It is just two hundred years ago.

The murder of Pompilia took place in 1698; and the book completes his studies of the Renaissance in its decay.

If _Sordello_ is worth our careful reading as a study of the thirteenth century in North Italy, this book is as valuable as a record of the society of its date.

It is, in truth, a mine of gold; pure crude ore is secreted from man's life, then moulded into figures of living men and women by the insight and passion of the poet.

In it is set down Rome as she was--her customs, opinions, classes of society; her dress, houses, streets, lanes, byeways and squares; her architecture, fountains, statues, courts of law, convents, gardens; her fashion and its drawing-rooms, the various professions and their habits, high life and middle class, tradesmen and beggars, priest, friar, lay-ecclesiastic, cardinal and Pope.