uns in
part:--

"I write solely to assuage my inward grief, which destroys in my
heart the light of this world's sun; and not to add light to _mio
bel sole_, to his glorified spirit. It is fit that other tongues
should preserve his great name from oblivion."

In another, perhaps her most perfect sonnet, she beseeches the winds to
convey to her beloved the message she sends:--

"_Ch'io di lui sempre pensi; o pianga, o parli_,"--That I always
think of him, or weep for him, or speak of him.

Again, a year later, Vittoria returned to lovely Ischia, which, as one
writer has described, "rises out of the blue billows of the
Mediterranean like giant towers. The immense blocks of stone are heaped
one upon another, in such a supernatural manner as to give a coloring to
the legend, that beneath them, in those vast volcanic caverns, dwells
the giant Tifeo." The castle where the Duchessa Francavilla and the
Marchesa Pescara lived is built on a towering mass of rock joined to the
island by a causeway. The castle includes the palace, a church, and
other buildings for the family and their guests and dependants.

For some three years the Marchesa did not again leave Ischia. In the
mean time volumes of her poems were published. She received the
acclamation of all the writers of her time. The crown of immortelles,
often laid but on a tomb, was continually pressed upon her brow. She was
the most famous woman of her time. Her beauty, her genius, her noble
majesty of character impressed the contemporary world. Her days were
filled with correspondence with the most distinguished men of the day.
Ariosto, Castiglione, Ludovico Dolce, Cardinal Bembo, Cardinal
Contarini, and Paolo Giovio were among her nearer circle of friends.

[Illustration: CASTELLO DI ALFONSO, ISCHIA
_Page 306_]

Stormy times fell upon Italy, in all of which the Colonna family bore
prominent part, and all of which affected the life of Vittoria Colonna
in many ways. Her biography, if written with fulness and accuracy, would
be largely a history of the Italy of that time, for her life seemed
always inseparably united with great events.

In the year 1530 (Clement VII being the Pope) a full Papal pardon had
been extended to all the Colonna, and their castles and estates had also
been restored to them. For years past Rome had been in a state of
conflict. Benvenuto Cellini, who had watched the terrible scenes from
Castel Sa