_With eight Views after Prout, twenty-nine Cuts after_ TITIAN, _Maps,
etc._
Few can explore for themselves the treasures of the Italian Chronicles.
The author of this work has laid open their stores for the benefit of
English readers,--gleaning from them characteristic incidents, amusing
stories and anecdotes; while he has sustained all the dignity of
historical research.
The writer has avoided the mistakes into which mere compilers fall;--he
has not sunk into a mere annalist, transcribing a dry register of
facts, but he either passes over entirely, or touches very slightly,
events of minor importance, and reserves himself for those more
momentous and interesting transactions which require to be more fully
displayed. The beauty of style in which these volumes are written
has attracted general notice, and the applause of the most competent
judges,--in this respect, indeed, they yield to no work of the series.