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Leader (1850-1860), 23rd August 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 805, Untitled Article

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      «« In its long neck ' s hidden muscle drive the claws that deeply tear ; , . , . , O ' er the spotted flank of the steed is hanging the rider ' s yellow hair . , , "With a low deep moan of anguish flies he o er the sandy ground ; See the swiftness of the camel , joined to the panther s bound . " Now the moonlit sands he is spurring with his flying tread , From their caverns glare his fiery eyes , all starting from his head . Down his dark neck , long and spotted , bloody drops are fleeting , Of the heart of that winged creature the deserts hear the beating .

      " his track the obscene vulture flies swooping through the sky ; On his spoor the grim hyaena , plunderer of the graves , is nigh . After bounds the agilepauther—how the Caffres dread his wrath , Blood and sweat of fiercest anguish paint the forest monarch ' s path . * ' Trembling they see , on his living throne , the savage monarch there , With his fierce sharp claws deep driven in , his colour'd saddle tear . Ever , till his life is over , must the giraffe hurry fast ; By no rude shock that monarch can from his throne be cast .

      " Reeling to the desert ' s boundary falls the charger dead ; his blood Bestain'd carcase , travel-worn , is his royal rider ' s food . Far in the east , in Madagascar , rises morn on airy pinions ; So rides the wild beast ' s monarch by night through his dominions . "

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      REVOLUTIONS OF ITALY . Qli ultimi Rivolgimenti Italiani , Memorie Storiche , con Docuincnti inediti di £ ' , A . Gualterio ( the late Italian Revolutions ) . Vol . I , in three parts . D . Nut We have here history on a gigantic scale . F . A . Gualterio brings out an account of the late Italian revolutions ; the first volume of which—a volume in three large octavo volumes—onl y comes down to the accession of Pius IX . to the Pontificate . The work is published in Florence , and has made considerable sensation , especially in Tuscany and Piedmont . Significant facts all these . Publications of this nature must be looked upon asunrnistakeable signs of the times . From 1815 to 1846 " there was onl y one party among the Italian patriots ; it was thought the countr y had nothing to hope but from revolution . Between 1840 and 1846 , a new set of men sprang up , who proclaimed that the revolution was an impossibility , and that the cause of Italy could best be advanced by reconciliation . This latter party had it almost all their own way up to the downfall of Charles Albert at Milan , in August 1848 . Since then , the revolutionary party gained a decided ascendancy , and was able to raise a monument of national glory even in the brilliant catastrophe of Rome in July , 1849 . What did then the conciliatory party—that of Gioberti , D'Azeglio , Farini , and ( iualteiio—expect of their countrymen ? That they should all with one mind make friends with ( heir princes and bring them all , in due time , into open collision—into mortal struggle with Austria . Up to February 1848 , the plan seemed to succeed ; the reconciliation was complete , however hollow ; and Mazzini seemed a cypher . They went to war , were soundl y beaten , and Mazzini was once more the Italian potentate .

      The Mazzinians point to Rome , to Naples , to Tuscany , to Parma and Modena , and cry out with bitter exultation : — " Such arc thy rulers , () Italy these the men that ( iioberti and ( Jo . wished us to bow to or take by the hand ! that imbecile prie .-t the head of an Italian League ! that brutal Bourbon i » . h right aim ! lias not lHf >() cured you of all the infatuation of lH-J / ? Js then ; any hope of reconstruction , nave only in all-sweeping destruction ? any regeneration , save only in a baptism of blood ?

      I'hen ; are not many that recommend hucIi nieaminis in plain words ; but , truly , those who conn ironi Naples or Rome , be they even English ConwervativcN , must feel the words rising to their lips I ' o mend a lung , " said Allieri , " you must unmake him . " " J'er fur mi l lions tin n \ eouvien disfarlo . " Sieh kings as now rule over Italy , most , certainly . " H then be impossible—as who would deny it ? l » r-oiMi to terms with men of Liu ; temper of Fer-Umaud of Waplea , or | Lcopold of Tuscany , the

      Mazzinians justly contend— " What chances are there for Italy , save only in unsparing Republicanism ? What ground to build our new edifice upon , save only God and the People ?" On the other hand , the conciliatory party—some call them " Moderates " or " Constitutionalists "have their tower of strength in Turin , their shrine in Charles Albert ' s coffin , amongst the tombs of the royal house at Superga . " Here / ' they say , "is almost the only free state in Continental Europe , and it is the only one that ventured on no revolutionary experiment—the only state in Italy that fairly , fully , and implicitly trusted its princethat prince , too , the blackest , or , at least , the most calumniated o ( Italian rulers—and it isnowrewarded

      by a loyalty and uprightness of which no other instance occurs in the annals of royalty . With all the enormities of the tyrants of Central and Southern Italy , Sardinia and its constitutionalism are still the national palladium . The House of Savoy must ultimately either force the most hideous tyrants to follow its own policy , or must wrench their states from them : a federal or a united monarchy must necessarily arise in Italy under the auspices of that Prince who alone knew how to base his throne on popular opinion . "

      To return to the past . All works of the nature of the one now in our hands are the mere outpouring of all the uncharitableness of the one party against the other . Farini and Gualterio , the last writers who are making their way before the English public , have sent us little better than an indictment against Mazzini and the Mazzinians . Farini writes with dignity , and generally with common sense . Gualterio , on the contrary , takes the most extreme views of the subject . Charles Albert was for him , from the very beginning , the angel of Italy—Mazzini , her evil genius .

      " Endowed with an obstinate will , with , deep skil in conspiracy , Mazzini , " he says , " easily found himself at the head of a large multitude of young patriots , who were then ( in 1831 ) raging with disappointment , and would , in their chagrin , have joined any party rather than be doomed to inactivity . Mazzini , by nature addicted to mysticism , a man of simple and affable manners , of an easy goodnature which won him the reputation of integrity , a man of information and scholarship , without the gift of true eloquence , resorted to a fantastic language which was sufficiently striking for its novelty , although it only served to mantle the barrenness of his ideas . These wore

      indeed few , and might , in fact , be reduced to two only , upon which , as on a pivot , all his system—if we may use such a word—was made to revolve . His motto was , ' Cfod and the People . ' Uy the first lie meant to inspire his followers with faith in the future , as if his mission were the result of , and rested on the Divine will ; so that , seemingly , ho aspired to the glory of a prophet—I had almost said of a Mahomet . By the second , he raised the standard of Democracy ; and by both , he evidently aimed rather at a social than a political revolution . It is , however , important to observe , that he encompassed himself with desperate characters , uomini perduti d ' opinionc , with demagogues—men suflicient in themselves to stain the

      most intemerate reputation and to ruin the holiest cause . " It is not necessary for us to follow up the diatribe to any greater extent . Mazzini ' s character is now firmly established in this country , and we know him , perhaps , better than his own Italians themselves . Much that is perfectly true respecting him will be found in this as well as in other attempts to abuse him : much is said to his disparagement , which , in our judgment , turns to his greatest credit .

      In the first place it ; is quite frue that be is the conspirator par excellence—the most unremitting and indefatigable . We must never forget that , during the whole rei gn of Louis Philippe , from lH : tl to 1818 , he alone was astir when all Italv — almost all Europe—was falling into an ignominious lethargy . In the second place , it may be true that be comports himself as a Prophet : he doe . s bear as

      distinctly the marks of n Prophet , as any man ever did . _ Had Oudmot taken and ignonm . iously cruci / ied him m Home , we know not ; | 1 O \ v far Italy and the world would go m their worship of lus divinit y . ( Jualterio talks of the paucity of Ma / . znu ' s ideas ! but , there , s an Italian saying ha verity Sunn sola" ( There is only one tnilli m the world ) . Mazzini is too deeply im-1 »™ n «< I with bin own trutb to admit ol another H ia not for such men as Farini or Gualterio to mete , him with their own measure . It is for the world and its irresistible march to give a practical m erpretation to hi . simple but , alread y & £ lul ideas . Certaml y those who cried anathema

      against him as he withdrew from Milan little expected that all Europe should , a few months later , fall prostrate before the transcendant genius of the Roman Triumvir . The man lives yet , and the whole future before him , and the world nearer to a Metternichian deluge than it was even in 1848 . Whatever may be the feelings of friends or enemies , Mazzini is not a man to be spoken of without reverence ; and we were nevermore deeply under the influence of that feeling , than as we read the pompous and insipid tirades of Gualterio against him .

      We shall waste only a few words more about this bulky production . It is meant as little more than an apotheosis of Charles Albert " the Magnanimous . " In his panegyrist ' s opinion that King never , for one instant , played fals e to the cause of his country . Placed in direct hostility with Austria ever since 1821 , and especially on his coming to the throne in 1831 , he was compelled to

      shuffle and dissemble , but was only craftily biding his moment . Placed between two equally formidable enemies , Northern Despotism and Mazzinian democracy , he was driven to the most desperate shifts of procrastination and compromise ; but he was at least the King-patriot all the time . He was always determined that the day should come when all his pledges should be redeemed , at least by self-sacrifice .

      We shall not test the soundness of this specious theory . Charles Albert was in earnest at least once in his life ; a death like his would have atoned for many an error , many a crime . Peace be with his memory , and may the House of Savoy reap the benefit of the splendid inheritance that his heroic agony has bequeathed upon them ! But we would not , for all that , strain afc gnats and swallow camels , as Gualterio seems so eagerly to do . We try to serve truth to the best of our power , and honour it when we think we find it with the living and the dead , with the tomb at Superga , and with Mazzini himself .

      Some of the inedited documents brought to light by Gualterio , in the third part of the first volume , are of the very greatest importance . That the man is a pedant both as to style and language , the very word Rivolgimento , instead of Rivoluzione , in the titlepage , will satisfy most readers sufficiently familiar with the Italian language .

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      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Lon ' on and the Exhibition . Iiy Cyrus Iteddinq- . With numerous illustrations on wood . ' II . G . Uohii , Guide-books are not remarkable for their entertaining style ; but anything more prosaic than this work by Cyrus Redding we have not seen . It is a description of London , in the driest and briefest manner . The Exhibition is disposed of in about thirty pages . Altogether , we think such a work was unnecessary . Vasari ' s Lives of Imminent Painters , Sculptors , and Architects Translated by Mrs . J . Foster . Vol . III . ( Holm ' s Standard Lll ) 1 : ll > - ) H . o . liohn

      We have already pointed out the peculiarities of this translation , the notes to which are well selected . The charm of Vasari ' s book needs no description ; in . every country in . Europe the charm hua been acknowledged . This third volume contains Raphael , Andrea del ttarto , rarmigiano , and Home thirty less soundin" - names . ° The Stone Mason of Saint . Point . A Villa-e . Tale . By Alphonse < le I / . u »; n-tin «\ ( Holm's Cheap Series . ) ' M . ( J . Itohn . ' A fair translation of the work which we introduced to our readers several weeks ago . Neither in French nor in English do we think it calculated to win much favour ; but then ; are some eloquent pages to relieve the stilted tedium of the whole .

      The Kdmlmr-h Review , Mr . Comewall Lewi : ; , and the Reverend Dr . Maitland on . Mesmerism . u |{; Uli , Ve This pamphlet is a reprint of certain passages bearing on Mesmerism , from a review in the Edinlmrtjh of ( , ' ornewall Lewis , on "Authority in Matters of '() pi mon , ' extracts from Dr . Maitland , ami from the Xot . it . Hi . nl ' . M M .-, ii « II ,,,,, k to the Ollirial CaUlofjiu . s : an lU pla . K . tory I ""' ' ' , ' \ " : Natural Pvod . iclionH and Manufactures of the < . rcat Kxh ] t . U . i ( , n . K , | il ,., | by ltohert . M mil . . Keeper oflMini ,,-l . e . ordH . Vol . I . N ,, Ur Urotli ...-: ; . I bis . s reall y what if , purports to be , a Handbook to the hx . hilut . ion ; portable in shape , legible in typography , intelligible in exposition .

      Tales of ( hn Mountains ; or . Sojourns in Kastem ltel ; -inm "~ V ( l 1 " - " W . Pic . Ki ) ihi , This book- daintily printed , like ; all Mr . 1 'ickering ' s books -made u . s anticipate something fur more delightful tlmn we found . It consists of two tales ; but , why they are christened " of the Mountains , " and what , nmy be the " . Sojourns in Eastern Belgium " therein traced , we liitve as yet , been unable to detect . As tales , they arc rambling und uninteresting ; but there is every now find then n puswigo which looku iiko tho writing of an observant and cultivated mind

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      A vq . 23 , 1851 . J tRfie & * alr * r « 805

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1851, page 805, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1897/page/17/