ttract his notice, and at the sight of which his agitation was
excessive, was the change his iron bed had undergone. It was a bed no
longer. It stood before him, the visible semblance of a funeral couch
or bier! When he beheld this, he started from the ground; and, in
raising himself, suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was
now so low that he could no longer stand upright. "God's will be
done!" was all he said, as he crouched his body, and placed his hand
upon the bier; for such it was. The iron bedstead had been so
contrived, by the mechanical art of Ludovico Sforza, that as the
advancing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pressure was
produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in
motion a very simple though ingeniously-contrived machinery, that
effected the transformation. The object was, of course, to heighten,
in the closing scene of this horrible drama, all the feelings of
despair and anguish, which the preceding ones had aroused. For the
same reason, the last window was so made as to admit only a shadowy
kind of gloom rather than light, that the wretched captive might be
surrounded, as it were, with every seeming preparation for
approaching death.

Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed
fervently; and sometimes tears would gush from him. The air seemed
thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or it might be that he fancied
it was so, from the hot and narrow limits of his dungeon, which were
now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his
full length. But his wasted spirits and oppressed mind no longer
struggled within him. He was past hope, and fear shook him no more.
Happy if thus revenge had struck its final blow; for he would have
fallen beneath it almost unconscious of a pang. But such a lethargy of
the soul, after such an excitement of its fiercest passions, had
entered into the diabolical calculations of Tolfi; and the fell
artificer of his designs had imagined a counteracting device.

The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Vivenzio! He
started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stunning, that
it seemed to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky
passages like reverberating peals of thunder. This was followed by a
sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall upon
and close around him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and instinctively
spread forth his arms, as