Truly, we see no reason why ladies should not hold such appointments in every country; they have leisure to attend to the duty of visiting the poor, which is a most important part of the relief needed.
TENDA, BEATRICE,
Was born in 1070, in a castle erected in a valley which open to the north of the celebrated Col di Tenda. Her progenitors were Counts Loiscari di Ventimiglio, sovereigns of a large province in tin maritime region of the Alps, and more properly were called Count di Tenda. How or why Beatrice was given in marriage to the celebrated condottier, Facino Cane, cannot now be ascertained Probably her family constrained her to this union. By him she was, however, always treated with the greatest consideration and respect; his glories and treasures were divided with her; and while his wife, she received sovereign honours, and by her gentle influence she mitigated the natural cruelty of his disposition. The elevation of Facino Cane was owing to these circumstances: the Viscount's family had rendered their sovereignty odious throughout Lombardy by a course of crimes and oppressions beyond endurance. In their domestic relations assassinations and poisonings were frequent; towards their subjects they were cruel and unjust; and towards other princes their outrageous violations of the most solemn treaties seemed to render an alliance with them impossible. Things had arrived at such a point that, at the death of Duke Giovanni, all classes were determined to put an end to their dominion. The principal captains of the provinces assembled, and elected the most distinguished of their leaders, Facino Cane, to be at the head of a new government. He, a very warlike and unscrupulous man, soon rendered himself master of the state of Milan; and to the power he would doubtless soon have added the title of Duke, had not death taken him off in the midst of his glory and conquests.
He left every possession in the hands of his widow; and from this state of things the viscount's faction evolved a plan for re-obtaining their former dignities. The heir of that house, Filipo Visconti, lived in seclusion; he was brought forward, and by various manœuvres familiar to politicians, a marriage was effected between him and Beatrice di Tenda. By this connexion she resigned the treasures, the fortresses, the army of Facino Cane; and by these means he obtained an easy conquest over the various little rulers of the neighbourhood, and, building on the foundation erected by Facino, achieved a state more extended and powerful than had been enjoyed by his predecessors. A curious result of perverse sentiments arose from this; the more he felt that the valour and conduct of Facino had contributed to his grandeur, the plainer he perceived that these qualities eclipsed all that the Visconts could boast of, the more he hated any allusion to the brave condottier; and he felt a growing aversion to Beatrice as the widow of this man, and as the person to whom his own elevation was owing. Besides, she was twenty years older than he; and though she was still handsome, and eminently endowed with accomplishments and mental charms, his inclinations were fixed upon a young girl named Agnes de Maino. At first his hate manifested itself in neglect and contumelious treatment. Beatrice, who had been in the time of Facino the adored object of every attention, the cynosure of all
