evidence that Shakespeare used it in any
way, but rather confined his attention to the traditional story of the
lovers of Verona. The Lambertazzi were a noble family of Bologna, and
the daughter of the house had long been wooed most ardently by Bonifacio
de' Geremei, whose family was in deadly feud with her own. Yielding
finally to his entreaties, she allowed him to come to see her in her own
apartments; but there they were surprised by her two brothers, who
considered his presence as an affront offered not only to their sister,
but to their house. Imelda barely had time to escape before the two men
rushed upon Bonifacio, who was powerless to defend himself. With
poisoned daggers, whose secret had been learned from the Saracens by the
Crusaders, he was speedily stabbed to the heart, and then dragged into a
dark corner beneath a winding staircase. After seeing her brothers leave
the palace, Imelda returned to discover her lover's fate, while they
rushed off to raise a hue and cry and plan for further deeds of
violence. Imelda found the room where she had left the struggling men
empty, but, following the drops of blood upon the floor, she soon came
to the lifeless body hidden away. Drawing it out to the light, she found
that it was still warm, and, knowing the secret of her brothers'
weapons, she resolved upon a desperate remedy, and endeavored to suck
the poison from the wounds. The result of this most heroic attempt was
fearful: the poison was communicated to her own veins, and she was soon
stretched lifeless beside the luckless lover. There they were found by
anxious servants, who, knowing of the quarrel, had not dared to stir
about at first. Hallam says, after his account of this event: "So cruel
an outrage wrought the Geremei to madness; they formed alliances with
some of the neighboring republics; the Lambertazzi took the same
measures; and after a fight in the streets of Bologna of forty days'
duration, the latter were driven out of the city, with all the
Ghibellines, their political associates. Twelve thousand citizens were
condemned to banishment, their houses razed, and their estates
confiscated."

Another story of bloody violence centres in the territory from Padova
and Treviso, on the one hand, to Vicenza and Verona, on the other; and
while the incidents took place in mediaeval times, dating from the latter
part of the twelfth century, the consequences were so widespread and so
lasting that they were by no me