THE HEROIC YOUTHS.

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flicted by such ignoble hands) of many a man, an ornamentto society, and an honour to his country. I cannot, how-ever, refrain from devoting one page to depict the case ofthree most heroic youths, falsely accused of participation insome non-existing conspiracy.

Vincenzo Vitaliano, aged twenty-two, Emanuele di Dio,aged twenty, and Vincenzo Galiani, only nineteen, all ofdistinguished families, and remarkable for their classicalattainments, were condemned to die. Upon sentence beingpassed, the Queen sent for Giusejipe di Dio, father ofEmanuele, and promised the full pardon of his son, if hecould be persuaded to denounce the other accomplices inthe pretended conspiracy. The wretched father hastened tothe condemned chapel, and embracing his son, with tearsand supplications endeavoured to move him to compliancewith the queen’s demand. Kneeling at the feet of his youth-ful offspring, the agonized parent exclaimed—“Oh! son,have pity on your mother—and on your father, imploring atyour feet. Oh! save your parents by consenting to saveyourself!” The noble youth, embracing and raising up hishonoured parent, with modest, earnest, and respectful tone,replied —“The tyrant, oh! my father—in whose name you nowapply to me—not satisfied with the pain inflicted on us, seeksto make us infamous; and, in exchange for the degraded ex-istence which she offers me, hopes to extinguish a thousandhonourable lives, more valuable than mine. Allow me toperish; much blood has always been shed in cementingpublic liberty, and the first that flows is often the most noble.What an existence do you proffer to your son and to yourself?Where shall we fly to hide our ignominy ? I should haveto leave behind me all that I love and value upon earth, mycountry and my parents; you would be ashamed of thatwhich you most prize and estimate—your own child. Miti-gate your affliction, my dear, my honoured father, and