the exception of a short account of Naples, Mr. Conder's book does not touch upon the Two Sicilies; nor, indeed, in that portion of the work which refers to Upper and Lower Italy, is the plan pursued similar to the one here adopted. The first volume of Mr. Conder's performance is almost wholly taken up with an account of the mountainous districts of Savoy, and the different passes of the Alps. The present work, on the contrary, gives merely a succinct account of the Pass of the Mont Cenis and that of the Simplon; the former at the commencement of the compilation, the latter at its close. Another obvious difference between the two performances may here be noticed, not, certainly with a view to depreciate Mr. Conder's work, but merely to shew that a single compilation has not necessarily exhausted the subject. It is this that Mr. Conder has passed over the contents of the Florentine, Vatican, and Neapolitan museums; all of which are here noticed at some length; as might, indeed, be inferred from the title page itself. Other very material points, which tend to distinguish the two compilations from each other, might easily be brought forward; but these, it is hoped, will be deemed sufficient. In this compilation, besides the works already mentioned-Addison's Tour in Italy, Gray's Let ters, Spence's Polymetis, Moore's View of Society, &c., Rose's Letters, Burton's Antiquities of Rome, Middleton's celebrated Letter from Rome, Blunt's Vestiges, &c., Sketches of Italy, Rome in the Nineteenth Century, Sismondi's History of Italian Literature, his Tuscan Agriculture, Gilly's Vaudois, De Staël's Corinne, Chateauvieux's Agriculture of Italy, Algarotti's Works, Bell's Observations, Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, Notes to the same Canto, the Quarterly Review, Brydone's Sicily, Hoare's Continuation of Eustace, Smyth's Memoir, Hughes' Travels in Sicily and Albania, Spallanzani, Ulysses' Travels in the Two Sicilies, together with various others, have occasionally been consulted. The length of the Appendix may, perhaps, be thought to require some apology; unless the title of the book may be pleaded as an excuse. A translation of Lanzi's Storia Pittorica has been given by Mr. Roscoe, but certainly not such a translation as the original deserves. All who are acquainted with the original will bear willing testimony to the elegance of Lanzi's style-a merit which will hardly be accorded to Roscoe's translation. This, however, as it is a mere matter of taste, will not, perhaps, be admitted by all, and even if admitted may be excused on account of the dif ficulty of transfusing into a translation the delicacies and graces of any well-written work. "Ce qu'il y a de plus délicat dans les pensées, et dans les expressions des auteurs, qui ont écrit avec beaucoup de justesse, se perd quand on les veut mettre dans une autre langue: à-peu-près comme ces essences exquises, dont le parfum subtile s'évapore quand on les verse d'un vase dans un autre*." Such considerations may, perhaps, atone for occasional inelegancies of language, but no apology can be offered for inaccuracies; and it is hoped that this Abridgement of Lanzi-which comprises the lives of all the more distinguished Italian artists nearly at full length-will be found exempt from the many errors and mistranslations which disfigure the larger work of Mr. Roscoe. *Bouhours, Pensées Ingénieuses, p. 195. CONTENTS. Passage of the Mont Cenis-Savoyard Valleys; Poverty of the Genoa-Its Fortifications; Narrowness of its Streets; Betti- 20--30 CHAP. IV. CHAP. V. Florence Its Situation; Royal Gallery; Gabinetto Fisico; CHAP. VI. Improvvisatori-General Character; their Prototypes among the . 108-116 CHAP. VII. The Drama-Mysteries or Sacred Dramas; early Tragedies; 117-158 CHAP. VIII. Vallombrosa-Camaldoli-La Verna. 159-167 CHAP. IX. General Aspect and Agriculture of Tuscany-Plain; Colmate; 168-183 |