Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton (best summer reads .txt) 📗

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RIENZI, The Last of the Roman Tribunes

by Edward Bulwer Lytton

Then turn we to her latest Tribune’s name, From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee, Redeemer of dark centuries of shame— The friend of Petrarch—hope of Italy— Rienzi, last of Romans! While the tree Of Freedom’s wither’d trunk puts forth a leaf, Even for thy tomb a garland let it be— The Forum’s champion, and the People’s chief— Her new-born Numa thou! Childe Harold, cant. iv. stanza 114. Amidst the indulgence of enthusiasm and eloquence, Petrarch, Italy, and Europe, were astonished by a revolution, which realized for a moment his most splendid visions.—Gibbon, chap. 1xx.

Dedication of Rienzi.

To Alessandro Manzoni, as to the Genius of the Place,

Are Dedicated These Fruits, gathered on The Soil of Italian Fiction.

London, Dec. 1, 1835.

Dedication,

Prefixed to the First Collected Edition of the Author’s Works in 1840.

My Dear Mother,

In inscribing with your beloved and honoured name this Collection of my Works, I could wish that the fruits of my manhood were worthier of the tender and anxious pains bestowed upon my education in youth.

Left yet young, and with no ordinary accomplishments and gifts, the sole guardian of your sons, to them you devoted the best years of your useful and spotless life; and any success it be their fate to attain in the paths they have severally chosen, would have its principal sweetness in the thought that such success was the reward of one whose hand aided every struggle, and whose heart sympathized in every care.

From your graceful and accomplished taste, I early learned that affection for literature which has exercised so large an influence over the pursuits of my life; and you who were my first guide, were my earliest critic. Do you remember the summer days, which seemed to me so short, when you repeated to me those old ballads with which Percy revived the decaying spirit of our national muse, or the smooth couplets of Pope, or those gentle and polished verses with the composition of which you had beguiled your own earlier leisure? It was those easy lessons, far more than the harsher rudiments learned subsequently in schools, that taught me to admire and to imitate; and in them I recognise the germ of the flowers, however perishable they be, that I now bind up and lay upon a shrine hallowed by a thousand memories of unspeakable affection. Happy, while I borrowed from your taste, could I have found it not more difficult to imitate your virtues—your spirit of active and extended benevolence, your cheerful piety, your considerate justice, your kindly charity—and all the qualities that brighten a nature more free from the thought of self, than any it has been my lot to meet with. Never more than at this moment did I wish that my writings were possessed of a merit which might outlive my time, so that at least these lines might remain a record of the excellence of the Mother, and the gratitude of the Son.

E.L.B. London: January 6, 1840.

CONTENTS

Preface

RIENZI, The Last of the Tribunes.

BOOK I.    THE TIME, THE PLACE, AND THE MEN.

Chapter 1.I    The Brothers.

Chapter 1.II    An Historical Survey—not to Be Passed Over, Except by

Chapter 1.III    The Brawl.

Chapter 1.IV    An Adventure.

Chapter 1.V    The Description of a Conspirator, and the Dawn of the

Chapter 1.VI    Irene in the Palace of Adrian di Castello.

Chapter 1.VII    Upon Love and Lovers.

Chapter 1.VIII    The Enthusiastic Man Judged by the Discreet Man.

Chapter 1.IX    “When the People Saw this Picture, Every One Marvelled.”

Chapter 1.X    A Rough Spirit Raised, Which May Hereafter Rend the Wizard.

Chapter 1.XI    Nina di Raselli.

Chapter 1.XII    The Strange Adventures that Befel Walter de Montreal.


BOOK II   
THE REVOLUTION

Chapter 2.I    The Knight of Provence, and his Proposal.

Chapter 2.II    The Interview, and the Doubt.

Chapter 2.III    The Situation of a Popular Patrician in Times of Popular

Chapter 2.IV    The Ambitious Citizen, and the Ambitious Soldier.

Chapter 2.V    The Procession of the Barons.—The Beginning of the End.

Chapter 2.VI    The Conspirator Becomes the Magistrate.

Chapter 2.VII    Looking after the Halter when the Mare is Stolen.

Chapter 2.VIII    The Attack—the Retreat—the Election—and the Adhesion.


BOOK III   
THE FREEDOM WITHOUT LAW.

Chapter 3.I    The Return of Walter de Montreal to his Fortress.

Chapter 3.II    The Life of Love and War—the Messenger of Peace—the

Chapter 3.III    The Conversation between the Roman and the


BOOK IV   
THE TRIUMPH AND THE POMP.

Chapter 4.I    The Boy Angelo—the Dream of Nina Fulfilled.

Chapter 4.II    The Blessing of A Councillor Whose Interests and Heart Are

Chapter 4.III    The Actor Unmasked.

Chapter 4.IV    The Enemy’s Camp.

Chapter 4.V    The Night and its Incidents.

Chapter 4.VI    The Celebrated Citation.