"Never, perhaps,"-- to use the translation adapted from the Italian authorities, by a modern and by no means a partial historian (Gibbon.)--"Never, perhaps, has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably felt than in the sudden reformation of Rome by the Tribune Rienzi.

A den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a camp or convent.

'In this time,' says the historian, ("Vita di Cola di Rienzi", lib.i.

c.
9.) 'did the woods begin to rejoice that they were no longer infested with robbers; the oxen began to plough; the pilgrims visited the sanctuaries; (Gibbon: the words in the original are "li pellegrini cominciaro a fere la cerca per la santuaria.") the roads and inns were replenished with travellers: trade, plenty, and good faith, were restored in the markets; and a purse of gold might be exposed without danger in the midst of the highways.'" Amidst all these evidences of comfort and security to the people--some dark and discontented countenances might be seen mingled in the crowd, and whenever one who wore the livery of the Colonna or the Orsini felt himself jostled by the throng, a fierce hand moved involuntarily to the sword-belt, and a half-suppressed oath was ended with an indignant sigh.

Here and there too,--contrasting the redecorated, refurnished, and smiling shops--heaps of rubbish before the gate of some haughty mansion testified the abasement of fortifications which the owner impotently resented as a sacrilege.