"Well said, well," exclaimed those impious wretches, with a tumult of laughter, as they reached the grave. The unfortunate victim made incredible struggles, but in vain; his head was thrust into the earth, and every hope seemed lost. Suddenly three blasts of a horn were heard; the robbers, startled, let him fall; and, without heeding what might happen to him, all taking their arms ranged themselves under the orders of Drengotto, in array to receive some great personage.

They looked now to this side, now to that, uncertain in what direction he would appear, for the foliage was thick, and its rustling prevented their hearing the coming footsteps. Suddenly Rogiero saw emerge from the darkness and stand revealed in the fire-light, in all the majesty of his form and height, a man of gigantic limbs, and clad like the other brigands, except that he wore, in addition, a corslet of plate-armour carefully polished, a horn slung at his neck, and a plume in his cap. The fire reflected a red light upon his face, and his strongly-pronounced features, his bushy eyebrows, and bloodshot eyes, demonstrated him to be governed by fierce passions; while the elevated head, the ample forehead acute at the angles of the temples, the chin a little pointed downwards, and the lips closely compressed, spoke him a man of immutable will, and born to command. His countenance, although severe, was not terrible, but on the contrary inspired a degree of confidence in those who observed it-a remark which may be always made of the faces of those men who are firm in mind and body. He was followed by four brigands, who led a number of mules laden, as it seemed, with provisions. When they were come forward, the Condottiero looked at all the assembly, and with a courteous and dignified air addressed them.

"I salute you."

"Welcome, Condottiero," replied the robbers.

"Behold! Heaven wills not the destruction even of offenders. We have acquired wherewith to supply our wants for some time. -those wants that put weapons in our hands against our brethren."

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Acquired!" exclaimed one of the four armed men who had followed the Condottiero. 66 Acquired! we might indeed have acquired it, and with ease; but you chose to purchase it with good gold coin of Frederic the Second."

"And is not this an acquisition, Beltramo? The world is conquered in these days more by gold than by steel; it will be so for a long time of which I cannot see the end."

"I do not know what to say to this," replied Beltramo, “but certainly the money might have been spared."

"Have I spent yours? Have I required your share?

let us not, for pity's sake, lay a heavy hand on the unfortunate, oppressed by fate and by men; let us teach society, which has

rejected us from its bosom, that we are better than it is--that it is a stepmother to affectionate sons. I might, indeed, have torn from those poor vassals the provisions they were carrying to market, and have left them no recompense save the injury; but could you, Beltramo, eat that food without thinking of the tears that the stern baronial collector would call forth when he went round to gather tribute, and the vassals would have nothing to pay it, and through our means? No, no! bread robbed from the poor is not good for either body or soul. But this evening these poor vassals will return all joyous to their families, and tell them, 'Five cavaliers met us on the way; we fled, leaving our load behind us to save our lives; they might easily have taken them, but they called us back, and paid us even a better price than if we had gone all the way to the market.' Yes, and I am certain that when these poor vassals pray they will remember us in their prayers, and our names will ascend to heaven with those of the saints, and God will look upon us in his mercy, and see that we are wretched; and perhaps he will take us from this mode of life, which is an affliction to us and a terror to others. God is merciful over all his works."

"Amen," said Drengotto, in an under voice.

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Why do you say amen, Drengotto?" asked the robber who was nearest to him.

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Because the sermon is ended. He ought to have a rope either round his waist or round his neck."

"Drengotto!" cried the Condottiero.

Drengotto stepped out of the ranks, and, presenting himself boldly, replied, "Adsum, captain."

"Give me an account of your day."

"It is an unimportant one, Messer Ghino. We have coursed all day between the wood and the river, but have met with neither Saracen nor Christian. We were returning home towards evening empty handed, when the dogs scented something, and sprang barking into a thicket, and we after them, and saw that they had stuck their teeth into a beast of a pilgrim, who is lying upon the ground there; we made all speed to deliver him, for with a moment's delay they would have torn him up into equal portions among them all, like good brethren."

"You have done well."

"Some of our comrades wanted to let him go, but we others, in the plenitude of the power which you delegated to us, opposed it, and said, let us see if the good pilgrim has his pockets lined with reliques or with crown pieces. Sinners as we are, we would not dare lay our hands on holy bores; so far well; but if he has gold, silver, or jewels about him, we will take them, for they are vanities, and we are the censors of morals in this respect. Then we set to work to rummage him, and, mirabile visu! he had not

the image of a single saint nestled about him, but this purse of golden agostari."

full

Oh! most glorious baron! by the honour of your family, by the peace of your kindred defunct, save me from that ferocious man, who by his words and deeds seems to be the first-born of Satan. See, he has prepared a pit to propagginate me.”

Thus broke forth the pilgrim, who, after hearing the gentle words of the Condottiero, had raised himself upon his knees, and dragging himself along on them, had thus reached the feet of the leader. The robbers seeing him move in that manner, with the terrors of death in his countenance, and all bedaubed with dust, burst into peals of laughter, which, however, were soon repressed by the look of the stern Condottiero.

"Rise," said Ghino. "Man ought to kneel to God alone." He unbound his hands, and added, "You are free." Then, as if to avoid the usual formula of thanks, always useless to the wise man who can distinguish gratitude in the expression of the face, he turned to Drengotto, and asked, "Is this true that I hear of you ?"

"Yes, captain."

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Why did you want to do that?"

"Oh, it was nothing.

We wished to have an example of the mode in which the Emperor Frederic put our comrades to death when they fell into his hands."

"You have transgressed the laws of our band; you deserve punishment."

"Who made those laws, Messer Ghino ?" "Our own free will."

"Then those who made them can unmake them. All things change in this world-rites, languages, customs, the face of nature -and shall a code made by assassins after supper, goblet in hand, be immutable ?"

"Who is there present that desires to change it?" cried Ghino, with a voice that thrilled through the hearts of his comrades, and casting around glances which made all who met them cast down their eyes. "Who desires to change it? Our little society is different from society at large, which comprehend the vast family of mankind. Here are no compacts to which you have not all been parties, no promises which you have not made, no oaths, no laws which you have not been previously discussed at length, and agreed to with full consent. You have all quitted society at large, because you hated, or at least offended against its statutes; but on coming into another society, laws and constitutions were not the less necessary; there can be no integrity of order without laws, no permanency of reciprocal brotherhood. Laws, discussed and sworn to, cannot be lightly handled, otherwise we should give but a bad opinion of human wisdom and of eternal justice, showing by

such mutability of ordinances that there is no such thing as good in this world, or that it is vain to seek after it. Let us dwell apart from mankind with such acts and such thoughts, that if recalled to them at some future day we may not be ashamed to lift up our heads amongst them. There is not one among us who in the recesses of his heart does not thrill at the dear remembrance of father, child, relative, or friend; not one who does not sigh after his home. Perhaps we may never see the day of pardon, but we never cease to sigh for that day. In creation all is law and established order, without which we should cease to be."

"Do not talk to me of laws," cried Dengrotto, bantering. "No one can convince you that there are no laws better than I can, who have made law my study. If our nature had willed laws, they would have been given to us by nature, and without writings we should have been good, merciful, and just; but, on the contrary, we are naturally bad, cruel, and unjust. There is in our hearts a furious love for self which incessantly cries out to us, 'myself first. The happiness of another is an attack upon our own, because it subtracts a part of the inheritance for which we pant. Every one makes himself the centre of creation; the world is his circle, the interests of all mortals are the rays which ought to meet in him, and this is certain-do not I talk learnedly? There are persons in society who extract every advantage from laws to which they either have never agreed, or have agreed from various principles, or in a moment of intoxication, like ourselves when we made our own code. That such persons should study to preserve the laws, well and good, it is their own advantage, and I should do the same in a similar case. But the man who finds a stumbling-block of a gallows in the way of his discovered acts does not change his opinions, but hides his actions; hence the perpetual war of robberies, deceits, and frauds, which is not only unpunished, but even praised with the words, he manages his affairs cleverly. It is said that matrimony is an essential principle of society, yet every man who has a family is an enemy to society, for every child that is born to him is a motive of war against his brethren, since he desires to enrich it at the expense of all other people. Now there is not in the world a sufficient fund of good to satisfy all; and for every prosperous person there must be a hundred in the lowest penury. The plate, the precious vases, the viands provided for pomp rather than need on the tables of the rich, would not be there if in the innumerable dens of the poor there were bread enough to appease hunger, a draught to quench thirst, and a bed for repose. I think that when a marriage is celebrated the church should be hung with black, and the bells tolled as in a public calamity."

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Destroy then, wretch, destroy law and ordinances. Destruction is the attribute of the devil. In his eternity of anguish he

loves ruins and heaps of corpses; these are his throne, where he reigns tormenting and scoffing at the souls which trusted to him; but he is immortal-you, poor atom, mixture of imbecility and clay, mere fragile in the hands of the Eternal than straw under the foot of the elephant, how could you attain to this power of evil? how could you avoid the war of all against you? You would be hunted like the wild beast of the forest, and you would die with the anguish of knowing that you would become a memorial of execration and of disdain to those who should come after you. But suppose you reach the height of evil power, what would you have effected when you had destroyed all things? how support your own existence with the asp of remorse gnawing at your vitals? You would no longer hear a voice in the world, but how would you fly from that of your own conscience? You would be like the whirlwind of the desert; you would live alone, and die alone. Oh, fool! you know not the bitterness of solitude-may Heaven never compel you to know it!”

"There is a proverb, Messer Ghino, better alone than in bad company; and proverbs are things to be heeded, for, as I heard when I studied at Bologna, they signify probatum verbum, or a tested saying, approved by the experience of ages and the consent of mankind. But what you have said regards the band. Let us provide for our necessities; meanwhile we delight in living as we do live."

"Ah, villain, and how can you delight in the blood of the weak and weeping one? what pleasure or what profit can you have in barbarously murdering him who clasps your knees and implores your pity? Remember that one day you will be judged."

"What would you have? Every man has his own opinions, and I have mine. There was an ancient people, as my tutors have told me, who from mere compassion put to death all the deformed, and they were not without their laudators for it. Now if I put to death the deformed in spirit, ought I to be blamed for it? Antiquity is a great mother of useful instruction, Messer Ghino."

"And who are you that pretend to scrutinize the thoughts of man, and to arrogate to yourself the most portentous attribute of the Lord? If these are truly your sentiments you merit a stab rather than an argument. Let this suffice you to know that the weak is never slain but by the vile. From the story of the Lion*

* About the year 1260 a fine lion named St. Mark was presented to the republic of Florence, and kept in the Square of San Giovanni. One day, being negligently guarded, he escaped from his cage, and rambling through the city, he snatched up the posthumous child of one who had been treacherously slain. The mother, with piercing shrieks, prostrated herself before the lion, who, looking gravely at her, restored the boy to her. When the child had grown up to manhood he avenged his father, and was called Orlanduccio of the Lion.Villani's Annals. Book VI.