200 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



he had his book before him. We do like a 

 little acknowledgement, where it is due. 



Head-pieces and Tail-pieces, by a Tra- 

 velling Artist; 1826. And very good vi- 

 gnettes they make ; the artist is no no- 

 vice. He handles a sombre and a some- 

 what ponderous pencil, b:it with good 

 discretion. The strokes are decisive. The 

 best of the set is perhaps the " Guerilla 

 Brothers." These brothers are both of them 

 jn love with the same lady. The interests 

 of their country summon them to arms. 

 She promises her hand to him who brings 

 home the brighter laurels, and dismisses 

 them each with her portrait bound round his 

 neck, to be brought back by the survivor. 

 Hating each other, as rivals, with a deadly 

 hatred, and resolved to outstrip each other's 

 deeds, they quickly distinguish themselves 

 among their fellows. In a desperate en- 

 counter with the enemy, one of them is 

 overpowered, and is just on the point of 

 sinking, when the other comes in sight ; his 

 first feelings are exultation self-triumph a 

 desire and resolve to leave him to his late ; 

 his next, the promptings of a more gene- 

 rous nature the struggle within is of the 

 most rending kind he flies to his brother's 

 rescue, but too late ; the blow descends, and 

 he falls. The moment of hesitation was 

 fatal. After the battle, he is found clinging 

 to the body, with a miniature clasped in his 

 hand; his senses have fled; and not till 

 long, long after, is it, that he is seen hover- 

 ing round the house of the lady. That house 

 appears lighted up, and the signs of merri- 

 ment are seen and heard. It is the lady's 

 bridal. The death of both brothers had been 

 reported. He bursts into the midst of the 

 assembly, and lays the portraits at her feet, 

 and rushes from the house. She is left the 

 image of misery ; and he is found, ia a few 

 days, stretched dead, on the brow of a hill, 

 that overlooked the scene he had just 

 quitted. The story is exceedingly well told. 

 The " Return" is a good story, too, of a 

 less sombre cast, though still of the disap- 

 pointing kind. " The Way to Rise, or the 

 Cunning Clerk," is of still another descrip- 

 tion, and terminates with an attempt at hu- 

 mour, better conceived than executed. 



An historical Defence of the Waldenses, 

 or Vaudois, inhabitants of the Valleys of 

 Piedmont, by Jean Rodolph Peyran, late 

 Pastor of Pomaret, and Moderator of the 

 fValdensian Church : with an Introduction 

 and Appendixes by the Rev. Thomas Sims ; 

 182. The public attention has of late been 

 drawn to the history and condition of the 

 Waldenses, and considerable exertions have 

 been made to contribute to the relief of their 

 secular and ecclesiastical exigencies. We 

 are not at all sure that either were very im- 

 perative ; but we are quite sure there can be 

 no occasion for Englishmen to go a thousand 

 miles off in search of distress ; and we are 

 equally sure, that foreign provision for the 

 ministers of religion is not likely to make 



those ministers in any respect more effective. 

 This forwardness of strangers to pour in re- 

 lief will only ruin the simplicity of the little 

 establishment, will only tend to multiply the 

 number of the ministers, and suggest am- 

 bitious views. Whether the humble natives, 

 thy laymen of the valleys, whose advantage 

 one might suppose was mainly concerned, 

 will be benefited, is a very questionable 

 point. 



Certain persons, clergymen all, traverse 

 theee valleys, and find Protestants in the 

 midst of Catholics ; and what is to them 

 matter for marvel, pastors among them very 

 poor, scarcely distinguishable from their 

 flocks. The first thought is, how unlike 

 ourselves; and the next, let us do something 

 to make them unlike themselves. A bustle 

 ensues, subscriptions are raised, and a hand- 

 some sum, by way of earnest, is transmitted. 

 What follows? the ministers are encouraged 

 to look for farther transmissions; the pros- 

 pect expands schools are to be opened 

 fresh labourers for the vineyard are to be 

 hired every little hamlet must have its own 

 pastor; and what will be the result? new 

 measures will outstrip the new funds ; the en- 

 thusiasm of contribution will cool ; neglect, 

 disappointment, and dissatisfaction ensue. 



The history and actual condition of the 

 Waldenses constitute a real curiosity ; but no 

 sufficient ground see we for attempting to 

 warm the sympathies of a distant land in their 

 favour. The pastors are poor ; but not the 

 worse for being poor, nor the less influ- 

 ential as pastors. The volume before us is 

 valuable for the authentic information it con- 

 veys of these people. It is styled an histori- 

 cal defence. The volume, in fact, comprises 

 three or four original pieces, in French, of 

 Jean Rodolph Peyran, late pastor of Poma- 

 ret, and moderator of the church, who died 

 in 1823. These pieces are 1st, Letters in 

 defence of the Waldenses, addressed to Car- 

 dinal Pacca, at the time confined by the Em- 

 peror of the French as a state prisoner in the 

 fortress of Fenestrelle, within a few miles of 

 Pomaret: 2d, A reply to the Bishop of Pe- 

 nerola's charge, in which that bishop ad- 

 dressed the Waldenses in favour of the church 

 of Rome the Wuldenses came within the li- 

 mits of his diocese: 3d, An address to his 

 colleagues on the contents of the same 

 charge : 4th, A controversial letter to a M. 

 Ferrary : and 5th, A late Waldensian con- 

 fession of faith, in Latin ; the whole consti- 

 tuting what the editor calls an historical de- 

 fence. The editor himself has added a pile 

 of commentary, in the shape of an appendix, 

 to each of the pieces, at least equal in bulk 

 to the pieces themselves, and in our opinion 

 generally very superfluous. He has also 

 prefaced M. Peyran's works with a sketch 

 of his life ; and followed up the preface with 

 an "introduction," including 1st, A view 

 of the valleys of Piedmont, and of the cha- 

 racter and employment of the inhabitants: 

 2d, An epitome bf the history of the Wal- 

 denses : and 3d, An account of the recent at- 



