ing in the beginning of October; my senses were refreshed with
sleep; I was awake to the calm and holy influences of nature; and I
anticipated the promised narrative of Colonna's early life with a
lively interest, which imparted new zest to every feeling, and new
beauty to the glowing landscape. It was still early when we landed
under the cliff, and availed ourselves of the dewy freshness of the
morning to ascend a rugged path, which conducted us to a sequestered
grove of beech and chestnut. From a crevice in the base of a rock,
feathered with flowering creepers, issued a limpid spring, which,
after dispensing coolness and verdure to the grove, rolled onward
with mild and soothing murmurs to the lower levels. Plunging our
wine-flasks into the pure element where it burst into life from the
parent rock, we extended ourselves on the soft grass, and dismissed
our boatmen, with orders to return at sunset. I then reminded Colonna
of his promise to reveal to me some particulars of his early fortunes;
and after a pause, during which his features were slightly convulsed,
as if by painful recollections, he thus began:

"I am the sole survivor of one of the most illustrious families in
Florence. My father was Leone di Montalto; and my mother was of the
persecuted and noble race of the Albizi. They are both deceased; and I
remain a solitary mourner, their first and only child. My mother died
the day after my birth, and my father grieved for her long and
sincerely; but the lapse of years, and frequent absences from Florence
in the naval service of the state, healed his wounded spirit; and in
an evil hour he became deeply enamoured of Isabella, third daughter of
Cosmo de' Medici, the tyrant of unhappy Florence. She was the wife of
Paul Orsini, the Roman, who, without any formal repudiation, had
abandoned her, and resided entirely in Rome. This extraordinary woman
was distinguished throughout Italy for personal beauty and rare
intellectual accomplishment. Her conversation not only sparkled with
wit, grace, and vivacity, but was full of knowledge and originality;
and her great natural powers had been so highly cultivated, that she
conversed with fluency in French, Spanish, and even in Latin. She
performed with skill on various instruments--sang like a Siren, and
was an admirable improvisatrice. Thus highly gifted and adorned by
nature and education, she was the idol of Cosmo, and ruled his
court like a presiding goddess. Her time and h