The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-11 00:00:00

THE

LONDON,

LITERNTURE.

LECTURE on the ITALIAN LANGUAGE.
By Ignatius Valletta. Vinton and Sons.
Having ourselves experienced much pleasure in the
perusal of this very elegant and ingenious disserta-
tion, we would here especiallycommend it to.the atten-
tion at once of the classical studrnt and of the modern
philologist. Its writer has already, we believe, illus-
trated his abilities in a remarkable manner by trans-
lating into the melodious tongue of Italy several of
the dramatic masterpieces of Shakspere. Who,
therefore, can be more peculiarly qualified than
Ignatius Valletta to address himself to an English
audience upon the history and utility, and we may
add the beauty and immortality, of the Italian lan-
guage. Aware of his former achievements as a
scholar, achievements evidencing a perfect mastery of
our diction, we are not in any way surprised at a
purity and propriety of style in the lecture before us
such as must otherwise, coining from the mouth of a
foreigner, have proved real matter of astonishment.
Tne paper, delivered originally at the opening of
"The Ladies' College," has been published, we are
gratified to observe, in the form of a pamphlet, and

. .
may now consequently enlighten a larger audience
tian the one for which it was at first designed.
Signor Vrlllet% speaks of the language of his native
land as the oldest idiom of modern Europe, and ob-
serves very justly that it has a threefold origin or de-
rivation—namely, of course, the Greek, the Latin,
:end the Etruscan. Alluding to its immobility from
a very early period, he says, with considerabl,3 grace
of metaphor—" a few changes of letters and a more
correct authogrsphy do not change the essence of a
language any more than a new dress alters the iden-
tity of a man." His survey of Italian literature,

7.116 ugh necessarily hurried and elliptical, is on the
whole, it must be acknowledged, singularly complete
and perspicuous. Beginning as naturally with Dante
as a historian of art begins his narrative with
Cituabue, the lecturer shows that the language of
Italy was rapidly matured by the two most wonder-
ful successors of the Florentine, the poet Petrarch
and the romancist Boccaccio. He refers to the
marvellous and artistic genius of Macchiavelli in be-
fitting terms of admiration, passing over somewhat
negligently, we conceive, the great name of Tasso,
the immortal celebrant of the destruction of Jeru-
salem. After mentioning Ariosto, other writers of
14sser importance and celebrity are enumerated—such
men, for example, as Davila, Sarpi, and Guicciardini.
The influence of the Italian lauguge and of Italian
literature upon other extraordinary men in foreign
countries is, as might be expected, expatiated upon at
some length—due notice bAng taken of the Italian
writings of Montaigne and of Milton. The following
sentence, showing the source in the early novels of
Italy of several of the stories upon which our
im-
mortal dramatist founded his plays, will be regarded,
we doubt not, as interesting, more particularly com-
ing to us as it does from Signor Valletta, the Italian
translator of Shakspere:—
" Othello and Measure for Measure, from Cintio
Giraldi; The Merchant of Venice, with his " pound of
flesh," and the coward Jew quaking at the sight of the
block, the axe, and the executioner, from Ser Giovanni
Fiorentino; Romeo and Juliet, from Bandello, and Luigi
da Porto; The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gen-
tlemen of Verona. are Italian subjects; The Tempest has
Italian names; and I have observed that many of the
jokes, which The Merry Wives of Windsor, play on
Falstaff innamorato, are partly derived from another
novel of the above-mentionod Ser Giovanni."
Everyone interested in the destinies of the Roman

peninsula—as who is not ?—will feel emotion when
he hears the lecturer in allusion to Sbakspere's phrase
in the Taming of Me Shrew—" Great Italy"—
patriotically exclaim, "So I hope she will prove
again." That sentiment must find an echo in many
hearts, and cannot fail to secure the sympathies of all
who hear it, for the ingenious and accomplished
Ignatius Valletta.

CARTE ON THE FLUTE. Rudall, Rose,

and Company.
Richard Carte has, in this elegant and remarkable
composition, rendered himself the historian of the
flute—on which instrument he was already admitted
to be one of our most gifted performers. Intending,
possibly, to submit to the public nothing more than
a description of his two new patent flutes, preceded
by a sketch of the flute of Boehm, and of the ordi-
nary flute as first mentioned by Mersenne—the writer
has here, we repeat, rendered himself the historian of
the instrument by tracing with admirable perspicuity
the progress of its successive improvements. Be-
ginning with a brief but comprehensive account of
its
present steps by which the ordinary flute attained
present condition, he describes how the Auto-
traverso, so called from the position hi which it was
held by the player, ultimately superseded the flute-
a-bec, an instrument held perpendicularly to the lips
like the clarionet. The classical flute of the ancient
Greeks he wisely passes over as having about it
somewhat of a mythical character, although
we should have exulted in a mention at his hands of
the magic reed bestowed upon mortals by the goddess
Minerva, as we rejoiced in Nimrod's record of some
among the equestrian triumphs of the Olympiads, in
his celebrated dissertation on the Turf. It would
nave been pleasant, moreover, to have found our
author sprinkling his pages with anecdotes preserved
to us from antiquity—such anecdotes as that one re-
corded by Plutarch of Alcibiades, who caused the flute
to become out of fashion, by refusing to play upon it,
because of its tendency to distort the human counte-
nance ! Mr. Carte, however, wisely begins with the flute
as it is found in 1636, first alluded to in the admirable
work of Mersenne. Being originally constructed with
only six holes, this flute had the number of holes in-
creased to seven by a Frenchman named Phillibert—
who stopped the additional hole by means of a key.
Quanz, a celebrated performer, not only added an-
other D sharp or E fiat key in 1726, but contrived in
1752 a means of raising or lowering the pitch half a
tone by. a method of lengthening and shortening the
head-joint. An Englishman named Tacet is reputed to
have been the originator of the subsequent improve-
ments, by means of which three additional holes,
stopped by three additional keys, were added to
the instrument. Subsequently came a variety of other
innovations—the seven-keyed flute—and afterwards
the eight-keyed flute, eight being since then the
standard number, although in some instances the
keys have been multiplied even to the extent of seven-
teen. Due mention is of course here made of the
many beneficial changes introduced into the ordinary
flute by Messrs. Rudall and Rose, the manufacturers.
Next we have a lucid examination into the causes of
the imperfections of the ordinary flute, now in its
best and most complete form, together with a very
masterly statement as to the principles upon which
flutes in general are constructed. Guided by the
truths revealed by the examination of those
principles, Captain Gordon, and ultimately M.
Boehm, effected some really wonderful al-
terations in the way of improvement. Hence
Boehm's first flute, and that other and more extra-
ordinary flee of his which he contrived with para-
bola head and cylindrical body. Having referred to
these changes, Mr. Carte explains clearly enough the
difference perceptible between conical and cylindrical
bores, and thereupon lays before his reader the rea-
sons inducing him to bring forward the two new
patent flutes of his own construction—one with the
fingering of the ordinary flute, and one with an en-
tirely novel system of fingering. Having ourselves
heard these really beautiful and surprising instru-
ments, we can, not merely commend Mr. Carte's
description of them in his pamphlet as accurate in
every particular, but can speak with all truth of
them as in all respects eminently successful.
They are constructed, as will have been
observed upon the old and upon a new system
of fingering—but what is yet more, they are manu-
factured either from wood or from silver. To the
metallic flutes of Mr. Carte for our own part we are
disposed, for a variety of reasons, to accord the pre-
ference—their tone being more liquid, more mellow,
and in every way more agreeable. Those who can
scarcely credit the possibility of this should hear and
judge for themselves. Meanwhile let them turn their
attention at least to the descriptionthis present of these astonish-
ing instruments, as furnished in
charm-
ing essay on the flute by their originator.

MR. FEARGUS O'CONNOR AT THE
LYCEUM THEATRE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Stn,—ln your paper of to-day I see an account of the
proceedings at Bow-street on the occasion of Mr. Fear-
gas O'Connor being charged with creating a disturbance
at the Lyceum Theatre.
On the night in question I occupied a seat in the dress
boxes, nearly directly opposite to the one in which the
eccentric M.P. was seated, and, therefore, had an oppor-
tunity of knowing something of what actually occurred.
Mr. F. O'Connor certainly conducted himself in a
Policemanxi
r.
o,
C o"n An 0
rl 7ac"tewdoausldin manya k ea out.ma
very eccentric manner, so far as gesticulating went, but
yet, to my thinking, did not create such a disturbance as
tem-
perament would act on listening tonorocfheexs
and although his gesticulations were certainly vehement,
they rather to amuse thanetriataanlbnloemytuetarahice:
by the policeman, by far the greater andon
his
being
present raised the cry of " portion of persons
other porti6m of the audience, removed
out." SLame," and not" Turn him

I cannot speak as to the blow given to the policeman,
but I certainly did not hear it, although, according to
one witness's evidence, the " slap could be heard all over
the house,"
I am no friend, and certainly not an admirer, of Mr.
O'Connor, nor did I know it was the worthy Member
who was rendering himself so conspicuous on Saturday
evening, but I bear in mind the old adage of " giving
the devil his due," and in that spirit beg to offer those
few remarks for insertion in your paper, if you deem
them worthy of a place.
am, Sir, your very obedient servant,
ONE OF THE AUDIENCE.