The greater part of follows above is extracted from my _Italian Byways_.] It will be noticed how the same machinery of lawless nobles and profligate _bravi_, acting in concert with bold women, is brought into play throughout the tragedies which form the substance of our present inquiry.
Vittoria was born in 1557, of a noble but impoverished family, at Gubbio among the hills of Umbria.

Her biographers are rapturous in their praises of her beauty, grace, and exceeding charm of manner.

Not only was her person most lovely, but her mind shone at first with all the amiable luster of a modest, innocent, and winning youth.

Her father, Claudio Accoramboni, removed to Rome, where his numerous children were brought up under the care of their mother, Tarquinia, an ambitious woman, bent on rehabilitating the decayed honors of her house.

Here Vittoria in early girlhood soon became the fashion.