A Very Serious Offence Of This
Nature And Which Has Made A Great Sensation, Has Lately Occurred.
As all
foreign letters must be franked, and as the postage to England is very
high, one of the clerks at the Post office had been in the habit of
receiving money for the franking of letters, appropriated it to his own
use, and never forwarded the letters.
This created great inconvenience; a
number of families having never received answers to their letters and being
without the expected remittances, began to be uneasy and to complain. An
enquiry was instituted, and it was discovered that the clerk above
mentioned had been carrying on this game to a great extent. He used to tear
the letters and throw the fragments into a closet. Several scraps of
letters were thus discovered and, on being examined, he made an ample
confession of his practises. He was merely discharged, and no other
punishment was indicted on him. I am no advocate for the punishment of
death for any other crime but wilful murder; but surely this fellow was
worse than a robber, and deserved a greater severity of punishment.
ROME, 10th February, 1818.
The Carnaval has long since begun, and this is the heaven of the Roman
ladies. On my remarking to a lady that I was soon tired of it and after a
day or two found it very childish, she replied: "Bisogna esser donna e
donna Italiana per ben godere de' piaceri del Carnevale."
When I speak of the Carnaval, I speak of the last ten days of it which
precede Lent.
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