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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
stated times the door was opened that they might take the open air in the court . The mute came under my window , smiled upon me , and gesticulated . I threw him a piece of bread . He took it , making ' a joyful spring , ran to his companions , gave them each a piece , and then came to eat his portion near my window , expressing his gratitude by the smiling looks of his fine eyes . The other boys looked at me from a distance , but dare not come near . The deaf and dumb had
great sympathy with me , not merely from an interested motive . Sometimes he knew not what to do with the bread I threw him , and made me signs that he and his companion * had eaten enough , and could not take any more . If he saw one of the assistants in my room , he gave him the bread to restore it to me . Although he expected
nothing from me , he went on playing before the window with graceful pleasantry , seeming to enjoy my looking at him . Once , one of the guards allowed him to enter my prison . He ran into my arms , uttering a cry of delight . I took him up , and the pleasure with which he overwhelmed me with his caresses I cannot express . '
This was not to last . He was removed to another and less pleasant apartment , from whence he could no more see or hear the poor mute . A new source of interest , however , came ; he could discern the window of his first lodging-room ,, and there he beheld his successor , a man engaged in rapidly walking to and fro . Two or three days afterwards he saw him writing constantly ; in a short time a more distinct view was afforded . It was
Melchiorre Gioja , one of the most profound writers on political economy of our day . Pellico ' s name was probably announced to him , and , for a day or two , the companions in misfortune had infinite pleasure in making distant signs of recognition and greeting , but the guards interposed , and the indulgence was forbidden . Meanwhile Pellico was frequently called up and examined . He had made up his mind as to the course he should take . He
would not buy impunity by the ruin of others , and , therefore , fully expected that either the gallows or a lengthened imprisonment must be his fate . Just at this juncture a visit from his aged father well nigh unhinged him . The old man came full of hope , telling him that he doubted not in a few days he should see him again at Turin , that his room was made ready , and he was only grieved to be obliged to set out before him . Pellico well knew the vanity of these hopes , but he struggled with himself ,
repressed his grief , and parted with his father with a tranquil countenance . This effort , however , cost him a violent illness , as did , soon after , an interview with Count Luigi Porro , of Milan , who had confided to him the education of his two sons , youths to whom Pellico elsewhere recurs with all the longings of affection . Count Porro himself shortly fell under similar suspicions with the prisoner , and was twice condemned to death , but escaped from the Austrians . On the 19 th of February ( 1821 ) Pellico was called up in the middle of the night by men who desired him to dress with all expe-
Untitled Article
Silvio Pellico . ~ 405
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 405, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/45/
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