A nation of good haters.—Madama's soldier trade.—A new Pope has to found a new family.—Catherine's bounty to recruits.—A shrewd dealer meets his match.—Signs of hard times.—How to manage a free council.—Forlì ungrateful.—Catherine at Bay.—"A Borgia! A Borgia!"—A new year's eve party in 1500.—The lioness in the toils.—Catherine led captive to Rome 238 CHAPTER X. Catherine arrives in Rome; is accused of attempting to poison the Pope; is imprisoned in St. Angelo; is liberated; and goes to Florence.—Her cloister life with the Murate nuns.—Her collection of wonderful secrets.—Making allowances.—Catherine's death 256 VITTORIA COLONNA. Born, 1490. Died, 1547. CHAPTER I. PAGE Changes in the Condition of Italy.—Dark Days.—Circumstances which led to the Invasion of the French.—State of things in Naples.—Fall of the Arragonese Dynasty.—Birth of Vittoria.—The Colonna.—Marino.—Vittoria's Betrothal.—The Duchessa di Francavilla.—Literary Culture at Naples.—Education of Vittoria in Ischia 271 CHAPTER II. Vittoria's Personal Appearance.—First Love.—A Noble Soldier of Fortune.—Italian Wars of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.—The Colonna Fortunes.—Death of Ferdinand II.—The Neapolitans carry Coals to Newcastle.—Events in Ischia.—Ferdinand of Spain in Naples.—Life in Naples in the Sixteenth Century.—Marriage of Pescara with Vittoria.—Marriage presents 287 CHAPTER III. Vittoria's Married Life.—Pescara goes where glory waits him.—The Rout of Ravenna.—Pescara in prison turns penman.—His "Dialogo di amore."—Vittoria's poetical epistle to her Husband.—Vittoria and the Marchese del Vasto.—Three cart-loads of ladies, and three mule-loads of sweatmeats.—Character of Pescara.—His Cruelty.—Anecdote in proof of it 301 CHAPTER IV. Society in Ischia.—Bernardo Tasso's sonnet thereon.—How a wedding was celebrated at Naples in 1517.—A Sixteenth Century trousseau.—Sack of Genoa.—The Battle of Pavia.—Italian conspiracy against Charles V.—Character of Pescara.—Honour in 1525.—Pescara's treason.—Vittoria's sentiments on the occasion.—Pescara's infamy.—Patriotism unknown in Italy in the sixteenth century.—No such sentiment to be found in the writings of Vittoria.—Evil influence of her husband's character on her mind.—Death of Pescara 312 CHAPTER V.