1822.) é 
Yo the Elitor of the Monthly Magazine. 
ONS aTh, 44 
'F any thing more than another can 
‘@ demonstrate the melancholy conse- 
quences of teaching men (as, 1 am 
sorry te say, is but too much the case 
at present,) to substitute the observance 
ef certain external rites and ceremo- 
nies, the opus operatum, in the room of 
the rational devotion of the heart, it 
must be the following narrative. 
* The Christian Albanians, in the 
midst of the mountains of Northern 
Epirus, on the banks of the Voioussa, 
had borne with the tyranny and cruelty 
of ‘their Mahometan neighbours until 
their patience was exhausted, and their 
retaliation of injuries was of no avail. 
At last they came to the strange reso- 
tution that, by performing with the 
utmost rigour the several observances 
required of them by their clergy, they 
might perhaps, as they imagined, dis- 
arm the vengeance of heaven, and in- 
terest it in their cause against their 
enemies ; but that, if no change should 
take place, they would discard their 
Christian profession, and embrace Ma- 
hometism, under which their enemies 
seemed to prosper. The fasts, the 
mortifications, the other prescriptions 
of Lent, they kept with the most exem- 
plary punctuality and strictness; but, 
on the Easter Sunday bringing no 
amelioration to their situation, the ge- 
neral abjuraticn of their ancient faith 
was resolved on. The bishop who re- 
sided among them, and their papas or 
priests, were directed to leave the 
district ; and the people, after upbraid- 
ing the saints, whose images they had 
hitherto venerated, for their indiffer- 
ence to the fate of their votaries, 
declared openly that they would now 
embrace Islamism. ‘They called in 
the cadi or Turkish judge, and the 
Mahometan priests; they recited their 
ofession of faith, and submitted to 
eertain other ceremonies of that system. 
"Tf this event filled the Christians of 
the East with consternation, the Turks 
were quite unexpectedly exposed to 
gtievous calamity; for the new con- 
verts, being now placed in every re- 
spect on a level with their enemies, 
lost no time in inflicting on them, the 
most severe and cruel vengeance. 
They drew together all their warriors, 
and in one single expedition indemuni- 
fied’ themselves for the hardships, of 
half acentury. Mutual assassinations, 
burnings, plunder, were the universal 
actice for many years, between the 
MontTuLy Mac, No. 368. 
Greek Christians —L Ape Italiana. 
393 
old and the. new: Mussulmans. At 
last, the mighty hand of Ali Pasha of 
Janina, by crushing both the contend- 
ing parties, restored peace and tran- 
quillity to the whole district. P. Q. 
—=a— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
L/APE ITALIANA. 
NO. XXIX. 
Dov’ ape susurrando 
Nei mattutini albori 
Vola suggendo i rugiadosi umori. 
Guarini. 
Where the bee, at early dawn, 
Murmuring sips the dews of morn. 
PIETRO NELLI, of SIENNA. 
E- no species of poetic excellence 
do the Italians seem to have sur- 
passed the writers of other nations so 
much as in the keenness and wit of 
their satiric and mock-heroic poetry. 
The nature of their genius, no less 
than the graceful ease and flexibility 
of their language, were peculiarly 
adapted to wield the sharp and cut- 
ting weapons of personal invective, in 
the quarrels of their authors, and in 
their general satire upon princes, and 
the vices and follies of mankind. The 
literary warfare, so often declared and 
so long maintained, between the most 
eminent wits of the age of the Me- 
dici, would in itself form a complete 
history of intellectual gladiatorship, 
and supply Mr. D’Israeli with more 
anecdotes than he could possibly con- 
tract into two or three more entertain- 
ing volumes. 
In fits of spleen and ill-humour, to 
which our climate renders us liable, 
we find it no slight relief to turn to the 
lives of Lorenzo, of Politian, and of 
Poggio, with those satirists ad interne- 
ctonem, the Aretini ; and, in witnessing 
‘the keen encounter of their wits,” to 
endeavour to rid ourselves, through a 
safe channel, of some portion of that 
bile and vexation which, we doubt 
not, all of us at times feel rising, either 
against individuals or the whole mass 
of our species. ris 
We are always’ sure’of meeting 
with something burlesque ‘and amu- 
sing amidst the strongest paroxysiis 
of their poetic anger; and their viru- 
lence was tempered with so ‘niuch 
ease and wit, that'we can scarcely 
avoid thinking they must have’ felt 
equal pleasure:in perusing their ’anta- 
gonist’s productions as ourselves. In- 
deed we are assured, that, like com- 
batants. oma larger scale, they fre- 
quently; met during *hostilities,—not 
merely to adjust their differences, but 
to exchange the courtesies of private 
3.D life; 
