The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-05
CITIES OF NORTHERN ITALY
CONTINUED From Ninth Page.)

but the best of these were painted by
artists from other cities. Moreover
their choice works, executed at and for
Ferrara, are no longer at Ferrara, but
scattered over Europe. They shine in
the museums OF London, Paris, Berlin
and Dresden. When the last Duke was
driven out of Ferrara he took his pic
ture gallery with him to Modena. In
1745 Duke Francesca III, being hard
pressed by creditors, sold hundred of
his best pictures to Augustus Ill of
Saxony. They are now in Dresden and
form the great attraction of the Ores
den museum.
The things in Ferrara most worthy
OF examination are the castle, the
cathedral, the queer frescoes in the
Palazzo Schifanja, and the Pieta by
Guido Mazzoni in the church of Santa
Maria della Rosa Then, If you have
time you may look in at the picture
gallery, visit Ariosto's house, and re-
fleet on the vagaries of Signor Torqu-
alto Tasso.
rara is one of the finest edifices of the
kind in existence 1t shows forth
magnificently the power of the family
+ tLdI pulll IL anu llNeu III IL. IL 10 Sll-
uated in the very heart of the town it
overawed and commanded. Each side
presents the same massive Architecture
and the same naughty defiance. Its
moat is still filled. The machinery for
raising its bridges in case of attack is
still extant. The castle was started
about Nicholas III, about 1885. He was
not beloved by his people and had
stormy experience in establishing pow
er. He built the castle that he might
the more easily defend himself against
unruly subjects. He was passionate
and cruel, but courageous and crafty.
His wife must have been like him; for
history records that she plotted
against her own son, who in turn did
not hesitate to lock the old lady up
when she became too obstreperous, and
finally to cut off her treason-plotting
head. Such were the ways and Gus
toms Of most people in Italy during the
14th and 18th centuries. Perhaps
nerves were not so active in those
days, and therefore decapitatlon was
not so painful, for 1t is mentioned as
an ordinary and everyday punishment.
1t Is beyond dispute that people recov-
cred from wounds during the 14th and
18th centuries which nowadays prove
fatal, In spite Of modern surgery. In the
castle you are shown the dungeon,
deep down under one of the towers,
where the dear old lady lost her head
and you wonder If ghostly comfort sus-
tanned her in the trying moment. You
are also shown another dungeon where
d still more terrible tragedy was enact
ed. Read Byron's Parisina for details.
In 1926 the third Nicholas grew Jealous
Of his wife the fair, il frail, Parisina.
History does not prove her guilt, nor
that of Hugo, her step-son. Before a
modern New York jury they would
have been triumphantly acquitted, but
there were no juries in those days. The
Duke was Judge, the jury and sheriff in
one. Pardsina was compelled to be
present when Hugo's head was Topped;
while she, SO says the poet, was DOOM
4 ed to live on until Imprisonment in a
dark and damp, silent and solitary,
foul and filthy, cell, with hunger sup
GRADED, killed her. The story when
told in her cell is so pathetic that you
\ wish you had been there to have
quasIed the Indictment by the fervor
OF your eloquence and to have restored
the accused to liberty and happiness.
There is a portrait of the lady in Fritz
zi's historic album Of the Este family.
She is represented as rather too round,
comfortable and mature to have fgur-
ed in youthful escapade. Put on the
witness stand, her appearance alone,
without word of explanation, would
have secured the sympathies of mod
ern Judge and have sufficed for acquit-
tai. The correspondent, Hugo. may also
be personally known from his portrait
y III the same publication. He looks bold
and manly, has fine form, active limbs
and plant hands. He looks quite capa-
Bile of anything the situation demand
ed, and may have met his fate as he
roically as Byron depicts.
1t is only step from the castle to
the cathedral, but step back to the
purity and intensity of medieval pi-
ETY.. The cathedral dates back to the
beginning Of the 18th century; to the
time of the very first Estes, who
may have started it to show forth re-
1igious zeal to the people Of Ferrara, or
to ingratiate themselves with those
whose religious zeal was more genuine
than their own. The Estes were
strong and self-reliant race, who paid
sufficient Difference to religion so long
as religion offered no barriers to their
desires and ambitions; but who We're
not to be frightened by priestly threats
or allured by ghostly promises. The
facade of the cathedral at which you
are looking, with the exception of the
lower story, cannot be earlier than the
beginning Of the 18th century The
lower story, with its round-head door
ways and it's rough masonry, may be
earlier even than the 18th century and
have belonged to a church which was
still standing when the Estes began
rebuilding. The upper stories of the
facade are beautiful and fine speci-
mems of early italian Gothic. The
second story consists Of round-head
arches divided into groups of threes.
Over each group is pointed arch with
it's pediment pierced by an /encircled
star The third story is low and of
rows of round-headed openings. The
fourth story consists of lofty, arches,
slightly pointed, deeply recessed and
divided into sets Of tours with a large
circular opening in each surrounding
gable. The entire from. is divided into
three equal perpendicular divisions by
two projecting pilasters; one on each
side of the main entrance Over each
perpendicular division is pointed
gable; up and down which and all
along the top of the building runs a
delicate colonnade. The entire compo-
sition is remarkably harmonious and