University of Virginia Library

“This work is deliciously written, and admirably translated.”

“This work is written with great ability, and will be found extremely interesting.”

“The Challenge of Barletta has been frequently designated by the British
and Italian critics as the best romance of its language. It is certainly
a vivacious work.”

“The author appears to have brought to the task the most untiring industry
and research, and to have literally exhausted the infinite resources of his
inimitable genius, in portraying the passions and impulses which prompt to
human action.”

“The `Challenge of Barletta' brings before us the manners, customs,
stirring events, and some of the contemporaries of the times of Gonzales
de Cordova, the illustrious general of Ferdinand and Isabella; and the
particular event which furnishes the ground work of the romance is alluded
to by Prescott, the historian, in a note. The Great Captain is presented to
us in all his glory, with many of the chivalric spirits of the age; while the
pastimes of the day—the tournament, the bull-fight, the theatre, and the
banquet—are set forth in graphic descriptions.”