"O dearest gift, all others far above, 66 Why have I not that lovely hand with thee? Through life thou ever shalt remain with me, A thousand kisses day and night receive." "Perhaps," says Mr. Panizzi," never were the sentiments which such a present was likely to awaken, more truly and warmly expressed than in this sonnet." The following was written when parting with his mistress for some time: "Io vidi quel bel viso impallidire "Vidi il color di rose rivenire "Dolci parole e dolce lacrimare, "Con voi piangendo sospirava Amore, Tanto suave che nel rammentare Non mi par doglia ancor il mio dolore." "I saw that lovely cheek grow wan and pale "I saw the rose's orient colour fail, How from those eyes the pearls and crystal fell. "O precious words! and, O sweet tears! that steep In pleasing sadness my devoted heart, And make it with its very bliss to weep. "Love with you weeping sighed, and did impart Such sweetness to you, that my sorrow deep To memory comes devoid of sorrow's dart.' We will make one more extract, of which we will offer no translation. It must convince every one that Bojardo was possessed of beauty of imagination and melody of verse, and that the celebrated Quadrio is not far astray when he calls his lyrical pieces "un modello di delicatezza e di grazia." It occurs in a Canzone, in which in a series of comparisons he describes the beauty of his mistress. "Come in la notte liquida e serena Vien la stella d'Amore innante il giorno Che a lei d'intorno intorno Cedon parte del cielo e fangli onore ; E fa sparir ogni altra bella vista." The bard of Scandiano also wrote Italian eclogues, in which he employed the verso sdrucciolo before Sannazaro, who is generally supposed to have been the first who used it in entire poems. He has, moreover, left Latin eclogues, which Tiraboschi justly styles "molto eleganti." He translated Herodotus's History, the Cyropædia of Xenophon, and Apuleius's Golden Ass. Altogether, we may see, that his literary merits are not few, and that he deserves a higher station than has yet been allotted to him on the Italian Parnassus. Bojardo's lyrical poetry being so soft and mellifluous as the preceding extracts show it to be, whence comes it, it may be asked, that the versification of his great poem is so rugged and negligent? The truth of this charge we are not disposed to admit to the full extent, but we will not now argue the case. At all events, we believe the familiarity and negligence of the verse of the Innamorato to have been matter of choice. The Regina Ancroja, the Buovo d'Antona, the Spagna, and the other romantic poems which were written before his time, are all in a low, vulgar, and familiar style; and Bojardo, probably, like Pulci, deemed that poems of this kind, which were designed for recitation rather than for the study, should not aim at epic pomp and dignity. That the Innamorato was recited, Mr. Panizzi has made very probable; indeed, we think it is proved sufficiently by the opening lines: 66 Signori e Cavalier, che v' adunate Per odir cose dilettose e nuove, State attenti, quieti, ed ascoltate La bella istoria che il mio canto muove." None but a mind of high poetic power could have conceived the plan of the Orlando Innamorato. The romances of the Round Table, as we have observed above, are very far superior to those of the Paladins. Bojardo saw in what their superiority lay; he, at the same time, knew that Charlemagne and his peerage had an interest for Italian minds, of which Arthur and his knights could hardly hope to possess themselves. He, therefore, boldly conceived the design of giving to the former what he knew to be the great charm of the latter, namely, LovE; and he had even the hardihood to subject to this passion Orlando, who had been hitherto regarded as almost a saint, knowing that his love would excite an interest far beyond that of any inferior personage. How well he succeeded needs not to be told: the riches of invention which he has so lavishly poured forth in his poem are hardly to be equalled; and, had he lived to bring it to a conclusion, the Muse of Ariosto must have sought some other theme, and she might possibly not have mounted to such a height of glory. Far, very far, however, be from us the desire to disparage Ariosto, one of the most delightful poets that ever existed; all we mean to say is, that in luxuriance of invention we apprehend he was inferior to Bojardo, and we doubt if he could of himself have formed so noble and extensive a plan as that which he took up and so admirably continued. Perhaps, where grace and elegance are given in so high a degree as they were to Ariosto, nature is more frugal of the faculty of invention. The splendour of Ariosto's versification made the negligent lines of Bojardo, abounding as they did in Lombardisms, appear to tremendous disadvantage. In those days the Italians had learned to regard the style as every thing in a literary work: if "the style was excellent, The verse they humbly took upon consent." Even Lucretius was thought lightly of because he had not all the polish of Virgil and Horace. Poor Bojardo was, therefore, to gratifyears polite," re-made by the celebrated Francesco Berni, and by another person named Dominichi, and the effect has been, that the original poem has not been printed since the year 1544, and that the belief has been transmitted from critic to critic that it is not readable. Mr. Panizzi has thought differently, and so do we; and he has, with immense labour, formed, by a collation of seven different editions, as pure a text of the poem as the strict laws of criticism permitted.* We must let him speak for himself on this subject. "I admit," says he, " the elegance of many parts of the rifacimento, but I contend that, if we may tolerate in an original poem a want of correctness, we have a right to be more rigorous when we are to judge of a work which has no claim to invention. The indiscriminate praises lavished upon Berni's work have rendered people afraid of examining it with an unbiassed and critical eye; whilst the outcry against Bojardo's incorrect and unpolished diction and versification, has created a kind of traditional belief that the lines of this great poet are not worth reading. I am proud of being the first to offer the original Orlando Innamorato in a legible form to the lovers of Italian literature, and I shall leave the question of its merits in comparison with Berni's rifacimento to all candid and competent judges, who will often be compelled to admit that the lines of the old bard are superior to those of the author upon whom the splendid reputation of having rendered the perusal of the poem tolerable has been conferred. Even readers who are prejudiced against or unacquainted with Bojardo will confess that it is unjust to bestow the encomiums due to this great poet on a writer whose name is now prefixed to a work of which he did not invent any portion. I have felt indignant at the title-pages of the Orlando Innamorato by Berni omitting the name of him by whom the poem was composed. Without Berni, the Orlando Innamorato will be read and enjoyed; without Bojardo, not even the name of the poem remains." That the verse of the Tuscan Berni is more polished than that of the Lombard Bojardo we readily concede; but surely this is not a reason for depriving the latter of his fame. Southey somewhere complains of the tendency to the ludicrous of the Italian romantic poets now one of the merits of Bojardo is that he is more free from this tendency than any other of them, and that almost every thing of the kind in the re-made poem is the property of Berni. We must confess that it was with surprise, as well as pleasure, we discovered this when we read the original poem for the first time in the present edition; and to us, the genuine verses of Bojardo, with all their negligence and all their ruggedness, but at the same time, with all their sweetness, (of which Berni was not capable), are far more pleasing than the Tuscan strains which have occupied their place. Dryden, a loftier poet than Berni, has modernized the Knight's Tale, of Chaucer; nothing can be finer, nothing more harmonious or more spirited than the lines of * Mr. Panizzi, we believe, had to transcribe the whole poem, so extremely incorrect were all the editions. this mighty master of rhyme: yet what person of true taste and poetic feeling would not rather read the ruder strains of the original poet! If the Faerie Queen were re-made, we are certain it would find a very limited number of readers; and now that the genuine Orlando Innamorato is placed before us, we expect that in future it will be read by the genuine lovers of poetry in preference to the rifucimento, with which ordinary readers may continue to content themselves. The present edition of the entire poem (for the Innamorato and the Furioso are but one poem), will, we trust, ere long take its place in every Italian library in this country. It has every thing to recommend it-a most correct text, many valuable notes and disquisitions, beautiful print and paper. To any library it will be an ornament,-no Italian library can be complete without it. ART. III-1. Résumé préliminaire de l'ouvrage ayant pour titre, Théorie des Volcans, par Le Compte A. De Bylandt Palstercamp. Seconde édition. Paris. 1834. 2. Description des Terrains Volcaniques de la France centrale. Par M. Amédée Burat. Avec dix planches. Paris. 1833. WHEN We see a work written professedly for our benefit, we feel a sort of delicacy in expressing our opinion of its merits or demerits. Should we find fault, we must appear to be extremely ungrateful to one who gives us so much of his time and thoughts solely for our good; and, should we altogether praise it, it seems as if we suffered our self-love to run away with our justice. The first work which now comes under our notice is the second edition of a pamphlet of seventy-eight pages; and perhaps, as a mere " avant-propos" or " aperçu" of a larger work, ought merely to be announced to the public. However, as this avant-propos (which we are very much inclined to translate feeler) lays before us the plan of three projected volumes, opens to us the motives and labours of the author, and sums up his new theory, we feel bound to remark on it at some length. In the first place, the Count expresses his conviction of the obligation under which we all lie to benefit our fellow-creatures, and gives us reason to suppose, that, having run about the world for thirty years, first to amuse himself and enlarge his ideas, he has at length arrived at the maturity of wisdom and love, and now offers us the results of his experience from pure philanthropy. He sets all criticism at defiance by professing a perfect indifference towards it; he declares that he has not one spark of |