Valperga (6 page)

Castruccio was presented to the doge, and partook of all the
brilliant amusements of Venice. But at length the time arrived,
when he was to depart with Sir Ethelbert Atawel, and Guinigi to
return to his farm among the hills. It was a sorrowful event for
Atawel and Castruccio to separate from this kind and valued friend.
Before he departed, Guinigi talked long with Castruccio, and
vehemently urged him, when he should arrive in England, that he
would put himself entirely under the guidance of Atawel. "You
will be," he said, "in a strange country, with unknown
manners and customs; so that without a guide you would find it
difficult to steer a right course among them. My dear Castruccio,
God only knows what your future fortunes will be; but your father
intrusted you to my care, and I feel the most earnest anxiety that
you should enter life under good auspices, and enjoy, at least with
untarnished pleasure, the years of youthful hope. Be towards Atawel
as you ever have been to me; the natural ingenuousness of your
character will discover to you the medium, which combines the
graceful submission of youth, with that independence that is the
dearest birthright of man. Atawel is gentle and unassuming; you
must seek his counsels; for his best wisdom will be bestowed upon
you, when you shew a desire to consult it."

They separated: Atawel and Castruccio departed with a few
attendants towards Milan on the road to England.

Castruccio now found himself with a companion, different from
him to whom he had just bade an affectionate farewell. Atawel was
more a man of the world than Guinigi; nor did he possess his genius
and surpassing excellence. Entering into the common road of life,
he was notwithstanding able to regulate his conduct by just
principles, and to 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 elegance of person; and his
voice, whose modulated accents stole on the ear like sweetest
music, forced the hearer to love him; his laugh, like that of a
child, heartfelt and joyous, was entirely distinct from the sneer
of contempt, or the arrogance of superiority. He had read little;
but he had conversed with those who had studied deeply, so that his
conversation and manners were imbued with that refinement and
superior sweetness, which are peculiar to those who unite the
cultivation of the mind to exterior accomplishments. Gay, ambitious
and beloved, there was little pride, and no insolence in his
nature: nor could he endure either to be the object of arrogance,
or to perceive it exercised over others.

Such was Castruccio, when in the beginning of the year 1309 he
landed on the English shores. Gavaston had just been expelled by a
confederacy of the nobles, who for a while had assumed the royal
power into their own hands. But, instead of having been poorly
exiled according to the wish of the barons, his royal master had
invested him with the Lieutenancy of Ireland, where he signalized
himself by his victories over the rebels. Edward however could not
be happy in the absence of his favourite, but, melancholy and
irresolute, watched for a fitting opportunity, when the hatred of
his nobles should in some degree be softened, to recall him.

Alderigo received his young cousin with the warmest affection,
and shewed every disposition to aid by his wealth and influence, in
placing him in such a situation as might gratify his ambition.
Atawel introduced him at court; and, if the haughty barons of
England viewed with a supercilious smile the youthful beauty and
accomplishments of the stranger, Edward was pleased to behold one,
who by his foreign air, and the refinement of his manners, recalled
the memory of his exiled favourite. He distinguished Castruccio
among the crowd; and the youth, dazzled perhaps by royal favour,
easily altered his prepossessions in favour of the barons, into
love and pity for their oppressed sovereign. At balls and
tournaments Castruccio shone among the throng. He was yet too
youthful to enter into manual contests with the English lords; but
the management of his horse, his graceful person, his skill in the
dance, and other light games, endeared him to Edward, who was
incapable of sympathizing in the ruder exercises in which his
barons were so jealous of their pre-eminence.

Atawel and Alderigo viewed the favour which Castruccio enjoyed
with the king, with fearful eyes: they dreaded the jealousy of the
nobles; but happily this passion was not excited on the present
occasion. On the contrary they were rather pleased, that the king
should be amused by the company of one, whose youth and precarious
situation withheld him from entering into the lists of rivalry with
them. The Italian Castruccio, dependent on the bounty of a merchant
of his own country, no conqueror at the tournament, neither
thwarting, nor understanding their several plans of aggrandisement,
was past over with a scornful smile, which the youth, regarding
himself as a sufferer in common with their injured king, did not
receive as a degradation. But deeper feelings of sympathy now gave
him other sentiments.

Edward's favourite recreation was the game of tennis; in
which, it being common in Italy under the name of la Palla,
Castruccio excelled. One day after having amused themselves at this
exercise in one of the royal gardens, Edward feeling fatigued gave
up the game, and leaning on Castruccio's arm, strolled with him
down one of the shady alleys. And here for the first time he opened
his heart to his new friend: he described Gavaston as the most
amiable and the most accomplished knight of the times: he dwelt
with touching earnestness on his own attachment to him, and his
forced separation; tears started into his eyes as he spoke of the
desolate state of his heart, deprived of the company of his first,
his only and his dearest friend; and his cheeks glowed with
indignation, as he mentioned the arrogance of his nobles, and the
state of slavery to which he was reduced.

Castruccio was deeply moved; and the natural feeling of pity,
with which he was inspired at the spectacle of the slavery of one,
who it was presumed had a divine right to command, was augmented by
the idea that he had been found a worthy deposit for the
overflowings of the royal sorrows. He offered his services with
earnestness, and Edward gladly accepted his proffers. "Yes, my
dear friend," he cried, "the accomplishment of my fondest
wishes shall devolve upon you. You shall be my saviour; the saviour
of my honour, and the cause of the only happiness I can enjoy on
earth, the return of my beloved Piers."

Edward then disclosed to Castruccio the various expedients he
had used, to pacify his nobles, and to obtain the re--establishment
of his friend. He acknowledged that he had just received from the
Pope a dispensation of Gavaston's oath never again to set foot
in England; and a faithful messenger was only necessary, to carry
this intelligence to his friend, and bid him instantly return; so
that the barons, taken unawares, should not have time to plot new
disturbances, before the king should be able to defy their worst,
secure of the life and the society of his favourite. "That
task shall devolve on you, my dear Castruccio," said he;
"and I shall be indebted to you for the happiness of again
embracing him to whom I have bound myself by the ties of an eternal
friendship. Frame a plausible excuse for quitting England, and
hasten to Dublin, where Piers impatiently waits a messenger from
me; that you may not be exposed to the slightest risk from the
suspicion of the nobles, I will give you no letter: but this ring,
as was agreed upon between myself and my friend, will obtain for
its bearer his full confidence and friendship."

Castruccio took leave of the monarch, and hastened to the house
of Alderigo, full of pride, hope, and joy. He had now indeed
entered upon life, and as he hoped, with the best auspices: he had
become the chosen confident of a king, and his secret messenger; he
readily believed that prudence, and prudence should not fail him,
would cause his rise to the highest dignities. His feelings were
not entirely selfish; for he deeply pitied Edward, and was
sincerely happy in serving him: but to pity and serve a king, was a
state of being full of pleasure. In accordance with the prudent
plan he had marked out for himself, he remained at the house of his
kinsman during several days, secluded from his courtly friends, and
absenting himself entirely from the palace. On occasion of the
arrival of a few letters from France, he informed Atawel and
Alderigo, that it was absolutely necessary for him to undertake a
journey to that country. As he alleged the most frivolous causes as
the motive of this determination, his friends easily perceived that
he was endeavouring to mislead them by a false pretext. The
Italian, after having in vain endeavoured to win his confidence,
contented himself with recommending prudence and caution: Atawel
spoke more seriously, and bade the youth beware, before he mixed
with the intrigues of a foreign court, in which if he were once
detected, he had neither friends nor connections to extricate him
from the rage of his powerful adversaries. And then again he
intreated Castruccio to consider the justice of the cause in the
service of which he enlisted himself, and what would be the
probable consequences, if through his means Edward were to
establish a correspondence with his favourite. The young man
listened with seeming deference, but allowed no word to escape him,
that might countenance the idea that his journey was influenced by
any except private considerations.

He departed from London, as if on his way to France; then
suddenly changing his route, he traversed the kingdom, and crossing
from Bristol to Cork, hastened to Dublin, and carried to Gavaston
the welcome command of the king to return immediately to England;
the ring that he bore from Edward, was an immediate passport to the
friendship of the illustrious exile.

Piers Gavaston was still in the flower of his age. If he were
not handsome, yet the expression of his features was manly and
interesting; he was graceful in person, and strong of muscle,
though agile of limb: he was courteous in general society, though a
certain haughtiness was diffused over his whole manner, which
forbade any more familiar feeling than that of admiration. Among
his friends this air of superiority yielded to the most winning
kindness and affability of demeanour, which, being ever a mark of
distinguished affection, did not fail to bind them to him by an
additional tie of gratitude. He spoke several languages with great
fluency; he rivalled the most graceful knights of France, and far
surpassed the English in all chivalrous accomplishments. The
consciousness of power with which his dexterity inspired him,
generated an independence and frankness of action, which would have
rendered him amiable to all, had it not been tainted by vanity and
presumption. He was magnificent in his attire, fond of parade, and
proud of his dazzling fortunes, all heavy sins among his English
enemies. He paid great attention, and made much shew of love to
Castruccio, whom if princely affability had before moved, the
gracious treatment of Gavaston made a complete conquest of him.