private interview the attendants were recalled, and all remained present at the administration of the communion. When the priest entered with the Host, the king, who was suffering terribly, his right lung being quite destroyed, raised himself with a violent effort to a sitting posture, and inclined his head reverently. After this his strength sank rapidly, and his chest was so oppressed that he had no voice for further conversation.

There was no hope of the Queen of Portugal or the Princess Clotilde coming in time to receive their father's last farewell, but Prince Amadeo and the king's cousin, Prince Carignano, of whom he was very fond, were on their way from Turin, and expected to arrive in the evening; death, however, travelled faster than they counted for, and they came all too late. The king asked again to see Umberto, and when he approached the bedside weeping, he gazed long and fondly at him, put out his hand and murmured the one word 'Addio !' The prince kissed the hand, kneeling, and covered it with tears. During the day the sick man had muttered broken sentences about his beloved Turin, where he had wished to die. His last words were, 'I figli, i figli !'

At the final moment, Prince Umberto was kneeling at one side of the bed, and Count Mirafiore at the other, while the friends and attendants knelt round the chamber, and also in the anteroom, weeping silently. Dr. Bruno, who was supporting the patient's head, bent down and put his ear to his heart; it had ceased to beat. In a voice broken with emotion he made the announcement

THE FIRST KING OF ITALY IS NO MORE. 229

'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.

Italians, Your first king is dead. His successor will 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

DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM.

231

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