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    Nov. 10, 1855.1 THE PAPER, , 1085

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    HISTORY OF PIEDMONT History of Piedmont....

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    A New Novel. Doctor Antonio. A Tale By T...

    « Lorenzo Benoni , " lie in the personages of the tale . The Italian doctor jnSrSkeliis ^ lace in the gallery of the admirable characters of con temporary S > n His noble independence , his gentleness and patience , his high inteffiffence , his pure , generous , manly heart , his love for his country , and his SnS readiness ^ sacrifice himself and bis own interests forthe comfort and the good of others , contribute to present " Doctor Antonio ; ' to us as the beau ideal of a Christian gentleman . Let us add , in | ustice to the author that this noble study from human nature in its best aspects , is nowhere defaced by exaggeration . The melodramatic rhodomontade and sentimental nonsense so disastrously associated with . Italian characters in so many English fictions , cannot , it is delightful to say , be traced anywhere in this novel , from beginning to end . Doctor Antonio appears before the reader in many and various aspects ; but he never once outrages the modesty ot Nature—the simple beauty of his character is admirably preserved to the

    very last . . , Not less excellent in its way is the portrait of the pretty , modest , graceful , English girl . We love , admire , and pity her—she is essentially a character that wins our sympathies at the outset , and keeps them to the end . More than this , she is a recognisable , living reality— -we see her and hear her , as we read . Her pretty sayings , her gentle fortitude under pain , the gradual growth of her innocent , grateful fondness for the doctor ( touched by the author -with the most exquisite delicacy ) , interest us , as the sayings , doings , and feelings of a dear and well-known friend . We shall be mistaken , indeed , if " Lucy " be not the spoiled child of the reader ' s affections , long before he has read half-way through , the book . The prejudiced English baronet is hardly so successful . In the earlier part of the story , especially , his failings are the weak points of a purse-proud

    Manchester manufacturer , rather than those of a stiff-necked English gentleman of old family . He gets more true to nature , however , as he goes on , and becomes more and more subdued and humanised by the kindl y people of the village inn . The hostess , her daughter " Speranza , " and the boatman " Battista , " are all master-pieces of humourous truth . No oae who has ever travelled in Italy , can fail to recognise them as honest and hearty studies from nature . Equally good , in another way , is the amusing sketch of a respectable English physician settled in a foreign town . Indeed , all the minor characters grouped about " Doctor Antonio " and " Lucy , " possess the great excellence of individuality . Not an opportunity is lost of making the most of every one of them .

    The book has its faults , of course ; but they are , we sincerely believe , of a kind that further experience will go far to remedy . A little compression would have benefitted the work greatly in many parts , and some more contrast in the incidents would have" added immeasurably to its interest . When we have hinted these defects , and have farther expressed our surprise that the author—so careful in other points—should not have taken more pains to interweave the political passages of the book as attractively as possible with the main business of the story , we shall have satisfied our critical sense of duty , and may address ourselves to the p leasanter duty of calling the reader ' s attention to the excellence of the style in which " Doctor Antonio " is written . If it be remembered that the author is a foreigner , the following specimen of his powers of description , in our language , will say more for his mastery of English , than any set eulogies that his critic could pronounce : —

    To the north a long-, long vista of deep , dark , frowning gorges , closed in the distance by a gigantic screen of snow-clad Alps , —the glorious expanse of the Mediterranean to the south . —east and west , range upon range of gently undulating hills , softly inclining towards the sea , —in the plain below , the fresh cosy valley of Taggia , with its sparkling tract of waters , and rich belt ot gardens , looking like a perfect mosaic of every gradation of green , chequered with winding silver arabesques . Ever and anon a tardy pomegranace in full blossom spread out its oriflamme of tulip-shaped dazzling red flowers . From the rising ground opposite frowned mediaeval Taggia , like a discontented guest at a splendid banquet . A little farther off , westward , the eye took in the Campanile of the Dominican Church , emerging from a group of cypres & es ; and further still , on the extreme verge of the western cliff , the sanctuary of our lady of the Guardia showed its white silhouette against the dark blue sky .

    A half fretful , half plaintive , " Now , Lucy , my dear , if you would only put off your enthusiasm till after dinner , " from Sir John , interrupted Miss Davenne ' s silent but delighted survey , and brought her at once to her father ' s side . They sat down to a succulent dinner , of which Sir John partook with an alacrity and zest highly complimentary to the hygienic qualities of the mountain nir . The repast being over , Lucy proposed that they should take coffee on the terrace , which being agreed to by her father , they immediately went thither , and Sir John , after sipping his Mocha , and paying an ample tribute of admiration to the loveliness of the view , took the Ttmet from his pocket , and plunged into its columns . Lucy and Antonio thus left to themselves sat watching in silent wonder the glories of the evening hour .

    The sky was bright and limpid as polished steel , save where three lovely cloudlets , like long ecarfd of orange gauze , hovered inlthe west . The sun , half hidden behind the brow of the western mountain range , shot through the breaks of the lower hills in front come of its raya in fiery columns aslant the valley . As the dazzling orb sunk slowly , the zone of shade on the mountain opposite rose with corresponding progress , and , like a tide of dark waters , chasing before it the broad sheets of light , narrowed them by degrees to a purple line , -which lingered for a while on the topmost ridges , the last farewell , then vanished with a quiver . Now the foremost range of the chain resumes at enco the rigidity of its outlines , while in the background , behind which the sun has

    gone down , float in a transparent mist of lapis-lazzuli and pink . The sky in the west is a glorious furnace , the warm reflections from which , befleck with crimson the distant enow of the Alps , p nd light up the horizon of the sea . Another moment the reddish glare pales and gives -way , the shadows thicken in the vnlley beneath , and the gorges to the north darken nnd darken apace . The fiery coruscations in the west have softened into subdued rosy tints , and these in their turn , by a harmoniously graduated scale , fade into a greenish mother-of-pearl transparency , which pusses from grey to azure , until ¦ west arid east merge into a uniform deep blue , spangled hero and there with a trembling star .

    " And our beautiful clouds ? " said Lucy . ?• Gone ! " replied Antonio , sadly ; " emblem of many o bright hope , vanishing even as you watch them . " " But they will come again to-morrow , " said Lucy naively , and in so saying she bent lier head a little towards Antonio , the evening breeze carried some of her golden curia over his lips , aa if offering them to his kiss .

    " Who can tell , " said he , " but that black clouds pregnant with thunder will envelop those summits to-morrow ? ' * We wish we could quote , at sufficient length , some one of the many interviews that take place between " Doctor Antonio" and his charming patient ; but we have not space enough to exhibit our author fairly at his best , and must , therefore , refer our readers at once to the book itself . We can , with perfect sincerity , recommend "Doctor Antonio" to them , as a novel which is certain to interest and to please -eaders of all classes . Both a 3 to purpose and execution , it is one of the most genuinely successful fictions that we have read for a long time past .

    Nov. 10, 1855.1 The Paper, , 1085

    Nov . 10 , 1855 . 1 THE PAPER , , 1085

    History Of Piedmont History Of Piedmont....

    HISTORY OF PIEDMONT History of Piedmont . By Antonio Gallenga . Chapman and Hall . CAEiiYLB , in his essay on History , says — " Here , as in a other provinces , there are artists and artisans , men who labour mechanically in a department , without eye for the whole , not feeling that there is a whole ; and meu who inform and ennoble tie humblest department with an idea of the whole , and habitually know that only in the whole is the partial to be truly discerned . " In these days of swifc book-making , artisans in history drug the market . They give us volumes of extracts from reliable authorities , and string relation tne

    together narratives , opinions , and assertions that have jjo one xo the other . The utmost we can do is to hope that such things were ; but vain is any attempt to fiud out their why and because , or to connect the deeds said to be done with the men who did them , or the causes that influenced their action ! " 'Tis a' a muddle ! " was the conclusion poor Stephen Blackpool came to in reference to our social laws . " 'Tis a' a muddle 1 we repeat , closing the histories manufactured by the aTtisan fraternity . Not so with regard to the book before us . Antonio Gallenga has made good his claim to the title of an " artist" in history . He is an old friend . As Mariotti , his " Italy Past and Present , " " Italy in 1848 , " have proved fertile media of instruction to the English student of Italian affairs . Now , the eloquent recounter of Italy ' s glories that were , her wrongs and wrong doings that are , her chances and hopes that yet may be , stands beiore us as * the ave historianthe matter-of-fact recorderof the doings-and

    gr , beings of the Piedmontese and their rulers , from tbe earliest to the present times . Piedmont and the « History of Piedmont " resemble each other . From a mass of heterogeneous materials the Savoy princes and their historian have wrought out a complete and symmetrical whole ; and this , not by merely cementing the fragments , but by blending the elements . Looking at the little valley of Maurienne , which formed , eight centuries ago , the sole territory of the first Count of Savoy , we cannot Xut honour the tact and wisdom with which his successo rs have brought together and consolidated the different states now forming the compact kingdom of Sardinia , whose people , sprung from divers races , unite to-day in calling the present heir ot t hat P long line of princes " the Galantuonao . '' So in recalling thej grimfolios &( chroniclers and genealogists

    of Guichenou , Muratori , Terraneo , Chiesa , c . of the different states and only of a portion of their history ) , which , with some help from modern fragments and collateral writers is all the material at hand , do we heartily appreciate the three readable volumes on our table , which form the only complete « History of Piedmont " that exists either in English or Italian . Not that we agree in all M . Gallengas opinions , moreover , we are surprised at the modification and even alteration of certain views of his concerning people and events . We speak of the ^ erial sought out from nvery corner where it lay hidden , and of the able manner in which it has been judged to be fact or no fact , and as such set aside , or brought to bear upon the " whole . " The student who has been waiting for the continuation of Cibrario ' s " Storia della Monarchia di Savoia ever since of

    1844 , must read and judge for himself how far this work is capable supplying its place . For the benefit of those to whom the History of Piedmont possesses little intrinsic interest , wo will give such extracts as shall show the General tenour of the book , and the author ' s method of handling his subject . The purpose of the work is " to study the causes which led to the formation of the state of Piedmont , and gave it stability ; to bring the whole part to bear upon the whole present ; to inquire how far the long-continued success and advancement of that country has been owing to the mere advantages of geographical position , and to what extent it may also be ascribed to the peculiar genius of its princes , and the rare temper of its people . " . These three distinct causes , to which Piedmont ' s prosperity may be ascribed , are carefully kept in view . The chapter devoted * o the description of Piedmont , that " State of God ' s own making ; " " The barrier which Prnvirl « n ™ reared un for the defence of Italy , " " which may , perhaps , yet

    work out the deliverance of the country . " is sufficiently graphic to make us ¦ wish to know something of the people . who inhabit it . Scattered among the minutest statistic details are fresh bits of ecenery and sunny landscapes , that must have been parted under the olive shadows of Nice or in the noonday mystery of Chiavari ' s orange groves . Who , that is acquainted with Italian scenery , will not recognise the following descriptions ?—' < Within a distance of thirty to fifty miles the crescent of the Alps and Apennine , from the clould-like BUinmit of Monte lioia to the pass of the Bocchotta above « enoas rises clear and vivid , a mountain range more than four hundred miles in length , ; so distinctly sometimes , in the ineffable purity of that Italian atmosphere , that the foremo 8 t bluffs and cliffs , here insenbibly sloping , there towering loftily over Ita pU « J with their castles , towns , convents , and sanctuaries perched on their crests , would «™« w Bcem to come within the reach of the beholder ' s hand , although the nea res t of tIl 0 £ the hill on which the royal castlo of ltivoli stands—in little less than eight miles rrom the capital . " M

    » As the sublime region of Mont B anc i « approached , the Ajw fell , majestically eastwards , The Sovereign Mountain » t « . lf ¦« »• vl » J ™» , ,, „ , „ £ nd owing to the prodigious height of the ridges that branah out from tuo ^ ^ ^ behind those same stupendous ridgea , the eternal and « " "" ' ¦ t | ll ttt iaat Monte Volan , Mont Conbin , and Mont Oenta , BucceHalvcIy tound no v . _ Komi is reached-a thoroughly Italian ' ^ unU . n « tjndwff ^ ^ jUmb « rdy . » the very cross in that Alpine diadem , vislWo to i" ° » HUI

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10111855/page/17/