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ircumstances which had so decided a tendency to relax the ties by which the popular superstition held its sway, and which are here properly viewed as predisposing causes with respect to the changes which afterward occurred. The grounds of the success of Luther are next investigated; the behaviour of the intrepid reformer at the diet of Worms is well narrated; and his presence of mind, firmness, and discretion, are made to appear with the highest advantage. The portrait of Luther is a masterpiece, from which we should gladly quote some parts, if we had not so lately dwelt on his character and conduct *.

The author's remarks on the effects of the reformation on letters and arts are composed in the spirit of true philosophy, and bespeak an unbiassed and highly cultivated mind. While On this part of his subject, he introduces a quotation from Erasmus which is so apposite, and is so characteristic of that exquisite writer, that we cannot refrain from inserting it here, as well as some of the remarks with which it is accompanied :

The opinion of Erasmus with regard to the introduction of images, was much more liberal than that of Luther. "They who have attacked the images of saints," says he," although with immoderate zeal, have had some reason for their conduct; for idolatry, that is, the worship of images, is a horrible crime; and although it be now abolished, yet the arts of Satan are always to be guarded against. But when we reflect that statuary and painting, formerly regarded as liberal arts, are a kind of silent poesy, and have often an effect on the feelings of mankind beyond that produced by the most accomplished orator, it might have been well to have corrected their superstition without destroying their utility. I could, indeed, wish, that the walls of all public places were decorated with representations of the incidents of the life of Christ, expressed in a becoming manner. But as it was decreed in the Council of Africa, that in places of worship nothing should be recited but the scriptural canons, so it would be proper that no subjects should be exhibited in such places, except such as the scriptural canons supply. In the porches, vestibules, or cloisters, other subjects might be represented, taken from common history, so that they inculcated good morals; but absurd, obscene, or seditious pictures should be banished, not only from churches, but from all habitations; and as it is a kind of blasphemy to pervert the sacred writings to profane and wanton jests, so those painters deserve to be punished, who when they represent subjects from the holy scriptures, mingle with them their own improper and ridiculous inventions. If they wish to indulge their folly, let them rather seek for their subjects in Philostratus; although the annals of heathenism afford many lessons which may be exhibited with great utility." That observations so rational, and from which Luther himself would scarcely have dissented, have not been sufficient to prevent the almost

See Review for February last, p. 194.

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total exclusion of picturesque representations from the reformed churches, is greatly to be regretted; not only as being an irreparable injury to the arts, but as depriving the people of one mode of instruction, not less calculated to interest their feelings and excite their piety, than that which is conveyed by means of speech. Whether mankind, in any state of society, were ever so ignorant as to make these visible representations the actual objects of their adoration, may well be doubted; but at all events there can now be no danger of such an error in the most uninformed part of Europe and it may yet be hoped, that as the spirit of bigotry declines, religion may be allowed to avail herself of every aid which may engage her admirers, illustrate her precepts, or enforce her laws.'

In the wish contained in the concluding sentence of this paragraph, we feel much tempted to unite. When the eye has been accustomed to the masterpieces which adorn the temples of some foreign countries, it is not to be denied that it reconciles itself with difficulty to the bare walls of our churches. Yet however innocent these ornaments would prove in respect to enlightened persons, and however grateful they would be to the man of taste, we are not so thoroughly satisfied as Mr. Roscoe seems to be, that the innovation would not be abused and perverted. The doubt expressed by him in the above passage shews that he has forgotten that a philosopher was obliged to fly from polished Athens, for having asserted that the material statue was not the object of the adoration of the pious, but the divinity which it represented.

The course followed by Mr. Roscoe, in stating the progress of the human mind at this period, has been to divide those who were engaged in assisting it into the following classes; viz. the cultivators of the vernacular tongue, those who addicted themselves to Latin poetry, the disciples of moral and natural philosophy, and artists. He supplies biographical notices of the most distinguished men in each of these branches, observes on their principal performances, and appreciates their merits. Though little that is original can be expected even from Mr. Roscoe in this department, men of taste will attend particularly to the terms in which he conveys his sentiments of the true productions of Italian genius.

Bembo is too celebrated a name not to engage the particular. attention of this historian; who observes that

His poetical works consist chiefly of Sonetti and Canzoni, in the stile of Petrarca, and are frequently more correct and chaste, but at the same time more unimpassioned and cold, than the model on which they are formed. In the perusal of these pieces we perceive no-* thing of that genuine feeling, which proceeding from the heart of the author, makes a direct and irresistable appeal to that of the reader; and but little even of that secondary characteristic of genius,

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which luxuriates in the regions of fancy, and by its vivid and rapidimagery delights the imagination. On the contrary, whilst these pieces stand approved to our deliberate judgment, we feel a conviction that any person of good taste and extensive reading might, by a due portion of labour, produce works of equal merit. That this conviction is well founded is proved in no unequivocal man. ner, by the innumerable throng of writers who have imitated the manner of Bembo; and who, availing themselves of the example of this scholastic stile of composition, have inundated Italy with writings which seldom exhibit any distinction either of character or of merit. That the introduction of this manner of writing was fatal to the higher productions of genius cannot be doubted. Internal. worth was sacrificed to external ornament. The vehicle was gilt and polished to the highest degree, but it contained nothing of any value; and the whole attention of these writers was employed, not in discovering what should be said, but how it should be said.'

The vernacular poets of Italy, the author remarks, may be divided into four distinct classes:

I. Such as continued to adopt in their writings, although in different degrees, the rude and imperfect style of composition which was used towards the latter part of the preceding century. II. The admirers of Petrarca, who considered him as the model of a true poetic diction, and closely imitated his manner in their writings. III. Those who, depending on the vigour of their own genius, adopted such a style of composition as they conceived expressed in the most forcible and explicit manner, the sentiments which they had to com municate. And IV. Those authors who followed the example of the ancients, not only in the manner of treating their subjects, but in the frequent use of the versi sciolti, and in the simplicity and purity of their diction. That in each of these departments a consi derable number of writers, besides those before mentioned, might be enumerated, will readily be perceived; but the limited object of the present work will be sufficiently obtained, by demonstrating the encouragement which the poets of the time derived from Leo X. and the proficiency made, during his pontificate, in this most popu lar and pleasing branch of literature. It is to this period that we are to trace back those abundant streams which have now diffused them selves throughout the rest of Europe; and although some of them may be pursued to a still higher fountain, yet it was not until this time that they began to flow in a clear and certain course. The, laws of lyric composition, as prescribed by the example of Sanaz zaro, Bembo, Molza, aud Vittoria Colonna, have since been adopted by the two Tassos, Tansillo, Constanzo, Celio Magno, Guidi, Filicaja, and a long train of other writers; who have carried this kind of composition, and particularly the higher species of ode, to a degree of excellence hitherto unattained in any other country. In epic poetry, the great work of Ariosto excited an emulation which, in the course of the sixteenth century produced an immense number of poems on similar subjects; many of which are of great extent, and some of which, if they have not equalled the Orlando Furioso in

fertility

Fertility of invention and variety of description, have excelled it in regularity and classical chastity of design, and have displayed all those poetical graces, that without surprising, delight the reader. If to the satires of Ariosto, we add those of Ereole Bentivolio, who was nearly his contemporary, and which are written on a similar model, we shall be compelled to acknowledge, that neither these, nor the singular productions of Berni, Bini, Mauro, and their associates, have in any degree been rivalled in subsequent times. Nor have the later writers of blank verse, among whom may be enumerated Annibale Care, Marchetti, and Salvini, greatly improved upon the correct and graceful example displayed in the writings of Rucellai, Almanni, the cardinal Ippolito de Medici, and frequently in those of Trissino.'

Mr. R.'s subsequent remarks on the Italian drama derive weight from the authority which, in these matters, is justly annexed to his opinion:

Neither the Sofanisba of Trissino, nor the Rosmunda or Oreste of Rucellai, although highly to be commended, when compared with the works which preceded them, and when considered with relation to the times in which they were produced, can be regarded as perfect models of tragedy, adapted to theatrical representation. It must also be observed, that the efforts of the cardinal da Bibbiena, and even of Ariosto, to introduce a better style of comic writing, are rather scholastic attempts to imitate the ancient writers, than examples of that true comedy which represents by living portraits, the follies, the vices, and the manners of the age. It is only in later times that the dramatic works of Maffei, of Metastasio, of Alfieri, and of Monti, have effectually removed from their country, the reproach of baving been inferior in this great department of letters, to the rest of Europe. In comedy, the Italians have been yet more negligent; for between the dry and insipid performances of the early writers, and the extravagant, low, and burlesque exhibitions of Goldoni, Chiari, and similar authors of modern comedy, lies a spacious field, in which the genius of a Moliere, a Goldsmith, or a Sheridan, would not fail to discover innumerable objects of pursuit and of amusement.'

In the seventeenth chapter of this work, the reader will meet with a profusion of criticism on the Latin poetry of the age of Leo, the period of its utmost perfection in modern days; which, we are told, it had occupied a hundred and fifty years in attaining. In the times of which we are speaking, it was not uncommon for men to sit down with the intention of rivalling Horace, and of surpassing Virgil. Though the most successful productions in this line will not gratify so much as far humbler performances in a living language, we are still of opinion that, at this stage in the progress of the moderns to literary eminence, it was a discipline which had a favourable influence in improving the taste and maturing the judgments of both writers and readers. As it is the end of knowlege to elevate and to perfect

the human mind; and as its value is to be determined by its effects of this nature, it is gratifying to peruse the author's record of the urbanity and candour of the Italian scholars; and which shews that the pursuit, to which we have been alluding, is intitled to more consideration than is usually allotted to it.

Mr. R. again introduces us to Sanazzaro; of whom, and of Vida, Fracastoro, Navagero, and the younger Flaminio, he speaks in those terms of enthusiastic admiration, which result from an exquisite perception of their beauties.

When treating of those who in the age now under review addicted themselves to philosophy, it is justly remarked by Mr. Roscoe ;

That mankind, when they begin to cultivate their intellectual powers, have generally turned their first attention towards those abstruse and speculative studies, which are the most difficult of comprehension, and the most remote from their present state and condition. This is the natural result of that inexperience which is common to an early or unimproved state of society. Ignorant of that which relates to their immediate well being, they attempt to rise into the realms of immaterial existence; or, if the laws of nature engage their notice, it is only in subordination to some higher purpose. The course of the heavenly bodies would be considered as a study not deserving of their attention, were it not believed to unfold to them the secrets of futurity and the productions of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms are disregarded, except when they are sup posed to exhibit striking prodigies, or to produce miraculous effects. Hence it has been the most difficult effort of the human mind to divest itself of absurdity and of error, and to quit its sublime flights for the plain and palpable inductions of reason and common sense; and hence the due estimation of our own powers, although it be of all sciences the most important, is generally the latest acquired.

In correcting these errors of early times, the ancients had made a considerable progress; but on the revival of letters, that second infancy of mankind, the powers of the human intellect were not so frequently employed on subjects of real utility, as in the investigation of the most difficult or unintelligble propositions. The writings of Aristotle, which had first been introduced through the medium of the Arabians, afforded, the greatest abundance of subjects of this nature, and he therefore became the universal favourite. The study of his works superseded the study of nature; and as few topics were left untouched by his vigorous and enterprising genius, he was not only resorted to as the general authority on all subjects of science and of literature, but produced a considerable effect on the theological tenets of the times. The superiority and influence, which, by the aid of the schoolmen, he had for so many ages maintained, were, however, at length diminished by the rival system of Plato; and the dominion which he had so long exercised over the human intelleet, was now divided between him and

his

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