t has happened
that the Reformation sometimes found in woman its most devoted disciple
and its most undaunted champion. Who can tell how much the firmness and
perseverance of the more prominent actors in these struggles were owing
to her wise and affectionate counsels? And not only has she been the
counsellor of man,--she has willingly shared his sufferings; and the
same deep sensibility which renders her so shrinking on ordinary
occasions, has at these times given her unconquerable strength, and
raised her above the desolation of a prison,--above the shame and horror
of a scaffold. Of such mould were the two illustrious women I have
mentioned,--the accomplished Renee, the daughter of a king of France,
and the yet more accomplished Olympia Morata, the daughter of a
schoolmaster and citizen of Mantua.

To me these halls were sacred, for the feet which had trodden them three
centuries ago. They were thronged with Austrian soldiers and passport
officials; but I could people them with the mighty dead. How often had
Renee assembled her noble band in this very chamber! How often here had
that illustrious circle consulted on the steps proper to be taken for
advancing their great cause! How often had they indulged alternate fears
and hopes, as they thought now of the power arrayed against them, and
now of the progress of the truth, and the confessors it was calling to
its aid in every city of Italy! And when the deliberations and prayers
of the day were ended, they would assemble on this lawn, to enjoy, under
these cypresses, the delicious softness of the Italian twilight. Ah! who
can tell the exquisite sweetness of such re-unions! and how
inexpressibly soothing and welcome to men whom persecution had forced
to flee from their native land, must it have been to find so secure a
haven as this so unexpectedly opened to receive them! But ah! too soon
were they forced out upon an ocean of storms. They were driven to
different countries and to various fates,--some to a life of exhausting
labour and conflict, some to exile, and some to the stake. But all this
is over now: they dread the dungeon and the stake no more; they are
wanderers no longer, having come to a land of rest. Renee has once again
gathered her bright band around her, under skies whose light no cloud
shall ever darken, and whose calm no storm shall ever ruffle. But do
they not still remember and still speak of the consultations and sweet
communings which they had toget