port of his people has carried him through, and their affection and the respect of other nations is his reward.

"Since 1848 the Piedmontese have gone hand in hand with their rulers. Loyalty on their part called forth honesty on that of the latter. [Does not our author mean to state the converse of this proposition?] It was that harmony, that mutual good faith and trust, which spared the country the horrors of senseless reaction, the disgrace of foreign occupation. The throne of Sardinia stands on a rock which may well defy the violence of European convulsions. The Prince has kept faith with his people."

These are not merely the views of an enthusiastic Italian patriot. We extract the following passage from an able article, by M. Emile de Montégut, in the number of the Revue des deux Mondes for Nov. 1.

"Et si le seul moyen de régénération de l'Italie est un gouvernement national, où trouver les élémens d'un tel gouvernement? Un seul pays Italien est libre réellement et se posséde lui-même, un seul peut avoir une politique, une armée, un seul est gouvernée par des princes nationaux; c'est le Piémont. C'est donc le Piémont qui renferme les élémens de régénération future de l'Italie, et s'ils ne se trouvent pas là, ils ne se trouvent nulle part."

"Italy," says M. Gallenga in concluding his history," may yet be a dream-but Piedmont is a reality.'

Discovery of a Merovingian Cemetery and Early Christian Inscriptions at La Chapelle-Saint-Eloi (Eure).*—Last year one of the most eminent antiquaries in France, M. Ch. Lenormant, surprised the archæologists of the empire by the publication of discoveries he had made in a very unfrequented spot between Evreux and Lisieux. They comprised the ruins of a Christian baptistery, built from the overthrown materials of a Roman building; and between 70 and 80 inscriptions, most of them traced upon Roman tiles. Specimens of the last (some of which were in runes) were engraved in M. Lenormant's paper; and

1. Découverte d'un Cimetière Mèrovingien à la Chapelle-Saint-Eloi (Eure), par Ch. Lenormant. Paris, 1854.

2. De la Découverte d'un prétendu Cimetière Merovingien à la Chapelle Saint-Eloi (Eure), par M. Charles Lenormant. Evreux, 1855.

3. De l'authenticité des Monuments découverts à la Chapelle-Saint-Eloi, par François Lenormant. Le Correspondant, tome xxxvi. 6e livraison, Sept. 1855. GENT. MAG. VOL. XLIV.

the whole were announced as intended for publication in a work by M. Le Blaut on the Christian Inscriptions of Gaul. M. Lenormant's pamphlet was reviewed in the present year in the "Literary Gazette" and in the "Collectanea Antiqua ;" and in the latter of these periodicals some of the inscriptions were introduced, copied from M. Lenormant's designs. They are of the most curious and interesting description, carrying us back to the fifth and sixth centuries, and introducing to us not merely the names of many early converts to Christianity, and the remarkable sepulchral formulæ, such as we find on the monuments of the catacombs at Rome; but also presenting the names of historical personages, some of which are in the inscriptions written in runes. The authenticity of the latter was vouched for by Dr. Jacob Grimm; and an account was read by M. Lenormant to the Academie des Inscriptions at a meeting, which was reported in the "Athenæum Français" by M. Alfred Maury.

It was, therefore, with no trifling concern we read the report made by a committee of the Society of Agriculture, Sciences, Arts, and Belles Lettres of the department of the Eure, which report denounced M. Lenormant's discovery altogether; openly and unreservedly said the remains of the building were not such as he had imagined; and that the inscriptions were all forgeries. In our number for October we alluded to this serious charge, observing we should await M. Lenormant's reply. This has not yet appeared; neither are we in full possession of the inscriptions themselves; but M. François Lenormant, the son, has vigorously replied on the part of his father, and also on his own behalf, as he was engaged with his father in the researches, and, indeed, first drew his attention to the remains.

M. François Lenormant commences with explaining the history of the discoveries made, and brings forward as witnesses M. Le Blaut, M. Aug. Le Prevost, M. Lottin of Laval, M. Charma, M. Lambert, and M. Loisel, with none of whom, it appears, the committee appointed by the "Société de l'Eure" had corresponded respecting the facts of the case; neither does it appear they had seen many, if any, of the inscriptions, by far the most important part of this remarkable discovery. The committee state as follows:

"There remains a portion of the discovery which we have not examined: namely, the inscriptions. But what we have already established is sufficient to place their authenticity in doubt. We have not attached much importance to them, because we think we know the forger, the quarter 4 K

from whence the fragments of the column came, and the probable time when they were deposited upon the property of the Sieur Boutel. Nevertheless, our investigations up to the present time have notbrought to bear light enough upon these facts." To this M. F. Lenormant replies, "It is very easy and convenient to say, 'This monument is false; I know who made it, but I will not say who:'" and he adds, "I defy the members of the committee to tell, with any certitude, the name of this famous forger; and I wait for his name without the least inquietude. But, I ask, are the members of the committee judges of inscriptions? Do they believe themselves more skilful than a man whose name is authority, and whom all Europe consults on these questions?" M. F. Lenormant alludes to Grimm, who, he adds, "has admitted the authenticity of these inscriptions, and has published them in the Bulletin of the Academy of Berlin."

The defence against the attacks of the committee is pleaded in a straightforward, candid, and manly manner by the young archæologist; and it must be allowed to be, to a great extent, a successful effort. Still the committee of the Société de l'Eure, having gone thus far, must in duty go further, and produce some evidence against the genuineness of the inscriptions. This is called for particularly, for there is in France a strong and pretty general belief that they are forged; and it has been said that Grimm himself doubted the authenticity of the runes. If there be de. ception, it must be of a most accomplished kind, and the sooner it be exposed the better. Why is the Institut so quiet?

The Isles of Loch Awe, and other Poems of my Youth. With Sixteen Illustrations. 12mo.By Philip Gilbert Hamerton. The term " poems of my youth," introduced into this title-page, does not seem to imply that the contents of the volume were written long ago, and are now nonum impressa post annum, but, so far as we can discover in looking through the book, it seems that the author still rejoices in all the energy and poetic fire of youthful years. The principal poem, "The Isles of Loch Awe," is the result of two visits made to that highland locality in the years 1852 and 1854. Of the other pieces, which are mostly short, one division is classed as "Poems of War," and another as "Poems of Science." The war poems have all been suggested by recent occurrences.

Mr. Hamerton has a preference for blank verse, in which he has written the poem on "The Isles of Loch Awe." It consists of somewhat more than 2000

lines, most of which, he tells us, were written on the lake or its islands. These islands are about thirty in number, visited chiefly by sportsmen or by painters, and seldom by ordinary tourists, because the neighbourhood presents no convenient inns. "If (remarks Mr. Hamerton) some enterprising capitalist would put a little steamer at Inish Drynich, where the road comes down to the lake, the isles, including Ardhonnel, might all be visited in the course of a summer afternoon, and a delightful excursion it would be; but at present, if you go down the loch, you may have to stay there till the wind changes, as there are no roads at the southern extremity." The "wind," however, does not imply the use of sails, for none can venture to use them on Loch Awe. The Pass is the most prolific source of sudden and violent gusts of wind. Turner, regardless of squalls, chose to hoist one or two sails in his imaginary Kilchurn Castle: but that error, as Mr. Hamerton suggests, was probably committed in Queen Anne Street.

Nor

is a late great poet more accurate than the painter: Wordsworth has apostrophised Kilchurn, but his poem has nothing characteristic of the place." Mr. Hamerton's descriptions, like his landscapes, are "direct from nature."

Three miles more

He held along the Orchay's southern bank,
Then saw Kilchurn, his castle, founded on
A rocky isle, so low upon the lake,
That, as its outlines changed on his approach,
It almost seemed to float insensibly,
Like a great ship at anchor.

When you ascend the rock on the north shore,
The castle rests beneath you, and behind it
An inlet of the loch, and sweetly green
Beyond the glittering inlet, swelling knowes
With fir plantations stretching far away;
And up Glen Orchay, past a village tower,
That gleams amongst dark trees as white as marble,
The view extends, until across the foot
Of a great mountain winds the highland road;
And, towering to the clouds, the shapely heap
Of rough Ben Loy grows pale with passing showers,
And spots of sunshine wander here and there,
Warm on the blue of its cold solitudes.
This is Sir Walter's pile of Ardenvohr,*
Changed since Dalgetty criticised its strength.
Within the keep the floors are all removed,
And in the corkscrew staircase you may stand
And look above, and see a disc of blue,
And fragments of the steps still sticking out,
Wilfully broken. The court is overgrown
With trees that wave in full maturity.
Masses of wall lie as they fell at first,
Unshattered, for the mortar binds the stones.
At one of the four angles of the pile
There towers a bush of greenery. Through the holes

* In the Legend of Montrose.