C 493,785
GKA D
853
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BVC HP



A.
-
-
-
June, 1909.]
Arauco domado. Written not long before 1625;
ºf Menéndez y Pelayo, Acad., xII, clºxii.
Argel (El) fingido y renegado de amor. The
play is cited in P. Note, also, the reference in
El Pelegrino . . . ed. Obras sueltas, V, 463.
Atalanta (La). May be Adonis y Venus ; cf.
Restori, ZRPh., xxi.II, 451.
Ausente (El) en el lugar. This play contains
one of many references to La bella malmaridada,
which was, however, a popular phrase, as well as
the title of Lope's play.
Buena guarda (La). Two verses of the work
occur in other contemporary comedias (cf. Mira's
El Esclavo del demonio, l. 301; also, El Diablo
predicador, ed. Rivad., p. 331 c). Lope's ver-
sion is :
Considerad que hay infierno,
Muerte y vida, pena y gloria (Rivad., 337).
Caballero (El) del milagro. The title at the
close is, El (not y) arrogante Español. This same
title occurs within the play. According to Pro-
fessor De Haan (An outline of the history of the
novela picaresca in Spain, p. 21), it was Agustin
de Rojas' El viaje entretenido (1603) that brought
the expression Caballero del milagro into vogue.
Lope's play must have been written, therefore,
about 1603, -it is cited in P.
(To be continued.)
MILTON A. BUCHANAN.
University of Toronto.
A POEM ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDRE
HARDY.
In spite of the numerous and patent defects in
most of Hardy’s work, his importance as the first
conspicuous writer of popular dramas in modern
France continues to give value to any contri-
bution concerning his life or his plays, especially
as documents known to refer to him are exceed-
ingly few and brief. I would therefore call atten-
tion to a poem that has been neglected even by
M. Rigal, who has written the authoritative biog-
raphy of Hardy. It is addressed to the play-
->
Jun 22 isºs
ºf
MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
wright by his contemporary, Isaac Du Ryer,
author of occasional poems published under the
titles of Temps perdu" and Les Heures dérobees.”
The poem, found on pages 29–30 of the latter
work, runs as follows: º
- --- Łº
Au Sieur Hardy.
Assez longtempset trop sounent
Detes escris l’on a fait conte,
Souffre, Hardy, doresnauant
Qu’une ieunesse te surmonte
Et quelque grands labeurs que tu mettes au iour
Quelle [sic] offusque tagloire, et paroisse à son tour.
Excuse moy si ie te dis,
Bien que tu sois une merueille,
Que leurs beaux vers dont tu mesdis
Plus que lestiens charment l’oreille,
Tes vers sont un plain chant ordinaire et commun,
Et les leurs un concert qui rauit un chacun.
Maisce n'est pas moy seulement,
Qui suis poureux, et quiles loué,
Tous ont le mesme sentiment,
Et le plus critique l’aduoué,
Toy mesme parton fiel, ta rage et ta douleur,
Tu tesmoigne [sic] quelle estleur force et leur valeur.
Mais pourquoy ces ieunes esprits
Ne seront-ils cheris des Muses?
As-tu seul leur mestier appris?
Sont-elles dans toy seul infuses?
Non, non, Hardy, crois-moy sans plus estre enuieux
Qu’elles cherissent plus les ieunes que les vieux.
As the only copy of the Heures dérobees that I
have been able to find shows neither permission to
print nor achevé d'imprimer, I cannot assign the
collection an earlier date than 1633, but it is cer-
tain that the poems were written before October,
1632, as Hardy is known to have been dead at
that time.” Two poems of the collection were
written after October 28, 1628, for they celebrate
Richelieu’s capture of La Rochelle. All were
probably composed later than 1624, for otherwise
they would have been apt to appear in the Temps
perdu, the last edition of which came out in that
year. These facts, taken in connection with the
references to Hardy’s old age and the success of
his young dramatic rivals, make 1630–32 the
most probable dating for the poem,
For it was only towards 1630 that Hardy was
surpassed in popularity by a band of young dram-
* Paris, 1609 (second edition), 1610, 1624.
* Paris, 1633. There is a copy in the Bibliothèque de
l'Arsenal.
*Cf. Rigal, Alexandre Hardy, p. 38, Paris, 1889.










172
atists. His older rivals, Théºphile, Racan, and
Gombaud, do not constitute a sufficiently large or
prolific group. The first of these died in 1626.
It is when the others were joined by Mairet, Cor-
neille, Rotrou, Tristan, Pierre Du Ryer, and
Scudéry that a definite step is made in the de-
velopment of the drama with a more accurate
psychology, more careful construction, and a
greater purity of thought and expression, often
accompanied by a no less popular préciosité.
These qualities, answering the demands of an
audience whose refinement was steadily increas-
ing, won success for the plays of the new school,
while those of the old leader appeared corres-
pondingly antiquated. It is not surprising if the
change brought out expressions of “fiel, rage, et
douleur.”- - -
To Hardy's jealousy of his young rivals, as
here described, was probably due the faint praise
he is said to have bestowed on Corneille's Mélite,
which, according to the Mercure galant he called a
“jolie bagatelle,” according to Fontenelle, “une
assez jolie farce.” “ At the same time his feeling
may have been exaggerated by Du Ryer, whose
tone indicates a personal hostility to the old
dramatist, produced by professional jealousy, for
he, too, had attempted the drama," or by his
friendship for the younger generation, among
whom were numbered his son, Pierre, and his
friend, Tristan l'Hermite, to whom he wrote two
complimentary poems published in the Heures
dérobees."
H. CARRINGTON LANCASTER.
Amherst College.
SILENCE AND SOLITUDE IN THE
POEMS OF LEOPARDI.
It has often been said that the greatness of a
man does not depend upon the pleasures he enjoys
but upon the sufferings he undergoes. Among
Italians who prove the truth of this saying none
*For a discussion of these criticisms see Rigal, op. cit.,
pp. 59-61.
*In his pastorals, La Vengeance des satyres, Paris, 1614,
and Le Mariage d'amour, Paris, 1631.
" Pour Monsieur Tristan and A Monsieur Tristan sonnel.
MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
-
-
[Vol. xxiv, No. 6.
stand forth more clearly than Dante and Leo-
pardi. Both drained the cup of bitterness to the
dregs.
mising uprightness of character brought upon him
endless woe during his days on earth, and Leo-
pardi’s physical and mental sufferings doomed
him to a brief life full of misery. And yet had
Leopardi and Dante suffered less, the world would
probably have been deprived of two of its greatest
poets. While Dante sang the sorrows of sinners
in the other world and the happiness of the
blessed, Leopardi sang the bitter fate of mankind
in this world of ours. It is true the latter poet
sang first of all his own misfortunes and his own
despair, but behind the manifestations of his indi-
vidual sufferings, the accents of universal misery
and sorrow ring out as clearly as they do in
Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. Leopardi was a pes-
simistic poet—he has been called even the poet of
pessimism. This pessimism sprang from the pro-
found conviction that although man always strives
after happiness and his great need is happiness,
yet he can never attain the object of his strivings.
According to Leopardi, man is sure of nothing
but of sorrow and death.
My present aim is not to enter upon a philo-
sophical analysis of our poet’s pessimism. I wish
to call attention to two particular traits, namely,
silence and solitude, which are profoundly stamped
upon his poetry. Silence and solitude, indeed,
seem to have been among the frequent means by
which he gave expression to his pessimism.
In the following I shall adhere to the chrono-
logical order of the poems and I shall begin with
the Frammento of 1816.
In the midst of an almost universal silence a
maiden goes forth alone in search of love. All
nature smiles around her and the only sounds
heard are those of the rustling of leaves and the
sad song of a nightingale. Suddenly the land-
scape changes : A thunderstorm springs up ac-
companied by a pelting rain. Darkness reigns
everywhere and the maiden's heart is filled with
fear—so much so that when the storm abates at
last, she is dead, turned to stone—“Ella era di
pietra’—as the poet sings.
Among various other features of this poem,
there are two which impress themselves strongly
upon the reader's mind : They are a deep silence
Dante's lofty patriotism and uncompro- º
-


June, 1909.]
MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
-
- -
which enframes, so to say, the whole poem and
the weird solitude of the love-stricken maiden.
She walks alone—from joy to fear and from fear
to death. When the poem opens, silence reigns
everywhere :
| --
Spento il diurno raggio in occidente,
Equeto il fumo delle ville, e queta
De’cani era la voce e della gente;
A little further on, the maiden is seen walking
alone : :
Sola tenea la taciturna via
La donna, e il vento che gli odori spande,
Molle passar sul volto si sentia.
Suddenly a threatening cloud appears:
Un nugol torbo, padre di procella,
Sorgea di dietro ai monti, e crescea tanto,
Che più non si scopria luna në stella.
The end of the poem describes the maiden's death :
Esi rivolse indietro. E in quel momento
Si spense il lampo, e torno buio 1'etra,
Eacchetossi il tuono, e stette il vento.
Taceva il tutto; ed ella era di pietra.
The next poem—Il Primo Amore—is usually
printed after the Frammento, and was composed
in 1817. Here Leopardi sings his first love—its
joys and much more the sufferings it brought to
him ; the torments it made him undergo during
the day and, still more, in the silence of the
night. It is in the silence of the night also-or
perhaps more precisely, towards morning that he
is overcome by a vague presentiment of the
departure of his beloved from his parents' home
where she had been visiting. When at last she
is gone, he drags his trembling knees through the
silent room and his solitude is complete :
Orbo rimaso allor, miranicchiai
Palpitandonel letto e, chiusi gli occhi,
Strinsi il cor con la mano, e sospirai.
Poscia traendo i tremuli ginocchi
Stupidamente per la muta stanza,
Ch'altro sarà, dicea, che il cor mitocchi ?
In solitude he mourns over the loss of his love :
Solo il mio corpiaceami, ecol mio core
In un perenne ragionar sepolto,
Alla guardia seder del mio dolore.
E l'occhio a terra chino o in sé raccolto,
Diriscontrarsi fuggitivo e vago
-- - - - -
Ně in leggiadrosoffria në in turpe volto:
Che la illibata, la candida imago
Turbare egli temea pintanel seno,
Come all'aure siturba onde e lago.
--
We pass on to the poem All Italia, in which
the two features spoken of are less marked than
in the preceding poems. Still, Italy, figured in
the shape of a woman, is solitary and forsaken :
Siede in terra negletta e sconsolata,
Nascondendo la faccia
Tra leginocchia, e piange.
Moreover, Leopardi imagining that his dear Italy
is abandoned by her children and that no one is
willing to fight for her, calls out in his lone
despair :
L'armi, qua l'armi: io solo
---
Combatterê, procomberà solio.
And, finally, the poet Simonides singing the glo-
rious fate of the three hundred Spartans, rises
before the reader, sad and lonely, the image of
Leopardi himself bewailing the fate of Italy.
The poem entitled Il Passero Solitario is chro-
nologically the first one in which Leopardi gives
relatively full expression to his overwhelming
solitude. Although published for the first time
in the Naples edition of 1835, it occupies there
the foremost place among the idyls which were
composed in 1819. It is probable, however, ac-
cording to Straccali, that the poem was worked
over at a later date, perhaps between 1831 and
1835. From his frequent allusions to them we
may infer that Leopardi was very fond of birds.
The poem begins with an account of a lonely bird
perched on the top of an ancient tower in the
country, singing all day long until nightfall.
Spring is in the air and fills men's hearts with
tenderness and love. Birds, sheep and cattle
rejoice in the glory of spring, with the exception
of one lonely bird that keeps away from its com-
panions, preferring to pass its youth in song and
solitude. Beginning here the poet makes a com-
parison between the lonely bird and himself: He
also flees amusement, laughter and love; he
cares in nowise for them and yet he does not
know why (non so come, l. 22). He also passes
the springtime of his life away from his com-
panions, and while the young people of his native
city are celebrating a festal day, he goes forth



MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
[Vol. xxiv, No. 6.
into the country all by himself, putting off his
pleasures to the future. Meanwhile the sun is
setting and that setting seems to indicate that
youth has vanished.
The choice of the lonely bird as the symbol of -
the solitary singer is a happy one. Moreover,
the effect of solitude is heightened by the strong
contrast between that sentiment and the beauty
of spring and youth. Judging by the Passero
Solitario, the poet’s leaning towards solitude was
instinctive rather than deliberate—as appears from
the following lines :
Sollazzo e riso,
Delle novella età dolce famiglia,
Ete german digiovinezza, amore,
Sospiro acerbo de’ provetti giorni,
Non curo, io non so come.
And perhaps also in the last lines:
Ahi pentirommi, espesso
Masconsolato, volgerommi indietro.
L'Infinito usually follows after Il Passero Soli-
tario. In this poem we also find an allusion to
solitude and silence, for the scene is a lonely hill
(ermo colle) and a hedge behind which the poet
imagines that he discerns infinity with all its
sovrumani
Silenzio, e profondissima quiete.
The idea of great silence occurs again a little fur-
ther on in the same poem, when a comparison is
made between the wind rushing in the trees and
the infinite silence just spoken of:
E come il vento
Odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello
Infinito silenzio e questa voce
Vo comparando.
The poem was written, like the Passero Solitario,
in 1819, and it may be of interest to recall the
fact that the deserted hill of which the poet speaks
actually existed at the time of Leopardi and that
he often visited it. At present the site of the hill
is considerably changed, according to a note in
Straccali’s edition.
Still another poem in which the sentiment of
solitude as well as silence appears clearly is the
poem entitled Alla Luna. Scientific minds may
find it difficult to imagine the state of soul of one
who addresses himself repeatedly and passionately
to that luminary. And yet, a mind no less scien-
º
:
:
i
-
tific than that of Goethe, did not disdain to make
appeal to the moon in accents of deepest despair :
Oh sáhst du, voller Mondenschein, -
Zum letzten Mal auf meine Pein.
And, among many other instances, who does not
recall that famous stanza in the Rubaiyat 3
Yon rising Moon that looks for us again—
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;
How oft hereafter rising look for us
Through this same Garden—and for one in vain
The moon has always exercised and still exercises
a strange and powerful fascination over the human
mind—and especially over the minds of poets.
The poetic suggestion of the moon seems to result
from the mysteriousness which surrounds that
luminary and the ominous silence and the deep
repose which man is wont to associate with it.
There is, moreover, a feeling of loneliness, which
communicates itself to us as we contemplate the
moon. I believe it is Emerson who says that
if one wishes to be alone one should look at the
moon. The romantic poets and those who sing of
the weariness of life and its sadness—the pessi-
mistic poets—all have addressed their passionate
appeals to the moon ; they have, it seems, discov-
ered between themselves and her a secret affinity
and sympathy. Such was evidently the case with
Leopardi, in whose poems we find numerous in-
stances of the mysterious communion and intimacy
spoken of
The poem entitled Il Sogno, shows how our
poet has a dream towards morning, in which his
beloved appears to him. After a brief conver-
sation with her, he discovers that she is dead—
that he has been conversing with her shadow only.
In this instance silence and solitude are not in
great prominence. The final picture, however, is
that of the lonely poet, awaking in the midst of
silence from his harrowing dream :
Or finalmente addio.
Nostre misere menti e nostre salme
Son disgiunte in eterno. A me non vivi,
E mai più non vivrai : già ruppe il fato
Lafe chemi giurasti. Allor d’angoscia
Grider volendo, e spasimando, e pregne
Disconsolato pianto le pupille,
Dal sonno mi disciolsi. Ella negli occhi
Pur mi restava, enell' incerto raggio
Del Solvederlaio mi credeva ancora.



June, 1909.]
175
MODERN LANGUAGE , ,
Whether or not Leopardi passed the summer of
1819 in the country cannot be definitely ascer-
tained. But whatever the truth may be regard-
ing this matter, the poem entitled La Vita Soli-
taria shows the poet living in the country, and the
title indicates sufficiently what life he led there.
In the morning he is wakened by the gentle patter
of the rain against his windows : Nature still
offers to him some slight consolation, although
she prefers to look upon happiness rather than
misfortune. Surrounded by nature, the poet
sometimes betakes himself to a solitary spot,
where he may forget the world:
Talor m'assido in solitaria parte,
Sovra un rialto, al margine d'un lago
Di taciturne piante incoronato.
Ivi, quando il meriggio in ciel si volve,
La sua tranquilla imago il Sol dipinge,
Ed erba o foglia non si crolla al vento,
E non onda incresparsi, e non cicala
Strider, né batter penna augello in ramo,
Né farfalla ronzar, né voce o moto
Da presso né da lunge odi né vedi.
Tien quelle rive altissima quiete;
Ond' io quasi me stesso e il mondo obblio
Sedendo immoto; e già mi par che sciolte
Giaccian le membre mie, né spirto o senso
Più le commova, e lor quiete antica
Co' silenzi del loco si confonda.
The silence and the solitude of the place recall to
the poet the reason for his fondness for it, namely,
the loss of the sentiment once sweetest to him,
love. Sometimes this sentiment comes back to
him, especially at night when he hears the sil-
very notes of a village maiden. The idea of
night leads up to an address to the moon, to
whom the poet directs these final words:
Me spesso rivedrai solingo e muto
Errar pe' boschi o per le verdi rive,
O seder sovra l'erbe, assai contento
Se core e lena a sospirar m'avanza,
Among the remaining poems I shall cite first
La sera del di di festa. On the evening of a fes-
tive day– when “the lanes are silent and the
lamps are few” –the poet thinks of his beloved
whom he imagines as sleeping and dreaming of
her triumphs of the day. He has no hope that
her thoughts are turned to him : she, like all
nature, has forgotten him. Suddenly he hears a
belated artisan singing, and this solitary song re-
minds him of the passing of all things-the fame
of his forefathers and the fame of Rome are all
now hushed in silence. I quote a few lines in
order to show how silence and solitude form an
essential part of this poem : -
Dolce e chiara è la notte e senza vento,
E queta sovra i tetti e in mezzo agli orti
Posa la luna, e di lontan rivela
Serena ogni montagna. O donna mia,
Già tace ogni sentiero, e pei balconi
Rara traluce la notturna lampa:
Tu dormi, che t'accolse agevol sonno
Nelle tue chete stanze ; e non ti morde
Cura nessuna ; e già non sai né pensi
Quanta piaga m'apristi in mezzo al petto.
. . . . Ahi, per la via
Odo non lunge il solitario canto
Dell' artigian. .
Ecco è fuggito
Il dí festivo, ed al festivo il giorno
Volgar succede, e se ne porta il tempo
Ogni umano accidente. Or dov' è il suono
Di que popoli antichi? or dov' è il grido
De' nostri avi famosi, e il grande impero
Di quelle Roma, e l'armi e il fragorio
Che n'andò per la terra e l'oceano?
Tutto è pace e silenzio, e tutto posa
Il mondo, e più di lor non si ragiona.
There is another poem from the title of which,
Canto Notturne di un pastore errante dell' Asia,
we may infer that silence and solitude reign about
the shepherd who represents Leopardi himself.
Here are the opening lines :
Che fai tu, luna, in ciel? dimmi, che fai,
Silenziosa luna?
Sorgi la sera, e vai,
Contemplando i deserti; indi ti posi.
And further on, still addressing the moon :
Pur tu, solinga, eterna peregrina,
Che si pensosa sei, tu forse intendi,
Questo viver terreno,
Il partir nostro, il sospirar, che sia ;
E tu certo comprendi
Il perchè delle cose, e vedi il frutto
Del mattin, della sera,
Del tacito, infinito andar del tempo.
Spesso quand' io ti miro
Star così muta in sul deserto piano,
Che, in suo giro lontano, al ciel confina . . .






176 MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES.
[Vol. xxiv, No. 6.
-
Dico fra me pensando:
A che tante facelle?
Che fa l'aria infinita, e quel profondo
Infinito seren? che vuol dir questa
Solitudine immensa ?
MoRITz LEVI.
University of Michigan.
VENETIAN BUSINELLO – ITALIAN
EMISSARIO.
In the Cicogna collection at Venice cod. 3637
(Correr 3350) is a series of papers dated Sept.
28, 1836, and signed by the celebrated architect
G. Casoni. Under the general title “Notizia
storica dell' Emissario al Fiume Sile denominato
il Businello'' are collected recopies of this essay
and the various notes used by Casoni in the con-
struction of it. It seems that in the diversion of
the Sile's course, incident upon the exclusion of
fresh water from the Venetian lagoon, the pesti-
ferous effects produced by the mixture of the river
in the stagnant pools of salt water were not en-
tirely overcome, but simply transferred to the
eastward to the territory surrounding the river's
new mouth. It was accordingly suggested, as the
result of agitation culminating in 1695, that the
burden be divided, by distributing the flow of the
river through the new and the old beds, by means
of a gate-way opened at their junction. The
adoption of this proposal led to a discussion on
the reform which lasted with decision for and
against the fiume, for some 150 years. This
gate-way appears in the documents on the subject
under the name Businello; and the varying treat-
ment of this term by the successive authorities
invites inquiry as to what it really means. Casoni
refers to it seven times simply as il Businello,
e. g. loc. cit. no. 4, doc. 4, 1°: “ 1695, 5 decem-
bre decretò l'apertura del Businello ossia di una
catterata, dalla quale una parte sola dell' acqua
del Sile si ottenesse.” Here also the name is in-
terpreted carefully by the succeeding phrase ; and
while we have the undecisive “di esso Businello''
(ibid. doc. 5, 2”, 4°), “ di riattirare quel Busi-
nello'' (ibid.) and “ Questo Businello produsse,
etc.” (ibid. 3”, doc. 7), as a rule there is a dis-
tinct apology for the word (ibid. doc. 6, 1°) :
“l'apertura di un emissario che venne denomi-
nato Businello, val a dire l'apertura alla sponda
destra di una catterata larga piedi 9, alta piedi
3.'' So far indeed is Casoni from feeling it a
common noun that on five occasions he uses it as
a proper name in apposition (ibid. 4, 4, 1°) :
“Questo nuovo Emissario Businello soggiague a
grandissime vicende''; (ibid. doc. 6, 1, title)
“Promenoria dell' Emissario del Sile Businello '';
(doc. 4, 1”) “l'acqua proveniente dall' Emissario
Businello”; (doc. 5, 3”) “Anche senza la riaper-
tura dell' Emissario Businello”; (ibid. 4°) “ gli
effetti prodotti dall' emissario Businello.”
Antonio Tadini writing in 1819 likewise recog-
nizes the exotic character of the word : in his title
“ Dell' Emissario del Sile volgarmente detto il
Businello” (Milano, Paolo Giusti, 1819, 59 pp.);
(p. 4, l. 15) “in via di sperimenti si aprì uno
sfogatoio chiamato il Businello”; (p.57) “l'Emis-
sario o Businello del Sile''; while elsewhere (pp.
5, 6, 7, 8, 33, 34, 41, 44) he uses simply : “il
Businello” or “ il B. del Sile.” The Alvisopoli
in the same year in Venice published an “ Esame
delle opinioni di Benedetto Castelli e di Alfonso
Borelli sulle lagune di Venezia, aggiuntavi (pp.
99-142) un appendice sulla riapertura del Busi-
nello''; and among some 27 occurrences of the
term we find “ del nuovo Businello” (p. 104),
“ del Businello secondo” (p. 105, note), and the
adverbial expression “ a Businello aperto” (p.
116), which are in the direction of considering
Businello a common noun. Filiasi again (Rifles-
sioni sopra i fiumi e le lagune, Giuseppe Pignotti,
Venezia, 1817) is in doubt (p. 45, l. 7) : “uno
sbocco si aprisse ad esso nella laguna, detto il
Businello,” with one possible occurrence of the
common noun form (p. 64, l. 1): “ Chiuso nel
1769 il Businello del Sile.'' The fact that in all
of these works the word is capitalizedis, of course,
unimportant; not only because there was as yet
little regularity in capitalization generally, but
because such words as fiume, taglio, mare, emis-
sario, pure common nouns, are nevertheless fa-
vored with large initials in these same books.
In any case, reference to the original documents
in the discussion would have determined for them
the precise status of the term. The papers of the
agitation previous to the construction of the dam,
as well, apparently, as some of the deliberations of





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340l ºf Cº24 / OZ//