52 The Toils of a Modern 'Philologist. 



was yet in its infancy, and its politics unformed. The reputation of its 

 literature rests chiefly on its poetry; hut even in this the productions of 

 the Italian writers fell far short of ray expectations. Dante, though 

 without compare their greatest poet> is obscure and diffuse; and, to those 

 who cannot go into the depths of Italian learning, the majestic correctness 

 of Tasso, and the wild sweetness of Ariosto, often prove more attractive. 

 With their two most celebrated lyric poets I felt the least of all satisfied. 

 Petrarch's feelings appear to have been the invention of his head, and 

 never to have been the natural overflowings of his heart; and Metastasio> 

 who restricted himself to the use of only about six thousand words, being 

 less than a seventh part of the words in the Italian language, appears 

 further to have restricted these words to a proportionately small number of 

 ideas. 



Imagination and delicacy characterize the amatory poetry of the 

 Italians, but we look in vain for profound impressions and soothing reve- 

 ries, and we feel convinced that " the Italians are ignorant of characters 

 like the English, where the profoundest sensibilities are habitually re- 

 pressed, and a surface of ice is spread over a soil of fire." 



The romantic wishes of my heart now turned to the language of Spain, 

 in hopes that I might find some vibrations in consonance with my feelings ; 

 and here I was not disappointed. Calderon, Lopez* de Vega, Garcilaso, 

 Boscan, and Montemazor add to sweetness and delicacy that plaintiveness 

 and melancholy which ever prevail where the heart is most sensibly 

 touched. The tales of this nation also contain more richness, interest, 

 and variety than those of Italy, though few others are known in this 

 country than Don Quixote and the Novelets Exemplares of the same 

 author. The literature of this nation is also rich in history, particularly 

 about the period of Charles V., when Spanish was almost the universal 

 language of Europe, having in the preceding reign been introduced into 

 South America, over which continent it by degrees became generally 

 extended. The language itself has the Rotnana rustica for its foundation, 

 on which superstructures have been erected by the Carthagenians, Suevi, 

 Visigoths, and Arabians; and, notwithstanding the guttural sounds; 

 derived from the last, it is rich, harmonious, majestic, and sonorous. 

 Since the sixteenth century the Spanish literature has been undeservedly 

 neglected. 



The last language of Latin descent to which my attention was directed 

 was the Portuguese, but I did not feel induced to pursue the study of it 

 with much attention. I could not but regard it a dialect of the Spanish, 

 though the Portuguese themselves are particularly anxious that it should 

 be considered a perfectly distinct language. They also pride themselves 

 on having produced original writers in every department of human know- 

 ledge, though in its literature we hardly appear to know the Portuguese 

 but as the language in which Camoens wrote. In its pronunciation it is 

 distinguished from the Spanish by having more softness, by being free 

 from the guttural sounds, and by being disfigured by a nasal intonation. 



I must acknowledge that I did not do perfect justice to the last language, 

 being anxious, after such a long course of visits to every branch of one 

 family, to extend my acquaintance to others, though I should, by such 

 means, be thrown amongst strangers, and find myself obliged to study t 

 characters very distinct from those with which I had hitherto been asso- 

 ciated. In directing my mental steps to the north, the mind rather fol- 



