of the pen. Let no man dare to interfere with it. Touch it not, Giovanni Rosini! It is sacrilege, and the forfeit of thy literary reputation can scarcely atone for thy profanation!

We have seen only part of this novel, though the third and last volume was published ever since August, 1843. The MS. has been lying on the author's desk, unable as he was to give it his final cares, as long as his time was utterly engrossed by the abovementioned "Storia della Pittura Italiana.' The romance has been entrusted to, and edited by, Giovanni Battista Perotti. Besides the Guelph and Ghibelline heroes, whose dissensions wrought such cruel calamities on the Republic of Pisa towards the close of the thirteenth century, the author, faithful to his system, and strong in his vast erudition, introduces all the remarkable characters of the age, such as Guido Montefeltro, Buonconte, Nino di Gallura, and others, with whom Dante made us familiar, as well as Nicolò Pisano, Cimabue and his boyish apprentice, Giotto, Guido Cavalcanti, Brunetto Latini, Castruccio Castracani, also a child, and finally Dante Alighieri himself, who was twenty years of age at the epoch of the horrid tragedy which he was to send down to endless posterity. The novel is illustrated by an historical dissertation on the rise and increment of the Republic of Pisa, from its earliest memorials in 1064, down to Ugolino's death in 1285.

Rosini's style is always correct and fluent, sometimes lofty and imaginative; we subjoin, as a very short specimen, the description of an Italian sunrise, at the opening of his latest novel.

"If it ever could happen," he begins, "that to a man born blind, either a miracle or the skill of art could impart the blessed gift of vision, among so many wonders of the universe, none, I think, would be for him more enrapturing than the rising of the sun.

"Darkness gradually clearing before the faintest streaks of dawn, -the stars fading one by one, and departing as it were no one knows whither, the surrounding objects rising into being, starting up as it were no one knows wherefrom,-everything bathed in vivid colours by the mysterious agency of light, and the vapours in the East blushing deeper and deeper, till the round orb of the great luminary appears radiant and majestic from the bosom of the deep,-this is indeed the wonder of wonders, the life of nature, the glory of God's creation.

"Then kneels the Gueber on the threshold of his hut on the Ganges, and worships it; the wild Peruvian from the stillness of his wild woodland praises it; the sun-burnt Egyptian hails it from the foot of the wideechoing cataracts of the Nile.

"Habit may have blunted in us the sense of wonder, but not lessened our delight; for civilized man is not dead to the beauties of God's handiwork, even though often too proud to bow before its wondrous Maker.

"Leader and comforter of man in the greatest deeds and trials of life, the sun beholds all hearts sinking at his disappearing, and warmth and respiration restored by his presence, even as the universe wakes at the touch of his life-imparting beams.

"It was on the 4th of August, 1284, that year so memorable for the Pisan republic, when, towards the fall of eve, a large number of old men, women, and youths, were seen gathering from every part of the country, and from the surrounding townships, to be present, and as near as they could contrive, to witness on the banks of the Arno, the solemn benediction which the Archbishop was to bestow on the Pisan fleet, previous to its sailing against the Genoese," &c.

Such is Rosini;-an emphatic, but rather common-place description of morning, such as might equally well suit the first chapter of any other novel in the world, to usher in an action, which, after all, happens to begin at night-fall.

But anterior to Rosini, and, by date of publication, if not actually by priority of conception, anterior to Manzoni himself, was Dr. Carlo Varese of Genoa, long known by the public as the author of "Sibilla Odaleta ;" under which nom de guerre he afterwards published seven other novels, all more or less of an historical cast, and written in imitation of Walter Scott, whose enthusiastic admirer the author professed himself to be in early youth.* It was even said of him that he wrote with the falsa riga, the ruling paper of Walter Scott, an expression in Italy denoting the lowest degree of servile imitation. We would not pronounce so harshly against him, though something of the manner, of the knack, of the great master is certainly discernible, especially in the general arrangement and at the opening of Varese's novels. But he is nevertheless a writer of considerable inventive and descriptive power, paints characters with skill, and is seldom dull and wearisome.

In

Whatever might be his feelings on the outset of his career, he seems to have outlived his partiality both for the father of historical romance and for that branch itself of literature. his preface to the "Preziosa di Sanluri" he draws a long parallel between Rosini and Walter Scott, hinting, that as those two rare

* "Sibilla Odaleta, Romanzo Storico di un Italiano." Milan. 1827. 2 vols. 8vo. "La Fidanzata Ligure ovvero Costumi ed Usanze della Riviera, dell' autore della Sibilla Odaleta." Mil. 1828. 2 vols.

"I Prigionieri di Pizzighettone, dell' autore della Sibilla Odaleta." Mil. 1829. 3 vols. 8vo.

"Folchetto Malispini, Romanzo Storico, dell' autore," &c. Mil. 1830. 2 vols. "Il Proscritto, Storia Sarda, dell' autore," &c. Turin. 1830. 3 vols. "Gerolimi, ossia il Nano di una Principessa, dell' autore," &c. Milan. 1829.1 vol. "Preziosa di Sanluri, ossia i Montanari Sardi, Romanzo Storico," &c. Mil. 1832. 2 vols.

"Torriani e Visconti, Romanzo Storico," &c. Milan. 1839. 2 vols.

men are equally remarkable for their wonderful fertility and facility of composition, so they may, also, both be charged with having corrupted public taste in that style of performance in which each of them respectively excelled. And in another letter prefixed to his last publication, "Torriani e Visconti," he hesitates not to assert, that historical novels have been to some readers what certain light and tonic kinds of food are to persons in a period of convalescence-destined only to re-invigorate a stomach worn out by long disease, and to dispose it for the reception of a more solid and healthy nourishment; that in the like manner, in order to pass gradually from the sickening frivolities of the Arcadians to the severe studies of history, a transitional literature was required; but that, being now persuaded that the Italian youths no longer needed to be allured by similar enticements, he was resolved that this should be his last novel, and proceeded to write a history of the Republic of Genoa. Glad to hear a man, one half of whose life has been spent in the production of works of fiction, entertain our own views of the subject at present under our consideration, we shall not hesitate to repeat that we have derived great pleasure from the perusal of some of Varese's narratives.

"Sibilla Odaleta" dates from the invasion of Italy, by Charles VIII. of France, in 1494, and terminates with his expulsion in the following year. The historical characters are delineated with a master's hand; the most striking scenes, especially Piero Capponi's daring demeanour in presence of the haughty invader at Florence, are drawn with spirit; and the dark tragedy of deep revenge in which Sibilla and her Albanese father are concerned, is well conducted. This novel has, in short, all the vividness, warmth, and spontaneousness of a first essay; and it has also, as may be expected, all its exuberance, waywardness, and irregularity.

The

"I Prigionieri di Pizzighettone" may be regarded, in some manner, as a continuation of "Sibilla Odaleta." It opens on the Lombard plain on the eve of the battle of Pavia, in which Francis I. of France was utterly routed and taken prisoner by the lieutenants of the Emperor Charles V., in 1525. French monarch is conveyed to the stronghold of Pizzighettone, on the Adda, where a few of his Italian partisans conceive several bold plans for his escape, till the jealous Austrian, at the most critical moment, issues orders to have his Royal prisoner transferred under his own custody to Madrid. There is much in the plotting of the King's favourers that reminds us of Mary Stuart and the Castle of Lochleven.

"Folchetto Malispini" and "La Fidanzata Ligure" ought

to have been favourite subjects with Dr. Varese-the scene of both of them being laid among the wild hills and luxuriant shores of his native Riviera of Genoa. The former is an historical romance of the twelfth century, describing the Apennine of Lunigiana and Genoa, such as that region could be under the feudal sway of the half-heroes, half-marauders, of the kindred families of Mali-spini and Pela-vicini, two younger branches of the House of Este. The "Fidanzata" refers to modern manners; the story beginning towards the close of the last century. It describes an old-fashioned mountain inn, and its hostess, a despotic and irascible character, a foe to all innovation, soured by the dreaded rise of rival establishments, in which it is impossible not to recognize a new version of our old acquaintance Meg Dods, in "St. Ronan's Well."

"Il Proscritto" and "Preziosa di Sanluri" are both Sardinian stories; nor can any country, the wild highlands of Scotland not even excepted, present a more unexplored, more primitive, more interesting region, and a more original race of people, than that half-inhabited, less-than-half-civilized island, the possession of which decorated Victor Amadeus of Savoy and his successors with the much-coveted title of Kings. "Preziosa" describes the island as it was under the dominion of the Arragonese in 1470. "Il Proscritto" is the autobiographical account of a young Genoese led by circumstances to view the island, long after the cession of its crown to the present dynasty. It is quite in the style of Frank Osbaldistone's sketch of Loch Lomond and its fierce mountaineers, during his visit to Rob Roy. The manners, feelings, superstitions, and traits of character of the natives of Sardinia have been pictured with the confidence of a man whom long residence on the spot has rendered a complete master of his subject.

"Gerolimi," or "the Dwarf of a Princess," is also a romance of modern manners; in this novel the author has adopted an epistolary style, which also was probably suggested by the correspondence of Darsie Latimer and his college friend in "Redgauntlet."

Finally, the last of Varese's novels, "Torriani e Visconti," is an account of the popular revolutions at Milan, by which, after a struggle of nearly half a century, the aristocratic power of the Ghibellines under the influence of the Visconti, was enabled to exterminate the Guelph or popular party, headed by the house of Guido della Torre. This novel is not, perhaps, the happiest of its author's productions. We see for the third time the characters of astrologers, court-fools, and other similar personages, which after their appearance in "Sibilla Odaleta," and "I

Prigionieri di Pizzighettone," might more judiciously have been spared. The style is also less natural and flowing, and the nature of the subject brings the Genoese writer into competition with several Milanese novelists, who have over him the advantage of a more distinct knowledge of localities, and a more intimate acquaintance with their national chronicles.

One of the most powerful writers who attempted to illustrate the history of Milan in works of fiction, is Giovanni Battista Bazzoni, who published his "Castello di Trezzo" long before 1828.* The subject of this novel is the murder of Bernabò Visconti in the vicinity of the Castle of Trezzo, by the hand of his treacherous nephew, Gian Galeazzo, in 1385. Bazzoni's second tale is "Falco della Rupe," "or The War of Musso." The real hero-notwithstanding the interest attached to the brave Mountain Hawk, an old sturdy highlander-is Gian Carlo de' Medici, afterwards the Marquis of Marignano, one of the most famous generals of Francis of France. The scene is laid on the shores of the Lake of Como, early in the sixteenth century, when the pure waves of that azure lake were darkened by the hundred sails of Gian Carlo, then at war with the Imperialists, and the luxuriant hills around shook with the report of his floating artillery. In both these stories, as well as in two volumes of shorter historical tales since published, Bazzoni strikes us by a few pictures drawn with a bold masterly hand, by a description of storms and battles, which might almost remind us of Salvator Rosa's style of painting. We think we can safely award him the title of the manliest of Italian novelists.

We wish we could speak with equal praise of the works of Giovanni Campiglio, a rather fastidious and confident literary man, since, being disposed to find fault with the prolixity of the Waverley Novels, he reproduced them in his own compendiary imitations or rifacimentos which he styled "Beauties. "Amenities of Walter Scott." His own original romances, meanwhile, generally relating to early dates of Milanese history, are not as recommendable for taste or style, as we might have reason to expect from an improver of Scott.†

or

* "Il Castello di Trezzo, Novella Storica di G. B. B." 3rd edit. Milan: Stella. 1828. 1 vol.

"Falco della Rupe, o La Guerra di Musso, Racconto Storico di Giovan Battista Bazzoni." Milan. 1829. 1 vol. 8vo.

"Racconti Storici di G. B. Bazzoni." Milan. 1830. 2 vols. 8vo.

+ "La Figlia di un Ghibellino, Romanzo Storico risguardante Milano al Cominciare del Secolo Decimo Quinto." Milan. 1830. (Being an account of the conspiracy to which Gian Maria Visconti fell a victim.)

"Uberto Visconti, Romanzo Storico, risguardante Milano ai Tempi di Bernabò e Gian-Galeazzo Visconti." Milan. 1831.

"Ludovico il Moro, o Condizioni, Usi, Costumi, Singolarità e memorabili Avveni