272 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



for his country and for Italian glory, awakened by the elegant words of 

 his master, could not remain cool in a heart like his ; and in fact it 

 increased almost to a degree of mania. He fought sword to sword with 

 a French gentleman, his superior in age and strength, because the latter 

 had spoken ill of the Italians — wounded him, and compelled him to 

 confess the wrong in the presence of the King and Court. After various 

 vicissitudes, having left Naples, on the fall of the royal family, Fiera- 

 mosca followed the fortunes of Spain, in order to oppose in some manner 

 the other too predominant power ; and because Spanish pride appeared 

 to him less intolerable than the vain-boasting of the French : besides, it 

 seemed to him that an enemy who could only reach them by sea might 

 be held of smaller account, and he considered that if the French could 

 be driven out by their arms, it would be a less arduous enterprise to 

 establish a good state of things in Italy. 



Thus far we have described the intrepid warrior from whom the volume 

 takes its title. His daring courage was put to the proof at an early age, 

 by the challenge of La Moite, a French prisoner, who insultingly backed 

 the valour of his own countrymen against the Italians. The challenge 

 was accepted, twelve on a side were selected, and the day of engage- 

 ment appointed. At the head of the Italian list was Fieramosca. The 

 trial of strength took place, and the description is fervid and soul- 

 stirring. It terminated in favour of the Italians and the total discom- 

 fiture of the French, and places the prowess and skill of Hector in a 

 prominent and engaging point of view. 



An historical narrative, without love, the ladies say, is an insipid affair. 

 There is no lack of that ingredient, however, in the volume before us ; 

 and the valiant and intrepid hero is so scathed by a hopeless passion, 

 that he eventually becomes a martyr to its sad and fatal entanglements. 

 There is a powerful and high-wrought picture of his last moments of 

 misery and despair, and of the desperation and madness which hurried 

 him to his appalling extinction. This is a description of harrowing 

 passion and reckless hopelessness which is rarely excelled, if ever 

 equalled, and is beyond all doubt the best imagined and most happily 

 described of the many well delineated representations with which the 

 volume abounds. 



The principal defect in this work is, that the narrative is too crowded 

 with incidents, and that there is not lucidness enough in the arrange- 

 ment. This, however, must not be charged to the translator, who has 

 aimed at faithfulness, excepting in one or two instances in which he has 

 judiciously shaded the warmth of colouring peculiar to the temperature 

 of the south. Even the best translations usually abound with foreign 

 idioms, and with other encroachments on the vernacular language ; in 

 the work under consideration, however, there is less of this defect in 

 style than is usually observable. Altogether, we are disposed to concede 

 to the translator much praise for his fidelity, and his discriminating taste 

 and judgment in pruning, when pruning was absolutely necessary. We 

 may venture to predict, we think, notwithstanding the trivial defects we 

 have pointed out, that this interesting volume will become a favourite 

 with all such readers as delight in history and romance judiciously and 

 pleasurably blended. 



The Revolutions of the Globe familiarly described. By Alexander Bertrand, 



M. D., translated from the French by J. C. Horry. London : 



Ridgway and Sons. 



To present a comprehensive view of the actual state of any science 



claims the next grade of merit to that of advancing it. The work before 



us appears to aim at conveying a knowledge, in a popular style, of the 



