place in his village, playing draughts. Up came his abandoned mistress, overwhelmed him with a flood of imprecations, drew a pistol from her bosom, and sent a bullet through his head. Another forsaken maiden once said to her lover, "If you take another you shall never enjoy her." Two years passed, and the youth led a maiden to the altar. As he was passing out of the church door with her, the forsaken mistress felled him to the ground with a shot; and the people cried, Evviva, hurra for thy countenance ! " The justices sentenced the girl to three months' imprisonment. Youths sued for her hand, but not one desired the young widow of the murdered bridegroom. The Corsican women, who sing such bloody songs of revenge, are also able to carry pistols and fucili, and to fight. How often did they fight in battles as well as any men! It is said that the victory of the Corsicans over the French at Borgo, was at least half due to the heroic valour of the women. They also fought in the battle of Ponte Nuovo; and the bold wife of Giulio Francesco di Pastoreccia still lives in the memories of all her country people. She fought in that battle by her husband's side, and came into close combat with a French officer, overcame him, and took him prisoner; but when she saw that the Corsicans were falling into the disorder of flight, she gave him his freedom, saying to him, "Remember that a Corsican woman overcame thee, and gave thee back thy sword and thy freedom." These Corsican women are the living female forms of Ariosto and Tasso. Beyond the Fiumorbo commences the water-system of the Tavignano, which flows out near Aleria, below the lagoon of Diana. I wished to leave the vettura there, as I had a letter of introduction from a citizen of Sartene for Casa Janda, a rich estate near Aleria, possessed by Captain Franceschetti, son of the general known to us from the history of the last days of Murat's life. Signor Franceschetti was unfortunately on the continent, and I was disappointed of the pleasure of making the acquaintance of this energetic man, and gaining instruction from him on many points. It had meanwhile grown dark, and we had approached near to Sulla's colony of Aleria. We perceived the dark row of houses, and the fort on the hill by the road-side; and in the hope of finding a locanda in the little town, though far from certain of it, we stopped the vehicle and walked thither. The scenery around seemed to me truly Sullanic ;- -a night as still as the grave, a barren plain full of feverish air at our feet, dark night-shrouded mountains behind the fort, and the horizon reddened as with the glow of burning towns; for the thickets were on fire all round; the town dead, and without a light. At last a dog gave the alarm, and gave us some hopes, and soon the whole population of Aleria came out to meet us-namely, two Doganieri, who were the sole inhabitants of Aleria. The people had removed to the mountains through fear of the malaria, and every door was closed except that of the fort, in which the soldiers of the coast were stationed. We begged them for a lodging for this one night, as the horses were done up, and there was no place in the neighbourhood that could receive us. But these good followers of Cornelius Sulla refused our request, fearing the captain of the dogana, and because they would have to go on guard in an hour. We conjured them by the holy Virgin not to force us out into the feverish air, but to give us shelter in the fort. They stuck to their refusal, and so we returned not knowing what to do, my companion angry, and I but little pleased at being shown the door at the first Roman colony that my foot had entered, in spite of two great Caesars who are my particular friends. The Sullans, however, began to feel some human compassion, and came running after us, exclaiming, "Entrato pure!" We joyfully entered the little fort, a quadrangular building, without any bulwarks or rampart or moat, and felt our way up the stone steps into the soldiers' quarters. The poor soldiers soon slung their guns over their shoulders, and went out with their dogs to the lagoon of Diana, to be on the watch for smugglers. Their service is a dangerous one; they are changed every fifteen days, as they would otherwise succumb to the fever. I lay down on the floor of the room and tried to sleep, but the sultriness was dreadful. I preferred to return to the vettura and imbibe the bad air, which was at least cooling. I passed a truly Sullan night at this Aleria, in front of the church at which Peter Cyrnæus was deacon, in meditations on the causes of the greatness of the Romans, and of their decline, and on those luxurious Sullan banquets, where there were good fish-liver pasties, and fountains of costly sauces. It was a diabolical night, and I sighed out more than once, "Aleria, Aleria! chi non ammazza vituperia!" "Aleria, Aleria! who does no murder must revile thee;" for that is the lampoon the Corsicans have made upon the place, and I think it suits excellently a colony of Sulla. The morning broke; I sprang out of the carriage, and tried to get a notion of the locality of Aleria. This is excellently selected. The plain is commanded by a hill, from which there is a splendid view of the lagoons of Diana and del Sale, of the sea and islands. Fine mountain cones enclose the panorama on the land side. The morning was charmingly refreshing; air and light were in a delicate transition-glow; the view free and extensive; the soil Roman, and, still more, ancient Phoenician. The present Aleria consists only of a few houses attaching themselves to the Genoese fort. The ancient Aleria occupied several hills, and stretched far down both sides of the Tavignano into the plain, where ancient iron rings on the lagoon of Diana still betray the site of the harbour of the town. I wandered to the ruins in the vicinity. The hills all about are strewn with stones and ruined walls of houses, but I found not a single piece of decoration, neither capitals nor frieze, nothing but rough materials. Here and there are seen the remains of arches, a few steps of a cireus, and a ruin which the people call Casa Reale, and which is supposed to be the house of a Prætorian, I know not with what reason, for from the ruins nothing at all can be inferred, not even the epoch. To judge by its extent, Aleria must have been a town of about 20,000 inhabitants. Vases and Roman coins have been found in the fields; I was told by goatherds that a golden coin had been picked up three days ago. A returning soldier, however, strained my curiosity to the highest pitch, by telling me that he had found two marble tablets containing an inscription which no one was able to decipher. The marble tablets were locked up in a house, but he had taken a copy of them. He thereupon fetched his pocket-book; they were two Latin inscriptions, which this excellent antiquarian had copied in such a truly Phoenician fashion, that I made out with difficulty that one was a votive inscription from the age of Augustus, and the other a sepulchral inscription. This was all that I found of the ancient Aleria. CHAPTER III. THEODORE OF NEUHOFF. Abenamar, Abenamar, MOORISH ROMANCE. IT was at Aleria that Theodore of Neuhoff landed on the 12th March, 1736, a man who was to commence in Corsica the series of upstarts who give to the modern history of Europe a romantic middle-age character. On that morning at Aleria, accordingly, I saw the image of that fantastic knight of fortune, as I had seen it portrayed in an unpublished Genoese manuscript of the year 1739: "Accinelli, historical, geographical, and political memorabilia of the kingdom of Corsica." This manuscript is in the possession of Signor Santelli at Bastia, who readily granted me a sight of it, but would not permit me to copy from it some original letters, which I have nevertheless since discovered elsewhere. With what sentiments the Genoese composed his work, is declared by the motto upon it, which thus describes the Corsicans: "Generatio prava et exorbitans. Bestiæ et universa pecora,' "A perverse and erring people, beasts, and all brutes." This motto is taken from the Bible. In his manuscript he has painted Theodore in water-colours to the life, in Moorish costume, with a perruque and a small hat, a sabre and cane. He is standing gravely by the sea, out of which an island is seen rising. وو Theodore of Corsica may also be seen well portrayed in an old German book of the year 1736, which was printed in Frankfort, with the title, “Account of the Life and Acts of Baron Theodore of Neuhoff, and of the Republic of Genoa injured by him; published by Giovanni di San Fiorenzo." (Nachricht von dem Leben und Thaten des Baron Theodor von Neuhofen, und der von ihm gekränckten Republic Genoa, herausgegeben von Giovanni di S. Fiorenzo.) The vignette exhibits Theodore as he was in life, in Spanish costume, and with a very small beard. In the background is seen a walled town, probably Bastia, and in front of it three men most amusingly depicted-one of whom hangs on the gallows, another is impaled, and the third is going to be quartered. Theodore's appearance in Corsica, and his romantic election to be King of Corsica, then engaged the attention of all the world. This is evidenced from this very German book, which appeared during the course of the same year, 1736. As it is at the same time the only German book that I have used for my studies about the Corsicans, I will communicate some extracts from it. This is the description of the island at that time :— "Corsica is one of the largest islands of the Mediterranean sea, lying over against the island Sardinia. It is about twentyfive German miles long, and twelve broad. In point of atmosphere it is not considered particularly healthy; but the land is tolerably fertile, although it is mingled with many mountains and stony tracts. The inhabitants have the reputation of being courageous and hardy in arms; but it is also said against them that they are very malicious, revengeful, cruel, and addicted to robbery. Besides this character they have the reputation of being called gross Corsicans, which I will not indeed contest." The account of Theodore's landing was thus given in the book, on the authority of letters from Bastia of the 5th April : "At the port of Aleria arrived lately an English ship, said to belong to the consul of that nation at Tunis, and in this a very exalted personage, to judge from his appearance, whom some announced as a royal prince, others as an English lord, and others as the Prince Ragotzy. So much we have means of stating, that he is of the Romish confession, and bears the name of Theodore. His costume is after the manner of the Christians who travel in Turkey, and consists of a long scarlet-lined coat, a perruque, and hat, as well as a stick and sword. He has a suite of two officers, a secretary, a priest, a lord-steward, a steward, a head-cook, three slaves, and four lacqueys with him; also, he has had disembarked 10 cannon, above 7000 muskets, 2000 pairs of shoes, and a great lot of all kinds of stores, among which are 7000 sacks of flour; likewise several chests of gold and silver specie, one of which is a strong lead-cornered one with silver handles, full of whole and half sequins from Barbary, and the treasure is reckoned at two millions of pieces of eight. The Corsican leaders have received him with great demonstrations of reverence, and conferred upon him the title of Your Excel |