網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

6

caricature of their patois and of their manners, that they are said to have offered very large sums to the managers of the theatres in Berlin and Frankfort, to prevent its being played. These attacks on the Jews have not been confined to the theatre or the satirists; and the gravest politicians and economists in Germany have been at pains to testify against the extension of civil privileges to a nation essentially aliens, and hostile to the institutions of the countries in which they sojourn. The question is sometimes asked, why the great civil and religious liberty enjoyed in America has not drawn more of this people to our country. One answer to this question is drawn from their reputed dread of the sea, for the water,' say they, hath no beams.' Another reason is predicated on the proverbial astuteness of us New Englanders, with which not even the Jews dare venture into competition. It is a similar cause which prevents their flourishing in Turkey. Notwithstanding the rich harvest, which one would have supposed they would find in the indolence, luxuriousness, and extravagancce of the Turks, the Jews are so outdone in shrewdness by the Greeks, and both are so far surpassed by the lynx-eyed cunning of the Armenians, that all the principal banking business at Constantinople is conducted by Armenians, while the Greeks are fain to speak with tongues, and the Hebrews to vend old clothes.†

The twenty-second chapter on the robbers and banditti of Italy makes one acquainted with many new and entertaining facts. It is a truth, sufficiently humiliating for Italy, that notwithstanding the pains taken by the governments to suppress these outlaws, there is more danger from robbers in travelling from Rome to Naples, and from Naples to Otranto, than in travelling through any portion of European Turkey, with perhaps the exception of the independent or revolted Country of the Mainotes in the Morea. We have room to lay before our readers but one extract from this chapter.

But the most extraordinary bandit, whose exploits somewhat resemble the celebrated ones of the famous Rinaldo Rinaldini,

See the essay of Professor Fries of Heidelberg, Ueber die Gefaehrdung des Wohlstandes und Characters der Deutschen durch die Juden, 1816.

The Greeks are the most respectable interpreters at Constantinople. The office of chief drogoman of the Porte is regularly held by a Greek prince, and is the stepping stone to the hospodarship of Moldavia or Wallachia. The account in the text of the comparative pursuits of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, was given us by a good natured Jew, on the plain of Troy.

was a priest by the name of Cyrus Annichiarico, born in the small town of Grotagli, on the road from Tarento to Lecce. His first achievement was the murder of a whole family in the town of Francavilla. He had been a bandit for twenty years; the country people believed him to be a devil or magician, and laughed and scoffed at the soldiers who were sent to pursue him. When the French general Ottavio, a Corsican by birth, commanded in this province, a man presented himself one day before him, and said, with a fierce air, "the bandit whom you have so long hunted is now before you, but if he is molested, you will be assassinated before night-fall." Annichiarico turned and disappeared, and from that time general Ottavio doubtless had faith in the belief of the people. General Church, also, when one day in pursuit of this man, was accosted by a peasant, who drew him aside, and gave some intelligence concerning Annichiarico. The next day the peasant was found dead in his village, and a paper pinned on his breast with these terrible words, "This is the fate of all those who betray Annichiarico." The last band he commanded was called the "decided;" each man possessed a certificate, bearing two death's heads with other bloody emblems, and the words "Justice, liberty, or death," signed by Annichiarico. I saw one in general Church's possession, written with human blood. At Jast, in January, 1819, this astonishing man, finding himself beset upon all points, threw himself, about sun-set, with five followers, into an old tower, in the midst of a farm-yard, near the small town of Casuba, hoping that in the dead of the night he should be able to escape through the soldiers, many of whom were his friends, and all believed him to be the devil But in the course of an hour a close line of light troops was drawn round the tower, out of reach of musquet shot, and after a siege of thirty-six hours, he was forced to surrender, having fired away all his cartridges, and killed five and wounded eleven of the enemy. He was carried to Francavilla, the scene of his first crime, tried by a court-martial, and there shot. It was on a Sunday when he was sentenced to be executed, and general Church sent to ask the priests, if it was according to their religion to shoot a man on that day. They answered," the better the day, the better the deed."* Annichiarico died like a madman. From eight to ten thousand persons were assembled to see him shot, and to the last moment they treated with perfect scorn and indignation the notion that bullets would pierce such a man.' pp. 275-275.

Precisely the answer given by the notorious Robert Ferguson to those who proposed to kill the king, James II, on Sunday. He also offered to consecrate the blunderbuss which Rumbold was to use to fire into the carriage. See Dryden's works, vol. xvii.page 172,—also Mr. Scott's note (91) to Absalom and Achitophel.'

The twenty-third chapter on the Carbonari and other secret societies in Italy, has engaged the public interest, from the connexion of these associations with the late revolution in Naples. The most curious fact relative to them is that this organization, by which the late legitimate government in that kingdom has been shaken, was originally contrived by its friends in the French times, as an engine of expelling the foreign rulers, and restoring king Ferdinand.

The chapter on the liberty of the press might advantageously have been connected with that on the Index Expurgatorius, at the beginning of the volume. That on the universities contains what little a traveller is able to collect, or a foreigner curious to know of these establishments. Fallen establishments we had nearly called then; but the names of Forcellini, of Carlini, of De Rossi, and others as renowned belonging to this age or the last, must forbid that epithet. It is not the universities in Italy that are fallen, but society, which has fallen around them, and has no more the means of sending a host of pupils to their walls; while the extensive diffusion of learning beyond the Alps enables a person to get as good an education in Scotland, in Upsal, and in Moscow, as he could get in Padua or Pavia.

Of the remaining chapters of the work, though constituting the least technical, and the best written portion of the volume, we have left ourselves no room to speak,—and must be content with just referring our readers to the twenty-eighth, on the • Italian nobility,' the thirtieth, on the English in Italy,' the thirty-first, on the Bonaparte family in Rome,' and the thirty-second, on the influence of the Austrians in Italy, as replete with valuable facts and curious anecdotes, and information, for the most part not elsewhere, that we know of, to be met with.

[ocr errors]

Of the general character of this work we have already sufficiently given our opinion; and the extracts which we have made from it will afford our readers the means of judging of its execution. We apprehend there are few of our travellers, with whose journals and notes abroad these collections of Mr. Lyman might not enter into advantageous comparison; and to speak of any considerable portion of the work as already familiar, is to lay claim to no very small share of statistical, economical, and political acquaintance with Italy.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Agriculture.

Address delivered before the Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Agricultural Society at their annual meeting in Northampton. By J. H. Lyman. Northampton, 1820.

Address of the general Committee of the Board of Agriculture of the State of New York, to the county Agricultural Societies, for 1820. 8vo. Albany.

Biography and History.

Historical Sketch of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company from its formation in the year 1637 to the present time. Compiled and arranged from ancient records. By Zacheriah G. Whitman, A. M. a member of the company. 8vo, pp. 199. Boston, 1820.

Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. By John Sanderson, vol. I. part I. 8vo, $2,50. Philadelphia 1820. Sketches of Universal History, Sacred and Profane, from the creation of the world to the year 1818. By Frederic Butler. Hartford, 12mo, $1,50.

Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution; including a Narrative of the Expedition of Gen. Xavier Mina. With some observations on the practicability of opening a commerce between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, through the Mexican Isthmus, in the province of Oaxaca, and at the lake of Nicaragua; and on the future importance of such commerce to the civilized world, and more especially to the United States. By William D. Robinson. 8vo, $2,50. Philadelphia, 1820.

History of the War of the Independence of the United States. By Charles Botta. Translated from the Italian by George A. Otis, vol. II. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1820.

History of the United States, with a brief account of some of the Principal Empires and States of ancient and modern times. For the use of schools and private families. By a Citizen of Massachusetts. 8vo, pp. 251, 75 cts. Keene, N. H. 1820.

Botany.

American Medical Botany, being a collection of Native Medicinal Plants of the United States, containing their Botanical History and Chemical Analysis, and properties and uses in medicine, diet and the arts, with coloured engravings. Nos. V. and VI.

By Jacob Bigelow, M. D. Rumford Professor and Lecturer on Materia Medica and Botany in Harvard University. Boston,

1821.

Commerce.

Old and New Tariffs compared, with observations on the effect of high Duties on Revenue and Consumption. By a Citizen. 4to, pp. 31. Boston, 1820.

Geology.

Geological Essays, or an Inquiry into some of the Geological Phenomena to be found in various part of America and elsewhere. By Horace H. Hayden. 8vo. Baltimore, 1820.

A Geological Survey of the County of Albany, taken under the direction of the Agricultural Society of the county. 8vo, pp. 55. Albany, 1820.

Law.

Reports of Sir Harry Yelverton, with notes and references to prior and subsequent decisions. By Theron Metcalf. Ando ver. $3,25.

Sugden's Law of Venders and Purchasers, from the fifth Eng lish edition, with Notes. By Edward D. Ingraham. Philadelphia. $7,50.

[ocr errors]

Miscellaneous.

Essay on an uniform Orthography for the Indian Languages of North America. By John Pickering, A. A. S. 4to, pp. 42. Cambridge, 1820.

Answer to a pamphlet, entitled Strictures on Mr. Pattison's reply to certain oral and written Criticisms, by W. Gibson, M. D. By Granville S. Pattison, Esq. 8vo, pp. 52. Baltimore,

1820.

Strictures on Mr. Pattison's reply to certain oral and written Criticisms By W. Gibson. 8vo, pp. 56. Philadelphia, 1820. Correspondence between Mr. G. S. Pattison and Dr. Chapman. 8vo pp. 64.

Address delivered at Worcester, before the American Antiquarian Society at the opening of the Antiquarian Hall. By Isaac Good win. 8vo. Worcester.

Remarks on the employment of Females as practitioners in Midwifery. By a Physician. 8vo, pp. 22. Boston, 1820.

Filial Affection, or the Clergyman's Granddaughter, a moral tale. By the author of the Factory Girl. 18mo, pp. 162. Boston, 1820.

Address delivered at the Fifth Anniversary of the Massachusetts Peace Society. By Hon. Josiah Quincy. 8vo. Cambridge, 1821.

« 上一頁繼續 »