294 CALLOGRAPHY. 



lions of states. Hence it was that the term clerk, from the Latin 

 dericus, a clergyman, came to signify a writer, or scholar. The 

 decline of the feudal system, and the consolidation of society, were 

 favorable to the growth of literature ; but it did not reach its matu- 

 rity till the invention of printing enhanced the value of literary fame, 

 by spreading it to the four winds of heaven, and wafting back the 

 echo to reward the author's labours. The Reformation widened 

 the field of literary research ; the Discovery of America presented 

 new themes for inspiration ; and the number of competitors was 

 increased by those eastern scholars who took refuge in Christendom 

 when the Byzantine empire was subdued by the Turks. No wonder 

 then that a fresh harvest was reaped ; worthy of the age, the labors, 

 and the circumstances, which produced it. 



We proceed to treat of European Callography, in the order adopted 

 in the preceding departments. 



1. Italian Callography ', may be regarded as commencing with 

 the love songs, composed at the court of Sicily ; the oldest compo- 

 sitions which have been preserved in the Italian language. Still, the 

 Latin was deemed the only dignified language of literature, till the 

 vulgar tongue, so called, was ennobled by the great work of Dante, 

 and thenceforward met with public favor. The Divina Commedia, 

 of Dante, is an allegorical and didactic, rather than epic poem ; 

 descfibing an imaginary visit of Dante, conducted by Virgil, to Hell, 

 to Purgatory, and to Heaven, or Paradise ; with a description of 

 each, and of its inhabitants, founded partly on Mythology, but prin- 

 cipally on the dogmas of the Roman Catholic religion. This poem 

 has passed through nearly sixty editions, and has had more commen- 

 tators than any other work written since the revival of letters in Eu- 

 rope. The Dettamondo of Uberti, describing the universe, and the 

 Quadriregio, of Frezzi, on the empires of love, Satan, virtue, and 

 vice, are inferior imitations of Dante. 



Petrarch's Africa, was written in Latin ; but the first epic poems 

 in Italian, were La Theseide, and // Filostrato ; both by Boccacio; 

 both now almost forgotten. The Morgante Maggiore, of Pulci, 

 narrating the exploits of Roland or Orlando, with Riaaldo, and the 

 giant Morgante, probably suggested the Orlando Inamorato of Boi- 

 ardo; and this, in its turn, led to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso ; an epic 

 and romantic poem, on the exploits of Roland, one of Charlemagne's 

 paladins, or knights errant, who fell in the battle of Roncesvalles. 

 The Orlando Amoroso, of Berni, was written in a more sportive vein. 

 The Armida, of Bernardo Tasso, and the Rinaldo, of his son Tor- 

 quato Tasso, are both respectable productions ; but the latter writer 

 is immortalized by his Gerusalemme Liberata, or Jerusalem Deli- 

 vered ; the noblest of Italian epics; describing the exploits of Godfrey 

 of Bouillon, and his associates, in the first crusade. Trissino's Italia 

 Liberata, or Italy delivered from the Goths, is a similar but inferior 

 production ; and the Adone, or Adonis, of Marini, is of little repute. 



Of Italian lyric poetry, the canzoni, or ballads, and the sonetti, or 

 sonnets, of Petrarch, are the most celebrated. The latter are mostly 

 devoted to his love for the virtuous Laura ; but the former are patriotic 

 and religious. The sonnets of Lorenzo di Medici, are in imitation 



