Page:The Harvard Classics Vol. 21.djvu/11



''was born at Milan, Italy, March 7, 1785. He was educated at Lugano, Milan, and Pavia, and after taking his degree he joined his mother in Paris, where he found her in the circle of Mme. Condorcet and the surviving rationalists of the eighteenth century. These associations led him for a time into scepticism, hut he was later converted to Catholicism, and remained a steadfast adherent of that faith till his death, defending it in his writings against the Protestant historian Sismondi. Mansoni was a warm sympathizer with the aspirations of his country toward political independence, but he took no very active part in public agitation. When Italy was at last free, he was made a Senator and awarded a pension. He died at Milan, May 22, 1873.''

''Manzoni's most important literary productions are in poetry, drama, and the novel. In the first group he wrote some hymns, notable for the warmth of their religious sentiment, and two odes, "II cinque maggio" and "Marso 1821." The former of these, on the death of Napoleon, first brought him fame. His dramatic compositions, "II Conte di Carmagnola" and "Adelchi," represent an attempt to free Italian drama from the restraints of the classical conventions, but neither met with general approval in Italy. Goethe, however, reviewed the earlier in the most favorable terms. In a prefatory essay Mansoni made an important contribution to the romantic protest against the restrictions of the dramatic "unities" of the classical drama. But the Italians were not yet prepared to accept truth in the treatment of human nature in place of stylistic polish and conventional form.''

''The reception given to Manzoni's masterpiece, "I Promessi Sposi" (1825-26) was very different. In form a historical novel, written at a time when the vogue of the Waverley Novels had stimulated the production of this form of fiction throughout Europe, the interest of "The Betrothed," as it is usually called in England, is rather psychological and sentimental than external. The scene is laid in Lomhardy between 162S and 1631, and the plot deals with the thwarting of the love of two peasants by a local tyrant. The manners of the time are presented with great vividness and picturesqueness; one of the most notable elements''