HAWK WOOD, A ROMANCE OF ITALY. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. III. LONDON SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. 1840. HAWKWOOD. CHAPTER I. And there was mounting in hot haste-the steed, CHILDE HAROLDE, CANTO III. We have now to pass over a period of several years; but before resuming the thread of our narrative, we must crave our reader's patience, while we take a cursory glance at the principal events which happened in Italy in the intervening space. The talents and the ambition of Visconti, now created Duke of Milan, had rendered him by VOL. III. B far the most powerful of the Italian princes; every year his frontier was extended, and his schemes for the entire subjugation of his country became more apparent. The balance of power among the different states was completely overturned for a time; and Francesco Carrara was the only potentate in Lombardy who maintained his independence. This brave prince, after having escaped from the place of his confinement, threw himself by turns on the generosity of Genoa, of Florence, and of Bologna. But it was in vain that he sought protection and assistance against the powerful ruler of Milan; and after a long series of surprising adventures, and almost incredible hardships, he at length, in spite of the vigilance of Visconti's emissaries, contrived to escape into Germany, whence he shortly afterwards rëentered his native territory, at the head of three hundred lances, which were furnished him by the Duke of Bavaria. With this little band he surprised Padua, drove out Visconti's garrison, and established himself in the city of his ancestors; and being soon thereafter reinforced with several thousand men from |