ITALIAN HISTORY.[12]

[12] Memoirs of General Pepe. Written by himself. London, 1846.

Upon the fifth day of February, 1783, the province of Calabria was
visited with a terrific earthquake. "The sway of earth _shook_ like a
thing unfirm," thousands of houses crumbled to their base, tens of
thousands of human beings were buried beneath ruins, or engulfed by the
gaping ground. In the small and ancient town of Squillace, the
devastation was frightful; amongst others, the spacious mansion of the
noble family of PEPE was overthrown and utterly destroyed. At the time
of this calamity, Irene Assanti, the wife of Gregorio Pepe, was in daily
expectation of being brought to bed. In vain was it attempted to find a
fitting refuge for the suffering and feeble woman. The ruin that had
overtaken her dwelling extended for leagues around; not a roof-tree
stood in the doomed district; misery and desolation reigned throughout
the land. A tent was hastily erected; and, under its scanty shelter, in
a season of extreme rigour, the lady gave birth to a son, who was
baptised by the name of William.

Soothsayers would have augured a stormy existence to the child who thus
first saw light when "the frame and huge foundation of the earth shak'd
like a coward." Such omens might have attended the birth of an
Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon, marking the advent of one of those
human meteors sent at long intervals to astonish and dazzle the world.
In this instance, if the man born during Nature's most terrible
convulsion, was not destined to exercise a material or lasting influence
on the fate of nations, at least his lot was cast in troublous and
agitated times; he took share in great events, came in contact with
extraordinary men, passed through perils and adventures such as few
encounter, and fewer still survive. The last sixty years, comprising the
most interesting and important chapter in the history of Europe, perhaps
of the world, have been prolific in sudden transformations and startling
reverses of fortune. During that period of revolution and restless
activity, we have seen peasants become princes, private soldiers
occupying the thrones of great and civilized countries, obscure
individuals in every walk of life raised by opportunity, genius, and the
caprice of fate, to the most exalted positions. Some of these have
maintained themselves on the giddy pinnacle on which fortune placed
them. They are the few. Reverses, even more sudde