24 
collection of Nowell: Morali, in two vo- 
lumes, each containing eighteen tales, 
which are narrated with great eafe, and 
are in high eftimation for the elegance and 
purity of their ftyle. He has likewife 
written a Syftem of Logic and Metaphy- 
fics, after the manner of Locke and Con- 
diilac. Among his tranflations, that of 
Virgil’s Georgics is much efteemed. He 
has likewife rendered into his native Jan- 
guage the Idylls of Gefner, and the Ex- 
tract from Locke on the Human Under- 
fianding, by Wynne. 
_ At Parma I found, to my regret, that 
the beautiful Corregics which I {aw there 
ten years fince, were gone. I was un- 
able to obtain admiifion to the pieces by 
Corregio, which were found in an apart- 
ment in a nunnery, and which Bodeni 
made known in a (plendid work, with a 
defcription by Gherardo de Roffi, of 
Rome. Bodoni would, however, have 
procured me accels to them, had not the 
enly perfon that can enter the convent 
whenever he pleafes, the French Prefect, 
who is a friend of Bodoni’s, been indif- 
pofed. Thedefigns for the engravings 
of Bodoni’s work were fketched by Viey-- 
ra, a Portuguefe, in afew hours. An- 
other artift, of the name of Trevifani, is 
at prefent employed by the French Prefect 
inteking cop‘es of them-in oil. At the 
Academy, which now contains notiing 
but the prize-pieces of young artifts, I be- 
held, on a {mall fcale, the effects of 
French rapacity, which we experienced at 
Rome ina much greater degree. All the 
antique ftatues which formerly ftood in 
the hall of the academy, and thole dug 
out of the fubterraneous ruins of Velleji, 
ftood packed up in chefts, ready to. be 
fent off to Paris. Among them were 
fome bufts of Emperors, and figures with 
moft exquifite draperies. 
Bodoni’s printing-office at Parma is a 
curiofity which no traveller ought to omit 
feeing. The proprietor himfeit is a man 
of the utmoft politenefs, cordiality, and 
gcod-nature, with whom you feel the 
fame freedom in the firft minute as with 
an old friend. His acquaintances know 
perfectly well how to take advantage of 
his difpofition to ferve every one. Whea 
any of them has produced a_ paltry 
poem, adifcourfe, or any worthlefs trifle, 
‘the kind Bodoni is ealily prevailed upon 
to print it; and thus a great quantity of 
trafh pafics thrcugh his prefics, end is 
purchafed at high prices, on account of the 
beautiful type, by the colie&tors of works 
of his printing. His fplendid editions of 
the Latin Claffics are in lefs efiimation 
State of Literature and the Arts in ltaly. 
[Feb. 1, 
than the Italian, beeaufe they are not very 
correct. Didot has deteled a number cf 
very grofs errors in his Virgil. Of his, 
Ttalian authcers, the works of ‘Faflo, — 
Aminta, and the Gierufalemua Liverata, 
edited by the Abate Seraffi, are in high 
repute for their correétne{s. His Petrarca 
aeterves the fame commendation. On the 
contrary, the admirable Roman edition of 
Dante, by Padre Lombardi, is juftly pre- 
ferred to Bodoni’s, which was edited by 
Monfignor Dionifi, of Verona. Dionifi 
ought perhaps to have been more capable 
than any other perfon of producing a cor- 
rect edition of the Divina Commedia, for 
he devoted about thirty years of his life 
almot entireiy to the {tudy of Dante, and 
there isnot a manufcript in Italy, not an - 
early or a rare edition, which he has not 
coilated, for the fake of the different 
readings. But inftead of taking one of 
the beft editions for his ground. work, and 
then judicioufly feleéting the beft readings, 
he has, according to his caprice, compof- 
eda Pafficcio ot them all, and produced 
a text that has no other authority. than the 
tafte of Monfgnor Dionif, which none 
can certainly allow to be genuine. Padre 
Lombardi, during the eighteen years he 
was employed on his Dante, likewife col- 
lated moft of the MSS. and early editions ; 
but pofleffiag more judgment, he feleéted 
the Nidobeatina edition fcr his ground- 
work. He gives his reafons for rejecting 
or admitting certain readings, which are 
almoft always judicious, and, in confe- 
quence of forturate conjectures, which he 
afterwards found confirmed by MSS, has 
amended the text where it wanted correc- 
ticn. On this account Bodoni’s Daste is 
in lefs requeft,. while his Taflo and Pe- 
trarca are caught up with avidity. He 
defe:s his intended edition of Atriofto, 
which the amateurs have long been anxi- 
oufly expecting: he fays he is afraid of 
undertaking a werk of {uch magnitude, in 
fix volumes, and various fizes. He has an 
idea of commencing 4 Homer, in four vo- 
lumes, in large folio. He intends to 
print only the text, and was ftill undecid- 
ed what edition to fele&t for the ground- 
work. My companion, M. Riemer, a 
worthy pupil of Wolf, advifed him to 
take the edition by that author, which is 
univerlally acknowledged to be the beft, 
both for the corre&neis of the text and cf 
the impreffion, 
The two equeftrian fiatues of the Dukes 
Alexander and Ranieri Farnefe, in the 
fquare at Placenza, defervesto be ranked 
among the nioft ditinguifhed productions 
of modern art, notwithftanding all the vi- 
olations 
