By nature ardent, generous, impulsive, loyal to his friends, Alfieri was well fitted to write tragedies. His secretary Polidori, speaking of his temperament, described Alfieri "as proui as the Satan of Milton and as irascible as the Achilles of Homer." His tragedies coming at a time of literary decadence in Italy were by contrast all the more effective, and undoubtedly greatly stimulated his successors, Foscolo, Monti, PeRico, and others. The impulse that, as a poet and a patriot, Alfieri gave to Italy of the 18th century is analagous to what Dante did for his country in the 13th. The beautiful monument by Canova in the church of Santa Croce, Florence, between the tomb of Machia velli and that of Michelangelo, representing Italy in the form of a woman weeping and lamenting the death of the Poet, was erected by the Countess to the memory of Alfieri.
The tragedies of Alfieri, although taken al most entirely from classical subjects, as their titles indicate, nevertheless are treated by the poet in a manner that is his own, devoid of ornamentation to the point of being, both in language and form, almost stiff and barren, yet the nobility of the sentiment and their lofty ideals have made their author the first tragic poet of Italy. His fame may well rest upon the Tragedies, among which
the Pisa edition (22 vols., 1805-15), supple mented by the works published in Florence by the Countess and the Abbe Caluso (in 13 vol umes-8 vo; but not printed in London, as the title-page states).
Among the many works of minor import ance are, in prose, (Del principe c delle lettere.> blaming the patronage given by princes to men of letters; 'La virtu sconosciuta,' a dialogue on the citizen's ideal; 'I giornalP ;
lettere); in poetry, Commedie politiche: (L'uno,) ("So cial Comedies: The Little Widow: Di vorceD). The desire to instruct in these com edies is too apparent, nullifying appreciably their small literary value;