there is Lucca;" and as he spoke he glanced
inquiringly at her, and the tones of his clear, melodious voice grew
soft and tender. "Lucca the Industrious, bound within her line of
ancient walls and fortifications. Great names and great deeds are
connected with Lucca. Here, tradition says, Julius Caesar ruled as
proconsul. How often may the sandals of his feet have trod these
narrow streets--his purple robes swept the dust of our piazza! Here he
may have officiated as high-priest at our altars--dictated laws from
our palaces! It was after the conquest of the Nervii (most savage
among the Gaulish tribes) that Julius Caesar is said to have first
come to Lucca. Pompey and Crassus met him here. It was at this
time that Domitius--Caesar's enemy, then a candidate for the
consulship--boasted that he would ruin him. But Caesar, seizing the
opportune moment of his recent victories over the Gauls, and his
meeting with Pompey--formed the bold plan of grasping universal power
by means of his deadliest enemies. These enemies, rather than see the
supreme power vested in each other, united to advance him. The first
triumvirate was the consequence of the meeting. Ages pass by.
The Roman Empire dissolves. Barbarians invade Italy. Lucca is an
independent state--not long to remain so, however, for the Countess
Matilda, daughter of Duke Bonifazio, is born within her walls. At
Lucca Countess Matilda holds her court. By her counsels, assistance,
and the rich legacy of her patrimonial dominions, she founds the
temporal power of the papacy. To Lucca came, in the fifteenth century,
Charles VIII. of France, presumptuous enough to attempt the conquest
of Naples; also that mighty dissembler, Charles V. to meet the
reigning pontiff Paul III. in our cathedral of San Martino. But more
precious far to me than the traditions of the shadowy pomp of defunct
tyrants is the remembrance that Lucca was the Geneva of Italy--that
these streets beneath us resounded to the public teaching of the
Reformation! Such progress, indeed, had the reformers made, that it
was publicly debated in the city council, 'If Lucca should declare
herself Protestant--'"

"Per Bacco! a disgraceful fact in our history!" burst out Trenta, a
look of horror in his round blue eyes. "Hide it, hide it, count! For
the love of Heaven! You do not expect me to rejoice at this? Pray,
when you mention it, add that the Protestants were obliged to flee for
their lives, and that Lucca purified itsel