In the half-century following the death of Tasso, there are but two poets who have attained any renown ; Guarini, the, author of Pastor Fido, and Tassoni, who wrote the Secchia Rapita (Rape of tho Bucket.) Filicaja, whose impassioned ly ries are still the revolutionary inspiration of Italy, belongs to the latter part of the seventeenth century; he died in 1707. After another long interval arose Frugo ni, a lyric poet of sonic celebrity, who died in 1768. and Metastasio, the author of plays, operas and ballets innumerable. Ile is remarkable for his wonderful com mand of the language, and the free and spirited movement of his dialogue. Ile died in Vienna, in the year 1782. During this same period, Italian dramatic litera ture received a new accession in Goldoni, whose comedies are still the glory of the Italian stage. He had a rival in Count Gazzi, whose works, nevertheless, arc far inferior to Goldoni's in humor and bril liancy. What Goldoni did for comedy, Al fieri accomplished for Italian tragedy. This author justly stands at the bead of modern Italian literature. His tragedies, odes and lyrics exhibit an eloquence and fervor of thought which is scarcely reach ed by any other author. His principal works are Saul, lIfyrrha, Oclacia, Bru tus the Second, and Philip II. Since the commencement of this century, Italy has not been barren of authors. Pindernonte, who has published several volumes of dra matic poetry; Ilgo Foseolo, author of a poem called "The Sepulchres ;" Manzoni, who wrote I Prornessi Sposi, (The Be trothed,) a charming romance of life on the shores of Lake Como; Silvio PeRico, whose Le .21f ie Prilone is a narrative of his sufferings in the prison at Spielberg, and Niecolini, equally celebrated as a pact and prose writer. Mazzini, Trium vir of Rome during the brief period of the Republic, and Gioberti, are the most distinguished Italian authors of the pres ent generation.
i$:panish. Literature.—The earliest es say in Spanish literature is the Chron icle of the Cid, which is supposed to have • been written about the middle of the twelfth century. In form the poem is sufficiently barbarous, though the lan guage is remarkably spirited and pictur esque. It has been the fount of number less songs and legends, through the later centuries. It narrates the adventures of Ruy Dine de Blear, the Cid Campeador. In the following century, Gonzales de Berceo, a monk, wrote nine voluminous poems on the lives of the saints. Alfonso X. of Castile, whose reign terminated in 1294, was the author of a poem entitled The Philosopher's Stone. besides several prose works. The first author of the fourteenth century was Prince Don John Manuel, who wrote II prose work entitled Count Lucanor, a collection of tales em laalying lessons of policy and morality. the was followed by Pedro Lopez de Ayala, and Mendoza, Marquis de San tillana ; though the latter belongs prop erly to the next century. He produced a number of works, both prose and poetry, all of which were remarkable for the erudition they displayed. Some of his lighter poems are very graceful and me !odious.
Under the reign of Charles V. Spanish literature first reached its full develop ment. After the union of Arragon and Castile and the transfer of the seat of the government to Madrid, the Castilian be came the court language, and thus re ceived a new polish and elegance. The first author of this period was Bus can, as imitator of Petrarch in some re spects, but a poet of much native fervor and passion. Garcilaso de la Vega, the friend of Boscan, surpasses him in the sweetness of his verses and in their sus ceptibility and imagination. lie was a master of pastoral poetry, and his ec logues are considered models of that species of writing. His life was actively devoted to the profession of arms. Ile fought under the banner of Charles XI. in Tunis, Sicily, and Provence, and was finally killed while storming the walls of Nice. Don Diego de Mendoza, one of the
most celebrated politicians and generals of that period, is generally awarded a place next to Gareilaso. Ile was a patron of classical literature, and the author of a history of the Moorish Revolt in the Alpuxarra, and a history of the War of Grenada, but a man of cruel and tyrannical character. Montemayor, who flourished at the same tune, attain ed much celebrity from his pastoral of Diana. These authors during the reign of Charles V. gave Spanish poetry its most graceful and correct form, and have since been regarded as models of classic purity. The great masters of Spanish literature, however, were re se•ved for the succeeding generation. Herrera and Ponce to Leon, lyrical poets, till the interval between the age of Carcilsio de Is Vega and Cervantes. Bemire is considered the first purely lyrical poet of Spain. Ponce de Leon, who was imprisoned five years by the Inquisition for having translated the of Solomon, was the author of sev eral volumes of religious poetry.
Two of the brightest stars of Spanish literature, Cervantes and Lope de Vega, were contemporaries, and were followed in the next generation, by the third, Cal deron. Cervantes was born in 1549. Ile travelled through Italy, lost a hand at the battle of Lepanto, and was five years a slave in Barbary. lie commenced his literary career by the writing of come dies and tragedies, the first of which, Galatea, was published in 1584. Thirty , of his comedies have been entirely lost. His great work, Don Quixote, was pub lished in 1605, and was immediately translated into all the languages of Eu rope. From this time until his death in 1616, he wrote many novels and comedies. The tragedy of NI011allatl, and the com edy of Life in Algiers, are the only two of his plays which have been preserved. To this same period belongs Don Alonzo de Emilia., whose epic of La Aracuana was written during the hardships of a campaign against the Argentinian In dians in Chili. Lope de Vega was born in 1562, and after a life of the most mar vellous performances died in 1635. He was a prodigy of learning, imagination, and language. Out of eighteen hundred dramas which he wrote, one hundred were each produced in the space of a single day. Ili• detached poems have been printed in 27 volumes in quarto. Very few of his plays are now read or performed. The only remaining authors of eminence during this period are Que veils, who wrote several moral and reli gious works and three volumes of lyrics, pastorals, and sonnets ; Villegas, an ana ereontie poet; and the Jesuit Mariana, author of a History of Spain. The life of Calderon de la Bares, the illustrious head of the Spanish drama, extended from 1600 to 1687. His plays are of four kinds : sacred dramas, trout Scriptural sources; historical dramas ; classic dra mas ; and pictures of society and man ners. The most celebrated are The Con stant Prince, El Secrete a Voces and El _Magic° prodigioso. A number of small dramatists were contemporary with Cal deron, hat with his death Spanish litera ture declined, awl has since produced few eminent names. Luyando, counsellor of state, published two tragedies in 1750, and in 1758 appeared The Life of Friar Gerund, by Salazar—a work in the style of Don Quixote, but directed against the clergy instead of the chivalry. It abounds with wit and satire, awl is perhaps the best Spanish prose work of the last cen tury. Towat do the close of the century Iluerta achieved considerable reputa tion by his attempts to revive the Spanish drama. Tomas de Yriarte published in 1782 his Literary Fables, and a few years later Melendez appeared as the author of two volumes of idyls and pastorals. Both of these authors display considera ble lyric genius ; but since their death, in the early part of the present century, Spain has produced no new name in lit erature.