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 THE 
 
 FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 YOL. I,
 
 Prir^ted by A. Strahan, 
 New-^Sireet-Square, London.
 
 THE 
 
 ifast of ^t. ^^agUalen, 
 
 A ROMANCE. 
 
 BY 
 
 Miss ANNA MARIA PORTER. 
 
 Thou shalt leave 
 
 Each thing beloved most dearly : 'tis the last shaft 
 Shot from the bow of exile." Carey's Dantk. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINT'lD FOR LONOMAN, HUKST, RE£S, ORME, ^\ND BROWN, 
 I'ATERNOSTER-KOW, 
 
 1818.
 
 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive , . 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/fastofstmagdalen01port
 
 ^ 
 
 v:: 
 
 1-, I 
 
 THE 
 
 FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 At the close of the year 1508, a small 
 ^ Pisan town in the Appenines was stormed 
 and taken by the Florentines. 
 
 The assault had been made at mid- 
 night; and the confusion of darkness was 
 thus added to the customary horrors of 
 war. 
 
 To the continued roar of artillery (re- 
 verberated by mountain echoes) suc- 
 ceeded the less deafening, but more 
 dreadful sounds of the rush of troops, 
 the clamour of pursuit, and the cry of 
 quarter ! 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Along streets, slippery with blood, were 
 heard the frequent imprecations of fe- 
 rocious soldiers, as they stumbled over 
 the dead, or received musquet wounds, 
 from the few desperate inhabitants, who 
 yet maintained a straggling fire from 
 their windows. 
 
 At intervals, sudden flames were seen 
 to blaze up from the fall of combustible 
 materials in the burning houses, making 
 visible the awful contrast of the tranquil 
 surrounding Appenines, and lighting the 
 armed ruffian to his prey, as he followed 
 in haste and uncertainty, to plunder or 
 violence. 
 
 Prayers, curses, shouts ; the strife of 
 men and the struggles of women ; the 
 thrust of daggers and the report of pis- 
 tols ; were heard at the entrance of every 
 place, where affection or avarice had 
 hoarded its treasures. 
 
 In vain were the images of a dying 
 Saviour held up before the lawless mul- 
 titude, by the monks of Spirito Santo :
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN^. o 
 
 their worshipped emblems were trampled 
 under foot ; their monastery itself forced 
 and entered. 
 
 While the Florentine commander be- 
 held these outrages with indifference, one 
 of his coadjutors, whose helmet had fallen 
 in the combat, and whose blanched cheek 
 betrayed his loss of blood, was running 
 from street to street, calling loudly on 
 the troops to spare the town and its in- 
 habitants. 
 
 A rumour reached him, that some of 
 the soldiers had broken down the gates of 
 the Spirito Santo, and that a woman of 
 desperate courage was opposing herself 
 to their entrance. Certain that not even 
 Amazonian habits could long resist, or 
 heroic spirit awe an unbridled crowd, he 
 flew to the monastery, and " sending his 
 voice before him as he flew,'* made the 
 human tide pause for a moment. 
 
 " Valombrosa !*' was repeated by se- 
 veral voices at the same instant, with dif- 
 ferent expression. Some exclaimed it
 
 4 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 with vexation, others with insolent disre- 
 gard ; a few with servile fear ; but the 
 greatest number echoed it with enthusi- 
 asm. The young leader to whom that 
 name belonged, pressed onwards with his 
 whole excited soul in his looks. Having 
 caught a glimpse of a woman's white 
 g;arments beyond the throng of plun- 
 derers, he called on them again to give 
 way ; but his words were uttered to worse 
 than roaring elements, and he suddenly 
 stopped. Unloosing his jewelled baldric 
 he threw it amongst them ; and the costly 
 ornament instantly occasioning a strug- 
 gle for its possession, left the object Va- 
 lombrosa sought to succour, free to fly. 
 But instead of flying, she cast herself on 
 her knees, in an attitude of supplication ; 
 extending her arms as if she would fain 
 bar all entrance through the open gates. 
 Unconscious that his own figure ap- 
 peared like that of some Archangel, beam- 
 ing war and mercy from the same brow,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 5 
 
 Valombrosa gazed astonished on that of 
 the suppliant. 
 
 It was not an armed and fierce Ama- 
 zon he beheld ; it was a trembling woman 
 of exquisite beauty, in whose looks and 
 action, nothing was visible but tenderness 
 and terror. 
 
 Pale as moonlight, her upraised face 
 was distinctly marked by the wild bright- 
 ness of dark imploring eyes, and by a quan- 
 tity of yet darker hair, which fell dishevell- 
 ed over her neck and shoulders. Her lips 
 moved in agony, but they could not arti- 
 culate a sound. As Valombrosa, recover- 
 ing from his surprise, was advancing to- 
 wards her, an old man in a military 
 habit, suddenly appeared from the inner 
 court, and called out, "Ippolita!" The 
 lady turned eagerly round, and Valombro- 
 sa observed an instantaneous change in 
 the expression of her eyes, as this person 
 made the sign of the cross, twice upon 
 his breast : the next moment she raised 
 B 3
 
 b THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 those eloquent eyes to Heaven, then 
 closing them, fell back insensible. 
 
 The veteran soldier rather flung his 
 sword towards Valombrosa than delivered 
 it up ; but the assurance that she was his 
 daughter, might have excused this infor- 
 mality to a less compassionate heart. 
 
 Valombrosa assisted the old man in 
 raising her from the ground ; then ad- 
 dressing a few vv^ords of intreaty and com- 
 mand to the soldiers, he succeeded in pre- 
 vailing upon them to respect the sanctuary 
 of their religion. 
 
 When the outer gates were closed, he 
 entered the monastery : Valombrosa soon 
 perceived, from the unsteady steps of his 
 companion, and the appearance of blood 
 oozing through his doublet, that he was 
 ill able to bear even the light weight of a 
 fainting woman ; with a courteous action 
 therefore he transferred her to his own 
 arms ; soothing the alarmed monks whom 
 he met as they went along, with assur- 
 ances of his ability to protect them.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 7 
 
 After reaching the parlour of the mo- 
 nastery, Valombrosa laid the lady upon 
 some rushes which one of the lay brothers 
 had gathered into a heap from the floor ; 
 and recommending every inhabitant of the 
 house to remain within the walls, till he 
 could return and say the troops were gone 
 to their quarters, he quitted the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 He turned back on the threshold, with 
 a cheering look of graciousness, and 
 returned the conquered sword to its own- 
 er ; the old warrior kissed the hand which 
 extended it, whispering, " I am still your 
 prisoner, generous Sir, but I have bled in 
 many battles ; I know, therefore, the 
 death-wound when it comes — my sen- 
 tence is here V laying his hand upon his 
 side ; " as for my poor Ippolita she will 
 remain your prisoner; and I shall die in 
 peace ; others will live in peace, when 
 they hear that she is fallen into such 
 noble hands. For the sake of Jesu then, 
 return and succour her !" 
 B 4
 
 » THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Valombrosa was not slow in assuring 
 the agitated father that he would honour 
 the trust thus affectingly reposed in him ; 
 and he added the hope that his venerable 
 prisoner would yet live to fight in hap- 
 pier fields. Then casting a compassion- 
 ate glance towards the unconscious 
 daughter, he hastened away on a wider 
 errand of mercy. 
 
 Young as he was, Valombrosa's rank 
 and character gave him something like 
 authority over the Florentine general ; 
 who was, in truth, only one of those 
 hireling commanders whose sword might 
 be bought by any warring state. 
 
 Torelli (so the general was called) was 
 rather pitiless than blood-thirsty; and 
 the same apathy which enabled him to. 
 look coolly upon the carnage of the as- 
 sault, made him yield to that importu- 
 nate petition which urged him to stop 
 the enormities of his soldiers. 
 
 An order to that effect was speedily
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. U 
 
 issued : Vaiombrosa hastened to enfordb- 
 it, and to see it obeyed. 
 
 Rapid as light, and scorning alike dan- 
 ger and insult, he penetrated everywhere ; 
 forcing or persuading the marauder to 
 desist, and restoring the scattered inha- 
 bitants to their homes. 
 
 It was not till he had seen discipline 
 re-established, and tranquillity beginning, 
 that he felt the pain of his own wounds. 
 But what mattered it to Vaiombrosa that 
 the blood had already welled through 
 the ineffectual bandages with which in 
 the middle of the combat, his surgeon 
 had hastily staunched them? There 
 was still another office of humanity to 
 perform ; and applying the folds of his 
 scarf to his principal wound, he hurried 
 back to the monastery of Spirito Santo. 
 
 The silence and solitariness of the 
 streets through which he returned, pow- 
 erfully struck him : for the same objects 
 which he had passed unnoticed, during 
 the confusion of his forcible entrance 
 B 5
 
 10 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 into the town, now pressed upon his 
 senses with painful distinctness. 
 
 The many fires w^hich had then blazed 
 in different quarters, were either quite 
 extinguished, or sullenly smouldering. 
 Some of the half-demolished houses were 
 wholly untenanted ; others, covered with 
 equal darkness, only gave testimony of 
 being inhabited, by sounds of mourning 
 from within. The streets, strewed with 
 dead bodies, presented here and there a 
 solitary wretch seeking the corse of some 
 beloved relative : seeking it by the sickly 
 light of a taper, which was blown out in 
 terror on the hasty tread of a passenger. 
 
 Horror and carnage had ceased, but 
 lamentation and desolation were every 
 where : and Valombrosa, though believ- 
 ing in the justice of the cause he fought 
 for, lingered as he went, to groan over 
 the necessity of war, and the sufferings 
 of humanity. 
 
 He had been three hours employed in 
 reducing the troops to orders and his
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 11 
 
 strength, diminished by previous fatigue 
 and loss of blood, was now fairly ex- 
 hausted. The keen air of the season, 
 and of those high regions, for it was win- 
 ter, sharpened the anguish of his woimds: 
 he found his sight getting dim, and his 
 powers failing : in short he reached the 
 gates of the Spirito Santo, he scarcely 
 knew how, and rather staggered than 
 walked into the prior's parlour. 
 
 The parlour was vacant : Valombrosa 
 threw himself upon a bench, unable to 
 proceed. A single lamp burning near 
 an hour-glass on the table, showed him 
 the deserted heap of rushes, where 
 Ippolita had been placed by himself. 
 VvHTiere was she now? — had she feared to 
 trust his looks and his word, and taken 
 the opportunity of his absence to escape? 
 Had the mere length of that absence 
 obliged her to seek a new protector ? or 
 had she been seized and carried off by 
 some ruffian ? 
 
 That she was singularly beautiful, Va- 
 B 6
 
 IS THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 iombrosa felt certain, yet he had but a 
 confused impression of her features. He 
 remembered only her white arms scatter- 
 ing her disordered hair ; her beseeching 
 eyes fixed upon his j and that expression 
 of intense agony in her face and attitude, 
 which knocked at his inmost heart. In 
 his breast she had awakened only the 
 hallowed sentiments of pity and respect, 
 and zeal to serve ; in those of others, her 
 beauty and helplessness might excite the 
 basest passions ! 
 
 These were the thoughts of a moment: 
 Valombrosa was not of a nature to bear 
 suspense 5 and rousing his fainting pow- 
 ers, he was endeavouring to go in search 
 of some of the brotherhood, when the 
 sound of a passing bell startled and stop- 
 ped him. 
 
 The next instant a monk appeared ; to 
 Valombrosa's eager question, he rephed, 
 that Signor Martello (the father of Ippo- 
 lita) was then expiring in one of the 
 cells; that extreme unction had just 
 I
 
 THB FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 13 
 
 been administered ; and that he had fre- 
 quently asked for the generous Floren- 
 tine who had protected his daughter. 
 
 Humanely anxious to afford every pos- 
 sible consolation to a dying man, Valom- 
 brosa would not yield to the suffering 
 which was unnerving himself; he there- 
 fore bade the monk lead on. 
 
 Having passed through a long stone 
 passage, into which several cells opened, 
 they entered that containing him they 
 sought. The scattered light of two or 
 three tapers, held by persons about, 
 threw unsteady gleams over the changed 
 countenance of the dying man. He lay 
 along a rude pallet, his head pillowed on 
 the arm of Ippolita who knelt beside him : 
 her face was hid in his bosom. 
 
 On seeing Valombrosa enter, a flush of 
 joy was visible in Martello's features ; 
 the attempt which he made to move, 
 caused Ippolita to raise her head, and her 
 expressive eyes speaking through tears, 
 met and fixed those of Valombrosa.
 
 14 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALENE 
 
 The latter advanced quickly, but with a 
 soft step, and took the hand of the 
 expiring soldier. Martello returned his 
 pressure with a feeble grasp : he looked 
 wistfully in the young Florentine's face 
 and tried to speak ; the effort however 
 was vain, he sighed, and sunk back upon 
 the arm of Ippolita. Unusually affected, 
 Valombrosa bent his suffused eyes down- 
 wards, while assuring the veteran, that 
 he would consider his daughter as a 
 sacred depovsit 5 that the republic warred 
 not with women ; and that he would 
 therefore engage either to deliver the lady 
 into any hands she might hereafter ap- 
 point, or he would conduct her to his 
 sister at Florence, from whom she might 
 be certain of honourable and affectionate 
 treatment. He concluded this assurance, 
 by kissing the hilt of his sword. 
 
 Martello squeezed his hand again ; at 
 the same instant a noise of boisterous 
 voices was heard in the passage. Va- 
 lombrosa hurried out to rebuke the iu-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 15 
 
 traders. He returned with the unwelcome 
 information, that a party of officers of 
 Stradiotto, had been quartered upon the 
 monastery, and were come to claim the 
 privileges of their billets. The painful 
 change wliich took place in the counte- 
 nance of Martello and of Ippolita re- 
 quired no interpreter. Valombrosa briefly 
 asked the former, whether it were his 
 wish that his daughter should be removed 
 from the neighbourhood of such licentious 
 companions, when Providence should 
 have left her without other protection than 
 him, who again repeated the vow, to afford 
 it to the utmost of his power. 
 
 Martello bowed his head. Ippolita, 
 nearly choaked by her tears, vehemently 
 sobbed out, *< Oh, dear father ! it is for 
 us you die ! and shall I desert you.^' 
 
 The prior now drew near the bed, and 
 directing a glance of deep meaning, al- 
 ternately to the parent and child ; he said, 
 *« an arrow's flight from the point of Monte 
 Agnano, among solitudes little known, 
 
 4
 
 16 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 stands the hermitage of Santa Anna: the 
 holy woman who dwells there, will re- 
 ceive this poor virgin. Brother ! when 
 thy spirit has left its sinful flesh, shall 
 she not seek shelter there ?'* 
 
 Ippolita eagerly kissed the garment 
 of the aged prior. " Father, I bless thee 
 for that thought ! but this honoured — " 
 her eyes finished the sad sentence, as 
 they rested with a look of unutterable 
 anguish upon the figure of Martello. 
 
 His wan cheek beamed for a moment 
 with satisfaction : again he bowed his 
 head in token of approval, and motioned 
 v/ith his feeble hand for her to be gone. 
 
 Convulsed with sudden emotion, Ip- 
 polita flung her arms round his neck : 
 long did she hang there sobbing and 
 speechless ! so long indeed, that his last 
 faint sigh was mixed and lost in her 
 bursts of grief. 
 
 The complete stillness which then suc- 
 ceeded in the body of Martello, to its 
 former tremulous movements, made the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 17 
 
 few surroundirig monks very soon aware 
 of his death, and considerately beckon- 
 ing Valombrosa to accompany them, 
 they severally glided from the cell ; leav- 
 ing the yet unconscious mourner, to the 
 pious consolations of their superior. 
 
 The riotous demands of his military 
 associates, who were vociferously calling 
 for more refreshment from the distant 
 refectory, were unheard by Valombrosa, 
 as he trod the cloisters in awe-struck 
 silence. The past scene weighed upon 
 his heart, oppressing it to pain, and urg- 
 ing on him such a throng of serious re- 
 flections, that it was long before he at- 
 tended to the repeated questions of a 
 monk by his side, who observed with un- 
 easiness the ineffectual bandages of his 
 wound. 
 
 Valombrosa at length recalled to him- 
 self, thankfully accepted this brother's 
 offer of assistance, and turned with him 
 into the surgery of the monastery. 
 
 His other companions hastened to
 
 18 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 satisfy their new inmates, and to silence 
 those irreverent songs, which already be- 
 gan to echo through cloisters sacred to 
 religious praise, and now about to answer 
 to requiems for the dead. 
 
 A skilful outward application, and a 
 reviving inward cordial, administered by 
 his pious friend, was not long in produc- 
 ing beneficial effect upon the sensations 
 of Valombrosa ; so that he was shortly 
 able to join his brother officers, and ex- 
 hort them to respect the sacred dweUing 
 and profession of their entertainers. 
 From their lawless board he was relieved 
 by a summons to a private conference 
 with the prior. 
 
 In this interview, the good man ques- 
 tioned him on his name and family, and 
 his intentions towards the unfortunate 
 lady whom the chance of war had thus 
 thrown upon his humanity. 
 
 Valombrosa's frank and generous re- 
 plies, left anxiety nothing further to learn 
 and Httle to appreheud : he repeated his
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 19 
 
 ofter of immediately consigning the Sig- 
 nora into any other protection ; or if her 
 friends were too distant for that, to carry 
 her to Florence and place her with his 
 sister, till she could apprise them where 
 to claim her. In the meanwhile he was 
 ready to attend her instantly to the Her- 
 mitage of Santa Anna, accompanied by 
 any one of the monks whom the prior 
 might choose to appoint. 
 
 The prior had lived in the world be- 
 fore he devoted himself to heaven, and 
 he never removed his eyes from the 
 young soldier's face during their interest- 
 ing discourse ; his scrutiny was satisfac- 
 tory; he detected nothing on the in- 
 genuous brow of Valombrosa, which con- 
 tradicted his tongue ; he saw there, only 
 pure benevolence, ardent zeal, and gene- 
 rous compassion. 
 
 The worthy father believed that the 
 same impulse would have been felt by the 
 same heart on a similar occasion, even 
 had Ippohta's tears flowed over the
 
 20 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 homeliest cheeks : — and thus believing, 
 he was satisfied to trust her in his hands. 
 
 Night was by this time far spent, the 
 late dawn would soon break ; Valombrosa 
 therefore hinted the expediency of seiz- 
 ing that calm hour, for conducting Ippo- 
 lita to the hermitage. 
 
 Acquiescing in this suggestion, the 
 prior went to communicate the substance 
 of their conference to the mourner, whom 
 he had left at her own request, alone in 
 the chamber of death. 
 
 It was long ere he re-appeared 5 when 
 he did, Ippolita came with him. 
 
 Her veil was down ; she did not re- 
 move it when she entered, though she 
 extended her hand, and gave it to Valom- 
 brosa; he kissed it respectfully without 
 speaking j for her silent sorrow imposed 
 restraint upon the expression of the pity 
 she inspired. 
 
 One of the younger brethren charged 
 with the office of conducting them to
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 21 
 
 Monte D' Agnano, was now beside her ; 
 the prior led the way to the outer court. 
 
 As they cautiously trod the less fre- 
 quented passages leading to the gates 
 which opened on the country, he spoke 
 to her in a low voice, and talked of peace 
 and profitable suffering. Ippolita listened 
 in silence, now and then stopping, and 
 casting behind her a look full of anguish. 
 
 At the last court, she paused, fixing 
 her eyes earnestly upon the grey walls of 
 the monastery, then beginning to redden 
 with the reflection of the eastern clouds. 
 She sighed more than once, and that so 
 deeply, that even her sobs in the death- 
 chamber, had not sounded sadder; but 
 suddenly checking herself, she exclaimed, 
 " Yet, I have much to be grateful for — 
 much I hope, still left !" As she broke 
 0% she bent her knee to the prior, who 
 giving her his benediction, dismissed her 
 with an anxious heart, into a world of 
 trial and temptation.
 
 22 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Closely shrouded in her veil and man- 
 tle, Ippolita walked with an unsteady 
 step between her two protectors. 
 
 Dawn glimmered faintly; yet not so 
 faintly as might have prevented her from 
 seeing melancholy traces of the midnight 
 strife. The crimson stones she trod on, the 
 livid heaps of slain which occasionally 
 obstructed their path, now and then sur- 
 prised her into a thrilling cry, or an 
 audible shudder : the monk crossed him- 
 self at every new horror ; and Valom- 
 brosa with unusual emotion, wondered 
 how any motive could sanctify blood- 
 shed. 
 
 Here and there they passed a camp- 
 follower, employed in rifling the dead ;
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. S3 
 
 and at these moments, Valombrosa's stern 
 mandate to forbear, was followed by in- 
 stant obedience. In crossing a narrow 
 outlet towards the mountains, he ob- 
 served a single body stretched upon the 
 ground. Life had issued there, " at a 
 thousand gaping wounds ;" for the grass 
 around, was reddened in as many chan- 
 nels. The gleam of daylight shone upon 
 some jewels about the breast of the fallen 
 warrior, discovering at the same time a 
 dog which lay moaning at his dead mas- 
 ter's feet. The eye of a straggling plun- 
 derer fell on them at the same instant, and 
 contesting the possession of the body with 
 the faithful animal, was just raising the 
 butt end of his trombone, to knock out 
 the brains of the dog, when Valombrosa, 
 transported beyond himself, sprung for- 
 ward, and felled the ruffian to the earth. 
 " Wretch !" he exclaimed, his eyes 
 striking fire. Ippolita, who had hastily 
 withdrawn her veil at this exclamation, 
 caught a ghmpse of the dead person j
 
 24 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 she ran wildly forward, and tlirovving 
 herself upon the body, pushed away the 
 feathered hat which concealed the face. 
 The sight reassured her ; some indistinct 
 words of thankfulness escaped her lips ; 
 then rising, and shrinking with a trou- 
 bled air from the fixed enquiry of Va- 
 lombrosa's eyes, she turned tremblingly 
 away. 
 
 Whatever might be her own anxieties, 
 Ippolita's heart never shut out pity for 
 others : even now, though bowed down 
 with sorrow for the loss of one honoured 
 protector, and racked with fears for an- 
 other, she could not leave the remains 
 of a fellow-creature to possible indig- 
 nity, and their mute defender to de- 
 struction, without expressing painful re- 
 gret. 
 
 " Then my feelings are warranted by 
 yours, Signora," said Valombrosa, the 
 pleasure of generous sympathy brighten- 
 ing his eyes. " Go on, good Father ; 
 I will but see this poor animal, and the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. !^5 
 
 tiody he protects, placed beyond further 
 outrage, and overtake you on the instant. 
 — Yon flying dastard ! — but that my 
 time is precious — " his indignant glance 
 finished the imperfect sentence. 
 
 Still flaming with noble anger, he 
 called loudly on the Florentine guard, 
 which had replaced that of the Pisans in 
 the town; and while he remained to 
 witness the transfer of the corse to his 
 own quarters, and to see that no unfeel- 
 ing sport was made with its humble 
 guardian, Ippolita fearfully pursued her 
 way ; — pursued it in the midst of other 
 thoughts ; «- thoughts of distressing in- 
 terest. 
 
 How strangely were frailty and noble- 
 ness mixed in her young protector ! she 
 «aw, or fancied she saw, that he was a 
 being of impulse; for how imprudent 
 was the blow, which had it been despe- 
 rately returned, might have deprived him 
 of life, and left her to greater horrors 
 than those he had rescued her from! 
 
 VOL, I. c
 
 '2h IHh VAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 the same humanity, more temperately 
 displayed, would have attained its ob- 
 ject as surely, without incurring the risk 
 of provoking the offender to assault in 
 self-defence. 
 
 Yet, to her gentle nature, which sym- 
 pathised even with the limited suffering 
 of what we call irrational creatures ; to 
 her, the impulse, all headlong as it was, 
 and coupled with passion, was admirable 
 and endearing. 
 
 Hastening onward, though with a fluc- 
 tuating pace, the monk and the Signora 
 were overtaken by Valombrosa, ere they 
 had ascended the first stage of the moun- 
 tain : his humane task was happily ac- 
 c<^mplished ; and the lightning of anger 
 in his eyes, had given place to a sweet 
 heftyiness, expressive of thought and ten- 
 der commiseration. 
 
 Soothed by his sympathising manner, 
 Ippplita was gradually won to answer 
 and to inquire : and though tears often 
 interrupted her speech with bitter recol-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. T/ 
 
 lection of the lamented remains she was 
 forced to abandon, yet some other strong 
 interest evidently shared her heart, and 
 made her anxious to learn particulars of 
 the prisoners taken in the town and its 
 outskirts. 
 
 Their way led over precipitous goat- 
 tracks, across steeps as bleak as barren ; 
 then they struck into an extensive pine 
 wood, where a chilling thaw was drip- 
 ping from every tree. The risen sun 
 shot brightly, but not warmly, through 
 the dark umbrage, vainly striving to 
 pierce the thick mists, which in masses 
 almost tangible, filled the space between 
 the ground and the branches of the 
 trees. 
 
 As far as the eye could reach, moun- 
 tain rose above mountain, through this 
 sea of vapour, their pinnacles alternately 
 louring in gloom or dazzling with sun- 
 beams ; while deep below, every object 
 lay buried under billows of mist. 
 
 The monk, having preceded his coni- 
 c 2
 
 28 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK. 
 
 panions in ascending a very steep path, 
 led the way down the opposite declivity, 
 whence suddenly plunging into a ravine 
 overhung with gigantic cedars, he pro- 
 ceeded, gradually descending under in- 
 creasing shade, till almost total darkness 
 enveloped them, and the very heavens 
 were exchided by the umbrageous roof 
 above. 
 
 Valombrosa and Ippolita, though walk- 
 ing close together, could no longer see 
 each other distinctly; they were there- 
 fore obliged to trust to the sound of their 
 conductor's feet for directions where to 
 ibllow : but soon even that distinct sound 
 was lost in the noise of a torrent dashing 
 through a neighbouring chasm, and all 
 then became doubt and danger. 
 
 The sullen splash of the water, the icy 
 drip of the trees, the darkness and drea- 
 riness of the place, thrilled Ippolita with 
 unusual dread : she drew closer to Va- 
 lombrosa, and for the first time grasped 
 his arm.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 29 
 
 He sought to re-assure her : the silver 
 tones of his voice were rendered more 
 ^striking by the silence ^nd darkness 
 around; and their mere sweetness was 
 tranquilHzing. 
 
 Ippolita recovered from her moment- 
 ary weakness with a stifled sigh, adding, 
 " I was fancying the horror of being 
 here alone at midnight — the certainty 
 of being lost without a guide.*' 
 
 Valombrosa joined in the truth of the 
 last remark ; little aware that even this 
 savage solitude was associated with the 
 object of her chief anxiety, and that his 
 assent to her opinion was fatal to her 
 composure. 
 
 " We are not far from Santa Anna 
 now," said the monk, stopping till they 
 came up with him. " This dismal pass 
 may be Hkened to our path of hfe — dark, 
 dangerous, and wearisome : but heaven 
 will open on us beyond." 
 
 Ippolita folded her hands over her breast 
 with chastised feelings ; and in that 
 c 3
 
 so THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 humble attitude resumed her interrirpted 
 progress. 
 
 The ravine seemed to have no outlet, 
 for on reaching the extremity of its steep 
 descent, a mass of tangled thickets and 
 jutting rocks, apparently barred all egress ; 
 but the monk laboriously pulling aside 
 some huge boughs of ancient larch, dis- 
 covered a concealed and narrow passage, 
 and calling on his companions to follow, 
 they passed singly, and with difficulty, 
 through pendant underwood and forked 
 blocks of granite. 
 
 The heavy trees swaying back when 
 they were through, closed up the pass. 
 
 Every thing was changed ! Ippolita and 
 Valombrosa stood enchanted : the broad 
 bosom of a lower mountain spread before 
 them, liberal of beauty and sunshine. 
 All the glories of morning were poured 
 upon thickets of holly and arbutus, green 
 as spring, and glittering with dew. Near 
 a small lake fringed with the hardy
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. I 
 
 verdure of arborescent heaths, stood the 
 hermitage of Santa Anna. 
 
 It was rudely built of stone, but the 
 contrasted forms of the spiral and spread- 
 ing trees around it, grouped well with 
 its low, irregular figure, and with the 
 rough-hewn cross by which it was sur- 
 mounted. 
 
 Long exposure to the air, by producing 
 a soft brown tint, had mellowed the 
 glaring whiteness of the stone, into 
 harmony with the surrounding object? ; 
 and now the increase of mosses and weather 
 sta.ins upon the fractured surface of the 
 building, threatened soon to blend it 
 entirely with the darker shades of the 
 back-ground. 
 
 Wreaths of smoke ascending from the 
 solitary chimney, and the grateful smeli 
 of burning rosebay issuing from the 
 entrance, spoke of comfort and warmth 
 within ; yet Ippolita when they reached 
 the threshold, held back on the arm 
 c 41
 
 32 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 of Valombrosa, and motioned for the 
 monk to enter aJone. 
 
 Valombrosa felt her tremble, as she 
 leaned upon him, and he would have im- 
 pelled her forwardy but she withheld him. 
 
 The monk re-appeared ; " be of good 
 cheer, daughter I" he said, and motioned 
 her to advance. 
 
 Ippolita's raised eye uttered the thanks- 
 giving she did not articulate ; and na 
 longer hesitating, she folio v/ed her guide. 
 
 Formless seats of wood, with a block 
 of mountain marble for a table, an hour- 
 glass, a crucifix, and the image of the 
 patron saint, furnished the single apart- 
 ment. Its inhabitant, a woman of severe 
 piety, smiled not like her blazing fire, 
 but she welcomed Ippolita with serious 
 earnestness ; assuring her, that protected 
 by the Virgin and Santa Anna, her solitary 
 abode had never, during twenty years, 
 been invaded either by ruffian or ^,avage 
 beast.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. tjTJ 
 
 The pious woman added something 
 else in a low voice ; but as it was ad- 
 dressed solely to Ippolita, Valombrosa 
 delicately removed himself from their 
 side : he guessed, however, tliat wliat 
 she said, was of a consoling import, for 
 it gave sudden illumination to the 
 Signora's melancholy aspect* 
 
 After a short interval of rest; the monk 
 unloosed from his shoulders a little wallet 
 of better provisions than his fair charge 
 was likely to find at Santa Anna, and 
 ■i^alled on Valombrosa to return. 
 
 The latter unwillingly rose to obey his 
 summons; for he shrunk from leaving 
 his lovely companion in such defenceless 
 seclusion, and he fancied that her sud- 
 denly altered look betrayed similar ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 Daring their walk, he had enquired 
 her wishes for the future ; and finding 
 her still inclined to follow the advice of 
 the prior, he had undertaken to attend 
 her to Florence, the moment the com- 
 c 3
 
 S4 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 mander would sanction his absence. He 
 now, therefore, renewed his engagement, 
 earnestly beseeching the charitable re- 
 cluse to guard the Signora from the 
 sight of any possible intruder, assuring 
 her that he would press his return to 
 claim her, with all the zeal of anxiety. 
 
 In losing sight of Valombrosa, Ippo- 
 litafelt as if her last prop were departing 
 from her : but when she recollected that, 
 not twelve hours before, his very person 
 was unknown to her ; when she recalled 
 the death of her last protector, the tu- 
 multuous distraction which had preceded 
 it, the anguish and uncertainty which had 
 followed ; when she thought of what she 
 might find in Florence, (Florence, the 
 source and scene of horrors in which all 
 most dear to her had once been involved,) 
 whdn she imaged possible events fatal 
 to herself and to others, she was ready 
 to exclaim, " here rather let me live — 
 here die." 
 
 4
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 35 
 
 But Other reasonings convinced, other 
 motives influenced ; and with a smother- 
 ed sigh, she echoed Valombrosa's parting 
 assurance, that they should soon meet 
 again. 
 
 The latter returned her an inspirit- 
 ing smile ; then bidding the monk lead 
 on, was speedily lost with him, among 
 the dark recesses of the ravine. 
 
 c 6
 
 S6 THE FAST OF 9T. MAGDALEN. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 It may now be proper to inquire into the 
 liistory of Ippolita's preserver. 
 
 A second son of Torquato Marquis 
 Valombrosa, Orlando Valori, was early 
 devoted to the profession of arms ; there- 
 fore passed the first years of his youth, 
 among camps and fortresses. Educated 
 in his native city, during the last brilliant 
 days of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and so 
 familiarised with the newly-discovered 
 stores of Greek and Roman literature, 
 he carried into warlike scenes, not merely 
 an ardour for military renown, but the 
 admiration and emulation of intellectual 
 excellence. 
 
 The Valori family next in power and 
 w-ealth to that of the Medici," were
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. SJ 
 
 strongly attached to the person of Lo- 
 renzo, then nominally the first citizen of 
 the Republic^ but, in reality, its wise, 
 powerful, and beneficent sovereign. 
 
 During the short administration of 
 Piero, Lorenzo's son and successor, the 
 attachment of the Valori was wearied 
 out by the new ruler's imprudent display 
 of authority ; and the sword of Torquato 
 was finally among the first that barred 
 Piero's entrance to the hall of legislation. 
 
 After the expulsion of the Medici, and 
 the restoration of a popular government, 
 Torquato filled several important offices : 
 distinguishing himself by inflexible, al- 
 most severe, justice 5 by a disregard of 
 reward, more proudly shown than calmly 
 felt ; and by an ostentation of disinter- 
 estedness in the discharge of his civic 
 duty. 
 
 This ungracious character, rendered 
 still less amiable by manners as austere in 
 private as in public life, made him rather 
 an object of respect and fear to his do-
 
 38 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 rnestic circle, than of its affection and 
 confidence. His Marchioness, a Tyrolese 
 lady, of higher birth than fortune, even 
 from the first days of their union seemed 
 unable to resist the chilHng effect of 
 such a partner ; it was said indeed, that 
 obliged to accept his hand when her 
 vows were given to another, she could 
 never overcome her subsequent remorse. 
 Be that as it might, though she certainly 
 loved her children and reverenced her 
 lord, she had not strength of mind 
 sufficient to rouse herself from those 
 habits of melancholy and listlessness, 
 which gradually grew upon her youth j 
 but as she preserved her exquisite beauty 
 through the twenty-one years of their 
 union, and as her husband considered 
 women's minds with perfect contempt, 
 her unsocial sadness threw a cloud over 
 the youthful spirits of her children only. 
 Depressed by his mother's habitual 
 dejection, and his father's severity, the 
 animated Orlando was inwardly glad that
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 39 
 
 his order of birth allowed him the 
 cheerful refuge of a camp $ while his 
 brother, in right of seniority, was con- 
 demned to the withering influence of 
 their splendid but joyless home. 
 
 Lucio Valori was well suited to such a 
 situation, for being the only child of a 
 former marriage, the languor of the 
 present Marchioness gave him no con- 
 cern j and the sterner parts of his father's 
 character found exaggerated sympathy 
 in his. 
 
 Without any of the weaknesses of youth, 
 or any of its grosser inclinations, Lucio 
 neither created sohcitude in his friends 
 nor contempt in his enemies. One or two 
 malignant passions however, secretly 
 possessed him ; and had length of days 
 been allotted him, he might have blotted 
 the page of Italian history with crimes 
 commensurate to its many horrors. 
 
 But his life was short : death entered 
 the house of Valori, a true king of terrors; 
 and in one short twelvemonth, but two
 
 40 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 of its members, and they the youngest, 
 were left. 
 
 Clemenza the eldest daughter of the 
 Marquis, had died in the spring of life, 
 of a malignant fever : but it was not till 
 two years afterwards, that the disastrous 
 destiny of the family might be said to 
 commence. 
 
 At the beginning of 1504, the Marchio- 
 isess Valombrosa perished by the fumes of 
 charcoal, at one of her husband's resi- 
 dences in the Casentino. The ignorance 
 or negligence of her woman, had not 
 foreseen the deadly effect of such vapours 
 in a room from which the outward air was 
 entirely excluded ; and no opening having 
 been left, the unhappy lady was found 
 lifeless in the morning. Ten months af- 
 terwards, the Marquis and his eldest son 
 travelling to Rome, too thinly attended, 
 were attacked among the mountains of 
 the Bolognese, overpowered, and mur- 
 dered.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 41 
 
 This event following so closely upon 
 the sad fate of her mother, fell with dis- 
 astrous weight upon the delicate frame of 
 Rosalia, the remaining daughter. 
 
 From infancy she had appeared of so 
 susceptible a temperament, that proper 
 care at length degenerated into weak in- 
 dulgence j and her infirm constitution was 
 solicitously spared, rather than judicious- 
 ly exercised. 
 
 The keenest sensibilities even in child- 
 hood, sensibilities unhappily fostered by 
 her mother's melancholy humour, shook 
 her fragile nerves almost to destruction. 
 The fever that carried off Clemenza had 
 seized upon the feebler frame of Rosalia 
 with frightful violence; and though it 
 spared her life, entailed upon her an epi- 
 leptic affection, which at first threatened 
 her immediate dissolution, then menaced 
 her intellects, and sparing them, finally 
 terminated ; but not without leaving a 
 mark, which rendered her still more the 
 object of affectionate solicitude.
 
 ■V2 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 The successive deaths of her mother, fa- 
 ther and brother, renewed for a time, those 
 alarming convulsions : so that it required 
 all the tenderness and attention of her only 
 surviving guardian, to restore her mind 
 and nerves to a comparatively healthy 
 state. 
 
 Become Marquis of Valombrosa by 
 the deaths of his father and Lucio, Or- 
 lando hastened from San Yicenza where 
 he was on service, to take possession of 
 his estates, and to comfort his sister. 
 
 Having procured for her the protection 
 of an excellent woman whom benevo- 
 lent inclination, rather than necessity, 
 induced to fill the place of his mother in 
 their domestic circle, he preferred keep- 
 ing this dear and unfortunate sister with- 
 in the reach of his own fostering care, to 
 placing her in the dreary society of a con- 
 vent. Rosalia therefore remained in her 
 brother's house : growing into youth from 
 childhood ; gradually becoming less pen- 
 sive ; less solitary 5 less suffering j inter-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. iS 
 
 esting his heart, and winding herself 
 closely there, with all its dearest thoughts. 
 It seems as if our affection for any ob- 
 ject increases in proportion to the num- 
 ber or degree of the virtuous feelings 
 which it calls into exercise : we are there- 
 fore accustomed to love most tenderly 
 the being for whom we have most suffered 
 or struggled. Thus Valombrosa, hourly 
 called upon for pity and forbearance, 
 and watchful attendance, by the helpless 
 state of Rosalia, attached himself to her, 
 with a fervor and tenderness rarely felt. 
 
 A great command of money enabled 
 him to procure for her the advice of the 
 celebrated physicians of other countries 
 as well as those of his own ; and he had 
 at length the joy of hearing from one of 
 the most experienced, that if her heart 
 could be guarded from any new shock, 
 her constitution would finally fix in com- 
 parative strength. 
 
 Human means could not ward off ca- 
 lamity ; but Valombrosa resolved, that
 
 44 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 whatever he might be destined to suffer, 
 no sorrow should be inflicted by his con* 
 duct, nor should any of his selfish anxie- 
 ties be communicated to her. 
 
 Present griefs, however, Valombrosa 
 had none : for the late disasters did not 
 long press upon the elastic spirit of youth ; 
 and he had lived too little at home since 
 he was a child, to remember the relations 
 now torn from it, with circumstances of 
 peculiar endearment. 
 
 Whenever he returned to Florence, 
 after a campaign, his heart used to find 
 no fellowship with those of his father and 
 brother. His eldest sister was receiving 
 her education at a convent; and his 
 mother sunk in a mournful apathy, for 
 which he knew no sufficient cause. But 
 the gentle creature he knew best, there- 
 fore loved most ; she whose apartment 
 had been his real home, while all else in 
 the Palazzo Valombrosa was alien to him^ 
 was his sister Rosalia ; her he retained,
 
 THE F/CST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 45 
 
 and he blest: could he then be other- 
 wise than gratefully happy ! 
 
 Exactly four years had intervened be- 
 tween the death of the last Marquis, and 
 the period in which this history com- 
 mences, and Valombrosa's character had 
 risen cheeringly above the oppression of 
 family disasters. 
 
 His palace in Florence, and his villas in 
 its vicinity, began to rival the fame of 
 those in the age just preceding i equal- 
 ling them in the decorations of taste and 
 magnificence, in the treasures of art and 
 science, in the throng of learned men who 
 sought Valombrosa's patronage : surpass- 
 ing them in the ease, freedom, and ani- 
 mation, which his gaily-ingenuous cha- 
 racter imparted to social meetings. 
 
 His time of life precluding him from 
 filling any public station of dignity com- 
 mensurate with his rank, Valombrosa 
 gave himself up to the enjoyment of so- 
 ciety : thus enriching his mind, even 
 more by conversation than by books, and
 
 46 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK. 
 
 rather cultivating the social regard of 
 his compatriots, than exasperating their 
 envy. 
 
 Perhaps no man had more friends and 
 fewer enemies : for his fine qualities were 
 not without alloy ; and his associates, re- 
 membering that he now and then sunk 
 beneath their level of prudence and com- 
 mand of temper, forgave his excelling 
 them in generosity and temperance. 
 
 At four-and-twenty, (that charming 
 age when youth breaks into manhood, 
 and the greatest indiscretions find per- 
 haps too ready an excuse in the ardour 
 of the blood!) V^alombrosa's character 
 certainly displayed the faults of his age ; 
 but these were really overbalanced by a 
 far larger proportion of amiable ana es- 
 timable properties. 
 
 Frank, true, and unsuspicious ; firm as 
 warm in friendship ; with large and li- 
 beral views of his duties as a patriot and 
 a patron ; rightly understanding the best 
 and most splendid means of exalting the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 4? 
 
 nobility of his name ; respectful to age 
 and misfortune ; prompt to pity ; eager 
 to redress wrong as to forgive injury; 
 easily convinced of error ; prouder of un- 
 sullied family honour than of family anti- 
 quity ; kind nearly to excess to those be- 
 neath him ; and attached to his kindred 
 with the tenderest affection. 
 
 Among his faults might be numbered 
 credulity, rash judgments, aversion to 
 deep investigations, and a deficiency of 
 that mental courage without which all our 
 virtues, are built on sand. His temper, 
 which carried anger, as the flint doth 
 fire, had never received any check from 
 himself nor others: for if it lightened 
 through his social circle, the storm was 
 so brief, and such enchanting sunshine 
 succeeded, that his companions thought 
 only of enjoying the present brightness j 
 and if it gathered over a domestic, such 
 a shower of bounties and favours, almost 
 immediately fell from the same eloud,
 
 48 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEK. 
 
 that gratitude or self-interest, or indul- 
 gent partiality, stifled complaint. 
 
 Valombrosa's engaging physiognomy 
 developed this character to the most care- 
 less observer, for its rapid changes were 
 true to every variety of his feelings, 
 or his fancy. Ardour was perhaps its 
 chief characteristic ; yet only strangers 
 thought so : for in the sweet every-day 
 of home, his heart and his eyes over- 
 flowed with tenderness. 
 
 Every one that had seen Valombrosa, 
 called him singularly handsome ; yet 
 when they tried to ascertain the precise 
 grounds for such an assertion, they could 
 not recollect them. 
 
 A graceful manliness of figure, and an 
 expressive countenance ; an air of noble- 
 ness ; and a voice to which he could give 
 the music of every tender or powerful pas- 
 sion, made him become his quality. Thus 
 accomplished, amiable, young and rich, 
 the women of course decreed him all 
 the honours of an Apollo.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 49 
 
 After succeeding to the estates of his 
 father, Valombrosa's military habits were 
 for a long time disused. Intent upon 
 pouring his wealth into the best channels, 
 and upon making Florence again the seat 
 of the fine arts, he forgot for awhile his 
 first passion, the love of arms. 
 
 In truth, no very important field of 
 action for some time invited : for the Re- 
 public cautiously stood aloof, while suc- 
 cessively the Bolognese was contested by 
 the Pope and the Bentivoglio ; and the 
 Venetian power was struggling against 
 the united strength of the Holy See, of 
 France, and the Empire. 
 
 Florence employed her troops solely in 
 her domestic quarrel with the Pisansj 
 and though the revolt of that people from 
 her authority, had been successfully 
 maintained above fourteen years, she 
 hoped to find the present opportunity 
 favourable for crushing them : they were 
 left alone ; nearly all the rest of Italy 
 were engaged in their own particular 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 wars, therefore unable to assist the rebel 
 state. 
 
 One of the towns belonging to Pisa, in 
 the Appenines, having been well fortified, 
 became a sort of hiding place for armed 
 adventurers, whence they issued forth 
 into the territory of the Florentines, 
 wasting and plundering at will. The 
 band was commanded by a Pisan general 
 of great estimation, and the devastation 
 consequently made on the lands of the 
 Republic, called on its legislature to re- 
 duce the rebel strong-hold without loss of 
 time. 
 
 Having determined in council, on the 
 surprise of this fortress, an efficient body 
 of foreign troops, principally officered 
 by the young nobility of Florence, was 
 ordered upon the service ; and Valom- 
 brosa, though unwilling to agitate his 
 sister, found his honour too loudly called 
 upon, for him to delay joining their 
 standard. 
 
 The surprise and capture of the town
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 51 
 
 liave been already related. Valombrosa 
 bravely distinguished himself; and yet 
 more nobly in the merciful part which 
 followed. 
 
 After the reduction of the place, the 
 commission of vdunteers ceased, con- 
 sequently Valombrosa, when he repaired 
 a second time to the quarters of the ge- 
 neral, obtained his immediate sanction to 
 return home. He then lost no time in 
 providing for the conveyance of Ippolita 
 from Santa Anna ; and leaving no other 
 office of humanity unfulfilled, hastened 
 to claim her the second morning after 
 the capture of the town. 
 
 Ashe went along, Valombrosa's thoughts 
 naturally dwelt upon the person he was 
 about to take charge of; and he beguiled 
 the way, by conjecturing her character 
 and situation. 
 
 Her air and manner, he decided, mig*ht 
 grace the highest nobility ; but it was 
 no less certain, she was not born in that 
 D 2 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF lUmOJS
 
 52 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 rank which could entitle her to domesti- 
 cate with the sister of the Marquis Va- 
 lombrosa. 
 
 Her father, so the prior said, and so 
 indeed he seemed, had been an officer 
 of no note ; the rest of her relations 
 were persons of broken fortunes, scattered 
 over different states. What would the 
 world say, were Valombrosa to place 
 such a person, however amiable and un- 
 fortunate, upon a level with the Signora 
 Rosalia Valori ! 
 
 Why, say what it would, the peculiar 
 circumstances of his meeting with the 
 di strc ssed lady, excused him to his own 
 heart, for any intended violation of 
 ordinarv forms : he had sworn to con- 
 tribute all in his power to comfort her, 
 and he would do so to the utmost. 
 
 He determined therefore to present her 
 to his sister ; and it would then remain 
 with Ippolita's own sense of propriety, to 
 conduct herself with the modesty of her
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 53 
 
 State, and to mark without abjectness, 
 that she knew the difference between a 
 benefactress and a famihar friend. 
 
 Having settled this point to his satis- 
 faction, Valombrosa mused over her 
 behaviour under her affliction. It had 
 certainly been that of a daughter affec- 
 -ionately attached to the parent so cruelly 
 torn from life ; but still, it was not that 
 of a woman from whom every thing 
 most dear is snatched. Assuredly grief 
 and anxiety divided her mind ; nay Va- 
 lombrosa even thought, that anxiety had 
 the chief share. 
 
 There must then be some living object 
 dearer to Ippolita than this beloved 
 father : it could not be a mother, for the 
 prior had spoken of the lady as an orphan. 
 A youthful heart was not long in guessing 
 that object to be a lover : and the con- 
 jecture so far from cooling Valombrosa's 
 ardour to serve her, gave vigour to his 
 generous desire of extending happiness, 
 D 3
 
 54 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN'. 
 
 and he pleased himself with thinking 
 what joy he was thus preparing for some 
 amiable man. 
 
 The way to Santa Anna, though ob- 
 scure, was to him who had once passed 
 it, not intricate, and Valombrosa retraced 
 it alone at noon day without difficulty. 
 
 On reaching the hermitage, he found 
 Jppolita gratefully willing to accept his 
 immediate escort to Florence; and her 
 pious protectress, though earnest in ex- 
 horting her to abjure a sinful world, was 
 not obstinate in her attempt at detaining 
 her. 
 
 If Valombrosa were struck by the 
 countenance of Ippolita when he first saw 
 it, all convulsed by terror and anguish, 
 how much was his admiration now ex- 
 cited, by her altered appearance. 
 
 Sorrow indeed was heavy in her down- 
 cast eyes : but so divine an expression of 
 submission, almost smiled upon her 
 parted lips, tliat he justly believed she 
 had known bitter trials before, and early
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 55 
 
 learned the hard, hard lesson to resign, 
 and yet to hope. 
 
 Her dark-brown hair simply folded 
 round her head with careless yet decent 
 grace, marked the alabaster of her fore- 
 head, and the clearness of a cheek, which 
 was only more transparent, not less lu- 
 cidly white. 
 
 Tears hung on the long lashes that 
 shaded her dark eyes ; but they now 
 sparkled there, like rain drops in a sun- 
 beam. 
 
 Her beautiful proportions, her perfect 
 features, their sublime paleness, and yet 
 more, that air of modest dignity which 
 distinguished her, reminded Valombrosa 
 of the most finished models of Grecian 
 sculpture. Helookedat her Vestal beauty, 
 perhaps too earnestly ; for as her eyes 
 encountered his, she cast them down 
 again, with a look of disturbance. 
 
 Valombrosa recovered himselfinstantly : 
 his respectful and tempered address soon 
 re-assured her ; and taking a reverential 
 D 4
 
 56 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 farewell of the recluse, Ippolita at last 
 committed herself to his sole guidance 
 and good faith. 
 
 By Valombrosa's direction, a litter for 
 her, and mules for himself and his at- 
 tendants waited at the foot of the moun- 
 tain. His arguments had prevailed on her 
 to proceed without re-entering the town : 
 for though he appreciated the filial sen- 
 timent which prompted her to visit the 
 monastery of Spirito Santo ; he saw so 
 much to apprehend, from her thus re- 
 newing the recollections of that fatal 
 night in the scene where its saddest 
 events were acted, that he urged her not 
 to gratify the melancholy wish. 
 
 Had Ippolita been singly to suffer from 
 the effects of sorrow so indulged, she 
 would not have avoided its tributary 
 pang ; but now it was become her duty 
 not to draw unnecessarily, or selfishly, 
 upon the sympathies of a stranger and 
 benefactor. She therefore got into the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 57 
 
 litter tearfully, but with a smile of pen- 
 sive acknowledgment ; and drawing the 
 curtains round, withdrew herself from the 
 eyes of Valombrosa. 
 
 D 5
 
 ,58 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEJ*. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The short winter-day had long closed, 
 when the travellers entered The beautiful 
 city, as Florence was then called. 
 
 Its stately palaces and churches were 
 obscured by the darkness: except here 
 and there, where an image of the Virgin 
 was lighted up in the streets, or some 
 Signor proceeding to an entertainment, 
 was preceded by the glare of torch- 
 bearers. 
 
 Their partial illuminations, now and 
 then brightened a ripple of the Arno, 
 as it glided under the marble arches of 
 the Ponta della Trinita; or glimmered like 
 glow-worms among the lofty trees which 
 extend their majestic avenue from the 
 Porta Romano to the hills. 
 
 Dark as the avenues were, the squares
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 59 
 
 which the travellers crossed, were ren- 
 dered more luminous and lively by groups 
 of masked passengers, and by the sound 
 of music within the houses. A happy 
 heart might have listened to catch the 
 joyous strains, or to observe the motley 
 parties ; but Valombrosa, however natu- 
 rally inclined to cheerfulness, was now 
 intent upon another's comfort, and he 
 rode by the side of Ippolita's litter, inat- 
 tentive to passing objects. 
 
 Whatever were the Signora's emotions 
 while proceeding through the proud 
 streets of Florence, they were not com- 
 municated to her companion ; for she 
 never moved the curtains of her litter to 
 address him. 
 
 There was, however, a fixed serious- 
 ness in her look, when he assisted her 
 in ahghting, which showed her mind 
 locked up in meditations deep and extra- 
 ordinary : the hand she placed on his, was 
 as much like marble to the touch, as to 
 the eye^ and when she recovered from 
 D 6
 
 60 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 her abstraction, all her outward senses 
 appeared bewildered. 
 
 Ippolita's self-possession was first re- 
 stored to her, by sight of the joy which 
 their master's safe return excited in his 
 domestics. His kind replies to their re- 
 spectful greetings, nay the very warmth 
 of those greetings, was an additional 
 proof of his amiable nature ; and Ippo- 
 lita, who loved to indulge in the grateful 
 sentiments of admiration and affection, 
 was pleased to find her protector's cha- 
 racter thus consistently gracious. 
 
 Valombrosa now led her up a richly- 
 painted staircase, through a suite of 
 splendid galleries and saloons, where 
 Brunelleschi's noblest conceptions of 
 architecture, were embodied in majestic 
 arches and colonnades of the costliest 
 marb-les. 
 
 in these stately apartments, magnifi- 
 cence succeeded to magnificence with such 
 noble profusion, that even Ippolita's
 
 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK. 61 
 
 occupied mind was called forth in pleased 
 astonishment. 
 
 An excess of light reflected from 
 large Venetian mirrors, dazzled the eye 
 with the variety of interesting objects 
 which were judiciously arranged, not 
 confusedly crowded into the scene. 
 
 In this suite of rooms the productions 
 of every distinguished age, were placed 
 according to its order of time. The ear- 
 liest specimens of art, in the remains of 
 Egyptian and Etruscan models, were 
 followed by those of Greece in the dis- 
 tinct epochas of Pericles and Alexander. 
 Then came the works of Grecian artists 
 tinder the Roman emperors : and, lastly, 
 the productions of modern Italy j of 
 
 thatstill-memorable period, when itsgeniiis 
 burst forth at once, mature and perfect, 
 like Minerva from the head of Jupiter. 
 
 On one hand Ippolita saw piles of an- 
 cient literature, either in the originals 
 tiiemselves, or copied from the first ma-
 
 62 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 nuscripts : on the other she saw the 
 printed works of later poets and histo- 
 rians, in all the splendour of recent gild- 
 ing and illumination. 
 
 Wherever she turned, the scene was 
 lavish of offered pleasure ; and that of a 
 pleasure which not even " the firm philo- 
 sopher might scorn :" for whatever ob- 
 jects presented themselves, either record- 
 ed the magnificence of past ages, or 
 showed that times present, tried to emu- 
 late the greatness of their predecessors. 
 
 This was no Sybarite abode of un- 
 manly luxury. Here every decoration 
 had its use, or gave its lesson. Here the 
 noblest ornaments spoke to the noblest 
 faculties of man ; and taught a higher 
 ambition than that of wealth or heredi- 
 tary honours, the ambition of intellectual 
 distinction. 
 
 Ippolita had heard of residences like 
 these, when they who described them, 
 spoke with the keen regret of Exiles y
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 6S 
 
 and she unconsciously sighed in the 
 midst of her mental ravishment. 
 
 Valombrosa believing her weary, 
 prayed her to rest upon a couch in the 
 last apartment, while he went to meet his 
 sister in private, ere he should present 
 them to each other. 
 
 His absence was not a brief one ; and 
 Ippolita's meditations received no other 
 interruption, than what a servant gave, 
 who came to place refreshments before 
 her. After a courteous notice of this at- 
 tention, she fell back into the trance that 
 was upon her, when she entered Flo- 
 rence. 
 
 This was not a dreamless trance : vi- 
 sions, strange and affecting, alternately 
 chilled or wrung her heart ; till at length, 
 the saddest of all, the untimely death of 
 her father, terminated the chain, and her 
 over-tasked feelings found relief in a gush 
 of tears. 
 
 Her stormy grief had somewhat sub- 
 sided, though still she wept, when the 
 
 lO
 
 64 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 silver sound of Valombrosa's voice with- 
 out, warned her of his approach: he 
 came, with his sister supported on his 
 arm. 
 
 He led Rosalia forward, with the ten- 
 derest cautiousness, to the couch whence 
 Ippolita rose to meet them. 
 
 •* Give me your hand, Signora !'* said 
 a voice of kindred, yet much softer 
 sweetness than her brother's. 
 
 Ippolita obeyed. 
 
 *« Welcome ! dearly welcome !" repeat- 
 ed the interesting young creature, press- 
 ing that hand with both her's. " Dearly 
 welcome ! since I am indebted to you 
 for Orlando's return, and for an additional 
 cause to love him V 
 
 Ippolita's agitated lips silently printed 
 her thanks upon the delicate hand which 
 continued to hold her's. Valombrosa 
 considerately interpreted her thoughts iu 
 words, and placed his sister upon the 
 same seat with that to which he led back 
 the fair orphan.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 65 
 
 Ippolita fixed her speaking eyes upoo 
 the youthful form of Rosalia with a look 
 so full of tender commiseration and 
 grateful pleasure, that Valom.brosa's coun- 
 tenance sparkled. He had praised the 
 person while describing the character of 
 this cherished sister, and it was delight- 
 ful to read in Ippolita's eloquent look, 
 that his enthusiasm was not exaggerated 
 partiality. 
 
 But it was not every one who would 
 have felt like Ippolita. 
 
 Rosalia was formed to attract, but the 
 romantic few. She was a blighted lily ; 
 and in looking on her, the melancholy 
 idea of decay, mingled wath conjectures of 
 what the fair flower might have been, had 
 not untimely frost nipped its early beauty. 
 
 Her figure was little more than a 
 graceful shadow. Her features, indeed, 
 v;ere interesting; but they wanted the 
 glow of health, and the flash of vivacity. 
 Instead of those charms natural to youth, 
 her transparent complexion was only va-
 
 66 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 Tied by a tender pink upon her cheek, 
 which occasionally mixing with the azure 
 of crossing vein, produced that soft un- 
 certainty of tint, which distinguishes the 
 pearly colouring of Guido. 
 
 Even her profusely-long hair was in 
 unison with the delicate fragihty of her 
 frame ; it was of the colour and texture 
 of unwrought silk. 
 
 Eyes of pale dewy light, like the star 
 of evening ; and a sighing voice like its 
 plaintive breeze, added interest to such 
 a form and such a complexion. The 
 voice and the eyes united, excited ideas 
 of another and a purer world; and they 
 who once were touched by them, soon 
 discovered in her mind, and person, and 
 situation, such an affecting harmony, that 
 they could scarcely wish that harmony 
 destroyed, even by health and happiness. 
 
 And was not Rosalia happy ? — Alas 1 
 she was blind, and she had once seen ! 
 
 Those beautiful eyes which whenever 
 she was addressed, were raised and di-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 6? 
 
 rected towards the speaker with a full- 
 ness of expression which rivetted his at- 
 tention, were blanks to the possessor. 
 They still transmitted all her feelings to 
 others, but they no longer gave her in 
 return the looks and feelings of her 
 companions. Surrounded by persons 
 dear to her heart, from the age of eleven 
 to seventeen she had seen them only by 
 memory, or in imagination ; and she felt 
 the breath of every changing season, with- 
 out being able to fix an adoring gaze 
 upon the endless varieties of creation. 
 
 In consequence of the nervous affec- 
 tion which followed the fever caught from 
 her sister, a gutta serena had suddenly 
 deprived her of sight, and as is customary, 
 without impairing the appearance of the 
 eye. 
 
 At first, Rosalia's fortitude sunk under 
 such a misfortune ; and shunning society* 
 she gave herself up to despair. Fortu- 
 nately about the period of her father's 
 dreadful death, their family confessor
 
 68 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 bad a summons to Rome, and his place 
 was supplied by a priest of singular pro- 
 bity and persuasiveness. By degrees his 
 gentle admonitions calmed the violence 
 of Rosalia's regret ; and his enlightened 
 piety teaching her the purpose of divine 
 chastisements, their beneficial effects, 
 their warning not to provoke other priva- 
 tions by thoughtless disregard of blessings 
 still in possession, made her for the first 
 time seriously endeavour to check the 
 culpable sensibility which was gradually 
 centering all her feelings in self. 
 
 In proportion as her brother became 
 dearer, her anxiety not to draw down 
 another judgment by unbridled lamenta- 
 tion over past misfortunes, made her cul- 
 tivate every occupation which might 
 detach her thoughts from the sad catas- 
 trophes of her relations, and reconcile her 
 to her own personal privation. She con- 
 trived therefore, a variety of ingenious 
 works, in which practice gave her won- 
 derful facility : she was read to, by her
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 69 
 
 attendants; and she cultivated music 
 with all the enthusiasm of* genius. 
 
 Nature had blessed her with a most 
 melodious voice and exquisite ear ; so 
 that she gave, and enjoyed delight, in 
 the concerts at which her brother col- 
 lected the finest performers of Italy. By 
 degrees also, she accustomed herself to 
 be seen in larger societies where new 
 pleasures opened on her, in conversation 
 various, interesting, and improving. 
 
 Her tearful eyes were no longer turned 
 sorrowfully away, when others spoke of 
 those productions of nature or of art 
 whicli required sight to appreciate : she 
 could now fix those angel eyes upon the 
 speaker, with earnest attention ; yet still 
 she sighed over her blindness when- 
 ever some eminently-generous or touching 
 sentiment was uttered by her brother, 
 and made her long to read tlie accompa- 
 nying expression, in his well-remember- 
 ed face. 
 
 By the side of such an interesting young 
 4
 
 70 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK, 
 
 creature, Ippolita could not long feel ap- 
 prehension, nor indulge selfish regrets ; 
 she roused herself to hear with attention, 
 and reply with precision, to the kind 
 questionings of this new friend ; whose 
 manners singularly combined the naivete 
 of childhood, with the delicate tact of 
 matured sensibility. 
 
 " I am sure I see you,'' said the artless 
 Rosalia, after some hours of conversation 
 had familiarized them. " I am sure I see 
 you, just as you are. A voice tells me so 
 much ! — and your's is so touching ! — I 
 can tell by something in its tone, that 
 your countenance is as full of pathos — is 
 it not Orlando ?" 
 
 Valombrosa's reply was whispered. 
 
 Ippolita's thoughts were engaged in 
 contrasting her own lot, eventful as it 
 was, with that of this young creature, 
 surrounded with every outward gQod, but 
 denied that sense, by which nearly all 
 things are enjoyed ; and secretly acknow- 
 ledging that her destiny was therefore
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 71 
 
 preferable, she was too much absorbed to 
 notice RosaUa's innocent question, even 
 with a blush. 
 
 The Signora Valori mistook the cause 
 of the sigh which escaped Ippolita in 
 the midst of these reflections : she laid her 
 fingers for an instant on Jppolita's cheek, 
 to feel if it were moist ; — there was a tear 
 on it, for Ippolita's feelings were all soft- 
 ened, and her mind had lost its usual 
 firmness. 
 
 " I would I could charm away your 
 sorrow, Signora !" repeated Rosalia in a 
 caressing accent, *' to amuse you just 
 now, is impossible ; but if you love music, 
 I can sing : and Orlando tells me that my 
 voice is soothing.'^ 
 
 " I feel that you do charm away many 
 painful recollections," replied Ippolita, 
 "and if it be right to accept your gracious 
 offer — " her eye glanced at Valombrosa ; 
 he understood its glance, and led his sis- 
 ter immediately to an organ. 
 
 Ippolita admired the tender patience
 
 72 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 with which he thus suppHed, in tiieir 
 hours of familiar privacy, the place of his 
 sister's usual attendants; the care with 
 which he seated her, and directed her 
 hands to the keys; the melancholy fond- 
 ness with which he contemplated her 
 during the performance ; and the ani- 
 mated pleasure with which he listened to 
 her voice. 
 
 A low, solemn strain, touched with the 
 finest hand, preluded a hymn, such as 
 angels might have sung at the mercy- 
 seat. 
 
 While she sang, Rosalia's youthful 
 face kindled into celestial brightness; 
 and an expression of inspiration shone 
 in the upraised fixture of her sightless 
 eyes. Each downy fall of her voice, seem- 
 ed like the softly-waving plumes of an 
 attendant seraph ; and the divine ex- 
 pression of all her features, completed 
 the illusion. 
 
 Gazing, listening, with a spirit already 
 half-divorced from earth, Ippolita for
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^3 
 
 one beatific instant believed herself in the 
 courts of Heaven. 
 
 Valombrosa turned round, wondering 
 that no sign of approbation proceeded 
 from Ippolita. For the first time, he saw 
 on her cheek a crimson richer than those 
 rosy clouds which wait on sun-set : her 
 soul was in her eyes, and they were in- 
 tently ^xed upon Rosalia. He looked at 
 her with silent admiration 5 Rosalia ceased: 
 Ippolita shuddered ; and withdrawing her 
 eyes, the spell by which Valombrosa and 
 herself were enchanted, was broken at 
 once. She remembered that it was a mor- 
 tal voice she had heard ; and he saw the 
 purple light of beauty on her cheek, ex- 
 tinguish with the rapture which had 
 kindled it. 
 
 His considerate attention then sug- 
 gested the propriety of separating for the 
 night ; and summoning the attendants 
 who were to conduct his sister to her 
 chamber, and to attend Ippolita to her's, 
 he bade them farewell till morning. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Ippolita's apartment lay in that quarter 
 of the Valombrosa palace, where Rosalia 
 slept : it was spacious, yet cheerful ; for 
 the elegant arabesques on its walls, were 
 far more agreeable to the eye than the 
 gloomy tapestry in general use ; its high, 
 large windows, overlooked arcades of 
 white marble in the garden below, under 
 which a little wilderness of fragrant ex- 
 otics were sheltered from the cold night 
 air. 
 
 The heavens were now thickly spangled 
 with stars ; and though the absence of a 
 moon left the extensive gardens in deep 
 shadow, the odorous breathing of the 
 flowers, and the rustling of the evergreens 
 mixing with the sound of remote foun- 
 tains, made Ippolita unwilling to retire 
 to bed. 
 
 The very stillness and darkness of ob- 
 jects, were tranquillizing to her heart ; and 
 she became imperceptibly calno, and sus- 
 ceptible of pleasure, even amongst the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, ^5 
 
 scenes which she had believed would 
 wring her soul to torture. 
 
 From retracing the past, her thoughts 
 hurried into the future, or lingered round 
 the present : the gracious images of 
 Valombrosa and his sister, again pre- 
 sented themselves ; and again the angel 
 voice of the latter seemed wafting her 
 soul to heaven — then the bright vision 
 dissolved; and the miseries she hadknown, 
 and the friends she had lost, re-opened 
 the source of tears. 
 
 Ippolita wept from a variety of feel- 
 ings : nature at last was exhausted ; and 
 having recommended herself, and those 
 dearest to her, to the protection of Pro- 
 vidence, she sought repose on her pillow. 
 
 E 2
 
 76 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The next, and indeed every succeeding 
 day, till acquaintance ripened into friend- 
 ship, awakened Ippolita to new consol- 
 ations. 
 
 As Rosalia's character developed, she 
 found qualities in her, of a far nobler 
 stamp, than that young creature's artless 
 air of inexperience and innocence, had at 
 first led her to expect ; and Rosalia, on 
 her side, prompt to love whatever she 
 must pity, seemed quite to forget that 
 her new companion was perhaps very little 
 beyond the rank of her own gentlewomen. 
 
 The caressing manners of the young 
 Signora, added to her amiable disposition, 
 to her delicate youth, and touching pri- 
 vation, gradually won Ippolita from that
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 77 
 
 system of self-respecting reserve which 
 she had purposed to pursue. 
 
 At first, when Valombrosa was not 
 there to watch over his sister's wants, 
 Ippolita in silent observation eyed the 
 attendants who supplied his place ; by 
 degrees she ventured to anticipate her 
 young friend's wishes, and to call her 
 maids' attention to their mistress's effort 
 of assisting herself: at last, too anxious 
 for her comfort, and too eager for her 
 gratification, to wait the slow conception 
 of hireling duty, Ippolita would start to 
 aid her searching hand and doubtful step. 
 
 If she were sick, Ippolita would soothe 
 and nurse her ; Ippolita would invent a 
 variety of simple delicacies, with which 
 to tempt faint appetite ; Ippolita would 
 sit unwearied by her side, alternately lull- 
 ing her into sleep by singing some old 
 romance, or amusing her with stories of 
 what she had seen and noted during her 
 eventful life. 
 
 Affection lightened and dignified every 
 E 3
 
 75 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 humble office ; and Valombrosa, who had 
 remarked with some admiration, but 
 more surprise, the silent dignity with 
 which Ippolita had at first shunned any 
 show of that devotion with which de- 
 pendants usually seek favour, was charm- 
 ed to see his sister thus beloved. 
 
 It was evident to him, that Rosalia's 
 gentle attentions had greatly subdued the 
 regrets of her new friend ; and that 
 whatever were the cause which for some 
 time after her arrival in Florence, had 
 absorbed Ippolita almost wholly in a 
 strange state of abstraction, it was now 
 displaced by solicitude for Rosalia, and 
 gratitude to him. 
 
 Rosalia too, was the happier, for hav- 
 ing a person to solace : her character en- 
 nobled with exertion ; and her health 
 -'^ipidly improved, as much from the new 
 impulse given to her mind, as by the 
 judicious treatment of Ippolita. 
 
 Upon all these things Valombrosa 
 would often ponder, even while absent
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 79 
 
 from the two beings whose society excited 
 them 5 and perhaps he pondered too often, 
 and too long. 
 
 In those unrestrained conversations 
 which followed the greater intimacy of 
 Rosalia and Ippolita, the latter had im- 
 parted all she dared, of her private his- 
 tory J and from it, in corroboration of the 
 few details given by the prior of Spirito 
 Santo, Valombrosa learnt that Ippolita's 
 family were scattered with the unfortu- 
 nate house of Medici, through other 
 lands. That she had early lost her 
 mother, and had been ever since, shar- 
 ing the wanderings of a father, whose 
 fortunes had fallen wdth those of the ex- 
 iled family. 
 
 " Was he of Florence, then ?** Valom- 
 brosa too eagerly asked. 
 
 A variety of extraordinary expressions 
 had at that question altered the coun- 
 tenance of Ippolita, who replied not for 
 some moments : at length, keeping down 
 her eyes, she said in a stifled voice, '* an 
 E 4
 
 80 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 oblivious flood will soon pass over all that 
 remains of my ill-fated race : it is best to 
 forget whence we issued, and whither 
 we are hastening !*' She looked up, and 
 meeting the inquiring gaze of her pro- 
 tector, hastily added with a paler cheek, 
 " Even the warmest lovers of ingenuous- 
 ness have sometimes their miserable 
 secret ; pardon me therefore, that I have 
 mine.'* 
 
 From that period, neither Valombrosa 
 nor his sister attempted to penetrate 
 further. Yet each had their suspicion 
 that Ippolita was of Florentine extrac- 
 tion, and that the name of Martello was 
 assumed. 
 
 Eager to elevate her to a rank equal 
 with his own, Valombrosa's lively fancy, 
 at first determined that she must be one 
 of the Medici themselves; but an instant's 
 consideration undeceived him. 
 
 When that illustrious race were ex- 
 pelled from Florence, fourteen years be- 
 fore, he was ten years old 5 therefore
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 81 
 
 distinctly remembered the complexions 
 and figures of each individual of the 
 family ; and in none of them could he 
 recall the shghtest resemblance to Mar- 
 tello's short person, and sanguine colour. 
 It was evident, however, that whatever 
 Martello had been, he was of a quality to 
 associate intimately with the noblest : for 
 Ippolita spoke familiarly of every dis- 
 tinguished leader attached to the Medici 
 cause ; and every Prince in whose states 
 they had been received. And though 
 she rarely mentioned the Medici them- 
 selves, she never heard their names ut- 
 tered by others, and their past con- 
 duct or future designs canvassed, without 
 appearing to Valombrosa's watchful ob- 
 servation, to take the most powerful in- 
 terest in the discourse. 
 
 On such occasions IppoHta was uni- 
 formly silent ; for though she knew that 
 the cause of that unfortunate house had 
 still its supporters even in Florence itself, 
 she wished to conduct herself as one of 
 
 it. 6
 
 82 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 no higher interests, than what became 
 the daughter of an obscure Captain of 
 Condottieri. 
 
 Her discreet demeanor, while it kept 
 curiosity dormant, left no room for the 
 proudest Florentine to blame the generous 
 mode in which the poor orphan was 
 treated by the Signora Rosalia. In all 
 companies Ippolita preserved a modest 
 reserve of speech and look, which made 
 her rather a spectator than an actor there. 
 
 This behaviour helped to veil the 
 beauty which otherwise must have at- 
 tracted, and the intelligence that must 
 have detained each wandering eye and ear : 
 female envy was consequently laid asleep 
 by her retiringness, and men's ardours 
 chilled by her unchanging indiflerence j — 
 they called her the Beautiful Statue. 
 
 But could they have seen her as Va- 
 lombrosa and Rosalia saw her, when 
 mixing her heart and mind and soul 
 with theirs in a thousand delightful 
 interchanges of thought and feeling
 
 THE FAST OP St. MAGDALEN. SS 
 
 and imagination ; when melting into 
 tenderness at Rosalia's - voice ; when 
 kindling into enthusiasm with Valom- 
 brosa, over marbles to which the Pro- 
 methean touch of genius had given life 
 and motion ; or canvass, on which the 
 mighty mind of Michael Angelo or the 
 angelic spirit of Raphael, had stamped 
 its own sublimity ; had they seen her, 
 when gazing with those two chosen 
 friends, after the bright car of Dante, 
 alternately fathoming the abysses of In- 
 ferno, or lost amid the splendors of the Em- 
 pyrean ; had they seen her when pouring 
 out her fervent thanks to the Almighty 
 for reviving her heart to affections she 
 never hoped to indulge again ; had they 
 seen her thus, the obtusest faculty must 
 have acknowledged, and the stoniest 
 heart have felt the united force of her 
 beauty and of her character. 
 
 Yet even the friends Ippolita now loved 
 so well, were long before they were ad- 
 mitted into all the mysteries of a cha-
 
 84 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK. 
 
 racter, which at first simply interested, 
 but^at last astonished thera. 
 
 Her modest, though beautiful exterior, 
 could excite no expectation of the ex- 
 traordinary soul by which it was in- 
 formed : for the usual tranquilhty of her 
 complexion did not even brighten her 
 dark and deeply-shaded eyes into more 
 than a gentle lustre ; and as she had the 
 habit of listening and speaking with those 
 eyes cast down, the most momentous 
 changes might be passing in her mind, 
 without becoming visible to the persons 
 she conversed with. 
 
 Conscious that her character was be- 
 yond the general scale of her sex, she 
 had the instinctive discretion of seeking 
 to keep its superiority concealed; and 
 as she could clothe the noblest thoughts 
 in the simplest phrase, the peculiar 
 loftiness of her sentiments often passed 
 unnoticed while they were uttered. Thus, 
 when she was called into action upon 
 great occasions, even the persons who 
 fancied they knew her best, were asto-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 85 
 
 nished to see her act with an energy and 
 ability, rarely equalled by women. 
 
 Ippolita disdained art, yet did she 
 sway every one with whom she lived ; 
 those only excepted, whose worldly in- 
 terests clashed with her's, — so much 
 harder is it to subdue sordidness, than 
 to pacify humour. She acquired this 
 power simply by a talent for concihating, 
 which having its source in real bene- 
 volence, won its way to its object un- 
 perceived and unsuspected. She main- 
 tained her power, by never seeking to 
 display it. 
 
 Having established for herself a stand- 
 ard of excellence, which it was the aim of 
 her life to reach ; and having fixed her 
 eye upon the sublimest objects, she could 
 not stoop it to the low gratifications of 
 vanity. 
 
 Her own approbation, (after that of 
 Heaven,) was what she sought: and while 
 her fortune smiled, she sought it, not by 
 superstitious and useless restraints j but 
 
 10
 
 86 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 by free enjoyment of all the pleasures of 
 society, and cheerful devotedness to all 
 its duties. When that fortune frowned, 
 then she laboured to walk confidingly 
 through storms and darkness, and to 
 trust on the very verge of destruction. 
 
 In truth, the perfection of her cha- 
 racter was in danger only from an ex- 
 cess of self-discipline ; since in resolving 
 to extirpate selfishness, Ippolita some- 
 times removed herself to such an unattain- 
 able height from her less heroically 
 practised friends, that affection and 
 sympathy sighed over their disunion. 
 
 It was this character, so firm in action, 
 so heroic in principle, yet so moderate 
 in expression, which fitted her for the 
 peculiar situation in which she was now 
 placed. Providence appeared to have 
 conducted her there, for the purpose of 
 raising and fixing in future strength, the 
 feebler spirit of Rosalia. 
 
 Ippolita thought she saw this com- 
 mission legibly written in the enthusiastic
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 87 
 
 fondness with which the young Rosalia 
 not merely assented to her opinions, but 
 strove to act on them ; and after a short 
 period, she decided that it was therefore 
 her duty to remain in Florence. 
 
 Happy is the youthful heart which is 
 warmed into enthusiasm by excellence, 
 real, not imagined 5 for then, its liveliest 
 passions, instead of obstructing its up- 
 ward flight, give wings to the great 
 desire. 
 
 Rosalia studied Ippolita's conduct and 
 conversation with as much devotion as 
 she listened to her confessor: but she 
 boasted not her scholarship ; and Ip- 
 polita never reproving, never declaiming, 
 left the young pupil to learn from her 
 conduct under misfortune, what she had 
 herself learned, alas, from the faults of 
 others, and from a sad variety of 
 wretchedness! 
 
 A word dropt by accident ; a passing 
 reflection in general conversation ; a sigh 
 checked when some painful association 
 
 6
 
 88 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 occurred ; the sudden silence of disap- 
 proval ; each, and all of these from Ip- 
 polita, contained volumes of instruction 
 to Rosalia. She felt herself rising in her 
 own esteem, in proportion to her mental 
 exertions, and she soon loved Ippolita 
 the better, for having excited her to im- 
 provement. 
 
 Valombrosa was too attentive an ob- 
 server, not to perceive very quickly, the 
 ascendancy of his fair charge, and its 
 beneficial influence upon his sister's yet 
 imperfect, but interesting character. 
 
 Accustomed to indulge every excess 
 of her sensibiHty without murmuring, he 
 scarcely wished her mind strengthened 
 for his own sake ; but he perceived all 
 the consequence of so important a change 
 to herself; and therefore, he too, re- 
 garded her gentle teacher with livelier 
 interest. 
 
 He was at this period particularly 
 anxious to retain such a friend near his 
 sister: for the lady who had hitherto
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 80 
 
 Jived with her, was no longer in 
 Florence. During his absence on the 
 late service, she had been sent for by a 
 V sister who was dying, and who made it 
 her last prayer that she would take 
 charge of the infants she was about to 
 leave motherless. It was not likely there- 
 fore, that Rosalia would ever again en- 
 joy the comfort of this exemplary person's 
 society. 
 
 Valombrosa early confessed to Ippolita 
 his wish upon this subject, and Ippolita 
 consented to remain with Rosalia till he 
 could select for her some suitable female 
 guardian. But still she warned him that 
 her actions were not free, and that the 
 fulfilment of this engagement must de- 
 pend upon the arrival of a letter from an 
 absent person who would write to her 
 through the medium of the prior of the 
 Spirito Santo. 
 
 Upon this letter therefore hung the 
 hopes of Rosalia and her brother. 
 
 As his sister still preferred a very
 
 90 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 limited circle, Valombrosa only brought 
 to her presence the most intimate of his 
 friends, and the most distinguished of 
 his protegees. But his accessible and 
 generous nature so multiplied the claims 
 of society upon his own time, that he 
 could rarely join his sister till the day 
 was closing. 
 
 Every one that needed a protector, or 
 a benefactor, sought him in the rich and 
 amiable Valombrosa. His treasury was 
 alike open to reward as to relieve ; and 
 his courts as much filled by ingenious 
 artists as by indigent petitioners. 
 
 If one citizen wished to portion a 
 daughter or advance a son ; if a second 
 were a bankrupt; if a third required 
 public patronage, they all came to Va- 
 lombrosa. Every day he had as many 
 suits to hear, and wrongs to seek redress 
 for, as if it had been his profession to de- 
 fend the rights of every individual in 
 Florence j and every day he was called
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 91 
 
 upon for as many ducats as though he 
 commanded the bank of the Republic. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Valombrosa's 
 judgment did not always equal his zeal 
 in the service of others ; nor his prudence 
 proportion his gifts to his revenue. At 
 four-and-twenty, the heart settles it as 
 an incontrovertible truth, that the un- 
 fortunate are always deserving, and it 
 therefore frequently expends upon the 
 worthless, thatinterestorassistance, which, 
 upon closer investigation, might have 
 been better bestowed. 
 
 At four-and-twenty we do not calcu- 
 late what we can afford, but what others 
 want : we forget that there is more true 
 benevolence in exciting industry and 
 providing it employment, than in bestow- 
 ing alms, and thus destroying the heart's 
 best feelings, by hardening it to de- 
 pendance. 
 
 Valombrosa was of course often disap- 
 pointed in the objects of his bounty, but 
 that never disheartened him ; and his
 
 92 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 purse continued to be drained by prodigal 
 gifts, in defiance of his steward's annual 
 remonstrance. 
 
 In truth, Valombrosa would rather 
 give his money than his time to his 
 crowd of suppliants j for he loved leisure 
 and pleasure ; and pursued his present 
 popular career, not from the activity 
 of a character fond of exciting occu- 
 pations, but from the kindly impulse 
 of a heart which could not bear to be 
 selfishly happy. 
 
 It must be confessed, that Valombrosa 
 was often <* weary of well-doing," when 
 some tedious applicant was winding with 
 useless circumlocution round a dry tale, 
 while some gay festival and gallant show 
 were waiting the presence of the im- 
 patient listener. He would not have ac- 
 knowledged this the next day to his own 
 heart, without a suffused cheek, though 
 he sometimes yielded to the hurrying 
 impulse at the time. 
 
 Valombrosa loved the graceful joust,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 93 
 
 the sprightly ball, the dangerous chase; 
 and as he excelled in every bodily ac- 
 complishment, was generally the fore- 
 most in all. Rosalia amused by his 
 lively account of the httle incidents 
 growing out of these sports, would try, 
 like a playful child, to win him into ac- 
 knowledgments of the admiration he 
 excited. He would answer each partial 
 question, with good humoured sportive- 
 ness ; and sometimes with a frank sim- 
 plicity, almost as artless and engaging as 
 her own : yet Ippolita, whose pene- 
 tration had an eagle glance, though her 
 eye had not, never perceived the faintest 
 spark of vanity under his entertaining 
 narratives. 
 
 This perfect freedom from that meanest 
 alloy of true manliness, was in her esti- 
 mation, one of the most valuable of 
 Valombrosa's characteristics ; and dwell- 
 ing upon all the virtues she really saw in 
 him, and all his partial sister described, 
 the faults of his nature escaped her wholly.
 
 94^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Confining herself to the retired customs 
 of Rosalia, whose situation kept her 
 from taking even that small share of do- 
 mestic superintendance which falls to 
 the lot of noble women ; she never saw 
 Valombrosa in those moments when the 
 blunders or omissions of a domestic 
 struck the fire out of his temper : rarely 
 being with him in large societies, she 
 could not compare his descriptions of 
 men with themselves, therefore she de- 
 tected neither his credulous dependence 
 upon other people's representations, nor 
 the prejudices which grew out of that 
 fatal habit. 
 
 That kindly indolence which made 
 him rather prefer leaving his friends in 
 quiet possession of their hurtful failings, 
 than rousing himself to disturb them, 
 had certainly blended with fond indulg- 
 ence in his care of his sister : but to have 
 detected this it would have been requi- 
 site for Ippolita to have traced the prin* 
 ciple -where no such amiable feeling
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 95 
 
 operated ; and she had not an opportu- 
 nity of doing so. 
 
 In his conduct to herself he had been 
 uniformly generous, delicate, and re- 
 spectful ; nay, he had been more — sym- 
 pathising and kind. He had snatched 
 her from possible outrages which it was 
 horror but to imagine. He was asso- 
 ciated with all the recollections of a sad, 
 sad period ; his name, coupled with ge- 
 nerous magnificence, had been familiar to 
 her long ere she beheld him: was it 
 strange, then, that she should feel grati- 
 tude and admiration even to a painful 
 excess ? 
 
 Had she quitted Florence at this pe- 
 riod, she would have carried with her all 
 the glow of this dangerous union of two 
 delightful sentiments : but Fate decreed 
 otherwise; and she staid to discover 
 that her Divinity was a mortal.
 
 96 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The packet Ippolita expected through 
 the channel of Spirito Santo, was at 
 length brought to her by one of the 
 monks. He that wrote it was involved 
 in new difficulties, exposed to new dan- 
 gers ; and he exhorted her, therefore, to 
 stay with her present kind protectors, 
 until he could call her to a home, or be 
 forced to bid her shelter for ever in a 
 religious house. 
 
 The monk carried back her answer to 
 go by the same circuitous mode j and 
 Ippolita, who had retired from the com- 
 pany of Rosalia and her brother, to read 
 and reply to her packet, hastened to dis- 
 pel the emotion it had excited in her, 
 and to tell her anxious friends, which
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 97 
 
 she did with a sickening pang at her 
 heart checking its momentary gush of 
 comfort, that she might yet remain with 
 them. 
 
 Rosalia's joy flowed out in thanks, 
 embraces, benedictions ; in every endear- 
 ment of which affectionate youth is so 
 liberal. Valombrosa's eyes sparkled with 
 a sudden and unusual expression. It 
 was new to Ippolita from his eyes : but 
 she had too often seen something like it in 
 those of another, not to think on its pos- 
 sible meaning in his. A hasty move- 
 ment of her head snatched her face from 
 his observation. 
 
 ** And your friend does not fear to 
 trust you with us ?" he asked, with more 
 emotion in his voice, than he suspected 
 himself. 
 
 " He is only too grateful for the ge- 
 nerous friendship with which his Ippolita 
 is honoured,'* replied she, steadily keeping 
 down her eyes. 
 
 <* His!" repeated Valombrosa, almost 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 audibly. At that moment he thought it 
 mattered not to him who this friend 
 might be; and, for a short time after- 
 wards, his spirits were extravagantly 
 high : but as suddenly he fell into a re- 
 verie, and though he roused himself from 
 it with a gay smile when his sister no- 
 ticed his silence, he presently sunk back 
 in the same abstraction. 
 
 Several times he roused from it ; but 
 each time with less vivacity and greater 
 impatience of manner. He declined 
 hearing Rosalia sing ; and once his voice, 
 when replying to some indifferent ques- 
 tion of Ippolita's, had an asperity in its 
 tone which jarred her very heart-strings. 
 
 This extraordinary change perplexed 
 and troubled her. How was she further 
 astonished at the petulant action which 
 followed 1 
 
 Rosalia's dog had several times fawned 
 upon Valombrosa, seeking its accustom- 
 ed caress, and as many times had Valom- 
 brosa put it by with his hand j at first
 
 THE FAST OF ST, MAGDALEN. 99 
 
 gently, by degrees with more humour; 
 till at last the creature jumped more im- 
 portunately against him. ** Down, Fi- 
 do,'* he cried, in a voice of thunder. 
 Ippolita thought his very cheek struck 
 fire. 
 
 Recalled to himself by her appalled 
 look and Rosalia's exclamation, ashamed 
 of his irritation, unable to explain it to 
 them, or even to himself, Valombrosa's 
 blood rose to his temples, and stammer- 
 ing out some broken words of shame and 
 repentance he hurried from the room. 
 
 He did not return; but he left be- 
 hind an indulgent judge, and an able 
 advocate. Rosalia for the first time 
 lightly noticed this defect in his nature, 
 but repeated many affecting instances in 
 which he had nobly vanquished it. Ip- 
 polita could not refuse her approbation 
 of such conduct; nor hesitate to confess 
 that there is no comparison in the scale 
 of moral value, between the man who sim- 
 ply exercises a constitutional virtue, and 
 
 F 2
 
 100 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 he that stems the torrent of an opposite 
 propensity. Yet could she not forget the 
 voice and tlie eye-flash of Valonibrosa. 
 It haunted her lonely musings when she 
 parted with Rosalia, adding another unit 
 to swell her account of pleasures always 
 followed by pains. 
 
 Was, then, this noble creature the vie* 
 tim of caprice ? Did he repent the hasty 
 ardour with which he had formerly urged 
 her to remain with his sister? Perhaps 
 he did. Perhaps he was one of those 
 persons who see the objections to an ac^ 
 tion precisely when they have completed 
 it. Perhaps he dreaded the consequences 
 of harbouring a powerless orphan whose 
 surviving relatives adhered to the ex- 
 iled family ! Possibly he might like Ip- 
 polita less for knowing her longer, and 
 be tired now of that dejected manner 
 which had at first awakened his pity ? 
 
 Ippolita, alas, had seen too much of 
 human nature, to dare repel with roman- 
 tic prepossession, the suspicion that
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 101 
 
 Valombrosa had his failings. Yet some se- 
 cret weakness within her, made her more 
 readily imagine herself wearisome, than 
 him capricious : and she wept over the 
 belief, while she blushed at what she 
 deemed the presumptuous fancy which a 
 momentary glance of his, had flashed 
 through her heart that very evening. 
 
 " I was too happy here,*' she said, 
 ** while thou, most dear, most honoured ! 
 (apostrophizing one far distant,) wast in 
 pain and peril. And this discovery of 
 a weakness, where I thought all was 
 greatly consistent, is the salutary chas- 
 tisement of my selfishness.'* 
 
 Pursuing similar reflections, through 
 many an anxious maze, Ippolita at length 
 fell asleep. 
 
 MeanwhDe Valombrosa in vain tried 
 to banish the recollection of his culpable 
 impatience : he lay restless and self-ac- 
 cusing ; suspecting the cause of all this 
 internal tumult, yet shrinking from its 
 investigation. 
 
 F 3
 
 102 THE FAST Of ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 To have treated Fido unkindly, wag 
 not only wrong in itself, but peculiarly 
 so, from the circumstances connected 
 with the animal. Fido was the dog that 
 Valombrosa had rescued at Argentina, 
 with the same show of impetuous temper 
 it is true, but so sanctified by the occa- 
 sion, that not even a saint had censured. 
 Unclaimed by any one, (his deceased 
 master having been a foreign officer,) Va- 
 lombrosa had brought the dog to Rosalia. 
 
 Thus associated with the most affect- 
 ing recollections, he decided, that his 
 rough repulse of the attached creature, 
 must have appeared almost savage to Ip- 
 polita : here then was food for many a 
 humiliating reflection. The other sub- 
 ject teemed with distracting ones. 
 
 At the period in which Valombrosa 
 simply considered Ippolita with humane 
 interest, what she said to others, had 
 passed him unheeded ; or if heeded, not 
 registered by a second reflection on its 
 purport: he now tasked his memory for
 
 THE FiVST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 103 
 
 these buried treasures, and one by one 
 recovered all that he had even transiently 
 attended to. 
 
 The first words he remembered her 
 to have uttered were those to her father, 
 when the people about them urged her 
 to provide for her own safety. ** O dear 
 father, it is for us you die — and shall I 
 desert you V — Us 1 — this little pronoun 
 was full of mystery. This coupling spme 
 other person with herself, seemed to 
 imply either a natural or voluntary union 
 with that person. 
 
 Spoke she then of a brother, a lover, 
 or a husband ? if a brother, why had he 
 left his sister to the protection of hi» 
 war-worn parent ? if a lover, if a hus- 
 band, could he have abandoned his 
 charge to another? — yet that he had 
 done so, Valombrosa thought he could 
 prove to demonstration. 
 
 Ippolita had evidently thrown herself 
 before the entrance of Spirito Santo, in 
 the hope of preventing tlie entrance oi" 
 
 F 4
 
 104 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEK. 
 
 the soldiery by her passionate pleadings ; 
 there was consequently some one within, 
 dearer than her own safety. On her 
 father's appearance, she did not show any 
 thing like the transport which followed 
 his motion of making the sign of the 
 cross upon his breast ; this action must 
 therefore have been pre-concerted, as a 
 signal, that the object of her anxiety w^as 
 no longer in danger. 
 
 Her alarm when she saw the dead ca- 
 valier lying in the last street which led 
 towards the mountains ; her restraining 
 Valombrosa from entering the hermitage 
 till the monk re-appeared ; the whispered 
 communication of the recluse ; and Ip- 
 polita's immediate composure ; — every 
 thing united to convince Valombrosa 
 that there was a beloved person, and that 
 he must have escaped in that direction. 
 
 What was he then? — who was he? — 
 whither was he going? — and why all 
 this mystery to friends now tried? — 
 Imagination succeeded to imagination,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 105 
 
 each equally wild, improbable, and un- 
 satisfactory. 
 
 " It is for us you die 1'* repeated Va- 
 lombrosa, dwelling on that short sen- 
 tence, which he fancied contained the 
 whole enigma. At once conviction flashed 
 upon him ; — "he must be a Medici !" 
 
 This light once thrown upon tlie dark- 
 ness seemed to clear it up. Ippolita's 
 father fighting under the orders of the 
 exiled family, and falling in the service 
 of the Pisans, whose rebellion the Medici 
 were known politically to foment, might 
 justly be said to perish for her, and for 
 her lover. The severe vengeance which 
 would be taken upon any one of that 
 race by the Florentines, had any such 
 been made prisoner ; the ruin which a 
 leader's destruction brings upon the rest 
 of his party ; these motives might in 
 some degree excuse one of the Medici, 
 for seeking his own security by flight. 
 
 But on which of that family was Va- 
 lombrosa to fix this suspicion? — again 
 F 5
 
 106 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 the recollection of past incidents assisted 
 him. 
 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent, left three 
 sons, Piero, Giovanni, and Guiliano ; the 
 first, after provoking the expulsion of his 
 family, and wearing out his manhood in 
 vain enterprizes to recover his lost power 
 and patrimony, was at last drowned in 
 the Garigliano. Giovanni had been 
 from childhood a member of the sacred 
 college. Guiliano, though in the brightest 
 meridian of life, was a philosophic un- 
 ambitious man, who though tossed about 
 on the stormy sea of the family destiny, 
 did not appear of an adventurous spirit, 
 nor of a character likely to captivate such 
 an one as Ippolita. None of these could 
 he the object Valombrosa sought. 
 
 But Piero had left a son. This son was 
 said to inherit much of the family repu- 
 tation for talents and accomplishments -. 
 with spirit enough to make him the idol 
 of a party, and none of that generous dis- 
 regard bf selft which might at last render
 
 THE PAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 107 
 
 bim its sacrifice. Handsome ; specious, 
 nay, in some points, as amiable as he 
 seemed, this second Lorenzo might have 
 had the address to appear a worthy suc- 
 cessor of the first ; and though his unripe 
 youth might perhaps destroy the proba- 
 bility of his being the chosen partner of 
 a woman whose mind was far beyond her 
 years, affection was not always to be 
 measured by its reasonableness. 
 
 Valombrosa corroborated the fact to 
 his own imagination, by a circum- 
 stance which had occurred a few days 
 before. — While looking with him over 
 his collection of ancient manuscripts, 
 (many of which had belonged to the 
 Laurentian collection, before it was dis- 
 persed by the exile of its owners,) Ippo- 
 lita took down an illuminated copy of 
 Virgil, where, in the midst of all the 
 splendid decorations which marked the 
 taste of Lorenzo's successor, was painted 
 the device of Piero, that device which his 
 son was known to bear. Ippolita's eyes 
 F 6 ,
 
 108 THE FAST 01 ST, MAGDALEN. 
 
 ri vetted there with such an expression, 
 that Valombrosa in distress at his careless 
 forgetf Illness of her interest in the Medici, 
 withdrew the book from her hand. Ippo- 
 lita then burst into a passion of tears, 
 weeping long, and unreservedly ; and at 
 last retired without apology or explan- 
 ation. These recollections occurred 
 again and again to the sleepless pillow of 
 her protector. — This bitter emotion, her 
 former anxiety, such evidences of sensi- 
 bility to that name, added to the shapings 
 of Valombrosa's brain : but then her 
 growing satisfaction in her present resi- 
 dence ! well then, perhaps she was 
 already Lorenzo's wife ; and perhaps in 
 that close connection, his overbearing 
 and selfish temper had developed itself, 
 and weaned her affection partly from him. 
 If his character were in truth what it was 
 said to be, it would be impossible for such 
 a nature as her's to continue loving one 
 so different: it was equally impossible 
 for her to fail, in her obligation as a wife.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. lOQ 
 
 What then was left to that heedless ad- 
 miration which ValoiTibrosa had felt 
 growing in his bosom, and would not re- 
 flect on ? What but instant extinction. 
 He wished the task as easy in performance, 
 as it was heartily consented to by every 
 power of a soul naturally inclined to virtue. 
 Resolution, however, he knew would not 
 now be wanting ; since it seemed no 
 longer a question of prudence but of 
 honour ; and since temptation assailed 
 him, in the suspicion of her alienated 
 affection, and her lover's or husband's 
 selfish desertion of her in a time of peril. 
 
 But even were she not bound by in- 
 clination or duty to another, what could 
 the Marquis Valombrosa propose to him- 
 self from indulging the passion she in- 
 spired ! 
 
 If she were indeed the daughter of an 
 obscure adventurer, would not his mar- 
 riage with her be condemned by all his 
 compatriots ? would it not shock the he- 
 reditary prejudices of his sister and his
 
 1 10 THE FAST OF ST.MAqDALEK. 
 
 kindred? and even were she the offspring 
 of a noble Florentine, attached to the 
 fortunes of the Medici, would not his 
 union with her be received as his profes- 
 sion of political faith, and the forfeiture 
 of all his rights and possessions be the 
 immediate consequence! 
 
 The idea of ever being more to her 
 than a friend, was madness ; and aware 
 that her tempered manner had never en- 
 couraged him to hope she thought of him 
 ip any other relation, he believed the 
 struggle would be all his own, and there- 
 fore he determined to make it. 
 
 Youth rarely tries to exterminate any 
 uneasy passion : it seeks but to dissipate 
 it. Valombrosa thought he had sub- 
 dued his enemy, when he himself took to 
 iiight : and as he after this, hurried from 
 j^musement to amusement, fancied be- 
 cause various objects forced themselves 
 upon his senses, that the one he avoided 
 was less in his heart. 
 
 From the period in which he became
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. Ill 
 
 sensible of his danger in Ippolita's society, 
 he spent more of his time abroad than at 
 home ; he frequented the houses of otlier 
 Florentines ; he was the foremost at all 
 their public shows and civic festivals : he 
 went often to the camp of the Floren- 
 tine General, who was now straitening 
 Pisa of provisions, sure of its gates being 
 opened to him by famine : he assumed a 
 tone of wilder vivacity, and whenever his 
 sister's endearments charmed him to stay 
 with her, his ceaseless gaiety seemed bent 
 upon excluding every conversation which 
 could penetrate further than the surface 
 of each other's minds. 
 
 Ippolita marked this change with ex- 
 treme regret, for it seemed a sad earnest 
 of the debasing effects which follow a 
 career of mere pleasure. The habit of 
 dissipating every serious thought by a 
 succession of agreeable sensations, is as 
 fatal to happiness as to virtue : for when 
 amusement is uniformly substituted for 
 objects of moral and mental interest, wc
 
 112 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 lose all that elevates our enjoyments above 
 the scale of childish pleasures ; each 
 individual learns to consider himself as 
 the sole spectator of the great drama of 
 life ; and he sits and beholds, laughs 
 and mocks, enjoys or yawns through a 
 worthless existence ; then sinks into the 
 grave despised and forgotten ! 
 
 But whither goes the immortal soul ? — 
 Ippolita at first doubted whether V^alom- 
 brosa's desertion of his home and his 
 former habits, did not point at her ; and 
 arise from some apprehension of danger 
 to his character as a patriot, in conse- 
 quence of her possible connection with 
 the Exiles. Determined to act promptly 
 upon such an apprehension, if it existed, 
 she examined his conduct to herself more 
 closely. 
 
 But though he evidently shunned her 
 company, whenever they did meet she 
 read in his looks even more than in his 
 manner, any thing but dislike, or distaste, 
 or distrust. She would often discover
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 113 
 
 that some new attention to her comfort, 
 had been suggested by him ; and not 
 merely her wants, but almost her secret 
 wishes anticipated by his generous 
 though silent observation. Were her looks 
 or her spirits altered, he did not notice the 
 alteration by words, but at such times if 
 ever she raised her eyes, they met such 
 an expression of piercing interest in his, 
 that for the moment all her thoughts were 
 thrown into confusion. The next instant 
 his changed manner would reverse her 
 feelings, and leave her dubious whether 
 fancy or reality had given their colouring 
 to his countenance. Sometimes, after an 
 evening past in this contradictory con- 
 duct, Ippolita would ask herself why she 
 watched it so anxiously, and felt it so 
 keenly? then her heart would beat with 
 ominous alarm, and she would say, 
 ** What have I to do with a sentiment 
 which is only for the fortunate ! Has not 
 my cup of misery been full enough, but 
 1 must overflow it with this last deadly
 
 114 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 tirop ? — O no, no ! — it is not for me to 
 love, and to love a Florentine!'' 
 
 But alas, it is not so easy to act as to 
 will : Ippolita could only banish the hopes 
 and the delusions of the passion ; not its 
 pains, not its wishes ! — 
 
 How, indeed, was she to prevent the 
 increase of an affection which had im- 
 perceptibly reached its present height, 
 by daily additions to those sentiments of 
 gratitude and admiration which Valom- 
 brosa deservedly excited ? 
 
 In defiance of all his care to keep his 
 noblest actions concealed, they pene- 
 trated to the retirement of Rosalia, and 
 were by her detailed with all a sister's 
 exultation, to their mutual friend. So 
 many proofs of active goodness, were 
 perhaps but the more valuable from one 
 whose natural love of ease made every 
 great exertion an act of heroism, and far 
 out-balanced in their effect, t: e lighter 
 parts of Valombrosa's present conduct. 
 
 Devoting the prime of every day to
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 115 
 
 the self-imposed duties of benevolence ; 
 were a few poor hours snatched from the 
 night, to be grudged him, when social 
 ])Ieasure invited him in a thousand charm- 
 ing shapes ? Was Ippolita to think the 
 worse of him, because he wearied a little 
 with the monotony of his home, and 
 sought society more congenial to his 
 happy temperament than that of a sight- 
 less sister ; and a creature who willing to 
 fortify herself against the blows of fate, 
 had, perhaps, " forgot herself to stone ?'^ 
 
 Every time she asked herself these 
 questions, she replied to herself in the 
 affirmative : yet dissatisfaction remained 
 at her heart ; and she felt that nothing 
 could be right, which evidently changed 
 Valombrosa for the w^orse. 
 
 Meanwhile the innocent Rosalia found 
 only cause for gladness in her brother's 
 livelier habits; it was now delightful to 
 iier, " to look at happiness through an- 
 other's eyes :" she rejoiced that her 
 brother relished so many different amuse- 
 ments; she rejoiced to find herself no
 
 116 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEN. 
 
 longer selfish enough to wish it other- 
 wise; she rejoiced that he cultivated a 
 social feeling which must attract to his 
 <!haracter and person, all the admiration 
 she fondly called their due ; and she 
 looked to his return from every gay 
 scene, as to a holiday for herself. 
 
 Valombrosa, not unfrequently returned 
 from these parties, with little presents 
 from ladies, or they were sent him anony- 
 mously ; and Rosalia, as he transferred 
 them to her, would laughingly accuse 
 him of having won them by some dis- 
 honest flatteries ; his sportive evasions 
 would til en leave Ippolita to fear that 
 his heart was of that easy mould, 
 which receives an impression from every 
 beauty, without retaining a permanent 
 stamp from any ; and she felt degraded 
 by the occasional looks of tenderness 
 which had not often betrayed her into 
 the belief that she had made an exclusive 
 interest there. Her alarmed delicacy 
 then suggested the most scrupulous
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 117 
 
 watch over her own actions, lest at any 
 time the secret of her weakness should 
 escape, and become known to him. 
 
 Even were all other obstacles between 
 them destroyed, Ippolita would not have 
 endured the thought of owing Valom- 
 brosa's love to grateful pity ; (of vanity, 
 she saw him incapable,) nor could she 
 bear the idea of giving up her affections 
 to a capricious man, whose returns could 
 be only the poor tribute of a few momeL* 
 tary transports. Real love is so proud, or 
 so delicate, or so generous ! 
 
 Actuated by these considerations, she 
 not merely succeeded in banishing from 
 her exterior the least appearance of 
 peculiar tenderness for Valombrosa, but 
 by the severest discipline, she weakened 
 the feeling itself in her struggling bosom. 
 
 Valombrosa had been the hero, while 
 he now and then met an anxious glance 
 from Ippolita's quickly-withdrawn eye, 
 or read the agitating effect of his sudden
 
 118 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALLX. 
 
 entrance in her fluttering voice ; but no 
 sooner were these appearances withheld, 
 and a steady air of calm esteem substi- 
 tuted, than his resolution lost its secret 
 support, (the delightful consciousness of 
 having interested,) and with it fell both 
 the will and the eftbrt to appear carelessly 
 happy. 
 
 Ippolita was disturbed by the change 
 she observed in Valombrosa ; yet why 
 should she believe that his conduct had 
 reference to her ? It is true, his levity wa« 
 exchanged for melancholy, his social 
 gaieties for solitary study, his feverish 
 brightness, for languid paleness ; but he 
 came as seldom as heretofore into Rosa- 
 lia's apartment when Ippolita was with 
 her, and whenever they did meet, met 
 her in silence, and sad distance. 
 
 Discarding, therefore, everyideaas vain 
 and injurious, which had made her sus- 
 pect him of a passing partiality for her- 
 self, she naturally expressed that anxiety
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 119 
 
 for his fading health, which was war- 
 ranted by the services he had rendered 
 to her, and the esteem he merited. 
 
 Surprised, flattered, re-animated, the 
 first time she ventured to add some kind 
 advice to her inquiries, Valombrosa's 
 countenance lighted up with instant anini- 
 ation. 
 
 "If I might venture to say what I 
 think," said Ippolita, gently smiling, 
 ** I should say, you are now paying the 
 penalty of your follv, in trying to recon- 
 ,cile two things that never can coalesce 
 cordially ; a life of benevolence, and a 
 life of pleasure. You have entered with 
 equal ardour into both, I fear, and you 
 are exhausted with too much impulse, and 
 too much action." 
 
 ** You believe, that I enter with equal 
 ardour into both !" repeated Valombrosa 
 with a glance of amiable reproach. Ippo- 
 lita's softened eyes fell under the glance. 
 
 After a moment's hesitation, she said
 
 1^0 THE FAST OF 3T. MAGDALEN. 
 
 tremulously, <* we can judge only by 
 appearances." 
 
 " Ah, Signora !" cried Valombrosa, " if 
 it is thus you judge me — " He broke off, 
 then resuming in a gayer tone, " So then 
 you condemn innocent amusement ; yet 
 I should have thought you very far from 
 recommending unsocial gloom — " again 
 he hesitated. 
 
 " You are right, my Lord," returned 
 Ippolita, " I love cheerfulness and so- 
 ciety ; but surely there is a becoming 
 temperance in all things ; and you will own 
 thatyou have been drinking rather largely 
 lately of pleasure's inebriating cup ?" She 
 spoke with pensive playfulness, yet Valom- 
 brosa coloured deeply and looked down. 
 
 Ippolita more tenderly resumed, ** sure- 
 ly dissipation is but the fool's and the 
 libertine's substitute for a blessing which 
 he has not the capacity of enjoying ? 
 Something far nobler is reserved for the 
 enlightened and the good. I can, indeed, 
 imagine a happiness so perfect, that plea-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 121 
 
 sures would disturb, not increase it ; and, 
 believe me, the materials for sueh happi- 
 oess are not to be collected in thoughtless 
 crowds." 
 
 For the first time since their ac- 
 quaintance, Valombrosa saw, for a mo- 
 ment, the whole soul of Ippolita in her 
 beautiful face: his own kindled with 
 sudden hope. ** I too can imagine it,** 
 he said, ** I too could value such happi- 
 ness, — and I know how it should be 
 sought, and wher« it might be found. 
 Might I but dare to hope, that no insu- 
 perable — " again he interrupted himself. 
 Ippolita's throbbing heart was seen to 
 beat violently through her slight cymar : 
 in spite of all her efforts, the disorder of 
 her looks was too powerful for conceal- 
 ment j and as none but delightful and 
 delighted feelings were visible there, (for 
 in this restoration of Valombrosa to her 
 complete esteem, every painful circum- 
 stance was forgot,) it was not possible for 
 him to remain irresolute. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 At that moment Rosalia's voice, as she 
 was entering, recalled Ippolita to recol- 
 lection, who, hastening to meet her, left 
 Valombrosa charged in every thought and 
 every feeling; thrilling with a confusion 
 of hopes, and wishes, and recollections ; 
 trying in vain to arrange the delightful 
 confusion of his mind, and locked in a 
 transport which nearly realized the hap- 
 piness Ippolita had described. 
 
 Seated at her organ, Rosalia sang 
 again and again, and he heard her not ; 
 she ceased, and his ear did not perceive 
 the silence ; she approached, and he did 
 not see her. 
 
 «« He is still here, is he not,'' she said, 
 addressing Ippolita. " Orlando, what 
 ails you ? it is not often that I sing, and 
 you do not utter, at least, one little word 
 ofkindness." 
 
 Valombrosa started at the light touch 
 of her lip upon his forehead. Fondly 
 taking her in his arms as he returned
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 123 
 
 the caress, he apologized by confessing 
 he had been lost in thought. 
 
 " And of what were you thinking, 
 dearest ?'* asked his sister, arranging his 
 redundant hair with as much nicety, as 
 though she could see its clustering curls. 
 
 Valombrosa looked at Ippolita — hesi- 
 tated — now felt his courage fail, and 
 then revive, while noticing the rich 
 crimson which yet remained on her 
 cheek. 
 
 Rosalia pressed to know his thoughts, 
 " is he not a cruel churl to us, Ippolita ?" 
 asked she, with a sweet and innocent 
 smile. " I dare say the proud creature 
 thinks we are not capable of understand- 
 ing his high thoughts." 
 
 " My Rosalia, my sweet Rosalia,'' re- 
 peated the fond brother, drawing her 
 closer to him, " if you would command me 
 to avow those high thoughts — if you 
 would engage beforehand that our friend 
 here would forgive me for the presump- 
 tuous curiosity of those thoughts — no, 
 G 2
 
 124 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 not the curiosity, the interest, the deep 
 interest," he paused. 
 
 " You *will forgive him, won't you, 
 Ippolita ?" demanded Rosalia, " for my 
 sake ; and won't you let me ask him what 
 were his thoughts ?" 
 
 Ippolita, with trembling eagerness, was 
 about to conjure her friend to inquire no 
 further, but timely recollecting that such 
 a request would betray too much con- 
 sciousness, she recovered herself^ and 
 affecting calmness, gave the permission 
 sought. 
 
 Valombrosa's resolution failed at the 
 precise moment in which he most re- 
 quired it ; his eyes, no longer sparkling 
 with ardent fire, were irresolute and 
 averted : his voice was not audible. Ro- 
 salia could not see these changes, but 
 she observed the flutter of his words, and 
 she felt the tremor of his hand, her own 
 romantic wishes made her urge him to 
 proceed : and again she bespoke Ippo-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 125 
 
 lita's indulgence for his possible teme- 
 rity. 
 
 Ashamed of his boyishness, and anx- 
 ious not to lose so fair an opportunity of 
 satisfying himself upon the point most 
 important to his peace, Valombrosa mas- 
 tered his agitation, and affecting his 
 sister's sportive tone, said, " I was 
 thinking whether any one could have 
 uttered the sentiment Signora Ippolita 
 did just now, that there is a happiness so 
 perfect, that pleasures would disturb it, 
 unless they had known such happiness 
 themselves ; in short, I was conjecturing 
 whether there may not exist some for- 
 tunate man who has a right to share 
 such a lot with her." 
 
 ** Pardon me, pardon me 1" he added, 
 rising in disorder and disappointment, 
 as he saw her countenance suddenly 
 change and her lip quiver. 
 
 His look of extreme distress suffused 
 her cheek again with the lovely red so 
 rarely there : she extended her hand to 
 G S
 
 126 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 him with a smile of enchanting frankness, 
 and modestly averting her eyes, said, <* if 
 my friends would ask whether I am mar- 
 ried or not, I answer them, no." 
 
 Valombrosa's bright eye-flash needed 
 no interpreter : Ippolita thought that 
 eloquent look explained all Valombrosa's 
 inconsistencies, nobly explained them ; 
 and for the few delightful hours which 
 intervened between that moment and 
 their hour of rest, she forgot that a stern 
 destiny fixed her enjoyment of Valora- 
 brosa's love, at the price of his honour, 
 his kindred, and his country. 
 
 In this evening Valombrosa was himself 
 again j more than himself. No longer 
 afraid of pouring out his own heart, or 
 fathoming that of Ippolita, he dis- 
 played so profound a sensibihty, and 
 showed such a capacity for the best and 
 noblest enjoyments of our nature, that 
 Ippolita reproached herself forever having 
 feared that such ft nature could be en-
 
 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEN. 1^ 
 
 gulphed in worthless pursuits, or de- 
 graded by luxurious habits. 
 
 Passion indeed might madden, preju- 
 dice mislead ; but pleasures could never 
 enslave, nor frivolity annihilate him. 
 
 Lost in the charm of that eloquence of 
 the heart, which was peculiar to Valom- 
 brosa, and hurried away by the gratifi- 
 cation of seeing his character, uniting in 
 free, unfettered sympathy with her own, 
 Ippolita for once surrendered herself to 
 the bliss of a present hour, on which fu- 
 ture suffering waited as its shadow ; and 
 Rosalia, catching the glow of her friend 
 and of her brother, completed their hap- 
 piness by her's. 
 
 From this period, Ippolita could no 
 longer condemn Valombrosa for seeking 
 delight in the dissipations of common 
 minds; he drew his most chosen com- 
 panions to his own residence ; and by 
 the utmost confidence respecting all his 
 pursuits and interests, associated himself 
 G 4
 
 128 THE FAST OF ST. MAeDALEK- 
 
 more intimately with the views and oc- 
 cupations of his sister and her friend. 
 
 He was still in a fairy-land of hope 
 and rapture ; Ippolita was gone back to 
 the gloomy realities of truth and self- 
 discipline : he was thinking how best to 
 deserve and win her ; she, how to unde- 
 ceive, and relinquish him. 
 
 Valombrosa had never estimated him- 
 self justly ; and now, weighed in love's 
 balance, against the supposed perfections 
 of its idol, he deemed himself light and 
 worthless : he durst not therefore risk 
 the desti'uction of his present hopes by a 
 premature disclosure ; and anxious to 
 owe nothing to the kind solicitations of 
 Rosalia, he refused himself the indul- 
 gence of pouring his heart into that of 
 his dear sister. 
 
 At first, Ippohta tliought to chill his 
 aflfection, by an air of cold repulse ; but 
 could she so slander her own heart ? for if 
 Tier lover, was he not still her benefactor ?
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 129 
 
 were it not best, simply to confine her 
 feelings to the show of friendship, and 
 neither avoid nor seek him ? and if his 
 precipitate temper should hurry him into 
 a distinct declaration of his sentiments, 
 that would be her moment for avowing 
 the existence of obstacles, which would 
 render her return of his attachment de- 
 structive to him, and calamitous to her- 
 self. 
 
 Painful as it was for her to think of 
 leaving Rosalia ; of depriving her of the 
 watchful cares, which that tender girl 
 seemed to prize as almost equal to those 
 from her brother, Ippolita now saw the 
 necessity of sacrificing her own feelings 
 in that respect, and the lesser duty her 
 gratitude would still pay to Rosalia, to 
 the imperative one of preserving the 
 peace and honour of the benefactor of 
 them both. She therefore wrote to the 
 relative on whom she depended, explain- 
 ing her situation, and praying him to ap- 
 point some religious house for her to re- 
 G 5
 
 130 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 pair to; where secure from the perse- 
 cution of one, whose pursuit she had 
 successfully baffled by her residence at 
 Florence, she might finally dedicate her- 
 self to Heaven. This letter she enclosed 
 in one to the prior of Spirito Santo ; and 
 Valombrosa forwarded it, little aware of 
 its cruel contents.
 
 THE PAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 131 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Winter was gone, and the return of 
 blooming spring carried the principal of 
 the Florentine nobility, to enjoy its balmy 
 air, among the groves of their different 
 villas. 
 
 Valombtosa, glad to escape to shade 
 and retirement, from the bustle and bu- 
 siness of the town, prepared to lead his 
 sister and her friend to his favorite re- 
 treat of II Bel Deserto ; a house well 
 worthy of its name, from the peculiar so- 
 litariness and romantic beauty of its situ- 
 ation, and from the perfection of its 
 architecture. 
 
 It was situated in one of those high 
 valleys, which open suddenly upon the 
 traveller, among the wildest regions of 
 the Appenines. 
 
 G 6
 
 182 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Entirely constructed of the finest Ca- 
 rara marble, the unsullied whiteness 
 of the edifice made it visible from a 
 great distance : surrounded by advancing 
 groves, it seemed to recede amongst 
 those groves, as if with the conscious- 
 ness and modesty of virgin beauty* 
 
 The light shafts of its finely-propor- 
 tioned and glittering pillars, were pictu- 
 resquely crossed by overhanging trees, 
 which scattering and softening the re- 
 flections of sunshine or of moonlight 
 upon the polished columns, varied the 
 light and shade at every movement of 
 the branches. 
 
 Except the story of Endymion told 
 in basso relievo upon the architrave of 
 the portico, the building it might be said 
 was devoid of decoration. The same 
 taste for simplicity was conspicuous in 
 the few additions made to its native 
 scenery. 
 
 The cool gush of neighbouring waters 
 invited the steps into a thick larch-wood,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 133 
 
 where, under a natural grotto, o'ercano- 
 pied with wild vines and ivy, a sculptured 
 naiad, slept to the music of her flowing 
 urn. 
 
 Tread lightly, stranger, the marble 
 breathes ! 
 
 Following the course of this gentle 
 stream, through forest walks strewn with 
 Alpine plants, the path conducted down- 
 wards ; till gradually losing its character 
 of romantic wildness, it emerged jn a 
 broad expanse of magnificent gardens. 
 
 There terminated the efforts of mortal 
 hands : all beyond, was the wide domain 
 of Nature and of God ! 
 
 The verdant Appenines rising in every 
 form of sublimity and beauty, the inter- 
 minable woods, the rivers pouring from 
 distant sources with majestic and con- 
 tinuous sound, the glorious effects of 
 storms and sunshine and clouds ; that 
 aspiration after a higher and a purer 
 state of being, that awakened voice 
 which repeating the promise of immor- 
 
 i 10
 
 1S4) THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 tality to man, rouses his slumbering soul 
 like the summons of the Angel Sit the 
 Judgment-day; these were the awful 
 charms by which the Villa of Valombrosa 
 was surrounded, and his just taste would 
 not mar them, by intermixture with 
 feebler graces. 
 
 Here he was accustomed to discard 
 the wearisome pageantries of his rank, 
 and to live with the simplicity of a man 
 who disdains to carry the shackles of 
 ceremony into the free wilds of nature ; 
 here, he shut out all the world, but the 
 best and dearest of his friends, and re- 
 signed himself solely to the dominion of 
 hi» heart and his imagination. 
 
 Valombrosa was in the very act of 
 departure for this favourite residence, 
 when an attendant informed him that 
 Prince Angelo Rossano requ«sted a short 
 audience. 
 
 *' I attend him immediately," be said, 
 dismissing the servant ; then turning to 
 his sister, added, " I must see this dis-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 135 
 
 agreeable personage, I find after all. 
 Some one has died and left him the 
 guardianship of a boy, who brings for- 
 ward a claim on the alum-mines of my 
 ward, Leonora Donati. This will be my 
 first sight of the proud philosopher ; for 
 I have done my best to avoid an inter- 
 view, — and I fear it will not be my 
 last." 
 
 Valombrosa uttered this, between jest 
 and seriousness, leaving Rosalia to detail 
 to the inquiring Ippolita, all she had 
 heard her brother and others, say of the 
 person in question ; — the substance of 
 her information, was as follows : 
 
 Prince Angelo Rossano was a Nea- 
 politan by birth ; his elder brother in- 
 heriting the principality, an inferior 
 patrimony devolved to the share of the 
 former. 
 
 Prince Rossano had borne a distin- 
 guished part in the politics of his distracted 
 country, and having espoused the French 
 interest, was now, with others o^* the
 
 136 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Anjouin faction, at the court of Louis 
 the Twelfth. 
 
 Angelo also, for the first few years of 
 his life, took a large share in public affairs, 
 and was said to have given promise of 
 uncommon ability. During the invasion 
 of Naples, he had greatly distinguished 
 himself amongst its defenders ; but on 
 the retreat of King Federigo into France, 
 and the treacherous transfer of the young 
 Duke of Calabria to Castile, he retired 
 in disgust, to his estate in Calabria, and 
 devoted himself to study. 
 
 When very young, Rossano had married 
 a lady of remarkable beauty j and it was 
 now alleged, that his cynical humour, 
 assisting the seductions of a young Cas- 
 tilian officer, had caused her to break 
 her marriage vow. Whether impelled 
 by base inclination, or driven to it by 
 her husband's severity, it is certain, that 
 on the discovery of her infidelity, she 
 fled to Castile with her seducer. 
 
 After that event, Rossano took no
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 137 
 
 Steps to regain her, nor to avenge his 
 honour ; but renouncing his country, he 
 first sohcited and obtained a divorce at 
 Rome, then wandered over Greece and 
 Italy, and at last, fixed himself near 
 Florence. 
 
 Here he had now lived but one year, 
 little known and less sought: the gay 
 Florentines deemed him an unsocial mis- 
 anthrope ; and from the indifference he 
 had manifested to general opinion upon 
 the flight of his wife, no one thought it 
 uncharitable to conclude, that he had de^ 
 served his misfortune. 
 
 Valombrosa followed the popular pre- 
 judice : he was ever willing to believe 
 that women's crimes^ are rather, the effect 
 of outraged feelings than of unprovoked 
 depravity ; and he flamed with indig- 
 nation, whenever he imagined a husband 
 passive under the sting of dishonour. In 
 his accidental mention, therefore, of the 
 naturalized stranger, he spoke with as 
 much ardent contempt of his character,
 
 138 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 as though the amplest information war- 
 ranted the sentiment. 
 
 Somewhat vexed by the prospect of 
 being frequently obliged to discuss the 
 interests of his ward, with a man for 
 whom he felt neither respect nor esteem, 
 he proceeded across the court which 
 divided that part of the palazzo where 
 his sister resided, from the quarter 
 appropriated to his own use. 
 
 Having passed through some inter- 
 vening saloons, he entered the room 
 where he was told, Prince Angel o awaited 
 him. He had thrown open the door 
 rather abruptly and entered ; his eyes 
 elevated by that supercilious indifference, 
 with which rash youth sometimes braves 
 the opinion of graver experience : he 
 flashed them for an instant over the 
 Prince's figure, but the next moment 
 they sought the same object again, and 
 an expression of agreeable surprise dis- 
 placed the haughtiness with which he had 
 prepared to advance.
 
 THE FAST OF ST.MA6DALEN. 189 
 
 Valombrosa's imagination was so apt 
 to exaggerate every description of places 
 and persons, that he rarely found any 
 resemblance between objects and their 
 portraits, when he had an opportunity 
 of comparing them j he was therefore, 
 subject to sudden revolutions of opinion j 
 and being keenly alive to the charm of 
 noble or interesting expression, he never 
 saw either, without yielding willingly to 
 their influence. 
 
 In the, present instance, both causes 
 operated to produce an instant revulsion 
 of feeling. He had imagined Prince 
 Angelo a stern, self-adulating person, of 
 a forbidding appearance ; instead of 
 which, he saw a man with manners 
 modestly embarrassed, and a countenance 
 full of moral and intellectual beauty. 
 
 The Prince immediately entered upon 
 the business he came to discuss, in a low 
 and steady voice j but it was a voice only 
 to be equalled in urbanity, by the 
 smile which occasionally accompanied 
 its sound.
 
 140 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 During their long discussion, Valom- 
 brosa fancied he now and then saw this 
 smile tinctured with a sort of pity very- 
 humiliating to its object, and at first be 
 felt indignant : but a repetition of the 
 smile made him question himself whether 
 or not it were deserved; and he thea 
 discovered, that it properly marked some 
 expression of prejudice or passion in his 
 conversation. 
 
 Such a discovery was not calculated to 
 revive the arrogant feeling which Prince 
 Angelo's appearance had subdued j and 
 Valombrosa's usual frank temerity of as- 
 sertion, gradually softened into amiable 
 self-mistrust. 
 
 The Prince, in his turn, by degrees, 
 spoke with less brevity and hesitation. 
 He seemed to see that Valombrosa's pre- 
 judices, though as thick as weeds, had 
 as little root, and sprung from a soil 
 capable of bearing the noblest harvests. 
 He warmed, therefore, into an earnest- 
 ness of reasoning, and a patience of ex-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 141 
 
 planation, which captivated both thd at- 
 tention and the good-will of his hearer ; 
 and before they parted, his offending 
 smile had but one expression, that of 
 kindly interest. 
 
 The surprise of Rosalia and Ippolita 
 when Valombrosa returned to them, and 
 gave way to the change Prince Angelo 
 had wrought in his sentiments, was only 
 equalled by their secret admiration of 
 that ingenuous spirit which urged Va- 
 lombrosa so freely to condemn his former 
 prejudice. 
 
 This frank confession of error, was 
 made in the true spirit of generous com- 
 punction ; for he sought no qualifying 
 excuse. He even refused to remember 
 the variety of persons whose circumstan- 
 tial scandals might be said to have autho- 
 rised his prejudice. 
 
 Jealous of her brother's perfection, 
 Rosalia insisted upon placing the blame 
 on those malignant individuals in whom 
 such stories had originated.
 
 14S THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 " Ah, my sweet sister !" exclaimed 
 Valombrosa, *Mf I am not a wilful ca- 
 lumniator, I have at least proved myself 
 a fool. One of those credulous, tale-re- 
 peating fools, who are at once the dupes 
 and the instruments of craftier men. 
 And who shall say which of these cha- 
 racters does the most mischief? If the 
 malicious man had not the fool for his 
 emissary, scarcely one slander out of a 
 thousand would live beyond an hour." 
 
 ** And what in one interview can so 
 entirely have disproved these stories 
 against Prince Angelo?" asked Ippolita, 
 raising her thoughtful eyes for an instant. 
 " Are pleasing manners, a noble air, and 
 an intellectual countenance, undeviating 
 evidences of a good heart ?" 
 
 " With me they are, I fear, nearly al- 
 ways," replied Valombrosa ingenuously. 
 " But I know that is one of the vices of 
 my nature ; a shoot from the same root 
 of credulity which makes me believe 
 whatever is confidently asserted : — it is
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 145 
 
 SO impossible to imagine half the world 
 liars ! — But I think in the present in- 
 stance 1 am not the dupe of my own ea- 
 siness. Prince Angelo was described to 
 me as morose and ill-bred, caring for no 
 one but himself, with a stone in his 
 breast instead of a heart, and no one ex- 
 cellence in the world, but a powerful 
 mind, which he cultivated to excess, 
 solely to give him the better excuse for 
 despising the rest of mankind. I see 
 him ; I converse with him ; and I find 
 him with a countenance expressive of re- 
 markable sweetness, with conciliating 
 manners, with a marvellous patience of 
 contradiction and error ; and instead of 
 that arrogant disdain of inferior acquire- 
 ments which was laid to his charge, with 
 the modest embarrassment of a man who 
 doubts his own powers, or who has reach- 
 ed that eminence of wisdom which only 
 shows him ' the Alps on Alps' beyond.'* 
 " I think you are not very far from
 
 144" THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 that eminence yourself, my dear Orlan- 
 do," whispered Rosaha. 
 
 " Certainly not ; if the proof is, that 
 I see myself over-topped by two-thirds 
 of my acquaintance!*' rephed Valom- 
 brosa gaily. ** But I mufst return to 
 what I was saying to the Signora Ippo- 
 lita. Now is it not fair to presume, that 
 the same envy or ignorance has misre- 
 presented his moral qualities, which has 
 so glaringly falsified his manners and 
 appearance? And against all the pre- 
 sumptive evidences I have just adduced 
 in his favour, we have only to balance a 
 few sallies of ridicule at his pedantry and 
 severe morals ; and a string of ill-natured 
 suppositions on the cause of his domestic 
 misery, uttered by men who either knew 
 him superficially, or were unable to com- 
 prehend him, or felt their self-love stung 
 by feis superiority. 1 see the inference 
 against myself which must be drawn from 
 this, Signora, by that kindly-downcast 
 eye of your's. But you may look at me,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 145 
 
 and see that I really do colour with 
 'shame at my past illiberality. I hope it 
 has taught me a lesson for life." 
 
 «< A fault thus nobly redeemed " 
 
 began Ippolita, her beautiful face suf- 
 fusing, in spite of herself, with the sen- 
 timent that warmed her heart ; she did 
 not trust herself to finish the sentence; 
 for now a keen pang of regret that 
 she could be nothing hereafter to him 
 she admired so justly, shot through her 
 breast, and banished from her cheek the 
 •colouring of tenderness and joy* ' - 
 
 But Valombrosa, thrilling with the tone 
 in which she had spoken those few 
 words, saw not the change. He resumed. 
 " One half of the persons who retailed 
 these tales about Prince Angelo, doubt- 
 less did it upon as slight grounds as I 
 -believed them : for I never had the sense 
 or the justice to seek out the few indivi- 
 duals who did know the Princess history 
 and character, and learn from them wlie- 
 ?ther he were indeed a proud cynic, or 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 one fled with a wound in his heart from 
 the cruel world where he had received 
 it," 
 
 " But where are you to find such per- 
 sons, my dear Orlando?" asked Ro- 
 salia. 
 
 " In his immediate neighbourhood, 
 my sister. You see his neighbours must 
 have discovered him to be benevolent 
 and trust- worthy, or he would not have 
 been appointed by a father to the guar- 
 dianship of his son. I confess that in 
 our conversation to-day, I saw in him 
 what must make common worldly minds, 
 hostile to him. I mean, a broad prin- 
 ciple of justice, which will not allow it- 
 self to be trenched on, either by private 
 friendship or popular odium. He deve- 
 loped this in his arguments against my 
 tenacious adherence to an opposite prin- 
 ciple ; — you see what a wise brother you 
 have, Rosalia! — and I was surprised, in- 
 structed, and convinced at the same 
 instant,"
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 147 
 
 " Nay, Orlando, you slander yourself !" 
 exclaimed his sister with sweet vehemence. 
 
 " I would I did ! but as I must make 
 full confession of this folly, to my own 
 conscience, 'tis fit 1 rehearse it to you, 
 for your instruction ; I have hitherto 
 gone headlong in the service of whatever 
 person engaged me, like a hireling sol- 
 dier, making it my point of honour, to 
 fight it out to the last, even though sus- 
 pecting the cause not a good one. — To 
 keep my w^ord — to serve a friend — to 
 enrich a beggar, sanctified my actions in 
 my own opinion. Now I would not con- 
 vince myself, that my little ward had a 
 very doubtful title to the mines Rossano's 
 ward contests ; and after he had demon- 
 strated the vexatious truth, in amicable 
 discourse, I was at first angrily resolved 
 to carry the matter into the court, hoping 
 that some trick of law might preserve it 
 to the poor child. If she loses it, she 
 loses the chief part of her income ; while 
 the rich Luigi, gains what he has no 
 H 2
 
 148 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEK. 
 
 want of. I confess the natural injustice of 
 this, chafed me ; and I had the intern- 
 perance to accuse Prince Angelp of cru- 
 elty in the discharge of his duty. He bore 
 the outrage with the patience of a saint ; 
 and after I had exhaled myself in a 
 volume of idle declamation, he calmly 
 took up the argument." 
 
 ** And what could he say in vindication 
 of so hard a proceeding?*' asked the tender 
 Rosalia. 
 
 " The plain truth, my sweet sister, in 
 much better language than I can remem- 
 ber. In short, having simply protested 
 the unwillingness with which he executed 
 a painful duty, he proved to me that 
 having accepted the guardianship of this 
 child, he was as religiously bound to 
 regain for him, if possible, what had been 
 improperly withheld, as to preserve for 
 him what he actually possessed : and 
 having thus distinctly defined his own 
 duty. Prince Angelo pointed out mine. 
 He convinced me, that society depends
 
 THE FAST OF ST» MAGDALEN. 149 
 
 iipon every man's conviction that its laws 
 require him to yield others their rights, 
 in order that he may thus entitle himself 
 to the protection of his own : and that 
 whatever violence we may put upon our 
 private partiality, or gratitude, or com- 
 passionate feelings, the broad principle of 
 even-handed justice must in no case be 
 given lip. When I told him that Leonora 
 would be reduced to comparative indi- 
 gence, his countenance changed j atlength 
 he said — " In four years, my ward will 
 attain majority ; you may be sure I will 
 not lose the advantage of the intervening 
 time, to instruct him in the duties of hu- 
 manity ! she has her laws not less com- 
 manding than those of justice, and I hope 
 he will freely obey them. Meanwhile, I 
 have not much to do with money in the 
 way I live ; you are rich, and I am sure 
 generous ; and between us, we may partly 
 make up your protegee's loss." 
 
 ** O amiable ! excellent man !" cried 
 E osalia, tears starting into her eyes, 
 H 3
 
 150 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 ** Now indeed/*' exclaimed Ippolita, 
 with animation, " you prove to iis that 
 Prince Angelo has been ill understood in 
 Tuscany." 
 
 " We may all judge more leisurely, " 
 returned Valombrosa, " for I have invited 
 the Prince to // lei Deserto ; so you will 
 have an opportunity of com.paring my 
 impressions, with the man himself." 
 
 Ippolita started, and Valombrosa 
 thought, looked disturbed ; but after an 
 instant^s bend of her expressive brow, an 
 instant's fixture of her meditative eye, 
 her countenance relaxed, andherthoughts 
 returned to their first bias ; she said pen- 
 sively, " I fear, my friends, you must 
 think I have a cold heart waiting upon a 
 colder judgment : but a life like mine" — 
 she stopt, and cast her eyes upwards with 
 a look which said, ** only Heaven can tell 
 the sad experience I have had, that nei- 
 ther looks, nor sentiments, nay nor prin. 
 ciples, can be relied on ; actions alone^ 
 are the test of man's integrity !"
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 151 
 
 Ippolita had indeed known a sad variety 
 of wretchedness. Associated with the fate 
 of exiles, she had seen friendship after 
 friendship, bursting like bubbles under 
 the touch : she had found professions 
 faithless ; principles themselves failing at 
 the moment of trial ; fidelity presump- 
 tuous; the benefactor becoming the tyrant; 
 and even family union, broken by calamity 
 into selfish and separate interests. She 
 had seen all this, she had felt all this, 
 and there were times when the keen re- 
 collection of past disappointments made 
 her forget that she was now in the very 
 arms of disinterested, affectionate, bene- 
 volence ! 
 
 Her eyes surcharged with tears, re- 
 mained fixed in mournful thought Va- 
 lombrosa said with great emotion, *^ you 
 should see my heart, Signora, to know 
 how I estimate that judgment, and how" 
 — he stopt, changed colour, began again 
 to speak, then checking himself, broke off 
 
 ofii with alookofpenetratingdevotedness. 
 H 4
 
 15£ THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEN.^ 
 
 Ippolita mastered the conscious, rebel- 
 lious sigh, which rose to echo the expres- 
 sion of Valombrosa's glance ; she tnrned 
 towards Rosalia and said, ** I confess 
 myself anxious not to be misunderstood 
 by either of my friends. I would fain 
 have them believe, that though my heai t 
 lias been crushed, it will always spring to 
 meet goodness and affection. I hope it 
 is not poisoned by suspicion, though it no 
 longer dare surrender itself to belief, 
 without proof, in all the virtues it wishes 
 to find. Here every thing is certainty, 
 delightful certainty j and my heart glows 
 with equal confidence, equal gratitude 
 for you both." 
 
 Rosalia and Valombrosa took the hand 
 Ippolita extended to each, with very dif- 
 ferent feelings : the latter retained her 
 hand in his, but without venturing to 
 press it even in sign of cordial thanks ; 
 for what she said, had chilled his hopes. 
 
 <* I have been told," resumed Ippolita, 
 making ^ an effort to strike a decisive
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 153 
 
 Stroke, " that my character has none of 
 the materials of love in it ; it would be 
 woeful for me if it had. But I trust you will 
 both feel that it is only the better adapted 
 for sincere, unchanging devoted friend- 
 ship ; and that neither of you will regard 
 me the less kindly, because I never yield 
 myself long, to the guidance of deceitful 
 imagination." 
 
 As she ended, Valombrosa suffered her 
 hand to drop from his : her pointed ex- 
 pression of voice, of countenance, was 
 not to be mistaken ; he saw what was 
 to be the future limit of his expect- 
 ations. " I understand you, madam !" 
 he said, in accents so low that Rosalia did 
 not hear him, and rising with an air of 
 equal respect and dejection, left the 
 apartment. 
 
 At that moment, how did the stricken 
 heart of the self-immolated Ippolita yearn 
 to pour out its bleeding tenderness, even 
 at his feet ! 
 
 H 5
 
 ^1 
 
 154 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Immediately after this scene, the little 
 party began their journey to // hel De- 
 serto. Valombrosa rode apart ; and dur- 
 ing his solitary progress, had leisure for 
 many reflections. He set out with the de- 
 termination of being completely miser- 
 able ; but ere he reached // bel Deserto, 
 hope had revived, his sanguine spirit had 
 risen from its sudden overthrow with re- 
 newed strength. — It is so impossible 
 for the evidences of tenderness, (even 
 though purposely obscured) to be hidden 
 from the watchful eyes of a lover ; and 
 so impossible for the lover to imagine 
 that any thing but happiness and union 
 can follow mutual attachment ! — Alas, 
 why is such fond augury so rarely justified 
 by the event ! 
 
 When she reached // bel Deserto, Ip- 
 polita's animated admiration of a resi- 
 dence which had been erected under his 
 own eye, and embellished by his taste, 
 finished the destruction of Valombrosa' 
 despondency.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 155 
 
 As he led her through the house and 
 the wood-walks, at every burst of the 
 splendid landscape her admiration outran 
 his questions ; and the same sentiments 
 flowedfrom her lips which beat in hisheart, 
 and kindled upon his countenance. Again 
 and again he repeated to himself with 
 the intoxication of hope, ** Oh it is impos- 
 sible that our sympathy is to end here !'* 
 
 Ippolita could not blind herself to the 
 meaning of his illuminated eyes, and it 
 cost her many a severe struggle to pre- 
 serve tranquillity in her's. 
 
 But an imperious duty called on her 
 for exertion ; and had she hesitated sacri- 
 ficing the delight of still beating in every 
 pulse of the generous Valombrosa's 
 heart, she would have considered herself 
 at once a traitor to Rosalia, and an in- 
 grate to him. 
 
 The one painful secret which oppress- 
 ed her, and which when told, must con- 
 vince him that he ought to tear her image 
 H 6
 
 156 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 
 
 from his heart, would soon, she believed, 
 be revealed to him by another. 
 
 She had long waited for permission 
 from those she was bound to obey, to 
 reveal this burthensome secret ; and now 
 accident was about to anticipate their 
 consent, or to render their refusal vain. 
 
 Ippolita remembered to have seen a 
 Prince Rossano among the many Nea- 
 politans who came to learn at the camp 
 of the French, the situation of their 
 relations in France. It is true, she was 
 then but sixteen ; and five subsequent 
 years of conflict with the world, might 
 have changed her beyond his recollection. 
 Besides, it was possible, the Prince she 
 knew of that name, might not be the 
 same person that Valombrosa had invited 
 to II bel Deserto, 
 
 But anxious to be released from the 
 yoke of concealment, she tried to hope 
 tliat Prince Angelo was the man she had 
 known, and that he would openly recog- 
 Fiise her j by doing so, he would afford
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 157 
 
 Valombrosa an instant and honourable 
 explanation of her apparent ingratitude 
 to his generous passion. 
 
 In this hope, Ippolita wrested her 
 thoughts from her own situation, and 
 fixed them upon the privations and the 
 patience of her youthful companion. 
 
 It was sweet to repose the mind upon 
 such an object : it was comforting to 
 see how ingeniously the human heart 
 makes to itself a new species of pleasure, 
 when customary ones are withdrawn : 
 it was edifying to behold the heaviest of 
 afflictions, borne with a cheerfulness, 
 conquered and preserved by many a 
 contest ! 
 
 ** I am in // hel Deserto, among our 
 beautiful Appenines !" cried Rosalia, the 
 first evening they sat together under the 
 open portico which looked down the 
 valley. 
 
 The ^un had just sunk among a pomp 
 of gorgeous clouds, which still filled the 
 west with that amethystine glow peculiar 
 to Italy: — the majestic pageant of that
 
 158 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 western sky was slowly passing away, 
 beyond the long vista of mountains that 
 opened before them. Golden gleams yet 
 lingered on the wood tops ; while the 
 dewy freshness of the air brightened 
 their vernal green, extracting and waft- 
 ing aromatic perfumes. 
 
 Rosalia felt the tranquillity, and cool- 
 ness, and fragrance, and she fancied the 
 beauty of the scene. She spoke, too, in 
 so animated a tone, that a stranger 
 following the ineffectual movement of 
 her soft blue eyes, might have believed 
 that her sense, as well as her heart, took 
 in the glorious prospect. 
 
 "Oh, my Rosalia !" cried Valombrosa, 
 his feelings escaping controul j "why can- 
 not you share this magnificent scene 
 with your brother !" 
 
 A sHght emotion tinged the cheek 
 of Rosalia ; momentary tears suffused her 
 eyes, but shaking them away, she said 
 cheerfully, " I do see it, dear Orlando, in 
 imagination, in memory, and what is
 
 THE FAST OF ST, MAGDALEN. 159 
 
 better, I feel it in my heart ; it is better 
 to feel than to see, is it not ? — and had 
 I been like others of my age, I must 
 have gone into crowds — foolish, dissipated 
 crowds. I should then have learned to 
 prize mere pleasure ; I might have grown 
 vain and frivolous, and dead to every 
 solid good ; and then I should have seen 
 all the wonders of creation and felt them 
 not. No ! I had rather have my spirit 
 see, than my eyes.'' 
 
 Valombrosa elapsed her for an instant 
 to his breast, and when he released her, 
 Ippolita saw his face was moistened by 
 tears. — How lovely were those tears in 
 her eyes ! 
 
 He rose without speaking, and escaping 
 from the delicate grasp of his sister, 
 hurried away to recover himself. 
 
 " Sweet Rosalia," said Ippolita, as he 
 departed, " I could almost envy you the 
 privilege of exciting such holy joy, as 
 was expressed in that silent embrace 
 of your brother ! I am convinced that 
 
 lO
 
 160 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 nothing gives him such happiness, as 
 beholding you so resigned." 
 
 <* I was not always so, my dear mo- 
 nitress," replied Rosalia, " but reflecting 
 upon your harder fate, has taught me the 
 easiness of mine. My task has only been 
 submission, your's, struggling for others ; 
 hoping, fearing, suffering in vain ; losing 
 what you toiled for; alone and deso- 
 late. — Could I contrast two such fates, 
 yet remain a querulous mourner?" 
 
 " Well then, we will simply acknow- 
 ledge to each other, that we endeavour 
 to do our duty," said Ippolita, •« for 
 such it is, let us poor mortals be ever so 
 inclined to dignify well-doing, with loftier 
 epithets. I will ever balance against the 
 trials of my fate, the remembrance of 
 moments like this ; the recollection of 
 such friendship and such excellence as 
 Rosalia's and her brother's ; while you 
 may greatly weigh against any privation, 
 the possession of such a brother !" 
 
 Rosalia's artless heart thrilled at the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN^. 161 
 
 unusual tone of Ippolita's voice. That 
 exquisite sensibility to every shade of 
 sound, peculiar to the blind, made her 
 perceive in its fullest extent, the emo- 
 tion with which Ippolita spoke; her 
 wishes gave but one meaning to that 
 emotion ; yet too delicate for comment, 
 she kissed her friend's cheek, gratefully 
 whispering, " gladly do I acknowledge 
 this, every time I kneel before the blessed 
 Cross. No lover, no husband, will ever 
 be mine, to rival that dear brother in my 
 affections, and it is delicious to think so ; 
 but I would willingly have him give rae 
 a rival. I hope he will marry." 
 
 Rosalia, aware that she could not trace 
 the effect of this speech upon the face of 
 Ippolita, with such innocent cunning as 
 we sometimes observe in a child, gently 
 passed her arm round her friend's waist, 
 and rested her hand upon her left side. 
 
 The feeling in the heart within, was 
 too intense for tumult. The image pre- 
 sented by Rosalia, seemed to realize
 
 162 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 instantly, what Ippolita had hitherto 
 contemplated only in idea, and as a 
 thing remote ; it was not a struggle 
 therefore, but a sacrifice ; and the heart 
 which is making a great sacrifice, does 
 not throb. 
 
 Reading the master passion only in the 
 pages of the poets, Rosalia was not able 
 to discover any thing by her manoeuvre ; 
 she removed her hand with a sigh of dis- 
 appointment, as Ippolita said, with forced 
 composure, '* of course your brother will 
 marry ; and when I am far from Florence, 
 I shall hope to hear that he has given 
 you a sister quite worthy of him." 
 
 O, how many things do we say without 
 meaning them, as if we sought to cheat 
 our very selves ! Ippolita's heart smote 
 her for that insincere hope ; and she 
 might have added something that would 
 have betrayed the truth, had not the re- 
 appearance of Valombrosa, given a for- 
 tunate interruption to her feelings. 
 
 The ensuing day was spent by Ippolita,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. l63 
 
 in admiration of the scene in which she 
 was placed. 
 
 The house itself contained fewer books, 
 pictures, and statues, than the palace at 
 Florence : but whether these were better 
 selected, or that their limited number 
 gave greater leisure for examination, she 
 knew not ; but she felt a more lively glow 
 of mental pleasure, in the portico and 
 gallery of// bel Deserto, than ever she did 
 amongst the interminable magnificence of 
 the Palazzo Valombrosa. 
 
 The vestibule, which was indeed only 
 a wider continuation of the portico, was 
 surrounded by antique statues of the 
 most exquisite sculpture: the gallery 
 contained historical pictures by Raphael ; 
 and the ornaments of Rosalia's cabinet, 
 were a collection of the portraits of^ 
 illustrious men, by Da Vinci and Gior- 
 gione. 
 
 Her bath, fantastically wrought in imi- 
 tation of a sea nymph's grotto, was 
 prettily garlanded with representations
 
 164 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 of aquatic plants, and decorated by 
 groupes of appropriate statuary. 
 
 But Valombrosa's was of a simpler 
 taste : its plain marble sides, polished 
 like mirrors, reflected only one statue ; 
 the perfect figure of a Narcissus 5 which, 
 bending enamoured over the clear water, 
 seemed gazing on the soft uncertain re- 
 flection, which undulated below. 
 
 In such a scene, manly beauty might 
 learn to scorn itself, by comparison witii 
 the divine proportions of this unrivalled 
 boast of Grecian art : or if nature's hand 
 had marvellously triumphed over the 
 sculptor's chissel, might at least be 
 taught, that he who fixes his eye upon 
 his animal nature, perishes without the 
 *< fair posterity of illustrious deeds." 
 
 Ippolita was not soon weary of study- 
 ing the pictures in the gallery, and the 
 statues in the vestibule : each object 
 there, was full of instruction to her 
 whose reflective mind pondered upon
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 165 
 
 every event of life, and every variety of 
 human character. 
 
 By comparing these delineations of the 
 passions, with her own observation of 
 those passions in real scenes, she doubled 
 thefirstgreat effect of the master's genius: 
 and while she looked on that unearthly per- 
 fection which Grecian artists have given 
 to human proportions, she believed she 
 saw the model of man, such as he was 
 created in God's own image, before sin 
 and sorrow sullied his original bright- 
 tiess.
 
 166 'THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALKN. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Having accustomed themselves to sup 
 in the open air, since their residence at // 
 bel DesertOy Valombrosa and Rosalia 
 were sitting with Ippolita, embosomed 
 among myrtles, and lulled by the far-off 
 sound of fountains in the gardens, when 
 a page announced Prince AngeloRossano. 
 Valombrosa hastened to welcome him. 
 
 As he presented the Prince to his 
 sister, and the Signora Martello, Ippolita 
 involuntarily drew back. At the first 
 glance, she recognized Rossano ; but as 
 he bowed to her with his eyes down, 
 she could not guess whether he might or 
 might not recollect her. 
 
 They seated themselves ; and the 
 prince obeying Rosalia's courteous in-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 167 
 
 treaty that he would taste the fruit on 
 their table, fell into discourse with her 
 immediately. 
 
 Ippolita had then leisure for observing 
 his countenance. How well did she re- 
 member him, even after so many years I 
 and how many agonising recollections 
 were associated with his image ! She re- 
 called the buoyant hopes and succeeding 
 alarms of the period in which they had 
 last met ; and having lived to find that 
 both those hopes and fears had failed of 
 their accomplishment, inwardly ejacu- 
 lated, " Man, indeed, disquieteth him- 
 self in vain." 
 
 Time had dealt kindly with Prince 
 Angelo ; for the same expression of 
 outraged affection, which marked his 
 brow five years before, was now softened 
 into a contemplative seriousness. 
 
 While perusing his countenance, Ip- 
 polita could not blame the enthusiasm of 
 Valpmbjrosa ; and she gave him a glance
 
 168 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 which expressed as much. He spoke to 
 her, and she was obliged to answer. 
 
 At the sound of her peculiar voice, as 
 of one familiar in other days, the Prince 
 hastily raised his eyes. He did not start, 
 but he looked sadly and earnestly at her. 
 
 When Ippolita turned pale, it was from 
 her lips that the bright red disappeared : 
 her clear cheek had not often a tint to 
 lose. Her whole face was now completely 
 devoid of colour, so that it was impos- 
 sible for a stranger not to be struck with 
 her agitation. Prince Angelo saw it, 
 stifled a long-drawn sigh, and looked 
 down again in silence. 
 
 Valombrosa, who observed the fixed 
 gaze of the one, and the disturbance of 
 the other, felt at first, he knew not what 
 wild fancy; but quickly banishing it, 
 he concluded that Rossano had found 
 some resemblance to his faithless wife 
 in the beauty of Ippolita, and that so 
 determined a gaze, confused her modesty.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 169 
 
 Anxious to relieve them both, he en- 
 gaged the Prince in immediate convers- 
 ation. Ippolita gradually recovered 
 her self-possession during their discourse; 
 and at last, as Rossano, either by acci- 
 dent or design, never suffered his eyes 
 to meet her*s again, she insensibly found 
 refuge from the spectres of the past his 
 appearance had raised, in listening to 
 the subjects discussed. They were in- 
 teresting in themselves, and derived ad- 
 ditional attraction from the agreeably 
 contrasted characters of the speakers. 
 
 Valombrosa, eloquent, frank, and ar- 
 dent, urged on his remarks with an ad- 
 venturous enthusiasm ; which eager in 
 the pursuit of some favourite theory, ha- 
 zarded the boldest novelties of opinion, 
 without fear of ridicule. 
 
 Prince Angelo, calm, meditative, and 
 slow of speech, proceeded leisurely to se- 
 parate and arrange, and then to examine 
 the splendid assertions of his companion.^ 
 The steady light of truth brightened his 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 THE FAST Of 3T.MAGDALEK. 
 
 temperate language ; it never dazzled 
 like the flash of Valombrosa's lively 
 fancy ; but it warmed and it guided. 
 
 Valombrosa's conversation was enriched 
 by numberless graces of taste and imagi- 
 nation ; Prince Angelo's had but one 
 striking ornament ; — Perspicuity. 
 
 But under that Doric plainness, what 
 profound depths of thought and feeling 
 were concealed ! what an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the hearts of others ! 
 what severe study of his own ! what phi- 
 losophic indifference to all the vain dis- 
 tinctions of life ! 
 
 Ippolita, long accustomed to the so- 
 ciety of distinguished minds, felt breath- 
 ing her native atmosphere ; and Valom- 
 brosa frequently appealing to her, drew 
 her into replies, which, however mo- 
 destly delivered, marked her acquaint- 
 ance with the subject under discussion, 
 and her desire of conjpleter information. 
 Prince Angelo rejoined with the respect- 
 ful surprise of one astonished to find
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. I7I 
 
 something like equality of intellect in a 
 woman. 
 
 Rosalia never ventured to speak ; but 
 she listened with intelligent attention • 
 her sweet countenance now animated 
 with her brother's vivacity, now fixed in 
 awful reverence of Prince Angelo's graver 
 reason. 
 
 Valombrosa read her feelings on her 
 cheek, and he prolonged the instructive 
 themes, till fresher night breeze.? re- 
 minded him of her bodily health. 
 
 For the first few steps Rossano walked 
 by the side of Valombrosa, who was con- 
 ducting his sister towards the house ; then 
 falling behind, the Prince drew close to 
 Ippolita, and said in a low voice, " Your 
 secret is safe, Signora ; I require no ex- 
 planation." He then addressed some- 
 thing aloud to Valombrosa, which in- 
 ducing the latter to turn, Ippolita found 
 they must all form one party, and that 
 consequently no opportunity was left her
 
 172 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 of acknowledging the well-meant courtesy 
 of Rossano. 
 
 As they pursued their way, she could 
 not help silently regretting that delicate 
 politeness which had restrained the na- 
 tural burst of surprise on her first intro- 
 duction to him. Had the discovery she 
 wished, been made then, no self-reproach 
 could have followed : but now to bid 
 him make it, would be only to put a mi- 
 serable cheat upon her conscience. Yet 
 how much did she languish for the so- 
 lace of being clearly understood by Va- 
 lombrosa ! and how was she tempted to 
 envy man his privilege of frankly ex- 
 plaining every tender impulse checked, 
 and every sacrifice yielded, when com- 
 manded so to check and so to yield, by 
 principles which honour him who acts on 
 them ! 
 
 Prince Angelo's visit was prolonged 
 from day to day, as much by his own in- 
 clination as by the importunities of all at 
 II bel Deserto, In Valombrosa and Ip-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 173 
 
 polita he found minds, if not cast in the 
 same mould with his own, formed of the 
 same sterling ore. While retracing with 
 them the recor U of past ages, or follow- 
 ing the erratic course of human philo- 
 sophy in its search after truth and happi- 
 ness ; or while contrasting that erring 
 philosophy with the revelation of all it 
 sought, in the divine doctrines of our 
 Redeemer, he felt that our intellectual 
 pleasures are not destined for solitary 
 gratification. In correcting the preju- 
 dices, or restraining the imagination of 
 Valombrosa, he found the use of what 
 he had himself learned ; and as Valom- 
 brosa's ingenuous nature won upon his 
 affections, he became interested in the 
 control of that impetuous temper, and 
 quick sensibility, which might hereafter 
 make him an instrument to be played on 
 at will by others. 
 
 Self-condemned to a life of retirement 
 and abstraction, Rossano had mastered 
 the anguish of domestic treachery by re- 
 I 3
 
 174 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 solutely devoting himself to study. He 
 knew that if his heart's wound were ever 
 to heal, it must avoid the possibility of 
 a touch ; and if he would preserve that 
 heart from future wounds, he must never 
 let it enter again amongst the press of 
 human passions. 
 
 In consequence of these reflections, 
 he avoided every intimacy that might 
 lead him further than general benevo- 
 lence. Individual attachment, he thought 
 he should never feel more : and he be- 
 lieved it would be wiser not to indulge 
 such an inclination ; be it love, or be it 
 friendship. But after a long period wasted 
 in that vacuity of the soul which follows 
 the paroxysms of outraged affection, sen- 
 sibility revives, and yearns for exercise j 
 emotion becomes a want ; and the being 
 formed to enjoy and to suffer, once more 
 yields to the impulse which hurries him 
 on, to his destiny of tears. 
 
 Rossano had reached this critical state 
 of mind when he became acquainted
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 175 
 
 with Valombrosa. The nobleness and 
 candour he found in that young man, 
 rendered his faults interesting ; (for these 
 lay upon the surface ;) and he yielded 
 unconsciously to that particular interest. 
 He was prompted also to seek his inti- 
 macy, by that general weariness of a hope- 
 less life, which never fails to prey upon 
 characters naturally inclined to the social 
 affections. 
 
 Valombrosa had a choice collection of 
 ancient MSS. at II bel Deserto, and as 
 fine a selection of statues. He invited 
 Prince Angelo thither, for the purpose 
 of animating his own moderate ardour 
 for the philosophy contained in the for- 
 mer ; while he should teach the Prince 
 how to admire the beauties of the latter. 
 
 Rossano accepted the challenge ; much 
 more disposed to the first than to the last 
 part of his promised entertainment. He 
 believed, perhaps too justly, that if man 
 v/ere to cultivate his understanding more 
 I 4
 
 176 THE IFAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 and his taste less, he would be a gainer 
 on the score of happiness. 
 
 Prince Angelo's intellectual enjoy- 
 ments at Valombrosa's villa went far be- 
 yond his expectations ; and these he 
 dreaded not : but it was on the awaken- 
 ing of his sensibility, that he found the 
 time was come for him to retreat. 
 
 Could the severest philosophy deaden 
 a heart naturally tender, and trusting, 
 and true, to the delight of admiring such 
 perfect union between brother and sister ; 
 between the benefactor and the obliged ? 
 Could all that dismal experience taught, 
 fortify him against the pity inspired by 
 the youth, beauty, and misfortune of 
 Rosalia ? 
 
 Rossano had been a father ; and though 
 he lost his only child while yet an infant, 
 he had felt all the tender transports of that 
 sacred character. Rosalia's touching de- 
 pendance on those around her ; her art- 
 less sweetness, her mind eager for in- 
 struction, even her flower-like delicacy.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. i^^ 
 
 were so many points of resemblance with 
 charming childhood. Rossano contem- 
 plated her with more than a father's 
 softness, and soon with almost a father's 
 solicitude. He loved to listen to her, to 
 encourage her bashful mind in its timid 
 efforts to follow the ascent of others; 
 and at every lovely sentiment or original 
 idea this encouragement elicited, his 
 breast glowed with pleasurable exult- 
 ation. 
 
 Rosalia, in return, delighted in the 
 gentle tones of the Prince's voice ; and, 
 fond of prostrating her own mind before 
 that of whomever she loved, completely 
 enjoyed this bias in the society of Ros- 
 sano. 
 
 His ascendancy over her, soon became 
 superior even to that of Ippolita j or else 
 he exercised it with less scruple. For in 
 one conversation he convinced her of the 
 absurdity of charms and amulets, (then 
 the current wonders of the age,) and
 
 178 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 completely routed the graver absurdities 
 of judicial astrology* From that moment 
 Rosalia discarded her blood-stone ring, 
 and never again spoke of her destiny and 
 the stars as inseparably connected. 
 
 Prince Angelo struggled and staid, 
 from week to week ; then ashamed of his 
 acquiescence in the growing influence of 
 new friends, he tore himself from them, 
 and returned to his cave, as he called his 
 residence in the wood of Camaldoli. 
 
 In less than another week, Valombrosa 
 found arguments to bring him back ; and 
 conceding with a good grace to his own 
 weakness, Rossano finally surrendered 
 himself up to friendship and // bel De- 
 serto, for the whole summer. 
 
 During the Prince's short absence, 
 Ippolita received the long-expected letter 
 from her kinsman : its contents over- 
 whelmed her with distress. New mis- 
 fortunes had overtaken that beloved per- 
 son J new difficulties opposed her de-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 179 
 
 parture from the only friends likely to 
 slielter her : and yet, an additional 
 motive was added to her generous wish 
 to leave them. 
 
 She was perplexed and agonized ; and 
 her reason, troubled for the first time in 
 her life by that tender sentiment which 
 often humbles the proudest intellect, was 
 unable to direct her steps. 
 
 She looked round for a confidential 
 friend ; for one who, knowing part of her 
 history already, might be entrusted with 
 it all, without infringing that secrecy, 
 which alas 1 involved the safety of many. 
 
 Dare I, she asked herself, seek that 
 friend in Prince Angelo Rossano ? 
 
 It is true, he had scrupulously avoided 
 further reference to that brief recog- 
 nition, which followed their introduction 5 
 but this avoidance seemed less ta arise 
 from indifference, than from delicacy, and 
 respect for the cause of her mystery. 
 
 She not unfrequently found him look- 
 I 6
 
 180 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 ing at her with an air of kind commiser- 
 ation, and had still oflener to thank him 
 for having turned the conversation, when 
 accidentally tending towards subjects 
 which he knew must afflict her to hear 
 discussed. 
 
 These considerations, and a series of 
 observations upon his conduct to others, 
 warranted her in taking the bold step of 
 asking his advice and assistance ; for it 
 was now her purpose to quit Tuscany im- 
 mediately. 
 
 It was among her intentions, not even 
 to conceal from him, that her desire of 
 leaving the shelter she now enjoyed, 
 arose principally from the fear of in- 
 juring her benefactor's peace. The con- 
 fession might fix on her the imputation 
 of vanity, if Rossano had not discerned 
 the prepossession of his friend ; but Ippo- 
 lita was not to be intimidated from the 
 path of rectitude, by the fear of ridicule, 
 or even the certainty of being mis-judged; 
 her heart was too full of deep and press-
 
 THE FAST OF ST, MAGDALEN. 181 
 
 ing anxieties for another, to waste much 
 feeling upon herself: never yet had she 
 struggled, hoped, or feared, for any self- 
 ish aim. 
 
 Prince Angelo came back when the 
 gardens of II bel Deserto were one blush 
 of roses. 
 
 Rosalia, something less blooming, but 
 equally lovely, was roving through those 
 charming thickets, enjoying their deli-, 
 cious fragrance, gathering their dewy 
 flowers, and thanking Heaven that if 
 ** pleasure, at one avenue, were quite 
 shut out," others remained, and were 
 heightened by the absence of sight. 
 
 ** The roses smell so exquisitely sweet 
 this morning," she said, *' the air feels so 
 balmy, I hear the cheerful hum of the in- 
 sects so distinctly, that it seems as if my 
 nerves were just now, particularly tuned 
 for happiness. I hope the Prince will 
 not disappoint us ! when he is come, — 
 with you, my Orlando, you, my Ippolita,
 
 182 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 I shall indeed have happiness — and I 
 would have it to-day ; for I never before, 
 felt so capable of being quite happy." 
 
 *« Be thy dear heart, all bliss, then !'* 
 exclaimed her brother, looking forvi^ard, 
 " for here is Rossano !" 
 
 Not all the roses round, could at that 
 moment out-blush the cheek of Rosalia : 
 but it was only the innocent colouring of 
 delighted surprise, which painted her 
 fair face. 
 
 •' Oh, you are come back to us !'* she 
 cried, extending her hand, which the 
 Prince did not take, though he looked 
 at her most kindly. He smiled as he 
 answered ; ** I had no choice. I found 
 my studies full as much disturbed by the 
 remembrance of my friends here, as they 
 could be by their seducing society ; so 
 methought, if I am to have the evil with- 
 out the good at Camaldoli, it is far better 
 to return, and take the good with the 
 evil, at // bel Deserto.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 183 
 
 " Said with true philosophic contempt 
 of female vanity !*' observed Valombrosa, 
 gaily. 
 
 " Surely there was a refined compli- 
 ment couched under it," observed Ippo- 
 lita, *' we all admit that there is more 
 glory in subduing the rebel that contends, 
 than in leading a crowd of willing 
 slaves 1" 
 
 " Oh," said Rosalia, ** Prince Angelo 
 shall not persuade me that he did not 
 come willingly to a place, where he 
 knows himself esteemed and reverenced. 
 It is so sweet, to believe ourself the source 
 of happiness, but to one person ! then 
 how much more delightful is it, to give 
 happiness to three persoas, as he does 
 here?" 
 
 " Happiness! sweet Rosalia!" re- 
 peated the Prince with gloomy energy, 
 <* that is such a comprehensive word. 
 And you apply it to a few pleasurable 
 emotions! — charming while enjoyed 
 perhaps, but when withdrawn, not mis-
 
 184* THE FAST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 sed ! bright summer blossoms shaken from 
 the bough they grow on, season after 
 season, and the tree still standing in 
 strength and beauty ! — Happiness is the 
 vital moisture of the root ; it is the prin- 
 ciple of life and vigour, which ascends 
 through all its branches, and crowns it 
 with verdure ; that destroyed, the tree 
 falls : or stands through wearisome years, 
 a blighted, useless thing — as I am.'* 
 
 Rossano uttered the last words with an 
 inward breath; but his countenance strug- 
 gled with some powerful emotion, and he 
 pressed his hand upon his eyes. 
 
 An embarrassed silence followed; it was 
 the first time the Prince had referred to 
 his own fate, and for the first time that 
 each of his surrounding friends felt they 
 durst mingle pity with the respect he 
 inspired. 
 
 Rosalia's tender heart beat sorrowfully 
 during that agitating silence : the glow 
 faded from her cheek, and her downcast 
 eyes dropt tears among the gathered roses
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 185 
 
 which she now unconsciously pulled to 
 pieces in the basket that hung upon her 
 arm. 
 
 Recovering from his weakness, Angelo 
 fixed an earnest gaze on those moistened, 
 unconscious eyes ; and catching a look of 
 Valombrosa's, attempted to smile : it was 
 a smile disdainful of his own feebleness ! 
 then combating the painful recollections 
 which pressed on him, he paused in his 
 walk, and proposed avoiding the increas- 
 ing heat, in the shade of the portico. 
 
 As the little party retrod their steps, a 
 strong expression of keenly remembered 
 wrongs, remained upon his countenance. 
 Rosalia's pitying fancy imaged the looks 
 she could not see ; Valombrosa reflected 
 on them with serious concern ; Ippolita 
 studied them with anxiety to learn whether 
 all were consistent in the character she 
 was about to try with her confidence. 
 
 Observing Rossano in this point of 
 view, she admitted that his countenance 
 expressed only the indignant swell of a
 
 186 THE FAST OF SI .MAGDALEN. 
 
 noble heart which feels defrauded of its 
 most valuable years by the bosom friend 
 on whom it rested. She had never heard 
 Rossano breathe one sentence against this 
 faithless wife ; and well did she know 
 that it is not the injurer who forbears to 
 accuse. Perhaps hereafter, he might give 
 vent to his suppressed complaints, in the 
 arms of friendship ; but it was evident 
 that neither the wish of being fairly esti- 
 mated by others, nor the sting of remem- 
 bered injury, could extort from him any 
 bitterness of accusation, even among per- 
 sons he cordially esteemed. 
 
 When they had returned to the house, 
 Rossano took up a book and read aloud, 
 while the ladies pursued their different 
 kinds of work, and Valombrosa designed 
 arabesques for his sister's summer-house. 
 
 Thus employed, tranquillity soon ap- 
 peared on the brow of Prince Angelo ; 
 aud for the remainder of the evening his 
 conversation was more than usually fruits 
 ful in variety and interest.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 187 
 
 Time was escaping fast, and each day 
 now left an additional weight on the heart 
 of Ippolita; for no opportunity had occur- 
 red in which she could obtain the private 
 ear of Rossano. To move without his 
 assistance, she thought impossible, with- 
 out involving perhaps characters and lives 
 dearer to her than her own. But acci- 
 dent one day produced what she had so 
 long sought in vain. Valombrosa was 
 gone on business to Florence ; Rosalia 
 retired to her customary siesta ; and Ip- 
 polita, invited by the deep mass of foliage, 
 and consequent coolness which surround- 
 ed the Naiads grotto, went thither to 
 breathe a fresher air. She started on 
 seeing the Prince thrown along the 
 ground by the side of the clear-bubbling 
 water. 
 
 There was an expression of profound 
 thought on his brow, while he rose at her 
 entrance. Ippolita's heart throbbed pow- 
 erfully, but she determined not to lose 
 the opportunity.
 
 188 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 " I disturb some philosophic medita- 
 tion," she said apprehensively, yet not 
 retiring. 
 
 ** If self-examination make part of phi- 
 losophy, (as I suppose it does,) you cer- 
 tainly do," replied the Prince pensively 
 smiling -, — *« yet perhaps I am giving a 
 high-sounding name, to a merely idle 
 mood : however, I fancied myself so far 
 advanced in self-arraignment, that I be- 
 lieve 1 am not sorry to have so fair an 
 excuse for giving up so disagreeable a 
 duty." 
 
 " I should not suspect that any duty 
 is disagreeable to Prince Angelo !" ob- 
 served Ippolita, almost irresolute whether 
 to stay or go. 
 
 ** You mistake me then!" replied Rossa- 
 noprofoundly sighing, ** I have found some 
 very disagreeable ; others, very difficult. 
 The sacrifice of a fierce thirst for ven- 
 geance, for instance — when my own 
 heart cried aloud — nay the whole world 
 called aloud — and God and conscience
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 189 
 
 only" — he interrupted himself. " What 
 weakness this ! to think and talk of events 
 that are forgotten ; and feelings, which 
 I have conquered !" 
 
 His lookand voice testified the rebellion 
 of that memory and that heart, which he 
 fancied so obedient. 
 
 Ippolita faltered a little. ** Then does 
 your severe philosophy interdict the 
 comfort of friendly counsel ? I admit 
 with you the vanity of useless lament- 
 ation ; but distressed and doubtful, and 
 not knowing how I ought to act, in most 
 trying circumstances, 1 confess my soul 
 languishes for a friend to advise and guide 
 me. Prince, you already know part of 
 my history — dare I think" — she paused, 
 and a momentary throb of high self-res- 
 pect made her hesitate to pronounce 
 the appeal which might be expected from 
 " one, out of suits with fortune." 
 
 Rossano'smanner immediately changed; 
 it became earnest, but gentle: for the 
 first time since their acquaintance he took
 
 190 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 her hand. She had observed his great 
 personal reserve towards women, and 
 that general habit gave important mean- 
 ing to an action otherwise trivial. 
 
 " I do not interdict either the consola- 
 tions or the confidence of friendship ;" 
 he said in a tone of suppressed emotion, 
 " there is a legitimate aim in confidence, 
 when the person who makes it, does so for 
 the purpose of seeking counsel : and by 
 occasionally calling upon our fellow-crea- 
 tures for sympathy with our sorrows, we 
 brighten the chain which connects and 
 binds society. It is permitted us to relieve 
 our oppressed hearts, but not to weaken 
 them, or burthen others uselessly : we 
 must ever be careful not to exceed that 
 lawful measure of complaint. Since you 
 and I first met, Signora, we have both 
 suffered. I see it in your face — / feel it 
 here! — if my advice and sympathy can 
 serve you, command them. 1 was not 
 always, the stern Solitary you see me 
 now.'*
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEhT. 191 
 
 Ippolita raised her brimming eyes to 
 thank him, and saw that his were suffused 
 with tears. " He loved his faithless 
 wife !" she said inwardly — " he loves her 
 still." 
 
 Obeying the respectful impulse of his 
 hand, she sat down by him on the mossy 
 projections of the grotto near its en- 
 trance, where the light foliage of a young 
 ash tree threw its checquering shadows 
 into the opening. 
 
 Ippolita's own sorrows now pressed 
 heavily on her heart. " And to what may 
 I attribute this generous — '* she spoke 
 with emotion, " in Naples, Prince, you 
 saw me only once, and that in a sort of 
 court ; you see me now under the roof of 
 a Florentine ; a wandering outcast, with 
 an assumed name ; has not that deception 
 shocked and offended your just prin- 
 ciples ?" 
 
 ** It surprised me, 1 confess," replied 
 Rossano, " Valombrosa, when inviting 
 me to // hel Deserlo, after describing
 
 192 THE FAST Of ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 his interesting sister, spoke of her frien J, 
 and detailed the affecting circumstances 
 under which you had become known to 
 him. I came prepared to see one who 
 however personally admirable, owed no- 
 thing to the accidents of birth and for- 
 tune ; and my astonishment was certain- 
 ly very great, when in the orphan of the 
 obscure Martello, I saw the daughter of 
 Piero di Medici. Your motive for con- 
 cealment need not be explained to me; in 
 Florence, that name acknowledged, might 
 have caused your destruction ; or ren- 
 dered it treasonable in your present 
 friends to give you shelter." 
 
 " I would have braved my own dan- 
 ger," said Ippolita, with energy, *' rather 
 than have endured the shame and the 
 pain of falsehood ; but my conduct was 
 determined by others ; and I had no 
 choice. While my generous preserver 
 knows me as no other than Ippolita Ma?-- 
 tello, I trust, he is safe !" She sighed, 
 — paused — then resumed — "To make 
 
 6
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 193 
 
 you master of my present difficulties, I 
 must weary you with many particulars." 
 
 "You will not weary me," answered 
 Kossano, in a tone which could not be 
 doubted. 
 
 Ippolita resumed. 
 
 " When my grandfather, Lorenzo the 
 Magnificent, was all-powerful here, you 
 well know that his generous policy ex- 
 tended all over Italy : it was the aim of his 
 life, so to reconcile and connect the several 
 independent states, as to make them resist 
 with one will, and with one movement, 
 the ambitious attempts of France and 
 Germany on the general liberty. For this 
 purpose, he had to watch that short- 
 sighted policy which too often tempted 
 one Italian power to aggrandize itself at 
 the expense of its neighbour ; and by 
 that act, destroying the nicely-balanced 
 equilibrium which he had so carefully 
 adjusted. In the year 1486, my grand- 
 father particularly opposed himself to the 
 enormous increase of temporal power 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 \vhich the Pope was then aiming at, by 
 his invasion of Naples : you must have 
 heard, in later years, how much its king 
 was indebted to my ancestor at that cri- 
 tical moment." 
 
 " I know that the country and its Prince 
 owed their preservation to your grand- 
 father,** observed Rossano. 
 
 Ippolita acknowledged the tribute with 
 an inclination of her head, and took up 
 her narrative. 
 
 « My father, then just beginning to 
 take part in the business of life though 
 scarcely passed boyhood, was sent on 
 secret missions in the behalf of Naples, to 
 Milan and to Venice. In the latter city, 
 he became enamoured of Laura Al- 
 viano ; a daughter of one of the extra- 
 ordinary and celebrated race of that 
 name. Her birth, therefore, was as 
 noble as her person was beautiful : but 
 my father knew that his flimily were then 
 negociating a marriage for him, with one 
 of the Roman house of Orsini ; and, 
 aware of this, he saw the desperation of
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 195 
 
 applying for their consent to his union 
 with' the daughter of Alviano. But his 
 passion was not to be restrained; and 
 hoping that this projected Roman mar- 
 riage might end, as similar engagements 
 had done, in mere speculation, he en- 
 deavoured to prevail on the object of his 
 wishes to become his wife. la short he 
 closed his eyes upon every thing which 
 reason and duty opposed : and counte- 
 nanced by her brother only, Laura fol- 
 lowed the impulse of her heart, and gave 
 her hand to my father at a private 
 nuptials. 
 
 *< Not very long afterwards, he was 
 recalled to Florence, and obliged to quit 
 her. 
 
 " My father was not blessed with that 
 strength of chai^acter which enables a 
 man to contend against difficulties, when 
 the impulse of passion has ceased ; and 
 he did not venture to reveal his secret to 
 my grandfather : so the treaty with the 
 Orsini family proceeded. My mother, 
 K 2
 
 196 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN- 
 
 meanwhile, continued in the neighbour- 
 nood of Venice, soothed by her hus- 
 band's letters, but dreading the hour in 
 which my birth must either cover her 
 with shame, or oblige Piero to brave de- 
 served anger, by avowing their union. 
 
 " I fear my father's had been but a 
 boyish passion speedily cooled : but his 
 nature was tender, and if it wanted the 
 spur of ardour, it felt the force of a self- 
 sought obligation. No sooner did he be- 
 come assured that she was likely to make 
 him a parent, than he hastened to Venice, 
 confessed their marriage to her family, 
 obtained their pardon and approval, and 
 returned to Florence to make the same 
 dreaded confession to my grandfather. 
 
 In the first poignancy of mortifir,"tion, 
 Lorenzo could not forbear displaying to 
 his son, the dishonour with which his 
 inconsiderate conduct must cover him.^ 
 The contract which he had been just about 
 to sign with the Orsini would now, in- 
 stead of cementing his friendship with 
 that lofty house, be remembered as an
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 19? 
 
 insult J yet the marriage tie was sacred 
 in the sight of the venerable man ; and he 
 declared himself incapable of seeking to 
 break it, as he might have done in his 
 parental character, by application to the 
 court of Rome. He consented therefore 
 to receive his daughter-in-law, not only 
 with honour, but aftection. 
 
 " Often have I heard my father relate 
 the particulars of this scene, and that with 
 even livelier sentiments of filial gratitude 
 than he confesses he felt at the time — 
 he was but eighteen then ! and he had 
 never known adversity ; and his was a 
 mind which calamity exalted. Tlie world 
 misjudged my poor father, Prince j his 
 heart was good and kind, his judgment 
 alone was faulty." 
 
 Rossano gave this pious partiality a 
 smile of indulgent approbation, and Ippo- 
 lita pursued her story. 
 
 ** My father's joyful return to Venice 
 was staid by the arrival of a courier, who 
 brought the sad tidings of my mother's 
 K 3
 
 198 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 death, in the moment of my birth. The 
 agitated suspense of her mind, that pre- 
 ceded her husband's avowal to her family, 
 and the grief which followed his depar- 
 ture on a more apprehensive mission, had 
 produced premature suffering ; and I 
 was bom, and my poor father widowed, 
 in little more than seven months after his 
 marriage. 
 
 " The path of duty was now clear : my 
 grandfather's generous pardon of his 
 son's unsanctioned conduct, imposed an 
 obligation upon that son, to redeem the 
 honour his family had pledged for him to 
 the Orsini : and after the short space of 
 a single month, with a heart bleeding in- 
 wardly, my father became the husband of 
 Alfonsina.'* 
 
 Ippolita pressed her hand upon her 
 heart as if to deaden the pain that ached 
 there ; she drew a deep breath once or 
 twice, and then began again: — 
 
 " I remained at Venice with my 
 mother's relations. The great Lorenzo's
 
 THE PAST OF ST« MAGBJiLEN. l99 
 
 death, my father's accession to all the 
 power and wealth and honours which 
 had been accumulating on our fortunate, 
 1 will say illustrious bouse, for three ge- 
 nerations ; — his loss of these — his ex- 
 pulsion from Florence — the proscription 
 of all who bore his name and followed 
 his fortunes ; — these are events with 
 which Europe has echoed. 
 
 " My father's second marriage had 
 not beeiii happy ; and upon the loss of 
 his dignities, his wife retired to her 
 family in Rome, with her children Lo- 
 renzo and Clarice. Thus bereft of every 
 domestic solace, it is no wonder that my 
 poor parent was eager to draw towards 
 him some being who might restore the 
 memory of happier days : I was a sad 
 remembrancer of such days ; but still 1 
 did recall them ; and having lost all my 
 near maternal relations, excepting my 
 mother's brother, my father did not 
 think it wholly selfish to make me the 
 companion of his fugitive life. 
 K 4
 
 SCO THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 " I had been nursed by the foster- 
 sister of my mother. This worthy per- 
 son was the wife of a subaltern in the 
 Venetian service. Her only child died 
 just as she took me to her care ; and 
 never having another, I became as their 
 own to these excellent people. I need 
 not. tell you that it is my foster-father's 
 name I bear. Ah Prince ! mine has been 
 ^ trying destiny ! — To have seen both 
 the dear protectors, to whom I have ad- 
 dressed that sacred title, perish by un- 
 timely deaths!" 
 
 Ippolita endeavoured to disperse the 
 tears which crowded into her eyes 5 they 
 gathered anew, and for awhile prevented 
 her proceeding. At length she resumed, 
 though with less calmness than before. 
 " Martello and his good Nanina agreed to 
 share my father's wanderings for my 
 sake; and they alternately accompanied 
 us from Italy into France ; from France 
 toGermany ; from Rome to Milan; from 
 courts to camps — sometimes seeing us
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^01 
 
 received with reverence, sometimes re- 
 pulsed with insult. 
 
 " My father's efforts to regain what he 
 esteemed his rights in Florence, were 
 now assisted, and now opposed by the 
 very same Princes, just as it suited their 
 temporary policy to play upon his pas- 
 sions and make his name the instrument 
 of their aggrandizement. Sometimes he 
 was encouraged by the voluntary services 
 o[ independent commanders, and then 
 again deserted by them, when the in- 
 trigues or the money of the Florentines 
 were exerted to seduce their faith. One 
 only, remained constantly true ; my 
 mother's brother, Bartolomeo Alviano, 
 As the commander of Condottieri, whose 
 reputation his prowess had raised to an 
 equality with the ablest troops of the 
 day, his arms were often engaged by 
 other powers, but never did he abandon 
 the interests of my father j and during 
 the eleven years of his exile, my uncle's 
 K 5
 
 202 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 zeal never abated. He is harsh to me^ 
 but he was kind and loyal to my father 1 
 
 " Prince, our wandering life had many 
 pains ; but it had its pleasures also for my 
 inexperienced and enquiring age : and 
 its advantages I feel every moment of my 
 existence. It showed me the hearts of 
 men without disguise : for it was not 
 worth their while to throw any veil over 
 their motives for assisting or deserting a 
 powerless exile : and thus I learnt all 
 the greatness, the meanness, and the 
 weakness of my species. Often has my 
 young heart been agonized with the cow- 
 ardice or ingratitude of those it relied on 
 as our truest supporters : but never, 
 never may I forget how many bright in- 
 stances it has been cheered by, of disinte- 
 rested, unexpected sacrifice !" 
 
 " Cherish that remembrance !" said 
 Rossano, checking a sigh, ** our own vir- 
 tues lose firmness, when we cease to be- 
 lieve in those of others. As a cultivated 
 taste makes us receive more vivid im-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 203 
 
 pressions from the beauty and deformity 
 of material objects, so experience, though 
 it may shock us with proofs of astonish- 
 ing wickedness, gives us many instances 
 of invulnerable integrity ; and heightens 
 our value for that integrity, by making 
 us acquainted with the difficulty with 
 which it has been maintained. Imagin- 
 ation lends a false brilliancy to our affec- 
 tions : — it is proof that makes them part 
 of our souls. In my opinion one tried 
 friend is well gained by a whole life of 
 foregone disappointment." 
 
 •« I had two such in Martello and Na- 
 nina :" replied Ippolita, " and I had a 
 third, — one whom no mortifications could 
 disgust ; no disappointments discourage ; 
 iio disasters weary; one whose unequalled 
 love nothing could extinguish. 
 
 ** That friend too, is gone ! — I am 
 left alone — once I should have said, left 
 desolate — but it is not so : for at this 
 moment my long-chilled heart is glowing 
 with admiration, affection, and gratitude. 
 K 6
 
 S04 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN/ 
 
 I am thankful for these new sources of 
 happiness ; but I cannot forget ' — O 
 Prince there are events, which from the 
 crowding in of others, during the lapse 
 of a few years, come less and less fre- 
 quently into our thoughts : but when 
 they do return, believe me, it is with un- 
 diminished force.'' 
 
 " I know there are such!" said the 
 Prince emphatically, fixing his eyes upon 
 the ground. Ippolita sighed for him as 
 well agi for herself, and resumed : 
 
 " 'this friend I speak of, was Fabio 
 Orsini, an orphan relation of my step- 
 mother's, and brought up by my father ; 
 1 was therefore habituated to consider 
 him as a sort of kinsman. 
 
 « Enthusiastically attached to my fa- 
 ther, devoted to the same liberal studies j 
 determined to share his fate, wherever it 
 might lead, and however terminate ; he 
 engrafted his destiny upon ours, with a 
 constancy and cheerfulness w^hich have 
 no parallels. 4
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN; 205 
 
 " How precious he became to us ! • — his 
 ardent aspiration after every intellectual 
 acquirement, called up the languishing 
 powers of my father's elegant and richly 
 cultivated mind ; his ever- vernal spirit of 
 hope, flourishing in despite of many a 
 withering disappointment, refreshed and 
 invigorated my poor father's failing con- 
 fidence ', his unchanging affection, and 
 cheerful sacrifices, revived our trust in 
 human nature, and in our fortune. Plow 
 often has he lighted our extinguished 
 hopes anew, at the bright flame of his 
 cheering looks ! how often has his ani- 
 mating voice roused our buried courage, 
 like the sound of a trumpet ! In the 
 midst of dangers, and difficulties, and 
 miseries ; at times when we scarcely knew 
 where to lay our proscribed heads ; when 
 want menaced us; when follower after 
 follower abandoned us ; when every pro- 
 mise was retracted, and every succour 
 withdrawn ; nay when my father's cause 
 seemed desperate even to himself) then
 
 j206 the fast of st.magdalen. 
 
 did our Fabio's holy confidence brighten 
 with our darkening fortunes ! invincible in 
 hope, and thus conquering fate itself by 
 the enthusiasm of a quenchless spirit, 
 he led my father on, as if conducting 
 him to a triumph. 
 
 " O Fabio, brother of my soul ! dear 
 play-fellow of my childhood ! friend and 
 cheerer of my tearful youth ! how dearly 
 wast thou beloved, how well didst thou 
 deserve that love ! 
 
 «< Forgive me, Prince ! I lose myself;" 
 said Ippolita, interrupting her sad apos- 
 trophe, and recalling her eyes from their 
 upward gaze, " the remembrance of 
 Fabio is consecrated to me by a thousand 
 tender and heart-rending recollections. 
 You have perhaps never known the power- 
 ful bond of suffering: it is strong as 
 death. — It bound us together with an 
 affection which made us forget that we 
 were not twin-born, the offspring of the 
 same parents." 
 
 At this sentence. Prince Angelo fixed
 
 THE PAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 207 
 
 an enquiring look of surprise upon Ip- 
 polita. 
 
 " I perceive your mistake," she ob- 
 served, with a mournful smile ; " Yet 
 how could you fancy, that I would have 
 spoken thus liberally of our attachment 
 to each other, had it been of the sort 
 you supposed? It was the tenderness of 
 brother and sister. It never could have 
 changed its character under any circum- 
 stances ; and now I never can feel the 
 same for any other." 
 
 "You cannot?" said Rossano, thought- 
 fully ; " such a sisterly attachment as 
 your's forOrsini,'was the work of time and 
 events acting in concert with congenial 
 dispositions 5' thus, unless such circum- 
 stances could be combined again, you 
 never can feel a similar affection. Could 
 you have a second infancy and youth so 
 spent, and so cheered by a second kin- 
 dred spirit ; could you again accumulate 
 a similar treasure of remembered bene- 
 fits and sympathies ; believe me, you 
 
 10
 
 208 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN . 
 
 would find that the mines of the human 
 heart are inexhaustible j — time alone 
 bo-inds their operation. 
 
 " It is no dishonour to any powerful 
 sentiment, that we are capable of feel- 
 ing it more than once j but I know that 
 ardent youth is nobly apt to think other- 
 wise. I can remember the period, when 
 I thought the sublimest attribute of 
 Deity was his invariableness 5 — the most 
 humiliating of man's imperfections, his 
 promptness to new impressions. 
 
 '* But it is wisely ordered as it is. For 
 what would become of us, if we were to 
 brood with vain constancy, over the ob- 
 jects that have failed us, and were once 
 our sum of bliss ?" 
 
 *« I shall not live my life over again ;*' 
 said Ippolita, anxious to detach his mind 
 from its present train of thoughts ; ** And 
 I confess it is sweet to me to feel certain 
 that Fabio's memory will never be ri- 
 valled in my heart. — But I wander from 
 my subject.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 209 
 
 " When the French army were pro- 
 ceeding to chastise the Castihans for 
 their encroachments on the French share 
 of your conquered, ill-used Naples, my 
 father came to the court of the former 
 in Romagna. He was then projecting a 
 new attempt upon Florence, in which 
 Cassar Borgia offered his powerful aid ; 
 and success seemed certain, if my uncle 
 Alviano could be brought to assist them. . 
 his troops w^ere then in the pay of Cas- 
 tile, and acting in concert with those of 
 Gonsalvo di Cordova. My father, con- 
 fident of detaching his brother-in-law 
 from that service, negociated with him 
 by many secret means, and finally hoped, 
 through his power, to procure either a 
 promise of co-operation or of neutrality, 
 from the great captain. 
 
 " I need not repeat to a Neapolitan 
 the disastrous events of that period. The 
 French army, with which we moved, sus- 
 tained defeat upon defeat ; but my fa- 
 ther's private hopes suffered no dimi-
 
 ^10 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Bution. He contrived to have a secret 
 interview with my uncle, who gave him 
 substantial assurances, that immediately 
 on the expulsion of the French, Gon- 
 salvo would embrace his cause, and join 
 the friends of the Medici, in restoring 
 them to their rights. 
 
 " When we saw you, Prince, his heart 
 and mine, were warm with those sanguine 
 hopes.** 
 
 " Your looks were bright with them," 
 observed Rossano. 
 
 " They were our brightest, and our 
 last!" ejaculated Ippolita in a low, 
 mournful voice, " after that came the 
 fatal battle of the Garigliano : we fled 
 from the disastrous field, and embarking 
 in a small vessel, proceeded towards 
 Gaeta. — Decayed and overloaded, the 
 boat sunk at the very mouth of the river. 
 There perished my father and the faithful 
 Nanina, my more than mother ; — there 
 perished Fabio 5 and except Martello,
 
 THB FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 61 1 
 
 every unwearied follower of our wintry 
 fortunes. — O memory ! — memory !" 
 
 Ippolita's tearless eyes raised in silent 
 appeal to Heaven, had something sublime 
 in their intense expression. After a long 
 pause, she suddenly pressed them down 
 with her clasped hands, and an irrepres- 
 sible groan burst from her labouring 
 heart. 
 
 Prince Angelo was silent from excess 
 of sympathy. 
 
 At length she rose j and turning on 
 liim a countenance like death, said in a 
 hurried voice, " I cannot finish this 
 melancholy history to day : will you give 
 me your attention to-morrow ?" — 
 
 '* Where, and when you please,'* re- 
 plied the Prince, rising also, " you have 
 awakened my best feelings, and I am 
 impatient to learn how I can serve you." 
 
 " To-morrow, then, in this place, two 
 hours after sun-rise." — Ippolita spoke 
 with haste and difficulty. The Prince
 
 ^12 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 assented to the appointment; andthanking 
 him only with a watery glance, she hur- 
 ried away, before her suspended tears 
 should begin their long deluge.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 213 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 At the hour appointed on the following 
 day, Ippolita found Prince Angelo wait- 
 ing her in the grotto. — Rosalia's tender 
 health made her incapable of early rising, 
 and Valombrosa usually devoted that time 
 of the morning to business. 
 
 Secure therefore from interruption, 
 after the interchange of some friendly in- 
 quiries, she resumed the conversation of 
 the day before. 
 
 " In the vessel, besides those who 
 perished, was Guidobaldo Alviano, my 
 uncle's son. Brave as his father, and 
 with a person that has often been com- 
 pared to the noblest statue in the Vatican, 
 he never w^as seen without exciting ad- 
 miration j he never was remembered
 
 214 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 without a shudder of astonishment and 
 fear. But he preserved me from the 
 wreck of every thing most dear to me. — 
 As our kinsman, he had often come from 
 the Castilian camp to visit my father ; 
 and at last prompted by a wild fancy for 
 me, he actually deserted his father's 
 standard, to watch over my conduct to 
 persons whom he falsely suspected of a 
 wish to rival him in a regard he never 
 possessed. 
 
 " In spite of every effort to prevent him, 
 he had flung himself into the fatal boat 
 in which we hoped to reach Gaeta ; and 
 being a skilful swimmer, he saved himself 
 and me. 
 
 " His father's influence excused him 
 to the Castilians, for this desertion of 
 their cause. The indiscretion of youth, 
 and the force of passion, were pleaded in 
 his favour. The plea prevailed with the 
 generalissimo, but not with me. I could 
 not respect the man in whom love could 
 triumph over honour and duty. It is true
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 215 
 
 neither he nor his father owed a native 
 allegiance to Castile: but having once 
 entered its service, they were surely 
 bound by as solemn an obligation to fulfil 
 that voluntary engagement, as if the ac- 
 cident of birth had made them its sub- 
 jects. — I could not esteem, I could not 
 therefore love Guidobaldo." 
 
 ** And did you reason thus, at sixteen?*' 
 inquired Rossano with a smile, somewhat 
 incredulous in its expression. 
 
 " Perhaps I did not define my reasons 
 so exactly,*' replied Ippolita with modest 
 firmness, *' I rather felt, than demon- 
 strated the insecurity of my cousin's prin- 
 ciples. — But even at sixteen 1 was ha- 
 bituated to sift motives from actions, 
 to trace the most plausible to sources 
 which poisoned them completely. Indeed 
 I had learned, from solicitude for my 
 father, to distinguish between selfish and 
 disinterested impulses. The depository 
 of all his hopes and fears and projects, 
 my intellect was strengthened by constant
 
 216 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 
 
 use : for if I durst not always discuss^ 
 those subjects with him, my anxious 
 affection made me do it with myself, or 
 Fabio; and thus I learnt to view circum- 
 stances and characters in every possible 
 light, and to pass through life, I may 
 say, carrying a torch into every bosom. 
 Such a necessity * robbed me of my 
 youth !* — Alas, I think I never knew 
 that thoughtless period ! With all these 
 pretensions to sagacity, I will confess that 
 I might not have judged my cousin so 
 sanely, had his manners captivated me. 
 They did not : and I was shocked at the 
 indelicacy with which he urged the ser- 
 vice he had rendered me, and the dis- 
 honour he had incurred, as rights over 
 my heart. I was grateful to him for the 
 preservation of my life, worthless as that 
 life then was to m^e ; but I would not 
 allow him any claim on my gratitude for 
 having indulged his own jealous passion 
 at the expence of his honour. In shorty 
 Prince, I am not one of those yielding
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. S17 
 
 spirits who are to be braved out of their 
 happiness by despotic selfishness. I did 
 not love Guidobaldo ; I could never have 
 loved him j for with the look of a hero, 
 and the form of a god, his mind is as 
 rude as his temper is violent. But had 
 he not persecuted and upbraided me, I 
 am certain that I could not have wit- 
 nessed his sufferings, and reflected upon 
 my obligations to his father, without en- 
 deavouring to give up my own happiness 
 for his peace." 
 
 As Ippolita paused, Prince Angelo fixed 
 his eyes earnestly upon her, with a mind 
 so full of the sad and serious thoughts her 
 discourse created, that he was unconscious 
 of the gaze ; a slight appearance of con- 
 fusion in her face recalled him to per- 
 ception. 
 
 " Pardon me !" he said, ** allow me a 
 little amazement. — I am not familiarized 
 with such firm sentiments from the lips of 
 a woman. I began my career of life with 
 false notions of your sex j I looked to 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 find only innocence and pliability in the 
 best and loveliest, and I should have de- 
 manded something nobler. I have had 
 my punishment and my instruction !" 
 
 There was a stern feeling of past 
 misery in the expression of Rossano*s 
 countenance, as he concluded, which re- 
 mained long after he spoke : Ippolita 
 comprehending the nature of his reflec- 
 tions, hastened to divert his attention 
 from his own private history to her's, and 
 she resumed her narrative. 
 
 " After the loss of my dear father, 
 and that respectable woman, whose ma- 
 ternal care had watched over me, through 
 all the varieties of our wandering life, a 
 camp could not be my home j and eager 
 to escape from the importunities of my 
 cousin, and the rough reproaches of my 
 uncle, I fled to Rome, and threw myself 
 on the protection of my step- mother. 
 
 " There, I drank deep of a new species 
 of misery ; the misery of perpetual do» 
 mestic persecution. Then it was, that 1
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 219 
 
 learnt to believe no destiny wretched, 
 while sweetened by affection. I was 
 nothing to any one in that cheerless 
 house ; worse than nothing ; for they con- 
 sidered me as an usurper of their rights. 
 
 " My father had bequeathed to me all 
 he had left to bestow, a claim upon the 
 Court of Vienna for a very large sum 
 of money advanced by him in his golden- 
 days to the Emperor. My step-mother 
 and her children were early secured in 
 honourable independence, by my father's 
 surrender to them, of all the lands he 
 possessed out of Tuscany ; and except this 
 hope of a fortune, he had left me destitute. 
 Yet they would have had me resign that 
 hope to them ; and consent to live their 
 pensioner for life. 
 
 *' Perhaps, you think it would have 
 been better had I done so ; certainly I 
 would not have contested my right, but 
 have withdrawn at once from the toils 
 and strife of the world, by embracing 
 L 2
 
 ^20 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 a religious profession, had not duty with- 
 held me. 
 
 <« So many persons, by espousing my 
 father's cause, and afterwards sharing 
 his mournful fate, had left families be- 
 hind, thus reduced to poverty ; to so 
 many also was he indebted for pecuniary 
 assistance, whichi now those persons 
 needed themselves ; that it became an 
 obligation on me, not to yield up their 
 rights with my own. I was therefore sted- 
 fast in asserting my claims. 
 
 *' This determination was the fuel of 
 all our domestic heart-burnings ; my 
 sister mocked that filial grief, which could, 
 as she said, couple itself so conveniently 
 with worldly interests. My proud brother 
 affected to treat me as an illegitimate 
 child, from the circumstance of my 
 father's non-age at the time of his clan- 
 destine marriage ; and my step-mother, 
 continually charged me with having 
 insidiously robbed her of the atiections
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 221 
 
 she had first thrown from her, — my poor 
 father's. 
 
 " This was the most insupportable 
 period of my life, Prince Angelo ; for it 
 was that in which I suffered the most 
 positive injustice, and felt the most re- 
 sentment. Nay, it alarmed me at my- 
 self; and I often doubted, whether it 
 were not I that was the hateful one, 
 when a whole family accused me of being 
 a fire-brand. 
 
 *' How often was I not maddened into 
 the momentary resolution of abandoning 
 all, and burying myself in a convent. 
 My cousin, Guidobaldo too, persecuted 
 me with his passionate suit; and his 
 father refused to substantiate my claim 
 on Austria, unless I would lend a favour- 
 able ear to this favourite son. 
 
 " My dearest paternal uncle, Giuhano, 
 was far away, endeavouring to obtain 
 the assistance of the King of Castile, 
 in the old, fruitless struggle for the 
 restoration, at least, of his private pa- 
 L 3
 
 ^W2 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 trimony. Who was to urge my suit in 
 Germany ? So all that I reaped then 
 from my father's legacy, was vexation 
 of spirit." 
 
 " You do not mention your other 
 uncle, the Cardinal di Medici/' observed 
 Prince Angelo, " did not he take an in- 
 terest in you ?" 
 
 ** Alas !" replied Ippolita, " he was 
 absorbed in grief for the early death of 
 Galleoto della Rovere, in whose fraternal 
 friendship his life had been almost bound 
 up. For many months, all his own con- 
 cerns in this world became as nothing to 
 him; how then was I to press mine? 
 How could I even wish to disturb such 
 sacred sorrow? and he too, had his 
 bitter mortifications, when his spirit re- 
 covered the painful power of feeling 
 their stings. He held a distinguished 
 dignity; he had been educated in pro- 
 fusion ; and he was poor ! — I would not 
 double the pangs that fettering poverty 
 ofter gave his bountiful heart, so I kept 
 my griefs to myself.
 
 THE FAST OF STi MAGDALEN. 223 
 
 *• After twelve months domestic mar- 
 tyrdom, for such it was, I was released 
 from the humour and ostentatious pro- 
 tection of my step-mother, by her re- 
 moval to Florence with Clarice, whom a 
 noble Florentine had been rash enough 
 to marry. It was a bold step, and the 
 event proved, that my step-mother had 
 reckoned too confidently upon the pre- 
 ponderancy of our party in that city, 
 and the awe of her great family. She 
 and her children were banished anew, 
 together with Strozzi, Clarice's husband. 
 
 ** On Clarice's marriage, my uncle 
 Giuliano hastened to take me under his 
 guardianship ; he had found an asylum 
 at the court of the Duke of Ferrara, 
 and it was there my bruised spirit first 
 rose again. 
 
 " I must not attempt describing my 
 uncle Giuliano ; my overflowing heart 
 would carry me too far. Suffice it, that 
 all the gentler virtues are summed up in 
 him. Of a delicate constitution, in- 
 L 4
 
 224 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 different to wealth, unambftious, fond of 
 study, he was glad to harbour awhile 
 from the storms of vexatious enter- 
 prises ; and at the court of Ferrara, he 
 could give me the advantage I had long 
 needed, of the first female examples of 
 the age. 
 
 *< The Duchess, as well as the Duke, 
 surrounded herself by talent and accom- 
 plishments; in such society, I began 
 once more to feel the long forgotten 
 sensation of pleasure ; and in the ten- 
 derness and goodness of my uncle, I 
 found happiness again. 
 
 " You wonder to hear me talk of hap- 
 piness ; but the degrading, embittering 
 sort of wretchedness which I had en- 
 dured in my step-mother's house, taught 
 me, that there are incalculable degrees 
 of misery ; and that.we should proportion 
 our sensibility to each, according to the 
 measure of its weight. 
 
 « In short, however awful or grievous 
 may be the judgments of God, dis-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 225 
 
 played in sudden reverses of fortune, or 
 in the death of friends, they are not 
 to be compared with the anguish which 
 comes direct from the injustice and the 
 humours of our fellow-creatures. Thus 
 impressed, I certainly felt far less than 
 formerly, the evil, and more animatedly 
 the good, of our chequered lot ; for 
 come what might, I had still a heart to 
 rest on, fond as my father's and Fabio's ; 
 and if not as elastic as the latter, better 
 suited to pillow a spirit tired with the 
 vain pursuit of phantoms. 
 
 " Thus glided the years 1505, 6, 
 and 7- During this period we moved to 
 the court of the Duke d'Urbino. 
 
 " Meanwhile, Guidobaldo Alviano, 
 harassed me with" his painful constancy. 
 Will you think me ungrateful, if I term 
 it his obstinate determination to conquer 
 all opposition to his will? His father, 
 whose whole life had unhappily been 
 spent in pampering the selfish desires of 
 this son, was chafed at my refusal and 
 L 5
 
 226 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 he resolutely refused taking any part in 
 my uncle Giuliano's endeavours to ob- 
 tain for me the payment of the German 
 debt. 
 
 " As Alviano held in his possession the 
 single letter in which my grandfather 
 Lorenzo had formally acknowledged my 
 mother as his daughter j and as my mater- 
 nal uncle was besides one of the only 
 two persons then living who could swear 
 to her marriage, his refusal to come for- 
 ward in my behalf was nearly fatal to my 
 cause. 
 
 <« My brother Lorenzo was thus al- 
 lowed full power to traverse my suit, by 
 representing his own right to the legacy, 
 on the ground of my illegitimacy. Yet 
 for all this, my kind uncle slack- 
 ened none of his military efforts in the 
 sen^ice of our family cause. The chro- 
 nicles of those times will bear testimony 
 to his zeal, his valour, and his losses on 
 our account. 
 
 " Of course you may suppose, that to 
 retain the assistance of such a powerful
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 227 
 
 auxiliary, my brother Lorenzo affected 
 to espouse the interest of Guidobaldo's 
 passion, and thus added a second cause 
 of quarrel with me. 
 
 " His intrigues to prevent the settle- 
 ment of my demand on Germany were 
 but too well seconded by the Emperor 
 Maximilian's notorious profuseness, and 
 consequent want of money; who, glad 
 of a pretext for withholding so large a 
 sum, necessary to his wasteful habits, 
 plausibly refused paying it, till one of 
 the two disputing parties should establish 
 their right by indisputable documents. 
 
 " Thus all the expences which my uncle 
 Giuliano incurred, in the payment of 
 agents, advocates, journeys, &c. were 
 thrown away; and at a time when he 
 could raise money by only the extremest 
 personal or mental sacrifices ; at a time, 
 too, when our feelings were rent perpe- 
 tually by the distress or importunities of 
 those who had devoted their families to 
 ruin by fidelity to my poor father. 
 L 6
 
 228 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 *« Torn by contending passions, some* 
 times on the point of throwing myself 
 into a convent, to end this domestic 
 broil ; sometimes yielding to the convic- 
 tion that it would be basely selfish in me 
 thus to abandon my only chance for re- 
 compensing past services ; I was often 
 on the point of giving my revolting hand 
 to Guidobaldo : but like a guardian an- 
 gel still did my dear uncle Giuliano in- 
 terpose his mild reasonings between me 
 and so frantic an alternative. 
 
 " At this critical juncture the confe- 
 derate war against the Venetians, which 
 has this year raged so fiercely, was just 
 beginning to flame out. My uncle Al- 
 viano was to command the army of Ve- 
 nice j and the Emperor Maximilian, it 
 was said, w^ould come in person to oppose 
 him. 
 
 " I was now of an age to feel that re- 
 volting as it may be for a woman to enter 
 the lists with men in a legal contest, yet 
 that she must do so, and make the sa- 
 
 7
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 229 
 
 crifice, the great sacrifice ! of private de- 
 licacies, when her public duties com- 
 mand it. 
 
 " Fortified by the images of number- 
 less, suffering, expecting dependants, — 
 alas, it was like a mother regarding so 
 many famishing children! — and ani- 
 mated by the recollection of the devoted- 
 ness which this cold coin was feebly to 
 repay, I proposed seeking the Emperor, 
 and personally demanding justice. Ne- 
 ver would such an opportunity as the 
 present, perhaps, offer itself again. I 
 could, without much expence or danger, 
 reach the imperial presence ; and as I 
 knew Maximilian was already inflamed 
 with wrath at the successes of the Vene- 
 tian troops under Alviano, I might possibly 
 find him inclined to do me justice, solely 
 to revenge himself upon that commander. 
 My other dear uncle sanctioned the bold 
 effort ; and, quitting Urbino, we set out 
 on our journey. 
 
 " My hope of success depended prin-
 
 ^30 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 cipally upon the testimony of Martello, 
 who was the second witness of my fa- 
 ther's and mother's marriage, and who had 
 happily preserved, and has since transferred 
 to me, a paper written by my grandfather 
 Lorenzo, containing some orders respect- 
 ing the honourable conduct he wished 
 given to his daughter-in-law, in her re- 
 moval from Venice to Florence. This 
 paper, acknowledging her in that cha- 
 racter, combined with Martello's other 
 testimony, must, we thought, establish 
 my legitimacy to any mind open to con- 
 viction. 
 
 « Martello was at this time at the head 
 of that remnant of banished Florentines 
 who yet looked to the restoration of our 
 exiled family as the goal of their mise- 
 ries. They were acting with the Pisans, 
 in obedience to my brother Lorenzo, 
 whose restless ambition never ceased 
 urging his followers into whatever mea- 
 sures might distress the people of 
 Florence, and therefore make them sus-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. €S1 
 
 pect Sodorini, the present head of that 
 republic, of incapacity. 
 
 " To procure the paper then in Mar- 
 tello's custody, my uncle Giuliano and 
 I turned aside on our road, and met the 
 old soldier at the monastery of Spirito 
 Santo in Argentina. 
 
 " You know the catastrophe of that 
 inauspicious meeting. The town was sur- 
 prised, Martello fell, and my uncle 
 was obliged to fly. 
 
 " But should your uncle have flown ?" 
 asked Rossano, the pitying tone in which 
 he spoke, moderating the severity of the 
 question. 
 
 " O surely, surely!" cried Ippolita. 
 " The town, you know, was taken by 
 assault. The fury of the conquerors was 
 at first terrible. Had he been recognised, 
 (and who of Florence would not have 
 known him ?) he would either have been 
 butchered on the spot, or taken to Flo- 
 rence, there to end his honoured hfe, as 
 lo
 
 232 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Neri and Vitelli had done before, — by 
 violence ! 
 
 " He was outlawed, you know; a 
 price was set upon the heads of all the 
 brothers ; and Florence, that scene of 
 horrors to our fated race, — that place 
 where even God's own altar was redden- 
 ed with the innocent blood of a former 
 Giuliano, — Florence would have avenged 
 upon his peaceful head, all the luckless 
 enterprises of my father, all the turbulent 
 animosity of my brother. 
 
 " Oh, if you could guess with what 
 difficulty I made such arguments triumph ! 
 If you could have seen my tears, my dis- 
 traction ; have heard my wild threats of 
 throwing myself at once upon the swords 
 of the assailants, rather than, living, to 
 witness his murder [ 
 
 " Even the prior urged the destruc- 
 tion in which we must all be involved, if 
 he should be found amongst us. He 
 bade him remember that, unconnected 
 with him, and not known as a Medici,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^33 
 
 my sex, and the sanctuary of the house, 
 would guarantee my safety. Martello 
 offered to proclaim himself my father,^ 
 and remain either to protect me, or share 
 my captivity. Time pressed ; the ene- 
 my were already thundering at the gates 
 of the monastery. I know not well what 
 1 said, what I did. I saw nothing but the 
 dreadful vision of my dear uncle butcher- 
 ed in my very arms ; and rushing from 
 the cell, where the prior was hastily 
 throwing a monk^s habit over the armour 
 of Giuliano. — I cannot remember what 
 followed, till I first saw the Marquis Va- 
 lombrosa. O that moment ! that counte- 
 nance like heaven ! I felt that no deed 
 of horror could be wrought before such 
 merciful eyes V 
 
 Ippolita stopt from excess of emotion. 
 As Rossano delicately withdrew his eyes 
 from her face, she caught their move- 
 ment, and a conviction of the ideas which 
 caused it, suffused her with blushes. 
 
 ** Your uncle's situation was indeed,
 
 S34 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 a cruel one :'* he said at last, ** yes ! it 
 was his duty to fly. Did he escape un- 
 seen ?" 
 
 *< He did !" replied Ippolita, not daring 
 to look up again, after her late transport. 
 ** One of the lay-brothers safely conduct- 
 ed him by a remote egress, through some 
 obscure parts of the town, to the her- 
 mitage of Santa Anna. Tlience he found 
 his solitary way to Urbino. 
 
 " It was long after my removal here, 
 that I had the comfort of knowing this 
 latter part of his route ; and of receiving 
 his felicitations on my safety. The con- 
 vulsed state of Italy, the factions which 
 rent all the petty states where he had 
 friends, and the honourable reputation 
 of my young protector, led my uncle to 
 wish I would remain so sheltered, while 
 he singly sought the Emperor, and tried 
 the effect of his own presence, and the 
 important document from my grand- 
 father left by Martello. He was also 
 actuated by another consideration : he
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. S35 
 
 believed that I judged with less passion 
 than most of my family ; and that by a 
 residence at Florence, where I had never 
 been before, and therefore could not be 
 known ; I might see clearly, and report 
 faithfully the strength of our party. 
 Since my residence here, many im- 
 portant events have occurred. My uncle 
 Alviano is a prisoner in France, he was 
 taken in the desperate battle of the 
 Ghiaradadda, where he and Guidobaldo 
 performed prodigies of useless valour. 
 We do not yet know whether Guidobaldo 
 fell, or is captive also. 
 
 " Thus I breathe from one perse- 
 cution : but my brother has succeeded in 
 obtaining part of the debt from the Em- 
 peror, by way of recompence for secret 
 services done him with the Pope, by the 
 powerful Orsini family ; and my uncle 
 Giuliano, returning from his vain jour- 
 ney to Vienna, has been arrested at 
 Bologna on suspicion of having stolen
 
 236 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 into that city as an agent of the Ben- 
 tivogiio. 
 
 " I enter not into the question of the 
 Pope's right to take by force of arms that 
 lordship from the Bentivoglio ; but I 
 know their city, and those princes afforded 
 us a shelter when no other dared open 
 her gates to exiles ; and I do not doubt, 
 therefore, that some proofs of my uncle's 
 grateful correspondence with them, will 
 be found among his papers, and that 
 perhaps, the stern Pontiff may consider 
 such a circumstance treason against the 
 triple crown ! 
 
 "It is my earnest wish to go to my 
 uncle ; to join our destinies, indeed, to- 
 gether. But alone, and without means — 
 embarrassed by my sex, I pause upon the 
 thought, lest by rash exposure of myself 
 among those numberless martial bands 
 which are now spread over all the con- 
 tested principalities, I may increase my 
 dear uncle's difficulties, instead of re- 
 lieving them.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 237 
 
 '' There was a time, Prince, when I 
 should have obeyed the first impulse of 
 my feelings, without reflecting on their 
 possible consequences ; or had I thought 
 of danger to myself, should have deemed 
 it selfish to have desisted therefore from 
 the attempt. Events have now taught 
 me the higher obligation of stifling our 
 most passionate wish of self-sacrifice, 
 when by making it we only transfer 
 the load of anxiety from ourselves, to 
 the object we struggle for. 
 
 <* I am troubled by the fear of either 
 estimating these difficulties too much, or 
 too little ; and I fear too, for my dear 
 uncle's life, — his fading health — a 
 dungeon, perhaps !" 
 
 Ippolita stopt, choaked with tears; 
 while Rossano kindly taking her hand, 
 said with the frank tone of one who 
 would be astonished were he denied, " I 
 am happily an unimportant person, and 
 may go whither I will, unsuspected. I 
 will see your uncle if possible ; learn the
 
 S38 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN'. 
 
 reality of his situation, and receive his 
 instructions respecting you. Why should 
 you risk danger, when you have such a 
 harbour here ? You do not wish to leave 
 such friends as Valombrosa and his 
 sister ?" 
 
 As he fixed his searching eye for a 
 moment upon her, Ippolita lost her usual 
 look of self-possession — with kindling 
 and successive blushes, she hesitatingly 
 answered ; " I do wish it. Prince — but 
 do not think me ungrateful : I am only 
 too grateful." She faltered, then added, 
 " and I sometimes fear, that my desolate 
 situation interests more than it ought — 
 more than is well for his peace — " A 
 deepening crimson here dyed her clear 
 complexion, and her failing voice was no 
 longer audible. 
 
 The Prince continued to detain her 
 hand in his, but sunk into thought. At 
 length looking up with the animation of 
 cordial interest, he said, " I had im- 
 agined something like this. Valom-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 239 
 
 brosa's heart is as transparent as that 
 cheek ; so he could not, if he would, con- 
 ceal his feelings. I will not ask to see 
 more of your's, than you choose to show 
 a man, once too well acquainted with 
 the master passion, — but now," — the 
 Prince broke off for a moment, dropping 
 her hand ; then resumed ; " and what 
 is it I must do for you ?" 
 
 " Dictate my future conduct,'* replied 
 Ippolita, fixing her eyes upon him with an 
 expression of perfect reliance on his judg- 
 ment. 
 
 " I would you were any thing but a 
 Medici T' exclaimed the Prince with 
 unusual fervor. 
 
 Ippolita understood the kindly reason 
 for that wish, and softly sighing, said, 
 " I well know what destiny is coupled 
 with that proscribed name : a cloister for 
 me — lives of dependence, or deaths of 
 glory for my kinsmen ! — O never may 
 I foster the cruel wish of seeing the best
 
 240 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 and noblest of mankind, involved witii 
 fates so desperate !" 
 
 " Not desperate !" interrupted Rossano, 
 " Your family has still a powerful, nay, a 
 growing party in this state. Even those 
 who bore the hardest upon the mistakes 
 of Piero, his then inexperienced son, 
 revert to the days of the venerable Lo- 
 renzo, with pride and regret. I frequently 
 hear the present head of the republic, 
 accused of leaning basely to the French 
 interest; and certainly, even shallow 
 politicians must see the weakness of a 
 system which leads him to purchase the 
 integrity of the Florentine possessions, by 
 guaranteeing the conquests of France in 
 other parts of Italy — 'tis a mischievous 
 system ! — it was but the other day, that 
 I heard it said in a mixed assembly, that 
 were the Medici restored to their patri- 
 mony and influence, with them would 
 return that sound policy of Lorenzo \ the 
 e.rpulsion of every foreign power.''
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, ^241 
 
 *^ Such a patriotic policy is the spring 
 of my uncle Giuliano's ambition j" ob- 
 served Ippolita, " if to so holy a feeling 
 I may give so profaned a name ! — 
 Should he ever return to his native 
 place, his bitterest enemies will find that 
 he comes to pardon them, and to place 
 Florence on her once proud throne of 
 arts and arms ! — but that hour Provid- 
 ence does not destine for us ! — Though 
 Soderini lessens in popularity, all the 
 posts of trust are in the hands of his 
 friends. He is an upright man, though 
 perhaps a misjudging one : and knowing 
 him to be honest, the people may cen- 
 sure his government, but they will go on 
 obeying it. Or even should they make a 
 struggle, he will seek support from 
 France, and find it : so will that power 
 repay his present services. I have no 
 hopes ! and it is well : if I had, they 
 might tempt me to forget that the Mar- 
 quis Valombrosa's prosperity" — 
 
 " You are right," rejoined the Prince, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 observing her hesitate, — " the question 
 now is, what is the best for you to do 
 with reference to Valombrosa. But let 
 us reflect a little." 
 
 In a few moments he addressed her 
 again. After weighing the probable con- 
 sequences of her rash departure for Bo- 
 logna uncalled for by her uncle, against 
 the possible evils which might result to 
 Valombrosa from her protracted stay in 
 Tuscany, he still concluded in favour of 
 her remaining until Giuliano could make 
 dispositions for her removal. 
 
 " Upon characters like Valombrosa's," 
 he said, ** mere absence will not have 
 any effect : so you need not lament the 
 necessity which detains you near him. 
 All you can do, is to endeavour at mani- 
 festing nothing beyond grateful esteem. 
 
 I think the conviction that it is next 
 to impossible for you to be his, (Rossano 
 spoke with compassionate reluctance) 
 would convince him that he must at least 
 try to conquer his affection. Your duty
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 243 
 
 would then be done; and indeed I con- 
 sider this so pressing a one, that I shall 
 hope to convince your uncle of the obli- 
 gation you are under to reveal your 
 name, and then to seek some other 
 asylum." 
 
 Rossano then proceeded to say that it 
 was his intention to make the journey to 
 Bologna immediately : that instructed by 
 her how to find out Giuliano's friends in 
 that city, he would either see him 
 through their means, or learn some mode 
 of communicating with him ; and after 
 obtaining from him directions for the 
 conduct of Ippolita, would return and 
 assist her in fulfiUing those directions, to 
 the utmost of his power. 
 
 Ippolita could have said much, had she 
 trusted herself to speak ; but it was only 
 her momentarily. raised and swimming 
 eye, which spoke to him of gratitude. 
 
 After some questions connected with 
 their principal subject. Prince Angelo 
 inquired more particularly into the past 
 M 2
 
 244 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 proceedings of her suit with the Emperor. 
 He then suggested, that as the Emperor's 
 justice had been warped by consideration 
 for the Orsini family, so powerful with 
 the Chief Pontiff, he might now be in- 
 duced to act rightly, through resentment 
 against the Pontiff himself. 
 
 " I have still some political connec- 
 tions," observed Rossano, *' and I know 
 that his Holiness, alarmed at the victory 
 of the Ghiaradadda, already repents 
 having lent his weight to the confederacy 
 against Venice, and means to withdraw 
 his troops from the assistance of the am- 
 bitious Maximilian. At so critical a 
 juncture, such a disappointment, must 
 inflame the Emperor beyond endurance ; 
 and doubtless he will then eagerly seize 
 any opportunity of marking his resent- 
 ment against the Court of Home, by dis- 
 obliging its highest house, that of Orsini.' 
 
 « Then will be the time to press your 
 suit. See what despicable engines we 
 are forced to use, though to compass our
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 245 
 
 purest ends! — the passions of men, when 
 theory would dream of their principles!" 
 llossano smiled and shrugged up his 
 shoulders, as if with that careless scorn 
 which is as brief and unimportant as 
 summer lightning ; but there was more 
 serious meaning in his eyes : and Ippo- 
 lita read there, the deep sadness of one 
 who reflects too much, and feels too 
 deeply. — Her own concerns were then 
 forgotten. 
 
 ** I see you are a nice observer of hu- 
 man nature :" she said gently, " may not 
 that habit be carried too far for peace 
 and social enjoyment ? I have some- 
 times thought that a very quick percep- 
 tion of character, is as fiatal an endow- 
 ment as that strange power of foreseeing 
 future calamities, which we read of as 
 peculiar to some northern countries." 
 
 Rossano looked up at her for a mo- 
 ment, then looked down again, and was 
 silent. At last, unconscious how long a 
 time had elapsed since her remark, he 
 M S
 
 2^6 THE FAST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 answered, <* I own the truth of your ob- 
 servation, Signora : 1 have carried this 
 habit to an excess which has disenchanted 
 life. But — " he paused again — "my 
 heaviest misfortune arose from total 
 ignorance of human nature — from the 
 lying dreams of an imagination which 
 brought its images from heaven to earth ; 
 which fancied an angel — where," the 
 Prince broke off, and IppoHta seeing his 
 brow moistened with large drops started 
 by strong emotion, moved towards the 
 mouth of the grotto. 
 
 Rossano hastily followed, and grasping 
 her arm with unconscious force, held her 
 there an instant ; then releasing her, said 
 with painful rapidity, 
 
 " You have a right to know something 
 more of the man who presumes to be 
 your friend, than what he chooses to let 
 the world see. — I appear, I hope I am 
 now, a reasonable man, of moderate 
 feelings ; I was once the victim of ima- 
 gination and inordinate sensibility. — 1
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 247 
 
 am now, a voluntary solitary, hanging 
 loose from society, with no ostensible 
 objects in life, but peace and intellectual 
 improvement : I was formerly the prey 
 of ambition. — Perhaps I am not yet 
 quite secure from that mighty passion ; 
 but if I have not destroyed the demon, I 
 have chained him. — I am now unloved, 
 unloving ; dead to all that beauty, sweet- 
 ness, tenderness, might tempt me with ; 
 — and once I loved ! Oh heaven and 
 earth, how loved !" 
 
 Rossano's altered voice, thrilled Ippo- 
 lita with something like terror ; his agi- 
 tation indeed was fearful ; for his whole 
 body shook, his eyes fluctuated, and his 
 pale features assumed a ghastly hue. 
 
 Ippolita's tender accents enabled him 
 to shake off this seizure : he covered his 
 lace, and stood some time subduing his 
 weakness. At length removing his hands, 
 he said, in an inward voice, ** It is not 
 often that I escape thus, from my better 
 self J but I believe you must know enough 
 M 4 -
 
 248 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 of my history, to pardon me an occa- 
 sional paroxysm like this. — With the 
 character I describe, I loved and married 
 her who afterwards left me. — Trust not to 
 the beauty and the look of an angel — She 
 possessed them ; take not that playful 
 sportiveness which carries the charm of 
 childhood into maturity, for the evidence 
 of a spotless heart — She possessed it ! 
 
 — Depend not on simple innocence for 
 the preservation of a husband's honour 
 
 — She was innocence itself when I led 
 her from the altar to my joyous home ! 
 
 " Dorina was new to the world and all 
 its vanities, and I was charmed to pos- 
 sess a creature, whose mind hke a fair 
 sheet of paper, might be traced with 
 what characters I chose. — Fool, not to 
 guess that the mind which has remained 
 for eighteen years a blank page, will 
 ever take durable impressions from the 
 hand of instruction ? it was cunning per- 
 haps to earn a right for asking frivolous 
 pleasures -— or mere awe of a husband j bilt
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 249 
 
 she affected an interest in my studies, 
 when, in truth, they were only becom- 
 ing more irksome to her. She knew not 
 how to estimate the love which sought to 
 improve what it loved. — Alas ! she was 
 only capable of answering to that ignoble 
 sort, which administers to the weak- 
 nesses of its object, and flatters while it 
 despises. In short her beauty charmed a 
 man level to her tastes ; his stronger 
 character, I suppose, gave the impulse 
 to her feebler one 5 and while I was 
 mourning over the grave of our only 
 child, — she left me ! — Do you ask how 
 I survived this shock ? (Rossano spoke 
 the next sentences with a ghastly smile,) 
 it was light, it was an atom to what 
 crushed me afterwards. I believed that 
 she had left me, when her heart first 
 changed ; accident, however, threw a 
 letter in my way : a mislaid letter from 
 her seducer of two years date, and that 
 proved, — let me not think of it ! — - All 
 was chaos, — and the child on which I 
 w 5
 
 250 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 had doated; tlie child for whom my heart 
 was weeping blood, — was — agony to 
 remember ! — " 
 
 Again Rossano stopt ; but not again 
 with wild violence : his eyes were half- 
 closed ; his features frightfully still ; and 
 Ippolita's ear but just caught the thrilling 
 of a low shiver, which ran through his 
 exhausted frame. One convulsive sigh, 
 like that of a passing soul, followed this 
 dismal shudder. 
 
 Ippolita rivetted her eyes on him, with 
 her whole pitying heart speaking through 
 them. 
 
 How potent is the attraction of sorrow! 
 — not all the sympathy with which Prince 
 Angelo had listened to her distresses, 
 nor all his promises of friendly aid, had 
 given her such confidence in his kind- 
 ness, as she felt now. She drew nigh to 
 him. 
 
 " Such a heart as your's, my Prince,'* 
 she said, soothingly, " must not be lost 
 to domestic bliss. Surely after the lapse 
 7
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 251 
 
 of six years, you ought not to brood over 
 the remembrance of one so culpable ?'* 
 
 " Ah, do you not understand me yet ?'* 
 asked the Prince convulsively, *' I now 
 regret, not the object, but the sentiment! 
 that sentiment which is the well-spring 
 of all life's sweet charities, — Her perfidy, 
 her unfeelingness under such lovely 
 seeming, have poisoned it at its source j 
 and henceforth any sympathy I may 
 cherish, must be tainted with suspicion. 
 Not all the waters of Lethe, can wash 
 away the hateful mixture." 
 
 " Time and trial will convince you 
 otherwise,'' replied Ippolita. " Hither- 
 to you have avoided opportunities of 
 knowing your fellow-creatures better j 
 now you are happily drawn from your 
 solitude, into a house, where surely every 
 prejudice must vanish ?" 
 
 « Perhaps they ought," replied Ros- 
 sano, with a long-drawn sigh, yet some- 
 times I oppose myself to the charm which 
 k stealing over my settled resolution." 
 M 6
 
 ^52 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 " What resolution ?" 
 
 Ippolita's question troubled the Prince; 
 he turned away his face. " My resolu- 
 tion never to regard man or woman again, 
 with such abandonment of soul, as to 
 leave any part of my peace at the mercy 
 of another's conduct.'* 
 
 " Wretched as I have been," said 
 Ippolita, kindly, " I would not learn that 
 lesson from you ; this is not the creed 
 you taught me so lately." The Prince 
 asked her, with a bewildered air, what 
 she alluded to ! she repeated his words, 
 ** Our own virtues lose their best support, 
 when we cease to believe in those of 
 others." 
 
 " You are right," said Rossano. " I 
 judge sanely, when I speculate on life, 
 without reference to myself — -madly, 
 when my own feelings are interested ; — 
 such is human weakness : at least such is 
 mine. So now you have given me in 
 this one remark, a volume to reflect 
 upon, we will part j when we meet next, 
 
 3
 
 THE FAST JOF ST. MAGDALEN. ^53 
 
 in the society of Valombrosa and his 
 sister, I shall be the calm philosopher 
 again !" the Prince smiled with melan- 
 choly disdain of himself; and Ippolita 
 commending him to Heaven, and happier 
 thoughts, bade him a temporary farewell.
 
 ^54 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The following day Prince Angelo an- 
 nounced his intended journey to Bologna; 
 simply stating it, as a matter of unex- 
 pected business, and engaging himself to 
 return to 11 hel Deserto, 
 
 He went, followed by the avowed re- 
 grets of Valombrosa and his sister ; and 
 the secret object of Ippolita's gratitude. 
 
 Thus left without her newly-appointed 
 monitor, Ippolita trembled for the fate 
 of his advice respecting Valombrosa ; but 
 happily the interests of others, and the 
 duties and business of his own extensive 
 estates, called him frequently away. 
 
 But when he did return to his dearest 
 home, what beautiful abandonment of 
 his soul to the simplest pleasures, the
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^55 
 
 gentlest affections was visible in his looks 
 and manner ! how fondly did he enter 
 into all the lesser interests of Rosalia's 
 limited sphere of action ! how tenderly 
 contrive for her, a perpetual variety of 
 agreeable emotions, to supply the place 
 of sight i 
 
 He had always wished to heighten his 
 sister's recreations, by giving her the gra- 
 tifying consciousness of being useful ; 
 and for this purpose, had selected a few 
 orphan children to receive their edu- 
 cation under her superintendance, and 
 afterwards to be portioned by his bounty. 
 
 It was Rosalia's office to hear these in- 
 teresting orphans repeat the religious 
 lessons taught them by her confessor, and 
 to instruct them verbally herself, in such 
 humbler parts of knowledge, as was 
 suited to their moderate destinations. At 
 iirst her gentlewoman, but at length Ip- 
 polila, taught them the elegant varieties 
 of female works. 
 
 A pretty rotunda, at the distance of an
 
 Q56 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 agreeable walk from the house, was given 
 up solely to the accommodation of Ro- 
 salia's pupils; and there Valombrosa would 
 often follow his sister, and with a playful 
 manner, but serious intention, assist her 
 in her benevolent tasks. 
 
 He had a deep and lively sense of. re- 
 ligion : and Ippolita more than once 
 caught the tear of emotion in his eye, 
 when one of the innocent little creatures 
 knelt before him, repeating her vesper 
 prayer. The kneeling child; the gra- 
 ciously-smiling benefactor ; — manly vir- 
 tue, and infantine innocence, thus grouped 
 together, formed such a sacred picture, 
 and conjured up so many touching ideas 
 of what that gracious benefactor would be 
 in every tender relation of life, that she 
 who loved him was not likely to escape its 
 dangerous charm. 
 
 Ippolita indeed, was hourly alarmed to 
 find herself less capable than ever, of re- 
 sisting the influence of his endearing 
 character. It surrounded her everywhere.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^5^ 
 
 She saw it in the interesting expressions 
 of a face which was indeed the soul's 
 mirror ; she heard it in the penetrating 
 sweetness of his voice ; she felt it in 
 those repeated acts of kindness, and gra- 
 ciousness and goodness, which he was 
 habitually and carelessly performing. 
 
 And if she could not dull her senses 
 to the impression of his noble character, 
 still less could she close them against the 
 subtle power of that nameless something 
 in the conduct of another, which tells 
 the one beloved, more audibly than words, 
 that she is the object of every thought. 
 
 Sometimes she would detect herself in 
 reveries of possible happiness. The res- 
 toration of her family, and the proud joy 
 of giving to Valombrosa that hand which 
 princes might then contest, would float 
 before her fancy ; while her heart exhal- 
 ing itself in unconscious sighs, would 
 thus betray its tenderness to him whose 
 ear drank but too eagerly, even her 
 gentlest breathing.
 
 258 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Terrified at this growing weakness, 
 Ippolita made stronger efforts to shake it 
 off; and had Prince Angelo been nigh 
 to watch her conduct through each trying 
 day, he must have owned that she was 
 heroically faithful to her purpose. 
 
 The Prince was however mistaken in 
 the present effect of that guarded con- 
 duct which he advised ; for Valombrosa's 
 constitutional tendency to happiness, 
 made him satisfied with much less than 
 Rossano had calculated. 
 
 One hastily-averted glance from Ip- 
 polita ; a blush, a sigh, surprised from 
 her, were enough to outweigh foregone 
 days of more tempered actions. He could 
 fancy a little romance of honour and gra- 
 titude, and pride, grounded on his rank, 
 and her present changed situation, (for 
 changed Valombrosa was determined to 
 believe it, and to think her of noble 
 birth) and could he have felt quite sa- 
 tisfied with her continued mystery to a 
 friend like Rosalia, he would at once
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 259 
 
 have ended his doubts by confessing the 
 sentiment she inspired. 
 
 Rosalia too assisted in misleading him ; 
 for she was not long in discovering the 
 secret which he wanted the courage to 
 disclose. 
 
 The peculiarity of her situation, acting 
 upon a character originally unworldly, 
 had strongly tinctured her mind with a 
 species of virtuous romance, pardonable 
 in youth and inexperience ; she there* 
 fore loved Ippolita so enthusiastically, 
 that she was ready to resign in her fa- 
 vour, all those visionary expectations for 
 a favourite brother, which it is natural 
 for sisters to indulge. What sought 
 she but Orlando's happiness ^ and if that 
 could now be secured by his union with 
 the comparatively humble Ippolita, ought 
 she not to promote it ? Thus reasoned 
 wildly-generous Seventeen. 
 
 Very doubtful of the nature of Ippo- 
 lita's feelings but quite certain of his, yet 
 ever saying to herself that two such be-
 
 260 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 ingswere expressly formed for each other; 
 whenever he hazarded a covert question, 
 the drift of which she had tact to dis- 
 cover, her answers were rather molded to 
 the fashion of his wishes, than after the 
 fashion of her own convictions. 
 
 No fraud is oftener practised than this; 
 none with tenderer or more laudable in- 
 tentions ; but few more pregnant with 
 mischief. 
 
 Valombrosa thus saw Ippolita's actions 
 drest in the colours of his sister's self- 
 deluded imagination, and he surrendered 
 himself up to hopes, which were almost 
 happiness. 
 
 At the expiration of a fortnight, a cou- 
 rier arrived from Prince Angelo Rossano; 
 he brought a packet to Valombrosa, en- 
 closing a letter to himself, and one for 
 the Signora Martello. 
 
 Valombrosa repeated the address, with- 
 out comment. 
 
 " His Excellency had the goodness to 
 promise me information of some friends
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 26l 
 
 at Bologna," said Ippolita, holding the 
 unopened letter with a trembling hand. 
 " I hope this brings it me.'* 
 
 She looked down, heart-struck with 
 the apparent ingratitude of her conduct, 
 in thus evidently confiding to Prince An- 
 gelo, the secret of her connections, which 
 she withheld from these longer-proved 
 friends. 
 
 In spite of himself, Valombrosa fixed 
 his eyes upon her, with a steadfast look 
 of surprise and displeasure, and suspicion. 
 Ippolita met the withering look ; a con- 
 vulsive gasp burst from her cruelly op- 
 pressed heart. She would have said some- 
 thing to deprecate that look, and confess 
 the ties which bound her to hateful con- 
 cealment, but the dread of thus teaching 
 Valombrosa the agonising value of his 
 good opinion ; the dread of purchasing 
 her own satisfaction, by his present hope, 
 and future disappointment, checked the 
 just impulse, and she erred, as she some- 
 times did, from an excess of self-sacrifice.
 
 £62 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 *< The news from absent friends, are 
 best studied without witnesses." coldly 
 observed Valombrosa, rising. 
 
 " Then I should withdraw," said Ip- 
 polita, forcing an appearance of cheer- 
 fulness. She left the room as she spoke, 
 and the moment afterwards heard his 
 voice in the vestibule, ordering his horses 
 and servants to attend him to Florence. 
 
 Ippolita hurried to her chamber in a 
 tumult of such feelings as she had never 
 known before ; the letter of Prince An- 
 gelo was in her hand unopened : even 
 that anxiety for her beloved uncle, was 
 suspended, which had throbbed in her 
 heart for so long a time. She saw no 
 other image than Valombrosa justly in- 
 dignant at her cold concealments, or 
 racked with jealousy of another. 
 
 Ippolita had a true woman's heart, dis- 
 ciplined as it was, by more than woman's 
 ordinary lot : for once that heart gave up 
 the struggle and abandoned itself to a 
 passion of regret.
 
 THE FAST OF ST* MAGDALEN. ^3 
 
 Suddenly struck with the remembrance 
 tliat this letter might contain the permis- 
 sion for which she languished, of confess- 
 ing herself to Rosalia and her brother. 
 She broke the seal, and hurried over its 
 contents. 
 
 llossano had not compassed an inter- 
 view with Giuliano di Medici ; but one 
 of the Prince's relations, a distinguished 
 member of the sacred college, undertook 
 to investigate the affair, and from the 
 proofs he obtained of the illustrious pri- 
 soner's innocence, he expected to finally 
 efiect his liberation. 
 
 Rossano ended by assuring Ippolita 
 that her kinsman so far from being con- 
 fined in a dreary prison, was lodged apart 
 in the ducal palace, with no other signs of 
 captivity than personal confinement, and 
 being restricted from any communication 
 with friends. 
 
 Rossano hoped however to prevail yet 
 farther with his powerful relation, and 
 through his means obtain a secret meet-
 
 ^64 THE FAST OF ST.IMAGDALEN. 
 
 ing with Giuliano, that should enable him 
 to return into Tuscany, with permission 
 for IppoHta to act freely according to cir- 
 cumstances and her own judgment. 
 
 In this narrative, though there was 
 something to regret, there was much tp 
 be grateful for ; and Ippolita yielded joy- 
 fully to such a delightful sentiment. She 
 cast herself on her knees, dissolving into 
 tears of a very different character from 
 those she had just shed. 
 
 She then rose from her humble posture, 
 calmed, and revived. But the glow of 
 weeping still remained in her heavy eye- 
 lids, when she prepared to rejoin Rosalia. 
 What mattered those swollen eyes, since 
 Eosalia could not observe them, and Va- 
 lombrosa was by this time, of course, on 
 his perturbed way to Florence ? 
 
 On entering the apartment where she 
 had left her friends, she started at see- 
 ing Valombrosa : he was sitting in a des- 
 ponding attitude under a porch of treil- 
 lage, which united his sister's cabinet
 
 ¥HE JAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 26^ 
 
 with a marble terrace that roofed the 
 colonnade below. 
 
 The sun was breaking out triumphant 
 over a storm : the scattered but heavy 
 clouds were sunk to a lower region ; leav- 
 ing the upper woods, (which were wet 
 with rain, and tossed by rushing blasts,) 
 to flash their green light upon the eye, 
 with almost blinding brightness. 
 
 Rosalia stoodoutupon the terrace, " half 
 in a blush of clustering roses lost," for the 
 porch was covered with them ; her hand 
 rested upon her lute. " I will sing to you 
 Orlando," were the words she was ad- 
 dressing to him : at Ippolita^s step, she 
 turned round, " Ah, you are returned !" 
 she exclaimed, " come and help me to 
 enhven this wayward brother of mine ! I 
 would not let him ride out in the thunder- 
 storm, and he has been so refractory ! 
 but come, play him my favourite air : 
 melancholy's foulest fiend cannot resist 
 that." 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 ^66 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 *< You are right my Rosalia," said her 
 brother, rising from his dejected posture, 
 with a look of generous shame. ** It is a 
 devil that you ask your friend to conjure 
 away : — the fiend of ill-humour, and his 
 name is legion." 
 
 He spoke with an assumed air of levity ; 
 for Valombrosa felt that there is some- 
 times an ostentation of repentance, nearly 
 as censurable as impenitence. 
 
 ** You shall have a wreath of amaranth 
 for this ;" rejoined Rosalia, tenderly imi- 
 tating his attempt at playfulness, ** I 
 will gather the flowers, and Ippolita shall 
 make the garland." 
 
 " It is certainly at the Signora's hands 
 that I should receive the symbol of a 
 much harder conquest 1" said Valombrosa, 
 in a low hurried voice, meant only for 
 the ear of her to whom he directed a 
 glance of penetrating meaning. 
 
 Rosalia meanwhile was cautiously ad- 
 vancing out upon the terrace, approach- 
 ing a circle of flowering shrubs, which
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^67 
 
 overhung a marble basin, and scented 
 its crystal water with their blossoms. 
 
 Ippolita required a moment of strong 
 effort to steady her voice : she said 
 gently, " as 1 am not expert at making 
 wreaths, I will content myself with 
 plucking a sprig of myrtle for the Mar- 
 quis ; the plant sacred to never changing 
 friendship.'* 
 
 Valombrosa looked intently upon her 
 unsteady hand, as she was trying to 
 break oft* a spray from the tree next to 
 her; his heart was in torments : *• And 
 for whom would you gather the rose ?*' 
 he asked rapidly, as he took the flower 
 from her. 
 
 Ippolita who read the name of Rossano 
 in his disordered eyes, averted her head, 
 and passed from him, as though she had 
 not heard the question. 
 
 Valombrosa half articulated some bitter 
 exclamation, and crushing the myrtle in 
 his hand, with a look of reviving frenzy, 
 N 2
 
 Q6S THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 started back into the cabinet of his 
 sister. 
 
 Never had Ippolita's resolution been so 
 violently shaken : she could not have 
 answered Valombrosa's question, by say- 
 ing "for no one," and she durst not 
 sanction his feelings, by saying " not for 
 Rossano." — it was however, impossible 
 for her to endure longer, either his 
 evident suspicion or the fall reliance of 
 his sister, without making some effort to 
 exonerate herself; and believing herself 
 justified in doing so, she went out to 
 Rosalia. 
 
 " Dare I ask you, dearest friend,'* 
 she said fearfully, " to continue your 
 generous confidence in me, in spite of 
 seeming inconsistencies ! -^ that letter 
 from Prince Angelo ! — I hoped it would 
 have brought me my kinsman's permis- 
 sion to reveal the whole of my cruel des- 
 tiny to friends who have sheltered me 
 from every evil, for these last seven 
 months j — but it has not. My petition
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 269 
 
 to that effect had not reached his hands. 
 Prince Rossano will I trust return with 
 that permission; and then, O how gladly ! 
 how gratefully shall I pour out at the 
 very feet of my forbearing friends !'* — 
 her gushing tears, and a sudden move- 
 ment of the tender Rosalia, stifled her 
 concluding words. 
 
 The tender girl threw herself upon 
 Ippolita's neck, affectionately assuring 
 her, that although such continued reserve 
 might sometimes grieve both her and her 
 brother, nothing could shake their con- 
 fidence in her integrity. 
 
 Ippolita could only thank her by tears, 
 which now flowed so fast, that it was 
 long ere she could stay them : during 
 their impetuous flow, her gentle sup- 
 porter often increased them, by some 
 pityingpressure, which further agitated the 
 perturbed heart it was meant to calm. 
 
 By the time Ippolita's paroxysm was 
 over, the trifling incident which had led 
 to it was forgotten : they came slowly 
 N 3
 
 270 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 from the terrace together, without either 
 garland or flowers to make one, and 
 h'ghtly stepping into the cabinet, heard 
 Valombrosa repeating part of a poem on 
 which he had been vainly endeavouring 
 to fix his attention. 
 
 He was traversing the apartment with 
 an open book in his hand, and his back 
 was to them when they entered j thus he 
 did not see them while he read these 
 lines — 
 
 I fly ! — but like the stricken deer, 
 Who madly to the covert goes, 
 Bearing the arrow in his side ; — 
 Vainly I fly ! — the shaft is here : 
 And staunchless is the wound, which pride 
 Thu3 desperate tries, by flight to hide ! — 
 O ! will it close ? — 
 
 These lines, however feebly they 
 might paint the agonies of wounded 
 pride, of roused jealousy, and disap- 
 pointed love, were rendered powerful 
 by the tones of Valombrosa's voice, 
 which ever sweet and various, was now 
 so thrillingly expressive of all these pas-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. '271 
 
 sions, that its effect was irresistible. He 
 flung the volume from him, and turning 
 to rush out of the room, saw Ippolita and 
 his sister standing behind him. 
 
 An emotion of shame restored him to 
 himself: he stammered out some in- 
 coherent phrase with an air of levity, 
 about the exaggerated sufferings of poets ; 
 and taking down a volume of Villani, 
 proposed reading grave history instead of 
 sing-song. 
 
 " I had rather walk !" said his sister, 
 gently laying her hand upon his arm. — 
 " You know I love the peculiarly fra- 
 grant smell of the trees, and the earth 
 after a shower : and upon the west ter- 
 race now, we are sure of a dry path : — 
 Will you go with me Orlando ?'* 
 
 Valombrosa answered, by taking up 
 his hat with one hand, and drawing her 
 arm through his with the other. He hung 
 back an instant ! — itwas but an instant — 
 to see if Ippolita would join them ; but 
 she, penetrating her friend's amiable 
 N 4
 
 27^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 
 
 anxiety to communicate what she had 
 said, tremulously seated herself, and 
 took up the book which Valombrosa had 
 thrown down. His countenance then 
 darkened again; and stung anew with 
 mortification and jealousy, he hurried 
 Rosalia away. 
 
 The time of their absence, and it was 
 not a short one, was an agitating period 
 to Ippolita : now the act was done, she 
 feared that it was censurable. — What 
 was the conduct which reason and inte- 
 grity told her to preserve ? — that which 
 might the soonest and the surest wean 
 Valombrosa's aifections from her — that 
 which might persuade him that his attach- 
 ment was not authorized by her mutual 
 tenderness. 
 
 But surely to do this, it was not de- 
 manded of her to act like a monster ! 
 if her own heart had never wished for 
 more than Valombrosa's esteem, and 
 if he had shown no warmer sentiment, 
 what would she then have done in the 
 present circumstances? — done, as she
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 2^3 
 
 was now doing, avowed her wish and her 
 hope of being soon able to meet every 
 inquiry of his just curiosity, with perfect 
 confidence. 
 
 Well then, she ought not to blame 
 herself: yet again and again she did so; 
 repeating inwardly, " Alas ! I would self- 
 ishly keep his heart, though certain such 
 sad constancy must doom him to a joyless 
 life ; and cut him ofFfrom all the sweet ties 
 and sacred dutiesof husband and of parent. 
 Or I would doom him to share exile and 
 poverty with me — doom him to poverty, 
 whose wealth is the prosperity of thou- 
 sands ! — No, Orlando ! never will I so 
 destroy thee ! — I will resign thee ! — I 
 will leave thee ! — but I shall love thee 
 still!*' 
 
 Happily her mournful reveries were 
 interrupted by the entrance of Father 
 Sordello, Rosalia's confessor. 
 
 Although this good man always inha- 
 bited the same house with his young 
 charge, he lived much apart, and rarely 
 N 5
 
 ^74" THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 spared any time to general society, from 
 those hours which he employed in reli- 
 gious studies, pious instructions, and in 
 discovering objects for the exercise of 
 Valombrosa's bounty -, but whenever he 
 encountered Ippolita, her serious train of 
 thought, and forlorn situation, beguiled 
 him from his severer duties. 
 
 He now sat down, and entered into 
 discourse with her, while awaiting the 
 return of Valombrosa from his walk. 
 
 The confessor's society gradually drew 
 Ippolita from those agitating reflections 
 which it was impossible for her to escape 
 from, in solitude ; and by the time Val- 
 ombrosa and his sister rejoined them, 
 her countenance had resumed its wonted 
 expression. 
 
 The first quick glance of Valombrosa's 
 eyes, told the happy revolution of his 
 feelings : that glance was grateful, ten- 
 der, and trusting, and it seemed to be- 
 seech forgiveness for recent wrong. How 
 touching was such a testimony of his pla-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^7^ 
 
 cable and generous nature ! In a moment 
 of humour, such a being might offend j 
 but could any one retain displeasure, 
 when he thus avowed transgression, and 
 sought pardon ? 
 
 Ippolita, conscious that her myste- 
 rious conduct justified suspicion, longed 
 to answer that speaking look, by one ex- 
 pressive of all her gratitude and admir- 
 ation ; but she cast down her eyes ; and 
 Valombrosa only guessed at her inward 
 emotion, by the tremulous fluctuation of 
 a sudden colour in her cheek. 
 
 Having immediately attended to the 
 business of Father Sordello, and quickly 
 dispatched it, Valombrosa gave himself 
 up entirely to the pleasure of repairing his 
 fault : he reverted not to what had past 5 
 but every look and word and action, was 
 so imbued with this amiable desire, that 
 Ippolita, while under their immediate in- 
 fluence, almost loved his greatest failing, 
 since it afforded such opportunities for 
 N 6
 
 276 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 the display of endearing and generous 
 qualities. 
 
 Valombrosa did not, perhaps, deserve 
 all the merit which Ippohta and his 
 sister secretly gave him : for it cost him 
 no painful struggle to testify penitence. 
 His heart was too happy, not to pour it- 
 self out with eagerness in any way which 
 could best show its sensibility to present 
 blessings : and when we are happy, how 
 good, how amiable do we become ! 
 
 In describing the extreme emotion 
 with which Ippolita had deprecated the 
 indignation of her friends at her supposed 
 ingratitude, RosaHa had intentionally com- 
 municated to him, her own belief that 
 such emotion could not proceed from a 
 feebler sentiment than that of repressed 
 sympathy with his attachment. It seemed 
 to him, that nothing but love could have 
 prevented Ippolita from feeling and ex- 
 pressing some resentful surprise at his 
 rude fierceness j he thereibre dismissed
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 277 
 
 every apprehension of Rossano's superior 
 influence ; though he recalled with per- 
 plexity, the manner of them both, at 
 their first meeting. 
 
 In vain did the self-dreading Ippolita 
 shrink from his tenderness : it was too 
 delicately pressed, too submissively en- 
 during, for any assumed composure of 
 her's, to check its soft advance towards 
 former confidence. She tried to appear 
 calmly gratified -, but insensibly a more 
 touching expression glistened in her 
 shaded eyes, and unconscious sighs es^ 
 caping at intervals, thrilled the soul of 
 her lover. 
 
 Dilring their long walk together, the 
 brother and sister had talked solely of 
 Ippolita and Rossano. The foregone con- 
 duct of each, was canvassed between them, 
 and the conclusion drawn from it, that 
 nothing could be more unjust, than to 
 allow circumstances of which an ex- 
 planation was promised hereafter, to
 
 ^78 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN, 
 
 weigh down their trust in the worth and 
 truth of two such friends. 
 
 Neither brother nor sister, though per- 
 petually hovering round the point, spoke 
 of Ippolita with any reference to her 
 ever becoming more to them than she was 
 then. Courage was wanting on both sides, 
 to make them thus frank to each other. 
 Yet, why Valombrosa found his voice die 
 away when he was just going to confess, 
 and why Rosalia should find her reso- 
 lution sink the instant she wished to 
 tax him with too tender an interest in 
 their lovely companion, cannot well be 
 explained. It is one of those mysteries 
 in human nature, for which the subtlest 
 philosopher would find it difficult to 
 account : Yet it is one which almost every 
 domestic circle must know by experience 
 does exist, and often influences the con- 
 duct of its members. 
 
 Valombrosa rather wished to show 
 than to hide his attachment from his sis-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 279 
 
 ter 5 and satisfied from the tender par- 
 ticularity of her details about Ippolita, 
 that she required no positive avowal of his 
 wishes, to discover where they pointed, 
 he contented himself with that tacit 
 understanding, and with the most lively 
 demonstration of gratitude for his sister's 
 disinterestedness. 
 
 The prolonged presence of Father 
 Sordello through this evening, assisted in 
 bringing back the rest of the party to 
 easy self-possession. Valombrosa deli- 
 cately forbore reading any passages from 
 Prince Angelo's letter to himself, lest 
 that should seem to challenge an equal 
 communicativeness on the part of Ippo- 
 lita; but he introduced his name fre- 
 quently into their discourse, and seemed 
 anxious to atone for a momentary jea- 
 lousy of him, by the most lavish, yet dis- 
 criminating praise of his character. 
 
 From the strain of Valombrosa's con- 
 versation, Ippolita could perceive that the 
 Prince had given him his complete confi- 
 9
 
 ^80 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 dence : of course the particulars of tliat con- 
 fidence were not repeated by his friend. 
 But the principles on which Rossano had 
 acted, and the wrongs he had endured, 
 afforded his eulogist ample scope for the 
 expression of pity and admiration. 
 
 Father Sordello warmly applauded the 
 triumph of Christian obedience, over the 
 natural instinct to revenge, which was 
 manifested by Prince Angelo ; and Ro- 
 salia tearfully ejaculated, at every trait of 
 Rosano's trusting affection for his wife, 
 « and she could betray such a husband.'^
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Once more, after this dangerous even- 
 ing, Ippolita sought to entrench herself 
 behind defences of pensive reserve, and 
 melancholy allusions to the solitary life 
 which her fate imposed on her. Valom- 
 brosa's irrepressible affection was alarmed 
 for an instant ; but confidence of suc- 
 cess was so natural to him who had 
 hitherto known little else, that he only 
 felt his hopes faulter, when Ippolita suc- 
 ceeded in appearing cheerfully contented 
 with the destiny she foretold. 
 
 These doubts and fears, however, soon 
 drew to a close. A second dispatch from 
 Prince Angelo, containing a short letter 
 from Giuliano di Medici, and a longer
 
 S8^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 one from himself, arrived within a v^ry 
 few days after his first packet. 
 
 The envelope was superscribed to t he 
 Signora Martello, and from that circum- 
 stance Ippolita at once guessed what it 
 contained. She was assured that Ros- 
 sano would not risk the compromise of 
 Valombrosa's fidelity to his government, 
 by making his name the cover of a letter 
 from one of the proscribed di Medici. 
 
 She was alone, ^hen the important 
 packet was brought to her by a page : her 
 fingers rested on the seals for a few 
 moments before she had courage to dare 
 what was within. Now, for the first 
 time did her heart shake at what must 
 follow her uncle's permission to reveal 
 her real name. To be cut off at once 
 perhaps, from the affections of Valom- 
 brosa ! how could she live under such a 
 privation ? — the loss of all she possessed 
 on earth, friends, liberty, nay life itself, 
 she felt would be far less dreadful to her 
 apprehension. Yet so it ought to be !
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 283 
 
 Unable to endure this suspense, she 
 opened her uncle's letter, and found 
 only two hastily-written lines, impower- 
 ing her to act according to necessity and 
 her own judgment. 
 
 Prince Rossano's informed her, that he 
 had with difficulty got her letter con- 
 A^eyed to Giuliano, by means of an in- 
 ferior agent j his more powerful relative, 
 refusing to transgress his holiness's orders, 
 which interdicted all correspondence with 
 the prisoner. She must therefore con- 
 tent herself with the very brief answer 
 enclosed, and with his fuller details. 
 
 From these, Ippolita learnt, that fur- 
 nished with the documents of di Medici's 
 innocence, which his relative had kindly 
 collected. Rossano was setting off for 
 Rome, to present them himself to the 
 Pontiff, and to enforce them with all the 
 interest he could make in the Vatican. 
 
 " Do not thank me for this," con- 
 cluded the Prince, ** remember I am a
 
 ^84 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDALEN. 
 
 useless being, without ties to bind, or 
 objects to endear him to any particular 
 spot ; therefore it is you who benefit me, 
 by giving me some little opportunity of 
 redeeming at least a fey/ weeks, from my 
 worthless life.'* 
 
 Ippolita was inexpressibly touched by 
 the melancholy, as well as by the good- 
 ness of this sentence ; and the first im- 
 pulse of that gratitude, which he had 
 forbidden, was a fervent prayer that 
 Heaven would recompense him tenfold, 
 in future happiness. 
 
 Her uncle's billet, die pressed to her 
 lips and to her heart ; that aching heart, 
 where the weakness of love, and the 
 strength of rectitude, struggled so power- 
 fully ! 
 
 The contest was long, but the victory 
 of principle certain. Integrity had a 
 never-failing ally in the soul of Ippolita 
 — - her piety ; and seeking assistance 
 where the proudest spirit must seek it
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 285 
 
 at last in all the great emergencies of 
 life ; she arose from her knees, strong in 
 noble purpose. 
 
 Valombrosa had been absent for a day 
 or two at one of his farms in the Casen- 
 tino, and as he was not expected back 
 till night, Rosalia was sure to be found 
 alone. Ippolita now sought her ; thank- 
 ful that she could thus make her the 
 medium of information to her brother, 
 whose first feelings would consequently 
 have had their way, before she who ex- 
 cited them, could be called on to witness 
 their excess. 
 
 Rosalia saw not the smile of sad, but 
 nearly ~^ perfect resignation, which was 
 spread over the countenance of her 
 friend ; she was therefore unprepared for 
 the surprise of feeling herself gently 
 pressed in Ippolita's arms, and heard her 
 whisper in a suppressed voice. 
 
 " I am now come, my generous Ro- 
 salia, to tell you who I am, and why I
 
 286 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 have so long concealed that secret from 
 you. Alas ! when once I pronounce my 
 real father's name, you will read in it my 
 sentence of banishment from // hel De- 
 serto, 
 
 Rosalia's agitated exclamation, and in- 
 quiry were immediate ; Ippolita uttered 
 the name of Piero di Medici : Rosalia 
 started, ejaculated a few words of sur- 
 prise, then of gladness, at such convic- 
 tion of the nobleness of her birth ; for, 
 far from feeling any of the anguish which 
 racked her more experienced friend, she 
 had to ask why she ought to feel it ? 
 
 Little acquainted with public affairs, 
 and judging all concerns by the simple 
 laws of her own tender and upright heart, 
 she saw no reason why the innocent 
 daughter of their exiled Prince, should 
 not continue to receive shelter and re- 
 spect from a Florentine. 
 
 It was not till Ippolita herself, showed 
 her the consequences of such imprudent
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 287 
 
 generosity, that the young Rosalia began 
 to tremble for the peace of him, dearest 
 to her. 
 
 When Ippolita hastily ran over an ab- 
 stract of the history she had recently 
 related to Prince Angelo, and distinctly 
 enumerated the solemn acts by which the 
 republic had made it treason for any of 
 its citizens, kiiowingly, to harbour or as- 
 sist one of the Medicii ; when she de- 
 scribed her own horror at the bare idea 
 of requiting her benefactor's goodness, 
 by drawing ruin and infamy upon him 
 and his ; when she spoke of her resolu- 
 tion of immediately throwing herself into 
 the first convent beyond the territories 
 of Florence, then Rosalia's terror and 
 grief burst out in an agony of impetuous 
 tears. She clasped her friend repeatedly 
 against her breast, adding to her other 
 wild apostrophes, "alas! my poor Or- 
 lando !" 
 
 Ippolita's soul shook at that name so 
 pronounced : but she durst not reply to
 
 288 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 all which Rosalia's piercing tones im- 
 plied. She remained silent : pale as 
 monumental marble, as cold, and at 
 length nearly as unconscious. 
 
 She was roused from her torpor, by 
 Valombrosa's voice within the house, but 
 at a distance : its buoyant sound so ex- 
 pressive of the joy of being at home 
 again made her shudder ; she rose, and 
 hastily pronouncing his name, was hurry- 
 ing away, when recollecting herself, she 
 paused to add a request that Rosalia 
 would impart to him what had just 
 passed, and pardon her absence till they 
 should meet at the hour of supper. 
 
 While she was saying this, he entered: 
 she broke off, and glided past him. - 
 
 It seemed as if it were her spectre that 
 passed ; for Valombrosa all aghast with 
 the paleness and expression of her coun- 
 tenance, remained without the power of 
 detaining her. " What ails the Signora!" 
 he asked at length. He was answered 
 by Rosalia taking his hand, and burst- 
 
 6
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 289 
 
 ing into tears. On his alarmed and re- 
 peated questions, she at last composed 
 herself sufficiently to recapitulate all that 
 Ippolita had just told her. 
 
 It v/ould be difficult to describe the 
 variety of feelings which shook the marjly 
 frame of Valombrosa during this recital. 
 Strange to say, pleasure predominated 
 over pain. He experienced the joy of 
 relief from the censures of friends, and 
 of his own habitual respect for hereditary 
 distinction, by the knowledge of Ip- 
 polita's illustrious birth. He more than 
 suspected that he was beloved ; and con- 
 sequently her guarded conduct appeared 
 but the greater sacrifice to high-wrought 
 principle ; and he fondly fancied that his 
 influence with the leading members of 
 the Republic, might by discreet manage- 
 ment, finally obtain for him the happi- 
 ness of making her his own. 
 
 Meanwhile, the point he had now to 
 gain, must be that of engaging Ippolita 
 to remain under his sister's protection j 
 
 yoL. I. o
 
 ^90 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 for to lose sight of her when she was so 
 determinately wooed by Guidobaldo 
 Alviano, whom he now knew to be yet 
 alive, and to have escaped from France, 
 was impossible. He resolved, therefore, 
 to stifle every tender expression which 
 might alarm her nice propriety ; and to 
 press her only in the character of disinte- 
 rested friendship, with such arguments 
 for her stay, as he believed she could not 
 resist. 
 
 This was no time for abandonment to 
 regrets or timid anticipations ; the mo- 
 ment demanded prompt decisive action. 
 Consoling Rosalia, therefore, with the 
 prospects which inspirited himself, he 
 hastened to give certain orders to a few 
 trusty servants, and to make certain ar- 
 rangements with Father Sordello ; after 
 which he returned to his sister's apart- 
 ment. 
 
 A respectful but urgent in treaty for a 
 short interview with Ippolita, brought 
 her from her sad solitude.
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 291 
 
 She came ! — all her pulses throbbing 
 with a presentiment that she was about 
 to take a last farewell of Valombrosa ; 
 yet preparing to meet the possible avowal 
 of his passion, and the sight of his des- 
 pair, by the utmost efforts of duty and 
 determination. 
 
 What was her astonishment to see Va- 
 lombrosa agitated indeed, but neither 
 gloomy, nor frantic, nor dispossessed of 
 himself! 
 
 It often occurs, that persons meeting 
 under the influence of acute feelings, 
 by coming prepared to the interview, 
 and being earnest to conceal the violence 
 of their emotion, go beyond the mark, 
 and appear cold and uninterested. Thus 
 mortification is the first effect produced 
 on each other; and it is only by after 
 reflection, that they come to understand 
 the true cause of their mutual disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 Ippolita, therefore, was chilled by Va« 
 iombrosa's unexpected calmness, into an 
 o S
 
 292 THE FAST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 air of coldness as well as resolution ; and 
 that in return distanced and disconcerted 
 him. — Recovering this temporary em- 
 barrassment, the latter said hesitatingly, 
 
 *^ I hope you believe, Signora, that the 
 rianne by which we are now to think of 
 you, can only increase our respect, — 
 our regard — our anxiety to detain you 
 where you have so often flattered us by 
 saying you were happy ; — and if you will 
 allow me to hope that only the most 
 generous concern for us — that the fear 
 of involving — " 
 
 « It is indeed the fear of involving 
 my protectors in the fate of my unfortu- 
 nate family," interrupted Ippolita, with 
 equal embarrassment and precipitation, 
 " which makes me now so anxious to 
 exchange my happy refuge here, for that 
 of a religious house. The Florentine, 
 who knowingly shelters a Medici, is, you 
 well know ■ " 
 
 •< No longer, I trust, liable to con- 
 fiscation and imprisonment !" interrupted
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^93 
 
 Valombrosa, bis countenance expanding 
 into its customary brightness. — " But 
 if he were ! think you Ippolita, that / 
 would fail you ?*' 
 
 The generous tone, the generous look, 
 the touching familiarity of expression 
 which had escaped from his heart una- 
 wares, penetrated Ippolita : her moment- 
 arily-raised eyes poured on him their 
 fullest flood of tender admiration, while 
 she vehemently replied, " and think you 
 
 I would not perish sooner than '* 
 
 she faultered, and subdued her voice, — 
 *' than su involve thp brothpT of my 
 friend? — You forget, my Lord, that it is 
 not a common case of benevolent protec- 
 tion: I am sure you know that even the 
 most noble impulses ought to yield obe- 
 dience to the laws we live under." 
 
 " I had indeed forgot !*' answered Va- 
 lombrosa, resuming his first regulated 
 manner ; " but there cannot now be any 
 risk of the danger you fear. As I stopt 
 in Florence this morning, on my way 
 o 3
 
 294- THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 hithe-r, I heard to my surprise, and now 
 I rejoice in it, that Strozzi is permitted 
 to resume his sequestered property 
 amongst us, and that his wife returns 
 with him.'* 
 
 " My sister Clarice permitted to re- 
 turn ! the sister of Lorenzo, whose vio- 
 lence!" — Ippolita's amazement and joy 
 stopped her utterance. 
 
 " Yes, dearest friend," exclaimed Ro- 
 salia, tenderly embracing her, " surely 
 that is a proof that our government begins 
 to feel the cruelty of punishing women 
 for the political muigues of men. And if 
 you will but listen to Orlando, and consent 
 to follow his advice, we may all be 
 happy — happy together — still." 
 
 Ippolita pressed the hand which held 
 her's, without speakings and a bright 
 crimson fixed in her cheek. 
 
 " I dare not advise the Signora," — said 
 Valombrosa, addressing his sister with 
 that candid show of self-doubt, which 
 sat so amiably upon him; — ** I can only
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^95 
 
 tell her, what we wish she may think it 
 well to act on. Your uncle's situation/' 
 he added, turning to Ippolita, '* does not 
 implicate his personal safety ; — no, not at 
 all ; — but I fear his confinement may be 
 much longer than Rossano apprehends. 
 The matter was spoken of this morning 
 by some of our senators, while I was with 
 the Gonfaloniere ; and they mentioned 
 your uncle's imprisonment, as principally 
 effected by young Lorenzo's intrigues, 
 to keep the field of political enterprise 
 entirely in his own hands. 
 
 *« This half-brother of your's, Signora, 
 has indeed reason to be jealous of the 
 noble and conciliating character of your 
 uncle." 
 
 ** Alas!" cried IppoHta, " if this cruel 
 detention has its origin in Lorenzo's 
 machinations, my dear uncle's release is 
 hopeless 1" 
 
 " Not so !" exclaimed Valombrosa, 
 with benevolent eagerness ; — "on my 
 life, he is released before the year ends, 
 o 4
 
 ^9C THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 Lorenzo has overshot himself. Had he 
 confined himself to the charge of Giu- 
 liano*s entering into the scheme of the 
 Bentivoglio, for recovering their lordship 
 of Bologna ; few would have discredited 
 the thing, and fewer blamed it : but the 
 charge of his being one in the plot to 
 poison his Holiness — '* 
 
 " Poisoning !" repeated Ippohta, with 
 a voice of horror. *« O my uncle ! we are 
 indeed fallen, if the world attacks our last 
 possession ; thy fair fame !" She burst 
 into tears as she spoke. 
 
 Valombrosa, who had too precipitately 
 believed her acquainted with all the par- 
 ticulars of Giuliano's captivity, had now 
 no resource, but in frankly detailing 
 them himself; which he did : mixing his 
 short narrative with all of comfort and en- 
 couragement which his sympathising heart 
 could suggest. 
 
 Ippolita after the first shock, lent a 
 willing ear to his arguments; and her 
 reason soon admitted the preposterous-
 
 THE FAST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 297 
 
 ness of such an accusation. The complete 
 want, not merely of proof, but of sus- 
 picious circumstances in the evidence 
 against him, must guard her uncle's life, 
 and preserve his honour unsullied. 
 
 Having re-assured her on this point, 
 Valombrosa proceeded to press her gently 
 on another. Taking the protracted de- 
 tention of her uncle for granted, he urged 
 the distracted state of all Italy at this 
 juncture, as a reason why she ought not 
 to place herself out of the reach of such 
 efficient and zealous friends, as he hoped 
 she considered him and his sister. 
 
 Foreign troops, the whole armies in short 
 of France and Germany, were spreading 
 confusion as they marched to the des- 
 truction of Venice. Many instances had 
 occurred of convents having been forced, 
 and the most shameful excesses following: 
 who could ensure her from sharing such 
 horrors, if she were only sheltered in a 
 religious house, and if her fierce cousin 
 Guidobaldo were to be again at large ? 
 o 5
 
 £98 THE FAST OF ST.MASDALEN. 
 
 By remaining in a place of compa- 
 rative security, she would not only obtain 
 probable safety for herself, but relieve 
 her uncle's mind from that anxiety re- 
 specting her, which Valombrbsa thought 
 must constitute the chief bitterness of 
 his imprisonment. 
 
 From the important fact just related, 
 of Strozzi's banishment having ceased j 
 and from the opinions Valombrosa had 
 heard given that morning upon the exiled 
 family ; he could not forbear urging her 
 to hope, that the law, once so bitter 
 against them, would be softened in favour 
 of such individuals as were either by 
 their sex or character entitled to such 
 consideration. 
 
 *' Both your uncle Giuliano and the 
 Cardinal," he added, " have sought their 
 return to Florence, by open and honour- 
 able paths. We respect them therefore ; 
 and there are many of us, that would 
 gladly open our gates to them as fellow- 
 citizens : but for the crafty, tricking, and
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. ^99 
 
 violent Lorenzo, neither as equal nor as 
 lord, shall he ever enter Florence, while 
 this sword and this hand can keep him 
 out." 
 
 A momentary and noble sternness, as 
 he uttered these words, made Ippolita see, 
 in the as yet unpractised Valombrosa, the 
 future patriot. And though she thought 
 that look and that tone, ominous of dis- 
 appointment to her uncle's fond hope of 
 regaining the honours of his race with 
 its fortune ; she reverenced public spirit 
 too sincerely, to wish it violated even for 
 her benefit. She therefore smiled through 
 a tear, as she replied, 
 
 •< I thank you, my Lord, for this grate- 
 ful tribute to my uncles ; and I feel the 
 kind force of many of your arguments. 
 But my disturbance in a cloister, and my 
 dear uncle's continued inability to protect 
 me, are but doubtful ; the evil I should 
 bring upon you, certain. 1 am ^ Medici, 
 and the law against harbouring us, has not 
 been repealed. My sister's return is only 
 o 6
 
 300 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 an exception, made in favour of an indi- 
 vidual ; and though you would generously, 
 rashly risk ruin, for the sake of keeping 
 your word to a dying man, I could not 
 survive the remorse of knowing I had so 
 repaid incalculable obligation. No, — I 
 must go !" 
 
 " You are weary of us !" said Valom^- 
 brosa hastily, and with some humour; 
 " or a dearer object elsewhere ." 
 
 Ippolita was on the point of uttering as 
 hasty a denial of such a charge, when 
 timely recollecting herself, she only 
 turned on him a mildly-reproving look, 
 and moved towards Rosalia. 
 
 Valombrosa followed her, submissive 
 and repentant. ** Forgive me, Signora," 
 he cried, <* my petulance is for ever 
 crossing my better purpose. I will believe 
 that you do indeed feel some affection 
 for friends who — who regard you so en- 
 tirely.^* At the word some, Ippolita 
 could have spoken to him again with her 
 soul-reaching eyes; but she kept them
 
 THP f^AST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 301 
 
 down, and stifled the sigh that would fain 
 have answered to his. 
 
 Valombrosa went on : — " If you would 
 consent to give my sister the happiness 
 and advantage of your society, I think 
 there is a way by which all your scruples 
 upon our account might be obviated. 
 My kindred's politics are well known. 
 My youth, in obedience to our laws, pre- 
 vents me from having any visible share 
 in public concerns j I am not likely, 
 therefore, to be suspected of any trea- 
 sonable view in the step I am going to 
 propose. You tell me, Signora, that 
 your uncle has left the secret of your 
 name at your own discretion : would 
 you authorise me now in confiding it to 
 the Gonfaloniere, simply stating how you 
 fell under my care, that you have just 
 revealed it to me, and that in conse- 
 quence of the situation of your natural 
 guardian, I cannot allow you to quit mt/ 
 protection, and I would not clandes- 
 tinely afford it ? You know my disposi-
 
 302 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 tion, Signora ; concealment is abhorrent 
 to me ! therefore I wish to be open and 
 straight forward now. If I do not obtain 
 permission from the head of the govern- 
 ment I am living under, from him who 
 has authority to dispense with the rigor- 
 ous enforcement of its minor enactments, 
 though my heart will weep blood, — I 
 must, — and I will allow you to go from 
 us, — but only to a place of real safety." 
 
 " Admirable Valombrosa ! dear, dear 
 as admirable 1'' inwardly ejaculated Ip- 
 polita, as with silent lips but speaking 
 eyes, she turned from the tender fixture 
 of his. 
 
 Rosalia now laid hold of her hand, 
 with a strength of intreaty unusual with 
 her ; and her affectionate heart uttered 
 itself in many Hattering presages of ulti- 
 mate prosperity to the Medicii, from this 
 recal of Strozzi and Clarice. 
 
 Rosalia was no poHtician, and she en- 
 tered not into the question of which fac- 
 tion was right j whether that for the ex-
 
 THE FAST OP ST. MAGDALEN. 303 
 
 iled family, or that for the present popu- 
 lar government. She looked not beyond 
 the limits of home ; and whatever might 
 diffuse happiness there, for that she wish- 
 ed, for that she hoped, and for that she 
 would pray. 
 
 Amidst her tearful intreaties, she often 
 mingled the name of Prince Angelo Ros- 
 sanoj urging the active friendship his 
 present journey testified, as an additional 
 reason why IppoHta should not remove 
 from // hel Deserto. 
 
 " You would not go without thanking 
 him?" she asked. "You would not de* 
 prive yourself of the benefit of his sage 
 counsel ? O that he were here ! He 
 would convince you, though we cannot." 
 
 <* His reasonings could not be more 
 powerful than those of the Marquis," 
 replied Ippolita, her resolution melting 
 before the ardour of RosaHa's visionary 
 rhetoric. " But still " 
 
 ** Have you any repugnance to the 
 candid step I propose ?" Valombrosa ear- 
 
 10
 
 304 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 nestly asked. ** You may depend on the 
 honour of the Gonfaloniere : he will rely 
 upon mine, for what must then be sub- 
 mitted to ; and he will therefore remain 
 as if no such information had been given 
 him. Even if he refuses me permission 
 to protect you within the dominion of 
 the republic, he will not believe him- 
 self authorised to infringe your liberty ; 
 and you will therefore have free way to 
 go whither your cruel inclination would 
 now lead you. — Be that where it will," 
 he added, in a softened voice, " it will be 
 my office to see you in safety to it/' 
 
 Tears trembled in his eyes as he con- 
 cluded j but, too proud to owe any thing 
 to mere compassion, he dispersed them 
 with a quick motion of the eyelid, and 
 walked from her. 
 
 Ippolita's firmness was nearly van- 
 quished. Those touching tears! — She 
 turned deadly pale, and her limbs shook 
 under her. '* I had thought," she said, 
 «* that the mere avowal of my name 
 
 12
 
 THE ^AST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 305 
 
 would have spared me such a struggle as 
 this! It is bitter as death! O my 
 friends, why do you wonder, that she 
 who dare never be any thing to any one 
 but those with whom her fate has been 
 coupled from infancy, that she should thus 
 combat your hearts — her own — " She 
 interrupted herself, and added, in a hur- 
 ried tone, " Allow me a moment's re- 
 flection?" As she spoke, she retreated 
 to a recess at the lower end of the apart- 
 ment, where she sunk on a seat, over- 
 powered and exhausted. 
 
 Valombrosa followed her. 
 
 " Ippolita !" he said, in a low, deter- 
 mined, impassioned voice, as he took her 
 trembling nand, "if you go to preserve my 
 peace, it is too late, — my heart is never 
 to be recalled ! You may kill me, but 
 you cannot cure me now." 
 
 At this unexpected avowal, Ippohta 
 faintly ejaculated, <« My Lord 1" 
 
 Valombrosa went on : — " I will not 
 hope, — I will not ask if ever you could
 
 306 THE FAST OF ST, MAGDALEN. 
 
 have loved me under happier circum- 
 stances. Let me but know you safe and 
 tranquil — let me but see you so here, 
 under my roof — with the sister only 
 next to yourself in my heart — and never 
 will I again give utterance to a passion 
 which — never, unless happier times — " 
 " They will never come — they must 
 not be dreamt of!'* interrupted Ippolita, 
 shrinking from his suddenly re-illumined 
 look, 
 
 « Then they shall not." He cried. 
 <* Consent but to remain here, and I will 
 consent to be to you only a friend — a 
 brother. If you go, if I am to imagine 
 you exposed to the dangers of your 
 uncle, — the violence of your brother, — 
 the tyrannical passion of that Guidobaldo, 
 — I cannot answer for what frantic acts 
 I may be guilty of." 
 
 *« And ought I to stay, after this?" 
 enquired Ippolita faintly, extricating her 
 hand. '« Oh, my Lord, could not the 
 seeming disparity of our lot, my poverty,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 307 
 
 the obscure name I assumed O too 
 
 generous, too amiable Valombrosa !" 
 
 Struck with that imjfrudent, but indeed 
 generous disregard of seeming inferi- 
 ority, which had allowed him thus to fix 
 his heart upon the daughter of the humble 
 Martello, Ippolita was no longer able to 
 combat her tenderness; she dissolved 
 into tears •, and her hand yielded to the 
 trembling, ardent, yet respectful pressure 
 of his. 
 
 Valombrosa molded that soft hand 
 in repeated pressures ; accompanying 
 each, with a sigh of impatient tenderness ; 
 tenderness impatient of the restraint he 
 was determined to impose on it : but he 
 urged his love no further. 
 
 " I have promised!" he said, after a 
 long struggle, — " I have promised, Ippo- 
 lita, and I speak of love no more — never 
 till you may listen to me. Only consent to 
 the trial I wish to make of retaining you 
 here with the permission of the Gonfalo- 
 niere. When your uncles can claim you,
 
 308 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 or when I break my vow of silence on 
 one subject, then quit me." 
 
 Perhaps Ippolita had gone as far as it 
 is possible for human nature to go in such 
 circumstances ; to make the sacrifice of 
 all its hopes and wishes, of all its happi- 
 ness, nay of life itself, for the peace or 
 honour of a beloved object, is part of 
 love's heroism : that heroism will even 
 stretch so far as the resolution of making 
 the sacrifice unrevealed. But is there a 
 heart which has strength to perfect such 
 heroic resolution ? The man who woidd 
 not at such a moment avow the sacrifice 
 he was making, and the woman who could 
 entirely conceal that it was one, must 
 either mistake flattered vanity for love, 
 or be more than human. On the present 
 occasion a change of circumstances seem- 
 ed to Ippolita's confused faculties, to 
 justify a change of conduct ; the unex- 
 pected favour shown one part of her fa- 
 mily, might reasonably be expected to 
 extend soon to the others j and if it were
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 309 
 
 made no longer criminal in Florence for 
 one of its citizens to receive the exiled 
 di Medici, if the revenues and bnds of 
 that now destitute race were to be re- 
 stored to them even in part, the object 
 of Valombrosa's attachment might here- 
 after bestow herself upon him, without 
 fear of carrying destruction to his arms. 
 
 Gratitude, and pity too, pleaded for her 
 stay. Rosalia would be so bereaved ; she 
 would refuse comfort ; and all that little 
 bank of health to which her brother had 
 been daily adding, with the fondest at- 
 tention, would probably sink, at least for a 
 while, under the excess of her regret. 
 It was Uut for a short period also, that 
 Ippolita need remain : her uncle's free- 
 dom would be the instant call for her de- 
 parture ; and if meanwhile, Valombrosa 
 should break his contract of addressing 
 her merely as a friend, she was authorised 
 to withdraw from his protection. 
 
 These were the arguments with which 
 Ippolita thought her reason combated her
 
 310 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 self-sacrifice, and assisted the pleading of 
 Valombrosa. Alas, poor Ippolita! it 
 was thy heart not thy reason which spoke, 
 and prompted thee to faulter out those 
 few words of acquiescence, for which Va- 
 lombrosa panted ! 
 
 No sooner wer» they uttered, than 
 starting up, and fervently kissing her 
 hand, he disappeared with the quickness 
 of light.
 
 THE FAST OF ST.MAGDAL&N. 311 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 " O, MY Rosalia, what have I done?" 
 asked Ippolita, as she saw him vanish ; all 
 the consequences of her weakness rushing 
 upon her at once. 
 
 Directed by the sound of her voice, 
 Rosalia glided to her side ; her anxious 
 question opened the flood-gates of Ippo- 
 Kta*s repressed heart, and falling upon 
 her young companion's neck, she gave 
 the torrent way. 
 
 Rosalia repaid that just confidence, by 
 every expression of affectionate sympathy, 
 and many a fond augury of future hap- 
 piness for her ; and she promised to keep 
 the secret of Ippolita's too tender sense 
 of her lover's merits, though she would
 
 31^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 not admit the necessity for such cruel 
 precaution. But Rosalia was young 
 enough to believe, that because certain 
 events would be the most harmonious 
 with her wishes, they must necessarily 
 happen ; and Ippolita had lived that little 
 longer, which teaches, that ** the course of 
 this world never doth run smooth 5" that 
 life, in short, is a tangled skein, which rare- 
 ly winds easily. She now besought her 
 friend never more to revert to the culpa- 
 ble weakness she had just avowed ; since 
 she had owned it, simply from the belief 
 that such perfect confidence was demand- 
 ed by honour and friendship. The same 
 principles would call on her to conquer 
 that weakness, and to resist every tempt- 
 ation to the encouragement of hope 
 in Valombrosa: she therefore deter- 
 mined henceforth to speak and act as 
 if no such sentiment had been confess- 
 ed, either by herself, or by him ; and 
 fit must be th^ kindly task of Rosalia,
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 313 
 
 to assist each of them in their painful 
 duty. 
 
 When llosalia was told, that this had 
 been the counsel of Prince Angelo Ros- 
 sano, she forbore further persuasion : his 
 opinions were sacred in her eyes ; and 
 she took the letter, from which Ippolita 
 had read her a passage, as if she were 
 touching the relic of a martyr. *« I wish 
 I couldsee this !" she said, gently sighing; 
 " and I should like so to see Prince An- 
 gelo ! Does he at all resemble Orlando ?" 
 
 " Not in the least,'' answered Ippolita, 
 pensively smiling with a gratified compa- 
 rison of the two figures, in her silent 
 thoughts. 
 
 « Then what is he like ?" 
 
 " Like all the virtues !" was Ippolita's 
 fervent answer. 
 
 " And you don't add the graces?" ask- 
 ed Rosalia, with that pretty playfulness 
 which often made her brother snatch her 
 to his breast as he would have done a de- 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 314 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 lightful child, and which often concealed 
 a deep interest in the subject she seemed 
 to sport with. 
 
 " I don't know that Prince Angelo is 
 handsome," resumed Ippolita ; *' but he 
 has the look of a Prince, and — '' 
 
 " A philosopher !" interrupted Rosalia 
 again, her spirits awakened with the joy 
 of detaining Ippolita. 
 
 " He certainly puts on a covering of 
 Stoicism," replied Ippolita ; " but the 
 real countenance appears so often through 
 the transparent mask, that we are at no 
 loss to call sensibility the characteristic 
 of his features." 
 
 " O, then he is handsome !" hastily ex- 
 claimed Rosalia : but blushing a little at 
 her own eagerness, she added, "yet what 
 is beauty to me?" — andshereturned to the 
 subject from which they had wandered. 
 
 With tender address, Rosaha diverted 
 her friend's attention from the agitating 
 anxiety of the present, by inducing her to 
 go back to former incidents of lesser in-
 
 4l 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 315 
 
 terest. She made her describe her emo- 
 tions on entering Florence, (a city she 
 had never seen, till she entered it an 
 exile !) and then led her to talk of her 
 feelings on first beholding the different 
 monuments of her great ancestors' mag- 
 nificence and public spirit ; and the dif- 
 ficulty with which she had stifled her de- 
 light, or her anguish, when she heard the 
 name of Medici spoken of with respect 
 or aversion in the societies of the 
 Palazzo Valombrosa. 
 
 Rosalia engaged her in the details 
 of her father's mixed, and Fabio Orsini's 
 amiably consistent character ; and as the 
 sympathising girl listened to various 
 traits of their enduring and forgiving 
 spirit, and to the circumstances of their 
 untimely death, she joined her tears with 
 those of the narrator. In discourse like 
 this, changing their place but not their 
 theme, now wandering under the groves 
 of // hel Deserto, and now seated in 
 some retired apartment, the friends wore 
 p 2
 
 316 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 away the hours till bed time : they sepa- 
 rated then with mutual blessings. 
 
 Valombrosa was not returned; nor 
 could he return till the next day ; and 
 Ippolita was thus obliged to endure the 
 suspense of a whole sleepless, self-accus- 
 ing night, ere she could learn whether 
 Providence permitted her to remain in 
 peace where she was, or destined her for 
 severer trials, and new wanderings. 
 
 In the morning, when Ippolita, having 
 met Rosalia at her chamber door, led her 
 into the room where they were wont to 
 meet, ere they followed Father Sordello 
 to the chapel, they found Valombrosa, 
 who had returned from Florence by day- 
 break. 
 
 " We are to retain our friend, if she 
 will allow us," cried he, in the sweet 
 tone of joyful confidence, as he kissed 
 his sister's cheek. 
 
 Ippolita's face suffused with sudden 
 crimson. She extended her hand to 
 him, in sign of gratitude, but incapable
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 317 
 
 of utterance, left her starting tears to 
 thank him. 
 
 Valombrosa took that extended hand 
 — looked as if he would have pressed it to 
 his lips ; but he only bowed his head 
 upon it, and let it go. 
 
 Rosalia threw her arms first round her 
 friend's neck, and then round her bro- 
 ther's, while she besought the latter to 
 recount the particulars of his interview 
 with the Gonfaloniere. These were pre- 
 cisely such as Valombrosa had anticipated; 
 a manly and proper consideration of Ip- 
 polita's sex, and age, and character ; 
 and the most perfect reliance upon the 
 honour of his young countryman. 
 
 " Thus, then," added Valombrosa, 
 " I am doubly bound to go through with 
 my former adherence to the party which 
 supports Soderini in his dignity as Gon- 
 faloniere for life. He has always known 
 that I sincerely wished for the restoration 
 of the Medici to their rights as citizens, 
 and to the full enjoyment of their for- 
 p S
 
 318 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 tunes. He sees the deep interest I take 
 in the happiness of the Signora ; yet 
 does he rely on my honour as a preserv- 
 ative against any temptation to join 
 those who would overthrow his authority, 
 and give the exiled family more than 
 their legitimate power. Hence I can 
 never abandon him j and I must not 
 even allow myself to envy Rossano his 
 happy privilege of personally appearing 
 in behalf of an oppressed man !" He 
 sighed as he spoke. 
 
 " Do not covet all the good deeds that 
 are done in the world !" exclaimed Ip- 
 polita ; and she tried to smile, to dimi- 
 nish the force with which she uttered the 
 words. 
 
 Valombrosa would not permit himself 
 to thank her with a look, but his kindled 
 cheek evinced his sensibility to the ten- 
 der compliment. 
 
 Fluttered and embarrassed, he put the 
 arm of Rosalia through his, while mo- 
 tioning for Ippolita to precede tliem ;
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 319 
 
 observing that the matin bell was ringing 
 its last round, and that Father Sordello 
 was already in the chapel. 
 
 There, each of them poured out their 
 different feelings at the foot of the cross : 
 the joyfully-agitated nerves of Rosalia 
 found composure, the troubled spirit of 
 Ippolita comfort, and the generous soul 
 of Valombrosa confidence of ultimate 
 good ! 
 
 When the extreme agitation of this 
 period had subsided, Ippolita ceased to 
 regret the facility with which she had 
 yielded to the solicitations of her friends. 
 Rosalia was happy almost to gaiety ; and 
 Valombrosa so religiously adhered to his 
 engagement, that even Ippolita herself, 
 but for his previous avowal, might now 
 have believed he regarded her only with 
 brotherly interest. If his eyes ever hung 
 on her as they used to do, enamoured of 
 every lineament and every movement of 
 her face and figure, he studiously pre- 
 vented her observation of it. It seemed 
 p 1'
 
 320 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 enough for him to know himself near 
 her ; to sit for hours in the same room, 
 or under the same trees, neither attempt- 
 ing to engage her notice by particular 
 attentions, nor unguarded glances. 
 
 At these times he read aloud to her 
 and his sister ; or he instructed them in 
 the principles of some art or science 
 newly illustrated; or he translated for 
 them the most beautiful passages of the 
 Greek and Latin authors ; and when he 
 discussed the subjects of their studies, he 
 was careful to address Rosalia and Ippo- 
 lita in common. 
 
 This delicate and honourable conduct 
 quickly restored tranquillity and ease to 
 the manners of Ippohta; and if some- 
 times a heavy weight would suddenly 
 sink her heart, at the suspicion that his 
 affection was really giving way before 
 prudence and difficulty, she would blush 
 at the culpable weakness, and endeavour 
 to fortify his reasonableness (if thus rea-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 821 
 
 !=5onable he were) by a greater evidence 
 of rational feelings in herself. 
 
 Endless are the deceptions of love ! 
 Both Valombrosa and Ippolita satisfied 
 their consciences by their mutual self- 
 denial of all the minor enjoyments of vir- 
 tuous affection : but while they rigidly 
 forbade their eyes to speak, their actions 
 spoke with a hundred tongues ; and every 
 wish silently anticipated, every peculiar 
 habit favoured, every opinion adopted 
 which belonged to each other, deepened 
 former impressions beyond the power of 
 time or misfortunes to erase. 
 
 Perhaps Valombrosa's spirits were less 
 brilliantly animated than heretofore ; but 
 the shade was so soft, the effect so lovely, 
 that Ippolita found a new charm in the 
 temporary eclipse of that cheering 
 brightness which was the first object of 
 her admiration. 
 
 His anxious kindness was continually 
 obtaining for her some little intelligence 
 of her scattered friends j and his ready 
 i> 5
 
 322 THE l-AST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 eloquence had always some new argu- 
 ment with which to combat her appre- 
 hensions for her uncle Giuliano. 
 
 To that beloved uncle Ippolita's heart 
 turned with such painful foreboding, 
 that she was often prompted to retract 
 all she had promised, and hasten to 
 throw herself into the same prison. Her 
 secret prayers, her solitary tears, were 
 all his own : she ventured not to mingle 
 the forbidden wishes of hopeless love with 
 petitions so sacred. Could she have done 
 so, at a moment like this, when that 
 honoured uncle's life and character were 
 at stake, she would have believed that 
 destruction to every other hope must be 
 the deserved punishment. 
 
 To the next dispatch from Prince 
 Angelo, she looked for the joy of hear- 
 ing that the cruel imprisonment of her 
 uncle was near its termination. The 
 dispatch came, and brought disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 Prince Angelo had tasked all his inte-
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 323 
 
 rest at Rome for the release of Giuliano, 
 but succeeded no farther than obtaining 
 his Holiness's acknowledgment of di Me- 
 dici's innocence, with respect to the 
 conspiracy against his life. The suspi- 
 cion of his intriguing for the return of the 
 Bentivoglio was yet so strong in the 
 Pope, that he refused his liberty until 
 that faction should be entirely quelled. 
 The Pontiff had, however, pledged his 
 word for the safety and honourable treat- 
 ment of Giuliano ; and with this promise 
 his friends were obliged to remain sa- 
 tisfied. 
 
 Prince Angelo had of course seen the 
 Cardinal di Medici, and communicated 
 to him the situation of his niece. The 
 latter incapable from his profession of 
 offering her an asylum with him, and se- 
 cretly desirous of winning over to his 
 party, by any means, the powerful Valo- 
 ri family, of v^^hich Valombrosa was the 
 head, advised Ippolita to continue under 
 such generous protection, and await in 
 p 5
 
 SM THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 
 
 peace the result of Giuliano's imprison^ 
 ment. The Cardinal was himself some- 
 what affected in the Pontiff's favour by 
 Giuliano's supposed delinquency, there- 
 fore durst not openly appear for his 
 brother : but he was covertly working 
 for him, with that address which after- 
 wards distinguished him as Leo X. , and 
 he desired Ippolita might be told that 
 he had no doubts of ultimate success. 
 
 Rossano added to this account his in- 
 tention of immediately proceeding to 
 Bologna ere he returned to II bel Deserto, 
 for the purpose of getting this inform- 
 ation promptly communicated to di Me- 
 dici; and with such an intention his 
 letter to Ippolita concluded. A short 
 billet ro Yalombrosa, written an hour or 
 two later, informed his friends that they 
 must not expect him. 
 
 By a singular chance — rather, be it 
 said, a providence ■ — he had just learned 
 that his misguided wife was languishing 
 at an obscure place in Calabria, whither 
 
 12
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 3^5 
 
 she had returned from Spain with her 
 seducer the preceding year. An ambiti- 
 ous marriage, made there by this man, 
 had dissolved their guilty tie : and left 
 without the means of life, self-deprived of 
 friends, destitute of the consolations and 
 the hopes of virtue, her intellect became 
 unsettled, and she was now subsisting on 
 the charity of the nuns of St. Ursula. 
 
 Rossano had loved this unhappy crea- 
 ture too fondly, to hear such tidings with 
 the stoic firmness he would fain have per- 
 suaded Valombrosa he felt : his illegible 
 writing, and scarcely intelligible expres- 
 sions, avowed the anguish of a husband ; 
 and the blot which covered the name of 
 Dorina, betrayed the tear that had 
 made it. 
 
 Ere that letter could reach Tuscany, 
 the writer would be in Calabria. 
 
 Valombrosa read this distressing billet 
 aloud to Ippolita and Rosalia. The latter 
 turned unusually pale, and seemed so 
 deeply affected for their suffering friend,
 
 3^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 that Valombrosa was uneasy at the painful 
 excess of her pity, and gently roused her, 
 by suggesting the satisfaction which 
 might await Prince Angelo, in seeing his 
 wife restored to reason, and perhaps to 
 repentance. 
 
 *' What! — would you have him re- 
 ceive her again?" asked Rosalia with 
 energy, shrinking back from her brother's 
 caressing arms, as though the idea pol- 
 luted him. 
 
 " Not to his heart — not to his home !" 
 replied Valombrosa : " the penitence of a 
 faithless wife can never obtain for her, 
 more than her husband's pardon. But oh ! 
 the aggravated horror of imagining the 
 woman we have loved — I cannot imagine 
 it !" — he cried, interrupting the pro- 
 gress of his own fancy. — ** Surely my 
 Rosalia, if our friend may be convinced 
 that he has been spared an increase of 
 shame from his wife's increase of guilt, 
 we ought not to regret any price he may 
 have to pay for it !" 
 
 «« And if he should have the blessed
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 327 
 
 comfort of seeing her reconciled to Hea- 
 ven !" added Ippolita. 
 
 " Grant it. Holy Virgin !" exclaimed 
 Rosalia, joining her spotless hands fer- 
 vently together, and looking up in a 
 transport of pity and horror. " Alas, 
 the poor Prince !" — and at these words 
 she melted into tears. 
 
 Ippolita would not permit herself to 
 dwell upon her own bitter disappointment 
 on the present occasion : gratitude and 
 friendship demanded all her sympathy 
 with Prince Angelo ; and seconding Va- 
 lombrosa's evident wish of placing before 
 his sister only the most consoling views 
 of the subject under consideration, she 
 gradually led Rosalia from the imagin- 
 ation of Prince Angelo's present suffer- 
 ings, to that of his future peace. 
 
 " He is so worthy of happiness!" said 
 Rosalio, while they were thus discours- 
 ing, " and now if it could be possible that 
 his wife was not guilty — I mean if the 
 Prince were to find out that some treach- 
 ery had been employed — if the proofs of
 
 3^8 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 her guilt could have been forged — we 
 have read of such things you know — 
 in short, if she could be proved an angel, 
 as he once thought her, how happy 
 might he be again ! — oh, how I wish it 
 might be so 1" 
 
 " Thou dear visionary !" smiled Va- 
 lombrosa, " but I fear life has no romance 
 like that ! — and even if virtue were pre- 
 served — honour once tainted, is in my 
 mind, happiness destroyed." 
 
 " Never be thine doubted, nobly- 
 trusting Valombrosa !" thought Ippolita ; 
 ah! never be it doubted for me or mine !" 
 and as she concluded the inaudible apos- 
 trophe with a bursting sigh, she deter- 
 mined to stifle every anxiety to communi- 
 cate with her unck, rather than incur 
 the chance of bringing Valombrosa into 
 suspicion hereafter. 
 
 Prince Rossano was now too far re- 
 moved from his friends, ntllhelDeserfo, to 
 receive news from him for so long a time, 
 that they durst not calculate it. The
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 329 
 
 precarious mode of conveying letters at 
 that period, by couriers and travellers, 
 and the danger arising from banditti and 
 armed bands little less lawless than they, 
 rendered the chances much against the 
 probability of any packet reaching its 
 original destination. 
 
 But to all those chances, separated 
 friends were obliged to submit, and often 
 had to await the return of absent persons 
 for accounts of their misfortunes or 
 successes. 
 
 Subjects of indifferent interest may be 
 discussed frequently, while they are pend- 
 ing; but such as agitate strongly, are 
 best, and indeed most commonly, con-* 
 signed after one complete discussion, to 
 the silent meditations of each party inte- 
 rested in their result. 
 
 Thus, at II hel DesertOy though Prince 
 Angelo was often talked of, his present 
 situation was never adverted to, except 
 now and then, bv the " I wish we heard
 
 330 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 from him !" and the anxious sigh which 
 followed the exclamation. 
 
 By degrees, the acuteness of Rosalia's 
 pity, softened into gentle concern ; and 
 the hope of seeing him return, after all, 
 a less unhappy man than he went, gra- 
 dually stole away her sadness, and re- 
 stored her gaiety. 
 
 Ippolita heard through Valombrosa's 
 means, that her uncle was, indeed, still 
 honourably treated at Bologna ; and from 
 the same source, she heard such favour- 
 able accounts of the increase of the Medici 
 party in Florence, that her hopes kindled 
 in spite of every effort to damp them. 
 
 Her half-brother, Lorenzo, had always 
 haughtily declared, that he would never 
 accept any terms but those which should 
 recall him to what he called his right ; 
 the sovereignty, coupled with the resti- 
 tution of family property. Giuliano had 
 uniformly demanded only the restoration 
 of their estates and privileges as citizens :
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 331 
 
 and that party which simply favoured his 
 moderate wishes, joined to that w^hich 
 sought to gratify their secret hatred of 
 the Gonfaloniere, by balancing against 
 him the once-beloved and powerful di 
 Medici, now publicly laboured to procure 
 for Giuliano, and those of his relatives 
 who professed to think like him, the re- 
 versal of their sentence of banishment and 
 confiscation. 
 
 To the first class of this party, Valom- 
 brosa had avowedly belonged, ere he 
 knew Ippolita ; and though unauthorised 
 to urge his opinions in the public de- 
 liberations of the government, his popu- 
 larity and zeal, nearly weighed down the 
 scale in their favour. 
 
 But zealous as Valombrosa was to raise 
 the depressed di Medici, he was as 
 earnest in convincing Ippolita that her 
 affection had not bribed him for her 
 kindred. Such honest patriotism might 
 have lost him any other heart. — But Ip- 
 polita's ! — how did such unswerving in-
 
 35^ THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEX. 
 
 tegrity, such nice honour, rivet that 
 heart beyond the power of after alarms, 
 to disunite or shake it ! 
 
 Set at ease by his confidence to the 
 Gonfaloniere, Valombrosa had no reason 
 for wishing to seclude Ippolita ; her real 
 name was still unrevealed to all but Sode- 
 rini j and her person not being likely to be 
 recognized in Florence, he now, therefore, 
 sought to animate the retirement of 7/ hel 
 Deserto, which their various anxieties 
 rendered less salutary than before, by 
 inviting thither occasional company from 
 the city and the adjacent villas. 
 
 Summer in its fullest glow gave facility 
 to every plan of sylvan amusement : 
 parties on the water j suppers in the woods 
 by the side of some mountain-stream ; 
 concerts in the cool of evening among 
 the groves of their fragrant gardens ; the 
 games of the peasantry witnessed, or their 
 rustic diversions graciously shared ; all 
 of these, varied the tranquil hours at II 
 hel DesertOy and gave additional zest to
 
 THE FAST OF ST. xMAGDALEN. 388 
 
 the return of those dearer and less-showy 
 pleasures, which belong to the intimate 
 communion of mind, taste, and feehng. 
 In pursuits where recreation and im- 
 provement and usefuhiess are blended, 
 and the sacred consciousness of advanc- 
 ing each other in moral acquirement, is 
 combined with the certainty of contribut- 
 ing largely to each others happiness, then 
 indeed true pleasure is the result. 
 
 To Ippolita, life so spent, was at times 
 positiv e felicity : it would have been always 
 so, could she have silenced the just voice 
 within her, which called on her to reflect, 
 how selfish was the joy of thus seeing 
 Valombrosa devoting himself to an at- 
 tachment which it was so unlikely he 
 should ever be authorised to indulge ; an 
 attachment, which by excluding every 
 other, must doom him to a life of celi- 
 bacy. Yet as circumstances compelled 
 her to remain near him, and as she reso- 
 lutely withheld from him any voluntary 
 testimony of mutual affection, and he
 
 334 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 never pleaded his passion, how was she 
 culpable ? 
 
 Valombrosa, indeed, never pleaded, 
 and rarely looked his passion: but he 
 mastered himself by the strength of hope, 
 not of despair, as Ippolita often tried to 
 think. He cherished the belief that the 
 partial recal of the Medici was certain, 
 and that a time would arrive when he 
 should be amply repaid for this self- 
 denial now : a time when he might sate 
 his eyes with gazing on the face and 
 form, f: .xXi which he would never wil- 
 lingly withdraw them ; a time when he 
 might pour out all his soul into her an- 
 swering bosom. But there were moments 
 when the distant future, disappeared be- 
 fore the impatience of present wishes. 
 He was one evening at the very point of 
 forfeiting the promise he had given 
 Ippolita : it was the evening of the Fast 
 of St. Magdalen. A small party were in 
 the house at II bel Deserto, in addition 
 to the family : it consisted of the Count 
 6
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 335 
 
 Zucharo, his wife, and Signora Anzo- 
 letta his sister. After the religious ob- 
 servances of the day were over, the little 
 party restored themselves to those blame- 
 less pleasures which harmonise with our 
 highest duties. 
 
 Having taken their early supper under 
 the open portico, by the light of a beauti- 
 ful moon, (Valombrosa was absent,) they 
 wandered into the gardens with their 
 lutes ; each person roving at will amongst 
 the delicious bowers, or seating them- 
 selves in the cooler grottoes, to indulge 
 in momentary fits of musing. 
 
 When Valombrosa joined them on 
 his return, he found the party so scat- 
 tered about, that he was some time in 
 the gardens before he discovered Ippolita. 
 He saw her at last, seated by the side of 
 one of the fountains, her beautiful cheek 
 supported on her hand as she leaned 
 upon the edge of the marble bason, with 
 her eyes fixed upon the glancing water 
 within.
 
 336 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 The sultriness of the evening had in- 
 duced her to unfasten the collar of her 
 high dress, which now falling back a 
 little open from her neck, showed the 
 white pillar of her throat in graceful 
 contrast with the black masses of her 
 Cyprus ruff. A tight vest of the same 
 mourning material, set off the exquisite 
 symmetry and delicacy of her shape ; while 
 the same emotion which caused her heart 
 to palpitate visibly, just tinted her crystal 
 cheek with such celestial red as tinges a 
 glacier at set of sun. Her eyes — those 
 beautiful eyes — were fixed and tearful ; 
 yet the dream of love was in them ; and 
 though not directed to him, never had 
 Valombrosa felt their power so much. 
 
 He stood a moment, drinking in, as it 
 were, one long draught of all that love 
 and beauty ; then by a mighty effort 
 broke the spell, withdrew his eyes, and 
 spoke. 
 
 Ippolita started, and blushed, as though 
 detected in some guilty thing: her
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 337 
 
 thoughts had indeed been too tenderly 
 full of him. She stammered out a few 
 incoherent words ; while he seated him- 
 self in equal confusion, on a step of the 
 fountain. She was rising to depart, when 
 the sound of the Signora Anzoletta's 
 voice at a short distance, made him mo- 
 tion to her not to disturb the songstress, 
 and seemed to add a third to their party. 
 
 Something re-assured by this, Ippolita 
 sat down again, though less from the 
 wish to gratify him, than from inability to 
 move. The softness of his looks ; the 
 half-sighing sound of his voice ; nay, the 
 very tremor of the hastily-extended, and 
 as hastily-withdrawn hand with which he 
 attempted to detain her, made her omin- 
 ous of a moment which must again 
 banish her from happiness. But the 
 power of motion seemed suddenly taken 
 from her ', and she sunk again upon the 
 seat, without breath to bid him leave her. 
 
 The pale moon just glimmered through 
 the openings of some tall acacias which 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 33S THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 overhung the fountain, and as its silver 
 rays stole through their trembling foliage, 
 the liquid notes of Signora Anzoletta's 
 voice might have seemed to a fanciful 
 ear, that of the lovely planet : but the 
 words of her song, embodied feelings too 
 present to the hearts of those who listen- 
 ed, for them to wander after fantastic 
 imaginations. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 O fly me not ! — let me but meet 
 
 Those eyes in tearful, tender sadness ; 
 
 Let me but hear those accents sweet, 
 That thrill the soul to blissful madness ! 
 
 Let me but think each lingering glance, 
 
 Each trembling sigh, thy thoughts assign me ; 
 
 And lost in Love's deceitful trance, 
 1*11 cease to feel, I must resign thee ! 
 
 But go — and left to black despair, 
 Or life, or Reason, must forsake me : 
 
 Yes — death will hear the wretch's prayer. 
 And to his icy bosom take me ! 
 
 As the practised songstress seemed to 
 faulter at the commencement of the last
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 339 
 
 line, then rapidly sighed out the few 
 words which closed it, Valombrosa no 
 longer able to command his wish of re- 
 ceiving the positive assurance of that 
 affection which might ensure him that 
 they should meet again, even though 
 parted hereafter, fixed his eyes upon the 
 varying features of Ippolita. He pro- 
 nounced her name in a Ioav, trembling 
 voice ; and drew close to her as if he 
 would have embraced her knees. Ip- 
 polita started up, and repulsing his eager 
 movement with both her hands, fixed on 
 him a tender, yet commanding look. 
 " Forget yourself — and you banish me!" 
 she cried. 
 
 Valombrosa drew back with a thrilling 
 shiver, and she fled from him — from 
 herself — into the deeper recesses of the 
 garden. 
 
 In a tumult of wild emotion, at once 
 
 alarmed and softened ; ashamed of her 
 
 weakness, and weeping over the hard 
 
 destiny which forced her so to stigmatise a 
 
 Q 2
 
 S4fO THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 virtuous affection ; with 'a soul all full of 
 the generous lover she was obliged to fly, 
 she wandered far beyond the limits of 
 the gardens, and knew not how far she 
 had gone, till she found her way im- 
 peded, and looking up, saw herself 
 among the woods, in front of a stranger, 
 
 <« Fair lady, can you tell me which 
 path leads to II hel Deserto /"' enquired 
 the person, with an air of habitual coarse 
 gallantry. 
 
 Ippolita drew back, and scanned him 
 with a glance, ere she ventured to answer. 
 As she did so, there was an expression 
 in his roving eye, hovering between 
 licentiousness and ferocity^ which made 
 her tremble. 
 
 She guessed not to what class of men 
 he belonged \ for though it had an air of 
 vulgar boldness, his loosely proportioned 
 figure was wrapped in a satin doublet 
 once richly wrought with gold, now 
 tarnished j a large hat but scantily-shaded 
 by plumes of faded crimson, darkenediiis
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 341 
 
 sinister brows ; and the mantle which he 
 tried to fold round him, was of shrunk 
 and discoloured velvet. 
 
 The man repeated his question in a 
 tone which made Ippolita, though in- 
 wardly alarmed, reply firmly, — *< I be- 
 long to // bel Deserto ; this path leads to 
 a private entrance of the house ; that to 
 the left will conduct you round to the 
 great gates. Good evening Signor !" 
 
 She turned as she spoke, and hasten- 
 ing back, through the intricate wood 
 walks, without once stopping to look be- 
 hind, regained the gardens. 
 
 The individuals she had left there, 
 dispersed about the walks, were now 
 gathered in a little group upon one of 
 the terraces, where they sat full in the 
 moonshine, looking down upon the lower 
 range of woods waving in the night wind, 
 and listening to detached passages from 
 the matchless poem of Ariosto, as Count 
 Zucharo recited them from memory. 
 
 Zucharo was one of the favoured few 
 Q 3
 
 342 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 to whom the poet had occasionally con- 
 fided parts of his then -unfinished epic, 
 and Ippolita who had often listened to 
 Ariosto when at the court of Ferrara, no 
 sooner caught the stanzas with which her 
 ear and her heart were familiar, than as 
 if they restored to her the friends of 
 other days, she sunk down on the terrace 
 in tearful pleasure. 
 
 Valombrosa, who was admiring the 
 animated expression of his sister's coun- 
 tenance, anxious to atone for past in- 
 discreet ardour by a return to calm soci- 
 ability, drew near Ippolita. "I have 
 been speculating,*' he said, ** upon the 
 diflferent degrees of pleasure with which 
 each person here, is attending to Count 
 Zucharo. With what delight Rosalia 
 listens! with what indifference Signora 
 Anzoletta! — One is apt to say that 
 beauty of every species, has only to be 
 seen to be acknowledged : but that as- 
 suredly is not the case now, for Ariosto's 
 poetry does not bring even a momentary
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 343 
 
 enthusiasm into those wandering eyes. — ^• 
 Something certainly has been left out in 
 the pretty Signora — Is it heart, do you 
 think?" 
 
 " Imagination, perhaps/' observed Ip- 
 poHta. " Do you not think it possible 
 that the imagination of the reader may 
 give charms to a book ? If a narrative, 
 or description, awakens a set of original 
 ideas in a vivid mind, that mind will be 
 apt to ascribe its own richness to the 
 work which it peruses ; and having itself 
 supplied colours and expression, will deem 
 the painting perfect. So if our imagin- 
 ation be dull, it blinds us to another's 
 luminousness.'^ 
 
 ^* No, no, Signora," rejoined Valom- 
 brosa, smiling, " I grant the force of 
 your observation when applied to the 
 mere sketch of a great writer ; and I ad- 
 mit that a portion of the same spirit as 
 his own in his reader will add a multitude 
 of magic tints to the most highly-co- 
 loured composition of the poet j but for
 
 344 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN* 
 
 any mind to be so tasteless as not to see 
 beauties actually before them, and any 
 heart to be so dead as not to share 
 sympathy with the best affections and 
 noblest impulses of our nature, is what I 
 cannot comprehend. I guess not how 
 such deadness to fancy and to feeling 
 may be coupled with the povv^er of ex- 
 pressing both in singing. Music is more 
 mechanical, therefore, than I hke to 
 believe." 
 
 At this moment the lady who had sug- 
 gested these remarks, changed her situ- 
 ation, and placed herself beside Valom- 
 brosa ; the latter smiled, and turned the 
 conversation on his sister. 
 
 He noticed her charming enthusiasm ; 
 adding, <* And how well she looks, too ! 
 How lucidly fair she is! Surely such 
 extreme fairness is an evidence of health ! 
 Come hither, my Rosalia," he cried aloud, 
 fondly, yet sportively, putting his fingers 
 to her slender waist, as she did so, as if 
 trying to span it. ** There ! they won't
 
 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 84)5 
 
 meet now 1 I shall have my sylph dege- 
 nerate at last into a solid material body." 
 
 Rosalia gave him a reply in his own 
 gaily-tender tone , and softly gliding 
 from him back again to Count Zucharo, 
 began to intreat for an abstract of Ari- 
 osto's subject. 
 
 " 'Tis the spirit as well as the form of 
 an angel !" exclaimed Ippolita, her eyes 
 following the ethereal figure of her friend 
 with most affectionate expressions. 
 
 " If she were not blind !" whispered 
 Signora Anzoletta ; and the half-pitying, 
 hahf-scornful laugh with which she spoke, 
 made Ippolita shrink from her in dis- 
 gust. 
 
 Valombrosa, who had not overheard 
 this whisper, turned to the murmuring 
 sound of the Signora*s lute, as she laid 
 her fingers lightly on its harmonious 
 chords. At his courteous request, she 
 played and sang again ; sang divinely ! 
 but she had disenchanted her voice to 
 Ippolita's ear ; and while Valombrosa
 
 346 THE FAST OF ST. MAGDALEN. 
 
 surrendered himself up to its melodious 
 charm, she sat silent and inattentive. 
 . The Signora was defrauded of her ex- 
 pected meed of praise, for ere her song 
 was finished a page came to inform his 
 Lord that a stranger requested an au- 
 dience. 
 
 Valombrosa rose, and gaily promising 
 to rejoin the party soon, if his visitor 
 were not some fair lady in disguise, has- 
 tened to the house. 
 
 As his figure was now lost and now 
 seen among tlie trees, Ippolita recalled 
 the doubtful-looking personage whom 
 she had met in the woods, and conclud- 
 ing that he was the stranger to whom 
 Valombrosa was summoned, felt a throb 
 of apprehension for his safety. 
 
 Yet what folly was this apprehension ! 
 the man indeed looked like one of des-- 
 perate fortunes, but such were the very 
 persons who would seek Valombrosa, 
 assured of relief and counsel. Neither 
 a robber nor an assassin would choose to
 
 THE FAST OF ST.' MAGDALEN. 347 
 
 attack their victim in his own house; 
 and if this man were neither, what was 
 there to fear ? 
 
 As Ippolita asked herself this question, 
 Valombrosa looked back, while ascend- 
 ing the steps of the highest terrace : the 
 moon shone full on his countenance. A 
 sudden breeze wafted aside the long 
 feather of his hat, and the clusters of his 
 hair ; and showed such a smiling light in 
 his eyes, that Ippolita's timid thoughts 
 melted before it. She withdrew her ob- 
 servation ; and joining Rosalia, was soon 
 prevailed on to join the harmony of the 
 rest of the party, in the Evening Hymn. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Printed by A. Strahao, 
 New-Street-Square, London.
 
 
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