116 



L'Ai>e liaiuina. — No. XIX. 



[Marrli I, 



to an alliiincc witli one of a similar 

 name, and o( high patrician rank in 

 Venice. Tiie oilicc of " Proovetlifmo " 

 in the Ionian Isles, under the Venedan 

 jifoverument, had long been exercised 

 by the progenitors of Foscol-). and he is 

 believed to have sjKjnt nincli of tiie 

 earlj- part ot'hisliU' in tiie colonial ter- 

 ritories of the Venetian rqjublic ; a 

 situation extremely unfavourable to a 

 Iiai)py dev<'!opein«'ut of the moral or 

 iutellertual powers of the yovithful 

 mind. Judgini,', however, from hi's 

 early writings, our a\>tlior apjiears to 

 have escaped the contagion 0° licen- 

 tiousness in inan!H>rs, and of degrada- 



mans and Italians Mere, in fact, pos- 

 sessed of no entire and chanicteristi'' 

 drama, but were content toborrowtheir 

 subjects, tlie style and cluiracter, ii^ 

 they at first did tiie mode of represen- 

 tation, froiii the (-Jirly (Greeks. 



it luLs been r.served for a few dis- 

 tingnisheil moiU-rns to avail themselves 

 of the advantages ailorded tiiem by 

 their sops-rlor situation, in being jiri- 

 vided with monnnii-nts of departc<l 

 beauty ai.d greatness, proiul recollec- 

 tions, and examples of love or heroism, 

 peculiarly tiie olV^pring of their f;'^ 

 vonred soil. Tlie tragedies of Alfieri. 

 and of Monti, of Koscolo and ofiMai! 



tion and servility in political 0;)inion, aoni, are all comp(ised in a novel a;; ' 



■which cliaracterise the state of society 

 hi a colony subject to anstocia'ic 

 power. Both his private and public 

 sentiments, as exjiressed in •• His I.et- 

 Icrs," and essays on periodical litera- 

 ture, manifest a strong and hr.iltliy 

 spirit devoted to honounible and useful 

 objects. His thoughts and feelings 

 tiiwn the social an<l polititnd relations 

 of Italy, arc evidently the result of 

 ])rineiple, and an enthusiastic love of 

 fre.'dom and of trutii. He was, of 

 course, at tliat perio;!, as mncli esleeuied 

 by one ptu'tion of tlie society in \'euice, 



improved spirit of (vagie conijK)siti'.;!i 

 founded upon a nujre national tastean'i 

 fei'ling, and Leariug few traceji of imi- 

 tation of fore'gn models, and none of 

 each other. Tlu.iigli the [slots .u-e fre- 

 ((uently borrowed fr.un aiiliquity, as the 

 Aristodeuio of "\Ionti, tin? Mirra of AI- 

 lieii. and many others of our m<jderu 

 Italian dramatists, tlie style of writing,. 

 t!ie feme ami spirit of tlie drama, arc 

 essentially dillerent, bearing a more 

 initional character, and a nion^ natural 

 cxjiression of feeling, than the studied- 

 and classic pieces of the fifteenth 



as he was reviled and persecuted by the century 



other. In fiict, the character of the Italian 



Some of the modern Italian dranni- tragedians has assumed, within the las* 



tists have lately produced specinu>ns of fifty years, new and improved powers 



an essentially (liferent, and, we think, of thought aiul feeling, v, iiich approach 



a superior ciiaractL'r of dramatic com- 

 position, to their more classic and imi- 

 tative predecessors. (.'(iiisidercil as 

 models of classic tfiste and iniitati\e 

 excellence, we much preft;r the Lo- 

 fonisbas of (ialeotlo and Tre:;sino, in 

 the llosmunda of Rucellai, and tiie 

 Antigone of Allumanni, witha splendid 

 train of early Italian genius, which at 



m-arer to that of the Hnglish and Ger- 

 man schools, th(U!gJi without servife 

 iiniialion, lluin any specimens which 

 their jjredecessors produced. Thus 

 tlie .^jace of Foscolo, formed upon the 

 d.issic fable, (h)es not merely develope 

 tlie interesting associalibns of aatiquity, 

 but aims at pourtniying in its incidents 

 and historic recollections,, the charac- 

 tempted to rival the most powerful ters and achievements of modern he- 

 roes — and }3o:;aparte and Moreau are 

 exiiibiled under tin: veil of (irecuui 

 heroism. Though very uobry con- 

 ceived, vve think this union of fabulous 

 and historic character, far from favour- 

 able to the yfcnnine interest and objects 

 There arcsevieral beau- 

 rikhnr passages, fraujrht 



specimens of dramatic art produced by 



mcient Greece. But if we look for 



/ligher objects and nobler qualities in 



the drama, for that national character 



and the irresistible ]iowcr and intinence 



which pejuliarly belong to the history 



and traditions of a jK^ople, we miis't efthedrania 



}iave recourse to the writers of a more liful aad st 



advanced and relinctl period of society, witli jxilitical allusions, which, in these 



when ample materials and a rich store mixe.l characters, interrnpt that plea- 



ofjmssions and eventshave already been swre and breathless interest wdm-h tin 



unfolded for the use of the drasnatist, 

 in the early annals of the wars, the for- 

 tunes, and the fflori/ of his country, or 

 in the calamities of private life. We 

 thus perceive, that from the deticiency 

 ef historic recollec-tion. t!ie earlv Ro'- 



reader would otherwise feel in this 

 singular and powerful drama. Some 

 parts of it are in strict imitation of the 

 ancient (Jreeks, and preserve tiie lyric 

 genius and spuit. of tlie ancient drama, 

 ill a verv successful style. 



Superior 



