asses consumed the hours from night till morn, and all
the sanction of religion was invoked to consecrate the enterprise of
liberty. (In fact, I apprehend that if ever the life of Cola di Rienzi
shall be written by a hand worthy of the task, it will be shown that a
strong religious feeling was blended with the political enthusiasm of
the people,--the religious feeling of a premature and crude reformation,
the legacy of Arnold of Brescia. It was not, however, one excited
against the priests, but favoured by them. The principal conventual
orders declared for the Revolution.) The sun had long risen, and the
crowd had long been assembled before the church door, and in vast
streams along every street that led to it,--when the bell of the
church tolled out long and merrily; and as it ceased, the voices of the
choristers within chanted the following hymn, in which were somewhat
strikingly, though barbarously, blended, the spirit of the classic
patriotism with the fervour of religious zeal:--

The Roman Hymn of Liberty.

Let the mountains exult around!

("Exultent in circuito Vestro Montes," &c.--Let the
mountains exult around! So begins Rienzi's letter to the
Senate and Roman people: preserved by Hocsemius.)

On her seven-hill'd throne renown'd,
Once more old Rome is crown'd!
Jubilate!

Sing out, O Vale and Wave!
Look up from each laurell'd grave,
Bright dust of the deathless brave!
Jubilate!

Pale Vision, what art thou?--Lo,
From Time's dark deeps,
Like a Wind, It sweeps,
Like a Wind, when the tempests blow:

A shadowy form--as a giant ghost--
It stands in the midst of the armed host!
The dead man's shroud on Its awful limbs;
And the gloom of Its presence the daylight dims:
And the trembling world looks on aghast--
All hail to the SOUL OF THE MIGHTY PAST!
Hail! all hail!

As we speak--as we hallow--It moves, It breathes;
From its clouded crest bud the laurel wreaths--
As a Sun that leaps up from the arms of Night,
The shadow takes shape, and the gloom takes light.
Hail! all hail!

The Soul of the Past, again
To its ancient home,
In the hearts of Rome,
Hath come to resume its reign!

O Fame, with a prophet's voice,
Bid the ends of the Earth rejoice!
Wherever the Proud are Strong,
And Right is oppress'd by Wrong;--
Wherever th