Specifically in the field of satire, Pulci’s work, important though it was in some features of style and manner,[264] exercised its greatest influence on Byron’s mood. The chastening effect of Byron’s life on his poetic genius had made him peculiarly receptive to the spirit of Pulci’s poem; and accordingly the Italian poet taught him to take life and his enemies somewhat less seriously, to be more tolerant and more genial, to make playfulness and humor join with vituperation in his satire. Byron’s satiric spirit, through his contact with Pulci, became more sympathetic, and therefore more universal.
To Berni, whom he, at one time, considered to be the true master of the Italian burlesque genre, Byron has few references. We have seen how he was induced to revise his first opinion and to recognize in Pulci “the precursor and model of Berni altogether.” In the advertisement to the translation of the Morgante he asserted that Berni, in his rifacimento, corrected the “harsh style” of Boiardo. These meagre data, however, furnish no clue to the possible influence of Berni’s work upon Don Juan.
Francesco Berni (1496?-1535)[265] is important here chiefly because of his rifacimento, or revision, of Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato. In accomplishing this task he completely made over Boiardo’s romance by refining the style, polishing the verse-structure, inserting lengthy digressions of his own and following a scheme instituted by Ariosto, prefacing each canto with a sort of essay in verse. Berni’s purpose, indeed, was to make the Innamorato worthy of the Furioso. His version, however, owing probably to the malice of some enemy, has reached us only in a mutilated form. As it stands, nevertheless, it possesses certain features which distinguish it from the work of Pulci on the one hand and that of Casti on the other.
The influence which Berni may have had on Byron’s satires comes mainly from two features of the former’s work: his introductions to separate cantos, and his admirable style and versification. It was Berni’s habit to soliloquize before beginning his story: thus Canto IX of the Innamorato commences with a philosophical disquisition on the unexpected character of most human misfortunes, leading, by a natural step, to the plot itself. So, in Don Juan, only one canto—the second—begins with the tale itself; every other has a preliminary discussion of one sort or another.[266] It was also Berni’s custom to take formal leave of his readers at the end of each canto, and to add a promise of what was to come.[267] This habit, all but universal with the Italian narrative poets, Byron followed, although his farewell occurs sometimes even before the very last stanza. A typical example may be quoted:
“It is time to ease
This Canto, ere my Muse perceives fatigue.
The next shall ring a peal to shake all people,
Like a bob-major from a village steeple.”[268]
Berni’s style and diction are far superior to Pulci’s. Count Giammaria Mazzuchelli, in the edition of Berni in Classici Italiani, says of this feature of his work: “La, facilita della rima congiunta alia naturallezza dell’ espressione, e la vivacita de’ pensieri degli scherzi uniti a singolare coltura nello stile sono in lui si maravigliose, che viene egli considerate come il capo di si fatta poesia, la quale percio ha presa da lui la denominazione, e suol chimarsi Bernesca.” He alone of the three Italian burlesque writers considered, succeeded in creating a masterpiece of literary art.[269] In this respect, then, his influence on Byron may have been salutary.
Henri Beyle (1783–1842), the self-styled M. Stendhal, is responsible for the theory, since repeated by other critics, that Byron’s Italian satires owe much to the work of the Venetian dialect poet, Pietro Buratti (1772–1832). When Beyle was with Byron in Milan in November, 1816, he heard Silvio Pellico speak to Byron of Buratti as a charming poet, who, every six months, by the governor’s orders, paid a visit to the prisons of Venice. Beyle’s account of the ensuing events runs as follows: “In my opinion, this conversation with Silvio Pellico gave the tone to Byron’s subsequent poetical career. He eagerly demanded the name of the bookseller who sold M. Buratti’s works; and as he was accustomed to the expression of Milanese bluntness, the question excited a hearty laugh at his expense. He was soon informed that if Buratti wished to pass his whole life in prison, the appearance of his works in print would infallibly lead to the gratification of his desires; and besides, where could a printer be found hardy enough to run his share of the risk?—The next day, the charming Contessina N. was kind enough to lend her collection to one of our party. Byron, who imagined himself an adept in the language of Dante and Ariosto, was at first rather puzzled by Buratti’s manuscripts. We read over with him some of Goldoni’s comedies, which enabled him at last to comprehend Buratti’s satires. I persist in thinking, that for the composition of Beppo, and subsequently of Don Juan, Byron was indebted to the reading of Buratti’s poetry.”[270]