and the feeble glimmering of the starlight which entered through the open windows.  A noise was heard in the stable underneath the room, and the father, thinking it was the son, called out three or four times, but got no answer.  A few minutes after Luigi entered without the lantern, which he had left below in the stable, and although his sister bade him good night he made no reply.  As he entered the room his father called to him, “A fine time of night to come home.”  “What then?” was the only answer given by Luigi.  “You have never been home since morning,” went on the father.  “What then?” was still the only answer.  The father then told the son to hold his tongue, and again received the same reply.  At last Venanzio, losing his temper, called out, “Be quiet, or I’ll break your head;” or, according to the story, “I’ll murder you:”  to which Luigi only answered, “I may as well die to-day as to-morrow.”  After that there was a short scuffle heard, and Venanzio suddenly cried out as if in pain, “My God! my God!” The mother and daughter screamed for help, but by the time the neighbours had come in with lights, Luigi had run off.  Venanzio was found reeling to and fro, with blood pouring from several wounds, and, in spite of medical aid, he died in the course of a few hours.  Almost immediately after the commission of the crime Luigi was found by the gendarmes in the cottage of an uncle, and arrested on the spot.

These, as far as I can learn from the very confused documents before me, are all the facts admitted without question; or, more strictly speaking, which the Government states to have been unquestioned.  Luigi was arrested on the night of the murder.  Such small evidence as there was could have been ascertained in twenty-four hours, and yet the prisoner was never brought to trial till the 3rd of May, 1858; that is, eighteen months afterwards.  On that day Luigi Bonci was arraigned before the civil and criminal court of Perugia, on the two counts of parricide, and of having illegal arms in his possession.  The Court was composed of the President, Judge, Assistant Judge, and Deputy Judge of the district.  These gentlemen (all, I should state, lay officials) were assisted by the public prosecutor and the Government counsel for the defence.  The course of proceedings is stated to have been as follows:  prayers were first offered up for the Divine guidance, the prisoner was introduced and identified, the written depositions were read over, a narrative of the facts was given by the president, the prisoner was called upon to reply to the charges alleged against him, the witnesses for the crown and for the prisoner were heard respectively, the counsel for the prosecution called upon the court to condemn the prisoner, and was replied to by the counsel for the defence; the discussion was then declared closed, and after the judges had retired and deliberated, their sentence was given.