329/421 They did no credit to the English character for humanity, but ravaged lands and villages, killing men and violating women. Their general appellation was the bulldogs of England. What must have been Petrarch's horror at these unkennelled hounds! In one of his letters he vents his indignation at their atrocities; but, by-and-by, in the same epistle, he glides into his bookworm habit of apostrophizing the ancient heroes of Rome, Brutus, Camillus, and God knows how many more! [Illustration: THE LIBRARY OF ST. MARK'S PLACE, VENICE.] The plague now again broke out in Italy; and the English and other predatory troops contributed much to spread its ravages. |