The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-05

family for supremacy. In 1908 a pitched
battle occurred in the streets between
the two. The Torellis We're badly beat
en-. most of them were killed, and the
Estes were left in undisputed sway.
Such tights have always occurred in
the history of republics. and invariably
precede the extinction of individual
liberty. few generations from now
such fights may be expected in New
York city between the partisans of the
Astors and the Vanderbilts of the flu
ture. Our republic is going the way of
all republics and the pace is rapid
From 1908 till 1897, a period of nearly
four hundred years, the Estes remained
in substantial possession. When AL
phonso III. died childless in 1897. Pope
Clement VIII. claimed Ferrara by vir-
tue of a supposed gift of Pipin, father
of Charlemagne. He also claimed it
under the will Of Mathilda, Countess of
Tuscany. AS the pope was strong he
enforced his rights. Caesar, Alphonso's
half brother. whom he had chosen to
succeed, retires to Modena, which be-
longed to Ferrara but was under impe-
rial protection, and there found new
dynasty of Estes which fourished to
the beginning of the present century.
There are Estes of the name still living
in the imperial house of Austria; and
there is Este blood flowing in the veins
of many reigning sovereign of Europe.
Queen Victoria derives her Este de-
scent from the electors of Hanover and
the dukes of Brunswick, who were di-
rectly decended from Ferrara Estes.
Wau ha ok n, tho RI rlr ooac N Lccto ~
the name of Azzo married a Guelph
III, who was lord of vast possessions
in Germany and Italy. He died child
less and his estates and titles We're in
herited by one of Cunegonda Este
boys, who took the name Of Guelfo, or
Welfo, Nv. This Guelfo became Duke
of Bavaria in 1901 and Duke of Saxony
in 1876. One Of his direct descendants
was made Duke of Brunswick in 1895,
and from this Duke are descended
Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Ger
many, the Empress of Russia, and no
end of ex-grand dukes and duchesses
retired princes and bankrupt princess
es The Estes were made Dukes Of
Modena and Reggie In 1452 by the En-
peror Frederic III, and Dukes of Fer
rara by Pope Paul III, in 1472. The
first duke was named Borso, who was
head of the family from 1450 to 1471.
With him will start these lectures.
First, however, the town of Ferrara,
it's buildings, monuments and arts
that we may feel at home with Borso
and his descendants.
Before railroads were built, to the de-
struction Of romance, every traveller
stopped at Ferrarra. 1t was on the
high road from the northeast to the
south and was the proper hating
place between Padua and Bologna.
Then it's hotels Were full and fiourish7
ing and it enjoyed the advantages
which come to towns from stopping
and shopping travellers. Now no one
thinks of halt between Venice and
Bologna unless he be student of art,
or history, Injured to hotels of dirt
and nocturnal disturbers. Even
Bologna is being left to one side by the
express trains on which you are more
comfortably booked through from
Milan, or Venice, straight to Florence.
You are now whiried in ten hours d
distance that made the old fashioned
traveller happy for week. To be sure,
ually active fleas, now and then bridge
carried away by an inundation, and no
end Of accidents to horses and harness;
but the poets tell that a life is not
worth living that has no element of
risk. And. does not modern life give
quite as much danger, with the poetry
left out.
The view is plan of the town from
prosaic Baedeker. You see how the
town has shrunken within It's walls,
like an old man within his shirt. There
are unoccupied spaces where in Borso's
time there were villas, abodes of lesser
note, and booths where artisans made
with artistic finish things which now
adays huge factories turn out in mass
by vulgar machinery.
The first thing to do when you visit
a town, new to you, is to ascend some
central tower, or steeple, and get q
general view of it's layout, so that
when you descend and visit in detail
you may know where you are and how
to get from one point to another. Until
you can visit Ferrara, plan must
take the place of a view from it's high
est tower. On the left you see written
"Stazione"; there you arrive. A short
distance from the station is the site of
one of the towers and gate ways of the
old wall. Towers have disappeared.
The wall in places may still be follow
ed, though long abandoned as a means
of defense. The space near the station
still bears the name of Porta Pc, from
Italy's longest and grandest river.
From here two streets diverge. The
one to the right, called Viale Covour,
conducts the traveller straight to the
castle. Close to the castle are many Of
the most interesting buildings in the
town: the theater; the hospital where
Tasso was confined; and the earlier
palace of the Estes, now used for
municipal offices. On the way to the
castle you pass the church of Santa
Maria della Rosa. Remember it, for it
contains group or statutes you must
see. Down in the southeast corner of
the map you see the Plazzo Schifanoja.
That, too, you must remember. The
street to the left from the Porta Pc,
called the Corso di Porta Pc, will
take you near the house which Ariosto
built and where he lived, and also by
the so-called Palazzo Diamanti, where
in is the Ateneo Civico, or Civic hall,
or Athenaeum, and also the picture
gallery. You need waste no time on the
picture gallery. There was no special
school of art at Ferrara. The Estes
had their court painters, as had the
otla,. a p,iIfas Ttalu and