most of their wealth, and threw thousands of innocent individuals into unmerited distress: it swept away communal property, church tithes, charitable foundations, public as well as fiscal treasuries: it stripped the palace of the noble and the cottage of the peasant, the altars of the church, and the museums and libraries of the nation. And all this was done, not as in France, by the impulse of any great class or portion of the people; it was done against the wish of the immense majority of the Italian populations, whose opposition was overcome by foreign bayonets. The revolution was not spontaneous in Italy; it was forced upon the country. Even the more sincere among the Italian republicans exclaimed, Volevo pioggia, ma non tempesta-"We wanted a shower, but not a hurricane." The hurricane has long since passed away; its victims lie mute and forgotten in the grave, and no complaint of their's now disturbs the complacency of those who, remote from those times of violence and danger, coolly calculate the advantages which have resulted from the revolution. That the present generation has derived some advantages from past convulsions we readily admit. The most important of these advantages is the improvement effected in the judicial system. Instead of the former multifarious local statutes in almost every province or district, of the barbarous and often clashing laws and edicts of Goths and Lombards, German emperors and Spanish viceroys, every Italian state has now a uniform code, printed and published, so that every individual may be acquainted with the laws under which he lives. This is no small advantage, compared with the former obscurity and uncertainty. The compilation of the laws began in the last century in Tuscany, Piedmont, and other states. Napoleon, however, extended the principle to all Italy. The French civil and commercial codes have remained in force, with some modifications, at Naples and Genoa. The Austrian code is in vigour in Lombardy, and that of Leopold in Tuscany; the Sardinian code in Piedmont, &c. The registry of mortgages has been maintained. As to criminal matters, the publicity of trials exists in several states, such as Naples and Tuscany; and everywhere the courts of justice have been established upon a uniform system, one in every province, and courts of appeal in the respective capitals. Torture has been abolished. The principle of In the ex-kingdom of Italy alone, which was about one-fourth of the whole Peninsula, church property was sold to the amount of 200 millions of francs, and an equal quantity was annexed to the national domain. The amount of the sales in the rest of Italy is not ascertained. In Tuscany alone there were five hundred municipal statutes previously to the reform made by Leopold. equality in the eye of the law is universally acknowledged. Every relic of feudal servitude or feudal jurisdiction has been removed. The numerous fidei-commissi, and other mainmorte property, have been unshackled and restored to circulation. The laws of inheritance are in most of the Italian states upon a more equitable footing than formerly. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction no longer interferes in temporal matters. The progress of education, of tolerance of opinions; the extension of the arts of industry; the many material improvements both in town and country, the roads, canals, draining of marshes, new harbours, manufactories, houses of industry, &c.-these are matters of common notoriety. Suchto say nothing of a corresponding intellectual and moral progress among the people are the advantages which Italy has gained during the five-and-thirty years that have elapsed since the beginning of the present century. It were an error to suppose that the restoration has stopped this progress. The restoration, to use the words of a discerning Italian writer, "has restored old names rather than old things." Few universally acknowledged abuses have been restored. And here the work No. 3 on our list becomes of particular use to the reader of Italian history. It is a continuation of the worthy Muratori's Annals of Italy, which closed with the year 1750. Coppi has continued the series down to 1819. Muratori's and Coppi's together constitute a work chiefly for reference, in which facts are registered by order of dates, and they are written upon a different plan from that of a general comprehensive history, like those of Guicciardini and Botta. But many minute facts and details are more clearly and quickly found in a book of annals than in one of general history. Each work has, therefore, its peculiar merit, and both together may be considered as forming a tolerably complete course of modern Italian history. Botta's contemporary History ends with 1814; Coppi brings his Annals down to 1819, and thus registers many important occurrences of the various Italian states after the restoration. Coppi has carefully collected the official documents, treaties, general laws, and public institutions, as well as the military or civil facts, which occurred in the various parts of Italy during the eventful years 1796-1819, with honest sincerity, taking care to refer the reader to the original authorities. ( 97 ) ART. IV.-1. Roman de la Violette, ou de Gerard de Nevers, en vers du xiiime Siècle, par Gibert de Montreuil; publié pour la première fois, d'après deux Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Royale. Par Francisque Michel, Paris, 1834. 8vo. 2. Roman d'Eustache le Moine, Pirate Fameux du xiiime Siècle; publié pour la première fois, d'après un Manuscrit de la Bibliothèque Royale. Par Francisque Michel. Paris et Londres, 1834. Svo. 3. La Riote du Monde. Le Roi d'Angleterre et le Jongleur d'Ely (xiime Siècle); publié d'après deux Manuscrits, l'un de la Bibliothèque Royale, l'autre du Musée Britannique. Paris, 4. Tristan: Recueil de ce qui reste des Poëmes relatifs à ses Aventures, composés en François, en Anglo-Normand, et en Grèc, dans les ximé et xiiime Siècles; publié par Francisque Michel. Paris et Londres, 1835. 2 tomes. 8vo. SIR Robert Walpole pronounced "History a fiction:" we shall not here stop to inquire into the validity of the principles upon which his assertion was founded, but, believing the converse of the proposition, namely, that all fiction is history, to be nearer the truth, we purpose recommending to our readers the curious specimen of early Romance, the title of which heads the list of works arranged at the commencement of this article, as deserving of their attention in a two-fold manner-firstly, with regard to its character as a work of fiction; and secondly, with reference to the historical illustrations of contemporary manners with which the narrative is interspersed. The Roman de la Violette, by Gibert or Gyrbert de Montreuil, and which appears to have been written about the year 1225, was long since pronounced by Roquefort to be one of the most agreeable productions of the thirteenth century; and the perusal of it justifies, in the fullest, this eulogium. The plot, which resembles that of Cymbeline, is ingeniously contrived and clearly developed, while it is at the same time related in a style which adds new charms to it, the narrative never being interrupted, as is too frequently the case in compositions of this period, by long digressions on theology or love. Although the subject of the romance is not historical, for there never existed a Count of Nevers of the name of Gerard, or of any other name, to whom the adventures related by our poet can possibly be referred, yet the work, from the admirable delineations of ancient manners which are scattered over its pages, is of great historical value. "En outre, cet ouvrage," says M. Michel, in his admirable introductory notice," indépendamment du plaisir qui peut procurer sa lecture, nous VOL. XVII, NO. XXXIII. H fournit presque tous les moyens d'étudier complétement la tournure de l'esprit françois et l'état de la langue romane d'oil dans le premier quart environ du xiiime siècle." And, in fact, the Roman de la Violette presents a picture of le bon vieux temps, as charming and characteristic as any one of the time of Louis Quatorze from the aristocratic and social pencil of Watteau. "As Watteau painted so did Gibert sing!" It is, in sooth, a Fashionable Novel of the thirteenth century, by the Bulwer of the day; and as such we think it cannot fail to amuse our readers, and to give them some correct notions of the spirit of the age in which it was produced. After a few introductory remarks, the story commences as follows: "Whilom in France there reigned a king, Was this King. Louis was his name." The monarch here referred to is Louis the Eighth, who is represented as holding upon an Easter day in the month of April a "cour biele et gentil" at Pont-de-l'Arche. Never since Noah made the ark were seen such numbers assembled. The king feasted them royally; and their joy found utterance in song. The Countess of Besançon, sister of the Bishop of Lincoln, commenced with the ballad "Alés bielement, que d'amor me dueil." "Il ot en France .j. roi jadis, Hardis as armes et aidans; Molt honora les chevaliers ; She was followed by the Duchess de Bourgoigne, who had a "clear voice and good song," and she again was succeeded by a host of noble ladies, whose names and performances are duly recorded. When this amusement had continued for some time, the party, ranged themselves hand in hand along each side of the hall, and the King passed down between them, making his remarks as he went along. The royal attention was speedily arrested by a noble youth who, with falcon on his wrist, displayed so much manly beauty that every lady who beheld him was captivated. This was of course no less a person than the hero of the poem. "Gerard was this vassal's name, Who certes was of well-known fame; That he would please them with a song." Gerard, who was as courteous as handsome, complied with her request, and the song, which of course touched upon the tender passion, prompted him to boast of the charms and fidelity of his mistress, the fair Oriaut, Gerard was too good-looking and agreeable not to stir up a feeling of jealousy and discontent in the hearts of some of his hearers. Among those whom he thus grievously displeased was Lisiart Comte de Forois, who sought to represent him as an empty boaster, and offered, with the King's permission, to stake his lands against those of Gerard, that the fidelity of the lady would not withstand his temptations. Gerard, fired at the observation, accepted the wager, which the King was at length induced to sanction. Upon this Lisiart took his departure, accompanied by ten chevaliers, all in the garb of pilgrims, and drew nigh to Nevers, where the fair heroine Oriaut was espied seated at a turret window, listening to the pleasant warbling of the birds, sighing at the thoughts of her absent lover, and seeking solace for his absence in “ un bon son poitevin." "Quant canté ot la damoisselle Sa main a mise à sa maisiele." Into this tower Lisiart and his companions were received for the night, and Oriaut descended into the hall, accompanied by her "Li vasaus ot Gérars à non, Qui molt estoit de grant renom; Li ot projé sour toute rien La chastelaine de Dijon K'il die .j. vier d'une chançon."-page 11. |