MASSANIELLO.
Tina principal subject of Massaniello is the well-known Neapolitan insurrection, the leading features of which are vividly and strikingly portrayed by the ,author of this historical romance. He has also endeavoured to impart a domestic interest to the history, by painting the early life and courtship of Massaniello, and by an exquisite conception of womanly affection in the enduring patience and love of his wife. A sufficient historical variety is given by introducing some of the singular political characters engaged in the outbreak which, while it lasted, was an Italian "reign of terror,"—including the painter, poet, musician, and mountebank, Salvator Rosa ; whilst enough of romance is mingled with the fiction by connecting the loves and risks of some nobles and noble ladies with the dangers of the insurrection.
The most obvious failing of Massaniello is in the opening part, extending throughout the first volume. All this is slow and rather sleepy, from too much description and a minuteness of detail without individuality, as well as from the introduction of persons and incidents that are intended to have a future bearing upon the romance, but whose introduction has no very obvious purpose, and not much of immediate interest. There is frequently also a disjointed air, which is perhaps attributable to efforts at improvement. Mr. SMITH states in his preface, that he has ex- tensively curtailed descriptions of local scenery and the prelimi- nary historical details : we have no doubt as to the existence of the faults he hints at, or that, as far as mere composition goes, the omissions have been judicious. But the defects of the long pre- liminary parts were all-pervading, not partial or occasional. The volume required a skilful compression into a few chapters, if in- deed the matter would not have been better conveyed by judicious retrospection instead of continuous narrative. Abridgment, we dare say, has got rid of much unnecessary. matter ; but it has probably destroyed the homogeneousness that might have existed in the author's original composition, besides introducing some incongruity of connexion.
This defect originates in deficient skill. A less palpable fault, but one less easily remedied, is an inconsistency between the conduct and character of the persons, as well as in the author's want of imaginative or creative power to observe the canon of giving to each individual the characteristics of his age and nation. Except in descriptions of external appearances, the novelist has not succeeded in engrafting Spanish or Italian peculiarities upon the abstract qualities of human nature : so that his persons, in action or discourse, are soinetimes rather like the common progeny of romances than the children of the South in the seventeenth century. The character of history and the character of fiction do not dovetail. The Massaniello of the early part is scarcely the Massaniello of the outbreak. The con- duct of the Prince of Bisignano in herding with the low outcasts of the insurrection from choice, and when all chance of fulfilling his ambitious projects is over, may be agreeable to record, but it is not consistent with the haughty and aristocratic feelings with which the author had previously endowed him. There are several incon- sistencies and improbabilities in the story, and one or two needless horrors hinted at, but left indistinct. The writer does not seem to understand the difficult art of knowing when mystery adds to effect, and when it only produces unsatisfaction. In depite of these drawbacks, the merits of Massaniello are con- siderable. In the first place, the author has a knowledge of the subject and the country—he is familiar with the scenery and the people—he is read in the history of the event and the times he has undertaken to describe. He has also some experience of actual life ; which saves him from the absurdities of a mere Minerva press novelist, and sufficient metaphysical acquirement to enable him to conceive his characters justly, if he does not always succeed in preserving their consistency throughout. In the management of the historical events he exhibits considerable skill, as well as in the manner in which he connects his history with his romance. He has besides some elevation of mind, and considerable power of com- position; though verging upon fine writing in the earlier parts, where he perhaps felt that the intrinsic matter required something to support it, and thought rhetoric might do. In the essential points of a romance, incident and movement, the middle and latter parts of Maur/nix/10 are not deficient. When once fairly embarked in the current of the insurrection, the work proceeds with nearly an uninterrupted interest to its close ; the' author preserving the reader's spnpathy for the hero with considerable judgment, by bringing his insanity prominently forward, and making his personal amiability survive his reason, as well as by attributing much of the bloodshed to darker and more criminal coadjutors. As an example of the writer's power of connecting Milian" with historical incident, we take part of the burning of the Prince of Bisignano's palace, where the Prince's daughter is rescued from death by her cousin, Giulio Caraffa. Eleonora, the heroine of the scene, is on an upper terrace when the assault of the mob begins.
The door quivers!' exclaimed a voice distinct above the tumult : 'one more such charge and the panels must be dashed to pieces.'
"That voice spoke truly : the solid portals cracked, and split, and groaned upon their hinges. It was only astonishing that they had been able to resist so long; for the mode of attack was a ponderous beam, the spoil of some ruined palace, which was borne by a score of athletic assailants, who retreated some yards backwards after each charge, returned with a quick pace, and brought the extremity of this tremendous weapon against the framework. After the last threat, and the insulting defiance that answered it, the rioters had fallen back to renew their attack, when suddenly the sharp report of musketry rang loudly above the tumult ; the beam was thrown forward by the impulse it had re- ceived, but of those that bore it more than half the number dropped instantly to the earth.
"The groans of their last moments were drowned in the general scream of rage and execration which followed : the beam was not ngain taken up, but a voice was heard to cry out, Forward with the torches !' Passage was made through the crowd, and the lights came leaping to their glanffice. But not for this did the haughty spirit of the Prince of Bisignano waver : volley followed volley of deadly musketry ; and Eleonora heard his voice calmly and sternly filling up the pauses that ensued between shout and musket-shot. "A strong smell of burning, a volume of smoke, and then the reflection of flames that burst from the lower story of the building, too truly revealed to this unfortunate girl the fate that menaced her. No further attempt was made upon the gates of the palace ; but the multitude drew back from the immediate vicinity of the now burning pile, and waited and watched with augmenting triumph the progress of the fire. The uninflammable material of which that
vast structure was built made it long before the flames could make any int- preesion on the upper stories. Vast jets of crimson light were from time to time spouted up above the terrace, and darted over its parapets in forked tongues, as if yearning for the destruction of the pale and trembling being who had sought refuge there. "Eleonora had more than once turned into the house, and rushed through its empty chambers; she screamed, but her voice was lost in the universal uproar. The heat and the smoke within the house became stifling and insup- portable; and, not venturing to seek the lower apartments of the building, she rushed again out upon the terrace ; which she had scarcely reached when a noise like thunder, and a shock that was felt through the whole palace, gave tidings of the fall of the ponderous portals, which had till then withstood all assaults. Unconscious of the extent to which the fire had spread, she expected that a general rush of the populace would have followed ; but instead of this the interior of the palace seemed to become more tranquil. "In fact, the void left by the fall of the portals had produced a change too sudden and fearful in the appearance of the building to encourage any one to approach it. The air rushed through the opening, and the flames were forcibly driven inward into the very heart of the palace ; the wings which joined each end of the terrace were already in flames ; and every chance of escape for those who might have lingered within seemed now cut off.
"The fire hissed greedily beneath, around, and above her : bewildered and helpless, Eleonora remained fixed in hopeless inaction. More than once it seemed to her that she beard her father's voice calling her by name ; but with her the time for exertion was past : she sunk upon her knees, and all intelli- gence was rapidly leaving her, when suddenly, bounding through the very flames, every step planted upon bending and half-burned beams, there sprang on to the terrace and to her side the figure of a man masked, and habited in the black garb worn by the confraternity of the Misericordia, a common dis- guise among the leaders of the populace. The tones in which he uttered her name brought back a quick perception of her situation, while it enabled her to recognize the person who had ventured thus desperately to her rescue. She sprang up, and in an agony of mingled joy and terror threw her arms about his neck.
"'Dear Giulio,' she exclaimed, 'you have thrown away your life; may God reward you, for your escape hence is hopeless.' Fly, Eleonora, fly!' he exclaimed hurriedly : 'the stairs rocked as I as- cended them; if they fall, our death is inevitable.' "Scarcely had he uttered the words, when with a crash that seemed to bring down half the building with it, down thundered the vast stone staircase. The palace trembled from its roof to its foundation ; the terrace upon which they stood was split from end to end; the parapet crumbled away in ruins, and fell in a shower of fragments into the street. Then, for the first time, did this poor girl behold the grim array of the populace, frantic with excitement.
Caraffa, forgetful of the doom which his own lips only a moment before had pronounced inevitable, staggered back for an instant, and then recovering his presence of mind, rushed with a sudden impulse to the edge of the terrace, and waved his hand towards the crowd. The din was hushed for an instant, and every creature below gazed up with awe and wonder. He rent off the coarse linen garb that had served as his disguise, and with the rapidity of thought tore it into shreds, knotted the ends, and then sprang to the side of his trembling cousin.
" ' Eleonora,' he said, let life be dear to you for my sake : take courage ; you may yet escape.' "He fastened the end of his fragile cord to her dress, and even in that mo- ment threw his arms about her and kissed her cheek : be then swung her over the edge of the wall. Passing through smoke and flame in her descent, she was within eight feet of the ground when the cord that sustained her had reached its extreme length, and he who held it paused for a moment doubtful what to do; for if he dropped it, his own hope of a descent by similar means was gone. A fresh gust of flame decided him : he let go the cord ; Eleonora fell unharmed to the pavement ; and before she recovered her footing, a heavy body dropped to the earth beside her. The fire completed its joyous ministry : crash after crash followed : the terrace, from which Giulio Caraffa had the in- stant before flung himself as the last chance of' escape, fell inward; and the Palace of the Prince of Bisignano was a heap of ruins.
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