194 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, 



sensitive little girl of eleven years whom the knight had assisted in transplant- 

 ing from her native home at so early an age. The spectator sighed, and shook 

 his head, as he had often done before, on perusing the features of the boy ; 

 and the gloom that settled on his brow told how deeply he regretted that the 

 royal Scot had not matched his daughter in her own country. The knight 

 followed the young dauphin with his eye till the pages of both king and prince, 

 coming closely after, intercepted his view. The Bastard of Orleans then ap- 

 peared, armed from head to heel, and both himself and horse blazing with 

 jewels. This splendid warrior led on the ' battle' of the king, consisting of a 

 thousand lancers, all armed to the teeth, both man and horse. The long array 

 was closed by an esquire of the stable, bearing a vermilion lance, spangled 

 with gold stars, at the head of which there hung a standard of red silk, with 

 ornaments like those of the staff, surrounding a portrait of St. Michael. After 

 him there rolled an immense multitude of lords, knights, and bourgeois, with 

 the peasantry, as it seemed, of the whole province, all dressed to the extent of 

 their means, and in the fashion of their degree." 



The above strictures have been freely, and, we hope, good-naturedly given ; 

 for no work scarcely can be so excellent as to furnish no ground of censure to 

 a candid and impartial critic. The faults that we have noticed will, we 

 think, be discovered by most of our intelligent readers; but, notwithstanding 

 this, we think that sufficient will be found of historical value in the work to 

 reward the perusal of it. 



Guide to the Pronunciation of the Italian Language. By M. de la 

 .CLAVERIE, London: Smith and Elder. 



EVERY one who has either learnt or taught a foreign language must well 

 know that pronunciation can effectively be taught in one way only that is, 

 by personal communication with a native, or, better still, by a protracted resi- 

 dence in the country where the desired language is generally and best spoken. 

 With respect to the French, for instance, with all the professed pains taken 

 by the instituteurs of this country for its perfection, how few are the instances 

 in which a tolerably respectable pronunciation is attained setting grammar 

 and idiom altogether aside. The same may be said more forcibly of the 

 German, which we defy any person properly to speak without a good native 

 master, and, besides this, without living among the people themselves that 

 portion of them we mean where the language is most purely spoken. Does 

 not the same observation apply to the Italian ? We think it does. If M. de la 

 Claverie intends his work to assist the native teacher's efforts, so far well : 

 if he intends more, he is attempting that in which he must be unsuccessful, as 

 all have been before him. 



It would be unfair, however, to say nothing of the plan on which this little 

 work is written. It commences with a brief and well-arranged treatise on the 

 powers of the Italian letters, simply and in connection, as compared with the 

 corresponding English letters. These principles are subsequently illustrated 

 by a selection of reading exercises, marked so as to refer the reader back to 

 the rules laid down at the commencement ; and the latter part of the book 

 treats of the tonic accent, or emphatic syllable, the improper position of which 

 by the voice must in every language, as well as in the smooth and mellifluous 

 Italian, be productive of gross mis-pronunciation. 



The author is a native of France, but was early acquainted with Italian, 

 and enjoyed the friendship of many Italian literati. Through the influence of 

 one of these with Napoleon he obtained an official situation at Rome, where 

 he remained eight years ; and, after the downfal of the French empire, taught 

 the language to many English foreigners, whose solicitations brought him to 

 this country. We wish him success in his vocation, and hope that he may 

 gain more reputation and profit from his personal efforts than his literary pro- 

 duction is likely to furnish. 



