out whose licence he could not cower ordct s 11p011 stole nts. Rodota, ho(sever, lived too short a time for the good of his settlement. Abuses soon c ru it in, ant! its funds have been egregiously mismanaged. URI. benefit, indeed, has been derived from it since his death, until the year 1792, when Dun Francesco Bugliari, a man distinguished by his talents and his integrity, was called to the head of the seminary. Ile besought Ferdinand IV. to augment the revenues of the college, and to re move it from St Benedetto Ullano, where the climate was very unhealthy. It was consequently transferred to the convent of St Adrian, and its revenue considerably increased. From that time it has been distinguished in the literary republic by the ability and learning of its pro fessors, and the good conduct of its students. But its prosperity was of short duration. In 1799 it was pil laged by a band of Calabrian banditti ; and it was scared) restored to its former splendour by the exertions of %I Bugliari, than it was again sacked and plundered in 1806. This second disaster overpowered Bishop Bugliari with grief; and cc he chose rather," says M. Masci, an Ita lian writer, cc to die by the murderous hands of assassins. than to fly and abandon the place of his most tender re gard. His death is felt by every heart. This is the best eulogium that can be paid to his virtues." lie is suer ceeded by M. D. Domenico Belluscio ; and the advantages arc expected to accrue to Calabria and the hitherto neglected Albanese. The Greek rite is now chiefly confined to the district of Cosenza ; the other Al bancsc who are scattered over the rest of the country, having been either persuaded or compelled to conform to the Roman liturgy and discipline. The Albanese arc now a quiet, industrious race. Among them the priest hood is the highest nobility ; and, as the clergy are not bound by any vow of celibacy, like their neighbours of the Romish church, their hand is considered as thc high est honour to which an Albanese virgin can aspire ; and it has been observed, that the most beautiful of the wo- • men are generally conferred upon the clergy. In Cala bria Ultra, the Albanese possess only six villages, con taining 4331 inhabitants, who have all conformed to the Latin ritual ; but they are much more numerous in Ca labria Citra, where they have thirty villages, containing 30,357 inhabitants, 19,179 of whom still adhere to Bit Greek church.
This province has in all ages been desolated b% earthquakes. It was almost utterly destroyed by these awful visitations in 1638, and in 1659 ; and in 1783, the whole of Calabria Ultra, from Cape Spartivento to Amantea, above the gulf of St Eufemia, was so com pletely convulsed, that not one stone was left upon ano ther south of the narrow isthmus of Squillace. The earthquake of 1638 is feelingly described by Kircher. who was an eye witness, in the preface to his Mundus Subterraneus ; and a particular account of the last most disastrous and calamitous catastrophe. is given by Sir William Hamilton, who was then English minister at the court of Naples, in a letter which is inserted in the cc Philosophical Transactions" for 1783. The most vio
lent shocks happened on the 5th and 7th of February and the 28th of March ; and it is worthy of observation, that the first week of February had been formerly twice fatal to this country, and the 27th of March was thrh c marked with a similar calamity previou., to 1783: and, upon comparing the dates of the great cartoquakes that have afflicted Calabria since the eleventh century.
in hurne found that seven of them happened in the four first months of the year, one in August, and four in Novem ber and December. The miseries to which the Cala brians were reduced upon this unfortunate occasion, cannot be conceived except by those who have witness ed the ruin and desolation which these terrible minis ters of destruction have scattered over a populous and fertile country. Above 30,000 inhabitants miserably perished, being either buried in the waves, destroyed by the falling of their houses, or swallowed up by the opening of the earth. The rest, deprived of the neces saries of life, and without habitations, during an incle ment season ; their fortunes ruined ; their friends and families destroyed ; and famine, disease, and pain, their only expectation ; their condition called for the most speedy and humane assistance. Their Sicilian majesties were wanting neither in exertions nor liberality on this occasion ; and to their honour let it be recorded, that all that could be done by a benevolent sovereign, actuated by a true paternal affection for his subjects, was done for the relief and accommodation of the distressed Calabrians. Vessels loaded with every thing necessary were imme diately dispatched ; and the king ordered an officer to take all the money which the royal treasury could sup ply or borrow ; and even, if required, his own plate, and the very furniture of his palace. All ranks were inter ested m the miserable fate of this province ; and we are informed that the officers and porters belonging to the custom-house of Naples, who were employed in load ing the vessels, universally refused to accept of pay for their labour. " Stupendous alterations," says Mr Swin burne, a were occasioned in the face of the country ; rivers choked up by the falling in of the hills, were con verted into lakes, which, if not speedily drained by some future convulsion, or opened by human labour, will fill the air with pestilential vapours, and destroy the rem nants of population. Whole acres of ground, with houses and trees upon them, were broke off from the plains, and washed many furlongs down the deep hol lows, which the course of the rivers had worn ; there, to the astonishment and terror of beholders, they found a new foundation to fix upon, either in an upright or an inclining position. In short, every species of phenome non incident to these destructive commotions of the earth, was to be seen in its utmost extent and variety in this ruined country." See Swinburne's Travels in (lie two Sicilies; Bartels Voyage dans la Calabre, &c.; Ma rafiotti Croniche ed antichita di Calabria ; Phil. Trans. vol. lxxvi. p. 367 ; and ?nnalcs des Voyages, vol. i. and iii. (p)