orgies of fire, sword, famine, and slaughter; what overtoppling of
thrones, and unseating of rulers; what pantings after freedom; what
slavery of passion; what sunny scenes of fortune to be shaded with
melancholy pictures of desolation and decay--are comprised in these
few pages of the history of a comparatively small portion of the
world for a short period--a narrow segment of the cycle of time.
What Sismondi so ably accomplished in sixteen volumes, he has here
comprised in one. He tells us that he could sacrifice episodes and
details without regret. The present is not, however, an abridgment of
his great work, "but an entirely new history, in which, with my eyes
fixed solely on the free people of the several Italian states, I have
studied to portray their first deliverance, their heroism, and their
misfortunes."

We quote a few sketchy extracts.


_Last Struggle of Rome for Liberty_.

"1453. Stefano Porcari, a Roman noble, willing to profit by the
interregnum which preceded the nomination of Nicholas V., to make the
Roman citizens demand the renewal and confirmation of their ancient
rights and privileges, was denounced to the new pope as a dangerous
person; and, so far from obtaining what he had hoped, he had the
grief to see the citizens always more strictly excluded from any
participation in public affairs. Those were entrusted only to
prelates, who, being prepared for it neither by their studies nor
sentiments, suffered the administration to fall into the most shameful
disorder.