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that
occasion such exultation to the privileged murderers of the
earth.
    When Guinigi and Castruccio became intimate, the youth would
reason with him, and endeavour to prove, that in the present
distracted state of mankind, it was better that one man should get
the upper hand, to rule the rest. "Yes," said Guinigi,
"let one man, if it be forbidden to more than one, get the
upper hand in wisdom, and let him teach the rest: teach them the
valuable arts of peace and love."
    Guinigi was a strange enthusiast. Men, like Alexander and other
conquerors, have indulged the hope of subduing the world, and
spreading by their triumphs refinement into its barbarous recesses.
Guinigi hoped, how futilely! to lay a foundation-stone for the
temple of peace among the Euganean hills. He had an overflowing
affection of soul, that could not confine itself to the person of
his son, or the aggrandizement of his country, or be spiritualized
into a metaphysical adoration of ideal beauty. It bestowed itself
on his fellow-creatures; and to see them happy, warmed his heart
with a pleasure experienced by few. This man, his imaginative
flights, his glowing benevolence and his humble occupations, were
an enigma that Castruccio could never solve. But, while he neither
sympathized with nor understood him, he quickly loved him with the
warmest affection.
    Castruccio wished to speak to him of his future destination;
Guinigi said, "Your father has recommended you to my counsels,
and you must allow me to become acquainted with you, before I can
give you advice. You are very young; and we need not hurry. Grant
me six months; we will not be idle. We will ramble about the
country: winter is the peasant's leisure time, so I am quite at
your service. We shall be much together, and will discuss many
subjects; and by degrees I shall understand the foundations on
which you are to build your future life."
    They travelled to Padua, to lovely Venice, raising its head from
the waves of ocean; they rambled about the coast for days together,
having no other end than to enjoy the beauties of nature. Then,
coming nearer home, they climbed the Euganean hills, and penetrated
their recesses. Guinigi had an ultimate object in view; he wished
to impress on the mind of his pupil a love of peace, and a taste
for rural pleasures. One day they were on the summit of Monte
Selice, a conical hill between Este and Padua, and Guinigi pointed
to the country around.-- "What a Paradise is this!" he
said. "Now it is bare; but in the summer, when the corn waves
among the trees, and ripening grapes shade the roads; when on every
side you see happy peasants leading the beautiful oxen to their
light work, and the sun, and the air, and the earth are each
labouring to produce for man all that is necessary for his support,
and the ground is covered with vegetation, and the air quickened
into life, it is a spot, on which the Creator of the world might
pause, and be pleased with his work. How different was this some
years ago! You have heard of Ezzelino the tyrant of Padua, under
whose auspices the rivers ran blood, and the unfortunate peasant
found his harvests reaped by the sword of the invading soldier!
Look at those peasants on yonder road, conducting their cattle
crowned with flowers: habited in their holiday best, and moving in
solemn procession; their oxen are going to be blessed by St.
Antonio, to ward from them the evils of the ensuing seasons. A few
years ago, instead of peasants, soldiers marched along that road:
their close ranks shewed their excellent discipline; their
instruments filled the air with triumphant sounds; the knights
pricked their steeds forward, who arching their proud necks, seemed
to exult in their destination. What were they about to do? to burn
a town, to murder the old, and the helpless, the women, and the
children; to destroy the dwellings of peace; so that, when they
left their cruel work, the miserable wretches who survived had
nothing to shelter them but the bare, black