some time between midnight and dawn, and that the brethren were waiting for daylight to convey me to the cemetery. They watched all night, I knew, and celebrated midnight mass for those whose friends were able and willing to pay for the ceremony, and I guessed that Prince Gherado had charged himself with these cares on my behalf. Slightly unclosing my lids I gazed at each kneeling figure in turn. They were of course facing the altar, and my only clue to their iden ing hither and thither, I still had consciousness enough left to feel that I was now in the hands of a remorseless foe, who meant that I should die. Still I seemed not specially distressed or grieved, but more as if I were outside my body as a spectator. Slowly even this recognition of outward things failed me; and while Gherado and the valet were trying to unfasten my tie and placing cordial on my lips, their faces and voices receded, and became fainter and dimmer, till all things faded from my consciousness, and I re-tity would be gathered from the hand membered no more. CHAPTER III. of each as he held his taper, and from what I could see of his feet. Of the six, four displayed rough, coarsely made shoes, and hands accustomed to labor; one had new boots, but his hands, though white and shapely, were heavy and large. The sixth figure, the one on my left, near was as still as a carved image, his head bowed, his hands grasping a heavy can. dle; but it did not need the gleam of a great stone in a ring he habitually wore, to tell me it was my enemy. I recognized at once the long, thin fingers of his white hands, and felt I could trace the shape of his head beneath the black drapery. How helpless I was- - how entirely in his power! If I interrupted the service and for the moment escaped, I knew I should not leave Italy in safety; a man so unscrupulous and so powerful for evil as he was, would not be balked of his prey so easily. A cold sweat bedewed my body, as grim thoughts chased each other through my brain. I was so weak, and every now and then a strange dizziness overpowered me, felt as though I could not regain my liberty unaided. A STRANGE, droning noise, an atmosphere heavy with incense, and a feeling of imprisonment, are the memories that come back to me when I recall the first moment of returning consciousness. Aest the altar, was, I knew, Schidone. He dull, heavy pain in my head, a sensation of numbness, a feeling that I did not care to know where I was or how I came there, are the next things I remember. Then suddenly and with a bound I seemed to regain control of my brain, and gazed about me with full awakening. My sur roundings gave me ample food for thought. I was in the chapel of the Misericordia; the priest was chanting a mass for the dead, and six of the brethren in their black dresses were kneeling round me holding tapers in their hands. I was dressed in grave-clothes, and in the coffin, which, with a curious recollection of detail, I knew to be a gorgeous one, and remembered that it would, when I reached the burial ground, be exchanged for a wretched shell, resembling an elongated egg-box, and be sent back to serve for the repose of other still forms, whilst I should be sleeping under the sod. The bier was a low one, and as the head of my coffin was somewhat raised, I commanded a view of the altar, where stood the officiating priest, and the acolytes swinging censers. An agony of horror possessed me. My first impulse was to cry out and warn the worshippers that this mockery must cease. Then one of the brothers stirred, and the certainty that my would-be murderer was there, watching till I should be safely entombed, made me restrain the sound that rushed to my lips. I closed my eyes and tried to grasp my position. From what I knew of Italian customs, I was aware that not more than twenty-four hours had been allowed to elapse since my supposed death; and as it was dark, and I must have been with Schidone till nearly seven in the evening, I surmised it to be The minutes as they passed seemed hours; and yet they flew all too fast, for I could invent no scheme for escape. A moonbeam shone through one of the upper windows, and I thought how lovely it must be outside, how the soft light would be glorifying the Campanile, how deep would be the shadow in the Bigallo, how black would show the inlaid marble of the Duomo. Should I ever see it all again? My eyes wandered round the chapel; I gazed at the picture of St. Sebastian over the altar; then at the acolytes and murmuring priest; and then at the long, lacetrimmed altar-cloth, which touched the ground on either side. Surely my eyes were at fault, or was that black spot a smouldering cinder from out the censer the boy had swung so carelessly? With rapt intensity I watched the linen with the coal on it, and the little puff of smoke aris 66 ing therefrom. A few seconds more and had grave fears. Savelli gave me food a red line of fire ran up and along the and wine and a much needed change of cloth, and the artificial flowers on the raiment; and I thankfully flung myself on altar were ablaze. A shout from the a sofa for a few hours' repose. At the brethren, who seemed to rise simultane- appointed time my friend aroused me; and ously from their knees, and confusion by nine o'clock we were on our way to reigned. Then the voice of Gherado the dwelling of Cardinal Bandinelli, in arose calm and clear. "Save the pic-pursuance of our design to invoke his aid ture!" was the command to two of his in our difficulty. The old porter was hard companions, who immediately obeyed. to persuade that we ought to be admitted; "Call the firemen," he said to another. but it occurred to Savelli to request him Quick, put the treasures and relics into to send for the cardinal's secretary, with a place of safety," was his command to whom he was slightly acquainted. Then the priest. But his coolness only availed we were allowed to go up the great stairfor a few minutes; for as the flames case, and pass behind the heavy curtains seemed to take possession of the build- at the top, whence we were ushered into a ing, priest, acolytes, and brethren disap- plainly furnished apartment, semicircular peared in a panic, leaving their black in form, and with three open windows, robes on the floor. commanding a glorious prospect. Here, after waiting a few minutes, we were joined by the secretary, to whom Savelli told enough of the truth to enable him to judge that an interview with the cardinal was imperative. He conducted us to the study, where we found his Eminence seated in a huge armchair and clad in his purple cassock. His little red cap and the large ring he wore were the only indica tions that his rank was higher than that of a Monsignor. A cup of chocolate was on a table beside him, and a little book of devotion open on his knee. Gherado stood for a moment with the ghastly light of the flames shining on his face, and then advanced to my side. I feared his piety would cause him to carry me out for proper burial, and with a sick ening dread I held my breath and allowed no muscle to quiver; but he only muttered "E meglio così fire hides as well as earth," and walked out of the flaming building. As his receding footsteps died away, and with the noise of the advancing crowd in my ears, I sat up, then crept from the coffin, and seizing one of the long robes of the brethren, put it on, drew the hood closely over my face, and escaped by the door leading into the Via Calzaioli, whence I sped, barefooted as I was, across the bridge and down the street of the Santo Spirito. The excitement of the numerous people I met was great; but after the first few minutes, I dreaded attracting attention, and had the sense to refrain from running, trusting that the sight of a Misericordia walking barefoot would not excite remark. Several persons gazed at me curiously, but no one spoke; and I arrived at the door of my dwelling in safety. Then I paused. If I entered, there would be danger of questions and inquiries, much talk and confusion, and my escape would certainly reach the prince's ears. It would be better for me to go elsewhere, and I determined to seek Saveili. When he was aroused, and had listened to my tale, he promised every aid in his power, but strongly advised me not to return to my lodgings, or to remain in the city longer than was necessary. Together we made plans for my safety and for the help of Amaranthe, for whose welfare I had the greatest anxiety, and for whom I "Your Eminence will pardon me," said the secretary as we advanced, "but these gentlemen have news for your private ear." "Ah, my children, the tidings are bad, I fear, since you come so early; good news can always wait," said the amiable old man. We unfolded our tale. It was griev ous to speak of the evil deeds of one near him to this benevolent personage; but he showed the ready acumen of a man of the world in dealing with the subject. 66 "I presume you have no wish to bring an accusation of attempted murder against the prince?" he said. "No," I answered, somewhat unwillingly. "You must be aware that your interference in the affairs of the prince's household was most unwarrantable," he said severely; "and besides, you would, I think, be unable to bring any proof of such an attempt that would satisfy a judge. The servants would bear witness to his great anxiety about you, and to the statement he made to them as to your illness. See," he added, "here is the newspaper with an account of the affair." I took the sheet he handed me, and read that an English artist, "Cuthberto | beside him, and also a lady's kerchief. Anslej," had died suddenly of heart-dis- Amaranthe is also dead, one may say, for ease at the Palazzo Schidone, after re- she is gone into the convent of the Seturning from a long drive with the prince, polte Vive in Rome, which is indeed a during which he appeared to be in excel living death. lent health. Doctor Monte was mentioned as having been in attendance soon after the event. "To-morrow," said the old prelate, "there will be another paragraph stating that the body of the before-mentioned artist was burned in the fire at the chapel of the Misericordia." "Will the prince believe that?" I asked. "What matters it? He will not care to question it; and as for you, your departure from the city had best be speedy. I will see that Signor Savelli has unquestioned liberty to pack your effects and forward them to you." "Did your Eminence receive a letter from the princess? I posted one to you from her just before my drive with the prince," I ventured to say. "Davvero!" returned he, "I had the envelope. There was nothing in it but a sheet of blank paper." "Of more cheerful subjects we will speak when I grasp your hand in the summer. Sempre a te. "LUIGI SAVELLI." From Temple Bar. THE RUSSIAN ARMAMENT. THE article we are writing is entitled "The Russian Armament," but it has nothing to do with present complications; it is a review of the papers of the Duke of Leeds, which have been admirably edited by Mr. Oscar Browning for the Camden Society, and the "Bland Burges Papers," just published by Mr. Murray. The Marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds, was foreign secretary in Mr. Pitt's government until the year 1791, when he resigned on account of his reWe did not dare to insist on the unhap- fusal to withdraw the demands he had piness of his niece and the danger she made on Russia. Lord Carmarthen was might be in. He promised to take imme- one of the finest gentlemen of the time, diate steps for her welfare; but his man-high-spirited, wonderfully handsome, and ner forbade further speech on the subject, renowned for his grace of manner. "Eland we were dismissed with his Emi-egant Carmarthen," so he was styled. nence's blessing, a grace craved by Savelli. He was very kind-hearted. Once Foote Two days afterwards, I arrived, wearied, went into White's Club with a friend who exhausted, dazed, but safe and sound, at wanted to write a note. Foote, standing the hospitable house of my cousin at amongst strangers, did not look quite at Eastmere. My adventure interested him his ease. Lord Carmarthen walked up to immensely, and he warmly seconded my him, and in order to relieve his embar wish that Luigi Savelli, to whom I felt so rassment, said, “Mr. Foote, your handgreatly indebted, should be invited to kerchief is hanging out of your pocket." come to England and stay with us for a Upon which the ungrateful wit looked while. The invitation I wrote procured suspiciously round, and thrust his handthe following response: — kerchief in his pocket, saying, "Thank you, my lord; you know the company a great deal better than I do." Mr. James Bland Burges was a friend of Lord Carmarthen, and received the appointment of under secretary for foreign affairs, which he held till he was removed by Lord Grenville in 1795. His papers have been edited by Mr. Hutton, and contain a variety of entertaining matter. "AMICO MIO - I thank you with all my heart for your amiable letter, and your cousin for his most kind invitation. I will come! Yes, my friend, I will visit your green island when your fogs are gone and your sun is come. I will look in your face once more, as I did the night you came to me from the tomb, like another Ginevra degli Amieri, and we will talk of the pleasant days in Florence. Mr. Burges gives an amusing account of an argument that took place between Mr. Pitt and Gibbon, in which the latter was signally defeated. This took place at Mr. Burges's dinner table. 66 Since you left us, we have had a trag. edy. The Prince Schidone is dead died by his own hand, say some; died by his wife's hands, say others. It is true In these favorable circumstances, Mr. Gibhe is dead; how, I know not. His valet bon, nothing loth, took the conversation into found him lifeless in the early morning, his own hands, and very brilliant and pleasant and there was an empty chloroform phial | he was during the dinner and for some time afterwards. He had just concluded, however, one of his best foreign anecdotes, in which he had introduced some of the fashionable levities of political doctrine then prevalent, and, with his customary tap on the lid of his snuff-box, was looking round to receive our tribute of applause, when a deep-toned but clear voice was heard from the bottom of the table, very calmly and civilly impugning the correctness of the narrative, and the propriety of the doctrines of which it had been made the vehicle. The historian, turning a disdainful glance to wards the quarter whence the voice proceeded, saw, for the first time, a tall, thin, and rather ungainly-looking young man, who now sat quietly and silently eating some fruit. There was nothing very prepossessing or very formidable in his exterior, but, as the few words he had uttered appeared to have made a considerable impression on the company, Mr. Gibbon, I suppose, thought himself bound to maintain his honor by suppressing such an attempt to dispute his supremacy. He accordingly undertook the defence of the propositions in question, and a very animated debate took place between him and his youthful antagonist, Mr. Pitt, and for some time was conducted with great talent and brilliancy on both sides. At length the genius of the young man prevailed over that of his senior, who, finding himself driven into a corner from which there was no escape, made some excuse for rising from the table and walked out of the room. I followed him, and, finding that he was looking for his hat, I tried to persuade him to return to his seat. "By no means,' said he. "That young gentleman is, I have no doubt, extremely ingenious and agreeable, but I must acknowledge that his style of conversation is not exactly what I am accustomed to, so you must positively excuse me.' And away he went in high dudgeon. "The Gibbon," as his friend Lord Sheffield used to call him, once more met Pitt at Beckenham, the residence of Lord Auckland, and Lord Sheffield relates that his meeting Pitt privately was a great satisfaction to him, and that Gibbon gave a very good account of the ease and unministerial deportment of the great man. There is new and very interesting information to be found in the "Burges Papers respecting the prosecution of Warren Hastings. At the request of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Burges got up to answer Sheridan's great speech in the House of Commons. Although it was his first attempt, the House naturally refused to listen to him. It is clear that Mr. Pitt's astonishing abandonment of Hastings to his persecutors was at the instigation of Dundas. Warren Hastings was a favorite at court, and it was feared that he would supersede Dundas at the Board of Control. Indeed, Mr. Dundas openly told Lord Maitland, one of the managers, that opposition by their attack on Hastings had done exactly what he wanted. On the night Pitt voted against Hastings, Mr. Burges was so sure that Pitt was going to speak in his favor that he ensconced himself in a snug corner of the opposition benches in order that he might obtain a better view of Mr. Hastings's mighty champion, when to his horror he heard his hero pour forth an invective against the unfortunate Hastings so acrimonious as precluded all hope of assistance from government. Mr. Burges divided the House in favor of Hastings, to Pitt's great annoyance. When the House broke up, he said to me with an austere look, "So, sir, you have thought proper to divide the House. I hope you are satisfied." "Perfectly so, sir," I replied. "Then you seem satisfied very easily.' "Not exactly so, sir. I am satisfied with nothing that has passed this evening except the discovery I have made that there were still honest men present." On that, with a stern look and a stately air, he left me. Mr. Burges which show with what forti There are several anecdotes given by tude Warren Hastings bore his unmerited sufferings: When I reflect [said Hastings] upon my present circumstances when I listen to the railings of my accusers, and when my spirit rises up against them - I call to mind the story of an Indian king whose temper never knew a medium, and who in prosperity was hurried into extravagance by his joy, while in adversity grief overwhelmed him with despondency. Having suffered many inconveniences on his forthcoming birthday, the most acceptthrough this weakness, he gave notice that, able present which any of his courtiers could make would be a sentence short enough to be engraved on a ring, and suggesting a remedy for the grievance of which he complained. Many phrases were accordingly proposed, but not one that was satisfactory, until his daughter came forward and offered him an emerald " on which were engraved two Arabic words, the literal translation of which is, "This, too, will pass." The king embraced his child, and declared that she was wiser than all his wise men. Now [continued Mr. Hastings] when I appear at the bar, and hear the violent invectives of my enemies, I arm myself with patience. I reflect upon the mutability of human life, and say to myself, "This, too, will pass." Mr. Burges gives an anecdote of a circumstance which happened at a dinner at Lord Carmarthen's, which shows that Mr. Pitt had some feelings of remorse for the manner in which he had forsaken Hast. ings. An accidental allusion being made to his unexpected change of sentiment respecting the Begum charge, Pitt suddenly rose from his chair, and striding to the fireplace, remarked in a dignified tone to Lord Carmarthen, "We have had enough of this subject, my lord; I will thank you to call another." With all my heart," said Lord Carmarthen; "I am as sick of the subject as you can be. So come, Pitt, sit down and put the bottle round, for strange to tell, it stands by you." Pitt and Dundas once drank seven bottles of wine at one sitting. were withdrawn, expressed great doubts of the detail of operations was arranged. Lord coming even to a general determination before Chatham very ably observed that to him it appeared more natural to come to some determination upon general grounds, and afterwards discuss the details of executing such measures as might appear expedient to be adopted. We had several communications on the subject, and at length a minute of Cabinet was agreed to, stating the necessity of supporting our proposed plan of pacification, of immediately informing the King of Prussia of our intention of sending a fleet of thirty to forty sail into the Baltic, a squadron of ten or twelve ships of the line into the Black Sea to assist the Turks. Mr. Pitt's foreign policy had been eminently successful: he had destroyed the Mr. Fox opposed violently the projected ascendency of France in Holland; he had expedition to the Baltic, and the war gen. quelled the pride of Spain in the dispute erally. One of the greatest speeches Fox of Nootka Sound; but his attempt to curb ever delivered was directed against the the advance of Russia in her invasion of "Russian Armament." There was great Turkey ended in disaster. Russia had objection to hostilities on the part of the suffered a loss of forty thousand men in the mercantile community, whose trade with siege of Oczacow, which was finally suc- the Baltic was very large and remuneracessful. Mr. Pitt's government demanded tive. Several of Mr. Pitt's stanchest that this fortress should be restored to supporters declined to follow him, and the Turks. Catherine positively refused finally some of the leading members of to resign her conquest, and consequently the Cabinet took fright; the Duke of England armed in conjunction with Prus- Richmond and the Marquis of Stafford, sia to compel her to disgorge. Everything the grandfather of our present foreign seclooked like war. A great fleet assembled retary, were soon eager to retreat. at Spithead, "the Russian Armament," as tory repeats itself. it was called. Holland was expected to join in the war; however, she was lukewarm in the cause. She had sent a fleet under Admiral Kingsbergen to help England against Spain, but against Holy Russia she declined to fight. The English ambassador at the Hague was violent against the war. The plan of the campaign was that whilst an English fleet should be sent to the Baltic and Black Sea, the king of Prussia in person, with eighty thousand men, should invade Livonia. The Duke of Leeds writes: On Monday, 21st, and Tuesday, 22nd, March, Cabinets were held at my office, in which the sentiments of the King's Ministers, with the exception of Lord Grenville, were for sending a fleet to the Baltic, and a squadron to the Black Sea, in order to give weight by active exertion to our principle of establishing peace between Russia and the Porte, on the ground of the status quo. Lord Grenville thought that an additional armament would produce the best effect, and at all events keep the future direction of the negotiations in our hands by the simple effect of a demonstration so formidable on the part of England, and which, in the event of hostilities, we could no longer answer for short of immediate success. The Duke of Richmond, at one or other of these meetings, when most of the members 2612 LIVING AGE. VOL. LI, His Wednesday, the 30th, being in the House of Lords, the Duke of Richmond took me into one of the Committee Rooms, and stated his ing the prosecution of our present plan renopinion that the numberless difficulties attenddered it almost impossible to succeed; that the country would not support it, and that we ought to look for some expedient to get out of the scrape. I told his grace my own opinion was precisely the same; it had been from the beginning of the business, and that even if it had changed, I should fear we were too late for retreating without hazarding our reputation very materially. That supposing the cau. tious line he recommended should be approved, I could see but one method of succeeding without sacrificing our consistency, viz., a secret but direct negotiation with Prince Potemkin (which might indulge in its effects one of his ruling passions, avarice), with a view to obtain the Empress's acquiescence in our terms. seemed to approve of this, expressing his conviction that to carry on a war against Russia would be impracticable. In the evening the Cabinet met. The Duke of Richmond, Lord Stafford, and Lord Grenville seemed to think it advisable to devise, if possible, some means of desisting from our present plan. The Chancellor, Lord Chatham, Mr. Pitt, and myself agreed it might be attended with difficulty, but not equal to that which must accompany the change of system proposed. Lord Stafford owned that either part to be adopted in the He |