before him, said : « What were you seeking this morning in the vault of the Cappelletti? tell us; we will, at all events, know it?» Whilst the Monk was endeavouring to excuse himself under false pretences, and to conceal the truth, the other Monks of the Convent, who had heard the news, opened the vault; and looked in, to discover what their brethren had been doing there; and having found the dead body of Romeo, it was reported in great haste to the Prince, who was still talking to the Monk, that Romeo Montecchi was lying dead in the tomb of the Cappelletti, where Father Lorenzo had been taken that morning. This appeared almost impossible, and filled every one with wender; when the Monk, finding he could no longer conceal the truth, knelt down before the Prince, and said: « Pardon me, my Lord, if I have answered untruly to what you demanded of me; since it was not from any evil intention, or for any profit to myself; but to observe the promise I had made to two unfortunate lovers. » And he then related, in the presence of many witnesses, the whole story. Bartholomew della Scala, moved almost to tears by compassion, wishing to see the bodies, went himself to the sepulchre, followed by a great concourse of people, and commanded the two lovers to be placed on carpets in the Church of St. Fran 1 nor cesco. At the same time, their fathers came also to the Church; where weeping over the bodies of their children, and overcome by mutual pity they embraced each other; so that the long enmity between them and their Houses, that neither the prayers of their friends, nor the menaces of the Prince, nor the losses incurred, even time itself had been able to extinguish, was ended by the piteous death of the two lovers, who, lamented by all, and accompanied by the Prince, their parents, and the whole City, were interred with great pomp and solemnity; and a magnificent monument, with the story of their death engraved on it, was erected to their memory. F. D. S. ART. II. MEMOIR OF LUIGI DA PORTO. (By the Editor.) The great interest which SHAKESPEARE'S Romeo and Juliet gives to the JULIETTA of LUIGI DA PORTO, calls for a few biographical Notices of the author of this simple and beautiful Tale. These will be best drawn from the Life prefixed to the Vicenza edition of 1731, which however is but an enlargement of the Brief Note regarding him at the back (1) of the title of the original editions. The first Edition was by Bendoni; Venice, sine anno the second, 1535, 8.° The Edition of Vicenza is entitled: Rime et Prosa di Messer Luigi da Porto colla Vita del medesimo consagrate al merito incomparabile dell' Illustrissima Signora Contessa Irene Porto, Moglie del Signor Conte Lionardo Tiene del Signor Conte Francesco. In Vicenza 1731. per il Lavezari. . 4. pp. 84. Ded. VIII. LUIGI DA PORTO was born at Vicenza 10 Aug. 1485, of a noble family, the son of Bernardino by Elizabeth Savorgnana of a distinguished family at Friuli; and the grandson of Gabriello da Porto, a Cavalier, who died 1493, by Lucia daughter of Count Palmiero del Sesso of Vicenza. LUIGI was well educated in the Arts and Sciences; but feeling a thirst for the military glory acquired by his an (1) See it copied from the edition of Marcolini, 1539, in Res Lit. III. 78. cestors, he committed himself to the service of the Republic of Venice, as a Captain of Light Horse, particularly in the War of Gradisca; and afterwards gave many proofs of his gallantry, in the wars which took their rise from the memorable League of Cambray, as Andrea Mocenigo records in his work, De Bello Cameracensi (Venetiis, per Bernardinum Venetum de Vitalibus, 1525, in 8.) in these words: « Amplius Aloysius Portensis apud Cromonium cæsis hostibus recuperavit ingentem prædam, quam illi passim egerant. >> » And Cardinal Bembo in his History of Venice (lib. 1x, anno 1509,) says: «Aloysio etiam Porto è Vicetina nobilitate fortis ac præstantis animi adolescenti, ob ejus in Rempublicam studium ad equos levis Armaturæ, quos ei Senatus antea dederat, alteri totidem sunt ab eodem Senatu additi. »> And afterwards in the torian says: affair of Goricia, the same his « Ea in re Aloysii Porti Vicentini Equitum leviorum turmæ Præfecti virtus plurima extitit. » In the midst of this glorious career, the tenth of July, 1511, became the last of his military exploits, though not of his life, as Bembo writes in his XI.th Book. << In Carnis cum hostes sat magno equitum, et militum numero ex Goritianis finibus ad Cremonse oppidum accessissent, ut illud, si possent, caperent, prædas autem abigerent, damnaque incolis et vastitutem inferrent: Joannes Viturius legatus obviam illis factus, prælium acriter magnoque animo iniit, ipse manu promptus ac paratus, ut quivis alius: itaque eos fudit, interfectis captisque perplurimis. Erat cum illo ALOYSIUS PORTUS, de quo supra dictum est, validorum et pulcherrimorum membrorum excellentisque virtutis, atque invicti plane animi adolescens. Is cum se medios in hostes audacissime intulisset, eosque jam in fugam conjecisset, ab uno ex illis in collo apud tenontes vulnere tam tenui accepto, ut vix pellem gladius perforarit, omnibus tamen membris captus ab equo statim decidit, sublatusque a suis per manusque servatus prorsus immobilis per plures menses fuit; cæterum exercere se postea in armis nequivit unquam, qui profecto casus cladem illam hostium Viturio, a quo PORTUS propter virtutem amabatur sane plurimum, odiosam in primis et lachrymabilem reddidit. » The Poet speaks of this in one of his Sonnets: « Ventura, mentre tu nel bel terreno Che l'Alpi il mar et la Livenza chiude; Si stai servendo di gran fede pieno. >> DA PORTO now retired to his nature country, with the complete loss of his limbs for a time; afterwards lame; and in a state of debility. But he gave himself up to poetry, and a constant correspondence with persons of literature; and especially with Bembo, who tenderly loved him, as may be seen in the volume of Bembo's Letters. He took great delight in his correspondence with the celebrated Veronica Gambara di Corregio. This correspondence was rendered more intimate by the alliance between the families. the LUIGI, having served in his tender years under the discipline of the famous Captain and Prince, Guido Ubaldo Duke of Urbino, acquired the favour of that Court, most polished in all Italy, which had a great regard for him, and all of the family of PORTO; as had the Duke's successor Francesco Maria de Rovere; as Bembo's Letters to the Poet prove; as well as that to Elizabeth Gonzaga Duchess of Urbino. LUIGI, for the more convenient pursuit of his studies, frequented the family villa, called Mont' Orso; of which also Bembo makes mention in a Letter to Bernardino, |