366 MABCHESE GINO CAPPONI. 



of Florence from his brother syndics of other Italian cities, and the 

 King at Rome wrote to the Marchese Farinola : — 



" I feel the most lively grief at the very bitter loss which Italy has 

 suffered this day in the death of Gino Capponi. I share fully in the 

 mourning of his family and of the country. 



" Victor Emmanuel." 



The honors then paid by men of all ranks and parties to '* I'ottimo 

 nostro Gino Capponi," as the Florentines loved to call hiui, were his 

 due. Last scion of an illustrious house, he was himself illustrious for 

 his virtues and his unselfish patriotism. Like his ancestors, many of 

 whom had taken part in public affairs, he always stood on the side of 

 liberty and progress, feeling that nobility of race is only respectable 

 and respected in its possessor, when he recognizes that it obliges him 

 to make use of the prerogatives which belong to it for the common 

 advancement of all good and noble ol)jects. Eminent as a wise and 

 far-sighted patriot, who knew how to act and speak at the right mo- 

 ment, as well as to stand firm and be silent when deeds and words 

 would have retarded rather than advanced the cause which he had at 

 heart, being in short a wide-minded conservative and a genuine Re- 

 publican, but in no sense a radical or an agitator, Gino Capponi passed 

 hopefully through the dark days which were Italy's portion from 1815 

 to 1848, kept a firm hand on the helm during the crisis which fol- 

 lowed, and lived to see the increasing brightness of the new day which 

 has now fully dawned upon his beloved country. But not only was 

 he a true patriot, and as such beloved by all who had the good of Italy 

 at heart, he was also the friend and protector of such eminently patri- 

 otic writers as Nicolini, Giusti, Gioberti, Balbo, and Leopardi, whose 

 pens were as sharp swords ever directed against the breasts of those 

 who sought to make the world believe that Italy was a land of the 

 dead ; a land having a glorious Past, whose echoes they would fain have 

 silenced, but which now contained nought but "spectres and mum- 

 mies." Li " La Terra dei Morti," a poem which Giuseppe Giusti, the 

 Tuscan satirist, dedicated to his friend Gino Capponi, he thus bitterly 

 designates his fellow-countrymen, crushed under Austrian rule, and 

 with words which sting cries out to them : " "What do a dead people 

 care for history? to you skeletons, what importeth to talk of liberty 

 and glory?" That the heart of Gino Capponi fully sympatliized in 

 the poet's emotion is proved by the dedication of this burning page to 

 him ; and that the poet counted on his affection is shown in a poem, 



