640 
specimen. “ Tf you are riding on horse- 
back, and would cut an acquaintance, 
whom you might perhaps condescend to 
notice in a lane, give your eyes a direc- 
tion parallel with the two sides of the 
street, or turn your body obliquely to the 
opposite side of the horse, and examining 
very closely the parts adjacent to the 
Retrospect of French Literature—Iistory. 
hoof, look seriously, as if 
lameness, or the grease.” 
M. Encex’s, ** Essays and Tales, Mo- 
ral, Literary, and Philosophical,” trans- 
lated by Mr. Horne, are interesting: 
though we cannot say they have altoge- 
ther answered the expectations we had 
formed of them. 
you.suspected 
ed 
HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECT OF FRENCH LITERATURE. 
aE 
HE interdict on French works, still 
continues, and it is difficult, if not 
impossible, to obtain any book of a very 
recent date. Notwithstanding this, by 
extending our plan, and giving a more 
general view of each article, we are en- 
abled, it is to be hoped, to render the 
whole more interesting. 
HISTORY. 
“ Notice Historique sur le Royaume des 
Deux Siciles.”—An historical Notice re- 
lative-to the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, 
1 vol. 8vo. 
The territory of Naples, together with 
the adjacent Island which was so cele- 
brated in the time of the Romans, have 
been more than once united under one 
sovereign, and distinguished by the ap- 
péllation of “the Two Sicilies.” They 
are for the present separated, at least in 
point of fact, as Bonaparte has lately 
iven anew sovereign to Naples, while 
Ferdinand IV. reigns in Sicily, under the 
protection of the British nation, who 
still continue to support him, by means 
of a squadron of ships of war, and a for- 
midable body of troops. 
« The two Sicilies,” says the anony- 
mous author, now before us, “ have from 
‘the earliest periods been afflicted with 
volcanic eruptions, and at the same time 
agitated by political convulsions, still 
more dangerous than those of nature. 
To name but Sicily, is to point out the 
theatre of the most brilliant actions, and 
at the same time, to designate the most 
ancient field ‘of battle, known in the his- 
tory of natiohs. As to the misfortunes 
of Naples, they seem to have commenced 
‘at the epoch of the decline of the Roman 
empire. The conquest of that city, in 
$43, immortalised Totila, who treated the 
famished inhabitants with the utmost 
kindness, and carried his humanity so far, 
as to cause them to be closely watched 
after he had taken possession of their 
capital, lest they should be induced to 
overcharge their stomachs by too much 
food, after such long and such terrible 
“privations, 
“After the establishment of the 
Exarchate of Ravenna, the provinces 
which at present compose the kingdom 
of Naples, were ravaged in succession by 
the Lombards, the Greeks, the Saracens, 
the Normans, the Germans, the Hunga- 
rians, the French, and the Spaniards. 
So many wars tended not a little to alter 
the character of the natives; for they 
contrived as it were, to retain nearly all 
the vices of their conquerors, without 
preserving any, or but very few of their 
virtues. In the midst of the most fertile 
portion of Europe; were committed the 
most frightful crimes. The populace of 
Naples acquired a celebrity that became 
terrible to their masters, and were to the 
full as tumultuous, seditious, and atro- 
cious, as the populace of Rome. Their 
history has been described by one, 
whose work is entitled “ Le trente cing 
Revoltes du tres fidtle Peuple de Na- 
ples,” The five and thirty Revolts of the 
most loyal People of Naples, The cal- 
culation of. this author is moderate 
enough, for we might reckon more than 
double the number of these revolts, were 
we but to take the trouble to enter the 
tragic labyrinth of events, that fatigue by 
their sanguinary uniformity. 
“« The only nation that ever in a great 
degree incorporated itself with the 
Neapolitans, was the Normans, who, 
after fighting against the infidels, from the 
year 1016, rendered the most signal ser- 
vices to the sovereigns of that country, 
and obtained several portions of territory 
by way of recompence for their exploits. 
But these auxiliaries soon conducted 
themselves in the two Sicilies, in exactly 
the same manner, that the Anglo-Saxons 
had done in Great Britain ; that isto say, 
they rendered themselves masters of the 
whole country. 
“So early as 1043, they had already 
founded in Apulia, as well as in Cala- 
bria, a great number of principalities, 
and chased the Greeks of the Lower Em- 
pire from the whole of Southern Italy. 
Robert Guiscard, and Bohemond his We 
the 
