ITALY. 583 



quake in 1733, was a large and well-built city, containing many 

 churches and convents, generally elegant structures. By that earth- 

 quake a great part of the iower district of the city and of the port was 

 destroyed, and considerable damage done to the lofty uniform build- 

 ings called the Palazzata^ in the shape of a crescent ; but the force 

 of the earthquake, though violent, was nothing at Messina or Regsio, 

 to what it was in the plain ; for of 30,000, the supposed population of 

 the city, only 700 are said to have perished. " The greatest morta- 

 lity fell upon those towns and countries situated in the plain of Cala- 

 bria Uiteriore, on the western side of the mountains Dejo, Sacro, and 

 Cauione. At Casal Nuova, the princess Gerace, and upwards of 

 4000 of the inhabitants, lost their lives ; at Bagnara, the number of 

 dead amounted to 3017: Radicina and Palmi count their loss at about 

 3000 each; Terra Nuova about 1400; Seminari still more. The 

 sum total of the mortality in both Calabrias and in Sicily, by the 

 earthquakes alone, according to the returns in the secretary of state's 

 office at Naples, was 32,367 ;" but sir William Hamilton says, he has 

 good reason to believe, that, including strangers, the number of lives 

 lost must have been considerably greater ; 40,000 at least may be 

 allowed, he believes, without exaggeration. 



The inhabitants of Sicily, under the auspicies of Great Britain, 

 have lately changed their form of government, from an absolute, to 

 a limited monarchy. The executive power is vested in the king and 

 his ministers; and the legislative in two houses of parliament, the 

 lords and commons. The clergy have a seat in the former. 



The island of Sardinia, which gives a royal title to the duke of Sa- 

 voy, lies about 150 miles south by west of Leghorn, and has seven ci- 

 ties or towns. Its capital, Cagliari, is a university, an archbishopric, 

 and the seat of the viceroy, containing about 50,000 inhabitants. His 

 Sardinian majesty's revenues, from this island, are estimated at about 

 S 100,000 a year. It yields plenty of corn and wine, and has a coral 

 fishery. Its air is bad, from its marshes and high mountains on the 

 north, and therefore was a place of exile for the Romans. It was for- 

 merly annexed to the crown of Spain, but at the peace of Utrecht was 

 given to the emperor, and in 1719 to the house of Savoy.* 



The island of Corsica lies opposite to the Genoese continent} 

 between the gulf of Genoa and the island of Sardinia, and is better 

 known by the noble stand which the inhabitants made for their liberty 

 against their Genoese tyrants, and afterwards against the base and 

 ungenerous efforts of the French, to enslave them, than from any ad- 

 vantages they enjoy from nature or situation. Though mountainous 

 and woody, it produces corn, wine, figs, almonds, chesnuts, olives, and 

 other fruits. It has also some cattle and horses, and is plentifully sup- 

 plied, both by sea and rivers, with fish. The inhabitants amount to 

 above 18^,000. Bastia, the capital is a place of some strength ; though 

 other towns of the island that were in possession of the malcontents ap- 

 pear to have been but poorly fortified. 



In the year 1794 it was taken by the English, and annexed to the 

 crown of England. A constitution was framed for it, a viceroy ap- 

 pointed, and a parliament assembled. But it has since been retaken 

 by, and still remains in the possession of, the French. 



* Emanuel V, king of Sardinia, born July 24, 1759; married April 21, 1789, t® 

 Maria-Theresa, daughter of Ferdinand, archduke of Austria; succeeded his bro- 

 ther (Emanuel IV, born May 24, 1751) by cession July 4, 1802; 



