fault in the extent of his wicked nature, and others asserted that Radcliffe's careful handling of his character and attempt to implement a touch of parental affection to soften him only served to make him seem less realistic. Reviews that were run in response to The Italian echo these tensions between approval and disappointment in what would be the final novel of Radcliffe's Gothic career. The writer of an 1827 review in the United States Review and Literary Gazette declares his belief that The Italian is Radcliffe's "greatest work," paying particular reverence to the "masterly dialogues" in several key scenes, including the interview between Marchesa and Schedoni in the church of San Nicolo as well as the discussion between Schedoni and Spalatro, in which the later refuses to murder Ellena. The writer of a 1797 review in The Monthly Review praised Radcliffe's visual and descriptive language in the novel, citing "the part…which displays the greatest genius, and the most force of description, is the account of the scenes which passed in the long house on the shore of the Adriatic, between Schedoni, Ellena, and Spalatro: – The horrible sublimity which characterises the discovery made by the former that Ellena was his daughter, at the instant in which he was about to stab her, was perhaps unparalleled.” This style of 'painting the sublime’ reflects the preference for allegorical or transcendent imagery over physical or realistic imagery in the Gothic literary and artistic period. Originating in the works of Edmund Burke's On the Sublime and Beautiful, which also parallels Radcliffe's preference in the use of terror over horror in her novels. Similarly, a later evaluation in the Edinburgh Review described the mastery of Ann Radcliffe's narrative description as allowing the reader to almost see, feel and experience the events on the Mediterranean alongside the characters. However, various negative reviews emerged and had issues when comparing The Italian to Radcliffe's earlier and more overwhelmingly successful pieces. Several articles commented on the difficulty the author had in maintaining her reputation after her early success. The writer of The English Review’s article on The Italian in December 1796 attempted to make a rational assessment of the disappointment that some people felt in reading the novel, saying that: “It was impossible to raise curiosity and expectation to a higher pitch than she has done in her Mysteries of Udolpho; yet these mysteries she accounted for in