horsemen at his command, well armed, too, for the
need of them which he often had. But others
besides Count Giorgio were "yare in preparation,
quick, skilful, and deadly, having in them what
youth, strength, skill, and wrath can furnish men
withal;" and of these was Count Alovisio Avogadro,
the sworn foe of the house of Martinengo.
He it was who, lying in wait for his
enemy with a band of armed retainers, fell upon
Count Giorgio as he was returning, with two
gentlemen and three servants, from the shop of
an armourer, whither he had gone to order a
suit of armour for the tilting King of France —
one day to lose his life in a tournament. Count
Giorgio and his friends defended themselves
bravely against their assailants, but the odds
were too great and he was left alone; whether
his supporters fled or were killed, the chronicler
does not tell us. Alone, however, Count Giorgio
never yielded an inch of ground, but, facing his
foes, fell at last pierced with fifteen wounds,
thirteen of which were by sword-thrusts and
two by pistol bullets. Rare was his intrepidity,
and bitter were the taunts which he heaped npon
the Avogadro, and he closed his life with a
sentence in Greek, a language in which he was well
skilled, for, says the chronicler, he held a high
place among the most learned men of his time.

Was the vendetta extinguished by the death
of Count Giorgio Martinengo? No; but
revived to burn with fiercer flame in the bosom of
his only son, the Count Sciarra, under the flap
of whose velvet hat in Moretto's (or Moroni's)
picture, and ever before his eyes is inscribed the
Greek words "?OY ?IAN ????" (Through
excessive desire), which stimulate him to avenge
his father's cruel murder.

The services which Count Giorgio had rendered
to King Henry the Second endeared him to
that monarch, who took the young Sciarra under
his care, resolved to push his fortunes. As a
boy he made him one of his pages, and when
little more than a boy— save that manhood came
soon in those stirring times— created him a
Knight of St. Michael— the order which, in
fulfilment of his father's vow, was instituted by that
pious prince and most affectionate son, Louis the
Eleventh of France. It was a great distinction
to be invested at eighteen years of age with an
order so highly courted, for it was to Frenchmen
then what the Garter has always been amongst
ourselves. Its origin may merit a passing
word, as we find it set down in the "Vray
Théâtre d'Honneur" of the Sieur Marc Vulson
de la Colombière, himself one of the elect in
this matter, and a soldier of great renown.
"The Order of St. Michael," says La Colombière
"was instituted by Louis the Eleventh, at
Amboise, in 1469, in memory of the protection
accorded to the French by the Almighty, and the
help which he sent them through the Archangel
Michael, the tutelary saint of France. In the
year 1428, during the siege of Orleans, one day
when the English were endeavouring to force
the passage of the bridge over the Loire, St
Michael appeared, visibly attacking them, bearing
down their standards, their flags, and red
pennons, charged with lions and leopards, so
that, The Maiden assisting, the English were
obliged to raise the siege. Charles the Seventh
took for his oriflamme the image of the Archangel,
with these two mottoes from the Prophet
Daniel: 'Ecce Michael, unus de principibus
primus, venit in adjutorium meum' — 'Nemo
est adjutor in omnibus, nisi Michael, princeps
noster.' King Charles made a vow to institute
the order in honour of St. Michael, but was not
able to carry out his intention; his son, Louis
the Eleventh, however, fulfilled it. The device
of the order is 'Immenci tremor oceani.'"
Coupled with this knightly decoration was rapid
advancement for Count Sciarra in military rank,
which, by his ability, he well deserved. Brantôme
describes him as one of those "Mestres-de-Camp
Catholiques" who rendered such good
service against the Protestants during the wars
of the League, and Rossi, who gives him the
rank of " Colonello," says that he afterwards
bore the title of Captain-General at the
capture of several fortresses. He is described as
being of middle height, thin, and strong.
"There gleamed in his eyes," says Rossi, "an
indomitable desire for glory, and on his brow
might be read a soul unmindful of death or
danger." Proof of these qualities was given
by Count Sciarra in numerous pitched battles,
and his disregard of danger is signally shown by
the manner in which he sought to avenge his
father's assassination. When the news of this
event reached him, Count Sciarra was at the
French court, and with the energy which Hamlet
promised but left unperformed, he "flew to his
revenge." With the greatest rapidity, he crossed
the Alps, and entered the city of Brescia with nine
noble soldiers, four of them French, and five
Mantuans, and there, in the public square, on the
solemn day of the Sabbath, he fell upon Count
Alovisio Avogadro as he was returning from mass,
with several of his friends and retainers. But
though the opportunity seemed so favourable,
Sciarra was balked of his prey: Count Alovisio
sought safety in flight, and in his place a noble
Brescian,one of his kinsmen, was slain. He was a
man of much note, and, like the rest of the
Avogadri, highly popular in Brescia, that family being
distinguished for their loyalty to the Venetian
government, and their hatred of the French and
the French party; so that on the news of his
death being spread abroad, the governor of the
city collected his men-at-arms, to kill or capture
Count Sciarra. The latter, observes the chronicler,
quaintly, resolved, therefore, not to shut
himself up in Brescia, but to issue forth with
his friends: "Presi risolutione il Conte Sciarra
di non fermarsi in Brescia, ma di uscirne di
longo, insieme co' suoi." It was time for him
to do so ; the alarm had been given, and when
Sciarra reached the Porta San Nazzaro (close to
the present railway station), his passage was
opposed by the officer who commanded the guard
at the gate. Sciarra cried out that he must
pass, but the unlucky officer refusing to obey,
the impetuous count ran him through the body,
and stretched him dead on the ground. He