308 .81'-" Marcus Tullius Cicero in the [MARCH, 



" Have mercy upon me. I cannot confess what I have not done. Have 

 mercy upon me ; I am dying !" This was a very dreadful omen ; and I 

 endured the most painful sensation in considering that perhaps a similar 

 treatment was prepared for me. 



Next morning the two friars came very early, and conducted me again 

 to the inquisitor Olivieri. As soon as I entered his cell, he told me 

 ' ' that further information had been taken, and that he was fully con- 

 vinced of my being not a Hungarian. Besides," added he, "Monsignor 

 Pacca has been informed by the Marquis of Fuscaldo, the Neapolitan 

 ambassador at the court of Rome, that you are a very bad subject of his 

 Sicilian Majesty. If it be so, he has demanded you as a prisoner, and 

 in a few days you will be confronted with persons who will identify 

 you." 



I was truly alarmed on hearing this, but I did not manifest any exte- 

 rior apprehension, for I was convinced that before such an epoch my 

 friends would have certainly done all in their power to save me. In 

 this opinion I was not mistaken, for my Tulliola, who had left the 

 theatre a short time before my arrest, not having seen me the next day, 

 began to think that some misfortune had befallen me ; and having sent 

 to my lodgings, was informed of my absence, and of the suspicion of my 

 having fallen into the hands of the inquisition. Knowing that I was 

 acquainted with the Austrian ambassador, she therefore immediately 

 called on him, and related her apprehensions concerning me. Prince 

 Kounitz immediately ordered his carriage, and drove to Monsignor 

 Pacca, requesting to know where I was. The governor answered, that 

 he knew nothing at all about my de tiny, and that it was possible I had 

 gone out of town. Kounitz was not satisfied with this reply, and 

 remarked, that as I was one of the subjects of the Emperor of Austria, it 

 was his duty to see that I should not be ill-treated and unjustly con- 

 demned. Monsignor Pacca repeated that he was quite ignorant of what 

 might have happened to me. 



The ambassador called, therefore, on the Cardinal of state, and finding 

 that his eminence had gone to spend the evening at the Palace Ghigi, 

 and there to play at cards with the amiable princess, his favourite lady, 

 the prince soon directed his course to that conversazione, and having 

 met Gonzalvi, called him out, and repeated to him the same questions 

 he had already made to Monsignor Pacca, but received, almost literally, 

 the same answers. To this Kounitz intimated his intention of address- 

 ing himself to the pope, if on the next morning I should not be found, 

 or if the cardinal would not let him know where I was detained. Gon- 

 zalvi persisted in his being ignorant of my fate, and the prince with- 

 drew. 



Next morning, about eleven o'clock, Prince Kounitz, with all the 

 etiquette of an ambassador, waited on Pius VII., and after having kissed 

 his foot, explained the cause of his extraordinary visit. When the pope 

 heard all that the prince had to say, he suddenly exclaimed " What ? 

 is the Hungarian gentleman arrested ? I know him. Poor Checchmo !* 

 and for why ?" The prince answered, " That he did not know." 



The Abbot Barnabas Chiaromonte, was accustomed to call the writer by this 

 name, which means little Francis ; and although the one had become a pope, and 

 the other a man of six feet stature, and thirty -five years of age, he still continued 

 the use oHhis affectionate appellation. 



