Francis  IV.,  Duke  of  Modena,  was  a  Bourbon  prince,  with
all  the  vices  of  his  race,  and  perhaps  an  extra  grain  of  savage
cruelty.  The  prisons  of  Modena  in  his  reign  were  worthy  of
the  days  of  the  Borgias.  The  loathsome  dungeons  in  which
the  unhappy  Liberals  languished  without  a  trial  were  not  the
worst  infliction.  They  were  drugged  so  as  to  produce  delirium
just  before  they  were  brought  out  to  be  examined,  and  every-
thing they  said  in  this  state  was  noted  down  and  used  against
them.  An  officer  died  of  an  over-dose  of  the  poison  ;  and  a
barrister  went  violently  mad,  and  had  to  be  chained  to  prevent
him  killing  himself ;  while  countless  numbers  of  the  most  intel-
ligent, high-minded,  and  well-disposed  citizens  perished  on  the
scaffold,  or  endured  the  prolonged  martyrdom  of  the  galleys,
without  any  positive  evidence  against  them.  This  ferocious
prince  spared  neither  sex  nor  age  ;  and  not  even  the  sacred
office  of  priesthood  could  protect  the  unhappy  man,  no  matter
what  his  virtues,  who  was  once  suspected  of  Liberalism.  One
instance  will  serve  to  show  the  sort  of  justice  that  was  then
administered  in  Modena.  Two  prisoners  were  sentenced  to
die  on  the  same  day — the  one  for  the  murder  of  his  father ;  the
other,  a  priest,  accused  of  Liberalism,  a  man  of  great  talent,
and  such  excellent  character  that  he  was  universally  beloved
and  respected.     The  parricide  received  the  sovereign  grace  ;


INTRODUCTION.  xiii

while  the  good  priest  was  pitilessly  sent  to  the  block,  though
his  bishop  begged  on  his  knees  for  his  life  to  be  spared,  and
refused  to  iiiiprkst  the  condemned,  which  was  necessary  before
the  sentence  could  be  executed.  Another  less  scrupulous
bishop  was  found  to  perform  the  office,  and  the  victim  died
with  the  calm  resignation  of  a  Christian.  The  clergy  were
almost  always  on  the  side  of  despotism,  and  were  the  chief
supporters  and  instigators  of  every  act  of  tyranny  perpetrated
throughout  the  peninsula.  But  there  were  not  wanting  noble
exceptions ;  every  State  in  Italy  counts  some  reverend  names
among  its  martyrs  of  liberty,  and  with  them  must  be  numbered
this  poor  Andreoli  di  Correggio.
