: ently lucrative; in confequence a letter arrived from Africa, purporting that at Fez they poffeffed another, but far more complete, copy of the Code; and the king of Naples immediately ordered the fum of one thoufand ounces to be paid towards defraying the expences of the voyage thither as foon as it fould be determined upon. This literary expedition, however, did not take place indeed there was no neceffity for it, as the new abbate had fo many punctual correfpondents in feveral places of the African continent. And though his inquiries were feemingly attended with various duficulties, he received from thence as many extracts and copies of papers as he deemed requifite for his hiftory; he even contrived, through the medium of his corresponding friends, to obtain a new collection of ftate-papers relative to the Norman period of the hiftory of Sicily; in short, he could get whatever he was asked for. His tranflations were continued without interruption, fo as to enable the archbishop Airoldi, at the ex pence of two thoufand ounces, to print the Codice diplomatico di Sicilia fotto il governo degli Arabi, in four volumes in quarto, containing the occurrences from the year 827 down to 1039. Two more volumes are ready for the prefs: for why should he not fatisfy his readers with a complete relation of events during the Arabic period up to its very last year, having commenced the recital from the very first? But alas! after the catastrophe which overtook the adroit tranflator, those two remaining volumes were never printed. The fame addrefs which Vella evinced in procuring or at least turning to profit the pretended materials for his work, was difplayed by him in fecuring those which really existed. It was neceflary that what he had ftyled the Original Code at the Abbey of St. Martin, fhould be totally difguifed fo as to treat of Sicily, rather than of Mahomet, to whom its contents manifeftly related. Vella bestowed feveral weeks labour in disfiguring the whole manufcript, altering page for page, line for Lae, nay, word for word, with numberlefs dots, ftrokes, and flourishes, fo effectually, that the characters exhibited an appearance entirely different from their original fhape, by which means fcarcely any of the first traits could be decyphered. Of the text thus transformed, fac-fimiles, reprelenting the title and the first page of the work, are engraved in the first volume of the Codice diplomatico. The learning of the man who could read and explain fuch writing, excited aftonishment, and difputes arofe as to the fpecies of Arabic characters, under which thofe grotesque fcrawls were to be claffed. The public feemed determined to look upon every part of this tranfaction as miraculous, and thus were willing to impofe upon themfelves: hence, likewife, the paper on which the Code is written, and which is of the common fort, being manufactured of linen rags, became a fubject of controverfy many afferted it to be paper of Samarcand, and to be made of filk; fome pronounced it cotton, and others infifted that its fubitance was drawn from : bamboo. The five fac fimiles of the Papal letters, inferted in Part II. of the first volumé, page 244-261, are abfolute fictions, no paffages being found in the disfigured Code, from which they could be faid to be copied they prefent nothing to the view but random strokes and wanton flourishes, infomuch that feveral characters, which undoubtedly were meant for letters, appear five or fix times in immediate fucceffion. Notwithstanding, foreigu literati, apprehenfive of remaining in the back-ground with their learning, affirmed that, by unremitting exertion, they had been fo happy as to decypher those five leaves, when, to their amazement, they had found every fyllable of the original to correfpond exactly with Vella's translation. Affuredly no one will doubt of their exertions, fince Vella himself complained that by intenfe labour he had become blind of one eye, however found it externally appeared to be; for which reason the late Pope, in a letter dated 1790 (vide Codice dipl. vol. iii. part 1. towards the end) condoled with and exhorted him to relax fomewhat in his efforts. In order more effectually to difguite the original characters, but efpecially to foften the glaring contraft produced by the freshness of the ink and minium, which he had employed in writing his interfperfed fcrawls, he perfuaded the good monks that fuch a treafure could not poffibly be too much fheltered from the influence of the atmofphere; confe uently he had every leaf of it on either fide carefully glued over with gold-beaters'-fkin, which was done, as may be fuppofed, at the expence of the abbey. And finally, what no doubt was the fafeft method of succeeding, he never returned the Code, notwithstanding the repeated folicitations of the librarian of the abbey. Thus no perfon could obtain a view of it, and an enforced injunction of government was neceffary to make it come forth forth for the purpose of investigation. But he perfifted in refusing to produce the epiftolary correfpondence, which for many years paft he had held with Fez and Morocco; for as he made very light of inventing falfhoods, he averred, that one night four men in difguife and provided with fire arms had attacked him at his houfe, and had taken away thofe papers together with many others. To support this, he appealed to a fmart fit of the fever, with which he had been feized in confequence of the fright; all, however, that was learnt from the examinations fet en foot by the criminal court, which interrogated every perfon then living in his houfe, amounted to no more than that on the preceeding day of the alleged rob. bery he had himfelf fent off a large cheft. In the execution of the work, his crafti wels, and his deficiency in thole branches of knowledge which conftitute the real fcholar, were alike apparent. He, however, allowed himself full time; the laft printed volume of his publication, which commenced about 1782, having appeared. as late as the year 1792. During this interval, be rantacked all chronicles within his reach, and treasured up every hear-fay communicated to him by feveral real patriots, who, without any confcious participation in bis fraudulent defigns, actually promoted them. For, by inquiring of him whether he had not found references to particular events and circumftances, they were inftrumental in leading him from one track to another. The joy caufed by thefe difcoveries was not limited to Sicily; most of the foreign countries manifefted their intereft in the happy event. The moft judicious of the German reviews declared, that among all books treating of Arabic history, there was none from which the politics, the adminiftration of the ftate, and the nature of the feudal fyftem of the Arabs, could be more clearly understood, than from this Coffice diplomatico. Extracts were made; and Latin, English, and French tranflations begun the German tranflation by Profeffor Haufleutner, at Stuttgard, proceeded to four volumes, equal to two of the originals. Travellers extolled the important difcovery of the Code. In Italy, text-books of Sicilian hiftery and explanations of the ancient geography of Sicily, were taken from it. The charters and fate papers, being deemed valuable relics of the middle age, were copied into works of importance. Careful inquirers into the antiquities, the arts and Iciences of the country, the chro nology, the coins, the topography, the ge neral hiftory, the laws, and the statistics of Sicily, as well as the history of mount Etna, inferted in their works Vella's fictitious relations, blending them with genuine ones; fo that, in confulting thofe collections, the reader cannot obferve too much circumspection. Vella fometimes committed the groffeft and most ridiculous faults refpecting hiftory, chronology, the uniform tenor of the oriental style, and the language. Thus he knew only the ancient compilers e. g. Carufo, &c. but was ignorant of the modern editions of Arabic writers, which are not only fuperior to the former, but can alone be depended upon. It is for this reafon, that his Emirs and Muleis were made to exprefs themselves in a moit extraordinary manner, giving the names of the towns and perfons of their nation not only incorrectly, and even with the mifpellings and errata of Carufo, but con. trary to the precepts of Arabic grammar, and in a way detefted by Mahomedans. He was a ftranger to their Calendar, con. founded lunar with folar months, employed for their appellation names which are only corrupted from the Latin, and made the Arabic months begin and terminate equally with thofe of the Romans. To cities and coins he afcribed later names, which were not in ute but after the lapfe of feveral centuries, viz. that of Stambul he attri buted to Conftantinople. He had acquired his feanty knowledge of Arabic in Malta, only by the ear, without ever reading books written in the pure dialect; hence it is, that the Mufti, whom he introduces, cannot correctly spell his own name; and Vella himfelf was incapable of rightly diftinguishing words which are pronounced quickly after one another. In the very title of the work he changes the trite term of Allah (God) into Lalah, because Reful (ambaffador) precedes, which he transforms into Refu; thus, inftead of Reful Allah, we have Refu Lalah. After this manner, the lady's maid in "Humphry Clinker," may be allowed to join and divide fyllables at will; but no fuch inftance had until then occurred of a fcholar doing fo, in a language of which he was called public lecturer, and from whofe publication German profeffors extracted fpecimens of Arabic for the inftruction of beginners. Vella's Arabic was by many declared to be the jargon of Malta, while others ftood up in its defence. His incredible effrontery betrayed him into the strangest mistakes. Upon the the coins of the ninth century of which he published, the dates are marked with thofe numerical figures, which the modern Arabs make use of; at leaft, fuch figns have never been seen yet on their coins before the thirteenth, or rather the fixteenth century. He inferted letters of the Popes, who, not to mention other manifeft indi. cations of forgery, were made to write in Italian, although this idiom had never been known to occur in writings of fuch an early date. It is indeed an uncouth Italian me llev, patched up of Latin and Sicilian words; yet he not only made them address it to Arabian princes, but write it with Arabic characters (that is, fuch as he had himself invented), in order, perhaps, to prevent the Arabs from understanding the contents: as if it were not suffici ntly known, that the Popes caufed their letters generally to be written in Latin; or even, if occafion required, in fome oriental language. His ftyle is excelfively languid and tedious, to tally unlike that of a lively fpirited people: befides, there prevails through the whole of his work an unaccountable uniformity, infomuch, that Mahomedans and Chriftians, Emperors and Popes, Arabians, Greeks, and Italians, all exprefs themselves in the fame dull monotony. Not a fyllable occurs of the manners, plants, animals, and inftitutions, then common in Sicily, because they no longer exifted; fo that the Abbate's imagination, unenriched with the knowledge of the history and antiquities of the inland, was incapable of fupplying this deficiency. It was referved for a German to unveil the spectre which had haunted Sicily, and deluded the whole republic of letters in Europe. Doctor Hager, born of Austrian parents at Milan, fatisfied himself, during his refidence at Palermo in May 1794, I fhall fubjoin another example communicated to me by Dr. Hager. In the map of Sicily annexed to the first volume of the Code Dipismatics, Vella, defirous of difplaying his profound scholarship, rendered the name of a town already Arabic, by another derived from the fame tongue. Calatafimi is a large place in the western part of Sicily vide Bufching, or any chart of the island. It was originally the caftle (Arab. Kulat) of the Grecian Euphemius, who by Vella is de DominatedHeutimu,and who is faid to have first called the Arabians into Sicily. The learned Geographer taking this name to be an abridgment of the Italian words: calata delle femine, the defcent of women, tranflated it literally, in the Arabic patois of Malta; by Nazola al Nala. (Bieter.) MONTHLY MAG. No. 56. that what was given to the world under the name of the Martinian Code, could be no genuine production. On his return, when the packet on board of which he took his paffage, happened to be becalmed for a whole week together, he drew up a paper, containing the most cogent arguments refpecting this fubjet, and having addreffed it to the King of Naples, he received at Vienna, whither he had returned, a very flattering invitation from his Sicilian Majefty, to repair once more to Palermo with a view of fubjecting the reputed Arabic Originals in queftion to a more accurate examination. In compliance with this request, he fojourned there from December 1794 to December 1796, during which period he decided, that the whole was an impofture. His ftay, as well as his departure, were marked with the royal bounty. This learned gentleman, after being entrusted with the Code, had no fooner divested it of the goldbeaters' fkin, than he difcovered the recent infertions and disfigurations; and found from the tenor of the original characters, that the pretended code was no more than a biflory of Mahomed and his family. likewite examined the fictitious coins, and found them to be caft instead of being ftruck. Of the counterfeit correfpondence carried on with perfons refiding on the coaft of Africa, he could not fee the whole, fince, as has been stated before, difguifed robbers were faid to have carried it off; but Vella at length produced fix leaves remaining of the fupplements, which were afferted to have been tranfmitted from Morocco: thefe Dr. Hager found to be written upon Genoefe paper, fuch as is commonly fold at Palermo. He 3. At an earlier period Vella had entered upon another enterprize of still greater moment, which was the difcovery or forgery of what he denominated the Norman Code. The fubverters of Arabian supremacy in the ifland of Sicily, as we have oblerved above, continued the Arabic language: whence the ufe made of the latter by the Normans could be no fubject of furprize. But how are we to account for the laws of Count Rüdiger (Ruggiero) and Duke Robert, which occur in the Code; and of which neither the Emperor Frederic, nor any Sicilian writer on law or history, during the two fubfeqent centuries, have taken any notice? How fhall we be reconciled to the statement, that thefe laws and inftitutions of the inland occur in a correfpondence held between the Norman Robert and the Egyptian Fatimites? How is it likely, that fuch an epiftolary S epiftolary correfpondence fhould not have been preferved either at Cairo or in Sicily, but hould have ftrayed to a corner of Western Africa, viz. Fez, from whence Vella had it fent over to him by his corresponding riends?-Notwithstanding, Government caufed this new work to be printed with royal magnificence; and Vella, to fatisfy the doubts of fome and the clamorous demands of others, added to it what he called the Original Arabic. It is entitled, "Libro del Configlio di Egitto," in Arabic and Italian, a large folio, with engravings reprefenting coins and vignettes, both executed in the neateit manner. The first volume bears the date of 1793. The fecond advanced only to the 38th fheet, when it was entirely cancelled by order of Government, the fraud having become manifelt. This publication was of moft importance to Sicily. Mere subjects of literary curiofity, or hiftory, were now out of the queftion; as laws, conftitution, and prefcriptive rights, came under confideration. Vella, who could difcover whatever he defired, is faid to have intimated, that it was by no means impoffible to find out very ancient charters, by which to fupport the privileges of the nobility, and even farther extenfions of thefe privileges, hitherto unknown. With regard to the Antiquities, the Hiftory, the Geography of the country, &c. he in a manner was become an oracle, and in every refpect a man of importance. Hence it will not appear furprizing, that he was applied to as a kind of forcerer by thofe who defired to know what was concealed; and that perfons engaged in altercations and lawfuits, or perplexed by doubts, inquired of him, whether he could not furnish them from his Arabic manufcripts with fomething to their purpofe. It is further reported, that, when the above intimation became known, he was given to underftand that he would gain more by writing in favour of the Court, than for the States. This much is certain, that Vella was not fufficiently converfant either with the laws of the land, or the rights of the crown, to be able to compofe fuch a work from the ftores of his own learning; it is likewife certain, that Carelli, then Secretary of State, was generally mentioned as his principal affiftant in framing it, and that Vella himself, in his fubfequent confeffion, named him as fuch; finally, it is evident, that, according to Vella's own affertion in his dedication of this work to the King, the royal prerogative is no where demon. ftrated fo fully and clearly as in this Norman Code, or Register of the Egyptian Divan. Points that had been contefted for feveral centuries paft, fuch as the independance of the Sicilian monarchy, the royal right of prefenting to all churches of the ifland, the appointment of the bishops, and the claims of Naples to Benevento, are here decided by means of a few strokes of the pen, and that without exception in favour of the Crown. The privileges of the Barons and States, in particular, are in a, manner annihilated; nay, the very exiftence of the landed intereft is rendered extremely precarious. What formidable reductions might not the following provifions have occafioned (vide Vol. ii. p. 9, and the following): "All diftricts, bordering on the fea, in Sicily, as well as Calabria, belong to the Emir (prince) Rüdiger. Emir Rüdiger prohibits both himself and all his fucceffors, from ever letting any of these districts to any perfon whatfoever. Whoever appropriates to himself the breadth of a fingle pace of ground fituated by the fea-fide, fhall for. feit all his poffeffions. All fprings, brooks, and rivers, on the ifland, excepting only the ufe of watering the lands through which they flow; all mines, &c. appertain to the Prince: whoever appropriates any of them to himfelf, thereby renders all his lands liable to confifcation." Even before the first volume was published, Tomafi, the King's attorney, edited a treatise on the invalidity of felling or transferring particular eftates, in which he appealed to the authority of this Code, as a collection of genuine records. The aftonishment and alarm of the nobility may easily be imagined, fince what the King's attorney thus claimed as forfeited to the Crown, tended to ruin half the landed men of the kingdom. Yet, as a preliminary step towards fecurity, the Sicilian parliament in the year! 1794 propofed a decree that the Norman Code fhould not be adduced as legal authority, until his Majefty, by a Royal ro lamation, fhould have declared it genuine. The abovementioned Don Carelli, however, contrived the rejection of this highly reafonable propofition. But But now the denouement was drawing near, which both annihilated the authority of this Code, and difgraced Vella. Dr. Hager having, during a fhort refidence at Palermo, detected the fraud, as we have already ftated, was recalled thither in the fame year. To him alone is due the marit of examining the Norman, Code. He pointed out the inaccuracies which he law in the engraved fac-fimilies, and indicated the grammatical errors occurring throughout the pretended original: whence it refulted, that the former could not have been copied from a genuine prototype; and that the latter must have for its author not an Arab, but a Maltefe. He demon. krated, that not the Arabic text, but the Italian, was the original; fince the Arabic fometimes rendered the fenfe incorrectly, and even wanted fome longer and finaller paffages; in fine, that all thofe faults were obfervable in it, which frequently happened to either an ignorant or a halty tranflator. This learned German had naturally to remove a variety of obftacles thrown in his way, both by Vella and perfons of refpectability who patronized him. Among other objections it was urged, that a foreigner could not be confided in exclufively. In confequence, with out confulting or admitting Dr. Hager, a committee of five very refpectable men was appointed, before whom Vella underwent an examination, which, however, was attended with the fufpicious circumftance, that not one among them under Dr. Hager. The King only defired him not to print a circumftantial account, together with the documents of Vella's judicial eximination; fince Government (which, obviously, was greatly concerned in the whole of this bufinels, efpecially in the Norman Code) propofed to publish it in due time; which indeed has not been done as yet, and is in all probability not to be expected. The Ex-Abbate Vella was difiniffed from all his offices, and committed prifoner to the Castle, in which he is to remain for the fpace of fifteen years. Thus his career, terminated like that of the Ex Count Caglioftro. How much he refembles the latter, appears alfo from the papers found in his poffeffion. Among them are fome receipts: 1. To produce the finest gold from iron-fhavings, borax, arfenic, and filver; and, after a different method, from iron fhavings, filver and copper. 2. To make a fine white cofmetic for the face. 3. To obtain the fineft rouge of the fame quality as the holy spouse of the prophet Ali used to prepare. 4. For a ipecies of oil against rheumatic complaints. 5. To make the hair of the head grow. 6. To prepare a fecret ink. 7. To be able to write with gold, and without it, &c. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, food a word of Arabic. Yet truth tri-A umphed at laft. Vella was now become S fome of your correfpondents have wifhed for a defeription of a hand corn-mill, I beg to give you that of one in my poffeffion. The body of it is circular, made of two pieces of oak twelve inches long, one and a half thick, and eight in diameter, ftrongly fattened together; being previoufly made hollow, and having a number of bars of iron with a fharp edge fixed in it, tranfverfly to fimilar bars which are fixed on an ax or handle, going through the mill from each end; the whole of this is fomewhat like a common coffeemill in its conftruction, and there is a feale affixed to it, to denote the quality of the meal, and to make it finer or coarfer as required; the corn is gradually fupplied by means of a grooved piece of wood, which moves with a fpring attached to the hopper or part filled with corn, and is put in motion by a toothed wheel receiving a cog affixed to the hopper, which is turned with the axis or handle; this prevents too many grains falling into the mill at a time,, otherwife it would hurt the knives if they were too much choaked by the corn. It is tirefome to work the mill, and I $ 2 have |
