SISMONDI’S LITERATURE OF THE SOUTH.
Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de Sismondi (1773–1842) published his Histoire des Républiques Italiennes du Moyen-Age in 16 vols, between 1807 and 1818; his Littérature du midi de l’Europe (here reviewed and afterwards—in 1823—translated by Thomas Roscoe) in 4 vols. in 1813; and his Histoire des Français in 31 vols., 1821–1844. Roscoe’s translation forms two volumes of Bohn’s Standard Library. The translations in the present review are presumably by Hazlitt himself.
PAGE [45]. Metastasio. Pietro Antonio Bonaventura Trapassi (1698–1782), poet and librettist. Alfieri. Vittorio, Count Alfieri (1749–1803), the dramatist and poet. Goldoni. Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), the comic dramatist. [46]. Professor Boutterwek. Friedrich Bouterwek (1765–1828), author of Geschichte der neuern Poesie und Beredsamkeit (1801–1819). Millot’s History of the Troubadours. Histoire Littéraire des Troubadours (1774), by Claude François Xavier Millot (1726–1785). Tiraboschi. Girolamo Tiraboschi (1731–1794), author of Storia della Letteratura Italiana (1772–1782). Velasquez. Louis Joseph Velasquez de Velasco (1722–1772), author of several works on Spanish poetry and antiquities. ‘Rose like an exhalation.’ Paradise Lost, I. 711. [56]. Preserved by Cervantes, etc. Don Quixote, Part I., Book I., chap. vi. [61]. Dante. Cf. Lectures on the English Poets, vol. V. pp. 17, 18, and notes. [62]. That withering inscription. At the beginning of Canto III. of the Inferno. The Story of Geneura. It is clear from the note that Hazlitt is referring to the story of Francesca of Rimini in Canto V. of the Inferno. Paolo and Francesca read together the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. Note. ‘And all that day we read no more!’ Inferno, Canto V. [63]. ‘Because on earth,’ etc. Hazlitt is fond of quoting these lines, which, however, do not appear to be Dante’s. Possibly the explanation is to be found in a letter from Lamb to Bernard Barton (Feb. 17, 1823), where he says: ‘I once quoted two lines from a translation of Dante, which Hazlitt very greatly admired, and quoted in a book, as proof of the stupendous power of that poet; but no such lines are to be found in the translation, which has been searched for the purpose. I must have dreamed them, for I am quite certain I did not forge them knowingly. What a misfortune to have a lying memory!’ ‘I am the tomb,’ etc. Inferno, Canto XI. As when Satan is compared, etc. Hazlitt seems to be confusing Dante with Milton. See Paradise Lost, IV. 196. ‘Instinct with life.’ Cf. ‘Instinct with spirit.’ Paradise Lost, vi. 752. Count Ugolino. Inferno, Canto XXXIII. Lamb shared Hazlitt’s dislike of Reynolds’s picture. See Works (ed. E. V. Lucas), I. 75 and 149. Patmore (My Friends and Acquaintance, II. 252) compares Hazlitt with Ugolino. ‘By the sole strength,’ etc. See Paradiso, Canto I. [65]. The Sonnet of Petrarch. No. CCLI. See Sismondi, chap. X. [68]. The story of the two holiday lovers. The Decameron, 4th Day, Novel VII. [69]. Pulci. Luigi Pulci (1432–?1484), author of Il Morgante Maggiore (1481). Boyardo. Matteo Maria Boiardo (1434–1494), whose Orlando Innamorato was published in 1486. Francesco Berni’s (1490?–1536) version appeared in 1541. [71]. ‘Giace l’alta Cartago.’ Jerusalem Delivered, Canto XV. St. 20. The speech of Satan. Ibid. Canto IV. [72]. ‘I rather envied,’ etc. Montaigne, Essays, Book II., chap. xii. [73]. ‘Like the swift Alpine torrent,’ etc. From the final chorus of Il Torrismondo. [74]. Chaucer and Spenser. Much of what follows was repeated by Hazlitt in his lecture on Chaucer and Spenser. See vol. V., pp. 19–44, and notes. [75]. Rousseau’s description of the Elisée. La Nouvelle Héloïse, Partie IV., Lettre XI. [76]. In looking back, etc. These two concluding paragraphs were lifted into Hazlitt’s lecture on Shakspeare and Milton. See vol. V. pp. 44–46, and notes.