IN the brilliant period on which we are now entering, the li- SECT. terati of Italy soon began to emancipate themselves from the III. mental servitude of which Voltaire and Gibbon complain. This is attributed to the institution of the Accademia degli Arcadi, or Arcadian Academy of Rome, in 1690. Here the spirit of emulation roused the shackled, or latent powers of the mind, and aspiring hopes led to the cultivation of elegant literature III. SECT. literature in all its branches. From this academy colonies spread themselves throughout Italy. Its genial warmth diffused itself universally, and fructified the seeds of genius, or matured its crudest fruits. Of an institution which had so happy an effect on Italian literature, some account ought to be given in a work which pretends to treat of one of its most important branches. The literary society which gave birth to the ACCADEMIA DEGLI ARCADI, was formed by Vincenzio Leonio a native of Spoletto, and rose into notice under the auspices of Christina, queen of Sweden. On a fine evening in the summer of 1690, while this society held a meeting in a verdant meadow, watered by the Tiber, near the castle of Sant' Angelo, the idea of giving a pastoral name to the body was conceived. Touched with the recital of an eclogue, a member exclaimed, in a fit of enthusiasm, "methinks I behold at this moment, the Arcadia of ancient Greece, and hear the sweet and simple strains of its shepherds!" The same enthusiastic spirit instantly pervaded every breast, and it was resolved, on the spot, that each member should assume a pastoral name and character, and the society be denominated gli Arcadi. From the open fields the meetings were now remoyed to silent groves, or to the "trim gardens" of the Roman metropolis. The nobility of both sexes, and even crowned heads, associating with this troop of literary shepherds, a seat amongst gli Arcadi became an object of ambi tion. III. tion. When John V. king of Portugal visited Rome in 1726, SECT. he was so much pleased with this institution, that he purchased a garden on the Janiculum, and had it fitted up for the reception of the academy under the direction of Antonio Canevari, a celebrated Roman architect. In this garden, which is now called Bosco Parrasio, the laws of the society are inscribed on marble tablets, and monuments are raised to the memory of distinguished members. (w) Here stated meetings are held between the months of May and October.And as the customs and manners of Arcadia are affected, the proceedings are dated by olympiads. Crescimbeni, the historian and first custode of this academy, relates, that at a meeting held in the gardens of prince Giustiniani in 1705, the olympic games were performed on a circular theatre covered with green tapestry, and surrounded with lofty wooden pyramids clothed with laurel branches, each pyramid bearing in the front presented to the theatre, an inscription in marble to the memory of a deceased member. Amongst the first members of this institution who dared to bid defiance to the laws of Aristotle, were the tragic writers. Spurning at the fetters from which they had been released, and anxious to evince their contempt of, and disregard for their former masters, they seemed eager to vow eternal enmity to the chorus. This circumstance is alluded to by the (w) In the sixth volume Della bellezza della volg. poes. may be found a succinct account of this academy, illustrated with the arms of the several colonies, and a view of the Bosco Par. rasio And the Abate Vettorio Giovardi has published Notizia del nuovo teatro degli Arcadi, with copies of its monumental inscriptions. Rom. 1727. III. SECT. author of a poem entitled Dell' arte rappresentative published in London in 1728, and dedicated to the late earl of Chesterfield. Al presente, l' orribile è corretto Ed a quella si è dato un nuovo aspetto. But the vows of poets, like those of lovers, are seldom religiously observed. In the period under consideration the chorus, it is true, lost much of its importance; but it was not universally rejected; a few poets of the old school still retained it, and their example found occasional imitators. But let us proceed to the enjoyment of the intellectual splendour which awaits us. In a period so auspicious to the muses, Melpomene, it may be presumed, had many votaries. The first in her weeping train who attracts our notice, is Pier Jacopo Martelli, a Bolognese, who died in 1727. His Perselide, Ifigenia in Tauri, and Alceste were represented, says Signorelli, with unequivocal applause by the company of Riccoboni in Venice, Verona and Bologna. We find not only in those tragedies, he continues, but in his Procolo, Cicerone, Q. Fabio and Taimingi, genuine tragic beauties. In the Perselide is particularly admired the happy manner in which the three principal characters are marked: the magnanimity of Mustapha, the pathetic tenderness of Perselius, and the jealousy of power and relentless cruelty of Solimano, evince the 66 III. the glowing and energetic pencil of genius. Sig. Signo- SECT. relli recommends the Ifigenia and Alceste of this author as models for imitation to all young poets who would wish to adapt the fables of the Greek theatre to the modern stage. Of the style of Martelli, Riccoboni thus speaks; depuis mil sept cent, le théâtre Italien a pris une nouvelle forme. Monsieur Martelli donna plusieurs tragedies en vers alexandrins rimés; cette façon de vers qui n'est pas étrangere à l'Italie, parce que ce sont deux vers de sept syllabes joints ensemble, et parce qu'il nous reste des anciennes stances d'un poëte Sicilien dans des vers de la même mesure qui ont servi peut-être de modele au vers alexandrin François, car notre Sicilien est un des plus anciens versificateurs, cette façon, dis-je, trouva ses admirateurs et ses critiques en même tems.(x) Martelli having thus adopted a fabric of verse which had never been used before in Italian (x) Tom. i. p. 264. It is to be lamented that Riccoboni has not given us the stanzas to which he alludes, or exhibited the grounds of his conjecture. I will confess I am inclined to think that the model which the French imitated, they found much nearer home than Sicily;-perhaps I might say, at home; for in the tales of the Trouveurs, or Fabliers Français, vers alexandrins may be often discovered; nay the monologue of the Lai de Courtois, a tale of very high antiquity, is in this measure. Fab. ou Contes du xii, et xiii Siecle. Paris 1781, tom. ii. According to the learned Mr. Tyrwhit, alexandrin metre was first used in the Roman d'Alexandre, by Lambert li Cors and Alexander de Bernay, towards the latter end of the twelfth century. But he seems to think that, as the cæsura at the sixth syllable is essential to this measure, the inventor took for his model the long iambic which was used by Ciullo d'Alcamo, a poet of Sicily, probably the poet ailuded to by Riccoboni. Cant. tales of Chaucer. Lond. 1775. val. iv. p. 78. See also Poes. du roy de Navarre. Paris 1742. tom. i. p. 165. |