ON THE REVIVAL Olb^LITERATimE. 



is not the smallest ground for supposing, as there is in the case of* the 

 mariner's compass, that it was introduced into Europe from any com- 

 munication with the Chinese empire. Strasburg has the honour of havitig 

 given birth to this invention in the middle of the fifteenth century, at the 

 very period when Constantinople fell prostrate before the standard of the 

 Crescent. It was for some time kept a profound secret ; but it was an 

 art of far too much importance to remain concealed long ; and was soon 

 eagerly laid hold of by a variety of spirited and noble Italians, whom the 

 fashion and ardour of the times had stimulated to try their respective 

 powers in the generous contest for literary fame and distinction ; and 

 -applied, upon an extensive scale, to a publication of correct and almost 

 immaculate editions of the best Greek, Roman, and vernacular authors. 



Among this exe^ellent group, worthy of all praise and immortality, 

 stands first in order of time, and foremost in that of merit, the well-known 

 name of Aldo Manuzio, or Aldus Manutius Bassianus, the intimate friend 

 of Erasmus, born at Bassiano, a village within the Roman territory, in 

 the year 1447: he established his printing school at Venice; invited all 

 the scholars of the age to bis assistance ; and, in 1494, produced, as the 

 first fruits of the Aldine press, the first Greek poem or Greek book that 

 ever appeared in print, the Hero and Leander of Musaeus ; which was 

 followed, not many years afterwards, by an accurate edition of the entire 

 works of Plato, at that time the most popular of all. the Greek philoso- 

 phers ; introduced by an elegant copy of Greek verses composed by 

 Marcus Musurus, one of the most learned Greeks of the day, who had 

 carefully superintended the press, and justly complimentary to the talents 

 and princely munificence of the head of the church ; who, with a singular 

 coincidence of facts, was at that very moment addressing a letter to Mu- 

 surus, requesting his assistance in the formation of his Greek seminary at 

 Rome, 1 need not add, that ]to Musurus, to Aldo, to Agostino Chisi, 

 who also founded, and at Rome itself, a printing establishment of great 

 extent and celebrity, to scholars and artists of every description and 

 country, his patronage, his high approbation, and his pecuniary aid, were 

 dealt out to an extent, and with a liberality, that no other age has ever 

 witnessed either before or since. 



Nor did he confine his attention to a restoration of the Greek and Ro- 

 man languages, or an improvement of his vernacular tongue. Under his 

 auspices a study of the oriental dialects, so necessary to a perfect know- 

 ledge of the sacred writings, now first begun to engage the attention of 

 the learned. He invited ecclesiastics from Syria, Ethiopia, and other 

 eastern countries. In order to carry this important object into due efl^ect, 

 he established a Syriac chair in the university of Bologna, and appointed 

 the celebrated canon Teseo Ambrogio to be the first professor, who is 

 said to have been acquainted with eighteen different Janguages, and to 

 have delivered his instructions in the Syriac and Chaldee tongues with the 

 fluency of a native. He patronized the Psalter of Agostino Giustiniani, 

 published at Genoa in 1516, in four different languages; personally pe- 

 rused and superintended, as long as he lived, Pagnini's translation of the 

 Bible from the original Hebrew ; and, to sum up the whole, ^ave every 

 encouragement to that master-piece of learning and labour, the Complu- 

 tensian polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes ; which, with the strictest justice 

 and propriety, was dedicated to him upon its completion : so that, with 

 perhaps a single e^cception, we may adopt the following elegant eulogy of 

 Mr, Pope : ' , 



