12

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

other.* Nevertheless, he persisted in his claim for someyears longer ; till at length, overcome by the weight of hismisfortunes, he died from disgust and chagrin.

Five sons and two daughters were left to share theremnant of his property, which consisted of a mansion, nearthat of Farnese, a house and eighty acres at Castel Gandolfi,some statues, paintings, books, and valuable furniture ; afamily tomb of great splendour, in the church of St. Luigi.The daughters had already abandoned the world, andentered the convent of St. Cecilia, of which the youngeris lady abbess at the present day. The eldest son, myfather, obtained, through the interest of his friend, theMarquis Tanucci, then prime minister at Naples , the insig-nificant post of Neapolitan Consul General at Marseilles .Tanucci shortly after resigning, my father lost that situation.He then entered the French army, in which two of hisbrothers were already serving. Another brother, Pamfilo,some how or other, found his way to the Brazils, amasseda fortune, founded a town which he named Rome , nearMinas Geras, and, it is supposed, never after returned toEurope

My father Peter Augustus, with his two brothers, Felixand Leandro, contrived to serve together in the same regi-ment, which formed part of the corps sent by the French government, under the commands of General Rochambaud

* I do not know by what means an estate of his, near Ponte Corvo ,on the river Garigliano , marked in the maps as Villa Maceroni, com-prising a house and 3,000 acres of land, became annexed to the CrownLands, or national domains of the kingdom of Naples. Had KingJoachim Murat preserved his crown a very few months longer, hewould, according to his promise, have put me in possession of it.

+ This uncle of mine was seen at Rio di Janeiro in 1808, by myintimate acquaintance John Sawyer, an enterprising and wealthy pro-prietor of an American trading vessel.