476 Additional Notes. 



Italian Language. 



During a great part of the seventeenth century the Italian 

 language was in a state of comparative degeneracy. It 

 abounded, to an excess, with metaphor and antithesis, allu- 

 sion and conceit; so that, instead of the simplicity which 

 had before prevailed, affectation and obscurity became its dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics. This taste was too much coun- 

 tenanced and promoted by the writings of Marini, Tasso, 

 and Chiabrera, which, though monuments of great genius, 

 yet gave currency to false principles of composition. During 

 this period the best models of ancient taste fell into neglect; 

 and such only were selected for imitation as favoured the glit- 

 ter, the bombast, and the pedantry which were then in 

 vogue. Of this the satires of Benedict Menzini, and of 

 Salvator Rosa, and the discourses of Mo rone, Pao- 

 lettt, and others, afford sufficient proof. 



Towards the close of the seventeenth century these per- 

 versions of taste began to decline, and the Italian literati as- 

 sumed a style more simple, unaffected and accurate than that 

 which had been in fashion for more than an hundred years. 

 Apostolo Zeno, a distinguished Venetian writer, was one 

 of the first who introduced a natural turn of sentiment and 

 expression into his writings, and recommended this manner 

 to his countrymen. Gravina, about the same time, re- 

 called the attention of the learned to the best specimens of 

 Grecian and Roman eloquence. Besides these, the poems oi 

 ■ ar'ni, the miscellaneous pieces of Tagliazucchi, 

 ; cal writings of Muratori, the dramatic produc- 

 yIarteli, Maffei, C.esarotti, Alfieri, and 

 Me r astasio, the various works of the Marquis of Beccaria, 

 and many others, are entitled to particular notice, as honour- 

 liteiatuie during the eighteenth century, and as 

 having contributed to the progress of its improvement. 



the influence of these and other writers, the Italian 

 'language gained, in the eighteenth century, a degree of pu- 

 rity, dignity, and general excellence, unknown even in the 

 a^e of iiEMBo and of Casa. The ancient rules and models 

 iste resumed, in a considerable degree, their sway; and, 

 is, perhaps, of little less importance, some of the most 

 classical productions of Great-Britain and of France, by being 

 translated into Italian, and naturalized in that country, have 

 contributed, in no small degree, to meliorate the public taste, 

 and to produce a reform in the literature of that country. 



