approaches: what scandal shall it be to Rome if these shrines be without
pilgrims--if the timid recoil from, if the bold fall victims to, the
dangers of the way! Wherefore, I pray you all, citizens and chiefs
alike,--I pray you all to lay aside those unhappy dissensions which have
so long consumed the strength of our sacred city; and, uniting with each
other in the ties of amity and brotherhood, to form a blessed league
against the marauders of the road. I see amongst you, my Lords, many of
the boasts and pillars of the state; but, alas! I think with grief
and dismay on the causeless and idle hatred that has grown up between
you!--a scandal to our city, and reflecting, let me add, my Lords, no
honour on your faith as Christians, nor on your dignity as defenders of
the Church."

Amongst the inferior nobles--along the seats of the judges and the men
of letters--through the vast concourse of the people--ran a loud murmur
of approbations at these words. The greater barons looked proudly, but
not contemptuously, at the countenance of the prelate, and preserved a
strict and unrevealing silence.

"In this holy spot," continued the Bishop, "let me beseech you to bury
those fruitless animosities which have already cost enough of blood and
treasure; and let us quit these walls with one common determination to
evince our courage and display our chivalry only against our universal
foes;--those ruffians who lay waste our fields, and infest our public
ways,--the foes alike of the people we should protect, and the God whom
we should serve!"

The Bishop resumed his seat; the nobles looked at each other without
reply; the people began to whisper loudly among themselves; when, after
a short pause, Adrian di Castello rose.