Notes.
MILTON AND MALATESTI.
About nine years after Milton visited Italy, he thus briefly noticed, in letter to Carlo Dati, his surviving Florentine friends:
"Carolo Dato patricio Florentino.... Tu interim, mi Carole, valebis, et Cultellino, Francino, Frescobaldo, Malatestæ, Clementillo minori, et si quem alium nostri amantiorem novisti; toti denique Gaddianæ academiæ, salutem meo nomine plurimam dices. Interim vale.—Londino, Aprilis 21. 1647."
The above extract is from The prose works of John Milton, as printed in 1806, and I shall add to it the translation by Robert Fellowes, A.M., from the same edition:
"To Carolo Deodati, a Florentine noble.... In the mean time, my dear Charles, farewell, and present my kind wishes to Cultellino, Francisco, Trescobaldo, Malatesto, the younger Clemantillo, and every other inquiring friend, and to all the members of the Gaddian academy. Adieu.—London, April 21. 1647."
Warton states, in a note on the minor poems of Milton, that Mr. Brand discovered, on a book-stall, a manuscript of La tina of Malatesti, dedicated to Milton while at Florence, and that he gave it to Mr. Hollis, who sent it in 1758, together with the works of Milton, to the Accademia della Crusca. Warton justly observes, "The first piece would have been a greater curiosity in England." With these facts the information of the most recent biographers of Milton seems to terminate. I am enabled, however, to prove that the work is in print, and shall transcribe my authority verbatim:
"Malatesti, Antonio. La tina, equivoci rusticali (in 50 sonetti). Londra, Tommaso Edlin, 1757, in 8ᵒ.
Non è fatta in Londra quest' ediz. nel 1757, ma presso che 80 anni dopo in Venezia, ed in numero di 50 esemplari in carta velina, due in carta grande inglese da disegno, ed uno, unico, in pergamena.
Il Malatesti aveva regalato una copia di questi graziosissimi sonetti al celebre inglese Gio. Milton, nell' anno in cui egli visitava l'Italia. Dopo la morte del Milton pervennero in mano del sig. Brant, gentiluomo inglese, il quale una copia ne fece trarre per regalarla a Gio. Marsili, prof. dell' Università di Padova, che nel 1757 si trovava in Londra. Il MS. del Marsili servì a questa ristampa che porta in fronte quella stessa prefazione in inglese che stava nel MS. Marsiliano."
The authority alluded to is the fourth edition of the Serie dei testi di lingua of Bartolommeo Gamba, Venezia, 1839, royal 8vo.—one of the best bibliographical compilations ever produced. I was led to suspect, on glancing at the note, that Gamba himself was the editor of the volume, and now consider it as certain, for La tina appears under his name in the index. As copies of the work must have reached England I hope to see the dedication reprinted, and am sure it would be received as a welcome curiosity.