The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Naples, August 14. During the late dreadful scarcity of provisions in this metropolis, one Clara Pignitelli, a widow, who had two children, the eldest not above eight years old, and the other just turned of six, being almost three days utterly destitute of food, either for her unhappy little orphans or herself, formed the incredible resolution of preserving their lives, though at the expense of her own; for this purpose she actually proceeded to cut off some pieces of her flesh, and had made an incision into one of her thighs, when a relation, who suspected her circumstances to be desperate, entered the house with a supply both of money and provision, and found her bleeding on the floor, with the two children nearly exhausted through hunger, lying drenched in tears by her side, but entirely unable either to prevent the execution of her design, or to call for the least assistance or relief; by proper care she and her children recovered, and are now in perfect health, and Providence has made this astonishing instance of maternal affection such a source of good fortune to the poor woman, that several of the nobility have subscribed pretty handsomely to her relief, and raised her a capital of two hundred pounds.