INDEX TO VOL. XLV. ORIGINAL PAPERS. Abdallah the Faithful. By Mrs. Edward Thomas, 85 Attempted Suicide, Confessions of an, 456 Ballad. The Buried Bells. By Mrs. Crawford, 404 Battle of Benevento, The. An Historical Romance of the Thirteenth Century. Abridged from the Italian of F. B. Guerazzi. By M. E. N., 1, 121, 247 Beauty of Death, The. By Mrs. G. G. Richardson, 312 Beauty, What is it that Constitutes? 23 Bernard Grey; or, the Village Schoolmaster. By Mrs. Crawford, 57 Captain's Wife, The. By Mrs. George Howes, 322 Carlyle's Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, 293 Character, Sketch of a, 423 Cheap Weekly Literature, 156 Childhood, Recollections of, 325 Classic Haunts and Ruins. By Nicholas Michell, 67, 184, 354, 453 Corregio, The Death of. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 373 Creation, The Beauty of. By Mrs. Edward Thomas, 41 Dearest Agnes, I must leave thee. By Mrs. Crawford, 109 Desert Flowers. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 319 Dialogues of the Statues. By Peter Orlando Hutchinson, 175, 283, 405 Early Lesson, The. By Mrs. Edward Thomas, 97 Eventful Epoch, The; or, the Fortunes of Archer Clive. Michell, 187 Exile's Return, The, 452 Fanny Lawson's New Bonnet. By E. Lynn, 392 Hasty Snatch, A, from the Authentic Records of a Genius, 60 By Nicholas Henry Vining, the Draper's Assistant. By Mrs. George Howes, 414 Inauguration of the Rose, The. Lines addressed to a Lady on the occasion of her first "Coming Out." Written in her Album by W. D. S. Alexander, Son of the Earl of Stirling, 168 Inroads of Time, The. By Mrs. Abdy, 412 Journal of a London Schoolmaster, 43, 313 Leaves of Life. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 137, 281 Life Boat, The; or, the Wreck of the Black Middens. By Mrs. Crawford, 191 Lucy, To, on hearing that her Flower of Fate had Died. By E. Lynn, 455 Mendicants. By Mrs. Modern Romance, A. Charles Tinsley, 108 A Simple Story. By Mrs. G. Howes, 193 Pacha's Daughter, The, 357 Periodicals of the Past, 230, 430 Poet's Mission, The. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 155 Poet, The, versus Mammon. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 420 Rivulet, The, 212 Shakspere's Hamlet, 464 Sortes Scottianæ; or, Two Leap Years. By Mrs. Gordon, 338 Suicide, The. An Over True Tale, 213, 271 Summons, The. By Mrs. Charles Tinsley, 270 Swan, The, 327 Vision, The. By E. Lynn, 428 Waters of Oblivion, The. By Mrs. Gordon, 328 Bohn's Standard Library, noticed, 492 Christian Religion, Elements of the, Early British Christians, Tales of the, Fall of Nan Soung, The; a Tale of Notes of the Wandering Jew on the Parish Settlements and the Practice Priests, Women, and Families, no- Pryings of a Postman, The, noticed, Green's Writing Made Easy, noticed, Railway Rights and Liabilities arising History and Power of Ecclesiastical Lectures delivered at Broad-Mead Modern Mesmerism, Illustrations of, Mutual Christianity; or, the Duty of before an Act of Incorporation is THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE. THE BATTLE OF BENEVENTO. AN HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ABRIDGED FROM THE ITALIAN OF F. B. GUERAZZI, BY M. E. N. PREFATORY NOTE. [In translating the following novel I have found it necessary sometimes to take a few liberties with the original. I have abridged parts which would only have worried the patience of readers in general by detaining them from the course of the narrative, and I have omitted or altered sentiments whose moral tendency appeared at least equivocal-passages that would have been disagreeable to English tastes, and expressions which would have been deemed daring, profane, and according to our ideas even blasphemous.-TRANSLATOR.] INTRODUCTION. On the death of Frederic II., Emperor of Germany, and King of Naples and Sicily, he recorded in his last will his desire that his son Conrad, King of the Romans, should succeed him in all his dominions, however acquired, in the empire, and especially in the kingdom of Sicily; that in the event of Conrad dying without heirs male he should be succeeded by his brother Henry, in case of whose death also, without leaving a son, his successor should be Manfred, the natural son of Frederic II.; that during the absence of Conrad from Italy, occasioned by his residence in Germany, Manfred should be his viceroy, particularly for the kingdom of Sicily, with full powers of conferring feudal dignities, possessions, &c. The emperor also granted to his son Manfred the principality of Taranto and Porto Rosito, and the counties of Montescaglioso, Tricario, Gracino, and Sant Angiolo, and confirmed him in every grant made to him by his imperial father, on the condition that he recognised Conrad as his lord and sovereign. Such was the will of Frederic; but it was not the will of Pope Innocent. The policy of the pope's predecessors had consisted in opposing the power of the Emperors of Germany in Italy; and Jan. 1846,-VOL. XLV.-NO. CLXXVII. B although they could not prevent the house of Swabia from acquiring the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily by the marriage of the Emperor Henry VI. (father of Frederic II.) with Constance, heiress of those kingdoms, yet the constant study of the Roman court was to prevent the emperor from keeping firm hold of those Italian territories. Innocent, a skilful politician and worldly man, inflamed the cupidity of the Neapolitan barons. Each of these, in the hope of making himself absolute, excited the people to revolt by deceiving them with the old expectation of liberty, and told them that they ought to slay the tyrant (the emperor), and rid the kingdom of the barbarians (the Germans). Manfred, the viceroy for Conrad, on his side exhorted the people to remain faithful, depicted to them the honour and the satisfaction of loyalty, and denominated his enemies rebels. At the death of the Emperor Frederic the whole kingdom, from one extremity to the other, was in rebellion; yet in less than a year Manfred restored peace, and recovered all posts under subjection except the cities of Naples and Capua. This hero was the natural son of Frederic (but legitimated before his death), and of a Marchioness Lancia of Lombardy. His person was beautiful, his hair was fair, his eyes blue, like all of the house of Swabia; his figure was majestic, his carriage noble, his habits liberal and courteous. He was endowed by nature with remarkable talents. He could versify extempore, like the Troubadours; he was a musician, and was ignorant of no chivalrous accomplishment. Like his father Frederic, he conversed fluently in various languages, and he was skilled in natural history, as we see by his books on hunting, still extant. He was profoundly and daringly ambitious, calculating, and little scrupulous as to means, and a skilful dissembler; while, by a strange contradiction, he appeared to be humane, magnanimous, and generously forgiving. Conrad prepared to visit the kingdom of Sicily, which his august father used to call the precious inheritance. He embarked at Porto Navone, at the extremity of the Gulph of Venice, on board the combined fleet of Pisa and Sicily, and arrived safely at Siponto in Capitaneta early in 1252. Manfred met him with a magnificent train, and the demonstrations of the most tender fraternal love. He detailed to Conrad his successful enterprises and the dangers he had surmounted, and carefully explained to him the present condition of the kingdom. Conrad declared himself infinitely indebted to him, prayed him to aid him with his counsels, and never to leave his side. Thus all things, proceeded at first in harmony. War was commenced. Conrad, aided by Manfred and the Saracen colony in Sicily, occupied in a short time Aquino, Suessa, and San Germano; and not unlike his father Frederic, he treated the vanquished with rigour, imposed heavy fines on |