pared for those to whom fortune had no longer left a home or a protector. Little more than a century had elapsed since the same nation, by whom the refugees were now welcomed with enthusiasm, would have turned from them with conscientious aversion-and to their literature and intellectual treasures alone were the Greeks indebted for this remarkable conversion. In Italy, the study of the ancient Greek, though frequently languishing and neglected, had at no period been totally abandoned ;* but it was only when its inhabitants became conscious of

Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana, 4to. Firenze, 1772, vol. v. l. iii. c. i. P. 393.

probably about the sixteenth century, or a little later.† In form, it resembles the Italian dramas of the same period; its dialogue is written in the popular verse of Modern Greece, and the plot, which is fabulous, is laid in Egypt, but at what period the author does not specify.

During the last century, as Bucharest and Yassi rose into importance, theatres were established in each, as well as at Corfu and Odessa, where plays, chiefly from the Italian schools, are still represented in Modern Greek. The number of original writers for the stage is, however, extremely limited, nor has any been so decidedly successful as Rizo, the historian, whose two tragedies, Aspasia and Polyxena, are declared, in the eulogy of one of his admiring countrymen, to combine the united genius of Sophocles and Aristophanes.I

+ Leake's Researches, p. 117.

Resumé Geog. par M. G. A. M. Citoyen Grec, p. 351.

the charms of their own language, chastened by the classics of Rome,* that they began fully to appreciate the matchless beauties of their Grecian originals. When Dante had breathed a living spirit into their old versification, and Petrarch had attuned its dulcet tones to melody they had never known before, the ambition of the numerous Italian states was aroused, and in their mutual rivalry, princes and chiefs aspired to the guardianship of talent; and wealth and honours were showered upon the successful cultivators of letters and the arts. It was then that the houses of the Visconti and Della Scala, of Carrara and Este, of Corregio, Gonzaga, and Malatesta, became at Milan and Verona, at Padua and Ferrara, at Parma, Mantua, and Pesaro, the patrons of genius ;† and Italy, awaking from her intellectual lethargy, arose at once the land of science and of song.

Amongst the most distinguished agents of this revolution, were Petrarch of Arezzo, and John of Certaldo, or Boccacio, whose ardent love of learning was accompanied by an equal anxiety to impart a like passion to their countrymen, and to whom the world

* Mill's Theodore Ducas, vol. i. p. 20.

+ Ginguené, Hist. Litter. d'Italie, vol. ii. c. xi. vol. iii. c. xviii.

is indebted for the recovery and preservation of some of the choicest treasures of antiquity.* Greek was cultivated amongst his numerous pursuits by Petrarch, but unfortunately his success was never gratifying, and even towards the close of his life, he had to deplore his inability to read or to enjoy the sublimities of Homer.+ The labours of Boccacio were more fortunate, and, perhaps, more assiduous, and to him Florence was indebted for the foundation of her first professorship of ancient Greek, for the study of which she was subsequently considered the fountainhead in Italy. In 1360, Leo Pilatius, a Calabrian, or perhaps a Greek, was intro

Petrarch was the discoverer of Cicero de Gloria, and some works of Varro; and in the search after manuscripts, so universal in the fourteenth century, he took a prominent place.

The first tutor of Petrarch was Barlaam, a Calabrian monk, whom he met at Avignon in 1342, while the latter was ambassador from John Palæologus to Benedict XII. ; but their period of intercourse was brief, and ere Petrarch had time to benefit by his instructions, Barlaam was recalled to Naples, where Robert of Anjou conferred on him the see of Girace, the ancient Locre. He had subsequently a few les-. sons from Leo Pilatius, but apparently without profit.—Gibbon, c. lxvi. Schoell, l. vii. c. 99. Ginguené, v. ii. c. xii. Tiraboschi, vol. v. 1. iii. c. i. p. 395. Hodius calls him Thessalonicensis (De Græcis illustribus linguæ Græcæ litterarumque humaniorum instauratoribus,

s. 2, p. 436.

duced to him by Petrarch; and so thoroughly devoted was he to the interests of literature, that although he detested his person,* he solicited and prevailed on him to remain for nearly three years in his family. By his influence with the Florentines, he obtained for the Greek a pension and a school, but so confined was the taste of the age for elegant literature, that not more than ten individuals could be found in Italy who could read the language he professed. Wearied with his tedious occupation, Leo longed to visit Greece, and, accordingly, embarked against the entreaties of his patrons; but scarcely had he landed at Constantinople, ere he again sighed for the delights of Italy; he set out on his return, had reached the Adriatic, and was already within sight of &c. l. i. c. i. p. 2.) Petrarch seems to consider him an Italian, "Leo noster, vere Calaber, sed ut ipse vult Thessalus, quasi nobilius sit Græcum esse quam Italum; idem tamen ut apud nos Græcus sit apud illos puto Italus, quo scilicet utrobique peregrina nobilitetur origine."-Rer. Senil. 1. iii. apud Hodium et Tiraboschi.

66

Aspectu horridus homo est," says Boccacio, in enumerating those by whom he had been aided in the composition of his mythology, " turpi facie, barba prolixa et capillitio nigro, et meditatione occupatus assidua, moribus incultus nec satis urbanus."-De Genealogia Deorum, l. xv. c. 6. p. 388.

So says Petrarch in a letter to Homer, in reply to one written to him in the name of the poet by Boccacio.

his destination, when the vessel was struck by lightning, and the unfortunate professor perished.*

After the death of Pilatius, an interval of upwards of thirty years occurred ere his chair was dignified by the presence of a successor; during which, those who sought to acquire a knowledge of Greek, were obliged for that purpose to travel to Constantinople. But towards the close of the fourteenth century, during the negotiations for the union of the eastern and western churches, a new professor was found in Manuel Chrysoloras. He had been ambassador from John Palæologus to the court of Richard II. of England; and charmed with his passage through Italy, he was easily prevailed on to return and fix his abode at Florence.‡ Here his exertions as a lecturer were attended with brilliant success; and his class, amongst other illustrious scholars, could boast the names of Leonardo Bruni,§ and Carlo Marsuppini,

* Gibbon, c. lxvi. Schoell, 1. vii. c. 99. iv. p. 334. Mill's Theo. Ducas, vol. i. p. 281.

ii.

Berington, b.

† Tiraboschi, vol. v. 1. iii. c. i. p. 401. vol. vi. p. 2. l. iii. c.

Tiraboschi, ib. p. 126. Gibbon, ib. Mill's Theo. Ducas, vol. i. p. 301.

§ Chancellor to the Republic of Florence, where he died in A.D. 1444. His literary taste was said to have been engendered from perpetually contemplating, when a boy, a portrait