104

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

endeavour to console my mother. Seek, both of you, com- ;fort in the thought that I die innocent, and in the cause ofvirtue. Let us endure the present fleeting agony; the timewill come when my name shall obtain celebrity in history,and you will have the honour of having produced a json, who well knew how to die, rather than live on infa- jmous conditions.” The high feeling—the sublime intrepidity iof the youth, deprived the father of the power of reply, !while almost ashamed of his inferiority in virtue, bitterly jweeping as he pressed his offspring to his bosom, coveringhis face with his trembling hands, he left the abode ofwoe.

The following day these three most noble youths were takento the place of execution, calm, dignified, and serene; serene,far more than were their royal murderers, who dreamt ofnothing but conspiracies and constitutions. The gibbet waserected under the guns of the Castel nuovo ; all the avenuesleading into that square defended with cannon; three thou-sand men upon the spot, and numerous corps brought aroundthe city. Police officers and spies were mixed amongst thepeople, to seize upon any one who might by word or signexpress disapprobation or compassion. Meanwhile their“ majesties ” with their favourite Acton, were regaling at thepalace of Caserta , far from enjoying that tranquillity of soul, \at that dire moment evinced by their heroic victims. Twoof the sufferers had just ceased to live, when a sudden panic iseized upon the throng, of whom, upon their hasty flight,many were killed or wounded by the frighted soldiery.Vitaliano was therefore slain, with no other spectators thanthe troops and executioners. I must not forget to mentionthat the “ crime,” of which these three young heroes andmany others were doomed to suffer, was the suspicion oftheir having been concerned in the translation and theprinting of the French constitutional charter of 1791!