The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-20 00:00:00

A ROMAN EXECUTION.

It is the practice in Rome to heighten the
agonies of a criminal by the excitement of ima-
ginary
terrors. The fatal sentence is not revealed
to him until the night before its execution.--
Suddenly, at midnight, he is conducted to a
room hung with black drapery: a skeleton, hold-
ing a scythe and hour-glass, starts from the wall,
while, at the same instant, a deep sepulchral
voice exclaims, " Thou shalt (lie !" From this
moment, however, to the last of his existence, the
offender is constantly attended by his " com-
forter." These comforters, who are masked, and
are usually persons of high rank, avail themselves
of these opportunities to perform a meritorious
and acceptable service, thinking, probably, that
they can thereby expiate their own offences.—
Early on the morning of the execution, several
masked individuals, some of whom are usually
men of rank, walk through the city with boxes,
and collect alms for the condemned criminal.---
he amount thus collected is given to the rela-
tives of the sufferer, by way of compensation
for their loss ; and they are moreover con-
veyed, before the hour of execution, beyond
the city walls, and provided with meals for
the day, to save them from all risk of witnessing
a spectacle so trying to their feelings. The
gallows is erected on the previous evening in the
Piazza del Popolo, and guarded throughout the
night by Shirri; and the doorway of one of the
contiguous houses is hung with black, that the
delinquent may receive there the sacrament im-
mediately before his execution. On the follow-
ing morning, the criminal enveloped in an old
cloak, was brought in a cart to the doorway hung
with black, through which he passed into the
house, and immediately after his descent the
cart was crowded with spectators. After the sacra-
ment had been administered, the condemned man
was led to the gallows. He mounted the ladder,
and the executioner, after fixing the rope, called
out to him, " Credisne to in Jesu Christo ?"
the criminal answered in the affirmative ; the
hangman pushed him from the ladder, and step-
ped upon his shoulders to accelerate his death ;
then sliding down the rope, he embraced and
kissed the dead man, according to established
custom, and in proof that he had entertained no
malice towards the criminal.—Blackwood.

Mr. CHAMBERS, Biddenden, has at the pre-
sent time three young squirrels, taken from a' nest a few
days since, and are now being nurtured by a cat and a rab-
bit, alternately, for, when the cat is not to be found, the
squirrels are put under the fostering care of the rabbit, and
each one is equally tender over its strange charge.—Mixid-
stone Journal.

GARRICK gave his greatest actors only a
handsome living salary, and his lowest a decent existence,
and Illicit the same. Few had above 10/. or 12/. a-week,
and none lower than 30s. We bear of the former now
having 50/. a night, and the latter 15s. and IL a-week.
No wonder there is a dearth of theatrical merit.

At Bristol, carts going about the streets with
bars of iron make an intolerable clatter. "Is this what
you call Bristol music?" said a stranger to a Bristolian.
" Yes," answered the latter, " but it is ironically."
The garden of the Earl of FIFE at Mar
Lodge has been entirely swept away by the late flood, one
of the bow windows of the Lodge driven in, and an accu-
mulation of mud and gravel deposited in the lower part of
the house to the depth of two or three feet.— Caledonian
Mercury.

On Saturday morning, the Bth instant, about
half-past two o'clock, three men got into the yard of Mr.
WILMOT, currier, of Kirkby, Nottinghamshire, and his
daughter, a young woman about 21 years of age, hearing
a noise, went out, and saw one of the men mount the
brown pony; she immediately returned into the house to
alarm her father, who was in bed, and, taking the dog
with her, immediately went in pursuit down the gang
road. On getting near, she encouraged the dog, who Set
on the man, so that he speedily dismounted, and the three
cowards gave up their prise to the heroine and her dog,
and they were coming back in triumph when met by Mr.
WILMOT, three quarters of a mile from his own house!
The rascals disappeared in the wood, and could not be
found.—Boston Gazette.

PARLIAMENTARY SPEECHES.—At the end
of the reign of GEORGE 11., When a complaint was ;lade
by a hot-brained Member of Parliament of a breach of
privilege by the publication in the Magazines of some of
the speeches made in the House of Commons, though
given under feigned names, Mr. PELHAM, the Govern-
ment leader of that day, quashed the motion with the fol-
lowing observation :—" Let them alone," said he, " they
make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves."
IRISH LIBERTY.---The Earl of MEATH'S
liberty is the lowest part of Dublin, and is at present in .a
state of great distress, as may be gathered from one of the
Dublin papers, which says, ".We are sure we do not
exaggerate when we say one half of the liberty is in pri-
son !"—Aforning Paper.