LETTERS FROM THE CONTINENT. The Lerici, January 16, 1822. Yesterday we travelled on horseback all day over wild and barren mountains, the road often very steep and rugged; buɛ where it would permit we generally went at full gallop. We changed horses at every post, and a man, meant for a postilion, though perfectly unlike our idea of one, rode before us. cattle and furniture were of the most curious description—rather of a beggarly description, or rather, they beggar description; however, the beasts get along and are much safer than they look. A priest, and a lady riding astride, or rather sitting on the top of her horse with one foot on each side, as is the manner here, accompanied us part of the way. The felucca arrived this morning with our carriage; but because the captain had taken a passenger on board who was not mentioned in his papers, a council of health deliberated before it could be landed. You have no idea how strict they are on this coast, for fear of infection. Florence, February 2nd. I do not like Florence as a city so much as I expected; but the statues and paintings are above all praise. I idolize the Venus, and go to worship her almost every morning. There is an air of divinity about her, which did not break in upon me till after repeated contemplation, and which, I dare say, the many never discover at all, though they praise her as if they did. Pieced, restored, discoloured, what must she have been when fresh from the sculptor's chisel?-On Thursday we went to a grand ball, given by the Prince Borghese, Bonaparte's brotherin-law, on the opening of his palace, after a complete refitting. He is the richest man in Florence. All the best people here, both natives and foreigners, with many ladies from Sienna and Bologna, were present. The vestibule was filled with orange trees, so as to form a delicious grove for the company to pass through, and the staircase was lined with beautiful plants and flowers, amongst which was a profusion of the finest lilies of the valley I ever saw. There were sixteen rooms open, all newly and superbly decorated. The ball-room, which is large, lofty, and well proportioned, is lined, as far as is seen, with mirrors, partially concealed by pink and white silk hangings. The ceiling is newly painted with the triumph of Scipio. The whole was most brilliantly lighted, the music excellent, and the company in their best. The Englishmen were superior in appearance to the Englishwomen-the contrary as to the Florentines. The Italian ladies dress beautifully, especially the head. Indeed this is truly the land of taste, and I never saw such a display of it as the other night, in many particulars. Several of the Italian women were very fine-looking-two beautiful; one so much so, that she was constantly the centre of a circle of gazers, in which situation custom, I suppose, had made her perfectly, but becomingly, at her ease. I preferred the other, from a nameless something in her appearance, and I was glad to learn that, though of high rank and great riches, her fame is as fair as her person-a very singular case here. I am happy to say my companion was the most elegant man in the room by much, and I think the most gentleman-like dancer. The Italians do not appear to me to dance well, and, what surprised me, I observed several out of time. Italian horses do not well understand English riding, and many are the accidents in consequence. I was one of a party the other day in the Cascine, or Hyde Park, of Florence, when it was proposed to charge a ditch. The foremost horse fell, and in rising contrived to drive in with his forefoot the lower part of his rider's nose, so as in appearance utterly to annihilate it. He was horribly disfigured; and as he is a young and gay fellow, when he felt the full extent of the injury, he was naturally a good deal affected. He had all our sympathies. Two of us galloped off for medical assistance, and the rest put him into a carriage, which a Russian nobleman lent on the occasion. By the time the patient arrived, in our zeal we had collected five doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries, English and Italian, but happily little remained for them to do. During his melancholy progress, accompanied by one of the party, the sufferer, by an irresistible impulse, kept applying his hand to the part affected, till most unexpectedly, and precisely after the manner of the toy called Jack-in-the-box, the nose started into its proper place again, and at the same instant despair was converted into extravagant joy. This accident has had the effect of making us rather more careful hitherto, which may contribute to the safety of others, as well as our own. A few days since, in making a sharp turn quick, I was very near riding over the Grand Duke, who was walking with his family. Such things, which might be attended with unpleasant consequences to natives, are overlooked in the English; partly, I suppose, from consideration of our national character, and partly, no doubt, from motives of interest. I must give you another little anecdote of the hero of the nose. One day, when a party of us had sat at table till after midnight, he sallied forth alone, and "hot with the Tuscan grape." Apprehensive of the consequences, I followed him, and found him on one of the bridges over the Arno, engaged with a solitary Frenchman, with whom he was insisting upon having a boxing match. Frenchman, with the instinctive horror of his nation of an The English fist, deprecated most earnestly any such proceeding. With much difficulty I induced my friend to go away, and I received for my successful interference a shake by the hand more expressive of gratitude than I ever experienced before. There is a society here, called the Misericordia Society, of which I have heard the following account, but do not know if it is accurate. It is composed of men of the highest rank, whose business it is, in case of accident or sudden death, to assemble at the sound of a bell, and render what assistance may be necessary. That there may be no personal ostentation, they wear black masks. I met about a dozen of them the other day, bearing a dead body through the streets. They were all dressed in black dominos, and, as it rained, in very broad slouched hats. They never spoke, and relieved one another in carrying with great dexterity and quickness. Their step struck me as unusually majestic, probably from their dress, and the solemnity of their occupation. It was a very imposing sight. I am told that sometimes the Grand Duke himself goes out and assists. It is very, very cold here-much colder than I ever felt it in England. The air is so thin, and the wind often so strong, that it seems literally to blow through one. The men constantly wear cloaks, ordinarily hanging open, but the moment they come upon the wind, they throw them over the left shoulder, and carefully cover their mouths. The houses are contrived with reference to hot weather, and are very comfortless to English feeling at this season. After dinner we often sit in our travelling cloaks, with napkins put upon our heads like judges' wigs, which is very efficacious. The streets are kept extremely clean, not, I apprehend, so much from a love of cleanliness, as from economy of manure to keep up the very high cultivation of the surrounding country. Florence abounds with palaces of a severe and prison-like appearance, built for defence by her grandees in turbulent but highly interesting times-the very opposite of the peace, security, and dulness, which reign at present. Then all the faculties of the soul were called into action, and virtues and vices were both prominent. Now everything is decent in appearance through the watchfulness of the government; but the absence of all political interest necessarily reduces the moral standard to a low level-so that we may almost say here, with Hamlet, "What is a man, If his chief good, and market of his time No. XI.-WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1835. OFFICE OF CORONER. THE longer my experience and contemplation of our ancient political institutions, the greater is my admiration of the wisdom of their original principles, and the more ardent my desire to see their complete adaptation to present circumstances. Amongst the offices derived from the common law, there is none more consonant with English principles, or which is calculated to be more efficient, than that of Coroner. He is elected by the freeholders, and acts only with the assistance of a jury. I think if the office were newly regulated, it would greatly promote the public welfare, and save a great deal of legislation, which can never produce equally beneficial results. The election at present is eminently exposed to the objection alluded to in the article on parochial government in my fourth number, namely, "that the relation between the electors and the elected is too slight to make the electors sufficiently careful in their choice." The coroner for a part of a county is elected by the freeholders of the whole, and consequently the majority, feeling no public interest in their votes, give them to serve private ends. This has led very much to the practice of making the office a provision for persons unsuccessful in their profession, and whom their friends spare no activity thus to disburthen themselves of. I do not say that it is by any means always so; but it certainly happens sufficiently often to degrade the office, and to give it a tone and influence below what its very important duties entitle it to. The number of coroners, within my recollection, of inferior capacity and discretion, has always been very great, and I believe solely from the reason above assigned. The inferiority of coroners has naturally led to a corresponding inferiority of juries, except in very particular cases: a defect which the more enlightened must feel it difficult to overcome, on account of the established practice. The frequently enormous and unnecessary expense of elections, too, must have tended to furnish a sort of justification for pecuniary laxity, quite inconsistent with impartial justice, and to which there are peculiarly strong temptations. The remedy for this defect in election is only to be found by confining the right of voting to the district over which the coroner is to preside, as lately contemplated, and by making each district of a reasonable extent. A higher class of coroners would no doubt produce a higher class of jurors, though the coroners do not select; but if that should not be the result, it might easily be accomplished by other means. One circumstance, which renders the coroner's inquest much less beneficial than it is capable of being, is the practice of imposing nominal or trifling fines, by way of deodands. This practice, I apprehend, has arisen, in a great measure, from the deodand being payable to the King, or to his grantee, generally the lord of the manor. Such application is too remote in the first case, and unsatisfactory in the second; and therefore I think the rights of the Crown should be transferred, and those of individuals be purchased for the little they have become worth. If the fines were made payable to some public and local fund of acknowledged utility, the intention of imposing them, which is for the punishment and prevention of neglect, would not be frustrated, as it now is. The intention and the application would both be manifestly for the public benefit. Notwithstanding the defects which have crept into the administration of the coroner's duties, I think, so far as crime has been concerned, inquests have, for the most part, been tolerably efficient; but that may be said to be almost the least important part, inasmuch as the same investigation may be made, and often is, by justices of the peace. It is with reference to loss of life by accidents, that a new practice is more particularly required, and it is of more importance than perhaps at first sight may appear. The great majority of fatal accidents, I believe, would be found, if strictly investigated, to be the consequences, directly or indirectly, of neglect, or of culpable disregard of the interest of others, from parsimony, or some other selfish motive. If, then, in all cases of accidental death, a searching inquiry were entered into by a coroner of high character and great acuteness, assisted by intelligent and respectable jurors, and fines were imposed in proportion to the degree of blame discovered, a great improvement as to general safety and convenience must be the consequence. For instance, if it were found that the death of a labourer, by falling from a scaffold, might have been prevented by a better construction, and a moderate fine were imposed, with an intimation that any similar case would in future be probably more severely treated, self-interest would soon produce the required improvement in scaffolding. In the same manner, adequate fines for death by the overturning of coaches, or by improper driving, or from accidents in mines, or from any other cause, would ensure those precautions which would be productive of great additional security and convenience. By making severe examples in cases of fatal accidents, the chances of accidents at all would be materially diminished, and this I think could in no way be so effectually accomplished as by the process of a coroner's inquest. It is a prompt inquiry by those who have the |