav of chivalry thinks it 
 meet to woo his lady with threats instead of the gentle arts of love!" 
 
 " Teach me then how to woo thee, young celestial! for men have but 
 learned how to woo women!" said the Orsino, kneeling in the adoration 
 of his frenzied passion, and fervently clasping his hands. 
 
 " Lady your pardon— but he who'kneels before you is not the victor in 
 that day, not of chivalry, but of all foul treachery!'"' said the Hospitaller, 
 who had witnessed the dextrous screening of Lucrezia with only increased 
 •wrath, imputing it to her dread of her father rather than to any desire to 
 shelter him. 
 
 "Wherefore not, my lord, since your accident— since Sir Reginald 
 himself— yielded it to the Lord Orsino?" said Lucrezia, starting as if 
 she had seen a spectre, her face, bosom, and bands whitening as if to 
 stone. 
 
 " Then to him of the two— or to both since they love to tilt in company 
 —who shall dare to maintain that I have fairly lost, or that he has fairly 
 won the crown of the tournament of the Colosseum, I throw this glove of 
 mine, in token that he lies in his teeth— on which quarrel I will battle to 
 the last drop of my blood!" said the Hospitaller, dashing his steel glove 
 with such violence on the marble fli^or that it rebounded over the kneeling 
 Orsino, and fell at the feet of the Duke of Romagna. 
 
 " iMarry, it knows its way, for 1 am or was judge of the hurtle!" said 
 Csesar, smiling as he lilted "the gage. "The women may take what part 
 they list, according to complexions; but con)fort thee, knight, for until I 
 have to Milan, and counselled on this cause with the noble and impartial 
 chivalry of France, no man shall achieve the prize; and as they decide so 
 will 1, and so mayst thou." 
 
 " Brother of St. John! can it be thou wouldst have men think I took 
 the vantage of thee in that luckless thrust?" said Sir Reginald, impetuously 
 advancing. 
 
 "Only demanding of your grace to deliver my glove with the wreath, 
 I cheerfully abide your award," said Alfonso, turning disdainfully away, 
 without deigning any reply. 
 
 " By Heaven, then, I renew my claims to the one for the sake of the 
 other," saidLe Beaufort, kindling with passion. 
 
 "Nay. sirs, you must pledge me your faith to keep peace among you 
 until I pronounce my judgment," said Csesar, smiling to see how furiously 
 the rivals surveyed each other. 
 
 "We ladies will care for that; until your return (if it be true indeed 
 vou go to Milan) the Knight of St. John shall be our prisoner here in the 
 
286 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 Vatican," said Lucrezia, with great agitation, but attempting an air of 
 carelessness and gaiety; while her blush restored sucli gorgeous bloom 
 to her beauty that Alfonso's jealousy rekindled to its fiercest clow. "Faith 
 and troth, sir Knight ofDisdainl" she continued, without raising her eyes, 
 "• the shock ofbattle was no assay for the metal ofwhich you boast your- 
 self, hut the furnace and glow of beauty and love's temptations — to which 
 my fair court shall subjecuou in this pause permitted us, if you dare abide 
 the brunt?" 
 
 "Lady, I do not fear a defeated enemy I" replied the knight, with a 
 scornful glance; and Lucrezia's smile lost its sweetness, and writhed over 
 her lips like the glisten of a serpent. 
 
 "Behold ye, damsels, he hath thrown ye the gauntlet tool— subdue 
 this rebel, or I shall myself begin to think it possible to throw off your 
 yoke I " said Csesar, playfully. " I give the knight into your custody until 
 ye see me again ; and look that ye restore him to me in as fai>condition — 
 nay, I trust, in better, than I yield him now to your mercy." 
 
 General murmurs of approval, except from the Orsini, were audible; 
 and Alfonso bent in submission, eagerly expecting that the evil passions 
 in Alexander's breast would betray themselves in his refusal to sanction 
 the singular challenge. But infinitely to his surprise, he at first laughed 
 at the project, and then more seriously added, " It contents us well, for 
 we fear the knight's zeal in a recent malter may have stirred him enemies, 
 and his safety will be best assured in the Vatican." 
 
 This open collusion shook the last grain of patience out of the Orsino's 
 breast. " My lord I since Sir Reginald courteously yielded me the prize, 
 it shames me that it is not delivered to me, as if our stroke were indeed 
 given in concert and treachery." he exclaimed. "And if every other 
 good be snatched from me, my honour is still mine own, and none shall 
 ravish it from me." 
 
 " if you desire not to anger me so as to make your hopes for ever in vain, 
 Orsino, you shall abide the judgment of the French knights," said Lucrezia, 
 with warmth. 
 
 " Content you, Lord Paolo," said Fabrizio, who had been listening in 
 silent disdain to the whole dialogue. "Content you I a former peace was 
 cemented by this lady's marriage with one whose royal blood st-ll cries 
 out in vain for vengeance, shed in the Vatican, by hands perchance as 
 lily fair and spotless to look at as that you crave so passionately." 
 
 This last insult was too much for the patience of Alexander, never very 
 extensive, and which only the pressing diffii-ullies which surrounded him 
 had hitherto sustained. "Traitors and rebels I" he shouted, "Begone, 
 ere I order ye to be thrown out on the spears of my guards !" 
 
 "This as the reply to my private plaints ; but to those of the king, my 
 master, what answers your paternity?" said Fabrizio, in an unmoved 
 tone. "Yet the Colonnas are not so unfriended in Rome as your holiness 
 may imagine." 
 
 "To the king your master then, and our insolent vassal, — to all the 
 kings of the earth, — I reply— that 1 have been elected by God the Almighty, 
 and not by men, to be the father and coiitroller of princes ; and such I 
 am, despite all enmity ! That it becomes not the father's dignity to suc- 
 cumb to the caprice of his children, but it is the duty of children to obey 
 their father's commands ; and therefore I will never esteem them as lawful 
 sons, but misbegotten bastards, who shall gainsay what 1 do." 
 
 "By the faith of my body, holy father," exclaimed Fabrizio, with rash 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 587 
 
 violence, "there are abundance of bastards already in the church, \Yilhout 
 lugging in more I" 
 
 " My Swiss I — But, no ; let some one remove him that would have him 
 safe I" said Alexander, whitening with passion. 
 
 " And m conclusion, it is in my instruction to tell your paternity," con- 
 tinued the unnjoved Fabrizio. *' that thinking and acting as you do, solely 
 witli a view to the aggrandizement of your race, to the ruin of the church', 
 in utter contempt and defiance of all reason and justice, having banished 
 all fit counsel Iruni the realm, and j)lottinghis unjust dethronement, King 
 Don Federigo sends you his defiance ; and the most Catholic kings of Spain 
 aver, that if you persist in your treacherous complot to that effect with 
 France, they will deny and no longer acknowledge you to be the common 
 father of Christians : and this protestation 1 go to lodge with your prin- 
 cipal Notary Public.'' 
 
 " And this is my recompense for bestowing on the Spanish kings half 
 of this new-found world I" said Alexander, furiously. "But! would have 
 them know that in my youth I studied the Roman law, and remember to 
 have read that the ingratitude of the receiver gives the granter a right to 
 reclaim his gift!" 
 
 "If your holiness had studied the canon law with equal profit, you 
 would have found there are worse crimes threatened with worse penalties, 
 and your daughter would not have had so many husbands I" retorted the 
 half-maddened Colnnna. "But my Lady Lucrezia here would slirink at 
 the word, — so we'll be silent till the skies themselves begin to clatter it!" 
 
 For a moment, suffocated with the violence of his anger, Alexander ac- 
 tually gasped for breath, and then springing up from his throne, he shouted 
 "Cuardsl Swiss!" with so loud a voice that the halberdiers stationed at 
 the entrances burst in with their spears lowered, expecting that the pontiff 
 was attacked. But before Alexander could shape his furious intents in 
 words, Lucrezia was kneeling at his feet and supplicating his for- 
 bearance ; Csesar, the cardinals, and ambassadors all uniting in entreaties. 
 
 Alexander's reason was frequently a counterpoise even to his violent 
 passions; and speaking now m the voice of his beloved daughter, it 
 exercised a powerful and unexpected inflience. " Thou sayest truly, my 
 child! dearer to my heart than the life blood that warms it!" he said, 
 after a terrible pause. '"It becomes not our majesty to altercate with 
 traitors and reb Is— wherefore we will leave these to choke in their own 
 venom, giving them till sunset to njake their protestations, when if we 
 find them out of their holes, rather than miss their destruction we will set 
 the very stubble ot their mowed faction on fire !" 
 
 Then descending the steps of the throne, as if in n)ore signal scorn of 
 the upbraidings of his adversaries, the pontiff took his daughter's hand, 
 and stiode with the step of an angry warrior rather than of a prie>t to the 
 golden portal. There he turned to give a parting look of defiance, without 
 in the least noticing the kneeling homage of his courtiers, his fierce gaze 
 glaring on the stiff and upright Culonna ; and there the Hospitaller noted 
 that Lucrezia beckoned almost imperceptibly to Le Beaufort, dropping 
 her kerchief purposely as she entered the f)orlal. 
 
 The young knight immediately darted forward, raised the embroidered 
 woof, and as he hastened after the fair owner to restore it, the portals 
 swung to, and the audience were left staring at each other. 
 
288 f.JESkR BORGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 " But, oh! what damned minutes tells he o'er 
 Who dotes, yet doubts ; suspects, yet strongly loves."— Offie//o. 
 
 Never were redections more involved and perplexed than those with 
 which Alfonso reviewed the circumstances of the extraordinary scene above 
 detailed, in connexion with his recent adventures and ancient suspicions. 
 The continued chafing of the whole stream of his discoveries against 
 Csesar alone; the security with which the aged pontift" assented to his 
 daughter's caprice, which admitted a handsome and young man, for whom 
 she had already betrayed a regard, into her frequent presence and close 
 neighbourhood; Lucrezia's evident zeal for his safety, her affectionate 
 attendance in the character of the nun, so incoiDpatible with the hatred 
 which he imagined had induced her to seek his life ; no effort of preju- 
 dice could make these jarring chords harmonize. The recollection of her 
 infinite fascinations now worked so powerfully in his soul that the knight 
 laboured to disgust himself by the ihoughtthat the licentious beauty 
 still projected his conquest ; an idea which he cherished the more pertina- 
 ciously as it offered some assurance against his fears of Sir Reginald's new 
 favour. 
 
 While these fairer thoughts continued to spread their light over his sus- 
 picions, Alfonso scarcely knew whether to be alarmed or pleased with 
 the exposition he had witnessed of the unsubstantial nature oftheBorgiaa 
 power, and the ruin which seemed to threaten their grandeur. He en- 
 deavoured to persuade himself, by rejoicing in it, that'hc had abandoned 
 all thought of Lucrezia ; but the panic which visited him when, by the 
 news which were shortly promulgated in Rome, it seemed that ihe Borgias 
 themselves acknowledged their own downfall, might have convinced him 
 to the contrary. 
 
 After a long council held in the Vatican, rumours were current that the 
 Duke of Romagna was actively engaged in attempts to bring about a reconci- 
 liation with the discontented barons. The extremity of the peril appeared 
 in the terms to which the Borgias submitted, and which one after the other 
 fell upon the astonished ears of politicians, like the louder and louder 
 rumble of approaching thunder. Suddenly, Paolo Orsino was declared 
 Senator of Rome ; an office which his family had long sought in vain, and 
 which gave him an almost unlimited authority in the city. Immediately 
 after, the fanatic populace were thrown into ferment by tidings that the 
 Penitentiary, Fra Bruno, was seized in his hermitage and sent to Sautan- 
 gelo, on charge of preaching heretic and seditious doctrine against the 
 projected marriage. A slill greater marvel, their support prevailed more 
 in favour of the Colonnas than the entreaties of the Spanish and Neapo- 
 litan kings had yet availed. Fabrizio received intimation that, on the 
 formal surrenderof their fiefs to the church, all should be restored to the 
 Colonnas; and to dissipate, it was asserted, the scandalous reports con- 
 cerning their niece. Donna Fiamma, certain stipulations being made for 
 her safety, she was ordered to quit Rome, with all her wealth, and to 
 retire to Capua, in the dominion of Naples. On these concessions, Fa- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 289 
 
 brizio discontinued the mutinous assemblies oWiis adherents, and returned 
 to Naples, to consult with the other exiles of his family. 
 
 Undreaming of the use to which Caesir hail put his presence in Rome, 
 in dec<'iving ihe barons into the belief of llie poiiliff's underhand dealings 
 with Ferrara •, still less the motives of his a|jparenlly desperate intention 
 of placing his person in the power of the exasperated French; Alfonso 
 could nolbuisiiare Bembo's apprehensions, that the immediate conclusion 
 of the niarriage with their heir w^as among the Orsini stipulations. This 
 was farther confirmed hy tidings that Yitellozzo was to leave Rome with 
 his legions — a measure betokening the confiilence of the barons. And 
 then indeed was Alfonso's soul tossed about in a stormy sea of contrary 
 passions and impulses ; and to finish his agitation, on the evening of the 
 council, Biirchard summoned him in a secret and mysterious manner to 
 the pontiff's presence in the adjoining palace inhabited by Donna Lu- 
 crezia, with whom he usually supped. He doubted not that the interview 
 was concernmg his supposed embassy ; and in what light Lucrezia had 
 represented it he couM only conjecture; so that not unreasonably a direful 
 thought assailed him, that she had contrived all that had happened in order 
 to consummate her vengeance more terribly, by betraying him to her sire, 
 and rousmg his vindictive passions to then- wildest excess. In his dark 
 musings the thought occurred to him that the transcendantly guilty pair 
 intended to sacrifice him in some fell manner, which should strike terror 
 into all who in future ventured to pry into their misdeeds. But the cer- 
 tainty which he felt that, if such were the project, even the discovery of 
 his real rank and name would only deepen the wrath of the criminals, the 
 impossibility of resistance, and his natural courage, enabled him to comply 
 with Burchard's message, and to follow him without much more than a 
 momentary hesitation. 
 
 Traversing a long corridor, they entered a vast and magnificent suite of 
 chambers, overlooking the luKiirious gardens of Vatican and a consider- 
 able portion of the distant city. The pomp, the bloom, the fragrance, 
 the noble panorama from window to window, were unnoticed by the 
 agitated Hospitaller-, and when Burchard raised the purple hangings into 
 a saloon in which he was informed ttie pontiff was at supper, his hand 
 was on his sword, as if he expe>"ted a sudden onset of assassins. But 
 none appeared ; and Burchard laid his finger on his lips to enjoin silence, 
 when, stepping in, it was audible that Lucrezia was singing, and with the 
 charmed voice of the ballerina of the capitol. 
 
 Alfonso's soul darkened, when in those bewitching and subduing tones 
 he felt that ihe magic was again exercised to which his own angry and 
 perturbed spirit had formerly yielded, and saw that the pontiff's coun- 
 tenance resembled a storm-vexed sky calming in the soft evening light. 
 The entrance of the dean with his charge was not apparently observed, 
 for Alexander's eyi s were fixed in a deep and mournful reverie on his 
 daughter, although the air she sung was brisk and full of gaiety — a Spanish 
 roundel, the termination of which was ever 
 
 " El villano al laraboril, 
 Y el paysan a las sonojas!" 
 
 and Lucrezia's head was turned away, seated at the foot of a spacious 
 couch of wrought velvet on \Vhich Alexander reclined. A window 
 between two lofiy pillars, emblazoned with a rich Cothic painting, was 
 partially opened, admitting a cool, flowery breeze from the gardens below ; 
 
 19 
 
590 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 and beneath it was a table spread with coiir''Ctions, fruit, wine, and flowers. 
 At a very respectful distance sat Mona Faustina, kiiiitiug lace, and but 
 for the evil pucker of her lips, a most res|)CctMble matron to look at — on 
 whose presence Alfonso put no stress. Yet, though he analyzed the ex- 
 pression of the pontiff's gaze with the severest tests olmMral chenjistry, 
 he could detect no evil in'ihe depths of its serene and sorrowful tenderness. 
 
 It mijiht be that some sound of their entrance came to the fine organs 
 of Lucrezia, for Alfonso remarked with trouble that she glided farther 
 down the couch, and broke off in the midst of the lively air. " Ay de 
 mi I but your paternity seems not in the tune oNliis country merriment, 
 nor in truth is your minstrel I" she said very sweetly, and yet with a Mgh. 
 "Nor have I sung you my little silly ballad of two lovers who, forsooth, 
 would part, though none bade them but thi-ir own waywardness !" 
 
 "Thou canst do, nor say, nor sing, nor verily, I deem, think, aught 
 that is not sprinkled with something heavenly sweet, my ownest Lu- 
 crezia!" said Alexander, londly. " But 'tis true — though il minds me of 
 sounds anciently familiar— that merry, castanet-snapping air jars with 
 my present mood." 
 
 " Then, dear my lord, the sighaways of these two loving quarrellers, 
 that bade each other farewell for ever,' will lamentably chime in with it," 
 said Lucrezia, playfully. 
 
 "Nay, my Lucrezia I call me not lord now — let me hear that word 
 which on thy lips floods my heart with such a sweet and holy happiness 
 that I marvel what punishment heaven can have in store to balance it; 
 call me thy father — thy dear father, if thou wilt I" said Alexander. 
 
 " My father, — yes, my father I"' said Lucrezia, confusedly, and without 
 the affectionate epithet; but suddenly adding widi warmih, yielding to 
 an impulse at once of pride and tenderness, " My most dear, all dear 
 father I for you are all to me I 1 have none to love me but oidy you, who 
 love me beUer than all could I— But to my ballad, for I am a true poet at 
 least in this — that 1 must perforce have listeners, or my song is bileuce. 
 'Tis the damsel swans ill" 
 
 And she sung, in those most tender and melting tones which nature 
 had given her in harmony with her perfect beauty, some Italian verses, 
 which might run thus in our rud^r tongue : — 
 
 I. 
 
 " Though we part, and part unkindly, 
 
 Tliougli we ne'er will meet again, 
 Haiini; as we loved— too blindly. 
 
 Breathes that ihouiht to ihee no pain? 
 Though Love's sun has set for ever. 
 
 Should no lingering light remain?" 
 
 II. 
 
 " By that moment's inmost darting. 
 
 When we changed Love's vamest plight, — 
 
 And blushed like earth and heaven parting 
 From iheir rapt embrace in li^hl : 
 
 Oh, more slo«l\ should it, selling. 
 Reconcile our souls lo-uighl! " 
 
 " But I'll no more of it, since it troubles my father," she said, breaking 
 off suddenly, and with much emotion in her own voice. 
 
 " Nay, it was but one word — parting — and a thought which came over 
 me I" said Alexander, mournfully. " But wherever thou art, my child, 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 291 
 
 thy love needs not forsake me, and shall be the angel to smooth my pillow 
 of death." 
 
 '• I pray you, my father, talk not so sadly, or what can I but weep?" 
 said Lucrezia, with tears indeed. 
 
 " Nay, even thou canst not deny, my Lucrezia, that two-and-seventy 
 winters begin to count on me now — but that is not all I" the pontifl' replied, 
 in a gloomily musing tone. " There were justice in it too I— What did 
 I- say ? — But let it pass, only, ere 'tis too late, — I could encounter fate 
 more cheerfully to know that thou wert safe frura every harm!" 
 
 '' Let us think of aught else-, — here is my nurse's favourite seguidilla, 
 that she used to laugh to hear me sing when 1 could scarcely run," said 
 Lucrezia, striving to resume her usual tone of gaiety. 
 
 " The grief and the anguish 
 
 Are over! 
 And the hearl is once more, 
 As it was before. 
 Ere for one it would foolishly languish, 
 
 A rover ! " 
 
 " Ay, would she— when it was a mere plaything I" said Mona Faustina, 
 half laughing and half crying, with a strange mixture of feelings. 
 
 A sigh, which Alfonso cuuld not suppress, interrupted the lady, and 
 gave her a j)retence to notice his presence. 
 
 " The Knight of St. John is iiere I"' she exclaimed, turning- and in a 
 very rapid and confused manner cuniinued — '"Signor, approach I — I have 
 expliiiiied to his holiness what 1 have myself learned from your friend of 
 the Valley of tgeria, that yuur mission in Home is but to ascertain the 
 true condition uf ati'airs among us — regardmg me— the reports which — 
 and I have placed you in a pusiiion where your own observations Jor 
 methinks yuu are very subilel) may belter guide you than from the re- 
 moteness you affected — while your person is in safety, lur his paternity 
 commands you not to leave the palace without the attendance which shall 
 be placed at your disposal." 
 
 The imploring and yet haughty glance which accompanied these words 
 — the danger and difticuUy in which any denial uould involve both him- 
 self and ilie lady— the defiance implied— ulteily coniused Alfonso. Yet 
 he was unwilling to make what should seem the least concession to her 
 will, or become her accomplice in a deception, though practised alto- 
 gether in his own service— and he was silent. 
 
 Luckily Alexander was busied with his own thoughts, and he looked 
 round at Mona Faustina, who instantly arose and left the apartment. '" She 
 is practised 1" thought the dark scrutinizer, vacantly watching ihe old lady 
 out, who retired into a chamber of which he caughtamomeniary glimpse, 
 half unconsciously remembering that he noticed in the distance an alcove 
 hung with gold-Coloured satin, most richly embi'oideied and adorned with 
 little figures of the Apostles and Madonna, in silver, and that the ceiling 
 was painted with an Aurora meeting iNight — a suitable subject to salute 
 the eyes of a sleeper waking. 
 
 ""Good son, your cautions, though something too elaborate, are justi- 
 fied," said Alexander, as the matron retired. "But notwithstanding all 
 appearance to the contrary — if it be true that Duke Hercules still cherishes 
 the project which was once our own, bide with us for a time, until we 
 can exjilaiu ourselves more fully, and he shall learn that our heart has 
 never with sincerity abandoned ii." 
 
3!»2 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 So easily coukl this point be aclmiUod, that to deny would have been a 
 falsehood;" and Alfonso was irresistibly urged by his fears of the Orsini 
 alliance to endeavour to discover how far it was advanced. 
 
 "Nothing is more true, holy father, than that the duke's heart is still 
 entirely devoted to the projectwhich you once deigned to entertain," he 
 replied'. " But what can that niaiter, or my longer abidance, since none 
 can doubt that the marriage of your most illusLrious niece with Paolo 
 Orsino is determined?" 
 
 " Peace, peace I — for after the experience 1 have had of their undutiful 
 and rebellious spirit, — allying themselves with iheColonnas,and with the 
 protectors of the bestial b";dlad-mongers of Niples.— let your masters rest 
 assured nothing but necessity shall drive me to it!" exclaimed Alexander, 
 impatientlv; adding wiih a'triumphanl and wrathful expression, ''But 
 until the resultof the Duke of Romagna's mission is known, all discussion 
 on this point is adjourned; and then — but meanwhile, corles, the want of 
 other assistance may bring about that necessity, — therefore let me have 
 more definite speech from^Ferrara, if he would have me understand him 
 to a purpose. To his encouragement at this time let him know you are 
 our guest, and that, in the presence of his daughter — yea, of his daughter I 
 — the sovereign pontiff declared that among all the princes of Italy Al- 
 fonso of Fcrrara is still regarded by him as the only one worthy of her I — 
 whose brave person and commanding genius are alike fitted to sway her 
 to the love and reverence which a wife should render to her lord. You 
 behold her beauty, signer, and albeit you guess not at the full richness 
 of the treasury which is in her heart and mind, what I have said is no ill 
 compliment to your prince!" 
 
 A suspicion instantaneously struck Alfonso that his rank had been re- 
 vealed, and that this was a cajolery which the perilous condition of the 
 Borgias suggested to them as means to win a powerful aid— for he w\as 
 resolved not to believe in the sincerity of the pontiffs desire to wed his 
 daughter at such a distance. Bui it was as impossible to doubt the con- 
 trary evidence of Luerezia's reply and manner. " Senor," she said, the 
 white satin of her skin suffusing all over with a pinky tinge, " the love of 
 women is seldom won by disdain I— and I am informed the Prince of 
 Ferrara is but an unwilling hearkener to his father's wishes. Ere we talk 
 of love to him, lei him talk of love to us I" 
 
 "It were indeed the fitter style, illustrious lady!" replied Alfonso, with 
 a glance full of reminiscences of the Valley of Kgeria, which Lucrezia felt 
 to'the quick of her fine senses. " But your anger confirms Duke Her- 
 cules' apprehensions of the little favour which the house of Este now 
 finds in Rome!" 
 
 "What talk you of favour, kniyht!" said Alexander, vehemently, 
 "when 1 commission you to tell your masters from me, that I still cherish 
 such kindness for iheir house, as to desire to transfer to it this comfort 
 and glory of my age, this brightness, this sweetness, this mere perfection 
 of her sex, which envy itself cannot deny my Lucrezia to he !" 
 
 "Signor, I pray you!" said the lady, bending confusedly over her in- 
 strument. " Master dean, this is all his holiness desired to say." 
 
 Burchard took the hint, and retired with the Hospitaller, whose cogita- 
 tions were siill more perplexed by the interview. It was scarcely pos- 
 sible to doubt the sincerity of the pontiff's e:igeruess to renew the alliance 
 -with Ferrara; and it seemed a strong argument in Luerezia's favour, 
 that, knowing the envoy's real intents, she had purposely brought hira 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 29S 
 
 to a position of close and intimate observation. But Tsesar's conduct was 
 the most in<'xplicHbl.', if he really intended to suffer him tu remain with 
 Lucrezia, afier the events of which he was coiinizant. It was true, 
 indeed, ih it, he had also witnessed the display of Alfonso's contempt and 
 aversion, that he had a vigilant spy in Mona Faustina, and that he had 
 beard his statement of his pretended embassy. Joinitg all these fads, 
 the terrible thouiiht occurred to Alfonso that he permitted his residence 
 in the palace to give him faciliiies to satisfy himself of the truth of the 
 allegations against Lucrezia and the pontiff. To the contrary, Bembo 
 was haunted by apprehensions that some attempt would be made by the 
 remorseless duke on his lord's life, more especially as Burchard brought 
 renewed orders to him not to stir abroad without a guard. 
 
 Uncertain what else to do, Alfonso complied with this injunction, and 
 remained for several days secluded in his sumptuous solitude, his wounds 
 meanwhile healing fast! In this space Lucrezia seemed to have forgotten 
 his existence ; he'heard only, and with renewed heart-burning, that she 
 shared in all the festivities of the jubilee, and that Le Beaufort was always 
 in her retinue. The close of ihe jubilee and Caesar's departure were to 
 take place on the same day, and on that previous, Alfonso learned that he 
 was to give a great feast to the papal court and the Orsini, in public token 
 of their recon'ciliation, and to divert the people in the evening with a 
 grand speciacle of a Mvstery orBeligious Play. It was the evening before 
 this event, and Alfonso was soothing himself with the hope that Lucrezia 
 affected this oblivion to deceive her terrible brother— an opinion in which 
 Bembo heartily coincided— when the door opened, and the duke himself 
 entered, alone", and unannounced. The canon stared at him in vacant 
 alarm, as if he expected an immediate murder. 
 
 " Trouble not for me, signer canon ; I come but to leave my good wishes 
 with )our valiant friend, and to press him, if it may be, to witness our 
 show to-morrow," said Cssar, wiih the princely courtesy which he could 
 well assume. "And also I have a little grace to ask of him, which my 
 modesty can less siammeringly demand alone." 
 
 To tliis broad hint Bembo replied with a most rueful and terrified " My 
 lord, your wish is a command I " but without making the least motion to 
 comply with it. 
 
 '•Like most of my commands then, now," said Csesar, smiling care 
 lessly. " Come, I will finish your game at chess with the knight, three 
 more moves will lose it 5 or are you fearful to be alone in these dismal 
 chambers?" 
 
 "Wherefore should your grace so style a magnificence which a king 
 might be [)rond to inhabit?" said Alfonso. 
 
 "Nay, if yon know not, your slumbers are the lighter," replied Caesar, 
 more gravely. "But are we to be beholden to you, signor canon, for the 
 license we crave ? " 
 
 Bembo looked affrighledly athis lord, who replied, with a quiet glance 
 at his dagger, "Yea brother, I feel no I'aintness now— and from yonder 
 window you can easily come to my aid, if I should." 
 
 Bembo" retired wiih visible reluctance, moving backward like a crab, as 
 if in profound respect, but in reality to leave the duke no instant for any 
 evil purpose. 
 
 " I would speak to you of a woman, and the subject asks for privacy," 
 said t'sesBr, as the canon njoved out of earshot, and changing his whole 
 manner into one of aloom and thouabtfulness. "But heaven forbid. 
 
294 C^SAR rORGIA. 
 
 indeed, that this chamber should not be of better augury to you than to its 
 last luckless possess^or." 
 
 "Then do I marvel, signor, that your discourse shraild be addressed 
 to me, so all unskilled in female matters," said Alfonso, visibly asto- 
 nished. 
 
 "It suffices me that I have observed in you the rigid practice of a virtue 
 once the chief ornament of our Roman women, but whose very name makes 
 them Iauf.'h now-a-days," said Caesar, laughing too, but bitterly. " There- 
 fore I would have you, during my absence, be in some wise a guard and 
 wati'h over a lady who is said to be dear to n)e, very dear, too dear, and she 
 isall!" he conliruicd, even he, with some confusion under the gaze of the 
 Hospitaller. "■There is one \\h<>m yon hav(>,iimay be, htlle cause to love — 
 the vapouring English kniiiht— but whom the memory of atuique friendship 
 may yet sway you to desire to preserve from a great snare and destruction." 
 
 T[)e Hospitaller's agiiiiliKl look, rnther than hi^> words, replied. 
 
 " The young man is hanosouie and daring, and— albeit my heart burns 
 in fire to say it— I cannot contradict the general voice of Italy," continued 
 the duke, musingly, " Yea, there are more tales to be lold of this lady's 
 pleasurable desporis than would furnish forth ihe hundred amorous legends 
 of a new Boccaccio ! Yet some, perchance, of too black a hue to mingle 
 in such sun -steeped reveries. Warn the rash boy of the north to lake no 
 courage from my departure ! I too have a rival, whose dark vigilance is 
 never long foiled. Let him know that; for albeit the chastisement is 
 certain, it irks me that it should be deserved, and 1 am weary of bloodshed 
 and evil report." 
 
 "What mighty rival can this be, or what damsel? Rethought your 
 grace was least of all men likely to endure one? " said Alfonso, shudderii:ig 
 in his inmost soul. 
 
 "One whom I must endure may well make this rash stranger tremble — 
 and such he is," replied Caesar, with asatanic meaning in his eye "And, 
 in recompense, I will bestow on you a warning, fori misdoubt you have 
 roused a vengeance which, Circe-like, shall fantastically blend the 
 heights of joy and anguish and dlreness— as when, it seems, they bade 
 the pretty Jewess invite my brother to his delightsome slaughterhouse. 
 Nay, miy tongue wags idly I but I have caught an evil custom to prate on all 
 things, in France. You guessed not what festering horror you stirred, 
 moving in Gandia's death, with thought, no doubt, to win his holiness's 
 kindness ! Beware how you meddle more in it! " 
 
 "I dare not guess at the subject of these dreads; but deems your 
 highness that I am of the stuff of which they make domestic espials and 
 traitors?" said Alfonso, almost betraying the indignation and horror in 
 his heart, for he perceived that Caesar's expressions were purposely con- 
 trived to make him believe that his fearful love had been successful, and 
 was still more detestably rivalled, and all the mightiest [)assioris in his 
 soul were stirred, when,' remembering the malignant falsehood of the one 
 insinuation, he began almost to hope in the possibility of Lucrezia's inno- 
 cence in the other. 
 
 " Not so, most noble knight! I ask of you only what your virtue and 
 Christian compassion mij«ht ecpjally prompt," replied Cae-ar. " I avow to 
 you that 1 leave an indefatigable watch in the person of Mona Faustina, 
 who is bound to me by some ties o\ intoresi, and moreover I have two 
 of her sons in my train." If this foolish youth, once your friend, grows too 
 insolent, is it possible that you will refuse to drop a word of warning to 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 295 
 
 prevent the ruin which must ensue, when the vigilant confldanle iiilbrms 
 you 'lis needful? " 
 
 This was a master-tangle which fairly enmeshed the Hospitaller, and 
 Caesar smiled inwardly at the confused silence which his victim observed, 
 and which vet accepted the office thus prettily gilded wiih words. Caesar, 
 satisfied that he had done all the mischief" that he projected, instantly 
 shifted the conversation by inviting the knight to his farewell banquet; 
 from which he excused himsell by alleging the pain which he still suffered 
 from his wounds. Blaming himself IbrVotracting the inierview, un- 
 mindful of the circumstance, the duke then took a most friendly adieu, 
 and retired, to the unbounded satisfaction of the canon. 
 
 The discourse had renewed to their wildest raging all the passions in 
 Alfonso's soul, and deepened his suspicions both of the pontiff and Sir 
 Reginald, finding them so blackly shared by the Borgia, and collating all 
 circumstances together. In vain did Bembo urge Alexander's desire to 
 renew the proposals with Ferrara. Alfonso declared that it was only a 
 trick to gain allies in the dangerous position in which the Borgian power 
 WHS placed ; a last card to be reserved against the detested necessity of 
 resigning Lucrezia to the Orsini. Even her project on himself, wherein he 
 had founded his chief security against Le Beaufort, was now only a refine- 
 ment of the most horrible cruelty and revenge. And yet Bembo took a 
 little hope from his lord's conclusion, that he would obtain some positive 
 proof against her, and then leave Rome for ever. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 " As one who drinks from a charmed cup, 
 
 Of foaming and sparkling and murmuring wine, 
 While a raisjhty Enchantress filling up. 
 Invites to love with her lips divme."— Sbellet. 
 
 William of Bampton, the ancient servitor who performed the functions 
 of squire with Le Beaufort, and who commanded his little band of men- 
 at-arms under him, seemed only to wait for the disastrous termination of 
 the tournament to add to the young knight's troubles. He had been 
 chosen, from his age and fidelity, rather as a guide and controller of the 
 hot youth than merely to fulfil the duties of his service; but he exhibited 
 little skill in ihe lime or manner in which he now thought proper to vent 
 a discontent of some standing. Secretly— it might almost be said even 
 to himself— fired with a passion which the voluptuous climate was fast 
 making irresistible-, flushed with the applause of Lucrezia and with the 
 glory and universal admiration he had just acquired in her sight; exas- 
 perated with Alfonso's revilines and open hostility ; it may he thought 
 that it was with much concealed iinijalience that, on the morning alter 
 the tournament, Le Beaufort listened to a long general tirade against the 
 women of all foreign lands, and those of Italy in pariicular, in which the 
 squire indulged. But he dared not attempt to refute these dogmata, niore 
 especially as Bampton passed, by some unspoken trans-lion, to the jiraises 
 of his cousin and betrothed, the Lady Alice Beaufort, and abrupt y de- 
 clared that he ought to lose no time in procuring the dispensation for 
 
2m C^SAR BOKGIA. 
 
 their union, which his favour with the pope's niece would enable him 
 easily to obtain. 
 
 The observHiion was so true, and there was that in the old man's eye 
 and in his own heart which so soctnded the ariiunient, that, in a mo- 
 ment of bhame and alarm, Sir Reginald proniis' d U) a[»iily for ihy dispen- 
 sation in.nitdialfly. But several days elapsed, and ilioujdi he was con- 
 tinually in Lucrezia's society, and importuned by the faiililul squire, he 
 bad nevei" once opened his mouth on the subject to her. Yet it is per- 
 fectly true that he never entered the Vatican without convincmg himself 
 that be meant to make the application ; but no sooner was he in it than all 
 resolutions relating to the subject, and often all reeolleclioiis, vanished 
 from his mind. Unluckily Bampton himself furnished him wiih an ar- 
 gument against his own, by urging the danger of a longer tarriance in 
 Italy after having provoked the wrath of the powerful pnnces of Ferrara. 
 Sir Reginald fired at the thought of retiring from motives of personal fear, 
 and the events of the Coii,sistory gave him a reasonable plea; and when 
 Bampton imagined he had gained a great point in prevailing upon him 
 to promise that he would leave Rome directly the atl'air of the prize was 
 decided, and would meanwhile use the first favourable opportunity to 
 obtain the dispensation, he little knew that he was assisting the youth 
 to a sedative which he laid on all the starts and prickings of his con- 
 science. 
 
 In justice to the English knight, it must, however, be recorded that 
 the result of the meditations of a restless night which followed Caesar's 
 farewell banquet, in which Lucrezia had undisguisedly distinguished him, 
 was, that on the next day he would hasten among the fiist to her pre- 
 sence, and endeavour to win a private moment in which to make his 
 request. Inasmu( h as Lucrezia's influence was absolute, this was of 
 course a much more advisable plan than ap|il}ing to the avaricious and 
 slow ministry of the Datary. To assure himself of his resolution, and 
 perhaps for some other vague reason, Le Beaufort communicated his in- 
 tention to the Orsino, who. however, earnestly pressed him to defer it, 
 for any suspicion which might have crossed his iniagination was removed, 
 and his aflection restored in full tide, by the young knight's generous 
 demeanour at the tournament. Yet these kind efforts seemed only to 
 strengthen Le Beaufort's contrary determination; until in the glow of 
 friendship and iriumph, Paolo entreated him to remain to be present at 
 his nuptials with Donna Lucrezia. Then, under strict injunctions of 
 secrecy, he confided to him a secret comfiact into which the barons of the 
 confederacy had entered with (Isesar. While he was engaged at Milan in 
 lulling the suspicions of the Fniich, they were to assenjhie their forces 
 under pretence of attacking I'iombino, and resloring it to the dominion of 
 the church, which had long contended with the family Appiano for its 
 possession. Instead of which, on Caesar's rejoining them, they were 
 suddenly to fall upon Tuscany, and restore the Medici. Thus strengthen- 
 ed, the pontiff would no longer dare to trifle with the Orsini in their 
 demand of his daughter's hand; after obtaining which, Paolo laughingly 
 intimated that Caesar's projects on Ferrara would wait long for their ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 Le Bt aufoi t's reflections on this extraordinary glimpse into the involved 
 workings of Italian policy were souii absorbed in oihers more pleasurable, 
 though certainly not to the Orsino. Fantastic di|)lomas, rieiily arabesqued 
 with emblems of the passion, were brought to them, constituting them 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 2«J7 
 
 doctors in an Academy of Love founded by Donna Lucrezia, for the pur- 
 pone of {•oiiviriiii^f the Kniyht of Si. John lo its pleasurable tenets. 
 
 This device was in the soholaslic taste of the aj^e, beautified by the 
 warm and poetical imagination of Lucrezia. 01 her most favound f» male 
 conipaiiions and retinue, secure in her own em|)ery, she had culled 
 twenty of those mostgified with leauiv and alluring tah-nts, who, with an 
 eqiiaT number of men selected for analogous qualities, including the 
 O'sinoand Sir Reginald, Bembo. Machiavtlli, the Cardinal of Mcdiri, and 
 others distinguished for their brilliant wit or poetic genius, composed the 
 acadcni) of which she was herself the president. Its professed object 
 was lo convert the recusant Hos|)ilaller to the sweet doctrines of Love, 
 which the Academicians weie to unite in explaining and illustrating to 
 him ^ and for this purpose were lo meet every evening, in places designated 
 by the bright president, either in the Vatican, her gardens, or the palaces 
 of the friends to whom she deigned so great an honour, with exception 
 of three dajs in each week, which, as the indulgence against Lent was 
 now at an end, were to be spent by all in retirement and devotion. The 
 first sessions was ordered to be held in ihe vinejard of the Vatican, as the 
 fine gardens covering the elevation now occupied by the Belvedere were 
 styled; and not until a week after Ceesar's departure, when the Hospi- 
 taller micht be supposed to have recovered from the suffering inflicted by 
 his wounds. 
 
 This event was impatiently expected by Alfonso : be burned to satisfy 
 himself, by his own obseivalion, of the degree of intelligence which Lu- 
 crezia ai d ihe English knight had as jel attained, and he was besides tor- 
 mented wiih a ravening desire to see her, for, after all, it was a physical 
 delighi to ga7.e up( n her beauty, though with the eye of a forever banished 
 spirit looking through the barsof tden. He thought they never would — 
 but the day and hour both came at last. 
 
 The place of meeting was one which the seneschal of the Decameron 
 would have selected as fit for the reception of his luxurious mnsters, 
 where every surrounding object was in harmony with the delicious and 
 charmed existence which they had devised in defiance of death. Arcades 
 of vines, matted with the bright green foliage of spring and showery wiih 
 blossoms, ascended in winding ti rraces to a height on which ihey con- 
 verged as into a star, and formed a spacious canopy over an expanse of 
 the brightest turf, inlaid with a mosaic of flowers, in the centre of which 
 was a fountain which arose lo a great height in the clear sky, and kept up 
 a perpetual coolness and refreshing harmony of waters. Between the in- 
 terstices of the vines, magnificent views of the w hole surrounding country 
 and of the ciiy were visible ; to which circumstance, perhaps, or lo the 
 effect of an infinity of roses whii-h grew among the vines, and ihe lofiy cy- 
 presses which made the elevation a conspicuous object in every direction, 
 it owed its di'signaiioii of the Behedcre. 
 
 Alfonso had y'et the resolution to make himself among the last to arrive ; 
 and then, ascending the first terrace, he found that a precaution was taken 
 which increased his suspicions. All who passed a guard of beautiful 
 children arrayed as cupids, who defended il with their lillle silver bows, 
 resigned their weapons, and were comi»el!ed to pledge tlu'ir honour that 
 they would use perfect courtesy and harmony with all whom they en- 
 countered. The impalienl Hospitaller was obliged to promise this too, 
 and hastening on, soon found himself in the midst of the newly founded 
 Academy. 
 
298 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 A circular tapestry, richly wrought with a vastdesign of flowers and fruit, 
 was spread before the fnuiKain . around which, on ^'nen velvet cushions, 
 in low chairs of twisted branches, sat the Acndemicians of Love, twenty 
 judiciously [)aired on each side of the president's seat, which was raised 
 above the rest on a dais of green turf. And there sat Lucrezia, in al! her 
 loveliness, with a diadem wrought of myrtle and roses on her head to 
 distinguish her dignity, the rest wearing only garlands of the same texture. 
 Sir Reginald and the Orsino sat on her right and left, and immediately 
 opposite, on the farther side of the circle, was the places reserved for the 
 recusant whom it was the business of the assembly to convert. 
 
 When Alfonso entered,. Lucrezia was in laughing discourse with 
 Le Beaufort; and there was something in the unrestrained vivacity of 
 her coquetry, and even in the dee|) glow of the passion in his looks, which 
 calmed the jealous fears of the prince. Rut he hked not the rush of colour 
 with which she lurnokfron) Sir Reginald to gre* t him with cold and re- 
 served courtesy, nor the visibh^ anxiety wiili wliich. while affecting to 
 command it bv some irr'ecusible authority, she ordered all present to 
 pledge themselves to uninterrupted harmonv and friendliness during the 
 sittings of ihe Acaaemy Le Bi aufort, with a ylance of no slight mean- 
 ing at Alfonso, declared that he reserved his righis until then ; and wiih 
 an ample i-elurn of the hok, Alfonso signified his assent. He then took 
 his seat — ihe otdy one in the assembly uiigarlanded. 
 
 And now the beautiful presidentess was unanimously called upon to ex- 
 plain for what purposes she bad founded the Academy, and the services 
 she expected from those whom she had distinguished by creating them 
 members of so blissful a court. And it was with scarcely a glance at the 
 pretended object, but with a continual play of smiles and blushes at Sir 
 Reginald, that she delivered a musical harangue in reply. To convert so 
 stern and obstinate a recusant of love as the Knight of Ferrara, she an- 
 nounced to be the difflcull and glorious purpose of the foundation ^ and as 
 love was so delicious and priceless a good, that it was only possible to be 
 despised by those who were ignorant of its value, the Academicians were 
 to devote their meetings to the recital of tales illustrative of its effects and 
 power, whether in good or evil passages of adventure and fate-, to sing- 
 ing songs in praise or description of the passion ; to answering or freely 
 disputing anv doubts which the recusant trjight devise ; each sessions con- 
 cluding with dances and nmsic and intiocent revelries, and aiighl else 
 capable of inspirinji the divine sentiment to which the Hos|)italler alone, 
 of all things animate and even inanmiate, was a rebel ! To avoid the 
 tediousness of ceremonial forms, each was to assume a name derived from 
 some allusion, which might render it pleasing to himself, and by which 
 only he or she was to be known and addressed in the Academy. 
 
 Bembo immediately proposed, that as the centre and sun of all their 
 hap()iness, and ol this et)chanting device, Lucrezia should be designated 
 simply— Ijight. Lucrezia instantly turned to Sir Reginald, and inquired 
 if he would be her Girasol, or sun-flower; and on his eager acceptance 
 of this singular title, Alfonso declared that he desired to be called Dark- 
 ness, since his opinions were held to be the reverse of those entertained 
 by the illustrissima. He scarcely dreamed what harm he had done 
 himself by the involuntary betrayal which the fierce vivacity of his man- 
 ner < onveyed ; but a single glance and a woman's quick instinct showed 
 Lucrezia that his rivalry miglit be stirred. 
 
 This preliminary arranged, with much laughter and pleasant guessing, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA, 299 
 
 and raillt'vy at iho spcrels included in the selected pseudonyms, Lucrczia 
 summoned Bembo to open the [iroceedingsin ihe manner which he thought 
 best. The canon, who was thoroughly repiunged into all his old fasci- 
 nation, smilingly declared it would be proper, in the first place, to agree 
 upon some general definition of what love was, of whose laws they pro- 
 fessed themselves to be expounders. 
 
 The proposal was universally accepted ; and there ensued a dialogue the 
 brilliancy and eloquence of which might entitle it to preservation in these 
 records, hut for the too rich and luxurious ciilouring which the manners 
 of the age and land permitted. Plato himselfmight have been puzzled at 
 the spiritual subtlety of some of the deflniliims, and S;ipf)ho have blushed 
 at the material glow of others, while the whole compauy laughed innno- 
 derately al the younu Northman's blunt but passiopHle declaration of the 
 feeling which worked in his heart, when he thought he was bul lollowing 
 the geiiernl example. The O^^ino defined love— a desire to be the air 
 aniutid Lucrczia: while Machiavelli. mocking this refinement, aimnnuced 
 that, in his (ipuiion, it was a lunging to be cauj^'hl in a net by Vulcan, 
 Alfonso was, of course, supposed lo be ignorant <>f the mailer aliogtther ; 
 but Lucrezia's definition struck him as most disconsonaut with lur cha- 
 racter. Love, she said, was a desire of the soul to mingle wiili another, 
 to e^cape from a loneliness which else makes the whole universe a solitude. 
 The (lardinal of .Medici declared that he had experienced nothing of love 
 but its pains, and therefore could give but such a delineation as a picture 
 miighi be in which all the lights were left out. Bembo, who had been 
 watching his o[)portiinity for some time, emphatically announced that he 
 was in a somewhat similar condition, inasmuch as he had only tasted 
 three of the delights of love, which were twelve in number. 
 
 This arithmetical limitation immediately excited the attention of the 
 ladies, and of Donna Lucrczia, who smilingly commanded him to enu- 
 merate them for the eidighienment of others who might be as igno- 
 rant as she professed herself to be. The rc>guish canon pretended at 
 first to excuse himself, and finally, declaring he would rhyme it, that it 
 might have a better chance of being remembered, recited the ffjllowing 
 lines, which he ititended that the audience should legard as an impromptu, 
 but which, from its great resemblance to a poem of Lorenzo de' Medici, 
 was not, perhaps, the inspiration of the monjent : — 
 
 LOVE'S DELIGHTS. 
 
 " The first delight of love— oh ! 'lis to gaze ! 
 
 The second, bul lo touch tlie loved one's hand; 
 The third, with tremulous voice her charms lo praise; 
 
 The fourih, to obey her most despised command; 
 The hfih, to upbraid her smiles anJ cruel ways ; 
 
 The sixth, lo sil beside her, hushed and bland ; 
 The sevenih, to snatch itie first kiss— ctiaslely warm; 
 
 Ti e eighih, lo clasp lier, scolding, lo ihe bieasl; 
 The miiUi. lo hall devour each rusjmg charm; 
 
 The lenth, lo I'eel wiili answeriiiji ardour pressed , 
 The eleventli. lo be alone— doors locked on harm; — 
 
 The twelllh— sweet dames: jour colours have long guessed!" 
 
 In spite of all efiforts to restrain themselves, Lucrezia and her ladies 
 could not forbear betniying some consciousness by the sudden laughter 
 whirh this termination prnvtAed; but she rapidly returned lo the tnpic, 
 and ihe discussum was renewed with unabaicd brilliancy uiiiil the moon 
 rose in the deep blue twilight. The sweetness and languid splendour of 
 
300 CESAR r.ORGIA. 
 
 the hour well suited ihe converse, and lime passed with the rapidity of all 
 things delighlful in this niorlal life, until a messenger arrived who brought 
 inlelligenre tliat the poiilifl's Mipper was served, a meal wlneh, it ap- 
 peared, Lucrezia alwavs pariouk wiili her sire. The whole Aeadcmy de- 
 termined, however, to escort their beautiful president to the palace; and it 
 was accompanied by their festive groups, in full career of gaiety and en- 
 joyment, that, turning into a walk which led to the entrance of the Tor di 
 Burgia, Lucrezia suddenly beheld a monk dart out of some bushes, kneel 
 before her, and present a paper folded in the form of a leiter. 
 
 Lucrezia's vivacity instantly disappeared ; and turning pale and 
 trembling she took ihe letter, broke it hurriedly open, desiring the monk, 
 to rise, which, however, he would not, but still knelt with his hands 
 clasped in very earnest supplication. 
 
 " I cannot — I must not— I will not I" she said al last, in a wavering and 
 confused voice. '"Tell Friar Bruno none lament his imprisonment more 
 than I, but iiis impcTTsible. Bid him wait— a few days may bring great 
 changes. Tell him — Alas, alasl 'tis not my pitilessne>s indeed I — but that 
 he should deem I am doing what I dare not confess to him, and so will not 
 intercede for hirni— Signor Orsino, you shall see that 1 do not aid your 
 ill-wishers I Tell him, Fra Biccocco, that his words offend me, md he 
 must choose himself another intercessor." 
 
 At this sentence, which Biccocco was far from expecting,- the faithful 
 confrere sobbed aloud, mingling entreaties with exclamations against 
 himself for having, with his inadveitent ptate, given a handle to his 
 learned master's enemies. But Lucrezia repulsed him with a harshness 
 foreign to her usual manner, and commanding the guard to remove the 
 monk if he did not himself retire, she passed on with a look m which 
 struggled shan)e and remorse with all her efforts to preserve the haughty 
 and oH'ended tone of her reply. 
 
 From all his observations, Alfonso had now no doubt that the Knight 
 of England had su[)planled him in the favour of Lucrezia, and that his 
 own nnscry and his rival's happiness woold soon be com|)lete. He even 
 concluded that, however innocently the first sessions of the new Academy 
 had been spent, under her auspices it would rapidly degenerate into li- 
 centiousness, and furnish her with the opportunities which fame declared 
 she knew so well how to use. 
 
 And yet the pastime seemingly continued the brilliant intellectual re- 
 velry in which it commenced, which we might easily prove from the ample 
 records that we find in th^ chronicle. And sorely are we tempti'd by the 
 beauty, tenderness, or wit of most ol the poems and legends whuh formed 
 the chief anuisement of those refined orgies, in which Lucrezia's pari still 
 retains a fragrance which baffles even the musty scent of the aiitKjue 
 parchment-, the tart wit of Macliiavelli preserves its pungency and cynical 
 brilliancv ; die canon yet shines with an admiriihle but sonielhing too 
 licentious gaiety ; the gloom and love-loi ging of the Orsino yet inspire a 
 kind of piiy, and contrast witii the frank and joyous humour of Sir Begi- 
 nald. or the stately and austere dignity of the Hospitaller. So accurately 
 are the characters and passions of the' speakers n ili cted in the Cfmversa- 
 lions and legends preserved, tluit it might mat rially ai.l our labour to 
 detail theni, but that we are hasening to more imporlant events, and 
 must therefore pass over the episode with this allusion to its great and 
 perennial beauty 
 
 Meanwhile, Lucrezia's spell worked powerfully on its intended victim. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 301 
 
 Surrounded by all that could kindle the voluptuous passions, the insagina- 
 tioit sliniLilated wiih glowing poetry and the warm descriptions in wMiich 
 the narrators of those love-legends revelled, contimially fxposcd to the 
 influence of the marvellous beauty of Lucrezia, and the infinite variety of 
 her allurements, the passion which devoured Alfonso hourly increased ia 
 strength even with the struggles which he made to wiilistand it. The 
 Lenten retirements which she had prescribed and religiously observed, 
 heightened the delirium while apparently giving it time for a lucid inter- 
 val. Absence taught him how necessary shi; had become to give any 
 charm to his existence, and although the Hos|)italler was well informed 
 that she devoted these ret'remenis to penance and ritual observances of 
 the severest kind, which her paleness and languor on returning abun- 
 dantly attested, he was tortured with fancies that her privacy might be 
 devoted to purposes more consonant with her reported temperament. The 
 rapturous joy of Sir Reginald at every reunion was his only consolation; 
 for after his own experience, he placed no confllence in the espial of 
 Mona Faustina, whom a double bribe might have allured to a double 
 treason. 
 
 In proportion as this familiar intercourse revealed to Alfonso the full 
 value of the prize he had lost, the rare union of loveliness with the most 
 brilliant and yet feminine genius, the inexhaustible treasury of tenderness 
 and sweetness in that fairest bosom which ever heaved, his jealousy 
 deepenc-d, and the anguish of his now despised love. For he could not 
 doubt that it was so : her coldness to himself, and encouragement of Le 
 Beaufort, were proofs, even if he had found it possible to forget the at- 
 tempt which she had made, if not on his life, at least on his honour. To 
 fortify the resolutions which this conviction should have matured, he en- 
 deavoured to use his position to obtain some proof against Lucrezia which 
 might rouse an abhorrence in his soul to counteract her magic. But in 
 vain did he urge on himself the excessive fondness of the pontiff, which 
 he displayed in the most utiboundedrodulgence ; the secret conferences ; 
 the unlimited influence of Lucrezia over him : her beauty and talents, her 
 aversion to Csesar, the dangers which apparently thickened around the 
 Borgian power urged reasons for all. 
 
 Ah, tiuly had the ballerina said that where the bright spirit of love 
 comes not, the dark one will! And this began now to reason with him 
 upon the madness of the sacrifice he had made — the supreme bliss which 
 he had relinquished for a phantom— for what else was the scruple to 
 which he had offered up the matchless hap])iness which once courted his 
 acceptance? In what strange manner had he reversed all ordinary pro- 
 cedure of passion in his sex, and rejected the beautous paramour because 
 he could not bestow on her the holy and chaste qualities of the wife! 
 What, though the soul must for ever remain isolated, when the unbounded 
 feast of beauty was spread to all the senses I But was it yet too late, the 
 tempter continued? She had loved him once, and still at moments in her 
 glance flashed something of the past. Moreover, another danger became 
 imminent. The Orsino's vehement suit was strengthened by events which 
 seemed likely to compel its sucess; on political grounds indeed, for Lu- 
 crezia's coldness continued at the freezing point, llssar, after a stern 
 reception, as was believed, and abrupt dismissal at .Mil ui, had put him- 
 self at the head of the eccle<iasiie:d army, as that of the barons was 
 styled, which immediately invaded Tuscany with every prospect of suc- 
 cess in their project of restoring the Medici. 
 
302 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Revenge aided the arguments of the passion which was fast gaining the 
 mastery in Alfonso's heart, suggesting that none of her draughts could he 
 more bitter to the rivals who had injured him so deeply than his success 
 with Lucrezia. These thoughts gradually worked into action. He de- 
 fended himself less vehemently against the arguments of the Academicians 
 of Love, and his altered manner and gaze speed ly came to Lucrezia's cog- 
 nizance. But those glances which revealed the furnace in his soul, and 
 the glow of the unhallowed flames wiihin, seemed only to disgust and 
 oflleiid Lucrezia— Lucrezia Borgia! The i-hasle coldness, or haughtiness 
 and disdain, v^itli which she now eyed him heightened the delirium of 
 desire even with its very hopelessness. Severely rallied as he was on the 
 declension of his rigid principles, Alfonso scarcely disguised how fast he 
 was yielding to the arguments of his associates; and, clutching at every 
 straw in his sinking of hope, the thought occurred to him that in announcing 
 his conversion he might find occasion to avow his passion, and with its 
 new glow rekindle i^er former feeling. 
 
 It must be admitted that the Knight of St. John struggled long with these 
 suggessions of his frenzied passions; but at length they triumphed. And 
 yet It is certain that he had formed no dt^finite plan nor object, when on 
 Ihe eve of the next sessions of the Academy, after one of those torturing 
 absences, he requested Mona Faustina to inform her lady its president, that 
 the cotjvertiie required only a short interview with her in private, to ob- 
 tain satisfaction in some remaining doubts, to make his recantation be- 
 fore the assembly in the evening. 
 
 Alfonso's hopes, whatever they might be, brightened like the tints of a 
 rainbow when the sun breaks out, on Faustina bringing him a rejjly that 
 Donna Lucrezia was going on the following noon to her gardens of 
 Eiieria, and would give hrni audience there, before the Academy as- 
 senjbled, which she had ordered to meet in ihem on that occasion. This 
 was the nmre remarkable that, ever since the tournament, under pretext 
 of regard for his safety, Alfonso ha^been kept in a kind of honourable 
 imprisoimient in the Vatican, in which the sessions had always hitiierto 
 been held. 
 
 Almost for the first time since his arrival, Alfonso discarded his usual 
 cumbrous habiliments; and though his garb was still principally of black 
 velvet, the richness of iis lace and embroidery displayed his princely per- 
 son to advantage, and he had even crossed his breast with a silk scarf of 
 Lucrezia's white. Confiding much more in the secrecy of his movements 
 than in the protection of the attendance assigned to him, he left the palace 
 unobserved, and arrived in the Valley of Egeria with a rush of passions 
 and recollections which not only took from him all power but all wish of 
 resistance— a far worse symptom ! 
 
 Faustina was in waiting, and informed him that Donna Lucrezia had 
 dismissid her ladies to amuse themselves at their pleasure in the gar- 
 dens, and gather the flowers which she was wreathing into garlands for 
 the evening in a circular temple, made altogether of twisted branches and 
 flowers, which formed the centre of a fantastic labyrinth or maze, called 
 the Minotaur, from an antique statue of the monster which decorated it. 
 Slipping a ring of great value on the old dame's finger, as a testimony, he 
 said, of gratitude for her attentions during his illness, Alfonso hasiened 
 on as if he had wings to his feet; and yet his heart beat so thickly when 
 he perceived the rose-matied arches of the temple through the leaves of 
 the maze that he was obliged to pause to recover breath. At the mo- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 303 
 
 mcnt a voice struck upon his ear, but not t'le voice of Luorezia; and with 
 a reeling almost of sutfocaiion in tlnj intensity of his agiuiion, Alfonso 
 cluiohed aside some loliage to ascertain if Ins bimultaneous sus(»icion was 
 well founded. 
 
 The figure of ihe Minotaur was cast in brass, and resembled a monstrous 
 bull couched on the marble pavement of the temple; and as it was sup- 
 posed to havif just received the blow of Theseus, the head was to ihe 
 ground, and the njassivc neck and shoulders made a seat, of which Lu- 
 crezia liad availed herself-, fur there she sal, assiduously twining a heap 
 of flowers into garlands. (Hose at hand, against the pedestal of one of 
 the pillars, leaned Sir Reginald, with several wreaths on his arm, as if 
 it was the (Juty of his attendance to carry them, speaking in alow, deep, 
 passionate tone, to which Lucrezia replied with laughing carelessness 
 and gaiety, keeping her e\es on hir sylvan labour, and perhaps for that 
 reason unconscious ut the depth of the young Englishman's eniolion. 
 
 The nearest approach which Le Beaufort had as yet won himself to 
 make towards obiaining the object of his journey, was to inform Lucrezia 
 that he had a petition to recummend to lier furtherance, whenevt-r she 
 could waste so much lime as to listen to it. On this morning he was 
 surprised with a message from her, inviting hiin to attend her in her 
 gardens before the Academicians assembled, that she might hear his re- 
 quest, and prefer it to the pontiff on her return to the palace. This mes- 
 sage was delivered with an injunction to sei-recy, which filed the youth 
 with a wild tumult of hopes and fears, wliieh he refused to sutler himself 
 to examine, but resolutely shunning all thought, lest he should raise some 
 obstacle in his own conscience and heart, obeyed. 
 
 Alfonso knew nol that his approach was known to Lucrezia by a secret 
 signal- but nearly at the instant when he came within earshot, the lady 
 jnterrupted Le lieaul'urt's discourse. •'' Knough, signor," she said, " I 
 am content on }our knigluly word to believe myself as fair as the sea- 
 foam, if that will content you 5 but now let me hear thai prater you have lo 
 make, for we have good news from Milan, and his paternity is in a grant- 
 ing mood to-day." 
 
 Le lieauforl was silent for several moments 5 and then with a strong 
 efl'ort which escaped not observation, he replied by brokenly preferring 
 his request for a dispensation to wed his cousin, formerly betrothed to 
 his brother. 
 
 "You love an English girl, then, — and would leave me for ever?" 
 said Lucrezia, with a lightning glance which shivered through the whole 
 frame of Le Beaufort. 
 
 "• 1 love, 1 love," he replied, turning pale and faltering — " I love — no, 
 I adore, 1 worship thee! thee only! thee always, perfect Lucrezia! Away 
 with every respect! let them slay me if they will by every death my false- 
 hood deserves, but let it be here, at thy feet!" And he threw himself in 
 an ecstasy of passion on his knees before her. 
 
 "You are in good place to let me try this wreath on, which I intend 
 for your wear to-night," said Lucrezia with laughing carelessness, as if 
 this were accusiomed language, and playfully bending over him and 
 putting on the garland, it is probable that she intended lo exhibit her 
 favour to the knight in a niaiki^d manner, but she miscalculated the force 
 of the feeling which had thus overthrown every other in his breast— 
 until she found herself encircled by the arms of Le Beaufort. Crimsoning 
 with anger and shame, she instantly started up, repulsing him with a 
 
304 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 vivacity or rather fierceness which, combined with the iincer'ainty and 
 niiitiil'^d nature of his owu einoiions, insianily released hi-r, she stepped 
 i'rotn him, amJ cXL-laiiued — " is this thy Tulh to ihv friend, and rfspect to 
 the daughter uf A exander? — Rut yet," she addod, widi oue of her sweet 
 laughs, lurniiig to the disconifited lover, and hearing Alfonso stir in his 
 covert — " But yet — it is no sin to love as I know thy loyal nature but 
 intends, widi all thy soul!— so we will lake it as a carnival jest, out of 
 season, and punish thee thus!" And she was throwing the flowers which 
 she held in her hands at the confused and shame-struck, knight when Al- 
 fonso entered on the scene. 
 
 Not ill-content to find that Sir Reginald's progress was so limited, ?nd 
 so suddenly checked, Alfonso saluted the lady with a warmdi of nianner 
 that brought the haughty stain to her brow which Le Beaufort's audacity 
 had not. And when, after stiff greetings exchanged with his rival, he 
 reminded the ladv^hat he hai humbly requested a private audience, that 
 he might the more freely confide his doubts for solution, she replied wiih 
 marked coldness, ''I feared your questions, knight, might be too difficult 
 for an unlearned damsel to solve, and therefore 1 have called in, and 
 must retain, the assistance of this wise young doctor of the Academy, 
 who has already taught me many things 1 knew not, say men what they 
 will of my science in love !" 
 
 Glooming as darkly as Le Beaufort brightened, Alfonso yet made aa 
 effort. "Firstly, lady," he said, with a glance which perchance was not 
 so much without its effect as he imagined, " 1 would know, whether if 
 ours once truly win the love of that sex which you make celestial by 
 being of it — whether indeed real love in woman can ever so totally fade 
 as to leave not a trace behind ?" 
 
 " For real love, I know not, signer, — none than you know belter I am 
 incapable of it; but if a new and brighter picture be painted over a rude 
 and chaotic sketch, the pity were that any should remain," replied Lu- 
 crezia, with so visible a coldness and disdain that Alfonso was irritated to 
 the highest degree. 
 
 "Then I relapse into all mine ancient heresies," he said, with acrimony. 
 " I was ever averse to mingle with the herd ; but to be loved as one of 
 many— since that is woman's love — nothing allures, but rather forces my 
 soul back to its calm !" 
 
 "The thought mikes us shiverdespite the sun ! — Le Beaufort, approach, 
 or we shall become an icicle !" said Lucrezia, disdainfully, and turning to 
 the eager knight of England 
 
 " 1 will take away the winter from your presence, lady, that Sir Regi- 
 nald's warmlh may not heat me loo !" said Alfonso, bitterly ; and he 
 retired so suddenly that Lucrezia had no time to bid him slay, even had 
 she been inclined 5 and not content with this departure, after a short so- 
 litary rumination, he left the valley, leaving some vague apology with 
 Mona Faustina. 
 
 In this mood of indignation and despair, he sought out Bembo, and 
 communicated what he had obseived, with a sharp commentary that since 
 the lovers had reached a mutual understanding, he desired not to witness 
 the progress of Sir Uegmald's treason, lest his indignation should find vent. 
 He therefore ordered Bembo to excuse him from the meetings of the 
 Academy and all niher ])leasnral)le soeiely during the remainder of Lent, 
 which his conscience upbraided with having hitherto not sufficiently ob- 
 served for the member of a religious order. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 305 
 
 Bembo declared Ihat no one could coinit himself safe from such a wo- 
 man, and obeyed with areal alacrity; and at niyht Alfonso received the 
 agreeable iiiltlliiience that his absence had in nowise disturbed the hilarity 
 of the company , and that on the contrary Lucnzia never seemed more 
 gay and !^alibned. He persisted wiih admirable sullenness in his resolu- 
 tion, aud si^cluded himself almost continually in his apartment, as if ab- 
 sorbed in devutioii ; while the court only increased in the number and 
 brilliancy ol its festivals, and Bembo's own discontent and carpinys at the 
 favour now uudisguisedly cxhibned by Lucrezia to Sir Reginald, after his 
 avowal, coniinually tV-d Alfonso's worst imaginings. At the same time he 
 felt that all his motions were atleniivcly waiihed, and he began to fear that 
 he must almost regard himself as much a prisoner as a guest in the Vatican. 
 Caesar's return, which was to release the knighis of the tournay, was 
 meanwhile protracted •, and the success of the Orsini in Tuscany seemed 
 likrly soon to enable ihem to dictate in Rome. Paolo's patience might 
 in great measure be ascribed to this hope 5 when suddenly the scene 
 changed. 
 
 The barons, by their ravages, had excited the undying haired of the 
 Florentines, and were hastening unresisledly on to besiege the capital — 
 when the potent orders of the King of France arrested their career. The 
 French army was now ready to march to the invasion of Naples; and 
 Ca3sar announced with an etfect as great as that of a peal of thunder from 
 a bright sky, that he must obey the king, who had restored him to his 
 favour, and that the pope had agreed to send the ecclesiastical army with 
 that of France on its invasion. Meanwhile he was commanded to with- 
 draw from Tuscany, and proceed to the recovery of Piombino, until it was 
 necessary to join the advance of the'French. 
 
 The barons found themselves totally outwitted, and that they had no 
 resource but to endeavour to bid with the Borgias for the favour of 
 France. But even with their unwilling agency, Caesar's conquests were 
 so rapid and great that they infused equal astonishment and terror; and 
 the advance of the French army became a source of congratulation to 
 the barons themselves as putting a stop for a time to the torrent of his 
 triumphs. 
 
 Still the masterpiece of perfidy in the compact with the Spaniards was 
 undreamed until the arrival of the French generals with an army which 
 seemed at first very inadequate to the enterprise which they had in hand : 
 when after the celebration of a grand mass, in the presence of the pontiff^ 
 that ancient holy alliance was proclaimed by which Naples was divided 
 between the French and Spaniards. 
 
 C.lossed with some fair pretexts, and with accusations against the un- 
 fortunate Frederic, still the most unscrupulous politicians stared aghast at 
 so palpable a breach of every principle of good faith in all the parties 
 contracting. Some indeed could find apologies for the pontiff in the re- 
 bellious conduct of the King of Naples, his vassal, his open protection of 
 the R'lman malcontents against their suzerain, and above all of the poets 
 whose verses infected the ear of Furope and of posterity with reports so 
 foul. The declared hostility of the French might som whit justify their 
 use of the means of vengeance thus offered ; but the m 'St reckless could 
 devise no excuse for the perfidy of the Sjjaniards, the pretended allies and 
 defenders of the monarch devoted. 
 
 The Orsini, and above all Paolo, felt that they had been playing at a 
 game in which they were fairly beaten: and the undisguised triumph of 
 
 20 
 
306 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the Borgias bitterly increased their mortification. But they were obliged 
 to dissemble both their tears and chagrin, and they mustered in great 
 numbers to attend llie great biinqnel given by the pontiff to welcome the 
 French generals, and to which Cyesar himst;if sent invitations t<> Sir Re- 
 ginald and the Hospitaller, with infurmalion that, having consulted with^ 
 the French chivalry, he intended to deliver his judgment on the tour-' 
 nament. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 " Come to rae, ravens ! I will give ye food." — Gaelic War Song. 
 
 Reports of the luxury and magnificence of the pontifical court had pre- 
 pared the French leaderSKfor a grand display, but all were amazed when, 
 entering the itrmiense hall of the Tor di Borgia, they beheld a spectacle 
 which, lighted by the meridian sun of Italy, realized the most gorgeous 
 legends of Assyrian magnificence. The lofty roofs glistering with gold, 
 the walls hung with miracles of the restored arts of design, wrought in 
 tapestry and velvet, extended as far as the eye could follow, terminating 
 in a portico which descended by a succession of terraces into the Eden- 
 like gardens of the palace, whose very foliage glistened like green silver 
 in the bright atmosphere. The long vista was crowded with attendants in 
 rich costumes, pages, and men-at-arms, to serve the banquet to the in- 
 numerable guests, for the pontiff had invited all but the common soldiery 
 of the French army. About its centre the hall formed a circular saloon, 
 over which was a dome richly frosted with silver, and supported on pillars 
 of white marble, with Corinthian capitals similarly chased. This was the 
 chief place of the banquet, the pontiff sitting enthroned under a canopy 
 which was elevated on a platform. 
 
 Lucrezia and her ladies, the commanders of the French army, and other 
 principal guests were seated here, and the mingling of ecclesiastical cos- 
 tumes with those of women and laymen was not more incongruous than 
 that of the devices of their ranks. The triple crosses of archbishops, and 
 crosiers of bishops, mingled in the air with spears and flaming axes and 
 the wands of heralds, fo"r behind each chair stood either an ecclesiastic 
 in his stiff gold-embroidered stole, or still more gorgeous herald, or plumed 
 page, in attendance on lady or knight or priest. Statues, rescued from 
 the ruins of art when art was divine, filled all the niches with the silent 
 glory of their beauty. The polished marble floor reflected as if in oil 
 the richly chased silver vases placed at intervals around the saloon, 
 exhaling'delicious odours from flowers whose profusion marked the in- 
 fluence of female taste. The tables were covered with gold damask, and 
 blazed with jewelled vessels whose materials were the least part of their 
 value. Magic could present no richer blaze of colour than the garbs of 
 the guests, lit by the torrent of lustre which descended from the open 
 dome above, the violet mantles, scarlet robes , and ermine caps of the 
 cardinals, the gold wrought habits of the bishops, the gaudy military 
 magnificence of the French, the delicate sj>lendour of the female cos- 
 tumes, the changing glow and rich confusion of the attire of the attendants, 
 produced an ever shifting variety of glories like the rapid tints of air- 
 bubbles in the sun. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 307 
 
 The reports of his spies had of late much confused the calculations of 
 Caesar, and it was not without a pang of doubt that his eye fell on the 
 English knight, whose grandiose person, blooming countenance, and 
 superb iiabiliments attracted general notice, and a degree of envy and 
 curiosity when it was observed with what beaming smiles Luciezia dis- 
 tinguished him. Caesar's brows, seldom betrayers of his thoughts, loured 
 darkly when he noted the inditference wiih which she turned from the 
 Hospitaller, and the deep gloom of the latter. He strove to stifle this 
 uneasy feeling by launching into an excessive panegyric of Sir Reginald 
 as he presented him to the French commanders, "^ insomuch that the 
 French were piqued at the lavish praises heaped on a stranger, and of a 
 rival nation. 
 
 The banquet, however, proceeded with the usual pompous ceremonial. 
 The enthusiasm which l.ucrezia's beauiy excited among the French 
 chivalry was unbounded; and it bhzed wfih unusual glory, for, too well 
 aware of her dark reputation, she laboured to give it the lie by the con- 
 trast of brilliant gaiety and wit— unwont accompaniments of the dark and 
 festering ihoughis engendered by great crimes. Once or twice indeed 
 Alfonso saw, by the secret swell"of her beautiful bosom, that she sighed 
 even when laughingly receiving the adulation of her new adorers, but the 
 sigh appeared to him that of voluptuous tenderness, understood by Le 
 Beaufort. The sweet breath of the perfumes, the murmurs of the low 
 toned music which accompanied without interrupting the conversation, 
 the lustre of her loveliness, irritated this jealous thought by heightenin<j- 
 the glow of passion. The light laughter which arose among the guests 
 seemed in mockery of his anguish ; every exaggerated compliment to the 
 sovereign beauty struck him as insulting denials addressed obliquely to 
 himself. 
 
 The scene at length became too irksome even for Caesar's dissimulation, 
 and he said with singular abruptness — ''But we miss a rare jest! tell me, 
 fair sister and beauteous dames, what success had ye in warming the ice 
 in your prisoner's breast? for ye are to understand, French gentlemen, 
 this religious knight is a despiser of all ladies and gentlewomen, and boasts 
 himself impregnable to their fiercest attacks." 
 
 " H, knight, thou hast not yielded thee at mercy, without hope of rescue 
 or ransom, to the unmatched beauty of yonder lady, call thyself none; for, 
 by my father's beard ! the angels from heaven might descend unblamed 
 from heaven to worship it! " said the old commander, Louis de la Tre- 
 mouille. 
 
 " Nay, we have found the ice so hard, that albeit we have all shone on 
 it incessantly, it grew but the more fixed," said Lucrezia, with a momentary 
 paleness. 
 
 " Hear then my judgment, solemnly debated in the presence of the 
 Lord Louis of France, and of his noblest peers," said Caesar, suddenly. 
 " Inasmuch as all who beheld ihe tourney acquit the Lord Orsino and Le 
 Beaufort of aught but misfortune in the misadventure of their competitor, 
 and iheir merits and glories were adjudged equal; we declare that the 
 prize can only be lovingly determined in actual feats of war and hardihood; 
 and that therefore he of the three who shall, in the decision of a quest of 
 ladifs, bravelicbt demean him in efiecting this conquest of Naples which 
 we march on, shall win ih,' wreath of triumph. Thus may we learn if 
 women's idols are the realities, or but the glittering shows of the strength 
 and valour which, forsooth, they find in those who have enough of either 
 
308 CiflSAR BORGIA. 
 
 to master themselves. Tell me, ladies, knights, and peers, say I well?" 
 A general burst of applause from all but the Hospitaller replied; even 
 the martial spirit of Alexander took fire, and with a loud voice he pro- 
 nounced his approval. Sir Reginald turned with a qiiivering and impas- 
 sioned look to Lucrezia, who visibly whitened. But she felt that (laesar's 
 eye was fixed intently upon her, and she said, in a low tone, " The Knight 
 of St. John deems the quarrel not worth pursuing; and therefore I trust we 
 damsels need not hazard our champion in so rude a wager." 
 
 Alfonso was in truth altogether taken by surprise, and although, as the 
 fast ally of France, he felt that to serve under her baimer thus privately 
 was a politic compliment, it was this concern for Le Beaufort's safety 
 which delerniincd him. 
 
 •' 1 accept the challenge, signor," he said: "the rather that chance 
 may spare my sword an else necessary chastisement, whose edge old re- 
 collections blunt." ^ 
 
 Le Beaufort's eyes sparkled, and he was about to give a vehement reply, 
 ■when Lucrezia, to the general surprise, laid her hand on his arm, and 
 restrained him by the gesture, like a blood-steed that obeys the finest 
 check. 
 
 "Peace, peace, I pray you all!" she said, with a singularly fierce and 
 sudden glance at Caesar. " Against the noblest chivalry of the world 
 would 1 freely stake a good cause on the sword of the Knight of England ; 
 and therefore marvel not that I esteem him as ever our cowardly sex hath 
 honoured valour. But for all of you I do profess this love that none shall 
 incur aught of evil which I will not lament — and if it may be — avenge to 
 the uttermost I " 
 
 This strange phrase had little time to be commented on, for Ives d'Al- 
 legre, commander of the Gascons, pettishly exclaimed, "You speak, noble 
 lady, as an the knight were as hard to cope withal as St. George himself, 
 or Sir Achilles of Greece I I match myself with no such men of proof, 
 yet, by death and life', the best knight of England may find among us one 
 to take the vaunt out of him." 
 
 " So far as the worst may serve your turns, my lord, I am here I" said 
 Le Beaufort, firing. "I trust 1 have not altogether forgotten my grandsire's 
 lesson, when he told my by what means he came to be present at the co- 
 ronation of our English baby, Harry the Sixth, in Paris." 
 
 " Fairlv answered, gosling of Mars!" said LaTremouille, laughing i^ood- 
 humouredly. "Note ye this boast, gentlemen of France: and if the smiles 
 of your ladies cannot win you to snatch the glory from this sharp-tongued 
 Englishman, let the remembrance of his vaunt I" 
 
 And thus was this singular contest protracted, which began to attract a 
 general attention in the chivalrous courts of Europe. And it seemed to be 
 hastening to a solution. The French army tarried only a few days on its 
 march, and the Romans had slill another grand spectacle in wiinessinf:^ 
 the departure of the array, which the whole pontifical court also beheld 
 from the ramparts of Santangelo. The French forces, without the Spanish 
 treacherv, even flushed as they were with the recent conquest of Milan, 
 and ihe'recollection of the easy conquests of Charles Vlll., must have 
 been considered very inadequate to their object. But their twelve 
 thousand were principally composed of the flower of the valiant chivalry 
 of France, and of Swis-s in'fantry whose disciijline and experience rendered 
 them almost irresistible in the field, and 'the Roman barons composed 
 about live thousand more. It was a noble and stirring pomp to behold 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 309 
 
 the long linos ofpikpmon, arquebusiers, archers, cannon, and gliltoring 
 cavalry, wilh their blue stmclaids sown wiih gtilJcn lilies, innumerable 
 pennons, fore>ts of s])ears and lances, above all ol' which lowered the loCty 
 pikes of the Swiss, passing over ihe bridge of Sanlangelo; while the court 
 and ladies on the ramparts waved farewell, the pontiff stretched his be- 
 nediction, the populace shouted, and the cannon roared in deafening 
 concert with the clangor of lrum|>ets and drunjs. 
 
 Unheeding that, for almost the first lime, Paolo's eyes dwelt upon him 
 ■with suspicion, Sir Reginald appeared with ihe torn scarf preciously 
 worn round his neck, which Alfonso had formerly rejected. Those who 
 watched closely thought that Lucrezia kissed her hand specially at the young 
 English knight; and Bembo himself observed, that as the last standard 
 disappeared, a rush of tears came to her eyes. 
 
 ''Who is it hath won the glory of this sorrow, gentlest lady?" said the 
 canon, speaking in a tone of tenderness which he had never until now 
 ventured to assume. 
 
 '"Tisnot in my nature, all men know, to smile for one— therefore, nor 
 weep," replied Lucrezia, with strained vivacity. "It but saddened me 
 to think how few of all that multitude shall return to glad their mothers' 
 and their loved-ones' longing eyes!" 
 
 The walls of Rome were soon left behind the advancing host, and the 
 Campagna extended its funereal solitudes around them. Ruins and scat- 
 tered tombs, the everlasting arches of the aqueducts, wastes of long 
 grass, covered the whole extent of view even to the sea on one hand, and 
 on the other to the low purple lines of distant mountains. 
 
 To the more penetrating the policy of the Borgias began to give some 
 significant indications. Cajsar suddenly published a decree by which the 
 whole estates of ihe Colonnas were forfeited, and stimulated the Orsini to 
 renew the former bitter animos ties, by ravaging their estates on the 
 march, and seizing all either for the pontiff or themselves. And the 
 matter became still more perceptible in the operations which Alexander 
 commenced immediately the forces of the confederacy were out of sight. 
 in crushing divers of the inferior barons, and in obtaining possession of 
 their strongholds, under various pretexts. 
 
 Bestowing no thought on the magnificent beauty of the country they 
 traversed, the invaders plunged into the Tartarean wastes of the Pontine 
 Marshes. Not then, as now they are drained, a pestilential Eden of 
 fruitfulness, but an immense morass boutided in some directions by 
 funereal forests and wide sea-wastes, in others by mountains on whose 
 remote crags castles and cities gleamed incessantly into view. The hot 
 and sulphureous air hung over them like a canopy, and a vague sentiment 
 of doubt and awe lell on the boldest spirits, as if in reality they were tra- 
 versing the magic land of Circe. The soldiery, imbued with the legends 
 of popular credulity, and struck with the loveliness and desolation of the 
 oases which sometimes arose like magic islands of verdure and bloom 
 amidst the wide desart, imagined they were the haunts of fairies, who 
 had thus richly adorned them to tempt the unwary traveller. 
 
 The glory for which the rivals were to struggle seemed, however, to fly 
 before them. The unfortunate Kmg of Naples, bewildered by the mul- 
 titude of his enemies, had resolved to confine his efforts to the'del'ence of 
 his fortified cities. The nearest of these was Capua; and Caesar now 
 publicly declared that, by means of a secret intelligence which he pos- 
 sessed in the town, he would procure its surrender the instant he appeared 
 
310 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 before the gates. It was known to be garrisoned chiefly by German 
 mercenaries, without any commander of name, and crowded wiih panic- 
 etricken fugitives; and the French commanders pave implicit I'ailh to 
 the assurances of their subtle ally, although he refused to reveal on what 
 he founded his expectations. 
 
 The army advanced without the least sign of resistance, and descending 
 the mountains which overlook the plain of ihe Volturno, Capua appeared, 
 nestling amidst its towers and battlements at the base of its lolly hills. 
 Around it bloomed the paradise of Italy — the Felix Campania — that ever, 
 like a beautiful and lascivious coquette, displays her profusion o( charnis 
 to every comer, welcoming all ahke to an undistinguishing embrace. 
 Vineyards clustered along every steep; groves of oranges, citrons, and 
 pomegranates, perfumed the air •, the glossy green of the pastures was so 
 thickly strewn with flowers that they seemed like waste gardens tended 
 only by the genii of the^^iir, while in the vast concave of sky the cone of 
 Vesuvius was plainly visible, and the rainbow-tinted waves of the Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
 Agreeably to his declarations, Caesar and the Italians headed the ap- 
 proach to the city, to obtain its surrender rather than with intent to comply 
 with the custom of war m summoning a city before beleaguering it. Ac- 
 companied by a large retinue of the chief commanders, among whom 
 were the three competitors, who beheld the peaceful surrender of the 
 city with dissatisfaction, Caesar advanced, preceded by a herald in white. 
 The road was skirted on both sides by woods of orange and lime trees in 
 full blossom, which opened at last into the rich meadows and gardens 
 immediately surrounding the walls. Violets and jessamine bloomed even 
 in the ditches beneath the bulwarks, and all looked so tranquil and 
 unwarlike that it was a kind of surprise to behold the walls crowded with 
 armed men, petards and cuUerins leveled, and men-at-arms standing 
 beside them with flamir g matchhicks. But the surprise was still greater, 
 when in answer to the herald's summons, an armed chieftiiin appeared 
 over the gateway, who shouted, "Truce! let us hear my lord, the Duke 
 of Romagna!" in the well-known voice of Fabrizio Colotnia. 
 
 It was generally reported that the Colonnas were retreating with the 
 army of King Frederic on Naples, and the presence of the redoubtable 
 Fabrizio augured the failure of Ceesar's project. But without any outward 
 sign of dismay he rode somewhat in advance of his companions, who 
 halted, and summoned the city to surrender to its lawful suzerain, the 
 pope. 
 
 " 1 marvel not at your demand, most courteous and gentle assassin, 
 poisoner, fratricide, tyrant, and oppressor I since you deem you speak to 
 your traitor, Philip Maas, and not to Fabrizio Colnnna, who is in Ca|)ua, 
 to hold it for his lord the Kinu of Naples, against all the world, our holy 
 father the pope, and the devil to boot!" shouted the Colonna. " There- 
 lore, illustrious Borgia, I must needs deny you lodging, but refreshments 
 not, for here are these melons to appease the thirst of your hot ride to 
 Capua!" 
 
 And so saying, the commander beckoned to some soldiers, who ad- 
 vanced with a large wicker basket, which they heaved over the walls to 
 the feel of Caesar's horse, where it opened, and six gory heads rolled out. 
 Even Caesar slmhlly paled at the ghastly spectacle, and quieting his 
 sletd with difQculiy, he gazed anxiously over those gory visages with 
 their glassy eyes and clotted hair. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 311 
 
 *' Are they not all there, or dost thou seek for thy paramour's beardless 
 cheeks amoniT them, to kiss?'' said Fabrizio. laughing bitterly. '' Bide 
 a few hours, "and 1 will send her to thy tent from one of these petards, 
 thanking thee very heartily, that by setting her on this last black treason, 
 thou hast given me a pretence to wash out the stain from the name of 
 Colonna in her decenerate blood I" 
 
 '^ Even as thou" wilt: thou sendest her at least to the Turks' paradise, 
 and Sultan Zem will be at the gates to welcome her!" retorted Caesar. 
 " Even as thou wilt. The world shall know by the little moan I make 
 how false are thv accusations." 
 
 " i'ogi when she threatens me with thy vengeance— and thine alone, 
 as her most dotins paramour — if I tear her fronrihe sanctuary! which by 
 all the saints I will, if the baldpates yield her not ere sunset!" shouted 
 the Colonna. 
 
 " Thus then will I refute thee," returned Caesar. "The sanctuary ism 
 the cathedral, and the cathedral in the heart of this Capua, which I devote 
 to the rudest wrath of the soldier, swearing I will never listen to any 
 terms for its redemption! And as the lieutenant of the church, I with- 
 draw all ri-ht or privilege of sanctuary from any church or chapel ry in 
 its walls, curse, ban, and excommunicate the whole city, and all holding 
 it against our lord the pope ! And, therefore, go now and do thy worst 
 against the traitress and pagan harlot, thy kinswoman, of whom j'ou 
 accuse me that Italv mav believe your lie of the death of Sultan Zem." 
 
 " Thou hast till this matchlock half wastes itself, and then our ordnance 
 clears the air of thy pestilent presence!" returned Fabrizio, snatching a 
 string of flaming tow from one of the soldiers. Laughing scornfully and 
 shaking his clenched hand in defiance, Caesar yet felt the necessity of 
 retreat, and rode slowly back to his company. 
 
 "The tow is spent— discharge culverins!" thundered the Colonna, 
 yielding !o a furv which overcame every other consideration, and throw- 
 ing it impatiently over the ramparts. All the sunimoners hastily retired, 
 excepting Sir Reginald. '^ One stroke for merry England!" he exclaimed, 
 and spurring his warhorse into a gallop, he ihrew his spear like a gleam 
 of lightning at the lofty battlements, ami for some moments only the flash 
 of his sword, and his' cheering shout, gave assurance that he survived 
 amidst the whirlwind of smoke and fire around him. The emulation of 
 the chivalry burst forth at the sight, and without waiting for counselor 
 command, "an instant assault was resolved upon. Thearnjy came rolling 
 on in waves, the Swiss alone preserving their exact discipline, while the 
 besieged poured a destructive storm of shot and arrows from every point 
 of their lofiy bulwarks, which were nearly doubled in height by the great 
 depth of the ditches. 
 
 These obstacles were, however, overlooked in the first enthusiasm of 
 the assault; some rushed at once headlong on their steeds into the ditches: 
 others procured ladders and battering engines, and tumulluously en- 
 deavoured to scale the walls: and it was not until many had perished in the 
 water, or fell transfixed with arrows, or crushed beneath huge stones, 
 thrown with prodigious force from the walls, that the more sober began to 
 misdoubt the success of the enterprise. But the French ordnance began 
 now to thunder in reply to that of the enemy, and the clouds of smoke 
 furnished some shelter"under which the assailants advanced with their 
 engines to a renewed attack. Rafts were hastily contrived to cross the 
 ditch, and a crowd of the most courageous knights were waiting the 
 
$1? C.4:SAR BORGIA. 
 
 complolion of one to attempt the passage on foot, when general attention 
 was excited by the appearance of a vast and ponderous machine, dragged 
 by Caesar's guard, under his own guidance. Jt was formed of four lofty 
 timbers, moving on massive wheels, crossed with bars so as to make four 
 steep ladders to the top, on which was a little tower with a drawbridge 
 hung by chains, and ready to be lowered. 
 
 Even the defenders of the city paused and gazed in alarm and astonish- 
 ment at this new and portentous engine, which was halted by command 
 of the duke out of the range of their artillery. The knights rushed 
 around him in eager companies to ascertain the purpose of the con- 
 trivance. 
 
 " Niccolo of Florence invented it," replied Caesar, laughing at their 
 eagerness. " 'Tis meant for cities like this, of lofiy walls and broad 
 ditches : but it needs perchance belter men than we have among us to use 
 it. Who will follow the three tourneyers— for I doubt not their readiness 
 — into the castle above, whence to lower the drawbridge on the walls, and 
 make us way to foUow'^s fast as we can scramble up at their valorous 
 tails?" 
 
 The boldest were silent at this prolfer, until Sir Reginald, vaul ting from his 
 horse, and placing his foot on the first step of the ladder, shouted, " We of 
 England have it!" and began to mount with great agility, despitetbeweight 
 of his armour. The Orsino was instantly abreast with him, and Alfonso, 
 amidst a general rush of the young French chivalry, managed to be the third. 
 
 In a few moments the castle was filled, and the ladders hung thick with 
 eager combatants ; and attended by a great throng of those who desired to 
 share the glory, the machine was hurled along with such enthusiasm, and 
 the ground descending rapidly, gave it so fearful an impems, that it was 
 impossible to hinder it from toppling over into the ditch It fell with a 
 tremendous crash forward against the walls, and in such a manner that the 
 castle lay almost sidewise on ihe sunmiit. Caisar uttered a cry, which like 
 the hyena's partook in some strange manner of laughter; but perhaps more 
 fortunately for the adventurous assailants than he had intended, so great 
 was the consternation of the besieged, that they gazed without stirring at 
 the formidable engine, and in that moniont's pause the kni-^hts broke their 
 way out of their wooden prison, and with cries of victory rushed to the 
 attack of the bulwarks of a gateway before them, at which they hoped to 
 admit their friends. 
 
 The conflict was now renewed on all sides, amidst deafening uproar, 
 ordnance, shouts, groans, and trumpet-blasts, making up one hideous 
 noise. Caesar had at least the military virtues, and he was observed 
 amidst all the destruction and lun)ult around reanimating his soldiery, and 
 assisting wiih his own hands in making a kind of bridge wiih ladders and 
 planks to the catapult in the ditch, that they might mount to the assistance 
 of the victorious as>ailants above. The latter seemed inde(>d as if ihey 
 scarcely needed any; the defenders of the wall were driven with lerriflc 
 violence into a tower which crossed it, and defended the gateway below. 
 But Fabrizio Colonna had now rushed to the point of attack, and displayed 
 all the courage and skill of an able commander. Some of his soldiers 
 were observed engaged in lowering a massive bartizan over the entrance 
 of the tower, which Fabrizio obstinately defended against all the assaults 
 of the half-frenzied victoi-s, who clashed against one another in iheir 
 furious atiem[)ts to be the first that forced a way into it. The Hospitaller 
 and the Orsino suddenly met in a rude shock which threw them both 
 
I 
 
 C^SAR BORGIA. 313 
 
 aside, and allowed Sir Reginald to dash between them to the assault. 
 Armed oiiiv with a broken sword, and unconseious in the absori tion of 
 the conflii'l that it was so, the valiant kniyht ru>hed on: and abhongh 
 neiirly all his mantle and surcoal was torn away by the spears whidi 
 pierced lliem, he forced his way into the tower! Bnl sinuiltaneoiisly a 
 phalanx of pikemen, rushing from the opposite lower, came full flnod 
 upon the assailants behind, the chains of the barii/an were cut, and it fell 
 with a deafening clash over the eni ranee, crushing the Hospitaller's axe 
 from his hand, and narrowly missing his skull. 
 
 Le Beaufort remained among the crowd of his infuriate enemies within, 
 and his friends without were now compelled to turn to defend themselves 
 against the n^w as>ault But while arraying their ranks in confusion 
 against the spearmen, the battlements of the lower above were crowded 
 will) the besieged, a bright blaze arose, and suddenly a torrent of (laming 
 pitch rushed down on the devoted heads of the assailants. Bathed la 
 liquid flame a part of the combatants rushed distractedly forward, and 
 many were hurled from the ramparts into the ditch, where they w^ere suf- 
 focated by the weight of their own armour, without resistance. But the 
 main chivalry rallied, and met the shock of the Capuan spearmen with 
 undaunted courage ; and a terrific pell-mell conflict followed on the ram- 
 parts, which the multitudes below could do little more than accompany 
 with deafening shouts and uproar. 
 
 In the n)idst of all this horror and confusion, the crown was put upon 
 the terrors of the scene, and all hope of assistance cut off apparently from 
 the assailants. The ditch around their machine suddenly blazed forth 
 like a raging torrent of fire, and its waters covered rapidly with flames, as 
 if impregnated with turpentine, sulphur, and other inflammable materials. 
 The cry arose that the whole circuit of the walls was similarly prepared, 
 and in universal panic the soldiery fled out of the ditches, abandoning all 
 their engines, ladders, and weapons. The assailants on the walls, hear- 
 ing the cries and trumpets of recall, beholding their desertion, and pushed 
 by powerful masses of the besieged, abandoned all hope but that of etTect- 
 ing their escape ; and although Caesar's machine was on fire in the ditch 
 below, the knights leaped upon it, clustering on the timbers like ship- 
 wrecked sailors to a mast. 
 
 Tilt' fiery gulf below, however, offered no temptation to those who were 
 lowest to descend farther ; and Don Miguel, who rode near the Duke, ex- 
 claimt'd in an undertone full of exultation, "They are all three secure, 
 and Madonna Lucrezia can only blame herself!" 
 
 "Hist, .Miguel ! \\hois it li nds his hand to draw^ the Hospitaller over in 
 safety? l.oqk, it averts all the strokes of men's swords I" exclaimed 
 Caesar, so suddenly and vinlenily that the castellain was much alarmed; 
 and his ft-ars increased when he saw that the duke stared wilh his eyes 
 expanded to double their usual size. 
 
 " I see one — Fabrizio Colonna, my lord I" said Migueloto. 
 " Fool ! dost thou think mine eyes play me false? I note him well 
 enough with his column-crest I" returned Caesar vehemently. "The Dark 
 One I —and now he raises the castle I — nought of earthly strength might 
 do ill" 
 
 " My lord I there are some score of theiri raising the timbers to hurl it 
 over; they know not that it falls on its carriage either way," said the 
 castellain •, and, in truth, rending the skies wilh their shouts of victory, 
 the defenders made one vast heave, and threw the ponderous machine 
 
314 C;ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 over, anticipating the instant destruction of all upon it. For a moment 
 
 the mighty- timbers quivered in the air equally poisoned and upright— a 
 terrific pause for all upon il — and fell backward with such violence that 
 nearly all upon it were thrown off, and several were crushed into horrid 
 masses of blood and steel. 
 
 All farther exertions were confined to rescuing the soldiery from the 
 flaming dich. restoring order, and keeping up a continu il cannonade to 
 prevent a sally from the besieged. It was found impossible to extricate 
 Caesar's machine, which was now in a general bla^e ; but although a num- 
 ber of the soldiery were burned and maimed, the principal loss was found 
 to have been sustained by ihe knights, among them in Sir Reginald le Beau- 
 fort. His fate was not, indeed, known wiih cr^tainty, but there seemed 
 lutle reason to doubt it, surrounded as his friends had last seen him by 
 the weapons of furious enemies. With all his bilter reasons of dislike, 
 Alfonso felt the warmih of his old friendship return in the deep regret 
 with which he remenjbered the brilliant qualities of the young knight, 
 coupled with his woful catastrophe. And yet this generous feeling was 
 stronglv chequered when, amidst the incoherent ravings of old Bampton, 
 he heard him mutter against a woman whose treacherous lures had led his 
 young master to his doom. But the Orsino's rage and sorrow an)ply shared 
 those of the faithful attendant, and il was principally by his assurances of 
 vengeance on the slayers that the old man's thoughts were turned from 
 absolute despair. 
 
 No certainty could be obtained, for Fabrizio suffered no one to approach 
 his walls under any pretext, effectually precluding any advantage which 
 the besiegers might hope from the fears and mutinous spirit of the inha- 
 bitants and fugitives. During the week which was consumed in com- 
 pletely investing the city, the only sign of shaken resolution was, that no 
 sallies were made to interrupt, which, in so enlerprizing a commander, 
 showed either a diffidence of his troops, or of those whom he must leave 
 behind. 
 
 At length the investment was completed, and night and day the cily 
 was battered with the French artillery, in the use of which ihey were 
 already better skilled than any oilier nation of Europe. It was soon re- 
 marked ihai ihe town gave but a faint reply, several breaches were made, 
 and none of the usual aliempts were observed to repair the damage. But 
 having experienced the courage of the defenders, the besiegers continued 
 to widen their breaches, unwilling to renew the attack uniil ihey could 
 niake it in force. On one occasion, however, all were amazed lo behold 
 the walls, as it were, completely deserted. But apprehending some stra- 
 tagem, and unpre[)ared with njeans to cross the ditch, which they were 
 labouring lo drain by cutting a channel to the Voliurno, the French com- 
 manders suffered no attempt to be made. On the evening of that day, 
 Fabrizio Colonna made his afipearance on the bastion which had been so 
 obstinately assailed and defended, wiih a white scarf twisted round his 
 truncheon. Observing the Knight of St. John, buried in gloomy thought, 
 surveying the operations of the siege from his motionless charger, he 
 beckoned specially to him, and in a broken voice intimated his desire that 
 messengers should be sent lo him to treat of a surrender. 
 
 Alfonso felt in his own warlike breast theangui.-h which wrung that of the 
 Colonna on the words : and he replied with a courtesy and feeling which 
 evidently struck Fabrizio, for he desired him to inform the French com- 
 manders' that it would give him much satisfaction if he himself should be 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 315 
 
 sent to treatoFlhetermsof the surrender. It was with a singular and violent 
 concussion of [)assions that, after this encourajiemcnt, Alfonso begized as a 
 special favour, that he would inform him of ihe fate of the English knight. 
 
 " Bid Caesar send fur his body, if it would content his brotherly tender- 
 ness to send it to Lucrezia for interment in that flowery sepulchre which 
 has received so many ! ' returned the chieftain, with a grim smile, and the 
 words raised emotions so tumultuous in Alfonso's breast, that he did not 
 venture to trust his voice with any reply. 
 
 The tidings of the surrender gaVe general satisfaction, the French being 
 exceedingly desirous to hasten on, stimulated by fears lest the Spaniards, 
 whose conquests were very rapid, should reach the capital before them. 
 The wisdom of the Knight of St. John had been equally experienced 
 with his valour throughout the siege; and moreover, Caesar added his 
 special request to Fabrizio's to confer the office of negotiator on him ; and, 
 with a kindliness for which few gave him credit, he entreated the Hos- 
 pilaller to procure the delivery of the body of Sir Reginald, that himself 
 and iheOrsino might render due honour to the valiant dead by interring 
 it with military pomp, for which purpose they would accompany him to 
 the gates with "a bier, and a fitting funeral procession of those knights and 
 chieftains who desired to pay a last respect to his noble dust. There was 
 something in this intimation which vaguely troubled Alfonso, butit was not 
 easy to make any objection, and finally a herald was despatched to the 
 city with intelligence that the envoy was ready to wait upon its com- 
 manders. Fabrizio returned word that he would expect him on the fol- 
 lowing morning, and besiegers and besieged, by tacit^greement, desisted 
 from their mutual anno\ances. 
 
 The morning of the fatal day dawned over Capua with a sky of that pale 
 lucid purple which gives so exquisite a tint to the landscapes of the south 
 of Italy. While his attendants armed him, AltVmso stood at the entrance 
 of his tent, and inhaled the fragrant freshness of the morning flowing over 
 those flowery cham[)aigns, which seemed to thank him with living and in- 
 telligent smfles for his purpose of preserving them from farther ravage. 
 
 The whole camp was early in motion, but it was only by the generals 
 that Alfonso's mission was favourably regarded. The fierce and brutal 
 soldiery were enraged at being deprived ol ihe bloody triumph and rewards 
 they had promised themselves in the sack of the rich and crowded city; 
 and perha|>s their zeal to render honours to the cor})se of the valiant Eng- 
 lish knight was (juickened by an idea that, if he had lived, his impetuous 
 cournge would have won the city in a manner more to their liking. When 
 the Hnspitaller set forward on his mission he was followed at a short dis- 
 tance by a very gloomy procession, principally of retainers of the Borgiaand 
 Orsini/lheir banners liung with black velvet, trailing their spears reversed 
 in the dust. The barefooted monks of a neighbouring monasters came 
 with them, chaunting lugubrious psalms, with liuhied tapers in their hands, 
 which burned whitely in the glare of the sun. Then followed two heralds, 
 with black crape over their gaudy surconis, and William of Bampion lead- 
 ing his young master's warhorse, housed and plumed with black velvet, 
 and in the pride of its gait contrasting strongly with the sullen gloom of 
 the ancient squire. After the steed and his guide came the bier, formed 
 by two young birch trees, matted together with cypress, and borne by the 
 En},lish'archers, hanging their heads in grief, or raising them to glower 
 with (iei'ce and revengeful eyes at the city in which their lord had perished. 
 Caesar obtained that the whole array should be under arms to receive 
 
316 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the corpse; and as the attention of the besieged was excited by the 
 universal inovctnent in the camp, it was not until lliis circumstance was 
 explained, that Alfonso, attended by a single squire, was admitted into 
 the city. 
 
 A drawbridge was lowered to allow the entrance of the Hospitaller, and 
 when he had passed through the gale, by every observance of war, it 
 ought tf> have been raised atier him. The monks themselves paused, but 
 Caesar pushed so ra|»idly forward with the bier-carriers, that he esta- 
 blished himself upon it ,• and the huge German who commanded at the 
 gate made no remonstrance. Meanwhile, Alfonso rode slovs'ly up a street 
 leading to the castle of Capua, and the acclamations of the people, and 
 downcast looks of the soldiery on his way, might have convinced a less 
 observaut politician of the stale of affairs in the beleaguered city. 
 
 He found the Colonna in a chamber of the castle, which overlooked the 
 great square of Capua, and a part of the walls. He was seated in a pro- 
 jecting window, busied apparently in watching some operation either 
 on the walls, or in the square below. So much was he engaged in this 
 survey that the messenger was twice announced ere he seemed to take any 
 notice, and the latter had time to observe what so forcibly drew his atten- 
 tion. Nearly opposite to this window arose the towers of the cathedral, 
 the massive gates of which were closed, and the whole intermediate 
 square was filled with a vast and silent multitude, awaiting, as it seemed, 
 in mule suspense for some prodigious event. 
 
 "•Knight of St. John," said the Colonna, turning with a start, and 
 flapping the iron lattice to, " you have seen too much. But 1 trust in 
 your nobleness ! — let us to our task — yet, but for this rebellious scum, and 
 the intrigues of a devil in woman's form ! — but it matters not: let us to 
 our work." 
 
 Alfonso was much struck by the words, and what he had seen, but he 
 made no farther allusion to them ; for, compassionating the situatiou of 
 the Colonna, he was anxious that he should at once accept the good terms 
 which, if his situation were belter known, might not again be offered to 
 him. Fabrizio and his officers, indeed, made biit little objection to any 
 of the articles, which Caesar himself had contributed to render unex- 
 pectedly mild and honourable ; but the former added a stipulation with such 
 earnestness, that it attracted the Hospitaller's misgivings. He required 
 that any punishment which he might inflict on certain traitors, who were 
 convicted of having held a correspondence with the enemy without, 
 should not be considered as any infringement of the terms by which the 
 enlargement of the prisoners on both sides was stipulated. 
 
 The impolicy and dishonour of this concession made Alfonso declare 
 that it could not possibly be assented to by the French. "Then must 
 they send again when I have done it, and it may be out of dcbnte," said 
 the chieftain, rising with sudden and angry vehemence. " Sir of Si. John! 
 I have found in you too knightly and noble a soul to deem that Fabrizio 
 Colonna will not rather perish amid the ruins of all the earth, than 
 surrender his brother's daughter to be the paramour of her villanous 
 seducer! His brother's daughter!— a monstrous sorceress, who has 
 seduced the |)eople to revolt, corrujited the mercenaries with her gold, and 
 even now, though famishing of hunger in the sanctuary, spreads her poison 
 everywhere! — with her prophecies and ravings has won the people to 
 resolve to surrender their city, publishing forsooth, that nought earthly 
 can resist the fortune of the second Caesar. But I have fitted her ! — my 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 317 
 
 castle and its holders are faithful, and with its guns I can at least reduce the 
 city to ashes— which I have sworn, unless they yield her uj) to a just doom, 
 rather than suffer her to fall with the city again into her Borgia's foul 
 embrace." 
 
 " Signer, this may not be I— and I did ever hear she was the paynim 
 sultan's leman," said Alfonso. 
 
 " Then the Borgia shall the less reck when he sees her sufFfr the punish- 
 ment due to her crime I " returned Fabrizio. " The monks ask only a fair 
 pretext to yield her up, for they suffer her extremities by the watchfulness 
 of my «uard ; and this I have found them in the ban which Caesar hath deli- 
 vered from his holy father, and v/hich one of my prisoners, who hath an 
 exceeding desire to be at liberty, and would havedapua taken only by the 
 strong hand, confirms to them as the price of his redemption, deeming only 
 that they are a sort of common and malignant traitors who have taken 
 sanctuary from my vengeance-, for against the fiend himself, were he 
 guised as now in female garb, I doubt he could not be tempted by any 
 bribe orfear to wag a finger, so besotted is he with young nien's dreams. 
 Hist, yonder he goes! Since you may not stipulate this matter with 
 me, tarry here a short half hour, and it shall not need." 
 
 Speaking thus, the Colonna impatiently dashed open the lattice, and 
 glancing into the square beneath, Alfonso perceived a body of men-at- 
 arms crossing it through the throngs, which gave a slow and murmuring 
 passage, escorting a knightly figure in armour, but without any weapon, 
 and with his arms folded, and bound in a scarf as a prisoner. 
 
 "Why, who is he?" exclaimed Alfonso, with a start of very doubtful 
 emotion. " It cannot be— and yet it is !— certes, it is the Knight of the 
 Sun ! " 
 
 "11a, ha! and unless the woman of the Borgias has tickled your gills too, 
 laugh with me at my mockery of the Borgia's jealousy," said Fabrizio, 
 laughing hoarsely. " 1 spared him whole and sound for the sake of his 
 matchless valour, but the damsel may owe nre a reprieve when they are 
 mixing their poisons, for her own ! Nay, as you doubt, come and be the 
 first to welcome him back to his liberty ? " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE STORMING OF CAPUA. 
 
 " Cry tiavoc ! and let slip ihe dogs of war! "— Shakspere. 
 
 Mechanically complying, it was some lime before Alfonso rallied suffi- 
 ciently from his surprise to remember the precise errand on wiiich they 
 were going-, and meanwhile they had reached the square, and were wind- 
 ing their way through the masses of the people. A low contiinious mur- 
 mur followed them, but the attention of the majority was fixed upon the 
 proceedings at the cathedral, wiih some wiihin whose massive portal Sir 
 Beginald was at parley. He spoke, in consequence, so loudly that Al- 
 fonso distinctly heard him aver that the sanctu ^ry might wiih a safe con- 
 science surrender the traitors who had taken refuge in it, inasmuch as 
 the whole city had been placed under an interdict by the lieutenant of 
 
318 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the church, and all the rights and privileges of its holy places were 
 wilhdravvii. 
 
 By the time Fabrizio and the envoy reached the steps of ihe portal, 
 these assurances had produced iheir effect, or at least llie famished guar- 
 dians of the sanctuary, which, although the po[)ulace would not suffer 
 him to break into, Fabrizio had kepi closely blockad 'd, pretended to re- 
 cognise their efficacy. The bolts were withdrawn, and the portal, slowly 
 swinging open, revealed two pale and trembling monks, very aged, and 
 nearly spent wiih long fasting and fear. A vista of the cathedral appeared 
 beyond, terminating in the high altar under an emblazoned window, 
 within a square tomb-like recess in which sat a female figure, wrapped 
 in a rich mantle, the hands clasped, the chin crouching on its knees, and 
 the eyes gazing madly towards the intruders. 
 
 Le Beaufort stared in utter amazement ; a low and melancholy murmur 
 arose among the people •, and the very pikemen appointed to seize the re- 
 fugee were pausing in doubt and fear, when Fabrizio arrived. 
 
 "Ha, heartless quarrv'T have ye not heard the ban of your sacred 
 Father in Rome?" shouted the Colonna. "On with me, and drag her 
 out of her hole, or I will begin the desecration by braining him that re- 
 fuses on the threshold I" 
 
 "A noble deed hast thou done, and a knightly, betraying a woman I" 
 said Alfonso, pushing past Le Beaufort into the cathedral after the angry 
 Colonna ; but his heart smote him at the bewildered and indignant glance 
 which Le Beaufort returned. 
 
 Fabrizio rushed up the aisle, and the monks followed him totteringly, 
 and even the soldiers with evident reluctance and fear; but Sir Reginald 
 was removed at a signal from the Colonna, by his p.uard. Luckily the 
 Hospitaller was there to moderate the first outbreak of the chieftain's fury, 
 for he plucked him back as he was about to ascend the altar to seize the 
 victim, who, with a wild shriek covered her ghastly visage in her lap. 
 
 "Seize herl — Oh, well mayst thou hide thy face, thou monstrous 
 harlot ! Thou plague-spot in my blood, which must be cut out, or it will 
 infect it all!" shouted Fabrizio "A hundred crowns to him who clutches 
 the traitress first." 
 
 "My lord I remember it is your brother's blood that you would shed," 
 exclaimed the Hos|)italler. 
 
 " 'Tis false! I will burn her for the witch and pagan harlot and false 
 nun she hath been adjuijetl!" returned the Colonna, with frantic fury. 
 
 "Then by all the holiness that hovers in these sanctuaries, Colonna, if 
 you grant me not the mercy of this wretched dame, F will forth and pro- 
 claim the weakness of your sway, and make no peace with you but such 
 as destruction seals," said Alfonso : but the words shed no gleam of hope 
 into the wretched fugitive. She raised her head, and stared wildly at 
 the pleader, and despite the horror and anguish of her expression, Al- 
 fonso recognised the once brilliant Fairy Morgana. 
 
 "Nay, knight, plead not for me, — but least of all because of my father's 
 blood in my veins, lest it boil and burst its conduits!" she exclaimed, with 
 the calm of despair. " 1 ask no mercy, none, of thee, brother of Agapit 
 Colorma ! buta heavier curse than Alexander's light «in your heads, false 
 monks, that have so vilely betrayed the sanctuary of your Cod!" 
 
 "Daughter, we were nigh starved to death in your cause, insomuch 
 that we were compelled to eat of the consecrated bread," said one of the 
 old monks. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 319 
 
 "I spared your consciences— I partook not of it," returned Fiamma. 
 "And iherefore what ye have done, may the nations imitate; and your 
 sanctuaries be indeed as powerless to save as the reeds in which the hare 
 lakes refuge !" 
 
 " The sanctuary is not violated, lady. The lieutenant of the church, 
 CcBsar Borgia, has purposely banned the whole city, and disabled its 
 sanctities, to prove ihat he is not thy seducer— that thou werL the para- 
 mour of Sultan Zem !" exclaimed Alfonso. 
 
 Starting up, and turning to the speaker with a glare of incredulity and 
 horror, Fiamma seemed struck with his noble and austere countenance, 
 for she exclaimed, " Can such as thou seemest lie like the basest churl, 
 without a blush? And is not the death wherewith ye menace me suffi- 
 cient for your vengeance? Hack me to pieces rather than use those 
 words ! But it is false, and thou art damned below even my place, to 
 calumniate humanity more blackly than the fiends at the day of doom." 
 
 The monks tremulously asserted the truth of the statement, and ob- 
 serving the effect which it produced, Fabrizio reiterated it with a terrific 
 oath ; an then indeed did the countenance of Fiamma express a pnssion 
 more terrible than the immediate presence of the most diieful death had 
 excited. ''Ye lie, ye lie; ye are all of a conspiracy !" she shrieked. " Give 
 me but an hour, but a moment, to warn him of your cruelty, and if he tear 
 not down your walls to rescue me, hell is as true as he were false!" 
 
 " Seize her, I say, ye dastard dogs !" shouted Fabrizio. " Yet, knight, 
 some mercy I will grant her at thy prayer : the axe shall drink her 
 blood, ere the flames devour her body, which the betrayer shall never 
 again behold." 
 
 "Hold, hold, Colonna! unless thou wouldst do the very will of thy 
 mortal foe, — for is it not most clear how he desires her destruction !" 
 exclaimed the Hospitaller. " Perchance because that she is the con- 
 fidant of his crimes— because that he is weary of her, or wouJd remove 
 a scandal from his path — be not beguiled, my lord, into playing your 
 enemy's game." 
 
 Fabrizio himself looked staggered at this argument, but it excited the 
 furious wrath of her whom it was meant to serve. " Again, and again, 
 and again thou liest! Would I were a man, to battle thee on it," she 
 cried aloud in her mastering agony, "Thou art a man! Tell me, is 
 man capable of such treachery? No, thou art a devil, and hast dreamed 
 this on some burning pillow of anguish, and art sent hither that 1 may 
 share thy hell in hi aring it " 
 
 Even as Fiamma concluded this invective, suddenly as the bursting of 
 a while squall at sea, arose an uproar outside the cathedral, which rang 
 through all its aisles. But it was no longer the murmurs of an excited 
 populace; shrieks and yells, the rush of unnumbered feet, mingled with 
 distant shouts and blasts of trumpets, resounded. Fabrizio's instant ap- 
 prehension was, that the populace had broken into an open mutiny in 
 defence of the sanctuary ; and he made an irresolute gesture, as if to seize 
 Fiamma with his own hands. Alfonso caught him by the arm, and 
 suddenly darting from the shrine, the lady ran up the steps of the altar, 
 and seizing one of the massive pieces of gold plate which were piled on 
 it as a place of safely from every spoiler, she shrieked — " Rescue, rescue! 
 he comes, he comes!" till all the aisles rang again. 
 
 Fabrizio turned slightly pale; and yells from without were now dis- 
 tinctly heard, which returned a fearful chorus to the words—" Treason, 
 
330 C^SAR RORGIA. 
 
 treason ! Borgia, Borgia! Orso, Orso ! —Vengeance and the bonny broom- 
 flower!" were sounds disiinyuislmhle abovt' all ihe uproar. 
 
 ''False kniglu, liasl iliou brirayed mel" said ilie Colonna, turning 
 furiously on ilie llos[jiialler, with his hand on his dagger. 
 
 "Heaven so hel[» me!— but harm iiol this iiuiliy but more wretched 
 woman," said Allonso, placrng himself resolutely between the kinsfolk. 
 
 " 'Tis but a new freak of the mob! — Ml quiet them with some broken 
 heads!— With me, knight! I net'd somr* gage of your faith!" said the 
 Coloiuia, still more startled with the sounds distinguishable in the tumult. 
 Alfonso willingly complit;d, and together they rushed to the portals, 
 before which ihe soldiery and mob were standing alike agape, while the 
 battleii.eiits of ihe castle in front were covered with disordered masses 
 of coaibalants, hurling one another frequently over, and ordnance was 
 heard thundering at the gales which intervened to the street up which the 
 knight had entered Capua. 
 
 Fabrizio turned, maddened with wrath at the treachery in which he 
 imagmed the envoj^ must have shared; and undoubtedly his vengeance 
 would have been bitterly wreaked upon him, if, discerning at a glance 
 what had happened, Alfonso had not with great presence of mind and 
 promptitude retreated into the cathedral, and suddenly closed and bolted 
 the strong gales of the sanctuary. Distracted on the other hand by the 
 progress of the slormers, Fabrizio shouted to his soldiers to advance, 
 and galloped recklessly through the crowd to the castle-gate. But even 
 as he approached it was burst open, and a njass of cavalry and spearmen 
 rolled in, with cries of " Kill, kill!" and the Colonna was surrounded by 
 an infinite multitude of enemies. He was borne down by the pressure, 
 and mast in a few instants have been cut to pieces but for one of the 
 assailants who covered him with his shield — and who was his own late 
 prisoner, Sir Reginald le Beaufort. 
 
 The great body of the victors swept on, putting all to the sword whom 
 they encountered ; and the crowds in the square, wedged in by their own 
 multitude, were trampled and slaughtered in vain attempts at flight. 
 Caesar led on the havoc with unremitting fury, and the Orsini and the 
 English archers, although they had recovered their lord living and well, 
 were still animated by a rage which seemed as if it could not satiate itself 
 with destruction. That the cily was seized by a treacherous surprise, 
 Alfonso could not doubt; but he could only conjecture the result of the 
 struggle within the barred gates of the sanctuary, which the aff"righted 
 monks now trebly secured — uncertain indeed from which side he himself 
 might have most to apprehend. The ru>h and roar without, the shrieks 
 and yells far and near, the leriific violence with which masses of the po- 
 pulace were evei- and anon driven against the ponderous portals, the hellish 
 hack and trample which were audible amidst the hurl of their flight, the 
 cries of triumph, prineipallv in French — soon gave tokens that the assail- 
 ants were the victors. This was confirmed in a few minutes, when 
 terrific blows of axes and spears were heard at the gates of ihe cathedral, 
 and the voice of (laesar reached Alfonso s ears, shouting " No sanctuary ! 
 no quarter!" 
 
 Fiamnia — who still stood on the altar, grasping the massive ornament 
 she had seized, her nostrils and eyes dilated, and her black hair disor- 
 dered like those of a IVightened steed — di^linguished the voice even at the 
 distance, and with a delirious shriek of joy njade the cathedral ring with 
 her cries of " Rescue ! 1 am here I Caesarj rescue !" 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 321 
 
 "Ho, without 1 — none are within here bat Fiamma and myself, the 
 Knight of St. John I" echoed Alfonso, thundering with the hilt of his sword 
 at the gate so as for a moment to enforce auilience. 
 
 " Burst open the gates I slay all whom ye meet I " Caesar was heard 
 to yell. "Slay all! all! death to the sorceress I— 'tis religion to slay 
 her ! " 
 
 Fiamma heard not these words in the frantic cries with which she 
 endeavoured to attract, as she imagined, the assistance of the friends 
 whom she had so signally served ; and for an instant Alfonso himself 
 could not but believe that the tale of her love with Caesar was unfounded. 
 But as rapidly recalling all circumstances, and moreover hearing the 
 peremptory orders to spare none within the ^anctuary, indignation and 
 wrath kindled in his soul almost to frenzy. He doubted not that there 
 would be those among the assailants who would recognise himself and 
 secure his own protection, but he determined also to preserve Fiamma at 
 every risk. Leaving the doors to resist with their strength against the 
 redoubled violence of the assailants, he rushed back to the altar ; but as 
 he approached. Fiamma raised one of the massive pieces of plate, and 
 shrieked aloud that if he advanced any nearer she would hurl it at him. 
 
 " I would protect you, lady ! or you are but lost ; 1 heard Caesar com- 
 mand these stormers to slay you as a witch and pagan paramour," replied 
 Alfonso. 
 
 " Thou Rest, recreant traitor ! Caesar has hazarded all to save me — I am 
 savedl" she returned. "Help, my Cajsar ! save thy Fiamma!" 
 
 Almost on the w^ords the gates of the cathedral gave way with one ter- 
 rific crash, and a horseman dashed forward, flourishing his falchion, 
 striking innumerable sparks of fire from the once sacred pavement, and 
 hounding on the rush of the >pearmen who followed him. In a moment 
 the cathedral was flooded with a tumultuous cataract of fugitives and of 
 the merciless soldiery, some yelling for mercy and prostrating themselves 
 beneath the relentless hoofs, others madly resisting and grappling with the 
 steeds as their siayeis hacked them down. 
 
 The foremost horseman halted, urging on the rest as a huntsman cheers 
 the pack : but Fiamma, recognising him, attempted to rush down from 
 the altar, exclaiming with frantic joy "Ceesarl my Cssarl I am here," 
 while Alfonso dashed forward, and seized her with such violence that she 
 could not advance. 
 
 "What woman is this that yclepes us as familiarly as her dog?" said 
 Caesar. "Castellain, dost thou know her?" 
 
 "Horror and anguish, I know, have changed me ! But, Caesar, dost thou 
 not know me?"' said Fiamnia, with an agony in her shrieking tones which 
 pierced above all the uproar of human anguish around. 
 
 "Yea, forsooth ! ihou art my wife, harlot! art thou not? the castellain 
 of Santangelo's wife? I am thy jest, thy wittol, the laughter of the 
 carnival!" returned Migueloto, lashing himself into the fury necessary to 
 stifle even in his breast the horror of the cruelty»he meditated. Then 
 raising his bloody axe he spurred his hurse so furiously that it actually 
 darted up the steps of the altar; but he reached not sufficiently near the 
 victim to accomplish his murderous purpose, for the Hospitaller met him 
 halfway, and dashing his shield on the charger's head, hurled both steed 
 and rider over on the pavement below. 
 
 "Mark ye all, by this, the damsel is mine!" shouted the knight, 
 clutching Fiamma by one arm, and pointing with his naked sword to the 
 
 •2t 
 
322 C/ESAR BORGU. 
 
 prostrate castellain. "Take what share of the plunder else ye will, but 
 this is mine!— Ladv, come wiih mo, or you are but lost! Soldiers, ye 
 know me, ihu Knight of St. John!" 
 
 Bui despite this app al. and his well known strength and courage, it 
 was, perhaps, as well for him that al this instant Le Beaufort, the Orsino, 
 and several French knights, galloped into the cathedral, shouting " Sanc- 
 tuary ! sanctuary ! rescue the dame!" 
 
 The cry suspended for a moment the horrible destruction which ra^ed 
 around, and which had already covered the shrines with blood and brains, 
 and the pavement with mangled carcasses. 
 
 "The Knight of St. John !— alive and well! — whom we have all gone 
 raging mad to avenge," said Caesar, instantly. "Now inrleed is our glory 
 and victory without a cloud, and I forgive Sir Reginald for snatching Fa- 
 brizio from his just doom of traitor and parricide." 
 
 "Bear all the glory then, Caesar I hell only will dispute it with thee I" 
 returned the Hospitaller. "The only share that 1 demand in the treache- 
 rous success shall be — ihTs fair paramour of Sultan Zem." 
 
 "What, the holy knight! the Knight of St. John! the woman-hater!" 
 exclaimed Caesar, laughing with mingled fury and derision until the lofty 
 roof re-echoed. 
 
 "His most just and rightful, —she is the prize of the Knight of St John, 
 shouted iheOrsini. "Lady, exult in your triumph, which achieves what 
 all our Roman beauties might not." 
 
 " Take me from this man's clutch, Caesar!— Cssar, what means this!*' 
 shrieked Fiamma. , . . , , , , 
 
 " 1 mean you nought but honour and safety, lady ; or may these holy 
 roofs crumbfe in upon me," said the Hospitaller. "I swear that I will 
 lead you in all honour and safely to the presence and protection of Fa- 
 brizio Colonna, if he be in French keeping." 
 
 But the words seemed only to increase Fiamma's terror, and she threw 
 herself distractedly on her knees almost beneath the hoofs of Caesar's 
 rearing steed. . 
 
 " In very truth, fair dame, this fancy for us is as sudden as any w( 
 have yet encountered, but we may not lake thee from him whose prettj 
 prize thou art— the holy kniij:ht!-m whose good word, good faith, thm; 
 inavsl confide," said Caesar, "^slill laughing direfiilly. "Or if thou fearest, 
 here is my dagger !" And he mockingly extended the hilt of a sharp anc 
 bloodv weapon to his suppliant. Bui, perhaps to his surprise, she dartec 
 up, clutched it, and holding it high in the air over her head— "Speak 
 fathomless traitor!" she shrieked, watching lis eye like a tigress ex 
 peeling the spring of the panther. " Never unlil now— because 1 wouk 
 owe nought but to thy love- thy love! — have I warned thee that thy sor- 
 cerer, Sa'bbat, predicted that thou shouldst some day owe thy life to me 
 or lose it! Speak, shall 1 strike into this heart, since thine is harde 
 than the steel which sheathes it?" 
 
 " She raves !— famine and fear have left her witless," said Caesar, bu 
 not without visible trouble. " Yet it is til that we should remember sh( 
 did us some service in this great triumph. ^ Migueloto, remove her to thi 
 castle with the rest of the female prisoners." 
 
 " None but mvself shall be her escort," shouted the Hospitaller, a 
 Mi^uelub* slaesered giddily lorward : and the knights, above all the Or 
 sino and Sir^Reginald, in a general uproar of laughter and oaths sup 
 ported his claim. Caisar yielded, apparently without difficulty 5 and ha] 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 323 
 
 unconsciously Fiamma suffered the Hospitaller to draw her awav with 
 him, keeping her head still turned, and her eyes fixed on Ca?sar with a 
 glare of stupefaclion, until she was out of the cathedral. 
 
 The castle of Capua was in possession of the conquerors; from its 
 highest lowers wnved the French lilies glistering playlully in their azure 
 field in the meridian light of the sun. To reach the gates, it was neces- 
 sary to cross the great square, and never did war, when at his bloodiest 
 work, |)resent a more ghastly scene. The whole space was strewed with 
 indistiiigui.shabie heaps ol' the slain, men, women, and children, and horses, 
 butchered, trampled, brained, in all the most hideous forms of destruc- 
 tion. I\o signs of resistance appeared, and the work of plunder and lust 
 had succeeded to that of slaughter. The square seemed covered with the 
 wreck of some great ear[hi|uake, so strange and disordered was the 
 ruin scattered over it. Rich furniture, jewels, chests of plate, bales of 
 silk, and the commonest utensils of daily life, lay heaped around ; the 
 houses on all sides were broken into, and some were in flanies ; costly 
 articles were continually thrown from the windows, amidst hideous laugh- 
 ter and hoarse shouts of joy and triumph. In each abode a separate 
 tragedy was enacting; from each came forth dire shrieks of agony and 
 despair mingled in one wild uproar with ihe yells of the victors. Women 
 of the highest quality and richly garbed, struggled in the arms of the 
 basest marauders, while some eludt-d the horrors of the fate of their com- 
 panions by throwing themselves from the parapets of the houses. Pa- 
 laces and churches were alike violated ; nothing was sacred ; nuns vainly 
 shrieked for aid to the heaven to which they were devoted. The ban of 
 excommunication pronounced on the city removed the only restraint on 
 the passions of the demoniac soldiery, and prodigies of lust and murder 
 were enacted on every hand. 
 
 Glancing down a street which led to the walls, Alfonso perceived the 
 gateway at the end wrapt in a blaze, and as the thick oak burned off, 
 there remained a species of iron network, the skeleton of a portcullis, 
 through which, amidst whirlwinds of flaming sn)oke, appeared a multi- 
 tude raging to enter the devoted city on this side also. A crowd of fugi- 
 tives were pouring down a steep hill which led to the river Volturno, in 
 the hope of saving themselves in some of the galleys whose gilded prows 
 were visible; but the opposite bank was lined with archers, who kept up 
 an incessant shovver of arrows on all who appeared. 
 
 The unbounded horrors of the scene appalled even the fierce and an- 
 guish-struck soul of Fiamma, and she passively obeyed all the directions 
 of her protector. To increase her terrors, as it would seem, they had 
 scarcely entered the castle when direful yells resounded from without of 
 " Kill all I no prisoners I kill all I" which were echoed from various halls 
 and chambers of the fortress, crowded, as Alfonso now perceived, with 
 Vitelli and Borgian soldiery. His first intention had been to lead his 
 prisoner to the presence of the French generals, who were in the keep, 
 and demand protection for her; but hearing these bloodthirsty cries thus 
 echoed, and the despairing reiteration of Fiamma, " Not to him— not to 
 Fabriziol" and remembering, at the instant, the isolated lower to which 
 he had been conveyed when he commenced the unfortunate negotiation 
 with Fabrizio, he pushed open a narrow doorway which he also recol- 
 lected he had entered, secured it after him, and dragged rather than led 
 Fiamma with him to the lofty chamber above. Thetower was used only 
 as a post of observation, and, if at all visited, had been evacuated by the 
 
324 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 assailants, so that he encountered no obstacle in his design. But the 
 yells and shouts still continued, and findinc; the chamber deserted, and 
 almost certain that some violent attempt would be made to seize or de- 
 stroy Fiamma, he barred the doors with all their fastenings ere he en- 
 deavoured to restore her scattered senses. But when he turned, he was 
 horror-siruck to behold her crouched in a corner, with the dagger in hei 
 hand, watching his movements with a glare of mad defiance. "Devi' 
 though he be, i am his! — his I will die!" she kept repeating scarcelj 
 above her breath. And when the Hospitaller, in the most gentle and re^ 
 spectful manner approached her, and with assurances of the danger whicl 
 he apprehended in a tumult doubtless raised by Caesar to destroy then 
 both, she suddenly darted at him, and struck so powerful a blow on hii 
 breast with the weapon, that his armour of proof scarcely turned the edge 
 and the blade shivered in pieces. But ihis eftbrt exhausted her remaining 
 strength, and she sank senseless as one deed at the feet of the knight. 
 
 To apply for any assis^^nce or restorative was hopeless, and the uproai 
 was now mingled with shrieks, probably from victims of the renewec 
 massacre. But most fortunately. Alfonso found a half-emptied goblet o 
 wine which he remembered Fabrizio had offered to him when he arrived 
 And beautiful, albeit so ghastly, as she was, never did mother tend he: 
 sick infant with purer or gentler anxiety than the chivalrous Hospitalle 
 his young captive. 
 
 She revived at length, raised herself with a convulsive effort, and glarec 
 around, while Alfonso endeavoured by protestations and entreaties to sooth* 
 her perturbed imagination. But it was long ere his respectful demeanour 
 conjoined with the conviction that she was utterly at his mercy, infusei 
 some belief in his words. Memory returned, and its progress seemec 
 marked by the succession of shrieks which she uttered; and when fron 
 her wild rhapsody Alfonso comprehended all her devotion to the pitiles 
 betrayer, and sufferings in his behalf; to what hazards she had expose( 
 her life in corrupting the mercenaries in Capua ; that, even when starvin; 
 in the sanctuary, it was she who had gained over the German riiter wh 
 had admitted his legions; he himself could scarcely believe in such per 
 fidy. His indignation at the treacherous advantage which Caesar hai 
 taken of his negotiation was now deepened by the certainty he acquire 
 that he had assented to it only to render his blow more certain and un 
 expected. But suddenly the torrent of recollections and ravings met in 
 direful shock in Fiamma's mind, and with a frantic peal of laughter, sh 
 exclaimed, "■ I see it all !— he yielded me to thee — to thee, the contemne 
 of Lucrezia Borgia ! And this is part of his plan to break her heart, an 
 rid him of all fear of any suitor favoured by herself! But not the less wi 
 he slay thee, and both of us. Oh, foil this black perfection of his cruelty 
 — Leave me to my fate ! — in mercy, leave me !" 
 
 Wot without a hope to obtain some revelation from one who wasprobabl 
 so well acquainted with the secrets of the Borgias, Alfonso declared th 
 futility of this argument by darkly hinting at the reports of the co-part 
 nership in guilt between Lucrezia and her brother. Fiamma replied by 
 raving and yet sufficiently intelligible account of Caesar's project avowe 
 to herself, which entirely refuted the charge, and agitated Alfonso wit 
 an emotion which all the riot and timiult that still raged had not stirred i 
 his heart. But again he answered with the bitter rejoinder which his jea 
 lousy of Le Beaufort suggested, that Caesar must now be aware that h 
 was superseded in Lucrezia's favour, if ever indeed he had obtained, 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 325 
 
 place in it, by the famous English knight. Still more wildly Fiamma de- 
 clared that he founded the suspiciou on a treacherous assistance she had 
 herself afforded lu (Caesar in the carnival, when she enacted the fairy Mor- 
 gana, and persuaded whom he directed by her artifices that she was Lu- 
 crezia. But still he reiterated his accusation against Caesar, and when, in 
 her desperation at the thought, she endeavoured some refutation by fu- 
 riously accusing him of the object of his embassy from Ferrara— to rake 
 up calumnies against the whole Borgian name — he replied by detailing in 
 what manner Caesar had learned the fact. He related the adventure of the 
 valley of Egeria. 
 
 The suspicions which it is probable had long lurked in the heart of the 
 miserable victim, direfuUy echoed these statements, which the heroic ho- 
 nour of the Knight of St. John's character confirmed. But yet she would 
 not believe the inferences which he drew from all he had witnessed, and 
 raved in her efforts to refute them, unheeding the dangers and horrors 
 which seemed thickening around. But the Hospitaller meanwhile was 
 aware that the u|)roar was subsiding, at least in the fortress ; and he pur- 
 posely prolonged and embittered the discussion to prevent Fiamma from 
 yielding to the exhaustion which only the violence of passion for awhile 
 had baiSled. But in this frenzied dialogue, darkness came on, and she 
 began now to rave in her entreaties that he would leave her, permit her 
 to depart, to yield herself up to Caesar's vengeance, and thus avert it from 
 him ; and Alfonso was deeply affected with her passionate declaration, 
 that she had but one wish or^hope left— to die by her betrayer's hand. 
 
 Alfonso promised only that as soon as he was satisfied that the tumult 
 was appeased, he would hasten to the French generals to obtain some 
 safeguard for her; and he opened the lattice which overlooked the square 
 to discern what had happened. 
 
 The bright sun of the Campagna Felice had set on a scene of destruc- 
 tion and anguish than which human sufferings have rarely offered a sight 
 more terrible ; and now the serene and starry hpavens of its night over- 
 looked a spectacle more direful, when the slaughterers, bathed in the 
 gore of six thousand human beings, and weary of destruction, held anin- 
 fernal feast of debauchery and drunkenness amid the weltering carcasses 
 of the slain. Hlumined by the glare of torches or of flaming barrels of 
 pitch, the whole square seemed like avast pandemonium, in which fiends 
 in human shape executed the worst devices of a salanic dream. Death 
 himself could no longer give a refuge from the lust and nameless cruelties 
 of those hideous bands, among whom Caesar's own troops, composed of 
 the refuse of many nations, amazed even their bloody comrades with deeds 
 of horror and rapine. The duke himself was apparently the centre and 
 prime reveller of the direful feast. Alfonso discerned him seated among 
 the piles of rich spoil, surrounded by some of his most ferocious captains, 
 quaffing huge draughts of wine, and laughing at the shrieks of a multitude 
 of female captives, who were driven to his presence by the spears of his 
 men-at-arms, with a number of male prisoners, torn from the places of 
 concealment or refuge which they had hitherto found. 
 
 Himself and his direful company seemed engaged in scanning and select- 
 ing from these miserable groups, abandoning the great majority to the 
 merciless soldiery and horrors unutterable. 
 
 '* He looks for me among these groups— he thinks that thou hast perished 
 in defending me.— Fabrizio too is dead for my crime, for these are the 
 prisoners whom they have torn from the keep," said Fiamma, in a voice 
 
32G C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 calm with despair. " Leave me, iiood knisht I for thine own sake, for 
 anon he will discover ihat I am not there, and he will slay us both." 
 
 " None shall harm ihee, lady, while 1 have strength to lift my sword," 
 said Alfonso. " But all seems quiet now in the citadel ; and this isolated 
 chamber is unsuspected, and the French, 'tis certain, have expelled the 
 marauders. I will to Louis de la Tremouille to demand, and I doubt not, 
 to obtain, protection for thee, if thou wilt draw the bolts after me, or canst, 
 whose strength alone may defend thee during a longer delay than 1 purpose 
 making." 
 
 Fiamma assented with wild eagerness to this plan of securing her safety, 
 and although she could scarcely totter with weakness, she urged imme- 
 diate action by complaining for the first lime of the famine she had 
 suffered. A few burning drops of anguish distilled from her eyes, and 
 when the Hospitaller, with great tenderness and compassion, soothed 
 her with assurances of his immediate and safe return, and yet at the same 
 time unsheathed his sword, to protect him on his mission, the contrast 
 quite overcame her. 
 
 "And must thou, too— thou, too— most generous and noble knight- 
 be sacrificed to preserve a wretch unworthy to live, whose destruction 
 the most compassionate angels will smile on !" she exclaimed. '• Why 
 shouldst thou aid a thing who would not aid herself— whose only hope 
 and refuge are destruction ?— Eternal, if it might be !— But, farewell! 
 There is no eloquence in thanks to pay thee, since deeds were vain. 
 Save me, if thou wilt and canst, to the miserable "jears of unpausing 
 anguish which only can await me— and farewell once again!" 
 
 Much affected, and embracing her with brotherly delicacy and tender- 
 ness, not unmingled, perchance, with the warmth which beauty and the 
 sense of protection inspire, Alfonso hastened on his mission, listening un- 
 til he heard her draw the bolls within. 
 
 He found the passage in which the tower opened tenanted only by some 
 carca>ses wallowing in their own gore, and which he was not much sur- 
 prised to observe wore the badge of Csesar. A flight of stone steps, lead- 
 ing to the principal chambers of the castle, was strewed with similar 
 carnage, denoting that a fierce conflict had taken place between the 
 marauders and those who had defended the prisoners against their blood- 
 thirsty design, among whom was an English archer of Le Beaufort's. 
 The gate which admitted into the citadel on the summit of these stairs 
 was mas.sively barred and bolted ; and it was with great difficulty, by re- 
 vealing who he was, that he obtained admission through the guard of Swiss 
 who held the chamber within. Guided by one of these men he soon entered 
 the presence of the French generals, who were partrtking of a disordered 
 banquet with such of the knights as abstained from the horrible sports 
 abroad, and their captives, among whom was Fabrizio Colonna. Le Beau- 
 fort and the Orsino sat on each side of him ; and to their valiant succour, 
 Alfonso afterwards learned, the Colonna owed his rescue from Caasar's 
 marauders, who effected the recapture of nearly ;ill the other prisoners. 
 
 Anxious to clear himself in the opinion of Fabrizio of any share in the 
 treacherous surprise, the Hospitaller addressed the French commanders 
 with vehemence,, complaining of the share which would seem to be im- 
 puted to him in it, and im|»loring of them to put a stop to the slaughter. 
 
 " Caesar hiilh all the gloiy or the shame of ihe deed, but war regards no 
 treaties until the cross is kissed on them, and this bloody example shall 
 spare the necessity of many more— therefore let the soldier rage his fill I" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. S27 
 
 said La Tremouille, " Moreover, all order and obedience are lost, and to 
 restrain them now were only to provoke a fiercer outbreak than this we 
 have quelled, since the Duke himself hounds them on. But, knight, me- 
 thinks thou hast the less reason to lament the chance, since they tell us 
 the fairest spoil in Capua fell into your clutch " 
 
 " I have saved a damsel of high name from dishonour, monseigneur," 
 said Alfonso with indignation ; " and it is to obtain your protection for her 
 that I am chiefly here— whither, and to the noble Colonna, 1 would fain 
 lead this hapless dame." 
 
 " Bring her to me! Send her to the stake, Frenchman ! for a foul 
 witch and traitress, or she will find some means to betray ye all 1 " said 
 Fabrizio, furiously. 
 
 " Such protection as I can give, she shall receive,— bring her hither," 
 said La Tremouille. " But if she be a damsel so light of love. I doubt 
 me she will soon find a rival for your saintship in this presence." 
 
 " I at least shall not enter the lists, there, with the Knight of St. John," 
 said the Orsino. '' But shame on us, since we speak of one who bears, 
 however unworthily, so noble a name." 
 
 '' I will aid you to protect your prize, Knight of Ferrara, against the 
 world," said Le Beaufort wiih generous warmth. ''Oris she among 
 yon forlorn crowd, and to be rescued? If so, though the retrieve be 
 desperate, here is my sword with thine." 
 
 " It needs not. Let me have some food, for she is nigh famished, and 
 a torch, and I will return anon," replied Alfonso; but Sir Reginald and 
 several of the French knights declared they would accompany him, not 
 withoutwhispering licentious suspicions and conjectures, which he thought 
 it best to refute by permilting their request. 
 
 Accordinglv a considerable body went with him to the tower-, and dis- 
 regarding their significant glances, he led the way up to the isolated 
 chamber, where he had leftFiamma. But his heart misgave him when 
 ascending the steep winding steps he perceived that the door was thrown 
 widely open. He entered— wavpd the torch anxiously around into every 
 gloom — but no Fiamma was visible ; and the incredulous smiles of his 
 companions convinced him that they imagined he was only deluding them 
 with a fair show, when he led them to this spot. The Orsino even 
 laughed aloud, when he hurried to the lattice, and looked down the great 
 height into the square below, as if he expected to descry her mangled 
 remains. 
 
 " Unless he has thrown her there himself! " he muttered to Sir Re- 
 ginald. 
 
 And indeed, recollecting the unbarred door, the conviction rushed upon 
 the Hospitaller that she had either left it open to delude him on the fearful 
 nature of her suicide, or had ventured on one scarcely less terrible by 
 descending among the diabolical revellers helow. Research for her in 
 either case must now be in vain, and woulJ expose himself lo probable 
 destruction if Caesar found him in his gnisp, in a position in which he 
 could sacrifice him without his own direrl agency. Fiul the disappoint- 
 ment and sorrow of the Hospitaller would not permit him altogether to 
 abandon the search •, and he spent the whole night alone, anxiously 
 watching all that occurred in the square below, but without observing 
 aught to calm or increase his apprehensions, until the gradual silence of 
 the ruined city, the chill of the morning air, and his own exhaustion, 
 plunged him in a broken and horror-haunted slumber. 
 
 k 
 
3?8 C.ESAK BOKGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 " Have I not liad my brain sear'd. ray heart riven, 
 Hope sapp'd, name blighted, life's life lied away? 
 And only not to desperation driven, 
 Because not aliogeiher of such day. 
 As rots into the souls of those whom I survey."— C/ii7de Harold. 
 
 The second conquest of Naples was as rapid as the first, under 
 Charles VllI ; and passing through town after town, which all surrendered 
 alike at the first gleam of ihe French banners, Alfonso himself almost 
 doubted he was in a dream when Naples capitulated, and he gazed over 
 its glorious bay towards the blue rocks of Ischia, in which the unfortunate 
 Frederic had taken his la*t refuge. 
 
 The French army pushed onward to take possession of the frontier as- 
 signed to them by the partition, in which the Borgias had artfully sown 
 seeds of dissension which already began to germinate. Caesar, with his 
 auxiliaries, prepared to return to Rome, under pretext of completing the 
 conquest of the citit-s claimed by the pontiff; and most graciously, and as 
 the last essay in their chivalrous competition, Louis de la Tremouille con- 
 ferred the command of the preparations against Ischia on the three knights 
 of the Quest of Arms, as they were now generally called. 
 
 All the Hospitaller's unwearied researches had failed to acquire any in- 
 formation on the fate of Fiamma; and the demeanour of Caesar to himself 
 went far to convince him that he was not left in equal ignorance. But it 
 was impossible to refuse so honourable a charge, more especiHlly as his 
 competitors eagerly accepted it; and the strength of the sea fortress, and 
 the desperation of its holders, rendered its siege likely to prove the most 
 dangerous achievenoent of the war. 
 
 The good understanding between the barons and Caesar had for some 
 time ap'parently been restored ; but the most discreet politicians of Italy, 
 who were not in the secret, were amazed to hear how strangely the Borgia 
 had suffered himself to be outwitted by the barons, when, shortly after 
 his return to Rome, news arrived of the revolt of Arezzo against Florence, 
 and of the march of nearly all their strong and war-fleshed army into Tus- 
 cany, to support the insurrection, and restore the Medici. C^sar mean- 
 while advanced with his own forces to the siege of Camerino, one of the 
 cities reclaimed by the Holy See, in which even complete success would 
 be of little weight against the enormous preponderance which the barons 
 must acquire by the restoration of the Medici. 
 
 Meanwhile the war in Naples languished ; negotiations commenced, and 
 though the preparations for an eventual attack on Ischia continued, the 
 Knights of the Quest were compelled to remain inactive spectators. But 
 absence did not diminish the effect which Lucrezia's charms had wrought, 
 in spite of all his resistance, on Alfonso's heart. The voluptuous languor 
 of the climate of Naples, which counsels the oblivion of all but love, in- 
 sidiouslv aided the magic of the recollections which haunted him. Ap- 
 prehensions of the projects and success of the Orsino contributed to his 
 uneasiness, which was finally excited to the highest degree when it was 
 known diat Paolo had sudden'ly departed for Rome. Immediately after- 
 wards the compact by which the unfortunate King of Naples resigned his 
 
r.ESAR BORGIA. G^D 
 
 ci'uwii was proclaimeJ, as if it had been purposely withheld hitherto;, and 
 the whole forces of the Orsino, whose command he had deputed to Sir 
 Reginald le Beaufort, retired so suddenly from the camp, and by night, 
 towards Rome, that it rather resembled a' flight than a triumphant' return. 
 
 Disdainmg to share this precipitation, though burning with at least equal 
 ■desire to behold Lucrezia again, Alfonso went to Naples to take farewell 
 of the French commanders, and resign his charge. It was there that he 
 first learned the astonishing tidings which had doubtless caused the Or- 
 sino's hasty return. 
 
 The grand combination by which Csesar projected to secure to himself 
 a great acquisition to his dominions, to compel the pontiff and Lucrezia 
 into his f.ivourite measure of raising an indi-pendent army by heightening 
 the fears and mistrust on both sides irreconeileably, he had accomplished 
 triumphantly in all its parts. The success of the barons in Tuscany per- 
 suaded them of his sincerity in offering to head them openly, even in 
 defiance of the French But to ensure success, he pretended that it was 
 necessary the Dukeof Urbino should assist with all his disposable force, 
 and especially artillery, which his mechanical genius had brought to a 
 degree of perfection as yet unknown. Guidobaldo fell into the snare, and 
 while he emptied his slates of his troops, and despatched them to attend 
 Caesar at Camerino, the latter's garrisons in Romagna concentrated, ad- 
 vanced on Urbino. and took possession of all the roads, passes, and fort- 
 resses on the frontier. At the same time Caesar, turning aside on his way 
 to Camerino with a select body of troops, suddenly invaded the defence- 
 less territory of his ally with fire and sword. In two days, despite the at- 
 tachment of the people to their ancient and generous lords, the whole of 
 the rich snd strong duchy was in Ccesar's'grasp ; Guidobaldo and his 
 brother escaping with difficulty, in the disguise of peasants, to Venice. 
 To complete the consternation of the confederates, Caesar disavow^ed all 
 participation in the revolt against Florence, and the French despatched a 
 powerful body of troops to the assistance of the republic, who compelled 
 the Vitelli to relinquish their conquests and retire from Tuscany. At the 
 same time Alexander sent reinforcements to the siege of Camerino; and the 
 barons, in the universal panic, not daring to offer'any obstacles, its lord 
 endeavoured to effect an accommodation with Caesar. But the Borgia 
 practised again the trick he had learned at Capua, and during the lull of 
 the proposals he ordered a sudden assault, by wdiich he obtaindd posses- 
 sion of the city and of the persons of the Varani. These potent nobles he 
 condemned as traitors, and ordered to be strangled without the least regard 
 to their illustrious blood and rank. 
 
 This extraordinary success, the destruction of a faithful friend to 
 Ferrara, and the sudden neighbourhood of so ambitious and unscrupulous 
 a power, were events of too portentous a nature not to hasten all the 
 resolutions of Alfonso. He departed immediately on his return to Rome 
 — where he had been long and ardently expected. 
 
 After the departure of the knights and of the French army, the splendour 
 and gaiety of the pontifical court was, of course, very much diminished. 
 Not only were the chief of its brilliant revellers gone, but Lucrezia herself 
 — the very sun of its delights — was clouded with a sadnes which all the 
 vivacity of her character and genius could not dispel. Among those who 
 grieved at the departure of the chivalrous array, Messer Pietro Benibo was 
 certainly not to be counted. The absence of all those splendid com- 
 petitors was not unpleasing to him, and his conclusions on the character 
 
330 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 of Donna Lucrezia inspired the canon with hopes which he did not men- 
 tion in his prayers He redoubled the vigour of his attacks both in Latin 
 and Italian verse ; and Lucrezia, whose fine tasle as a poetess, and vanity 
 as a beautiful woman, were equally feasted by these eleptant effusions, 
 took pleasure in encouraging, and not unfrequently in replying to them. 
 
 Mfanwhile the interest attached to the dangers and glories of the absent, 
 knights was not altogether favourable to the canon's views •, until the report 
 of the storming of Capua arrived, mingled with strange rumours, which 
 Caesar amply confirmed on his return by the bitter jests with which he 
 assailed Lucrezia and her ladies on their failure with the Knight of St John, 
 who had proved himself no saint by appropriating and concealing from all 
 rivalry the fair paramour of Sultan Zem. Whether the canon found the 
 deep melancholy into which Lucrezia fell on receiving this intelligence 
 more auspicious to the flame with which he declared himself consumed, 
 he certainly did not inform the Hospitaller when he went to greet him on 
 his arrival ^ 
 
 MesserPietro bore the pontiff's comniand to Alfonso to wait upon him in 
 person, as soon as he had taken some rest, and meanwhile to resume his 
 apartment in the Vatican. But in spite of this apparently favourable sign, 
 the knight's secret apprehensions were much increased when he found 
 that Benibo, once so earnest an advocate for Lucrezia, had totally aban- 
 doned her cause, and declared that he was now convinced of her licentious 
 attachment for >oung Le Beaufort — since she could not dissemble her 
 delight on his return, even before the direful rivals who watched their 
 meeting. 
 
 The triumph of the Borgias was complete, for now it appeared that the 
 King of France had abandoned the Vicars of the Church to their spoliation 
 and vengeance, and the latest news announced that his heralds had publicly 
 commanded the lords of Bologna to surrender that potent city to the 
 renewed demands of the Borgias. The consternation struck into the con- 
 federacy was so great, that no murmur of resistance had been heard, but 
 on the contrary, the barons unanimously tendered their forces to assist 
 the duke in his enterprise. The canon was therefore earnestly of opuiion, 
 that to avoid a discovery, which was else inevitable and most perilous, 
 the prince should quit Borne at once for Ferrara, without seeing either the 
 pontiff or Lucrezia. 
 
 But the advice was not adopted by Alfonso, who declared with angry 
 warmth that he would not condemn Lucrezia without proof; that he knew 
 a plan by which to baffle any immediate danger arising from his supposed 
 embassy, if it were indeed true that her feeling for the English knight 
 passed mere coquetry; and that now, in his hour of triumph, the sincerity 
 of the pontiff's professions was to be ascertained. The canon argued with 
 great pertinacity, but Alfonso was not to be shaken from his resolution, and 
 he hastened wiih all possible expedition to present himself at the palace. 
 
 His arrival was announced, and he was awaiting in his former magnificent 
 apartment a summons to the pontiff's presence, when, to his great sur- 
 prise, Alexander himself entered his chamber, accompanied only by the 
 Datary. The eagerness of the pontiff was so great, that he merely s|)read 
 his hands over the kneeling knight without uttering the usual benediction, 
 and immediately began to speak on the subject in his thoughts. "Now 
 must the lords of Ferrara credit us, were they more difficult of failh than 
 he who scarce believed with his hand in the wound of the lance!" he ex- 
 claimed. "Thou seest, son, how God has given us to defeat all the ma- 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 331 
 
 chinations of our enemies and rebels, whom we project to crush like glass 
 beneath our sandals, aided by the good alliance we think to secure with 
 Ferrara. We will speak so plainly now, that your lords may have no 
 pretext to doubt. Approach us ; and, Giovan-Ballista close all the doors, 
 and be of our audience." 
 
 Alexander seated himself in one of the huge carved arm-chairs, and 
 glanced around the magnificent decorations of the chamber with a dark- 
 ening expression and a deep sigh. The bridal chamber of Lucrezia was 
 also odious to the Hospitaller, and his empoisoned fancies suggested 
 similar reasons for Alexandei's evident distaste. Nevertheless, it was still 
 kneeling that he awaited the pontiff's communication, who continued for 
 some moments so lost in thought that he did not notice the attitude, and 
 then with a gesture commanded him to rise. 
 
 "'Tis true you are the envoy of our vassal, but one whom we have it in 
 our intent to make sovereign," he said. "The church may well pardon 
 our memory bartering her shadowy dominion in Ferrara for the substantial 
 sway we have restored her in so many lands and rich cities, and specially 
 if the Holy See is indebted to Ferrara in the manner we design for the 
 restoration of Bologna, usurped during so many ages. We desire to 
 conceal nothing from your lords, and we own that unless our alliance with 
 them is concluded and thus firmly cemented, — even with the slippery aid 
 of Fiance, — the assemblage of an army of our barons, burning with their 
 concealed hates and fears, were more dangerous to ourselves than to the 
 usurpers of Bologna. On the other hand, to comply with our nephew of 
 Romagna's passionately urged request, and raise an independent army to 
 put into the hands of so young and ambitious a leader, were even as rash 
 a venture as the Sun's when he gave his chariot to the guidance of Phaeton, 
 {if iMcsser Benibo's legend lies not,) and scorched the earth with the fire 
 that should but have warmed it. Yet I speak not these words in Italian 
 rhetoric but Spanish earnestness— for we mean our magniloquence — and 
 would have the princes of Italy understand, that it is more to their advan- 
 tage than that of our greatness, that we deny Csesar the mighty instrument 
 which he demands. Yet, again, unless this alliance is concluded, which 
 would effectualy overawe the barons, tliis I must consent to — since 'tis not 
 to be dreamed that I will put myself into the power of the men who have 
 blasphemously prated ot degrading us from the seat we occupy, and setting 
 up in our place our bitter and contimiacious rebel, Julian della Rovere. 
 Neither will our niece listen to the Orsino courtship, nor do we now desire 
 to knit friendship so close with usurpers so insolent, whose destruction 
 grows daily more just and necessary." 
 
 It may be imagined that Alfonso was thrown into great perplexity by this 
 direct proffer, which also revealed so alarming a glimpse intoCaesar's policy. 
 
 "But, holy father, it becomes my master's dignity that I should first 
 be assured he has no refusal to apprehend from the magnificent lady 
 herself," he said, at last, placing some hope of extrication or delay in this 
 manoeuvre. 
 
 " Son she hath submitted wholly to my will, and gave mc her word 
 to assure you, that whenever you make the public demand in your master 
 Don Alfonso's name, she will return a public assent," said Alexander. 
 
 Alfonso was so con)pletely taken by surprise in this announcement, 
 that he knew not what to reply -, and the pontiff, in his own eager- 
 ness overlooking the singularity of the silence, continued to disciiss 
 his projects with vehemence, which, coupled with the Dalary's in- 
 
33? C-ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 sinuations, convinced Alfonso that both entertained well-grounded ap- 
 prehensions ot'Ctesar's designs, especially the iatlcr, who trembled dur- 
 ing the whole conference so visibly, that his sincerity could not be 
 doubted, though he had formerly been one of Ctesar's creatures and in- 
 struments. 'The rich promises held out by the pontiff, relating to the 
 dowry which he intended to bestow on Lucrezia, with the remission of 
 the allegiance and tribute of F^rrara to the church demonstrated his 
 eagerness, but in nowise allured Alfonso: for the thought burned like 
 vitriol on raw wounds in his soul, that Donna Lucre^zia had either 
 brought him into the dilemma to effect bis destruction by the discovery of 
 the futility of his pretended negotiation, or to compel him to save him'self 
 by a precipitate flight from Rome, that she might be rid of his espionage, 
 and abandon herself more unreservedly to her passion for Sir Reginald. 
 
 Luckily the pontiff was too much absorbed in his own thoughts and 
 passions to observe those of the Hospitaller; and as if that were the only 
 point in debate, he concluf|^d the audience by desiring the knight to at- 
 tend him to the presence of Donna Lucrezia, to receive a confirmation of 
 her assent from her own lips. Alfonso began to perceive the full peril of 
 the part he was playing, and to anticipate some sharp retaliation from 
 Lucrezia. But it was impossible to refuse the offered honour, and with 
 a strange mixture of emotions he found himself following the pontiff into 
 the palace of his daughter on a business so opposed to his real purposes. 
 
 On entering the saloon in which Lucrezia sat, the knight was at first 
 much relieved by perceiving that a numerous court was present. But the 
 secret serpent stung into his bosom again when a glance showed him 
 that Lucrezia was playing at chess with Sir Reginald, in a remote window 
 too narrow to allow of any third. Le Beaufort's doting gaze was so fixed 
 upon her that it seemed as if he could scarce notice what moves he made 
 on the board; and Lucrezia was speaking to him in a laughingly trium- 
 phant tone as they entered, at the same time making an eager move to 
 secure her advantage. This put her hand over to Sir Reginald's side of 
 the board ; and, if no one else, at least the Hospitaller observed that Le 
 Beaufort, feigning to bend down to discern what had happened, pressed, 
 his lips to its delicate whiteness with instantaneous but most passionate 
 fervour. It was true that he turned pale, and that she drew her hand 
 hastily away -, but the next instant he beheld her press the mark t') her 
 own lips, and he distinctly heard the words uttered gently and tenderlv, 
 " False knight I it burns even my lips that would coorthe smart! 
 
 Indignation gave the Hospitaller firmness, and he stood coldly and 
 haughtily before the lady as she rose to receive her sire, scarcely seem- 
 ing to observe his presence. But when Alexander stepped aside, and 
 revealed him with a smile, it is certain that tears gushed to her eyes, al- 
 though she tacitly denied their presence by malting no attempt to wipe 
 the sparkling drops away. Some cold words of welcome she uttered, 
 with an emphatic glance, as if explaining the circumstance, to Alexander, 
 towards a group in a balcony on which the saloon opened, against the 
 balustrade of which leaned the Duke of Komagna, looking into the apart- 
 ment, but seemingly in a gay discourse with a crowd of ladies and young 
 courtiers. 
 
 "Senor, we have not forgotten the somewhat austere and rebuking 
 visage of the Knight of St. John," said Lucrezia, carelessly, as Alexander 
 nanied him with great significance; and turning with an arch smile to Sir 
 Reginald, she continued, *'And now your friend the Orsino can have no 
 
C.«SAR BORGIA. 333 
 
 apology to refrain from presenting himself before us, lo hear the decision 
 of our quest. Therefore we bid you summon him, and come yourself to- 
 morrow, at our old evening htjur and according rather to the cnsioms of 
 ancient chivalry than of those in our decaying times, give a true and un- 
 boasting account of your exploits ^ upon which we will deliver our judg- 
 ment on some following day." 
 
 " Might it not please your grace to name the earliest, inasmuch as my 
 longer larriance in Rome is forbidden," said Alfonso. 
 
 '' Why, then, the next be it," returned Lucrezia, turning away. 
 
 "Hal thou wouldst lodge thy prey in security?"' said Caesar, who had 
 joined the circle, in a tone of good-humoured raillery. " Dost fear, good 
 knight, that having so long had the scandal 1 should project sharing the 
 advantage, and rob you of your bright Capuan prize, the rich leman of 
 Sultan Zem?" 
 
 *' 1 fear your highness bath already wrought me as evil a turn," replied 
 Alfonso, with stern serenitv, and rejoicing in the opportunity to inflict 
 the pang on the haughty lady of the Borgias which her reply betrayed — ■ 
 
 "Nay, nay, my lord, we have too sharp experience of the Knight of 
 St. John's — what is the word? — it matters not — the thought is on all 
 your minds — to doubt him in this matter!" she said, with a singular 
 gleam of disdain and su|)pressed anguish on her lips. 
 
 •' Why, then, sir knight, if ynu will sell your prisoner, as the French 
 have done theirs in the public market of Rome, I will bid you as fair a 
 price as a Turk or an old cardinal," persisted Caesar, laughingly. 
 
 "1 sell not human blood I" returned Alfonso, coldly. "-Nor would I 
 counsel any man — not even your friend the Orsino, knight of England ! — 
 unless his bosom be of congenial stuff, to harbour a serpent in it I" 
 
 "What means this Italian wit? — Alack, I have no skill in schoolmen's 
 edge-tools, but I wear a soldier's I" said Le Beaufort, with extreme fierce- 
 ness — but he met the glance of Lucrezia, and his high bearing suddenly 
 drooped. 
 
 "Let us hope, at least, that into whatever hands the unhappy Colonna 
 has fallen they are better than those she escaped from, whose license 
 neither Turk nor — cardinal I said the duke that was one himself — could 
 surpass!" said Lucrezia. "Let it suffice, we have declared our will, and 
 with the sacred permission, Sir Reginald and I will conclude our inter- 
 rupted game." 
 
 Thfe Hospitaller soon retired from the tormenting spectacle of his rival's 
 triumph ; and on returning to his apartment he commanded Bembo to 
 make every arrangement for their departure immediately after the ladies 
 bad pronounced their decision. In a very unusual manner the canon had 
 kept away from the court; and beset about fulfilling these orders with an 
 alacrity which surprised his lord, and convinced him that he should soon 
 have no loophole of evasion. 
 
 W'hile Bembo was engaged abroad and with great caution in making 
 his arrangements, Alfonso passed several hours in a fretful fever of agita- 
 tion. And it was drawing towards sunset, in the midst of hisunpleasing 
 reverie, when a page entered with a smile of recondite meaning, and in- 
 formed the religious knight that a damsel, closely veiled, who professed 
 herself to be one whose honour and life he had saved at Capua, requested 
 to be allowed an interview to offer her gratitude. Startled with the in- 
 stantaneous recollection of Fiamma, Alfonso rebuked the page's leer with 
 a stern glance, and an order to admit the visitant. 
 
S34 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 A female form, enveloped in a dark Venetian robe and mantle, glided 
 in, and it scarcely needed the action with which she followed ihe disap- 
 ■pearance of the page, revealing a visage whose fixed nallor, anguish, and 
 resolvedness recalled that of the Destiny she had formerly enacted, to in- 
 form Alfonso ihat he beheld Fiamma Colonna. 
 
 " Lady ! and do I indeed behold you on this side of human anguish? 
 And have you ventured inlo Rome, into the capital of your enemies?" was 
 Alfonso's astonished greeting. 
 
 " Nay, more! — inlolheir castle, into their very arms!" replied Fiamma, 
 bending her brow on her hands, and clenching them until the blood 
 almost sprang from the tips of her fingers. " 1 am, as I was wont to be, 
 the dismal queen of a sepulchre, of Adrian's tomb — a prisoner, but that 
 I have means of evasion unknown to my jailers. Yel even lie — even 
 Caesar Borgia!— might trust in the madness which conducted me to his 
 feet that dreadful night— to know the worst, rather than to apprehend it! 
 — to perish by his hand without leaving him the refuge of dreaming me 
 debased by another! Pa/don me, noble knight, my blood hath lost all 
 its woman-tints, else should I blush to say that even your generous honour 
 might not have secured me from his suspicion. 1 chose rather to die — 
 and dreamed that he relented when he concealed and spared me. Yet it 
 was but to darken thy renown with Lucrezia, and assay her to the quick 
 with the black calumny he hath breathed upon thy nanie!" 
 
 " It mailers little ; she is intent on other matters now," said Alfonso, 
 bitterly. 
 
 " But there is vengeance — vengeance yet, for all \" said Fianjma, 
 clenching her teeth with an instant but terrific expression. " No, not for 
 all! He hath wronged me beyond all vengeance — but for thee!— Art 
 thou still of the mood to acquire those certainties for thy lords, which 'tis 
 affirmed thou art in Rome to win?" 
 
 " Yea, and at every risk," replied Alfonso. 
 
 " Why, then, thou mayst report that she loves! — loves where 'tis guilt 
 to love!" said Fiamma. "" What didst thou tell me, in mine agony, that 
 the Penitentiary revealed to thee?" 
 
 " He who is now imprisoned in Santangelo?" replied Alfonso, evading 
 a direct reply. 
 
 " Even he! — and treated with a marvellous severity, denied all visita- 
 tion; confined in so deep and gloomy a dungeon that men marvel how — 
 unless by supernatural illumination — he can read the book which monks 
 tell us is of God, over which he is ever raptly poring! A strange, a 
 marvellous man !" said Fiamma, with a slight shudder. 
 
 " Yea, a saint," returned Alfonso. 
 
 "Or a devil, permitted lo wear the form to tempt the whole race of 
 mankind to a second fall worse than the first, denying that religion wiiich 
 redeemed them!" said Fiamma. 
 
 "Nay, that is woman's office, even from the beginning," replied Alfonso, 
 with great bitierness. 
 
 " We wander— let us return to the matter," said the Colonna, hastily. 
 " Lucrezia's confessor! — it is enough you understand wherefore I feigned 
 an anguish which would it had indeed been remorse, that I might once 
 again feel humanly^ to win Migueloto's sufferance to speak with him. The 
 murderous Catalan hath a religion of his own, and even whiln he whets 
 his knife for my throat in secret, would have me do what 1 may to rescue 
 my condemned soul. I will not be tedious to tell you of all the bleak 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 3S5 
 
 discourse we held, than which none direfuUer is exchanged among the 
 despairing ones in their halls of fire; and yet he could not fright me with 
 all tlie terrors of his eioqurnce •, wherefore I deem, that happen whui will, 
 fear caunot be among the sufferings in store for me! He won me to no 
 quality of repentance, for my soul is exhausted now of all but the hope 
 and purpose of vengeance; but I, with subtleties and dark suggestions of 
 my wrongs, won from him coiiflrmations, obscure but fiendish, of the 
 thought which glows like a ball of fire in my brain, and will anon expand 
 and fill all space with its hell! And yet something it seemed that this 
 horror existed only in the intents of the dire criminals— might yet be 
 baffled — but scarcely do 1 know how he subdued nje into hazanling life on 
 the merest die by procuring his secret egress from the castle, on his 
 simple pledge to return ere his departure could be noticed — but that I 
 value it no more than gamesters the pawn they play in sport ere they stake 
 their gold!" 
 
 " I guess the ren)ainder — that he fled ! But with what marvellous pur- 
 pose did you suffer him to quit Santangelo?" exclaimed the Hospitaller, 
 now much agitated. 
 
 "To seek out his penitent — to startle her from her guilty security— 
 and with the terror of his denunciations, and such added majesty as his 
 miraculous evasion might give, I'and it was no less a miracle that it was 
 wrought by human agency,) affright her — if not too laie — from the black 
 depths wherein she was sinking," replied Fiamma. " But that you may 
 marvel the more, noble knight, know that the monk kept his word to the 
 letter, and returned with no constraint but his own pledged word and confi- 
 dence in his Master's promises, to his loathsome and most perilous 
 dungeon." 
 
 "Marvellous indeed! But what befel him on his mission?" said 
 Alfonso, breathlessly. 
 
 " I had learned for him that Lucrezia was in the valley of Egeria , whi- 
 ther she oft retires of late ; and he found his time to speak to her alone," 
 replied the Colonna. " Ay, in her terror and superstition she confessed 
 that she loved ! — loved with such madness that she knew no longer how 
 to resist! — that her passion was full of guilt and despair! — and its strength 
 may be argued when no extremity of terror or threat could wring from 
 her the name of him whom she thus worshipped !— for the true instinct 
 of love taught her it was dangerous. Patience, good knight, for the 
 monk, in his wrath at her contumacy, has promised to reveal to me the 
 horrible intents and prodigious crimes of him whom the fiends also call 
 Caesar Borgia." 
 
 " Yea ! — and by what necromancy ?" exclaimed the Hospitaller. " But 
 it needs none to reveal the beloved one's name — I swear it! 'tis Re- 
 ginald Le Beaufort !" 
 
 "Necromancy!" repeated Fiamma, gazing with a startled expression 
 at the knight. "None but the dead, indeed, can reveal the full horror of 
 the Borgia misdeeds ! And if thou hast courage to endure the incalcu- 
 lable terror of such a presence — as 1 have! — thou too mayest acquire the 
 certainty which it is thy dangerous errand here to obtain." 
 
 " As thou hast? — the presence of death ! — certainty !" repeated Alfonso, 
 shuddering, but not altogether incredulously; for the universal belief of 
 the age was in accordance with the possibility and actual occurrence of 
 such events. 
 
 "The friar hath his scruples — and 1 am bound by direful oaths," said 
 
336 C.£SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Fiamma, brushing the deathlike dew from her pale brow, "Neither, 
 perchance, hast thou ever heard of his unearthly penitent, the magus, 
 Dom Sabbat?" 
 
 'M heard great rewards proclaimed for him in the jubilee, by Cesar's 
 command," replied Alfonso. 
 
 " It was given out — to assist in the pageantries prepared — but in reality 
 to conjure from them an unbidden guest; at least to compel it to some 
 utterance of its dread silence," said the Cdlonna. "To this intent, the 
 penitentiary has for awhile withdrawn his prohibition; and to-night, if 
 thou darcstlo share the hazaid with me, in the catacombs, shall we behold 
 the murderer in the presence of his victim, and hear him reveal the 
 depths of his black soul in the horrors of his fear and deprecation!" 
 
 " May such things be? — Can the grave indeed be compelled to yield up 
 its fearful habitants?" said Alfonso. 
 
 "If the spell fails-, yet will the dark conscience which has already 
 raised this thing work as powerfully as any sorcery," replied Fiamma. 
 "And the conditions ofylhe fiendish mass require a confession which 
 shall teach other listeners than the demons the truth, even from those 
 lips that least of all would utter it." 
 
 "Yet in the catacombs I So black a mystery to be enacted in so holy 
 a scene I" said Alfonso, and yet without balancing in reality an instant to 
 accept even so dangerous a means of relieving himself from his rack ol 
 uncertainty. 
 
 " The robbers and murderers of Rome, who make the catacombs their 
 sanctuary, have banished all hallowedness from the precincts — the fiends 
 stalk visually through the galleries, as of old angels wandered among the 
 relics of the martyrs, graving their sufferings in the enduring rocks," 
 replied Fiamma. "But even as thou wilt! — take time to deliberate, 
 where I, who am a woman, paused not an instant! Thou art a valiant 
 soldier, and I have cause to know it; but true it is, this is an enterprise 
 wherein thy tried steel can nothing avail thee, for if thou venturesl, it 
 must be in'sh dow and in secrecy! Resolve, knight, for I must return 
 to my place of anguish, like a doomed ghost when light dawns over 
 churchvard graves; but if thou darest this assay, which shall set thine 
 and thy master's soul at rest for ever in certainties, speak, <ind I will meet 
 thee at the gate of San Sebastian, guised as a mendicant friar, to guide 
 thee to the place of rendezvous— an hour at least before midnight, for at 
 midnight they meet in it." 
 
 Thus spurred on, and urged by the desire which consumed his soul, 
 Alfonso solenmly pledged himself to run whatever risk might be incurred 
 in the adventure, and to meet Fiamma at the spot and hour which she 
 named. A glare rather than a sniile of satisfaction lighted up her fea- 
 tures; and with this compact they parted. 
 
 The hope that a full discovery of the crimes of Lucrezia would restore 
 him to the peace of which he felt himself else forever deprived, continued 
 to support the Hospitaller against the thousand arguments and sugges- 
 tions of danger which assailed him after the depariure of Fiamma. 
 Wiih all her motives of vengeance, might she not still be the instrument 
 of Cffi.^ar, employed to entrap him to his destructii.n, which the evil repu- 
 tation and desolation of the local^- to which she invited him would faci- 
 litate? But Alfonso could not brmg himself to believe in such monstrous 
 ingratitude, and there is a magic in the tones of sincerity which involun- 
 tarily compels the human heart to trust. 
 
CSSAR P.ORGiA. 337 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Ingo. You would be satisfied? 
 
 Oihrllo. Would ? nay, I will. 
 
 lago. And may : But, how? how satisfied, my lord?— J/oor oftenice. 
 
 The agitation of the knight's thoughts consumed time almost imper- 
 ceptibly, and night set in so darkly, that he made the necessary prepara- 
 tions for his adventure, concenling his armour and visage as much as 
 possible ill his Imig black nmnile and hood. He had dismissed' his es- 
 quires and the canon, and was preparing to quit his chamber, when a 
 gentle rap at the door aj)prised him of a new visitor. He opened it, and 
 by ihelii,du of a liiile silver lamp, which she was carefully shading, he 
 beheld, to his surprise — .Mona Faustina I 
 
 "My lord, pardon your poor servant I" exclaimed the old woman, 
 entering rapidly, and speaking wiib great agitation from among the muf- 
 fles of her toque ".My lord, I am a nmsi miserable old fool, and I can 
 call myself so froni the day 1 was born ; for my fortune has been n\y bane, 
 and to be the nurse of the sweetest lady in Rome (whereof squires' wives 
 had been proud, and I had nothing but my red cheeks at that time to 
 recommend me). — Bat lose no time, my lord, and if you can, come and 
 save her, or we are all lost, and the poor, handsome young knight of the 
 far sea-land will run into perdilion as sure as the tarpeian rock! 0, 
 signor, he was your friend, whatever hath happed; and on my knees, 
 and with these salt tears, I beseech vou — save us all I" 
 
 " When I can understand a meaning in your plaints, mother, doubt not 
 my will to serve you. — 1 pray you, give me a glimpse of your purport," 
 said the Hospitaller. 
 
 " I dare nut to my lord the duke ; he kills all but oyie, and my heart aches 
 with compassion for the poor young spendthrift, who thinks no more of a 
 Venice ducat than another of a base half-florini" continued the duenna. 
 '•Moreover, his grace bade me come to you in danger, in his absence; 
 but the moon was not then at such a full. " Woe is me, detestable old kite, 
 that tear out my young one's bowels! Yet, if you cannot turn him back, 
 I must lead him on, for never until now was she so bent to have her way ; 
 and they shall make fritters of me for th^ pope's "lephant ere I will betray 
 her to the duke; so come thy gait, for the love of all loveableness, cava- 
 lier, and you will find him on the terrace wailing me; and do thy best to 
 turn him back, or indeed I cannot help myself, and he will come to as 
 evil an end as a hornet in the bees' hive, for all it be among the honey." 
 "Whom— on the terrace— shall I find?" said Alfonso, with a deadly 
 sickness at heart. 
 
 "it wants but a moment," returned Mona Faustina. " I have only a 
 few minutes" grace, in my lady's impatience! — Sir Reginald! young Sir 
 Reginald! — whom she has sent for under pretence to confer of "the Orsini 
 business in privacy— ay, in very troth, at this hour, and in her own proper 
 chambers." 
 
 " Is it even so ! — Why then, what is that to me?" said .\lfonso , stag- 
 gering as if he had just received a mortal blow. " Go on thy way, hoary 
 pander! what is it to me? — I say again, and again, and again, what is it 
 
 22 
 
338 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 to me? Would it were rather a dagger cleaving my benrti— Hasten, fly, 
 hag, and warn ibe duke. Let him avenge! He knows ihe style of old ; 
 — but begone for ever from my siyht, loathsome old woman, whose gray 
 hairs shall make a^e hencefoiih dishonourable." 
 
 "Nay, son I — tliat we should all go mad at one lime," sobbed the 
 duenna with evidently strong emotion, though perhaps not caused by the 
 motive she alleged. "Then I must away and do my duty, for a man 
 cannot serve two masters, nor a woman either, and Madama l.ucrezia 
 sucked at these breasts, unworthy as I am to say it 5 and blood is not 
 water, and milk is more than blood, if jou had ever had a sweet little 
 nursling to know it I" 
 
 " Mona Faustina! stay — I will go; I will cross this villain's path to his 
 guilty paradise," exclaimed Alfonso, after desperately permitting the old 
 woman to reach the threshold at a very slow and wistful pace ; and 
 overtaking her with a couple of strides, he added, " Lead on, but do not 
 speak; 1 have no tongue to answer thee." 
 
 Faustina immediately led the way to the great hall which divided (he 
 part of the palace inhabited by Luciezia from that tenanted by the suc- 
 cessor of the Prince of Salerno. An open archway at one extremity ad- 
 mitted on a terrace, which being flanked by a high dead wall of the |)alace 
 on one side, and a steep and lofty bank wooded with orange trees and 
 myrtles- on the other, was not much frequented by any of the denizens of 
 the Vatican by day, and still less by night. Mona Faustina signified in a 
 whisper that it was there she expected to find the young English knight, 
 and cautioning the Hospitaller Jo make all haste in rerTjoving him from 
 the dangerous locality, if possible, she retired on tiptoe wi;h her lamp, 
 leaving the Hospitaller to pursue his adventure alone and in darkness. 
 
 He hastened on to the archway, and looking with what eagerness may 
 be imagined from its shadow, he quickly discerned the figure of a man 
 wrapped in a cloak, seated on a balustrade at the end of the platform. 
 His eyes were fixed with an intense glow of impatience on the rising 
 moon, which was almost on a level with :he sumptuous gardens below; 
 and the fair visage , though flushed and deei)ly agitated, was that of Sir 
 Reginald le Beaulurt. 
 
 Alfonso quietly stepped forth, strode to the edge of the terrace; and 
 after a momeniary survey slowly paced up the platform, walking like a 
 man in a reverie, and without seeming to notice Sir Reginald until he 
 was close to him. Then stepping slighdy back, he hjoked at him with 
 so rapid a scrutiny that although the knight plucked his plumed cap over 
 his face he could not hope th;it he had escaped recognition. "• Sir Re- 
 ginald le Beaufort, can it be?" said the Hospitaller, without much ap- 
 parent agitation. ••' 1 pray thee, our sometime brother-in-arms, art thou 
 too hedged in the palace, or how chances it thou art here?" 
 
 "Siguorl — but it seems you know me," replied Le Beaufort, after a 
 moment's pause of confusion. "■ Nay, ! deny not my name— nor my 
 business either, siihence the damsels of this court are fair, and an ancient 
 crone whispered me to be at my devotions to our Lady on this teriace at 
 this hour, and if I prayed heartily I should hear good news. Matter 
 enough to stir a yoimg man's curiosily — but it fears me I should be alone." 
 
 The blood thronged so thickly about Alfonso's heart that he could 
 scarcely breathe; the dro])s of a.a;ony poured from his brow, and he con- 
 tinued for some moments to gaze in silence on the quivering and flushed 
 visage of the Knight of England. 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 339 
 
 "Harlot!" he muttered between his clenched teeth. " But no, no! 
 Is it possible that the air of Italy can also corrupt natures like thine into 
 treason so double-dyed! Reginald, it is not thus!— Lucrezia — Lucrezia! 
 — it is to Lucrezia thou wendest?" 
 
 " Lucrezia!" repeated Sir Reginald, with certes a confessing paleness, 
 and suffering his cloak to drop aside in his absorption, the richness and 
 bridegroom splendour of his garb beneath was revealed. "Lucrezia!" 
 he continued, rallying with mingled fierceness and confusion. " And 
 what if it be! — what if her grace give private audience to other secret 
 envoys than those of Ferrara? Well thou wettest that all thy toil has 
 been, and still is, to find matter to render thy hatred of this lady reasonable 
 in men's sight; and yet thou treacherously feignestto be a secret emissary 
 to promote the alliance, and thereby is the Orsino driven to distracted 
 thoughts and plans. And though I hoped not so great an honour, nor do 
 intend in other manner to reveal thee than by urging her to put thee to 
 immediate assay — But how darest thou to arraign me, or my deeds? Let 
 them be what they will, I am here to abide the consequence." 
 
 " The spell is heavy upon thee— the crimson and purple flowers amidst 
 which the syren sings beside the rotten carcasses of her victims!" said 
 Alfonso, wildly. "But thou shalt not listen to her voice, or thou art lost! 
 Reginald, av/aV with me! — we will leave this palace, Rome itself, together. 
 There is no other refuse from the spells of the sorceress!" 
 
 "Not for all the realms which the sun set on to-night will I refuse the 
 obedience due to my gracious lady's command," returned Le Beaufort. 
 "I am a free knight of England," and have taken no wage of yours : 
 therefore, exercise no mastery, for I own no vassalage." 
 
 "Certes, it is true!" said Alfonso, folding his arms and laughing with 
 excess of bitterness. "And thus, ai length, it befals that to thy friendship 
 I owe that 1 have achieved the object of my journey, and can bear home 
 to my sire a sufficient answer to all his importunities, unless he would 
 have me seek a bride in the sinks of his capital. Revel m thy Eden up \ 
 she is weary of thee and gives thee to the knife, or her sire or her 
 brother detect and spare her the pains!" 
 
 '•Of what rave you, signor?" returned Le Beaufort, furious, he himself, 
 perhaps, scarcely knew whether with the consciousness of his own guilt 
 or innocence. " But if you accuse me for that — nay, 1 deny it not! — her 
 grace is pleased to command my presence on matters relating to the 
 Orsini ; and I have obeyed, and will obey, though all the fiends and the 
 swords of ten Alfonsos stood in my way !" 
 
 "Reginald! if it be possible "^that' thou beguilest thyself with this 
 specious saying, listen to me ! — I tell thee the sorceress deceives thee into 
 the betrayal of thy noble friend, of everv faith of man," said Alfonso, 
 panting for breath as he hurried on. "Thou knowest— thou canst not 
 doubt— that she loves thee, at least as women of her matchless baseness 
 love, more evanescently than the most vile and changeable of men. I 
 tell thee it is not in humanity to resist, were it thrice subdued by years of 
 fasting and solitude! Thou" shalt not go! thou shalt not add to the heap 
 of her most wretched and deluded victims." 
 
 " Lord of Ferrara ! it might content you to rake amidst the slime of this 
 foul city for matter to asperse this most beautiful and vir-uous lady — but 
 for my cause, while my hand can clutch the hilt of a sword thou shalt 
 not!" exclaimed Sir Reginald, tremulous with rage and shame. 
 
 "Thou seest— 1 humbly hold my peace!— ay, the sword was given you 
 
340 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 to be her swashbuckler !" said Alfonso, laughing and scoffingly filliping 
 the hill of the young knight's weapon. 
 
 "For this, among oiht-r matters, shall thou abye a reckoning yet," 
 said Sir Kcginald, yielding to the passions of his fiery nature. 
 
 " Lei il be now then, braggart boy I — or, soflly, thou art not harnessed 
 now for these rough wars ! Go, bid Lucrezia arm her champion !" retorted 
 the Mospilallerin a wild jeering tone- "Yet, stay! a safer vengeance may 
 be thine! Go and tell her that the envoy of Ferrara, who rakes the niua 
 of Tiber to bespatter her withal, is Alfonso the prince!" 
 
 "Ha, truly! I do detect thy crafl ! Thou art enamoured of the per- 
 fection thou hast failed to darken with eternal ignominy, and to keep an 
 outward t-onsislence wouldst have me betray Ihee to the Boriiias that they 
 may compel thee to marry their divine daughter!" said Le Beaufoi I, with 
 a flnme of jealousy bursting out in spile of all his efforts to conceal it. 
 "Gi> to, go to! 1 am not ihe shallow fool thou wouldsl find me ; and I 
 swenr by the spurs 1 won in a bloody field I will rather kill thee than 
 betray thee to such a doom !" 
 
 "Are life and death si) absolutely in the hands of the mongrel Normans 
 of beyond sea?" relorted Alfonso-, adding with a convulsion that shook 
 his whole stalwart frame, "But it is false! I loathe and spurn thy vile 
 paramour worse than the vilest of the leprosy-tainted cam|)s of France! 
 And to prove it! — to night — be safe! 1 leave thee to thy happiness, I 
 will leave the Vatican itself- and will be as secret as its darkness, if — in 
 some panse— thou will bid her give thee the coronal of the tournament, 
 that I may have a fair pretext to pluck thy heart out in some market- 
 place ! She will not deny thee so small a recompense as my disgrace and 
 scorn; and ifil be necessary to deceive the Orsino longer, thou canst 
 sigh and swear by some pretty oath thou wouldst rather he had it ihan thy 
 goodly self, an if thy merits might have suffered il." 
 
 "]Not as hoping — believing — this, but in thy defiance, will I tarry 
 here, and abide my fortune," returned Le Beaufort furiously, and clutching 
 Alfonso by the mantle in his rage; but plucking it away with a violent 
 gesture the Hospitaller stalked into the shadow of the arch, and almost 
 instantly disappeared. 
 
 In ihe first tumult of his thoughts the Hospitaller himself scarcely knew 
 how he left the precincts of the palace, or whither he was wending his 
 way. The strife of a mortal conflict would have seemed to him a pleasant 
 exchange-, and in Ihis mood, when he suddenly recollected his appoint- 
 ment with the Colonna, a kind of joy in the thought of its dangerous 
 nature, and in the recollection that it promised him a full revelation of the 
 crimes of Lucrezia, neutralized for some moments even the poison of that 
 which he had just made. 
 
 The lime was already advanced, and he hastened with all possible ra- 
 pidity to the place of appointment, and at the gate of San Sebastian he 
 encountered a figure which, though closely enveloped in the cowl and 
 weeds of a monk, he knew by a signal to be Fiamma. They passed in 
 silence through the gate, and lea'ving the well-remembered Egerian 
 valley to the left, proceeded with rapidity over the plain. The antique 
 basilica of San Sebastian soon appeared in sight, whence the remote 
 swell of triimii)lianl anthems was fitfully audible on all the changes of the 
 wind. But instead of taking the beaten path to the church, in which 
 Avas the usual entrance to ihe catacombs, Fiamnia turned off over a wild 
 irregular heath, diversilied with deep hollows and tall clumps of bramble 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 341 
 
 and juniper bushes. Descending one of these little dells, which seemed 
 as if excavated at some remote period in the sandy soil, they arrived in 
 front of what appeared to be two or three grottoes hewn in the rock, half 
 choked with weeds and fallen fragments. 
 
 Into one of these Fiamma glided with the easy velocity of a serpent 
 accustomed to all the windings", but Alfonso involuntarily hesitaied. The 
 tales he had heard of the extent and intricacy of the catacombs, and of 
 the dangerous personages who frequented them, forcibly occurred to him. 
 But white he paused the clink of two flints was audible, and by the flashes 
 which accompanied it he discerned that Fiamma was on her knees blow- 
 ing some dry leaves into flame, and kindling a torch. Ashamed of his 
 fears, and reanimated by the recollections which came upon him, he ad- 
 vanced into the groLto, and assisted to kindle the torch. When this was 
 effected, in compliance with Fiamnja's desire he drove a strong ])ointed 
 stake with which she furnished him firmly into a cleft of the sand-rocks 
 which walled the grotto. A circular groove was filed in the neck of the 
 stake, and to this she now fastened the end of a ball of twisted silk with 
 such multiplied precautions as showed that it was a matter of importance. 
 Fiamma then put the ball in his hand, and taking the torch, said with a 
 melancholv smile, ".\nd now, how beats thy heart? Darest thou 
 follow me?" 
 
 "Ay, if il be over black adders !" returned the Hospitaller ; and yet it 
 must not be denied that when he perceived the intent of Iiis guide, for 
 another moment he hesitated again. He found that he was in a low cavern 
 excavated in sand-rocks, with several arched passages branching off in 
 various directions, into one of which Fiamma now led the way, wiiii an em- 
 phatic caution to keep the cine in his hand, andunwind it as ihey proceeded. 
 The torch but dubiously illumined the darkness into which they almost 
 instantlv passed, but the knight felt they were ascending by the sioj)e of 
 the cround against his feet. The passage was scarcely wide enough to 
 permit an explorer to stretch his arms, and was unevenly walled on each 
 side with chalk and sand. Proceeding in silence and with rapidity, the 
 silk skein gradually ^unk until it was on a level with the ground, and the 
 Hospitaller found they were in another cavernous excavation, from which 
 radiated three narrow galleries, one of which descended in an inclined 
 plane of precipitous rapidity to a great depth, at limes scarcely the height 
 or breadth of a man, at others jagged like a fissure made by an earthquake, 
 following the vein of the sand-beds. The Colonna spoke scarcely a 
 word, but occasionally she held up the torch as she advanced, at limes 
 revealing dark openings where the gallery was crossed by other passages, 
 but ollener sonjeancientinscription, or rude bas-relief, depicting the suf- 
 ferings of the Christian martyrs interred within niches in the walls. 
 
 The dense tomb-like scent of the air began to exercise a chill ng in- 
 fluence on the Hos()ilaller; and the frequent crumbling of sand and rock 
 on their way, awakening dismal and seemingly supernatural sounds in 
 the remote echoes, as if the silent citizens of that vast necroi'Olis com- 
 plained of the profanation of their abodes by the presence of life ; the la- 
 byrinthine confusion in which they seemed fast involving themselves •, 
 doubts of the purposes of his guide — continued to assail his spirit, and 
 shake its natural firmness and courage. It may be imngmed thai he did 
 not fail to observe Fiamma's direction in unwinding the clue, on which it 
 seemed they depended more than on any knowledge of localities; and he 
 found that it had little plummets of lead' set at intervals to steady it on ihe 
 
342 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ground. The necessities of this aid soon appeared still more strikingly, 
 for the gallery, after descending to a great deplh, began to wind as tor- 
 tuously as if indeed traversing the bowels of the earth. The other in- 
 conveniences multiplied. Cold, damp, stinking blasts occnsionally rushed 
 past fr( m the foul depths around; ever and anon jjipcesof the sandy rock 
 detached themselves, as if some skeleton were jiu^hing a way from his 
 sealed niche, or some malicious denion attempted to crush the passenger; 
 the spectral cries nudtiplied to an infinite distance, until they reverbe- 
 rated in faint and mysterious whispers. 
 
 Alfonso was beginning to be surprised and alarmed at the great distance 
 they had traversed in these galleries of death, when suddenly Fiamma 
 paused, and turned with the full glare of her eyes and Icirch upon him. 
 
 "Your brow is damp, knight!" she said, almost with a tinge of con- 
 tempt in her tone. " if your heart fails you, return ; for we are now en- 
 tering the place of ordeal, and you must remain alone and without light in 
 these solitudes until the actors in the dismal pageantry arrive." 
 
 " Be the hazard wha^it may, I am here to run it," replied the knight. 
 "I shall scarcely account any extremity to the flesh an evil which sets my 
 soul at rest." 
 
 " Let us on, then — those words should have been mine," said Fiamma, 
 continuing to advance, and the gallery gradually widened until it branched 
 on each side of an arch hewn in the rock, which opened into a cavern 
 originally formed in excavating the sand from among the rocks, the ca- 
 pricious beds of which, hollowed out, had left a huge chaotic chamber, 
 wherein immeasurable galleries opened as into a centre. Many traces of 
 human art appeared in the carved walls, and inscriptions deeply cut in 
 the rocks which ages had not obliterated. The natural pillars of sand- 
 stone, left by the excavators, were sometimes rudely wrought with archi- 
 tectural ornaments, and the dust which covered the ground was so white 
 and deep that it seemed as if strewed for ghosts to glide noiselessly over it. 
 
 "Yet 'tis a fearful theatre — perchance to stage a more fearful drama!" 
 said the Colonna, exhibiting the interior of the cavern as far as her torch 
 could illumine its vast recesses. "If legends lie not, the walls of these 
 caverns sepulchre more dead than now breathe in Italy ! Ay, and for the 
 most pari, murdered and mangled victims of the cruelty of man to man. 
 This snowy dust is formed of their crumbled bones— these walls are 
 crowded with their skeleton forms, 'which every falling splinter reveals 
 to unhallowed gaze— for hither come sorcerers and witches to hold their 
 black sabbaths, and delight their sovereign with the desecration of these 
 holy solitudes. Hither will Csesar come — a spirit as dark 1 But to see 
 all unseen^hast thou the courage to ensconce thyself in yonder niche, 
 over the arched entrance, whence thy retreat, guided by the ball in thy 
 hand, is assured and easy?" 
 
 " It is very narrow— is it a sepulchre ?" said the knight, with a shudder, 
 and casting "the light of the torch upwards to a narrow, but apparently 
 deep dark opening in the |)ile of rocks over the entrance. 
 
 " What if it heV returned Fiamma; " mark you not the half-eff"aced 
 inscription : Nil miserins vita! What can we fear in death which exis- 
 tence suffers not? — But time shall not weary you much with his company 
 until I return. Yonder passage leads, by a i'ew windings, to the chapel 
 where Csesar and his sorcerer are to meet, the good monks believing them 
 pilgrims, bound on a devotion to these shrines of martyrs — and they wait 
 but the concerted signal from me." 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 343 
 
 " Time ! \\'nercfore should he enter these abodes of the dead?" said 
 Alfonso, still hesitatingly. 
 
 '' To bid them be p'aiicnt I— fifteen centuries have e1ap55pd since yonder 
 marlxr's tomb was carved with that word : llesiirgani," said Fiamrna. 
 " How many cycles of ages must he yet await ihe all-awakening trutn|)?" 
 
 " Tfiis immense silence perchance answers," said Alfonso, alter a pause, 
 for even his courage faltered at the liiought of reniauiin^i alone in tlicse 
 fearful solituiles. But the violence of the feeling wliich now possessed 
 him against Luerez'a revived his dflermiimtion. It was easy to mount to 
 the sepulchie by ihc juliings of excavated rock ; and Inking care to secure 
 his hall of bilk, after a short survey he prepared to iiscend. But suddenly 
 the anpreliension of treachery rushed so forcdtly into his niind, that he 
 paused, and turned to Fiamma wiih a look which expressed his suspicions 
 so clrai ly ihat she understood liim without words. 
 
 ''B tray thee I and whcrefon^?" she exclaimed impatiently. "Thou 
 wilt deem it is lilile for one so condemned to imprecate, -yet may this 
 whole mountain overhead fall in and crush ujC, consciously, throughout 
 all eternity, if I mean thee aught hut good I" 
 
 This dreadful imprecation silenced the Hospitaller's scruples, and he 
 ascended t j the shrine in which it seemed he was to take up his point of 
 observation. It had, apparently, from its depth, been excavated to contain 
 a long fde of corpses, placed upright, as was the frequent practice; and 
 from the richness of its outward decoradons had probably tempted the 
 cupidity of some adventurer to break the marble closure away. If the 
 sacrilege was rewarded wiih any spoil could not be guessed: but at all 
 events nothing now remained but dust and darkness in the sepulchre, 
 into which the kniuht entered backwards, for it would have been difficult 
 to turn in so narrow a space, and he retr«alcd some steps from the en- 
 trance, until Fiamma was satisfied that it was not possible to discern him 
 from the fl^jor of the cavern. Then waving her hand in farewell, with an 
 expression of triumph kindling over her features, she hastened from the 
 cavern by one of the galleries on the opposite side. Alfonso could not 
 hinder himself from bending forward and watching the last glimmer up 
 the ga'dery : then succeeded utter darkness, and a silence as unbroken as 
 it sound was annihilated. 
 
 Thus abandoned to his meditations, bis thoughts returned to muse with 
 such anguish on the events transacting above ground that for some time 
 he forgot his present situation, and the perils which might succeed in it. 
 When at length the rapid shil'tings of thought brought him back to this 
 consciousness, he started, and almost imagined himself in some wild 
 dream: but the pressure of his prison walls convinced him of the reality 
 of his dangerous position. The absence of Fiannna was already long, 
 and as it renglhened on, terrible anticipations and fears assaifd his ima- 
 gination. The proverbial treachery of the Borgias, the horrible vengeances 
 to which they devoted their enemies, suggested to him thdt perhaps ihey 
 had contrived for him the matchless liorror of a living tomb in these vast 
 labyrinths. Under the influence of this lliou-ht he dared not for several 
 instants draw his silken bne, lest he should find that it was severed from 
 the stake at the entrance of the cavities. In thai case to rein-.ce his way 
 was scarcely |l0^slble, and to perish of starvation and despair was the pro- 
 bable alternative! But this apprehension grew more terrible than any 
 certainty, and he plucked the ball convulsively — but the sharp jerk con- 
 vinced him that his fear was unfounded : and before he had time to form 
 
344 C.^SAK BORGIA. 
 
 any more disastrous conjectures, light gleamed down a gallery whence he 
 had not exfiecled it, and voices were echoed in whispers down the walls, 
 some time before the speakers appeared. And when they entered, their 
 aspect was not calculated to dispel the sinister gloom ol' the soliiude thev 
 disturbed. 
 
 The foremost was a personage enveloped in a long black mantle and 
 mask, with a plumed hatsh)uched over it; another followed him who was 
 garbed like a Spanish man-at-arms, his visage shaded by the long tattered 
 hair which liuug from under his morion. A third came!| holding a torch, 
 and apparently directing the advance of the two first by its light. He was 
 an aged man, to judge by his stoop and his dragging gait", but was too 
 completely enveloped in his garb of a Black Penitent to" be more narrowly 
 scrutinized. He leaned upon a long black wand, curiously inlaid with 
 figures and stars, and carried on his humjiy slioulders a scarlet sack, in 
 which were probably some instruments of his art. 
 
 / 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 A NIGHT IN THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 " Hecate. 0, well done! 1 commend your pains; 
 
 And every one shall share i' ihe %a\ns."— Macbeth. 
 
 " Methinks the holy air is wondrous musty, Dom Sabbat I yet it should 
 be dry and warm, sithence we are descended nearly as deep as hell I" said 
 the foremost, whose tone of lurid gaiety revealed him to be (Isesar Borgia. 
 " How much deeper must we plunge ere the fiends are near enough to 
 hear our evocations?" 
 
 _" Signor, this plnce may serve the purpose: we can njake the circle 
 wide enough,' replied the necromancer, pausing, and in a voice which, 
 however feeble and whistling with age, struck the Hospitaller as if he had 
 heard it before. "But I njust have assistance, and will sunnnon two wise 
 sisters of the art; we are ever willing to do each other turns of aid and 
 kindness." 
 
 Slightly withdrawing from his companions Dom Sabbat drew a sharp 
 blue- gleaming knife from his bundle, pricked himself in the arm, and 
 advanced towards a remote gallery in front, s|)rinkling little drops of his 
 blood as he went, and uttering some strange words with great rapidity, 
 in a raised lone, as if calling to some one in the distance. Numerous dis- 
 cordant and gibbering echoes answered, and .suddenly there was heard a 
 violent whirr of wind ; after a pause, during which it increased, and seem- 
 ingly hurried in upon it, two haggard old women came rushing down the 
 gallery, and entered with their robes heaped up about them, full apparently 
 of herbs, shrieking eujulously, We come, we come I" 
 
 "Leave mumbling to thy" saints, Migueloto, or perchance thou wilt 
 mar uur spell," said Cajsar, imuatienily. "Look, man, they are thine 
 old friends - the witches of the Ghetto.'' 
 
 The sorceresses, greeting Co3sar with a fantastic bend, pointed their 
 skinny lingers at the tremblmg castellain, and mowed and laughed in 
 concert. 
 
CCSAR BORGIA. 345 
 
 " Devils may not airrii^ht ye, liags. being your daily and niizhlly com- 
 pany,'"' said Miguelolo, angrily. " Bui an 1 had my way, ye should not 
 laugh so soon alter your grandilaughler's mad piank had perilled us all." 
 "Peace, fool ; the mothers were in no less hazard, — but the meddling 
 monkish knight may live to rue it to his heart's core,'" said Caesar gloomi- 
 ly. "■ And now, my i)Otent Sabbat, since thy weird helpmates are here, 
 wherefore dosttliou pause and look at me?" 
 
 "•Sigiiorl I would clearly undeisiand your will, which as yet you but 
 dubiously hint," replied the magus, in a calm and confident tone. 
 
 " 1 have seen that thou hast power to raise the dead — for didst thou not 
 show me Charlemagne in the magic njirror?" said Caesar, widi sonje un- 
 usual pauses of he&italitin. "But now 1 would have thee summon me a 
 spirit that will not need perchance so powerful a spell, for it is wander- 
 ing still in some shadowy realm between this and the nothingness into 
 which all things return — or the fixed eteruiiy which priests avouch. 
 "Whatever it be, 1 would que>tion it to learn what it would have to be at 
 rest, and.leave darkening my sunshine and thwarting me in all my ways !" 
 "What spirit, then, woul-Jsl thou bid me summon, Caesar?" replied 
 the necromancer. "• My spells have no power over the blessed ; and 
 some are damned even beluw adjurations which compel the fiends from 
 the centre." 
 
 "The blessed! — nay, for he perished in mortal sin, and albeit loved 
 by women, 1 do misdoubt me the greybeard Peter looks not on men's 
 actions with their eyes," said Caesar, after a moment's meditation. " Make 
 thv circles, and utter thy spells, and I will tell thee anon whom I would 
 behold!" 
 
 The necromancer took his staff, and made some mystic sicns at three 
 poiiils of the cavern, muttering in some ur)kiiown language to himself; he 
 then direw il forward, ai.d it struck quivering in the sand, and to the af- 
 friuhted eyes of the gazers for some instants resembkd a fiery serpent 
 coiling and hissing over the s|)0t. The magician advanced, and taking 
 his staff as the centre, drcwaci-cle round ii. pirily linked in which he 
 drew another of greater extent, with a penlacle iti the midst, and a third 
 of similar size to the first. He then commandrd the assistant hags to 
 trench the circles by casting up the sand with little brass shovels which 
 they had brougtil, all the lime |)ronounciiig some Hebrew words which he 
 taught them ; and clapping their hands and shrilly exclaiming, '^ A master 
 of the cabala ! a master !" thev set to work with great zeal and evident ex- 
 pectation of Some portentous results, exchanging nivsterious nods of sa- 
 tisfaction. In the operation of delving numerous fragments of bones and 
 skulls turned up, winch Sabbat seized and placed round the second circle. 
 " Tell me now, my son, whether the spirit we are to evuke was violently 
 expelled from ihe carcass : and if so, w^hen, and where?" said the necro- 
 mancer, proceeding with his labours while Ceesar threw himself into a 
 reclining position, as if wearied, on the ground, and walched his pro- 
 gress. 
 
 " What matters it to know this?" he replied, burying his hand in the 
 sands, and seeming to divert himself by suffering it to squeeze through 
 his fingers. 
 
 " To make the circle of capacity to resist the wrath of the spirit, which 
 else might tear the questioner to pieces, or blast him with fire from hell," 
 said Dom Sabbat. 
 " Hells vassals are then as rebellious as those of the church," said 
 
346 CJESkR BORGIA. 
 
 Caesar, smiling darkly. " A violent death I— ay, such indped it was ; but 
 lliL'Se sood dames can fell you how rrancesco, "Duke olT.andia, fell." 
 
 "He had dishonnured the pure blood of our fallier — pure from Enoch." 
 said .\oue, fiei-cely tossing back hrr matted grev hair as she glared up 
 from her toils. Her sister, the grisly Morta. paused, too, and added with 
 a biiter laugh, " Rut she was so beauiirul. iNotte I " 
 
 " But when-fore slain? ihou, signor, didst not strike to avenge the blood 
 of Enoch ?" said D..m Sabbat, 
 
 "I was ni)l born to be a younger brolherl — his light made mine 
 shadow^! But ihou hast heard tidings of this ere now I " returned Cgesar. 
 
 "Was there no other cause? iNo damning spot in thy brother's soui 
 which we may use as a spell against the apparilioD's wratli?" said Dom 
 Sabbat, with em|)liatic meaning. 
 
 " Yea, master ; for it was my lord's urging of the justice of his brother's 
 death in the guilt of his passion fur Donna Lucrezia, which wrought me to 
 work in it,"' said Migueloto, who beheld the preparations with increasing 
 agitation. 
 
 " Peace, idiot I this is neither time nor place for those false mutterings 
 which thou didst feign to believe in hope to cheat the devil, and murder 
 with angelic approbation,'' interrupted Caesar. "These tales were but 
 mine own whispers echoed; and if Francesco's soul had no other staia 
 than this imimted happiness, he were indeed beyond the power of your 
 spells; what say ye? It was she, not I that murdered him — when she 
 dand to complain to him of that moment's madness; and the puffed-up 
 boy threatened me with his vengeance." 
 
 The necromancer's eyes gleamed fearfully through the holes in his black 
 hood, and he resumed his labours muttering," We must weave the spell 
 thrice: for the injured have a power which their wron^^ers dream noti" 
 
 Not a word of this unconscious confession escaped the strained hearing 
 of the Hospitaller. 
 
 While the hags delved a second trench round the circles the necro- 
 mancer placed a low tripod in the first, upon which he set a brazen chafing- 
 dish, kindled a fire beneath it, and from the herbs which the witches 
 had brought, and many others in his own sack, selected the materials for 
 a fumigation. Caesar continued for some time apparently engaged in scan- 
 ning the ornaments and sepulchral inscriptions of the subterraneous 
 chapel, for as such many of the monuments attested that persecuted 
 Christians of the first ages "had used it. 
 
 " These ghosts of thine are like women, Dom Sabbat," he said at length, 
 with wild levity. "They will come when not asked, and when asked will 
 none ofit." 
 
 "The spirit may have power given it to withstand my spell, Avherein I 
 am not to blame," replied the necromancer. " As yet I have not uttered 
 it — but lime is at hand I Sisters, sit in the first circle, and repeat the 
 names I must pronounce; but wherefore trembles this soldier ? The spirit 
 will appear only to its murderer, it at all." 
 
 "We bad all a share in the work; let us all behold it I I bate the 
 Nazarene still I" grined iMorla between her numerous and fang-like 
 teeth 
 
 "Why, so do I ! I hate him, and fear him not," said Caesar, springing 
 up on his feet. " Dastard I he was my brother, yet thou seest 1 do'not 
 quiver in a nerve I " 
 
 "Beware that thou utter no prayer, or we are all at the mercy of the 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 347 
 
 fiends ! said Dom Sabbat, gazing at ibe pallid captain ofSantargolo, wbose 
 teeth chattered audibly. *' tnicr the fifcle, if ihnu woiildst be safe, and 
 fear not — until thine hourconiesi Duke Caesar, thy station is within the 
 pentacle of the second circle." 
 
 Miguelnto mechanically obeyed the directions of the sorcerer, while 
 Caesar advanced boldly, fcapcd into the pentacle, and stood with folded 
 arms in a resolved or j^erhaps sceptical attitude. The sage then returned 
 to the l'oremo>t circle, wliich he alone occupied, knelt, and took a curious 
 vo'ume of oriental manuscript, illuminated wiih magic figures and signs, 
 from his breast, and taking the only torch which they had brought, be 
 thrust it into the sand and extinguished it. 
 
 The little light which remained was furnished fron) the livid flantes 
 which burned under the sorcerer's chafing-dish, from which Alfonso per- 
 ceived that there arose a thick dark smoke, full of some strange perfume. 
 With all the reasoDS which he had to suspect sime fraud in the necro- 
 n)ancer's exhibition, so strons; and general was the belief in the marvels 
 of sorcery, that be gazed with all the horror and fascination which the 
 expectation of beholding an inhabitant of the vast unknown might well 
 occasion. But, despite the horror which Caesar's crimes necessarily ex- 
 cited, there was something sublime in the fixed and unquailing courage 
 with which he seemed to await the issue of the terntlc experiment. 
 Perhaps the feeling which supported him was akin to that of a man 
 stretching forth a d^'iseased limb to be amputated, because it is the only 
 means of deliverance from an intolerable and induring anguish, for he 
 murmured several times, half unconsciously and aloud, "Let it take 
 some form — ai.ght but that darkness — and I will not fear it I " 
 
 " Silence, silence I the sisters give not due responses, for they bearnot 
 my words ! " said the necromancer angrily, and continuing to read from 
 his book in a language which was unknown to all but himself and the hags. 
 The Hospitaller's incredulity was soon shaken. Mutterings as if of thunder 
 sounded remotely among the galleries, and seemed to be approaching 
 nearer and nearer. Fiery hieroglyphics ran along the sandy earth and the 
 sepulchral walls of the cavern, while the necromancer calmly read on with- 
 out raising his eyes, and the witches continued their chaunt in mingled 
 terrorand enthusiasm until it rose like the shrieking ofsea birds in a storm. 
 
 Suddenly the brazier began to sparkle and hiss, and seemed to bubble 
 over with coloured serpents and flames. A deathly mephitic oduur filled 
 the cavern, which produced a strange and swooning languor even in 
 Alfonso, although removed from its immediate action. The feeling was 
 brief, but it left a kind of dreamy intoxication on the senses, so that nheo, 
 raising his eyes from the group, he saw what seemed to be legions of 
 hideous spectres and demons of the most grotesque and horrible forms 
 crowding into the cavern, and flitting up and down the walls, he gazed 
 with the strange imperturbability with which we look on the direst phan- 
 tasmagoria of sleep. The majority of these apparitions made gestures of 
 disdain, or mouthed contemptuously at the silent tenants of the circles. 
 
 " It is in vain ; they spurn our offerings : nothing is acceptable to them 
 but the newly shed blo"d uf children and virgins I" muttered Dom Sabbat, 
 in a low and disappointed tone. "They will not answer. Hags, adjure 
 your father, the cruel and aged sorcerer, to aid us, for be is surely among 
 these demons I" 
 
 "•'Tis false I" shrieked Morla, in spite of the terror which shook her 
 withered carcass. " These have not the countenances of the children of 
 
348 Cy£SAR BORGIA. 
 
 our tribes ; and he ever loathed thine worse than the plague, living, and 
 will not consort wilh them, dead I" 
 
 "More mandragora! hark at its pleasant shrieks! Surely we lack 
 some potent ingredient," said Dom Sabbat, hurriedly. " The sweat of a 
 murderer's right hand in the flames!— Yet if these are spirits we have 
 spells more persuasive than the material unctions of the grave! Speak, 
 Csesar! remii)d them of all the direst deeds by which thou hast merited 
 their aid and favour. Speak, or 1 have no longer power to detain them, 
 or compel submission. 
 
 "By the passion which consumes my soul! by the spouse of Christ 
 whom I w^oii from His altars! by the ding curse of Sultan Zem ! by the 
 blood of my brother!" exclaimed Csesar; and observing that ihf spectral 
 hosts gradually waned away, he added still more franiically, "Nay, then, 
 demoiii,, spirits, whatever ye are, hear me, for ye shall hear me! If the 
 Church of God be hateful to ye— by the damning calumnies I have 
 breaihed against its head! sutler this spirit 1 demand to appear before me!" 
 
 A moment of profound and awful silence followed, and then an uni- 
 versal shriek arose lyom all the gazers, even from the necromancer 
 himself, excepting Csesar, who stood fixed and immoveable as a figure 
 carved in ebony— for a pale and ghastly blue light gU'an:ed down the 
 gallery in the opposite wall of the cavern, and a darkness appeared in it 
 whose presence chilled the life-blood in Alfonso's veins. And yet there 
 was no precise outline of form or feature ; vague hues of armour, and of a 
 maiiile and rich surcoat dee[)ly stained with gore and the green ooze of 
 corruption ; some ghastly indistinctness of a visage and waving plumes, 
 — was all that was discernible. 
 
 "Demon or angel, or whatever thou art!" gasped Caesar at length, 
 while the necromancer glared as if petrified at the horror he had himself 
 raised, and Mit^aieloto sank senseless on the sand. "Yea, yea, for it is 
 he! even as we left him in the vaults of Santa Maria! — Francesco! brother! 
 —no, brother I will not call thee," he continued in the tones of a 
 madman raving in his cell. "Stay, speak ! or my soul must burst in its 
 silence! — Speak ! if because thou wcrt slain in mortal sin — in the arms of 
 one of the accursed tribes — thy s^ul cannot win rest, and torments me 
 thus ! if It be thy hell to make mine! Oh, speak, and say what penance, 
 what prayer, what masses numberless, can win me forgiveness and thee 
 peace!" 
 
 There was a silence. 
 
 " Caesar !" replied a low unearthly voice, which sounded as if from the 
 depths of the grave, and yet in tones of supernatural sweetness and 
 sorrow, not imniingled with compassion. 
 
 " Oh, 1 iim here !" shrieked the maddening fratricide. 
 
 " Cast oti" those robes to wear which thou hast emulated Cain the first 
 murderer !— resume thy priesily habit; bestow thy sisier on whomsoever 
 her love shall choose,' were he the meanest of tiiy serfs : wear out thy 
 days in penance and prayer and holy works, and in perpetual labour to 
 obliterate and refute the hideous calumnies thy villany has spread! — and 
 heaven may yet be merciful!" 
 
 "Never, never, never, fiend! thou but assumest his gentle form to 
 torture me!" raved Caesar. " Bid me, if thou will, when I am master of 
 Italy, redeem the Holy Scpulche from the hands of the infidels, or perish 
 in the enterprise!— endow temples to pray for tliy unpeacefully parted 
 soul. Nay, do thy worst, destroy, if thou canst ! i defy thee. Boy, that 
 
CJ:SAR BORGIA. 349 
 
 wert so loved and beautiful! spirit, though thou art! yea, I will torture 
 thee, too. Thy darkness— yea, let it be present — when ilie crown of the 
 ancient Caesar is set upon my brow — and when Lucrezia sits throned my 
 empress beside me in the majesty of her supreme beauty, and all the 
 earth, 1 care not whether in love or fear, shouts ' Well done! well done!'" 
 But even as he concluded the words wiih frantic defiance and exultation, 
 the apparition disappeared in supervenient darkness with a long and me- 
 lancholy shriek which sounded like a farewell to all hope. 
 
 The (lead red light of the brazier now reappeared which the superna- 
 tural glare had darkened; and Alfonso, half senseless as he himself re- 
 maiupd, fell that a long silence ensued. 
 
 " Dom Sabbat!" at length exclaimed the voice of Caesar, in a 
 wondrously fixed and firm tone; "let us. have light. Tliis is strange 
 jugglery !— didst thou hear what the devil said in that fair disguise?" 
 
 "Caesar! listen to me; it is a true spirit thou hast behold," gasped the 
 necromancer. " iMy spells could not raise it. It is a si^irit sent from 
 heaven to warn thee to repentance; and I adjure thee, as \ho\i livesl, and 
 must live for ever, repent, and save thy soul from the burning grasp 
 which is upon it." 
 
 "This is goodly advise from thee, Dom Sabbat," exclaimed Caesar, 
 with a wild laugh. "Repent! — turn monk and mumbler of masses! 
 Give Lucrezia to the arms of the first beggar who wins her woman's liking! 
 — to the hot Englishman, perchance — or the frosty spy of Ferrara? 
 Away!— hast thou forgotten that thyself didst show me the descendants 
 of Lucrezia all crowned, and with wreaths which made those of the 
 Caesars dim ?" 
 
 '' I remember!" groaned the magus. 
 
 "Then art thou answered," said Caesar, gaspingly. "Yet, once again 
 let me tax the powers of thy so mighty art. Command thy spirits to 
 show me the form of him whom Lucrezia loves — or shall love ; — that in 
 obeying the spirit's behest we may not mistake our bridegroom." 
 
 " It is in vain ; the fiends are weary, and will no longer obey my spells," 
 said the necromancer, drawing himself slowly up, and gazing with con- 
 vulsive shudders around him. For the first time the listening Hospitaller 
 noticed the extraordinary change in the tones of his voice, which were 
 now deep, melancholy, and musical, and strongly reminded him of those 
 of Fra Bruno. 
 
 " I say, they will — they shall, pronounce the words; I will echo thee," 
 returned Caesar, with mad velo-jity. " Ask only if it be a vowed Knight 
 of St. John. And yet it cannot be.— Did she not attempt to poison him 
 on the day of the tourney?" 
 
 "My lord, no! I can certify thee to the contrary, who prepared the 
 draught for a rival who desired his shame in that fatal show!" exclaimed 
 Dom Sabbat, pantingly. " But urge me not to this task. The reluctant 
 spirits will not obey but on words which will shake the mountain above 
 us." 
 
 " Shake the universe, if thou wilt, but let my soul be satisfied !" eja- 
 culated Caesar. 
 
 " Back to thy pentacle, or the fiends will seize the instant to tear thine 
 heart out!" said Sabbat, as Caesar strode forward in his eagerness. " F 
 will do what I may — but they will not listen to me " 
 
 Caesar obeyed, wiping the dark sweat from his brows with both his 
 hands in a stream; and the necromancer resumed his spells, but wifh 
 
350 C^SAR B0RGI4. 
 
 seeminn; feebleness and reluctance. Even Caesar's agonizing anxiety was 
 now amply shared by llie Knight of St. John. He forgot every restraint 
 of prudence in his eagerness, and stepped altogether out of his conceal- 
 ment to gaze. It is true that the cavern was nearly in conjplete darkness, 
 for the brazier threw only a narrow circular light around its tripod, reveal- 
 ing the bending figure of the sorcerer, and touching the edges of the 
 duke's garment and the tip of his plume with a fi.-ry red. But most un- 
 luckily and suddenly a bright light shot up from the brazier, and streamed 
 a strong reflection on the figure of the Hospitaller. The Jewesses, who 
 had turned their heads away in terror from the spectral presence, beheld 
 him, and uttering a simultaneous shriek, Caesar and the necromancer both 
 started round— and clearly discerned him for an instant ere he precipi- 
 tately retired. He remembered afterwards that Caesar nodded to him as if 
 in pleased and sarcastic recognition, while Sabbat, uttering a groan of 
 unutterable anguish, sank on the earth. 
 
 An instant's intense listening convinced Alfonso that no suspicion of 
 bis corporeal presence had crossed the fear-struck imaginations of the 
 spectators. Cajsar ^pped from his pentacle into the magician's circle, 
 and raised the necromancer with an exclamation which sounded more 
 like one of contempt than of pity. But suddenly a new and fatal project 
 occurred to the ever-restless thoughts of the Borgia. " Miguelolo," he 
 said, "after what we have seen to-night Sabbat's visage cannot affright us, 
 though it be the fiend's; but happen what may, I will see it now at last. 
 His fainlness needs air." And drawing his dagger with the word, he cut 
 the girdle of the Black Penitent, and tearing his hood open uttered a loud 
 cry as the countenance beneath was revealed — " Fra Bruno!" 
 
 After a pause of amazement which for a time deprived the gazers of all 
 power of movement, Caesar burst into a frantic peal of laughter which 
 rung far and near through the galleries; and clutching his brows as if he 
 imagined his intellect to be wavering, he gazed, stedfastly and incredu- 
 lously at the friar's visage. 
 
 " Migueloto, is this some jeer of tbe fiend, or art thou a traitor?" be 
 exclaimed at length, suddenly clutching the castellain by the throat. 
 
 " My lord I and as I live, I know not by what miracle — if this be Friar 
 Bruno — he is out of Santangelo," said Migueloto. 
 
 " We will learn by the manner of his return ; yet men have long deemed 
 the monk, too, a sorcerer," said Caesar, nmsingly. ''And 'tis strange 
 what suspicions have at times crossed me, which all come thronging back 
 upon me now. Let none feign to have seen him ; extinguish the fire; we 
 must have his guidance out of these labyrinths, or we may wait long for 
 any other." 
 
 "Strt)ng convulsions announced the sorcerer's return to sensation, and 
 Caesar kicking over the brazier extinguished the last gleam of light; then 
 he raised Sabbat and adjusted his hood, while he seemed engaged in en- 
 deavouring to loosen it. His probable thatSibbat's first use of his restored 
 sense was to baffle this attention, but the Hospitaller only distinguished 
 that he uttered some incoherent thanks; and after a short consultation, 
 and gropings in the dark for some of the books and instruments of his 
 unlawful art, it seemed that he resumed his office of guide, and the whole 
 evil company troo|)ed oil in his train. 
 
 It was not until the last echo of their footsteps died away, and silence 
 had for some time succeeded, that Alfonso recovered fromtlie overwhelm- 
 ing confusion of his thoughts, and remembered his own situation. Lu- 
 
C.CSAR BORGIA. 351 
 
 crezia, innocent of all the direful crimes imputed to her! for a brief mo- 
 ment all the powers ol his soul were absorbed in llie ihrice-blossed 
 conviction. Lucrezia, the paramour of Sir Rejiinald ! rolled back the 
 whole tide of happiness almost as instantly. The memory of her former 
 love for himself — of the splendid promises affixed to ils possession — nigh 
 overwhelmed him. He rushed from his concealment, as if he hopfd to 
 be yet in time to tear her from his rival's arms, from inelfiiceable disho- 
 nour; and it was not until be had reached the floor of the subierraneous 
 chapel that he recollected his ball of silk, and found that he had dropped 
 it in the precipilation of his retreat from the gaze of the necromancers! 
 
 In the first horror of this discovery every other thought was confounded. 
 He remounted with wild velocity to the place of his concealment, and 
 groped on his hands and knees until even the obstinacy of hope was sub- 
 dued, in a vain search for the ball. He then concluded that it had jerked 
 down into the cavern, and he spent a longtime as fruitlessly feeling over 
 the sand within any possible limit, forgetful of all things else in heaven 
 and earth but ihatsingle little twist of silk. At last the want of light struck 
 him as being the only reason why he cou'd not find the clue; and re- 
 membering the brazier, he staggered forward, as he imagined, to the 
 scene of the magic o|)eration, staring into the thick darkness in search of 
 the least gleam "or spark. But Csesar had too well extinguished all, and 
 save those which burst from his own strained eyeballs no glimpse of the 
 comfortable element appeared. Convinced that all his researches were 
 in vain, he endeavoured to persuade himself thai it was easy to return by 
 the way he came ; and turning, he hastened on in a straight direction, as 
 he imagined, until suddenly the passage became so narrow that he could 
 no longer force himseif along without pressing against the wall on both 
 sides — a thing which he remembered had not happened to him in his 
 advance. All minor fears now vanished in the overwhelming thought 
 that he was perhaps entangled beyond extrication in these black windings 
 of the earth— buried alive"!— and the Hospitaller pushed his way back, 
 calling for assistance at the loudest pitch of his voice. The innumerable 
 and awful echoes of the city of the dead replied — but no sound of rational 
 intelligence. 
 
 Still he found himself in a wider space, and although the darkness was 
 too thick to discern any object, the thought struck Alfonso that if he 
 could, by groping, distinguish the archway at which he had entered the 
 cavern, it miglit "'guide hnii in retracing his way, or he might possibly 
 find the ball, which could not run very far after its descent to the ground 
 from his hiding-place. How long he consumed in these researches he 
 knew not, nor" calculated, groping along the rocky walls, and meeting 
 with many openings, but none so wide, or of a different form, from that 
 which he sought; and, moreover, he was convinced at length thai he was 
 not in the sepulchral chapel, but pursuing the course of a long gallery. 
 Then he remiMubered that the learned Bembo once in his father's court, 
 speaking of these caverns, declared he had read in some ancient record 
 that they extended as far as Ostia, a distance of twenty miles, and were 
 so infinitely perplexed and winding that it was scarcely possible to hit on 
 the proper way through them. 
 
 Learning seldom presented herself in a more terrible guise, and in the 
 despair of the instant Alfonso clutched his dagger to assure himself that 
 he had yet a means of escape from the horrors of the fate which awaited 
 him. Then again, strung with the energy of despair, he pushed recklessly 
 
352 C/^ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 forward, persuading himself that Bembo's stories were a poet's legends 
 to make men marvel, and thai if he pursued his course in a direct line he 
 could not fail to come to some outlet. Oii he went, slreni^lhened by find- 
 ing that ihe ground beneath his feet ascended as if to the upper woild; 
 but after pursuing the way to a considerable distance, he suddenly came 
 with a shuck, against hard and solid rock, which barred all farther 
 progress. 
 
 For some moments, delirious with mental agony, he laboured to 
 persuade liimself that all he had seen and heard was a dream: and in 
 truth the wild, incongruous and horrible events which he had witnessed 
 in so rapid a phantasmagoria, favoured the supposition, lie laughed 
 aloud at the irrational idea that he could have been induced to incur so 
 fearful a ri^k on the vague |)ei'suasions ;ind assurances of the Borgia's 
 paramour; he jiersuaded himself that he had put mio the mouth of a 
 phantom Caesar the shapings of the suspicions which had long floated in 
 his own mmd; and the terrific visitant from the unknown world, in its 
 vague and misty horrors, was an attertjpt bf the imagination to picture to 
 itself the form of ilje unhappy Duke of Candia. The metamorphosis of the 
 aged sorcerer into Fra Bruno was surely a feat in a wild dream; and the 
 tothland unaccountable disappearance ofFiarnraa from the scene in which 
 she seemed to be a neiessary part; the whole circumstance of the magic 
 vision; the beldames' arrival on a whirlwmd ; the demons and grinning 
 phantoms — were all but parts of a hideous illusion! But when he strove 
 to awaken himself, the irresistible evidence of the senses compelled him 
 to belief in the reality of the horrors which encircled him. He felt that 
 his powers of body nnd mind were alike deserting him ; his ideas rushed 
 together and passed through his brain in confused whirls; his heart beat 
 widi ihe strokes of a hammer against his ribs; thick dews streamed from 
 his visage; he staggered a few steps back from the rocky bar, and reani- 
 mating himself with a desperate effort, essayed to run back the distance 
 he had come, when suddenly he beard a loud crash and rumble .of 
 fragments of stone and snnd around him — it seemed as if the earth were 
 sinking in above him — all thought and recollection vanished, and a deathly 
 lethargy came over him in which he sank on the ground. 
 
 How long this stupor lasted he knew not, but he awoke with a fearful 
 start, and found his limbs nearly all benuujbed, and a fiery thirst con- 
 suming his vitals. He gaped, and found his tongue and throat stiff" with 
 dust; but it was some time before he had any clear recollection of 
 his position, raising himself with difficulty, and staling wildly around in 
 the darkness. At first, indeed, he had a confused and half-frenzied 
 persuasion that he had been mortally wounded in a confli'ct with Sir Re- 
 ginald le Beaufort, and that he was about to njake a last etfori to tear 
 Lucrezia from bis arms; but when what had really happened came pouring 
 back in disordered visions on his memory, belaid himself down again, 
 and endeavoured to conjpose himself with the belief that a iearful dream 
 still haunted his waking thoughts. But the stony fragments on which he 
 lay, and the rank smell which saluted bis nostrils, startled birn up again; 
 and the instantaneous and clear conviction which returned upon him 
 brought with it a shock which must have overwhelmed any reason less 
 firmly poised. 
 
 His natural courage and the instinct of self-preservation revived the 
 Hospitaller's dormant energies; and now a thought stirred up his soul 
 which might have breathed life into death itsell, ni the l)uniiny contrast 
 
C/ESAR BORGIA. 353 
 
 which his imagination presented of his own situation and that of his rival. 
 The horrors of the doom which awaited himself found an iiiex|jlicabie 
 parallel in ihe as overwhelming deliuhts and triumph in which Sir Reginald 
 revrlled ; the darkness and terrors of his living tomb marvellously recalled 
 the clearest and most alluring visions of the bright, blooming enrih above, 
 — the blue heavens — the glory of the sun! The glin'ipst's of the disuial 
 phantom of death, which crossed his imagination almost visually, were 
 strangely accompanied by the beauteous form of Lucrezia, more richly 
 tinted with the shame and rapture of her guilty joys, and yet matchless 
 in the effulgence and allurement of her charms. A mad desire for revenge 
 su()erseded even the thirst for life and air; or rather life appeared to the 
 HospitHllcr to mean onlv the satisfaction of his vengeance. 
 
 In this frenzy his strength returned, and he groped eagerly forward to 
 retrace the way which he remembered he had wandered into, when suddenly 
 be encountered resi'^tauce, and felt heaps of crumbling materials which 
 gave way as he touched them. The recollection of the noise and fall he 
 had heard instantly occurred to him, and willi an agony deeper than all he 
 had yet felt the thought rushed upon him that the rork and sand had fallen 
 in behind him, and for ever barred all exit. Every effort which he made 
 confirmed this dismal thought, anti then indeed did he ye-ll and shriek 
 until it seemed as if his cries must pierce the solid earth, and reach some 
 helpful ear. Again and again did he pause in utter exhaustion, and renew 
 his cries, and superstition now contributed her aid to the destruction of 
 the victim. His attempts to overwhelm the pontiff with ignominy had, he 
 imagined, brought down the wrath of heaven upon him, and that his escape 
 was cut off by supernatural agency. For a time he yielded to this tremen- 
 dous thought, and changed all his efforts into the most fervent supplication 
 for mercy or immediate destruction, and vehement (jrayers to the unnum- 
 bered martyrs whose bones tenanted the immense sepulchre, for intercession. 
 The hollow echoes which returned his voice from above, at first reani- 
 mated him with the frantic hope that supernatural things heard and re- 
 peated to each other the uttcrings of his despair, but gradually suggested a 
 more rational thought to him. Remembering the great height of some of 
 the excavations, and the yawning fissures which he had observed in the 
 galleries, the hope flashed upon htm that he might climb to some exit, since 
 all was denied him below. He tossed his arms on high, and no roofing 
 met them : yet for several minutes he dared not attempt to ascertain by ex- 
 perience the fallacy or assurance of his last hope. But the agony of 
 doubt grew insupportable; and he raised himself by pressing against the 
 narrow walls, husbanding every inch which stood between him and de- 
 spair. He continued to draw himself up with convulsive vibrations, and 
 oh, the ecstasy 1 the rift gradually widened, until at length the broad breast 
 of the Hospitaller heaved freely, and he was compelled to mount by press- 
 ing with his feet and back against the dividing walls. A few instants 
 more, and his feet found not resistance but the sharp edge of the excava- 
 tion, and with a rapture which swelled his heart almost to bursting he 
 leaped firth into an open space. 
 
 Groping his way in utter darkness, still Alfonso felt that there was no 
 hope but in endeavouring to explore some exit, at whatever risk. On he 
 went, unconscious whether every step he took was not leading him further 
 to destruction, scarcely able to breathe in the slab and staunanl air, whioh 
 seemed as thick with mephitic vapours as if it were the mouldmess which 
 clothed the numberless carcasses of the dead. Still he would not yield; 
 
 23 
 
354 CAESAR BORGIA. 
 
 Still he hurried distractedly on, until vanquished with fatigue and despair, 
 scarcely able to drag his limbs along, he paused to rest for an instant, and 
 in that instant heard the barking of a dog. 
 
 All his energies returned as if with an infusion of new blood ; he rushed 
 on, as nearly as he could guess, in the direction whence he had heard 
 the barking of the dog, and which fortunately continued at intervals, as if 
 the animarscented him. In a short time he perceived a faint brightness, 
 low, but of very considerable breadth. Rocky fragments, touched with a 
 fiery glow, appeared at some distance before him, and thence the barking 
 of the dog most certainly came. Continuing his advance, he perceived 
 that he was in an excavation which gradually decreased in height, until it 
 formed a jagged opening like the gaping valves of an oyster, through 
 which the light was visible. He was obliged to crawl on his hands and 
 knees to the fissure, and found that it was at some height in the rocks of 
 a cavern below, in which were several groups of men sleeping round a fire, 
 while the dog, finding his efforts to arouse them useless, stood growling 
 and glaring upward. The Hospitaller was about to call for assistance, 
 when fortunately i>ne of the sleepers raised his head, and exclaimed, 
 " Down, beast, and the curse of Saint Antony upon thee !" in the fierce 
 tones of John of the Catacombs. 
 
 Alfonso was aware that he had little favour to expect from the hands of 
 this ruffian, and the personages associated with him were of his own class, 
 though some of them were garbed as soldiers and peasants, mingled with 
 one or two deformed beggars whom he remembered to have seen crawling 
 about the streets, and on the steps of churches. Nearly all these fellows 
 were armed with some instrument of oftence ; cross-bows, daggers, 
 bucklers of steel and bulls' hides, which they used as pillows, lay all 
 about. Creature comforts were not neglected ; fragments of a roasted kid, 
 eggshells, and chestnuts, with several goatskins of wine, were visible in 
 a kind of cupboard formed by a projection of the rocks. 
 
 The danger of trusting himself to the mercy of these banditti was ob- 
 vious and considering that they probably went early abroad on their pre- 
 datory occupations, Alfonso resolved to await the result. He perceived 
 that it would not be difficult to descend into the cavern, the stones in its 
 sandy walls forming a flight of natural though very irregulars stairs ; and 
 it was certain that the robbers would have some easy access to their place 
 of refuge. Calmed with this hope he imitated his friend, the dog, which 
 crouched in submission toils master's command, still glowering uneasily 
 and watchfully upward. He lay down, and endeavoured to compose the 
 direful agitation of his blood and spirits ; but recollection on recollection 
 came heaving them into wilder tumults, and the events of the last few hours, 
 in which seemed crowded the thoughts and sufterings of years, rushed 
 back with almost visual distinctness. But all that he had endured of 
 physical agony was little compared with the mental frenzy with which he 
 remembered the obstacle which, when every other was removed, had 
 arisen between his passion and Lucrezia. The identity of Fra Bruno with 
 the necromancer had indeed excited his suspicions that some imposture 
 had been i)layed in the fearful phantasmagoria he had witnessed, or that 
 the result had not answered the plans of the contrivers; but in nowise in- 
 validated the unconscious testimony of Caesar to his sister's innocence. 
 And yet, at this very hour, the jealous imagination of the Hospitaller sug- 
 gestecl scenes of the voluptuous triumphs of his young rival more richly 
 coloured and resplendent than ever Ovid dreamed in his warmest mood, 
 
 J 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 355 
 
 and in which the recollections of the cave of Egeria remorselessly aided. 
 Every perfection of her loveliness which his doating fancies had often 
 
 dwelt upon in unobserved bui most passionate contemplation, his fancy 
 
 like a painter skilled by long practice— threw into forms which made his 
 soul sicken with hatred and the thirst of revenge, even in contemplatino- 
 its own limnings. And yet so utter was his physical prostration that he 
 sank at length into a sleep, tormented by dreams, which, strangely enough, 
 related but slightly to his recent sufferings. Once indeed he imagined that 
 he was a living soul fixed in a marble statue, incapable of all movement 
 and doomed to remain so for ever; but when he awoke at length, panting 
 and struggling for breath, it was because he dreamed he looked down a pre- 
 cipice, and saw Lucrezia and Sir Reginald asleep on a bank of roses at the 
 base, with the bright cheek of Lucrezia resting bloomily on her lover's 
 shoulder. Perhaps it was in reality the sound of voices which broke this 
 painful vision, for the moment he awoke he distinguished that of John of 
 the Catacombs. 
 
 The worthy was apparently commenting on the strange barking of his 
 dog in the night. "I shall not take Cerbero with me to-day, for I mis- 
 doubt some colony of rats is scenting us out," he said. "1 should not 
 marvel to see some hundreds of them come pouring down the rocks there, 
 for Heaven knows what is within that yawningmouth with its ill-set teeth! 
 So I shall leave him loose, and bring him a bull's heart for his supper." 
 
 This was said to the only second person who remained in the cave, an- 
 other bravo, who was busied in sharpening a stiletto on his leather san- 
 dals, and who nodded assent without looking up. Alfonso resigned him- 
 self to wait until these lingerers should also be pleased to depart; and at 
 last the longed-for minute came. Poor Cerbero seemed the only one dis- 
 contented with the arrangement, perhaps from a presentiment of his fate. 
 He made several ineffectual attenjpts to follow his brutal master, who 
 spurned him back, and finally kicked him severely to make him understand 
 his pleasure that he should remain on guard against the rats. The animal 
 at last submitted, and stood looking long and wistfully after his master 
 as he retired up a sand- walk which probably led to the open air. The 
 creature then began dejectedly to lick its flanks, occasionally pausing to 
 listen as if it still heard the distant footsteps. 
 
 Alfonso confided in the auscultation of the hound, a large wolf dog of a 
 noble species ; and it was not until it stretched itself hopelessly down that 
 he ventured on his descent. His first movement startled the dog, but 
 when he thrust his body half through the cleft in the rock, it gave a fierce 
 yell, and sprang so high in the air at him that he became aware of a new 
 and very form.idable opponent. The danger grew imminent, for, finding 
 his spring had failed, Cerbero began scrambling up the rocks to get at his 
 visitor-, and feeling the peril of awaiting the attack in his narrow confine- 
 ment, Alfonso drew his dfigger, and thrust himself wholly out. In an in- 
 stant Cerbero, who had reached the rock below, sprangat him, and in the 
 next fell with the weapon buried in its throat to the ground, without a 
 single howl or struggle. 
 
 there was no great difficulty in the rest of the enterprise. The gallery 
 was straight, and ended in an excavation so nearly choked with briars and 
 bushes, that only those familiar with the haunt perceived a way into it by 
 creeping beneath the malted foliage. The open Campagna was beyond, 
 and in a few moments Alfonso was standing in the sun, dizzy and drunk 
 with joy and the exhaustion of his night of agonies. 
 
356 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 " Such rage inflames the wolfs wild heart and eyes. 
 Robbed as he thinks, unjustly, of his prize."— Cowley. 
 
 It was brightening into the dawn which followed that perilous night, 
 and the first faint glimmer which entered the chaiuber of tortures in Sant- 
 angelo lighted the livid and passion-gloaming visage of (Itesar Borgia. 
 
 He was iti earnest discourse with Fiamma (Inlonna, who, seated on an 
 instrument of loriure resembling a cross, wilh joints and strel screws, 
 was calmly reasoning against a suspicion, which it seemed had caused 
 this early visit, that the superstitious caslellain suffered Fra Bruno to 
 wander from his Captivity at pleasure. 
 
 "Nay, vviih mine own eyes 1 have beheld him!" he exclaimed, impa- 
 tiently interrupting her. " 1 watched him home to Santangelo, and I will 
 know who gives him means to spread his seditions abroad, since Migue- 
 loto, thou sayest, truly denies all part in it, or the rack on which thou 
 leanest shall fail for the fiist time I" 
 
 Fiamma smiled disdainfully at the cruel instrument, and replied care- 
 lessly, "Are men to be so subdued, by fleshly torments merely ?" 
 
 "And dost thou feign that ihy female sinews might not shrink in the 
 ordeal?" returned Caesar, wilh a stiange glare. 
 
 "I have a torture within which mocks at all things of fear and anguish !" 
 replied Fiamma; and the door opening as she spoke, admitted Migueloto 
 with his prisuner, Fra Bruno. 
 
 "Your pardon, father, to have disturbed your rest ere cockcrow, the 
 student's hour," said Caesar, gravely. ' ' For I doubt not it was disturbed 
 — ha, Migueloto?" 
 
 " 1 found the father at his devotion," replied the castellain, reverently. 
 
 "1 will not long interrupt it, if my questions are as frankly answered 
 as they shall be put," said Cssar. " Ti'll me, good friar, art thou not the 
 monk whom in my schoolboy days I beheld wilh Savtjnarola, when I 
 wailed in the antichamber at Florence for an audience wilh Pier de' 
 Medici ?" 
 
 "Even so; — and him to whom you said — 'When I am Emperor of Rome 
 I will aid ye to reduce the church back to the most apostolic poverty and 
 vassallage which your dreams can shape,'" replied the Dominican, after 
 a moment's pause. 
 
 "Thou rememberest then that boyish gibe?" said Caesar, musingly. 
 
 "And thou hast, meseems, remembered il, too?" replied Fra Bruno, 
 calmly. 
 
 "Nay, I forget it not;— ^and the lime of fulfilment may be nearer at 
 hand tiian many of us deem," said Caesar. "And whom could heaven 
 more worthily entrust with such a task, than thee, its saint and martyr? 
 I owe tht'C a priceless favour, moreover, and 1 know it. It was thou who 
 released thy penitent Dom Sabbal from vows, and suffered him to aid me 
 in a work which I liave much ai heart?" 
 
 " ll was I who suffered him to aid ihee in a work which I have much 
 at heart, of which thou art the destined although blind instrument," re- 
 plied the monk calmly. "I did not think to obtain so early a moment, 
 
C€SAR BORGIA. 357 
 
 and yet I was praying for the earliest, when T was summoned — to release 
 nivsHf from everv bond of the flesh, and oomnunee at length the pre- 
 destined toil. It was 1 wh(i suffered D^ni Sabbat to juggle ihee with a 
 false show of an apparition in tlie catacombs— that 1 might make thee, 
 as 1 tell ihee now thou art— utterly desperate I if it can make ihee so to be 
 assured that the plaintive tones which imitated in their sepulchral feeble- 
 ness the voice of thy departed victim, came from the heart of thy sister, 
 Lucrozial" 
 
 '• Monk I what ravest thou?" exclaimed Fiamma, with a gesture full of 
 warning and terror. 
 
 "• Truths which the rack could not extort from me. lady, and therefore 
 fear not," replied Fra Bruno. ''Yes, Duke of Romagnal Lucrezia Borgia 
 was audience to thy confession, wrunu from thee by thine own guilt and a 
 conjurer's trick. Henceforth thou art at her ntercy, and since thou darest 
 not destroy whom she loves— since the devil that haunts thee will not 
 suffer thee to harm herself— thou hast but one resource — to destroy the 
 power which makes her direlul to thee— to root out the simony of Rode- 
 ric Borgia I" 
 
 "Monk I demon I— it cannot be but that I dream!" said Caesar gasping 
 for breath, and tossing back his dabbled hair from his brow. " I lose my 
 clutch on destiny I— And can it indeed be that the magus Sabbat was but 
 a base spy, an impostor bribed to betray?" 
 
 "Nay, but one whose doings are all fated and marked, who even while 
 he cheated thee with a magic play received himself an open and signal 
 assurance of supernatural approbaiion, when a munibled spell, which 
 meant he knew not what, convinced him, by raising the phantom of the 
 Knight of St. John, that his susidcions were true, and that it was he whom 
 Lucrezia loved," returned the Dominican. 
 
 "Tliou hast early intelligence, Fra Bruno!" exclaimed Caesar, whose 
 agitation bathed his browsin continual rushes of cold sweat, and shook 
 his frame with the convulsive starts and shiverings of an ague. " If this 
 be true, either thou hast accomplices among ourselves, or art thou loo a 
 sorcerer? Art thou Sabbat himself? Familiar of belli I know it, for 
 1 beheld thine accursed visage in thy dastard swoon in the catacombs !" 
 
 "Then ntiglitsL thou have spared thyself the pains to ask," replied the 
 unmoved monk, 
 
 " Whence hast thou thy daiing? from heaven or from hell ? — But I will 
 know or ere we jjaril" said Caesar, furiously. " Confess I who set thee on 
 to act this strange and persevering part which thou hast played, -stirring 
 first the fire in my soul with thy visions and prophecies. Confess ! or— I 
 will find a way to make thee." 
 
 '•Bring your tortures; in turns essay your racks, your burning irons; 
 the wild beast's fang; boiling oils, and'molten lead ; or altogether I — thou 
 canst not harm me," replied Fra Bruno. " I am calm now. I have 
 obeyed the voice. And for my reward, I know that she cannot con- 
 summate her guilt, and that your hellish brood must henceforth toil at 
 each other's destruction!— nor have any ways of death more power over 
 me than is given to them " 
 
 *' Thou art made of the stuff I need in my designs^ — and were the mo- 
 ment ripe!" ejaculated Caesar, his desperate thoughts gleaming madly at 
 his eyes. "But I will use no toriure on thee if thou wilt avow by what 
 means thou art wont to leave this castle, and hast effected ibis impossibi- 
 lity of which thou ravest?" 
 
358 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Use your tortures, then; I am all marble to endure rather than answer 
 aught on those questions, Borgia !" i elurned the monk. 
 
 '' Cffisar ! whether from the angels or the fiends, thyself hast seen that 
 the friar hath marvellous powers," said Fiamma, amazed at the Domini- 
 can's dangerous revelation. 
 
 " Why, then, it was an angel that I beheld open the secret entrance into 
 Adrian's tomb!— yea, for it wore thy form !" said Csesar, suddenly clutch- 
 ing her hand, gazing fiercely at her, and then dashing it away with vio- 
 lence. " Thou, toO' — thou, too, hast betrayed me. I see all now ! Thy 
 friend and ally, the envoy of Ferrara — it was no phantom !— he too was 
 there — in the catacombs— and by thy connivance ! Thou wert the 
 masked Venetian that visited him! " But 1 am not so lost as ye all deem ; 
 1 have provided against even this stroke of treason and all ingratitude." 
 
 "Treason and ingratitude ! — monster! that would have saved thee by 
 dispersing the darkness thou hast raised round thy sister's name, and in- 
 ducing the noble^nvoy of Ferrara to remove her from thy fatal presence 
 as his master's bride!" said Fiamma, starting up, and standing before 
 Csesar in an attitude of wild and utter defiance. 
 
 "We shall learn this anon," returned Cffisar, flashing his fiery eyes, 
 which now burned with diabolical and frenzied brilliancy on Fiamma, 
 but her desperation had passed all fear. 
 
 " Yea, I was the masked Venetian whom thy spies observed," she con- 
 tinued. "And what art thou? What art thou, Cain! What art thou, 
 fratricide, seducer, destroyer!- — If all thy crimes obtain their just re- 
 venges, the fiend himself must abdicate his tortures to thee! — But do thy 
 worst on me; I smile to think that at least thy sister — aha ! thy sister! — 
 is warned of all thy cruelties, and beyond thy craft to destroy." 
 
 There was a long and dreadful silence, during which Caesar gazed sted- 
 fastly at his prisoners. 
 
 " Lead them away !" — he said at length to Migueloto, starting as if from 
 a dream. "My brain is on fire! — and since their madness laughs at 
 these paltry tortures around ns, I will devise others. Bear them away, 
 Migueloto!— magic indeed shall they use if either leave these walls again 
 alive!" 
 
 "Farewell, then! — but, nay, it should be here — there were a justice in 
 it which might comfort— an expiation to perish by thy hand!" said 
 Fiamma, sinking suddenly from her fury. " Kill me here, Caesar! 1 can 
 die as calmly by thy hand as a lamb that has been trained by the butchef 
 follows him to the slaughter-house." 
 
 "And therefore thou shalt not," raged the Borgia. "Away with them 
 — to the dungeons beneath the ramparts!" 
 
 Migueloto hurriedly obeyed ; and returning in an excess of pertur- 
 bation which kepi his whole frame at an aspen tremble, he found 
 Caesar so lostin thought that it was several minutes ere he noticed his entry. 
 
 "My lord!— and is all lost?" he said at length in a hollow whisper. 
 
 "Lost! what is lost!- She only knows what she has ever suspected, 
 but she dares not have betrayed me to Alexander !" he exclaimed, noticing 
 the words, but scarcely the speaker. "Away ! nothing is lost while 
 I remain to myself. vShe will reserve it as a spell to guard her beloved, 
 as she deems— a spell of terror. Or dost thou deem we were not already 
 in Alexander's dungeons? Why, if he believed and knew this tale, with 
 his own hand would he avenge his darling (air-haired boy, even in the 
 heart of him whom scandal also calls his son !" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 359 
 
 "My lord!" 
 
 "Bui I tell thee all goes well— 1 have already foiled them all, and ac- 
 complished all niv purposes," continued Casar, wiih a kind of delirious 
 vivacity. " Fear"not the alliance with Ferrara— it is turned to air! And 
 now 1 need but proof of the Orsini plottings to force them to give me the 
 lever wiih which 1 will lift the world! And who dost thou think shall 
 be my testimony? Even their confidant and Paolo's right hand, the 
 stainless English knight. Thou thinkest that I rave, and deem so, for 
 awhile." . ,, 
 
 " If we could learn all we have to fear, ray lord— from the prisoners, 
 said Migueloto, glancing plaintively round the instruments of torture. 
 
 "Thou art mistaken, Catalan-, these tortures cannot move them in 
 their present frenzv," said Caesar, hurriedly. "Nor methinks— I know 
 not why, but even 'her fierce spirit against me kindles me with— I know 
 not what— but I would not have her fine limbs marred and shattered with 
 these wrenching pangs." 
 
 " Hunger and thirst might do something, and yet not harm her beyond 
 repair," "suggested the worthy Catalan. "I have known thirst very 
 grievous to bear ; and hers would be more clinging since the Tiber flows 
 at her dungeon bars." 
 
 "Deny her nought ; it is the mind not carcass we must assail!" re- 
 turned Caesar, sternly. "And now, get me my Jewish gaberdine arid 
 beard, and a fisher-boat to lake me to the Ghetto: and do thou remain 
 keeping sure watch and ward in Santangelo ; for at the worst I may ally 
 me with the Orsini, and baffle aught her vengeance can project." 
 
 The noon of this eventful day "witnessed the first results of the machi- 
 nations of that direful genius which was now excited to exert its utmost 
 powers. Donna Lucrezia was reclining on a couch in her apartmenls, 
 ostensibly giving directions relating to the festival in the evening, but 
 frequently forgetting what she said, or whom she addressed, when it was 
 announced that two ancient women humbly desired admittance to her 
 presence. Jewesses of the Ghetto the old women were declared to be, 
 who came with a petition— probably on some of the numerous griev- 
 ances suffered by their oppressed community. Their names were men- 
 tioned, and Lucrezia started and shuddered, and yet instantlv commanded 
 their admittance— a condescension to persons of so despised and loathed 
 a class at which her ladies wondered, until their curiosity was excited 
 by remembering the scene in which Miriam had played so prominent a 
 part. 
 
 Notte and Morta entered the presence of the lady with deep oriental 
 bends, but the lurking scorn on Notte's blue lips, and the viperous glitter 
 in Morla's eye, caused vague alarm both in Lucrezia and her attendants. 
 But the latter were soon released from their apprehensions, for the lady 
 gave them all permission to retire in a manner which was a command. 
 Yet it was not without almost visible signs of terror that she found herself 
 left alone with the two weird and wicked old women. 
 
 The sorceresses on their part stared surprisedly, and exchanged their 
 mute dialogue of looks, when Lucrezia turned on theni the full beauty of 
 her countenance, clouded as it was with an expression of trouble and 
 fear. Notte uave a dark and envious scowl, pursing up her lean lips 5 
 but Morta smiled more terribly. Both the hags knelt, and reverentially 
 kissed the hem of a rich cushion near the couch on which Lucrezia 
 reclined. 
 
360 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Glancing with mingled loathing and terror at the fiendish pair, Liicrezia 
 abruptly commanded ihem to declare their purpose; and both began to 
 reply at once, bnt JMorta soon tiained the mastery, for Notte was troubled 
 with an asthmntic wheeze, which quickly exhausted her ^tocl< of breath. 
 Morta's explanation, which ran to a great length with her oriental ampli- 
 tudes, and rcpf'titions of Lucrezia's titles, amounted to a statement that 
 the Senator of Rome, the Lord Orsino, had ordered their community to 
 send them before his tril unal to answer certain charges that, old and 
 withered as they were, they allured Christians to sin with them, by the 
 power of philtres and magic spells, against the laws of Rome and of their 
 own tribes, and under peril of the judgment of fire. 
 
 Lucrezia, amidst all her fear and horror, could not forbear a glance of 
 incredulous disgust; but INotte continued in a manner which rapidly 
 fascinated her curiosity and attention — 
 
 "True it is, our father taught us the skill of compounding beverages, 
 whose power cin overcome any indiffi-rence or coldness, or fix the pas- 
 sion of the most capricious and inconstant firm as the pillars of the 
 temple of Solomon," she said. " But, look on us, most beautiful lady ; 
 neither wanting many sunsets to round our years into a century of time — 
 three generations of men have we seen from' the cradle to the tomb." 
 
 "Yet, sister, yea, let us confess the truth, for the proofs are known, 
 and what is power if it cannot save?" exclaimed Morta. " Royal mis- 
 tress! thou hast seen our child, our Miriam. Who can say that We slew 
 or sought the life of her seducer, when to win her back to reason and 
 happiness we have administered to him a wine which has lured him to 
 his former love, and a t(jo late remorse?" 
 
 " Hags ! fiends ! 'tis false !" exclaimed Lucrezia, her bright eyes flash- 
 ing with fury. " Unless, indeed, ye pretend to have brought him from 
 the grave whither ye — but yet I may believe something of your art. Yea, 
 ye have direful secrets! But it cannot be. Ancient women, ye do but 
 jest, or make vaunt of a science whi( h ye do not, which ye cannot possess. 
 And yet," she added, her cheeks flushing deeply ; "and yet— something 
 I have heard. Was it not ye who wrought the spell for the'daughler of the 
 Colonnas?" 
 
 The sorceresses looked at each other with surprise, but emulously 
 affirmed it. 
 
 " Were not my most illustrious lady too beautiful ever to need it — most 
 blest of all the sons of Adam were he on whom she might deign to try the 
 powers of the drink that 1 can brew," said Morta, her whole skeleton 
 quivering with eagerness. 
 
 " 1 have heard ye spoken of as women of a dark and terrible science; 
 nay, I know it; but ye mock me to speak thus of such poor shows as 
 chance has gifted me withal, which kindles some, it may be— ah, not to 
 love, not 10 love I" she said, with a deep sigh. " And yet— were il pos- 
 sible!— it were indeed a rare dispftrt to stir some cold and uncongenial 
 nature with so divine a warmth •, an ecstasy to laugh at, as of old they say 
 men laughed at the pranks of their drunken slaves. It m-ight divert a 
 sadness which of late possesses me — ye may have heard I am not wont 
 to il — to behold some such merry ribaldry ! 1 will care that the Orsino 
 slays the meddling of his otfieers with ye •,— but if ye can |)rocure me an 
 elixir of this iranscendant |)owrr, 1 will reward yt^ur toil as richly as a 
 dying king the |)hysician who r. stores him to lile and health. " 
 
 " You tax our skill too lightly, glorious princess ! This essence is the 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 361 
 
 least of the secrets we possess," returned Notte, chafing her bony hands 
 with joy. 
 
 " We have secrets to make a fiend beautiful I" said Morta, willing to 
 support tier sistor in her vaunts. 
 
 " Whv, then !" excliiimed Lucrezia, and although she checked herself 
 sudd-'iily. Morta comprehended that she had escaped an involuntary but 
 not flaitering candour. 
 
 "But we cannot restore the marrows of age ; our father died even on the 
 brink of discovering the essences which flowed in the sap oflhe tree of life," 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 Lucrezia mused for several instants profoundly, while the sister apothe- 
 caries watched her with intense eagerness; and when suddenlv she raised 
 her eyes, and encountered the grey, malignant twinkle in Morta's wrinkled 
 orbs, she gave a start, and some undefined suspicion seemed to enter her 
 mind. " Spare," she said, " thine eloquence: what 1 see of your skill I 
 will believe; but be well assured that the intiredients of your charm are 
 harmless, for to mine own lips will 1 commend it first; and should any 
 ill befall me, w^urse will happen, as ye may guess, to yourselves and all 
 your tribes, not only in Rome, but throughout the whole Christian 
 world." 
 
 Morta herself for one involuntary instant stood amazed and doubtful. 
 " But. lady I" she exclaimed, " you will then share the passion, and it will 
 last perchance as long as yourself." 
 
 " And so I would have it,"' replied Lucrezia. Again the hags looked 
 in astonishment at each other, at a statement so contrary to the received 
 opinions on her volatile character ; but bending to the marble pavement, 
 Morta replied with oriental apathy, ''The children of thy people were born 
 to command— the children of mine to obey." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 "Yield up, Love, thy crown and hearted throne 
 To lyrannous hale! Swell, bosom, with ihy fraught, 
 For 'tis of aspics' tongues l " SHARSptRE. 
 
 The Quest of Ladies was held with all suitable pomp and chivalric cere- 
 monial. The court was assembled in a irreat saloon of the palace, and it 
 seemed as if Lucrezia had exhausted all the arts of her voluptuous and 
 splendid imaginati<m in preparing the spectacle. The very heavens were 
 in collusion with her — deluging the earth with the glory and melancholy 
 of the setting sun. The music which breathed around, whence none 
 discerned, diffused a delicious sadness like the exhaustion of pleasure. 
 The perfumes of flovers were so subtly mingled, that there was something 
 of farewell tenderness and regret in the faint and dying odours they 
 exhaled. 
 
 Jt might have owed somethinu to the influence of these accessories, but 
 even in the eyes of her most fervent worshippers Lucrezia's beantv had 
 never seemed so perfect as on this fated eve: even the languor and slight 
 paleness which shaded increased its subduing charm. Unlike the rest of 
 
3G2 ^ C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the ladies whom she bad chosen to assist in the judgment, she was attired 
 in a Sicilian garb, and wore only a simple wreath of myrtles and crimson 
 aquatic flowers, similar to those which had once decked the hair of the 
 Egerian nymph. 
 
 Alfonso was the first of the three tourneyers who mingled with the 
 favoured courtiers admitted to the spectacle; and he watched the arrivals 
 at a distance, with apparently but little interest. But when the Lord Paolo 
 came, surrounded by a concourse of his friends, he bent eagerly forward, 
 and noted the unusual warmth and familiarity of Le Beaufort's "salutation, 
 and the deep blush which dyed Lucrezia's face and bosom on receiving 
 it. When he himself appeared before her, she turned pale, and her 
 glance lightened with a singular tearfulness and imploring scrutiny upon 
 him. The obdurate firmness with which he withheld his eyes from hers 
 did then indeed visibly surprise her; but it also prevented him from 
 observing the fierceness with which the Orsino gazed at him from behind 
 the pontiflTs chair. 
 
 Ballying with a strong and visible effort, Lucrezia declared immediately 
 that the quest was opened. The three competitors were ordered to stand 
 forward, in a space assigned them before their fair judges ; and two 
 heralds administered an oath to them, promising on their knighthood, and 
 the honour due to the ladies, to relate truly w'hat had befallen them on 
 their enterprise to win the disputed crown. 
 
 As highest in rank, Paolo was called upon to begin, and a cushion of 
 cloth of gold was set for him on which to kneel. Contrary to the general 
 opinion of his eloquence and fluency, he gave a confused and hesitating 
 account of his being the first to enter Capua with Caesar's storming party, 
 omitting all mention of the gallant part he had taken in the first assault. 
 Le Beaufort reminded him of it, but he took no notice of the prompting 
 beyond a hurried observation that therein he was only the foil of the glory 
 of Le Beaufort himsilf. 
 
 "Ah, and yt- call it glory I — so fair city a ruin now," said Lucrezia. 
 " But so, if it be thus, let Sir Beginald follow with his legend." 
 
 The Hospitaller thought that the handsome English knight never looked 
 more so than when, with a joyous and bounding step, he hastened for- 
 ward, and knelt at Lucrezia's feet with an expression of real adoration. 
 But — doubtless to deceive the gazers — Lucrezia's manner was cold and 
 even displensed. The overflowing joy of the knight was instantly rebuked 
 into limits; and as the particulars of the campaign were of course fami- 
 liarly known, the very modest account which he gave of his achievements, 
 and his endeavours rather to trumpet the Orsino's exploits than his own 
 — declaring that although the first to enter Capua, he entered it a prisoner, 
 the latter sword in hand, raised general murmurs of admiration. 
 
 " You have forgotten the share which vou had in so generously rescuing 
 from the plunderers, as a present to the holy Knight of St. John, the sul- 
 tan's beauteous paramour," said Caesar, who had glided imperceptibly 
 into the assembly. Lucrezia started, and looked somewhat vacantly at 
 the Hos|)italler. 
 
 The only refutation which Alfonso deigned to make to this accusation 
 was incluled in the '■' round unvarnished tale" which he delivered of his 
 adventures in Capua; in which certes he seemed to acquit Caesar of any 
 tenderness for the sultan's paramour by the circumstantial account which 
 he gave ot his exertions and orders to effect her destruction, .\lexander 
 himself shuddered, and glanced with surprise at his son, who smiled, 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 363 
 
 and played with the jewelled hilt of his dagger. But never did the mild 
 and met k Dcsdcmona listen with nmre heartfelt interest and submissive 
 admiration than now the proud-souled Lucrezia to the stately soldier's 
 narrative. It was even forgotten, in the absorption with which he was 
 listened to, that he continued standing— rather like a kmg expounding his 
 will than a suppliant pleading his cause. Nor was it possible for the 
 Hospitaller, with all his prepossession, to avoid being moved by the tears, 
 the broken sighs, the long passionate looks of admiration, the heavings of 
 her beauteous bosom, the deep flushes and rapid alternation of paleness, 
 with every mood of the stirring tale. It suddenly and yet irresistibly 
 struck even the exasperated Hospitaller that her ancient liking had re- 
 turned, and that she had already transferred her licentious passions back 
 to their first object. 
 
 But when the Hospitaller calmly related his rescue of Fiamma, and the 
 respect with which he had treated her until she fled from his protection, 
 Caesar laughed aloud, and turning to the ladies, inquired jeeringly if they 
 believed the tale? 
 
 " As truly as in mine own existence do I believe in it !" said Lucrezia, 
 with vehement emotion, and though her eyes habitually shunned Cfesar's, 
 they gleamed now upon him with an expression which made him start. 
 "And, dearest ladies," she continued, with a warm gush of tears, "in 
 nowise to prejudice your wisdom, which hath but to judge of the valour 
 of this noble chivalry, yet may we mark our sense of a deed which 
 mingled virtues more go'dlike, by pledging the Knight of St. John in a 
 precious wine, which none else shall share with us " 
 
 Paolo started from the careless attitude in which he affected to stand; 
 but a secret gesture from Csesar restored him at least to outward tran- 
 quillity. Sir Reginald also turned very pale. 
 
 " Our sister has had too sharp experience of the Knight of St. John's 
 inflexibility, not to believe in his friar-legend," said Cgesar, laughingly, 
 while Lucrezia beckoned to a black page who stood behind her chair with 
 a golden salver, on which were a goblet and a flask richly chased— but she 
 coloured and glanced at the Hospitaller with a look so full of overpower- 
 ing recollections, or some strange motive exerted an influence upon him, 
 that kneeling now for the first time, he exclaimed, "Nay, signer, 'tis not 
 in humanity longer to maintain mine heresy against beauty so divine ^; to 
 whose sovereign swav I yield and profess myself ever the bond slave!" 
 
 " The play "is played out, then," said Caesar, with a mystic glance at 
 the Orsino, who smiled luridlv. 
 
 With a radiance of pleasure which literally lighted up her beauty as if 
 with an unseen sunbeam, Lucrezia gazed at' her vanquished antagonist : 
 and though there was much in his countenance to puzzle her scrutiny, 
 her satisfaction vented itself in a renewed passion of tears. Alexander 
 laughed triumphantly as with a hand which trembled aspenly she herself 
 poured a fine crimson wine into the goblet until it swelled over the golden 
 brim. There was a simultaneous bustle of pages and attendants present- 
 ing fruit and wine to the guests, and the Orsino mechanically took a peach 
 from a salver which was held to him, but never for a moment averted his 
 gaze from Lucrezia, until she lifted the goblet to her lips, and faltering 
 forth "To thee I" with a glance at the Hospitaller winch went to his 
 heart's core, she drank strangelv deep in the eoblet, and bending over 
 him held it herself to his lips! the sweet evening breeze stirring among 
 her golden hair almost mingled its tresses with the close dark curls of the 
 
364 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Hospitaller; and in the trance in which iheir eves met neither noticed the 
 pangs which diblorted the features of the Orsino, the astonishment of Sir 
 Reginald, or the fii-ndish smile of Caesar. 
 
 Alexander beckoned to the Orsino and Sir Reginald to approach his 
 own seat, and began laughing and jesiinu wiih iherti somewhat tartly on 
 the strange preferences of women to mild and niercifiil deeds, even when 
 lured by the glitter and pomp of those of warlike triumph. Paolo felt 
 that he was purj)osely drawn away, and yet he affected to answer with 
 perfect gaieiy and good humour, while his eye never in reality wandered 
 from Lucrezia. Every instiut his sufferings increased, and apparently 
 his resolution to suppress all exterior sign. 
 
 If the wine which the Hospitaller drank with Lucrezia were not in 
 reality compounded of maj^Mc ingredients, the most potent philtre could 
 scarcely have been more efficacious. For the first lime il seemed as if 
 he had yielded up his whole soul and senses to the fascinations of the 
 marvellous beauty; and with such loveliness exhausting upon him all its 
 treasury of infinite charms, wit. and tenderness; stirred by every motive 
 of triumph and rivalry ; his heart in reality consun)ed by passion — even 
 if a deceptive apology had not worked in his own mind, it would scarcely 
 have been possible to resist the spell. 
 
 Alexander himself perhaps at length noticed something singular in the 
 length and closeness of the conference; and desired Master Burciardo to 
 inform Lucrezia that he was about to retire. The Orsino observed that 
 after this intimation was delivered the Hospitaller again knell in farewell 
 thanks for the honour vouchsafed lo him; thai he uttered some words in 
 a tone so low that it mighl be called a whis|)er, and thai l.ucrezia's whole 
 physiognc.my rosied over, her eyes cowered beneath the Hospitaller's 
 eager gaze, and rising she averted her heail, colouring still more pro- 
 foundly, and murmuring some shame-struck and yet passionate and con- 
 senting tones, rather ilian words, extended her hand, which he pressed 
 not only lo his lips but lo his breast repeatedly. 
 
 The departure of Lucrezia with the pontiff and the usual attendants on 
 their persons was the signal for dissolving the court; and Caesar himself 
 accompanied the Orsini to iheir retinue. It was. observed by the gen- 
 darmes of the court that, not content with this mark of honour, he invited 
 Le Beaufort, their known intermedio, to accompfmy him to his palace. 
 
 Alfonso, meanwhile, retired to his apartment; and Bembo, who raf)idly 
 followed, and who. contrary to his custom, had kepi himself as much as 
 possible of late in the shade, found him pacing il in great agitation. 
 
 The canon somewhat falteringly congratulated him on his influx of 
 favour wiih Donna Lucrezia- but the prince interrupted him wiih so vehe- 
 ment a diatribe against her, in which he spared not lo apply the most 
 opprobrious designations approfiriaied to the sex, like those of rascal and 
 villain by the stronger one, that Bembo stared in surprise and alarm. 
 Bui his own virtuous indignation was kindled almost equally when Alfonso 
 communicated his discovery of the intrigue with Sir Reginald, and belief 
 that on the encourngemenl (that was his word) which he had purposely 
 extended to her, her unbounded profligacy had already changed object, 
 and reverted to her original designs on hirnself. But the canon had yet 
 to hear, with unbounded astonishment, the adventure of the calacom.bs, 
 and the discovery rendered in vain by the prior one; and he was seldom 
 more eloquent than in the epithets with which h.e branded this extraor- 
 dinary and unbounded license; and he responded with the utmost alao-ily 
 
C/ESAR BOK(iIA. Uli 
 
 to liis lord's commands to have all things ready for his abrupt and secret 
 departure on the following day. 
 
 The agitation of the prince was not diminished by its vehement out- 
 bursts; and when the evening darkened in, and he was left alone in 
 obedience to his command, any one who had watched him might have 
 imagined they beheld a man condemned to some dreadful doom, and 
 awaiting it in the utmost perturbation. But he was not destined to the 
 solitude he desired. An attendant announced a messenger from Lom- 
 bardy, who desired to communicate certain news of which he was the 
 bearer: and ere he could refuse or assent, the man himself stepped into 
 the chamber. Scarcely glancing up in his agitation, Alfonso dismissed 
 the page, and desired ihe Lombard to deliver his tidings; when suddenly 
 stepping towards him, and removing his broad cap and a false beard of 
 great leiigih, the messenger presented the apparition of Paolo Orsino ! 
 
 " Signer Orsino! — and here?' exclaimed the knight, scarcely for the 
 instani believing in the evidence of his own eyes. 
 
 " Yea, and on an errand which touches your life. Knight of St. John !" 
 returned Paolo, controlling his voice wiih diflftciilty nilo some calmness. 
 " Partly to you I owe mine own, and partly now 1 retaliate the gift, since 
 existence is misery Leave this murderous palace and city with what 
 speed you may, since even such an enemy as the Duke of Piomagna has 
 sworn your destruction, and but delays the stroke because he confides 
 the vengeance to me, whom thou hast chiefly wronged." 
 
 "To-morrow, at this hour, 1 trust to be out of the shadow of the walls 
 of Rome; but until then 1 cannot, and I will not, depart unless 1 see better 
 reason than a vague threat or warning like this, my lord," replied Al- 
 fonso. 
 
 "To return within what space,— to bear your sovereign his fair spouse, 
 with whom to-night you quaffed a precious elixir of love to weld your 
 compact more inthmgibly ?" returned Paolo, bitterly smiling with the 
 calm of excess of passion. 
 
 "What fair spouse is this? — Elixir of love! — signor, you rave!" said 
 the Ho|iiialler. 
 
 "A treachery which should bring down the lightnings — wherefore 
 should it not absolve my hand to avenge it?" muttered Paolo darkly. "But 
 no! my life is thy debtor! — but 1 warn thee; thy treachery is known to 
 me, thy riv;il and hater— and shall soon be to thy masters and the sudden 
 pontiff himself." 
 
 "1 freely acquit you of all restraint, Orsino, conditioning that you 
 explain these strange words," said Alfonso, sternly, and yet his features 
 flushed. 
 
 " Ha ! and demand it with so bold a front that would abash the accus- 
 ing angel himself!" exclaimed Paolo, wildly. "Answer me, unblenchmg 
 innocence! art thou not here in Rome the secret envoy of the Dukes of 
 Ferrara, to win their son his bride, and yet this very night, perchance! — 
 Patience, patience, let us not go mad! — But hear me! I tell thee, the 
 philtre which Lucrezia shared with thee to cement your guilty love, 
 has betrayed it! ay, and to Coesar, who demanded but the certainty to 
 crush thee into dust. The hags who sold your lady-love her charm are 
 but liis ifiStruments— Notte and Morta !" 
 
 "An elixir in the draught I drained!— Methought, indeed, that a subtle 
 fire — but Caesar! — was it poison, then? Yet it cannot be, since she 
 drank deeply of it— so deeply that I marvelled ! — an elixir of love ?" 
 
366 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "So deemed she — that, shared, it would make your mutual passion 
 eternal!" returned Paolo "But there was no other elixir nor poison 
 in it than llie lips of so beauteous a serpent must leave. Be well assured 
 there was no traitor-bane in it, — For it was known by those who mixed it 
 that she meant to share the draught." 
 
 "And sharing it so amply — she meant, cerles, to partake my doom if 
 aught of evil were in it!" Exclaimed Alfonso. "But, no, no! she sus- 
 pected your artifice, and intended effectually to deceive ye 5 or if, indeed, 
 she sought with a hellish charm, matchlessly depraved and perfidious 
 harlot ! this indeed shall steel my heart to the fitting chastisement of thy 
 vileness ! By heaven, if she had remained faithful, even to her falsehood, 
 it had not stirred my soul to so utter a loathing and contempt. But to your 
 heavy charge, noble Orsino, I answer what your Reginald, too, must 
 avouch — 'that 1 am even the absolute contrary of an envoy to win the 
 Prince of Ferrara a bride in Lucrezia Borgia," 
 
 "Le Beaufort hath itideed oft averred it to me — nay, that you sought 
 proofs against her to justify your prince's refusal to wed with her," re- 
 plied the Orsino. "But he was deceived loo ! Caesar himself revealed to 
 me your secret errand, which he discovered by chance ; and deny it' thou 
 canst that in this evening's conference, Lucrezia commanded you, in her 
 sire's name, showing thereby her own assent, to make your embassy 
 public in to-morrow's audience." 
 
 " 1 deny it not, and confess, moreover, that but for what followed I had 
 been amazed at the confidence in my submission with which she male it 
 —fur both herself and Caesar know the true purpose of my embassy — 
 which is what I have alleged," replied the Hospitaller. " Lend me a 
 patient ear, and I will expound this mystery to you ; and let the whole 
 course of my demeanuur confirm what 1 declare." 
 
 It had now become a matter of infinite consequence to the Prince of 
 Ferrara to sever the dangerous union of the Borgias and Orsini, but it 
 was not without a lingering hesitation that he related his adventure of 
 the valley of Egeria, which tallied so closely with the Orsino's recollec- 
 tions thathe could scarcely entertain a doubt of the truth of the statement. 
 
 "Why, then, he hath fooled me all and ever! It was upon that very 
 night that Csesar declared to me his discovery of your embassy," he ex- 
 claimed, wildly. " But, no, it was not in humanity to resist the allure- 
 ments v/hich thou feignest were otlered to thee." 
 
 "1 tell thee Caesar was present;— but thou knowest not all his mon- 
 strous turpitude !" said the Hospitaller, with a natural shudder. "Re- 
 member all that followed, and thou canst not doubt my truth ;— the 
 Jewesses— the tournament! Wherefore she betrayed me not I cannot 
 dream, unless to keejj your fears turned from another. Yet will I not 
 belie her to confirm my lah;, for all that I have learned acquits her of the 
 dark accusations of which I came to gather proof. But one hath been 
 too fatally proved 5 and rather with my will shall the earth be heaped on 
 the last of the great line of Este, than its bright honour be lost in a 
 harlot's transmission." 
 
 "Look that thou prove she merits this foul blazonry, or— but if thou 
 canst prove it! — Knight of Ferrara, the Ursine blood was noble and 
 Roman ere the barhari;ui (iucif crossed the Alps ! ' said Paolo, ravingly. 
 " Prove it, I say ! Speak out, then ; of what dost thou accuse Lucrezia 
 Borgia ?" 
 
 "Ask it of Sir Reginald!— Bid him tell you whither he followed her 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 367 
 
 female Pandarus, Faustina, last night— and where and how he spent 
 it?" replied Alfonso, whitening at his own words. 
 
 "Hespent it abroad, indeed, and gave but staggering answers to my 
 jests!" exclaimed the Orsino, gasping for breath. "But thou wilt 
 not say— thou canst not !— speak, or let my bursting heart out with thy 
 dagger !" 
 
 '^' Recall all their conduct— Lucrezia's preference and open coquetry— 
 and ask me no more, when I tell you that— detecting him al secret ren- 
 dezvous in the palace — he confessed that he was summoned to a private 
 audience with Lucrezia on your affairs." 
 
 '"Tis false!— 'tis utterly false?— all was at an end— none knew it 
 better than he!" exclaimed Paolo. "On that very day the traitor declared 
 to me his resolve of parting from Rome to return to his native land — hath 
 of late oft cradled me with such assurances— and I thought I butprevailed 
 upon him to stay by declaring all my projects, and the incalculable service 
 he might be to me in foiling Caesar's." 
 
 "Why, then, beware lest he hath not betrayed all your plans to his 
 leman, for I swear by the blessed cross I have in nowise belied him !" re- 
 plied Alfonso, his indignation boiling over at this perfidy. " Nay, more, 
 if thou wilt listen ;" and he related his surprisal of Le Beaufort in the 
 avowal of his passion, in the labyrinth of the Minotaur. 
 
 "How came 1 so little to suspect him, and always thee?" exclaimed 
 the Orsino, bewilderedly, yielding to this torrent of testimony. " Yet he 
 himself did ever seem to have fears of thee. Oh, that 1 had never known 
 the curse of consciousness ! Le Beaufort ! the friend whom I cherished 
 in my heart's core ! — Only Lucrezia could have made a villain so black of 
 one whom nature meant for honesty. But all that thou say est may be but 
 cozenage. What proof have 1 but 'tis thou betrayest me?" 
 
 "Wherefore should 1 cozen thee with words?— I have but to raise my 
 voice, and thou art a prisoner, in the power of thy worst foes, for where 
 are thy friends and swordsmen now?" replied Alfonso. " But if 1 pro- 
 claim and brand her openly, wilt thou still resolve to wed the ancient 
 glories of thy name with her dishonour, if himself cannot refute nor deny 
 ray accusation?" 
 
 " Do men indeed believe my madness is so base?" exclaimed the Or- 
 sino. " I did but project to await your offer, and the pontiff's acceptance, 
 to-morrow, to proclaim their perfidy, quit Rome, and by a great stroke 
 restore the heart to our confederacy, which, unless I am betrayed— ay, 
 and Reginald lingered with the Borgia!" 
 
 " If it be so thou slialt share with me a draught of vengeance whose ful- 
 ness shall nigh clov us bolh," said Alfonso, his eyes sparkUng with the 
 fury of his thoughts. " Truly I do believe that in the dangerous state of 
 the Borgian fortunes— and for that she may have heard her young barba- 
 rian is a bosom-guest in Ferrara — or merely to strike fear into your con- 
 federacy—she thinks by mingling terror with cajolery to make me false to 
 my masters' trust, and use the povvers they confided in me, if I could 
 establish her innocence, to offer their alliance. Wherefore sh.3 desired 
 to speak with me in private on the matter ; and when 1 dared to request, 
 murmuring something of espial, that it might be by night and alone, she 
 answered with assent, and a promise to send Faustina to guide me to her 
 audience, at an hour when we need fear no observation !" 
 
 " Ay, it was then, with that blush, and that glance of fire!" muttered 
 the Orsino, slowly recovering from the shock of this announcement as if 
 
3G8 C^SAR BORGIA, 
 
 from a thunder stroke. " And Ihou wilt go. — But what matters it to me 1" 
 
 "'■Yea, 1 will go — To satisfy mine own sense of her viieness, for all 
 things else may deceive," returned Alfonso. " Bui gaze not thus wildly 
 at me! I swear to thee, by all my ho|)es of s dvation, I go but to fill up the 
 measure of the scorn and detestation which I have ever meted to her— to 
 repulse her, the woman, the beauty, the Borj^ia! even when she has de- 
 based herself to this lowest and last degradation to win me, when she 
 imagines herself on the brink of triuniph, for therefore did 1 seem to 
 yield to her spells to-day — leaving the perpetual memory of my scora 
 twined like a serpent in her heart-strings !" 
 
 A wild discordant laugh from the Orsino interrupted him, which he 
 broke short abruptly in tht? middle of the peal. "• But dost thou truly 
 think that, alone of ail mankind, thou h;ist this superhuman constancy?" 
 he exclaimed. "Or inflicting so grievous an insult on a woman and a 
 Borgia, dost thou in reality hope to leave B'>me alive?" 
 
 " With such a secret in my power, what dares she do? — And I have 
 been essayed," returned Alfonso, flushing deeply. " And moreover, she 
 has deceived her sire, and dares not accuse me. At worst she will spare 
 me until the audience to-morrow; — and now I speak of vengeance! If 
 thou wilt prnniise»me the shelter and protection ofdiy power to leave this 
 palace and Rome, I will therein publu'ly declare my real embassy— de- 
 clare that it is accomplished by discovery of her preference of the Knight 
 of England •, — and thereby shall I indissolubly knit into your alliance the 
 powerful princes of Ferrara." 
 
 "Give me this vengeance, and take all things else that are mine — life 
 itself!" exclaimed the Orsino, frantic \/ith the violence of his passions. 
 *' And that thy lords may not accuse thee of precipitation, learn what were 
 the projects of the Borgiason their stales." 
 
 And without pausing in his vehemence, the Orsino revealed the conspi- 
 racy against Ferrara, into which Caesar had cajoled him by his perjuries, 
 to one who, thouiih he knew it not, was the most interested of all mi'U in 
 the discovery. The tidings confirmed Alfonso in the expediency of pro- 
 ducing an open rupture amonu his enemies, since all hope of the alliance 
 was at an end ; and he renewed his engagement and strengthened his reve- 
 lations with so m my additional proofs, that all doubt was removed from 
 Paolo's mind. He knew, moreover, that the envoy could not otherwise 
 hope to escape Caesar's vengeance after the discovery by the philtre; and 
 they parted under a mutual oath to perform their parts in the compact to 
 the utmost. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 " Yettherewilhal tliis warning word tie joined; 
 'Strains such as these beflt not baser ear : 
 To carles, to failours. to unfoldeii clear. 
 Love's mystic luie duth much that love profane; 
 To clerks, to knights, to nifliing damsels dear, 
 Yet more to all who weep for others' pain, 
 Love's lessons and deliuhis do chiefly appertain.'" 
 
 fabliau uf the Xilth Cenlury.—LEQKX^D, by Wat. 
 
 It was verging towards midnight when the Knight of St John found him- 
 selfseated alone in an aparinientofLucrezia's suite, whither he was guided 
 by Mona Faustina, mumbling confusedly against the policies which kept 
 
CJISAR BORGIA. 369 
 
 her nursling from her pillow, and \vho then retired to announce his 
 arrival. 
 
 It needed all the indignation which his recollections could rekindle to 
 support the Hospitaller in the resolves he had formed, and to prevent the 
 inflow of very contrary thoughts and feelings when he was left to his an- 
 ticipations of the approaching interview. He was in a chamber of that 
 ineffable species which would now be styled a boudoir, but was called in 
 the palace Capriccio Madama. The Borgian love and luxury had exhausted 
 themselves in the decorations of this sanctuary of their gorgeous ornament, 
 and it seemed rather a work of fairy ihan ofhuman art. The walls were 
 painted in the richest arabesque, mingling the most splendid colours with 
 forms of marvellous beauty and grace, linked in inextricable twinings, 
 and apparently uniting all the scattered colours and glories of the universe 
 into one boundless prolusion of magnificence. The couch of pale pink 
 velvet on which Alfonso seated himself was perfumed with some sweet 
 essence; and the whole air was aromatic with the scents fanning in from 
 the flowery terraces of the Vatican below the windows. The only light, 
 save that of a broad and effulgent moon, which the silken hangings but 
 dimly shaded out, was showered from a marble group of great beauty; 
 representing Psyche discovering Cupid. All around were the implements 
 of female occupation, or evidence of the refined amusements in which Lu- 
 crezia delighted— the gilded distaff, rich embroidery, instruments of 
 music, and manuscripts prepared for so illustrious a perusal, with various 
 and most beautiful blazonries. The languid sweetness of the hour joined 
 in conspiracy against the Hospitaller: the musical murmur of the distant 
 fountains mingled with the notes of innumerable nightingales: the dreamy 
 brightness of the moonlight; the soft mysterious whisperings of the leaves 
 in the gentle air — touched subtle chords of love aud pleasure in his breast. 
 But even with these warring impulses at work, his regret and anguish and 
 wrath seemed every instant to grow more wildly intense, until in his agony 
 he fell prompted to a vengeance more terrible than that he had as yet me- 
 ditated ; as if he could without hesitation yield himself up to any doom, 
 however torturous, to relieve himself of the jealousy which ate with its 
 poisoned fangs into his soul, and tear Lucrezia's beauty for ever out of the 
 arms of his blest rival, even by hurling her into those of death. This 
 black thought was vaguely whirling in his disordered fancy, when a door 
 opened, and the lady of the Borgias, attended by Mona Faustina, made her 
 appearance. 
 
 Alfonso had expected to behold her flushed with the triumph of her 
 licentious arts, arrayed to dazzle and subdue ; but he had not armed 
 himself against the more seductive modesty of her w^hite and totally un- 
 ornamented garb, the paleness of her beautiful visage slowly tinted' with 
 a very faint rosiness when she felt how his gaze was fixed upon her, 
 though the eyes which he expected to meet glowing with licentious fire 
 were never once raised, and tears had evidently but lately hung upon their 
 long lashes. But her voice trembled with some consciousness, when in- 
 terrupting his confused and strangely humbled salutation, with a gesture 
 which was at once dignified and agitated, she commanded Mona Faustina 
 to retire, and give the envoy of Ferrara full latitude in declaring his 
 master's will. 
 
 With a smile which evinced no great degree of goodwill to the knight, 
 but in truth with something in it of malignancy and scorn, the nurse 
 obeved, leaving the doors open after her, as if purposely, and revealing a 
 
 24 
 
370 . C^SAR BORGIA, 
 
 vista of still more mysterious and recondite chambers — the next being that 
 in which Alfonso had formerly- noticed the alcove hung with gold-coloured 
 satin, and the ceiling painted with Aurora meeting JNight. His gaze then 
 reverted in a tumult of passions which almost deprived him of his senses 
 to Lucrezia— and he found that she seemed only intent on watching the 
 figure of her diienna to a remote antechamber, in which her lamp and 
 herself disappeared. 
 
 " My guard sleep beyond," she then said, with something significant iri 
 her tone, but not without confusion. " Mona Faustina will wait to prevent 
 any alarm which the unusual hour of this audience — but 1 pray you, 
 signor, be seated," 
 
 She motioned to Ihellospitaller to take achair at a considerable distance 
 from a low couch of white velvet wrought with roses which she herself 
 assumed, with the manner indeed of a queen about to hear some suppliant, 
 rather than of a woman who had granted so dangerous a condescension to 
 a lover. The Hospitaller, however, recovering from his first surprise, 
 only thanked the lady with a deep bend, but still preserved his station at 
 a much less distance than that indicated. 
 
 There were several moments of utter and most embarrassing silence, 
 and but that his'jealous thoughts suggested torturing causes, Alfonso 
 could not but have been moved with the expression of dejection and 
 subdued agitation which her whole look and attitude revealed. As it was, 
 he dared not trust his voice to speak ; and it was Lucrezia whose musical 
 and tremulous tones at length broke the silence. 
 
 "Knight, you demanded that your audience should be secret " she 
 
 said, pausing with visible embarrassment, and then suddenly resuming 
 with firmness and haughtiness. "And if 1 have granted it— 'tis because, 
 knowing that your real motive and embassy fromlhe princes of Ferrara is 
 the very reverse of that which his paternity believes and desires to hear 
 declared by you to-morrow — and remembering that I owe my life to you 
 — I vpould repay the gilt by requesting your acceptance of the means of' 
 immediate flight, which I have prepared and place at your command." 
 
 Deeply touched as he was by this seemingly generous concern for his 
 safety, the jealous suggestions which his fancy instantly mingled sup- 
 ported Alfonso in the vengeful part which he had planned to enact. 
 
 "Even the revolted angels were not expelled from paradise so sud- 
 denly, lady ; and such your your presence makes Rome, and this cham- 
 ber, its divinest bower!" he replied in a low wooing tone, indescribably 
 sweet to the sense that listened. "Neither were they condemned un- 
 heard ; — and by whom am I accused to justify a punishment as severe as 
 theirs ?" 
 
 "Your once friend, the ballerina, has avowed all that passed between 
 ye— are you not therein answered?" returned the lady, with rapidity, 
 
 " But it was my evil hap to offend in rejecting her tenderness, and may 
 she not have belied or exaggerated my fault to your grace?" said the 
 Hospitaller, fixing his burning gaze on the lady, for the recollections of 
 the Egerian cave rushed overpoweringly back upon him. 
 
 "You own then, sir envoy, that it was a fault to believe so evilly of 
 me?" she replied, with a most eager and inquiring glance, which she 
 reverted instantly with confusion on meeting that of Alfonso. 
 
 "Again I demand my accusation, lady," he said, cruelly enjoying the 
 pangs which his question was likely to rekindle in her breast. 
 
 "Nay, nay, I will be plain with you," she returned, with a touch of 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 371 
 
 Strong indignation in her tones. " I do not — I cannot— it is impossible 
 for me to doubt the ballerina's report." 
 
 "The ballerina! — wherefore, alas I is she so much the enemy of one 
 who, despith all reason to the contrary, dotes even on the shadowy sweet- 
 ness of her remembrance, and must for ever, if any power of the soul 
 rests unchanged throughout its immortality!" he returned with a warmth 
 and sincerity of passion not to be doubted 5 and it almost seemed as if Lu- 
 crezia were jealous of her own rivalry, for she replied with precipitation 
 — ''Nay, she is not thine enemy — nay, she hath not belied thee; and, 
 knight, ihou wilt not dare to plead so, when I tell thee the ballerina was 
 Lucrezia Borgia !" 
 
 "Most exquisite loveliness! and I knew it!" exclaimed Alfonso, almost 
 vanquished when he marked the deep blush of recollection which in- 
 staniiy dyed her visage, while all she had avowed in her precipitation re- 
 curred to her. Her only resource was anger, and that she took. 
 
 "Why, then, how daredst thou to question me — me — myself?— how 
 darest thou even here? If I were the tigress thou wouldst have had me 
 proved, how darest thou stand before Lucrezia Borgia and avouch thy 
 calumnies?" she said with vehemence, 
 
 "On my lips, lady, still lurks the ravening fire the ballerina left there! 
 — how could I fear that I was mortal, surviving the rapture of that in- 
 stant?" he said, in tones which vibrated through the enamoured soul of 
 the beauteous Borgia, though shame and anger only sparkled in her ex- 
 pression, as she replied, "Ah, even now you flatter like fear! But you 
 misdoubted your mortality when you told the nun of the Agonizants that 
 Lucrezia Borgia had attempted your life with poison ! Oh, our Lady, your 
 life !" 
 
 ' 'And shall I say the gentle nun belied me, too ?— or more truly confess — 
 and to herself — that I belied the gentle nun?" said Alfonso, drawing some- 
 what nearer; but an impatient gesture from the lady admonished him to 
 remain where he was. 
 
 "And yet— with all these proofs — but it matters not. Return to thy 
 harsh north, and save thyself from my father's anger— for that is deadly," 
 she replied, shuddering, and yet with evident hesitation. 
 
 " Why should I dread your father's wrath, lady, when, with these proofs 
 indeed, and many others which my toilsome ventures have attained, I 
 have established your innocence of all the charges which the ballerina 
 wept to hear?" he replied. " Then, wherefore should I fly — wherefore 
 should I not fulfil my sovereign's commission, and demand you as his 
 bride before the world?" 
 
 "And I will answer you!" returned Lucrezia with vivacity. "The 
 pride of the princes of Ferrara- is, it seems, great, and 1 hear you will not 
 expose them to the mortification of a refusal — which, by yonder most 
 blessed image of our Lady of Tears! awaits your embassy from me, if after 
 this warning you dare to utter it." 
 
 She pointed somewhat forgetfully at a silver image of Ihe Virgin over 
 the alcove in the adjoining chamber; and the Hospitaller's first surprise 
 was followed by an influx of jealous suspicion. 
 
 "Certes, niadama, you have sworn the rejection of this great alliance 
 to some one who hath more sway over you than policy or ambition may 
 claim ;— ay, and perchance by the same holy and upgazing form !" he said, 
 with wrathful vehemerice. "For my lord's questionings and doubts thus 
 fairly ending and reso'ived cannot alone have moved you to this anger," 
 
372 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Nay, rather, I honour him for his princely refusal to mate with dis- 
 honour!" she reph'ed with enthusiasm. "But you have shown yourself 
 toojealousof his happiness and renown for me to doubt your answer when 
 I ask you if you deem he could content him with the casket of a love — 
 the jewel gone." 
 
 " How says your grace ! — that you love another?" exclaimed the Hospi- 
 taller, now fairly yielding to his agitation, and adding in a voice full of 
 anguish and bitterness, "Fool that I was ! — Oh, I dreamed that you loved, 
 lady I — yet — not thus, not thus — when from my concealment in the grotto 
 of Egeria I watched you awaiting the arrival of one — in whose stead came 
 the Duke of Romagna." 
 
 " Thou! — thou didst behold me, then?" ejaculated Lucrezia, hiding her 
 face in her hands with excess of shame, and murmuring in the most 
 dove-like tones of her sweet voice, " Yes! 1 loved once — then! But love 
 barters his wares, not sells them : 'tis all over now !" 
 
 "And if love barters— love me with the love of all thy sex, as I love 
 thee with — nay, to infinitely beyond — all the love of mine!" said Alfonso, 
 sinking in a delirium of passion at her feet. " Lucrezia! thou rapt per- 
 fection of all the divinity of woman!— 'tis thou hast belied me, that never 
 from the instant I first beheld thy beauty have ceased to worship thee! to 
 love thee dearef'than my life, ay, even when I thought thou hadst attempted 
 it and my honour together, when I deemed thee a marvel of wickedness 
 that wert only one of goodness and loveliness." 
 
 " Knight, dost thou forget? Yes, yes, 1 loved thee once 5 but now thou 
 wrongest me more bitterly than my worst calumniator, to deem I loved 
 the man, and not the hero! for betraying thus thy master and lord — how 
 can 1 love thee longer?" she said, tearing her hand with vehemence from 
 the kisses with which he covered it, and for a moment her countenance 
 wore an expression of disdain and indignation, which suddenly melted 
 away in a shower of tears. "I cannot do it!" she exclaimed, in vain 
 attempting to staunch the flow, " Knight, I will confess to thee all! It 
 was my pur|)0se to cajole thee into this wild outburst, that I might taste 
 the luxury which we Borgias are said to find in revenge, and repel your 
 passion with scorn ; heap on you the remorse of having violated your faith, 
 and the while purity of honour you had preserved untainted, to my scorn ! 
 But no, it is not so; an accursed philtre, administered in the draught 
 wherewith I pledged you, works in your veins? Leave me! — fly!— thou 
 seest 1 am as evil as thou canst deem me." 
 
 Vehemently as this most generous avowal smote the conscience and 
 heart of the Hospitaller, the very beauty of the confusion and tenderness 
 with which she made it raised his regrets, and revenge, and jealousy, 
 and love, in a whirlwind which threatened to sweep away every restraint. 
 
 " There is no philtre — albeit my veins flow only fire— but thy divinest 
 and most subtle spells of beauty at work in my soul!" he said with fren- 
 zied fervour. "Caesar himself sent to thee the hags, Notte and Morta, 
 that he might set murderous jealousies upon me, and discover truly 
 whom thou didst love. But it seems it was a fallacy; and thou didst 
 pledge me but to make thyself a mirth and mockery of my madness!" 
 
 " Not so, not so ! — leave me, and I will swear to thee by any oath which 
 to break is perdition— that I have loved but once, and thee!" wept Lu- 
 crezia, sinking her fair face in her agony of shame and fear like a rose too 
 heavily laden with dew. 
 
 "Nay, then, if thou lovest me! If thou lo vest me! — and parting 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 373 
 
 thus for ever! — I will return that kiss whose poison lurks like madness 
 in my blood I" said the Hospitaller wildly — and Lucrezia started up from 
 him in terror, with difQculty eluding his frantic embrace. 
 
 " I love thee! — in very truth I love thee ! — but do not frighten me I" 
 she exclaimed, finding herself as instantly entangled in his arms. "For- 
 give me but this once. Indeed I have not wronged thee, for I have con- 
 fessed my wicked sorceries I — Swear then to leave me on the instant, and 
 give me back my madness if thou wilt— that therein all may be as it had 
 never been!" 
 
 "Sorceress! fiend!— for then I were lost! — no, no, begone, begone! 
 Be not false at least to thy falsehood! Those lips still burn with pressings 
 to which niine would seem too cold !" exclaimed the Knight of St. John, 
 almost flinging her from the embrace to which she was yielding in mingled 
 fear and tenderness. "Leave thee! — yea, and for ever, to find a filter 
 successor for Reginal le Beaufort, when thou hast had more time to be 
 aweary of him!" 
 
 " Successor!— Sir Reginald le Beaufort!" repeated Lucrezia, almost 
 unconscious for the instant with unutterable shame and amazement. 
 
 " Xo, no! thou shalt not wreathe me to perdition, thou fairest serpent!" 
 he continued, desperately. "Thy plot was mine, too ; to lure ihee to this 
 yielding that I might tell thee how I loathe and spurn thy harlot love, and 
 defy its most bewildering temptations!" 
 
 " Temptations! — II— successor !" repeated Lucrezia, vacantly; and 
 then as if consciousness had slowly returned upon her, she said in a voice 
 of supernatural calmness, and yet with a wild derisive laugh of anguish, 
 " Thou hast not noted then, good knight, that— albeit out of hearing — 
 Mona Faustina is in sight?" and without turning, she indicated wiih a 
 gesture the ancient nurse, who was indeed visible at the end of the vista 
 of apartments, affecting to nod in an easy chair, but looking towards 
 them. 
 
 " This is but thy masterpiece of craft, perfidious woman !" said Al- 
 fonso, but indeed infinitely staggered. " Thou dreamest with thy false 
 denials and chaste seemings to lure me into mating the bright and un- 
 stained honours of Este with thine infamy !" 
 
 " And dost thou feign still to disbelieve in my innocence, most unjust 
 and cruel of men?" exclaimed Lucrezia, with an indignation and fury 
 which seemed at length to have overpowered all the gentler passions in 
 her Borgian blood. 
 
 " Innocence!— Why then my own sense cheated me, when I heard the 
 false Knight of England declare his love, unblamed and unreproved iu 
 the labyruith of the Minotaur!" he replied. " Deemest thou that I was 
 blind not to note your warmth before— your dotage after? Ha, and 
 Bembo — Bembo that was ever your unwearied advocate — Bembo reported 
 how ye met! But that is little- Oh, that is little!— ask thine own heart, 
 vilest as thou art loveliest of thy treacherous sex I what I would say, — for 
 words would choke me !" 
 
 "Sir Reginald!- Ob, thou but speakest of him!" returned Lucrezia, 
 with a singular and wild joy breaking through the thunder-cloud of pas- 
 sions which shadowed her visage. "Nay, then, I will leave thee no 
 corner of evasion. When thou recallest all thy harshness to one who 
 loved thee, and for that cause, thou shalt not cheat thy remorse with any 
 other pretext, and say 'twas for this or this. It is wrung from my soul, 
 a woman's soul, mark me, knight!— ay, even were 1 the woman thou 
 
374 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 wouldst prove me, to justify thy most unchristian abhorrence, which hath 
 no drop of pity in all its depths! — I loved thee; I have avowed it, from the 
 instant thy first glance of lofty pride and scorn fell upon me-, and the terror 
 which thy harsh and implacable character struck ever in my soul but 
 farther subjected its slavish female nature, which I could weep to remember, 
 but that it would rejoice thee to see my weaknessi — I will not shed a 
 single tear, but I will tell thee, knight! — Oh, if it was a woman's artifice 
 to deem by jealousy to kindle into fire the spark of love thou didst confess 
 had fallen into that cold heart of thine, blame nature that made me one! 
 — Thou heardst the poor youth's avowal of his love, whereto 1 had led him 
 beyond mine intent, which was but t(^ flaunt thee with his presence— but 
 tarried not my sharp repulse, nor his remorseful atonement, for nobly did 
 his generous and high nature struggle ever till then against my cruel ar- 
 tifices ; — cruel indeed, but bitterly hath the cup I held been returned to 
 my own lips!" 
 
 "A well-devised legend 5 your grace is an improvisatrice of known 
 skill," said Alfonso. " But wherefore, when there was no doting rival to 
 be fooled, was it necessary to receive the norlhman with such ecstasies 
 as one worth the credence reports?" 
 
 " Dost thiiiji I have not learned some pity from mine own suffering ; 
 that remorse, indeed, can find no entry in my soul ; that no feeling burned 
 there when I heard the tale of the paramour of Sultan Zem?" said Lu- 
 crezia, shrinking timidly from the increasing violence of the Hospitaller's 
 look and manner. "And why should I veil the horror familiar to thy 
 knowledge as to mine? Csesar was present. What if it was the artifice 
 of the silly dove to flutter round the bush where her nest is not? And, 
 moreover, the canon himself — alack, but I must smile — I had found but 
 too much occasion to reprove the demonstrations of his own liking, not 
 to deem that he has exaggerated in his report of my favour to another!" 
 
 "Indeed, indeed! — but being all compounded of sorceries, how shall 
 I blame him?" raved the knight. "This is good talk! But what con- 
 vincing falsehood hast thou to excuse Sir Beginald's presence here,— his 
 secret interview with thee last night, in these very cham.bers, with only 
 these wanton stars, and the upturned eyes of thy Madonna, and the heavy 
 lids of Mona Faustina, for witnesses?" 
 
 " Here — in these chambers — last night! which of us is mad?" said Lu- 
 crezia, turning very pale. 
 
 "Ay, wouldst thou have circumstance? Then listen, and I will 
 overwhelm even the customary assurance of thy trade," said Alfonso, 
 clutching her hand and holding it violently, as she turned as if meditating 
 flight in her alarm ; and with inconceivable rapidity, and yet with 
 perfect clearness, he related his adventure of the previous night with Sir 
 Reginald. 
 
 "And can it be — my old nurse, too, betray me!" exclaimed Lucrezia, 
 with a sudden torrent of tears. "But it cannot be!— the noble English 
 knight would not thus belie me, or if to vex thee— if fearing thine 
 errand. — But no, but no ! it is thou, who, finding no other calumny 
 left to blacken me withal, hast invented this to please thy barbarous 
 lords." 
 
 "Nay, if thou hast no prettier-coloured legend than this— this cannot 
 dazzle us out of our sight," returned Alfonso, with bitter acorn, releasing 
 her hand, and folding his arms, as if he had reached a conclusion in 
 which to rest. 
 
CJISAR BORGIA. 375 
 
 "All, then indeed my cruel sport is fairly retaliated — or he too is the 
 viclimof some black deceit," exclaimed the lady, gazing at the incon- 
 trovertible signs of agony visible in Alfonso's features. But laughing sar- 
 donically and with utter scorn, he bowed deeply as if dismissed, and 
 made a retrograde step. 
 
 "Why then — either thou feignest, or thou sh^lt believe in me!" she 
 exclaimed, darling forward and in turn detaining him by the hilt of his 
 sword. " How might this be, harsh man! sithence I spent the hours of 
 which you accuse me — not in these chambers— not in this palace^ — not 
 with Sir Reginald — but with thee, in the catacombs of San Sebastian, 
 playing a dire part in that dire scene, where thou too — if thine hardness 
 were to be convinced even by supernatural assurance — heardst the full 
 confirmation of mine innocence!" 
 
 Alfonso could only gaze at the speaker in utter and overwhelming 
 amazement, 
 
 "I will not leave thee any pretext of doubt," she continued, with 
 torrent-like vehemence. "It was when I was weeping in my loneliness 
 over thine imagined preference of the sultan's paramour, and the threats 
 and inextricable terrors that environed me — when one implored an au- 
 dience of me — they told me awoful suppliant from Capua 5 and, for thou 
 knowest that I am stern and merciless in all my dealings, but that I 
 rejoice ever to witness calamity, I had not granted audience to the daughter 
 of the Colonnas — for she it was! Ah, then indeed, listening to her 
 wrongs and sufierings, did I comprehend what humanity can endure, and 
 yet its outward framework yield not. She related all her wrongs, thy 
 generosity, that direful confidence which she exchanged, Caesar's long 
 calumnies against me, his hideous crimes — but those had long haunted 
 me with shadows like certainties, — the part she had played in the carnival, 
 at his command, to support with visible facts the taints upon my name! 
 Alack, she is a wild and fearful thing, acquainted with strange secrets, 
 perchance supernatural, and gifted with the mastery of mind. Something 
 she spoke of proving mine innocence — of a just vengeance on Caesar — of 
 removing thy suspicions, and thereby to attain for me thy master's ducal 
 crown. But, believe me, there was but one motive which gave me the 
 courage to obey her — to do and dare what I have done and dared— and 
 that— that could not be a woman's longing for the gauds of sovereignty, 
 since— and all misery catch me if it be not so, even thy deeper hate ! — 
 since, unless the impossible can be, unless thoii wert Alfonso of Ferrara 
 — force nor prayers should ever make me share his crown, were it 
 imperial!" 
 
 " Why this is as marvellous as the rest! But tell out thy tale, lest the 
 dream should vanish ere 1 can list its comfort to some credibility," said 
 Alfonso, breathlessly. 
 
 " 1 know not with what bribes Fiamma had gained a wizard to her pur- 
 poses in whom Caesar trusts," she continued rapidly. "But thou wert to 
 be present, and the frenzy of my despair and indignation, and hope to 
 check the violent career ot the fiend men call my brother, and Fiamma's 
 words of fire, gave me courage for all things. Sorcery was perchance in 
 it — nay, 'tis certain — albeit she wrought with strange mirrors, and the 
 gracious portrait of my lost Francesco which was in this chamber ever 
 until then. Yet it was Caesar's jealous fears which chose the depths of 
 the catacombs for the unhallowed mystery, familiar to her and to Pom 
 Sabbat, and fill those whose science needs darkness and terrific silence 
 
376 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 and shelter from the espial of humanity. No, no, all holy saints be 
 praised ! his gentle spirit was not troubled in its repose, since when the 
 unearthly shadow was raised, despite the fears which nigh overwhelmed 
 me, she was compelled to place me there to imitate his voice, and speak 
 the words which Caesar scorned, even believing that the grave opened its 
 earthy mouth and spoke. 0, heaven and Francesco, pardon, if the work 
 was as unholy and unblest as in the delirium of my thoughts I dreamed 
 it holy and helpful then I" 
 
 " Let me not wake from this dream, unless to die !" exclaimed the 
 Hospitaller, incredulous with the very excess of the triumph and joy which 
 rushed in full tide over his soul. " Lucrezia ! my own ! my all I and when 
 thou badst him wed thee where thyself shouldst deign to choose, tell me 
 — didst thou then think of me ?" 
 
 " Knight of St. John ! that were, I knew, impossible I — I sought but to 
 deliver myself for ever from all wearying of the kind, living out my days for 
 thy sake in unloved solitude," she replied. 
 
 There was a moment's struggle in Alfonso's breast, but his unquiet and 
 too craving spirit, and the bewildering influence, perchance, of a now un- 
 resisted passion, brought strange words to his lips. 
 
 " Thou lovestme !—l worship thee ! — It is in my power, thou knowest, 
 thou ecstasy <5f beauty ! Be mine, and by all that men hold dear or sacred 
 thou shalt also be the wife of Alfonso of Este!" 
 
 " Out and alas ! and hast thou cast the divine mask, and art a devil too ?" 
 exclaimed Lucrezia, repulsing him with the fiercest scorn. "Traitor! 
 I spurn thee ! and these words have broken a spell which honour and 
 pride and every outraged feeling of my heart could not! Leave me for 
 ever, and on the instant, or thy wronged lord shall know what manner 
 of ambassador the end proves thee !" 
 
 " Say what thou wilt against me to Alfonso, still he will love me dearly 
 as himself, and thee many a myriad more !" returned the Hospitaller, all 
 his scru!)les and jealousies utterly dissipated; "miracle of thy sex! for 
 I anj he !" 
 
 Lucrezia gazed at him as if she feared he was struck with sudden mad- 
 ness •, but in an instant the certainty flashed over her, in the rapid arran- 
 gement of all the strange inconsistencies of his conduct which rushed upon 
 her recollection. Yet, instead of any utterance of joy, she grew instantly 
 quite colourless, and but that Alfonso clasped and supported her as she 
 sunk on the couch, she must have fallen to the ground. 
 
 "Ah! now indeed, Fra Bruno, Heaven's vengeance lights on my share 
 in the guilty blood of our house !" she said, in a low, fear-struck tone. 
 " 1 had taught my soul patience in the impossibility which I imagined 
 ever to be honourably thine, and now 1 — 0! thou knowest not there is a 
 curse denounced on all whom my love approaches, and on mine own 
 head, which Fra Bruno was miraculously loosened from his dungeon to 
 declare to me." 
 
 " Fra Bruno! — loveliest, calm thy fears! — Fra Bruno is but an impos- 
 tor, or at best a madman," he replied, with inexpressible satisfaction at 
 finding the obstacle no mightier. " But didst thou not with thine own 
 sweet eyes behold that the necromancer Sabbat and he are one, which 
 Caesar revealed when his jealousy choked life awhile in his veins, chance 
 bringing me to their sight when they invoked some fiend to show to their 
 hatred whom Lucrezia loved ?" 
 
 But the Hospitaller now learned that Lucrezia had become senseless 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 377 
 
 •with the shriek which he had imagined the despairing phantom uttered, 
 and was borne forth by Fiamma ere she had recovered full consciousness. 
 The rest of ihe scene was therefore a new marvel to her ; but now satisfied 
 with his revelation of the identity of the monk and sorcerer, Alfonso 
 declared his suspicions of Fra Bruno's passion, revealing all his reasons 
 against the unfortunate friar, rousing her indignation to the highest by 
 relating his testimony as confessor against her ; his attempt to prevent him 
 from appearing in the tourney by administering some poisonous drug, and 
 laying the blame upon her; and above all, by reminding her tenderly of 
 the scene of the hermitage on Avenfine— which restored the rich tints to 
 Lucrezia's complexion, but left her no room for defence or doubt. 
 
 The mutual and now unreserved confidence of the lovers which followed 
 — thebewilderingraptureoflheiracknowledgmentsoflove and interchange 
 of oaths and promises unbounded — the comparison of their adventures and 
 sufferings — the intermingled tears and smiles with which Lucrezia listened 
 to the story of the knight's long struggles, and the dangerous subtleties he 
 had practised to win light on his perplexities, we leave to the reader's 
 imagining and recollection ; but the full revelation entailed new terrors 
 and perplexities on Lucrezia. Vehemently as her indignation was roused 
 by the plan of the Orsino to overwhelm her with public disgrace, her fears 
 were all concentrated on Caesar. It was not probable, indeed, that Faus- 
 tina would betray their interview to Caesar, inasmuch as she had consented 
 to it against all bis designs and policy, and with the belief that her lady 
 purposed to use it in cajoling the emissary of Ferrara into using the powers 
 confided to him to withdraw herself and nursling out of Caesar's reach. 
 It might be she was weary, or troubled in conscience at the treacherous 
 part she had played, and desired to escape from the entanglement; but 
 still it was possible that she might find it judicious to betray them, and 
 she had for some time exhibited symptoms of impatience at the length of 
 the interview, which Lucrezia had noticed, though unheeded by her lover. 
 Moreover, Caesar might have his suspicions roused by the discovery of the 
 monk. Fiamma was, however, out of danger, for in parting she had 
 declared to Lucrezia that, being satisfied of Caesar's guilt, she intended to 
 leave Rome for ever; and desired that no inquiry should be made for her 
 until she sent word that she was in safety. 
 
 But Lucrezia would not listen to her lover's bold project of revealing Cae- 
 sar's crimes to the pontiff. She declared that the discovery would in all 
 probability completely overwhelm him in the tempestuous fury of the pas- 
 sions it would provoke, reminding Alfonso of the almost mortal violence 
 of his grief on the tragical death of the Duke of Gandia. Neither had they 
 any tangible proofs to allege ; and it was very possible that Caesar would 
 be driven to desperation, and his secret influence and open power, and the 
 resources of his ferocious genius, might produce some extraordinary and 
 destructive explosion. The pontiff already mistrusted him, and the de- 
 claration of the Ferrara alliance would strike awe into the confederate ba- 
 rons, and prevent all necessity of confiding to him the powers which he 
 was so likely to abuse. The only triumph which Lucrezia would permit 
 her lover to enjoy was the confusion of the Orsini and their secret ally, 
 when on the following day he should, without warning or explanation, 
 make the proposals from Ferrara public; after which her fears for his 
 safety could only be satisfied by his solemn promise to depart secretly for 
 Lombardy, thence to demand her in form, and make preparations to aid 
 the pontiff, if assistance should be necessary. The desire which he pas- 
 
378 Cyf;SAR BORGIA. 
 
 sionately urged to reveal his name and rank, and wed her immediately, 
 filled her with a terror which could only be appeased by this promise, and 
 which the direful tragedies of so many victims of Caesar's unnatural rivalry 
 might well arouse. She would not even suffer that the pontiff should be 
 made acquainted with the truth until be was beyond the reach of accident, 
 alleging the innumerable and crafty spies with whom Alexander was sur- 
 rounded, to whose scrutiny his impetuous passions and impulses conti- 
 nually laid him open. Moreover, l.ucrezia wrung from her lover, as a 
 proofthathehadlaid aside all jealousy, that he would leave the rebuking of 
 Sir Reginald to herself, who she was satisfied had been deceived in some 
 similar manner, by the treachery of Faustina, as he had himself been in the 
 valley of Egeria. She related most touching tales of the young knight's ho- 
 nourable struggles with his passion, and of her own cruel use of it to mis- 
 direct suspicion, and even expressed her belief that in obeying Faustina's 
 summons he had really hoped to have the resolution to plead for the Orsino ; 
 tales which might have moved Alfonso to pity ; but the still uncalmed heav- 
 ingsof his jealousy, and the delirium of passion, suggested an ungenerous 
 advantage to be gained by compliance with those gentle entreaties. 
 
 It might be that the lady guessed at the nature of her lover's thoughts, 
 which his tremulous gestures and the fire in his eyes betr;iyed ; for with 
 the divine instinct of that natural modesty of the sex which is scarcely 
 ever obliterated, even in the vilest of it, her own manner grew colder and 
 more reserved. She laboured to change the discourse, sweet as was to 
 her that rhapsody of burning eloquence in which Alfonso atoned for his 
 long silence. But the apprehensions which dictated this change of de- 
 meanour were in themselves dangerously suggestive ; his words became 
 strangely vague and random, and yet he continued to gaze with a kind of 
 fierceness at Lucrezia, while half in fear, and half in hope to divert his 
 thoughts, she laboured to win from him an assurance that he would in 
 nowise molest Le Beaufort. 
 
 " No, my Lucrezia! unless I have assurance on which my soul can rest 
 secure, 1 dare not suffer aughtto breathe that envies me my treasure !" he 
 exclaimed. "Be mine wholly, and I take Heaven and earth to witness 
 that thou art my bride, my wife, my soul, my essence, my infinity of love, 
 all that 1 am and all that ever 1 can be! But be mine ! and 1 will believe 
 in thee against the angels I" 
 
 "Nay, now, indeed, thou provest, love, that thou dost not love me, but 
 hatestand despisest me even to thy soul's core!" replied Lucrezia, weep- 
 ing, and in a terrified manner endeavouring to release herself from the 
 arm with which he circled her. But the very humility and supphcation 
 of her look, and attitude of submissive entreaty, gave her beauty a more 
 resistless charm than in its brightest blaze of power and victory. 
 
 "Fear not ! thou art my wife, my Lucrezia, my existence ! Fear not, 
 my sweetness ! 1 will but repay that gentle Egerian kiss, flimsy as light- 
 ning!" 
 
 "Swear then to leave me on the instant. Nay, till thou swearest, 
 dearest Alfonso! — I am all thine, but do not debase thy wife to be the 
 thing her foes have called her!" she exclaimed, and glidmg from his em- 
 brace she sank on her knees before him, in an attitude of mingled fear 
 and supplication. 
 
 " Thou ! — kneeling v.hence I should never rise ! Oh, they have belied 
 thee, my Lucrezia, for 1 know thou lovest me ! Yes, I swear it ! But one 
 instant to obliterate that churlish recollection of the valley of Egeria! 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 379 
 
 But one farewell glimpse of heaven, and I will leave thee I" said Alfonso, 
 rallying all the strength of his chivalrous and honourable spirit. And 
 raising her with passionate tenderness, the Hospitaller pressed his soul 
 ■with his lips on those whose sweetness had truly never left haunting his 
 own, and certes with most ample retaliation, for it seemed as if the'deep 
 draught of passion could never be satiated with their crimson nectar. 
 Loving so passionately, and of a nature so fraught with the glowing sun 
 of her land, what marvel that Lucrezia, in the first movement of ecstatic 
 tenderness, wreathed her fair arms round his neck, and met the pressure 
 ■with almost equal fervour? IVay, and it might be that it was rather her 
 knowledge of her lover's character, than motives which might actuate 
 the purer and colder daughters of the north, which almost simultaneously 
 induced her to start from his arms, and touch a silver bell, which lay on 
 the couch beside her, exclaiming " Faustina!" But already the duenna 
 ■was in the chamber ; and affecting to rub her eyes and yawn, she pointed 
 tolhe casement, at which the first beams of dawn had for some time paled 
 the moonlight. Both instantly assumed, though not very successfully, the 
 cold and distant manner befitting their supposed relation; and satisfied 
 that the ancient dame had overheard little of their conversation, since she 
 assumed an air of infinite discretion and reproof towards her nursling, the 
 envoy took a more sober farewell, and retired with one last, laughing, 
 and yet most passionate glance of love, and pride, and gratitude, apd 
 playful mockery from his betrothed. 
 
 CHAPTER XL VI. 
 
 " If this be triumph, what call ye de{eH?"—llfracombe. 
 
 The Sala Regia was prepared for the festival in which was to be decided 
 the dispute of the tournament of the Colosseum. Yet, festival as it might 
 be, it was felt, though not acknowledged, that something of foreboding 
 and gloom mingled with all the pomp and splendour of the scene. The 
 guard on the pontifical palace was noted to be unusually numerous; and 
 the musters of the Orsini, however speciously declared to be in honour of 
 their young chieftain, were as significantly great. 
 
 The festival had certainly something of a military character, yet the 
 pontiff was somewhat surprised, on entering theSala, followed by Lucrezia 
 and his court, to perceive that the" majority of his guests were in armour. 
 Paolo andLe Beaufort were armed at all points, excepting the head ; and 
 the former had an expression of wild gaiety on his pallid features con- 
 trasting in a very unwonted manner with the gloom inLe Beaufort's. 
 
 Paolo fixed his eyes eagerly on Lucrezia, hoping, no doubt, to feast 
 them with traces of the sufiermg and degradation to which he believed 
 she had been subjected in the Hospitaller's disdain. But his heart glowed 
 as if with living fire when he saw her enter, her face beaming wiih de- 
 light and satisfaction, all her motions undulating as if to some inward 
 music of enjoyment and happiness. But when ihe Hospitaller entered, 
 for the first time arrayed in a rich court garb, which displayed the kingly 
 grandeur of his person in a new lighi, his consternation was completed 
 on discerning that, instead of the glances of ire which ought to have been 
 exchanged, their eyes sought each other's and met in an electric shock. 
 
380 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 and Lucrezia's sparkled with a warmer lustre, and a mystic smile played 
 like a butterfly over the deepening roses of her cheeks. 
 
 Messer Benjbo follo\Yed his lord, but with a satisfactorily dismal ex- 
 pression ; for, in some chastisement of the canon's plalonism, Alfonso had 
 informed him of the dangerous position in which he was likely to be 
 placed, without hinting at his means of extrication. 
 
 A stately ceremonial was gone through, which finally left the three 
 competitors standing before the elevated chair on v>hich Lucrezia sat, as 
 Queen of the Quest, "surrounded by the fair jury who assisted, or at least 
 confirmed her judgment. 
 
 It was the etiquette in these secular exhibitions to take no formal notice 
 of the pontiff's presence. Lucrezia, therefore, commenced her address 
 with only a gentle smile at her sire, aud a bent to the assembly, which 
 was returned with deep homage ; and though tinged with the rhetorical 
 forms of the age, in any the harmony of her voice would have rendered it 
 eloquent. 
 
 "Very dear ladies, and my lords," she began, after a slight pause; 
 " the herald of our absolute court has informed you for what purpose we 
 are here met, under our Lady's enlightenment, 'and by the rules of chi- 
 valry, to adjudge who hath deserved best of these very valiant knights. 
 Women we are, indeed, and therefore by some may be deemed but little 
 competent to wefglity judgments. But nature, that denied us both strength 
 and valour, gave us so deep an admiration of those qualities— rendered 
 them so needful to us — that we are even like the lovers of arts, who, 
 having neither prejudice nor rivalry, are oft belter judges in them than 
 the professors themselves. Moreover, we are artists in this, that women 
 were those who wrought the rough ore of strength and valour into the glo- 
 ries of chivalry, melting it in the fire of love : refining it with generosity, 
 humility, and all mercifulness ; welding it in the ice-cold temper of chas- 
 tity and forbearance ; polishing it with tenderness, grace, honour, and 
 courtesy — making it indeed but^religion in panoply of steel. Yet be it as 
 it may, we are women, and as women we must judge. 
 
 " rs'ot only, therefore, ye are to learn, lords and valiant gentlemen, 
 decide we on the valour, but on the worthiness of the deeds, and doers. 
 Therefore the noble Lord Orsino will pardon us, that we cannot deem his 
 share in the surprise of Capua eclipses the merit of his rivals — a surprise 
 that poured forth torrents of blood which might have been spared— the 
 blood of women, too, and of the children of vTomen I Yet there are no 
 mothers among your judges, Lord Paolo I" 
 
 "Even SO; — but they may chance to become so with but common luck. 
 Lady Lucrezial" interrupted the Orsino, in avoiceof such sullen mockery, 
 with so strong an emphasis on the name that there was a silence of utter 
 astonishment in the audience. 
 
 "Sir Reginald of England I" continued Lucrezia, turning away with 
 flashing eyes, but v,-ith a'beseeching gesture to Alfonso, who had put his 
 hand on his sword. "Listen! — the discourse is now of you! All of us 
 are agreed that, inasmuch as you entered Capua in fair war, sword in 
 hand, the first, nay, the only'^one — the prize should be yours. But, 
 knight, there is a foul stain on your shield, which first much be effaced. 
 You have rendered yourself unworthy of all chivalric recompense by 
 basely traducing the fair fame of a noble lady ! — ay, Tarquin-like, by ac- 
 cusing her of a crime to which you disloyally and vainly endeavoured to 
 seduce her!" 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 381 
 
 "This is gospel-truth in all but the failure!" exclaimed the Orsino, 
 laughing loudly. "Speak, friend of an unmatched dvel tell us all where 
 thou didst spend the night of the quest, and how ! — at least so much as 
 thou canst without bringing blushes to this chaster Lucrezia's cheek!" 
 
 "Answer him, knight! not only before all this presence but before that 
 above! "returned Lucrezia, passionately, " Answer him, I command you, 
 fori — even I am she who accuse you of a most false and perjurous calumny!" 
 
 " And remember that it was to me the boast was made, that this lady 
 had granted you on that night a secret interview in the Vatican," said Al- 
 fonso. 
 
 "Courage, youth! 'tis but to avow thy boyish vaunting," said Csesar, 
 suddenly interposing. 
 
 It needed but this climax to make the passions raging in Sir Reginald's 
 breast burst all restraints. 
 
 " No, Dukeof Romagna! no, false knight, and faithless prince!" he 
 exclaimed. "Rather I confess before all this presence what thou didst 
 avouch to me yesterday, with purpose to awe me into betraying the secrets 
 of the Orsini, that thyself suborned the false hag who lured me whither I 
 went with a hope which I dared not whisper to myself — a hope which was 
 madness and treachery and all disloyalty! — -whose penalty 1 partly paid 
 in the biller mockery of that nighi^'s fruitless expectation, or will now 
 abide, even to the worst your haired, lady, can ordain!" 
 
 "Tush ! — is it all of the silly jest 1 played to rebuke your sillier pre- 
 sumption, boy?" said Caesar, laughing as if with mingled surprise and 
 gaiety — but the laugh was solitary. 
 
 "thou, thou, Caesar ! hast dared to play this jest, as thou callest it, 
 with me, with thy sister's name !" shouted Alexander, with a fury which 
 seemed likely to boil over every restraint, when, luckily for Csesar, it 
 was diverted into another channel. 
 
 " Though it be even so, yet thou ! thou, Hospitaller !" exclaimed Paolo, 
 staring like one possessed of fiends. " Hast thou nought to declare where- 
 fore even the despised Orsino is now content to withdraw all aspiration 
 to this illustrious lady's hand ?" 
 
 " Certes, since I kneel here in the name of Alfonso of Ferrara, humbly 
 to offer to her acceptance a suitor with whom no Orsino may dare to con- 
 tend," returned the knight, kneeling with profound homage at Lucrezia's 
 feet. 
 
 " Now all the saints, let us hold our breath, and wake from this strange 
 dream!" exclaimed CcBsar, in a wonder-struck tone. " Messer Bembo, 
 speak ! are we not fooled with these fine words? What power hath this man 
 from the princes of Ferrara?" 
 
 " Even all he claims, my lord!" was the decisive reply of the amazed 
 platonist. 
 
 " But thou, Lucrezia! — what answerest thou?" said the duke with inex- 
 pressible alarm and surprise. 
 
 " Speak, freely, Lucrezia! marches not thy consent abreast with ours, 
 which most gladly confirms thee to Feirara?" said Alexander, with a 
 glare at the Orsino like that of a lion about to spring. 
 
 " As truly as 1 now accept this ring, which I would it were of adamant, 
 never to be broken but by death!" said Lucrezia. " As truly as that I 
 — and all this fair quest— find that the true praise of chivalry is due only 
 to this noble and unstained knight, and to him adjudge the crown of the 
 tournament of the Colosseum." 
 
382 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 And pronouncing the words, she accepted from the kneeling Hospi- 
 taller a costly ring of diamonds, while a herald placed the long disputed 
 wreath of victory on his brow. The pontiff immediately arose, and with a 
 triumph and exultation which he took no pains to conceal, pronounced 
 his benediction on the belrolhaL 
 
 " It is excellently well, but not yet is the fiat gone forth irrevocably," 
 said Paolo, with a delirious laugh. " Faithful ambassador! I shall care 
 that the praises of your management precede you to Ferrara! — Meanwhile, 
 if your grace of Romagna cares to know wherefore we do not envy the 
 duke his prize, we will tell you a sphinx's riddle, of how sharing guilt 
 proves innocence." 
 
 " We will have you, then, and the barons of your alliance, share your 
 guilt and prove your innocence by forming immediately the siege of Bo- 
 logna," said the pontiff, in his most tempestuous tones. "Wherein you 
 will be aided, at any need, by the arms of our potent and obedient son, 
 the Duke of Ferrara; upon which we command you immediately, under 
 the banner of the Gonfalonier, to march with all your forces from Rome, 
 and commission the Duke of Romagna to execute our order within two 
 sunsets. And for thee, audacious Eiis'ish boy! — if at this sunset which 
 approaches, thou, or any of thy followers, are found in Rome, we will 
 keep ye there as long as the walls of Santangelo are strong enough for the 
 purpose." 0^ 
 
 And without any other formality of dismissal, and without taking any 
 other notice of Cassar, Alexander arose, and leaning on the Hospitaller's 
 shoulder with one hand, while he led his daughter with the other, retired 
 — leaving the whole assembly staring in dumb amazement at one another. 
 
 " Nay, shrink not from mine eye!" said Paolo at last, as the shame- 
 struck Knight of England turned slowly away. " I desire no other ven- 
 geance on thee, than to hear what 1 can reveal. Gonfalonier, we may at 
 least discuss with you what force we are expected to furnish to your siege 
 of Bologna. Lend me your arms, ye faithful friends and allies!" 
 
 And with a strangely vehement action he thrust his arms into those of 
 Caesar and Le Beaufort, and hurried them almost involuntarily to the 
 extremity of the hall. Overwhelming as were the news revealed, to Le 
 Beaufort, it was remarkable that he made no comment, but with a sigh as 
 it seemed of utter despair withdrew ere Caesar gave vent to the prodigious 
 emotion which convulsed his whole frame, and which far surpassed even 
 the feelings of a brother, on a revelation which the Orsino's gloss confirmed 
 into one of irremediable dishonour. 
 
 Unconscious or indifferent to any consequences which could now ensue 
 from the conjunction of his enemies, the Prince of Ferrara accompanied 
 the pontiff to his appartment, and received, with what delight may be 
 imagined, a command to pass the remainder of the day with himself and 
 the newly betrothed. 
 
 This first happy day of Alfonso's love, and the happiest of his life, 
 passed away with marvellous rapidity. Alexander approved of the envoy's 
 project of returning on the following day with the report of his success to 
 Ferrara; and he took so much pleasure "in discussing the minutest preli- 
 minaries to be adjusted, that although the Datary ar'rived about nightfall, 
 and sued for an audience on the most important business, it was long ere 
 Alexander retired to grant it. He left the envov with Lucrezia and her 
 ladies, and seldom was there a company more deligliting or delighted, aban- 
 doned to its own resources. In her anxiety to les ,ve her memory brightly 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 383 
 
 impressed on her lover's heart, Lucrezia displayed all her infinite charms 
 of beauty and genius so profusely, that the intoxication of his pleasure 
 became at length a species of pain in the unsatistied aching of the senses 
 ■which it kindled. There was something even of relief mingled with bis 
 regret, when a messenger entered to summon Lucrezia to the pontiffs 
 presence alone : and yet their leave-taking occupied so long a minute, that 
 another and more impatient command followed ere she obeyed. And very 
 shortly after, word was brought to the ladies to attend their mistress, and 
 an intimation to the envoy that she would not be visible again that night. 
 
 To indulge in the delight of musing over the new treasures of hopes 
 and lover-fancies he had collected in this long interview, Alfonso strolled 
 into the gardens of the palace •, and turning into one of the more secluded 
 walks, he suddenly heard a hobbUng step after him, looked round, and 
 beheld an aged and withered crone, in a Jewish garb, who overtook and 
 immediately prostrated herself at his feet. It was Morla: but at first his 
 preoccupied memory scarcely recognised her, until the tones of the raven- 
 like voice fell upon liis ear. 
 
 '' Hist, son !— I bear a secret matter," said the bag, rising. " But first, 
 that you mav believe in me, know you this Nazarene amulet, which I 
 bring as a token from one who learned to trust in you at Capua ?" 
 
 " I have seen it ere now," said Alfonso, suspiciously, but recognising 
 the plain silver cross of a nun, which Fiamma Colonna wore with su- 
 perstitious care round her neck, among all her richer ornaments— sole 
 relic of the past. 
 
 " The lady of your people, to whom this cross belongs, who, albeit of 
 the skilled, hath 'oft sought the aidauce of our powers, and who has now 
 taken refuge on our hearth in the Ghettto, confiding in the faith and gra- 
 titude which we owe to her, from divers her enemies, more fearful than 
 hissing snakes!— sends you this token, and by it adjures you to see her 
 in all haste and secrecy, to devise some means by which she may fly 
 beyond their coil and darting fangs," said Morta. " Or if it be not among 
 things permitted or possible, that she should escape from the destroyer's 
 power, at least she would confide to you a matter which concerns even 
 the life of the high priest's daughter, whom ye call Lucrezia Borgia." 
 
 Alfonso had no reason to place any trust in his Jewish suppliant; but 
 this message was so probable, and supported by circumstances which she 
 could not have known apparently but from Fiamma's information, that he 
 could scarcely doubt it. Accordingly , the final statement, coupled with 
 his knowledge of Caesar's desperation and remorseless character, excited 
 liis apprehensions to the highest degree. At the same time his gratitude 
 and compassion were powerfully excited by learning Fiamma's peril, 
 ■which she had incurred for his advantage, augmented by the reasonable 
 doubts to be entertained of the fidelity of those whom she had been com- 
 pelled to trust. He rapidly considered the possibility of withdrawing her 
 from Rome, under protection of his own escort, on the following day; 
 and after many inquiries, which satisfied him of the reality of the old 
 woman's statement, who also seemed to be in panic terror lest their con- 
 ference should be overheard, he resolved on accompanying her to Fiam- 
 ma's refuge. His. usually darkly-garbed person, he thought, would run 
 little risk of beini? recognised in the courtly array in which he was now 
 bedizened, with the addition of the general nocturnal vizard and cloak 
 worn by the gallants at a period whe;i innumerable feuds rendered almost 
 every third man an enemy. He took care, moreover, ' " ' ■"" 
 
384 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 of the Jewess, gave no intimation of his purpose of sallying forth to the 
 attendants in the palace, who might have betrayed it, and proceeded with 
 Morta to a private exit of the Vatican on the Tiber, and called a boat. 
 Somewhat ominously the boatman proved to be Giorgio Schiavone. The 
 old man seemed older now than ever, or more taciturn; he took scarcely 
 any notice of his fare, and probably did not recognise him. 
 
 Landing at the Ghetto, Morta hobbled up to the knight, and not al- 
 together counterfeiting the anxiety she displayed, she implored him not 
 to reveal it if she guided him into the Ghetto by a much nearer way than 
 skirting the walls to the gate — with a chance of being refused admittance, 
 as it was past the legal hour. With a vague misgiving, whose warnings 
 he despised to his cost, Alfonso heard her propose the watercourse which 
 he had formerly discovered, and which she declared was now so low as 
 scarcely to wet over the sole of a foot. Yet he consented, and they en- 
 tered the narrow gangway with great facility, the Jewess leading the 
 way ; and they proceeded by the dim light which fell from between the 
 wails, until he imagined they were near the dwelling of the sorceresses, 
 when he heard a loud crash behind. He had scarcely time to turn in 
 alarm to ascertain what had happened ere streams of light blazed down 
 upon him from various unsuspected holes in the lofty walls of the en- 
 closure, and innumerable Hebrew physiognomies, all instinct with malice 
 and rage, appeared at them. A storm of hootings and revilings and cries 
 for vengeance assailed his ears like the shrieks of discordant birds in an 
 Indian forest. Arquebuses and cross-bows were levelled at him from 
 many points, and he perceived that the waters were rising rapidly, and 
 that an iron grill had descended between him and the exit. At this for- 
 midable minute the door of the Jewesses' house flew open, and Miriam 
 appeared shrieking "Francesco!" with delirious and despairing iteration. 
 Morta called to the knight to take refuge, and ran up the stairs, seizing 
 Miriam in her arms and forcing her violently away. Alfonso made but 
 one spring into the vault after her, which was in total darkness, and sud- 
 denly he felt himself seized on all sides. He attempted to draw his 
 sword, but it was snatched from the sheath behind, and at the instant 
 when he gave himself up to destruction, light flashed in, and he found 
 himself completely hemmed in by a throng of Hebrews, the majority 
 armed, and all raging with imprecations and fury. 
 
 Treachery and Ca;sar were ideas which rushed simultaneously upon 
 Alfonso's mind, and he expected nothing but immediate destruction ; but, 
 to his surprise, the infuriate throngs became suddenly still, and an ancient 
 Jew tottered from the ranks, quivering and coughing with age and fury. 
 " Yield thee, accursed Nazarene! betrayer of the daughters of the people! 
 — yield thee, that would bring on us the vengeance of thee greedy Am- 
 monite! Bind him and lead him before the Senator, as the Threatener 
 commanded, without delay — even by the gate which opens on the Orsini 
 Square, where wait his officers and the accursed Inquisitor," he yelled. 
 
 Somewhat relieved by finding that there was no immediate purpose of 
 assassination, but not in the least relishing the ulterior prospect, Alfonso 
 vehemently protested his innocence, and appealed to Morta, whose sister 
 had dragged Miriam out. 
 
 " Man of Gaih ! dog of mine enemy! shall I witness for thee that hast 
 betrayed our father's blood to shame, and the judgment that is upon it! " 
 shrieked Morta. "Accursed be thou and all thy tribe; and blessed be 
 they who in any manner contribute to thy and their destruction! " 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 385 
 
 " Away with him 5 he is the goat of atonement to the Nazarene! " conti- 
 nued iheold Jew, vehemenlly. " He hath no part in Israel. Let them 
 ]\n\^e llie Christian by the Christian law. " 
 
 "Ay, let ihem impale him living as ihey did my son— my Reuben! " 
 yelled another elder. " Lei him linger as he did until sunset— until the 
 vultures were so hungry they would no longer delay; and the Nazarene 
 suffered me neither to drive them away, nor wet his blackening lips with 
 water! " 
 
 This dreadful reminiscence, and the agony of the old man's grief, re- 
 kindled the caplurers to so furious a wrath, that it was only by urging upon 
 them the positive commands they had received, that the elder hindered 
 them from proceeding to instant vengeance. Alfonso himself felt that his 
 only hope of redemption was in present submission ; but while he was 
 expostulating with his capturers a guard of halberdiers belonging to the 
 Senator ol Rome made their entry. He took some hope from the sight, 
 especially as young Fabio Orsino was among them, instantly declared 
 that he \vas the envoy of Ferrara, and demanded protection in the pontiff's 
 name. But the youth's oidy answer was a wild laugh of derision and 
 hatred, and an order to the Jews to come immediately with their complaint 
 and prisoner before the tribunal of his brother, an order which was in- 
 stantly obeyed. 
 
 Meanwhile, no good or evil angel whispered any tidings of these events 
 in the Vatican. Fraught with the nectar of the delicious passion which 
 now pervaded her whole voluptuous nature, Lucrezia had obeyed the 
 pontiff's summons, not without some surprise, which was deepened when 
 on entering his presence she observed the agitation of his countenance 
 and manner. Fixing his eyes upon her with a sternness which she had 
 never yet found in them, Alexander somewhat accounted for his wrath by 
 declaring, that a report had been brought to him of a calumny invented by 
 the Orsini, which rendered it advisable thai she should not see the envoy 
 of Ferrara again. Observing her vivid blush, and the warmth with which 
 she protested against so strange a submission, Alexander's suspicions 
 were probably strengthened. Moreover, Lucrezia dared not question 
 what had been reported, lest it should entail some dangerous explanations; 
 and her silence and conlusion tolil but little in her favour, flie second 
 message was immediately despatched by the pontiff's command ; but not 
 satisfied with this precaution, and contrary to his custom, he detained 
 Lucrezia until a late hour, affecting to be'absorbed in a game of chess 
 with her, which his Spanish skill enabled him to protract almost at 
 pleasure. 
 
 Tidings of a tumult in the Ghetto, and of the seizure of a Christian visit- 
 ing some Jewish paramour in it, arrived ; but little notice was taken of it, 
 the Senator himself having quieted the disturbance, and taken cognizance 
 of the offence. But even when at length Lucrezia was permitted to retire, 
 Alexander gave orders in her presence that the envoy of Ferrara should 
 expect a visit from him very early, that he might bestow some last in- 
 structions. Stung at heart with the suspicion which she vaguely discerned 
 in all these movements, Lucrezia paused as she reached the threshold of 
 the chamber in hesitation, whetlier to return and confide all or not — when 
 the expression of the Dalary's eyes, whose doubtful faith she knew, re- 
 strained her. 
 
 Lucrezia's misgivings were much increased when, on retiring to her 
 apartments, she found that her nurse was not in attendance, and that the 
 
 25 
 
386 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 most vigilant inquiry could not ascertain what had become of her. Her 
 agitation made even the thought of rest unpleasing to her, and she dimissed 
 her attendants without suffering them to fulfil their usual offices; and 
 daybreak found her si ill engaged in a reverie which, however sweet, 
 brought frequent tears to her eyes. The tranquillity of the dawn diffused 
 itself over her exhausted spirits, and she resigned herself to the slumber 
 which now visited her even as she sat, until she was startled by a summons 
 to attend the pontiff immediately, who desired to see her at the same time 
 with the envoy of Ferrara. 
 
 Lucrezia was somewhat surprised, but unwilling to appear before her 
 lover so pale and exhausted as she now imagined she looked, she sent an 
 excuse — to which a positive and imperative command was returned. The 
 tremulous manner of the page who brought the message, and her own 
 apprehensions, banished every other consideration from Lucrezia's mind, 
 and she hurried in her unchanged attire to Alexander's presence; and on 
 entering she was amazed and alarmed in the highest degree by his first 
 words, demanding of her what had become of the Knight of St. John I He 
 had disappeared from his apartment ever since sunset, and Messer Bembo, 
 pale and trembling as a blanched winter leaf, was there to affirm the cer- 
 tainty of the intelligence. 
 
 The fear and utter consternation of Lucrezia apparently increased the 
 anger of the pontiff to an uncontrollable degree. He decfared his inten- 
 tion of seeking for him himself, and ascertaining for what reason it pleased 
 him to conceal hin)self in ihe palace, and then without any apparent con- 
 nexion he commanded Jlona Faustina to be sent for. Lucrezia some- 
 what falteringly announced her disappearance, and Alexander's agitation 
 visibly increased. 
 
 *' Why then — where is he?" he exclaimed, in a tone of his terrible 
 voice which made even Lucrezia tremble. " It cannot be, though we have 
 oflate heard strange storiesof his licentious hypocrisy — Fiamma, the young 
 JewesI — dost thou har, Lucrezia?" 
 
 '• My senor, I dare aver, upon my life and honour, these are foul calum- 
 nies invented by his enemies to poison your ear against him I" said Lucre- 
 zia, with great warmth. 
 
 "Good troth, they tell us that even last night — hearken, Lucrezia!" 
 said Alexander, waving to Bembo to retire, who affrightedly obeyed. 
 " Hearken I " he continued, trenjbling with passion. *• Thy Faustinal — a 
 tale was told me — and she has fled to the Orsini for refuge. Bears she aught 
 on her lips which enemieswouldjov to hear? WretchI where is the Knight 
 ofSt. John?" 
 
 "Would to all blessed saints, my lord, I knew, that I might feel the 
 assurance of his safety," replied Lucrezia, with a vehemence which 
 staggered the suspicions of her wrathful sire. 
 
 "And yet," he said, after a pause, " and yet what means that deepen- 
 ing and ever-deepening blush? Lucrezia I listen — for I will know the 
 worst I — and must, perchance, to save our name from a matchless igno- 
 miny! They tell me now — nay, they have proved it by some evidence 
 — that the Hospitaller's errand here was to discover matter to prevent 
 rather than conclude this alliance with his masters. The English knight, 
 it seems , did formerly avouch it. And they tell me— they tell me — Lu- 
 crezia! Lucrezia! if thou art indeed the wretch I will not call thee, at 
 least tell me in time to prevent the traitor's return with his boast to Fer- 
 rara, to overwhelm us all with everlasting shame and laughter." 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 387 
 
 "My father I what would this say?" returned Lucrezia, completely aghast. 
 
 "Girl I thou canst save his life but by one means — by yielding him to 
 my mercy I Or wilt ihou force me to proclaim all, and break into thy 
 chambers with my Swiss?" shouted Alexander. 
 
 Lucrezia's silence of indignation, shame, and grief seemed to confirm 
 her sire's suspicions, and completely vanquish him. He seated himself 
 as if too dizzy to stand, and covered his face with his hands, exclaiming, 
 "This is indeed punishmeot !"" 
 
 "Kill me, but do not doubt me thus, sehorl" said Lucrezia at last, in a 
 dreamy tone, as if scarce believing in what she heard, and overwhelmed 
 with apprehensions of some indistinct but mighty mischief. And it was 
 at this instant that Burciardo entered, who quiveringly announced that 
 two wretched old women from the Ghetto had arrived at the palace, and 
 demanded with such strange words to be admitted to the presence of the 
 magnificent Domina that he had come to learn her pleasure in the matter. 
 
 Alexander gave his daughter no time to refuse, by ordering the Jewesses 
 to be admitted instantly ; and all further discussion was cut short by the 
 return of Burciardo with 'Sotie and iMorta, who either observed not, or 
 took no heed of the presence of the pontiff in their precipitation, but 
 rushed to Lucrezia, seized hold of her robes, and beating their breasts 
 shrieked to her for aid in a wild sea-fowl chorus. 
 
 "We gave thee the precious potion which won thy lover's love I" yelled 
 Morta. " Be merciful in turn. It is in our house the Nazarene is seizedl 
 But, lady, you piiied our child, and said it was a holy deed to bring back 
 to comCori her despair the seducer of her youth whom her madness 
 mourned as dead — slain — murdered I We have done no morel" 
 
 "True, he is rich, and lavish of his wealth, as a soldier should be," 
 said Notte, with a terrible grin. "But, most beauteous lady I if thou wilt 
 favour him and us, here is the noblest of his gifts— these priceless gems 
 which he shared in the plunder of C-apua — they are thine I'' 
 
 "The wreath of the tournament!'" exclaimed Lucrezia, bewildered with 
 terror and astonishment, as, weeping and wailing, the hag laid at her 
 feet a crown of superb diamonds. "Why, what is this — the Christian I 
 — who hath stolen these precious gems to give them to his paramour?"' 
 
 "None, none — but be secret, lady!" returned Notte, and the rest was 
 uttered simultaneously, as if the hags grudged each other so sweet a 
 morsel of revenge. '• Be secret! — for he is a monkish knight — a Knight 
 of the White Gross of that John whom the Nazarenes call Saint!" 
 
 Lucrezia uttered a half-stifled shriek, and glancing frantically at Alexan- 
 der, she exclaimed, " He is not in your palace, then. — But where is he? 
 — devilish women!" 
 
 "He is conveyed— a prisoner— out of Rome; the Senator himself sat 
 on him, in judgment : — nor can we learn what hath become of him, nor of 
 our child, our Miriam," said Morta. 
 
 "The Senator! the Orsinol a prisoner!"' gasped Lucrezia, staggering 
 and falling at her sire's feet as senseless as if dead. 
 
 When she recovered perception, almost the first object her gaze en- 
 countered was Caesar, assiduously engaged in administering restoratives, 
 
 "Is he slain? have y>iu murdered him, butcher?" she shrieked. 
 "Speak! and let my heart burst! — Is he dead?"' 
 
 "This frenzy indeed confirms the Orsino's bewildering tale! said Cae- 
 sar, quailing beneath the fierceness of her eyes, which flashed like mad 
 diamonds. 
 
388 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Murderer! take ofif thy bloody hands, and tell me if he lives: if not. 
 I speak, and reveal thee to heaven and earth the monster that thou art I" 
 she cried with unmiaginable fury. 
 
 "He is no/ dead I —no harm has befallen him I — she raves I" said Csesar, 
 hurriedlv. "Alas! and the warning came loo late! His unhallowed 
 lusts have placed him in the Orsino"s power, and he has used it to our 
 dishonour, and sent the envoy a prisoner to Ferrara to his abused sove- 
 reigns, with full proof of his treason — unless thejest was of their invention. 
 — And woe the day— of our shame and thine!" 
 
 So utter was theastonishment into which this amazing combination of 
 events, so counteractive to all the purposes of the planners, plunged Lucrezia, 
 that she st:ired for several moments in silence Mistaking the nature of 
 the thnushts which apparently overwhelmed her, Caesar could not forbear 
 a bitter laugli ; but to his surprise in turn it was echoed by Lucrezia. 
 
 "And the detected seducer of the Hebrew's daughter, that was said to 
 be murdered by a felon whose like hath not bi'cn on earth since Cain!" 
 she said, dissembling her real agony as much as possible under the ap- 
 pearance of another. "Senorl I beseech you, if ever you loved my 
 mother's daughter, let the villain be brought back, and suffer the full 
 penalties of his enormous crime — for what vengeance hath he to fear from 
 the Dukes of Ferrari for a guilt which they have contrived — or Caesar lies !" 
 "• Dios.Dios! justly haslthou punished the vile father by giving him viler 
 children I " exclaimed .Alexander, in despairing accents, for his emotion had 
 passed all violence. "And righteously is my crime my punishment!" 
 
 " The Hospitaller's chastisement may be safely K'ft to his lords, since 
 even it suffices the Orsino's vengeance," replied Caesar. " But to bring 
 bin) back were impossible, unless the messenger rode the wind. It is 
 dawn, and he was borne from Rome with the swiftest horse that hale 
 could harness but an hour after sunset and his detection." 
 
 " is it impossible, ulierly impossible to overtake them?" said Lucrezia, 
 with a wondrous light breaking on her fair visage. " Let him to his 
 punishment, then, in Ferrara. — And I remain lo mine in Rome; but, 
 senor. and my father, do not condemn me unheard. Let the Senator be 
 sent for, and utter mine accusation, and if I answer it not to convince all, 
 let me perish without a tear even from my father! " 
 
 "The Senator is no further remote than Santangelo, whither he came 
 at mv entreaty, on receiving hostages of our blood," said Csesar. "But 
 what'avails to feed his revenge and exultation in our visible despair?" 
 
 '•• Let him come, naiheless." replied Lucrezia. and Csesar looked at her 
 asif he doubted she was delirious. But no objection was made — .\lexander 
 raising his face from his robe, in which he had concealed his agony of 
 grief, with a somewhat revived expression. A messenger was sent for 
 the Orsino. 
 
 " Nay, let none stir," said Lucrezia. observing that the Jewesses were 
 crawling out on their knees. "Ye shall not to your Ghetto with half 
 tales of me — whereof too many are abroad : and ye shall think more lairly 
 of vour grandchild ere ye return to your poisons. Be not amazed, Caesar! 
 Let nie but know the certainty of these ancient women's legend, and then 
 am I content to share whatever fate befals the Lombard envoy. .Messer 
 Bembo was his culle.igue, and shuuld be wiine>s of his detection : let him 
 too come hither." 
 
 Alexander himself began to fear that his daughter was maddened with 
 her fears ; but her firm and tranquil tone was at variance with the sup- 
 
 J 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 389 
 
 position. No long delay took place in the Orsino's arrival, who entered 
 accompanied by ihe three mayistrales who composed his tribunal, two 
 inquisitors, and a notary. The joy of his vengeance was calm with its 
 very excess; and he entered with all the ceremonious humility usual in 
 an audience with the sovereign pontiff. 
 
 " Lord senator," said Lucrezia, after an instant's struggle of warring 
 feeling, " how is it that you have dared to set aside the laws of Rome, 
 that should the most have enforced ihem, and removed from the dread 
 vengeance which they denounce on the crime of which he stood convict 
 before you, the Knight of St. John?" 
 
 " Ha", lady! doth U stir your wrath so bitterly to find the trade of our 
 orthodox and warm-blooded Roman women thus heathenly meddled in?" 
 said the Orsino, with a fearful sniile. "Bui the Senator of Rome has a 
 higher (ffice than merely to administer her laws, if the public safely be 
 the highest. And assuredly ihe alliance wiih Ferrara is of so much con- 
 sequence to it, as to justify my removal of a rogue who was likely to ruin 
 all, where he may abide the penally of his machinations." 
 
 " 'Tis a fair mock, but let it be a plain one," returned Lucrezia, 
 "What! and hast thou not even the harlot's grace to clamour when they 
 call her by her name! " thundered Alexander. 
 
 "Even as you will, illustrious lady. Maslernotary,readMonaFauslina's 
 confession in our presence ere she departed to witness it in Ferrara," re- 
 plied the Orsino, quivpring with impalience and triumph. The notary 
 trembled and looked affrightedly at Alexander, but Luon-zia gav.- a gesture 
 commanding him to read the p^per; and dropping on both knees, he obt'ved. 
 Mona Fauslma, having doubtless lied at Caesar's ihreais or instruction, 
 had confessed all thai she knew, witnessed, or suspected of the interview 
 on the jirevions ni^bt; which, although it alleged no [tosilive t;uilt. gave 
 ample room for inference of future danger; for the declarant s'ated that 
 until of lale she had always understood, and indeed known by many 
 circumstances, and ihe complaints of her lady, that the envoy had used 
 his commission continually against Lucrezia until this interview, in which 
 some compact seemed made between them which [produced the [)roposal 
 on the following day. Faustina related her interruption, and in fact all 
 the particulars of the scene except the words, which she could not overhear, 
 so minutely that Lucrezia's very eyes were coloured wilh her blush, and 
 the pontiff groaned aloud. 
 
 " And therefore I deemed that the alUance might be balked but for a 
 timely removal ; and if I tracked him to his haunts 1 did but a duty which 
 had else been impossible, signer," said the Orsino. 
 
 "Villain! prodigious traitor!" exclaimed Caesar, no longer able to 
 disguise his triumph. " And an)ong all his crimes I deem it basest— the 
 use which he made of his Jewish paramour to spread black suspicions 
 against myself— for my heart swells even to bursting to declare, that ever 
 1 perceived how all his shafts in the dark were aimed at me." 
 
 " Your holiness may now discern that, without meaning any treason, 
 I may once and for ever cease in my despised suit," said the Orsino, wilh 
 a calm smile of concentrated vengeance. 
 
 "Yea; I recognise the hand in il. Francesco— murdered! — Caesar, a 
 plotting r(>bel!-and Lucrezia! — Oh, thou worst of all thy wicked sex I 
 what art thou?" groaned the overwhelmed sire. 
 
 "Senor, vi^ur daughter, and the betrothed of Alfonso of Ferrara," re- 
 plied Lucrezia, calmly. "All this tale, albeit told babblingly as aged 
 
390 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 women are wont, is true! — true, that until last night and this long in- 
 terview had passed between us, the faithful envoy was resolved against 
 the alliance which next day he perfected. For until then I knew not, and 
 had not falsified all my brother's calumnies against me, and the dishonour 
 his jest with the Knight of England c;isi on my name." 
 
 "We have yet to learn if Alfonso of Ferrara approves of the means 
 taken to prove your innocence, lady," said Paolo. 
 
 "Wretch I dost thou even and publicly admit thy guilt?" exclaimed 
 Alexander, despairingly. 
 
 "If it be guilt to love, most guilty I am, senor," continued Lucrezia, 
 with sparkling enthusiasm. "But have I not oft heard you give the 
 praise among all the princes of Italy to Alfonso of Ferrara, for all heroic, 
 sovereign, and princely virtues? Would he wed ])ollulion ? — would he 
 give his children a mother whose name should rightfully bring the colour 
 to their brows? To prove, my father, mine innocence of this guilt im- 
 puted either in deed or intent! — Orsino, iliat the envoy whom you sent 
 to Ferrara is no traitor ! — Caesar, that these ancient women have at least 
 done nought to disprove the charges your fancy shaped in their grand- 
 child's ravings!— I tell you all, nay, my father, I tell but you— the Knight 
 of St. John is Alfonso of Ferrara himself!" 
 
 A sudden flash of sunshine in darkness does not more suddenly light 
 up all that was vague and incomprehensible around it, than this revela- 
 tion poured on the paralysed auditors. A silence ensued like that after a 
 burst of thunder. Caesar was the first that recovered his senses, and he 
 spoke staggeringly. . 
 
 " If this be so — after last night's adventure we shall not soon hear from 
 Ferrara," he gasped. 
 
 "We will despatch immediate pursuit to bring him back, to compel the 
 performance," said Alexander, gazing with a troubled eye at his daughter's 
 supreme loveliness. 
 
 ''Our Lady be praised, he is beyond pursuit, then, by the Orsino's 
 care, for under no semblance of force would I accept his hand," said 
 Lucrevia, with a sigh. "Let him but arrive safely — and, Caesar, remem- 
 ber the catacombs of San Sebastian, and on what peril he shall not! — 
 and on the immediate return of his ambassadors do I gage the truth or 
 falsehood of my words, my glory or my shame." 
 
 "How long' hast thou known this, Lucrezia? when in the valley of 
 Egeria mine own ears heard him avow to thee his errand against us?" 
 said Caesar, starting at these ominous words. 
 
 "Ay! then indeed am I the merest fool the Borgian craft hath yet 
 entangled !" said the Orsino, at this unconscious revelation of Caesar's de- 
 ceptions. 
 
 " Retire — all !" said Alexander, with an infinitely troubled expression. 
 " We must know all the truth, Lucrezia ! But, Orsino, since the office 
 we have given you causes so much care and toil to you, we revoke it 
 henceforth to ourselves, and will name some of your enemies to so un- 
 pleasing a post." 
 
 "Gaze not so wildly, Caesar; take these hags who have vilified my 
 lord with you to your dungeons of Santaugelo, and rest content we mean 
 you no furiher harm— unless further be intended us," said Lucrezia, with 
 emphatic meaning; but even her towering spirit sank beneath the terrific 
 expression of Caesar's glance, and turning from him with a shudder of 
 horror, she threw herself into her sire's outstretched arms. 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 391 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 " You lovers axe I now this qoestion, 
 Who hath the werse, Arcite or Palamon? 
 That one may se his lady day by day, 
 But in prison mosie be dwelien alway. 
 The oilier where him lust may ride or go, 
 But sen his lady shall be never mo."— Chaucer. 
 
 Within the prescribed sunset Sir Reginald le Beaufort quitted Rome, 
 to the undisguised delight of his followers, and especially of old William 
 ofBamptom. Ostensibly his journey was bound to Venice, and thither 
 he proceeded by a somewhat unusual route through Urbino, receiving 
 ere he lefi Rome, from an unknown hand, the bull which authorized his 
 marriiige with his cousin Alice. 
 
 Bampton understood in general that the way was chosen to avoid 
 passing through Ferrara, by taking the sea at some of the ports of Umbria; 
 and being totally unacquainted with the secrets of the confederate barons, 
 into which, before their quarrel, the Orsino had admitted his English 
 hrother-in-arms, he could not divine for what reason his young lord 
 halted at Urbino in the midst of a wild and disturbed country, still in a 
 tumultuous slate after its recent treacherous conquest by Caesar Borgia. 
 Though exempted by virtue of his large and well-armed retinue from 
 most of the dangers and insults which might have beset an ordinary tra- 
 veller, there was little to render an abode in U"bino pleasant at such a 
 period. But Le Beaufort had always some excuse or a sullen silence to 
 oppose to the old squire's entreaties, until suddenly and of his own 
 accord he determined on continuing his journey. 
 
 Approaching the confines of Urbino, the knight and his escort arrived 
 in an elevated plain below the wild mountain pass into Romagna com- 
 manded bv the fortress of San Leo, which was the chief strength of Ur- 
 bino, and but for Caesar's treachery might have long bafiQed his violence. 
 The ascent of the pass, wild and tortuous as it was, scarce needed the 
 guide whom Bampton had procured. A multitude of peasants, driving 
 oxen, sheep, wains of corn, and forage, appeared toiling up the steeps, 
 intermingled with groups of mountaineers who brought various products 
 of their wilder regions, and were in general well armed with spears and 
 cross-bows. Sir Reginald seemed to take no interest in the matter, but 
 Bampton learned that a contribution— an event by no means of uncommon 
 occurrence under the rapacious rule of the Borgian mercenaries— had 
 been levied on the whole of the surrounding country to supply the wants 
 of the garrison of San Leo. 
 
 It was only when thev reached a tumbril loaded with massive timbers, 
 which a long strins of buffaloes could scarcely drag up the precipitous 
 road, that Le Beaufort made any inquiries. And then he lingered far 
 behind his escort, and entered into a deep and long confabulation with 
 the peasants who drove the team, the chief of whom was a powerful 
 sunburned mountaineer whose nnme was Pallroni. 
 
 A tempest darkened as the English archers approached the summit of 
 the mountain of San Leo, whence a dismal prospect was visible. To the 
 right was a deep plain, in the midst of which arose the abrupt rock of 
 
392 G^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 San Marino, crowned with its republican city. Behind lay the numerous 
 hills which circle Urbino, resembling high waves of a dark and troubled 
 sea ; and ihe whole prospect was bounded by the wastes of the Adriatic 
 Fulling infinitely away. Over the whole expanse brooded an immense 
 storm ready to burst with the fury remarkable in the high latitudes of 
 Italy. 
 
 San Leo towered above among its rocks and steeps. A drawbridge 
 which spanned a ravine before ihe principal gate was lowered, and the gale 
 itself was open to admit the peasants with their various contributions. 
 The garrison seemed in all the insolence of security ; their captain, whose 
 drunken visage and furious tones betrayed atleasl one quality not unusual 
 in the soldiery of any age, was drinking on horseback with a number of 
 his officers, examining the arrivals by a scroll which he held in his hand, 
 and violently abusing and even striking the unhappy persons who he was 
 pleasoH Lo consider fell short in their coulrihulions. When this scrutiny 
 was undergone, ihe contributors passed on ihningh a tower, the portcullis 
 of which was raised, and die walls more strictly guarded, into the inte- 
 rior of the fortress, where they deposited their levies, and received some 
 form of acquitiance. 
 
 As if observing the etiquette of fortresses, Le Beaufort halted his troop 
 on reaching the drawbridge, and blew a trumpet to summon a parley. 
 The captain was instantly startled from his occupation of goading an ox 
 with his spear to prove that it was not so fat as his schedule ordained such 
 animals should be; and in his first confusion he shouted " Treason !" and 
 ordered the bridge to be raised. 
 
 Le Beaufort was well aware that he should be denied his request, both 
 from the brutal character of the captain, Peter of Oviedo, and from the 
 danger of admitting an armed force, since Caesar's garrisons in Urbino 
 were known to be much weakened, and in parts entirely withdrawn, to 
 serve with the contins;ents of the barons in the siege of Bologna. But he 
 rode forward on the drawbridge, and very courteously entreated a night's 
 lodging and shelter against the coming stnrm in San Leo. Paltroni, 
 meanwhile, drove his timber steadily on, and passed the knight with a 
 stupid laugh of derision, so that the buffaloes and the masses of chained 
 limber intervened between the captain of San Leo and his visitors. 
 
 "Clear the way, rogues!" shouted Peter of Oviedo, "■ and we will 
 answer this fair request with the barking dcgs above, unless the gentle 
 damoiseau suddeidy delivers us of his presence. Or, stay, what manner 
 of armed men be ye traversing the countries of my lord, the Duke of 
 Romagna?" 
 
 "An thou wouldst learn come hither with thy lance," retorted Sir Re- 
 ginald "But thou liest, inhos()itHble churl! lo say that this castle be- 
 longs to the Duke of Romagna, \\ho hath but stolen' it, like the false and 
 disloyal plunderer that is fit to be thy master! " 
 
 This retort was received with so loud a shout by the mountaineers and 
 peasants, whom the delay had collected in masses behind Le Beaufort, and 
 was so vehemenlly echoed from within, that the captain grew much 
 alarmed, and shouted again lo close the gates. Some of the soldiers 
 goaded the buffaloes furmusly on with their spears, and hy this time the 
 masst'S of linibiT were almost immediately under the gate of the fortress; 
 when sudili'uly Paltroni loosened the chains which fastened his team to 
 lluir burden, snatched an axe concealed among the wo(jd, and dashing 
 out the brains of the nearest enemy, yelled, " God and my lord, the Duke 
 
C.-ESAR BORGIA. 393 
 
 of Urbinol" and rushed forward. The cry was instantly repejited in a 
 thousand wild and discurdant voices, both within and wiihoul ihe ^jrtress ; 
 but those around Sir Reginald hesitated to cross the bridge, until setting 
 his lance and shouting " St. George and the bonny broom I " he galloped 
 forward, followed alter an instant of astonishment by his valiant men-at- 
 arms. The next moment Ptter ofOviedn was dashed to the earth with a 
 stroke as irres stible as a thunderbolt. Then suffering his lance to drop, 
 useless in a close conflict, Le Beaufort drew his sword, and Saint George 
 himself never raged more destructively among a payniin Jiost than he 
 among ihe soldiers of the Borgia. 
 
 The conflict, though fierce, was short, for the surprise was complete; 
 and this was the project which Paolo Oisino had long meditated as a 
 means of restoring courage to the confederacy by tearing Urbino from 
 Caesar's grasp, which the general devotion of the people to their dispos- 
 sessed duke, and the withdrawal of Caesar's troops, rendered feasible. 
 He had concluded that all 'hope from it was over, and that Sir Reginald 
 had betrayed the plan to Caesar; but acquainted with the intents, means,* 
 and passwords of the party, Le Beaufort gave in this achievement a noble 
 refutation of the susjiiciou ; for it was principally by his desperate cou- 
 rage and exertions, seconded by llmse of Paltroni, a valiant soldier se- 
 cretly in the service ol the banished duke, that in a short lime the fortress 
 was in the hands of the assailants. Of all the garrison only a few whom 
 Sir Reginald saved, among whom was the captain, escaped the pitiless 
 vengeance which their cruelty and exactions had provoked. 
 
 The difQ.'ulty was now to keep what they had gained ; and Sir Reginald 
 took charge of the fortress with his disciplined forces, while Paltroni 
 spread the news in every direction, and roused the whole country to re- 
 volt. Sir Reginald himself was engaged incausmg the timber to be re- 
 moved from the drawbridge, which he no longer desired to obstruct, 
 when he performed, for the first time, the honours of his castellainship to 
 a singular visitant. A figure crossed the drawbridi^e, and fell sp''nt at 
 his feet like an exhausted deer — a negro, whose black skin was foamy 
 white with fmth, whose tongue hung flabbing to his chin, whose eyes 
 were rimmed with blood, and whose frame palpitated with fatigue. He 
 had scarcely strength to draw a letter fr.tm his belt ere he became insen- 
 sible. Bampton recognised him as the Duke of Romagna's runner, com- 
 mordy st\led "the Strangler; and Le Beaufort, laughingly calling all 
 to witness that the missive was adressed to the captain of San Leo, 
 opened it. 
 
 Le Beaufort, however, speedily discovered that the epistle was in 
 cypher; but his curiosity was strongly excited, and he gave orders to 
 bring Peter of Oviedo to "translate it. A lean monk, who had been that 
 worthy's chaplain, however, declared that his principal could not read, 
 and that he possessed the key of the cvpher himself, to conduct his corres- 
 pondence. To ingratiate himself with the new masters the monk worked 
 assiduously at the task which was confided to him, and the result was 
 certainly interesting to Sir Reginald. It contained a brief but sufficiently 
 clear accnunt of the Orsini seizure of the envoy of Ferrara. and the extra- 
 ordinary n asons which rendered it of the highest consequence to the 
 Bor^ziasto prevent the execution of their jjlan of conveying the guilty envoy 
 to Ferrara. The captiin was therefore commanded, if, as was probable, 
 even the unembarrassed speed of the African rurmer had not regained the 
 few hours' start he had lost, and the Orsini, with their prisoner, had passed 
 
394 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 through San Leo, whatever instructions or passport they might bear to the 
 contrary, the castellain was to pursue at all possible speed, and rather to 
 destroy the whole party than suffer it to proceed. But if possible the pri- 
 soner himself was to be brought back to San Leo, and guarded with a vi- 
 gilance the importance of which the great reward offered by Caesar at- 
 tested^ until farther instructions arrived. 
 
 This document was several times read to Sir Reginald ere he could 
 bring himself to credit the facts it revealed. And then having satisfied 
 himself by inquiries that the African runner had indeed regained' the start 
 by his wonderful speed, and headed the destined prey, but certainly only 
 by a short distance — without hinting at his knowledge of the prisoner's 
 real rank, and in a tumult of soul which scarcely left him power to shape 
 any definite resolution, he sent forth scouts in every direction, with orders 
 to bring the Orsini and their prisoner to San Leo. 
 
 Towards evening the whole party indeed rode into the fortress ; for 
 though the Orsini had heard of the revolt and seizure of San Leo, they 
 calculated equally on the friendship of the Urbinists and their hatred of 
 the Borgias to permit their free passage on an errand so distasteful to the 
 latter. Young Fabio Orsino commanded the party, selected, it is pro- 
 bable, rather to give weight by his rank and alliance to the accusation 
 against the envoy than as a fit leader for so delicate and perilous an 
 enterpiise. But he was accompanied by dependents on his house of ripe 
 years and experience, and a retinue of veteran men-at-arms. 
 
 Le Beaufort purposely kept himself out of sight until the escort had 
 dismounted, and the prisoner was conveyed to an apartment which he 
 had ordered to be made ready for him. From a loophole in one of the 
 towers, however, he witnessed the arrival ; and his heart swelled full of 
 mingled passions when he saw the Knight of St. John, enveloped in a 
 coarse mantle and hood, his arms secured by an iron ho'op to his waist, 
 and locked in his saddle with chains and a padlock, but still preserving 
 his princely stateliness and calm. A woman came also in the cavalcade, 
 in whose woful countenance Le Beaufort recognised Mona Faustina. 
 
 Fabio Orsino was, however, somewhat surprised when he recognised 
 in the conqueror of San Leo the Knight of the Sun, marvellously changed 
 in the brief period which had elapsed. But believing him to be animated 
 by the bitter hostility which Caesar's conduct towards him had justly pro- 
 voked, and his own had demonstrated, he was in nowise alarmed. On 
 his part Le Beaufort was amazed at the change which had come over the 
 spirit of the young Orsino ; the silent and studious boy, whose gentleness 
 and reserve were the only qualities for which he had ever noticed him, 
 was become a demoniac of revenge and hatred against the false envoy of 
 Ferrara. Le Beaufort felt assured, but that Fabio anticipated a dreadful 
 doom to his prisoner from his incensed masters, that he would himself 
 have put him to death ; and this idea was too amply confirmed when, 
 working himself into frenzy with the tale which he told of the envoy's 
 success with Lucrezia, and the ruin of his brother's hopes, and knowing 
 that Sir Reginald was a companion in affliction, Fabio threw himself into 
 his arms, and in agony of grief confessed that he himself — the pale and 
 neglected schoolboy, whose existence she had perhaps scarcely noticed 
 — had long been devoured with a secret passion for Lucrezia! 
 
 Le Beaufort had at first intended to warn Fahio of the danger of his 
 mission, and procure the release of the prince; but this revelation, and 
 the certainty that the Orsini escort more than equalled his own force in 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 395 
 
 number, and that the Urbinisls would desire to keep so important a 
 hostage in their hands, if discovered, deterred him. He rapidly formed 
 a plan, which he communicated only to the one or two of his own men 
 wh'i were necessary to aid him in it. 
 
 Towards midnight the prisoner was awakened from the broken slumbers 
 in which his doubtful situation permitted him to indulge, by the gleam of 
 a torch; and starting from his couch, he beheld what he at first thought 
 was an apparition — a knijiht in complete armour, whose face was deadly 
 pale, and which was that of Sir Reginald le Beaufort. 
 
 " Be not amazed, Don Alfonso I" said the knight, in a human though 
 quivering voice. " I know not whether your capturers have informed 
 you of what hath fortuned in these parts: but I am Reginald le Beaufort, 
 and now hold this casile for the Duke of Urbino." 
 
 " And come you ihen to play the assassin's part? But your nalure is 
 indeed all changed!" said Alfonso, raising himselfwith a despairing glance 
 at his pinioned arms, from which the relentless Fabio never sutiered the 
 iron hoop to be removed. 
 
 " It is a bitter word, not all unmerited, and I will bear it— yet our Lady 
 knows, had one slain me when 1 accepted that false hope of paradise, the 
 anguish of my remorse would have pardoned him !" returned Le Beaufort. 
 " But fear not, my once brother-in-armsl I come to set you free, to 
 redeem vou from the hands of the Orsini, for assuredly some will recognise 
 you in Ferrara, and it may be ere thou hast assistance to escape their ven- 
 geance. —Free, but on one condition, which ihou must swear to fulfil as 
 thou art a knight and a prince, or failing in which that thou wilt lay aside 
 the superiority of rank, and do me right in single battle on it.'"' 
 
 " >"ame, your condition, and ! will answer— but even in this extremity, 
 as I am both, 1 will not be compelled to aught against mine honour I" 
 replied Alfonso. 
 
 " Nay, but most with it," returned Sir Reginald; and continuing with 
 an effort which scarcely controlled his agitation. " Your strange 'haviour 
 in Rome, your seizure in the Ghetto, argue that Lucrezia — is already 
 grown inditferent to you. — And if — it is enough!— but swear to me not to 
 repay her too lavish love with ingratitude and desertion— fulfilling the 
 black hope of Caesar and the Orsini in her dishonour and universal 
 ignominy— but to become as you pledged yourself, her husband and lord." 
 
 Alfonso looked at the knight for some moments in silence, almost envy- 
 ing the chivalrous devotion and generosity of his love; but he replied with 
 vehemence, " Abandon me then to mine enemies, silhence you dishonour 
 both Lucrezia and me by this compulsion ! This only I reply. By all 
 the unstained glories of ray race, if Lucrezia had yielded to the madness 
 of the passion which I avow exhausted my soul in entreaties— though 
 seconded bv all the burning eloquence of the'love which I know she bears 
 for me— never shou'd my mistress have become my wife ! Therefore, if 
 you set me free, and 1 "demand not her hand from Ferrara— you shall 
 know that I am the nice-souled traitor of her too lavish love, and I will 
 meet thee in a desert with only our swords for umpires to adjudge the 
 wrong or the right of my resolve!" 
 
 " fam content and will bcbeve you, for ever I have found you princely 
 and noble," replied Le Beaufort; and with some wrenching irons which 
 he had brought with him he forced the iron hoop from his rival's waist 
 and arms. 
 
 Alfonso, meanwhile, completely vanquished by the generosity of the 
 
o96 CESAR BORGIA, 
 
 English knight, and anxious to clear both himself and Lucrezia in his 
 opinion, related what had truly led him into the Ghetto. This narrative 
 entailed many other particulars, and seduced by the mutual intensity 
 of the interest both took in the subject, he revealed most of the extraor- 
 dinary circumstances by which he had satisfied himself of Lucrezia's in- 
 nocence and of Ca3sar's prodigious guilt. The revelation perhaps did 
 Le Beaufort some service, since it convinced him of the utter hopflessness 
 of his passion, in the warmth of ihat which he found Lucrezia entertained 
 for her ph^hted husband. But their communications were necessarily 
 brief and im|)erfect; and it was not until he reached Ferrara that Allonso 
 comprehended the full danger he had escaped by Le Beaufort's interposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Loosened from his shackles. Sir Beginald disguised his rival by lending 
 him the armour and mantle of one of his archers; and easily led him out 
 of the fortress, in which the exhausted capturers and the Orsini were 
 either engaged in wassail or asleep! One of his own best steeds was in 
 readiness beyond the walls; and there they parted. Sir Reginald delivering 
 the prince a passport which he had compelled Peler of Oviedo to sign 
 with his peculiar mark for theBorgias, and one of Paltroni's for the Urbi- 
 nists, in case he met with any parties of either. Only a few hours' 
 journey intervened to Ferrara, and as the road was well known to Alfonso, 
 with iht'se safe conducts he ran little danger if once beyond the pursuit of 
 the Orsini. They parted — but despite the great service he had just ren- 
 dered — Sir Reginald could not bring himself to return the embrace of his 
 former friend, whose proud soul was wounded by the reserve which met 
 his gratitude — and diey parted finally in utter silence. 
 
 The escape was not known until the following morning, and all was 
 utter amaz(^mcnt and suspicion unlil Sir Reginald |)ublicly avowed that he 
 had himself etTected it, and declared to the asloundedjOrsim the peril 
 which they had escaped in escorting such a prisoner inlo*Ferrara, and to 
 the Urbiniststhe advantnge ofsecurmg the friendship, or at least prevent- 
 ing an open breach with so powerful a neighbour which any violence from 
 the Orsini must have occasioned — announcing that the Knight of St. John 
 was Alfonso of Ferrara himself! If these tidings needed any confirnja- 
 tion, thus certified by the priiice's ancient comrade, it was brought in the 
 arrival of Monsignor d'Enna, a prelate known to be devoted to the service 
 of Cffisar, who had probably instructions which he thought proper to sup- 
 press on finding how matters had gone, and that he was himself a prisoner, 
 but who hilly confirmed the tidings of what had passed in Rome by pretend- 
 ing orders for the release and honourable treatment of the illustrious cap- 
 tive. In the height of his defiance and hate Sir Reginald replied by send- 
 ing Monsignor d'Enna, the African runner, and Mona Fausta to the nearest 
 of Caesar's fortresses in Romagna, with instructions to present themselves 
 before their chief as soon as possible, wilh tidings that his commands had 
 been anticipated. FabioOrsino was alarmed into acquiescence by .the con- 
 fession he had made, and the strange conduct of his English fellow-suf- 
 ferer ; but all cordiality and sympathy was at an end between them. 
 
C.^SAR BORGIA. 397 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 " Hie thee hither, 
 That I may pour mj spirits in ihine ear, 
 And chastise with tlie vjlour of my tongue 
 All that impedes thee from the golden round 
 Which late and meldphysical aid doth seem 
 To have thee crowned withal."— Jiacfct /A. 
 
 The seizure of San Leo was followed by the revolt of the whole couritry 
 of Urbino: and in less lime than he had lost it Guidobaido recovered his 
 whole duchy, with the exception of two or three fortresses, to which he 
 laid immediate siege. The entreaties of the duke, and his own thirst for 
 \engeancp. proved too powerful for all Bamplun's renewed expostula- 
 tions ; and Le Beaufort rcmaint-d the chief support of the insurrection, 
 which his fiery zeal and courage was rapidly changing into a revolution. 
 
 The results of the events of Urbino were slill more momentous than 
 themselves. The Floman barons recovered from the panic into which 
 they had fallen on the desertion of France and successes of Cassar. In- 
 stead of obeying his summons to attend him in the siege of Bologna, 
 whither he had himself been suddenly conmianded by the ponl ff, the 
 vicars of the church met in a solemn diet at Magione, in Pci'uj^ia, and 
 formed an open league against the Borgias, and an engagement to assist 
 in restoring all the dispossessed barons, and especially the Duke of Ur- 
 bino. In consequence of this wise and bold resolution, the Duke of Gra- 
 vina, Vitellozo, and Oliverottoda Fermo marched with all their disposable 
 forces into Urbino, to foil the attack of a large force despatched by Caesar, 
 under the command of Don Migueloto, imagining that he should easily 
 recover the province by a sudden blow, and not dreaming of the combi- 
 nation entered into against him. 
 
 Caesar himself was at Imola, apparently busied in obeying the commands 
 of the pontiff, in preparing for the siege of Bologna, when the first shock 
 of his changing fortune fell upon him in the news of the surprise of San 
 Leo, and tht^ rescue of the Prince ot Ft-rrara. The possession of .\lfonso's 
 person would have been of incalculable i)olitical advantage to him; and 
 on that evtml in great measure depended the plans which his desperation 
 had now formed, and into which, ever since his disgrace with the pontiff, 
 he had been elaborately and most secretly endeavouring to seduce the ba- 
 rons of the confederacy. But suddenly the events of San Leo overthrew 
 all his combinations, and gave the barons courage to refuse his offers, and 
 array themselves in open resistance to theBorgian sway, while it rendered 
 their chief adviser, Paolo, hopeless of any advantage to be derived from 
 his aid, and bent only on vengeance. 
 
 Fronj a situation of seeming power and triumph a few days reduced 
 Caesar to one of the utmost difficulty and danger, All Italy heard with 
 amazement that he was shut up in Imola with a scanty force, within a few- 
 hours' march of the Lords of Bologna, who were preparing to attack him, 
 while at Perugia were gaihermy the forces of the southern barons, under 
 the command of the exasperated Paolo, which at once overawed Rome, 
 and prevented all hope of retreat upon it. Umbria in commotion, Ro- 
 magna doubtful, Ferrara justly irritated, little hope of help from the French 
 
398 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 at Milan, whose viceroy was a personal enemy to Caesar, the Venetians 
 his most bitter enemies, the Floi-eniines wavering between two nlmost 
 equal dislikes— the condition of Caesar seemed to be almost desperate, 
 when the battle of Cagli completed his misfortunes, hi this aotion Mi- 
 guelolo was defeated by tlie Duke of Urbino, the Orsini, and Sir Reginald, 
 with nearly the total destruction of his army, saving his own life with 
 difficulty from the carnage. 
 
 The success of the confederates was now clearly discerned in the alarm 
 which seized all who had any reason to dread it. Principal among these 
 was the republic of Florence, which viewed in the triumph of the confe- 
 deracy that of its exiled tyrants, the Medici. In their alarm at so rapid a 
 revolution, and fearing that Caesar, since his retreat was cut off on Rome, 
 must surrender himself to the Orsini, the signory determined to send an 
 ambassador to offer him shelter in their dominions. This office, believing 
 that the duke entertained much liking for him, was conferred on Messer 
 Niccolo di Bernardo Machiavelli. 
 
 A strange lull had, however, come over the operations of the confede- 
 rates before Messer Niccolo reached Imola, where he scarcely hop 'd to 
 find that Caesar still ventured to remain. But on arriving in sight of the 
 city the white banner of the church still floated on the walls, from which 
 that of the Bentivogli, on the summit of San Pietro, was dimly visible. 
 
 The seci'etary of the magnificent signory was received with all the ho- 
 nours of a friend in need ; and riding gr:^vely through the narrow and 
 gloomy streets he entered the principal square, in which was a large 
 building, half palace and half fortress, formerly the residence of the dis- 
 possessed Riarii. The duke was lodged in this abode, and an apartment 
 was assigned in it by special favour to Messer Niccolo. Duly installed 
 in his chambers, Machiavelli was busied in arranging his toilet for 
 an audience, from a truly republican wardrobe, consisting only of one 
 good suit to I'elieve that in which he travelled, when the tapestry behind 
 a mirror, before which he was arranging his attire with" a very studious 
 and earnest look, was lifted, and the duke himself entered. 
 
 " lla, Niccolo I a[id so their magnificences can only afford you one suit 
 of Genoa black?" said Caesar, with his wonted vivacity, and glancing at 
 the large open chest which betrayed even as much. 
 
 ''Republics, signer, do not love to waste their gold in gilding— and 
 mine own patrimony lies chiefly in vineyards, much ravaged of late by the 
 Vitelli," replied the secretary, with some confusion. " But mf)St heartily 
 do I rejoice to find your excellence in such health and cheerfulness." 
 
 "Wherefore not, Niccolo!" replied Cassar. "• But continue thine ap- 
 parelling, for in a few minutes, remember, thou art to have an audience of 
 the Duke of Romagna— at present a gossip with ihine old friend and 
 scholar, Caesar Borgia." 
 
 "And as either, signer, it both grieves and satisfies me to be the bearer 
 of my lords' offer of shelter and receipt from your encompassing enemies," 
 replied Niccolo. 
 
 " Nay, do they deem me at such a pass?" replied Caesar, with a cloud 
 passing over his visage. " But the deeper the darkness the brighter shall 
 be my emergence from it. — Yet am I well content to hear ihine errand, for 
 well I know the barons have implored ye to join in the alliance against 
 the tyrant— is it not so?" 
 
 ''With infinite supplications, signor, but as long as the Orsini and Vi- 
 telli are cousins of the Medici, in vain," replied the secretary 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 399 
 
 " But thou hast doubtless some heavy conditions to make to me for the 
 favour and protection of thy lords?" said Caesar, darting his keen and 
 sarcastically smiling eye at the envoy. 
 
 "Nay, niy lord, mine office and the will of their magnificences are 
 fulfilled, if Tcan prevail upon vou to accept their aid, and to deny submis- 
 sion to the power of vour insolent rebels," retui-ned M^chiavelli. 
 
 " Why, truly, if we conclude a peace, I doubt not the restoration of the 
 Medici will be among their dictations," said Caesar, thoughtfully. 
 
 '' Assuredly then your excellence can have no thought of any, since it 
 were vour final and utter ruin I" exclaimed the alarmed secretary. 
 
 "Why, doth not thine own errand tell thee I am desperate?" replied 
 Caesar, with a strange smile, in which lurked some occult meaning. 
 " Let the n-public be wise with the rest, and leave my broken fortunes to 
 stagger down, even after the French fashion — for you see they send me 
 not a spear from Milan." 
 
 " But, my lord, though our will be stronger to aid you than our power, 
 there is your new and puissant ally of Ferrara fails you not at this deadly 
 pinch," said the secretary. 
 
 " In truth, his ambassadors — and we hear great tidings of their magni- 
 ficence — passed through the Bolognese yesterday," replied Caesar, with a 
 darkening brow, "But they come awooing not fighting, Niccolo ; and 
 some mischief-makers have persuaded them that as long as my garrisons 
 exercise themselves on the frontiers of Ferrara it is as well to keep at 
 home. True 'tis, they pretext the Venetians to his holiness — who admits 
 the excuse. So let it'bc— awhile. Yet we thank them — they have done 
 us more good than they intended. Signor Paolo hath at length deigned 
 to hear our earnest supplications, and on my hostages reaching his camp 
 will graciously visit Imola to command what I must do to be received back 
 into the favour of himself and his fellow rebels." 
 
 "Then I beseech your excellence to give me some assurance that 
 nought shall be stipulated to the prejudice of the republic," said Machia- 
 velli. 
 
 " I would not men should gage my fears by my promises," returned 
 Cffisar. "When I fear less, Twill promise— when I do not fear at all, I 
 will perform. And now, Niccolo, throw off the ambassador as I have 
 doffed the duke, and leil me truly, what deemest thou of my present 
 state?" 
 
 "Firstly and chiefly, I do marvel to see a prince of your lordship's 
 wisdom in it," said Machiavelli, hastily. 
 
 " Even as men marvel to see a fox in a trap," said Caesar, smiling. 
 
 "Again, sisnor, remembering our frequent discourses, it mazes me 
 that you should have made no effort lo raise an army of your own, but 
 falalfy continued to trust in auxiliaries and mercenaries," said the politi- 
 cian, somewhat timorously. 
 
 " Niccolo, ISiccoloI— but I know that I can trust thee, for thou hast no 
 manner of interest to betray me," said Caesar. "And, therefore. I will 
 tell thee— that but for the madness of the English kmght, which hurried 
 on mv projects to too sudden and violent a catastrophe — little hath befal- 
 len ine which I had not planned and desired ;— for onlv the terror and 
 wraih of so mighty a combination could have driven his bohness and her 
 lovesickness il speak of the old man and his daughter) to open their coffers, 
 and suffer me to levy some such host as thou hast so oft advised, and they 
 have ever denied. "^But, Niccolo, they dream not what an army I am se- 
 
400 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 crelly gathering in my citadels - and did never a bird in Florence whisper 
 in thy keen ear how I have bought all King Frederic's arlillery — which 
 the boasting French thought all too dear valued but by the weight? And 
 thus thou seest that to protract my danger is my truest policy. I need 
 nothing but time — and that this very powcrlessness lor which thou 
 blamest me has won me. And though 1 but lap my wedges noiselessly, 
 they are riving the confederacy in every direction. Thou wouldsl sn)ife 
 to know how the Bentivogli delay an assault on me here, which I could 
 not resist, because I talk of leaving them Bologna, and accepting their 
 gold and troops inslead- how the Orsini listen to my wondrous plans on 
 Ferrara, to commence wiih a forced marriage at Rnme^ how the Vitelli 
 are willing I should seize Sienna 5 and the Petrucci that Guidobaldo need 
 not be restored." 
 
 Machiavelli himself could only gaze in wonder at his great pupil, or 
 rather master. 
 
 " Then still, still in my Caesar do 1 behold the destined deliverer of Italy, 
 the expeller ofihe barbarians from her beautiful, though ravaged breastl" 
 he exckimed in a kind of prophetic furor. 
 
 •■' Yea, I will become so glorious tliat my faults — if I have any — shall 
 show to men's wondering gaze no darker than the spots in yonder sun 
 that sets blazing over the mountains and valleys of Italy, in which my 
 name shall be eternal as that of the firstCgesarl " said the Borgia, kindling 
 into a rapture of ambitiDn not unusual with him. " But peace, peace; 
 there is an earthquake between me and my visions, and ruins the boldest 
 seers yet dream not! Meanwhile the Orsini have smoothened my first 
 strps; no entreaties, even of Lucrezia, can soften the pontiffs wrath 
 against ihcm — for they have prated to rai^e an anti-pope in Italy in the 
 person of his bitterest foe, the Cardinal ad Vincula, and Lucrezia knows 
 how the Orsini hate her last love, the Prince of Ferrara." 
 
 " But when my lords shall hear that Paulo Orsino has been with your 
 excellence, what can I say to comfort them?" said Machiavelli, dole- 
 fully. 
 
 " Niccolo, I know I may confide in thee as to mine own heart ; but even 
 that I would not trust if I could help it, lest some unguarded throbbing 
 should betray me," replied Cajsar, musingly; and then rising with that 
 smile of his, darker than any frown, he continued — "Tell your lords 
 merely, that delay is my only hope, and that negotiations are tedious mat- 
 ters. And add, that I prick my ears on all sides — and bide my time/" 
 
 Thus ended the first conference ofMesserNiccolo's remarkable embassy; 
 and in consequence he beheld with the less alarm the arrival of the Lord 
 Paolo on the following day. Moreover, the vigilant secretary noted a 
 deadly paleness, and a glow in the young baron's eyes, when he left the 
 presence of Caspar, taking care to throw himself accidentally in his way 
 to observe, which was a remarkable change from his firm and haughty 
 manner on arriving. 
 
 Had the confederacy pushed on its successes with vigour, the Borgian 
 grandeur was now undoubtedly on the brink of an abyss into which it 
 niighteasily have been hurled. But the utter submission which he feigned, 
 and the certainty of the danger of the position to which they had reduced 
 him, mad.' the barons imagme that they had really achieved all, and in- 
 clined them lo listen to his entreaties to dictate their own terms. Subdued 
 by the magic which Ccesar found in the passions of men, Paolo Orsino 
 became his most efficient instrument ; and when once the tie of a common 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 401 
 
 danger was slackened, the points of disunion were so numerous and so 
 dexterously seized by Ca?sar, that not only did he protract the negotiation, 
 but gradually introduced so many distrusts and disputes araony the allies, 
 that it was against his own will and entreaties that Alexander's urgent 
 demands procured him at length the reinforcement of a body of Fre'nch 
 troops, which, with his own levies, rendered him once more on a par 
 with his assailants. 
 
 The consternation was again very great ; but Caesar betrayed no symptoms 
 of departing from the terms which he had assented to in his evil plight, 
 and even Vitellozzo began to believe in his sincerity when he renewed'his 
 proposals for a general peace. He even relinquished his design on Bo- 
 logna, and consented to receive, instead of the submission of its lords, a 
 large contingent of men and money. It is true that he would no longer 
 listen to the stipulations of the confederates in favour of the Dukeof Urbino; 
 but to quiet their fears, he offered to dismiss the French aid, if they would 
 promise to assist him in the recovery of that state. Paolo urged this article 
 with infinite zeal, alleging iis advantages in placing the person of the duke 
 in the hands of the confederacy, and limilins the sphere of his mischie- 
 vous activity. Finally, he procured, or rather Caesar himself suggested, 
 that to obviate mistrusts only one of the chiefs should be compelled to 
 serve him in person, who should command the whole of their forces under 
 him. 
 
 Paolo himself declared his readiness to be the first to accept this dan- 
 gerous honour ; and the advance of Caesar with his French allies, and the 
 desertion of several powerful barons from the league, so seconded his elo- 
 quence that the fatal compact was at last concluded. The unfortunate 
 Duke of Urbino, finding resistance hopeless, between his approaching 
 enemies and his false allies, fled once more to Venice, destroying the 
 majority of his fortresses ere he departed, that they might not be again 
 used in the oppression of his faithful vassals. He released his adherents 
 from all obligations, only entreating and obtaining from Sir PiCginald le 
 Beaufort that he would take charge of the city of Sinigaglia until his sister, 
 its sovereign, could elTect her escape. 
 
 The Florentine secretary's satisfaction in the turn of affairs was of course 
 very great; and he incessantly urged his favourite maxims on Caesar, espe- 
 cially the expediency of utterly destroying the power of the barons, now 
 that he had the means in his hands. Many emphatic assurances of assent 
 did he receive ; and in fact Caesars army, composed chiefly of the French 
 auxiliaries, moved on as if to attack that of the barons, when suddenlv, 
 on arriving at Fano, the conclusion of a peace, and the dismissal of the 
 French, were announced in a breath, to the astonishment of all, and of 
 none more than of the French themselves. 
 
 Caesar alleged the exhausted state of the country, and the impossibility 
 of otherwise restoring the confidence of the barons : but it was reported, 
 and was in some measure true, that the French retired in high dudgeon 
 at the cavalier treatment they had received. On the contrarv. the joy of 
 the conlcderates was unbounded ; and at Paolo's request, and'as a mark of 
 their confidence, they agreed to concentrate their army on Sinigaglia, and 
 recover it for the duke, provided that he would not come among them in 
 person. The lady of Sinigaglia had indeed effected her escape by Le 
 Beaufort's exertions ; and it" was known that he retained the city onlv until 
 the galleys, which Duke Guidobaldo had promised to send from Venice, 
 could arrive to convey himself and his soldiery thither. But since the 
 
 26 
 
402 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 escape of Ihe Knight of St. John from San Leo, Paolo's resentment against 
 Le Beaufort had become a species of frenzy, so that he readily consented 
 to gratify the revengeful feeling which apparently induced Caesar to desire 
 the attack. 
 
 The barons stipulated that Caesar should remain at Fano, a town about 
 fifteen miles from Sinigaglia, on the same line of coast. Of the great 
 chieftains who commanded the confederate army, the three Orsini, Vi- 
 teliozzo, and Oliverotto da Fermo were the principal ^ and from the w'alls of 
 Sinigaglia Le Beaufort beheld a numerous host, under their banners, emerge 
 from the defiles of the mountains above it. 
 
 Le Beaufort was well aware of the inadequacy of bis means of resistance, 
 the city itself being weak, the inhabitants disaffected or panic-struck, and 
 his soldiery scarcely sufficient to man the walls, Nevertheless he pnt on 
 a good countenance, when Paolo Orsino appeared to summon the city, 
 which he performed without the least sign of recognising his ancient 
 friend, and with great insolence and contempt of manner. Irritated by 
 this conduct, and well aware of the mistrusts between the barons and 
 Csesar, Le Beaufort replied with equal scorn, by declaring that, since he 
 was called upon to surrender the city to the church, he would only yield 
 its keys toher lieutenant in j)erson, the Duke of Romagna. 
 
 " Farewell, then, governor of Sinigaglia, and when we meet again, one 
 of us shall be on the brink of his eternal doom !" shouted Paolo; and it was 
 a prophecy, though the prophet knew it not. 
 
 Preparations for an assault commenced, but the citizens now openly 
 deserted the walls, and as his own force was quite inadequate to their 
 defence, Le Beaufort resolved to retreat to the citadel, and n)ake what 
 terms be could. The citizens immediately negotiated with the besiegers, 
 and towards evening their banners were seen waving on the walls, and 
 their host swarming in the streets. 
 
 Two days of continual assaults, valiantly repulsed^ taught the besiegers 
 to respect the courage of their enemies, but the castle into which they had 
 retreated was now enclosed on all sides, and Caesar had sent some ord- 
 nance to the assistance of his allies, which began to tell upon the ancient 
 walls. Having little motive to protract his defence longer than honour 
 required, Le Beaufort now determined to propose the surrender of the 
 citadel, on condition that he and his troops were allowed to retire un- 
 molestedly to Venice. 
 
 The barons were in deep consultation when this message arrived, but 
 on another subject, with which, nevertheless, Paolo Orsino immediately 
 connected it. 
 
 " And this, signori, is the occasion which the duke bade me take to 
 introduce his earnest suit for the conference," he exclaimed. "Per- 
 chance he meditates some vengeance, not unjust, on this treacherous 
 foreigner; or merely the delight to humble his pride prompts him tode- 
 sire that he shall indeed be compelled to present the keys of Sinigaglia 
 to the lieutenant of the church in person. But be that as it may, it were 
 ungracious to refuse; and what can we fear, since he has dismissed the 
 French, since the Florentines are full of fear and mistrust of him in our 
 alliance, since we are to receive him in the midst of our own victorious 
 legions?" 
 
 " Wherefore should Caesar Borgia desire to put his person in our hands?" 
 said Vitellozzo, suspiciously shaking his long grey beard. 
 " Nay, father Vitelli, let us not ask the wherefore, but seize the when," 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 403 
 
 said Oliverotlo da Fermo. " For my part, I say, let us get him among 
 us, and then propose Tuscany, and if he refuses, cut his throat, and throw 
 him to some dog to lick clean for his shroud." 
 
 "Peace, bull-dog, thou art enough to ruin the devices of Solomon " 
 said Vitellozzo, glaring half-pleasedly at his ferocious lieutenant, and yet 
 rebukingly. " But, no, Paolo, no-, we conditioned that only one should 
 dance in his nets at a time, and thou hast devoted thyself to'^the oJBfice." 
 
 " It is true, but, Vitelli, hast thou considered the danger to leave all 
 your soldieries uncaptained, and exposed to the influence of his silvery 
 tongue?" replied Paolo. 
 
 " His silvery tongue will sing in vain to my rough German ritters," said 
 Oliverotto, laughing hoarsely. 
 
 " Ay, but what say you to his gold one? And the old Catalan, though 
 he groans to waste his daughter's dowry, flings it out with both hands in 
 his terror," replied Paolo. " Yet Caesar foreseeing this objection, consents 
 that we should quarter our Italian soldiery in the neighbouring towns and 
 castles, and keep the camp only with our mercenaries," 
 
 "Meihinks he hath not three hundred lances with him at Fano, and I 
 keep ihe town with a thousand," said Oliverotto. ''Surely his head is 
 addled in some of these late thunderstorms, or by the panics we have 
 given him." 
 
 " Christ's death! I will not enter any hole that is so emooth and open, 
 with so relishing a smell of cheese at the bottom," said Vitellozzo, in a 
 resolved lone. " For I misdoubt this goodly project he hath to propose, 
 which is to remove all reason of jealousy or quarrel from among us for 
 ever, is neither more nor less than some such savoury bait. No, by the 
 cross of God! I will not venture within his clutch." 
 
 " Nay, then, Paolo, let us be plaiu with them," said the Duke of Gra- 
 vina, impetuously. " Sirs, what is more dangerous to us than this al- 
 liance of the Borgias with Ferrara? What if some good saint hath put it 
 into Caesar's head that it would also cause his ruin, sithence the old man's 
 dotage would henceforth seek to make the name of his daughter's children 
 greatest in Italy. Who knows not that Urbino and Romagna kiss with 
 Ferrara on the mountains? And what were easier, in the lull of these 
 gorgeous bridallies, wherewith Alexander flaunts our house, were we of 
 a mind with Caesar, than to set him on a throne the which to keep may 
 furnish him with amusement for the rest of his life, sever him for ever 
 from the favour of France, and of the pontiff, and make him dependent 
 wholly upon us for support. I say not that this is Caesar's project, but I 
 say— what if it were?" 
 
 With all his desire to carry his point, Paolo felt an ominous thrill in 
 his heart when he heard his father thus repeat the ideas which he had 
 laboriously infused into his mind. But he hastened to break the silence 
 which followed. 
 
 " Nay, further, we shall have a hostage of Caesar's sinceritv v;hich none 
 can doubt," he exclaimed. " This betrothed lady must pass through the 
 duke's towns of Romagna on her way; and Caesar hath sworn that until 
 with his own hand he gives her to me as the bride which his treacherous 
 sire long promised her, he will not ask us to raise a lance in his name " 
 
 " Hark, how young Fabio sighs ; even the children will not suck these 
 poisoned sweetmeats," said Vitellozzo, but evidently staggered. 
 
 It was long, however, before the obstinate misgiving^s of the Vitelli 
 could be vanquished ; but such is the power of words sent glowing from 
 
404 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 the mints of passion, that Paolo prevailed at length upon the barons to 
 grant Caesar the meeting he desired. Vite'.lozzo consented, with as 
 gloomy a visage as if signing his own death-warrant; while, flnshcd with 
 triumph, Paolo recalled Le Beaufort's njessenger, and bade him inform 
 his master that his enemies were unwillir)g he should perjure hiniself, 
 and therefore requested him to have his keys in readiness to deliver to the 
 Duke of Romagna on the following day. 
 
 ^- "And add to the good knight," said Vitellczzo gloomily, " that I receive 
 him into my brotherhood, and will see all his conditions kept, an if God 
 gives me grace to live so long." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 " We'll mock the time with fairest show ; 
 Fair face must hide what the false heart does know."— Shakspeivk, 
 
 Of all those who were astonished and alarmed at the conclusion of the 
 peace and dismissal of the French, none was more so than the Florentine 
 secretary. His fears were kept continually on the stir by the messages 
 passing between the camps, and by mysterious movements of troops, 
 which appeared and disappeared, whence and whidier no man knew. 
 After vainly sounding all indirect channels, a report that Cffisar was about 
 to join the"^army of the confederates atSmigaglia excited his worst fears ; 
 which were confirmed when, contrary to his custom, the duke refused 
 him an audience until the following day, at dawn, immediately before his 
 departure to Sinigaglia. 
 
 It may therefore be conjectured that the envoy was prompt to the hour 
 named for his audience; and he was admitted to Gffisar's presence before 
 the sun appeared, though the sky was lighted up'T He was in a little ca- 
 binet, clad in a cuirass of so light and ductile a mail that it was not visible 
 under the satin doublet which he subsequently assumed. Eight persons 
 ■were in attendance, one of whom was Don Migueloto ; and the rest 
 ■were all captains high in his command, or principal officers of his 
 household. 
 
 "Give you good day, Messer Niccolo di Bernardo Machiavelli," said 
 Csesar, laughingly. "J doubt I have roused you before the fallow-deer, 
 albeit they say the first gleam in the glades startles them. Break your 
 fast with me — here are figs, grapes, bread, and Falernian — mark you, a 
 learned wine. But who hath forewarned you of a journey, that you are 
 ready equipped for one?" 
 
 " Signer, if the person of your excellence is to be put into Orsini hands, 
 the ambassador of Florence has no longer any office near it," replied 
 Machiavelli. 
 
 "Uost thou fear a muzzled bear, Niccolo?" said the duke, thoughtfully. 
 *'And Paolo Orsino, limber and strong as he is, will be little better 
 between these tw'o stout gentlemen of the Savelli name, dispossessed by 
 his uncle, Virginio, of their fief on Tiber. The bull-calf, Vitellozzo, is 
 unruly— but John of Augsburg and Philip the Swiss will hold him in 
 halter he shall not easily break. The Duke of Gravina is old, and therefore 
 Monsignor d'Fnna, though a priest, aided by my master of the household, 
 
 ^L> 
 
CMSAR BORGIA. 405 
 
 may contrive between them to keep him in order. Oliverotto— nay, 
 Migueloto and Don Ugo, ye must call upon the flimsy ghost of his old 
 butchered uncle to help you lead him to his doom." 
 
 "But, signor, what may this avail, surrounded by their host — the 
 remotest at scarce an hour's summons?" exclaimed the Florentine. 
 
 " Between life and death there is not an instant, Niccolo," replied the 
 duke sombrely. "An hour I— 'tis long enough for the destruction of the 
 whole human race, had we but the means in our hands — as I have for 
 theirs in mine. And whose maxims do I practise — crushing whom I have 
 provoked ; strikinsj suddently, and but one blow: rooting out, not lopping 
 mine enemies — when I rid me, to-day and for ever, of the obstacles to my 
 greatness, your republic of her deadliest foes, and deprive my haters in 
 Rome of their sole balance against me — yea, compel them, in their 
 own defence and preservation, to drink as deeply in the qaafi" of vengeance 
 and blood?" 
 
 Messer Niccolo glanced with an expression of awe at his terrific pupil ; 
 but to a politician deeply imbued with the maxims of lt;dian state-craft, 
 a patriot and a republican who keenly recollected the ravages which the 
 Orsini and Vitelli had wrought in Tuscany, and their object to restore 
 the splendid tyranny of the Medici, the treachery mingled in the draught 
 but little marred the sweetness of its flavour. Moreover, Messer Mccolo 
 felt that no hesitation would be permitted in him after such a confidence. 
 
 "The republic will indeed light bonfires in pyramids to hear such news, 
 instead of the despondence I thought to be obliged to carry home, signor," 
 he said. "I crave your excellency's permission to be of your retinue, 
 that I may faithfully report tidings so musical in Florence. But, signor, 
 far, far indeed, have you surpassed in contrivance him whom you deign 
 to style your mastei', since even mine imagination cannot devise" how vou 
 project to destroy these traitors, surrounded by their victorious and wdl- 
 paid mercenaries.'"' 
 
 "Come hither — to this window, where in my noonday rests I studied 
 and digested all, gazing at the statue of Fortune in yonder fountain, and 
 the triumphal arch of Augustus Caesar beyond it. But fall what may," 
 continued the Borgia, his eyes scintillating with the fervour ot the pas- 
 sions stirred within his soul : "fall what may, 1 must on, and cannot and 
 will not back, though 1 shi~>uld find the Metauro rolling with flames instead 
 of water. 1 tell thee, all is won or lost to-day; and I will not forfeit my 
 hopes in it for a saint's diadem in bliss. But toss down a goblet and 
 finish your grapes, for we must to horse ere the sun looks too revealingly 
 down upon our enterprise." 
 
 The matters debated between Caesar and the Florentine secretary need 
 not be detailed, as they were put so soon in action •, but the day was still 
 in its serene and beautiful dawn when the Duke of Komagna, attended by 
 ^lesser Niccolo, the fatal eight, and a slender guard of cavalry, rode out 
 of Fano. 
 
 One of his apprehensions vanished from Messer Nicolo's mind when, 
 reaching the banks of the Metauro, he beheld Ceesar's army drawn up in 
 array. His surprise at its great number betrayed itself in his eager question 
 to the duke by what magic he had procured them, when no man suspected 
 him to possess one-third the force, and of those the greater part were 
 blocked up in fortresses. 
 
 "The forteresses can look to themselves, since we are between them 
 and any assailant," replied Ceesar. " They were to me what the clefts and 
 
408 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 hollows of the mountains are to the torrent, when it prepares its strength 
 secretly in snow and ice ; only I calculated to the instant the general 
 thaw ;Jnd flow, which the unreasoning warrnlh dolh blindly with its 
 streams." 
 
 Tiid pr-ssas-*^ of the river was immediately commenced, the infantry 
 crossing by a bridge, the cavalry by a ford ; and Machiavelii, keeping 
 near the duke, continued to show his calmness by relating that it was in 
 this very river, now so clear and full of trout, that Asdrubal the brother 
 of Hannibal was overthrowu and perished. 
 
 " 1 would it still ran dark red with the African blood I" said Caesar, 
 suddenly and fiercely interrupting Machiavelli's historical reminiscences. 
 "This tranquillity is at discord with my soul — but I shall be merrier 
 anon, for the way hence to Sinigaglia is very gloomy and sad." 
 
 And so it proved j the remaining ten miles of theroad to the fated city 
 stretched along the sea-shore — barren and melancholy sands hemmed in 
 by the bases of mountains scantily decorated with herbage, and stunted 
 forests whose wild arms stretched all in one direction from tbe sea, as if 
 imploring aid from its violence. Sometimes these hills receded into 
 dreary downs covered with black' sea-weed, shells, and all the litttrof 
 ocean; at others, advanced so far that the road winding at their bases 
 was washed by the waves. The incessant roar of the sea, though then in 
 one of its calmer moods, harmonized not ill with dark meditations, but it 
 had a singular effect in enlivening those of Caesar. His gaiety bordered 
 on wildness ; he galloped frequently into the frothy waters as if lo enjoy 
 their turbulence and confused rush around him .; and when his horse 
 stooped to drink at the wave, and started back from its biiterness, he 
 laughed aloud, and declared that henceforth he would call him Orso. 
 
 It had been agreed that the barons were to resign the city of Sinigaglia 
 to Caesar and his escort, quartering the princi[)al mass of their own troops 
 in the villages beyond. But to secure themselves against all danger, Oli- 
 veroLto daFermo occupied a suburb towards FaB«, called II Borgo, which 
 was separated from the walls of the city by a river. This was crossed 
 by a narrow bridge nearly opposite the town -gates; and a squadron of 
 Caesar's men-at-arms, duly instructed, who headed his advance, on reach- 
 ing this bridge, as if to enter the city, made a sudden halt, wheeled, and 
 opened their ranks. 
 
 Learning from this circumstance the approach of their visitor, the ba- 
 rons prepared to mount, and ride forth and welcome him. Paolo's gaiety 
 was remarkable, and he was arrayed in very gorgeous armour, with a 
 white plume mingling once more with bis own tlame-tints. But the 
 qualms of Vitellozzo had returned, and he was dressed with strange care- 
 lessness, without armour, and with a cap of green velvet set on his head in 
 a dejected droop very contrary to the hopefulness the colour was meant 
 to indicate. And now when he observed the masses of spearmen hasten- 
 ing over the bridge into Sinigaglia, whose visages and accoutrements 
 were all strange to him, he turned restive again, and firmly refused to 
 advance unless Oliverotto remained in the Borgo, and assembled his Ger- 
 man lances to guard against any treachery. In vain did Paolo labour, 
 even against the strange thoughts which arose in his own mind, to per- 
 suade him that the peaceful passage of so great a host showed plainly that 
 no evil could be projected. Vitellozzo was obstinate, and Oliverotto, who 
 was his pupil and strongly attached lo him, took his old commander's side; 
 so that filially it was agreed lo leave the Lord of Fermo at his post. 
 
C.€:SAR BORGIA. 407 
 
 Attended by a small troop of horsemen, the Duke of Graviiia, Vitellozzo, 
 and Paolo rode forih ; but when ihey had passed the river, and the ap- 
 proach of the duke was visible, the burly chieftain trembled as jf in an 
 ague, and turned lividly pale. Paolo, who was watching him uneasily, 
 said wiihasmiie. "You are chilly out of armour, Vitellozzo ; for though 
 I have seen you in some bloody fields, I never saw you tremble in that." 
 
 "1 feel even now at heart as my brother of thy name, Paolo, told me 
 he felt that day we returned to Florence, and the ungrateful butchers 
 slaughtered him,'"' said Vitellozzo, almost inarticulately. "And yet — 
 would to all saints, that instead of to meet this man, I were about to face 
 the whole city of Florence, with their sharp-nailed women into the bar- 
 gain." 
 
 " 'Tis a vain augury, Vitellozzo ; for thou tnowest I am something of a 
 sallow, melancholy mood, and yet to-day I feel as if my body had wings, 
 and my steed and 1 were dancing in the air," said Paolo, making his 
 horse indeed give an airy vault. 
 
 At that very instant CiEsar had discerned their approach, and turning to 
 Machiavelli, he said, "Now, look if thou canst discern any tintof the eternal 
 darkness on these men's faces that stand on the brink of it, for, by heaven, 
 thine has caught the dull leaden colour of the ocean we have coasted I" 
 
 Machiavelli smiled and roused himself, but his heart beat thickly in his 
 bosom. The chieftains, however, approached, and Ceesar, waving his 
 hand delightedly, spurred forward to meet them. " I am happy once 
 again ! — my paladins are restored to me I" he exclaimed, embracmg Paolo, 
 who was the foremost, in his arms, and saluting the two older warriors 
 with more respect but extreme cordiality. " Illustrious Gravina I whom I 
 may well call my father since he is Paolo's. — Vitellozzo ! — Oh, I have 
 missed thy towering form from my line of .war. — But where is my valiant 
 'Liverotto ?" 
 
 "Signor, he is busied drawing up our little retinue to welcome you," 
 replied Vitellozzo, eagerly. 
 
 "Why — that is well," returned the duke, and his eye fell upon Don 
 Migueloto with an expression which the caslellain understood as well as 
 any words : and while Csesar renewed his greetings to the barons he 
 glided quietly forward. 
 
 Caesar protracted his inquiries and compliments until he imagined that 
 the castellain had lime to execute h'ls purpose, and then, affecting much 
 weariness, he requested his hosts, as he called them, to lead him to his 
 lodgings in Sinigaglia. 
 
 Meanwhile Miyueloto rode into the open square of the Borgo, in which 
 he found Oliverolto forming his troops in array. 
 
 "Signor," he said, after a brief salute, " 1 am sent to desire you to re- 
 turn your soldiers into their lodgments, for the duke fears lest his men, 
 finding them unoccupied, should seize them, whence may arise some 
 sudden and dangerous tumult, for ours are raw and unaccustomed fellows. 
 Wherefore, I pray you, order the Germans into their quarters, and follow 
 me to the duke's presence, who swears he misses you more than he re- 
 joices in all he has found. " 
 
 This flattering bait, and the tranquillity with which everything proceeded, 
 won the Lord of Fermo into immediate compliance. The Germans, alar- 
 med at the peril which their lodgings ran, eagerly obeyed his dismissal; 
 and Oliverotto blithely spurred on to meet the duke. Don Ugo de Cor- 
 dova rode up to him with renewed salutations as he approached, and 
 
^08 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 between him and the castellain the Lord of Fermo continued his advance. 
 
 Cfesar was soon visible, complacently riding abreast with Paolo , and 
 laughingly telling him that the IwoSavelli, who rode beside him, hoped 
 by their courtesy to win the restoration of their little fief on Tiber— at 
 which they also smiled, though gloomy men. The DukeofGravinafGllow- 
 ed, in condescending discourse with Monsignor d"Enna and the major- 
 domo ; and after them came Vitellozzo, between two stout Swiss captains, 
 who attentively watched him from under their fierce bushy eyebrows. 
 But the Lord of Castello scarcely noticed them, absorbed in'^a resolution 
 which he had formed of inventing some excuse to remain out of Sinigaglia, 
 as soon as he arrived among Oliverolto's troops. 
 
 The increase of Vitellozzo's alarm may be imagined when he saw the 
 Borgo completely deserted, and beheld Oliverotto dismounting to receive 
 the duke. 
 
 " Ah, thou art fairly out of thy mourning weeds? " said Caesar, smilling 
 at the chieftain's gay attire. 
 
 " Signor, this is but an old suit— ay, indeed, 'tis that in which I sat at 
 the banquet when the tumult rose in which my uncle was unfortunately- 
 slain I— but 'lis a year agone, " replied Oliverotto, somewhat confusedly. 
 
 " I am glad of it— very glad— glad you have a friend to plead for you 
 in paradise, for I have heard he was a good old man, " said Caesar, with 
 singular emphasis. " But now lead the way; ye shall all feast with me 
 to-night. " 
 
 " 1 crave your grace to pardon me ; I have a strange chill in my blood , 
 for 'tis months since I stirred without armour," said Vitellozzo. 
 
 " At least you must all accompany me to my lodgment, for men's eyes 
 are upon us, " said Caesar. " Moreover, I would consult ye what to do with 
 the daring boy who tore San Leo from me, and forsooth will yield the 
 keys of Sinigaglia to none but me." And he spurred on, 'seeming 
 scarcely to hear what Vitellozzo said, until he had brought up the rear of 
 that doomed procession which passed under the gate of Sinigaglia. 
 
 " My word is plighted in yours, Vitellozzo— ^'hy, it is very true 5 and 
 as ye keep it, so will I, " said Caesar. " But is the fall he gave you in 
 the Colosseum so all-forgotlen, then ? " 
 
 "■ Your grace must forgive him a heavier offence, an you let him go free 
 and unscathed, as he demands," said Paolo, passiona'tely. 
 
 " Nay— heavier ? — Vitellozzo is good weight," replied the duke, laugh- 
 ingly. ^ " But 'tis well minded — where is young Fabio?" 
 
 " We cannot wean him from his books— but 1 warrant me he is feigning 
 to observe the German discipline with Oliverotlo's bands," said the Duke 
 of Gravina, testily. " The monks made a fool of me to let him learn his 
 letters ; but if I have a hundred grandchildren, not one of them shall 
 know more Latin than will draw his sword. " 
 
 " My sister is learned ; she will not let you have your way, signor, " 
 said Caesar, with a subtle smile. " But concerning this Englishman ; — 
 what says our valiant and experienced Oliverotto ? " 
 
 " Keep as much faith with him, my lord, as will hang him from yonder 
 tower! " replied the Lord of Fermo ^ pointing to the castle whose battle- 
 ments towered above the palace which Caesar was to occupy. 
 
 " fn very troth, signor, his treason to my son deserves no better," 
 said the Duke of Gravina. 
 
 " Treason for treason! fie, what moral were that? "said Caesar, grave- 
 ly. " But yonder black pile is to be my lodging— yea, by the standard 
 
CJ:SAR BORGIA. 409 
 
 ■waving — out of a chimney, is it? Why, then, since ye all seem weary 
 too , we will but pledge the continuance of this dear love and confidence 
 in the same bowl, and then separate until the morrow. " 
 
 " Signor, I pray you — 1 do fear some quarrel among the soldiery, " 
 said Viiellozzo, although the community of drink suggested removed any 
 fear of poison. 
 
 " I hold myself but as your guest in Sinigaglia, " said Caesar, somewhat 
 imperiously. "And if ye will not welcome me to my lodging, I will 
 escort you'back to yours, that gazers may not report we parted coldly.'' 
 
 Vitellozzo glanced back, and beheld the solid mass of spears which 
 intervened between himself and the Borgo ; and with a deep sigh he 
 joined the rest, who had dismounted to escort Caesar to his apartment. 
 Entering the hall, he paused dejectedly for an instant on the threshold, 
 and his eye fell on the Florentine envoy. 
 
 " Ser iNiccolo, " he said, eagerly pressing towards the secretary, who 
 followed Cgesar, " it joys me to meet you here. I pray you sup v;iih us to- 
 Dight, and we will hope to clear ail clouds of our intentions from your 
 mind." 
 
 " Signor! — now heaven forbid that 1 shoud sup with you to-night! " 
 repeated the envoy, startled with his own thought mingling in the invita- 
 tion, which was uttered with solemnity in the speaker's earnestness, and 
 more like a summons than an invitation. As he spoke they entered a 
 large, gloomy chamber, with grated windows, hug with tapestry, in which 
 ■were wrought unnumbered elephants and roses, the armorial bearings of 
 the Malatesta family, to whom the palace formerly belonged. Vitellozzo 
 was somewhat comforted to find that the only person in the chamber was 
 the negro, Zeid ; and yet his large white eyes gazing upon them as they 
 entered were instinct with a strange expression of bloodthirsty eagerness. 
 
 " Wine, wine I " exclaimed Caesar, and the negro darted forward with 
 a golden goblet and a large crystal jug, which he presented kneeling to 
 the duke. 
 
 "How chances it thou art my cupbearer?" said Caesar, filling the 
 goblet to the brim, and glancing round the group which had collected in 
 a respectful circle about him. " W^e are to be one another's tasters," he 
 continued, and his ready instruments looked at him like hounds in the 
 leash. At this moment he noticed that Vitellozzo started, and following 
 the direction of his eye, saw that it rested on the point of a steel boot 
 projecting from beneath the tapestry. There was no time to be lost, and 
 raisnig the goblet, Caesar exclaimed "Perdition to all traitors!" and 
 tossed it high in the air. Simultaneously each of the chieftains found his 
 arms clutched on both sides, and as the goblet fell, the tapestry was torn 
 down by a rush of armed men from behind, who, before a single word 
 was spoken, surrounded the group with levelled spears. 
 
 " Ay, perdition to all traitors! and where are any blacker than ye? " 
 shouted Caesar, laughmg with frantic exultation at his amazed and terror- 
 stricken guests. "Ursine bears, old and young! bull of Castello ! wolf 
 of Ferm.o ! 1 have trapped ye all." 
 
 "Did I not tell thee, Paolo?" said Vitellozzo, with the calm of utter 
 despair. 
 
 " But it cannot be ! it is impossible I Caesar can execute none of his 
 projects without our aid ! " said Paolo, staring incredulously at the two 
 Savelli, who now with unrestrained ferocity flourished their daggers in 
 his face . 
 
410 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Then were Caesar ever your slave ; but to do without ye, alas! I must 
 begin, and that very briefly," said Csesar, with ironical fierceness. "Nay, 
 look not back, Vitellozzo — only your executioner is there." 
 
 "My lord, of your inercy 1 pray you to consider that all I have done 
 against you was in gratitude for many signal favours from Vitellozzo," 
 said Oliverolto, staring aghast from his master to his capturer. 
 
 "Villain ! and what gratitude didst thou show to thine aged uncle, when 
 thou disdt brain him at the feast he made in thine honour?" said Caesar, 
 " Lo, now, thou hast not well worn the shoes in which thou Irampledst 
 his grey hairs, and thou shalt die in them! Lead them to prayers, until 
 I have taken order with the rebellious slaves who abet them." 
 
 "Yet hear me— but one word, Csesar Borgia ! " exclaimed Paolo despe- 
 rately. "Nay, thou shalt hear me. Condemn me lo what shameful death 
 thou wilt, but spare my father and my young brother, whom my madness 
 has brought to this dread pass! Spare them, and 1 will plead thy pardon 
 at the bar before which thy treachery sends me! " 
 
 " It were wise policy, indeed, to lop the branches and leave the trunk," 
 returned Caesar, scornfully. "There is not one of you, old or young, but 
 is a foul traitor, oppressor, ravager, and murderer, and that shall not die 
 the death of one ! " 
 
 " May, then, my curse overtake thee at thy loftiest pinnacle of hope and 
 power, and sit heavier on thee than thy brother's blood, and damn thee be- 
 low Cain, thy prototype!" yelled the infuriate Orsino, making a wild etfort 
 to spring athisbetrayer; but the Savelli locked him too firmly in theirarnjs. 
 
 "■ 1 have slept calndy under a mountain of Colonna curses, and deem not 
 the Orsini's ascend nearer Heaven," replied Caesar, laughing. "Away 
 with them ! " 
 
 " But one prayer let me make which concerns my soul, not body," said 
 Vitellozzo, strangely subdued, and yielding to the superstition which was 
 perhaps at the root even of his rebellious audacity. "His holiness has 
 been pleased to excommunicate me. Promise me, Caesar, to obtain my 
 pardon and remission, at least in that other world." 
 
 " By'r Lady, 1 doubt if he will forgive thee\even there! — 'twas thou 
 who prated to strip him of his robe and burn him, on a plea which leaves 
 thee little hope of Madonna Lucrezia's intercession," replied Caesar repeat- 
 ing his absolute " Away with them ! " 
 
 Each of the betrayed and doomed men was sternly commanded by his 
 capturers to walk ; and Paolo mechanically advanced a few steps, and then 
 looked back at his father with a heart-rending expression. The aged duke 
 had been as if petrified with amazement during the scene, but the glance 
 restored him to consciousness and to his natural pride and fierceness. 
 
 "Hellish Borgia! priest's bastard! dost thou dare to dream to shed the 
 blood of the Orsini and Vitelli?" he shouted, trembling with rage and 
 infirmity rather than with fear. "Remember, villain and base-born 
 traitor, that for every drop in my veins there lives an avenger, who will 
 pour the last of his own' ere he sits down to smile on the recollection of 
 this treason unmatched since Rome was Roman! " 
 
 "Old man, you threaten well ; I must have Fabio, too," said Caesar, 
 calmly. "But to content ye, 1 will shed no drop of any of your most 
 noble and most lawful blood ; for I will strangle ye all like the common 
 thieves, marauders, and pillagers which ye are, and have been during all 
 the ages ye vaunt yourselves to have been nobles and princes of Italy ! " 
 
 The raging exclamations of the old duke, the abject beseechings of 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 411 
 
 Oliverotto, were soon hurried out of hearing ; but the terrific silence and 
 glance of Paolo Orsino at his betrayer, as he left the chamber with his 
 guard, long haunted Messer Niccolo's meditations. 
 
 "This is ihe revenge which I promised thee in Imola I would take on 
 the enemies of the signorv, master secretary," said Csesar, again laughing 
 in the frantic excess of 'his triumph. " I have others of mine own in 
 Rome, who will quake to hear of it, and whose dance commences to ihe 
 music of these villains' dying groans. But now, if thou hast courage to 
 see thy theories in practice, come with me, and behold the destruction of 
 the barbarians in the Borgo." 
 
 While these events were enacted in the city of Sinigaglia, Le Beaufort 
 was making preparations to evacuate the citadel, slung to the heart by 
 the reply brought to his offer of surrender-, for he had hoped that his re- 
 pentance and exertions in the cause of the confederacy might have molli- 
 fied his former friend. But finding that it was impossible for him to 
 resist or escape, he was compelled to abide by his own stipulation, with 
 a great increase of anguish at the thought of his humiliation belore his 
 insolent enemy, the Duke of Romagna; and, but for Yilellozzo's assu- 
 rance, not without much doubt of his safety. 
 
 From the summit of his tower he witnessed the entry of Caesar with 
 the barons, and when they were fairly housed he retired to continue his 
 preparations for the evacuation, which he supposed would be immediate- 
 ly demanded. Accordingly, it was not noticed that Caisar suddenly 
 re-appeared from the palace, mounted his horse, and rode out with all 
 his cavalry into the BorG;o, which was now hemmed in by his troops in 
 the rear. 'The German ritters, separated from each other, and intent only 
 on keeping their quarters, were easily overpowered, and a bloody mas- 
 sacre commenced. Meanwhile the army in Sinigaglia was to advance 
 with Don Mii^uelolo to the attack of the remoter cantonments of the barons. 
 But fortunately for them, the soldiers in Sinigaglia imagined that they 
 had a right to share the plunder enjoyed by their comrades in the suburb, 
 and began to sack the city. 
 
 The uproar below brought Le Beaufort again to his battlements, and 
 he conjectured that some tumult had arisen between the citizens and 
 their conquerors. This notion was confirmed when at length Caesar re- 
 appeared in the confusion, and in his fury was observed to slay several 
 of the marauders with his own hand. But night darkened over the city 
 ere the tumult seemed altogether appeased ; and then Le Beaufort received 
 intimation by a herald that the lieutenant of the church awaited to receive 
 the keys of Sinigaglia from his hand. 
 
 Disdaining to use a golden ewer which the Lady of Sinigaglia had 
 given him, and which Bampton advised him to take for the purpose, Sir 
 Reginald put the keys in his helmet, and rode out of the castle attended 
 only by a single archer. He left Bampton with instructions not to sur- 
 render the citadel until he returned in person to give the order: for 
 although the old man rejoiced infinitely in the conclusion which his 
 master's Italian warfare must now reach, Sir Reginald knew that his firm- 
 ness and fidelity were not to be shaken. .^ 
 
 Le Beaufort expected to be led into some "feasting presence' oi his 
 enemies, and to run the gauntlet of their mockery. It was theretore with 
 great and visible surprise that he found himself ushered into the presence 
 of Caesar, alone in the devastated chamber which was the scene of the 
 surprisal, and restlessly pacing up and down. 
 
^12 CiESAR BORGIA. 
 
 And his reception by Caesar was very different from what he had anti- 
 cipated. "Welcome/Orlandol welcome. Sir LauncelotI or rather, wel- 
 come all the paladins and Knights of the Round Table in one," he ex- 
 claimed, seizing Le Beaufort's gauntlelcd hands in his own. 
 
 "Signor, I am none of these, but t-he captain of Sinigaglia, who brings 
 you her keys as lieutenant of the church, whose arms 1 may no longer 
 resist," replied the young knight, coldly, and presenting the helmet with 
 few marks of the respect and ceremonial to be expected from the van- 
 quished. 
 
 "Ay I — but he, too, must learn manners in my school," said Csesar 
 aloud, but as if speaking to himself, and continuing with a smile — " ily jest 
 still smarts in thy recollection. And in truth we should not scratch when 
 we tickle. But I have learned to value thee better, even in the harms 
 which thou hast done me ; and if thou wilt become my captain thou shalt 
 hang the keys of a nobler town than these paltry fishing-huls at thy 
 girdle to-night." 
 
 " Henceforth, my lord, I think to serve no master under the majesty of 
 a king," returned Le Beaufort, haughtily. 
 
 " Even there is the kernel of my thought. — Thou shalt serve one greater 
 than that name— an emperorl— aRoman emperor! " replied Csesar, with 
 a flashing glance at the surprised warrior. ''An emperor that must be 
 made one by swords as tried and ready as thine— and who, as he owes 
 all, will pay all, to their wielders." 
 
 "A Roman emperorl— are Maximilian and the German Ghibellines 
 summoned by the Cuelfs to Italy?" said Sir Reginald, now much amazed, 
 
 " Canst thou rave this, and look upon mine axe, which is thus toothed 
 with hacking out the thick brains of Oliverotto's Rhenish robbers? " re- 
 turned Caesar, raising a weapon on which he was leaning, the broad edge 
 of which was indeed covered with disgusting clots of blood and yellow 
 pulp. 
 
 " Methought I beheld some plunderers at work, whom you rightfully 
 suppressed — hut what emperor can this be, uniess the King of the Romans 
 comes to Rome to claim the imperial crown?" said the knight, a dim 
 suspicion darling into his mind. 
 
 " INay I— but thou wilt believe in no emperor but one with a crown on 
 his head, norlhman," replied Caesar, somewhat contemptuously. "Yet 
 must I be i)lain with thee. The plunderers whom I slew were of njine 
 own host — but for whose mutiny not a Ghibelline of Oliverotto's Germans 
 had escaped the doom which the majority have suftered. But, as thou 
 sayest, the crown is in Rome, and thither an emperor goes to claim it, 
 whose name is— and whose deeds perchance may be— an echo of the first 
 Caesar's." 
 
 After a pause of utter astonishment, and indeed somewhat of awe at the 
 grandeur of the ambiiion thus revealed. Sir Reginald replied with evident 
 incredulity— "Your highness jests with my dull northern wit agam. 
 Albeit his holiness dearly cherishes your person, what pope will endure 
 an emperor in Rome?" 
 
 "But what if the question be reversed — what emperor will endure a 
 pope in Rome?" replied CaLsar, calmly. "And so methinks it may be 
 when wiih my potent and victorious and Italian legions 1 enter Rome, 
 which I |)urpose within this calend." 
 
 " To dethrone our holy father in Rome I — which the accursed Turk and 
 paynim would scarcely dream 1" exclaimed Le Beaufort. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 418 
 
 "Thou superstitious tramontane! — But, in truth, my holy father, and 
 Lucrezia's holy father— and thine, yes, thine, if thou will and daresll" 
 said Cae.^ar, vehemently. " But I speak not to dethrone — but to resume 
 the imperial seat, which priests have so long usurped, and standioij, they 
 may recover their ancient humility and holiness, of which they have for 
 ages retained only the title. What sayest thou? In what is Alexander 
 so dear and sacred to thee that thou shouldst fear to follow in aught I 
 may project against his sway?" 
 
 "But what say iheOrsini, and the Vitelli, and the rest of your high- 
 Dess's new allies? Do they prefer the strong dominion of a soldier to the 
 faint mastery of a priest?" said the still more astonished knight. 
 
 "I trust to secure at least their silent acquiescence," returned Ctesar, 
 ■with a slight laugh. • "Or hast thou forgotten that Paolo Orsino loves Lu- 
 crezia Borgia (who is so soon to he Lucrezia of Este), and would give 
 back the universe to chaos to preserve her from the arms of her loved Al- 
 fonso ?" 
 
 "And has your highness consented to— to what?" exclaimed Le Beau- 
 fort, turning very pale, a circumstance attentively noted by the Borgia. 
 
 " 1 have sworn to him, and must either keep my word or destroy its 
 claimant, to cause Lucrezia to be detained on the bridal progress, which 
 she has already commenced, on her passage through Romagna, and to 
 confer her upon nim as the price and security of his assistance in my en- 
 terprise," said Cccsar. 
 
 " Then, Duke (Isesar, by all that is sacred, if aught be deemed so by 
 the Italians, I will not aid, but will rather battle to the death against you 
 and him, and all your felon powers!" exclaimed the knight. 
 
 " Thou talkest dangerously for thyself," replied Caesar, but quite pla- 
 cidly, and even contentedly. " Knowest thou not thou art in my power, 
 knight, and that I have trusted thee loo far, unless thou art wholly 
 mine?" 
 
 "The Vitelli and Orsini, and even the ruffian of Fermo, have promised 
 the observation of my terms," said Sir Reginald, not without alarm at this 
 insinuation. 
 
 "But I have not," said Caesar, demurely. "And for the Vitelli, they 
 are out of the way to render thee any aid; and the Orsini and Oliverotto 
 are eager for me to violate the compact with thy destruction." 
 
 " Recreant and disloyal nobles ! Give me at least vengeance in death, 
 signer, by suffering my challenge to meet them all at once, and let them 
 take my life with their own hands !" said Le Beaufort, furiously. 
 
 "Thou shalt have vengeance even as thou ragest, but two of them will 
 soon be beyond thy reach, and let us hope in a better place than this 
 earth of ours." said Ca?sar, gaily. "Yet, hark, that sounds not like the 
 prayer of a Christian soul departing I" 
 
 A yell was suddenly heard in an adjoining apartment — a trample, and 
 rapid struggle, or rather flutter, and then there was deep silence. 
 
 " The parricide of Fermo is gone to face his ancient uncle," continued 
 the duke, calmly. "There is justice as well as policy in my doings; 
 and now one mutters a distracted paternoster! Is that voice unknown to 
 thee?" 
 
 "Vitellozzo's!" exclaimed Sir Reginald. 
 
 "Hush, or he may think it is the fiend calling him, being an excom- 
 municated wretch!" said Ceesar. 
 
 There was another direful pause, and then a door was opened slightly 
 
414 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 ajar, and the unsightly head of a negro projected, which gave a signifi- 
 cant nod to the duke, and was instanllv withdrawn. 
 
 "Peace to their traitorous souls," I grudge not that," said Caesar, 
 jeeringly. " Murderers and oppressors, who says they are not well gone, 
 or that treachery can be against wolves and tigers?" 
 
 Perhaps for the first time in his life the courage of Le Beaufort gave 
 way; his hair bristled, and his knees knocked together, as he said, 
 "What is within there, my lord? It cannot be that the Vitelli is slain !" 
 
 "Come, then, and believe in thine own eves," said Casar, snatching a 
 lamp from the table, and leading the way with rapid strides to the door at 
 which the negro had appeared. It opened into a narrow courtyard^ 
 surrounded by lofty buildings, in which were several soldiers and the 
 negro, busily engaged, while Migueloto held a lamp, in stripping the 
 bulky carcass of a man. The light falling on the ghastly and distorted 
 visage, revealed the features of Vitellozzo, and the means of his death in 
 the handkerchief knotted in a peculiar manner round his neck. At a 
 little distance lay another corpse, which was partially thrust into a sack, 
 but enough was visible to show that it was all that remained of the Lord 
 of Fermo. 
 
 "Signer! the Lord Paolo, is he too dead?" gasped Le Beaufort. 
 
 '^' I but reserve him and his sire until 1 receive certain news of the sei- 
 zure of the whole brood in Rome, and capture of Fabio Orsino, who most 
 lucklessly was dreaming in a wood over his Petrarca, for he left the book 
 behind him in his flight," said Caesar, gloomily. "But when the cardinal 
 and the rest are captured, I will necessitate their doom by slaying these 
 in my hands, for I love them no more than thou, and have as little cause. 
 Or if thou misdoubt that I still keep terms with Lucrezia's would-be bride- 
 groom, come with me." 
 
 He led the way across the court to a tower which was based in it, and 
 ascended by a flight of narrow stairs to a chamber, barred within, and 
 guarded without. He knocked, the door was opened by the two Savelli, 
 and followed all dreamily and mechanically by Le Beaufort, he entered. 
 
 The first object the latter discerned was rtiolo Orsino, seated in chains, 
 gazing vacantly at a lamp which was placerl on the floor fur lack of any 
 otherstand, and which casi dark upward shadows on his pallid visage. 
 
 "Is it the executioner?" he said, without looking round. 
 
 " It should be; but it is the captain of Sinigaglia, with his keys," re- 
 plied Caesar, merrily; and staring round, Paolo perceived his former 
 friend. " Thou didst desire his destruction at mine hand; now wouldst 
 thou he should share thine own, or change fates with thee, which, as I 
 live, 1 have resolved," 
 
 " What fate shall he change with me?" exclaimed the Orsino, with a 
 strangely wild eagerness, the last clutch of hope. 
 
 " Thou seest, Reginald, how willingly he yields thee up to doom," said 
 Caesar. " But I speak not of the fate which thy fellow-traitors have but 
 now undergone, and thou mightst have heard the big Vitello's struggle — 
 but of that which thou didst project for thyself in Faenza, revelling in the 
 unmatched beauties of Lucrezia, regardless of her hatred and assured 
 resistance, which widi this fair knight is not so n)uch to be feared." 
 
 " Ha, traitor, ha! wild beast of humanity ! " shouted the prisoner, fu- 
 riously. " 1 care not forthy fiendish eyes, and will tell thee. Englishman, 
 that he lures thee to destruction with the bribe that brought me hitlier, 
 promising that at Faenza — oh fool, oh idiot without a fool's sense I— at 
 
GMSAR BORGIA. 415 
 
 Faenza he would intercept Lucrezia on her way to Ferrara, and make her 
 — oh, beast, beast — but not Alfonso's bride! '" 
 
 " And where shall I find a bolder heart to execute such an enterprise 
 (ban beats in Sir Reginald's breast?" replied Cassar, sedately. "And 
 being the renowned soldier that he is, potently allied in his native land, 
 whence I can draw the valiant swords 1 need 5 no brother of the mighty 
 rebels, Esteor Orsino, not altogether unloved by Lucrezia;— I speak now 
 a thought which hath long worked in my heart, — of all the suitors whom 
 Lucrezia hath or had he were the least dangerous, and most acceptable 
 to me. And by the light of heaven ! — nay, I will swear by nought but the 
 power 1 will put into his hands, if he dare undertake the office, from this 
 instant he is my captain in Faenza." 
 
 " S[)eak, Sir Reginald, thou canst not refuse so fair a bait," said Paolo, 
 laughing hoarsely. 
 
 " Nay, Sir Reginald, for thou shall learn that I have as much need of 
 thee as thou canst have of me in it," said Caesar, with a look of devouring 
 hate at his shackled victim. "Lucrezia must not to Ferrara, and yet, 
 until I am master in Rome I dare not avow that my decree detains her at 
 Faenza. Thy love for her is known, Le Beaufort, and 'tis by many 
 thought, even by thy haughty rival, that she stands not ill-affected 
 towards thee. Wherefore in Rome I can plead an insolent mutiny on thy 
 part, and to the world, and to Alfonso of Ferrara, matters which shall balk 
 his longings even for so fair a bride. Thy valour, and some wrong I have 
 done thee, pleads ray excuse to make thee now mine officer in so great a 
 trust asthat strongest city of my dominion; and strange it will be, if, with 
 the gloss of thy renown upon Ihee, melting memories of the past, and all 
 her bride's longings baffled and glowing in blood so warm — ay, strange 
 it will be if thou canst not win her to admit a suit which I will also urge, 
 or perchance, when 1 have gained full mastery, compel." 
 
 " Listen to the syren but an instant, and thou art lost," said Paolo, and 
 yet gazing with something of jealous rage and doubt from the tempter to 
 Le Beaufort. "Let me perish without even that sole hope which yet 
 remained to me, that in thy remorse ! should find an avenger, for thou 
 hast brought me hither ! — I could have borne aught but to see her in his 
 arms ! Hadst thou but hinted the truth of the Ferrarese I could have early 
 taught my soul despair, shunned all the Borgian pitfalls, and known them 
 for such ! What had I done to thee that thou shouldst shed thy friend's 
 blood, and guard thy rival and enemy from every harm?" 
 
 Deeply affected as he was with this appeal, Sir Reginald felt the neces- 
 sity of counterfeiting a very different emotion, and he exclaimed, with 
 seemingly bewildered eagerness of joy, " Let the losing gamester rave! 
 but could 1 believe such happiness no dream, Caesar, I were indeed your 
 bondslave for ever! " 
 
 " Then is he lost, for he knows not how to feign!" groaned the 
 Orsino. 
 
 " Yet didst thou call me traitor when 1 yielded to what was then a vague 
 and air-built hope, Orsino! " returned Le Beaufort, with a glance so full 
 of some unuttered meaning that Paolo started and looked at him sledfastly. 
 " And now, when the sunshine hardens into diamond, wouldst thou have 
 me hold back my hand from the prize?" 
 
 "Thou art captain of Faenza even now; and its prince that day which 
 crowns me emperor in Rome," said Csesar, unnolicing this mute dialogue 
 in his exultation. 
 
416 CiBSAR BORGIA. 
 
 " And wilt thou become, then, this monstrous, unknightly villain and 
 ravisber?" said the Orsino, in a low, but yet staggered tone. 
 
 " Wouldst thou not have been all, and more, for she never but loathed 
 thy love?" returned Le Beaufort, and Caesar laughed aloud. 
 
 " Fairly answered ! let us leave him now to crack the nuts of his recol- 
 lections," said Cffisar. " We have no time to lose, for my advance on 
 Rome will hasten her journey from it." 
 
 " Betide what will, Orsino, vengeance at least is miner said Sir Re- 
 ginald, with another glance, which the Orsino seemed to understand, for 
 a momentary joy lightened over his face, which he concealed from Csesar 
 by turning away as if in despair. " Vengeance ! and let the remembrance 
 of the oath with which 1 swear it, comfort — as it may — thy doom." 
 
 " Why, then, since thou goest to destruction, too, letus part as brothers 
 in calamity," said the Orsino, stretching his chained arms as if in mockery 
 of the supposed threat; butLe Beaufort, observing Caesar's look, turned 
 haughtily away, and raising the cross of his sword to his lips, kissed it. in 
 ratification of his secret oath, and said aloud, " In failh I have too lately 
 escaped the bear's hug, to trust me again in it. My lord, lead on, for 
 henceforth the business of my life is to fulfil the vengeance which I swear 
 on the whole generation of the betrayers! " 
 
 In the intoxication of his triumph over the most sagacious politicians 
 of Italy, and his knowledge of the mighty passion whose influence on Le 
 Beaufort he had essayed, Csesar could not doubt the success of his arti- 
 fices with the young barbarian. Yet he spent nearly the whole of the 
 subsequent night in raising the most splendid visions of ambition and love 
 in Sir Reginald's imagination, and in communications, in part real, of the 
 vasty project he had formed. He assured Le Beaufort, with seeming 
 earnestness, that as, in his intentions to seize on thesupreme and undivided 
 power in Rome, one of the greatest obstacles would be the pontiff's alliance 
 with the potent house of Este, to prevent it was so great an object, that 
 he should esteem Sir Reginald' success in his love-making the strongest 
 augury of his own. Every facility should be afforded to him, and he 
 stimulated the most vehement passions of the young knight by represent- 
 ing the many triumphs which converged into that delicious one of love, 
 ■when after having vanquished his haugj^ty rival in generosity and arms, 
 he should also win his bride from him, even with her own consent. 
 Lucrezia, he said, had probably already discovered that she had mistaken 
 the awe and pique which the Hospitaller's insolent conduct had excited 
 in her, for a |)assion which the more congenial nature of Sir Reginald was 
 far more likely to kindle, and of which opportunity might enable him to 
 convince her. Meanwhile,Caesar must certainly be recalled to Rome by the 
 disorders which would follow the tidings of the destruction of the rebels ; 
 and once in possession of the city, and of the vast treasures accumulated 
 by the pontiff, he would have it in his power to accept the brother-in-law 
 of his own and Lucrezia's choice. 
 
 When at length the crafty duke suffered Le Beaufort to retire, it was 
 in the belief that he had dissipated every scruple in his breast, and con- 
 verted him into an implicit and most necessary engine in his desperate 
 policy. 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. il7 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 " Was not this love indeed.'— Twelfth IfighL 
 
 The following day beheld Le Beaufort on his way to Faenza, accompa- 
 nied by his own archers, but also by Peter of Oviedo, and the crafty 
 Bishop of Enna, wilh a largo body of nien-at-arrns devoted to the duke. 
 These and the garrison of Faenza formed a powerful array, quite sufiBcient 
 to secure the destined prey; but Le Beaufort was not to be installed in his 
 captaincy until Lucrezia arrived and it was time for the plot to explode. 
 
 And thus Caesar trusted but litile to his new adherent's fidelity, although 
 he gave him credit for no faculty of dissimulation ; for it was apparently 
 impossible for him to escape, or" avoid executing the task imposed upon 
 him. And in truth, when he arrived in Faenza, and found himself lodged 
 in the keep of the ancient castle or palace of the Manfredi, under the vi- 
 gilant surveillance of Monsignor d'Enna, and surrounded by the troops 
 of Peter of Oviedo, he felt himself no less a prisoner than if lie had been 
 in chains. And yet he dared not even venture to explain his siluation to 
 Bamplon, whose despair and indignation at ihe change in liis lord's reso- 
 lutions, and the new service he had taken, knew no bounds. But when 
 Le Beaiiforl declared the fixedness of his determination, and bade the old 
 man, if he pleased, return to England wiihout him, iiis grief and wraih 
 worked silenily, and he followed Le Beaufort in a sullen submission, 
 wliicli yetreslraincd the discontent of the men-at-arms. 
 
 Hiivirm thus provided for this most extraordinary portion of his grand 
 project, Caesar seemed on a sudden to set in motion all the wheels and 
 levers wliich had been so long combining in secrecy. Migueloto left 
 Sinigaglia at the same lime wiih Sir Beginald, to proceed to Rome, osten- 
 sibly wilh the news of the defeat of the Orsini, but in realily to execute 
 the plans of Caesar, and by reporting the dangerous state of "ihe country, 
 covered wilh ihe shnticred, but not cruslied partizans of ihe barons, to 
 retard ihe progress of Lucrezia until matters were more ripe for her de- 
 tention at Faenza. This result was, however, obtained without any ne- 
 cessity of taxing the exasgeraiive eloquence of Don Miguelolo. 
 
 It is true that the pontiff, on the first receipt of Caesar's tidings, seized, 
 ■with circumstimi'os of almost equal treachery, on all the members of ihe 
 Orsini family in Rome, including the Cardinal and the Archbishop ofFlo- 
 ret)ce, and on their fortress palaces, which were stripped of all their rich 
 contents; declared the estates of the whole family forfeit, and proceeded to 
 ^ava^e them \Aithfire and sword, apparently at pleasure. But the relurn 
 of Fabio Orsino, who escaped by a miracle of chance from Sinigaglia, 
 and the extraordinary valour and conduct displayed by the youth, suddenly 
 revived the spirits and resolution of the partizans of his' name. Ctesar 
 himself was astonished with the tidings which reached him on his vic- 
 torious advance, and it apparently suspended the Borgian resolutions; for 
 he coniiiiuefi to spare the lives, or rather reserve the deaths, of Paolo and 
 the Duke of Cravina, dragging them after him in chains; and Alexander 
 contented himself with imprisoning his victims in Sanlangelo, permitting 
 them various indulgences, and giving public assurances of their personal 
 safety. 
 
 n 
 
418 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 Meanwhile Caesar lost not an instant in following up his projects, and 
 the tremendous blow at Sini^aglia. He rushed upon Citta-di-Castello, 
 which the affrighted heirs of Vitellozzo instantly abandoned, and of which 
 he took possession in the nanae of the church. At present he respected 
 his treaty with Bologna, only compelling its lords to send him the large 
 succours stipulated, which laid them bare for future attempts, and turned 
 upon Perugia, w^hence the Baglioni fled in the like manner. Having 
 secured this city with a garrison of his partizans and of factious exiles, he 
 entered the territory of Sienna, and by his direful ravages forced the city 
 to expel his enemy "^and its lord, Pandoifo Pelrucci. But here he was met 
 with such disastrous tidings of the progress of the Orsini, who were 
 masters of the whole Campagna, and threatened Rome itself, that he was 
 compelled to turn from his career of devastation and conquest, and move 
 with his army on Rome. His sudden arrival, it appeared from the con- 
 fession of some prisoners, foiled a desperate attempt which Fabio Orsino 
 meditated on Rome, to seize the persons of the pontiff and ol'his daughter, 
 as hostages for his sire and brother's safety. This circumstance kindled 
 Alexander's most violent passions ; and when the Orsini, after some 
 bloody struggles, were driven by Caesar's overwhelming force to take 
 refuge in their castles and fortresses — against the express commands of 
 the King of France, who took Fabio under his protection, and Caesar's 
 own wish, he ordered him to besiege Bracciano with his whole force, in 
 which Fabio had taken refuge. But Caesar's policy had also bnrne its 
 expected fruit in Naples, where the ill success of the French against the 
 Spaniards rendered them more dependent on the goodwill of the pontiff 
 than ever he had been on theirs-, and he now utterly despised their en- 
 treaties, and even menaces, in behalf of the Orsini. 
 
 The news of the suppression of the Orsini revolt, and of the hopeless 
 condition of their young chieftain, had not long reached Faenza ere tidings 
 of the continued progress of Lucrezia were brought. Messengers arrived 
 to hasten the preparations for her reception, and that of her magnificent 
 retinue; and as Faenza was the last of the great cities belonging to the 
 Borgias through which she was to pass, the extraordinary splendour of 
 the rejoicings was accounted for, which was in reality devised as a means 
 of detaining her. At the same time one of Caesar's most trusted emissa- 
 ries, Don (igo of Cordova, arrived with minute instructions to all the 
 parlies concerned in effecting the projected manoeuvre. 
 
 Ferrara is distant from Faenza but one day's journey; and although the 
 great strength of the city, which was completely and massively walled, 
 numerously garrisoned, and provided with every munition of war, enabled 
 it to defy violence, Caesar's anxiety was directed to persuade the Prince 
 of Ferrara, if possible, that his bride was not detained against her will. 
 In addition to the festivities, which she could not graciously refuse to 
 stay and witness, rumours were to be spread that the Vitelli had fled into 
 the intervening country, under the secret protection of Bologna, and 
 rendered it dangerous to attempt a passage until they were driven out. 
 Meanwhile every artifice was to be exerted to amuse the attention of Lu- 
 crezia and her escort; and it was signified to Sir Reginald that, in the 
 former office, the duke principally relied upon him. 
 
 And certes the struggle would have been more severe in Le Beaufort's 
 heart, if his knowledge of Caesar's unholy passion had not convinced him 
 that it was impossible he could intend any success to his own. He felt 
 that all his motions were incessantly watched, and that it was not meant 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. <19 
 
 to trust him with tbe least real power, which was all exercised by the 
 Bishop of Enna and his own biiler enemy, Peter of Oviedo, whom he had 
 deprived of San Leo, and who commanded in Faenza with the title of 
 lieutenant and authority of chief. Moreover, Lucrezia's love for her 
 betrothed husband could not be doubted; and her ambition and pride 
 were warmly engaged in favour of so great an alliance. And yet Sir 
 Reghiald found it utterly impossible, without exposing himself to sudden 
 and useless destruction, to attempt warning Lucrezia of the pitfall laid for 
 her. A jealous vigilance, justified by the disturbed state of the country, 
 ^vas exercised on all who passed in or out of Faenza: and its inhabitants 
 themselves did not guess that they had a new governor within their walls ; 
 but rather concluded that the personage so closely pent up and guarded 
 was a prisoner whose detention was of great consequence. 
 
 Le Beaufort himself could only form vacant hopes and resolutions to 
 endeavour the balking of Caesar's plots at every hazard, when the occasion 
 should arrive ; and meanwhile he laboured to remove suspicion by sub- 
 mitting to all that was demanded of him without impatience or struggle, 
 as if lured by the glistering bait held out to him to slight all concomitant 
 disadvantages. Nor had he any occasion to feign the passionate eagerness 
 with which he awaited Lucrezia's arrival, and the delight, deeply mingled 
 with perplexity and bitter regret as it must be, with which he anticipated 
 beholding her once more. 
 
 At length the approach of the bridal company restored Sir Reginald to 
 some degree of liberty ; and on the morning of the day in which Lucrezia 
 was expected in Faenza the English knight received his commission from 
 Don Ugo, as its governor. Yet it was determined by the Bishop of Enna 
 that it would be dangerous for Le Beaufort to appear until she was fairly 
 within the walls ; and the apology for the absence of the governor might 
 aptly introduce the subject of the dangers to be apprehe'nded from the 
 Vitelli fugitives, against which they might allege him to be engaged in 
 providing. 
 
 In Faenza all was bustle and splendid preparation, and the Faventines 
 vindicated their ancient character for taste and wealth in the welcome 
 which they devised for the sister of their terrible lord. The streets by 
 which she was to reach the palace were decorated with arches of flowers 
 and bridal devices ; the city resounded with the merry clamour of all its 
 bells, joyful shouts, music, and continual peals of ordnance. The whole 
 population poured forth in holiday garb, the beggars themselves bedizen- 
 ing their rags with bridal favours ; and in the great square before the 
 palace a vast feast was to be given to the people, w-ith dances, plays, and 
 the exhibitions of jongleurs and minstrels, all in the open air 5 and above 
 all, to divert the bride and her ladies, a race of women was to take place, 
 in which the prize was a white satin smock, and ten gold crowns as a 
 marriage portion to the fair winner. 
 
 It was the noon of a glowing summer day w^hen the arrival of two 
 heralds, in the livery of the Dukes of Ferrara and of the Borgias, an- 
 nounced the approach of the bridal retinue. The curiosity of the po- 
 pulace assembled in the great square was somewhat diverted by the ap- 
 pearance of their new governor, who rode out of the castle with his 
 English archers to receive the arriving guests. But Ihey were disap- 
 pointed in their intended survey, for ht; wore his visor down ; yet the 
 magnificence of his armour and trappings excited great admiration, and 
 gratified the eyes of the populace. With all his doubts and fears Sir 
 
420 CvESAR BORGIA, 
 
 Reginald could not deny himself the advantage wbich magnificence of 
 garb lent to his noble person, but he persuaded himself that he took 
 so much pains in his military toilet in pursuance of his plan to deceive 
 his caplurers. 
 
 The procession of the betrothed had entered the walls, and its pompous 
 array shorily appeared descending the principal street from the gates, 
 amidst thundering acclamations, triumphal music of trumpeis and drums, 
 and discharge of the small guns of the soldiery who lined the way. Le 
 Beaufort was surprised and somewhat comforted to observe the number 
 and perfect discipline of the Spanish archers and horsemen who formed 
 the guard of the bride, and which also evidently made Monsignor d'Enna 
 muse. These headed the procession, and so great a multitude of servants 
 followed, well armed and in superb liveries, that the prelate's thoughtful- 
 ness increased. Then came a number of carriages, covered wilh costly 
 cloths, containing the bride's wardrobe, and the rich presents made to her 
 by her sire — above all. her dowry of one hundred thousand gold crowns, 
 in specie, a sum which regal profusion had not emulated in those days. 
 Then came a mule, which bore upon its back a couch with cushions, 
 covered with crimson velvet embroidered with flowers, and with jjillows 
 of while satin •, above which was borne a superb canopy of cloth of gold. 
 Ill I his ilu! young duchess was to repose when wearied of riding on 
 Imrs. b ick ; but she entered the city mounted on the white steed which Le 
 l?caui(,ri lull Will remembered. It was superbly decorated, and she 
 hcfscir w(ir.' a magtiiQcent bridal dress, principally composed of silver 
 lace and diamonds wnaight in a woof as splendid as if of figured light, 
 wilh the exquisite skill for which the Italian artists, rather than manu- 
 facturers, of iheage wore renowned. Her face was nearly concealed by 
 the bridal veil which hung to her feet, but its heightened fairness was 
 visible beneath •, and the light of the smile with which she bent to the 
 upronrions greetings of the populace seemed like a sunshine piercing it. 
 
 Beside her rode the Ca diiial of Este, Don Alfonso's brother and pro- 
 curator, blazing in his scarlet robes; a number of ladies, nobles, knights, 
 and other attendants, both of Rome and Ferrara, followed. But despite 
 this great and gorgeous escort, Lucrezia visibly started when, entering 
 the great square, she beheld th^ masses of soldiery drawn up to receive 
 her, under lier brother's ensigns. But Monsignor d'Enna was instantly 
 beside her, offering the compliments and congratulations of the city; the 
 fluttering of a number of snow-white doves, suddenly released from their 
 cages, increased the confusion; and Lucrezia's attention was immediately 
 caught by the approach of the captain of Faenza. 
 
 Something Le Beaufort spoke of compliment or welcome, in so low and 
 confused a tone that Monsignor d'Enna observed in apology that the knight 
 was a foreigner, when Lucrezia interrupted him. " Sir knight, it cannot 
 be that we are so far mistaken as not to remember that voice! " she ex- 
 claimed. "And yet, in the service of the Duke of Romagna! — beseech 
 you, raise your visor, and let us see if such witcheries may be." 
 
 Sir Reginald obeyed with a deep bend, and Lucrezia started at the pale 
 and agitated couni!enance revealed, which she remembered blooming 
 with youth and bounding blood. Nevertheless her whole countenance 
 beamed with joy, and she said wilh a delight which went like a reproach 
 to his heart— "Oh, then, 1 am all safe— and very, very happy! " and ex- 
 tended her hand with a smile of such absolute confidence and trust that 
 he was nigh overcome with emotion as he bent to kiss it. Probably she 
 
CiESAR BORGFA. 421 
 
 felt the tremble on his lips, for the glance she gave him as she drew it 
 back minyled much of her natural coquetry and vivacity, and shivered 
 through the veins of the knight like a stream of lightning. 
 
 Consignor d'Enna smiled quaintly at Don Ugo, and the procession was 
 ordered to advance. On reaching the castle, the young duchess selected 
 Le Beaufort to assist her in dismounting; and on entering its gloomy 
 halls she looked at him with a shudder, and desired him not to leave her, 
 in a lone which deepened all his inner anguish. But there was something 
 probably in his hesitating and gloomy replies which gave her inquietude; 
 for even on seating herself at the great banquet which had been prepared, 
 she announced to the smiling and bending Monsignor d'Enna that she in- 
 tended to resume her journey on the following day. 
 
 But the Cardinal of Este, a prelate of a good deal more wit than sanc- 
 tity, laughingly commented on the advantages of a little rest with such a 
 journey before them, and more seriously declared that they must tarry 
 the arrival of a messenger with tidings that all was in readiness in Fer- 
 rara. Lucrezia smiled and blushed, and the serenity returned to her most 
 lovely visage. But it troubled over again as she turned to Sir Reginald, 
 and addressing him as the captain of Faenza, inquired if it was tr-ue that 
 the Viielli were abroad, and ravaging the country towards Rivenna? 
 Don Ugo prevented Sir Reginald's reply by giving a most alarming re- 
 port of the disasters the rebels had caused, tlieir great numbers, their 
 vows of vengeance, and the secret assistance of the Bolognese. Lucrezia 
 became very pale, and turning to the captain of Faenza, she desired him 
 in an eager and almost imploring manner to wait on herself and the car- 
 dinal early on the following morning, to devise the measures necessary 
 for her safe progress. 
 
 Something peculiar there must have been in Le Beaufort's look in reply 
 to this command, which she probably mistook, as she coloured again 
 very deeply, and the cardinal smiled significantly. This interchange of 
 thought probably increased the trouble and anguish of Le Hoaufirt; for 
 alter regarding him stealthily for some moments. Lucrezia, for the first 
 time, asked a question which had been for a long time on her lips, and 
 inquired how it chanced that she beheld him in Faenza. 
 
 Again one of the ever-watchful coadjutors interposed, and Monsignor 
 d'Enna launched into a highflown panegyric on the matchless valour of 
 the English knight, which had led the Duke of Romagna not only to par- 
 don the share he had taken in aid of his rebels, but to desire most ear- 
 nestly to attach him to his own service. 
 
 . " His deeds praise him better than your words, monsignor," said Lu- 
 crezia, watching with a woman's keenness of observation, and yet unob- 
 servedly, the flickering shades of contending passions in Le Beaufort's e.^:- 
 pression. "Yet I would fain hope that some memory of an ancient 
 friendship worked full as strongly in his heart as any promises and pro- 
 testations of the Duke of Romagna?" 
 
 Le Beaufort had by this time rallied sufficiently to endeavour to play 
 his part; but he somewhat betrayed himself, when he replied with vehe- 
 mence, " In Sinigaglia, lady, it surely needed some other spell than pro- 
 mises from his grace to win me. But," he added, more considerately, 
 '' the Orsini sought my destruction — and what mattered theirs to me?'' 
 
 Shuddering at these words and the recollections it kindled, Lucrezia 
 shifted the converse to another topic, and it soon became general and 
 animated. The Cardinal of Este was himself a man of wit and observa- 
 
422 CMSAR BORGIA. 
 
 tion, and in his train were several of the polished poets , courtiers, and 
 learned men who made Ferrara famous. Bembo was there, whose pla- 
 tonism now merited the term, or at least had ebbed back to its ancient 
 limits. And there was one Messer Ludovico Ariosto, a young man in the 
 cardinal's service, whose pleasant humour and gaiety had already raised 
 him high in Donna Lucrezia's favour, who was said to prefer the'epitha- 
 lamium he had written for her marriage to all the innumerable tribe of its 
 competitors. 
 
 The day concluded in witnessing the diversions in the public square, 
 and the display of fireworks ; after which, renewing her command to 
 see him early on the following morning, Lucrezia and her court retired to 
 rest. 
 
 Le Beaufort anxiously awaited to hear what conclusions Caesar's emis- 
 saries had drawn from the events of the day, and he found with satisfaction 
 that they were alarmed at the number and strength of the bridal escort. 
 Peter of Oviedo had indeed quartered the soldiery in isolated positions, 
 where they might be easily overpowered by his superior force, if the 
 necessity should arise. But their concern was betrayed by the general 
 agreement in Monsignor d'Enna's proposal that Sir Reginald should see 
 Donna Lucrezia without the presence of the Cardinal of Este, and while 
 giving her a good excuse for delay in a frightful picture of the danger to 
 be apprehended from the Vitelli, endeavour with his eloquence to render 
 it palatable to her. Le Beaufort affected not to notice the sneer which 
 mingled in Monsignor d'Enna's tone, but accepted the proposal with all 
 the eagerness to be expected in a hopeful lover, and which Lucrezia's 
 conduct to him somewhat justified in the envious opinion of the colleagues. 
 The bishop had, in truth, received a last instruction from Lucrezia to 
 bring the captain of Faenza to her presence as soon as the cardinal was 
 ready to share the deliberation, and he agreed with Le Beaufort to make a 
 mistake, and lead him to it alone. 
 
 In deciding on this point, however, Le Beaufort made a stipulation 
 which, in his frank and daring temperament, seemed quite natural. He 
 declared that if overlooked by any espial he should be unable to touch on 
 recollections which were likely to revive his former favour with Lucrezia, 
 and promote their present views ; and therefore he advised Monsignor 
 d'Enna, if he saw any opportimity, to leave them to their own discourse. 
 The prelate looked suspiciously and most negatively at him; but Peter of 
 Oviedo and Ugo of Cordova, with more soldierly heartiness, approved the 
 saying, and clamoured down contradiction by urging the increased diffi- 
 culties in which ihey found their task involved. 
 
 SInnsignor d'Enna was, nevertheless, astonished at the earliness of the 
 summons he received from Lucrezia, and his suspicions had evidently 
 deepened when he found Le Beaufort impatiently expecting his presence. 
 He knew that Lucrezia could not expect the cardinal to be in readiness to 
 hold council so early ; and moreover it pleased her to receive the captain 
 of Faenza in a small garden belonging to the palace, the raised terraces 
 of which commanded a fair view of the rich plum-coloured valley of La- 
 mone. Le Beaufort himself was somewhat agitated by the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of the interview; and his emotion increased when he per- 
 ceived the young duchess in all the bloom of her beauty, enlivened by the 
 fresh morning air, and felt the smile with wliich she welcomed him Irom 
 a distance. But his agitation could scarcely be concealed when, after a 
 brief salutation, Lucrezia put her arm in his, and bowing with a gracious 
 
a?:SAR BORGIA. -i^S 
 
 air of dismissal to Monsignor dTnna, drew the young knight gently lean- 
 ing on it towards a terrace remote from the whole group. 
 
 ^" Of my evil brother an evil instrument," she said, looking at the 
 bishop, who continued to gaze after them with scowling scrutiny. '' But 
 I know that thou art none, ray knight of the tournament of the Colos- 
 seum : and as well as words can say it. thine eye has told nne that thou 
 art Cffisar's captain because he had else been thy executioner 1" 
 
 " In very truth, ladv, I mav more truly call myself the prisoner than 
 the captain of Faenza,'" said Le Beaufort," glancing round with an alarm 
 which visibly exciied Lucrezia's fear, knowing that it must be well 
 founded in so" valiant a nature. 
 
 "Then can mv lord repav in some measure the great debt be owes you 
 —for 1 know all— all vour unparalleled generosity I" said Lucrezia, tears 
 ghstenini^in her eves, "Thev cannot deny me thine escort from this 
 city, and'once out of its walls— which, I know not wherefore, seemed to 
 reslrict the free beating of my heart as 1 entered them — it will be at thine 
 own pleasure to return or accompany me to Ferrara, whose palace shall 
 be your home, whose sovereign your brother, and whose mistress 
 your most grateful, constant,— av, and loving friend ! Let Italy become 
 your native^land, and let Lucrezia d'Este inherit the champion of Lucrezia 
 Borgia I " 
 
 " Ladv !— and do you deem it possible? Possible that I, who grudge 
 that any'eye but mine should gaze upon your lovelinessl— to behold vou 
 in his aWs— to hear your children call him father I Oh, it is impossible, 
 it is impossible to suffer this and live!" exclaimed Le Beaufort; but ob- 
 serving the alarm he had excited in Lucrezia, be added with a sad smile, 
 " And^ lady, after what has been, are even you assured that the prince 
 would welcome such an escort?" ^^ 
 
 '^ Since he himself is to be of the company, what can he fear? replied 
 Lucrezia. with a vague and timorous smile, yet with great anxiety in her 
 eves. " And of this I was to speak •, for since they tell me of the dangers 
 from the Vitelli, 1 must confess to vou, captain of Faenza,— that mv lord 
 would needs compel me— that, forsooth, he will not tarry my arrival in 
 Ferrara, but this sunset should be with us here, in his ancient disguise of 
 a Knight of St. John, to escort me thither, under I know not what pretext, 
 to convince m.en that he has never been his own rival I" 
 
 The deop blush which at first dyed the cheek of the young bride faded 
 into extreme paleness, when raising her eves in astonishment at the pro- 
 longed silence of Sir Reginald, she perceived his aghast and terror- 
 stricken look. 
 
 "And, therefore," she continued hastily, " I would beseech you to 
 send forth vour power— for 1 am pledged not to suffer a lance ol mine 
 own to leave me— to guard the wavs, and bring him to Faenza in safety; 
 or if this may not be^ at whatever risk or unexpectedness,^^! must hasten 
 — something' loo eagerlv as it mav seem — to meet my lord." 
 
 " Now, indeed, is alf lost, and! discern wherefore the traitorous duke 
 chose this near citv to Ferrara, believing that a bridegroom s impatience, 
 and the lull of suspicion— all is lost'." said Le Beaufort wildly. '' He 1 
 has taught him all her subtleties, and now indeed are we entangled— all 
 — in an inextricable snare !" . 
 
 " Le Beaulbri ! speak— what is this ecstasy?" said Lucrezia, much agi- 
 tated. " Nav, if I am to be frighted thus, I will leave your city instantly. 
 Or dost thou deem that I-that /. Le Beaufort-that a woman— indeed, 
 
424 C,€SAR BORGIA. 
 
 indeed, I strove to shun this rashness ; and on mv failh 1 have forewarned 
 him he shall profit nothing by his frowardnessi" 
 
 "I do believe thee, lady, but, alack, ihou knovrest not how," said Sir 
 Reginald, his eve wandering despairingly over the lofty and well-guarded 
 walls. "Is there no escape from this great trap? li suems but a leap 
 to liberty : and yet are we barred in the slaughter-house, and wait but the 
 butcher's axe I" 
 
 " I will depart ere 1 have broken my fast — 1 will not tarry with your 
 terrors,'"' said Lucrezia pettishly, but trembling all ov^r. " Farewell I — 
 since you take pleasure to affright me thus— and keep your prince's palace 
 for himsell." 
 
 '•Lady, they will not suffer you to leave it thus to the devil's use," said 
 Le Beaufort. "Hear n)e, and then if you will, essay to break the spell 
 that clips you in, perchance to horrors of which fiends dare scarcely dream 
 — me and thy bridegroom to certain slaughier!" 
 
 ' Speak out, or apprehension will kill mo I" exclaimed the lady, sink- 
 ing on the pedestal of a statue which was strangely overgrown with a 
 flowering green weed. 
 
 " Even now Caes:ir must be in Rome, with his potent army, master of 
 all things, and daring all I" ejaculated Le Bi aul'ort. 
 
 "Nay, for my sire's last words were a solenjn promise to me never to 
 allow (aesar's bands to enter the city unless Ins own life or sovereignty 
 was endangered," said Lucrezia, eagerly walchina the effect of her words. 
 
 "And then both perchance were at extremity I" said Le Beaufort. 
 
 " Or fear you the influence of his crenliires in ihr- consistory ?" she con- 
 tinued. " But that is over, and the balance is jcslored with fiiends to 
 the peace of Jialy, to Ferrara, and to me." 
 
 " All is in vain I A consistory of angels might scarcely save ns now," 
 said Le Beaufort; and with a rapidity which would have rendered him 
 uni'itelligible to a less apt listener, ho related Ca>Sr:r's rcvelali'in to him at 
 Sinigaglia, and the project to execute which he had been sent to Faenza, 
 without even hesitating in divulging the extraordinary pari a>-sigiied to 
 himself. The great force which environed them, and ihi; nigh ho|)eless- 
 ncss of any extrication, needed scarcely his statement lo be conjprehended 
 by Lucrezia. 
 
 Yet, afier a long and ag1iR#t pause of incredulity, wonder, and over- 
 whelming conviction, the bright inielligcnce of Lucrezia seemed not to 
 have desiTied her. 
 
 " if this be their prodigious project, surely these heavens will not look 
 calmly down lo see it perfect' d I" she said, clas[)ing her hands upward. 
 " .\ladoniia, helpl — and perchance my ihought even now is of her sugges- 
 tion. Hast thou none whom thou canst trust in this matter of lite and 
 death to bear a message forth?" 
 
 "All of mine own riders ; but a fly that bore a tinge of my livery were 
 not suOered to leave the city," replied Le Beaufort. 
 
 "Softly, and we may yet invert this treachery on its planners," said Lu- 
 crezia. "Since they would have us renew our ancient friendship, tell 
 them I am somethinii reconciled to slay by thine eloquence — the rather 
 that the Prince of Ferrara hath vexed me by a fearful retreat from his 
 pledge to meet me in Fae.iza. And thereupon, as a jealous rival, or a 
 lover that would secure his good, suggest to them a [)lan by which to 
 enlrap Alfonso siill; for they will gneVe to think so sweet a njorsel of 
 their treason should be saatched ifrom them. Say, that lo excuse my 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 425 
 
 delay, Ihou hast won me to write, as in a womanly pettishness at a slight, 
 to Alfonso, bidding him aiiend me privily in Faenza, or look not to see 
 me hurriedly in Fcrrara. And add lli il I will trust no messenger but one 
 whose foreiyn tongue may keep him fr^m babbling — one at your devotion; 
 and he— oh, he m^iy meet my lord in time to bring him, not alone, but 
 with such force as a prince should ride withal, which, with those wilhiu 
 of my company, shall awe the traitors from their purpose." 
 
 Sir Reginald assented wiih great eagerness to a proposal which was the 
 first glimpse of hope he had discerned in the universal darkness. Nor 
 had he any time to offer objections, if he had felt any, for Monsignor 
 d'Enna now appeared, approaching them wiih ihe Cardinal of Este. 
 
 "And 'tis fit to deceive the traitor's villanous interpretation — nay, it 
 should not oifend Alfonso himself — to see me circled in thy brotherly em- 
 brace I — here is my hand — do wiih it what thou will," said Lucrezia. 
 And as Sir Hegin.Hld knell, and wiih no acted passion covered it with 
 kisses, she drew her hand away, stepped a few paces from him, then 
 turned, and laughingly blew on it as if returning him his kisses, and 
 placidly resumed his arm ere she affected to perceive the approach of 
 the two prelates-, and then Monsignor d'Enna might well mistake her 
 glance at him fur one of guilty fear and trouble. 
 
 CHAPTER LT. 
 
 " I thouffht mine enemips had been but man. 
 Bill fpiriis may be leagueil wiili iliern— all Earlh 
 AhuiiilOMS-Heaveii furj;eis ine:-lri ilie dearth 
 Of such defence Uie Powers of Evil can, 
 ]i liny be. tempi me fiiilher. and prevail 
 Against the ouiworn cjeature they assail." — Btros. 
 
 While these events look place in Faenza the catastrophe of the too real 
 drama was hastening on wiih equal rapidity in Rome. 
 
 We shift the scene to the Ca.sile of Sanlauizelo, an hour or two after 
 sunset, in a gallery of which the castellain, Miguelolo. was fretfully per- 
 ambulating, examining doors and windows, and pausing at times to listen 
 — when suddenly he fell a hand on his shoulder. Starling round,_he dis- 
 cerned a figure aiiired in ihe coarse garb of some sutler or other follower 
 of a camp>"and his hand was on his dagger when the stranger raised ihe 
 broad lappelsof his hal,and disclosed ihe feaiun'sof ihe Dukeof Romagna. 
 
 " Hope has a light step, for 1 have walked in your footsteps ihese mi- 
 nutes, and vet you caught no echo," he said. " Be not amazed to see me 
 in Rome, for 1 am at Bracciano, asleep in my tent. — What are the news 
 with ve?" 
 
 " The Ddtary, signer, has been seized with a sudden and most danger- 
 ous cholic," replied the castellain, gravely. 
 
 "And strange things his holiness has said thereupon, in the hearing of 
 a friend of mine," replied Caesar, gloomily. " I tell ihee, man, we have 
 no time to lose. She is at Fa^^nza, and my plans succt^ed so well, that, 
 by the treachery of the loving Kinghl of England, Alfonso of Ferrara must 
 even now be in my power! Bui the rogue himself-and it is just— will not 
 live to enjoy the tVuii uf his crime, wherewith vengeance travels abreast." 
 
 " Iq very truth 'tis wondrous how my lord finds a handle to all men," 
 
^26 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 said Migueloto, in a somewhat remorseful and quivering tone. " Yet 
 raethinks it will avail me something that I have in a manner made a Chris- 
 tian of poor Miriam," 
 
 " Thou !" exclaimed Ggesar, with a laugh of utler incredulity. 
 "She is dying fast, for the air of dungeons is very withering when 
 one is young, and her thoughts eat into her," said ihe tender-hearted 
 castellain. " So, when we take the monk from his torture, and give him 
 breath awhile, I have suffered her admission to his jDresence ; and he hath 
 discoursed her into blessed and calm moods, wherein she weeps so that it 
 does one good to see her.". 
 
 ''Thou, too, hast dared to disobey me, then !" exclaimed Csesar fiercely. 
 " Nay, my lord, since the order came we have not relaxed his punish- 
 ment an instant," replied Migueloto. 
 
 "And she is dying, thou savest? But it cannot be of dungeon air, 
 since Fiamma lives,"" returned the Borgia. 
 
 "Ay, but Fiamma hath some great hope that comforts her, though in 
 faith 'tis nothing heavenly, since ^she laughs when I bid her think of re- 
 pentance," said Migueloto. 
 
 "■ Why, since thou believest still in this detected impostor, the mob will 
 worship him," said Ca?sar in a pleased tone. '^ Lead to his dungeon; I 
 must speak with him." 
 
 The castellain immediately obeyed, and led the way to a subterraneous 
 cell beneath the gardens of ihe castle, at so great a depth that all light was 
 lost, and the air smelt foul and rank as if in a sepulchre. 
 
 Caesar entered the friar's dungeon alone, for he took the lamp from 
 Migueloto, and desired hini to wait outside. Even with the aid of the 
 light, which burned palely and sickly in the noisome air, it was some mo- 
 ments ere he could discern the object of which he came in search. But 
 gradually he perceived the person of Fra Bruno, linked to the wall by a 
 chain that scarcely i)ermitled him to range beyond a heap of musty straw, 
 which formed his bed, or rather lair. On this' he was seated, gathered up 
 in a singular couchant attitude, his eyes closed, and muttering aloud, inter- 
 rupted only by the regular tric-lroc of a drop of water which oozed 
 through a hole in the wall, and fell perpetually with the same eternal mo- 
 notony of splash. It is said that the exceeding torture inflicted by this 
 unvarying and regular sound often vanquished the obstinacy of criminals 
 on whom the rack had exhausted its agonies in vain. 
 
 Listening for a few instants, Csesar distinguished some words of that 
 most dismal soliloquy — '' Fiend, thou liesl — for I believe ! I do but pray 
 for a sign, that I may believe without doubting. Tric-troc! — yes, for 
 ever and forever! Man cannot escape it— two thoughts equally balanced! 
 —-Tric-lroc I — But how long? Oh, how blessed were it but one sound — 
 trie-trie, or troc-troc, for ever! But tric-lroc! — How long, how long! — 
 only let it drop a little faster! I am not impatient, but'mv brain will 
 burst! But no, no, no! — tric-troc, tric-troc! through all darkness, all 
 eternity?" 
 
 " The sign is come — awake, arise!" said Caesar, throwing the flare of 
 his lamp suddenly on the Dominican, who leaped up with a loud rattle of 
 his chain ; but the radiance, feeble as it was, blinded him for the moment. 
 "I see the light of thy presence, but not thy form," he exclaimed. "Art 
 thou an angel, or but the mocking fiend who heaps upon my brain moun- 
 tains of thought too heavy to be borne?" 
 
 "1 am not an angel," replied Cajsar, calmly. "Albeit women hold me 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 427 
 
 of a goodly personage. But methinks thou something rememberest 
 of me?" 
 
 " Devil, avannl! Hast thou taken that form, having failed in hers, to 
 make me blaspheme?" exclaimed the prisoner frenziedly. " I spat in thy 
 face— I dashed ihee from mme arms— albeit thou woreslall her loveliness, 
 and wooed me in her voice's most marvellous melody I" 
 
 " Devil 1 may be; but the devils, too, are constrained to work the good 
 purposes of heaven," replied Csesar, sedately. " 1 come to release thee 
 from thy chains and thy tric-troc ; to bid thee go forth and tell the people, 
 who already hold thee for a miracle-worker, that thou hast a commission 
 from on high to reform the church, to reduce it to the humility and holiness 
 of apostolic limes, and that one is appointed to be thy sword in the great 
 work — whose name is Caesar Borgia." 
 
 The monk looked vacantly at Caesar as he uttered these words ; but he 
 scarcely seemed to comprehend his meaning, repeating them witli a 
 strange"^ wondering expression, as if in a vain endeavour to understand 
 the thoughts conveyed. Caesar patiently awaited the result, assiduously 
 aiding the efforts of Fra Bruno's intellect by repetitions. 
 
 " Alexander's attention will soon be absorbed in matters of his own ; the 
 Colonnas are astir in Rome, to take advantage of our Orsini warfare out of 
 it," he continued. " But, if not, 1 swear that I will protect thee in thy 
 labours. This castle shall be thy retreat— thy appearances out of it so 
 manv miracles." 
 
 "Thou, Caesar Borgia, to aid in this work !" said Fra Bruno, vacantly. 
 
 " Thou shalt believe me, then 1 Monk or sorcerer, or both, dost thou 
 hear?" exclaimed Caesar, impatiently. 
 
 " I hear," replied Fra Bruno, but the question was not uncalled for, so 
 statue-like was his countenance. 
 
 "Guelf and Ghibelline, tiger and wolf, couch not together— I tell thee 
 there is about to be an emperor in Rome," said Caesar. "And hast thou 
 not, before heaven and earth, denounced the marriage of Lucrezia Borgia 
 as a mortal sin against both ?" 
 
 The effect of these words was so instantaneous, that there was some- 
 thing which might indeed be considered miraculous in it. The half- 
 soddened intellect suddenly revivified; the wandering thoughts became 
 fixed, and tbe Dominican exclaimed, with a look whose fierceness even 
 startled the Borgia, "Who denies but danms himself I" 
 
 " Not I, for I have ventured on a most perilous deed to prevent it," said 
 Csesar. "Lucrezia is as yet but wedded by procuration, and even now 
 she is my prisoner in Faenza." 
 
 " Thy prisoner — in Faenza!" 
 
 " Confessor I there is no need to tell thee that Caesar Borgia would rather 
 perish than suffer Lucrezia lo become the wife of Alfonso of Ferrara— of 
 one whom she loves so passionately, that for the first lime her matchless 
 beauty will truly be possessed !"' said Caesar, with a demoniac look. 
 "And, monk, listen when I tell thee, that, albeit thou hast withstood all 
 my torments, I know wherefore thou haiest me too much, because — ihou 
 hast loved her too well I" 
 
 Fra Bruno's head sank on his breast, and even its ghostly dungeon- lints 
 became suflused; but after along pause, he replied only, "And she is thy 
 prisoner in Faenza, on her way to Ferrara?" 
 
 " To her husband, to its prince I Dost thou know ihat Alfonso is the 
 same whom she loved as the Knight of St. John ?" continued Csesar. 
 
428 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Ever I knew it, ever T knew it, from tbe day we met at the torrent ol 
 Vclino! Cut destiny is niighlier than its wave; and she is thy prisoner, 
 in Faenza?" replied the monk, hurriedly. 
 
 " And ere llio certainty is known eitlier to herself or to her sire, I must 
 be master in Rome, or betake me for shelter— whither? Scarcely the 
 grave can yield it," said Caesar. " Therefore, I would have thee spread 
 tidings of the event at hand abroad among the superstitious populace ; and 
 with thy tumults and those of the Colonnas compel the pontiff to call my 
 ensigns into Rome. Then am I master — then shall thou reform the church 
 to what poverty and lowliness thy barefoot fancies lead thee. Nay, I have 
 such a miracle in store for thee as shall persuade the most incredulous 
 that thy errand drops from above." 
 
 "What miracle? There are some more miraculous than those the 
 vulgar call so,"' said Fra Bruno, after pausing for a moment in ecstatic 
 rumination. 
 
 " I purpose, when my plan is ripened, to give a feast to the new car- 
 dinals, — but thou hast not heard — nine in number, all rich, and all mine 
 enemies, whose inheritance my new estate will rejoice in and need," said 
 Csesar. " Thou shall appear at it with gazers to report— accuse them of 
 their simony, and in proof of their crime and thy mission invoke some 
 sudden vengeance on their heads. And thereupon I tell thee not one will 
 leave that feast alive, but all droop their heads, and die like scalded pop- 
 pies in the sun." 
 
 " Misfortune makes men doubt — how is this miracle to come to pass?" 
 said Fra Bruno, after a short silence. 
 
 " Fie, thou wilt cheat none, if thou dost not first cheat thyself," replied 
 Caesar. " Canst thou doubt thou hast interest in heaven to make thy 
 curses lightning?" 
 
 " Yea — for thoustandest before me unblasted!" replied the Dominican. 
 " Thou seest I dissemble not." 
 
 " Neither will 1. The dames of the Ghetto, who also inhabit in this 
 tomb, have assisted me to boLllesome rare wines," said Caesar, tranquilly 
 folding his arms. 
 
 " Bui dost thou not fear that chance may for once be guided by some 
 angel, and [)ut ihe draught in thine own chalice?" replied Fra Bruno, wiih 
 a dark glance upward. . 
 
 " The butlers are my true servants, and the precious wines reserved 
 for my friends are all distinguished by an infallible token," replied 
 Caesar, laughing, and yet with some anger at the bare supposition of so 
 gross a miscarriage. 
 
 " Bui to call down a miracle, and none to follow, what manner of saint 
 were I ihen?" said Fra Bruno, after another pause of profound rumination. 
 " Caesar, I understand thee •, but art thou certain that the poison is deadly, 
 tasteless, and loo finely mingled to be discerned?" 
 
 " This essay 'lis my intent to make," replied Caesar, thoughtfully. "I 
 am weary of "these hags, whose direful practices, against which all the 
 guards of Nero are disarmed, may return upon the user, — and 1 have pro- 
 mised them their liberly ! Truly, if they who mingled the draught par- 
 take of ii unwillingly, who can delect the impalpable essence in ii?" 
 
 "And this were justice," said Fra Bruno, rapily. "And thou will set 
 them free, not only from their dungeon of stone, but that of their wiihered 
 and despised and age-aching carcasses?" 
 
 "Even so." 
 
 i 
 
CyESAR BORGIA. 42f9 
 
 "Release me, then— tric-trocl I recognise the sign ; I will fuIQl the 
 mission," exclaimed Fra Bruno, wiih a species of enthusiasm which 
 excitod ihe suspicion of the ever- wakeful Borgia. 
 
 "Yet, mark Ihou well, friar," he said, "and I pray thee believe me, 
 •when I tell thee tliai thy every step will be closely followed by one who 
 knows h(nv to use what he haili in his hand." 
 
 "Thou hist said I am a sorcerer, but it seems bclievest not thyself," 
 replied Fra Bruno, with a fearful smile. "Be it even so*, if 1 am sold to 
 any devil, 'lis— to thee I" 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 " Fain would 1 lench my soul forgelfulness; 
 And yel, 1 know not how, rny legend shapes 
 Things liial have been, in liraninijs of dist;iMse." 
 
 Minstrel's Prologue. 
 
 It seemed that Monsignor d'Enna, with all his craft, was deceived by 
 the device of Lucrezia, his belief in the jealousy and hatred which he 
 supposed to animate the English knight, and his eagerness to sf^cure so 
 great an advantage to his master as the possession of Alfonso of Ferrara's 
 person must be. Bampton was the messenger whom he permuted to 
 depart from Faenza wiih the ensnaring epistle. 
 
 To sustain the illusion, Lucrezia was compelled to add toLe Beaufort's 
 sufferings by the tenderness and familiarity in which she indulged him. 
 It might be that something of regret and even, as Caesar had predicted , 
 of warmer feeling passed through her heart, at times contrasting the 
 fervour and humility of Le Beaufort's passion wiih the calmness and 
 mastery of;.that of her betrothed, which had rather subdued than won 
 the love of a nature so fraught wiih the volcanic fire of her clime, and 
 showed itself far beyond her intent or suspicion. And then began the 
 most violent and terrible of the many struggles which had torn the soul 
 of Le Beaufort in the phases of his disastrous passion, when he felt and 
 yet dared not confess to himself the slight but exquisite change in her 
 demeanour, in which compassion and gratitude had melted into some- 
 thing he knew not what — and dared not conjecture, lest his worst agony 
 should return. 
 
 The violence of his inward feelings could not always be concealed, and 
 some slight shadows of suspicion and doubt perhaps crossed Lucrezia's 
 mind. But night came and no Alfonso, who, if he had not received a 
 warning, was to have arrived in Faenza ; and her confidence returned 
 in full tide, with an overflow of tenderness and gratitude, which, 
 considering the cause, filled Le Beaufort with unutterable anguish and 
 despair. Nay, there were moments when his generosity lost its heroic 
 strain, and dark musings on the feasibility of Caesar's plot sullied the 
 chivalric brightness of his reveries. But ihe fiendish shadows found no 
 abiding place in that loyal and devoted spirit, and he nnweariedly purt^ued 
 the dangerous and diflicult task he had marked out for himself. He in- 
 formed Monsignor d'Enna that his suit prospered even to his own wonder ; 
 which it cerlauily did to that of the prelate himself, since it began to 
 cause him uneasiness lest the love-making instructions should be carried 
 out farther than was dreamed by the grand conspirator. Le Beaufort 
 
430 CJESAR BORGIA. 
 
 even declared that he doubted not of ultimate success if Lucrezia could 
 be made to believe that she was slighted by her bridegroom, and therefore 
 it was essentially necessary that his capture should be accomplished se- 
 cretly, and not revealed until it might have become a source of congra- 
 tulation to herself, and that meanwhile she should imagine her summons 
 treated with neglect or contempt, or with a mistrust still more offensive to 
 her proud heart. Under pretext of scouring the country to clear it of 
 the Viielli, strong parlies of horse might be sent out on all the roads by 
 which it was possible to approach Faenza, with instructions to secure 
 the Knight of St. John, and bring him privately a prisoner into the city at 
 nightfall, by a gate at which Sir Reginald would himself keep watch with 
 his archers. 
 
 jMonsignor d'Fnna apparently fell completely into this snare, and the 
 captain of Kaenza beheld on the following day, with satisfaction, that the 
 city was emptied of a considerable number of Ctesar's most ferocious and 
 determined soldiery in scattered parties over the champaign towards 
 Ferrara. But the delight with which Lucrezia now looked forward to 
 the arrival of Alfonso, and counted the moments, even mingled with all 
 her affection and gratitude to himself, inflicted sufferings so acute upon 
 him thai Lucresia noticed a strange alteration in his manner, and the 
 gloomy suspicions which had visited her returned in still darker colours. 
 Doubts of his good faith crossed her mind, and a terrible apprehension 
 seized her that she had herself devised the plan by which her lord was lobe 
 betrayed — lor the letter was written for Monsignor d'Enna's perusal, and 
 was in truth an irresistible lure to a lover and a bridegroom, and the sav- 
 ing message was confided to the vassal of a rival ! These suspicions 
 deepened when, towards the hour at which it was possible that the Prince 
 of Ferrara could arrive, Sir Reginald disappeared, and she learned only 
 that he was on the ramparts, engaged in receiving his returning scouts, 
 for as the part of the project he was now executing entailed the greatest 
 personal risk upon himself, he had concealed it from her. 
 
 Aware, however, of the necessity of having Lucrezia's escort in readi- 
 ness to second his plans. Sir Reginald determined to confide in Bembo, 
 whose instrun)entality would give little suspicion, and who might secretly 
 inform l.ucrezias's attendants of the expected arrival of the prince, who, 
 although incognito, would anticipate the reception due to his high rank. 
 To impress the importance of his communication on Bembo, he threw out 
 hints of danger and of the necessity of secrecy, vvhich the canon seemed 
 to understand with great readiness and amplitude, if his tremulous assent 
 and looks might be trusted. 
 
 Le Beaufort, however, had not long taken up his post of dreary expecta- 
 tion on the rampart over the Ferrara gate, with his English men-at-arms, 
 ere he was startled by a most unexpected visit. The young duchess, ac- 
 companied by a retinue of her ladies and attendants and a guard, ascended 
 the ramparts, and joined him on them as he stood leaning in a most me- 
 lancholy mood over a battlement, watching the setting of the sun, at which 
 it was possible and probable that Alfonso could arrive. 
 
 The captain of Faenza advanced to receive his illustrious visitant, and 
 he was amazed at the change which a few short hours had made in Lu- 
 crezia, the singular expression of fierceness and anguish which had suc- 
 ceeded to the usual feminine sweetness and gaiety of her countenance. 
 
 " I have come to watch with you, captain, for time passes tediously in 
 yonder dungeon, which its owners call a palace ; and the free evening air 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 431 
 
 may clear my fancy of some dismal thoughts that hauiU it," she said, 
 burriedlv. " Moreover, I would speak with you alone." 
 
 The aitendaiits hearing these words, opened their ranks, and remained 
 in conversation with one anolher, while the lady passed on with the 
 •wondering Le Beaufort, who was also somewhat vexed at the observalion 
 which this visit must draw to a part from which be wished it to be di- 
 rected. 
 
 "Le Beaufort, I have trusted in thee— and despite the whisperings of a 
 fiend I will trust in thee, until with mine own eves 1 behold ihy perfidy 
 manifest!" she exclaimed, as soon as they were out of hearing, but wiih 
 excessive wildness and agitation. " Monsignord'Enna has been wilh me. 
 He has warned me not to put any trust in thee; that thou hast organized a 
 mutinv in ihv garrison; won Cffisars soldiers to serve thy treason ; hast 
 projected mv seizure I— nav. th;it he fears thou hast devised some plan to 
 prevent all communication with my friends, since be overheard thee givmg 
 commands to the various troops of thy scouls sent abroad to slay a certain 
 Knight of St. yo^m coming hither wilh tidings from Ferrara; whose 
 bleeding corpse presented at these gates is to be the signal fur thy open 
 treason, and my destruction I" 
 
 Sir Regina'd looked at the lady for some moments in silent amazement, 
 and then exclaimed wilh a start— "This, then, was their murderous hope 
 and plan!" 
 
 "But hear me, Le Beaufort'.— thou seest me here, but thou knowest 
 not that I have ordered my whole array to attend at the gales below," 
 continued Lucrezia. "If my foolish compassion and trust have given 
 thee hope and means to execute thy barbarous enterprise, know that I 
 await here for the arrival of Alfonso— living, to owe thee my existence in 
 gratitude I — dead, to avenge him even with my own hand on thy remorse- 
 less treachery, fori will'slav thee— vea, 1— I that never harmed aught 
 living—! will give thee to the axes of my soldiery without a tear or a 
 pause I" 
 
 This last blow nigh vanquished Sir Reginald ; he could not utter a single 
 word in reply, but merely pointed to the setting sun, bowed his head on 
 his breast, and remained absorbed in grief, 
 
 Lucrezia, it is probable, would have made some further effort to obtain 
 a solution of her dreadful doubts, but Consignor d'Enna himself now ap- 
 peared upon the ramparts. Without affecting to notice the agitation of 
 the interlocutors, he communicated an anxiety partly true and partly 
 meant to increase suspicion, bv observing to the captain of Faenza on the 
 singular fact that none of the "riders whom he had despatched towards 
 Ferrara had returned. 
 
 "Thev have heard perchance of some body of Vitelli, and are joining 
 their lances to return in safely," said Le Beaufort, wilh a strong effort at 
 calmness ; and Monsignor d'Enna gave an emphatic glance at the duchess, 
 who replied bv a dreary gaze at her soldiery, now rapidly assembling 
 below. This," then, Sir Reginald perceived, was the plot. Alfonso as- 
 sassinated, and his death declared to be effected by his means ; Lucrezia 
 either to take his hfe, or share the ignominy of the imputed crime with 
 him! 
 
 The impatience and terror of Lucrezia increased wilh every passing 
 instant-, and now the sun was below the horizon, and yet no sign of a 
 single spear advancing to her deliverance I She answered .Monsignor 
 d'Enna's discourse evidently without knowing what she said, and her eyes 
 
482 CiESAR BORGIA, 
 
 frequently fell with a devouring expression of anxiety and terror on Sir 
 Reginald. The anguish of the scene became almost insupportable to the 
 latter; and even Monsignor d'Enna began to show signs of agitation, and 
 to renew his inquiries concerning the scouts. At last, perceiving that 
 Alfonso came not — maddened and desperate with the perfidy which sur- 
 rounded him — Le Beaufort began to ruminate the most viulent extremities. 
 Tlie assemblage of Lucrezia's escort gave him hopes that a sudden revela- 
 tion of her danger, and the surprise, might put Faenza indeed into his 
 hands, and thus secure her safety; and apprehensive only for her in the 
 tumult which must ensue, he at length urged that the niizhtwas darkening 
 in, and entreated the lady to retire. But the significance of his manner 
 and earnestness put the crown on her doubts and fears, and instead of 
 complying, she started u[), and exclaimed ravingly — " No, traitor I — I 
 will await his slaughtered bodj here, and sec thy head severed in expiation 
 ere I depart I" 
 
 Even as she spoke Monsignor d'Enna suddenly exclaimed— " What 
 banners are yonder? Surely we sent not our main strength thus 
 abroad ? " 
 
 " It is the banner of Alfonso of Estc and his host I " said Le Beaufort, 
 after a moment's intent gazing in the direction indicated. "And now, 
 lady, let your headsman come ! His stroke is kinder than your words !" 
 
 "Where is Don Ugo ? — this is marvellous!" exclaimed Monsignor 
 d"Enna, suddenly turning to retire, but Le Beaufort's hand was upon 
 him. 
 
 " On thy life, stir not — nr, consecrated frocksman as ihoii art, I will 
 show that I am captain of Faenza, and will be obeyed by all withm its 
 walls," said Le Beaufort. " Stir not, or this axe is on thy treacherous and 
 plotting skull, which for once simple honesty has foiled !" 
 
 " Le Beaufort! my hero! my kniiiht! and will tliou not forgive me?" 
 exclaimed Lucrezia, her overwi-ouglit spirit yielding in a rush of (ears. 
 
 "Open the gates, archers, to our friends — and wind the horns to bid 
 them hasten!" was Le Beaufort's only reply ; and the advancing squadrons 
 were now so near that they hrard and answered the blasts of the trumpets 
 by setting spurs to their jaded steeds. Le Beaufort himself was among 
 those who thrust the gates open, to receive the riders — foremost of whom 
 was a Knight Hospital!^ of St. John. 
 
 The captain of Faenza was, however, not among those who hurried to 
 witness the meeting between the illustrious lovers; nor, indeed, until the 
 whole group of ladies had returned to the palace, and the prince hitnself 
 sought him out, attended by his chief cffirers and knights, did (he digni- 
 tary present himself to notice. But this coldness nigh vanished in the 
 close and long embrace with which the Prince of Ferrara greeted his an- 
 cient friend, and no trace of it appeared in the immediate assent of the 
 captain to tiis request, that, to avoid incommodincj the unexpected visitors, 
 his own troops should seek their lodging for ilie niglit in the neighbouring 
 villages. Somed^ing there might be of shrinking and unwillingne.-s in the 
 manner in which, alter making the necessary arrangements, Le Beaufort 
 followed the prince to the |)resence of his beautiful bride; but it melted 
 away in a strange and violent flood of emotion, when Lucrezia rushed to 
 meet them, weeping with unutterable joy and gratitude, and snatching 
 both his hands implored his pardon widi passionate It-rvour for her unjust 
 suspicions. Then observing the pallor which almost instantly succeeded 
 the flush on Sir Reginald's face, when AJionso smilingly declared that his 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 433 
 
 jealousy was roused, she said, " Oh, pardon me, that I may sleep to-night, 
 for though both my warriors shall watch together to keep my rest secure, 
 my conscience will else leave me none !' 
 
 And yet but little of that night was devoted to sleep, so many and va- 
 rious and infinitely' interesting to each other were the events to be detailed 
 and discussed, although no farther apprehension was entertained of 
 Caesar's Faventine conspiracy. The Ferrarese force was already more 
 than equal to that of the garrison of Faenza, and a still more considerable 
 body might be expected at dawn ; and as soon after its arrival as possible 
 Ihe prince and his bride were to depart for Ferrara. Thither both warmly 
 pressed Sir Reginald to accompany them ; but he refused with a kind of 
 acrimony — and it was strange that Lucrezia blushed, and turned away 
 from the gaze of her lover-husband with a sigh. And it was then that 
 Sir Reginald announced his determination to return secretly to Rome, 
 and endeavour to save the Orsini by declaring Cassar's conspiracy to the 
 pontiff, which their submission and alliance would enable him to with- 
 stand. 
 
 The necessity of putting the pontiff on his guard had overcome Lucrezia's 
 aversion to afflict him with the revelations of Caesar's perfidy and treason. 
 Moreover, it was probable that the failure of a part of his plan, which re- 
 quired him to precipitate the rest, might incline him to more rational 
 counsels. But the peril to which Sir Reginald must expose himself made 
 her passionate in her entreaties that he would allow her to select some 
 other messenger, without moving him from his resolution ; until the warmth 
 and eagerness of her appeal brought a cloud even to Alfonso's brow. Le 
 Beaufort urged that none other would have the necessary zeal with which 
 the wrong he had done the Orsino inspired him, nor had the same irre- 
 fragable proofs to offer of Cffisar's guilt. Whatever sus]jicion his conduct 
 might occasion, the emissaries of Caesar could not be assured of his com- 
 plicity in the rescue; and his daring to return to Rome was an argument 
 of his innocence. But Lucrezia would not be satisfied, until at length, 
 himself observing Alfonso's gloom, he promised to accompany them 
 towards Ferrara, as if intending to go thither, and then to take the road 
 back to Rome in some disguise which would conceal him from Caesar's 
 vengeance. 
 
 Day broke upon this conference, and Alfonso earnestly entreated his 
 rescued bride to retire and take some repose ; and again the colour deserted 
 Sir Reginald's cheeks, and flamed beautifully over Lucrezia's. 
 
 " 'Tis true that I must learn to obey, but yet I will condition with you, 
 signer, for that I am yet trembling with my fears, that you will promise me 
 to watch to-night with your brother-in-arms, " she said, in her sweetest 
 and most irresistible tones. " And so, my lord, until we meet again in this 
 chamber, which I make my guard-room, good morrow; and you, Sir 
 Reginald, you — good night!" 
 
 Le Beaufort now felt that his main difficulty was to win Bampton's 
 consent to his purpose, who had cheerfully staked his life, and executed 
 his master's will with such prudence and success, in the hope that his 
 Italian adventures v,-ould certainly conclude in the rescue of Lucrezia. 
 Unbounded, therefore, was the disappointment of the old man when he 
 learned Sir Reginald's intention of returning to Rome, by the instructions 
 which he gave him to lead his archers on to Ferrara," whither he ex- 
 pected shortly to follow, and proceeding thence, to take shipping at Ve- 
 nice. 
 
 28 
 
434 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 " Ever the thought hath been with me that I should never see Redwood 
 again, nor my daughter, and the white-haired boy, her son," the ancient 
 vassal said, tears streaming unrestrainedly from his eyes. "For, lo deem 
 that I will ever leave you, Master Reginald, while there is strength left in 
 my old limbs to crawl after you, is even to call me a false and disloyal 
 knave. Wherefore I will not, but will follow you even to the death, to 
 ■which 1 know you wend — St. Rololph be njerciful, and some plague light 
 on the bright, deceiving women of this "land!" 
 
 Le Reaufort was well acquainted with the obstinacy of his old squire, 
 but he essayed to turn him from his resolution by all arguments — even 
 the additional danger to which he exposed himself of a discovery — but in 
 vain ; and he was obliged lo yield. 
 
 Sunrise brought a considerable increase to the great military retinue 
 which was in readiness to attend the Prince of Ferrara and his bride to 
 their capital. Rut the reinforcement was scarcely needed, for Le Reau- 
 fort had retaliated their lessons on Caesar's deputies, and suffered no one 
 .to leave Faenza under any pretext, so that it was impossible to assemble 
 any force capable of re^isting that of Alfonso. And before the neighbour- 
 ing garrisons of Csesar could learn the news, the bridal array poured out 
 of Faenza, escorted by the captain himself and his English, in great ma- 
 gnificence, and accompanied by the tumultuous acclamations and joyful 
 wishes of the unconscious Faventines. 
 
 At Ravenna all danger ceased, for there began the well-watched fron- 
 tiers of the states of Venice — fast friends of the house of Este, and exasper- 
 ated enemies of the Borgias. It was about the termination of the vast, 
 pine forest, whicb extended even to the frontiers of Ferrara, thatLucrezia, 
 who was so absorbed in conversation with her lord that even her compas- 
 sionate tenderness had for awhile not noticed Le Reauforl's absence, was 
 somewhat startled to perceive a cavalier, arrayed in the dark weeds of the 
 Knights of St. John, which Alfonso's wear had familiarised in her sight, 
 who rode towards her with his visor down, and attended by a single, grey- 
 bearded man-at-arms, as darkly liveried. 
 
 Dismounting, raising the bars of his helmet, and kneeling at her stirrup, 
 it was Sir Reginald le Beaufort who asked in a faltering tone her latest com- 
 mands for Rome. 
 
 "With humblest reverence and love to his holiness, these," she replied 
 in a troubled voice ,/and drawing a paper from her bosom. " Herein I 
 have commended you to his implicit credence, and your safety so specially 
 to his care that I request it of his graceby this ring, which when my father 
 gave me he promised should never accompany any petition of mine in 
 vain. Take it, good and valiant and loyal knight ! and be those robes as 
 fortunate to thee as my lord would have me think — they have been to him !" 
 
 " Then, lady, they must be mine for ever!" replied Le Reaufort, in a 
 voice which he in vain endeavoured to make clear and steady. 
 
 " Not so, not so, 0, mon Le Beaufort/' she said, bending over him to 
 hide her emotion, but tears fell sparkling and fast from her eyes. " Not 
 so ! — Rut rather thou shall promise me to bring thy sweet English bride — 
 the maiden of thy troth — to see her husband's friends in Italy — wherein we 
 shall not be forgotten that dwell in Ferrara! Gratitude cannot pay thee — 
 therefore I will speak of none. — Rut yet," she added, with her most be- 
 witchingly svy^eet and tender smile, " my lord will pardon me when — 
 remembering that thy first kiss was but rudely welcomed — let this— our 
 last!— take the bee's sting out with his honey." 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 435 
 
 And bending suddenly fron) her steed she pressed her lips gently and very 
 tenderly to the brow of Sir Reginald— but, retreat as rapidly as she might, 
 not until his own had returned the precious boon were they withdrawn! 
 
 " Pardon mc, lady," were his latest words to Lucrezia d'Este •, " all 
 time cannot etface this moment ; and for its duration, I will take no other 
 farewell !" 
 
 And in truth, in whatever distant scenes and times, when was that mo- 
 ment altogether forgotten by Reginald le Beaufort? and how oft would the 
 gleam of the sun through glades far remote bring back the pinewood forest, 
 the rustle of the gloomy branches, the snow-white steed, and the bending 
 lady and the warlike halt around, and the smile mingled with its tears, and 
 the gentle pressure of those sweetest lips! — until it seemed as if indeed 
 existence wasbutonelong, lingering echo of his ownlatest word— Farewell! 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 " If that Ihe Heavens do not their visible spirits 
 Send quickly down to tame these vile oflences, 
 'Twill come. 
 
 Humanity must perforce prey on itself. 
 Like monsters of the deep."— Am^ Lear. 
 
 Le Beaufort's sole hope and object was now in his project of preserving 
 the Orsini, and avenging himself on Csesar by the exposure of his villany 
 and the ruin of his mighty projects of ambition. He had taken care that 
 no messenger left Faenza up to the moment of his departure, and he con- 
 fided that Caesar's emissaries would exhaust every effort at retrieval ere 
 they dared to send the intelligence of their failure to him, and that the 
 messenger of ill news would make no peculiar speed. Yet he hurried on 
 his perilous mission with restless activity, following the line of Caesar's 
 destructive march ; and the rapidity of his journey was proved by the 
 fact that on the second day of his travel, descending to cross the Tiber 
 at the ferry opposite Orte, in a forest which filled the valley on each 
 side, a black pedestrian overtook the knight and his squire, glanced at 
 them, and hastened past with inconceivable rapidity. Sir Reginald, in 
 his deep and now habitual reverie, scarcely noticed the phantom, which 
 he perhaps thought was some Moorish slave making his escape; but 
 Bampton instantly whirled his cross-bow round from his shoulder, care- 
 fully set the bolt — and in the twinkling of an eye even the rapid mes- 
 senger was overtaken, and fell to the ground with a stroke so mortal, that 
 he uttered but one wild-beast yell and expired. 
 
 Le Beaufort's wonder at this extraordinary act of violence on the part 
 of his squire only subsided when he recognised in the slain Caesar's swift 
 African runner, Zeid. He then readily lent his assistance to Bampton to 
 draw the carcass into the wood, there to be devoured by its kindred 
 wolves, and aided him to search for any missives of which the runner 
 might be bearer. They found only a few lines, but those were valuable, 
 as testimony from Monsignor d'Enna, distractedly informing the duke that 
 his whole project at Faenza was ruined by the treason of the English 
 knight; that Alfonso and his bride were safely arrived in Ferrara; and 
 that to provide for the worst, himself and his other servants in Romagna 
 would assemble all possible force, and march to join him in Rome. 
 
436 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 Continuing his journey with unabated diligence, Le Beaufort entered 
 the ravaged patrimony of St. Peter, but near Bracciano he overtook a 
 company of travellers, the object of whose journey seemed of a kind to 
 supersede his own. 
 
 Le Beaufort had purposely delayed his passage through the country of 
 Bracciano until nightfall, to avoid meeting with the scouring parties of 
 the besiegers •, but on an eminence which commanded a view of the lake 
 of Bracciano, and the vast black masses of the Orsini castle, surrounded 
 by innumerable watch-fires, he fell in with a dreary company. Some 
 half-dozen men-at-arms, with torches in their hands, bearing the Orsini 
 badge, and seemingly under guard or care of a larger party of Migueloto's 
 most select ruffians, among whom was the noted bandit and assassin, 
 John of the Catacombs, escorted a lofty car, canopied and hung with black 
 velvet, richly emblazoned with heraldic devices, strangely conspicuous 
 among which were ropes twisted in a great variety of nooses. Upon the 
 car was a bier, covered with flame-coloured velvet, under which were 
 horribly distinct the forms of two human beings, evidently, from their 
 motionless altitude, dead. 
 
 So strange a spectacle necessarily attracted Le Beaufort's curiosity, and 
 he accosted the leader of the party with a fearlessness which disarmed 
 any suspicion he might otherwise have entertained, especially as he used 
 a pass-word which he had acquired at Faenza— Cgesar Imperator; and in 
 reply he learned that upon the hearse lay the corpses of Paolo Orsino and 
 his father, the Duke of Gravina, who had been strangled by the Duke of 
 Romagna's command, in the castle of La Pieve. With the purpose of 
 terrifying young Fabio and his adherents into surrender and submission, 
 by the spectacle of the punishment his relatives' treason had obtained, 
 and to show to all the world the impartial and inflexible nature of his 
 highness's justice, these cor()ses were thus solemnly and publicly escorted 
 to Bracciano for interment, with visible signs of their painful and igno- 
 minious doom. 
 
 Sir Beginald could scarcely believe this tale, although the bravo assured 
 him that he had done " the justice" with his own hands, until he raised 
 the covering, and threw the blaze of a torch on the ghastly and horrible 
 visages of the two Orsini, lying side by side in their daily garb, whose 
 monstrous eyes, nearly forced from their sockets, and swollen flesh, 
 direfuUy witnessed the" horrible manner of iheir death. Paolo's teeth 
 were firmly set in his tongue, and his dead eyes had a glare in the 
 torchlight which seemed as if they rekindled for an instant in the horror- 
 struck gaze of his friend. And no language, no eloquence, could equal 
 the energy of that appeal for vengeance which the silent and mutilated 
 carcass conveyed! But when Sir Beginald considered all the horrors of 
 the fate his friend had undergone, for ever ignorant of his purposes of aid 
 and revenge, perhaps deeming him a villain of the darkest dye, over- 
 whelmed by every species of anguish, disappointed in his love, betrayed, 
 crushed with the consciousness that he had caused the destruction of his 
 father and of his friends — the vile and degrading manner of his death to a 
 noble and a knight— the boldest assassin of all the group would have been 
 affrighted to hear the oath of vengeance which, in his secret soul, Le 
 Beaufort took. 
 
 Crossing himself in ralification of the vow, but as if merely in natural 
 horror at the spectacle, Lc Beaufort turned away, and, after a moment's 
 thought, desired John of the Catacombs to inform the duke that he had 
 
CiESAR BORGIA. 437 
 
 encountered a messenger from Faenza, in the arms once worn by a Knight 
 of St. John, who sent his highness word that all went woU there, and that 
 only his presence in Rome was needful, where he would await him with 
 the news, since he might not, for special reasons, attend him at his siege 
 of Bracciano. 
 
 Le Beaufort arrived in Rome at too early an hour to present himself to 
 the pontiff; and all the intelligence he learned in the meantime increased 
 his wrath and apprehensions. The destruction of the whole race of the 
 Orsini seemed determined : Cardinal Orsino had died suddenly in Santan- 
 gelo; and although his body was publicly exhibited by command of the pope, 
 the belief that his death was caused by poison had infuriated the adherents 
 of the unfortunate family into open riots. The Colonnas were astir in the 
 southern Campagna of"^Rome, secretly aided by the Spaniards; and still 
 more portentous was the re-appearance of the famous friar, Bruno Lan- 
 franchi. He was reported to have a miraculous power of quilting the 
 dungeons in which the Borgias had confined him, at his pleasure ; which 
 strange belief, aided by the mad fervour of his eloquence, and great 
 sufferings, gathered around him the njasses of the populace, to whom he 
 preached some divine mission of his own, and declaimed and uttered 
 fearful prophecies against the person and government of Alexander, with 
 a violence which demonstrated a strange indifference or alarm in the pon- 
 tiff, since he made no effort to repress the tumultuary assemblages which 
 listened to these denunciations. Yet it was true that, at the moment, it 
 was not expedient to hazard any commotion among the fierce and fanatic 
 populace of Rome. The pontiff's own troops were principally absent in 
 the Campagna, repressing the attempts of the Colonna ; the siege of Brac- 
 ciano and the defence of his new possessions absorbed Caesar's force ; 
 and even the brigands of Rome, by their lawless outbreaks, demonstrated 
 the weakness of the sway which should have restrained them. 
 
 At the earliest suitable hour Le Beaufort arrived at the Vatican ; and 
 immediately on announcing that he brought a message from the Duchess 
 of Ferrara he was admitted into the presence of Alexander. Le Beaufort 
 was not altogether surprised to find the pontiff with his hands clasped on 
 his breast, and seemingly absorbed in profound and gloomy thought. 
 But the entry of the messenger from his daughter somewhat brightened 
 his expression. 
 
 " What are the news? How fares it with our young duchess? Wert 
 thou present at her entry? What did the people say when they beheld the 
 beauty of their prince's bride? " said Alexander, impetuously. " Alack ! 
 they have gained all that we have lost, and the light seems departed out 
 of Rome. What said she? what remembrance sent she to our love? " 
 
 " Holy father, my news are for your private ear only, " said Sir Regi- 
 nald ; and the voice apparently struck the pontiff. 
 
 "Thou speakest from a sepulchre.— What ails thee, to keep the bars 
 of thine helmet down ? " he said " Or dost thou think we are to trust our 
 person with a stranger?" 
 
 "I have here a letter to warrant so much," replied Le Beaufort, 
 kneeling and presenting Lucrezia's letter. 
 
 ''We have not forgotten the poisoned package of Tomaso Tomasi; 
 but yet it is our sweet one's hand, which nothing evil can imitate, " said 
 Alexander, taking the epistle, on reading which he turned ashy pale, and 
 hurriedly waved to his attendants to retire. 
 
 " And so thou art Caesar's mad jest— the noble English paladin that hath 
 
438 C^SAR BORGTA. 
 
 done us so much harm?" said the pontiff, hurriedly. " Speak boldly ; 
 we esteem thy valour though we have suffered by it;" and this letter bids 
 us trust thee, whatever marvels thou mayest deliver, whatever terrific 
 tidings against the Duke of Romagna! But, first where didst thou leave 
 our niece? safe in her princely husband's arms? " 
 
 " Safe, holy father, " replied the deeply melancholy tones of Le Beau- 
 fort. " Safe, beyond Ravenna — safe, out of Faenza." 
 
 "Safe, out of Faenza— her brother's mightiest fortress! Dost thou, 
 too, dare to echo in mine ears the lies for which the poets of Naples are 
 damned?" said Alexander angrily. 
 
 "Your holiness may judge when you shall hear by what means — to 
 execute what purpose of the Duke of Romagna, he made me his captain of 
 Faenza!" replied Le Beaufort; and with a calmness scarcely to be ex- 
 pected from him he related the conference at Sinigaglia, merely so far at 
 first as related to the seizure of Lucrezia at Faenza," 
 
 Frequent exclamations of incredulity, anger, and amazement from 
 Alexander interrupted the knight, but the former feelings gained the 
 mastery. 
 
 "What frenzied falsehood is this? " he exclaimed. " It is of thine in- 
 vention, to gratify thy hatred of the duke, and avenge the traitors, thy 
 friends! — and yet 'tis Lucrezia's handwriting here! I see how it is — 
 what ails ye all — ye envy him this greatness which he hath achieved so 
 toilsomely — so valiantly. The rebellious brood of the Orsini are nigh 
 extinct, and we are made the arbiters of Italy— and ye come with this false 
 tale ! Lucrezia's heart is no longer Borgian— but of Este ! She loves 
 her sire no longer, or she would not tear my heart thus with these 
 perjuries! Begone from my presence, slanderer — or rather thou shalt 
 to Santangelo, to abide my son's just vengeance on thy calumnies." 
 
 " This sign perchance may protect me ; if not, let him prove me false, 
 his body against mine, and I am content, " replied the English knight. 
 
 " It is indeed her ring," said the pontiff, relapsing from his angry tone. 
 "It is her ring— which lightly she would not have parted withal. But 
 how — if thy legend hath but the shadow of truth in it — how is Lucrezia in 
 Ferrara, and how art thou here?" 
 
 "They meant me to be the assassin of her noble husband, thence to 
 
 ^ rnurder her name, and give a pretext for mine own destruction when the 
 
 time was ripe; an/ therefore 1 boast no merit in the share I had in foil- 
 
 < ing the plot, signer," replied Le Beaufort; and with unruffled firmness he 
 
 continued his story, and it seemed as if some direful spell compelled the 
 
 j pontiff to listen in utter and aghast silence. 
 
 ^ "It is not true ; it cannot be true •, it shall not be true !" he exclaimed at 
 
 t length, clenching his hands and looking upward, as if imploring of the 
 
 I heavens to overthrow even the laws of moral evidence on his behalf, in 
 
 ! the excess of his anguish. 
 
 " Read then these intercepted tidings from Caesar's emissary— death 
 aided me to win this testimony!" said Sir Reginald, producing Monsignor 
 d'Enna's scroll, still splashed with the blood of Zeid. 
 
 " What if it all be true! It is thy gloss that lies!" said the pontiff with 
 sudden fury, after a long despairing examination of this irresistible proof. 
 " The Duke of l\omagna is jealous of our favour — not of his sister's love 
 
 f, —and devised an expedient to stop her on her way, for which thou at least 
 
 1 sbouldst not have been ungrateful!" 
 
 I " Your holiness notes the conclusions of this scroll, which promises the 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 439 
 
 duke's forces from Romaona to march on Rome?" continued the inexo- 
 rable avenger. " Wherefore they come you have yet to learn!" 
 
 " In truth the Duchess of Ferrara speaks of some treason plotted against 
 us — a revelation from thee — ay, offers me, forsooth, her lord's aid against 
 her brother I She queens it something too fast," said Alexander, in a 
 broken and confused tone. '' The Holy See, in our person, is not yet at 
 that pass to need the good favour of a Lombard duke." 
 
 Totally unshaken by the anguish he inflicted, Le Reaufort resumed his 
 narrative by reciting the corollary of the plot of Faenza, which Csesar was 
 undoubtedly urging to fulfilment in Rome, and which included, probably, 
 the dethronement of the pontiff— certainly his deprivation of all real 
 power. 
 
 " I am ill, good knignti — air! give me air, or my heart — air!" inter- 
 rupted Alexander, rising and staggering dizzily a few paces ; but ere 
 Sir Reginald "could offer his support he had resumed his firmness, and 
 turned with fierceness on the messenger. "■ It is false! it must be false! 
 For if Caessar plotted this treason against ourself, wherefore should he de- 
 prive himself of the support so great an alliance yields !" 
 
 " For the same reason that he murdered his brother, Francesco!" 
 replied Le Reaufort; and his eyes met Alexander's half-frenzied glare 
 with a meaning in them which in a manner paralyzed him. 
 
 " Francesco I — murdered !" repeated the pontiff, and a dark sweat burst 
 forth on his visage, and he leaned for a moment the whole weight of his 
 massive person on the knight. 
 
 " This is nothing — only that we grow old," he said, rallying with a 
 mighty effort. " My sight vanished for an instant — very naturally, very 
 naturally — Where didst thou leave my child! where is my Lucrezia? — 
 Alas! I am dying, and she will think her tidings killed me ; — say 'twas not 
 so, on your life, good knight! — Rut yet this at least — Francesco! — by his 
 hand ! — this is not true ; 'tis false !" 
 
 " Remembers not your paternity the mad Jewess of the Ghetto?" replied 
 Le Reaufort. 
 
 " This indeed were a meet punishment for me — a doom more hideous 
 than to toss for ever in the eternal flames!" groaned Alexander. " Rut 
 that this fear at least is all unfounded, thyself shalt learn." And touching 
 a silver bell fastened to his footstool, he commanded an attendant who 
 appeared to re-admit the Dominican friar in the antechamber. 
 
 " Retire into the shadow of yonder canopy — and thou wilt not be ob- 
 served, for he who comes is dull of apprehension, and will not note your 
 presence," said Alexander, with feverish eagerness and wildness. 
 
 Le Reaufort obeyed, and almost instantly the burly form of Fra Riccocco 
 •was kneeling at the pontiffs feet. 
 
 " Re not afraid! — so great a service performed, as well as promised, 
 may well cancel the wild ravings of one who bath received some harshness 
 at our hands, and but lately escaped from our dungeons," said Alexander. 
 *' Thy master, true to his obligation, will not reveal what halh been con- 
 fided to him in confession; but yet will reveal to us the murderer of the 
 Duke of Gandia, by a means of his own?" 
 
 " If the Jewish convertite be permitted to attend at the great junket to- 
 night, where the murderer will be, most venerable holy lord and father," 
 replied Fra Riccocco, notwithstanding his heretic training quaking with 
 awe. 
 
 " The feast in the vineyard of Adrian di Corneto, on the Vatican ! — Rut 
 
440 CESAR BORGIA. 
 
 he knows not that the Duke of Romagna will be there, from his siege ?" 
 said Alexander, very eagerly. 
 
 " Brother Bruno bade me implore your amplitude to send for him to 
 share in the joy of the discovery — which after what folks say — but I am 
 dumb except on what I was sent to say." 
 
 " It is very well. — Go then and reply that if Fra Bruno fulfils his word 
 — his cowl is changed to a scarlet hat," said Alexander. 
 
 " Fra Bruno, then, most celsitude, desires that your grandeur will be 
 pleased to send him a summons to your presence, when he is baptizing 
 the Jewess before all the people, in the scjuare of St. Peter, this sunset; 
 and to send with it a force sufflcient to excuse his obedience to the popu- 
 lace, and commanded by one in whom you can trust against all opposers 
 — for the murderer is a man of might."" 
 
 The pontiff' nodded implicit approval and assent. 
 
 *' And further — dreading the power of those he shall deliver to your 
 vengeance, and in due regard to his own safety, my brother, holy Bruno, 
 the second of that beatified glorification — bade me crave, as an assurance 
 of your protection the golden box which your paternity wears ever in 
 your bosom." 
 
 " The most blessed HostI — which as long as I wore an astronomer 
 foretold to me, I should not die!" replied Alexander. " But here it is — 
 bid him keep it till he demands his own ransom of me." 
 
 Fra Biccocco took the chain and little box with great reverence, kissing 
 it devoutly; and the gesture of the pontiff" dismissed him, for he retired 
 with many reverences. 
 
 "Thou hast heard I" he exclaimed triumphantly, as Le Beaufort re- 
 appeared. 
 
 "And this proffer comes from Friar Bruno?" said Le Beaufort, also 
 joyfully, though at first he but confusedly remembered the strange stories 
 concerning him which Don Alfonso had related. 
 
 " Even so," replied the pontiff", pleased mistakenly with this satisfac- 
 tion. "And thereupon hear what resolution 1 have formed. Csesar him- 
 self gives a feast of reconciliation with the new-made cardinals at 
 eventide, albeit few of them are held to be his friends — in the vineyard of 
 Cardinal Adrian, on the Vatican. To disprove which evil thought, and 
 win him from his headstrong jealousies of his sister's fortune — for indeed 
 it is no more — they shall concur with me to-day to make his ducal crown 
 royal I King of Bfcmagna we will make him, since heaven halh lodged in 
 our hands the power to make and unmake all the sovereignties of earth, 
 much more those of our own land and dominion. Fear nothing for thy 
 safety, which we will care for as dearly as our own — and we mean this 
 feast shall be one of universal reconciliation. Thou shall aid in the good 
 work, for thou shalt be the messenger we wnll send for the friar and his 
 Jewish convert; and thou shalt witness all things, and return with brighter 
 tidings to our child, and news that we are on our way to see her on her 
 throne in Ferrara — bringing with us matters to make an old man wel- 
 come." 
 
 Le Beaufort bent in submission, and but that he remembered the visages 
 of the Orsini, he could have shared in the agony of grief and tenderness 
 which overcame the strong heart of Alexander— when turning away he 
 covered his face in a passion of silent grief I 
 
CJESAR BORGIA. 441 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 The ctoud-capt towers, the ccrgeous palaces, 
 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 
 I'ea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; 
 
 And like this unsubstantial pageant faded. 
 
 Leave not a wreck behind ! " Shakspere. 
 
 Nearly at the hour when Le Beaufort met the funeral car of the Orsini, 
 the figure of the Black Penitent glided out of a dungeon in which from time 
 to time deep groans were audible, and passing a number of sentinels, finally 
 vanished down the unfrequented gallery leading to the tomb of Adrian, in 
 which Fiamma had held her incantation. No inquiry or challenge was 
 addressed to tlie Black Penitent, according to the commands of the cas- 
 tellain, which authorized his entry or egress at pleasure ; and the general 
 fear entertained of a being who was looked upon as some fiendish familiar 
 of Cffisar, or at best as a professor of the black art in his service, pre- 
 vented any idle curiosity. 
 
 Descending into the vault we have formerly described, by the spiral 
 pillar, Dom Sabbat immediately hghted a torch, and took a deUberate 
 survey of the chamber. The first object on which his light gleamed was 
 the figure of a woman, chained by a ring to the wall, and couched on a bed 
 of straw, so white and motionless, that but for the apathetic stare which she 
 fixed on the intruder it might have been thought that a marble statue lay 
 there. 
 
 "Tric-troc I— Fiamma! the hour of vengeance is at hand," said Dom 
 Sabbat. ' • Kotte is perishing, and the thick agonies would but let her tell 
 me that thou hast seen where the poisoned wines are concealed. Speak, 
 where is it?" 
 
 Without replying by a single word the prisoner raised her thin white 
 hand and pointed to one of the archways, which the sage immediately 
 entered, and made his way toa circular excavation which seemed used as a 
 wine-cellar, for snow was piled around, in a heap of which lay glistering a 
 number of bottles of scarlet crystal, finely cut, and sealed wiih a rich silver 
 ornament. Others of exactly similar make and colour, with the difi"erence 
 that they were sealed with lead, and fewer in number, lay at some distance 
 from this heap. Approaching the former, Dom Sabbat took an instrument 
 from his pouch which seemed contrived for the purpose, and deliberately 
 wrenched out all the corks, without in the least injuring their fine seals. 
 Muttering "tric-troc" in a strange manner many times to himselt, the 
 sage then drew an exactly similar number of the leaden corks, transferring 
 one of the more precious ornament to each as heproceded ; and when he 
 had completed the whole number, he carefully replaced all m the exact 
 forms in which they had lain in the snow, and retired. 
 
 "Fiamma!" he said, as he returned, and again the figure raised itself 
 mechanically and Ustened. "I did hear Morta tell thy unkmdly slow 
 murderer that thou alone of all her disciples knowest the antidote to this 
 poison, the sublle cantarelle •,— thou wilt not betray it ?" 
 
 Fiamma laughed, though soundlessly, and covered her eyes with her 
 hand as if the light troubled them ; and'with a profound sigh, and extin- 
 guishing his torch, the magus left the dungeon, murmuring "Thou 
 
442 C./ESAR BORGIA. 
 
 shouldst at least have had sense spared thee to know thyself avenged — to 
 have witnessed thy murderer's agony and doom!" 
 
 Winding to the summit of the stairs, it seemed to the sage when he 
 reached it that something like a shriek sounded from below 5 but he dared 
 not pause to satisfy himself, and continued his retreat. 
 
 The noon of that memorable day arrived, and the cannon of Santangelo 
 announced a visit from the general of the church, whose vigilance made 
 him pay his first visit to the fortress. 
 
 The castellain was of course in immediate attendance on his lord, who 
 listened to his reports with profound attention and interest, and whose 
 countenance betrayed, against its wont, much inward anxiety and troubled 
 working of the mind. 
 
 "Fool ! — I pray your pardon, and doif my cap to ask it, Migueloto ; but 
 it stirs me to hear thee call this man saint, when thou seest that he can 
 work no miracles without thy connivance," he said, at length interrupting 
 the castellain. "We have no time for these long pratings, for every 
 instant that sweeps past heralds destiny! But the friar no longer doubts 
 the efficacy of our miracle draught, since he was with the hags in their 
 agony ?" 
 
 "they linger still — yet but that they are both of meagre and sparing 
 diet, and of so suspicious a turn, they had not outlived the half hour they 
 give to those who drink of it, in pains so sharp," said Migueloto. " I told 
 them their breakfast was from mine own table, pleasantly adding that 
 they should not eat another in Santangelo. And yet Morta smacked her 
 lips at the first taste, and looked snakily at me. And now to hear how 
 they rave and blaspheme! how they promise me all their accumulated 
 treasures in the Chetto (which shall be mine at a cheaper rate) if I will 
 yield them the materials for an antidote. But more than their own doom, 
 methinks, it troubles them to hear of their grandchild's conversion and 
 salvation." 
 
 " 1 should rejoice in this — 'for this is justice, and to serve our own turns 
 by fair means should surely be pleasing, even but for the newness," said 
 Caesar. "And yet — 1 know not why — why should my spirit droop thus, 
 that was ever so clear and mounting on an enterprise!— and this is the 
 greatest of my life, the end, the completion, the crown of all-, — and all 
 goes well ! The Orsini are terror-struck, and busied in burying theirdead •, 
 and though Fabio be obstinate, his fiercest adherents treat secretly of a 
 surrender, which 1 a^iII only not accept because I will not leave Bracciano 
 but for Rome ! And when this tumult surges up, how can the old sire 
 deny it, albeit he hath promised his dearest chuckling as much, who 
 means still to govern us all from Ferrara! Best news are from Faenza — 
 for Lucrezia falls into the snare, and my last messenger brings me tidings 
 of a plot into which both my enemies must fall — the beloved Alfonso him- 
 self — the beloving English ihickskull — nay, has fallen, or what meant that 
 message which honest John brought me, summoning me to Rome, from 
 one whom he met at Bracciano? A dark stranger, and beside the car- 
 casses of the Orsini ! Doubtless he will be here anon, since the ordnance 
 has roared my arrival to the city so deafeningly." 
 
 " But that is strange, my lord.' Why went he'not with his news to Brac- 
 ciano ?" said Migueloto. 
 
 "ThatI shall learn, too ; but I doubt no he is sent by Monsignord'Enna 
 to give the colouring I desired to Lucrezia's delay in Faenza, or to relate 
 the catastrophe; and to have called at Bracciano would not render his 
 
C.f:SAR BORGIA. 443 
 
 tidings more authentic," replied the duke. " Yet it is something strange 
 — so peremptorv a summons, and to me I I must have a good apology 
 for boldness and irreverence like this. And unless he wore the weeds of 
 a black knight to betoken that Alfonso needed his disguises no longer, 
 wherefore in array so ominous?" 
 
 "And yet, my lord, were it not too late — omens are not to be despised I 
 I had a fearful dream last night," said Don Migueloto ; and observing that 
 Caesar looked at him with some attention, he continued—" Methought I 
 was at high mass in the old church of our township, near Murviedro, 
 and went to kneel among some children, who were cracking nuts instead 
 of listening to their prayers, intending to reprove them. But they looked 
 at me with such a smiling scorn and loathing that my tongue became too 
 dry for utterance. And while 1 was striving to cry at least Jesu peccavi I 
 I heard a strange stir, and saw the people pressing to the doors, as if to 
 see some strange matter without — and for the most part they were men 
 whom I have known, such as John of the Catacombs and mine own sol- 
 diery. But suddenly the doors of the church flew open of their own 
 accord, and in rushed a mighty giant, raging mad, with a club in his 
 hand as broad as a man's girth ; and I knew it was his holiness the pope, 
 and he dashed out brains on every side as if men's skulls were eggshells, 
 yelling 'My son, my son I where are the murderers of my son?' And 
 then 1 remembered the duke — your brother, and hid myself in very agony 
 under the huge tomb of the Aguilars, lords of our village: and then me- 
 thought the stones rolled away that prop it, and the whole crushing weight 
 was upon my breast: and in the struggle of my doom I awoke I" 
 
 " If dreams could fright me, castellain, thy dull fancy shapes none so 
 terrible as those that visit my couch,"' replied Caesar, not altogether un- 
 disturbed. "The oracle is only— that if thou stumblest on an ill end 
 thou canst not say it chanced without a warning. But I tell thee 'tis too 
 late, though the fiend rose beneath our feet to warn us back I — Where is 
 the monk?" 
 
 " I hear him even now, signor, with his tric-troc. His lonely impri- 
 sonment has something touched his wits— but for the most part it happens 
 so ; and even Fiamma hath now a strange way of looking at one, and asks 
 how time goes by the obelisk in the market-place, which is older than Bome 
 itself, they say,'' replied the castellain. 
 
 " Tric-troc I tric-troc! — how strangely the world whirls round, and 
 takes no rest," said Fra Bruno, muttering to himself as he entered the 
 chamber: but changing his perturbed and wild expression into one of 
 self-possession and calm as he recognised Caesar. " Signor, the Jew- 
 esses are in a fearful agony — passmg away all unrepented and unab- 
 solved." 
 
 " Let them perish I — it is even justice !" said Caesar. 
 
 " The Duke of Bomagna says so, and it is an oracle," said Fra Bruno, 
 with a momentary expression in his eyes which struck the suspicious 
 Borgia. 
 
 ""Call it vengeance, and not justice, if thou wilt ; and look, not to incur 
 the like : thy fellow-sorceress still lives to tell men what thou art, if thou 
 angerest me"," he said. " But no, I trust in thee — and thou shalt be our 
 only miracle-worker. Despite Miguelotc's proclamation, and bolts, and 
 bars, and Jewish prayers, most supernaturally shall thou keep thy word 
 with the populace, and appear in the square of St. Peter with thy con- 
 vertite ! Thy citation shall drag the bride of Ferrara from her blood-stained 
 
444 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 pastimes in Faenza, to answer it I Thou shall appear before the pontiff to 
 refute those Jews that will have it Miriam is mad ; — and thou shalt refute 
 them with miracles, when thy denunciation brings down destruction, 
 sudden as lightning, on the princes of the church — the simonists named 
 in this schedule. And if, meanwhile, the surrender of Miriam to the Jews, 
 by overruling commands, stirs the whole Christian populace in uproar — 
 if the brigands increase it by lawless doings to affright all honest men — 
 if Colonnas and Orsini burst into open rebellion, and the mob recognise 
 thy miraculous errand — certes, Alexander can find no other refuge than 
 my fortress — no rescue but the swords of my host. And with him in 
 Santanseio, and them in Rome — I am emperor, and thou art saint — and 
 Lucrezia " 
 
 " What is she ?" said the Dominican, filling up the sudden pause which 
 his patron made. 
 
 "She! — What can she be, overwhelmed with the dire report which 
 must accompany her from Faenza, and the destruction of both her loving 
 mallards ?" said Csesar, his eye flashing upon Fra Bruno, who rephed, in 
 a cold and untroubled tone, " A nun of the severest order?" 
 
 " Ay, to match the better with thee," replied Cajsar, laughing darkly. 
 " Desperate and guilt-lost, what else can she be? Thou dost not think 
 that we will kneel to her to implore her empress it with us in Rome, or 
 aid thee in thy counsels of reform against her most dear sire ?" 
 
 "And on the citation of my nameless beggars Monsignor d'Enna shall 
 have order to send her to Rome ? — A miracle indeed ! " said Fra Rruno, 
 with a smile of profound satisfaction. 
 
 " Ferrara will not interfere to prevent it, 1 tell thee, nor whatever farther 
 falls excite much marvel," replied the duke. " And now let us each to 
 our tasks. I will trust in none to give instructions to the butler and his 
 cupbearers but myself. Our sire is a Spanish drinker, but the weather is 
 hot. Yet, Migueloto, six bottles of the same quality with that wine mi- 
 raculous may serve our turn ; and we two will content us with those sealed 
 with lead, albeit not so honourable nor special as those marked with the 
 silver crowns intended for our guests I" 
 
 " 'Tis impossible suspicion should arise, my lord," replied Migueloto. 
 
 " But there must be some signal to the butler, when he is to serve from 
 this priceless bin to our expectant well-wishers," said Caesar, thoughtfully. 
 "Theword shall be, thatl would he should also send me a salver of peaches; 
 they shall be of tht/liumber of the condemned, and gathered by mine own 
 hand. And now to thy preparations also, friar; for the moments hurry 
 past. " 
 
 Fra Bruno gave a slight start, as if he had been lost in meditation ; but he 
 immediately complied, and with a bend retired. 
 
 " The time shall yet come — when thy work is done — that I will learn 
 wherefore thou hast so specially worked on me," said Caesar, following 
 him with a long unquiet gaze. " Migueloto, see that all be prepared ; and 
 if the dark stranger from Faenza comes hither, send him instantly to me at 
 my palace." 
 
 With these words the ducal conspirator parted from his accomplice for 
 a time, and each hastened to fulfil some important task connected with 
 the grand blow meditated. 
 
 The hours passed on rapidly laden with destiny as they might be, and 
 the festive comj)any invited to the feast in the Vatican vineyard were fast 
 inundating its green arcades hung with thick bunches of the ripe grape. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 445 
 
 Tidings were rife of an extraordinary assemblage of tbe people in the 
 square of St. Peter, to witness the Saptism of a Jewess by their new 
 seint ; but no one of the invited dared to stay away, lest his absence should 
 be construed into a mark of disaffection. 
 
 The pontifical court was assembled in a natural saloon, formed of elms 
 united by vine-suckers ; and thither the pontiff and the Duke of Ro- 
 magna, attended by a magnificent group of cardinals and nobles, arrived. 
 It was noticed, principally for the darkness of his garb, and wearing 
 his vizor closed, that a Knight of St. John was among the pontiff's re- 
 tinue. 
 
 But the agitated look of the pontiff excited and absorbed the general 
 attention, and his pallor could scarcely be accounted for even by the ex- 
 cessive heat, which was but just beginning to yield to the freshening of 
 the evening breeze. Csesar also wore an aspect of inward perturbation, 
 more especially when his eye fell upon the Knight of St John: but the 
 inquiry in it was answered by a significant nod which wonderfully 
 reassured and inspirited him •, so that, until he suddenly remembered that 
 he had another part to play, his manner had in it something of a wild 
 gaiety. 
 
 Alexander sat for some minutes in deep silence, listening apparently to 
 the compliments which Caesar addressed to the new cardinals, as Bur- 
 ciardo presented them with his usual formal state and set forms of 
 speech. 
 
 " The most reverend Giovanni Castellar Valentino, Archbishop of 
 Trani; Francesco Remolino, of Lerida, Ambassador of the Catholic kings; 
 Francesco Loderini, Bishop of Volterra ; Melchior Copis, of Germania, 
 Bishop of Brixen ; Niccolo Fiesco, Bishop of Frejus; Francesco de Sprate, 
 Spaniard, Bishop of Leon ; Adriano Castellense da Corneto, Bishop, Clerk 
 of the Chamber, Treasurer General, and Secretary of Briefs; Francesco 
 Iloris Valentino, Bishop of Elva, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Pro- 
 secretary of the holiness of our lord the pope ; Jacomo Casanuova also Va- 
 lentino, Prothonotary and Secret Chamberlain of his holiness ;" were 
 all dully announced, and received Caesar's courteous and gracious 
 greetings. 
 
 " We miss the Cardinal of Modena. as we hear the Datary hath be- 
 come? — Alack, how we forget ourselves — the good man is gone I " said 
 Caesar, as the last of the scarlet-robed dignitaries paid his homage. "But 
 the church is indeed enriched in many senses with additions so illustrious 
 — all chosen indeed by heavenly inspiration ; for what other was there in 
 the matter, though we cannot boast that we discern one among you of 
 those whom we ardently recommended in our prayers to such an honour! 
 Yet, albeit we had no part in your elevations, most reverend lords, we 
 heartily rejoice in it, and have given this feast to show our satisfaction." 
 
 "Nephew, — and to prove that your satisfaction is no less politic and 
 just than generous, hear us,'' said Alexander. " Tbe Sacred College, to 
 show that any report of ill-affection to your person, or ignorance of your 
 merits, wronged all equally, have unanimously recommended to us a 
 measure to which we have given our consent, touched by our knowledge 
 of your great and hitherto but meanly recompensed deservings, whereby 
 we have resolved to change your ducal title to that of sovereignty, and 
 create you King of Roraagnal " 
 
 Caesar himself was staggered for several instants; but regaining his 
 resolution, he replied with strangely brief and cold thanks— 
 
U6 CJESXR BORGIA. 
 
 '' Romagna! We fear it will become a sound which even a kingly- 
 addition cannot make pleasant in our ear," he said, " Is it by your pa- 
 ternity's command that the Duchess of Ferrara delays in Faenza?" 
 
 " Dost thou fear the lady will take thy city from thee, Caesar?" said the 
 pontiff with a start. 
 
 " Nay — but, signor, for his valour I had made Sir Reginald le Beaufort 
 my captain of Faenza; and there are reasons, as your paternity may 
 remember, wherefore the Duchess of Ferrara should not tarry where he 
 is master. And — for I must be bold — I would beseech you send her word 
 to hasten on her journey, lest report should wrong us all." 
 
 "Some wine I I am faint at heart! Yet it is true, Csesar — we have 
 heard of this! The ravages of the Vitelli affright her ; but her lord is with 
 her now, and will give her courage," said Alexander, with a strong shud- 
 der, which Cassar remarked not without satisfaction. 
 
 " Nay, then, let us all pledge each other in a loving quaff," said the 
 duke. " In Urbino I found some precious stores, whereof I mean to feast 
 understanding palates, though I play the niggard ever after. Bid Messer 
 Antonio send me of the scarlet flasks, cupbearer •, and with it the salver 
 of peaches which I gathered myself from Donna Lucrezia's favourite wall." 
 
 Don iMigueloto at this instant made his appearance from among a crowd 
 of the courtiers ; and, stepping reverently towards the pontiff, knelt before 
 him, and seemed to await permission to speak, which Cffisar imme- 
 diately gave, by exclaiming, " What ails thee, castellain? what would thy 
 tvvilLering visage say ? " 
 
 " Signor, the friar who escaped from Santangelo, and who has already 
 excited so many tumults, is now engaged, in defiance of my prohibition, 
 in baptizing a Jewess in the square of St. Peter, and delivering a seditious 
 harangue to the populace," replied the Catalan. Moreover, the woman is 
 mad, and her kindred declare that 'tis done but to secure an inheritance 
 to the Dominicans, which the wealthiest and most answerable of her tribe 
 await without to certify." 
 
 "Go, give the Jewess to her friends, and seize the monk in his holi- 
 ness's name ! These seditions grow dangerous," said Caisar, imperiously. 
 
 " Nay, we will have the monk and his convert both before us. Let 
 the Jews have audience, and we will ourself judge whether she be sane, 
 or as mad as some of us that go about unshackled," said Alexander, with 
 sudden impetuosity. 
 
 " Holy father, what needs it, when we have learned that it is the mad 
 wench that played such strano;e gambols of discourse to you in the jubilee 
 time?" said Caesar, somev»hat alarmcdly. 
 
 " Thusitshall-HDe, or we will learn who is more the master in Rome!" 
 said Alexander, with increasing severity; and then, with a profound and 
 gloomy sigh, he looked round to Sir Reginald, and said, " Knight, we may 
 depend on thee. Take the Swiss ; you have our command." 
 
 "llmay arouse some sudden commotion, which we have no strength 
 in Rome to resist," said Caesar ; "specially if the Jewess be seized, as it 
 will seem, to be delivered to the vengeance of her tribe." 
 
 " On that this knight may exercise some discretion ; he hath the quality, 
 and needs it," said the pontiff with another sigh, which Caisar interpreted 
 favouiably ; more especially as the messenger from Faenza answered his 
 inquisitive gaze with a dee|) bend ; and his attention was now attracted 
 by the arrival of the chief butler, with his retinue of cupbearers, and the 
 precious wines in the scarlet crystal. Sir Reginald instantly made his 
 
CAESAR BORGIA. 447 
 
 exit from the retinue, and Caesar watched the butler so anxiously as he 
 opened the bottles, that although the caslellain kept his eye fixed on him 
 for some signal, it was not until he had observed that his own goblet, and 
 Alexander's, and that of the Cardinal Adrian di Corneto, whom for some 
 reason he chose to preserve, were filled from the bottles sealed with lead, 
 and all the others from those of silver, that he raised his head. 
 
 -'' The times are dangerous, and it is good we be prepared for worse," 
 he then said. " Miguelolo, post my guard round the vineyard, to keep 
 the rabble from following their prophet ringleader in ; and have the gates 
 of Saiilangelo opened, and your forces arrayed, that we may at least lodge 
 the person of his holiness in safety if any disorder should arise." 
 
 Alexander's agitation visibly increased; but the apparent submission to 
 the ordfr to admit Miriam with the monk somewhat cleared the clouds from 
 his brow ; and he again, and with many added encomiums, declared his 
 purpose of raising Ctesar to the sovereign dignity, by desiring all present 
 to drink to the health of the King of Romagna. Le Beaufort had disap- 
 peared almost the instant he received the command, and Don Migueloto 
 followed with equal rapidity, so that the guards with which the former 
 hastened on his commission were promptly replaced by the fierce and 
 well-appointed soldiery of the Borgia. 
 
 Cffisar now deigned for the first time to express some gratitude, though 
 he laughingly complained that he was thus debarred from sharing the 
 rich draught." But when the assemblage arose, and each of the newly 
 made cardinals, holding his full goblet in his hand, with emulous zeal 
 awaited the signal from the pontiff to drain it, CEesar's countenance shone 
 with a brilliant expression of joy and eagerness and fearful mirth which 
 produced a very unanswering effect on the pontiff. His nervy hand 
 trembled as he raised his goblet, and after a momentary hesitation he set 
 it down, thrust his hand into the breast of his robe, and exclaimed, " We 
 have left it in our chan)ber.— Monsignor Caraffa, hasten to the palace, and 
 bring us our reliquary. — Vet, no, no, we had forgotten — ourself parted 
 withit to one in assurance of safeguard," he continued, but not in time 
 to prevent the ready zeal of the young bishop whom he had addressed. 
 Then somewhat confusedly glancing around, he raised the goblet with an 
 eager snatch, and without giving the toast, drained it. 
 
 ''Signor, you have forgotten the health of — the King of Romagna," 
 said Caesar, smiling, but looking disappointedly at the guests — who stared 
 at one another and did not drink. 
 
 " 'Tis true! — a negligence easily repaired this burning noon. — Refill!" 
 replied the pontiff, hurriedly. "We had forgotten — not forgotten— but, 
 we know not how, our thoughts were wandering abroad, for it scarcely 
 seems we are at home since we miss that sunshme which hath departed 
 from among us f jr ever! — Our age grows very lonely. — But it will teach 
 us henceforth not to make gaps in the hearths of others. Mercy becomes 
 old age, and henceforth we mean to listen rather to her gentle teachings 
 than to the stern clamour of a justice too exact; — to the health of the King 
 of Piomagna !" 
 
 Againlhe pontiff drained the goblet, and this time he was imitated by 
 the whole court — to the unbounded satisfaction of Caesar, whose eyes, lit 
 with malicious triumph, rapidly darted from cup to cup, to be certain that 
 none had shunned the doom to which he had dedicated them. But all 
 had with emulous zeal drained to the last drops. 
 
 Lurid with his dire inward joy, Caesar then arose to return the pledge, 
 
448 C.flSAR BORGIA. 
 
 and drink the health of the new cardinals; in which Alexander, hoping to 
 quell the agitation which grew upon his frame with every moment of ex- 
 pectation, again joined. Caesar drained his ample goblet so heartily that 
 he even tilted it, and clinked the gold, to show his new friends the zeal 
 with which he had returned their love ; and willing to make certain of 
 his victims, immediately turned to the chief butler, who had arrived with 
 a salver of peaches, and commanded that the goblets should again be filled 
 from his precious stores, to drink to the safe and speedy progress of the 
 Duchess of Ferrara to her new capital. 
 
 Alexander very eagerly joined in this toast-, and unconsciously, in the 
 tumult of his inward thoughts, and probably for the first time since his 
 elevation to the pontifical dignity, in public, he styled Lucrezia his beloved 
 daughter, the King of Romagna's sister. 
 
 The cardinals looked at one another somewhat scandalized, and Caesar 
 exclaimed, with a covert and strange sneer in his tone, '' Nay — for none 
 can deny his holiness hath ever treated my sister as his daughter — beloved 
 indeed!" 
 
 Alexander's eye fell for an instant with an indescribable and most ter- 
 rific expression on the duke, and all the marble ])lacidness of his visage 
 could scarcely turn the darting lightning of that fierce, inquiring glance. 
 The pontiir then turned away, and glanced in the direction whence the 
 monk was to be expected — who now appeared, walking between two 
 Swiss soldiers, without Miriam or any other company but that of his bro- 
 ther Dominican, Fra Biccocco. 
 
 All attention was immediately concentrated on the friar; and when he 
 halted before the magnificent festal groups, and drew himself to his full 
 height without any sign of reverence or respect for the august presence in 
 which he stood, his visage perfectly bloodless but instinct with terrible 
 though silent passion — an awe sunk upon the assemblage like that which 
 falls upon the souls of men when a tempest gathers and pauses ere it 
 bursts. 
 
 The Duke of Romagna was the only one untroubled by this gloomy 
 guest's arrival, if guest he might be called ; he gave the monk a nod, with 
 a significant glance at the stained goblets, which he comprehended, for a 
 fearful smile lighted his worn and gloomy features. 
 
 " Where is thy convert, monk? — We bade her come with thee to our 
 presence, that we might adjudge between thee and the Jews, who declare 
 her mad," said Alexander. 
 
 " She is detained with them and my sequence of believers, at the gates, 
 with the'reviling'Jews, by the guard of the Duke of Romagna," replied 
 the Dominican, sedately. "The black knight whom your holiness sent 
 craves your direct command to admit her, or permission to break a way 
 through the opposers." 
 
 " Burciardo, go and command in our name, and on peril of the denier's 
 head, that none refuse admittance to the Knight of St. John, the Jews, 
 and Miriam — ourseU' sit here in judgment! " said Alexander, with a vio- 
 lence and impetuosity which drowned the words in which Caesar began to 
 utter a peremptory refusal, and which sent the Dean of Strasburgh with 
 unwonted and undignified despatch on his errand. 
 
 " Be it even so. — I care not," said Caesar, with an indifference con- 
 tradicted by the quiver in his eyes. "] meddle not with the convert, 
 though they say she is fair for a Jewess. — But, monk, since I am Confa- 
 lonier of Rome, I may presume to question thee what doctrines these are 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. *4? 
 
 Ihoii preachest, stirring the people with rebellious and heretic misbeliefs?" 
 " .My doctrines, Gonfaloiiier, are miUiers b.-vond voiir province. The 
 church alone halli the power lo decide on tliem," replied tlie monk, calmly. 
 " Let me liear ihem, ihen— I am ihe church," said Alexand 'r. gra- 
 ciously, but slid much agitated. "Let me hear lliy projects, for if they be 
 good and wh'desome I will myself aid in ihem t<t ihe uttermost— for in- 
 deed we feel that we have delayed the work loo long." 
 
 ".Mv projects are, then— to root out ihe simony of Roderic Borgia, 
 falsely^stvled Pope Alexander the Sixth!— which hath shaken the pillars 
 of thi' faith in all men's minds, and made the very heavens waver above 
 our heads, as doubling whether to fall and crush earth back into chaos! 
 —To hurl destruction on him and all his accursed brood I — To cleanse 
 the church of their defilements, and bring back the wandering genera- 
 tions of ma'ikind to her pale; to demonstrate the justice of heaven in the 
 sudden, terrific, and utter downfall of the flauitious race who have dared 
 to steal even the lightnings of God to ravage his earth! " replied ihe Do- 
 minican. 
 
 " Me is mad — most mad! " said Alexander, after a longe paiise of pro- 
 found astonishment. "And as a madman, let him rave unciiasli.sed." 
 
 " lit; haih a prophet's boldness, and perchance his mission/'said Caisar, 
 not alto^jether allecting the awe which his low lone denoted. "And 
 look how all the steeps of ihe Vatican are blackening with his mob! 
 1 trust that we shall at least have the way open lo Santangelo, that we 
 may have time given us to bring our answers to this miracle-worker from 
 Bracciano." 
 
 " It reminds me well, Caesar. I did intend to visit yonr dimgeons of 
 Santangelo, to do sonie acts of grace and mercy there. Among the rest, 
 I promised Lucrezia to learn whether Fiamma Colonna is there as ihy 
 prisoner, or thy guest," said Alexander with sternness, and evidently 
 startled. 
 
 "Your son-in-law of Ferrarahath generously taken care of her, signor! 
 — since Capua, we have not seen nor heard aught of her fate," replied 
 Caesar betraying some slight alarm. " Our Lady grant she make no mis- 
 chief in FerVaral But thou, monk, shouldst have better assurances than 
 visions to support thee in so dangerous a task as this which thou aa- 
 nouncest." 
 
 "This very night had I one, in which T will confide rather than in the 
 spears of ten'lhousand !" replied Fra Bruno. " .Methought I beheld a pu- 
 trid carcass brei'da snake, which came forth and stung the murderer, and 
 straight he swelled and burst; and it was given to me lo crush the reptile 
 even with mine unsandalled feet, and the carcass resumed its life, and be- 
 came lovely and fragrant as one whom ye have all seen — and shall see no 
 more!" 
 
 "But the ancient prophets showed visible signs of their divine commis- 
 sion ; and where are ihine?" replied Caesar, mockingly, but with a look 
 ■which ihe friar understood, and returned wiih one of mingled loathing 
 and triumph. 
 
 "What sign can be more manifest," he returned, "than that Caesar 
 Borgia — the fratricide more cruel than Cain! the tyrant more r.-morse- 
 less than Nero! the infidel more unbelieving ihan'JudasI— should pro- 
 ject the reformation of the church? Were it more if these ruins which 
 strew the wastes of the seven hills were suddenly to rise again in all their 
 magnificence ?" 
 
 59 
 
450 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 "Monk— though ihou art mad there is a malice in thy ravings which 
 nmy dislingiii^h ilieo tVom iliy lullow maniacs!" said Caesar, kindling wilh 
 the passions vvliicli iliis address was so likely to rouse. 
 
 '*! appeal lo your huly sire's proLnciion— promisfd by this sign," re- 
 turned ihe monk, with a biller smile, and producing Alexander's golden 
 box ofllie Eucharist. 
 
 "It is so," said the pontiff, wilh a fathomless gloom in his tones. 
 "CcGsar, since thou deemest the monk a prophet honour him as such." 
 
 " But ye demand my proofs," continued the Dominican hurriedly "and 
 I answer— Am 1 not here at liberty ? Have I not compelled the stones of 
 Santangelo to yield up my convertite? Yea, and 1 have summoned, 
 Alexander, thy pernicious daughter from her adulteries in Faenza — and 
 she shall obey." 
 
 " Sacrilegious traitor! what wouldstthou say?— of what adulteries dost 
 thou accuse our daughter?" shouted Alexander, glaring from the monk to 
 his now evident accomplice. 
 
 "Simonist! although thou didst unlawfully and irreligiously dissolve 
 the betrothal of thy daughter to the son of him who saved thy lile, and 
 whom the pride of thy ill-gotten empire taught thee to disdain, it is he 
 who calls the wife of Alfonso of Ferrara adultress! the dallier with Re- 
 ginald le Beaulort, adultress !" returned the friar, wilh equal vehemence. 
 "It his he who even by the means of the detested monster, thy son, brings 
 her back to Rome— there to exhibit before all the world the greatest mi- 
 racle of all— by resigning her to the church whose glory she has darkened 
 so long, and which that act shall restore to tenfold splendour!" 
 
 "And where is he, this wondrous first husband of Lucrezia? Idiot, 
 whatravest thou?" exclaimed Cajsar, convulsively clutching his dagger, 
 and shrinking from the fierce gaze which his sire now turned upon him. 
 
 " He is here ! — I ! — for I am Bernard of Lanfranc, whom the mean pride 
 and tyranny of Rodrigo Borgia deprived of his betrothed wife, and forced 
 into a cloister!" returned the Dominican. 
 
 " ]f thou art Bernard of Lanfranc, why hast thou hidden thyself so long 
 from my gratitude, which would only have fallen short of the absurd sacri- 
 fice of my child to thy years and student gloom ?" said Alexander, with 
 amazement. " I know not that I ever saw thee but once— a score of years 
 are gone— a pallid student in Salamanca. All that relates to thy advance- 
 ment 1 will perform^ but rave not of Lucrezia, for I tell thee thy sum- 
 mons will reach Faenza too late, and here conies one who brought us the 
 joyful intelligence of her escape from a prodigious snare — of her safe re- 
 union wilh hof husband, Alfonso of Ferrara, and arrival in his strong ca- 
 pital 5 where, if an old man's blessing may avail, long may they flourish 
 in each other's love, and their children's children repeat her beauty and 
 his princely virtues to all posterity. Welcome him, Caesar, it is your 
 captain of Faenza, Sir Reginald le Beaufort !" 
 
 At this moment Le Beaufort entered the leafy saloon, accompanied by 
 Burciardo and the neophyte, Wiriam, who wore a long while linen hood 
 and garments, and was intently watching a butterfly which in a singular 
 manner flew before them, fluttering in the hot air. Hearing the poniiff"s 
 words, Sir Reginald instantly raised his vizor, and stood revealed lo ihe 
 amazed and fear-struck eyes of Caesar. 
 
 Bui Ihe etl'ect upon the Dominican was still more powerful, and for 
 some time he glared vacantly at the young knight, as if he had received 
 some blow which had stunned memory and consciousness. 
 
CJESAR BORGIA: 451 
 
 " Look yonder, how it wears his preUy coat— purple velvet, powdered 
 with gold!" exchiimed the young Jewess, vacantly watching the sportive 
 movements of the butterfly, which flew over the table towards the poatifiF. 
 "At least— but I will have vengeance!" said the monk, recovering from 
 his shock, and clutching his co'nvertite, he drew her violently forward, 
 and lore off her veil. " Miriam, this is the reward I promised thee for 
 thy faiih — vengeance on the murderer of thy Francesco ! Look round and 
 tell us which is he!" 
 
 There was a short pause of terrific and breathless silence, during which 
 Miriam glanced with frantic eagerness around the groups, until her eye 
 fell un the visage of Caesar, now flaming with demoniac passions and fear 
 —and then with a shriek which seemed as if it pierced to the lofty heavens 
 above, she pointed at him. " He is there— he is there! Oh, give me 
 justice, judge, and slay the murderer of Francesco!" 
 
 And she flew with astonishing swiftness to Alexander's chair, and threw 
 herself frantically at his feet. 
 
 Caesar started up like a wild beast roused in his lair, and seemed prepar- 
 ing to spring upon the hapless Jewess, when Alexander himself arose, 
 and with a countenance awful in its excess of anguish, exclaimed, "Receive 
 my malediction, Cain! — Advance farther, and mine own hand— guards, 
 level your spears." 
 
 Le Beaufort's sword instantly gleamed over the couchant figure of the 
 Jewess. 
 
 "And now hear mine," said Fra Bruno, his eyes gleaming with super- 
 natural and insane fierceness, his attitude that of a prophet of old de- 
 nouncing woes. " Hear me, Rodrigo and Caesar Borgia! Heaven is at 
 last weary of your crimes— earth and heaven alike — and the hour of 
 doom, and vengeance, and justice, and destruction, is at hand ! Tyrants, 
 oppressors, betrayers! within the hour I command ye both to render up 
 your detestable souls to vengeance, cursed with assurance of each other's 
 hatred and guilt ; and on the answer to this summons do I stake my claims 
 to be held as a prophet of God or a lying impostor of the fiend !" 
 
 "Indeed I am grievously held! — Parricide, hast thou poisoned my 
 drink?' said Alexander, his colour changing to a strong livid tint; and, 
 after a momentary struggle, and vacant grasping in the air, he staggered, 
 and was supported back into his chair by Le Beaufort. 
 
 " My heart is on fire- but of this I am" not guilty, Alexander ! HeUish 
 sorcerer, hast thou poisoned us?" said Cajsar, in whose own breast the 
 direful potion had begun its work. 
 
 " Nay, signer, I laut changed the leaden corks for silver ones 5 an 
 honourable distinction due to your rank and merit," replied the monk, 
 with a smile of unutterable meaning. 
 
 " Bear me away — I am dead— knight, to the Vatican— not to Santangelo, 
 not to Santangelo!" groaned the pontiff"; and with one last terrific glance 
 at Caesar he added, " This is justice!" and sank senseless in the arms of 
 Le Beaufort and Burciardo. 
 
 "Some antidote! some antidote! — Notte and Morta! — A thousand 
 crowns for either! — Bring them hither!" yelled Caesar. 
 
 "My lord, they are, even as I left Santangelo, dead! Fly, fly, my 
 lord !— .Monsignor d'Enna has arrived with fearful news!" said Migueloto, 
 who at this instant rushed in, and stared aghast at the dismal spectacle 
 which he beheld. Miriam perceived him instantly, and with a shriek of 
 terror darted from behind the pontiffs chair, where she had crouched, 
 
45! C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 and fled with the rapidity of a startled hare down one of the walks of the 
 vineyard, 
 
 "Oh, there is no hope then I— All is lost!— The poison burns through 
 my entrails I" said Cae-ar, staggering and becoming pale as if alrt-ady a 
 corpse. " But vengeance! Seize the sorcerer, Miguelolo — he h^s |)oi- 
 soned us! Talhi'r! — ht him at least not deem thai I have hl;iughiered 
 him! Help! Fiamma ! Uh, Fiamma! She— an antidote! Keep off 
 those fiery forms! The dark, one! — he in the glistering turban! Keep 
 him off— he tears my heart out with his burning pincers! All those 
 grisly faces! Flames, flames, flimes! — And this is hell I Horror, 
 horror, horror! Help, rescue, Fiaroma! — Help!" And he, too, sank 
 senseless to the ground. 
 
 In a wonderfully brief space it was known all over Rome that the pontiff 
 lay in adying state in the Vatican, and IhatlheDuke ofRomagna was ci)n- 
 ve\cd in a slate of similar desperation, to Saniangelo. The conl'usion and 
 tumults which immediately arobC threatened general ruin ; and for some 
 days the city was abandoned to every species of disorder and violt^nce. 
 The slender" forces of the pope, under orders of Sir Reginald le Beaufort, 
 limited their exertions to defending all the accesses lo the Vatican, and 
 the person of the dying pontiff. Alexander lingered durmg eight daNS of 
 inconceivable agonies; and although closely attended by Lc Beaufort dur- 
 ing the whole period, and frequently recovering his memory and con- 
 sciousness, not once did he pronounce the name of i.ucrezia or t^aesar; and 
 the only siijin of remembrance of either which he gave was wiihin a few 
 minutes of his death, when, extending his hand to Le Beaufort, he desired 
 him to draw a ring off it, and destroy it before his sight. But the con- 
 vulsions which overtook him instantly com[)ell<d Le Beaufort to pause 
 in executing the behest; and after the pontiff's deatli, when he was about 
 lo crush it, although he remembered that it was the ring he had borne 
 from Lncrezia, Ma;.ter Buri;iardo slO[)ped him by showing how it con- 
 tained a wondrously small but beautiful miniature of Lucrezia. It was 
 not destroyed. 
 
 Meanwhde nothing was known with certainty of Caesar's fate; but it 
 was reported that he was still alive, and that a sorceress who had long 
 been conf](fed in Saniangelo, by spells and ihe administration of marvel- 
 lous remedies, such as sewing him up in the body of a bull ripped o[)en 
 alive, and plunging him into baths said to be of human blood, niaintamed 
 him so against all die power of the poison he had swallowed. .Meanwhile 
 his bodily tortures seemed not to have diminished the vigour and activity 
 of his mind; and the instant the deatli of the [)0pe took |)lace, his troops 
 look possession of the Vatican, from which Le Beaufort but just effected 
 his retreat in time, and Migueloto stripped the palace and treasury of Alex- 
 ander of all its riches, jewels, plate, and gold, to a prodigious amount, 
 which he transferred to Saniangelo. 
 
 Absorbed in projects of revenge, and of assistance to the beleaguered 
 Orsini in Bracciano, Le Beaufort sent intelligence of what had lia[)pened 
 to all the cities and personages whom he thought likely to lake advantage 
 of the disasters of their tyrant, and distract the attention of his forces. 
 The Colonnas accordingly hastened on Rome, assisted by a large Spanish 
 force: Urbino, Pesaro, Camerino, Piombino, and the Vitelli, burst into 
 
CESAR BORGIA. 45S 
 
 open revolt i the Malatestas rushed upon Rimini : the Baj^lioni, aided by 
 two iiowerliil nobles of the Orsini family, and Venetian sueeours, reco- 
 vered Perugia, and advanced on Bracciano to rai^e ihe siege. But already 
 this task was accomplished by the division of Cdesar's forces, rendered 
 necessary bv ihe universal outbreak, and to protect his person in Rome 
 itself; and ere the rescuers reached Bracciano, Fabio Orsino, breathing 
 destruction to the very name of Borgia, entered Rome with a powerful 
 force. 
 
 Le Beaufort hastened to join the Oi-sini on their entry, and he went to 
 the bridge of Sanlangelo to meet Fabio, while over the casile slill waved 
 the Borgian flag. And from the young clnefiain he learned that Paolo Or- 
 sino had, in dying, solemnly conimended his vengeance to Sir Reginald 
 le Beaufort: and his last words implored that he would never return to his 
 own land until he had avenged him by the destruction of the tyrant. 
 Moved will) the sight of the young orphan, and all the recollecti<»ns of his 
 ancifi.t friendship, Le Beaufort— gnashing his teeth at the flag which 
 flaiinled defiance from the battlements of the castle — accepted the charge 
 with an oath, which was echoed in an unanimous roar by the incensed 
 clansmen around. 
 
 Meanwhile, though Le Beaufort had ordered the most diligent research, 
 no tidings had been heard of Miriam ; and the fate of Fra Bruno, who had 
 been dragged a prisoner into Sunlangelo, could only beconjeciurei by 
 the fad ihatCEesar had attempted to quiet the tumult of the monk's parti- 
 zans by act^using him of sorcery, on the evidence of Sultm Zem's par- 
 amour,' long believed an accomplice in the unholy art. But now, as the 
 glooniy procession of the Avengers crossed the bridge of Santangelo, an 
 old boatman shouted from the water below for assistance, and appeared 
 slowly rowing to the shore with a drenched female corpse, partially 
 covered with weeds and slime, stretched in his boat. The boatn)an was 
 old Schiavone, and the corpse was that of Miriam ; but how she came to 
 her dismal fate, whether by her own act, or the violence of others, remains 
 for ever a mystery. Yet those who were acquainted even with the outlines 
 of the dismal story of the Jewess, heard not without emotion that her 
 body was found almost in the very spot where formerly that of her un- 
 forti'maie lover, the Duke of Gandia, was discovered. 
 
 The Orsini and Le Beaufort were determined on avenging themselves to 
 the utmost on Ctesar, and to rest only satisfied with his utter destruction ; 
 but the great force with which he kept Santangelo and the Vatican, and 
 the commands of the Sacred College, which had now assumed the govern- 
 ment of the citv, and laboured to clear it of all the contending parties 
 during the election of a new pontiff, made the enterprise very difficult. 
 Fabio, with the subtlety of his house, now endeavoured to stimulate the 
 fanaiiscism of the populace to aid him in an attack by calling upon them 
 to rescue the miraculous monk from Caesar's hands ; and the people were 
 soon excited to the height which he desired, and clamoured for arms to 
 assail Santangelo, when suddenly a counter move of the Borgia discon- 
 certed the plan. It was announced that the sorcerer monk had himself 
 demanded un ordeal by fire, to prove the truth of his mission, and the 
 falsehood of the accusation against him ; and that Cffisar had consented he 
 should undergo it, in the p'resence of all the people, in the square of 
 St. Peter. . 
 
 The prospect of a spectacle so extraordinary, and of a visib.e miracle, 
 excited the curiosity and fanaticism ol the populace to a degree at which 
 
454 C^SAR BORGIAi 
 
 it was in vain to contend "with the impetus ; but Fabio and Sir Reginald 
 resolved to be present fo take advantage of aught that might happen to stir 
 the people, not without hope that the Dominican had only demanded the 
 ordeal that he might throw himself upon the protection of his followers, 
 and of the Borgia's enemies. 
 
 A great pile of faggots, interlaid with peat, and tow steeped in tar, straw, 
 and other inflammable substances, was erected in the square of St. Peter; 
 and on the day on which the deformed and bloated corpse of Alexander, 
 with scarcely any honour or funeral pomp, was hurried to the sepulchre, 
 an immense mass congregated to witness the experiment. Sir Reginald 
 and Fabio, with a chosen party of horse, were grouped around the pile, 
 ready to act as occasion might direct. 
 
 Surrounded by a potent body of Caesar's guard from Sanlangelo, came 
 the devoted monk, Don Migueloto himself walking beside him, with bare 
 head, and much appearance of reverence. Fra Bruno's cowl was thrown 
 back, and although his eyes were fixed on the ground, there was nothing 
 in his steady walk and calm countenance to denote any real intention of 
 undergoing so fearful an ordeal, until Fra Biccocco, breaking from the 
 crowd, threw himself sobbing at his feet, and implored him to speak but 
 the word, and the people would rescue him. Fabio Orsino shouted the 
 same assurance, and instantly there arose a terrific uproar among the 
 masses, which was silenced as if by magic when the friar waved his hand 
 to claim attention, and spoke. 
 
 "Savonarola!" he exclaimed, and paused to satisfy himself that there 
 was a silence — and a breathless one indeed reigned over the whole 
 crowded mass — "Savonarola failed in the ordeal which he invoked, for 
 his heart was broken by the ingratitude of the people whom he had saved, 
 and his spirit quailed under sore temptations of the flesh ! 1 have taught 
 his doctrines among ye, — what 1 have done I have done, — but whether 
 by inspiration of a god or of a fiend, I know not, and will now set at rest 
 for ever and for ever. Your love supports me— my sinews shrink not — 
 my spirit is resolved ; and if my cause be heaven's, let heaven now give 
 me a sign, and restore peace to my warring spirit, or prevent me from 
 leading mankind astray to the flames of hell, mistaking them for the distant 
 light of paradise! Therefore, kindle the pile! I will pass through the 
 flames, and the earth and my own heart shall believe in my mission ; or 
 let them devour me even to my ashes, that not a laintof my existence may 
 remain upjin her breast ! Tric-troc !— kindle the flames!" 
 
 "0, my master, my master! my light! my glory! I beseech thee have 
 mercy upon thyself!" said Fra Biccocco, in an agony of grief; but it 
 seemed as if the populace attached some extraordinary meaning to the 
 unknown sounds uttered by the monk, and they unanimously murmured 
 to one another, "Tric-troc!" in low, awe-struck, and inquirmg tones. 
 
 " What wouklst thou have, faithful brother?" said Fra Bruno, with a 
 momentary faltering in his tone. "What has life any longer for me? 
 Dost thou grudge me the expiation which may redeem my soul? ordeem- 
 est thou that it is belter to rot in the dull earth than to mingle essences 
 with the pure, rational, and sublime spirit of fire! " 
 
 " Let him pass through the ordeal, and I will believe — yea. give up the 
 duke and his sorceress to yourvei geance," said Migueloto, with a strange 
 mixture of tloubt and mockery in his tones. 
 
 " It shall not be ! — let us rescue him by force !" exclaimed Sir Reginald ; 
 but Fabio Orsino himself shared in the general delirium of superstition, and 
 
•C^SAR BORGIA, 455 
 
 baring his bead, replied, " Nay. in God's name, let us abide the event." 
 The populace by their shouls and murmurs gave assent to Ibis conclu- 
 sion, and even the once gibing dwarf, Pascbino, who was close to the 
 pile, with an inarticulate murmur, for be bad lost bis tongue. Migueloto's 
 guardsmen then hastily set fire to the faggots, while the Dominican knelt, 
 and was for some moments engaged in rapt prayer, and ibe whole mul- 
 titude looked on in silent and terrific expectation. The pile was soon in 
 one vast pyramidal glow of flames and fiery smoke ; Fra Bruno arose, 
 embraced his faithful coadjutor, gave one steady look upwards to the 
 sun, crossed himself and rushed into the flames. Those whose horror 
 permitted them to continue gazing, beheld bis dark and lofty form stand 
 for an instant on the flaming summit of the pile, with its arms stretched 
 upward : — an universal shout of triumph arose ! But the next moment and 
 he bad sunk in the centre of the pile, into the raging furnace, which 
 instantaneously enveloped him in its flames. 
 
 " Rescue I save the madmani"' cried Le Beaufort, but no man echoed 
 him, nor seconded him in the attempt which he made to tear down the 
 fiery pile and rescue the unfortunate ordealist, when his attention was 
 suddenly attracted by Bampton's cry of " Beware^ — treason I" and the old 
 man darted before his lord just in time to receive in his own breast a 
 pointed instrument which Migueloto had aimed at Le Beaufort, and which 
 imnjediatcly opened like a fan with a dozen edges in the wound. Finding 
 that his treacherous project bad failed in its object, Migueloto echoed the 
 cry of " Treason!" and shouted to his horsemen to return to Santangelo. 
 But fast as he rode, Le Beaufort burst through the ranks of hit men, and ■ 
 overtook him alone on the bridge of .Santangelo. The castellain seemed 
 in no humour to face bis enraged follower, and bis horse, affrighted with 
 the rider's terror and spurred to madness, leaped the balustrade of the 
 bridge, and rolled over and over with Migueloto down an abutment until 
 both reached the river— a mingled mass of gore and bruises ! Panic- 
 struck, and pursued by Fabio and the Orsini, Miiueloto's band rushed 
 past without venturing to assail the victor, and were driven into .Santangelo; 
 but whether luckily or not for himself, the wounded castellain was rescued 
 from the water by some fishermen, and consigned as a prisoner of the 
 state to the dungeons of the Capitol, preserved wiih difficulty from the 
 unabated fury of the Orsini, to obtain a confession of his master's crimes 
 and projects. 
 
 Bampton died in the arms of bis young lord, in a few hours after he bad 
 received bis wound, without being able to utter r. single articulate sound, 
 excepting once, '•Home, home!" which were the last sounds breathed 
 from his lacerated lungs, adding in bis death a bitter item to Le Beaufort's 
 oath of vengeance. 
 
 Meanwhile the fanaticism of the people took a new turn, and convinced 
 by his failure of their prophet's falsehood. Ihev surrounded the furnace, 
 and permitted no one to approach until the whole was reduced to ashes; 
 and it is said that not even a bone remained in the heap to reward the 
 pious search of Biccocco, and some other devotees whose faith remained 
 unshaken. 
 
 The Sacred College now laboured to restore some peace to the city, 
 that it might proceed to the election of a new pontiff"; but finding that 
 ■while the armies of the different factions were in possession of Rome it 
 ■was utterly impossible, in concurrence with the ambassadors of all the 
 European powers, they determined on a measure of vigour. They de- 
 
45G C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 croc(] thnt Caesar, tlie Orsini, and tlio Colonnns pbnuld loavelhc city wilh 
 all llicir troops ; and as iho Prcnch armv was already at Nopi, and ihe 
 Spaniards on the frontiers of Naples, and both tiireaiened to nniie lor the 
 purpose of executing the order, none of the factions dared to disobey. 
 Caesar in vain alleged his infirm health-, the Orsini and Colonnas refused to 
 leave the city unless ho was also compelled to quit it-, and moreover he 
 found himself rapidly deserted by bis best soldiers, for Prospero Colonna 
 published acomrnand from the Kings of Spain, recalling all their subjects 
 to their own standard in Maples. 
 
 A convention was made and sworn to by the chiefs of the factions, and 
 by all with great reluctance, reserving to themselves ihe hope and the in- 
 tention ot revenge, but indnced by the advantage of removing (>a;sar from 
 Rome, where bis |)ower might overawe the conclave into chuosmg a new 
 ponlilfin his interest But though Fabio was compelled to retire to Brac- 
 ciano, Le l!eaufon still Imgered with some v;igue expectation of an o|)por- 
 tumty of vengeance arising — when Jo his astonishruent and anger Caesar 
 bimself demanded that he should h;ive the care of the gate at which he 
 was to leave the city, declaring that he would trust in no other. At first 
 Le Beaufort utterly refused the request ; but a thought occured to him, and 
 he complied at the reiterated entreaties of the coum^il, with intent in 
 some measure to give vent to the loathing and hatred which filled his 
 soul. 
 
 Accordingly he witnessed the departure of the Borgia-, and escorted by 
 tbirieen piee«"s of artillery, and the potent body of kalian soldiery who 
 still rem-Hined true to him, Caesar came — no longer as a chieftain and a 
 warrior, but borne upon a litter by iwelveuf his halberdiers, who relieved 
 each other at intervals, and closely curtained from observation. A war- 
 horse was indeed led beside the couch by a page in a dark livery, who, 
 when Sir Reginald demnnded to speak with the duke, s|)urredin between 
 them, and incpiired his pur|)Ose with fierceness, at the same time plucking 
 his hat over his brows, and raising an axe which he carried, as if he 
 thought it possible to resist any int(>nlion against his master which the 
 stalwart Knglish knight might have formed. But finding that ihe retinue 
 looked at the page as if awaiting his commands, Le Beaufort briefly replied 
 by handing his gauntlet to the youth, and desiring him to inform his lord 
 tliat he challenged him to mortal combat, as a disloyal traitor, murderer, 
 and recreant. 
 
 '' Keep it, keep thy gauntlet; it is in vain, be cannot answer Ibce," re- 
 turned -(Tie page, mournfully. "He but remembers at far intervals— the 
 mighty mind is shattered even with its fabric, and no pillar remains to 
 prop his falling fortunes!— Content you, knight, content you." 
 
 But as he sjmke Caesar himself drew the curtain of his litter, and glaring 
 full with mad dt fiance and ferocity at his enemy— "• Fiamma, give iimel" 
 he said, stretching his wiihercd hand. ""Give it me — and I will live, if 
 it be but for vengeance on this slave that bath destroyed an empire!" 
 
 Le Beaufort was so struck with the horrible siieclacle which his enemy 
 now presented, his fine visage bloated out of all comeliness, his whole 
 body covered with black sores, that he made no reply, and stood motion- 
 less'al the gate until the procession had vanished out of sight. 
 
 Thus b Milked of his revenge, hopeless, and still consumed by a vain 
 passion, but unable to prevail upon himself to return to his native land and 
 fulfil his contract with his cousin, the Lady Alice, in an hour of niter de- 
 E^pondency the remembrance of his parting words to Lucrezia struck Sir 
 
tMSKR BORGIA. 45/ 
 
 Roginald so forcibly, that in spite of every remonstrance of reason and his 
 family he sent back the remnant of his archers to England, with aresigna- 
 lion of his [pretensions to the lads's hand, and an aniiounceriH^nl of his de- 
 termination to enter into the order of the Knights Hns[iiiallers of St John. 
 With this dfterminatinn he left Rome, embarked for Rhodes, which was 
 then the chief possession of the knights, and enrolled himself to serve his 
 novitiate. 
 
 After a lapse of time, however, disgusted by the dissolulion which 
 reigned in the order, and moved by the entreaties of his aged parents, Le 
 Beaufort changed his resolve. Rut he was finally determined by an event 
 which renewed his longing to revenge his own wrongs and the death of 
 his ujifortunate friend, Paolo Orsino. 
 
 The declension of (Caesar's fortunes was asrapidas their rise, principally 
 owing to a decay of mind, which continued after the corporeal effects of 
 the poison were over, and rendered him a victim of thearis which he had 
 himself so long practised. The wrath of his enemies was for awhile ap- 
 peased by beholding him gradually stripped of all his power and posses- 
 sions, until finally the treachery of the Spaniards completed his ruin, who 
 rid Italy of his presence by sending him in captivity into their own country. 
 There he was imprisoned for two years in the Casile of .Medina del Campo ; 
 but the exertions of a faithfii page who shared his captivity, and who pro- 
 cured him a rope, by which he lowered himself from the tower in which 
 he was imprisoned, and had horses in readiness for his flight below, 
 enabled him to rj)ake his escape into Navarre, where the king, his brother- 
 in law, received him with open arms. In the wars in which this prince 
 was engaged with his vassals, Caesar began to revive his ancient reputa- 
 tion for military valour and success; and it was these tidings which de- 
 termined Le Reaufort to relinquish his intention of remaining in the order 
 of the Knights of St. John, at Rhodes. 
 
 Animated by an unceasing desire for vengeance, he journeyed through 
 France to Navarre, and arrived at the city of Vienne, which was besieged 
 by the King of Navarre and Caesar Rorgia, where he entered the service of 
 its prince as a volunteer. The arrival of the renowned knight of England 
 infused such courage into the besieged, who were scarcely inferior in 
 number to their assailants, that it was determined to try the fortune of a 
 sally. A general battle was the result, in which the Viennese were routed; 
 and Caesar, urging on the pursuit with great imjietuosity, suddenly found his 
 path crossed by a knight in the detested and ominous weeds of St. John. 
 
 Sir Reuinald shouted aloud, " Caesar R )rgia, i am come lo redeem my 
 gauntlet!' and pausing for a moment until he thought that his enemy had 
 time lo prepare himself, he set his lance and drove full tilt at him. But 
 Caesar seemed suddenly struck with powerlessness ; and though Le Bean- 
 fort could not check his own career, he felt that the Borgia's lance touched 
 his breast as if scarcely held, while his own shivered the armour of his 
 antagonist, arid entered as deep as the head, and tearing nway, left a large 
 wound from which the blood rushed in a torrent And yet Caesar sat his 
 steed for an instant of desperate endurance, and then fell backward from 
 the saddle into the arms of a page, who had closely followed his lord's 
 advance, sprang from his hors(' when the encounter took [)laee, and ar- 
 rived only in time to receive him falling. The weiuht of the duke and 
 his armour crushed down the fiiihful attendant with himself, and Sir Re- 
 ginald dismounted to render assistance. When he arrived at his fallen 
 antagonist, the page had removed his helmet, and he had raised himself 
 
458 C^SAR BORGIA. 
 
 on his elbow, continuing to glare fixedly at him, while the page dis- 
 tractedly endeavoured to stanch the ^ore which flowed from his lar^e 
 wound. 
 
 '•Peace, peace, Fiamma — it Is in vain! See you, he has come for 
 me I" said Caesar, in a low, horror-stricken tone. " It is Francesco I'' 
 
 '"Trait'jrl I am Regiinld le Beaufoi'l, who have repaid thee thus for 
 all diy felonies, grieved only that thuu diest not a felun's death," said Le 
 Beaufort. 
 
 " Sir Reginald le Beaufort I— Nay, then, if thou art human — if thou 
 art hel— Fiamma, give me way?" and dashing aside the hand with 
 which she pressed a scarf to his wound, Caesar sprang, as it sqeraed by 
 a sujjernatural effort, upright on his feet to encounter his foe, aud al- 
 most simultaneously fell dead beside the kneeling Colonna. The shriek 
 wiih which she beheld the bleeding carcass whiten as she endea- 
 voured again to raise the head, rang through Le Beaufort's memory in 
 many an after year ! 
 
 "But the approach of a party of Navarrese horsemen compelled the 
 English knight to look to his own safety, and to retire into the walls of 
 Vienne, leaving the page stretched senseless on the breast of her too-well 
 loved and ferocious lord. 
 
 We find it on record, that by the cares of a faithful attendant, who 
 watched over the body of Csesar until assistance came, it was conveyed 
 to Pamplona, and buried wiih honours suitable to illustrious rank ; and 
 men were somewhat moved to consider the operations of divine justice, 
 and the marvellous turns of fate, when they beheld all thai remained of 
 that ambitious and high-soaring existence buried as a mangled and van- 
 quished soldier m the cathedral of which, in his youth, he had been a 
 peaceful archbishop— if such a nature had ever in reality known peace. 
 
 Of the fate of that most faithful and most fortuneless paramour, who 
 alone had remained true to him in every vicissitude, little is known with 
 certainly, unless the conjecture of our chronicler is well founded, that she 
 was identical wiih a pilgrim who visited nearly all the celebrated shrines 
 of Europe, to oft'er prayer, and cause unnumbered masses to be said for 
 the redemption of the soul of Caesar Borgia, Duke of Ilomagna ; and who 
 died at Jc^^pa, of the plague, on her way to visit the Holy Sepulchre with 
 a similar intent. 
 
 Concerning ihe farther fortunes of Sir Reginald le Beaufort, the most 
 diligent researches furnish us only with a few meagre facts. Undoubtedly 
 he was the '• potent and nol)le English knight. Sire Reginaldus," who ne- 
 gotiated the peace between the King of Navarre and his vassal, the Prince 
 of Vienne. We also know with certainty, at least with genealogical cer- 
 tainty, that the founder of the Le Beaufort family married his cousin, the 
 Lady Alicia de Beaufort, in the year which closed the career of (Isesar 
 Borgia, and that he had three sons and one daughter, called Lucretia: and 
 thai, at a subsequent period, he so zealously aided Henry VI IL in his Re- 
 formation labours, that not the least portion of the I.e lieaufort estates at 
 the present day consists in the tliree abbeys which, ib.eir ancestor acquired 
 as a reward for Ids services in restoring the church to her apostolic 
 poverty. 
 
C^SAR BORGIA. 450 
 
 Of the minor personages of the chronicle, it is known that Caesar's 
 getiernl, Don Migucloto, was for many years imprisoned in Sanlangelo, 
 and several liiiu-s sul)jecied to the torture, tn make him discover where the 
 riches of his lord and the plunder of the Vatican were concealed. It is 
 said that he persevered to the last in refusing to divulge this secret; and 
 although the manner of l)is death is not clearly known, there are not 
 warning ohscure reports that he perished with a soldier whom he had cor- 
 rupted, endeavouring to find his way to the subterraneous vault where the 
 sorceress, Fianima Colonna, had deposited the treasures of the Borgias, and 
 where they ^stili await a finder. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 i'AlUS.— PRINTED BV FAIN AND TOUNOT, 
 Rue Racine, 2;-, near ihe Odeon. 
 
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