Explore "Rienzi" by Edward Bulwer-lytton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Avoiding the broken streams of the dispersed crowd, Adrian Colonna / strode rapidly down one of the narrow streets leading to his palace, / which was situated at no inconsiderable distance from the place in which / the late contest had occurred. The education of his life made him feel / a profound interest, not only in the divisions and disputes of his / country, but also in the scene he had just witnessed, and the authority / exercised by Rienzi.
An orphan of a younger, but opulent branch of the Colonna, Adrian had / been brought up under the care and guardianship of his kinsman, that / astute, yet valiant Stephen Colonna, who, of all the nobles of Rome, was / the most powerful, alike from the favour of the pope, and the number / of armed hirelings whom his wealth enabled him to maintain. Adrian / had early manifested what in that age was considered an extraordinary / disposition towards intellectual pursuits, and had acquired much of / the little that was then known of the ancient language and the ancient / history of his country.