(1) Should hear mass daily without fail, take as his confessor a man of
spirit, devoted to the cause of the Monarchy, and should confess to him,
at the tribunal of penitence, only the most irreproachable sentiments.
(2) Should consort with no one who bore any reputation for intelligence,
and, were the need to arise, must speak of rebellion with horror as a
thing that no circumstances could justify.
(3) Must never let himself be seen in the _caffè_, must never read any
newspaper other than the official _Gazette_ of Turin and Milan; in
general he should shew a distaste for reading, and never open any book
printed later than 1720, with the possible exception of the novels of
Walter Scott.
(4) "Finally" (the Canon added with a touch of malice), "it is most
important that he should pay court openly to one of the pretty women of
the district, of the noble class, of course; this will shew that he has
not the dark and dissatisfied mind of an embryo conspirator."
Before going to bed, the Contessa and the Marchesa each wrote Fabrizio
an endless letter, in which they explained to him with a charming
anxiety all the advice that had been given them by Borda.
_THE POLICE_
Fabrizio had no wish to be a conspirator: he loved Napoleon, and, in his
capacity as a young noble, believed that he had been created to be
happier than his neighbour, and thought the middle classes absurd. Never
had he opened a book since leaving school, where he had read only texts
arranged by the Jesuits. He established himself at some distance from
Romagnano, in a magnificent _palazzo_, one of the masterpieces of the
famous architect Sanmicheli; but for thirty years it had been
uninhabited, so that the rain came into every room and not one of the
windows would shut. He took possession of the agent's horses, which he
rode without ceremony at all hours of the day; he never spoke, and he
thought about things. The recommendation to take a mistress from an
_ultra_ family appealed to him, and he obeyed it to the letter. He chose
as his confessor a young priest given to intrigue who wished to become a
bishop (like the confessor of the Spielberg[9]); but he went three
leagues on foot and wrapped himself in a mystery which he imagined to be
impenetrable, in order to read the _Constitutionnel_, which he thought
sublime. "It is as fine as Alfieri and Dante!" he used often to exclaim.
Fabrizio had this in common with the young men of France, that he was
far more seriously taken up with his horse and his newspaper than with
his politically _sound_ mistress. But there was no room as yet for
_imitation of others_ in this simple and sturdy nature, and he made no
friends in the society of the large country town of Romagnano; his
simplicity passed as arrogance: no one knew what to make of his
character. "_He is a younger son who feels himself wronged because he is
not the eldest_" was the _parroco's_ comment.
[Footnote 8: Silvio Pellico has given this name a European notoriety:
it is that of the street in Milan in which the police headquarters
and prisons are situated.]
[Footnote 9: See the curious Memoirs of M. Andryane, as entertaining
as a novel, and as lasting as Tacitus.]