'The first King of Italy is no more!"

Convulsive sobs broke from all present; and Umberto remained kneeling in an agony of grief for nearly half-an-hour, till one of the doctors drew his arm in his and led him out of the room.

The fatal news fell like a thunderbolt on the city, and for a moment it was not credited. Groups of people gathered in the streets with pale, frightened faces, and hundreds of others were seen rushing from all parts to the Quirinal Palace, where a dense, agitated crowd filled the piazza from four o'clock in the afternoon till a late hour at night.

Soon, however, all doubt was at an end, and before the winter sun had set every shop was closed, and the grand old city bore an aspect of deepest mourning as for some great public calamity.

While the poor prince was still stunned by the unexpected blow, he had to attend to public business. The diplomatic body came to offer their condolences, the ministry came to tender their resignations, and being reappointed, hastened to issue a proclamation officially announcing the death of Vittorio Emanuele II., and the accession of Umberto I. to the throne of Italy. Late in the evening a proclamation from the new king appeared.

Italians, An immense calamity has befallen us. Vittorio Emanuele, the founder and uniter of the kingdom of Italy, has been taken from us. I received his last sigh, which was for the nation, and his last

wishes, which were for the happiness of his people.

His voice, which will always resound in my heart, imposes on me the task of vanquishing my sorrow, and points out to me my duty. At this moment there is but one consolation possible for us, that is, to show ourselves worthy of him: I, by following in his footsteps; you, by remaining devoted to those civic virtues by the aid of which he succeeded in accomplishing the difficult task of rendering Italy great and united. I shall be mindful of the grand example he gave me of devotion to our country, love of progress, and faith in Liberal institutions, which are the pride of my house. My sole ambition will be to deserve the love of my people.

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Italians, Your first king is dead. His successor prove to you that constitutions do not die. Let us unite in this hour of great sorrow, and let us strengthen that concord which has heretofore been the salvation of Italy.

UMBERTO.

Victor Emmanuel's failings are as well known as his virtues; he was a man who scorned hypocrisy, and

That fierce light which beats upon a throne

struck with a more sinister glare on the throne of Italy than that of older monarchies, laying bare remorselessly to the eyes of the world the faults of the sovereign, faults which his clerical detractors loved to dwell on and

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magnify, but which his people forgave, remembering all they owed him.

Nor is it to be wondered at that nothing but hymns of praise should be raised over the lately closed tomb upon which a nation still mourns with heartfelt sorrow the liberator and father of his country.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE FUNERAL.

THE Pope is reported to have said that Victor Emmanuel died like a cristiano, rè, e galantuomo; and certain it is that the clerical organs generally supposed to express the sentiments of the Vatican breathed nothing but Christian charity in the notices of the king's death, while the popular journals poured forth the most passionate laments. One clerical paper in Venice ventured on some offensive comment, which caused the populace to break into the office and destroy the printing-press.

The grief of the other cities and provinces was not less than that felt in the capital. In Piedmont it was deeper; for Victor Emmanuel, liberator and regenerator of all Italy, and as such beloved and revered, never could be to all the Italians what he was to his faithful Subalpines, who had known him from infancy, and shared all the struggles of his early manhood.

Telegrams expressing the most ardent sympathy with the royal family poured in from every town in Italy, and everywhere the demonstrations of national grief were solemn and touching.

On the 16th Parliament met, and the aged minister, Signor Depretis, announced to a crowded and agitated

House the public misfortune. Again and again the old man's speech was interrupted by tears; and in those painful pauses in which the words seemed to choke him, the deputies were also overpowered with emotion.

If in history there exists a sovereign who has merited the title of Padre della Patria, that sovereign is without doubt Victor Emmanuel. Member of his Parliament since he ascended the throne, thrice member of his council, I had rather that my life had not been prolonged to see the dreadful day when the great author of Italian independence disappears in the darkness of the tomb. . . . I cannot now speak of the great, the inimitable qualities of the deceased; but I will say that a death more serene, more confident and manly, it is impossible to imagine. The body succumbed, but the soul remained, the soul of patriot and soldier; the last look he rested on our faces was so calm!

Here the speaker broke down; and many of the deputies and many occupants of the crowded galleries, were seen to wipe away their tears. In the Senate Chamber a similar scene took place. When the president began to speak all the senators rose to their feet and remained standing, while he delivered a brief but often interrupted eulogium on the dead, in the midst of a profound emotion. 'The lips are mute,' he said, 'but the heart bleeds. On the remains of the father of his country I can but weep as Italy weeps.'

Senators, deputies, and soldiers, who only knew Victor Emmanuel as king, wept his loss: but the grief