38 
contributed to the support of this im- 
portant branch of the fine arts, Rea- 
son and policy soon required the .abo- 
liticn of these monasteries; but the 
government either could not, or would 
not, substitute new means of encourage- 
ment in place of those which the art of 
music had before received from the 
religious communities. Thus, no other 
field being left for music but the theatre, 
it lost some of its ancient splendour. 
The emulation of the youth, who had 
formerly devoted themselves to it, was 
extinguished, by the fruitless attempt of 
government to form the many conser- 
vatorii, which had before existed, into 
one; the superintendence of which was 
entrusted to men incapable of regu- 
lating it in all its parts. Thus, by one 
of those whimsical circumstances which 
sometimes throw ridicule over the most 
serious affairs, the country of Cimarosa 
and Paesiello was condemned to see, at 
the head of musical instruction, an old 
secularized French capuchin, with a 
soul the most untuned to music of any 
Midas who has existed from the com- 
mencement of the world, q 
Some attempts were made to revive 
the art of painting: but they either 
failed, or had not sufficient time to pro- 
duce effect. The nation, nevertheless, 
possessed a great miniature painter in 
the old Zuccari; and one of the’ first 
painters @ fresco that Italy can boast 
of in the present day, in the person of 
Camarrano. 
Public instruction, with respect to 
arts and literature, was, meanwhile, the 
object of general solicitude. Galdi and 
Coco were especially engrossed in 
proposing the means of rendering it 
conducible to general utility; one of 
these was celebrated as the author of 
a. History of the Government of Hol- 
land, and the other as the author of the 
Travels of Plato in Italy, and a History 
of the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799. 
To sustain the public enthusiasm, a 
periodical work, entitled Biblioteca Ana- 
litica di Scienze, Litteratura ed Arti, 
was, for the first time, established in 
Naples, on a vast and judicious plan. 
This noble undertaking was afterwards 
abandoned, for reasons which it is use- 
less here to state: but its first publica- 
tions justly excited the applause of all 
men of information, since it was rich in 
learned articles, and elegant essays on 
all the branches of general science. 
_In the year 1815, the dynasty of 
the Bourbons regained the throne of 
Naples: and it must be confessed, that, 
Past and Present State of Naples, 
[Aug. 25 
so far from arresting the progress of the 
nation in: literature and scientific re- 
search, they sought to promote them ~ 
hy all the means in their power.. They 
protected the academies, encouraged 
study, and permitted the importation 
of foreign books, The nation was, b 
sides, enriched by the presence of Piagzi, 
Poli and Zingarelli, whom _ political 
changes had brought back to the theatre 
of their former glory. 
, The fruits of this liberal system were 
not slow in appearing. Galluppi pub- 
lished the first volumes of his “ Hssays 
on Idealism and Kantism.” This work, 
though written without order, or much 
elegance of style, is nevertheless rich in 
profound meditation and accurate analy- 
sis; and shews its author to be a man 
versed in the study of classic metaphy- 
sics, and the deepest subjects of modern 
philosophy. Jannelli gave to light his 
“ Thoughts on the Philosophy of His- 
tory,’ in which the finest effusions of 
Vuo are, for the first time, divested of 
the obscurity of language in which that 
great man had clothed them ;—and are 
set forth with clearness, discussed with 
subtlety, and urged with noble freedom. 
Delfico, the Nestor of Neapolitan litera- 
ture, ever attentive to encourage know- 
ledge by example and advice, published 
his Nuove Ricerche sul Bello, in which 
the principles of enlightened philosophy 
form, constantly, the basis for the solu- 
tion of the most arduous questions of 
astetich art. 3 
The youth of Naples were ardently 
preparing many other works of different 
kinds, when the revolution of 1820 
drew all talent from literary research, 
to concentrate it in politics; and to 
what a degree the people were ab- 
sorbed in the various branches of social 
science may be shewn by the innume- 
rable memoirs and periodical publica- 
tions, breathing high thoughts, deep 
learning, and judicious criticism; and 
dictated by that pure and generous par 
triotism, which, full of hope for the 
future, disdains to shed insult and abuse 
over the disorders of the past. 
But this picture cannot be continued. 
The events of 1821] again threw a veil 
over the moral state of the people. 
From that time, the historian feels a 
void he cannot fill: and constrained 
to pause by the eruptions of aggression 
and violence, dares hardly_ anticipate 
the possible results, or say tothe insa- | 
tiable thirst of dominion, 
Tantum..,... potuit suadere malorum.~ 
: 
