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HISTOEY OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE SECON...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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History Of Piedmont History Of Piedmont....
? me character of the auqient inhabitants of these countries is thus sketched : — "As thev came last into the power of the Romans , it may be supposed tliat the people of Piedmont and Liguria held cut for the greatest length of time against Roman corruption . Wtoaature itself of that Lignrian people rendered moral subjugation even more difficult thai military conquest . They stand forth before us as the very hardiest men in the ancient world . There were proverbs to the effect that ' the leanest Ligurian wa 3 more San amatcb for the stoutest Gaul , ' that ' their women were men in strength , their men ha 4 the strength of wild beasts . ' The women shared the hardiest toils of men , both m the fields—or rather rocks , for the sturdy inhabitants of the Biviera lad at all times to turn stones into bread—and in the mines , where they displayed that singular hardihood , which the traveller , visiting the slate-quarries of Lavagna , near Chiavari , may witness at the present day , as he meets young girls walking' nimbly with slabs pn their heads that would weigh down the shoulders of many a man—that more than natural hardihood which made the good Greek Posidonius wonder by what privilege theliigurian women were exempt from the very throes of maternity . " After dwelling on the effeminacy and deterioration of modern Italians
he continues : — " Tet , be it observed , the stock of those fierce guardians of the Alps had not vanished utterly . They had only stepped down to more genial abodes , the mildness of whose climate , the fruitfulness of whose soil , and the luxurious habits which all these cireumstances were calculated to engender , did not , for a long lapse of years—does not even at the present day efface all traces of their sturdy manliness of old . In Piedmont and Liguria the population throughout' Tiene ancor del monte 6 del tnaoigno . ' ' Still smack of their rough mountain flint . ' Dante . —( Cary ' s Transit ) There is- a certain soberness , an earnestness and gravity , a more than Italian vitality in that Subalpine people , displayed , as we shall see , at every stage of their history , which , added to the peculiar circumstances of government , has tended to set them apart from their brethren of the east and south . " From the many comments on the character and policy of the Savoy Princes , self-chosen very often as rulers by this independent people , we can give but one and that the most general .
" There is enough that is intrinsically beautiful and heart-stirring in the annals of the reigning House itself . For a lineal succession of forty sovereign princes in twenty-seven generations—Counts , Dukes , and Kings—during the lapse of eight centuries and a half , that House has stood its ground . There must have been something more than chance t hus to chain the wheel of fortune in favour of a dynasty : and the historians of Savoy find an adequate reason in the fact , that ' no royal family has produced so long and uninterrupted a series of brave , able men ; ' or we might say , with more modesty but greater certainty , none has been so remarkable for the absence of bad , idiotic , or craven men , and of profligate women—in none have the instances of startling crimes or hideous vices been more unfrequent ; several of those princes may claim the reputation of distinguished warriors and legislators at home , and two of them at least played a most conspicuous part , and exercised a paramount influence on general events abroad . " the
After the history of tie different peoples during " Primaeval times , " " Roman era , " the dark ages , and the feudal period has been carefully gone through , the rise of the separate State of Savoy , its extension noxth of the Alps , the origin and genius of its princes , precedes a similar account of Piedmont , whose " conquest , " we are told , took six hundred years ; tc its union and neutralization" three hundred more ; while only during the " last sixty or seventy years have we the result of all the previous work—the standing up of a complete edifice . " From the many striking portraits , both of rulers and ruled , who helped to build up this edifice , we select that of the hero of St . Quentin and Gravelines , whose valour recovered and whose prudence retained all the hereditary dominions wrested from his father by the unscrupulous FranciB I .
" Such was Emanuel Philibert , one of those grand , heroic figures history loves to dwell upon ; a man to -whom history is all the more willing to do justice , as he disdained to bribe it ; and when Paolo Giovio offered him the tribute of his venal praises , -which that historian so well knew how to render acceptable to all the other princes his contemporaries , the Duke answered with sublime dignity , ' that ho valued more the W small , still yoice within " than all the clamour of the world ' s applause . ' His was a character almost without . a flaw , unless it be his excessive tenderness for the fair sex , and . his seven or eight natural children—an ' amiable weakness , ' as it was reckoned in . that age , with u leniency which the world readily shows to one of his station , even in ' more recent times . With that figure contemporary records have made us sufficiently familiar : his stature somewhat below the middle size , the broad shoulders , the naturally delicate frame , inured to great hardships b y early military training , the cold groy eye , the arched brow , the slightly protruding nether lip , tlio fair curly hair , the short , thick beard , not streaked with silver in mature age , the small round head—the ' Iron-head '
rr-all is known to us , evon to the nether limbs , somewhat bent outwardly— ' all' Ercolitja , * as the Italians have it , a blemish which ho turned to good account , since ' no man eyer had a more firm or elegant seat on the saddle . ' We are equally acquainted with his habits : regular , punctual ; his strict and sparing distribution of time ; the account he kept of it in a djary ; the five hours ho allowed himself for sleep , the few minutes at table , pjfl hard fare , exclusively made of strong meats and stronger Spunish wines ; his way of transacting business , qlways standing ; for eyer pacing up . and down his garden , Always bareheaded , even in the sun , mist , or rain ; always with his sword , not hanging by hie side , after the common fashion , but tight under his arm , ready for immediate use , his sword , without wliioh he never left his apartment . Then his manners , grave but courteous , ' graceful beyond the common order of mankind ; ' his quick , laconic Answers ; his sudden flashes of anger , always under control of a long-tried temper ; his hatred of falsehood , or pusillanimity ; his . horror of bloodshed , or capital
punishment ; his Btriot fulfilment of his engagements ; the sacrodncss of his word , which ho pledged as ' a gentleman , not as a courtier' ( parola < ii cavaliereynon di cortigiano ) . Then hia unwearied energy and activity—activity of body , which could not bo exhausted by ( jix hours' hard play at ball , nof ; by a nine hours' hard run after the stag in the woods and mountains of Bresso , where ho was almost alone in at tho death , having distanced the on © hundred and fifty men of his retinue , and whoro , on putting up for tho evening at a farm-house , ho would snatch the hatchet from the good man who was splitting wood for Ills supper , and bustle about till the repast -was ready ; then , hardly allowing himself fivo minutes at t » blo , ho again sullied forth into tho field , and beguiled tho liours by ehooting 4 t a target , or by other manly games ti | l late in tho night , to tho groat wonder and dismay of the aleak , long-robed Venetian , who hod scampered aftor him in tho chase , and who , with all tho rest of the company , was now hardly able to stand . Again , hia Aptlvity of mind , which found no sufficient omployinept in political or military studies , but woe equally turned on mathematics , mechanics , tho arts , ulchwuy ; that activity
. - ~ -. ~ , _ . __ ... .., „ ..,, __„ .... .... „ , which dispensed ' with the services of the three secretaries he had in his pay , and enabled him to carry on his correspondence almost unaided ; partly owing , no doubt , tog certain fastidiousness , which rarely satisfied him with any man ' s doings lr at his o wn , and also to that extreme cautiousness which prompted him to take no man into his intimacy and on account of which he would suffer no . valet about him who could read . Such was Emanuel Philibert , the restorer , the second founder of the State of Piedmont . " In this portrait-painting our author excels . " We have long been f amiliar with his sketch of " Alfieri , " " representative man . " We do not share his enthusiastic admiration for Napoleon and his deeds in Italy . _ Indeed , M , Gallenga is guilty of great relative injustice towards his mueh-smned-againsfc if sinning land . Dealing out the bitterest scorn and blame on his countrymen for their supineness , their easy submission to foreign rule , he is strangely tolerant of French insolence and Austrian usurpation , and even professes
admiration of English interference . If we do not wonder that a man who has left his house unguarded should find on his return that his neighbours had taken possession of his goods , and installed themselves in his apartme nts , we could but say , serve him right , " and aid him to turn out the interlopers who would have no special claim to our respect or confidence . We should like to set M . M . Gallenga and Farini ( author of History of the Roman States from 1815 to ' 50 ) on the subject of French Influence in Italy—to get them well on to their subject , keep at a respectful distance , and hear them " have it out . " What will the Marquis d'Azeglio , for whom our author professes such boundless admiration , say to this tribute paid to the Austrians on account of the skill and cunning with which they recovered their footing in that capital—the scene of the infamous atrocities described by him in " The Last Five Days of the Austrians in Milan ?"
cl Honour to Austria , were she a thousand times an enemy ! She showed throughon the most magnanimous perseverance ; she had many a storm to -weather in the meantime . Twice or thrice was she brought to the brink of destruction . * * * * The officers of Radetzky , at Mantua and Verona , thoug h most of them Hungarians , and at the time that their countrymen -were in arms against Vienna , declared that even had the madcaps of the Revolutionary Government at home been base enough to give up Italy , they yet would keep it on their own account . The old marshal himself , as if bent on saving the monarchy in spite of itself , would never , even in bis worst straits , hear of the arrangements by which the Austrian Cabinet consented , or only seemed to consent , to the surrender of Lombardy . He was aware of the unsteadiness of purpose of the Italians , and bad too good reasons to rely on their dissensions . He knew that France and England were hardly in earnest , and was , at any rate , determined to push on the contest with that obstinacy which is the destiny of brave men . "
So the wily fox who , often baffled , finally succeeds in carrying off a lamb from the fold , is to be admired for the success of his persevering cunning . There are many other points in the handling of the affairs of ' 48 that we should like to enter on , but space forbids . A careful comparison of our author ' s views on many subjects in ' 48 and ' 55 , among others the life and works of Mazzini and Charles Albert , will show that time , and perhaps the course of events , have changed his opinions not only of the results of these works , but of the motives that led to them . The last chapter , entitled , « The Constitution of Piedmont , " is one of the most valuable in the whole bookThe information it contains is new to
, English readers ; and the hopes it holds out of Piedmont ' s progress not only as a separate state , but perhaps , as the Liberator of the Peninsula , are cheering [ and well-founded . The treasures the country already possesses in its high-minded Mng , its practical , prudent statesmen , and its free institutions , are not exaggerated ; while the wants of the country , i . e ., improvement of its systems of moral and physical education , are fairly stated . That these wants will be gradually and effectually supplied , we think , with our author , there is no doubt . . Cherishing more certain faith , more boundless , changeless trust in Italy s destinies than M . Gallenga appears to do , we fully enter into his view of
the means of achieving them , as expressed in his concluding remarks : — " The people of Piedmont have , for the last seven years , been redeeming the Italian character , giving tho lie to the ungenerous men who cried down a whole nation as hopelessly sunk and degenerate . Piedmont is rehabilitating Italy , achieving a moral conquest a thousand times more glorious than any armed subjugation . Friends and foes will be equally convinced that either all Italy is to be raised to tho level of Pie d mont , or men must despair of God ' s justice upon earth . In his bold , confident youth , an Italian patriot may have rejoiced in the firm belief that his ago was destined to witness the roaring up of * the whole edifice of Italian nationality . Ho must now be thankful to Heaven , if , dying-, he can carry with him tho conviction that the tirst stone —the corner-stone—is at least laid . Italy may yet be a dream—but Piedmont ua reality I "
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' — - - - ¦ ' W ' ¦ - -- •¦•—< ' ~ ajj--u- . . . _ $$ THff LEADER . [ No , %£ 4 , Savurpat ^
Histoey Of The Reign Of Philip The Secon...
HISTOEY OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE SECOND . History of the Reign of Philip the Second , King of Spain . By W . H Preacott . Vols . I . and II . Bcntley . Mr . PR . EscoTTb . as extracted from a mass of documentary evidence , dispersed through the various libraries of Europe , materials for reconstructing in great part , the history of Philip the Second . Tho character of that monarch , which has fallen as often into the hands of the romancist as into those ol fcW critic , is now presented fairly and clearly . Wo are not yet in possession ot the writer ' s summary view , for his work is unfinished , but the story of Philips life , from his birth to the death of his son , suffices to illustrate his human qualities , not lesa than those qualities not entirely human , which ho imbibed from the preachings of tho Holy Roman Church . He , like his predecessor ,
bequeathed a memory over which libellers and eulogists long disputed ; no was pai * odied and idealised ; and inevitably so , because he contended witl ' as much force as cruelty ngainsfc one vast party , and in favour of another . It was natural that the Papal champion should be aspersed as the Protestant scourge . With an obvious desire to arbitrate between tho factions of history ana to place an European name as far from libel as from flattery , Mr . Picscott h » a not found it possible to introduce many softening tints into his picture . The shadows predominate ; bigotry , inhumanity , selfishness , a contempt « or tho natural affections , political faithlessness , and an Asiatic indifference to , human sufforine . Panegyrists ascribe to him , the exaltation of Spain , whion
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10111855/page/18/
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