little from others of brighter genius; he has given single sonnets from several, who are almost unknown in England, without any notice concerning them, except 'their names, their years,' imperfectly registered in a chronological index. The omission of such notizie critiche (without which these single sonnets have little interest) is the more singular, as the editor might have reprinted them from the Parnaso Italiano, where he would have found a concise account of most of the Italian poets. The work is also very deficient in explanatory notes, without which many allusions must be unintelligible to the best Italian scholars. It is entitled Componimenti Lirici, but the volumes contain only sonnets, canzoni, and a very few sestine and odes in quarta rima; nor is any reason assigned for the omission of the canzonette and other sorts of lyric poetry, which abound in Italy. All other selections, bearing that title, comprehend them; and they are certainly more truly lyric, than the sonnet. Mr Mathias writes Italian with great accuracy; and some lines in his dedicatory ode are excellent. His translation from Gray, and the sonnet in the third volume, are not quite so unexceptionable; the last line, Beltà con senno sia possente Maga,' reminds us of one in the Lucciola d' Avanzi, Beltà fascinatrice e d' amor Maga.' With a distinguishing taste, and an accurate knowledge of the language, the editor might have made this work truly valuable, if he had bestowed more labour upon it, and acquired the extensive information, without which it could not be rendered perfect. The English reader, who is not deeply versed in the literature of Italy, but partial to the poetry of his own country, has probably seen with interest in the compli mentary letter of Algarotti in Mason's Gray, that the odes of Chiabrera, Guidi, and Lazzarini, were the pride of Italy, and considered superior to any other modern productions of the lyric muse. Impressed with this idea, and curious to see the poetry, to which the odes of Gray have been compared by a writer of such eminence, he probably looked with eagerness through the selection for these distinguished authors. Of the two first, he may have found enough perhaps to satisfy his curiosity; but, when he looked for the poetry of Lazzarini, what must have been his surprise at finding one solitary sonnet! In the chronological index, indeed, he is altogether omitted; and, amongst the many Italian names, which are strung together in the preface, and the editor's Arcadian letter to his most erudite friends Alcèo and Aristippo," that of Lazzarini does not appear. Algarotti was not, however, singular in his opinion; for we well remember the elegant lamentation of Bettinelli, his rival in literary fame. 'Oimè! le Muse, che allataron Bembo, Che sul Pò nutricar l' Italo Omero, Or solitarie in su la fredda tomba Piangon di Lazzarini e di Manfredi.' Lazzarini's works are scarce in England, but seven of his sonnets and three of his odes will be found in the Scelta di Gobbi. He died in 1734. From the lyric writings of Chiabrera, Mr. Mathias has selected eleven canzoni. If he had been thoroughly acquainted with his works, he must have known that Chiabrera wrote also near a hundred sonnets, of which a specimen should certainly have been given; as their style is by no means inferior to that of his canzoni. The reputation of Chiabrera, which has always been very considerable in Italy, surpasses his actual merit, but he was a prolific writer, and attempted every species of poetry. As Lope de Vega continued the story of Angelica froin Ariosto in twenty Spanish cantos, Chiabrera, who was his contemporary, pursued that of Logistilla and Rugiero in ten books of blank verse. He wrote also an epic poem on the wars of the Goths in Italy, and several dramatic pieces; but he was most successful in light Anacreontic odes, which he is said to have introduced into the Italian language. He acquired the high name of il gran Savonese, as Menzini styles him, by copying the Greek poets, and abjuring that servile imitation of Petrarch, which had prevailed among the Italians; but his verse is seldom animated, and frequently very prosaic. He felt and admired the sublimity of Pindar; and vainly wished to soar after the Theban eagle : but the swan *of Savona, 'roco augel palustre,' was a bird of heavy wing, and could not rise above the marshes of Italy. The canzoni of Alessandro Guidi, to whose excellence the editor has paid a just tribute of praise, stand unrivalled for animation and energetic harmony. Whenever he alludes to the former glories or virtues of Rome, a subject to which his mind perpetually recurred, the spirit of the ancient mistress of the world seems to animate his di Dirce al fonte Spensi primier la sete, Che già Savona mia lunga sostenne; E di Parnaso al monte Sulle piaggie segrete Di lei Cigno novel sciolsi le penne.' Chiabrera, Canz. lug. 15. verse, and breathe into his writings a strain of exalted sublimity, which the poets of old Rome in her golden days were never perhaps able to reach. We could cite with pleasure many pages from this magnificent writer; but a few lines from the first of his odes, in Mr. Mathias's selection, will be sufficient to excite those, who are unacquainted with his poetry, to read and study it. 'Ramenta pur le trionfali rote, I tanti tuoi, che s' appressaro a i Numi Per invitti costumi, Che tal sembianza in vano Cercasi in grembo allo splendor Romano. Ardea su l'alma a i chiari duci tuoi Sdegno regale e bellicoso ardire, E quel fatal desire Di sempre incatenar duci ed eroi ; E così i figli suoi Vide del tuo Signor la stirpe altera Tanto infiammarsi alla stagion guerriera, O il buon Fabrizio armato, Ne in vau dielle il destino I nomi grandi del valor Latino. Tracia sel sa, ch' oltre all'angusti foci Pallida e fugitiva in Asia corse; Quando sopra se scorse Con la grand' ira i cavalier feroci, O qual orride voci Mandò Bizanzio! a lui tremò la mente.'-vol. 3 p. 13. We think the selection of Mr. Mathias has done justice to this excellent poet: one valuable ode to Cardinal Albano is however omitted; which if the editor had seen, we think he would have inserted. It is not published with the rest of his canzoni, but may be found at the head of his Endimione, in the 36th vol. of the Parnaso Italiano. Its commencement is very spirited. 'lo, mercè de le figlie alme di Giove, Son ne' campi d' Arcadia umil custode: Che levo in alto co' sonori versi; Ed ho cento destrieri Su la riva d' Alfeo Tutti d'eterne penne armati il dorso, I cavalli del sole.' Guidi was born about thirteen years after the death of Chiabrera, and a few months after the execution of King Charles, whose murderers his verse has execrated. With ardent ambition, and a confidence in his own talents, which seems to have been very offensive to his countrymen, he deserted the beaten path of Petrarch, and Pindar was the only model he condescended to admire; patiòv ǎorρоv ionμоu di' aisépoç. He felt, indeed, that the minute rules of the canzone, as established by Petrarch, and servilely adhered to by his followers, were pedantic restrictions, which shackled the subject, and rendered the harmony weak and monotonous. The close' imitators of Petrarch thought it expedient not only to use his metre, but even the arrangement, and sometimes the incipient words of his sentences, though their subject might be completely different. By his system, no couplet in one stanza was allowed to rhyme with one in another, however distant, though the stanzas might be ten in number, and each consisting of twenty lines. All such unmeaning restrictions of rhyme, all the subdivisions of the stanza into Piedi and Sirima, Fronte and Volte (which the reader, who wishes to understand minutely, may find at length |