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Monthly Review of Literature, 



comes his nurse, and when she has cured 

 him, escapes with him. This Sir Walter 

 is a very Paladin, and on the strength of 

 his feats he ventures, very thoughtlessly we 

 think, considering how well acquainted 

 with the circumstances he is, to introduce 

 the lady to the Earl, and solicit his protec- 

 tion for her, while he again pursues the 

 rebels. The Earl, it seems, was subject to 

 sudden fits of rage, and now jealousy and 

 disappointment combine to work him to 

 fury; the storm of passion blows a perfect 

 hurricane. He is, however, the very soul 

 of honour ; and as he had been betrayed into 

 a pledge of protection, will give it, but 

 solemnly protests, if the young gentleman 

 marries he shall lose his head, and the 

 young lady, on her side, promises not to 

 marry without his consent. 



While under this his loyal protection, the 

 rebels again come down upon the Earl, and 

 drive him from his palace, and in company 

 with Anna and Sir Walter, he flies, and 

 again narrowly escapes from extremest dan- 

 gers more than once, by her vigilance, she 

 saves his life, which at last works some- 

 thing like remorse and pity in the bosom of 

 the proud Earl, and he is fast preparing to 

 abandon at once his resentments and his 

 hopes. 



The rebellion is now at its height, and 

 the rebels are headed by the son of the il- 

 lustrious Van Ardaveld, the hero of Ghent. 

 Assistance from the young king of France, 

 Charles VI., is obtained, and the Earl, still 

 accompanied by Anna and Sir Walter, 

 joins the French troops with his own, and 

 after several skirmishes, preparations are 

 made on both sides for deciding the con- 

 test at Rosebeque. On the eve of that day 

 D'Anghien conveys the young lady for 

 safety to a neighbouring convent ; but by 

 the treachery of Mathew, the evil genius of 

 Flanders, they are intercepted by Du Bois, 

 and carried to the rebel camp, and D'An- 

 ghein is rescued by the king and his chi- 

 valry, at the very moment when he is tied 

 to the stake, and archers are bending their 

 bows to shoot him like a crow. The rebels 

 are by this decisive day crushed ; the Earl 

 recovers his authority and his temper, and 

 the young lady becomes Sir Walter's bride. 

 And so ends of course the tale. 



The historical parts are no doubt accu- 

 rately given at least as accurately as Frois- 

 sart gives them, and with these we have 

 nothing to do ; but the characters, several 

 of them, the Knight of Ghent, and particu- 

 larly Philip Van Ardaveld, are exhibited 

 with some spirit ; and generally the tale is 

 told with more simplicity and distinctness 

 than the former effort led us to expect 

 there are no brilliant or conspicuous scenes 

 , the whole is respectable rather perhaps 

 above par than below it. 



Narrative of a Three Years' "Residence 

 in Italy, 181!) 1822, with Illustrations 

 of the present State of Religion in that 



Country ; 1828. Skipping the devotional 

 verbiage, which our abhorrence of cant com- 

 pels us to do and all violent thrusting in of 

 biblical phrases all uncalled-for profession 

 of confidence in the source of all creation, 

 must wear the semblance of cant, and as 

 such should be known and shunned, and is 

 known and shunned by persons of common 

 propriety or modesty skipping this ver- 

 biage, with which these pages abound, we 

 find the volume to be a very lively one lively 

 not from vivacity of remark, or eloquence 

 of wit, or piquancy of anecdote, for of all 

 this there is really nothing, but from the 

 skilfulness with which the author, a lady, 

 hits off scenes and ceremonies the very 

 delicate tact with which she selects the tell- 

 ing points, and passes the superfluous such 

 as are sufficiently implied for the imagina- 

 tion readily to supply. The lady is of the 

 evangelical class, whose motive for quitting 

 her native shores was no idle " desire of 

 seeing foreign countries, or of seeking 

 amusements in them, which were not to be 

 found in her own" but domestic ones 

 that is, to rejoin her sister's family, during 

 her residence with whom she witnessed the 

 death of that sister's daughter and husband, 

 which throws a serious and lugubrious air, 

 and a double portion of the language of 

 piety, with which, however, on so mourn- 

 ful an occasion, we can well sympathize. 



The particular object of the book as 

 distinguishing it from similar publications 

 is somewhat ostentatiously put forward in 

 the title page, as intended to illustrate the 

 present state of religion in Italy ; but this 

 is done chiefly by detailing a few instances 

 of superstitious practices, which she need 

 not coming from Ireland too have gone 

 so far to find, and describing the processions 

 and observances of pope, and cardinals, and 

 priests, with all which we assure the good 

 lady, notwithstanding her declaration that 

 this has not been made a prominent object 

 in any recent travels, her numerous prede- 

 cessors have made us acquainted even ad 

 nauseam. 



But her views are far from being confined 

 to such matters ; she has eyes for every 

 thing ; and in her eagerness to see and 

 know all, she occasionally looks and listens 

 with other people's eyes and ears, and 

 answers for more than she can know. , 

 "Aricia, about a mile from Albano," she 

 says, " is little better than a village, though 

 one of some antiquity being mentioned 

 by Horace !" And to an equal degree of 

 antiquity almost every village in Italy may 

 lay claim, whether mentioned by Horace 

 or not. But at this little place, this excel- 

 lent Protestant lady was shocked by an in- 

 scription, in Latin, on the church door 

 " Sacred to Maria, equal to God the Fa- 

 ther." We have not the Latin, and the 

 lady professes herself to know nothing of 

 that language, but one of her fellow travel- 

 lers she undertakes to say did ; and it is no 



