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SECT. Theatres, both public and private, arose in every city and in every town. Each academy had its theatre; and the grande salle in every palace was fitted up for dramatic exhibitions.(r) Nor has this passion yet expired. All the great and small towns in Italy still abound in private theatres; and dramatic exhibitions are the favourite amusement of the Italian gentry and nobility of the present day during the villeggiatura. The brother of Count Pepoli, whom we have just mentioned, as well as the Marquis Albergati, have each un teatro stabilito, that is, a company of players and a band of music, which are considered as component parts of their household establishments. However neither these gentlemen, nor any of the other proprietors of private theatres in Italy, refuse to take a part occasionally either on the stage, or in the orchestra. We have already found both the Marquis Albergati and Count Pepoli performing in Romeo and Adelinda; and Count Vittorio Alfieri, whose works we shall shortly notice, played the part of Creontes in his own tragedy of Antigone.

(r)" The Pastor Fido," says Gibbon," was first represented in a private house in Ferrara." In the year 1792, I explored the apartment in which it was exhibited. It was then stripped of all theatrical decorations. It appeared spacious and gloomy. Of its dimensions I cannot speak with certainty ;---perhaps I should approach near the truth if I were to say, it is thirty feet in length, and eighteen or twenty feet in breadth. This apartment is in an house which formerly belonged to the Guarini family, but is now the property of the Gualengi. On the stairs leading to it, stands a bust of the poet Guarini. And on the front of the house we read the following inscription:

HERCULIS ET MUSARUM COMMERCIO, FAVETE LINGUIS ET ANIMIS.

Were

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Were I to notice particularly the several public theatres of SECT. Italy, I should extend this digression to an unreasonable length. I shall therefore confine myself to observing, that those which are most celebrated, are the following ;-the theatre in Parma erected by Giambattista Alcotti and dedicated (1619) to Bellona ed alle muse,-that of Verona erected, as we have already observed, under the direction of the Marquis Maffei,— the royal theatre of Turin which, according to De la Lande, "est le plus considérable qu'il y ait en Italie, à l' exception du grand theâtre de Parme, qui depuis long-temps ne sert point,” -the Aliberti of Rome,-San Petronio of Bologna,-San Carlo (s) of Naples, and the Fenice of Venice. I happened to be present at the opening of the last theatre, in May 1792, and never did I behold a more brilliant spectacle. (t) All the powers of music, painting and dancing were employed to strike and delight the imagination. Nor was it a little gratifying to an admirer of Shakspeare, to see the bust of his favourite bard placed in a colonnade amongst the greatest ancient and modern dramatic poets.

It should, however, be observed that the public theatres which I have enumerated are, in general, solely appropriated

(s) Though this theatre is dedicated to Saint Carlo, it is on Saint Anthony the manager relies for protection against fire; and with this view, an image of that Saint, as black as the late lady of Loreto, stands behind the scenes.

() It was with the opera of i Giccochi d' Agrigento by Count Pepole, that this theatre was opened. The libretto, which lies before me, is adorned with a view of the front of the theatre, and portraits of the principal performers, -Gasparo Pachiarotti, Giacomo David, Brigida Banti,-and the composer of the music, Giovanni Paisiello.

t

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SECT. to the representation of musical dramas by companies of comedians in the pay, and forming part of the establishment of their respective courts. Comedies and tragedies are now performed in Italy by istrioni or strollers only, to whom the royal stage, or theatre of the court, is universally proscribed. The admirers of Thalia and Melpomene divested of the meretricious charms of music, must therefore be content to seek those ladies in such humble theatres as the Capranica, and Tordinona of Rome, S. Crisostomo of Venice, the Fiorentini of Naples, and the small theatre belonging to the palace of the prince Carignano in Turin. It is to this want of a permanent theatre, liberally endowed, that the slow progress of tragedy in Italy has been, with too much truth ascribed. It was observed above a century ago by Rymer, that "Italy had no fund for the vast charge of dramatic representations; they had no standing revenue for the theatre; and however magnificent some prince might be on an extraordinary wedding, or great occasion, there was nothing constant, nor could it, in such circumstances, be expected, that the drama there should turn to account, or rise to any tolerable reputation. Therefore the ordinary business of the stage was left amongst a company of strollers, who wandered up and down, acting farce, or turning into farce, whatever they acted." (u) The evil complained of by the English critic, is feelingly deplored

(x) A short view of Trag. Lond. 1693. P. 53.

by

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by Denina. (v) And Ranieri de' Calsabigi, in his celebrated SECT letter to count Alfieri, (x) having cast a retrospective glance upon the Italian stage, asks, “But what kind of stages were these?" To the question he replies: "Sometimes theatres

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belonging to the court, but most commonly to private no"blemen, who caused them to be erected in their palaces and "villas. Upon these temporary stages, select tragedies were "represented a few times by the courtiers of the prince, or by private parties of ladies and gentlemen. Thus Italy having never had a permanent tragic theatre, or actors by pro❝fession, these private representations could only be called "transient attempts, from which the art received little or no advantage."

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Though jealous in the extreme of the honor of his own theatre, Voltaire declares, “si jamais les Italiens avaient un théâtre régulier, je crois qu'ils iraient plus loin que nous. Leurs théâtres sont mieux entendus, leur langue plus maniable, leurs vers blancs plus aisés à faire, leur nation plus sensible. Il leur manque l'encouragement, l'abondance, et la paix." But I trust they will not long want either " l'encouragement," l'abondance," or "la paix." And we may safely conclude with Dr. Burney, that "when they become heartily tired of music, which by excess of it they will probably be very soon, the same rage for novelty, which has made them fly with such

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(v) Le Vic. della Lett. cap. v.

(x) See Trag. di Vitt. Alfieri. Par. 1788. tom. i. The public are indebted for an excellent translation of Calsabigi's letter to Mr. Penn, from whose version I have borrowed the passage given in the text.

rapidity

SECT. rapidity from one stile of composition to another, will drive

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them to seek amusement from the stage without music." (y) Nor is it improbable that, from the natural ardour of the Italian character, and the resources with which the national language and genius abound, Italy, ere many years roll away, will surpass the rest of Europe in the dramatic, as well as in the other arts. Rapt with this idea, methinks I now behold Melpomene reigning in simple majesty in that enchanting country, while "le beau monstre de l'opera," warbling an expiring note, lies prostrate at the foot of her throne!

Returning from this digression, I shall select from the few tragic writers that still remain unnoticed, two of superior merit, and devote the concluding pages of this memoir to the consideration of their respective productions.

Impatient of the tædium of an inactive life, and nobly ambitious of fame, Count Vittorio Alfieri of Asti, while yet a youth, struck into the dramatic walk. "Ciò che mi mosse a scrivere da prima," says he, "fu la noja, e il tedio d'ogni casa, misto a bollor di gioventù, desiderio du gloria, e neccessità di occuparmi in qualche maniera, che più fosse confacente alla mia inclinazione." Such was the ardour with which he engaged in this new pursuit, that he produced, in less than six months, a tragedy entitled Cleopatra, (≈) which was, he candidly

Pres. stat. of music in Fr. & Italy. p. 208.

(≈) This drama still remains inedited. The amours of Anthony and Cleopatra, seem to have been a favourite subject with the dramatic poets of Italy, from the dawn of their stage, to the present time, We have had occasion, in the course of this work, to notice several tragedies