The other adventure was during the late Neapolitan and Sicilian revolution; Mr. C⸺ happened to lodge in the same house with our countryman, General Church, who commanded the Sicilian troops, forming the garrison of Palermo. One evening the general had fallen into a personal affray with some of his insubordinate soldiers, and with difficulty disengaged himself from them uninjured; supposing that he had retired to his hotel, they made an attack upon it, and in their rage and disappointment destroyed the whole of its furniture. My friend, and two other English gentlemen, were at the time in the house. The former was lying in bed, seriously ill; they obliged him, however, to rise, and while one of the ruffians stood with a dagger at his breast, the others emptied his trunks, and took away everything except his pantaloons and a great coat, and threatened to murder him if he did not produce more money, stating that they were sure an Englishman must be better provided. One of the other gentlemen was also ill, but being warned by the noise, that something unpropitious was going forward, he contrived to conceal his writing-desk, with his money and papers, under the pillow; when, getting into bed, he made them believe by well groaning, and the assistance of a naturally pale and ghastly-looking face, that he was dying; they were actually afraid to touch him, and walked off, contenting themselves with what they could find about the room. The third gentleman was treated with tolerable civility; one of the robbers disrobed himself, and putting on the clothes which were lying on a chair, made a simple exchange of property, which some consider no robbery. They cleared the table of his money, and various other articles which he had laid upon it the night before; amongst the rest, however, was a small bit of printed paper, which considering of no value, they threw on the floor; this was one of Hammersley’s bills for fifty pounds. My friend had the misfortune of being deaf, as well as suffering otherwise from ill health; it may be regarded as a curious incident in our travelling connexion,—that I should want sight, and he hearing; the circumstance is somewhat droll, and afforded considerable amusement to those whom we travelled with, so that we were not unfrequently exposed to a jest on the subject, which we generally participated in, and sometimes contributed to improve.