1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



109 



lection. (By the way, how is it we have no 

 English Muratori ? The materials abound ; 

 and Mr. D'Israeli is he not the very man 

 for the editor ?) Gataro's narrative is full of 

 interest, though unmercifully prolix ; but 

 Mr. Syme has wisely dipt a little of its 

 luxuriance, or, taldng his own metaphor, he 

 has melted down the original narrative, and 

 recast it in a smaller mould, preserving as 

 much as possible the fashion of the work- 

 manship. 



The Count of Milan, though surprised, 

 we do not know why, by the appointment 

 of the younger Francesco, was not to be 

 readily baffled. Contracting an alliance with 

 the signory of Venice, he forthwith despatched 

 a hostile message to Padua. This the new 

 lord endeavoured to elude, , by telling the 

 herald the message was meant for his father, 

 no longer Lord of Padua, and that he himself 

 was desirous of living at peace with his 

 neighbours. Poh, poh, cries the count, when 

 the reply was reported, sons of cats are fond 

 of mice ; and no farther time was lost in ver- 

 balities. Francesco too bestirred himself, 

 and made all possible preparations to repel 

 the coming invasion ; but his utmost efforts 

 were vain against the force of his enemies 

 and the treacheries of his subjects. Terms 

 were accepted, and Novello retired to 

 Milan, ostensibly under the protection of the 

 count ; but soon discovering some further 

 stratagems, especially a plan of assassinating 

 him, and failing himself in an attempt to be 

 beforehand with his oppressor, he found 

 escape was the only chance of security. This, 

 though not without difficulty, was success- 

 fully accomplished, in company with his wife, 

 a very dainty dame ; and the details of their 

 embarrassments and perils, by the way of 

 Vienne, Avignon, and the Genoese coast to 

 Florence, are calculated to give a very lively 

 conception of the state of the country, and 

 the accommodations for travelling in those 

 days. At Florence it was no part of No- 

 vello's purpose to sit down quietly : he 

 quickly got up a little alliance, and being 

 aided by his wife's connexions from Ger- 

 many, in a few months took Padua again by 

 storm, and found himself firmly established 

 in his old seat. Some time after this happy 

 event, the Count of Milan, under the sanction 

 of the emperor, assumed the title of duke, 

 and the year 1395 was distinguished by the 

 splendour of his inauguration. According 

 to the honest chronicler, "there were pre- 

 sent, besides the representatives of Christian 

 powers, those of the Grand Turk, of the 

 King of the Tartars, of the Great Soldan, of 

 Prester John, of Tamerlane the Great, and 

 of many other heathen princes." At this 

 splendid spectacle appeared also Da Carrara, 

 but of course with nothing like cordiality. 

 He still hated the duke, and longed for more 

 complete revenge. A new war was soon 

 kindled against the aspiring duke; Fran- 

 cesco was the chief instigator and conspicuous 

 leader ; Padua, in consequence, bore the 

 brunt of the storm, and the horrors inflicted 



upon the country surpassed the common 

 atrocities of the age. Failing completely in 

 his object, Francesco finally fell into the hands 

 of his conquerors, and was conveyed, with 

 his two sons, prisoner to Venice, where all 

 three perished by the bowstring in the dun- 

 geons of St. Mark, at the command of the 

 signory. The noble family was thus ex- 

 tinguished. 



Divines of the Church of England, 'with 

 Lives of the Authors, %c. ly the Rev. T. S. 

 Hughes, B. D. JB'tshop Sherlock. This is a 

 very desirable set of reprints, and we are 

 glad to see the superintendence of them placed 

 in the hands of so respectable an individual 

 as the late Christian Advocate of Cambridge. 

 The greater part of our old church divines 

 have not for very many years been reprinted, 

 a fact which bespeaks something like indif- 

 ference, and betrays a censurable, because a 

 careless neglect of the sources of theological 

 sentiments current in English pulpits from 

 their days down to our own. The com- 

 mencement is made with the younger Sher- 

 lock ; and a complete edition of his writings, 

 which singularly enough has never been 

 published, is now contemplated. We like, 

 notwithstanding a little incumbronce of 

 bulk, complete editions, because we like 

 complete judgments to be formed of charac- 

 ter and talent, and fair estimates of effects 

 produced by the union, which cannot be 

 accomplished without. In the prospectus we 

 observe some names, the republication of 

 whose works would be quite superfluous, as 

 Paley ; and some quite unimportant, asOgden 

 and Hurd ; while we miss others that cannot 

 be dispensed with, as Tillotson ; but the plan 

 is not yet perhaps matured, or at all events 

 may yet be modified. Of those who are 

 usually classed as reformers, we see only 

 Jewell's name. 



The first volume contains a life of Sher- 

 lock by Mr. Hughes, and twenty-four of 

 Sherlock's sermons, the characteristics of 

 which are sound sense and safe theology. 

 " I shall first explain the text, and then make 

 some useful remarks," is the usual preface, 

 and nobody can fairly complain of any breach 

 of promise. Though an able and prominent 

 man, professionally and politically, the ma- 

 terials for his biography, either in the shape 

 of correspondence, or scattered notices in co- 

 temporary writings, are not very abundant. 

 He was born in 1678, and educated at 

 Eton and Cambridge. At Eton he was in 

 friendship with Townsend, Walpole, and 

 Pelham ; and at Cambridge was of the same 

 college with Hoadley, with whom he clashed 

 at lectures, the source probably of some of 

 the bitterness which is visible in his subse- 

 quent conflicts with him. Upon his pro- 

 fessional life he entered with the most favour- 

 able auspices. His father was Master of the 

 Temple and Dean of St. Paul's, and had 

 interest enough, on his resignation of the 

 Temple, to get his aspiring son appointed, 

 at the early age of 26. Though vacating his 



