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Rest to the weeping eye!
Rest to the frequent sigh!
Life in its store has no pleasure-
No balm that can heal or soothe
The heart torn in early youth
From all that it deem'd its treasure.

Rest to the bleeding heart!
Soon may it pluck the dart
From its deep wound for ever!
Tranquil as him it mourn'd,
Soon inay it lie inurn'd

Where grief can awaken it never.

"I suspect," said Stiatta Uberti, when the voices ceased, "I suspect that these young men have, not very long since, served in the Ghibelline army. For that song was rather a common one among the troops when I was with them, and was written on the fate of the three Torelli-handsome, gallant young fellows, sons of a widow lady of Pisa, who were subaltern officers in one of our corps, and were great favourites with us. But one of them was killed in a skirmish with the Milanese; another died of the camp fever; and the third, who was engaged to a beautiful girl in his native city, and had obtained leave to visit her and his mother, was unhappily drowned on his journey, in attempting to cross the ford of the Lambro one stormy evening. The body was found, and we detached a party to bury it with due honours."

"That ford of the Lambro is an ugly spot at night and in bad weather," observed one of the Ubaldini. "We were very uneasy about the Emperor Frederic when he crossed it that dark night in 1212, when forcing his way to Aix-la-Chapelle to receive the imperial crown."

"Were you in the escort that night?" asked Uberti.

"I was," replied Ubaldini; “and that was the only time I ever chanced to see the Emperor's favourite, Captain Bastiani; if, indeed, I could be said to have seen him by dim lantern light."

Imma, who from her secluded life had heard but little of public events, showed some curiosity respecting Frederic's passage of the Lambro, and Ubaldini related it for her gratification :

many.

"When Otho, the rival Emperor, was in Germany_contesting the imperial crown, Frederic's faithful partisans in Pavia, Cremona, and the Marquisate of Montferrat, called on him to oppose Otho in person, and engaged to defend him on his route to GerThe Guelphs throughout Lombardy took up arms to intercept his passage after he had arrived at Genoa; but he avoided them and reached Pavia. The Guelphs made an incursion into the country of the Pavesans, but were met by the Ghibelline troops, and defeated with great loss. In that action Captain Bastiani, who had accompanied the Emperor, gained

great glory. I was not on the field, but I heard from all that the success of the Ghibellines was attributable to the manner in which Bastiani, then scarcely twenty-two years old, filled an important command. His conduct and the discipline of his men were worthy of a veteran commander; and after the engagement his humanity to the prisoners and wounded was equally conspicuous with his courage and abilities.

"The Milanese posted an army along the shores of the Lambro to intercept the Emperor. And though Azo d'Este* advanced towards Cremona to meet Frederic, still the escort of Azo with that of the Pavesans was not strong enough to force the passage in the face of the Milanese; but Frederic, to whose cause delay was dangerous, determined on attempting, under cover of darkness, a dangerous and therefore undefended ford of the Lambro. I had been ordered with some of Azo's men to await the Emperor at the ford. The night was so dark, and Frederic and his guard advanced so cautiously, that we were not aware of them till they were close upon us. Bastiani was riding beside the Emperor, muffled up in his military cloak; and when they began to examine the ford by the light of lanterns that we had prepared but concealed, as soon as Bastiani learned the dangerous nature of the passage, he entreated, besought, almost insisted with his imperial master to be permitted to make the first trial of it. His voice was very sweet and earnest, and his manner that of a most loving and respectful subject. Frederic's opposition was overcome by Bastiani's carnestness, and the latter, having received directions from the guide, spurred his horse into the dark sullen waters with a small lantern in his hand. We heard the plunge, and anxiously watched the small ray of the lantern lessening in distance; and Frederic grew angry with himself for acceding to the desire of his favourite, whom he could no longer trace through the thick black night gloom. The Emperor paced up and down the shore of the river, peering through the darkness and calling on Florestan in a tone quite at variance with a secret expedition, and entreating him

to return.

"At length the dim small ray again began to twinkle through the deep night gloom; it approached; we heard the faint gurgling of the swimming horse; we saw a dark object, and Florestan landed in safety, and Frederic threw himself on his neck as if greeting one restored from the dead. And then the guide entered the river; some of the escort followed; and Frederic plunged in, with Bastiani close beside him, guiding the Emperor's horse and speaking cheerfully to its rider. I was in the rear

*The House of Este was Guelph; but when the Pope became favourable to Frederic II., the Marquis Azo VI. espoused his cause; but he dying soon after, his son Azo VII. supported Guelph politics.

guard and did not see them again, though I proceeded to Cre mona in the Emperor's train.

Returning with the Pavesans, we met the Milanese, and a skirmish ensued, in which we were defeated and the greater part of our men taken prisoners, and I received a wound the effects of which keep me at home here invalided for the present. But I sincerely believe that, had Bastiani been with us on our return, we should not have sustained an overthrow from the Milanese." "Poor Bastiani!" said Uberti, "all his gallantry came to a sad termination. What bewitched him to commit sacrilege?"

"However much," said Amidei, "we must condemn the mad and criminal act which at last cost Bastiani so dear, we must admit that he was once-in his better days-a beautiful specimen of genuine loyalty. And one reason why I am a Ghibelline, and prefer a monarchical to a republican government for Florence, is, that monarchy has given birth to that excellent feeling loyalty, which combines in one word all that is high-minded, courageous, disinterested, loving, and faithful."

"And cannot loyalty exist in a republic under the form of love of country?" asked Buondelmonte.

Amidei replied, "They are not both the same thing. We say a man is loyal to his sovereign, he is devoted to his country; common parlance makes a distinction. Love of country, in a republican sense, often, I think, comprehends love of self as an important part of that country. It has, besides, something wide and vague in its import. But loyalty must have a definite and sensible object towards which it turns with a settled, unselfish, holy love. In republics love of country sometimes leads men, it is true, to actions which are called grand and sublime, but which still have in them a dash of austerity and ferocity-something of the spirit of heathen Rome; but the deeds inspired by genuine loyalty are befitting the courtesy and courage of a Christian knight."

"I believe, good Almanno," said Buondelmonte, "I could read you records of a rude and ferocious loyalty."

"No," said Almanno Amidei, "not of genuine loyalty, but of some specious pretender to the name."

"I will not dispute it with you now," said Buondelmonte gaily; "for all good Ghibelline as you are, you show great want of loyalty to these fair ladies in thus keeping them waiting. Allow my gallantry, base Guelph though I be, to set an example to yours.'

And he ran to open the spacious door for the mingled groups of ladies and their cavaliers, and himself escorted the Donati to their Palazzo.

BEHIND THE SCENES;1

OR,

THE INVISIBLE DRAMAS OF HUMAN LIFE.

I HAVE said, I believe, that Riponneau had a low brow, and hair planted on his head in a stiff and brush-like manner, and I added, that his features imparted to him an air of obstinacy. Well, this appearance was by no means deceitful. No longer able to deny the misfortune, he sought to justify it, and he set about his task somewhat after this fashion:

"Faith," said he, "if they are unhappy, they justly deserve it." "Bah!" said the old man.

T

"When one commits similar acts, and then receives the chastisement, that is logical. I pity them, that's all; and certainly I should not desire to be in their place. Besides, their misfortunes have depended upon an accident which might not have happened, in which case nothing would have troubled their felicity. Now look here, for example: there is M. Domen; that man has most certainly committed more than one fault during his life, and faults which the world seldom or ever pardons. Well, because he is rich, because he has name and talent, all is overlooked. He is admired, applauded even, for what would cause the shame and despair of another; he is happy, and I cannot see anything to disturb that happiness. It cannot be, most certainly, the discovery of his false position; for, far from striving to conceal or even extenuate it, he makes it his pride and glory."

"Ah!" said his old neighbour, "you envy that, and you are not singular in your opinion. In fact, he has sought glory and fortune in the arts, and he has found them. He has loved a married woman, and he has audaciously carried her off from her husband; and, more audacious still, he has silenced this husband by threatening to unmask all the hideous atrocities by means of which this man compelled a good, a noble, a charming woman to fly from his roof and bestow herself on another. He has not stopped here; he has taken this woman under his protection, he has openly proclaimed his love, his adoration, his respect for her; and the world-world-like-bas respected this woman in proportion as he has shown his respect for her; they have said that she could not inspire similar sentiments did she not merit them; and by degrees this liaison has been tolerated by all-admitted often. And as wealth accompanies it, if Domen chose to throw open his house, all the great artists, all the most celebrated men in Paris, would press into his saloons. When he travels, he is received like a king; they fête him, they compliment him, and this woman shares with him all his happiness and glory."

"Well, monsieur," said Riponneau, "these people are happy, I hope;

1 Concluded from page 93.`

and you have painted their felicity in traits which are not exaggerated, most certainly, and against which you have, most probably, nothing to urge."

"Their happiness!" said the old man, with an accent of peculiar bitterness; "their happiness!" repeated he. "Oh yes, the surface is fair, beautiful, I grant you. But tear aside the veil, penetrate beneath this outward surface which they present to the world, and you will find the wound-the bleeding, painful, gangrened, and incurable wound. You envy this existence? Ask rather for abject poverty, misery, hunger."

"How so-how so?" inquired Riponneau, eagerly.

"You said just now that it was an accident that caused the misfortune of M. and Madame de Crivelin, and if this accident had not occurred, they would have been happy in spite of their fault; let the cause disappear-let Marsilly die, for instance-and all their happiness returns. Very possible. But in this happiness which you now envy, this happiness of M. Domen and his beautiful mistress Madame de Montes, misery is a constant guest that never for a moment quits them. It is seated at their table; it ascends with them into their carriage; it watches by their bed side; it is with them at every hour, at every moment of their lives. Pride covers with its purple mantle the wound of the two victims, but it ever bleeds."

"Yes, yes," said Mark Anthony, "these are very pretty phrases, I grant you; but without personally knowing M. Domen, I see some men who are almost always with him, and who would find it a very difficult matter to tell you in what way misfortune reaches him. On the contrary, I hear nothing but exclamations upon all sides of the extraordinary good fortune which seems to attend everything he undertakes. In what way, then, is he unfortunate?”

"In every way; he is not unfortunate as you understand the word, but all is misery for him."

"Come, come."

"All; and what is more frightful is, that misery reaches him through the lowest as well as the highest doors."

"Ah, bah!"

"Listen; one day he was invited to a ball with Madame de Montes to the house of some friends, who, having penetrated the secret of his liaison, had pardoned it, and felt even courageous enough to protect it in the eyes of the world. Madame de Montes entered and took her place without anything occurring that might indicate the slightest show of disapprobation. They danced; but when the country-dance was over, the two women who had previously been seated on either side of Madame de Montes, did not again take their places, and she remained inclosed in this void, exposed in this silken pillory. The ball continued, no one asked her to dance; Domen would not accept this lesson either for himself or her, and led her to a set which was then forming. No one appeared irritated, but their vis-a-vis feigned having been deceived in her place, and glided gently to one side. This piece of insolence came from a woman who had had twenty lovers, but whose husband was present in the room. In short, had it not been for a young man of eighteen, and his partner a girl of fifteen, who, seeing a vacant place,

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