1806.] 
favours of his noble and magnificent pa- 
tron firit infpired our poet with the defign 
of his Morgante. I have reprefented in 
their true light the circumftances under 
which he had to cperate, the fair field 
that lay before him for the ettabdlifhment 
of an honowvable fame, and the great dil- 
advantages which the prevailing tafle of 
the world threw in the way of its accom- 
plthment. From this ftatement we may 
form our judgment both of the magnitude 
of the debt which literature owes. him, 
and of the real and unavoidable fource of 
his many and manifeft defetts. The 
ftrange conceits and wild {pirit of the age 
could not be entirely fhaken off even by 
the genius of Pulci. This may eafily be 
forgiven in him, when we reflect that even 
our Shakefpeare was unequal to the tafk. 
In fhort, to this fpiric is to be attributed 
whatever is low and burlefque in his poem. 
Crefcimbeni reprefents this matter in its 
true light, when he fays, that the inventor 
of the mock-neroic was Amelunghi, who, 
under ithe feigned name of Forabofco, 
produced his ** Gigantea’’ fo late as the 
x6th century ; but that both the “ Mor- 
gante”’ and ¢* Orlando Innamorato”’ ate in 
fact ferious poems; and though they 
fometimes excite a laugh, do fo merely in- 
cidentaily. It was Lorenzo himfelf who 
fuggefted the poem to Pulci. The age 
was not fo far advanced as) to be inclined 
to favour a work in ridicule of kniglits 
and chivalry, and Lorenzo is far from be- 
ing the charaéter from whom fuch an at- 
tempt might be expected. 
*¢ But let us not,’” proceeds this elo- 
quent writer,* “let us net admit fo much 
bafenefs and fo much buffoonery in the 
Morgante as fome writers (Villani, for in- 
fiance,) have perhaps iv their judgments 
attributed to it; for by much the greater 
part of it is lofty, noble, and full of fe- 
ricus and grave fentences, and of great 
and confiderable a€tions, well managed, 
without jelting or ridicule, except when 
fometimes, and for the fake of a light 
and agreeable ornament, he condefcends to 
recur to old proverbs,” &c., &c. Of 
this fpirit of proverbializing { have already 
attempted an explanation, and only add, 
that it continued among the beft of the 
Italian writers jong after Pulci. 
Of the very high eftimation in which 
this romance was held atthe time of its 
appearance, and for aleng time after, a 
very few inftances will fuffice. 
Bianchini attributes to Lorenzo de’? Me- 
* Crefcimbeni. 
Critical Obfervations on the Morgante Maggiore. 
307 
dici, jointly with Pulci, the honour of 
having reftored the Lialian poetry. 
His ftyle was fo univerfally admired, 
that the {pirit of flattery itfelf could not 
go further than to attribute the work to 
no lefs an author than Lorenzo de” Medici 5 
and though a variety of evidence, both 
internal and external, evidently refuted 
that abfurd piece of complaifance, yet long 
after there were not wanting authors who 
believed Politian, the molt learned, the 
moft elegant, the moit polite (cholar of the 
age, to have been the author. So Theo- 
filo Folengo in his ‘‘ Orlandino <” 
Polizian fu quello che attamente 
Canto” del gran Gigante del Batajoy 
Eda Luigi Palci fuo Cliente 
L’ Honor die fenza fcritto di Notajo: 
Pur dopo fi penti?: ma chi fi pente 
Po’ | Fatto, pefta l’acqua nel Mortajo. 
Sia, o non fia par cotefto vero, 
So ben chi crede troppo ha del leggiero. 
But though, as Folengo fays, few 
people believed even is his days this tale 
of Politian’s generafity and repentance, 
Marfilio Ficino, a name nor lefs celebra- 
ted than Politian’s, among the illuftrious 
friends of Lorenzo, has, on the high and 
almott unqueftionable authority of Tafio, 
been fet down as the aflitant of Pulci in 
the compofition of his poem, and more 
particularly as the fole author of that very 
interefting and fingular part of the work 
which deicribes the incantations ef Malae 
gigi, and the three-days journey of Rinal- 
do and Ricctardetto from Egypt to Ron- 
cefvalles. The long difecurfes of the de- 
mon Affaroth on divinity and metaphy- 
fics, however whimiically introduced, are 
full of moft ‘excellent reafoning, and of 
very fublime and pure religion. Their 
daringly unorthodox tendency, and fpirit 
of contradiction to the ettablithed autho- 
rity and doétrines of the church of Rome, 
lead us the more eafily to concur in the 
opinion of Taffo, and attribute them, 
with him, to a man whofe freedom of opi- 
nion, extenfive learning, and attachment 
to the Platonic philofophy, -are well 
knowp, and who, by his intimacy with 
the péwerful ruler of Florence, was fuf- 
ficiently protegted from the fary of ecclee 
fiattical cenfures. 
Allagrer, even to this day, that the 
purity of language which adorns ‘the 
whole of this work cannet be too much 
commended ; and the whole world unites 
in the prailes beftowed on Pulci and his 
coadjuters, whoever they may have been, 
as among the firft founders of the excel- 
lence of the Florentine dialect. 
Rr2 it 
