After leaving the Vatican, I walked with a friend in the gardens of the Villa Medici, where we met the Cardinal Pacca, to whom I had the honour of being introduced, and who behaved in the most polite and affable manner, conversing with me for some time in French. On Saturday, the 12th of April, a criminal was guillotined in the Piazza del Popolo, for committing various robberies and murders, notwithstanding, he was only twenty-three years of age. Criminals are not here arraigned before their judge and accusers, but the charge is examined, and the sentence awarded in private; nor is the convict acquainted with the nature of his sentence, if the punishment of death is decreed, until the middle of the night before execution, when a priest gives the information, and urges him to confession, in which case, the sentence is carried into effect at nine o’clock in the morning; otherwise, if he refuses to confess, it is deferred until three in the afternoon. In the middle of the night, of the 11th and 12th of April, a fire broke out in the house where one of my particular friends, Mr. H⸺, resided, and which compelled him to remove Mrs. H⸺, his family, and valuable effects, in the first instance, into the middle of the street, and afterwards to the residence of a friend. The accident originated in the apartment of an Italian lawyer, who resided on the floor above Mr. H⸺, and, in consequence of a drunken servant dropping a candle on his straw mattress; the whole room was soon in flames, which burst out from the windows, and made a most frightful appearance, but were at length extinguished by throwing in buckets of water, and without communicating beyond the room in which they commenced. Perhaps I ought rather to say, they extinguished themselves for want of more fuel, having lasted until the few contents of the room were consumed, being prevented from extending, in consequence of the stone floors and staircase, and the thickly plastered walls. The engines were brought, and immense crowds of people assembled, evidently for amusement, for although Mr. H⸺ exerted himself to the utmost to extinguish the flames, he could not induce the by-standers to give the least assistance. In the morning, his family returned to their apartments, without having sustained any other injury than the fright. On Sunday I attended divine service, at the English place of worship, which was a large room in the house of Mrs. L⸺. After this I visited the Capitol, where I met with no one to prevent my touching the statues, &c. In the evening, we had some delightful music and singing in the Chiesa Nuova, the operatic character of which, however, impressed me more with the idea of a theatre, than a church. After this we concluded the day at Dr. C⸺’s.