368 MAECHESE GIXO CAPPONI. 



civilization among his countrymen. Regarding the press as a most 

 valuable agency to this end, his pen was never idle. He was one of 

 the founders of the " Antologia," a paper which he enriched with 

 many valuable articles ; as also of the " Archivio Storico Italiano," a 

 periodical filled with Italian chronicles and documents of the greatest 

 historical interest. History had great attractions for him, and his 

 private library contained many valuable manuscripts and rare books, 

 of which he himself comjiiled and puljlished a catalogue. The volume 

 of historical documents, which he published in 1838, and " Le Istorie 

 di Giovanni Cavalcanti," which followed it two years later, together 

 with many numerous and important newspaper articles, gave him a 

 literary reputation which was acknowledged, not only by the four 

 learned societies of I'lorence, the Crusca, the Georgofili, the Ateneo, 

 and the Colombaria, but also by the most celebrated Transalpine 

 Academies, all of which desired to enroll him among their members. 

 To one not cognizant of the condition of Italy, during the years wliich 

 began at Cami^o Formio and ended at Novara, it is difficult to realize 

 the tact, prudence, and discretion required of a man who, like the 

 Marchese Gino Capponi, had the best interests of Italy at heart, and 

 desired to serve them. To be a liberal, and the friend of liberals, was 

 to be an object of suspicion; and although the position of Tuscany was 

 then far better than that of Lombardy, the Roman States, or the 

 Kingdom of Naples, it was a task of no small difficulty to aid in steer- 

 ing the ship of reform through the numberless shoals and quicksands 

 which beset her path, without running her aground and aggravating 

 the dangers of her jDOsition. The great object in view was to form 

 a national resolve that liberty should be achieved, and to strengthen 

 the national character, so that, when that result was brought about, 

 it should not degenerate into license. Like Napoleon III., who was 

 always on the eve of " crowning the edifice," to use his favorite ex- 

 pression, the Grand Duke was wont to dangle projects of reform 

 before the eyes of his subjects. His government professed to be lib- 

 eral, and proposed to institute advanced reforms in the State ; but it 

 wished to take its own time, and did not care to have the task taken 

 out of its hand by spirits impatient of a long delayed result. Thus it 

 happened that, when Gino Capponi and his friends asked to be allowed 

 to print a journal which was intended to direct public opinion in the 

 right direction, permission was refused by the Minister, on the ground 

 that the government desired to be itself the initiator of even greater 

 reforms than those which they projected. The pressure of outside 

 events at last became so great, that, late in the year 1847, Capponi 



