VERSIFICATION. 



The cclfbi-aled Tirabofclii, in liis Hiflory of Italian Litera- 

 ture, fpcaks alfo of the rhyme and the different kinds of 

 poetic compofitioii wliich the Itahans had borrowed from 

 the Provcn^ils. On this fubjeft may be read the work of 

 Vicenzo Gravina della Ragpon Poetica, liv. ii. p. 132, and 

 L'lftoria della volgar Poelia del Crefcimbeni. The three 

 fp.tliers of Italian litcratnre, Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca, 

 were eminently convorfant with this exotic verfe. The 

 laft lived a long time in Provence, and ftiulied for a while at 

 Paris ; and Taflbni afTiires us, " il Petrarca molto prefe da' 

 rimatori Provenzali." As to Boccaccio, it is generally ac- 

 knowledged, that in his Decameron, he excels by the riches 

 lie has culled alike from the Roman and Proven5al poets. 

 But of the three, it is more efperially Dante who has clearly 

 decided, that it is Italy which has borrowed from the 

 French, and more particularly from the Troubadours. 



It is not without foundation that the count Caylus ac- 

 cufes the Italians of plagiarifm ; and it is not without rcafon 

 that Millot fays, that the Provencals opened the road to the 

 Italians and furnifhed them with models for imitation. 



Ncvertheleis, whatever may be the degree of plagiarifm 

 of which the ancient Italian poets are accufed ; whatever 

 may have been the anteriority of the time in which the belles 

 lettres flouridied among the Provencals ; and the time when 

 it palled to the Italians ; we cannot refufe to the latter the 

 honour of being pre-eminently diftinguifhed for the pecuhar 

 care they have bellowed on the fupcrftrufture, and for their 

 advancing to the acme of cultivation thofe arts and fciences 

 which had been fepuh-hred under the ruins of the Roman 

 empire. The Arabs, the Spaniards, the French, the Eng- 

 lifli, and all other nations, fays A ndres (tome i. c. 1 2. p. 339. 

 edit, de Paime), have been as the Egyptians and the 

 Afiatics who claim the- right of oiigmality in the invention 

 and culture of their vi"rle ; lint the Italians maybe regarded 

 as the Greeks, who wilii the indullrious bee culled their 

 honey from every furrour.dJiig flower. 



We muil not forget, however, that with regard to this 

 right of priority, the Provencals have formidable rivals in 

 the Sicilians. The authorities on each fide of the qncltion 

 fccm paradoxically equal. Sicily has always boalled herfelf 

 to have been the cradle of Itahan poetry. She encircles 

 lierfelf with a cloud of authorities, which ferve as a (hield to 

 protcft her from the defign to rob her of that title of which flic 

 defires the exclufive enjoyment. To this end, (he frequently 

 offers to confideration the following paffage of Dante. 

 (Volg. Eloq.) " Ex acceratis, quodammodo, vulgaribus 

 [talis, inter ea qus reman ferunt in cribro comparationem 

 facientes honorabiliils ac honorificentiils, breviter feligimus : 

 et primo de Siciliano examinemus ingenium : nam videtur 

 Sicilianum vulgarem libi famam prx ahis adfcifcere, eo quod 

 quidquid poetantur Itali Sicilianum vocatur." 



Petrarch, who in the next age lucceeded Dante, both in 

 his profe and poetic works, confirms the fame opinion. Nor 

 does he exprefs himfelf with lefs decifion in the epiftle which 

 he compofed about the year 1 36c. 



Petrarch alfo informs us, that in his poems, he had fol- 

 lowed that fpecies of verfification, which had made its re- 

 appearance feme ages before in Sicily, or at lead two or 

 three hundred years before the twelfth century. 



But to afford the clearell light in the difcuifion of this 

 fubjeCl, it is ncceffary to tranfport our ideas tci the period of 

 the decline of the Roman empire. The Italian language 

 took its radical elements from the nature of the Latin. 

 Even before the fpleiidour and the authority of the emperors 

 had been impaired, t!ie language was adulterated by that ad- 

 mixture of barbarifms which feemed the neceffary confc- 

 quence of foreign intcrcoiirle. But all limits to this cor- 



ruption were overthrown, when the Goths, the Huns, the 

 Greeks, the Lombards, the Franks and Germans in rapid 

 fucceflion inundated the empire. Hence arofe a new jargon 

 which ferved the vulgar and the plebeian tribes in their col- 

 loquial intercourfe, whilil the learned and the polite circles 

 of fociety endeavoured to maintain the dignity and purity 

 of the Latin language. The former, however, compofed 

 the majority, and carried the day. This, according to Mu- 

 ratoii, happened about the nth century. 



But whilil this revolution happened in Italy, France and 

 Spain, where the Latin language, the common genus, 

 branched into three kindred fpecies, each receiving fuch 

 modifications as were fuited to the circumftaiices and 

 temper peculiar to each nation, Sicily had alfo been long 

 fubjecl to a fimilar revolution by the frequent invafions of 

 the Saracens from the year 649 to 827 ; and again to 1060. 

 And befides this, the Latin language had been already cor- 

 rupted by the influence of the Vandals, who made a defcent 

 on this ifle in 440, and by tlie dominion of the Goths, who 

 governed it from 493 to 535, when Bclifariiis refcued the 

 ifland. The Sicilians had alfo their plebeian dialeft ; and 

 they had, from the dominion of the Arabs, imbibed a pre- 

 dilcftion for that peculiar fpecies of verfification, which the 

 latter had been equally fucccfsful in communicating to the 

 Spaniards. The Sicilians, guided by that delicacy of the 

 ear for which they are always remarkable, difcovered thcm- 

 felves to be the firfl that had in their native language a cer- 

 tain melodious order, rcfulting not from that profodial quan- 

 tity which defines merely fyllables to be long or fhort, but 

 r.^thcr from another meafnre, which is the effeft of the acute 

 accent, artificially diftributcd within the limits of a definite 

 number of fyllables. They were thus enabled, without any 

 other effort, to imitate the tafte and the verfification of the 

 Ar.abs their conquerors ; and the example of the latter was a 

 fpnri to fet on fire what till this was but latent in their imagin- 

 ation, and thus the genius and natural difpofition of their 

 minds received an unexpeifled and brilli.int developement. 



It is, at leail, affirmed, that the Sicilians have far exceeded 

 the Spaniards and the French in the culture of this modern 

 verfification. And Caftelvctro and Muratori maintain, that 

 it was not Italy and Sicily that received from the Provencals 

 the elements of this new fpecies of verfe, but that the latter 

 were indebted for it to the Sicilians. We learn, however, 

 from the authority of inconteftible witneffes, that the Sici- 

 lians made great progrcfs in the culture of the fine arts either 

 during the 9th or loth century ; vvhilft Fauchet could not 

 find among the poetry of the French a writer more ancient 

 than Euftache, who flouriflied about the middle of the 12th 

 century. And Galland (Ace. Infer, tom. iii.) could not 

 quote an author anterior to the fame. And whilil the learned 

 Andrews could not fix the birth of the fame art .imongd the 

 Spaniards earlier than the i ith century. 



The .Sicilian verfification, at firll rude, uncultivated, and 

 barbarous, became, by degrees, a iludied and polifhed art, 

 replete with brilliant images, and with thouglits noble ;iih1 

 fublime. It was, in fliort, the verfe of the ye.ar 1220 that 

 was feeii to (hinc with peculiar lullre in the mind of Fre- 

 deric II., who, after he had received the inveftitnre tnim 

 pope Celellin, came to reign in Sicily. The Sicilians pre- 

 fcrve even yet his poems, thofe of Euzo his ion, king of 

 Sardinia, and thofe of Pier d<.lle Vigne, fecret.ir)- to the 

 fame. From th.e centre of Sicily, this art dilfeminated itfelf 

 over all Italy. The more learned Italians, attrrftcd by the 

 virtues of a generous prince, came in a crowd to Sicily, 

 frequented the court of Frederic, became themfelycs poets, 

 and carried the tafte of the novel verfification into their 

 native country'. 



Crcl- 



