The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-29

two palaces into one harmonious build
 lng but the job was finally completed
 Tor him by Greek architect imported
 Tor the purpose, and about the time 1t
 was finished a number of his noblemen,
 who also had fine houses, and were
 afraid of meeting the fate of the mer-
 chant, insulted his Majesty most ef-
 fectually by assassinating him and
 putting another in his place, Perhaps
 the most peculiar case of sensitiveness
 of this kind, however, according to the
 chap books, was that of Heliogabalus,
 who was famous glutton and prided
 himself on being the fattest man in
 Rome, A certain Servetus who had previously worn the champions belt fer adipose tissue, made a bet with a friend that the emperor's girdle would
 lack at least a palms breadth of meet
 ing round his own waist. A palace at tendant was bribed to procure the em- peror's belt, it was tried, and to his im- mense satisfaction it failed of encom- 1 passing the waist of Servetus by near
 ly two palms. If he had possessed as much discretion as he had abdominal I circumference all would have been well with Servetus, but he was so proud of his girth that he went about telling how much bigger he was than the em- I peror, so that the imperial spies soon
 carried the story to the palace. Serve
 tus was apprehended on charge of vii
 plated majesty, and put to death with
 exquisite tortures, thus literally falling
 a victim to his size
 | The little Italian princes who each
 ruled city or two and a few miles of
 territory outside the walls, made up in dignity what they lacked in power
 Lords, rich in some dozen paltry will
 lages, strong in some hundred spear men, would naturally be very tenacious
 of their lordly rights and privileges,
 and would demand from their interiors
 as much respect as could be shown a king. The law lese majestic was very l popular among them, and they pun l ished every infraction of it by humble folk with unsparing severity It was I Cosmo de Medici who had doctor ex- fled first and assassinated afterward for sporting coat of arms which bore l a striking resemblance to his own When cited to show cause why he
 should not be dealt with for insulting the Grand Duke of Tuscany by. assum- ing coat of arms similar to that of the reigning house, the man of pills l proved that he was the unworthy de-
 scendant of a noble family, and had as much right to his coat of arms as the Grand Duke had to his. He was or l dered to change the family emblem, l but stubbornly refused to do so, and was commanded to leave Tuscan terri tory. Instead of doing so, however, he l went to another town in Tuscany and
 there hung out his shingle with the ob-
 noxious arms extensively displayed Of course the matter was reported in Florence, and the difficulty was adjust
 ed by a couple of assassins, who fol- | lowed up the doctor and quietly I stabbed him one dark night, afterward removing and destroying his sign. 1t
 was not often, however, that open vio- lence was resorted to by the Italian princes in defence of their dignity.
 Poison was so much safer that the man who made trouble in an Italian court 1 generally passed off the stage of action easily and quietly very often after a l friendly interview and cosey little sup
 per with the duke
 | In England the lese majeste has been common enough, and under the name l of high treason multitudes of men of every rank have fallen under its ban and been put to death As the law is 1 defined at present. 1t is easy enough l both to understand and to apply, but when judges were removable at the 1 king'c pleasure and were generally as l corrupt as the court, the statute was l greatly abused and frequently given q construction which made it applicable I to almost any act, however innocent. 1 Tn the reign of Edward w. an innkeep- CT in London, whose house of enter l tainment bore a crown as a sign, once
 remarked that he would make his son l heir to the crown. The pun was by no means bad but it's humor and evident | ly innocent intent did not prevent his being arrested tried on charge of high treason, on which he was convict ed, sentenced, hanged, drawn and I quartered It was in the same reign l that country gentleman who had a number of pet deer lost a fine buck, l which was killed by the kings party while hunting. Angry at the loss of his buck, he profanely swore that he wished the buck, horns and all, were in | the kings stomach The splenetic re-
 mark was reported and the gentleman l was arrested for treason. He pleaded 1 in his own defence, that the remark was nasty and that he meant no
 wrong, but the learned judges argued l that as he had wished the buck in the l kings stomach, he must have desired | the death of the king, for it was impos- sible for the animal horns and all. to l be crammed into the stomach of the | king without causing the monarch to l give up the ghost forthwith, and on this plausible argument the luckless I man was hanged
 1 He was fortunate in one respect, 1 however, in being allowed to die 8 quick death, for monarchs have not
 always been so considerate of those l whom they suspected of lese majeste. 1 Construed by them as g. crime against I the state, the most atrocious offence 1 that could be committed, it was pun- ished with greatest severity In Rome l the man who accidentally broke stat ue of the emperor was not necessarily 1 guilty of insulting majesty, but he who 1 spit on or at one, or threw bad eggs or any offensive substance at one, was sometimes whipped to death, and the f1eaARM AMlRN