1806. | 
honours and to fortune, it is perfeétly na- 
tural that there fhould prevail an univer- 
fal eagernefs to enter into it, and the mul- 
titude is fo much the greater for this 
reafon, that, as the”"government does not 
make it a rule to give the preference to 
the nobility in the diftribution of em- 
ployments, every lawyer indulges the 
hope of one day obtaining the molt im- 
portant fituations. | But a lawyer, I fhall 
be told, is, from his profeffion, a man of 
Jetters. He is fo, indeed, in every coun- 
try but Sicily. ‘There, from an efprit de 
corps, the lawyer imbibes a certain con- 
tempt of the cultivation of literature; 
and if he fhould chance to be an admirer 
of the Mules, his intercourfe with them is 
a profound fecret: were it known, it 
would be injurious to his charaéter asa 
man of bufinefs; the public opinion 
would be again{t him. 
But whatever may be the caufes, either 
general or particular, which oppofe the 
progrefs of knowledge in Sicily, caufes 
which we have not been able to point out, 
we are under the neceffity of admitting, 
that from 1790 to 1803 that ifland has af. 
forded a very abundant literary harveft, 
Among thele productions there are un- 
doubtedly fome which good tafte mutt 
confign to oblivion; but a flower difco- 
vered on a parched foil, or amid the ri- 
gours of winter, though pale and weakly, 
ftill gives us one pleafurable fenfation— 
that of furprife. We are naturally in- 
clined to {pcak of it with a ceitain degree 
of intereit. 
In acountry where the cenferfhip is 
extremely fevere, it cannot be_ expeéted 
that we fhould mention many works on 
theology. If we except a tranflation of 
“* Lyttelton’s Evidences of the Truth of 
Chriftianity,”” a‘ Life of Jefus Chrift 
compiled from the four Evangelifis,”” and 
oneor two other works of the fame kind, 
all the reft are mere polemical works more 
than a century behind-hand. For exam- 
ple, Difcorfo contra gli Ebrei e gl incre- 
duli fulla verita della refurrezione di Gefu 
Crifio—L’Empieta della dottrina Ariana, 
conculcata e convinta nel gloriofa maritrio 
di §. Ermenegildo Re d Andalufia. It 
fhould be oblerved, that this la(t is a tra- 
gedy in five atts. But a Mill more re- 
markable work, written by a monk, 
named Gaetano Verga, is entitled, La 
gran dignita del fantifimo Rofario. ‘This 
moniirous production, notwithitanding 
the pious blafphemies with whichitiwarms, 
had efcaped the feverity of the cenforthip : 
it was the public papers that firft pro. 
Hiftory of Literature, &&c. in Sicily, 
123° 
nounced an anathema againft the author. 
We fhall endeavour to convey fome idea 
of its fubje&t. The Devil appears before 
the tribunal of the Saviour, and com- 
plains bitterly that the blefled Virgin, by 
the inftitution of the Rofary, daily de- 
prives hime of many worthy fouls, wha 
would otberwife fall into his clutches. 
Jefus Chrift immediately difpatches the 
angel Gabriel to fummon his mother to 
appear, becaufe, as he fays, he is deter- 
mined to comply (ritily with all the ne- 
cefiary formalities. The parties fpeak 
in their own behalf but the monk, 
with inconceivable ftupidity, makes his 
devil plead with fuch warmth and ability, 
shat Jefus Chrift may jultly be fuflpected 
of partiality in giving a verdict in favour 
of his mother. The author knows no 
merit fuperior to that of the rofary; its 
virtue is univerfal. The angel Gabriel 
concludes with puiting all the good ac- 
tions of men into one fcale, anda rofary | 
into the other: it outweighs them. — 
It would appear from the preceding ob- 
fervations that Sicily ought to abound in 
geod works onjurifprudence. This, how- 
ever, is not the cafe. They are, for the 
moft part, mere compilations: in that 
philofophical fpirit which generalizes their 
utility they are abfolutely deficient. No- 
thing that has appeared on this fubjeét 
deferves to be mentioned, unlefs it be the 
“¢ Introduétion to the Jurifprudence of 
Sicily,’’ by Doctor Rofarios Gregorio, a 
lawyer equally diftnguifhed for extenfive 
information and found philofophy. 
The eftablifhment of the firfii anatomi- 
cal theatre in Sicily, by Caramanico, 
proves how little progrefs has been made 
in that country in the medical art: it has, 
however, begun to be more attentively 
cultivated. Chemilfiry, in particular, has 
become a favourite ftudy of the Sicilians, 
and the works of M. Fourcroy are held im 
high efttmation. Some of the mof dif- 
tinguifhed literati have devoted their at- 
tention to the natural hifiory of the coun- 
try; andthe family of Gioeni, of Cata- 
nea, pofieffes a cabinet intereliing both for 
its richnefs, and for the regularity and 
tafte which pervade it. Ochers, more er 
lefs important, exilt in every town of Si- 
cily; but it is neceflary to feek the com- . 
pany of the proprietors, becaufe they are 
not accuftomed, like thofe of othercoun- 
tries, to publith their oblervations. Every 
one is acquainted with the cataftrophe 
that befel the manufcript of the canon 
Recupero, the invaluable refult of obfer- 
vations made for a Jong feries of ek on 
(naz 
