The Every-day Book and Table Book, v. 1 (of 3): or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the AlmanacHone, William
History
The Every-day Book and Table Book, v. 1 (of 3): or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac
Hone, William
Days; Great Britain -- Social life and customs
honour of England! To palliate it would be in vain; to justify it would
be wicked: there is no alternative, for one who will not make himself a
participator in guilt, but to record the disgraceful story with sorrow
and with shame.
“Prince Francesco Caraccioli, a younger branch of one of the noblest
Neapolitan families, escaped from one of these castles before it
capitulated. He was at the head of the marine, and was nearly seventy
years of age, bearing a high character both for professional and
personal merit. He had accompanied the court to Sicily; but when the
revolutionary government, or Parthenopæan republic, as it was called,
issued an edict, ordering all absent Neapolitans to return, on pain of
confiscation of their property, he solicited and obtained permission of
the king to return, his estates being very great. It is said that the
king, when he granted him this permission, warned him not to take any
part in politics; expressing, at the same time, his own persuasion that
he should recover his kingdom. But neither the king, nor he himself,
ought to have imagined that, in such times, a man of such reputation
would be permitted to remain inactive; and it soon appeared that
Caraccioli was again in command of the navy, and serving under the
republic against his late sovereign. The sailors reported that he was
forced to act thus: and this was believed, till it was seen that he
directed ably the offensive operations of the revolutionists, and did
not avail himself of opportunities for escaping when they offered. When
the recovery of Naples was evidently near, he applied to cardinal Ruffo,
and to the duke of Calvirrano, for protection; expressing his hope, that
the few days during which he had been forced to obey the French, would
not outweigh forty years of faithful services:--but, perhaps, not
receiving such assurances as he wished, and knowing too well the temper
of the Sicilian court, he endeavoured to secrete himself, and a price
was set upon his head. More unfortunately for others than for himself,
he was brought in alive, having been discovered in the disguise of a
peasant, and carried one morning on board lord Nelson’s ship, with his
hands tied behind him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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