454 ROMANCE LITERATURE 



whom stood first Cesari, who dreamed of the resurrection of the 

 language of the fourteenth century. But many devoted themselves 

 to the research, the illustration, the publication of old texts, with 

 more temperate ideas, even though usually not exempt from the 

 whim of the " Testi di lingua." And for us none is so worthy of being 

 pointed out as Vincenzo Nannucci, author of the excellent Manudle 

 della Letter atur a del primo secolo, which appeared in 1837. Xannucci 

 follows the Italian tradition even in having his eye continually upon 

 the Provencal, with which he makes continual comparisons. Ever 

 increasing ardor and richness of content are found in the Dante 

 studies, that receive a worthy banner in the Discorso sul testo della 

 Divina Commedia of Ugo Foscolo, which was brought forth in a land 

 of exile. Dante and their country their country enslaved and 

 awaiting freedom become inseparable loves for all elevated 

 minds, for all generous souls: Rossetti, Troya, Balbo, Tommaseo, 

 and I know not how many others. And even outside of Dante, neither 

 mere erudition, nor the consideration of form according to old con- 

 ceptions, any longer satisfy: one demands thought. More steeped 

 with thought than any that had preceded it amongst us is the 

 Storia d die Belle Letter e in Italia of Emiliani-Giudici. Foreign streams 

 descend to render fruitful our fields. Not to speak of Ginguene. 

 Sismondi, Villemain, Fauriel, Ozanam who succeeded Fauriel in his 

 chair, act upon our scholars and gradually educate the generation 

 that will come forth later. Even the German action is felt. Biondelli 

 follows on the tracks of Bekker, and begins amongst us the public- 

 ation of old dialect-texts, governed by scientific principles. German 

 pollen of quite a different kind falls upon a southern flower, and 

 produces an exquisite fruit, with a flavor all its own: the aesthetic- 

 psychological criticism of Francesco de Sanctis. 



In the Iberian Peninsula the German action produced since 1S28 

 the plentiful Romanccro general of Augustus Duran. But fruitfulness 

 could not be expected from a country at once upset and depressed 

 by civil, political, and religious conditions. No wonder, therefore, 

 that Spain should to a great extent learn the history of her own 

 literature from a translation of Bouterwek, 1 and later from the far 

 larger work published in English by George Ticknor. a son of the 

 United States, the first who can be said to enter, and with no small 

 honor, into this studium of ours, Ticknor was often assisted by one 

 of his future translators. Pascual de Gayangos. who notably increased 

 the Spanish version, and who afterwards gave to the important 

 Biblioteca de A'Ktorcs Espaftoles. undertaken by courageous editors. 



1 A Spanish translation of the parts concerning Spain was undertaken by 

 J. Gomez cle la Cortina and X. Hugalde y Mollinedo. A first volume was published 

 at Madrid in 1S29; but the publication stopped there; and it was a pity, because 

 in the form of notes the extension of the original work had been much more than 

 doubled by the translators fpp. 107-273). 



