1. I intend, to be employed in your theatre, as first comic absolute singer, to sing only in comic and semi-serious of eras. 2. The first opera I am to appear in, to be of my own choice, and the singers who are to perform in it, to be to my satisfaction. 3. You will give me for my salary for the said season, two thousand guineas in gold, to be paid in equal payments monthly from the day of my arrival in London, until the end of the said season. 4. A free benefit night, free of all expenses, and ensured to amount to five hundred guineas, with liberty to give a new opera. 5. An advance of two hundred guineas, to be paid here in Milan, the moment the engagement is signed. 6. That the management of the Royal Theatre, are to furnish me in all the operas wherein I am to perform, the suitable greater or lesser dresses to my satisfaction. 7. That I may be allowed the liberty to have any private concert, it being always understood after my first appearance. 8. The accommodation of a carriage to take me to and from the theatre at all times. If Mr. Waters, the Manager, finds my proposals convenient, he may send me the engagement here in Milan; but I beg of him, which ever way he decides, to answer me by the return of post, for my guidance, for the other proposals I have from other towns. Believe me, with the most perfect esteem, This correspondent is, we believe, Mademoiselle Fabre, of whom Count Stendhal, in his Travels, thus speaks in that courteous modern French phraseology which gives pretty names to very naughty tricks: "she is said to be an absolute enthusiast in love-quite in love with love." What a pity we could not bring over so incomparable a" first comic absolute!" she might have greatly improved our amativeness by her example, and surely, for enlarging the sphere of our enjoyments, was well worth all the guineas she asked. The next letter is from a Madame C. at Naples, who was willing to come in March for 2500l.: this is succeeded by an equally liberal offer from Milan. account of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and the promise of resuming our analysis with that of the Temple of Solomon. The building whence they contemplated the object, for ever shut most peremptorily from Christian eyes, was, says Mr. Bramsen, About fifty steps from this celebrated spot, so that we had an excellent view of the existing structure, which edifice is supposed to cover the site where the ancient temple stood. expo With this modest epistle we finish our extracts; and when it is considered how much literature, as well as national taste, manners, and character, are involved in this subject, we are sure we shall not be thought to have devoted too much to its elucidation. We have felt, in common with all sober thinkers, sorry at seeing so many distinguished noblemen so ill employed as in this, to say the least of it, injudicious squabble;* but we are glad that it has led to so complete an sure of the scandalous impositions "attempted to be levied on the folly of England by foreign Artists, as they chuse to call themselves. For be it remembered, that very few of these letterwriters are at the head of their respective departments: in the initials we do not recognize those of Galli, Veluti, Donzilli, Pelegrini, Davide, jun. the Monbelli, nor many others of note in Italy. They are but the second and third rates, and yet the sums they demand to constitute an opera and ballet would amount to more than 50,000l. a season in salaries alone, and after all be insufficient to satisfy the expectations of some of the subscribers. We are not quite certain what such persons receive on the continent; but with the exception of some of the very highest favourites, we are much mistaken if these parties obtain one fourth of the sums they demand as the condition of favouring us with the exhibition of their talents. We are no enemies to the handsome encouragement of abilities, even should they be confined to the limbs of performers; but there is surely a reasonable point, beyond which we ought not to go, unless we wish to be made the laughing stock of every foreign harpy, who, after outwitting us of our money, returns home to enjoy it and the taunt at our tastelessness and folly together. many of The present building is called The Mosque of Omar, from the name of the founder, who was a rich Turk of the Turkish soldiers told us that he had of Damascus in the seventh century. One often been in the mosque, and that there marble in the best state of preservation. are many antique pillars of red and white The white wall which surrounds the buildings, precludes any thing like a connected view of the proportions of the edifice; but we could not repress our admiration at the magnificence and grandeur of the dome, and the beauty of its extensive arcades. The Turks told us, that it was certain death for any Christian to be found in the interior of the mosque. They related to us that many years ago a Christian obtained a firman of the Grand Seignior to examine the interior, and having arrived at Jerusalem, he presented his document to the Bey, who told him that he certainly was bound that therefore he was at liberty to enter the to respect the firman of Constantinople, and temple. After remaining for some hours in the interior, and having fully satisfied his curiosity, the Christian wanted to quit the place, but he found the door locked, and was informed that the firman gave him permission to go in, but not to come out again. The Bey kept him shut up till night came on, and then caused his head to be the walls of Jerusalem. cut off, and his body to be buried beyond None of the remaining sights about the Holy City seem deserving of being particularized. Modern Jerusalem apparently occupies only a part of the site of the ancient city; and there is so much confusion between Christian and Mahomedan monuments, that it is not easy to ascertain exactly even the most re markable of either. Several portions of the [existing] town are uninhabited and in ruins. Most of the streets are narrow, the houses low and mi Signora CP offers to serve for two Letters of a Prussian Traveller, &c. By serable, and the path obstructed with filth. scasons certain at the Opera House, in London, under the following contract; in serious opera to be Soprano, or principal Buffa in comic opera; her expenses to be paid from Italy to London, and apartments to be provided for her free of expense in that city; to have a salary of two thousand five hundred pounds per season, with a clear benefit during the season; a sum of money to be paid her, previous to her quitting this country in advance, to pay her expenses to England to have the naming of the opera in which she is to make her first appearance. The dresses for the stage to be found her. John Bramsen. 8vo. 2 vols. (Concluded.) The main street, however, is an exception to this, as many of the houses are lofty and well built. The peculiarity of their conIn our last we introduced this work to struction is that they are entered by wooden our readers, and, after noticing the ear- staircases, which project in front, and the lier portions of the route pursued by lower stories having no windows, give the Mr. Maxwell and his travelling compa- From this [the] want of a free circulation street a singular and gloomy appearance. nion (the writer of these volumes,) made of air, added to a general deficiency in a few extracts from the more interesting cleanliness, it is not to be wondered [at] descriptions of what occurred to them that this, as well as the other towns we in Egypt and Syria, concluding with an | passed through, should be periodically vi sited by one of the greatest calamities that | Palmyra, as well as other celebrated obcan afflict humanity. The number jects of curious research, they were now of the inhabitants is now reduced to about obliged to turn their faces again towards six thousand. The Christians suffer much Europe. Before leaving Saide for Cyfrom the avarice and cruelty of the present Bey, who exacts from them, particularly prus, however, which they did in a brig from the convents, the most exorbitant con- under Russian colours, commanded by tributions. We met him on the very a Greek from Corfu, they were day we left Jerusalem, attended by an escort of about twenty officers and soldiers, who were all on foot and well armed. As he is not more liked by the Turks than by the Christians, he never goes out without a numerous escort, and seldom ventures beyond the gates of the town, for fear some of the emissaries of the Grand Turk should be in waiting to carry him off. He appeared to be rather a good looking man, about forty years of age: he wore a blue velvet dress richly embroidered, and had a dagger at his side, studded with diamonds and other precious stones: but the costume of his escort was by no means in unison with that worn by their chief; like Falstaff's soldiers they were in truth a motley group. He stopped, and gave us an invitation to come and see him; but as our departure was fixed and every thing arranged accordingly, we were forced to decline this honour. Introduced to a Christian in the Levantine costume, who, during the late war, acted as interpreter to Sir Sydney Smith, and is now (1814) Major-Domo to Lady Esther Stanhope, who for several years past has been travelling in the Levant. He informed us that she was in a convent near the Druse mountains, where she had been confined by indisposition, from which, how ever, she was fast recovering. When this lady visited Saide she wore a Turkish dress, and rode an Arabian charger, to the astonishment and admiration of the Turks, who hold her in the highest estimation, and we heard in many places that she was actually imagined to be an English princess. Though only 80 or 90 miles from Saide, the voyage to Larneca in Cyprus occupied six days. The plague hindered them from seeing much of Cyprus; and, The climate of Jerusalem is regarded by though the narrative itself is entertainthe inhabitants as unhealthy; the heat during, we cannot within the scope of our ing the summer months is intense, and design enter into the details of the trouhardly a breeze to be felt, owing to its in- blesome and dangerous navigation which, land situation, and the high mountains by between storms and swarms of pirates, which it is enclosed. The country is besides subject to long droughts, the sky is our travellers experienced after leaving for months without a cloud, and thunder that island, along the coast of Caramastorms are almost unknown. The place is nia, and among the other isles of angenerally visited once a year by the plague, cient Greece. At Athens they lodged and many malignant fevers are prevalent with Mrs. Macrea, the widow of the late in the autumnal season. We saw but few English consul, who has three lovely insects, and hardly any musquitos or gress- daughters; one of whom is immortalhoppers. The immediate neighbourhood ized by being the subject of Lord of the town is very barren, so that the place Byron's beautiful poem : almost entirely depends on the neighbouring villages for supply: But the vallies that lie about two or three miles from Jerusa lem are very fertile, and produce abundant crops of tobaceo, wheat, barley, Indian corn, figs, olives, melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins; the vine also seemed in a very thriving state. and its produce can boast a very rich flavour, not unlike that of the muscatelle. Returning by Rama, our travellers were menaced with attack by the Bedouins; and as their path lay through hordes of these marauders, the journey was far from being either pleasant or safe. Their next trip was to St. Jean D'Acre, the Pacha of which being entirely guided by a Jewish premier, is friendly to strangers. Thence they sailed to Saide, a small town badly built, where there is no convent, and only a French consul, who received them hospitably. Here they were present at the celebration of the Fête of St. Louis. The only export of this place is an inconsiderable quantity of cotton. Being prevented by the plague from visiting the ruins of Maid of Athens, ere we part, Give, oh, give me back my heart! By those tresses unconfined, By those lids, whose jetty fringe By that lip I long to taste; By that zone-encircled waist; Maid of Athens! I am gore: Athens holds my heart and soul : Of Athens itself it was scarcely possible to tell us any thing which modern research has not anticipated, so copious have been the revelations from this classic spot within later years. The following is the only notice we can select, which may not be generally known. The visitors were accompanying Signor Lusieri through the memorable ruins and places; when descending from the Pnyx, that accomplished gentleman Pointed out some large stones to our notice, to which the superstition of the Athenian women has attributed certain singular and marvellous virtues. It seems they come here and glide down these stones on their backs, fancying it a sovereign remedy against sterility. One of the miraculous stones was actually worn quite smooth by this singular exercise. Our illustrious antiquary had never witnessed this exhibition himself, nor could he inform us whether it took place during the day or beneath the veil of evening; I should think the latter is the case, and no doubt the husbands of the credulous ladies are not permitted to be present at the performance of these rites, of old, the charm would be most likely otherwise, as at the Eleusinian mysteries broken, and the miraculous effects rendered doubtful. Mr. Bramsen is a warm advocate for Lord Elgin, and adds another testimony to the many which have now, we preman from the charges brought against sume, completely exculpated that noblehim respecting the removal of the Athenian marbles; and shewn, that so far from being guilty of bad taste or Vandalism, his Lordship was the saviour of Grecian Art, and thereby will be, we trust, its revivor in Britain. Of the Mainottes, Mr. B. has also a very bad opinion, and differs entirely from the favourable account of these banditti given by Dr. Clarke. The following adventure seems to corroborate his statements: Baron Stackleberg, who resided at the same hotel with us at Trieste, was captured near the Island of Hydra by a Mainotte privateer. The robbers carried him to their retreat among the mountains, where he was kept in a cave for several days, living on nothing but oil and onions, and sleeping the whole time upon the bare ground, without ever changing his clothes. Thus deprived of every comfort and of every hope, he must inevitably have perished, had it not been for the prompt and spirited exertions of Baron Haller, and Mr. Cockerell, an Englishman, of a spirit no less enterprising than his friend. Baron Haller received a letter from the Captain of the Mainottes, informing him that his friend was their prisoner, and demanding the sum of 18,000 piastres of the country as the price of his ransom and further stating, that if Baron Haller would bring this sum to a certain spot among the mountains, a party of his associates would meet him, and conduct him to the cave where his friend was confined. He concluded by observing, that if the sum was not produced at the time specified, it was rates and robbers, “land rats and water determined that the prisoner should lose to shorten the tale, the Baron was not to rized to offer; therefore, if it will not suffico, you must even keep the prisoner, and do with him what you please." The Captain replied, that he would not depart from the stipulated sum; and would only allow one day's grace to the prisoner. In fine, From these parts the travellers went as a distinguished British mission, and indifferent with regard to Napoleon. It is well known, that happening to be at the Princess of Wales's, who had just come from Naples, the senator gave such an account of his brother's movements, as none but a person intimately acquainted with facts could communicate: in the course of this conversation, he confidently stated, that the latter would be at Grenoble on the 6th of March, at Lyons on the 8th, and in Paris on the 15th, when there would be eighty thousand men under his command. By the foregoing assertion, it is evident that Lucien considered the revolution as completely effected. On perceiving the Pope's alarm at the idea of that man's return, who had oppressed him for so many years, the Prince of Canino persuaded his sovereign, that he could always confroul the policy of Buonaavailed himself of Lucien's mediation, when parte, and preserve his holiness from any future aggression. The pontiff had already Murat was marching a body of troops towards Rome, and thought he should now confide the interest of his states, as well as those of religion, to the same hands. It was by this artifice that the senator obtained passports to traverse Italy. On procuring here' he continued in the utmost secrecy, these, he entered France through Switzerland, and arrived at Paris late in April: having also preserved the strictest incognito on his journey from Rome. Although not one of his most intimate friends knew of Lucien's being in the capital for some time, he was nevertheless frequently at the Tuileries, and had many long conferences with Napoleon, by whom he was charged to conduct a negotiation of great moment with the British government: this failed even The senator went down to the coast to wait before the necessary passports were signed. for them, but not being allowed to cross the channel, he returned to Paris with the same secrecy he had left it. Lucien only stopped there a very short time, and then pursued his route towards Switzerland. Quitting his incognito at Verloix, he remained near that town for some time, in this did not take place. expectation of his family joining him, but The journey into Switzerland was concerted with Napoleon; for although the reThis is altogether a production abound-conciliation was complete and sincere, it ing with anecdote, and containing a became necessary for Lucien to conceal it great variety of pleasing intelligence for the present, lest some obstacle should respecting men and countries, interest-be thrown in the way of his family's leaving ing to every class of the community. Memoires secrets sur Lucien Buonaparte. umbrage to those persons who had seized (Concluded.) In the course now pursued by Buonaparte, of which there appears to be some new and important parts here developed, Lucien took an earnest concern: Lucien had, however, scarcely heard of the landing, when he suddenly threw off the mask, which had hitherto made his sentiments appear somewhat doubtful, and even Rome. On the other hand, it was of the utmost consequence that his return to power should be so managed, as not to give the reins of administration for the time being, and under whom Napoleon himself had been obliged to serve a species of tutelage, having found it impossible to regain all his power at once. From Lucien's position in Switzerland, the emperor hoped the senator would be able to open secret negotiations with Austria, and have greater facilities in stimulating the exertions of Murat. But as events soon began to accumulate, and become daily more pressing, particu- | larly when every hope of continuing at peace had vanished, and there was no longer any chance of dissolving the coalition, it was high time to think of opening the campaign. Of the performances of Lucien during this short revolutionary struggle, we think the following character bears the evident marks of truth; and were we to adopt the affected phraseology of the times, we would say, "it belongs to history." Installed in his new habitation, Lucien sought for celebrity in three distinct capacities, that of prince, minister of state, and poet all the public authorities hastened to compliment his highness, who studied to receive them with dignified politeness. In this respect the senator had a manifest advantage over his brother: no one could have a greater talent for blending ease and affability in his official communications than Lucien; so that he soon became the object of general applause in all the circles of the resuscitated court, as well as amongst the public functionaries: nor was adulation spared on this occasion; and a hireling newspaper, the Journal de Paris, which had but a few months before most severely criticised the poem of Charlemagne, now sang a fulsome palinode, containing an unbounded panegyric on the same composition! This was done at the risk of diminishing the printer's claim to veracity, as will be seen by the following anecdote :-M. Firmin Didot having presented himself at the Palais Royal soon after the arrival of his imperial highness, was shewn into the Prince; who began the conversation by asking, "Well! M. Didot, how does the book get on?" Very badly, indeed, please your highness,' replied the unfortu nate bookseller: the whole edition remains in the warehouse almost untouched.' —“What!" said the author, surely I have been criticised enough, to have given the public an inclination to read the poem ; but never mind; as all the abuse they have hitherto heaped on my work has not increased the sale, the praises which our critics are now sure of bestowing on it, will be of more use; and I promise you, that we shall get rid of this edition in no time, when another will no doubt be called for." Thus ended the conversation, and it is scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that the disaster at Waterloo soon destroyed the hopes of the poet and his publisher. The fact is, that the senator's credit was no less real than his influence was active. He was present at all the privy councils and other conferences held by the members of the government, also whenever the leaders of the two chambers met. To him Napoleon left the difficult task of preparing the public mind, and surmounting difficulties: in a word, Lucien had undertaken the very troublesome and thankless office of a conciliator, between the parties of every cast, which having at first united to support Na poleon, seemed now desirous of contending the prize of power with him, and at all events, of obliging the new government to compromise with themselves. The Prince of Canino fully succeeded in gaining over Carnot, who, of all the ministers, seemed to shew the senator most deference: these grand props of the restored dynasty were frequently together, and used to have very long interviews. NAP.-The forfeiture!--They dare not! LUC.—They will dare every thing, if you dare nothing. NAP.-Let us see Davoust. Leaving the garden, Napoleon returned to his cabinet, followed by Lucien: here the emperor remained plunged in a deep reverie, and shewing all the symptoms of irresolution, notwithstanding the pressing instances of the senator, who at length The efforts made by Lucien to sus- quitted the room, telling a secretary that tain his imperial relative were strenuous, was present, and who betrayed considerbut fruitless;-the decadence of the Buo-able uneasiness at what he saw, "What's to napartes was inevitable. be done? The smoke of Mount St. Jean has turned his brain: he is a lost man!" On saying this, he got into his carriage again, drove off to the Palais Royal, and Amongst the ministers, Carnot seemed to be the only person who remained a stanch supporter of the new government: a secret council being summoned, it was proposed to dissolve the two chambers; but the very imposing attitude assumed by that of the deputies, under Fouché's management, rendered the success of this scheme extremely improbable. Defeated in the Chamber, Lucien and the ministers retired to the Elysée, where all was consternation. there sat down to brood over his misfortunes, with scarcely a ray of hope remaining. Counteracted by Fouché in the Regency and other questions, the intrigues and zeal of Lucien, he insisted on a prompt flight to America, whither all the brothers would follow; and a note, signifying that such was the intention of June. Napoleon, was intercepted on the 26th of From this moment every hour became more pregnant with danger to the Corsican dynasty. Lucien, under the name of Count de Chatillon, fled to Boulogne, with the design of embarking for the United States. A courier caused him This laconic exclamation had scarcely to change his resolution; and, full of escaped Napoleon's lips, when Lucien con-apprehensions, he took the road to Italy After wandering ducted him into an adjoining arbour, where as Count de Casali. heard the following dialogue between the dread of being arrested by the Royalists a person attached to the emperor's person some time on the frontiers of Savoy, the and alarm had spread through the palace; On their return to the Elysée, uneasiness and the senator hurried from his carriage to the garden, in which Napoleon happened to be walking; on perceiving his brother, the emperor turned pale, and as suddenly became flushed. "Well!" said he to the senator. two brothers: LUCIEN. Where is your firmness now? what is the result of not daring to act under Why so irresolute? You must surely know such circumstances? NAPOLEON.-I have dared too much. LUC.-Too much and too little. Do so now for the last time. NAP.-A tenth of November? decree. The laws give you the power. NAP.-They no longer respect the constitution; and if they oppose the decree? LUC.-Then they are rebels, and dissolved of their own accord. to their assistance. NAP.-The national guard would come physical power of resistance. When called LUC.-The national guard has only a upon to act, the shopkeepers which comwives, daughters, and warehouses. pose it, will only think of taking care of their NAP.-If a tenth of November failed, it might cause another fifth of October.* LUC.-You deliberate when it is necessary to act; while they act without deliberating. NAP.-What can they do? They are mere talkers! they could pronounce your forfeiture to the LUC.-Public opinion is with them, and throne. * 1795. induced him to surrender to Count corps marching on Lyons. He was not Bubna, the commander of the Austrian ungraciously received by that officer, who dispatched an Austrian aid-du-camp to accompany him to Turin, where he arrived 12th July, with the intention of proceeding to Rome. But no sooner had he alighted at the hotel de l'Univers, than he was arrested and carried prisoner to the citadel. The close of Lucien's career we tran- | he has escaped, is more curious, though scribe in the words of the author: A decision of those ministers who represented the four principal powers, England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, at Paris, soon led to Lucien's release, and enabled him to proceed to Rome; where it was stipulated, that he should remain under the superintendence of the papal police, and on the express condition of his not quitting the Roman states. The intervention of Pius VII. was particular'y favourable to Lucien in this dilemma: indeed the holy father seems to have exhausted Christian charity in favour of the senator. the Prince of Canino was once more re nothing in the shape of originality repre sented for a great length of time. Our plays are mere contrivances of old materials, or should one new feature bé perceptible, we may rest assured that it has been pilfered from a foreign theatre. Plodding, in this branch, has entirely su perseded fancy; and there is absolutely no effusion of wit beyond what scissars and paste can amply account for. the exactitude of it may be doubtful. When he left France in 1804, the author says he had an income of 200,000 livres; a capital of 500,000 francs in Spain; the Hotel de Brienne, at Paris, and 200 pictures there, sold to his mother for 900,000 francs. He had also his salary as senator, and the revenue of the seignory of Poppelsdorp, making toRevenge takes its title from the indulgether 65,000 francs per ann.; and 1500 as a Member of the Institute. The gence of that passion by Angelo, the latter payments were, however, stopped abbot of San Martino, who to gratify his when he was ordered to quit France in hatred of Carantini, procures the elopeLeaving Turin on the fifteenth of Sep-1810, and his income consequently re- ment of one daughter, Victoria, whom tember 1815, accompanied by a Piedmon- duced from about 12,000l. to 8,500l. that ambitious noble had betrothed to tese officer, and passing through Modena, a year. Thus it is stated, but from his the Duke of Milan, and the death of his stored to the arms of his anxious wife and style of living he must have had much other daughter, Olivia, whom to secure the more. His expense in the purchase of alliance of the Duke by the accession of her family. works of art were immense-his collec- fortune, the unnatural parent had doomed tion was valued at 2 millions of francs. to take the veil. The elder sister bestows When in Italy he treated for the purchase herself on a cowardly fop, Celestini, and of Bassano, the chateau of the Giustiniani the madness and fate of the other is family, where the fine works of Domini-brought about by the murder, by Anchino are to be seen, but its owner asked gelo, of her lover, Rosalba, who had protoo high a price. He next tried to buy cured entrance to the cell in which she the Villa Hongroise on the site of the was confined. Having thus briefly given Baths of Dioclesian, celebrated for its vast the outline of the plot, we shall select a gardens, but the sum required for re- few specimens of the poetry; which is pairs caused this bargain also to go off. very unequal, as the writer has not only He then purchased the Palace of the Nug-indulged in a license not common to nez family, via Condotte, for about 150,000 francs, and about 100,000 more to render it habitable. He had previously acquired the estate of Ruffinella, and some surrounding property; the Villa Mecéné at Tivoli, RoccaPriore, Dragoncella and Apollina, ancient lordships or dismemberments of fiefs, worth about 35,000 francs per ann. Canino was his last purchase, and Louis and Joseph lent him money to complete these acquisitions. Jerome also lent him 100,000 florins when King of Westphalia, but turned out so imperious a credi-Welcome as cheering blaze midst Zembla's snows. tor, that Lucien pawned his wife's diamonds to repay the debt. Here Lucien seemed at first resigned to his fate, and even appeared to meditate somewhat philosophically on the vanity of human wishes. The senator's conduct was also exceedingly circumspect; but whether he did not consider himself as sufficiently free at Rome, or that his ardent mind began to indulge in some new projects of ambition, a most pressing application for passports to the United States of America was made by him towards the end of 1816. Soon after which it was discovered, that having deliberated on this request, the allied ininisters sent a qualified refusal, deciding that he should still continue under the inspection of the police at Rome. heroic verse, viz. in the introduction of many Alexandrines, and other lines still more excessively lengthened, but also in images, the strength of which do not compensate for their trite familiarity, which is below the dignity of the Tragic Muse. Olivia on taking from a marble pillar, the place of its deposit, a letter left for her by Rosalba, says, Yet, like the moth that flutters round the flame, [She reads the letter, and puts it into her bosoin. Rest there, brief pledge of truth and constancy, Where he that traced thee will for ever dwell. error,* Having thus fulfilled the task proposed, and conducted our hero to the last eventful scene of his political life, we trust the pledge given in the introduction to these Memoirs, has been amply redeemed; and that the authentic sources from whence gar materials have been drawn, will tend in no trifling degree to the elucidation of a subject which has hitherto created opinions with respect to the Buonaparte family as foreign to truth as they are injurious to the best interests of society. It is also hoped that while the minor details of this work have contributed to the reader's amusement, the historical records and reflections which accompany them will not be altogether without their effect in aiding the great cause of morals and public liberty: by holding vice np to well merited reproach, exemplifying its short-lived triumph, and above all, shewing the real motives that have actuated the conduct of a family which might have still enjoyed the highest dignities in Eu- This play is published without having rope, had the individuals composing it be- been acted, and possesses in many pastrayed a greater regard for virtue, and lis-sages more poetical merit than could be tened to the prophetic voice of that PUBLIC well ascribed to it altogether as a producOPINION to which their fall can alone be tion likely to succeed upon the stage. The deadly halo of a father's curse. Recoils upon itself, and starting, shews attributed! For its defects are not those of talent, I ken no succour till that grizzly king, The work concludes with a eritical but of skill in dramatic composition: Whose outstretched jaws for ever wait their prey, examination of the Poem of Charle-a species of literature now hardly culti-Shall seize this form for worms to revel on, magne, and some of the orations deli-vated at all; and when cultivated, fol- And from its prison loose my troubled spirit. vered by Lucien; but these have no-lowed in so hackneyed and mechanical a Her prayer to Angelo when he disthing of interest now. The statement way as utterly to banish imagination of the fortune with which it is affirmed and genius. In truth, we have had Revenge, or the Novice of San Martino, a Service. And in the very strife of angry passions, How beat to steer in this dark sea I know not,- * Such lines as this are out of all poetic rule. |