nounce vengeance on his saintly head, which now stands nodding o'er a scaffold, the just punishment of a crime so odious: for this will be the fate of the Cardinal Benvolio! For other crimes that he hath been guilty of!—ah! just heaven! do I not feel them now in this beating heart?-a mother and a daughter! hath he not, by his cursed sophistry, perverted the minds both of a wife to turn apostate to the memory of a gallant husband slain, and a daughter, an innocent, and young, and lovely daughter to forego a solemn contract to him whom her heart loveth? Yes, -in spite of the struggles 'twixt love and duty made, Augustina still remembereth the blessed holy eve, on which her virgin faith was plighted! it was on the eve of St. Marco! and mass was just over; the pealing anthem sung the note of praise; and those who had joined in the pious orgies addressed to the deity they adored, were tranquil and composed, with souls attuned to soft and chaste thoughts of peace, that reigned for evermore, where angels only formed the heavenly choral train! One of the number that composed the white-robed vestals who joined the lovely psalmsters, was the daughter of Albino: but she was pale on that evening, and her cheek was tinged with a fainter blush than was its radiant hue at all other times; and her azure eyes, full of blue, like the celestial colour of the atmosphere when no passing cloud e'er dims its lustre, were gently upraised to the eternal Giver of the precious light; and her soul seemed fixed in one unchanging thought that there was another and a better world to come :-at this moment, she remained the last of all the vestal trainin that moment, more precious to me than all the mo ments of my past life, and more glorious than all the glories I have obtained in war!-I approached the fair, celestial, trembling maid; long had she struggled with the infant passion in her breast, nor was that passion unhallowed or impure, or unknown to her august parents. : Augustina, uttered I, my duty calls me to a distant land! I must away to battles, which love of thee hath led me on to. This is no hour of dissimulation. I have thy virgin heart, and thou hast mine, sweet maiden and by yon moon-beam, the queen of heaven, now smiling on that beauteous face, so strong's my love and so chaste my passion, I would not barter it or even exchange this holy love I bear, for the proudest she that ever moved in courtly state, or glittered on a throne! Should I fall in battle, Augustina, this beating heart, though cold in death, shall still be thine! and when angels waft my spirit to eternal bliss, I'll breathe one parting prayer for thee !-Swear, but to me, one sacred promise,—that if, returning victorious from the field, thou, Augustina, will then be mine! The maiden took the oath, and I never saw her more. Ye gods! can woman be so false ?-has she renounced her vows, her promised vows, made in the sight of heaven ?-have then the arts of a vile, canting priest at last prevailed on her to turn apostate to St. Julian's honest truth ?" "St. Julian!" uttered Sir Walter, in a voice of wonder and astonishment, not to be described: "thou, St. Julian! I'll not believe, until I see thy face: yet, oh! my full heart would still cherish a hope that the rumour is false that he was slain: if then, thou art in deed my mighty master, throw off the habit that so disgraces thee, and at thy feet I'll kneel, thy faithful servant ever!" This was no sooner said than done; for at these words, the supposed Jew pedlar unfastened a steel clasp, that was affixed to the leather belt that was round his waist, and discovered, to the enraptured eyes of his faithful page, the finely proportioned and symmetrical form of the Bohemian conquerer, with the bright star of his order, that sparkled with diamonds, on his left breast: and throwing off the slouched hat, and grey beard, at the same moment, clusters of his brown luxuriant hair fell over his fair and open brows, and, extending wide his arms to Sir Walter, he exclaimed, "Now, friend and brother of my heart, knowest thou not this form and face? not from the dead, indeed, come forth, but saved from the slaughtered heap that lay strewed around me, by the courage and activity of that brave youth who sits beside me; who, watching the opportunity, when my gallant beast did fall beneath his burden, pierced with a deadly arrow fro:n an Austrian trooper in the left battalion, did quickly doff the garment that he wore, and in the very thick of smoke and sulphur, when no mortal eye could e'er distinguish friend from foe, by reason of the dire confusion and the loud cannon's roar,-and clash of swords did pierce the vaulted heavens! then bore he St. Julian on his lusty shoulders! for I was faint with loss of blood, and pierced with wounds, which had been mortal ones, but for the watchful spirit that did hover over me in the form of woman's kindness, and woman's pitying care! for Ferdinand had heard much of this |