Valperga by Mary Shelley Read Free Book Online Page B

recommend himself by a sound judgement and a
steady courage; but he was unable to strike into new paths, and
become an adventurer in life and morals as Guinigi had been. He had
great sensibility and warm affections; and various misfortunes in
life had turned a constitutional gravity into melancholy. Yet he
unveiled his spirit for a while from the clouds that obscured it,
and entered with interest into the views and expectations of
Castruccio.
    They conversed together concerning his cousin Alderigo, who was
a rich merchant in London, and who by his respectability and
talents had acquired influence even among the nobles of England.
Alderigo had been known and loved by Edward I: for in those days
kings did not disdain to seek friends among those classes of
society from which ordinary etiquette would have excluded them. The
merchant however had withdrawn from all communication with the
court, since the accession of Edward of Caernarvon; for the
childish amusements of this monarch ill accorded with the
dispositions of one who had been the friend of his manly father.
When the barons of England remonstrated with Edward, and insisted
on the exile of Piers Gavaston, Alderigo had however come forward
to persuade the king to this necessary concession.
    Atawel also was an enemy of Gavaston; and, as he sketched the
political state of England to his young companion, he painted with
indignation the change from the spirited counsels of the late
sovereign, to the puerile amusements and weak inaction of his son.
He described Gavaston as a man expert in feats of bodily activity,
but destitute of judgement and manly enterprize. He said that he
was vain- glorious, rapacious, and profuse. Insolent to his
superiors and equals, tyrannical to his inferiors, he deigned to
use the arts of courtesy to the king alone: even the queen failed
in obtaining from him the respect due to her sex and dignity. He
had been raised to rank and wealth by the royal favour; but he
conducted himself with an arrogance, that would not have been
tolerated in the first noble of the land. He was not content to
overcome his adversary in the field of honour; but he endeavoured
to add to his shame by sarcasm and ridicule. The barons exerted
their utmost power for his destruction; Edward yielded to force;
but on the first favourable opportunity he recalled his friend,
who, untaught by adversity, again irritated his rivals to that
hostility in which he was sure to be worsted.
    The animated picture which Atawel drew of the discontent and
turbulence of the English barons, although it would have excited
terror in these quiet times, delighted Castruccio, as affording a
hope of having now found a fitting stage on which he might commence
his active career. The loss of Scotland to England, and the
inaction of the king and his favourite, easily induced him to
sympathize in the indignation of Atawel; and he readily believed,
that the insolence of the upstart and unworthy Gavaston demanded
and justified the most rigorous measures to ensure his expulsion
from the kingdom.
    Castruccio was now eighteen years of age. His converse with
Guinigi had indued him with a manliness of thought and firmness of
judgement beyond his years; at the same time that the vivacity of
his temper often made him appear rash, and the gaiety of his
disposition led him to seek with ardour the common diversions of
his age. He was bred as a young esquire in all those
accomplishments which were deemed essential to a gentleman, and was
expert in feats of horsemanship and arms, in the dance, and in
other exercises peculiar to his country. His countenance, which was
uncommonly beautiful, expressed frankness, benevolence and
confidence; when animated, his eyes shone with fire; when silent,
there was a deep seriousness in his expression, that commanded
attention, combined at the same time with a modesty and grace which
prepossessed every one in his favour. His slight, but active form
never moved without displaying some new