192 



ITE, MISSA EST-ITURBIDE. 



animated description. F. H. von der Hagen's work 

 (1818 1821, four vuls.) is valuable, particularly 

 fur its observations on the arts in the middle ages, as 

 attention is generally paid only to classical art, and to 

 the modern since the time of Raphael. Muller's 

 Rom, Homer, und Rbmerinnen, has met with applause 

 as a picture of manners and customs. There exist a 

 number of descriptions of parts of Italy, which we 

 nave not room to enumerate. On Sicily, one of the 

 latest works is Voyage en Sidle fait en 1820 et 1821, 

 par dugnste de Sayve (Paris, 1825, three vols.). 

 Neigcbaur's Handbuchfur Reisende in Italien (Leip- 

 sic, 1826) contains much information of value to tra- 

 vellers. Among the works which portray the beau- 

 ties of Italy, one of the test is Vues pittoresquts de 

 i 'Italic by Coignet, lithographed (Paris, 1825). 



Contents of the article Italy. 



ITALY, 160 



Political Divisions, &c ib. 



HISTORY, . . ib. 



First Period, from Odoacer, (476) to Alboin (368) 161 

 Second Period, from Alboin to Charlemagne, (774) ib. 

 Third Period, from Charlemagne to Otho, (9Ci) ib. 



Fourth Period, from Otho to Gregory VII. 0073) .162 

 Fifth Period, from Gregory, to the fall of the Hohen- 

 staufeu, ...... 1C3 



Sixth Period, from the fall of the Hohenstaufen, to 



the formation of the modern States, . . 164 



Seventh Period Mutations of the Italian States 



down to the French Revolution, . . 166 



Eighth Period, from the French Revolution, to the 



present time, . ib. 



ITALIAN LANGUAGE, . . . . .171 



ITALIAN LITERATURE, & LEARNING, (excluding poetry,) 172 

 First Period, from Charlemagne, to 1002 . ib. 

 Second Period, from 1002 to 1183, . . ib. 



Third Period, from 1183 to 1300, ... 173 

 Fourth Period, from 1300 to 1400, . .174 

 Fifth Period, from 1400 to 1500, . . .175 

 Sixth Period, from 1500 to 1650, . . . 176 

 Seventh Period, from 1650 to 1820, . . 178 

 Eighth Period, since 1820, . . 179 



ITALIAN POETRY, . . . . .180 



ITALIAN THEATRE, ..... 184 



ITALIA K ART, ; ... 185 



First Period, ..... ib. 



Second Period, 186 



Third Period, .... 187 



ITALIAN Mcsic, . . . . . 188 



TRAVELS IN ITALY, ..... 100 



ITE, MISSA EST (Latin, go the meeting is dis- 

 solved) ; a formula by which, on joyful feasts, the 

 end of the low mass is announced to the people, and 

 the assembly dismissed. The priest steps into the 

 centre of the altar, and sings these words after the 

 Dominus vobiscum. After a mass for the dead, in- 

 stead of these words, he sings, Requiescat in pace, on 

 which the response is, Amen. In Lent, Advent, and 

 the days of penitence, he says, Benedicamus Domino, 

 to which the response is Deo gratias. The word 

 mass is derived from missa est. 



ITHACA (l$ax), or, as it is called by the mo- 

 dems, Thiaki ; one of the seven Ionian islands lying 

 in the gulf of Patras ; Ion. 21 1' E., lat. 38 36' 

 N. ; eighteen miles long, and not above five broad ; 

 population, 8000. The whole 4 island is rugged and 

 uneven. Ithaca is celebrated as the island of 

 Ulysses, and is minutely described by Homer in the 

 Odyssey. Of the places mentioned by Homer, many 

 can be traced with great appearance of probability. 

 The K^axts #I>T* (Od. xiii. 403) is still called 

 Coraco-petra. The ruins of Cyclopean walls are 

 described as similar to those of Argos, Tiryns, and 

 Mycenae. The spring of Ithacus and the walls of 

 the city, as well as the Acropolis, can also be traced. 

 A sculptured rock, called Homer's school, somewhat 

 resembles that which bears the same name in Scio 

 (Chios). Pateras, vases, bracelets, chains, strigils, 

 mirrors, lamps, coins, &c., have been dug up in an 

 ancient burying-ground here. 



ITHACA, the name of an American town, in the 



state of New York, situated about a mile and a lialf 

 south of the head of the Cayuga lake, being 170 

 miles west of Albany ; population about 4500. 



ITURBIDE, AUGUSTIN, was born at Valladolid 

 de Mechoacan, in New Spain, in 1784. Being of a 

 family of some consideration in his country, he 

 received a very careful education. Until 1810, he 

 held no higher rank than that of a lieutenant in the 

 provincial regiment of his native city. At this 

 period, when the troubles in Mexico broke out, he 

 entered into active service against the patriots, and 

 was engaged in various contests with bodies of his 

 insurgent countrymen. Borne along by circum- 

 stances in the career of arms, he had risen, in 1816, 

 by his valour and capacity, to the command of what 

 was called the northern army, which occupied the 

 provinces of Guanaxuato and Valladolid. About this 

 time, he was suspected and accused of want of 

 fidelity to their cause, by some of the royalists, but 

 was acquitted of the imputation by the viceroys Cal- 

 leja and Apodaca. But the disgust which he felt in 

 consequence of this charge, led him to retire for a 

 while from active service. In 1820, we find Itur- 

 bide again in the field, under circumstances which 

 gave him unexpected importance. At that period, 

 the imprudent acts of the Spanish cortes produced 

 so much exasperation among the clergy and the par- 

 tisans of absolutism in Mexico, that these persons 

 united to effect the independence of their country. 

 They selected Ifcurbide as their agent, knowing his 

 zealous agency in putting down the revolutionists and 

 republicans of past years, and wholly unconscious of 

 the views of personal aggrandizement which he enter- 

 tained. Being furnished with some money by them, 

 he set out for the south ; and, having seized a con- 

 voy of specie on his route, he soon formed a junction 

 with Guerrero, one of the patriot chiefs. Meanwhile 

 emissaries had been despatched in all directions to 

 prepare the people, who were accordingly ripe for 

 revolution. At length the army reached Iguala, 

 where (February 24, 1821) Iturbide proposed the 

 plan which bears the name of that place ; the great 

 objects of this instrument being the independence of 

 Mexico, the protection of religion, and the union of 

 the Spaniards and Mexicans. At the same time, an 

 offer of the crown was made to Ferdinand VII., or to 

 any other member of the royal family of Spain. On 

 the strength of this plan, Iturbide continued his march 

 to Queretaro, and was soon joined by Guadalupe 

 Victoria, the most devoted of the friends of liberty. 

 Meantime the viceroy O'Donoju arrived from Eu- 

 rope, and, finding the whole country virtually with 

 Iturbide, signed a treaty at Cordova (August 24, 

 1821), acceding to the provisions of the plan of 

 Iguala. The road to power was now entirely open be- 

 fore Iturbide. He took possession of the capital in the 

 name of the nation, and established a regeucy, con- 

 sisting of members nominated by himself, and wholly 

 under his control. The republican party soon saw 

 the object of his movements. A congress had been 

 assembled, which made various attempts to counter- 

 act his designs by diminishing his power, and at last 

 brought the matter to an open rupture and a crisis. 

 Iturbide, seeing no other way to preserve his autho- 

 rity, resolved to usurp the crown, through the sub- 

 serviency of his troops. Accordingly, May 18, 

 1822, the garrison and a part of the populace of 

 Mexico rose and proclaimed Iturbide emperor, under 

 the name of Augustin I. The next morning, con- 

 gress was convened in extraordinary session, in the 

 midst of the acclamations of the multitude, whose 

 cries often drowned the voices of the deputies. The 

 agents of Iturbide obtained a decree requiring his 

 presence ; and he appeared, accompanied by a num- 

 ber of military officers, having been drawn through 



