together with his chair and inkstand, are exhibited to the worshippers of genius, form the third great point of attraction in Ferrara. Ferrara obtained some eminence by its school of painting, founded and patronized by the Este family. In its palmy days this city contained nearly one hundred thousand inhabitants, but its population decreased rapidly after the death of Alfonso II.; and at the present time it scarcely exceeds one-fourth of its former strength. Ferrara is not wanting in churches, and public buildings, nor in remains of art, but there is an oppressive gloom pervading the place, and were it not for the stirring associations connected with its past history, few visitors would venture within its melancholy precincts. PADUA. . EW cities, says Eustace, " can boast of an origin so ancient and so honourable, and not many can pretend to have enjoyed for so long a period so much glory and prosperity, as Padua." Its foundation is attributed to Antenor, a Trojan prince, and a relative of Priam, but upon no better authority than poetical tradition, and the discovery, in 1274, of an old sarcophagus, which the Paduans believe to be the tomb of Antenor, but which is considered by antiquaries to be a monument of some prince of the middle ages. There can be no question, however, regarding the antiquity of Padua, for we learn from Tacitus that the ancient Patavium was accustomed to celebrate its origin, and the name of its supposed founder, in annual games, said to have been instituted by Antenor; and Livy relates that a naumachia, exhibited annually on one of the rivers which water the town, perpetuated the memory of a signal victory obtained by the Paduans long before their union with Rome. When the city afterwards submitted to the genius of Rome, it was treated rather as a friendly ally than as a conquered province. It shared in all the privileges and honours of the capital; and in the days of Strabo, it reckoned five hundred Roman knights among its citizens, and could send into the field twenty thousand armed men. At this time, also, she was celebrated for commercial enterprise, and drew by her cloth and woollen manufactures no small portion of the tribute of the provinces from the Roman treasury. After having shared the glory of Rome, Padua partook of her disasters, and fell under the yoke of the barbarians. The city was held in succession by the Goths, the Lombards, the Franks, and the Germans, and during the long period of its vassalage its fortunes vibrated between the favour and the caprice of its wayward tyrants. To escape the vengeance of the Lombards, the remains of its ancient inhabitants fled to the Rialto, and formed a union with the Venetian republic, reserving to themselves the privileges of their own laws and institutions. The consideration that Venice was founded by citizens of Padua, who flying before Alaric and Attila, took refuge in the solitary isles of the Adriatic, might perhaps have reconciled the Paduans to partial submission, and prompted the Venetians to offer a generous union. We afterwards find Padua taking place, as a free republic, beside the sister states of Verona, Vicenza, Ferrara, and Mantua. In the fifteenth century it was besieged by the Venetians, and after enduring great extremities yielded submission; and it continued thereafter in union with Venice until 1797, when this republic was dismembered by the French. After the fall of Napoleon, it became part of the Lombardo-Venetian dependency of Austria.* Padua was once celebrated for learning and art; but its famous University has sunk in reputation, and in the department of art it can now only refer to the works of Cimabue, Giotto, and Andrea Mantegna. It still presents the aspect of an impressive city, containing public buildings, religious and civil, of great interest and of some beauty. The vast structure, on the left of our view, is the Palazza della Ragione, upon which has been raised a town hall, the largest building of the kind in Europe. It is 260 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 80 feet high. The church of St. Anthony is a remarkable structure, with domes and minaret spires, giving it the appearance of a Turkish mosque. It is rich in sculpture, painting, and decorations, and contains a magnificent fresco of the Crucifixion. The University, of which the tower appears in our view, was founded by Frederick II., early in the thirteenth century. Under the government of Venice, this institution numbered six thousand students. The pseudo sarcophagus of Antenor stands at the corner of a street under a baldacchino, or stone canopy, and is worthy of observation as a monument of high antiquity. It was long affirmed that Livy was born at Padua, but it is now certain that this event occurred at Abano, a place within the Paduan territory. The good citizens, however, contend manfully for ancient honours, and still point out a house in the Strada di San Giovanni as having been the residence of Livy! They, moreover, possess the mortal remains of the historian, if the contents of a leaden coffin, discovered early in the fifteenth century, can be safely taken for them. * The middle age history of Padua is full of horrors. In the thirteenth century, that execrable tyrant, Ezzolino Romano, carried his oppressive enormities so far, that Alexander IV. directed his legate, the Archbishop of Ravenna, to preach a crusade against him, as an accursed monster whom it was the duty of mankind to destroy. This tyrant was a Ghibelline, a creature of Frederick II.; had he been a Guelph, the pope might not have been so indignant at his atrocities, for the papal power had, on several occasions, creatures not less infamous than Ezzolino. The Venetians rose against him, in 1256, when Padua endured all the miseries of storm and pillage for seven days. Ezzolino, who was at that time absent from the city, charged the loss of the place against the Paduans themselves, and revenged himself by sacrificing, in various ways, eleven thousand citizens who formed part of his army. His only redeeming quality, consummate military skill, prolonged his fate; but he was ultimately hunted down, wounded, and taken prisoner by three Ghibelline chiefs, who had discovered by mutual revelations that he had treacherous designs against each of them. The death of this monster was in keeping with all the acts of his life. He refused surgical aid, tore the bandages from his wounds, and expired. Dante (Inferno xii. 110) has consigned this tyrant to the river of blood, in which are found all who have injured their neighbours. And the castle of Romano, the birth-place of Ezzolino, is thus alluded to by the same poet: In that part Of the depraved Italian land, which lies Of Brenta and Piava, there doth rise, But to no lofty eminence, a hill, From whence erewhile a fire-brand did descend, Paradiso, ix. 25-31. |