Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/321

 12 s. vii. OCT. 2, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

261

LONDON, OCTOBER 2, 1920.

CONTENTS. No. 129.

NOTES : Italian Literary Criticism in the Eighteenth Century: Francesco Montani di Pesaro, 261 Dorothy Osborne's Letters, 263 An English Army List of 1740 The Name Mayflower, 265 Westminster Abbey Renova- tions Past and Prospective, 266 'Santo Sebastiano' by Mrs. Kitty Cuthbertson " Scolopendra Cetacea" " Beaster '" A Note on Edmund Burke, 267 The May- flower: Christopher Jones's Wife "Pin one's faith" The "Bare Oak " and Berkshire, 268.

'QUERIES : Berkeley House, Piccadilly Roe Armorials, 268 Claudius Shaw, Royal Artillery Francis Gastrell. Vicar of Stratford - on - Avon Romney Marsh Sir Benjamin Keene Burnaby Columbaria A Chrismatory at Caister, Norfolk Dodington's 'Diaries,' 269 French Songs Wanted Ktymology of " Sajene" and "Arscbime " Parliamentary Petitions, &c. Sydney Smith's " Last Flicker of Fun" Harvey de Leon Bedfordshire Church- yard Inscriptions Burnet of Eyrecourt Cottage, co. Gal way An Old Hampstead House Fox on ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel' " The Miner of Falun," 270 "Gormanic" Surname of Philip II. of Spain Anglesey House, Drury Lane Author Wanted, 271.

QREPLIES : Fathers of tho House of Commons, 1901-1920, 27i_president John Richardson Herbert of Nevis Edwards, Samuel 'Bedford Judg-j Payne, 273 The Clink Irish Crimean Banquet, 274 R. Temple, H.M. 6M;h Regt. Capt. William Henry Cranstoun Anstis : Le Neve: Arderne Peter. John and William Foulkes. 275-Beacon6field's 'Sybil': " Caravan "The Lights of London -Biblio&raphy of Lepers in England William Bylling and his Devotional Verses, 276 Cullidge-ended Cpt. Lacy Undated Books The " 'Umble" " Commons" Thomas Thorpe Peacocks' Feathers, 277 Crimean War Novels of Motoring Parish Registers The Prefix "Right Honble." Authors Wanted, 273.

1SOTES ON BOOKS :-' The Great Fire of London' 'The Captivity antliDeath of Edward of Carnarvon'' Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester.'

Notices to Correspondents.

ITALIAN. LITERARY CRITICISM IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

FRANCESCO MONTANI DI PESARO.

I.

"FRANCESCO MONTANI 's literary work is -contained in a slim volume of seventy-four pages published in Venice, 1709, by Lorenzo Basejo under the title of ' Lettera toccante le Considerazioni sopra la maniera di ben pensare scritta di un accademico . . . . al signer conte di....L'anno 1705.' Yet in that disjointed collection of critical notes, -enlivened by curiously new and beautiful expressions and pulsing with ardent life, there are more authentic indications of genius than in any other work of that early 'Settecento. The style resembles closely that of Montaigne, with its quaint and often

striking metaphors, its sharp pauses in the midst of long digressions, its mirrorlike qualities which give it the power of fine emotional expression but no one can trace any deliberate attempt at imitation of Montaigne ; one finds in it rather the echo of an original spirit working from individual values and striving to attain clear vision even against tradition and against con- temporary prejudice.

No study has yet been devoted to Mon- tani which really satifies th:3 most superficial standards in the history of criticism and Italian writers have been content to pass him in silence, while devoting arid pages to Salvini, Orsi, Manfredi, Fontanini and Muratori who, with Montani, furnished material for; that attack against the French tradition the Bonhours-Orsi controversy. Orsi published in Modena, 1735, 'Con- siderazioni del Marchese Giov. Gius. Orsi, Bolognese sopra la Maniera di ben pensare ne' componimenti gia pubblicati dal P. Domenico Bonhours,' which contains prac- tically all that has been written by the contributors to that attack. Foffano in his 'Ricerche Letterarie,' Gabriel Maugain in his 'Evolution intellectuelle de 1'Italie de 1657 a 1750 environ ' and Boerio have given a succinct account of the subject-matter of this compilation. To understand the real meaning of such a movement it will be necessary to go back to the late Seicento.

Literary criticism in Italy after the Renaissance, which established a cast-iron system of poetic and philology in the evaluation of literary works, and mummified all literary inspiration by forcing it to con- form absolutely to certain regulations drawn up on the authority of the classics and especially of Aristotle literary criticism showed naturally a reaction during the seventeenth century. This reaction took the form of rebellion against authority, classical or otherwise, and led to extrava- gance in technique and inspiration, only restrained within a loose decorum by the Jesuit influence. Tassoni, Ottonelli, Lanci- lotti, Pellegrini, Pallavicino broke away quite definitely in criticism from sub- servience to the classical model, and by the end of the century the depreciation in value of the classics and Aristotle gave birth to a peculiarly rationalistic criticism which dis- tinguished the following Settecento, reached a climax in Guilio Cesare Becelli, Maffei, Calepio and paved the way for the Romantic movement. In France, however, tho classi- cal tradition became aggravated and