DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0046
26
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
months without his knowledge, his deadliest enemy dwelt
within his walls—tell him, to plunge him in despair, that
he might have seized, but did not, Malvezzi, Duke of Pisa I”
The wretched Bianca had been at first petrified at the
conduct of the pretended prince 5 his concluding avowal
opened her eyes to the misery of her situation. The vil-
lanous Malvezzi, so glittering without and so evil within;
the unprincipled usurpei’ of a throne to which he had not
the slightest claim; had in reality, as she conjectured,
intercepted some real letters of Prince Adorno’s, declaring
his intention of exciting a struggle in her favour. In
the fear of being intercepted, Malvezzi had determined
to attempt to gain her affections in disguise, and thus at
once destroy every future idea of resistance to his power.
A month had he spent in this task, and he imagined that
Bianca’s heart must have been melted by his numerous
attractions. In this belief he declared his love. What
was his surprise to hear her confess her affection for
Adorno! The strongest dissimulation, a vice which
Italian statesmen at that period almost considered a
virtue, could alone prevent the hatred he instantly con-
ceived for the duchess from glaring in his deceitful coun-
tenance. His presence of mind suggested the thought
of counterfeiting the prince. The intercepted letters
which he still bore about him readily furnished him with
the means of strengthening the imposture, in which he
was unhappily but too successful. Information had in-
stantly been dispatched to Pisa, to cause a band of spear-
men to await him that day at the hundred steps. The
result was such as has already been detailed.
The outlines of this dark and iniquitous scheme flashed
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
months without his knowledge, his deadliest enemy dwelt
within his walls—tell him, to plunge him in despair, that
he might have seized, but did not, Malvezzi, Duke of Pisa I”
The wretched Bianca had been at first petrified at the
conduct of the pretended prince 5 his concluding avowal
opened her eyes to the misery of her situation. The vil-
lanous Malvezzi, so glittering without and so evil within;
the unprincipled usurpei’ of a throne to which he had not
the slightest claim; had in reality, as she conjectured,
intercepted some real letters of Prince Adorno’s, declaring
his intention of exciting a struggle in her favour. In
the fear of being intercepted, Malvezzi had determined
to attempt to gain her affections in disguise, and thus at
once destroy every future idea of resistance to his power.
A month had he spent in this task, and he imagined that
Bianca’s heart must have been melted by his numerous
attractions. In this belief he declared his love. What
was his surprise to hear her confess her affection for
Adorno! The strongest dissimulation, a vice which
Italian statesmen at that period almost considered a
virtue, could alone prevent the hatred he instantly con-
ceived for the duchess from glaring in his deceitful coun-
tenance. His presence of mind suggested the thought
of counterfeiting the prince. The intercepted letters
which he still bore about him readily furnished him with
the means of strengthening the imposture, in which he
was unhappily but too successful. Information had in-
stantly been dispatched to Pisa, to cause a band of spear-
men to await him that day at the hundred steps. The
result was such as has already been detailed.
The outlines of this dark and iniquitous scheme flashed