The author of the introduction to the curious Memoirs of Sir Kenelm Digby, has proved the absolute falsehood of some of Aubrey's assertions, and infers the improbability of others. But these beautiful lines by Habington, seem to have escaped his notice; and they are not slight evidence in Venetia's favour. On the whole, the mystery remains unexplained; a cloud has settled for ever on the true story of this extraordinary creature. Neither the pen nor the sword of her husband could entirely clear her fame in her own age: he could only terrify slander into silence, and it died away into an indistinct murmur, of which the echo alone has reached our time.--But this is enough:--the echo of an _echo_ could whisper into naught a woman's fair name. The idea of a creature so formed in the prodigality of nature; so completely and faultlessly beautiful; so nobly born and allied; so capable (as she showed herself on various occasions,) of high generous feeling,[55] of delicacy,[56] of fortitude,[57] of tenderness;[58] depraved by her own vices, or "done to death by slanderous tongues," is equally painful and heart-sickening. The image of the asp trailing its slime and its venom over the bosom of Cleopatra, is not more abhorrent. FOOTNOTES: [52] It was the mother of William Habington who addressed to her brother, Lord Mounteagle, that extraordinary letter which led to the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. _Nash's History of Worcestershire._ [53] The family seat of the Habingtons, in Worcestershire. [54] There are also four pictures of her at Strawberry Hill, and one of her mother, Lady Lucy Percy, exquisitely beautiful. At Gothurst, there is a picture of her, and a bust, which, after her death, her husband placed in his chamber, with this tender and beautiful inscription Uxorem amare vivam, voluptas: defunctam, religio. [55] Memoirs of Sir Kenelm Digby, pp. 211, 224. Introduction, p. 27. [56] Memoirs, pp. 205, 213. Introduction, p. 28. [57] Memoirs, p. 254. [58] Memoirs, p. 305. CHAPTER VIII. CONJUGAL POETRY CONTINUED. THE TWO ZAPPI. We find among the minor poets of Italy, a charming, and I believe a singular instance of a husband and a wife, both highly gifted, devoting their talents to celebrate each other. These were Giambattista Zappi,[59] the famous Roman advocate, and his wife Faustina, the daughter of Carlo Maratti, the painter.