rGor.] 
ELOQUENT COMPARISON 0f @ SPANISH 
PHILOSQPHER. 
Princes, fays Saavedra, have no fupe- 
riors but God and Fame, who alone, by 
fear of punifhment, can awe them to act 
honourably. Hence they often dread-hif- 
MEMOIRS OF EM 
Memirs of Eminent Perfons. 
239 
torians more than enemies: like Belthaz- 
zar, who could feaft while the foe was be- 
fieging ; but when he faw the hand begia- 
ning to write, his countenance changed, 
and the joints of his loins were loofed. 
MEMOIRS of the PRESENT KING of the 
TWO SICILLES3 communicated by an’ 
OFFICER ia the BRITISH SERVICE, 
lately returned from NAPLES. * 
ERDINAND. the IVth, king of the 
JL Two Sicilies, was bern in Naples, 
in the year 1751. He was the, third fon 
of Charles the IlId, late king of Spain, 
and formerly his predeceffor in the Sicilian 
monarchy. It was remarked that Ferdi- 
nand, during his infancy, difcovered more 
fpirit and vivacity than any of his bro. 
thers, and that he was, for this reafon, 
the great favourite of the queen mother. 
As foonas he became competent to receive 
an education fuitable to his rank, the 
prince of Saint Nicandro, a religious and 
intelligent nobleman, was chofen for his 
tutor, while the bifhop Latilla, one of the 
beft {cholars then in Naples, was appoint- 
ed to the more important office of chief 
inftru€tor. His conftitution was, howe- 
ver, fo weak at that time, and fo different 
from what it has been in any fubfequent 
part of his life, that he was long prevented 
from exerting his intellectual powers with 
that degree of fuccefs which nature and 
fortune had feemed to promife. 
In the year 1759, by the death of Fer- 
dinand VI of Spain, without iffue, Charles 
his brother, already king of the Two Si- 
cilies, fucceeded to the Spanifh monarchy. 
The eldeft of his many children, prince 
Philip, being deftitute of mental powers, 
and Charles, the fecond, being, of courle, 
the prefumptive heir of the crown of 
Spain; the third fon, Ferdinand, was de- 
fiined to the throne of the Two Sicilies. 
There exifts, in the laft edition of the Code 
of Common Laws of the Kingdom of. Na- 
ples, the Pragmatic Sanction, by which the 
_ fucceffion to both crowns was fettled ; and 
it is in the recolle€tion of fome old perfons 
ftill living, with what magnificent ceremony 
King Charles gave the inveftiture of the 
kingdoms to prince Ferdinand. Some 
days previoufly to his departure for Spain, 
he convoked, in one of the chief apart- 
ments of the royal palace of Naples, an 
aflembly of the nobility, the magiftracy, 
the principal officers of the army, and the 
INENT PERSONS. 
reprefentatives of the metropolis. He 
was fitting on his throne, and the young 
prince ftood by his fide. He a€tually de- 
livered a fhort fpeech, purporting, ‘I 
have hitherto been happy in governing’ the 
two kingdoms which providence had allot- 
ed me. I have endeavoured to preferve 
your tranquillity from foreign invafions, 
to reform your laws, to fecure to you the 
bleffings of juftice, honour and rewards. 
I fhould, perhaps, have undertaken fome 
more things for the profperity of my peo- 
ple, if I had continued to live among them. 
But it is the will of the Almighty that I 
fhould repair to my native country, to re- 
ceive the crown of my anceftors. On 
parting with you, I feel a great comfort 
in leaving to you this beloved youth. I 
fincerely hope he may perform all his du- 
ties towards you and me, and furpafs his: 
father in exertions, fanfe, and longevity— 
Receive, prince, the {word which my auguft 
father prefented to me when he fent me.to 
Italy, to affert my rights to thefe king- 
doms. I deliver ittothee; employ it in 
protecting our holy religion with the zeal 
of thy anceftors,“and in fecuring univerfal 
juftice and peace to thy fubjeéts.’? An oath 
of allegiance was then taken by the new 
king, and a regency appointed to affilt 
him, during his minority, at the head of 
which was the Marquis Tanucci, firft mis 
nifter of ftate, and no lefs, remarkable for 
his learning and loyalty, than his integrity 
as an honeft man. 
The commencement of the young king’s 
reign, thus brilliantly begun, was clouded 
by a foreign ftorm which threatened to 
difpoffefs him of his newly acquired throne. 
It was a common report that, by a family 
arrangement formerly made, in Spain, 
betweenPhilip the Vth.and his queen Bliza- 
beth Farnefe, in cafe Prince Ferdinand, 
their firft-born and prefumptive heir of the 
crown, fhould die without iflue, Charles, . 
the fecond fon, then in Naples, fhould oc- 
cupy the monarchy of Spain; and the in- 
fant D. Philip, their third fon, already 
Duke of Parma, that of the two Sicilies, 
It was farther Rated, that this prince, after 
having warmly expoftulated with his bro- 
2 ther 
