he evidence which corroborates this
statement, only constitutes an _a priori_ probability of his guilt." The
court, however, dismisses this plea at once, on the ground that it is not
competent to take cognizance of an argument based on the abstract merits
of the case, and therefore confirms the verdict.

On the 25th of November the sentence is submitted to, and approved by,
the Pope. On the 3rd of January, 1860, orders are issued from Rome for
the execution to take place. On the 17th the authorities of Viterbo
notify to the prisoner that his last appeal has been dismissed, and "call
on the military to lend their support to the execution of the sentence,"
and on the following day, two years and eight months after his arrest,
Volpi is executed for the murder of Ugolini on the Piazza della Rocca at
Viterbo. On that day, too, appears the first report of his crime and
trial.

CHAPTER V.--continued. THE "AVANZI" MURDER.

In July, 1859, there were in the Bagnio of Civita Vecchia two galley
slaves, Antonio Simonetti and Domenico Avanzi. Simonetti was a man of
thirty, whose life, short as it was, seemed to have been one long career
of crime. He had enlisted at an early age in the Pontifical dragoons,
and served for seven years; on leaving the army, he became a porter, and
within a few months was guilty of a highway robbery, and sentenced to the
galleys for life, then to five years' hard labour for theft, and again to
seven years at the galleys for an attempt to escape, though how the last
punishment could be super-added to the first, is a fact I cannot hope to
explain. Of Avanzi nothing is mentioned, except that he was an elderly
man condemned to a lengthened term of imprisonment for heavy crimes.
Prisoners, it seems, condemned for long periods, are not sent out of
doors to labour at the public works, but are employed within the prison.
Both Simonetti and Avanzi were set to work in the canvas factory, and
according to a system adopted in many foreign gaols, they received a
certain amount of pay for their labour. An agreement had been made
between the pair, that one should twist and the other spin the hemp; and
the price paid for their joint work was to be divided between them in
certain proportions. About a fortnight before the murder this sort of
partnership was dissolved at the proposal of Simonetti, and some days
after Avanzi made a claim on his late partner for the price of two pounds
of hemp not accounted