134 Dr. Hager’s Deteétion of the Forgery of the Books of Livy. [March 1, 
epiftolary correfpondence fhould not havey to be able to compofe fuch a work from 
been preferved either at Cairo or in Sicily, 
but fhould have ftrayed to a corner of 
Weftern Africa, viz. Fez, from whence 
Vella had it fent over to him by his cor- 
refpondingfriends?—Notwithftanding, Go- 
vernment* caufed this new work to be 
printed with royal magnificence; and 
Vella, to fatisfy the doubts of fome and 
the clamorous Gemands of others, added 
to if what he called the Original Arabic. 
dt is entitled, ** Libro del Configho di 
Egitto,”’ in Arabic and Italian, a large 
‘folio, with engravings reprefenting coins 
and vignettes, both executed in the neateit 
manner. The firit volume bears the date 
of 1793- The fecond advanced only to 
the 38th fheet, wien it was entirely can- 
celled by order of Government, the fraud 
having become manifeft. 
This publication was of moft import- 
ance to Sicily. Mere fubjects of literary 
curiofity, or hiftory, were now out of the 
queftion; as laws, conftitution, and pre- 
{criptive rights, came under confideration. 
Vella, who could difcover whatever he de- 
fired, is faid to have intimated, that it 
was by no means impoffible ‘to find out 
very ancient charters, by which to fup- 
port the privileges of the nobility, and 
even farther extenfions of thefe privileges, 
hitherto enknown. With regard to the 
dintiquities, the Hiftory, the Geography 
_of the country, &c. he in a manner was 
become an oracle, and in every refpeét a 
man of impertance. Hence it will not 
appear furprizing, that he was applied to- 
as a kind of forcerer by thofe who defired 
to know what was concealed; and that 
perfons engaged in altercations and law- 
fuits, or perplexed by doubts, inquired of 
him, whether he could not furnifh them 
from his Arabic manufcripts with fome- 
thing to their purpofe. It is further re- 
ported, that, when the above intimation 
“became known, he was given to under- 
ftand that he would gain more by writing 
in favour of the Court, than for the States. 
. This much is certain, that Vella was not 
fufficiently converfant either with the laws 
of the land, or the rights of the crown, 
LL TT EE ee 
@ The impreffion of Vella’s forgeries has 
eaufed to the King of Naples an expence of 
x1600 ounces. This expenditure is fo much 
the more grievous to the learned in Sicily, as 
it prevented Government from publithing rhe 
Ciusil Hifory of Sicily, compofed by Father Sal- 
dater di Blafi; and which was to have ap- 
peared in twelve volumes in quarto, fucceeded 
by three volumes, containing documents and 
resords, 
the ftores of his own learning; it is like- 
wife certain, that Carelli, then Sécretary 
of State, was generally mentioned as his 
principal affiftant in framing it, and that 
Vella himfelf, in his fubfequent confeffion, 
named him as fuch ; finally, it is evident, 
that, according to Veila’s own affertion in 
his dedication of this work to the King, 
the royal prerogative is no where demon- 
ftrated fo fully and clearly as in this Nor- 
man Code, or Regifter of the Egyptian 
Divan. Points that had been contefted 
for feveral centuries paft, fuch as the in- 
dependance of the Sicilian monarchy, the 
royal right of prefenting to all churches of 
the ifland, the appcintment of the bifhops, 
and the claims of Naples to Benevento, 
are here decided by means of a few ftrokes 
cf the pen, and that without exception in 
favour of the Crown. ‘The privileges of 
the Barons and States, in particular, are 
in a manner annihilated ; nay, the very 
exiftence of the landed intereft is rendered 
extremely precarious. What formidable 
reductions might not the following pro- 
vifions have occafioned (vide Vol. il. p. 95 
and the following) : ** All diftri€&ts, bor- 
deving on the fea, in Sicily, as well as 
Calabria, belong to the Emir (prince} 
Rudiger. Emir Rudiger prohibits both 
himfelf and all his fucceffors, from ever 
letting any of thefe diftri€ts to any perfon 
whatfoever. Whoever appropriates to 
himfelf the breadth of a fingle pace of 
ercund fituated by the fea-fide, fhall for- 
feit all his poffeffions. All fprings, brooks, 
and rivers, on the ifland, excepting only 
the ufe of watering the lands through 
which they flow; all mines, &c. apper- 
tain to the Prince: whoever appropriates . 
any of them to himfelf, thereby renders 
all his lands liable to confifcation.” Even 
before the firft volume was publithed, To- 
mafi, the King’s attorney, edited a treatife 
on the invalidity of felling or transferring 
particular eftates, in which he appealed to 
the authority of this Code, as a colle&tion 
of genuine records. The aftonifhment 
and alarm of the nobility may eafily be 
imagined, fince what the King’s attorney 
thus claimed as forfeited to the Crown, 
tended to ruin half the landed men of the. 
kingdom. Yet, as a preliminary ftep to- . 
wards “fecurity, the Sicilian parliament 
in the year}1794 propofed a decree that 
the Norman Code fhould not be adduced 
as legal authority, until his Majefty, by 
a Royal proclamation, fhould have declared 
it genuine. The abovementioned Don Ca- 
relli, however, contrived the rejeétion of 
this highly reafonable propofition, 
But 
