O G JTY •' / \]t[i ITALY past and present. ITALY past and present. :?- -^ '-^ vj -'i-^ 7>' y ITALY past and present. .in GV^ "C ITALY past and present. The special Eotunda of the Italian Exhibit contains the like- nesses of men who carried on l;iigh the torch of human progress, forerunners and m:.sters in science and art; it illustrates the va- rious phases and steps passed through to attain Italian Unity ; it renders bare justice to the principal leaders in the national struggle; it prospects the present state of the country as compared with its former condition in comparatively recent times: in one word it has the elements necessary to give an idea of what we toere and what we are. People from afar, who live their own lives, in their own sur- roundings and atmosphere, not altogether familiar with our present standing, are wont to consider Italy from the standpoint of its majestic ruins, its glorious buildings, statues and pictures, the whole seasoned with melodic singing and maccaroni ! A delightful haunt for tourists, where sunny skies enhance the joy of beautiful landscapes, noble remains of former times, unique collections of art, towns, villages and hamlets reflecting the life of past ages: so far, so good. Our climate is delightful, our country pictu- resque, the monuments and treasures of former civilisations bring home to one's mind the fact that in some aspects of life progress is not continual, that the sense of beauty embodied in stone or canvass is hardly a modern invention ; the strains on the Venetian canals or the bay of Naples evoke musical sentiment; even the maccaroni, when properly prepared and cooked, carry their gas- tronomical lesson : but that is not all. ■'i±m^ . i n Af'^ ITALY past and present. The special Eotunda of the Italian Exhibit contains tlie like- nesses of men who carried on liigh the torch of human progress, forerunners and masters in science and art; it illustrates the va- rious phases and steps passed through to attain Italian Unity ; it renders bare justice to the principal leaders in the national struggle; it prospects the present state of the country as compared with its former condition in comparatively recent times: in one word it has the elements necessary to give an idea of what we tvere and what we are. People from afar, who live their own lives, in their own sur- roundings and atmosphere, not altogether familiar with our present standing, are wont to consider Italy from the standpoint of its majestic ruins, its glorious buildings, statues and pictures, the whole seasoned with melodic singing and maccaroni ! A delightful haunt for tourists, where sunny skies enhance the joy of beautiful landscapes, noble remains of former times, unique collections of art, towns, villages and hamlets reflecting the life of past ages: so far, so good. Our climate is delightful, our country pictu- resque, the monuments and treasures of former civilisations bring home to one's mind the fact that in some aspects of life progress is not continual, that the sense of beauty embodied in stone or canvass is hardly a modern invention ; the strains on the Venetian canals or the bay of Naples evoke musical sentiment; even the maccaroni, when properly prepared and cooked, carry their gas- tronomical lesson : but that is not all. = ^g^^^ J n . ?! A?-^ ITALY past and present. The apocial Eotunda of the Italian Exhibit contains tlie like- nesses of men who carried on high the torch of human progress, forerunners and mr'.sters in science and art; it illustrates the va- rious phases and steps passed through to attain Italian Unity ; it renders bare justice to the principal leaders in the national struggle; it prospects the present state of the country as compared with its former condition in comparatively recent times: in one word it has the elements necessary to give an idea of what we loere and what we are. People from afar, who live their own lives, in their own sur- roundings and atmosphere, not altogether familiar with our present standing, are wont to consider Italy from the standpoint of its majestic ruins, its glorious buildings, statues and pictures, the whole seasoned with melodic singing and maccaroni ! A delightful haunt for tourists, where sunny skies enhance the joy of beautiful landscapes, noble remains of former times, unique collections of art, towns, villages and hamlets reflecting the life of past ages: so far, so good. Our climate is delightful, our country pictu- resque, the monuments and treasures of former civilisations bring home to one's mind the fact that in some aspects of life progress is not continual, that the sense of beauty embodied in stone or canvass is hardly a modern invention ; the strains on the Venetian canals or the bay of l^aples evoke musical sentiment; even the maccaroni, when properly prepared and cooked, carry their gas- tronomical lesson: but that is not all. : bg^^t^^ r . J ri , :-; A? "C ITALY past and present. The spocial Eotunda of the Italian Exhibit contains tlie like- nesses of men who carried on high the torch of human progress, forerunners and masters in science and art; it illustrates the va- rious phases and steps passed through to attain Italian Unity ; it renders bare justice to the principal leaders in the national struggle; it prospects the present state of the country as compared with its former condition in comparatively recent times: in one word it has the elements necessary to give an idea of what we ivere and what we are. People from afar, who live their own lives, in their own sur- roundings and atmosphere, not altogether familiar with our present standing, are wont to consider Italy from the standpoint of its majestic ruins, its glorious buildings, statues and pictures, the whole seasoned with melodic singing and maccaroni ! A delightful haunt for tourists, where sunny skies enhance the joy of beautiful landscapes, noble remains of former times, unique collections of art, towns, villages and hamlets reflecting the life of past ages: so far, so good. Our climate is delightful, our country pictu- resque, the monuments and treasures of former civilisations bring home to one's mind the fact that in some aspects of life progress is not continual, that the sense of beauty embodied in stone or canvass is hardly a modern invention ; the strains on the Venetian canals or the bay of IsTaples evoke musical sentiment; even the maccaroni, when properly prepared and cooked, carry their gas- tronomical lesson : but that is not all. : bg^^t^^ ~ 6 — Beside the past lives the present; beside two eras in whic> Italy stood foremost, holding undisputed sway among nations, stands a third, the modern, in which she rises again to strenuous life, holding her own, a great nation among nations, in all the branches of our present civilisation, thinking, writing, working, striving on the path of industrial, economical, social, political, moral progress. To the many who know the Italian people merely through its peaceful army of sober hardworking emigrants, born out of the rapid fructifying increase in the population, our present conditions are unknown and these we endeavour to bring home to them in a sober reproduction of faces, facts and figures endowed with silent eloquence for those who care to know. It is as though, through past and present work, the principal civiliser of the Old World were extending its hand to the principal civiliser of the New, in the profound belief that past endeavour, natural aptitudes, natural sympathies can and will bind together the United States and united Italy in the immortal cause of human progress ! Many of the following biographical summaries, explanations or tabular demonstrations of facts will be familiar to many of our readers ; to some however they may be new, to others interesting : therein lies the justification of their appearing in print. EXPLORERS, CRISTOFORO COLOMBO. Cristoforo Colombo was bom at Cogolcto in the Gulf of Genoa it is supposed towards 1445. His father, a wool carder, appreciat- ing the boy's natural talent for mathematics, geography and as- tronomy, left him free to study first at Genova, then to complete the higher course at Pavia. He afterwards entrusted him to a cousin, an old privateer who sailed with letters of marque to war against the enemies of Genoa, the Turks and the Venetians. The boy took kindly indeed to the adventurous life, was soon completely enthralled by the problems and dangers of the seas, still little is known of his life from 14 to 25. Toward 1470 his navigation began limited however until 1473 to the Mediterranean, where probably he was in the service of Eenato d'Angio who had the hghest opinion of his worth as a navigator. In 76 he was in Portugal on a Portuguese ship; whilst navigating 100 leagues beyond Iceland he was surprised to find himself in open water. In 1481, after living for some time at Lisbon, he married the daughter of an Italian, Pelestrello, governor of Porto Santo, in the Madeira group, he had colonised. He settled there, found great help in the governor's charts in drawing up the ocean charts and geogra- phical maps on which he depended for a livelihood. Whilst living at Porto Santo, poring over maps, he convinced himself of land existing beyond the ocean. The first traces of his project to cross the Atlantic appear toward 1480 in a correspondence with an Italian physician, Tosca- nelli, who had already conceived something of the same kind acd submitted it to the Portuguese Court. The spherical ships of the globe, then universally admitted, theories of old and modern writers, presumptions of navigators, all pointed one way, justified the project so long thought over, to abandon the near east for the far west. He laid before King John of Portugal his plan, bnt the learned seers called upon to examine it pooh poohed it as Utopia ! Towards 1486 convinced more than ever of his th o.y*s truth by the futile opposition it raised, he wont to Spiin, where, thanks to a past confeisor in favour at Court he met at the hand of Queen Isabella a more indulgent reception. Still time passed; only after seven years strife against obstacles springing up on all sides, was the expedition decided. With infinite labour, recurring uselessly to Portugal, England, France and Spain, over a dozen years passed in useless endeavours to obtain from some one vessels and letters of marque; finally in 1491 Isabella of Spain and a grudging husband, Ferdinand, con- ceded him three small caravels and 120 men to proceed on his voyage of discovery across the boundless ocean ! They sailed. Al'ter infinite doubts and fears on the part of the crew, threats ^.nd open mutiny, finally land was reached the 12 October 1492 at — 8 — S. Salvador, touching afterwards Conception and Cuba, Haiti and 8. Domingo. He might have been as discouraged as his men, had not the floating seaweed, the shifting of the ma-^netic needle l)oth com- forted him and convinced him the Unl was there. At last ! The return in Spain was a triumph. In a second expedition, Septem- ber 1493, the Admiral reached the Caraibo Islands, Porto Eico and Jamaica; in a third, 1498, Trinidad and the mouth of the Orinoco. In 1500 Ferdinand rewarded Colombo by putting him in chains, whilst sending a governor to replace him in the new lands he had discovered. Eeembarking again still on discoveries intent, in May 1502 he coasted along Honduras and Costarica without notable results, returning to Spain in 1504, to oblivion, ingratitude, misery and death at Valladolid on the 20 of May 1506. SEBASTIANO CABOTO. Sebastiano Caboto, son of John, a merchant in Venice, born in Bristol 1477, received from Henry the VII letters patent author- ising him to discover and conquer unknown lands in the King's name. Sailed, probably with his father, certainly with his brothers Louis and Sanzio, from Bristol 24*'» of June 1497. Was the first to discover North America, reached 56 latitude, probably the coast of Labrador. Whereby, on his return, obtained other letters patent, 3*^ February, 1498, authorisin;^ John Caboto to possess himself of six ships of 200 tonnage or less in any part of the Kingdom to take possession of the discovered lands in the King's name. Sebastian was the head and commander of the expedition. On the death of Henry the VII Sebastian Caboto removed to Spain September 1512, on the invitation of Ferdinand, invested with the title of Captain on generous pay, until, disgusted by the persecution to which he was subjected by Fonseca, also the chief enemy of Columbus, he returned to England, where, in 1517, he was employed by Henry the VII in seeking the traditional North West Passage. He gained latitude 67 V2 it seems, entering Hud- eoii's Bay. Again ift vSpain Charlos V inves^ie4 him with the title — 9 — of head Pilot and the privilege of examining and reporting on all projects of maritime discovery. In 1526 a company was formed in Seville for trading with the Moluccas, Caboto directing. He organised an expedition that gained the coast of Brazil, explored the Eiver La Plata, took possession of the banks, erected forts for the protection of projected colonies, but was obliged to return in 1531, incapable of withstanding the attacks of the natives. In 1540 Caboto again returned to England, favoured by Ed- ward V. After directing an expedition to the Baltic and the JiTorthern Ocean, inaugurating commercial traffic with Eussia, he is supposed to have died, octogenarian, in England in the year 1557. The portrait is an enlargement of the engraving of the " Har- ford " attributed to Holbein. The dress the official one as " Gov- ernor of the mysterie and companie of the Merchants adventures for the discoverie of Eegions, Dominions, Islands and places unk- nowen ". AMERIGO VESPUCCI. Born in Florence the 9*^ of March 1451, son of a notary, Ana- Btasio, nephew of a Domenican friar, friend of Era Savonarola, Era Giorgio Antonio, to whom he owed his scholarly education. With a pronounced bent for philosophy, astronomy and geo- graphy, he was placed by his father clerk in the great commercial house of the Medici. Sent as agent of the firm to Seville, on the death of an Italian merchant, Juanoto Berardi, who had fitted out Columbus's second expedition in 1493 and had undertaken to organise another of twelve ships for the King of Spain, Vespucci was commissioned to complete the contract in 1495. He claims to have sailed on a first expedition from Cadiz in 1497, on a second in May 1499, on a third in the service of Don Manuel of Portugal in May 1501, on a fourth and last for Portugal with six ships in May 1503. In 1595, receiving Spanish letters of naturalisation, he was named chief pilot of Spain, an office he held until his death in Seville 22"^^ of February 1512. Vespucci's account affirms his reaching the American mainland — 10 — eight days before Giovanni Caboto, June the 16*^ against June the 24"' 1497. Whether or no his own narration carries conviction, whether his letter to Lorenzo Pier Francesco di Medici, head of his firm, be in all details strictly true, it curried such weight at the time to induce his contemporaries to baptise the newly discovered continent across tlie ocean as America^ in honour of the supposed and alleged discoverer. Not p3rhaps the first or tlie last time in which the glory and the profit of an invention or discovery does not revert to the original inventor or discoverer. The portrait is a copy of the famous alfresco in the family tomb by Ghirlandaio, at Borgognissanti, Florence, where Amerigo as a youth is represented together with the other members of th© family. Marquis ALESSANDRO MALASPINA. Descendant of the ancient noble family of the Malaspinas, for many centuries established in the Province of Carrara, famous for its marble quarries, his father was the Marquis Carlo Moroello Ma- laspina of Mulazzo, the hereditary fief, his mother Caterina Mali- lupi Soragna of Parma. Born on August 30, 1749, Alessandro en- tered in his youth military service at the Court of Spain, then recurring to foreigners to uphold its tradition of military adven- ture. He ( mbraced with enthusiasm the naval career, early distin- guishing himself amongst h's compeers. Thus, after gaining bril- liantly his first promotions from ensign to lieutenant, in the battle between the English and the Spanish fleet 5 in 1778 his ship the '' San Julian " was captured and an Engliish prize crew placed on board. He took advantage of a storm to incite his fellow prisoners to rise on their conquerors, turn the tables, and enter Seville in triumph with the English captors in captivity. For this act of valour he was created first lieutenant. On his return from a voyage to Manilla and other spots in the Indian Ocean, he was ordered on a scientific oxpedition. Embark- ing on the frigate " Astrea " in 1785 from Cadiz, rounding Cape Horn he landed at Lima, explored the coasts of Peru and passing — 11 — Tfj the Philippines and again by Cape Horn, returned to Europe. The results of his voyage were considered extremely satisfactory, he gaining by it the promotion to Commander of a Line of Battle Rhip. When Charles the III again resolved on fitting out a new exp< dition to the New World, in order to trace the ocean currents, discover yet unknown lands, study the Fauna and the Flora of the new Continent, notwithstanding much heartburn among native Span^'sh Captain?, jealous of any preference accorded to a foreigner, Malasp'na was chosen commander of the new venture. Two Cor- vettes, '^ Scoporta " (the Discoverer) and '' L'Intrepida " (The In- trepid), well armed, provisioned for a long journey, were provided at the royal 3xpense. Whilst Malaspina had the general direction of the enterpr'se, his companion, commander of the second Cor- vette, was Captain Bustamante. A naturalist, a painter and an architect sailed with them for scientific purposes. They started from Cadiz in 1789, the voyage lasting five years. After visiting the Isle of Trinidad, they landed at Montevideo, explored the banks of the Eio de la Plata, determined exactly the features of the Patagonian shore and the Malvina Islands. Noting the principal points worthy of remark along the Chilean coast, they continued by Valparaiso, Callao, Guayaquil and the Isthmus of Panama to Acapulco in Mexico, tarrying there to take in neces- sary stores. Sailing along the coast they determined the position of Mount S. Elia being the first to discover Alaska. Eeturning to Acapulco they visited the Marian Islands and whilst the *' In- trepida " went on to Macao, Malaspina made for the Philippines, where the two again consorting, together with another vessel picked up there, the '' Sottile ", sailed along the coast of New Holland, from thence to Lima and Buenos Aires, returning afterwards to Europe. ^ On his return Malaspina was received by the Spanish Sovereign with honour and promotion, would have doubtless enjoyed an unchequered, brilliant career had not intrigues at Court, involving male and above all female jealousy,* enabled the favourite and prime Minister, the ill and justly ill famed Don Manuel Godoy, to poison the King's ear, persecute and track his supposed enemy down, finally order his imprisonment in the Castle of S. Antonio — 12 — dclla roro;;na, wliorc lie lay for ^oviTal yofirs. Tie rccovorod his liberty when Lodovico of Piinna asceuded tho throne, returmMl to Italy, living, in peace and honour at Pontremoli, where his family had greatly descended in riches and po.sition. Though in the be- ginning of the century Napoleon named him Senator of the central Italian Kingdom, he pieferred quietude, would accept no office. nis death took place at the age of sixty one, on the 9 of April 1810. LUIGI DI SAVOIA, DUCA DEGLI ABRUZZI. The characteristics ever distinguishing the House of Savoy, courage and love of adventure, are admirably exomplifiod in Luigi di Savoia, Duca degli Abruzzi, son of Amadeus, late King of Spain, first cousin of His Majesty, Victor Emanuel III, King of Italy. He nobly represents the modern type of explorers and discoverers, who, from Marco Polo onwards, navigated unknown seas, sought out unknown lands, reflected glory on Mediaeval Italy. The Duke was born in Madrid the 19*'' January 1873, bom whilst his young mother, Mary Victoria, Princess Pozzo delta Ci- stema, was going through moments of violent political agitation, alternatives of violence that induced his father, Amadeus, in his straightforward fealty to constitutional principles, to resign the throne rather than recur to military force in governing his sub- jects. When six years old the boy was inscribed as sailor in the royal Navy ; at ten he entered the naval Academy, at sixteen passed with honours his examination and was entered midshipman. During this period of boyhood, besides gaining his fellow student's affec- tion, he gave proof of exceptional capacity and diligence ; alive to a sentiment of duty, he did what was appointed and did it well. After navigating a few years, in 1890 King Humbert named him Duke of the Abruzzi ; on his 21«^ year, together with the other Eoyal Princes, he was called to the Senate. Experience proved him to be a skilled and trustworthy sailor, calm and energetic in all emergencies, martial fire subjected to cool reflection; his desire to walk where no man had placed his — 13 — foot, explore the mysteries of hitherto unknown regions, thus paying his tribute to general and scientific knowledge, soon devel- oped and took action. When barely nineteen he began at home, attracted by his native Alps. Between 1892 and 1894 he not only scaled all the well known, but more difficult peaks, Mont Blanc, the Cervinus, Mount Eosa, but the •' Dent du Geant ", the '* Aiguilles sans nom ", the " Aiguille Verte ", the '' Eocky Peak ", the Peak by him named after his cousin the " Princess Joland " of the '' Dames anglaises " ; the latter four successfully scaled, notwithstanding less fortunate trials by other well known alpinists, for the first time. After navigating for ten years, the last two cruising round the world, first lieutenant of the '^ Cristopher Columbus ", he obtained a leave of absence ; it was spent, well spent, but could hardly be called a holiday, ascending Mount 8aint Elia in Alaska. He left Turin the 17*^^ of May, with his aide de camp. Cap. Cagni, some other companions, besides two trustworthy alpine guides, touched at San Francisco, Seattle and Port Mulgrave, landed on the 20ti» of June at the base of the vast " Malaspina " glacier, there to begin the ascent. Four expeditions before his had attempted un- successfully to gain the summit: in 1886 Captain, Dr. Libbey; in 1888 Captain, Dr. E. H. Harold ; in 1890 and 1891 expeditions organised by the United States Geographical Society, directed by Prof. Israel G. Eussell. Together with the Duke's another venture directed by Dr. Buyant of Philadelphia, was bent on the same purpose. The party started on the l^* of July at three a.m. at a temper- ature of barely 2 degrees above zero (Cent.). Once negotiated the Malaspina glacier, the Seward one rose before them. Once sur- mounted, at 1200 metres above sea level, the real enterprise began at the Newton glacier, seven miles long, rising between sheer walls of ice from 1171 to 2731 metres. Thirteen days were spent in crawling up. On the summit the last camp left them with the pyramid of Saint Elia towering before their eyes. The 30^*^ they were at 3745 metres, sura of siicc8ss, with redoubled eaorgies they continued the upward way, g linod 5003 metres the morning of the 3l8t, at a quarter to twelve the sam3 day planted the Italian Flag — 14 — on the Rummit of the mountain, 5514 metres, with a temperature of 12 degrees below zero (Cent.). Fired with emulatian at Peary's first attempt and Kanson's to reach the Pole, Wrangel's to pierce northwards in iSiberia, his second expedition was on the *' Stella Polare " (the Polar Star) a whaling vessel, fitted out with stores for two years. The main idea was to proceed northward by water as far the ice allowed, then hibernate and proceed onwards to the Pole with sledges. The Polar Star left Ohristiania towards the middle of June, embarked at Arcangel the dogs, moved onwards, making its way with dif- ficulty through floes and pack ice until it gained 82.4 latitude, in sight of Prince Eudolpli's land. Coastin^f round the island the floes closed so violently round the vessel's keel as tl.ou'^h she were held in a vice. No further way by water was possible; stores and material were landed, a hut erected, every preparation for living through a polar winter made. It was December, in the midst of the long Polar night ; the Duke calculated to prepare men and dogs for the land struggle at the first glimpse of the arctic day in February. It was then, whilst he was working, exploring around, in the teeth of a bitter nortli wind, that the fingers of his right hand were badly frostbitten, so badly as to necessitate amputation. A cruel sorrow, since it debarred him from commanding those who were to pusli forward by land and ultimately reach, it was hoped the North Pole! Cagni was obliged to replace him. The party set out on the 11*1^ of March, divided into three groups, two to station in various advanced points for the victualling of the third. About 480 miles separated them from the Pole. Surrounded by always increasing difficulties they gallantly struggled onwards, do^s and men worn out, until the time when do. meat would have been their only food. They had reached 86.33.49 wlien Cagni, having to choose between perishing or turning back, sorrowfully turned his face south. The latitude reached was the hi:^hest up to then at- tained by any previous expedition. As onward, so they had to struggle back, amidst difficulties and privations. In June a suddeii thaw kept them prisoners for eighty days within sight of the Ba^ — 16— . of Tiplitz ; after having looked death in the face many times, on a floating iceberg they were able to touch land, across the bleak arctic continent rejoin their companions, ha^^gard and worn, the emaciated shadows of the hale and muscular men who left them three months before ! The Polar Star was literally dug out of the surrounding ice, gained the open sea, on the 2°^ of September entered Norway's extreme northern port, Hammerfest. .% From the Pole to the Tropics ! This time, towerino: over Lake Albert Edward, the mighty mountain, Euwenzori, in the heart of U;[:anda, tempted Luigi di Savoia's adventurous spirit in 1906. Others had preceded him, none gained fully the goal of their desire. Neither Sir Samuel Baker in 1864, nor Gessi in 1876, nor Sir H. Stanley, nor Dr. Stuhlmann in 1891, nor Scott Elliot in 1895, nor Moore, nor Sir H. Johnston in 1900, nor Dr. David, nor Dou.las Fre;hfield in 1903, nor Dr. Wollaston and Fisher, who in the same year 1906, made their attempt unsuccessfully. Little positive infor- mation had been gleaned as to the shape, structure, height of the majestic mountain, even the supposed course of its streams, tribu- taries to the Nile. The Duke left Naples for Mombasa in company with Ca^ni, Sella, his previous companions, his faithful alpine guides, all neces- sary stores and scientific implements. They crossed Lake Victoria the 7^^ of May, arrived the 29^^ at Fort Portal 1530 metres above sea level, at the base of the mountain whose summit they hoped to gain. Without any reliable information as to the least difficult track, the mountain's side on which they could best cut out their way, it was a matter of personal judgement ; the Duke's was re- liable, both as a practised mountaineer and one who in so many difficult emergencies had given proof of being able to cope with them. He chose the valley of Mobuku, shorter and better known; nor was he mistaken, as the sequel showed. To the left of Mobuku stretched a vast surface shut in by the mountain, grading upwards; they ascertained it afterwards to be the hollow through which tho — 16 — river Bujuku had dusj its course, descending directly from the summit of the Ruwonzori. In accordance with the established plan, on the 7*^^ of June they camped at Bujouuolo 3798 metres above sea level; the sub- sequent days were spent by the Duke in prospecting the territory around, and coming to a final decision as to how they should circumvent the mass that in stupendous majesty raised its head before them. On the 15t»» of June, with two guides, two Italian carriers, five native ones, the Duke, descending to the extremity of the Buta2:u valley, facing north, ascended Mount Scott EUiott between M. Baker and M. Speke, camping at 4516 metres on the rocks overlying the Elena Glacier. The morning of the 18"» the ascent was resumed, at 11.30 the Duke had the satisfaction of pi; nting the Italian flag in the snow, on the summit of the highest peak of the Ruwenzori, by him named Peak Margherita, at an altitude of 5125 metres. To the mount on which it rose, he gave the name of Stanley, the celebrated explorer, its first discoverer. There was only one other ascent loft to tempt the bold and hardy explorer, tliat of the Hymalaya, tlie succession of giant crests raising themselves between 8 and 9000 metres above sea level. In the Karakorum chain, that of the upper Hymalaya, the K2, also known as Chogori, had been attempted, in vain attempted, rising as it does to 8610 metres, by bold spirits, practised moun- taineers. A sufficient reason for trying where so many others had failed, though the difficulties of the mountain itself were doubled by those attaining the rarified atmospliere at such extreme heights. Still, if one could hardly dare to hope absolute success, there was al.vays reasonable certitude of notable results from a scientific point of view. As usual the Duke was accompanied by Sella and De Filippi, besides his aide do camp, Marquis Negro tto and the usual faithful alpine guides. Tiie expedition reached Bombay on the 9*^ of April, on the 17^** Shrinagar in the Cashmere Valley. From thence, by devious vNays, to Askoley, a village 3000 metres above sea level, the 14*** of May. Skirting the Balton glacier. Mount Chogori lay — 17 — before them; fliey camped on the glacier at 5000 metres. The followin;.>' days were as usual devoted to prospecting and determining the track. They then proceeded onwards, but at 5500 metres the excessively friable rock entailed cutting steps and with the utmost efforts in two days barely two hundred metres were gained. It was no use goinj further, but loth to renounce, the Duke with Sella made an extreme effort. They gained the Bride Peak at 5470 metres, went upwards to 5800 the 9^^ j^iy^ the 11*^ to 6604; on the 12'^ they attempted to gain the summit, but at 7100 metres could go no further; on the 17^^ their last effort took them to 7493 metres; no further upwards could their strength in the rari- fied atmosphere carry them. It was enough and a gallant feat indeed ! * The Duke is now Admiral in chief of our !N'avy; no man en- joyed or enjoys greater confidence in the fleet and in the nation. Of his seamanship he has given abundant proof, whereby as a seaman he ranks among the best for knowledge and judgement, as an explorer for his discoveries, his grit, his dogged resolve. What he is and what he has done place him foremost amongst those who have contributed to a more complete knowledge of our globe; he may w ell be entitled to an honoured place as one who has been and is the worthy successor of the illustrious men who in the same field shed glory on Italy in the past. HUMAN PIONEERS. DANTE ALIGHIERI. Rome few, very few figures stand out against the horizon of time, ever iissumin^ loftier proportions as years roll on, generations succeed <.enerations. Dwarfed whilst living amongst hi^h born, high placed contemporaries, they ever grow in men's minds and — 18 — men's souls whilst their supposed great superiors return to dust and oblivion. Tlius among poets, tlie idealisers of the present, the visualisers of the future. Homer, myth or man, among Greeks, Virgil among Romans, Shakespeare amon;,' Anglo-Saxons, Goethe among Teutons, Dante among Italians are suns that never set. Their tliought is human, their teachings world wide, as from the lofty height of their genius they soar above the multitudes, unconscious of time or space ! Dante — the famiharity of Florentine speech shortening the original Durante — Alighieri was born in Florence of noble family at Borgo degli Albizi in the year 1265, bom unto the world's scene in one of the most troublous times of the Italian Renaissance, when State against State, Republic a;ainst Republic, Party against Party, in the speedy shifting of scenes and events, raised each man's hand against his neighbour. Noble though they were, the Alighieri belonged to the Guelfs, in continual conflict with the Ghibellinos, the two parties who disputed power and government in the Florentine Republic. So much so that Dante, when barely twenty five, foug.t in the stricken field at Campaldino a;;ainst the rival party, enjoying then, not an earnest of the future, the sweets of victory. Precocious in sentiment as in mind, when ten years of age he saw the daughter of Folco Poitinari, Beatrix, conceived then for her the mystic passion that influenced his thoughts, sentiments and utterances, perhaps transformed the studious thinker into the Poet. Deeply he delved into the lore of the Roman poets, of the moralists, of the philosophers, imbuing his mind with Aristo- telic wisdom. The scoliasts, the fathers of the Church, natural sciences, nothing- came amiss in his insatiable thirst for knowledge, of w hich his minor works and his great poem give ample evidence. The entrancing vision of his boyhood and youth, Beatrix, mar- ried towards 1287 Simone de Bardi, closing her earthly career in June 1290, to live immortal in the Poet's soul, an embodiment of beauteous virtue for future generations. Two years afterwards, deferring to the constant wishes and exhortations of family and friends, he married Gemma Donati, the — 19 — head of whose family, Corso Donati, was afterwards to become his constant enemy. It was a peaceful union, so far as one knows, had issue in several children, amono: whom a daughter Beatrix ; but though he will have cared for his wife, though it is affirmed that he entertained an affection for two other women in later life, nothing obliterated from the poet's mind and heart tlie memory of Beatrix, the love of his youth. Amon;' the various guilds in which the able men of the city were parcelled out, he elected to join that of the apothecaries and took a notable part in public life, too notable for his prosperity or happiness. Between 1293 and 1297 he was sent ambassador to Naples and to other Eepublics in Tuscany, but matters were not to run smoothly for long. Towards the end of the century the dominating Guelf party split up into two factions. Whites and Blacks. The Blacks, headed by Corso Donati, had the support of the Pope Boniface the VIII who did his best to encourage discord and thus gain more complete ascendancy, whilst D.mte was a follower of the Whites. At the time he had been elected one of the six governing priors of the Eepublic, and in detence of law Mnd order the government condemned to temporary exile the heali C'i both Whites and Blacks, the Blacks more severely puniiih^d, tor having come into open conflict and bloodshed within the town. The Blacks recurred to Eome; Dante as ambassador was sent to neutralise their efforts and plead the government cause in which he was successful. Again within a short time, when Charles of Yalois, at the head of an army, crossed the Alps, he returns to Eome to avert any danger; but this time to find Pope and Prince leagued together, the latter invested with the mission of promoting peace in Florence. And so he did after a fashion, by entering the town, taking unto himself tlie power of Dictator and of proclaiming martial law. The Blacks then entered in force, together with the dictator passed julg;nent on the absent or fugitive prior?, condemnin; th^m to perpetual cxil 3 and confisca- tion of their estates. The exiled Wli'.tes tried to i^ather head, col- lected an army, marched on Florence, were not only unable to force an entrance, but suffered utter collapse and defe.tt. ^ Dante's exile, his lon,^ exile, only to (nd with his life, thus began. First at Verona with Bartholomew dclla :^.cala, then at — 20-, Padua, then to the convent of the Avellana among the hills of the Tuscan Cascntino, from thence to the Malaspina's in the Luni/iana and on to Lombardy, hoping, vainly hoping in the influence and power of the new Emperor Henry the VII to subjugate* his native city. Afterwards Lucca, Ravenna, again with Can della Scala in Verona; then he took upon his shoulders the heavy pack, unsuc- cessfully striving, wandering in Franco, in England, in the Tyrol, to return again to Ravenna, exiled in all, in all despondent, even in hope, and there, at the age of fifty six, in September 1321, breathed his last. Dante cannot be simply considered as a great poet, who gave a definite form to the Italian language, and with wealth of phan- tasy and images carries his readers on with him in his voyage through the three reigns - Hell, Purgatory and Heaven - ordained, he supposes, by the Almighty as the just outcome of man's earthly career. He is more, much more than that, otherwise he would not stand alone. The power of genius, of piercing the clouds of the future and the hearts of men to reveal unto them their duly here below is the distinguishing characteristic separating him from his apparent equals. It inspires all his works in prose and poetry, welds them into one harmonic expression of thought : he is one, a powerful and tremendous unity. The idea bom in early years, confirmed in his weary pilgrim- age through the many and various States into which a people of common origin, of common language, of common aims in life was split up, is the prophetic cry for Italian Unity, the prophetic vision of its consummation in the future. Politically it transpires in the « De Monarchia »; philosophi- cally in the « Convito », Avhilst the « Lingua volgare » illustrates it on behalf of Literature. Above all the great Poem, the « Di- vina Commedia » soars, raised on the wings of the ever present aspiration. Dante was and is the incarnation of our Fatherland ; his poem elaborates a national Language, a national Philosophy, a national Poetry; linking real and ideal, heaven and earth, a national Faith ! Whilst among the three regions of the Comedy, in Hell ho portrays human nature as it reveals itself in those senxibarbarous — 21 — times, violent and heroic ; in Purgatory the theme revolves on literature^, tine arts, reigning sovereigns, laws and customs then prevalent: finally Paradise is devo'cd to Faith, religion as it was. Above Popes, above Kings, poets and learned men, Dante stands, not only our national poet, the father of our tongue ; he was the model patriot, the ardent reformer, the religious apostle, the Prophet of the ]S"ation ! « Yes, truly, it is a great thing for a Nation that it get an arti- culate voice: that it produce a man who will speak forth melo- di'jusly what the heart of it moans! Italy, for example, poor Italy lies dismembered, scattered asunder, not appearing in any protocol or treaty as a unity at all; yet the noble Italy is actually one. Italy produced its Dxnte, Italy can speak! » Oarlyle: on Heroes , Hero Worshipj etc. The Hero as Poet, LEONARDO DA VINCI. Leonardo da Vinci, whose universal genius has left a deep furrow in the fields of both art and science, great as a painter, sculptor and musician, great as a mechanician, civil engineer and philosopher, scientist, and artist, was born at Vinci, a villafje on the Florentine hills, in 1452, out of wedlock, son of Catherine a peasant and a Florentine lawyer, who from the family estate took the name of Piero da Vinci. Though he was married several times, had from his wives numerous progeny, the father acknow- ledged his son, had him, as thou.crh a legiMmate scion, properly brought up and properly educated among his other children. A youth of rare promise, physical'y attractive, charming in man- ners, he not only easily^ mistered all accomplishnimts, but gave proof of inexhaustible intellec'ual range and energy. « ^ Drawing, modelling, music were among his first pursni' s. Placed by his father with Andrea Verrocchio as master, in a few years he surpassed him as was acknowledged by the master him- self, when obliged to compare with his own his pupil's part of - 22 — the work in Christ's Baptism, the fresco executed for the monks of Vallombrosa, now in the Eoyal Academy of Florence. But not only in the fine arts, in painting:, sculpture, music, even poetry, he stood unrivalled among his compeers; his faculty of observation, his thirst for knowledge, his aptitude in bringing it to bear on some i)ractical pursuit, incited him to the master* ing of exact science, to the explanation of many problems hitherto unsolved, to their application in surmounting the obsta- cles opposed by nature to man's well being. Encyclopedic genius, rival of Michelangelo and EaffaoUo in the fine arts, by them envied and persecuted, he proved himself at the same time su- perior to all the philosophers and scientists of his age. His discoveries enlarged the domains of military art, prac- tical and theoretical mechanics, hydraulics, astronomy, geometry, physics, natural science, anatomy and even music. He explains the theory of inclined plains, the centre of gravity in solids, as exemplified in the gravity of pyramids ; in mechanics he calculates the effect of friction by means of a series of ingenious experi- ments ; he demonstrates rationally the impossibility of perpetual motion, of squaring a circle. In hydraulics he is the first to found a theory of the wave motion, of the currents, of the sin- gular forms of liquid strata, origin of so many important recent discoveries. Practically in canal' sing Lombardy he is the first to discover and adopt locks, without which no Panama canal could have been projected. In geology he is the first to direct his atten- tion to fossil animals and plants, the first to propose a systematic division and classification of the animal kingdom. He applies the hydrometer in meteorology, invents a dinamometer to calculate ma- chine power. He observes the weight, resistance, condensation of the air to explain the aerial ascent of matter and the cloud for- mation ; as also he is supposed to have first determined the re- gular shapes and cohesion of sand on vibrating elastic surfaces, whereby preceding by three centuries Chladni. He studies the ways in which a man would be enabled to raise himself in the air, models aeroplanes, gives to the world many important anatomical and mechanical discoveries regarding the flight of birds. Numerous are his theories and practical appliances for substi* tuting mechanical to human work. He was the first to apply — 23 — alpliabe'ical signs an:l those of + and — in algebra: he mastered geo- metry and profited by its application to mechanics, perspective and the theory of shadows. Long before Copernic he treats of the earth's motion, is the first to explain the bluish light of the moon and otlier curious optical illusions. A sound theory of light partly founded on the Camera Obscura, general principles on capillary action and diffraction, the first and most scientific notions and applications of the power of steam belong to his unrivalled ge- nius ! A century before Galileo and Bacon, whilst the learned sought no furtlicr than ancient lore, Leonardo applied the light of rational criticism and individual research, in almost every branch of science, to explain and utilise the phenomena of nature ! Leonardo Avas the first painter to recognise the play of light and shade in the appearance and beauty of animate and inani- mate nature; the fi:St to calculate their value in the various branches of art. Neither did he stop in his observations at mere superficial appearance : stamping the image of things on his brain, he went on untiringly to investigate their hidden laws and causes. It is no wonder if, notwithstanding continual importunate requests for artistic wo:k from the most important princes and individuals of the day, his canvasses and other wo ks of avt should have been few compared wi^h other artists and the favour by which he was surrounded. If 1491 was, for ins'ance, a momentous year in Italian politics, when Ludovico Sorza, Duke of Milan, intrigued with Charles the VIII of France, whereby bringing on successive invasions of Italy, it may give an adequate idea of Leonardo's life, since in that year he was fo: several months absent from Milan planning and directing extensive works for impoving the irrigation and water ways of the adjacent Lomellina ; he was canying out at the same time, with his friend Donato Bramante, designs for improv- ing and embc'Uisliing the Castle, the Ducal Palace ; in between wliiles he was working expeditiously at what proved to be his greatest painting, the « Last Supper », at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, recognisiHl ever since as the typical and great- est representation of the sol mn Biblical scene. Few other pictures are to beascribr^d to his sivteen y3ars residence in Milan, 1483-149G, but his canal and ir. igation work last to the present day ! — 24 — And 80 onward in his career. He settles in Florence, under- takes there a battle piece to adorn the Palazzo Vecchio, subse- quently abandoned through an unsuccessful new process he essayed in encaustic, besides taking up and finishing the wonderful world famed portrait of Monna Lisa, the wife of Zanobi del Giocondo, known therefore as « La Gioconda ». Meanwhile he travels with Cesare Borgia through central Italy as his chief engineer. From Florence back again to Milan in 1511, from there to Rome, from "Rome in 1514 to France honored guest of Francis the Tst at the Castle of Cloux near Amboise, enjoying a handsome pension. There on Easter Eve 1519, feeling near his end, he made his will and died on the subsequent 2"<^ of May. In the splendid balance of his nature the powers he most cared to exercise ceased by degrees to be those of imaginative creation and became those of turning to human use the mastery gained over the forces of nature. The man however who carried in his brain so many images of subtile beauty, as well as so much of the hidden science of the future, must have lived spiritually alone, though communicative, a genial companion, a generous and loyal friend, ready and elo- quent of address, impressing all with whom he was brought into contact by the power and the charm of genius, inspiring fervent devotion and attachment in friends and pupils. Full of tender- ness to animals, open handed in giving, not eager in getting, he stands alone in his century and for subsequent ones in the majesty of virtuous genius, conscious of its power, forgetful of self, striving for humanity. MICHELANGELO. When one stands with reverent admiration before V.io gigantic figures immortalised in the « Universal Judgement » or the « Moses » imagination casts the author in the same mould, a man of thews and sinews, of noble, majestic proportions, in harmony ^ith his marvellous creations. It is not so ; besides being undersized Michelangelo was slightly hunchbacked. He is contemporary with ^26 — the revival of art, at the time of the Medicis, bom in Florence in 1475, a descendant of the noble family of the Counts Canossa. He learnt drawing in the studio of the renowned Michael Ghir- landaio, but when Lorenzo dei Medici founded a school for sculp- ture and numbered him among the pupils, that art, in which he so soon excelled, became the prevailing passion of his life. In those times men when born with talent, were not special- ists, devoting their whole time and life in the practical or scien- tific opening up of one branch of knowledge; they ranged fur- ther afield, they broadened their intellect, instead of shar- pening it, became on the whole bigger men than our up to date workers. Though scientifically greatly inferior to Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo's pursuits, painter, poet, sculptor, engineer, archi- tect, were not only various, but in each one he left undying tokens of his versatile genius. In 1494 the Medicean star, that had long shone on art, sank below the horizon. Lorenzo's successor, Piero, through frivolous ill government exasperated the population who drove him from Florence. The young artist, known as a Medicean protege, betook himself to IJologna where he executed a couple of statues for the Domenican Church and then, after a year's absence, was able to return to his native city, where he modelled his famous « sleep- ing Cupid ». It was sent to Eome, there exhibited as a recently discovered ancient Greek work of art, was universally admired, bougiit at a high price by Cardinal San Giorgio. The fraud was short lived, the author discovered and it greatly added to his budding reputation ; so much so that the deceiw'.d purchaser, the Cardinal, in sincere admiration of the work and its author, called him to Eome (1496). From that moment, with an establised repu tation, his long life alternated between his native city and the great universal centre of religious art. The Florentine administration decided to decorate the city with some colossal marble statues ; a huge block had been worked upon by Simone di Fiesole, with the desi;n of fashioning it into a giant, but he gave up, despairing at the giant task, beyond his artistic poAcr. Mic'ielanclo heard of it, came from Eome, took upon himself botn mutilated marble ^n^ work: saw the way to — ce - utilise the material in hand, and, sliapin? the stone according? to his o.n design, evolved liis David, affirmed by Vasari to be supe- rior to any statue, ancient or modern, Greek or Latin ! The Mayor, Pier Sode ini, not content with t!ie work of Mi- chelangelo's scalpel, was desirous to obtain also some from his brush ; assi ;ned him part of the great communal Hall in Palazzo Vecchio, Leonardo da Vinci had engaged to decorate. He thou ;ht out a subject bearing on the wars between Florence and Pisa, prepared the cartoons, greatly superior, said Benvenuto Cellini his sc'iolar, to t'lose of the Six tine Cl.apel. The work was not carried out, the cartoon in the bustlin,' here and there soon destroyed, beyond some fra-m3ntary particulars. The artist was then barely twenty nine, had already not only attained a preeminent position in a:t, but had revolutionised art itself, by the boldness of his conceptions, his religious fidelity to nature. Julius the II"'^, recently elevated to the Papal Chair, whose ener.etic martial nature resembled in no slight degree the fiery sculptor's, admiring his lofty conceptions, invited him to come to Rome, design and construct his future tomb. According to the sculptor's project it would have been the greatest monumental sepulcre in the world. vSaint Peter's was modified and enlar ed, attained its present artistic grand:'ur and beauty, to make room for it. But it was never completed ; between one thing and anot'ier, more urgent work ordered by the Pope, jealous intrigues of PTC. itects and artists anxious to emerge, the enormous expense entailed by the four marble facades decorated with forty statues and bas reliefs in bronze, all conspired to monthly, yearly delay, until, after the death of Julius, and Ms successors Leo the X*^ and Adrian the VP^, Clemens the VII^*^ arranged for the greatly reduced design that, with the immortal figure of Moses, adorns the church of Saint Peter in Vincoli in Eome. Whilst the great artist v as en. aged on Julius's tomb, perhaps by Bramante's desire to remove a rcdoutable lival from the ar- chitectural work in Saint Peter, he w as called upon to paint the walls and the dome of the Sixtine Chapel. Unable to refuse, though his heart was in the projected temb, he shut himself up and in twenty months completed his admirable work of the Crea- tion, in its twelve separate compartments. It was universally — 27 — admired and lauded by artists and all who saw if, soon afte wa^^ds to be capped by the greatest, most powerful fresco painting ihe world possesses, the Universal Judgement, began in 1534, not completed until 1541. Michelangelo had more than once returned to Florence, planned and directed the fortifications on the surrounding hills, by the celebrated French military engineer, Vauban, subsequently visited and copied. He also completed the designs for the recon- struction of the mediaeval Eoman Capitol and the adjoining Piazza; constructed the Farnese Palace in Eome, perhaps, in its grand sim- plicity of design, the most perfect existing. In Florence he erected the Chapel of the Medici, with Lorenzo's and Julian's tombs and the celebrated recumbent statue of Night about which an admirer wrote the noted couple ts : La notte che tu vedi in si dolci atti Dormire, fu da un angelo scolpita In questo sasso ; e henche dorma, ha vita; Destalaj se nol credi, e ijarleratti. In a free translation with this meaning ; TJie nigJit thou seest so sweetly sleeping Was ly an angel (play on the word angelo) out of this stone enticed Should'st disbelieve, awake her, she'll spealc. The artist patriot, alive to the woes his native city was un- dergoing, through malpractises and malgovernment, capped the verses admirably : Grato m'e il sonno e piu Vesser di sasso Finche il danno e la vergogna dura. Non veder, non sentir, m'd gran ventura ; Percid non mi destar ; deh ! parla basso. Blessed he sleep, nay more, to he of stone Whilst woe and shame prevail. : To see not, to hear not, Vis heaven's own boon; ^'• Leave me to slumber ; pray I raise not thy voice. He lived on in his hale old age, working untiringly at Saint Peter's, until his death, at 89, on the 18t>» of February 1564. He — 28 — was buiied with much solemnity and great honours in the Cliurch of the SS. Apostoli in Rome. As his works attest, in art, in painting, sculpture, architecture, Michelangelo stands alone, has had no equal in ancient or in modern times. Energetic, occasionally to violence, susceptible to personal dignity up to the point of leaving Eome, betaking him- self to Florence, never stirring until Julius, after repeated letters of entreaty, came all the way to Bologna to waylay his cherished artist, simply because the Pope had left unanswered two press- ing requests for audience, the virtue of his character gained him universal respoct and affection. He was good and charitable, courteous in manner, free of hand, modest, so modest as never to find complete satisfaction in his work, ever studying to better it : above all in sterling probity second to none. He was, as it were, one of those perfect diamonds, that, from time to time, are discovered amons^ human clay, reflect lustre on all around and are without a flaw. GALILEO GALILEL Were it not for some not uninteresting details, it would be superfluous to summarise the life of the man who discovered and fixed definitely among acquired facts the earth's motion round the sun. In our times when an enquiring mind dares to set forth a scientific or philosophic theory in contradiction with the acknow- ledged enciclop('dia, when he daros to assert a new truth upset- ting the even balance of men's belief, a hue and cry rise up against the avowed heterodoxy ; the bold asserter is persecuted, tortured, set on the rack of i)ublic opinion, whilst learned assemblies apply the thumbscrews of scorn and ridicule; in Galileo's tim?. moral torture was not forgotten, only physical supplemented it. The sun had revolved round the earth according to Holy Writ ever since creation, so had it been ordained by the Alnii.^hty ; to whom dared q-iestion the undoubted sacred truth ,.pnly a ;. Heretic's lot could be portioned out, confinement and tor- ture, until he saw the error of his ways, humbly recanting. Thus — 29 — the sage who had put beyond doubt the law of gravitation, was arrested, cast into prison, would have been tortured, had not the executioner's presence, the fear of unsupportable pain, induced physical weakness to admit the fallacy he had pilloried and recognise the error of his ways in rectifying sacred superstitions. An old man, he made the confession wrung from him, but no sooner had the words left his mouth than the inner and stronger man could no longer bear suppression and exclaimed : « yet it is so ; the earth does revolve round the sun » I The rack con- firmed the bible's accuracy against trifling mathematical argu- ments ! Galileo's was a distinguished fiorentine family ; distinguished for services rendered in public office, for scientific capacity and culture, not for riches. He was born in Pisa the 18*^ of February 1564, the day of Michelangelo's death, whilst his own in 1642 was contemporaneous with the birth of Isaac Ii^ewton. His father's limted means could not afford college education, he was obliged to study at home under a very indifferent master ; fortunately the youth's desire and aptitude for knowledge took small account of the teacher's deficiencies, carried him on rapidly in classic literature, mathematics, music, drawing, besides a most re- markable aptitude in mechanical invention. Music was the favou- rite pursuit of his leisure hours ; its charms would have decided him to embrace absolutely a musical career, had it not been for his father's opposition. They were a numerous family, their re- sources extremely limited ; Galileo, the eldest son, was looked on to be an economical prop, to follow a more lucra'ive profession than that of a musician. Medicine was meted out to him; he was entered for the course in the University under his father's super- vision, but soon neglected his medcal books for his favourite geometry, to which he felt an irresistible calling. During his four years course at Pisa Euclid superseded Hippocrates ! Whilst there he discovered the isochronism of the pendulum's swing with that of a lamp in the Dome, applied the pendulum as the measure of time, of the position and the limits of heavenly bodies in space. He greatly acquired mathematical knowledge at first by listen- ing behind the door whilst the Abbe Eicci gave lectures to his — 30 - pupils ; af tc. wards mustering up courage to spoak to the professor, the latter was struck by the extraordinary capacity disidayed, interviewed his father, convinced him of liis son's remarkable gifts, finally induced him to consent to his giving up medicine and following a mathematical career. His ability soon shone forth ; at 26 he gained the mathematical professorship at Pisa, though for barely three years. His demonstration of the laws of gravity in the fall of solids, in opposition with the principles laid down by Aristoteles, arrayed against him envy and academic hostility. A high placed admirer, Guidobaldi, obtained for him the chair at Padova; he left Pisa, as he himself narrates, with all his worldly goods tied up in a bundle weighing somewhat about fifty pounds. There at Padova his excellency was fully appreciated, his lecture room crowded with students of all kinds and denominations, among them occasionally the great astronomer Tycho Brahe, with whom he established a lasting friendship. Thoui:h teaching took up greatly his time, his studies and researches were not neglected in astronomy and physics. He con- structed the first thermometer ; then, amidst universal wonder and admiration, though some spoke of witchcraft, the telescope. The Venetian Senate, in recognition of the wonderful discovery, confirmed him professor for life with a tliousand florins salary. But whilst the senators thou;;ht only of the advantages to be reaped at sea by the new instrument, Galileo went further, looked upwards and applied it to the observation of celestial bodies. A new world was revealed ; all past astronomical science revolu- tionised. The lunar structure, with its mountains similar to the earth, the stars and nebulae of the milky way, Jove's satellites, the stains on the sun's surface were revealed to the observer's rapt gaze. Within six months after constructing his first telescope, Galileo published his chart of the heavens, « Nuncius Sidereus » amidst the civilised world's admiration. The Medicis recalled him to Florence. Oblivious of the sorry treatment received at their hands in former times, when professor at Pisa, his love for his native town prompted his acceptance of their offer, though, again surrounded by envy, suspicion, persecution, it was for the embit- terment of his life ! At that period he gave himself up entirely to astronomy, seeking positive proof to establish the laws of si- — 31 — . # deral movement, that of the earth and other sideral bodies within the range of his observation. It was then he fixed and established his theory of the plane- tary movement round the sun, in opposition to all accepted no- tions up to that time ; it was then on that theory, based on observation, on others ascribed to him, whether his or not, that dis- cussion, violent and venemous arose. Scientists of the past, prelates w edded to dogma, ignorance embedded in a triple plate of stolid conviction, green eyed envy, bloated vanity together assailed the philosopher, who first among positivists based his convictions on facts revealed by scientific observation. The war waged hot. was carried to the Papal throne. Galileo was more than once in Eome, able to convince the Pope, defend his science from the blot of irreligion ; but his enemies persevered. Notwith- standing his noble answer in a pamphlet called the Examiner (II Saggiatore) a model of argument couched in masterly style, not- witlistanding another work in Platonic form, where discussion arises between the up'.olders of the earth's motion and their ad- versary, the Pope's mind w^as in the end unfavourably biassed, Galileo w^as summoned to Eome before the bar of the Holy In- quisition, to there answer for the crime of heresy. Whilst con- fined in prison, brought before his judges, threatened with torture, without a hearing, beyond contemptuous indifference to the ar- guments he advanced in his favour, the recantation, an undying memorial, throughout centuries, of gross ignorance and religious intolerance, Avas insisted on and obtained. After his imprisonment in the cells of the Inquisition in Rome, subsequent confinement in Siena, Galileo was allowed to return to his villa in Florence at Bellosguardo, afterwards to Arcetri, where among other distinguished visitors he received Milton and where, writing, reading and studying, he lived in peace until the day of his death aged 77 years. GIOVANNI BATTISTA VICO. Giovanni Battista Vico was a philosopher and jurist bom in Naples the 23rrought to bear on the central Swiss government by the French and Austrian ambassadors, together with several faithful friends, though he had become popular and loved in the Canton where he resided, he was exiled from Switzerland on the charge of plotting against the peace of friendly powers. All Europe was thus closed to him, with the exception of free England ; he betook himself to London, definitively there established his residence until Lo returned to Italy, an unwelcome — 43 - guest, still under the ban of proscription, in 1870 when Italian unity was sealed by the acquisition of its Capital, Eome. Soul of the general rising in 1848, ending in the unhappy defeat of Charles Albert at Kovara, Triumvir of the Eoman Eepublic in 1849, when the Eternal City heroically resisted for over three months against the siege of three different armies; paving the way for Garibaldi, by means of his friends, in his conquest of Southern Italy in 60 from the thrall of the Bourbons ; again in 1866 cooperating with him in raising his volunteer army, that contributed by its victories to that campaim, ending in the annexation of the Venetian provinces to Italy ; again cooperating with him in the attempt in 1867 to acquire Eome to Italy : his unquenchable ardour flogged the weaker or more calculating spirits to attempt and accomplish, when they would more gladly have sat still and temporised. With 1870 his work of conspiration directed to unity came to an end; that of educating, of teaching the nation its duty of accomplishing a new human mission of civilisation, coming to life a third time in world's history, lasted until the day of his death in Pisa the 10*^ March 1872. Joseph Mazzini was not only a model patriot; a writer also of great literary talent, of which he left proofs in his contributions, in English, French and Italian, to the principal reviews of those countries, he was also an eminent philosopher. His educational work, the « Duties of Man » (I Dover! dell'Uomo), published in most european languages, is the most perfect manual of education existing. Based on the axiom that God is God, Humanity the interpreter of his Law here below, in separate chapters it defines man's duty in every walk of life. His prophetic vision of future events, successively verified is marvellous. In the year 1852 he pubblished a pamphlet on Europe's political future in which all that has been accomplished in our times, all that will in brief be accomplished, is clearly and definitely mapped out. Italian and German unity, the rise of the southern Slavs, their consti- tution into nationalities, together with the Eoumanian or Da> (the honest King) and he deserved it. His honesty is especially refulgent when called upon to decide questions where his inch'nation clashed with his constitutional duty. ^ Long friendship and relationship with Louis Napoleon, grati — 61 — tude for benefits received, impelled him in 1870 to place Italy's military power at France's disposal ; his ministers, gauging cor- rectly public opinion, the relative forces opposed, were strongly against all intervention. Long and warm discussions ensued, but when the King was convinced that he constitutionally ought not to go against the formal opinion of the coun'::y's pa.lianicn'.ary representatives, he gave in, wisely gave in, as the sequel showed. A sincere and devout catholic, also a friendly reverent admii'er of Pope Pius IX, when 1870 came on he addressed a letter to His Holiness be^^gin^ him to accept in respectful friendship Italian military aid and protection. The Pontif's reply was not only ne- gative, but threatened excommunication for whomsoever should pass the Eoman gates ! Bather than fail his country the Kinj accepted the Church's ban, with these simple words : « I have lost success- ively mother, wife, brother ; the Church says it is God's punish- ment, without reflecting that a King to ensure his happiness hereafter, must ensure that of his people on earth !» When in 1869, believing to be on his death bed, his confessor, before administering the sacraments put the condition of si ninj a recantation equiva- lent to abandoning Eome to the Pope, he answered: « I am a catholic, as a catliolic I have lived and I die. Should I have harmed anyone here below I ask God's pardon, but the signature you require is the political act of a constitutional Sovereign ; speak therefore about it to the Prime Minister who is in the next room; I have nothing to say ! ». He got over that illness; his death took place later on the 9 th of January 1878. He was and is mourned as the « Ee Galan- tuomo »; no batter epitaph adorns a King's tomb. CAMILLO CAVOUR, the Statesman. A shrewd calculating Piedmontese, imbued with a profound patriotic sentiment, the wish, the hope to compass Itahan unity so far as events and circumstances would allow^.A short, dapper, round faced man, ia gold framed spectacles, of smiling aspect, rubbinj hi3 hand 3 like a country notary or a debonnair shopkeeper 8?- — 62 — to propitiate customers. No one would have believed that the round laced man was capable of bold sudden resolutions or that behind those opulent spectacles were a pair of eyes capable of dra- win.ij forth or devining the inward thoughts and intentions of the person accosted. Count Camillo Benso Cavour, to give him his real patronymics, came of an old noble Piedmontese stock; so noble that he, as t':e rest of the family, true to tlieir Savoyard descent, like tie Kings of the same race, habitually wrote and spoke in L^cncli as their native idiom ; Italian was an acquired tongue ; easily ac- quired, so well acquired in form and substance, in thought and expression, as to speedily set French to its proper use, the diplo- matic organ of expression with foreign powers or persons. In 1835 the Countess de Circourt, with whom he was on friendly terms, wrote beggin,' him to abandon Piedmont, utterly unfit for developing the gifts of a man endoAcd with exceptional intelligence or for piomisin^^ a future brilliant career. Cavour's answer, he was barely twenty five, is nobly cbaract eristic of his patriotism, his future action. « No, it is not by abandoning one's country, small or unfortunate, that ilorious ends can be attained. Cursed be he wl.o despises tl e land of Lis birth, holds liinisdf something superior to his fellow citizens. For my part I will never divide my lot fr. m that of the Piedmontese. Happy or doomed, my life is my country's. I will never seek fortune else, vheie, were I sure of the most enviable and brilliant fulure av\ay from my o,vn people ! ». Patriotic words and promises uttered in his youth, scrupulously observed until the day of his death. Though social and political questions were Lis favourite studies, he devoted a fair part of his time to agiicuUuie, introducing into his estate at Leii practical improvements in drainage. Lousing, manures, he had seen applied duiing his voya_,es to England, France and Switzerland, where he \^as a welcome guest among land owners and pohticians alike. He was a confirmed free trader. Lad a great admiration for Sir Eobert Peel. Besides being the soul of an advanced liberal party, economically speaking, that he Lad greatly Lelped to found, the editor of a libe.al or^an « II Eisor pi- mento » (TLe Eevival), he was an untiring promoter of railroads and in the National Bank of those times had been elected on the — 63 — Board of Direction. All tliis was not calculated to endear him to the governin^^ powers, conservative to the backbone; obliged to acknowledge his talent, his unflagging energy, his practical activity, they above all feared the advent of so formidable a novator. Where possible he was excluded from public life. Things could not go on so for ever ; little by little they were modified ; events and new ideas, new aspirations were throughout Europe maturing, one by one the old school disappeared, to be replaced by new men who came to the fore, but in their cautious advance could not fall into his ideas, declare a thoroughly liberal policy. They treated, diplomatised, sou'^ht his assistance without compromising themselves to his policy. He let them bide, kept aloof, pursued evenly his career, lor ked after his estate, edited his paper, was the soul of the ass^cia'ioxi that fathered his aims, awaited patiently his time, the hour in which the leading men should wait on him. The time came. During the patriotic revival in 1848, when all Italy Avas in flames, he was among those who claimed a consti- tutional CI arter for Piedmont, was instrumental in convincing the King, Charles Albert, to grant it. At the general elections he was elected member of the new House of Commons, for some time was the leader of the more moderate section ; was then elected Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. When the proposal was presented to the King by the Ministers in office, he, who had an acute per- ception of human values, wanted to know if they had weighed ma- turely their proposal, because it admitted into the Cabinet one who would soon dictate the law to his colleagues and many others. The King saw clearly. Very little time elapsed before the man's weight, intellectual, moral stamina gave him preponderance in the Cabinet Councils, placed him at the head of affairs when the Mi- nistry, weak in itself, was no longer able to govern the House. His time had come at last. He was able te develop his policy, liberal while conservative at home, far seeing abroad ; watched and cultivated his opportunity to secure an alliance with France against Austria. Cavour was never really liked by the King, who very often quarrelled with him, because unbending and stubborn in his view^s ; he bore with him, confirmed him in power, knowing and appreciating his exceptional political value. — 54 — The shrewd statesman's policy for gettin VIII, whose virtue was recognised by the Emperor Sigismund, was created first Duke of Savoy. Though Duke, imbued with religious fervour, he left in power his son Ludwig, retired from the world's pomps, together with six favourite knights withdrew to the Hermitage of Kipaglia, whereby founding the second chivale- resque Italian order of SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro (SS. Maurice and Lazarus). Though no formal abdication had been proclaimed, Amadous lived a cenobite's life, giving advice when necessary, otherwise devoting himself to works of charity, until a schism broke out in the Church of Eome under Pope Eugene IV. The opponent pre- lates met at Basilea, deposed the Pope, elected in his stead Ame- deus. Though unwilling, he was induced to accept ; under the name of Felix V for nine years was acknowledged and submitted to as Pop"; by the greater part of the Catholic community. On the death of Eugene, when Nicholas V succeeded, Amedeus resigned the tiara to reestablish unity in the Church. Whilst for a century events had greatly diminished its power I — 57 — and lustre, tlie Savoyard prestige was placed upon a firmer basis than ever by Emmanuel Philibert in the sixteenth century. Supreme Captain of the Spanish troops in the war against the French, com- manded by Montmorency, he worsted the latter in the memorable battle of S. Quintino 10th August 1557. In the following peace he reacquired all his States, married Marguerite of France, sister of the reigning King Henry II. He devoted the rest of his life to the consolidation and government of his States. With Victor Amedeus II the Dukes of Savoy assume the title of Kings of Sardinia. By the treaty of 1713 Sicily had been com- prised among the Duke's dominions and he exchanged it in 1720 for the former island. He was a warrior King, defending his native land against the encroachments of its powerful neighbours, both France and Spain. An heroic episode during the siege of Turin has become historic. The efforts to defend the fortress against the French besiegers were ineffec' ual. They continually gained ground, were on the point of forcing the only huge wooden gate by vhich an entrance could be effected, mined principally through the work of a poor simple miner, Pietro Micca. Whilst the French with hatchets and battering rams were overcoming this last obstacle, Micca seeing all lost called on his companion to fire the train by him laid carefully. Seeing him hesitate, he took the match from his hand, said: « be off, save your life as you value it more than I do » then fired the mine. His body, togeth'^r with those of three as- sailing companies of grenadiers, their battery of cannons werehurled into the air, raising a human monument to his intrepidity. Charles Albert is the last King of Sardinia ; the dynasty be- comes henceforward Italian. His studies in Paris enhanced and con- firmed an inherited liberal tendency. He was the first, bold enough to entertain the idea of extending his dominion throu^^hout the Italian territory occupied by Austria, the Lombardo -Venetian pro- vinces. In 1821, then heir apparent, he was supposed to belong to the secret society of the Carbonari, to have been cognisant of a conspiracy organised in Turin to dethrone his uncle, a narrow minded man, the reigning sovereign ; a conspiracy that fell through ccmpletely. In 1846, when Pius the IX, who as Cardinal Mnstai Ferretti was supposed to entertain liberal Italian tendencies, was elected — 58 — Pope, a wave of Italian sentiment, the outcome priaoipally of the mazzinian propaganda, swept over the Peninsula, curried away the King, w ho hoped to find in the new sovereign of the Papal States a congenial spirit with whom to join efforts against a common enemy, Austria. General enthusiastic acclamations awaited both rulers in their separate visits to the various parts of their domi- nions ; 1848 saw^ general risings throughout the country : the in- vaders were compelled to retire, the Piedmontese and the Papal armies were arrayed against the Austrian forces, volunteers frrm all parts of the country flocked to their banners. The Constitutional Charter governing Italy at the present time was then granted by Charles Albert to the Kingdom of Piedmont ; his example was fol- lowed by the Pope who elected an almost entirely secular governing power for the Eoraan States. It was of no avail. Alter a series of ba,ttles Charles Albert was worsted by Eadeztky at Novara ; the Pope, dubious of future events, recalling his dreams of Italian patriotism in his care for possible troubles overhanging the Church, followmg the advice of the Austrian Ambassador, fled from turbulent Eome, took refuge in the fortress of Gaeta. The citizens of Milan organised a five days heroic resistance against the victorious Austrian army ; Eome resisted over three months, Garibaldi commanding, against the armies brought to overcome her by France, Spain and Kaples, was then overcome, obliged to capitulate and the Pope escorted by French troops re- turned to Eome no longer an Italian, but the Head of the Catholic Church. Charles Albert, wounded to the core, after sig'nin^ an armistice and peace with Eadetzky, abdicated in favour of his eldest son Victor Emmanuel; he, whose privilege it was to jeopardise his crown for Italian Unity, to see his efforts crowned with success and be the first to mount the Italian throne. Of whom more is said when touching on the prime factors of Italy's rebirth as a nation. He was succeeded by his son Humbert, whose regal consort and cousin Marguerite was distinguished and is distinguished as Dowager Queen, for rare accomplishments of mind, person and soul. The King, an example of correct const ituti anal conduct, de- voted much of his time to military matters, was, as all the mem- b,ers of his House, unfearing j to this he owes his untim(}ly unhappy death. — 59 — Walking in his park at Monza, welcoming without the slightest fear the crowd by which he was surrounded, a fanatic sprang upon him, wounded him mortally with a dagger. He fell, victim to his courage and faith in those for whom he lived and reigned, leaving in death a perscnification of his house's loyalty to its coun- try and its institutions. We believe our actual Eoyal Family to be the best in Europe, not only for its Head's scrupulous observance of the people's li- berties, of the provisions enacted in the Constitutional Charter, but also for his strict sense of Eoyal duty, his broad understanding, his modern views in complete harmony with the spirit of the times, his extensive knowledge, his exemplary f.imily life, aided in all by his Eoyal Consort, a model wife and mother, in all charitable in- stitutions the practical guiding mind, the willing soul. Their chil- dren, fine healthy boys and girls, h'gh'y iuslr acted in their s^'mple congenial family hfe. Whereby our re" gning familly seems to u^> an example of Eoyalty to all Crowned He.ids in Europe. Let their portraits speak for them. STATUS Having enlarged somewhat on persons, one may now give a cursory glance at things; the more so as they reprtsjnt collective not individual effort, the nation's, not this or that distinguished citizen's life. vSeveral elements are necessary to gauge accurately a nation's civil, moral, political, economical progress ; its measuie of civili- ration, its status among nations. For the foimer comparisons with the past, for the latter comparisons with its competitors in the sanks of humanity. Much might be adduced tabularly, or otherwise, much cannot, considering our guide's abridged form: compression must be power- fully applied to summarise and convey in tables the greateiit amount of information. Politically, laws, franchise, form of g'>verment; economioally, commerce, credit, traffic, industry, general and individual we:A[h ; — 60 — morally, education, instruction, criminality; civilly, local and national institutions ; lastly comparison under these hoads with other na- tions contribute one and all to establish an international standing grounded on facts. Politically, owing to the scrupulous observance of the Charter by the reigning Sovereigns, Italy has enjoyed and does enjoy amongst nations the largest measure of liberty and tolerance to extreme parties ; excessive perhaps, according to some minds. The Charter granted by Charles Albert in 1848 established a Constitutional Monarchy, where the King reigns and the Nation governs by means of its legitimate representatives. Senate and House of Commons, who designate an Executive and make the laws. The King is the head of the Executive, sanctions its formation, commands the military forces by land and sea, gives his approval to all legislative and executive measures, ratifies treaties with foreign Powers. This Charter has been most faithfully observed by the descendants of Charles Albert, Victor Emmanuel 11, Humbert I, and the reigning Monarch, Victor Emmanuel III. Ministries retain power so long as they command a majority in the House of Commons. The latter must be submitted to the reelection of the country every five years if not sooner. The franchise was at first restricted to a small number of electors on a high property basis and the members of learned bodies, who therefore appropriated the 508 constituencies into which the countiy is divided. Within the last fifty years, at several periods, the franchise has been gradually extended, until, under the late ministry, ^^ith Sig. Giolitti as Premier, universal suffrage was proclaimed and adopted. Municipal franchise is as the political ; as is municipal govern- ment, with the exception of there being one legislative body instead of two. Universal franchise elects a Municipal Council, whose number is proportioned to the population, with power to govern, enact local legislation, appoint an executive consisting of the Mayor and the heads of the departments into which the administration is divided. One third of the municipal council is renewed every two years ; though, subject to government control and supervision, it can at any time be totally dissolved by the Home Minister. A second local subdivision is the division of the country into 69 Provinces, whose administration is presided over by the Prefect, — 61 — a government official, assisted by a Provincial Council and execu- tive, the former elected by universal suffrage, the latter by the Council itself. The body's power lays over the provincial com- munications by land or wat; r, the insane and such measures as may concern collective provincial interests, without trenching on the powers entrusted to the Communes. The Province, by means of a special executive body, enjoys a power of supervision on all the single municipal administrations. On the same lines as the suffrage, primary instruction has spread, though in an old and poor country, principally agricultural, divided up, among mountains and valleys, into over 8000 commu- nes and their fractions, to wh'ch the school organisation is entrust- ed, progress has been relatively slow. In the country the peasants, with the small modicums of land assigned to them, tilled mostly by hand labour, make use of their children at a very early age, in looking after pigs, poultry, sheep and smaller children ; they are thus jBnancially interested in keep- ing them away from school. Another difficulty is in the distance hamlets, spread over the territoiy, are from any small centre v^here a school can be established ; hamlets and cottages located frequently in inaccessible spots, shut out from comm'inication with the outer world in bad weather. Notwithstanding these physical and moral obstacles, considerable progi-ess has been made. Not many years ago, perhaps not more than five and twenty, the number of illiterate, between men and women, with a larger proportion of the litter, boi'dered on seventy per cent of the po- pulation ; now it is under fifty ; and every year that passes, with ncAT roads opened out, ne^^ schools, new laws, more stringent in compelling compulsory attendance, new evening schools for daily labourers, all ths summed up together, with a growing conviction as to the necessity of attaining elementary instruction, is reducing rapidly to a normal proportion the destitute of the three E's. Within five years, one can boldly affirm that Italy will be on a par with the most advanced countries in this respect, though it will take time and generations to form the conscience of the agricultural po- pulation, impressing on it the Economical advantage of losing time in gaining knowledge. As instruction cannot suppress criminal tendencies or the in- INn KI.-rfiTi OF CALIFOHNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUT^ THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW to $1.00 per volume aftPrfhl ■ tl overdue, increasing demand mav be r^Sewed if Ln^ ^ .^''•^- • ^'^"^^ "<>» if expiration of loan perTod ^PP^'^^^^'^n ,s made before SEP 1.5 192J AUG 14 ^92' ^5 a© /^^, AUU 6 192J 4 2\'*»^" 50to-7,'1(; Gay lord Br Makers Syracuse, ^ PAT. JAM. 21, 19 XXjf^^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ^mimm^immmmM