sumed, with the life of the vendor, the money which he had paid down. All would have fled, had flight been possible; but the tyrant, had posted guards on the frontiers, who prevented ingress or egress, and if any one was detected in secret flight, without sentence or interrogatory, a leg was instantly cut off, or an eye plucked out. The courage of two noblemen had, however, nearly delivered the earth from this monster. The two brothers Monte and Araldo de Monselice, were conducted by guards to Verona, where Eccelino then resided, for examination. They arrived before the public palace, while the tyrant was at dinner; they drew his attention by their cries, and so exasperated him, that he left the table and advanced towards them, without arms, exclaiming, In evil hour they come, the traitors! Monte, as soon as he saw him, tore himself from the grasp of his guards, sprang upon him, and threw him down, falling with him. While he was searching for the poniard which he supposed that Eccelino wore beneath his clothes, and at the same time tore the face of his persecutor with his teeth, a guard cut off the right leg of Monte with his sabre, and the rest hewed in pieces Araldo, who strove to aid his brother. Monte, apparently insensible to this first wound, and to the blows which were incessantly showered upon him, did not abandon his prey, and made ineffectual efforts to stifle him. He perished at last, but on the body of the tyrant whom he had rent with his teeth and nails, and who was long before he entirely recovered from the effects of his wounds and his terror.'

Such, at length, was the abhorrence excited by the horrible excesses of da Romano, and such the dread of his talents and ambition, that under the auspices of Pope Alexander IV. a crusade was declared against him. The first ecclesiastic who employed his eloquence to stir up this holy warfare, was Philip, archbishop of Ravenna, who visited Venice for that purpose. He there found a great number of fugitives who had fled from the tyranny of Eccelino. At their head was Tiso Novello of Campo San Pietro, the son, scarcely adolescent, of that William, the story of whose death we have related, and the last heir of a family nearly exterminated by the tyrant. Of the army which enrolled itself at the exhortations of the prelate, Marco Badoero, a Venetian, was appointed the commander, and the standard was confided to the charge of young Tiso Novello. The Marquis Azzo d'Este, the cities of Ferrara, Mantua, and Trent, with the powerful republic of Bologna, declared against him; while he, in addition to his own forces, relied on the aid of his brother Alberic, and of the chiefs of Cremona. He commenced the war by menacing Brescia and Mantua, while he despatched Ansedisio de' Guidotti to arrest the progress of the crusaders by fortifying the line of the Brenta. That egregious general took a much more effectual method: he diverted the stream to prevent the ships of Venice

from navigating it, and by that notable expedient left the channel dry enough for infantry to pass. The crusading army was of a very motley composition, and the Archbishop of Ravenna was alike destitute of talents and character. They pushed on, however, without any effectual opposition from the incapable and dastardly Ansedisio, and carried Padua by assault, rather through a happy accident, than by skilful or fearless conduct. Seven days pillage was the appropriate occupation of these disinterested liberators. They released, however, the prisoners of Eccelino, among whom were troops of children, eyeless, or yet more cruelly mutilated; and the Paduans, amid all their losses, exulted in the recovery of their liberty, and the security of their lives. Eccelino received the intelligence of this disaster, while he was encamped on the banks of the Mincio. He had in his army eleven thousand inhabitants of Padua or its territory, composing one third of his whole force; and, fearing their defection, he contrived, by a series of perfidious measures, to secure that large body in different prisons, where, by famine, fire, the sword, or the scaffold, the whole perished. Of that army, composed of the flower and strength of Padua, scarcely two hundred persons escaped. An attempt made by the crafty Alberic da Romano, the brother of Eccelino, to recover Padua, by imposing on the credulity of the papal legate, was defeated through the forecast of the Venetian Marco Querini; and when the Tyrant himself advanced with his army for the same purpose, he found the crusaders in his behind a strong entrenchment, which he vainly endeavoured to force, The following year, 1257, was consumed in intrigues; but, in 1258, the Archbishop of Ravenna preached himself into Brescia, and persuaded the inhabitants to join the league. While he was thus employed, intelligence arrived that the Marquis Relavicino, with the Cremonese militia, in alliance with Eccelino, had attacked their frontiers. The Legate, without delay, left the city at the head of the troops of Brescia and Mantua, with such of the crusaders as were then under his immediate command, and advanced to encounter the Marquis. Of this hazardous movement, which both ungarnished and uncovered Brescia, Eccelino took prompt advantage. He defiled rapidly by Peschiera, with a superior force, and moving on the rear of the sacred army, filled it with such terror, that almost without striking a blow, it was completely routed. Biaquino of Cumino and his troop gallantly forced their passage through the enemy, and escaped; all the rest fell, fled, or were made prisoners. Happily, the blundering Archbishop was among the last. Brescia was taken possession of by Eccelino and his allies, Buoso de Doara and the Marquis Pelavicino,

way,

the joint leaders of the troops of Cremona. Elated by his victory, the Tyrant resolved to secure the sole possession of his new conquest, and endeavoured by artful insinuations, to set Buoso and the Marquis at variance. He gained his main object, the mastery of the town, but lost his friends, who detected his intrigues, and indignantly joined the coalition against him.

In 1259, Eccelino entered on the campaign with the most numerous and effective army that he had ever yet commanded. His plan was bold, but practicable with his means. It was no less than to make himself master of Milan, by a sudden movement, in the expectation that the Milanese nobles, who were at variance with the people, would open the gates when he appeared before them. To mask this intention, he laid siege to the castle of Orci. His demonstration immediately put in motion the allies, who, delivered from the ignorant and presumptuous Legate, were directed by able and experienced commanders; the Marquis Pelavicino with the Cremonese, the Marquis Azzo d' Este with the troops of Ferrara and Mantua, and Martino della Torre with the Milanese militia. While these divisions were bearing down on the position of Eccelino, the latter, ordering his infantry to fall back slowly on Brescia, in the expectation that it would be followed across the Oglio by the troops of Milan and Cremona, put himself at the head of his powerful and well appointed cavalry, and, traversing the Oglio and the Adda, pushed directly for Milan. Martino della Torre, however, instantly countermarched, so that when, after crossing the Adda, Eccelino prepared to advance, he found an army interposed between him and his object. Fully aware of the danger of his situation, he exerted himself with energy and ability. Failing in an assault on a fortress which commanded the passage of the Adda, he seized on the bridge of Cassano, which he found unguarded.

Da Romano, like many other impious men, was extremely superstitious, and his astrologers had cautioned him against Cassano, Bassano, and generally against all towns and places with a similar termination as boding misfortune. By so 'much the more the slave of superstition,' justly remarks M. de ⚫ Sismondi, on account of his entire destitution of religious feeling since his soul was not impressed with the sentiment of a Divine Being, it satisfied the necessity of believing by im'plicitly trusting in the influence of the stars.' When the name of the bridge was mentioned to him, he shuddered; and, instead of pausing there, returned to Vimercato for a moment's repose. In the mean time, the Marquis d'Este, traversing the Ghiara d'Adda, attacked and carried the tête de pont of Cassano; every other point was guarded, and the enemy of the human

race was encompassed by a superior force, without apparent means of escape. When Eccelino was informed that the re- ! doubt was stormed, he sprang upon his horse, and advanced impetuously to retake it; but a wound which he received, occasioned a delay and discouragement which defeated his intention. He then crossed the river by a ford; but his rear-guard was scarcely disengaged from the stream, when it was attacked by the Marquis d'Este; while the cavalry of Brescia, when ordered to charge, commenced its retreat. All was now confusion, and at length, the Tyrant, beaten from his horse, and wounded severely in the head by a man whose brother had been mutilated by his orders, was made prisoner. Eccelino, a : captive,' says Rolandini, shut himself up in a menacing silence; he fixed on the ground his ferocious countenance, and gave no loose to his deep exasperation. The soldiers and the 'people flocked from all quarters; they were eager to behold this man, formerly so powerful, this famous prince, terrible and cruel above all the princes of the earth; and the universal joy burst forth on every side.' The chiefs, however, protected him from outrage. Surgical aid was offered, but he rejected all alleviation, he tore open his wounds, and on the eleventh day of his captivity, died at Soncino.

The interesting matter which abounds in these volumes, seems to accumulate as we proceed. The life and character of Matteo Visconti, the brilliant career of Castruccio Castracani, the eventful tragedy of Rienzo, the romantic adventures of Braccio, the Sforzas, the Piccinini, Carrara, Carmagnola, and a host of other able and enterprising men; the rivalry of the maritime states, the fortunes of Florence and Milan, the persevering attempts of the Emperors on the liberties of the Italian States, the intrigues of the Popes, the struggles between France and Germany on the debateable ground of Lombardy, the story of the Medici,-all these might severally occupy as large a portion of our pages as that which has been already devoted to the present article. As, however, meagre analysis would be perfectly bewildering and uninteresting, and copious abstract interminable, we must satisfy ourselves with ! the specimens we have already given of this admirable work.

It remains that we advert, though it must be briefly, to Mr. Roscoe's volume, of which the least interesting portions are those which contain his animadversions on M. de Sismondi, and his reply to the objections urged by the latter against certain statements contained in his life of Lorenzo de' Medici. We confess that the first appears to us very injudicious, and the last extremely ineffective. If our recollection serve us rightly, M. de Sismondi has somewhere used the sarcastic expression,

I

Ecrivains phrasiers, in direct or indirect application to Dr. Robertson and Mr. Roscoe. We are afraid that this, or some similar phrase, has infused somewhat of acerbity into the mind of our accomplished countryman, and prompted him to an attack which will assuredly do no injury to his antagonist. We have no inclination to enter on the investigations necessary to enable us to pronounce on all the points at issue between them; but, judging from the materials before us, we can have no hesitation in assigning the superiority in learning, acuteness, and philosophical impartiality, to the foreign historian. Mr. Roscoe is not always a fair critic; he has not, for instance, done courteously or wisely in representing the unbiassed concessions of M. de Sismondi as reluctantly made. When the latter, having affirmed that the title of the Magnificent, now universally attributed to Lorenzo, was given to him by his contemporaries, only in common with other men of elevated rank, finishes his explanation by emphatically stating, that he merited the surname of which an error has put him in possession;' Mr. R. permits himself to assert, that he is compelled' to the admission. And when M. de S. applies to a proposal made by Lorenzo the term generous,' it is qualified as a compelled' deference to right feeling This is a childish species of warfare, and Mr. Roscoe should not have descended to it.

On the authority of Joh. Mic. Brutus, a writer of the sixteenth century, M. de Sismondi has informed us that the two brothers (Lorenzo and Giuliano) did not perfectly agree in their system of administration: Giuliano being of a mild and conciliatory disposition, and having felt himself disquieted by the impatience, the pride, and the violence of his brother. To the evidence of this Venetian writer of a later period, who is remarkable only for his inaccuracy and his animosity to the Medici, M. de Sismondi has added that of Alfieri, in his Congiura de' Pazzi, where the author has availed himself of this supposed disagreement in order to heighten the dramatic effect."

Without dwelling on the obvious circumstance, that 'his animosity to the Medici' has not prevented Brutus from speaking favourably of Giuliano, we are compelled' to accuse Mr. Roscoe of decided misrepresentation in the latter part of this extract. Sismondi has no where cited Alfieri as an evidence; he has simply observed, not in the regular page, but in a brief foot-note, that the poet had tiré parti- made ' use' or 'taken advantage' of this opposition of character in his tragedy. But we are quite indisposed to proceed with this petite guerre, and shall only add, that, after a careful comparison of the passages referred to, with the objections made by Mr. R., we cannot find that he has made any substantial impression on the statements of his rival. We have much VOL. XIX. N.S. C