8 APRIL 1837, Page 19

5. Piso and the Prrefect ; or the Ancients of

their Stilts. These three %cantles may be intended as an historical romance ; the title would imply a satire ; from what little we have read, it would seem as if' the author aimed at the needless task of expos- ing the patrician and imperial vices of old Rome. Piso is the sole re- maining noble of the genuine patrician stock, whom the murders of the successive Emperors had left. The Prrefect is the infamous Vitellianus, the willing instrument of the barbarian Emperor Maximin; and the time, of course, towards the close of the third century. The style of the writer is fluent, and not devoid of spirit; but he does not seem to be greatly imbued witha classical knowledge of the ancient character.