shop died of despair, not before he
had gnawed his own arms in his agony.

The very same day that he was taken into the dungeon, Caesar Borgia, who
had managed the affair so ably, was presented by the pope with all the
belongings of the condemned prisoner.

But the hunting parties, balls, and masquerades were not the only
pleasures enjoyed by the pope and his family: from time to time strange
spectacles were exhibited. We will only describe two--one of them a
case of punishment, the other no more nor less than a matter of the stud
farm. But as both of these give details with which we would not have
our readers credit our imagination, we will first say that they are
literally translated from Burchard's Latin journal.

"About the same time--that is, about the beginning of 1499--a certain
courtesan named La Corsetta was in prison, and had a lover who came to
visit her in woman's clothes, a Spanish Moor, called from his disguise
'the Spanish lady from Barbary!' As a punishment, both of them were led
through the town, the woman without petticoat or skirt, but wearing only
the Moor's dress unbuttoned in front; the man wore his woman's garb;
his hands were tied behind his back, and the skirt fastened up to his
middle, with a view to complete exposure before the eyes of all. When in
this attire they had made the circuit of the town, the Corsetta was sent
back to the prison with the Moor. But on the 7th of April following,
the Moor was again taken out and escorted in the company of two thieves
towards the Campo dei Fiori. The three condemned men were preceded by
a constable, who rode backwards on an ass, and held in his hand a long
pole, on the end of which were hung, still bleeding, the amputated
limbs of a poor Jew who had suffered torture and death for some trifling
crime. When the procession reached the place of execution, the thieves
were hanged, and the unfortunate Moor was tied to a stake piled round
with wood, where he was to have been burnt to death, had not rain fallen
in such torrents that the fire would not burn, in spite of all the
efforts of the executioner."

This unlooked for accident, taken as a miracle by the people, robbed
Lucrezia of the most exciting part of the execution; but her father was
holding in reserve another kind of spectacle to console her with later.
We inform the reader once more that a few lines we are about to set
before him are a translation from the journal of the worthy German
Burchard,