One broiling day he and Mr. Monckton Milnes were walking in company with Mezzofanti across the scorching pavement of the Piazza SS. Apostoli. They were speaking German at the time.
“Well!” said Mr. Milnes, utterly overcome by the heat and glare, “this is what you may call a—what is the German,” he added, turning to Dr. Wiseman, “for ‘sweltering?’”
“‘Schwülig,’ of course,” suggested Mezzofanti, without a moment’s pause!
I have heard several similar anecdotes illustrating the minuteness of his acquaintance with other languages; and when it is remembered, that his stock of words was in great measure drawn from books, and those generally the classics of their respective languages, it need hardly be considered matter of surprise, that, as, in English, Lady Morgan found “his turn of phrase and peculiar selection of words to be those of the “Spectator,” so other foreigners have been struck by finding an Italian model his conversational style upon the highest and most refined standards in their respective literatures. One instance may suffice as a specimen. Professor Carlson of the university of Upsala, who was for a considerable time engaged in the Vatican Library, in examining the papers of Queen Christina, and was thus thrown for weeks into constant communication with Mezzofanti, assured my friend Mr. Wackerbarth of the same university, that Mezzofanti spoke the language perfectly—“quite like a native;” and that not only as regards the words, but also as regards the accent and rhythm of the language, which is very difficult. The Swedish and Danish languages are very much alike, though differing widely in accent and musical character. The Professor declared, that Mezzofanti was perfectly at home in both, as well as regards their affinities as their differences. He added, that if there were any fault to find with Mezzofanti’s speaking of Swedish, it was perhaps a trifle too grammatically accurate: if that can be considered as a fault. This may perhaps be better understood when explained, that in Swedish the difference between the spoken and written language, is perhaps more than in most languages, many words being inflected in the written, but not in the spoken language. Thus the verb “kan,” (can,) is in the plural, “kunna;” but in conversation the plural is “kan,” the same as the singular. Now, from the anecdote already told regarding young Uttini,[474] it appears that Mezzofanti was almost entirely self-taught in Swedish; and I infer from the catalogue of his library that his course of Swedish reading lay exclusively among the purest classics of that language. I am informed by Mr. Wackerbarth, that Count Oxenstjerna, son of the classical Swedish translator of Milton and Dante, who conversed with him at Rome, found him thoroughly familiar with his father’s works,[475] and in general critically acquainted with all the masters of Swedish style.
Indeed there is hardly any circumstance connected with this extraordinary gift more calculated to excite wonder than the extent and accuracy of his acquaintance with the various literatures of the languages to which he had applied himself. The fact is attested by so many witnesses that it is impossible to doubt it. Numerous instances have been already cited; but I cannot pass from this period of his life without adding a few others, chiefly regarding oriental languages, taken almost at random from many independent testimonies which have been communicated to me by persons who enjoyed his intimacy during the early years of his residence at Rome.
In a commission for the revision of the liturgical books of the Armenian rite appointed by Pope Gregory XVI., he was associated with a native Armenian scholar, Father Arsenius Angiarakian, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Gregory the Illuminator. This learned ecclesiastic, in a letter dated August 15, 1855, assures me that during the frequent opportunities of observation which a literary inquiry of such exceeding delicacy afforded, he was astonished (ho dovuto stupire) at the profound knowledge of the ancient language of Armenia, exhibited by his associate. He adds that Mezzofanti “spoke the vulgar Armenian with perfect freedom, and in all its dialects.” Mgr. Hurmuz, the Armenian Archbishop of Sirace, in a letter of May 24th, in the same year, attests that Mezzofanti’s Armenian scholarship “was not confined to the knowledge of the language, ancient and modern; he also knew the history of the Armenian nation, and of science and art among them, together with their periods of progress and decay.”
Father Arsenius frequently introduced oriental visitors, especially Turks and Persians, to Mezzofanti. Ahmed Fethi Pasha, with his Secretary, Sami Effendi, was presented to him on his way to London in 1836. After a long interview he declared to Father Arsenius, that “Mezzofanti was not only perfectly at home in the vocabulary, the structure, and the pronunciation, both of Turkish and of Persian, but thoroughly and profoundly versed (possedeva per eccellenza) in both literatures—being master of the great classic prose writers and poets of both, and their literary history.” He received the same assurances as to both languages, at various times, from Redschid Pasha, Ali Pasha, Fuad Effendi, and Shekib Effendi.
A native Syrian whom M. Antoine d’Abbadie met in Rome in 1839, assured him that “Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Arabic and fluency in speaking it were both equally admirable.”[476]
Speaking of the literature of Greece, Monsignor Missir, the learned Greek Archbishop of Irenopolis who has for many years resided at Rome, declares (in a letter of May 21st, 1855,) his belief that “Mezzofanti was as fully master of the ancient Greek, as he was of Latin or Italian, and that there was scarce a Greek author, ancient or modern, sacred or profane, whom he had not read.” The abate Pietro Matranga,[477] a Greek of Sicily, and professor of Greek in the Greek College of St. Athanasius, confirms this impression to a great extent. He states (August 17th, 1855) that “in examining the students of the Greek College, (as was his custom for many years) in the classical authors, both the orators and the tragedians, Mezzofanti never had occasion to take a book into his hands; being able on the passage being indicated by the professor, to repeat it from memory.”
A Polish priest named Ozarowski, stated as much for Polish literature to Dr. Cox.