JS21. 



Mr. Lyman on the Political State of Italy. 



accuracy, in a great degree from ori- 

 ginal sources. 



The twentieth chapter is devoted to 

 the subject of the Jews in Italy, and 

 will be perused by the curious reader 

 with particular interest. The follow- 

 ing passage describes the condition of 

 the Jews in the city of Rome : — 



' Paul IV, confined the Jews to a 

 quarter of Rome, on the left bank of 

 the Tyl)er, near the theatre of Marcel- 

 lus, where they still live; this quarter 

 is called Ghetto. It is separated by 

 walls, and five gates from the other 

 parts of the city ; every night, about 

 an hour after simset, these gates are 

 shut by the guard of the city, and not 

 opened again till next morning at sun- 

 rise. During the French times, a per- 

 fect liberty of residence was allowed 

 the Jews ; but since the restoration, 

 they have been driven back to their 

 ancient limits, enjoying only the small 

 privilege of keeping shops within 

 two hundred yards of the gates of the 

 Ghetto. 



' These Ghettos are now only known 

 in Rome, though in the other cities of 

 Italy tlie Jews, for the most part, con- 

 tinue to live in a particular quarter, 

 either from habit or their own accord. 

 Their number in Rome is about 4500. 

 It cannot be ascertained exactly, as 

 there is no return of this population ; 

 and owing to their habits of life, and 

 the size of their families, the common 

 methods of calculation do not apply to 

 them. Tliey are poor, degr.aded, re- 

 viled, and scoffed at, by the christians, 

 who call them" someri" (asses,) while 

 the Turks in their turn call the chris- 

 tians " dogs." Nevertheless, the go- 

 vernment protects them from insult 

 and injury, though it compels them to 

 live in a filthy and unwholesome part 

 of the city, and denies them the 

 rights and privileges of Roman citizens. 

 The Jews in Rome are in great poverty, 

 the richest among them keeping only a 

 small shop for the sale of cloth and 

 grain.' 



The twenty-second chapter on the 

 robbers and banditti of Italy makes one 

 acquainted with many new and enter- 

 taining facts. It is a truth, sufficiently 

 humiliating for Italy, that notwith- 

 standing tlie pains taken by the govern- 

 ments to suppress these outlaws, there 

 is more danger from robbers in travel- 

 ling from Rome to Naples, and from 

 Naples to Otranto, than in travelling 

 through any portion of European Tur- 

 key, with ])erhaps the exception of the 



MoNTHtY Mag. No 3ii5. 



541 



independent or revolted country of the 

 Mainotes in the Morea. We have room 

 to lay before our readers but one ex- 

 tract fi'om this chapter. 



' But the most extraordinary bandit, 

 \\ hose exploits somewhat resemble the 

 ■celebrated ones of the famous Rinaldo 

 Rinaldini, was a priest by the name of 

 Cyrus Annichiarico, born in the small 

 town of Giotagli, on the road from 

 Tarento to Lecce. His first achieve- 

 ment was the murder of a whole family 

 in the town of Francavilla. He had 

 been a bandit for twenty years ; the 

 country people believed him to be a 

 devil or magician, and laughed and 

 scoffed at the soldiers who were sent to 

 pursue him. AYlien the French general 

 Ottavio, a Corsican by birth, com- 

 manded in tliis province, a man pre- 

 sented liimself one day before him, and 

 said with a fierce air, " the bandit 

 whom you have so long hunted is now 

 before you, but if he is molested, you 

 will be assassiniited before night-fall." 

 Annichiarico turned and disappeared, 

 and from that time geneial Ottavio 

 doubtless had faith in the belief of the 

 people. General Church, also, when 

 one day in pursuit of this man, was 

 accosted by a peasant, who drew 

 him aside, and gave some intelligence 

 concerning Annichiarico. The next 

 day the peasant was found dead in his 

 village, and a paper pinned on his 

 breast with these terrible words, " This 

 is the fate of all those who betray An- 

 nichiarico." — The last band he com- 

 manded was called the " decided ;" 

 each man possessed a certificate, bear- 

 ing two death's heads with other bloody 

 emblems, and the words " Justice, li- 

 berty, or death," signed by Annichi- 

 arico. I saw one in General Church's 

 possession, \vritten with human blood. 

 At last, in Januaiy, 1819, this astonish- 

 ing man, finding himself beset upon all 

 points, threw bimself, about sun-set, 

 with five followers, into an old tower, 

 in the midst of a farm-yard, near the 

 small town of Casuba, hoping that in 

 the dead of the night he should be able 

 to escape througli the soldiers, many of 

 whom were his friends, and all be- 

 lieved him to be the devil. But in the 

 course of an hour a close line of light 

 troops was drawn round the tower, out 

 of reach of musket shot, and after a 

 siege of thirty-six hours, he was forced 

 to surrender, having fired away all his 

 cartridges, and killed five and wounded 

 eleven of the enemy. He was carried 

 to Francavilla, the scene of his first 

 3 Y crime, 



