"I can imagine a period equally remote from its origin, when the American nation, looking backward into time, will feel all the moral interest which an Italian now feels, who combines in one view the present and the past, and whose imagination associates with the soil he treads, those visions of glory, which will for ever live in the song of the poet, and the narratives of the historian. Italy, vain of the lustre of her acquired fame, timorous and slothful, in a state of inglorious indolence, contemplates her fading splendour; while America, active and daring, emulous of solid greatness, is vigorously employing all her resources, moral and physical, in the construction of such a fabric of power and of social refinement, as shall surpass every masterpiece of political skill that has hitherto existed; and when the creations of the muse shall have given to every section of our country the same charm which they have bestowed upon Italy, our soil, over which nature has profusely scattered her beauties, will possess an inspiring influence, equal, if not superior to this favoured region, where poetry has gathered her choicest

flowers."

The second section opens with a sort of essay on the influence of climate as it respects the moral and intellectual character of nations. We have neither time nor space to enter into the discussion, but shall content ourselves with observing, that notwithstanding the effect of climate upon the human character is, without doubt, considerable, yet its influence may be, and has been, counteracted by moral and political institutions. The climate of Greece and Italy has not changed since the days of Pericles and Fabricius-vet who dreams of comparing the conquerors of Xerxes and Pyrrhus with their degenerate descendants?

The observations on the Opera Seria are judicious, and expressed with ele

principles, he can estimate its beauties only by their effects, and in determining its merits is guided by no other standard than his own feelings. In a mind not habituated to judge by the rules and principles of art, the pleasures of music are influenced by the state of the imagination, nor is it possible for such a mind to form a very clear conception of those exquisite performances of art, which please only chromatic ears, until it has learned to separate from the real and permanent beauties of melody, those imaginary and perishable charms that are borrowed from casual associations. Yet I am persuaded that the musician's art does not afford to scientific judges those rapturous pleasures it excites in minds which an unmanageable degree of sensibility subjugates by the power of accidental and local impressions, and renders them incapable of distinguishing the refined music of the opera from the simple but rude melodies of nature. I was ac

quainted with a person who heard with perfect indifference the most celebrated vocal and instrumental performers of Italy, who yet listened as if enchanted to the simple sim song of a Venetian gondoliere, heard under a moonlight sky along a silent canal, bordered with ruined palaces, once the gay mansions of splendour and beauty. I do not know that in witnessing the most brilliant concert, or those almost supernatural feats of voice which are exhibited on the Italian stage, I was ever conscious of such a sacred and home-felt delight' as I have experienced in listening to the sounds of a midnight serenade, which,

Rose like a steam of rich distill'd perfumes, And stole upon the air.

Even the warbling of a nightingale in a tree near Petrarch's villa, has more powerfully affected me than the most skilful human artist would have done by bringing to my recollection these beautiful lines of the poet,

"Qui non palazzi, non teatro o loggia
Ma'n lor vece un abete, un faggio un pino,
Tra l'erba verde, e'l bel monte vicino,
Onde se scende poetando e poggia,
Levan di terra al ciel nostro inteletto:
E'l rosignuol che dolcemente all'ombra
Tutte le notté si lamenta e piange.*

"The attractions which music borrows from poetry, and poetry from music, mislead the mind in its judgment respecting the distinct and separate merits of each. How many indifferent airs become popular from their being originally combined with the beauties of poetry, and how often do we see puerility of sentiment and poverty of invention set off by the merit of musical composition. The former, I think, is a general case in England and America, the latter is daily exemplified in Italy. The Italian operas, with a few exceptions, as dramatic compo

"Son. X.

sitions, are not only tame and languid, but contemptibly puerile. I speak not here of the musical dramas of Metastasio, which have pretensions far above these; but of that vast number of pieces so barren of sentiment and imagery which are continually manufactured for the opera. How gross soever are the faults which the poet may commit, they are varnished over by the art of the musician. Nay, he is often necessita ted to vitiate his language and deform his style, in order to humour* the taste of a favourite cantatrice. For this reason, in proportion as the music of Italy prospers, her poetry declines, and the greatness of the former may be said to be built on the ruins of the latter..

"Whether poetry and music flourish best together, or whether they arrive at their highest perfection when cultivated exclusively of e each other, is a question of some nicety. Modern Greece affords some countenance to the former opinion, while modern Italy furnishes many plausible arguments in support of the latter.

"Since the days of Tasso, but a few of the bards of Italy have inherited any portion of the fire of their great predecessors, and at the present day her breed of original poets appears to be completely extinct. But Italy is to day the land of enchanting music. This may be ascribed in some measure to the harmonious structure of the Italian language, of which Metastasio said, 'e musica stessa. It is unquestionably the most musical of all the dialects of modern Europe, and even where the inind is unable to annex any determinate and precise signification to its terms, still it delights the ear with its meio

dious accents, and, like the sighs of the breeze or the warbling of birds, awakens feelings analogous to those inspired by the charms of nature. Its full and sonorous terminations give it a great advantage over the French language when adapted to the musical accompaniments. The voice, in lengthening out the mute vowels of the latter, produce a barbarous dissonance compared with those round and harmonious closes in which the Italian language is so rich.

"The lyrical drama of France, in elegance and regularity of structure, and refinement

* "This practice is finally ridiculedin Madame de Staël's Corinnne. Vos musiciens fameux disposent en entier de vos poëtes; l'un lui dé clare qu'il ne peut pas chanter s'il n'a dans son ariette le mot felicità; le tenor demande la tomba; et le troisième chanteur ne peut faire des roulades que sur le mot catene. Il faut que le pauvre počte arrange ces goûts divers comme il le peut avec la situation dramatique.'

"Est il e tonnant que d'après ces dispositions universelles, on n'ait en Italie qu'un mauvais opera avec de belle musique; cela doit arriver quand on est passionne pour l'une, et qu'on so soucie peu de l'autre, Voltaire a dit que la musique chez les Italiens avant tué la tragadie et il a dit vrai. Cours de Literature, par J. F. La Hurpe.'

of diction, surpasses that of Italy. A profound knowledge of the principles of the dramatic art, and the unrivalled beauty of their ballet, have enabled the French artists to embellish their opera with all that Apolle and the Graces could bestow. Yet with all these dazzling allurements, it wearies and exhausts the attention of the spectator,* while the Opera Seria of Italy recreates and delights him.

"My ears also greatly deceive me, if the musical artists of the former would endure a comparison with those of the latter. An Italian, in witnessing the deafening applauses of a French audience, which were, however, not sufficiently loud to drown the voice of the actress upon the stage, exclaimed gli Francesi hanno le orecchie di corno.' Those who have had their ears wounded by the screaming of Madame Branchu, in the character of Armide, and have seen Rinaldo roused from his voluptuous dream by the stentorian voice of Derivis, accompanied with all the cymbals, trumpets and kettledrums of the orchestra, must have regretted that any thing so offensive should mar the beauty of a performance, which in some. measure vindicates, with regard to the French opera, the justness of these beautiful lines of Voltaire,

"Il faut se rendre a ce palais magique,
Où les beaux vers, la danse et la musique,
L'art de charmer les yeux par les couleurs,
L'art plus heureux di séduire les cœurs,
De cent plaisirs font un plaisir unique."

The author witnessed at Trieste the

performance of the opera of Jason and Medea. His description of it is in his happiest manner, and as we wish him to appear to the best advantage, we present it to our readers.

*"The Grand Opera of Paris, although somewhat caricatured in the following description of Rousseau, is even at the present day not wholly free from some of those faults which exposed it to the ridicule of that unsparing satirist, On voit les actrices, presque en convulsion, arracher avec violence ces Glapissimens de leurs poumons les poings fermés, contre la poitrine, la tète en arriere le visage enflammé, les vaisseaux gonflés, l'estomac pantelant; on ne sait lequel est le plus disagreablement affecté, de l'œil ou de l'oreille, leurs efforts font autant souffrir ceuz que les regardent, que leurs chants, ceux que les écoutent;-concevez que cette mamére de chanter est employée pour exprimer ce que Quinault a jamais dit de plus galant et de plus tendre. Imaginez les Muses, les Graces, les Amours, Venus méme s'exprimant avec cette delicatesse et jugez de l'effet!-A ces beaux sons aussi jastes qu'ils sont doux se marient tres dignement ceux de l'orchestre. Figurez vous un charivari sans fin d'instruments sans melodie; un ronron trainant et perpetuel de basse; chose la plus lugubre, la plus assommante que J'aie entendue de ma vie, et qui Je n'ai jamais pu supporter une demiheure sans gagner un violen mal de tête.

"The sounds of the orchestra no sooner struck my ears, than I recognized the exquisite execution of the German artists. The opera, entitled Gli pretendenti delusi, opened with a charming duet between the Prima donna, and the Tenore. The Primo Buffo was the first in Italy, and sang the arias with inimitable grace and humour.

In

Italy, it is the fashion to be inattentive to the recitative parts of the opera, but when the orchestra pauses, and the actor comes forward to the front of the stage, and announces to the audience by his looks, that he is going to sing the aria, a general si lence immediately follows. A similar pause in conversation takes place at the commencement of the ballet, which, as may readily be conceived, has powerful attractions for a people upon whom the spells of beauty and the enchanting power of graceful motion act with an irresistible fascina tion.

"The subject of the ballet was taken from the story of Jason and Medea. The addi. tion of any novel attractions to a tale, familiar to every school-boy, would at first seem to involve difficulties almost invincible. But the resources of art are unlimited, and the history of the chief of the Argonauts and his spouse, although a hacknied tale, and although degraded from the dignity of the epopee and the drama to a pantomime, appeared with a renovated lustre that instantaneously seized upon the attention of the spectator. The poetry of Euripides does not operate upon the fancy and the heart with a sway more irresistible, than that succession of magical illusions which compose this ballet, and by which the artist reaches through the senses the finer organs and nobler passions of the soul. Terpsichore, on this occasion, showed herself the rival of Melpomene, or rather the latter, abdicating her dignity, and borrowing the enchanting graces of her sister muse, appeared with no less additional loveliness than Juno, when she shone with all those ineffable attractions conferred upon her person by the possession of the zone of Venus. Looks often dart the contagious fire of poetry more than the most forcible and brilliant composition of words; and the music which unites its ravishing spells to the irre sistible enchantments of grace, and heightens the expression of eloquent and living attitudes, is a natural language, in its effect analagous to those passionate and sentimental tones in the human voice, which constitute the charm of declamation. The impassioned character of Medea was beautifully portrayed; the ballerina who personated it, gave to it all the effect of which it was susceptible The discovery of her hus⚫ band's passion for the daughter of Creon, and its effect upon her mind, were happily conceived and forcibly expressed by this female artist; while the music of the orchestra painted to the ear the furious agitation of the agonized and distracted mind of Medea.

"Thy numbers jealousy to nought were fixed, Sad proof of thy distressful state, Of differing themes the veering strain was mixed, And now it courted love, now raving called on hate.

"The struggles of maternal tenderness in the bosom of Medea, before she executes her horrid purpose, and the grief of Jason for the loss of his murdered children, shone in colours truly dramatic, and might elicit tears. The sorceress's visit to the infernal regions, her countenance pale with jealousy, yet meditating revenge, the terror which seemed to shake her whole frame at the moment she is to invoke the powers of helf to assist her in the execution of her-diabolical scheme of vengeance, the dances of the furies around her, their torches illuminating the scene with a terrific glare, and to crown the whole, Medea borne aloftthrough the air in her car, drawn by fiery dragons, evinced in the Italian artists, a superiority of skill in the machines and decorations of the stage, which made me recollect the French theatre, where I have sometimes in the like manner suffered my spirits to be borne along by a succession of passive enjoyments, and where, encompassed by the Alusions of the ballet, or enchanted by the syren song of the opera, I have feasted to satiety at that banquet where reason resigns her authority, and leaves the fancy to indulge in all the luxury of visionary de. light.

"The art of pantomime is carried to a high degree of excellence among a people of a lively and ardent imagination. It is so natural for such a people to employ the language of gesture to express their feelings; anda mode of communication to which men at first were led, by a necessity imposed upon them by the limited stores of language, in the earlier stages of its formation, has been continued from choice, and cultivated as an embellishment.

"The highest degree of perfection at tainable in this art, may be looked for among the talkans, who appear to possess, beyond any other people, that muscular flexibility of countenance, by means of which it suddenly and spontaneously reflects the emotions of the heart. The causes which render the human countenance so sensitive and delicate an organ of intellectual communication, and which make it se faithful a mirror of what passes within the mind, are not more to be ascribed to a particular physical conformation, than to the prevalence of taste and mental elegance, arising out of a particular state of society.

"Independent of that forcible and impassioned style of gesture, by which nature has characterized the Italian nation, the classic forms of antiquity which they have continually before their eyes, naturally fashion them to a standard of grace; and, indeed, omitting the consideration of a cultivated taste, the continual presence of these models of the beau ideal would lead them insensibly to acquire a habit of expressing their thoughts and sentiments in the most poetical attitudes. Thus the French and Italian ballets frequently recal to the fancy the fine forms of painting and statuary, which acquire additional interest when heightened by every varying expression, and the fugitive and evanescent charms of the living model. Even the ideal fictions of the muse, when clothed with shape and colour, and exhibited in a visible form to the spectator, produce a more pleasing effect than when presented directly to the mind without the intervention of the senses: the creative power of the imagination being slightly, if at all exerted, while it receives passively its impressions through the organs of external perception."

The favourite species of music with the Italians is precisely what might be supposed agreeable to their soft and voluptuous character; a music addressed to the heart-the passions we should rather say-and calculated to melt the soul by its delicious sweetness and melody. The senses are taken captive-the imagination labyrinth of song and luxuryand every nobler sentiment and feeling dissolves before the influence of a science that was intended to act as the ally of

roves in

virtue.

a

From the Opera we gladly turn our attention to the dramatic writers of Italy. The author has given an interesting sketch of the three principal modern titerati who have devoted their talents to dramatic composition. We regret that we have only room for the portrait of Alfieri, which we do not hesitate to say is drawn with great vigour and felicity, and deserves to be mentioned as a splendid but just eulogium on one in whose productions the fire of genius was fanned by the wings of freedom.

"But the dramatic poet whom the Italians regard with a veneration bordering upon

idolatry, is Alfieri. The powerful allurements of Metastasio's poetry, appears to have won for him the privilege of fixing the laws of dramatic composition. He assimilated the genius of tragedy to the softness and languor of pastoral poetry, nor is it difficult to conceive how a people softened by indolence and pleasure, should be inclined to prefer brilliancy of imagination and voluptuousness of sentiment, to depth of feeling and energy of thought. How great then, is the merit of Alfieri, who combated successfully these enchantments, and infused into tragedy her ancient spirit. Since his time the theatre in Italy has been a great school of virtue and moral wisdom. Melpomene no longer appears with her majestic forehead bound with chaplets of flowers and with the voice and smiles of a Siren. Alfieri divested her of these meretricious

charms, restored to her the solemn step, the elevated look, the lofty accent, and clothed her with the flowing majesty of her antique costume.

"But with all his merits, Alfieri does net appear to have seized the justest conception of tragedy. Solicitous chiefly to avoid the effeminacy of Metastasio, he has gone to the opposite extreme. His illustrations and metaphors are employed for sake of strength, more than for ornament, and his aversion to embellishment led him to the adoption of a style harsh and unpoetical. To borrow an illustration from painting, all his pieces are deficient in repose. The mind is kept too continually on the stretch. This tragical uniformity renders his dramas, in spite of their great beauties, heavy and tedious. I cannot conceive why the tragic poet should not be permitted occasionally to step aside to regale his reader with a description or an episode, and why a liberty allowed in epic composition, should be considered inconsistent with the laws of the drama. In the seventh book of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, after a series of sanguinary battles and martial exploits, how refreshing to the imagination is the solitary retreat on the banks of the Jordan, and the adventures of Erminia and the Shepherd among scenes of pastoral innocence and simplicity. A beauty of this kind in Shakspeare,' says Dugald Stewart, 'has been finely remarked by sir Joshua Reynolds. After the awful scene in which Macbeth relates to his wife the particulars in his interview with the weird sisters, and where the design is conceived of accomplishing their predictions that very night, by the murder of the king, how grateful is the sweet and tranquil picture presented to the fancy in the dialogue between the king and Banquo before the castle gate :'

"This castle hath a pleasant seat: the air Nimbly and swiftly recommends itself Unto our general sense.

This guest of summer, The temple haunting martlet, does approve,

By his lov'd mansionary, that the heaven's breath

Smells wooingly No jutty friese, Buttress nor coigne of 'vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant

1

varied. All his dramas are modelled after the same pattern. When you have read his conspiracy of the Pazzi, and his Philip the Second, you appear to have exhausted all the treasures of his fancy. The love of liberty with which some of his pieces are so strongly marked, and which is the predominant sentiment throughout most of them, have acquired for him a great reputation among a people who know nothing of liberty but its false and splendid visions, which are often not more happily suited to the purposes of the dramatic poet, than they are repug

nant to the sober realities of life. Nevertheless, with all his defects, he has erected, on a durable basis, a monument over which unceasing honours are destined to accumulate, and the name of Alfieri, when his works shall be better understood abroad, will share with Shakspeare, Racine and

Schiller, that universal admiration which the consent of ages and the voice of expe

rience confirms.

"The change which the moral and political principles of his tragedies, have effected in the modes of feeling and thinking throughout Italy, has evidently created a spirit which its present government must be fearful of provoking. They discountenance, as far as they can with policy, the representation of those pieces in which the principles of liberty are forcibly inculcated. His dramas, however, produce their most powerful im pression in the closet, as there are few declaimers in Italy capable of conceiving the depth of his sentiments, or of reciting his verses so as to mark the beauties of his forcible and sententious style. Yet he has invigorated the sentiments of the Italian people, and infused into them a portion of their ancient spirit. The bold and fearless manner in which they quote his verses, as applicable to themselves and their present situation, authorize me to believe, that Alfieri has helped to sow the seeds of that restlessness which they discover under the yoke of their present governments, and the sources of which must be extinguished before Italy can enjoy a lasting repose. They feel and act as if nothing was wanting but a resolute chief to lead them to the possession of that liberty which is the object of their sighs.

"Gia in alto stan gli ignudi ferri; accenna,
Accenna sol: gia nei devoti petti,
Piombar gli vedi; e a liberta dar via.*

"No poet, since the time of Lucan, has worshipped with truer devotion at the shrine of liberty, or painted its effects on the heart with more genuine enthu

siasm than Alfieri. If his strains shall not kindle a flame to consume the structures of despotism, they will, however, keep alive the sacred fiame on the altar of his country."

At Trieste the author saw the Emperor Francis, who at that period was making

*" Congiura de' Pazzi.

a tour through his recovered dominions of Italy and Dalmatia.

"He was met at a distance from the city by the public functionaries, and escorted through the corso or principal street, along the sides of which the military were drawn

up. The martial music of the German regiments, which is so noble, and the incessant firing from the fort and harbour, gave no small degree of solemnity to this event. A thousand white handkerchiefs waved

by the fair hands of ladies, streamed from the windows under which he passed, and

the multitude shouted viva nostro sovrano. The front of the exchange, which terminates the corso, was decorated with a large transparent painting representing the mixed population of Trieste, with wreaths and presents in their hands, which they offered

as a testimony of their gratitude and loyalty to the emperor. Between the imperial residence and the theatre, a beautiful triumphal arch was constructed, bearing this inscription,

"Carri patriæ patri adventum
Læti celebrant Tergestini."

"Francis witnessed all these expressions of zeal to his house, with the air of a man whose ruling passion was not that of empire and command. He returned the vivas of the populace by a quick and awkward inclination of his head, and a mechanical movement of his hand to his hat. As I saw him descend from his carriage, his countenance and person impressed me with the idea of a plain artless man, marked with none of the terrific or captivating traits of superior genius. None of those royal and martial graces which played around the person of Buonaparte, or of Louis the fourteenth. His equipage was plain, he wore a uniform of grey blue, and was decorated with the golden fleece, and the orders of St. Stephen, and Maria Theresa. His hat was three cornered, and ornamented with a bunch of heron's feathers. He was remarkably condescending and familiar with the persons who were presented to him. An American gentleman who had an interview of half an hour with him at Vienna, in which he spoke with much interest on the subject of American commerce, told me that at the end of the conversation, he thanked him, with an air of great cordiality and politeness, for the information he had so kindly He partook but little in the public amusements that had been

dly communicated.

got up for his entertainment. The provin

noblesse and the merchants of Trieste, were candidates for his smiles; the former endeavouring with the faded remains of their courtly graces,' to withdraw his attention from the latter, whose immense riches obscured the boast of heraldry. At the public balls and conversazioni, the ladies both

* Tergestum was the ancient name of Trieste.