CASTL Onandlilln Poet, was born of humble permits, in• the year I'121, at Monte. ha scone, a. small town in the States of the Church. It was. there, too, that his studies commenced, is which he made such rapid progress, that he was sp. pointed, in early youth, Professor of Greek and La. tin, in an academy of his native town—en employ. ment which peculiarly directed his attention to Choi. cal P and Literature. He-soon, however, quit. ted this obscure situation, and repaired to Rome, is search of More noble examples of emulation, and a higherrecommence of public esteem than his birth place afforded him. His learnieg, acuteness, and agreeable disposition, recma him to the notice and friendship of the most eminent individuals of that capital. He was admitted a Member of the Academy Degli Areal, and it. is believed he might easily have risen from a Cath7 of Montefiascona which he had • Obtained, to the enjoyment of much higher church ha such been the chief objects of. his embitien. But his love of freedom, and his restless inclination for travelling (which appears to have been cheated& tic of all the literary men of Italy), interfered with his ecclesiastical preferment. accept. ed the invitation of Prince (tutor to the Grand; Duke Leopold), with when e had be. come acquainted at Florenee, to Vienna, where he was presented to the Joseph. Alter this introduction, he visited all the capitals of Europe, -from Petersbarel to Lie bon, and from Constantinople to Stockholm, direct. ing his particular attention. to the mannere and awl institutions of the various. countries through wind .he passed. Oh. his return to Vienna, he was sp. pointed Poeta Cesario, or Poet-Laureate, in the rote of Metastasis), a situation' which he held till some time after the death of the Emperor Leopold, who he resigned it, and retired to Florence in 1796 During.two years residence in that city, he coo posed a great number of his works. At the end of that period, he went to live in Paris ; and, though now far advanced in life, neither his habitual gaiety nor ardour of literary composition were in any dr gree abated. Scarce a day passed in. which he did not add something to his principal poem, Gli hash Parlanti, or write one of his poetical Beech. At the same time, he delighted the society veth which he lived by the unceasing liveliness of hisonvent tion, which: was rendered highly entertaining and interesting, by his knowledge of the world, and the extensive opportunities he hid possessed dam"' ing the manners and characters! &mankind.
in.1808, be bad paned the age of 82, the strength both of his mind and body AM afforded the em mien of a yet longer life; but he died daring this year, in consequence of having a severe cold, in returning_ home at a. late heir from a house whet he had spent the evening „ by a . great concourse of and Ian* guislted by literal eminence, and an eltgrell fuse. val oration Was pronounced on this tocatolen by Co rona, an Italian physician.
The chief work of Cud is G14 Ashunki-Parlangi; poems Ppiso Diviao, in XXV/. Cacti. In 179e and •793, the French revolution had attracted the atten• Lion and speculations of all Europe, and hid intros duced comparisons between new theories of govern ment and ancient institutions. The rage of innova tion, and dislike of established forms, having infected the minds of so large a proportion ef the communi ty, Casti resolved .to exhibit, though under an alle gorical veil, what he conceived to be the predenti tuns feelings of the multitude, their avowed hopes, and secret designs. With this view, as he himself has expressed it in his pretitce, " he contrived a grand apologue, divided into .parts, and forming a con. twined poem, in which animals being introduced as speakers and actors, a complete political storymight be exhibited, exposing the defects of various cal systems, and the absurdity of many institutions which had been from tine to time, adopted." . Near the commencement of this apologue, the beasts as semble to choose a king, and after a good deal of in trigue, and various harangues, the lion is elected.. On his death, the folly of the lioness regent, and perversity of the royal cub, excite murmurs, cabals, and at length a successful insurrection, which is headed by the dog. By thus assigning to *mats human speech andpassiona, ssioas, the author has very hap pily parodied the • usual appearances mid events of paticalrevolutions in general ; but often with some allusion to the political events of the day, to the chap rectors of the reigning princes of Europe, and to that most portentous of all revolutions, the consequences of which at that time occupied so large a portion of the thoughts • of mankind.