NOTES
1: Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 64.
2: 'La Grèce Contemporaine.'
3: Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Comte de Tournon.
4: A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and deserved well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful struggle of 1848, soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope, under happier auspices, and with a very different result.
Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a corps d' armée of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat at Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Nugent, and prevented the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President Manin acknowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved Venice, and immediately sent him the commission of a full General. On the 16th of May, General Nugent arrived before Treviso with 16,000 men, and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to surrender, giving General Lante till noon on the following day for consideration. At four the same evening, Lante sent for reply, "Come this evening. I shall expect you at six. We are here to fight, not to surrender!" After threatening the town for some days, Nugent retired from before it, and joined Radetzky.
Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli served as a private soldier in the Roman Legion; he was one of the three Commissioners who were sent to the camp of Radetzky to treat for the capitulation of Vicenza.
Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of
Grenadiers.
Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly
Officer to Durando.
Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers.
Don Ludovico Lante (a younger brother of Filippo) was Captain in the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers.
Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's Guardia Nobile for a Colonelcy of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Republic: he was an excellent officer.
Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young students.—Transl.
5: The ordinary British tourist must not look for his portrait in the witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the pilgrims are all assumed to be true sons of the Church.—Transl.
6: An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those students who are unable to pass their examinations; tantamount to our English plucked.
7: A man who has worn cioccie.
8: 'Tolla.' 1 vol. 12mo.
9: 'The Victories of the Church,' by the Priest Margotti. 1857.
10: 'Proemio della Statistica,' pubblicata nel 1857, dall' Eminentissimo Cardinale Milesi.
11: H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.
12: Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of morality) occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive caused him to be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He had a habit, too, of ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether any incidents of more than ordinary interest in domestic life were passing in the palaces of his noble, or the houses of his citizen subjects. His medium for the attainment of this end was a powerful telescope, placed at one of his upper windows! The principal minister to his gossiping propensities was one Captain C——, a man of great learning, but doubtful morality, selected, of course, for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his experiences in what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term "life." When, between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the Captain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite amount of evidence against any offending party, the mode of procedure was sudden, swift, and sure, fully bearing out the Author's assertion that in Rome the will of an individual is a substitute for the law of the State. There was no nonsense about Habeas Corpus, or jury, or recorded judgment. The supposed delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the night, to avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as it was phrased prigione ed altre pene a nostro arbitrio. One day C—— brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced by his Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly respected and able Avocato B—— (a stout lady of fifty), who was at the same time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in the habit of driving out daily in the carriage, and by the side of the old bachelor Duke C——, Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal decision on the case was instant. The act was of such frequent occurrence, so audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public morality demanded the strongest measures. That very night a descent was made upon the dwelling of the unconscious Avocato. The sanctity of the connubial chamber was invaded. The sleeping beauty of fifty was ordered to rise, and was dragged off to—the Convent of Repentant Females! B—— knew, and none better, what manner of thing law was in Rome, so instead of wasting time in reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of the case—urging the argument that, even supposing his wife to have been of a susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he himself made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody else had any right to interfere—and other similar appeals to common sense, he at once requested the interference of the French Ambassador. This was promptly and effectively given. The incarceration of the peccant dame was brief; and a shower of ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. But the Sovereigns of Rome are accustomed to, and regardless of, such irreverent demonstrations.—TRANSL.
13: Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849.
14: The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza.
15: The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls.
16: The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity.
17: Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a sort of model farm, known as the Albereto Nicolai, near the Basilica of St. Paul Without the Walls. He was an able administrator, and a man of superior attainments; and had he only possessed common honesty, he would have been in time a great man—as greatness is understood in Rome. He was a Prelato di Fiochetto, and held the post of Uditore della R.C. Apostolica, one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to Red Hats. Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI for the promotion, and had actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately Monsignore Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He was a bon vivant, and a viveur. He loved money, and he was utterly unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career in the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was very near its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which, although he was nearly eighty years of age, he played the principal part. He colluded with a notary, named Bachetti, to falsify the will of one Vitelli, a wealthy contractor, inserting in the place of the testator's two orphan nieces that of his own natural son. The affair having been dragged to light, Gregory XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in disgrace and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in his very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered some gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he had ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law could take possession.
It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of Justice in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of the will produced as that of Vitelli, his nieces were never able to recover the whole of his property. They were compelled to make terms with Grossi, the defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this day remains in the enjoyment of one-half of Vitelli's property!
18: All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from the works of the Marchese Pepoli.
19: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293.
* * * * *
RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
346 & 343 BROADWAY.
Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan, 1 vol. 12mo. cloth, $1.
Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne
Winscom. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents.
Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (daughter of Barry
Cornwall.) 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents.
Shakers. Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and
Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of
Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo.
75 cents.
The Banks of New York. Their Dealers; the Clearing House, and the Panic of 1807. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With thirty illustrations. By Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages, cloth, $1.50.
The Manual of Chess. Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game.
Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, Recent Games, and Original
Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 volume, 18mo. 50 cents.
Le Cabinet des Fées; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the express use of Students in French. By George Gerard, A.M. 1 volume, 12mo. $1.
Halleck's Poetical Works. In blue and gold. 24mo. 88 cents.
Letters from Spain and other Countries. By Wm. Cullen Bryant. 1 volume, 12mo. Cloth.
The Foster Brothers. Being the History of the School and College Life of Two Young Men. 1 volume, 12mo.
Life of James Watt. The Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine. With
Selections from his Private Correspondence. By James P. Muirhead.
Portrait and Wood Cuts.
History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By
Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. 1, 1636 to 1700. 8vo. Price, $2.60
A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, Designed for Schools,
Colleges and Seminaries in the United States. By Henry Goadby, M.D.
Embellished with 450 illustrations. (A new edition.) Price, $2
Meta Gray; or, What Makes Home Happy. By Maria J. McIntosh, Author of "Aunt Kitty's Tales." 1 vol., 12mo. 75 cents.
The Emancipation of Faith. By the late Henry Edward Schedel, M.D.
Edited by George Schedel. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $4
The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of
"Ministering Children." 1 volume, 12mo. Cloth, with 2 engravings, $1
Bertram Noel: A Story of Youth. By E.J. May, Author of "Edgar
Clifton." 1 volume, 16mo. Illustrated, 75 cents.
Benton's Thirty Years' View; or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850. New edition, with Autobiography and a General Index. 2 volumes, 8vo. Cloth, $5.
The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A.
Dana. Third Edition. 1 volume, half morocco, $3.50.
New York to Delhi, by the way of Rio de Janeiro, Australia, and China. By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 volume, 12mo. Illustrated with a Map, $1.25. (Second edt.)
History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vol. 1, 8vo. 677 pages. From the 2d London edt., $2.50.
Rational Cosmology; or, The Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws of the Universe. By Laurens P. Hickock, D.D. 1 volume, 8vo. 397 pages, $1.75.
Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences. First American, from the third London edition. 2.vols, 8vo. Cloth, $4.
The Coopers; or. Getting Under Way. By Alice B Haven. 1 volume, 12mo. 336 page, 75 cents.
Appleton's New American Cyclopædia. A Popular Dictionary of General
Knowledge. Volume V. Just published. To be completed in fifteen
volumes. Cloth, $3; leather, $3.50; hf. mor. $4; hf. Russia, $4.50.
Published by subscription.
Benton's Abridgment of the Congressional Debates. Volume X. Just published. Sold by Subscription. Cloth, $3; law sheep, $3.50; half morocco, $4. Each volume payable as delivered.
Burton's Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humor. Two large volumes, 8vo. Profusely illustrated with Wood Engravings and twenty-four Portraits on Steel. Extra cloth, $7; sheep extra, $8; hf mor. $9; hf calf, $10