to Sftwfciea m Italian LONDON : PBINTED BY GILBERT AND BIVINGTOlf, LIMITED, si. JOHN'S SQUARE. n Classiral ALSO of "II ttntacolo" BY fhillitnon WRITER OF "THE LIFE OF FRA ANGELICO," ETC., ETC., ETC. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET 1887 [All rights reserved} THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA Co Cnricijetta Otattam, tit an5 to tf)t ?2onourrtl flrUmon) of Ijtr feusbantt, Bon IHicfjelantselo OTactant, )uca tit tljesit arc JhuSfribtli bv ifyt Inttl) Btbmiuc, ratituUe, anK Affection. " Or va', che un sol volere e d'ambedue : Tu Duca tu Signore, e tu Maestro." La Divina Commedia, Inf. c. ii, 1. 109, no. PREFACE. THE Essays which form this little volume have been re- printed, with additions, from the various magazines and reviews where they were first published. 1 ' They do not pretend to be other than studies, outlines of thought, which may perhaps suggest how many a rich spoil still remains to be gathered from the glorious page of Italian literature. For to the student this can never cease to glow with fascinating interest. Undimmed by the course of centuries, it remains as vivid as the golden ground of a picture by Fra Angelico, if indeed it may not be said to gather from each succeeding age an added lustre, like the glittering mosaic of San Miniato, mellowed in the sunsets of 800 years. The imagination which has passed in awe and wonder before the sublime conception of the " Divina Coinmedia," may next pursue in the smooth numbers of Petrarch a romance of such unrivalled constancy as would have suf- ficed to create the romantic age, had it had no other origin or existence, and finally kindled to divine enthusiasm 1 The St. Paul's Magazine, Macmillan's Magazine, the Church Quarterly Review, the Edinburgh, Review. The Legend of " II Cenacolo " is reprinted from the Churchman's Companion. viii PREFACE. and led by Tasso, the Christian poet-knight, may follow all the chivalry of Europe to worship at the Holy Shrine. Again, when the drama of Italy in all its various forms has supplied a manifold enjoyment, the eye and ear, satiated with pleasure, may seek repose in the veiled light and solemn hush of the great libraries, which served as treasure-houses for the vast stores of learning till the art of printing should one day disperse them over the world. Here, in the still atmosphere, the manuscript folios which line the walls, the glowing pages of some missal, illuminated perhaps by Fra Angelico or Francia, jealously guarded from the ravages of time, remain as silent witnesses to the truth that " Labour is the price the gods have set upon everything that is valuable." What if the dust of centuries has accumulated round the forgotten tomes; what if the hands which traced them have long since mouldered in the grave. Will not the dust " hear and beat," the " wonted fires " quicken into life at the approaching freedom of the " Patria Terra " ? Favoured theme of Poetry, all-powerful to wing the thoughts and dip the pen in fire, one after another the sons of Italy pour forth their indefatigable lays and utter the aspirations never to cease till the sword is sheathed in the hour of victory, and the pen laid aside after celebrating the song of triumph. " Deh fossi tu men bella ! " is a lament which belongs to a bygone age. Now that each one of her States, has put her individual jewel into the circlet of freedom's crown, rich in natural beauty, with every added treasure of literature and art, let Italy reign " dalle Alpi al mar." If there are any to whom the fair beauty of Italy has ever appealed in vain, it is certainly not to the student of her literature, when the time comes to tread the streets that Dante trod, to touch the stone where he was wont PBEFACE. ix to sit, lost in thought, contemplating his beloved " San Giovanni," the "fonte del mio battesimo," where, alas ! for his cruel fate, he was never to receive the poet's crown. All around, in unchanging beauty, lie the scenes on which his eyes loved to rest the soft, purple outlines of the mountains ; the Arno rolling down its waters, now green with snow from the Apennines, now irridescent with every hue of the changing sky, " E cento miglia di corso nol sazia;" 2 the soft mists of the morning, the "dolce color d' oriental zaffiro" 3 gathered up into the zenith of the cloudless atmosphere, the white "Buoi di pari, a giogo," 4 coming down from San Miniato, as the evening shadows fall and the familiar outlines of the Duomo and the Campanile, the Palazzo Vecchio and Santa Croce vest themselves in varying liveries of purple, red, and gold, till the sun sinks suddenly behind the last blue outline of the horizon, and the grey curtain of twilight falls on the fair scene ; then across the gulf of centuries comes the echo of the Squilla di lontano Che parve il giorno pianger che si muore." * If then these few studies should prove sufficiently attractive to tempt other students to search for themselves in the same mine of inexhaustible treasures, they will not have been written in vain. It only remains to add that the translations of poetry 6 which bear the initials E. P. were supplied by the late Eight Honourable Sir Eobert Phillimore, and that it is from the recollection of the faultless taste and wise J Purg. xiv. 1. 18. 3 Ibid. i. 13. * Ibid. xii. 1. * Ibid. viii. 6. 6 Pp. 229, 233, 236. x PREFACE. criticism which guided the revision of the Essays in their original form that their writer now derives the courage necessary to bid them once more " uscir del bosco E gir infra la gente." ' CATHERINE MARY PHILLIMORE. THE COPPICE, HENLEY-CN-THAMBS. November, 1886. 1 " Rime del Petrarca." Canzone XIV. CONTENTS. PAGK I. THE "PABADISO" OF DANTE. A SKETCH . . 1 II. PETEAECH : AN ESSAY UPON HIS LIFE, TIMES, AND WOEKS. Parts I., II 20 III. TOBQUATO TASSO : AN ESSAY UPON HIS LlFE AND WOBKS. Parts I., II 60 IV. THE PRINCE PEINTEES OP ITALY. Parts I., II. . 95 V. THE ITALIAN DBAMA. Parts I., II., III., IV., V. . 128 VI. MANZONI. A SKETCH 228 VII. ALEAEDO ALEAEDI ....... 246 VIII. COUNT AEEIVABENE 276 IX. EDOAEDO Fusco 294 A LEGEND OF "!L CENACOLO.'' A POEM 320 STUDIES IN ITALIAN LITEEATUEE. THE "PAKADISO" OF DAXTE. A SKETCH. "Qual alto seggio T" abhia assegnato Dio ne le sue glorie, Alighiero, non so. So che la tua Italia ti loco nel piil sublime. So ch' ella sempre t' oblid nei giorni De la vilta : ma ai di de la speranza Legge il tuo libro ; e ormai piu non t' oblia." ' PERHAPS of the three parts of the " Divina Commedia " the " Paradiso " is the least dwelt upon by English stu- dents of the great Italian poet. It has the just reputation of being the part most difficult of comprehension in the whole poem. Those who attempt to read it are deterred from doing so by the allegories and metaphors which, frequently employed throughout the work, occur in almost every line of the " Paradiso ; " by the arrangement of the heavenly spheres according to the now exploded Ptolemaical system ; and, above all, by the theological and philosophical expositions which, it must be admitted, are not entirely free from the scholasticism prevalent in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. These appear to be some of the reasons why the " Paradiso," considered by Italian critics the greatest effort of Dante's mind, is so little appreciated by foreigners. With the exception of Gary, whose translation and 1 " Canti di Aleardo Aleardi," p. 119. 2 SADIES IN ITALIAN LITERATURE. whose notes are admitted by all to be equally good throughout the poem, the English commentators and essayists upon the " Divina Commedia," after criticizing in the most able and elaborate manner the " Inferno "and the " Purgatorio," scarcely mention the " Paradiso," and thus convey the impression that it is inferior to the pre- ceding portions of the poem. To cite one example, so important that no other is required, Lord Macaulay in his " Criticisms on the Prin- cipal Italian Writers," points out the best passages, dwells upon the beauty of the style, the unity and consistency of the poem, its minute details and powerful descriptions ; but only with reference to the "Inferno" and "Purga- torio." When he conies to the " Paradiso " he dismisses the subject in a few lines : " But among the beatified he [Dante] appears as one who has nothing in common with them, as one who is incapable of comprehending, not only the degree, but the nature of their enjoyment." And further on : " When we read Dante, the poet vanishes. We are listening to the man who has re- turned from ' the valley of the dolorous abyss.' We seem to see the dilated eye of horror, to hear the shud- dering accents with which he tells his fearful tale." 2 No mention is made of the reverse side of the mar- vellous picture presented to us by Dante, the spheres of eternal bliss, the ceaseless songs of praise, the heavenly hope, the blessed consolation of which he treats in the " Paradiso," and which the Italian critics, in their enthu- siastic admiration, declare to be a kind of foretaste of the joys of il vero Paradiso. The object of this paper is to endeavour to remove some of the difficulties which are to be encountered in the study of the " Paradiso," to give, if possible, a clue to the alle- gory which lies concealed in the poem, and thus to guide the reader to its manifold beauties. It may also be urged in favour of so slight a sketch that few can really study the immortal poet without longing to add their contribution, however small it may be, to the livelong monument which every year increases to 2 " The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay," vol. i. pp. 62, 63. THE " PAR ADI so " OP DANTE. 3 otie who may divide with Shakespeare his inheritance of fame. Such is the double end proposed by a paper which has been compiled from the best Italian writers and commentators upon the subject. Among these standing ever foremost "si come Sire" 3 is the late Duca di Ser- moneta, upon whom his compatriot Dantophiles have unanimously conferred the title of the " Restore dei moderni Dantisti." Nowhere could this title have appeared more aptly con- ferred than when in the " Sala della Palombeila " at Home there fell from his own lips the exposition of the " Paradise," " Facesti come quei che va di notte, Che porta il lume dietro, e se non giova, Ma dopo se fa le persoue dotte;" 4 and, out of the dark night of his blindness, the Duca, who, with the exception of some twenty lines, knew by heart the whole poem, shed beams of light which revealed every hidden depth of the author's meaning, seeing and telling ' ' Of things invisible to mortal sight." These expositions it was not given to all to hear, but all may study for themselves his " Tavole Topografiche," the work of an earlier period of his life, before the terrible visitation of blindness arrested his career as an artist, " It is not possible," says De Witte, writing of these Tavole, " to place with greater clearness and precision before the eye of the reader the fabric of the Universe as conceived by Dante for the scene of his poem." 5 The Duca was also the author of a treatise, entitled " Tre Chiose nella Divina Comniedia di Dante," or " Three 3 Inf. c. iv., 1. 87. < Purg. c. xxii., 1. 67-9. " Thou didst, as one, Who journeying through the darkness bears a light Behind, that profits not himself, but makes His followers wise." Cart/, Trant. 5 " Carteggio Dantesco," p. 41. B 2 4 STUDIES IN ITALIAN LITERATURE. Glosses upon three disputed points in the Divina Com- iiH'dia," which created a great sensation in Italy, both on account of their wonderful research and erudition and f<>r the translucent purity of the style. 6 Besides these " lavori da me eseguiti," the Duca writes, "per giovare alia letteratura di Dante e non alia mia rinomanza," 7 but which certainly fulfilled both purposes, we can now refer to his Dante correspondence with such well-known commentators as De Witte, Giuliani, De Gubernatis, Carlo Troya, Trevisani, Ranieri, Alessandro, Torn,