Yet careless what he brings, his one concern And, having dropp'd the expected bag, pass on. Methinks, as I have always thought, that Cowper here missed the expression, of a kind feeling, and rather tends to raise an ungenerous sentiment towards this poor fellow. As the bearer of intelligence, of which he is ignorant, why should it be "To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy?" If "cold, and yet cheerful," he has attained to the "practical philosophy" of bearing ills with patience. He is a frozen creature that whistles," and therefore called "light-hearted wretch." The poet refrains to "look with a gentle eye upon this wretch," but, having obtained the newspaper, determines to enjoy himself, and cries Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, This done, and the bard surrounded with means of enjoyment, he directs his sole attention to the newspaper, nor spares a thought in behalf of the way-worn messenger, nor bids him "God speed!" on his further forlorn journey through the wintry blast. In London scarcely any one knows the newsman but a newsman. His customers know him least of all. Some of them seem almost ignorant that he has like "senses, affections, passions," with themselves, or is "subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer." They are indifferent to him in exact ratio to their attachment to what he "serves" them with. Their regard is for the newspaper and not the newsman. Should he succeed in his occupation, they do not hear of it: if he fail, they do not care for it. If he dies, the servant receives the paper from his successor, and says, when she carries it up stairs, "If you please, the newsman's dead :" they scarcely ask where he lived, or his fall occasions a pun "We always said he was, and now we have proof that he is, the late newsman." They are almost as unconcerned as if he had been the postman. Once a year, a printed "copy of verses" reminds every newspaper reader that the hand that bore it is open to a small boon. The Newsman's Address to his Customers, 1826," deploringly adverts to the general distress, patriotically predicts better times, and seasonably intimates, that in the height of annual festivities he, too, has a heart capable of joy. 'although the muse complains And sings of woes in melancholy strains, Yet Hope, at last, strikes up her trembling wires, To drink your health once more with Christmas ale: The losses and crosses to which newsmen are subject, and the minutiae of their laborious life, would form an instructive volume. As a class of able men of business, their importance is established by excellent regulations, adapted to their interests and well-being; and their numerous society includes many individuals of high intelligence, integrity and opulence. ON THE FIRST EPOCH OF ITALIAN LITERATURE. The literature of Italy is now attracting a greater attention among civilized nations than at any former period, not even excepting that previous to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. Not only those who are guided by fashion are applying to it, but those who are animated with the true spirit of wisdom and philosophy, and disregard malicious or prejudiced critics. Why should it be otherwise? It offers to us a boundless field to exercise and improve our minds. An original, powerful, and unfettered, genius is before us: sublime poets, magnificent historians, philosophers, and writers of all kinds, have flourished in that country since the twelfth century. Their pages are rich with the spoils of time. They present us in particular the history of a people who first struggled and triumphed over ignorance and barbarism;— who favored and enjoyed freedom in the face of European oppression;-who have experienced, in short, all human vicissitudes. Surely no object can be more interesting to mankind. There are very few instances where the superior genius of Italy has been better developed than in the formation of its language. While the nations of Europe scarcely knew the existence of a Tuscan dialect, the very same dialect in less than a century was cultivated, enriched, and refined to such a degree as to rival the best language known. Pietro dalle Vigne, Farinata, Buonagiunta da Lucca, Guitton d'Arezzo, Rinaldo d'Acquino, Lupo Gianni, Forese Donati, Ser Brunetto Notaio, Guido Giudice Messenesi, Lupo degli Uberti, Guido Cavalcanti, Giovan Villani, Cino, Pietro Crescenzo, and several others, wrote successfully both in verse and prose on a great variety of subjects. But the glory of fixing the first brilliant epoch of Italian literature was reserved to the mighty genius of Dante, Petrarca, and Boccacio. Though the former writers were not destitute of talents, yet the great superiority of the latter, and their successors, have almost obscured them. However, the poetical compositions of Guido Cavalcanti, Faranata, Cino, Guitton d'Arezzo, as well as Villani's history of Florence, and the treaty on the Wants of the Farm, by Pietro Crescenzo, are worthy monu ments of genius, and have greater claims to our attention than many modern flatterers, whom, through ignorance, we are accustomed to extol. Dante Alighieri was born at Florence in the year 1265.— After finishing his education under Brunetto Latini, he engaged in the business of public life, embraced the military profession, and distinguished himself on several occasions by his bravery and abilities. In 1300 he was appointed chief magistrate of the Florentine republic. But the only advantage that he derived from that station was the facility of examining, as if from an eminence, the troublesome times in which he lived. From political reasons, he was afterwards obliged to fly his country, and for a short period he found shelter at the court of Verona. Not being pleased with the treatment he received there, he resolved to go to France. Here his talents were appreciated, and he acquired great reputation, especially among learned divines. He returned afterwards to Italy with a view of again joining his relations and friends in his native land. But, as the party he then espoused, did not succeed in taking Florence, all his hopes were blasted; and from the moment of its failure, till he obtained, through the interest of Guido Novello da Polenta, an honorable establishment at Ravenna, he is supposed to have wandered about Italy in the most helpless condition. After many vexations, he died on the fourteenth of September, 1321, in the fiftyseventh year of his age. A magnificent monument was raised to his memory in 1780, bearing the following inscription :— Dante Alighiero poeta sui temporis primo Dante is the author of several Latin and Italian works, in prose and verse. But his fame rests chiefly on his Italian writings, La Vita Nuova, Il Convito, his Songs, and, more especially La Divina Commedia. For originality, vastness, and sublimity, he yields to none but Homer. With the acuteness of the most profound genius, he represents, in a learned manner, the active and contemplative life, not by means of fierce passions, bloody battles, cruel spectacles, vain fictions, and chimeras, but by viewing and describing men far from the worldly concerns, punished or rewarded in various ways, ON THE FIRST EPOCH OF ITALIAN LITERATURE. 355 according to their works, by a being all-powerful and just. Considering the novel manner by which he obtained his end, well might he sing L'acqua ch' io prendo, giammai non si corse, E nuove Muse mi dimostran l' Orse. Petrarca and Boccacio were worthy successors of that creative genius. The former rivalled, if not surpassed, the best productions of the ancients in the purity of his style, the sweetness of his sonnets, the gravity of his songs, and the morality of his triumphs. The latter afforded every specimen of eloquence in prose. The rapid progress of the Italian language on the outset, has always been a matter of surprise among the writers of different nations. But if we examine the philanthropic views, the learning of those and other great men of the time, the means they used to enlighten their countrymen, we shall find this progress less surprising. Dante, in imitation of Homer, Virgil, and other ancient authors, might have chosen, as some writers observed, a hero for his subject, celebrated his actions, and acquired fame : but it would not have suited his vast designs. He chose a subject acceptable to the age; a subject that might offer him many opportunities of enriching and refining his native language, of examining human manners more minutely, censuring vice, and exalting virtue ;-of being at once a great poet, philosopher, and instructor. Petrarca, aiming at the same object, wrote on love; but he treated the subject very differently from what was expected by an ignorant and degenerated people. Instead of lasciviousness, his works contained the most refined ideas of a virtuous and philosophic mind, conveyed in language unequalled for its precision, perspicuity, and elegance. cacio, in his Decamerone, and other writings, left us the most lively picture of his age; but, as he treated principally on familiar subjects, he could not use very great freedom in censuring, from fear that his writings might not suit the general taste: however, he is seldom found without his lash. authors of the same age, though of inferior abilities, were eagerly read, as they wrote on different subjects; and if they Boc Other |