them carried lighted torches, and a few shook tin boxes, into which the multitude put money, to defray the expense of masses for the soul of the criminal. This is considered by many as the most meritorious kind of charity; and some, whose circumstances do not permit them to bestow much, confine all the expence they can afford in charity, to the single article of purchasing masses to be said in behalf of those who have died without leaving a farthing to save their souls.

Immediately after them came the malefactor himself, seated in a cart, with a Capuchin friar on each side of him. The hangman, with two assistants dressed in scarlet jackets, walked by the cart. This procession having moved slowly round the gallows, which was erected in the Piazza del Populo, the culprit descended from the cart, and was led to a house in the neighbourhood, attended by the two capuchins. He remained there about half an hour, was confessed, and received absolution; after which he came out, exclaiming to the populace to join in prayers for his soul, and walked with a hurried pace to the gallows; the hangman and his assistants having hold of his arms, they supported him up the ladder, the unhappy man repeating prayers as fast as he could utter till he was turned off. He was not left a moment to himself. The executioner stepped from the ladder, and stood with a foot on each of his shoulders, supporting himself in that situation, with his hands on the top of the gallows, the assistants at the same time pulling down the malefactor's legs, so that he must have died in an instant. The executioner, in a short time, slid to the ground along the dead body, as a sailor slides on a rope. They then removed the cloth which covered his face, and twirled the body round with great rapidity, as if their intention had been to divert the mob; who, however, did not shew any disposition to be amused in that manner. The multitude beheld the scene with silent awe and compassion. During the time appointed by law for the body to hang, all the members of the procession, with the whole apparatus of torches, crucifixes, and capuchins, went into a neighbouring church, at the corner of the Shada del Babbuino,

1

and remained there till a mass was said for the soul of the deceased; and when that was concluded, they returned in procession to the gallows, with a coffin covered with black cloth. On their approach, the executioner, with his assistants, hastily retired among the crowd, and were no more allowed to come near the body. The condemned person having now paid the forfeit due to his crimes, was no longer considered as an object of hatred; his dead body was therefore rescued from the contaminating touch of those who are held by the populace in the greatest abhorrence. Two persons in masks, and with black gowns, mounted the ladder and cut the rope, while others below of the same society, received the body, and put it carefully into the coffin. An old woman then said with an exalted voice, "Adesso spero che l'anima sua sia in " paradiso ;" "Now I hope his soul is in heaven;" and the multitude around seemed all inclined to hope the same.

The serious and compassionate manner in which the Roman populace beheld this execution, forms a presumption of the gentleness of their dispositions. The crimes of which this man had been guilty, must naturally have raised their indignation, and his profession had a tendency to increase and keep it up; for he was one of the Sbirri, all of whom are held in the most perfect detestation by the common people; yet the moment they saw this object of their hatred in the character of a poor condemned man, about to suffer for his crimes, all their animosity ceased; no rancour was displayed, nor the least insult offered, which could disturb him in his last moments. They viewed him with eyes of pity and forgiveness, and joined with earnestness, in prayers for his future welfare.

The manner in which this man was put to death was, no doubt, uncommonly mild, when compared with the atrocity of his guilt; yet I am convinced, that the solemn circumstances which accompanied his execution, made a greater impression on the minds of he populace, and would as effectually deter from the crimes for which he was condemned, as if he had been broke alive on the wheel, and the execution performed in a less solemn manner.

Convinced as I am, that all horrid and refined cruelty in the execution of criminals is, at least, unnecessary, I never heard of any thing of that nature without horror and indignation. Other methods, no way connected with the sufferings of the prisoner, equally deter from the crime, and in all other respects, have a better influence on the minds of the multitude. The procession described above, I plainly perceived, made a very deep impression. I thought I saw more people affected by it than I have formerly observed among a much greater crowd, who were gathered to see a dozen or fourteen of their fellow-creatures dragged to the same death for house-breaking and high-way robbery; mere venial offences in comparison of what this Italian had perpetrated. The attendance of the capuchins, the crucifixes, the society of misericordia, the ceremony of confession, all have a tendency to strike the mind with awe, and keep up the belief of a future state; and when the multitude behold so many people employed, and so much pains taken to save the soul of one of the most worthless of mankind, they must think, that the saving of a soul is a matter of great importance, and therefore naturally infer, that the sooner they begin to take care of their own, the better. But when criminals are carried to execution, with little or no solemnity, amidst the shouts of an unconcerned rabble, who applaud them in proportion to the degree of indifference and impenitence they display, and consider the whole scene as a source of amusement; how can such exhibitions make any useful impression, or terrify the thoughtless and desperate from any wicked propensity? If there is a country in which great numbers of young inconsiderate creatures are, six or eight times every year, carried to execution in this tumultuous, unaffecting manner, might not a stranger conclude, that the view of the legislature was to cut off guilty individuals in the least alarming way possible, that others might not be deterred from following their example?

View of Society in Italy.

EXTRACTS FROM THE CODE OF LAWS ENACTED BY THE DUKE OF TUSCANY.

SINCE our accession to the throne of Tuscany, we have considered the examination and reform of the criminal laws as one of our principal duties: and having soon discovered them to be too severe, in consequence of their having been founded on maxims established either at the unhappy crisis of the Roman empire, or during the troubles of anarchy; and particularly, that they were by no means adapted to the mild and gentle temper of our subjects; we set out by moderating the rigour of the said laws, by giving injunctions and orders to our tribunals, and by particular edicts abolishing the pains of death, together with the different tortures and punishments, which were immoderate, and disproportioned to the transgressions, and contraventions to fiscal laws: waiting till we were enabled by a serious examination, and by the trial we should make of these new regulations, entirely to reform the said legislature.

With the utmost satisfaction to our paternal feelings, we have at length perceived, that the mitigation of punishments, joined to a most scrupulous attention to prevent crimes, and also a great dispatch in the trials, together with a certainty and suddenness of punishment to real delinquents, has, instead of increasing the number of crimes, considerably diminished that of the smaller ones, and rendered those of an atrocious nature very rare: we have therefore come to a determination, not to defer any longer the reform of the said criminal laws; and having abolished in an absolute way the pain of death, deeming it not essential to the aim of society in punishing the guilty; having totally forbidden the use of the torture, and the confiscation of the criminals' goods, the latter as generally tending to the ruin of their innocent families, which were not accomplices in their offences; having excluded from the legislation a multitude of crimes, improperly

called leéze majesté,* invented in barbarous times by a refinement of cruelty; and having ordered punishments proportioned to the different kinds of transgressions, in the interim indispensable in the different cases: we have determined, in the fulness of our supreme authority, to order as follows.

We confirm by our supreme authority, and by a special resolution, the abolition of the torture, in the disuse of the practice of which we have long since encouraged the tribunals in the grand duchy by our approbation; and we allow no exception of any kind of torture, nor of any case or effects, for which it was formerly practised in criminal matters.

We have seen with horror the facility with which, in the former laws, the pain of death was decreed, even against crimes of no very great enormity; and having considered that the object of punishment ought to consist, in the satisfaction due either to a private or public injury, in the correction of the offender, who is still a member and child of the society and of the state, and whose reformation ought never to be despaired of, in the security, where the crime is very atrocious in its nature, that he who has committed it shall not be left at liberty to commit any others, and finally in the public example; and that the government, in the punishment of crimes, and in adapting such punishment to the objects towards which alone it should be directed, ought always to employ those means which, whilst they are the most efficacious, are the least hurtful to the offender; which efficacy and moderation we find to consist more in condemning the said offender to hard labour, than in putting him to death; since the former serves as a lasting example, and the latter only as a momentary object of terror, which is often changed into pity; and since the former takes from the delinquent the possibility of committing the same crime again, but does not destroy the hope of his reformation, and of his becoming

* High treason, confined to the person or interest of the prince.