322 
and to give them to the public, freed 
from every species of error. 
We have wished to record these facts, 
because those who are ignorant of the 
history of Italian literature, are accus- 
tomed falsely to attribute to levity or 
edantry, the great pains that many 
earned men have taken, at different pe- 
riods, to exhibit the works of the thir- 
teenth century in the same form that 
-good criticism must suppose them to 
have been produced in by their illus- 
trious authors. 
The tales of Boccaccio merit particu- 
lar attention from critics, as there does 
not exist any manuscript of this work, 
revised or acknowledged by the author, 
which might serve as a guide to fix the 
true reading of the text. Every one 
knows that Boccaccio, having become 
weak and superstitious in his old age, 
destroyed the copies of his work, in 
order, probably, to conciliate the good- 
will of the priests and monks, who had 
shewn themselves somewhat irritated 
at the biting sarcasms he had levelled 
at them; from time to time, unmasking 
their ignorance, hypocrisy and wicked- 
ness. And these tales so much the 
more demand a judicious and impar- 
tial attention, inasmuch, as, whilst the 
philologist will find in them abundant 
treasures of pure and fiuent language, 
the moralist will find a faithful picture 
~of the manners, opinions and preju- 
dices of that epoch. : 
He forms an erroneous judgment of 
Boccaccio, who supposes, that while 
writing the Decameron, he had no other 
aim in view than that of amusing his 
contemporaries: he, on the contrary, 
wished to paint manners, characters 
and passions, yices, virtues, weak- 
nesses and errors; and in this he was 
successful. Some learned men dispute 
whether Boccaccio derived from Arabia 
and from Provence, the whole, or part 
of the stories related in his work ; and 
many sustain the. affirmative, and pro- 
pound in support of it numerous inge- 
nious arguments—as if the human fol- 
lies, clothed in such lively colours by 
the Florentine novelist, could belong, 
exclusively, to any age of history; or 
that because they existed, and were ob- 
served, at one iperiod, they might not 
be repeated and observed at another: 
or, as if a keen and demonstrative spirit 
were obliged to recur to oriental fabu- 
lists, or to the troubadours of the mid- 
dle ages, to discover ignorant priests— 
cortupt monks—imbecile judges —cre- 
dulous idiots—cozening knaves—crafty 
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. 
[ Nov. L 
thieves—and every kind of parasite, buf- 
foon and adventurer. Boccaccio cast a 
philosophic glance on the life of his 
contemporaries, and wrote accordingly ¢ 
nor can we say that he calumniated them, 
since he often delineated good by the side 
of evil; and, where occasion offered 
to render homage to the virtue and 
dignity of human nature, he never ne 
glected the opportunity. He was-the 
Addison of his age: only that this 
celebrated English moralist, writing in 
a freer and more philosophical age, 
dilated in abstract reasoning, while 
Boccaccio was constrained to employ 
narrative and anecdote, and often to 
envelope reason in the veil of allegory. 
The new edition of the Decameron, 
revised and illustrated by Ugo Foscolo, 
and lately published by Pickering in 
London, in three volumes octavo, is, 
on this account, a service rendered as 
much to the history of literature, as to 
that of Italian manners in the thirteenth 
century; and the publisher proyes 
his judgment and his taste, by having 
entrusted the correction to Ugo Foss 
colo—endowed, as he is, with every 
species of intellectual culture that might 
accomplish him for the task, and, above 
all, endeared to Italian literature; and 
who, uniting in himself the double 
character of critic and of author, is; 
more than any other person, capable 
of satisfying public expectation on this 
subject. We may now congratulate our- 
selves upon possessing a purified edi- 
tion of the celebrated Hundred Tales. 
The readings seem to be, at once, 
adopted from the authority of copies, 
and from the general style of the 
text ; and are presented, stripped of 
all inaccuracies and equivogue. The 
orthography is simple, regular and un- 
affected: and it is pleasing to see that 
some words are still written in the an~ 
cient manner, because they recall the 
old pronunciation ; which often helps 
to transport the reader to the period 
when the facts are supposed to have 
occurred, or to have been related. We 
must not, however, dissemble, that 
Foscolo, sometimes, seems wanting in 
courage, and abstains from some bold. 
correction, in order, perhaps, not to 
enter into controversy with pedants— 
who would certainly have seized the 
opportunity, if presented to them. We 
will illustrate our idea by a single ex- 
ample. S24 5p 
In the story of the Three. Rings, 
[See Gior, i. Nov. 3, page 58], eminent 
for concealed allusions. ofya profound 
. 3 a >, philosophy, 
