Ferrara. 261 



maiued long enough to see the churches, and it was 

 impossible to pass within a few miles of Arqua without 

 paying a visit to the house of Petrarch. At Ferrara we 

 had a letter to the Cardinal Legate, who was very civil. 

 His palace is the ancient abode of the house of Este. 

 .... We had a long visit from him in the evening, and 

 found him most agreeable ; he regretted that there was 

 no opera, as he would have been happy to offer us his 

 box. Fourteen of those unfortunate men who have been 

 making an attempt to raise an insurrection were arrested 

 the day before ; and the night before we slept at Lugo, 

 the Carabineers had searched the inn during the night, 

 entering the rooms where the people were sleeping. We 

 should have been more than surprised to have been 

 wakened by armed men at midnight. In travelling 

 through Italy the reliques and history of the early Chris- 

 tians and of the Middle Ages have a greater attraction for 

 me than those of either the Romans or Etruscans, interest- 

 ing though these latter be, and in this journey my taste was 

 amply gratified, especially at Eavenna, where the church 

 of San Vitale and the Basilica of St. Apollinare in Classis, 

 both built early in the 6th century, are the most magnifi- 

 cent specimens imaginable. Here also is the tomb of 

 Theodore, a most wonderful building ; the remains of his 

 palace and numberless other objects of interest, too 

 tedious to mention. Every church is full of them, and 

 most valuable MSS. abound in the libraries. I like the 

 history of the Middle Ages, because one feels that there is 

 something in common between them and us ; their names 

 still exist in their descendants, who often inhabit the 

 very palaces they dwelt in, and their very portraits, by 

 the great masters, still hang in their halls ; whereas we 

 know nothing about the Greeks and Eomans except their 



