WILLIAM WATSON GOODWIN. 805 



two or three exceptions, probably the only Italian writer oiF that time 

 whose works had so wide a circulation as to bring him a livelihood. 

 They were of three kinds: first, fiction, including under this head 

 several novels and his very realistic sketches; second, descriptions of 

 his travels; and third, poems. His books of tra\'el made him known 

 outside of Italy and were translated into several languages. The 

 earliest, on Spain, appeared in 1873; Holland in 1874; Constanti- 

 nople, 1877; Morocco, 1879; Argentina, to which he gave the title 

 "Suir Oceano" in 1877; besides recollections of London and of Paris. 

 In his later years he became like Lombroso and other intellectuals at 

 Turin and Milan, a socialist, and he issued several volumes in support 

 of this cult. He interested himself in writing for the young and his 

 "Cuore," of which more than 400,000 copies had already been sold 

 several years ago, aims at teaching the young, (through a story which 

 has enchanted them by multitudes), the elements of a strong and noble 

 character. No other book in modern Italian, except Manzoni's 

 "I Promessi Sposi" has been so popular. He wrote also, "LTdioma 

 Gentile" which glorifies the Italian language; and, besides several 

 polemical tracts and later recollections, he produced more fiction, of 

 which " II Romanzo d'un Maestro" was the most important. He died 

 at Turin, March 12, 1908. De Amicis was a remarkably clear writer, 

 a master of vivid description, and he possessed an indefinable charm 

 which endeared him to most of his readers and diffused a magnetic 

 quality over whatever he wrote. 



William Roscoe Thayer. 



WILLIAM WATSON GOODWIN (1831-1912) 



Fellow in Class III, S-clion 2, 1859 (President 1903-1908). 



William Watson Goodwin died in Cambridge, June 15, 1912. He 

 was elected Fellow of the Academy, January 26, 1859, was a member 

 of the Publication Committee from 1871 to 1880, and President from 

 1903 to 1908, in which year his failing health compelled him to decline 

 re-election. His interest in the Academy was shown by frequent 

 addresses and by letters when he was in Europe. His last communica- 

 tion was an interesting description of the ciiaracter of the meetings in 

 his early \ears {Proceedings, vol. XLVI, 1910). 



