By far the most remarkable, however, of Mezzofanti’s successes in the Propaganda was his acquisition of Chinese. The difficulty of that language for Europeans has long been proverbial,[495] and it argued no ordinary courage in a scholar now on the verge of his sixtieth year to enter regularly upon such a study. His first progress at Naples, before he was interrupted by the severe illness which there seized him, has been already described. It was not for a considerable time after his return, that he was enabled to resume the attempt systematically. A wish was expressed by the authorities of the Propaganda that a select number of the students of the Naples college should be sent to Rome for the completion of their theological studies. Three young Chinese had already visited the Propaganda while Mezzofanti was still in Bologna, one of whom, named Pacifico Yu, offered himself to the Cardinal Prefect, as a missionary to the Corea, at a period when the attempt was almost a certain road to martyrdom: but it was not until the year 1835-6 that the design of adopting a few of the Neapolitan students into the college of the Propaganda was actually carried out. Don Raffaelle Umpierres, for many years Procurator of the mission at Macao, was soon afterwards appointed their prefect and professor; and under his auspices and with the assistance of the young Chinese, Mezzofanti resumed the study with new energy. His success is admitted on all hands to have been almost unexampled. Certainly it has never been surpassed by any European not resident in China. In the year 1843, I was myself present while he conversed with two youths, named Leang and Mong, and although my evidence cannot extend beyond these external signs, I can at least bear witness to the fluency with which he spoke, and the ease and spirit with which he seemed to sustain the conversation. But his complete success is placed beyond all doubt by an attestation forwarded to me, by the abate Umpierres, the Chinese Professor,[496] already named, who declares that he “frequently conversed with the Cardinal in Chinese, from the year 1837, up to the date of his death, and that he not only spoke the mandarin Chinese,[497] but understood other dialects of the language.”
Mezzofanti himself freely confessed the exceeding difficulty which he had found in mastering this language. It cost him, as he assured Father Arsenius Angiarakian, four months of uninterrupted study. Speaking once with Cardinal Wiseman of his method of linguistic study, he said that the “ear and not the eye was for him the ordinary medium through which language was conveyed;” and he added, that the true origin of the difficulty which he had felt in learning Chinese, was not so much the novelty of its words and forms, as the fact that, departing from the analogy of other languages, it disconcerted the pre-arranged system on which he had theretofore proceeded; it has an eye-language distinct from the ear-language, which he was obliged to make an especial study.
It is worth while to mention that the Cardinal successfully accomplished in a short time what cost the missionaries in China, with all their advantages of position, many years of labour, having actually preached to the Chinese students in the Propaganda, on occasion of one of the spiritual retreats which are periodically observed in ecclesiastical seminaries.
It must not be supposed, however, that the Propaganda was his only school of languages. Not unfrequently, also, missionaries from various parts of the world, who repaired to the Propaganda on the affairs of their several missions, supplied a sort of supplement to the ordinary resources of the institution. In this way a German missionary, Father Brunner, (now, I believe, superior of a religious congregation in the United States,) initiated him in the languages of Western Africa. Father Brunner had been for a time a missionary in Congo. On his arrival in Rome, Mezzofanti placed himself in communication with him; and Cardinal Reisach, (who was at that time Rector of the Propaganda,) states that he soon progressed so far as to be able to keep up a conversation in the language. The general language of Congo comprises many distinct branches, the Loango, the Kakongo, the Mandongo, the Angolese, and the Camba.[498] Of these Mezzofanti applied himself especially to the Angolese, in which he more than once composed pieces for recitation at the academical exhibition of the Epiphany. Two of these, which will be found in the appendix, have been submitted to the criticism of Mr. Consul Brande, long a resident at Loango, who pronounces them “to exhibit a correct knowledge of the Angolese or Bunda language.”[499]
I may add to the number of those with whom he was accustomed to speak oriental languages, two others mentioned to me by Cardinal Wiseman. The first was a learned Chaldean, Paul Alkushi, who had once been a student of the Propaganda, but relinquished the intention of embracing the ecclesiastical profession. The other was a converted Jew, a native of Bagdad, and who, although otherwise illiterate, spoke fluently Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. He was familiarly known in Rome by the sobriquet of “Shalom,” from the habitual salutation with which he used to address his friends at meeting and parting.
The only letters of this period which I have been able to procure are two, addressed to his Bolognese friends, Michael Ferrucci and Liborio Veggetti. The former (dated June 6th, 1836,) is in acknowledgment of some copies of Latin Epigrams, partly from his own pen, partly from that of the Canonico Schiassi, which Ferrucci had sent to Mezzofanti: but it is chiefly noticeable for the warm interest which it evinces in the welfare of his old friend, who had written to ask advice and assistance in his candidature for a professorship in one of the Tuscan Universities, Signor Ferrucci, some time afterwards, went to Geneva, as professor of rhetoric, but he eventually obtained an appointment in the University of Pisa, where he is now Librarian.
The letter to Veggetti, (February 17, 1838,) regards his appointment as Librarian of the University of Bologna, in which Mezzofanti had been much interested.
“I am delighted that my wishes have not been in vain or without effect, and that the Library, for so many years the object of my care, is confided to the direction of an old and distinguished pupil of my own. I need not give you any advice, knowing, as I do, what exactness and assiduity you have always shown in the discharge of your duties. Knowing, also, the good understanding you maintain with my nephew, Monsignor Minarelli, in whom I repose the fullest confidence, I need only say that if you consult with him in any doubt which may arise regarding your duties, it will be the same as if you were speaking with the old librarian himself.