CANTU, CESARE Italian historian and novel ist, was born at Brivio, Lombardy, on Dec. 5, 1804. On his father's death he was left in charge of his brothers and sisters, and supported them by the proceeds of teaching and writing. His early books include some of his best work, notably La Lombardia nel secolo XVII. (183 2) and the novel Margherita Pusterla (Milan, 1838). This novel was written with a tooth-pick as pen and candle-smoke for ink in an Austrian prison, where he was confined for political reasons. In 1838 he began a universal his tory, Storia Universale (Turin, 35 vols., loth ed., 1890), com pleted in 1846, and repeatedly revised, which brought a fortune to the publisher and a competence to its author. During the revo lution of 1848 he fled from Turin to Milan to escape arrest, but after the Five Days he returned, and began to edit La Guardia Nazionale. He was one of the few liberals who responded to the pacific overtures of the archduke Maximilian, a fact that was often brought up against him in later days. After the establishment of the Italian monarchy he was a deputy to the chamber for a short time. He founded the Lombard historical society, and was ap pointed superintendent of the Lombard archives. He died in Milan on March 11, 1895. Among his numerous other works may be mentioned: Gli Eretici in Italia (Milan, 1873), and L'abate Parini e la Lombardia nel secolo passato (1854).
See his Reminiscenze (1883) ; and P. Manfredi, Cesare Cantle (19o5).