iin GARDENS OF ITALY. 
came her health failed rapidly. Her father and 
mother persuaded Cardinal Odescalchi to exert his 
influence with the Doria Cardinal, but all to no 
purpose; he remained inexorable, and Don Domenico 
himself was deaf to every entreaty. 
Vittoria pined away. She. still kept her 
faithless lover’s portrait; but when all hope was 
gone she consecrated her ring to the Virgin. On 
September 25th, 1838, she wrote Domenico a last 
letter, and traced some loving words of forgiveness 
on the back of his picture, and a week after she 
died. 
When the city realised the news, a storm of 
indignation arose. Her biography and letters were 
published, verses were composed, the great public 
funeral marked the popular sympathy, Edmond 
(29 ) 
About gave the name of Tolla to one of his 
heroines in her honour, and feeling against 
Domenico ran high. He, meanwhile, was in 
Venice, where he received the news of her death 
with every mark of profound indifference. He 
waited a year before returning to Rome, and then 
appeared at a party given by the French Ambas- 
sador. He soon found, however, that he had 
miscalculated the tenacity of the public memory, 
and that it was unsafe for him to remain. He left 
Rome for ever, and settled at Genoa, where, ten 
years after Vittoria’s death, he married a Genoese 
lady. He lived till 1873. His memory is still 
execrated, while that of the fair young girl whom 
fate used so cruelly, is still dear to the hearts of the 
Roman people. 
