These three, however, though
ostensibly rivals for the Duke's favour, live on such good terms with
one another that they are suspected of having entered into a secret
partnership; while some regard them all as the emissaries of the
Jesuits, who, since the suppression of the Society, are known to have
kept a footing in Pianura, as in most of the Italian states. As to the
Duke, the death of the Marquess of Cerveno, the failing health of the
little prince, and his own strange physical infirmities, have so preyed
on his mind that he is the victim of any who are unscrupulous enough to
trade on the fears of a diseased imagination. His counsellors, however
divided in doctrine, have at least one end in common; and that is, to
keep the light of reason out of the darkened chamber in which they have
confined him; and with such a ruler and such principles of government,
you may fancy that poor philosophy has not where to lay her head."
"And the people?" Odo pursued. "What of the fiscal administration? In
some states where liberty of thought is forbidden the material welfare
of the subject is nevertheless considered."
The hunchback shook his head. "It may be so," said he, "though I had
thought the principle of moral tyranny must infect every branch of
public administration. With us, at all events, where the Church party
rules, the privileges and exemptions of the clergy are the chief source
of suffering, and the state of passive ignorance in which they have kept
the people has bred in the latter a dull resignation that is the surest
obstacle to reform.
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