VApe Italiana.. .No. XIX> 



1821.] 



voyage to Thebes, in 1S16. He has 

 given a very inferesting account of his 

 labours in his Mork, just published, and 

 also in a leUer (o the late M. Visconti, 

 dated Cairo, Jan. 9th, ISIS, of wliich a 

 translation was published in tiie third 

 volume of Annals of tlie Fine Arts; 

 whence tliefollovvinij dcscriplion of its 

 roraoval is principally drawn. This 

 enormous ft'agnient, which was buried 

 so manj^ years amonj; the ruins of the 

 palaces thrown down by Cambyses, 

 was intended, from tlie first attempt of 

 this powf,7-ful and indefatii;al)!e(ravel- 

 ifer, for the Britioh Museum. 



Other travellers had previously con- 

 ceived the idea of trausportina; it to 

 Europe, and among tliem tlie French, 

 in their celebrated expeditimi u:ider 

 Bonaparte and Menou ; but, being un- 

 able to devise means to remove it, they 

 were compelled to relmquish the idea, 

 audwiiat foiled all former attempts and 

 the skill <ind machines of the French, 

 was accomplished by the exertion 

 of an individual, without the aid of any 

 mechanical power, solely by the hands 

 of the Arabs, although t!ie labour was 

 ill-suited to these people, who disi>lay 

 all the well^Iinown indolence of the 

 savage state. It occupied an indefati- 

 gable exertion of six months. The 

 greatest difficulty tliat Belzoni found 

 " in this tremendous undertaking, was 

 in conveying such a body a d'stmce of 

 upwards of two English miles to the 

 Nile, which was (he only way to effect 

 its removal to Alexandria. 



This colossal fragment may be justly 

 considered as one of the most perfect 

 and pleasing examples of the Egyptian 

 school of art ; which is a subject on 

 which men of learning and of taste 

 have diifered more, perhaps, than on 

 any other connected with the line arts : 

 some crj^ing it up to the skies, v.-hile 

 others scout it as t!ie barbarous of bar- 

 barism. The learned Frencli anti- 

 quary, De Goo;uet, and his followers, 

 treat it witli the utmost contempt, and 

 Denori and his scliool are the warmest 

 admirers of its beauties. 



Alior all, (he Egyptian style, both of 

 a-chitecture and sculpture, is monoto- 

 nous, sojubre, heavy, and unfit for 

 modern adoption and imitation. Their 

 arcliitectiire having too nuich locality, 

 and their sculpture too much of na- 

 tional mannerism; and, if studied ex- 

 clusively by our students, till friend- 

 ship for antiquity bt^ets love for ug- 

 liness, will prove destructive of a pure 

 taste. TIic icmains of Egyptian art 



115 



are highly interesting to the antiquary, 

 delightful to the traveller, and bear 

 testimony to the truth of histoiy in the 

 very earliest periods of the world. 

 Altliough the lively French writer, 

 Sonnini, says, that before the Egyptian 

 school, '•'■ the much-boasted fabrics of 

 Greece and Rome must come and boW 

 down ; " yet when it is calmly inves- 

 tiffated and brought to (he test of judg* 

 merit, it will no' bear a momentary 

 comparison with either, for chasteness^ 

 real beaut}', or true sublimitv. 



For the Monlhhi Magazine. 

 LAPE ITALIANA. 

 No. xix. 



Pov' ape fusurriiiulo 

 Nei iiialfiitini alhori 

 Voln siiggeiido i rnglods^i iimori. 



Guariiii- 

 Where ihe bee nf early dawn, 

 Muriiuiriiif; sip' (he ilevis of iiioin. 



THE Italian dramatic muse has lately 

 produced Ricciucda, a tragedy, by 

 Ugo Foscolo ; II Conte (li Carmagnola, 

 by Alessandro Manzoni ; and Fran' 

 cesca da Rimini, by Silvio Pellico. 



The author of the first drama is 

 a Venetian, for sereral years past resi- 

 dent in England, and already known ttf 

 the British public by a variety of pub- 

 lications, some of which iiave been 

 translated, and others edited in this 

 country. We are informed that hi;* 

 first attempt at literary composition 

 was similar to his last — a drama. It 

 was entitled Tliyes(es, formed upon the 

 model of the Greek tragedy, and is said 

 to ha^e been represented at Venice, 

 We are told, it was also submitted to 

 the critical inspection of Vittoria Al- 

 fi''ri, Avho spoke in very high terms of 

 the promising gf nlus of the young poet, 

 at (hat time only nineteen years of age. 

 He aftei wards wrote" The Last Letters 

 of Jacopo Ariis," of v,-hich there have 

 been several editions, the last of which 

 was published in London. Of these, 

 however, it would be foreign to our 

 present purpose to speak — but as we 

 have ga(hered several interesting par- 

 ticulars from an Italian journal, relating 

 to (he works of Foscolo (and conlaiuing 

 strictures on the 10th number of the 

 Quarterly Review on the Letters of 

 Ontis,) we shall give a brief sketch of 

 his poetical character, before we enter 

 upon our task of offering some remarks 

 on (he Ricciarda. 



On tile autliority of foreign journals, 

 we learn that Signor Foscolo was bom 

 in Zara, of a fHmily which lays claim 



to 



