50 LITERATURE OF THE ITALIANS. give no adequate idea of that boiling impatience of character, which perpetually propelled him towards some indefinite object; of that melancholy agitation of spirit which affected him in every relation of society, in every situation of life, and in every country; of that imperious want, which he ever felt in his soul, for something more free in politics, more elevated in character, more devoted in love, more perfect in friendship; of that ardour for another existence, for another universe, which he vainly sought, with all the rapidity of a courier, from one extremity of Europe to another, and which he was unable to discover in the real world; and of his thirst for that poetical creation which he experienced before he knew it, and which he was unable to satisfy, until casting off the passions of his youth, his thoughts turned to the contemplation of that new universe which he had created in his own bosom, and the agitation of his soul was calmed by the production of those masterpieces which have immortalized his name. years with a lady, not less distinguished by her character and wit than by her rank, proves that he united many amiable qualities to those faults which he has with so much candour displayed. CHAPTER XXII. On the Prose Writers and Epic and Lyric Poets of Italy, during the Eighteenth Century. ALTHOUGH We have devoted the five last Chapters to the Italian poets of the eighteenth century, we have not yet proceeded farther than the dramatic writers. Metastasio, Goldoni, Gozzi, and Alfieri, almost at the same time, carried the opera, comedy, farce, and tragedy, to the highest pitch which those compositions ever reached in Italy. Those authors have, therefore, justly assumed their rank amongst the classics of which their country is proud, while their reputation has extended itself beyond the limits of their native land, and has become the glory of the age. There were, however, other Italians who, at this period, devoted themselves to other branches of literature; and who, without being able to take the place of the great men of the sixteenth century, yet proved that the ancient genius of the nation was not absolutely extinct. The individual who approached most nearly to the spirit of earlier times, and who almost appeared to belong to another age and another state of things, was Niccolo Forteguerra, the author of Ricciardetto, the last of the poems of chivalry. With this author terminated that long series of poetical romances, founded on the adventures of Charlemagne's peers, which extended from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Niccolo Fortinguerra, or Forteguerra, was born at Rome, in 1674, of a family originally from Pistoia; he was educated to the priesthood, and was made a prelate by the Roman Court. This was one of the reasons which induced him not to publish his poem under his own name, assuming that of Carteromacho, which is a translation of it into Greek. He displayed at an early period his talents for verse; but he had little idea of ever becoming an author, and it was a sort of challenge which gave birth to his poem. He happened to be residing in the country with some persons who were enthusiastic admirers of Ariosto, and who, discovering some hidden meaning in every freak of the poet's imagination, fell into ecstacies at the richness of invention displayed in the Orlando Furioso, and at the time and labour which so highly wrought a plot must have cost the poet. Forteguerra, on the contrary, in Ariosto's grace found a proof of his facility in composition. He maintained that all his brilliant creations were the sport, not the labour, of his poetical imagination, and declared that however much he admired them, he could not think them inimitable. The discussion, at last, became so animated, that Forteguerra engaged to write, in four and twenty hours, a canto of a poem in the same style, which he promised to read to his friends on the evening of the ensuing day. It was not the poetical charms of Ariosto that he undertook to equal. He only wished to prove that this species of composition was far from being difficult, and that by the assistance of the supernatural and the romantic, related in a lively manner, it was very possible to captivate the reader without wasting much labour. The first canto of Ricciardetto was composed under these circumstances, and surpassed the expectation both of the friends of Forteguerra and of the author himself. They begged him to continue it, and this romance was all written with the same facility, and in an extraordinary short space of time. More deliberate corrections no doubt were necessary to prepare it for the public eye. Ricciardetto is therefore the product, in some degree, of the pleasing talents of an improvvisatore, the creature of that fertile imagination, that natural harmony, and that simple and infantine gaiety which characterize the Italians. The stanzas display a negligence which only the beauty of so poetical and sonorous a language could ever have rendered agreeable; but they often possess the superior merit which results from the ardour of inspiration. The versification is frequently careless and heavy, but occasionally it displays all the brilliant colours of a southern imagination. A few portions of the romance are of the highest order of poetry, while in others the habitual liveliness and freedom give an air of charming simplicity to the easy style in which they are written. The principal hero is a younger brother of Rinaldo, but all the Paladins of Charlemagne are introduced in their proper characters. The comic part of the romance is displayed in broader relief than in Ariosto. The manner of that great poet appears to have been blended by Forteguerra with that of Berni and Tassoni; and, indeed, he equals all his predecessors in wit and pleasantry. A slight tincture of profanity occasionally adds to the piquancy of the poem; for the prelate thought he might make free with his own property. The hypocrisy and sensual passions of the monks, in general, and of Ferrau, who had become a hermit, in particular, are the objects of this very diverting satire of Forteguerra.* He died on the seventeenth of February, 1735. *The first appearance of Ferrau, and his dispute with Rinaldo about Angelica, place his brutality and his devotion in curious opposition: Dì pur fratello mio, ch' io ti perdono: Batteasi forte sì, che parve un tuono. |