New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-19


moro truthful and as we say, moro natural con-
! ccption of the period. But it should he remem-
| bcrcd that the subject which the author proposed
| IN himself was the history Of the Renaissance
itself and not the history of Italy during the Re
| Nuisance period: and il Is only inst TO Judge MN
by the standard to which he proposed to conform
lie himself in his quality of critical historian OF
perhaps rather of historical critic does not hesitate
to set forth the real literary barrenncss OF this
| period when all the intellectual energy OF the Gay
! uf thar may be called energy which was merely an
| effort at imitation was expended upon the diHu-
sion of learning AMI the publication or style IN
dead language instead of being concentrated upon
the creation of masterpieces in the naive tongue OF
the writer's and the readers whom they addressed.
when we remember that Dantc's Diyina Conc
dia preceded the revival Of learning, and that
oven after return to tho use of the vulgar tongue,
Arios;o's Orlando Furioso" was the best that the
classically trained Italian mind could produce as
the fruit OF its culture and its discipline, 1t seems
doubtful whether the result of the study of the
masterpieces of Greek and Roman literature was
quite so admirable at the time it was supposed 10
be- II was the fashion then to make all public cra-
tons in Latin; and yet after the new culture had
reached its height, and when men made Latin
specches which were landed to the skies the actual
result was nought. ave should err" Mr. Symonds
says if we imagined that the speeches pronounced
upon solemn occasions by even such illustrious
orators as Manett or Plus III. were marked by any
of the nobler qualities of eOquence. They consist
of commonplaccs freely ntcrspersed with historical
examples and voluminOus quotations. without
charm. without originality, they survive as monu-
ments of the enthusiasm Of that age for classical
eruditiOn and of the patience with which Popcs
and princes lent their for two or three hours at
a stretch to the sclf-cOmplacent mOuthings OF
pompous pedant" OF Manetti himself he says that
he was deficient in all that elevates mere learning
to the rank Of art. HIS Latin style was tedious;
his thoughts were commonplace. When the in
nuence of his voice and his person had passed
away, nothing remained to prove his eloquence but
ill-digested facts and ll-apphed citations Still the
work which he effected in his day was good, and
the place he held honorable Posierity may
be grateful to him as one of the most active piO-
neers of modern culture
Indeed it is to be remarked that not only at his
time and in Italy but thereafter and in other coun-
tries. literary distinction was gained by mere schol-
arshlp that is acquaintance with Greek and Latin
literature and that the chief merit of writer was
his ability tc quote, moro or less appostcly, from
that literature. Mr. SymOnds might have illus
trated this part of his subject by the example Of so
eminent "a writer as Montague, whose essays are
crowded with passages cited from all the eminent
Latin poets. orators and historians. And not only
did Montaicne painfully make this patchwork, but
he prded himself upon it, and seemed to suppose
that this evidence of his scholarship was the chef
attraction Of his writings. For he says. in we'll
known passage which do not pretend to quote
exactly that all that he has done is to furnish "A
string for the bouquet of flowers which he has
presented. Plainly he did not suspect that his
readers in after years would east out the dead and
I,I IOu ha al 81
and find their own pleasure and profit in the string
which he srun with the strands of his own thought
and his own experience.
The leader in .he study of the LitterP HRmdniores
was as we have already remarked Petrarch, that
learned clerk" of whom Chaucer speaks. OF him
Mr. Symonds says that he seemed to possess human
ism intuitively it belonging to his nature rs much
as music to Mozart, that he seemed sent into the
world to raise by the pure exercise of innate acul
ties standard for succeeding workers This may
be true but when our author adds that physically
and festhetcally, by the fneness of his ear for
verbal harmones, and by the exqusitcness of his
sensbties he was fitted to divine what il took
centuries to verify" fear that he Is led by the
desire of saying something fine and sententious into
an extravaganza which approaches the borders OF
nonsense Into this sort of error, by the way he is
very rarely tempted his writing being distin-
guished for good taste and discretion. We remem-
Der only one other notable instance. This is when
he saw on occasion of the invasion OF Italy by
Charles of France, that Florence found herself
suddenly possessed as prey Of by Haunting
Gauls In their Outlandish ineTv, pluned Germans,
killed Celts and parti-cOlored Swiss, '-whlch is
well said being both picturesque and truthful.
But after adding that. on the other hand, the bar
barans awoke in n paradise of natural and
aesthetic beauty, he eXclalms Which of us who
has enjoyed the late CLEANS of autumn in Fadurno
but can picture to himself the revelation of the
inner meaning of the world, incOmprchensible yet
sonl-subduing which then first dawned upon the
Breton bowmen and the bulls of "Trip The no.
ton of the revelation of the inner meaning of the
world (whatevcr that may bel, inc0mprehcnsibe
vet sOul-subduing being revealed to a horde of
mcrccnary pillaging soldiery, nearly four hundred
years ago. by their possession of fruitful country
and well-built, wcll-adornod towns. is worthy
rather of some fantastic female giver of aesthetic
tea than of the author of a book generally manly
and sensible as Mr.. Symonds's.
As to Petrarch little need be said, because so
much is kpown; and coming down the centuries we
pause for a moment at Mr.. Symonds's portrait of
Lorenzo di Medici, a man hardly less notable than
Pctrarch himself but not so familiar in his personal
traits to the general reader The following de-
scripion OF this burghcr- prince tells in few sem
tences the reason of his cmincnce and of his in-
tuence. and the use he made of them:
Lorenzo was q man of marvellous variety and
range OF power, He possessed one of those rare
natures fitted to comprehend all knowledge and to
sympathize with the most diverse forms of life.
While he never for one moment relaxed his grasp
on politics. among philosophers he passed for
sage, among men of letters for an original and
graceful poet, among scholars for Grecan sensl-
tive to every nicely Of Attic idiom. among artists
for an amateur gifted with refined discemment Ond
con-umInatc taste. Pleasure seekers knew III him
the libertne who jousted with the boldest, danced
and masqucradcd with the mcrIicst sought adyen-
lures in the streets ut night and joined the people
in their May-day games and Carnival festivities.
The piOus eXtOlled him as an author of deyOt Onal