"L ON ITALIAN LITERATURE. [From the same.] ANGUAGE is only the vehicle of instruction, and the sweetest dialect that ever graced the lips of mortals, if not ennobled by genius and consecrated by wisdom, may be heard with as much indifference as the warblings of the birds of the forest. Fortunately for Italy, if the Goddess of Liberty has twice smiled, the Sun of Science also has twice risen on her favoured regions, and the happy periods of Augustus aud of Leo, have continued through all succeeding ages, to amuse and to instruct mankind. If the Greek language can boast the first, and Latin the second, Italian may glory in the third epic poem; and Tasso, in the opinion of all candid critics, bas an undoubted right to sit next in honour and in fame to his countryman Virgil. Dante and Ariosto have claims of a different, perhaps not an inferior, nature, and in originality and grandeur the former, in variety and imagery the latter, stands unrivalled. Petrarca bas all the tenderness, all the delicacy of Catullus Tibullus and Propertius without their foulness and effeminacy; he seems to have felt the softness of love without any mixture of its sensuality; he has even raised it above itself, as I have observed elsewhere, and superadded to that grace and been beauty, which have illustrious of her offspring. The same spirit has continued to inspire a succession of poets in every different branch of that divine art, from Boccacio and Guarini down to Alfieri and Metastasio, all Phabo digna locuti, all inimitable in their different talents, equal perhaps to their celebrated predecessors in the same career and in the same country, and undoubtedly superior both in number and in originality to the bards of the northern regions. "The French, who glory, and not without reason, in their dramatical writers, have often reproached the Italians with the barrenness of their literature in this respect, and have even ventured to assert, that it proceeded from some inherent defect, from some want of energy or of pliability in the formation of their language. But the language of Dante and of Ariosto wants neither of these qualities; it has assumed all the ease and the grace of Terence, in the comedies of Gherardo di Rossi; in the tragedies of Alfieri it appears in all the dignity and the strength of Sophocles; and simplicity, tenderness, and delicacy, are the inseparable attendants of the virgin muse of Metastasio. It is indeed useless to enlarge on the excellency of Italian ear poetry: its superiority is admitted, and dull must be the ever musical the soul, which do not perceive in the chant of the Hesperian Muse a glow and a harmony peculiar to the age and country which inspired the divine strains of Virgil and of Horace. deemed its appropriate ornaments, some of the charms of virtue, and even a certain religious solemnity. Nor has the genius of Italian poesy, as if exhausted by the effort, expired with these, the first and the most and un Namque Namque haud tibi vultus tiality of discussion, and a depth of Mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat; O Dea, research peculiar to himself. Guic certe Et Phœbi soror! En. lib. 1. "But the reader, if not better versed in Italian literature than most of our travellers, will be surprised to hear that Italy is as rich in history as in poetry, and that in the former as well as in the latter, she may claim a superiority not easily disputed over every other country. Every republic, and almost every town has its historian, and most of these historians, though their subject may sometimes appear too confined, possess the information and the talents requisite to render their works both instructive and amusing. The greater states can boast of authors equal to their reputation; while numberless writers of the first rate abilities have devoted their time and their powers to the records of their country at large, and related its vicissitudes with all the spirit of ancient, and with all the precision of modern times. In these cursory observations, a few instances only can be expected, but the few which I am about to produce are sufficient to establish the precedency of Italian historians. "Paolo Sarpi, in depth, animation and energy, is represented by the Abbé Mably, no incompetent judge, as unrivalled, and proposed as a model of excellence in the art of unravelling the intricacies of misrepresentation and party spirit. Cárdinal Pallavicini treated the same subject as Paolo Sarpi, with candor, eloquence and judgment, and his style and manner are supposed to combine together with great felicity, the ease and the dignity that became the subject and the historian. Giannone possesses nearly the same qualities, and adds to them an impar ciardini, with the penetration of Tacitus, unites the fulness (lactea ubertas) of Titus Livius, and like him possesses the magic power of transforming the relation into action, and the readers into spectators. This historian has been reproached with the length and intricacy of his sentences, a defect considerably increased by the number of parentheses with which they are, not unfrequently, embarrassed. The reproach is not without foundation. But it must be remembered that his Roman master is not entirely exempt from the same defect, and that in neither, does it impede the fluency, or weaken the interest of the narra. tion. The greatest fault of the Florentine historian is the frequency of his studied speeches, a fault into which he was betrayed by his admiration of the ancients, and by that passionate desire of imitating them, which is its natural consequence. But his harangues have their advantages, and, like those of Livius and of Thucydides, not only furnish examples of eloquence, but abound in maxims of public policy and of sound philosophy. Machiavellianks high as an historian, and may be considered as the rival of Tacitus, whom he imitates, not indeed in the dignity and extent of his subject, nor in the veracity of his statements, but in the concise and pithy style of his narration. "These historians were preceded and followed by others of talents and celebrity little inferior; such were the judicious historian of Naples, Angelo de Costanzo; the Cardinal Bembo, Morosini, and Paruta of Venice; Adriani and Ammirato of Tuscany, or rather of Florence; Bernardino Corio of Milan; and in general history, Tarcagnota and Campagna, not to mention Davila and the Cardinal Bentivoglio. In each of these historians, the Italian critics discover some peculiar features, some characteristic touches exclusively their own; while in all they observe the principal excellencies of the historic art, discrimination in portraits, judicious arrangements in facts, and in style, pure and correct language. These writers, it is true, flourished for the greater part, at a time, when Italian literature was in its meridian glory, that is, during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeeth centuries; but its lustre did not cease with them, nor was Italy in the eighteenth century unenlightened by history.or unproductive of genius. "Were I to mention the learned and judicious Muratori only, and close the list of Italian historians with his name, I should not be called upon for any further proof of the superiority of the Italians in the research and combination that constitute the excellence of this branch of literature. So extensive is the erudition, so copious the information, so judicious the selection, and so solid the criticism, that reign throughout the whole of this voluminous author's writings, that his works may be considered in themselves as a vast and well disposed library, containing all the documents of Italian history and antiquities, and all the reflections which they must suggest to a mind of great and extensive observation. "But to the name of Muratori, I will add another equally illustrious in the annals of literature, and like it capable, even single, of fixing the reputation of a language of less intrinsic merit than Italian; I mean Tiraboschi, the author of numerous works, but known principally for his Storia della Letteratura Italiana. This work takes in the whole history of Italian literature both ancient and modern, and contains an account of the commencement and progress of each science, of the means by which knowledge was promoted, of libraries and literary establishments, of the lives, the works, and the characters of great authors; in short, of persons, revolutions, events, and discoveries, connected with the fate of literature. It begins with the first dawn of science and taste in Rome, and follows their increase, decline, and revival during the succeeding ages; of course it includes a considerable portion of the general history of the country at each epoch, and conducts the reader from the first Punic war over the immense space of twenty intervening cen turies down to the eighteenth. Few works have been planned upon a scale more extensive, and none executed in a more masterly manner. A strict adherence to veracity; a thorough acquaintance with the subject in all its details; a spirit of candour raised far above the influence of party; a discernment in criticism, deep and correct; and, above all, a clear and unbiassed judgment, principium et fons recte scribendi, pervade every part of this astonishing work, and give it a perfection very unusual in literary productions so comprehensive and so complicated. The style, according to the opinion of Italian critics, is pure, easy, and rapid, free alike from the wit that dazzles and the pomp that encombers, yet graced with such ornaments as rise spontaneously from the nature of the subject. On the whole, it may be considered as one of the noblest and most most interesting works ever published, and far superior to any historical or critical performance in any other language. The author intended it as a vindication of the claims of his country to the first honours in literature, and has, by establishing those claims, erected to its glory a monument as durable as human language, and appropriated for ever to Italy the title of Mother of the Arts and Sciences, and Instructress of Mankind. "The work of Abate D. G. Andres Dell'Oregine, di progressi e dello Stato di ogni Letteratura, is a noble, an extensive, and a very masterly performance. I have already spoken of the Revoluzioni D'Italia, by the Abate Denina; I need only say that to perspicuity and manly simplicity this author adds a great share of political sagacity, and a sound philosophic spirit. The same qualities are predominant in his discourses, Sopra le Vicende della Letteratura, a work which comprises, in a small compass, a great mass of information, and may be considered as a compendious history, and at the same time, as a very masterly review, of literature in general. "In antiquities the Italians are rich to superabundance, and can produce more authors of this description not only than any one, but than all the other nations of Europe together. Among them we may rank the illustrious names of Muratori, Maffei, Mazzochi, Carli, and Paciaudi, to which many more might be added were it not universally acknowledged that the study of antiquities called forth by so many motives and by so many objects, is an indigenous plant in Italy, and flourishes there as in its native climate. "For the last fifty years political economy has been a favourite subject on the continent, and in it some French writers have acquired considerable reputation. In this respect, as in many others, the French may be more bold, more lively, and perhaps more entertaining, because more paradoxical; but the man who wishes to be guided by experience and not by theory, who prefers the safe, the generous principles of Cicero and of Plato, to the dangerous theories of Rousseau and of Sieyes, will also prefer the Italian to the French economists. Of the former the number is great, and from them has been extracted and printed in sets, as Classics, (in which light indeed they are considered,) a select number of the best, whose works form a collection of about fifty volumes octavo. "In Essays, Treatises, Journals, and Reviews, the Italians first led the way, and still equal every other nation. In the Sciences, they have been considered as deficient, but this opinion can be entertained only by persons imperfectly acquainted with Italian literature. To be convinced that it is without foundation, we need only enumerate the astronomers, mathematicians, geographers, and natural philosophers, who have flourished in Italy from the time of Galileo to the present period; and among them we shall find a sufficient number of july celebrated names to vindicate the reputation of their country, and to justify its claim to scientific honours. "Here indeed, as upon another occasion, I must observe that Italian literature has been traduced, because its treasures are unknown; and that the language itself has been deemed unfit for research and argument, because too often employed as the vehicle vehicle of amorous ditties and of effeminate melody. This prejudice is owing amongst us in some degree to the influence of French fashions and opinions, which commenced at the Restoration, was increased by the Revolution, and was strengthened and extended in such a manner by the example of court sycophants, and by the writings of courtly authors, that French became a constituent part of a genteel education, and some tincture of its literature was deemed a necessary accomplishment. Thence, French criticism had acquired weight, and the opinions of Boileau, Bouhours, Dubos, &c. became axioms in the literary world. Either from jealousy or from ignorance, or from a mixture of both, these critics speak of Italian literature with contempt, and take every occasion of vilifying the best and noblest compositions of its authors. Hence the contemptuous appella tion of tinsel, given by the French satirist to the strains (Aurea dicta) of Tasso, an appellation as inapplicable as it is insolent, which must have been dictated by envy, and can be repeated by ignorance only. "The flippant petulancy of these criticisms might perhaps recommend them to the French public, especially as they flattered the national vanity, by depreciating the glory of a rival, or rather a superior country; but it is difficult to conceive how they came to be so generally circulated and adopted in England; and it is not without some degree of patriot indignation, that we see Dryden bend his own stronger judgment, and Pope submit his finer taste, to the dictates of French essayists, and to the assertions of Parisian poets. Addison, though in other respects an AntiGallican, and strongly influenced by those laudable prejudices, to use his own expression, which naturally cleave to the heart of a true-born Briton, here condescended to follow the crowd, and resigning his own better lights and superior informa tion, adopted without examination, the opinions of the French school. This tame, servile spirit of imitation became in a short time general, and not only contributed to give the language of our enemies that cur rency of which they are now so proud, but restrained the flight of British genius, and kept it confined in the trammels of French rules and of French example. "How detrimental, in fact, this imitative spirit has been to our na❤ tional literature will appear evident, if we compare the authors, who were formed in the Italian school, with those who fashioned their productions on French models. To say nothing of Chaucer, who borrowed both his manner and his subject from Italy, or of Shakspeare, whose genius, like that of Homer, was fed, as the luminaries of heaven, by sources secret and inexhaustible; I need only mention the names of Spencer and of Milton, two towering spirits, who soar far above competition, and from their higher spheres look down upon the humbler range of Pope and of Dryden Spencer and Milton are disciples of the Tuscan sages, and look up with grateful acknowledgment to their Ausonian masters. Waller and Cowley pursued the same path though at a respectful distance, and certainly not, passibus æquis: especially as in the time of the latter, French fashion began to spread its baneful influence over English literature. Then came the gossamer breed of courtly poetasters, who forgetting, or perhaps not knowing,that Yet The |