choed the sentiment; some, indeed, drew
forth their blades, as if for instant action.

"I have seen enow: they will break up anon," said Montreal to himself:
"and I would rather face an army of thousands, than even half-a-dozen
enthusiasts, so inflamed,--and I thus detected." And, with this thought,
he dropped on the ground, and glided away, as, once again, through the
still midnight air, broke upon his ear the muffled shout--"DEATH TO THE
TYRANNY!--LIFE TO THE REPUBLIC!"

BOOK II. THE REVOLUTION

"Ogni Lascivia, ogni male, nulla giustizia, nullo freno.
Non c'era piu remedia, ogni persona periva. Allora Cola di
Rienzi." &c.--"Vita di Cola di Rienzi", lib. i. chap. 2.

"Every kind of lewdness, every form of evil; no justice, no
restraint. Remedy there was none; perdition fell on all.
Then Cola di Rienzi," &c.--"Life of Cola di Rienzi".

Chapter 2.I. The Knight of Provence, and his Proposal.

It was nearly noon as Adrian entered the gates of the palace of Stephen
Colonna. The palaces of the nobles were not then as we see them now,
receptacles for the immortal canvas of Italian, and the imperishable
sculpture of Grecian Art; but still to this day are retained the massive
walls, and barred windows, and spacious courts, which at that time
protected their rude retainers. High above the gates rose a lofty and
solid tower, whose height commanded a wide view of the mutilated remains
of Rome: the gate itself was adorned and strengthened on either side by
columns of granite, whose Doric capitals betrayed the sacrilege that
had torn them from one of the many temples that had formerly crowded
the sacred Forum. From the same spoils came, too, the vast fragments of
travertine which made the walls of the outer court. So common at that
day were these barbarous appropriations of the most precious monuments
of art, that the columns and domes of earlier Rome were regarded by all
classes but as quarries, from which every man was free to gather the
materials, whether for his castle or his cottage,--a wantonness of
outrage far greater than the Goths', to whom a later age would fain have
attributed all the disgrace, and which, more perhaps than even heavier
offences, excited the classical indignation of Petrarch, and made him
sympathise with Rienzi in his hopes of Rome. Still may you see
the churches of that or even earlier dates, of the most shapeless
architecture, built on the sites, and from th