thors to the sleepy
scholars of the Sapientia College. With what an enthusiasm did he daily
introduce descriptions of the splendor of Italy in his lectures, so as
to call forth a home-sickness for Rome in the hearts of the young
Germans,--they however yawned in his face. With what ingenuity had he
found pieces out of Seneca and Plato, to which he could append
quotations from the Church Fathers in support of the Catholic
dogma,--the worthy scholars cut large holes in the oaken benches and
thought about, not his conclusions extracted from Festino and Barbara,
but of a barmaid of the same name in the adjacent pot-house. In lofty
sounding words did he glorify the great men of the Church's past, the
scholars threw paper balls, or mutually smeared each others' seats with
cobbler's wax. Whether Rome, or Wittenberg, that was for him the
momentous question of the day, to them it was of much more importance,
whether the beer at the Schiltzenhof or at the Hirsch was better.
Evidently the heretics were not to be gotten at through the male sex of
their hopeful progenies. He was soon very tired of "nipping the horn of
the bull," as says the Italian proverb. Then came the unexpected
command of his Superior to turn the full force of his activity to the
pulpit. Disgusted at a want of success among the sleepy youths, and
famishing for praise, the order given him to undertake the ambiguous
_role_ rendered his decision easier. His inward scruples were soon
silenced, as his eloquence received the highest meed of praise. Hearts
were moved by the melodious voice of the Italian, by the grace of his
appearance, by the charm of his foreign accent, and Paolo's bold dreams
of a counter-reformation appeared about to be consummated when he saw,
how Sunday after Sunday the ranks of his hearers filled more and more.
The intoxication of success deafened the voice of conscience, which
warned him, that he was in reality carrying on a very critical line of
action, and he was therefore little pleased when the Countess Palatine
singled him out for the Stift at Neuburg, and took him away from a
career so full of promise. To win back a lost convent already seemed to
him as too contemptible a matter for a man of his gifts, and it went
almost against his grain to be compelled to learn once more the almost
forgotten services of the Mass, and to hold a surreptitious service,
which owing to the Kurfuerst's hatred of the "damnable bigotry" might
cost him dear. Even