FERDINAND IV. of Naples, afterwards styled Ferdinand L of the United Kingdom of the Two Siciliea, born in January 1751, was the son of Don Carlos of Bourbon, king of the Two Sicilies, afterwards Charles III. of Spain. The life of Ferdinand is remarkable, not so much on account of his personal character, as from the uncommon length of his reign and its many viciasitndes being closely connected with all tha great events of Europe during the last half century, as well as the singular good fortune which attended him to the end of his life with little or no exertion on his part. The education of Fer dinand was greatly neglected. He was little more than eight years of age when his father Charles, being called to the throne of Spain by the death of his brsther Ferdinand VI., made over to him the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, appointing a council of regency, at the head of which he placed the Marquis Tanucci, an able minister, who however does not seem to have bean very anxious about the instruction of his young sovereign. In April 1768 Ferdinand, being now of age, married Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Maria Theresa, a princess accom plielted, clever, and ambitious, who in fact ruled under her husband's name till her death, assisted by the various ministers who succeeded each other at the helm of affairs, the king himself being generally passive, and his time being much engrossed by hunting, shooting, and other diversions. Yet Ferdinand was by no means deficient in natural penetration ; he often saw things more clearly than those around him, as is manifest from many of his shrewd though blunt remarks which are still remembered at Naples; but his want of instruction, of which ho was aware, and his dislike of application, prevented him from exert ing or enforcing his own judgment. The first thirty years of his reign, those of the regency included, were for Naples years of peace and comparative happiness; many useful reforms were effected by his ministers, and especially by Tanned, who continued at the head of affairs till 1777. (See Collette, 'Rorie del Reuse di Napoli,' 1831, and also Count Orloff in the second volnme of his 316tuoires sur le lloyaume de Naples?) Ferdinand was popular with the lower classes; and as be R as the first king born at Naples for centuries past, they called him emphatically 'our king.'
Tanucci being dismissed in 1777 for having objected to the queen taking her seat is the council of state, Caracciolo and others followed for a short. time, until John Acton, an Englishman, and a naval officer in the service of Leopold of Tuscany, was sent for to organise the Neapolitan navy and army, which bad fallen into decline during n long season of peace. The advancement of Acton was extremely rapid ; he was made general, then captain-general of the kingdom, and lastly premier, or rather sole minister (for the other ministers were merely his creatures), and in this office he remained for many years. His administration was neither no economical nor ao wise as that of Tanucci. Things went on however quietly and smoothly for several years. A considerable degree of liberty of speech, and even of the press, prevailed at Naples, and the country was prosperous and the people contented until the breaking out of the French revolution, of which Naples, however remote, felt the shock. The queen being tho sister of Marie Antoinette, was indignant at the treatment her relatives of France met with at the hands of the revolutionists ; and as many young men at Naples, mostly belonging to the higher ranks of society, seemed to approve of the principles of the revolution, the court took alarm, and the men who bad always been averse to reform and improve ment seized the opportunity to regain the ascendancy. Arrests were made, sod a &Junta, or state tribunal, was formed to try the real or pretended conspirators, three of whom were sentenced to death, others to perpetual imprisonment, bnt the majority (against whom the judges, notwithstanding all the exertions of the attorney-general, Vanoi, could find no evidence), were acquitted after four years' confinement.