BOOK II., HALF ROME.--A great crowd had assembled at the church of St.

Lorenzo-in-Lucina, hard by the Corso, to view the bodies of the murdered Comparini exposed to view before the altar. It was at this very church where Pompilia was baptised, brought by her pretended mother, who had purchased her to palm off on her husband in his dotage, and so cheat the heirs. To this very altar-step whereon the bodies lie did Violante, twelve years after, bring Pompilia to marry the Count clandestinely. It is four years since the marriage, and from dawn till dusk the multitude has crowded into the church, coming and going, pushing their way, and taking their turn to see the victims and talk over the tragedy. We have the story told by a partisan of the husband, who does not think he was so prodigiously to blame, he says. The Comparini (the wife's reputed parents) were of the modest middle class, born in that quarter of Rome, and citizens of good repute, childless and wealthy; possessed of house and land in Rome, and a suburban villa. But Pietro craved an heir, and seventeen years ago Violante announced that, spite of her age, an heir would soon be forthcoming. By a trick, Pompilia, the infant, was produced at the appropriate time--whereat Pietro rejoiced, poor fool! As Violante had caught one fish, she must try again, and find a husband for the girl. Count Guido was head of an old noble house, but not over-rich. He had come up to Rome to better his fortune, was friend and follower of a certain cardinal, and had a brother a priest, Paolo. Looking out for some petty post or other, he waited thirty years, till, as he was growing grey, he thought it time to go and be wise at home. At this moment Violante threw her bait, Pompilia. She thought it a great catch to find a noble husband for the child and the shelter of a palace for herself in her old age; and so old Pietro's daughter became Guido Franceschini's lady-wife. Pietro was not consulted till all was over, when he pretended to be very indignant. All went to Arezzo to enjoy the luxury of lord-and-lady-ship. They were soon undeceived. They discovered that they had exchanged their comfortable bourgeois home for a sepulchral old mansion, the street's disgrace, to pick garbage from a pewter plate and drink vinegar from a common mug. They sighed for their old home, their daily feast of good food and their festivals of better. Robbed, starved and frozen, they declared they would have justice. Guido's old lady-mother, Beatrice, was a dragon; Guido's brother, Girolamo, a bad licentious man. Four months of this purgatory was sufficient. Pietro made his complaints all over the town; Violante exposed the penurious housekeeping to every willing ear. Bidding Arezzo rot, they departed for home. Once more at Rome, Violante thought of availing herself of the Jubilee and making a full confession and restitution. She told the truth about Pompilia: how she had been purchased by her several months before birth from a disreputable laundry-woman, partly to please her husband, partly to defraud the rightful heirs. Was this due to contrition or revenge? Prove Pompilia not their child, there was no dowry to pay according to agreement. Guido would then be the biter bit. Guido took the view that all this was done to cheat him. He protested, and being left alone with his wife, revenged his wrongs on her. The case came before the Roman courts. Guido being absent, the Abate, his clerical brother, had to take his part. The courts refused to intervene. Appeals and counter-appeals followed. Pompilia's shame and her parents' disgrace were published to the world; and so it went on. Pompilia, left alone with her old husband, looked outside for life; and lo! Caponsacchi appeared--a priest, Apollos turned Apollo. He threw comfits to her at the theatre, at carnival time--no great harm--but he was, moreover, always hanging about the street where Guido's palace was. Pompilia observed him from her window. People began to talk, the husband to open his eyes. Things went on, till one April morning Guido awoke to find his wife flown. He had been drugged, he said. Caponsacchi, the handsome young priest, had brought a carriage for her: they had gone by the Roman road eight hours since. Guido started in pursuit, coming up with the fugitives just as they were in sight of Rome. Caponsacchi met the husband unabashed: "I interposed to save your wife from death, yourself from shame." Fingering his sword, he offered fight, or to stand on his defence at Rome. The police came up and secured the priest, and they went upstairs to arouse the wife. She overwhelmed her husband with invective, turning to her side even the very _sbirri_. "Take us to Rome," both prisoners demanded. Love letters and verses were produced, and husband and wife fought out their case before the lawyers. The accused declared that the letters were not written by them. The court found much to blame, but little to punish. The priest was sentenced to three years' exile at Civita Vecchia; the wife must go into a convent for a while. Guido was not satisfied: he claimed a divorce. Pompilia did the same. On account of her health a little liberty was allowed her, and she left the convent to reside with her pretended parents at their villa. Here she gave birth to a child. Guido was furious when he heard all this, and went to Rome to the villa with four confederates, pretending to be Caponsacchi. The door was opened, when he rushed in with his braves and killed them all; and so the two Comparini are lying in the church, and Pompilia is in the hospital dying of her wounds.

NOTES.--Line 84, _Guido Reni_, a painter of the Bolognese school, 1574-1642. The Crucifixion referred to is above the high altar. l. 126, "_Molino's doctrine_": a form of Quietism. l. 300, "_tacked to the Church's tail_": it was the custom in this age for gentlemen who desired the protection of the Church for their own purposes to take one of the minor orders, without any intention of going into the diaconate or priesthood. Count Guido was thus, in a sense, under the Church's protection. l. 490, "_novercal type_": pertaining to a step-mother; _cater-cousin_, or _quater-cousin_: a cousin within the first four degrees of kindred; _sib_: a blood relation (A.-S., _sibb_, alliance). l. 537, _Papal Jubilee_: this is observed every twenty-fifth year. ll. 892-3, "_ears plugged_," etc.: a good description of the effects of a strong dose of opium. l. 907, _osteria_: Italian name of an inn. l. 1044, _Sbirri_: Papal police. l. 1159, "_Apage_": away! begone! l. 1198, "_Convertites_": nuns who devote themselves to the rescue of fallen women. l. 1221, "_as Ovid a like sufferer_": Ovid was banished by Augustus to Tomus, on the Euxine Sea, either for some amour or imprudence; _Pontus_: a kingdom of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by the Euxine Sea. l. 1244, "_Pontifex Maximus whipped vestals once_": the high priest severely scourged the vestal virgins if they let the sacred fire go out. l. 1250, "_Caponsacchi_": in English "Head i' the Sack": this family is mentioned in Dante's _Paradise_, xvi.; in his time they lived at Florence, in the Mercato Vecchio, having removed from Fiesole; _Fiesole_, an ancient town near Florence. l. 1270, "_Canidian hate_": Canidia was a Neapolitan, beloved by Horace. When she deserted him he held her up to contempt as an old sorceress (Horace, _Epodes_, v. and xvii.). See Notes to "White Witchcraft." l. 1342, "_domus pro carcere_": a house for a prison. l. 1375, "_hoard i' the heart o' the toad_": Fenton says, "There is to be found in the heads of old and great toads a stone they call borax or stelon, which, being used as rings, give forewarning against venom." See also Brewer's _Phrase and Fable_, art. "Toads." l. 1487, "_male-Grissel_": Griselda was the patient lady in Chaucer's _Clerk of Oxenford's Tale_. She came forth victoriously from the repeated trials of her maternal and conjugal affections. l. 1495, "_Rolando-stroke_": Roland, the hero of Roncesvalles. His trusty sword was called Durandal:--

"Nor plated shield, nor tempered casque defends, When Durindana's trenchant edge descends." (ORLANDO FURIOSO, bk. x.)

l. 1496, _clavicle_: the collar-bone.