0] However this may be, Montebello left the camp in
disgust and returned to Rome. But the defender of the Church was too
important a person to quarrel with, and Paul deemed it prudent, for the
present, at least, to stifle his resentment.

Meanwhile heavy rains set in, causing great annoyance to the French
troops in their quarters, spoiling their provisions, and doing great
damage to their powder. The same rain did good service to the besieged,
by filling their cisterns. "God," exclaimed the profane Guise, "must
have turned Spaniard."[161]

While these events were taking place in the north of Naples, the duke of
Alva, in the south, was making active preparations for the defence of
the kingdom. He had seen with satisfaction the time consumed by his
antagonist, first at Gesi, and afterwards at the siege of Civitella; and
he had fully profited by the delay. On reaching the city of Naples, he
had summoned a parliament of the great barons, had clearly exposed the
necessities of the state, and demanded an extraordinary loan of two
millions of ducats. The loyal nobles readily responded to the call; but
as not more than one third of the whole amount could be instantly
raised, an order was obtained from the council, requiring the governors
of the several provinces to invite the great ecclesiastics in their
districts to advance the remaining two thirds of the loan. In case they
did not consent with a good grace, they were to be forced to comply by
the seizure of their revenues.[162]

By another decree of the council, the gold and silver plate belonging to
the monasteries and churches, throughout the kingdom, after being
valued, was to be taken for the use of the government. A quantity of it,
belonging to a city in the Abruzzi, was in fact put up to be sent to
Naples; but it caused such a tumult among the people, that it was found
expedient to suspend proceedings in the matter for the present.

[Sidenote: SIEGE OF CIVITELLA.]

The viceroy still further enlarged his resources by the sequestration of
the revenues belonging to such ecclesiastics as resided in Rome. By
these various expedients the duke of Alva found himself in possession of
sufficient funds, for carrying on the war as he desired. He mustered a
force of twenty-two, or, as some accounts state, twenty-five thousand
men. Of these three thousand only were Spanish veterans, five thousand
were Germans, and the remainder Italians, chiefly from the Abruzzi,--for
the most p