584 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



he must also have to himself exclusively all that is to begot by so doing; 

 reviling a class of men at this time, comparatively defenceless, may be very 

 dastardly ; but friend Howitt knoweth that it is very profitable, and he is 

 sorely wrath against John Cleave for having intercepted a portion of his an- 

 ticipated gains. The gall of bitterness is so very lucrative an article, that 

 Quaker prudence will not allow him to suffer an invasion of his monopoly. 

 It has been a moot point with many moralists, whether "disinterested" 

 malevolence could exist ; the great Butler argues that it cannot ; it is his 

 opinion that pure, unmixed ill-will is impossible ; our previous notion of 

 his wisdom has been confirmed by the anatomisation of the venomous and 

 venal vituperator who has scribbled the book yclept a " History of Priest- 

 craft." Mr. Wormwood Howitt cannot deceive himself as to his own mo- 

 tives, he has too much self-knowledge for that; but he may foolishly ima- 

 gine he can make a large portion of the world think him a man of injured 

 merit ; and that the many will impute the anger and contempt he provokes 

 to a sense of the truth of his strictures and alarm for the effects appre- 

 hended from his writing. We will undeceive Mr. Howitt : the people are 

 not so blind as he supposes, and wishes them to be, to his real character, 

 the sordidness and spiteful recklessness of which are now rendered appa- 

 rent. We can speak for others as well as for ourselves, both as to the ori- 

 ginal and the ultimate impression made concerning the author of this de- 

 lectable history, and that, too, among men who are not at all disposed to 

 be the servile flatterers of the priesthood who, like ourselves, " would 

 blame them when we must, and praise them when we can." It was 

 thought at first to spring solely from hatred and envy ; the desire of pelf is 

 now fully believed to have been the greatest consideration in prompting the 

 composition. The disgust which Mr. Howitt excites arises not from a be- 

 sotted and undue partiality to the reverend gentlemen of the established 

 church, but from a laudable distate for calumny. With a qualified appro- 

 bation of the clergy, and a determination to oppose any encroachments of 

 ecclesiastical ambition, we cannot applaud malignant vilification merely 

 because directed against them by those who are instigated by the hope of 

 gain,and the desire to annoy and harass ; and so farewell, W. Howitt, L.S.D. 



DISQUISITIONS ON THE ANTI-PAPAL SPIRIT WHICH PRODUCED THE 

 REFORMATION ; ITS SECRET INFLUENCE ON THE LITERATURE OF 



EUROPE IN GENERAL, AND OF ITALY IN PARTICULAR. BY GA- 



BRIELLE ROSETTI. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY MlSS 

 CAROLINE WARD. LONDON, 1834. 



IF extent of knowledge, depth of research, and ingenuity of thought could 

 impress on a work the stamp of worth, little could be advanced in doubt of 

 the value and importance of the book before us ; but in this instance, the 

 fertility of the author's imagination, and the excess of ingenuity displayed 

 in his theory, are themselves sources whence spring doubts of the correct- 

 ness of his views. One of the chief purposes of his general design is to 

 show that the Reformation was the effect of causes remote in their origin 

 and gradual in their operation ; that the spirit of protestantism pervaded 

 the breasts, and actuated the conduct of the wise, the great, and the good ; 

 for ages its trumpet was sounded, and its numerous adherents flocked to 

 the standard which Luther unfurled. Another, perhaps the primary ob- 

 ject, is to expose to view the hitherto undiscovered meaning of the allegory 

 in which, according to the author's opinion, Dante, Petrarca, and others, 

 enwrapped their sentiments. 



The intolerance, persecution, cruelty the avarice, ambition, and licen- 

 tiousness of the popes and their court, had excited horror and disgust in 

 the breasts of those in whom resided a love of virtue. So inconsistent was 



