cenaries
stalking through the vistas, or grouped in lazy insolence before
the embattled porches of some gloomy palace. The shops, that in many
quarters had been closed for years, were again open, glittering with
wares and bustling with trade. The thoroughfares, formerly either silent
as death, or crossed by some affrighted and solitary passenger with
quick steps, and eyes that searched every corner,--or resounding with
the roar of a pauper rabble, or the open feuds of savage nobles, now
exhibited the regular, and wholesome, and mingled streams of civilized
life, whether bound to pleasure or to commerce. Carts and waggons laden
with goods which had passed in safety by the dismantled holds of the
robbers of the Campagna, rattled cheerfully over the pathways. "Never,
perhaps,"--to use the translation adapted from the Italian authorities,
by a modern and by no means a partial historian (Gibbon.)--"Never,
perhaps, has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably
felt than in the sudden reformation of Rome by the Tribune Rienzi. A
den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a camp or convent. 'In
this time,' says the historian, ("Vita di Cola di Rienzi", lib. i. c.
9.) 'did the woods begin to rejoice that they were no longer infested
with robbers; the oxen began to plough; the pilgrims visited the
sanctuaries; (Gibbon: the words in the original are "li pellegrini
cominciaro a fere la cerca per la santuaria.") the roads and inns
were replenished with travellers: trade, plenty, and good faith, were
restored in the markets; and a purse of gold might be exposed without
danger in the midst of the highways.'"

Amidst all these evidences of comfort and security to the people--some
dark and discontented countenances might be seen mingled in the crowd,
and whenever one who wore the livery of the Colonna or the Orsini felt
himself jostled by the throng, a fierce hand moved involuntarily to the
sword-belt, and a half-suppressed oath was ended with an indignant
sigh. Here and there too,--contrasting the redecorated, refurnished, and
smiling shops--heaps of rubbish before the gate of some haughty mansion
testified the abasement of fortifications which the owner impotently
resented as a sacrilege. Through such streets and such throngs did the
party we accompany wend their way, till they found themselves amidst
crowds assembled before the entrance of the Capitol. The officers there
stationed kept, however, so discreet a