With Venice we have here to deal in her somewhat unnatural position as an Italian land power. ♦War of the League of Cambray, 1508-1517.♦ This position she took on herself in the fifteenth century; in the sixteenth it led to the momentary overthrow and wonderful recovery of her dominion in the war of the League of Cambray. This land power of Venice stands quite distinct from the Venetian possessions east of the Hadriatic. ♦Istria.♦ With this last her possession of the coast of the _Istrian_ peninsula must be reckoned, rather than with her Italian dominions. Between these lay Aquileia, Trieste, and the other lands in this quarter which gradually came under the power of Austria. ♦Extent of Venetian dominion. | Ravenna, 1441-1530.♦ The continuous Italian dominion of Venice took in _Udine_ at one end and _Bergamo_ at the other, besides _Crema_, and for a while _Ravenna_, as outlying possessions. Thus the Byzantine city which lay anchored off the shore of the Western Empire could for a season call the ancient seat of the Exarchate its own. ♦Two parts of the Venetian territory.♦ But even the continuous land territory of Venice lay in two portions. Brescia and Bergamo were almost cut off from Verona and the other possessions to the east by the Lake of Garda, the bishopric of Trent to the north, and the principality of _Mantua_ to the south. The mention of this last state leads us back again to the commonwealths which, like Milan, changed, first into tyrannies, and then into acknowledged principalities. It is impossible to mention all of them, and some of those which played for a while the most brilliant part in Italian history had no lasting effect on Italian geography. ♦Rule of the Scala at Verona, 1260-1387; | of the Carrara at Padua, 1318-1405;♦ The rule of the house of Scala at Verona, the rule of the house of Carrara at Padua, left no lasting trace on the map. It was otherwise with the two states which bordered on the Venetian possessions to the south. ♦of the Gonzaga at Mantua, 1328-1708. | Marquesses, 1433; | Dukes, 1530.♦ The house of Gonzaga held sovereign power at _Mantua_, first as captains, then as marquesses, then as dukes, for nearly four hundred years. ♦House of Este.♦ Of greater fame was the power that grew up in the house of _Este_, the Italian branch of the house of Welf. Their position is one specially instructive, as illustrating the various tenures by which dominion was held. ♦The lords of Ferrara and Modena, 1264-1288.♦ The marquesses of Este, feudal lords of that small principality, became, after some of the usual fluctuations, permanent lords of the cities of _Ferrara_ and _Modena_. About the same time they lost their original holding of Este, which passed to Padua, and with Padua to Venice. Thus the nominal marquess of Este and real lord of Ferrara was not uncommonly spoken of as Marquess of Ferrara. In the fifteenth century these princes rose to ducal rank; but by that time