British Import Trade from India British and American Export Trade to Canton 12. Reflections on the Trial of the Ministers of Charles 189 ITALIAN IMPROVISATORI. (1824.)* THE gloom of the dark ages had not been long dispersed and literature restored to a portion of its pristine splendour, when in almost every town of Italy Improvisatori arose, professing to descant in poetic metre upon any theme that might be proposed to them. Nor was it solely in the vulgar dialect of the provinces, or where the mere tinkling of rhyme would insure applause, that these indefatigable bards appeared. Many of them courted the criticism of the learned; of those whose names are distinguished in the writings of their contemporaries, some notice may not be uninteresting. The literary historians of the sixteenth century, in their account of this class of poets, agree in honourable mention of Andrea Marone. The exact place of his birth we do not find recorded, but he seems to have been a humble schoolmaster in Venzone, until the fame of his versifying talents introduced him to the notice of the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, whom he accompanied to the court of Alfonso I., Duke of Ferrara. His protector, the Cardinal, having occasion to make a journey into Hungary, Marone expressed a wish to be of the party. For some reason or other the Cardinal was not anxious for his company, and Marone, unable to bear the mortification of the refusal, grew weary of the countenance of his patron, and at length abandoned the court of Ferrara for that of Leo the Tenth, which was at that time the most advantageous arena for every species of talent. Giovio, Giraldi, and Valeriano, his contemporaries, relate almost incredible instances of the wonderful facility which this poet possessed in Latin improvisation. Accompanying himself on the viol, which he played with exquisite taste, he poured forth verses in a stream of astonishing rapidity, which increased, as he proceeded, in copiousness and elegance. Scarce a meteor appeared in the horizon of literature, science, or the fine arts, during the pontificate of Leo the Tenth, the lustre of which was not made contributory to the * This and the following paper appeared in the New Monthly Magazine vol. xi., 1824. B splendour of his court and the glory of his reign. Possessed of no slight share of acquirement himself, he knew well how to appreciate it in others, and while he lived, from one end of Europe to the other, genius and accomplishment were allured by the welcome of the Vatican, to the luxuries of learned leisure and intellectual enjoyment. Here, then, was a fit stage for the development of the talents of Marone. We are told by Giovio that Querno, Raffaello, Brandolini, and other celebrated improvisatori of the court, hid their diminished heads when matched against him, and that on one occasion, at a solemn festival given by his Holiness to the ambassadors and other distinguished residents at Rome, being commanded to dilate upon the league against the Turks, then the subject of discussion, he so far surpassed the anticipations of his patron, and so delighted and astonished the guests, that Leo immediately conferred on him a valuable benefice in Capua. Contemporary with Marone, though enjoying less honourable celebrity, was Camillo Querno, born at Monopoli, in the kingdom of Naples, A.D. 1470. His propensity to gormandizing was so great that many historians make no mention of him but as a notorious "ghiottone," whose other qualities were too trifling to redeem this unpardonable sin. He seems, however, early to have listened to the whisperings of his muse, and ere he quitted his native country had composed a poem of 20,000 verses called Alexias,* in which, as frequently happens, the author discovered more beauties than were clear to the indifferent reader. On its merits he determined to risk his reception at Rome, and accordingly proceeded thither with his poem. On his arrival he presented himself to the scholars of the Academy, and courted their inspection of his performance. The gentlemen, however, whom he chanced to meet, were much more inclined to merriment than criticism, loved a joke a great deal better than a poem, and concluding from the grotesque rusticity of his costume, the convivial ruddiness of his features, and the uncultivated shagginess of his long black hair, that he was a much fitter subject to laugh at than to laugh with, voted him at once, more likely to contribute to their amusement than do honour to their patronage. They therefore prepared an entertainment in a small island in the Tiber, to which Querno was invited; and while he was displaying his poe *The first line only of this poem has been preserved : "Infelix Europa diù quassata tumultu 'Bellorum," &c. |