years, which she passed in Rome, mark the happiest period in the life of both.

Few specimens remain of Vittoria's correspondence with Michelangelo. A letter written by her apropos of a sketch of a crucifix, which the master had submitted for her approval, begins with the graceful address, "Unico maestro Michelangelo et mio singularissimo amico" (Unique master and my most special friend), and ends with a request to be allowed to keep the design as a dear remembrance of their friendship.

At this period of her life Vittoria appears to us like a masterpiece of Greek statuary which, after the lapse of centuries, has found no equal. Little short of perfection, she must be considered as the typical representative of the great Italian lady of the sixteenth century, on account of her powerful intellect, sincere piety, unremitting spirit of charity, purity of mind and body, and lifelong devotion to the memory of her lost husband.

Trollope, Ferrero, Müller, Benrath, Grimm, Reumont, Corvisieri, Luzio, Rodocanachi, Amante, Fontana, and others have spoken so exhaustively of her connection with the work of reformation in general, and with the spreading of the doctrines of Juan Valdés in particular, that I could very well disregard this chapter of her life, were it not for the fact that the hasty burial of her body in the church of Sant' Anna de' Funari and its subsequent disappearance are distinctly connected with her alleged deviation from the Catholic faith.

Vittoria had already expressed her belief in the necessity of a reformation, in the sonnet beginning, —

Veggo d' alga e di fango omai si carca
Pietro, la nave tua, che se qualche onda
Di fuor l'assale e intorno la circonda
Potria spezzarsi e a rischio andar la barca.

"I see thy ship, O Peter, so overladen with mire that she is in danger of sinking at the first attack of the waves!" Other allusions to the same subject have been collected by Trollope in "A Decade of Italian Women," vol. i, p. 352; but Vittoria had written many other poems in a Valdensian spirit, which are lost. When Pietro Carnesecchi was brought before the Inquisition, twenty years after the death of the marchesa, he distinctly stated that he had read them.

Q. "Have you heard, directly or indirectly, the Lady Marchesa di Pescara express doubtful or evil opinions concerning our faith?"

A. "It seems to me I have read in some of her sonnets that she believed in absolute predestination, but I am not

so sure."

And again, in the cross-examination of February 19, 1567, Carnesecchi repeated that the doctrines with which the lady had been imbued by Bernardino Ochino, Alvise Priuli, and Marcantonio Flaminio had been more than once hinted at in her poems; but the fact is that these compositions, tainted with a heretic spirit, are not to be found in the printed editions.

Another point of interest in this period of her life is the battle she fought in favor of the reformed body of Franciscans known by the name of Capuchins. The Capuchins, instituted by Matteo da Boschi and Francesco da Cartocceto in 1525, had met with difficulties since the beginning of their conventual life; and it was only out of fear and respect for Caterina Cibo, duchess of Camerino, who had given them shelter, that the general of the Franciscans, Quiñonez, and the cardinal protector of the order, Pucci, abstained from having recourse to extreme measures.

The interest taken by Vittoria in the case of the Capuchins arose from three causes: from her intimacy with

the duchess of Camerino; from her belief that the austere spiritual life led by the members of the new order would be an object-lesson to the corrupted secular clergy; and lastly, from the fact of her being herself a disciple of Fra Bernardino Ochino of Siena, who had become general of the order in 1538, and had enlisted among the reformers. The correspondence of Vittoria contains many letters in favor of these humble followers of St. Francis, addressed to Cardinal Contareno, Ercole Conzaga, Agostino Trivulzio, and Eleonora della Rovere, duchess of Urbino. We read in one of them the following sentences: "The wicked men accuse our poor Capuchins of being Lutherans because they preach the freedom of the spirit; but if the Capuchins are Lutherans, then St. Francis himself must be considered a heretic. And again, if preaching the freedom of the spirit against the influence of evil must be considered a fallacy, then it is a fallacy to follow the gospel, in which we find the precept, Spiritus est qui vivificat." There is no doubt that Vittoria, shocked by the corruption of the clergy and the general relaxation from ecclesiastical discipline which prevailed in central and southern Italy from the time of Leo X to that of Clement VII, advocated the reformation of the Catholic Church with all the fervor of a believer, and with the exquisite tact of the grand lady.

The letters exchanged with Marguerite de Valois, queen of Navarre, prove that community of ideas had brought about a great intimacy between the French reformer and the Roman poetess; not that Vittoria meant to go as far as Marguerite in her disregard of the Curia, - quite the contrary! Vittoria desired an amelioration in the moral condition of the Catholic world to be brought about by the church itself, not by those who defied its authority, or had enlisted among its enemies; at the same time she