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the course of the seventh century, and in 823 it finally sub- | shorter periods preserved an all but nomina independence in mitted to Egbert of Wessex.

the midst of the larger states, to some one or other of which 5. Northumbria, consisting of the sometimes separate but they were severally considered as annexed. Such were the commonly united states of Bernicia and Deira; the former Isle of Wight; the Suthrige, or Southern Kingdom, now (from the native name Bryneich) including the county of Surrey; the district of Hwiccas, or Magesettam, which was Northumberland, and the south-eastern counties of Scot- conterminous with the antient bishoprie of Worcester; and land as far as the Forth, founded by Ida, whose followers others, of which the annals have been for the first time were Angles, A.D. 547; the latter (from the native name collected by Sir Francis Palgrave. But above all it would Deifyr) including the counties of Cumberland, Durham, be difficult to show that either term is perfectly admissible, Westmoreland, York, and Lancaster, founded by Ella, whose if it be intended to imply (as in strict propriety both hepfollowers were also Angles, A.D. 560. These two states tarchy and octarchy would seem to do) that the several appear to have coalesced before the beginning of the states were all connected together into any sort of union or seventh century; and after the year 655 they were never confederacy; that they formed, in fact, any political system separated, so long as they retained their independence. entitled to be designated by one word at all. We know The limits of the kingdom of Northumbria to the north that they were constantly at war with one another, and of varied greatly from time to time according to the fortunes the existence of any general controlling authority, except of the almost constant warfare which it carried on with the such as one king was occasionally enabled to maintain over Scots, the Piets, and the kingdom of Strathclyde. From the the rest by his sword, their history affords no trace. To middle of the eighth century the history of Northumbria certain of the kings however by whom this temporary suconsists of little else than a detail of civil dissensions, con-premacy appears to have been asserted in the most marked fusion, and bloodshed, arising from the claims of rival com- manner, Bede, and after him, the Saxon Chronicle, have petitors for the throne. The Northumbrians made a formal attributed the title of Bretwalda, that is, as it has been insubmission to Egbert of Wessex in 829. In 867 the coun- terpreted, Wielder or Emperor of Britain; and it is probable try was conquered by the Danes; and from this time it that a species of superior honour and dignity, such as this may be considered to have remained independent under title would imply, may have been claimed by the princes in princes of Danish race till 924, when both the Danes and question, and accorded to them by those of their neighbours the English inhabitants acknowledged the supremacy of whom they had brought under subjection, or who, although Edward the Elder. Northumbria, however, continued to unsubdued, preferred not to provoke their enmity. The be governed by princes of its own, who, although nominally following is the succession of the Bretwaldas as given by subject to the English monarch, took the title of kings, Bede:-1. Ella, or Aelli, who was king of Sussex from 491 till 952. After this its rulers were only designated earls; to 518; 2. Coelin, or Ceawlin, who reigned in Wessex from the district forming sometimes one earldom, sometimes 560 to 591, and is supposed to have held the place of Brettwo, under the names of Bernicia and Deira, or Northum-walda from 568 to 589; 3. Ethilbert, or Aedilberct, who bria and York. It was not till some time after the Norman was king of Kent before 568, and is supposed to have been conquest that the territories which had formed this Saxon acknowledged as Bretwalda from 589 till his death in 616; state came to be considered as strictly included within the 4. Redwald, king of East Anglia, from 616 to 624; 5. realm of England. Edwin, of Northumbria, from 624 to 633; 6. Oswald, of Northumbria, from 635 to 642; 7. Oswio, of Northumbria, from 642 to 670. Egbert of Wessex is reckoned the eighth Bretwalda, and is considered to have attained the dignity in the year 827. This account, it will be observed, makes the country to have been without any general sovereign for about one half of the whole period that elapsed between the death of Ella and the accession of Egbert. The enumeration also omits some kings, such as Ina of Wessex, and Offa of Mercia, who were certainly possessed of as much power as any of those, excepting Egbert, upon whom the title of Bretwalda is bestowed.

6. East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, founded by Uffa, whose followers were Angles, and from whom the kings of this state took the name of Uffingas, A.D. 571. The East Angles placed themselves under the sovereignty of Egbert of Wessex about the year 823, but they continued for some time after this under the immediate government of their own kings. The country was conquered by the Danes in 883; and it was not completely brought back under subjection to the English crown till after the accession of Athelstane in 925. From this time it appears to have been governed by ealdermen or dukes.

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7. Mercia, including the counties of Chester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Shropshire, Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, Huntingdon, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, and parts of Hertford and Bedford, said to have been founded by Crida, whose followers were Angles, A.D. 585. The name Mercia has been derived, by Camden and others, from the word meare, a limit; for the other kingdoms,' it is said, bordered upon it.' Lingard thinks that the people were called Mercians, perhaps from the marshy district in which they first settled.' The most probable explanation, however, appears to be that given by Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce,' who observes that the Saxon name Myrenaric properly signifies the woodland kingdom, which,' he adds, agrees very closely with Coitani, the Latinized name of the old British inhabitants, signifying woodland-men, or foresters.' About the middle of the seventh century Mercia was conquered by Oswio, king of Northumbria; but after a few years it recovered its independence; and before the end of the next century it had reduced to subjection both the neighbouring states of East Anglia and Kent. It was eventually subjugated however about the year 825, by Egbert of Wessex, and although for some time considered as a separate kingdom, it continued ever after dependent upon that state, with the exception of a short period in the latter part of that century, during which it was overrun and taken possession of by the Danes.

This assemblage of states has been commonly called the Heptarchy, for which Mr. Turner has proposed to substitute the Octarchy, on the ground that Deira and Bernicia ought to be considered as two distinct kingdoms. But in truth it may be doubted if there ever was a time when so many as seven of the states co-existed separately and independently. Various small districts also appear to have for longer or

Upon the whole, the title of Bretwalda cannot well be regarded as any thing more than an ostentatious and empty assumption of some of the Saxon kings, or an epithet of distinction bestowed upon them by the flattery of the chroniclers. It certainly carried with it no real or legal authority. In the same manner we may dismiss the vaunting claims put forward by or for the Saxon Bretwaldas to the sovereignty of the Scots, the Picts, the Irish, and all the nations of other lineage inhabiting the British islands, founded as they are on little else than the interpretation put upon this title.

Lists of the kings of the several states of the heptarchy do not exist in a complete form. The most perfect that have been compiled are those published by Sir Francis Palgrave, which are stated to have been examined and verified by Mr. Allen. The more remarkable names are noticed in this Cyclopædia in separate articles.

Egbert of Wessex, although not strictly entitled to be called the first king of all England, certainly laid the foundation of what afterwards became the English monarchy. The royal house of Wessex never lost the ascendancy which he acquired for it so long as the Anglo-Saxons remained masters of England. It will be convenient therefore to begin from him the chronological table of the kings of the country, which is all that we shall now add, an account of the events of each reign from this period being given in separate articles.

Kings of Wessex, with which Kent, Essex, and Sussex were sometimes incorporated, sometimes connected as vassal states, and to which also East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria acknowledged a more qualified subordination:A.D. 800. Egbert, acknowledged as Bretwalda from A.D.

827.

836. Ethelwulf;-with Athelstane till 852, and then
Ethelbert, in Kent, Essex, and Sussex.

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A.D. 855. Ethelbald;-with Ethelwulf (the preceding king) as supreme till 856, and Ethelbert as subordinate, in Kent, Essex, and Sussex.

860. Ethelbert.

866. Ethered, or Ethelred I.

871. Alfred the Great.

901. Edward the Elder.

Kings of all England, of the House of Wessex :-
925. Athelstane.
958. Edgar.
941. Edmund I.
946. Edred.

955. Edwy.

975. Edward the Martyr. 978. Ethelred the Unready 1016. Edmund Ironside.

Danish Kings of England:

1017. Canute the Great.

ENGLISH CHANNEL, called by the French La Manche, is that narrow sea which separates the southern shores of England from the northern shores of France. On the west it opens into the Atlantic Ocean by a wide mouth, between the Land's End and the French island of Ushant (Ouissant), where it is about 100 English miles across. On the east it is united to the North Sea by the Straits of Dover (Pas de Calais of the French.) This strait, which must be considered as a part of the channel, is formed on the English side by the shore between the South Foreland and Folkstone, and on the French side by that between the harbour of Calais and Cape Grisnez, and at its narrowest point between Folkstone and Cape Grisnez is only about 20 English miles across, and at other points very little more. West of the strait of Dover, the channel rapidly increases

1035. Hardacnute, or Hardicanute, with Harold Hare- in width; between Brighton and Havre is more than 90

foot in Mercia and Northumbria

1037. Harold Harefoot.

1040. Hardacnute restored.

House of Wessex restored :.042. Edward the Confessor.

Line of the Earls of Kent, &c.:

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1760. George III. ENGLAND. The general description of this part of the island is under the head of GREAT BRITAIN; and that of Roman Britain under the head of BRITANNIA.

English miles across. Farther west however it is narrowed by the peninsula of Cotentin, which projects from the French coast into the channel, and terminates in Cape de la Hogue, its most north-western point. Between St. Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight and Cape Barfleur, the eastern termination of the peninsula of Cotentin, the shores of both countries are hardly 70 miles from one another. West of the peninsula is the widest part of the channel, which between St. Alban's Head in Dorsetshire and the harbour of St. Malo is nearly 140 English miles across. The remainder of the channel to its junction with the Atlantic is between 100 and 110 miles wide.

Though there is no perceptible current in any part of the channel, it can hardly be questioned that a current generally, if not constantly, is running up it from the west. This is evident from the eastern tides being stronger than the western or ebb tides, and their running longer in stormy weather from the west. It is also observed, that at the same time the surface of the channel is raised two feet or more above that of the North Sea, and consequently discharges a great quantity of water into that sea. The ports of the channel are some feet deeper in strong westerly winds than at ordinary times. It is worthy of remark, that the French ports along the channel are shallow, and that none of them are deep enough to admit men-of-war, while England has some of its finest harbours on the coast-line of the channel. As this circumstance secures to England a great advantage over France in time of war, the French government at different times have been at great expense in attempting to deepen the harbour of Cherbourg, but hitherto they have not succeeded, the works being in a short period again filled up with sand. It is not improbable that this is owing to the current, as the coast of France does not lie parallel to it, like the shores of England, but meets it in an oblique line. The channel is well stocked with fish, which gives constant occupation to a considerable number of fishermen on the coasts of England and France; the most important branch is the fishery of pilchards along the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire.

ENGLISH DRAMA. Under the head DRAMA the reader will find the history of the Greek and Roman, or what is commonly called the Antient Drama. Under the present title we have placed the History of the Modern Drama in Europe, distributed under the following heads: 1. Italian. 2. Spanish. 3. French. 4. German. 5. English.

ITALIAN DRAMA.

After the long sleep of the true dramatic and theatrical spirit in the middle ages, which began to dawn again in mysteries and moralities independent of classical models, the first endeavour to imitate the antients in their

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ENGLAND, NEW, is a name which, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was applied to the English settle-theatre, as in other departments of art and poetry, was ments on the eastern coast of North America, north of 41° N. lat. But as, in the progress of colonization, the British population increased, the country was divided into several provinces, which, at the time when these countries acquired their independence, were formed into so many states. The provinces formerly comprehended under the name of New England were the present states of New Hampshire, Massachussets, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; but the states of Maine and Vermont, which, before the revolution, did not form provinces, were also considered as portions of New England, though some later writers think that the state of Vermont never belonged to it. At present the term New England is rarely used.

ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. [GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.]

made by the Italians. Nevertheless, apart from the religious plays, we find in the earliest dramatic attempts of modern Italy upon secular subjects a thorough independence of the classical rules. Among these first essays we find the Philodoxeos, o l'Amico della Gloria' of Leon Battista Alberti; and others might be cited which, written first in Latin and afterwards in Italian, combined in like manner all the elements of tragedy, comedy, and pastoral. For although, for instance, 'L'Orfeo' of Politian, performed at Mantua, and Il Cefalo, o L'Aurora' of Niccolo da Correggio at Ferrara, were given under the name of pastorals, while, on the other hand, a certain Antonio da Pistoja gave that of tragedies to two dramas of his entitled 'Il Filostrato e Panfilo and Il Demetrio,' yet these designations were determined merely by the predominance of particular

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elements in the respective pieces, and not at all by adhe-
rence to or regard for the strictly classical system of keeping
those elements as much as possible apart. In this respect,
whatever their rudeness, these pieces were the native growth
of their age and country, appearing among the numberless
proofs that the marked separation between tragedy and co-
medy which existed in the antient theatre had no foundation
in the essence of human nature and human life, but resulted
from the peculiar social and religious circumstances of the
people amongst whom it arose, together with the distinction
and opposition in spirit and qualifications which existed
among their most powerful dramatic writers.

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becoming predominant, the Spanish plays, composed on the opposite system, had not yet exhibited that strength and fire of genius which afterwards gave the Spanish theatre so powerful an influence upon the dramatic literature of Europe; so that the Italians still adhered closely to the antique models. In this kind of secondhand imitation of the antients, the Florentines most distinguished themselves by a certain subtle grace of dialogue derived from the richness of their idiom and their proverbial expressions. Among the comic writers of Florence, Aretino is certainly not to be cited for elegance and correctness, but he surpassed all the others in licentiousness and causticity. These qualities he displays yet more strikingly in his comedies than in his prose writings; and in that respect approaches perhaps, of all the moderns, the nearest to Aristophanes, attacking all ranks and all institutions. The school of Aretino had many disciples; countenanced by the example of the court of Leo, it established itself more especially in Venice, where liberty was rapidly being corrupted into licentiousness. Lodovico Dolce, indeed, the most distinguished follower of Aretino, strove to justify this unbounded license on the ground, certainly not altogether fallacious, that there was no other possible way of delineating the manners of the time. Some, however, there were, who, scandalized at the excessive liberty of the comic poets, strove to reclaim them by example to a more moderate and decent course; but these efforts, wanting comic power, only served to raise a belief that the true comic spirit was inconsistent with any moral restraint, and so confirmed the evil instead of removing it.

Among the successful comic poets of this period, the most distinguished was Giambattista de la Porta, who flourished at the close of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. He was a Neapolitan gentleman with a truly encyclopaedic genius, who from the deepest scientific studies could pass to the lightest amusements of literature. After forming among his countrymen the first academy of experimental philosophy, he pleased himself with instructing a company of amateur performers in the comic art, and producing a number of comedies for exhibition at his own house. Though he drew both the subjects and the form from the same source as his predecessors, yet he displayed so much happy invention in the contrivance and conduct of his pieces as to give them an air of considerable originality. Though most of his comedies were of the familiar species, and some of them even bordered on farce, yet a few rose to the noble and pathetic tone: of the latter kind are La Furiosa,' La Cintia,' Le Due Fratelli Rivali,'' La Sorella,' and 'Il Moro.'

The first specimen of the Grecian or Greco-Roman co-
medy that was presented to the Italians in their own lan-
guage was a translation, by Collenuccio, of the Amphitryo'
of Plautus; and soon after, Bojardo brought upon the stage
'Il Timone Misantropo.' This was about the commence-
ment of the sixteenth century; and in 1529 was performed
at Bologna, in the presence of the Emperor Charles V. and
Pope Pius VII., The Three Tyrants' (I Tre Tiranni) of
Agostino Ricchi, a piece which, though in itself original and
ingenious, is now chiefly worthy of notice as marking the com-
mencement of the long war between the classic and the ro-
mantic species. This author not only disregards the Aristo-
telic unities in the construction of his piece, but states his
reasons for doing so, urging that, as the laws, customs, and
manners of his own time were so different from those of anti-
quity, it was necessary for the moderns to pursue a differ-
ent plan in the dramatic art; and to give the announce-
ment of this principle the greater authority, he makes Mer-
cury himself deliver it in the prologue. Sound and reason-
able, however, as this doctrine is, it could not at first pre-
vail against the countenance which the opposite system
derived from the ablest writers of the period, inveterately
prepossessed as they were by their sedulous study of the
antique forms as well as spirit. Already the first example
of a regular modern tragedy had been given in the Sopho-
nisba' of Trissino, a piece not otherwise remarkable; and
now Ariosto, Bibbiena, and Macchiavelli appeared as the
first distinguished cultivators of the classic comedy. Of these,
Ariosto was the closest imitator of the antients; while yet
very young he wrote in prose, as a kind of exercise, La
Cassaria' and 'I Suppositi;' and, pleased with these first
essays, he next wrote 'La Lena,' 'II Negromante,' and 'La
Scolastica,' inversi sdruccioli,' a kind of verse in which
he satisfied himself so well that he re-wrote in it his two
former pieces. These productions are full of that spirit at
once keen and polished for which their author was so dis-
tinguished; and though under the necessity of respecting
the prejudices of the petty court of Ferrara, to which he
was attached, yet he spares neither the lawyers and magis-
trates of the country, nor those other characters, much more
powerful in those days, the astrologers, the courtiers, and
the ecclesiastics; he was the first who ventured to exhibit
on the stage a Dominican friar in the character of an inqui-
sitor, which he did in La Scolastica' abovementioned.
Bernardo Divizio da Bibbiena, confidential secretary to Pope
Leo X., and afterwards cardinal, showed a more decided
originality in 'La Calandria,' though it was partly modelled
after the Menæchmi' of Plautus. This piece, indeed, may
be considered as the most faithful mirror of the court of
Rome at that remarkable period: amidst the extreme
liberty of manners which prevailed in that court, for whose
entertainment La Calandria' seems chiefly to have been
written, we find frequent indications of a certain philosophic
spirit which it would be vain to seek there in later times.
Bibbiena seems to have aimed at nothing beyond amuse-
ment; but Macchiavelli, whose historical and political writings
exhibit so forcibly the characteristic Florentine acuteness,
betrays, in his Mandragola, a deeper intention. In the
person of Fra Timoteo, in this piece, who most conscien-
tiously panders to the vicious appetites of an individual to
promote the interests of his convent, the author has given a
inost humorous and piquant exhibition of the fratismo, or
monkish domination, which degraded the society of his time:
it was nevertheless acted with applause before the indulgent
eyes of Leo X. and his cardinals.

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But the Italian public were satiated by such an accu-
mulation of these regular productions. The Spanish theatre
was now approaching the meridian of its glory; and the
political influence of Spain on the Italian territory, being
now at its height, greatly favoured the introduction of the
Spanish taste in dramatic composition. These circum
stances gave birth to such pieces as La Donna Costante,
and 'L'Amante Furioso' of Raffaele Borghini, 'L'Erofiloma-
chia,' La Prigione d'Amore,' and 'I Morti Vivi' of Sforza
d'Oddi, the very titles of which indicate the school to which
they belong; and in which the imaginations of the zealous
followers of the classic school were horrified by such inci-
dents as that of a young lady suffering herself to be buried
alive as her only means of avoiding a hateful marriage, and
that of an unfortunate lover letting himself be carried like
a thief to the gallows, having no other way to preserve his
mistress's honour. It does, indeed, appear that the first
endeavours at this period to introduce the Spanish taste
went directly over from the one extreme to the other, pro-
ceeding, not so much according to higher and freer views
of dramatic art itself than had hitherto prevailed on the
Italian stage, as on the erroneous principle which has been
too often acted on in similar cases, that what was farthest
from the old system in every respect must be the best. It
was probably the first extravagances of this dramatic inno-
vation that induced Tasso, in his latter days, to compose, as
a burlesque of the new romantic taste, a play entitled 'Love
Intrigues' (Gl' Intrichi d'Amore), which was acted in 1598
The comedies of these three distinguished writers all ap- and printed in 1604. The matter of this piece well corre-
pearing near the commencement of the sixteenth century, sponds with its title; for so prodigious a number of wonder-
while no other nation had anything of equal merit to opposeful intrigues are accumulated in it that it is not so much a
to them, made such an impression that all the best writers comedy as a whole bundle of comedies all rolled up into
zealously strove to follow their dramatic system. Although, five acts. Some years after, a yet more open attack was
in the political divisions of Italy, the influence of Spain was made upon the romanticists by Scipione Errico of Messina;

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ma comedy which he entitled 'The Revolt of Parnassus,' |
Le Rivolte di Parnaso,) wherein, with little comic force, he
not only introduces Trissino, Ariosto, and Tasso as rival
suitors of Marini to the muse Calliope, but also, to little
purpose, arrays Trajano Boccalini, Cesare Caporali, Petrarch,
Boccacio, Dante, and Homer himself, in his classic phalanx.
We find a curious evidence of the transitional state of
the public taste at this time in the productions of a poct
of high name who thought fit to try his powers in each of
the rival species. This was Michel Angelo Buonarroti the
younger, nephew of the great Michel Angelo, who composed
two comedies of totally different characters, entitled La
Tancia' and 'La Fiera. In the former he adhered closely
to the classic rules. It is one of the class of pieces much in
vogue at that time, and denominated rustiche, wherein the
characters were made to speak in the dialect peculiar to
that part of Italy to which they belonged; and sometimes
in the same piece persons were introduced from different
provinces, talking a diversity of dialects, as the Vene-
tian, the Paduan, the Bergamask, the Milanese, &c. The
most distinguished productions in this species were, this
'La Tancia' of Buonarroti, and the 'Rosa' of Cesare Cortese,
a Neapolitan; the latter displaying the characteristic diction
of the Neapolitan people, as the former did that of the
Florentines. The other production of Buonarroti, The
Fair' (La Fiera), is a remarkable work, the very conception
of which implies a total departure from the classical restric-
tions. The author, passionately fond of his native language,
was desirous of exhibiting a full development of its re-
sources as applicable to all ranks and professions. He
therefore chose for his subject a fair, wherein most of the
conditions, transactions, and occurrences of human life
could be conveniently exhibited. Here, each class of
society appears in succession, and the author has araple
opportunity to display the riches of his mother tongue in
assigning to each one its peculiar diction. To execute such
a design, it was necessary not only to multiply incident,
action, and character, but also to vary the scene, and extend
the time beyond the narrow space of a single day. No
unity, in short, was here admissible, beyond that of the one
magistrate who superintends all the transactions of the
fair. The whole composition forms a connected series of
five plays, of five acts each, which were actually performed
at Florence on five successive nights. Indeed the scale
was now decidedly turned against the predominance of the
classic system; and another circumstance contributed at
this time to prevent the return of that predominance for a
very considerable period.

This was the invention, by Ottavio Rinuccini, of the melodrama, which more commonly took the name of opera per musica, and which we now briefly term the opera. The magic power of this union of music with the romantic drama completed the triumph of the latter among the Italians of the seventeenth century; for not only was this musical melo-drama thenceforward their prime theatrical favourite, but the ordinary drama itself was no longer tolerated except under the romantic garb. To the despair of the few who still adhered to the classic school, the very names of tragedy and comedy were for a while laid aside; and the public would hear of nothing but those azioni, which went by the various names of reali, reali-comiche, tragi-comiche, tragi-satiro-comiche, &c., and seem to have been all translations or imitations of Spanish pieces.

great original genius had yet arisen in Italy, as in Spain and
England, to establish the romantic drama on an unshaken
foundation. The political preponderance of Spain, too, had
now given place to that of France; and hence it is not sur-
prising that the French taste now began to invade the
Italian theatre as it subdued the Spanish. Girolamo Gigli,
of Sienna, an ingenious critic and an elegant writer, gave,
in his 'Litiganti,' a free translation of the 'Plaideurs' of
Racine; recast Molière's 'Tartuffe' in his 'Don Pilone;'
and endeavoured to bring upon the stage 'La Sorella di Don
Pilone,' wherein, it is believed, were exhibited the caprices
of the author's wife and the bigotry of her Jesuit confessor.
This period is also remarkable for the production of a number
of coinedies expressly devoted to the service of the literary
warfare of the time, in the mutual satire by the literati of
each other's peculiar systems and opinions: these pieces,
as may well be supposed, were much more academical and
erudite than theatrical and entertaining.
In the reform or purification of the Italian stage, as the
endeavours now making to follow the classic steps of the
French were denominated, Maffei led the way in the tragic
de artment. The first classical tragedy that had appeared
in modern Italy, or indeed in modern Europe, the 'Sopho-
nisba' of Trissino, already mentioned, was a dull work of
diligence without any poetic spirit; wherein, however, it is
singular that while all the antique forms, including the
chorus, are scrupulously retained, the author has aban-
doned the field of mythology for that of Roman history.
The pastoral dramas of Tasso and Guarini, which appeared
about the middle of the sixteenth century, and in which
the subject, though for the most part not tragical, is ele-
vated and even ideal, though more important in the history
of poetry than of the stage, were certainly intended for the
theatre. Their choruses indeed float like lyrical voices in
the air, and do not appear in person; but the pieces were
exhibited with great splendour at Ferrara and Turin. With
all their noble and exquisite poetic grace and beauty, they
at the same time show us the infant state of the dramatic
art in the languid progress of the action. After 'Sopho-
nisba' and a few other pieces of the same period, which
Calsabigi, an Italian critic wholly devoted to the French
system, calls the first tragic lispings of Italy, a number of
similar works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
might be cited, but not one of them has preserved any con-
siderable reputation. Though all these writers laboured,
as they thought, according to the rules of Aristotle, we
have the following description of their tragical abortions
from Calsabigi himself:-Distorted, complicated, impro-
bable plots, misconception of scenic regulations, useless
personages, double actions, inconsistency of character,
gigantic or childish thoughts, feeble verses, affected phrases,
total absence of harmonious and natural poetry; all this
decked out with ill-timed descriptions and similes, or idle
political and philosophical disquisitions; in every scene
some silly amour, with all the trite insipidity of common-
place gallantry; but of tragic strength, of the conflict of
passions, of overpowering dramatic catastrophes, not the
smallest trace.' Maffei, however, to whom we must now
return, printed a selection of the best of these tragic at-
tempts, and produced a tragedy of his own, entitled
Merope,' which had great success in Italy on its first pub-
lication, and obtained a high reputation in other countries
from its competition with Voltaire's tragedy on the same
subject. Both writers attempted to restore in some sense a
lost piece of Euripides, highly estimated by the antients
from the account given of its contents by Hyginus. Maffei's
work, however, is rather the production of a learned an-
tiquary than of a mind naturally adapted for and practised
in the dramatic art; it is not therefore unfair to attribute
its great reputation in Italy to the previous low state of
Italian tragedy.

At the same time the public continued their favour to a
species of comedy, or rather comic recitation, which in
Italy seems to have been in all times peculiarly national.
This was called the commedia a soggetto or commedia
dell'arte. It consisted of the mere outline of a dramatic
composition, wherein the parts very slightly sketched were
assigned to the several performers, who were to fill them up
extemporarily. These sketches were called scenarj, from
their containing merely the argument of each scene: those The task of classicizing the musical drama was under-
of the comedian Flaminio Scala were particularly celebrated. taken first by Apostolo Zeno, and afterwards, with more
Some of these improvisatori, especially those who appeared success, by the Abate Metastasio. The marks of the French
in the standing masks of Arlecchino, Pantalone, Puncinella, taste in Metastasio, as pointed out by Schlegel, are, the
&c., displayed a liveliness of humour which, in spite of the total absence of the romantic spirit, a certain faultless in-
great mass of empty buffoonery by which they were accom-sipidity of composition, his manner of handling mytho-
panied, made this kind of performance long continue to be
well received by the Italians, until the more general culti
vation given to the higher dramatic departments, and the
general advance of social refinement, caused the improvi-
satory masks to be finally abandoned to the populace.

At the commencement of the eighteenth century, no
P. C., No 582.

logical and historical materials, which is not properly either historical or mythological, and the endeavour to produce a certain tragic purity which degenerates into monotony. The unity of place, however, it was impossible for him to observe, as a change of scene was required of the opera poet: in his rich intrigues too he followed Spanish models, VOL. IX-3 G

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and borrowed especially a great deal from Calderon. The
merits,' says the German critic, which have gained him the
reputation of a classic among the Italians of the present
day, and have made him in some degree for them what
Racine is for the French, are, the most perfect purity,
clearness, elegance, and sweetness of language in general,
and in particular the softest melody and the greatest love-
liness in the songs. Perhaps no poet ever possessed in a
greater degree the talent of comprehending in a few lines
the essential features of a pathetic situation: the songs with
which the characters make their exit are almost always the
purest musical extract of their state of mind that can pos-
sibly be given.' On the other hand, he has lines which, for
dignity and vigorous conciseness, are perfectly suited to
tragedy; yet on the whole, it is evident that a certain
melting effeminacy in feeling and expression rendered Me-
tastasio the delight of his countrymen and of courtly society
throughout Europe. Only a few of his operas have still
possession of the stage, as the change of taste in music
demands a different arrangement of the text. Metastasio
seldom has choruses, and nearly all his airs are for a single
voice. We now,' says Schlegel, require more frequent
duos and trios, and a crashing finale. In fact, the most
difficult problem for the opera poet is, the mixing the
complicated voices of conflicting passions in one common
harmony without injuring their essence; a problem, how-
ever, which is generally solved by both poet and musical
composer in a very arbitrary manner.'

which no enumeration can here be attempted. Among the comic dramatists of his own country he still occupies the highest place; and though some very respectable writers in the same department have succeeded him, they have done little either to extend or to enrich the dramatic field. We shall therefore, in enumerating the principal of these, dismiss them with all possible brevity.

Francesco Albergati Capacelli, a Bolognese gentleman of a distinguished family, and on that account more familiar than Goldoni with the tone of good society, displays in his comedies a purer style, more dignified manners, and occasionally more elevation in his characters, but wants the nature and vivacity of his predecessor. Camillo Federici, a Piedmontese, who had originally entered the order o Jesuits, afterwards became a comedian and a prolific writer of comedies: taking his characters chiefly from history, romance, or allegory, he inclined much to the romantic school; but, though he was very popular in his time, and though his countrymen the Piedmontese strove to rank him as high in comedy as Alfieri in tragedy, yet he did not exhibit powers at all capable of permanently establishing the romantic drama in public favour. Gherardo de Rossi, of Rome, was a tamely correct follower of Goldoni; and the Conte Giraud, also a Roman, full of natural wit and liveliness, is the most spirited successor of the latter that has yet appeared, and has succeeded accordingly. We find Vittorio Alfieri himself devoting, in his latter years, his austere pen to comedy. He translated some pieces from The first endeavour to restore what the classicists de- the antients; and in his original comedies he appears to nominated the true comedy was made by Luigi Riccoboni, have made Aristophanes his principal model, mixing up a theatrical manager, who attempted, on the Venetian the historical and the actual with the fictitious and the stage, to revive the Scolastica' of Ariosto. The result was allegorical. Four of these bearing the quaint but signifiremarkably curious: the audience, idolizing in Ariosto the cant titles of 'The One' ('L'Uno'); 'The Few' ('I Pochi)'; painter of the romantic loves of Orlando and Angelica, and The Too Many' ('I Troppi'); and 'The Antidote' ('L'An eagerly expecting to see something of a kindred spirit in tidoto), are thoroughly political, being designed to exhibit, this long neglected dramatic production from such a pen, under the veil of antique names and manners, the several showed such indignation at the disappointment they re-effects of despotism, of oligarchy, of simple democracy, and ceived from this regular comedy, that Riccoboni hastily of rational liberty. The small pieces of the Neapolitan quitted Venice, and repaired to Paris, where, of all places Giulio Genoino, written for the exercise and instruction of in Europe, classicism was in greatest honour and glory. youth, are worthy of mention as being among the best in Venice, however, was destined shortly after to be the scene that peculiar and rather difficult line of theatrical composi of a successful struggle on the part of the same comiction. These comedies, ten in number, first appeared not school to re-establish itself in the public estimation. A many years ago, under the title of Dramatic Ethics' native of that city, Carlo Goldoni, nursed, both as a come- (Etica Drammatica), five of them being designed for boys, dian and a poet, in the study of Macchiavelli and Molière, and five for girls. In none of them is there the slightest and, it should seem, admirably qualified by nature for de- trace of the passion of love, or any injudicious exhibition of veloping all the resources that can enter into that compara-high-flown heroism. The quiet sentiments and duties they tively narrow dramatic circumscription, sedulously applied himself, in a series of original compositions, to the task in which Riccoboni had made so unlucky an experiment. He displayed such abundant nature and fertility in painting the manners and the follies of his own age and country, that at length he brought the comedy of character into vogue, to the discredit both of the improvisatory farce and the melodrame. His first successes, however, received a severe check. The injury sustained by the masked and improvisatory comedy, for which the company of Sacchi in Venice had the highest talents, was one of the causes that led to the production, at this period, of the fantastic dramas of Gozzi. These are fairy tales in a dramatic form, in which, however, along with the wonderful, versified, and serious part, this author introduced the whole of the masks, and allowed them the most unrestrained development. When his imagination was in some degree wearied with oriental tales, he applied himself to the re-modelling of Spanish plays, especially those of Calderon; and although the ethereal poetry of the Spaniard lost much of its delicacy under this kind of handling, yet the extravagant caricature of the Italian masks formed an admirable contrast to the wild wonders of the fairy tale. This bold and original flight in the romantic region so fascinated the Venetians, that Goldon was fairly driven from the field, and retired to Paris, as Riccoboni had done before him. There, by his production of 'Le Bourru Bienfaisant,' &c., he had the satisfaction of exhibiting himself to the French as the ablest follower that had yet appeared in the track of Molière, and of being honoured and applauded accordingly

It is a remarkable.instance, too, of the sway which French criticism at that day exercised over the European continent, that Goldoni's Parisian success mainly contributed to his speedy reinstatement in Italian favour, and to the proscription of the wildly romantic pieces of Gozzi. From the pen of Goldori we have about a hundred and fifty pieces, of

are designed to inculcate are sufficiently indicated in their
titles-Religion;' 'Love of our Neighbour; Gratitude;
'Modesty; Friendship; Prudence;' 'Filial Piety;'
Conscience;' "Generosity;' Beneficence; and the
author has succeeded in giving to these juvenile plays a
greater warmth of interest than might be expected from
the very circumscribed nature of his plan. Alberto Nota,
born of a good family at Turin in 1775, and bred to the law,
but early addicted as a recreation to dramatic writing, is the
most celebrated and productive among the living comic
writers of the school of Goldoni: with stricter moral views
than the latter, his most characteristic excellence with re-
spect to art is the great correctness and purity of his Italian
style, in which the best critics of his country have declared
him to be unsurpassed.

In the latter period of the last century, Alfieri opened
a new era of Italian tragedy. He adhered indeed to the
established classic school, took his subjects chiefly from
antient story, and was a strict observer of the unities. But,
indignant at the voluptuous degeneracy of his countrymen,
his muse too uniformly appears with a stoical severity and sim-
plicity which, how well soever they might be suited to the
purposes of the moral and political reformer, are unfavour
able to the primary objects of dramatic art; and hence the
productions of Alfieri have ever been found to give more
satisfaction in the closet than on the stage. As a dramatist, he
has been the most successful in painting, as in his Virginia,'
the public life of the Roman republic; and in his tragedy
of Saul' we find, with a certain Oriental splendour, great
lyrical sublimity of expression. Since Alfieri, that nobler
and more masculine-spirited Italian tragedy, of which he is
justly regarded as the founder, has been cultivated by several
distinguished writers with a less rigid adherence to antique
subjects and to classic forms. Among the most estimable
of these recent productions we may particularize the 'Aris-
todemo,' the Cajo Gracco,' and the Galeotto Manfredi,'

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