aining precious pearls, and a small packet of bills of exchange--it
was all thrown into the fire. All the rich and noble persons who were
concerned in the farming of tolls, as well as all members of the
government, saw their houses demolished. Five palaces of the
secretary-general of the kingdom, the Duke of Caivano, together with
those of his sons, were burned. In one of them at Santa Chiara the
valuable pictures which that noble, a lover of the fine arts, had
collected, were destroyed--the carpets of silk-stuff interwoven with
gold, the sumptuous silver vessels, and every sort of work of art, the
worth of which was valued at more than fifty thousand ducats. The mob
had already become so brutal that they stabbed the beautiful horses in
their stalls and threw the lapdogs into the flames, while they trampled
down the rare plants in the gardens and heaped up the trees for funeral
piles. Above forty palaces and houses were consumed by the flames on
this day, or were razed to the ground, while the unhappy possessors
looked on from the forts and watchtowers of Castelnuovo upon the rapid
conflagration, heard the threatening of the alarm-bells and drums, and
the howlings of the unbridled populace, among which many thieves were
pursuing their business and filling their pockets with plunder. News
came out of the neighborhood that the peasants were rising on all sides,
and that many beautiful castles belonging to illustrious noblemen were
already in flames.

Stupefied by the uproar, by the advice of a hundred counsellors, by a
two-days' insurrection, the Duke of Arcos did not nevertheless give up
the attempt at a reconciliation. Certainly he risked nothing by it, for
he had no other means in his power; but the hazard to the noblemen who
delivered his messages was so much the greater. With great difficulty
Montesarchio and Satriano escaped the rage of the populace. Six
cavaliers were enclosed by barricades, and only regained their freedom
by promising to obtain the transmission of their privileges. To oblige
the Viceroy the Duke of Maddaloni rode once more into the market-place,
carrying with him a manifesto according to which all the gabelles which
had been introduced since the time of Charles V were abolished, and a
general amnesty granted for the crimes already committed. Scarcely had
Diomed Carafa read the paper when the tumult began again worse than
before.

The bystanders screamed out that this was not what they wanted; he