In the autumn of the same year the Abate Mezzofanti paid his long-intended visit to Parma and De Rossi. The Italians, and especially the literary men of Italy, are proverbially bad travellers. Magliabecchi never was outside of the gates of Florence in his life, except on two occasions;—once as far as Fiesole, which may almost be called a suburb of the city, and once again to a distance of ten miles. Many an Italian Professor has passed an entire life without any longer excursion than the daily walk from his lodgings to the lecture-room. Even the great geographer, D’Anville, who lived to the age of eighty-five, is said never to have left his native city, Paris;[327] and yet he was able to point out many errors in the plan of the Troad made upon the spot by the Comte de Choiseul. It has been frequently alleged of Mezzofanti, also, as enhancing still more the marvel of his acquirements in languages, that, until his fortieth year, he had never quitted his native city. That this statement is not literally true appears from a letter which he wrote to the Abate de Rossi, on his return to Bologna, after the visit to which I have alluded.
“Pressed as I am, by my many occupations,” he says, November 11, 1805, “I cannot delay writing at least a few lines, in grateful acknowledgment of the kindnesses which I received from you during my happy sojourn in your city.
“I had been prepared for this, as well by the reports of others regarding your amiable disposition, as by the courtesy which I had myself experienced; but all my anticipations had fallen far short of the reality. Feeling that it is impossible for me to offer you a suitable acknowledgment, I beg that, although I have neither words to express it, nor means of giving it effect, you will believe me to be deeply sensible of my obligation to you. I shall preserve all your valued presents with most jealous care. The ‘Persian Anthology’[328] has been greatly relished by all here who apply to the study of that language.
“I shall often have to claim your indulgence for the trouble which I shall not fail to give you. After the many proofs I have had of your kindness, I feel that I should be offending you, were I to ask you to let me hope to reckon myself henceforward among your friends.”
The friendly courtesy of the Abate De Rossi rendered Mezzofanti’s stay at Parma exceedingly agreeable. One of the friends whom he made during this visit, the learned and venerable Librarian of the Ducal Library of that city, Cavaliere Angelo Pezzana, still survives, and still speaks with an affection which borders upon tenderness of the friendship which resulted from their first meeting, and which was the pride of his later life. Among the subjects of their conversation, Cavaliere Pezzana particularly remembers some observations of Mezzofanti on certain affinities between the Russian and Latin languages, which struck him by their acuteness and originality.
A commission which M. Pezzana gave him at his departure led to the following letter:—
Bologna, November 11, 1805.
In the hope of being able to execute the little commission you gave me regarding the Aldine edition of Aristotle, I have put off writing until I should have searched in our Library.—On doing so, I find that I have been mistaken, as there is no copy of that edition here. I avail myself, however, of this opportunity to renew the assurance of my gratitude for the numberless kindnesses which you shewed me during the time it was my good fortune to be in your society;—kindnesses which I never can forget, and for which it is my most anxious desire to find some opportunity of making you a return. I beg you to present my respects to Dr. Tommasini, and to offer to Signor Bodoni and his lady my acknowledgments for their great courtesy. Should any occasion arise in which my humble services can be of use, I shall consider myself happy, if you will always put aside every idea of my occupations, and will honour me with your valued commands. Meanwhile accept the assurance of my sincere esteem and attachment.
Mezzofanti’s intimacy with the two gentlemen named in this letter, Tommasini and Bodoni, was lasting and sincere. Tommasini, although an eminent physician of Parma and an active member of most of the scientific societies of his day, is little known outside of Italy: but Bodoni, the celebrated printer and publisher of Parma, whose magnificent editions of the classics are still among the treasures of every great library, was a man of rare merit, and a not unworthy representative of the learned fathers of his craft, the Stephens, the Manuzi, and Plantins of the palmy days of typography. He was a native of Saluzzo in the kingdom of Sardinia. His early taste for wood-engraving induced him to visit Rome for the purpose of study: and he set out in company with a school-fellow, whose uncle held some office in the Roman court. Bodoni supported himself and his companion upon the way by the sale of his little engravings, which are now prized as curiosities in the art. On their arrival, however, being coldly received by the friend on whom they had mainly relied, they resolved to return home; but before leaving Rome, Bodoni paid a visit to the printing-office of the Propaganda, where he had the good fortune to attract the notice of the Abate Ruggieri, then director of that great press. He thus obtained employment in the establishment, and at the same time was permitted to attend the Oriental Schools of the Sapienza; and thus having learned Hebrew and Arabic, he was employed exclusively upon the Oriental works printed by the Propaganda. The excellence and accuracy of the editions of the Missale Arabico-Coptum, and the Alphabetum Tibetanum of Padre Giorgi which Bodoni printed, excited universal admiration; and when, on occasion of the tragical death of his friend and patron Ruggieri, he resolved to leave Rome, he was earnestly invited to settle in England: but he accepted in preference an invitation to Parma, where he was appointed Director of the Ducal Press, and where all the well-known master-pieces of his art were successively produced. Himself a man of much learning, and of a highly cultivated mind, he enjoyed the friendship of most of the literati of Italy.
Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined,