The danger that threatened Rienzi by the arrival of Montreal was
indeed formidable. The Knight of St. John, having marched his army into
Lombardy, had placed it at the disposal of the Venetian State in its war
with the Archbishop of Milan. For this service he received an immense
sum; while he provided winter quarters for his troop, for whom he
proposed ample work in the ensuing spring. Leaving Palestrina secretly
and in disguise, with but a slender train, which met him at Tivoli,
Montreal repaired to Rome. His ostensible object was, partly to
congratulate the Senator on his return, partly to receive the monies
lent to Rienzi by his brother.
His secret object we have partly seen; but not contented with the
support of the Barons, he trusted, by the corrupting means of his
enormous wealth, to form a third party in support of his own ulterior
designs. Wealth, indeed, in that age and in that land, was scarcely less
the purchaser of diadems than it had been in the later days of the
Roman Empire. And in many a city torn by hereditary feuds, the hatred of
faction rose to that extent, that a foreign tyrant, willing and able to
expel one party, might obtain at least the temporary submission of
the other. His after-success was greatly in proportion to his power to
maintain his state by a force which was independent of the citizens,
and by a treasury which did not require the odious recruit of taxes. But
more avaricious than ambitious, more cruel than firm, it was by griping
exaction, or unnecessary bloodshed, that such usurpers usually fell.
Montreal, who had scanned the frequent revolutions of the time with a
calm and investigating eye, trusted that he should be enabled to avoid
both these errors: and, as the reader has already seen, he had formed
the profound and sagacious project of consolidating his usurpation by an
utterly new race of nobles, who, serving him by the feudal tenure of the
North, and ever ready to protect him, because in so doing they protected
their own interests, should assist to erect, not the rotten and
unsupported fabric of a single tyranny, but the strong fortress of a
new, hardy, and compact Aristocratic State. Thus had the great dynasties
of the North been founded; in which a King, though seemingly curbed
by the Barons, was in reality supported by a common interest, whether
against a subdued population or a foreign invasion.
Such were the vast schemes--extending into yet wider fields of glory and
conquest, bounded only by the Alps--with which the Captain of the Grand
Company beheld the columns and arches of the Seven-hilled City.
No fear disturbed the long current of his thoughts. His brothers were
the leaders of Rienzi’s hireling army--that army were his creatures.
Over Rienzi himself he assumed the right of a creditor. Thus against
one party he deemed himself secure. For the friends of the Pope, he had
supported himself with private, though cautious, letters from Albornoz,
who desired only to make use of him for the return of the Roman
Barons; and with the heads of the latter we have already witnessed his
negotiations. Thus was he fitted, as he thought, to examine, to tamper
with all parties, and to select from each the materials necessary for
his own objects.
The open appearance of Montreal excited in Rome no inconsiderable
sensation. The friends of the Barons gave out that Rienzi was in league
with the Grand Company; and that he was to sell the imperial city to
the plunder and pillage of Barbarian robbers. The effrontery with which
Montreal (against whom, more than once, the Pontiff had thundered his
bulls) appeared in the Metropolitan City of the Church, was made yet
more insolent by the recollection of that stern justice which had led
the Tribune to declare open war against all the robbers of Italy: and
this audacity was linked with the obvious reflection, that the brothers
of the bold Provencal were the instruments of Rienzi’s return. So
quickly spread suspicion through the city, that Montreal’s presence
alone would in a few weeks have sufficed to ruin the Senator. Meanwhile,
the natural boldness of Montreal silenced every whisper of prudence;
and, blinded by the dazzle of his hopes, the Knight of St. John, as
if to give double importance to his coming, took up his residence in a
sumptuous palace, and his retinue rivalled, in the splendour of garb and
pomp, the display of Rienzi himself in his earlier and more brilliant
power.
Amidst the growing excitement, Angelo Villani arrived at Rome.
The character of this young man had been formed by his peculiar
circumstances. He possessed qualities which often mark the Illegitimate
as with a common stamp. He was insolent--like most of those who hold a
doubtful rank; and while ashamed of his bastardy, was arrogant of the
supposed nobility of his unknown parentage. The universal ferment and
agitation of Italy at that day rendered ambition the most common of all
the passions, and thus ambition, in all its many shades and varieties,
forces itself into our delineations of character in this history. Though
not for Angelo Villani were the dreams of the more lofty and generous
order of that sublime infirmity, he was strongly incited by the desire
and resolve to rise. He had warm affections and grateful impulses; and
his fidelity to his patron had been carried to a virtue: but from his
irregulated and desultory education, and the reckless profligacy of
those with whom, in ante-chambers and guard-rooms, much of his youth had
been passed, he had neither high principles nor an enlightened honour.
Like most Italians, cunning and shrewd, he scrupled not at any deceit
that served a purpose or a friend. His strong attachment to Rienzi had
been unconsciously increased by the gratification of pride and vanity,
flattered by the favour of so celebrated a man. Both self-interest and
attachment urged him to every effort to promote the views and safety of
one at once his benefactor and patron; and on undertaking his present
mission, his only thought was to fulfil it with the most complete
success. Far more brave and daring than was common with the Italians,
something of the hardihood of an Ultra-Montane race gave nerve and
vigour to his craft; and from what his art suggested, his courage never
shrunk.
When Rienzi had first detailed to him the objects of his present task,
he instantly called to mind his adventure with the tall soldier in the
crowd at Avignon. “If ever thou wantest a friend, seek him in Walter
de Montreal,” were words that had often rung in his ear, and they now
recurred to him with prophetic distinctness. He had no doubt that it
was Montreal himself whom he had seen. Why the Great Captain should
have taken this interest in him, Angelo little cared to conjecture. Most
probably it was but a crafty pretence--one of the common means by which
the Chief of the Grand Company attracted to himself the youths of Italy,
as well as the warriors of the North. He only thought now how he could
turn the Knight’s promise to account. What more easy than to present
himself to Montreal--remind him of the words--enter his service--and
thus effectually watch his conduct? The office of spy was not that which
would have pleased every mind, but it shocked not the fastidiousness of
Angelo Villani; and the fearful hatred with which his patron had often
spoken of the avaricious and barbarian robber--the scourge of his native
land,--had infected the young man, who had much of the arrogant and mock
patriotism of the Romans, with a similar sentiment. More vindictive
even than grateful, he bore, too, a secret grudge against Montreal’s
brothers, whose rough address had often wounded his pride; and, above
all, his early recollections of the fear and execration in which Ursula
seemed ever to hold the terrible Fra Moreale, impressed him with a vague
belief of some ancient wrong to himself or his race, perpetrated by the
Provencal, which he was not ill-pleased to have the occasion to avenge.
In truth, the words of Ursula, mystic and dark as they were in
their denunciation, had left upon Villani’s boyish impressions an
unaccountable feeling of antipathy and hatred to the man it was now his
object to betray. For the rest, every device seemed to him decorous
and justifiable, so that it saved his master, served his country, and
advanced himself.
Montreal was alone in his chamber when it was announced to him that
a young Italian craved an audience. Professionally open to access, he
forthwith gave admission to the applicant.
The Knight of St. John instantly recognised the page he had encountered
at Avignon; and when Angelo Villani said, with easy boldness, “I have
come to remind Sir Walter de Montreal of a promise--”
The Knight interrupted him with cordial frankness--“Thou needest not--I
remember it. Dost thou now require my friendship?”
“I do noble Signor!” answered Angelo; “I know not where else to seek a
patron.”
“Canst thou read and write? I fear me not.”
“I have been taught those arts,” replied Villani.
“It is well. Is thy birth gentle?”
“It is.”
“Better still;--thy name?”
“Angelo Villani.”
“I take thy blue eyes and low broad brow,” said Montreal, with a slight
sigh, “in pledge of thy truth. Henceforth, Angelo Villani, thou art
in the list of my secretaries. Another time thou shalt tell me more
of thyself. Thy service dates from this day. For the rest, no man ever
wanted wealth who served Walter de Montreal; nor advancement, if
he served him faithfully. My closet, through yonder door, is thy
waiting-room. Ask for, and send hither, Lusignan of Lyons; he is my
chief scribe, and will see to thy comforts, and instruct thee in thy
business.”
Angelo withdrew--Montreal’s eye followed him.
“A strange likeness!” said he, musingly and sadly; “my heart leaps to
that boy!”