well-being at their sources; the devil of petty-princedom, wallowing in sloth and cruelty upon a pinchbeck throne; the devil of effeminate hidalgoism, ruinous in expenditure, mean and grasping, corrupt in private life, in public ostentatious, vain of titles, cringing to its masters, arrogant to its inferiors.  In their train these brought with them seven other devils, their pernicious offspring:  idleness, disease, brigandage, destitution, ignorance, superstition, hypocritically sanctioned vice.  These fourteen devils were welcomed, entertained, and voluptuously lodged in all the fairest provinces of Italy.  The Popes opened wide for them the gates of outraged and depopulated Rome.  Dukes and marquises fell down and worshiped the golden image of the Spanish Belial-Moloch—­that hideous idol whose face was blackened with soot from burning human flesh, and whose skirts were dabbled with the blood of thousands slain in wars of persecution.  After a tranquil sojourn of some years in Italy, these devils had everywhere spread desolation and corruption.  Broad regions, like the Patrimony of S. Peter and Calabria, were given over to marauding bandits; wide tracks of fertile country, like the Sienese Maremma, were abandoned to malaria; wolves prowled through empty villages round Milan; in every city the pestilence swept off its hundreds daily; manufactures, commerce, agriculture, the industries of town and rural district, ceased; the Courts swarmed with petty nobles, who vaunted paltry titles; and resigned their wives to cicisbei and their sons to sloth:  art and learning languished; there was not a man who ventured to speak out his thought or write the truth; and over the Dead Sea of social putrefaction floated the sickening oil of Jesuitical hypocrisy.

CHAPTER II.

THE PAPACY AND THE TRIDENTINE COUNCIL.

The Counter-Reformation—­Its Intellectual and Moral Character—­Causes of the Gradual Extinction of Renaissance Energy—­Transition from the Renaissance to the Catholic Revival—­New Religious Spirit in Italy—­Attitude of Italians toward German Reformation—­Oratory of Divine Love—­Gasparo Contarini and the Moderate Reformers—­New Religious Orders—­Paul III.—­His early History and Education—­Political Attitude between France and Spain—­Creation of the Duchy of Parma—­Imminence of a General Council—­Review of previous Councils—­Paul’s Uneasiness—­Opens a Council at Trent in 1542—­Protestants virtually excluded, and Catholic Dogmas confirmed in the first Sessions—­Death of Paul in 1549—­Julius III.—­Paul IV.—­Character and Ruling Passions of G.P.  Caraffa—­His Futile Opposition to Spain—­Tyranny of his Nephews—­Their Downfall—­Paul Devotes himself to Church Reform and the Inquisition—­Pius IV.—­His Minister Morone—­Diplomatic Temper of this Pope—­His Management of the Council—­Assistance rendered by his nephew Carlo Borromeo—­Alarming State of Northern Europe—­The Council reopened