Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-05-24
MISCELL AN Y.
The Convict; a;

Or THE HERMIT OF DAMBURGVILLE-
Not very long ago the course of duty
carried me abroad, and spent some time
in iitle continental town which, II you
pleas will call Damburgyille Cittapoli,
slthsesh i may have been neither in Rol-
.an1 Z, 1s.eas France, Italy nor Greece.
| am tboat e. tell the true tale of person
living eGa. town, and wish so to do with
out direse.Eg suybody's eyes towards hum.
La the parish church of Damburgville-
Cittapoll mass is ceiebrated--so much am
obliged to say--and at that church | was
in the habit of attending pretty regularly.
used to see there very devout-looking
man who was never abseRt from his place,
aud whose humility of bearing and extreme
serioasuess Of demeanor fixed upon him a
good deal of attention. He had the figure
and the movements of tolerably young
man, at any rate of man uader forty, but
he seemed to be sixty years old in the face,
| thought, when used to meet him for the
sake Of looking at him in the porch. His
dress was too coarse to belong to a gentle
mans neatness. He spoke to no one, aud
once or twice shrauk back against the wall
that he might not be touched by me when
Twas passing him. He used TO wear gloves
too when all other hands were bare, at the
communion.
made inquiries and obtained no clue to
the knowledge desired nobody seemed
TO know who the man was, except one
friend no supposed it must be "Vat you
call the Jack Ketch." said that ne was
not at all that sort of person. Then | was
advised to ask the priest concerning him,
"for he knew everybody"
had made friends with the priest, and
did not hesitate to take my friends advice.
His reverence informed me that from my
description the person who had excited my
curiosity must be, what shall | take
for name Betram de- Medici.
"De' Medici !" | said surely | have
heard Of that name before"
Probably" SAID the priest. at is one
of our historic names. The person of whom
you speak belongs to an illustrous family"
And yet he is unknown here"
"His history is strange, and it is not un-
known here. He has no associates" The
good old gentleman then eased my mind
by telling me the story upon the getting Of
which my heart had long been set.
Betram would have been born with all
possible advantages, it, as the father said,
he had not possessed an innate propensity
for evil. His nurse despared Of hi:r-i, his
lnother grieuHii &c. &c. hilm, at school he was
the leader of every rebellion. He was
clever, but misused his abilities. As q
Young mar he learnt what he should have
-shunned--sym2athized with what he should
have hated, and by the time he had become
fairly man he was a perfect .vilIain.-
Master of his property, he wasted it-he
became eStranged, and at last wholly cut
of from his family, and the tribunals of
justice grew to be more aud more familiar
with his face. He endured many short I'M
prisonments under feigned names; at last,
for capital crime, he was condemned to
death, but his sentence was commuted and
an the Hover OF his years he was sent for
hie to the galleys.
His fate did not COW or alter him. The
convicts spend much Of their time in work
Galleys are legal actions nowadays. The
men work on roads or in the dockvards.-
Their hard labor is aggravated by heavy
chain fastened from the waist to the an.
kles sometimes two prisoners are chained
toyether, and are thus for years compelled
into association. Betram was strong-ea.
silv performed his work-liked the soc,etv
af criminals, and was il pattern to them all
of carelessness he was the man to cheer
dsspondency or put down remorSe in 9th
ers. This courage lasted till the list of
men, who were older prisoners than him.
self, became shorter, and he approached