Under:Pressure. By the Marehesa Theodoli, 2 vols. (Mac- millan and
Co.)—This is a series of "Scenes from Roman Life," and very striking and effective these scenes are. The Prince and Princess Astalli are Romans of the old type,—nobles who preserve the social and political traditions of the Temporal Power. Their Conservatism is of the most vigorous kind ; but circumstances are too strong for them. One daughter, destined for a Carmelite convent, refuses the contemplative life, and insists on finding a more active vocation as a sister of charity. The other asserts herself in a way that astonishes her mother. She is betrothed to a young Roman noble—a Liberal, by-the-way, so impossible is it to resist the current of change—and refuses to abandon him, when circumstances have changed her parents' views on the sub- ject. The growth of a firm will in the girl's mind—for when we are first introduced to her she is as helpless as a child—is admirably portrayed. So is the life in the Princess's drawing- room, and the flutter which is occasioned in those quiet scenes when a disturbing element is introduced in the Liberal suitor, a man so audacious, that he actually makes love to his betrothed under her mother's eyes. The curious contrast between the Rome of the past and the Rome of the present is skilfully presented. Not less interesting than Lavinia's love-story, is the tale of how her sister Bianca contrives to got her way in the matter of her life-work.
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