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attributions of pictures, differing as they do from the 

 official catalogues, raise much antagonism. 



Where doctors differ, the public may be amused, and 

 art critics of the future must worry out their various 

 opinions. 



' Italian Literature ' by Eichard Garnett is one of those 

 books for which the public ought to feel grateful, as it 

 condenses an incredible amount of labour and study into 

 a very small convenient volume. It brings us down to 

 the present day, D'Annunzio's novels, etc. 



In 1897 Mr. John Morley published one of his 

 brilliant lectures, delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre, on 

 Machiavelli. He begins by a reference to Dante's liken- 

 ing of worldly fame to the breath of the wind, that blows 

 now one way, now another, and changes name as it changes 

 quarter. He says of Machiavelli : ' In our age, when we 

 think of the chequered course of human time, of the shocks 

 of irreconcilable civilisations, of war, trade, faction, revolu- 

 tion, empire, laws, creeds, sects, we seek a clue to the vast 

 maze of historic and prehistoric fact. Machiavelli seeks ne 

 clue to his distribution of good and evil. He never tries 

 to find a moral interpretation for the mysterious scroll. 

 We obey laws that we do not know, but cannot resist. 

 We can only make an effort to seize events as they 

 whirl by, and tc extort from them a maxim, a precept, or 

 a principle, to serve our immediate turn. Fortune, he 

 says that is, Providence, or else circumstances, or the 

 stars is mistress of more than half we do. What is her 

 deep secret, he shows no curiosity to fathom. He con- 

 tents himself with a maxim for the practical man 

 (" Prince," xxv.), that it is better to be adventurous than 

 cautious, for Fortune is a woman and, to be mastered, 

 must be boldly handled.' 



Mr. Morley's defence of Machiavelli is on the lines of 

 his concluding words : ' It is true to say that Machia- 



