UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS c^'/e^ Y^ 2^ CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is responsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped belo^\-. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 1 6B of Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champoign U I- When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. LI 62 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " A woman's fate lies in a cloud 'Twixt heaven and earth." Unpublished Play. There is a lesson in every Ufe, and warning in too many. Capt. Mary ait's Poor jAck. BIANCA CAPPELLO AN HISTOBICAL ROMANCE. LADY LYTTON BULWER, AUTHOR OF " CHEVELEY." IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. L LONDON: EDWARD BULL, PUBLISHER, 19, HOLLES STREET. 1843. A? > BIANCA CAPPELLO, CHAPTER I. " My masters, are you mad ? or what are you ? Have j'ou no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night ? " — Shakspeare. " Give place ye lovers here, before, That spent your boasts and brags in vain ; My lady's beauty passeth more The best of yours I dare well faine. Then doth the sun the candle light, Or brightest day the darkest night." Lord Surrey. " The Bucentoro to a ducat, fair sirs, but I'll prove it; or there shall be a coffin the more and a man the less in Venice, before yon moon be many hours older," said the foremost of a gay set of cavalieri, who were disembarking at a bridge, where now stands the Rialto, on a fine night of the carnival in the year 1560. VOL. I. B 9 2 lilANCA CAPPELLO. " Methinks thy wager is none of the fairest, Pietro, considering there might be a diflicuhy in getting our good old doge Pi-iuli to lay the odds, for a doge without a bucentoro would be like a snail without a shell, a woman ^rithout a tongue, a Frenchman without vanity, or any other lusus natur(Rr " Borgia is right," said a third speaker ; " so, till we can put it to the vote, let us toss up for it at the Taverna delle tre Grazie : beauty, you know, is all a toss-up in this world, and generally depends upon the die of opinion for its cuiTency." " Is it a match, Signori '^ " cried the first speaker, withdrawing a well-filled purse from his girdle, and shaking it above his head. " Yes, yes — ^agreed !" replied all the young men simultaneously ; " and now to tlie Tre Grazie "' " Softly," said Ernesto Vasi, the young noble who had proposed leaving fate to decide, by a cast of the die, the dispute in question — " softly ; it should be somewhere here about that the father of one of the donzelle, honest Giovanni Ferrai, plies his glittering trade ; but what are the frail chains that he makes, com- pared to the ponderous ones his fair daughter, the peerless, Arianna forges !" " Prithee, sweet friend," laughed Filippo Borgia, gently laying liis hand upon the young BIANCA CAPPELLO. 3 man's shoulder, " quell that humcane of love, or your sighs may chance to blow good Master Giovanni's shop off the bridge into the sea, and so leave the corse of the fair Arianna, like a priceless gem, to deck Priuli's ancient bride, the Adriatic." " Ha ! " cried Vasi, heedless of his Mend's banter, " it is no hour for purchases, and yet, by the soul of vSan Antonio, yonder issues a cavaliero from Ferrai's I " " Certes," responded Borgia, follo\\ing with his eye the direction in which Ernesto pointed, " and despite all the masks in Venice, that cloak and walk should belong to none other but Vittorio Cappello, the brother of our second Venus — or rather Bonaventuri's, for he plays the Paris to Bianca's charms more than any of us. Ho, Cappello !" continued he, springing forward, and touching with the hilt of his rapier the back of a person who was walking rapidly, yet stealthily, in the shade, on the other side of the bridge, " we know you, great sir, notwith- standing the disguise you would put between us and yom' nobility, which nathless needs your countenance just now, for what think you of the precedence of its brightest gem being staked upon the juggle of a die, against a pretty bit of plebeian flesh and blood r The mooted point is this : if beauty versus beauty again should run B 2 4 BIANCA CAPPELLO. a tilt, who'd gain the prize — Bianca Cappello, or her fair foster-sister, Arianna Ferrai ? We're for San Mai'c's, to decide the matter by a cast of the die at the Tre Grazie, and whichever fortune favours, she shall bear the palm, despite all sepa- rate judgments." " Well met ! — a right sapient mode of deciding so critical a matter. Why, Solomon was a Midas to you in point of wisdom, sirs," said the haughty young patrician, pausing in his onward course, and turning back with apparent alacrity to join the group of cavalieri, while his mask effectually concealed his lowering brow and sharply bitten nether lip ; and the slight symp- tom of iiTitability that might have been dis- cernible in the hasty twitch with which he aiTanged his collar, was so completely merged in the bland and habitual dissembling of his manner, that none observed it; for, young as he was, Vittorio Cappello was one of those reversed characters that may be styled " Nature's diplomatists," whose hearts are grey while their years are green, and whose very infancy is never guilty of that superstition of noble minds — a belief in the existence of virtue. " You cannot expect," continued he, " that I should let slip my dragons of cliivalry to cham- pion my sister's charms, so I must perforce take the other side ; but still, I'll see fair play BIANCA CAPPELLO. 5 by Bianca. How stand the suffrages ? Which scale preponderates? that fair Giglio* Arianna and her father's gold, or my queen-like sister and the blood of the Cappellos ? " Nay," said Borgia, " had Chance, that un- disceming god of this world, inscribed you in the book of fate as lover instead of brother, you must on this occasion hear the truth, so in all courtesy be it spoken, Arianna is in the ascendant — or would be, but for the valour of one true knight, whose hot tempestuous zeal outweighs a whole toiumament of ordinary cham- pions." " Ah, is it so ? " bowed Cappello. " By what name then may I admire so much discrimina- tion and gallantr}^ ? " " By a marvellous good name, for the latter calling. Pietro Bonaventuri ! — stand forth, man, and receive the tribute of your liege lady's next a-kin,"said Borgia, playfully, pushing the yoimg man into the middle of the narrow street they were traversing in their way to San Marc's. " Surprise must circle my thanks, replied young Cappello, with a withering hauteur of tone, that even his wonted simulation could not soften, "for I was not aware that the Signor Pietro Bonaventuri had even seen my sister /" * Lily. t> BIANCA CAPPELLO. " Nothing more natural," said Vasi, good- naturedly; "you forget that the Casa Salviati adjoins the Palazzo Cappello — nay, that the orange blossoms of the one garden intermingle with those of the other, and kiss over the wall in the prettiest manner imaginable, while the very same bee makes love to them both — a sad example, by the bye, for us discreet young men ; — but if you do forget this, surely you cannot forget the glittering ducats in good Master Salviati's counting house, so often tendered to you by the respectable hands of Signor Baptista Bonaventuri, our friend Pietro's uncle ; and you might as well expect a man to be three years in Venice, and not have heard of the inquisition, or seen San Marc's, as to have lived next door to your fair sister for a year, and not have seen her. Is it not so, Pietro ? " " As you say, Ernesto," replied Bonaventuri, with as much acrimonious hauteur as CappeDo had used in addressing him ; " but though / may not presume to boast of my acquaintance with so noble a lady, yet my glove was more fortunate, for at the fete given a month back by the French ambassador, it had the honour of touching hers in the Volta several times." Cappello, who, like all proud, or, more pro- perly speaking, arrogant people, had a propor- tionate counterpoise of meanness, much as he BIANCA CAPPELLO. 7 despised the banker, by no means despised the bank, and as Salviati was in those days the Rothschild of Europe, and Baptista Bona- venturi his factotum — by an alchymy of reason- ing, which was instantaneous in transmuting contempt into policy — he remembered that if the uncle was obstinate, as he often was in advancing repeated loans, the nephew might be made a very usefiil agent, if well managed and duly played up to, in obtaining the mer- cantile dross of which his aristocratic necessities stood so often in need : therefore, no sooner had Pietro concluded his nettled reply, than, with a frankness that would have baffled the most microscopic powers of penetration, and a voice of the most silvery sweetness, he hastily pulled off his glove, and extending his hand to Bonaventuri, said — " Signor Pietro, the regard I have for your worthy uncle makes me feel that my hand has some right to improve upon the acquaintance that my sister's glove commenced." Bonaventuri was not deceived by this sudden display of fiiendship on the part of the pro- verbially haughtiest noble in Venice, but it suited his purpose to affect to be so : as in the point of self-control, where his o\Nai interest or wishes were concerned, he was as gi-eat an adept as Cappello ; and he had not studied commerce 8 BIANCA CAPPELLO. under such a gran maestro as Salviati, without duly registering in that most accurate of ledgers — ^liis memory — a debtor and creditor account of all the insults he received and apparently endured from the young Venetian nobles, who suffered his companionship for the sake of the ducats he contrived to supply them with, and which, in a measure, reconciled them to the young merchant's singularly handsome person and fascinating address, which otherwise they would have found, and even as it was often did find, marvellously inconvenient and detrimental in many of their schemes and adventures. " To be hand in glove with a Cappello, is too much honour for the ignoble Tuscan blood of a Bonaventuri," said the Florentine, with a slight tone of sarcasm, as he received Vittorio's prof- fered hand. " Nay, good Pietro, merit makes the man, whatever patents of nobility the accident of birth may confer ; and so generous a spirit as common fame awards thee, enrols thee at once among the, highest nobles — those of Nature's making : so prithee no more heraldry between us ; and if you have the courage to brave the step-mother hospitahty of the Palazzo Cappello, let us be friends." " * Good wine needs no bush,' says the pro- verb," said Borgia; " and all Venice knows that BIANCA CAPPELLO. 9 of the Casa Cappello to be excellent ; but your worthy padrone, Signor Bartolomeo, seemed to think that such choice beverage did need a bramble, to prevent the profanum vulgus mak- ing too free with it, or he never would have set up the sign of your illustrious step -mother, the Signora Elena." " It must be confessed," laughed Vittorio, still directing all his attention to Bonaventuri, " that the very worst flask of damaged Alcatico in your native city you woidd find nectar, compared to my step-dame's looks, which seem the result of the combined influences of daggers and crab- apples." " Mind your heads — mind your heads, Signori ! — that is, keep them out of my way, for I hate empty compliments," cried a scara- muccia — who was whisking about two bladders at the end of a stick — as they turned into the Piazzo San Marco, and found themselves in the thick of the masks. " Heads ! who talks of heads r" said a tall figure, dressed as a magician, with a long white beard at the end of his mask, a conical cap, a long violet-coloured robe, studded with golden stars, a girdle composed of the signs of the zodiac, and a small stuffed serpent, which he twisted about in his hand — " Who wants them may choose, for here is a goodly show. B 3 10 BIANCA CAPPELLO. Some are made to be broken — others to be crowned — -some few to think, and many to be tm-ned ; but here is one," continued the figure, Hghtly raising the plume of Bonaventuri's hat with the head of the seii^ent, " that will be thought of some value ere long, and fetch more ducats than its owner ever could command." " A merry varlet and a shrewd one ; for, by Plutus ! Pietro, he guesses your calling, and foretels you will rise in it," said Borgia. " Ah I is it so, friend ?" said Bonaventuri to the figure. " Tune your prophecy in that key, for I am fond of rising, provided it be not early o' mornings — ha ! ha ! ha 1 But when, how, and where will my humble cranium become of such value ?" " Sciocco ! know you not that some men's heads die with more decorations than they are bom with .?" muttered the figure, who imme- diately mingled with the crowd, and was out of sight in a moment. " Ha ! ha ! ha ! — then by Dian and a quiet life, with such a warning staring me in the face, I'd forswear Hymen altogether, and let him buy his fools at some other market !" cried Cappello. " Who wants to live for ever ?" vociferated a quack doctor — advancing in the centre of a table that was fastened round him, and covered with phials and small boxes — " who wants to live for ever } Let them buy my BIANCA CAPPELLO. 11 apecifico universale! Nor does it stop there: it shai-pens knives, and blunts misfortunes — makes cats honest, and husbands faithful — softens the skin, and hardens the heart — teaches diplomacy to geese, and candour to foxes — makes cavalieros pious, and cardinals gallant — misers generous, and spendthrifts economical — old women young, in their own opinion, and young ones old, in the ways of the world — intoxicates water-drinkers, and makes wine- bibbers sober — closes the ears of inquisitors, while it opens the doors of the inquisition — makes hearts light, and purses hea^y — puts young souls into old bodies, and old heads upon young shoulders I Such is only the mil- lionth part of the merit of the specijico univer- sale, signori ! TVTio'll buy — who'll buy ?" " Dear virgins, take a drop," cried another man, vrixh a basket-full of decanters, containing the veiy self-same white, vapouiy, mysterious- looking fluid that is seen and sold about the streets of Venice to this day. " Gentilette signorine,''' continued he, now holding up a large blown bottle, fidl of iced water — '^ only taste my iced water !" " To the d — 1 with thy cold water — there will be more demand for it there than here," said a Silenus, mounted on a friend's back, who, scorn- ing all masquerading disguises, did duty as an 12 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ass, and brayed himself and his burden safely through the crowd. " Donne ! donne ! chi vi crede ? Women ! women ! — who believes ye ?" sang, to the wiry trillings of a mandolin, a lachrymose looking youth, in a sad-coloured doublet, who had just been beckoned to the other side of the colon- nade by a pretty sylph-like blue domino, who, on his arrival, pushed him into the arms of a very gorgeous representation of his Satanic majesty, and then ran away laughing. " Coraggio, Coraggio, Signor Zerbino, who- ever you be," laughed Cappello, " you are not the first man, and wont be the last by some thousands, who has gone to the d — 1 after a woman." " Here we are, at last, at the Tre Grazie^"* said Bonaventuri ; " and now, Signor Vittorio, your fair sister against the world !" " That is better than the world against my fair sister, at all events." " Pazienza — everything in its turn — and that will come too," said a low, thick voice, with any thing but a Venetian accent " 'Sdeath ! but tliy words shall choke thee for a false -tongued villain !" cried Cappello, plunging his hand in his bosom, drawing out a dagger, and darting hastily round, as a tiger does on its prey. But rapid as his movements were, he BIANCA CAPPELLO. 13 was only in time to perceive the more rapidly retreating figm'e of the magician who had before accosted Bonaventuri. He immediately pur- sued him, as did Bonaventuri, leaving their companions laughing at their folly in the door- way of the tavern. " There — there he goes ! I see the top of his cap !" " Where — which way ? — ^by the Bridge of Sighs, or by the Street of the Canal?" asked Vittorio. " By the Canal," replied his companion — and both redoubled their speed as they turned into one of the many openings on the Piazza that lead into that darkest, and most puzzhng of all labyrinths — the narrow, rectangular, and closely intersected streets of Venice — where they followed on the vague track of rapid footsteps before them. " It strikes me," said Bonaventuri, " that unless the knave hath the d — 1 in his heels as well as his tongue, the footfalls before us are much too light to belong to one of his inches. But it is so plaguy dark here since the moon has got behind yon cloud, that eyes are of no man- ner of use — ears being our only guides." " On— on !" cried Cappello, " for they teU me that whatever is before us will be at the wharf before we can overtake it." 14 BIANCA CAPPELLO. And breathless, and s^\ift as arrows, the two young men himied on till they were stopped by the banier of a small bridge at one of the wharfs, or stairs, just in time to see, by the light of the moon, which at that moment emerged from a cloud, two slight female figures, closely muffled in black dominos, get into the only gondola that was there, and row rapidly away, — not, however, before they heard a very silvery, but provoking peal of laughter at their expense, while the voice of some invisible person within the gondola exclaimed — " Andate casa — get home with ye !" — fling- ing, at the same time, a bunch of flowers at Bonaventuri's head, much after the fashion that some "desperately minded" individuals fling stones at poor dogs who follow them against their will. " Nay, by the mass ! but the adventure is yom*s," said Cappello — not over and above good humouredly — as he saw Bonaventuri, who knew the full value of a carnival bouquet, from what- ever quarter it might come, carefully untwist the paper round it, and conceal it in his bosom. " Yours or mine," laughed the handsome Florentine, " the game seems scarcely worth the chase !'* " Not so, a little delay only adds a zest to it : it is not as if the billet-doux were at the bottom BIANCA CAPPELLO. 15 of the sea ; but being safe in your custody, all the fool's-eiTancl pai't of the business is solely mine. So now to the Tre Grazie^'' said Cap- pello, with a forced laugh. On reaching the Piazza they found the rest of their companions where they had left them, and fuUy disposed to be meiTy at their expense. " "VVhy, man," said Borgia, " what coidd you expect but your pains for your pains ? — ^he were no conjurer had he allowed you to overtake him ; — ^besides, I mangel that the dagger of a Cappello should seek to slake its thirst in the rabble blood of a poor carnival knave." " For that matter," said Vittorio, darting a burning look at Bonaventuri — which, thanks to his mask, the other remained unconscious of — " for that matter, it seems that there is not, after all, so much difference between a CappeUo* and a cappel di fungo\ as I was wont to imagine ! " " Ha! ha ! ha ! — ^ncked wit !" laughed Bona- ventmi, louder than any of them, little dreaming how large a share he had in the sarcasm. '^ Ho, Pasquale !" cried Vasi, addressing the tavern keeper, as he entered the tavern of le Tre Gtazie, which contained the same goodly array * A cardinal's hat, which is part of the arms of the Cappellos. f The top of a mushroom. 16 BIANCA CAPPELLO. of Tiirks and Jews that its successor, the Cafe Florian, does in these our days — " give us a table in a quiet comer, some dice, and three flasks of your best French wine — that sparkling, foaming liquid, that looks like a bottled rocket, and would turn the whitest liver that ever dangled from a gibbet, into a Chevalier Bayard for the time being." " Subito — ^immediately, signor," replied mine host of the Tre Grazie ; which, practically speaking, meant in Italy then what the same promise does now, namely, " Take patience and wait." Accordingly, at the end of a quarter of an hour, the champagne was brought, and the table covered with long-stemmed beakers of red and white rayed Venice glass. " Here," said Bonaventuri, placing under a glass one of two slips of paper on which he had inscribed the names of Bianca Cappello and Arianna Ferrai — " the lady first, and her humble companion after." " Is this the proper way to keep plebeians in their place ?" said Cappello, tapping Bonaven- turi's shoulder, with a laugh that had quite as much sarcasm as mirth in it. " I'm for beauty and fair play," — said Bona- venturi ^vith apparent good humour, shaking off Cappello's hand, and rattling the dice as though BIANCA CAPPELLO. 17 he thought one lucky throw might change their positions; and then, rolling them on the table with a practised hand, he turned aside his head, as he added, " Look, signori ! what says the ivory ? — is it on my side or yours ?" '* Yours, by Jupiter !" cried the young men simultaneously, " for 'tis sixes." " Then Fortune has shewn some taste for once," cried Bonaventuri, rubbing his hands exultingly. " Nay, softly — that says nothing for yours," laughed Cappello, as he replaced the dice in the box to throw for Arianna, " for she's but a blind jade after all, and who knows but she may do as much for Arianna. Is it so ?" added he, as the young men crowded to the table to look at the numbers that had turned up. " No ; by Saint Antonio, it is only tray-deuce !" Again, Bonaventuri threw for Bianca, and again fortime was on his side, and so continued till the third and last time, when he was duly proclaimed victor, and Bianca's beauty allowed to be pre-eminent. More wine was called for, a Httle gambling was proposed, and as the night advanced, and the weight of Cappello's purse diminished, he proved the sincerity of the friendship he had proffered to Bonaventuri, at the beginning of the evening, by borrowing a himdred ducats from him, which 18 BIANCA CAPPELLO. he had lost to Borgia. His potations having in- creased as his luck decreased, the small hours found him in no very amiable mood, nor with any more memory than served to give him a confused idea that he was under some sort of obligation to Bonaventuri, and therefore that it behoved him to preserve towards the latter a civil bearing. Bonaventuri, who, to say the truth, was not only weaiy of their protracted oi*gies, but anxious to get home to examine the paper that had been twisted round the flowers which had been thrown to him from the gondola, now proposed depart- ing, " For see," said he, " tlie day is already breaking," " Well, let it break, mio caro amico," hic- cupped Cappello, passing his arm through Bonaventuri's, as he staggeringly rose from his seat — " let it break, provided it owes tlie house of Salviati nothing." As Ernesto Vasi had stated, the Casa Salviati adjoined the Palazzo Cappello, both of which were near the Bridge of Sighs. In those days gondolas were not the funereal looking barges that now are seen flitting across the Adrian Sea, like unhappy spirits through the Elydan fields; but on the contrary, gorgeous, with purple and gold, and brilliant as tlie shells that might have been found on the shores of Cerigo after the BIANCA CAPPELLO. 19 bii'th of Venn;; ; fonning altogether a fitting court for the regal Bucentoro, as it rose, Uke a sea-king's palace, proudly above its subject waves, whose allegiance it seemed to claim by the myriad - sceptred sway of the measured strokes of its gilded oars ; and as the gondola of every individual in Venice was known by its own peculiar ti'appings, as modem carnages are by their armorial bearings and Hveries, yoimg men bent on midnight revels seldom tnisted to so conspicuous a conveyance, but prefeiTed the incognito of the dark streets, un- less they could procure a hired one ; but those marine hackney coaches were not easily found at so late, or rather early an hour ; for which reason Bonaventuri, who had by far the largest portion of his senses about him, proposed walk- ing home with Cappello, and he had no sooner safely deposited him in his bed room, than, before he descended the magnificent staircase of the Palazzo Cappello, he took advantage of the still burning lamp, held by a beautifiil statue of Psyche, in the galleiy outside Vittorio's room, to inspect the piece of paper that he had so im- patiently refi-ained fi'om looking at till then. It contained only the two following doggerel lines — " Love is not love that's bom, and dies in thoioght — True love dares all, in hopes to conquer aught." 20 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " I' faith ! a fair challenge," exclaimed Pietro, aloud — *' and if it comes from the quarter I sus- pect, sweet goddess of my idolatry ! you shall have no cause to complain of my want of enter- prise." Here Bonaventuri's soliloquy was interrupted by the barking of one of those little dogs which we call Blenheims, but which were then known in Italy by no other name as a race but the very appropriate one of Favm'itas, though, like their descendants, they had, of course, indindual names according to the fancies of their owners ; and the Httle animal in question was now told, by a very sweet but somewhat sleepy voice from within the room at the door of which Bonaven- turi was standing, to be quiet by the name of " Tafano," which command, not being in the first instance obeyed, was followed by another, accompanied by a threat that if he were not a good dog, and did not instantly go to sleep, Titian would not do his picture. Whether dogs have vanity or not, I shall not pretend to decide, but two things are certain — one is, that Titian never lost an opportunity of immortalizing those little dogs, by introducing them into every picture that he possibly could ; and the other is, that Signor " Tafano" instantly became quiet, while Bonaventuri hurried down BIANCA CAPPELLO. 21 stairs, and never stopped till he reached his o^vn apartment, where we will at present leave him, to sleep away the time that it will take us to in- troduce him a little more particularly to the reader. 22 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER II. " Sir, you did take me up when I was nothing, And only yet am something by being yours." Beaumont and Fletcher. " Nature only helpt him, for looke thorow This whole book, thou shalt find he doth not borrow One phrase from Greeks, nor Latines imitate, Nor once from vulgar languages translate." DiGGES. PiETRO BoNAVENTURi was the only son of poor but respectable parents, in Florence ; his mother had died in giving him birth, and his father, Giovanni Bonaventuri, worked as a sculptor in a small shop on the Lungo d' Anio. The greatest man of the family — for there is a great man to every family — was Baptista, brother to Giovanni, uncle to the young Pietro, and head clerk to Carlo Salviati, the then greatest banker and merchant in Europe. Like most great men, Baptista had much more im- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 23 portant things to occupy his thoughts than such useless superfluities as poor relations — a species of animal in creation that gave him great doubts as to the fitness of things. In vain each new year brought him a letter from Giovanni, announcing the growing beauty and capacity of his nephew ; it produced no other effect than an always speedy, but laconic answer, stating, that as it had pleased God to afflict his brother with a son, he was glad it was one so perfectly to his satisfaction. Not\A'ithstanding tliis want of family patron- age, the young Pietro grew in beauty and in favour with the Hmited circle who enjoyed the honour of his acquaintance. His personal at- tractions were perhaps the more esteemed, from not bearing any traces of national character; for though his hair was of a purple black, like the rich bloom upon a Tuscan grape, his eyes were blue, and universal linguists ; his com- plexion was delicately fair, with cheeks like young May roses — in whose velvet depths Love might have nestled himself to sleep ; his nose was delicately and perfectly chiselled, but m- desciibable, from being neither Roman, aqui- line, nor Greek, though more of the latter, with the exception of the unintellectual expression that Grecian noses invariably possess. No Cupid's bow, that ever was sculptured by art, 24 BIANCA CAPPELLO. or dreamt by poesy, could be more exquisitely perfect than his mouth ; and had Cleopatra possessed such pearls as the teeth within it, nothing could have tempted her to make any draught cosdy at their expense; add to this, there was a sort of regal turn in the manner in which his head was placed on his shoulders; and Natm-e, as if proud of so beautiful a work, and determined there should be no discrepancy, completed it with a voice and manner that was in'esistible. One day, when he was about fifteen, his father sent him to carry home a small statue of an Antinous, for which he himself had been the model, to Giorgio Vasari and Cesare Vecellio, the pupils of Titian, and the former a protege of Cardinal Passerini and of Alessandro and Ippolito de Medici ; the artist was at his easel when the boy entered, and the attitude he naturally fell into, as he placed the statue on its pedestal, so struck Vasari that he instantly made a sketch of him; and from that day young Bonaventuri almost deserted his father's studio for that of his new friend and patron, whose friendship, however, did not end with his own good offices, as he introduced him to the favour of the Medici and Cardinal Passerini. Naturally ambitious, and of a character whose engouemejit and enterprising vivacity, Httle BIANCA CAPPELLO. Q5 scrupulous as to the means by which ends were to be attained, was far more French than Italian, young Bonaventuri soon became intoxicated by the voluptuous atmosphere of the Palazzo Medici ; he knew he was admired — nay, more, that he was liked ; but in Florence he must always be what he was — the son of a poor sculptor, — a stubborn fact, dark and imlovely, that did not at all harmonize with the glo\ving pictures of advancement his aspiring imagina- tion had i^ainted; and, like most persons of great imagination without proportionate great- ness of mind, his ambition was of a vague and grasping, rather than of a fixed and lofty kind. It was not that settled purpose of the soul prompted by greatness to become greater — that Promethean spark found in some children of earth, which kindles a di^-iner essence in the clay where it lingers, till all of dross is worn away, and the mortal half becomes a fit temple for the immortal ray within it. No ; his was the ambition, or more properly speaking, the restless craving to be known, no matter how — to push on — to find a footing among the high places of this world, where from his physical qualities, coupled 's\'ith the pliabihty of his mental ones, he was eminently calculated to shine. Had he been bom to the sphere of life he coveted, he had just the temperament to give VOL. I. c 26 BIANCA CAPPELLO. him all the negative virtues engendered by indolence and good nature ; as it was, though it might have been difficult to seduce him into cruelty, it would have been easy to tempt him to crime ; tenacity of truth and delicacy of con- science, those invisible fences of virtue, being totally unknown to him. His father's calling he despised, as he infi- nitely preferred moulding human beings to inanimate clay, and chiselling out circum- stances instead of marble. Neither did the promotion in the church which Cai'dinal Passe- rini had offered him, through the medium of an ecclesiastic of the name of Padre Maitino, suit with his views, which were to the full as social as they were vague. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, all Italy was much excited by Lauro Quirini, a Candian, who had brought himself into gieat notoriety by instructing the Venetians in the ethics of Aristotle, and such were the crowds that he drew, that he was obliged to give his lectures in the public squares. Another philo- sopher, a Greek, who also preached the peri- patetic doctrine at Padua and Florence, of the name of Agyriopoles, secured both fortune and fame in the latter city, by gaining for his pupils the celebrated Angelo Politieno and Lorenzo de Medici, surnamed the Magnificent; but nothing BIANCA CAPPELLO. 27 lasts in this world, and even peripatetics must come to a stand-still. So AgjTiopoles was succeeded by another Greek, Gemistus Pleto, of the sect of Platonists, whose eloquence per- suaded Cosimo de Medici to establish a Platonic academy, where every day thousands assembled to hear discussed subjects wliich had been pre- viously announced by placards all over the city walls. But fearing that all work and no play might make philosophers as dull as it proverbially does those embiyo sages, school-boys, Cosimo also gave the most splendid fetes to the acade- micians ; the proof of the efficacy of wliich was, that Cai'dinal Bessario, — who had followed Cosimo de Medici's example by founding a Platonic academy at Rome, forgot to follow his example in giving fetes to the academicians ; consequently his disciples deserted him : long after which the porch of the Florentine academy, as well as the delicious walks of the Boboli gardens, continued to be crowded. . However, up to this period, the two sects managed to Hve and hu'e in peace ; but, un- happily, the imp of controversy put it into Pleto's head to write against Aristotle. ^Miere- upon Teodoro Gaza, a zealous peripetician, answered him. Pleto would have rejoined, but death did not give him time to do so ; and the c 2 28 BIANCA CAPPELLO. quarrel might have died with him, but that Car- dinal Bessario, who had been the pupil of Pleto, thought it incumbent upon him to defend his master, who was no longer capable of defending himself. Gaza was silenced ; but Giorgio Tre- bizonde had not the same moderation, and he attacked with great violence, not only the Pla- tonic philosophy, but all its followers and par- tisans ; the Cardinal replied by fulminating another pamphlet against the calumniators of Plato. In this state of things the forces were nearly equal, when the suffrages of the Sacred College raised to the papal chair Nicholas the Fifth, who was a Platonist ; the weight of such an authority, and the death of George Trebizonde, appeared to put an end to the dispute, when Andrea, his son, revived it, and had for his opponents Marcilo Ficini and Pico de la Mirandole. In short, the pope, the fathers, the universities, and even the cabinets, united against Aristotle ; and his books were not only condemned and burnt, but it was forbidden to preserve a copy of them — and it is no fault of the magnates of that age, if one of the greatest intellects that ever guided human reason was not extinguished totally and for ever ; but to the enthusiastic fanaticism of some few peripatetics we owe its preservation. The perseverance of tliis small band of true BIA>XA CAPPELLO. 29 disciples finished by triumphing, and in the following century succeeded in dethroning Plato, and re-establishing their master in the posses- sion of aU his rights and privileges in the schools; then followed that inexpungeable act in the drama of human life, which makes the oppressed end by being the oppressors. It would be difficult, as well as supeilfluous, to attempt to explain the exact cause or causes of this absurd dispute, as it is of little import to establish what Aristotle's exact opinion was on the immortality of the soul and fi'ee will ; nevertheless, when he had once more regained the ascendant, one of his books was publicly burnt at Venice, in which it was pretended that he did not believe the soul to be immortal. And yet, when Pope Clement the Eighth wished to summon to Rome the Venetian doctor Fran- cesco Patrezzi, to expound the works of Plato, the theologians of his court, having the Cardinal Bellarmine at their head, threw themselves at his feet, to represent to him that the Platonic doctrine was against the true faith, and salvation was only to be found \\ith Aristotle. Thus, in this protracted and ridiculous feud, Italy pre- sented the melancholy spectacle to the world, of men of great intellect and infinite learning abusing both by engaging in a saturnalia of absurdity. 30 BIANCA CAPPELLO. Towards the end of the sixteenth century public excitement and credulity began to seek food from another quarter — namely, the geo- metrical calculations of Giovanni Antonio Mar- gini, of Padua, whose astrological speculations, gi'afted upon his astronomical knowledge, future ages have laughed at, but which, in the times he lived, gained him more reputation than his veiy useful and admirable commentaries on the geography of Ptolemy, or his work on spherical trigonometry, and his theoiy of the planets, according to the observations of Coper- nicus ; and as no less than three universities — Vicenza, Padua, and Bologna — contended for the advantages of hearing his lectures, he enjoyed to the fullest extent the best, because the pre- sent, part of fame — reputation ; for reputation is the mortal and corporeal portion of celebrity, which is alone known to its possessor, while fame is the immortal part, which requires death to determine its fiiture existence. All these succeeding manias convinced Bona- venturi how easy it was to get the public breath to inflate " the bubble reputation." Now, though he had as little taste for astronomy as he had for ethics, he thought if he could in any way ally himself to Magini or to Paul Nicoletti, who still taught the peripatetic doctrine at Venice, his name might get bruited through the world BIANCA CAPPELLO. 31 coupled with theirs ; and could he but once gain his point of going to Venice, and extorting his uncle's patronage, he did not despau* of achiev- ing the rest through the medium of Pierio Valeriano Bolzanio — a man of infinite learning, who had been secretary to Leo the Tenth and Clement the Seventh, and afterwards, at their recommendation, preceptor to Alessandro and Ippolito de Medici ; and though repeated attacks of gout, to which he was a martyr, had obliged him to quit Florence for Venice, (which he found agreed with him better,) he had evinced, and professed sufficient interest in young Bona- venturi, soon after the introduction of the latter to the Medici palace and the favour of liis pupils Alessandro and Ippolito, to warrant the young man's building the first story of his aerial castle on his good offices. Accordingly, after having for five years luxuri- ated in the ever-generous kindness of Vasari, and been alternately damped or scorched by the April changes of princely favour, Pietro became suddenly dejected and thoughtful — a mood so unwonted, and at variance with his natural character, that it could not fail to produce the effect he had desired, and excite the observa- tion and inquiries of his friend and patrons. At first, he denied the fact of his spirits ha^dng suffered any diminution of their wonted buoy- 32 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ancy — next hesitated — but, at length, seemed rehictantly to allow Vasari's earnest kindness to wring from him his secret, which he artfiilly based upon his unwillingness any longer to eat the bread of idleness, coupled with his great wish to study commerce at Venice, as a lucrative and honourable calling, and a natural desire, if pos- sible, through the medium of his friends, to obtain his uncle's protection, instead of continuing, as he had hitherto done, to burden the kindness of strangers. " Now, by Apelles !" cried Vasari, " thou hast relieved me by so much common sense — for my mind migave me, Pietro, but thou hadst got some gossamer phantasms in thy brain — such as are spun by moonlight and fine eyes in the gi*een nooks of young men's fancies — in which case the matter would have been hopeless ; but, as it is, having all the inclination, I shall not long lack the means to serve thee. There is our ancient friend Bolzanio, who has the honour of coiTCsponding with his holiness, and I have no doubt of being able to get the Medici to consign thee to him ; then comes my right excel- lent master, Titian, who is as good a friend as he is a limner ; a word to him, and I am sure he will serve thee with the Barbarigi ; and against such a host of worshipful allies thy flinty -heai'ted uncle will scarce hold out." BIANCA CAPPELLO. 33 Pietro expressed his gratitude to his generous patron, as gracefully as might be ; and a month after this conversation, he had taken leave of his father and friends, and left the beautiful country of his birth, to seek his fortune in the sea-gu*t city that then half swayed the world. As Vasari had foretold, Baptista Bonaventuri was not proof against the merits of a nephew so powerfully recommended to him; although to the old money-spinner's notions there was even an extravagance in Pietro's beauty which he did not quite approve, (and indeed, to say tjuth, the young man did possess quite enough to have supplied half-a-dozen economically- fashioned mortals,) while the equal lavishness of his dress he totally disapproved ; for Vasari, who though only a poor painter in estate, was a prince in heart, had put his protege's wardrobe on a par with the gayest nobles of the time, and had not forgotten that the lining of the pockets should in some measure keep pace with their outward splendom* ; so that young Bonaventuri had sufficient, at least for a year ar two, to cope with those far richer in reahty than himself, and in station greatly above him; for the 6000 ducats Vasari had generously given him, intending it as a little capital to be increased by the thrift and saroir of his uncle, the young man prefeiTed keeping, as a sort of floating passport into so- c 3 34 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ciety. Nor was he wi*ong in his calculations ; for as we have already seen, the young Vene- tian nobles were not indifferent to his " golden opinions;" but on financial, as on most other points, the ideas of the uncle and nephew differed widely ; as the former looked upon all Pietro's fine acquaintance only as so many sources from which money might be deriv ed ; whereas the latter considered all Salviati's wealth with no other degree of veneration than as the source from which he derived his acquaintance. At the time our tale commences, young Bona- venturi had been about a year in Venice ; and. after devoting two hours each morning to spoil- ing pens and drawing caricatures of his fiiends, upon all the paper within his reach, which was the method he adopted for studying commerce, he repaired to an academy, held by Bolzanio, in the Via delle Bella Donne, for teaching Latin to the young Venetian nobles of bodi sexes, not indeed for the purpose of learning Latin, for he justly considered that having done very well without it all the beginning of his life, he might continue to do so till the end of it ; but because there he had first formed, and had daily opportunities of increasing his circle of aristocratic acquaintance ; but above all, it was there he had first seen Bianca Cappello — a beautiful and delicate -looking girl of fifteen, and BTANCA CAPPELLO. 35 clever as she was beautiful. Unlike her country- women,Biancahacl great play of countenance,with the most perfect repose of feature — no gi'imace or minauderie ever for a moment destroyed the placid hannony of features, as perfect as had ever been cast in mortal mould ; her hair, of a rich burnished chesnut, had not yet been tor- tured into the hideous and unnatural fashion of the time, but was simply fastened vA\h a golden bodkin at the back of her head, and parted on a lofty forehead of dazzling whiteness ; the low, straight, finely - pencilled eyebrows of which seemed like dark sentinels kee23ing watch above the heavy eyehds, that appeared weighed down with their own beauty. Her eyes were of a dark, soft hazel, floating as it were in liquid diamonds. She had no more colour than has a blush rose ; but the same delicate yet affluent bloom was to be found on her cheek that is seen on the flower. Her rich red Ups would have shamed a pomegranate blossom, while a whole preserve of Cupids seemed to be continually playing around them, either forcing their way through the thick ambush of her pouting under lip, or concealing themselves among the thousand dim- ples of her sunny smile. Such was Bianca, and as such, it was not likely that Bonaventuri should have beheld her with indifference. Her beauty, however, he 36 BIANCA CAPPELLO. might have resisted ; but when he remembered that she was the daughter of one of the highest nobles in Venice — that she was doubly con- nected withGrimani, the Patriarch of Aquilea, by her father's second maniage with his sister Elena, and that she was also allied to the Grittis and Morosinis, the wings of his love were impelled by ambition, and their flight knew no bounds, except perhaps those of a little more prudence than he was accustomed to use, on account of the five terrible powers, whose vengeance he risked by his presumption — namely, the republic, the Vatican, tlie inquisi- tion, his uncle — and though last, not least, Vittorio Cappello. He knew that the worst dungeon of the inqui- sition would be the reward of his openly becom- ing the suitor of Bianca ; and nothing short of the rack the result of his failing in any more covert designs upon the descendant of so many doges. But love's diplomacy is ever subtle, as those unerring ambassadors of the heart, the eyes, never miscalciUate in their policy ; and Pietro, with a tact that would have done credit to fifty winters, much less twenty summers, detennined to provoke every overture from the lady, while the tremulous diffidence and respect of his manner, let what might follow, defied her to say, " he did it." He knew that it was at the BIAMCA CAPPELLO. 37 msh of her aunt, Vicenza Gritti, that she at- tended Bolzanio's academia; but he also knew that it was to escape the wearing persecutions of her step -mother's temper that she attended it so long and so punctually ; and the feai* of having the frequency of their meetings known (respectful and constrained as they were) to any member of her family it was which had made Pietro, on the preceding night, to her brother, date the commencement of their ac- quaintance from the fete at the French ambas- sador's, for which he had also another motive — that of the ambassador being the open and declared suitor of the beautiful and high-born Bianca; and though his excellency could not be said to have lost the charms of youth, inas- much as he never had possessed them, yet was he considerably past that age when gentlemen engaged in matrimonial speculations ai'e sup- posed to have the fairest chance of success. Still he was far from despairing; for, having insured the laughter of Bianca, he thought the small change of her smiles must be included ; for, as a modern French writer has truly and wittily observed — " LHnteret et la vanite font le meilleur menage^ dans le cceur dhin Parisien, Vun se charge de la recette, et Vautre de la depense ;" and as the dower of Bianca was splendid, and her beauty undisputed, the 7ne 38 BIANCA CAPPELLO. nage of the French ambassador's heart was perfect I It may appear strange that a spirit so haughty as Vittorio CappeUo's should, even through in- terested motives, have, with so beautiful a sister, volunteered to invite to the Palazzo Cappello so handsome, and yet so humble a person as Bonaventuri ; but with regard to his beauty he was still ignorant, having only seen him with a mask. And for the rest, he had too great a faith in his sister's lofty spirit, and the almost imperial blood that circled in her veins, to ima- gine that she could look with aught but disdain on anything less noble than herself. As for Bonaventuri, he was so elated that he could hardly beheve in his own identity. To think that, after a whole year of retreating, and almost despairing sighs, and nearly a forest of anonymous bouquets, and an opera of unan- swered serenades, he should have the doors of the Palazzo Cappello thrown open to him by its most dreaded Cerberus, Vittorio himself! and best of all, that he should feel certain that the flowers and the challenge that had been flung to him at the cai'nival, had come, directly or indirectly, from Bianca. It may be easily imagined that, from his first acquaintance with the beautiful Venetian, he had relinquished all intention of associating himself BIANCA CAPPELLO. 39 either with the philosophical monk Paul Nico- letti, or the astrologer Magini, having resolved to distinguish himself in a manner much more suited to his talents and consonant with his in- clinations. 40 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER III. " Seal up your lips, and give no words but — mum ! This business asketh silent secrecy." Shakspeare. *' The ambassadors, "who were the best people in the world, did their best to set before me, how disagreeable it would be to me to see myself hanged in the flower of my age." — Count Antony Hamilton's Four Facardins. It was nearer noon than nine the morning after the night recorded in the first chapter, that Pietro Bonaventuri entered the counting-house of Salviati, where sat his uncle Baptista on a high stool before a desk — if possible, in a less amiable mood than usual. Being the hour of dinner, the office was deserted save by only him. Baptista was a little spare old man, with a sharp, thin, parchment-looking face, wherein time had made divers indentures ; his eyes were small, black, and still sparkling ; his hair, BIANCA CAPPELLO. 41 though long, was perfectly white, thin and sil- very, but his beard, which he wore after the Armenian fashion, was longer and thicker ; his lips, by nature thin, appeared still thinner from a habit he had of biting them inwards, as though afraid too much of the breath of life might es- cape if he allowed nature to take its course ; his nose was one of those thin, downward promon- tories, that never yet deceived in giving the world assurance of a "miser." On his head was a small black Annenian cap, and his dress was invariably black, tufted with shabby velvet tassels, and not made after the spiiice fashion of the day, but of the long-time immemorial cut of a Venetian senator's. He always accompa- nied his own thoughts by a low, wheezy sort of querulous pur, as if to hold in readiness a dis- senting note to any speech that might be ad- dressed to him. He raised his eyes with no pleased or pleas- ing expression as Pietro entered the counting- house — it must be confessed, even more gaily apparelled than usual, and carelessly aiTanging a very dainty white plume within the custody of a gold loop and button, that graced the side of his splendid velvet cap. *' Um— um — um ! so there thou art at last, thou worst block that poor sculptor ever tm-ned out of his studio. Mayhap thou mayst tell me 42 BIANCA CAPPELLO. how fortunes are made by sleeping, for it must be an easy and a pleasant way withal." " Ay, many, uncle, is it ; for then is the only time / ever dream of making one." " Nephew, I believe it, or else thou wouldst not ruffle it with all the crack-brained ne'er-do- wells of this most iniquitous city, carrying half the trade of Genoa on thy worthless back, and a whole wilderness of outlandish birds' wings on thy head, — but then, no doubt, the less that's in it the more thou thinkest should be on it. Go to ! — were it not for thy fine patrons, who do watch over thee like the gilt angel that plays the weathercock on the summit of St. Mark's, I'd cancel thee at once." " Nay, uncle, that woidd be ungenerous ; for by your own shewing it would be cancelling an obligation, since you are obliged to keep me." " I tell thee that I would, though, Master Malapert," said the old man, knocking his clenched hand vehemently against the desk — " I tell thee I would, for what hast thou learnt dming the whole year thou hast been in Venice, except it be doge-hunting, title-hunting, and idleness ?" " Uncle, uncle, you forget Latm, and my stu- dies at Bolzanio's!" rejoined Pietro, ^\'ith a smile he could not repress, at the consciousness of his perfect innocence of that language. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 43 " Latin I a fine way of getting money truly ! Now, by Santa Maria Zobenigo, this is too bad ! Canst tell me how many two and two make in Latin ?" " Four — the same as in Italian, I suppose," said Pietro, with a very unsophisticated air of candour. " But why have such a pique against either Latin or learning, uncle, since neither of them, I take it, are in any way indebted to you^ " There can be no good in them," said the old man, heedless of the sarcasm, " when they bring thee acquainted with such a set of bac- chanals and spendthiifts." " Nay, if you would quan-el with mine ac- quaintance, methinks," laughed the nephew, " 'twere more germane to the matter to begin with the imperial ambassador, who, through me, was brought to negotiate the Negropont and Vienna loan with you." Pieti'o could not have aimed a more skilful jibe, as he knew that this loan was the most golden harvest Baptista had reaped for many a day; and, with his usual diplomacy, he had managed to saddle the ambassador with an eternal obligation, (which had already began to be paid in instalments, by opening tlie doors of the best palazzos in Venice to him,) while, whenever 44 BIANCA CAPPELLO. he was hard run, it enabled him effectually to silence his uncle's bickerings and reproaches. " Ah ! well — yea ; I own thou hast me there ; and that, in truth, is a proper-fashioned, credit- able acquaintance enough, being the first who ever gave thee any notion of business ; but for the rest !" — groaned Baptista, turning up his eyes and raising his clasped hands — " there is no- thing in them, therefore, Santo Spirito, nothing to be got out of them." " Now are you hugely ungrateful, uncle, for they do affect you marvellously, and are, one and all, as punctual in their civilities towards you as though you were an infant doge, some three days made." " I do confess," said the old man, with a sort of rattling, unearthly sound in his throat, which was always the result of his attempts at a laugh — " I do confess that they are, one and all, equally punctual in their borrowings, and of an admir- able exactness in their non-payments. Thou art nobility -stricken ; but I tell thee, boy, that rank blood is like rank grass — all its merit is derived from the dead, for in both cases they flourish upon gi'aves." " And yet great people may be of use some- times," replied Pietro, " for where will Trade, that ever busy daughter of old Commerce, ply BIANC.V CAPPELLO. 45 her many handed calling with such zeal and profit as on the new bridge our good senator Pasquale Cicogna is now planning. May he live to be Doge, say I !" " By the gabardine of Moses, but it is a good bridge, that said Rialto, and Pasquale would make a good Doge, and a worshipful withal, and long may he reign when he does reign !" Here their conversation was inteiTupted by the voice of Salviati calling Pietro, and in another moment the worthy merchant stood before them. " Take this immediately," said he, placing a large parchment packet sealed with three large pendant seals, and carefully tied with silver cord, in Pietro's hand, " to the Palazzo Grimani, and dehver it yourself to the Patriarch. See on no account that it passeth through any hands but fi*om thine to his." " Any answer, signor ?" inquired Pietro. " That dependeth on his lordship's pleasure, which we wait to know. If there is, bring it hence on the instant ; if not, make thine own of the rest of the day, as it is Carnival time." Pietro bowed his thanks and disappeared. The Piazza was nearly empty, save here and there a lazy opium-eating Tiu'k, smoking, for change of idleness, a long amber-mouthed hookah, or a vender of baked zuccas, who pre- 46 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ferred taking his siesta al fresco to his own miserable home. Young Bonaventuri looked up at the windows of the Palazzo Cappello as he passed, yet nought saw he but closely shut blinds ; but as it was impossible to know what ears or eyes might be behind them, he hazarded a few sighs and two or three very iiTesistible glances on speculation, and then hurried on to the wharf, where, stepping into Salviati's gondola, he gave orders to be conveyed to the Palazzo Grimani. Anived there, he found the magnificent Gon- dola of the Patriarch of Aquilea waiting at the door, and the small black flag that floated at the helm, intimating that he was about to attend the Council of Ten, formed a gloomy con- trast to the violet velvet lining and cushions of the gondola, gorgeously embroidered in gold, with the winged lions of St. Mark's. The gon- doliers were also splendidly habited in violet velvet and gold ; on their left anns, they wore, not embroidered but in a has relief of solid gold, the delicate and cunning workmanship of which was worthy of Benvenuto Cellini, the arms of the Grimani, surmounted by a trident. Each oar was not simply gilt, like those of the Bucentoro, but was capped with an arabesque of buniished gold, inlaid with coral, and those small, pearl-like, and many-coloured BIA]SCA CAPPELLO. 47 shells which to tliis day are found in such pro- fusion at Venice. These oars, as they lighdy dashed off the feathered spray of the silver waves, on which a thousand sunbeams sparkled, seemed but ill adapted heralds of the dark dooms they daily bore in conveying the Patri- arch of Aqiiilea to the Senate. Besides the gondola of the Grimani were innumerable others belonging to different nobles and ambassadors, among which Bonaventmi noticed that of his rival,the French ambassador, the Marquis de Millepropos, which might be known by its peach-blossom lining, silver flem's- de lis, portrait of Charles the Ninth of France, innumerable miiTors, and small table, contain- ing several pairs of gold fringed gloves, two or three embroidered kerchiefs, a few Jlacons of sweet-scejited waters, and a double -hiked sword, with an inscription announcing that it was the gift of the Chevalier de Bayard to his excellency's father : and for appearance' sake, — for appearances must be kept up by all who don't want to be kept do\\-n — was a crimson velvet despatch-box, studded round T\ith gold nails, and displaying a very ponderous and formidable looking padlock of the same metal, stamped with the royal arms of France. The whole of this gorgeous flotilla now made way for the very splendid, though less regal- 48 BTANCA CAPPELLO. looking gondola of Salviati, from which young Bonaventuri alighted amid a hall full of serving men, and was conducted up stairs by two pages to a large gallery, where he found a goodly crowd of foreign ambassadors, senators, and merchants, who were all waiting the leisure of the Patriarca to give them audience, and who seemed too busy with their own thoughts or con- versation to heed the entrance of an additional person, so that Pietro passed unnoticed as he took his stand near a pillar of Egyptian marble, where two ecclesiastics were, with many signi- ficant shrugs of horror and fear, discussing the death of Cardinal Caraffa, who had just been hanged by order of Pius the Fourth ; but at the same time never forgetting to bow reverentially whenever they mentioned his Holiness's name. Whether it w^as the splendour that surrounded him which dazzled, or the aristocratic atmo- sphere he was breathing that awed him, it might be a difficult matter to decide ; but certain it was, that for a moment — though only for a mo- ment — Bonaventuri relinquished the sort of ^^ Ancle aUqKiiP determination he had acted upon for the last year, as he felt the supercilious. " What on earth can bring you here ?" sort of glances cast on him by some of the magnates, as he moved down the gallery, and turned with a sigh to a magnificent statue of Marcus Agrippa. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 49 When Pietro had done contemplating the statue, he lowered his eyes, and beheld, leaning against the pedestal, a middle sized man, luim- bering, it might be, some forty years ; his face was exceedingly pale, but it was more the palor of thought than of care or malady ; his fore- head was lofty in the exti'eme, his hair dark, thick, and glossy, and woni according to the fashion of the time, in one full curl over each ear ; his eyebrows were low and delicately pencilled ; his nose slightly aquiline, but very finely chiselled, as was his short ivpyiev lip, though somewhat concealed by his dark moustache ; his beard was forked, after the English fashion ; his eyes were large, dark, and, though very soft, wondrously penetrating, and as a magnet attracts steel, they seemed as though they could attract the secrets of all men's hearts to reveal themselves to their scnitiny ; his dress was of black velvet, ^^•ith no relief save that of his trunk hose being slashed with pui*}:)le silk, of which material his cloak was also lined, and broidered round the border on the outer side with divers glittering black bugles ; his ruff was of a snowy whiteness, but even his gloves and sword were black, the gauntlets of the former being of an exceeding shining black leather ; no ornament of any sort did he wear, except a good-sized diamond in VOL. I. D 50 BIANCA CAPPELLO. the rosette of each shoe, and a diamond loop and button fastening the black plume in his cap. As Pietro desisted from his scrutiny of the statue of Marcus Agiippa, he beheld the eyes of this individual gazing intently on him. At first he thought it might be some acquaintance whom he had forgotten, but, npon a further examination of the features before him, Bona- ventnri could nowhere recollect to have seen them, though there was that sort of attractive harmony in the expression of the stranger's face which seemed to usurp, in the good graces of the young Florentine, the place of an old acquaintance, and involuntarily he advanced a step or two towards him ; the other, also, came forward, and looking hurriedly around, whis- pered in Bonaventuri's ear — " Pietro BonavenUiri ! thou gropest in the dark ; but, if thou hast courage, be in the Via del Cocomero, on the water side, one hour after midnight, this day week, and I will give thee light to find that thou seekest: but breathe to mortal ears that thou comest, or a syllable of what I now say, and the ever ready death-boat, that lies moored under the Bridge of Sighs, shall be thy reward." Bonaventuri started even more at the sti'anger's accurate knowledge of his name, than at the mys- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 51 teiious mandate he had issued with so fiatical an air, and was about to ask for whom he should inquire, and to what house he should go in the Via del Cocomero, when the man of mystery, as though lie divined his thoughts, said, in the same low and oracular tone — " 304, the comer liouse ! — there wait — on foot — alone /" and before Bonaventuri could reply, he added, ' tace — silence !" and, tightly grasp- ing his hand to enforce the order, moved on, pressing, as he did so, a roll of paper he had held in his hand to his lips — and in another instant he had either left the gallery or effec- tually concealed himself in the crowd. Pietro was so thoroughly astounded that he stared vacantly about him ; nor was he recalled to a sense of his present locality till his foot was hea\dly pressed by that of some other person. Upon turaing to ascertain to whom the beli- gerent foot belonged, he received the " mille jmr dons''' of the French ambassador, who, wholly occupied with the contemplation of his own person in different attitudes, as reflected by a miiTor, had, while coquetting with his beard and humming a caranto, stepped back the better to admire what he considered the only chef d'ceuvre in the room — namely, what the mirror before him presented — and in so doing he had mistaken Bonaventuri's foot for the floor. There D 2 ^' ^'.'VERSITY OF lUi/VOiS 52 I5TANCA CAPPELLO. played roimd liis excellency's features that glow of satisfaction ^vhich ill-natured persons might have called the iguls faiuus of vanity, for it seemed to say as plainly as look could speak — que je sin's heureux nioi ! d^elremoi, et aiec moi ! — for it is but natural' that our highest enjoyment should be derived from the constant presence of the individual for whom we enter- tain the sincerest affection and jirofoundest admiration. Having once broken the ice by apologizing to Bonaventuri, and torn his thoughts away from the amiable object that for ever occupied them, he became affably attentive to some of the persons around him — " Ah, Signor Paolo Paruta,"* said he, address- ing a young man dressed in a doublet of murray -coloured velvet, " I am charmed to see you — how goes the world with you ? We must take care — we must take cai'e, Don Gomez," added he, laughingly, laying his hand on the shoulder of the Si)anish ambassador, " or Signor Paruta will ])ut us all in his book." " Hardly," rejoined Paruta, drily, "for histor}-, in my opinion, should be as free from absurdities as possible." " Sans doute — sans doute," replied Monsieur * Paolo Paruta was a Venetian historian of the sixteenth century. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 53 le INIarqius, guiltless of imderstaiidiiig Pamta's gibe, " and it is, as you justly observe, very absurd to print everybody that comes in one's way, after the fasliion of some authors. Ah ! a marvellous proper youth that, upon my word," continued he, looldng at an interesting boy of about sixteen, who stood beside Paruta ; his figure had all the buoyancy and elasticity of youth, but in his countenance — particularly his deep and stany eyes — was an expression of melancholy that only belonged to after years. Alas, how often a patriarchal fate attends genius — making the spirit martyr and prophet all in one ! " A marvellous proper youth, upon my word," repeated the French ambassador ; " no doubt your brother, Signor Paolo ?" " No," replied Paruta, " I wish he were ; but he is only a yoimg fiiend of mine, from whom I one day hope great things — his name is Tasso — Torquato Tasso." " Connois jyas — a Venetian family V inquired liis excellency. " Yes," was the brief reply. " Ah, well, Signor Torquato, I wish you all imaginable good, on my hfe !" cried the Mar- quis. " Only beware of the women, and you'll do well ; I speak from a triste experieuce, for they have been my bane ever since I was your 54 BIANCA CAPrELLO. age — indeed, 1 may say, before it, for 1 had a nurse, Mademoiselle Clemence, who used to whip me soundly." " Oh, the ingratitude of some men !" said Don Gomez de Sylva, with an infinite deal of sly humour lurking in the corner of his eye. " To hear the Marquis de Millepropos de- nounce the sex — he that is proverbially their enfant gate /" " Ah, mon cher," said the Marquis, with a contrite sigh, as he caressed his beard — "jc vous fiere que les succes meme donnent des regrets !" " My dear Marquis," said Don Gomez, with great gravity, " you are too sensitive ; for I am sure, could you but keep your imagination quiet, your conscience would never have cause to reproach you. I wont go as far," added he, with an iiTCsistibly comic air of deep sympathy — " I wont go as far as to include the proceedings of Mademoiselle Clemence, for those of course must have left a sting behind ; but as you are subject to the ^irtuous weakness of remorse, why continue to make love to e^'ery woman you meet?" " You wrong me, I assure you," said his excellency, in a most exculpatory tone. — " I do not make love to them — it is they — but, no matter, enjin — it is not my fault if women have BIANCA CAPPELLO. 55 eyes. But I assure you I ue\cr allow a woman to tamper with her oami affections, if I can help it ; for I tell them at once, when they have no chance." " But, the Cappello r" laughed Don Gomez. " Oh, mon cher, as for Bianca, I am in earnest in that quarter, I assure you, for she has such a portion ! — Magniiique !" whispered his excellency. What further passed between the two, Bona- ventuii was prevented from hearing, by the sud- den opening of a door behind them, at which a grave-looking man, the secretaiy of the Patri- arch, appeared ; and walking quiedy up to Pietro, intimated to him that his master would receive him m his closet. This seemed to be considered an amazmg honom' ; for the patrician crowd instandy gave way most deferentially to the young merchant, who on his part lost no time in assuming a look of sufficient importance for his sudden eleva- tion, merely bowing slightly as he passed his friend, the imperial ambassador, mth a sort of diplomatic telegiaphic look, which plainly said to the rest of the crowd, " Nous ij sommes^'' but which mystified the poor ambassador more thoroughly than their supposed ignorance did his compeers. However, there is no earthly use 56 BIANCA CArrELLO. in being an ambassador, if it docs not enable a man to be iicricctly an /((it to things that he has never either seen or heard of. At all events, profound ignorance, with suitable presumption, seems to be of marvellous advantage to some of their secretaries. When the door closed upon Bona>'enturi, he traversed a large room till he reached a smaller one, where, in a high-backed carved chair, gor- geously gilt, sat the Patriarch of Aquilea, before a large table, covered with ponderous books, papers, and writing materials. On it was also a basket-hilted sword, and a pair of gauntlets, a gold embossed salver, and two antique Hebe- shaped jugs of the same metal, a large high gold chalice-shaped cup, and a gold wire basket of dried fruits. Grimani was an old man, with long flowing white hair ; blue eyes, which had lost somewhat of their lustre,- but none of the penetration which thirty years of incpisitorial exercise had given them ; his head rather drooped towards his right shoulder, and slightly shook under the years it bore. No sooner had the ^secretary opened the door for Bonaventuri than he with- drew, and the latter found himself, not widiout some slight tre])idation, before the Patriarch ; for in those days men never knew at what mo- BIANCA CAPrELLO. 57 ment they were destined to receive the punish- ment of the crimes they might be Kcciiaed of committing. " Know you aught of your mission, young man r" inquired Giimani, in a clear, but by no means formidable voice. " Notliing, monshpwre^^ bowed Pietro, pre- senting his packet ; " but that my master. Carlo Salviati, bade me deliver this into your worthi- uess's own hand." " 'Tis well, 'tis well," repeated the Patriarch, taking it out of Bonaventuri's hand, and un- doing the cord, while the latter fell back to a respectful distance ; but not so far but that he could perceive the contents of the packet to consist of a curiously-wrought key, in detached pieces, which Grimani put together, after a written description and a plan that was drawn upon the parchment. " Very good, very good !" said he, after he had thoroughly examined it, replacing it in the parchment, which he immediately locked in an iron box, that was placed in a chair beside him, during which ])rocess Bonaventuri took the op- portunity of turning his face to the window, in order to look as though he had seen nothing of the contents of the packet, though all the in- formation he had gained by what he had seen only enabled him to conjecture that the key was D :3 58 BIANCA CArPELLO. one of some Ibiiiiicltibly secret construction, for inquisitorial ])urposes. After having secured two or three papers in his girdle, the Patriarch rang a little silver hand-bell, whereu])on two pages appeared, one bearing a gold ewer and basin, and the other a najjldn and soap, with which Grimani washed his hands ; after which he summoned his secre- tary, and giving into his charge several papers, about which he gave suitable directions, the old man rose, and receiving a large silver crozier, with a ruby top, from one of the pages, he turned to Bonaventmi, saying, while the other page placed his mitre on his head — "No doubt, honest Master Salviati's young friend here will lend me his arm as far as the gallery, through which I must in courtesy pass before I go to the senate, though in ti'utli I am already somewhat of the latest." Bonaventuri did not desire better, and, bowing his acquiescence very gracefidly, presented his aim to the great man. Nor was he a little (elevated at perceiving how much this trifling and accidental circumstance seemed to raise him in public estimation. To judge from the mingled looks of deference and curiosity that were cast upon him from the galleiy, the doors of which were thrown open by the two pages who preceded them, long before the infirm steps BIANCA CAPPELLO. 59 of the Patriarch bore him across the large ante- room they had to traverse. Another incident which considerably en- hanced Bonaventmi's apparent importance, was the recumbent position of Grimani's head, which obliged the young Florentine to bend his own so closely to the Patriarch's ear, in reply to the very commonplace questions the old man ad- dressed to him, that it gave a truly confidential and important air to their conference ; and as a coup de grace, when they were A\ithin twenty yards of the gallery, Grimani, being encumbered by the length of his robes, stopped to adjust them ; and seeing the effect the apparent secrecy of their conversation had akeady produced on " the midtitude," Pieti'o took that opportimity of whispeiing in the old man's ear — " I think your worthiness would find it more commodious to caiiy this weight of cnnine on yoiu* left arm." "You are right — you are right," repeated Grimani, as he nodded his approbation of Bo- naventiu:i's suggestion. The words, and even the nods of great men are swift travellers, so those of the Patriarch Aquilea soon reached the gallery, and foraied a ladder by which Bonaventuri rose to a high place in the diplomatic opinions of Messieurs les Amhassacleurs. (iO BIAiNCA CAri'KLLO. " Signors, 1 im\y you ii tlioiisaiul ]iaidoiis," said Giimaiii, on entering tlic gallovv, "for the lime you have tarried liere, and I erave a tliou- sand more for being obhged to (juit you on the instant ; but the eouneil waits, and I am ah-eady hite." Whereupon an obsequious murmur arose, begging his worthiness would not waste another moment of his precious time ; and the crowd fell back on cither side to let him pass, which he did, courteously bowing his thanks to the right and to the left, as he moved onward, re- ])eating his apologies as he Avent. As the Patriarch passed on, the crowd fol- lowed him, even to the foot of the stairs, till he reached his gondola ; when, turning to Bonaven- turi, he said in a low voice, " I will communicate with Salviati concerning the packet to-moiTow," whereupon Pietro bowed, as he assisted the old man into the gondola, and the crowd remained cap in hand till it rowed out of sight, when a little knot of ambassadors gathered round the Florentine, and after exerting in vain all their wits to elicit from him at least the outline of his conference widi the Patriarch, they changed their tactics by energetically impressing upon him the necessity of the most profound secrecy concerning any communications he might have with his worthiness, adding what a terrible thing BIANCA CAPPELLO. Gl it would be, if by any accident or indiscretion so fine a young man should incur the displea- sure of the Holy Inquisition !" AVhile he inwardly smiled at the fox-and- grapes tone of their superfluous advice, Bona- venturi thanked them, and promised to profit by it; after which, taking leave of his illustrious Mentors, and having the rest of the day to him- self, he determined to repair to his favourite haunt, the school of Valeriano Bolzanio. 62 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER IV. " The misery of us that are born great : We are forced to woo, because none dare woo us." Webster. " Tush ! I may as well say the fool's the fool." Shakspeare. In a lofty room of the Palazzo CappcUo, hung with the master -pieces of Titian, Paul Veronese, and Giovanni and Leonardo da Brescia, — a large Venetian window opening into a spacious marble balcony, that well mimicked a garden from its profusion of raie and exquisite flowers, which seemed lulled into additional sweetness by the ever-whispering murmur of the waves that flowed beneath them, while from the chamber witliin, to which they lent their perfume, the sun was veiled but not excluded, — there sat a group of four : one was an old man — that is, about sixty in years, but with that beaming out from >Yitliiu wliich, defying BIANCA CAPPELLO. 63 age, claimed all the sympathies of youth ; for there was a lire still in the eye, and a sunshine about the mouth, that told nothing of the winter of life. Were it perceptible any where, it might be in his silver locks ; but even here, time had ill succeeded, for they played as wantonly with every passmg breeze as though they had still been in their golden prime. He sat on a high-backed gold arras chair, before an easel, with a palette in his hand, and a very aixh smile on his lip ; opposite to him sat, in an equally high-backed chair, an ancient lady, the North Pole of whose demeanour was perfectly impenetrable. Her face was pale and narrow, her nose long and aquiline, her lips thin and pinched, her eyes black, small, and piercing — not unlike those of Ehzabeth of England. On her head she wore a full frizzed, yet small red peruke, elaborately studded Avitli very costly pearls, rubies, and diamonds. Her dress was of black velvet, curiously embroidered with peai'ls and gold ; her ruff' was as stiff' as her caniage, and she held her head so high, that her eyes must have had some difficidty in seeing where to place the stitches in the rich white Padusay silk she was embroidering for a Cotta for her confessor. Rarely any sound passed her lips, except to say an Ave Maria on her splendid rosary, >Yhenever she caught ',the 64 IJIANCA CAITELLO. chimes oC sonic iiciglibouriiig churcli bell, or to find iiuilt with everything that her step- daughter Bianca, and her foster sister Arianna Ferrai, did or did not do, for they were the other two that formed the group of four, and the ancient lady was the Signora Elena Cappello. On a low ottoman sat, or rather half reclined, the beautiful Bianca, and at her feet was placed the no less beautiful, but very different Arianna. The latter was a fair, slight, blooming, blue- eyed, golden-haired girl, with Italian features and a northern complexion, producing that per- fection of beauty that is sometimes to be seen in Italy. Bianca was restlessly dividing her idleness between entangling the bright locks of Arianna, as her pretty head rested on her lap — pulling the ears of two little favor lias, or Blenheims, that occupied a part of the ottoman — and ever and anon pouring wine out of a golden ^'ase into a high golden cup that stood on a little table beside her, and pressing the before men- tioned old man, by the affectionate appellation of Carhio, to drink, which he as often declined — putting off the fair Circe by pointing to sundry- humorous sketches he had etched of the Signora Elena at the corner of his canvas, which that illustrious lady, half suspecting, (a flict of which she gave notice by the increased asperity of her BIANCA CAPPELLO. 65 looks,) Bianca started u]), and placing her hand on the tell-tale caricature, affected to examine the portrait, which was one of herself and her two dogs. " Now really, Signor Titian," said she, smiling, " with all due deference to your skill, you have flattered me marvellously, and not done justice to either 'Fato** or 'Tafano.'"t " By the beard of John ^^ermeyenj, whose portrait hangs -yonder," said the artist, " both are impossible. I could not flatter you, sig- norina, for it is not in paint and canvas to excel one of the cunningest chef d'ceuvres of Nature's handy work ; and as for those Uttle animals, by Canis ! they are the greatest beauties that ever stepped in dog-skin ; and what pencil could give their diamond eyes, velvet ears, and satin coats, or half the darlingry of their little ways ? But what I can do I will do, and this portrait shall be a Titlanusfecit,fecit,^ Ha ! ha ! ha !" * Fairy. f Gadfly. % A Dutch painter, whose beard touched the ground as he stood. He died in 1559. § It is the ingenious remark of a French critic, that the Greek sculptors never presumed to make use of the perfect tense, when the artist set bis name to the statue. It was always "f7ron;(Tf," not " ■Kt~oi))xii :" he never ventured toaflirm that his work was perfect. On the other hand, Titian, to repri- mand the insolence of ignorant, presuming critics, wrote beneath all that he considered his best pictures, Titianus fecit, ftcit. ■ bb BIANCA CArPELLO. " Oh, mercy on mc !" cried the 8ignora Elena, putting her hands to lier ears, and not daring to find fault with the aitist, *' I don't know what the yo ng women of the present day will come to ; they are as noisy and restless as the sea, and as for you, Signora Bianca, since your aunt has set you upon learning Latin, and such unfeminine abominations, I have never seen a needle in your hand, or a demeanour beiitting your age, sex, and rank ! " And here the good lady assumed what she considered a three -fold addition of dignity — alias, perpen- dicularity — to make up for her step -daughter's want of it. " As for the Needles, Madama, I did read the other day that they were most treacherous rocks in the British Channel, and so, you see, I have prudently resolved to avoid them," laughed Bianca ; and then, turning to Arianna, added, " but what think you of this portrait, carissima ?" " About the painting,'* repHed Arianna, " there cannot be two opinions ; but, you know, I have always thought it would be hi better keeping had it had two ligures instead bl' one/' " Signorina, you ai'e right," said Titian, " what we painters call the ordinance of the picture would have been better." "It is her own fault there arc not two BIA>CA CAPrELLO. 67 figures," replied Bianca, " for I did all I could to get her to sit." " It is lucky," muttered the Siguora Eleua, "that the damsel seems to know her place a little better than you know it for her " " Or else," interrupted Bianca, " she might have been hung up with me." " It is but a contemptible weakness, at best," resmned the elderly lady, "to have painted effigies of oneself." " Very true ; but I, not only being weak but the weakest of my sex, as your wisdom has often told me, naturally am destined to fidlil the proverb, and go to the wall," retorted Bianca. Arianna, who dreaded a spar between her young mistress and her migenial step-dame, knowing that the fonner always got the worst of it in the shape of some harsh punishment, again reverted to the pictm-e, observing, that she did not think it was yet too late to introduce another figure. " No, certainly," replied the artist, " but it should not be a female one. I know such a head 1" continued he, " that of a young Floren- tine whom my good friend Vasari commended to me. I have a gi'eat mind to make a sketch of it, and I could bring it here, and finish it in your picture." "Who is he .? — do I knov>^ him?" laughed 68 BIANCA CAri'ELLO. Bianca, " for mctliinks I should at least know his name bcluic I consent to .stroll down to posterity with him." "I scarcely think you do," replied Titian, " though you may have seen him. He is one Bonaventuri, who hath been in Venice some twelve months, to learn commerce under Salviati. He is a youth of rare beauty ! seldom ha\ e I seen features that I do affect so much." The crimson blood mantled in the fair cheek of Bianca, as she exchanged a hasty glance v»ith Arianna ; and trying to assume a tone of indifference, while a beautiful magnolia paid the penalty of her agitation, by ha\ing its leaves severed one by one, and scattered in every direction, she added — '' Really ! So much beauty must be worth knowing." " Santa Maria ! it is well your father hears you not," said the Signora Elena, tunnng up her eyes, and then i)lying her needle with double celerity, " or he might deem that such forwardness in one of your age and sex well deserved the fate of Peloi>s." " Illiistrisshna Sif/ftora,'" smiled Titian, " already the Signorina hath incurred tlie fate of Pelops, inasmuch as she doth possess an ivory shoulder." BIANCA CAPPELLO. G9 " Fie — fie ! Signor Titian. I marvel you have not more discretion than to turn a silly giiTs brain by feeding her with such manchets of flattery." " I know not for her brain, but I must turn her head. A little more this way, and it please you, Signora Bianca. There — so — that will do very well." "What seek you, Aiiannar" said Bianca to the young girl, who was busy searching among the fresh strewed nishes on the floor for some- thing she had lost. " A small gold bodkin I have dropped," re- plied Arianna. "Alas, sister mine ! it is a judgment on you," said Bianca, looking archly at her; "it is but fair you should have losses as well as others ; and you have just as much chance of finding your bodkin as poor Ernesto Vasi has of find- ing his heart when he looks in your eyes for it ; for, strange to say, poor youth, the more he looks, the more he loses it. " Signora," blushed Arianna, " you know you are welcome to talk any nonsense that amuses you." " Pro^^ded the tenour of it be but decent!" bridled the SigTiora Elena. " Mercy on me ! what will this world come to ? This man's beauty ! and the other's eyes ! Why, at your 70 BIANCA CAPPELLO. age, Signora Bianca, I did not know whether a man had eyes V\ " Then all I can say is, matrigna mia, that you could have had none yourself," said Bianca, with a look of such saucy humour, that Titian had much ado to prevent himself laughing out- right, while the scandalized Signora Elena vented her hoiTor in another upturning of her eyes, and an exclamation of " Virgo santis- sima /" " Arianna," cried Bianca, " bring me my veil and fan, for it is time we should be at Bolzanio's; and so, mio caro," added she, turning to Titian, " I will release you till this hour the day after to-morrow." " Well, the day after to-morrow," said the artist, gathering up his brushes, and turning his picture to the wall ; after which, kissing the hands of Bianca and Arianna, and bowing profoundly to the Signora Elena, he withdrew. " Never," said Bianca, as she sank into tlie down cushions of her gondola, and reclined her beautiful head on Arianna's shoulder — "never do T feel so inclined to explore what is at the bottom of the sea as when I have been under- going a course of step-mother for an hour or two. Ah me, Arianna ! Already I begin to feel what a hard unsatisfying struggle life is; for life is two -fold: we have all an outward and BIANCA CAPPELLO. 71 visible being, of events and circumstances ; and an inward and invisible one, of feelings and thoughts ; each is eternally grappling with each, trying to sway the other, and Time reaps his spoil whichever way the contest ends." " You are young for such feelings, lady," re- plied Arianna, affectionately; "and with beauty, rank, and wealth, such as yours, many might wonder what you coiUd lack to make you happy." " What were rank, wealth, or beauty in a desert, where there were none to traffic with the former, or to see the latter ? and all my advan- tages are much the same to me. I feel a want that I cannot describe — not but what I am am- bitious — ay, beyond discretion; but ambition does not satisfy me. T gloiy too in being a daughter of the freest state in Italy — but, oh, Arianna ! nature never intended the heart for a repubUc — it requires an absolute monarch." " There is not one among the flower of the Venetian nobles that would not gladly rule over such an empire," said Arianna. " Out upon the Venetian nobles — they affect me not," retorted Bianca, pettishly. " Natui'e sometimes makes sad mistakes, and like an unskilful leech, labels her compounds WTongly, writing on some ' patiician' for * plebeian,' and vice versa.'''' 72 BIANCA f'APPELLO. " Very true," said Ariaiiiia, with a sigh, for she knew full well the drift of this remark, having long perceived Bianca's growing affec- tion for Bonaventuri : and, at the same time, equally disliking to contradict her, and yet dreading to encourage her in an attachment that might have such fearful consequences, which were doubly recalled to her mind at that moment by the magnificent gondola of the Patriarch of Aquilea, which shot past them, as it neared the little creek of the wharf at the Piazzetta of the Dogal Palace. " Heigh-ho ! " said Bianca. " I have done nothing for Bolzanio — not a line ; but he is a dear old man, even when his gout, or what is infinitely more afflicting, the pompous stupidity of that leaden fool, Gonzo Damerino, plagues him most.'' " Methinks," smiled Arianna, " you are severe, lady, on the poor youth's deficiencies." " Nay, not so ; on God's work none have a right to comment; but when man or woman takes out a royal privilege for making them- selves fools, why then, marry, have all a nght to make merry at their expense, when they give you so public an invitation so to do. Now, that it hath pleased God to knead Gonzo with stu- pidity — in that hath he no fault : but that it hath pleased himself to embroider that stupidity with BIANCA CAPPELLO. 73 would-be philosophy, and incomprehensible strainings after the sublime, in that is he most ridiculous, and well merits the rich harvest of laughter he reaps. He would not for his life miss the shadow of a fete, a turn in a Coranto, nor a step in a La Volta ; yet shall he entertain his partner the whole time with the frivolity of the age ! discourse her of Zeno, Anaxagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, and such like delicacies from the ancients ; for he knows them all by name, as he does most of the great men of his own day, who, not to fatigue the philosophers too much, constantly relieve guard, and are ever in his mouth ! Then will he assume a look, and inform you, with the air of a Socrates, and a fearful pause between every syllable, to give the wisdom more effect, that summer is apt to be hotter tlian winter ! — that drinking iced water when wann is sometimes attended with danger ! — that men of eighty are wont to be less active than those of thirty ; which pearls of perspicuity he will string, with a profound sigh, on the total absence of mind and intellectual sustenance in Venice — the frivolity of the Venetians — their dissipation— the affectation of their dress ! When, lo ! he will straight be thrown into an agony at seeing a mote descend upon his sleeve, or on feeling a quarter of a thread of his ruff fall into a rumple. Then, VOL. I. E 74 BTANCA CAPPELLO. some falsp, malicious miiTor having persuaded him that he is liandsome, it is perfectly astonish- ing the degi'ee of admiration he thinks it neces- sary to bestow upon himself, and to try and extort from others. But the general finale of all is — *Ah — hum — ah! — ^have you heard Paolo Nico- letti's last splendid lecture on the ]3eripatetic doctrine, signora ? ' ' No ; but pray favour me with some account of it, and then I may have the benefit of your opinion at the same time.** ' Why — a — I — a — am sorry to say I — a — had business of importance, which prevented my hearing it.' * True; I remember meeting you on that day at Ilirodalgo's Spanish puppet-show — ha ! ha ! ha !'. " And then the would-be Solomon walks off, to lament my frivolity and want of mind to his next victim." Bianca had talked a most exquisite blush into her delicate cheek, and never had she looked more beautiful than when she stepped out of the gondola at Bolzanio's door. Being, as we have before stated, much af- llicted with the gout, the old man's apartments were on the ground floor, and the room in which he held his school opened out of the spacious hall : it was a long and lofty room, supported BIA^X'A CAPPELLO. 75 by green marble pillars ; along the walls were ranged, in the shape of modern garden-seats, highly polished and caiTed oak benches; be- fore each was a table of the same, with books and ^mting-materials upon it, and appended to each massive bronze inkstand was a silver label, attached by a chain of the same, on which was inscribed the name of the pu])il to whom that particular table belonged. Along this room, or rather gallery, were busts and statues of the whole of Bolzanio's patrons, the Medici, and some good bronzes of Plato, Zeno, Aristotle, Aristides, and Epictetus, with one fine statue of Seneca. The school of Bolzanio, from consisting, not of children, but of modish young nobles, and beautiful ladies spendidly attired, was in those days one of the most fashionable lounges in all Venice ; and it was a common piece of pedantiy to affect the studious, by declining visitors at home, and adjourning them to Bolzanio's, where, being all adults, ignorance and stupidity were both leniently dealt with, and even reproof wore the gTiise of compliment — add to which, the fi'eshest news from Rome was always to be had there, from Bolzanio's high favour at the Vatican. The old man sat in a large chair, elevated on a sort of dais, at the upper end of the room near E 2 76 BIANCA CAPrELLO. the window, lie wore a loose green velvet dressing-gown, bordered widi sable, and loose Turkish sleeves, lined with the same. On his head was a round violet velvet cap, embroidered with gold ; his hair was still thick, though per- fectly white, and tell in curls between his shoul- ders; his complexion retained much of the freshness of youth, and the benevolence of his countenance was never for a moment disguised, even by the extreme pain he seemed to suffer from his light foot, which rested on a high crim- son velvet cushion. From the murmur of many voices, the floating of perfumed handkerchiefs, and the gorgeous variety of magnificent dresses, the gallery had more the air of an assembly than of an aca- demia, the only thing childish in its apjDearance being the grotesque decorations of the busts and statues ; for while Zeno frowned from under a gay cap and feather, Cosimo de Medici was modestly concealed under a lady's veil, and the scroll Aristides held in his hand was capj^ed with a gold fringed glo^•e ; but some Malthusian youth had thrown his cloak over the Gracchi and their mother, for so had Bolzanio's ])upils disposed of their superfluous gear. When Bianca and Arianna arrived, Bolzanio was telling Gonzo Damerino, as was his wont, to explain to a younger pupil what the ancients BIANCA CAITELLO. 77 meant by prelixiug the title of Sylvie to their miscellaueous literatiu'e ; for he liked to test the extent of one scholar's information by getting him to impart it to another. " Well, Signor Gonzo, tell Don Carlos de Sylva here why the Romans called their mis- cellanies Syhce. Was it out of compliment to him — eh ? ha, ha, ha I" "No ! oh, no !" replied Gonzo, solemnly, es- chewing the jest, " they — a — merely borrowed — that is, copied it from the Greek word Hylusr " Hyle /" corrected Bolzanio. " Yes, yes — of course, I meant Hyle^'' re- sumed Gonzo, '' which the Greeks modestly as- sumed to intimate that they had only collected a store of timber, or materials, which others might use to erect a regidar stnicture." " Quite right," said Bolzanio; " but the Sylcie of Statins are said, by the critics, to be more valuable than liis finished works. That will do ; I see you understand the meaning of tlie Sylac perfectly." " What were the use of his being a stick if he did not 1" whispered Bianca to Arianna. " Ah, Signora Bianca !" said the old man, extending both his hands to her — •" I am de- lighted to see you. "Wliat have you got for me ? Something good, no doubt, for you are a gem of 78 BIANCA CAPPELLO. a scholar — one more fit to teacli ourselves than to be taught by us." " Nay, worthy signor, your praise to-day falls so undeserved, that it doth but help me to the greater shame, for, thanks to these meny mask- ing times, I have not writ a single line, or trans- lated one page of the Attic evenings of Aulus Gellius, according to your bidding." " Then, by Pallas, I must punish thee," said the old man, " and it shall be with one of my own elegies. So come here, and translate it on the instant; and if you do me injustice, accord- ing to my authorly vanity, hut in a single let- ter, you shall feel that I am a rod — ay, many, and what is worse, kiss it too /" Bianca smiled as she seated herself beside him, and read out, with a perfect enunciation, and great fluency and elegance of diction, an impromptu translation of one of his elegies. " Bianca," said tlie old man, when she had finished, " your beautiful translation reminds me that Catherine de Medici, now queen of France, to whom my poetical works are dedicated, trans- lated also most happily my elegies, when only your age — may her destiny prove of good augmy to you !" Whether in schools, society, courts, or camps, success makes many friends ; and every one now crowded round Bianca, loudly ofiering BIANCA CAPPELLO. 79 their praise and their congi'atulations, to all of which she listened coiu-teously, but unmoved ; for there was cme voice silent among the many that fell upon her ear. But upon raising her eyes to an opposite pillar, she encountered the looks of Bonaventuri, which spoke more elo- quently to her heart than all the plaudits she had received, and instantly her face became suffused with blushes, and her limbs trembled as she rose to make way for another pupil, by the side of Bolzanio. In crossing the room she let the book she still held fall. Pietro stooped to pick it up — their hands met ; it seemed to have the effect of elec- tricity on both ; each felt their whole being thrill, and each trembled; but it was not with fear, but with one of those earthquakes of feel- ing which arise when love for the first time leaves the child to enact the god, and, out of a chaos of vagoie hopes, creates a world of hap- piness and certainty, as, ^\ith a look — a breath — a touch, he in one bright moment achieves the work of yeai-s. Alas, well would it be if death could follow on this first breath of life, ere Sin, and her twin sister Sorrow, creep in to mar the pure beauty of Lo^'e's first creation, and banish us fi'om the paradise of our own hearts ! Bianca regained her book; but in doing so she had opened a volume of far deeper and dearer 80 BIANCA CAITELLO. lore, and lost a delicately embroidered glove, of the late ol' which she for many months remained ignorant. Bonaventuri continued to lean against the pillar, which was at the end of the bench on which 13ianca sat ; and was not sorry that she should hear one or two young nobles compli- ment him on his high favour with the Patriarch of A([uilea, and his great success at Grimani's levee that morning. " You remember," laughed Ernesto Vasi, addressing Pietro, to get nearer to the juetty Arianna, from whom, for the last half hour, he had nc^ er rcnnoved his eyes, ** the conjuror at the carnival predicted, the other night, that you would rise ; and, by the soul of San Antonio, I think your star is already in the ascendant ! May I fall by Borgia's dagger, if I don't think of forsaking love, as the worst trade going ; one gets on so much faster in law or connnercc." " Love is not love tliat's born and dies in thought, True love dares all, in hopes to con<|uer aught !" replied Bonavcnturi, in a low voice, with groat emphasis, fixing his eyes steadily on Bianca, the crimson flush of whose face instantly assured him of all he wished to know. " Dare I yes, I'd dare the very d — 1 himself," said Vasi, " if daring would do it ; but, gentle BIANCA CAPrELLO. 81 Pietro, thou seemcsit to forget that there must be two to play at a game of daring.'' And here the young man hurled a sigh at Arianna that deranged her ringlets, without discomposing her countenance. At this moment a gi'eat noise was heard in tlie hall, and a loud, imperious voice, giving directions to some gondolier, to convey some- body to the Lido, and then return. It was the voice of Vittorio Cappello ; and Bianca involuntarily quitted the vicinity of Bonaventuri, and walked over to Bolzanio's chair. She had scarcely done so, when the door opened, and the stately figure of Vittorio appeared. He was habited in the extreme of the mode — that is to say, a black velvet doublet, richly embroidered in gold, full scarlet velvet sleeves, coming from his wrists to above his elbows, where they were met by large loose flat black velvet ones ; his tnmk hose were of scarlet, and his shoes were white, with red heels and red rosettes. His cloak was of black velvet, embroidered in gold, and lined with scarlet taifeta. At his side hung a diamond- hilted rapier; and round his throat, beneath a very costly ruff of point d'Alen^on, hung, to a chain of massive gold, the pope's golden rose, which had been sent to two members of the Cappello family, in three generations. E 3 82 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " All, Sigiior Bolzaiiio," said lie, haughtily, making his way to the old man's chair, without looking to the right or to the left, and jjointing to his muffled foot, as it rested upon the stool, " still hospitably bent upon entertaining your worst enemy ? No wonder the knave likes to visit you so often, when he linds such comfort- able quarters. Methinks, didst thou let him know the feel of a marble floor, hke his com- panion, he would not be so ready to come to you." " Alas !" replied the old man, " he is not come ; and I am taking measures to bring him on, so that I may be the sooner rid of his abominable company." " Taking measures, art thou?" rejoined Cap- pello ; " then, corpo dl Bacco ! the best measure thou canst take will be a flask of rare Hun- garian wine, sent to the ambassador by his imperial master, and by the ambassador to me ; and it shall travel still further, and lose no- thing ; for it shall be with thee. Master Bolzanio, ere supper time ; and, flout me for a cai'p, if one single draught be not worth a whole Aintage of beggarly Falernian !" " Ha, ha, ha ! — thou art too good. Signer Vlttorio," laughed the old man ; " and thy mode of treating my complaint doth remind me of a pleasant scene we had one day at the Vatican, BIAXCA CAPPELLO. 83 when it pleased his liohuess Leo the Tenth, (and, sooth to say, he often pleasiu'ed himself that way,) to make merry at that poor varlet Querno's ex- pense. You know, sirs, that Quenio was his hohness's poetical buffoon ; but you may not know that the crotchet took the gay yomig nobles about the comi; of Rome, to crown poor Quemo as arch-poet. Whether it was the unlucky overthrows he had so often had from Pegasus, or the unwholesome nature of the draughts he had imbibed from the muddiest lills of HeUcon, I know not, but he suftered fearfrdly fr'om my tormentor, the gout. On one occasion, poor kna^e, he was >mtlung rather more than usual ; but still would not forego one of the dainties his holiness was pleased daily to send him fi'om his own table ; neither would his hohness forego a single distich mth which Quenio was wont to repay each dish ; but he was in such dolorous phght that he could get no further than one line, which ran as follows — ' Archipoeta facit versus, pro inille poetis j' To wliich his hohness, in order to help him out, replied — ' Et pro mille aliis archipoeta hibit ;' When poor Quemo, detennined to shew liimself superior to his sufferings, replied — ♦ Porrige, quod facial mihi carmina docta Falernum.' 84 BIANCA CArrELLO. But still his holiness hud the best of it, for he ended with this spicy repaitcc — ' Hoc vinum enervat, (lebilitaes liim a scroll, by which he exclaims — ' Ohime ! non posso pine.' ' O dear me ! I can no more !' " As it may be supposed, nobody could see tlie apropos of this story ; but the fact is, Signor BIANCA CAPPELLO. 87 Gonzo had come iiito possession of it that very morning, and liis was one of those generous and philanthropic dispositions, that whatever he had last read, that must he impart to e\ eiy man, woman, and child he met. At the conclusion of this piece of valuable information, all maintained a profoimd silence mtli the exception of Bianca, who, giving way to a very unresti-ained laugh, which Damerino took as a just tribute to his ^^it, exclaimed — " Ohime ! non posso piu !" ** How, Signer Gonzo, yoic here ? " said Cappello — " why, I have missed you from the Piazza, and all the festas, these two months, and they told me you were ill of a fever ; but I always denied the calumny, and said I was sure you never could be so hot-headed." " No — yes — ^that is, I certainly am not apt to be hot-headed ; however, hoyno sion, you know, and I don't mean to say that I am more perfect than other people ; and, indeed, the proof of it perhaps is, that I really had a fe^er. I was even obhged to have my head shaved, but see how thick my hair has gi'own again." '• Very," said Cappello — ^" almost as thick as your head." '* No — no," rejoined Gonzo, with a con- siderable degi'ee of innocent and imsuspecting candour, ^* not as thick as my head, lor the very 88 BIANCA CAPPELLO. nature and texture ol' hair nuist over be an cfl'ectual barrier to its becoming as thick as solid bone." "Except, perhaps," gibed Cappello, "in the event of there being an ultra-sympathetic soft- ness in both head and hair." " All, well, perhaps so ; but 1 am not at tliis moment prepared to argue the matter philoso- jyhically with you," said Gonzo, with much increased pomposity. " Well, then," laughed Cappello, " suppose we postpone the discussion to a more convenient season. ~ How fares your wordiy step-father, the Signor Cianciare Millantatore r* Is he always in the very depths of the arcana imperil of all Europe ?" " I believe there are few he is not acquainted with," said Damerino, drawing himself up with additional dignity. " I woiUd speak with your brother on private matters from Rome," whispered Bolzanio to Bianca, " when Gonzo has done croaking there, like one of the frogs of Aristophanes." " What is that you are saying of me and Aristophanes, Signor Bolzanio r" said Damerino, stepping eagerly forward. The old man was greatly embarrassed, when Bianca, as much out of kindness as mischief, said, with a very '*" Literally, boasting jabberer. BIANCA CAPriiLLO. 89 demure lace, t(3 the infinite amusement of all jnesent — " He was merely comparing yoiu' vein of comic humour. Signor Gonzo, with that of Aristophanes." During the universal titter which followed, Mttorio Cappello took the opportunity of say- ing, in a low voice, to Arianna, in which hauteur appeared to struggle with tenderness, " You look pale, bellissima ; wouldst like a row, as far as the Spanish convent, on the Lido, this evening ? if so, there shall be music, and as good sherbet as ever bathed a sidtana's lips, in my gondola." " 1 thank you, Signore," said the young girl, coldlv, vet mth some embarrassment ; " but if the Signora Bianca can spare me, I would see my father to-night." " Oh, just as you please," said Vittorio, with a sneer j " and I only hope so dutiful a daughter will treasure up her father's councils, and abide by them," added he, bowing with an expression of mock deference and covert meaning, that sent the blood still further from Arianna's cheek, and drove the tears into her eyes. " By the night-cap of Apollo ! (if he had one,)" said Vittorio, perceiving that half the assembled crowd were dispersing, " yon darkening clouds warn us, worthy Bolzanio, tliat it is time to leave vou." 90 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " A word with you, iirst, illustrious sir," replied the old man, and then wliispered some- thing in Cappello's ear, to which the latter answered aloud — " Ah ! indeed ? — then shall the Doge know it forthwith." After which, turning to Arianna, and offering her his hand to lead her from the room, he said, as he passed Bonaventuri, " Signor, nij sister awaits your courtesy to conduct her to her gondola." " Dear brother, how / do love you !" thought Bianca, as she tremblingly placed her hand, for the first time, in that of Bonaventuri. " Excellent young man !" thought the latter, as he gently pressed that delicate hand within his own — " how I wish -it would please thee to borrow a hundred ducats from me every day — that is, how I wish it would please the fates to enable me to lend them to thee !" BIANCA CAPPELLO. 91 CHAPTER V. " If so be that oue had a pump in your bosom, I believe we should discover a foul hold. They say a witch will sail in a sieve ; but I believe the devil would not venture aboard your conscience." — Congbeve. BiANCA felt that excess of happiness on her return home which always seeks solitude to indulge in its own extravagance ; and there- fore, as it may be supposed, readily gianted Arianna the pennission she asked, to go and see her father. It was almost dark when she entered his small shop on the Rialto, where she found him in deep conlerence with a Spanish Jew, of the name of Jose Agnado. She had been so tutored never to interrupt liim when occupied in what he considered the only rational aim and end of Ufe — namely, buying and selling, that she stood some seconds on the threshold, iiTesolute whether to enter or go back. 92 BIANCA CArPELLO. *' I tell tlicc what, Jose, I would rather have the money down. I don't like these new fan- glcd bits of paper." " New fangled, gootc Mashter Ferrai ! Now by de shoul of Mosesh and de prophets, which are more in our line, ha, ha, ha ! dey are any tings but newsh. Deshe bills of exchange were de invenshions of my forefaders as far back ash yen King Dagobert did drives dem out of Franche ; and in de timesh of Philip Augustush and Philip de Long — dat ^ osli as bad for de Ishraeliths — dey did make deesh billsh for to shecurc deir monisli ; and dat ish as far back ash de yearsh 640, 1181, and 1313. Sho dat ish not new you shee, and if dey had not been de shafesht tings dat ish, dey voode not have lashted till now." *' All that may be true," rejoined Ferrai, " but I prefer the clank of the metal I am used to ; it sounds like the voice of a friend, look'ee — and the best of all friends it surely is in this world — and, indeed, I may say the next ; for can it not, j)raise be to the holy inquisition !" and Ferrai crossed himself, " buy us into heaven and out of hell ? But I w^ould not make another of those ," here his voice dropi)cd, and Ari- anna did not hear the word — '^ no, not for double the sum, great as it is." " Well, if you like mesh to go and tell de BIANCA CAPPELLO. 93 Patriarch of Aquilea, or de Doge, dat you have made me vonsh, ha, ha, ha ! perhaps dey vill lent me de monish ; but 'pon my vordsh, I have not got it odervish, so you must take de billsh." " Hush, hush, for Heaven's sake !" said FeiTai, turning deadly pale, and gathering up the papers the Jew had offered him, which he hastily locked in a strong box — " wives always tell other people's secrets to their husbands, how- ever closely they may keep their own, and how know you but that brawling jade, the often- wedded sea, that flows beneath us, may tell her mighty spouse what would secure us six feet of stone walls beneath his palace, ere the morn- ing?" " I am shilent, my dear fren," replied Jose, with the complacency of a man who felt that he had the best of it, by having his companion in his power ; " and ash I am all for fair dealing, — how ish your pretty daughtersh r" added lie. " Well enough, were she wise enough," said Ferrai — "but though it may be true that fortune favours fools, certes, fools do not favour fortune ; and she doth anger me hugely at the silly way she hath of flouting all the blind goddess's advances." As their business was now evidently ended, Arianna advanced, and embracing her father, bowed slightly to Jose, who returned her ac- 94 BIANCA CAPPELLO. knowledgment by a salutation nearly to the ground. " Ah !" cried FeiTai, '' talk of the devil !" " Who would not turn shaucherer, and raise him,'* exclaimed the Jew, " if he alwaysh appeared in such a shape ! I have sheen de diamondsh of Golconda, de pearl sh of Balzora, de crysholites of Sammercand; and onesh in Holland did I shee de wreck of a Spanish galleon, vich had lain for two shenturies five hundred fathoms deep ^nthin the shea, and uninjured ; from her sh tores were taken whole argosies of dazzling jewels ; but never shaw I sho many bright things in one plashe as in de Signora Arianna's fashe ; 'pon my vords, 'tis all de truts I shpeak ! " " Ma, ha, ha !" laughed Ferrai. " I have often heard (/) there is nothing so beautiful as the truth, and so it would seem by all the fine things you have been saying." " Ah, for me I do reshpect de trute at all timesh !" " No doubt — no doubt," laughed the jeweller; " and like all other illustrious personages whom you only know by name, evince your respect by always keeping at as great a distance from her as possible." " Ver well, Signor Giovanni, ver well ! Now you have thought fit to retail edged tools instead BIANCA CAPPELLO. 95 of trinkets, I shall take my self off, — and dat is de tmte, as you shall see. So felice notte ! Good night !" And so saying, Agnado, again bowing profoundly to Arianna, walked out of the shop. " Dost mean to be the ruin of thy old father, child ? " said Fenai sternly to his daughter, as soon as the Jew had depai'ted. " I youi' ruin, father !" " Yes, you, gii'l ; how shouldst like, as thou layest in thy princely bed at the Casa Cappello, to hear thy father's groans chiming in with the infernal concert of waves and wailings that nightly howl under the Bridge of Sighs ? the . vicinity is sufficiently near for the purpose. If such a lidlaby you must needs have, go on as you are doing, and you'll be sure of it." As conscience is always the first to accuse itself, Arianna's, pure and unbm'dened as it was, suggested that her father might in some unac- countable manner have discovered Bianca's affection for Bonaventuri, and been angiy with her for even countenancing what she had no means of preventing. This idea predominated, as she tremblingly exclaimed — '^ Good heavens ! Father, what do you mean ?" " Mean, girl ! — why, I mean that when one like you, a poor dependent on the bounty of 96 BIANCA CAPPELLO. the great, usurp tlieir exclusive ])rivileges of ])ride, arrogance, and obstinacy, it is likely to bring those belonging to them intimately ac- quainted with some of the pleasure and pastimes of the inquisition." " I proud — I arrogant — I obstinate !" — said the astonished girl — " I must be worse than ungrateful, if I were ; for ever since I first re- member a sense of existence, I have been cradled in kindness by the Signora Bianca, and never have I heard her complain of the serious crimes you lay to my charge, father." " The Signora Bianca ! — tush ! who talks of the Signora Bianca ? — she is but a crude girl, like thyself; and whether young blood flows through nature's gold and porcelain vessels, or through her delf and brazen ones, 'tis but a foolish stream after all, of no account till it has mingled with the sea of time. But there are other mem- bers of the Cappello family, of far more import. The worthy Signor Bartolomeo's day of life is already on the wane ; and as his shadow lengthens on the earth, his gallant son, the Signor Vittorio, walks bravely out into his father's past sunshine. He is great with the Doge, great with the Gri- mani, both from blood and favour, and born of many doges, he may himself die one. Venice just now is mistress of the seas — the Cappellos are masters of Venice. But power is the first BIANCA CAPPELLO. 97 born of Plutus, and to thrive must be fed with gold. And are not the coffers of the Cappellos daily piled from the Morea, Negropont, Snia, and Egypt ? One of these things were a fearful odds against a poor Jiladoro ;••■ but thou, for- sooth, must bra\'e them all, by insulting the pos- sessor of them, with cold looks, short answers, and long absences, when he condescends to desire thy presence." ^' Never, father," inteiTupted Arianna, " have I failed in the respect due to the Signor Vittorio Cappello, when he has not forgotten that due to himself and to me." " To thee ! to thee /" — shouted Ferrai, mock- ingly taking off his cap, and bowing lowly to his' daughter. " Feed thee with mushrooms in gold spoons ! Marry ! when grew thy dignity to such high stature } Methought that nobi- lity, like an aloe, at least required a century ere it bloomed ; but thou seemest to have plucked it on a sudden from the moon, so to set thy- self upon a level with the greatest lord in Venice." " Father, to dignity I have no claim ; but, for that fair heritage of honour which God doth award to us all, I hope never to die with less than I have lived." " Now, by her soul, which Heaven rest ! but * Gold wire drawer. VOL. I. F 98 BIANCA CAPPELLO. thy mother was just such another simpleton. I should marvel at thee • Is't in thy rubric of honour, forsooth, to be an ingi'ate ? — and canst deny the rich gifts the Signor Vittorio has, times and often, heaped upon thee ?" " I do deny them," said Arianna, with a calm voice, but flashing eye ; " for gifts, like mer- chants' bills, are null till they are accepted ; and none did I ever accept from the Signor Vit- torio." " This to my face !" cried Ferrai, pacing up and down the narrow shop, and abstractedly placing and displacing several glass-cases of Jewellery — " this to my face ! No wonder the signor was graciously pleased, even last night, to honour my poor tenement, by lodging his complaint of your insufferable frowardness, and bid me look to it ; but no doubt," added he, snapping his fingers, " this is more of your wis- dom ; and your reason for rejecting his wondrous kindness is, that, you despise such gauds and toys as, for the most part, do delight your silly sex." " Not so, father — I despise them not ; but I do value mine honour more." " Honour again !" sneered Ferrai ; "it seems to weigh with thee so plaguily, that thinkest thou not 'twould be quite as safe in Signor Vittorio's keeping as in thine .^" BIANCA CAPPELLO. 99 " This from you !" said Arianna, bursting into tears, and covering her face wdth her hands. FeiTai perceived that he had chimsily exceeded his warrant ; for, though it is true that Vittorio Cappello, knowing his total want of all principle, and ever having found him a \villing tool, had complained of Aiianna's cold rejection of all his overtm-es, and ordered him to exert his parental authority with her to pursue a different line of conduct ; yet, being aware of the sensitive deli- cacy of her natme, far more than her coai'se- minded and unnatural father, he had at the same time cautioned him against outraging her feelings, or starding her sense of propriety, both of which having most effectually done, he now placed his arm round her waist, from which she involuntarily recoiled, and said — " Come, come, child — I did not mean exactly that ! — I only meant to reprove thee, who art but a chicken, for playing the owl ; but dry thine eyes, for I have business at the Casa Salviati, and so ^ill accompany thee home ; but, let me warn thee, unless thou art resolved that my bones shall help to j^ave the dungeons of the inquisition, preserve a civil bearing to- wards the Signor Vittorio." Arianna said nothing, for her heart was too full ; but walked silently out, beside her father. f2 100 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " Didst walk here, or come by water ?" asked the latter, when they had reached the foot of the bridge. " I came by water ; the gondola is there." ^* Well, then, so we will return," said Ferrai, turning down to the wharf; "for I have no fancy for the streets at night, where, mayhap, stilettoes are as plentiful as stars." They entered the boat in silence, which might have continued, but that Ferrai began to whistle a barcarole — not exactly for want of thought, but because his thoughts were rather of an em- baiTassing nature, and he was laboming under a certain degree of fear — that only conscience of the had. He continued to whistle till they passed the house of Tintoretto, when, going under the Bridge of Sighs, a sort of sup- pressed or muffled shriek fell upon their ear. " Listen !" cried Ferrai, grasping Arianna's arm ; " unless that thou wilt that I should make such music, see that thou playest Signor Vit- torio more skilfidly than thou hast hitherto done." A shudder was Arianna's only answer, as she placed her hand, which was cold and rigid as that of death, in hor father's, as he helped her out of the gondola ; and, leaving her with a hurried kiss, and a f el ice nolle (which she BIANCA CAPPELLO. 101 was not very likely to have) in the spacious hall of the Palazzo Cappello, he walked through it, and passed on to the house of Salviati. " Is the Signor Baptista Bonaveuturi at home ?" asked Ferrai of a fat porter who lay half asleep on one of the benches. " Ay, many is he. Master Giovanni, and busy at the working of miracles. He is at supper ; that is no miracle, for on an average he in- dulgeth in the excess of eating once a day. Signor Salviati lodges him, therefore is he ever at home ; but he feedeth himself, for which reason he employeth more discretion than to be always at it ; but the miracles are these, and put San Marcus as much out of joint as is his nose in the Mosaic : first, in comes his nephew in such gallant trim as at another time would have set Baptista, out of sheer fear for the family, hoarding double scrapings for a month, instead of which it was, ' Be seated, nephew, I pray you — what news, worthy Pietro ?' and such like sweet words, all wrapped up in satin courtesies ; then, tiu*ning toGaetano, who was busy scraping the mould off the bread for supper, he said, * 'Tis not so healthful, but Signor Pietro liketh newer bread — see that we have it !' — Whereupon, poor Gaetano was so flighted, as it were, with the unusual strangeness of the order, that, lo ! he let bread, trencher and all, fall to the ground, 102 BIANCA CAPPELLO. where tlic platter broke into a thousand pieces ; still Baptista reproved him not, but bid him quit the room, and leave him with his dear nephew. His dear nephew — there's for you ! Now comes miracle the second : when Gae- tano returned, he said, ' Signer Pietro must sup with me ;' whereat Signor Pietro, who no doubt felt marvellously hungry, was for excusing him- self at all hazards ; but Baptista insisted, and said to Gaetano, * Hie thee to the vintner's, at the Riva degli Schiavoni, and bring from thence a flask of ipocras ; next, see Salviati's Maestro di Casa, and try'and arrange with him, at a dis- creet price, to let us have some slices of boar's head, and a galentine of barnacles, peacocks' brains, and truffles, for supper.' Ha ! ha ! ha !" concluded the fat porter, holding his sides, " Signor Salviati had better look out for another book-keeper, for if Baptista does not die of a complaint in the chest, one way or the other, after this excess, then is my name not Bonifacio Quagha 1" " Ha, ha, ha ! then it would seem that I have come at the right time !" laughed Ferrai, " for certes it is a festa that does not happen every day !" And so saying he walked on to the end of the hall, where, 0])ening a door that led into a spacious room, he beheld at the upper end of it, by the dim light of a solitary lamp BIANCA CAPPELLO. 103 the wizen figure and lean-himgiy face of Bap- tista Bonaventmi, in his usual nisty black gar- ments, seated at a small table laid for supper opposite. His handsome and gaily attired nephew was leaning carelessly back in the high stiif chaii- in which he sat, giving himself and it an air of ease by leaning over the right aim of it, and placing liis cap before his mouth to hide the yawns he found it impossible to suppress ; but both the old man's elbows rested on the table, and his face in his hands, as his small keen eyes were occupied in perusing the face of his nephew. Ferrai advanced with, his usual prowHng walk, obsequious dowaiward bend of the head, and universally vulpine bearing, that would have done credit to the most ancient fox that ever depopulated a fai-m yard, and after uttering a thousand '^ ilhistrissimi signoriy'' he at length succeeded in making Baptista aware of his presence. " Ah, honest Giovanni, you are welcome !" said the latter ; "by Santa Maria Zobenigo, you were uppermost in my thoughts ! Be seated, pray ; a cup of wine — 'tis the best channel tlu'ough which business flows." And here the old man w^hispered Ferrai, w^ho merely gave a satisfied nod of the head, and answered aloud by de- clining the proffered wine that Baptista had poured out. 104 BIANCA CAPl'ELLO. *' Thank you, worthy sir, but I woukl rather not. I know your health, which is but weak, re- quires the sympathy of weak potations, but for my i)art I hate poverty in any shape, but most of all in the shape of wine, for I do opine that small sharp wine is like a small sharp woman !" " Nay, by Bacchus, 'tis ipocras — the very best and soundest !" inteiTupted Baptista, again filling a beaker, and placing it before Ferrai. " Oh, in that case," said the latter, "Heaven forbid that I should be so unjust as not to give it a fair trial ;" and so saying he drained the glass, after which, adding, " Of a truth, it is too good not to be of a social disposition, and like conipaniou'ihip ; so I'll e'en take another stoup to keep it company." " Eight — right !" said the old man, pouiing out another glass, but filling it considerably less than its predecessor ; after which he again whis- pered something in the goldsmith's ear, as if his mind was full of some matter that he could not keep to himself, and did not like to discuss be- fore his nephew, which the latter perceiving, and too glad of an oj^portunity of escaping, rose and said — " Well, uncle, as I see you have matters of private import to discourse, I will leave you." " Nay, nay," said Baptista, offering, however, but a very slight opposition to his nephew's de- BIA>'CA CArPELLO. 105 parluie ; " remain at least till Gaetano returneth with the supper. lie cannot, in conscience, tany much longer, judging by the short time he was going for the wine. Ah, here he is ! so pr'ythee, stay." " I thank you, vmcle, repHecl Pietro, " but, as I before told you, I have an appointment, which demanded my presence at least half an hour ago." " Oh, well, in that case, go !" said the old ' man, evidently eager to expedite his departure, " for never shall it be said that Baptista Bona- venturi preached or practised unpunctuality, from the gi'eatest matter to the smallest." No sooner were the jeweller and the old miser alone, than the latter drew his chair close to that of the former, and ha™g carefully looked round, to see that no other ears were there beside FeiTai's, he exclaimed, in a shiill whisper — " My good Giovanni, om* fortunes are made ! The Patriarch and the Doge are both deUghted — the devil himself, say they, could not find out the secret. I unshed myself, as the inven- tor, to have taken it to the Patriarch of Aquilea, and you in my hand as the artificer, for T never forget my fiiends. But Salviati thought that might excite suspicion, and bring us into trouble hereafter. So he sends my scapegrace F 3 106 BIANCA CAPPELLO. of a nephew with it, without even consulting me ; and when I heard it, you may guess the mortal fear I was in, lest he should commit some plebeian blunder, and so anger his worthi- ness. This thought seemed to have got to my fingers' ends, for every ducat I touched slipped through them, and I had to count each rouleau ten times over — when lo ! first comes in one gallant, and then another, with, ' Signor Bap- tista, I do felicitate you on your nephew's high favour with the Grimani ; we are straight fi'om his levee, where we did see the Patriarch linked aim in arm with the Signor Pietro ; and more than once did he stop, in his progress to the presence chamber, and seem to consult him privately.' Still did I think that this might be — nay, was, some modish banter, or the very wrong side of the truth, when, straight on his retimi from the council, the Patriarch sends for Salviati, bidding him bring the inventor of the key with him. And I do assure thee, worthy Giovanni, it was not till his worthiness had assured me, over and over again, of his perfect satisfaction — both with the inventor and the artificer, that I gave over trembling like an aspen tree. But he so repeatedly reiterated the question of, whether I could swear that the secret of its construction was confined to thee and me j and I so repeatedly assiu'ed him tliat BIANCA CAPPELLO. 107 thou haclst not employed any hands in the work but thme own, that I at length made bold to ask, if it were possible he meant to employ those locks for the whole of the prison, for, from the massiveness of the silver, and the intricacy of the workmanship, the cost would be enormous. He said, No ; that it was merely to secure the dungeon of a Spanish prisoner of some note ; and then again tested me as to the construction of the lock being known to only thee and me. But what hast thou, honest Gio- vanni ? — thou seemest ill at ease, — another cup of wine ? A deadly pallor had, indeed, spread itself over the countenance of FeiTai, as he remembered how, for the bribe of five hmidred ducats, he had made a similar lock and key for Agnado, the Spanish Jew, who had assm'ed him, in the solemnest manner, that, in a few days, he was about to sail for Spain ; but now that he had heard that the Inquisition of Venice had ordered this complicated and mysterious key for the better security of a Spanish prisoner, a fearful light seemed to break in upon the appalled jeweller, at the dire consequences he might have entailed upon himself by his accursed love of gold. Jose, who had on more than one occasion found Ferrai, late at night, at work on this key, had at length artiiilly, by 108 BIANCA CAPPELLO. dint of bribes, wonned the secret out of him ; and next, for the (to Ferrai) irresistible sum of five himdred golden ducats, got him to con- struct him a similar one to that he was making for the Venetian senate, saying he wished to take so valuable a treasure to Madrid, where it would make his fortune without ever injuring Ferrai. But now this stoiy only seemed to the latter a wily pretext to possess the key, in order to release his captive countryman. He resolved, therefore, that very night to seek out the Jew, and, at all hazards, re-possess himself of what might prove so fatal an instnuncnt of destruc- tion to him. These thoughts passed rapidly and sharply through his brain, as he filled out another glass of wine, and, in answer to the old miser's question, replied, with outward calmness — "'Tis nothing, Signor Baptista — merely a sj)asm which this wine will dissipate ; but the reward, worthy signor, the reward ? — what said tlie Patriarch touching that ?" " Ah ! the reward," replied Baptista, filling for himself, with a trembling hand, more wine, which was already beginning to afl'ect a brain so little used to such generous drink — " yes, the reward. His worthiness was graciously pleased to decide — and you know, honest Giovanni, it was not for me to gainsay him — that the artificer should just ha^'e half the sum of the BIANCA . CAPPELLO. 109 inventor — that is, that thou shouldst have three hundred ducats. I assm*e you I am sorry such was his decision, for I love my friends as myself." "No one ever doubted it," said Ferrai, ironically ; " three hundi'ed ! — three hmidred !" continued he, as he musingly pulled his under lip, " why, 'twill hardly pay me, especially if I lose the five hundred." " Eh ?" hiccupped Baptista, who was by this time more than half intoxicated — " who talks of five hundred? I said three, didn't I r" " You did," replied FeiTai, upon whom the question was not, however, lost, " and after that no one can doubt the Patriarch's prudence." " Nay, it is a goodly sum, and a romid and a creditable," said the old man, as he drained, with a trembling hand, another goblet. " Yes, Signor Baptista," your six hundred cometh under that denomination." " Mine ! oh no," said the old man, who had now become quite maudlin, crying, and throw- ing his arms round Ferrai's neck ; " I am miser- ably poor — miserably poor, you know ; kept so by an extravagant nephew, who must get money fi-om the d — 1, for I don't know where he gets it, — and by a beggarly brother, who is always asking me to help him — and where should I have been if I had ? Whew ! whew ! whew ! — it's terrible to think of — terrible to think of — 110 BIANCA CAPPELLO. but lor these thousand ducats of the Patri- arch's " " A thousand ducats, is it ?" interrupted Fen-ai. " Yes, yes — mine ; but thine is but the half, honest Giovanni, thou knowest '* " True ; but my memory is as slippery as an eel, so just write me a little memorandum of it, Signor Baptista, lest to-mon'ow I should con- found thy thousand with my five hundred." " Eh, eh ! that must not be !" said the old man, rousing himself, and twitching his fingers — " Give me the pen and inkhom yonder, and I'll make it all clear." Ferrai instantly placed the writing materials before Baptista, whose ideas were so confused that he was some time before he could collect them sufficiently to put down on paper the words the jeweller dictated, which were as follow : — " I, Baptista Bonaventuri, promise to pay to Giovanni Ferrai, jeweller on the Rial to, at sight, the sum of five hundred ducats (500 d.) on account of his worthiness the Patriarch of Aquilea, for value received from the said Gio- vanni Fenai." " Now, Signor Baptista, there can be no mis- take about your thousand," chuckled Ferrai, as he secui'ed the paper in his note -book, and re- placed the latter in his bosom. BIANCA CAPPELLO. Ill " No, no — none, good Giovanni : but I am miserably poor — miserably poor ! Nevertheless, what little I have — though God knows that is next to nothing ! — that mil I leave thee, if thou wilt help me up to bed, and see that nought be left about: and that lamp — put it out, put it out ! — that spendthrift Pietro lit it. Take one from the coiTidor," added he, in a hollow whisper — " they are Salviati's ;" and then, scrambling up two or three apostle spoons which lay on the table, and cramming them into his bosom, he bade Fen*ai put all the viands that were left into one dish, and bring it with liim. It was a work of time to get the mi- serable old man up stairs, from his frequent stoppages to assure Giovanni that he would leave him the little he had, and that if Salviati died first, and he succeeded to the whole of his business, he should instantly sell his splendid palazzo, pictures, and statues; and that, indeed, might make his poor savings a little more." " Sleep away, thou old gi-apphng-iron," said Ferrai, as he closed the bedroom door on Bap- tista, " and it is no gi'eat matter if thou never awjdiest; and for thy last piece of villany, in trying to cheat a poor artisan like me out of two hundi-ed ducats — why, mayst thou know the security of thine own precious key before death has secured thee imder a safer." 112 BIANCA CAITELLO. On leaving the Casa Salviati, lie lost no time in repairing to tlie Jew's house;, but lie was out. Baptista seemed to have stolen FeiTai's share of sleep as well as wine, for none visited the latter that night ; and by the first gi'ay dawiiing of the morning, he was again stirring, and on his way to the Jew's house. He found him still in bed, and asleep. To his sui*prise, he perceived that he wore a hair shirt, and upon a closer exami- nation, he discovered a small but massive gold crucifix round his neck. " Ho ! Signor Agnado — Signor Jose, arouse thee : I come on business," cried the jeweller, shaking the sleeping man. " Madre di Dio ! " said Jose, starting up. " How is this, senor ?" asked Ferrai. " Wak- ing, you are, as the devil well know^s, every inch a Jew, yet you seem to fall asleep in the ti'ue faith, and swTar good Christian oaths in your dreams !" " Oh, oh ! Mashter Ferrai, my ver goot fren," said Jose, who was by this time perfectly awake, " I shee you shurprishc, and no wonder, at slicing me with deslie tings, but I did puy teshe tingsh, dish hair shirt and crucifix, ash a pre- shents to a Spanish friar in Valladolid, and I do put dem on to shee how it wash posshibles for dem to bear such tings; and by de shouls of BIANCA CAITELLO. 113 my faderslis, I would not wear dem anoders night for all do goldsh in Mexico." " Ah, very likely not," said Ferrai — too lUll of his own business to be very cridcal as to the probabihty or improbability of Agnado's state- ment ; " but I have brought you back your bills, Senor Jose, and want back my key — for my mind misgives me, but it will biing me ac- quainted with more misfortune than five hun- dred ducats can cover." " Your key, my ver goot fren," said Jose, ele- vating his eyebrows and shoulders, with a look intended to convey an idea of betrayed confi- dence — " No, no ; a 2)argain is a pargain ; it ish my key, and I shall keep him. I have paid enough for him, and vot more can you deshire r" " If," replied FeiTai, who saw that force would gain him nothing — " if I could be sure that you were really going to Spain ?" " Shure, my dear fien ! v,h}', I shall shew you de agreement for my passage in de good ship Guadalquiver, which now lidesh at anchor in your sheas, but which shails for Cadiz to- morrow night" — and here Jose, stretching out his hand, took from a chair beside his bed a vest, in which was deposited the agreement in question, which he shewed to the jeweller, and which in some measure a])peared to satisfy him. 114 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " Well," said Fen-ai, turning the before-men- tioned agreement in every direction, so as the better to examine its validity — " I suppose I may see you on board ?" " Certes, it ish de ver leasht I expec of your friendships." This satisfied Ferrai, who returned to his shop, there to await, as patiently as he might, the hour for the receipt of custom. When he proceeded to Salviati's to secure the five hun- dred ducats, for which he had, on the preceding night, so dexterously contrived to obtain Bap- tista's promissory note, he found the old man, not, as usual, busy with his assets, but with his elbows leaning on his desk, and his aching head placed within his trembling hands. "Ah, honest Giovanni," said he, at the jewel- ler's approach, you find me in woful plight 1 I have been robbed over night." " Robbed !" repeated Fen*ai. "Ay — by Bacchus," rejoined Baptista, with an awkward attempt at pleasantry, and his usual hollow libel on a laugh, " by Bacchus, honest Master Giovanni ; the knave hath stolen away both mine ease and sense ; for there is a splitting sensation in my head, like to the lashing of the waves against the larch foundation of our city ; and as for figures — if thou tell'st me that two and two make four, why, I'll e'en believe it BIANCA CAPPELLO. 115 on thy word, for as to prove it, that's beyond me." " 'Tis well yonr lionom* and honesty are so noted, Signor Baptista," said FeiTai, h'onically, " that a poor man like myself can trust to them, without resorting to any scrivening precau- tions; for it so happens, that, having some merchandise to settle for, I must e'en ti'ouble you this very moniing for my share of tlie reward his worthiness the Patriai'ch was pleased to bestow upon my humble endeavoins to exe- cute your great design." " Oh — ah — yes — certainly I Did I mention to you the sum, honest Master Giovanni ?" " You were good enough to do so only last night," replied Ferrai, bowing obsequiously, while he kept his eyes fixed on the old man's face. " True, true ; I remember ! — three hundred ducats." " Five ! or my memory fails me," replied Fen*ai. " Three— thi'ee, good Master Giovanni ! But, 'sdeath, I see the vine-crowned knave hath robbed thee too," said Baptista, with a rattling chuckle, as he poked his skinny fore finger into the jeweller's sleek side. " Here is what will decide the matter better than either of us," said FeiTai, drawing Bap- 110 lUANCA CAPFELLO. tista's bill from his note-book, and holding it nj) before the old man's eyes, — " five hundred, under your own hand, Signor Baptista." " 'Tis villanous !" cried the old man, shaking his clenched hand, and losing his temper at finding he had over-reached himself, " 'tis villanous to take advantage of a man's hos- pitality, and make an extra draught of mne the forger of such a draft as this." " Nay, be not extravagant, even in words, Signor Baptista," said Fen-ai, calmly replacing the draft in his note-case ; " I am not the man to take an unfair advantage of any one, else why should the very stones of Venice have grown smooth from the steps of those who call me honest Giovanni Ferrai — your equitable self among the number ? And least of all would I take advantage of you ; for which reason I'll hie me straight to the Patriarch, and crave the largesse from his worthiness' own hand, and then there can be no mistake." " Stop, stop ! — no, no I — why so fast ?" cried Baptista, in nmch trepidation, — well knowing that if Fenai lodged his complaint before the Patri- arch, it could not fail to appear that he had endea- voured to defraud lihn out of two hundred ducats ; and that, besides the summary punishment tliat this would inevitably entail upon him, it would also do him the more serious harm of inetrievably BIANCA CAPPELLO. 117 injuring his credit, — " the most correct are liable to make mistakes. Let me see the ckaft ag£iin, and if five hundred ducats are therein fau'ly wTit, they shall be yours on the instant," said the old man, taking it into his hands, and muttering the contents audibly, as he glanced his eye hmiiedly over it. " Um, um — five hun- dred ! It is five hundred, and five hundred you must have, Master Giovanni," concluded Baptista, as he, with a gToan, unlocked an iron chest, and comited out the money to FeiTai, who had scarcely conveyed the last ducat into a large leathern bag, which he had brought for the purpose, when, some merchants entering on business, he hurried him to depart, vdiich he was not sony to do, having so perfectly succeeded in his en-and. And as fortune generally favours the bad, as well as the bold, at least for a time, (and a pretty long time, too, in some instances,) the jeweller had the additional satisfaction of conducting Jose Agnado on board the Giiadalquiver, on the following night. And after that goodly ship had weighed anchor, and fairly put to sea some four and twenty hours, Ferrai began to think that there was no more convenient place in the whole world, for himself and his recently acquired thousand ducats, than Venice ; and no music more delightful than the bells of St. Mark's old cathedral. 118 BTANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER VI. " She opens her lattice, And stands in the glow Of the moonlight and starlight, A statue of snow -, And she speaks in a voice That is broken with sighs. As she turns on her lover The light of her eyes." " And now I will unclasp a secret book, And to your quick-conceiving discontents, I'll read you matter deep and dangerous." Shakspeare. Rapid as the gi-owth of all things is in Italy, the growth of love is the most rapid of all ; and it is perhaps for this reason that, like southern fruits, it is neither of so high nor of so enduring a qua- lity as the productions of slower gi-owth and colder climes. In no country are girls so com- pletely immured as in Italy; and yet in no country does the master-passion visit them so early. Though Bianca was only sixteen, she was BIANCA CAPPELLO. 119 an Italian of sixteen; and her heart, touched by the same sun as the orange trees, put forth all its leaves, blossoms, and fmit, at once. Her home was a sort of splendid desolation. Her father was cold, pre-occupied, and almost ever absent in the senate. Her brother, though fond of her in his way, was imperious and over- bearing, and loved her more because she was the beautiful Bianca Cappello, and his sister, than because in infancy they had played and cried together, and in childhood their hopes and fears had been one. But all this had been a iiegative misery, but for the positive and never- ending persecutions of her step-mother, who re- joiced in one of those tempers that fretted all within its sphere, as a moth doth a garment. Arianna was all that was kind, gentle, and affectionate ; but she was only a min'or who could faithfully reflect and give back her young mistress's sensations. She had no power to create feelings wherewith to fill the unpeopled world of her heart ; it was therefore little to be wondered at that looks so devoted and sighs so impassioned as Bonaventuri's, for the whole year that she had met him at Bolzanio's school, should have succeeded, not only in filUng, but in crowding the unoccupied void ; but though her winged thoughts Flew to him ten thousand in an hour," 120 BIANCA CAPPELLO. yet was his obscure birth a dark cloud through which the sunHght of love had for a long timea difficulty in struggling ; but no sooner had the first ray pierced through this density in the shape of her brother's introduction to him, than her whole being became flooded, as it were, with a light, the warmth and intensity of which she did not even attempt to resist; and, in a few days after that event, Bona\'enturi was the open visitor of Vittorio Cappello, and the secret lover of his sister. It was just one little week after the levee of the Patriarch of Aquilea, and already had half a volume of hilletfi-dou.v passed between the lovers, for sending and receiving which, Bonaventuri, like a true lover, made the opportunities he did not find. Meanwhile, the French Ambassador, who had nothing to do but openly press his suit, with e\ery prospect of being well received — at least, by Signor Barto- lomeo and his son — preferred giving the busi- ness the romantic tinge of mystery, and there- fore had recourse to fiowers, confessionals, and pages, as the mediums of conveying his effu- sions, which, for all the im]iediment they would have met with, except, indeed, on the part of the lady, he might have sent in his state gondola, and under the auspices of his secretary. It was a lovely night; and as the moonbeams played with the dancing waves, the sleeping BIAJJCA CAPPELLO. 1-21 city seemed rocked on a bed of siher, and cano- pied \\'ith stars, when Bonaventmi himself steered his gondola under the shadow of a projecting gi'ound-floor window of the Palazzo Cappello, from which a light came faintly gleaming through the blinds. lie had hardly taken his station when another gondola neared the steps of the palazzo, with muffled oars. Presently a young page sprang to the landing, and a hand, which from its extreme attenuation and multiplicity of rings Bonaventuri recognised as belonging to the Marquis de Millepropos, was extended from the boat, to place a note in that of the page. S^^^ft as lightning, Pietro, who from being in the shade was quite concealed from view, sprang upon the steps, and placing himself in the door- way, as though he had belonged to the esta- blishment, carelessly asked the page his busi- ness. " Zitto ! Zltio ! — hush, hush," said the page, mysteriously; "thisnoteisforthe SignoraBianca: will you have the goodness to take it to her?" " That I cannot do," rejoined Bonaventuri, shaking his head, but at the same time taking the ambassador's note out of the boy's hand, and dexterously returning him one of his own instead — " you must take it yourself; and at the end of the hall, near her apartments, no doubt VOL. I. G 122 BIANCA CAPPELLO. you will find the Signora Bianca's dwarf; give it to him, and wait an answer." •"Bene, bene," nodded the boy, who, never doubting but that he was the bearer of his master's credentials, walked on, and did as he Avas desired ; while Bonaventuri, stepping within the hall, which at that hour was untenanted, undid the silken cord that bound the ambas- sador's biglietto, and amused himself by read- ing a very ridiculous love-letter, signed " your servitor, slave, and dog, Millepropos." Bonaventuri smiled, as he carefully refolded the letter, and retraced his footsteps back to the door-way, there to await the return of the page, who at the expiration of ten minutes appeared, bearing another note in his hand, which he per- ceiving, hastily struck the boy's arm, and caused him to drop the note, while Bonaventuri lost no time in picking it up, and presenting him with the French Ambassador's original note in ex- change, exclaiming — *' A thousand pardons, sir page ; but I saw an immense tarantula on your sleeve, and as I suffer dreadfully from those creatures myself, I feared it might do you an injury. I hope I did not shake you too rudely." " You are too good, signor — I am ever your debtor," replied the unsuspecting page, as he BIANCA CAPPELLO. 123 hurried on to the gondola, where Bonaventmi had the pleasure of seemg the marquis passion- ately kiss his own note ; till, unfolding it to the light of the moon, he burst into a storm of oaths, on perusing his own paper, his own words ! ^^ Ah I mais c'est une tour indigne ! La France oneme est insultee dans ma person ne I — If this had happened in the days of Francis the First, France would have gone to war about it !" What further reflections his excellency made on the occasion, Pietro remrdned ignorant of, as the noiseless gondola, Anth its muffled oai*s, swiftly moved out of sight and hearing ; but the light still gleaming from the basement window of the Palazzo Cappello, he took his guitar and sang the following serenade : — The gentle moon is bright, lady, And my boat is on the sea ; "What lack I then to-night, lady. But one dear look from thee ? For the very stars above us — Aye seem dim to mortal gaze, Unless the eyes that love us Beam out beneath their rays. And the rose that's called the sweetest Still seems scentless all to me, Unless a breath the fleetest Pass o'er its leaves from thee. G 2 1*24 BIANCA CAITKLLO. Then come, Mhile the moon is beaming, And Love doth liis vigil keep O'er young hearts that are dreaming, Dreams too bright, too fond, for sleep ! He had scarcely reiDcated the last stanza of the serenade ere the light that had gleamed through the blinds was suddenly extinguished, the window gently opened, and a slight female figure, concealed by a black veil, appeared in the balcony. Another moment, and Bonaven- turi, who had steered his gondola completely under the balcony, seized one of the stone balus- trades, cleared the balcony, and was at her side. ^' Bel r idol ?7?/o /" were the first and only words which for some instants he could utter, as his arm encircled Bianca*s waist, and her trem- bling lips met his. But soon she ceased to tremble, as she ceased to fear ; for in the Circean draught of love's first kiss, do not the past, the present, and the future, seem merged in one bright eternity, till they lose all affinity with the things of time } " Oh ! Pictro, if you should ever cease to love me !" sighed Bianca, who was the first to speak. " If the stars should ever cease to shine !" interru])ted Bonaventuri, solving the problem with a kiss. " Ah ! all men can swear eternal love, else BIANCA CAPPELLO. 1^5 were hoik; ever peijurcd," said Bianca, with a melanclioly smile ; "biitl have risked too mueli for you to be satisfied widi that mere fluttering of the heart, which lasts through the sunny hours of life, and droops 'neadi its stonns, which some niistake for love. If you think your heart can ever change, oh, let not false hope linger, sowing her cruel harvest of vanished rest and blighted years. For you I have passed a terrible rubicon ! To forego wealth, power, station, is but a grain, when Aveighed against the ingot of your love ! A father's curse and the world's scorn ! — these, indeed, are ter- rible ! — but even these would be but phantoms could I he sure of the reality^ of the duration^ of your affiection." " Nay, dearest!" inteiTupted her lover, "as for its duration, life itself must cease, and with it perhaps my love ; for I pretend not to scan the mysteries of the grave ; but as for changing ! — when flowers grow in the sky, and stars glitter on the earth, — when the meadows murmur, and the sea is silent, — when the breath of May blights the blossoms, and the winter's blast ex- pands them, — when the tiger becomes faithful, and the dog treacherous, — in short, when all nature shall be changed, — then, Ijut not till then, will my love change !" '' So says the present^'' murmured Bianca, 1-26 BIANCA CAPPELLO. though ill her heart hope yielded to the low sweet music of Pietro's voice, ^*biit what tale will the future tell ? it may know nothiug of these blissful moments; but what memory in mockery can recall, when perchance your vows and my heart alike will be broken ; for poverty is a savage victor, that too often razes the altar of love, and destroys the illusions of its most hallowed mysteries." " Bianca ! my Bianca ! — is not all earth, nay, all heaven, at least to me, comprised in you ! — to see you — hear you — call you mine ! Poverty, misfortune, persecution, let them come, they will be but so many ties to strengthen our hearts in hours of grief; — in short, they are but rings of adamant, that rivet the golden links of love's strong chain. I feel as I must ever feel, to the fullest extent, the great, the wondrous sacrifices you make for me ; yet in that consists my only merit, for but that you have set so high a value on me, surely were I wholly valueless." " I would 1 had been born less or more than what I am," sighed Bianca. '' With sovereign power, I might have raised thee to what emi- nence I pleased ; but as it is, being myself but the poor appendage of greatness, I fear I only lure thee to a gulf that may o'er whelm us both. The world, Pietro — tlie cold, bitter, scornful world — think how we must bear and brave its BIANCA CAPPELLO, 127 buffets, when once the Republic has issued its fiat against us!'' " The power of the Republic has its limits," replied Bonaventuri, " and once within the walls of my native city, we'll see if the power of the Medici be not of equal magnitude. But why talk of the world, dearest ? Hast never seen the map of China ? It takes up immeasurable space, and at one corner of it is a small nook, which they modestly call — the rest of the world. Love's empire is on the same plan ; it occupies an almost boundless extent, and for the little speck beyond, which composes the rest of the world, it is too insignificant to care about!" A faint smile passed over Bianca's face, as vshe shook her head, and said, " Ah ! but that little insignificant speck may make us care for it, as it generally does all those on whom it thinks fit to exercise its power. And if we should fail in escaping from Venice — or in reaching your city of refuge — then, indeed, are we lost!" " But I feel we cannot fail, sweet love ; for thou hast the fire of the eagle, as well as the gentleness of the dove. And as for me ! with thee at my side I could beard the Patriarch of Aquilea himself, ay, and his twelve canons to boot!" " But the Inquisition, Pietro — the Inquisi- 128 BIANCA CArPELLO. tion ! Or my brotlier's dagger ! for there is nothing his hot angor woukl not attempt !" And the beautiful Venetian shuddered, as her head sunk on Bonaventuri's slioulder. " I should indeed deserve the worst from both, were I such a bungler as to fail wlien you arc the stake! AVe ^Yill do nothing hastily — nothing rashly — all shall be thoroughly arranged beyond the possibility of defeat or failure." " I o have my name erased as a noble daughter of San Marco is the least I can expect," said Bianca, with a sigh. " To be inscribed in my heart, from whence it can never be erased !" interrupted Bonaventuri, as he kissed the sigh from her beautiful lips, and drew the delicate waist his ann encircled more closely to him. " But tell me, dearest," added he, in a gayer tone, " whose was the hand that flung the flowers from the gondola on the first night of the carnival, and the voice that bade me so uncourteously return home ? for, certes, they were not' gentle enough for yours ; and I consume with jealousy till I know." " No greater a personage," smiled Bianca, " than Ghiribizzo, my dwarf, who, to say the truth, is up to anything, from melon-stealing to manslaughter ; so it was lucky for you that no more formidable missile was at hand than a bunch of violets, which had always been des- BlANCA CAPPELLO. 1^9 tilled, not exactly for your liead, but certainly for your hands." "Enchanting d^varf!" exclaimed Bonaventuri, " henceforth I shall think every man that doth exceed thy stature, be it but by half an inch, labours under a vulgar superfluity of height, that doth insult all symmetry." " Hush !" said Bianca. " What was that ?" " The wind, dearest, if anything, but I heard nothing." " Listen 1" Here the growl of one of Bianca's little dogs was distinctly heai'd ; a hasty kiss on the part of Bonaventuri formed their only adieiix ; in another moment, Bianca had retreated within the window, and her lover had dropped from the balcony into his gondola as swiftly as he had ascended, and was half-way to the Lido before the clock of a neighbouring church, chiming the half-hour after midnight, reminded him of the appointment, or rather imperious command, of the mysterious personage he had met at the levee of the Patriarch of Aquilea, to be in the Yicolo del Cocomero in half-an-hour from that time ; and the curiosity, which a deeper feehng had for the last few days ab- sorbed, revived in all its force, as he put about the gondola and retraced his way over the now almost silent sea, v/hose gently undulating waves G 3 130 BiANCA CAPrELLO. seemed to rock the di'eamy moonlight into a slumber, hushed and calm as a child's repose. He was alone upon that voiceless sea ; not a sound was there save the stealthy stroke of liis own oar, which broke on the air as faintly as the echo of a lover's sigh. To be alone mth night, even the softest and most beautiful that ever glanced through the starry veil of heaven, though it brings nought of fear, has much of awe, for it is impossible to divest oneself of the idea that its very silence is whispering some of the mysteries of a\\Y own fate. This idea was doubly strong in Bonaventuri at this moment, for on that night he had for the first time been with Bianca two hours alone ; and that in itself was an epoch ! Then the stranger's mysterious words rang in his ears : — " Pietro Bonaventuri^ thou gropest in the dark ; hut if thou hast courage, he in the Via del Cocomero, on the water side, one hour after midnight this day week, and I laill give thee light to find that thou seekest : hut breathe to mortal car that thou comest, or a syllable of what I now say, and the ever- ready death-boat that lies moored under the Bridge of Sighs shall be thy retvardP'' " 'Tis strange, very strange," thought Bona- venturi ; " for how should he know that I sought anything more than the ordinary mosaic of BIANCA CAPPELLO. 131 business and pleasure, that constitutes most men's pursuit. And then his accurate know- ledge of my name too ! that indeed is passing strange — but tush, what of that ? I'm not going to turn child again, and believe the old women's fable, that the devil is his own maestro di casa, and goes to market in propria personce to drive hard bargains for his standing dish of fried souls. Cappita^ illustrissimo Signor Diavolo /" said he, aloud, as he shot under the little bridge at the comer of the Via del Coco- mero ; " but if thou hast an unconquerable fancy for me, thou shalt buy me dearly, I pro- mise thee, and be nothing the better of thy bargain after all. Ecco ! here we are !" and he neared the boat to the landing, and sprang upon the first of the much-broken flight of steps of a narrow doorway. The door itself, which had not been guilty of paint for many years, but had once been gaudily coloured, and still could boast a small rusty Jew's-harp-shaped knocker, and a deer's foot attached to the end of an iron chain, which gave notice of a bell, was now shut ; and Bonaventuri was at a loss to know whether he should apply to the deer's foot for admittance, or patiently await the coming or pleasure of the strange being who had invoked him ; but recollecting all his injunctions to secrecy, backed by such tenible threats, he 13*2 BIANCA CArrELLO. resolved u])on tlic latter courhe ; and so re- mained upon the steps for about ten minutes, watching the moonlight as it struggled round the narrow corner of the wharf, and illuminated the high dark walls of an opposite building ; at length he began to think he had been lin*ed there on a fool's errand, and was deliberating whether he should not return home, when the door against which he was leaning, suddenly, but gently, gave way, and he had only time to recover his perpendicular position when it was hastily opened, a hand extended, and a voice said, " Enter ;" which having done, he found himself in a (for Venice) narrow, but highly vaulted hall, alone with the mysteiious being who had addressed him at the Patriarch's levee, and who looked, if possible, paler than he had done then, as the light from a small bronze Greek lamp, that he held, gleamed on his coim- tenance. " Thou hast done well I" were the only words he uttered, as he made a sign with his hand for Bonaventuri to follow him up a flight of narrow and winding stairs — evidently not the common staircase of the house, as at the foot it was concealed by a small door, which the stranger cai'e fully locked after him. To do the yoimg Florentine justice, fear was a vulgar feeling widi which he was totally uiiac- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 133 qiiaintcd, and his courage rather rose than sank as the peril, or at least the equivocality of his position seemed to increase. Alter ascending- several flights of steps, their progress was at length impeded by a dead wall, in which was a small iron door, which the stranger unlocked, and, throwing o]:)en, nodded to Bonaventuii to follow, who found himself in a sort of observa- tory. Two or three Egjq^tian raummies glai'ed from the walls, above which was a sort of ar- mory of sword-fishes and crocodiles. At the upper end of the room was the huge skeleton of an hippopotamus, round whose throat was a necklace of dried bats, scoi*pions, and chame- leons. The floor and tables v.ere strewed with mathematical instruments ; there were also some retorts and other chemical apparatus, with se- veral large teiTestrial and celestial globes. On the chief table, which was one of ponderous dimensions, and of black oak, were books and parchments innumerable, and one volume of colossal size, with seventy-eight glittering me- tallic plates, engraved with different hierogly- phics — being, in fact, an exact copy of the Egyptian Encyclopaedia, or Book of Thot, that was placed in the Temple of Fire at Memphis, and which has been the origin of all theology, geology, metaphysics, physiology, astrology, as- tronomy, and ethics. 134 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " Pietro Boiiaveiituri, be seated," said the stranger, placing himself in a large high-backed chair, and pointing to another at the opposite side of the table. " Let nie see," added he, turning to a horoscope clearly drawn out on vellum, and occasionally glancing from it to the metallic plates of the Book of Tliot — " let me see : you were born on the eighteenth of May, 1539, at three minutes past ten in the forenoon, so that you are now, at the time of speaking, exactly twenty years and nine months old — hem ! em ! Ten months more — ten months more; that will bring it to the thirteenth of next December," continued the stranger, muttering some calculation to himself " Nay, start not, nor run into the vulgar error of taking me for a magician, or even a diviner of future events ; for to divine implies a creative power, which no man hath — and I am but a man, like thyself, though, perchance, skilled in reading the gTcat book of Nature, which to thee, as to the mass of mankind, is a sealed volume; and there is no more magic in reading the stars than there is in navigating by the compass. It is not neces- sary that I should give you the arguments of Chrysippus, Diogenes, and Antipater, on this science — but it is necessary that I should not mystify you into the ignorance of supersti- tion, which. may be fairly denominated profane BIANCA CAPPELLO. 135 bigotry; and were there aught of the kind in the science of astrology, as taught in that transcript of nature, the book of Thot, it would not have been resorted to by the Chaldeans, Arabians and Greeks, in their philosophy. All that this science teaches us, then, if properly studied, is to read human events as the great Author of all has written them on the tablets of the universe — in short, to draw nearer to ourselves, and to remember, though infinitely inferior, because material, that v,e are subject to the eternal /?rm- ciple of the Deity, in whose image we were created^ and therefore is there nothing profane in our seeking an intimacy with the immutable truths by wliich we are ever sun'ounded — or invoking, in our dark wanderings, with an humble yet sublime devotion, a knowledge of the miracles of nature, which always prove the Cre- ator in the creature, and shew God in every- thing ; for this book," continued he, placing his hand on the glittering tome, " it contains no mysteries but for the ignorant. " With the Egyptians, everything was typical ; and in constructing a book that should be em- blematic of the universe, they naturally had recourse to different signs to express different things, and they generally conveyed their mean- ing at once, in the most vivid, pure, and intel- lectual manner. 136 BIANCA CArrELLO. " This explanation may ai)p('ar iiTclc\ ant to you ; but I have given it to you merely to prove that ^vllatever secrets of futurity I may be ac- quainted with, I have only come into possession of them by natural means. I see you still mar- vel at my knowledge of your birth and name — but that, too, I will account for. Young man, you behold before you one not entirely luiknown to fame — at least, if the name of Giovanni An- tonio Magini being in the mouths of most men be any proof of it." Bonaventuri rose, and, as he bowed to Ma- gini, an involuntary flush suffused his cheek, as he remembered how the distinguished per- sonage, in whose presence he now so unac- countably found himself, had, some two years before, played a prominent part in the vague dreams of aggi*andizement he had indulged in at Florence. " Your name, indeed, Signor, has long been the loudest note on the trumpet of fame ; for which reason, knowing the high repute you enjoy at the Dogal court, as at all others, I marvel you should have thought it necessary to employ so much secrecy in the interview you have done me the honour of according me." " For that very reason," replied Magini, ^^ I have no wish to scatter such precious favours like cliafi" before the wind, or incur the not BIANCA CArrELLO. 137 equally amiable ones of the Inquisition as a dabbler in demonologv. But we lose time ; and the matters I have to disclose will convince you that secrecy is quite as indispensable for you as for me. " I promised I would tell you how I became acquainted with your name and birth. From very early youth I have been devoted to the two sciences of astronomy and astrolog}' ; in the former I hope I have discovered a few lights to my fellow creatures ; the latter I have merely pursued for my own gi*atification, as it is utterly impossible for any human wisdom or precaution to turn aside or alter those events which the Eternal has chronicled in as much of the arcana of nature as influences the fate of each human being ; therefore is it perhaps worse than use- less to obtain a foreknowledge of them. But I was consumed with the desire of pushing this science to its uttennost limits, and so resolved to watch the exact moment of several indi- viduals' births, and cast thek horoscope at the time ; and should I find anything remarkable in it, closely to watch their fortunes through life to test the tnith of my researches. The only opportunities I had of pursuing this plan was among the poor ; and I had already cast the horoscopes of several of their children, which finding one unbroken web of ordinary events 138 BIAxNCA CArPELLO. and mediocre circumstances, I set aside as unfit for my purpose ; when, being about twenty -one years ago at Florence, I was overtaken by one of those sudden and, for the time being, tenific thunder storms so frequent in that city. I entered a small sculj^tor's shop nearly opposite the Ponte Delia Grazie, belonging to one Gio- vanni Bonaventuri, who received me hospitably, and proffered the shelter I required. I looked round to select some trifling purchase in return for his civility ; and while I was so employed, an ancient crone appeared at the foot of a flight of narrow stairs, and informed mine host that he had that moment become the father of a fine boy — that the child was as thriving as the last year's vintage ; but that the poor mother was alive, and that was all." " My poor mother ! I never saw her !" said Pietro, whose awakening interest was becoming painfully intense. " No," continued Magini ; " for she died while I yet remained in your father's shop. He was so distressed at these tidings of his wife, that he would have been quite unaware of the two gold pistoles I slipped into his hand had not the old woman been profuse in her in- vocations to all the saints in the calendar to pay me suitable interest for my generosity. And no sooner had your father hurried up stairs to BIANCA CAPPELLO, 139 make your acquaintance, and take leave of your mother, than I ascertained from the old woman the exact moment of your entry into the world, which I noted down, it being exactly at three minutes past ten in the forenoon, on the eigh- teenth day of May, Anno Domino 1539. And no sooner had the storm subsided than I re- tmiied home, and shut myself up for the rest of the day, which I devoted to the casting of your horoscope. I therein read no ordinary train of events ; a wonderful comparative advancement in your fortunes appeared, and the aggrandize- ment of another person who should first incur debasement through you. I therefore resolved to watch your fortunes closely from their dawn, which I dated from the time of your entry into the Palazzo Medici, through the interest and friendship of yoiu* first patron, Vasari. I then made further calculations, which shewed me that there would be your gi'eat sphere of action ; but still more that of the person with whose destiny yours was hnked. I gained constant access to you by assuming the garb and name of Padre Martino, whom Cardinal Passerini, equally deceived with yourself as to my identity, employed to confirm your religious principles, and bend your inclinations towards the church. This, from your vague but ambitious aspirations, of which I was the rej^ositary, I knew to be 140 BIANCA CAPPELLO. hopeless ; and, as you may remember, I even- tually rather encouraged than repro\ ed your wish to quit Florence. You had no sooner anived in Venice than I took up my abode here also, and, unknown to you, Avatched you as closely as I did in Tuscany. I soon discovered your love for Bianca Cappello ! " Bonaventuri started, and was about to speak ; but Magini made a motion with his hand, as he added — " Do not interrupt me, for the lime is brief It was an easy matter to ascertain the exact time of the birth of a daughter of St. Mark's ; and in her horoscope I read that her fate was the twin of yours, but with a brighter issue." " How can that be ?" said the Florentine, whose curiosity had now become irrepressible ; " for if we have indeed twin fates, must not the issue be the same ?" " Not exactly," replied Magini ; " for man is seldom true to himself; then how can he ex- pect that others should be so to him ? But your peril will not come from what you desert, but from what you seek. Men generally suffer — and it is meet they should — more from their vices than their victims do. God's vengeance is sure, but the means uncertain. But seek not to know more than I choose to reveal, for it will be useless." BIANCA CAPPELLO. 141 " One only knowledge will I seek," said Bona- venturi ; " tell me, by your art, when and how I shall die." " It is a foolish knowledge, that will avail thee nought." " Still, it is one that I crave above all others ; for the love I seek contains perils enough to furnish a thousand deaths." " Well, if thou wilt, be it so," said Magini, rising, and placing a large mirror on the table, and before it two large silver tripods or incense - burners, pouring a powder into one, and a liquid into the other ; and lighting both — which produced at once a lambent flame and a dense vapour — "Look," said he, as the smoke died away, " into this mirror, and tell me what thou beholdest." " I see," said Bonaventuri, " two broken arches of a small bridge, on one side a strongly fortified gate, and a dark sort of whirlpool of water rushing rapidly beneath it." " Dost see nothing else ?" " Nothing." " Look again," said Magini. " I see a man dressed in my clothes — no doubt myself," — said Bonaventuri, with an un- faltering voice and unblanched cheek, " pushed over the bridge by three bravos. He struggles with the waters — now he stems them — now he 142 BIANCA CAPPELLO. nears the shore — no, no, he sinks — lie has sunk — I see hhn no more ! Well, I glean from this," added he, calmly, ''that I shall perish in my escape from Venice, but that she will be saved — thank God for that." " Not so," replied Magini, " your escape from Venice will be complete and perfect. But look again — what see you now ?" " Nothing but the dark waters, which have done their work, and are still," said Bonaventmi. " Look upwards," said Magini ; " what see you now ?" "The stars shape themselves into figures, and mark the year 1570 !" exclaimed Bona- venturi. " Well, that is ten years off; and ten years of life are worth having, if one lives them. And that I am determined to do ; for when one knows one's life is to be a short one, one were worse than a fool not to make it a merry one! But, touching my — our — escape from Venice, you say that shall be complete, without pursuit or peril ?" " I said not the latter," replied Magini, " for the pursuit will be hot, and the peril great. But I did say that thy escape would be completed — that is, shouldst thou implicitly follow my instructions ; and this was the pith and maiTow of the motive which induced me to seek this interview with thee. I will not hide from thee BIANCA CAPPELLO. 143 that a price will be set upon thy head — that the daggers of innumerable assassins will be pointed at thee ; but they will not be as suc- cessful as those of Cosimo de Medici were against the unfortunate Lorenzino, in this city. In addition to the affront the nobles and re- public of Venice will conceive that you have put upon them, in caiTying off a daughter of San !Marco, }'ou may be sm-e the Grimani will leave nothing undone to stir the senate to still gi'eater ire and deadUer vengeance, through the influence of Elena, Ca])pello's wife ; and, upon carefully consulting the planets, I see but one day and hour in which you can, with safety, accomplish your flight; and, I much fear me, the impatience of young blood will mar all, for that is ten months off — as, to succeed, you must not attempt it before the first hour of the morning of the tliirteenth of December ! And now, having put you in the way of effectually braving and baffling the republic, the nobles, and the Inquisition, you will not wonder that I sought the most profound secrecy, and solemnly enjoin it to you. We must not meet again here ; indeed, there will be no use in your seeking me, for you will not find me ; but yom* interests shall be cared for. And now, let me again impress upon you that failure and ruin must be the result of your 144 BIANCA CAPPELLO. attempting to leave Venice before the day and hour I have indicated to you. On that day^ though much peril will accrue to others, you, and all you care lor, will be safe. I will e\en tell you more, which is, that you will ha\ e the greater difficulty in patiently abiding this pro- pitious time, as I see some shining light is about to be extinguished, which will render your meetings with Cappello's daughter less frequent, and more difficult; but rememher^ one hour sooner, and you fail l^'' So saying, Magini took the lamp, and, silently beckoning to Bonaventuri to follow him, re- conducted him do^^^l the same narrow, winding staircase they had come up by. Neither of them spoke till they reached the high-vaulted narrow hall, when Magini being about to unbar the door, Bonaventuri arrested his hand, saying — " Great Sir, for what you have vouchsafed to disclose to me, I thank you heartily ; but, in case of need, is there no glimmer by which I may find you — no clue by which I can dis- cover where you may have pitched your tent, between this and December ?" " Astra castra, numen lumen /" was ]\Ia- gini's only reply, as he opened the door, and, pushing Bonaventuri outwards, closed and barred it, before the latter had time to turn round. BIAXCA CAPPELLO. 145 Day was faintly dawning, as the young Flo- rentine regained his gondola ; and so rapt was he in the contemplation of the strangeness of his night's adventure, that he actually passed Bianca's window, without the usual ceremony of sending sundiy despatches of sighs and kisses, by that treacherous courier, the air, which never conveyed them to their destina- tion, but dispersed them, over the Adriatic, where, as it may be supposed, they were never heard of more. VOL. I. H 146 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER VIL " The line -which separates regard from love is so fine, that the young heart transgresses the boundary before it is aware of even having verged upon it." — W. H. Harrison. " Must the Lethean wave my memory cover, As if indeed it were a worthless thing; And all the bright hopes of my youth be over. Blighted like roses in their earliest spring ?" James Knox. Five months had rolled rapidly on, at least for Bianca and Bonaventuri, who had contrived at all hazards to meet alone once in the four and twenty hours. Her portrait had remained neg- lected and unfinished on the easel, as Titian had been occupied in finishing several other pictures. And e^en Arianna's pale cheeks (paler, occasioned by the daily increasing per- secutions of Vittorio and her father) had escaped the hitherto vigilant eye of her affectionate mistress and friend, so engrossed had the latter BIANCA CAPPELLO. 147 been by her all-absorbing love for Pietro. It was a lovely morning in June when Bianca entered her ovra sunny" apartment in the Palazzo Cappello, and found Arianna affecting to assist Ghiribizzo, tlie dwarf, in aiTanging his young mistress's portrait on the easel, as she had promised to give Titian another sitting after her siesta on that day ; but though apparently busy in her vocation, Arianna was in reality ciying, and doing litde else than applying her handkerchief to her eyes. " Crying again, my pet dove !" said Bianca, kindly, " why really, if seeing thy father is al- ways to have the effect of dissolving thee into a fountain, he may seek another daughter, for he shall not play off his juggling on my Arianna. Or has Vittorio been forcing liis un- welcome love ? Ghiribizzo, thou mayst go." " I know I may," said the dwaif, coolly fold- ing his arms, and looking from Bianca to Arianna, " but if every one did what they might do, some people would be kissing instead of crying; and there's no disputing taste, cer- tainly, but for my part I should think the former the pleasanter diversion of the two." ** Begone, I say. Master Malapert," repeated Bianca. **Dost not find the night air apt to make the voice hoarse, lady?" said the immovable H 2 148 BIANCA CAPPELLO. dwarf, "for it strikes me, thy voice is not so musical to-day, or it ma}- be tliat the words which form the burden of thy song affect me not. ' Begone ! begone !' they have an ugly twang with them ; and then, ' Master Malapert' is a person with whom I have no acquaintance, and therefore I don't care to leave the room in his company." " Vanish, thou imp !" cried Bianca, stamping her pretty little foot, and with difficulty repress- ing a smile ; '* what keeps thee when I say go ?" " I am only staying out of curiosity," said Ghiribizzo, — "to see what a little thing can anger a great lady." And then, mimicking the French Ambassador's voice, gait, and gestures, and first gathering all his fingers to a point, and then opening them wide after he had kissed them, to let the kisses fly, as he expressed it, he said, in the most mincing voice and bad French accent, with divers curious contortions of feature and of limb, still kissing his hand to Bianca — ^^ Addio, BeUlssima ! carlssima specchio delV atuma mia — Looking-glass of my soul, adieu !" Even Arianna smiled through her tears at the dwarf's perfect but ludicrous imitation of the ambassador, which the former perceiving, changed his tone, and suddenly expanding his chest, throwing his liead liaughtily over his left shoulder, and knitting his brows like Vit- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 149 toiio Cappello, he said, with a profound bow, and a slow, measured voice — " So you hare smiles, signorina, when you choose to bestow^ them ; 'tis pity that anything so briUiant should be Hke a northern sun — only partially and rarely seen." So saying, Ghiribizzo strutted out of the room. " 'Tis a meny sprite, after all," said Bianca ; " especially when he puts on my wimple, spreads a fan, and puckers his face into a fac-simile of my illustrious stepmother's as she solemnly proceeds to vespers. But to return to thy red eyes, child. Vittorio is a dolt not to see that thou hatest him." " / hate him I" exclaimed Arianna, involun- tarily, as her neck, cheeks, and even her fair forehead, with an eloquent flush, denied the accusation. " Now, by the mass, thou dost puzzle me !" said Bianca, intently reachng her face, from which the blood was receding as rapidly as it had come. " Answer me roundly, dost thou hate him r — yea, or nay ?" " I could not hate anythmg belonging to you, signora," stammered xA.rianna. " Ah, that is all very pretty, as far as I am concerned," replied Bianca ; " but it is plain thou hatest him ; for who could shun or frown on what thev love ?" 150 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " And what chance could I have in lovmg him? I could not love him honestly? and I would not love him otherwise." " Hear how she talks ! Tliinkest thou that love is a matter of could and would — a thing to be doffed and donned at will, Hkc a garment, that is suitable for one season and not for an- other ? 'Tis plain thou knowest nothing about it !" " But if duty compels, Lady ?" " T tell thee, Love is a tyrant, and acknow- ledges no allegiance but to himself." " That may be," sighed Arianna, " when fates are equal." " Love, like death, makes us all so !" " It may be so ; but " " But, thou art a good girl ! — I know it, Arianna ; and if I cannot be as good, I can at least admire thy goodness." " Would that I deserved your praise," said Aiianna, rising hastily from her seat ; and sud- denly recollecting that her mistress's mandolin wanted tuning, she broke three of the strings, and then devoted all her attention to replacing them by three others, which kept her face so closely bent downwards towards the instrument that it was impossible to see aught that was passing there. Nor had Bianca time, had she been inclined to scrutinize itj for suddenly a ilANCA CAPPELLO. 151 beautiful magnolia tree, whose delicate wliite chalices waved to and fro outside the \\indow, became more agitated than any oidinaiy cur- rent of air could have been the cause of; and Bianca thought she beheld more white nesded in a projecting bough than belonged to its own blossoms. Nor was she mistaken ; for upon a closer inspection, she found it to be a ball of paper, or, in other words, a letter from Bona- venturi, who converted the very trees into Mer- curies, when he could find no other. She stretched out her hand, and with very Httle effort secured it. Having hastily concealed it in her bosom, she walked from the window; and turning to Arianna, said in a tone of studied carelessness, " Well, czarina, I must leave you now, having a roimd of dull visits to make with my father's worse half. But I shall be back in time for my sitting ; so don't let the emperor of canvas tear his cap, break his brushes, or com- mit any other extravagance, as he did once before when I kept him waiting ; but discourse him of his art, or of his daughter, which is his nature, for never saw I any two beings so alike in all things ; and if that does not do, shew him my sapphire velvet robe, with its diamond loopings, that I mean to wear at the festa cCacqua, given by the admiral of the fleet to- night. And ask him if he does not think the 152 BIANCA CAPPELLO. pearl-work on the sleeves daintily embroidered ; in short, let not his lunnour flag till I ajipear, for he is, as we know, wont to vent it, not on the l)ainting of his pictures, — for that is his part of the story, — but on the features of his sitters. And I have no fancy that strange and yet un- born eyes, as they gaze on these walls some centuries hence, should respond to the vera- cious ciceroni's * quest a e la hella Bianca Cap- pello r as he points to my portrait. * Bella P not much of that — ha, ha, ha ! So see, dearest, that he enters into no plot with Time to libel me to that cavilling critic, posterity." And so say- ing, the beautiful Venetian left the room, and Arianna was alone. " And so she thinks I hate him," soliloquized the young girl aloud; " then I must have played my part better than I thought. Would it had more in it than the seeming. Why do I love him? — tush! Why am I the jeweller's daughter, and he the noble's son ? Yet what is it I love } Is it his hot temper } — his haughty spirit .'' — his lax morality ? — and his thousand faults.'' No, no, no ; for I am ever busy judg- ing them. I hate his faults ; but still — still — I cannot, though I do pray for it, hate him ! Have I not armed myself against him with in- dignant memories of all the insults he hath oifered to my better nature, in liis proud, ira- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 153 perious, and unhallowed love, whose rude breath would steal away the bloom of maiden piuity. In this hath he outraged mc, and this have I -with look and speech resented. But what may they avail, while my heart, like a grovelling slave, still kneels to him for further buffets !" Voices were heard in the gallery ; and Arianna, fearing her agitation might be perceived, struck the chords of the mandolin she had been tuning, and in a very sweet but somewhat tremulous voice, sang the following song, which was no- thing more than an improvised continuation of her own feelings : — I may not love thee, for thou art Far as 3' on star above me ; I dare not hope— for oh ! thy heart Unhallowedly doth love me. I ne'er had loved thee, could my will Hare driven thee from my thought ; Or hush'd my heart from whisp'ring still The language thou hast taught. 'Tls not my fault, if earth, air, sky. All speak to me of thee ! But His my fault, if thou descry One glimpse of love in me : For though I cannot quench the fire Which burns existence out, I yet may seem, like Hecla's spire, Unmelting ice without! H 3 154 BIANCA CAPPELLO. The last notes of Arianna's song had scarcely died away, before the massive velvet curtain that hung before one of the doors was pushed aside by a very white and handsome, but manly hand, which appeared at the end of a rich point ruffle, and gorgeously embroidered green velvet sleeve. In another moment Vittorio Cappello was in the room, and shutting the door and closing the cur- tain, he advanced and seated himself beside Arianna, who made an effort to rise and leave the couch for a chair, but was prevented by the strong grasp of Vittorio's hand round her waist. " Nay, cigna mia — my swan," said he ; " there is room enough for us both, and I like the air of thy song marvellously ; but the last stanza, which is all I heard, is worthy of excommunication ! — Why shouldst thou ' seem, like Hecla's spire, Unmelting ice without?^ when thou ownest that thou canst not quench the fire that burns within. Pr'ythee, change thy note, and there \vill be more harmony between us." " Surely, signor," replied Arianna, still strug- gling to release her hand — " I am not answer- able for the silly wording of every stray ma- drigal." " No ! why, I could have sworn 'twas thine own oflfspring, His so like thee. Whose is it, then .'"' BlANCA CAPPELLO. 155 " I don't know," blushed the young girl, ashamed of the falsehood she was uttering — " I think I heard the Sieur Colbert, the French Ambassador's secretary, sing it; and beheve it was composed by la Belle FeiTonniere, of the sixteenth centmy." " Ay, but la Belle Ferronniere was too sen- sible a woman to act upon such an absiurd theory; and though not exactly a monarch," added Yittorio, complacently eyeing his hand- some person in an opposite mirror, " I am not aii'aid to measure chances with Francis the First." " Poor prince — Heaven rest his soul !" said Arianna. " Amen," laughed Cappello ; but I did not mean in liis present quarters ; for I have no wish to taste the joys of heaven just yet — an eai-thly paradise is all I seek!" And flinging his arm round Arianna's waist, he endeavoured to draw her mdely towards him. Before, how- ever, he could succeed in so doing, she had taken a bodkin from her hair, and, appai*ently by accident, so severely wounded his hand, that from very pain he was compelled to relinquish his grasp. " Out upon thee for an impregnable citadel 1 One would tliink thou hadst been fortified by Euonai'otti, as there is little else of the angelo 156 BIANCA CAI'PELLO. about tlicc," said Vittoiio, holding the back of his wounded hand to his mouth. " IIo ! ho ! generalissimo — then if so, you should have been wiser than to take up arms against her," said a voice, which, upon looking up, Cappello found to proceed from Ghiribizzo, who was balancing himself lazily to and fro on a branch of the magnolia tree, from whence he had a perfect view of all that passed within the room. " Now, by St. Anthony !" ciied Vittorio, draw- ing his rapier, and rushing to the window — " I'll make a magpie of thee in good earnest; and when I have slit thy tongue to the extent of my liking, thou mayst chatter away to thy fellow daws for the rest of thy life." " Not in their present quarters ; for I have no wish to taste the joys of heaven just yet — an earthly paradise is all I seek ! So, you see, signor, our tastes agree," said the dwarf, run- ning down the tree with the nimbleness of a cat, and escaping into Salviati's house through the garden gate. " Now, hailstones quench thee for a will-o'- the wisp !" said the latter, closing the window, fastening it, and drawing down the blind ; *' but thou shalt do thy spiriting elsewhere soon !" And so saying, he turned round just in time to perceive Arianna leaving the room. Springing BIANCA CAPPELLO. 167 forward, he caught her dress, exclaiming — " Come, come, devils and angels to escape me both is a little too bad. Have you no touch of humanity in you," continued he, holding up his still bleeding hand, " to leave me here to die of my wounds alone ?" " I am indeed sony, signor, that my awkward- ness should have occasioned you so ill an acci- dent, and with your permission I will send Catterina to look to it, as she is better skilled in the secrets of chirurgery than I am," said Arianna, making another effort to leave the room. " Yes, with my pennission, but not without," rejoined Cappello, forcibly detaining her. " I were wanting in respect to the republic, when one of her nobles aileth, did I not enforce his right to choose his own leech," laughed he. "Certainh-," rej^lied his companion, eschew- ing the jest, and affecting to take his words literally, *' whom would your lordship have called r" " Just the busiest knave in all Venice, Signor Nissuno,^^ and no other ; but I am determined that the hand that wounded mine shall heal it !" " I must at least seek something to bandage it with," said Arianna, again attempting to leave the room. * Nobody. 158 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " You have not far to seek," rejoined Cajo- pello, pointing to a work-table. As there was no other excuse feasible, Arianna walked to the table, and taking a piece of the linen to which Vittorio had pointed, she com- menced bandaging his hand, which was no sooner done than he found some pretext for having it undone, and begun over again. But the sight of the blood, mingled with a feeling of regi-et at having occasioned him so much pain, produced a revulsion of feeling that occasioned a sudden faintness. Cappello, perceiving it, threw his arm round her waist to prevent her falling. " Arianna ! dearest Arianna 1" said he, all his better feelings for the moment gaining a mastery over his habitual selfishness, "y ou are ill, and I am the cause of it — only forgive me, and never again will I " " No, no," interrupted Arianna, struggling in vain to free herself from Vittorio's embrace, " I am bet " but before she could finish the sen- tence, her head fell perfectly insensible upon his shoulder. How mysterious are the ebbs and flows of the heart, that diversify the dream of human life as it glides away between earth and heaven ! It is difficult to believe that the tem- pestuous and stormy waves of passion of one moment, have their origin from the same source BIANCA CAPPELLO. 159 as the calm and equal flow of the gentler feel- ings of the next. CappeUo was ambitious in the widest extent of the word, and it is the nature of ambition to make men jugglers — de- ceiving all, even themselves, with the semblance of things that are not. He was reckless of all that did not directly or indirectly redomid to his o\\ti gi'atification or aggi'andizement ; his feeling for Arianna, generally speaking, was one of mtense and unprincipled selfishness. But now, as she hung unconsciously about his neck, in the still semblance of death, the memories of their child- hood rushed back upon him with such ve- locity, that for the time being they swept away the iron barriers of after years, and at that mmnent he ti'uly loved her! — and had it been to be done on the instant, would willingly have saciificed all for her. " Arianna ! my Arianna ! for mine you shall be, honourably, honestly, if you will only open your eyes," exclaimed Vittorio, as he laid her gently on the couch, and parted the bright hair on her pale cold forehead, — but she con- tinued fearfully still, save that " A living whisper— a perpetual breath, Almost a sigh, did on her lips remain ; As if 'twould rather linger in such death, Than fly to life, where leader breathings reigu." " Arianna ! speak to me — frown on me, chide 160 BIANCA CAPPELLO. mc, .s])iini 1110, if thou Avilt, Init only look on me, on thy Utile Vitlorio, thy brother, thy play- fellow, as / tf.sed to be. I would not waste my breath in words when I could kiss thee into life, but that 'twere mean to rob thee when thou canst make no defence. Tush !" continued he, looking with abstract admiration on the beautiful being before him — " What is the world ? — the scarecrow of grown children, the altar of fools, the paradise of knaves, and the contempt of the good ! And yet, had I but a throne to place thee on, it would puzzle that said world to know whether it had been made for thee, or thou for it, so fitting would each be to the other! When I look at the porcelain clay of which thou art moulded, my eyes tell me that fate bes2:)oke thee for a queen, and that that work-a-day knave, Ferrai, hath no more to do with thy parentage than with that of the other gems which are called his, until he finds the prince that hangs them round some noble neck." Symptoms of animation at last returned ; and — as in all cases of temporary suspension of exist- ence, the subject that dwelt last in the mind is sure to return to it the first — a vague teiTor at seeing Vittorio bending over her, caused Ari- anna to exert herself to the uttermost to collect her scattered senses. With good feeling, upon BIANCA CAPPELLO. 161 l^erceiving the first glimi^se of returning reason, Cappello released her hand, and Avithdrew to the furtlier end of the sofa. " Dearest Aiianna !" said he, kneeUng, though still at a distance, ^' fear nothing ; if I cannot cease to love you, I will at least change the fashion of my love, and love you in a way that you can neither resent nor reject." As the young girl turned her languid eyes on Vittorio's beautiful and eloquent face, where his very soul seemed coined into looks, she found it more difficult than ever to act up to the reso- lution she had ado])ted ; and vainly attempting to speak, ended by bursting into tears. " Away with tears !" said Vittorio, advancing, and taking her hand ; " they are for the van- quished, and you are the victor, Arianna ; then why weep — is it so sad a lot to he the wife of Vittorio Cappello ?"' " Your wife !" echoed Arianna, raising her eyes to his, and for an instant, but an instant only, plunging into the luxury of the thought, and the next rising above it, as she added calmly and finnh*, " Oh, signor, why mock me with an impossibility !" " Who says 'tis impossible, (/ / will it ?"' said Vittorio, with all his wonted hauteur. ^' Knowest thou not that Ctesar swam the river 162 BIANCA CAPPELLO. where meaner mortals would have stayed to build a bridge ?" " It were but a song masque," replied Arianna, almost ])roudly, " for the first noble in Venice to cater for the people's mirth by his maniage with a goldsmith's daughter !" " How long was Venice without a gold cur- rency, pray, till old Dandolo thought fit to stamp his image on the metal, and enrol it in the state ?* and thinkest thou that / cannot stamj) sufficient nobility on thy father's daughter to make her cuiTent among the best of them, and save her fi'om the ^people's mirth V " " It might be so," said Arianna, coldly, " could you ever get the higher powers to consent to it ; but there lieth the insurmountable obstacle." " Higher powers !" repeated Vittorio, biting his lip, and then suddenly exchanging his look of scorn for a smile ; " well, if it must be so, I win be the emperor, and forthwith do grant my * It was in the reign of John Dandolo, in 1285, that gold zechinis (or sequins) were first struck in Venice. But before they could be issued, the Doge was obliged to ask the permis- sion of the Emperor and Pope. These sequins bore the name and image of the Doge, at first seated on the dogal throne ; but afterwards he was represented standing ; and finally, in the latter times of the Republic, on his knees, receiving from the hands of St. Mark the standard of the Republic. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 163 imperial assent, whilst thou shalt play the higher power of pope, and I will kiss thy foot, and take thy consent on the instant." And here Cappello knelt to suit the action to the word, by taking one of Arianna's fairy feet in his hand, which he raised to his lips. " Nay, signor," said she, while the rosy shadow of her young blood flitted in hasty blushes over her face and neck, " this tiifling may be a morning's pastime to you, but it will be a life's misery to me." " 'Sdeath !" exclaimed Yittorio, rising hastily, and seating himself beside her, " I have learaed fencing from Frescobaldi* to little purpose, if I can be defeated by the endless parryings of a girl ! Leave riddles, and answer me in plain Venetian — Dost thou love me, or dost thou hate me r" " To love you, signor," stammered Arianna, "is a presumption that I could never be guilty of; and hatred is a deadly sin, fi-om which Heaven keep me." " I want no sophistry, but a plain yea or nay — wilt answer me ?" " You are not my confessor, signor ; and for answering, 1 cannot do so more plainly than I have done." ♦ A fenciDg-master of high repute at Padua. 164 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " Now, by St. Mark, thy ])rovocatioii doth outstrip my patience !" cried Cappcllo, mc- chaiiically plunging his hand within his bosom, and grasping his dagger ; " and since my love affects thee not, and 'tis clear thou hatest me, Ave'll see which is the better hater of the two. And thou hast only to look back on the history of the world to know that hatred hath ever com- passed greater achievements than love." So saying, he walked haughtily to the door, whitlier Arianna's eyes followed him with an expression certainly very far removed from the hatred of whicli he had accused her. He stood for a moment before the curtain, without raising it, with all the irresolution that conflicting passions ever occasion. Anger spurred him forward — love drew him back ; and as he turned his eyes, and met those of Arianna, which were imme- diately turned away in the deepest confusion at having been so encountered, his love tri- umphed, and he returned. " Now, for my life," said he, in his gentlest voice, as he took her hand, — " I cannot think thy words deal fairly with thy heart. Let thine eyes answer me, dearest, for they will not belie thee, like thy words [" "If they say aught but what my words have said," replied Arianna, still turning her head away, " they are fidse indeed." BIANCA CAPPELLO. 165 " Then do you mean to say," rejoined Vit- torio, " that it is your real wish that all should be at an end between us ?" " It is /" said Arianna, with desperate firm- ness, — ^' at least," she added, in a lower voice, " it is my resolution — my duty, and that is the same thing." But Vittorio heard her not ; for she had no sooner uttered the words " it is,'' than he broke from her, and left the room. " Your pardon, signor," said a page, who met him at the end of the gallery ; " but a messenger waits below from Pierio Bolzanio to say he lieth dangerously ill — even to the death, the messenger thinks, — and the old man would speak with yom- lordship, if speech be not past him ere you anive." " Bid them double man the gondola, and I will be \\ith him on the instant," said Cappello, as he followed the page down stairs. For a full hour Arianna remained abstractedly gazing upon the vacancy Vittorio had left. 166 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER VIII. " Ce monde, ou les raemes passions, les memes vices, les memes ridicules, raalgre quelques changements passagers de costmnes, d'usages, de modes et de moeurs, doiinent a la generation presente une grande ressemblance avec celles qui la precedent ou celles qui la suivent." — Delille. " Then come for a sorbet, my love, Or anything else that you see ; But unless you come quickly, my dove, I shall certainly faint with ennui." John Francis. " May my name be unknown a century hence," said Titian, (who had remained working at Bianca's portrait, in order to see her dressed for the aquatic fete given that evening by the admiral of the fleet,) " if the Signor Annniragho will want one of the myriads of sparkling lamps and blazing fireworks he has commanded ; for by the soul of Appelles, signorina, you will out- shine them all !" ^^ Hush !" said Bianca, with a suppressed BIANCA CAPPELLO. 167 laugh, as a stately mstling announced the ap- proach of her stepmother, and the voice of her father was heard exclaiming — " Throw wide the doors to let the Contessa Elena pass !" In an- other moment two pages had raised the velvet cmiain, and the Signora Elena sailed into the room after the same portly fashion that a man-of- wai* sails into port, while she towed after her, her more humble-minded and humble -looking sposo, whose thin, small figure was cased in a perfect armour of gold embroidery, on a gTOund of granite velvet; while his red forked beard, which had gained him the soubriquet through Venice of Barbarossa, met his snow-white niff, from under which appeared the insignia in bril- liants of the order of St. Catherine, which had descended from father to son, in the Cappello family, ever since the year 1063, when it was first instituted in Palestine, and bestowed upon their ancestor, Ugo Cappello, in the Holy Land. Signor Bartolommeo's tiimk hose seemed " a world too wide" for his shrunk limbs, and the extreme height of his red-heeled shoes almost caused his steps to totter as he paced across the marble floor. Titian, Bianca, and the dwarf, ranged themselves in a straight line to receive, with due respect, the lord and lady of the man- sion. Unmeasured and unblushing flattery to his ancient and unattractive spouse was the 168 BIANCA CAITELLO. tenure ii])on which Count Bartolommeo Cap- pello lield his domestic quiet and conjugal feli- city; and the less provocation the lady's ap- pearance gave to compliments, the more fertile was his imagination in framing them, and the more indefatigable zeal did his tongue evince in uttering them. On the present occasion the insults the Signora Elena's person had received from nature were considerably aggravated by the satires of a very splendid and youthful style of dress, which left no defect unexposed, and therefore taxed her liege lord's invention to the uttermost ; but spurred on by the desperation of the case, he addressed himself to the artist, and plunged at once into the following rhapsody : — "Now, by the judgment of Paris, Signor Titian, you are fortunate ! The rumour runs that you are painting a Venus, and liere you have a model ready to your hand! Turn thee, my dove, to give our skilful friend the full benefit of all your circling graces !" and the Signora Elena, as she resigned her skinny hand to the care of her gallant husband, puckered up her mouth, elevated her chin, and turned slowly round. " Nay, Bianca herself," said Cappello, with a genuine burst of parental pride, as he turned his eyes upon his daughter, more radiant in her youthful loveliness than even in the dazzling BIANCA CAPPELLO. 169 splendour of her dress — "Bianca might have given thee vahiable assistance in the creation of a Venus ! By the blood of my fadiers ! daugh- ter mine, but I shall think Fate has cheated me at the long odds, if thou dost not die a queen: for never saw I a brow so circled for a diadem — but one," added he, v>'ith a grotesque leer, gently tapping liis ancient biide under the chin, as he perceived the storm that was darken- ing on her brow, at his unusual admiration of his daughter. " Is not the Signor Vittorio of your com- pany ?" said Titian, \dih the charitable intention of extricating the Signor Bartolommeo from the dilemma the unusual veracity of his speech had brought him into. " Doubtless," replied the latter ; " but it is a villanous habit of the youth of the present day always to keep their seniors waiting for them. Rapiers and thumb-screws ! what would my father have said had I kept him waiting half an instant ! Go, sirrah !" said the Count, address- ing the dwarf, " and let the Signor Vittorio know, that the Coniessa awaits him ! Bless me ! we really can wait no longer. It is out of all rule to be late when royalty is in ques- tion ; and the festa is given in honour of the Archduchess Joan of Austria." VOL. I. I 170 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " What, signer ! the princess who is to many Francesco de Medici, Cosimo Primo's son ?" " The same," replied the Count ; " the mar- riage is not to take j^lace for two years, and in the meanwhile she is making the tour of the Italian states ; but it seems to me that Cosimo is still so hale that she will have to wait some time ere she be Grand Duchess of Tuscany." " My private letters colour the matter other- wise," said Titian. " They say he is utterly weary of the trammels of government; and rumours have already stiiTed the leaves of the Boboli that he means to resign the reins into the hands of his son; and what is stranger still, from being the most ambitious of princes, he seems to have changed into a mere artisan, as they say he is indefatigable in the construc- tion of a curious and cunning workmanship of coloured stones, which he has himself in- vented."* " There is no denying," said the Count, that no family ever did so much for the arts as the Medici ; and was their art of governing * This was the beautiful fabric of Pietra dura at Florence, which is exclusively royal property : it was invented by Cosimo Primo, who was himself an expert workman in this beautiful art. It is interesting to see the perfection it has reached since its infant dawnings in the sixteenth century. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 171 equally creditable to tliem, they would be irre- proachable." "Alas, sigiior!" replied the artist, as he collected his brushes prejDaratory to his depar- tui'e, " that is a mde word to say of any man, much less of any family." " True, true, my good friend! But by St. Vitus ! — the only saint I ever heard of who was given to dancing — the sea already echoes with a wondrous noise of flutes, fiddles, and viol de gamhas, and we shall be marvellously late. How now, sirrali," continued the Count, tm'ning to the dwarf, as he entered the room, " thou art not worth thy motley to tarry so long on so brief an errand." " Please you, illustrissimo, I had to seek the Signor Vittoiio's serv^ant, and he told me the young Count is still detained by the bed-side of the worthy Signor Bolzanio. Heaven grant," added Ghiribizzo, dashing a tear from the comer of his eye, " that the poor gentleman does not take a trip to the church-yai'd, to improve him- self in the dead languages." " Heaven grant it, indeed !" echoed Bianca, with a deep sigh, for she not only had a sincere affection for her kind old master, but the thought of where she could so constantly meet Bonaven- turi, in the event of Bolzanio's death, also flashed across her, with that electric and selfish alchemy I 2 17*2 BIANCA CAPPELLO. of love which ever transmutes all past, present, and future events hito a reference to one object. " Might we not," asked Bianca, timidly, still resolving the same theme — " might we not call at Bolzanio's door ere we go on board the admiral's ship, and learn a true account of him ?" " Impossible I'' replied her father, " for we are already so late that we shall scarcely have time to reach the vessel ere the cannon of the arsenal give notice of the arrival of the Archduchess Joan." So saying, the Count Bartolommeo extended his hand to his wife, who placed her own within it, with all due dignity, Ghiribizzo closely imi- tating all their movements behind his young mistress, who abstractedly availed herself of Titian's proffered assistance, not uttering a syl- lable till the " huona sercC she bestowed upon him as the gondola pushed off. It is impossible to imagine a more fairy-like scene than the Adriatic presented on that night. Beside the Venetian fleet, which displayed silken pennants and gilded prows for the occasion, were innumerable Turkish felucas, with their large gilt lanterns, green pennants, and glittering crescents. There was also a goodly display of less showy but more formidable looking English man-of-war, many of which afterwards went round the world with Sir Francis Drake in the BIANCA CAPrELLO. 173 expedition of 1577, displaying no other oiiia- ment than that which then, as now, they had such just cause to be proud of — their national flag^ — which, for a thousand yeai's, had not only braved, but conquered, " The battle aud the breeze." Next to some rude, square-built Norwegian ves- sels, with plain sails, as hoary as their own ice- bound seas, were numerous clumsily omamented three-decked Spanish galleons, with either some glim-looking hidalgo or equally gi'im San An- tonio for a figm'e head ; but with aU, they formed no bad background, as it were, to the gorgeous small craft of gondolas, and theii' light and ele- gant monarch, the Bucuitoro. The Admiral Filippo Vasi's ship actually looked hke a float- ing meteor, or rather, like an enchanted bark of precious stones, so completely was the rigging, and even the decks outside, as far as they rose above the waters, illuminated with coloured lamps; while fi-om the main-mast floated, in honour of the Archduchess Joan, a white flag, emblazoned with the double-necked eagle of Austria, done in black but transparent lamps, surmounted by the Austrian cro^^^l, in a brilliant imitation of jewels. Nor did the brilliancy end here, for the heavens were spangled with stars, and tlie fire-flies had congregated in such my- 174 BIANCA CArrELLO. riads, that it seemed as if the breezes were pelt- ing each other with miniature stars. No sooner had Count Bartolommeo Cappello and his beautiful daughter reached the deck of the Admiral's ship, than he and as many of his guests as had assembled surrounded them with complimentary greetings, — all except the Mai*- quis de Millepropos, who remembered, with a just indignation, the uncourteous return of his hillet-doux. Bianca, having looked in vain for the only eyes she cared for, asked the younger Vasi who that beautiful woman was upon whom Gonzo Damerino was inflicting his dulness ? " That," said Erneste Vasi, " is a Florentine bride — the Contessa Ricci. She is very beauti- ful, certainly; but I have seen faces that are more beautiful," concluded the young man, with a sigh, as his thoughts reverted to Arianna. " Oh, she is lovely !" exclaimed Bianca, still gazing intently upon the young bride, and heed- less of Vasi's concluding remark. " I never saw a person I should so much wish to be like." "Is it possible, signora," said Don Gomez de Sylva, gallantly, affecting a look of surprise, " that you have never looked in the glass ?" " Often," replied Bianca, laughing, " and without seeing anything that pleased me." " Well," said Don Gomez, " this certainly BIANCA CAPPELLO. 175 coiijfinns what I have often heard, but till now, doubted — namely, that it is impossible to please some women." Here a loud discharge of cannon announced the arrival of the Ai'chduchess Joan, in the Bucintoro, with Geronimo PriuU, the Doge, followed by the gondolas and suites of the Emperor's ambassadors, and the Patriarch of Aquilea. The royal party had no sooner neared the Admiral's ship, than the musicians began to play a beautiful motet of Palestrina's,* which that Homer of music, as he was deservedly called, in the sixteenth century, had composed for the occasion. The Archduchess Joan was tall, * Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina was elected Maestro di Cappella of Santa Maria Maggiore, in 1562 ; of St. Peter's, in 1571 ; and died in 1594 ; being then sixty-five years old. His music is remarkable for the simplicity of its style, and the cheerful character of its melody. His works are nu- merous. Besides twelve books of masses, he published many motets, hymns, madrigals, magnificats, and other pieces. It is said that the Pope, being ofiended at the manner in which the mass had been set and performed, had resolved to banish music, in parts, from the church ; but Palestrina requested him first to hear one which he would compose. The cele- brated composition called, " Missa Papge Marcelli," was written, and performed at Easter, 1555, before the Pope and Cardinals, who were so delighted with the music, that it was instantly adopted in the celebration of the rites of the Romish church. 176 BIANCA CArPELLO. slight, and fair; iieitlier ugly nor liaudsomc; but having a decidedly x\u.strian face, with a rigid coldness of look and manner, Avhich gave her the appearance of cndurmg everything and en- joying nothing. All the nobles having ranged themselves on the deck to receive her, she was conducted by the Doge to a throne prepared for her; after which, the assembled guests were, in their turn, presented to her by him, commencing with the ladies ; all of whom she received courteously, but coldly, and, as it struck Cappello's daughter, she received her more coldly and less courteously than the rest. Whether this w^as actually the case, or not, it was one of those underminings of fancy Avhich is quite sufficient to widen the incipient dislike that one human being often, at first sight, conceives for another, without any pre- existing cause. Nor was this embryo antipathy of Bianca's at all lessened, as she witnessed the gracious reception she gave the Signora Elena; who, in right of her rank as the sister of the Patriarch, and wife of Cappello, was seated next the Archduchess, the Doge Priuli not being married. From the unex- pressive and uninteresting face of the Arch- duchess, Bianca turned to encounter one which suffused her own with blushes. It was that of Bonaventuri, who had arrived in the suite BIANCA CAPPELLO. 177 of his patron, the Ambassador. His dress — of violet vehetj richly embroidered in gold — far sm*passed, in splendour and elegance, any of those present. And he had also contrived — thanks to an unsparing use of Salviati's name, and his own insinuating manners — ^to procure from FeiTai, and one or two Jews, such a costly display of jewels as far outshone those of most of his noble fiiends, splendid as they were on the occasion. If love has one incen- tive greater than another, it is pnde ; and the pride man or woman feels in the object of their affections, always enhances their love tenfold. Bianca perfectly adored Bonaventuri, as she cast her eyes round on the flower of the nobles of all nations, and saw that on none had na- ture stamped such a noble air as upon her handsome, but low born lover ; and though low birth is a great stumblingblock to lova in all women — even to those v,ho are lowly born themselves — that painfid tnith was, for the moment, completely merged, ^^'ith Bianca, in the circumstance of Pietro's superiority of appearance, which, fi'om the murmur of admi- ration that ran fi*om guest to guest, seemed to strike others as forcibly as herself Pietro bovred to her tenderly, but respectfully, — and her father at that moment asking, who was that very handsome cavaliero of her acquaintance I 3 178 BIANCA CAPPELLO. that was not of liis ? she bhished, and stam- mered out — that he was a friend of Yittorio's, whom she had met at Bolzanio's school; and then turned away to speak to her young friends, the beautiful Leonora and Lucrczia D'Este. They were with their uncle, the Cardinal Lu- dovico D'Este, who was holding his large red cardinal's hat before his eyes, as he gazed upwards on the illumination of the vessel. " Dear Bianca !" said the beautiful Lucrezia, " who was that very handsome cavaliero that saluted you just now ?" As she ceased speaking, a deep sigh slightly stirred the ruff on her shoulders; and slowly turning her gentle and dignified face, she be- held a pair of large and very melancholy look- ing dark eyes intently fixed upon her, belong- ing to a youth who had not seen more than sixteen summers, or thereabout. " Nay," whispered Bianca, with a smile, " rather let me ask you, cara mia, who that handsome youth is, standing next Paola Paruta, the historian ; for truly, to judge by hisontense application to your face, he has been learning you by heart." " Always the same, Bianca — you must have your jest; but I am sorry I cannot give you the information you want." " Ah, Torquato ! mio amico — how fares it BIANCA CAPPELLO. 179 with you ?" said the Cai'dinal Ludovico, at this moment lowering his eyes, and extending his hand to the youth whom the two ladies had been discussing. " I thank your eminence, well as your kind- ness could wish," replied the young man, timidly. " That's right — and Rinaldo,^' how does he get on ?" rejoined the Cardinal, kindly. * Alluding to Tasso's first epic poem, which he began at sixteen, and brought out at the age of seventeen, dedicating it to his friend and patron the Cardinal Ludovico D'Este, who made him a gentleman of his court, and subsequently invited him to Ferrara, to be present at the marriage of his brother Al- phonso to an archduchess of Austria, whither Tasso went in Oc- tober 1565, and there it was, at the splendid fetes given in cele- bration of these nuptials, that the poet's intimacy began, and his passion increased to insanity for the beautiful Lucrezia D'Este, then Duchess of Urbino, who listened with more than compla- cency to the melodious verses in which her own charms appeared to derive an additional glow, as they poured from the impas- sioned lips of her ill-fated admirer, whose hopeless frenzy was from time to time lulled into a deceitful calm by his frequent retirements with the beautiful object of his idolatry to the lovely shades of Belriguardo, whither Lucrezia, having sepa- rated fiom her husband, always accompanied her brother Alphonso; and it was in all probability in this enchanting retreat, that the hopeless sighs of the lover, mingling with the dreams of the poet and the breath of that paradise of flowers, toned Tasso's verse to those musical harmonies for which it is unrivalled. Of Leonora, his reputed love, he seems to have thought little, and written less; and it has always been clear to me, that Lucrezia, not Leonora, was the 180 BIANCA CArrELLO. " Like all other ill weeds, please youv emi- nence, lie grows apace," said the young man. " Coragfflo, coraggio^'' said the Cardinal, as he turned to speak to the Patriarch of Aquilea and the Pope's nuncio, to the latter of whom he presented his young protege, as the son of the distinguished poet, Bernardo Tasso, of Ber- gamo. The Nunciojwho was no other than Cinto Aldo- brandini, who befriended the poet so stanchly and delicately in after life, when, alas ! both glory and generosity came too late, now extended his hand to the timid boy before him, and inquired if he too were of Bergamo ? and Avhether he also laid claim to the bays that had so flourishingly adorned his father's brows ? " Monsignore^'' said the young Torquato, re- plying to Aldobrandini's last question first, " I fear me that geniuses, for the most part, are in- tellectual spendthrifts, who leave little or nothing to those who come after them." " Nay, by the mass !" intenupted the cardinal, thou art an ungrateflil prodigal to say so : for if I am to believe thy friends, Paruta and Scipio di Gonzaga, thy father, even now during his object of his affections — an opinion in -wliicli I am happy to find myself fully borne out by the physician Giacomazzi, in his " Dialoghi Sopra gli Amori la Prigionia, ed il Genio di Torquato Tasso." Brescia, 1827. BIANCA CAFPELLO. 181 lifetime, hath given thee ample grants in Par- nassus." " Yom* Eminence forgets that fiiends are partial," said the youth. " Ay, those are the rarer sort — the onyx- among-pebble genus — the feiv,''^ interrupted the cardinal ; " l^ut friends for the most part are nothing more than licensed backbiters and de- tractors, and by no means given to partiality." " Well," smiled Aldobrandini — " I, being a friend to the Venetian states, have a great mind to get his holiness to fulminate a bidl against Bergamo, for its monopoly in producing two poets in one century." " Though Venetian at heart, jNIonsignore," said the young Torquato, " Bergamo is not quite responsible for me, for I was bom at Sorrento." "I am glad of it," replied Aldobrandini; " for visiting your native place must sometimes bring you nearer to Rome." Here their conversation was intennipted by a great noise of sackbuts, dulcimers, and viol di gambas, for the Archduchess Joan had risen to open the ball in a la volta with the Prince of Parma, while the young Duke D'Urbino, whom she afterwards married, claimed the beautiful Lucrezia D'Este for his partner. The young poet stepped back some paces, beliind a drapery 182 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ' of banners, which cfi'ectiially concealed hhn, thereby giving him an opportunity of unmolest- edly observing the exquisite beauty of a face, which, if it only faintly resembled the portraits that are still extant of her, in all probability furnished Tasso with the loveliness of his Clorinda, the gi*ace of his Armida, and the deep, passionate glow of inspiration in his Erminia. Be this as it may, it is certain that on that night many a sigh of the youthful poet's, like the first faint breathings of inspiration, floated across those seas, which, in after ages, have so often echoed with his strains. The Marquis de Millepropos, and FiHppo Borgia, at one and the same time presenting themselves as candidates for Bianca's hand in the dance, she gave the preference to the latter, while Bonaventuri, who was quietly awaiting his turn at a later hoiu* of the evening, received the lull benefit of the discomfited ambassador's shrug, as he retreated a few stej)s, exclaiming, " Che gusto ! what wretched taste the girl hath." " What news. Master Lovell ? you are fresh from England," said Don Gomez de Sylva, to a young man, the nephew of the then English ambassador at Venice. " In truth, not much, senor," replied the young gentleman, with a plethora of diplomatic dis- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 183 cretion, "except that Burleigh, my Lord of Exeter, has just been made minister of state to her Majesty, and that I saw her gi-ace looking maneUously well, and sitting her white palfrey right gallantly at Tilbmy Fort, the week before I sailed, when my Lord of Southampton, who carries liis years bravely, presented her with a new book of standing orders for the army, dedi- cated to himself, with the contents whereof, though bestowing on it but a cursory glance, her Highness did express herself graciously pleased. But as I passed through Paris, where I tamed some few days, I did leam the death of Cardinal du BeUay, and there was much specu- lation afloat as to the head on which the vacant hat was likely to rest." Ghiribizzo, who had begun his evening's amusement by falling asleep on a low seat, now gave audible signs of the repose he Avas enjoying. " A plague on thee for a sciuvy imitator of Jove's thunder," said the Marquis de Mille- propos, who sat next to him ; " it is impossible to heai* the sighs of the ladies for the s\rinish noise thou makest." "Your Excellency's mention of Jove," cried a lean, hungry-looking individual, who sat on the other side of the dwarf, as he now leant across him, and bowed obsequiously several times to 184 BIANCA CAITELLO. the Marquis — " your Excelleucy's mention of Jovo reminds nic of my little poem that 1 lla^ e here, called ' The Heroes of Olympus and the Heroes of Earth,' in which I call your Ex- cellency the victor of the gods, and clearly prove it." " Pipi," said his Excellency, " you are a man of genius !" And then turning to Bianca — " Charming Bianca !" commenced the Marquis, "if you do not wish to see me expire at your feet, give me some hope, however faint, that you will not always treat me thus cruelly : only let me see the star of love lise but for one moment above the horizon of my destiny, and I will not change places with the greatest monarch of the earth. Deprive us of air, and we die; of light, and we see not ; of pulsation, and we cease to be ! You are all these things to me. Frown, and I die, — smile, and I live. Can you, then, trifle with an existence that is in your hands ^ Answer me, beautiful arbitress of my fate !" Here the music was again heard ; the marquis suddenly paused in his harangue, and exclaim- ing, in an allegro key, " Ah, voila ! the Cor- ranto ! I will come back anon for your answer," darted off in quest of his partner, leaving Bianca to indulge the laughter she found it so impossible to repress, and Bonaventuri an oppor- tunity of claiming her hand for the next dance. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 185 As the lovers sat together at the side of the vessel, two gondolas neared it, — one with gay pennants and the liveiy of the CappeUos, the other a plain black one, like those belonging to the Inquisition. "When the fonner had come alongside, Vittorio Cappello emerged from it, and was about to ascend the sliii)'s ladder, when his arm was touched by a monk from the other gondola, whose face was closely shrouded in liis cowl, and who, after whispering something in his ear, placed a paper in his hand. Vit- torio nodded assent; and merely uttering the word " wait," went up the ladder, and soon stood beside his sister. '^ What news of Bolzanio, brother r" asked the latter, anxiously. " He will know the great secret before morn- ing. There is no hope !" replied he, gloomily, adding, as he walked away, ^' Where is the Pa- triarch ? — I would speak with him." Grimani was in deep conference ^^itll the Pope's nimcio. Cento Aldobrandini ; and as Vit- torio approached, he heard the former say — " I doubt it ; Philip of Spain dare hardly play us false." The Nuncio shook his head. " Your worthi- ness forgets, a few packets of your secret policy touching the Azores might make it worth his while." 186 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " True ; but " (here the Patiiarch's voice dropped so as to make the name he uttered in- audible) — " has been so closely guarded, that all communication with Spain has been im- possible." " Well," replied Aldobrandini, " I merely tell your worthiness that such was the rumour at the Vatican some months ago ; and the ex- amination of Caraffa's papers first awakened suspicion. Carlo Gritti, who was at Home at the time, I believe, in several advices informed Bolzanio of it, with due counsel to open the matter to your worthiness." " He did so," said Grimani ; " but young Cappello, and the vigilance of the Holy Inqui- sition, have been more keen than ever since that time, therefore is it impossible." Here Vittorio approached, and bowing to Al- dobrandini and the Patriarch of Aquilea, said to the latter — " I have a thousand ajiologies to make for the liberty I take in interrupting the discourse of your worthiness, but I understand this matter presses." And so saying, he placed the paper he had received from the monk in Grimani's hand, who, glancing his eyes hastily over it as he held it closely to them, said — " Quite right ! thou didst judge fitly, Signor Vittorio." And then tlie old man took a large BIANCA CAPPELLO. 187 signet ring from his linger, bearing for inscrip- tion, in very rudely carved and primitive -look- ing letters, the words — I CELSI iELIAN. To this ring, which had been in the Grimani family for ages, and which was said to have once belonged to a priest of the Temple of Jupiter at Rome, the Patriarch attached the most superstitious value, as the tradition ran, (a tradition in which he imphcitly beheved,) that the Grimani would ever flourish and pros- per in all things so long as that ring remained with them; but that ^rith it their glory would depart. Consequently, it never left the Patri- arch's finger except on occasions of the utter- most state importance, when it served in lieu of his own presence ; and the members of the Inquisition, to whom it was alone entrusted, were answerable for its safety with their lives. The old man having taken this ring from his finger, begged the support of Vittorio's aim, and desired to be conducted to the person who had given him the paper. Young Cappello led him to the side of the vessel, where the black gondola still floated. The Patriarch motioned to Vittorio to withdraw, as he leant over the side of the ship, and then, bending down his head, called out in a cautious wliisper to the indi- 188 BlAiNCA CAITELLO. vidiial below — " l^idrc Gicgorio I" The monk lifted up his head, and nodded it solennily in token of assent, but uttered no sound ; where- upon the Patriarch bade him raise his hand, \vhich having done, he placed his signet ring on the finger of the monk, ^Yho silently crossed himself, and prepared, with his solitary oar, to put his boat out to sea. Had Vittorio remained beside the Patriarch, his younger eyes might have detected the flash of demoniac triumjih that glared from the monk's eyes as the wind for an instant blew aside his cowl, and the light from above fell upon his ghastly face ; his younger ears might have also heard the mut- tered, but deep-toned, " Trona, Veiiezia ! — Tremble, Venice ! " — which accompanied the motion of his clenched hand, as he, rowed away from the vessel. But the old man saw and heard nothing beyond the brilliant crowd around him, whose attention he was nervously anxious to divert from anything they might have heard or seen of his brief interview with the monk. Bianca was the first person he encountered ; and after complimenting her upon the more than usual brilliancy of her appearance, he reco- gnised Bonaventuri. " Ah ! my young friend. Master Salviati's pupil — a marvellously well-favoured and gal- lantly apparelled youth. Certes, thou hast BIANCA CAPPELLO. 189 picked up some of the seed of honest Carlo's money-tree, which hath this advantage over all others — that its fruit and blossoms doth last all the year round, and are equally prized in every part of the world. Bianca, child I truly thou hast no bad choice, if the gold within this young cavaliero's pockets but keep pace with that without." " I fear me, yom* worthiness," said the Car- dinal D'Este, " at the signorina's age, a silver voice hath more chaiins than a golden pocket." " No bad thing, either," rejoined the Patriarch. " We ourselves have not grown too dull-eared for the pleasure of sweet sounds, and the rumour hath reached us that this young gentleman tunes all Palestrina's most dainty airs ^rith infinite skill; so, with his good permission, we will test the ti'uth of this report at the banquet, to which I see this goodly company are now hastening. The favour of your arm, young sir," added Grimani, cour- teously ; " it is not the first time that we have been indebted to its support." The happy Bianca offered her arm on the other side, inwai'dly wondering how anything so nearly akin to the Signora Elena could be so amiable as the Patriarch. Beneath an awning of violet-coloiued silk, embroidered with golden-mnged lions, tables had suddenly arisen, as if by magic, laden mth 190 BIANCA CAPPELLO. the rarest viands, fruits, and wines, in golden dishes, and vases of the most costly workman- ship. The royal table was at the upper end of the vessel, upon a dais, over which was spread a Persian carpet of the richest kind ; while from each step of the dais (there being three) hung a deep gold fringe. At the upper end of this platform, or dais, were placed two throne-shaped chairs for the Archduchess Joan and the Doge. At each side of these chairs stood a dozen pages dressed in white and gold; those on the right hand side, who stood by the chair of the Arch- duchess, were employed in waving to and fi'o large fans of peacocks' feathers; while twelve pages, on the left hand side, flung about gold censers of perfumed waters, that shed a deli- cious coolness through the air. At the royal table sat the Pope's nuncio, the Patriarch of Aquilea, the Cappellos, the D'Estes, and other magnates. As near to it as possible, at one of the adjoining tables, Grimani had good-natur- edly bade Bonaventuri take his seat. He had scarcely done so, making room for the younger Tasso, who had selected that situation as a con- venient one from whence he could unobservedly watch the beautiful Lucrezia D'Este, than Pietro raised his eyes, and encountered from the oppo- site side of the table those of Magini, the astro- loger, fixed calmly but intently upon him. He BIANCA CAPPELLO. 191 started with surprise ; he sat iiTesolute whe- ther to recognise him or not, but was soon con- vinced, by a very expressive look from Magini, that the latter was the course that he wished him to adopt ; whereupon he endeavoured to turn his eyes from where the astrologer sat, and only succeeded in doing so by sending them in quest of Bianca. It was not long before the Doge espied Magini, and with many flattering speeches invited him to the royal table, in order to pre- sent him to the Archduchess. As he rose to quit the one at which he had been already seated, he took a plate of pomegranates, upon the top of which he dexterously placed another (a circumstance by no means lost upon Bona- venturi), and, handing them across to Pietro, said, in a bland, but ceremonious tone — " I think, signor, you were looking for this fruit." The Florentine had sufficient presence of mind not to evince any surprise, but merely bowing his thanks, took the pomegi-anate that Magini had placed above the others. During the slight confusion occasioned by the astrologer's change to the royal table, Bonaventuri found an opportunity of breaking the pomegranate, in the centre of which he found a paper, contain- ing these words : — " Pierio Valeriano Bolzanio has just expired. 192 BIANCA CAPPELLO. You can meet no more there ; so be doubly cau- tious — and remember, any aiiemft he fore the \?>tli of December viifst hriny deslritciion /" Bonaventuri concealed the paper till he could conveniently destroy it, and endeavoured during the rest of the banquet to look as unconcerned as he could, though, in truth, he felt excited at the strangely mysterious counsels that Magini dealt out to him from time to time, coupled as they were with his evidently accurate know- ledge, not only of passing, but of future events ; so that a sort of complimentary ode to the Arch- duchess, set to music by Palestrina (who pre- sided in person on the occasion), had been sung, and the guests commanded by the Doge to pledge the royal bride elect in brimming cups, ere Pietro rallied sufficiently to join in the conversation that was now flowing so rapidly around him. " Signor Tasso," said he, at length, arresting the iced water which the young poet was pour- ing into a high golden cup, " were this straight from Helicon, as I doubt not that it is, yet is it against all mle to drink bridal pledges in aught save a ruby flood ; for Love recognises no colours but his own." " Love may not," said the young Torquato, with a smile ; " but Hymen, who, alas ! has but little intercourse with him, is but a dull, sober BIANCA CAPPELLO. 193 god — a thrower of cold water, and dealer in cold truths !" " The more need, then, to make him blush," said the Florentine, filling up the cup with wine. " And from Anacreon or Valenus Flaccus down- v/ards, I hold it that no bays ever became im- mortal, but such as were in some sort bedewed by Bacchus; so here's to yours, signor, and may they ever flourish. But of the two ascents to Parnassus, the one sacred to Apollo seems but a dull, uncertain road ; so the vine-crowned path for me !" " Alas I" said the young man, mournfully, as his eyes again wandered to Lucrezia D'Este, " the bay endures but for a season ; roses fade and myrtles wither — the cypress is the only real evergi'een ! 'SYlio thirsts for immortality must seek it in the grave !" " Ah I think you so, signor ? then by the few young years that you have yet culled of life, may you have long and far to seek." '^ I thank your courtesy, signor, for the wish," replied Tasso, " though mine own go not with it." Here their conversation was interrupted by a page, v/ho brought a message from the Patriarch, requesting that Signor Bonaventuri would fill his goblet, to return the gi-eeting wliich his wor- thiness drank to him, and then send forth his VOL. I. K 194 BIANCA CAPPELLO. voice in one of tlie right sweet souiKliiig songs of which the Signor Salviati had infonned him he knew many. Baslifuhiess was not in the catalogue of Bonaventuri's faiUngs, and even if it had been, the Patriarch's wishes were com- mands. So bowing lowly, in acknowledgment of the pledge the Patriarch had condescended to drink to him, he sang one of his very best songs, by no means averse from displaying a talent in which he knew he excelled. The Patriarch having set the example, the guests were unanimous in their applause of Bonaventuri's voice, which was a very beautiful tenor. Even the Archduchess commended it with more warmth than usually belonged to her words or manner, which caused Bianca to think that, at that moment, she looked less plain than she had done the whole evening. While the Signora Elena, having no fault to find with the music, restricted her censures to a regret, that the words should have been so silly, and of a tendency to make young people, if possible, more wicked than they already were. " As a proof that I do not speak unadvisedly, your highness may just observe the sort of ocular correspondence that is going on between that very forward young damsel, Lucrezia D'Este, and that hair-brained son of Bernardo Tasso's, BIANCA CAPPELLO. 195 since tlie singing of that wanton madrigal ? For my part," continued the good lady, *' I Wonder where the Cardinal Ludovico's eyes are ; did flesh and blood of mine so exemplify the effects of the fall, Fd soon see what fasting and penance could do for it in the way of cure ; but, indeed," continued the Signora, gi-owing fluent on the theme of her own virtue and the vices of others, " I think Nature sometimes makes a inistake, and puts masculine heads on female shoiUders, the women of some families are so much cleverer than the men ; for instance, there is my brother, the Patriarch, a very clever man in his way, and a great scholar, and all that, but dreadfully lax as to his inquisitorial duties, always rather for waiving than enforcing, as his station demands, the decrees of the holy office. Indeed, many heads of the church have done me the honoiu* of telling me, that / should fill his position much better. And then, his mer- ciful weakness with regard to the sex is almost as proverbial as that of old Dandalo, of whom it used to be sarcastically obseiTed, that the only maidens'^ he ever turned his back upon were those of the Inquisition." * In the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and even down to the beginning of the seventeenth centurj-, an instrument of execution, very closely resembling the French guillotine, but called a " maiden," was in use in several parts of Europe. K 2 196 BIANCA CAPPELLO. Here the vSignora Elena's lamentations were interrupted by the sound of sackbuts and dul- cimers, and the dancing was again resumed with gi-eat spirit; till, as the Morning Post would beautifully express it, in modern par- lance, " Aurora with rofnj Jingers Itad oped the gates of light /" While the poor benighted Venetians, having no oracle of the kind, were fain to content themselves with wood-cut repre- sentations of this fete, which appeared on the morrow, with " a correct and well-numbered account of all the goodlie company bidden and assembled thereto ; beginning with her highness the Archduchess Joan ; the right worshipful Gironimo Priuli, Doge of Venice ; his worthiness Marino Grimani, Patriarch of Aquilea; and divers beautiful ladies and great lords, both of Italy and fi-om beyond seas," which were sold about the streets for a gazzetta, with slices of baked zucca and beakers of iced water, for a fortnight after. All resumed the merry dance, but Bianca, who felt too dispirited to do so after the melan- choly tidings her brother had brought of her kind old preceptor Bolzanio's death ; and Bonaventuri naturally preferred the occupation of consoling her to any other. At length, the guests began to depart; the Archduchess BIANCA CAPPELLO. 197 having done so some hours before. Among the last to linger was the French ambassador, but even he, at length, took his leave ; but as he stepped into his gondola, lie arrested the pro- gress of Signor Pipi, the poet, as he was getting into his, and drawing him a httle aside, said to him, in a friendly whisper, wliich evinced infinite anxiety for his literary reputation — " Pipi, mon abeillc du Parnassc — Pijii, my bee of Parnassus — I have been thinking of your verses, and really believe that you are a true poet." 198 BIANCA CAPPELLO. CHAPTER IX. '* Ay, to day, Stem is the tyrant's mandate, red the gaze That flashes desolation, strong the arm That scatters multitudes. To-morrow comes ! That mandate is a thunder peal that died In ages past ; that gaze a transient flash. On which the midnight closed." P. B. Shelley. Among the many crooked policies that cha- racterized the different European courts, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in none were base means more frequently resorted to, to achieve base ends, than in that of Philip the Second, of Spain ; but this was more the fault of the age than of individuals. IMurder was the common mode of removing all obstacles, whether private or political ; and the traffickers in blood met with little or no public odium, except in cases of its too frequent indulgence, as in the instances of Ca?sar Borgia, Alessandro BIANCA. CAPPELLO. 19i) de Medice, and Francesco and Galeazzo Sforza. Nor were the dagger and the bowl confined to Italy, France, or Spain ; in the days of the so-called "good Queen Bess," England knew their use, and Scotland too. But to return. Venice, in the sixteenth cen- tury, was one of the mistresses of the seas, and monopolizers of the European trade. Her se- cret pohcy was strengthened by the covert and open influence of the Holy See, which, for interests of its own, generally evinced towards her an imequivocally partial protection, over and above other Papal powers. Philip the Second, of Spain, while busily occupied with plans for the building of the Escurial — which, however, he did not commence till the year 1569 — and much engrossed by the construc- tion of his code of laws, called Recopilacion, was by no means indifferent to a design he had formed, of wresting a portion of the Azores from the Portuguese — a design which he could only hope to cany into execution by obtaining the collusion and assistance of the Venetian republic. An open treaty, through an am- bassador, was seldom resorted to by Philip, when he coidd command the circuitous and covert medium of private intrigue. Among the many minions who thronged his court, there were none in whose talents he reposed such 200 BIA^CA cArrELLO. confidence as in those of two brolliers of tlie name of Dragoni, grandees of Si)ain, — the youngest a marquis, and his liead chamberlain ; tlie eldest a Jesuit, and a man of boundless enterprise, unchecked by anything like con- science. Don Manuel Dragoni possessed a plentiful quantum of low ambition, of the sort which consists in descending to the meanest acts to achieve small and j^resent aggrandize- ment. For a prize at a bull-iight, or a fore- most place in a pageant, he would, at any moment, have bartered his own, or his family's honom* ; while his broader and more daring minded brother, Ignatius, the Jesuit, ever soared into futurity, not minding, provided he scaled the uppermost heights of ambition, how often he had to make a ladder of his own soul. In order to carry the point he had in view about the Azores, Philip preferred the back- stair policy of sending Don Manuel Dragoni to Venice, not in any ostensibly ofhcial situation, but merely to till the honourable office of spy in the camp ; with, nevertheless, plenipo- tentiary (but secret) powers to do everything and anything to possess himself of the secret policy of the Venetians respecting the Azores — that is, anything short of compromising the openly professed faith of Spain with that Ivcpublic. This method having been adopted, in preference BIANCA CAPrELLO. 201 to any open and honourable negotiation through the medium of Don Gomez de Sylva, Dragoni was despatched to V^euice, with a princely retinue, but with apparently no other purpose than that of a Spanish hidalgo in quest of his o\m per- sonal recreation. It was some three years previous to the period stated at the commence- ment of this tale, that he had anived in Venice ; and as Elena Grimani was at that time still withering on the virgin thorn, in the Patriarch's palace, Dragoni thought that the surest plan for initiating himself into the state secrets which daily strewed the table of the Patriarch's library, would be to become a suitor to the Signora Elena; and as he possessed a large fierce pair of circidar black eyes, a perfect black forest of beard and whisker, and a pan* of legs which formed very substantial pillars to the Doric capitals of his trunk hose, is it to be wondered at, that a lady of the Signora Elena's discrimination should, at a very early period of their acquaintance, have been induced to kindle the torch of Love with the fire of Vesta, and give Don Manuel hopes of soon possessing the most curious piece of antiquity in all Venice ? Were people labouring under an attack of the tender passion ever supposed to have the use of their external senses, one K 3 202 13 IAN C A CAPPELLO. peculiarity in the marquis's mode of making love must have struck her — which was, that he never appeared to be able to pour out his feehngs with any degi*ee of fluency except in the Patriarch's library ; for which reason he generally deferred his visits to the Palazzo Grimani till such times as he knew its master was at the council; and even while in this diplomatic sanctum, Dragoni was ever fonder of caUing the lady's attention to the view to be seen from out the window, than of sellishly monopolizing her looks. Things were progi'essing after this fashion, till one day — about the sixth month of his suit, and one month previous to their nuptials — as the lady was, as usual, at his suggestion, straining her sight to see a sail that was not on the sea, and as Don Manuel was making hasty extracts from some sheets of parchment that lay half open on the table, the Patriarch, who had for- gotten some of the orders of the day, re- turned into his library by a secret entrance, which communicated directly from the nar- row street at the back of his palace. The Patriarch, seehig Dragoni's occupation, advanced noiselessly behind him, and, placing his spectacles before his eyes, read the whole transcript of his own private reports about the BIANCA CAPPELLO. 203 Azores ! Being satisfied of the treacher}' of tliis proceeding, Grimani grasped Don Manuel's cloak, and stamped his foot for a guard always in waidng — namely, three inquisitors — who per- fectly understood the summons. He ordered the teiTified Marquess to be instantly secured and searched : other and more important papers were found upon him ; but as it was part of the compact between PhDip and liis agent, that no Spanish names should ever be mentioned in their coiTespondence, there was no tracing the plot home to any individual except Dragoni, who knew his only chance of ultimate release was to keep his master's secret inviolable. As no prisoner could be incarcerated in the Inqiusition without a foraial waiTant from the Doge, the Patriarch gave orders that Dragoni should be placed in an adjoining room, at the door of which the inquisitors should watch till his return fi-om the dogal palace. As it may be supposed, Don Manuel was in no enviable state of mind. He knew that Phihp's poUcy would be openly to join the Venetian Republic in con- demning him, to shew that he himself was not implicated in the matter ; and he feared that his royal exasperation would be so great at his want of skill in allowing himself to be detected, that he dared scarcely hope that he would covertly 2U4 BIANCA CAITELLO. assist him. But " necessity is the mother of in- vention," and the icvcrie occasioned by this jjain- ful dilemma only lasted a few minutes, when Dragoni, who always earned writing materials about him, resolved upon writing a few hasty lines to his brother Ignatius, at Madrid, and tnisting to chance for their conveyance. In this letter he briefly stated the misfortune which had befallen him, and his horror of the dungeon that awaited him, imploring his brother to use all possible exertions in his behalf; while, in order to placate the King, he threw out broad hints of his being in possession of much fuller and more important information than he really was. He had scarcely finished this letter, ere the Patriarch and an official guard returned to convey him to prison. Slipping the letter up his sleeve, he fol- lowed the three inquisitors and the guard quietly down a back staircase, for it was not deemed expedient by the ultra-politic Venetian senate to have it known publicly that any one could ha^•e the temerity to conspire against it ; consequendy, all delinquents of that nature were punished as secretly as possible. Upon arriving at the wharf, Dragoni himibly requested that he might be allowed to take a last fai'ewell of his faithful page, Pedro Velasquez, who was then awaiting him with his gondola at the great entrance. In con- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 205 sideratioii of his rank, this courtesy was not refused, and the boy was accordingly sent for. No sooner had he appeared, than Don Manuel ilung himself upon his neck, slip])ing the letter he had wiitten to his brother down the page's ruff; and from the tight pressure of his hand in placing it there, the latter knew there was some- thing that required his particular attention ; and the boy was faithful to his trust, for that night he consigned it to the care of a Spanish merchant who was going straight to Madrid. And what were the Lady Elena's feelings on this trying occasion } So poignant was her grief for the loss of her lover, that it was deemed by some of the most skilful doctors, both in Padua and Venice, that even her Hfe might be the for- feit were he not instantly replaced by another ! Accordingly, Count Bartolommeo Cappello was thought an eligible substitute, and he was too good a citizen not to do anything that was deemed advisable for the good of the state ; and how could he shew his patriotism more than by preventing so great a scandal as it would be to have it said that a daughter of San Marc's, and a sister of the Patriarch of Aquilea, had died for love of a foreign spy ? The Signora Elena, being equally patriotic, was precisely of the same opinion ; and no sooner had she accepted 206 BIANCA CAPPELLO. of the Count Bartoloinmeo — wliicli, with a gene- rosity of lieart and decision of puqwse which cannot be too much emulated by every member of her sex under similar circumstances, she did exactly one minute and a quarter after he had uttered his proposals — than she caused several masses to be said for the providential escape she had had in not uniting her fate with that of an enemy to Venice ! Meanwhile, Ignatius was not idle ; and allow- ing for the time which in those days necessarily elapsed for a voyage to and from Spain, his movements evinced astonishing celerity; and having received a large sum of secret service money from Philip, with a carte blanche to effect his brother's release, provided he did not compromise the court of Spain, he set off for Venice, having first of all taken refuge in the incognito of a Spanish Jew, and assumed the name of Jose Agnado. As a vendor of shawls, brocades, amber, jewels, and amulets, he con- trived to mix with all classes from the highest to the lowest. While he was thus making himself master of all that could be discovered at Venice, his sister, Donna Maraquita Delia Torre, a young and handsome widow, and mistress to the yi-fated Cardinal Carafia, was equally indefatig- able at Rome in transmitting the secrets of BIANCA CAPPELLO. 207 the Vatican to Madrid — all of which raised the Dragonis high in Philip's favour, and made him sincere in his wishes for the release of Don Manuel. But Donna Maraquita not having been sufficiently cautious, on one occasion, in expediting her intelligence to Spain, suspicion was aroused. She was closely watched, and secret advices were sent to Bolzanio to apprise the Venetian government to keep a keen look out for Ignatius Dragoni, whom there was reason to believe was somewhere secreted in Venice. This information, as the reader may remember, Bolzanio communicated to Vittorio Cappello ; but so perfect was Ignatius Dragoni's disguise, and so subtle the manner in which he played his assumed part, that he baffled the utteimost vigilance of the argus eyes that were on the look out for liim. His brother, for the first year of his incarceration, by no means received rigorous treatment, or tenanted one of the worst dun- geons, which confirmed Ignatius in his resolve of not attempting his escape till all things should be ripe and secure for it, especially as, after the execution of Cardinal Caraffa, his sister was banished from Rome, and had taken refuge in Florence, where she was living in great obscurity, not having yet succeeded, as she afterwards did, in being vilely subservient 20B BIANCA CArrKLLO. to Francesco do Medici. There was, as it were, a pause in the events that Ignatius had been mouldhig to his ])urposc, and from the suspicion the examination of Cardinal Caraffa's pa})ers had excited against the Dragonis, a double guard was placed upon Don Manuel, and his dungeon exchanged for one of the worst in the inquisi- tion, which nevertheless liad the advantage, being immediately under the Bridge of Sighs, of enabling Ignatius to convey more fre{[uently, through the bars, under which was moored the sinking boat, and at the side of which was the small grating of Don Manuel's cell, sundry written promises of assistance, and injunctions to hope. Nothing, however, occurred to foster Ig- natius's hope, and indeed he was almost begin- ning to despair, when, in one of his nightly visits to Ferrai, he discovered him at work upon the mysterious silver key ordered by the Patriarch, and invented by Baptista Bonaventuri for the further security of Dragoni. At this his delight was unbounded, as, from his knowledge of the man, he knew that his integrity, however previ- ously and solemnly pledged, would not be proof against a fresh supply of gold. Once possessed of the key (M^iich, from a key -hole audience in tlie Palazzo Grimani, while waiting to sell some Damascus brocade, he had discovered was for BIANCA CArrELLO. 209 the security of a Spanish prisoner, and felt that prisoner must be his brother,) it may appear strange that he shoukl have kept faitli >Yilh Ferrai in returning to Spain, but for this he had two cogent reasons : the first was the more effec- tually to baffle the goldsmith's suspicion, which he saw was aroused, and the other was to obtain a fresh supply of money to meet all the exigen- cies that might occur in promoting his brother's escape. He delayed no longer in Madrid than was absolutely necessary, but he retmiied no more to Venice as Agnado the Jew, but as Frate Geronimo, a Benedictine friar. Six months having elapsed since the sale of the key and Agnado's departure, all suspicion had died away in FeiTai's mind as to the equity of Jose's intentions, and he gave himself up to the enjoy- ment of his ill-gotten gains, without any of the drawbacks of fear and incertitude. Upon Igna- tius's return to Venice, he found that his brother's fate had taken a darker and more painful turn. Twice a week, and sometimes oftener, Don Manuel was terrified and examined at midnight, previous to his being put to the tortiu'e — a ceremony which was iiovi fixed at a fortnight hence — in order to make him confess the full extent of his designs against the Re- public of Venice. Ignatius felt, therefore. 210 BIANCA CAPPELLO. that now was the time to strike the blow, but how to do it successfully, and so as to baffle all suspicion, was still a question ; when luckily, the fcie given by the Admiral of the Fleet to the Archduchess Joan furnished his enter- prising genius with the idea of the stratagem, the execution of which we have already de- scribed. In his new character of a Benedictine friar, he had fonned a close intimacy with the grand inquisitor, Padre Gregoria, who made him tolerably well acquainted with the business of the Inquisition, and amongst other matters, with the course at the time pm*suing with his own brother. The very night of Fillippo Vasi's fete, Ignatius had been with Padre Gregorio to assist at the burial of a monk at the Spanish convent on the Lido. Returning to- gether in one of the gondolas of the Inquisition, the latter happened to say — *^ A penance on aU short memories. I meant to have paid our Spanish prisoner a visit to- night, but forgot to send for the Patriarch's signet-ring ; and even I, after midnight, cannot gain atcess to the lower dungeons without it; and he is, by this time, away at the Admiral's fete." " It is, indeed, provoking," said Ignatius, with affected sympathy. BIAXCA CAPPELLO. 211 " Yes," continued Gregorio, more in reply to his own thoughts than Ignatius's remark — " for to-night I meant to have tried him in the Cap- pella del Morti — the chapel of the dead."* This was enough for Ignatius ; and no sooner had the Grand Inquisitor arrived at his own door, than the fonner asked, with much appa- rent carelessness, if he would lend him the gon- dola for an hour. " For the whole night, if you like ; for hav- ing writings to prepai'e for Rome, I shall not be abroad again till morning," said the chief inquisitor. The Jesuit thanked him ; and, assiuing him that he shoidd find die gondola at his own stairs in an hour, waved his hand in token of farewell, and telUng the gondolier he should not want him, put out to sea, and made, by a circuitous row, for the Admiral's ship. He had almost neared it, when he perceived Vittorio Cappello's splendid gondola, and it instantly occuiTed to him that the safest plan would be to make liini the medium of communication with the Patri- arch, and accordingly he hastily wrote on a * A chapel attached to the Inquisition, wherein was nightly acted the most fearful representations of eternity, or rather of perdition, by which confessions were often extorted from weak-minded prisoners. 212 BIANCA CAPPELLO. j)iece of paper, in the usual iiionkisli formula, and the uni\crsal character of tlic i^ixteenth century, which made one hand dili'er little, if anything, from another, a request for the Patri- arch's signet-ring, and signed it, " Gregorio Inquisitore Maggiorc." This stratagem, as we have already seen, suc- ceeded perfectly ; and no sooner had Ignatius obtained the Patriarch's ring, than, armed with this " open sesame," he returned to the house of the chief inquisitor, whom he found busy writing by the aid of a large siher lamp, and a flask of malvoisie. Even the lion heart of Ignatius Dragoni stood still, as he paused for an instant at the inqui- sitor's door, ere he knocked for admittance. ** If I should fail \—if, ay, //'/—that is the hinge on which turns all gi'eat events ; so, now for it," — and the Jesuit knocked sonorously, and without the slightest trepidation, at the door. " Come in !" cried Gregorio, in a somewhat initable voice, at the intrusion. " Oh, it is you, Frate Geronimo !" " It is me, holy father; and I have to offer a thousand apologies for disturbing you at so unseasonable an hour," replied Ignatius, in an humble and imploring voice ; " but the fact is, BIANCA CAPPELLO. 213 I have just had advices from Florence that my oldest Mend, Steffano Antinori, the superior of Santa Maria Novella, lieth at the point of death, and would see me and his nephew, who has just entered on his novitiate in the Benedictines here, if possible, ere he depart; and I would crave at yom* hands a passport of the Inquisi- tion that shall carry us safely, without let or hindrance, through all straits, civil and eccle- siastical, till we reach Florence." " You shall have it," said Gregorio, ^^•ith- drawing from a pile a sheet of blank pai'ch- ment, with three large black iron seals appended to it, while in three pieces of black ribbon, in a triangle, was an all-seemg eye done in silver, with the motto of Hlc et uhique under it. As Gregorio prepared to fill up this parch- ment, with the necessary injunctions to furnish good mides, and even money, to the bearer, if necessary, he began to comment upon Stefiano Antinori's death. " So young," said he ; " only forty-one — 'tis a warning to us all to put more order into our lives. How call you the young man, his nephew ?" " Please you, father, he is not so young either, being just one year younger than his uncle, and of so olive a complexion, that he 214 BIANCA CAPPELLO. seemeth to have even the sliadow of more years upon hhn still. His secular name is vSylvio Antinori, but the one bestowed upon liim by our order is Frate Filippo." " Well," said Gregorio, writing rapidly on, while the keen eyes of Ignatius as rapidly pe- rused his countenance, " this will facilitate your journey as much as may be. Commend me to the superior of Santa Maria Novella, if he still tarries on this side the grave, when you reach Florence ; and tell him we will see to several additional masses being said for his soul's health in San Marc's. And, doubtless," con- tinued the chief inquisitor, detaching a large agate rosary from his girdle, " yom* transit through the Appenines wiU not be so rapid but you can find time to give this as a token of our good will to that holy man, Fabio the her- mit, who has his dwelling at Covigliajo.'* " Even were it so," replied Ignatius, crossing himself devoutly, " I would find time, holy father, to do your bidding." So saying, they exchanged farewells, and the Jesuit took his departure, but not before he espied the chief inquisitor's cloak and cap carelessly thrown upon a bench near the door; and thinking it a pity that they should be neglected there, he gently abstracted them as he passed, imagining, BIANCA CAPPELLO. 215 110 doubt, that tliey would prefer a midnight ramble, and a visit to their accustomed haunt, the Inquisition. No sooner had Ignatius re- gained the gondola, than he pushed swiftly, but noiselessly, out of the little creek into the grand canal. On his way to the Bridge of Sighs, he had occasion again to pass the ad- miral's ship. The music still swelled the air; and the guests were, for the second time that night, essaying a foreign dance. " Dance on !" muttered Ignatius ; " foul speed your lilts ! but some of you shall dance to another tune, ere sun-down to-morrow !" And with this threat he steered completely under, and rowed round the xldmiral's ship, and so cut across by the Piazzetta of the dogal palace, to the Bridge of Sighs. Not a light gleamed either from the prison or the palace ; even the executioner, who guarded the death- boat, was asleep in his murderous barque, with his mask partially raised from his mouth. And thinking it better not to awaken him till the last moment, lest his suspicions should be also roused, Ignatius hastily concealed himself in the chief inquisitor's cloak and cap, and moor- ing the gondola on the palace side, resolved, under cover of Gregorio's dress, and the Patri- arch's ring, to go boldly through the palace. 210 BIANCA CAPPELLO. and pass over the covered bridge to the prison. There was something fearful in the stillness that reigned around ; and as the Jesuit traversed the broad and silent court, the echoes of his own footsteps fell like warnings upon his heart. Nevertheless, his fate and that of his brother hung upon the present hour, and he pushed boldly on till he came to the steps of the lions, from each balustrade of which a flickering torch still blazed, and the drowsy sentinels shouldered arms to the garb of the chief inquisitor, as its present wearer ascended the broad and blood- stained steps. A dark cloud passed over the moon ; and but for the feeble glimmer from the torches below, all would have been in total darkness ; but as it was, their pale red glare fell mystically upon a huge but perfectly motionless, figure, on the first landing, entering the gallery. Ignatius stretched out his hand to avoid stum- bling against it, whatever it might be, and in so doing his fingers became glued together with a cold gelatinous matter, which struck a chill to his heart that for a moment made even his un- daunted spirit quail, — especially as at that in- stant a howl, more piteous than can be described, rent the air. Albeit no believer in the super- stitions which it was liis trade to propagate, he nevertheless felt that degree of disquietude which BIANCA CAPPELLO. 217 a mysterious incertitude is sure to create, even in the sternest minds. For a moment, he deh- berated whether to stand still or advance, when the howl was again repeated more piteously than before ; and the moon, just then throwing oif the black veil that had shrouded her, discovered the tall figure to be a " maiden" whicli had been left standing in its present position since the execution of a criminal, which had taken place at sunset ; and it was in his unknov,n blood that Ignatius had dabbled his fingers. " Tush !" said he, almost aloud, " there is blood in which I'd rather steep my hands than thine, poor knave, whoever thou wast !" And as he spoke, he held his hand at arm's length from his side, Vv'hen he suddenly felt something like a ball of ice come against the palm of his hand, while his blood-stained fingers were eagerly licked by a hot, small tongue. Upon looking down he beheld a little brown Pomeranian dog, probably the truest friend in life, as beyond it, of the poor wretch who had been executed that evening. " Begone !" cried Ignatius, kicking the poor animal from him, who raised his broA\Ti, melan- choly eyes imploringly to the face of him who spurned him ; and heedless of the rebuff, at- tracted, no doubt, by the scent of liis former VOL. I. L 218 BIAXCA CAPPELLO. master's blood, continued to follow in a crouch- ing attitude, while the Jesuit, to make up for the time he had lost, strode hastily through the gal- lery till he came to the door on the left-hand side, which opened into the Bridge of Sighs. He touched a spring, which rang a bell on the other side, and immediately the door turned on its noiseless and invisible hinges ; and no sooner had the Jesuit cleared the threshold than it closed as noiselessly and instantaneously as it had opened the minute before. Upon reaching the other side of the short and covered bridge, he had the same ceremony to go through ; but within the door on this, the prison side, sat a porter of the Inquisition. Ignatius spoke not ; but drawing his cap closely over his eyes, and holding his mantle before his mouth with his left hand, held the Patriarch's ring before the porter's eyes, who thereupon allowed him to pass without let or hindrance. He walked hastily, but noiselessly on, till he came to the chamber of the Council of Ten. A large black iron lamp was suspended fi'om the ceiling, which shed a brilliant light u])on a large oc- tagon oak table, covered with black leather, and strewed with many parchments and papers, tied with black ta])e, and interspersed with vari- ous new instruments of torture. On a dais, under BIANCA CAPPELLO. 219 a pall-like canopy of black velvet and silver fringe, wdth an all-seeing eye, in silver, placed in the centi-e above it, were two large throne-shaped black velvet and silver chairs, for the Doge and the Patriarch of Aquilea ; round the octagon table were light, black leather, narrow, high- backed, round-seated chairs. Ignatius, as he drew a small dark-lanteni from his pocket, and pre- pared to light it from the great lamp by means of a long taper, which always stood in the corner of the room, glanced his eye over a document which lay unfolded and half finished before the chief inquisitor's chau'. He had not read far before he perceived it to be a greeting from the Venetian Senate to Philip the Second of Spain, giving him cogent, complimentaiy, and ^^itllal satisfactory reasons for the execution of Don Manuel Dragoni. Opposite to this, another inquisitor had been at work, upon an imaginary conversation, purporting to be the trial and ex- amination of the aforesaid Don Manuel, Hidalgo of Spain and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, before the holy and most honourable Council of Ten. " These will be pleasant reading for our leisure hours amid the vineyards of Tuscany," muttered Ignatius between his gi'ound teeth, with a sar- donic grin, as he clenched the two pieces of l2 220 BIANCA CArPF.LLO. parchment, and concealed them in his bosom. Then takhig up the small dark lantern he had lit, he went carefully round the room, keeping close to the wall, in order to avoid the treacherous trap-door that was somewhere towards the centre of the chamber, where so many victims, under pretext of being advanced towards the tribunal for a fair trial, had been hurled, without a single note of preparation, many a fathom deep into the dark world of waters that foamed and lashed below. After passing his hand carefidly along the wall as he went, Ignatius at length came to the panel he was in search of, and, touching a spring, it slid back, and discovered a naiTow, dark, winding staircase, with barely sufficient room in the landing for one person to stand at ease. The Jesuit entered, and, carefully closing the panel behind him, began descending the naiTOW flight, which, as he progressed down- wards, had a damp and mouldy smell ; and so dense and charnel-like was the atmosphere, that, all enclosed as it was, the light began to flicker in the lantern he carried. These stairs led to three miserable dungeons, the last of which opened upon the water, where tlie death-boat was always moored, into which many a \ictim was conveyed at midnight, and sunk in the open sea; while the executioner retained his post 13IANCA CAPl'ELLO. 2-2 1 night and day in a small but sea-worthy barque beside it. It Avas in this last dungeon that Don Manuel Dragoni was confined ; and as these three cells were considered as the stronghold of the In- quisition, u}3on account of there being no access to them but through the chamber of the Coun- cil of Ten, guards were dispensed with at the door. Ignatius held up the lantern, to ex- amine the first door he came to ; there was a black cross on it, and the words, " July 10th, 1560, sunset, A. L.," which was merely a memorandum of when the execution of the in- mate of that cell was to take place. The next door had the effigy of a rack, with " First ex- periment, June 18th (which was the next day), 15(50, midnight, C. B." chalked on it. The last door displayed a " maiden," with a gory head done in red chalk, and the letters " D. M. D. — Finis, June 30th, 1560." Had any doubt re- mained of this being Don Manuel's dungeon, it would have been removed by the massive silver lock on the door, which Ignatius recognised as the one he had so often seen Ferrai working at, and the key of which he then withdrew from his pocket. " The 30th !" muttered he, as he noiselessly inserted the key in the lock — ^' ssveet sirs, your 222 BIANCA CAPPELLO. gibbet must liunt some other game, for this bird •will have flown beyond your reach." As he spoke, there came a low, deep, booming, melancholy sound from the plashing of the water without, through a small grating in the wall, by no means calculated to inspire hope even in the most sanguine. Ignatius finally turned the silver key in the lock, and entered the cell. As he was about to close the door after liim, something rushed quickly past him, and even slightly brushed his ankles ; but on looking round to ascertain what it could be, he discovered nothing but the attenuated form of his sleeping brother ; if sleep that could be called which seemed to be only a convulsive struggling and grappling with dampness and darkness. On his worn and emaciated throat lay a bloated and loathsome toad, which all his struggles did not in the least seem to discompose, as the creature slept unc- tuously on, quaffing full breathings of the foul and noisome air, as though it had been nectar. Ignatius looked with a shudder at the miserable mass of bones and squalid emaciation that con- stituted all that remained of his once joyous and robust brother, and, dashing to a short distance the loathsome reptile that was nestling on his throat, crushed out its slow and vapid life, ere he proceeded to awaken its companion. An BIANCA CAPPELLO. 223 adept in dungeon vigils, the Jesuit refrained from touching him, but merely passed the light closely to and fro before his eyes — when the wretched sleeper started to his knees, exclaim- ing, with clasped hands — " Anything ! — every'thing you please, good Signor ! Only one day — one hour more !" " What ! give us up the interests of Spain and King Philip unconditionally?" asked Ignatius, ironically. " Ye—" But before Don Manuel could achieve the assenting monosyllable, Ignatius doffed the chief inquisitor's cap, and held the light before his own face. Don Manuel raised his eyes vacantly to his brother's, and then burying his face in his hands, murmured — " This dream again. Oh, brother ! it is not well, even in dreams, to mock me thus." " Nay, nay, Manuel, look again, and feel that it is no dream," said Ignatius, taking his brother's hand, and passing it along his own arm, while something like moisture gathered in his eyes, as he added — " indeed, indeed, I come not to trouble thee, but to fi'ee thee ! Dost not re- member Ignatius, thy brother ? — thine only bro- ther ? — thy friend and playmate, when life was young. 224 liiANCA CArrKLLo. Ignatius had touclicd tlic only chord on me- mory's many-stringed instrument that vibrated truly ; and the unhappy captive, for the first time since his incarceration, bmst into a flood of tears which seemed at once to quench the lire, and restore to their pristine freshness the re- membrances it had erased from his brain, as he flung himself upon his brother's neck. The night was waning, or rather morning was ad- vancing, apace ; but, impatient as Ignatius was to com])lete the scheme he had so successfully begun, he was obliged to proceed slowly and cautiously in his diflScult task of making his brother comprehend the happy change he had come to eflect in his jn'ospects. When he had at length, at the end of half an hour — every sand of which appeared to the Jesuit's impatient fears a century — succeeded in making Don Manuel comprehend the necessity of exertion for im- mediate flight, and having got him to exchange his prison dress for that of a Benedictine friar, which he had brought with him, he took his hand, and led, or rather dragged him, from the dungeon. His next step was to carefidly lock the door, and secure the silver key within his girdle, so that there should not be the minutest trace of the door having been opened, or the cell having been entered. lie then hurried BIANCA CAPPPJLLO. 225 along the dark naiTow passage, dragging liis companion after him, till they reached the small iron gi'ated door, that opened under the Bridge of Sighs, and shooting back the bolts, opened it, and stood upon the steps where liis gondola was moored. The sleeping executioner in the opposite death-boat suddenly roused himself at the noise, but a sign from Ignatius, who per- sonated Padre Gregorio, and a muttered " Sleep on, friend," restored the headsman to his slumbers, as the Jesuit, devoutly crossing him- self, and hunying Don JManuel into the boat, shot under the bridge, and in less than ten minutes was out at sea. The day was faintly dawning, but through such a misty shroud that it seemed as if morning were overpowered with slee^), and night's curtains still undrawn. The fishermen even slept on their nets ; and the fleet, with its gay pennants and expiring lamps, tossed languidly to and fro in the port, like faded beauties, on whose revels the unwelcome day-light had stolen. The 'sery waters returned a drowsy lulling sound, to the strong appeals of Ignatius's swiftly plied oars, — all, in short, conspired to favour his enterprise. By the time the gondola reached Fuzino, the first faint ray of gold had appeared in the east ; but long before the bright eyes in Venice had L 3 226 BIANCA CAPPELLO. awakened from their first slumber, or the silver locks of the Patriarch of Aquilea and the sable robes of the senators had floated in the council chamber, the fugitives had, in the guise of two Benedictine friars, reached Padua, and started for Verona. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 227 CHAPTER X. " Ye have no cause to fear : be bold, For you may here lie uncontroll'd ; And ye in this have good advantage, For lying is your common usage." John Heywood. It was towards evening, the day after the admiral's fete, before Arianna entered her young mistress's room, and drew aside the delicate lace net-work that guarded her from the attacks of those worst of Italian plagues, the gnats. " Silly child," said Bianca, starting up, and putting aside the crimson silk drapery, that cast a rich glow over her peach-like cheek, " you have let me lose the whole day 1" " Every one has done the same, I believe — at least, every one who was at the fete," replied Arianna. " I came in several times, signorina, but you slept so calmly, I could not find it in my heart to waken you, though the French 228 ItlANCA CArrELLO. ambassador was hcic l)y noon, wiili barren inquiries after your liealth ; and then came Master Lovell with this pair of broidered gloves, and this deUcatc posy of preeious stones, whieh he hoped your blight eyes would deign to look ujion. Those English have not bad ideas, could they but give their actions with a more graceful manner ; but the poor youth gave his rich gifts with so awkward a gait, that one would have thought his had been this poor oflering of myrtle and Provence roses, and the Signor Bonaventuri's the more costly one of gems." " I love Provence roses," said Bianca, bury- ing her blushing face in Bonaventuri's bou- quet, which she had seized, while poor Master Lovell's more costly presents lay unheeded on the coverlet. " But I forgot," resumed Arianna ; '' here is also a letter from the Signora Lucrezia D'Este." " Give it to me," said Bianca, with some slight embarrassment ; " I think it concerns you." "Me!" " Even so ; but of this by-and-by, for here is Caterina to say the bath is ready," said Bianca, as she followed her tire-woman into the adjoining bath room. " I wonder what the young Contessa D'Este can have to write about me ?" thought Arianna BIANCA CAPPELLO. 229 as she arranged the jewels, essences, and knick- nacks, on the toilette table. But she was not left long to wonder ; for no sooner had Bianca retm-ned from the bath, than, dismissing Caterina, and resigning her bright chestnut tresses into the hands of Arianna, she began, with much of the awkward confusion with which most persons who are not adepts in deception, generally proclaim false motives for their actions. " Do you know, child, that you have made a conquest ? — nay, never blush, and picture some handsome cavaliero, ready to run a tilt and break a lance in your service, for the sake of half a look within the next seven years, for 'tis nothing of the kind ; only my beautiful young friend, Lucrezia D'Este, who has fallen in love with you, and would fain kidnap you away to her brother's lovely place of Behi- guardo." " Surely, dear lady," said Arianna, as the tears fell upon the beautiful tresses she was braid- ing, " you ^^-ill not — you do not mean to send me away from you." " Send you away, dear Arianna, is not the word," inteiTupted Bianca, quite as much affected, and infinitely more confused than her attendant ; "but — that is — I think — what I mean is, that since my father's maniage with that 230 BIANCA CAPPELLO. detestable old woman, the Palazzo Cappello is nothing more nor less than a state prison ; and I am not so selfish as not to feel" — and here Bianca blushed at accusing herself of a virtue that, in this instance, she had no pre- tension to — " I am not so selfish as not to feel that you would be infinitely better placed at the gay court of Duke Alphonso, where your beauty and your virtues might captivate some noble youth into forgetting your father's station, and placing you in that which, I feel con- vinced, nature aiid fate have designed you for. Besides, there you would be free fi'om Vittoiio's unwelcome importunities." Till the sound of this name fell upon her ear, the young girl had remained with all her facid- ties numbed and susj^ended, but it had roused her into a painfiU consciousness, and a super- natm'al calmness and energy. The affection and the ])ride that might have been wounded at Bianca's wish to part with her, was at once restored to their wonted equipoise, by her jumping with a woman's quick and unerring penetration, to the right conclusion, that it was her young patroness's daily and hoiu'ly increas- ing love for, and entanglement with, Bona- venturi, that made her — and alone made her — wish to transfer her to Lucrezia D'Este, that she might be free from the irksome restraint of the BIANCA CAPPELLO. 231 presence of a person of whom she had made a second self; and also, perhaps, from a generous wish to shield her from the fearful vengeance that must befal all her attendants, especially so intimate a one, should any discoveries take place relative to her increasing intercourse ^^ith Bonaventuii; and in this latter idea, she did Bianca no more than justice. Arianna was above the littleness of mind that cannot make a sacrifice to another, ^\ithout letting that other know that they sec through the motives, how- ever highly varnished and well- disguised, that in- duce them to exact it ; so gently placmg the last bodkin in Bianca's hair, she replied calmly, and as though it were her own perfect conviction : — "You are right, signora, I shall be better there, and I thank you for this considerate attention to my welfare ; but should you ever leave the Palazzo Cappello — that is, when you marry — " hesitated Arianna, " you will then allow me to return to you, will you not, dear lady?" " To be sure, I will," replied Bianca, affec- tionately throwing her arms round Arianna's neck, " for, indeed, I never shall be happy till you do ; and see, even poor Tafano, who was sleeping so intently, has roused himself to tell you the same thing in his little way; but," 232 BIANCA CAPPELLO. added she, ^vitll a sort of nervous trepidation, lest anything might thwart a plan, wliich luid in the onset succeeded beyond her most sanguine expectation, " I woidd rather you mentioned this projected change (which will not take place for six weeks) to no one — not even your father, whom I will undertake to inform of tlie matter in due time ; for somehow or other, everything here now is contradiction, and I'm \ ery certain were the sun to ask permission to rise of a morning, he would be denied it ; so Uke him, I mean to pursue my own course, without appeal- ing to any one, for now that poor Bolzanio is no more, who have I toappeal to ?" At a later hour on this same evening, Baptista was closeted with Ferrai the goldsmitli. They were discussing some money-making project, when three loud and distinct knocks, the w^ell- known signals of a visit from the holy office, were heard on the outer door. " There ! there ! I told you so ! — I told you so !" almost screamed Baptista, falling on his knees, and clasping an iron money-chest, as if that were a sanctuary that must shield him from all harm. " What have you been doing ?" stammered Ferrari, with quivering lip — ^^ surely, you never sold tlie secret of that key ?" BIANCA CArPLLLO. 233 " Who, I I— Heaven forbid ! But Avhat could put such a strange, wild thought into your head ?" " Oh, nothing — nothing ! but fear engenders strange fancies," replied the goldsmith ; and here his own seemed to oveq^ower him, for as the ominous triple knock was again repeated, he hid liis face within his hands, and sank down upon a bench. AVhile FeiTai's and Bap- tista's limbs were thus trembling in concert, the assault on the outer door became louder, and more determined. *' Go — go ! for mercy's sake, go you and open the door, good master Ferrai ! You can have nothing to fear, for you are not even in your ovm house ; but I I — I ! — what icill become of me?" exclaimed the old man, again clasping the iron chest ; for witli him misfortune, or danger, had but one association, extending to and not beyond, a separation from his gold. Ferrai, to whom the words, '^ you are not in youroiv)} house,'" had imparted a sudden ray of courage and consolation, by occasioning him to reflect, that had the holy office sent in cjuest of him, their emissary would most assuredly have sought him in his o>vn home, now rose with a fiimer, if not a firm step, and bidding Baptista take courage, proceeded to open the door, with 234 BIANCA CAPPELLO. an obsequious bow to the inquisitorial familiar, who strode solemnly into the hall, and then merely waving his hand to the goldsmith, he passed on into the counting-house ; where, stopping in the very centre, he slowly flou- rished his writ of office, and intonating his woi*ds, delivered himself as follows : — " Signor Baptista Bonaventuri, merchant of Venice, in the firm of the most worshipful Signor Carlo Salviati; and you, Giovanni Lorenzino Ferrai, Jiladoro, native and craftsman of this city, dwelling upon and driving your trade on the new bridge, called of the Rialto, are hereby cited to appear within the hour before the most worshipful the Doge, his worthiness the Patriarch of Aquilea, and the Holy Padra Gre- gorio, chief inquisitor of the Holy Office, who fiu'ther administer unto you these gi-acious ad- vices — to wit, that you will be in no ways alarmed at the summons, as it is merely sent for the propounding of a single query, wliich they think it may be in your powers to clear" up ; furthennore, that you keep this summons a close secret fi'om all men ; and thudly, that you lose no time in accompanying me, the servitor of the holy office, to the Dogal palace ; and so end my instructions." Knowing that from such a summons there BIANCA CAPPELLO. 235 was no appeal, Baptista and the goldsmith, with trembling limbs and blanched cheeks, prepared to obey, the latter advancing first, while the fonner hngered behind, and hastily unlocking the iron chest he had been so tenderly embrac- ing, abstracted fi'om it a large leathern bag, filled with gold pieces, which he hastily con- cealed about his person, and wliich, fi*om its ponderous weight, considerably impeded the progress of his always feeble limbs and tardy movements. At length, however, the ti'io found tliemselves at the end of the street, where at the small wharf one of the black gondolas of the inquisition awaited them, and where for the first time silence was broken by FeiTai's courteously pressing the famihar to take the upper seat in the gondola, wliich the otlier with equal courtesy declined, and which Baptista could not be pre- vailed on to accept, on account of the over weight which he earned about him, which made the act of stooping, necessary to get to the upper end of the boat, more than his feeble strength could support. So he prefeiTcd remaining as ballast with the gondolier ; and a profound silence again ensued, till the little bai'k shot noiselessly round into the wharf of the Dogal Piazzetta, where, with another paroxysm of trembling, Baptista and the goldsmith got out, 2S6 BIANC'A CAPrELLO. and followed tlieir guide up a winding back staircase, into a sort of private council chamber in the palace. The room in question was neither very long nor very wide, but longer of the two than wide; the walls were hung with violet coloured velvet, richly embroidered. From the ceiling were suspended four large brilliantly lit silver lamps, which shed their light upon three grave and dignified-looking personages, and upon the papers before them. The first of these persons, on the right, was the Patriarch of Aquilea, wearing his mitre, and in full ponti- ficals. Next to him, sat Geronimo Priuli, Doge of Venice — a small, spare, insignificant-looking man, with still, dark eyes. The third and last person seated at the table was Padre Gregorio, the chief inquisitor, whose stalwart figure, joined as it was to his dark and boding countenance, formed a strong contrast to his two companions. Any, even the most casual, observer, could not ha^•e failed to remark, that he was the only one ill at ease of the three. The escape of his Spa- nish prisoner had, indeed, peqdexcd and excited him beyond measure. The Doge and Patriarch merely exchanged comfits out of round gold boxes, and conjectures out of heads by no means long enough to compete with Padre Gre- goiio's, who had been the first to suggest an BIANCA CAPPELLO. 237 examination of the banker and goldsmith, as the designer and artificer of the mysterious key. Matters were at this stage \Yhen a gentle knock was heard at the door of the council chamber. *' Ha, here are our men !" cried the chief in- quisitor, rubbing his hands \rith an air of infinite satisfaction. " Come in !" said the Doge. And the door was noiselessly and cautiously opened, and a modest looking young man, in a plain ruit of colom'ed velvet, his cap in one hand and a large letter in the other, entered. "Ho, the Sieur Colbert!" cried the Doge, with more of irritation than courtesy in his tone. " Most reverend and worshipful signors," said the young man, bowing profoundly, " I crave your pardons all, jointly and separately, for this apparently unseasonable intrusion, but the Marquis de Millepro]30s, whom ye are aware, through the Queen of France's and the Marechal de Retz's warrants, hath private speech with all your ears, charged me v/ith the delivery of this packet from the Cardinal de Lorraine on the instant, and craves an audience, at the end of an hour, on pressing matters from Paris." " We will see him in our private closet within the hour. And now, young sir, that you have •238 BIANCA CAPPELLO. done your mission with good discretion, and right trustily, you may retire," said tlie Doge, with a courteous incUnation of his head, but a contracted brow, as the young man retired, as respectfully and noiselessly as he had entered. " Now, by my wedded waves, whose faithM bosom bears the fortunes of our state so pros- perously, it is too bad," exclaimed Piiuli, as soon as the door had closed upon the Sieur Colbert, — "it is too bad that such a popinjay, such a morris-dancer's shadow, such a scented bale of draper's shreds, as Xavier de Quillac, Marquis de Millepropos, the childish represen- tative of a baby monarch,* should have the entree to our most secret councils, and the power of preventing Time from ever granting us a private moment." " Ay, Doge, thou sayest right as to this Mille- propos," replied the chief inquisitor; "but the boy-king's mother is no baby. Catherine de Medici's ' divide and govern^ may sow dragons' teeth further than France. I like not the great Conde's heretical sword ; I like not Michel de I'Hopital, le Chancelier Vertueux, as he is called ; and for Montmorenci — the poor con- * Charles IX. of France was then (1561) in his eleventh year. BIANTA CAPPELLO. 239 stable is a mere soldier, and no honest hater of the Huguenots. Then what becomes of us if we offend the Queen ?" " Nay, good Gregorio, there are of your own feather who think Catherine to blame for meddling thus hotly with ecclesiastical affairs — Lainez,* to wit. He would haye her leave such matters to the Court of Rome, and Phihp of Spain," said Grimani. " With all due deference to Laiuez, he is wrong," said Gregorio, " and Catherine is right. Will not monkeys, foxes, and monsters do as much mischief in destroying the pix, and desecrating our altars, as more noble animals ? especially when aided by such a deyil-incamate triumvirate as the King of Navarre, CoHgni, and Conde, — to say nothing of d'Andelot, whom if I mistake not, time will prove to be as dan- gerous as either of the other tlu*ee ; but for the Queen, and the Marechal de Retz, who have both been bred in the proper Florentine school, and know when to keep faith, and when to break it, I doubt our interests woidd be but badly cared for. Thank heaven ! France is nominally * The General of the Jesuits, who affected to treat the Calvinists -vrith contempt, by calling them all monkeys, foxes, and monsters. 240 BIANCA CAPrELLO. swayed by a cliild, but in reality governed — ay, and widi a rod of iron too — by a Medici, and that one of tlie cleverest 1" Here the chief inquisitor's gratulations were interrupted by another knock at the door of the council chamber, rather louder and more assured than the last, and after a speedy permission to enter had been given, the familiar appeared, accompanied by Baptista and Ferrai, whose fears were, however, a little allayed by the pacific appearance of the three formidable powers, in whose, presence they now stood. The fact was, as it often falls out among the wisest, the very means they took for coming at the truth, prevented their doing so. Had either of the three inteiTogated the goldsmith as to his probity in keeping the fabrication of the silver key a profound secret, the disorder and confusion he would have inevitably fallen into must have be- trayed his guilt ; but being inteiTogated about a person whose name now for the first time fell upon his ear, so thoroughly reassured him, and gave him such an unimpeachable air of candour and perfect innocence, that it completely baffled the most subtle probings of his interrogators. The Patriarch opened the examination with the following question — " Honest Master Fen-ai, did it ever so fall out BIANX'A CAPPELLO. 241 that, ill the ordinarv plying of your craft, you had any dealings with Spaniards ?" The word Spaniard caused rather an un- pleasant tingling in the goldsmith's ears and cheeks; but devoutly believing Jose Ag-nado to be in Madrid, for the further tranquilUty of his conscience, he considerably antedated his ar- rival there ; and this resource inspiring him with additional courage, he boldly replied — " Never, your worthiness — that is, never to my knowledge — for never, literally, is too wide a word. When I remember the myriads that daily crowd the new bridge, and the hundreds that enter my shop, it may be — for, in respond- ing to your worthiness, I wish to be as near* the truth as possible — it may be that, among these hundreds, some may have been from Spain ; for a man's comitry, any more than his calling, is not always writ on his face, though, gene- rally speaking, Natm*e's hand-writing is legible enough ; but, as I was going to observe, I wont say but some of these may have been Spaniards ; but they were all such as came for a passing gaud — belike a ring, a dagger, or a cloak clasp — such casual dealers, in fact, that of them I took no note ; but regular customers of Spain have I had none, and that I am ready to swear, and, in swearing, can prove it." VOL. I. M 242 BIANCA CAPPELLO. " So far well, and clearly answered," said the Patriarch. *' Now remember, honest Mend," interposed the Doge, " did you never sell — say but a ring with a posy on it — to a Spanish grandee, who was living in marvellous splendour here in Venice some three years ago — one Don Manuel Dragoni by name ?*' " Dragoni I — Dragoni !" repeated Fen-ai, mu- singly, pinching his under lip — " ay, now I do remember me to have heard much talk of tv\'o things concerning him. One was, that he was about to espouse the Signora Elena Grimani, since married to Count Cappello ; and the other was, that he had lying at Fuzino several large, richly painted, and gilt square boxes on wheels, in which it is said he journeyed from Spain — I think they call them coaches ; but never did he purchase the value of a gazzetta from me ; so that I was not sorry when I heard that he had sud- denly returned to Spain, on account of his mar- riage being broken off with the Signora Elena Grimani." Here the Doge, the Patriarch, and the Chief Inquisitor, exchanged looks. " Do you not remember to have made — " re- commenced the Doge, but he was intermpted by the Chief Inquisitor writing on a piece of paper, and passing it to him, these lines : — BIAXCA CAPPELLO. 243 " It is evident Ferrai has no suspicion of the prisoner's escape; it will he more prudent, therefore, with due deference to your august opinion, not to put any idea into his head, that any one could have succeeded in duping the Republic and the Holy Office, hy asking him any questions touching the key that he con- structed. I should rather advise finishing with him, and interrogating the other.'"' The Doge, appearing to acquiesce in this opinion, passed the paper on to the Patriarch, and changed the fonn of his question into — " You do not, then, remember to have had any deahngs with tliis Don Manuel Dragoni ?" " So please you, most worsliipful signor, I cannot remember what never occurred, for I never had." " Enough," said the Doge, turning to Bap- tista. " And you, Signor Bonaventm'i, know you aught of tliis Spaniard ?" " WorshipM signor," rephed Baptista, " no- thing to his credit — literally nothing ; for I do depose, that while in Venice, as your lordship truly says, some three years back, he did live at a great and almost regal cost — more fit for a doge or king than for a mere Spaniard. All his monies did then pass through our hands — and verily the sums were neither few nor rare ; but M 2 214 BIAXC:i CAPPELLO. it SO happened that when he made his sudden flitting into Spain, or wheresoever else he de- parted to, he quite forgot that he was in our debt two thousand three hundred ducats, which sums to this day remain on our books against him ; so if, perchance, Jie hath been guilty of treason, murther, or sacrilege, 'tis but the natural progress from this his first great crime." The Doge smiled at the usurer's scale of delinquency, as he said — " And this, Sigiior Bonaventuri, is all that you know of this Dra- goni r" ^^ All, most worshipful signor — positively all — and too much too, since we have been such losers by him." " Enough, sirs — you may both depart ; but see that the matter of our conference rest strictly with yourselves." " Any indiscretion in the way of speech may cost you dear — so remember !" added the Chief Inquisitor, in his most formidable tone. Baptista and the goldsmith promised silence, even in their own thoughts, by endeavouring to forget that they e\'er had had the honour of such a conference ; after which, they certainly did not " stand* upon the order of their going," but went " at once." They walked, or rather ran — even Baptista, heavy laden as he was, contriving BIANCA CArPELLO. 245 to keep up a sort of galvanic jumping forward — till they came within sight of the Rialto, where Ferrai \\a.s the first to stop and take breath ; ^vhen, bursting into a loud laugh, he said, slap- ping the old man's shoulder witli a violence that nearly endangered his equilibrium — " Well, old Eldorado, dost think thou hast appetite enough left to discuss a dish of becca- iicas, a good melon, and a flask of rhio dolce for supper to-night ?" " Discuss them ! — marry, ay — methinks I could almost pay for them." " Nay, by Saint Mark ! — for this night thou shalt pay no discount on thy pleasure — so on with thee, and fill that parchment skin of thine at my cost." " With pleasure. Master Ferrai — I accept tliine hospitality : business takes me for one moment home ; but ere the beccalicas can have taken a bird's-eye view of the fire, I will be with thee," said Baptista, as he hailed a gondola. 21G BIANCA CArPELLO. CHAPTER XI. " 'Tis an imposture, my dear," said the master of the inn ; " 'tis a false nose." " 'Tis a true nose," said his wife. « 'Tis made of fir-tree," said he ; "I smell the turpentine." ** There's a pimple on it," said she. " 'Tis a dead nose," replied the innkeeper. " 'Tis a live nose ; and if I am alive myself," said the inn- keeper's wife, " I'll touch it !'' Slawkenbergius, Long past the noon of a sultry clay^two travellers, or, more properly speaking, three (for a dog was of the party), stopped at a miserable locandaj on the Bologna road, some ten miles from Florence. The travellers were on foot : the two bipeds in brown woollen pilgrim- dresses, with cords round their waists, shells round their tipjiets, and san- dals on their feet ; while the quadruped v,as also in a brown coat of Nature's making, and seemed by far the most weary of the three, as he held BIANCA. CAPPELLO. 247 his light fore-paw from the gi-ound, and limped forward with his three others. The eldest of the two travellers was a tall, spare, but u'on-built man, with a peculiar fierceness in his eyes, con- siderably augmented by a layer of red ochre, which he had thought fit, for reasons best known to himself, to tint his nose and eyelids with ; the other was sallow and languid looking, with large, melancholy eyes. He might have been some ten years younger than his companion, but disease appeared to have outstripped the work of time. In short, not to keep the reader longer without an inti'oduction, the travellers were Ignatius and Don Manuel Dragoni, who had arrived thus far safely on their fugitive jomiiey, which they had not, however, per- formed all the way, or indeed any considerable part of it, on foot, ha\dng two sumpter mules and a muleteer in advance of them, which they had only quitted some three miles before, and now stopped at the locandq^ dei tre Belfini, oppressed by the noonday heat, and attracted by the announcement that appeared under the dying dolphins, of " country and foreign \^'ines," either or both of which they were determined to test before proceeding farther. At the door of the hostelry stood a slipshod woman, her dis- taft" in her hand, bawling, with ear-splitting 24S BIANCA CAPPELLO. shrillness, " O Lord ! O Lord !" to three dirty cliildrcii, who were improving their personal attractions by picking up dirt in the middle of the road ; wdiile the master of the establishment w^as seated within the porch netting a fishing- net and singing an air. Mine host raised his eyes from his work, with a Ben roniti^pellegrhii ('^ AVelcome, pilgrims"), as the brothers crossed the threshold, and Igna- tius asked for a flask of his best wine. As the brothers discussed their wine, the landlord, from his seat at the porch (which commanded a full view of the kitchen), ever and anon stole a suspicious glance at them, especially at Ignatius. The fact was, that, in those days, his hostelry, like most places of public resort, was graced with sundry affiches of descriptions and rewards for absconded pri- soners and criminals ; and at the time being he had no less than three such notices hung behind the kitchen-door, which caused him to take particular note of all stray comers and goers ; and the incognito of Ignatius's nose and eyelids had more than excited his suspicions; so, after another and more minute glance at his features, he rose to consult the portraitures behind the door, and see what resemblance any of them might have to the individuals before BIANCA CAPPELLO. 249 him ; but alas ! with the best intentions and the strongest incUnations in the world, he could not make out the slightest. The first the list described was a fat, burly, blear-eyed cobbler, who had made a moonlight move from Fiesole, canying with him, out of compassion, an oi*phan donkey, that seemed de- serted by its natural protector, and had strayed into his vineyard ; also, by mistake, the frying- pan, and two silver spoons (shovel-shaped, with dwarf-head handles), the property of a neigh- bouring chesnut-roaster. For the apprehension of this distrait gentleman, a reward of thirty florins was offered, upon application to the Car- dinal Ferdinando de' Medici, or the Prior of the Convent of CarmeUtes at Fiesole. The next was out of the question, as it was an offer of a hundred pistoles for the securing and identifying of an old vvoman, of the name of Gio- vannina Neri, who had for a long time past exer- cised the lucrative profession of a witch in the Via dei Morti (Street of the Dead), at Florence, but who had suddenly decamped on the night of the 9th, when lo ! two babies in the neighbour- hood had, on that very night ! ched in con- vulsions ; and a drunken vintner had stumbled down the steps of his own cellar, and broken his neck ; to say nothing of a black cat having M 3 250 BIANCA CAPPELLO. been confined of five kittens, one of which had two heads : all of these catastrophes were attii- buted to the diabolical sorceries of the said Giovannina Neii — her flight confirming the facts beyond dispute. The third was a munificent reward of forty fi'ancesconi — at least, considering the commo- dity it was for ; to wit, a stripling of seventeen, one Francesco Nicoletti, the son of a respect- able mercer, who (as the advertisement set forth) had lately taken to the lordly amusements of making love and wearing red-heeled shoes ; and, upon fault being found with the same, had removed himself from the sheltering roof of his father's magazzino, leaving his disconsolate pa- rents in total ignorance as to his present where- about.. The announcement further promised that, would he but return, he should be allowed to wear as many pairs of red-heeled shoes as he pleased, and make love to as many ladies as he could uninterruptedly. Cesare Cinti, the padrone of the Tre Deljini, was turning with a sigh from these particulars, from the conviction that they coiUd possibly have no reference to the two pilgrims, when the bright and consolatory thought struck him that, from the fact of witches being able to assume any form, Ignatius might, and in all probability BIANCA CAPPELLO. 251 was — in short, the case was plain — he must he, Giovannina Neri, bearing her misfortunes like a man. No sooner had this bright idea illumined his mind, than, becoming suddenly two inches taller, he laid do^vn his fishing-net, and beck- oning his wife into the passage, said, putting both his hands into the pockets of his nether garments, and dra^^dng himself up consequen- tially — " Ahem ! my dear, do you perceive nothing ?" " No. What should I perceive ?" said the good woman, first looking round her in every direction, and then up at the sky ; " there is not a cloud in the heavens." " Yoiu* nose, my dear — considt your nose," rejoined mine host, mysteriously placing the forefinger of his right hand on the side of his own, — " does your nose perceive nothing ?" " Nothing !" agam responded the landlady ; and, indeed, considering the magedoine of atrocious odours that organ was habitually re- galed upon, it would have been difficult for it to distinguish any additional one, had any such existed. " Don't you," said the innkeeper, " perceive a strong smell of brimstone V '' No !" again rephed the innkeeper's \^-ife — though this time she sniffed with all her might. 252 BIANCA CAITELLO. " Conic here, then," wljispered tlie inn- keeper, seizing her liand, and leading her behind the kitchen door, where he called her attention to the reward offered for the appre- hension of Giovannina Neri — which, though the good woman could not read, she was per- fectly acquainted with every syllable it con- tained, from having had it repeated to her by her vigilant spouse so often. " Yes, I know, that is all about the witch," said she ; " but what of that ?" " What of that !" echoed her husband, hold- ing his own nose with one hand, while he pointed to Ignatius's with the other ; *' don't you see that nose ?" " To be sure 1 do," said she ; " it is large enough, and red enough to be seen, without requiring a finger-post to point it out." " Well, that nose is hre and brimstone, as sure as my name is Cesare Cinti !" cried mine host, energetically f-lapping his right thigh, as if he had proved his discovery beyond all controversy. AVhat, then, was his consterna- tion, when his better half had the temerity to exclaim — " Fire and fiddlesticks ! — 'tis as good flesh and blood as your own ; and better too, for that matter, for there is more of it ; and noses r.IANX'A CAPPELLO. 253 are like macclieroni — their goodness goes by length." '' I tell you," persisted Cesare, " that it is an infernal nose, and I smell the brimstone ; and that man is no man at all, but Giovannina Neri !" " Oh, indeed ! " said the landlady, with a sneer; "and who then, pray, is the other ? and the dog ? for, all witch as she is, she could not very well divide herself into three !" " Much you know about the matter !" said the innkeeper, returning his wife's sneer with interest. " The other pilgrim is the old bel- dam's familiar, v.ithout which she can do none of her incantations ; and as for the dog, why — the dog — ho is the sorceress's cat, wrapped up in an honest skin, for travelling ; — but there is no use in going into all these particulai's, for that nose betrays everything I" " Then, brimstone or no brimstone ! — fire or no fire ! — I'll touch it, and make sure," said the landlady, throwing down her distaff, putting her arms a-kimbo, and boldly marching into the kitchen, before her husband could stop her. " Perdona, santo pellagrino — Pardon, holy pilgrim," said the hostess, seizing Ignatius's nose, with force enough to pulverize it, between 254 BIANCA CAPPELLO. her by no means delicate fingers, " but a gnat is about to make free with your nose !" " That were a trifle, gossip, compared with your remedy," said Ignatius, wiping the tears fi-om his eyes, which the landlady's uncere- monious attack upon the most prominent feature in his face had forced into them. " See ! see !" said the hostess, leaving the pilgrim to his own reflections, and walking triumphantly up to her husband, "my hand is no more burnt than yours !" " That says nothing," rejoined the uncon- vincible sposo; "witches can make fire feel like ice when it suits them ! Besides, just before you seized the nose, I saw the other blow his own nose, which was, no doubt, some spell of the familiar's." " A very familiar one, truly !" said the wife. " Ah, well ! some people can't beheve their own eyes ; but that's not my way of doing the Grand Duke's business !" said the landlord, strutting up to Ignatius, laying his hand vigorously on the Jesuit's shoulder, but keep- ing a respectful distance from Don Manuel, whom he imagined to be the most formidable personage of the two — inasmuch as the worthy padrone had decided in his own mind that he was the infernal source from whence the BIANCA CAPPELLO. 255 witch's power emanated. " I arrest you, Gio- vannina Neri," said the landlord, " in the name and by order of Cosimo Primo, and Francesco, his son — for, in spite of your disguise, and change of sex, I know you well ! Where are the two dead infants that died in the night ? — where is Pietro Corsi, the vintner, who broke his neck at the same time ? — ay, many, and where is yom- accomplice, the black cat, that brings forth kittens with two heads ? — where are they, I say r" thundered Cesare Cinti, con- cluding, in an awful voice, v,hat he considered to be the appaUing list of the sorceress's latest iniquities. " Good friend," said Ignatius, calmly, shaking off the innkeeper, " it is impossible for me to answer your questions, inasmuch as it is the very first time I ever heard of the subjects of which they treat." " This is all very fine, old devil's dame !" cried Cesare ; " others you may, and no doubt have, circumvented with the like specious speech and deportment; but me you cannot and shall not baffle ; for I could smell brimstone even under a pope's tiara, let alone under a pilgiim's shells ; so no more stratagems, but budge, I say, and off to Florence with me." And here mine host " suited the action to the word," by drag- ging Ignatius by the arm. 25G BIANCA CAITELLO. " FiieiKl," rejoined tlic latter, with the same coohiess as before, " your zeal for catehiiig witches, and ridding Tuscany of the same, does you credit, and deserves that Cosimo Primo should reward you with a grant of horseponds for ten miles round, and an appeal to tlie Nea- politan government, to grant you a charter in the sulphur mines. But, on the other hand, take heed that your sacrilegious seizure of pious pil- grims, journeying on the business of the Holy See, bring you not into greater peril than the escape of fifty witches !" " How am I to know that you are pious pil- grims, journeying on the business of the Holy See ?" said the innkeeper, vacillating not a little in his purpose, at the bare idea that such might in reality be the case. " Know you, when you see them, the signs and passes of the Holy Inquisition ?" asked Ignatius, now withdrawing from his girdle, for the first time he had had occasion to use it, the passport of Padre Gregorio." " 'Tis most likely that I do," said Cesare, with infinite dignity, not liking to own himself ignorant of any matters of state ; although, in reality, never having seen such a thing, he was perfectly aware that he was not competent to detect any imposition, should any be about to be practised upon him. BIANCA CAPrELLO. 257 " There, then, friend — read that, and satisfy all thy scmples," said Ignatius, with a smile, as he unfolded the portentous-looking parchment, and placed it in the hands of the innkeeper, who si)elt it carefully, overturned it, and re-turned it in every possible direction ; and then holding it closely to his nose, to find whether he coidd de- tect any particles of his infallible brimstone, he exclaimed, with a long-drawn breath and dubious shake of the head — " Ah, well ! all this certainly seems very plau- sible ; but who can tell ? God and the devil only know whether the power of witchcraft can- not extend even — though Heaven forbid !" and here Cesare devoutly crossed himself — '^ to forg- ing a lascia passare from the Holy Inquisition!" There is no knowing how mine host might have ultimately decided, whether church-wise or witch-wise ; for while he was still deliberat- ing, a coach drawn by six horses, and dri\'en by two coachmen and two postillions, stopped at the door of the " Tre Delfini ;" but as no modem ideas of carriages and horses can pos- sibly convey any notion of the equipage in question, I will attempt to describe it, from a picture that I have seen of the same. The coach, that now caused such unusual excite- ment and commotion at the inn, was a very 258 BIANCA CAPPELLO. large, long box, upon wheels, the top of which, save that it was richly carved and gilt, strongly resembled a large raised pie-crust, whose four cupola-raised sides were brought to a focus by a huge gilt rose, which seemed like a sort of handle intended for the convenience of taking the roof off the coach. The panels of this colossal equipage were richly painted and gilt, with a representation of Da\'id dancing before the ark ; while at either extremity of each panel there branched forth a massive and richly gilt branch of acanthus. Above the panels, but so far above them as to be quite near the roof of the vehicle, were two largish square windows, and one equally large and equally high up was at the back of the coach. These windows were, as we have before stated, so high, that it w^as impossible for the persons inside to see out of them into the road or street without standing up for the purpose, so that they only served to admit light and air, while the one that fonned the top of the doorway being much lower, and generally left open, al- lowed the inmates of the vehicle to see and be seen ; who, when they had occasion to descend from the carriage, did so by means of large, fixed, painted wooden steps, like those ap- pended to caravans at modern fairs, which nei- BIA^'CA CAPPELLO. 259 ther let up nor do^n. The inside of the coach was lined with crimson velvet, trimmed round with narrow gold lace, but not stuffed ; so, from the hard perpendicidar of the sides, there was no temptation to either lounging or repose. The sun was shaded from the mndows by dra- peries of crimson silk, fiinged with gold, divided into three, with cords, which pulled up and down by means of another cord, fastened with a pulley at the top. In the right-hand corner of the front seat of the carriage hung a large bronze bell, inlaid with arabesques of silver, and hav- ing at the handle a proftision of velvet tassels, also of crimson, intermixed with gold. Tliis bell was in lieu of a modern check-string ; and whenever the occupants desired to stop the coach, it was taken down, and rang outside the window of the door, whereupon the ponderous vehicle immediately stopped. On the box (which was almost as large as a small altar, from which descended a crimson velvet ham- mer cloth, embroidered in golden Jieurs de lis) sat two coachmen, in high-pointed (Guy Fawkes shaped) white beaver hats, with a scarlet plume in them, red velvet doublets, with tnink hose slashed with white, red and white ribbed stock- ings — that is to say, the net-work, that came fr'om the hips downward, and formed the stock- 260 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ings, was red and white ; buff leather shoes, with turncd-iip pointed toes, and silver chains, (which were out of fashion for the higher orders) coining from these points, and fastening like garters round the knee. Over the left shoulder they v/ore a short, white, camlet cloak, bordered with scarlet, and a cardinal's hat, embroidered in the same colour, on the breast. One of these charioteers held the reins, or rather, the scarlet and gold ribbons, of the first pair of horses, while the other flourished a long whip over them whenever occasion re- quired it. The postillions, who sat the two leaders, were dressed i3recisely the same as the two coachmen, while the horses were all six milk-white, with scarlet and gold trappings, and tassels of scarlet and gold dangling over their forehead and eyes, exactly like those to be seen at the present day (only in worsted) worn by the white oxen of Tuscany — those beautiful and classical-looking animals, who seem as if they had just been taken out of the Eclogues, and from whose large, brilliant, yet gentle and beautiful eyes, Homer did well to bonow his best compliment to Juno.* At each side of the coach rode two outriders, mounted and dressed like the postillions. No wonder, then, that a * " Fair, ox-eyed Juno," &c. BIANCA CAPPELLO. Q61 cortege so unusual should excite a commotion, somewhat mingled with consternation, among the inmates of the " Tre Belfini^'' esjDecially as the equipage in question was perfectly well known to them as that of the Cardinal Ferdi- nando de' Medici, who was now going to 2ifesta at one of the villas of Lucas Pitti, a descendant of the lawless (and protector of the lawless) Lucas Pitti of 1463, though, of all his grand- father's propensities, he merely retained his love of pleasure and of splendour. The Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici was accompanied by the gonfaloniere, Martin Bernardini, — a saturnine- looking personage, whose haughty bearing and imperious lip was just what might be expected from one who had excluded from office every man who had not an hereditary share in the sovereignty of the Florentine republic. The occasion of the stoppage of these great person- ages at so mean an hostelry was, that one of the leaders had cast a shoe. No sooner had the first great excitement of this arrival subsided, than Cesare and his wife returned to the kitchen of their inn. " What great personage have we here, friend ?" asked Ignatius, as the landlord re- entered the kitchen. " You have a right to ask," replied the other. 262 BIANCA CAPPELLO. surlily, " for it concerns you ; as we shall soon see if his Eminence the Cai'dinal Ferdinando de' Medici cannot tell a tme lascia passare of th^ Holy Inquisition from the sorceries of a witch." " We shall see," responded Ignatius, with a smile, " and the sooner we see the better." And so saying, to the landlord's infinite sur- prise, he walked boldly forward to the door of the inn, beckoning to his brother to follow, Cesare and his >vife bringing up the rear, anxious to see the result of the supposed witch's temerity. Ignatius crossed himself, as he descended the four broken steps that led from the porch of the hostelry into the road, and muttered part of a prayer in Latin. " Ay, that is all very fine," said the landlord, pushing on before the pilgrims, till he reached the coach door, cap in hand ; " but as we know that the devil can quote Scripture, that says nothing ; so now for it ! Please yom* Eminence," said Cesare, with ten scrapes of his right foot to every bow of his head — " on the night of the ninth, there did escape from the Via dei Morti, at Florence, a notorious sorceress, one Gio- vannina Neri, committing divers foul murtUers on the night of her flight, and leaving a black cat to bring forth devils, instead of kittens. BIAXCA CAPPELLO. 263 Now, so please your Eminence, for the last nine days the authorities have been seeking, but vainly seeking, for the hag — I say vainly — for it was reserved for me, under Providence, to detect, under the holy semblance of a pil- giim, the infernal reality of a witch. And" — here mine host, perceiving that Ignatius was calmly unfolding his passport, with the same provoking smile he had preserved all along, suddenly exclaimed, " Oh yes !" may it please your Eminence, I forgot to say that this dia- boHcal old woman has actually caiiied daemon- craft so far as to pretend she is in possession of a lascia passare from tlie Holy Inquisition." " How is tliis, brothers ?" said the Cardinal, with a smile, addressing the pilgrims. " I am no great believer in witches, beyond the witch of Endor : say, dost thou trace thy genealogies in that line ? and what means honest Master Vintner here, by your being in possession of a lascia passare from the Holy Office ? for that I should have thought would smoothe all diffi- culties, as they are not likely to grant the same to mtches and sorcerers. Expound this matter to us, holy pilgiims." " May it please your Eminence, the argument lies thus," said Ignatius. " I am, in tmth, a member of the order of Loyola, but having 264 BIANCA CAPPELLO. been in the Holy Land, I prefer using my pil- gi'im's garb for journeying ; inasmuch as that I have hitherto found it ensure me more of way- faring hospilaUty tlian any other ; however, not so in the instance of mine host here, who being fully possessed with, or by, the aforesaid Gio- vannina Neri, has thought fit so to incorporate her with me, and me with her, that despite the lascia passare I hold from the Padre Grcgorio's own hand, who is, as your Eminence well knows, chief of the Holy Office at Venice, I had been, but for your timely anival, through the over-zeal of our honest friend here, well nigh perilled in a jeopardy that, notwithstanding my imputed skill in dyemonology, I might have found it difficult to extricate myself from, at least under the ordeal of a couple of horse-ponds." " Which proves," said the Cardinal, as he extended his hand for the passport of the In- quisition, which Ignatius proffered him, " that it is indeed an ill wind, as the proverb hath it, that blows nobody good ; for had not one of my cattle chanced to lose a shoe, you might have lost your liberty." " True, your Eminence," replied Ignatius, who carefully perused the Cardinal's open and pleasant countenance, as he looked over the lascia passare. BIANCA CAPPELLO. 265 Wliile the Jesuit was so employed, Martin Bernarclini, the gonfaloniere, was not idle in the minute scrutiny he was bestowing upon Ignatius's face, and the sort of inventory he appeared to be taking of him. Nor were the host and hostess without their share of interest in the scene, entertaining, as we have before stated, a tiiily conjugal diversity of opinion touching the pilgrim's identity, and, in conse- quence, harbouring a very differently directed anxiety concerning the Cardinal's decision as to the authenticity of the lascia passare of the Holy Inquisition — Cesare standing with his hands out, like a person playing at blindman's buff, his head forward, and his mouth open, as if holding himself in readiness not only to swallow .the order for the pilgrim's arrest, but zealously resolved upon swallowing the pilgrim himself — while his better-half stood with her arms tightly folded, and an incipient smile of triumph playing round her compressed lips, coupled with a " YoiCllJind I am righf sort of expres- sion irradiating her whole face. In less time than it has taken us to describe the respective positions of the dramatifi per- sonce, the Cardinal returned the passport to Ignatius, saying it was perfectly correct; merely adding, "Doubtless, the other pilgrim is the VOL. I. N 266 BIANCA CAPPELLO. Benedictine, your fellow-traveller, set down in the passport ?" To which Ignatius having answered in the affimiative, liis Eminence motioned to the now trembling Cesare to approach. " Hark'ee, friend !" said the Cardinal, holding the lascia passare (which he had again taken out of the Jesuit's hand) closely to his eyes, — " look well at this parchment, that you may know it when you see another ; for it is a serious matter to dispute the authority of the church ; and should it happen again, a worse chance may befal thee than this slight reprimand, which we are now fain to let thee depart with, m consideration of thy zeal to serve the state." With a hundred bows, and as many vain attempts at muttering his thanks, the abashed - vintner slunk into the house, followed by his wife, who, no doubt, with the laudable humility of wishing to arrive at the same opinion as the superior being, her husband, kept repeating, "How strong the brimstone smells, doesn't it, my dear ?" " Ah, well ! we shall see," said Cesare, sulkily, not choosing to succumb before his wife, what- ever he might do before a Cardinal — " We shall see ! — all's not ended that seems so. And then the beast casting a shoe, and all !" BIANCA CAPPELLO. 267 " ^Vhy, what of that ?" said the wife. " What of that ! only that any one who knows anything — but to be sure, some peojDle know nothing, — knows that horse-shoes are the very ramparts of witchcraft !" cried mine host. " Against it, I have always understood, or else why nail them on every barn door r" replied the landlady. " Ay, for or against, 'tis all tlie same thing,** logically argued her sposo, " and whoever gets the horse-shoe is on the safe side of the hedge. Now what I maintain is, that the sorceress must have picked up the shoe of the Cardinal's horse as she came along, and so has contrived to bamboozle church, cai'dinal, gonfaloniere, and all — all but Cesare Cinti, — who, perhaps, can see further into a millstone than most people." " That is quite impossible, my dear!" said the innkeeper's wife, "utterly impossible, that the witch, supposing her to be the pilgTim, could have picked up the Cardinal's horse-shoe, when he was coming from Florence and she from Bologna, two opposite directions." " My dear,- you talk like a fool !" said the affectionate husband ; " witches have cross roads at their command, which bring all roads to the same point." N 2 Oi38 BIANCA CAPPELLO. This \Yas a piece of geographical information so conclusive, that the wife was left without an answer. So, like a skilful general, she imme- diately changed her position, and they began to fall out about which should receive the pilgrim's, or, as mine host persisted in calling him, the witch's reckoning ; to settle which knotty point we will leave them, and return to the group we left at the inn door.. As everything in Italy was, and is, a work of time, the Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici had to wait patiently (or it might be impatiently) for a full hour, ere the smith appeared to replace the shoe which one of his horses had lost ; and after he did appear, another half hour elapsed ere the animal was shod. During this period, the gonfaloniere, who had never taken his eyes oif Ignatius, seeing the latter about to re-enter the hostelry, under the pretext of wearying of the confinement of the carriage, got out, and followed him into the house. " I think, holy brother," said he, gently hold- ing him back, as Ignatius was about to enter the kitchen, " that you mentioned having received your lascia passare from Padre Grcgoiio, the chief inquisitor at Venice, from which I augur that you are lately from thence ?" " Even so," replied the Jesuit, laconically and BIANCA CArPELLO. 269 cautiously, as in his turn he scanned the gon- faloniere from head to foot, not exactly knowing toward what point his inten'ogations might tend ; not that he felt any alaim for his personal safety, as he was well awai'e that the Florentine llepublic piqued itself upon a total, nay, al- most hostile independence of ^'enice, the proof of -which was, that Florence at that period was the refuge, and her government the protectors, of every Venetian rebel or refugee who sought a shelter or a sanctuary. He also knew that a nod from Phili]) of Spain had more weight with the Medici than tlie whole of the triple dynasty of Venice combined, ecclesiastical, aristocratic, and commercial. But in times when men, however high their position in the state, or great their stake in the country, were daily in the habit of betraying the one and risking the other, in order often to grasp at the most vague and chimerical phantoms of personal aggi'an- dizement that ambition could conjure up, there was no knovdng v.hat snares they might spread to entrap the unwary into their schemes, leaving them as scapegoats to incur the difScidty and the danger, while they alone reaped the glory and the emolument. " I think," resumed Martin Beniardini, no- thing daunted by the reserve of Ignatius's man- 270 BIANCA CAPPELLO. ner — " I think you also mentioned your being a member of the new order of Loyola ?" " I am proud to say I am," was the brief reply. " But Venice — Venice," resmned the gon- faloniere, musingly, as if speaking his own thoughts aloud; and then added, directly ad- dressing the Jesuit — '* Knew you aught, while in that city, of one Gioyanni Ferrai, a gold- smith ?'* " His calling has little to do with mine," replied Ig^natius. " And — and," resumed the gonfaloniere, fol- lowing out his own train of thinking, and appa- rently unmindful of the unsatisfactory reply he had received — " he has a wife ?'' " Had, I believe, some sixteen years ago," said Ignatius, answering more to the point, now that he, with his usual quickness of apprehen- sion, perceived that Martin Bernardini's ques- tions could have no reference to him or his brother; but, on the contrary, that it was evi- dent he required his services, at least his infor- mation, on business of his own ; and no one knew how to dispose of either services or in- formation on more advantageous terms than Ignatius Dragoni ; so, looking carefully round, with the air of a man who felt his protection BIANCA CAPPELLO. 271 and assistance were required, and who upon certain conditions was willing to bestow them— " It strikes me, Monsignore," said he, assuming an air of confidential importance, well calcu- lated to have its weight with an anxious mind, as Bemardini's evidently was — '^ it strikes me," said he, drawing the gonfaloniere aside, " that for the sort of questions you would ask, and that I may have it in my power to answer, this is no place. Florence is my present destination ; I shall sojourn in that city for some time; would it not be more suitable to give me a meeting at your own house ? — or if you object to that, there is as much privacy as the most discreet can desu'e in the cloisters of Santa Croce ; but in the event of that not chiming in with your wishes, I shall be to be found at the house of -my sister, the Signora della Toitc, Casa Bondi, Piazza del Duomo." " You are right !" said Martin Bemardini, who was not slow in detecting in Ignatius the talent for intrigue which he possessed, and which was precisely the sort of talent he wished at the time being to avail himself of—" You are right ! Be at the Palazzo Vecchio an hour after sunset to-moiTow; and, can you give me the information I require, you will find that you have not bestowed it on an ungrateful person." 272 BIANCA CAPrELLO. " Bene, bene," nodded the Jesuit, with the air of a money-changer, who attached no other meaning to the word gratitude than a full equi- valent for value receirecL Here one of the outriders came to inform the gonfaloniere that the horse was shod, and the Cardinal ready to proceed ; so nodding hastily to Ignatius, he quitted the inn, and resumed his seat in the ponderous vehicle, which then moved slowly on, nuich after the fashion of a colossal tortoise; not but what the six horses and four drivers could have impelled it at a much greater speed; but the conveyance having no springs, its con- ductors exercised a proper discretion over the bones of its occupants. No sooner had Bernardini departed, than Ignatius flung a florin down on the table, to pay for the wine he had had, the landlady prepar- ing to give him the change, which he dechned. This circumstance, coupled with his conference widi the gonfaloniere, so raised him in the landlord's estimation, that just as he had his foot on the threshold to depart, mine host stepped up to him with an humble apology for having so widely mistaken so worthy a per- sonage. " Oh, no oflence, friend," said Ignatius—'' no offence ; on the contrary, I return you my BIANCA CAPPELLO. -273 thanks, for wc all like to find ourselves in the right, which you have proved me to be ; for while you mistook me for a witch, I had more Avit, and guessed the truth at once, by taking you for a fool !" " Ha ! ha ! ha !" laughed the landlady of the " Tre Delfini,'^ louder than any one ; while her lord and master commenced a rural excursion to the poultry -yard, by the medium of a back door. Meanwhile the brothers pursued their road to Florence, the elder making not a little merry at the notion of his late adventm'e, till they over- took the muleteer, with their two mules, which Ignatius thought it advisable to mount, as their lengthening shadows gave notice of the decline of day. As they entered Florence, the bells of the Duomo and of San Gaetano rang out a noisy peal, that precluded all further conver- sation. The church -bells having at length subsided, and no sounds louder being heard than the equal footfalls of their own mules, echoed as they were by die gentle chime of their bells, Ignatius burst into (for him) an un- usually joyous laugh. " Thou art meny, brother," said Don Manuel, in a pensive tone. " Ay, meny am I," replied Ignatius, " to 274 BIANCA CAPPELLO. think that here we are, safe and well, within the iris-crowned walls of fair Florence, — although I am on my way to see a dying friend — ha ! ha ! ha ! " What mean you, brother ?" said Manuel, in a more melancholy tone than before, — "is it seemly to laugh when one's fiiends are dying ?" " Sometimes," replied Ignatius, evidently still chuckling over his own thoughts; "especially when one has a good chance of making them laugh too. I told thee before, brother, that in order to obtain that said lascia passare, which has this very day done us such good service, I was obliged to place my worthy friend, Stefano Antinori, the Superior of Santa Maria Novella, at the point of death; so I think it but decent, having brought him to this pass, to go and see how it fares with him. There- fore, while I hie me thither, go thou to our sister, who will be glad enough to see thee in the land of the living ; and tell her, that before ye have got through half your respec- tive greetings and histories, I will retm'n to benefit by the recital. There, yonder stands the house !" After which, Ignatius pursued his way straight on ' to the Via della Scala, till he arrived at BIANCA CAPPELLO. 275 the Dionastery of Santa Maria Novella ; which was situated then exactly where it now is, with this difference — that the doorway, which now opens into the farmacia of the convent, was in those days a massive iron portal, open- ing with a turnstile into a large court, which is now occupied by the passage and small ante-room leading to the large laboratory, which was then used as a refectoiy. No sooner had the door tunied on its giant hinges, in answer to the sonorous appeal Igna- tius had made to the bell, than he crossed the threshold, just in time to meet ail the monks coming out of the chapel from vespers, oil then' way to the refectory, where supper awaited them — a ceremony at which then* devo- tions were at least not likely to relax. So usual and ordinaiy an occmTence as the amval of a dusty and travel-worn pilgiim to share their hospitality, could not even excite a mo- mentary' remark, as they passed on intently to the last meal they were to discuss that day. A fat monk still lingered near the lustral, and having dipped in his finger, extended, previous to crossing himself, the reversionary particle of holy water to Ignatius, who accepted it with a ^^ pax vohiscum,^'' and walked on till he reached the refectory, where the large silver 276 BIANCA CAPI'ELLO. lamps were but just liglited, and as yet shed but a partial and uncertain light upon the crowd of white-robed monks, who flitted with rather more bustle and noise than spirits, — whose vestments, in the dim, uncertain light, their snowy garments might have represented, — to the different tables, which now groaned and smoked under a ])rofusion of very substantial fare. At the centre table were already seated its respective occupants, quietly ananging their napkins under their chins, in deliberate pre- paration for the important business of the even- ing. This table, as well as those down the sides of the room, were covered with large, saucer- shaped, gaudily -painted dishes and plates, of a thick, enamelled sort of delf, now known by the name of Raphael china; each monk had a high silver drinking-cup, bearing, from non-cleaning, the same strong family likeness to lead that the Italian plate of the present day does, from the self-same cause. Upon the groimd, between every three monks, stood a large, red, two-handled earthen vase of wine, and another of water. The novice whose week it was to read during meals, had just ascended the pulpit. The Superior, Stefano Antinori, a hale, ruddy looking man, of about forty, had seated himself, with the confessor of the con- BIANCA CAPPELLO. 277 vent and three of the elder members of the fraternity, at his own table at the upper end of the refectory, which was distinguished from the others by a whiter cloth, and the plate on which the viands were served ; and when seated, the w^hole assemblage, on a signal from the Superior, again rose, to chant the gi-ace — which on that evening consisted of the two first verses of the '' Dominns regit me''' — the last sonorous cadence of which had died away, when Ignatius walked up to the Superior's table, who was just about to ascertain the merits of a red mullet, luxuriantly embedded in a sauce that seemed in every way worthy of it, when Ignatius laid his hand upon his shoidder. Stefano Antinori started ; but the " How ! Dragon i /" which escaped him, as he turned roimd and laid do\ni his knife and spoon, had to the full as much pleasure in it as surprise. But this was not to be wondered at ; the Jesuits — then having weathered their natal struggles with Paul and his successors, from the implicit obedience and submission instilled into them by their military founder — were now in the zenith of their power — a power, the strength of which was derived from its univer- sality ; for courts, camps, the church, and com- Q78 BIANCA CAPPELLO. meice — which was the very thew and sinew of the sixteenth century — were equally under their guidance and control. Their ostensible province, as the guides and preceptors of youth, coupled with their being the chosen confessors of every catholic sovereign and potentate in Europe — a function of no small importance under the ablest monarch, but under weak ones conferring a power infinitely beyond the nominal prerogatives of the crown and the minister ; especially as, in addition to this, they were the spiritual guides of every indi- vidual of any eminence, either in rank, wealth, or talent ; so that the high degree of confidence and interest they possessed at the papal court, as the zealous champions of its authority, fol- lowed as a matter of course. That such un- limited power, entrusted to human hands, and subject to the corruption of human hearts, should have been, and was, often abused, can be a matter of no sJurprise ; particidarly when it is remembered, that they mingled in all affairs, and took part in every intrigue and revo- lution throughout Europe. But to return : — The lamps in the refectory of Santa Maria Novella were now fully lighted, and shed a brilliant light upon the busily employed monks, and their white garments and black hoods. BTANCA CAPPELLO. 279 " Welcome ! thrice welcome, brother, to om- board again !" said Stefano Antinori, as he made way on the bench for Ignatius to place himself beside him — " the more so, that we feared, from your long tanying, that in an evil horn* you had shared your brother's fate at Venice." " Ha ! ha ! ha ! — and so I most certainly should have done, had you not had the complaisance to start for the other world, in order to see me safely out of Venice — ha ! ha ! ha I" And here the Jesuit related the trick he had put upon Padre Gregorio, the liberty he had taken with his friend Stefano's health and life, the manner in which he had effected his brother's and his own escape, and all the details of his journey; not forgetting Cesare Cinti's compli- ment of taking him for a witch, the Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici's opportune advent at the " Tre Delfini," and, finally, his own and his brother's safe arrival at Florence; whereat the good Prior laughed till the tears rolled down his cheeks, and sundry particles of a risotta that he had been discussing fell upon his large gold cross and crimson ribbon, and had to be wiped away ; then he filled a goblet of rare Malvoisie, and drank to Don Manuel's safe escape ; then another to his own miracidous recovery fi-om the jaws of death ; — and here he again laughed so 280 BIANCA CAPPELLO. heartily, that lie had to hold his sides, as the tears continued to fall from his round, merry, brown, twinkling eyes; which exhausting pro- cess he recruited by filling another bumper to the safe return of Ignatius, and another to his donna incognita, Signora Giovannina Neri ! — And here, with a concluding laugh, and an ap- proving re-echoing smack of the lips, Stefano Antinori finally laid down his goblet, as he said to Ignatius, in an under voice — " And now, brother, after all these perils and dangers, I suppose you are come to remain amongst us ?" " Only for a time," replied the Jesuit, " for my master has work for me at the court of France. We like not the victories of Conde and Coligni. Heresy, rank heresy, sprouts with all its laurels, and the Queen is but lukewarm in the cause of the church. Her opposition to the Huguenots is neither vigorous nor genuine ; she thinks too much of the state, and too little of religion, forgetting that the one hinges upon the other. Her maxim of ' divide and govern^ is a dangerous innovation, especially for one who at times is more of the woman than the queen. Catherine de' Medici must be looked to, Stefano. De Ketz is our only stronghold against a host of evil ; and it is to be feared that even when it is BIANCA CAPPELLO. 281 concluded, which it now must soon be, the Coimcil of Trent, from pohtical motives, will not be acknowledged in France.* King Philip has it in embiyo — but, like all his plans, it will take a long time to niatm'e — that his queen, accompanied by one of our longest heads, the Duke of Alba, should meet her baby -brother at Bayonne. When this takes place, I must be there also ; for, no doubt, Catherine de' Medici will be with her son. I have an offering preparing for her. You know Maximus Theophilus'sf new Bible ? Well, it is splendidly illuminated, and I am having it cased in the rarest filigi'ee that your most skilful Florentine craftsmen can fabri- cate of gold and precious stones, and I mean it should be the gift of Gosimo. By the way, how fares he .?— does he still persist in his indolent relinquishment of all politics and ambition ?" " Ay, truly does he ; he has subsided into a mere artisan, labouring, as though it were for his daily bread, at that new-fangled invention of * The Council of Trent, which was terminated in 1563, was not received in France, from the fact of many of its canons of discipline being contrary to the French laws and political code. t Maximus Theophilus, a Benedictine monk, dedicated a new Italian version of the Bible, in 1551, to Francesco de' Medici. VOL. I. O 282 KTANCA CArPELLO. his that they call i^letra dura, and leaving all the toils of government to the Archduke Fran- cesco, who thinks more of pleasure than of policy, and far more of a peasant girl's beauty than of a Pope's bull." " Ha ! — all that may be turned to account," said Ignatius, musingly ; and then added aloud, " Well, well, all these are adverse matters, and shew the peril the church is in, which makes it incumbent on her sons to labour in her cause the more indefatigably. But I have toiled wearily all the day," continued the Jesuit, rising, and resuming his staff, preparatory to his depar- ture, " and this frail tenement of clay has its claims, which must be attended to, in order that it hinder not the spirit from its better work." So saying, he shook Stefano Antinori cor- dially by the hand, as he bade him fai'ewell; and the next moment the gaunt figure of Ignatius Dragoni was wending its way, through the dark and narrow streets of Florence, to his sister's house. END OF VOL. I. GRATIS, AND SENT POST-FREE, To Families, Reading Societies, Book Clubs, and Country Booksellers, throughout England, Scotland, AND Ireland, BULL'S LIBRARY SYSTEM AND CIRCULARS FOR THIS YEAR: COMPRISING I. Full descriptions of all the valuable Xew Publications up to the present time. 11. A complete view of the best Modern Literature. III. The best plans for the establishment of Reading Societies throughout the Kingdom. - IV. The most advantageous terms for supplying Families and So- cieties regularly, and in any quantity, with -whatever K'ew and Standard "Works, Magazine?, and Reviews, they may desire for perusal. *5^* All applications sliould he addressed to Mr. Bull, English and Foreign Public Library^ 1 9, Holies Street^ Cavendish Square, London. PUBLISHING FOR AUTHORS. I^ew Edition, Is. 6d. bound, (if sent by post, lOd. more,) HINTS DIRECTIONS i°OR AUTHORS, In 'Writing', Frintingr, & Publishing: their "Works ; Detailing every requisite information on the subject, accompanied with the latest LIST OF WORKS Published by Mr. Bull, 19, Holies Street. T. C. SavilJ, Printer, 107, St. Martin's Lane. .''^