Here lived a miller; silent and at rest His millstones now. In old companionship Still do they stand as on the day he went, Each ready for its office-but he comes not. And here, hard by, (where one in idleness Has stopt to scrawl a ship, an armed man ; And in a tablet on the wall we read Of shows ere long to be,) a sculptor wrought, Gravely discussing the last news from Rome. As through the courts and chambers we advance, XVI. THE BAG OF GOLD. I DINE Very often with the good old Cardinal *** and, I should add, with his cats; for they always sit at his table, and are much the gravest of the company. His beaming countenance makes us forget his age; nor did I ever see it clouded till yesterday, when, as we were contemplating the sunset from his terrace, he happened, in the course of our conversation, to allude to an affecting circumstance in his early life. He had just left the university of Palermo and was entering the army, when he became acquainted with a young lady of great beauty and merit, a Sicilian of a family as illustrious as his own. Living near each other, they were often together; and, at an age like theirs, friendship soon turns to love. But his father, for what reason I forget, refused his consent to their union; till, alarmed at the declining health of his son, he promised to oppose it no longer, if, after a separation of three years, they continued as much in love as ever. Relying on that promise, he said, I set out on a long journey, but in my absence the usual arts were resorted to. Our letters were intercepted; and false rumours were spread-first of my indifference, then of my inconstancy, then of my marriage with a rich heiress of Sienna; and, when at length I returned to make her my own, I found her in a convent of Ursuline nuns. She had taken the veil; and I, said he with a sigh-what else remained for me? -I went into the church. Yet many, he continued, as if to turn the conversation, very many have been happy, though we were not; and, if I am not abusing an old man's privilege, let me tell you a story with a better catastrophe. It was told to me when a boy; and you may not be unwilling to hear it, for it bears some resemblance to that of the Merchant of Venice. We were now arrived at a pavilion that commanded one of the noblest prospects imaginable; the mountains, the sea, and the islands illuminated by the last beams of day; and, sitting down there, he proceeded with his usual vivacity; for the sadness, that had come across him, was gone. There lived in the fourteenth century, near Bologna, a widow lady of the Lambertini family, called Madonna Lucrezia, who in a revolution of the state had known the bitterness of poverty, and had even begged her bread; kneeling day after day like a statue at the gate of the cathedral'; her rosary in her left hand and her right held out for charity; her long black veil concealing a face that had once adorned a court, and had received the homage of as many sonnets as Petrarch has written on Laura. But fortune had at last relented; a legacy from a distant relation had come to her relief; and she was now the mistress of a small inn at the foot of the Apennines; where she entertained as well as she could, and where those only stopped who were contented with a little. The house was still standing, when in my youth I passed that way; though the sign of the White Cross, the cross of the Hospitallers, was no longer to be seen over the door; a sign which she had taken, if we may believe the tradition there, in honour of a maternal uncle, a grandmaster of that order, whose achievements in Palestine she would sometimes relate. A mountain stream ran through the garden; and at no great distance, where the road turned on its way to Bo logna, stood a little chapel, in which a lamp was always burning before a picture of the virgin, a picture of great antiquity, the work of some Greek artist. Here she was dwelling, respected by all who knew her; when an event took place, which threw her into the deepest affliction. It was at noonday in September that three foot travellers arrived, and, seating themselves on a bench under her vine trellis, were supplied with a flagon of Aleatico by a lovely girl, her only child, the image of her former self. The eldest spoke like a Venetian, and his beard was short and pointed after the fashion of Venice. In his demeanour he affected great courtesy, but his look inspired little confidence; for when he smiled, which he did continually, it was with his lips only, not with his eyes; and they were always turned from yours. His companions were bluff and frank in their manner, and on their tongues had many a soldier's oath. In their hats they wore a medal, such as in that age was often distributed in war; and they were evidently subalterns in one of those free bands which were always ready to serve in any quarrel, if a service it could be called, where a battle was little more than a mockery; and the slain, as on an opera stage, were up and fighting to-morrow. Overcome with the heat, they threw aside their cloaks; and, with their gloves tucked under their belts, continued for some time in earnest conversation. At length they rose to go; and the Venetians thus addressed their hostess. "Excellent lady, may we leave under your roof, for a day or two, this bag of gold?" "You may," she replied gayly. "But remember, we fasten only with a latch. Bars and bolts we have none in our village; and, if we had, where would be your security ?" "In your word, lady." "But what if I died to-night? where would it be then?" said she, laughing. "The money would go to the church; for none could claim it." "Perhaps you will favour us with an ledgment." "If you will write it." Now Gianetta had a lover; and he was a student of the law, a young man of great promise, Lorenzo Martelli. He had studied long and diligently under that learned lawyer, Giovanni Andreas, who, though little of stature, was great in renown, and by his contemporaries was called the Arch-doctor, the Rabbi of Doctors, the Light of the World. Under him he had studied, sitting on the same bench with Petrarch; and also under his daughter, Novella, who would often lecture to the scholars, when her father was otherwise engaged, placing herself behind a small curtain, lest her beauty should divert their thoughts; a precaution in this instance at least unnecessary, Lorenzo having lost his heart to another.* To him she flies in her necessity; but of what acknow-assistance can he be? He has just taken his place at the bar, but he has never spoken; and how stand up alone, unpractised and unprepared as he is, against an array that would alarm the most experienced ?— « Were I as mighty as I am weak," said he, “my fears for you would make me as nothing. But I will be there, Gianetta; and may the Friend of the friendless give me strength in that hour! Even now my heart fails me; but, come what will, while I have a loaf to share, you and your mother shall never want. I will beg through the world for you." An acknowledgment was written accordingly, and she signed it before Master Bartolo, the village physician, who had just called by chance to learn the news of the day; the gold to be delivered when applied for, but to be delivered (these were the words) not to one-nor to two-but to the three; words wisely introduced by those to whom it belonged, knowing what they knew of each other. The gold they had just released from a miser's chest in Perugia; and they were now on a scent that promised more. They and their shadows were no sooner departed, than the Venetian returned, saying, “Give me leave to set my seal on the bag, as the others have done;" and she placed it on a table before him. But in that moment she was called away to receive a cavalier, who had just dismounted from his horse; and, when she came back, it was gone. The temptation had proved irresistible; and the man and the money had vanished together. "Wretched woman that I am!" she cried, as in an agony of grief she fell on her daughter's neck; "what will become of us? Are we again to be cast out into the wide world?-Unhappy child, would that thou hadst never been born!" and all day long she lamented; but her tears availed her little. The others were not slow in returning to claim their due; and there were no tidings of the thief: he had fled far away with his plunder. A process against her was instantly begun in Bologna; and what defence could she make?-how release herself from the obligation of the bond? Wilfully or in negligence she had parted with it to one, when she should have kept it for all, and inevitable ruin awaited her! "Go, Gianetta," said she to her daughter, " take this veil, which your mother has worn and wept under so often, and implore the counsellor Calderino to plead for us on the day of trial. He is generous, and will listen to the unfortunate. But, if he will not, go from door to door; Monaldi cannot refuse us. Make haste, my child; but remember the chapel as you pass by it. Nothing prospers without a prayer." Alas, she went, but in vain. These were retained against them; those demanded more than they had to give; and all bade them despair. What was to be done? No advocate; and the cause to come on to-morrow! The day arrives, and the court assembles. The claim is stated, and the evidence given. And now the defence is called for-but none is made; not a syllable is uttered; and, after a pause and a consultation of some minutes, the judges are proceeding to give judgment, silence having been proclaimed in the court, when Lorenzo rises and thus addresses them. "Reverend signors. Young as I am, may I venture to speak before you? I would speak in behalf of one who has none else to help her; and I will not keep you long. "Much has been said; much on the sacred nature of the obligation—and we acknowledge it in its full force. Let it be fulfilled, and to the last letter. It is what we solicit, what we require. But to whom is the bag of gold to be delivered? What says the bond? Not to one-not to two-but to the three. Let the three stand forth and claim it." From that day, (for who can doubt the issue?) none were sought, none employed, but the subtle, the eloquent Lorenzo. Wealth followed fame; nor need I say how soon he sat at his marriage feast, or who sat beside him. XVII. A CHARACTER. ONE of two things Montrioli may have, *Ce pourroit être, says Bayle, la matière d'un joli problême: on pourroit examiner si cette fille avançoit, ou si elle retardoit le profit de ses auditeurs, en leur cachant son beau visage. Il y auroit cent choses à dire pour et contre là-dessus. And then the chase, the supper. When, ah! when, Nature reveal'd herself. Unveil'd she stood, The leisure and the liberty I sigh for? Not when at home; at home a miscreant crew, The steward, his stories longer than his rent-roll, He clanks his fetters to disturb my peace. These dangerous gifts placed in their idle hands, XVIII. SORRENTO. HE who sets sail from Naples, when the wind There would I linger-then go forth again, * Tasso. In all her wildness, all her majesty, There would I linger-then go forth again; The time has been, When on the quays along the Syrian coast, 'Twas ask'd, and eagerly, at break of dawn, "What ships are from Amalfi ?" when her coins, Silver and gold, circled from clime to clime; From Alexandria southward to Sennaar, And eastward, through Damascus and Cabul And Samarcand, to thy great wall, Cathay. Then were the nations by her wisdom sway'd; And every crime on every sea was judged According to her judgments. In her port Prows strange, uncouth, from Nile and Niger met, People of various feature, various speech; And in their countries many a house of prayer, And many a shelter, where no shelter was, And many a well, like Jacob's in the wild, Rose at her bidding. Then in Palestine, By the way-side, in sober grandeur stood An hospital, that, night and day, received The pilgrims of the west; and, when 'twas ask'd, "Who are the noble founders ?" every tongue At once replied, "The merchants of Amalfi." That hospital, when Godfrey scaled the walls, Sent forth its holy men in complete steel; And hence, the cowl relinquish'd for the helm, That chosen band, valiant, invincible, So long renown'd as champions of the cross, In Rhodes, in Malta. For three hundred years, There, unapproach'd but from the deep, they dwelt ; Assail'd for ever, yet from age to age Acknowledging no master. From the deep They gather'd in their harvests; bringing home, In the same ship, relics of ancient Greece, That land of glory where their fathers lay, Grain from the golden vales of Sicily, And Indian spices. When at length they fell, Losing their liberty, they left mankind A legacy, compared with which the wealth Of eastern kings-what is it in the scale ?The mariner's compass. They are now forgot, And with them all they did, all they endured, Struggling with fortune. When Sicardi stood, And, with a shout like thunder, cried, " Come forth, And serve me in Salerno!" forth they came, Covering the sea, a mournful spectacle; The women wailing, and the heavy oar Falling unheard. Not thus did they return, The tyrant slain; though then the grass of years Grew in their streets. There now to him who sails Under the shore, a few white villages, Scatter'd above, below, some in the clouds, Some on the margin of the dark blue sea, And glittering through their lemon groves, announce The region of Amalfi. Then, half-fallen, A lonely watch tower on the precipice, Suckles her young: and, as alone I stand In this, the nobler pile, the elements Their ancient land-mark, comes. Long may it last; Of earth and air its only floor and covering, And to the seaman in a distant age, Though now he little thinks how large his debt, Serve for their monument!. XIX. PESTUM. THEY stand between the mountains and the sea; Awful memorials, but of whom we know not!" The seaman, passing, gazes from the deck. The buffalo driver, in his shaggy cloak, Points to the work of magic and moves on. Time was they stood along the crowded street, Temples of gods! and on their ample steps What various habits, various tongues beset The brazen gates for prayer and sacrifice! Time was perhaps the third was sought for justice; And here the accuser stood, and there the accused; And here the judges sate, and heard, and judged. All silent now!-as in the ages past, Trodden under foot and mingled, dust with dust. How many centuries did the sun go round From Mount. Alburnus to the Tyrrhene sea, While, by some spell render'd invisible, Or, if approach'd, approach'd by him alone Who saw as though he saw not, they remain'd As in the darkness of a sepulchre, Waiting the appointed time! All, all within Proclaims that nature had resumed her right, And taken to herself what man renounced; No cornice, triglyph, or worn abacus, But with thick ivy hung or branching fern ;. Their iron-brown o'erspread with brightest verdure! From my youth upward have I longed to tread This classic ground-And am I here at last? Wandering at will through the long porticoes, And catching, as through some majestic grove, Now the blue ocean, and now, chaos-like, Mountains and mountain gulfs, and, halfway up, Towns like the living rock from which they grew? A cloudy region, black and desolate, Where once a slave withstood a world in arms.t The air is sweet with violets, running wild "Mid broken friezes and fallen capitals; Sweet as when Tully, writing down his thoughts, Those thoughts so precious and so lately lost, (Turning to thee, divine philosophy, Ever at hand to calm his troubled soul,). Sail'd slowly by, two thousand years ago, For Athens; when a ship, if north-east winds Blew from the Pæstan gardens, slack'd her course. On as he moved along the level shore, These temples, in their splendour eminent Mid arcs and obelisks, and domes and towers, Reflecting back the radiance of the west, Well might he dream of glory!-Now, coil'd up The serpent sleeps within them; the she-wolf The temples of Pæstum are three in number; and have survived, nearly nine centuries, the total destruction of the city. Tradition is silent concerning them; but they must have existed now between two and three thousand years. Spartacus. See Plutarch in the life of Crassus. How solemn is the stillness! Nothing stirs In such an hour as this, the sun's broad disk Walls of some capital city first appear'd, 'Tis said a stranger in the days of old, (Some say a Dorian, some a Sybarite; But distant things are ever lost in clouds,) "Tis said a stranger came, and, with his plough Traced out the site; and Posidonia rose, Severely great, Neptune the tutelar god; A Homer's language murmuring in her streets, And in her haven many a mast from Tyre. Then came another, an unbidden guest. He knock'd and enter'd with a train in arms; And all was changed, her very name and language. The Tyrian merchant, shipping at his door Ivory and gold, and silk, and frankincense, Sail'd as before, but sailing, cried, " For Pæstum !" And now a Virgil, now an Ovid sung Pæstum's twice-blowing roses; while, within, Parents and children mourn'd-and every year ("Twas on the day of some old festival) Met to give way to tears, and once again, Talk'd in the ancient tongue of things gone by.t At length an Arab climb'd the battlements, Slaying the sleepers in the dead of night; And from all eyes the glorious vision fled! Leaving a place lonely and dangerous, Where whom the robber spares, a deadlier foet Strikes at unseen-and at a time when joy Opens the heart, when summer skies are blue, And the clear air is soft and delicate; For then the demon works-then with that air The thoughtless wretch drinks in a subtle poison Lulling to sleep; and, when he sleeps, he dies. But what are these still standing in the midst? The earth has rock'd beneath; the thunder-stone Pass'd through and through, and left its traces there, Yet still they stand as by some unknown charter! O, they are nature's own! and, as allied To the vast mountains and the eternal sea, They want no written history; theirs a voice For ever speaking to the heart of man! XX. MONTE CASSINO. By time and grief ennobled, not subdued; "WHAT hangs behind that curtain ?"-" Wouldst And, as his upward look at once betray'd, thou learn? If thou art wise, thou wouldst not. "Tis by some As though the day were come, were come and past, Blind as old Homer. At a fount he sate, Well-known to many a weary traveller; His little guide, a boy not seven years old, But grave, considerate beyond his years, Sitting beside him. Each had ate his crust In silence, drinking of the virgin spring; And now in silence, as their custom was, The sun's decline awaited. But the child Was worn with travel. Heavy sleep weigh'd down Sleeps in the vault beneath. We know not much; His fear lest night o'ertake them on the road, But what we know, we will communicate. Tis in an ancient record of the house; And may it make thee tremble, lest thou fall! Rung with the hymn of the Nativity, Most devout he was; At length he sunk to rest, and in his cell- With what he could not fly from, none can say, XXI. THE HARPER. Ir was a harper, wandering with his harp, His only treasure; a majestic man, * Michael Angelo. Humbly besought me to convey them both They were bound, he said, Their harp-it had a voice oracular, The grandsire, step by step, led by the child XXII. THE FELUCA. DAY glimmer'd; and beyond the precipice (Which my mule follow'd as in love with fear, Or as in scorn, yet more and more inclining To tempt the danger where it menaced most), A sea of vapour roll'd. Methought we went Along the utmost edge of this, our world; But soon the surges fled, and we descried, Nor dimly, though the lark was silent yet,, |