in Quadrio), were at once rejected. He considered also, that a perpetual recurrence of rhymes was not so necessary, as an artful disposition of them, which might be sufficient to gratify the ear, without shackling or embarrassing the subject; and his harmony was so perfect that, although many blank lines occur in his odes, as in the Lycidas of Milton, the ear is never offended by them. No bard has ever struck the Pindaric lyre with such boldness and success; but few have ventured to imitate him. The Italian critics, indeed, acknowledge his merit; but warn other writers to decline a career, in which, without the extraordinary genius of Guidi, they would inevitably fail. Perhaps, however, the narrow rules of the Petrarchesque ode have produced more dull poetry, than any license of metre could have done; his imitators were forced to attend so much to the formal part of their composition, that the matter of their verse became a secondary consideration. Tiraboschi states, that the presumptuous manner in which Guidi spoke of himself, and the uncomeliness of his person, rendered him very unpopular, and contributed to prevent his style being imitated. His temper was irritable; and he died at last in a fit produced by ill-humour at errors of the press in his version of the homilies. He seldom condescended to imitate any Italian writer; but the following lines are closely copied from Molza : Sorgere in ogni etate Fuor da queste ruine Qualche spirto real sempre si scorse, Che la fama del Tebro alto soccorse.'-Guidi. Che sempre alcun real spirto è giunto Fuor di queste onorate alte ruine A ristorarle d'ogni colpo ingiusto.'— Molza. Very different in style to the bold flights of Guidi, but little inferior in poetical beauty, is the pathetic eloquence of Celio Magno, a Venetian writer of the sixteenth century. The flow of his verse is so natural, tender, and interesting, that his pathetic odes have never been equalled; and (as Rubbi observes) he proved to Italy, that love was not indispensably necessary to the production of beautiful poetry; a truth which, however, Sannazaro had begun to suspect, when he wrote 'Che senza dir degli occhi, o del bel velo, O di lei che mi fugge, Si può con altra gloria andar in cielo.' Indeed, Sannazaro sometimes ventured to write in a better manner; and his Incliti spirti, a cui fortuna arride,' is far superior to his trivial odes in this selection. The Editor has not done justice to the superior merit of Celio Magno, from whose canzoni he has printed only two; on the Deity, and the Death of his father. They are both excellent: the former is a masterly composition, and as its subject is the most sublime, its poetry is the most elevated. He attempted an ode of exultation for the victory of Lepanto; but the theme did not suit his genius, and it is not at all comparable to the sublime Spanish ode of Fernando de Herrera upon the same subject. His pathetic poetry, however, is exquisite; and the editor should have printed the odes on his return from banishment, and on the approach of his death. The latter would have been particularly interesting to English readers, as they would have discovered in that, and a few other passages by the same author, the source of some of the most striking beauties in Gray's celebrated elegy. We shall transcribe a few passages, in which the coincidence appears to be most remarkable: Celio Magno, Cunz. 11. The breezy call of incense breathing morn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.'-Gray. 'O d'ogni uman sudor meta infelice, Da cui torcer non lice Pur orma, ne sperar pietade alcuna ! Che natura può dar larga e fortuna, Se tutto e falso ben sotto la luna, E la vita sparisce a lampo eguale Che subito dal cielo esca e s' asconda.'-C. Magno, 11. Let not ambition, &c. down to The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'-Gray. In bel sepolcro, tal non visto avanti Con larghe esequie di lamenti e doglia Poser la sua terrena esangue scorza. Ecco il ciel risonar di chiara tromba! Ecco sovra la tomba La Fama in aria !-C. Magno, 10. If memory o'er their tombs,' &c.- -Gray Ma (qual in parte ignota Ben ricca gemma altrui cela il suo pregio. Visse in sen di castità nascosta ; In sua virtute e'n Dio contento visse Lunge dal visco mondan, che l'alma intrica.-C. Magno, 6. Full many a gem, &c. and Far from the maddening crowds,' &c.-Gray. Una (one of the Muses) di scolpir si sforza Nel duro marmo, e porvi ad altrui voglia Breve detto, che 'l nome e i merti accoglia. Render palesi in questo marmo adorno.'-C. Magno, 10. 'Some frail memorial,' & the four next lines.-Gray. 'Lasso me, che quest' alma e dolce luce, Questo bel ciel, quest' aere onde respiro, Lasciar convegno; e miro Fornito il corso di mia vita omai, E l'esalar d'un sol breve sospiro A languid' occhi eterna notte adduce.'—C. Magno, 11. For who to dumb forgetfulness,' &c.-Gray. 'Da miei più cari e fidi Amor cortese guidi Al marmo in ch' io sarò tosto sepolto, E la pietà, che in lor mai sempre vidi, Qualche lagrime doni a mia sventura.'-C. Magno, 11. 'On some fond breast,' &c.-Gray. The leading thoughts of the epitaph will be found in the following lines; Da la giust' ira tua, mentre a lor guardo.'-C. Magno, 11. The imitations of Dante and Petrarch, in Gray's elegy, have been noted; but we believe that beautiful passage, which he has translated from Petrarch in his Bard, has not been observed. See the 2nd stanza of the canzoni, which commences Standomi un giorno. 'Fair laughs the morn, &c. Gray. The sixth stanza of his elegy is also translated from the third book of Lucretius, 'At jam non domus,' &c. Considering how much he was indebted to the Italian poets, he seems to have treated them ungenerously in his ode on the Progress of Poetry, where he might have bestowed some praise on those, who sung even after Latium had her lofty spirit lost.' Pignotti has, however, since avenged the cause of Italy by retaliation, and has stolen as much from Gray, as Gray did from the Italians. Having given the palm for animation to Guidi, and for tenderness to Celio Magno, we cannot withhold our commendations from the serious and dignified strength of Filicaja, or the simple elegance and Horatian neatness of Testi. The sublimity of Filicaja is not so much derived from Pindar, as from the sacred writings. Probably the success with which Herrera diffused the spirit. of Isaiah into his writings, as well as the piety of his own mind, directed the thoughts of Filicaja to that fountain of poetical beauty. His ode on the victory gained by the Poles and Imperialists over the Turks, bears a strong resemblance to that of Herrera on the battle of Lepanto. In his address to the Deity, he says, Tolsi all' Ebrca faretra L'auree quadrella.' And in another canzone, all' Idumea faretra Le sactte involai, Ond' io dell'Asia il fier Pithon piagai.' The odes selected by Mr. Mathias from Filicaja have all considerable merit; but the first is such an encomium on the profligate and contemptible Christina, that we wish |