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 of the more ancient writers on Venice, nor the exposure of the most atrocious cruelty and the most arbitrary despotism, furnished by Count Daru in his recent masterly History of that Republic, to form some conception of the horrors of the secret tribunal. The mere sight of the gloomy arches, and of the strong iron gratings, is quite sufficient.

When, in the course of the late political revolutions, these edifices were in part appropriated to other purposes, there was found on the wall an inscription, apparently in a female hand, hastily scrawled, perhaps in the last awful moment. The writer, who has seen this inscription, subjoins the story connected with it, as preserved by tradition in Venice, without however guaranteeing its authenticity.

Among the flower of the Venetian nobility, who in the year 1524 joined the army sent by the senate, under the command of the Duke of Urbino, to assist its ally, Francis I. of France, in opposing the Austrian power under Charles V., the most conspicuous alike for personal qualities and wealth was Count Christopher Frangipani. Though born in Venice, yet no sooner was he of