But among all the numerous embassies received from, or sent to, all parts, the tribune gave his attention as constantly for the good order of the city, as at the first days of his administration. Public safety remained entire. Sincerity and honesty were found in the markets, where fraud and deceit used to triumph; cheating and tricking were effectually banished; the purchaser was sure he should not be cheated in his commodity either in quantity or quality; the seller was obliged to declare this is good, and this is not. Upon the least complaint of the contrary made to the tribune, satisfaction was immediately given. He con tinued inexorable against robbery; seldom were any committed; one, however, happened at the Castle de Capranica. The news soon reached Rome; Rienzi summoned the Count Bertollo, lord of the castle, and laid a vast fine upon him for not taking better care of the roads within his territories. By such measures as these he firmly established good order, and let other sovereigns see, that policy is as necessary in a government as an army. Nor was his severity against murder the least abated.Two couriers happened to meet at an inn, one of them perceiving the other had money, killed and robbed him while he was sleeping, and then made his escape; the murderer was soon apprehended and brought to Rome; he received the sentence invented by cruel Mezence, to be burried alive in the same coffin with the body of the murdered; which sentence was accordingly executed with the utmost rigour. BOOK VI. It was reasonable to imagine that the tribune was now arrived at the summit of glory; and that having beheld all Italy, and crowned heads prostrate before him, he had nothing more to covet on the part of ambition. In the meantime the very man, who was powerful enough to make himself esteemed higher than the kings he had seen pleading at his tribunal, had frenzy enough to be made a knight; without considering that he must enter among the nobility he had humbled, lose in all probability his credit among the people whose rights he maintained, and that the title of knight must be a disparagement to the dignity of tribune. Either from a subtlety of policy, or from an intoxication of prosperity, he made known his intention, and fixed on the first of August for the ceremony. Pursuing still his romantic notions of ancient grandeur, he fancied that a number of festivals one after another equalled the magnificence of the old Romans. By these pompous shows he thought also that he should engage the ambassadors to continue at Rome the whole month of August. Some days before the festival, which he resolved to make, he ordered the palace of Constantine, that of the pope, and the numerous apartments of St. John de Lateran, to be fitted up. He caused a prodigious quantity of tables to be made out of the remainder of the wood, that had been taken from the noble men's houses, and made communications from one place to another for the accommodation of the officers. These preparations drew a mighty concourse of people to Rome from the adjacent towns to be spectators of a sight so new. On the day appointed, all the streets through which the procession was to pass were lined with people. It began about three in the afternoon in the following manner:-First, a great number of horse, composed of all the ambassadors, foreigners and citizens, barons and burghers, all richly apparelled, and marching with ensigns and music, all in good order. They were followed by a large company of masks, dancers, and tumblers, with timbrels, bagpipes, and other instruments. Then the tribune's lady on foot, but preceded by two equerries who held the gilded bits of a most superb horse richly caparisoned. She was accompanied by her mother, and escorted by a brilliant train of ladies, who attended rather through fear than affection.Several trumpeters blowing by turns separated the procession of the ladies from that of the tribune. Next came a cavalcade of young gentlemen armed with lances. They distinguished themselves by the management of their horses, and by the various evolutions they made them perform.— Twice they threw off their cloaks for tilting. At length appeared the tribune, with the pope's vicar on his left.Before him marched four officers, one of them carrying a naked sword, which he held high above his head; the second displayed the standard, on which was a sun in the middle of stars, with a dove carrying in his beak an olive branch; the third showed the people a steel sceptre, which was the mark of the office of the tribune; and the fourth dispersed among the crowd a new sort of money, which the tribune had ordered to be coined. A body of nobility surrounded his person. He distinguished himself by his long robe of white satin wrought with gold, but more by the air of majesty which he displayed, among a guard of fifty men. With this retinue he proceeded to the church of St. John de Lateran, which he made choice of for the ceremony of his installation. When he entered at night, he went up to the chapel of pope Boniface, from whence he could see and hear the peo ple. He immediately assumed his prophetic air, and thus addressed them: "People who give ear to me, understand; my design is this evening to be made a knight: retire and return to-morrow. You shall hear those things that shall gforify God in Heaven, and give joy to men upon earth." This speech, together with the novelty of the festival, gave the people great satisfaction. Every thing was carried on without disturbance, except two men happening to have words, drew upon each other, but they presently sheathed again, and made up the quarrel; such impression had fear and respect on the minds of all. When the people withdrew, the priests began the office, after which the tribune performed an exploit, which in the end occasioned him much trouble. He resolved to take away the famous marble bathing vessel, wherein the emperor Constantine bathed himself, it is said, after he had been healed of a leprosy by pope Sylvester. This monument having always since been deemed sacred, it was looked upon as an indecent liberty in the tribune to take it away; the clergy were greatly astonished, but they were obliged to keep their murmurs secret. Upon removing the vessel, he made the chevalier Vic Scutto gird his sword round about him. To add to this indecency he committed another, far greater. He went to bed in a particular place of the church, inclosed by pillars, and called St. John's Font. Upon his stepping into bed, an accident happened, which in that superstitious age, was looked upon as an ill omen. The bed, notwithstanding it was entirely new, fell to the ground under him, and in that condition he was obliged to lay all night. The next day in the morning he put on a purple robe, and made his minister, De Vic Scutto, gird again his sword about him, who by the force of gold, was strongly attached to him. People flocked from all parts to the church to see the tribune in the new habit of a knight. His majestic carriage attracted fresh admiration and respect. He was seated upon a throne in the chapel of pope Boniface, and surrounded as usual with the principal officers of his court, the Roman and foreign nobility, who were attentive to the wonders he declared to them. He suspended the public curiosity by an act of piety. He caused a solemn mass to pope be celebrated with all the pomp and grandeur usual at the coronation of kings: in the middle of the service he arose from his seat, and advanced towards the people: he then with a loud voice said, "We summon to our tribunal Clement VI. and order him to come and reside at Rome, his proper seat. In like manner we summon the whole sacred college." Afterwards he summoned Charles, king of Bohemia, lately elected emperor, and Lewis of Bavaria, who had the title of emperor, with all the electors who had proclaimed Charles, king of the Romans. "I should be glad," continued he, "to know from them the reasons that induced them to such an election, and upon what foundation they arrogated to themselves a right which appertains solely to the Romans, who have time immemorial been sovereign arbiters of the empire." This said, he drew his sword, and flourished it, pointed to three corners of the globe, crying out aloud at each, "This is mine, this is mine, this is mine." Raymond, the pope's vicar, having heard the holy father summoned without murmuring, and quietly assisted during the whole mystery, at length awakened. He had the courage to protest in the name of the pope, that what he had seen and heard was entirely without his participation and Clement's consent. At the same time he ordered a notary to draw a declaration and read it. No sooner had the notary began to read, but Rienzi made all the trumpets sound, and the bagpipes and other instruments play, which entirely prevented the people from understanding one word of the protest. When mass was ended, the tribune invited the people to an entertainment he had prepared in the three neighbouring palaces; he went himself to the old hall of St. John de Lateran. He took his place at a marble table, whereon the popes used to dine. He had but two covers, one for himself, the other for the bishop of Orvieto, the pope's vicar. The new knight appeared very brilliant in the rich purple robe he was arrayed in; his hat was trimmed with diamonds. The other tables, sat at some distance from his, were for the ambassadors, the nobility, and the gentry. The knight's lady entertained all the ladies, both Roman and G |