DUCHIES OF TARMA, MODENA, AND LUCCA. 



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government. Every town is required to have its elementary school, which is supported at the 

 municipal expense. The higher schools are the gymnasia, in which are taught the learned lan- 

 guages and rhetoric, and the lyceums, in which are added history, and natural philosophy. The 

 universities of Padua and Pavia are among the most distinguished in Italy. 



11. History The ancient republic of Venice was founded in the 6th century, and from the 

 marshy islands of the Adriatic, it gradually extended its limits so as to embrace a large portion 

 of the neighboring continent. In the 13th century, this republic had become one of the most 



flourishing and powerful States in the world. 

 The discovery of the passage to India by the 

 Portuguese, at the end of the 15th century, 

 ruined the commerce of Venice with the East, 

 and from that time, the republic began to de- 

 cline. It had become totally insignificant on 

 the breaking out of the I'rench revolutionary 

 wars, in the course of which, it fell into the 

 hands of Austria. It was long the custom of 

 the Venetians, in sign of their dominion over 

 the Adriatic, to celebrate a- splendid pageant, 

 which they called wedding the sea. The State 

 galley, or Bucentaur, sumptuously adorned, and 

 filled with the principal men of the republic, and 

 accompanied by innumerable feluccas and gon- 

 dolas, moved down to the mouth of the harbor, 

 where the doge dropped a ring into the bosom 

 of the sea, with these words, "we wed thee 

 with this ring, in token of our perpetual sove- 

 reignty." But even this poor relic of departed 

 glory has perished ; "the spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord," and the Bucentaur lies rotting 

 in the arsenal. 



Lombardy was conquered by the Langobards or Lombards, in the 6th century, and made a 

 kingdom. Charlemagne annexed it to his empire. The Milanese was for a long time an ob- 

 ject of contention between the French and Austrians. The Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, 

 with its present limits, became fixed under the Austrian rule, at the Congress of Vienna, in 

 April, 1815. 



CHAPTER LXXXII. THE DUCHIES OF PARMA, MODENA, AND LUCCA. 



1. Boundaries^ Extent^ and Divisions. These three territories are distinct and indepen- 

 dent of each other. They are bounded north by the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom ; east by 

 the States of the church ; south by Tuscany, and west by the Mediterranean and the Sardinian 

 territory. 



2. Parma. This duchy comprises a surface of 2,200 square miles, and is washed on the 

 northern limit by the Po. The Apennines bound it on the south. The climate is temperate 

 and healthy. The soil is rich, and produces corn, fruits, the vine and olive. Silk is every- 

 where raised, and tliere are manufactories of this article and of iron. The government is abso- 

 lute, and the duchy is divided into four districts. Maria Louisa, the widow of Napoleon, is the 

 reigning duchess. By a certain contingency, the country may fall to Austria and Sardinia. 

 The population is 440,000. 



Parma., the capital, stands on a river of that name. Its walls are 3 or 4 miles in circumfe- 

 rence. The streets and squares are spacious, but they contain little that is remarkable for archi- 

 tecture. Almost every other building is a church, rich within, but seldom finished without. 

 Here are a university, a public library of 110,000 volumes, and the celebrated Bodoni press. 

 Population, 30,000. Piacenza, on the Po, is a fortified town, occupied by Austrian troops. 

 Population, 28,000. The citadel is occupied by an Austrian garrison. 



3 JModena. This duchy lies also upon the Po, to the east of Parma. It contains 2,100 

 square miles. The climate is like that of Parma. The soil produces corn and wine. The 

 government is arbitrary, and the revenue is about 70,000 dollars. A military force of 1,600 men 



85 



