BENVENUTO CELLINI: A TALE. FROM THE FRENCH. CHAPTER I. THE INTRUDER. THE day was near its close, the sun was sinking beneath the horizon in a sea of fire, and at the moment of his setting, the king of day cast the most brilliant colors over the surrounding landscape. In the heavens there shone a bright blending of hues, from the deepest crimson to the lightest rose; and upon the earth, the tops of the forests and the surface of the streams were tinged with gold, purple and azure-a vast and wonderful mirror, in which was seen the all-powerful hand of the Creator! At a distance of four leagues from Florence, on the summit of a mountain, from which the eye could embrace this marvellous spectacle, a young horseman, mounted upon a glossy, jet-black steed, had paused, motionless and dreamy, to contemplate this sublime picture; and to judge from his ample forehead, his strongly-marked features, the gloomy and ardent fire which burned in the depths of his dark eyes, it seemed that this man was well able to comprehend the grandeur and magnificence of the scene which lay outspread to his view. dreamy tint over the landscape, he shook off his revery, and horse and horseman disappeared, like the phantoms of a dream. After having spurred about a league's distance, with fantastic rapidity, leaping hedges, ravines, ditches, as if secure of the protection of some all-powerful genius, to shield him from the death which he braved at every step, he suddenly checked his steed before a castle, the approach to which was defended by a broad moat and a formidable drawbridge. This structure was formerly a strong fortress, and had been transformed into a villa, such as the gay and brilliant fancy of Boccaccio alone would have imagined. The young man rode slowly around it, and at the sight of the lengthening vista and admirable points of view which were developed beneath his eyes, he murmured involuntarily those beautiful verses in which Tasso describes the gardens of Armida, (for this immortal poem of the sublime and unhappy Torquato was already in every mouth;) and while he recited these lines, he asked himself if he should believe his senses, or if it were not the power of poetry which called up imaginary pictures to his glances. Unconsciously he himself added some- And, in truth, it seemed as if the wand thing mysterious and fantastical to this vast of a fairy alone could have combined in the picture. Perched on the very summit of same spot views so diverse and enchanting. this wild mountain, with his black steed, his On the one hand lay outspread, like a dazdoublet and cap of velvet, whose deep crim-zling carpet, a meadow, enamelled with red son hue seemed a reflection of the horizon, and blue flowers, and beyond the meadow from his immobility, as well as from the extended a broad sheet of water, interspersed nobleness of his attitude, he might have with little islands, like emeralds upon a been taken for some rare equestrian statue. ground of white satin. Beyond this prospect, He remained in this attitude of contem- which recalled to the young man's mind plation until the sun was completely en- the cool, calm landscapes of the north, apgulfed in the waves of flame that sur-peared suddenly a broad torrent, bordered rounded it; until he had seen the magnificent by a pile of calcined rocks, from which here colors which tinged the sky and the earth grow pale and fade away; then, when gray twilight had cast its uniform, indistinct, and and there rose plantains, larches, palm and aloe trees, and many other of those rich and vigorous plants which flourish only on the A single person formed a remarkable con soil of America. The arid nakedness of these ing thus with the careless ingenuousness of picturesque rocks, which the sun had check-childhood, beneath the bright blue sky, unered with brown and gilded tints, stirred in der the shade of those tall green trees, and the youth's soul the full, warm poetry with amid the cool vapors of that magnificent caswhich it overflowed; for there existed an in- cade, whose murmurs fell with such melody timate and mysterious affinity between his upon the ear. organization and the wild grandeur of this rude and vigorous scene, between the pas-trast to this joyous assemblage, casting by sions that devoured his heart and this luxu- her presence something strange and mysteriant vegetation. He gazed long, lost in rious upon this charming scene. It was a thought, at that solitary torrent, and when young maiden, younger and more beautiful he left the spot he often turned his head to than any of those who surrounded her. Her view it yet again. step was at times abrupt and irregular, at times slow and melancholy, and her glance now wandered careless and wild, and was now fixed in gloom upon the ground. She displayed all the symptoms of madness, and still no one seemed to sympathize in her condition, no one seemed to perceive her presence. The games, the laughter, the songs were still prolonged, and not a person present appeared to remark the movements of the poor maniac. But a new and fascinating picture soon riveted his attention, and then indeed he felt convinced that he had been transported to the garden of some enchantress, so strange, and, as it were, so marvellous was the spectacle offered to his glances. In the centre of a wide lawn, which was intersected by a verdant arbor, a fountain cast its waters into the air, which fell in cascades into a basin of white marble. Tall trees environed this lawn on every side, and through various openings, skilfully contrived between their long files of green and waving boughs, was seen, here and there, an old dilapidated turret, or on the summit of some ascending labyrinth a Belvidere, concealing its antiquity beneath garlands of flowers and luxuriant herbage. Here and there tame deer darted from the depths of these woods, and came to sport upon the lawn; beautiful birds, with hooked beaks, discordant notes, and dazzling plumage, rocked on the tops of the trees, pursued from branch to branch by marmosets, whose shrill cries re-echoed through the wood as often as they saw the former take to flight at their approach. About a score of persons of both sexes, elegantly attired, were assembled around the fountain. The most joyous liberty, the most familiar intimacy seemed to prevail among this group. Some chased the deer, which suffered them to approach and caress them; others were walking to and fro, arm in arm, laughing and discoursing together. The greater number were reclining upon the herbage, some partaking, amid the flowers, of a rural repast, others playing at dice, or singing to the accords of the mandolin. Pure and unmingled joy seemed to prevail among them; their radiant brows, their expanded and smiling lips betrayed no regret for the past, no care for the present or the future. It was a fair sight, in truth, to see them sport An indifference so profound to a misfortune so touching, above all, at such an age; a joy so natural and so unrestrained in the presence of madness, was something singular and inexplicable, and it appeared to produce a violent impression upon the imagination of the young horseman who witnessed this scene, for he deeply sympathized with the young maiden; still he remained rooted to his place by some irresistible emotion. The poor maniac had approached the basin, where she kneeled, collected the daisies. and butter cups that grew around her, arranged them into a nosegay, and having dipped them in the water, rose, walked slowly towards those who, extended upon the grass, were enjoying a rustic meal, and scattered the flowers upon the viands, murmuring at the same time a few notes of a sad and serious melody. The persons who composed the group did not even raise their heads; they cast aside the daisies and butter-cups, and continued their repast as if nothing had interrupted it. Then the young girl collected one by one her poor slighted flowers. As she stooped to raise them from the ground, she addressed to each some words, bathing it with her tears; and when she had gathered them all, she carried them to a young fawn, which ate them from her hand. When not a single one remained, she untied a cord of silk and gold which encircled her waist, fastened it about I the fawn's neck, and disappeared with the animal in the forest. Scarcely had she vanished when those whom she had left started suddenly from the ground, and then stood motionless and stupefied as if a thunderbolt had burst above their heads. The young horseman, who had watched all the maniac's gestures with such interest, had just leaped his steed across the wide ditch which surrounded the castle, and with a single bound was in the midst of the gay throng. For some moments they stood confounded at this act of audacity. When the first feeling of surprise had passed, every man rushed indignantly towards the bold intruder, and one of them, grasping him by the throat, dragged him rudely from his horse. The young man leaped up so suddenly, that it seemed as if he had scarcely touched the ground, and confronting the one who had just forced him from the saddle, he cast a fierce glance upon him, and half drew his poignard from its sheath. Still he did not attempt to execute the significant menace intimated by this energetic gesture. The man from whom he had suffered this indignity was of lofty stature, and so vigorously formed, that he seemed endowed with strength sufficient to crush him in his hands. His temples, worn by the chafing of his casque, his lofty, calm, and intrepid brow, the large mustachios, which covered half his face, together with his cold and sarcastic air, his imperturbable attitude as he faced that poignard which was raised against his breast, all gave him an aspect singularly imposing. Whether it were that his adversary was daunted by an exterior so intimidating, or whether another thought, flashing across his mind, had changed his resolution, he restored his poignard to its sheath, and calmly picking up his cap, which had rolled to a distance, and returning to the man from whom he had received so serious an affront, he said: "Well, then, my poor friend, know that I am Captain Hector Fiaramonti." "I shall not forget it." "The d-l is in it, if you do not forget it within twenty-four hours. I am in the habit of acting generously with my adversaries; I always allow them twenty-four hours of existence, before I send them to the shades." "It is a display of generosity that I am willing to recognize, by giving you a piece of information in my turn.” "It must be something curious." "You shall judge. Do you see this, and this ?" He pointed with his finger to two deep scars that he had received, the one upon the temple, the other above the left eyebrow. "A man almost as robust as you," he continued, "and perhaps as skilful in the use of his weapons, grossly insulted me one day; it is now two years since. I challenged him, and he came upon the ground, scoffing at my youth and weakness, for I was then even more slender and delicate than I am to-day; but I calculated neither my strength nor my skill in the art of fence. The result was such as might have been expected. I was stretched upon the meadow, with this wound upon my temple, a wound which brought me to the verge of the grave, and confined me for eight months to my bed. As soon as I was healed, my first thought was to seek out my victorious adversary; and after having roamed over all Italy, I encountered him at Milan. We fought a second time, and I received another wound, which, like the first, was almost mortal, and the scar of which you see here, above my eyebrow. This double failure, the result of which had, in both cases, so nearly proved fatal to me, had not yet appeased the thirst for vengeance that devoured me; and as soon as I had recovered health and strength, I hastened to Rome, where I learned that my enemy was passing the summer. He laughed in my face when I challenged him to a third combat; but an hour after he laughed no longer." "You wounded him?" "I slew him. Captain Hector Fiaramonti, remember this narrative; I shall soon remind you of it. And now, gentlemen, is the Prince Vivaldi present among you?" "He is before you," replied an old man, whose white beard, whose sad and serious features, were well adapted to inspire respect. "Prince, will you consent to grant me a moment's interview?" "The manner in which you have introduced yourself here, Signor, might well justify me in refusing your request; still I deem you already too severely punished, by the lesson which the Captain Hector has given you; therefore I will not treat you rigorously. I will listen to you, but in the presence of these knights and dames, who are my friends, and when you have told me your name." "My name is Fiorentino."" "And you are a soldier, doubtless, if I may judge by your exterior?" "No; I follow another calling." "And what have you to communicate to me, that is of such importance? What has brought you hither?" "I have come to heal your daughter, if you will confide her to my care." "You!" cried the Prince, casting a glance of astonishment upon the young man, whose exterior promised none of those qualifications that in all ages are required of a physician. He whispered a few words in the ear of another old man, of an austere and imposing visage. The latter replied by an incredulous smile, and cast upon Fiorentino a glance of the most profound contempt. "I thank you," replied the Prince at last; "but here is Messire Pezzolini, whose reputation is widely spread throughout Italy, and it is to him that I have intrusted my daughter's recovery." With these words he pointed to the old man with whom he had just spoken. แ And during the year that Messire Pezzolini has been engaged in this task, what has been his progress? Scarcely such as to promise great hopes of his success. Since the first day of his attendance he has not advanced a step towards the desired result. Well, if you are willing to trust to my skill, I engage to heal her in three days." "This young man is mad!" said Messire Pezzolini, disdainfully. "Decidedly mad!" re-echoed Captain Fiaramonti, turning his back upon the stranger. The Prince cast a glance of compassion upon Fiorentino, and departed, followed by all present. But the young man hastened after him, and barring his passage, said: "Prince, pardon me for still insisting; but I feel a profound conviction that I shall be successful in the cure that I wish to undertake. I cannot offer my life as a guarantee, since I am to venture it against Captain Fiaramonti, but I offer you my good steed, Uzelino, which I value more than life." The Prince Vivaldi cast an irresolute glance upon those who stood around him; so tenacious a resolution moved him in his own despite. "Remember," resumed Fiorentino, "that during the year that she has been a maniac, your daughter's condition has remained unaltered, and that the more inveterate her malady, the more difficult will be the cure. Let her madness endure yet for a year, and without wishing to question the skill of Messire Pezzolini, I declare that it will be incurable." "And you aspire to do that which is beyond the science of Signor Pezzolini ?” "I do; and I demand three days to give the proof." "What say you to this self-confidence, Signor?" said the Prince, turning to the old dispatched a messenger to Messire Pezzolini, begging him to come upon the instant, and to employ for my daughter's cure all the means that lay in his power, let the cost be what it might. Messire Pezzolini informed me that it was necessary that Vanina should have, incessantly, charming scenes before her eyes, and gay society continually around her; that she should often receive novel and always agreeable impressions. It was of great importance, above all, he said, that she should enjoy the utmost liberty, and that no one should appear to regard her movements, however singular and senseless they might be. All these instructions have been scrupulously followed. I have so arranged every thing within and about this mansion that the eyes of my poor Vanina can always repose upon a beautiful and varied landscape. I have gathered around her a circle of devoted friends, who aid my efforts with all their power; and, in fine, no one appears to hear her incoherent words, or see her unmeaning glances. This is all that we have thus far tried, and, until now, these means have remained without result. She has not yet displayed a ray of reason." seated themselves upon the grass. Fiorentino | hither with my poor child, and I at once took a place in their midst, enduring with imperturbable calmness the scoffing glances which were cast upon him from all sides. "Signor, I listen!" he said to the Prince. The Prince began. "When I lost my wife, the Princess," he said, stifling a sigh, "I sent this poor child to my sister, who dwelt near the little village of W-- wishing to remove Vanina for a while from the spot where her mother had just breathed her last. I left her there for six months, at the expiration of which time I wrote to my sister to send her back to me, as I had resolved to conclude her marriage with Captain Fiaramonti; a marriage which had been agreed upon before her departure. The domestic whom I dispatched with this letter returned in a few days with an answer from my sister, in which she prayed me to leave Vanina with her for some time, as she was ill, and found in the society of her niece a great relief to the sufferings that she endured. I could not refuse without harshness. I left my daughter with her, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Captain, who was vexed at this new delay, and I waited patiently for my sister's recovery, that she might send her back to me. "Still, as after an interval of two months she did not return, I resolved to go for her, and I set out with the Captain, who persisted in accompanying me, in order that he might, a few days earlier, see her who was soon to be his wife. But we were both far from anticipating the misfortune that awaited us at the end of our journey. We reached my sister's mansion, after a ride of two days. She was dead! I advanced to embrace my daughter. She uttered a piercing shriek when she beheld us, and fell senseless to the floor. When we raised her, she was a maniac! Was this sad event to be attributed to grief at her aunt's death, or to our sudden appearance? Alas, I cannot say. I questioned all those among whom she had lived, as to her pleasures, her habits, the persons whom she visited, collecting the slightest particulars, in the hope of discovering some fact that could enlighten me. I learned nothing, except that during her aunt's malady, she often went to pass part of her days in a neighboring castle, in which dwelt a young maiden, an intimate friend, of about her own age. I repaired to this castle; its occupants had left it several days before. "Overwhelmed with grief, we returned "Well, Signor Fiorentino," said Messire Pezzolini, in a tone of irony, "do you approve of these measures?” "I approve of them much; but this will not prevent me from pursuing a course directly opposite. I have conceived a plan that I have formed from my observations upon nature and the human mind." "We are about to see something rare, I think." "You will see a cure effected, which you have looked upon as hopeless. I do not think that there is any thing rare in that." "That which I see most clearly in this arrangement," said Captain Fiaramonti, “is that the Signor Fiorentino gains thereby two days of existence, upon which he had no right to count; and this proves that he is a skilful man, to say the least." "You have no farther particulars to tell me concerning your daughter?" said Fiorentino to the Prince, without replying to this insolent speech. "You remind me of one thing that I had forgotten; one thing rather singular indeed. Among the friends who have been willing to seclude themselves with me in this mansion is a young sculptor, the Signor Gabuzzi, |