1802. ] 
to-morrow morning, and I have that abo- 
minable job of packing to go through! 
We had determined to make a fecond at- 
tempt at Mont Jura: but we have this in- 
ftant received intelligence that lat night 
the {now has fallen yery deeply, and 
iS, moreover, fo drifted as to render the 
road impaflable. Although tohave changed 
our reute, even for the worfe, might have 
heen agreeable ; yet altogether, I believe, 
we have not much occafion to’ regret the 
neceflity of repacing, as far as Bourges, 
the tteps we have already trodden; for in 
the firft place, as it would have been ne- 
ceflary to have gone three or four leagues 
through the territories of the Swifs, we 
muft have undergone an odious examina- 
tion from the cuftom-houfe officers, our 
trunks would have been fhufed over, nor 
would our pocket-books even have been 
fecure from the profane fearch of thefe li- 
cenfed inquifitors. I am not forry, in the 
next place, that we repa(S the draw-bridge 
of Fat de lEclufe, as we fhall now have 
an opportunity, which, for want of pro- 
per information, we loft before, of feeing 
that ftriking phenomenon, the lof$ of the 
Rhone. Once more farewell ! 
—T 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
BRUNETTO LATINI. 
\ R. DUPRE, the gentleman from 
\ whom we received the communica- 
tions refpeéting Brunetto Latini, «which 
have appeared in feveral numbers of our 
Magazine, has thought proper, though not 
will afier detefion, to confefs that he has 
been impofing upon us, and that, in the 
fuppofed letters of that perfon, he only 
meant to give a picture of Englifh litera- 
ture and mamners, as they exited at that 
period, in imitation of the French Ana- 
chars. We fo little approve of impofi- 
tions of any kind, that we think it neceflas 
ry toafk pardon of our readers for having 
led them into a temporary error; and we 
imagine we cannot better atone for our 
inadvertence, than by fubjoining a genuine 
account of Brunetto Latini from the accu- 
rate Tirabofchi. 
He is fuypofed to have been defcended 
from Latino, one of the nobles of Scarmi- 
ano, and to have been born at Florence 
fome time in the thirteenth century, but in 
what year is not known. He was cer- 
tainly of mature age and reputation in 
1260, when he was fent, by the Guelf 
party, as an ambaflador to Alphonfo, King 
of Catftille, in order to obtain aid \againit 
Manfred, King of Naples and Sicily. Bru- 
Hetto was a notary by profeffion; and, 
Monrury Mac, No. 94, 
Brunetto Latints 
391 
either from fome miftake committed by 
him in his office, or the prevalence of the 
contrary party, he was obliged to quit his 
country, and take refuge in France. He 
continued long: enough in that kingdom. 
to acquire a perfect knowledge of the lan- 
guage. Circumitances at length permitted. 
him to return to Florence, of which city 
he is faid to have been fyndic in 1284, and. 
where he died in 1294. Thefeare all the 
anecdotes of his life which have been 
tran{mitted by the old writers, but they 
have dwelt more fully upon his literary 
merits. He is mentioned as a profound 
philofopher, a confummate mafter of rhe- 
toric, both theoretical and practical, and 
the firft who began to polifh the language 
and refine the underftandings of the Flo. 
rentines. It does not appear that he acted 
as a public infiruétor, but he probably af- 
fitted in their ftudies thofe who applied to 
him for direétion ; and he is particularly 
celebrated for having been in fome mea- 
fure the tutor of the illuftrious Dante, as 
is clearly implied in fome lines of that 
poet’s Inferno. Of the works of Brunet- 
to, the moft celebrated was his ‘* Teforo,”” 
a compilation from various authors, O£ 
this, the firft part confifts of the Hiftory 
of the Old and New Teftaments continued 
to his own time 3 of a defcription of the 
elements and heavens, of geography, and 
of animals; the fecond contains a compen- 
dium of Ariftotle’s Ethics, and a treatife 
of virtues and vices; the third treats of 
rhetoric and politics. It was compofed, not 
in the Provengal language, but in the 
French of the time, called the Romanza, 
The original, however, has never appear- 
ed; and what has been printed is an old 
Italian tranflation. Brunetto, befides, 
tranflated into Italian part of the firlt 
book of Cicero de Inventione, with Com- 
ments; and he wrete a work, entitled 
‘¢ Teforetto,”? confilling of moral pre- 
cepts, in rhimed couplets. Other writings: 
are attributed to him, but upon uncertain 
authority. EDITOR, 
RE eee ; 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION of the MON- 
TANNA REAL, au. extenfive TRACT of 
COUNTRY bordering on the great RIVER 
AMAZON, i2,SOUTH AMERICA, and 
inhabited by the ABORIGINAL INDIANS. 
T may be neceflary to premife, to this 
Defcriptiom, an explanation of a- 
word that frequently occurs in it; for 
probably many of our readers do not 
know, that in South America there are 
Valles which are not valleys, and Mon- 
3D  fanaas 
‘ 
