
x 
\ 
548 
was direéted from the pit of the theatre at 
Lyons, again Collot d’Herbois, a fhort 
time before the revolution. That info- 
lent buffoon, not being able to bear the 
juk punifhment of his had ating, turned 
towards the pit that part of the body, 
which decency forbids to expofe to any 
This outrage was not overlooked ; 
ene. 
‘and he was obliged to make an eae 
apology; but from that moment he 
fwore everlafting hatred again the Lyon- 
Hefes'. *'* 
When Lyons, after rebelling againft 
the Convention, was fubdued, he eagerly 
availed himfelf of the opportunity to fatrate 
his defire of vengeance ; and appeared in. 
that unfortunate city, rather in the cha- 
racter ofan irritated comedian, than in that 
of reprefentative of the pecple. A new 
Gengis-Khan, he revenged the injuries 
done’ to Temugin ; but he furpaficd the 
‘Tartar in cruelty. His atroci sus fenti- 
ments are apparent in his letters: they are 
written in characters of blood: §* Reput 
lican juftice,’” faid he, in one addreficd to 
Duplay, fen. * ought to trike traitors like 
Hishtning, and to leave nothing but ajbes. 
While deftroying one infamous and rebel- 
lious city, we confolidate allthe reft. We 
are demolifhing by cannon fhot, and the 
explcfion of gun-powder, as much as pof- 
file’ Ina paffage of one of his letters 
to Robefpierre, he complains of the tar- 
dinets of the guillotine: ‘* Several times, 
(fays he), twenty criminals have fuffere 
the punifhment due to their crimes on the 
fame day ; and that is fill too flow for the 
juttice of a nation, which ought to thun- 
der de®truGtion upon all its enemies at once. 
We will employ ourfelves in forging the 
thundertolts.”’ 
In writing to Couthen, he fays, ** Take 
meafures with Robelpierre, for finithing 
the decree, concerning this Commune, 
which cannot fubfilt without danger.— 
*¢ When cence its population is orde red to 
‘che difchi orged, it will be eafp to make 
** them dfappear, avd to, fay with truth, 
“¢ Lyons is no more.” “Yhe barbarian con- 
feffed in a letter. af Robefpierre that this 
aifcharge would i ine jude a hundred thoufand 
individuals, working atthe manufaétortes, 
and izterejling to himanity, becaule poor 
and oppr efied. 

Errata in tbefe Anecdotes in our laf. 
Page 457 ly Gol.2 2Zy i¢ ars y 
authenticity. Page 468, col. 2, 1. 21, por Ro- 
berfpierre, blind Fealo ouly read Robeipierre’s 
lind jealouly. Page 468, fe 
which read while, 
Jor this read his. 
Memoirs of Gaetan Filangieri. 
y authority read 
[Augufts 
’ MEMOIRS OF FILANGIERI. 
AETAN FILANGIERI was born 
at t Naples, 1 in the year 1751. He was 
a fon of the Prince of Avianiello, defeend- 
ed of anilluftrious family, cozval with the 
original efiabiifhment of the monarchy of 
the Two Sicilies. It appears that his an- 
ceftors paffed over to Italy from France 
with the Norman conquerors, being in all 
probability natives of Angers ; for the cor- 
rupt Latin name of the founder of the fa- 
mily. was Augerius, and his children were 
cnilied, in the feudal regiffers of the king- 
dom of Naples, Fizz Angerii, from which 
the os name Filanziert was alterwards 
compounde This family is not at 
bee ne opulent, a circumftance, 
hich fuch as are acquainted with the hif- 
bie of Naples can eafily account for; it 
being well known that about the year 2s 
Tane, the fecond queen of Naples, to gra- 
tify the ambition ef her favourite, Ser a. 
aunt Caraciolo, High Chancellor of the 
kingdom, procured hima large mheritance, 
by enaGing a law which altered the prif- 
tine mode of feudal fucceffion, and confe- 
quentl ly deprived of their rights the family 
of Filangieri, which indifputably was the 
legal fucceffor. 
“Young Filangieri foon became fenfible 
that it was-neceflary for him to acquire the 
ufeful attainments of fome learned profef- 
fions, to fupport the dignity of his birth, 
and to compenfate for the want of a large 
atau Accordingly he was bred to 
the law; the employment of an advocate 
being in the ligheft repute at Naples, and 
paving the way to fuch-confiderable emo- 
luments, that even individuals of the fir 
nobility do not difdain to follow it. He 
perceived, however, -very foon, that the 
philofophical tura of be mind was not: 
adapte ed to the buftle of bufinefs, and lea 
of all for the chicaneries of the bar; he 
accordingly turned his mind to fome other 
means of acquiring property, and allo of 
fatistying his paffion for literary fame’ 
which had now become very predomi- 
nant. 
His prefent Sicilian majelty was, in his 
youth, greatly de clighted with military pa- 
rage, and from the year 177% to 1774 he 
railed two new regiments, in which only 
the nobility and gentry were admitted ; 
the rank and commiffion of officer was 
alfo, by the ftanding etiquette of the regi- 
ments, to be granted to ne individual whe 
did not belong to the privileged caft of 
peers. Whatever might have been the 
merit of thefe military gentlemen in the 
dangers and laborious exertions of their 
profediion i in time of war, they were cer- 
7 tainly 
