ROMANCE OUTDONE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 44, 6 January 1862, Page 3

ROMANCE OUTDONE.

Florence, Oct. 13. —I was visiting the oilier day the convent of San Michele in Bosco, the delightful co?.nobium on the hill, which now, as a royal villa, harbours King Victor Emmanuel whenever he stays at Bologna. It was formerly the residence of the Cardinal Legate, and Pope Pius [X took up his abode there at the time of his last visit to his northern dominions, in 1857. The Cardinal Legate, bent on making grand preparations for the reception of his holy guest, sent for a sculptor, by name Pacchioni, who since 1848 had been shut up in a state prison for political offences. He asked the artist, a distinguished master in his profession, whether he was equal to the task of decorating a private chapel destined for the use of the pope, with a fac-simile ofthe statue of the Immaculate conception which had just been inaugurated in Rome by the Pope, who, as the world knows, was still all flushed with the achievement by which he added n now mystery to the Catholic dogma. The statue with those ofthe four Evangelists at the corners of the chapel, was to be made in the short space of 28 days. The Cardinal agreed upon a handsome payment, and engaged to restore the prisoner to freedom. The sculptor went to work for dear liberty,the statues were executed with masterly skill, and nothing could equal the delight of the Cardinal on seeing the whole read}' at the right time, or that of the pontiff at the sudden and ingenious surprise that had been prepared for him. On the eve of the Pope's arrival, the Cardinal called the artist aside, praised and thanked him with every demonstration of affection, and asked him whether he would find it too hard to go back to his dungeon fora day or two that the Pope might be allowed the exercise of his clemency, and that the prisoner's pardon might seem to flow from the source of all grace and honour. In an evil hour the sculptor, who, be it observed had been at large all the time he had been to work, and had a hundred opportunities of putting the papal frontier between him and his former gaolers, allowed himself to be put again under lock and key, and submitted to a durance which he was too sure would be mere matter of form, and would not be prolonged after the first day of the pope's visit. Well; the Pope arrived, the Pope stayed, the Pope departed; Pacchioni's prison door remained locked and bolted. Two long years passed; the cardinal never paid one penny of the stipulated bargain, and the swindled victim would, in all probability, have perished in his chains but for the happy events of 1859, which came to hia release, as to that of so many of his fellow sufferers. I know these particulars from soiirces which leave me no doubt as to their full authenticity, and make myself a voucher for the truth of every word I have written.— Times.

Sayers and Mace.—The following statement appears in the New York " Spirit of the Times," a sporting print. We merely give the story as it is published by our contemporary, leaving the reader to form his own estimate of its accuracy : —, We learn, from a gentleman who arrived by the steamer City of New York, that the celebrated exchampion and the almost equally renowned champion have had a ' turn up' in the bar room of an hotel in Lime-street, Liverpool, recently. Our informant states that Jem Mace, who is or was at the time under an engagement with Pablo Fanque's circus troupe, met Sayers, who is also engaged with another travelling cirens (Howe's and Cnshing's) in Liverpool. It is well known that for a long time past a latent spirit of hostility and jealous rivalry has existed between the two pugilistic luminaries, and that this feeling has been increased, if not actually engendered, by the openly expressed contemptuous estimation of the ex-champion for Mace's pugilistic abilities and science. The challenge which Mace threw out to the gallant Tom after the latter's publicly announced retirement from the prize ring, coupled with the well-known fact that the handsome annuity (accruing from the munificent fund of subscriptions which had been the reward of his gallantly in his contest with ITcenan) which he now enjoys, would be forfeited if he again entered the ring, had added fuel to the previously existing fire of animosity between them. The meeting accidentally in a bar-room one evening in Liverpool, where both of the respective circus troopers were exhibiting, and the mutual recriminations which ensued, naturally led from a war of words to one of blows. Both men ' peeled 'on the spot, and the spectators present enjoyed the intensely exciting spectacle of champion and ex-champion of England ' milling' each other with that vigour and severity, that only deeply-rooted personal animosity can produce. We are told and can readily believe, that the fight was an unusually interesting one. Mace, in consequence of his regular and temperate habits, was in far the best condition; Sayers being, as is well-known, considerable of a bon viuant, with a strong partiality for indulging in convivial company, and late hours. His indomitable, bull-dog courage, tremendous powerful hitting, and thorough practical knowledge of fighting, at last enabled him to gain a decisive victory over the champion. After half-an-honr's hard and very fast fighting, a terrific hit from the ' auctioneer' on the throat knocked Mace all abroad, and unable to come again to the scratch. As soon as it was over, Tom was among the first endeavouring to bring his gallant opponent round, all his animosity having evaporated on the defeat ofhis antagonist. Sayers himself did not escape unscathed, as Mace repeatedly visited his ' dial' with his dangerous left, making his ' mark ' very legible, while Tom showed that his right bawl had not forgot its cunning, by the execution done on his opponent.