seize and imprison his elder brother Cecco, lord of Forli, and thus make himself master of the city; but feeling their position insecure while the prisoner lived, she mixed poison with the food which she sent him in the Torre del Orologio. He escaped this danger, thanks to his wife Elisabeth, who shared his prison, and who bore about her person a ring which had the virtue of detecting poisons, but was soon after killed by a band of assassins, employed by Barbara. The plague having broken out at Forli, she removed to Forlimpopoli with her husband, who left her there and went to Florence. She would have followed him, had she not shortly been taken ill, and died, as it is supposed, from the effects of poison, which he, "for reasons unknown," caused to be administered to her.'-Perkins. *3rd Chapel. Guido Reni. The Conception. One of the best works of the master. Right, the tomb of Morgagni, the anatomist. 4th Chapel. Injured cupola, with angels attributed to Palmezzano. Left, 1st Pillar. A recently discovered fresco of the Virgin and Child throned between SS. Jerome and Francis. The other churches of Forli are little worth visiting. All their good pictures have been removed to the Pinacoteca, and many of them are now turned into barracks. A street on the right of the Corso, opposite the Hotel La Posta, leads to the Piazza San Pellegrino. Here is the Church of the Servi, which contains (right of entrance) a tomb with a relief of the Adoration of the Shepherds, executed in his life-time by Luffo Numai, as his own monument and that of his wife Caterina Paolucci. In the Sacristy is an Annunciation by Marco Palmezzano. Opposite this, in the former convent of the Frati della Missione, are the Public Library and the Pinacoteca, which is deeply interesting as deriving all its wealth from native. art. Here alone can be studied the grand works of Melozzo da Forli and his pupil Marco Palmezzano-the latter of whom founded a numerous school. Indeed, except the fresco in the Vatican and a fragment on the staircase of the Quirinal, there are no important works of Melozzo out of Forli. It is a peculiarity of the masters of this school that they always signed their works in full, on a parchment brought by some means into the picture. In their sacred subjects they also always endeavoured to introduce the patron saints of the city, the Bishop Mercuriale and the warrior Valeriano. It is remarkable that Melozzo and his followers associate themselves entirely with the school of Mantegna, and have nothing whatever in common with the neighbouring school of Bologna. We may notice in the gallery 79. Damiano da Zotto da Forli. S. Sebastian. 80. Francesco Menzocchi da Forli, a pupil of Palmezzano, 15021574. Portrait of Cesarina, daughter of the famous Francesco Hercolani. 86. Guercino. A beautiful picture from the Church of S. Filipp Neri. Above, Gabriel receives the Message of the Annunciation from the Almighty; below, the Virgin, a sweet country girl, kneels, reading. 87. Livio Agresti da Forli, c. 1580. The Presentation in the Temple. 89. Id. The Crucifixion. 90. Niccolò Rondinelli. Virgin and Child. 94. Bagnacavallo. Holy Family. 104. Francesco Menzocchi. Crucifixion, with S. Bernardino and S. Roch. 110. Pier Paolo Menzocchi da Forli. The Donation of the Rosary. *112. Marco Palmezzano. A most interesting triptych. In the centre, the Madonna and Child, with Girolamo and Caterina Sforza kneeling at their feet; at the sides, saints; in the predella, Christ and the Apostles. 113. Marco Valerio Morolini da Forli, a pupil of Palmezzano. The Annunciation. 113 bis. Bartolommeo da Forli. The Deposition. 115. Marco Palmezzano. The Crucifixion-a fresco. 116. Carlo Cignani. The Madonna crowning S. Rosa. *117. Francesco Zaganelli (Il Cotignola), 1471-1540. God the Father, with kneeling saints. A very beautiful picture. 124. Bagnacavallo. Holy Family and donor. *126. Marco Melozzo da Forli. S. Antonio throned between S. Sebastian and S. John the Baptist. The pig appears beneath. On the throne are the arms of the Austoli family, for whom the picture was painted. God the Father is in a lunette above. This was formerly in the Church of the Carmine. The colouring is quite magnificent. *128. Marco Palmezzano. The Annunciation. The Angel with his lily kneels before the Virgin, who is seated under an arch. Behind, is a lovely Umbrian landscape, with figures hawking and fishing: the Dove of the Holy Spirit appears on a cloud. 130. Giuseppe Galeppini da Forli (1625-1650). Marriage of S. Catherine. 131. Livio Agresti. The Deposition. 132. Paolo Cignani (1709–1764). The Miracle of S. Domenico. 136. Barbara Longhi (of Ravenna). Virgin and Child, with SS. Mercuriale and Valeriano. 141. Fr. Albani. S. Sebastian. *144. Scuola di Melozzo. Biagio and Valeriano. Virgin and Child throned with SS. A grand picture, the face of the young warrior Valeriano quite beautiful. *145. Marco Palmezzano. The Bearing of the Cross. The heads are full of expression and grandeur. Were it not signed, this picture would be taken for a Bellini. The rich ornamentation on the robe of the Saviour is quite his. This is the favourite subject of the master it is repeated in the gallery at Faer.za. 146. Fr. Menzocchi. Virgin and Child, with SS. Mercuriale and Valeriano. *147. Marco Palmezzano. The Last Supper, represented as a Sacrament. A most noble picture. The scene is a rich portico, backed by wild Umbrian mountains. The Saviour, in a long blue robe, with an expression of awful solemnity and sympathy, administers the wafer to S. Peter; S. John stands by as a deacon with the chalice. The other disciples kneel behind rapt in devotion, except Judas, who kneels behind Christ with an expression careless and pre-occupied. Behind, like a vision, is seen the rejection of the Temptation. *148. Marco Palmezzano. A grand portrait of the artist painted (like all his pictures on wood) in his 80th year for his tomb in S. Domenico, where it long remained. It was withdrawn by his family and sold to the Commune. Florence and other galleries have offered immense sums for this picture. 150. Guercino. S. John Baptist. *151. Niccolò Rondinelli (sometimes attributed to Giorgione and even to Raffaelle). Portrait said to represent Caesar Borgia, Duke of Valentinois. A simple and beautiful picture. 154. Marco Falmezzano. Presentation in the Temple. 155. Id. The Flight into Egypt. These two pictures are very small, but full of character and beauty. *160. Francesco Menzocchi. Portrait of Cesare Hercolani, warrior of Forli, one of those who took Francis I. prisoner at Pavia. The saddle-cloth of the king was always preserved in this family, lately extinct. 161. Damiano di Zotto. S. Roch. 162. Guido Reni. Head of the Madonna. A study for the picture of the Conception in S. Girolamo. (Over the Entrance) Guido Cagnacci. Two pictures of saints of local interest, as having been carried as standards at the translation of La Madonna del Fuoco. The Citadel, begun by Cardinal Albornoz in 1359, was enlarged under the Ordelaffii and the Riarii. Forli is the residence of the disinterested patriot Aurelio Saffi, Roman triumvir in 1849, with Mazzini and Armellini. He is remarkable for the heroism with which he has endured many vicissitudes of fortune, not the least that of his arrest at Rimini in 1874 (to prevent his possible influence in the elections), with 23 of his friends, when, after a month's incarceration in the malefactors' prison at Spoleto, and two months of solitary confinement at Perugia, they were released (hurried from their cells secretly at night for fear of a demonstration), the Government simply saying that they had 'made a mistake, and that there was no longer any occasion to proceed against them.' 63 I CHAPTER XVIII. RIMINI AND S. MARINO. T is a little more than an hour by rail (5 frs. 30 c.; 3 frs. 70 c.) from Forli to Rimini, passing Forlimpopoli (Stat.). The ancient Forum Popilii. Cesena (Stat.). Cesena was the last town of Cisalpine Gaul on the Via Emilia. Its situation on the Savio is described by Dante : E quella, a cui il Savio bagna il fianco, Così com' ella si è tra 'l piano e 'l monte, Tra tirannia si vive e stato franco.'-' Inf.' xxvii. It is very picturesque from a distance, surmounted by its rock-built castle. The bishopric of Cesena is one of the oldest in Italy, and is said to have been founded by S. Philemon, A.D. 92. The town was pillaged and its inhabitants cruelly massacred to the number of 3,000 persons by the Legate, Cardinal Robert of Geneva, afterwards the Anti-pope Clement VII. Pius VI. (Giov. Angelo Braschi) and Pius VII. (Gregorio Barnabe Chiaramonte) were both natives of this town, and there is a statue of the former in the Palazzo Pubblico which contains a fine fresco of Francesco Franciaa Madonna and Saints. In front of the Palazzo is a handsome fountain. The Library, founded by Malatesta Novello, 1452, contains much that is interesting. Right Aisle, 3rd Altar. The Risen Saviour between the Baptist and S. John the Evangelist. 'Behind the Baptist there kneels an elderly man with an expression of mild piety, according to the inscription described as Camillus Verardus, eques Pontificius. The hands of the kneeling figure are |