, there was a grace
in the bearing, in the youth, and in the evident affection of the
brothers--for such their connexion--which elevated the lowliness of
their apparent condition.

"Dear brother," said the elder, "I cannot express to thee how I enjoy
these evening hours. To you alone I feel as if I were not a mere
visionary and idler when I talk of the uncertain future, and build up my
palaces of the air. Our parents listen to me as if I were uttering fine
things out of a book; and my dear mother, Heaven bless her! wipes her
eyes, and says, 'Hark, what a scholar he is!' As for the monks, if I
ever dare look from my Livy, and cry 'Thus should Rome be again!' they
stare, and gape, and frown, as though I had broached an heresy. But you,
sweet brother, though you share not my studies, sympathize so kindly
with all their results--you seem so to approve my wild schemes, and to
encourage my ambitious hopes--that sometimes I forget our birth, our
fortunes, and think and dare as if no blood save that of the Teuton
Emperor flowed through our veins."

"Methinks, dear Cola," said the younger brother, "that Nature played us
an unfair trick--to you she transmitted the royal soul, derived from
our father's parentage; and to me only the quiet and lowly spirit of my
mother's humble lineage."

"Nay," answered Cola, quickly, "you would then have the brighter
share,--for I should have but the Barbarian origin, and you the Roman.
Time was, when to be a simple Roman was to be nobler than a northern
king.--Well, well, we may live to see great changes!"

"I shall live to see thee a great man, and that will content me," said
the younger, smiling affectionately; "a great scholar all confess you
to be already: our mother predicts your fortunes every time she hears of
your welcome visits to the Colonna."

"The Colonna!" said Cola, with a bitter smile; "the Colonna--the
pedants!--They affect, dull souls, the knowledge of the past, play the
patron, and misquote Latin over their cups! They are pleased to welcome
me at their board, because the Roman doctors call me learned, and
because Nature gave me a wild wit, which to them is pleasanter than the
stale jests of a hired buffoon. Yes, they would advance my fortunes--but
how? by some place in the public offices, which would fill a dishonoured
coffer, by wringing, yet more sternly, the hard-earned coins from our
famishing citizens! If there be a vile thing in the world, it is a
plebeian, advanced