as early as 1826, was deprived of my faculty to lecture for
an offence which my superiors did their best to conceal; and
who, in 1827, had already earned the reputation of a scandalous
friar. I am that Achilli who in the diocese of Viterbo in
February, 1831, robbed of her honour a young woman of
eighteen; who in September, 1833, was found guilty of a second
such crime, in the case of a person of twenty-eight; and who
perpetrated a third in July, 1834, in the case of another aged
twenty-four. I am he, who was afterwards found guilty of sins,
similar or worse, in other towns of the neighbourhood. I am
that son of St. Dominic who is known to have repeated the
offence at Capua, in 1834 or 1835; and at Naples again, in 1840,
in the case of a child of fifteen. I am he who chose the sacristy
of the church for one of these crimes, and Good Friday for
another. Look on me, ye mothers of England, a confessor
against Popery, for ye 'ne'er may look upon my like again.' I
am that veritable priest, who, after all this, began to speak
against, not only the Catholic faith, but the moral law, and
perverted others by my teaching. I am the cavaliere Acliilli,
who then went to Corfu, made the wife of a tailor faithless to
her husband, and lived publicly and travelled about with the
wife of a chorus-singer. I am that professor in the Protestant
college at Malta, who with two others was dismissed from my
post for offences which the authorities cannot get themselves to
describe. And now attend to me, such as I am, and you shall
see what you shall see about the barbarity and profligacy of the
inquisitors of Rome.' You speak truly, O Achilli, and we
cannot answer you a word. You are a priest; you have been a
friar; you are, it is undeniable, the scandal of Catholicism, and
the palmary argument of Protestants, by your extraordinary
depravity."

The defendant pleaded first, not guilty, upon which
issue was joined; secondly, he pleaded certain
allegations of fact, and said that the libel was true in
substance, and that its publication was for the public
benefit. To this the prosecutor replied that the defendant
had published it in his own wrong and without the
alleged cause. Upon this plea issue was also joined. The
prosecutor having proved the libel, the defendant
brought forward evidence in justification; for which
purpose several women were examined, and deposed to
the acts of immorality committed by Dr. Achilli in
various parts of Italy and also in London; witnesses
also swore to Dr. Achili's alleged conduct at Corfu; and
evidence was given of the judgment of the inquisition,
whereby, on the ground of such charges, Dr. Achilli
had been deprived of all ecclesiastical functions for ever,
and sent to a convent for three years. On the part of
the prosecution, Dr. Achilli himself was examined at
great length; and pointedly denied the truth of the
statements made against him. His evidence was a full
account of the principal circumstances of his life. He
also brought evidence to his own character and to the
effect of discrediting the witnesses for the defendant.
On the 24th, the fourth day of the trial, Sir A. E.
Cockburn addressed the jury at great length for the
defence, and was followed by the Attorney-General for
the prosecution. Lord Campbell summed up; and the
jury, after deliberating for nearly three hours, returned
a verdict, finding the 19th charge proved and all the
rest not proved. The 19th charge was that which
respected Dr. Achilli's having been deprived of his
professorship and prohibited from preaching and hearing
confession. Lord Campbell directed a verdict to be
entered for the Crown on that issue as well as on the
plea of not guilty, stating that he would report the above
special finding to the court when necessary. A juror
begged his lordship to understand that they did not
consider this case as regarded Protestantism and Catholicism;
they only looked at it as a matter of fact. Lord
Campbell: "Oh, I am sure you have dealt with it
conscientiously." Loud cheers were now given, which
the learned judge did not for a moment attempt to
check. Some conversation took place between his lordship,
the jury, and the learned counsel, respecting the
fees to be paid to the jury. All parties agreed that it
was a "hard case;" but his lordship said he had no
power to grant anything like an indemnity, and, accordingly,
only the customary nominal fee was paid to each
juryman.

          NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
                           DISASTER.

A CORONER'S inquest has been made into the causes of
the deaths of the sixty-five men and boys who lost their
lives by the Explosion of the Middle Duffryn Colliery,
Aberdare, mentioned in the "Household Narrative"
for last month. The evidence given was that of a great
many miners employed in the works; that of Mr. Blackwell,
the government inspector who gave evidence at
the inquest held in 1850, on the bodies of some thirty
miners who were then killed by an explosion in the
same pit; and that of Mr. Mackworth, the government
inspector who has reported on the present disaster. The
general causes of the explosion are made very clear by
the scientific evidence. The Middle Duffryn pit is a
deep working in what is called "a maiden country"—
that is to say, a country only recently opened by mining
enterprise; the seams of coal in which have not been
drained of their gases, as those of the longer worked
coal-fields have been, by shafts and passages that have
been ventilated for generations past. They are therefore
pervaded by explosive gases, the enormous pressure on
which, at the great depths the coal is worked, makes
them fly off at every pore. Occasionally they break
loose with a force that rends the coal, or shale, like a
gunpowder blast. In this instance a sudden and violent
escape threw down a large portion of the roof, and so
flooded the workings with explosive gas, that when the
ventilating currents which had passed through the
broken region came to the furnace which creates the
ventilating draught in the upcast shaft, they exploded
backwards throughout 450 yards of air-way, and made
the currents for the whole of that distance poisonous to
human respiration. It is certain that only a very few
of those who died were killed by the force or heat of the
explosion; nearly all died simply of suffocation by "the
after-damp"—that is to say, from the non-vitality of
the air after the explosion had deprived it of all its
oxygen. It is plain from this description, that the
secondary cause of the disaster was the use of the furnace
in the upcast shaft. This furnace was specifically
condemned by Mr. Blackwell, the government inspector,
at the inquest in 1850; and Mr. Mackworth ascribed
the present calamity to the persistence in its use, in
such a position that the explosive air was brought into
immediate contact with it as it left the mine. Of the
general management of the mine, however, he gave
very high praises; therein concurring with all the
miners. It also appeared that the owner of the mine
had consulted managers of experience and science after
Mr. Blackwell gave his opinion against the furnace,
and that he was guided by their advice in retaining it.
The coroner alluded to this fact, and called the attention
of the jury explicitly to the discrepancy of scientific
opinion as to the safety of bratticed shafts, with furnaces
open to the whole draught of the upcast currents. The
jury found a verdict of "accidental death;" and
expressed their opinion "that there is no neglect or
culpability attaching to any of the agents or men in
their employ, notwithstanding we much regret that
the recommendations of the jury and the suggestions
of Mr. Blackwell in his report on the occasion of the
last explosion, had not been complied with; and we
earnestly recommend that the proprietors be enjoined to
adopt Mr. Blackwell's plan of ventilation, especially the
dumb drift."

The evidence at the inquest on the thirty-six persons
who perished by an Explosion in the Downbrow Pit
near Preston (see "Household Narrative" for May,
p. 111), fully bore out the first statement of the cause
of the disaster—the foolish and criminal temerity of the
colliers, who forced their way with naked lights into a
part of the workings which the fireman pronounced
dangerous, disregarding the warnings and threats of the
fireman's son, who had been directed to prevent their
working at that place. The verdict was "accidental
death."

Incredible as it may seem, on the very day of the
inquest, a week after the fatal disaster, a second
explosion occurred in the same pit from the misconduct
of a workman! The new workings had been examined
and found safe, but the abandoned workings had not
been inspected; it was not deemed necessary, because
the people knew they ought not to enter them: yet a
miner went into one of the recesses with a naked
candle, the gas fired, and two men and two boys were
burnt, the men severely.