MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



44§ 



Et cum el sostene passion 

 Per nostra grande salvation, 

 Et cum, vera el di del, ira 

 La e sera la grande roina. 

 Al peccator dara gramezza 

 Lojusto avra grande allegrezza 

 Ben e raxon ke I'homo inteada 

 De que traita sta legenda. 



It was not decided, either then 

 br at the close of the thirteenth 

 tentury when Dante wrote, which 

 dialect of the common language was 

 the best. Dante himself did not 

 deem the dialect of Tuscany the 

 most eligible, and in his writings 

 tnade use of a great many Lombard, 

 Neapolitan, and Venetian words 

 and expressions. Rustigielo, of 

 Pisa, wrote in the year 1299 the 

 travels of Marco Polo, not in his 

 Own, but in the Venetian dialect, 

 which already at that time had at- 

 tained a certain degree of harmony, 

 as appears by the following lines : 



Qui comenza il prologo del libro chia- 



mado 

 De la istinzione del mondo. 



f^ui Signori Imperadori, Duchi, 

 Marchesi, Chonti, e Kavalieri, e 

 lula zenle, quale vokte intender e 

 chonosser le diverse genaraziotie de 

 li honieni e del mo7ido, lezete questo 

 libro, in to qiial trouverele de' gran- 

 dissimi miracholi e diversita dell' 

 Armenia mazore, de Persia, e de 

 Tartaria, e de molle allre provinzie 

 secondo chomo nara, Sfc. Sfc. 



Had the Venetians at that time 

 had more writers like this, their 

 dialect would, undoubtedly, have 

 gained the superiority in Italy. 

 But Brunetto Latini, Ricco de Var- 

 lungo, Dino Fiorentino, Salvino 

 Doni, Ugo da Siena, Guido No- 

 yello, Farinata degli Uberti, Lam- 

 bertuccio Frescobaldl, Pannuccio 



Vol. XLIL 



dal Bagno, Guittone d'Arezzo, and 

 other Tuscans, who lived also at 

 the close of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, by their elegant compositions 

 turned the scale in favour of the 

 Tuscan dialect, and surpassed all 

 authors who had hitherto written 

 in the common language. If we 

 compare the sonnets of Guittone 

 d'Arezzo, the poems of Ugolino 

 Ubaldini, and others, which are 

 quoted in the Anthologia Poetica 

 Italiana, with the specimens of the 

 Venetian and Milanese dialects 

 above cited, we cannot be sur- 

 prised at the superiority which the 

 Tuscan dialect acquired. Dante 

 himself made use of no other dialect 

 biit that of Tuscany in his smaller 

 poems and proSaic writings^ and 

 seems to have repented of his formei' 

 neglect of his vernacular language. 

 Brunetto Latirii and Guittone 

 d'Arezzo had, above all others, the 

 merit of having imparted gramma- 

 tical correctness to the Italian lan- 

 guage ; whilst it owes its energy 

 and precision to Dante Alighieri. 

 It was, however, still destitute of 

 that high degree of suavitj and har- 

 mony, by which it at present dis- 

 tinguishes itself eminently frorii all 

 other languages. This peculiar 

 charm it obtained by the exertions 

 of Cinoof Pistoja, of his pupil Fran- 

 cesco Petrarca, and John Boccaccio. 

 These celebrated authors brought 

 the Tuscan dialect to Such a charm- 

 ing perfection, that from that time' 

 no good author of the other pro- 

 vinces hesitated to prefer it tO his 

 own dialect. Thus the close of the 

 thirteenth and beginning of the 

 fourteenth century form the epochs 

 when the Italian language attained 

 the highest degree of perfection/ 



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