Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 097.djvu/75

Rh levies, munitions, allies, or subsidies, he went from Sicily, and retained "with monarchs and their kingdoms at his back, the sworn abettors" of his patriotic though seemingly desperate intent. A proof how Right,

A stern oath has that unquailing veteran sworn—even death to the Gaul whoe'er he be, that now has footing in the land. This oath he imposes on his newly-discovered son, Fernando, the favourite and son-in-law of the French governor—and upon the imbroglio of crossing interests, emotions, and duties, in which the young Sicilian and his French bride are involved, depends the tragic power of the drama. The interview whereat Procida acquaints Fernando with their ties of blood, after exacting his enthusiasm in behalf of fatherland, and his fiery indignation at the oppression of strangers, is managed with masterly art, and excites real emotion. The appeal—this appeal, we say, suggests a parallel passage, of much greater intensity of passion and force of colouring, in the splendid opening of "The Roman," by Sydney Yendys, where Rome is presented under the same maternal aspect. Very striking, too, is the elaboration of the patriot father's struggle between patriotism and fatherhood—between the inexerable claims of his ideal and the budding sympathies of a new-born relationship. The woes of the catastrophe are highly wrought—Isoline's agony during the massacre, arising from apprehension for her father's fate, and devotion to her panic-stricken husband, is touching in its vehement nature, and verges on the sublime in its impulsive outbursts. With all its defects, this tragedy is starred with clustering beauties, and has a