Empress Helena, worn at the coronation of thirtyfour Lombard kings, and fitted on the head of many a brilliant monarch since. In the treasury the hen still guards her chickens, executed by the order of the royal lady, and her fan and comb may be inspected.

Quaint, virile, and full of a certain dignity is the memory of the Medieval Queen.

T

ΧΙ

A TINY GIBRALTAR

HE modern warrior was alone on the Island of San Giovanni, in the Tremezzina, that portion of the lake. known as the garden of Lombardy. He was a quiet gentleman of simple habits, fond of children, and of gathering ferns. A close scrutiny of his lineaments disclosed neck, chin, and cheek tanned deep bronze by the African sun, and a scar across the forehead of grim aspect. He measured the islet with his footsteps, and traced the hint of walls, buttresses, and arches with his cane.

"A Gibraltar in miniature," he soliloquised, smilingly. "Why not?"

Then he seated himself on a rock, and crushed an aromatic plant beneath his shoe. A lizard

ran along a ledge, and paused on a stone to regard the intruder with true lizard curiosity. He avoided frightening the pretty creature by any brusque movement. He drew a note-book from his pocket.

"I wonder if I shall be arrested, as a spy, by the government of the country if I take down the form of this stronghold," he said; and his pencil idly traced imaginary turrets and bastions, while he mused on the history of the spot.

When the Emperor Justinian I. reigned at Constantinople, and his generals Belisarius and Narses had carried the fear of his arms into Persia and Africa, the latter conquered Italy. Lo! the Empress Sofia is said to have sneered at Narses, who, affronted, took a terrible revenge. The sway of the Goths had crumbled, and Totila been slain. Narses invited the Longobards into Italy to overthrow the power of the Eastern Empire. The fresh hordes, blue-eyed, and fierce, obeyed the summons. Alboin left Pannonia for Milan and Pavia. Such were the Lombards,

adhering to many ancient Germanic customs, sensitive to honour, and usually chivalrous in the protection of women, scorning all luxury, and their language a difficult dialect to the Italians. They had only one trade, as a nomadic race, that of war, held their laws solely by memory, were deemed very ignorant, not knowing how to read or write, and worshipped an idol made of the trunk of a tree. Discord had arisen among the Franks under Childipert. Autaris was made king in 584. Alboin, of cruel memory, had slain Cunemund of Servia, and forced his daughter Rosamund to marry him. Alboin turned his arms against the northern provinces of Italy, and gave the famous banquet at Verona in 573, when he invited his consort Rosamund to drink from her father's skull. Narses had every

where cut the dikes of foreign invasion.

Twenty years before Alboin overran the land, the Governor Francillioni of Como retired to the little islet of Comacina, and began to fortify the place as a refuge. Timid folk flocked here in the hope that times would improve. Other cities

deposited their riches within the walls for safe

keeping.

The island is half a mile long, and three hundred feet wide. It is situated in the Tremezzina of the lake, with the narrow stretch of water known as the Zocca del Olio separating it from the mainland. The dilapidated chapel of St. John alone remains. In the sixth century, at the date of the Lombard invasion, the stronghold decided to hold out against all foes, and still swear allegiance to the emperor at Constantinople. The historical fact is droll at this distance of time. An islet in the middle of a little lake building towers, and gates, and battlements, in defiance of all the powers of the vicinity, in fealty to a distant emperor. Consider the valour of these pygmy hosts! The garrison that manned the walls, the sentinels scanning adjacent shores, the guardians of the hoarded riches calculated to arouse the cupidity of barbarians, the discipline and vigilance essential in the heart of the citadel to suppress treachery and inspire courage all had to be maintained with firmness. There was naval