liberty at the expiration of the plague, the French and Italian prisoners swept the treets, cleared and white-washed the infected houses, burning their furniture, &c. till we saw Nights red with ruin-lighting in the morn! They did not all escape the evil :--but I have seen some of them, when duty led them near the prison where their friends were confined, climb up to the chimney top of the infected house, and, being Free from plague, in danger's dread employ, | raised our expectations only to depress our feelings more bitterly by their departure. Sicily is the parent granary of Malta, but, though the Sicilians had provisions on board their boats ready to come over, on hearing of the plague they absolutely refused to put to sea. The British commodore in Syracuse was not to be trifled with in this manner, and left it to their choice, either to go to Malta, or to the bottom of the deep. They preferred the former; but, on their arrival at home, neither solicitation nor threat could induce their return. In this forlorn state the Moors generously offered their services, and supplied the isle with provisions, which were publicly distributed; but the extreme insolence and brutality of the creatures employed in that office very often tended to make the hungry loathe that food which, a moment before, they craved to eat. The ignorance of the native faculty was now assisted by the arrival of reputed plague-doctors from Smyrna. These strangers excited great interest; and treated the malady with unbecoming contempt. They related the vehemence of pestilence -in their country, where it was nothing unusual, when the morning arose, to find clined, and business began partly to reIn autumn the plague unexpectedly defrom one to three or four hundred persons vive. But every face betrayed a misgiving in the streets and fields, stretched in the lest it should return as formerly. People dewy air of death!-That the promptitude of felt as sailors do on the sudden cessation the people was commensurate with the evil! of a storm, when the wind changes to the for wherever a corse was found, two men unbound their sashes, rolled them round opposite point of the compass, only to blow with redoubled fury. Their conjecture was the head and feet of the body, and hurried but too well founded. The plague returned with it to the grave. However, they seemed to have left their knowledge at home; than formerly: two men, who must have a third time, from a more melancholy cause for though their indifference was astonish-known themselves to be infected, sold bread ing, and their intrepidity most praiseworthy entering into the vilest and most forbidding places-handling the sick, the dying, and the dead-the nature of this disease completely baffled their exertions, and defied their skill: Spread through the isle its overwhelming gloom, And daily dug the nightly glutted tomb! The casals or villages of Birchircarra, Zebbuge, and Curmi, suffered lamentably; the last most severely, on account of its moist situation. The work of death was familiar to all: and black covered vehicles, to which the number of victims made it necessary to have recourse, rendered the evil still more ghastly. In these vehicles the dead were huddled togetherMen-women-babes-promiscuous, crowd the scene, Till morning chase their bearers from the green. Large pits had been previously scooped out, and thither the dead were conveved at night, and tumbled in from these vehicles, in the same manner as in this country rubbish is thrown from carts. They fled the approach of morning, lest the frequency of their visits should fill the inhabitants with more alarming apprehensions. The silence of day was not less dreary than the dark parade of night. That silence was now and then broken by the dismal cry for the Dead!" as the unhallowed bier passed along the streets, preceded and followed by guards. The miseries of disease contributed to bring on the horrors of famine! The island is very populous, and cannot support itself. Trade was at a stand-the bays were forsaken-and strangers, appearing off the harbour, on perceiving the yellow flag of quarantine, paused awhile, and in the streets-the poor starving inhabitants bought it, and caught the infection, as described in the poem. One of these scoundrels fell a victim to the disease, the other fled; but his career was short-the quarantine guard shot him in his endeavour to escape. This guard was composed of natives, who paraded the streets, having power to take up any person found abroad without a passport. The street of Pozzi was entirely depopulated, with the exception of one solitary girl, who remained about the house of her misery like one of those spirits that are supposed to haunt mortality in the stillness of the grave! A thousand anecdotes might be related from what fell under my own observation, but they are all so touchingly sad, that I must omit them to spare the soft breast of sympathy. Of Robella's fate, how painful soever it may seem, I was a melancholy witness.* That of Lorenzo does not come up to reality. On his return to Valette from Florianna, whither he had been visiting his father-in-law, he called at his father's house; but the emblem of the plague, a yellow ball painted on the door, bespoke his fate! Still on his way home he called at his grandfather's, and met, at the door, the remains of the old man, on their passage to the grave! 66 some more were taken afterwards-but it was like touching gunpowder with lightning infection spread from the last, and such a scene ensued as even imagination fears to trace." The catastrophe of the blackhole at Calcutta bears no comparison to this: there, it was suffocation-here, it was the blasting breath of pestilence!-the living-the dying-and the dead, in one putrescent grave! Curses, prayers, and delirium, mingled in one groan of horror, till the shuddering hand of death hushed the agonies of nature! A singular calamity befel one of the holy Brotherhood: his maid-servant having gone to draw some water, did not return: the priest felt uneasy at her long absence, and, calling her in vain, went to the drawwell in quest of her-she was drowned! He laid hold of the rope with the intention of helping her—and in that act was found, standing in the calin serenity of death! The plague usually attacked the sufferer with giddiness and want of appetite-apathy ensued. An abscess formed under each arm-pit, and one on the groin. It was the practice to dissipate these; and if that could be done, the patient survived; if not, the abscesses grew of a livid colour, and suppurated. Then was the critical moment of life or dissolution. The rains of December, and the cool breezes of January, dispelled the rem ins of the plague in La-Valette: but it existed for some months longer in the villages. The disease, which was supposed to have originated from putrid vegetables, and other matter, peculiarly affected the natives. There were only twelve deaths of British residents during its existence in the island; and these deaths were ascertained to have followed from other and indubitable causes. Cleanliness was found to be the best preventive against the power of the disease, the ravages of which were greater in the abodes of poverty and wretchedness. Every precaution was wisely taken by the former, and by the present Governor. The soldiers were every morning lightly moistened with oil, which proceeded in constant exhalation from the heat of their bodies, and thereby prevented the possibility of the contagion affecting them. Tobacco was profusely smoked, and burnt in the dwellings of the inhabitants, who, during the prolonged quarantine, felt very uneasy to resume business. They beguiled their evenings by walking on the terraces, the tops of the houses being all, or principally, flat. There friends and lovers used to enjoy the pleasure of beholding each other at a distance, while Retracing long those walks with weary feet, They cursed the fate which warned them not to meet! Fancy may conjure up a thousand horrors, but there is one scene which, when imagi- When the quarantine ceased, they hastened nation keeps within the verge of probability, eagerly to learn the fate of their friends, in it will not be easy to surpass. About three the same manner as sailors hurry below hundred of the convalescent were conveyed after battle, to see how many of their messto a temporary lazaretto, or ruinous build-mates have survived to share in the dream ing, in the vicinity of Fort Angelo: thither of glory! Persons mentioned in the foen. Before leaving Malta, I had the melancholy satisfaction of standing on the ruins of the plague-hospital, which had been burnt to ashes-that place where so many hopes and fears were hushed to rest! It gave rise to dismal recollections! As, for the reason we have stated, we | exactly in mind of a familiar utensil in doare released from the task of following mestic use, commonly called an extinthe narrative, we shall content ourselves guisher:-it began at a point, and on it with copying a few of the anecdotes and went, widening and widening, until at last May none of my readers ever behold the miseries of the plague, or endure the lin-jeux d'esprit least known, as specimens it fairly put the question out altogether. gering tantalization of the quarantine! of the work. Cross-examining witnesses. Recollections of Curran and some of his In No. 40 of the Literary Gazette (25th At a time when called before the Col lege board for wearing a dirty shirt— I pleaded, said Curran, inability to wear a clean one, and I told them the story of poor Lord Avonmore, who was at that time the plain, untitled, struggling Barry Yelverton. "I wish, Mother," said Barry, I had eleven shirts."- Eleven! Barry, why eleven?' "Because, Mother, I am of opinion that a gentleman to be comfortable ought to have the dozen." Poor Barry had but one, and I made the precedent my jus tification. Inquiring his master's age from an horsejockey's servant, he found it almost impossible to extract an answer. Come, come, friend-has he not lost his teeth?" Do you think,' retorted the fellow, that I know his age as he does his horse's, by the mark of but he instantly recovered" You were mouth? The laugh was against Curran, you know very right not to try, friend; for your master's a great bite." To a witness of the name of Halfpenny he once began-“Halfpenny, I see you're a rap, and for that reason you shall be nailed to the counter."- Halfpenny is sterling,' exclaimed the opposite counsel"No, no," said he, "he's exactly like his own conscience, only copper washed." The ancient joke, of giving the motto of Quid Rides for this snuff-maker's carriage, is also assigned to Curran. sketch of the life of Mr. Curran, from a powerful pen. We have therefore no need to follow the present memoir through its details of birth, parentage, education, and events of life. Indeed it is but meagre in these respects; and rather a desultory compilation of the In an election for the borough of Tallagh, EGAN was an unsuccessful candispeeches and bon-mots, with some ac-date--he, however, appealed from the decount of the later habits of the individual cision, and the appeal came of course besubject, than a work to satisfy the appe- fore a Committee of the House of Com-nist, once hesitating on the table-" Lundy, To Lundy Foot, the celebrated tobaccotite of the public for the biography of mons. It was in the heat of a very warm an extraordinary man. Had we nothing summer, Egan was struggling through the Lundy-that's a poser—a devil of a pinch." of Mr. Curran but what is here recorded, crowd, his handkerchief in one hand, his we should be apt not only to ima- wig in the other, and his whole countegine that his domestic life required nance raging like the dog-star, when he met all the partiality of friendship to slur it fellow," said Curran. Sorry! why so, Curran "I'm sorry for you, my dear over into an odious obscurity, athwart Jack-why so? I'm perfectly at my ease.' which the phosphoric light of corruption "Alas! Egan, its but too visible to every alone shed a gleam, but that his elo one that you're losing tallow (Tallagh) quence was more brilliant than admira- fast." ble, and his wit far below the standard of fineness at which it is estimated by his countrymen. But it is notorious that, at least in the latter instance, the celebrity of Mr. Curran was fully merited, and that there are a multitude of his felicitous and truly attic sallies stored in the memory of those who knew him, and repeated in every company, which raise him far above the herd of mere social jesters, who say good things at second hand, and find convivial fame either in exhausting bad puns, or commiting petty larcenies on the jest-book. As Mr. Phillips however has given his volume the modest name of Recollections, we shall not be so unjust as to try it by a test higher than its pretensions. Although therefore some of its jokes are poor, and some of dates anterior to Mr. Curran's era; though, with a few exceptions, the speeches are already familiar to the public, and the recollections of cotemporaries merely extracts from Sir Jonah Barrington and other writers; and though much of silly and pernicious party politics are interwoven in a web of other tissue, which would have been infinitely more appropriate as well as agreeable without them; the reader for amusement will find in this production a sufficient portion of light matter to repay his perusal of it. Lord Clare, it is said, discountenanced Mr. Curran at the bar, and we are told Examining a country squire, who disputed a collier's bill-" Did he not give but you the coals, friend?"— He did, Sir, But what? -on your oath, was n't your payment slack." : Mr. Curran's most powerful efforts were directed to his professional duties. These are a fair sample of Mr. Phillips' recorded witticisms they teach us how difficult it is to maintain the reOne day, when it was known that Curran putation of a humourist by repeating was to make an elaborate argument in those smart things which doubtless gave Chancery, Lord Clare brought a large New-animation and delight at the time they foundland dog upon the bench with him, were originally uttered. and during the progress of the argument he lent his ear much more to the dog than to the barrister. This was observed at length by the whole profession-in time the Chan- His speeches (says the author) never cellor lost all regard for decency-he turned were corrected by himself, and so dissatishimself quite aside in the most material fied was he at their publication, that he part of the case, and began in full court to told me he offered five hundred pounds for fondle the animal-Curran stopped at once. their suppression, which was refused. It "Go on, go on, Mr. Curran," said Lord was his intention, an intention continually Clare, who certainly had much of the cox-expressed, and as continually procrastícomb in his manner. O! I beg a thousand pardons, my Lord-I really took it for granted that your Lordship was employed in consultation. An Irish gentleman, who certainly preserved most patriotically all the richness of his original pronunciation, had visited Cheltenham, and during his stay there acquired a most extraordinary habit of perpetually lolling his tongue out of his mouth! "What can he mean by it?" said somebody to Curran. Mean by it,' said Curran, why, he means, if he can, to catch the English accent?' Description of a speech made by Serjeant Hewit. The learned Serjeant's speech put me • A contemporary counsellor; of robust frame. nated, to have given to the world a genuine edition, prefixing to each speech a little memorandum explanatory of the events in which it originated. This he designed to be only a supplement to the political history of his own times; "and for this," said he, "there are now alive only two men in Ireland who are competent-Mr. Grattan and myself; but he is too industrious during the session, and too indolent during the vacation, and, at all events, would handle the subject too much en philosophe; but I, in all except my talents, should be the most natural historian; for I have not only visited the Castle and the Senate, but I have taken the gauge of treason in the dungeon and in the tender.” There appears to be a little want of judgment in preserving this egotistical declaration. Ireland, we believe, had, and has many men competent to be her able historians, though perhaps they might not think Mr. Curran's speeches, however distinguished for talent, a proper supplement to their work. Mr. Phillips also draws a very unfortunate picture of his late friend as a counsellor, to whose zeal was confided the interests of his clients. His notions of industry (says Mr. P.) were very ludicrous. An hour to him was a day to another man; and in his natural capabilities his idleness found a powerful auxiliary. A single glance made him master of the subject; and though imagination could not supply him facts, still it very often became a successful substitute for authorities. He told me once, in serious re O! let me hear, with bosom swelling, Of joys that pine, and pangs that last. Lines written Impromptu on the Marble Pillar You sunk in a pillar of smoke. Memorial to the Lord Chamberlain, from futation of what he called the professional Though rather a wordy, this is an inte- quis of Hertford in reply thereto, and To say the truth, it was a gross breach of trust, and we sincerely hope and believe that Mr. Curran was never guilty of so scandalous a derilection of the duty every lawyer owes to those who, with the facts of their case, put their The most curious feature in the adproperty and happiness into the hands of vertisement, is an apology from the writheir advocate. But we do not wish to ter for being proprietor of a small or mipursue this train of observation, and nor Theatre! Mrs. Siddons, Mr. King, shall take leave of our subject altogether, Mr. Wroughton, had shares in Sadby simply expressing our regret that Mr.ler's Wells, and Mr. Elliston "felt no Phillips, for the sake of his own literary degradation in beconing the proprietor character, did not take more time than of such a theatre (as the Olympic;) twenty-two days to concoct these recolnor does "he feel the slightest in lections, and for the sake of his dead being its proprietor now." We should friend did not reconsider and better have been very much surprised if the weigh many of the disclosures he has, as contrary were the fact; but we like to we think, imprudently made. let gentlemen of honourable punctilio settle the matter in their own way between their consciences and their dig dramas with regular companies, instead themselves, and somewhat of circumlo cution and amplification is the only objec tion we have to make to his labours. As an example of his manner, we quote a passage from his observations on the subject of the national drama : The real truth, my Lord, is, that instead of complaining that the Olympic and Sans Pareil Theatres have become theatres for the performance of the regular drama,' they tent Theatres have become theatres for the should have told your Lordship that the Padisplay of the irregular drama: that the encroachment was, in truth, committed by the Patent Theatres on the minor Theatres, and not by the minor Theatres on the Patent Theatres; and that it was in the rage of engrossing the whole store of stage exhi bition, from the deepest pathos of tragedy to the highest flights of tight-rope dancing, from the amblings of the poet to the amblings of the riding-house, from the splendid illusions of the scene-painter to the slopping of the stage with "real water," from the attic playfulness of Congreve' to the more congenial playfulness of Puss in Boots,' that the Memorialists had, on this occasion, resolved to call in question your Lordship's good conduct and good sense: to ask your Lordship to nullify, and to stultify your own acts; to beat down The complaint of the Memorialists is altogether, if they could, their neighbours' an exceedingly ill-judged, and not and not fences; and, at any rate, to try to strip very well written paper,-the gist of those neighbours of the slight descripwhich is, that the Olympic and Sans Pa- tions of attraction they possess; which, reil theatres take 150l. nightly at their homely as they are, are not too homely to doors, (a great mistake, by the way,) be an object [the objects] of jealousy and thereby depriving Drury Lane and Co-emulation to the self-called "Supporters" and dispensers of the dignities of the na vent Garden " of their chance of profit, tional drama.' We might add, that Mr. Curran's speech against the Marquis of Headfort is here first published; and his well-nity! known poem "the Plate-warmer,” for the fiftieth time. The following verses from his pen are either more novel, or less remembered. TO SLEEP. O Sleep, awhile thy power suspending, I know her by her robe of mourning, and the means of supporting the dignity of In this way the writer goes on to refute by argument, or to turn into ridicule, the statements of the memorial. In regard to the million of money asserted Perfectly aware that the large expenditure of late years incurred in Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres has been occasioned, first, by the prodigalities and indiscretions of some of those who have been concerned in the property and management of these concerns; and by the provisions of money necessary to arrange and compromise the embarrassments arising from those prodigalities and indiscretions. 66 to have been laid out, he affirms, | good dramatic effect, as harmony is to mu- What we have referred to is the head that if such a sum has been expended, sic or painting, or symmetry to architec- and front of the controversy, which, if it must have been through lavish waste ture-pieces condemned and scouted by we may judge by the Lord Chamberand misconduct, and not in support of have been received" with acclamation and the public voice, must not be declared to lain's licensing a new theatre (the Cothe national drama.' The lowest menial, he says, is rapture:”—when such pieces could no lon-bourg,) has been decided against the ger keep the stage, it must not be said that Patent houses. Those who are desirous they were completely established in pub- of further information on the subject, lic favour:"-when absurdities like these will do well to read the whole of Mr. were openly confessed, and their abolition Elliston's clever publication, which some promised, they must not in six weeks be advocate of Drury Lane or Covent Garreestablished:-horses must not be mixed den may be expected to answer. with tragedians; nor dogs with singers; nor rope-dancers with comic actors:"real water " and tumblers must be consigned to their proper places of exhibition-rehearsals must be directed by men It was thought at one time that Naof experience, and not by men of fashion :and the licentious, but, perhaps unavoid-poleon himself intended to marry his niece, the eldest daughter of Lucien'; but the Austrian match put an end to this speculation. The young lady however appeared at the Tuileries, was received with due honour as an Imperial relative, and again destined for the prisoner at Valençai (Ferdinand VII.) Her father, however, still resolutely opposed these nuptials, and thus wrote to his ambitious brother: Secondly, by the insufficiency of the insurances; thirdly, by gigantic, pro-able, debasements of a theatre, must not be fuse, and ostentatious rebuildings; and, rendered more grossly palpable by Chinese fourthly," by the large charges attend- garniture, and by barbarous illumination. ing some of the illegitimate perform- All these modes of "supporting the dignity ances, of late years, produced at these of the national drama" must be spared. Theatres," in order to present attrac- All the innovations, in short, of modern tions equal to the heavy prices of ad- quackery, must be discarded. mission. In conclusion, Mr. Elliston, on his own experience, declares, that There is so much good sense, spirit, and truth, in these remarks, that they One third of the sum stated by the Me- merit the earnest consideration of every morialists, (that is, one third of a million one who takes any concern in the theatrical world. We believe that in them sterling,) would be more than sufficient to raise, and to equip, in the most competent the writer has touched on the real and manner, two theatres of such dimensions, chief causes to which we ought to attriof such accommodations, and of such attribute the notorious and great decline of butes, generally, as are requisite for the per- the British drama, in composition and formance of the "regular drama" in the on the stage. There are perhaps a few metropolis of two such theatres as would other ingredients in the poisoned chabe sufficient for the support of the full lice, which Mr. Elliston's private feelcharacter and dignity of the national drama; and for the ample compensation ings induced him to pass over in that of that superior class of stage performers, silence which our acquaintance with which it may surprise some of the Memo- these matters might enable us to break rialists to hear should alone be found in through, were we not restrained by the leading characters of the drama in a similar motives; or at least nearly siminational theatre. He who held a patent or lar, for the author is restrained by the a licence for such a theatre, subject to the esprit du corps from saying any thing of condition, that his prices of admission his brethren and sisters, whereas we have should not exceed those of the days of Garno reason for abstinence, except a sense rick, (that is, Box price 58., Pit 3s., and Galleries 28. and 18.) would, I am certain, of the inconveniency of remedying that be not only equal to his original undertak- by severer means, for which there are ing, and his current engagements, but would public grounds enow to procure a rebe in the high road to the possession of a medy, unless the theatres are determined substantial fortune. All this, it is true, to go on in their own blindness, till they would require not only a diligent and an sink in earnest into that gulph of ruin upright management, but a really profes- which they only pretend to fear from sional management.* The house must be of a size which would afford a chance of such rivals as the Olympic and the Sans hearing and of seeing:-private boxes, with Pareil. As for play-writing, it is now certain distinguished exceptions, must out of the question-every author of yield to public accommodation :-over- talent is disgusted with the ordeal to flowing audiences must not be produced which he must submit either in getby the attraction of orders: the performances must not depend on individual excellence, however rare, but on that general contribution of talent, and consistency of casting, which formed the glory of the old school, and which is as necessary to Opinion wavers between Mr. Colman and Mr. Elliston himself, as managers for Drury Lane, should it re-open as proposed next season.-ED. Mémoires secrets sur Lucien Buonaparte (Continued.) "No, I will never consent to sacri fice my children to your policy. God knows your designs upon Ferdinand, but I myself know that you have already done too much against this unfortunate Prince to admit of my ever calling him my son-in-law." The Grand but the young lady refused this alliance, Duke of Wurtzburg was next proposed, and her father wrote peremptorily insisting on her return: "Send her to me (said he) or, braving my proscription and your orders, I Tuileries." The furious Emperor orwill seek her in the very saloons of the dered her to be dismissed from Paris in 24 hours. 66 The rupture between Lucien and his brother was never marked by such mutually excessive enmity as at this period. Neither Madame Letitia or the rest of the family, dared now attempt to pronounce the former's name in Napoleon's hearing, while the senator himsel. expected every species of violence from the emperor's anger. In one of those epistles which were exchanged during this state of exasperation, Lucien told the usurper, "I am aware that your fury is capable of making you commit fratricide——” This was something like an invitation: Lucien was notwithstanding supplied with the ting to the green-room, or, when there, passports he had previously demanded for from the green-room to the stage. The the United States: these were addressed to most successful protest that their works him from the Minister of the Interior, by order. At the very moment of receiving are utterly spoilt by caprice in this march; and those who have spirit dethem, the senator prepared for his depar clare, that no pecuniary temptation pictures, and effects, were immediately ture with all possible dispatch; statues, would induce them to sacrifice their lipacked up, and sent off to Civita Vecchia terary reputation by writing for the thea-with the utmost dispatch. tres in their present state. It was towards this period that Fouché was removed from the ministry of police. | fact, he regretted that it was not in his own his future movements. The only difficulty now in the way of emigration, was a safe passport from the English; but this was not to be ob tained. embarking his family. Taking advantage of a fair wind that sprung up, the Hercules weighed anchor on the fifth. Lucien's suite was very numerous: his family consisted of two daughters by the first marriage, Charlotte, whose name has already often appeared in these Memoirs, and Amelia, three years younger than her sister, Charles, born in 1803, before the marriage: this was a very interesting child, capable of great application to his studies, and remarkably intelligent. Letitia, born at Milan, and so called after her grandmother; a second daughter, named Jane, who Pius VII. had held over the baptismal font at Rome, giving her the name of his own mother; finally, Paul, who was born at Canino. In addition to the above, Lucien had identified Mademoiselle Anna Joubertcau, his wife's daughter, with his own family. This young lady was about twelve years of age, and always treated with the same affection as the rest of his children. The persons attached to his household, and who embarked with the family, were composed of a physician; a tutor for his children, father Maurice, a priest, who als officiated as chaplain; a secretary, in the person of M. Chatillon, already known to the reader, and who had remained with his patron since his being minister of the interior; a nephew of his first wife, educated From this unexpected refusal the senawith Jerome, who enjoyed the unlimited tor began to entertain serious alarm at the confidence of Lucien, merited no less by idea of being stopped on his voyage; but the excellence of his character, than a sinconsidering the danger to be greatest on cere attachment to his uncle, who intrusted his brother's side, he determined to perse-him with the most secret affairs of his favere in the voyage. Anxious to prevent mily. If thirty servants are added to the his fine collection of pictures from being foregoing list, a tolerably accurate notion seized by his brother, it was decided that may be formed of Lucien's establishment, the whole should be deposited in the hands which was really that of a prince. of some bankers at Rome, who had advanced him considerable sums; as by this arrangement he hoped the gallery would escape the rapacity of Napoleon. To give some idea of their value, it will be sufficient to state, that when the first notion of going to America occurred to Lucien, his brother Louis offered one million five hundred thousand francs for all the pictures, and a few statues of the former, there were about a hundred and twenty. In the event of this offer's being accepted, these fine specimens were intended for a gallery, which the above named personage was desirous of forming in Holland. Since the period alluded to, the collection had been augmented by a regular set of the most classical engravings extant, together with some of the best pictures in the Ricardi collection: these were bought during Lucien's last visit to Florence. Foiled in his wishes with respect to Fouché, Lucien now only thought of embarking: there was, however, but one ship at Civita Vecchia fit to make a long voyage: this was accordingly hired; but it was soon after discovered that she would not hold all the luggage, or afford the accommodation which so large a family as that of the senator required. In this dilemma, Lucien, who had long broken off all communication with Murat, and having something to demand, a few months before wrote to his sister Caroline, in a style of the greatest coldness, now addressed himself directly to the King of Naples, begging that the latter would let him have one of the American ships in that port, and which had been lately sequestered pursuant to the direction of Napoleon to his vassal of Naples. To this short communication, Joachim returned a very obliging and friendly answer, in which he complained of the emperor himself in the bitterest terms, who, he observed in one part of his letter, adopted a most perfidious policy with regard to him, forcing him to undertake ruinous armaments under the pretext of conquering Sicily, while he was certain the emperor had promised not to dispossess the family that reigned in that island: intention might arise, Lucien lost no time in When clear out of Civita Vecchia harbour, the Hercules hove too, for the purpose of receiving the family, which had reinained on shore to the last moment; and there happening to be a considerable swell, the boats had great difficulty in getting alongside: there was even an appearance of danger to those who were unaccustomed to the sea; and it was with the utmost uneasiness, Lucien saw his children successively handed out of the frail bark to which they had been consigned: this was attended with much trouble; and at times when a billow intervened between the boat and ship's side, or another brought her in violent contact with the latter, the senator trembled with horror, lest some accident might occur. As this state of painful suspense continued for some time, it did not fail to bring back the recollection of his long persecutions: this was too evident to escape the notice of his attendants; and with a countenance full of indignant rage, he was at one time heard to exclaim in a tone of deep despair, the following line from the Philoctetes of La Harpe : At length the family took leave of Tusculum, on the first of August 1810, a place in which so many days of tranquillity and happiness had passed; nor could any of the party flatter themselves with the hopes of ever seeing it again, so remote were their expectations of returning to Europe. Arriving at Civita Vecchia, in the midst of Thus Lucien, who had done so much toapprehensions that some new cause of de-wards the elevation of his brother, now saw himself the victim to his own work and Ils m'ont fait tous ces maux-que les dieux les lers rendent ! |