1799.) 
tainly well calculated to refle&t the greatef 
Mplendour on the majefty of a court, in 
public ceremonies, in time of peace. Two 
numerous regiments, compofed of young 
rfons froin the age of fixteen to twenty, 
of a tall ftature, richly and elegantly 
drefled, diftingtithed by the luftre of their 
birth, and commanded by officers of the 
firft nobility, difplaying mm martial pomp 
all the magnificence charaéteriftic of the 
South of Italy, afforded a fuperb view, 
fuperior, in the judgment of many tra- 
wellet's, to any thing of the kind known in 
other countries. Filangieri was appointed 
an officer in one of thefe regiments, which 
was called of the Liparots; and-if he yielded 
to hig comrades in the paraphernalia of 
drefs, he certainly excelled mo% of them 
in comeline!y and elegance ot perfon. 
- . Much about the fame time,. in Novem- 
ber 1774, he had an opportunity of dif 
playing his attainments in civil and politi- 
cal jurifprudence. By an edict from the 
king it was ordered, that, in order to. pro- 
vide fome remedy for the overgrown abufes 
of the tribunals; and to the imtolerable 
defpotifm of the fupreme courts of juftice, 
every definitive fentence fhould be juftified, 
by quoting fome text from the’ Roman, 
canonical, or common law, on > which it 
was grounded. Filangievi hereupon pub- 
lifhed a pamphlet entithed—Reflections on 
the King’s Edict, &c. 
In the year 1775, his uncle, Seraphim 
Filangieri, archbifhop of Palermo, whe 
had occafionally been alfo viceroy of Si- 
cily, being promoted to the archbifhopric 
of Naples, and to the dignity of prior of beltow the greateft part of his time in {tate ’ 
the Conftantinian Order, inberent to the 
archbifhopric; young Filangieri obtained, 
without difficulty, by the favour of his: 
uncle, a rich commandery in that Order, 
and thus was enabled to devote the whole 
of his time to literary purfuits. 
In 1781, he publifhed the two fir& vo- 
Jumes of bis learned work—The Science of 
| Legiflation, &c. It gained him a great 
reputation in Italy, and his name {oon 
paffed beyond the Alps. The third volume, 
however, which appeared in 1733, exalted 
his literary and legal character to the 
higheft pitch. It contained for the moft 
part a review of criminal jurifprudence, 
with friGtures on the numberlefs abules to 
‘which perfonal liberty was expoled, by 
fuch a motley tiffue of incoherent and ab- 
furd proceedings. ‘ 3 
_ Much about the fame time, Filangieri 
became enamoured of a young lady, of 
~ German extraction, maid of honour to her 
“majefty. She was a fenfible and virtuous 
perfon, and worthy the affeftions of a man 
“MontTary Mac. No, XLvil. 
“ 
Memsirs of Gactdn Filangieri. 
549 
of honour. But, unfortunately for her, 
fhe had no fortune, and wholly depended 
upon a penfion from the court. When the 
match was on the point of being con- 
cluded, the queen, who has always been 
very tenacious of the decorum of noble fa- 
rnilies, and who was confequently fenfible 
that a marriage between two perfons in 
high ftation, without fortune, might be 
productive of difagreeable or inconvenient 
vefults, interpofed all her influence to ftuf- 
trate their union. What do you mean to 
dd vnth your children? {aid the to the lady 5 
4re they alfa ta become authors to earn their 
fubfiftence? Notwithftanding, however, 
the difapprobation of her majefty, the 
match was actually concluded, 
Fruth obliges us to acknowledge, that 
his prefent Sicilian majefty, though no 
adept himfelf, and never initiated in the 
feiences, has always fhewn himfelf duly 
confcious of their importance, being the 
admurer and protector of learned men, and 
never expreffing difpleafure at the ftritures 
of a rstional philofophy directed againtt 
court intrigues or the abafe of defpotic 
power. In this refpect, he may lay claim 
to as large a fhare of native good fenie and 
liberality of thinking, as any covitempo- 
rary European fovereign, This was ac- 
tually experienced by Filangieri. In the 
year 1786, he was appointed coun/ellor of 
the fizances, an employment only intended 
as a {tep to more eminent dignities. 
Filangieri did not long enjoy his dignity, 
and the profpect of farther preferments, 
While his oficial duties required him: to 
affairs and public audiences, he appro- 
priated the remainder to the continuation 
of his works, and to the fketching out of 
new literary avocations and purfuits. This 
confiderably impaired his health. As he 
Kept a country feat in Caftellammare, on 
the’ eaftern fide of the Crater, in the 
courfe of his palling to and from Naples 
by water, he caught a violent cold, which 
being followed by a fever and other ma- 
ladies, terminated his life in Pepe 
in the 37th year of hisage. 
_ Filangiert was in perfon very handfome, 
tall in fiature, with an oblong caunte- 
nance. His eyes were uncommonly beau- 
tiful, and evinced a fweetne{s which cor- 
refponded with the gentlénefs and candour 
of his hearts He was an accomplithed 
moral’ charaéter ; religious, hofpitable, 
beneficent, and artlefs, and not feldem ex- 
pofed to the felt defignsa of crafty per- 
fons who procured acce{s to him. 
His literary abilities deferve a farther 
natice. He was, without doubt, a learned 
Apr an 
I 
