Pagina 565 de 1118

We have said that Don Roderick, more than ever determined on the

accomplishment of his infamous enterprise, had resolved to seek

the assistance of a powerful man. We cannot give his name, nor

even hazard a conjecture with regard to it; this is the more

astonishing, inasmuch as we find notices of this personage in

several histories of the time. The identity of the facts does not

leave a doubt of the identity of the man; but there is evidently

an extreme care to avoid the mention of his name. Francesco

Rivola, in his life of the Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, speaking

of him, says, "He was a lord as powerful from his wealth as

illustrious from his birth," and nothing further. Giuseppe

Ripamonti makes farther mention of him, as a man, this man, a

person, this person.