; and the Neapolitan
troops, who had recently behaved with eminent gallantry, abandoning the
Austrian general, began their march to the south of Italy.

This transaction placed another of Napoleon's destined victims entirely
within his grasp. With no friend behind him, the Pope saw himself at the
mercy of the invader; and in terror prepared to submit. Buonaparte
occupied immediately his legations of Bologna and Ferrara, making
prisoners in the latter of these towns four hundred of the papal troops,
and a cardinal, under whose orders they were. The churchman militant was
dismissed on parole; but, being recalled to headquarters, answered that
his master, the Pope, had given him a dispensation to break his promise.
This exercise of the old dispensing power excited the merriment of the
conquerors. The Vatican, meanwhile, perceived that no time was to be
lost. The Spanish resident at the Roman court was despatched to Milan;
and the terms on which the holy father was to obtain a brief respite
were at length arranged. Buonaparte demanded and obtained a million
sterling, a hundred of the finest pictures and statues in the papal
gallery, a large supply of military stores, and the cession of Ancona,
Ferrara, and Bologna, with their respective domains.

He next turned his attention to the grand duke of Tuscany,--a prince who
had not only not taken any part in the war against the Republic, but had
been the very first of the European rulers to recognise its
establishment, and had kept on terms of friendship with all its
successive authorities. Buonaparte, however, in pursuance of his system,
resolved that the brother of the emperor should pay for his presumed
inclinations. For the present, the Florentine museum and the grand
duke's treasury were spared; but Leghorn, the seaport of Tuscany and
great feeder of its wealth, was seized without ceremony; the English
goods in that town were confiscated to the ruin of the merchants; and a
great number of English vessels in the harbour made a narrow escape. The
grand duke, in place of resenting these injuries, was obliged to receive
Buonaparte with all the appearances of cordiality at Florence; and the
spoiler repaid his courtesy by telling him, rubbing his hands with glee,
during the princely entertainment provided for him, "I have just
received letters from Milan; the citadel has fallen;--your brother has
no longer a foot of land in Lombardy." "It is a sad case," said Napoleon
himself lon