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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. OCT. so, 1020.

1660.

Mar. 15, Thursday. I went to Chelsey where my Neice Bixwell was married by Dr. Warmistry from thence wee went to Twicknam to S r T. Peytons where the mariage was celebrated for a "'Weeke.

May 13, Sunday. I went aboard the Centurion with the five Lords Commissioners that went to 'fetch the king (my lord of Warwicke not going because he had the goute) which were my Ld of Oxforde, Middlesex, Barkeley, Brookes and Hereforde and vpon tuesday wee landed at Skiueling.

May 22, Tuesday. I left the Hague and went with Mr. Cholmely to see Holland and Flandres.

May 23, Wednesday. The King left the Hague to goe for England and went on board at Skiueling.

June 12, Tuesday. I landed at Dover. 1661.

Mar. to June [Ifcur to Paris]. 1663.

Oct. 20, Tuesday. I came from Chicksands to Xondon with my Brother and my C. George Fitz -geoffry. 1664.

Oct. 25, Tuesday. I returned to Towne [from 'Chicksands] with my brother, my brother Temple and sister, and my Lady Gifforde. 1665.

May 20. I went out of Towne to Easton because of the Plague.

Nov. 7. I came from Easton to Chicksands.

G. C. MOORE SMITH.

Sheffield.

(To be continued.)

ITALIAN LITERARY CRITICISM IN

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

FRANCESCO MONTANI DI PESARO.

III.

'ONE sentence in the essay reminds one irresistibly of Carlyle : " Writing follows the laws of dress, they should conform and in a certain measure tone down to the needs of the times in which they are written." It is impossible to establish rules in literary creation, and no writers can ever possess sufficient authority to be used as infallible models. " Who are those authors we should follow, so irrefutable, so infallible, that even while we listen gravely to their written law, we have no need of a law so much more valuable, not written a certain judgment depending on reflection, on changes in time, religion, countries, habits, taste." Absolute independence, absolute freedom must be granted to the poet, for the act of creation is spontaneous, intuitive, and cannot be con- trolled by reasoning or subdued to intention. Expression and creation are identical : per- ception is immediate and spontaneously

excited : it is impossible to realize an im- pression without thought and the knowledge of thought must be expression itself even if not written. Expression, perception, thought have no time interval : they occur instantaneously. One cannot isolate any one of them in reality but only perhaps in theory. It is quite evident that Montani had in mind a definite theory of literary creation and expression, not different in fundamentals from our modern aesthetic. "There are immutable, eternal laws.... but only so few as to be counted by the nose." He desires to gain a deeper know- ledge of the artistic impulse not necessarily on a psychological examination, but rather on an intuitive ; hence, a rigorous fidelity to intrinsic standards and a rejection of extrinsic. Montani cannot conceive beauty as outside of expression, outside of life : there is no place in literary appreciation for super-imposed ideals. The artistic impulse comes through the centuries and develops in its course towards realization of the ideal : a great power underlies all literary creation, something which gives it truth and strength and, although divided into many species, into diverse manifestations, remains harmonious in itself. Montani defines that unity of inspiration, of artistic intuition, which alone makes real expression possible, w*hich transforms what would otherwise be jugglery with artificial formulae, artificial ornaments, into living art. The identity of spirit and expression envelops poetry with a flavour which belongs to one per- sonality and poetry, being the reflection of that personality, discloses new conceptions, new beauties, new rays of light. Novelty, new things, new gleams form that original energy which always pulses through the work of genius : true utterance must be always new, for the spirit lives a life apart, alone, no two spirits resemble each other and the utterance of one spirit must be a new thing to any other spirit. Novelty means intensity, spiritual truth, the direct expression of a spiritual need, and without such inner intensity the act of creation becomes impossible. The receptive mind seeks eagerly for those manifestations and when it finds them, cherishes them, not as an addition to a repertory whence they can be taken at pleasure to fulfil some literary intention, but as a new inspiration to the creative faculty itself fuel to an inner flame which takes into itself all external things, all acquired things and uses percepr tion, sensual and mental, to intensify its