f 



Monthly Review of Literature. 541 



" There is no richer sight that I know of, said he, than to see one on 'em 

 when he first lands in one of our great cities. He swells out as big as a 

 balloon ; his skin is ready to burst with wind a regular walking bag of gas ; 

 and he prances over the pavement like a bear over hot iron a great awkward 

 hulk of a feller, (for they aint to be compared to the French in manners) a 

 smirkin at you, as much as to say, ' Look here, Jonathan, here's an English- 

 man ; here's a boy that's got blood as pure as a Norman pirate, and lots of 

 the blunt of both kinds, a pocket full of one and a mouthful of t'other: beant 

 he lovely ?' and then he looks as fierce as a tiger, as much as to say, ' Say, 

 boo to a goose if you dare.' " 



Piso and the Praefect, or the Ancients off their Stilts. 

 3 vols. post 8vo. Smith and Elder. 



WE opened these volumes with favourable anticipations. Enough has been 

 handed down to us concerning the depraved manners and effeminate usages 

 of the Romans during the empire ; and a sufficient number of scandalous 

 anecdotes has been preserved to render it quite possible to write a very 



teresting romance. The author of " Piso and the Praefect" has not 



cceeded in establishing a fair reputation in this line of writing. It would 

 be unjust to deny his possession of a fair stock of antiquarian and his- 

 torical knowlege; for the work bears evidence of a somewhat extensive 

 reading of the authors of the silver and brazen age. The facts are stated, 

 the minutiae of detail unsparingly elaborated ; but the work smells too much 

 of the lamp, and is very deficient in that freshness and lively vigour, which are 

 necessary to the illusion of romance. His writings give us the idea of a man 

 keeping a common place-book for recording all national peculiarities and de- 

 pravities, all court intrigues and scandales contained in the writings of three 

 centuries after Christ, and afterwards cutting up the same, and serving them 

 with a few dashes of a love story by way of sauce. We should suppose the 

 author to have made a first essay in these volumes. With such talent as he 

 undoubtedly possesses, he may hope for more success from his future efforts, 

 especially if he be willing at first to confine himself to the embellishment 

 of the thousand and one anecdotes of imperial depravity that pollute the 

 writings of the silver age. It is indeed a delicate and difficult task to throw 

 the veil of decency over obscene debauchery ; but the author's partial success 

 in the closely-printed volumes before us induces us to hope, that this recom- 

 mendation may not be altogether thrown away. It may be doubted, however, 

 whether it be expedient at all to. rake up the putrid ashes of ancient vices, 

 which, even to speak mildly of them, are disgraceful to humanity. 



Perhaps, however, after all our grave and sententious discussions, the 

 author may be enjoying a laugh at our expense, and be wondering how any 

 sage critic could so plainly write himself down an ass, as to mistake a broad 

 satire and caricature for a serious romance. Oh lepidum caput ! What a 

 witty dog must the author be to envelope his humour so completely that 

 none but the select few can discover it ! The Roman player Basilides is so 

 absurd a character and so just a representative of a low-bred vernacular 

 cockney debauchee, that he must have a modern prototype. Laurentia 

 Ogulnia, too, is not without her match within our own times ; and the Prse- 

 fect himself might be construed as a libellous portrait of the modern Nero of 

 England. Scribonius Mummius to the unsophisticated reader, a very 

 tawdry copy of Seneca, may, to the initiated, appear a lively caricature of 

 Coleridge or John Fearne. But enough of conjecture, which the author may, 

 perhaps, misconstrue in his turn into a satire on his less than semi-success- 

 ful production. 



The feast at the Prefects' the following scene classically illustrative of 

 the Lares and Lemures, the visit to the theatre, some melodramatic scenes 



