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on part of the ruined hall , —a horrible memorial of the crime , strangely coincident with that of the form and name of the rock . " Immediately on the consummation of this double tragedy , the active young Baron Montebello carried off the young lady , his retainers having put all the family of the Marchese to death , except one infant grandchild , whom a nurse saved by concealing him in a crevice of the rocks ; the castle was then dismantled , and the lady became Baroness of Montebello . But she never spoke more ; the horror of having been indirectly the destruction of her whole race occasioned her to become insane , and she poisoned herself within a month of her departure from her native town .
" In process of time , the child saved by the nurse grew up , and was introduced as a page into the Montebello family , the Baron having re-married , and being now the undisputed possessor of both territories as far as the sea ; but , after many years of life , the wretched man became wild with remorse for his past iniquities , and made over all his possessions to the Church , provided only no living descendant of the Pentedatili could be found , a decent proviso , apparently made without any risk . When lo ! the nurse and a small number of the old Marchese ' s friends proved , beyond any doubt , that , the page was heir to the estates and revenge of his ancestors ! And here you might suppose the story ended . Not at all . The Baron ' s hatred returned on finding there Was really something on which to exercise it , and he
ordered the torture and execution of young Pentedatilo forthwith . But now the tables were turned ; the Baron ' s long reign of wickedness lent weapons to his adversary ' s cause , and , in his turn , the last scion of the murdered Marchese became a tyrant . Forthwith the whole family of the Baron Montebello were destroyed before their parents' eyes , and he himself then blinded by order of the avenger , and chained for the rest of his days in the very room where he had slain the grandsire Pentedatilo . Finally , as if it wei'e ordered that the actors in such a wholesale domestic tragedy were unfit to remain on earth , the castle of Pentedatilo fell by the shock of an earthquake , crushing together the Baron and Marchese , with the nurse , and every other agent in this Calabrian horror !
And also one touch of Mrs . Radcliffe , with , a curious glimpse into the remoteness indicated by the ideas of England here recorded .
A MONASTEEY IN CALABEIA . " Slow and hazardous was the descent , and it was nine o ' clock ere we arrived before the gate of this remote and singular retreat . It was a long while before we gained admittance ; and the Superiore , a most affable old man , having read our letter , offered us all the accommodation in his power , which , as he said , we must needs see was small . Wonder and curiosity overwhelmed the ancient man and his brethren , who were few in number , and clad in black serge dresses . ' Why had we come to such a solitary place ? No foreigner had ever done so before ! ' The hospitable father asked a world of questions , and made many comments upon us and upon England in general , for the benefit of his fellow-recluses . ' England , ' said he , 1 is a very small place , although thickly inhabited . It is altogether about the third part of the size of the city of Rome . The people are a sort of Christians , though not exactly so . Their priests , and even their bishops , marry , which is
incomprehensible , and most ridiculous . The whole place is divided into two equal parts by an arm of the sea , under which there is a great tunnel , so that it is all like one piece of dry land . Ah—che celebre tunnel ! ' A supper of hard eggs , salad , and fruit followed in the refectory of the convent , and we were attended by two monstrous watch-dogs , named * Assassino and Saraceno , throughout the rest of the evening , when the silence of the long hall , broken only by the whispers of the gliding monk , was very striking . Our bed-rooms were two cells , very high up in the tower of the convent , with shutters to the unglazed windows , as a protection against the cold and wind , which wero by no means pleasant at this great elevation . Very forlorn , indeed , wero the sleeping apartments of Sta . Maria di Polsi , and fearful was the howling of the wind and the roaring of a thunder-storm throughout the night!—but it was solemn and suggestive , and the very antithesis of life in our own civilized and distant home . "
Among the pleasant features of this book are the simplicity , friendliness , and honesty of the people , so skilfully and unobtrusively indicated . Nor must we forget the illustrations—beautiful lithographs from Mr . Lear ' s sketches—which make this a volume to adorn the drawing-room as well as to fascinate the reader .
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THE LAW AKD PRACTICE OF ELECTION COMMITTEES . The ] "j aw and ' Practice of Election Committees . B y John Clerk , of tho Inner Temple , Esq ., Durristiir-nt-Law . S . Sweet , Chancery-lune . This work is published very opportunely , now that tho time is fast approaching when Parliamentary agents , and oilier members of the legal profession , as well as those M . P . ' swho are unfortunate enough to be nominated to serve on . Election Committees , will require a book bringing down this bi-anch of the law " to the end of the last Parliament , and containing all the recent decisions of Election Committees . " We have read several of tho most
important chapters , and have looked carefully through the whole work , and we can with confidence recommend it to any person requiring information upon tho subject treated of . The stylo is concise and clear , and jhe absence of professional jargon will , wo aro sure , render it a favourite handbook with members of the House ; of Commons . In an appendix the author gives a collect ion of useful forms , and tho statutes to which reference Juis inost frequently to be made . "An Act to amend the Law of . "Evidence , " introduced by tho veteran law reformer , Lord Brougham , and passed in the session before last , rendering parties to a suit competent , and comnellable to trive evidence ,
applies clearly to parties to an Election Petition , and , as Mr . Clerk says , ~~~ ' It may therefore he expected that sitting members and candidates at , the election will bo called and compelled to disclose tho transactions at -he election of which they have any cognisance ; , they being always at liberty o decline answering any question put to them which they may consider a ^ ''iding to criminate themselves ; " and bribery being a misdemeanour J « , common law , and an indictable offence , we fear that the Committees . * ¦ n ° t get much information on this head from the-member whose return
18 ;'' '' ion ( Ml against . As to the- probable effect of this law upon the bearing <> t Klectiou Petitions , we cannot < lo better than quote tho remarks of Mr . ' erk , who linn hud considerable experience in these cases : — Whether thin enuctimmt will onublo thono questioning election proceedings to uow wuuU additional light upon tho matter , ronmiim to bo proved . It lma been
intimated in many quarters , that corruption at elections will , in consequence of this change in the law of evidence , be much more effectually disclosed , and that many members will probably lose their seats in consequence . It may , however , be doubted , whether all the consequences that are anticipated will actually be met with in practice . For though the sitting member or candidate should decline to shelter himself under the dangerous shield of fear of criminating himself by his answer , and should state all that he did know on the matter , how little does a sitting member or candidate , in nine eases out often , know either of the bribery or the treating that is going on . He will be able to state on oath how determined he was to act with purity at the election ; how specific his instructions were to his agents
to that effect ; how surprised and shocked he has been at hearing of any corrupt dealings , and deny all knowledge of the parties concerned in the bribery ; and thus , instead of the member being more closely connected with the guilty parties , he may be able to show who were his accredited agents , and deny all connexion with those who have been proved before the committee , to have had a share in corrupt transactions . At the same time , from the examination of the candidates , important information may sometimes be obtained as to their connexion with the borough , &c . ; upon whose invitation they went , who made the legal arrangements on their behalf and discharged the legal claims ; % vhat amount of money was paid by them into the hank , and what has been the cost of the election "
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VIII . Audley Hall , Werneth , Jan . 17 , 1852 . Sj | j || Sr 2 OST prized and most honoured Sir , —Although it is most SJw | l $ grateful to me to note that you keep me in your memory , insomuch % iWeB ^ that my poor self occupies your accomplished pen , and that you © cl-i ^ iv- ) have engaged yourself in the charitable task of rendering me more fit to hold converse with your so exalted mind ; nevertheless it is in some degree grievous to me that you should so far throw your labour to waste as to commence the impossible labour of convincing me that what I see in England is not existent , but that what I do not see , but is written in certain old books by 3 favoured , is the thing that I ought to discover here in the realm of Great Britain , and to describe to you over again . For , with reverence be it spoken , the opinion that you urge me to recite to you is void of sense and altogether diverse from the truth , as you shall presently see . The pain that I confess to you , my clear Giorgio , is drawn precisely from the fact , that in England conviction is not stated fully , and that conduct is not downright—why do you spell it " dawnvvright ?"—but is evaded , or approached indirectly .
I came here the day before yesterday , and after a very brief word with Werneth , who met me at the station , I went straight to his father ' s vvitli him , and was ushered by him into the library , where I found Giulia Sidney writing . At the sight of me she started , and drew Imek ; but as Werneth retreated and closed the door , she threw herself into my arms . Then drawing back , with a mixture of playfulness and penitence , she said that I had come a long way to chide—I might have waited till her return . She spoke in Tuscan , but I answered in English—" perhaps us an instinctive resort to the severer tongue — that I had not come to chide her , but onlv to know her reasons .
" A woman's reasons ! " she exclaimed ; and pursuing her artful childishness , sho , tried to disarm me more by caresses , by tears , by confessions that she was wrong . But 1 would not be put oil' thus . She had done a real wrong to Yseirft , in setting an example of insulting one who bad not wronged her , and who was in every way : i truer woman than she is . Nay , I felt a sort of indignation on behalf of Julia herself , as she could be if she chose , for she has many noble points in her nature . Julia i . s ever tryinghard to avoid recognition on her right ground , and to obtain it on one where she has no real footin g . Her father was a writer of fume ; her husband will survive even unto generations able to read him bv their own strong
scut light , and not as men do now , like people in a railway tunnel , by the glimmering light of the future . Her mother was a ( jVorge Suiul , clear ami faithful in purpose , a rebel against insincerity ; and she herself might have continued the line . Hut , with such a genealogy , six ; wishes to take her stand upon her husband ' s birth ; ami in that vain pursuit she consents to be a female " tuft-hunter . " With a loving heart and quick veins she shapes her way in life by the fashions of those who will not trust or accept her ; and she is a voluntary exile from the world of art , in the vain hope of earning admittance to the world of high birth and fashion , and social legitimacy . ] Jitter must be the tears she weeps—u double outcast ; and her
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October 9 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 9 ? 5
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Dodd Family Abroad . By Charles Lever . No . 3 . Chapman and Hall . The Zoist . H . Bailliere . Bleak Souse . Bradbury and Evans . Sponge ' s Sporting Tour . Bradbury and Evans . Writings of Douglas Jerrold—Calces and Ale . Part 5 . Punch Office . British Journal . Aylott and Jones . Bentley ' s Standard Library—Uncle Tom ' s Cabin . By H . B . Stowe . Richard Bentley . Grimm ' s Household Stories—The Two Wanderers . Addey and Co . Picture Pleasure Book . Addey and Co . Tait ' s Edinburgh Magazine . Sutherland and Knox . The Popular Educator . Vol . 1 . John Casaell . The Illustrated Exhibitor . John Caaaell . A History of Gold . By J . Ward . W . S . Orr and Co . The Life of His Grace the Duke of Wellington . By J . Ward . W . S . Orr and Co . Portrait Gallery . W . S . Orr and Co .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . — Goethb .
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 975, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1955/page/19/
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