gotry of his church and open infidelity.

At the time when we desire to present him to our readers (the exact year
is not material), he was fast beginning to weary of an interregnum of
asceticism and severity. He had closed theatres, and suppressed all
public rejoicings; and for an entire winter he had sentenced his
faithful subjects to the unbroken sway of the Priest and the Friar,--a
species of rule which had banished all strangers from the Duchy, and
threatened, by the injury to trade, the direst consequences to his
capital. To have brought the question formally before him in all its
details would have ensured the downfall of any minister rash enough
for such daring. There was, indeed, but one man about the court who had
courage for the enterprise; and to him we would devote a few lines as we
pass. He was an Englishman, named Stubber. He had originally come out to
Italy with horses for his Highness, and been induced, by good offers of
employment, to remain. He was not exactly stable-groom, nor trainer,
nor was he of the dignity of master of the stables; but he was something
whose attributes included a little of all, and something more. One thing
he assuredly was,--a consummately clever fellow, who could apply all his
native Yorkshire shrewdness to a new sphere, and make of his homespun
faculties the keen intelligence by which he could guide himself in novel
and difficult circumstances.

A certain freedom of speech, with a bold hardihood of character, based,
it is true, upon a conscious sense of honor, had brought him more than
once under the notice of the Prince. His Highness felt such pleasure in
the outspoken frankness of the man that he frequently took opportunities
of conversing with him, and even asking his advice. Never deterred by
the subject, whatever it was, Stubber spoke out his mind; and by
the very force of strong native sense, and an unswerving power of
determination, soon impressed his master that his best counsels were to
be had from the Yorkshire jockey, and not from the decorated and gilded
throng who filled the antechambers.

To elevate the groom to the rank of personal attendant, to create him
a Chevalier, and then a Count, were all easy steps to such a Prince.
At the time we speak of, Stubber was chief of the Cabinet,--the trusted
adviser of his master in knottiest questions of foreign politics, the
arbiter of the most difficult points with other states, the highest
authority in home affairs, an