replied, 'I desire none but the green wreath with which we honour Our
Lady's festival in September. When I have delivered my country I shall
resume my nets.'--'You find them no more. Rebellion should not be
undertaken, or it should be carried on to the end.'--'I will resume my
nets,' said Masaniello steadily. 'You will not find them,' said the
intrusive monitor. 'What, then, shall I find?'--'Death!' answered the
masked figure, and withdrew into the crowd. An evidence of the purity of
his intentions, though combined with gross ignorance, was afforded by the
rigour with which he insisted on the destruction of the treasure and rich
movables found in the houses which were destroyed during the first days of
the tumult. Latterly, indeed, he yielded to the suggestions of Genuino and
d'Arpaya, that these things should be preserved for the good of the state,
and for the purpose of presenting them as a donative to Philip IV. in
place of the abolished gabelles. But whatever was the case with regard to
less scrupulous insurgents, he participated in no plunder, until vanity
produced madness, or madness vanity. On the whole we may conclude, that he
was a man whose principal characteristic was the boldness with which he
pursued an object ardently desired, but who was alike incapable, from want
of knowledge and talents, to avail himself of the success which so
wonderfully crowned his enterprise. How far his cruelty was the effect of
natural disposition, or a consequence of his malady, is a question that
must be left to HIM to whom alone it can be known."

* * * * *


LONDON.

_Literally translated from a Chinese Poem, by a Chinese who visited England
in 1813._