Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents. A Romance

London

Cadell and Davies

1797

"He bade her, as she valued her existence, watchfully to preserve the secret of her birth; and to waste not a single day at Villa-Altieri, but to retire to La Pietà ; and these injunctions were delivered in a manner so solemn and energetic, as not only deeply to impress upon her mind the necessity of fulfilling them, but to excite some degree of amazement."

This assurance revived Ellena, for two reasons; it afforded her a hope of relief from her present uncertainty, and it also seemed to express a degree of approbation of the object of her affection, such as the Confessor had never yet disclosed. Schedoni added, that he should see her no more, till he thought proper to acknowledge her for his daughter; but that, if circumstances made it necessary, he should, in the mean time, write to her; and he now gave her a direction by which to address him under a fictitious name, and at a place remote from his convent. Ellena, though assured of the necessity for this conduct, could not yield to such disguise, without an aversion that was strongly expressed in her manner, but of which Schedoni took no notice. He bade her, as she valued her existence, watchfully to preserve the secret of her birth; and to waste not a single day at Villa-Altieri, but to retire to La Pietà; and these injunctions were delivered in a manner so solemn and energetic, as not only deeply to impress upon her mind the necessity of fulfilling them, but to excite some degree of amazement.
(III.ii, p. 335)

Impressions

Reading

At least 7 entries in the ESTC (1797)

Radcliffe, Ann. The Italian, ed. Robert Miles (New York: Penguin, 2000). <Google Books: vol. I, vol. II, vol. III>

06/04/2013