The last No. (8,) of the _Foreign Quarley Review_, just published, contains
an attractive article on the Revolutions of Naples, in 1647 and 1648, in
which Masaniello played so conspicuous a part. The paper is in the easy
historical style of Sir Walter Scott; but as little could be selected for
our pages, except the Adventures of the Rebel Fisherman, and as we have
given the leading events of his life in an early volume of the MIRROR, we
content ourselves with the following passage. After a tolerably fair
estimate of the character of Masaniello, in which Sir Walter considers his
extraordinary rise as a work of fortune and contingency rather than of his
own device in the conception, or his own exertions in the execution--the
writer says--
"It would be doing Masaniello injustice, however, if we did not add, that
having no distinct prospect of rendering essential service to his country,
he was at the same time totally free from any sinister views of personal
aggrandizement. He appears to have been sincere in his wishes, that when he
had set Naples free,--by which he understood the abolition of imposts,--the
government of it should be committed to a popular management. The Memoirs
of 1828 record a singular circumstance with regard to this point, on the
authority of De Santis. While, on Friday, July 12th, the sixth day of the
insurrection, he was sitting in his judgment-seat, a female masked, or man
in woman's habit, approached and whispered, 'Masaniello, we have reached
the goal, a crown is prepared, and it is for thy brows.'--'For mine?' he
replied, 'I desire none but the green wreath with which we honour Our
Lady's festival in September. When I have delivered my country I shall
resume my nets.'--'You find them no more. Rebellion should not be
undertaken, or it should be carried on to the end.'--'I will resume my
nets,' said Masaniello steadily. 'You will not find them,' said the
intrusive monitor. 'What, then, shall I find?'--'Death!' answered the
masked figure, and withdrew into the crowd. An evidence of the purity of
his intentions, though combined with gross ignorance, was afforded by the
rigour with which he insisted on the destruction of the treasure and rich
movables found in the houses which were destroyed during the first days of
the tumult. Latterly, indeed, he yielded to the suggestions of Genuino and
d'Arpaya, that these things should be preserved for the good of the state,
and for the purpose of presenting them as a donative to Philip IV. in
place of the abolished gabelles. But whatever was the case with regard to
less scrupulous insurgents, he participated in no plunder, until vanity
produced madness, or madness vanity. On the whole we may conclude, that he
was a man whose principal characteristic was the boldness with which he
pursued an object ardently desired, but who was alike incapable, from want
of knowledge and talents, to avail himself of the success which so
wonderfully crowned his enterprise. How far his cruelty was the effect of
natural disposition, or a consequence of his malady, is a question that
must be left to HIM to whom alone it can be known."
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