d been for several
centuries the palace of the Kings and Viceroys, until Pedro de Toledo
abandoned for a more splendid palace, that of the existing Kings, and
devoted la Vicaria or _Castello Capuano_ to the civil and criminal
courts of the realm. Nothing can be more sad and melancholy than the
portion of the palace in which the prisons are. As if to enhance this
appearance, the outside of the prison was hung with iron cages, in which
were the heads and hands of persons who had been executed. These relics
of humanity, long before dried up, and the skeletons of which alone
remained, rattled in the night wind horribly, and filled with
superstitious terror the minds of belated travellers returning through
the _Porta Capuano_, from which the Castle took its name, to Naples.

La Vicaria was then from an early hour in the morning besieged by a
numerous crowd, awaiting the opening of its gates to rush into the hall
of audience. The doors were opened. The hall was instantly occupied by a
crowd of curious persons, who everywhere in Europe are attracted by
criminal trials. It is a matter of surprise that in France women, and
especially those of rank, are attracted in numbers sufficient sometimes
to form a majority of the audience. But the reason is, that women are
nervous and impressionable, and that they constantly require excitement.
They are not often careful in the selection of these emotions, provided
there are violent shocks, revulsions of feeling, terror, hope, surprise.
Such are the fruits of criminal trials. The head of the prisoner becomes
a shuttlecock between the advocate and magistrate. The varied chances of
such a scene offer great and real interest, effacing all the fictions of
tragedy. There, far more than on the stage, women take delight in the
dark dramas, and are the first to resent the terrible effect of the
denouements.

The beautiful women of Naples did not fail to add to the interest of the
representation of this drama, the hero of which possessed the admiration
of all and the good graces of many. Some of the upper seats were
occupied by women of high rank, who did not dare to show themselves
publicly at this strange spectacle, and came, like beggars, to enjoy a
scene which they would be ashamed to have acknowledged. Places, too, had
been reserved for the patrician women, near the bench of the judges and
advocates. These cold, careless creatures, attracted by mere curiosity,
were not the most numerous of th