The sun., 1898-05-15

| ceptabio 10 men Of learning. Loronzo's court
! is famous ~ having boon the chosen abode OF
artists and men OF letters, and the most bril-
liant figure Of that rourt was Angelo Ambrugi-
/ nj. known as Politian. the most learned classi-
| cal scholar Of his day, whose Latin and italian
poetry were equally graceful and full Of beauty.
And here we may quote the graceful transla-
tion. By Miss Helen Clerke. Of Poltlan's Vision
Of the Enchanted Garden Of PERPETUAL Spring"
theme which first received poetic treatment
by Homer. after MIN by Lucretius and, In our
own time by Tennyson:
A fair hill doth the Cyprian breeEss WOO,
And aeven.fold stream Of mighty Nilus see
When the horizon Feddensth In hue.
But mortal foot may not there planted be.
green knoll on its slope doth rise TO view,
sunny meadow shsltering in its lee.
where. wantoninE mid flowers each gale that passes
sets lightly quiverinz the verdAnt grasses.
wall of gold its furthest edge doth screen.
Where lies vale with shady trees set fair.
Upon whose branches mid leaves newly green
The 'quring birds chant love songs the air.
The grateful sound OF waters chimts between.
By twin streams, cool and lucid, shed forth there
In the wave sweet and bitter OF whose river
Love whets the golden arrows of his culver.
Nor the perennial gardens foling. green
Doth snow new fallen blaneh or rme frost hoar
No vefnal blight dare come these wallis between.
No gale the grass and shrubs e'er Fufnea DER,
Nor Is the year In four.fold season seeni
But joyous spring hero regns forevermore,
Shakes to the breeze her blond and ripping tesses
And weavos her wreath OF flowers she presses"
The history OF the italian chivalric epic.
which is one Of the most interesting branches of
the story Of literature. is treated by Dr. Gar
nett in q separate chapJer. in which he briefly
shows tho relation OF Boiardo and one or two of
l,t. ,Nn,, I,a,,A
and Geoffroy of Monmouth and the Celtic ro-
mancers of tho twelfth century on the other, as
inherltors Of tradition in which they had
genuine belief. and which. at the Same timc,
they thought themselves At liberty to embellish
and diversity as they deemed best. Boiardo,
though his poetry was not written to be Ssad
but to be sung, and was, therefore, subject to
those metrical as we'll Us musical laws by which
that OF Petrarch had boom governed, raised the
old chivalric romance to epic dignity and gave
1t classic form. He prepared the way for Ari-
osto. who, writing in the spirit Of a courtier,
produced in the "Orlando Furioso" a sequel
which, as DIR. Garnett puts It, iB related to
Boiardos poems much Gs virgil's national epic
on the wRnderings of EneRs Is related to
Homer's artless tale of the wanderinGs Of Ulys-
ses. An interesting parallel is drawn be.
tween tho "Orlando Furioso'' and the Meta
morphoses Of Ovid, and something Is said upon
the much.discuss0d question as to whether
Ariosto's or Tassos poem is the greater epic.
With tho one exception Of Boccaccio. the first
great italian prose writer, and almost the first
modern to display eminent genius as his
torical and political writer Is Macchiuvelli, of
whom Mr.. John Morley has recently produced
an excellent study, and to whom DR.. Garnett
devotes considerable space. THE Prince" the
most famous and the most characteristic Of all
his works, tho ono whose purpose has been
the object of so much literary discussion, is
considered by DR.. Garnett TO have been an at
tempt to show how a principality might have
been built up and independence restored to
Italy. He believes that it was neither manual
for tyrants, as some have regarded 1t, nor a re-
dned irony upon tyranny. Macchiavelli could
not, in his day, safely appeal on behalf Of Ital-
ian independence to the patriotism of the nation
at large. He could only speak as a politician to
politicians, and addressing himself, as 1t were,
to body of scientific experts, he designedlv
excluded all considerations Of morality. No
man OF his time stood higher intellectually.
DR.. Garnet considers that Macchiavelli's want
of moral elevation is largely redeemed by his
ample endowment with the one virtue chiefly
needful to an italian of his day, but OF which
too many Italians were destitute patriotism.
In the department of biography two standard
WOTkb OI INC 6lNU06HLu Ccutuly
that Of Giorgio vasari, here not intellectually
styled the Herodotus of art and the great auto
biographical work of Benvenuto Cellini, which
has given him a surer claim to Immortality
than anything he accomplished in his own voca-
ton as an artist. at is" says DR.. Garnett,
tho counterpart OF q man, and very manly
man. all muscle and sinew and rude force, n
boaster, O bully, a libertine, duellist. almost
an assassin, ono whom a slight change of cir
cumstances would easily have made a brigand
or bravo, but al ways the artist. No book, it
is probable. gives a better idea of the atmo-
sphere of the Italy of the sixteenth century;
assuredly, no other delineation was nearly SO
vivid" Another prose writer of this period
who almost ranks with Vasari and Cellini is
Baldassare Castiglione, who depicts the ideal
life of the accomplished Italian courtier and
gives a report, imaginary in form, but faithful
in spirit, OF dialogues hold by the distinguished
persons who freaucnted the Court of the Duke
sf Tr.lt.o pko or a,,,l, thor,o,