318

CONFESSION OF A GREEK PIRATE.

was very old; and he tore it up to put round the iron fetters which were on his legs. I gave the shirt to him at Zante; and he gave me another white shirt, one of three in his possession, which had been taken from the Maltese brig. It ought to be at the prison, as I washed it the day before yesterday; and it ought to be clean.

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"I confirm this my voluntary confession} the same having been read to me word for word in the Greek language, by the sworn interpreter; and not knowing how to write, ! make the sign of the cross.

"This confession taken by me,

and signed in my presence, this

7th day of July, 1824.

"James Calvert,

Acting Magistrate for the Ports."

"His Excellency the Governor has been since pleased to commute the sentence of death, in consequence of the prisoners having been recommended to mercy by the jury, on the

SENTENCE OF THE PIRATES.

319

ground that they seem to have been rather blind instruments in the hands of others, than the planners of the piracy. Pano Cavani, Strati Cojungi, and Spiridion di Giorgio Lico, are to be transported for the period of their natural lives; and Costantino Marini Gior ghizza and Atanasio Silvriano, for fourteen years, to such place as His Majesty may please to direct.

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By the arrival of His Majesty's transport Maria, from Cephalonia and Zante, we are informed, that the Turkish fleet, consisting of eleven ships of war, entered the Gulf of Patrass on the 27th ultimo, convoying many Austrian vessels, laden with provisions and ammunition, which had been detained at Zante by the Greek blockade.

“ The Messolongi Gazette of 12th February, announces the appointment of a commission of nine members for the trial of those chiefs who have lately acted against the Provisional Government. The only other intelligence is a confirmation of the active preparations, particularly in Albania, for the ensuing campaign. The Albanese, it is thought, will not delay their invasion of the Plains of the Peloponesus

320

MALTA EXCURSION TO BOSCHETTO.

until June and July, as has been hitherto their practice."

Tuesday, 12th April. - Yesterday, Lady Neale contrived a pic-nic party to Boschetto, a sort of country house, or " bosky bourne, anciently belonging to the Grand Masters. It is a handsome square building, flanked by towers of the same character. A deep fosse surrounds it; but otherwise it does not discover any sign of having been used as a place of defence. Its elevation is, perhaps, the most considerable in the island; and affords a fine prospéct of much the largest portion of the territory, including the Island of Gozo, which may be easily distinguished. Its internal condition is now the most desolate imaginable; the painting is defaced upon the walls, and both the windows and the doors are demolished. The sleeping apartment of the Grand Masters alone, (their bed is colder now, and their sleep sounder than it was!) has a fireplace; and a miserable recess, above which a Maltese cross is blazoned, formed the place of their occasional repose. One of the towers supplied a small dressing-room.

At the foot of the castle is a valley, remark

EXCURSION TO BOSCHETTO.

321

able for the grove of orange trees, which is almost the only specimen of that description of fertility which Malta displays. At all events, it is certainly the most extensive: and, at this season of the year, when the cultivated land puts on its fairest aspect, the appearance of this " green spot," amid the barrenness and aridness of all around, is exceedingly striking and agreeable. A stream of water gushes through it amid an unusual luxuriance of olive trees. Here the bramble flourishes; of which a young English lady (to whom I allude with sincere and merited respect,) averred that of all other things it soonest brought back to her recollection the feelings of early youth, and the beauties of her native land. A leaf or a flower might have done the same; but these were common objects-common as men's faces, and stood not alone, like the solitary bramble, in the most retired and verdant portion of the island; almost beautiful from its rarity, and loved for its affinity with something beloved! And she broke off two or three branches of the hallowed bramble;-this was for one friend, and that was for another. "There waspoor fellow! he was indisposed, and should

322

MALTA CURIOUS RENCONTRE.

have something to comfort him,give him this;" so she sent him a thorn! Strange power of association! and stranger still the power of natural sentiments developed in a natural manner! I never thought so well of the human heart, as I did upon this occasion.

We were a party of about thirty; and we eat, and drank, and danced, and laughed"as though the earth contained no tomb;" and as though one painful reflection should never again start up into anxious life. We had bade farewell to sorrow; and we hoped, perhaps, to meet with her no more! But the vulture will not be driven wholly from the prey. The shout of merriment may raise her a moment upon the wing, but she descends again with redoubled eagerness and fury. ́‚ It is after hours of high-strained hilarity, that solicitude is experienced the most.

As I rode to the theatre of action, being somewhat puzzled about the way, I put my head to a grated window that I passed, and was saluted with a most alarmingly sonorous "viva!" Out came "a tall thin gentleman," equipped very much like a cook: his hair was of an intense black, plaited and tied behind

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