bold and uncompromising mind, would win the everlasting gratitude of the whole of Italy."

"Thanks, Baron, for your golden opinion, for I have heard very few ever gain from your lips such an unqualified approbation. Tell me, however for tell me you must, as you know I cannot bear contradiction what nobler study do you allude to?"

-

"Have you never thought," replied the Baron, while turning his looks upon his youthful listener, as if he wished to watch the effect his words would have, "that there is in the loveliness of your country, in its charms, attracting the attention of all travellers, a something wanting to render the beauty perfect? Does it not present itself to your mind there is a venomous snake entwined within the land, destroying the freshness of the splendour, I have heard you so often boast of as constituting the pride of your heart?"

"Ah! I guess your meaning, but have a care lest your problem be heard by less friendly ears than mine, and is solved in a manner you would dislike. Your snake, Signor Barrone, is our kind Austrian care-taker, who, like some considerate guardian, dips his fingers in every one's house, to take care of what he fears we might spend in riot instead of in usefulness to the state.'

"Yes," answered the Baron, in a deep and passionate tone, while every vein in his countenance swelled as if to bursting "yes, I allude to the Sclave and the Croat, who, acting as the fierce tools of their savage master, make war not only on liberty, but on virtue destroy with equal avidity the activity of the human mind as they do the beauty of life."

"Often, often have I thought on what you say," uttered young Porro with more feeling than one could think would be exhibited by the careless light-heartedness of his manner; "but what avails my thinking when the evil will still remain? Do not, dear Baron, be speaking of such evil geniuses, otherwise you will damp my spirits, and make my good father think I am lingering under some disease, and will have me, despite my best ef forts, giving audience to a whole regiment of Paduan doctors, and listening to their learned disquisitions, which la Bella Virgine defend me from!"

"And is it thus, Porro, you would treat the wrongs of your country-with silent contempt, or a passing jest? Look," exclaimed the Baron, seizing his friend by the arm, and pointing to a large palace, or rather castle, visible in the distance, the residence of many a proud generation, "behold there lie the ancient towers of your ancestors; around you, for many a mile, extend the lands that will one day be your own; but neither the one nor the other is safe from the rapacity of absolutism. Throughout Italy, our classthe old nobility of Rome's world, who would have formerly spurned with contempt the thought of slavery, ever ready to lead the van in every danger, and fight bravely for their fatherland, now sunk in sloth and idleness, have become a scorn, a by-word to the entire of Europe! Bowed down in spirit, and, poisoned by the chalice so temptingly offered to our lips by our oppressors, we seem to forget the old pride of country, the right we have to protect and guide the weak and unarmed people. Still there slumbers within us the mind, which, if but aroused, would work out a repentance for all our past weaknesses. How to arouse it I could easily point out; but to you how useless, until you can feel the claim of country more deeply!"

"You must seek, caro amico, another head wiser than mine to understand your patriotic dream; for in me, I fear much, notwithstanding your bright opinion, you will but meet a dull scholar."

A slight smile of disdain, almost imperceptible, curled the lip of the Baron, while he dropped the conversation, and walked on in silence by the side of Porro.

The sun had now set, and in its place arose the silvery queen of night. Gloriously grand and picturesque was the scene, as light clouds, almost transparent, flitted across the starry firmament of heaven, reflecting their shadows in a stream that gently murmured along the road-side, pursuing its quiet course towards a larger tributary. At a small distance from the Baron and Porro, as they leisurely walked along, rose a small cottage, clothed with ivy and numerous other plants, which seemed to in tertwine themselves playfully, as if to shade the walls from the bright light of the moon. But it was not

the beauty of the scene they halted for a moment to gaze upon, for a piercing scream broke the silence of the evening, and startled them from the reverie into which they had fallen. The scream evidently proceeded from the cottage, from whence also was seen the sudden glare of fire bursting through window and crevice. For a second Porro paused with astonishment; then calling on the Baron to follow, he dashed towards the scene of conflagration, clearing with a single bound the stream which separated the road from the field on which stood the cottage. In a few minutes he arrived before the burning element, which, spreading with the breeze, was carrying destruction on all it could reach.

The cottage was of a simple and light structure, built almost entirely of wood, and two stories high. It was inhabited by a widow, the Signora Teresa Avellinni, the nurse of Porro. The only other inmates were two children, a girl of about seventeen years of age, and a boy several years her junior, and who were throughout the neighbourhood universally respected. At the outside of the cottage, when Porro approached, stood three soldiers, attired in the uniform of one of the Austrian regiments, holding an elderly female, the Signora Avellinni; and to her earnest and heartrending supplications to save her daughter from the devouring flames, they were jesting between themselves, and laughing at her abortive efforts to escape their custody. At their side stood a fair boy, of some ten years of age, with his long ringlets floating behind his back, and joining his tearful entreaties to those of his mother; while every time he approached near enough to the brutal soldiers, he was repulsed by a blow from one of their muskets, and which, when well aimed, called forth a new peal of laughter from their unfeeling and atrocious hearts. The quick eye of the boy immediately perceived Porro, and, running to his side, screamed rather than spoke :

"Signor, good Signor, save my sister, Margerita, or else she will be burnt to death! The soldiers have fastened her in her room to prevent her escape !"

Pausing not for a second to inquire further of what to him was incompre

hensible, and alive only to the danger which threatened the life of his nurse's daughter with certain destruction, he darted through the cottage door, and with difficulty made his way through the smoke, which nearly deprived him of breath, up to the first landing, where a door opposed his further progress. Certain that he was within a few yards of the young girl he had come to save, from the piercing screams which smote his ears, he made frantic efforts to force the door that barred his further progress, and, by a few well-directed blows, given by a strong arm accustomed to athletic exercises from its youth, he burst through the panel, and entered the room. Tied by strong cords to the pole of a heavy bedstead was the young woman he sought, who was making vain efforts to free herself. To undo the cords, seize hold of the girl in his arms, and descend the staircase, was to Porro a joyful task; and as he made his appearance from the burning roof, he was greeted by shouts of welcome from numbers of the peasantry who were running in all directions, attracted by the glare, towards the cottage, not merely to look on as spectators, but to endeavour to assist in extinguishing the flames, which it was easy to perceive was more than a hopeless task. But what was to a mother's heart the value of all her property, compared to the safety of her child's life? for as the Signora Avellinni perceived Porro bearing the inanimate form of her daughter from the cottage, with frantic efforts she tore herself from the grasp of the soldiers, and, rushing toward them, crying My child! my child!" she fell fainting on the ground, from the sudden revulsion of feeling.

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Laying the young female tenderly on the green verdure, sufficiently distant from the cottage to be safe from any of the numerous sparks which flew in hundreds around, he turned to ask one of the many peasants to fetch some water from the neighbouring stream. His wish was soon complied with, and, eagerly assisted by several of the kindhearted peasantry, he proceeded to sprinkle it on the faces of the young girl and her mother. His task of charity, however, was soon rudely interrupted by the approach of the soldiers, who, with harsh words and knocks, made their way through the crowd which surrounded Porro.

"Stand aside, my masters, stand aside, and leave our prisoners alone," exclaimed what appeared to be the leader of the three, in a rude and boisterous tone, "otherwise we will soon consume your cottages as we have consumed this. The young one to dare to endeavour to conceal her revolutionary songs from us. I would wager she has a lover amongst the Young Italy."

"And can you tell me, men as you appear to be, if the burning of a poor widow's unprotected house, and the consignment of her daughter to a frightful death, which, you ought to thank God I arrived in time to prevent, is a deed worthy to boast of?" uttered Porro in quick and vehement tones, while the blood mounted to his

countenance.

"Per Bacco, young meddler, if you do not use a civiller tone to your betters, I will soon teach you one," replied the soldier; and while speaking he seized the Signora Avellinni by the

arm.

From the crowd at that instant appeared the little boy, and, flying towards the soldier who held his mother, he seized him by the skirt of his coat, and endeavoured to prevent him from molesting her further, exclaiming, at the same time, in the piteous tones of a child, "Leave mia cara madre alone."

As if sufficient cruelty had not been perpetrated, or whether the soldier was dissatisfied a victim had escaped his brutality, or whether it was a mere act of wantonness, we know not, for God can alone judge the human heart; but turning fiercely upon the innocent boy, whose affection for his mother provoked the other's wrath, he plunged his bayonet into the child's body, who, with a shriek of agony, fell upon the green sward. A thrill of horror burst from the lips of the spectators; and so sudden had been the act, no time was allowed for a single hand to be raised to save the poor child from the ill-fated thrust. But the author of the act did not escape scatheless; for scarcely had he time to withdraw his bayonet from the bleeding body, when a blow from the strong haad of Porro felled the unfeeling villain to the ground.

"Down with the tyrants!" exclaimed several voices, and a sudden rush was made on the soldiers, who in a

second were disarmed, and rendered incapable of doing further harm. would they have fared, had not Porro, far wiser than his youth would have proclaimed, and glowing with a manful indignation, exclaimed, in a voice heard above all the confusion

"Leave them alone, my friends, I will endeavour to see justice done. Beware, lest you bring trouble on yourselves.'

The peasantry immediately fell back as they heard the voice of their young lord, not so much from love for his authority, as with astonishment at their own act of daring in disarming the menials of Austrian despotism; for they had been so long accustomed to view with fear the power wielded with no unsparing hand by their oppressors, and justice was so seldom to be obtained, that the slightest act of resistance on their part, however just it might be, was sure to call on their devoted heads a terrible retribution.

"Go," exclaimed Porro to the discomfited leader, as he rose slowly from the ground, wiping his face from the blood which flowed from a wound in his forehead caused by the blow which had prostrated him to the ground"Go; retire quickly from this spot, for worse may ensue from your unfeeling act. Me you dare not touch and if those injured women be really your prisoners, you will find them in an hour hence in my father's palace."

;

Sullenly the leader, followed by his two companions in villany, turned from the crowd, muttering threats of vengeance; the presence of Porro and their coward fears alone preventing them from putting their revenge into immediate execution. Freed from their presence, Porro turned his attention to the poor boy, whose life was fast ebbing away, and, kneeling by his side, gently raised his head on his arm. By him knelt also the mother and the sister, recovered from their momentary state of oblivion only to awaken to a new scene of horror. Aid there was none, nor was it required, for no medical skill could avail. But even had it been otherwise, the nearest surgeon resided at Padua; and al though the city stood but a short distance, yet hours might elapse before any medical gentleman could obtain permission from the authorities to leave the town and visit a spot where had been enacted one of those

many lawless deeds of butchery and uncontrolled power, which at that period, and even yet, constantly take place on the fair fields of Lombardy.

Gazing on the youthful countenance of the unfortunate child the pall of death was soon to cover from all eyes, tears, springing from a noble sourcethe fountain of pity-suffused the eyes of Porro. Memory brought back to his mind the many times those lips had been pressed to his own in joyful love how those little arms had been confidingly thrown round his neckhow he had in sportfulness run with him amongst the sunny fields, until his merry laugh was heard echoing to the ear; and as each scene was recalled vividly to his mind, bitter thoughts sprung up-thoughts until then slumbering in infancy,-and there was born, by the infant spirit fast floating to eter

nity, the FIRST IMPULSE, which was to find vent only in the grave; the Impulse of the Moment was to become the Effort of Years.

Silently he laid down the lifeless corpse, no longer full of action and energy; and as he turned away to give directions for the widow and her daughter to be taken to his father's residence, the roof of the cottage fell in, and then flashed forth with renewed vigour the fire, which for a moment had been smothered, seemingly as if Italy accepted the offering of the First Impulse.

At the same moment a voice spoke ; it was that of the Baron

"Thus by the hands of a tyrant's minions die all that are fair and bright. How long will the proud nobility of thy soil, oh, Italy! sleep in their dream of slavery and infamy ?"

ALL Padua was astir, and in a state of confusion. Small knots of people were endeavouring to collect in different parts of the city, notwithstanding the existence of a law in force against the assembling of persons, in however small a number, under any pretext whatever; and the armed patrols of soldiers who paraded the streets were trying to enforce it, by ordering, in no courteous terms, the citizens to keep within their houses. For once the orders, generally listened to in fear and immediately obeyed, were totally disregarded; for as soon as a crowd was dispersed in one direction it collected in another, and it was with some difficulty the streets were kept passable. It was no ordinary event could thus excite the quiet inhabitants of Padua to assemble together, in defiance of the law, and in danger of imprisonment and confiscation of property. Nor was it any gay spectacle they were drawn together to witness, nor religious procession to awaken their dormant feelings of adoration, for the vehement gestures and angry countenances spoke a different tale. Many of the country people, distinguished by their dress and appearance from the

and this for women. Such inflictions has

city gentry, mingled with the crowd; and here and there one of them was especially singled out as a person of importance, whilst relating the particulars of some story which seemed to excite the peculiar attention and curiosity of the crowd. Those who stood listening to the speakers uttered every now and then exclamations of rage and indignation, and with no friendly eyes watched the approach of one of the many patrols as they walked leisurely along, thrusting aside with their bayonets the citizens who did not move from their path with sufficient speed to suit their humour.

The cause leading the good people of Padua to assemble together, was no other or less than the murder-for by no gentler term can we call it-of Signora Avellinni's child. Born in the city, and bred up amongst its inhabitants, with numerous connexions scattered through it in various parts- the burning of her cottage, the attempted effort made, and which happily was unsuccessful, to doom her daughter to a frightful death, and the atrocious act which terminated the life of her young son, roused the general sympathy, and pity, and indiguation of the Paduans.

Her connexion with the Porro family in quality as former nurse to the young heir, whose father's large territorial possessions in the city and around it gave him as much authority as it was possible for an Italian nobleman to enjoy, who held no office under the Austrian government, contributed not a little to the general feeling of commiseration. The tale of the unprovoked act, with all its incidents, and especially the part Porro took in saving his nurse's daughter, exaggerated with all the high colour a story generally obtains by being handed from mouth to mouth, had quickly circulated over the entire city, bringing with it a thousand comments, and fears, and hopes, that as the young heir of a powerful house had taken up the matter as a personal one, justice would be obtained, and the aggressors meet with the punishment they so richly deserve. Even with these strong motives which might naturally stir up a people to see justice done by a demonstration of their interest in the cause of the wronged, so long accustomed had the Paduans been to look with terror on their oppressors, that it might have. been difficult to have aroused their feelings to such an open manifestation, was it not for the general agitation of society, caused by the measures of reform which it was bruited abroad the head of the Catholic Church contemplated conferring on the Roman people.

The crowd had principally collected near a large, ancient, and massive building which had formerly been the residence of one of those barons who, in the middle ages, required not so much adornment of beauty for their palaces as they did strength to defend them from any attack of their rivals in power. Spreading over a large portion of ground, with high windows and heavy doors, surrounded by smaller houses, it appeared like a huge tree towering above its lesser kind. Its external appearance presented a cold and dismal aspect, and seemed a ready indication of the purposes for which it served, as a hall of justice, where from day to day sat the commissary whose duty it was to dispense what was termed the law of the country. The gates of the building were closed, and a large body of troops stood inside a court ready for service, armed with bayonets and loaded muskets, placed

there to lend impartial Austrian justice the aid of their peaceful appearance.

"Per Bacco!" exclaimed one of the crowd, with thick head and strong proportions, a fit specimen of a burly blacksmith, "I wonder how the Signor Porro bears himself in the lion's den ?"

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How should he bear himself but as a noble signor, as he is, ready to protect the weak?" answered a young man, evidently one of the students of the University.

"I know not-I know not," said the blacksmith, with a sagacious shake of the head; "it is far different talking to the commissario-whose soul the diavolo may take care of for aught I care-than to be speaking to any of us. The good Virgin guard him!"

"The commissario dare not hurt our handsome signor. I and a thousand others would fight for him," spoke a female, whom curiosity and the excitement of the town had drawn amongst the crowd.

"And I, too, per la grazia del Dio," said the blacksmith.

"And I, too- and I, too," echoed twenty voices.

was

The object of their conversation had a few moments before passed among the crowd and entered the building. Ascending a wide staircase and traversing through several anterooms, Porro, accompanied by the Baron Pinaldi and several friends, ushered into a room, in which was seated, before a square table strewed with numerous papers, a person of some forty-five or fifty years of age, with a dark countenance and an unpleasant aspect. This was the commissary. Near him, on the right hand side, were seen the mournful features of the Signora Avellinni and her daughter; while a few paces further off stood several soldiers, amongst whom were the three who had caused all the misery and excitement. On the entrance of Porro and his friends, the commissary, after saluting them, immediately proceeded to the business before him.

"I have, in consequence of a note received from you, Signor Porro, waited your arrival; but I cannot see in what respect your presence is requisite. The matter might have been well over and settled by this time, and this collection of people, contrary to the law, dispersed."