On a sudden a cry of horror was heard; the sea had sapped the foundations of the ground on which we stood, and it was already beginning to give way.

We immediately hastened to a higher place, where the scene was equally impressive.

The young Queen, with naked feet and dishevelled hair, attended by a number of women, was rushing to the church of the Virgin, crying out for mercy in this imminent peril.

At sea, no ship escaped the fury of the tempest: all the vessels in the harbour--one only excepted--sunk before our eyes, and every soul on board perished." By the assiduity and solicitations of Petrarch, the council of Naples were at last engaged in debating about the liberation of Colonna's imprisoned friends; and the affair was nearly brought to a conclusion, when the approach of night obliged the members to separate before they came to a final decision.

The cause of this separation is a sad proof of Neapolitan barbarism at that period.