524 
He made it his fole ffudy how to indulge 
his mafer in. every a& of ambition, and 
defpotifm ; and, at laft, he was rewarded 
for his meannefs, by being promoted to 
the fupreme magifiracy of the metropolis ! 
‘Thefe two things rendered M. Pignatelli 
utterly edious to the Neapolitan lawyers. 
‘They coniidered him as.a man who be- 
trayed the rights of his fovereign, in going 
to Rome, and afking from the Pope the 
permiffion of exercifing one of the innate 
prerogatives of the crown,for which they 
were actually ftrugeling, and who. had 
Cefiled the fan&iuary oP laws, by introdu- 
cing into it fuch an unworthy man as M. 
Zurlo, who, in the happier days of their 
profeffion, would not have been a ferjeant 
atmace! ‘Vhe geatiemen of the bar were 
perhaps wrong in the former of the ccom- 
plaints, as it was better to bring about a 
violent ecclefiaftical reform, with the con- 
fent of the chief of the church, obtained 
in a gentlemanlike way, than to expofe it 
to murmurs of one fide, and to chi- 
canery of the other. In the latter, how- 
ever, they were altogether right; for it 
was fhocking and {candalous that a young 
man under thirty, who had never been able 
to write an afidavit, fhould be fuddenly 
railed to the highef{ juridical dignities in 
the kingdom! 
In the year 1784, M. Pignatelli was 
fent as extraordinary ambaffacor to Spain, 
for the purpole of trying toreftere the good 
underfianding betwen the two courts, then 
fufpended by family diffention. At his re- 
turn, he was preferred to the rank of lieu- 
tenant general; in the year 1739, he was 
appointed Prefident of the Military tri- 
bunal; in 1790 Commiander of the Cita- 
dal of St. Elmo; and, in the year 1795, 
Extraordinary Civil and Military Governor 
of the City of Naples. We prefome that 
he had oceupied no other places before his 
late appointment as a Viceroy of the King- 
dom at the time of the Freach agereffion. 
“‘* Tbe revolution (fays Mallet du Pan 
very properly) bas reduced the flatefmen 
and rulers of Europe to their jf? fandard. 
It bas proved that the world was im zene- 
es 
ORIGINAL LETTERS. 
4 coPy of aa ORIGINAL LETTER from 
DR. HALLEY, to MR. FLAMSTEAD, 
aficrwards ASTRONGMER-ROYAL,. 
eZ i c ; 
SIR, Oxford, March 10, 1674. 
é¢ PUNE veneration I have for ali who 
i think aftrcnomy deferves their care, 
and ave not difmmaid at the laborious and 
a 
Original Letters of Dr. Halley. 
f Nove Tas 
val governed by rouime. Wad not the, 
French attacked the kingdom of \Naples, 
M. Pignatelli would, in all probability, 
have preferved his reputation among the 
common people, and his infudiciency. 
weuld {ti}! have remained a fecret with 
the well-informed perfons in the Two Sici-. 
Ties. ‘That extraordinary event has ren-_ 
dered him contemptible to all Euiope. 
Intrufted by his fovereign with the defence. 
‘of the kingdom to the laft extremity, and 
receiving exprefs inftruétions that, in cafe 
every defence proved ineffectual, he fhould. \ 
retire with the troops towards Calabria, 
he made bold to violate the commands of 
his matter, to conclude_an armiftice, and- 
to deliver to the enemy feveral uncon-. 
quered provinces, and the ftrong place of 
Capua, the only bulwark of ..he metropo~. 
lis! And to’ what? To the French,. 
who were become another name fox: 
intrigue, perfidioufnets, and treachery ! 
The devaitation of Naples was the refult. 
of the armiftice! The writer remarked, 
in the anfwer of his Sicilian Majelty to. 
the Viceroy Pignatelli, a fentence which 
opened to him a large field for refle&tion—. 
You may imagine (faid his Majefty) how & 
am incenfed againft your peérfidious adwi- 
fers!—This fentence made him fulpect’ 
that the Prince was ftill under the countel. 
and direction of his favourite magiftrate, 
Zurlo, imbued perhaps with Jacobinical 
principles, and that this impudent advifer. 
was the perfon alluded to in his Majefty’s 
fubfequent proclamation to his fubjects. 
Time will unravel this fecret. The Prince 
is now confined, by the King’s order, in 
the Tower of Girgenti, and moft likely. 
he willbe brought to atrial. ~ a CF fy 
Francis Pignatelli is about feventy years. 
of age, tall and tkout, dark complexion, 
of a forbidding look, and a {creaming tene. 
of voice. He married, fome years. ago, 
the young Duchels of Maddaloni, who had. 
been divorced. from her fir hufbarid, 
This jady being heir of an immente fora. 0M 
tune, he is likely to become as rich as, 
any other individual of his illufiricus fa- 
mily, ec y 
; 
es 
chargeable trouble of making celefial ob- 
fervations, was the chief motive which in- 
cuced me to give you the trouble,of thefe, 
lines, which I thought I might with the 
more confidence do, confidering how free. 
and communicative a genius you exprefled 
in your fatisfagtory anfwer to the “ane 
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