Omitting no pretence to render, his deputation suspected, he caused him to be disgraced. This disgrace destroyed every scheme of Rienzi; he fell into extreme misery. Vexation and sickness, joined with indigence, brought to an hospital a man, who afterward made so great a noise all over Europe. Happy for him his misery was of short duration : the same hand that threw him down, raised him up again. The cardinal who but just before had vowed his ruin, was all compassion, and, without foreseeing the consequences of his kindness, caused him to appear before the Pope in assurance of his being a good man, and a great partisan for justice and equity. The Pope approved of him more than ever, and to give him proofs of his esteem and confidence, he made him Apostolic Notary, and sent him back loaded with favours, but without any answer in relation to his Holiness's return to Rome, which he had demanded on the part of the Romans. Rienzi was less moved with the favours of Clement and Cardinal Colonna, than with the ill usage he at first met with from the latter. Resentment had a greater ascendency over him than gratitude. He departed with a firm resolution to be revenged on the Colonnas, which in time he knew how to accomplish, and had the imprudence to let fall his threats on his departure from Avignon.

BOOK II.

As soon as Rienzi returned to Ronie, he began to execute his office of apostolic notary with great affectation of honour, justice, and probity; which, joined to his continued exclamations against the enormities of the great, gained him on the one hand the affections of the people, as on the other it rendered them odious: by these means he obtained a kind of superiority, an: omitted no opportunity of turning to advantage his secret designs. By his affability and popularity he added to his credit; always ready to serve, always foremost in civility, always punctual in the administration of justice, constantly exhorting the counsellors to equity, and the rest to peace, concord, and respect to the Holy See. Those who intermeddled with the government he stiled the Dogs of the Capitol.

When he imagined that he had sufficiently established the reputation of being a good citizen, he made a bold stroke. One day, at a full council-board, he rose up suddenly, and with a kind of enthusiasm said to the senators, "You are bad citizens:-you who suck the blood of the people relieve them not." Afterwards, addressing himself to the officers and governors, he admonished them to take care of the welfare of the city. His speech forced a blow from Andrew le Normand Camerlingue, who was of the family of Colonna. Thomas Fortifiocca, secretary of the senate, rebuked him also for his inconsiderate zeal, and displaced him. This ill success not the least disheartened

him; he grew more warm in reproving publicly their vices, and inveighing against the debauched, but acted in a more prudent manner. To cut a second eclat, with a better prospect of success, and less risk, he caused a symbolical picture to be drawn, on which he pretended to represent the whole situation of affairs in Italy, which he affixed to the court-gate of the senate.

This painting exhibited, in the midst of a tempestuous sea, a ship floating without sails or sailors, and just swallowed by the waves. On board appeared a woman in a widow's habit; her hair dishevelled, her hands wringing at her breast, and her knees in a suppliant posture; over her was written, Rome. On the right were four ships wrecked and sinking; in each a woman upon deck, representing Babylon, Carthage, Troy, and Jerusalem. One label set forth that injustice had ruined those cities; and another, that Rome was once greater than all, but her desolation was now near at hand. On the left were three rocks; on one was Italy, in the figure of a lady, lamenting the misfortune of Rome in having no place of refuge, who had herself been a refuge and asylum to the whole world. On another were the four cardinal virtues, emblematically displayed by four women, in attitudes the most expressive of grief which they seemed to attribute to the dangerous condition of Rome; on a label they thus addressed her-"You have been attended upon by every virtue, and now, behold, you are overwhelmed in an ocean of evil. On the third rock was represented the Christian religion, with this label ::

"Oh God! if Rome perish, where must I go?"

Above, towards the right, were painted four rows of diverse animals with horns, through which they blew upon the waves, and endeavoured chiefly to sink the principal ship. In the first row were lions, wolves, and bears, with this inscription" Behold governors, senators, and nobles." In the second, dogs, hogs, and she-goats, with this—“ Evil counsellors and flatterers of nobility." In the third, dragons, foxes, and he-goats, with this "Corrupt officers, judges, and notaries." In the fourth, a number of apes, monkeys, and cats, with this" Murderers, adulterers, and

robbers." Over the whole was painted "Heaven," from whence descended the Supreme Being, with all the majesty of the sovereign judge displeased; two swords issued from his mouth, and on each side were the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, endeavouring to appease him.

This fantastical picture, which drew the attention of the people, caused them to reflect on what they every day went through, and look upon Rienzi as a man capable of taking their interests into his hands, and restoring their tottering state. His stratagem having succeeded, without danger from the principal men who despised it, in a little time after he had the rashness to make another public show of quite a different nature.

He affixed to the wall of the choir of St. John the Lateran a large brass plate, on which was engraven the people of Rome yielding the sovereign authority to Vespasian, in antique characters, to render it the more ambiguous; but the matter spoke itself. Rienzi would by this have had it understood, that the supreme power was entirely lodged in the hands of the people; that their rulers were no more than trustees; and that they were to ordain what they thought fit. The seditious maxims which Rienzi took so much pains to propagate, were extremely agreeable to the citizens: the nobility also were disgusted at the Pope's residence at Avignon, and especially at the little esteem Clement VI. showed the Romans.

Rienzi, perceiving the attention of the people, which his hieroglyphical plate had universally attracted, and their desire of understanding the meaning of the mystical characters, raised in the same place an alcove and amphitheatre handsomely adorned. Having set a day for the explanation, he gave a general invitation to the nobility. Stephen Colonna and John, his son, appeared at the head of a numerous company of distinction. It was thought that the cere mony would have been very solemn, but in its appearance it proved a very singular farce. Rienzi on his stage was, in fact, a comedy king; he was dressed in a gown, with a hood of white cloth, and a hat of the same colour, spangled with golden crowns, one of which more resplendent than the rest, was separated by the point of a silver sword. His

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whimsical garb made it difficult for him that day to expound; the extravagancy of his enigmatical dress, and the boldness of the orator, surprised all. He demanded silence; he expatiated with great energy on the grandeur of the empire, and the liberty of Rome, comparing its ancient splendour with its present decline. He represented Rome as overwhelmed, and blind to such a degree as to be unable to see the source of her evils; "because," saith he, "she hath plucked out both her eyes, to know the Pope and the Emperor." He alluded to the absence of Clement VI.; the troubles occasioned by the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria, not acknowledged by the Popes: and to the miseries which were the consequence thereof. Behold," added he, turning himself toward the plate of brass, "behold the glory of the senate at the time the Emperors held their authority of the Romans !" Afterwards, making a sign to a man prepared on purpose, he made him read a sheet of paper which contained a plain explication of the unknowǹ characters; they were the articles agreed upon between the senate and Vespasian. 1. The power of enacting laws and making alliances. 2. The liberty of adding to or diminishing from the garden of Rome (meaning Italy).* 3. The right to make counts, dukes, and kings, and to depose them; to build or depopulate cities; to turn the course of rivers; and to levy or take off taxes, as should be judged most

necessary.

"Such, my Lords," continued Rienzi, "was your ancient majesty to bestow sovereignty on emperors-on the Tiberiuses and Vespasians; and such the power you have now lost." Then advancing nearer to the people, that they might understand him" Romans," said he, with an elevated voice," your divisions are the sole cause of your misfortunes; they engross all your thoughts, all your care. Your estates are neglected, your lands are untilled; the jubilee is approaching, and you have no provisions. Good

* According to Gibbon, the Lex Regia empowers Vespasian to enlarge the Pomarium-a spot of ground which the augurs at the first building of the city solemnly consecrated, and on which no edifice was permitted to be raised; Rienzi and others have confounded the word with Pomarium.