let me add, my Lords, no
honour on your faith as Christians, nor on your dignity as defenders of
the Church."

Amongst the inferior nobles--along the seats of the judges and the men
of letters--through the vast concourse of the people--ran a loud murmur
of approbations at these words. The greater barons looked proudly, but
not contemptuously, at the countenance of the prelate, and preserved a
strict and unrevealing silence.

"In this holy spot," continued the Bishop, "let me beseech you to bury
those fruitless animosities which have already cost enough of blood and
treasure; and let us quit these walls with one common determination to
evince our courage and display our chivalry only against our universal
foes;--those ruffians who lay waste our fields, and infest our public
ways,--the foes alike of the people we should protect, and the God whom
we should serve!"

The Bishop resumed his seat; the nobles looked at each other without
reply; the people began to whisper loudly among themselves; when, after
a short pause, Adrian di Castello rose.

"Pardon me, my Lords, and you, reverend Father, if I, inexperienced in
years and of little mark or dignity amongst you, presume to be the first
to embrace the proposal we have just heard. Willingly do I renounce all
ancient cause of enmity with any of my compeers. Fortunately for me,
my long absence from Rome has swept from my remembrance the feuds and
rivalries familiar to my early youth; and in this noble conclave I see
but one man (glancing at Martino di Porto, who sat sullenly looking
down) against whom I have, at any time, deemed it a duty to draw my
sword; the gage that I once cast to that noble is yet, I rejoice to
think, unredeemed. I withdraw it. Henceforth my only foes shall be the
foes of Rome!"

"Nobly spoken!" said the Bishop, aloud.

"And," continued Adrian, casting down his glove amongst the nobles, "I
throw, my Lords, the gage, thus resumed, amongst you all, in challenge
to a wider rivalry, and a more noble field. I invite any man to vie with
me in the zeal that he shall show to restore tranquillity to our roads,
and order to our state. It is a contest in which, if I be vanquished
with reluctance, I will yield the prize without envy. In ten days from
this time, reverend Father, I will raise forty horsemen-at-arms, ready
to obey whatever orders shall be agreed upon for the security of the
Roman state. And you, O Romans, dismiss, I pray you, from your minds,
tho