trong, licentious, and unhallowed as the order of
nobility was then, it is yet more so now."

"Even I," rejoined Raimond, colouring as he spoke, "though Vicar of the
Pope, and representative of his spiritual authority, was, but three days
ago, subjected to a coarse affront from that very Stephen Colonna, who
has ever received such favour and tenderness from the Holy See. His
servitors jostled mine in the open streets, and I myself,--I, the
delegate of the sire of kings--was forced to draw aside to the wall,
and wait until the hoary insolent swept by. Nor were blaspheming words
wanting to complete the insult. 'Pardon, Lord Bishop,' said he, as
he passed me; 'but this world, thou knowest, must necessarily take
precedence of the other.'"

"Dared he so high?" said Rienzi, shading his face with his hand, as a
very peculiar smile--scarcely itself joyous, though it made others gay,
and which completely changed the character of his face, naturally grave
even to sternness--played round his lips. "Then it is time for thee,
holy father, as for us, to--"

"To what?" interrupted the Bishop, quickly. "Can we effect aught!
Dismiss thy enthusiastic dreamings--descend to the real earth--look
soberly round us. Against men so powerful, what can we do?"

"My Lord," answered Rienzi, gravely, "it is the misfortune of signors of
your rank never to know the people, or the accurate signs of the time.
As those who pass over the heights of mountains see the clouds sweep
below, veiling the plains and valleys from their gaze, while they, only
a little above the level, survey the movements and the homes of men;
even so from your lofty eminence ye behold but the indistinct and sullen
vapours--while from my humbler station I see the preparations of the
shepherds, to shelter themselves and herds from the storm which those
clouds betoken. Despair not, my Lord; endurance goes but to a certain
limit--to that limit it is already stretched; Rome waits but the
occasion (it will soon come, but not suddenly) to rise simultaneously
against her oppressors."

The great secret of eloquence is to be in earnest--the great secret of
Rienzi's eloquence was in the mightiness of his enthusiasm. He never
spoke as one who doubted of success. Perhaps, like most men who
undertake high and great actions, he himself was never thoroughly aware
of the obstacles in his way. He saw the end, bright and clear, and
overleaped, in the vision of his soul, the crosses and the leng