Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/481

 ITALY (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 463 cessors were Chiabrera, Guidi, Tassoni, and Af urehetti. The foundation of the academy of Arcadians in Rome in 1690 by Crescimbeni and Gravina introduced an affectation of pas- toral sentiments and habits in place of Mari- nism. Menzini, Zappi, Maggi, Lemene, Salva- tor Rosa, and Bracciolini wrote satirical, ero- tic, and facetious verses. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the opera was the favorite Italian exhibition. It had long been produced with theatrical and musical splendor, when Zeno of Venice (died in 1750), and especially Trapassi, called Metastasio (died in 1782), wrote operatic plays having remarkable poetical mer- its. When early in the 18th century the war of the Spanish succession raged in Italy, and the kingdom of Naples fell beneath the scep- tre of the infante Don Carlos, and afterward of Ferdinand III., literature and the sciences were cultivated with renewed vigor. Naples produced Giannone, distinguished in the de- partment of history, Capasso in literature, Ci- rillo in medicine, Mazocchi in archaeology, Ge- novesi in political economy, one Gagliani in architecture, and another in domestic economy and philology. Filangieri rivalled Montesquieu in the philosophy of legislation ; Pagano wrote on the criminal law ; Poli distinguished himself in the positive sciences; Maffei both in his- tory and poetry. The university of Bologna was now in its splendor, its academy of sci- ences taking the name of "The Institute." Marsigli, Stratico, Cesarotti, Foscarini, the brothers Gozzi, Morelli, Pompei, Lorenzi, Maz- zuchelli, and Serassi made the city of Venice illustrious ; but political jealousy prevented the culture of the economical and legislative sci- ences there, which under Beccaria and others were making great progress in other parts of Italy. In Tuscany, the famous French ency- clopaedia was republished. In the cities of Lombardy flourished Scopoli, Fontana, Tissot, Spallanzani, Bertola, Villa, Natali, Volta, Scar- pa, Tamburini, Parini, Beccaria, Verri, Landri- ani, Maria Agnesi, Carli, and others, devoted to literature, art, science, and the development of political and ethical principles. Bodoni raised the art of typography to an admirable elegance. Prominent among the patrons of literature was Victor Amadeus II. of Savoy. The Italian drama had as yet attained to excel- lence only in the opera, and lacked superior tragedies and comedies. It received an impulse in the 17th century from the French theatre, Martelli of Bologna (died in 1727) being the first who attempted to naturalize not only the structure of French tragedy but the Alexan- drine verse. The Merope of Maffei was the best tragedy produced in the early part of the 18th century. A greater influence was exerted upon his age and upon literature by Alfleri (1749- 1803), the head of an important school of tragedy. Hostile alike to the operatic lightness of the Italian drama and to the formal and complicated intrigues of the French, he went to an opposite extreme, demanding in tragedy 443 VOL. ix. 30 both the utmost intensity of passion and the utmost simplicity of treatment. He was the poet of energetic action and profound thought and feeling, as Metastasio was of love. Aban- doning the customs of the court of Louis XIV., he revived the simple sublimity of the Greek stage, which had been the object of his favor- ite studies, and which was removed alike from French effeminacy and Spanish extravagance. A reformation in the Italian comedy was mean- time effected by Goldoni (1707-'93), the only genuine comic poet that Italy can boast, who sought in imitation of Moliere to substitute for the commedia delV arte a natural comedy of manners. In his efforts to give to the stage a more human and real character by ridding it of the traditional masks of the harlequin, pan- taloon, and other stock characters, he had to contend especially against Ohiari and Carlo Gozzi. The example of Kotzebue and Iffland gave rise to a lachrymose school of dramatic composition, maintained by Avelloni, Gualzet- ti, Greppi, and especially by Federici. The most illustrious historians were Muratori (died in 1750), Maffei, Denina, Mazzuchelli, Tiraboschi, and Lanzi (died in 1810). The Annali (T Italia, Verona illustrata, Retoluzioni (Tltalia, Scrit- tori d'ltalia, Storia della letteratura d'ltalia, and the Storia pittoriea d 1 Italia were respec- tively their best works. The writings of Mu- ratori and Tiraboschi still maintain their repu- tation both for erudition and criticism. In archaeology, the names of Fabretti, Gori, Maz- zocchi, Martorelli, Passeri, and Carli were dis- tinguished. Campanella continued the philo- sophical movement of Bruno in opposition to scholasticism, and Vico (1668-1744) founded the new science of the philosophy of history ; his Scienza nuova is a view of general history, founded on the idea of Divine Providence and the essential elements of the common nature of man. Gasparo Gozzi, Algarotti, Buonafede, Vanetti, Tartarotti, and Alessandro Verri also added to the glory of the literature by aban- doning the pedantic style that had been in vogue and introducing an acquaintance with foreign ideas and productions. Baretti con- tributed to the revival of good taste by ridicu- ling the Arcadians. Parini (1729-'99) excelled in satirical poetry, Ms Giorno being as remark- able for elegance as for severity upon the effeminate life of the wealthy Milanese no- bles. Among the works of Cesarotti was a translation of Ossian, esteemed in many re- spects among the happiest productions in the language, and which Alfieri confessed to have been of service to him in the composition of his tragedies. The political and military move- ments in Europe of the last decade of the 18th century occasioned a regeneration not only of the literature but of the national spirit of the Italians. The early part of the 19th century rivals the age of Leo X., presenting Canova, Longhi, Cicognara, Appiani, and Beltrami in the fine- arts; Monti, Foscolo, Pindemonte (partly contemporary with whom was AMa-