ferred the-acquifition of knowledge to that 
of wealth, for in all his travels the former 
was his fole end. In Germany, France, 
England, Italy, and wherever he came, he 
reflected honour on his country: he fought 
out the learned, and they fought him; he 
attended their letures, he.converfed and 
correfponded with them on almott every 
fubject. In England he was peculiarly 
diftinguithed, fo far, that, notwithftanding 
he was only a Danifh ftudent, yet he was 
requeited by the moft learned body in that 
kingdom to fit for his pi@ure, which is 
honoured with a place amongft the great 
men in the library of the univerfity of 
Oxford. | 
Betore he fet out on his travels, he laid 
down a plan, which he followed up with 
fo much fuccefs, that his country reaped 
the advantages of it. He turned his 
thoughts to the fludy of ftate policy, a 
fcience little known to the Danes at the 
‘time ; he learned to {peak and write the 
living languages with fluency and correét- 
nefs ; he obferved the effects of the different 
Jaws of every country through which he 
paffed, on the manners and ftate of the in- 
habitants ; he weighed the policy and ftate 
maxims of the different courts, fo that in 
thefe purfuits and enquiries he expended 
the penfion which his fovereign was pleated 
to allow him. 3 : 
On his return to his native country, he 
fat down to reduce the refult of his obfer- 
Wations into maxims of fate, for the mu- 
tual welfare of the king and his people.— 
_Ais an inftance of his promptitude, he once 
ftepped forth, when no other perfon could 
“be found to do it, and anfwered the {peech 
ofan Imperial Ambaffador in elegant Latin, 
‘though at the time he {carce knew the con- 
tents of it, and of courfe had not turned it 
over in his mind. It is not a matter of 
furprize then fuch a man fhould be ap- 
pointed by his prince to write a Code of 
Laws for his kingdom, which, for perfpi- 
cuity, order, and elegance of language, 
_ftands, even to this day, unrivalled. His 
ations therefore evince, that a fingle pen 
is as ufeful to the ftate, and as deftruétive 
“to the foe, as a hoft of armed men. 
It is to be lamented, and cannot be 
denied, that this extraordinary man, by 
fome unhappy overfight, furnifhed his 
enemies with an opportunity of blafting 
all his reputation: he was accufed of fome 
mal-practices, and at laft condemned to lofe 
his head, which was afterwards commuted 
for perpetual imprifenment.’ Even in this 
fallen fituation, the king ufed often to {peak 
of his talents with admiration mingled 
_with regret. As his majefty one day fat 
Account of Count Alfieri and Tuftan Literature. 
[ July 1, 
in council, he was one day heard to fay— 
*< Ina fingle Griffenfeld I have found more 
wifdom than in all this council.” 
=e 
ACCOUNT of COUNT ALFIERI and 
TUSCAN LITERATURE, 
OUNT ViTTORIO ALFIERI is no - 
more; and with him the pure fprings 
of the Tufcan Hippocrene, we may fafely 
fay, are completely drained. In vain the 
. greateft of all politicians, naturalifis, phy- 
ficians, aftronomers, and mathematicians, 
fuch as Niccolla Macchiavelli, Galileo Ge- 
lilei, and Francefco Redi, with many more 
eminent men, have endeavoured to fet a 
memorable example to my countrymen in 
their works (whofe excellency would have 
fecured them the fame immortality, if 
written even in the vileft dialeét of Italy) 
by writing on the moft abftrufe fubjeéts 
with all the purity of ftyle, and the fine 
flowers of the Tufcan idiom. 
To come out of a regular grammar- 
{chool, or univerfity, where the Tufcan 
Janguage is no more taught than the 
Chinele, is now-a-days afufficient qualifi- 
cation for any of my countrymen to be- 
come authors on literary or fcientific fub- 
jects in their native tongue.* 
The writers themfelves of grammatical 
works, while they do not dare to lay 
down a fingle rule without the authority 
of thofe illuftrious fathers of the Tufcan 
eloquence, Dante, Boccacio, Petrarca, Vil- 
lani, Pafaventi, &c. difgrace their very 
pages with the.moft trivial, inharmonious, 
and negligent diétion. Nothing can be 
more ufeful and judicious than Cortzcelli’s 
Grammar, or thePrafpetto dé Verbi Tofcani, 
by PiffoleA; and nothing can be more de- 
fpicable than the low ftyle of their pre- 
faces, and grammatical remarks, if we 
except the quotations, which fhine {catter- 
ed here and there, like diamonds in a dung- 
hill. 
Any native of Tufcany or any other 
* The Tufcan language is taught in the 
Univerfities out of Tufcany ; butthofe fcho- 
lars have to furmount the corruption of their 
diale&t (Romans only excepted, who {peak 
univerfaliy the Tufcan language, with great 
accuracy, as to the utterance .of its founds, 
but with fas greater corruption than the 
Tufcans in point of terms, conjugation of 
verbs, idioms, éc,) whichthey learn with 
their nurfe; fothat thofe who excel in their 
Tufcan writings are real phenomena. Such, 
however, and a very wonderful one too, was 
Count ALF1IERI, born at Afi, in Piedmont. I 
know of no other fince the days of Bemba and 
Caja. ; i ae 
pare 
