arms, and undoubtedly he and his companions
showed no more hesitation than the person with whom the idea had
originated. Five fellows, not known before this time for any particular
evil, agreed to rob the English gentleman of the treasure of which he
had made such an imprudent display. They were attacked by the banditti
in several parties, but the principal attack was directed to Mr. Hunt's
carriage, a servant of that gentleman being, as well as himself, pulled
out of the carriage and watched by those who had undertaken to conduct
this bad deed. The man who had been the soldier, probably to keep up his
courage, began to bully, talk violently, and strike the _valet de
place_, who screamed out in a plaintive manner, "Do not injure me." His
master, hoping to make some impression, said, "Do not hurt my servant,"
to which the principal brigand replied, "If he dares to resist, shoot
him." The man who stood over Mr. Hunt unfortunately took the captain at
the word, and his shot mortally wounded the unfortunate gentleman and
his wife, who both died next day at our landlady's, Miss Whyte, who had
the charity to receive them that they might hear their own language on
their deathbed. The Neapolitan Government made the most uncommon
exertions. The whole of the assassins were taken within a fortnight, and
executed within a week afterwards. In this wild spot, rendered
unpleasing by the sad remembrance of so inhuman an accident, and the
cottages which served for refuge for so wretched and wild a people,
exist the celebrated ruins of Paestum. Being without arms of any kind,
the situation was a dreary one, and though I can scarce expect now to
defend myself effectually, yet the presence of [_illegible_] would have
been an infinite cordial. The ruins are of very great antiquity, which
for a very long time has not been suspected, as it was never supposed
that the Sybarites, a luxurious people, were early possessed of a style
of architecture simple, chaste, and inconceivably grand, which was lost
before the time of Augustus, who is said by Suetonius to have undertaken
a journey on purpose to visit these remains of an architecture, the most
simple and massive of which Italy at least has any other specimen. The
Greeks have specimens of the same kind, but they are composed not of
stone, like Paestum, but of marble. All this has been a discovery of
recent date. The ruins, which exist without exhibiting much demolition,
are three in number. The fi