logy, looked frowningly on those of profane learning. In fact, the allimportant controversy then at issue so thoroughly engrossed the minds of men as to divert them, for a while, from other studies. The quick eye of Erasmus perceived this, and casting down the weapons of theological strife, which he had grasped in the enthusiasm of the first onset, he left the field, exclaiming, in a tone of heartfelt anguish "Ubicunque regnat Lutheranismus ibi literarum est interitus! Evangelicos istos, cum, multis aliis, tum, hoc nomine, præcipue odi, quod, per eos, ubique languent, fugiunt, jacent, intereunt, bonæ literæ, sine quibus, quid est hominum vita!" Epist. MVI.DCCCCXLVI, A.D. 1528. reserved for Melancthon to show, that the greatest skill and deepest interest in theological discussion are by no means incompatible with the pursuits of a benefactor and cultivator of polite letters.

It was

"The laws of Synchronism," says Mr Hallam," bring strange partners together; and we may pass at once from Luther to Ariosto. The Orlando Furioso was first printed at Ferrara in 1516. This edition contained forty cantos, to which the last six were added in 1532. Many stanzas, chiefly of circumstance, were interpolated by the author from time to time."-P. 420. The very just criticism which follows, for the whole of which we regret that we have not room, concludes thus:

"Many faults of language in Ariosto are observed by his countrymen. They justly blame, also, his unobservances of propriety, his hyperbolical extravagance, his harsh metaphors, his affected thoughts. These are sufficiently obvious to a reader of reflecting taste. But the enchantment of his pencil redeems every failing; and his rapidity, like that of Homer, leaves us little time to censure before we are hurried forward to admire. The Orlando Furioso, as a great single poem, has been very rarely surpassed, in the living records of poetry. He must yield to three, and only three, of his predecessors. He has not the force, simplicity, and truth to nature, of Homer, the exquisite skill and sustained majesty of Virgil, nor the originality and boldness of Dante. The most obvious parallel is Ovid, whose Metamorphoses, however, are far excelled by the Orlando Furioso, not in fertility of invention, or variety of images and sentiments, but in purity of taste, in grace of language, and harmony of versification."-P. 426.

The chivalric lay of Ariosto was

published almost contemporaneously with the chivalric romance of Amadis de Gaul, a work which, in its day, was almost as popular as the Orlando, but has met with widely different treatment at the hands of posterity. Saved by the curate of Cervantes from the flames which swallowed up so many of his followers, the knight was spared, only to furnish forth a prey to moths; and his very name would be perhaps forgotten, had it not been enshrined in the imperishable sanctuary of La Mancha.

The period between 1520 and 1550 is comprised by Mr Hallam in his fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters; the fifth treating of ancient, the sixth of theological literature, the seventh of the literature of taste, the eighth of speculative and moral philosophy, and the ninth, with which this volume concludes, of scientific and miscellaneous literature. In each of these walks, considerable advances were made, not merely in Italy, but throughout Europe. The works of Sadolet and Bembo attest the rank to which the Italian taste for classic literature had now attained; while, upon this side of the Alps, the spread of learning was ensured by the exertions of Budæus, Scaliger, Manutius, Gesner, Stephens, and Erasmus. The discouragement which classical studies had encountered from the reformers, now ceased to operate. The extent of this discouragement, and the merits of the great man by whom its evil consequences were prevented, are thus commemorated by our author:

"Men," says he, "who interpreted the Scripture by the spirit, could not think human learning of much value in religion; and they were as little likely to perceive any other advantage it could possess. There seemed, indeed, a considerable peril, that, through the authority of Carlostadt, or even of Luther, the lessons of Crocus and Moselanus would be totally forgotten. And this would very probably have been the case, if one man, Melancthon, had not perceived the necessity of preserving human learning as a bulwark to theology itself against the wild waves of enthusiasm. It was owing to him that both the study of the Greek and Latin languages, and that of the Aristotelian philosophy, were maintained in Germany."P. 465.

The field of theological literature was, during this period, filled, as was naturally to be expected, by those eager and enthusiastic controversial

ists who sought to aid or to impugn the Church of Rome. At the head of the reformers stand Luther, Melancthon, Zuinglius, and his successor Calvin. The Roman bands are headed by less celebrated leaders, Vives, Cajetan, Melchior, Cano, Soto, and Catharin :

"These elder champions of a long war," writes Mr Hallam, "especially the Romish, are, with a very few exceptions, known only by their names and lives. These are they, and many more there were down to the middle of the seventeenth century, at whom, along the shelves of an ancient library, we look and pass by. They belong no more to man, but to the worm, the moth, and the spider. Their dark and ribbed backs, their yellow leaves, their thousand folio pages, do not more repel us than the unprofitableness of their substance. Their prolixity, their barbarous style, the perpetual recurrence in many of syllogistic forms, the reliance, by

way of proof, on authorities that have been abjured, the temporary and partial disputes, which can neither be interesting, nor always intelligible, at present, must soon put an end to the activity of the most industrious scho

lar.

Even the Coryphæi of the Reformation are probably more quoted than read, more praised than appreciated. Their works, though not scarce, are voluminous and expensive; and it may not be invidious to surmise, that Luther and Melancthon serve little other purpose, at least in England, than to give an occasional air of erudition to a theological parágraph, or to supply its margin with a reference that few readers will verify."-P. 518.

While theological controversy was thus raging, philosophy was combating, with some success, the old and much abused scholastic discipline; and it fortunately happened, that her

cause

was advanced by the same agents which impeded the progress of polite literature; for the reformers of the Church were declared enemies, not only of the then prevalent ecclesiastical abuses, but of the scholastic system, which had been so long revered by their upholders. Even Henry VIII., vain as he was of his scholastic proficiency, and of the title which it had procured him, was compelled, when he renounced the spiritual dominion of the Pope, to sacrifice the idol of his youth, Thomas Aquinas. Thus were the schools at once assailed by the advancing forces of true learning and reformed theology. "They had," as Mr Hallam has remarked,

"no advocates able enough to say much in their favour; but established possession, and that innate force which ancient prejudices retain, even in a revolutionary age, especially when united with civil and ecclesiastical authority, rendered the victory of good sense and real philosophy very slow."

Ethical writers were during this period scarce; but political philosophy has one great name to boast ofNicholas Machiavel. This celebrated man having filled, for about fifteen years, the post of secretary to that Government which was established in Florence during the interval between the expulsion of the Medici in 1494 and their return in 1512, was naturally involved in the ruin of the party he had served, and even underwent imprisonment and torture, on a charge of conspiracy against the new authorities. "The Prince" was written in 1513, during his retirement and disgrace, probably with a view of recommending himself to Julian de Medici, then at the head of the state of Florence. Mr Hallam concludes as follows a very able critique on this work, and the ، Discourses upon Livy:"

“ The absence of all passion, the continual reference of every public measure to a distinct end, the disregard of vulgar associations with names and persons, render him (Machiavel), though too cold of heart for a very generous reader, a sagacious and useful monitor for any one who can employ the necessary methods of correcting his theorems. He formed a school of subtle reasoners upon political history, which, both in Italy and France, was in vogue for two centuries; and whatever might be its errors, has hardly been superseded for the better, by the loose declamation that some dignify with the name of philosophical politics,' and in which we continually find a more flagitious and undisguised abandonment of moral rules, for the sake of some idol of a general principle, than can be imputed to The Prince' of

Machiavel.

،، Besides these two works, the ، History of Florence' is enough to immortalize the name of Nicholas Machiavel. Seldom has a more giant stride been made in any department of literature, than by this judicious, clear, and elegant history; for the preceding historical works, whether in Italy or out of it, had no claims to the praise of classical compositions, while this has ranked among the greatest of that order. Machiavel was

the first who gave at once a general and luminous developement of great events in their causes and connexions, such as we find in the first book of his History of Florence.' That view of the formation of European societies, both civil and ecclesiastical, on the ruins of the Roman empire, though it may seem now to contain only what is familiar, had never been attempted

before, and is still, for its conciseness and truth, as good as any that can be read."P. 564.

The commencement of the sixteenth century is also distinguished by the introduction of a new and correct mode of studying the civil law. This code, which had been overwhelmed and obscured by a superincumbent multitude of glossers, so ignorant of classic literature as frequently to be incapable of reading accurately the text on which they professed to comment, and so numerous that it became an ordinary practice to count instead of weighing their authorities, was now restored by Andrew Alciati of Milan. "He taught, from 1518 to 1550, in the universities of Avignon, Milan, Bourges, Paris, and Bologna. Literature became with him the handmaid of law; the historians of Rome, her antiquaries, her orators and poets, were called upon to elucidate the obsolete words and obscure allusions of the Pandects; to which, the earlier as well as the most valuable portion of the civil law, this method of classical interpretation is chiefly applicable.”P. 569. Alciati stood not alone in scattering the flowers of polite literature over the thorny brakes of jurisprudence; an eminent Spaniard, Antonio Agustino, may be placed almost on a level with him.

As to the literature of taste, the chief feature in its history, during this period, is the increased credit which modern languages appear to have acquired, and the preference now given them over the Latin, which had so long reigned unrivalled in the estimation of the literary world. The names of Bembo, Alamanni, Rucellai, Tressino, and, above all, Berni, though not so great as those of other poets who flourished during an age less favourable to the reception of Italian verse, suffice, at all events, to testify that the "sweet Tuscan tongue was now appreciated by the reading public. Spain boasts of Gar

VOL. XLI. NO. CCLIX,

cilasso, Boscan, Mendoza, and Saa di Miranda. Portugal now produced her first distinguished poet, Rebeyro; while the French versifiers, if less celebrated, were at all events as numerous as those of any other European nation. In Germany, indeed, the lyre, chilled out of tune by the cold grasp of the Meister-singers, had not as yet found any minstrel capable of re-awakening its intrinsic melody. An honest shoemaker of Nuremberg, Hans Sachs, seems to have had the will, if not the power. But his poems, which exceeded ten thousand, are unread, though recommended by the praise of Wieland and Goethe, who, sensible of the degeneracy of their countrymen during this age, were perhaps anxious to exalt the only one who can advance a claim to our regard. In England, Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey, the latter the introducer of blank verse, stand first among the names memorable for their connexion, during this period, with our domestic literature. The passion which inspired the latter is well known to all; that of the former is less celebrated. Yet the reader will perhaps feel disposed to rank Wyatt above his noble rival, both in sincerity and taste, if not in loyalty, when he is told, that the oft-sung Geraldine was a child of thirteen, for whom Surrey's flame kindled, if so it was, some years after his own marriage, while the object of Wyatt's adoration was the beautiful, the accomplished, the fascinating, and not less fascinating because unfortunate, Queen Anna Boleyn. The drama, too, constructed on the model of the Greeks and Romans, was now beginning to supersede those rude "mysteries' and "moralities". Heaven save the mark!-which had constituted the amusement of less polished times; and the reader will be surprised, probably pleased, to hear that the Eton scholars were its first performers in this country. Nicholas Udal, head-master of Eton, and well acquainted with the Roman drama, produced, for the amusement of his pupils, the first English comedy now extant, under the title of "Ralph Roister Foister," which was printed in 1565, but probably not written later than 1540. "It is," Mr Hallam tells us, "notwithstanding its uncouth name, a play of some merit; and the earliest lively picture of London manners."

2 R

Although the modern languages were thus advancing towards their proper rank, the study of the ancient had by no means retrograded; and could their supremacy have possibly been maintained, it would have been so by the pens of Vida, Sannazar, and Fras. catorius.

Europe had made, during this period, much progress in scientific and miscellaneous literature. Algebra, the right arm of the philosopher, was now wielded with success by Cardan and Tartaglia. Copernicus, in 1543, announced to the world his solution of the grandest problem which can occupy the mind of the astronomer. Every early anatomist was now left far behind by Vesalius, who published at Basle, in 1543, his great work De Corporis Humani Fabrica. The love of science seems to have engaged him and his fellow-students in strange scenes of adventure. "Those services," says Mr Hallam, "which have since been thrown on the refuse of mankind, they voluntarily undertook;

'Entire affection scorneth nicer hands.'

They prowled by night in charnel houses, they dug up the dead from the grave, and climbed the gibbet, in fear and silence, to steal the mouldering carcase of the murderer."-P. 642.The fate of Vesalius himself was lamentable: “ Being absurdly accused of having dissected a Spanish gentleman before he was dead, he escaped capital punishment at the instance of the Inquisition, only by undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, during which he was shipwrecked, and died of famine in one of the Greek islands." -P. 643.

With the year 1550, Mr Hallam concludes the first volume of his history. We will venture to say, that in no other work of similar dimensions, has a greater quantity of useful and interesting information been popularly and agreeably communicated. Our limits will not permit a longer notice of it; but enough has probably been said to induce the reader to unite with us in hailing the appearance of a work, the publication of which is itself not unworthy of commemoration in the 66 History of Literature."