14 



Sketch of (he Jlistoiy of Literature in Europe, [Aug. I, 



At this tpoch it was that this flexible 

 language acquired its \ari')u.s capacities, 

 and alT'umcd all its titles to ihc ix'p;ard of 

 pollerity. The author of Palror I'ido dit- 

 puted uilh that of Aniiuta the palm of 

 the pafloral drama ; Guichardiiii attain- 

 ed all the dignity of liiftory ; Fra-Paolo 

 defended the liberty and conftitution of 

 his country with the pen and couraire of 

 a citizen againft the ambitious politics of 

 tiie Roman pontiff. 



INIachiavel has acquired a celebrity 

 •which is 10 be depkn-ed, by his book in- 

 titled The Prince, which is nothing lefs 

 than the theory of fuceefsfiii crimes and 

 the code of tvriuiiiy, although fome have 

 gratuitoullv jullilied the dt'lis;n and object 

 iVom one of the dreams of Amelot de la 

 HouiVaye, \vho fuppofed he had difcoTor- 

 ed that Alachiavel had alfunied the pwh 

 of crime only to infpire a horror for it. 

 To read bis work is fufficicnt to be con- 

 vinced, that, 'naturally inliucnced with 

 the Italian policy of his d:iy, which was 

 nothing lefs than perfidy and feltifhncf;, 

 lie employed all his genius and talents to 

 reduce to a iyltem the bafenefs he beheld 

 pra£tifed every day. lie belongs, ne\er- 

 thelefs, to the epoch of which J ;un fpeak- 

 Jug, by his comedy "f Mandrogora, which 

 Imd great fnccefs. Imperfect as this piece 

 is, it gave the firft idea of comic dialogue 

 JOid intrigue, as the Sophonilha of Trilhn 

 was the tirfi tragedy compofed according 

 to the i'^;_o wf Anitr.tle. But tiiofe tlVays, 

 Silthough worthy of our eileem, remained 

 iierile attempts ; and the dramatic art 

 continued in its infancy among thofe very 

 Italians who iij every other of the fine- 

 arts were the preceptors of nations. 



Mean^\hile dramatic porfy took a 

 flight which, though not eciuallyfultairicd, 

 vas often lofty, among ii pcujiie that Italy 

 then regarded as barbarous. Spain, w liich 

 inherited from the Moors their gallant 

 fpirit of chivalry, their tournaments, their 

 poetry of an Oriental turn, and their amo- 

 rous romances, at that time potfeti'ed her 

 3x)pezde Vega, and fi nee C'alderon, \\\\o 

 difplayed imention, richnefs, and a dra- 

 matic genius. No doubt their numerous 

 dramas are deliitute of art ; but the htua- 

 tions, the chara(!'ters, and the cfi'ti't, are 

 flriking, and in all thefe the bell Trench 

 tragic writers of ll:c tinie \>ere as inferior 

 to the Spaniards and tiie ]''.ngiifli, asfmce 

 Corneillc and ivacine they iiave been fu- 

 perior. 



It was at the fame period that England 

 had her S'hakefjieare, who, with the beau- 

 ties and l';iulls of the two .'^panifh writers, 

 and \^■ithout currying the art larllier than 



they did, bore from them the prize by the 

 charms of a natural talent, lijmetimes ele- 

 vateil to the I'ubliine of imagination, to 

 the eloquence of vehement palfions, and 

 the energy of tragic charactirs. By tliefe 

 precious morcels, fo much the more at- 

 tractive as they are with him the more 

 rare and more uniformly mingled with 

 baler matter, .SJAakcfpeare role above his 

 age, in which true tragedy was e\ery 

 where unknown ; but lince genius of the 

 firft order, under Louis XIV., and in our 

 flays, has in ]•' ranee borne tragedy to her 

 greateft height, it belongs only to national 

 prejudice aniongltthe I'.nglilh, or with us 

 to a jiaradoxical mania, to cimipare the 

 maflers of the great ell of arts amoii^ a 

 polidied people with a writer who, in the 

 midft ol"ihe barbarilni of his Country and 

 his v\ riting^, Ihed forth i'onie rays of ge- 

 nius. 



Portugal may boaft of bavins given to 

 this period one poet u.orc. Oamoen.i 

 had, indeed, little i'.ivention ; but in more 

 than one tjlvice he dilpiayed the elevation 

 ot Konur, and in the epifode of Ines the 

 touciiing expreflioii of X'irgil. His po- 

 em, — izrratly below his' I'ulijeCt, whii'h 

 was grand, — defective in the plan, which 

 is nearly hillorical, — recommends itfolf 

 chiefly by that I'pccics of beauty which 

 coiitrdiutes molt, to give inniiortality to 

 the works of pocfy by the beauty of its 

 ftyle. 



'iiie North had as yet produced no- 

 thing in the arts of imagination ; but flie 

 ilhiftrated her name by fervices rendered 

 to the iciences. Conernicus is not the 

 firfl) as it is too ulual to believe, who 

 {lU'.ced the Sun in the centre of the uni- 

 vcrfe, and turned the Earth and planetg 

 round her. Nearly two thoufand years 

 before him Philolauj, a difciple of Pytha- 

 goras, made known this iyftein ; and it 

 wasdifcufTed and maintained at Rome in 

 the fifteenth century ; but it is attributed 

 to Copernicus, becaufe he fucceeded in 

 dcmouiliating it. He extended and im- 

 proved this ancient theory, long before 

 forgotten, and through it happily explain- 

 ed all the ccieltial phenomena. Cialileo, 

 in the next age, rendered fenlible to li<ilit 

 the truths taught by Copernicus. Metius, 

 a Hollander, had invented optic glalfes; 

 and Galileo, by the aid of this invention, 

 which his experiments improved, lliewed 

 us new ftars in the heavens. Thanks to. 

 him and to Toricelli, his difcijile, who 

 difcovered the weight of the air, Italy, al- 

 ready pre-eminent in letters and the arts, 

 held alio her rank in the hillory of philo-. 

 foi.hy. 



