eyes, was now exposed to jeers, and left to solitude. To amuse her dreary hours, she sought to draw around her the society of some persons of letters and talents, and among whom was Orombello, a young gentleman quite remarkable for his sprightly conversation, his many acquirements, and especially his skill in music. This intimacy with the duchess, though perfectly innocent and harmless, was seized upon by Filippo as a pretext for the destruction of his guiltless wife. Calumnies and aspersions were followed by imprisonment; next came the rack. Under its tortures, Orombello avowed whatever they proposed; but on the firmer spirit of Beatrice torture had no effect to oblige her to distort the truth. With a despot and a Visconti, judgment was pronounced as he ordered; and the unhappy victims were condemned to be executed. Beatrice was so much beloved by the people, that Filippo ordered her judgment and decapitation to take place at night, and in the secret dungeons of the castle, as open measures might have caused a revolt. Before the blow of the executioner was allowed to fall, they were again cruelly submitted to the torture, and Orombello again weakly gave way. Beatrice, still superior to bodily suffering, addressed him in a very noble speech, which has been transmitted from an ear-witness. After reproaching him for basely uttering falsehoods in that tremendous hour, she pathetically turned to God, and addressed Him in a solemn prayer, as the being who knew her innocence, and as the sole support left to her. They were buried in the court-yard without any memorial. The purity and excellence of Beatrice were disputed by nobody, and her violent death was, in fact, a judicial murder. Her melancholy story has been the theme of poets and romance writers, and has been sung by the plaintive genius of Bellini.
TEODORO, DANTI,
Of Perugia, was born in 1498. She was a profound scholar in the exact sciences, and well acquainted with physics and painting. Never intending to marry, she employed herself in intellectual pursuits, and was honoured with general esteem. She has left an elaborate commentary on Euclid; also a treatise on painting, and several poems of an agreeable style. She died in 1573.
TERRACINA, LAURA,
Of Naples, was born in 1500. She was much praised by the contemporary literati. She met with a violent death,—being killed by her husband, Boccalini Mauro, in 1595. Four editions of her works were printed at Venice; these are principally poems.
THECLA,
A noble lady of Alexandria, in Egypt, who transcribed the whole of the Bible into the Greek, from the original Septuagint copy then in the Alexandrian library; and this ancient copy is still preserved, and is the celebrated Alexandrian manuscript, so often appealed to by commentators. It was presented to Charles the First by the Patriarch of Constantinople, in 1628.
THEODELINDA,
Queen of the Lombards, was the daughter of Garibaldo, Duke
